Manual Testing Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Manual Testing
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the Thames Valley requiring Manual Testing skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 14 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 155 179 186
Rank change year-on-year +24 +7 +39
Permanent jobs citing Manual Testing 16 2 13
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 0.40% 0.059% 0.33%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.49% 0.064% 0.37%
Number of salaries quoted 5 0 13
10th Percentile £48,250 - £42,500
25th Percentile £51,250 - £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 - £50,000
Median % change year-on-year - - +11.11%
75th Percentile £63,750 - £57,500
90th Percentile £66,000 - -
South East median annual salary £53,500 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +12.63% -5.00% -

All Process & Methodology Skills
Thames Valley

Manual Testing 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 Thames Valley.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 3,245 3,106 3,530
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 80.48% 91.78% 89.19%
Number of salaries quoted 1,770 1,383 2,439
10th Percentile £30,000 £35,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £35,500 £45,000 £39,043
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% +9.09% -
75th Percentile £68,750 £76,000 £68,750
90th Percentile £80,000 £90,000 £83,750
South East median annual salary £50,000 £58,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -14.53% +11.43% -4.55%

Manual Testing
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Manual Testing relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

Manual Testing job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

Manual Testing
Salary Trend in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Manual Testing.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Manual Testing

Manual Testing
Salary Histogram in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution for jobs citing Manual Testing in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 14 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Manual Testing in the Thames Valley

Manual Testing
Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Manual Testing within the Thames Valley 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 - 16 £57,500 - 13
Manual Testing
South East

Manual Testing
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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 (6.25%) Apache
Business Applications
1 9 (56.25%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 9 (56.25%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 1 (6.25%) Cisco ISE
Development Applications
1 12 (75.00%) JIRA
2 9 (56.25%) eCATT
3 2 (12.50%) Selenium
3 2 (12.50%) Subversion
4 1 (6.25%) JMeter
4 1 (6.25%) LoadRunner
General
1 9 (56.25%) Finance
1 9 (56.25%) Influencing Skills
1 9 (56.25%) Manufacturing
1 9 (56.25%) Marketing
1 9 (56.25%) Presentation Skills
2 2 (12.50%) Health Technology
2 2 (12.50%) Tech for Good
3 1 (6.25%) Social Skills
Job Titles
1 9 (56.25%) Analyst
1 9 (56.25%) Automation Test Analyst
1 9 (56.25%) Test Analyst
2 4 (25.00%) Senior
3 2 (12.50%) Senior Data Warehouse Specialist
3 2 (12.50%) Test Specialist
3 2 (12.50%) Tester
4 1 (6.25%) Automation Tester
4 1 (6.25%) Defect Manager
4 1 (6.25%) Performance Tester
4 1 (6.25%) QA Engineer
4 1 (6.25%) Senior Automation Tester
4 1 (6.25%) Senior Test Automation Engineer
4 1 (6.25%) Senior Test Engineer
4 1 (6.25%) Senior Tester
4 1 (6.25%) Test Automation Engineer
4 1 (6.25%) Test Engineer
4 1 (6.25%) Test Manager
Operating Systems
1 3 (18.75%) Windows
2 2 (12.50%) Linux
2 2 (12.50%) Windows Server
2 2 (12.50%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 14 (87.50%) Test Automation
2 13 (81.25%) Test Scripting
3 11 (68.75%) Continuous Improvement
4 10 (62.50%) End-to-End Testing
4 10 (62.50%) Regression Testing
4 10 (62.50%) Scenario Testing
5 9 (56.25%) Continuous Delivery
5 9 (56.25%) ERP
5 9 (56.25%) Integration Testing
5 9 (56.25%) Product Roadmap
5 9 (56.25%) Programme Management
5 9 (56.25%) Risk Management
5 9 (56.25%) Roadmaps
5 9 (56.25%) Source to Pay
5 9 (56.25%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 9 (56.25%) Test Management
5 9 (56.25%) Visualisation
5 9 (56.25%) Workshop Facilitation
6 4 (25.00%) Agile
7 3 (18.75%) Software Testing
Programming Languages
1 3 (18.75%) SQL
2 2 (12.50%) Java
Qualifications
1 5 (31.25%) Security Cleared
2 2 (12.50%) DV Cleared
2 2 (12.50%) SC Cleared
3 1 (6.25%) ISTQB
3 1 (6.25%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (18.75%) QA
2 2 (12.50%) Accessibility
System Software
1 3 (18.75%) Active Directory
2 1 (6.25%) Terminal Server
2 1 (6.25%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 9 (56.25%) HP ALM
2 2 (12.50%) SCCM
2 2 (12.50%) SCOM
Vendors
1 9 (56.25%) HP
1 9 (56.25%) SAP
2 2 (12.50%) VMware
3 1 (6.25%) Cisco
3 1 (6.25%) Juniper
3 1 (6.25%) McAfee