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

6 months to
6 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 101 87 208
Rank change year-on-year -14 +121 -13
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,884 1,682 1,093
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.80% 3.39% 1.31%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.45% 3.79% 1.61%
Number of salaries quoted 1,091 516 532
10th Percentile £35,000 £38,750 £36,250
25th Percentile £42,358 £42,500 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year - -8.33% -4.00%
75th Percentile £74,066 £71,250 £75,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £89,375 £91,125
UK excluding London median annual salary £53,000 £52,600 £54,500
% change year-on-year +0.76% -3.49% -0.99%

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 76,965 44,351 67,835
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.55% 89.45% 81.04%
Number of salaries quoted 53,101 25,205 44,372
10th Percentile £30,750 £28,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £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 £97,500 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £48,750 £50,000
% change year-on-year +12.82% -2.50% -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 6 August 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 6 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 -16 1,717 £55,000 - 1,721
UK excluding London -36 1,285 £53,000 +0.76% 1,095
Work from Home +116 587 £56,000 -6.67% 611
London +77 486 £72,500 -6.45% 740
South East -38 388 £56,000 +1.82% 328
North of England +106 360 £52,500 +10.53% 205
North West +97 208 £55,000 +15.35% 120
Midlands -52 194 £44,000 -20.00% 178
South West -18 139 £51,750 -1.62% 157
East of England -75 119 £62,500 +9.65% 146
West Midlands +7 106 £44,360 -26.07% 112
East Midlands -65 87 £42,500 - 66
North East +9 77 £55,000 +57.14% 41
Yorkshire +17 75 £43,000 +1.18% 47
Scotland +33 57 £55,000 -5.23% 76
Wales -35 28 £47,500 -11.63% 20
Northern Ireland -72 2 - - 6

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 59 (3.13%) Apache Airflow
2 55 (2.92%) Apache
2 55 (2.92%) Apache Spark
3 34 (1.80%) Confluence
4 31 (1.65%) SharePoint
5 21 (1.11%) ArcGIS
6 20 (1.06%) Jupyter
7 12 (0.64%) Microsoft Exchange
7 12 (0.64%) SAS
8 5 (0.27%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 5 (0.27%) CMS
9 4 (0.21%) Kinematics
9 4 (0.21%) WinCC
10 3 (0.16%) Artix
10 3 (0.16%) Oracle SOA Suite
11 2 (0.11%) Cloud Foundry
11 2 (0.11%) IIS
12 1 (0.053%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
12 1 (0.053%) Oracle Workflow
12 1 (0.053%) WebSphere
Applications
1 116 (6.16%) Microsoft Excel
2 67 (3.56%) Microsoft Office
3 31 (1.65%) Microsoft Project
4 27 (1.43%) MS Visio
5 26 (1.38%) Simulink
6 17 (0.90%) Spreadsheet
7 15 (0.80%) Microsoft PowerPoint
8 11 (0.58%) SOLIDWORKS
9 6 (0.32%) AutoCAD
10 5 (0.27%) LaTeX
11 4 (0.21%) Adobe XD
11 4 (0.21%) CANalyzer
11 4 (0.21%) Mathcad
11 4 (0.21%) Sketch
12 3 (0.16%) Autodesk Inventor
12 3 (0.16%) Productboard
12 3 (0.16%) Stateflow
13 2 (0.11%) OrCAD
13 2 (0.11%) Solid Edge
14 1 (0.053%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 49 (2.60%) SAP S/4HANA
2 41 (2.18%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.58%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.53%) Elite 3E
4 10 (0.53%) SAP ERP
5 9 (0.48%) iTrent
5 9 (0.48%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.42%) Oracle Applications
6 8 (0.42%) Oracle ERP
7 6 (0.32%) NetSuite
8 5 (0.27%) Loan IQ
8 5 (0.27%) SAP MDG-BP
8 5 (0.27%) Teamcenter
9 4 (0.21%) Oracle Financials
9 4 (0.21%) SAP MM
9 4 (0.21%) Workday HCM
10 2 (0.11%) SAP CO
10 2 (0.11%) SAP FI
10 2 (0.11%) SAP FI/CO
10 2 (0.11%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 288 (15.29%) Azure
2 266 (14.12%) AWS
3 166 (8.81%) Power Platform
4 88 (4.67%) GCP
5 80 (4.25%) SaaS
6 68 (3.61%) Azure DevOps
7 54 (2.87%) GitHub
7 54 (2.87%) Microsoft 365
8 50 (2.65%) Serverless
9 44 (2.34%) Amazon S3
10 40 (2.12%) Dynamics 365
11 27 (1.43%) Entra ID
11 27 (1.43%) GitHub Actions
11 27 (1.43%) Microsoft Copilot
12 22 (1.17%) Amazon EC2
12 22 (1.17%) Cloud Computing
13 21 (1.11%) Amazon EMR
14 20 (1.06%) PowerApps
15 19 (1.01%) Microsoft Purview
15 19 (1.01%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 70 (3.72%) Broadband
2 54 (2.87%) Firewall
3 47 (2.49%) DNS
4 33 (1.75%) Wireless
5 31 (1.65%) TCP/IP
6 29 (1.54%) Network Security
7 26 (1.38%) WAN
8 25 (1.33%) VPN
9 18 (0.96%) Ethernet
9 18 (0.96%) SD-WAN
10 16 (0.85%) MQTT
10 16 (0.85%) Wi-Fi
11 15 (0.80%) Internet
11 15 (0.80%) LAN
11 15 (0.80%) Wireshark
12 13 (0.69%) HTTP
13 12 (0.64%) BGP
14 11 (0.58%) 5G
14 11 (0.58%) NGN
14 11 (0.58%) RS-232
Database & Business Intelligence
1 150 (7.96%) Power BI
2 58 (3.08%) Tableau
3 57 (3.03%) Data Warehouse
4 55 (2.92%) PostgreSQL
5 50 (2.65%) SQL Server
6 48 (2.55%) Metadata
7 39 (2.07%) Data Lake
8 34 (1.80%) MongoDB
9 29 (1.54%) Relational Database
10 27 (1.43%) BigQuery
11 25 (1.33%) QGIS
12 23 (1.22%) Amazon Athena
12 23 (1.22%) DynamoDB
12 23 (1.22%) Semantic Layer
13 22 (1.17%) GIS
14 21 (1.11%) SQL Server Integration Services
15 20 (1.06%) Azure SQL Database
15 20 (1.06%) Power Query
15 20 (1.06%) Spark SQL
15 20 (1.06%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 122 (6.48%) JIRA
2 107 (5.68%) Git
3 52 (2.76%) Jenkins
4 47 (2.49%) GitLab
5 34 (1.80%) Rational DOORS
6 24 (1.27%) Selenium
7 22 (1.17%) Snyk
8 21 (1.11%) Postman
9 17 (0.90%) Cypress.io
10 16 (0.85%) LabVIEW
11 14 (0.74%) JMeter
12 13 (0.69%) Cucumber
12 13 (0.69%) IBM UrbanCode
13 10 (0.53%) REST Assured
13 10 (0.53%) TeamCity
14 9 (0.48%) Burp Suite
15 8 (0.42%) Rational Rhapsody
16 7 (0.37%) MLflow
16 7 (0.37%) Zephyr
17 6 (0.32%) Hudson
General
1 640 (33.97%) Social Skills
2 531 (28.18%) Finance
3 465 (24.68%) Analytical Skills
4 177 (9.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 176 (9.34%) Aerospace
6 165 (8.76%) Manufacturing
7 145 (7.70%) Electronics
8 104 (5.52%) Banking
9 103 (5.47%) Law
10 76 (4.03%) Public Sector
11 72 (3.82%) Retail
12 66 (3.50%) Organisational Skills
12 66 (3.50%) Pharmaceutical
13 62 (3.29%) Marketing
14 60 (3.18%) Legal
15 48 (2.55%) Automotive
16 46 (2.44%) Games
17 37 (1.96%) Telecoms
18 34 (1.80%) Documentation Skills
19 33 (1.75%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 343 (18.21%) Senior
2 266 (14.12%) Analyst
3 171 (9.08%) Lead
4 133 (7.06%) Systems Engineer
5 113 (6.00%) Test Engineer
6 112 (5.94%) Architect
7 104 (5.52%) Consultant
8 99 (5.25%) Data Engineer
9 86 (4.56%) Developer
10 84 (4.46%) Business Analyst
11 67 (3.56%) Data Analyst
11 67 (3.56%) Software Engineer
12 66 (3.50%) Validation Engineer
13 58 (3.08%) Principal Engineer
14 46 (2.44%) Embedded Engineer
15 44 (2.34%) Support Engineer
16 43 (2.28%) Data Scientist
17 39 (2.07%) IT Manager
18 37 (1.96%) Project Manager
18 37 (1.96%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 47 (2.49%) RESTful
2 41 (2.18%) Kafka
3 39 (2.07%) Node.js
3 39 (2.07%) PySpark
4 38 (2.02%) REST
5 32 (1.70%) PyTorch
6 31 (1.65%) JSON
7 29 (1.54%) .NET
7 29 (1.54%) XML
8 26 (1.38%) Middleware
8 26 (1.38%) Playwright
9 24 (1.27%) Pandas
10 22 (1.17%) LDAP
11 21 (1.11%) CSS
12 20 (1.06%) HTML
13 19 (1.01%) React
13 19 (1.01%) Regular Expression
13 19 (1.01%) XMPP
14 17 (0.90%) FastAPI
14 17 (0.90%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 135 (7.17%) Cloud Native
2 130 (6.90%) Onboarding
3 98 (5.20%) Management Information System
4 71 (3.77%) Product Ownership
5 70 (3.72%) Algorithms
6 65 (3.45%) Data Centre
7 63 (3.34%) Data Structures
8 52 (2.76%) Embedded Systems
9 50 (2.65%) Enterprise Software
10 48 (2.55%) Distributed Systems
10 48 (2.55%) Driving Licence
11 45 (2.39%) Low-Code
12 38 (2.02%) Analytical Mindset
13 36 (1.91%) AI Agents
14 35 (1.86%) Legacy Systems
14 35 (1.86%) Life Science
15 33 (1.75%) Video\Live Streaming
16 29 (1.54%) Robotics
16 29 (1.54%) Self-Motivation
17 28 (1.49%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 119 (6.32%) Linux
2 88 (4.67%) Windows
3 34 (1.80%) Windows Server
4 24 (1.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (1.01%) Unix
6 6 (0.32%) Android
6 6 (0.32%) Embedded Linux
6 6 (0.32%) FreeRTOS
7 4 (0.21%) Kali Linux
7 4 (0.21%) Mac OS
7 4 (0.21%) Mac OS X
8 2 (0.11%) AIX
8 2 (0.11%) Robot Operating System
8 2 (0.11%) ThreadX
8 2 (0.11%) VMS
8 2 (0.11%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.053%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 486 (25.80%) Problem-Solving
2 467 (24.79%) Continuous Improvement
3 409 (21.71%) Agile
4 364 (19.32%) AI
5 297 (15.76%) CI/CD
6 266 (14.12%) Analytics
7 252 (13.38%) Stakeholder Management
8 241 (12.79%) Test Automation
9 240 (12.74%) Migration
10 229 (12.15%) Mentoring
11 214 (11.36%) Decision-Making
12 199 (10.56%) Data Analysis
13 197 (10.46%) Software Engineering
14 196 (10.40%) Verification and Validation
15 189 (10.03%) Machine Learning
16 188 (9.98%) DevOps
17 180 (9.55%) Business Intelligence
18 173 (9.18%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 171 (9.08%) User Acceptance Testing
20 170 (9.02%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 476 (25.27%) Python
2 380 (20.17%) SQL
3 85 (4.51%) Java
4 84 (4.46%) C++
5 76 (4.03%) C
6 55 (2.92%) Go
6 55 (2.92%) JavaScript
7 51 (2.71%) C#
8 41 (2.18%) MATLAB
9 29 (1.54%) PowerShell
10 28 (1.49%) Bash
11 23 (1.22%) Embedded C
12 20 (1.06%) Scala
13 19 (1.01%) T-SQL
13 19 (1.01%) TypeScript
14 18 (0.96%) Embedded C++
15 15 (0.80%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 11 (0.58%) R
17 10 (0.53%) ABAP
17 10 (0.53%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 391 (20.75%) Degree
2 266 (14.12%) Security Cleared
3 146 (7.75%) SC Cleared
4 132 (7.01%) BPSS Clearance
5 94 (4.99%) DV Cleared
6 75 (3.98%) Master's Degree
7 43 (2.28%) Computer Science Degree
8 33 (1.75%) CISSP
9 32 (1.70%) Chartered Engineer
10 29 (1.54%) PhD
11 28 (1.49%) HNC
12 27 (1.43%) PMI Certification
13 26 (1.38%) ACCA
13 26 (1.38%) CIMA
13 26 (1.38%) CISM
14 23 (1.22%) AWS Certification
15 22 (1.17%) HND
16 20 (1.06%) CISA
16 20 (1.06%) SANS
17 18 (0.96%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 308 (16.35%) Data Quality
2 261 (13.85%) QA
3 85 (4.51%) Accessibility
4 56 (2.97%) GDPR
5 38 (2.02%) GRC
6 25 (1.33%) IEC 61508
6 25 (1.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 22 (1.17%) NIST
8 21 (1.11%) SLA
9 18 (0.96%) PMO
10 16 (0.85%) GxP
11 15 (0.80%) GAAP
11 15 (0.80%) IFRS
11 15 (0.80%) ISO 26262
11 15 (0.80%) WCAG
12 13 (0.69%) GMP
12 13 (0.69%) ISO 9001
13 11 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 15288
13 11 (0.58%) SOC 2
14 10 (0.53%) COBIT
System Software
1 76 (4.03%) Docker
2 72 (3.82%) Firmware
3 42 (2.23%) Active Directory
4 29 (1.54%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.49%) Virtual Machines
6 22 (1.17%) vSphere
7 19 (1.01%) VMware Infrastructure
8 8 (0.42%) KVM
9 5 (0.27%) Hyper-V
10 3 (0.16%) VMware ESXi
11 2 (0.11%) ProxySG
12 1 (0.053%) BitLocker
12 1 (0.053%) iptables
12 1 (0.053%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 79 (4.19%) Kubernetes
2 76 (4.03%) Terraform
3 40 (2.12%) Grafana
4 27 (1.43%) Ansible
5 25 (1.33%) Functional Safety
6 16 (0.85%) Prometheus
7 11 (0.58%) Puppet
8 10 (0.53%) Cilium
8 10 (0.53%) Single Sign-On
9 8 (0.42%) SCCM
10 7 (0.37%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
10 7 (0.37%) Kibana
11 5 (0.27%) Microsoft Intune
12 4 (0.21%) Argo
12 4 (0.21%) FortiGate
12 4 (0.21%) Nessus
12 4 (0.21%) Nmap
12 4 (0.21%) WMI
13 3 (0.16%) Kubeflow
13 3 (0.16%) Rancher
Vendors
1 267 (14.17%) Microsoft
2 121 (6.42%) SAP
3 103 (5.47%) Oracle
4 59 (3.13%) Salesforce
5 50 (2.65%) Databricks
6 43 (2.28%) ServiceNow
7 40 (2.12%) Google
8 38 (2.02%) VMware
9 37 (1.96%) Cisco
10 35 (1.86%) Red Hat
11 29 (1.54%) CrowdStrike
12 26 (1.38%) Palo Alto
13 22 (1.17%) Tenable
14 19 (1.01%) EMC
15 17 (0.90%) IBM
16 16 (0.85%) Foundry
17 15 (0.80%) McAfee
18 14 (0.74%) Adobe
18 14 (0.74%) Splunk
19 13 (0.69%) Workday