Software Test Engineer Job Trends

Software Test Engineer
UK

The median Software Test Engineer salary in the UK is £50,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 3 July 2026.

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

6 months to
3 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 716 641 829
Rank change year-on-year -75 +188 -16
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Test Engineer 34 30 73
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.035% 0.063% 0.069%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.037% 0.071% 0.073%
Number of salaries quoted 27 23 46
10th Percentile £40,000 £31,750 £32,500
25th Percentile £40,625 £42,000 £37,625
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +16.67% -14.29%
75th Percentile £55,000 £60,000 £50,000
90th Percentile £61,000 £63,500 £62,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £45,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +16.67% -7.69%

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 90,996 42,434 99,932
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.13% 89.80% 94.75%
Number of salaries quoted 62,462 24,678 72,012
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,750 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £38,500 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £56,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -2.65% +7.62% -12.50%
75th Percentile £75,000 £76,250 £70,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £51,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +3.00% - -5.66%

Software Test Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Software Test Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Software Test Engineer
Salary Trend

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

Salary distribution trend for Software Test Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Software Test Engineer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Software Test Engineer over the 6 months to 3 July 2026.

Salary histogram for Software Test Engineer in the UK

Software Test Engineer
Top 12 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Software Test Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 3 July 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 -58 33 £50,000 -4.76% 20
UK excluding London -60 30 £50,000 -4.76% 20
North of England -24 11 £47,500 -36.67% 2
East of England -2 10 £45,000 - 8
Work from Home +4 7 £50,000 +13.64% 11
North West -2 7 £40,000 -46.67% 2
South West -71 5 £50,000 +44.93% 2
North East - 4 £55,000 -
London -25 3 £45,000 +2.27%
South East -36 3 £66,300 +15.30% 3
Midlands - 1 £60,000 - 6
West Midlands - 1 £60,000 - 6

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

For the 6 months to 3 July 2026, Software Test 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 Software Test Engineer in the job title.

1 34 (100.00%) Software Testing
2 20 (58.82%) Test Automation
3 9 (26.47%) Manual Testing
4 8 (23.53%) Validation
5 7 (20.59%) Computer Science
5 7 (20.59%) Degree
6 6 (17.65%) QA
7 5 (14.71%) Firmware
8 4 (11.76%) Agile
8 4 (11.76%) C#
8 4 (11.76%) Python
8 4 (11.76%) SDET
8 4 (11.76%) Verification and Validation
8 4 (11.76%) Workflow
9 3 (8.82%) BPSS Clearance
9 3 (8.82%) Chartered Engineer
9 3 (8.82%) CI/CD
9 3 (8.82%) Component Testing
9 3 (8.82%) Configuration Management
9 3 (8.82%) Continuous Improvement
9 3 (8.82%) Data Analysis
9 3 (8.82%) ISO/IEC 12207
9 3 (8.82%) MATLAB
9 3 (8.82%) Problem-Solving
9 3 (8.82%) Software Engineering
9 3 (8.82%) Test Scripting
9 3 (8.82%) Waterfall
10 2 (5.88%) Analytics
10 2 (5.88%) API Testing
10 2 (5.88%) Collaborative Culture

Software Test 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:

Applications
1 1 (2.94%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 1 (2.94%) AWS
1 1 (2.94%) AWS CodePipeline
1 1 (2.94%) Power Platform
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (2.94%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 2 (5.88%) Git
1 2 (5.88%) Jenkins
2 1 (2.94%) Appium
2 1 (2.94%) TestRail
General
1 4 (11.76%) Finance
1 4 (11.76%) Games
1 4 (11.76%) Social Skills
2 3 (8.82%) Aerospace
3 2 (5.88%) Analytical Skills
3 2 (5.88%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 1 (2.94%) Back Office
4 1 (2.94%) Documentation Skills
4 1 (2.94%) Electronics
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (5.88%) REST
2 1 (2.94%) .NET
2 1 (2.94%) Kafka
2 1 (2.94%) Playwright
2 1 (2.94%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 4 (11.76%) Online Games
2 1 (2.94%) Embedded Systems
2 1 (2.94%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 1 (2.94%) Android
1 1 (2.94%) Apple iOS
1 1 (2.94%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 34 (100.00%) Software Testing
2 20 (58.82%) Test Automation
3 9 (26.47%) Manual Testing
4 8 (23.53%) Validation
5 7 (20.59%) Computer Science
6 4 (11.76%) Agile
6 4 (11.76%) SDET
6 4 (11.76%) Verification and Validation
6 4 (11.76%) Workflow
7 3 (8.82%) CI/CD
7 3 (8.82%) Component Testing
7 3 (8.82%) Configuration Management
7 3 (8.82%) Continuous Improvement
7 3 (8.82%) Data Analysis
7 3 (8.82%) Problem-Solving
7 3 (8.82%) Software Engineering
7 3 (8.82%) Test Scripting
7 3 (8.82%) Waterfall
8 2 (5.88%) TDD
8 2 (5.88%) Test Strategy
Programming Languages
1 4 (11.76%) C#
1 4 (11.76%) Python
2 3 (8.82%) MATLAB
3 2 (5.88%) SQL
4 1 (2.94%) C
4 1 (2.94%) C++
4 1 (2.94%) Java
4 1 (2.94%) JavaScript
4 1 (2.94%) PowerShell
4 1 (2.94%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 7 (20.59%) Degree
2 3 (8.82%) BPSS Clearance
2 3 (8.82%) Chartered Engineer
3 2 (5.88%) Computer Science Degree
4 1 (2.94%) ISTQB
4 1 (2.94%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (17.65%) QA
2 3 (8.82%) ISO/IEC 12207
System Software
1 5 (14.71%) Firmware
2 1 (2.94%) Docker
Systems Management
1 1 (2.94%) Grafana
1 1 (2.94%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 1 (2.94%) Microsoft