Software Testing Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Software Testing
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the Thames Valley requiring Software Testing skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 24 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 116 98 121
Rank change year-on-year -18 +23 -72
Permanent jobs citing Software Testing 55 88 93
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 1.32% 2.59% 1.98%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.65% 2.82% 2.25%
Number of salaries quoted 45 54 78
10th Percentile £33,850 £43,750 £34,500
25th Percentile £41,250 £47,188 £43,713
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,500 £66,250 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -16.23% +26.19% +2.99%
75th Percentile £71,250 £72,188 £71,250
90th Percentile £75,000 £80,125 £76,125
South East median annual salary £47,500 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -13.64% +10.00% -9.09%

All Process & Methodology Skills
Thames Valley

Software 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 3,332 3,126 4,133
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 79.83% 92.13% 87.92%
Number of salaries quoted 1,840 1,354 2,949
10th Percentile £30,000 £35,000 £30,000
25th Percentile £36,151 £45,000 £38,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £60,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% +14.29% -4.55%
75th Percentile £68,750 £76,009 £67,500
90th Percentile £80,000 £90,000 £83,500
South East median annual salary £50,000 £58,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -13.79% +10.48% -4.55%

Software Testing
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

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

Software Testing job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

Software Testing
Salary Trend in the Thames Valley

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

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

Software Testing
Salary Histogram in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution for jobs citing Software Testing in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 24 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Software Testing in the Thames Valley

Software 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 Software Testing within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 24 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 -21 42 £50,500 -22.31% 27
Buckinghamshire -6 10 £60,000 -4.00% 14
Oxfordshire +9 4 £67,500 -25.00% 14
Software Testing
South East

Software 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 (1.82%) WinCC
Cloud Services
1 7 (12.73%) Azure
2 3 (5.45%) Entra ID
3 1 (1.82%) AWS
3 1 (1.82%) GCP
3 1 (1.82%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 2 (3.64%) Cisco ISE
1 2 (3.64%) LAN
1 2 (3.64%) WAN
2 1 (1.82%) Ethernet
2 1 (1.82%) Profibus
2 1 (1.82%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (20.00%) OLTP
2 4 (7.27%) SQL Server
3 2 (3.64%) Azure SQL Database
4 1 (1.82%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 16 (29.09%) Selenium
2 15 (27.27%) JIRA
2 15 (27.27%) WebDriver
3 13 (23.64%) SoapUI
4 12 (21.82%) Postman
4 12 (21.82%) Team Foundation Server
5 4 (7.27%) Cypress.io
6 3 (5.45%) Subversion
7 1 (1.82%) GitLab
7 1 (1.82%) Jenkins
General
1 23 (41.82%) Social Skills
2 15 (27.27%) Finance
3 8 (14.55%) Analytical Skills
4 4 (7.27%) Public Sector
4 4 (7.27%) Retail
5 3 (5.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 3 (5.45%) Law
6 2 (3.64%) Documentation Skills
6 2 (3.64%) Influencing Skills
6 2 (3.64%) Telecoms
7 1 (1.82%) Advertising
7 1 (1.82%) Manufacturing
7 1 (1.82%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 29 (52.73%) Senior
2 19 (34.55%) Developer
3 15 (27.27%) Senior Developer
4 13 (23.64%) Oracle Developer
4 13 (23.64%) Senior Oracle Developer
5 11 (20.00%) PL/SQL Developer
5 11 (20.00%) Senior PL/SQL Developer
5 11 (20.00%) Senior SQL Developer
5 11 (20.00%) SQL Developer
6 8 (14.55%) Analyst
6 8 (14.55%) Test Analyst
7 6 (10.91%) Senior Analyst
7 6 (10.91%) Senior Test Analyst
7 6 (10.91%) Software Engineer
8 5 (9.09%) Developer in Test
8 5 (9.09%) Software Developer
8 5 (9.09%) Test Manager
9 4 (7.27%) Lead
9 4 (7.27%) Senior Data Warehouse Specialist
9 4 (7.27%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (45.45%) HTML
2 24 (43.64%) SOAP
3 16 (29.09%) .NET
4 12 (21.82%) XML
5 4 (7.27%) Playwright
6 3 (5.45%) ASP.NET
6 3 (5.45%) React
7 2 (3.64%) JSON
8 1 (1.82%) ASP.NET MVC
Miscellaneous
1 10 (18.18%) Self-Motivation
2 4 (7.27%) Algorithms
2 4 (7.27%) Enterprise Software
3 3 (5.45%) Cloud Native
3 3 (5.45%) Distributed Systems
3 3 (5.45%) N-Tier
3 3 (5.45%) Team-Oriented Environment
4 2 (3.64%) CCTV
4 2 (3.64%) Driving Licence
4 2 (3.64%) Legacy Systems
4 2 (3.64%) PMI
5 1 (1.82%) Fibre Optics
5 1 (1.82%) Greenfield Project
5 1 (1.82%) Life Science
5 1 (1.82%) Renewable Energy
5 1 (1.82%) SCADA
5 1 (1.82%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 5 (9.09%) Windows
2 4 (7.27%) Linux
2 4 (7.27%) Unix
2 4 (7.27%) Windows Server
3 3 (5.45%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 26 (47.27%) Agile
2 23 (41.82%) Problem-Solving
3 19 (34.55%) Test Scripting
4 16 (29.09%) Scrum
4 16 (29.09%) Test Management
5 15 (27.27%) Test Automation
6 13 (23.64%) Mentoring
7 12 (21.82%) API Testing
7 12 (21.82%) Cross-Browser Testing
7 12 (21.82%) Non-Functional Testing
8 11 (20.00%) Test Strategy
9 10 (18.18%) Continuous Improvement
9 10 (18.18%) Software Engineering
10 8 (14.55%) Computer Science
11 7 (12.73%) Logistics
11 7 (12.73%) SDLC
12 6 (10.91%) Mathematics
13 5 (9.09%) Manual Testing
13 5 (9.09%) Root Cause Analysis
13 5 (9.09%) SDET
Programming Languages
1 30 (54.55%) SQL
2 19 (34.55%) C#
3 18 (32.73%) Java
4 13 (23.64%) PL/SQL
5 6 (10.91%) C
6 5 (9.09%) Python
7 4 (7.27%) Bash
7 4 (7.27%) C++
7 4 (7.27%) Fortran
7 4 (7.27%) JavaScript
8 2 (3.64%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 33 (60.00%) Degree
2 16 (29.09%) ISTQB
3 14 (25.45%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
4 11 (20.00%) Security Cleared
5 6 (10.91%) SC Cleared
6 4 (7.27%) Master's Degree
6 4 (7.27%) PhD
7 3 (5.45%) Computer Science Degree
7 3 (5.45%) Microsoft Certification
8 2 (3.64%) DV Cleared
8 2 (3.64%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 2 (3.64%) Numerate Degree
8 2 (3.64%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (14.55%) QA
2 3 (5.45%) Accessibility
System Software
1 5 (9.09%) Active Directory
2 3 (5.45%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (3.64%) Terminal Server
4 1 (1.82%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 3 (5.45%) SCCM
1 3 (5.45%) SCOM
Vendors
1 14 (25.45%) Oracle
2 4 (7.27%) Microsoft
2 4 (7.27%) VMware
3 2 (3.64%) Cisco
3 2 (3.64%) Juniper
3 2 (3.64%) McAfee
3 2 (3.64%) ServiceNow
3 2 (3.64%) Workday
4 1 (1.82%) AVEVA
4 1 (1.82%) Google
4 1 (1.82%) Rockwell
4 1 (1.82%) Siemens