Test Strategy
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring Test Strategy skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 18 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 398 387 452
Rank change year-on-year -11 +65 -128
Permanent jobs citing Test Strategy 346 265 495
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.40% 0.64% 0.52%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.53% 0.69% 0.61%
Number of salaries quoted 238 167 389
10th Percentile £45,175 £40,050 £37,500
25th Percentile £55,000 £47,500 £44,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £67,788 £57,500 £58,700
Median % change year-on-year +17.89% -2.04% -6.08%
75th Percentile £82,322 £77,500 £85,000
90th Percentile £98,750 £94,250 £102,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £62,500 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +13.64% +10.00% -

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Test Strategy 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 65,329 38,670 81,283
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 75.37% 92.92% 85.97%
Number of salaries quoted 40,301 22,594 59,579
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.17% +9.09% -10.51%
75th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,600 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.94% +5.20% -8.41%

Test Strategy
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Test Strategy job vacancy trend in the UK

Test Strategy
Salary Trend

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

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Test Strategy

Test Strategy
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Test Strategy over the 6 months to 18 April 2026.

Salary histogram for Test Strategy in the UK

Test Strategy
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 Strategy within the UK over the 6 months to 18 April 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 -2 310 £70,000 +16.67% 143
UK excluding London -48 177 £62,500 +13.64% 115
Work from Home +41 140 £74,500 +19.20% 59
London +43 134 £80,000 +6.67% 46
North of England -59 38 £69,038 +25.52% 20
East of England -4 33 £65,000 +66.67% 10
South East -36 32 £55,500 +0.91% 42
Midlands -37 29 £60,500 +10.00% 19
South West -52 27 £50,000 -9.09% 13
North West -30 19 £65,000 +18.18% 12
West Midlands -33 16 £60,500 +27.37% 12
East Midlands -40 13 - - 7
Scotland -36 11 £54,500 +9.00% 11
Yorkshire -63 11 £75,000 +50.00% 6
North East -27 8 £52,500 -4.55% 2
Wales -23 5 £70,079 - 2
Northern Ireland -38 2 - - 1

Test Strategy
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 7 (2.02%) Confluence
2 2 (0.58%) SAS
3 1 (0.29%) IIS
3 1 (0.29%) SharePoint
Applications
1 11 (3.18%) MS Visio
2 3 (0.87%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.58%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (0.29%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 7 (2.02%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.58%) Aladdin
2 2 (0.58%) SAP CX
2 2 (0.58%) SAP FSCM
2 2 (0.58%) Workday HCM
3 1 (0.29%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.29%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.29%) Oracle Financials
3 1 (0.29%) SAP EWM
3 1 (0.29%) SAP FI-AR
3 1 (0.29%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 88 (25.43%) Azure
2 72 (20.81%) AWS
3 58 (16.76%) Azure DevOps
4 29 (8.38%) SaaS
5 19 (5.49%) GCP
6 13 (3.76%) Datadog
7 12 (3.47%) dbt
7 12 (3.47%) GitHub
7 12 (3.47%) PaaS
8 10 (2.89%) Serverless
9 9 (2.60%) Entra ID
10 8 (2.31%) Azure Key Vault
10 8 (2.31%) Power Platform
11 7 (2.02%) Cloudflare
11 7 (2.02%) Vercel
12 6 (1.73%) Dynamics 365
13 4 (1.16%) BrowserStack
13 4 (1.16%) GitHub Actions
13 4 (1.16%) Tricentis Tosca
14 3 (0.87%) Firebase
Communications & Networking
1 27 (7.80%) CHAP
2 4 (1.16%) Broadband
3 3 (0.87%) Network Security
4 2 (0.58%) Firewall
4 2 (0.58%) HTTP
5 1 (0.29%) CTI
5 1 (0.29%) LAN
5 1 (0.29%) SD-WAN
5 1 (0.29%) WAN
5 1 (0.29%) Wireless
5 1 (0.29%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (2.31%) Data Warehouse
2 6 (1.73%) PostgreSQL
3 4 (1.16%) NoSQL
3 4 (1.16%) Power BI
3 4 (1.16%) Relational Database
4 3 (0.87%) DB2
4 3 (0.87%) MongoDB
5 2 (0.58%) BigQuery
5 2 (0.58%) GIS
5 2 (0.58%) SQL Server
5 2 (0.58%) Tableau
6 1 (0.29%) Amazon Athena
6 1 (0.29%) Amazon Redshift
6 1 (0.29%) Azure SQL Database
6 1 (0.29%) DynamoDB
6 1 (0.29%) Geospatial Data
6 1 (0.29%) KDB
6 1 (0.29%) Looker
6 1 (0.29%) MySQL
6 1 (0.29%) ZAP BI
Development Applications
1 49 (14.16%) Selenium
2 41 (11.85%) JIRA
3 38 (10.98%) Cypress.io
4 34 (9.83%) JMeter
5 31 (8.96%) Postman
6 23 (6.65%) Cucumber
6 23 (6.65%) Jenkins
7 17 (4.91%) REST Assured
8 15 (4.34%) GitLab
9 14 (4.05%) Git
10 13 (3.76%) Locust
11 11 (3.18%) SpecFlow
12 9 (2.60%) LoadRunner
13 7 (2.02%) Gatling
13 7 (2.02%) XCUITest
13 7 (2.02%) Zephyr
14 6 (1.73%) SoapUI
14 6 (1.73%) WebDriver
15 5 (1.45%) Appium
16 4 (1.16%) TestRail
General
1 133 (38.44%) Social Skills
2 109 (31.50%) Finance
3 66 (19.08%) Analytical Skills
4 45 (13.01%) Banking
5 39 (11.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 31 (8.96%) Financial Institution
7 22 (6.36%) Public Sector
8 18 (5.20%) Law
9 17 (4.91%) Manufacturing
10 13 (3.76%) Retail
11 12 (3.47%) Legal
12 10 (2.89%) Influencing Skills
13 8 (2.31%) Electronics
14 6 (1.73%) Advertising
14 6 (1.73%) Aerospace
14 6 (1.73%) Back Office
15 5 (1.45%) Documentation Skills
16 4 (1.16%) Environmental Health
17 3 (0.87%) Aviation
17 3 (0.87%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 90 (26.01%) Lead
2 63 (18.21%) Senior
3 44 (12.72%) Test Engineer
4 38 (10.98%) QA Engineer
4 38 (10.98%) Test Leader
5 31 (8.96%) Test Manager
6 30 (8.67%) Tester
7 27 (7.80%) Auditor
8 26 (7.51%) Security Auditor
9 24 (6.94%) Internal Auditor
10 21 (6.07%) Analyst
11 17 (4.91%) Senior Test Engineer
12 16 (4.62%) QA Automation Engineer
12 16 (4.62%) Software Engineer
13 15 (4.34%) QA Leader
14 14 (4.05%) Architect
14 14 (4.05%) Automation Engineer
14 14 (4.05%) Business Analyst
15 13 (3.76%) Lead Software Engineer
16 12 (3.47%) Test Automation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (14.45%) Playwright
2 39 (11.27%) React
3 22 (6.36%) .NET
4 19 (5.49%) Web Services
5 16 (4.62%) REST
6 13 (3.76%) Gherkin
7 12 (3.47%) CSS
7 12 (3.47%) HTML
8 10 (2.89%) Middleware
8 10 (2.89%) Node.js
9 8 (2.31%) RESTful
10 7 (2.02%) Flutter
10 7 (2.02%) OAuth
10 7 (2.02%) XML
11 6 (1.73%) JWT
11 6 (1.73%) SOAP
12 5 (1.45%) Django
12 5 (1.45%) JSON
12 5 (1.45%) Kafka
12 5 (1.45%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 42 (12.14%) Product Ownership
2 41 (11.85%) Management Information System
3 25 (7.23%) Mobile App
4 19 (5.49%) Onboarding
5 18 (5.20%) Cloud Native
6 16 (4.62%) Blockchain
7 14 (4.05%) Distributed Systems
7 14 (4.05%) e-Learning
8 11 (3.18%) Analytical Mindset
9 10 (2.89%) Virtual Team
10 9 (2.60%) Self-Motivation
11 8 (2.31%) Enterprise Software
12 7 (2.02%) Culture of Ownership
12 7 (2.02%) Podcast
13 5 (1.45%) Greenfield Project
13 5 (1.45%) Legacy Systems
14 4 (1.16%) IoT
14 4 (1.16%) Legacy Applications
14 4 (1.16%) Public Cloud
14 4 (1.16%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 19 (5.49%) Android
1 19 (5.49%) Apple iOS
2 10 (2.89%) Linux
3 8 (2.31%) Windows
4 6 (1.73%) Unix
5 3 (0.87%) AIX
6 1 (0.29%) Kali Linux
6 1 (0.29%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 201 (58.09%) Test Automation
2 184 (53.18%) Agile
3 126 (36.42%) CI/CD
4 104 (30.06%) Continuous Improvement
5 102 (29.48%) DevOps
6 83 (23.99%) Problem-Solving
7 81 (23.41%) Validation
8 58 (16.76%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 55 (15.90%) Coaching
10 52 (15.03%) End-to-End Testing
11 50 (14.45%) Mentoring
11 50 (14.45%) Performance Testing
11 50 (14.45%) Software Testing
12 48 (13.87%) Scrum
13 46 (13.29%) Software Engineering
13 46 (13.29%) User Acceptance Testing
14 45 (13.01%) Analytics
14 45 (13.01%) Test Management
15 43 (12.43%) Non-Functional Testing
15 43 (12.43%) Observability
Programming Languages
1 63 (18.21%) Java
2 61 (17.63%) JavaScript
3 56 (16.18%) Python
4 46 (13.29%) TypeScript
5 37 (10.69%) C#
6 28 (8.09%) SQL
7 7 (2.02%) Go
8 6 (1.73%) Bash
9 4 (1.16%) C
9 4 (1.16%) C++
10 3 (0.87%) Objective-C
10 3 (0.87%) Perl
10 3 (0.87%) PowerShell
10 3 (0.87%) Ruby
10 3 (0.87%) Rust
11 2 (0.58%) Kotlin
11 2 (0.58%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.58%) Swift
12 1 (0.29%) JCL
12 1 (0.29%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 50 (14.45%) ISTQB
2 44 (12.72%) Degree
3 38 (10.98%) Security Cleared
4 33 (9.54%) SC Cleared
5 29 (8.38%) FFIEC
6 28 (8.09%) CISA
6 28 (8.09%) CISM
6 28 (8.09%) CISSP
7 27 (7.80%) CGEIT
7 27 (7.80%) SANS
8 24 (6.94%) Computer Science Degree
9 19 (5.49%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 13 (3.76%) DBS Check
11 7 (2.02%) DV Cleared
12 6 (1.73%) BPSS Clearance
12 6 (1.73%) Master's Degree
13 4 (1.16%) ISEB
13 4 (1.16%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
13 4 (1.16%) Six Sigma Green Belt
14 3 (0.87%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 163 (47.11%) QA
2 48 (13.87%) Accessibility
3 31 (8.96%) GDPR
4 29 (8.38%) NIST
5 27 (7.80%) COBIT
6 19 (5.49%) WCAG
7 9 (2.60%) GRC
8 5 (1.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 4 (1.16%) Actionable Recommendations
9 4 (1.16%) ISO 9001
10 2 (0.58%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.58%) Data Quality
10 2 (0.58%) IFRS
10 2 (0.58%) IFRS 17
10 2 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 17025
10 2 (0.58%) PCI DSS
10 2 (0.58%) PMO
10 2 (0.58%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 2 (0.58%) Software Quality Assurance
11 1 (0.29%) IEC 61508
System Software
1 33 (9.54%) Docker
2 4 (1.16%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 24 (6.94%) Kubernetes
2 21 (6.07%) Terraform
3 17 (4.91%) Grafana
4 2 (0.58%) Microsoft Intune
4 2 (0.58%) Nessus
4 2 (0.58%) Prometheus
5 1 (0.29%) HP Fortify
Vendors
1 29 (8.38%) Microsoft
2 16 (4.62%) SAP
3 10 (2.89%) Oracle
4 8 (2.31%) Salesforce
5 7 (2.02%) Splunk
6 5 (1.45%) Pega
6 5 (1.45%) ServiceNow
7 4 (1.16%) Google
8 3 (0.87%) Ariba
8 3 (0.87%) Citrix
8 3 (0.87%) EMC
8 3 (0.87%) Workday
9 2 (0.58%) Bloomberg
9 2 (0.58%) Charles River
9 2 (0.58%) CheckPoint
9 2 (0.58%) Dynatrace
9 2 (0.58%) IFS
9 2 (0.58%) OpenText
9 2 (0.58%) Samsung
9 2 (0.58%) SendGrid