Validation Job Trends

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 18 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 163 160 195
Rank change year-on-year -3 +35 -56
Permanent jobs citing Validation 885 1,024 872
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.51% 1.80% 1.79%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.82% 2.02% 1.91%
Number of salaries quoted 481 381 508
10th Percentile £36,250 £36,250 £36,875
25th Percentile £41,250 £45,000 £48,891
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -4.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £71,250 £78,563
90th Percentile £95,000 £96,250 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £52,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year - -4.55% +4.76%

All Process and 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 48,586 50,789 45,720
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 83.08% 89.40% 93.70%
Number of salaries quoted 28,463 25,691 35,102
10th Percentile £28,500 £35,000 £32,000
25th Percentile £36,250 £45,000 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -2.60%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £80,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £48,720 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -11.42% +4.76% -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 18 December 2025.

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 18 December 2025. 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 +2 803 £60,000 +9.09% 810
UK excluding London +3 577 £52,500 - 707
London +31 252 £77,500 +19.23% 209
Work from Home +62 212 £60,000 +9.09% 375
South East +22 200 £45,750 -23.75% 252
North of England -22 123 £53,750 +16.85% 126
Midlands +12 81 £42,500 -15.00% 83
North West -16 76 £52,500 +10.10% 70
South West +34 72 £50,000 -9.09% 117
East of England 0 63 £60,000 +9.09% 135
West Midlands +19 49 £40,000 -20.00% 53
Yorkshire -7 36 £60,000 +60.00% 43
East Midlands +3 32 £42,500 -10.53% 28
Scotland -15 25 £72,989 +27.45% 28
North East -6 11 £31,000 -31.87% 13
Wales +4 10 £61,250 +24.74% 12
Northern Ireland -12 3 - - 6

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 25 (2.82%) Confluence
2 18 (2.03%) Apache Airflow
3 14 (1.58%) Apache Spark
4 11 (1.24%) CMS
4 11 (1.24%) SharePoint
5 10 (1.13%) SugarCRM
6 8 (0.90%) Apache
7 5 (0.56%) Appian
7 5 (0.56%) Microsoft Exchange
8 4 (0.45%) Headless CMS
9 3 (0.34%) Jupyter
9 3 (0.34%) SAS
10 2 (0.23%) Kinematics
10 2 (0.23%) WordPress
11 1 (0.11%) Anypoint
11 1 (0.11%) Apache Superset
11 1 (0.11%) ArcGIS
11 1 (0.11%) FileNet
11 1 (0.11%) Luigi
Applications
1 62 (7.01%) Microsoft Excel
2 60 (6.78%) Microsoft Office
3 18 (2.03%) Simulink
4 17 (1.92%) MS Visio
5 8 (0.90%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.56%) Mathcad
7 3 (0.34%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 3 (0.34%) AutoCAD
7 3 (0.34%) Fusion 360
7 3 (0.34%) Oracle Smart View
7 3 (0.34%) Revit
8 2 (0.23%) Adobe After Effects
8 2 (0.23%) Adobe Captivate
8 2 (0.23%) Adobe Illustrator
8 2 (0.23%) Adobe Premiere
8 2 (0.23%) Elementor
8 2 (0.23%) Photoshop
8 2 (0.23%) Weka
9 1 (0.11%) GNU Octave
9 1 (0.11%) Navisworks
Business Applications
1 24 (2.71%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (1.02%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (0.79%) Workday HCM
4 4 (0.45%) Oracle ERP
4 4 (0.45%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 4 (0.45%) SAP BPC
5 3 (0.34%) Markit EDM
5 3 (0.34%) Oracle Assets
5 3 (0.34%) Oracle Cash Management
5 3 (0.34%) Oracle General Ledger
5 3 (0.34%) Oracle Payables
5 3 (0.34%) Oracle Receivables
5 3 (0.34%) SAP CX
6 2 (0.23%) Aladdin
6 2 (0.23%) Endur
6 2 (0.23%) IBM Planning Analytics
6 2 (0.23%) NetSuite
6 2 (0.23%) Primavera
6 2 (0.23%) SAP ERP
7 1 (0.11%) Dynamics GP
Cloud Services
1 119 (13.45%) Azure
2 73 (8.25%) Power Platform
3 69 (7.80%) AWS
4 41 (4.63%) SaaS
5 31 (3.50%) Azure DevOps
6 22 (2.49%) Snowflake
7 21 (2.37%) GCP
8 19 (2.15%) Dynamics 365
9 18 (2.03%) dbt
10 17 (1.92%) GitHub
11 14 (1.58%) Amazon S3
12 13 (1.47%) Azure Data Factory
12 13 (1.47%) Power Automate
13 12 (1.36%) Microsoft 365
13 12 (1.36%) Serverless
14 11 (1.24%) Datadog
15 10 (1.13%) AWS Lambda
16 9 (1.02%) Entra ID
17 8 (0.90%) AWS Step Functions
18 7 (0.79%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 16 (1.81%) LAN
2 13 (1.47%) Firewall
3 11 (1.24%) DNS
4 10 (1.13%) CHAP
5 9 (1.02%) TCP/IP
5 9 (1.02%) WAN
6 8 (0.90%) HTTP
7 7 (0.79%) 5G
7 7 (0.79%) Modbus
8 6 (0.68%) Ethernet VPN
8 6 (0.68%) MQTT
8 6 (0.68%) SD-WAN
9 5 (0.56%) BGP
9 5 (0.56%) DHCP
9 5 (0.56%) Network Security
9 5 (0.56%) OSPF
9 5 (0.56%) SMTP
9 5 (0.56%) VLAN
10 4 (0.45%) Internet
10 4 (0.45%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 68 (7.68%) Power BI
2 35 (3.95%) Tableau
3 32 (3.62%) Data Warehouse
4 24 (2.71%) Metadata
5 22 (2.49%) SQL Server
6 20 (2.26%) BigQuery
7 19 (2.15%) Relational Database
8 11 (1.24%) Data Lake
8 11 (1.24%) Oracle Reports
9 10 (1.13%) Big Data
10 8 (0.90%) Amazon Redshift
10 8 (0.90%) NoSQL
10 8 (0.90%) PostgreSQL
10 8 (0.90%) Spotfire
11 7 (0.79%) Looker
12 6 (0.68%) GIS
13 5 (0.56%) Data Vault
13 5 (0.56%) Pinecone
13 5 (0.56%) SAP HANA
13 5 (0.56%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 80 (9.04%) JIRA
2 50 (5.65%) Git
3 45 (5.08%) Rational DOORS
4 23 (2.60%) Jenkins
5 22 (2.49%) Postman
6 15 (1.69%) Selenium
7 13 (1.47%) GitLab
8 12 (1.36%) Cucumber
8 12 (1.36%) JMeter
8 12 (1.36%) TestRail
9 10 (1.13%) SoapUI
10 9 (1.02%) MLflow
11 7 (0.79%) LoadRunner
11 7 (0.79%) Locust
12 5 (0.56%) Charles Proxy
12 5 (0.56%) Fiddler
12 5 (0.56%) TestNG
12 5 (0.56%) Zephyr
13 4 (0.45%) Browser DevTools
13 4 (0.45%) WebDriver
General
1 316 (35.71%) Social Skills
2 242 (27.34%) Finance
3 187 (21.13%) Analytical Skills
4 57 (6.44%) Law
5 55 (6.21%) Electronics
6 52 (5.88%) Manufacturing
7 48 (5.42%) Banking
8 47 (5.31%) Marketing
9 46 (5.20%) Documentation Skills
10 44 (4.97%) Presentation Skills
11 37 (4.18%) Aerospace
12 34 (3.84%) Financial Institution
12 34 (3.84%) Organisational Skills
13 32 (3.62%) Retail
14 30 (3.39%) Public Sector
15 28 (3.16%) Pharmaceutical
15 28 (3.16%) Telecoms
16 26 (2.94%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 24 (2.71%) Influencing Skills
18 18 (2.03%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 140 (15.82%) Analyst
2 132 (14.92%) Senior
3 97 (10.96%) Lead
4 72 (8.14%) Systems Engineer
5 45 (5.08%) Business Analyst
6 44 (4.97%) Data Analyst
7 42 (4.75%) Architect
8 36 (4.07%) Test Engineer
9 32 (3.62%) Developer
10 31 (3.50%) Applications Engineer
10 31 (3.50%) Principal Engineer
11 30 (3.39%) Applications Support
11 30 (3.39%) Support Engineer
12 29 (3.28%) Junior
13 27 (3.05%) Data Engineer
14 25 (2.82%) Applications Support Engineer
15 23 (2.60%) Team Leader
15 23 (2.60%) Validation Engineer
16 22 (2.49%) Solutions Architect
17 21 (2.37%) Quality Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (4.18%) REST
2 25 (2.82%) Middleware
3 22 (2.49%) JSON
4 20 (2.26%) Pandas
4 20 (2.26%) XML
5 19 (2.15%) scikit-learn
6 16 (1.81%) PyTorch
6 16 (1.81%) TensorFlow
7 13 (1.47%) pytest
8 12 (1.36%) React
9 11 (1.24%) NumPy
10 10 (1.13%) CSS
10 10 (1.13%) FastAPI
10 10 (1.13%) HTML
10 10 (1.13%) Web Services
11 8 (0.90%) Flask
11 8 (0.90%) Hugging Face
11 8 (0.90%) SOAP
12 7 (0.79%) Gherkin
12 7 (0.79%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 84 (9.49%) Management Information System
2 41 (4.63%) Life Science
3 38 (4.29%) Onboarding
4 33 (3.73%) Product Ownership
5 29 (3.28%) Operational Technology
6 28 (3.16%) Self-Motivation
7 22 (2.49%) Algorithms
8 15 (1.69%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
8 15 (1.69%) SCADA
9 14 (1.58%) Data Structures
9 14 (1.58%) Legacy Systems
10 12 (1.36%) Analytical Mindset
10 12 (1.36%) Data Centre
10 12 (1.36%) FPGA
11 11 (1.24%) Enterprise Software
11 11 (1.24%) Low-Code
11 11 (1.24%) SWIFT Messaging Network
12 10 (1.13%) Cloud Native
12 10 (1.13%) Credit Risk
12 10 (1.13%) Embedded Systems
Operating Systems
1 49 (5.54%) Windows
2 40 (4.52%) Linux
3 16 (1.81%) Windows Server
4 7 (0.79%) Android
5 5 (0.56%) Windows 10
5 5 (0.56%) Windows Server 2016
6 4 (0.45%) Unix
7 3 (0.34%) Apple iOS
7 3 (0.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (0.34%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (0.23%) CentOS
8 2 (0.23%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.11%) AIX
9 1 (0.11%) FreeRTOS
9 1 (0.11%) Robot Operating System
9 1 (0.11%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 234 (26.44%) Agile
2 206 (23.28%) Problem-Solving
3 130 (14.69%) Continuous Improvement
3 130 (14.69%) Verification and Validation
4 120 (13.56%) Data Validation
5 116 (13.11%) Migration
6 111 (12.54%) Analytics
7 101 (11.41%) Test Automation
8 93 (10.51%) Systems Engineering
9 91 (10.28%) CI/CD
10 90 (10.17%) Decision-Making
11 86 (9.72%) Mentoring
12 85 (9.60%) DevOps
13 83 (9.38%) Business Intelligence
13 83 (9.38%) Data Analysis
14 81 (9.15%) Data Management
14 81 (9.15%) ETL
15 79 (8.93%) Roadmaps
16 78 (8.81%) Software Engineering
17 70 (7.91%) AI
Programming Languages
1 186 (21.02%) SQL
2 171 (19.32%) Python
3 36 (4.07%) C
3 36 (4.07%) C++
4 30 (3.39%) Java
4 30 (3.39%) MATLAB
5 26 (2.94%) PowerShell
6 21 (2.37%) JavaScript
7 14 (1.58%) Bash
8 13 (1.47%) TypeScript
9 10 (1.13%) R
9 10 (1.13%) T-SQL
10 7 (0.79%) C#
11 5 (0.56%) PL/SQL
12 4 (0.45%) Apex Code
12 4 (0.45%) Bicep
13 3 (0.34%) GLSL
13 3 (0.34%) Go
13 3 (0.34%) Google Apps Script
13 3 (0.34%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 280 (31.64%) Degree
2 101 (11.41%) Security Cleared
3 98 (11.07%) BPSS Clearance
4 50 (5.65%) SC Cleared
5 47 (5.31%) Master's Degree
6 41 (4.63%) Computer Science Degree
7 23 (2.60%) Cisco Certification
8 20 (2.26%) HNC
9 17 (1.92%) DV Cleared
10 16 (1.81%) Microsoft Certification
11 15 (1.69%) ISTQB
12 13 (1.47%) CCNP
13 12 (1.36%) CCNA
13 12 (1.36%) CISA
13 12 (1.36%) CISSP
14 11 (1.24%) ACCA
14 11 (1.24%) CCIE
14 11 (1.24%) CISM
14 11 (1.24%) PMI Certification
14 11 (1.24%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 115 (12.99%) QA
2 109 (12.32%) Data Quality
3 36 (4.07%) ISO/IEC 15288
4 35 (3.95%) GxP
5 32 (3.62%) SLA
6 31 (3.50%) GDPR
7 24 (2.71%) Accessibility
8 17 (1.92%) ISO/IEC 12207
9 15 (1.69%) NIST
10 11 (1.24%) COBIT
10 11 (1.24%) ISO 20022
10 11 (1.24%) SEPA
11 9 (1.02%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 8 (0.90%) 21 CFR Part 11
12 8 (0.90%) Good Clinical Practice
12 8 (0.90%) ISO/IEC 27001
12 8 (0.90%) WCAG
13 7 (0.79%) TARGET2
14 6 (0.68%) GRC
15 5 (0.56%) ARP4761
System Software
1 43 (4.86%) Docker
2 29 (3.28%) VMware Infrastructure
3 26 (2.94%) Firmware
4 16 (1.81%) Active Directory
5 11 (1.24%) Embedded Firmware
6 5 (0.56%) vCloud
6 5 (0.56%) VMware ESXi
6 5 (0.56%) vSphere
7 4 (0.45%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.23%) Ceph
8 2 (0.23%) Hyper-V
8 2 (0.23%) Lustre
8 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Virtual Server
8 2 (0.23%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 2 (0.23%) Virtual Servers
9 1 (0.11%) Dovecot
9 1 (0.11%) iptables
9 1 (0.11%) pfSense
9 1 (0.11%) Postfix
9 1 (0.11%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 33 (3.73%) Kubernetes
2 18 (2.03%) Terraform
3 17 (1.92%) Ansible
3 17 (1.92%) Grafana
4 8 (0.90%) Prometheus
5 7 (0.79%) Microsoft Intune
6 5 (0.56%) Docker Swarm
7 4 (0.45%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 4 (0.45%) Kubeflow
7 4 (0.45%) Rundeck
8 3 (0.34%) Argo
8 3 (0.34%) Rancher
8 3 (0.34%) SCCM
8 3 (0.34%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.34%) yum
9 2 (0.23%) Functional Safety
9 2 (0.23%) Nessus
9 2 (0.23%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.11%) Kibana
10 1 (0.11%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 105 (11.86%) Microsoft
2 54 (6.10%) SAP
3 36 (4.07%) VMware
4 29 (3.28%) Cisco
5 28 (3.16%) Oracle
6 23 (2.60%) IBM
7 22 (2.49%) Salesforce
8 15 (1.69%) Foundry
9 12 (1.36%) CheckPoint
9 12 (1.36%) F5
10 10 (1.13%) Software AG
10 10 (1.13%) Workday
11 8 (0.90%) Databricks
11 8 (0.90%) Intapp
12 7 (0.79%) Siemens
12 7 (0.79%) Splunk
13 6 (0.68%) Adobe
13 6 (0.68%) Arista
13 6 (0.68%) OpenAI
14 5 (0.56%) Automation Anywhere