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

6 months to
8 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 117 91 203
Rank change year-on-year -26 +112 -10
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,616 1,633 1,379
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.66% 3.39% 1.34%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.25% 3.73% 1.63%
Number of salaries quoted 970 479 746
10th Percentile £35,000 £39,694 £35,500
25th Percentile £42,500 £46,125 £42,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.51% +3.64% -12.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £72,438
90th Percentile £90,000 £95,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £53,000 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -3.64% +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 71,935 43,736 84,643
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.79% 90.86% 82.47%
Number of salaries quoted 49,710 24,302 59,641
10th Percentile £30,250 £28,822 £29,750
25th Percentile £41,250 £38,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -8.71%
75th Percentile £78,750 £77,500 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £54,068 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +8.14% - -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 July 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 July 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 -30 1,464 £55,000 -1.79% 967
UK excluding London -49 1,082 £53,000 -3.64% 724
Work from Home +119 522 £55,000 -8.33% 566
London +79 421 £76,250 -1.61% 366
South East -36 328 £55,000 - 228
North of England +87 297 £55,000 +15.35% 160
North West +69 187 £55,000 +15.35% 80
Midlands -64 174 £41,875 -23.86% 125
South West -36 112 £52,750 +0.29% 87
East of England -87 105 £61,250 +7.46% 81
West Midlands +7 102 £43,250 -30.80% 59
East Midlands -80 70 £30,000 -36.84% 66
Yorkshire +9 62 £44,000 +5.39% 53
North East -5 48 £55,000 +22.22% 27
Scotland -2 42 £48,750 -16.00% 44
Wales -36 24 £47,500 -17.39% 10
Northern Ireland -58 2 - - 9

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 52 (3.22%) Apache Airflow
2 48 (2.97%) Apache Spark
3 46 (2.85%) Apache
4 27 (1.67%) Confluence
5 24 (1.49%) SharePoint
6 21 (1.30%) ArcGIS
7 15 (0.93%) Microsoft Exchange
8 12 (0.74%) Jupyter
9 10 (0.62%) SAS
10 5 (0.31%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 4 (0.25%) Appian
11 4 (0.25%) CMS
11 4 (0.25%) Kinematics
12 3 (0.19%) Artix
13 2 (0.12%) IIS
14 1 (0.062%) Oracle SOA Suite
14 1 (0.062%) Oracle Workflow
14 1 (0.062%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 88 (5.45%) Microsoft Excel
2 49 (3.03%) Microsoft Office
3 25 (1.55%) Microsoft Project
4 20 (1.24%) MS Visio
5 19 (1.18%) Simulink
6 15 (0.93%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 9 (0.56%) Spreadsheet
8 8 (0.50%) SOLIDWORKS
9 5 (0.31%) AutoCAD
10 4 (0.25%) Adobe XD
10 4 (0.25%) CANalyzer
10 4 (0.25%) Sketch
11 3 (0.19%) Autodesk Inventor
11 3 (0.19%) Productboard
11 3 (0.19%) Stateflow
12 2 (0.12%) Adobe Creative Suite
12 2 (0.12%) Solid Edge
13 1 (0.062%) Chatbot
13 1 (0.062%) PTC Creo
13 1 (0.062%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 46 (2.85%) SAP S/4HANA
2 41 (2.54%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.68%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.62%) SAP ERP
5 9 (0.56%) iTrent
5 9 (0.56%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.50%) Oracle ERP
7 6 (0.37%) Elite 3E
7 6 (0.37%) Oracle Applications
8 5 (0.31%) Loan IQ
8 5 (0.31%) Oracle Financials
8 5 (0.31%) SAP MDG-BP
9 4 (0.25%) SAP MM
10 2 (0.12%) FastStats
10 2 (0.12%) NetSuite
10 2 (0.12%) SAP Business One
10 2 (0.12%) SAP EWM
10 2 (0.12%) SAP FSCM
10 2 (0.12%) SAP PSCD
10 2 (0.12%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 235 (14.54%) Azure
2 209 (12.93%) AWS
3 158 (9.78%) Power Platform
4 81 (5.01%) GCP
5 78 (4.83%) SaaS
6 63 (3.90%) Azure DevOps
7 46 (2.85%) Serverless
8 44 (2.72%) Microsoft 365
9 42 (2.60%) GitHub
10 38 (2.35%) Amazon S3
11 33 (2.04%) Dynamics 365
12 25 (1.55%) Azure Data Factory
13 22 (1.36%) GitHub Actions
13 22 (1.36%) Snowflake
14 21 (1.30%) Entra ID
15 19 (1.18%) Power Automate
16 17 (1.05%) Amazon EC2
16 17 (1.05%) dbt
16 17 (1.05%) Microsoft Copilot
17 16 (0.99%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 71 (4.39%) Broadband
2 50 (3.09%) Firewall
3 34 (2.10%) DNS
4 25 (1.55%) Wireless
5 24 (1.49%) WAN
6 23 (1.42%) TCP/IP
7 17 (1.05%) CHAP
7 17 (1.05%) Network Security
7 17 (1.05%) VPN
8 16 (0.99%) SD-WAN
9 13 (0.80%) Wi-Fi
9 13 (0.80%) Wireshark
10 12 (0.74%) Ethernet
10 12 (0.74%) MQTT
11 11 (0.68%) 5G
11 11 (0.68%) HTTP
12 10 (0.62%) LAN
13 9 (0.56%) NAS
14 8 (0.50%) BGP
15 7 (0.43%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 146 (9.03%) Power BI
2 57 (3.53%) PostgreSQL
2 57 (3.53%) Tableau
3 52 (3.22%) Data Warehouse
3 52 (3.22%) SQL Server
4 37 (2.29%) Metadata
5 34 (2.10%) MongoDB
6 30 (1.86%) Relational Database
7 28 (1.73%) Data Lake
8 27 (1.67%) BigQuery
9 25 (1.55%) QGIS
10 24 (1.49%) Semantic Layer
11 23 (1.42%) Azure SQL Database
11 23 (1.42%) GIS
12 20 (1.24%) Spatial Data
13 19 (1.18%) DynamoDB
13 19 (1.18%) Spark SQL
14 18 (1.11%) Amazon Athena
14 18 (1.11%) MySQL
15 17 (1.05%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 95 (5.88%) JIRA
2 79 (4.89%) Git
3 52 (3.22%) Jenkins
4 43 (2.66%) GitLab
5 30 (1.86%) Rational DOORS
6 22 (1.36%) Snyk
7 18 (1.11%) Selenium
8 16 (0.99%) Postman
9 15 (0.93%) LabVIEW
10 13 (0.80%) Cypress.io
10 13 (0.80%) IBM UrbanCode
11 12 (0.74%) Cucumber
11 12 (0.74%) JMeter
12 10 (0.62%) TeamCity
13 8 (0.50%) Burp Suite
13 8 (0.50%) MLflow
13 8 (0.50%) REST Assured
14 7 (0.43%) Rational Rhapsody
14 7 (0.43%) Zephyr
15 6 (0.37%) TestRail
General
1 520 (32.18%) Social Skills
2 433 (26.79%) Finance
3 358 (22.15%) Analytical Skills
4 121 (7.49%) Aerospace
5 119 (7.36%) Manufacturing
6 112 (6.93%) Electronics
7 96 (5.94%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 95 (5.88%) Banking
9 67 (4.15%) Retail
10 63 (3.90%) Public Sector
11 53 (3.28%) Legal
12 52 (3.22%) Law
12 52 (3.22%) Organisational Skills
13 48 (2.97%) Pharmaceutical
14 43 (2.66%) Marketing
15 42 (2.60%) Games
16 41 (2.54%) Automotive
17 33 (2.04%) Financial Institution
18 30 (1.86%) Documentation Skills
19 25 (1.55%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 279 (17.26%) Senior
2 251 (15.53%) Analyst
3 130 (8.04%) Lead
4 124 (7.67%) Systems Engineer
5 105 (6.50%) Test Engineer
6 102 (6.31%) Architect
7 85 (5.26%) Data Engineer
8 81 (5.01%) Business Analyst
9 78 (4.83%) Consultant
9 78 (4.83%) Validation Engineer
10 74 (4.58%) Developer
11 71 (4.39%) Data Analyst
12 43 (2.66%) Embedded Engineer
12 43 (2.66%) Support Engineer
13 42 (2.60%) Principal Engineer
14 41 (2.54%) IT Manager
15 40 (2.48%) Senior Systems Engineer
16 39 (2.41%) Software Engineer
17 35 (2.17%) Project Manager
17 35 (2.17%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (2.78%) RESTful
2 35 (2.17%) JSON
2 35 (2.17%) Node.js
2 35 (2.17%) PySpark
2 35 (2.17%) REST
3 32 (1.98%) PyTorch
4 30 (1.86%) Kafka
5 29 (1.79%) XML
6 26 (1.61%) Pandas
7 25 (1.55%) .NET
8 23 (1.42%) Middleware
9 22 (1.36%) Playwright
10 19 (1.18%) pytest
10 19 (1.18%) Regular Expression
10 19 (1.18%) XMPP
11 18 (1.11%) CSS
12 17 (1.05%) HTML
12 17 (1.05%) React
13 15 (0.93%) LDAP
13 15 (0.93%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 103 (6.37%) Cloud Native
2 87 (5.38%) Onboarding
3 71 (4.39%) Data Structures
4 70 (4.33%) Management Information System
5 62 (3.84%) Algorithms
6 51 (3.16%) Product Ownership
7 48 (2.97%) Embedded Systems
7 48 (2.97%) Low-Code
8 43 (2.66%) Driving Licence
9 40 (2.48%) Data Centre
9 40 (2.48%) Distributed Systems
10 37 (2.29%) Enterprise Software
11 36 (2.23%) Analytical Mindset
12 34 (2.10%) Self-Motivation
13 33 (2.04%) Legacy Systems
14 31 (1.92%) Video\Live Streaming
15 28 (1.73%) Life Science
16 24 (1.49%) FPGA
16 24 (1.49%) Robotics
17 22 (1.36%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 111 (6.87%) Linux
2 78 (4.83%) Windows
3 30 (1.86%) Windows Server
4 26 (1.61%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 22 (1.36%) Unix
6 8 (0.50%) Android
7 5 (0.31%) FreeRTOS
8 4 (0.25%) Embedded Linux
8 4 (0.25%) Kali Linux
8 4 (0.25%) Mac OS X
8 4 (0.25%) Robot Operating System
9 3 (0.19%) AIX
9 3 (0.19%) Apple iOS
9 3 (0.19%) Mac OS
10 2 (0.12%) CentOS
10 2 (0.12%) ThreadX
11 1 (0.062%) Rocky
11 1 (0.062%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.062%) VxWorks
11 1 (0.062%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 357 (22.09%) Problem-Solving
2 347 (21.47%) Continuous Improvement
3 341 (21.10%) Agile
4 293 (18.13%) AI
5 257 (15.90%) CI/CD
6 232 (14.36%) Analytics
7 225 (13.92%) Test Automation
8 203 (12.56%) Migration
9 186 (11.51%) Stakeholder Management
10 177 (10.95%) Business Intelligence
11 174 (10.77%) Verification and Validation
12 172 (10.64%) Data Validation
13 166 (10.27%) Mentoring
14 163 (10.09%) DevOps
15 160 (9.90%) Decision-Making
16 159 (9.84%) Data Modelling
16 159 (9.84%) Software Engineering
17 157 (9.72%) Data Analysis
18 149 (9.22%) Machine Learning
19 147 (9.10%) Collaborative Working
Programming Languages
1 411 (25.43%) Python
2 339 (20.98%) SQL
3 74 (4.58%) C++
4 71 (4.39%) C
5 67 (4.15%) Java
6 50 (3.09%) Go
7 46 (2.85%) C#
8 36 (2.23%) JavaScript
9 32 (1.98%) MATLAB
10 27 (1.67%) Bash
11 24 (1.49%) PowerShell
11 24 (1.49%) T-SQL
12 21 (1.30%) Embedded C
13 18 (1.11%) Embedded C++
14 16 (0.99%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 15 (0.93%) TypeScript
16 14 (0.87%) Scala
17 10 (0.62%) ABAP
18 9 (0.56%) VBA
19 8 (0.50%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 308 (19.06%) Degree
2 179 (11.08%) Security Cleared
3 110 (6.81%) BPSS Clearance
4 81 (5.01%) SC Cleared
5 74 (4.58%) Master's Degree
6 51 (3.16%) DV Cleared
7 40 (2.48%) Computer Science Degree
8 33 (2.04%) Chartered Engineer
9 28 (1.73%) HNC
10 27 (1.67%) CISA
10 27 (1.67%) CISSP
10 27 (1.67%) SANS
11 24 (1.49%) CISM
12 20 (1.24%) ACCA
12 20 (1.24%) CIMA
12 20 (1.24%) HND
13 17 (1.05%) CGEIT
13 17 (1.05%) FFIEC
14 16 (0.99%) PMI Certification
15 14 (0.87%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 267 (16.52%) Data Quality
2 206 (12.75%) QA
3 63 (3.90%) Accessibility
4 58 (3.59%) GDPR
5 39 (2.41%) GRC
6 26 (1.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 22 (1.36%) IEC 61508
7 22 (1.36%) NIST
8 19 (1.18%) ISO/IEC 15288
9 18 (1.11%) IFRS
9 18 (1.11%) ISO 9001
10 17 (1.05%) COBIT
11 16 (0.99%) PMO
12 15 (0.93%) SLA
13 13 (0.80%) GAAP
13 13 (0.80%) ISO 26262
13 13 (0.80%) WCAG
14 11 (0.68%) SOC 2
15 10 (0.62%) GxP
16 9 (0.56%) GMP
System Software
1 70 (4.33%) Docker
2 52 (3.22%) Firmware
3 38 (2.35%) Active Directory
4 24 (1.49%) Virtual Machines
5 23 (1.42%) Embedded Firmware
6 21 (1.30%) vSphere
7 15 (0.93%) VMware Infrastructure
8 6 (0.37%) KVM
9 5 (0.31%) Hyper-V
10 2 (0.12%) Terminal Services
10 2 (0.12%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 70 (4.33%) Kubernetes
1 70 (4.33%) Terraform
2 36 (2.23%) Grafana
3 23 (1.42%) Ansible
3 23 (1.42%) Functional Safety
4 16 (0.99%) Prometheus
5 12 (0.74%) Puppet
6 10 (0.62%) Cilium
7 7 (0.43%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 7 (0.43%) Kibana
8 6 (0.37%) SCCM
9 3 (0.19%) Argo
9 3 (0.19%) FortiGate
9 3 (0.19%) HP Fortify
9 3 (0.19%) Nessus
9 3 (0.19%) Nmap
9 3 (0.19%) Rancher
9 3 (0.19%) Single Sign-On
9 3 (0.19%) yum
10 2 (0.12%) BMC PATROL
Vendors
1 209 (12.93%) Microsoft
2 105 (6.50%) SAP
3 92 (5.69%) Oracle
4 50 (3.09%) Salesforce
5 42 (2.60%) Databricks
6 35 (2.17%) Red Hat
7 34 (2.10%) VMware
8 31 (1.92%) ServiceNow
9 29 (1.79%) CrowdStrike
10 28 (1.73%) Cisco
11 26 (1.61%) Google
12 23 (1.42%) Palo Alto
13 22 (1.36%) Tenable
14 19 (1.18%) Adobe
15 16 (0.99%) Foundry
16 15 (0.93%) McAfee
17 14 (0.87%) Citrix
18 13 (0.80%) IBM
19 12 (0.74%) EMC
20 11 (0.68%) OpenAI