QA Job Trends in the North of England

Quality Assurance (QA)
England > North of England

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the North of England requiring QA skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 3 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 96 52 90
Rank change year-on-year -44 +38 -57
Permanent jobs citing QA 203 420 239
As % of all permanent jobs in the North of England 2.16% 3.73% 3.37%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 23.39% 25.44% 22.44%
Number of salaries quoted 120 165 158
10th Percentile £28,475 £25,000 £39,925
25th Percentile £37,500 £32,500 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £45,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +22.22% -18.18% -
75th Percentile £71,250 £57,500 £71,250
90th Percentile £80,000 £73,650 £83,750
England median annual salary £57,500 £55,000 £65,000
% change year-on-year +4.55% -15.38% +8.33%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
North of England

QA falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills in the North of England.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 868 1,651 1,065
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North of England 9.25% 14.66% 15.03%
Number of salaries quoted 484 687 782
10th Percentile £28,571 £26,250 £28,250
25th Percentile £33,125 £35,000 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £47,500 £50,500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.94% +1.00%
75th Percentile £64,875 £63,500 £66,944
90th Percentile £78,750 £79,250 £82,500
England median annual salary £57,500 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -4.17% - +4.35%

QA
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing QA relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the North of England.

QA job vacancy trend in the North of England

QA
Salary Trend in the North of England

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing QA.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing QA

QA
Salary Histogram in the North of England

Salary distribution for jobs citing QA in the North of England over the 6 months to 3 December 2025.

Salary histogram for QA in the North of England

QA
Job Locations in the North of England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing QA within the North of England region over the 6 months to 3 December 2025. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
North West -44 96 £57,500 +27.78% 99
Yorkshire -15 82 £53,750 +19.44% 40
North East -12 25 £35,000 -33.33% 20
QA
England

QA
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North of England by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 2 (0.99%) Apache Airflow
1 2 (0.99%) Apache Spark
1 2 (0.99%) HCL Notes
1 2 (0.99%) IIS
1 2 (0.99%) Oracle SOA Suite
1 2 (0.99%) SAS
1 2 (0.99%) SharePoint
2 1 (0.49%) Confluence
2 1 (0.49%) Microsoft Exchange
2 1 (0.49%) nginx
Applications
1 10 (4.93%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (4.43%) Microsoft Project
3 6 (2.96%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (1.48%) AutoCAD
4 3 (1.48%) Chatbot
5 2 (0.99%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.99%) Trello
Business Applications
1 7 (3.45%) Dynamics CRM
1 7 (3.45%) Shopify
2 2 (0.99%) Oracle BPM
2 2 (0.99%) SAP ERP
3 1 (0.49%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 42 (20.69%) Azure
2 33 (16.26%) AWS
3 21 (10.34%) Power Platform
4 18 (8.87%) SaaS
5 8 (3.94%) GCP
5 8 (3.94%) GitHub
6 7 (3.45%) Microsoft Copilot
7 5 (2.46%) Entra ID
7 5 (2.46%) Microsoft 365
8 4 (1.97%) AWS Lambda
8 4 (1.97%) GitHub Actions
8 4 (1.97%) Google Ads
8 4 (1.97%) Serverless
9 3 (1.48%) Amazon ECS
9 3 (1.48%) Amazon S3
9 3 (1.48%) AWS CloudFormation
9 3 (1.48%) Datadog
9 3 (1.48%) PaaS
10 2 (0.99%) Apigee
10 2 (0.99%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 4 (1.97%) Broadband
2 3 (1.48%) HTTP
3 2 (0.99%) PuTTY
3 2 (0.99%) TCP/IP
4 1 (0.49%) Modbus
4 1 (0.49%) MQTT
4 1 (0.49%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (7.88%) Power BI
2 10 (4.93%) PostgreSQL
3 9 (4.43%) SQL Server
4 8 (3.94%) NoSQL
5 7 (3.45%) MongoDB
6 6 (2.96%) Relational Database
7 5 (2.46%) Metadata
7 5 (2.46%) Tableau
8 4 (1.97%) DynamoDB
8 4 (1.97%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 3 (1.48%) Geospatial Data
9 3 (1.48%) GIS
9 3 (1.48%) Looker
9 3 (1.48%) MySQL
9 3 (1.48%) QGIS
9 3 (1.48%) Qlik Sense
9 3 (1.48%) Spatial Data
10 2 (0.99%) Amazon Athena
10 2 (0.99%) Metadata Repository
10 2 (0.99%) Spark SQL
Development Applications
1 16 (7.88%) JIRA
2 10 (4.93%) Jenkins
3 9 (4.43%) Git
4 8 (3.94%) Cypress.io
4 8 (3.94%) Selenium
5 7 (3.45%) GitLab
6 6 (2.96%) Cucumber
6 6 (2.96%) JMeter
7 5 (2.46%) Postman
8 4 (1.97%) Appium
9 3 (1.48%) Maven
9 3 (1.48%) SonarQube
10 2 (0.99%) Gatling
10 2 (0.99%) Locust
10 2 (0.99%) REST Assured
10 2 (0.99%) SpecFlow
10 2 (0.99%) Visual Studio
11 1 (0.49%) Bitbucket
11 1 (0.49%) ESLint
11 1 (0.49%) Storybook
General
1 64 (31.53%) Social Skills
2 37 (18.23%) Manufacturing
3 33 (16.26%) Finance
4 28 (13.79%) Analytical Skills
5 15 (7.39%) Organisational Skills
5 15 (7.39%) Public Sector
6 13 (6.40%) Influencing Skills
7 10 (4.93%) Law
7 10 (4.93%) Legal
8 9 (4.43%) Marketing
9 6 (2.96%) Games
10 5 (2.46%) Advertising
10 5 (2.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 4 (1.97%) Military
11 4 (1.97%) Retail
11 4 (1.97%) Telecoms
12 3 (1.48%) Electronics
12 3 (1.48%) Pharmaceutical
12 3 (1.48%) Welsh Language
13 2 (0.99%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 35 (17.24%) Lead
2 32 (15.76%) Senior
3 29 (14.29%) Developer
4 16 (7.88%) Analyst
5 14 (6.90%) Project Manager
5 14 (6.90%) QA Manager
6 12 (5.91%) QA Engineer
7 11 (5.42%) Lead Developer
7 11 (5.42%) Senior Developer
8 10 (4.93%) Quality Manager
9 8 (3.94%) Automation Engineer
9 8 (3.94%) Backend Developer
9 8 (3.94%) QA Automation Engineer
9 8 (3.94%) Software Developer
9 8 (3.94%) Tester
10 7 (3.45%) Consultant
11 6 (2.96%) Commercial Manager
11 6 (2.96%) Commercial Project Manager
11 6 (2.96%) Lead Software Developer
11 6 (2.96%) QA Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (7.39%) .NET
1 15 (7.39%) Node.js
2 13 (6.40%) React
3 8 (3.94%) AngularJS
4 7 (3.45%) RESTful
5 5 (2.46%) Jest
5 5 (2.46%) Playwright
5 5 (2.46%) Spring
5 5 (2.46%) Spring Boot
6 4 (1.97%) ASP.NET
6 4 (1.97%) Bootstrap
6 4 (1.97%) CSS
6 4 (1.97%) Gherkin
6 4 (1.97%) HTML
7 3 (1.48%) Kafka
7 3 (1.48%) Next.js
7 3 (1.48%) PySpark
7 3 (1.48%) Redux
8 2 (0.99%) Apache NiFi
8 2 (0.99%) MassTransit
Miscellaneous
1 11 (5.42%) Product Ownership
2 10 (4.93%) IoT
2 10 (4.93%) Self-Motivation
2 10 (4.93%) Social Media
3 8 (3.94%) Cloud Native
4 6 (2.96%) NHS
4 6 (2.96%) Onboarding
5 5 (2.46%) Analytical Mindset
6 4 (1.97%) AI Agents
6 4 (1.97%) Driving Licence
6 4 (1.97%) Mobile App
6 4 (1.97%) Renewable Energy
7 3 (1.48%) Data Protection Act
7 3 (1.48%) Legacy Systems
8 2 (0.99%) CCTV
8 2 (0.99%) Client/Server
8 2 (0.99%) Distributed Systems
8 2 (0.99%) EPoS
8 2 (0.99%) Management Information System
8 2 (0.99%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 16 (7.88%) Windows
2 7 (3.45%) Unix
3 6 (2.96%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 65 (32.02%) Agile
2 63 (31.03%) Mentoring
3 43 (21.18%) Problem-Solving
4 40 (19.70%) DevOps
5 35 (17.24%) CI/CD
6 34 (16.75%) Continuous Improvement
7 32 (15.76%) Test Automation
8 26 (12.81%) Project Delivery
9 24 (11.82%) Software Engineering
10 23 (11.33%) Process Improvement
10 23 (11.33%) Project Management
11 18 (8.87%) Business Intelligence
11 18 (8.87%) Roadmaps
12 14 (6.90%) Coaching
12 14 (6.90%) Stakeholder Management
12 14 (6.90%) User Experience
13 13 (6.40%) Budget Management
14 12 (5.91%) Collaborative Working
14 12 (5.91%) Data Protection
14 12 (5.91%) Software Testing
Programming Languages
1 24 (11.82%) SQL
2 23 (11.33%) JavaScript
3 22 (10.84%) Java
4 19 (9.36%) C#
5 15 (7.39%) Python
6 14 (6.90%) TypeScript
7 10 (4.93%) Go
8 8 (3.94%) Elixir
8 8 (3.94%) Ruby
9 6 (2.96%) Bash
10 4 (1.97%) C++
11 3 (1.48%) PHP
11 3 (1.48%) PowerShell
11 3 (1.48%) T-SQL
12 2 (0.99%) Groovy
12 2 (0.99%) PROC SQL
12 2 (0.99%) R
13 1 (0.49%) Dart
Qualifications
1 24 (11.82%) Degree
2 15 (7.39%) Security Cleared
3 13 (6.40%) SC Cleared
4 10 (4.93%) PMI Certification
4 10 (4.93%) PMP
5 6 (2.96%) BPSS Clearance
5 6 (2.96%) DBS Check
6 5 (2.46%) HND
7 4 (1.97%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 3 (1.48%) AWS Certification
8 3 (1.48%) DV Cleared
8 3 (1.48%) PRINCE2 Certification
9 2 (0.99%) Azure Certification
9 2 (0.99%) ISTQB
10 1 (0.49%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
10 1 (0.49%) Chartered Engineer
10 1 (0.49%) CISA
10 1 (0.49%) CISSP
10 1 (0.49%) Computer Science Degree
10 1 (0.49%) HNC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (10.34%) Accessibility
2 5 (2.46%) Data Quality
2 5 (2.46%) GDPR
3 4 (1.97%) PCI DSS
3 4 (1.97%) PMO
4 2 (0.99%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 2 (0.99%) WCAG
5 1 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.49%) FINRA
5 1 (0.49%) GRC
5 1 (0.49%) ISO 14001
5 1 (0.49%) ISO 9001
5 1 (0.49%) NIST
5 1 (0.49%) SOC 2
System Software
1 12 (5.91%) Docker
2 5 (2.46%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.99%) Apache Flume
3 2 (0.99%) HDFS
4 1 (0.49%) Squid
Systems Management
1 8 (3.94%) Kubernetes
2 7 (3.45%) Grafana
2 7 (3.45%) Terraform
3 3 (1.48%) Ansible
3 3 (1.48%) Kibana
4 2 (0.99%) HP Fortify
4 2 (0.99%) logstash
4 2 (0.99%) Oozie
4 2 (0.99%) Progress Chef
4 2 (0.99%) Prometheus
4 2 (0.99%) Puppet
5 1 (0.49%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 34 (16.75%) Microsoft
2 9 (4.43%) SAP
3 6 (2.96%) Google
4 3 (1.48%) ESRI
4 3 (1.48%) Oracle
5 2 (0.99%) Databricks
5 2 (0.99%) Informatica
5 2 (0.99%) Lotus
5 2 (0.99%) MicroStrategy
6 1 (0.49%) AppDynamics
6 1 (0.49%) AVEVA
6 1 (0.49%) New Relic
6 1 (0.49%) Nimble Storage
6 1 (0.49%) Rockwell
6 1 (0.49%) Sage
6 1 (0.49%) ServiceNow
6 1 (0.49%) Siemens
6 1 (0.49%) Splunk