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 13 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 117 93 110
Rank change year-on-year -24 +17 -59
Permanent jobs citing Software Testing 49 90 88
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 1.22% 2.66% 2.21%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.51% 2.90% 2.48%
Number of salaries quoted 43 55 72
10th Percentile £33,300 £43,750 £34,500
25th Percentile £40,015 £48,125 £42,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £51,000 £67,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -24.44% +28.57% -2.33%
75th Percentile £71,250 £71,250 £71,250
90th Percentile £75,000 £79,750 £78,375
South East median annual salary £45,000 £60,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -25.00% +14.29% -4.55%

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 3,244 3,105 3,553
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 80.48% 91.76% 89.27%
Number of salaries quoted 1,761 1,382 2,457
10th Percentile £30,000 £35,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £35,500 £45,000 £39,085
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 £58,000 £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 13 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 13 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 -24 41 £48,750 -25.00% 24
Buckinghamshire -9 9 £52,500 -16.00% 11
Oxfordshire +17 2 £56,250 -37.50% 10
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 (2.04%) WinCC
Cloud Services
1 4 (8.16%) Azure
2 3 (6.12%) Entra ID
3 1 (2.04%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 4 (8.16%) LAN
1 4 (8.16%) WAN
2 1 (2.04%) Cisco ISE
2 1 (2.04%) Ethernet
2 1 (2.04%) Profibus
2 1 (2.04%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (20.41%) OLTP
2 3 (6.12%) SQL Server
3 2 (4.08%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 15 (30.61%) Selenium
1 15 (30.61%) WebDriver
2 14 (28.57%) JIRA
3 13 (26.53%) SoapUI
4 12 (24.49%) Postman
4 12 (24.49%) Team Foundation Server
5 3 (6.12%) Cypress.io
6 2 (4.08%) Subversion
7 1 (2.04%) Jenkins
General
1 20 (40.82%) Social Skills
2 15 (30.61%) Finance
3 7 (14.29%) Analytical Skills
4 4 (8.16%) Telecoms
5 3 (6.12%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 3 (6.12%) Law
5 3 (6.12%) Public Sector
6 2 (4.08%) Documentation Skills
6 2 (4.08%) Influencing Skills
6 2 (4.08%) Retail
7 1 (2.04%) Advertising
7 1 (2.04%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 27 (55.10%) Senior
2 17 (34.69%) Developer
3 14 (28.57%) Senior Developer
4 12 (24.49%) Oracle Developer
4 12 (24.49%) Senior Oracle Developer
5 10 (20.41%) PL/SQL Developer
5 10 (20.41%) Senior PL/SQL Developer
5 10 (20.41%) Senior SQL Developer
5 10 (20.41%) SQL Developer
6 8 (16.33%) Analyst
6 8 (16.33%) Test Analyst
7 6 (12.24%) Senior Analyst
7 6 (12.24%) Senior Test Analyst
7 6 (12.24%) Software Engineer
8 5 (10.20%) Test Manager
9 4 (8.16%) Developer in Test
9 4 (8.16%) Senior Software Engineer
9 4 (8.16%) Software Developer
9 4 (8.16%) Tester
10 3 (6.12%) Senior Data Warehouse Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (48.98%) HTML
2 23 (46.94%) SOAP
3 15 (30.61%) .NET
4 11 (22.45%) XML
5 3 (6.12%) ASP.NET
5 3 (6.12%) Playwright
5 3 (6.12%) React
6 2 (4.08%) JSON
7 1 (2.04%) ASP.NET MVC
Miscellaneous
1 10 (20.41%) Self-Motivation
2 4 (8.16%) Algorithms
2 4 (8.16%) CCTV
2 4 (8.16%) Driving Licence
2 4 (8.16%) Enterprise Software
3 3 (6.12%) Distributed Systems
3 3 (6.12%) N-Tier
3 3 (6.12%) Team-Oriented Environment
4 2 (4.08%) Cloud Native
4 2 (4.08%) PMI
5 1 (2.04%) Fibre Optics
5 1 (2.04%) Greenfield Project
5 1 (2.04%) Legacy Systems
5 1 (2.04%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 4 (8.16%) Linux
1 4 (8.16%) Unix
1 4 (8.16%) Windows
2 3 (6.12%) Windows Server
3 2 (4.08%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 23 (46.94%) Agile
2 21 (42.86%) Problem-Solving
3 18 (36.73%) Test Scripting
4 16 (32.65%) Test Management
5 15 (30.61%) Scrum
6 13 (26.53%) Mentoring
7 12 (24.49%) API Testing
7 12 (24.49%) Cross-Browser Testing
7 12 (24.49%) Non-Functional Testing
8 9 (18.37%) Continuous Improvement
8 9 (18.37%) Test Automation
9 8 (16.33%) Test Strategy
10 7 (14.29%) Computer Science
10 7 (14.29%) Logistics
10 7 (14.29%) SDLC
10 7 (14.29%) Software Engineering
11 6 (12.24%) Mathematics
12 5 (10.20%) Root Cause Analysis
13 4 (8.16%) Open Source
13 4 (8.16%) Parallel Programming
Programming Languages
1 28 (57.14%) SQL
2 18 (36.73%) C#
3 17 (34.69%) Java
4 12 (24.49%) PL/SQL
5 6 (12.24%) C
6 4 (8.16%) Bash
6 4 (8.16%) C++
6 4 (8.16%) Fortran
6 4 (8.16%) Python
7 3 (6.12%) JavaScript
8 1 (2.04%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 31 (63.27%) Degree
2 15 (30.61%) ISTQB
3 14 (28.57%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
4 9 (18.37%) Security Cleared
5 6 (12.24%) SC Cleared
6 4 (8.16%) Master's Degree
6 4 (8.16%) PhD
7 3 (6.12%) Computer Science Degree
7 3 (6.12%) Microsoft Certification
8 2 (4.08%) Numerate Degree
8 2 (4.08%) PMI Certification
9 1 (2.04%) DV Cleared
9 1 (2.04%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (14.29%) QA
2 3 (6.12%) Accessibility
System Software
1 4 (8.16%) Active Directory
2 2 (4.08%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (2.04%) Hyper-V
3 1 (2.04%) Terminal Server
Systems Management
1 2 (4.08%) SCCM
1 2 (4.08%) SCOM
Vendors
1 12 (24.49%) Oracle
2 4 (8.16%) Microsoft
3 3 (6.12%) VMware
4 2 (4.08%) ServiceNow
4 2 (4.08%) Workday
5 1 (2.04%) AVEVA
5 1 (2.04%) Cisco
5 1 (2.04%) Juniper
5 1 (2.04%) McAfee
5 1 (2.04%) Rockwell
5 1 (2.04%) Siemens