Test Automation Job Trends in the South East

Automated Testing
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the South East requiring Test Automation skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 7 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 121 96 101
Rank change year-on-year -25 +5 -64
Permanent jobs citing Test Automation 203 232 457
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 1.39% 2.94% 2.57%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.94% 3.26% 3.12%
Number of salaries quoted 153 104 291
10th Percentile £43,500 £36,250 £37,500
25th Percentile £47,500 £43,750 £43,875
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -4.35%
75th Percentile £77,500 £65,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £85,000 £74,625 £72,500
England median annual salary £62,500 £62,500 £60,000
% change year-on-year - +4.17% -7.69%

All Process & Methodology Skills
South East

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 South East.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 10,457 7,126 14,642
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.80% 90.45% 82.36%
Number of salaries quoted 7,207 3,372 10,204
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £27,750
25th Percentile £39,280 £35,000 £37,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% +5.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,250 £78,750
England median annual salary £60,000 £58,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +3.45% +5.45% -12.00%

Test Automation
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

Test Automation job vacancy trend in the South East

Test Automation
Salary Trend in the South East

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Test Automation.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Test Automation

Test Automation
Salary Histogram in the South East

Salary distribution for jobs citing Test Automation in the South East over the 6 months to 7 June 2026.

Salary histogram for Test Automation in the South East

Test Automation
Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Test Automation within the South East region over the 6 months to 7 June 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
Thames Valley +25 95 £62,250 +13.18% 43
Buckinghamshire -4 46 £60,000 - 2
Hampshire -69 32 £66,250 +20.45% 30
Berkshire +27 29 £62,500 -12.59% 21
Surrey +1 24 £75,000 +30.43% 12
Oxfordshire -22 20 £60,000 +9.09% 20
Isle of Wight +6 13 £45,000 -25.00% 1
Kent -27 12 £52,500 +40.00% 1
East Sussex -14 10 £53,750 +13.16% 3
Sussex -4 7 £85,000 +13.33% 1
West Sussex -13 7 £59,500 -13.45% 5
Test Automation
England

Test Automation
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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 4 (1.97%) SharePoint
2 3 (1.48%) Apache Airflow
3 2 (0.99%) JBoss
4 1 (0.49%) Confluence
4 1 (0.49%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.49%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 6 (2.96%) Simulink
2 2 (0.99%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.49%) Lightworks
Business Applications
1 6 (2.96%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 74 (36.45%) AWS
1 74 (36.45%) Azure
2 28 (13.79%) GCP
3 18 (8.87%) Azure DevOps
4 15 (7.39%) SaaS
5 13 (6.40%) AWS Lambda
5 13 (6.40%) Serverless
6 12 (5.91%) GitHub
7 9 (4.43%) Amazon EKS
7 9 (4.43%) Amazon S3
8 6 (2.96%) Amazon EC2
8 6 (2.96%) Dynamics 365
8 6 (2.96%) Microsoft 365
9 5 (2.46%) Figma
10 3 (1.48%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 3 (1.48%) Amazon Kinesis
10 3 (1.48%) Azure Cosmos DB
10 3 (1.48%) BrowserStack
10 3 (1.48%) dbt
10 3 (1.48%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 7 (3.45%) DNS
2 4 (1.97%) DHCP
2 4 (1.97%) Firewall
3 3 (1.48%) Broadband
3 3 (1.48%) RS-232
4 2 (0.99%) Cisco ISE
5 1 (0.49%) HTTP
5 1 (0.49%) MQTT
5 1 (0.49%) Software-Defined Radio
5 1 (0.49%) SpaceWire
5 1 (0.49%) TCP/IP
5 1 (0.49%) VLAN
5 1 (0.49%) VoIP
5 1 (0.49%) VPN
5 1 (0.49%) WAN
5 1 (0.49%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (6.90%) PostgreSQL
2 12 (5.91%) SQL Server
3 9 (4.43%) MongoDB
3 9 (4.43%) NoSQL
4 6 (2.96%) Oracle Database
5 3 (1.48%) Elasticsearch
5 3 (1.48%) Flink
5 3 (1.48%) Looker
5 3 (1.48%) Redis
6 2 (0.99%) Apache Cassandra
6 2 (0.99%) Azure SQL Database
6 2 (0.99%) Couchbase
6 2 (0.99%) Delta Lake
6 2 (0.99%) Relational Database
7 1 (0.49%) MySQL
7 1 (0.49%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 46 (22.66%) Git
2 19 (9.36%) Selenium
3 17 (8.37%) JIRA
4 13 (6.40%) Cucumber
5 11 (5.42%) Jenkins
6 10 (4.93%) Postman
7 8 (3.94%) GitLab
8 7 (3.45%) Cypress.io
8 7 (3.45%) JUnit
8 7 (3.45%) Zephyr
9 6 (2.96%) SonarQube
10 5 (2.46%) JMeter
10 5 (2.46%) Yeoman
11 4 (1.97%) Artifactory
11 4 (1.97%) SpecFlow
11 4 (1.97%) Visual Studio
12 3 (1.48%) Mockito
12 3 (1.48%) NUnit
12 3 (1.48%) Ranorex
12 3 (1.48%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 62 (30.54%) Social Skills
2 14 (6.90%) Analytical Skills
3 13 (6.40%) Finance
4 10 (4.93%) Games
5 6 (2.96%) Aerospace
5 6 (2.96%) Electronics
5 6 (2.96%) Public Sector
6 4 (1.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 4 (1.97%) Manufacturing
6 4 (1.97%) Telecoms
7 3 (1.48%) Law
8 2 (0.99%) Advertising
8 2 (0.99%) Aviation
8 2 (0.99%) Military
8 2 (0.99%) Retail
9 1 (0.49%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 48 (23.65%) Software Engineer
2 34 (16.75%) Senior
3 30 (14.78%) Lead
4 24 (11.82%) Test Engineer
5 20 (9.85%) QA Engineer
6 17 (8.37%) Analyst
6 17 (8.37%) Software Tester
6 17 (8.37%) Test Automation Engineer
6 17 (8.37%) Tester
7 15 (7.39%) Developer
8 14 (6.90%) Python Engineer
9 11 (5.42%) DevOps Engineer
9 11 (5.42%) QA Automation Engineer
10 10 (4.93%) Automation Tester
10 10 (4.93%) Lead Software Engineer
10 10 (4.93%) Quality Engineer
11 9 (4.43%) Automation Engineer
12 8 (3.94%) Technical Analyst
13 7 (3.45%) Java Developer
13 7 (3.45%) Senior Test Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (20.69%) .NET
2 30 (14.78%) REST
3 24 (11.82%) Playwright
4 21 (10.34%) React
5 14 (6.90%) RESTful
6 13 (6.40%) JSON
7 11 (5.42%) .NET Framework
8 9 (4.43%) AngularJS
8 9 (4.43%) Kafka
8 9 (4.43%) Web Services
9 8 (3.94%) RabbitMQ
9 8 (3.94%) XML
10 7 (3.45%) YAML
11 6 (2.96%) ASP.NET
11 6 (2.96%) Spring
12 5 (2.46%) Django
12 5 (2.46%) OAuth
12 5 (2.46%) SOAP
12 5 (2.46%) Twisted
12 5 (2.46%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 34 (16.75%) Product Ownership
2 32 (15.76%) Distributed Systems
3 17 (8.37%) Client/Server
4 16 (7.88%) Cloud Native
5 15 (7.39%) Algorithms
6 10 (4.93%) Self-Motivation
7 9 (4.43%) Data Structures
8 8 (3.94%) Embedded Systems
9 7 (3.45%) FPGA
9 7 (3.45%) Mobile App
9 7 (3.45%) Verilog
9 7 (3.45%) VHDL
10 6 (2.96%) Onboarding
11 5 (2.46%) PCIe
11 5 (2.46%) Video Conferencing
11 5 (2.46%) Video\Live Streaming
12 4 (1.97%) Virtual Team
13 3 (1.48%) Private Cloud
13 3 (1.48%) Public Cloud
13 3 (1.48%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 31 (15.27%) Linux
2 12 (5.91%) Windows
3 4 (1.97%) Android
4 3 (1.48%) Windows Server
5 2 (0.99%) Apple iOS
5 2 (0.99%) Windows Server 2019
6 1 (0.49%) Ubuntu
6 1 (0.49%) Unix
6 1 (0.49%) VxWorks
6 1 (0.49%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.49%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 96 (47.29%) Agile
2 72 (35.47%) Software Engineering
3 68 (33.50%) DevOps
4 65 (32.02%) CI/CD
5 55 (27.09%) Software Testing
6 49 (24.14%) Containerisation
6 49 (24.14%) Problem-Solving
7 43 (21.18%) Computer Science
8 41 (20.20%) Continuous Improvement
9 34 (16.75%) AI
10 31 (15.27%) Code Quality
11 29 (14.29%) Validation
12 26 (12.81%) Mentoring
13 25 (12.32%) Infrastructure as Code
13 25 (12.32%) Microservices
14 23 (11.33%) Event-Driven
15 21 (10.34%) Regression Testing
15 21 (10.34%) Test Strategy
16 20 (9.85%) TDD
17 19 (9.36%) Manual Testing
Programming Languages
1 80 (39.41%) Python
2 44 (21.67%) C#
3 38 (18.72%) Java
4 31 (15.27%) JavaScript
5 30 (14.78%) C
5 30 (14.78%) TypeScript
6 27 (13.30%) C++
7 19 (9.36%) SQL
8 18 (8.87%) Rust
9 15 (7.39%) Go
10 9 (4.43%) Embedded C
10 9 (4.43%) Embedded C++
10 9 (4.43%) MATLAB
11 7 (3.45%) Groovy
12 6 (2.96%) Bash
12 6 (2.96%) PowerShell
13 4 (1.97%) Apex Code
13 4 (1.97%) Perl
13 4 (1.97%) Ruby
14 3 (1.48%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 55 (27.09%) Degree
2 36 (17.73%) Security Cleared
3 35 (17.24%) Computer Science Degree
4 17 (8.37%) SC Cleared
5 14 (6.90%) ISTQB
6 9 (4.43%) DV Cleared
7 3 (1.48%) BPSS Clearance
7 3 (1.48%) Chartered Engineer
8 2 (0.99%) Azure Certification
8 2 (0.99%) CSQA
8 2 (0.99%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 1 (0.49%) AWS Certification
9 1 (0.49%) CCIE
9 1 (0.49%) CCNA
9 1 (0.49%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (0.49%) DBS Check
9 1 (0.49%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 91 (44.83%) QA
2 12 (5.91%) Data Quality
3 4 (1.97%) Accessibility
4 3 (1.48%) ISO/IEC 12207
4 3 (1.48%) SOC 2
5 2 (0.99%) WCAG
6 1 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.49%) Def Stans
6 1 (0.49%) ECSS
6 1 (0.49%) GDPR
6 1 (0.49%) IEC 61508
6 1 (0.49%) ISO 26262
6 1 (0.49%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 42 (20.69%) Docker
2 19 (9.36%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (8.87%) Hyper-V
4 14 (6.90%) KVM
5 9 (4.43%) Firmware
6 6 (2.96%) Active Directory
7 5 (2.46%) Virtual Machines
8 3 (1.48%) Embedded Firmware
9 2 (0.99%) Terminal Server
Systems Management
1 36 (17.73%) Kubernetes
2 19 (9.36%) Terraform
3 10 (4.93%) Ansible
4 7 (3.45%) Grafana
5 5 (2.46%) Prometheus
6 4 (1.97%) Packer
7 3 (1.48%) Argo
8 2 (0.99%) Kibana
8 2 (0.99%) MIIS
8 2 (0.99%) SCCM
8 2 (0.99%) SCOM
9 1 (0.49%) Functional Safety
9 1 (0.49%) HP Quality Center
9 1 (0.49%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 24 (11.82%) Microsoft
2 19 (9.36%) VMware
3 13 (6.40%) Salesforce
4 8 (3.94%) Oracle
5 7 (3.45%) ServiceNow
6 6 (2.96%) MuleSoft
7 5 (2.46%) AppDynamics
7 5 (2.46%) IBM
8 3 (1.48%) Confluent
8 3 (1.48%) Google
9 2 (0.99%) Cisco
9 2 (0.99%) Juniper
9 2 (0.99%) McAfee
9 2 (0.99%) Splunk
9 2 (0.99%) Xamarin
10 1 (0.49%) 3PAR
10 1 (0.49%) Black Duck
10 1 (0.49%) Databricks
10 1 (0.49%) HP
10 1 (0.49%) Palo Alto