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

6 months to
15 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 78 88 181
Rank change year-on-year +10 +93 +31
Permanent jobs citing Validation 2,349 1,630 1,137
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 2.06% 3.32% 1.47%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.83% 3.74% 1.81%
Number of salaries quoted 1,409 465 444
10th Percentile £35,700 £38,750 £39,000
25th Percentile £42,750 £41,250 £46,813
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,000 £55,000 £57,767
Median % change year-on-year +7.27% -4.79% -9.74%
75th Percentile £70,000 £75,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £86,250 £88,750 £93,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £52,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.76% -4.55% -3.51%

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 82,954 43,576 62,762
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 72.83% 88.69% 80.93%
Number of salaries quoted 57,665 24,452 36,140
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 £76,500
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 15 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 15 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 +5 2,167 £57,500 +4.55% 4,664
UK excluding London -12 1,727 £55,000 +4.76% 2,764
Work from Home +120 617 £56,500 -5.83% 1,777
London +65 536 £68,750 -14.06% 2,336
South East -16 488 £62,500 +16.28% 641
North of England +113 451 £55,000 +18.92% 460
North West +108 280 £55,000 +15.35% 276
Midlands -37 256 £50,000 -9.09% 384
South West +13 228 £60,000 +14.18% 383
East of England -54 174 £55,000 -8.33% 421
West Midlands +34 144 £50,000 -9.09% 269
East Midlands -49 112 £48,372 +13.82% 114
North East +4 86 £55,000 +57.14% 72
Yorkshire +10 85 £43,000 +1.18% 122
Scotland +36 81 £70,000 +20.62% 366
Wales -38 41 £70,000 +30.23% 62
Northern Ireland -73 5 - - 82
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 (2.00%) Apache Spark
2 44 (1.87%) Apache Airflow
3 40 (1.70%) Apache
4 35 (1.49%) Confluence
5 34 (1.45%) SharePoint
6 20 (0.85%) Jupyter
7 13 (0.55%) SAS
8 10 (0.43%) Microsoft Exchange
9 8 (0.34%) WinCC
10 5 (0.21%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 4 (0.17%) CMS
12 3 (0.13%) Artix
12 3 (0.13%) Kinematics
12 3 (0.13%) OpenStack
12 3 (0.13%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 2 (0.085%) Cloud Foundry
13 2 (0.085%) IIS
14 1 (0.043%) ArcGIS
14 1 (0.043%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
14 1 (0.043%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 123 (5.24%) Microsoft Excel
2 69 (2.94%) Microsoft Office
3 50 (2.13%) Simulink
4 36 (1.53%) Microsoft Project
5 18 (0.77%) SOLIDWORKS
5 18 (0.77%) Spreadsheet
6 16 (0.68%) MS Visio
7 15 (0.64%) AutoCAD
8 9 (0.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
9 8 (0.34%) Revit
10 6 (0.26%) Navisworks
11 5 (0.21%) CANalyzer
11 5 (0.21%) LaTeX
11 5 (0.21%) Mathcad
12 4 (0.17%) Adobe XD
12 4 (0.17%) EPLAN
12 4 (0.17%) OrCAD
12 4 (0.17%) Sketch
13 3 (0.13%) Autodesk Inventor
13 3 (0.13%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 42 (1.79%) Dynamics CRM
2 40 (1.70%) SAP S/4HANA
3 11 (0.47%) SAP MDG
4 9 (0.38%) iTrent
4 9 (0.38%) Oracle EBS
5 8 (0.34%) Oracle Applications
5 8 (0.34%) Workday HCM
6 7 (0.30%) Elite 3E
6 7 (0.30%) NetSuite
6 7 (0.30%) SAP ERP
7 6 (0.26%) Teamcenter
8 5 (0.21%) Infor M3
8 5 (0.21%) SAP MDG-BP
9 4 (0.17%) Oracle Financials
9 4 (0.17%) SAP MM
10 3 (0.13%) Maximo
10 3 (0.13%) Oracle ERP
10 3 (0.13%) SystmOne
11 2 (0.085%) Salesforce CRM
11 2 (0.085%) SAP EWM
Cloud Services
1 305 (12.98%) Azure
2 261 (11.11%) AWS
3 173 (7.36%) Power Platform
4 94 (4.00%) GCP
5 75 (3.19%) Azure DevOps
6 73 (3.11%) SaaS
7 65 (2.77%) GitHub
8 64 (2.72%) Microsoft 365
9 62 (2.64%) Serverless
10 44 (1.87%) Amazon S3
11 37 (1.58%) Dynamics 365
12 35 (1.49%) Entra ID
13 34 (1.45%) GitHub Actions
14 30 (1.28%) Microsoft Copilot
15 27 (1.15%) Azure Data Factory
16 25 (1.06%) Cloud Computing
16 25 (1.06%) Microsoft Purview
17 24 (1.02%) Amazon EMR
18 23 (0.98%) AWS Lambda
18 23 (0.98%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 70 (2.98%) DNS
2 67 (2.85%) Firewall
3 56 (2.38%) Broadband
4 40 (1.70%) Wireless
5 37 (1.58%) TCP/IP
5 37 (1.58%) WAN
6 36 (1.53%) VPN
7 35 (1.49%) Network Security
8 29 (1.23%) Ethernet
9 28 (1.19%) LAN
10 26 (1.11%) Modbus
10 26 (1.11%) VLAN
11 25 (1.06%) OSPF
12 23 (0.98%) SD-WAN
13 22 (0.94%) BGP
14 21 (0.89%) MQTT
14 21 (0.89%) Wireshark
15 18 (0.77%) 5G
16 16 (0.68%) HTTP
16 16 (0.68%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 158 (6.73%) Power BI
2 59 (2.51%) Metadata
3 58 (2.47%) Data Warehouse
4 55 (2.34%) Data Lake
5 47 (2.00%) SQL Server
6 46 (1.96%) PostgreSQL
7 43 (1.83%) Tableau
8 37 (1.58%) Amazon Athena
9 31 (1.32%) MongoDB
9 31 (1.32%) Relational Database
10 27 (1.15%) BigQuery
11 26 (1.11%) Big Data
12 25 (1.06%) DynamoDB
13 22 (0.94%) NoSQL
13 22 (0.94%) Semantic Layer
13 22 (0.94%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 21 (0.89%) Azure SQL Database
15 20 (0.85%) Amazon Redshift
16 17 (0.72%) Delta Lake
16 17 (0.72%) MySQL
Development Applications
1 132 (5.62%) JIRA
2 122 (5.19%) Git
3 61 (2.60%) Jenkins
4 52 (2.21%) GitLab
5 43 (1.83%) Rational DOORS
6 31 (1.32%) Selenium
7 27 (1.15%) LabVIEW
8 25 (1.06%) Postman
9 22 (0.94%) Cypress.io
9 22 (0.94%) Snyk
10 14 (0.60%) Burp Suite
11 13 (0.55%) JMeter
12 11 (0.47%) Cucumber
12 11 (0.47%) REST Assured
13 10 (0.43%) TeamCity
14 9 (0.38%) Claude Code
14 9 (0.38%) Eclipse
14 9 (0.38%) Gatling
14 9 (0.38%) MLflow
14 9 (0.38%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 780 (33.21%) Social Skills
2 599 (25.50%) Finance
3 563 (23.97%) Analytical Skills
4 235 (10.00%) Aerospace
5 216 (9.20%) Manufacturing
6 213 (9.07%) Electronics
7 203 (8.64%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 137 (5.83%) Law
9 99 (4.21%) Banking
10 98 (4.17%) Organisational Skills
11 97 (4.13%) Retail
12 96 (4.09%) Public Sector
13 86 (3.66%) Marketing
14 82 (3.49%) Pharmaceutical
15 81 (3.45%) Telecoms
16 70 (2.98%) Automotive
17 60 (2.55%) Legal
18 45 (1.92%) Influencing Skills
19 43 (1.83%) Documentation Skills
20 39 (1.66%) Games
Job Titles
1 413 (17.58%) Senior
2 312 (13.28%) Systems Engineer
3 265 (11.28%) Analyst
4 205 (8.73%) Lead
5 131 (5.58%) Test Engineer
6 120 (5.11%) Architect
7 116 (4.94%) Data Engineer
8 94 (4.00%) Developer
9 91 (3.87%) Consultant
10 79 (3.36%) Business Analyst
10 79 (3.36%) Software Engineer
11 73 (3.11%) Principal Engineer
12 68 (2.89%) Data Analyst
13 65 (2.77%) Validation Engineer
14 64 (2.72%) Electronics Engineer
15 54 (2.30%) Network Engineer
16 51 (2.17%) Embedded Engineer
17 49 (2.09%) Support Engineer
18 48 (2.04%) Data Scientist
19 43 (1.83%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 80 (3.41%) Terraform
2 54 (2.30%) RESTful
3 52 (2.21%) Kafka
4 46 (1.96%) REST
5 44 (1.87%) Node.js
6 40 (1.70%) PySpark
7 37 (1.58%) Playwright
8 35 (1.49%) JSON
9 34 (1.45%) .NET
9 34 (1.45%) XML
10 27 (1.15%) FastAPI
11 26 (1.11%) CSS
11 26 (1.11%) LDAP
12 25 (1.06%) HTML
12 25 (1.06%) React
13 23 (0.98%) Middleware
14 21 (0.89%) ModSecurity
15 20 (0.85%) Swagger
16 18 (0.77%) OpenID
16 18 (0.77%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 159 (6.77%) Cloud Native
2 124 (5.28%) Management Information System
3 120 (5.11%) Onboarding
4 81 (3.45%) Data Centre
4 81 (3.45%) Product Ownership
5 66 (2.81%) Embedded Systems
6 63 (2.68%) Driving Licence
7 59 (2.51%) Data Structures
8 58 (2.47%) Enterprise Software
9 55 (2.34%) Distributed Systems
10 52 (2.21%) Algorithms
11 47 (2.00%) AI Agents
12 45 (1.92%) Life Science
12 45 (1.92%) SCADA
13 42 (1.79%) Analytical Mindset
14 41 (1.75%) Low-Code
15 40 (1.70%) Robotics
16 39 (1.66%) Legacy Systems
17 37 (1.58%) IoT
18 31 (1.32%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 135 (5.75%) Linux
2 91 (3.87%) Windows
3 32 (1.36%) Windows Server
4 24 (1.02%) Unix
5 17 (0.72%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (0.43%) Android
7 8 (0.34%) Embedded Linux
7 8 (0.34%) Mac OS
8 6 (0.26%) FreeRTOS
9 5 (0.21%) Kali Linux
10 4 (0.17%) Mac OS X
11 3 (0.13%) Apple iOS
12 2 (0.085%) Robot Operating System
12 2 (0.085%) VMS
12 2 (0.085%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.043%) AIX
13 1 (0.043%) OpenWrt
13 1 (0.043%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 600 (25.54%) Problem-Solving
2 527 (22.44%) Continuous Improvement
3 436 (18.56%) Verification and Validation
4 433 (18.43%) Agile
5 398 (16.94%) AI
6 322 (13.71%) CI/CD
7 304 (12.94%) Stakeholder Management
8 291 (12.39%) Test Automation
9 281 (11.96%) Migration
10 262 (11.15%) Analytics
11 251 (10.69%) Mentoring
12 232 (9.88%) Software Engineering
13 224 (9.54%) Decision-Making
14 216 (9.20%) DevOps
15 208 (8.85%) Data Analysis
16 207 (8.81%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 200 (8.51%) Business Intelligence
18 193 (8.22%) Machine Learning
19 188 (8.00%) Roadmaps
20 178 (7.58%) Data Migration
Programming Languages
1 486 (20.69%) Python
2 417 (17.75%) SQL
3 102 (4.34%) Java
4 90 (3.83%) C++
5 84 (3.58%) C
6 70 (2.98%) JavaScript
7 65 (2.77%) MATLAB
8 58 (2.47%) C#
9 49 (2.09%) Go
10 36 (1.53%) Bash
11 32 (1.36%) Embedded C
12 27 (1.15%) PowerShell
13 26 (1.11%) TypeScript
14 24 (1.02%) Scala
15 22 (0.94%) R
16 18 (0.77%) Embedded C++
17 13 (0.55%) Data Analysis Expressions
18 11 (0.47%) Shell Script
18 11 (0.47%) T-SQL
19 8 (0.34%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 529 (22.52%) Security Cleared
2 512 (21.80%) Degree
3 392 (16.69%) SC Cleared
4 126 (5.36%) BPSS Clearance
5 108 (4.60%) DV Cleared
6 94 (4.00%) Master's Degree
7 53 (2.26%) Computer Science Degree
8 42 (1.79%) PhD
9 40 (1.70%) Chartered Engineer
10 36 (1.53%) HND
11 35 (1.49%) PMI Certification
12 33 (1.40%) CISSP
12 33 (1.40%) HNC
13 25 (1.06%) Azure Certification
14 24 (1.02%) ACCA
14 24 (1.02%) AWS Certification
14 24 (1.02%) CISM
15 22 (0.94%) PMP
16 21 (0.89%) CIMA
16 21 (0.89%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 346 (14.73%) Data Quality
2 293 (12.47%) QA
3 84 (3.58%) Accessibility
4 54 (2.30%) GDPR
5 37 (1.58%) GRC
6 30 (1.28%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 28 (1.19%) GxP
8 22 (0.94%) IEC 61508
8 22 (0.94%) NIST
9 21 (0.89%) SLA
10 16 (0.68%) PMO
11 15 (0.64%) GMP
11 15 (0.64%) ISO 26262
12 14 (0.60%) ISO 9001
12 14 (0.60%) ISO/IEC 15288
13 13 (0.55%) WCAG
14 12 (0.51%) SOC 2
15 10 (0.43%) ISO 19650
16 9 (0.38%) Def Stans
16 9 (0.38%) JTAG
System Software
1 93 (3.96%) Firmware
2 84 (3.58%) Docker
3 46 (1.96%) Active Directory
4 42 (1.79%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.19%) Virtual Machines
6 19 (0.81%) vSphere
7 8 (0.34%) VMware Infrastructure
8 4 (0.17%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.13%) KVM
10 2 (0.085%) iptables
10 2 (0.085%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.085%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.043%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 79 (3.36%) Kubernetes
2 42 (1.79%) Grafana
3 33 (1.40%) Ansible
4 28 (1.19%) Functional Safety
5 18 (0.77%) Prometheus
6 15 (0.64%) Single Sign-On
7 10 (0.43%) Cilium
8 8 (0.34%) Nessus
8 8 (0.34%) Nmap
8 8 (0.34%) Puppet
9 7 (0.30%) BMC PATROL
9 7 (0.30%) Kibana
9 7 (0.30%) Microsoft Intune
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 (0.13%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
Vendors
1 289 (12.30%) Microsoft
2 123 (5.24%) SAP
3 99 (4.21%) Oracle
4 60 (2.55%) Databricks
5 55 (2.34%) Salesforce
6 54 (2.30%) Cisco
7 53 (2.26%) ServiceNow
8 44 (1.87%) EMC
9 40 (1.70%) Google
10 30 (1.28%) CrowdStrike
11 28 (1.19%) Palo Alto
12 25 (1.06%) VMware
13 23 (0.98%) Tenable
14 21 (0.89%) Red Hat
14 21 (0.89%) Thales
15 20 (0.85%) IBM
16 18 (0.77%) Siemens
16 18 (0.77%) Splunk
17 17 (0.72%) Sage
18 16 (0.68%) Autodesk