QA Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Quality Assurance (QA)
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring QA skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 10 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 71 69 70
Rank change year-on-year -2 +1 -53
Permanent jobs citing QA 1,545 957 2,464
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 2.57% 3.71% 3.78%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 27.04% 23.61% 27.29%
Number of salaries quoted 807 524 1,577
10th Percentile £30,000 £32,500 £26,800
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +10.53% -9.52%
75th Percentile £65,000 £65,000 £62,500
90th Percentile £78,500 £82,500 £77,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £57,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -4.35% +9.52% -12.50%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK excluding London

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 UK excluding London.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 5,713 4,054 9,030
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 9.51% 15.70% 13.84%
Number of salaries quoted 3,221 2,350 6,205
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,822 £25,750
25th Percentile £37,500 £37,500 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £53,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -0.94% +11.58% -5.00%
75th Percentile £67,500 £68,568 £63,250
90th Percentile £83,750 £83,750 £77,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £60,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year - +14.29% -8.70%

QA
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing QA relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

QA job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

QA
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing QA.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing QA

QA
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing QA in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 10 April 2026.

Salary histogram for QA in the UK excluding London

QA
Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing QA within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 10 April 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
North of England -23 368 £45,000 -14.29% 174
South East -12 332 £53,663 +7.33% 187
Midlands +27 311 £45,000 -16.18% 105
North West +11 204 £45,000 -14.29% 93
West Midlands +35 180 £52,500 -2.21% 68
South West +4 166 £51,250 -10.87% 84
East of England -1 146 £50,000 +1.01% 70
East Midlands -7 131 £41,250 -17.50% 37
Scotland +34 115 £41,750 -24.09% 43
Yorkshire -11 112 £43,474 -3.39% 50
Northern Ireland +3 76 £65,000 -20.00% 6
North East -36 52 £45,000 -18.18% 32
Wales -4 44 £65,000 +12.92% 21
QA
UK

QA
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 46 (2.98%) SharePoint
2 21 (1.36%) Confluence
3 19 (1.23%) CMS
4 11 (0.71%) WordPress
5 7 (0.45%) nginx
6 5 (0.32%) Microsoft Exchange
7 4 (0.26%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 4 (0.26%) WebSphere
7 4 (0.26%) WebSphere Application Server
8 2 (0.13%) Apache Airflow
9 1 (0.065%) Apache
9 1 (0.065%) IIS
Applications
1 92 (5.95%) Microsoft Office
2 87 (5.63%) Microsoft Excel
3 48 (3.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 24 (1.55%) AutoCAD
5 11 (0.71%) Spreadsheet
6 9 (0.58%) Photoshop
7 8 (0.52%) Adobe Illustrator
8 7 (0.45%) MS Visio
9 4 (0.26%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 4 (0.26%) Trello
10 3 (0.19%) Microsoft Project
11 2 (0.13%) Adobe After Effects
11 2 (0.13%) Adobe Captivate
11 2 (0.13%) Adobe Premiere
11 2 (0.13%) Elementor
12 1 (0.065%) Chatbot
12 1 (0.065%) InDesign
12 1 (0.065%) Simulink
12 1 (0.065%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 9 (0.58%) SAP ERP
2 8 (0.52%) Shopify
3 5 (0.32%) SAP PM
4 4 (0.26%) Academy Housing
5 3 (0.19%) Dynamics CRM
5 3 (0.19%) Integrated Workplace Management System
5 3 (0.19%) Oracle ERP
6 2 (0.13%) Infor SunSystems
6 2 (0.13%) NetSuite
6 2 (0.13%) ResourceLink
6 2 (0.13%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.13%) SAP Hybris
7 1 (0.065%) Sage 200
7 1 (0.065%) Sage X3
7 1 (0.065%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 199 (12.88%) Azure
2 168 (10.87%) AWS
3 82 (5.31%) SaaS
4 66 (4.27%) Azure DevOps
5 64 (4.14%) Microsoft 365
6 51 (3.30%) Power Platform
7 41 (2.65%) GCP
8 36 (2.33%) GitHub
9 20 (1.29%) Datadog
10 18 (1.17%) PaaS
10 18 (1.17%) Serverless
11 16 (1.04%) Amazon S3
11 16 (1.04%) AWS Lambda
12 15 (0.97%) Power Automate
13 14 (0.91%) GitHub Actions
14 12 (0.78%) dbt
15 11 (0.71%) Entra ID
16 10 (0.65%) Google Analytics
17 9 (0.58%) Figma
18 8 (0.52%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 23 (1.49%) TETRA
2 13 (0.84%) Broadband
2 13 (0.84%) Remote Desktop
3 9 (0.58%) HTTP
4 8 (0.52%) VLAN
5 7 (0.45%) TCP/IP
6 6 (0.39%) DHCP
6 6 (0.39%) DNS
6 6 (0.39%) MQTT
7 5 (0.32%) SD-WAN
7 5 (0.32%) WAN
7 5 (0.32%) Wireless
8 4 (0.26%) 5G
8 4 (0.26%) NAS
8 4 (0.26%) VPN
8 4 (0.26%) Wi-Fi
9 3 (0.19%) VoIP
10 2 (0.13%) Firewall
10 2 (0.13%) GSM
10 2 (0.13%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 37 (2.39%) Power BI
2 36 (2.33%) SQL Server
3 12 (0.78%) MySQL
4 11 (0.71%) PostgreSQL
5 10 (0.65%) MongoDB
5 10 (0.65%) Relational Database
6 8 (0.52%) DynamoDB
6 8 (0.52%) Tableau
7 7 (0.45%) Metadata
7 7 (0.45%) NoSQL
8 5 (0.32%) Amazon RDS
8 5 (0.32%) Azure SQL Database
8 5 (0.32%) BigQuery
8 5 (0.32%) Data Warehouse
9 3 (0.19%) Data Lake
9 3 (0.19%) Oracle Database
9 3 (0.19%) Power Query
10 2 (0.13%) CockroachDB
10 2 (0.13%) PostHog
10 2 (0.13%) Redis
Development Applications
1 72 (4.66%) JIRA
2 67 (4.34%) Git
3 59 (3.82%) Selenium
4 50 (3.24%) Cypress.io
5 29 (1.88%) GitLab
5 29 (1.88%) Postman
6 28 (1.81%) Cucumber
7 26 (1.68%) JMeter
8 25 (1.62%) Jenkins
9 15 (0.97%) REST Assured
10 12 (0.78%) SonarQube
10 12 (0.78%) TestRail
11 11 (0.71%) Locust
12 10 (0.65%) Zephyr
13 9 (0.58%) Appium
13 9 (0.58%) JUnit
13 9 (0.58%) Maven
13 9 (0.58%) Visual Studio
14 8 (0.52%) SoapUI
15 7 (0.45%) Subversion
General
1 528 (34.17%) Social Skills
2 199 (12.88%) Manufacturing
3 187 (12.10%) Finance
4 170 (11.00%) Analytical Skills
5 62 (4.01%) Law
6 55 (3.56%) Influencing Skills
7 54 (3.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 50 (3.24%) Retail
9 48 (3.11%) Organisational Skills
9 48 (3.11%) Public Sector
10 45 (2.91%) Banking
11 42 (2.72%) Marketing
12 36 (2.33%) Legal
13 35 (2.27%) French Language
14 34 (2.20%) Pharmaceutical
15 31 (2.01%) Aerospace
16 22 (1.42%) Games
17 20 (1.29%) Documentation Skills
18 19 (1.23%) Automotive
18 19 (1.23%) Swedish Language
Job Titles
1 225 (14.56%) QA Manager
2 172 (11.13%) Quality Manager
3 164 (10.61%) Analyst
4 158 (10.23%) Senior
5 157 (10.16%) Lead
6 156 (10.10%) QA Engineer
7 79 (5.11%) Quality Engineer
8 71 (4.60%) Head of QA
9 64 (4.14%) QA Leader
10 57 (3.69%) Senior Manager
11 54 (3.50%) Developer
12 51 (3.30%) Software Engineer
13 49 (3.17%) QA Analyst
14 43 (2.78%) Tester
15 41 (2.65%) Senior QA Manager
16 38 (2.46%) Service Analyst
16 38 (2.46%) Service Desk Analyst
17 36 (2.33%) Senior Quality Manager
18 35 (2.27%) QA Specialist
19 34 (2.20%) QA Officer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 80 (5.18%) .NET
2 64 (4.14%) Playwright
3 48 (3.11%) React
4 47 (3.04%) REST
5 31 (2.01%) HTML
6 28 (1.81%) CSS
7 18 (1.17%) AngularJS
7 18 (1.17%) SOAP
7 18 (1.17%) Web Services
8 17 (1.10%) JSON
9 15 (0.97%) .NET Framework
9 15 (0.97%) Gherkin
9 15 (0.97%) XML
10 12 (0.78%) .NET Core
10 12 (0.78%) ADO
10 12 (0.78%) RabbitMQ
10 12 (0.78%) RESTful
11 11 (0.71%) ASP.NET
11 11 (0.71%) YAML
12 10 (0.65%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 99 (6.41%) Product Ownership
2 83 (5.37%) Analytical Mindset
3 56 (3.62%) Onboarding
4 41 (2.65%) Management Information System
5 39 (2.52%) Self-Motivation
6 29 (1.88%) Cloud Native
7 28 (1.81%) Distributed Systems
8 26 (1.68%) Enterprise Software
9 17 (1.10%) Client/Server
10 15 (0.97%) Low-Code
11 14 (0.91%) e-Learning
11 14 (0.91%) Mobile App
11 14 (0.91%) Virtual Team
12 12 (0.78%) IoT
13 11 (0.71%) Driving Licence
14 10 (0.65%) PMI
14 10 (0.65%) Social Media
15 8 (0.52%) Life Science
16 6 (0.39%) Video Conferencing
16 6 (0.39%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 44 (2.85%) Linux
2 34 (2.20%) Windows
3 17 (1.10%) Android
3 17 (1.10%) Apple iOS
4 6 (0.39%) Unix
5 3 (0.19%) VME
5 3 (0.19%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.13%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.065%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 429 (27.77%) Continuous Improvement
2 290 (18.77%) Agile
3 253 (16.38%) Problem-Solving
4 226 (14.63%) Test Automation
5 195 (12.62%) Coaching
6 194 (12.56%) DevOps
7 190 (12.30%) CI/CD
8 159 (10.29%) Quality Management
9 128 (8.28%) Root Cause Analysis
10 126 (8.16%) Mentoring
10 126 (8.16%) Software Engineering
11 116 (7.51%) Customer Experience
12 107 (6.93%) Analytics
13 103 (6.67%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 99 (6.41%) Scrum
15 97 (6.28%) PRINCE2
16 95 (6.15%) Software Testing
17 94 (6.08%) Project Management
17 94 (6.08%) Service Delivery
18 89 (5.76%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 145 (9.39%) Python
2 108 (6.99%) SQL
3 103 (6.67%) Java
4 99 (6.41%) C#
5 86 (5.57%) JavaScript
6 67 (4.34%) TypeScript
7 24 (1.55%) Bash
8 23 (1.49%) C++
9 20 (1.29%) C
9 20 (1.29%) Go
10 15 (0.97%) PHP
11 13 (0.84%) Rust
12 10 (0.65%) Groovy
13 6 (0.39%) T-SQL
14 5 (0.32%) Apex Code
14 5 (0.32%) PL/SQL
14 5 (0.32%) PowerShell
14 5 (0.32%) R
15 4 (0.26%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 4 (0.26%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 170 (11.00%) Degree
2 78 (5.05%) Security Cleared
3 66 (4.27%) IRCA
4 46 (2.98%) Computer Science Degree
4 46 (2.98%) SC Cleared
5 41 (2.65%) AWS Certification
5 41 (2.65%) DBS Check
5 41 (2.65%) Microsoft Certification
6 38 (2.46%) MCSE
7 32 (2.07%) Six Sigma Yellow Belt
8 28 (1.81%) ISTQB
9 17 (1.10%) BPSS Clearance
9 17 (1.10%) PMI Certification
10 11 (0.71%) DV Cleared
11 8 (0.52%) HND
11 8 (0.52%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 7 (0.45%) PMP
13 5 (0.32%) Master's Degree
14 4 (0.26%) HNC
14 4 (0.26%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 87 (5.63%) ISO 9001
2 81 (5.24%) GDPR
3 52 (3.37%) Accessibility
4 21 (1.36%) Data Quality
4 21 (1.36%) PMO
5 19 (1.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 15 (0.97%) SLA
7 14 (0.91%) GMP
7 14 (0.91%) WCAG
8 12 (0.78%) Software Quality Assurance
9 10 (0.65%) Cyber Essentials
9 10 (0.65%) P3O
10 7 (0.45%) GxP
10 7 (0.45%) PCI DSS
11 6 (0.39%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 6 (0.39%) NIST
12 5 (0.32%) ISO 14001
12 5 (0.32%) ISO/IEC 20000
13 3 (0.19%) Def Stans
13 3 (0.19%) SOC 2
System Software
1 60 (3.88%) Docker
2 17 (1.10%) Active Directory
3 14 (0.91%) Hyper-V
4 10 (0.65%) VMware Infrastructure
5 9 (0.58%) KVM
6 8 (0.52%) Firmware
7 5 (0.32%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.13%) Embedded Firmware
Systems Management
1 61 (3.95%) Kubernetes
2 41 (2.65%) Terraform
3 33 (2.14%) Grafana
4 16 (1.04%) Prometheus
5 10 (0.65%) Ansible
6 7 (0.45%) Argo
6 7 (0.45%) Rancher
6 7 (0.45%) yum
7 6 (0.39%) HP Fortify
8 5 (0.32%) Microsoft Intune
9 4 (0.26%) Packer
10 3 (0.19%) HP ALM
11 2 (0.13%) FTK
11 2 (0.13%) Netcool
11 2 (0.13%) Netcool/OMNIbus
11 2 (0.13%) Puppet
12 1 (0.065%) Functional Safety
12 1 (0.065%) Kibana
12 1 (0.065%) logstash
Vendors
1 182 (11.78%) Microsoft
2 53 (3.43%) ServiceNow
3 29 (1.88%) SAP
4 23 (1.49%) Oracle
5 19 (1.23%) Salesforce
6 17 (1.10%) Google
6 17 (1.10%) Motorola
7 10 (0.65%) VMware
8 7 (0.45%) Adobe
8 7 (0.45%) Intapp
8 7 (0.45%) Pega
9 6 (0.39%) Aderant
9 6 (0.39%) IBM
9 6 (0.39%) iManage
9 6 (0.39%) MuleSoft
10 5 (0.32%) AppDynamics
10 5 (0.32%) Cisco
10 5 (0.32%) SolarWinds
10 5 (0.32%) Splunk
10 5 (0.32%) Veeam