Playwright Job Market in 2026

You want to get into QA automation. Or you're already in it and wondering if Playwright is worth learning.

Here's the problem. Most career advice for QA engineers is vague. "Learn automation." "Stay current." "Upskill."

None of that tells you what the actual job market looks like.

• How many jobs exist?

• What do they pay?

• Is Playwright worth your time over Selenium or Cypress?

This article answers those questions with real numbers. We pulled salary data from the US, UK, and India, counted job postings across major boards, and checked what skills employers actually ask for alongside Playwright automation.

The big picture: QA is growing, and automation is the default

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks software QA analysts and testers as a separate occupation. Here are the headline numbers:

That's more than double the national median wage. And the 15% growth projection is driven by three things:

• Expansion of AI, IoT, and robotics software that needs testing

• Increased investment in cybersecurity testing

• The growing complexity of software systems requires dedicated QA

But here's the shift that matters most. The general QA number ($102,610) includes manual testers. Automation-focused roles pay significantly more.

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US salary data: What Playwright engineers actually earn

Multiple salary databases now track Playwright-specific compensation.

The numbers vary based on methodology, so here's a side-by-side comparison:

Tip: The gap between Salary.com ($87K) and Glassdoor ($116K) reflects different methodologies. Salary.com uses employer-verified data and skews lower. Glassdoor includes total comp (base + bonus + equity). For negotiation, use the range, not any single number.

US salary by percentile

ZipRecruiter's 2025 data breaks it down by percentile:

If you're coming in with 2+ years of automation experience and Playwright skills, expect to start in the $90K-$100K range.

Senior roles pay even more. Glassdoor reports an average of $125,696/year for Senior QA Automation Engineers (794 salaries), with top earners reaching $193,710.

Top-paying US cities

The geographic premium matters less for remote roles. But companies benchmarked against Bay Area compensation tend to offer higher remote salaries too.

UK salary data: Playwright is a premium skill

The UK has one of the best data sources for framework-specific salaries: IT Jobs Watch. Their data runs through February 2026.

UK Playwright job posting count till 2026

Playwright as percentage of All UK Framework Job Ads

UK Playwright salary distribution

Two things stand out:

Demand nearly tripled. Playwright's share of framework job ads went from 0.62% to 1.73% in two years. That's clear adoption momentum.

Outside London salaries jumped. The median outside London rose from £47,500 to £55,000, a 15.79% increase in one year. This suggests demand is spreading beyond the capital, where the talent pool is thinner.

Tip: If you're a UK-based QA engineer looking for the best salary growth potential, Playwright skills outside London currently offer the strongest year-over-year growth. London remains highest-paying overall, but the gap is narrowing.

The Indeed 2026 UK hiring trends report notes that UK job postings remain 19% below pre-pandemic levels overall. But within tech, specific skills like Playwright are defying that trend.

India salary data: High variance, high ceiling

Indian Playwright salaries show the widest range of any market. The spread reflects everything from early-career SDETs to senior architects at top-tier firms.

Salary Comparison UK vs India

India overview

India Playwright salary by role

Source: 6FigR, 2025

Demand is strongest in:

• Fintech: Razorpay, PhonePe, CRED, and similar companies are heavy Playwright adopters

• E-commerce: Flipkart, Swiggy, Myntra

• Enterprise SaaS: Companies building multi-tenant products that need end-to-end testing at scale

Job posting counts: How many Playwright jobs exist?

Counting Playwright jobs is tricky. The word "playwright" on general job boards returns both software testing and theater roles. Here's the filtered data:

For context, our earlier analysis of the Selenium job market showed that "Automation Testing Selenium" returns ~8,800 results on Indeed, while "QA Automation Playwright" returns ~10,200. The numbers are converging.

Tip: When job searching, don't search just "Playwright." Use "Playwright automation," "Playwright TypeScript," or "SDET Playwright" to filter out theater roles.

Skills that pay more: What employers want alongside Playwright

Playwright alone isn't enough. Job postings consistently ask for a cluster of skills. And the pattern is similar globally.

Most requested skills alongside Playwright:

• TypeScript/JavaScript (~70-80% of postings)

• CI/CD tools (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Azure DevOps)

• API testing (Postman, REST Assured)

• Docker/containerization

• Git/version control

• Agile/Scrum methodology

• Python or Java (for multi-language teams)

Engineers who combine Playwright with strong CI/CD integration skills command higher salaries. The ability to set up Playwright sharding in GitHub Actions is particularly valued because it directly reduces CI costs and test execution time.

The AI Tooling Premium

A newer skill cluster is showing up in 2026 postings: AI-assisted testing.

Postings that mention Playwright alongside AI tools, MCP integrations, or AI-powered test generation appear more frequently now. This aligns with the broader AI-native test intelligence trend, in which platforms like TestDino use AI to classify failures and surface patterns across test runs.

Engineers who know how to connect AI tools to their test data through MCP will likely see a salary premium as this category matures.

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Remote vs. on-site: The QA flexibility factor

QA automation is one of the most remote-friendly engineering roles. The work is code-based. Results are measurable through CI pipelines. There's no physical product to handle.

Here's how remote availability breaks down for Playwright roles:

The Indeed 2026 US hiring trends report describes the current labor market as "low-hire, low-fire." Employers are being more selective. But QA automation roles retain strong remote availability within that cautious environment.

The remote model works both ways. Companies save on office costs. Engineers gain flexibility. And because real-time test reporting platforms stream results as tests run, managers can monitor test suite health without being in the office.

Playwright vs. Selenium vs. Cypress: Salary comparison

Does framework specialization actually affect pay?

The short answer: yes, but not as much as you'd think.

The salary gap between frameworks is really about company type:

• Playwright roles cluster at modern tech companies, startups, and fintech firms that pay higher base salaries

• Selenium roles dominate in enterprise environments (banking, insurance, government) with more structured pay scales

• Cypress roles sit somewhere in between, common at mid-size SaaS companies

For a detailed technical comparison, see Playwright vs Cypress and Selenium vs Cypress vs Playwright.

Tip: Don't pick a framework based solely on salary data. Pick one based on where you want to work. FAANG-adjacent startups? Learn Playwright. Enterprise consulting? Selenium still opens more doors. Both pay well.

Career advice: What the data says you should do

Starting (0-2 years)

Learn Playwright alongside TypeScript. The entry barrier is lower than Selenium (no WebDriver setup), and the market is growing fast. Start with the Playwright cheatsheet and build a GitHub portfolio. Pair this with basic CI/CD knowledge. GitHub Actions is the most common.

Mid-career (3-5 years)

Add Playwright to your existing skillset. You don't need to drop Selenium. But Playwright on your resume opens doors to higher-paying modern teams. Focus on debugging skills and CI optimization. That's where mid-level engineers stand out from juniors.

Senior QA lead (5+ years)

The premium is in architecture and AI. Know how to design scalable Playwright frameworks. Learn to integrate AI-powered failure analysis. Set up MCP connections to link your test data to AI assistants. Senior roles in strategy and tool evaluation in the US range from $139K to $165K+ .

Hiring managers

Playwright talent costs roughly the same as general QA automation talent ($116K-$117K average). But the pool is smaller and growing. To compete for Playwright engineers:

• Emphasize remote flexibility

• Highlight modern tooling (CI/CD, AI-powered reporting)

• Offer career growth paths beyond "senior QA engineer"

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