Senior Test Automation Engineer Job Trends

Senior Automation Test Engineer
UK

The median Senior Automation Test Engineer salary in the UK is £55,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 2 March 2026.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 657 669 809
Rank change year-on-year +12 +140 +166
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Test Automation Engineer 13 9 1
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.019% 0.019% 0.001%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.020% 0.021% 0.001%
Number of salaries quoted 12 5 1
10th Percentile - £52,400 -
25th Percentile £50,000 £59,750 -
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £65,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -15.38% +30.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £64,063 £68,750 -
90th Percentile £83,000 - -
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £55,750 -
% change year-on-year -1.35% - -

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 64,235 42,234 74,375
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 91.48% 91.16% 94.71%
Number of salaries quoted 40,554 22,789 57,603
10th Percentile £29,500 £32,500 £28,500
25th Percentile £38,000 £45,000 £39,085
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -5.66%

Senior Test Automation Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Senior Test Automation Engineer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Senior Test Automation Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Senior Test Automation Engineer
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Senior Test Automation Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Senior Test Automation Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Senior Test Automation Engineer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Senior Test Automation Engineer over the 6 months to 2 March 2026.

Salary histogram for Senior Test Automation Engineer in the UK

Senior Test Automation Engineer
Top 8 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Senior Test Automation Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 2 March 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
England +25 13 £55,000 -15.38% 3
UK excluding London -11 12 £55,000 -1.35% 3
Work from Home +22 10 £53,750 -17.31% 1
East of England - 7 £50,000 -
South East -9 3 £85,000 +38.21% 2
Midlands -4 2 £57,500 +15.00%
West Midlands - 2 £57,500 -
London +36 1 £60,000 -11.11%

Senior Test Automation Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 2 March 2026, Senior Test Automation Engineer job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads featuring Senior Test Automation Engineer in the job title.

1 13 (100.00%) Test Automation
2 10 (76.92%) QA
3 7 (53.85%) Python
4 6 (46.15%) Agile
5 5 (38.46%) API Testing
6 4 (30.77%) Accessibility
6 4 (30.77%) BDD
6 4 (30.77%) CI/CD
6 4 (30.77%) Security Cleared
6 4 (30.77%) Selenium
6 4 (30.77%) TDD
7 3 (23.08%) ATDD
7 3 (23.08%) Coaching
7 3 (23.08%) Continuous Improvement
7 3 (23.08%) Java
7 3 (23.08%) Manual Testing
7 3 (23.08%) Non-Functional Testing
7 3 (23.08%) Open Source
8 2 (15.38%) Analytics
8 2 (15.38%) Exploratory Testing
8 2 (15.38%) Fintech
8 2 (15.38%) Operational Acceptance Testing
8 2 (15.38%) SC Cleared
8 2 (15.38%) SDET
8 2 (15.38%) Software Testing
8 2 (15.38%) Workflow
9 1 (7.69%) Agile Testing
9 1 (7.69%) AWS
9 1 (7.69%) Azure
9 1 (7.69%) Clean Code

Senior Test Automation Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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:

Cloud Services
1 1 (7.69%) AWS
1 1 (7.69%) Azure
Development Applications
1 4 (30.77%) Selenium
2 1 (7.69%) Cucumber
2 1 (7.69%) Gatling
2 1 (7.69%) Git
2 1 (7.69%) GitLab
2 1 (7.69%) Postman
General
1 2 (15.38%) Games
1 2 (15.38%) Public Sector
2 1 (7.69%) Finance
2 1 (7.69%) Social Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (7.69%) Playwright
Processes & Methodologies
1 13 (100.00%) Test Automation
2 6 (46.15%) Agile
3 5 (38.46%) API Testing
4 4 (30.77%) BDD
4 4 (30.77%) CI/CD
4 4 (30.77%) TDD
5 3 (23.08%) ATDD
5 3 (23.08%) Coaching
5 3 (23.08%) Continuous Improvement
5 3 (23.08%) Manual Testing
5 3 (23.08%) Non-Functional Testing
5 3 (23.08%) Open Source
6 2 (15.38%) Analytics
6 2 (15.38%) Exploratory Testing
6 2 (15.38%) Fintech
6 2 (15.38%) Operational Acceptance Testing
6 2 (15.38%) SDET
6 2 (15.38%) Software Testing
6 2 (15.38%) Workflow
7 1 (7.69%) Clean Code
Programming Languages
1 7 (53.85%) Python
2 3 (23.08%) Java
Qualifications
1 4 (30.77%) Security Cleared
2 2 (15.38%) SC Cleared
3 1 (7.69%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (76.92%) QA
2 4 (30.77%) Accessibility
3 1 (7.69%) WCAG