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 15 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 48 98 54
Rank change year-on-year +50 -44 +33
Permanent jobs citing QA 677 289 450
As % of all permanent jobs in the North of England 2.82% 3.07% 3.46%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 31.87% 27.16% 26.10%
Number of salaries quoted 434 119 159
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £24,800
25th Percentile £35,000 £41,250 £27,125
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £55,000 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year -18.18% +29.41% -22.73%
75th Percentile £58,438 £73,750 £57,500
90th Percentile £71,000 £84,000 £73,550
England median annual salary £50,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year -13.04% +4.55% -12.00%

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 2,124 1,064 1,724
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North of England 8.85% 11.28% 13.27%
Number of salaries quoted 1,468 450 722
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £25,000
25th Percentile £37,500 £32,563 £31,563
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £50,000 £46,750
Median % change year-on-year - +6.95% -6.50%
75th Percentile £67,500 £64,969 £60,991
90th Percentile £83,750 £76,375 £79,750
England median annual salary £55,000 £56,500 £60,000
% change year-on-year -2.65% -5.83% -

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 15 October 2026.

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 15 October 2026. 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 +38 387 £45,000 -26.83% 52
Yorkshire +29 146 £40,000 -27.27% 30
North East +18 144 £55,000 +29.41% 14
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 10 (1.48%) Apache Airflow
2 8 (1.18%) SharePoint
3 7 (1.03%) Apache
3 7 (1.03%) Apache Spark
3 7 (1.03%) Jupyter
4 5 (0.74%) CMS
5 4 (0.59%) WebLogic
5 4 (0.59%) WordPress
6 3 (0.44%) Confluence
6 3 (0.44%) IIS
7 1 (0.15%) Apache Superset
7 1 (0.15%) Headless CMS
7 1 (0.15%) SAS
Applications
1 31 (4.58%) Microsoft Excel
2 24 (3.55%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (1.77%) Revit
4 7 (1.03%) Microsoft Project
5 6 (0.89%) AutoCAD
5 6 (0.89%) Navisworks
6 4 (0.59%) MS Visio
7 3 (0.44%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
9 1 (0.15%) ProjectWise
Business Applications
1 4 (0.59%) Sage 200
1 4 (0.59%) SAP Business One
1 4 (0.59%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (0.44%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 65 (9.60%) AWS
2 60 (8.86%) Azure
3 30 (4.43%) Power Platform
4 28 (4.14%) Azure DevOps
5 27 (3.99%) Microsoft 365
6 19 (2.81%) Serverless
7 18 (2.66%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 18 (2.66%) Amazon S3
8 15 (2.22%) AWS Lambda
9 14 (2.07%) SaaS
10 13 (1.92%) Amazon EC2
10 13 (1.92%) GitHub
11 12 (1.77%) Power Automate
12 10 (1.48%) Amazon ECR
12 10 (1.48%) GCP
13 9 (1.33%) GitHub Actions
14 8 (1.18%) Microsoft Copilot
15 7 (1.03%) Amazon ECS
15 7 (1.03%) Amazon EKS
15 7 (1.03%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 9 (1.33%) DNS
2 7 (1.03%) SSL
2 7 (1.03%) TCP/IP
3 6 (0.89%) Internet
3 6 (0.89%) Remote Desktop
3 6 (0.89%) VPN
4 3 (0.44%) HTTPS
4 3 (0.44%) Structured Cabling
5 2 (0.30%) Broadband
5 2 (0.30%) HTTP
5 2 (0.30%) LAN
5 2 (0.30%) SMS
5 2 (0.30%) VoIP
5 2 (0.30%) WAN
6 1 (0.15%) ADSL
6 1 (0.15%) DHCP
6 1 (0.15%) Firewall
6 1 (0.15%) Intranet
6 1 (0.15%) ISDN
6 1 (0.15%) RIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (2.95%) Power BI
2 14 (2.07%) SQL Server
3 8 (1.18%) MongoDB
3 8 (1.18%) Relational Database
4 7 (1.03%) DynamoDB
4 7 (1.03%) MySQL
5 6 (0.89%) Amazon Athena
5 6 (0.89%) Data Warehouse
5 6 (0.89%) DocumentDB
6 5 (0.74%) PostgreSQL
7 4 (0.59%) BigQuery
7 4 (0.59%) NoSQL
7 4 (0.59%) Redis
8 3 (0.44%) Big Data
8 3 (0.44%) Data Lake
8 3 (0.44%) Power Query
8 3 (0.44%) Tableau
9 2 (0.30%) Amazon RDS
9 2 (0.30%) Azure SQL Database
9 2 (0.30%) EDRMS
Development Applications
1 34 (5.02%) Git
2 23 (3.40%) GitLab
3 21 (3.10%) JIRA
4 17 (2.51%) Cypress.io
5 10 (1.48%) Postman
6 9 (1.33%) Selenium
7 8 (1.18%) Jenkins
8 5 (0.74%) JUnit
9 4 (0.59%) JMeter
9 4 (0.59%) REST Assured
10 3 (0.44%) Claude Code
10 3 (0.44%) RStudio
11 1 (0.15%) Android Studio
11 1 (0.15%) Appium
11 1 (0.15%) Bitbucket
11 1 (0.15%) Gradle
11 1 (0.15%) NUnit
11 1 (0.15%) SonarQube
11 1 (0.15%) Visual Studio
11 1 (0.15%) Xcode
General
1 159 (23.49%) Social Skills
2 110 (16.25%) Manufacturing
3 73 (10.78%) Analytical Skills
4 63 (9.31%) Finance
5 62 (9.16%) Public Sector
6 57 (8.42%) Pharmaceutical
7 38 (5.61%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 28 (4.14%) Legal
8 28 (4.14%) Organisational Skills
9 25 (3.69%) Aerospace
9 25 (3.69%) Law
10 19 (2.81%) Marketing
11 15 (2.22%) Retail
12 11 (1.62%) Banking
12 11 (1.62%) Electronics
13 10 (1.48%) Local Government
13 10 (1.48%) Swedish Language
14 8 (1.18%) Games
15 7 (1.03%) Automotive
15 7 (1.03%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 100 (14.77%) QA Engineer
2 87 (12.85%) Senior
3 70 (10.34%) Quality Engineer
4 69 (10.19%) Lead
5 66 (9.75%) Analyst
6 62 (9.16%) QA Officer
7 55 (8.12%) QA Manager
8 51 (7.53%) Developer
9 48 (7.09%) Quality Manager
10 33 (4.87%) Automation Engineer
10 33 (4.87%) QA Automation Engineer
11 28 (4.14%) QA Leader
12 26 (3.84%) Tester
13 22 (3.25%) Test Engineer
14 20 (2.95%) QA Tester
15 16 (2.36%) Software Developer
16 15 (2.22%) IT Support
16 15 (2.22%) Senior Developer
17 14 (2.07%) Business Analyst
17 14 (2.07%) Senior QA Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (6.35%) .NET
2 39 (5.76%) HTML
3 37 (5.47%) CSS
4 34 (5.02%) Node.js
5 26 (3.84%) Playwright
6 23 (3.40%) REST
7 17 (2.51%) RESTful
8 15 (2.22%) Terraform
9 9 (1.33%) .NET Framework
9 9 (1.33%) AngularJS
9 9 (1.33%) OAuth
10 8 (1.18%) ASP.NET Web API
10 8 (1.18%) Middleware
10 8 (1.18%) React
11 7 (1.03%) Jest
11 7 (1.03%) Kafka
11 7 (1.03%) Spring
11 7 (1.03%) Spring Boot
12 6 (0.89%) Express.js
12 6 (0.89%) MIDP
Miscellaneous
1 37 (5.47%) Product Ownership
2 20 (2.95%) Life Science
3 17 (2.51%) Cloud Native
4 14 (2.07%) Management Information System
5 13 (1.92%) Distributed Systems
5 13 (1.92%) Driving Licence
6 12 (1.77%) Data Centre
6 12 (1.77%) Onboarding
7 11 (1.62%) Enterprise Software
8 7 (1.03%) Security Posture
9 6 (0.89%) AI Agents
9 6 (0.89%) Blog
9 6 (0.89%) Cyber Kill Chain
9 6 (0.89%) Mobile App
10 5 (0.74%) Legacy Systems
10 5 (0.74%) PMI
10 5 (0.74%) Self-Motivation
11 4 (0.59%) Culture of Ownership
12 3 (0.44%) CCTV
12 3 (0.44%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 23 (3.40%) Windows
2 13 (1.92%) Linux
3 8 (1.18%) Android
4 7 (1.03%) Apple iOS
5 6 (0.89%) macOS
5 6 (0.89%) Unix
6 5 (0.74%) Windows 10
7 2 (0.30%) Windows Server
8 1 (0.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 159 (23.49%) Agile
2 152 (22.45%) Continuous Improvement
3 120 (17.73%) CI/CD
4 116 (17.13%) Test Automation
5 109 (16.10%) Problem-Solving
6 78 (11.52%) Mentoring
7 77 (11.37%) DevOps
8 69 (10.19%) Validation
9 59 (8.71%) Software Testing
10 55 (8.12%) Stakeholder Management
11 46 (6.79%) Software Engineering
12 44 (6.50%) AI
12 44 (6.50%) Decision-Making
13 43 (6.35%) Collaborative Working
14 41 (6.06%) Customer Service
15 39 (5.76%) SDLC
15 39 (5.76%) Test Strategy
16 37 (5.47%) Coaching
17 36 (5.32%) End-to-End Testing
17 36 (5.32%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 71 (10.49%) JavaScript
2 70 (10.34%) SQL
3 50 (7.39%) C#
4 36 (5.32%) Python
5 30 (4.43%) TypeScript
6 29 (4.28%) Java
7 9 (1.33%) Bash
8 5 (0.74%) Go
8 5 (0.74%) Kotlin
8 5 (0.74%) PHP
8 5 (0.74%) PowerShell
8 5 (0.74%) R
9 3 (0.44%) C++
10 2 (0.30%) T-SQL
11 1 (0.15%) Objective-C
11 1 (0.15%) Scala
11 1 (0.15%) Swift
11 1 (0.15%) VB.NET
11 1 (0.15%) VBA
Qualifications
1 78 (11.52%) Degree
2 71 (10.49%) Security Cleared
3 58 (8.57%) SC Cleared
4 17 (2.51%) BPSS Clearance
5 15 (2.22%) Microsoft Certification
6 10 (1.48%) AWS Certification
6 10 (1.48%) MCSE
7 9 (1.33%) DV Cleared
7 9 (1.33%) RIBA
8 8 (1.18%) CREST Certified
8 8 (1.18%) Postgraduate
9 7 (1.03%) DBS Check
9 7 (1.03%) HNC
10 6 (0.89%) HND
11 5 (0.74%) Computer Science Degree
11 5 (0.74%) PMI Certification
12 4 (0.59%) PMP
13 2 (0.30%) APMP
13 2 (0.30%) Chartered Engineer
13 2 (0.30%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (5.17%) ISO 9001
2 25 (3.69%) Accessibility
3 13 (1.92%) Data Quality
4 12 (1.77%) PMO
5 11 (1.62%) GDPR
5 11 (1.62%) GMP
6 6 (0.89%) ISO 19650
7 3 (0.44%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 2 (0.30%) Cyber Essentials
8 2 (0.30%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 2 (0.30%) ECSS
8 2 (0.30%) Good Clinical Practice
8 2 (0.30%) P3O
9 1 (0.15%) AQAP
9 1 (0.15%) GRC
9 1 (0.15%) NCSC
9 1 (0.15%) NIST
9 1 (0.15%) PERC
9 1 (0.15%) SLA
9 1 (0.15%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 30 (4.43%) Docker
2 4 (0.59%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 17 (2.51%) Kubernetes
2 4 (0.59%) Microsoft Intune
3 2 (0.30%) Kibana
4 1 (0.15%) Cisco CUCM
4 1 (0.15%) Fluentd
4 1 (0.15%) Grafana
Vendors
1 66 (9.75%) Microsoft
2 17 (2.51%) SAP
3 16 (2.36%) ServiceNow
4 12 (1.77%) Autodesk
5 8 (1.18%) Databricks
6 7 (1.03%) Dynatrace
7 6 (0.89%) Confluent
7 6 (0.89%) Sage
7 6 (0.89%) Salesforce
8 4 (0.59%) Aderant
9 3 (0.44%) Google
9 3 (0.44%) iManage
9 3 (0.44%) Intapp
9 3 (0.44%) Splunk
9 3 (0.44%) YouTube
10 2 (0.30%) Alteryx
10 2 (0.30%) Apple
10 2 (0.30%) Citrix
10 2 (0.30%) Draytek
10 2 (0.30%) F5