Test Leader Job Trends in the South East

Test Lead
England > South East

The median Test Lead salary in the South East is £60,250 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 14 January 2026.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 226 301 285
Rank change year-on-year +75 -16 +106
Permanent jobs requiring a Test Leader 44 5 10
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 0.42% 0.056% 0.11%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.46% 0.061% 0.12%
Number of salaries quoted 8 1 5
10th Percentile £46,250 - £43,450
25th Percentile £53,750 £62,500 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,250 £65,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -7.31% +30.00% -9.91%
75th Percentile £65,000 £67,500 £75,000
90th Percentile £68,750 - -
England median annual salary £67,500 £66,250 £60,000
% change year-on-year +1.89% +10.42% -4.00%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
South East

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in the South East. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in the South East with a recognized job title 9,545 8,181 8,342
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 91.97% 91.12% 94.76%
Number of salaries quoted 5,970 4,303 6,010
10th Percentile £28,000 £32,750 £29,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £43,911 £38,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £57,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -13.04% +9.52% -4.55%
75th Percentile £65,000 £72,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £85,000 £80,000
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -6.50%

Test Leader
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Test Leader' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Test Leader job vacancy trend in the South East

Test Leader
Salary Trend in the South East

Salary distribution trend for Test Leader job vacancies in the South East.

Salary distribution trend for Test Leader job vacancies in the South East

Test Leader
Salary Histogram in the South East

Salary distribution for jobs citing Test Leader in the South East over the 6 months to 14 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Test Leader in the South East

Test Leader
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 Leader within the South East region over the 6 months to 14 January 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
Berkshire - 35 - - 2
Thames Valley - 35 - - 2
Surrey - 6 £62,500 - 1
Kent - 2 £58,000 -
West Sussex - 1 £57,500 -
Test Leader
England

Test Leader Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East

For the 6 months to 14 January 2026, Test Leader job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads across the South East region featuring Test Leader in the job title.

1 37 (84.09%) Test Management
2 34 (77.27%) Test Strategy
3 33 (75.00%) SAP
3 33 (75.00%) SAP S/4HANA
4 32 (72.73%) Product Roadmap
4 32 (72.73%) Roadmaps
4 32 (72.73%) Source to Pay
5 31 (70.45%) JIRA
6 28 (63.64%) Azure DevOps
7 26 (59.09%) Continuous Delivery
7 26 (59.09%) eCATT
7 26 (59.09%) HP
7 26 (59.09%) HP ALM
7 26 (59.09%) NeoLoad
7 26 (59.09%) Performance Testing
7 26 (59.09%) Requirements Gathering
8 25 (56.82%) Test Automation
9 17 (38.64%) ERP
10 12 (27.27%) Agile
11 10 (22.73%) User Acceptance Testing
11 10 (22.73%) Visualisation
12 7 (15.91%) Validation
13 6 (13.64%) .NET
13 6 (13.64%) C#
13 6 (13.64%) Degree
13 6 (13.64%) Integration Testing
13 6 (13.64%) QA
13 6 (13.64%) Software Testing
13 6 (13.64%) System Integration Testing
13 6 (13.64%) Test Planning

Test Leader Skill Set
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 1 (2.27%) CMS
1 1 (2.27%) Confluence
Business Applications
1 33 (75.00%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 28 (63.64%) Azure DevOps
2 2 (4.55%) Azure
Communications & Networking
1 1 (2.27%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (2.27%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 31 (70.45%) JIRA
2 26 (59.09%) eCATT
2 26 (59.09%) NeoLoad
3 5 (11.36%) Postman
4 4 (9.09%) Selenium
4 4 (9.09%) SoapUI
4 4 (9.09%) Team Foundation Server
4 4 (9.09%) WebDriver
5 1 (2.27%) Charles Proxy
5 1 (2.27%) Fiddler
5 1 (2.27%) TestRail
General
1 36 (81.82%) Finance
2 32 (72.73%) Manufacturing
2 32 (72.73%) Marketing
3 10 (22.73%) Presentation Skills
4 4 (9.09%) Legal
5 2 (4.55%) Military
5 2 (4.55%) Social Skills
6 1 (2.27%) Advertising
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (13.64%) .NET
2 4 (9.09%) HTML
2 4 (9.09%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 1 (2.27%) Over-the-Top Content
Operating Systems
1 1 (2.27%) Android
1 1 (2.27%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 37 (84.09%) Test Management
2 34 (77.27%) Test Strategy
3 32 (72.73%) Product Roadmap
3 32 (72.73%) Roadmaps
3 32 (72.73%) Source to Pay
4 26 (59.09%) Continuous Delivery
4 26 (59.09%) Performance Testing
4 26 (59.09%) Requirements Gathering
5 25 (56.82%) Test Automation
6 17 (38.64%) ERP
7 12 (27.27%) Agile
8 10 (22.73%) User Acceptance Testing
8 10 (22.73%) Visualisation
9 7 (15.91%) Validation
10 6 (13.64%) Integration Testing
10 6 (13.64%) Software Testing
10 6 (13.64%) System Integration Testing
10 6 (13.64%) Test Planning
10 6 (13.64%) Test Scripting
10 6 (13.64%) Unit Testing
Programming Languages
1 6 (13.64%) C#
2 4 (9.09%) Java
2 4 (9.09%) SQL
Qualifications
1 6 (13.64%) Degree
2 4 (9.09%) ISTQB
2 4 (9.09%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
3 2 (4.55%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (13.64%) QA
Systems Management
1 26 (59.09%) HP ALM
Vendors
1 33 (75.00%) SAP
2 26 (59.09%) HP
3 2 (4.55%) Oracle
4 1 (2.27%) Roku