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

6 months to
25 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 127 79 200
Rank change year-on-year -48 +121 -16
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,436 1,579 1,399
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.55% 3.68% 1.42%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.10% 3.95% 1.68%
Number of salaries quoted 814 419 772
10th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £35,500
25th Percentile £42,500 £46,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £56,500 £57,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -0.88% +3.64% -12.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £71,936
90th Percentile £90,000 £95,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £51,500 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -6.36% +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 68,421 39,984 83,066
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.77% 93.29% 84.23%
Number of salaries quoted 44,440 20,998 60,038
10th Percentile £30,000 £29,913 £29,250
25th Percentile £40,750 £41,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £59,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +1.69% +7.27% -9.84%
75th Percentile £78,750 £78,750 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £102,500 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £51,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +1.94% +3.00% -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 25 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 25 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 -48 1,280 £57,500 +2.68% 846
UK excluding London -66 943 £51,500 -6.36% 636
Work from Home +127 449 £55,000 -8.33% 431
London +73 371 £75,000 +1.69% 300
South East -40 291 £55,000 +4.76% 191
North of England +70 252 £55,000 +15.35% 140
North West +62 158 £55,000 +15.35% 83
Midlands -82 157 £40,000 -33.33% 94
West Midlands -8 100 £42,500 -35.85% 60
South West -46 96 £52,500 -3.67% 96
East of England -88 92 £60,000 +5.26% 86
Yorkshire -15 58 £51,250 +7.89% 37
East Midlands -88 55 £30,000 -42.31% 33
Scotland -12 42 £42,000 -27.63% 27
North East -9 36 £53,750 -12.96% 21
Wales -30 13 £44,000 -23.48% 14
Northern Ireland -40 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 48 (3.34%) Apache Airflow
2 34 (2.37%) Apache Spark
3 32 (2.23%) Apache
4 26 (1.81%) Confluence
5 21 (1.46%) ArcGIS
6 16 (1.11%) Microsoft Exchange
7 12 (0.84%) SharePoint
8 10 (0.70%) Appian
9 8 (0.56%) CMS
10 7 (0.49%) Jupyter
11 6 (0.42%) Kinematics
11 6 (0.42%) SAS
12 4 (0.28%) Adobe Experience Manager
13 3 (0.21%) Artix
14 2 (0.14%) IIS
15 1 (0.070%) Anypoint
15 1 (0.070%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 89 (6.20%) Microsoft Excel
2 54 (3.76%) Microsoft Office
3 21 (1.46%) MS Visio
4 14 (0.97%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 13 (0.91%) Simulink
6 12 (0.84%) Microsoft Project
7 8 (0.56%) SOLIDWORKS
8 6 (0.42%) Spreadsheet
9 5 (0.35%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 5 (0.35%) AutoCAD
10 4 (0.28%) Adobe XD
10 4 (0.28%) CANalyzer
10 4 (0.28%) Fusion 360
10 4 (0.28%) Sketch
11 3 (0.21%) Autodesk Inventor
11 3 (0.21%) Productboard
11 3 (0.21%) Solid Edge
12 2 (0.14%) CATIA
12 2 (0.14%) Stateflow
13 1 (0.070%) Oracle Smart View
Business Applications
1 36 (2.51%) SAP S/4HANA
2 25 (1.74%) Dynamics CRM
3 10 (0.70%) SAP ERP
4 9 (0.63%) Oracle ERP
5 7 (0.49%) SAP MDG
6 6 (0.42%) Elite 3E
6 6 (0.42%) Loan IQ
7 5 (0.35%) Oracle EBS
7 5 (0.35%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.28%) Markit EDM
9 3 (0.21%) iTrent
9 3 (0.21%) Oracle Applications
9 3 (0.21%) Oracle Financials
10 2 (0.14%) Oracle Payables
10 2 (0.14%) Oracle Receivables
10 2 (0.14%) SAP FSCM
10 2 (0.14%) SAP PSCD
10 2 (0.14%) Workday HCM
11 1 (0.070%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
11 1 (0.070%) SAP BRIM
Cloud Services
1 202 (14.07%) Azure
2 160 (11.14%) AWS
3 129 (8.98%) Power Platform
4 66 (4.60%) GCP
5 61 (4.25%) SaaS
6 47 (3.27%) Azure DevOps
7 38 (2.65%) Serverless
8 37 (2.58%) GitHub
9 35 (2.44%) Microsoft 365
10 34 (2.37%) Azure Data Factory
11 33 (2.30%) Amazon S3
12 31 (2.16%) Dynamics 365
12 31 (2.16%) Snowflake
13 25 (1.74%) Entra ID
14 24 (1.67%) dbt
15 22 (1.53%) Power Automate
16 17 (1.18%) OpenShift
17 15 (1.04%) Azure AI
18 13 (0.91%) Anthropic Claude
18 13 (0.91%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 55 (3.83%) Broadband
2 35 (2.44%) Firewall
3 24 (1.67%) WAN
4 23 (1.60%) CHAP
4 23 (1.60%) DNS
4 23 (1.60%) Wireless
5 19 (1.32%) TCP/IP
6 18 (1.25%) 5G
7 17 (1.18%) SD-WAN
8 13 (0.91%) Network Security
9 11 (0.77%) MQTT
10 10 (0.70%) HTTP
10 10 (0.70%) VPN
10 10 (0.70%) Wi-Fi
10 10 (0.70%) Wireshark
11 9 (0.63%) NAS
12 8 (0.56%) LAN
13 7 (0.49%) Ethernet
13 7 (0.49%) Modbus
13 7 (0.49%) Multicast
Database & Business Intelligence
1 122 (8.50%) Power BI
2 54 (3.76%) Tableau
3 50 (3.48%) SQL Server
4 43 (2.99%) PostgreSQL
5 39 (2.72%) Data Warehouse
6 31 (2.16%) Metadata
6 31 (2.16%) Relational Database
7 25 (1.74%) QGIS
8 24 (1.67%) MongoDB
9 23 (1.60%) GIS
10 21 (1.46%) Data Lake
11 20 (1.39%) Spatial Data
12 19 (1.32%) Azure SQL Database
12 19 (1.32%) BigQuery
13 18 (1.25%) Semantic Layer
13 18 (1.25%) Spark SQL
14 17 (1.18%) Oracle Reports
15 16 (1.11%) Oracle Database
16 14 (0.97%) MySQL
16 14 (0.97%) Parquet
Development Applications
1 72 (5.01%) Git
2 61 (4.25%) JIRA
3 38 (2.65%) Jenkins
4 35 (2.44%) Rational DOORS
5 28 (1.95%) GitLab
6 22 (1.53%) Snyk
7 17 (1.18%) LabVIEW
8 15 (1.04%) Postman
9 14 (0.97%) MLflow
10 13 (0.91%) IBM UrbanCode
10 13 (0.91%) Selenium
11 11 (0.77%) Cucumber
12 10 (0.70%) Eclipse
12 10 (0.70%) JMeter
13 9 (0.63%) TeamCity
13 9 (0.63%) TestRail
14 7 (0.49%) Robot Framework
15 6 (0.42%) Cypress.io
16 5 (0.35%) Subversion
16 5 (0.35%) Visual Studio
General
1 452 (31.48%) Social Skills
2 375 (26.11%) Finance
3 314 (21.87%) Analytical Skills
4 109 (7.59%) Manufacturing
5 108 (7.52%) Aerospace
6 102 (7.10%) Electronics
7 84 (5.85%) Banking
8 83 (5.78%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 61 (4.25%) Legal
10 54 (3.76%) Public Sector
10 54 (3.76%) Retail
11 45 (3.13%) Law
11 45 (3.13%) Marketing
12 42 (2.92%) Pharmaceutical
13 35 (2.44%) Organisational Skills
14 34 (2.37%) Presentation Skills
15 32 (2.23%) Financial Institution
16 31 (2.16%) Games
17 28 (1.95%) Automotive
18 23 (1.60%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 242 (16.85%) Senior
2 233 (16.23%) Analyst
3 151 (10.52%) Systems Engineer
4 99 (6.89%) Lead
5 97 (6.75%) Architect
6 93 (6.48%) Test Engineer
7 85 (5.92%) Business Analyst
8 83 (5.78%) Validation Engineer
9 69 (4.81%) Consultant
10 61 (4.25%) Data Analyst
11 57 (3.97%) Data Engineer
12 51 (3.55%) Integration Engineer
13 50 (3.48%) Developer
14 46 (3.20%) Principal Engineer
15 45 (3.13%) Junior
16 39 (2.72%) Senior Systems Engineer
17 36 (2.51%) Embedded Engineer
17 36 (2.51%) Verification Engineer
18 35 (2.44%) Systems Integration Engineer
19 32 (2.23%) Software Validation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 46 (3.20%) REST
2 37 (2.58%) PyTorch
3 31 (2.16%) JSON
3 31 (2.16%) RESTful
4 29 (2.02%) Pandas
5 28 (1.95%) PySpark
5 28 (1.95%) pytest
6 27 (1.88%) Middleware
7 22 (1.53%) Kafka
8 21 (1.46%) .NET
9 19 (1.32%) Swagger
9 19 (1.32%) XML
10 18 (1.25%) Node.js
10 18 (1.25%) OAuth
11 17 (1.18%) CSS
11 17 (1.18%) Playwright
11 17 (1.18%) TensorFlow
12 16 (1.11%) JWT
13 15 (1.04%) NumPy
14 13 (0.91%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 83 (5.78%) Management Information System
2 66 (4.60%) Onboarding
3 59 (4.11%) Cloud Native
4 55 (3.83%) Data Structures
5 46 (3.20%) Algorithms
6 44 (3.06%) Low-Code
7 38 (2.65%) Product Ownership
8 34 (2.37%) Self-Motivation
9 32 (2.23%) Embedded Systems
10 31 (2.16%) Data Centre
10 31 (2.16%) Legacy Systems
11 29 (2.02%) Analytical Mindset
12 25 (1.74%) Life Science
13 24 (1.67%) Driving Licence
14 23 (1.60%) Enterprise Software
14 23 (1.60%) FPGA
15 22 (1.53%) Video\Live Streaming
16 21 (1.46%) Distributed Systems
17 19 (1.32%) Robotics
18 17 (1.18%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 80 (5.57%) Linux
2 66 (4.60%) Windows
3 23 (1.60%) Unix
4 21 (1.46%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 21 (1.46%) Windows Server
5 13 (0.91%) Android
6 5 (0.35%) Apple iOS
7 4 (0.28%) CentOS
7 4 (0.28%) FreeRTOS
7 4 (0.28%) Mac OS X
8 3 (0.21%) AIX
8 3 (0.21%) Kali Linux
8 3 (0.21%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.14%) ThreadX
10 1 (0.070%) Embedded Linux
10 1 (0.070%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.070%) Rocky
10 1 (0.070%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.070%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.070%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 318 (22.14%) Problem-Solving
2 287 (19.99%) Agile
3 274 (19.08%) Continuous Improvement
4 233 (16.23%) AI
5 213 (14.83%) Analytics
6 212 (14.76%) CI/CD
7 203 (14.14%) Verification and Validation
8 198 (13.79%) Test Automation
9 161 (11.21%) Data Validation
10 154 (10.72%) Migration
11 149 (10.38%) Business Intelligence
12 146 (10.17%) Data Modelling
13 143 (9.96%) Decision-Making
14 137 (9.54%) DevOps
14 137 (9.54%) Software Engineering
15 136 (9.47%) Stakeholder Management
16 134 (9.33%) Data Governance
16 134 (9.33%) Mentoring
17 133 (9.26%) Stakeholder Engagement
18 129 (8.98%) Collaborative Working
Programming Languages
1 336 (23.40%) Python
2 287 (19.99%) SQL
3 59 (4.11%) C++
3 59 (4.11%) Java
4 52 (3.62%) C
5 41 (2.86%) Go
6 36 (2.51%) PowerShell
7 35 (2.44%) C#
8 30 (2.09%) Bash
8 30 (2.09%) JavaScript
9 26 (1.81%) MATLAB
10 18 (1.25%) T-SQL
11 16 (1.11%) Embedded C
12 12 (0.84%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 11 (0.77%) Embedded C++
13 11 (0.77%) TypeScript
14 9 (0.63%) ABAP
14 9 (0.63%) VBA
15 8 (0.56%) R
15 8 (0.56%) Scala
Qualifications
1 321 (22.35%) Degree
2 173 (12.05%) Security Cleared
3 122 (8.50%) BPSS Clearance
4 72 (5.01%) SC Cleared
5 69 (4.81%) Master's Degree
6 42 (2.92%) Computer Science Degree
6 42 (2.92%) DV Cleared
7 38 (2.65%) Chartered Engineer
8 33 (2.30%) CISA
8 33 (2.30%) CISSP
9 30 (2.09%) CISM
9 30 (2.09%) SANS
10 27 (1.88%) HNC
11 25 (1.74%) HND
12 24 (1.67%) PMI Certification
13 23 (1.60%) CGEIT
13 23 (1.60%) FFIEC
14 21 (1.46%) PMP
15 11 (0.77%) ACCA
15 11 (0.77%) CIMA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 205 (14.28%) Data Quality
2 153 (10.65%) QA
3 62 (4.32%) GDPR
4 60 (4.18%) Accessibility
5 45 (3.13%) GRC
6 30 (2.09%) ISO/IEC 15288
7 26 (1.81%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 25 (1.74%) NIST
9 23 (1.60%) COBIT
10 20 (1.39%) IEC 61508
11 19 (1.32%) IFRS
12 17 (1.18%) SLA
13 13 (0.91%) ISO 9001
13 13 (0.91%) PMO
14 12 (0.84%) GAAP
15 11 (0.77%) GMP
16 10 (0.70%) Good Clinical Practice
16 10 (0.70%) ISO 13485
16 10 (0.70%) SOC 2
16 10 (0.70%) WCAG
System Software
1 68 (4.74%) Docker
2 41 (2.86%) Firmware
3 36 (2.51%) Active Directory
4 22 (1.53%) Virtual Machines
5 15 (1.04%) VMware Infrastructure
5 15 (1.04%) vSphere
6 11 (0.77%) Embedded Firmware
7 6 (0.42%) KVM
8 5 (0.35%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.21%) VMware ESXi
10 2 (0.14%) Terminal Services
11 1 (0.070%) OpenAM
11 1 (0.070%) OpenDJ
11 1 (0.070%) OpenIDM
Systems Management
1 73 (5.08%) Kubernetes
2 55 (3.83%) Terraform
3 30 (2.09%) Grafana
4 24 (1.67%) Ansible
5 18 (1.25%) Functional Safety
6 16 (1.11%) Prometheus
7 14 (0.97%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 11 (0.77%) SCCM
9 9 (0.63%) Cilium
9 9 (0.63%) Puppet
10 8 (0.56%) Microsoft Intune
11 4 (0.28%) Argo
11 4 (0.28%) Kibana
11 4 (0.28%) Rancher
11 4 (0.28%) yum
12 3 (0.21%) HP Fortify
13 2 (0.14%) BMC PATROL
13 2 (0.14%) Computer Incident Response Team
13 2 (0.14%) FortiGate
13 2 (0.14%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 184 (12.81%) Microsoft
2 81 (5.64%) Oracle
3 74 (5.15%) SAP
4 52 (3.62%) Salesforce
5 30 (2.09%) Red Hat
6 28 (1.95%) VMware
7 27 (1.88%) Databricks
8 26 (1.81%) CrowdStrike
9 24 (1.67%) Palo Alto
10 23 (1.60%) ServiceNow
11 22 (1.53%) Google
11 22 (1.53%) Tenable
12 21 (1.46%) Adobe
12 21 (1.46%) Cisco
13 16 (1.11%) Foundry
13 16 (1.11%) OpenAI
14 15 (1.04%) IBM
15 14 (0.97%) Citrix
16 10 (0.70%) Automation Anywhere
16 10 (0.70%) Splunk