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

6 months to
3 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 87 88 195
Rank change year-on-year +1 +107 +10
Permanent jobs citing Validation 2,164 1,656 1,138
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.97% 3.33% 1.41%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.69% 3.76% 1.74%
Number of salaries quoted 1,295 511 470
10th Percentile £36,250 £38,750 £39,000
25th Percentile £42,500 £41,250 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.55% -8.33% -6.25%
75th Percentile £71,250 £73,750 £75,938
90th Percentile £86,500 £88,750 £93,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £52,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.76% -4.55% -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 80,423 44,076 65,401
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.05% 88.58% 80.81%
Number of salaries quoted 55,931 25,099 39,866
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £36,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £56,341
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -2.38% -6.10%
75th Percentile £79,938 £75,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £96,250 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £51,350
% change year-on-year +15.79% -7.50% -5.93%

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 September 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 3 September 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 -4 2,003 £57,500 +4.55% 3,312
UK excluding London -21 1,568 £55,000 +4.76% 2,094
Work from Home +118 600 £56,000 -6.67% 1,268
London +64 518 £70,000 -11.39% 1,684
South East -15 457 £60,000 +11.63% 525
North of England +102 405 £55,000 +15.79% 321
North West +88 241 £55,000 +15.35% 193
Midlands -43 226 £47,500 -13.64% 272
South West +19 206 £55,000 +4.56% 324
East of England -59 158 £56,250 +1.81% 315
West Midlands +25 127 £47,500 -13.64% 183
East Midlands -60 98 £46,743 +9.98% 89
North East +4 82 £55,000 +57.14% 59
Yorkshire -1 82 £43,000 +1.18% 77
Scotland +41 76 £70,000 +20.62% 263
Wales -35 34 £70,000 +30.23% 50
Isle of Man - 5 £38,500 -
Northern Ireland -87 2 - - 61

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 46 (2.13%) Apache Airflow
2 44 (2.03%) Apache Spark
3 42 (1.94%) Apache
4 34 (1.57%) Confluence
5 33 (1.52%) SharePoint
6 20 (0.92%) Jupyter
7 13 (0.60%) SAS
8 11 (0.51%) Microsoft Exchange
9 7 (0.32%) WinCC
10 5 (0.23%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 5 (0.23%) CMS
11 3 (0.14%) Artix
11 3 (0.14%) Kinematics
11 3 (0.14%) Oracle SOA Suite
12 2 (0.092%) Cloud Foundry
12 2 (0.092%) IIS
13 1 (0.046%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
13 1 (0.046%) OpenStack
13 1 (0.046%) Oracle Workflow
13 1 (0.046%) WebSphere
Applications
1 115 (5.31%) Microsoft Excel
2 61 (2.82%) Microsoft Office
3 42 (1.94%) Simulink
4 35 (1.62%) Microsoft Project
5 17 (0.79%) SOLIDWORKS
5 17 (0.79%) Spreadsheet
6 16 (0.74%) MS Visio
7 11 (0.51%) AutoCAD
7 11 (0.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
8 5 (0.23%) LaTeX
8 5 (0.23%) Mathcad
8 5 (0.23%) Revit
9 4 (0.18%) Adobe XD
9 4 (0.18%) CANalyzer
9 4 (0.18%) OrCAD
9 4 (0.18%) Sketch
10 3 (0.14%) Autodesk Inventor
10 3 (0.14%) Navisworks
10 3 (0.14%) Productboard
10 3 (0.14%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 41 (1.89%) Dynamics CRM
2 38 (1.76%) SAP S/4HANA
3 10 (0.46%) SAP MDG
4 9 (0.42%) iTrent
4 9 (0.42%) Oracle EBS
5 8 (0.37%) Oracle Applications
6 7 (0.32%) Elite 3E
6 7 (0.32%) NetSuite
6 7 (0.32%) SAP ERP
7 6 (0.28%) Teamcenter
7 6 (0.28%) Workday HCM
8 5 (0.23%) SAP MDG-BP
9 4 (0.18%) Oracle Financials
9 4 (0.18%) SAP MM
10 3 (0.14%) Infor M3
10 3 (0.14%) Loan IQ
10 3 (0.14%) Maximo
10 3 (0.14%) Oracle ERP
10 3 (0.14%) SystmOne
11 2 (0.092%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 294 (13.59%) Azure
2 252 (11.65%) AWS
3 164 (7.58%) Power Platform
4 92 (4.25%) GCP
5 76 (3.51%) SaaS
6 70 (3.23%) Azure DevOps
7 64 (2.96%) Microsoft 365
8 59 (2.73%) GitHub
9 49 (2.26%) Serverless
10 38 (1.76%) Dynamics 365
11 36 (1.66%) Amazon S3
12 34 (1.57%) Entra ID
13 30 (1.39%) GitHub Actions
14 28 (1.29%) Microsoft Copilot
15 22 (1.02%) Amazon EMR
15 22 (1.02%) Cloud Computing
16 21 (0.97%) PowerApps
17 20 (0.92%) Amazon EC2
17 20 (0.92%) Azure Data Factory
17 20 (0.92%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 65 (3.00%) Firewall
2 64 (2.96%) Broadband
2 64 (2.96%) DNS
3 42 (1.94%) Wireless
4 36 (1.66%) WAN
5 34 (1.57%) Network Security
5 34 (1.57%) VPN
6 32 (1.48%) TCP/IP
7 26 (1.20%) Ethernet
7 26 (1.20%) LAN
8 23 (1.06%) SD-WAN
9 21 (0.97%) OSPF
9 21 (0.97%) VLAN
10 20 (0.92%) BGP
10 20 (0.92%) MQTT
11 19 (0.88%) Modbus
12 18 (0.83%) Wireshark
13 17 (0.79%) Wi-Fi
14 15 (0.69%) 5G
14 15 (0.69%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 149 (6.89%) Power BI
2 57 (2.63%) Data Warehouse
3 51 (2.36%) Metadata
3 51 (2.36%) PostgreSQL
4 47 (2.17%) Data Lake
5 44 (2.03%) SQL Server
6 42 (1.94%) Tableau
7 34 (1.57%) MongoDB
8 29 (1.34%) Relational Database
9 28 (1.29%) Amazon Athena
10 27 (1.25%) BigQuery
11 24 (1.11%) DynamoDB
12 22 (1.02%) Semantic Layer
13 21 (0.97%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 20 (0.92%) Big Data
15 19 (0.88%) Azure SQL Database
16 18 (0.83%) MySQL
17 17 (0.79%) NoSQL
18 16 (0.74%) Power Query
19 13 (0.60%) Amazon Redshift
Development Applications
1 128 (5.91%) JIRA
2 108 (4.99%) Git
3 56 (2.59%) Jenkins
4 50 (2.31%) GitLab
5 37 (1.71%) Rational DOORS
6 28 (1.29%) Selenium
7 24 (1.11%) Postman
8 22 (1.02%) Snyk
9 21 (0.97%) Cypress.io
9 21 (0.97%) LabVIEW
10 13 (0.60%) Burp Suite
11 12 (0.55%) Cucumber
11 12 (0.55%) JMeter
12 11 (0.51%) REST Assured
13 10 (0.46%) TeamCity
14 9 (0.42%) Gatling
14 9 (0.42%) Zephyr
15 8 (0.37%) Rational Rhapsody
16 7 (0.32%) Claude Code
16 7 (0.32%) MLflow
General
1 720 (33.27%) Social Skills
2 568 (26.25%) Finance
3 514 (23.75%) Analytical Skills
4 205 (9.47%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 203 (9.38%) Aerospace
6 193 (8.92%) Manufacturing
7 185 (8.55%) Electronics
8 128 (5.91%) Law
9 101 (4.67%) Banking
10 88 (4.07%) Public Sector
11 81 (3.74%) Marketing
11 81 (3.74%) Retail
12 76 (3.51%) Pharmaceutical
13 74 (3.42%) Organisational Skills
14 62 (2.87%) Legal
15 60 (2.77%) Automotive
16 57 (2.63%) Telecoms
17 47 (2.17%) Influencing Skills
18 44 (2.03%) Games
19 41 (1.89%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 391 (18.07%) Senior
2 264 (12.20%) Analyst
3 252 (11.65%) Systems Engineer
4 192 (8.87%) Lead
5 128 (5.91%) Test Engineer
6 120 (5.55%) Architect
7 102 (4.71%) Data Engineer
8 94 (4.34%) Developer
9 82 (3.79%) Consultant
10 79 (3.65%) Business Analyst
11 78 (3.60%) Software Engineer
12 67 (3.10%) Data Analyst
12 67 (3.10%) Principal Engineer
13 65 (3.00%) Validation Engineer
14 51 (2.36%) Embedded Engineer
15 49 (2.26%) Network Engineer
15 49 (2.26%) Support Engineer
16 48 (2.22%) Data Scientist
17 47 (2.17%) Electronics Engineer
18 44 (2.03%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 73 (3.37%) Terraform
2 52 (2.40%) RESTful
3 49 (2.26%) Kafka
4 46 (2.13%) REST
5 42 (1.94%) Node.js
6 33 (1.52%) JSON
6 33 (1.52%) XML
7 32 (1.48%) .NET
7 32 (1.48%) Playwright
8 29 (1.34%) PySpark
9 27 (1.25%) LDAP
10 26 (1.20%) Middleware
11 24 (1.11%) CSS
12 23 (1.06%) HTML
12 23 (1.06%) React
13 22 (1.02%) FastAPI
14 21 (0.97%) ModSecurity
14 21 (0.97%) Swagger
15 19 (0.88%) Regular Expression
15 19 (0.88%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 155 (7.16%) Cloud Native
2 125 (5.78%) Onboarding
3 119 (5.50%) Management Information System
4 83 (3.84%) Product Ownership
5 79 (3.65%) Data Centre
6 63 (2.91%) Embedded Systems
7 60 (2.77%) Data Structures
8 57 (2.63%) Driving Licence
8 57 (2.63%) Enterprise Software
9 54 (2.50%) Algorithms
9 54 (2.50%) Distributed Systems
10 48 (2.22%) Low-Code
11 44 (2.03%) AI Agents
12 43 (1.99%) Life Science
13 40 (1.85%) Analytical Mindset
14 39 (1.80%) Robotics
15 37 (1.71%) Legacy Systems
16 36 (1.66%) IoT
17 35 (1.62%) SCADA
18 34 (1.57%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 130 (6.01%) Linux
2 92 (4.25%) Windows
3 35 (1.62%) Windows Server
4 23 (1.06%) Unix
5 20 (0.92%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (0.46%) Android
7 9 (0.42%) Embedded Linux
8 7 (0.32%) Mac OS
9 6 (0.28%) FreeRTOS
10 5 (0.23%) Kali Linux
11 4 (0.18%) Mac OS X
12 3 (0.14%) Apple iOS
13 2 (0.092%) Robot Operating System
13 2 (0.092%) ThreadX
13 2 (0.092%) VMS
13 2 (0.092%) Windows 10
14 1 (0.046%) AIX
14 1 (0.046%) OpenWrt
Processes & Methodologies
1 546 (25.23%) Problem-Solving
2 508 (23.48%) Continuous Improvement
3 421 (19.45%) Agile
4 383 (17.70%) AI
5 353 (16.31%) Verification and Validation
6 307 (14.19%) CI/CD
7 281 (12.99%) Stakeholder Management
8 276 (12.75%) Test Automation
9 254 (11.74%) Migration
10 252 (11.65%) Analytics
11 244 (11.28%) Mentoring
12 222 (10.26%) Decision-Making
12 222 (10.26%) Software Engineering
13 203 (9.38%) DevOps
14 190 (8.78%) Machine Learning
15 188 (8.69%) Business Intelligence
16 187 (8.64%) Data Analysis
17 183 (8.46%) Stakeholder Engagement
18 177 (8.18%) Roadmaps
19 165 (7.62%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 471 (21.77%) Python
2 386 (17.84%) SQL
3 96 (4.44%) Java
4 90 (4.16%) C++
5 83 (3.84%) C
6 64 (2.96%) JavaScript
7 57 (2.63%) MATLAB
8 54 (2.50%) C#
8 54 (2.50%) Go
9 32 (1.48%) Bash
10 29 (1.34%) Embedded C
11 27 (1.25%) PowerShell
12 23 (1.06%) TypeScript
13 22 (1.02%) Scala
14 19 (0.88%) R
15 18 (0.83%) Embedded C++
16 12 (0.55%) T-SQL
17 10 (0.46%) Data Analysis Expressions
18 9 (0.42%) ABAP
19 8 (0.37%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 467 (21.58%) Degree
2 440 (20.33%) Security Cleared
3 308 (14.23%) SC Cleared
4 122 (5.64%) BPSS Clearance
5 108 (4.99%) DV Cleared
6 85 (3.93%) Master's Degree
7 49 (2.26%) Computer Science Degree
8 38 (1.76%) PhD
9 35 (1.62%) CISSP
10 34 (1.57%) Chartered Engineer
11 32 (1.48%) HNC
11 32 (1.48%) PMI Certification
12 31 (1.43%) HND
13 27 (1.25%) CISM
14 24 (1.11%) AWS Certification
15 23 (1.06%) ACCA
15 23 (1.06%) Azure Certification
16 22 (1.02%) CIMA
17 20 (0.92%) Cisco Certification
18 19 (0.88%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 315 (14.56%) Data Quality
2 289 (13.35%) QA
3 78 (3.60%) Accessibility
4 54 (2.50%) GDPR
5 36 (1.66%) GRC
6 27 (1.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 24 (1.11%) GxP
8 22 (1.02%) IEC 61508
8 22 (1.02%) NIST
9 19 (0.88%) SLA
10 17 (0.79%) PMO
11 15 (0.69%) ISO 26262
11 15 (0.69%) ISO 9001
12 14 (0.65%) GMP
12 14 (0.65%) WCAG
13 11 (0.51%) GAAP
13 11 (0.51%) IFRS
14 10 (0.46%) ISO/IEC 15288
14 10 (0.46%) SOC 2
15 9 (0.42%) Def Stans
System Software
1 85 (3.93%) Firmware
2 78 (3.60%) Docker
3 47 (2.17%) Active Directory
4 37 (1.71%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.29%) Virtual Machines
6 21 (0.97%) vSphere
7 11 (0.51%) VMware Infrastructure
8 4 (0.18%) Hyper-V
8 4 (0.18%) KVM
9 2 (0.092%) iptables
9 2 (0.092%) ProxySG
9 2 (0.092%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.046%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.046%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 78 (3.60%) Kubernetes
2 41 (1.89%) Grafana
3 30 (1.39%) Ansible
4 27 (1.25%) Functional Safety
5 16 (0.74%) Prometheus
6 15 (0.69%) Single Sign-On
7 10 (0.46%) Cilium
8 8 (0.37%) Puppet
9 7 (0.32%) Kibana
9 7 (0.32%) Microsoft Intune
9 7 (0.32%) Nessus
9 7 (0.32%) Nmap
10 5 (0.23%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
10 5 (0.23%) FortiGate
10 5 (0.23%) SCCM
10 5 (0.23%) WMI
11 4 (0.18%) BMC PATROL
11 4 (0.18%) HP Fortify
11 4 (0.18%) Kubeflow
12 3 (0.14%) Argo
Vendors
1 270 (12.48%) Microsoft
2 115 (5.31%) SAP
3 95 (4.39%) Oracle
4 59 (2.73%) Salesforce
5 56 (2.59%) Databricks
6 52 (2.40%) Cisco
7 51 (2.36%) ServiceNow
8 42 (1.94%) Google
9 31 (1.43%) EMC
10 30 (1.39%) VMware
11 29 (1.34%) CrowdStrike
12 28 (1.29%) Palo Alto
13 24 (1.11%) Red Hat
14 22 (1.02%) Tenable
15 18 (0.83%) IBM
16 17 (0.79%) Splunk
17 15 (0.69%) McAfee
17 15 (0.69%) Siemens
18 14 (0.65%) Foundry
19 13 (0.60%) Workday