Test Automation Job Trends in the North of England

Automated Testing
England > North of England

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the North of England requiring Test Automation skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 20 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 95 109 77
Rank change year-on-year +14 -32 +21
Permanent jobs citing Test Automation 391 252 368
As % of all permanent jobs in the North of England 1.63% 2.68% 2.61%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.31% 3.07% 3.32%
Number of salaries quoted 262 101 140
10th Percentile £40,575 £39,000 £39,498
25th Percentile £47,000 £48,500 £45,930
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.17% +9.09% -4.35%
75th Percentile £74,987 £70,000 £68,750
90th Percentile £83,750 £81,250 £78,750
England median annual salary £62,500 £65,000 £62,500
% change year-on-year -3.85% +4.00% -

All Process & Methodology Skills
North of England

Test Automation falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the North of England.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 16,924 8,214 11,093
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North of England 70.72% 87.46% 78.67%
Number of salaries quoted 12,561 4,093 6,054
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,750 £39,390
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £48,750 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +12.82% -2.50% -9.09%
75th Percentile £75,000 £65,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £80,000 £78,750
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -8.00%

Test Automation
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

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

Test Automation job vacancy trend in the North of England

Test Automation
Salary Trend in the North of England

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

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Test Automation

Test Automation
Salary Histogram in the North of England

Salary distribution for jobs citing Test Automation in the North of England over the 6 months to 20 September 2026.

Salary histogram for Test Automation in the North of England

Test Automation
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 Test Automation within the North of England region over the 6 months to 20 September 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 -2 190 £60,000 - 228
North East +17 110 £55,000 +67.30% 61
Yorkshire +12 94 £69,310 +26.02% 116
Test Automation
England

Test Automation
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 17 (4.35%) Apache Spark
2 14 (3.58%) Apache
2 14 (3.58%) Apache Airflow
2 14 (3.58%) Jupyter
3 13 (3.32%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 8 (2.05%) Confluence
5 3 (0.77%) CMS
5 3 (0.77%) nginx
5 3 (0.77%) SharePoint
6 2 (0.51%) Umbraco
6 2 (0.51%) WebLogic
7 1 (0.26%) Headless CMS
7 1 (0.26%) Kentico
7 1 (0.26%) WordPress
Applications
1 3 (0.77%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.26%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 4 (1.02%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.26%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 164 (41.94%) AWS
2 124 (31.71%) Azure
3 62 (15.86%) Azure DevOps
4 57 (14.58%) Serverless
5 39 (9.97%) Amazon S3
6 35 (8.95%) GitHub
7 28 (7.16%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 26 (6.65%) AWS Lambda
9 23 (5.88%) Amazon EC2
10 22 (5.63%) GCP
11 19 (4.86%) Azure Data Factory
12 18 (4.60%) Amazon ECR
12 18 (4.60%) SaaS
13 17 (4.35%) GitHub Actions
14 15 (3.84%) Amazon EMR
14 15 (3.84%) Azure AKS
15 14 (3.58%) Amazon ECS
15 14 (3.58%) AWS CloudFormation
15 14 (3.58%) Azure Service Bus
15 14 (3.58%) Firebase
Communications & Networking
1 2 (0.51%) HTTP
1 2 (0.51%) SMS
2 1 (0.26%) DNS
2 1 (0.26%) Reverse Proxy
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (7.16%) MongoDB
2 23 (5.88%) PostgreSQL
3 22 (5.63%) DynamoDB
4 19 (4.86%) SQL Server
5 17 (4.35%) Amazon Athena
6 16 (4.09%) NoSQL
7 14 (3.58%) Data Warehouse
8 12 (3.07%) Spark SQL
9 8 (2.05%) Relational Database
10 7 (1.79%) MySQL
11 6 (1.53%) Amazon Redshift
11 6 (1.53%) Data Lake
11 6 (1.53%) Delta Lake
11 6 (1.53%) Metadata
12 5 (1.28%) DocumentDB
12 5 (1.28%) Elasticsearch
12 5 (1.28%) Semantic Layer
13 4 (1.02%) BigQuery
13 4 (1.02%) Neo4j
13 4 (1.02%) Redis
Development Applications
1 77 (19.69%) GitLab
2 43 (11.00%) Git
3 40 (10.23%) Jenkins
4 26 (6.65%) JIRA
5 21 (5.37%) Cypress.io
6 19 (4.86%) Postman
7 15 (3.84%) fastlane
7 15 (3.84%) Maven
8 13 (3.32%) JUnit
8 13 (3.32%) Spock
9 12 (3.07%) Cucumber
10 11 (2.81%) SonarQube
11 10 (2.56%) Bitbucket
11 10 (2.56%) JMeter
12 8 (2.05%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 8 (2.05%) Selenium
12 8 (2.05%) Storybook
13 6 (1.53%) Xcode
14 5 (1.28%) Android Studio
14 5 (1.28%) Gradle
General
1 102 (26.09%) Social Skills
2 84 (21.48%) Public Sector
3 68 (17.39%) Finance
4 46 (11.76%) Analytical Skills
5 42 (10.74%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 15 (3.84%) Banking
7 13 (3.32%) Marketing
8 11 (2.81%) Publishing
9 10 (2.56%) Legal
10 9 (2.30%) Investment Banking
11 8 (2.05%) Electronics
11 8 (2.05%) Games
12 7 (1.79%) Documentation Skills
12 7 (1.79%) Retail
13 6 (1.53%) Law
13 6 (1.53%) Manufacturing
14 3 (0.77%) Organisational Skills
14 3 (0.77%) Police
14 3 (0.77%) Tech for Good
15 2 (0.51%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 110 (28.13%) Senior
2 72 (18.41%) Developer
3 59 (15.09%) Test Engineer
4 46 (11.76%) Lead
5 42 (10.74%) DevOps Engineer
6 33 (8.44%) Software Engineer
7 29 (7.42%) Senior Developer
8 28 (7.16%) Data Engineer
8 28 (7.16%) Full-Stack Engineer
9 24 (6.14%) Senior DevOps
9 24 (6.14%) Senior DevOps Engineer
10 22 (5.63%) Analyst
11 17 (4.35%) Java Developer
12 16 (4.09%) QA Engineer
13 15 (3.84%) Databricks Engineer
14 14 (3.58%) Databricks Data Engineer
14 14 (3.58%) Java Engineer
15 13 (3.32%) Software Developer
16 12 (3.07%) Lead Data Engineer
17 11 (2.81%) Azure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 70 (17.90%) Node.js
1 70 (17.90%) Terraform
2 57 (14.58%) AngularJS
3 55 (14.07%) REST
4 43 (11.00%) React
4 43 (11.00%) Spring
5 36 (9.21%) Playwright
6 35 (8.95%) CSS
6 35 (8.95%) HTML
7 34 (8.70%) PySpark
8 30 (7.67%) .NET
8 30 (7.67%) Spring Boot
9 26 (6.65%) RESTful
10 16 (4.09%) Next.js
10 16 (4.09%) Vue
11 13 (3.32%) Kafka
12 11 (2.81%) GraphQL
13 10 (2.56%) React Native
14 9 (2.30%) Gherkin
15 8 (2.05%) UIKit
Miscellaneous
1 48 (12.28%) Product Ownership
2 44 (11.25%) Cloud Native
3 32 (8.18%) Mobile App
4 21 (5.37%) Distributed Systems
5 20 (5.12%) Private Cloud
6 11 (2.81%) Data Structures
7 9 (2.30%) Onboarding
8 8 (2.05%) Low-Code
9 7 (1.79%) AI Agents
9 7 (1.79%) Self-Motivation
10 6 (1.53%) Driving Licence
10 6 (1.53%) Legacy Systems
10 6 (1.53%) Marketing Technology
10 6 (1.53%) Virtual Team
11 5 (1.28%) Enterprise Software
11 5 (1.28%) Greenfield Project
12 4 (1.02%) Online Games
13 3 (0.77%) PKI
13 3 (0.77%) Replication
14 2 (0.51%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 33 (8.44%) Linux
2 27 (6.91%) Windows
3 22 (5.63%) Unix
4 14 (3.58%) Apple iOS
5 10 (2.56%) Android
6 4 (1.02%) VMS
7 1 (0.26%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 265 (67.77%) CI/CD
2 223 (57.03%) Agile
3 177 (45.27%) DevOps
4 137 (35.04%) Mentoring
5 112 (28.64%) Continuous Improvement
6 101 (25.83%) Problem-Solving
7 97 (24.81%) Software Engineering
8 77 (19.69%) Coaching
8 77 (19.69%) Scrum
9 75 (19.18%) Full-Stack Development
10 74 (18.93%) Infrastructure as Code
10 74 (18.93%) Microservices
11 69 (17.65%) AI
12 65 (16.62%) TDD
13 64 (16.37%) Continuous Integration
13 64 (16.37%) Observability
14 57 (14.58%) Software Testing
15 53 (13.55%) Technical Leadership
16 48 (12.28%) Test Strategy
16 48 (12.28%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 128 (32.74%) Java
2 121 (30.95%) Python
3 107 (27.37%) JavaScript
4 94 (24.04%) SQL
5 75 (19.18%) TypeScript
6 45 (11.51%) C#
7 16 (4.09%) Bash
8 12 (3.07%) Groovy
8 12 (3.07%) Swift
9 10 (2.56%) C++
10 8 (2.05%) Kotlin
10 8 (2.05%) PowerShell
10 8 (2.05%) Ruby
11 6 (1.53%) C
12 5 (1.28%) Go
13 4 (1.02%) PHP
14 3 (0.77%) Bicep
14 3 (0.77%) VB
14 3 (0.77%) VB.NET
15 2 (0.51%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 62 (15.86%) Security Cleared
2 51 (13.04%) SC Cleared
3 28 (7.16%) Degree
4 16 (4.09%) Computer Science Degree
5 11 (2.81%) HNC
6 6 (1.53%) AWS Certification
6 6 (1.53%) DBS Check
7 5 (1.28%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
7 5 (1.28%) Master's Degree
8 4 (1.02%) HND
9 3 (0.77%) ISTQB
9 3 (0.77%) NVQ Level 3
10 2 (0.51%) DV Cleared
10 2 (0.51%) Microsoft Certification
11 1 (0.26%) BPSS Clearance
11 1 (0.26%) CISM
11 1 (0.26%) CISSP
11 1 (0.26%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
11 1 (0.26%) ITIL Certification
11 1 (0.26%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 96 (24.55%) QA
2 48 (12.28%) Accessibility
3 29 (7.42%) WCAG
4 23 (5.88%) Data Quality
5 13 (3.32%) GDPR
6 3 (0.77%) GRC
7 2 (0.51%) PMO
8 1 (0.26%) ISO 22301
8 1 (0.26%) NIST
System Software
1 72 (18.41%) Docker
Systems Management
1 39 (9.97%) Kubernetes
2 13 (3.32%) Argo
3 8 (2.05%) Ansible
4 5 (1.28%) Grafana
5 3 (0.77%) Packer
5 3 (0.77%) Progress Chef
5 3 (0.77%) Puppet
6 2 (0.51%) Kibana
6 2 (0.51%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (0.26%) Fluentd
7 1 (0.26%) HP Fortify
7 1 (0.26%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 34 (8.70%) Microsoft
2 26 (6.65%) Databricks
3 18 (4.60%) Splunk
4 17 (4.35%) Dynatrace
5 16 (4.09%) AppDynamics
6 13 (3.32%) Adobe
7 11 (2.81%) Google
8 9 (2.30%) Salesforce
9 8 (2.05%) Apple
10 7 (1.79%) Pega
11 5 (1.28%) Confluent
12 4 (1.02%) Allen-Bradley
12 4 (1.02%) Sage
12 4 (1.02%) Siemens
13 3 (0.77%) IBM
13 3 (0.77%) Keysight
13 3 (0.77%) SAP
14 2 (0.51%) Braze
14 2 (0.51%) dotdigital
14 2 (0.51%) UiPath