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 16 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 92 86 189
Rank change year-on-year -6 +103 -1
Permanent jobs citing Validation 2,020 1,705 1,159
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.89% 3.41% 1.40%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.57% 3.82% 1.73%
Number of salaries quoted 1,168 532 525
10th Percentile £35,000 £38,750 £36,250
25th Percentile £42,500 £41,250 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year - -8.33% -5.51%
75th Percentile £73,750 £71,250 £76,250
90th Percentile £88,750 £90,000 £93,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £52,600 £54,998
% change year-on-year +4.56% -4.36% -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 78,515 44,640 67,074
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.47% 89.25% 80.94%
Number of salaries quoted 54,079 25,322 43,171
10th Percentile £30,975 £28,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £36,750 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.71%
75th Percentile £78,750 £75,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,236 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +15.79% -5.00% -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 16 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 16 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 -12 1,849 £56,000 +1.82% 1,861
UK excluding London -28 1,413 £55,000 +4.56% 1,206
Work from Home +114 600 £56,000 -6.67% 639
London +77 508 £72,500 -6.45% 815
South East -27 417 £56,500 +5.12% 343
North of England +99 390 £55,000 +15.79% 211
North West +97 224 £55,000 +15.35% 122
Midlands -56 202 £44,360 -19.35% 198
South West -13 167 £53,500 +1.71% 184
East of England -71 135 £60,000 +5.26% 160
West Midlands +6 111 £44,360 -22.85% 127
East Midlands -64 90 £44,424 +4.53% 71
North East +4 85 £55,000 +57.14% 43
Yorkshire +14 81 £43,000 +1.18% 49
Scotland +25 71 £55,000 -5.23% 92
Wales -41 30 £47,500 -11.63% 27
Northern Ireland -69 2 - - 14
Isle of Man - 1 £38,500 - 4

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 63 (3.12%) Apache Airflow
2 60 (2.97%) Apache Spark
3 58 (2.87%) Apache
4 35 (1.73%) Confluence
5 32 (1.58%) SharePoint
6 21 (1.04%) Jupyter
7 12 (0.59%) SAS
8 11 (0.54%) ArcGIS
9 10 (0.50%) Microsoft Exchange
10 5 (0.25%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 5 (0.25%) CMS
10 5 (0.25%) WinCC
11 4 (0.20%) Kinematics
12 3 (0.15%) Artix
12 3 (0.15%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 2 (0.099%) Cloud Foundry
13 2 (0.099%) IIS
14 1 (0.050%) FactoryTalk
14 1 (0.050%) Palantir Foundry
14 1 (0.050%) WebSphere
Applications
1 120 (5.94%) Microsoft Excel
2 69 (3.42%) Microsoft Office
3 36 (1.78%) Microsoft Project
4 35 (1.73%) Simulink
5 28 (1.39%) MS Visio
6 16 (0.79%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 16 (0.79%) Spreadsheet
7 14 (0.69%) SOLIDWORKS
8 8 (0.40%) AutoCAD
9 5 (0.25%) LaTeX
9 5 (0.25%) Mathcad
10 4 (0.20%) Adobe XD
10 4 (0.20%) CANalyzer
10 4 (0.20%) Sketch
11 3 (0.15%) Autodesk Inventor
11 3 (0.15%) OrCAD
11 3 (0.15%) Productboard
11 3 (0.15%) Stateflow
12 2 (0.099%) EPLAN
12 2 (0.099%) Revit
Business Applications
1 47 (2.33%) SAP S/4HANA
2 41 (2.03%) Dynamics CRM
3 10 (0.50%) SAP ERP
4 9 (0.45%) iTrent
4 9 (0.45%) Oracle EBS
4 9 (0.45%) SAP MDG
5 8 (0.40%) Elite 3E
5 8 (0.40%) Oracle Applications
6 7 (0.35%) NetSuite
7 6 (0.30%) Teamcenter
8 5 (0.25%) Loan IQ
8 5 (0.25%) Oracle ERP
8 5 (0.25%) SAP MDG-BP
8 5 (0.25%) Workday HCM
9 4 (0.20%) Oracle Financials
9 4 (0.20%) SAP MM
10 2 (0.099%) Oracle Payables
10 2 (0.099%) SAP FI
10 2 (0.099%) SAP FI/CO
10 2 (0.099%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 293 (14.50%) Azure
2 269 (13.32%) AWS
3 157 (7.77%) Power Platform
4 94 (4.65%) GCP
5 79 (3.91%) SaaS
6 66 (3.27%) Azure DevOps
7 61 (3.02%) Microsoft 365
8 58 (2.87%) GitHub
9 52 (2.57%) Serverless
10 49 (2.43%) Amazon S3
11 37 (1.83%) Dynamics 365
12 32 (1.58%) Entra ID
13 30 (1.49%) Microsoft Copilot
14 29 (1.44%) GitHub Actions
15 23 (1.14%) Amazon EMR
16 22 (1.09%) Amazon EC2
16 22 (1.09%) Snowflake
17 20 (0.99%) Cloud Computing
18 19 (0.94%) Microsoft Purview
19 18 (0.89%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 71 (3.51%) Broadband
2 57 (2.82%) Firewall
3 51 (2.52%) DNS
4 35 (1.73%) Wireless
5 33 (1.63%) Network Security
6 31 (1.53%) TCP/IP
6 31 (1.53%) WAN
7 27 (1.34%) VPN
8 21 (1.04%) Ethernet
9 20 (0.99%) LAN
9 20 (0.99%) SD-WAN
10 17 (0.84%) MQTT
10 17 (0.84%) Wi-Fi
11 16 (0.79%) BGP
11 16 (0.79%) Wireshark
12 15 (0.74%) Internet
13 14 (0.69%) OSPF
14 13 (0.64%) HTTP
15 12 (0.59%) VLAN
16 11 (0.54%) NGN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 143 (7.08%) Power BI
2 59 (2.92%) Data Warehouse
3 57 (2.82%) Tableau
4 53 (2.62%) PostgreSQL
5 49 (2.43%) Metadata
5 49 (2.43%) SQL Server
6 47 (2.33%) Data Lake
7 34 (1.68%) MongoDB
8 30 (1.49%) Relational Database
9 27 (1.34%) Amazon Athena
9 27 (1.34%) BigQuery
10 24 (1.19%) DynamoDB
11 23 (1.14%) Semantic Layer
12 21 (1.04%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 20 (0.99%) Azure SQL Database
13 20 (0.99%) Spark SQL
14 19 (0.94%) MySQL
15 18 (0.89%) Big Data
16 17 (0.84%) Oracle Database
17 16 (0.79%) Amazon Redshift
Development Applications
1 128 (6.34%) JIRA
2 113 (5.59%) Git
3 52 (2.57%) Jenkins
4 46 (2.28%) GitLab
5 38 (1.88%) Rational DOORS
6 26 (1.29%) Selenium
7 22 (1.09%) Postman
7 22 (1.09%) Snyk
8 19 (0.94%) Cypress.io
9 17 (0.84%) LabVIEW
10 15 (0.74%) JMeter
11 14 (0.69%) Cucumber
12 13 (0.64%) IBM UrbanCode
13 10 (0.50%) Burp Suite
13 10 (0.50%) REST Assured
13 10 (0.50%) TeamCity
14 8 (0.40%) Rational Rhapsody
14 8 (0.40%) Zephyr
15 7 (0.35%) Hudson
15 7 (0.35%) MLflow
General
1 687 (34.01%) Social Skills
2 564 (27.92%) Finance
3 496 (24.55%) Analytical Skills
4 199 (9.85%) Aerospace
4 199 (9.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 181 (8.96%) Manufacturing
6 166 (8.22%) Electronics
7 114 (5.64%) Banking
8 113 (5.59%) Law
9 84 (4.16%) Public Sector
10 80 (3.96%) Retail
11 77 (3.81%) Marketing
12 71 (3.51%) Organisational Skills
13 70 (3.47%) Pharmaceutical
14 57 (2.82%) Legal
15 56 (2.77%) Automotive
16 48 (2.38%) Telecoms
17 47 (2.33%) Games
18 38 (1.88%) Influencing Skills
19 36 (1.78%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 372 (18.42%) Senior
2 274 (13.56%) Analyst
3 181 (8.96%) Lead
4 179 (8.86%) Systems Engineer
5 121 (5.99%) Test Engineer
6 117 (5.79%) Architect
7 104 (5.15%) Data Engineer
8 94 (4.65%) Consultant
9 88 (4.36%) Developer
10 87 (4.31%) Business Analyst
11 73 (3.61%) Software Engineer
12 66 (3.27%) Data Analyst
12 66 (3.27%) Validation Engineer
13 65 (3.22%) Principal Engineer
14 48 (2.38%) Embedded Engineer
15 47 (2.33%) Data Scientist
16 46 (2.28%) Support Engineer
17 44 (2.18%) Electronics Engineer
18 42 (2.08%) IT Manager
19 40 (1.98%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (2.38%) RESTful
2 45 (2.23%) Kafka
3 41 (2.03%) PySpark
4 40 (1.98%) Node.js
5 39 (1.93%) REST
6 31 (1.53%) .NET
6 31 (1.53%) JSON
7 29 (1.44%) Playwright
7 29 (1.44%) XML
8 27 (1.34%) LDAP
9 25 (1.24%) Middleware
10 23 (1.14%) Pandas
11 22 (1.09%) CSS
11 22 (1.09%) PyTorch
12 21 (1.04%) HTML
12 21 (1.04%) ModSecurity
12 21 (1.04%) React
13 19 (0.94%) OAuth
13 19 (0.94%) Regular Expression
13 19 (0.94%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 150 (7.43%) Cloud Native
2 133 (6.58%) Onboarding
3 111 (5.50%) Management Information System
4 74 (3.66%) Product Ownership
5 72 (3.56%) Data Centre
6 62 (3.07%) Algorithms
7 59 (2.92%) Data Structures
8 57 (2.82%) Embedded Systems
9 55 (2.72%) Enterprise Software
10 52 (2.57%) Driving Licence
11 51 (2.52%) Distributed Systems
12 45 (2.23%) Low-Code
13 38 (1.88%) AI Agents
13 38 (1.88%) Legacy Systems
14 37 (1.83%) Analytical Mindset
14 37 (1.83%) Life Science
15 34 (1.68%) Robotics
15 34 (1.68%) Video\Live Streaming
16 31 (1.53%) IoT
17 29 (1.44%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 123 (6.09%) Linux
2 89 (4.41%) Windows
3 34 (1.68%) Windows Server
4 23 (1.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (0.94%) Unix
6 8 (0.40%) Embedded Linux
7 7 (0.35%) Android
8 6 (0.30%) FreeRTOS
9 5 (0.25%) Mac OS
10 4 (0.20%) Kali Linux
10 4 (0.20%) Mac OS X
11 2 (0.099%) Robot Operating System
11 2 (0.099%) ThreadX
11 2 (0.099%) VMS
11 2 (0.099%) Windows 10
12 1 (0.050%) AIX
12 1 (0.050%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 526 (26.04%) Problem-Solving
2 491 (24.31%) Continuous Improvement
3 424 (20.99%) Agile
4 384 (19.01%) AI
5 307 (15.20%) CI/CD
6 275 (13.61%) Analytics
7 261 (12.92%) Stakeholder Management
8 258 (12.77%) Test Automation
9 257 (12.72%) Verification and Validation
10 246 (12.18%) Migration
11 241 (11.93%) Mentoring
12 228 (11.29%) Decision-Making
13 214 (10.59%) Software Engineering
14 201 (9.95%) Data Analysis
15 198 (9.80%) Machine Learning
16 191 (9.46%) DevOps
17 180 (8.91%) Business Intelligence
17 180 (8.91%) Stakeholder Engagement
18 174 (8.61%) Roadmaps
19 169 (8.37%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 491 (24.31%) Python
2 390 (19.31%) SQL
3 94 (4.65%) Java
4 87 (4.31%) C++
5 77 (3.81%) C
6 62 (3.07%) JavaScript
7 55 (2.72%) Go
8 53 (2.62%) C#
9 50 (2.48%) MATLAB
10 29 (1.44%) Bash
11 27 (1.34%) PowerShell
12 26 (1.29%) Embedded C
13 22 (1.09%) Scala
14 21 (1.04%) TypeScript
15 18 (0.89%) Embedded C++
16 15 (0.74%) R
16 15 (0.74%) T-SQL
17 12 (0.59%) Data Analysis Expressions
18 10 (0.50%) ABAP
19 9 (0.45%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 435 (21.53%) Degree
2 346 (17.13%) Security Cleared
3 213 (10.54%) SC Cleared
4 138 (6.83%) BPSS Clearance
5 108 (5.35%) DV Cleared
6 83 (4.11%) Master's Degree
7 44 (2.18%) Computer Science Degree
8 38 (1.88%) CISSP
9 36 (1.78%) PhD
10 34 (1.68%) Chartered Engineer
11 30 (1.49%) CISM
11 30 (1.49%) HNC
12 29 (1.44%) PMI Certification
13 26 (1.29%) ACCA
13 26 (1.29%) CIMA
14 25 (1.24%) HND
15 24 (1.19%) AWS Certification
16 23 (1.14%) Azure Certification
17 19 (0.94%) SANS
18 18 (0.89%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 316 (15.64%) Data Quality
2 275 (13.61%) QA
3 87 (4.31%) Accessibility
4 54 (2.67%) GDPR
5 38 (1.88%) GRC
6 27 (1.34%) IEC 61508
7 26 (1.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 25 (1.24%) NIST
9 22 (1.09%) SLA
10 18 (0.89%) GxP
10 18 (0.89%) PMO
11 16 (0.79%) WCAG
12 15 (0.74%) GAAP
12 15 (0.74%) IFRS
12 15 (0.74%) ISO 26262
13 13 (0.64%) GMP
14 12 (0.59%) ISO 9001
15 11 (0.54%) SOC 2
16 9 (0.45%) COBIT
17 8 (0.40%) JTAG
System Software
1 81 (4.01%) Docker
2 77 (3.81%) Firmware
3 45 (2.23%) Active Directory
4 31 (1.53%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.39%) Virtual Machines
6 21 (1.04%) vSphere
7 16 (0.79%) VMware Infrastructure
8 7 (0.35%) KVM
9 4 (0.20%) Hyper-V
10 2 (0.099%) iptables
10 2 (0.099%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.099%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.050%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.050%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 81 (4.01%) Kubernetes
2 74 (3.66%) Terraform
3 43 (2.13%) Grafana
4 26 (1.29%) Functional Safety
5 25 (1.24%) Ansible
6 16 (0.79%) Prometheus
7 15 (0.74%) Single Sign-On
8 10 (0.50%) Cilium
8 10 (0.50%) Puppet
9 7 (0.35%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 7 (0.35%) Kibana
9 7 (0.35%) SCCM
10 6 (0.30%) Microsoft Intune
11 5 (0.25%) Nessus
11 5 (0.25%) Nmap
11 5 (0.25%) WMI
12 4 (0.20%) FortiGate
12 4 (0.20%) Kubeflow
13 3 (0.15%) Argo
13 3 (0.15%) HP Fortify
Vendors
1 276 (13.66%) Microsoft
2 121 (5.99%) SAP
3 107 (5.30%) Oracle
4 58 (2.87%) Salesforce
5 57 (2.82%) Databricks
6 46 (2.28%) Google
6 46 (2.28%) ServiceNow
7 45 (2.23%) Cisco
8 36 (1.78%) Red Hat
9 35 (1.73%) VMware
10 29 (1.44%) CrowdStrike
11 27 (1.34%) EMC
11 27 (1.34%) Palo Alto
12 22 (1.09%) Tenable
13 18 (0.89%) Foundry
14 17 (0.84%) IBM
14 17 (0.84%) Splunk
15 15 (0.74%) McAfee
16 14 (0.69%) Siemens
16 14 (0.69%) Workday