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

6 months to
15 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 119 85 204
Rank change year-on-year -34 +119 -15
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,494 1,622 1,440
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.60% 3.64% 1.33%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.20% 3.93% 1.63%
Number of salaries quoted 873 455 772
10th Percentile £36,250 £40,000 £35,500
25th Percentile £42,500 £46,250 £42,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% +4.55% -11.71%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £72,433
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 67,867 41,257 88,577
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 72.84% 92.63% 82.08%
Number of salaries quoted 46,626 22,001 62,691
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,822 £29,629
25th Percentile £41,250 £39,353 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -9.54%
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 15 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 15 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 -40 1,350 £55,000 -3.51% 857
UK excluding London -56 1,000 £52,500 -4.55% 711
Work from Home +118 482 £55,000 -9.84% 350
London +65 386 £75,000 - 276
South East -40 304 £55,000 - 230
North of England +78 277 £55,000 +15.35% 144
North West +77 177 £55,000 +15.35% 70
Midlands -69 163 £40,000 -30.43% 117
East of England -73 107 £60,000 +5.26% 76
West Midlands -4 96 £44,000 -29.60% 69
South West -52 93 £53,000 -3.64% 106
East Midlands -73 65 £30,000 -39.70% 48
Yorkshire +3 59 £50,000 +18.69% 52
North East -12 41 £55,000 +15.79% 25
Scotland -4 40 £42,500 -26.77% 39
Wales -38 16 £45,750 -23.75% 12
Northern Ireland -31 2 - - 11

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 (3.41%) Apache Airflow
2 45 (3.01%) Apache Spark
3 43 (2.88%) 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 89 (5.96%) Microsoft Excel
2 48 (3.21%) 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 (2.74%) SAP S/4HANA
2 36 (2.41%) 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
6 6 (0.40%) 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
1 219 (14.66%) Azure
2 184 (12.32%) AWS
3 137 (9.17%) Power Platform
4 76 (5.09%) GCP
5 66 (4.42%) SaaS
6 56 (3.75%) Azure DevOps
7 41 (2.74%) GitHub
8 39 (2.61%) Microsoft 365
9 38 (2.54%) Serverless
10 36 (2.41%) Amazon S3
11 32 (2.14%) 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 (1.20%) 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
1 130 (8.70%) Power BI
2 55 (3.68%) Tableau
3 53 (3.55%) PostgreSQL
4 48 (3.21%) SQL Server
5 44 (2.95%) Data Warehouse
6 34 (2.28%) MongoDB
7 31 (2.07%) 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 (31.46%) Social Skills
2 402 (26.91%) Finance
3 322 (21.55%) Analytical Skills
4 116 (7.76%) 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 55 (3.68%) Public Sector
11 54 (3.61%) Law
11 54 (3.61%) Retail
12 43 (2.88%) Marketing
12 43 (2.88%) Pharmaceutical
13 39 (2.61%) Games
13 39 (2.61%) Organisational Skills
14 34 (2.28%) Automotive
15 33 (2.21%) Financial Institution
16 30 (2.01%) Presentation Skills
17 24 (1.61%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 253 (16.93%) Senior
2 234 (15.66%) Analyst
3 139 (9.30%) Systems Engineer
4 109 (7.30%) Lead
5 102 (6.83%) Test Engineer
6 99 (6.63%) Architect
7 87 (5.82%) Validation Engineer
8 83 (5.56%) Business Analyst
9 73 (4.89%) Data Engineer
10 69 (4.62%) Consultant
11 68 (4.55%) Developer
12 64 (4.28%) Data Analyst
13 48 (3.21%) Principal Engineer
14 46 (3.08%) Integration Engineer
15 40 (2.68%) Embedded Engineer
16 37 (2.48%) IT Manager
17 34 (2.28%) Security Architect
17 34 (2.28%) Senior Systems Engineer
18 33 (2.21%) Junior
19 32 (2.14%) Project Manager
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 (1.20%) Regular Expression
12 18 (1.20%) Swagger
12 18 (1.20%) 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 75 (5.02%) Management Information System
3 70 (4.69%) Onboarding
4 63 (4.22%) 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%) Enterprise Software
9 32 (2.14%) Legacy Systems
10 31 (2.07%) Analytical Mindset
10 31 (2.07%) Video\Live Streaming
11 27 (1.81%) Life Science
12 23 (1.54%) FPGA
13 22 (1.47%) Robotics
14 18 (1.20%) 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 (21.69%) Problem-Solving
2 309 (20.68%) Continuous Improvement
3 307 (20.55%) Agile
4 261 (17.47%) AI
5 236 (15.80%) CI/CD
6 217 (14.52%) Analytics
7 214 (14.32%) Test Automation
8 188 (12.58%) Verification and Validation
9 168 (11.24%) Migration
10 166 (11.11%) Data Validation
11 159 (10.64%) Business Intelligence
12 154 (10.31%) Data Modelling
12 154 (10.31%) DevOps
13 151 (10.11%) Stakeholder Management
14 148 (9.91%) Decision-Making
15 146 (9.77%) Software Engineering
16 145 (9.71%) Machine Learning
17 143 (9.57%) Mentoring
18 139 (9.30%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 137 (9.17%) Collaborative Working
Programming Languages
1 371 (24.83%) Python
2 306 (20.48%) SQL
3 64 (4.28%) Java
4 61 (4.08%) C++
5 57 (3.82%) C
6 49 (3.28%) Go
7 39 (2.61%) C#
8 31 (2.07%) JavaScript
9 26 (1.74%) PowerShell
10 25 (1.67%) Bash
10 25 (1.67%) MATLAB
11 20 (1.34%) T-SQL
12 18 (1.20%) Embedded C
13 15 (1.00%) Embedded C++
14 13 (0.87%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 13 (0.87%) Scala
15 12 (0.80%) TypeScript
16 10 (0.67%) ABAP
17 9 (0.60%) VBA
18 8 (0.54%) R
Qualifications
1 298 (19.95%) Degree
2 169 (11.31%) Security Cleared
3 112 (7.50%) BPSS Clearance
4 80 (5.35%) SC Cleared
5 72 (4.82%) Master's Degree
6 43 (2.88%) DV Cleared
7 41 (2.74%) 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 (1.20%) ACCA
15 18 (1.20%) CIMA
15 18 (1.20%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 236 (15.80%) Data Quality
2 164 (10.98%) QA
3 60 (4.02%) 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%) WCAG
15 9 (0.60%) GMP
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%) SQL Sentry
Vendors
1 193 (12.92%) Microsoft
2 94 (6.29%) Oracle
3 92 (6.16%) SAP
4 50 (3.35%) Salesforce
5 38 (2.54%) 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