Validation
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring Validation skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 27 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
27 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 88 88 190
Rank change year-on-year 0 +102 +20
Permanent jobs citing Validation 2,125 1,682 1,163
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.94% 3.36% 1.39%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.66% 3.78% 1.73%
Number of salaries quoted 1,272 522 492
10th Percentile £35,100 £38,750 £38,734
25th Percentile £42,500 £41,250 £46,813
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.55% -8.33% -7.69%
75th Percentile £71,563 £72,188 £76,250
90th Percentile £86,500 £91,350 £94,875
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £52,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.76% -4.55% -4.35%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Validation falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 79,954 44,458 67,369
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.09% 88.81% 80.67%
Number of salaries quoted 55,419 25,298 42,226
10th Percentile £31,055 £28,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £36,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £78,750 £75,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £96,250 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £50,047
% change year-on-year +15.79% -5.09% -9.01%

Validation
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Validation relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Validation job vacancy trend in the UK

Validation
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Validation.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Validation

Validation
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Validation over the 6 months to 27 August 2026.

Salary histogram for Validation in the UK

Validation
Top 18 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Validation within the UK over the 6 months to 27 August 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -2 1,962 £57,500 +4.55% 3,082
UK excluding London -20 1,523 £55,000 +4.76% 1,956
Work from Home +114 605 £56,000 -6.67% 1,205
London +62 520 £70,000 -12.50% 1,547
South East -19 448 £59,490 +8.16% 503
North of England +101 403 £55,000 +15.79% 325
North West +97 239 £55,000 +15.35% 185
Midlands -42 219 £47,500 -13.64% 250
South West +1 190 £55,000 +4.56% 314
East of England -61 149 £57,500 +21.05% 287
West Midlands +19 122 £47,500 -13.64% 162
East Midlands -63 96 £48,372 +13.82% 88
Yorkshire +14 82 £43,000 +1.18% 86
North East +3 82 £55,000 +57.14% 61
Scotland +31 75 £70,000 +20.62% 226
Wales -39 34 £70,000 +30.23% 50
Isle of Man - 4 £38,500 - 4
Northern Ireland -77 2 - - 38

Validation
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 48 (2.26%) Apache Airflow
2 45 (2.12%) Apache Spark
3 44 (2.07%) Apache
4 36 (1.69%) Confluence
5 32 (1.51%) SharePoint
6 20 (0.94%) Jupyter
7 13 (0.61%) SAS
8 10 (0.47%) Microsoft Exchange
9 6 (0.28%) WinCC
10 5 (0.24%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 5 (0.24%) CMS
11 4 (0.19%) Kinematics
12 3 (0.14%) Artix
12 3 (0.14%) IIS
12 3 (0.14%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 2 (0.094%) Cloud Foundry
14 1 (0.047%) FactoryTalk
14 1 (0.047%) OpenStack
14 1 (0.047%) Palantir Foundry
14 1 (0.047%) WebSphere
Applications
1 118 (5.55%) Microsoft Excel
2 62 (2.92%) Microsoft Office
3 39 (1.84%) Simulink
4 35 (1.65%) Microsoft Project
5 17 (0.80%) MS Visio
5 17 (0.80%) SOLIDWORKS
5 17 (0.80%) Spreadsheet
6 11 (0.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 10 (0.47%) AutoCAD
8 5 (0.24%) LaTeX
8 5 (0.24%) Mathcad
9 4 (0.19%) Adobe XD
9 4 (0.19%) CANalyzer
9 4 (0.19%) OrCAD
9 4 (0.19%) Revit
9 4 (0.19%) Sketch
10 3 (0.14%) Autodesk Inventor
10 3 (0.14%) Productboard
10 3 (0.14%) Stateflow
11 2 (0.094%) Navisworks
Business Applications
1 41 (1.93%) Dynamics CRM
1 41 (1.93%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (0.47%) SAP MDG
3 9 (0.42%) iTrent
3 9 (0.42%) Oracle EBS
4 8 (0.38%) Oracle Applications
4 8 (0.38%) SAP ERP
5 7 (0.33%) Elite 3E
5 7 (0.33%) NetSuite
6 6 (0.28%) Teamcenter
6 6 (0.28%) Workday HCM
7 5 (0.24%) Loan IQ
7 5 (0.24%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.19%) Oracle Financials
8 4 (0.19%) SAP MM
9 3 (0.14%) Maximo
9 3 (0.14%) Oracle ERP
9 3 (0.14%) SystmOne
10 2 (0.094%) Oracle Payables
10 2 (0.094%) Oracle Receivables
Cloud Services
1 289 (13.60%) Azure
2 254 (11.95%) AWS
3 161 (7.58%) Power Platform
4 92 (4.33%) GCP
5 81 (3.81%) SaaS
6 68 (3.20%) Azure DevOps
7 63 (2.96%) Microsoft 365
8 59 (2.78%) GitHub
9 50 (2.35%) Serverless
10 38 (1.79%) Amazon S3
11 36 (1.69%) Dynamics 365
12 33 (1.55%) Entra ID
13 30 (1.41%) GitHub Actions
14 28 (1.32%) Microsoft Copilot
15 22 (1.04%) Amazon EMR
16 21 (0.99%) Amazon EC2
16 21 (0.99%) Cloud Computing
17 20 (0.94%) PowerApps
17 20 (0.94%) Snowflake
18 19 (0.89%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 66 (3.11%) Broadband
2 62 (2.92%) Firewall
3 59 (2.78%) DNS
4 40 (1.88%) Wireless
5 34 (1.60%) Network Security
6 33 (1.55%) WAN
7 32 (1.51%) TCP/IP
8 30 (1.41%) VPN
9 24 (1.13%) Ethernet
10 23 (1.08%) LAN
11 21 (0.99%) SD-WAN
12 19 (0.89%) MQTT
13 18 (0.85%) VLAN
14 17 (0.80%) BGP
14 17 (0.80%) OSPF
14 17 (0.80%) Wi-Fi
14 17 (0.80%) Wireshark
15 16 (0.75%) Modbus
16 15 (0.71%) Internet
17 14 (0.66%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 147 (6.92%) Power BI
2 57 (2.68%) Data Warehouse
3 53 (2.49%) PostgreSQL
4 50 (2.35%) Metadata
5 45 (2.12%) SQL Server
6 44 (2.07%) Data Lake
7 43 (2.02%) Tableau
8 35 (1.65%) MongoDB
9 29 (1.36%) Relational Database
10 28 (1.32%) Amazon Athena
11 27 (1.27%) BigQuery
12 25 (1.18%) DynamoDB
13 23 (1.08%) Semantic Layer
14 21 (0.99%) SQL Server Integration Services
15 19 (0.89%) Azure SQL Database
15 19 (0.89%) Big Data
15 19 (0.89%) MySQL
16 17 (0.80%) NoSQL
17 14 (0.66%) Amazon Redshift
17 14 (0.66%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 131 (6.16%) JIRA
2 107 (5.04%) Git
3 55 (2.59%) Jenkins
4 49 (2.31%) GitLab
5 38 (1.79%) Rational DOORS
6 29 (1.36%) Selenium
7 24 (1.13%) Postman
8 22 (1.04%) Snyk
9 21 (0.99%) Cypress.io
10 18 (0.85%) LabVIEW
11 16 (0.75%) JMeter
12 15 (0.71%) Cucumber
13 12 (0.56%) Burp Suite
14 11 (0.52%) REST Assured
15 10 (0.47%) Gatling
15 10 (0.47%) TeamCity
16 9 (0.42%) Zephyr
17 8 (0.38%) Rational Rhapsody
18 7 (0.33%) LoadRunner
18 7 (0.33%) MLflow
General
1 711 (33.46%) Social Skills
2 564 (26.54%) Finance
3 508 (23.91%) Analytical Skills
4 206 (9.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 203 (9.55%) Aerospace
6 188 (8.85%) Manufacturing
7 180 (8.47%) Electronics
8 125 (5.88%) Law
9 102 (4.80%) Banking
10 86 (4.05%) Public Sector
11 80 (3.76%) Retail
12 78 (3.67%) Marketing
13 74 (3.48%) Pharmaceutical
14 72 (3.39%) Organisational Skills
15 61 (2.87%) Automotive
16 59 (2.78%) Legal
17 52 (2.45%) Telecoms
18 46 (2.16%) Games
19 44 (2.07%) Influencing Skills
20 41 (1.93%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 387 (18.21%) Senior
2 263 (12.38%) Analyst
3 230 (10.82%) Systems Engineer
4 193 (9.08%) Lead
5 127 (5.98%) Test Engineer
6 117 (5.51%) Architect
7 102 (4.80%) Data Engineer
8 94 (4.42%) Developer
9 81 (3.81%) Consultant
10 80 (3.76%) Business Analyst
11 77 (3.62%) Software Engineer
12 68 (3.20%) Principal Engineer
13 67 (3.15%) Data Analyst
14 63 (2.96%) Validation Engineer
15 50 (2.35%) Embedded Engineer
16 49 (2.31%) Support Engineer
17 47 (2.21%) Data Scientist
17 47 (2.21%) Electronics Engineer
18 44 (2.07%) Network Engineer
18 44 (2.07%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 73 (3.44%) Terraform
2 51 (2.40%) RESTful
3 49 (2.31%) REST
4 48 (2.26%) Kafka
5 40 (1.88%) Node.js
6 34 (1.60%) JSON
7 32 (1.51%) .NET
7 32 (1.51%) Playwright
8 31 (1.46%) XML
9 29 (1.36%) PySpark
10 27 (1.27%) LDAP
10 27 (1.27%) Middleware
11 23 (1.08%) CSS
12 22 (1.04%) HTML
12 22 (1.04%) React
13 21 (0.99%) FastAPI
13 21 (0.99%) ModSecurity
14 20 (0.94%) Swagger
15 19 (0.89%) OAuth
15 19 (0.89%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 154 (7.25%) Cloud Native
2 125 (5.88%) Onboarding
3 115 (5.41%) Management Information System
4 81 (3.81%) Product Ownership
5 75 (3.53%) Data Centre
6 61 (2.87%) Embedded Systems
7 59 (2.78%) Data Structures
8 57 (2.68%) Enterprise Software
9 56 (2.64%) Driving Licence
10 55 (2.59%) Distributed Systems
11 53 (2.49%) Algorithms
12 48 (2.26%) Low-Code
13 42 (1.98%) AI Agents
14 41 (1.93%) Life Science
15 39 (1.84%) Analytical Mindset
15 39 (1.84%) Robotics
16 37 (1.74%) Legacy Systems
17 35 (1.65%) IoT
17 35 (1.65%) Video\Live Streaming
18 31 (1.46%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 128 (6.02%) Linux
2 92 (4.33%) Windows
3 35 (1.65%) Windows Server
4 21 (0.99%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 20 (0.94%) Unix
6 10 (0.47%) Android
7 9 (0.42%) Embedded Linux
8 6 (0.28%) FreeRTOS
8 6 (0.28%) Mac OS
9 5 (0.24%) Kali Linux
10 4 (0.19%) Mac OS X
11 3 (0.14%) Apple iOS
12 2 (0.094%) Robot Operating System
12 2 (0.094%) ThreadX
12 2 (0.094%) VMS
12 2 (0.094%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.047%) AIX
13 1 (0.047%) OpenWrt
Processes & Methodologies
1 541 (25.46%) Problem-Solving
2 512 (24.09%) Continuous Improvement
3 429 (20.19%) Agile
4 378 (17.79%) AI
5 329 (15.48%) Verification and Validation
6 305 (14.35%) CI/CD
7 278 (13.08%) Test Automation
8 273 (12.85%) Stakeholder Management
9 252 (11.86%) Analytics
10 250 (11.76%) Migration
11 243 (11.44%) Mentoring
12 225 (10.59%) Decision-Making
13 221 (10.40%) Software Engineering
14 205 (9.65%) DevOps
15 188 (8.85%) Machine Learning
16 185 (8.71%) Data Analysis
16 185 (8.71%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 184 (8.66%) Business Intelligence
18 173 (8.14%) Roadmaps
19 165 (7.76%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 468 (22.02%) Python
2 386 (18.16%) SQL
3 98 (4.61%) Java
4 89 (4.19%) C++
5 81 (3.81%) C
6 64 (3.01%) JavaScript
7 55 (2.59%) Go
8 54 (2.54%) C#
8 54 (2.54%) MATLAB
9 31 (1.46%) Bash
10 29 (1.36%) PowerShell
11 28 (1.32%) Embedded C
12 22 (1.04%) Scala
12 22 (1.04%) TypeScript
13 19 (0.89%) R
14 18 (0.85%) Embedded C++
15 12 (0.56%) T-SQL
16 10 (0.47%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 9 (0.42%) ABAP
17 9 (0.42%) Apex Code
Qualifications
1 465 (21.88%) Degree
2 417 (19.62%) Security Cleared
3 283 (13.32%) SC Cleared
4 130 (6.12%) BPSS Clearance
5 108 (5.08%) DV Cleared
6 86 (4.05%) Master's Degree
7 47 (2.21%) Computer Science Degree
8 38 (1.79%) PhD
9 36 (1.69%) Chartered Engineer
9 36 (1.69%) CISSP
10 31 (1.46%) HNC
11 30 (1.41%) PMI Certification
12 29 (1.36%) HND
13 28 (1.32%) CISM
14 26 (1.22%) ACCA
15 25 (1.18%) CIMA
16 24 (1.13%) AWS Certification
17 23 (1.08%) Azure Certification
18 19 (0.89%) ISTQB
19 18 (0.85%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 308 (14.49%) Data Quality
2 290 (13.65%) QA
3 80 (3.76%) Accessibility
4 52 (2.45%) GDPR
5 37 (1.74%) GRC
6 26 (1.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 23 (1.08%) IEC 61508
7 23 (1.08%) NIST
8 21 (0.99%) GxP
8 21 (0.99%) SLA
9 18 (0.85%) PMO
10 17 (0.80%) WCAG
11 15 (0.71%) ISO 26262
12 14 (0.66%) GMP
12 14 (0.66%) ISO 9001
13 13 (0.61%) GAAP
13 13 (0.61%) IFRS
14 11 (0.52%) ISO/IEC 15288
14 11 (0.52%) SOC 2
15 9 (0.42%) Def Stans
System Software
1 81 (3.81%) Firmware
2 80 (3.76%) Docker
3 47 (2.21%) Active Directory
4 36 (1.69%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.32%) Virtual Machines
6 21 (0.99%) vSphere
7 12 (0.56%) VMware Infrastructure
8 5 (0.24%) KVM
9 4 (0.19%) Hyper-V
10 2 (0.094%) iptables
10 2 (0.094%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.094%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.047%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.047%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 80 (3.76%) Kubernetes
2 45 (2.12%) Grafana
3 27 (1.27%) Ansible
3 27 (1.27%) Functional Safety
4 15 (0.71%) Prometheus
4 15 (0.71%) Single Sign-On
5 10 (0.47%) Cilium
6 8 (0.38%) Puppet
7 7 (0.33%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 7 (0.33%) Kibana
7 7 (0.33%) Microsoft Intune
8 6 (0.28%) Nessus
8 6 (0.28%) Nmap
9 5 (0.24%) FortiGate
9 5 (0.24%) SCCM
9 5 (0.24%) WMI
10 4 (0.19%) BMC PATROL
10 4 (0.19%) HP Fortify
10 4 (0.19%) Kubeflow
11 3 (0.14%) Argo
Vendors
1 270 (12.71%) Microsoft
2 117 (5.51%) SAP
3 95 (4.47%) Oracle
4 59 (2.78%) Salesforce
5 56 (2.64%) Databricks
6 49 (2.31%) Cisco
6 49 (2.31%) ServiceNow
7 43 (2.02%) Google
8 31 (1.46%) EMC
8 31 (1.46%) VMware
9 29 (1.36%) CrowdStrike
10 28 (1.32%) Palo Alto
11 25 (1.18%) Red Hat
12 22 (1.04%) Tenable
13 18 (0.85%) IBM
14 17 (0.80%) Splunk
15 15 (0.71%) McAfee
16 14 (0.66%) Foundry
16 14 (0.66%) Workday
17 13 (0.61%) Siemens