ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL)
professional in minutes from 15,000 CVs with precise AI matchingCTFL holders understand the basics of software testing, defect reporting, test design, and the role of testing in agile and traditional delivery. Get fast, precise matching with vetted freelancers who can support your quality work from the start.
Meet FRATCH ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL)
Matthias K.
Last position:
Business Owner at AKM
Management of several MFA methods for centralized authentication within a group. Interface between various stakeholders such as Support, Finance, Developers, and Security departments. Assessment of compliance requirements such as KRITIS. Budget controlling and monitoring of KPIs and SLAs. Support with internal and external audits on MFA topics and with connecting new systems. Review of operational documentation. Participation in steering committees and leadership of service review meetings and decision-making committees.
Tools/Frameworks: FIDO, Yubikey, Veridium, BSI Grundschutz, NIST
Jerry B.
Last position:
Owner at DIGIPM Consulting e.U.
From 02/2023 to 05/2024: IT interim manager within an international construction chemicals group headquartered in Germany as Global TSA Manager in a carve-out project responsible for the IT workstream.
End-to-end management of an international IT carve-out and TSA program, including transition of five service providers, governance and operating structures, service continuity, provider performance, SLA/KPI and cost management, SIAM and supplier management, security services, operational readiness, and transition into stable operations.
From 06/2024: IT consulting in project management and IT service management areas, providing PM/PMO coaching and support.
Ulysse Brice M.
Last position:
Agile Quality Engineer & Quality Master at Die Mobiliar
- Test strategy design
- Continuous defect tracking and documentation
- Test case creation and execution for performance and end-to-end tests as well as mass tests
- Responsibility for all test activities in the team
- Requirements and documentation analysis
- Agile testing based on stories, epics and features
- Test management and coordination
- Use of SAFe (PI planning, PI preparation, sprints, daily meetings, Kanban board, retrospective, review)
- Use of GitHub, Tortoise, Atlassian JIRA, Confluence, MS Teams, Splunk, Swagger UI, Tosca, Rocket.Chat, Visual Studio Code, Oracle SQL Developer
- SAFe framework and project abroad
Loic N.
Last position:
Senior System Engineer at AG Solution
- Create and lead roadmap forecasting of support opportunities, including colleague training, process design and improvement, and new hire onboarding.
- Collaborate seamlessly with cross-functional teams including Professional Services, Support, Product, Sales, and Solution Engineering.
- Manage business and financial KPIs in alignment with overall business objectives.
- Industrial IT & Data Integration: Implement, configure, and integrate OT/IT systems and data flows, connecting control-layer sources (DCS, PLC, SCADA) to historians, data platforms, and enterprise systems through APIs and standard interfaces.
- AVEVA PI & Historian: Configure, maintain, and extend AVEVA PI (PI Data Archive, Asset Framework, interfaces/connectors) to capture, contextualize, and serve real-time and historical operational data.
- Alarm Management: Support and optimize alarm management systems – e.g. Honeywell Alarm Management – including alarm rationalization, classification, and the analysis of alarm performance, critical alarms, and alarm floods.
- Connectivity & Protocols: Set up and troubleshoot industrial connectivity using OPC UA and OPC A&E, including the configuration of tunnelers / wrappers to bridge OT data sources securely and reliably.
- Production Data Flow: Ensure seamless, secure, and well-structured data flow across the industrial IT landscape, transforming raw operational data into meaningful information for operations and decision-making.
- System Support & Troubleshooting: Provide ongoing support for OT/IT applications, troubleshooting issues across networks, software, and data integrations to keep systems running efficiently.
- Knowledge Management & Best Practices: Contribute to internal documentation, best practices, and troubleshooting guides, and help continuously improve how we deliver industrial IT and data solutions.
Tools & Software: Aveva PI, Salesforce, Active Directory, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Jira, Microsoft, Scrum, DevOps, Docker, CI/CD, Jenkins, GitHub.
Octavian G.
Last position:
Oracle DWH Analyst at Infomotion Gmbh
Oracle PL/SQL, Oracle SQL, ITIL
Ahmed R.
Last position:
AI & Automation Engineer at Teosek GmbH
- Build prototypes, expand AI skills, and practical application in a startup context.
- Transition phase: further training in prompt engineering, APIs, AI, working on independent prototype projects, and collaborating at a friend's startup.
- Technologies: LangChain, REST, Python, Java, JS, TS, Node.
Amit S.
Last position:
IT Project Manager – SAP S/4 HANA Delivery Consultant at CHG Meridian UK Limited
- Managed the integrated SAP S/4HANA delivery plan for 12 BTS workstreams, including milestone, dependency, and governance management.
- Coordinated end-to-end delivery across Business, IT, and Operations, focusing on execution, readiness, and issue resolution.
- Responsible for RAID, test, cutover, and deployment management to ensure a successful go-live.
- Implemented KPI tracking, status reporting, and PMO governance to provide transparent management of performance, risks, and escalations.
Yunus S.
Last position:
Senior Expert / Program Manager at Dolpheen IT
Senior Expert / Program Manager
IT Services
- Management of internal projects for infrastructure modernization: setup and maintenance of test environments that realistically replicate complex customer networks.
- Resource coordination: planning server capacities and cloud resources for automated test runs.
- Implementation of CI/CD pipelines to integrate automated tests into the build process.
- Evaluation of performance bottlenecks through load testing (NeoLoad/JMeter) to ensure scalability.
Tools / Technologies: Jenkins, Docker, GIT, ButBucket, NeoLoad, Azure
Karim I.
Last position:
Test Engineer at Ixtrac AG for Swica
- Building a framework for automated website testing
- Testing, regression testing
- Defect management
- Release management, UAT, agile testing
- Feature discussions with business
- Test management
Kathrin S.
Last position:
Requirements Engineer at Governikus GmbH & Co. KG
- Impact: Structured requirements analysis and quality assurance as a foundation for the further development of a software solution.
- Analysis, documentation, and coordination of requirements. Conducting stakeholder analyses, interviews, and workshops to gather and validate requirements. Conducting requirements reviews and working closely with business departments and development teams.
Techniques & Tools: Requirements Engineering, Stakeholder Management, Workshop Facilitation, System Context Modeling, Requirements Reviews, Quality Scenarios, Miro, Jira, Confluence
Mario M.
Last position:
Co-Founder and CTO at B2B SaaS Recruiting Platform
Complete build of a B2B SaaS platform for recruitment agencies
- Multi-source job aggregation via ATS APIs
- AI-assisted career page scraping
- Rule-based and AI-assisted matching
- Credit-based monetization model with Stripe integration
- Live in production since July 2026
Tech stack
- NestJS
- React
- PostgreSQL
- pgvector
- Claude AI
- Prisma
Andreas H.
Last position:
Test Automation Architect at Banking Bank (name withheld)
- Set up a shift-left DevOps E2E system testing architecture
- Set up "DevOps Shift-left" E2E tests for 240+ applications
- Under NDA
Felix B.
Last position:
Digital Consultant and Solution Manager at Vorwerk SE & Co. KG
Introduction of a new digital product to the Chinese market as part of a global growth strategy.
Point of contact and coordinating interface between central product management, local Chinese teams and international stakeholders.
Management of the entire program to coordinate complex digital projects.
Successful market launch of a digital product in China (including successful certification for the Chinese market).
Balancing local requirements with global priorities while taking tax and regulatory requirements into account.
Introduction of a new way of working to improve collaboration and coordination across locations.
Development and implementation of a scaling strategy for the digital business model in China.
Use of Jira, Confluence, Miro, Scrum, agile working, SAFe.
Project language: English.
Wael A.
Last position:
Test Automation Expert at Ebcont Work GmbH
- Automating software tests with Tosca instead of manual tests
- Ensuring system stability through early issue fixing
- Optimizing for faster releases and better software quality
- Technologies: Tosca, API Testing, JIRA, Confluence
Patryk S.
Last position:
Test Manager at HIQT GmbH
- Set up a partnership to support UiPath from migrating new clients to the UiPath tool landscape
- RPA testing
Discover over 15,000 top freelancers
ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) statistics
Aggregated from the professional profiles of matched freelancers.
Experience
19 years
Position duration
2 years
Positions per freelancer
13
Top business areas
Quality Assurance, Information Technology, Product Development
Top industries
Information Technology, Banking and Finance, Automotive
Certification focus areas
Quality Assurance, Information Technology, Project Management
Bachelor's degree or higher
92%
Master's degree or higher
55%
Doctorate
6%
Certifications per freelancer
6
Most common languages
German, English, French
Speak two or more languages
97%
Based on our profile pool as of 21 Oct 2026.
Daily rate distribution
The chart shows how the daily rates of experts holding this certification are distributed, based on recent contracts on our platform. Each bar covers a rate range — its height shows the share of experts charging within that range.
Average rates for ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL)
Rates are based on recent contracts and do not include FRATCH margin.
The average daily rate is the mean of all daily rates from recent contracts of comparable freelancers on our platform.
The median daily rate is the middle value of all daily rates — half of comparable freelancers charge less, half charge more. Unlike the average, it is barely affected by outliers.
Calculated based on our freelancers’ daily rates as of 21 Oct 2026. Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.
ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) experts industry focus
See which industries our matched freelancers work in most often — every figure is calculated live from the freelancers on FRATCH.
- Information Technology (87%)
- Banking and Finance (52%)
- Automotive (44%)
- Manufacturing (41%)
- Telecommunication (37%)
- Professional Services (34%)
- Government and Administration (34%)
- Insurance (32%)
Please note that freelancers can work across multiple industries, so percentages overlap.
About the certification
What CTFL means
ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) is the best-known entry certification in software testing. It shows that a person understands the language, principles, and core practices used to test software in a structured way. Companies look for it when they need someone who can work with test cases, defects, and quality checks without needing a full introduction.
Core skills
A CTFL holder is expected to know how testing supports delivery and risk control.
- Test principles and basic terminology
- Test levels, test types, and test design techniques
- Defect reporting and incident handling
- Static testing, reviews, and exploratory thinking
- Test tools, automation awareness, and test data basics
- Agile testing basics and collaboration with developers and analysts
Typical profiles
The CTFL is common among manual testers, QA analysts, test coordinators, business analysts who support testing, and developers who want a shared testing vocabulary. It is also a sensible first step for people moving into quality assurance from adjacent roles. In many teams, ISTQB Foundation Level is the baseline certification that helps new testers fit into established QA processes.
What it tells employers
A freelancer with the ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level certificate can usually join a team and follow agreed test practices quickly. That matters when you need support for regression testing, user story validation, acceptance checks, or defect triage. The certificate does not prove deep domain expertise on its own, but it does show a solid grasp of testing fundamentals and a common way of working.
How it is used
CTFL is relevant in projects where quality needs to be controlled from the start, not only at the end.
- Web and app releases
- Enterprise software and integration work
- Agile product teams
- UAT support and release readiness
- Outsourced QA and short-term test coverage
Hiring fit
If you hire in-house or remotely, the CTFL helps you filter for people who speak the same testing language as your team. That is useful when the role needs clear defect communication, structured test execution, and basic coverage across functional areas. For freelancers, it is a straightforward signal that they know how testing works in real projects, not just in theory.
Frequently asked questions
Before you brief your next project: the most common questions about ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL).
The ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) validates that a person understands the foundations of software testing. That includes test principles, basic techniques, defect reporting, review activities, and the role of testing in a delivery team. It is a broad starting point, not a deep specialist certificate.
Yes. CTFL is the common abbreviation for the ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level, and many people simply say ISTQB Foundation Level or ISTQB Foundation. All of these usually refer to the same entry-level software testing certification.
The ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level is a good fit for manual testers, QA analysts, and people starting a career in testing. It also suits business analysts, product team members, and developers who want a stronger testing mindset. Companies often use it as a baseline for freelancers who will support structured testing work.
A freelancer with CTFL can usually join a project and work within an existing QA process with little ramp-up on the basics. They should be able to write and execute test cases, report defects clearly, and support regression or acceptance testing. That makes the certification useful for delivery teams that need dependable test execution.
CTFL is the foundation layer. It focuses on core concepts and shared language, while higher ISTQB levels go deeper into specialisms, advanced testing practice, or test management. If you need someone for leadership, strategy, or niche testing topics, CTFL alone is usually not enough.
Preparation for the ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level usually means studying the syllabus, learning the terminology, and practicing how to apply test design techniques. Many candidates use training, self-study, or both. No specific work experience is always required, but practical exposure to software projects helps a lot.
The CTFL has traditionally been treated as a foundation certificate that is not tied to a short renewal cycle like some other credentials. However, certification policies can change over time, so candidates should always check the current ISTQB rules before planning their path. For employers, the important point is that the certificate signals a stable testing baseline.
This certification matters most in projects where structured testing is part of everyday delivery: web apps, business software, integration work, and agile teams. It is also useful when companies need clear communication between QA, development, and business stakeholders. In markets such as Germany, it is a familiar signal for employers looking for reliable test support.
The average hourly rate for freelancers with ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) is 95 €, which corresponds to a daily rate of about 760 € based on an 8-hour working day.
Of the freelancers with ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL), 92% hold at least a Bachelor's degree, 55% hold at least a Master's degree, and 6% hold a doctorate.
On average, freelancers with ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) have 19 years of professional experience, with a single engagement typically lasting around 2 years.
The most common languages among freelancers with ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) are German (100%), English (96%), and French (27%).
The most common industries among freelancers with ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) are Information Technology (87%), Banking and Finance (52%), and Automotive (44%).
The most common business areas among freelancers with ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) are Quality Assurance (95%), Information Technology (94%), and Product Development (74%).
FRATCH ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) main locations
Our freelancers and interim experts are at home all over Germany — available on-site in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and every major business hub, or fully remote. Choose a city to discover matched specialists, local market insights and up-to-date availability.
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Hamburg 
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Cologne 
Frankfurt 
Stuttgart 
Dusseldorf 
Dortmund 
Essen 
Nuremberg 
Vienna Across Switzerland our specialists are active in Zurich, Geneva, Basel and Bern — working on-site or fully remote. Choose a city to discover matched specialists, local market insights and up-to-date availability.
Zurich Geneva Basel Bern Countries:
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