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 9 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 86 84 99
Rank change year-on-year -2 +15 -49
Permanent jobs citing Test Automation 1,953 1,689 2,641
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 2.00% 3.47% 2.57%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.71% 3.83% 3.12%
Number of salaries quoted 1,167 827 1,695
10th Percentile £42,330 £38,930 £36,250
25th Percentile £48,750 £47,500 £44,000
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 £100,000 £86,485
UK excluding London median annual salary £60,000 £57,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year +4.35% +9.52% -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 72,161 44,144 84,574
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.86% 90.58% 82.41%
Number of salaries quoted 49,802 24,628 59,539
10th Percentile £30,250 £28,822 £29,750
25th Percentile £41,250 £38,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -8.71%
75th Percentile £78,750 £77,500 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £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 9 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 9 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 +2 1,676 £65,000 - 767
UK excluding London -12 1,132 £60,000 +4.35% 598
Work from Home +16 815 £67,500 +12.50% 327
London +14 644 £80,000 +6.67% 302
North of England +3 322 £58,750 -2.08% 151
South East -26 221 £60,000 +9.09% 160
South West -25 194 £55,000 -8.33% 104
Midlands -20 175 £62,500 +6.38% 68
North West 0 171 £62,500 -3.85% 80
West Midlands -30 92 £62,500 -3.85% 36
East Midlands -18 82 £64,000 +34.74% 32
North East +5 81 £52,500 -0.59% 27
Yorkshire -20 70 £69,310 +41.45% 44
East of England -27 63 £55,000 -7.17% 46
Northern Ireland -15 62 £80,000 +45.45% 34
Wales -5 61 £55,000 - 12
Scotland -48 47 £61,250 -2.00% 30

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 33 (1.69%) Confluence
2 27 (1.38%) Apache Spark
3 25 (1.28%) Apache Airflow
4 22 (1.13%) Apache
5 18 (0.92%) Jupyter
6 16 (0.82%) SharePoint
7 13 (0.67%) CMS
8 9 (0.46%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 8 (0.41%) Anypoint
9 8 (0.41%) IIS
9 8 (0.41%) Mule
10 6 (0.31%) Palantir Foundry
11 5 (0.26%) Umbraco
12 4 (0.20%) Appian
12 4 (0.20%) SAS
12 4 (0.20%) WordPress
13 3 (0.15%) Headless CMS
13 3 (0.15%) nginx
14 2 (0.10%) Cloud Foundry
14 2 (0.10%) NServiceBus
Applications
1 21 (1.08%) Microsoft Excel
2 12 (0.61%) Simulink
3 11 (0.56%) Microsoft Office
4 7 (0.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (0.31%) PlantUML
6 5 (0.26%) Lightworks
7 3 (0.15%) CANalyzer
7 3 (0.15%) MS Visio
8 2 (0.10%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 2 (0.10%) Chatbot
9 1 (0.051%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 11 (0.56%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (0.26%) 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%) 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
1 732 (37.48%) AWS
2 615 (31.49%) Azure
3 241 (12.34%) Azure DevOps
4 236 (12.08%) GCP
5 189 (9.68%) SaaS
6 187 (9.58%) Serverless
7 162 (8.29%) GitHub
8 85 (4.35%) GitHub Actions
9 82 (4.20%) AWS Lambda
10 81 (4.15%) AWS CloudFormation
11 77 (3.94%) Amazon EKS
12 76 (3.89%) Amazon S3
13 52 (2.66%) Azure Service Bus
13 52 (2.66%) PaaS
14 50 (2.56%) Power Platform
15 43 (2.20%) Azure Logic Apps
15 43 (2.20%) Azure Monitor
16 40 (2.05%) Amazon EC2
17 39 (2.00%) dbt
18 34 (1.74%) Amazon CloudWatch
Communications & Networking
1 71 (3.64%) Broadband
2 24 (1.23%) Firewall
3 13 (0.67%) DMARC
4 11 (0.56%) MQTT
5 10 (0.51%) CHAP
5 10 (0.51%) DNS
5 10 (0.51%) Wireless
6 8 (0.41%) SSL
6 8 (0.41%) WAN
7 7 (0.36%) LTE
7 7 (0.36%) Wi-Fi
8 6 (0.31%) 5G
8 6 (0.31%) Bluetooth
8 6 (0.31%) HTTP
8 6 (0.31%) SD-WAN
8 6 (0.31%) TCP/IP
8 6 (0.31%) ZigBee
9 5 (0.26%) DHCP
9 5 (0.26%) Ethernet
9 5 (0.26%) SMS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 139 (7.12%) NoSQL
2 131 (6.71%) PostgreSQL
3 100 (5.12%) MongoDB
4 66 (3.38%) SQL Server
5 46 (2.36%) DynamoDB
6 36 (1.84%) Relational Database
7 32 (1.64%) MySQL
8 28 (1.43%) Data Warehouse
9 24 (1.23%) Power BI
9 24 (1.23%) Redis
10 19 (0.97%) Amazon RDS
10 19 (0.97%) BigQuery
11 18 (0.92%) Spark SQL
12 16 (0.82%) Metadata
12 16 (0.82%) Semantic Layer
13 14 (0.72%) Oracle Database
14 13 (0.67%) Amazon Athena
14 13 (0.67%) Elasticsearch
15 11 (0.56%) Data Lake
16 9 (0.46%) InfluxDB
Development Applications
1 246 (12.60%) Git
2 173 (8.86%) Jenkins
3 167 (8.55%) GitLab
4 145 (7.42%) Selenium
5 112 (5.73%) JIRA
6 91 (4.66%) Cypress.io
7 87 (4.45%) Cucumber
8 72 (3.69%) Postman
9 63 (3.23%) TeamCity
10 52 (2.66%) JMeter
11 40 (2.05%) REST Assured
12 33 (1.69%) JUnit
13 30 (1.54%) SpecFlow
13 30 (1.54%) Zephyr
14 27 (1.38%) TestRail
15 22 (1.13%) CircleCI
15 22 (1.13%) Gatling
16 21 (1.08%) fastlane
17 20 (1.02%) Crashlytics
17 20 (1.02%) LabVIEW
General
1 480 (24.58%) Social Skills
2 440 (22.53%) Finance
3 199 (10.19%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 193 (9.88%) Public Sector
5 190 (9.73%) Banking
6 175 (8.96%) Law
7 171 (8.76%) Analytical Skills
8 100 (5.12%) Retail
9 65 (3.33%) Manufacturing
10 63 (3.23%) Financial Institution
11 61 (3.12%) Legal
12 54 (2.76%) Games
13 53 (2.71%) Electronics
14 51 (2.61%) Back Office
15 32 (1.64%) Front Office
16 31 (1.59%) Marketing
17 22 (1.13%) Documentation Skills
18 20 (1.02%) Influencing Skills
19 19 (0.97%) Organisational Skills
20 18 (0.92%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 541 (27.70%) Senior
2 314 (16.08%) Lead
3 304 (15.57%) Software Engineer
4 280 (14.34%) Developer
5 216 (11.06%) Test Engineer
6 118 (6.04%) Senior Developer
7 116 (5.94%) Java Engineer
8 91 (4.66%) Senior Software Engineer
9 87 (4.45%) Test Automation Engineer
10 86 (4.40%) QA Engineer
11 80 (4.10%) Full-Stack Engineer
12 75 (3.84%) Test Leader
13 71 (3.64%) Tester
14 70 (3.58%) DevOps Engineer
15 68 (3.48%) Architect
16 61 (3.12%) Data Engineer
17 56 (2.87%) Software Developer
18 53 (2.71%) Senior Test Engineer
19 49 (2.51%) Analyst
20 48 (2.46%) Lead Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 205 (10.50%) React
2 203 (10.39%) .NET
3 173 (8.86%) RESTful
4 167 (8.55%) Playwright
4 167 (8.55%) REST
5 166 (8.50%) Spring
6 164 (8.40%) Node.js
7 122 (6.25%) Spring Boot
8 107 (5.48%) Kafka
9 89 (4.56%) AngularJS
10 71 (3.64%) CSS
10 71 (3.64%) HTML
11 56 (2.87%) OAuth
12 48 (2.46%) Middleware
12 48 (2.46%) OAuth2
13 44 (2.25%) RabbitMQ
14 41 (2.10%) JSON
14 41 (2.10%) Vue
15 40 (2.05%) YAML
16 39 (2.00%) ASP.NET
Miscellaneous
1 366 (18.74%) Cloud Native
2 215 (11.01%) Product Ownership
3 160 (8.19%) Distributed Systems
4 96 (4.92%) Mobile App
5 64 (3.28%) Enterprise Software
6 63 (3.23%) Public Cloud
7 54 (2.76%) Algorithms
7 54 (2.76%) Low-Code
7 54 (2.76%) Management Information System
8 52 (2.66%) Legacy Systems
9 45 (2.30%) Virtual Team
10 44 (2.25%) Onboarding
11 41 (2.10%) Data Structures
12 40 (2.05%) Cyber Threat
13 38 (1.95%) Greenfield Project
14 34 (1.74%) Embedded Systems
14 34 (1.74%) Video\Live Streaming
15 30 (1.54%) Self-Motivation
16 29 (1.48%) Blog
17 26 (1.33%) e-Learning
Operating Systems
1 180 (9.22%) Linux
2 89 (4.56%) Windows
3 62 (3.17%) Apple iOS
4 57 (2.92%) Unix
5 51 (2.61%) Android
6 10 (0.51%) CentOS
7 9 (0.46%) Windows Server
8 6 (0.31%) FreeRTOS
9 4 (0.20%) Kali Linux
10 3 (0.15%) AIX
10 3 (0.15%) Debian
10 3 (0.15%) Embedded Linux
11 2 (0.10%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 2 (0.10%) Ubuntu
11 2 (0.10%) Windows Server 2019
12 1 (0.051%) ThreadX
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 1,116 (57.14%) CI/CD
2 863 (44.19%) Agile
3 729 (37.33%) DevOps
4 605 (30.98%) Software Engineering
5 539 (27.60%) Mentoring
6 518 (26.52%) Continuous Improvement
7 400 (20.48%) Problem-Solving
8 391 (20.02%) Microservices
9 363 (18.59%) Infrastructure as Code
10 333 (17.05%) AI
11 318 (16.28%) Software Testing
12 267 (13.67%) Test Strategy
13 263 (13.47%) Containerisation
14 253 (12.95%) Full-Stack Development
14 253 (12.95%) Observability
15 249 (12.75%) Coaching
16 227 (11.62%) Validation
17 207 (10.60%) Code Quality
18 202 (10.34%) Clean Code
19 195 (9.98%) Event-Driven
Programming Languages
1 629 (32.21%) Python
2 548 (28.06%) Java
3 327 (16.74%) JavaScript
4 318 (16.28%) SQL
5 269 (13.77%) C#
6 264 (13.52%) TypeScript
7 108 (5.53%) C++
8 88 (4.51%) Go
9 87 (4.45%) PowerShell
10 80 (4.10%) Bash
11 71 (3.64%) C
12 36 (1.84%) Kotlin
12 36 (1.84%) Rust
13 28 (1.43%) Swift
14 26 (1.33%) PHP
15 23 (1.18%) MATLAB
16 22 (1.13%) Bicep
16 22 (1.13%) Ruby
17 18 (0.92%) Groovy
18 16 (0.82%) Embedded C
Qualifications
1 251 (12.85%) Security Cleared
2 239 (12.24%) Degree
3 147 (7.53%) SC Cleared
4 100 (5.12%) Computer Science Degree
5 81 (4.15%) ISTQB
6 48 (2.46%) DV Cleared
7 47 (2.41%) CISSP
8 41 (2.10%) ITIL Certification
9 39 (2.00%) CISM
10 37 (1.89%) Master's Degree
11 36 (1.84%) AWS Certification
12 26 (1.33%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 22 (1.13%) DBS Check
14 16 (0.82%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
15 15 (0.77%) ISEB
16 13 (0.67%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
17 11 (0.56%) BPSS Clearance
17 11 (0.56%) HND
18 10 (0.51%) CISA
18 10 (0.51%) HNC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 445 (22.79%) QA
2 173 (8.86%) Accessibility
3 80 (4.10%) Data Quality
4 48 (2.46%) NIST
5 47 (2.41%) GDPR
6 42 (2.15%) WCAG
7 35 (1.79%) ISO 22301
8 15 (0.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 13 (0.67%) SLA
10 12 (0.61%) Software Quality Assurance
11 11 (0.56%) COBIT
11 11 (0.56%) GRC
12 7 (0.36%) SOC 2
13 6 (0.31%) JTAG
13 6 (0.31%) MISRA
13 6 (0.31%) PMO
14 4 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials
14 4 (0.20%) ECSS
14 4 (0.20%) ISO 9001
15 3 (0.15%) MISRA C
System Software
1 269 (13.77%) Docker
2 28 (1.43%) Firmware
3 27 (1.38%) VMware Infrastructure
4 18 (0.92%) Hyper-V
5 17 (0.87%) Virtual Machines
6 14 (0.72%) KVM
7 12 (0.61%) Active Directory
8 10 (0.51%) Embedded Firmware
9 2 (0.10%) Terminal Server
9 2 (0.10%) vSphere
10 1 (0.051%) IAG
10 1 (0.051%) Oracle RAC
10 1 (0.051%) Xen
Systems Management
1 320 (16.39%) Terraform
2 313 (16.03%) Kubernetes
3 144 (7.37%) Grafana
4 84 (4.30%) Ansible
5 63 (3.23%) Prometheus
6 26 (1.33%) Argo
7 16 (0.82%) Kibana
8 10 (0.51%) logstash
9 8 (0.41%) CloudHub
9 8 (0.41%) Puppet
9 8 (0.41%) Single Sign-On
10 7 (0.36%) HP Fortify
10 7 (0.36%) vCenter Server
11 6 (0.31%) Functional Safety
12 5 (0.26%) Packer
12 5 (0.26%) SCCM
12 5 (0.26%) SCOM
13 4 (0.20%) Microsoft Intune
14 3 (0.15%) Rancher
14 3 (0.15%) SCOrch
Vendors
1 146 (7.48%) Microsoft
2 55 (2.82%) Databricks
3 48 (2.46%) Oracle
4 45 (2.30%) Salesforce
5 44 (2.25%) Google
6 41 (2.10%) VMware
7 35 (1.79%) ServiceNow
8 26 (1.33%) Splunk
9 24 (1.23%) Dynatrace
10 19 (0.97%) OpenAI
11 18 (0.92%) Pega
11 18 (0.92%) SAP
12 16 (0.82%) Braze
13 15 (0.77%) AppDynamics
14 14 (0.72%) Amplitude
15 13 (0.67%) Atlassian
15 13 (0.67%) IFS
15 13 (0.67%) SendGrid
16 12 (0.61%) CrowdStrike
16 12 (0.61%) MuleSoft