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Create CVIf you’re searching for “test engineer UK salary,” you’re likely trying to answer one of these real questions:
How much should I be earning right now?
Am I underpaid compared to the market?
What skills actually increase my salary?
What’s the difference between QA, Automation, and SDET pay?
This guide goes far beyond averages. It reflects how salaries are actually decided across recruiters, hiring managers, and ATS-driven pipelines in the UK tech market.
You’ll understand:
Real salary ranges across all experience levels
Why automation engineers earn significantly more
Entry-Level Test Engineer (0–2 years)
£28,000 – £40,000
Strong grads with automation exposure: up to £45,000
Mid-Level Test Engineer (2–5 years)
£40,000 – £65,000
Automation testers: £55,000 – £70,000
Senior Test Engineer (5–10 years)
£60,000 – £85,000
Advanced automation / SDET: £75,000 – £95,000
This is where most candidates misunderstand their market value.
£28,000 – £50,000
Limited ceiling due to lower perceived business impact
£50,000 – £85,000
Strong demand due to scalability and efficiency
£70,000 – £110,000+
Often paid similarly to software engineers
Typically +10% to +20% higher
Strong demand in FinTech, SaaS, and enterprise tech
US companies hiring UK talent: £80K – £120K+
Often outperform London salaries
Slightly lower base
Rapidly closing the gap due to remote hiring
How recruiters benchmark your compensation in seconds
What separates £40K testers from £90K+ engineers
How to strategically increase your salary
£80,000 – £110,000+
High-impact roles (FinTech, SaaS, AI): £120,000+
Key reason for higher pay:
Two testers with the same years of experience can have a £30K+ salary gap.
Here’s why.
Manual testers are capped.
Automation engineers:
Write frameworks
Build scalable test systems
Integrate into CI/CD
Weak Example:
“Performed manual testing on web applications”
Good Example:
“Built Selenium-based automation framework reducing regression testing time by 65%”
Why this matters:
Automation directly saves time and money → higher salary.
Test engineers who can code earn more.
High-value languages:
Java
Python
JavaScript (Cypress, Playwright)
High earners understand:
Jenkins
GitHub Actions
Docker
Testing is no longer isolated.
Testing simple CRUD apps ≠ testing distributed systems.
Higher salaries come from:
Microservices
APIs
High-scale systems
Top-paid engineers:
Design testing strategies
Influence architecture
Work cross-functionally
They look for:
Automation tools (Selenium, Cypress, Playwright)
Programming languages
Impact metrics
CI/CD exposure
Recruiters decide quickly:
Manual QA → lower salary band
Automation Engineer → mid/high
SDET → top tier
Hiring managers ask:
Can this person improve product quality at scale?
Will they reduce production issues?
More impact = higher pay.
Manual testing limits salary growth significantly.
If your CV lacks results:
No efficiency gains
No quality improvements
You appear replaceable.
Listing:
Selenium
JIRA
TestRail
means nothing without outcomes.
Testers who don’t think like engineers:
Stay operational
Don’t scale systems
Earn less
This is the biggest lever.
Focus on:
Selenium / Playwright
Framework design
Test architecture
Not scripts. Real engineering.
Top earners:
Think like product owners
Understand user impact
This is where salary accelerates.
High-paying sectors:
FinTech
SaaS
AI companies
Software engineers earn more on average
Gap closes significantly for SDETs
DevOps often earns £70K – £110K+
Strong overlap with CI/CD skills
Data QA roles vary widely
Often lower unless highly specialised
Candidate: James Whitaker
Role: Senior SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test)
Location: London, UK
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
Senior SDET with 8+ years of experience building scalable test automation frameworks and improving software quality across high-growth SaaS platforms. Proven track record of reducing release cycles and improving system reliability through automation and CI/CD integration.
CORE SKILLS
Test Automation (Selenium, Cypress, Playwright)
Programming (Java, Python, JavaScript)
CI/CD (Jenkins, GitHub Actions)
API Testing (Postman, RestAssured)
Docker & Cloud (AWS)
Test Strategy & Architecture
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Senior SDET – SaaS Company (London)
2020 – Present
Designed and implemented automation framework reducing regression testing time by 70%
Integrated automated tests into CI/CD pipeline, reducing release cycles from 2 weeks to 3 days
Led testing strategy across microservices architecture handling millions of users
Reduced production defects by 45% through improved test coverage
Test Automation Engineer – FinTech Company
2016 – 2020
Built API testing suite improving backend reliability by 30%
Automated end-to-end testing workflows reducing manual testing by 60%
Collaborated with developers to implement shift-left testing practices
EDUCATION
BSc Computer Science – University of Leeds
KEY PROJECTS
Microservices testing framework for high-scale SaaS platform
CI/CD test integration pipeline
Strong automation and engineering focus
Clear business impact (speed, quality, efficiency)
Leadership and ownership signals
Production-level experience
Top candidates:
Write production-level code
Influence system design
Own quality end-to-end
Not:
But:
High salaries go to those who:
Understand backend systems
Work with developers, not separately
Automation engineering
AI-driven testing
SDET roles
Performance and security testing
Pure manual testing
Low-complexity QA roles
Tool-only skillsets
Automation is the biggest salary driver
SDET roles command top-tier salaries
Business impact matters more than tools
Positioning determines earning potential
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