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

6 months to
17 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 77 87 181
Rank change year-on-year +10 +94 +25
Permanent jobs citing Validation 2,413 1,639 1,152
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 2.10% 3.32% 1.48%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.88% 3.74% 1.82%
Number of salaries quoted 1,430 467 444
10th Percentile £35,725 £38,750 £39,000
25th Percentile £42,750 £41,250 £47,375
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,490 £55,000 £57,767
Median % change year-on-year +8.16% -4.79% -9.74%
75th Percentile £70,000 £75,450 £75,313
90th Percentile £86,250 £88,750 £93,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £52,550 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.66% -4.45% -1.27%

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 83,912 43,812 63,193
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.03% 88.75% 81.16%
Number of salaries quoted 58,112 24,707 35,897
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £32,000
25th Percentile £42,000 £36,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £80,000 £75,000 £77,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £96,250 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year +15.79% -9.52% -2.78%

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 17 September 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 17 September 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 +8 2,230 £57,500 +4.55% 4,170
UK excluding London -12 1,767 £55,000 +4.66% 2,515
Work from Home +125 628 £57,500 -4.17% 1,558
London +70 561 £68,750 -14.06% 1,973
South East -17 491 £62,500 +16.28% 638
North of England +109 462 £52,951 +17.67% 420
North West +105 284 £55,000 +12.61% 239
Midlands -29 263 £50,000 -9.09% 362
South West +16 233 £58,750 +14.63% 332
East of England -49 186 £55,000 -8.33% 389
West Midlands +38 149 £50,000 -9.09% 247
East Midlands -53 114 £48,372 +13.82% 115
Yorkshire +16 89 £43,000 +1.18% 121
North East +5 89 £55,000 +57.14% 63
Scotland +34 82 £70,000 +20.62% 300
Wales -38 42 £70,000 +30.23% 59
Northern Ireland -70 5 - - 51
Isle of Man - 5 £38,500 - 1

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 47 (1.95%) Apache Spark
2 45 (1.86%) Apache Airflow
3 41 (1.70%) Apache
4 37 (1.53%) Confluence
5 35 (1.45%) SharePoint
6 20 (0.83%) Jupyter
7 13 (0.54%) SAS
8 10 (0.41%) Microsoft Exchange
9 8 (0.33%) WinCC
10 5 (0.21%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 4 (0.17%) CMS
12 3 (0.12%) Artix
12 3 (0.12%) Kinematics
12 3 (0.12%) OpenStack
12 3 (0.12%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 2 (0.083%) Cloud Foundry
13 2 (0.083%) IIS
13 2 (0.083%) nginx
14 1 (0.041%) Oracle Workflow
14 1 (0.041%) WebSphere
Applications
1 134 (5.55%) Microsoft Excel
2 69 (2.86%) Microsoft Office
3 50 (2.07%) Simulink
4 37 (1.53%) Microsoft Project
5 22 (0.91%) Spreadsheet
6 18 (0.75%) SOLIDWORKS
7 16 (0.66%) MS Visio
8 15 (0.62%) AutoCAD
9 9 (0.37%) Microsoft PowerPoint
10 8 (0.33%) Revit
11 6 (0.25%) EPLAN
11 6 (0.25%) Navisworks
12 5 (0.21%) CANalyzer
12 5 (0.21%) LaTeX
12 5 (0.21%) Mathcad
12 5 (0.21%) OrCAD
13 3 (0.12%) Adobe XD
13 3 (0.12%) Autodesk Inventor
13 3 (0.12%) Sketch
13 3 (0.12%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 43 (1.78%) Dynamics CRM
2 42 (1.74%) SAP S/4HANA
3 11 (0.46%) SAP MDG
4 9 (0.37%) iTrent
4 9 (0.37%) Oracle EBS
5 8 (0.33%) NetSuite
5 8 (0.33%) Oracle Applications
5 8 (0.33%) Workday HCM
6 7 (0.29%) Elite 3E
6 7 (0.29%) SAP ERP
6 7 (0.29%) Teamcenter
7 5 (0.21%) Infor M3
7 5 (0.21%) Oracle Financials
7 5 (0.21%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.17%) Maximo
8 4 (0.17%) SAP MM
9 3 (0.12%) Oracle ERP
9 3 (0.12%) Oracle Payables
9 3 (0.12%) Oracle Receivables
9 3 (0.12%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 310 (12.85%) Azure
2 264 (10.94%) AWS
3 176 (7.29%) Power Platform
4 97 (4.02%) GCP
5 76 (3.15%) Azure DevOps
6 72 (2.98%) SaaS
7 69 (2.86%) GitHub
8 66 (2.74%) Microsoft 365
9 63 (2.61%) Serverless
10 44 (1.82%) Amazon S3
11 39 (1.62%) Dynamics 365
12 36 (1.49%) Entra ID
13 35 (1.45%) GitHub Actions
14 32 (1.33%) Microsoft Copilot
15 27 (1.12%) Azure Data Factory
16 26 (1.08%) Microsoft Purview
17 25 (1.04%) Cloud Computing
18 24 (0.99%) Amazon EMR
18 24 (0.99%) PowerApps
19 23 (0.95%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 71 (2.94%) DNS
2 67 (2.78%) Firewall
3 56 (2.32%) Broadband
4 40 (1.66%) Wireless
5 37 (1.53%) TCP/IP
5 37 (1.53%) VPN
6 36 (1.49%) WAN
7 35 (1.45%) Network Security
8 31 (1.28%) Ethernet
9 28 (1.16%) Modbus
10 27 (1.12%) LAN
10 27 (1.12%) VLAN
11 26 (1.08%) OSPF
12 22 (0.91%) BGP
12 22 (0.91%) MQTT
12 22 (0.91%) SD-WAN
12 22 (0.91%) Wireshark
13 19 (0.79%) 5G
14 17 (0.70%) HTTP
14 17 (0.70%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 161 (6.67%) Power BI
2 61 (2.53%) Metadata
3 59 (2.45%) Data Warehouse
4 55 (2.28%) Data Lake
5 49 (2.03%) SQL Server
6 46 (1.91%) PostgreSQL
7 43 (1.78%) Tableau
8 37 (1.53%) Amazon Athena
9 33 (1.37%) Relational Database
10 31 (1.28%) MongoDB
11 28 (1.16%) BigQuery
12 26 (1.08%) Big Data
13 25 (1.04%) DynamoDB
14 23 (0.95%) NoSQL
15 22 (0.91%) Semantic Layer
15 22 (0.91%) SQL Server Integration Services
16 21 (0.87%) Azure SQL Database
17 20 (0.83%) Amazon Redshift
18 18 (0.75%) MySQL
19 17 (0.70%) Delta Lake
Development Applications
1 139 (5.76%) JIRA
2 124 (5.14%) Git
3 62 (2.57%) Jenkins
4 54 (2.24%) GitLab
5 43 (1.78%) Rational DOORS
6 33 (1.37%) Selenium
7 28 (1.16%) LabVIEW
8 26 (1.08%) Postman
9 22 (0.91%) Snyk
10 21 (0.87%) Cypress.io
11 14 (0.58%) Burp Suite
12 13 (0.54%) JMeter
13 12 (0.50%) REST Assured
14 11 (0.46%) Cucumber
15 10 (0.41%) Claude Code
15 10 (0.41%) TeamCity
16 9 (0.37%) Eclipse
16 9 (0.37%) Gatling
16 9 (0.37%) MLflow
16 9 (0.37%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 803 (33.28%) Social Skills
2 624 (25.86%) Finance
3 572 (23.70%) Analytical Skills
4 239 (9.90%) Aerospace
5 221 (9.16%) Manufacturing
6 216 (8.95%) Electronics
7 205 (8.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 141 (5.84%) Law
9 104 (4.31%) Organisational Skills
10 103 (4.27%) Banking
11 101 (4.19%) Retail
12 98 (4.06%) Public Sector
13 89 (3.69%) Marketing
14 88 (3.65%) Telecoms
15 83 (3.44%) Pharmaceutical
16 73 (3.03%) Automotive
17 61 (2.53%) Legal
18 47 (1.95%) Influencing Skills
19 45 (1.86%) Documentation Skills
20 43 (1.78%) Military
Job Titles
1 425 (17.61%) Senior
2 313 (12.97%) Systems Engineer
3 271 (11.23%) Analyst
4 208 (8.62%) Lead
5 134 (5.55%) Test Engineer
6 121 (5.01%) Architect
7 116 (4.81%) Data Engineer
8 100 (4.14%) Developer
9 95 (3.94%) Consultant
10 83 (3.44%) Business Analyst
11 81 (3.36%) Software Engineer
12 75 (3.11%) Principal Engineer
13 68 (2.82%) Data Analyst
14 67 (2.78%) Electronics Engineer
15 63 (2.61%) Validation Engineer
16 55 (2.28%) Network Engineer
17 51 (2.11%) Embedded Engineer
18 48 (1.99%) Data Scientist
18 48 (1.99%) Support Engineer
19 45 (1.86%) Automation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 82 (3.40%) Terraform
2 55 (2.28%) RESTful
3 53 (2.20%) Kafka
4 50 (2.07%) REST
5 47 (1.95%) Node.js
6 43 (1.78%) Playwright
7 40 (1.66%) PySpark
8 36 (1.49%) .NET
9 35 (1.45%) XML
10 34 (1.41%) JSON
11 28 (1.16%) CSS
11 28 (1.16%) FastAPI
11 28 (1.16%) React
12 26 (1.08%) HTML
12 26 (1.08%) LDAP
13 25 (1.04%) Middleware
14 22 (0.91%) Swagger
15 21 (0.87%) ModSecurity
16 19 (0.79%) pytest
17 18 (0.75%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 163 (6.76%) Cloud Native
2 132 (5.47%) Management Information System
3 123 (5.10%) Onboarding
4 84 (3.48%) Product Ownership
5 82 (3.40%) Data Centre
6 67 (2.78%) Embedded Systems
7 65 (2.69%) Driving Licence
8 60 (2.49%) Enterprise Software
9 59 (2.45%) Data Structures
10 57 (2.36%) Distributed Systems
11 54 (2.24%) Algorithms
12 50 (2.07%) AI Agents
13 47 (1.95%) Life Science
14 46 (1.91%) SCADA
15 42 (1.74%) Analytical Mindset
16 40 (1.66%) Low-Code
17 39 (1.62%) Robotics
18 38 (1.57%) IoT
18 38 (1.57%) Legacy Systems
19 34 (1.41%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 135 (5.59%) Linux
2 92 (3.81%) Windows
3 32 (1.33%) Windows Server
4 25 (1.04%) Unix
5 17 (0.70%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (0.41%) Android
7 8 (0.33%) Embedded Linux
7 8 (0.33%) Mac OS
8 6 (0.25%) FreeRTOS
9 5 (0.21%) Kali Linux
10 4 (0.17%) Mac OS X
11 3 (0.12%) Apple iOS
12 2 (0.083%) Robot Operating System
12 2 (0.083%) VMS
12 2 (0.083%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.041%) AIX
13 1 (0.041%) OpenWrt
13 1 (0.041%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 614 (25.45%) Problem-Solving
2 542 (22.46%) Continuous Improvement
3 443 (18.36%) Agile
4 440 (18.23%) Verification and Validation
5 407 (16.87%) AI
6 334 (13.84%) CI/CD
7 317 (13.14%) Stakeholder Management
8 302 (12.52%) Test Automation
9 296 (12.27%) Migration
10 261 (10.82%) Analytics
11 255 (10.57%) Mentoring
12 238 (9.86%) Software Engineering
13 232 (9.61%) Decision-Making
14 225 (9.32%) DevOps
15 221 (9.16%) Data Analysis
16 219 (9.08%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 202 (8.37%) Business Intelligence
18 193 (8.00%) Machine Learning
19 192 (7.96%) Roadmaps
20 191 (7.92%) Data Migration
Programming Languages
1 494 (20.47%) Python
2 426 (17.65%) SQL
3 105 (4.35%) Java
4 91 (3.77%) C++
5 84 (3.48%) C
6 72 (2.98%) JavaScript
7 66 (2.74%) MATLAB
8 60 (2.49%) C#
9 49 (2.03%) Go
10 36 (1.49%) Bash
11 32 (1.33%) Embedded C
12 29 (1.20%) TypeScript
13 28 (1.16%) PowerShell
14 24 (0.99%) Scala
15 23 (0.95%) R
16 18 (0.75%) Embedded C++
17 13 (0.54%) Data Analysis Expressions
18 11 (0.46%) Shell Script
18 11 (0.46%) T-SQL
19 9 (0.37%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 535 (22.17%) Security Cleared
2 520 (21.55%) Degree
3 397 (16.45%) SC Cleared
4 126 (5.22%) BPSS Clearance
5 108 (4.48%) DV Cleared
6 94 (3.90%) Master's Degree
7 53 (2.20%) Computer Science Degree
8 42 (1.74%) PhD
9 40 (1.66%) Chartered Engineer
10 38 (1.57%) HND
11 35 (1.45%) PMI Certification
12 33 (1.37%) CISSP
13 32 (1.33%) HNC
14 27 (1.12%) ACCA
15 25 (1.04%) AWS Certification
15 25 (1.04%) Azure Certification
16 24 (0.99%) CIMA
17 23 (0.95%) CISM
18 22 (0.91%) PMP
19 21 (0.87%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 358 (14.84%) Data Quality
2 306 (12.68%) QA
3 82 (3.40%) Accessibility
4 58 (2.40%) GDPR
5 37 (1.53%) GRC
6 32 (1.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 28 (1.16%) GxP
8 23 (0.95%) NIST
8 23 (0.95%) SLA
9 22 (0.91%) IEC 61508
10 16 (0.66%) PMO
11 15 (0.62%) ISO 26262
12 14 (0.58%) GMP
12 14 (0.58%) ISO 9001
12 14 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 15288
13 13 (0.54%) SOC 2
13 13 (0.54%) WCAG
14 10 (0.41%) ISO 19650
15 9 (0.37%) Def Stans
15 9 (0.37%) GAAP
System Software
1 95 (3.94%) Firmware
2 90 (3.73%) Docker
3 46 (1.91%) Active Directory
4 43 (1.78%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.16%) Virtual Machines
6 19 (0.79%) vSphere
7 8 (0.33%) VMware Infrastructure
8 4 (0.17%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.12%) KVM
10 2 (0.083%) iptables
10 2 (0.083%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.083%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.041%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 82 (3.40%) Kubernetes
2 42 (1.74%) Grafana
3 33 (1.37%) Ansible
4 30 (1.24%) Functional Safety
5 18 (0.75%) Prometheus
6 15 (0.62%) Single Sign-On
7 10 (0.41%) Cilium
8 8 (0.33%) Microsoft Intune
8 8 (0.33%) Nessus
8 8 (0.33%) Nmap
8 8 (0.33%) Puppet
9 7 (0.29%) BMC PATROL
9 7 (0.29%) Kibana
10 5 (0.21%) WMI
11 4 (0.17%) Argo
11 4 (0.17%) FortiGate
11 4 (0.17%) HP Fortify
11 4 (0.17%) Kubeflow
11 4 (0.17%) SCCM
12 3 (0.12%) Rancher
Vendors
1 301 (12.47%) Microsoft
2 129 (5.35%) SAP
3 103 (4.27%) Oracle
4 61 (2.53%) Databricks
5 59 (2.45%) Salesforce
6 56 (2.32%) ServiceNow
7 53 (2.20%) Cisco
8 49 (2.03%) EMC
9 41 (1.70%) Google
10 31 (1.28%) CrowdStrike
11 28 (1.16%) Palo Alto
12 25 (1.04%) VMware
13 23 (0.95%) Sage
13 23 (0.95%) Tenable
14 22 (0.91%) Thales
15 21 (0.87%) IBM
15 21 (0.87%) Red Hat
16 18 (0.75%) Siemens
16 18 (0.75%) Splunk
17 16 (0.66%) Civica