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

6 months to
16 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 87 83 99
Rank change year-on-year -4 +16 -47
Permanent jobs citing Test Automation 1,972 1,713 2,546
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 2.00% 3.49% 2.52%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.71% 3.87% 3.07%
Number of salaries quoted 1,157 839 1,632
10th Percentile £42,125 £37,500 £36,775
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 £82,625 £71,991
90th Percentile £96,250 £98,900 £87,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £60,000 £57,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +5.26% +8.57% -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 72,823 44,302 82,887
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.72% 90.16% 82.12%
Number of salaries quoted 50,276 24,855 57,929
10th Percentile £30,250 £28,750 £30,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £38,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,201 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.89% +4.00% -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 16 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 16 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 -3 1,659 £65,000 +3.17% 536
UK excluding London -9 1,177 £60,000 +5.26% 432
Work from Home +14 851 £67,500 +12.50% 271
London +4 631 £80,000 +3.23% 198
North of England +11 326 £57,500 -4.01% 104
South East -24 221 £60,000 +9.09% 150
South West -24 190 £55,000 -8.33% 54
Midlands -13 176 £62,500 +8.70% 51
North West -5 170 £62,500 -3.85% 51
Northern Ireland -2 101 £80,000 +45.45% 16
West Midlands -28 94 £62,500 -1.96% 27
North East 0 86 £52,500 +7.35% 17
East Midlands -31 81 £64,000 +34.74% 24
Yorkshire -25 70 £69,310 +41.45% 36
Wales -5 64 £54,085 -1.66% 13
East of England -22 63 £55,000 -3.51% 42
Scotland -38 49 £62,500 -5.66% 15

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 38 (1.93%) 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 7 (0.35%) IIS
10 5 (0.25%) Palantir Foundry
10 5 (0.25%) Umbraco
10 5 (0.25%) WordPress
11 3 (0.15%) Appian
11 3 (0.15%) Headless CMS
11 3 (0.15%) nginx
11 3 (0.15%) SAS
12 2 (0.10%) Cloud Foundry
12 2 (0.10%) NServiceBus
Applications
1 22 (1.12%) Microsoft Excel
2 12 (0.61%) Simulink
3 10 (0.51%) Microsoft Office
4 7 (0.35%) 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
9 1 (0.051%) Moqups
Business Applications
1 23 (1.17%) Dynamics CRM
2 13 (0.66%) Dynamics GP
3 5 (0.25%) Visualfiles
4 4 (0.20%) Dynamics AX
5 3 (0.15%) SAP S/4HANA
6 2 (0.10%) FLEXCUBE
6 2 (0.10%) Payment Gateway
6 2 (0.10%) Towers Watson Igloo
6 2 (0.10%) Workday HCM
7 1 (0.051%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.051%) Endur
7 1 (0.051%) Findur
7 1 (0.051%) Magento
7 1 (0.051%) Misys Equation
7 1 (0.051%) Misys Midas
7 1 (0.051%) NetSuite
7 1 (0.051%) Oracle EBS
7 1 (0.051%) Oracle ERP
7 1 (0.051%) Oracle Financials
7 1 (0.051%) Oracle SCM
Cloud Services
1 739 (37.47%) AWS
2 623 (31.59%) Azure
3 241 (12.22%) Azure DevOps
4 229 (11.61%) GCP
5 216 (10.95%) SaaS
6 181 (9.18%) Serverless
7 162 (8.22%) GitHub
8 83 (4.21%) AWS CloudFormation
8 83 (4.21%) GitHub Actions
9 77 (3.90%) AWS Lambda
10 73 (3.70%) Amazon EKS
11 72 (3.65%) Amazon S3
12 52 (2.64%) Azure Service Bus
12 52 (2.64%) PaaS
13 50 (2.54%) Power Platform
14 44 (2.23%) Azure Monitor
15 43 (2.18%) Azure Logic Apps
16 40 (2.03%) Amazon EC2
17 39 (1.98%) dbt
18 33 (1.67%) Amazon CloudWatch
Communications & Networking
1 71 (3.60%) 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 (0.35%) LTE
9 7 (0.35%) TCP/IP
9 7 (0.35%) WAN
9 7 (0.35%) 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
1 135 (6.85%) NoSQL
2 127 (6.44%) PostgreSQL
3 100 (5.07%) MongoDB
4 68 (3.45%) SQL Server
5 45 (2.28%) DynamoDB
6 38 (1.93%) Relational Database
7 33 (1.67%) 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 16 (0.81%) Metadata
12 16 (0.81%) Semantic Layer
13 14 (0.71%) Amazon Athena
14 13 (0.66%) Oracle Database
15 12 (0.61%) Data Lake
16 11 (0.56%) Elasticsearch
17 9 (0.46%) Big Data
Development Applications
1 246 (12.47%) Git
2 173 (8.77%) GitLab
3 170 (8.62%) Jenkins
4 145 (7.35%) Selenium
5 120 (6.09%) JIRA
6 90 (4.56%) Cucumber
6 90 (4.56%) Cypress.io
7 72 (3.65%) Postman
8 62 (3.14%) TeamCity
9 50 (2.54%) JMeter
10 37 (1.88%) REST Assured
11 33 (1.67%) JUnit
12 31 (1.57%) Zephyr
13 28 (1.42%) SpecFlow
14 25 (1.27%) TestRail
15 22 (1.12%) Gatling
16 21 (1.06%) fastlane
17 20 (1.01%) Crashlytics
18 19 (0.96%) LabVIEW
19 18 (0.91%) CircleCI
General
1 498 (25.25%) Social Skills
2 436 (22.11%) Finance
3 202 (10.24%) Public Sector
4 195 (9.89%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 189 (9.58%) Analytical Skills
6 188 (9.53%) Banking
7 172 (8.72%) Law
8 96 (4.87%) Retail
9 86 (4.36%) 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 44 (2.23%) Marketing
15 31 (1.57%) Front Office
16 23 (1.17%) Documentation Skills
17 21 (1.06%) Influencing Skills
18 20 (1.01%) Telecoms
19 18 (0.91%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 545 (27.64%) Senior
2 318 (16.13%) Lead
3 301 (15.26%) Software Engineer
4 279 (14.15%) Developer
5 211 (10.70%) Test Engineer
6 119 (6.03%) Java Engineer
7 116 (5.88%) Senior Developer
8 90 (4.56%) Senior Software Engineer
9 86 (4.36%) Test Automation Engineer
10 83 (4.21%) QA Engineer
11 80 (4.06%) Full-Stack Engineer
12 75 (3.80%) Test Leader
13 71 (3.60%) DevOps Engineer
14 67 (3.40%) Architect
15 66 (3.35%) Tester
16 58 (2.94%) Data Engineer
17 55 (2.79%) Software Developer
18 52 (2.64%) Analyst
19 50 (2.54%) Senior Test Engineer
20 49 (2.48%) Lead Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 203 (10.29%) .NET
2 201 (10.19%) React
3 171 (8.67%) Playwright
4 169 (8.57%) Spring
5 166 (8.42%) RESTful
6 165 (8.37%) REST
7 164 (8.32%) Node.js
8 124 (6.29%) Spring Boot
9 109 (5.53%) Kafka
10 91 (4.61%) AngularJS
11 75 (3.80%) CSS
11 75 (3.80%) HTML
12 63 (3.19%) Middleware
13 59 (2.99%) OAuth
14 51 (2.59%) OAuth2
15 43 (2.18%) RabbitMQ
16 41 (2.08%) JSON
16 41 (2.08%) Vue
17 39 (1.98%) YAML
18 38 (1.93%) ASP.NET
Miscellaneous
1 368 (18.66%) Cloud Native
2 223 (11.31%) Product Ownership
3 163 (8.27%) Distributed Systems
4 96 (4.87%) Mobile App
5 67 (3.40%) Enterprise Software
6 64 (3.25%) Public Cloud
7 58 (2.94%) Legacy Systems
7 58 (2.94%) Virtual Team
8 55 (2.79%) Cyber Threat
9 54 (2.74%) Algorithms
10 52 (2.64%) Low-Code
10 52 (2.64%) Management Information System
11 44 (2.23%) Onboarding
12 41 (2.08%) Data Structures
13 40 (2.03%) Blog
14 38 (1.93%) Greenfield Project
15 35 (1.77%) Embedded Systems
16 34 (1.72%) Video\Live Streaming
17 32 (1.62%) Self-Motivation
18 28 (1.42%) e-Learning
Operating Systems
1 174 (8.82%) Linux
2 89 (4.51%) Windows
3 59 (2.99%) Apple iOS
4 54 (2.74%) Unix
5 49 (2.48%) Android
6 9 (0.46%) Windows Server
7 7 (0.35%) 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 1,124 (57.00%) CI/CD
2 879 (44.57%) Agile
3 752 (38.13%) DevOps
4 615 (31.19%) Software Engineering
5 559 (28.35%) Mentoring
6 538 (27.28%) Continuous Improvement
7 392 (19.88%) Problem-Solving
8 388 (19.68%) Microservices
9 356 (18.05%) Infrastructure as Code
10 353 (17.90%) AI
11 323 (16.38%) Software Testing
12 274 (13.89%) Test Strategy
13 257 (13.03%) Coaching
13 257 (13.03%) Containerisation
14 252 (12.78%) Full-Stack Development
15 251 (12.73%) Observability
16 227 (11.51%) Validation
17 211 (10.70%) Code Quality
18 199 (10.09%) Clean Code
18 199 (10.09%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 626 (31.74%) Python
2 545 (27.64%) Java
3 338 (17.14%) JavaScript
4 320 (16.23%) SQL
5 282 (14.30%) C#
6 272 (13.79%) TypeScript
7 109 (5.53%) C++
8 95 (4.82%) PowerShell
9 83 (4.21%) Go
10 76 (3.85%) Bash
11 71 (3.60%) C
12 37 (1.88%) Kotlin
13 34 (1.72%) 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
1 238 (12.07%) Security Cleared
2 232 (11.76%) Degree
3 145 (7.35%) SC Cleared
4 100 (5.07%) Computer Science Degree
5 81 (4.11%) ISTQB
6 61 (3.09%) CISSP
7 56 (2.84%) ITIL Certification
8 53 (2.69%) CISM
9 45 (2.28%) 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 (1.06%) DBS Check
13 16 (0.81%) ISEB
14 14 (0.71%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
15 12 (0.61%) 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
1 456 (23.12%) QA
2 166 (8.42%) Accessibility
3 77 (3.90%) Data Quality
4 61 (3.09%) NIST
5 50 (2.54%) ISO 22301
6 48 (2.43%) GDPR
7 43 (2.18%) WCAG
8 14 (0.71%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 12 (0.61%) SLA
9 12 (0.61%) Software Quality Assurance
10 11 (0.56%) GRC
11 10 (0.51%) COBIT
12 7 (0.35%) JTAG
12 7 (0.35%) SOC 2
13 6 (0.30%) MISRA
13 6 (0.30%) 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
1 257 (13.03%) Docker
2 29 (1.47%) Firmware
3 24 (1.22%) VMware Infrastructure
4 16 (0.81%) 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
1 309 (15.67%) Terraform
2 297 (15.06%) Kubernetes
3 137 (6.95%) Grafana
4 77 (3.90%) Ansible
5 59 (2.99%) Prometheus
6 24 (1.22%) Argo
7 15 (0.76%) Kibana
8 10 (0.51%) CloudHub
9 9 (0.46%) logstash
10 8 (0.41%) Single Sign-On
11 7 (0.35%) HP Fortify
11 7 (0.35%) Puppet
12 6 (0.30%) Functional Safety
12 6 (0.30%) vCenter Server
13 5 (0.25%) Packer
13 5 (0.25%) SCCM
13 5 (0.25%) SCOM
14 4 (0.20%) Microsoft Intune
15 3 (0.15%) HP ALM
15 3 (0.15%) SCOrch
Vendors
1 147 (7.45%) Microsoft
2 55 (2.79%) Databricks
3 47 (2.38%) Google
4 46 (2.33%) Salesforce
5 43 (2.18%) Oracle
6 39 (1.98%) ServiceNow
7 37 (1.88%) VMware
8 26 (1.32%) Splunk
9 24 (1.22%) Dynatrace
10 23 (1.17%) SAP
11 20 (1.01%) Pega
12 17 (0.86%) OpenAI
13 16 (0.81%) AppDynamics
13 16 (0.81%) Braze
14 14 (0.71%) Amplitude
15 13 (0.66%) IFS
15 13 (0.66%) MuleSoft
15 13 (0.66%) SendGrid
16 12 (0.61%) Adobe
16 12 (0.61%) Atlassian