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 28 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 103 88 74
Rank change year-on-year -15 -14 -33
Permanent jobs citing Test Automation 1,354 2,035 1,991
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 2.51% 3.05% 3.91%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.96% 3.58% 4.17%
Number of salaries quoted 778 951 1,568
10th Percentile £40,000 £38,750 £41,250
25th Percentile £50,250 £46,407 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £62,500 £65,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% -3.85% +8.33%
75th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £80,000
90th Percentile £105,000 £105,000 £98,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £57,500 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year - +4.55% -

All Process and 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 45,707 56,896 47,775
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 84.68% 85.15% 93.78%
Number of salaries quoted 27,910 29,661 36,781
10th Percentile £28,250 £34,001 £32,500
25th Percentile £36,250 £45,000 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £80,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £98,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,500 £54,439 £52,500
% change year-on-year -12.75% +3.69% -0.94%

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 28 November 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 28 November 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 -18 1,129 £65,000 +4.00% 543
UK excluding London -41 716 £57,500 - 494
London +29 535 £85,000 +6.25% 206
Work from Home -7 486 £65,000 +1.56% 259
South East -41 194 £55,000 - 212
North of England -57 144 £60,000 +21.21% 70
Scotland +13 120 £77,359 +36.00% 34
South West -13 99 £52,500 -12.50% 70
Midlands -21 92 £60,000 - 56
North West -29 85 £60,000 +28.34% 36
West Midlands -3 60 £57,500 -4.17% 35
Yorkshire -26 46 £55,000 +11.11% 20
East of England -45 43 £60,000 +4.35% 50
East Midlands -31 35 £60,000 +9.09% 20
Wales +10 28 £55,000 +12.78% 13
North East -10 13 £52,600 -10.82% 14
Northern Ireland -24 4 £64,859 +10.40% 3

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 29 (2.14%) Apache Spark
2 24 (1.77%) Confluence
3 22 (1.62%) Apache Airflow
4 20 (1.48%) SharePoint
5 17 (1.26%) Apache
6 16 (1.18%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 10 (0.74%) Appian
8 8 (0.59%) Headless CMS
9 7 (0.52%) Apache Solr
10 6 (0.44%) Jupyter
10 6 (0.44%) nginx
11 5 (0.37%) CMS
12 3 (0.22%) Oracle Workflow
12 3 (0.22%) WordPress
13 2 (0.15%) Adobe Experience Manager
14 1 (0.074%) IIS
14 1 (0.074%) Microsoft Exchange
14 1 (0.074%) SAS
14 1 (0.074%) Umbraco
14 1 (0.074%) WebLogic
Applications
1 15 (1.11%) Microsoft Excel
2 14 (1.03%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (0.81%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (0.59%) MS Visio
5 4 (0.30%) Blender
5 4 (0.30%) Oracle Smart View
6 3 (0.22%) Photoshop
6 3 (0.22%) Simulink
7 2 (0.15%) Adobe XD
7 2 (0.15%) Chatbot
7 2 (0.15%) Microsoft Project
7 2 (0.15%) Sketch
8 1 (0.074%) Doxygen
8 1 (0.074%) Fusion 360
8 1 (0.074%) Trello
Business Applications
1 34 (2.51%) SAP S/4HANA
2 33 (2.44%) Oracle ERP
3 18 (1.33%) Dynamics CRM
4 12 (0.89%) Dynamics NAV
5 9 (0.66%) Shopify
6 6 (0.44%) Elite 3E
7 4 (0.30%) Hyperion Planning
7 4 (0.30%) Oracle Assets
7 4 (0.30%) Oracle Financials
7 4 (0.30%) Oracle General Ledger
7 4 (0.30%) Oracle Payables
7 4 (0.30%) Oracle Receivables
8 3 (0.22%) Payment Gateway
8 3 (0.22%) Salesforce CRM
8 3 (0.22%) SAP CX
8 3 (0.22%) Unit4 Business World
9 2 (0.15%) Aladdin
10 1 (0.074%) NEC Housing
10 1 (0.074%) Postilion
10 1 (0.074%) SAP Hybris
Cloud Services
1 447 (33.01%) Azure
2 378 (27.92%) AWS
3 262 (19.35%) Azure DevOps
4 197 (14.55%) GitHub
5 119 (8.79%) GCP
6 113 (8.35%) SaaS
7 80 (5.91%) Serverless
8 74 (5.47%) PaaS
9 68 (5.02%) Power Platform
10 67 (4.95%) GitHub Actions
11 57 (4.21%) GitHub Copilot
12 37 (2.73%) Snowflake
13 36 (2.66%) AWS Lambda
13 36 (2.66%) Datadog
13 36 (2.66%) dbt
14 35 (2.58%) Amazon EKS
14 35 (2.58%) Amazon S3
15 34 (2.51%) Azure Data Factory
16 31 (2.29%) Entra ID
17 30 (2.22%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 24 (1.77%) DNS
2 19 (1.40%) HTTP
3 17 (1.26%) TCP/IP
4 14 (1.03%) SD-WAN
4 14 (1.03%) WAN
5 12 (0.89%) 5G
6 11 (0.81%) Firewall
6 11 (0.81%) VPN
7 9 (0.66%) Wi-Fi
8 7 (0.52%) Network Security
8 7 (0.52%) VLAN
9 6 (0.44%) DHCP
9 6 (0.44%) Modbus
10 5 (0.37%) Multicast
11 4 (0.30%) 3G
11 4 (0.30%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
11 4 (0.30%) GPRS
11 4 (0.30%) RS-232
11 4 (0.30%) RS-485
11 4 (0.30%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 99 (7.31%) Relational Database
2 86 (6.35%) SQL Server
3 74 (5.47%) PostgreSQL
4 73 (5.39%) NoSQL
5 47 (3.47%) MySQL
6 43 (3.18%) Data Warehouse
7 37 (2.73%) Power BI
8 27 (1.99%) MongoDB
9 22 (1.62%) RDBMS
10 18 (1.33%) DynamoDB
11 17 (1.26%) Big Data
12 15 (1.11%) Tableau
13 14 (1.03%) Elasticsearch
13 14 (1.03%) Snowflake Schema
14 11 (0.81%) BigQuery
15 10 (0.74%) Amazon RDS
15 10 (0.74%) DB2
15 10 (0.74%) MariaDB
16 9 (0.66%) Azure SQL Database
16 9 (0.66%) Redis
Development Applications
1 191 (14.11%) Selenium
2 183 (13.52%) Git
3 154 (11.37%) JIRA
4 130 (9.60%) Jenkins
5 85 (6.28%) Cypress.io
6 66 (4.87%) Cucumber
7 63 (4.65%) Postman
8 49 (3.62%) GitLab
9 43 (3.18%) JMeter
10 36 (2.66%) TeamCity
11 31 (2.29%) Oracle Forms
12 30 (2.22%) JUnit
13 28 (2.07%) eCATT
14 24 (1.77%) Robot Framework
14 24 (1.77%) Snyk
15 23 (1.70%) Appium
16 21 (1.55%) SpecFlow
16 21 (1.55%) WebDriver
17 20 (1.48%) NeoLoad
17 20 (1.48%) REST Assured
General
1 464 (34.27%) Finance
2 397 (29.32%) Social Skills
3 159 (11.74%) Analytical Skills
4 152 (11.23%) Law
5 131 (9.68%) Marketing
6 122 (9.01%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 108 (7.98%) Banking
8 69 (5.10%) Manufacturing
9 62 (4.58%) Public Sector
10 42 (3.10%) Front Office
10 42 (3.10%) Retail
11 38 (2.81%) Back Office
12 35 (2.58%) Electronics
13 34 (2.51%) Financial Institution
13 34 (2.51%) Legal
14 27 (1.99%) Documentation Skills
14 27 (1.99%) Presentation Skills
15 19 (1.40%) Automotive
16 18 (1.33%) Games
16 18 (1.33%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 379 (27.99%) Senior
2 317 (23.41%) Developer
3 249 (18.39%) Lead
4 136 (10.04%) Senior Developer
5 130 (9.60%) Software Engineer
6 107 (7.90%) Test Engineer
7 71 (5.24%) Analyst
8 65 (4.80%) Python Developer
9 59 (4.36%) QA Engineer
10 56 (4.14%) Test Automation Engineer
10 56 (4.14%) Test Leader
11 51 (3.77%) Tester
12 48 (3.55%) Java Engineer
13 47 (3.47%) Full-Stack Developer
13 47 (3.47%) Java Developer
14 46 (3.40%) Test Analyst
15 42 (3.10%) Software Developer
16 40 (2.95%) Automation Test Lead
16 40 (2.95%) Cloud Engineer
17 39 (2.88%) Quality Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 176 (13.00%) React
2 133 (9.82%) .NET
3 131 (9.68%) RESTful
4 109 (8.05%) Playwright
4 109 (8.05%) REST
5 96 (7.09%) CSS
6 95 (7.02%) HTML
7 84 (6.20%) Node.js
8 75 (5.54%) Kafka
9 72 (5.32%) Spring
10 63 (4.65%) JSON
11 47 (3.47%) SOAP
12 45 (3.32%) AngularJS
12 45 (3.32%) Spring Boot
12 45 (3.32%) XML
13 41 (3.03%) OAuth
14 40 (2.95%) GraphQL
14 40 (2.95%) pytest
15 37 (2.73%) YAML
16 36 (2.66%) Flask
Miscellaneous
1 214 (15.81%) Cloud Native
2 83 (6.13%) Product Ownership
3 56 (4.14%) Mobile App
3 56 (4.14%) Onboarding
4 54 (3.99%) Management Information System
5 52 (3.84%) Self-Motivation
6 47 (3.47%) Data Structures
7 45 (3.32%) Enterprise Software
8 42 (3.10%) Algorithms
9 35 (2.58%) Hedge funds
10 31 (2.29%) Security Posture
11 30 (2.22%) Equities
12 27 (1.99%) Distributed Systems
13 26 (1.92%) Public Cloud
14 25 (1.85%) Legacy Systems
15 24 (1.77%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
16 23 (1.70%) Virtual Team
17 19 (1.40%) GNSS
17 19 (1.40%) Satnav
18 18 (1.33%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 109 (8.05%) Linux
2 64 (4.73%) Windows
3 27 (1.99%) Unix
4 20 (1.48%) Apple iOS
5 19 (1.40%) Windows Server
6 13 (0.96%) Android
7 5 (0.37%) Embedded Linux
7 5 (0.37%) FreeRTOS
8 4 (0.30%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (0.22%) CentOS
9 3 (0.22%) Debian
9 3 (0.22%) VMS
9 3 (0.22%) Windows 10
10 2 (0.15%) Mac OS
10 2 (0.15%) Solaris
11 1 (0.074%) Kali Linux
11 1 (0.074%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 1 (0.074%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 695 (51.33%) Agile
1 695 (51.33%) CI/CD
2 500 (36.93%) DevOps
3 361 (26.66%) Problem-Solving
4 302 (22.30%) Mentoring
5 274 (20.24%) Software Engineering
6 246 (18.17%) Continuous Improvement
7 194 (14.33%) Coaching
8 190 (14.03%) AI
9 182 (13.44%) SDLC
10 162 (11.96%) Microservices
11 150 (11.08%) Computer Science
12 146 (10.78%) Test Strategy
13 144 (10.64%) Analytics
14 138 (10.19%) Scrum
15 137 (10.12%) Software Testing
16 136 (10.04%) Clean Code
17 133 (9.82%) Infrastructure as Code
18 130 (9.60%) Roadmaps
19 127 (9.38%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 397 (29.32%) Python
2 327 (24.15%) SQL
3 308 (22.75%) Java
4 220 (16.25%) JavaScript
5 193 (14.25%) C#
6 141 (10.41%) TypeScript
7 78 (5.76%) C++
8 76 (5.61%) PowerShell
9 44 (3.25%) C
9 44 (3.25%) Shell Script
10 40 (2.95%) Go
11 39 (2.88%) PHP
12 36 (2.66%) PL/SQL
13 24 (1.77%) Bicep
14 23 (1.70%) Bash
14 23 (1.70%) Kotlin
15 17 (1.26%) MATLAB
16 14 (1.03%) Apex Code
17 13 (0.96%) Scala
17 13 (0.96%) Swift
Qualifications
1 206 (15.21%) Degree
2 106 (7.83%) Computer Science Degree
3 94 (6.94%) Security Cleared
4 73 (5.39%) ISTQB
5 65 (4.80%) SC Cleared
6 52 (3.84%) Master's Degree
7 30 (2.22%) AWS Certification
8 27 (1.99%) DV Cleared
9 25 (1.85%) DBS Check
9 25 (1.85%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 19 (1.40%) ISEB
11 17 (1.26%) HND
12 11 (0.81%) BPSS Clearance
13 10 (0.74%) Azure Certification
14 9 (0.66%) ITIL Certification
15 8 (0.59%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
16 6 (0.44%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
16 6 (0.44%) CEH
16 6 (0.44%) HNC
17 5 (0.37%) CRISC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 298 (22.01%) QA
2 72 (5.32%) Accessibility
3 70 (5.17%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 51 (3.77%) NIST
5 35 (2.58%) Data Quality
6 32 (2.36%) NCSC
7 27 (1.99%) GDPR
8 23 (1.70%) WCAG
9 19 (1.40%) ISO 9001
10 10 (0.74%) SLA
11 6 (0.44%) ISO 22301
12 5 (0.37%) PCI DSS
13 4 (0.30%) Cyber Essentials
13 4 (0.30%) IEC 61508
13 4 (0.30%) ISO 26262
13 4 (0.30%) MISRA
13 4 (0.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 3 (0.22%) COBIT
14 3 (0.22%) Section 508
14 3 (0.22%) SEPA
System Software
1 174 (12.85%) Docker
2 40 (2.95%) Active Directory
3 21 (1.55%) Firmware
4 17 (1.26%) Embedded Firmware
5 10 (0.74%) VMware Infrastructure
6 6 (0.44%) Virtual Machines
6 6 (0.44%) vSphere
7 4 (0.30%) zsh
8 3 (0.22%) HDFS
8 3 (0.22%) Terminal Server
Systems Management
1 188 (13.88%) Kubernetes
2 174 (12.85%) Terraform
3 57 (4.21%) Grafana
4 48 (3.55%) Ansible
5 28 (2.07%) HP ALM
6 27 (1.99%) Single Sign-On
7 19 (1.40%) Prometheus
8 10 (0.74%) Microsoft Intune
9 4 (0.30%) Control-M
9 4 (0.30%) Mesos
9 4 (0.30%) SCCM
9 4 (0.30%) SCOM
10 3 (0.22%) HP Fortify
10 3 (0.22%) HP Quality Center
10 3 (0.22%) Kubeflow
10 3 (0.22%) Nessus
10 3 (0.22%) Progress Chef
11 2 (0.15%) Argo
11 2 (0.15%) Functional Safety
12 1 (0.074%) Rancher
Vendors
1 155 (11.45%) Microsoft
2 84 (6.20%) Oracle
3 63 (4.65%) Salesforce
4 55 (4.06%) Google
5 52 (3.84%) SAP
6 38 (2.81%) Databricks
7 28 (2.07%) HP
8 27 (1.99%) VMware
9 21 (1.55%) Guidewire
10 18 (1.33%) Black Duck
11 17 (1.26%) Apple
11 17 (1.26%) Coverity
12 15 (1.11%) Okta
13 14 (1.03%) Blue Prism
13 14 (1.03%) Splunk
14 11 (0.81%) Pega
14 11 (0.81%) UiPath
15 9 (0.66%) Ab Initio
15 9 (0.66%) Commvault
15 9 (0.66%) ServiceNow