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

6 months to
1 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 117 88 209
Rank change year-on-year -29 +121 -14
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,569 1,617 1,397
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.63% 3.47% 1.32%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.21% 3.79% 1.61%
Number of salaries quoted 943 467 755
10th Percentile £35,250 £40,000 £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 £72,466
90th Percentile £88,750 £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 70,838 42,616 86,708
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.43% 91.47% 82.17%
Number of salaries quoted 48,971 23,341 61,278
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 £53,171 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +6.34% - -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 1 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 1 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 -35 1,418 £55,000 -3.51% 1,149
UK excluding London -47 1,054 £53,000 -3.64% 846
Work from Home +116 510 £55,000 -8.33% 482
London +68 402 £75,000 -1.64% 432
South East -45 317 £55,000 - 283
North of England +86 288 £55,000 +15.35% 168
North West +74 182 £55,000 +15.35% 90
Midlands -70 165 £40,000 -27.27% 131
South West -40 110 £53,000 -3.64% 112
East of England -73 110 £60,000 +5.26% 93
West Midlands -9 96 £44,000 -29.60% 65
East Midlands -81 67 £30,000 -36.84% 66
Yorkshire +2 61 £44,000 +5.39% 50
North East -14 45 £55,000 +15.79% 28
Scotland +4 43 £48,000 -17.29% 43
Wales -35 21 £47,500 -17.39% 26
Northern Ireland -29 2 - - 10

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 53 (3.38%) Apache Airflow
2 48 (3.06%) Apache Spark
3 46 (2.93%) Apache
4 26 (1.66%) Confluence
5 21 (1.34%) ArcGIS
6 20 (1.27%) SharePoint
7 15 (0.96%) Microsoft Exchange
8 12 (0.76%) Jupyter
9 10 (0.64%) SAS
10 5 (0.32%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 5 (0.32%) Appian
11 4 (0.25%) CMS
11 4 (0.25%) Kinematics
12 3 (0.19%) Artix
13 2 (0.13%) IIS
14 1 (0.064%) Oracle Workflow
14 1 (0.064%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 87 (5.54%) Microsoft Excel
2 46 (2.93%) Microsoft Office
3 24 (1.53%) Microsoft Project
4 20 (1.27%) MS Visio
5 18 (1.15%) Simulink
6 15 (0.96%) 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%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 3 (0.19%) Autodesk Inventor
10 3 (0.19%) Productboard
10 3 (0.19%) Solid Edge
10 3 (0.19%) Stateflow
11 1 (0.064%) CATIA
11 1 (0.064%) Chatbot
11 1 (0.064%) Revit
Business Applications
1 44 (2.80%) SAP S/4HANA
2 42 (2.68%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.70%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.64%) 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
1 229 (14.60%) Azure
2 201 (12.81%) AWS
3 149 (9.50%) Power Platform
4 82 (5.23%) GCP
5 76 (4.84%) SaaS
6 61 (3.89%) Azure DevOps
7 43 (2.74%) Serverless
8 40 (2.55%) GitHub
8 40 (2.55%) Microsoft 365
9 38 (2.42%) Amazon S3
10 35 (2.23%) Dynamics 365
11 26 (1.66%) Azure Data Factory
12 23 (1.47%) Snowflake
13 21 (1.34%) Entra ID
14 20 (1.27%) GitHub Actions
15 17 (1.08%) dbt
15 17 (1.08%) Power Automate
16 16 (1.02%) Amazon EC2
16 16 (1.02%) Amazon EMR
17 15 (0.96%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 71 (4.53%) Broadband
2 46 (2.93%) Firewall
3 33 (2.10%) DNS
4 23 (1.47%) Wireless
5 22 (1.40%) TCP/IP
6 20 (1.27%) WAN
7 17 (1.08%) CHAP
8 16 (1.02%) Network Security
9 15 (0.96%) VPN
10 14 (0.89%) SD-WAN
11 12 (0.76%) 5G
11 12 (0.76%) Wi-Fi
11 12 (0.76%) Wireshark
12 11 (0.70%) Ethernet
12 11 (0.70%) HTTP
12 11 (0.70%) MQTT
13 10 (0.64%) LAN
14 9 (0.57%) NAS
15 7 (0.45%) ATM
15 7 (0.45%) Multicast
Database & Business Intelligence
1 141 (8.99%) Power BI
2 56 (3.57%) PostgreSQL
2 56 (3.57%) Tableau
3 52 (3.31%) SQL Server
4 49 (3.12%) Data Warehouse
5 35 (2.23%) Metadata
6 34 (2.17%) MongoDB
7 30 (1.91%) Relational Database
8 28 (1.78%) BigQuery
9 26 (1.66%) Data Lake
10 25 (1.59%) QGIS
11 24 (1.53%) Semantic Layer
12 23 (1.47%) Azure SQL Database
12 23 (1.47%) GIS
13 20 (1.27%) Spatial Data
14 19 (1.21%) Spark SQL
15 18 (1.15%) Amazon Athena
15 18 (1.15%) DynamoDB
16 17 (1.08%) MySQL
16 17 (1.08%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 83 (5.29%) JIRA
2 75 (4.78%) Git
3 49 (3.12%) Jenkins
4 39 (2.49%) GitLab
5 30 (1.91%) Rational DOORS
6 22 (1.40%) Snyk
7 17 (1.08%) LabVIEW
7 17 (1.08%) Selenium
8 16 (1.02%) Postman
9 13 (0.83%) IBM UrbanCode
10 12 (0.76%) Cypress.io
10 12 (0.76%) JMeter
11 11 (0.70%) Cucumber
12 10 (0.64%) TeamCity
13 9 (0.57%) Eclipse
13 9 (0.57%) MLflow
14 7 (0.45%) Burp Suite
14 7 (0.45%) Rational Rhapsody
14 7 (0.45%) REST Assured
15 6 (0.38%) Zephyr
General
1 508 (32.38%) Social Skills
2 422 (26.90%) Finance
3 347 (22.12%) Analytical Skills
4 118 (7.52%) Aerospace
5 115 (7.33%) Manufacturing
6 107 (6.82%) Electronics
7 94 (5.99%) Banking
7 94 (5.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 62 (3.95%) Public Sector
8 62 (3.95%) Retail
9 53 (3.38%) Law
9 53 (3.38%) Legal
10 49 (3.12%) Organisational Skills
11 47 (3.00%) Pharmaceutical
12 42 (2.68%) Marketing
13 41 (2.61%) Games
14 39 (2.49%) Automotive
15 32 (2.04%) Financial Institution
16 28 (1.78%) Documentation Skills
17 24 (1.53%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 271 (17.27%) Senior
2 244 (15.55%) Analyst
3 130 (8.29%) Systems Engineer
4 123 (7.84%) Lead
5 103 (6.56%) Architect
6 101 (6.44%) Test Engineer
7 83 (5.29%) Validation Engineer
8 82 (5.23%) Data Engineer
9 79 (5.04%) Business Analyst
10 72 (4.59%) Developer
11 71 (4.53%) Consultant
12 70 (4.46%) Data Analyst
13 44 (2.80%) Principal Engineer
14 42 (2.68%) Embedded Engineer
15 41 (2.61%) Integration Engineer
16 40 (2.55%) IT Manager
16 40 (2.55%) Support Engineer
17 38 (2.42%) Senior Systems Engineer
18 35 (2.23%) Security Architect
18 35 (2.23%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (2.87%) RESTful
2 37 (2.36%) REST
3 35 (2.23%) JSON
3 35 (2.23%) PySpark
4 34 (2.17%) Node.js
5 33 (2.10%) PyTorch
6 30 (1.91%) Kafka
7 27 (1.72%) XML
8 25 (1.59%) .NET
8 25 (1.59%) Middleware
8 25 (1.59%) Pandas
9 21 (1.34%) Playwright
10 20 (1.27%) pytest
11 18 (1.15%) Regular Expression
11 18 (1.15%) XMPP
12 17 (1.08%) CSS
12 17 (1.08%) Swagger
13 16 (1.02%) HTML
14 15 (0.96%) React
15 14 (0.89%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 98 (6.25%) Cloud Native
2 80 (5.10%) Onboarding
3 72 (4.59%) Data Structures
4 66 (4.21%) Management Information System
5 60 (3.82%) Algorithms
6 49 (3.12%) Product Ownership
7 48 (3.06%) Low-Code
8 43 (2.74%) Embedded Systems
9 41 (2.61%) Driving Licence
10 36 (2.29%) Data Centre
11 35 (2.23%) Distributed Systems
11 35 (2.23%) Enterprise Software
11 35 (2.23%) Self-Motivation
12 33 (2.10%) Analytical Mindset
13 32 (2.04%) Legacy Systems
14 31 (1.98%) Video\Live Streaming
15 28 (1.78%) Life Science
16 24 (1.53%) FPGA
17 23 (1.47%) Robotics
18 19 (1.21%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 103 (6.56%) Linux
2 72 (4.59%) Windows
3 29 (1.85%) Windows Server
4 25 (1.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 23 (1.47%) Unix
6 7 (0.45%) Android
7 4 (0.25%) FreeRTOS
7 4 (0.25%) Kali Linux
7 4 (0.25%) Mac OS X
8 3 (0.19%) AIX
8 3 (0.19%) Apple iOS
8 3 (0.19%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.13%) CentOS
9 2 (0.13%) Embedded Linux
9 2 (0.13%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.13%) ThreadX
10 1 (0.064%) Rocky
10 1 (0.064%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.064%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.064%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 344 (21.92%) Problem-Solving
2 334 (21.29%) Continuous Improvement
3 328 (20.91%) Agile
4 280 (17.85%) AI
5 248 (15.81%) CI/CD
6 225 (14.34%) Analytics
7 219 (13.96%) Test Automation
8 191 (12.17%) Migration
9 177 (11.28%) Verification and Validation
10 175 (11.15%) Stakeholder Management
11 173 (11.03%) Data Validation
12 171 (10.90%) Business Intelligence
13 162 (10.33%) DevOps
14 159 (10.13%) Data Modelling
15 154 (9.82%) Mentoring
16 153 (9.75%) Decision-Making
16 153 (9.75%) Software Engineering
17 152 (9.69%) Data Analysis
18 146 (9.31%) Collaborative Working
18 146 (9.31%) Machine Learning
Programming Languages
1 401 (25.56%) Python
2 331 (21.10%) SQL
3 69 (4.40%) C++
4 67 (4.27%) C
4 67 (4.27%) Java
5 50 (3.19%) Go
6 46 (2.93%) C#
7 36 (2.29%) JavaScript
8 32 (2.04%) MATLAB
9 26 (1.66%) Bash
10 24 (1.53%) PowerShell
10 24 (1.53%) T-SQL
11 21 (1.34%) Embedded C
12 18 (1.15%) Embedded C++
13 16 (1.02%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 15 (0.96%) TypeScript
15 14 (0.89%) Scala
16 10 (0.64%) ABAP
17 9 (0.57%) VBA
18 7 (0.45%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 296 (18.87%) Degree
2 175 (11.15%) Security Cleared
3 108 (6.88%) BPSS Clearance
4 81 (5.16%) SC Cleared
5 76 (4.84%) Master's Degree
6 47 (3.00%) DV Cleared
7 42 (2.68%) Computer Science Degree
8 35 (2.23%) Chartered Engineer
9 28 (1.78%) HNC
10 27 (1.72%) CISA
10 27 (1.72%) CISSP
10 27 (1.72%) SANS
11 24 (1.53%) CISM
12 21 (1.34%) HND
13 20 (1.27%) ACCA
13 20 (1.27%) CIMA
14 18 (1.15%) PMI Certification
15 17 (1.08%) CGEIT
15 17 (1.08%) FFIEC
16 15 (0.96%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 261 (16.63%) Data Quality
2 193 (12.30%) QA
3 63 (4.02%) Accessibility
4 54 (3.44%) GDPR
5 39 (2.49%) GRC
6 26 (1.66%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 22 (1.40%) IEC 61508
8 21 (1.34%) NIST
9 19 (1.21%) ISO/IEC 15288
10 18 (1.15%) IFRS
11 17 (1.08%) COBIT
11 17 (1.08%) ISO 9001
12 16 (1.02%) PMO
13 14 (0.89%) SLA
14 13 (0.83%) GAAP
15 12 (0.76%) ISO 26262
15 12 (0.76%) WCAG
16 11 (0.70%) SOC 2
17 10 (0.64%) GxP
18 9 (0.57%) GMP
System Software
1 71 (4.53%) Docker
2 46 (2.93%) Firmware
3 37 (2.36%) Active Directory
4 22 (1.40%) Embedded Firmware
4 22 (1.40%) Virtual Machines
5 20 (1.27%) vSphere
6 15 (0.96%) VMware Infrastructure
7 6 (0.38%) KVM
8 5 (0.32%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.13%) Terminal Services
9 2 (0.13%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 71 (4.53%) Kubernetes
2 66 (4.21%) Terraform
3 33 (2.10%) Grafana
4 23 (1.47%) Functional Safety
5 20 (1.27%) Ansible
6 15 (0.96%) Prometheus
7 12 (0.76%) Puppet
8 10 (0.64%) Cilium
9 7 (0.45%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 7 (0.45%) 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
1 197 (12.56%) Microsoft
2 99 (6.31%) SAP
3 89 (5.67%) Oracle
4 51 (3.25%) Salesforce
5 41 (2.61%) Databricks
6 34 (2.17%) Red Hat
7 33 (2.10%) ServiceNow
7 33 (2.10%) VMware
8 29 (1.85%) CrowdStrike
9 26 (1.66%) Google
10 24 (1.53%) Cisco
11 23 (1.47%) Palo Alto
12 22 (1.40%) Tenable
13 20 (1.27%) Adobe
14 16 (1.02%) Foundry
15 14 (0.89%) Citrix
15 14 (0.89%) McAfee
16 12 (0.76%) OpenAI
17 10 (0.64%) EMC
18 9 (0.57%) IBM