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

6 months to
19 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 117 83 206
Rank change year-on-year -34 +123 -21
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,506 1,618 1,424
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.60% 3.61% 1.31%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.20% 3.90% 1.60%
Number of salaries quoted 891 457 771
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 £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 68,493 41,477 89,117
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 72.95% 92.48% 81.80%
Number of salaries quoted 47,109 22,216 63,180
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,822 £29,750
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 £92,000
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 19 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 19 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 -39 1,363 £55,000 -3.51% 810
UK excluding London -52 1,011 £52,500 -4.55% 688
Work from Home +124 486 £55,000 -9.84% 311
London +66 387 £75,000 - 260
South East -43 307 £55,000 - 249
North of England +89 281 £55,000 +15.35% 133
North West +79 179 £55,000 +15.35% 65
Midlands -72 161 £40,000 -27.27% 99
East of England -76 110 £60,000 +5.26% 73
South West -49 96 £53,000 -3.64% 104
West Midlands -2 94 £44,000 -29.60% 55
East Midlands -78 65 £30,000 -39.70% 44
Yorkshire -5 60 £50,000 +18.69% 44
North East -6 42 £55,000 +15.79% 26
Scotland -4 40 £42,500 -26.77% 35
Wales -37 16 £45,750 -23.75% 9
Northern Ireland -29 2 - - 10

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 50 (3.32%) Apache Airflow
2 45 (2.99%) Apache Spark
3 43 (2.86%) Apache
4 25 (1.66%) Confluence
5 21 (1.39%) ArcGIS
6 15 (1.00%) Microsoft Exchange
6 15 (1.00%) SharePoint
7 11 (0.73%) Jupyter
8 9 (0.60%) SAS
9 7 (0.46%) Appian
10 5 (0.33%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 4 (0.27%) CMS
11 4 (0.27%) Kinematics
12 3 (0.20%) Artix
13 2 (0.13%) IIS
14 1 (0.066%) Oracle Workflow
14 1 (0.066%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 86 (5.71%) Microsoft Excel
2 44 (2.92%) Microsoft Office
3 24 (1.59%) Microsoft Project
4 20 (1.33%) MS Visio
5 16 (1.06%) Simulink
6 15 (1.00%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 8 (0.53%) SOLIDWORKS
7 8 (0.53%) 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 1 (0.066%) CATIA
11 1 (0.066%) Revit
11 1 (0.066%) Trello
Business Applications
1 42 (2.79%) SAP S/4HANA
2 38 (2.52%) Dynamics CRM
3 10 (0.66%) SAP ERP
3 10 (0.66%) 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 (14.61%) Azure
2 186 (12.35%) AWS
3 141 (9.36%) Power Platform
4 79 (5.25%) GCP
5 70 (4.65%) SaaS
6 56 (3.72%) Azure DevOps
7 39 (2.59%) GitHub
7 39 (2.59%) Serverless
8 37 (2.46%) Microsoft 365
9 35 (2.32%) Amazon S3
10 33 (2.19%) Dynamics 365
11 28 (1.86%) Azure Data Factory
12 25 (1.66%) Snowflake
13 20 (1.33%) Entra ID
14 19 (1.26%) dbt
14 19 (1.26%) Power Automate
15 18 (1.20%) GitHub Actions
16 15 (1.00%) OpenShift
17 14 (0.93%) Amazon EC2
18 13 (0.86%) Amazon EMR
Communications & Networking
1 71 (4.71%) Broadband
2 46 (3.05%) Firewall
3 34 (2.26%) DNS
4 22 (1.46%) WAN
4 22 (1.46%) Wireless
5 20 (1.33%) TCP/IP
6 19 (1.26%) CHAP
7 16 (1.06%) Network Security
7 16 (1.06%) SD-WAN
8 15 (1.00%) VPN
9 14 (0.93%) 5G
10 12 (0.80%) Wi-Fi
11 11 (0.73%) MQTT
12 10 (0.66%) Ethernet
12 10 (0.66%) HTTP
12 10 (0.66%) LAN
12 10 (0.66%) Wireshark
13 9 (0.60%) NAS
14 7 (0.46%) Multicast
14 7 (0.46%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 135 (8.96%) Power BI
2 56 (3.72%) Tableau
3 53 (3.52%) PostgreSQL
4 49 (3.25%) SQL Server
5 46 (3.05%) Data Warehouse
6 34 (2.26%) MongoDB
7 31 (2.06%) Metadata
7 31 (2.06%) Relational Database
8 26 (1.73%) BigQuery
9 25 (1.66%) QGIS
10 24 (1.59%) Semantic Layer
11 23 (1.53%) Data Lake
11 23 (1.53%) GIS
12 22 (1.46%) Azure SQL Database
13 20 (1.33%) Spatial Data
14 19 (1.26%) Spark SQL
15 17 (1.13%) Oracle Database
16 15 (1.00%) Amazon Athena
16 15 (1.00%) DynamoDB
16 15 (1.00%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 77 (5.11%) JIRA
2 68 (4.52%) Git
3 47 (3.12%) Jenkins
4 35 (2.32%) GitLab
5 30 (1.99%) Rational DOORS
6 22 (1.46%) Snyk
7 16 (1.06%) Postman
8 15 (1.00%) Selenium
9 14 (0.93%) LabVIEW
10 13 (0.86%) IBM UrbanCode
11 11 (0.73%) Cucumber
11 11 (0.73%) JMeter
11 11 (0.73%) MLflow
12 10 (0.66%) Cypress.io
12 10 (0.66%) Eclipse
12 10 (0.66%) TeamCity
13 6 (0.40%) Rational Rhapsody
13 6 (0.40%) REST Assured
14 5 (0.33%) Robot Framework
14 5 (0.33%) SonarQube
General
1 474 (31.47%) Social Skills
2 401 (26.63%) Finance
3 327 (21.71%) Analytical Skills
4 116 (7.70%) Aerospace
5 113 (7.50%) Manufacturing
6 102 (6.77%) Electronics
7 93 (6.18%) Banking
8 89 (5.91%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 58 (3.85%) Legal
10 56 (3.72%) Public Sector
11 55 (3.65%) Retail
12 53 (3.52%) Law
13 44 (2.92%) Pharmaceutical
14 42 (2.79%) Marketing
15 40 (2.66%) Games
16 38 (2.52%) Automotive
16 38 (2.52%) Organisational Skills
17 32 (2.12%) Financial Institution
18 27 (1.79%) Presentation Skills
19 24 (1.59%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 257 (17.07%) Senior
2 237 (15.74%) Analyst
3 135 (8.96%) Systems Engineer
4 112 (7.44%) Lead
5 103 (6.84%) Architect
6 99 (6.57%) Test Engineer
7 85 (5.64%) Validation Engineer
8 82 (5.44%) Business Analyst
9 74 (4.91%) Data Engineer
10 68 (4.52%) Consultant
10 68 (4.52%) Developer
11 65 (4.32%) Data Analyst
12 45 (2.99%) Principal Engineer
13 44 (2.92%) Integration Engineer
14 42 (2.79%) Embedded Engineer
15 37 (2.46%) IT Manager
16 35 (2.32%) Senior Systems Engineer
17 34 (2.26%) Security Architect
17 34 (2.26%) Support Engineer
18 33 (2.19%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (2.86%) RESTful
2 39 (2.59%) REST
3 35 (2.32%) PyTorch
4 34 (2.26%) JSON
5 32 (2.12%) PySpark
6 30 (1.99%) Node.js
7 28 (1.86%) Kafka
8 26 (1.73%) Middleware
8 26 (1.73%) Pandas
8 26 (1.73%) XML
9 24 (1.59%) pytest
10 23 (1.53%) .NET
11 19 (1.26%) Playwright
11 19 (1.26%) Swagger
12 18 (1.20%) Regular Expression
12 18 (1.20%) XMPP
13 15 (1.00%) CSS
13 15 (1.00%) LDAP
13 15 (1.00%) OAuth
13 15 (1.00%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 92 (6.11%) Cloud Native
2 70 (4.65%) Onboarding
3 68 (4.52%) Management Information System
4 67 (4.45%) Data Structures
5 54 (3.59%) Algorithms
6 50 (3.32%) Low-Code
7 41 (2.72%) Product Ownership
8 39 (2.59%) Embedded Systems
9 38 (2.52%) Driving Licence
10 34 (2.26%) Self-Motivation
11 33 (2.19%) Data Centre
11 33 (2.19%) Distributed Systems
11 33 (2.19%) Enterprise Software
12 32 (2.12%) Legacy Systems
13 31 (2.06%) Analytical Mindset
13 31 (2.06%) Video\Live Streaming
14 28 (1.86%) Life Science
15 24 (1.59%) FPGA
16 22 (1.46%) Robotics
17 18 (1.20%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 92 (6.11%) Linux
2 64 (4.25%) Windows
3 26 (1.73%) Windows Server
4 25 (1.66%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 23 (1.53%) Unix
6 7 (0.46%) 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 (0.066%) Embedded Linux
10 1 (0.066%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.066%) Rocky
10 1 (0.066%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.066%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.066%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 327 (21.71%) Problem-Solving
2 314 (20.85%) Continuous Improvement
3 309 (20.52%) Agile
4 269 (17.86%) AI
5 239 (15.87%) CI/CD
6 214 (14.21%) Analytics
7 213 (14.14%) Test Automation
8 184 (12.22%) Verification and Validation
9 171 (11.35%) Migration
10 167 (11.09%) Data Validation
11 163 (10.82%) Business Intelligence
12 158 (10.49%) Data Modelling
13 157 (10.42%) Stakeholder Management
14 156 (10.36%) DevOps
15 148 (9.83%) Software Engineering
16 147 (9.76%) Machine Learning
17 146 (9.69%) Decision-Making
17 146 (9.69%) Mentoring
18 140 (9.30%) Collaborative Working
19 138 (9.16%) Data Analysis
Programming Languages
1 378 (25.10%) Python
2 310 (20.58%) SQL
3 65 (4.32%) C++
4 63 (4.18%) Java
5 61 (4.05%) C
6 49 (3.25%) Go
7 42 (2.79%) C#
8 31 (2.06%) JavaScript
9 27 (1.79%) MATLAB
10 25 (1.66%) Bash
10 25 (1.66%) PowerShell
11 21 (1.39%) T-SQL
12 20 (1.33%) Embedded C
13 18 (1.20%) Embedded C++
14 13 (0.86%) Scala
15 12 (0.80%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 11 (0.73%) TypeScript
17 10 (0.66%) ABAP
18 9 (0.60%) VBA
19 7 (0.46%) R
Qualifications
1 292 (19.39%) Degree
2 170 (11.29%) Security Cleared
3 110 (7.30%) BPSS Clearance
4 79 (5.25%) SC Cleared
5 72 (4.78%) Master's Degree
6 44 (2.92%) DV Cleared
7 41 (2.72%) Computer Science Degree
8 35 (2.32%) Chartered Engineer
9 29 (1.93%) CISA
9 29 (1.93%) CISSP
9 29 (1.93%) SANS
10 27 (1.79%) HNC
11 26 (1.73%) CISM
12 22 (1.46%) HND
13 20 (1.33%) PMI Certification
14 19 (1.26%) ACCA
14 19 (1.26%) CGEIT
14 19 (1.26%) CIMA
14 19 (1.26%) FFIEC
15 17 (1.13%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 242 (16.07%) Data Quality
2 171 (11.35%) QA
3 62 (4.12%) Accessibility
4 58 (3.85%) GDPR
5 40 (2.66%) GRC
6 27 (1.79%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 24 (1.59%) ISO/IEC 15288
8 22 (1.46%) IEC 61508
8 22 (1.46%) NIST
9 19 (1.26%) COBIT
9 19 (1.26%) IFRS
10 16 (1.06%) ISO 9001
11 15 (1.00%) PMO
12 14 (0.93%) SLA
13 13 (0.86%) GAAP
14 11 (0.73%) ISO 26262
14 11 (0.73%) SOC 2
15 10 (0.66%) WCAG
16 9 (0.60%) GMP
16 9 (0.60%) GxP
System Software
1 71 (4.71%) Docker
2 41 (2.72%) Firmware
3 38 (2.52%) Active Directory
4 22 (1.46%) Virtual Machines
5 20 (1.33%) vSphere
6 16 (1.06%) 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 (0.066%) OpenAM
11 1 (0.066%) OpenDJ
11 1 (0.066%) OpenIDM
Systems Management
1 72 (4.78%) Kubernetes
2 63 (4.18%) Terraform
3 30 (1.99%) Grafana
4 23 (1.53%) Functional Safety
5 20 (1.33%) Ansible
6 15 (1.00%) Prometheus
7 10 (0.66%) Cilium
7 10 (0.66%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 9 (0.60%) Puppet
9 7 (0.46%) Kibana
9 7 (0.46%) SCCM
10 3 (0.20%) FortiGate
10 3 (0.20%) HP Fortify
11 2 (0.13%) Argo
11 2 (0.13%) BMC PATROL
11 2 (0.13%) Computer Incident Response Team
11 2 (0.13%) Microsoft Intune
11 2 (0.13%) Rancher
11 2 (0.13%) yum
12 1 (0.066%) SQL Sentry
Vendors
1 190 (12.62%) Microsoft
2 94 (6.24%) Oracle
2 94 (6.24%) SAP
3 51 (3.39%) Salesforce
4 39 (2.59%) Databricks
5 35 (2.32%) ServiceNow
6 34 (2.26%) Red Hat
7 33 (2.19%) VMware
8 29 (1.93%) CrowdStrike
9 23 (1.53%) Google
9 23 (1.53%) Palo Alto
10 22 (1.46%) Tenable
11 21 (1.39%) Adobe
11 21 (1.39%) Cisco
12 15 (1.00%) Foundry
13 14 (0.93%) Citrix
13 14 (0.93%) McAfee
14 13 (0.86%) OpenAI
15 10 (0.66%) IBM
15 10 (0.66%) Splunk