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

6 months to
14 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 121 80 209
Rank change year-on-year -41 +129 -22
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,493 1,633 1,443
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.61% 3.67% 1.34%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.21% 3.96% 1.63%
Number of salaries quoted 869 454 775
10th Percentile £36,250 £40,000 £35,500
25th Percentile £42,500 £46,375 £42,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% +4.55% -12.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £72,466
90th Percentile £90,000 £95,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -4.55% +4.76% -4.62%

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 67,701 41,203 88,451
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 72.85% 92.64% 82.16%
Number of salaries quoted 46,469 21,965 62,595
10th Percentile £30,000 £29,000 £29,613
25th Percentile £41,250 £39,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -9.69%
75th Percentile £78,750 £77,500 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £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 14 June 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 14 June 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 -44 1,350 £55,000 -3.51% 851
UK excluding London -54 999 £52,500 -4.55% 704
Work from Home +120 480 £55,000 -9.84% 343
London +67 386 £75,000 - 278
South East -39 307 £55,000 - 229
North of England +73 276 £55,000 +15.35% 137
North West +63 176 £55,000 +15.35% 69
Midlands -71 161 £40,000 -30.43% 118
East of England -76 107 £60,000 +5.26% 81
West Midlands -8 96 £44,000 -29.60% 68
South West -47 93 £53,000 -3.64% 100
East Midlands -80 63 £30,000 -39.70% 50
Yorkshire -13 59 £50,000 +18.69% 50
North East -9 41 £55,000 +15.79% 21
Scotland +3 40 £42,500 -26.77% 37
Wales -35 15 £45,750 -23.75% 12
Northern Ireland -30 2 - - 14

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 51 (3.42%) Apache Airflow
2 44 (2.95%) Apache Spark
3 42 (2.81%) Apache
4 24 (1.61%) Confluence
5 21 (1.41%) ArcGIS
6 15 (1.00%) Microsoft Exchange
6 15 (1.00%) SharePoint
7 11 (0.74%) Jupyter
8 7 (0.47%) Appian
8 7 (0.47%) SAS
9 5 (0.33%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 5 (0.33%) CMS
9 5 (0.33%) Kinematics
10 3 (0.20%) Artix
11 2 (0.13%) IIS
12 1 (0.067%) Anypoint
12 1 (0.067%) Oracle Workflow
12 1 (0.067%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 90 (6.03%) Microsoft Excel
2 50 (3.35%) Microsoft Office
3 23 (1.54%) Microsoft Project
4 19 (1.27%) MS Visio
5 15 (1.00%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 14 (0.94%) Simulink
7 8 (0.54%) SOLIDWORKS
7 8 (0.54%) Spreadsheet
8 5 (0.33%) AutoCAD
9 4 (0.27%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 4 (0.27%) Adobe XD
9 4 (0.27%) CANalyzer
9 4 (0.27%) Sketch
10 3 (0.20%) Autodesk Inventor
10 3 (0.20%) Productboard
10 3 (0.20%) Solid Edge
10 3 (0.20%) Stateflow
11 2 (0.13%) Fusion 360
12 1 (0.067%) CATIA
12 1 (0.067%) Navisworks
Business Applications
1 41 (2.75%) SAP S/4HANA
2 35 (2.34%) Dynamics CRM
3 10 (0.67%) SAP ERP
4 9 (0.60%) SAP MDG
5 8 (0.54%) Oracle EBS
5 8 (0.54%) Oracle ERP
6 6 (0.40%) Elite 3E
7 5 (0.33%) iTrent
7 5 (0.33%) Loan IQ
7 5 (0.33%) Oracle Financials
7 5 (0.33%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.27%) Oracle Applications
9 2 (0.13%) FastStats
9 2 (0.13%) Oracle Payables
9 2 (0.13%) Oracle Receivables
9 2 (0.13%) SAP EWM
9 2 (0.13%) SAP FSCM
9 2 (0.13%) SAP MM
9 2 (0.13%) SAP PSCD
9 2 (0.13%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 218 (14.60%) Azure
2 183 (12.26%) AWS
3 136 (9.11%) Power Platform
4 75 (5.02%) GCP
5 66 (4.42%) SaaS
6 56 (3.75%) Azure DevOps
7 41 (2.75%) GitHub
8 39 (2.61%) Microsoft 365
9 38 (2.55%) Serverless
10 36 (2.41%) Amazon S3
11 31 (2.08%) Dynamics 365
12 29 (1.94%) Azure Data Factory
13 26 (1.74%) Snowflake
14 23 (1.54%) Entra ID
15 19 (1.27%) dbt
15 19 (1.27%) Power Automate
16 18 (1.21%) GitHub Actions
17 15 (1.00%) OpenShift
18 14 (0.94%) Amazon EC2
19 13 (0.87%) Amazon EMR
Communications & Networking
1 69 (4.62%) Broadband
2 46 (3.08%) Firewall
3 34 (2.28%) DNS
4 23 (1.54%) WAN
5 22 (1.47%) CHAP
5 22 (1.47%) Wireless
6 20 (1.34%) TCP/IP
7 17 (1.14%) SD-WAN
8 16 (1.07%) Network Security
9 15 (1.00%) 5G
9 15 (1.00%) VPN
10 12 (0.80%) Wi-Fi
11 10 (0.67%) HTTP
11 10 (0.67%) LAN
11 10 (0.67%) MQTT
11 10 (0.67%) Wireshark
12 9 (0.60%) Ethernet
12 9 (0.60%) NAS
13 7 (0.47%) ATM
13 7 (0.47%) Multicast
Database & Business Intelligence
1 129 (8.64%) Power BI
2 55 (3.68%) Tableau
3 53 (3.55%) PostgreSQL
4 48 (3.22%) SQL Server
5 43 (2.88%) Data Warehouse
6 34 (2.28%) MongoDB
7 31 (2.08%) Metadata
8 30 (2.01%) Relational Database
9 25 (1.67%) QGIS
10 24 (1.61%) BigQuery
11 23 (1.54%) Data Lake
11 23 (1.54%) GIS
12 22 (1.47%) Azure SQL Database
12 22 (1.47%) Semantic Layer
13 20 (1.34%) Spatial Data
14 19 (1.27%) Spark SQL
15 17 (1.14%) Oracle Database
16 15 (1.00%) Amazon Athena
16 15 (1.00%) DynamoDB
16 15 (1.00%) MySQL
Development Applications
1 73 (4.89%) JIRA
2 69 (4.62%) Git
3 45 (3.01%) Jenkins
4 35 (2.34%) GitLab
5 32 (2.14%) Rational DOORS
6 22 (1.47%) Snyk
7 16 (1.07%) Postman
8 15 (1.00%) Selenium
9 14 (0.94%) LabVIEW
10 13 (0.87%) IBM UrbanCode
11 11 (0.74%) Cucumber
11 11 (0.74%) JMeter
11 11 (0.74%) MLflow
12 10 (0.67%) Cypress.io
12 10 (0.67%) Eclipse
12 10 (0.67%) TeamCity
13 6 (0.40%) Rational Rhapsody
13 6 (0.40%) REST Assured
14 5 (0.33%) Locust
14 5 (0.33%) Robot Framework
General
1 470 (31.48%) Social Skills
2 399 (26.72%) Finance
3 321 (21.50%) Analytical Skills
4 116 (7.77%) Aerospace
5 111 (7.43%) Manufacturing
6 101 (6.76%) Electronics
7 95 (6.36%) Banking
8 88 (5.89%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 58 (3.88%) Legal
10 54 (3.62%) Public Sector
10 54 (3.62%) Retail
11 52 (3.48%) Law
12 45 (3.01%) Pharmaceutical
13 43 (2.88%) Marketing
14 39 (2.61%) Games
15 38 (2.55%) Organisational Skills
16 34 (2.28%) Automotive
17 33 (2.21%) Financial Institution
18 30 (2.01%) Presentation Skills
19 24 (1.61%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 253 (16.95%) Senior
2 234 (15.67%) Analyst
3 139 (9.31%) Systems Engineer
4 108 (7.23%) Lead
5 102 (6.83%) Test Engineer
6 99 (6.63%) Architect
7 87 (5.83%) Validation Engineer
8 83 (5.56%) Business Analyst
9 72 (4.82%) Data Engineer
10 69 (4.62%) Consultant
11 68 (4.55%) Developer
12 63 (4.22%) Data Analyst
13 48 (3.22%) Principal Engineer
14 46 (3.08%) Integration Engineer
15 40 (2.68%) Embedded Engineer
16 37 (2.48%) IT Manager
17 35 (2.34%) Junior
18 34 (2.28%) Security Architect
18 34 (2.28%) Senior Systems Engineer
19 32 (2.14%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (2.81%) RESTful
2 40 (2.68%) REST
3 34 (2.28%) PyTorch
4 33 (2.21%) JSON
5 32 (2.14%) PySpark
6 27 (1.81%) Kafka
7 26 (1.74%) Pandas
8 25 (1.67%) Middleware
8 25 (1.67%) Node.js
8 25 (1.67%) pytest
9 24 (1.61%) XML
10 22 (1.47%) .NET
11 19 (1.27%) Playwright
12 18 (1.21%) Regular Expression
12 18 (1.21%) Swagger
12 18 (1.21%) XMPP
13 15 (1.00%) CSS
13 15 (1.00%) LDAP
13 15 (1.00%) OAuth
14 14 (0.94%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 86 (5.76%) Cloud Native
2 77 (5.16%) Management Information System
3 71 (4.76%) Onboarding
4 62 (4.15%) Data Structures
5 50 (3.35%) Algorithms
5 50 (3.35%) Low-Code
6 40 (2.68%) Product Ownership
7 36 (2.41%) Driving Licence
7 36 (2.41%) Embedded Systems
8 34 (2.28%) Self-Motivation
9 32 (2.14%) Data Centre
9 32 (2.14%) Distributed Systems
9 32 (2.14%) Legacy Systems
10 31 (2.08%) Analytical Mindset
10 31 (2.08%) Enterprise Software
10 31 (2.08%) Video\Live Streaming
11 28 (1.88%) Life Science
12 23 (1.54%) FPGA
13 22 (1.47%) Robotics
14 18 (1.21%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 89 (5.96%) Linux
2 66 (4.42%) Windows
3 27 (1.81%) Windows Server
4 25 (1.67%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 24 (1.61%) Unix
6 9 (0.60%) Android
7 4 (0.27%) FreeRTOS
7 4 (0.27%) Mac OS X
8 3 (0.20%) AIX
8 3 (0.20%) Apple iOS
8 3 (0.20%) Kali Linux
9 2 (0.13%) CentOS
9 2 (0.13%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.13%) ThreadX
10 1 (0.067%) Embedded Linux
10 1 (0.067%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.067%) Rocky
10 1 (0.067%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.067%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.067%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 324 (21.70%) Problem-Solving
2 307 (20.56%) Agile
2 307 (20.56%) Continuous Improvement
3 262 (17.55%) AI
4 236 (15.81%) CI/CD
5 216 (14.47%) Analytics
6 213 (14.27%) Test Automation
7 188 (12.59%) Verification and Validation
8 167 (11.19%) Migration
9 165 (11.05%) Data Validation
10 157 (10.52%) Business Intelligence
11 154 (10.31%) Data Modelling
11 154 (10.31%) DevOps
12 150 (10.05%) Stakeholder Management
13 146 (9.78%) Machine Learning
13 146 (9.78%) Software Engineering
14 145 (9.71%) Decision-Making
15 143 (9.58%) Mentoring
16 139 (9.31%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 137 (9.18%) Collaborative Working
Programming Languages
1 370 (24.78%) Python
2 304 (20.36%) SQL
3 64 (4.29%) Java
4 61 (4.09%) C++
5 57 (3.82%) C
6 49 (3.28%) Go
7 39 (2.61%) C#
8 31 (2.08%) JavaScript
9 26 (1.74%) PowerShell
10 25 (1.67%) Bash
10 25 (1.67%) MATLAB
11 20 (1.34%) T-SQL
12 18 (1.21%) Embedded C
13 15 (1.00%) Embedded C++
14 13 (0.87%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 12 (0.80%) Scala
15 12 (0.80%) TypeScript
16 10 (0.67%) ABAP
17 9 (0.60%) VBA
18 8 (0.54%) R
Qualifications
1 301 (20.16%) Degree
2 169 (11.32%) Security Cleared
3 112 (7.50%) BPSS Clearance
4 80 (5.36%) SC Cleared
5 72 (4.82%) Master's Degree
6 43 (2.88%) DV Cleared
7 41 (2.75%) Computer Science Degree
8 37 (2.48%) Chartered Engineer
9 32 (2.14%) CISA
9 32 (2.14%) CISSP
9 32 (2.14%) SANS
10 29 (1.94%) CISM
11 27 (1.81%) HNC
12 23 (1.54%) HND
13 22 (1.47%) CGEIT
13 22 (1.47%) FFIEC
14 21 (1.41%) PMI Certification
15 18 (1.21%) PMP
16 17 (1.14%) ACCA
16 17 (1.14%) CIMA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 234 (15.67%) Data Quality
2 164 (10.98%) QA
3 61 (4.09%) Accessibility
4 59 (3.95%) GDPR
5 42 (2.81%) GRC
6 29 (1.94%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 25 (1.67%) ISO/IEC 15288
7 25 (1.67%) NIST
8 22 (1.47%) COBIT
8 22 (1.47%) IEC 61508
9 19 (1.27%) IFRS
10 16 (1.07%) ISO 9001
10 16 (1.07%) SLA
11 15 (1.00%) PMO
12 12 (0.80%) GAAP
13 11 (0.74%) SOC 2
14 10 (0.67%) GMP
14 10 (0.67%) WCAG
15 9 (0.60%) ISO 13485
15 9 (0.60%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 69 (4.62%) Docker
2 43 (2.88%) Firmware
3 39 (2.61%) Active Directory
4 22 (1.47%) Virtual Machines
5 20 (1.34%) vSphere
6 16 (1.07%) Embedded Firmware
7 15 (1.00%) VMware Infrastructure
8 6 (0.40%) Hyper-V
8 6 (0.40%) KVM
9 2 (0.13%) Terminal Services
9 2 (0.13%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.067%) OpenAM
10 1 (0.067%) OpenDJ
10 1 (0.067%) OpenIDM
Systems Management
1 70 (4.69%) Kubernetes
2 63 (4.22%) Terraform
3 30 (2.01%) Grafana
4 21 (1.41%) Functional Safety
5 20 (1.34%) Ansible
6 15 (1.00%) Prometheus
7 10 (0.67%) Cilium
7 10 (0.67%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 9 (0.60%) Puppet
8 9 (0.60%) SCCM
9 7 (0.47%) Kibana
10 4 (0.27%) Microsoft Intune
11 3 (0.20%) FortiGate
11 3 (0.20%) HP Fortify
12 2 (0.13%) Argo
12 2 (0.13%) BMC PATROL
12 2 (0.13%) Computer Incident Response Team
12 2 (0.13%) Rancher
12 2 (0.13%) yum
13 1 (0.067%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 194 (12.99%) Microsoft
2 94 (6.30%) Oracle
3 92 (6.16%) SAP
4 50 (3.35%) Salesforce
5 37 (2.48%) Databricks
6 34 (2.28%) Red Hat
6 34 (2.28%) ServiceNow
6 34 (2.28%) VMware
7 29 (1.94%) CrowdStrike
8 23 (1.54%) Palo Alto
9 22 (1.47%) Cisco
9 22 (1.47%) Google
9 22 (1.47%) Tenable
10 21 (1.41%) Adobe
11 15 (1.00%) Foundry
12 14 (0.94%) Citrix
12 14 (0.94%) McAfee
13 13 (0.87%) OpenAI
14 10 (0.67%) Splunk
15 9 (0.60%) IBM