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

6 months to
10 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 99 86 205
Rank change year-on-year -13 +119 -14
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,949 1,706 1,100
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.84% 3.42% 1.32%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.50% 3.83% 1.63%
Number of salaries quoted 1,119 534 539
10th Percentile £34,700 £38,750 £36,250
25th Percentile £42,215 £41,250 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year - -8.33% -5.51%
75th Percentile £73,750 £70,938 £75,000
90th Percentile £89,000 £88,375 £92,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £53,500 £52,600 £54,500
% change year-on-year +1.71% -3.49% -5.22%

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 77,887 44,584 67,368
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.57% 89.31% 81.13%
Number of salaries quoted 53,644 25,395 43,808
10th Percentile £30,750 £28,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,170 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.71%
75th Percentile £78,750 £75,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £48,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +14.58% -4.00% -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 10 August 2026.

Salary histogram for Validation in the UK

Validation
Top 18 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 10 August 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 -16 1,777 £55,000 - 1,776
UK excluding London -33 1,352 £53,500 +1.71% 1,135
Work from Home +118 592 £56,000 -6.67% 612
London +63 489 £72,500 -6.45% 766
South East -31 405 £56,000 +9.80% 317
North of England +104 373 £52,500 +10.53% 213
North West +92 215 £55,000 +15.35% 124
Midlands -50 200 £43,587 -20.75% 193
South West -16 151 £53,000 +0.76% 172
East of England -73 128 £61,250 +7.46% 149
West Midlands +13 110 £44,720 -25.47% 120
East Midlands -69 89 £42,500 - 73
North East +7 79 £55,000 +57.14% 43
Yorkshire +4 79 £43,000 +1.18% 49
Scotland +24 66 £55,000 -5.23% 86
Wales -34 28 £47,500 -11.63% 23
Northern Ireland -69 2 - - 4
Isle of Man - 1 £38,500 - 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 60 (3.08%) Apache Airflow
2 57 (2.92%) Apache Spark
3 55 (2.82%) Apache
4 34 (1.74%) Confluence
5 32 (1.64%) SharePoint
6 20 (1.03%) Jupyter
7 19 (0.97%) ArcGIS
8 12 (0.62%) SAS
9 11 (0.56%) Microsoft Exchange
10 5 (0.26%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 5 (0.26%) CMS
11 4 (0.21%) Kinematics
11 4 (0.21%) WinCC
12 3 (0.15%) Artix
12 3 (0.15%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 2 (0.10%) Cloud Foundry
13 2 (0.10%) IIS
14 1 (0.051%) FactoryTalk
14 1 (0.051%) Palantir Foundry
14 1 (0.051%) WebSphere
Applications
1 117 (6.00%) Microsoft Excel
2 68 (3.49%) Microsoft Office
3 34 (1.74%) Simulink
4 33 (1.69%) Microsoft Project
5 27 (1.39%) MS Visio
6 17 (0.87%) Spreadsheet
7 14 (0.72%) Microsoft PowerPoint
8 13 (0.67%) SOLIDWORKS
9 8 (0.41%) AutoCAD
10 5 (0.26%) LaTeX
10 5 (0.26%) Mathcad
11 4 (0.21%) Adobe XD
11 4 (0.21%) CANalyzer
11 4 (0.21%) Sketch
12 3 (0.15%) Autodesk Inventor
12 3 (0.15%) OrCAD
12 3 (0.15%) Productboard
12 3 (0.15%) Stateflow
13 2 (0.10%) Revit
13 2 (0.10%) Solid Edge
Business Applications
1 49 (2.51%) SAP S/4HANA
2 42 (2.15%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.56%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.51%) Elite 3E
4 10 (0.51%) SAP ERP
5 9 (0.46%) iTrent
5 9 (0.46%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.41%) Oracle Applications
6 8 (0.41%) Oracle ERP
7 7 (0.36%) NetSuite
8 6 (0.31%) Teamcenter
9 5 (0.26%) Loan IQ
9 5 (0.26%) SAP MDG-BP
10 4 (0.21%) Oracle Financials
10 4 (0.21%) SAP MM
10 4 (0.21%) Workday HCM
11 2 (0.10%) Oracle Payables
11 2 (0.10%) SAP CO
11 2 (0.10%) SAP FI/CO
11 2 (0.10%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 290 (14.88%) Azure
2 268 (13.75%) AWS
3 164 (8.41%) Power Platform
4 89 (4.57%) GCP
5 79 (4.05%) SaaS
6 67 (3.44%) Azure DevOps
7 58 (2.98%) Microsoft 365
8 57 (2.92%) GitHub
9 50 (2.57%) Serverless
10 45 (2.31%) Amazon S3
11 39 (2.00%) Dynamics 365
12 30 (1.54%) Entra ID
13 29 (1.49%) Microsoft Copilot
14 28 (1.44%) GitHub Actions
15 22 (1.13%) Amazon EMR
16 21 (1.08%) Amazon EC2
16 21 (1.08%) Snowflake
17 20 (1.03%) Cloud Computing
18 19 (0.97%) Microsoft Purview
18 19 (0.97%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 70 (3.59%) Broadband
2 56 (2.87%) Firewall
3 49 (2.51%) DNS
4 33 (1.69%) Wireless
5 32 (1.64%) TCP/IP
6 30 (1.54%) Network Security
7 27 (1.39%) VPN
7 27 (1.39%) WAN
8 20 (1.03%) Ethernet
9 19 (0.97%) SD-WAN
10 17 (0.87%) Wi-Fi
11 16 (0.82%) LAN
11 16 (0.82%) MQTT
11 16 (0.82%) Wireshark
12 15 (0.77%) Internet
13 13 (0.67%) HTTP
14 12 (0.62%) BGP
15 11 (0.56%) 5G
15 11 (0.56%) NGN
15 11 (0.56%) RS-232
Database & Business Intelligence
1 149 (7.64%) Power BI
2 58 (2.98%) Tableau
3 57 (2.92%) Data Warehouse
4 53 (2.72%) PostgreSQL
5 49 (2.51%) Metadata
5 49 (2.51%) SQL Server
6 42 (2.15%) Data Lake
7 34 (1.74%) MongoDB
8 29 (1.49%) Relational Database
9 27 (1.39%) BigQuery
10 23 (1.18%) Amazon Athena
10 23 (1.18%) QGIS
10 23 (1.18%) Semantic Layer
11 22 (1.13%) DynamoDB
11 22 (1.13%) GIS
12 21 (1.08%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 20 (1.03%) Azure SQL Database
13 20 (1.03%) MySQL
13 20 (1.03%) Spark SQL
14 18 (0.92%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 123 (6.31%) JIRA
2 109 (5.59%) Git
3 51 (2.62%) Jenkins
4 46 (2.36%) GitLab
5 38 (1.95%) Rational DOORS
6 24 (1.23%) Selenium
7 22 (1.13%) Snyk
8 21 (1.08%) Postman
9 17 (0.87%) Cypress.io
9 17 (0.87%) LabVIEW
10 14 (0.72%) JMeter
11 13 (0.67%) Cucumber
11 13 (0.67%) IBM UrbanCode
12 10 (0.51%) REST Assured
12 10 (0.51%) TeamCity
13 9 (0.46%) Burp Suite
14 8 (0.41%) MLflow
14 8 (0.41%) Rational Rhapsody
15 7 (0.36%) Zephyr
16 6 (0.31%) Hudson
General
1 662 (33.97%) Social Skills
2 553 (28.37%) Finance
3 475 (24.37%) Analytical Skills
4 194 (9.95%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 193 (9.90%) Aerospace
6 176 (9.03%) Manufacturing
7 162 (8.31%) Electronics
8 110 (5.64%) Law
9 106 (5.44%) Banking
10 76 (3.90%) Public Sector
11 74 (3.80%) Retail
12 68 (3.49%) Marketing
12 68 (3.49%) Organisational Skills
13 67 (3.44%) Pharmaceutical
14 61 (3.13%) Legal
15 53 (2.72%) Automotive
16 46 (2.36%) Games
17 43 (2.21%) Telecoms
18 35 (1.80%) Influencing Skills
19 34 (1.74%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 355 (18.21%) Senior
2 266 (13.65%) Analyst
3 180 (9.24%) Lead
4 152 (7.80%) Systems Engineer
5 118 (6.05%) Test Engineer
6 114 (5.85%) Architect
7 102 (5.23%) Consultant
8 99 (5.08%) Data Engineer
9 87 (4.46%) Developer
10 84 (4.31%) Business Analyst
11 70 (3.59%) Software Engineer
12 65 (3.34%) Validation Engineer
13 64 (3.28%) Data Analyst
14 63 (3.23%) Principal Engineer
15 46 (2.36%) Embedded Engineer
15 46 (2.36%) Support Engineer
16 44 (2.26%) Data Scientist
17 40 (2.05%) Electronics Engineer
17 40 (2.05%) IT Manager
18 38 (1.95%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 47 (2.41%) RESTful
2 43 (2.21%) Kafka
3 39 (2.00%) Node.js
3 39 (2.00%) PySpark
4 38 (1.95%) REST
5 30 (1.54%) .NET
5 30 (1.54%) JSON
5 30 (1.54%) PyTorch
5 30 (1.54%) XML
6 26 (1.33%) Middleware
6 26 (1.33%) Playwright
7 24 (1.23%) LDAP
7 24 (1.23%) Pandas
8 21 (1.08%) CSS
9 20 (1.03%) HTML
9 20 (1.03%) React
10 19 (0.97%) Regular Expression
10 19 (0.97%) XMPP
11 17 (0.87%) FastAPI
11 17 (0.87%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 141 (7.23%) Cloud Native
2 132 (6.77%) Onboarding
3 106 (5.44%) Management Information System
4 72 (3.69%) Product Ownership
5 70 (3.59%) Algorithms
6 66 (3.39%) Data Centre
7 60 (3.08%) Data Structures
8 55 (2.82%) Embedded Systems
9 53 (2.72%) Enterprise Software
10 51 (2.62%) Driving Licence
11 49 (2.51%) Distributed Systems
12 45 (2.31%) Low-Code
13 37 (1.90%) AI Agents
13 37 (1.90%) Analytical Mindset
14 36 (1.85%) Legacy Systems
14 36 (1.85%) Life Science
15 33 (1.69%) Video\Live Streaming
16 32 (1.64%) Robotics
17 31 (1.59%) IoT
18 30 (1.54%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 123 (6.31%) Linux
2 88 (4.52%) Windows
3 34 (1.74%) Windows Server
4 24 (1.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (0.97%) Unix
6 8 (0.41%) Embedded Linux
7 6 (0.31%) Android
7 6 (0.31%) FreeRTOS
8 4 (0.21%) Kali Linux
8 4 (0.21%) Mac OS
8 4 (0.21%) Mac OS X
9 2 (0.10%) AIX
9 2 (0.10%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.10%) ThreadX
9 2 (0.10%) VMS
9 2 (0.10%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.051%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 510 (26.17%) Problem-Solving
2 481 (24.68%) Continuous Improvement
3 416 (21.34%) Agile
4 374 (19.19%) AI
5 302 (15.50%) CI/CD
6 272 (13.96%) Analytics
7 255 (13.08%) Stakeholder Management
8 249 (12.78%) Test Automation
9 243 (12.47%) Migration
10 232 (11.90%) Mentoring
11 229 (11.75%) Verification and Validation
12 222 (11.39%) Decision-Making
13 204 (10.47%) Software Engineering
14 202 (10.36%) Data Analysis
15 195 (10.01%) Machine Learning
16 191 (9.80%) DevOps
17 179 (9.18%) Business Intelligence
18 176 (9.03%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 172 (8.83%) ERP
20 171 (8.77%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 482 (24.73%) Python
2 379 (19.45%) SQL
3 91 (4.67%) Java
4 85 (4.36%) C++
5 77 (3.95%) C
6 58 (2.98%) JavaScript
7 57 (2.92%) Go
8 51 (2.62%) C#
9 49 (2.51%) MATLAB
10 28 (1.44%) Bash
11 27 (1.39%) PowerShell
12 26 (1.33%) Embedded C
13 21 (1.08%) Scala
14 20 (1.03%) TypeScript
15 18 (0.92%) Embedded C++
16 17 (0.87%) T-SQL
17 14 (0.72%) Data Analysis Expressions
18 13 (0.67%) R
19 10 (0.51%) ABAP
19 10 (0.51%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 419 (21.50%) Degree
2 298 (15.29%) Security Cleared
3 172 (8.83%) SC Cleared
4 141 (7.23%) BPSS Clearance
5 104 (5.34%) DV Cleared
6 80 (4.10%) Master's Degree
7 44 (2.26%) Computer Science Degree
8 34 (1.74%) Chartered Engineer
8 34 (1.74%) CISSP
9 32 (1.64%) PhD
10 29 (1.49%) HNC
11 28 (1.44%) PMI Certification
12 27 (1.39%) CISM
13 26 (1.33%) ACCA
13 26 (1.33%) CIMA
14 23 (1.18%) AWS Certification
14 23 (1.18%) HND
15 20 (1.03%) SANS
16 19 (0.97%) Azure Certification
17 18 (0.92%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 310 (15.91%) Data Quality
2 267 (13.70%) QA
3 91 (4.67%) Accessibility
4 57 (2.92%) GDPR
5 38 (1.95%) GRC
6 27 (1.39%) IEC 61508
7 25 (1.28%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 24 (1.23%) NIST
9 21 (1.08%) SLA
10 18 (0.92%) PMO
11 17 (0.87%) GxP
12 15 (0.77%) GAAP
12 15 (0.77%) IFRS
12 15 (0.77%) ISO 26262
12 15 (0.77%) WCAG
13 13 (0.67%) GMP
14 12 (0.62%) ISO 9001
15 11 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 15288
15 11 (0.56%) SOC 2
16 10 (0.51%) COBIT
System Software
1 79 (4.05%) Docker
2 76 (3.90%) Firmware
3 44 (2.26%) Active Directory
4 30 (1.54%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.44%) Virtual Machines
6 22 (1.13%) vSphere
7 19 (0.97%) VMware Infrastructure
8 8 (0.41%) KVM
9 5 (0.26%) Hyper-V
10 3 (0.15%) VMware ESXi
11 2 (0.10%) iptables
11 2 (0.10%) ProxySG
12 1 (0.051%) BitLocker
12 1 (0.051%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 81 (4.16%) Kubernetes
2 74 (3.80%) Terraform
3 40 (2.05%) Grafana
4 26 (1.33%) Ansible
4 26 (1.33%) Functional Safety
5 16 (0.82%) Prometheus
6 12 (0.62%) Single Sign-On
7 11 (0.56%) Puppet
8 10 (0.51%) Cilium
9 8 (0.41%) SCCM
10 7 (0.36%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
10 7 (0.36%) Kibana
11 6 (0.31%) Microsoft Intune
12 4 (0.21%) Argo
12 4 (0.21%) FortiGate
12 4 (0.21%) Kubeflow
12 4 (0.21%) Nessus
12 4 (0.21%) Nmap
12 4 (0.21%) WMI
13 3 (0.15%) Rancher
Vendors
1 271 (13.90%) Microsoft
2 123 (6.31%) SAP
3 108 (5.54%) Oracle
4 60 (3.08%) Salesforce
5 52 (2.67%) Databricks
6 44 (2.26%) ServiceNow
7 42 (2.15%) Google
8 38 (1.95%) Cisco
8 38 (1.95%) VMware
9 36 (1.85%) Red Hat
10 29 (1.49%) CrowdStrike
11 27 (1.39%) Palo Alto
12 25 (1.28%) EMC
13 22 (1.13%) Tenable
14 18 (0.92%) IBM
15 17 (0.87%) Foundry
16 15 (0.77%) McAfee
16 15 (0.77%) Splunk
17 14 (0.72%) Adobe
18 13 (0.67%) Siemens