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

6 months to
26 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 108 87 202
Rank change year-on-year -21 +115 -6
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,747 1,671 1,173
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.73% 3.39% 1.32%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.34% 3.78% 1.61%
Number of salaries quoted 1,039 507 599
10th Percentile £35,000 £39,000 £35,500
25th Percentile £42,500 £45,750 £41,625
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -12.70%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £72,125
90th Percentile £90,000 £93,500 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £53,000 £53,750 £52,500
% change year-on-year -1.40% +2.38% -4.95%

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 74,528 44,262 72,639
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.71% 89.78% 81.61%
Number of salaries quoted 51,427 25,101 49,118
10th Percentile £30,500 £28,750 £30,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £78,750 £76,250 £73,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £93,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +10.00% - -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 26 July 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 July 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 -22 1,583 £55,000 - 1,025
UK excluding London -40 1,179 £53,000 -1.40% 714
Work from Home +106 557 £55,000 -8.33% 397
London +74 452 £75,000 -6.25% 422
South East -39 346 £55,000 - 231
North of England +103 332 £55,000 +15.57% 149
North West +85 200 £55,000 +15.35% 84
Midlands -57 189 £42,500 -22.73% 111
South West -31 122 £50,000 -4.94% 95
East of England -74 110 £62,500 +9.65% 86
West Midlands +11 102 £44,000 -26.67% 65
East Midlands -73 85 £42,500 - 46
Yorkshire +1 67 £44,000 +3.53% 36
North East +3 65 £55,000 +41.94% 30
Scotland +22 51 £50,000 -13.84% 40
Wales -37 29 £45,750 -14.88% 11
Northern Ireland -65 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 58 (3.32%) Apache Airflow
2 55 (3.15%) Apache Spark
3 53 (3.03%) Apache
4 30 (1.72%) Confluence
5 29 (1.66%) SharePoint
6 21 (1.20%) ArcGIS
7 19 (1.09%) Jupyter
8 14 (0.80%) Microsoft Exchange
9 12 (0.69%) SAS
10 5 (0.29%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 5 (0.29%) CMS
11 4 (0.23%) Kinematics
12 3 (0.17%) Artix
12 3 (0.17%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 2 (0.11%) IIS
14 1 (0.057%) Appian
14 1 (0.057%) Cloud Foundry
14 1 (0.057%) Oracle Workflow
14 1 (0.057%) WebSphere
14 1 (0.057%) WinCC
Applications
1 96 (5.50%) Microsoft Excel
2 58 (3.32%) Microsoft Office
3 26 (1.49%) Microsoft Project
4 25 (1.43%) MS Visio
5 23 (1.32%) Simulink
6 13 (0.74%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 12 (0.69%) Spreadsheet
8 8 (0.46%) SOLIDWORKS
9 5 (0.29%) AutoCAD
9 5 (0.29%) LaTeX
10 4 (0.23%) Adobe XD
10 4 (0.23%) CANalyzer
10 4 (0.23%) Sketch
11 3 (0.17%) Autodesk Inventor
11 3 (0.17%) Productboard
11 3 (0.17%) Stateflow
12 2 (0.11%) Mathcad
12 2 (0.11%) Solid Edge
13 1 (0.057%) Chatbot
13 1 (0.057%) Trello
Business Applications
1 47 (2.69%) SAP S/4HANA
2 41 (2.35%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.63%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.57%) SAP ERP
5 9 (0.52%) iTrent
5 9 (0.52%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.46%) Oracle Applications
6 8 (0.46%) Oracle ERP
7 6 (0.34%) Elite 3E
8 5 (0.29%) Loan IQ
8 5 (0.29%) SAP MDG-BP
9 4 (0.23%) NetSuite
9 4 (0.23%) Oracle Financials
9 4 (0.23%) SAP MM
10 3 (0.17%) Teamcenter
11 2 (0.11%) FastStats
11 2 (0.11%) SAP Business One
11 2 (0.11%) SAP FSCM
11 2 (0.11%) SAP PSCD
11 2 (0.11%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 263 (15.05%) Azure
2 243 (13.91%) AWS
3 163 (9.33%) Power Platform
4 84 (4.81%) GCP
5 82 (4.69%) SaaS
6 66 (3.78%) Azure DevOps
7 50 (2.86%) Serverless
8 48 (2.75%) Microsoft 365
9 47 (2.69%) GitHub
10 42 (2.40%) Amazon S3
11 36 (2.06%) Dynamics 365
12 24 (1.37%) Entra ID
12 24 (1.37%) GitHub Actions
13 22 (1.26%) Azure Data Factory
13 22 (1.26%) Snowflake
14 21 (1.20%) Amazon EC2
14 21 (1.20%) Cloud Computing
14 21 (1.20%) Microsoft Copilot
15 20 (1.14%) Amazon EMR
16 19 (1.09%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 71 (4.06%) Broadband
2 51 (2.92%) Firewall
3 41 (2.35%) DNS
4 30 (1.72%) TCP/IP
5 29 (1.66%) Wireless
6 22 (1.26%) Network Security
6 22 (1.26%) VPN
6 22 (1.26%) WAN
7 16 (0.92%) Ethernet
8 15 (0.86%) Internet
8 15 (0.86%) Wireshark
9 14 (0.80%) MQTT
9 14 (0.80%) SD-WAN
9 14 (0.80%) Wi-Fi
10 12 (0.69%) CHAP
10 12 (0.69%) HTTP
10 12 (0.69%) LAN
11 10 (0.57%) 5G
11 10 (0.57%) BGP
11 10 (0.57%) NGN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 147 (8.41%) Power BI
2 59 (3.38%) PostgreSQL
3 57 (3.26%) Tableau
4 55 (3.15%) Data Warehouse
5 49 (2.80%) SQL Server
6 45 (2.58%) Metadata
7 36 (2.06%) Data Lake
8 34 (1.95%) MongoDB
9 29 (1.66%) Relational Database
10 27 (1.55%) BigQuery
11 25 (1.43%) QGIS
11 25 (1.43%) Semantic Layer
12 23 (1.32%) GIS
13 22 (1.26%) Azure SQL Database
13 22 (1.26%) DynamoDB
13 22 (1.26%) MySQL
14 21 (1.20%) Amazon Athena
15 20 (1.14%) Spark SQL
15 20 (1.14%) Spatial Data
16 18 (1.03%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 107 (6.12%) JIRA
2 95 (5.44%) Git
3 52 (2.98%) Jenkins
4 46 (2.63%) GitLab
5 33 (1.89%) Rational DOORS
6 22 (1.26%) Selenium
6 22 (1.26%) Snyk
7 19 (1.09%) Postman
8 15 (0.86%) Cypress.io
8 15 (0.86%) LabVIEW
9 14 (0.80%) JMeter
10 13 (0.74%) IBM UrbanCode
11 12 (0.69%) Cucumber
12 10 (0.57%) TeamCity
13 9 (0.52%) Burp Suite
13 9 (0.52%) REST Assured
14 7 (0.40%) MLflow
14 7 (0.40%) Rational Rhapsody
15 6 (0.34%) GDB
15 6 (0.34%) JUnit
General
1 576 (32.97%) Social Skills
2 485 (27.76%) Finance
3 410 (23.47%) Analytical Skills
4 141 (8.07%) Manufacturing
5 140 (8.01%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 139 (7.96%) Aerospace
7 124 (7.10%) Electronics
8 101 (5.78%) Banking
9 74 (4.24%) Law
10 72 (4.12%) Public Sector
11 71 (4.06%) Retail
12 59 (3.38%) Pharmaceutical
13 57 (3.26%) Organisational Skills
14 56 (3.21%) Legal
15 49 (2.80%) Marketing
16 45 (2.58%) Games
17 43 (2.46%) Automotive
18 31 (1.77%) Documentation Skills
18 31 (1.77%) Telecoms
19 29 (1.66%) Billing
Job Titles
1 321 (18.37%) Senior
2 262 (15.00%) Analyst
3 152 (8.70%) Lead
4 124 (7.10%) Systems Engineer
5 107 (6.12%) Architect
6 106 (6.07%) Test Engineer
7 95 (5.44%) Consultant
8 93 (5.32%) Data Engineer
9 82 (4.69%) Business Analyst
10 81 (4.64%) Developer
11 74 (4.24%) Data Analyst
12 72 (4.12%) Validation Engineer
13 52 (2.98%) Software Engineer
14 49 (2.80%) Principal Engineer
15 45 (2.58%) Embedded Engineer
16 43 (2.46%) Support Engineer
17 40 (2.29%) IT Manager
18 39 (2.23%) Senior Systems Engineer
19 38 (2.18%) Data Scientist
20 36 (2.06%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 47 (2.69%) RESTful
2 38 (2.18%) Kafka
2 38 (2.18%) Node.js
2 38 (2.18%) PySpark
3 32 (1.83%) JSON
3 32 (1.83%) PyTorch
3 32 (1.83%) XML
4 30 (1.72%) REST
5 26 (1.49%) Pandas
6 24 (1.37%) .NET
7 23 (1.32%) Middleware
7 23 (1.32%) Playwright
8 20 (1.14%) CSS
9 19 (1.09%) HTML
9 19 (1.09%) Regular Expression
9 19 (1.09%) XMPP
10 17 (0.97%) LDAP
10 17 (0.97%) Oracle Fusion
10 17 (0.97%) React
11 16 (0.92%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 119 (6.81%) Cloud Native
2 113 (6.47%) Onboarding
3 78 (4.46%) Management Information System
4 70 (4.01%) Data Structures
5 67 (3.84%) Algorithms
6 61 (3.49%) Product Ownership
7 54 (3.09%) Data Centre
8 48 (2.75%) Embedded Systems
9 47 (2.69%) Distributed Systems
10 45 (2.58%) Driving Licence
10 45 (2.58%) Enterprise Software
11 44 (2.52%) Low-Code
12 37 (2.12%) Analytical Mindset
13 32 (1.83%) Video\Live Streaming
14 31 (1.77%) Life Science
15 30 (1.72%) AI Agents
15 30 (1.72%) Legacy Systems
16 28 (1.60%) Self-Motivation
17 26 (1.49%) IoT
18 25 (1.43%) FPGA
Operating Systems
1 118 (6.75%) Linux
2 86 (4.92%) Windows
3 33 (1.89%) Windows Server
4 25 (1.43%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (1.09%) Unix
6 6 (0.34%) Android
6 6 (0.34%) FreeRTOS
7 5 (0.29%) Embedded Linux
8 4 (0.23%) Kali Linux
8 4 (0.23%) Mac OS
8 4 (0.23%) Mac OS X
9 2 (0.11%) AIX
9 2 (0.11%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.11%) ThreadX
9 2 (0.11%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.057%) Apple iOS
10 1 (0.057%) Rocky
10 1 (0.057%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.057%) VMS
10 1 (0.057%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 419 (23.98%) Problem-Solving
2 414 (23.70%) Continuous Improvement
3 376 (21.52%) Agile
4 335 (19.18%) AI
5 281 (16.08%) CI/CD
6 249 (14.25%) Analytics
7 230 (13.17%) Test Automation
8 227 (12.99%) Migration
9 218 (12.48%) Stakeholder Management
10 202 (11.56%) Mentoring
11 187 (10.70%) Decision-Making
12 178 (10.19%) Data Analysis
12 178 (10.19%) DevOps
13 176 (10.07%) Verification and Validation
14 175 (10.02%) Business Intelligence
15 172 (9.85%) Software Engineering
16 168 (9.62%) Machine Learning
17 167 (9.56%) Data Validation
18 164 (9.39%) Data Modelling
19 161 (9.22%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 453 (25.93%) Python
2 371 (21.24%) SQL
3 78 (4.46%) C++
4 77 (4.41%) Java
5 71 (4.06%) C
6 53 (3.03%) Go
7 48 (2.75%) JavaScript
8 47 (2.69%) C#
9 36 (2.06%) MATLAB
10 29 (1.66%) PowerShell
11 28 (1.60%) Bash
12 22 (1.26%) T-SQL
13 21 (1.20%) Embedded C
14 18 (1.03%) Embedded C++
14 18 (1.03%) Scala
15 17 (0.97%) TypeScript
16 14 (0.80%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 11 (0.63%) R
18 10 (0.57%) ABAP
18 10 (0.57%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 342 (19.58%) Degree
2 216 (12.36%) Security Cleared
3 118 (6.75%) BPSS Clearance
4 114 (6.53%) SC Cleared
5 74 (4.24%) Master's Degree
6 64 (3.66%) DV Cleared
7 40 (2.29%) Computer Science Degree
8 30 (1.72%) Chartered Engineer
9 29 (1.66%) HNC
10 27 (1.55%) CISSP
11 26 (1.49%) PhD
12 23 (1.32%) CISA
13 22 (1.26%) SANS
14 21 (1.20%) ACCA
14 21 (1.20%) AWS Certification
14 21 (1.20%) CIMA
14 21 (1.20%) CISM
15 20 (1.14%) PMI Certification
16 19 (1.09%) HND
17 17 (0.97%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 296 (16.94%) Data Quality
2 236 (13.51%) QA
3 73 (4.18%) Accessibility
4 56 (3.21%) GDPR
5 39 (2.23%) GRC
6 26 (1.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 24 (1.37%) IEC 61508
8 21 (1.20%) NIST
9 18 (1.03%) SLA
10 17 (0.97%) PMO
11 15 (0.86%) IFRS
11 15 (0.86%) ISO 9001
12 14 (0.80%) GxP
13 13 (0.74%) GAAP
13 13 (0.74%) ISO 26262
13 13 (0.74%) ISO/IEC 15288
13 13 (0.74%) WCAG
14 12 (0.69%) COBIT
15 11 (0.63%) SOC 2
16 9 (0.52%) MISRA
System Software
1 75 (4.29%) Docker
2 62 (3.55%) Firmware
3 41 (2.35%) Active Directory
4 27 (1.55%) Embedded Firmware
4 27 (1.55%) Virtual Machines
5 22 (1.26%) vSphere
6 17 (0.97%) VMware Infrastructure
7 7 (0.40%) KVM
8 5 (0.29%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.17%) VMware ESXi
10 2 (0.11%) Terminal Services
11 1 (0.057%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.057%) ProxySG
Systems Management
1 75 (4.29%) Kubernetes
1 75 (4.29%) Terraform
2 40 (2.29%) Grafana
3 27 (1.55%) Ansible
4 24 (1.37%) Functional Safety
5 17 (0.97%) Prometheus
6 12 (0.69%) Puppet
7 10 (0.57%) Cilium
8 7 (0.40%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 7 (0.40%) Kibana
8 7 (0.40%) SCCM
9 5 (0.29%) Single Sign-On
10 4 (0.23%) Argo
10 4 (0.23%) Microsoft Intune
10 4 (0.23%) Nessus
10 4 (0.23%) Nmap
11 3 (0.17%) FortiGate
11 3 (0.17%) HP Fortify
11 3 (0.17%) WMI
11 3 (0.17%) yum
Vendors
1 241 (13.80%) Microsoft
2 106 (6.07%) SAP
3 96 (5.50%) Oracle
4 55 (3.15%) Salesforce
5 47 (2.69%) Databricks
6 36 (2.06%) ServiceNow
6 36 (2.06%) VMware
7 35 (2.00%) Red Hat
8 33 (1.89%) Cisco
9 31 (1.77%) Google
10 29 (1.66%) CrowdStrike
11 24 (1.37%) Palo Alto
12 22 (1.26%) Tenable
13 17 (0.97%) IBM
14 15 (0.86%) McAfee
15 14 (0.80%) Adobe
15 14 (0.80%) Foundry
16 13 (0.74%) Citrix
16 13 (0.74%) EMC
16 13 (0.74%) Splunk