Validation Job Trends

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

6 months to
26 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 141 191 179
Rank change year-on-year +50 -12 -27
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,058 772 1,287
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.52% 1.62% 1.72%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.92% 1.75% 1.94%
Number of salaries quoted 545 308 759
10th Percentile £36,250 £38,275 £34,750
25th Percentile £44,972 £47,000 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £56,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.19% +2.73% -12.00%
75th Percentile £77,500 £71,250 £72,433
90th Percentile £91,250 £97,500 £84,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £55,000 £51,528
% change year-on-year - +6.74% -6.31%

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 55,019 44,239 66,292
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 78.97% 92.93% 88.38%
Number of salaries quoted 33,006 22,069 51,040
10th Percentile £29,000 £33,750 £29,440
25th Percentile £38,500 £45,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,001 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -12.00%
75th Percentile £76,250 £81,250 £75,000
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -9.07%

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 26 February 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 26 February 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 +52 919 £60,000 +7.14% 718
UK excluding London +22 652 £55,000 - 610
London +74 308 £75,000 +7.14% 203
Work from Home +114 301 £60,000 +7.14% 301
South East +51 199 £55,000 +4.76% 193
North of England -2 129 £60,000 +26.32% 121
Midlands +12 111 £37,500 -30.23% 125
North West +9 89 £58,000 +21.64% 70
East of England +2 89 £59,000 +7.27% 86
South West +5 70 £62,500 +18.82% 72
West Midlands +13 67 £42,215 -32.46% 87
East Midlands -3 43 £35,000 -32.69% 37
Scotland -17 40 £42,000 -27.63% 21
Yorkshire -39 29 £65,000 +42.94% 38
Wales +1 12 £61,250 +24.74% 6
North East -4 11 £45,497 +9.63% 14
Northern Ireland -29 3 - - 5

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 35 (3.31%) Apache Airflow
2 25 (2.36%) Apache Spark
3 21 (1.98%) ArcGIS
4 20 (1.89%) Apache
4 20 (1.89%) Confluence
5 13 (1.23%) Microsoft Exchange
6 12 (1.13%) Appian
6 12 (1.13%) SharePoint
7 10 (0.95%) CMS
8 4 (0.38%) Headless CMS
9 2 (0.19%) Kinematics
9 2 (0.19%) WordPress
10 1 (0.095%) Anypoint
10 1 (0.095%) FileNet
10 1 (0.095%) Jupyter
10 1 (0.095%) SAS
10 1 (0.095%) SugarCRM
Applications
1 90 (8.51%) Microsoft Excel
2 60 (5.67%) Microsoft Office
3 20 (1.89%) MS Visio
4 19 (1.80%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.66%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 5 (0.47%) Simulink
7 4 (0.38%) Fusion 360
7 4 (0.38%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.19%) Adobe After Effects
8 2 (0.19%) Adobe Captivate
8 2 (0.19%) Adobe Illustrator
8 2 (0.19%) Adobe Premiere
8 2 (0.19%) Elementor
8 2 (0.19%) Microsoft Project
8 2 (0.19%) Oracle Smart View
8 2 (0.19%) Photoshop
8 2 (0.19%) Weka
9 1 (0.095%) CATIA
9 1 (0.095%) GNU Octave
9 1 (0.095%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 26 (2.46%) SAP S/4HANA
2 13 (1.23%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (0.66%) Oracle ERP
3 7 (0.66%) Workday HCM
4 4 (0.38%) Markit EDM
4 4 (0.38%) SAP BPC
4 4 (0.38%) SAP ERP
5 3 (0.28%) Elite 3E
5 3 (0.28%) SAP CX
5 3 (0.28%) SAP MDG
6 2 (0.19%) IBM Planning Analytics
6 2 (0.19%) Primavera
6 2 (0.19%) SAP FSCM
7 1 (0.095%) Loan IQ
7 1 (0.095%) Magento
7 1 (0.095%) NetSuite
7 1 (0.095%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 1 (0.095%) Raiser’s Edge
7 1 (0.095%) Remedy ITSM
7 1 (0.095%) SAP Business ByDesign
Cloud Services
1 172 (16.26%) Azure
2 98 (9.26%) Power Platform
3 97 (9.17%) AWS
4 49 (4.63%) SaaS
5 44 (4.16%) Azure DevOps
6 36 (3.40%) GCP
7 28 (2.65%) Snowflake
8 26 (2.46%) Azure Data Factory
8 26 (2.46%) Dynamics 365
9 24 (2.27%) Amazon S3
10 23 (2.17%) dbt
11 22 (2.08%) Power Automate
12 19 (1.80%) Entra ID
12 19 (1.80%) GitHub
13 16 (1.51%) Microsoft 365
14 14 (1.32%) OpenShift
15 12 (1.13%) Anthropic Claude
15 12 (1.13%) Azure AI
16 11 (1.04%) Figma
16 11 (1.04%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 22 (2.08%) CHAP
2 14 (1.32%) WAN
3 12 (1.13%) 5G
3 12 (1.13%) Firewall
3 12 (1.13%) SD-WAN
3 12 (1.13%) TCP/IP
4 8 (0.76%) Broadband
4 8 (0.76%) DNS
4 8 (0.76%) HTTP
4 8 (0.76%) MQTT
4 8 (0.76%) Wireless
5 7 (0.66%) LAN
5 7 (0.66%) Modbus
6 6 (0.57%) Multicast
7 5 (0.47%) Cisco IOS
7 5 (0.47%) VoIP
7 5 (0.47%) WAAS
8 4 (0.38%) ATM
8 4 (0.38%) Internet
8 4 (0.38%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 91 (8.60%) Power BI
2 41 (3.88%) SQL Server
3 35 (3.31%) Tableau
4 33 (3.12%) Data Warehouse
5 29 (2.74%) Metadata
6 28 (2.65%) GIS
7 25 (2.36%) Relational Database
8 20 (1.89%) QGIS
8 20 (1.89%) Spatial Data
9 15 (1.42%) PostgreSQL
10 14 (1.32%) Oracle Reports
11 13 (1.23%) Azure SQL Database
12 12 (1.13%) Data Lake
12 12 (1.13%) Parquet
12 12 (1.13%) Pinecone
12 12 (1.13%) Spark SQL
13 11 (1.04%) Apache Hive
13 11 (1.04%) Impala
13 11 (1.04%) Oracle Database
13 11 (1.04%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 63 (5.95%) JIRA
2 58 (5.48%) Git
3 46 (4.35%) Rational DOORS
4 21 (1.98%) Jenkins
5 19 (1.80%) Postman
6 16 (1.51%) LabVIEW
7 15 (1.42%) GitLab
8 14 (1.32%) MLflow
9 13 (1.23%) Cucumber
9 13 (1.23%) TestRail
10 11 (1.04%) Eclipse
10 11 (1.04%) IBM UrbanCode
10 11 (1.04%) JMeter
11 9 (0.85%) Selenium
12 8 (0.76%) SoapUI
13 7 (0.66%) Locust
14 6 (0.57%) LoadRunner
14 6 (0.57%) Subversion
15 5 (0.47%) SpecFlow
15 5 (0.47%) Visual Studio
General
1 387 (36.58%) Social Skills
2 302 (28.54%) Finance
3 255 (24.10%) Analytical Skills
4 84 (7.94%) Banking
5 57 (5.39%) Manufacturing
6 55 (5.20%) Electronics
7 51 (4.82%) Financial Institution
8 49 (4.63%) Aerospace
9 46 (4.35%) Marketing
9 46 (4.35%) Presentation Skills
10 43 (4.06%) Legal
11 38 (3.59%) Law
11 38 (3.59%) Public Sector
12 34 (3.21%) Organisational Skills
13 33 (3.12%) Retail
14 29 (2.74%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 29 (2.74%) Telecoms
15 20 (1.89%) Billing
15 20 (1.89%) Documentation Skills
16 19 (1.80%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 182 (17.20%) Analyst
2 158 (14.93%) Senior
3 126 (11.91%) Systems Engineer
4 78 (7.37%) Lead
5 71 (6.71%) Business Analyst
6 66 (6.24%) Architect
7 54 (5.10%) Validation Engineer
8 51 (4.82%) Test Engineer
9 48 (4.54%) Consultant
9 48 (4.54%) Integration Engineer
10 45 (4.25%) Data Analyst
11 40 (3.78%) Junior
12 39 (3.69%) Senior Systems Engineer
13 35 (3.31%) Systems Integration Engineer
14 33 (3.12%) Principal Engineer
15 32 (3.02%) Data Engineer
16 29 (2.74%) Verification Engineer
17 28 (2.65%) Developer
17 28 (2.65%) Solutions Architect
18 26 (2.46%) Principal Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 49 (4.63%) REST
2 40 (3.78%) PyTorch
3 36 (3.40%) Pandas
4 29 (2.74%) JSON
5 27 (2.55%) Middleware
6 24 (2.27%) pytest
6 24 (2.27%) XML
7 19 (1.80%) TensorFlow
8 17 (1.61%) NumPy
8 17 (1.61%) OAuth
9 16 (1.51%) JWT
9 16 (1.51%) PySpark
9 16 (1.51%) scikit-learn
9 16 (1.51%) Swagger
9 16 (1.51%) Web Services
10 14 (1.32%) .NET
10 14 (1.32%) React
11 13 (1.23%) FastAPI
11 13 (1.23%) Hugging Face
11 13 (1.23%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 68 (6.43%) Management Information System
2 48 (4.54%) Onboarding
3 37 (3.50%) Data Structures
4 33 (3.12%) Product Ownership
5 32 (3.02%) Algorithms
5 32 (3.02%) Self-Motivation
6 27 (2.55%) Legacy Systems
7 24 (2.27%) Low-Code
8 22 (2.08%) Life Science
9 18 (1.70%) Analytical Mindset
9 18 (1.70%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 16 (1.51%) SWIFT Messaging Network
11 15 (1.42%) Enterprise Software
12 13 (1.23%) Blockchain
12 13 (1.23%) FPGA
12 13 (1.23%) Reinsurance
13 12 (1.13%) SCADA
14 11 (1.04%) Data Centre
14 11 (1.04%) Embedded Systems
14 11 (1.04%) Self-Driving Car
Operating Systems
1 50 (4.73%) Windows
2 49 (4.63%) Linux
3 15 (1.42%) Unix
4 12 (1.13%) Android
5 9 (0.85%) Windows Server
6 7 (0.66%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (0.38%) Apple iOS
7 4 (0.38%) CentOS
8 3 (0.28%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.19%) AIX
9 2 (0.19%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.19%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.095%) Rocky
10 1 (0.095%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.095%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 282 (26.65%) Agile
2 244 (23.06%) Problem-Solving
3 177 (16.73%) Verification and Validation
4 162 (15.31%) Continuous Improvement
5 159 (15.03%) Analytics
6 135 (12.76%) Data Validation
7 134 (12.67%) AI
8 131 (12.38%) Migration
9 121 (11.44%) CI/CD
10 120 (11.34%) Systems Engineering
11 118 (11.15%) Test Automation
12 116 (10.96%) Business Intelligence
13 115 (10.87%) Stakeholder Management
14 114 (10.78%) DevOps
15 105 (9.92%) Mentoring
16 101 (9.55%) ETL
16 101 (9.55%) User Acceptance Testing
17 98 (9.26%) Project Management
18 97 (9.17%) Data Analysis
18 97 (9.17%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 230 (21.74%) SQL
2 227 (21.46%) Python
3 40 (3.78%) Java
4 37 (3.50%) C
4 37 (3.50%) C++
4 37 (3.50%) PowerShell
5 24 (2.27%) JavaScript
6 21 (1.98%) Bash
7 20 (1.89%) MATLAB
8 17 (1.61%) T-SQL
9 13 (1.23%) C#
9 13 (1.23%) TypeScript
10 12 (1.13%) R
11 10 (0.95%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 8 (0.76%) VBA
13 7 (0.66%) Go
13 7 (0.66%) VB
14 5 (0.47%) PHP
15 4 (0.38%) PL/SQL
15 4 (0.38%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 264 (24.95%) Degree
2 146 (13.80%) Security Cleared
3 128 (12.10%) BPSS Clearance
4 57 (5.39%) SC Cleared
5 53 (5.01%) Master's Degree
6 42 (3.97%) Computer Science Degree
7 26 (2.46%) CISA
7 26 (2.46%) CISSP
8 25 (2.36%) CISM
9 23 (2.17%) CGEIT
9 23 (2.17%) DV Cleared
9 23 (2.17%) SANS
10 22 (2.08%) FFIEC
10 22 (2.08%) PMI Certification
10 22 (2.08%) PMP
11 19 (1.80%) Chartered Engineer
12 18 (1.70%) HNC
13 16 (1.51%) ISTQB
14 12 (1.13%) HND
15 9 (0.85%) ACCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 135 (12.76%) Data Quality
2 117 (11.06%) QA
3 55 (5.20%) GDPR
4 53 (5.01%) Accessibility
5 44 (4.16%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 22 (2.08%) COBIT
6 22 (2.08%) NIST
7 17 (1.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 17 (1.61%) SLA
8 16 (1.51%) ISO 20022
9 14 (1.32%) GRC
10 13 (1.23%) ISO/IEC 12207
10 13 (1.23%) SEPA
11 12 (1.13%) WCAG
12 10 (0.95%) 21 CFR Part 11
12 10 (0.95%) Good Clinical Practice
13 9 (0.85%) ISO 9001
13 9 (0.85%) TARGET2
14 8 (0.76%) GxP
14 8 (0.76%) IFRS
System Software
1 60 (5.67%) Docker
2 25 (2.36%) Firmware
3 19 (1.80%) Active Directory
4 11 (1.04%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (0.57%) Hyper-V
6 5 (0.47%) Embedded Firmware
7 4 (0.38%) KVM
7 4 (0.38%) VMware ESXi
7 4 (0.38%) vSphere
8 2 (0.19%) Ceph
8 2 (0.19%) Lustre
8 2 (0.19%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 1 (0.095%) iptables
9 1 (0.095%) OpenAM
9 1 (0.095%) OpenDJ
9 1 (0.095%) OpenIDM
9 1 (0.095%) pfSense
9 1 (0.095%) Terminal Services
9 1 (0.095%) vCloud
9 1 (0.095%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 53 (5.01%) Kubernetes
2 36 (3.40%) Terraform
3 22 (2.08%) Ansible
4 21 (1.98%) Grafana
5 12 (1.13%) Prometheus
6 9 (0.85%) SCCM
7 7 (0.66%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 7 (0.66%) Microsoft Intune
8 6 (0.57%) Puppet
9 5 (0.47%) Argo
9 5 (0.47%) Rancher
9 5 (0.47%) yum
10 2 (0.19%) BMC PATROL
10 2 (0.19%) Nessus
10 2 (0.19%) PowerCLI
11 1 (0.095%) Control-M
11 1 (0.095%) Docker Swarm
11 1 (0.095%) Kibana
11 1 (0.095%) Single Sign-On
11 1 (0.095%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 137 (12.95%) Microsoft
2 61 (5.77%) SAP
3 53 (5.01%) Oracle
4 36 (3.40%) Salesforce
5 25 (2.36%) IBM
6 20 (1.89%) Cisco
7 19 (1.80%) Foundry
8 17 (1.61%) OpenAI
9 15 (1.42%) Red Hat
10 14 (1.32%) ServiceNow
10 14 (1.32%) Software AG
10 14 (1.32%) VMware
11 13 (1.23%) Adobe
12 12 (1.13%) Automation Anywhere
12 12 (1.13%) Databricks
12 12 (1.13%) Google
12 12 (1.13%) UiPath
13 9 (0.85%) Siemens
13 9 (0.85%) Workday
14 8 (0.76%) Splunk