Validation Job Trends

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 21 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 154 154 194
Rank change year-on-year 0 +40 -50
Permanent jobs citing Validation 927 962 1,046
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.51% 1.82% 1.66%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.87% 2.00% 1.86%
Number of salaries quoted 496 344 593
10th Percentile £36,250 £37,500 £36,875
25th Percentile £42,215 £46,250 £46,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -15.38%
75th Percentile £77,500 £71,250 £73,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £100,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £53,250 £52,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year +1.43% - -4.55%

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 49,597 48,194 56,134
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 80.59% 90.99% 89.24%
Number of salaries quoted 29,262 23,336 43,211
10th Percentile £28,500 £35,000 £30,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -8.00%
75th Percentile £75,246 £80,000 £77,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £96,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -9.09%

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 21 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Validation in the UK

Validation
Top 17 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 21 January 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 +6 836 £60,000 +9.09% 1,073
UK excluding London +2 591 £53,250 +1.43% 1,014
London +35 277 £75,000 +15.38% 179
Work from Home +83 244 £60,000 +7.14% 459
South East +20 189 £49,000 -14.78% 322
North of England -9 126 £55,000 +19.01% 175
Midlands +13 85 £38,750 -25.48% 148
North West -2 79 £54,500 +14.30% 68
East of England +2 75 £60,000 +9.09% 168
South West +27 71 £55,000 +4.56% 158
West Midlands +4 54 £37,500 -28.57% 74
Yorkshire -10 37 £61,250 +51.33% 81
Scotland -16 35 £42,000 -27.63% 38
East Midlands +1 31 £41,750 -16.50% 73
North East -1 10 £36,000 -13.25% 27
Wales +7 7 £65,000 +32.37% 35
Northern Ireland -16 3 - - 15

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 24 (2.59%) Confluence
2 18 (1.94%) Apache Airflow
3 12 (1.29%) Apache Spark
4 11 (1.19%) SharePoint
5 10 (1.08%) Appian
6 9 (0.97%) CMS
7 7 (0.76%) Apache
8 5 (0.54%) Microsoft Exchange
8 5 (0.54%) SugarCRM
9 4 (0.43%) Headless CMS
10 3 (0.32%) Jupyter
10 3 (0.32%) SAS
11 2 (0.22%) Kinematics
11 2 (0.22%) WordPress
12 1 (0.11%) Anypoint
12 1 (0.11%) Apache Superset
12 1 (0.11%) ArcGIS
12 1 (0.11%) FileNet
Applications
1 65 (7.01%) Microsoft Excel
2 63 (6.80%) Microsoft Office
3 14 (1.51%) MS Visio
4 13 (1.40%) Simulink
5 8 (0.86%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 7 (0.76%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 4 (0.43%) Fusion 360
7 4 (0.43%) Mathcad
8 3 (0.32%) Revit
9 2 (0.22%) Adobe After Effects
9 2 (0.22%) Adobe Captivate
9 2 (0.22%) Adobe Illustrator
9 2 (0.22%) Adobe Premiere
9 2 (0.22%) AutoCAD
9 2 (0.22%) Elementor
9 2 (0.22%) Oracle Smart View
9 2 (0.22%) Photoshop
9 2 (0.22%) Weka
10 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Project
10 1 (0.11%) Navisworks
Business Applications
1 19 (2.05%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (1.08%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (0.76%) Workday HCM
4 5 (0.54%) Oracle ERP
5 4 (0.43%) Markit EDM
5 4 (0.43%) SAP BPC
6 3 (0.32%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 3 (0.32%) SAP CX
7 2 (0.22%) Aladdin
7 2 (0.22%) Endur
7 2 (0.22%) IBM Planning Analytics
7 2 (0.22%) NetSuite
7 2 (0.22%) Oracle Assets
7 2 (0.22%) Oracle Cash Management
7 2 (0.22%) Oracle General Ledger
7 2 (0.22%) Oracle Payables
7 2 (0.22%) Oracle Receivables
7 2 (0.22%) Primavera
7 2 (0.22%) SAP ERP
8 1 (0.11%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 139 (14.99%) Azure
2 73 (7.87%) Power Platform
3 69 (7.44%) AWS
4 43 (4.64%) SaaS
5 40 (4.31%) Azure DevOps
6 30 (3.24%) GCP
7 25 (2.70%) Snowflake
8 21 (2.27%) Azure Data Factory
9 20 (2.16%) dbt
9 20 (2.16%) Dynamics 365
10 18 (1.94%) GitHub
11 17 (1.83%) Power Automate
12 13 (1.40%) Microsoft 365
13 12 (1.29%) Datadog
14 11 (1.19%) Amazon S3
14 11 (1.19%) Entra ID
14 11 (1.19%) Figma
15 10 (1.08%) Anthropic Claude
15 10 (1.08%) Azure AI
16 8 (0.86%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 15 (1.62%) CHAP
2 14 (1.51%) WAN
3 13 (1.40%) Firewall
4 12 (1.29%) LAN
5 11 (1.19%) 5G
5 11 (1.19%) SD-WAN
6 10 (1.08%) DNS
7 8 (0.86%) HTTP
7 8 (0.86%) MQTT
8 7 (0.76%) Modbus
8 7 (0.76%) TCP/IP
8 7 (0.76%) Wireless
9 6 (0.65%) Ethernet VPN
10 5 (0.54%) BGP
10 5 (0.54%) Cisco IOS
10 5 (0.54%) OSPF
10 5 (0.54%) SMTP
10 5 (0.54%) VoIP
10 5 (0.54%) WAAS
11 4 (0.43%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 70 (7.55%) Power BI
2 34 (3.67%) Data Warehouse
3 30 (3.24%) SQL Server
4 26 (2.80%) Metadata
5 20 (2.16%) Relational Database
5 20 (2.16%) Tableau
6 14 (1.51%) Oracle Reports
7 11 (1.19%) BigQuery
8 10 (1.08%) Data Lake
8 10 (1.08%) Pinecone
8 10 (1.08%) Spotfire
9 8 (0.86%) Amazon Redshift
9 8 (0.86%) Big Data
10 7 (0.76%) Azure SQL Database
10 7 (0.76%) Looker
10 7 (0.76%) PostgreSQL
11 6 (0.65%) GIS
11 6 (0.65%) NoSQL
12 5 (0.54%) SAP HANA
12 5 (0.54%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 73 (7.87%) JIRA
2 49 (5.29%) Rational DOORS
3 46 (4.96%) Git
4 24 (2.59%) Postman
5 20 (2.16%) Jenkins
6 13 (1.40%) Cucumber
6 13 (1.40%) LabVIEW
6 13 (1.40%) Selenium
6 13 (1.40%) TestRail
7 12 (1.29%) JMeter
7 12 (1.29%) MLflow
8 10 (1.08%) GitLab
9 9 (0.97%) SoapUI
10 8 (0.86%) Eclipse
11 7 (0.76%) LoadRunner
11 7 (0.76%) Locust
12 6 (0.65%) Zephyr
13 5 (0.54%) Fiddler
13 5 (0.54%) Robot Framework
13 5 (0.54%) SpecFlow
General
1 336 (36.25%) Social Skills
2 268 (28.91%) Finance
3 200 (21.57%) Analytical Skills
4 61 (6.58%) Banking
5 60 (6.47%) Electronics
6 46 (4.96%) Manufacturing
7 44 (4.75%) Presentation Skills
8 43 (4.64%) Marketing
9 40 (4.31%) Financial Institution
10 38 (4.10%) Aerospace
11 35 (3.78%) Law
12 34 (3.67%) Public Sector
13 31 (3.34%) Documentation Skills
13 31 (3.34%) Organisational Skills
13 31 (3.34%) Telecoms
14 27 (2.91%) Legal
14 27 (2.91%) Retail
15 25 (2.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 22 (2.37%) Pharmaceutical
17 17 (1.83%) Avionics
Job Titles
1 146 (15.75%) Analyst
2 133 (14.35%) Senior
3 100 (10.79%) Systems Engineer
4 72 (7.77%) Lead
5 54 (5.83%) Architect
6 53 (5.72%) Business Analyst
7 48 (5.18%) Test Engineer
8 40 (4.31%) Validation Engineer
9 34 (3.67%) Developer
9 34 (3.67%) Integration Engineer
9 34 (3.67%) Junior
10 32 (3.45%) Applications Engineer
10 32 (3.45%) Applications Support
10 32 (3.45%) Principal Engineer
11 31 (3.34%) Data Analyst
11 31 (3.34%) Data Engineer
12 28 (3.02%) Support Engineer
13 26 (2.80%) Applications Support Engineer
13 26 (2.80%) Solutions Architect
14 25 (2.70%) Systems Integration Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (5.18%) REST
2 30 (3.24%) Middleware
3 25 (2.70%) JSON
3 25 (2.70%) Pandas
4 24 (2.59%) pytest
5 20 (2.16%) scikit-learn
6 19 (2.05%) PyTorch
6 19 (2.05%) XML
7 18 (1.94%) TensorFlow
8 16 (1.73%) NumPy
9 15 (1.62%) OAuth
10 14 (1.51%) CSS
10 14 (1.51%) FastAPI
10 14 (1.51%) JWT
10 14 (1.51%) Swagger
10 14 (1.51%) Web Services
11 13 (1.40%) Flask
11 13 (1.40%) HTML
11 13 (1.40%) React
12 11 (1.19%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 61 (6.58%) Management Information System
2 37 (3.99%) Onboarding
3 35 (3.78%) Product Ownership
4 28 (3.02%) Self-Motivation
5 21 (2.27%) Legacy Systems
5 21 (2.27%) Life Science
6 19 (2.05%) Low-Code
7 18 (1.94%) Algorithms
8 17 (1.83%) Data Structures
9 15 (1.62%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 14 (1.51%) SCADA
11 13 (1.40%) Data Centre
12 12 (1.29%) Analytical Mindset
12 12 (1.29%) Embedded Systems
12 12 (1.29%) Enterprise Software
13 11 (1.19%) Cloud Native
13 11 (1.19%) SWIFT Messaging Network
14 10 (1.08%) Self-Driving Car
15 9 (0.97%) Blockchain
15 9 (0.97%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 54 (5.83%) Windows
2 40 (4.31%) Linux
3 12 (1.29%) Android
3 12 (1.29%) Windows Server
4 11 (1.19%) Unix
5 4 (0.43%) Apple iOS
5 4 (0.43%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 4 (0.43%) Windows 10
6 3 (0.32%) CentOS
7 2 (0.22%) AIX
7 2 (0.22%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.22%) Robot Operating System
7 2 (0.22%) VxWorks
8 1 (0.11%) FreeRTOS
8 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 243 (26.21%) Agile
2 220 (23.73%) Problem-Solving
3 155 (16.72%) Verification and Validation
4 134 (14.46%) Continuous Improvement
5 117 (12.62%) Analytics
5 117 (12.62%) Data Validation
6 115 (12.41%) Migration
7 112 (12.08%) Test Automation
8 106 (11.43%) DevOps
8 106 (11.43%) Systems Engineering
9 103 (11.11%) CI/CD
10 91 (9.82%) ETL
11 90 (9.71%) Business Intelligence
12 87 (9.39%) Mentoring
13 82 (8.85%) Decision-Making
14 81 (8.74%) AI
14 81 (8.74%) Software Engineering
15 80 (8.63%) Data Analysis
16 79 (8.52%) Stakeholder Management
17 78 (8.41%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 195 (21.04%) SQL
2 173 (18.66%) Python
3 37 (3.99%) C
4 35 (3.78%) C++
5 33 (3.56%) Java
6 29 (3.13%) MATLAB
6 29 (3.13%) PowerShell
7 23 (2.48%) JavaScript
8 19 (2.05%) Bash
9 14 (1.51%) C#
10 12 (1.29%) TypeScript
11 9 (0.97%) R
12 6 (0.65%) Bicep
12 6 (0.65%) PL/SQL
12 6 (0.65%) T-SQL
13 5 (0.54%) Apex Code
13 5 (0.54%) PHP
14 4 (0.43%) Go
14 4 (0.43%) Shell Script
15 3 (0.32%) VB
Qualifications
1 263 (28.37%) Degree
2 131 (14.13%) Security Cleared
3 113 (12.19%) BPSS Clearance
4 57 (6.15%) SC Cleared
5 52 (5.61%) Master's Degree
6 40 (4.31%) Computer Science Degree
7 20 (2.16%) DV Cleared
8 17 (1.83%) CISA
8 17 (1.83%) CISSP
9 16 (1.73%) CGEIT
9 16 (1.73%) Chartered Engineer
9 16 (1.73%) Cisco Certification
9 16 (1.73%) CISM
9 16 (1.73%) FFIEC
9 16 (1.73%) HNC
9 16 (1.73%) ISTQB
9 16 (1.73%) PMI Certification
9 16 (1.73%) PMP
9 16 (1.73%) SANS
10 12 (1.29%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 116 (12.51%) QA
2 101 (10.90%) Data Quality
3 47 (5.07%) ISO/IEC 15288
4 36 (3.88%) GDPR
5 34 (3.67%) SLA
6 33 (3.56%) Accessibility
7 19 (2.05%) NIST
8 17 (1.83%) ISO/IEC 12207
9 16 (1.73%) COBIT
10 12 (1.29%) WCAG
11 11 (1.19%) ISO 20022
11 11 (1.19%) SEPA
12 10 (1.08%) Good Clinical Practice
12 10 (1.08%) GRC
13 9 (0.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
14 8 (0.86%) 21 CFR Part 11
14 8 (0.86%) GxP
15 7 (0.76%) IFRS
15 7 (0.76%) TARGET2
16 6 (0.65%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 50 (5.39%) Docker
2 23 (2.48%) Firmware
3 12 (1.29%) Active Directory
4 5 (0.54%) Embedded Firmware
5 3 (0.32%) VMware Infrastructure
6 2 (0.22%) Ceph
6 2 (0.22%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.22%) Lustre
6 2 (0.22%) Slurm Workload Manager
6 2 (0.22%) vCloud
6 2 (0.22%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.22%) vSphere
7 1 (0.11%) Dovecot
7 1 (0.11%) iptables
7 1 (0.11%) OpenAM
7 1 (0.11%) OpenDJ
7 1 (0.11%) OpenIDM
7 1 (0.11%) pfSense
7 1 (0.11%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.11%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 42 (4.53%) Kubernetes
2 23 (2.48%) Terraform
3 18 (1.94%) Grafana
4 16 (1.73%) Ansible
5 8 (0.86%) Microsoft Intune
5 8 (0.86%) Prometheus
6 7 (0.76%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 5 (0.54%) SCCM
8 4 (0.43%) Argo
8 4 (0.43%) Rancher
8 4 (0.43%) yum
9 2 (0.22%) BMC PATROL
9 2 (0.22%) Docker Swarm
9 2 (0.22%) Functional Safety
9 2 (0.22%) Kubeflow
9 2 (0.22%) Nessus
9 2 (0.22%) Puppet
10 1 (0.11%) Control-M
10 1 (0.11%) Kibana
10 1 (0.11%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 118 (12.73%) Microsoft
2 54 (5.83%) SAP
3 35 (3.78%) Oracle
4 28 (3.02%) Cisco
4 28 (3.02%) Salesforce
5 24 (2.59%) IBM
6 15 (1.62%) Foundry
7 14 (1.51%) Software AG
8 13 (1.40%) OpenAI
9 11 (1.19%) F5
9 11 (1.19%) ServiceNow
10 10 (1.08%) Adobe
10 10 (1.08%) Automation Anywhere
10 10 (1.08%) CheckPoint
10 10 (1.08%) UiPath
11 9 (0.97%) Splunk
11 9 (0.97%) Workday
12 8 (0.86%) Databricks
12 8 (0.86%) Intapp
13 7 (0.76%) Guidewire