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

6 months to
12 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 126 82 199
Rank change year-on-year -44 +117 -4
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,399 1,609 1,419
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.55% 3.68% 1.47%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.09% 3.94% 1.72%
Number of salaries quoted 793 443 779
10th Percentile £34,600 £40,000 £35,450
25th Percentile £42,500 £46,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,000 £56,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.57% +1.82% -12.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £72,216
90th Percentile £93,750 £95,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -4.55% +4.76% -4.55%

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 66,794 40,810 82,365
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.89% 93.32% 85.22%
Number of salaries quoted 42,940 22,598 59,746
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £41,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - +9.09% -9.84%
75th Percentile £78,750 £79,500 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £101,250 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £52,500 £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 12 May 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 12 May 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 -51 1,245 £60,000 +7.14% 838
UK excluding London -72 914 £52,500 -4.55% 637
Work from Home +126 441 £56,500 -3.83% 407
London +65 366 £77,500 +10.71% 312
South East -41 281 £55,000 +7.84% 207
North of England +56 232 £55,000 +15.35% 120
Midlands -88 157 £40,000 -27.27% 84
North West +47 144 £55,000 +15.35% 76
West Midlands -6 102 £43,250 -33.46% 49
East of England -80 97 £60,000 +5.26% 92
South West -41 93 £52,500 -2.78% 93
Yorkshire -20 56 £55,000 +15.79% 34
East Midlands -99 53 £30,000 -41.18% 35
Scotland -6 42 £42,000 -27.63% 35
North East -8 32 £52,000 -8.37% 11
Wales -27 12 £44,000 -20.00% 18
Northern Ireland -37 2 - - 8

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 44 (3.15%) Apache Airflow
2 27 (1.93%) Apache
2 27 (1.93%) Apache Spark
3 25 (1.79%) Confluence
4 21 (1.50%) ArcGIS
5 16 (1.14%) Microsoft Exchange
6 11 (0.79%) Appian
7 10 (0.71%) CMS
7 10 (0.71%) SharePoint
8 7 (0.50%) SAS
9 6 (0.43%) Kinematics
10 3 (0.21%) Jupyter
11 2 (0.14%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 2 (0.14%) Artix
11 2 (0.14%) Headless CMS
11 2 (0.14%) IIS
12 1 (0.071%) Anypoint
12 1 (0.071%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 91 (6.50%) Microsoft Excel
2 61 (4.36%) Microsoft Office
3 20 (1.43%) MS Visio
4 14 (1.00%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 10 (0.71%) Microsoft Project
5 10 (0.71%) Simulink
6 6 (0.43%) Spreadsheet
7 5 (0.36%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 5 (0.36%) SOLIDWORKS
8 4 (0.29%) CANalyzer
8 4 (0.29%) Fusion 360
9 3 (0.21%) Adobe XD
9 3 (0.21%) AutoCAD
9 3 (0.21%) Sketch
9 3 (0.21%) Solid Edge
10 2 (0.14%) Autodesk Inventor
10 2 (0.14%) CATIA
10 2 (0.14%) Oracle Smart View
10 2 (0.14%) Productboard
11 1 (0.071%) Navisworks
Business Applications
1 36 (2.57%) SAP S/4HANA
2 23 (1.64%) Dynamics CRM
3 10 (0.71%) SAP ERP
4 9 (0.64%) Oracle ERP
5 7 (0.50%) SAP MDG
6 6 (0.43%) Elite 3E
6 6 (0.43%) Loan IQ
6 6 (0.43%) Workday HCM
7 5 (0.36%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.29%) Markit EDM
9 3 (0.21%) iTrent
9 3 (0.21%) Oracle Applications
9 3 (0.21%) Oracle EBS
10 2 (0.14%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
10 2 (0.14%) SAP FSCM
10 2 (0.14%) SAP PSCD
11 1 (0.071%) Oracle Payables
11 1 (0.071%) Oracle Receivables
11 1 (0.071%) SAP BRIM
11 1 (0.071%) SAP Business ByDesign
Cloud Services
1 202 (14.44%) Azure
2 143 (10.22%) AWS
3 126 (9.01%) Power Platform
4 65 (4.65%) SaaS
5 53 (3.79%) GCP
6 43 (3.07%) Azure DevOps
7 37 (2.64%) Serverless
8 33 (2.36%) Azure Data Factory
8 33 (2.36%) Dynamics 365
8 33 (2.36%) Microsoft 365
9 30 (2.14%) Snowflake
10 29 (2.07%) GitHub
11 27 (1.93%) Amazon S3
12 24 (1.72%) dbt
12 24 (1.72%) Entra ID
12 24 (1.72%) Power Automate
13 17 (1.22%) OpenShift
14 16 (1.14%) Azure AI
15 14 (1.00%) Anthropic Claude
16 12 (0.86%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 51 (3.65%) Broadband
2 32 (2.29%) Firewall
3 25 (1.79%) CHAP
4 23 (1.64%) DNS
5 22 (1.57%) WAN
6 20 (1.43%) Wireless
7 18 (1.29%) 5G
7 18 (1.29%) TCP/IP
8 17 (1.22%) SD-WAN
9 11 (0.79%) HTTP
10 10 (0.71%) Wireshark
11 9 (0.64%) LAN
11 9 (0.64%) Modbus
11 9 (0.64%) MQTT
11 9 (0.64%) NAS
11 9 (0.64%) VPN
12 8 (0.57%) Multicast
12 8 (0.57%) Network Security
12 8 (0.57%) Wi-Fi
13 7 (0.50%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 118 (8.43%) Power BI
2 49 (3.50%) SQL Server
3 48 (3.43%) Tableau
4 43 (3.07%) PostgreSQL
5 35 (2.50%) Data Warehouse
6 33 (2.36%) Metadata
7 30 (2.14%) Relational Database
8 25 (1.79%) QGIS
9 24 (1.72%) MongoDB
10 23 (1.64%) GIS
11 21 (1.50%) Data Lake
12 20 (1.43%) Spatial Data
13 18 (1.29%) Oracle Reports
14 17 (1.22%) Azure SQL Database
14 17 (1.22%) Spark SQL
15 15 (1.07%) Oracle Database
16 14 (1.00%) BigQuery
16 14 (1.00%) MySQL
16 14 (1.00%) Parquet
16 14 (1.00%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 69 (4.93%) Git
2 63 (4.50%) JIRA
3 36 (2.57%) Rational DOORS
4 29 (2.07%) Jenkins
5 22 (1.57%) GitLab
5 22 (1.57%) Snyk
6 17 (1.22%) LabVIEW
6 17 (1.22%) Postman
7 15 (1.07%) MLflow
8 13 (0.93%) IBM UrbanCode
8 13 (0.93%) Selenium
9 12 (0.86%) Cucumber
9 12 (0.86%) JMeter
10 10 (0.71%) Eclipse
11 9 (0.64%) TestRail
12 7 (0.50%) LoadRunner
13 5 (0.36%) Cypress.io
13 5 (0.36%) SpecFlow
13 5 (0.36%) Subversion
13 5 (0.36%) Visual Studio
General
1 450 (32.17%) Social Skills
2 364 (26.02%) Finance
3 299 (21.37%) Analytical Skills
4 109 (7.79%) Manufacturing
5 100 (7.15%) Aerospace
6 97 (6.93%) Electronics
7 82 (5.86%) Banking
8 75 (5.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 60 (4.29%) Legal
10 51 (3.65%) Public Sector
11 48 (3.43%) Retail
12 44 (3.15%) Law
12 44 (3.15%) Marketing
13 39 (2.79%) Pharmaceutical
14 37 (2.64%) Presentation Skills
15 35 (2.50%) Financial Institution
15 35 (2.50%) Games
15 35 (2.50%) Organisational Skills
16 30 (2.14%) Automotive
17 23 (1.64%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 231 (16.51%) Senior
2 225 (16.08%) Analyst
3 155 (11.08%) Systems Engineer
4 102 (7.29%) Lead
5 94 (6.72%) Architect
6 90 (6.43%) Test Engineer
7 85 (6.08%) Business Analyst
8 80 (5.72%) Validation Engineer
9 69 (4.93%) Consultant
10 60 (4.29%) Data Analyst
11 51 (3.65%) Integration Engineer
12 50 (3.57%) Data Engineer
13 49 (3.50%) Developer
14 44 (3.15%) Junior
15 42 (3.00%) Principal Engineer
15 42 (3.00%) Senior Systems Engineer
16 36 (2.57%) Systems Integration Engineer
16 36 (2.57%) Verification Engineer
17 32 (2.29%) Embedded Engineer
17 32 (2.29%) Software Validation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 51 (3.65%) REST
2 37 (2.64%) PyTorch
3 33 (2.36%) JSON
3 33 (2.36%) Pandas
4 31 (2.22%) RESTful
5 28 (2.00%) Middleware
6 27 (1.93%) pytest
7 21 (1.50%) PySpark
7 21 (1.50%) XML
8 20 (1.43%) .NET
9 19 (1.36%) OAuth
9 19 (1.36%) Swagger
10 17 (1.22%) JWT
10 17 (1.22%) Kafka
10 17 (1.22%) TensorFlow
11 16 (1.14%) CSS
11 16 (1.14%) NumPy
11 16 (1.14%) Playwright
12 14 (1.00%) Oracle Fusion
12 14 (1.00%) React
Miscellaneous
1 83 (5.93%) Management Information System
2 59 (4.22%) Onboarding
3 51 (3.65%) Data Structures
4 46 (3.29%) Low-Code
5 45 (3.22%) Cloud Native
6 44 (3.15%) Algorithms
7 38 (2.72%) Product Ownership
8 35 (2.50%) Self-Motivation
9 33 (2.36%) Legacy Systems
10 32 (2.29%) Data Centre
11 29 (2.07%) Analytical Mindset
12 27 (1.93%) Embedded Systems
13 24 (1.72%) Life Science
14 23 (1.64%) Enterprise Software
15 22 (1.57%) Video\Live Streaming
16 20 (1.43%) Distributed Systems
16 20 (1.43%) Driving Licence
17 18 (1.29%) Robotics
18 17 (1.22%) SCADA
19 16 (1.14%) FPGA
Operating Systems
1 80 (5.72%) Linux
2 66 (4.72%) Windows
3 21 (1.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 21 (1.50%) Unix
3 21 (1.50%) Windows Server
4 13 (0.93%) Android
5 5 (0.36%) Apple iOS
6 4 (0.29%) CentOS
6 4 (0.29%) FreeRTOS
6 4 (0.29%) Mac OS X
7 3 (0.21%) AIX
7 3 (0.21%) Kali Linux
7 3 (0.21%) Robot Operating System
8 2 (0.14%) ThreadX
9 1 (0.071%) Embedded Linux
9 1 (0.071%) Rocky
9 1 (0.071%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.071%) VxWorks
9 1 (0.071%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 305 (21.80%) Problem-Solving
2 282 (20.16%) Agile
3 267 (19.09%) Continuous Improvement
4 225 (16.08%) AI
5 215 (15.37%) Analytics
6 206 (14.72%) Verification and Validation
7 193 (13.80%) CI/CD
8 185 (13.22%) Test Automation
9 162 (11.58%) Data Validation
10 151 (10.79%) Migration
11 146 (10.44%) Business Intelligence
12 140 (10.01%) Data Modelling
13 138 (9.86%) Decision-Making
14 134 (9.58%) Stakeholder Management
15 130 (9.29%) Data Governance
15 130 (9.29%) User Acceptance Testing
16 128 (9.15%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 127 (9.08%) Software Engineering
18 124 (8.86%) DevOps
18 124 (8.86%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 319 (22.80%) Python
2 276 (19.73%) SQL
3 54 (3.86%) C++
4 51 (3.65%) Java
5 47 (3.36%) C
6 37 (2.64%) PowerShell
7 36 (2.57%) Go
8 29 (2.07%) C#
9 28 (2.00%) JavaScript
10 27 (1.93%) Bash
11 23 (1.64%) MATLAB
12 18 (1.29%) T-SQL
13 14 (1.00%) Embedded C
14 13 (0.93%) TypeScript
15 12 (0.86%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 9 (0.64%) VBA
17 8 (0.57%) ABAP
17 8 (0.57%) Embedded C++
17 8 (0.57%) R
18 6 (0.43%) VB
Qualifications
1 308 (22.02%) Degree
2 168 (12.01%) Security Cleared
3 126 (9.01%) BPSS Clearance
4 66 (4.72%) SC Cleared
5 64 (4.57%) Master's Degree
6 41 (2.93%) DV Cleared
7 40 (2.86%) Computer Science Degree
8 36 (2.57%) Chartered Engineer
9 35 (2.50%) CISA
9 35 (2.50%) CISSP
10 32 (2.29%) CISM
11 31 (2.22%) SANS
12 27 (1.93%) HNC
13 25 (1.79%) CGEIT
13 25 (1.79%) FFIEC
14 24 (1.72%) HND
15 23 (1.64%) PMI Certification
16 20 (1.43%) PMP
17 12 (0.86%) ISTQB
18 10 (0.71%) ACCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 194 (13.87%) Data Quality
2 149 (10.65%) QA
3 64 (4.57%) GDPR
4 59 (4.22%) Accessibility
5 40 (2.86%) GRC
6 35 (2.50%) ISO/IEC 15288
7 27 (1.93%) NIST
8 25 (1.79%) COBIT
9 21 (1.50%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 20 (1.43%) IFRS
11 18 (1.29%) IEC 61508
12 15 (1.07%) SLA
13 13 (0.93%) GAAP
13 13 (0.93%) ISO 9001
14 11 (0.79%) GMP
14 11 (0.79%) PMO
15 10 (0.71%) Good Clinical Practice
15 10 (0.71%) WCAG
16 9 (0.64%) 21 CFR Part 11
16 9 (0.64%) ISO 13485
System Software
1 60 (4.29%) Docker
2 36 (2.57%) Active Directory
3 34 (2.43%) Firmware
4 22 (1.57%) Virtual Machines
5 15 (1.07%) VMware Infrastructure
5 15 (1.07%) vSphere
6 8 (0.57%) Embedded Firmware
7 6 (0.43%) KVM
8 5 (0.36%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.21%) VMware ESXi
10 2 (0.14%) Terminal Services
11 1 (0.071%) iptables
11 1 (0.071%) OpenAM
11 1 (0.071%) OpenDJ
11 1 (0.071%) OpenIDM
Systems Management
1 65 (4.65%) Kubernetes
2 44 (3.15%) Terraform
3 30 (2.14%) Grafana
4 24 (1.72%) Ansible
5 16 (1.14%) Prometheus
6 15 (1.07%) Functional Safety
7 14 (1.00%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 11 (0.79%) SCCM
9 9 (0.64%) Puppet
10 8 (0.57%) Microsoft Intune
11 4 (0.29%) Argo
11 4 (0.29%) Cilium
11 4 (0.29%) Rancher
11 4 (0.29%) yum
12 3 (0.21%) HP Fortify
12 3 (0.21%) Kibana
13 2 (0.14%) BMC PATROL
13 2 (0.14%) Computer Incident Response Team
13 2 (0.14%) PowerCLI
14 1 (0.071%) SQL Sentry
Vendors
1 184 (13.15%) Microsoft
2 78 (5.58%) Oracle
3 71 (5.08%) SAP
4 49 (3.50%) Salesforce
5 30 (2.14%) Red Hat
6 28 (2.00%) VMware
7 25 (1.79%) CrowdStrike
8 24 (1.72%) Databricks
8 24 (1.72%) Palo Alto
9 22 (1.57%) Cisco
9 22 (1.57%) Tenable
10 20 (1.43%) ServiceNow
11 19 (1.36%) Google
12 18 (1.29%) Adobe
13 17 (1.22%) OpenAI
14 16 (1.14%) IBM
15 14 (1.00%) Citrix
16 13 (0.93%) Foundry
17 11 (0.79%) Automation Anywhere
17 11 (0.79%) Workday