QA Contracts in England

Quality Assurance (QA)
UK > England

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in England with a requirement for QA skills. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited QA over the 6 months to 16 May 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
16 May 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 62 78 67
Rank change year-on-year +16 -11 +13
Contract jobs citing QA 1,201 1,481 2,438
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 3.30% 3.07% 3.47%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 23.43% 23.06% 26.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 834 1,096 1,710
10th Percentile £313 £313 £350
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £501 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.79% +0.20% +5.26%
75th Percentile £625 £632 £613
90th Percentile £750 £743 £700
UK median daily rate £509 £500 £510
% change year-on-year +1.75% -1.96% +7.37%
Number of hourly rates quoted 60 25 39
10th Percentile £10.78 £18.20 £16.15
25th Percentile £12.04 £21.24 £25.50
Median hourly rate £15.38 £22.49 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -31.60% -52.66% +150.00%
75th Percentile £35.00 £50.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.94 £55.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £14.00 £22.49 £48.00
% change year-on-year -37.74% -53.16% +149.35%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
England

QA is in the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies advertised in England with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 5,125 6,421 9,193
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 14.09% 13.33% 13.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,289 4,357 6,302
10th Percentile £300 £290 £290
25th Percentile £408 £413 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year - - +10.53%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £625
90th Percentile £750 £750 £725
UK median daily rate £510 £525 £513
% change year-on-year -2.86% +2.31% +8.03%
Number of hourly rates quoted 347 215 265
10th Percentile £10.95 £15.63 £12.02
25th Percentile £13.18 £20.00 £16.50
Median hourly rate £22.50 £37.50 £29.50
Median % change year-on-year -40.00% +27.12% +40.48%
75th Percentile £45.00 £63.75 £49.25
90th Percentile £68.75 £79.90 £69.52
UK median hourly rate £21.06 £35.00 £32.50
% change year-on-year -39.84% +7.69% +54.76%

QA
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings citing QA as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for QA in England

QA
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing QA in England.

Daily rate trend for QA in England

QA
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing QA in England over the 6 months to 16 May 2024.

Daily rate histogram for QA in England

QA
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing QA in England.

Hourly rate trend for QA in England

QA
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing QA in England over the 6 months to 16 May 2024.

Hourly rate histogram for QA in England

QA
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing QA within the England region over the 6 months to 16 May 2024. 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
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
London +13 650 £535 -2.68% 362
North of England +18 157 £500 - 246
South East +41 151 £488 +2.63% 209
South West +36 100 £550 +18.28% 142
North West +6 80 £500 +11.11% 127
Midlands +3 80 £450 +8.43% 190
Yorkshire +20 70 £550 +4.76% 86
West Midlands +2 56 £525 +23.53% 119
East Midlands +1 22 £255 -27.14% 71
East of England -16 22 £375 -17.58% 105
North East -2 7 £410 -17.17% 36
QA
UK

QA
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 58 (4.83%) Confluence
2 43 (3.58%) SharePoint
3 25 (2.08%) CMS
4 14 (1.17%) IIS
5 11 (0.92%) Apache
6 8 (0.67%) Drupal
7 7 (0.58%) SAS
8 6 (0.50%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 6 (0.50%) Microsoft Exchange
9 5 (0.42%) Oracle Workflow
10 4 (0.33%) Alfresco
10 4 (0.33%) Apache Solr
10 4 (0.33%) ArcGIS
10 4 (0.33%) nginx
10 4 (0.33%) WordPress
11 3 (0.25%) Apache Airflow
11 3 (0.25%) Apache Spark
12 2 (0.17%) MQSeries
13 1 (0.083%) Appian
13 1 (0.083%) Jupyter
Applications
1 93 (7.74%) Microsoft Excel
2 37 (3.08%) Microsoft Office
3 32 (2.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 22 (1.83%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.42%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.42%) Simulink
6 3 (0.25%) Acrobat
7 2 (0.17%) Mingle
7 2 (0.17%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.083%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.083%) AutoCAD
8 1 (0.083%) Autodesk Inventor
8 1 (0.083%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.083%) InVision
8 1 (0.083%) Photoshop
8 1 (0.083%) SPSS
8 1 (0.083%) Trello
Business Applications
1 15 (1.25%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (0.83%) Dynamics CRM
3 8 (0.67%) Endur
3 8 (0.67%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 6 (0.50%) ION MarketView
4 6 (0.50%) Oracle EBS
4 6 (0.50%) SAP ERP
5 4 (0.33%) Adobe Campaign
5 4 (0.33%) IntelliMatch
5 4 (0.33%) SAP QM
5 4 (0.33%) TrackWise
6 3 (0.25%) ION Anvil
6 3 (0.25%) NEC Housing
6 3 (0.25%) Primavera
6 3 (0.25%) SAP Payroll
7 2 (0.17%) Dynamics AX
7 2 (0.17%) NetSuite
7 2 (0.17%) SAP CRM
7 2 (0.17%) SAP SD
7 2 (0.17%) WebTrends
Cloud Services
1 219 (18.23%) Azure
2 143 (11.91%) AWS
3 78 (6.49%) Power Platform
4 68 (5.66%) GCP
5 62 (5.16%) Azure DevOps
6 55 (4.58%) GitHub
7 51 (4.25%) Dynamics 365
8 31 (2.58%) SaaS
9 25 (2.08%) Serverless
10 21 (1.75%) Azure Data Factory
11 19 (1.58%) AWS Lambda
11 19 (1.58%) Entra ID
12 17 (1.42%) Azure Logic Apps
12 17 (1.42%) Microsoft 365
12 17 (1.42%) Power Automate
13 16 (1.33%) Azure API Management
14 15 (1.25%) Amazon EC2
14 15 (1.25%) Amazon S3
15 14 (1.17%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 14 (1.17%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 25 (2.08%) Firewall
2 22 (1.83%) DNS
3 21 (1.75%) Internet
3 21 (1.75%) TCP/IP
4 20 (1.67%) VPN
5 19 (1.58%) WAN
6 14 (1.17%) HTTP
6 14 (1.17%) LAN
7 11 (0.92%) FIX Connectivity
7 11 (0.92%) Wi-Fi
8 10 (0.83%) SSL
9 7 (0.58%) 5G
9 7 (0.58%) MPLS
9 7 (0.58%) SSH
10 6 (0.50%) IPsec
11 5 (0.42%) Ethernet
11 5 (0.42%) HTTPS
12 4 (0.33%) ADSL
12 4 (0.33%) VoIP
13 3 (0.25%) PSTN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 97 (8.08%) SQL Server
2 65 (5.41%) Power BI
3 44 (3.66%) Relational Database
4 28 (2.33%) Oracle Database
5 25 (2.08%) MySQL
5 25 (2.08%) Tableau
6 21 (1.75%) NoSQL
7 18 (1.50%) Elasticsearch
8 17 (1.42%) Data Lake
8 17 (1.42%) PostgreSQL
9 16 (1.33%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 15 (1.25%) SQL Server Analysis Services
11 14 (1.17%) Microsoft Analysis Services
11 14 (1.17%) RDBMS
12 8 (0.67%) Big Data
12 8 (0.67%) BigQuery
13 7 (0.58%) Ataccama
13 7 (0.58%) Qlik Sense
14 6 (0.50%) Looker
14 6 (0.50%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 147 (12.24%) JIRA
2 74 (6.16%) Jenkins
3 70 (5.83%) Git
4 65 (5.41%) Selenium
5 50 (4.16%) Cucumber
6 47 (3.91%) GitLab
7 45 (3.75%) Postman
8 34 (2.83%) JMeter
9 32 (2.66%) Cypress.io
10 26 (2.16%) JUnit
11 24 (2.00%) Appium
12 22 (1.83%) SpecFlow
13 19 (1.58%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
13 19 (1.58%) TeamCity
14 13 (1.08%) TestRail
14 13 (1.08%) Visual Studio
15 12 (1.00%) CircleCI
16 11 (0.92%) webpack
17 10 (0.83%) REST Assured
17 10 (0.83%) WebDriver
General
1 402 (33.47%) Social Skills
2 282 (23.48%) Finance
3 155 (12.91%) Analytical Skills
4 98 (8.16%) Banking
5 80 (6.66%) Public Sector
6 50 (4.16%) Front Office
7 39 (3.25%) Telecoms
8 36 (3.00%) Marketing
9 32 (2.66%) Presentation Skills
10 31 (2.58%) Investment Banking
11 30 (2.50%) Pharmaceutical
12 26 (2.16%) Retail
13 25 (2.08%) Legal
14 23 (1.92%) Influencing Skills
15 20 (1.67%) Manufacturing
16 18 (1.50%) Back Office
17 17 (1.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 15 (1.25%) Organisational Skills
19 14 (1.17%) Documentation Skills
19 14 (1.17%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 177 (14.74%) Analyst
2 148 (12.32%) Developer
3 131 (10.91%) Lead
4 85 (7.08%) Architect
5 76 (6.33%) Business Analyst
5 76 (6.33%) QA Engineer
6 73 (6.08%) Senior
7 60 (5.00%) Tester
8 59 (4.91%) Project Manager
9 46 (3.83%) QA Analyst
10 40 (3.33%) Consultant
11 36 (3.00%) .NET Developer
11 36 (3.00%) Test Analyst
11 36 (3.00%) Test Manager
12 35 (2.91%) QA Tester
13 31 (2.58%) Test Leader
14 30 (2.50%) Software Engineer
14 30 (2.50%) Test Engineer
15 29 (2.41%) QA Leader
16 28 (2.33%) Data Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 92 (7.66%) .NET
2 76 (6.33%) React
3 68 (5.66%) XML
4 54 (4.50%) REST
5 47 (3.91%) JSON
6 41 (3.41%) AngularJS
7 40 (3.33%) HTML
8 39 (3.25%) Node.js
9 37 (3.08%) Redux
10 35 (2.91%) CSS
10 35 (2.91%) Web Services
11 29 (2.41%) Spring
12 27 (2.25%) .NET Framework
13 23 (1.92%) Middleware
13 23 (1.92%) SailPoint
14 21 (1.75%) .NET Core
14 21 (1.75%) Gherkin
15 20 (1.67%) Elastic Stack
16 18 (1.50%) RESTful
17 17 (1.42%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 79 (6.58%) Product Ownership
2 48 (4.00%) Derivative
3 39 (3.25%) Fixed Income
4 38 (3.16%) Equities
5 36 (3.00%) Management Information System
6 34 (2.83%) Hedge funds
7 33 (2.75%) Data Protection Act
8 30 (2.50%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 29 (2.41%) Onboarding
10 28 (2.33%) Mobile App
11 18 (1.50%) Public Cloud
12 17 (1.42%) Data Structures
12 17 (1.42%) Enterprise Software
12 17 (1.42%) Self-Motivation
13 15 (1.25%) Algorithms
14 13 (1.08%) Life Science
14 13 (1.08%) Linux Command Line
15 10 (0.83%) Cloud Native
16 9 (0.75%) Data Centre
16 9 (0.75%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 97 (8.08%) Windows
2 58 (4.83%) Linux
3 40 (3.33%) Unix
4 35 (2.91%) Windows Server
5 26 (2.16%) Windows 10
6 23 (1.92%) Android
6 23 (1.92%) Apple iOS
7 20 (1.67%) Windows Server 2016
8 19 (1.58%) Windows NT
8 19 (1.58%) Windows Server 2012
8 19 (1.58%) Windows Server 2019
9 8 (0.67%) VMS
10 6 (0.50%) Mac OS
11 4 (0.33%) CentOS
12 3 (0.25%) OpenVMS
12 3 (0.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 3 (0.25%) Windows 7
13 1 (0.083%) Solaris
13 1 (0.083%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 365 (30.39%) Agile
2 231 (19.23%) Test Automation
3 214 (17.82%) Problem-Solving
4 206 (17.15%) DevOps
5 162 (13.49%) Project Management
6 133 (11.07%) CI/CD
6 133 (11.07%) Scrum
6 133 (11.07%) User Acceptance Testing
7 114 (9.49%) Test Strategy
8 113 (9.41%) Stakeholder Management
9 109 (9.08%) Continuous Improvement
10 106 (8.83%) Migration
11 88 (7.33%) Computer Science
12 85 (7.08%) Software Engineering
13 82 (6.83%) SDLC
14 81 (6.74%) Continuous Integration
14 81 (6.74%) Validation
15 77 (6.41%) Analytics
16 75 (6.24%) Software Testing
17 73 (6.08%) User Stories
Programming Languages
1 202 (16.82%) SQL
2 147 (12.24%) Python
3 133 (11.07%) C#
4 126 (10.49%) Java
5 121 (10.07%) JavaScript
6 57 (4.75%) TypeScript
7 43 (3.58%) PowerShell
8 37 (3.08%) T-SQL
9 28 (2.33%) Bash
10 20 (1.67%) PL/SQL
11 19 (1.58%) C
11 19 (1.58%) VBA
12 18 (1.50%) VB
13 15 (1.25%) Perl
13 15 (1.25%) Swift
14 12 (1.00%) Kotlin
14 12 (1.00%) PHP
15 10 (0.83%) F#
16 9 (0.75%) C++
17 6 (0.50%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 172 (14.32%) Security Cleared
2 167 (13.91%) Degree
3 114 (9.49%) SC Cleared
4 58 (4.83%) DV Cleared
5 51 (4.25%) Computer Science Degree
6 42 (3.50%) ISTQB
7 22 (1.83%) BPSS Clearance
8 14 (1.17%) Master's Degree
8 14 (1.17%) PMP
9 12 (1.00%) CISSP
9 12 (1.00%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 11 (0.92%) ISEB
11 10 (0.83%) HND
11 10 (0.83%) PMI Certification
12 9 (0.75%) Cisco Certification
12 9 (0.75%) HNC
13 8 (0.67%) CCNA
13 8 (0.67%) CISM
14 5 (0.42%) ITIL Certification
14 5 (0.42%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 54 (4.50%) Data Quality
2 33 (2.75%) Accessibility
3 16 (1.33%) SLA
4 15 (1.25%) GDPR
5 11 (0.92%) PMO
6 10 (0.83%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 10 (0.83%) Software Quality Assurance
7 8 (0.67%) ISO 9001
7 8 (0.67%) MiFID
8 7 (0.58%) Dodd-Frank
8 7 (0.58%) EMIR
9 6 (0.50%) NIST
10 5 (0.42%) GMP
10 5 (0.42%) HL7
10 5 (0.42%) ISO/IEC 17025
10 5 (0.42%) ISO17020
11 4 (0.33%) HIPAA
11 4 (0.33%) IFRS
11 4 (0.33%) WCAG
12 2 (0.17%) FINREP
System Software
1 51 (4.25%) Active Directory
2 35 (2.91%) Docker
3 21 (1.75%) Firmware
4 8 (0.67%) Virtual Machines
5 5 (0.42%) Veritas Cluster Server
5 5 (0.42%) Virtual Desktop
6 4 (0.33%) Hyper-V
6 4 (0.33%) VMware Infrastructure
7 3 (0.25%) KVM
7 3 (0.25%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.25%) VMware Workstation
8 1 (0.083%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.083%) Microsoft App-V
Systems Management
1 55 (4.58%) Kubernetes
2 38 (3.16%) Ansible
3 36 (3.00%) Terraform
4 23 (1.92%) SCCM
5 20 (1.67%) Grafana
6 19 (1.58%) Sysprep
6 19 (1.58%) WSUS
7 18 (1.50%) Prometheus
8 16 (1.33%) Progress Chef
8 16 (1.33%) Puppet
9 13 (1.08%) Kibana
10 10 (0.83%) logstash
11 9 (0.75%) Docker Swarm
12 8 (0.67%) Graylog
13 7 (0.58%) HP Fortify
13 7 (0.58%) Single Sign-On
14 5 (0.42%) Nessus
14 5 (0.42%) WebInspect
15 4 (0.33%) Nagios
15 4 (0.33%) Opsgenie
Vendors
1 169 (14.07%) Microsoft
2 91 (7.58%) Oracle
3 75 (6.24%) SAP
4 35 (2.91%) Adobe
5 32 (2.66%) Google
6 29 (2.41%) ServiceNow
6 29 (2.41%) Splunk
7 27 (2.25%) Salesforce
8 25 (2.08%) Citrix
9 21 (1.75%) Bloomberg
10 18 (1.50%) CyberArk
11 14 (1.17%) ION Trading
12 13 (1.08%) Red Hat
13 12 (1.00%) CA Agile Central
13 12 (1.00%) Cisco
14 11 (0.92%) MarketAxess
14 11 (0.92%) Optimizely
14 11 (0.92%) Tradeweb
15 9 (0.75%) BT
15 9 (0.75%) Workday