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

6 months to
17 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 120 84 212
Rank change year-on-year -36 +128 -28
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,500 1,618 1,431
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.60% 3.63% 1.32%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.20% 3.92% 1.61%
Number of salaries quoted 881 455 770
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% -11.41%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £72,433
90th Percentile £88,750 £95,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -4.55% +4.76% -4.62%

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 68,162 41,264 88,785
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 72.90% 92.57% 81.89%
Number of salaries quoted 46,887 22,044 62,842
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,822 £29,607
25th Percentile £41,250 £39,000 £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 £91,991
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 17 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 17 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 -37 1,357 £55,000 -3.51% 1,363
UK excluding London -55 1,008 £52,500 -4.55% 1,352
Work from Home +123 485 £55,000 -9.84% 991
London +62 383 £75,000 -3.23% 317
South East -39 306 £55,000 - 354
North of England +86 278 £55,000 +15.35% 256
North West +73 178 £55,000 +15.35% 114
Midlands -75 162 £40,000 -30.43% 195
East of England -71 111 £60,000 +5.26% 170
West Midlands -3 95 £44,000 -29.60% 96
South West -46 95 £53,000 -3.64% 164
East Midlands -84 65 £30,000 -39.70% 99
Yorkshire -8 59 £50,000 +18.69% 90
North East -12 41 £55,000 +15.79% 55
Scotland -8 40 £42,500 -26.77% 120
Wales -33 16 £45,750 -23.75% 60
Northern Ireland -29 2 - - 62

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 (3.40%) Apache Airflow
2 45 (3.00%) Apache Spark
3 43 (2.87%) Apache
4 24 (1.60%) Confluence
5 21 (1.40%) ArcGIS
6 15 (1.00%) Microsoft Exchange
6 15 (1.00%) SharePoint
7 11 (0.73%) Jupyter
8 7 (0.47%) Appian
8 7 (0.47%) SAS
9 5 (0.33%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 5 (0.33%) Kinematics
10 4 (0.27%) CMS
11 3 (0.20%) Artix
12 2 (0.13%) IIS
13 1 (0.067%) Oracle Workflow
13 1 (0.067%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 87 (5.80%) Microsoft Excel
2 45 (3.00%) Microsoft Office
3 23 (1.53%) Microsoft Project
4 19 (1.27%) MS Visio
5 15 (1.00%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 15 (1.00%) Simulink
6 8 (0.53%) SOLIDWORKS
6 8 (0.53%) Spreadsheet
7 5 (0.33%) AutoCAD
8 4 (0.27%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 4 (0.27%) Adobe XD
8 4 (0.27%) CANalyzer
8 4 (0.27%) Sketch
9 3 (0.20%) Autodesk Inventor
9 3 (0.20%) Productboard
9 3 (0.20%) Solid Edge
9 3 (0.20%) Stateflow
10 1 (0.067%) CATIA
10 1 (0.067%) Revit
10 1 (0.067%) Trello
Business Applications
1 41 (2.73%) SAP S/4HANA
2 36 (2.40%) Dynamics CRM
3 10 (0.67%) SAP ERP
3 10 (0.67%) SAP MDG
4 8 (0.53%) Oracle EBS
4 8 (0.53%) Oracle ERP
5 6 (0.40%) Elite 3E
5 6 (0.40%) iTrent
6 5 (0.33%) Loan IQ
6 5 (0.33%) Oracle Financials
6 5 (0.33%) SAP MDG-BP
7 4 (0.27%) Oracle Applications
8 2 (0.13%) FastStats
8 2 (0.13%) Oracle Payables
8 2 (0.13%) Oracle Receivables
8 2 (0.13%) SAP EWM
8 2 (0.13%) SAP FSCM
8 2 (0.13%) SAP MM
8 2 (0.13%) SAP PSCD
8 2 (0.13%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 220 (14.67%) Azure
2 185 (12.33%) AWS
3 138 (9.20%) Power Platform
4 80 (5.33%) GCP
5 67 (4.47%) SaaS
6 55 (3.67%) Azure DevOps
7 39 (2.60%) GitHub
8 38 (2.53%) Microsoft 365
8 38 (2.53%) Serverless
9 36 (2.40%) Amazon S3
10 32 (2.13%) Dynamics 365
11 29 (1.93%) Azure Data Factory
12 26 (1.73%) Snowflake
13 21 (1.40%) Entra ID
14 19 (1.27%) dbt
14 19 (1.27%) Power Automate
15 18 (1.20%) GitHub Actions
16 15 (1.00%) OpenShift
17 14 (0.93%) Amazon EC2
18 13 (0.87%) Amazon EMR
Communications & Networking
1 71 (4.73%) Broadband
2 46 (3.07%) Firewall
3 34 (2.27%) DNS
4 22 (1.47%) WAN
4 22 (1.47%) Wireless
5 20 (1.33%) CHAP
5 20 (1.33%) TCP/IP
6 16 (1.07%) Network Security
6 16 (1.07%) SD-WAN
7 15 (1.00%) VPN
8 14 (0.93%) 5G
9 12 (0.80%) Wi-Fi
10 11 (0.73%) MQTT
11 10 (0.67%) HTTP
11 10 (0.67%) LAN
11 10 (0.67%) Wireshark
12 9 (0.60%) Ethernet
12 9 (0.60%) NAS
13 7 (0.47%) Multicast
13 7 (0.47%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 132 (8.80%) Power BI
2 56 (3.73%) Tableau
3 53 (3.53%) PostgreSQL
4 49 (3.27%) SQL Server
5 45 (3.00%) Data Warehouse
6 34 (2.27%) MongoDB
7 31 (2.07%) Metadata
7 31 (2.07%) Relational Database
8 27 (1.80%) BigQuery
9 25 (1.67%) QGIS
10 24 (1.60%) Semantic Layer
11 23 (1.53%) Data Lake
11 23 (1.53%) GIS
12 22 (1.47%) Azure SQL Database
13 20 (1.33%) Spatial Data
14 19 (1.27%) Spark SQL
15 17 (1.13%) Oracle Database
16 15 (1.00%) Amazon Athena
16 15 (1.00%) DynamoDB
16 15 (1.00%) MySQL
Development Applications
1 73 (4.87%) JIRA
2 68 (4.53%) Git
3 47 (3.13%) Jenkins
4 35 (2.33%) GitLab
5 32 (2.13%) Rational DOORS
6 22 (1.47%) Snyk
7 16 (1.07%) Postman
8 15 (1.00%) Selenium
9 13 (0.87%) IBM UrbanCode
9 13 (0.87%) LabVIEW
10 11 (0.73%) Cucumber
10 11 (0.73%) JMeter
10 11 (0.73%) MLflow
11 10 (0.67%) Cypress.io
11 10 (0.67%) Eclipse
11 10 (0.67%) TeamCity
12 6 (0.40%) Rational Rhapsody
12 6 (0.40%) REST Assured
13 5 (0.33%) Locust
13 5 (0.33%) Robot Framework
General
1 473 (31.53%) Social Skills
2 399 (26.60%) Finance
3 324 (21.60%) Analytical Skills
4 116 (7.73%) Aerospace
5 111 (7.40%) Manufacturing
6 102 (6.80%) Electronics
7 93 (6.20%) Banking
8 88 (5.87%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 58 (3.87%) Legal
10 56 (3.73%) Public Sector
11 53 (3.53%) Law
11 53 (3.53%) Retail
12 42 (2.80%) Marketing
12 42 (2.80%) Pharmaceutical
13 40 (2.67%) Games
14 38 (2.53%) Organisational Skills
15 37 (2.47%) Automotive
16 31 (2.07%) Financial Institution
17 28 (1.87%) Presentation Skills
18 24 (1.60%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 254 (16.93%) Senior
2 234 (15.60%) Analyst
3 138 (9.20%) Systems Engineer
4 111 (7.40%) Lead
5 101 (6.73%) Architect
5 101 (6.73%) Test Engineer
6 86 (5.73%) Validation Engineer
7 82 (5.47%) Business Analyst
8 76 (5.07%) Data Engineer
9 68 (4.53%) Consultant
9 68 (4.53%) Developer
10 64 (4.27%) Data Analyst
11 48 (3.20%) Principal Engineer
12 45 (3.00%) Integration Engineer
13 41 (2.73%) Embedded Engineer
14 37 (2.47%) IT Manager
15 34 (2.27%) Security Architect
15 34 (2.27%) Senior Systems Engineer
15 34 (2.27%) Support Engineer
16 32 (2.13%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (2.87%) RESTful
2 39 (2.60%) REST
3 35 (2.33%) PyTorch
4 33 (2.20%) JSON
5 32 (2.13%) PySpark
6 28 (1.87%) Kafka
7 27 (1.80%) Node.js
8 26 (1.73%) Middleware
8 26 (1.73%) Pandas
9 24 (1.60%) pytest
9 24 (1.60%) XML
10 23 (1.53%) .NET
11 19 (1.27%) Playwright
11 19 (1.27%) Swagger
12 18 (1.20%) Regular Expression
12 18 (1.20%) XMPP
13 15 (1.00%) LDAP
13 15 (1.00%) OAuth
13 15 (1.00%) TensorFlow
14 14 (0.93%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 89 (5.93%) Cloud Native
2 70 (4.67%) Management Information System
3 69 (4.60%) Onboarding
4 63 (4.20%) Data Structures
5 53 (3.53%) Algorithms
6 50 (3.33%) Low-Code
7 41 (2.73%) Product Ownership
8 37 (2.47%) Driving Licence
8 37 (2.47%) Embedded Systems
9 34 (2.27%) Self-Motivation
10 33 (2.20%) Distributed Systems
11 32 (2.13%) Data Centre
11 32 (2.13%) Legacy Systems
12 31 (2.07%) Analytical Mindset
12 31 (2.07%) Enterprise Software
12 31 (2.07%) Video\Live Streaming
13 27 (1.80%) Life Science
14 23 (1.53%) FPGA
14 23 (1.53%) Robotics
15 18 (1.20%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 91 (6.07%) Linux
2 64 (4.27%) Windows
3 26 (1.73%) Windows Server
4 25 (1.67%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 23 (1.53%) Unix
6 8 (0.53%) 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
1 327 (21.80%) Problem-Solving
2 314 (20.93%) Continuous Improvement
3 307 (20.47%) Agile
4 264 (17.60%) AI
5 238 (15.87%) CI/CD
6 214 (14.27%) Analytics
7 213 (14.20%) Test Automation
8 189 (12.60%) Verification and Validation
9 168 (11.20%) Data Validation
10 167 (11.13%) Migration
11 161 (10.73%) Business Intelligence
12 158 (10.53%) Data Modelling
13 154 (10.27%) DevOps
14 152 (10.13%) Stakeholder Management
15 150 (10.00%) Software Engineering
16 148 (9.87%) Decision-Making
17 147 (9.80%) Mentoring
18 144 (9.60%) Machine Learning
19 140 (9.33%) Collaborative Working
20 137 (9.13%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 376 (25.07%) Python
2 310 (20.67%) SQL
3 64 (4.27%) C++
4 63 (4.20%) Java
5 60 (4.00%) C
6 49 (3.27%) Go
7 42 (2.80%) C#
8 30 (2.00%) JavaScript
9 26 (1.73%) PowerShell
10 25 (1.67%) Bash
10 25 (1.67%) MATLAB
11 21 (1.40%) T-SQL
12 19 (1.27%) Embedded C
13 16 (1.07%) Embedded C++
14 13 (0.87%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 13 (0.87%) Scala
15 11 (0.73%) TypeScript
16 10 (0.67%) ABAP
17 9 (0.60%) VBA
18 7 (0.47%) R
Qualifications
1 294 (19.60%) Degree
2 170 (11.33%) Security Cleared
3 113 (7.53%) BPSS Clearance
4 79 (5.27%) SC Cleared
5 71 (4.73%) Master's Degree
6 44 (2.93%) DV Cleared
7 41 (2.73%) Computer Science Degree
8 37 (2.47%) Chartered Engineer
9 30 (2.00%) CISA
9 30 (2.00%) CISSP
9 30 (2.00%) SANS
10 27 (1.80%) CISM
10 27 (1.80%) HNC
11 22 (1.47%) HND
12 21 (1.40%) PMI Certification
13 20 (1.33%) CGEIT
13 20 (1.33%) FFIEC
14 18 (1.20%) ACCA
14 18 (1.20%) CIMA
14 18 (1.20%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 240 (16.00%) Data Quality
2 165 (11.00%) QA
3 60 (4.00%) Accessibility
4 58 (3.87%) GDPR
5 41 (2.73%) GRC
6 28 (1.87%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 25 (1.67%) ISO/IEC 15288
8 23 (1.53%) NIST
9 22 (1.47%) IEC 61508
10 20 (1.33%) COBIT
11 18 (1.20%) IFRS
12 16 (1.07%) ISO 9001
13 15 (1.00%) PMO
13 15 (1.00%) SLA
14 12 (0.80%) GAAP
15 11 (0.73%) ISO 26262
15 11 (0.73%) SOC 2
16 10 (0.67%) WCAG
17 9 (0.60%) GMP
18 8 (0.53%) GxP
System Software
1 71 (4.73%) Docker
2 42 (2.80%) Firmware
3 38 (2.53%) Active Directory
4 22 (1.47%) Virtual Machines
5 20 (1.33%) vSphere
6 16 (1.07%) Embedded Firmware
7 15 (1.00%) VMware Infrastructure
8 6 (0.40%) KVM
9 5 (0.33%) Hyper-V
10 2 (0.13%) Terminal Services
10 2 (0.13%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.067%) OpenAM
11 1 (0.067%) OpenDJ
11 1 (0.067%) OpenIDM
Systems Management
1 72 (4.80%) Kubernetes
2 63 (4.20%) Terraform
3 30 (2.00%) Grafana
4 23 (1.53%) Functional Safety
5 20 (1.33%) Ansible
6 15 (1.00%) Prometheus
7 10 (0.67%) Cilium
7 10 (0.67%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 9 (0.60%) Puppet
9 8 (0.53%) SCCM
10 7 (0.47%) Kibana
11 3 (0.20%) FortiGate
11 3 (0.20%) HP Fortify
11 3 (0.20%) Microsoft Intune
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%) MOM
Vendors
1 191 (12.73%) Microsoft
2 93 (6.20%) Oracle
3 92 (6.13%) SAP
4 50 (3.33%) Salesforce
5 38 (2.53%) Databricks
6 34 (2.27%) Red Hat
6 34 (2.27%) ServiceNow
7 33 (2.20%) VMware
8 29 (1.93%) CrowdStrike
9 23 (1.53%) Google
9 23 (1.53%) Palo Alto
10 22 (1.47%) Tenable
11 21 (1.40%) Adobe
11 21 (1.40%) Cisco
12 15 (1.00%) Foundry
13 14 (0.93%) Citrix
13 14 (0.93%) McAfee
14 13 (0.87%) OpenAI
15 10 (0.67%) IBM
15 10 (0.67%) Splunk