Software Testing Contracts

Software Testing
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for Software Testing skills. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited Software Testing 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 181 192 181
Rank change year-on-year +11 -11 +11
Contract jobs citing Software Testing 557 769 1,369
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 1.29% 1.37% 1.56%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.51% 1.53% 1.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 371 513 898
10th Percentile £313 £300 £348
25th Percentile £389 £385 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -7.50% - +11.11%
75th Percentile £575 £638 £575
90th Percentile £675 £713 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £425 £475
% change year-on-year +5.88% -10.53% +11.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 80 77
10th Percentile £37.55 £42.50 £17.25
25th Percentile £56.25 £46.88 £35.00
Median hourly rate £62.50 £55.00 £49.99
Median % change year-on-year +13.64% +10.03% +8.66%
75th Percentile £65.00 £68.75 £60.00
90th Percentile - £72.80 £65.22
UK excluding London median hourly rate £62.50 £52.50 £50.99
% change year-on-year +19.05% +2.97% +8.83%

All Process and Methodology Skills
UK

Software Testing is in the Processes and Methodologies category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 36,802 50,277 79,372
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 85.47% 89.69% 90.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,632 34,811 55,790
10th Percentile £300 £325 £345
25th Percentile £413 £438 £431
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% +2.33% +7.50%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £644
90th Percentile £750 £750 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £488
% change year-on-year - +2.56% +9.18%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,530 1,673 1,868
10th Percentile £12.75 £10.63 £12.50
25th Percentile £16.00 £15.72 £15.63
Median hourly rate £36.50 £36.25 £25.68
Median % change year-on-year +0.69% +41.16% +9.74%
75th Percentile £60.75 £65.00 £50.00
90th Percentile £72.50 £75.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £38.12 £35.00 £20.00
% change year-on-year +8.91% +75.00% -4.76%

Software Testing
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Job vacancy trend for Software Testing in the UK

Software Testing
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

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

Daily rate trend for Software Testing in the UK

Software Testing
Daily Rate Histogram

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

Daily rate histogram for Software Testing in the UK

Software Testing
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

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

Hourly rate trend for Software Testing in the UK

Software Testing
Hourly Rate Histogram

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

Hourly rate histogram for Software Testing in the UK

Software Testing
Top 17 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Software Testing 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 +13 494 £450 -10.00% 411
UK excluding London +9 292 £450 +5.88% 361
London +8 213 £475 -17.39% 80
Work from Home +35 200 £463 -2.63% 187
South East +6 88 £425 +6.25% 92
North of England +30 77 £433 +1.76% 62
Yorkshire +47 48 £441 -7.11% 16
East of England -2 43 £533 +18.33% 51
Midlands +29 35 £488 +30.00% 71
North West +2 29 £413 +3.77% 38
West Midlands +22 27 £475 +18.75% 33
South West -13 24 £550 - 52
Scotland -17 12 £496 +4.42% 35
Northern Ireland +10 10 £575 - 6
East Midlands +10 8 £500 +33.33% 39
Isle of Man - 2 - -
Wales +15 1 £210 -73.75% 5

Software Testing
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 18 (3.23%) Confluence
2 6 (1.08%) CMS
2 6 (1.08%) SharePoint
3 5 (0.90%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (0.90%) OpenStack
4 4 (0.72%) Apache
4 4 (0.72%) WebLogic
5 3 (0.54%) Apache Spark
5 3 (0.54%) Headless CMS
5 3 (0.54%) WebSphere
6 1 (0.18%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 1 (0.18%) Appian
6 1 (0.18%) JBoss
6 1 (0.18%) MTS
Applications
1 24 (4.31%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (1.80%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (1.26%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 7 (1.26%) Simulink
4 5 (0.90%) Stateflow
4 5 (0.90%) TargetLink
5 3 (0.54%) Windchill
6 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.18%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.18%) Trello
Business Applications
1 10 (1.80%) Endur
2 5 (0.90%) FLEXCUBE
3 4 (0.72%) Oracle BPM
4 3 (0.54%) ENOVIA
4 3 (0.54%) Misys Midas
4 3 (0.54%) NetSuite
4 3 (0.54%) Teamcenter
5 2 (0.36%) WebTrends
6 1 (0.18%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.18%) Magento
6 1 (0.18%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.18%) SAP APO
6 1 (0.18%) SAP CO
6 1 (0.18%) SAP FI
6 1 (0.18%) SAP FI/CO
6 1 (0.18%) SAP FSCM
6 1 (0.18%) SAP IBP
6 1 (0.18%) SAP S/4HANA
6 1 (0.18%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 92 (16.52%) Azure
2 71 (12.75%) AWS
3 59 (10.59%) Azure DevOps
4 37 (6.64%) GitHub
5 15 (2.69%) Serverless
6 13 (2.33%) SaaS
7 12 (2.15%) AWS Lambda
8 9 (1.62%) Amazon EC2
8 9 (1.62%) Amazon S3
9 8 (1.44%) PaaS
10 7 (1.26%) Cloud Computing
10 7 (1.26%) Entra ID
10 7 (1.26%) Power Platform
10 7 (1.26%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 6 (1.08%) BrowserStack
11 6 (1.08%) Dynamics 365
11 6 (1.08%) GitHub Actions
11 6 (1.08%) Microsoft 365
12 5 (0.90%) GCP
13 4 (0.72%) Firebase
Communications & Networking
1 34 (6.10%) Modbus
1 34 (6.10%) RS-422
1 34 (6.10%) RS-485
2 13 (2.33%) LAN
3 6 (1.08%) Internet
3 6 (1.08%) Wi-Fi
4 5 (0.90%) DHCP
4 5 (0.90%) DNS
4 5 (0.90%) HTTP
4 5 (0.90%) SNMP
4 5 (0.90%) TCP/IP
5 4 (0.72%) 5G
5 4 (0.72%) Firewall
5 4 (0.72%) SMS
5 4 (0.72%) Software-Defined Radio
5 4 (0.72%) VPN
6 3 (0.54%) FTP
6 3 (0.54%) SSL
6 3 (0.54%) VLAN
6 3 (0.54%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (5.03%) SQL Server
2 19 (3.41%) PostgreSQL
3 16 (2.87%) Oracle Database
4 13 (2.33%) NoSQL
5 12 (2.15%) MySQL
5 12 (2.15%) Oracle Database 11g
5 12 (2.15%) Relational Database
6 10 (1.80%) Amazon Redshift
7 8 (1.44%) Data Warehouse
8 7 (1.26%) Apache Cassandra
9 5 (0.90%) Couchbase
9 5 (0.90%) MongoDB
9 5 (0.90%) Power BI
9 5 (0.90%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 4 (0.72%) Amazon RDS
11 3 (0.54%) Data Lake
11 3 (0.54%) MariaDB
12 2 (0.36%) Big Data
12 2 (0.36%) DynamoDB
13 1 (0.18%) Apache Hive
Development Applications
1 85 (15.26%) Git
2 70 (12.57%) Selenium
3 63 (11.31%) JIRA
4 44 (7.90%) Jenkins
5 37 (6.64%) Postman
6 35 (6.28%) Cucumber
7 33 (5.92%) JUnit
8 30 (5.39%) WebDriver
9 19 (3.41%) Appium
9 19 (3.41%) GitLab
9 19 (3.41%) Visual Studio
10 18 (3.23%) JMeter
10 18 (3.23%) REST Assured
11 17 (3.05%) TestNG
12 16 (2.87%) Bitbucket
13 14 (2.51%) Cypress.io
14 12 (2.15%) Subversion
15 11 (1.97%) SoapUI
15 11 (1.97%) SpecFlow
16 10 (1.80%) eggPlant
General
1 195 (35.01%) Social Skills
2 86 (15.44%) Finance
3 62 (11.13%) Analytical Skills
4 43 (7.72%) Public Sector
5 41 (7.36%) Electronics
6 35 (6.28%) Back Office
7 33 (5.92%) Banking
8 20 (3.59%) Telecoms
9 15 (2.69%) Organisational Skills
10 13 (2.33%) Retail
11 12 (2.15%) Investment Banking
12 10 (1.80%) Automotive
13 9 (1.62%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 8 (1.44%) Manufacturing
15 7 (1.26%) Aerospace
16 6 (1.08%) Front Office
16 6 (1.08%) Legal
16 6 (1.08%) Marketing
16 6 (1.08%) Retail Banking
17 5 (0.90%) Military
Job Titles
1 101 (18.13%) Developer
2 76 (13.64%) Analyst
3 68 (12.21%) Software Engineer
4 62 (11.13%) Senior
5 57 (10.23%) Test Engineer
6 51 (9.16%) Tester
7 44 (7.90%) Test Analyst
8 43 (7.72%) Lead
9 36 (6.46%) Test Manager
10 31 (5.57%) Software Developer
11 27 (4.85%) C++ Software Engineer
12 23 (4.13%) Storage Manager
13 22 (3.95%) Senior Analyst
14 20 (3.59%) Senior Test Analyst
15 16 (2.87%) Hardware Engineer
15 16 (2.87%) QA Engineer
15 16 (2.87%) Test Automation Engineer
16 15 (2.69%) SQL Developer
17 14 (2.51%) Software Tester
18 12 (2.15%) Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (7.18%) .NET
2 27 (4.85%) React
2 27 (4.85%) RESTful
2 27 (4.85%) Web Services
3 26 (4.67%) REST
4 25 (4.49%) Spring Boot
5 24 (4.31%) AngularJS
5 24 (4.31%) Spring
6 23 (4.13%) .NET Framework
7 22 (3.95%) HTML
8 17 (3.05%) CSS
9 15 (2.69%) Node.js
10 14 (2.51%) Gherkin
10 14 (2.51%) Redux
11 13 (2.33%) SOAP
11 13 (2.33%) YAML
12 11 (1.97%) XML
13 9 (1.62%) GraphQL
13 9 (1.62%) jQuery
14 8 (1.44%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 41 (7.36%) Self-Motivation
2 32 (5.75%) Product Ownership
3 22 (3.95%) Mobile App
4 16 (2.87%) Algorithms
5 14 (2.51%) Data Centre
6 13 (2.33%) Driving Licence
7 10 (1.80%) Management Information System
8 9 (1.62%) Enterprise Software
9 8 (1.44%) Life Science
10 7 (1.26%) Client/Server
10 7 (1.26%) Data Structures
10 7 (1.26%) Greenfield Project
10 7 (1.26%) Onboarding
10 7 (1.26%) Renewable Energy
11 6 (1.08%) NHS
11 6 (1.08%) Replication
12 5 (0.90%) Clustering
12 5 (0.90%) FPGA
13 4 (0.72%) Equities
13 4 (0.72%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
Operating Systems
1 53 (9.52%) Linux
2 48 (8.62%) Windows
3 27 (4.85%) Unix
4 23 (4.13%) Android
5 15 (2.69%) Windows 10
5 15 (2.69%) zOS
6 13 (2.33%) Windows 7
7 10 (1.80%) Apple iOS
8 4 (0.72%) Embedded Linux
8 4 (0.72%) Windows Server
9 2 (0.36%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.18%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.18%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 277 (49.73%) Agile
2 208 (37.34%) Test Automation
3 159 (28.55%) DevOps
4 146 (26.21%) Software Engineering
5 107 (19.21%) Continuous Integration
6 96 (17.24%) Problem-Solving
7 84 (15.08%) CI/CD
7 84 (15.08%) Unit Testing
8 82 (14.72%) Scrum
9 81 (14.54%) Test Strategy
10 77 (13.82%) TDD
11 73 (13.11%) Test Scripting
12 64 (11.49%) Continuous Improvement
13 54 (9.69%) Customer Requirements
13 54 (9.69%) SDLC
14 43 (7.72%) User Acceptance Testing
15 42 (7.54%) Computer Science
15 42 (7.54%) Project Management
16 41 (7.36%) Performance Testing
17 39 (7.00%) Manual Testing
Programming Languages
1 109 (19.57%) Java
2 101 (18.13%) SQL
3 94 (16.88%) C#
4 77 (13.82%) Python
5 62 (11.13%) JavaScript
6 57 (10.23%) C++
7 53 (9.52%) C
8 29 (5.21%) TypeScript
9 27 (4.85%) Bash
10 22 (3.95%) PL/SQL
11 17 (3.05%) Kotlin
11 17 (3.05%) PowerShell
12 14 (2.51%) JCL
13 10 (1.80%) Go
13 10 (1.80%) REXX
13 10 (1.80%) Ruby
14 9 (1.62%) Bourne shell
14 9 (1.62%) Korn
15 8 (1.44%) MATLAB
16 7 (1.26%) Swift
Qualifications
1 112 (20.11%) Security Cleared
2 99 (17.77%) Degree
3 78 (14.00%) SC Cleared
4 48 (8.62%) ISTQB
5 36 (6.46%) Computer Science Degree
6 27 (4.85%) DV Cleared
7 14 (2.51%) ISEB
8 11 (1.97%) BPSS Clearance
9 8 (1.44%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 8 (1.44%) Master's Degree
10 7 (1.26%) Numerate Degree
11 4 (0.72%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
12 2 (0.36%) CISSP
12 2 (0.36%) ISEB Practitioner
12 2 (0.36%) PMI Certification
12 2 (0.36%) PMP
13 1 (0.18%) CEH
13 1 (0.18%) Chartered Engineer
13 1 (0.18%) CTC Cleared
13 1 (0.18%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 83 (14.90%) QA
2 9 (1.62%) Accessibility
3 8 (1.44%) MISRA
3 8 (1.44%) MISRA C
4 7 (1.26%) PCI DSS
5 6 (1.08%) HL7
6 5 (0.90%) AUTOSAR
6 5 (0.90%) ISO 26262
7 4 (0.72%) Software Quality Assurance
7 4 (0.72%) WCAG
8 3 (0.54%) Data Quality
8 3 (0.54%) Disclosure Scotland
9 2 (0.36%) ISO 9001
9 2 (0.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 2 (0.36%) PMO
9 2 (0.36%) SLA
10 1 (0.18%) COBIT
10 1 (0.18%) Def Stans
10 1 (0.18%) GDPR
10 1 (0.18%) HIPAA
System Software
1 22 (3.95%) Docker
2 17 (3.05%) Firmware
3 14 (2.51%) NFS
3 14 (2.51%) Time Sharing Option
4 7 (1.26%) Active Directory
4 7 (1.26%) Virtual Machines
5 4 (0.72%) VirtualBox
6 2 (0.36%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 27 (4.85%) Kubernetes
2 25 (4.49%) Ansible
3 24 (4.31%) Tivoli Storage Manager
4 19 (3.41%) SCCM
5 16 (2.87%) Terraform
6 4 (0.72%) Puppet
7 3 (0.54%) HP ALM
7 3 (0.54%) HP Quality Center
7 3 (0.54%) Microsoft Intune
8 2 (0.36%) Grafana
8 2 (0.36%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.36%) Kibana
8 2 (0.36%) Microsoft Clustering
8 2 (0.36%) Opsgenie
8 2 (0.36%) Progress Chef
8 2 (0.36%) Rancher
9 1 (0.18%) Iperf
9 1 (0.18%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 85 (15.26%) Microsoft
2 66 (11.85%) Oracle
3 31 (5.57%) IBM
4 21 (3.77%) HP
5 19 (3.41%) Broadcom
5 19 (3.41%) Dell
6 14 (2.51%) Brocade
6 14 (2.51%) CA
7 10 (1.80%) Google
7 10 (1.80%) OpenLink
8 9 (1.62%) SAP
9 7 (1.26%) Adobe
10 6 (1.08%) Atlassian
11 5 (0.90%) Red Hat
11 5 (0.90%) Siemens
11 5 (0.90%) Splunk
11 5 (0.90%) Xilinx
12 4 (0.72%) Optimizely
12 4 (0.72%) ServiceNow
12 4 (0.72%) VMware