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 9 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 119 80 206
Rank change year-on-year -39 +126 -21
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,485 1,632 1,423
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.62% 3.69% 1.35%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.22% 3.98% 1.63%
Number of salaries quoted 857 441 773
10th Percentile £36,250 £40,000 £35,500
25th Percentile £42,750 £47,000 £42,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% +4.55% -11.41%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £72,433
90th Percentile £90,000 £92,500 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -4.55% +4.76% -4.62%

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 66,949 41,023 87,141
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 72.83% 92.72% 82.59%
Number of salaries quoted 45,661 21,815 61,905
10th Percentile £30,000 £29,000 £29,500
25th Percentile £41,250 £40,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -9.54%
75th Percentile £78,750 £77,500 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,055 £50,000
% change year-on-year +4.89% +0.11% -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 9 June 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 9 June 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 -42 1,341 £56,500 -0.88% 902
UK excluding London -56 991 £52,500 -4.55% 736
Work from Home +127 475 £55,000 -9.09% 443
London +59 382 £76,250 +1.67% 276
South East -36 301 £55,000 - 227
North of England +74 273 £55,000 +15.35% 151
North West +72 172 £55,000 +15.35% 84
Midlands -72 162 £40,000 -30.43% 123
East of England -71 107 £60,000 +5.26% 89
West Midlands -7 98 £44,000 -32.31% 72
South West -42 94 £52,500 -4.55% 108
East Midlands -80 62 £30,000 -42.31% 51
Yorkshire -9 61 £50,000 +5.26% 50
North East -9 40 £55,000 -6.38% 19
Scotland -10 38 £42,250 -27.20% 32
Wales -31 15 £45,750 -23.75% 13
Northern Ireland -37 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 50 (3.37%) Apache Airflow
2 40 (2.69%) Apache Spark
3 39 (2.63%) Apache
4 24 (1.62%) Confluence
5 21 (1.41%) ArcGIS
6 16 (1.08%) SharePoint
7 15 (1.01%) Microsoft Exchange
8 10 (0.67%) Jupyter
9 8 (0.54%) Appian
10 6 (0.40%) CMS
10 6 (0.40%) SAS
11 5 (0.34%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 5 (0.34%) Kinematics
12 3 (0.20%) Artix
13 2 (0.13%) IIS
14 1 (0.067%) Anypoint
14 1 (0.067%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 91 (6.13%) Microsoft Excel
2 51 (3.43%) Microsoft Office
3 20 (1.35%) Microsoft Project
3 20 (1.35%) MS Visio
4 16 (1.08%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 15 (1.01%) Simulink
6 8 (0.54%) SOLIDWORKS
6 8 (0.54%) Spreadsheet
7 5 (0.34%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 5 (0.34%) AutoCAD
8 4 (0.27%) Adobe XD
8 4 (0.27%) CANalyzer
8 4 (0.27%) Sketch
9 3 (0.20%) Autodesk Inventor
9 3 (0.20%) Fusion 360
9 3 (0.20%) Productboard
9 3 (0.20%) Solid Edge
9 3 (0.20%) Stateflow
10 2 (0.13%) CATIA
11 1 (0.067%) Trello
Business Applications
1 41 (2.76%) SAP S/4HANA
2 31 (2.09%) Dynamics CRM
3 10 (0.67%) SAP ERP
4 9 (0.61%) SAP MDG
5 7 (0.47%) Oracle EBS
5 7 (0.47%) Oracle ERP
6 6 (0.40%) Elite 3E
7 5 (0.34%) iTrent
7 5 (0.34%) Loan IQ
7 5 (0.34%) Oracle Financials
7 5 (0.34%) SAP MDG-BP
8 3 (0.20%) Oracle Applications
9 2 (0.13%) Markit EDM
9 2 (0.13%) Oracle Payables
9 2 (0.13%) Oracle Receivables
9 2 (0.13%) SAP EWM
9 2 (0.13%) SAP FSCM
9 2 (0.13%) SAP MM
9 2 (0.13%) SAP PSCD
9 2 (0.13%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 215 (14.48%) Azure
2 177 (11.92%) AWS
3 133 (8.96%) Power Platform
4 72 (4.85%) GCP
5 63 (4.24%) SaaS
6 54 (3.64%) Azure DevOps
7 41 (2.76%) GitHub
8 39 (2.63%) Microsoft 365
8 39 (2.63%) Serverless
9 36 (2.42%) Amazon S3
10 30 (2.02%) Azure Data Factory
10 30 (2.02%) Dynamics 365
11 27 (1.82%) Snowflake
12 23 (1.55%) Entra ID
13 20 (1.35%) dbt
13 20 (1.35%) Power Automate
14 17 (1.14%) GitHub Actions
15 16 (1.08%) OpenShift
16 13 (0.88%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 13 (0.88%) Amazon EC2
Communications & Networking
1 65 (4.38%) Broadband
2 43 (2.90%) Firewall
3 30 (2.02%) DNS
4 23 (1.55%) CHAP
4 23 (1.55%) WAN
5 22 (1.48%) Wireless
6 19 (1.28%) TCP/IP
7 17 (1.14%) SD-WAN
8 16 (1.08%) 5G
9 14 (0.94%) Network Security
10 13 (0.88%) VPN
11 11 (0.74%) MQTT
11 11 (0.74%) Wi-Fi
12 10 (0.67%) Wireshark
13 9 (0.61%) HTTP
13 9 (0.61%) LAN
13 9 (0.61%) NAS
14 8 (0.54%) Ethernet
15 7 (0.47%) ATM
15 7 (0.47%) Multicast
Database & Business Intelligence
1 126 (8.48%) Power BI
2 54 (3.64%) Tableau
3 50 (3.37%) PostgreSQL
4 48 (3.23%) SQL Server
5 43 (2.90%) Data Warehouse
6 31 (2.09%) MongoDB
7 30 (2.02%) Metadata
7 30 (2.02%) Relational Database
8 25 (1.68%) QGIS
9 23 (1.55%) BigQuery
9 23 (1.55%) Data Lake
9 23 (1.55%) GIS
10 21 (1.41%) Azure SQL Database
10 21 (1.41%) Semantic Layer
11 20 (1.35%) Spatial Data
12 18 (1.21%) Spark SQL
13 17 (1.14%) Oracle Database
14 15 (1.01%) MySQL
15 14 (0.94%) DynamoDB
15 14 (0.94%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 70 (4.71%) Git
2 69 (4.65%) JIRA
3 46 (3.10%) Jenkins
4 35 (2.36%) GitLab
5 33 (2.22%) Rational DOORS
6 22 (1.48%) Snyk
7 16 (1.08%) LabVIEW
8 15 (1.01%) Postman
8 15 (1.01%) Selenium
9 13 (0.88%) IBM UrbanCode
10 12 (0.81%) MLflow
11 11 (0.74%) Cucumber
12 10 (0.67%) Cypress.io
12 10 (0.67%) Eclipse
12 10 (0.67%) JMeter
13 9 (0.61%) TeamCity
14 6 (0.40%) Rational Rhapsody
14 6 (0.40%) REST Assured
14 6 (0.40%) Robot Framework
15 5 (0.34%) TestRail
General
1 461 (31.04%) Social Skills
2 399 (26.87%) Finance
3 317 (21.35%) Analytical Skills
4 112 (7.54%) Aerospace
5 111 (7.47%) Manufacturing
6 105 (7.07%) Electronics
7 94 (6.33%) Banking
8 88 (5.93%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 60 (4.04%) Legal
10 57 (3.84%) Public Sector
11 54 (3.64%) Retail
12 50 (3.37%) Law
13 45 (3.03%) Marketing
14 44 (2.96%) Pharmaceutical
15 38 (2.56%) Organisational Skills
16 36 (2.42%) Games
17 34 (2.29%) Financial Institution
18 32 (2.15%) Presentation Skills
19 31 (2.09%) Automotive
20 23 (1.55%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 252 (16.97%) Senior
2 233 (15.69%) Analyst
3 146 (9.83%) Systems Engineer
4 104 (7.00%) Lead
5 99 (6.67%) Test Engineer
6 98 (6.60%) Architect
7 88 (5.93%) Validation Engineer
8 84 (5.66%) Business Analyst
9 69 (4.65%) Consultant
9 69 (4.65%) Data Engineer
10 68 (4.58%) Developer
11 62 (4.18%) Data Analyst
12 47 (3.16%) Integration Engineer
12 47 (3.16%) Principal Engineer
13 40 (2.69%) Embedded Engineer
14 38 (2.56%) IT Manager
15 37 (2.49%) Junior
15 37 (2.49%) Senior Systems Engineer
16 34 (2.29%) Security Architect
16 34 (2.29%) Verification Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (2.96%) REST
2 39 (2.63%) RESTful
3 35 (2.36%) PyTorch
4 31 (2.09%) JSON
4 31 (2.09%) PySpark
5 28 (1.89%) Pandas
6 27 (1.82%) pytest
7 26 (1.75%) Kafka
7 26 (1.75%) Middleware
8 24 (1.62%) Node.js
9 23 (1.55%) .NET
10 21 (1.41%) XML
11 19 (1.28%) Playwright
12 18 (1.21%) CSS
12 18 (1.21%) Swagger
13 16 (1.08%) OAuth
13 16 (1.08%) Regular Expression
13 16 (1.08%) XMPP
14 15 (1.01%) TensorFlow
15 14 (0.94%) React
Miscellaneous
1 80 (5.39%) Cloud Native
2 79 (5.32%) Management Information System
3 70 (4.71%) Onboarding
4 57 (3.84%) Data Structures
5 48 (3.23%) Algorithms
5 48 (3.23%) Low-Code
6 39 (2.63%) Product Ownership
7 35 (2.36%) Embedded Systems
8 33 (2.22%) Driving Licence
8 33 (2.22%) Self-Motivation
9 32 (2.15%) Legacy Systems
10 31 (2.09%) Analytical Mindset
10 31 (2.09%) Data Centre
11 30 (2.02%) Enterprise Software
12 29 (1.95%) Distributed Systems
12 29 (1.95%) Life Science
13 28 (1.89%) Video\Live Streaming
14 23 (1.55%) FPGA
15 21 (1.41%) Robotics
16 17 (1.14%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 86 (5.79%) Linux
2 64 (4.31%) Windows
3 24 (1.62%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 24 (1.62%) Unix
3 24 (1.62%) Windows Server
4 10 (0.67%) Android
5 4 (0.27%) FreeRTOS
5 4 (0.27%) Mac OS X
6 3 (0.20%) AIX
6 3 (0.20%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.20%) CentOS
6 3 (0.20%) Kali Linux
7 2 (0.13%) Robot Operating System
7 2 (0.13%) ThreadX
8 1 (0.067%) Embedded Linux
8 1 (0.067%) Mac OS
8 1 (0.067%) Rocky
8 1 (0.067%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.067%) VxWorks
8 1 (0.067%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 326 (21.95%) Problem-Solving
2 309 (20.81%) Agile
3 298 (20.07%) Continuous Improvement
4 256 (17.24%) AI
5 232 (15.62%) CI/CD
6 216 (14.55%) Analytics
7 212 (14.28%) Test Automation
8 196 (13.20%) Verification and Validation
9 163 (10.98%) Data Validation
10 162 (10.91%) Migration
11 153 (10.30%) Business Intelligence
12 152 (10.24%) Data Modelling
12 152 (10.24%) DevOps
13 148 (9.97%) Decision-Making
14 145 (9.76%) Stakeholder Management
15 144 (9.70%) Machine Learning
16 143 (9.63%) Mentoring
17 140 (9.43%) Software Engineering
17 140 (9.43%) Stakeholder Engagement
18 135 (9.09%) Data Governance
Programming Languages
1 365 (24.58%) Python
2 296 (19.93%) SQL
3 65 (4.38%) Java
4 59 (3.97%) C++
5 57 (3.84%) C
6 46 (3.10%) Go
7 38 (2.56%) C#
8 33 (2.22%) JavaScript
9 30 (2.02%) PowerShell
10 29 (1.95%) Bash
11 27 (1.82%) MATLAB
12 19 (1.28%) T-SQL
13 18 (1.21%) Embedded C
14 14 (0.94%) Embedded C++
15 13 (0.88%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 13 (0.88%) TypeScript
16 10 (0.67%) ABAP
16 10 (0.67%) Scala
17 9 (0.61%) VBA
18 8 (0.54%) R
Qualifications
1 306 (20.61%) Degree
2 172 (11.58%) Security Cleared
3 116 (7.81%) BPSS Clearance
4 79 (5.32%) SC Cleared
5 70 (4.71%) Master's Degree
6 44 (2.96%) DV Cleared
7 43 (2.90%) Computer Science Degree
8 38 (2.56%) Chartered Engineer
9 33 (2.22%) CISA
9 33 (2.22%) CISSP
10 32 (2.15%) SANS
11 30 (2.02%) CISM
12 27 (1.82%) HNC
13 24 (1.62%) HND
14 23 (1.55%) CGEIT
14 23 (1.55%) FFIEC
14 23 (1.55%) PMI Certification
15 20 (1.35%) PMP
16 16 (1.08%) ACCA
16 16 (1.08%) CIMA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 229 (15.42%) Data Quality
2 161 (10.84%) QA
3 62 (4.18%) Accessibility
4 60 (4.04%) GDPR
5 43 (2.90%) GRC
6 27 (1.82%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 27 (1.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 25 (1.68%) NIST
8 23 (1.55%) COBIT
9 20 (1.35%) IEC 61508
10 19 (1.28%) IFRS
11 16 (1.08%) ISO 9001
11 16 (1.08%) SLA
12 15 (1.01%) PMO
13 12 (0.81%) GAAP
14 11 (0.74%) GMP
14 11 (0.74%) WCAG
15 10 (0.67%) ISO 13485
15 10 (0.67%) SOC 2
16 9 (0.61%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 71 (4.78%) Docker
2 44 (2.96%) Firmware
3 38 (2.56%) Active Directory
4 22 (1.48%) Virtual Machines
5 18 (1.21%) vSphere
6 15 (1.01%) Embedded Firmware
7 14 (0.94%) VMware Infrastructure
8 6 (0.40%) KVM
9 5 (0.34%) Hyper-V
10 2 (0.13%) Terminal Services
10 2 (0.13%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.067%) OpenAM
11 1 (0.067%) OpenDJ
11 1 (0.067%) OpenIDM
Systems Management
1 73 (4.92%) Kubernetes
2 62 (4.18%) Terraform
3 30 (2.02%) Grafana
4 22 (1.48%) Ansible
5 19 (1.28%) Functional Safety
6 16 (1.08%) Prometheus
7 11 (0.74%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 10 (0.67%) SCCM
9 9 (0.61%) Cilium
9 9 (0.61%) Puppet
10 6 (0.40%) Kibana
10 6 (0.40%) Microsoft Intune
11 3 (0.20%) Argo
11 3 (0.20%) FortiGate
11 3 (0.20%) HP Fortify
11 3 (0.20%) Rancher
11 3 (0.20%) yum
12 2 (0.13%) BMC PATROL
12 2 (0.13%) Computer Incident Response Team
13 1 (0.067%) SQL Sentry
Vendors
1 193 (13.00%) Microsoft
2 89 (5.99%) Oracle
2 89 (5.99%) SAP
3 52 (3.50%) Salesforce
4 35 (2.36%) Databricks
5 33 (2.22%) Red Hat
6 31 (2.09%) VMware
7 30 (2.02%) ServiceNow
8 28 (1.89%) CrowdStrike
9 23 (1.55%) Palo Alto
10 22 (1.48%) Adobe
10 22 (1.48%) Google
10 22 (1.48%) Tenable
11 21 (1.41%) Cisco
12 15 (1.01%) Foundry
13 14 (0.94%) Citrix
13 14 (0.94%) OpenAI
14 12 (0.81%) McAfee
15 11 (0.74%) IBM
15 11 (0.74%) Splunk