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

6 months to
8 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 122 80 197
Rank change year-on-year -42 +117 -6
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,397 1,600 1,424
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.54% 3.68% 1.48%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.07% 3.95% 1.73%
Number of salaries quoted 783 433 780
10th Percentile £34,500 £40,000 £35,475
25th Percentile £42,750 £46,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,490 £56,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.23% +1.82% -12.00%
75th Percentile £76,875 £71,250 £72,108
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -4.55% +4.76% -4.55%

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 67,484 40,549 82,082
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 74.46% 93.37% 85.36%
Number of salaries quoted 42,329 22,500 59,656
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,500 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - +9.09% -10.10%
75th Percentile £78,750 £80,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £102,500 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year - +5.00% -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 8 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 8 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 1,242 £60,000 +7.14% 777
UK excluding London -68 905 £52,500 -4.55% 607
Work from Home +112 441 £57,500 - 385
London +71 372 £77,500 +6.90% 275
South East -47 288 £55,000 +7.84% 197
North of England +31 222 £55,000 +15.35% 122
Midlands -88 152 £40,000 -27.27% 86
North West +35 138 £56,100 +17.65% 72
West Midlands -8 98 £44,000 -32.31% 51
East of England -78 97 £60,000 +5.26% 81
South West -46 92 £52,500 -3.67% 83
Yorkshire -21 53 £55,000 +15.79% 38
East Midlands -100 52 £30,000 -41.18% 35
Scotland -12 41 £42,000 -27.63% 36
North East -7 31 £52,500 -7.49% 14
Wales -28 13 £44,000 -15.47% 15
Northern Ireland -36 2 - - 8

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 (3.29%) Apache Airflow
2 28 (2.00%) Apache Spark
3 26 (1.86%) Apache
3 26 (1.86%) Confluence
4 21 (1.50%) ArcGIS
5 16 (1.15%) Microsoft Exchange
6 12 (0.86%) Appian
7 10 (0.72%) CMS
8 9 (0.64%) SharePoint
9 7 (0.50%) SAS
10 6 (0.43%) Kinematics
11 3 (0.21%) Jupyter
12 2 (0.14%) Artix
12 2 (0.14%) Headless CMS
12 2 (0.14%) IIS
13 1 (0.072%) Adobe Experience Manager
13 1 (0.072%) Anypoint
13 1 (0.072%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 91 (6.51%) Microsoft Excel
2 62 (4.44%) Microsoft Office
3 20 (1.43%) MS Visio
4 14 (1.00%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 9 (0.64%) Microsoft Project
5 9 (0.64%) Simulink
6 6 (0.43%) Spreadsheet
7 5 (0.36%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 4 (0.29%) CANalyzer
8 4 (0.29%) Fusion 360
8 4 (0.29%) SOLIDWORKS
9 3 (0.21%) AutoCAD
9 3 (0.21%) Solid Edge
10 2 (0.14%) Adobe XD
10 2 (0.14%) Autodesk Inventor
10 2 (0.14%) CATIA
10 2 (0.14%) Oracle Smart View
10 2 (0.14%) Sketch
11 1 (0.072%) Navisworks
11 1 (0.072%) Productboard
Business Applications
1 35 (2.51%) SAP S/4HANA
2 22 (1.57%) Dynamics CRM
3 10 (0.72%) SAP ERP
4 9 (0.64%) Oracle ERP
5 6 (0.43%) Elite 3E
5 6 (0.43%) Loan IQ
5 6 (0.43%) SAP MDG
5 6 (0.43%) Workday HCM
6 4 (0.29%) Markit EDM
6 4 (0.29%) SAP MDG-BP
7 3 (0.21%) iTrent
7 3 (0.21%) Oracle Applications
7 3 (0.21%) Oracle EBS
8 2 (0.14%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
8 2 (0.14%) SAP FSCM
8 2 (0.14%) SAP PSCD
9 1 (0.072%) Oracle Receivables
9 1 (0.072%) Raiser’s Edge
9 1 (0.072%) SAP BRIM
9 1 (0.072%) SAP CX
Cloud Services
1 205 (14.67%) Azure
2 145 (10.38%) AWS
3 122 (8.73%) Power Platform
4 64 (4.58%) SaaS
5 55 (3.94%) GCP
6 46 (3.29%) Azure DevOps
7 35 (2.51%) Azure Data Factory
8 34 (2.43%) Dynamics 365
9 32 (2.29%) Serverless
10 31 (2.22%) Microsoft 365
11 30 (2.15%) Snowflake
12 28 (2.00%) GitHub
13 27 (1.93%) Amazon S3
14 25 (1.79%) Power Automate
15 24 (1.72%) dbt
15 24 (1.72%) Entra ID
16 17 (1.22%) OpenShift
17 16 (1.15%) Azure AI
18 15 (1.07%) Anthropic Claude
19 12 (0.86%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 51 (3.65%) Broadband
2 33 (2.36%) Firewall
3 29 (2.08%) CHAP
4 24 (1.72%) DNS
5 22 (1.57%) WAN
6 19 (1.36%) 5G
6 19 (1.36%) TCP/IP
6 19 (1.36%) Wireless
7 17 (1.22%) SD-WAN
8 12 (0.86%) HTTP
9 10 (0.72%) VPN
9 10 (0.72%) Wireshark
10 9 (0.64%) LAN
10 9 (0.64%) Modbus
10 9 (0.64%) NAS
11 8 (0.57%) MQTT
11 8 (0.57%) Multicast
11 8 (0.57%) Network Security
12 7 (0.50%) Ethernet
12 7 (0.50%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 114 (8.16%) Power BI
2 50 (3.58%) SQL Server
3 46 (3.29%) Tableau
4 44 (3.15%) PostgreSQL
5 35 (2.51%) Data Warehouse
5 35 (2.51%) Metadata
6 31 (2.22%) Relational Database
7 25 (1.79%) QGIS
8 24 (1.72%) MongoDB
9 23 (1.65%) GIS
10 21 (1.50%) Data Lake
11 20 (1.43%) Spatial Data
12 18 (1.29%) Oracle Reports
13 17 (1.22%) Azure SQL Database
13 17 (1.22%) Spark SQL
14 15 (1.07%) Oracle Database
15 14 (1.00%) BigQuery
15 14 (1.00%) MySQL
15 14 (1.00%) Parquet
15 14 (1.00%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 67 (4.80%) Git
1 67 (4.80%) JIRA
2 39 (2.79%) Rational DOORS
3 29 (2.08%) Jenkins
4 22 (1.57%) GitLab
5 18 (1.29%) Postman
6 17 (1.22%) LabVIEW
6 17 (1.22%) Snyk
7 15 (1.07%) MLflow
7 15 (1.07%) Selenium
8 13 (0.93%) IBM UrbanCode
9 12 (0.86%) Cucumber
9 12 (0.86%) JMeter
10 11 (0.79%) TestRail
11 10 (0.72%) Eclipse
12 7 (0.50%) LoadRunner
13 6 (0.43%) Cypress.io
14 5 (0.36%) SpecFlow
14 5 (0.36%) Subversion
14 5 (0.36%) Visual Studio
General
1 460 (32.93%) Social Skills
2 371 (26.56%) Finance
3 303 (21.69%) Analytical Skills
4 108 (7.73%) Manufacturing
5 101 (7.23%) Aerospace
6 93 (6.66%) Electronics
7 86 (6.16%) Banking
8 70 (5.01%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 59 (4.22%) Legal
10 50 (3.58%) Public Sector
11 45 (3.22%) Retail
12 43 (3.08%) Law
12 43 (3.08%) Marketing
13 41 (2.93%) Financial Institution
14 40 (2.86%) Pharmaceutical
15 37 (2.65%) Presentation Skills
16 35 (2.51%) Games
17 34 (2.43%) Organisational Skills
18 30 (2.15%) Automotive
19 24 (1.72%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 231 (16.54%) Senior
2 225 (16.11%) Analyst
3 154 (11.02%) Systems Engineer
4 100 (7.16%) Lead
5 90 (6.44%) Test Engineer
6 89 (6.37%) Architect
7 84 (6.01%) Business Analyst
8 81 (5.80%) Validation Engineer
9 68 (4.87%) Consultant
10 60 (4.29%) Data Analyst
11 51 (3.65%) Integration Engineer
12 50 (3.58%) Data Engineer
12 50 (3.58%) Developer
13 45 (3.22%) Junior
14 43 (3.08%) Senior Systems Engineer
15 41 (2.93%) Principal Engineer
16 37 (2.65%) Verification Engineer
17 36 (2.58%) Systems Integration Engineer
18 33 (2.36%) Software Validation Engineer
19 32 (2.29%) Auditor
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 53 (3.79%) REST
2 37 (2.65%) PyTorch
3 34 (2.43%) JSON
3 34 (2.43%) Pandas
4 32 (2.29%) RESTful
5 29 (2.08%) Middleware
6 27 (1.93%) pytest
7 22 (1.57%) PySpark
7 22 (1.57%) XML
8 20 (1.43%) OAuth
8 20 (1.43%) Swagger
9 19 (1.36%) .NET
10 18 (1.29%) JWT
11 17 (1.22%) Kafka
11 17 (1.22%) NumPy
11 17 (1.22%) Playwright
11 17 (1.22%) TensorFlow
12 15 (1.07%) CSS
13 14 (1.00%) Oracle Fusion
13 14 (1.00%) React
Miscellaneous
1 84 (6.01%) Management Information System
2 59 (4.22%) Onboarding
3 50 (3.58%) Data Structures
4 48 (3.44%) Low-Code
5 45 (3.22%) Cloud Native
6 43 (3.08%) Algorithms
7 38 (2.72%) Product Ownership
8 36 (2.58%) Self-Motivation
9 34 (2.43%) Legacy Systems
10 30 (2.15%) Analytical Mindset
11 28 (2.00%) Life Science
12 27 (1.93%) Data Centre
13 24 (1.72%) Embedded Systems
14 22 (1.57%) Enterprise Software
14 22 (1.57%) Video\Live Streaming
15 20 (1.43%) Distributed Systems
16 19 (1.36%) Driving Licence
17 18 (1.29%) Robotics
17 18 (1.29%) SCADA
18 15 (1.07%) Blockchain
Operating Systems
1 80 (5.73%) Linux
2 66 (4.72%) Windows
3 21 (1.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 21 (1.50%) Unix
3 21 (1.50%) Windows Server
4 13 (0.93%) Android
5 5 (0.36%) Apple iOS
6 4 (0.29%) CentOS
6 4 (0.29%) FreeRTOS
6 4 (0.29%) 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 (0.072%) Embedded Linux
9 1 (0.072%) Rocky
9 1 (0.072%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.072%) VxWorks
9 1 (0.072%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 309 (22.12%) Problem-Solving
2 295 (21.12%) Agile
3 271 (19.40%) Continuous Improvement
4 220 (15.75%) Analytics
5 219 (15.68%) AI
6 207 (14.82%) Verification and Validation
7 188 (13.46%) CI/CD
7 188 (13.46%) Test Automation
8 164 (11.74%) Data Validation
9 152 (10.88%) Migration
10 142 (10.16%) Business Intelligence
10 142 (10.16%) Data Modelling
11 137 (9.81%) Decision-Making
12 136 (9.74%) Stakeholder Management
13 133 (9.52%) User Acceptance Testing
14 130 (9.31%) Data Governance
15 129 (9.23%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 128 (9.16%) Systems Engineering
17 127 (9.09%) Software Engineering
18 125 (8.95%) Machine Learning
Programming Languages
1 318 (22.76%) Python
2 278 (19.90%) SQL
3 52 (3.72%) C++
4 49 (3.51%) Java
5 43 (3.08%) C
6 38 (2.72%) PowerShell
7 36 (2.58%) Go
8 28 (2.00%) Bash
9 27 (1.93%) C#
9 27 (1.93%) JavaScript
10 23 (1.65%) MATLAB
11 18 (1.29%) T-SQL
12 13 (0.93%) TypeScript
13 12 (0.86%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 12 (0.86%) Embedded C
14 9 (0.64%) R
14 9 (0.64%) VBA
15 7 (0.50%) ABAP
15 7 (0.50%) Apex Code
15 7 (0.50%) VB
Qualifications
1 311 (22.26%) Degree
2 168 (12.03%) Security Cleared
3 129 (9.23%) BPSS Clearance
4 66 (4.72%) Master's Degree
5 65 (4.65%) SC Cleared
6 41 (2.93%) Computer Science Degree
7 40 (2.86%) DV Cleared
8 39 (2.79%) CISA
8 39 (2.79%) CISSP
9 36 (2.58%) Chartered Engineer
9 36 (2.58%) CISM
10 34 (2.43%) SANS
11 29 (2.08%) CGEIT
11 29 (2.08%) FFIEC
12 28 (2.00%) HNC
13 24 (1.72%) HND
14 23 (1.65%) PMI Certification
15 20 (1.43%) PMP
16 14 (1.00%) ISTQB
17 10 (0.72%) ACCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 193 (13.82%) Data Quality
2 150 (10.74%) QA
3 66 (4.72%) GDPR
4 59 (4.22%) Accessibility
5 37 (2.65%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 35 (2.51%) GRC
7 31 (2.22%) NIST
8 29 (2.08%) COBIT
9 21 (1.50%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 20 (1.43%) IFRS
11 19 (1.36%) IEC 61508
12 15 (1.07%) SLA
13 13 (0.93%) GAAP
13 13 (0.93%) ISO 9001
14 11 (0.79%) GMP
14 11 (0.79%) PMO
15 10 (0.72%) Good Clinical Practice
15 10 (0.72%) WCAG
16 9 (0.64%) 21 CFR Part 11
16 9 (0.64%) ISO/IEC 12207
System Software
1 61 (4.37%) Docker
2 36 (2.58%) Active Directory
3 30 (2.15%) Firmware
4 18 (1.29%) Virtual Machines
5 15 (1.07%) VMware Infrastructure
5 15 (1.07%) vSphere
6 6 (0.43%) Embedded Firmware
6 6 (0.43%) Hyper-V
6 6 (0.43%) KVM
7 3 (0.21%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.14%) Terminal Services
9 1 (0.072%) iptables
9 1 (0.072%) OpenAM
9 1 (0.072%) OpenDJ
9 1 (0.072%) OpenIDM
9 1 (0.072%) pfSense
Systems Management
1 67 (4.80%) Kubernetes
2 47 (3.36%) Terraform
3 32 (2.29%) Grafana
4 26 (1.86%) Ansible
5 17 (1.22%) Prometheus
6 15 (1.07%) Functional Safety
7 14 (1.00%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 11 (0.79%) SCCM
9 10 (0.72%) Puppet
10 8 (0.57%) Microsoft Intune
11 4 (0.29%) Argo
11 4 (0.29%) Cilium
11 4 (0.29%) Rancher
11 4 (0.29%) 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%) PowerCLI
14 1 (0.072%) Nessus
Vendors
1 181 (12.96%) Microsoft
2 77 (5.51%) Oracle
3 68 (4.87%) SAP
4 47 (3.36%) Salesforce
5 30 (2.15%) Red Hat
6 29 (2.08%) VMware
7 26 (1.86%) Databricks
8 22 (1.57%) Cisco
9 20 (1.43%) CrowdStrike
10 19 (1.36%) Google
10 19 (1.36%) Palo Alto
10 19 (1.36%) ServiceNow
11 18 (1.29%) IBM
12 17 (1.22%) Foundry
12 17 (1.22%) OpenAI
12 17 (1.22%) Tenable
13 16 (1.15%) Adobe
14 14 (1.00%) Citrix
15 12 (0.86%) Automation Anywhere
15 12 (0.86%) UiPath