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 29 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 102 81 76
Rank change year-on-year -21 -5 -32
Permanent jobs citing Test Automation 1,322 1,918 1,930
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 2.23% 3.46% 3.74%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.72% 3.85% 4.09%
Number of salaries quoted 812 914 1,435
10th Percentile £40,775 £41,250 £40,950
25th Percentile £51,250 £47,500 £48,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £62,500 £62,500
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% - +4.17%
75th Percentile £85,000 £81,000 £81,250
90th Percentile £106,125 £102,500 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £57,500 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year - +4.55% -2.62%

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 48,671 49,754 47,191
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 82.04% 89.85% 91.49%
Number of salaries quoted 28,569 24,792 36,014
10th Percentile £28,500 £35,000 £31,750
25th Percentile £36,500 £45,000 £42,631
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £80,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -9.09% +4.76% -3.67%

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 29 December 2025.

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 29 December 2025. 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 -20 1,101 £63,076 +0.92% 2,709
UK excluding London -47 715 £57,500 - 2,463
Work from Home +3 531 £65,000 +2.36% 1,315
London +19 520 £80,750 +0.94% 514
South East -39 195 £55,000 - 609
Scotland +16 135 £79,859 +39.02% 142
North of England -67 135 £60,000 +20.00% 603
South West -5 99 £52,500 -4.55% 277
Midlands -53 86 £55,200 -8.00% 409
North West -41 73 £60,000 +27.66% 300
West Midlands -34 54 £56,350 -6.08% 206
Yorkshire -38 46 £55,000 +11.11% 250
East of England -43 42 £55,000 -8.33% 353
East Midlands -54 35 £55,200 -8.00% 184
Wales +1 26 £56,350 +7.33% 63
North East -10 16 £55,100 -9.67% 53
Northern Ireland -30 3 £64,859 +8.10% 41

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 (2.50%) Confluence
2 20 (1.51%) Apache Airflow
2 20 (1.51%) Oracle SOA Suite
3 19 (1.44%) Apache Spark
4 16 (1.21%) SharePoint
5 13 (0.98%) Appian
6 11 (0.83%) Apache
7 7 (0.53%) Apache Solr
8 6 (0.45%) CMS
8 6 (0.45%) Headless CMS
8 6 (0.45%) Jupyter
9 4 (0.30%) WordPress
10 3 (0.23%) Oracle Workflow
11 2 (0.15%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 2 (0.15%) IIS
11 2 (0.15%) Microsoft Exchange
11 2 (0.15%) nginx
12 1 (0.076%) Anypoint
12 1 (0.076%) JBoss
12 1 (0.076%) SAS
Applications
1 17 (1.29%) Microsoft Office
2 16 (1.21%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (1.06%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (0.83%) MS Visio
5 4 (0.30%) Fusion 360
5 4 (0.30%) Oracle Smart View
6 3 (0.23%) Photoshop
6 3 (0.23%) Sketch
7 2 (0.15%) Adobe XD
7 2 (0.15%) Microsoft Project
7 2 (0.15%) Simulink
8 1 (0.076%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.076%) Doxygen
8 1 (0.076%) Trello
Business Applications
1 43 (3.25%) Oracle ERP
2 30 (2.27%) SAP S/4HANA
3 18 (1.36%) Dynamics CRM
4 10 (0.76%) Dynamics NAV
4 10 (0.76%) Shopify
5 4 (0.30%) Elite 3E
5 4 (0.30%) Hyperion Planning
5 4 (0.30%) Oracle Assets
5 4 (0.30%) Oracle EBS
5 4 (0.30%) Oracle Financials
5 4 (0.30%) Oracle General Ledger
5 4 (0.30%) Oracle Payables
5 4 (0.30%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 4 (0.30%) Oracle Receivables
6 3 (0.23%) SAP CX
6 3 (0.23%) Unit4 Business World
7 2 (0.15%) Aladdin
7 2 (0.15%) Payment Gateway
8 1 (0.076%) SAP Hybris
8 1 (0.076%) Siebel CRM
Cloud Services
1 463 (35.02%) Azure
2 331 (25.04%) AWS
3 291 (22.01%) Azure DevOps
4 227 (17.17%) GitHub
5 112 (8.47%) GCP
5 112 (8.47%) SaaS
6 79 (5.98%) GitHub Copilot
7 73 (5.52%) Power Platform
8 72 (5.45%) GitHub Actions
9 68 (5.14%) PaaS
9 68 (5.14%) Serverless
10 47 (3.56%) Azure Data Factory
11 40 (3.03%) Snowflake
12 39 (2.95%) Entra ID
12 39 (2.95%) OCI
13 37 (2.80%) dbt
14 35 (2.65%) Datadog
15 34 (2.57%) Amazon EKS
16 32 (2.42%) Salesforce Service Cloud
17 30 (2.27%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 23 (1.74%) DNS
1 23 (1.74%) HTTP
2 21 (1.59%) TCP/IP
3 12 (0.91%) VPN
4 11 (0.83%) SD-WAN
4 11 (0.83%) WAN
5 9 (0.68%) Firewall
6 8 (0.61%) 5G
7 7 (0.53%) Wi-Fi
8 6 (0.45%) VLAN
9 5 (0.38%) CHAP
9 5 (0.38%) Multicast
10 4 (0.30%) 3G
10 4 (0.30%) DHCP
10 4 (0.30%) GPRS
10 4 (0.30%) Modbus
10 4 (0.30%) RS-232
10 4 (0.30%) RS-485
10 4 (0.30%) SMTP
10 4 (0.30%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 89 (6.73%) SQL Server
2 76 (5.75%) Relational Database
3 67 (5.07%) PostgreSQL
4 53 (4.01%) NoSQL
5 43 (3.25%) Data Warehouse
6 42 (3.18%) Power BI
7 41 (3.10%) MySQL
8 20 (1.51%) MongoDB
8 20 (1.51%) Tableau
9 19 (1.44%) RDBMS
10 15 (1.13%) Elasticsearch
10 15 (1.13%) Snowflake Schema
11 14 (1.06%) BigQuery
11 14 (1.06%) DB2
12 13 (0.98%) DynamoDB
13 10 (0.76%) Data Lake
13 10 (0.76%) Metadata
13 10 (0.76%) Pinecone
14 9 (0.68%) MariaDB
15 8 (0.61%) Amazon RDS
Development Applications
1 182 (13.77%) Selenium
2 170 (12.86%) Git
3 167 (12.63%) JIRA
4 138 (10.44%) Jenkins
5 75 (5.67%) Cypress.io
6 67 (5.07%) Cucumber
7 58 (4.39%) Postman
8 49 (3.71%) GitLab
9 43 (3.25%) JMeter
10 41 (3.10%) Oracle Forms
11 38 (2.87%) TeamCity
12 28 (2.12%) Robot Framework
13 27 (2.04%) Snyk
14 25 (1.89%) eCATT
15 24 (1.82%) JUnit
15 24 (1.82%) WebDriver
16 22 (1.66%) REST Assured
17 21 (1.59%) Appium
17 21 (1.59%) SpecFlow
18 20 (1.51%) NeoLoad
General
1 422 (31.92%) Social Skills
2 419 (31.69%) Finance
3 153 (11.57%) Analytical Skills
4 97 (7.34%) Marketing
5 96 (7.26%) Law
6 86 (6.51%) Banking
7 61 (4.61%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 61 (4.61%) Manufacturing
8 55 (4.16%) Public Sector
9 47 (3.56%) Retail
10 43 (3.25%) Electronics
11 40 (3.03%) Financial Institution
12 39 (2.95%) Front Office
13 34 (2.57%) Back Office
14 29 (2.19%) Documentation Skills
15 28 (2.12%) Legal
16 24 (1.82%) Presentation Skills
17 20 (1.51%) Organisational Skills
18 17 (1.29%) Telecoms
19 16 (1.21%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 372 (28.14%) Senior
2 277 (20.95%) Developer
3 222 (16.79%) Lead
4 131 (9.91%) Senior Developer
5 122 (9.23%) Test Engineer
6 85 (6.43%) Software Engineer
7 75 (5.67%) Analyst
8 68 (5.14%) QA Engineer
9 61 (4.61%) Test Leader
10 58 (4.39%) Python Developer
10 58 (4.39%) Tester
11 53 (4.01%) Test Automation Engineer
12 50 (3.78%) Cloud Engineer
13 49 (3.71%) Applications Engineer
14 48 (3.63%) Automation Engineer
15 44 (3.33%) Full-Stack Developer
15 44 (3.33%) QA Automation Engineer
16 41 (3.10%) Test Analyst
17 39 (2.95%) Automation Test Lead
18 38 (2.87%) Automation Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 158 (11.95%) React
2 144 (10.89%) RESTful
3 124 (9.38%) .NET
4 97 (7.34%) REST
5 94 (7.11%) Playwright
6 87 (6.58%) Node.js
7 76 (5.75%) CSS
7 76 (5.75%) HTML
8 71 (5.37%) JSON
9 58 (4.39%) SOAP
10 57 (4.31%) Spring
11 49 (3.71%) OAuth
12 48 (3.63%) XML
13 45 (3.40%) Kafka
13 45 (3.40%) pytest
14 40 (3.03%) OAuth2
15 35 (2.65%) Flask
15 35 (2.65%) YAML
16 33 (2.50%) .NET Framework
16 33 (2.50%) GraphQL
Miscellaneous
1 204 (15.43%) Cloud Native
2 97 (7.34%) Product Ownership
3 57 (4.31%) Self-Motivation
4 48 (3.63%) Mobile App
5 47 (3.56%) Enterprise Software
6 46 (3.48%) Management Information System
7 41 (3.10%) Onboarding
8 32 (2.42%) Hedge funds
9 30 (2.27%) Data Structures
9 30 (2.27%) Security Posture
10 28 (2.12%) Legacy Systems
11 25 (1.89%) Algorithms
12 24 (1.82%) Equities
12 24 (1.82%) Low-Code
13 23 (1.74%) Virtual Team
14 22 (1.66%) Satnav
15 19 (1.44%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
16 18 (1.36%) GNSS
16 18 (1.36%) Greenfield Project
17 17 (1.29%) Distributed Systems
Operating Systems
1 112 (8.47%) Linux
2 69 (5.22%) Windows
3 32 (2.42%) Apple iOS
4 28 (2.12%) Android
5 24 (1.82%) Unix
6 16 (1.21%) Windows Server
7 5 (0.38%) CentOS
7 5 (0.38%) Embedded Linux
7 5 (0.38%) FreeRTOS
8 4 (0.30%) Debian
9 3 (0.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (0.23%) Windows 10
9 3 (0.23%) Windows Server 2019
10 2 (0.15%) Mac OS
10 2 (0.15%) Solaris
11 1 (0.076%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.076%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 693 (52.42%) CI/CD
2 632 (47.81%) Agile
3 503 (38.05%) DevOps
4 335 (25.34%) Problem-Solving
5 295 (22.31%) Mentoring
6 266 (20.12%) Continuous Improvement
7 217 (16.41%) Coaching
8 209 (15.81%) Software Engineering
9 203 (15.36%) AI
10 156 (11.80%) Microservices
11 153 (11.57%) Analytics
12 152 (11.50%) Observability
13 147 (11.12%) Clean Code
14 145 (10.97%) Software Testing
15 142 (10.74%) Test Strategy
16 128 (9.68%) Computer Science
17 124 (9.38%) User Experience
18 123 (9.30%) Containerisation
18 123 (9.30%) Infrastructure as Code
19 122 (9.23%) Asset Management
Programming Languages
1 377 (28.52%) Python
2 295 (22.31%) SQL
3 293 (22.16%) Java
4 202 (15.28%) JavaScript
5 179 (13.54%) C#
6 140 (10.59%) TypeScript
7 79 (5.98%) PowerShell
8 58 (4.39%) C++
9 44 (3.33%) PL/SQL
10 42 (3.18%) Shell Script
11 36 (2.72%) C
12 35 (2.65%) PHP
13 32 (2.42%) Bicep
14 29 (2.19%) Bash
15 28 (2.12%) Go
16 24 (1.82%) Apex Code
17 20 (1.51%) Kotlin
18 13 (0.98%) T-SQL
18 13 (0.98%) VBA
19 12 (0.91%) Scala
Qualifications
1 196 (14.83%) Degree
2 98 (7.41%) Security Cleared
3 90 (6.81%) Computer Science Degree
4 67 (5.07%) ISTQB
4 67 (5.07%) SC Cleared
5 48 (3.63%) Master's Degree
6 31 (2.34%) DV Cleared
7 25 (1.89%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 21 (1.59%) DBS Check
9 20 (1.51%) HND
10 19 (1.44%) AWS Certification
11 16 (1.21%) ISEB
12 15 (1.13%) Azure Certification
13 10 (0.76%) BPSS Clearance
14 9 (0.68%) CEH
15 8 (0.61%) PhD
16 6 (0.45%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
16 6 (0.45%) CISA
16 6 (0.45%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
17 5 (0.38%) FFIEC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 323 (24.43%) QA
2 74 (5.60%) Accessibility
3 61 (4.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 49 (3.71%) NIST
5 40 (3.03%) Data Quality
6 29 (2.19%) GDPR
7 27 (2.04%) NCSC
8 24 (1.82%) WCAG
9 17 (1.29%) ISO 9001
10 12 (0.91%) SLA
11 9 (0.68%) ISO 22301
12 8 (0.61%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 5 (0.38%) COBIT
13 5 (0.38%) PCI DSS
14 4 (0.30%) IEC 61508
14 4 (0.30%) ISO 13485
14 4 (0.30%) ISO 26262
14 4 (0.30%) MISRA
15 3 (0.23%) Cyber Essentials
15 3 (0.23%) GRC
System Software
1 170 (12.86%) Docker
2 45 (3.40%) Active Directory
3 19 (1.44%) Firmware
4 15 (1.13%) Embedded Firmware
5 8 (0.61%) VMware Infrastructure
6 6 (0.45%) Virtual Machines
7 5 (0.38%) vSphere
8 2 (0.15%) Terminal Server
9 1 (0.076%) zsh
Systems Management
1 186 (14.07%) Terraform
2 182 (13.77%) Kubernetes
3 62 (4.69%) Grafana
4 51 (3.86%) Ansible
5 39 (2.95%) Single Sign-On
6 28 (2.12%) HP ALM
7 22 (1.66%) Prometheus
8 9 (0.68%) Microsoft Intune
9 5 (0.38%) Argo
10 4 (0.30%) Control-M
10 4 (0.30%) logstash
11 3 (0.23%) HP Fortify
11 3 (0.23%) HP Quality Center
11 3 (0.23%) Progress Chef
11 3 (0.23%) SCCM
11 3 (0.23%) SCOM
12 2 (0.15%) Nessus
12 2 (0.15%) Rancher
13 1 (0.076%) CA Service Virtualization
13 1 (0.076%) Puppet
Vendors
1 145 (10.97%) Microsoft
2 92 (6.96%) Oracle
3 67 (5.07%) Salesforce
4 52 (3.93%) SAP
5 32 (2.42%) Databricks
5 32 (2.42%) Google
6 28 (2.12%) HP
6 28 (2.12%) VMware
7 21 (1.59%) Black Duck
8 20 (1.51%) Coverity
8 20 (1.51%) Okta
9 18 (1.36%) Guidewire
10 16 (1.21%) Splunk
11 14 (1.06%) Ab Initio
11 14 (1.06%) UiPath
12 13 (0.98%) Blue Prism
13 12 (0.91%) Commvault
13 12 (0.91%) OpenAI
14 11 (0.83%) Pega
15 9 (0.68%) Atlassian