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

6 months to
20 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 145 193 182
Rank change year-on-year +48 -11 -27
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,028 790 1,263
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.50% 1.62% 1.69%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.89% 1.75% 1.91%
Number of salaries quoted 538 309 749
10th Percentile £36,250 £38,350 £34,750
25th Percentile £44,979 £47,000 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £56,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% +1.82% -13.39%
75th Percentile £78,750 £71,250 £72,433
90th Percentile £91,250 £98,000 £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 54,345 45,260 66,146
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 79.25% 92.54% 88.33%
Number of salaries quoted 32,629 22,226 51,183
10th Percentile £29,000 £34,000 £29,490
25th Percentile £38,000 £46,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -12.00%
75th Percentile £76,000 £81,250 £75,000
90th Percentile £96,250 £102,500 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -8.33%

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 20 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 20 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 +55 901 £60,000 +7.14% 832
UK excluding London +22 637 £55,000 - 663
London +62 302 £75,000 +11.11% 272
Work from Home +115 296 £60,000 +7.14% 343
South East +27 197 £53,500 +1.90% 216
North of England +7 128 £60,000 +25.83% 128
Midlands +9 105 £37,500 -28.57% 127
North West +10 89 £58,000 +21.64% 89
East of England +5 85 £59,000 +7.27% 80
South West +6 71 £62,500 +18.82% 84
West Midlands +6 66 £41,108 -28.51% 85
Scotland -15 39 £42,000 -27.63% 33
East Midlands -1 38 £35,000 -32.69% 40
Yorkshire -25 29 £65,000 +49.61% 32
Wales +1 10 £65,000 +32.37% 10
North East -13 10 £43,499 +4.82% 7
Northern Ireland -28 3 - - 3

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 24 (2.33%) Apache Airflow
2 20 (1.95%) Confluence
3 15 (1.46%) Apache Spark
3 15 (1.46%) ArcGIS
4 13 (1.26%) Microsoft Exchange
5 12 (1.17%) Appian
5 12 (1.17%) SharePoint
6 10 (0.97%) CMS
7 9 (0.88%) Apache
8 4 (0.39%) Headless CMS
9 2 (0.19%) Kinematics
9 2 (0.19%) WordPress
10 1 (0.097%) Anypoint
10 1 (0.097%) FileNet
10 1 (0.097%) Jupyter
10 1 (0.097%) SAS
10 1 (0.097%) SugarCRM
Applications
1 90 (8.75%) Microsoft Excel
2 62 (6.03%) Microsoft Office
3 17 (1.65%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (0.97%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.68%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 4 (0.39%) Fusion 360
6 4 (0.39%) Simulink
7 3 (0.29%) 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%) Oracle Smart View
8 2 (0.19%) Photoshop
8 2 (0.19%) Revit
8 2 (0.19%) Weka
9 1 (0.097%) CATIA
9 1 (0.097%) Navisworks
9 1 (0.097%) OrCAD
Business Applications
1 25 (2.43%) SAP S/4HANA
2 13 (1.26%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (0.68%) Workday HCM
4 6 (0.58%) Oracle ERP
5 4 (0.39%) Markit EDM
5 4 (0.39%) SAP BPC
6 3 (0.29%) SAP CX
6 3 (0.29%) SAP ERP
6 3 (0.29%) SAP MDG
7 2 (0.19%) Elite 3E
7 2 (0.19%) IBM Planning Analytics
7 2 (0.19%) NetSuite
7 2 (0.19%) Primavera
7 2 (0.19%) SAP FSCM
8 1 (0.097%) Endur
8 1 (0.097%) Loan IQ
8 1 (0.097%) Magento
8 1 (0.097%) Oracle Financials
8 1 (0.097%) Remedy ITSM
8 1 (0.097%) SAP Business ByDesign
Cloud Services
1 169 (16.44%) Azure
2 97 (9.44%) Power Platform
3 80 (7.78%) AWS
4 50 (4.86%) SaaS
5 44 (4.28%) Azure DevOps
6 34 (3.31%) GCP
7 28 (2.72%) Snowflake
8 26 (2.53%) Azure Data Factory
9 25 (2.43%) Dynamics 365
10 24 (2.33%) dbt
11 21 (2.04%) Power Automate
12 20 (1.95%) Microsoft 365
13 19 (1.85%) Entra ID
13 19 (1.85%) GitHub
14 13 (1.26%) Amazon S3
15 12 (1.17%) Anthropic Claude
15 12 (1.17%) Azure AI
16 11 (1.07%) Datadog
16 11 (1.07%) Figma
17 10 (0.97%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 20 (1.95%) CHAP
2 13 (1.26%) WAN
3 12 (1.17%) 5G
4 11 (1.07%) Firewall
4 11 (1.07%) SD-WAN
5 10 (0.97%) TCP/IP
6 8 (0.78%) DNS
6 8 (0.78%) HTTP
6 8 (0.78%) MQTT
6 8 (0.78%) Wireless
7 7 (0.68%) Modbus
8 6 (0.58%) Broadband
8 6 (0.58%) LAN
9 5 (0.49%) Cisco IOS
9 5 (0.49%) Multicast
9 5 (0.49%) VoIP
9 5 (0.49%) WAAS
10 4 (0.39%) Internet
10 4 (0.39%) NAS
10 4 (0.39%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 91 (8.85%) Power BI
2 39 (3.79%) SQL Server
3 33 (3.21%) Data Warehouse
4 28 (2.72%) Metadata
5 25 (2.43%) Relational Database
6 23 (2.24%) Tableau
7 22 (2.14%) GIS
8 14 (1.36%) Oracle Reports
8 14 (1.36%) QGIS
8 14 (1.36%) Spatial Data
9 13 (1.26%) PostgreSQL
10 12 (1.17%) Azure SQL Database
10 12 (1.17%) Pinecone
11 11 (1.07%) Data Lake
11 11 (1.07%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 10 (0.97%) Spotfire
13 9 (0.88%) Amazon Redshift
14 8 (0.78%) BigQuery
14 8 (0.78%) MySQL
15 7 (0.68%) Data Vault
Development Applications
1 65 (6.32%) JIRA
2 49 (4.77%) Git
3 48 (4.67%) Rational DOORS
4 22 (2.14%) Postman
5 21 (2.04%) Jenkins
6 16 (1.56%) LabVIEW
7 15 (1.46%) GitLab
8 14 (1.36%) MLflow
9 13 (1.26%) Cucumber
9 13 (1.26%) TestRail
10 11 (1.07%) Eclipse
10 11 (1.07%) JMeter
11 10 (0.97%) Selenium
12 9 (0.88%) SoapUI
13 7 (0.68%) Locust
14 6 (0.58%) LoadRunner
14 6 (0.58%) Subversion
15 5 (0.49%) Robot Framework
15 5 (0.49%) SpecFlow
15 5 (0.49%) Visual Studio
General
1 375 (36.48%) Social Skills
2 291 (28.31%) Finance
3 239 (23.25%) Analytical Skills
4 70 (6.81%) Banking
5 56 (5.45%) Electronics
6 53 (5.16%) Manufacturing
7 48 (4.67%) Aerospace
7 48 (4.67%) Financial Institution
7 48 (4.67%) Marketing
8 45 (4.38%) Presentation Skills
9 41 (3.99%) Legal
10 38 (3.70%) Law
11 37 (3.60%) Public Sector
12 35 (3.40%) Organisational Skills
13 31 (3.02%) Retail
14 30 (2.92%) Telecoms
15 28 (2.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 20 (1.95%) Billing
16 20 (1.95%) Documentation Skills
17 19 (1.85%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 167 (16.25%) Analyst
2 154 (14.98%) Senior
3 121 (11.77%) Systems Engineer
4 80 (7.78%) Lead
5 65 (6.32%) Architect
6 62 (6.03%) Business Analyst
7 52 (5.06%) Test Engineer
8 51 (4.96%) Validation Engineer
9 46 (4.47%) Integration Engineer
10 44 (4.28%) Data Analyst
11 39 (3.79%) Consultant
11 39 (3.79%) Junior
12 35 (3.40%) Senior Systems Engineer
13 34 (3.31%) Systems Integration Engineer
14 33 (3.21%) Principal Engineer
15 32 (3.11%) Data Engineer
16 30 (2.92%) Developer
17 29 (2.82%) Solutions Architect
18 27 (2.63%) Verification Engineer
19 26 (2.53%) Principal Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 49 (4.77%) REST
2 34 (3.31%) PyTorch
3 31 (3.02%) JSON
3 31 (3.02%) Middleware
4 28 (2.72%) Pandas
5 25 (2.43%) pytest
6 24 (2.33%) XML
7 19 (1.85%) TensorFlow
8 18 (1.75%) NumPy
9 17 (1.65%) OAuth
9 17 (1.65%) scikit-learn
10 16 (1.56%) JWT
10 16 (1.56%) Swagger
10 16 (1.56%) Web Services
11 14 (1.36%) .NET
11 14 (1.36%) FastAPI
11 14 (1.36%) React
11 14 (1.36%) RESTful
12 13 (1.26%) CSS
12 13 (1.26%) Flask
Miscellaneous
1 65 (6.32%) Management Information System
2 46 (4.47%) Onboarding
3 34 (3.31%) Data Structures
3 34 (3.31%) Product Ownership
4 32 (3.11%) Self-Motivation
5 27 (2.63%) Legacy Systems
6 26 (2.53%) Algorithms
7 24 (2.33%) Low-Code
8 22 (2.14%) Life Science
9 18 (1.75%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 17 (1.65%) Analytical Mindset
11 15 (1.46%) Enterprise Software
12 14 (1.36%) SWIFT Messaging Network
13 13 (1.26%) Reinsurance
14 12 (1.17%) Blockchain
14 12 (1.17%) FPGA
15 11 (1.07%) Data Centre
15 11 (1.07%) Embedded Systems
15 11 (1.07%) Self-Driving Car
16 10 (0.97%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 50 (4.86%) Windows
2 47 (4.57%) Linux
3 14 (1.36%) Unix
4 12 (1.17%) Android
5 9 (0.88%) Windows Server
6 6 (0.58%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (0.39%) Apple iOS
7 4 (0.39%) CentOS
8 3 (0.29%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.19%) AIX
9 2 (0.19%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.19%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.097%) Rocky
10 1 (0.097%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.097%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 271 (26.36%) Agile
2 238 (23.15%) Problem-Solving
3 173 (16.83%) Verification and Validation
4 162 (15.76%) Continuous Improvement
5 142 (13.81%) Analytics
6 131 (12.74%) Data Validation
7 126 (12.26%) Migration
8 119 (11.58%) AI
9 117 (11.38%) Systems Engineering
9 117 (11.38%) Test Automation
10 116 (11.28%) DevOps
11 113 (10.99%) CI/CD
12 112 (10.89%) Business Intelligence
13 105 (10.21%) Stakeholder Management
14 103 (10.02%) Mentoring
15 93 (9.05%) Data Modelling
16 92 (8.95%) Decision-Making
16 92 (8.95%) Project Management
17 90 (8.75%) ETL
18 89 (8.66%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 221 (21.50%) SQL
2 209 (20.33%) Python
3 40 (3.89%) Java
4 37 (3.60%) C
4 37 (3.60%) C++
4 37 (3.60%) PowerShell
5 25 (2.43%) JavaScript
6 21 (2.04%) Bash
7 19 (1.85%) MATLAB
8 16 (1.56%) T-SQL
9 13 (1.26%) C#
9 13 (1.26%) TypeScript
10 12 (1.17%) R
11 9 (0.88%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 7 (0.68%) Go
13 6 (0.58%) VB
13 6 (0.58%) VBA
14 5 (0.49%) PHP
15 4 (0.39%) PL/SQL
15 4 (0.39%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 263 (25.58%) Degree
2 141 (13.72%) Security Cleared
3 124 (12.06%) BPSS Clearance
4 56 (5.45%) SC Cleared
5 54 (5.25%) Master's Degree
6 42 (4.09%) Computer Science Degree
7 24 (2.33%) CISA
7 24 (2.33%) CISSP
8 23 (2.24%) CISM
9 22 (2.14%) DV Cleared
10 21 (2.04%) CGEIT
10 21 (2.04%) PMI Certification
10 21 (2.04%) PMP
10 21 (2.04%) SANS
11 20 (1.95%) FFIEC
12 19 (1.85%) Chartered Engineer
13 16 (1.56%) HNC
13 16 (1.56%) ISTQB
14 12 (1.17%) HND
15 9 (0.88%) ACCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 122 (11.87%) Data Quality
2 114 (11.09%) QA
3 51 (4.96%) GDPR
4 47 (4.57%) Accessibility
5 45 (4.38%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 20 (1.95%) COBIT
6 20 (1.95%) NIST
7 17 (1.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 16 (1.56%) SLA
9 15 (1.46%) ISO/IEC 12207
10 14 (1.36%) GRC
10 14 (1.36%) ISO 20022
11 13 (1.26%) SEPA
12 12 (1.17%) WCAG
13 10 (0.97%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 10 (0.97%) Good Clinical Practice
14 9 (0.88%) ISO 9001
14 9 (0.88%) TARGET2
15 8 (0.78%) GxP
15 8 (0.78%) IFRS
System Software
1 59 (5.74%) Docker
2 24 (2.33%) Firmware
3 19 (1.85%) Active Directory
4 9 (0.88%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (0.58%) Hyper-V
6 5 (0.49%) Embedded Firmware
7 4 (0.39%) VMware ESXi
7 4 (0.39%) vSphere
8 3 (0.29%) KVM
9 2 (0.19%) Ceph
9 2 (0.19%) Lustre
9 2 (0.19%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 1 (0.097%) iptables
10 1 (0.097%) OpenAM
10 1 (0.097%) OpenDJ
10 1 (0.097%) OpenIDM
10 1 (0.097%) pfSense
10 1 (0.097%) Terminal Services
10 1 (0.097%) vCloud
10 1 (0.097%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 52 (5.06%) Kubernetes
2 35 (3.40%) Terraform
3 21 (2.04%) Ansible
3 21 (2.04%) Grafana
4 12 (1.17%) Prometheus
5 8 (0.78%) SCCM
6 7 (0.68%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
6 7 (0.68%) Microsoft Intune
7 5 (0.49%) Argo
7 5 (0.49%) Puppet
7 5 (0.49%) Rancher
7 5 (0.49%) yum
8 2 (0.19%) BMC PATROL
8 2 (0.19%) Nessus
8 2 (0.19%) PowerCLI
9 1 (0.097%) Control-M
9 1 (0.097%) Docker Swarm
9 1 (0.097%) Kibana
9 1 (0.097%) Single Sign-On
9 1 (0.097%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 136 (13.23%) Microsoft
2 61 (5.93%) SAP
3 40 (3.89%) Oracle
4 35 (3.40%) Salesforce
5 26 (2.53%) IBM
6 20 (1.95%) Cisco
7 18 (1.75%) Foundry
8 17 (1.65%) OpenAI
9 14 (1.36%) ServiceNow
9 14 (1.36%) Software AG
10 13 (1.26%) Adobe
11 12 (1.17%) Automation Anywhere
11 12 (1.17%) Databricks
11 12 (1.17%) UiPath
11 12 (1.17%) VMware
12 11 (1.07%) Google
13 9 (0.88%) Workday
14 8 (0.78%) Intapp
14 8 (0.78%) Splunk
15 7 (0.68%) Guidewire