QA Contracts

Quality Assurance (QA)
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies 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 1 June 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
1 Jun 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 59 75 68
Rank change year-on-year +16 -7 +8
Contract jobs citing QA 1,444 1,714 3,019
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 3.35% 3.06% 3.45%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 24.10% 22.60% 26.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 958 1,223 2,102
10th Percentile £310 £325 £350
25th Percentile £400 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £509 £502 £513
Median % change year-on-year +1.29% -2.05% +7.89%
75th Percentile £610 £638 £613
90th Percentile £750 £750 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £450
% change year-on-year +5.26% +5.56% +5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 90 37 52
10th Percentile £10.82 £10.92 £16.34
25th Percentile £12.25 £12.50 £24.35
Median hourly rate £14.49 £22.49 £47.25
Median % change year-on-year -35.56% -52.41% +145.45%
75th Percentile £28.12 £43.63 £61.38
90th Percentile £71.94 £55.00 £68.17
UK excluding London median hourly rate £13.52 £18.00 £54.00
% change year-on-year -24.89% -66.67% +184.21%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK

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 with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 5,992 7,585 11,578
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 13.92% 13.53% 13.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,782 5,156 7,966
10th Percentile £280 £289 £300
25th Percentile £400 £413 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £525 £518
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% +1.35% +9.05%
75th Percentile £625 £645 £625
90th Percentile £750 £750 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £486 £454
% change year-on-year -2.26% +7.17% +6.71%
Number of hourly rates quoted 406 244 308
10th Percentile £10.98 £13.29 £12.05
25th Percentile £13.20 £18.65 £16.25
Median hourly rate £22.42 £37.50 £28.12
Median % change year-on-year -40.21% +33.38% +33.88%
75th Percentile £47.81 £63.23 £49.44
90th Percentile £69.44 £77.50 £68.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.97 £36.25 £22.00
% change year-on-year -47.67% +64.77% +6.41%

QA
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Job vacancy trend for QA in the UK

QA
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

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

Daily rate trend for QA in the UK

QA
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing QA over the 6 months to 1 June 2024.

Daily rate histogram for QA in the UK

QA
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

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

Hourly rate trend for QA in the UK

QA
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing QA over the 6 months to 1 June 2024.

Hourly rate histogram for QA in the UK

QA
Top 18 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing QA within the UK over the 6 months to 1 June 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
England +10 1,194 £524 +2.53% 1,332
UK excluding London +29 627 £500 +5.26% 995
London +7 627 £525 -4.55% 382
Work from Home +15 477 £500 +2.04% 459
North of England +11 161 £500 - 229
South East +46 160 £488 +4.56% 243
South West +33 100 £550 +15.79% 144
North West +9 82 £500 +5.26% 119
Midlands -3 82 £450 +12.50% 181
Yorkshire +22 72 £550 +4.76% 65
Scotland +28 61 £450 -10.00% 69
West Midlands -8 58 £525 +5.00% 118
Wales +31 30 £533 -8.93% 26
East of England -23 23 £375 -17.58% 126
East Midlands +1 22 £255 -31.54% 63
Northern Ireland +9 12 £325 -12.75% 14
North East -2 7 £410 -15.03% 50
Isle of Man - 2 - -

QA
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities 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 65 (4.50%) Confluence
2 47 (3.25%) SharePoint
3 30 (2.08%) CMS
4 17 (1.18%) IIS
5 13 (0.90%) Apache
6 12 (0.83%) Drupal
7 8 (0.55%) SAS
7 8 (0.55%) WordPress
8 6 (0.42%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 6 (0.42%) Microsoft Exchange
9 5 (0.35%) Alfresco
9 5 (0.35%) nginx
9 5 (0.35%) Oracle Workflow
10 4 (0.28%) Apache Airflow
10 4 (0.28%) Apache Solr
10 4 (0.28%) ArcGIS
11 3 (0.21%) Apache Spark
12 2 (0.14%) MQSeries
13 1 (0.069%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
13 1 (0.069%) Sitecore CMS
Applications
1 102 (7.06%) Microsoft Excel
2 39 (2.70%) Microsoft Office
3 32 (2.22%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 23 (1.59%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.48%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.35%) Simulink
7 3 (0.21%) Acrobat
8 2 (0.14%) Mingle
8 2 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
9 1 (0.069%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 1 (0.069%) AutoCAD
9 1 (0.069%) Autodesk Inventor
9 1 (0.069%) Chatbot
9 1 (0.069%) InVision
9 1 (0.069%) Photoshop
9 1 (0.069%) SPSS
9 1 (0.069%) Trello
Business Applications
1 22 (1.52%) SAP S/4HANA
2 20 (1.39%) Dynamics CRM
3 8 (0.55%) Endur
3 8 (0.55%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 7 (0.48%) SAP ERP
5 6 (0.42%) ION MarketView
5 6 (0.42%) Magento
5 6 (0.42%) Oracle EBS
6 4 (0.28%) Adobe Campaign
6 4 (0.28%) SAP QM
6 4 (0.28%) TrackWise
7 3 (0.21%) Dynamics AX
7 3 (0.21%) IntelliMatch
7 3 (0.21%) ION Anvil
7 3 (0.21%) Primavera
7 3 (0.21%) SAP Payroll
8 2 (0.14%) SAP CO
8 2 (0.14%) SAP CRM
8 2 (0.14%) SAP SD
8 2 (0.14%) WebTrends
Cloud Services
1 266 (18.42%) Azure
2 172 (11.91%) AWS
3 87 (6.02%) GitHub
4 84 (5.82%) Power Platform
5 80 (5.54%) GCP
6 73 (5.06%) Azure DevOps
7 67 (4.64%) Dynamics 365
8 33 (2.29%) SaaS
9 24 (1.66%) Entra ID
10 23 (1.59%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 23 (1.59%) Serverless
11 22 (1.52%) Azure Data Factory
11 22 (1.52%) GitHub Actions
11 22 (1.52%) Microsoft 365
12 21 (1.45%) Amazon EC2
13 19 (1.32%) Amazon S3
14 18 (1.25%) AWS Lambda
15 17 (1.18%) Azure Logic Apps
15 17 (1.18%) Power Automate
16 16 (1.11%) Azure API Management
Communications & Networking
1 32 (2.22%) Firewall
2 26 (1.80%) TCP/IP
3 23 (1.59%) Internet
4 22 (1.52%) VPN
5 21 (1.45%) DNS
5 21 (1.45%) WAN
6 18 (1.25%) LAN
7 15 (1.04%) HTTP
8 10 (0.69%) FIX Connectivity
8 10 (0.69%) SSL
8 10 (0.69%) Wi-Fi
9 9 (0.62%) SSH
10 7 (0.48%) 5G
11 6 (0.42%) IPsec
11 6 (0.42%) MPLS
12 5 (0.35%) Ethernet
12 5 (0.35%) HTTPS
13 4 (0.28%) ADSL
13 4 (0.28%) Radio Access Network
13 4 (0.28%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 116 (8.03%) SQL Server
2 70 (4.85%) Power BI
3 64 (4.43%) Relational Database
4 47 (3.25%) MySQL
5 32 (2.22%) Oracle Database
6 26 (1.80%) Tableau
7 22 (1.52%) NoSQL
7 22 (1.52%) PostgreSQL
8 18 (1.25%) Elasticsearch
8 18 (1.25%) RDBMS
9 17 (1.18%) Data Lake
9 17 (1.18%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 16 (1.11%) SQL Server Analysis Services
11 14 (0.97%) Microsoft Analysis Services
12 10 (0.69%) Data Warehouse
13 9 (0.62%) BigQuery
14 8 (0.55%) Big Data
14 8 (0.55%) Data Mining
14 8 (0.55%) Metadata
15 7 (0.48%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 163 (11.29%) JIRA
2 80 (5.54%) Jenkins
3 79 (5.47%) Git
4 71 (4.92%) Selenium
5 60 (4.16%) GitLab
6 59 (4.09%) Postman
7 52 (3.60%) Cucumber
8 46 (3.19%) Cypress.io
9 34 (2.35%) JMeter
10 32 (2.22%) JUnit
11 27 (1.87%) SpecFlow
12 26 (1.80%) Appium
13 21 (1.45%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
13 21 (1.45%) TeamCity
13 21 (1.45%) Visual Studio
14 16 (1.11%) TestRail
15 14 (0.97%) Maven
16 13 (0.90%) webpack
17 12 (0.83%) CircleCI
17 12 (0.83%) WebDriver
General
1 486 (33.66%) Social Skills
2 294 (20.36%) Finance
3 181 (12.53%) Analytical Skills
4 109 (7.55%) Banking
5 95 (6.58%) Public Sector
6 50 (3.46%) Front Office
7 44 (3.05%) Telecoms
8 39 (2.70%) Marketing
9 37 (2.56%) Presentation Skills
10 32 (2.22%) Legal
11 31 (2.15%) Influencing Skills
11 31 (2.15%) Retail
12 30 (2.08%) Investment Banking
12 30 (2.08%) Manufacturing
12 30 (2.08%) Pharmaceutical
13 24 (1.66%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 23 (1.59%) Organisational Skills
15 18 (1.25%) Back Office
15 18 (1.25%) Documentation Skills
16 13 (0.90%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 211 (14.61%) Analyst
2 202 (13.99%) Developer
3 151 (10.46%) Lead
4 95 (6.58%) Architect
5 83 (5.75%) Business Analyst
6 82 (5.68%) Senior
7 81 (5.61%) QA Engineer
8 72 (4.99%) Project Manager
9 64 (4.43%) Tester
10 47 (3.25%) QA Analyst
11 46 (3.19%) .NET Developer
12 43 (2.98%) Test Analyst
13 41 (2.84%) Consultant
14 40 (2.77%) Software Engineer
15 39 (2.70%) Test Engineer
15 39 (2.70%) Test Manager
16 37 (2.56%) QA Tester
17 34 (2.35%) Data Analyst
17 34 (2.35%) DevOps Engineer
18 33 (2.29%) QA Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 114 (7.89%) .NET
2 104 (7.20%) React
3 70 (4.85%) REST
4 68 (4.71%) XML
5 55 (3.81%) HTML
6 48 (3.32%) AngularJS
6 48 (3.32%) CSS
6 48 (3.32%) JSON
7 44 (3.05%) Node.js
8 37 (2.56%) Redux
9 35 (2.42%) .NET Framework
9 35 (2.42%) Web Services
10 33 (2.29%) Vue
11 32 (2.22%) Middleware
12 31 (2.15%) Spring
13 29 (2.01%) SOAP
14 27 (1.87%) Playwright
15 25 (1.73%) SailPoint
16 24 (1.66%) .NET Core
16 24 (1.66%) Elastic Stack
Miscellaneous
1 112 (7.76%) Product Ownership
2 44 (3.05%) Derivative
3 40 (2.77%) Management Information System
4 36 (2.49%) Data Protection Act
5 35 (2.42%) Equities
5 35 (2.42%) Fixed Income
6 32 (2.22%) Hedge funds
6 32 (2.22%) Mobile App
6 32 (2.22%) Onboarding
7 28 (1.94%) Public Cloud
8 26 (1.80%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 21 (1.45%) Enterprise Software
10 20 (1.39%) Data Structures
11 18 (1.25%) Self-Motivation
12 16 (1.11%) Algorithms
13 14 (0.97%) Legacy Systems
13 14 (0.97%) Linux Command Line
14 13 (0.90%) Cloud Native
14 13 (0.90%) Life Science
15 11 (0.76%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 117 (8.10%) Windows
2 85 (5.89%) Linux
3 43 (2.98%) Unix
4 34 (2.35%) Windows Server
5 25 (1.73%) Windows 10
6 24 (1.66%) Android
6 24 (1.66%) Apple iOS
7 18 (1.25%) Windows Server 2016
8 17 (1.18%) Windows NT
8 17 (1.18%) Windows Server 2012
8 17 (1.18%) Windows Server 2019
9 9 (0.62%) VMS
10 6 (0.42%) Mac OS
10 6 (0.42%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 5 (0.35%) CentOS
12 4 (0.28%) OpenVMS
13 2 (0.14%) Windows 7
14 1 (0.069%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 462 (31.99%) Agile
2 271 (18.77%) Test Automation
3 265 (18.35%) Problem-Solving
4 232 (16.07%) DevOps
5 205 (14.20%) Project Management
6 159 (11.01%) Scrum
7 158 (10.94%) CI/CD
8 143 (9.90%) User Acceptance Testing
9 135 (9.35%) Stakeholder Management
10 133 (9.21%) Continuous Improvement
11 123 (8.52%) Migration
12 120 (8.31%) Test Strategy
13 109 (7.55%) Computer Science
14 107 (7.41%) Software Engineering
15 105 (7.27%) Continuous Integration
16 101 (6.99%) SDLC
17 96 (6.65%) Analytics
18 83 (5.75%) Full Stack Development
18 83 (5.75%) Software Testing
18 83 (5.75%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 224 (15.51%) SQL
2 166 (11.50%) Python
3 158 (10.94%) C#
4 149 (10.32%) Java
5 146 (10.11%) JavaScript
6 70 (4.85%) TypeScript
7 47 (3.25%) PowerShell
8 40 (2.77%) T-SQL
9 28 (1.94%) Bash
10 27 (1.87%) VB
11 22 (1.52%) PL/SQL
12 21 (1.45%) C
12 21 (1.45%) VBA
13 20 (1.39%) PHP
14 15 (1.04%) Perl
15 13 (0.90%) Swift
16 11 (0.76%) F#
17 10 (0.69%) Bicep
17 10 (0.69%) C++
17 10 (0.69%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 198 (13.71%) Degree
2 190 (13.16%) Security Cleared
3 120 (8.31%) SC Cleared
4 68 (4.71%) DV Cleared
5 67 (4.64%) Computer Science Degree
6 38 (2.63%) ISTQB
7 26 (1.80%) BPSS Clearance
7 26 (1.80%) PMP
8 22 (1.52%) PMI Certification
9 18 (1.25%) Master's Degree
10 16 (1.11%) HNC
11 15 (1.04%) CISSP
12 13 (0.90%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
13 11 (0.76%) NVQ Level 3
14 10 (0.69%) CISM
14 10 (0.69%) HND
15 9 (0.62%) ISEB
16 7 (0.48%) Cisco Certification
17 6 (0.42%) CCNA
17 6 (0.42%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 67 (4.64%) Data Quality
2 41 (2.84%) Accessibility
3 25 (1.73%) SLA
4 21 (1.45%) PMO
5 16 (1.11%) GDPR
6 10 (0.69%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 10 (0.69%) Software Quality Assurance
7 9 (0.62%) ISO 9001
8 8 (0.55%) WCAG
9 6 (0.42%) Dodd-Frank
9 6 (0.42%) EMIR
9 6 (0.42%) MiFID
9 6 (0.42%) NIST
10 5 (0.35%) GMP
10 5 (0.35%) HL7
11 4 (0.28%) Disclosure Scotland
11 4 (0.28%) HIPAA
11 4 (0.28%) IFRS
11 4 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 17025
12 3 (0.21%) ISO17020
System Software
1 54 (3.74%) Active Directory
2 36 (2.49%) Docker
3 19 (1.32%) Firmware
4 10 (0.69%) Virtual Machines
5 5 (0.35%) Veritas Cluster Server
6 3 (0.21%) Microsoft App-V
6 3 (0.21%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (0.14%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.14%) KVM
7 2 (0.14%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.14%) VMware Infrastructure
7 2 (0.14%) VMware Workstation
8 1 (0.069%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 60 (4.16%) Kubernetes
2 52 (3.60%) Terraform
3 48 (3.32%) Ansible
4 25 (1.73%) Grafana
5 23 (1.59%) SCCM
6 22 (1.52%) Prometheus
7 17 (1.18%) Progress Chef
7 17 (1.18%) Puppet
7 17 (1.18%) Sysprep
7 17 (1.18%) WSUS
8 13 (0.90%) Kibana
9 12 (0.83%) Graylog
9 12 (0.83%) Single Sign-On
10 10 (0.69%) logstash
11 9 (0.62%) Docker Swarm
11 9 (0.62%) Nagios
12 8 (0.55%) HP Fortify
13 6 (0.42%) Nessus
13 6 (0.42%) WebInspect
14 5 (0.35%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 214 (14.82%) Microsoft
2 106 (7.34%) Oracle
3 92 (6.37%) SAP
4 42 (2.91%) Google
5 40 (2.77%) ServiceNow
6 38 (2.63%) Adobe
6 38 (2.63%) Splunk
7 36 (2.49%) Salesforce
8 27 (1.87%) Citrix
9 24 (1.66%) CyberArk
10 19 (1.32%) Bloomberg
11 14 (0.97%) Databricks
11 14 (0.97%) Red Hat
12 13 (0.90%) ION Trading
13 12 (0.83%) CA Agile Central
13 12 (0.83%) Pega
14 11 (0.76%) Optimizely
15 10 (0.69%) Dynatrace
15 10 (0.69%) MarketAxess
15 10 (0.69%) Tradeweb