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

6 months to
18 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 123 85 200
Rank change year-on-year -38 +115 -11
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,421 1,603 1,419
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.55% 3.63% 1.46%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.10% 3.89% 1.72%
Number of salaries quoted 808 446 776
10th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £35,125
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 £72,250
90th Percentile £90,750 £95,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £51,500 £54,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -4.63% +2.86% -8.70%

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 67,556 41,227 82,428
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.64% 93.27% 84.88%
Number of salaries quoted 43,655 22,384 59,687
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,500 £41,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £59,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +1.69% +7.27% -9.84%
75th Percentile £78,750 £78,750 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £52,475 £50,000
% change year-on-year +0.05% +4.95% -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 18 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 18 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 -46 1,266 £58,500 +6.36% 881
UK excluding London -68 933 £51,500 -4.63% 659
Work from Home +143 446 £55,000 -8.33% 456
London +70 367 £77,500 +10.71% 311
South East -39 288 £55,000 +7.84% 193
North of England +52 242 £55,000 +15.35% 137
Midlands -80 157 £40,000 -30.43% 99
North West +62 153 £55,000 +15.35% 83
West Midlands -1 101 £44,000 -32.31% 61
East of England -83 98 £60,000 +5.26% 89
South West -50 94 £52,500 -2.78% 104
Yorkshire -9 56 £52,500 +10.53% 40
East Midlands -96 54 £30,000 -42.31% 38
Scotland -13 42 £42,000 -27.63% 29
North East -8 33 £52,500 +10.53% 15
Wales -28 12 £44,000 -23.48% 21
Northern Ireland -39 2 - - 9

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 45 (3.17%) Apache Airflow
2 29 (2.04%) Apache
3 27 (1.90%) Apache Spark
4 24 (1.69%) Confluence
5 21 (1.48%) ArcGIS
6 15 (1.06%) 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 90 (6.33%) Microsoft Excel
2 58 (4.08%) Microsoft Office
3 19 (1.34%) MS Visio
4 14 (0.99%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 12 (0.84%) Simulink
6 11 (0.77%) Microsoft Project
7 6 (0.42%) SOLIDWORKS
7 6 (0.42%) Spreadsheet
8 5 (0.35%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 4 (0.28%) Adobe XD
9 4 (0.28%) AutoCAD
9 4 (0.28%) CANalyzer
9 4 (0.28%) Fusion 360
9 4 (0.28%) Sketch
10 3 (0.21%) Autodesk Inventor
10 3 (0.21%) Productboard
10 3 (0.21%) Solid Edge
11 2 (0.14%) CATIA
11 2 (0.14%) Oracle Smart View
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%) Magento
11 1 (0.070%) Oracle Receivables
11 1 (0.070%) SAP EHS
Cloud Services
1 202 (14.22%) Azure
2 151 (10.63%) AWS
3 128 (9.01%) Power Platform
4 64 (4.50%) SaaS
5 58 (4.08%) GCP
6 42 (2.96%) 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 (1.20%) OpenShift
15 16 (1.13%) Azure AI
16 14 (0.99%) Anthropic Claude
17 12 (0.84%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 51 (3.59%) Broadband
2 33 (2.32%) Firewall
3 25 (1.76%) CHAP
4 23 (1.62%) DNS
4 23 (1.62%) WAN
5 21 (1.48%) Wireless
6 18 (1.27%) 5G
6 18 (1.27%) TCP/IP
7 17 (1.20%) SD-WAN
8 11 (0.77%) HTTP
8 11 (0.77%) MQTT
8 11 (0.77%) Network Security
9 10 (0.70%) Wireshark
10 9 (0.63%) Modbus
10 9 (0.63%) NAS
10 9 (0.63%) VPN
10 9 (0.63%) Wi-Fi
11 8 (0.56%) LAN
12 7 (0.49%) Ethernet
12 7 (0.49%) Multicast
Database & Business Intelligence
1 120 (8.44%) Power BI
2 49 (3.45%) SQL Server
2 49 (3.45%) Tableau
3 43 (3.03%) PostgreSQL
4 36 (2.53%) Data Warehouse
5 31 (2.18%) Metadata
6 29 (2.04%) Relational Database
7 25 (1.76%) QGIS
8 24 (1.69%) MongoDB
9 23 (1.62%) GIS
10 21 (1.48%) Data Lake
11 20 (1.41%) Spatial Data
12 18 (1.27%) Oracle Reports
13 17 (1.20%) Azure SQL Database
13 17 (1.20%) Spark SQL
14 15 (1.06%) BigQuery
14 15 (1.06%) Oracle Database
15 14 (0.99%) MySQL
15 14 (0.99%) Parquet
15 14 (0.99%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 71 (5.00%) Git
2 60 (4.22%) JIRA
3 37 (2.60%) Rational DOORS
4 29 (2.04%) Jenkins
5 23 (1.62%) GitLab
6 22 (1.55%) Snyk
7 17 (1.20%) LabVIEW
8 15 (1.06%) MLflow
9 14 (0.99%) Postman
10 13 (0.91%) IBM UrbanCode
11 12 (0.84%) Selenium
12 11 (0.77%) Cucumber
12 11 (0.77%) JMeter
13 10 (0.70%) Eclipse
14 9 (0.63%) TestRail
15 7 (0.49%) TeamCity
16 6 (0.42%) LoadRunner
16 6 (0.42%) Robot Framework
17 5 (0.35%) SonarQube
17 5 (0.35%) Visual Studio
General
1 450 (31.67%) Social Skills
2 376 (26.46%) Finance
3 303 (21.32%) Analytical Skills
4 110 (7.74%) Manufacturing
5 107 (7.53%) Aerospace
6 99 (6.97%) Electronics
7 83 (5.84%) Banking
8 77 (5.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 61 (4.29%) Legal
10 53 (3.73%) Public Sector
11 52 (3.66%) Retail
12 45 (3.17%) Law
12 45 (3.17%) Marketing
13 41 (2.89%) Pharmaceutical
14 37 (2.60%) Presentation Skills
15 34 (2.39%) Financial Institution
15 34 (2.39%) Games
15 34 (2.39%) Organisational Skills
16 29 (2.04%) Automotive
17 23 (1.62%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 237 (16.68%) Senior
2 227 (15.97%) Analyst
3 156 (10.98%) Systems Engineer
4 101 (7.11%) Lead
5 96 (6.76%) Architect
6 89 (6.26%) Test Engineer
7 84 (5.91%) Business Analyst
7 84 (5.91%) Validation Engineer
8 69 (4.86%) Consultant
9 61 (4.29%) Data Analyst
10 53 (3.73%) Integration Engineer
11 52 (3.66%) Data Engineer
12 49 (3.45%) Developer
13 45 (3.17%) Junior
13 45 (3.17%) Principal Engineer
14 42 (2.96%) Senior Systems Engineer
15 36 (2.53%) Systems Integration Engineer
15 36 (2.53%) Verification Engineer
16 34 (2.39%) Embedded Engineer
17 32 (2.25%) Software Validation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 49 (3.45%) 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%) pytest
5 27 (1.90%) Middleware
6 22 (1.55%) PySpark
7 20 (1.41%) .NET
8 19 (1.34%) OAuth
8 19 (1.34%) Swagger
9 18 (1.27%) XML
10 17 (1.20%) CSS
10 17 (1.20%) JWT
10 17 (1.20%) Kafka
11 16 (1.13%) NumPy
11 16 (1.13%) Playwright
11 16 (1.13%) TensorFlow
12 14 (0.99%) Node.js
12 14 (0.99%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 85 (5.98%) Management Information System
2 60 (4.22%) Onboarding
3 51 (3.59%) Data Structures
4 48 (3.38%) Cloud Native
5 45 (3.17%) Algorithms
5 45 (3.17%) Low-Code
6 38 (2.67%) Product Ownership
7 35 (2.46%) Self-Motivation
8 33 (2.32%) Legacy Systems
9 32 (2.25%) Data Centre
10 29 (2.04%) Embedded Systems
11 28 (1.97%) Analytical Mindset
12 24 (1.69%) Life Science
13 23 (1.62%) Enterprise Software
14 22 (1.55%) Driving Licence
14 22 (1.55%) Video\Live Streaming
15 20 (1.41%) Distributed Systems
16 19 (1.34%) FPGA
16 19 (1.34%) Robotics
17 18 (1.27%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 81 (5.70%) Linux
2 66 (4.64%) Windows
3 21 (1.48%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 21 (1.48%) Unix
3 21 (1.48%) 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
1 311 (21.89%) Problem-Solving
2 280 (19.70%) Agile
3 267 (18.79%) Continuous Improvement
4 226 (15.90%) AI
5 215 (15.13%) Analytics
6 208 (14.64%) Verification and Validation
7 199 (14.00%) CI/CD
8 188 (13.23%) Test Automation
9 164 (11.54%) Data Validation
10 152 (10.70%) Migration
11 148 (10.42%) Business Intelligence
12 140 (9.85%) Data Modelling
13 138 (9.71%) Decision-Making
14 136 (9.57%) Software Engineering
14 136 (9.57%) Stakeholder Management
15 131 (9.22%) Data Governance
15 131 (9.22%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 128 (9.01%) DevOps
16 128 (9.01%) User Acceptance Testing
17 125 (8.80%) Collaborative Working
Programming Languages
1 323 (22.73%) Python
2 275 (19.35%) SQL
3 58 (4.08%) C++
4 55 (3.87%) Java
5 51 (3.59%) C
6 39 (2.74%) Go
7 36 (2.53%) PowerShell
8 32 (2.25%) C#
9 29 (2.04%) Bash
9 29 (2.04%) JavaScript
10 25 (1.76%) MATLAB
11 18 (1.27%) T-SQL
12 15 (1.06%) Embedded C
13 13 (0.91%) TypeScript
14 12 (0.84%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 9 (0.63%) Embedded C++
15 9 (0.63%) VBA
16 8 (0.56%) ABAP
17 7 (0.49%) R
18 6 (0.42%) Apex Code
Qualifications
1 313 (22.03%) Degree
2 168 (11.82%) Security Cleared
3 131 (9.22%) BPSS Clearance
4 69 (4.86%) Master's Degree
5 66 (4.64%) SC Cleared
6 42 (2.96%) DV Cleared
7 41 (2.89%) 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 (1.48%) PMP
16 11 (0.77%) ACCA
16 11 (0.77%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 197 (13.86%) Data Quality
2 150 (10.56%) QA
3 64 (4.50%) GDPR
4 59 (4.15%) Accessibility
5 43 (3.03%) 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 (1.41%) IEC 61508
10 20 (1.41%) IFRS
11 17 (1.20%) SLA
12 13 (0.91%) GAAP
12 13 (0.91%) ISO 9001
13 12 (0.84%) PMO
14 11 (0.77%) GMP
15 10 (0.70%) Good Clinical Practice
15 10 (0.70%) ISO 13485
15 10 (0.70%) WCAG
16 9 (0.63%) 21 CFR Part 11
System Software
1 62 (4.36%) Docker
2 37 (2.60%) Firmware
3 36 (2.53%) Active Directory
4 22 (1.55%) Virtual Machines
5 15 (1.06%) VMware Infrastructure
5 15 (1.06%) vSphere
6 9 (0.63%) Embedded Firmware
7 6 (0.42%) KVM
8 5 (0.35%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.21%) VMware ESXi
10 2 (0.14%) Terminal Services
11 1 (0.070%) iptables
11 1 (0.070%) OpenAM
11 1 (0.070%) OpenDJ
11 1 (0.070%) OpenIDM
Systems Management
1 69 (4.86%) Kubernetes
2 50 (3.52%) Terraform
3 31 (2.18%) Grafana
4 25 (1.76%) Ansible
5 17 (1.20%) Functional Safety
5 17 (1.20%) Prometheus
6 14 (0.99%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 11 (0.77%) SCCM
8 9 (0.63%) Puppet
9 8 (0.56%) Microsoft Intune
10 7 (0.49%) Cilium
11 4 (0.28%) Argo
11 4 (0.28%) Rancher
11 4 (0.28%) yum
12 3 (0.21%) HP Fortify
12 3 (0.21%) Kibana
13 2 (0.14%) BMC PATROL
13 2 (0.14%) Computer Incident Response Team
13 2 (0.14%) FortiGate
13 2 (0.14%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 184 (12.95%) Microsoft
2 79 (5.56%) Oracle
3 72 (5.07%) SAP
4 51 (3.59%) 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 (1.55%) ServiceNow
9 22 (1.55%) Tenable
10 21 (1.48%) Cisco
10 21 (1.48%) Google
11 20 (1.41%) Adobe
12 17 (1.20%) OpenAI
13 16 (1.13%) Foundry
14 15 (1.06%) IBM
15 14 (0.99%) Citrix
16 11 (0.77%) Automation Anywhere
16 11 (0.77%) UiPath