QA Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Quality Assurance (QA)
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the Thames Valley requiring QA skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 15 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 38 78 59
Rank change year-on-year +40 -19 +13
Permanent jobs citing QA 227 138 192
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 3.36% 3.73% 3.73%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 30.93% 22.48% 29.22%
Number of salaries quoted 140 30 106
10th Percentile £39,725 £28,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £48,750 £39,625 £40,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £51,750 £48,925
Median % change year-on-year +15.94% +5.77% -2.64%
75th Percentile £75,000 £64,375 £55,750
90th Percentile £83,750 £72,750 £64,055
South East median annual salary £52,500 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +10.53% -5.00% -9.09%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
Thames Valley

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 Thames Valley.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 734 614 657
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 10.86% 16.59% 12.75%
Number of salaries quoted 478 243 363
10th Percentile £35,000 £25,850 £30,000
25th Percentile £45,000 £39,313 £40,013
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year - +15.79% -5.00%
75th Percentile £73,438 £75,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £84,125 £83,750 £81,250
South East median annual salary £52,500 £55,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year -4.55% +15.79% -7.14%

QA
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

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

QA job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

QA
Salary Trend in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing QA.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing QA

QA
Salary Histogram in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution for jobs citing QA in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 15 August 2026.

Salary histogram for QA in the Thames Valley

QA
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 QA within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 15 August 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 +50 99 £60,000 +30.43% 37
Buckinghamshire +4 77 £50,000 +33.33% 32
Oxfordshire +3 51 £63,750 +6.25% 47
QA
South East

QA
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 6 (2.64%) SharePoint
2 3 (1.32%) Moodle
2 3 (1.32%) WordPress
3 2 (0.88%) CMS
3 2 (0.88%) Confluence
4 1 (0.44%) ArchestrA
4 1 (0.44%) JBoss
4 1 (0.44%) OpenStack
4 1 (0.44%) Red Hat Fuse
Applications
1 2 (0.88%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.44%) Mathcad
2 1 (0.44%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.44%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (0.44%) Microsoft Project
2 1 (0.44%) OrCAD
Business Applications
1 2 (0.88%) SAP ERP
1 2 (0.88%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 50 (22.03%) Azure
2 37 (16.30%) AWS
3 18 (7.93%) SaaS
4 12 (5.29%) GCP
5 10 (4.41%) GitHub
6 8 (3.52%) Azure DevOps
7 7 (3.08%) Serverless
8 6 (2.64%) Amazon EKS
8 6 (2.64%) Amazon S3
8 6 (2.64%) AWS Lambda
9 5 (2.20%) Amazon EC2
9 5 (2.20%) Figma
9 5 (2.20%) Microsoft 365
10 3 (1.32%) Adobe Creative Cloud
10 3 (1.32%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 2 (0.88%) AWS CodePipeline
12 1 (0.44%) Amazon ECS
12 1 (0.44%) GitHub Actions
12 1 (0.44%) iPaaS
12 1 (0.44%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 3 (1.32%) DHCP
1 3 (1.32%) DNS
1 3 (1.32%) Firewall
2 1 (0.44%) Broadband
2 1 (0.44%) RS-485
2 1 (0.44%) SD-WAN
2 1 (0.44%) Software-Defined Networking
2 1 (0.44%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.88%) Data Warehouse
1 2 (0.88%) PostgreSQL
1 2 (0.88%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (0.44%) Amazon Athena
2 1 (0.44%) Amazon RDS
2 1 (0.44%) Amazon Redshift
2 1 (0.44%) IBM InfoSphere
2 1 (0.44%) Metadata
2 1 (0.44%) MongoDB
2 1 (0.44%) Power BI
2 1 (0.44%) Power Query
2 1 (0.44%) Redis
2 1 (0.44%) Relational Database
2 1 (0.44%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 19 (8.37%) Git
2 18 (7.93%) JIRA
3 9 (3.96%) Cucumber
4 8 (3.52%) Jenkins
5 7 (3.08%) GitLab
6 6 (2.64%) Zephyr
7 5 (2.20%) SonarQube
8 4 (1.76%) Artifactory
8 4 (1.76%) Postman
9 2 (0.88%) Polyspace
9 2 (0.88%) Selenium
9 2 (0.88%) VectorCAST
10 1 (0.44%) Cypress.io
10 1 (0.44%) JMeter
10 1 (0.44%) JUnit
10 1 (0.44%) LoadRunner
General
1 84 (37.00%) Social Skills
2 37 (16.30%) Analytical Skills
3 27 (11.89%) Influencing Skills
4 22 (9.69%) Pharmaceutical
5 19 (8.37%) Legal
6 18 (7.93%) Manufacturing
7 12 (5.29%) Finance
8 6 (2.64%) Electronics
8 6 (2.64%) Organisational Skills
9 4 (1.76%) Banking
10 3 (1.32%) Law
10 3 (1.32%) Multimedia
10 3 (1.32%) Public Sector
10 3 (1.32%) Telecoms
11 2 (0.88%) Aerospace
11 2 (0.88%) Games
11 2 (0.88%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 2 (0.88%) Local Government
11 2 (0.88%) Military
12 1 (0.44%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 50 (22.03%) Lead
2 33 (14.54%) QA Leader
3 24 (10.57%) QA Engineer
4 22 (9.69%) Senior
5 21 (9.25%) QA Manager
6 20 (8.81%) Quality Manager
7 17 (7.49%) Test Engineer
8 16 (7.05%) Quality Engineer
8 16 (7.05%) Software Engineer
9 15 (6.61%) Performance Engineer
10 14 (6.17%) Performance Test Engineer
11 11 (4.85%) Analyst
11 11 (4.85%) Engineering Manager
12 10 (4.41%) Auditor
12 10 (4.41%) QA Team Leader
12 10 (4.41%) Team Leader
13 8 (3.52%) Developer
13 8 (3.52%) DevOps Engineer
13 8 (3.52%) Tester
14 7 (3.08%) Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (8.81%) REST
2 15 (6.61%) .NET
3 13 (5.73%) JSON
4 12 (5.29%) React
5 8 (3.52%) Playwright
5 8 (3.52%) RabbitMQ
5 8 (3.52%) SOAP
6 7 (3.08%) Middleware
6 7 (3.08%) XML
7 6 (2.64%) Blazor
7 6 (2.64%) Node.js
7 6 (2.64%) Web Services
8 5 (2.20%) Django
8 5 (2.20%) Elastic Stack
8 5 (2.20%) RESTful
8 5 (2.20%) Twisted
8 5 (2.20%) WebSockets
9 4 (1.76%) JWT
9 4 (1.76%) OAuth2
9 4 (1.76%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 25 (11.01%) Product Ownership
2 18 (7.93%) Distributed Systems
2 18 (7.93%) Life Science
2 18 (7.93%) Pharmacovigilance
3 9 (3.96%) Self-Motivation
4 5 (2.20%) Cloud Native
4 5 (2.20%) Robotics
4 5 (2.20%) Video Conferencing
5 4 (1.76%) Client/Server
5 4 (1.76%) Driving Licence
5 4 (1.76%) Onboarding
6 3 (1.32%) Animation
6 3 (1.32%) e-Learning
6 3 (1.32%) Learning Management System
6 3 (1.32%) Private Cloud
6 3 (1.32%) Public Cloud
6 3 (1.32%) Renewable Energy
6 3 (1.32%) SCORM
6 3 (1.32%) Virtual Team
7 2 (0.88%) Embedded Systems
Operating Systems
1 17 (7.49%) Linux
2 5 (2.20%) Windows
3 1 (0.44%) Debian
3 1 (0.44%) Robot Operating System
3 1 (0.44%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 69 (30.40%) Continuous Improvement
2 55 (24.23%) Problem-Solving
3 49 (21.59%) Test Automation
4 43 (18.94%) Agile
5 38 (16.74%) Software Engineering
6 36 (15.86%) CAPA
7 33 (14.54%) DevOps
8 32 (14.10%) CI/CD
9 24 (10.57%) Computer Science
10 23 (10.13%) Roadmaps
11 21 (9.25%) Software Testing
12 19 (8.37%) Customer Service
13 18 (7.93%) Change Management
13 18 (7.93%) Code Quality
14 17 (7.49%) AI
14 17 (7.49%) Containerisation
15 16 (7.05%) Test Strategy
16 15 (6.61%) Budgeting and Resource Allocation
16 15 (6.61%) Resource Allocation
16 15 (6.61%) TDD
Programming Languages
1 32 (14.10%) Python
2 16 (7.05%) C#
2 16 (7.05%) SQL
3 15 (6.61%) Java
4 14 (6.17%) TypeScript
5 12 (5.29%) JavaScript
6 9 (3.96%) C
7 7 (3.08%) C++
8 6 (2.64%) Bash
9 5 (2.20%) Groovy
10 4 (1.76%) Rust
11 3 (1.32%) Perl
11 3 (1.32%) PowerShell
12 1 (0.44%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 1 (0.44%) Embedded C
12 1 (0.44%) Go
12 1 (0.44%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 75 (33.04%) Degree
2 25 (11.01%) Computer Science Degree
3 8 (3.52%) ISTQB
4 7 (3.08%) DBS Check
4 7 (3.08%) Security Cleared
5 6 (2.64%) Master's Degree
6 4 (1.76%) SC Cleared
7 3 (1.32%) PhD
7 3 (1.32%) PMI Certification
7 3 (1.32%) PMP
7 3 (1.32%) Postgraduate
8 2 (0.88%) CHECK Team Leader
8 2 (0.88%) CHECK Team Member
8 2 (0.88%) CREST Certified
8 2 (0.88%) CSQA
8 2 (0.88%) Cyber Scheme
8 2 (0.88%) OSCP
8 2 (0.88%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
9 1 (0.44%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (18.50%) Accessibility
2 33 (14.54%) Good Clinical Practice
3 23 (10.13%) GxP
4 8 (3.52%) 21 CFR Part 11
4 8 (3.52%) GLP
4 8 (3.52%) GMP
5 3 (1.32%) Data Quality
5 3 (1.32%) SOC 2
5 3 (1.32%) Software Quality Assurance
5 3 (1.32%) WCAG
6 2 (0.88%) Def Stans
6 2 (0.88%) IEC 61508
6 2 (0.88%) ISO 26262
6 2 (0.88%) NCSC
7 1 (0.44%) ISO 9001
7 1 (0.44%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 1 (0.44%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 1 (0.44%) SLA
System Software
1 17 (7.49%) Docker
2 7 (3.08%) Hyper-V
2 7 (3.08%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (2.20%) Virtual Machines
4 4 (1.76%) KVM
5 3 (1.32%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 15 (6.61%) Kubernetes
1 15 (6.61%) Terraform
2 9 (3.96%) Ansible
3 4 (1.76%) Packer
4 3 (1.32%) Grafana
4 3 (1.32%) Prometheus
5 1 (0.44%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 21 (9.25%) Microsoft
2 7 (3.08%) VMware
3 5 (2.20%) IBM
3 5 (2.20%) ServiceNow
4 4 (1.76%) AppDynamics
5 3 (1.32%) Adobe
6 2 (0.88%) SAP
6 2 (0.88%) UiPath
7 1 (0.44%) Atlassian
7 1 (0.44%) Cisco
7 1 (0.44%) EMC
7 1 (0.44%) Fortinet
7 1 (0.44%) Google
7 1 (0.44%) Informatica
7 1 (0.44%) NVIDIA