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

6 months to
4 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 129 79 206
Rank change year-on-year -50 +127 -23
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,463 1,604 1,400
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.58% 3.67% 1.36%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.15% 3.94% 1.64%
Number of salaries quoted 842 437 765
10th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £35,500
25th Percentile £42,500 £47,000 £42,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.51% +3.64% -11.41%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £71,915
90th Percentile £90,000 £92,500 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -4.55% +4.76% -4.62%

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 68,107 40,669 85,373
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.51% 93.11% 83.11%
Number of salaries quoted 45,062 21,401 61,158
10th Percentile £30,000 £29,500 £29,250
25th Percentile £41,114 £40,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -9.69%
75th Percentile £78,750 £77,500 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,967 £50,000
% change year-on-year +3.01% +1.93% -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 4 June 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 4 June 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 -54 1,318 £56,465 +0.38% 1,197
UK excluding London -67 973 £52,500 -4.55% 857
Work from Home +130 468 £55,000 -8.33% 571
London +67 375 £76,250 +3.39% 450
South East -38 297 £55,000 +4.76% 243
North of England +67 265 £55,000 +15.35% 170
Midlands -77 168 £40,000 -33.33% 155
North West +70 166 £55,000 +15.35% 95
West Midlands -14 102 £44,000 -32.31% 97
East of England -82 101 £60,000 +5.26% 113
South West -50 90 £52,500 -3.67% 115
East Midlands -80 64 £30,000 -42.31% 58
Yorkshire -11 59 £50,000 +5.26% 57
North East -1 40 £55,000 -21.43% 20
Scotland -9 37 £42,250 -27.20% 40
Wales -31 14 £44,000 -26.67% 20
Northern Ireland -38 3 - - 23

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 49 (3.35%) Apache Airflow
2 39 (2.67%) Apache Spark
3 38 (2.60%) Apache
4 24 (1.64%) Confluence
5 21 (1.44%) ArcGIS
6 15 (1.03%) Microsoft Exchange
7 13 (0.89%) SharePoint
8 10 (0.68%) Jupyter
9 8 (0.55%) Appian
10 6 (0.41%) CMS
10 6 (0.41%) Kinematics
10 6 (0.41%) SAS
11 5 (0.34%) Adobe Experience Manager
12 3 (0.21%) Artix
13 2 (0.14%) IIS
14 1 (0.068%) Anypoint
14 1 (0.068%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 94 (6.43%) Microsoft Excel
2 54 (3.69%) Microsoft Office
3 21 (1.44%) MS Visio
4 19 (1.30%) Microsoft Project
5 16 (1.09%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 13 (0.89%) Simulink
7 8 (0.55%) SOLIDWORKS
7 8 (0.55%) Spreadsheet
8 5 (0.34%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 5 (0.34%) AutoCAD
9 4 (0.27%) Adobe XD
9 4 (0.27%) CANalyzer
9 4 (0.27%) Sketch
10 3 (0.21%) Autodesk Inventor
10 3 (0.21%) Fusion 360
10 3 (0.21%) Productboard
10 3 (0.21%) Solid Edge
10 3 (0.21%) Stateflow
11 2 (0.14%) CATIA
12 1 (0.068%) Trello
Business Applications
1 40 (2.73%) SAP S/4HANA
2 30 (2.05%) Dynamics CRM
3 10 (0.68%) SAP ERP
4 8 (0.55%) SAP MDG
5 7 (0.48%) Oracle ERP
6 6 (0.41%) Elite 3E
6 6 (0.41%) Loan IQ
6 6 (0.41%) Oracle EBS
7 5 (0.34%) iTrent
7 5 (0.34%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.27%) Oracle Financials
9 3 (0.21%) Markit EDM
9 3 (0.21%) Oracle Applications
10 2 (0.14%) Oracle Payables
10 2 (0.14%) Oracle Receivables
10 2 (0.14%) SAP EWM
10 2 (0.14%) SAP FSCM
10 2 (0.14%) SAP MM
10 2 (0.14%) SAP PSCD
10 2 (0.14%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 209 (14.29%) Azure
2 169 (11.55%) AWS
3 130 (8.89%) Power Platform
4 69 (4.72%) GCP
5 61 (4.17%) SaaS
6 51 (3.49%) Azure DevOps
7 39 (2.67%) GitHub
8 38 (2.60%) Serverless
9 36 (2.46%) Amazon S3
9 36 (2.46%) Microsoft 365
10 31 (2.12%) Azure Data Factory
11 30 (2.05%) Dynamics 365
12 27 (1.85%) Snowflake
13 23 (1.57%) Entra ID
14 21 (1.44%) dbt
15 20 (1.37%) Power Automate
16 16 (1.09%) OpenShift
17 15 (1.03%) GitHub Actions
18 13 (0.89%) Amazon CloudWatch
18 13 (0.89%) Amazon EC2
Communications & Networking
1 58 (3.96%) Broadband
2 42 (2.87%) Firewall
3 29 (1.98%) DNS
4 23 (1.57%) CHAP
4 23 (1.57%) WAN
5 22 (1.50%) Wireless
6 19 (1.30%) TCP/IP
7 17 (1.16%) SD-WAN
8 16 (1.09%) 5G
9 14 (0.96%) Network Security
10 13 (0.89%) VPN
11 10 (0.68%) MQTT
11 10 (0.68%) Wi-Fi
11 10 (0.68%) Wireshark
12 9 (0.62%) HTTP
12 9 (0.62%) LAN
12 9 (0.62%) NAS
13 8 (0.55%) Ethernet
14 7 (0.48%) ATM
14 7 (0.48%) Multicast
Database & Business Intelligence
1 123 (8.41%) Power BI
2 53 (3.62%) Tableau
3 46 (3.14%) SQL Server
4 44 (3.01%) PostgreSQL
5 40 (2.73%) Data Warehouse
6 31 (2.12%) Metadata
6 31 (2.12%) Relational Database
7 25 (1.71%) MongoDB
7 25 (1.71%) QGIS
8 23 (1.57%) GIS
9 21 (1.44%) Azure SQL Database
9 21 (1.44%) BigQuery
9 21 (1.44%) Data Lake
10 20 (1.37%) Semantic Layer
10 20 (1.37%) Spatial Data
11 18 (1.23%) Spark SQL
12 16 (1.09%) Oracle Database
12 16 (1.09%) Oracle Reports
13 15 (1.03%) MySQL
14 14 (0.96%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 68 (4.65%) Git
2 66 (4.51%) JIRA
3 43 (2.94%) Jenkins
4 34 (2.32%) GitLab
5 33 (2.26%) Rational DOORS
6 22 (1.50%) Snyk
7 16 (1.09%) LabVIEW
8 14 (0.96%) Postman
9 13 (0.89%) IBM UrbanCode
9 13 (0.89%) Selenium
10 12 (0.82%) MLflow
11 11 (0.75%) Cucumber
12 10 (0.68%) Eclipse
12 10 (0.68%) JMeter
13 9 (0.62%) Cypress.io
13 9 (0.62%) TeamCity
14 6 (0.41%) Rational Rhapsody
14 6 (0.41%) Robot Framework
15 5 (0.34%) Locust
15 5 (0.34%) SonarQube
General
1 455 (31.10%) Social Skills
2 390 (26.66%) Finance
3 323 (22.08%) Analytical Skills
4 113 (7.72%) Manufacturing
5 110 (7.52%) Aerospace
6 103 (7.04%) Electronics
7 94 (6.43%) Banking
8 87 (5.95%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 60 (4.10%) Legal
10 54 (3.69%) Public Sector
10 54 (3.69%) Retail
11 52 (3.55%) Law
12 46 (3.14%) Marketing
13 44 (3.01%) Pharmaceutical
14 37 (2.53%) Organisational Skills
15 32 (2.19%) Financial Institution
15 32 (2.19%) Presentation Skills
16 30 (2.05%) Games
17 29 (1.98%) Automotive
18 23 (1.57%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 243 (16.61%) Senior
2 237 (16.20%) Analyst
3 149 (10.18%) Systems Engineer
4 98 (6.70%) Lead
4 98 (6.70%) Test Engineer
5 95 (6.49%) Architect
6 86 (5.88%) Validation Engineer
7 84 (5.74%) Business Analyst
8 71 (4.85%) Consultant
9 65 (4.44%) Data Engineer
9 65 (4.44%) Developer
10 62 (4.24%) Data Analyst
11 51 (3.49%) Integration Engineer
12 47 (3.21%) Principal Engineer
13 44 (3.01%) Junior
14 39 (2.67%) Embedded Engineer
15 37 (2.53%) Senior Systems Engineer
16 34 (2.32%) IT Manager
16 34 (2.32%) Systems Integration Engineer
16 34 (2.32%) Verification Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (2.94%) REST
2 35 (2.39%) PyTorch
3 32 (2.19%) RESTful
4 31 (2.12%) JSON
4 31 (2.12%) PySpark
5 28 (1.91%) Pandas
6 26 (1.78%) Middleware
6 26 (1.78%) pytest
7 24 (1.64%) Kafka
8 23 (1.57%) .NET
9 21 (1.44%) Node.js
10 20 (1.37%) XML
11 18 (1.23%) CSS
12 17 (1.16%) Playwright
12 17 (1.16%) Swagger
13 16 (1.09%) OAuth
14 15 (1.03%) Regular Expression
14 15 (1.03%) TensorFlow
14 15 (1.03%) XMPP
15 14 (0.96%) NumPy
Miscellaneous
1 79 (5.40%) Management Information System
2 69 (4.72%) Cloud Native
3 68 (4.65%) Onboarding
4 56 (3.83%) Data Structures
5 46 (3.14%) Algorithms
6 42 (2.87%) Low-Code
7 38 (2.60%) Product Ownership
8 35 (2.39%) Embedded Systems
9 32 (2.19%) Analytical Mindset
9 32 (2.19%) Self-Motivation
10 31 (2.12%) Data Centre
10 31 (2.12%) Driving Licence
10 31 (2.12%) Legacy Systems
11 29 (1.98%) Enterprise Software
12 27 (1.85%) Life Science
13 23 (1.57%) Distributed Systems
13 23 (1.57%) FPGA
14 22 (1.50%) Robotics
14 22 (1.50%) Video\Live Streaming
15 17 (1.16%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 84 (5.74%) Linux
2 64 (4.37%) Windows
3 24 (1.64%) Unix
4 23 (1.57%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 22 (1.50%) Windows Server
6 10 (0.68%) Android
7 4 (0.27%) FreeRTOS
7 4 (0.27%) Mac OS X
8 3 (0.21%) AIX
8 3 (0.21%) Apple iOS
8 3 (0.21%) CentOS
8 3 (0.21%) Kali Linux
8 3 (0.21%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.14%) ThreadX
10 1 (0.068%) Embedded Linux
10 1 (0.068%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.068%) Rocky
10 1 (0.068%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.068%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.068%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 325 (22.21%) Problem-Solving
2 298 (20.37%) Agile
3 281 (19.21%) Continuous Improvement
4 248 (16.95%) AI
5 222 (15.17%) CI/CD
6 214 (14.63%) Analytics
7 199 (13.60%) Test Automation
8 197 (13.47%) Verification and Validation
9 163 (11.14%) Data Validation
10 158 (10.80%) Migration
11 151 (10.32%) Business Intelligence
12 150 (10.25%) Data Modelling
13 147 (10.05%) Decision-Making
13 147 (10.05%) DevOps
14 139 (9.50%) Mentoring
15 138 (9.43%) Stakeholder Management
16 136 (9.30%) Machine Learning
17 135 (9.23%) Software Engineering
18 134 (9.16%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 133 (9.09%) Data Governance
Programming Languages
1 357 (24.40%) Python
2 297 (20.30%) SQL
3 63 (4.31%) Java
4 59 (4.03%) C++
5 54 (3.69%) C
6 40 (2.73%) Go
7 37 (2.53%) C#
8 33 (2.26%) JavaScript
9 32 (2.19%) PowerShell
10 29 (1.98%) Bash
11 25 (1.71%) MATLAB
12 18 (1.23%) T-SQL
13 17 (1.16%) Embedded C
14 13 (0.89%) Embedded C++
14 13 (0.89%) TypeScript
15 12 (0.82%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 10 (0.68%) Scala
16 10 (0.68%) VBA
17 9 (0.62%) ABAP
18 8 (0.55%) R
Qualifications
1 306 (20.92%) Degree
2 172 (11.76%) Security Cleared
3 114 (7.79%) BPSS Clearance
4 79 (5.40%) SC Cleared
5 69 (4.72%) Master's Degree
6 42 (2.87%) Computer Science Degree
6 42 (2.87%) DV Cleared
7 38 (2.60%) Chartered Engineer
8 33 (2.26%) CISA
8 33 (2.26%) CISSP
9 32 (2.19%) SANS
10 30 (2.05%) CISM
11 27 (1.85%) HNC
12 24 (1.64%) HND
13 23 (1.57%) CGEIT
13 23 (1.57%) FFIEC
14 22 (1.50%) PMI Certification
15 19 (1.30%) PMP
16 14 (0.96%) ACCA
16 14 (0.96%) CIMA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 220 (15.04%) Data Quality
2 155 (10.59%) QA
3 61 (4.17%) Accessibility
4 60 (4.10%) GDPR
5 43 (2.94%) GRC
6 27 (1.85%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 27 (1.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 25 (1.71%) NIST
8 23 (1.57%) COBIT
9 20 (1.37%) IEC 61508
10 19 (1.30%) IFRS
11 16 (1.09%) SLA
12 15 (1.03%) PMO
13 14 (0.96%) ISO 9001
14 12 (0.82%) GAAP
14 12 (0.82%) GMP
15 10 (0.68%) Good Clinical Practice
15 10 (0.68%) ISO 13485
15 10 (0.68%) SOC 2
15 10 (0.68%) WCAG
System Software
1 69 (4.72%) Docker
2 43 (2.94%) Firmware
3 37 (2.53%) Active Directory
4 22 (1.50%) Virtual Machines
5 17 (1.16%) vSphere
6 14 (0.96%) Embedded Firmware
6 14 (0.96%) VMware Infrastructure
7 6 (0.41%) KVM
8 5 (0.34%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.14%) Terminal Services
9 2 (0.14%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.068%) OpenAM
10 1 (0.068%) OpenDJ
10 1 (0.068%) OpenIDM
Systems Management
1 71 (4.85%) Kubernetes
2 60 (4.10%) Terraform
3 30 (2.05%) Grafana
4 22 (1.50%) Ansible
5 18 (1.23%) Functional Safety
6 16 (1.09%) Prometheus
7 13 (0.89%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 10 (0.68%) SCCM
9 9 (0.62%) Cilium
9 9 (0.62%) Puppet
10 6 (0.41%) Kibana
10 6 (0.41%) Microsoft Intune
11 3 (0.21%) Argo
11 3 (0.21%) FortiGate
11 3 (0.21%) HP Fortify
11 3 (0.21%) Rancher
11 3 (0.21%) yum
12 2 (0.14%) BMC PATROL
12 2 (0.14%) Computer Incident Response Team
13 1 (0.068%) SQL Sentry
Vendors
1 191 (13.06%) Microsoft
2 90 (6.15%) Oracle
3 87 (5.95%) SAP
4 50 (3.42%) Salesforce
5 33 (2.26%) Databricks
6 32 (2.19%) Red Hat
7 30 (2.05%) VMware
8 29 (1.98%) ServiceNow
9 28 (1.91%) CrowdStrike
10 23 (1.57%) Palo Alto
11 22 (1.50%) Adobe
11 22 (1.50%) Google
11 22 (1.50%) Tenable
12 21 (1.44%) Cisco
13 15 (1.03%) Foundry
14 14 (0.96%) Citrix
14 14 (0.96%) OpenAI
15 12 (0.82%) IBM
16 11 (0.75%) McAfee
16 11 (0.75%) Splunk