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 3 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 115 89 207
Rank change year-on-year -26 +118 -10
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,576 1,622 1,391
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.63% 3.43% 1.32%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.22% 3.76% 1.61%
Number of salaries quoted 947 469 752
10th Percentile £36,250 £39,974 £35,500
25th Percentile £42,500 £46,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.51% +3.64% -12.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £72,433
90th Percentile £90,000 £95,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £53,000 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -3.64% +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 71,140 43,093 86,602
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.59% 91.19% 82.11%
Number of salaries quoted 49,140 23,729 61,208
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,822 £29,750
25th Percentile £41,250 £38,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -9.09%
75th Percentile £78,750 £77,500 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £53,688 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +7.38% - -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 3 July 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 3 July 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 -32 1,426 £55,000 -3.09% 1,127
UK excluding London -53 1,058 £53,000 -3.64% 801
Work from Home +120 514 £55,000 -8.33% 478
London +79 406 £77,500 +3.33% 441
South East -39 317 £55,000 - 266
North of England +87 289 £55,000 +15.35% 163
North West +73 183 £55,000 +15.35% 87
Midlands -70 166 £42,500 -22.73% 125
South West -40 112 £53,000 -3.64% 115
East of England -71 110 £60,000 +5.26% 91
West Midlands -5 96 £44,000 -29.60% 64
East Midlands -72 68 £30,000 -36.84% 61
Yorkshire +3 61 £44,000 +5.39% 49
North East -11 45 £55,000 +22.22% 27
Scotland +2 43 £48,000 -17.29% 45
Wales -28 21 £47,500 -17.39% 10
Northern Ireland -42 2 - - 7

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 52 (3.30%) Apache Airflow
2 48 (3.05%) Apache Spark
3 46 (2.92%) Apache
4 26 (1.65%) Confluence
5 21 (1.33%) ArcGIS
5 21 (1.33%) SharePoint
6 15 (0.95%) Microsoft Exchange
7 12 (0.76%) Jupyter
8 10 (0.63%) SAS
9 5 (0.32%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 5 (0.32%) Appian
10 4 (0.25%) CMS
10 4 (0.25%) Kinematics
11 3 (0.19%) Artix
12 2 (0.13%) IIS
13 1 (0.063%) Oracle Workflow
13 1 (0.063%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 87 (5.52%) Microsoft Excel
2 47 (2.98%) Microsoft Office
3 25 (1.59%) Microsoft Project
4 20 (1.27%) MS Visio
5 18 (1.14%) Simulink
6 15 (0.95%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 8 (0.51%) SOLIDWORKS
7 8 (0.51%) Spreadsheet
8 5 (0.32%) AutoCAD
9 4 (0.25%) Adobe XD
9 4 (0.25%) CANalyzer
9 4 (0.25%) Sketch
10 3 (0.19%) Autodesk Inventor
10 3 (0.19%) Productboard
10 3 (0.19%) Solid Edge
10 3 (0.19%) Stateflow
11 2 (0.13%) Adobe Creative Suite
12 1 (0.063%) Chatbot
12 1 (0.063%) PTC Creo
12 1 (0.063%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 44 (2.79%) SAP S/4HANA
2 42 (2.66%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.70%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.63%) SAP ERP
5 9 (0.57%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.51%) iTrent
6 8 (0.51%) Oracle ERP
7 6 (0.38%) Elite 3E
8 5 (0.32%) Loan IQ
8 5 (0.32%) Oracle Applications
8 5 (0.32%) Oracle Financials
8 5 (0.32%) SAP MDG-BP
9 2 (0.13%) FastStats
9 2 (0.13%) NetSuite
9 2 (0.13%) SAP Business One
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
1 232 (14.72%) Azure
2 203 (12.88%) AWS
3 151 (9.58%) Power Platform
4 80 (5.08%) GCP
5 77 (4.89%) SaaS
6 63 (4.00%) Azure DevOps
7 44 (2.79%) Serverless
8 41 (2.60%) GitHub
8 41 (2.60%) Microsoft 365
9 37 (2.35%) Amazon S3
10 34 (2.16%) Dynamics 365
11 26 (1.65%) Azure Data Factory
12 22 (1.40%) Snowflake
13 21 (1.33%) Entra ID
13 21 (1.33%) GitHub Actions
14 18 (1.14%) Power Automate
15 17 (1.08%) dbt
16 16 (1.02%) Amazon EC2
16 16 (1.02%) Amazon EMR
17 15 (0.95%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 71 (4.51%) Broadband
2 46 (2.92%) Firewall
3 33 (2.09%) DNS
4 23 (1.46%) TCP/IP
4 23 (1.46%) Wireless
5 21 (1.33%) WAN
6 17 (1.08%) CHAP
7 16 (1.02%) Network Security
8 15 (0.95%) SD-WAN
8 15 (0.95%) VPN
9 12 (0.76%) 5G
9 12 (0.76%) Ethernet
9 12 (0.76%) Wi-Fi
9 12 (0.76%) Wireshark
10 11 (0.70%) HTTP
10 11 (0.70%) MQTT
11 10 (0.63%) LAN
12 9 (0.57%) NAS
13 7 (0.44%) Multicast
13 7 (0.44%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 142 (9.01%) Power BI
2 56 (3.55%) PostgreSQL
2 56 (3.55%) Tableau
3 53 (3.36%) SQL Server
4 51 (3.24%) Data Warehouse
5 36 (2.28%) Metadata
6 34 (2.16%) MongoDB
7 30 (1.90%) Relational Database
8 27 (1.71%) BigQuery
9 26 (1.65%) Data Lake
10 25 (1.59%) QGIS
11 24 (1.52%) Semantic Layer
12 23 (1.46%) Azure SQL Database
12 23 (1.46%) GIS
13 20 (1.27%) Spatial Data
14 19 (1.21%) Spark SQL
15 18 (1.14%) Amazon Athena
15 18 (1.14%) DynamoDB
16 17 (1.08%) MySQL
16 17 (1.08%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 87 (5.52%) JIRA
2 78 (4.95%) Git
3 50 (3.17%) Jenkins
4 40 (2.54%) GitLab
5 28 (1.78%) Rational DOORS
6 22 (1.40%) Snyk
7 17 (1.08%) Selenium
8 16 (1.02%) LabVIEW
9 15 (0.95%) Postman
10 13 (0.82%) IBM UrbanCode
11 12 (0.76%) Cucumber
11 12 (0.76%) Cypress.io
11 12 (0.76%) JMeter
12 10 (0.63%) TeamCity
13 9 (0.57%) Eclipse
13 9 (0.57%) MLflow
14 7 (0.44%) Burp Suite
14 7 (0.44%) Rational Rhapsody
14 7 (0.44%) REST Assured
15 6 (0.38%) Zephyr
General
1 510 (32.36%) Social Skills
2 426 (27.03%) Finance
3 347 (22.02%) Analytical Skills
4 117 (7.42%) Aerospace
5 116 (7.36%) Manufacturing
6 109 (6.92%) Electronics
7 95 (6.03%) Banking
7 95 (6.03%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 62 (3.93%) Public Sector
8 62 (3.93%) Retail
9 52 (3.30%) Legal
10 51 (3.24%) Law
11 49 (3.11%) Organisational Skills
12 48 (3.05%) Pharmaceutical
13 42 (2.66%) Games
13 42 (2.66%) Marketing
14 40 (2.54%) Automotive
15 32 (2.03%) Financial Institution
16 28 (1.78%) Documentation Skills
17 23 (1.46%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 273 (17.32%) Senior
2 243 (15.42%) Analyst
3 127 (8.06%) Lead
3 127 (8.06%) Systems Engineer
4 102 (6.47%) Test Engineer
5 101 (6.41%) Architect
6 82 (5.20%) Data Engineer
7 81 (5.14%) Validation Engineer
8 79 (5.01%) Business Analyst
9 73 (4.63%) Consultant
10 72 (4.57%) Developer
11 70 (4.44%) Data Analyst
12 44 (2.79%) Embedded Engineer
13 42 (2.66%) Principal Engineer
14 41 (2.60%) IT Manager
15 40 (2.54%) Support Engineer
16 39 (2.47%) Integration Engineer
16 39 (2.47%) Senior Systems Engineer
17 36 (2.28%) Software Engineer
18 35 (2.22%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (2.86%) RESTful
2 36 (2.28%) REST
3 35 (2.22%) PySpark
4 34 (2.16%) JSON
4 34 (2.16%) Node.js
5 33 (2.09%) PyTorch
6 30 (1.90%) Kafka
7 28 (1.78%) XML
8 27 (1.71%) Pandas
9 25 (1.59%) .NET
10 24 (1.52%) Middleware
11 21 (1.33%) Playwright
11 21 (1.33%) pytest
12 18 (1.14%) Regular Expression
12 18 (1.14%) XMPP
13 16 (1.02%) CSS
13 16 (1.02%) React
13 16 (1.02%) Swagger
14 15 (0.95%) HTML
15 14 (0.89%) LDAP
Miscellaneous
1 99 (6.28%) Cloud Native
2 84 (5.33%) Onboarding
3 73 (4.63%) Data Structures
4 68 (4.31%) Management Information System
5 61 (3.87%) Algorithms
6 50 (3.17%) Product Ownership
7 48 (3.05%) Low-Code
8 44 (2.79%) Embedded Systems
9 41 (2.60%) Driving Licence
10 38 (2.41%) Data Centre
11 37 (2.35%) Distributed Systems
12 36 (2.28%) Enterprise Software
13 35 (2.22%) Self-Motivation
14 33 (2.09%) Analytical Mindset
15 32 (2.03%) Legacy Systems
16 31 (1.97%) Video\Live Streaming
17 28 (1.78%) Life Science
18 24 (1.52%) FPGA
18 24 (1.52%) Robotics
19 19 (1.21%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 105 (6.66%) Linux
2 75 (4.76%) Windows
3 29 (1.84%) Windows Server
4 25 (1.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 23 (1.46%) Unix
6 6 (0.38%) Android
7 4 (0.25%) FreeRTOS
7 4 (0.25%) Kali Linux
7 4 (0.25%) Mac OS X
7 4 (0.25%) Robot Operating System
8 3 (0.19%) AIX
8 3 (0.19%) Apple iOS
8 3 (0.19%) Embedded Linux
9 2 (0.13%) CentOS
9 2 (0.13%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.13%) ThreadX
10 1 (0.063%) Rocky
10 1 (0.063%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.063%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.063%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 343 (21.76%) Problem-Solving
2 334 (21.19%) Continuous Improvement
3 330 (20.94%) Agile
4 286 (18.15%) AI
5 250 (15.86%) CI/CD
6 227 (14.40%) Analytics
7 222 (14.09%) Test Automation
8 196 (12.44%) Migration
9 178 (11.29%) Stakeholder Management
10 174 (11.04%) Verification and Validation
11 173 (10.98%) Business Intelligence
12 171 (10.85%) Data Validation
13 162 (10.28%) DevOps
14 159 (10.09%) Data Modelling
15 157 (9.96%) Mentoring
16 155 (9.84%) Decision-Making
16 155 (9.84%) Software Engineering
17 154 (9.77%) Data Analysis
18 147 (9.33%) Machine Learning
19 146 (9.26%) Collaborative Working
Programming Languages
1 406 (25.76%) Python
2 332 (21.07%) SQL
3 70 (4.44%) C++
4 68 (4.31%) C
5 66 (4.19%) Java
6 50 (3.17%) Go
7 45 (2.86%) C#
8 35 (2.22%) JavaScript
9 32 (2.03%) MATLAB
10 27 (1.71%) Bash
11 24 (1.52%) PowerShell
11 24 (1.52%) T-SQL
12 21 (1.33%) Embedded C
13 18 (1.14%) Embedded C++
14 16 (1.02%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 15 (0.95%) TypeScript
16 14 (0.89%) Scala
17 10 (0.63%) ABAP
18 9 (0.57%) VBA
19 7 (0.44%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 298 (18.91%) Degree
2 173 (10.98%) Security Cleared
3 108 (6.85%) BPSS Clearance
4 79 (5.01%) SC Cleared
5 75 (4.76%) Master's Degree
6 47 (2.98%) DV Cleared
7 40 (2.54%) Computer Science Degree
8 33 (2.09%) Chartered Engineer
9 28 (1.78%) HNC
10 27 (1.71%) CISA
10 27 (1.71%) CISSP
10 27 (1.71%) SANS
11 24 (1.52%) CISM
12 21 (1.33%) HND
13 20 (1.27%) ACCA
13 20 (1.27%) CIMA
14 17 (1.08%) CGEIT
14 17 (1.08%) FFIEC
14 17 (1.08%) PMI Certification
15 14 (0.89%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 264 (16.75%) Data Quality
2 198 (12.56%) QA
3 61 (3.87%) Accessibility
4 56 (3.55%) GDPR
5 39 (2.47%) GRC
6 26 (1.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 22 (1.40%) IEC 61508
8 21 (1.33%) NIST
9 19 (1.21%) ISO/IEC 15288
10 18 (1.14%) IFRS
11 17 (1.08%) COBIT
12 16 (1.02%) ISO 9001
12 16 (1.02%) PMO
13 14 (0.89%) SLA
14 13 (0.82%) GAAP
14 13 (0.82%) ISO 26262
15 11 (0.70%) SOC 2
15 11 (0.70%) WCAG
16 10 (0.63%) GxP
17 9 (0.57%) GMP
System Software
1 71 (4.51%) Docker
2 47 (2.98%) Firmware
3 37 (2.35%) Active Directory
4 23 (1.46%) Virtual Machines
5 22 (1.40%) Embedded Firmware
6 20 (1.27%) vSphere
7 15 (0.95%) VMware Infrastructure
8 6 (0.38%) KVM
9 5 (0.32%) Hyper-V
10 2 (0.13%) Terminal Services
10 2 (0.13%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 71 (4.51%) Kubernetes
2 68 (4.31%) Terraform
3 34 (2.16%) Grafana
4 23 (1.46%) Functional Safety
5 22 (1.40%) Ansible
6 16 (1.02%) Prometheus
7 12 (0.76%) Puppet
8 10 (0.63%) Cilium
9 7 (0.44%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 7 (0.44%) Kibana
10 6 (0.38%) SCCM
11 3 (0.19%) Argo
11 3 (0.19%) FortiGate
11 3 (0.19%) HP Fortify
11 3 (0.19%) Rancher
11 3 (0.19%) yum
12 2 (0.13%) BMC PATROL
12 2 (0.13%) Computer Incident Response Team
12 2 (0.13%) Nessus
12 2 (0.13%) Nmap
Vendors
1 198 (12.56%) Microsoft
2 101 (6.41%) SAP
3 89 (5.65%) Oracle
4 50 (3.17%) Salesforce
5 41 (2.60%) Databricks
6 34 (2.16%) Red Hat
6 34 (2.16%) ServiceNow
7 33 (2.09%) VMware
8 29 (1.84%) CrowdStrike
9 25 (1.59%) Cisco
9 25 (1.59%) Google
10 23 (1.46%) Palo Alto
11 22 (1.40%) Tenable
12 19 (1.21%) Adobe
13 16 (1.02%) Foundry
14 14 (0.89%) Citrix
14 14 (0.89%) McAfee
15 12 (0.76%) OpenAI
16 11 (0.70%) EMC
17 10 (0.63%) IBM