QA jobs in Leeds, United Kingdom
Leeds sits in the tier b hub group for QA hiring in United Kingdom. It has 5 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.
Index vs London = 100. 12% below London. Estimated from tier, not measured.
Open QA roles in Leeds
5 roles based in Leeds, newest first. Pay is shown upfront.
Automation Tester
QA tester
QA tester
Senior Automation Tester
Senior QA Engineer
What is hiring in Leeds
Share of the 5 listings in Leeds.
- QA Automation Engineer3 60%
- Manual QA Tester2 40%
Pay in Leeds
Mid-level gross pay in GBP, from the United Kingdom median with a pay index of 88.
| Role | P10 | Median | P90 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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.
Working hours from Leeds
Leeds 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.
Leeds 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.
Leeds as a QA market
A Tier B city is a growing hub with regular listings.
Leeds has about 536,000 residents (city-proper estimate, GeoNames). It is the 6th 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 Leeds.
A deep QA market centred on London, with strong hubs in Manchester, Edinburgh and Cambridge across fintech, gaming and public-sector software.
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.
QA roles in Leeds: jobs and pay
Open a role for local openings and the pay by level in Leeds.
Manual QA Tester
Mid-level median £36k
QA Automation Engineer
Mid-level median £53k
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 £79k
Game QA Tester
Mid-level median £29k
Accessibility Tester
Mid-level median £43k
Business / Test Analyst
Mid-level median £39k
Data / ETL QA Engineer
Mid-level median £44k
Localization QA Tester
Mid-level median £21k
AI / LLM Evaluation QA
Mid-level median £45k
Release / DevOps Engineer
Mid-level median £63k
Technical Writer (QA / Docs)
Mid-level median £39k
QA jobs in Leeds: FAQ
How much does a QA automation engineer earn in Leeds?
A mid-level QA Automation Engineer in Leeds 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 Leeds?
Leeds has 5 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 Leeds have with US and European teams?
On a 09:00-17:00 day in Leeds (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. Leeds 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 Leeds compared with London?
Our approximate cost-of-living index for Leeds 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 Leeds and how does it rank as a QA talent pool?
Leeds has about 536,000 residents (city-proper estimate, GeoNames). It is the 6th 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 5 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.