QA Skills Barometer France: what job ads ask testers for (October 2026)

Which tools and skills do employers actually ask testers for in France? Rather than repeat the usual rankings, we counted. On 2 October 2026, we analysed job ads published in France over the previous 60 days: 1180 ads with "test" or "testeur" in the title, and 405 ads with "QA" in the title. Here is what they mention.

Method in brief

We use the public API of Adzuna, an aggregator that collects ads from many job boards and recruiters. For each skill, we count ads published in France over the last 60 days whose title contains "QA" (or "test", which includes "testeur") and whose full text mentions the skill. We report both bases because they do not describe quite the same market:

• "QA" ads (405): QA engineer, QA automation, QA tester. This is the core of software testing, often in web and SaaS.
• "Test" ads (1180): broader. They also include validation roles for embedded, railway or industrial systems, where web tools are less in demand, so shares are lower.

The same ad can appear in both bases. Limitations are detailed at the end.

Automation tools: Playwright level with Selenium

In QA ads, Playwright (24.2%) comes ahead of Selenium (21.7%), with Cypress at 15.1%. In the more industrial "test" ads, Playwright and Selenium are neck and neck (6.9% and 7.1%) and Robot Framework rises to 5%. Legacy proprietary tools (UFT, TestComplete) stay under 1%.

For a tester starting out, Playwright and Selenium open as many doors as each other, and Playwright is the most requested in web QA roles. Our Playwright with Python tutorial gets you started in an evening.

Test management: Jira and Xray first

This is the clearest result: 40% of QA ads mention Jira and 26.2% mention Xray, its test management add-on. Squash TM, an open-source tool widely used in France, appears in 8.4% of QA ads and 6.4% of "test" ads. Cucumber and Gherkin (BDD) appear in 14.1% of QA ads.

In other words, writing and tracking test cases in a tool matters as much as automating them.

API and performance testing

API testing is well established: Postman (20%) and REST Assured (15.3%) in QA ads. Performance testing remains a specialty: JMeter (1.7%), k6 (1%) and Gatling (1%) are rarely requested for generalist tester roles.

Languages: Python first

Python is the most cited language in both bases (18.3% of QA ads, 16.9% of "test" ads). SQL (14.8%) comes right behind: querying a database to check a result is a daily task. Java (13.3%) and JavaScript or TypeScript (12.8%) follow.

CI/CD: one QA ad in three

Continuous integration is mentioned in 35.1% of QA ads. GitLab (14.6%) is ahead of Jenkins (11.4%), and GitHub Actions is rarely cited (3%). An automation tester is expected to run tests in the pipeline, not just on their own machine.

Agile, AI and ISTQB

Nearly one QA ad in two mentions Agile or Scrum (48.6%). AI appears in 20.7% of QA ads and 12.1% of "test" ads: testing AI-based products, using assistants to write tests, or simply company context. ISTQB (or CFTL) is cited in 14.6% of QA ads: a recognised asset, rarely a hard requirement.

Where, which contract, which salary

For these indicators we analysed a sample of 605 unique test and QA ads, using the fields provided by Adzuna (location, contract type, displayed salary).

Regions

Île-de-France (Paris region) accounts for nearly a third of ads. Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Occitanie follow, each at around 11 to 13%.

Contracts and seniority

When the contract type is given, permanent contracts dominate: 44.3% of ads are permanent (CDI), 15.2% fixed-term, assignments or freelance, and the rest do not say. The title mentions seniority in only a quarter of cases: 14.5% target a senior or lead profile, 6% an internship or work-study, and only 2.1% explicitly say "junior".

Displayed salaries

229 of 605 ads (37.9%) display a salary. Among them, the median is €42,500 gross per year, and half fall between €40,000 and €45,000. Salaries estimated by Adzuna when the ad shows none are excluded. Senior or lead roles display their salary less often (31 of 89 ads, versus 246 of 516 for the others), but their median reaches €50,000: the overall median mostly describes mid-level roles.

What it means if you are learning

• Learn a modern framework: Playwright (or Selenium) remains the technical core of test automation.
• Do not neglect test management tools: Jira, Xray or Squash TM are cited more often than any framework.
• Run your tests in CI: one QA ad in three asks for it.
• Get ready for AI: one QA ad in five mentions it, and reviewing what an assistant writes is becoming part of the job.

Limitations

• Adzuna is not exhaustive: it aggregates many sources, but not every ad on the market, and an ad posted on several sites may count more than once.
• A mentioned skill is not always required: it may be a "nice to have" or describe the team's environment.
• Titles are imperfect: a QA role with another title escapes both bases, and the "test" base includes non-software validation roles.
• "AI" is a broad word: it covers testing AI-based products, using assistants, or a mention in the company description.
• A one-off snapshot: we will repeat it every quarter, starting in December 2026.

Reusing these figures

You may quote and reuse the figures of this barometer, including the chart, provided you cite the source with a link to this page: "QA Skills Barometer, AutomationDataCamp, October 2026". Job ad data: Adzuna. For press requests or questions about the method, use our contact page. The original French version is here.

Frequently asked questions

Snapshot taken on 2 October 2026 with the Adzuna API (ads published in France over the previous 60 days). Written with AI assistance; every figure comes directly from the snapshot.