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Tier B hubUK & IrelandUTC+1 (BST)146,000 residents

QA jobs in Cambridge, United Kingdom

For QA work, Cambridge counts as a tier b hub in United Kingdom. It has 11 open QA roles, and United Kingdom has 185 in total. The country's busiest listing hub is London with 61 roles. A mid-level QA Automation Engineer earns about £49k gross a year here, set from the national median with the B-tier pay index of 88.

Deep-tech, semiconductors and life-sciences software. Roles lean toward embedded and scientific testing.

Pay index88
Cost-of-living index86

Index vs London = 100. 12% below London. Estimated from tier, not measured.

Local time now -UTC+1 (BST)
11Open roles in Cambridge
185Open roles in United Kingdom
£49kMedian · mid-level automation · gross / yr
8 hBest client overlap · London
Role mix

What is hiring in Cambridge

Share of the 11 listings in Cambridge.

Salary

Pay in Cambridge

Mid-level gross pay in GBP, from the United Kingdom median with a pay index of 88.

RoleP10MedianP90
Manual QA Tester£27k£34k£41k
QA Automation Engineer£41k£49k£60k
SDET£44k£54k£65k
QA Lead / Manager£37k£45k£55k

Country figures: United Kingdom salary snapshot · QA Automation Engineer pay in United Kingdom.

Time zones

Working hours from Cambridge

Cambridge is on UTC+1 (BST). A 09:00-17:00 day here shares 8 h with London (09:00-17:00 local), 3 h with US East, 0 h with US West, 8 h with London and 7 h with Central Europe.

US EastUTC-4 (EDT)
3 h14:00-17:00
Partial overlap · 3-4 h over the year · 4 h on 28 Oct
US WestUTC-7 (PDT)
0 hAsync hand-off only
No core overlap · 0-1 h over the year · 1 h on 28 Oct
LondonUTC+1 (BST)
8 h09:00-17:00
Near-full day · same all year
Central EuropeUTC+2 (CEST)
7 h09:00-16:00
Near-full day · same all year

Cambridge changes its clocks: UTC+0 in winter and UTC+1 in summer. Today it is on UTC+1 (BST). Europe moves its clocks on 25 Oct 2026 and the US on 1 Nov 2026. For that week US East and London overlap 4 h on a 09:00-17:00 day, against 3 h today.

Tech hub notes

Cambridge as a QA market

A Tier B city is a growing hub with regular listings. Deep-tech, semiconductors and life-sciences software. Roles lean toward embedded and scientific testing.

Cambridge has about 146,000 residents (city-proper estimate, GeoNames). It is the 20th largest of the 20 United Kingdom cities we list.

Population: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). City-proper figures are not comparable across countries.

Employers in United Kingdom hire QA mostly in AI / ML, SaaS, E-commerce. Listings name Jira, Playwright, Selenium most often. 26 of 185 United Kingdom roles are remote, against 0% of the listings based in Cambridge.

A deep QA market centred on London, with strong hubs in Manchester, Edinburgh and Cambridge across fintech, gaming and public-sector software.

AI / MLSaaSE-commerceJiraPlaywrightSelenium

Hiring in United Kingdom

Contracts
Permanent employee, Fixed-term employee, Contractor (limited company or umbrella)
Notice
Statutory minimum notice starts at one week after a month of service and rises with tenure. Contracts for QA roles typically specify one to three months.
Paid leave
Statutory minimum is 5.6 weeks including bank holidays. Many employers add days.
Working week
37.5 to 40 hours. The 48-hour weekly cap can be opted out of in writing.

Typical values only. Full hiring guide for United Kingdom. Flex work from United Kingdom is open: how Flex works.

By role

QA roles in Cambridge: jobs and pay

Open a role for local openings and the pay by level in Cambridge.

Manual QA Tester

Mid-level median £35k

QA Automation Engineer

Mid-level median £52k

SDET

Mid-level median £57k

QA Lead / Manager

Mid-level median £48k

Mobile QA Engineer

Mid-level median £46k

Performance Test Engineer

Mid-level median £64k

Security / Penetration Tester

Mid-level median £78k

Game QA Tester

Mid-level median £29k

Accessibility Tester

Mid-level median £42k

Business / Test Analyst

Mid-level median £38k

Data / ETL QA Engineer

Mid-level median £43k

Localization QA Tester

Mid-level median £21k

AI / LLM Evaluation QA

Mid-level median £45k

Release / DevOps Engineer

Mid-level median £62k

Technical Writer (QA / Docs)

Mid-level median £39k

FAQ

QA jobs in Cambridge: FAQ

How much does a QA automation engineer earn in Cambridge?

A mid-level QA Automation Engineer in Cambridge earns about £49k gross a year, with a p10 to p90 band of £41k to £60k. Junior roles start near £38k and senior roles reach £63k. This applies a pay index of 88 (anchor city = 100) to the United Kingdom median.

How many QA jobs are open in Cambridge?

Cambridge has 11 open QA roles today, 0 of them remote, and United Kingdom has 185 in total. Remote roles in the same time zone are open to candidates here.

How much time-zone overlap does Cambridge have with US and European teams?

On a 09:00-17:00 day in Cambridge (UTC+1 (BST)), the overlap is 3 h with US East, 0 h with US West, 8 h with London and 7 h with Central Europe. Cambridge changes its clocks: UTC+0 in winter and UTC+1 in summer. Today it is on UTC+1 (BST).

What does it cost to live in Cambridge compared with London?

Our approximate cost-of-living index for Cambridge is 86 against London at 100, and the pay index is 88. Both are tier-based estimates, not measured prices.

Which industries hire QA testers in United Kingdom?

In United Kingdom listings, the most common industries are AI / ML, SaaS, E-commerce. The tools named most often are Jira, Playwright, Selenium.

How big is Cambridge and how does it rank as a QA talent pool?

Cambridge has about 146,000 residents (city-proper estimate, GeoNames). It is the 20th largest of the 20 United Kingdom cities we list. Population alone does not set pay: the pay index of 88 comes from the city tier, and the 11 local listings show how much QA hiring is visible today. Remote roles in the same time zone widen the pool for candidates here.

What notice period and paid leave should I expect in United Kingdom?

Statutory minimum notice starts at one week after a month of service and rises with tenure. Contracts for QA roles typically specify one to three months. Statutory minimum is 5.6 weeks including bank holidays. Many employers add days. These are typical values, not legal advice.

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