Test Automation Job Trends

Automated Testing
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring Test Automation skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 15 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 88 82 99
Rank change year-on-year -6 +17 -46
Permanent jobs citing Test Automation 1,968 1,717 2,568
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.99% 3.49% 2.54%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.70% 3.87% 3.09%
Number of salaries quoted 1,157 841 1,637
10th Percentile £42,487 £38,250 £36,250
25th Percentile £49,250 £47,500 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £62,500 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% +8.70% -11.54%
75th Percentile £82,500 £82,500 £71,991
90th Percentile £96,250 £98,750 £86,485
UK excluding London median annual salary £60,000 £57,443 £52,500
% change year-on-year +4.45% +9.41% -8.70%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

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.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 72,817 44,332 83,106
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.70% 90.20% 82.17%
Number of salaries quoted 50,259 24,803 58,175
10th Percentile £30,250 £28,750 £29,750
25th Percentile £41,250 £38,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -8.84%
75th Percentile £78,750 £77,500 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £98,750 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +10.00% - -9.09%

Test Automation
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Test Automation job vacancy trend in the UK

Test Automation
Salary Trend

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

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Test Automation

Test Automation
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Test Automation over the 6 months to 15 July 2026.

Salary histogram for Test Automation in the UK

Test Automation
Top 17 Job Locations

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 over the 6 months to 15 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 -1 1,664 £65,000 - 765
UK excluding London -10 1,165 £60,000 +4.45% 722
Work from Home +14 836 £67,500 +12.50% 569
London +6 635 £80,000 +3.23% 226
North of England +4 325 £57,500 -4.17% 180
South East -31 222 £60,000 +9.09% 195
South West -25 192 £55,000 -8.33% 74
Midlands -14 175 £62,500 +8.70% 94
North West -6 171 £62,500 -3.85% 93
West Midlands -27 92 £62,500 -1.96% 41
Northern Ireland -1 88 £80,000 +45.45% 31
North East -4 85 £52,500 -0.59% 26
East Midlands -21 82 £64,000 +34.74% 53
Yorkshire -25 69 £69,310 +41.45% 62
Wales -6 64 £54,085 -1.66% 32
East of England -31 63 £55,000 -3.51% 76
Scotland -36 49 £62,500 -5.66% 62

Test Automation
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:

Application Platforms
1 35 (1.78%) Confluence
2 28 (1.42%) Apache Spark
3 26 (1.32%) Apache Airflow
4 23 (1.17%) Apache
5 17 (0.86%) SharePoint
6 15 (0.76%) Jupyter
7 13 (0.66%) CMS
8 10 (0.51%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 10 (0.51%) Anypoint
8 10 (0.51%) Mule
9 8 (0.41%) IIS
10 6 (0.30%) Palantir Foundry
11 5 (0.25%) Umbraco
11 5 (0.25%) WordPress
12 3 (0.15%) Appian
12 3 (0.15%) Headless CMS
12 3 (0.15%) nginx
12 3 (0.15%) SAS
13 2 (0.10%) Camunda
13 2 (0.10%) NServiceBus
Applications
1 22 (1.12%) Microsoft Excel
2 12 (0.61%) Simulink
3 10 (0.51%) Microsoft Office
4 7 (0.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (0.30%) PlantUML
6 5 (0.25%) Lightworks
7 3 (0.15%) CANalyzer
7 3 (0.15%) MS Visio
8 2 (0.10%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 1 (0.051%) Chatbot
9 1 (0.051%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 10 (0.51%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (0.25%) Visualfiles
3 4 (0.20%) Dynamics AX
4 3 (0.15%) SAP S/4HANA
5 2 (0.10%) FLEXCUBE
5 2 (0.10%) Payment Gateway
5 2 (0.10%) Towers Watson Igloo
5 2 (0.10%) Workday HCM
6 1 (0.051%) Elite 3E
6 1 (0.051%) Endur
6 1 (0.051%) Findur
6 1 (0.051%) Magento
6 1 (0.051%) Misys Equation
6 1 (0.051%) Misys Midas
6 1 (0.051%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.051%) Oracle Applications
6 1 (0.051%) Oracle EBS
6 1 (0.051%) Oracle ERP
6 1 (0.051%) Oracle Financials
6 1 (0.051%) Oracle SCM
Cloud Services
1 741 (37.65%) AWS
2 626 (31.81%) Azure
3 242 (12.30%) Azure DevOps
4 232 (11.79%) GCP
5 216 (10.98%) SaaS
6 181 (9.20%) Serverless
7 163 (8.28%) GitHub
8 84 (4.27%) AWS CloudFormation
8 84 (4.27%) GitHub Actions
9 77 (3.91%) AWS Lambda
10 75 (3.81%) Amazon EKS
11 72 (3.66%) Amazon S3
12 52 (2.64%) Azure Service Bus
12 52 (2.64%) PaaS
13 50 (2.54%) Power Platform
14 44 (2.24%) Azure Monitor
15 43 (2.18%) Azure Logic Apps
16 40 (2.03%) Amazon EC2
17 39 (1.98%) dbt
18 33 (1.68%) Amazon CloudWatch
Communications & Networking
1 71 (3.61%) Broadband
2 23 (1.17%) Firewall
3 13 (0.66%) DMARC
4 12 (0.61%) MQTT
5 11 (0.56%) Wireless
6 10 (0.51%) DNS
6 10 (0.51%) SSL
7 9 (0.46%) CHAP
8 8 (0.41%) Wi-Fi
9 7 (0.36%) LTE
9 7 (0.36%) TCP/IP
9 7 (0.36%) WAN
9 7 (0.36%) ZigBee
10 6 (0.30%) Bluetooth
10 6 (0.30%) HTTP
11 5 (0.25%) DHCP
11 5 (0.25%) Ethernet
11 5 (0.25%) SD-WAN
11 5 (0.25%) SMS
11 5 (0.25%) Software-Defined Radio
Database & Business Intelligence
1 140 (7.11%) NoSQL
2 129 (6.55%) PostgreSQL
3 101 (5.13%) MongoDB
4 67 (3.40%) SQL Server
5 46 (2.34%) DynamoDB
6 37 (1.88%) Relational Database
7 34 (1.73%) MySQL
8 26 (1.32%) Data Warehouse
9 25 (1.27%) Redis
10 23 (1.17%) Power BI
11 18 (0.91%) Amazon RDS
11 18 (0.91%) BigQuery
11 18 (0.91%) Spark SQL
12 17 (0.86%) Metadata
13 16 (0.81%) Semantic Layer
14 14 (0.71%) Amazon Athena
14 14 (0.71%) Oracle Database
15 13 (0.66%) Elasticsearch
16 12 (0.61%) Data Lake
17 9 (0.46%) Big Data
Development Applications
1 250 (12.70%) Git
2 174 (8.84%) GitLab
3 172 (8.74%) Jenkins
4 146 (7.42%) Selenium
5 118 (6.00%) JIRA
6 91 (4.62%) Cypress.io
7 89 (4.52%) Cucumber
8 71 (3.61%) Postman
9 63 (3.20%) TeamCity
10 50 (2.54%) JMeter
11 37 (1.88%) REST Assured
12 34 (1.73%) JUnit
13 30 (1.52%) Zephyr
14 28 (1.42%) SpecFlow
15 26 (1.32%) TestRail
16 22 (1.12%) Gatling
17 21 (1.07%) fastlane
18 20 (1.02%) Crashlytics
19 19 (0.97%) LabVIEW
20 18 (0.91%) CircleCI
General
1 490 (24.90%) Social Skills
2 437 (22.21%) Finance
3 198 (10.06%) Public Sector
4 197 (10.01%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 189 (9.60%) Banking
6 177 (8.99%) Analytical Skills
7 176 (8.94%) Law
8 98 (4.98%) Retail
9 73 (3.71%) Legal
10 67 (3.40%) Manufacturing
11 64 (3.25%) Financial Institution
12 54 (2.74%) Electronics
12 54 (2.74%) Games
13 53 (2.69%) Back Office
14 31 (1.58%) Front Office
14 31 (1.58%) Marketing
15 23 (1.17%) Documentation Skills
16 21 (1.07%) Influencing Skills
17 20 (1.02%) Telecoms
18 18 (0.91%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 545 (27.69%) Senior
2 321 (16.31%) Lead
3 304 (15.45%) Software Engineer
4 280 (14.23%) Developer
5 214 (10.87%) Test Engineer
6 120 (6.10%) Java Engineer
7 116 (5.89%) Senior Developer
8 91 (4.62%) Senior Software Engineer
9 87 (4.42%) Test Automation Engineer
10 84 (4.27%) QA Engineer
11 79 (4.01%) Full-Stack Engineer
12 76 (3.86%) Test Leader
13 70 (3.56%) DevOps Engineer
14 68 (3.46%) Architect
15 67 (3.40%) Tester
16 59 (3.00%) Data Engineer
17 55 (2.79%) Software Developer
18 50 (2.54%) Analyst
18 50 (2.54%) Lead Software Engineer
18 50 (2.54%) Senior Test Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 205 (10.42%) .NET
2 203 (10.32%) React
3 173 (8.79%) Playwright
4 171 (8.69%) RESTful
4 171 (8.69%) Spring
5 166 (8.43%) REST
6 165 (8.38%) Node.js
7 126 (6.40%) Spring Boot
8 109 (5.54%) Kafka
9 91 (4.62%) AngularJS
10 75 (3.81%) CSS
10 75 (3.81%) HTML
11 63 (3.20%) Middleware
12 59 (3.00%) OAuth
13 51 (2.59%) OAuth2
14 43 (2.18%) RabbitMQ
15 41 (2.08%) JSON
15 41 (2.08%) Vue
16 40 (2.03%) YAML
17 39 (1.98%) ASP.NET
Miscellaneous
1 368 (18.70%) Cloud Native
2 224 (11.38%) Product Ownership
3 162 (8.23%) Distributed Systems
4 97 (4.93%) Mobile App
5 67 (3.40%) Enterprise Software
6 66 (3.35%) Public Cloud
7 58 (2.95%) Virtual Team
8 57 (2.90%) Legacy Systems
9 55 (2.79%) Cyber Threat
10 54 (2.74%) Algorithms
11 53 (2.69%) Low-Code
12 52 (2.64%) Management Information System
13 45 (2.29%) Onboarding
14 41 (2.08%) Data Structures
15 38 (1.93%) Greenfield Project
16 35 (1.78%) Embedded Systems
17 34 (1.73%) Video\Live Streaming
18 33 (1.68%) Self-Motivation
19 28 (1.42%) Blog
19 28 (1.42%) e-Learning
Operating Systems
1 176 (8.94%) Linux
2 89 (4.52%) Windows
3 60 (3.05%) Apple iOS
4 53 (2.69%) Unix
5 50 (2.54%) Android
6 9 (0.46%) Windows Server
7 8 (0.41%) CentOS
8 6 (0.30%) FreeRTOS
9 4 (0.20%) Embedded Linux
9 4 (0.20%) Kali Linux
10 3 (0.15%) AIX
10 3 (0.15%) Debian
11 2 (0.10%) Windows Server 2019
12 1 (0.051%) ThreadX
12 1 (0.051%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.051%) VMS
12 1 (0.051%) VxWorks
12 1 (0.051%) Windows 10
12 1 (0.051%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,126 (57.22%) CI/CD
2 884 (44.92%) Agile
3 756 (38.41%) DevOps
4 618 (31.40%) Software Engineering
5 558 (28.35%) Mentoring
6 529 (26.88%) Continuous Improvement
7 395 (20.07%) Problem-Solving
8 392 (19.92%) Microservices
9 363 (18.45%) Infrastructure as Code
10 338 (17.17%) AI
11 327 (16.62%) Software Testing
12 277 (14.08%) Test Strategy
13 259 (13.16%) Containerisation
14 254 (12.91%) Coaching
15 253 (12.86%) Observability
16 251 (12.75%) Full-Stack Development
17 227 (11.53%) Validation
18 213 (10.82%) Code Quality
19 200 (10.16%) Clean Code
20 197 (10.01%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 630 (32.01%) Python
2 552 (28.05%) Java
3 340 (17.28%) JavaScript
4 322 (16.36%) SQL
5 282 (14.33%) C#
6 275 (13.97%) TypeScript
7 109 (5.54%) C++
8 98 (4.98%) PowerShell
9 87 (4.42%) Go
10 78 (3.96%) Bash
11 71 (3.61%) C
12 37 (1.88%) Kotlin
13 34 (1.73%) Rust
14 28 (1.42%) Swift
15 27 (1.37%) PHP
16 23 (1.17%) Ruby
17 22 (1.12%) Bicep
17 22 (1.12%) MATLAB
18 18 (0.91%) Groovy
19 16 (0.81%) Embedded C
Qualifications
1 246 (12.50%) Security Cleared
2 231 (11.74%) Degree
3 147 (7.47%) SC Cleared
4 100 (5.08%) Computer Science Degree
5 81 (4.12%) ISTQB
6 61 (3.10%) CISSP
7 56 (2.85%) ITIL Certification
8 53 (2.69%) CISM
9 46 (2.34%) DV Cleared
10 38 (1.93%) AWS Certification
10 38 (1.93%) Master's Degree
11 28 (1.42%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 21 (1.07%) DBS Check
13 15 (0.76%) ISEB
14 14 (0.71%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
15 13 (0.66%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
16 11 (0.56%) BPSS Clearance
17 10 (0.51%) HNC
17 10 (0.51%) HND
18 9 (0.46%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 459 (23.32%) QA
2 171 (8.69%) Accessibility
3 78 (3.96%) Data Quality
4 62 (3.15%) NIST
5 50 (2.54%) ISO 22301
6 47 (2.39%) GDPR
7 43 (2.18%) WCAG
8 15 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 13 (0.66%) SLA
10 12 (0.61%) Software Quality Assurance
11 11 (0.56%) GRC
12 10 (0.51%) COBIT
13 7 (0.36%) JTAG
13 7 (0.36%) SOC 2
14 6 (0.30%) MISRA
14 6 (0.30%) PMO
15 4 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials
15 4 (0.20%) ECSS
15 4 (0.20%) ISO 9001
16 3 (0.15%) MISRA C
System Software
1 263 (13.36%) Docker
2 29 (1.47%) Firmware
3 25 (1.27%) VMware Infrastructure
4 17 (0.86%) Virtual Machines
5 15 (0.76%) Hyper-V
6 12 (0.61%) Active Directory
6 12 (0.61%) KVM
7 10 (0.51%) Embedded Firmware
8 2 (0.10%) Terminal Server
8 2 (0.10%) vSphere
9 1 (0.051%) IAG
9 1 (0.051%) Oracle RAC
9 1 (0.051%) Xen
Systems Management
1 314 (15.96%) Terraform
2 304 (15.45%) Kubernetes
3 139 (7.06%) Grafana
4 80 (4.07%) Ansible
5 59 (3.00%) Prometheus
6 24 (1.22%) Argo
7 16 (0.81%) Kibana
8 10 (0.51%) CloudHub
8 10 (0.51%) logstash
9 9 (0.46%) Single Sign-On
10 7 (0.36%) HP Fortify
10 7 (0.36%) Puppet
10 7 (0.36%) vCenter Server
11 6 (0.30%) Functional Safety
12 5 (0.25%) Packer
12 5 (0.25%) SCCM
12 5 (0.25%) SCOM
13 4 (0.20%) Microsoft Intune
14 3 (0.15%) Rancher
14 3 (0.15%) SCOrch
Vendors
1 147 (7.47%) Microsoft
2 54 (2.74%) Databricks
3 47 (2.39%) Google
4 46 (2.34%) Oracle
4 46 (2.34%) Salesforce
5 39 (1.98%) ServiceNow
5 39 (1.98%) VMware
6 27 (1.37%) Splunk
7 24 (1.22%) Dynatrace
8 22 (1.12%) SAP
9 19 (0.97%) Pega
10 17 (0.86%) OpenAI
11 16 (0.81%) AppDynamics
11 16 (0.81%) Braze
12 14 (0.71%) Amplitude
13 13 (0.66%) Atlassian
13 13 (0.66%) IFS
13 13 (0.66%) MuleSoft
13 13 (0.66%) SendGrid
14 12 (0.61%) Adobe