Test Automation Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Automated Testing
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring Test Automation skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 12 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 107 82 107
Rank change year-on-year -25 +25 -74
Permanent jobs citing Test Automation 1,009 1,066 1,885
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 1.52% 3.61% 2.43%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.18% 3.96% 3.03%
Number of salaries quoted 690 475 1,130
10th Percentile £40,725 £37,500 £36,250
25th Percentile £46,906 £46,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,750 £57,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +3.91% +9.52% -8.70%
75th Percentile £75,000 £73,750 £66,250
90th Percentile £83,750 £93,778 £75,000
UK median annual salary £62,500 £62,500 £57,500
% change year-on-year - +8.70% -11.54%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK excluding London

Test Automation 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 UK excluding London.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 46,318 26,901 62,283
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 69.63% 91.20% 80.29%
Number of salaries quoted 32,280 13,607 43,554
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,750 £27,500
25th Percentile £38,750 £33,125 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% - -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,250 £77,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -9.69%

Test Automation
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

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

Test Automation job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Test Automation
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

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

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Test Automation

Test Automation
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing Test Automation in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 12 June 2026.

Salary histogram for Test Automation in the UK excluding London

Test Automation
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 Test Automation within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 12 June 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 -10 282 £60,000 -0.42% 104
South East -18 210 £60,000 +9.09% 116
South West -27 177 £55,000 -8.33% 43
Midlands -13 167 £60,000 +4.35% 56
North West -2 148 £60,000 -7.69% 59
West Midlands -36 84 £61,000 -9.63% 38
East Midlands -18 82 £55,000 +25.71% 18
Yorkshire -30 69 £72,500 +44.36% 26
North East -3 65 £52,500 -8.70% 20
East of England -19 65 £52,500 -7.89% 55
Wales +2 55 £55,000 -4.35% 8
Scotland -40 55 £60,000 - 14
Northern Ireland -33 11 £80,000 +45.45% 6
Test Automation
UK

Test Automation
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 15 (1.49%) Confluence
2 11 (1.09%) Apache Airflow
3 10 (0.99%) SharePoint
4 9 (0.89%) IIS
5 8 (0.79%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 8 (0.79%) Apache
6 7 (0.69%) Apache Spark
6 7 (0.69%) Jupyter
7 5 (0.50%) CMS
8 3 (0.30%) nginx
8 3 (0.30%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 3 (0.30%) WordPress
9 2 (0.20%) JBoss
9 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Exchange
9 2 (0.20%) Oracle Application Server
10 1 (0.099%) Headless CMS
10 1 (0.099%) Umbraco
Applications
1 11 (1.09%) Microsoft Excel
1 11 (1.09%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (0.79%) Simulink
3 4 (0.40%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.30%) CANalyzer
5 2 (0.20%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.20%) Fusion 360
5 2 (0.20%) Lightworks
6 1 (0.099%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 11 (1.09%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (0.50%) Oracle ERP
2 5 (0.50%) Visualfiles
3 4 (0.40%) Dynamics AX
4 2 (0.20%) Towers Watson Igloo
5 1 (0.099%) Magento
5 1 (0.099%) Oracle SCM
5 1 (0.099%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 309 (30.62%) AWS
2 299 (29.63%) Azure
3 153 (15.16%) Azure DevOps
4 100 (9.91%) Serverless
5 95 (9.42%) GitHub
6 73 (7.23%) SaaS
7 69 (6.84%) GCP
8 39 (3.87%) AWS Lambda
8 39 (3.87%) GitHub Actions
9 36 (3.57%) Amazon S3
10 30 (2.97%) PaaS
11 28 (2.78%) dbt
11 28 (2.78%) Power Platform
12 27 (2.68%) AWS CloudFormation
12 27 (2.68%) Firebase
13 22 (2.18%) Azure Data Factory
13 22 (2.18%) Azure Service Bus
14 20 (1.98%) Azure AKS
15 18 (1.78%) Azure Monitor
16 17 (1.68%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 19 (1.88%) Broadband
2 14 (1.39%) Firewall
3 12 (1.19%) WAN
4 11 (1.09%) SD-WAN
5 10 (0.99%) 5G
6 7 (0.69%) Wireless
7 6 (0.59%) DNS
7 6 (0.59%) MQTT
8 5 (0.50%) Bluetooth
8 5 (0.50%) HTTP
8 5 (0.50%) SMS
8 5 (0.50%) Wi-Fi
8 5 (0.50%) ZigBee
9 4 (0.40%) DHCP
10 3 (0.30%) Ethernet
10 3 (0.30%) RS-232
11 2 (0.20%) Cisco ISE
11 2 (0.20%) Modbus
11 2 (0.20%) Software-Defined Radio
11 2 (0.20%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 57 (5.65%) PostgreSQL
2 55 (5.45%) NoSQL
3 54 (5.35%) MongoDB
4 36 (3.57%) SQL Server
5 22 (2.18%) MySQL
6 21 (2.08%) Power BI
7 16 (1.59%) Spark SQL
8 15 (1.49%) DynamoDB
8 15 (1.49%) Oracle Database
9 14 (1.39%) Data Warehouse
10 12 (1.19%) Relational Database
11 7 (0.69%) Amazon Athena
11 7 (0.69%) Elasticsearch
11 7 (0.69%) Flink
12 6 (0.59%) Data Lake
12 6 (0.59%) InfluxDB
12 6 (0.59%) Metadata
12 6 (0.59%) Redis
13 5 (0.50%) Azure SQL Database
13 5 (0.50%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 150 (14.87%) Git
2 90 (8.92%) Jenkins
3 84 (8.33%) Selenium
4 79 (7.83%) GitLab
5 68 (6.74%) JIRA
6 61 (6.05%) Cypress.io
7 44 (4.36%) Postman
8 39 (3.87%) Cucumber
9 32 (3.17%) JMeter
10 25 (2.48%) REST Assured
11 22 (2.18%) JUnit
11 22 (2.18%) LabVIEW
12 20 (1.98%) Crashlytics
13 19 (1.88%) Zephyr
14 18 (1.78%) fastlane
15 15 (1.49%) Gatling
15 15 (1.49%) XCTest
16 14 (1.39%) Gradle
16 14 (1.39%) SonarQube
16 14 (1.39%) TestRail
General
1 244 (24.18%) Social Skills
2 108 (10.70%) Finance
3 95 (9.42%) Public Sector
4 87 (8.62%) Analytical Skills
5 62 (6.14%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 55 (5.45%) Manufacturing
7 53 (5.25%) Electronics
8 28 (2.78%) Banking
8 28 (2.78%) Games
8 28 (2.78%) Marketing
9 19 (1.88%) Documentation Skills
10 18 (1.78%) Retail
11 14 (1.39%) Law
11 14 (1.39%) Organisational Skills
12 13 (1.29%) Legal
13 12 (1.19%) Aerospace
14 9 (0.89%) Investment Banking
15 8 (0.79%) Advertising
16 6 (0.59%) Presentation Skills
16 6 (0.59%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 223 (22.10%) Senior
2 189 (18.73%) Lead
3 156 (15.46%) Test Engineer
4 152 (15.06%) Software Engineer
5 119 (11.79%) Developer
6 62 (6.14%) Test Leader
7 60 (5.95%) Test Automation Engineer
8 54 (5.35%) QA Engineer
9 44 (4.36%) Tester
10 43 (4.26%) DevOps Engineer
10 43 (4.26%) Senior Developer
11 41 (4.06%) Senior Test Engineer
12 37 (3.67%) Full-Stack Engineer
13 35 (3.47%) Analyst
14 34 (3.37%) Data Engineer
15 33 (3.27%) Senior Software Engineer
16 30 (2.97%) Java Engineer
17 27 (2.68%) Senior DevOps
17 27 (2.68%) Senior DevOps Engineer
18 26 (2.58%) Full-Stack Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 110 (10.90%) React
2 94 (9.32%) .NET
2 94 (9.32%) Playwright
2 94 (9.32%) REST
3 87 (8.62%) Node.js
4 72 (7.14%) RESTful
5 65 (6.44%) Spring
6 53 (5.25%) Spring Boot
7 52 (5.15%) AngularJS
8 31 (3.07%) Next.js
9 30 (2.97%) HTML
10 29 (2.87%) CSS
11 26 (2.58%) Vue
12 25 (2.48%) PySpark
13 24 (2.38%) .NET Framework
14 23 (2.28%) OAuth
15 22 (2.18%) Kafka
15 22 (2.18%) OAuth2
16 21 (2.08%) pytest
16 21 (2.08%) SwiftUI
Miscellaneous
1 116 (11.50%) Product Ownership
2 107 (10.60%) Cloud Native
3 84 (8.33%) Mobile App
4 53 (5.25%) Distributed Systems
5 30 (2.97%) Greenfield Project
6 25 (2.48%) Embedded Systems
6 25 (2.48%) Self-Motivation
7 23 (2.28%) Algorithms
7 23 (2.28%) Legacy Systems
8 22 (2.18%) Enterprise Software
9 20 (1.98%) Data Structures
10 19 (1.88%) Onboarding
11 18 (1.78%) Client/Server
12 14 (1.39%) Low-Code
12 14 (1.39%) Virtual Team
13 12 (1.19%) FPGA
13 12 (1.19%) Hybrid Cloud
14 11 (1.09%) Management Information System
15 10 (0.99%) IoT
15 10 (0.99%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 106 (10.51%) Linux
2 63 (6.24%) Windows
3 50 (4.96%) Apple iOS
4 35 (3.47%) Android
5 33 (3.27%) Unix
6 6 (0.59%) CentOS
6 6 (0.59%) Windows Server
7 4 (0.40%) FreeRTOS
7 4 (0.40%) Kali Linux
8 2 (0.20%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.099%) AIX
9 1 (0.099%) ThreadX
9 1 (0.099%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.099%) VxWorks
9 1 (0.099%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.099%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 487 (48.27%) CI/CD
2 462 (45.79%) Agile
3 342 (33.89%) DevOps
4 260 (25.77%) Continuous Improvement
5 250 (24.78%) Software Engineering
6 246 (24.38%) Mentoring
7 213 (21.11%) Problem-Solving
8 187 (18.53%) Software Testing
9 158 (15.66%) Infrastructure as Code
10 149 (14.77%) Microservices
11 127 (12.59%) Containerisation
11 127 (12.59%) Full-Stack Development
12 122 (12.09%) Test Strategy
13 121 (11.99%) Validation
14 116 (11.50%) Scrum
15 113 (11.20%) AI
16 111 (11.00%) Code Quality
17 108 (10.70%) Coaching
18 105 (10.41%) TDD
19 104 (10.31%) Observability
Programming Languages
1 312 (30.92%) Python
2 257 (25.47%) Java
3 159 (15.76%) SQL
4 155 (15.36%) JavaScript
5 132 (13.08%) C#
6 127 (12.59%) TypeScript
7 67 (6.64%) C++
8 59 (5.85%) C
9 56 (5.55%) Bash
10 36 (3.57%) PowerShell
11 29 (2.87%) Kotlin
12 28 (2.78%) Go
13 26 (2.58%) Swift
14 23 (2.28%) MATLAB
15 21 (2.08%) Rust
16 16 (1.59%) Ruby
17 15 (1.49%) Embedded C
18 14 (1.39%) Groovy
19 13 (1.29%) PHP
20 11 (1.09%) Embedded C++
Qualifications
1 165 (16.35%) Degree
2 114 (11.30%) Security Cleared
3 67 (6.64%) Computer Science Degree
4 61 (6.05%) SC Cleared
5 50 (4.96%) ISTQB
6 23 (2.28%) DV Cleared
7 17 (1.68%) Master's Degree
8 15 (1.49%) HND
9 12 (1.19%) DBS Check
10 10 (0.99%) BPSS Clearance
10 10 (0.99%) HNC
11 9 (0.89%) ISEB
11 9 (0.89%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 8 (0.79%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
13 7 (0.69%) ITIL Certification
14 5 (0.50%) AWS Certification
14 5 (0.50%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
15 4 (0.40%) AWS Certified Developer
16 3 (0.30%) Azure Certification
16 3 (0.30%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 244 (24.18%) QA
2 99 (9.81%) Accessibility
3 35 (3.47%) Data Quality
4 29 (2.87%) WCAG
5 20 (1.98%) GDPR
6 8 (0.79%) ISO 9001
7 6 (0.59%) Software Quality Assurance
8 5 (0.50%) JTAG
9 4 (0.40%) SOC 2
10 3 (0.30%) Cyber Essentials
10 3 (0.30%) IEC 61508
10 3 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 12207
10 3 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 3 (0.30%) PERC
11 2 (0.20%) ECSS
11 2 (0.20%) ISO 13485
11 2 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 17025
11 2 (0.20%) MISRA
11 2 (0.20%) MISRA C
11 2 (0.20%) SLA
System Software
1 140 (13.88%) Docker
2 24 (2.38%) VMware Infrastructure
3 20 (1.98%) Firmware
4 18 (1.78%) Hyper-V
5 14 (1.39%) KVM
6 10 (0.99%) Virtual Machines
7 9 (0.89%) Active Directory
7 9 (0.89%) Embedded Firmware
8 2 (0.20%) Terminal Server
Systems Management
1 136 (13.48%) Terraform
2 109 (10.80%) Kubernetes
3 41 (4.06%) Ansible
3 41 (4.06%) Grafana
4 18 (1.78%) Argo
5 15 (1.49%) Prometheus
6 9 (0.89%) Kibana
7 7 (0.69%) logstash
8 5 (0.50%) HP Fortify
8 5 (0.50%) SCCM
8 5 (0.50%) SCOM
8 5 (0.50%) vCenter Server
9 4 (0.40%) Functional Safety
9 4 (0.40%) Microsoft Intune
9 4 (0.40%) Packer
9 4 (0.40%) Single Sign-On
10 3 (0.30%) HP ALM
10 3 (0.30%) Puppet
10 3 (0.30%) Rancher
10 3 (0.30%) SCOrch
Vendors
1 70 (6.94%) Microsoft
2 37 (3.67%) Oracle
3 32 (3.17%) Salesforce
4 26 (2.58%) VMware
5 25 (2.48%) Databricks
6 22 (2.18%) Google
7 18 (1.78%) ServiceNow
8 17 (1.68%) Splunk
9 16 (1.59%) Braze
9 16 (1.59%) Dynatrace
10 14 (1.39%) Amplitude
11 11 (1.09%) AppDynamics
12 10 (0.99%) Adobe
13 9 (0.89%) Atlassian
13 9 (0.89%) CrowdStrike
14 8 (0.79%) IFS
15 7 (0.69%) MuleSoft
16 6 (0.59%) Apple
16 6 (0.59%) Red Hat
17 5 (0.50%) IBM