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

6 months to
16 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 120 84 199
Rank change year-on-year -36 +115 -5
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,424 1,605 1,417
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.56% 3.67% 1.47%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.11% 3.93% 1.72%
Number of salaries quoted 804 445 774
10th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £35,325
25th Percentile £42,500 £46,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £56,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +2.68% +1.82% -12.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £72,188
90th Percentile £91,750 £95,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £54,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -2.78% +2.86% -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 67,346 40,822 82,196
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.74% 93.29% 85.15%
Number of salaries quoted 43,359 22,211 59,550
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £41,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - +9.09% -9.97%
75th Percentile £78,750 £78,750 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £101,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year - +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 May 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 16 May 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 -44 1,269 £59,490 +7.87% 869
UK excluding London -70 934 £52,500 -2.78% 649
Work from Home +134 445 £55,550 -7.42% 751
London +72 369 £77,500 +8.77% 309
South East -36 294 £55,000 +7.84% 188
North of England +53 239 £55,000 +15.35% 136
Midlands -79 155 £40,000 -30.43% 93
North West +56 151 £55,000 +15.35% 85
West Midlands -15 100 £44,000 -32.31% 54
East of England -78 98 £60,000 +5.26% 86
South West -45 94 £52,500 -2.78% 104
Yorkshire -21 55 £53,750 +13.16% 37
East Midlands -96 53 £30,000 -42.31% 39
Scotland -14 42 £42,000 -27.63% 33
North East -11 33 £52,500 +10.53% 15
Wales -27 12 £44,000 -23.48% 19
Northern Ireland -40 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 44 (3.09%) Apache Airflow
2 28 (1.97%) Apache
3 27 (1.90%) Apache Spark
4 24 (1.69%) Confluence
5 21 (1.47%) ArcGIS
6 16 (1.12%) Microsoft Exchange
7 11 (0.77%) Appian
8 10 (0.70%) SharePoint
9 9 (0.63%) CMS
10 6 (0.42%) Kinematics
10 6 (0.42%) SAS
11 4 (0.28%) Jupyter
12 3 (0.21%) Adobe Experience Manager
13 2 (0.14%) Artix
13 2 (0.14%) IIS
14 1 (0.070%) Anypoint
14 1 (0.070%) Headless CMS
14 1 (0.070%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 91 (6.39%) Microsoft Excel
2 60 (4.21%) Microsoft Office
3 20 (1.40%) MS Visio
4 14 (0.98%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 12 (0.84%) Simulink
6 11 (0.77%) Microsoft Project
7 6 (0.42%) Spreadsheet
8 5 (0.35%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 5 (0.35%) SOLIDWORKS
9 4 (0.28%) AutoCAD
9 4 (0.28%) CANalyzer
9 4 (0.28%) Fusion 360
10 3 (0.21%) Adobe XD
10 3 (0.21%) Autodesk Inventor
10 3 (0.21%) Sketch
10 3 (0.21%) Solid Edge
11 2 (0.14%) CATIA
11 2 (0.14%) Oracle Smart View
11 2 (0.14%) Productboard
11 2 (0.14%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 36 (2.53%) SAP S/4HANA
2 24 (1.69%) Dynamics CRM
3 10 (0.70%) SAP ERP
4 9 (0.63%) Oracle ERP
5 7 (0.49%) SAP MDG
6 6 (0.42%) Elite 3E
6 6 (0.42%) Loan IQ
7 5 (0.35%) SAP MDG-BP
7 5 (0.35%) Workday HCM
8 4 (0.28%) Markit EDM
8 4 (0.28%) Oracle EBS
9 3 (0.21%) iTrent
9 3 (0.21%) Oracle Applications
10 2 (0.14%) Oracle Financials
10 2 (0.14%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
10 2 (0.14%) SAP FSCM
10 2 (0.14%) SAP PSCD
11 1 (0.070%) Oracle Receivables
11 1 (0.070%) SAP BRIM
11 1 (0.070%) SAP Business ByDesign
Cloud Services
1 202 (14.19%) Azure
2 151 (10.60%) AWS
3 127 (8.92%) Power Platform
4 64 (4.49%) SaaS
5 57 (4.00%) GCP
6 42 (2.95%) Azure DevOps
7 37 (2.60%) Serverless
8 33 (2.32%) Azure Data Factory
8 33 (2.32%) GitHub
8 33 (2.32%) Microsoft 365
9 32 (2.25%) Dynamics 365
10 30 (2.11%) Snowflake
11 29 (2.04%) Amazon S3
12 24 (1.69%) dbt
12 24 (1.69%) Entra ID
13 23 (1.62%) Power Automate
14 17 (1.19%) OpenShift
15 16 (1.12%) Azure AI
16 14 (0.98%) Anthropic Claude
17 12 (0.84%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 51 (3.58%) Broadband
2 33 (2.32%) Firewall
3 25 (1.76%) CHAP
4 23 (1.62%) DNS
4 23 (1.62%) WAN
5 20 (1.40%) Wireless
6 18 (1.26%) 5G
6 18 (1.26%) TCP/IP
7 17 (1.19%) SD-WAN
8 11 (0.77%) HTTP
8 11 (0.77%) Network Security
9 10 (0.70%) MQTT
9 10 (0.70%) Wireshark
10 9 (0.63%) LAN
10 9 (0.63%) Modbus
10 9 (0.63%) NAS
10 9 (0.63%) VPN
11 8 (0.56%) Multicast
11 8 (0.56%) Wi-Fi
12 7 (0.49%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 119 (8.36%) Power BI
2 49 (3.44%) SQL Server
3 48 (3.37%) Tableau
4 43 (3.02%) PostgreSQL
5 36 (2.53%) Data Warehouse
6 31 (2.18%) Metadata
7 29 (2.04%) Relational Database
8 25 (1.76%) QGIS
9 24 (1.69%) MongoDB
10 23 (1.62%) GIS
11 21 (1.47%) Data Lake
12 20 (1.40%) Spatial Data
13 18 (1.26%) Oracle Reports
14 17 (1.19%) Azure SQL Database
14 17 (1.19%) Spark SQL
15 15 (1.05%) Oracle Database
16 14 (0.98%) BigQuery
16 14 (0.98%) MySQL
16 14 (0.98%) Parquet
16 14 (0.98%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 70 (4.92%) Git
2 61 (4.28%) JIRA
3 37 (2.60%) Rational DOORS
4 29 (2.04%) Jenkins
5 23 (1.62%) GitLab
6 22 (1.54%) Snyk
7 17 (1.19%) LabVIEW
8 15 (1.05%) MLflow
8 15 (1.05%) Postman
9 13 (0.91%) IBM UrbanCode
9 13 (0.91%) Selenium
10 12 (0.84%) Cucumber
10 12 (0.84%) JMeter
11 10 (0.70%) Eclipse
12 9 (0.63%) TestRail
13 7 (0.49%) LoadRunner
13 7 (0.49%) TeamCity
14 5 (0.35%) Cypress.io
14 5 (0.35%) SpecFlow
14 5 (0.35%) Subversion
General
1 452 (31.74%) Social Skills
2 377 (26.47%) Finance
3 305 (21.42%) Analytical Skills
4 110 (7.72%) Manufacturing
5 107 (7.51%) Aerospace
6 98 (6.88%) Electronics
7 84 (5.90%) Banking
8 77 (5.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 61 (4.28%) Legal
10 53 (3.72%) Public Sector
11 51 (3.58%) Retail
12 45 (3.16%) Law
12 45 (3.16%) Marketing
13 41 (2.88%) Pharmaceutical
14 37 (2.60%) Presentation Skills
15 35 (2.46%) Financial Institution
15 35 (2.46%) Organisational Skills
16 34 (2.39%) Games
17 29 (2.04%) Automotive
18 24 (1.69%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 238 (16.71%) Senior
2 228 (16.01%) Analyst
3 157 (11.03%) Systems Engineer
4 102 (7.16%) Lead
5 96 (6.74%) Architect
6 91 (6.39%) Test Engineer
7 85 (5.97%) Business Analyst
8 84 (5.90%) Validation Engineer
9 69 (4.85%) Consultant
10 61 (4.28%) Data Analyst
11 53 (3.72%) Integration Engineer
12 51 (3.58%) Data Engineer
13 49 (3.44%) Developer
14 45 (3.16%) Junior
14 45 (3.16%) Principal Engineer
15 42 (2.95%) Senior Systems Engineer
16 36 (2.53%) Systems Integration Engineer
16 36 (2.53%) Verification Engineer
17 32 (2.25%) Embedded Engineer
17 32 (2.25%) Software Validation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (3.51%) REST
2 36 (2.53%) PyTorch
3 31 (2.18%) JSON
3 31 (2.18%) Pandas
3 31 (2.18%) RESTful
4 28 (1.97%) Middleware
5 27 (1.90%) pytest
6 22 (1.54%) PySpark
7 20 (1.40%) .NET
8 19 (1.33%) OAuth
8 19 (1.33%) Swagger
9 18 (1.26%) XML
10 17 (1.19%) CSS
10 17 (1.19%) JWT
10 17 (1.19%) Kafka
11 16 (1.12%) NumPy
11 16 (1.12%) Playwright
11 16 (1.12%) TensorFlow
12 14 (0.98%) Hugging Face
12 14 (0.98%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 84 (5.90%) Management Information System
2 61 (4.28%) Onboarding
3 51 (3.58%) Data Structures
4 48 (3.37%) Cloud Native
5 46 (3.23%) Low-Code
6 45 (3.16%) Algorithms
7 38 (2.67%) Product Ownership
8 35 (2.46%) Self-Motivation
9 33 (2.32%) Legacy Systems
10 32 (2.25%) Data Centre
11 28 (1.97%) Analytical Mindset
12 27 (1.90%) Embedded Systems
13 26 (1.83%) Life Science
14 23 (1.62%) Enterprise Software
15 22 (1.54%) Driving Licence
15 22 (1.54%) Video\Live Streaming
16 20 (1.40%) Distributed Systems
17 19 (1.33%) Robotics
18 18 (1.26%) FPGA
18 18 (1.26%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 80 (5.62%) Linux
2 66 (4.63%) Windows
3 21 (1.47%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 21 (1.47%) Unix
3 21 (1.47%) Windows Server
4 13 (0.91%) Android
5 5 (0.35%) Apple iOS
6 4 (0.28%) CentOS
6 4 (0.28%) FreeRTOS
6 4 (0.28%) Mac OS X
7 3 (0.21%) AIX
7 3 (0.21%) Kali Linux
7 3 (0.21%) Robot Operating System
8 2 (0.14%) ThreadX
9 1 (0.070%) Embedded Linux
9 1 (0.070%) Rocky
9 1 (0.070%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.070%) VxWorks
9 1 (0.070%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 312 (21.91%) Problem-Solving
2 283 (19.87%) Agile
3 269 (18.89%) Continuous Improvement
4 227 (15.94%) AI
5 216 (15.17%) Analytics
6 210 (14.75%) Verification and Validation
7 198 (13.90%) CI/CD
8 188 (13.20%) Test Automation
9 165 (11.59%) Data Validation
10 152 (10.67%) Migration
11 147 (10.32%) Business Intelligence
12 139 (9.76%) Data Modelling
12 139 (9.76%) Decision-Making
13 136 (9.55%) Stakeholder Management
14 135 (9.48%) Software Engineering
15 131 (9.20%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 130 (9.13%) Data Governance
17 129 (9.06%) User Acceptance Testing
18 127 (8.92%) DevOps
19 125 (8.78%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 322 (22.61%) Python
2 275 (19.31%) SQL
3 57 (4.00%) C++
4 54 (3.79%) Java
5 49 (3.44%) C
6 39 (2.74%) Go
7 36 (2.53%) PowerShell
8 32 (2.25%) C#
9 29 (2.04%) JavaScript
10 28 (1.97%) Bash
11 25 (1.76%) MATLAB
12 18 (1.26%) T-SQL
13 15 (1.05%) Embedded C
14 13 (0.91%) TypeScript
15 12 (0.84%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 9 (0.63%) Embedded C++
16 9 (0.63%) VBA
17 8 (0.56%) ABAP
18 7 (0.49%) R
19 6 (0.42%) Apex Code
Qualifications
1 312 (21.91%) Degree
2 168 (11.80%) Security Cleared
3 129 (9.06%) BPSS Clearance
4 67 (4.71%) Master's Degree
5 66 (4.63%) SC Cleared
6 42 (2.95%) DV Cleared
7 40 (2.81%) Computer Science Degree
8 38 (2.67%) Chartered Engineer
9 35 (2.46%) CISA
9 35 (2.46%) CISSP
10 32 (2.25%) CISM
11 31 (2.18%) SANS
12 28 (1.97%) HNC
13 25 (1.76%) CGEIT
13 25 (1.76%) FFIEC
13 25 (1.76%) HND
14 24 (1.69%) PMI Certification
15 21 (1.47%) PMP
16 11 (0.77%) ACCA
16 11 (0.77%) CIMA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 197 (13.83%) Data Quality
2 150 (10.53%) QA
3 64 (4.49%) GDPR
4 59 (4.14%) Accessibility
5 43 (3.02%) GRC
6 34 (2.39%) ISO/IEC 15288
7 27 (1.90%) NIST
8 25 (1.76%) COBIT
9 24 (1.69%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 20 (1.40%) IFRS
11 18 (1.26%) IEC 61508
12 17 (1.19%) SLA
13 13 (0.91%) GAAP
13 13 (0.91%) ISO 9001
14 12 (0.84%) PMO
15 11 (0.77%) GMP
16 10 (0.70%) Good Clinical Practice
16 10 (0.70%) ISO 13485
16 10 (0.70%) WCAG
17 9 (0.63%) 21 CFR Part 11
System Software
1 62 (4.35%) Docker
2 36 (2.53%) Active Directory
2 36 (2.53%) Firmware
3 22 (1.54%) Virtual Machines
4 15 (1.05%) VMware Infrastructure
4 15 (1.05%) vSphere
5 8 (0.56%) Embedded Firmware
6 6 (0.42%) KVM
7 5 (0.35%) Hyper-V
8 3 (0.21%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.14%) Terminal Services
10 1 (0.070%) iptables
10 1 (0.070%) OpenAM
10 1 (0.070%) OpenDJ
10 1 (0.070%) OpenIDM
Systems Management
1 69 (4.85%) Kubernetes
2 50 (3.51%) Terraform
3 31 (2.18%) Grafana
4 25 (1.76%) Ansible
5 17 (1.19%) Prometheus
6 15 (1.05%) Functional Safety
7 14 (0.98%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 11 (0.77%) SCCM
9 9 (0.63%) Puppet
10 8 (0.56%) Microsoft Intune
11 7 (0.49%) Cilium
12 4 (0.28%) Argo
12 4 (0.28%) Rancher
12 4 (0.28%) yum
13 3 (0.21%) HP Fortify
13 3 (0.21%) Kibana
14 2 (0.14%) BMC PATROL
14 2 (0.14%) Computer Incident Response Team
14 2 (0.14%) FortiGate
14 2 (0.14%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 185 (12.99%) Microsoft
2 79 (5.55%) Oracle
3 73 (5.13%) SAP
4 50 (3.51%) Salesforce
5 30 (2.11%) Red Hat
6 28 (1.97%) VMware
7 25 (1.76%) CrowdStrike
8 24 (1.69%) Databricks
8 24 (1.69%) Palo Alto
9 22 (1.54%) Cisco
9 22 (1.54%) ServiceNow
9 22 (1.54%) Tenable
10 20 (1.40%) Google
11 19 (1.33%) Adobe
12 18 (1.26%) Foundry
13 17 (1.19%) OpenAI
14 15 (1.05%) IBM
15 14 (0.98%) Citrix
16 11 (0.77%) Automation Anywhere
16 11 (0.77%) UiPath