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

6 months to
2 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 126 105 193
Rank change year-on-year -21 +88 -3
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,355 1,269 1,459
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.50% 3.00% 1.52%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.02% 3.23% 1.78%
Number of salaries quoted 766 423 783
10th Percentile £34,500 £40,000 £35,500
25th Percentile £43,000 £46,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% +3.64% -12.00%
75th Percentile £77,500 £71,250 £72,216
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £54,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -2.78% +2.86% -4.55%

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 67,238 39,252 82,067
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 74.66% 92.86% 85.61%
Number of salaries quoted 41,831 22,645 59,684
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,750 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,396 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -2.67% +9.09% -10.57%
75th Percentile £78,516 £80,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £102,500 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +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 2 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 2 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 -27 1,204 £60,000 +7.14% 861
UK excluding London -57 884 £52,500 -2.78% 653
Work from Home +95 406 £60,000 +4.35% 395
London +67 354 £77,500 +8.77% 318
South East -28 283 £55,000 +8.91% 212
North of England +28 216 £55,000 +15.35% 126
Midlands -70 148 £38,750 -29.55% 94
North West +30 132 £58,000 +21.64% 74
West Midlands -9 96 £44,000 -32.31% 59
East of England -64 96 £60,000 +5.26% 89
South West -49 87 £55,000 - 93
Yorkshire -31 53 £59,000 +24.21% 39
East Midlands -90 50 £30,000 -41.18% 35
Scotland -34 41 £42,000 -27.63% 36
North East -11 31 £52,500 -7.49% 15
Wales -26 13 £44,000 -15.47% 16
Northern Ireland -42 2 - - 12

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 46 (3.39%) Apache Airflow
2 27 (1.99%) Apache Spark
3 24 (1.77%) Apache
4 23 (1.70%) Confluence
5 21 (1.55%) ArcGIS
6 16 (1.18%) Microsoft Exchange
7 12 (0.89%) Appian
8 11 (0.81%) CMS
9 8 (0.59%) SharePoint
10 6 (0.44%) Kinematics
11 3 (0.22%) Headless CMS
11 3 (0.22%) Jupyter
12 2 (0.15%) IIS
13 1 (0.074%) Anypoint
13 1 (0.074%) Artix
13 1 (0.074%) Palantir Foundry
13 1 (0.074%) SAS
13 1 (0.074%) WordPress
Applications
1 90 (6.64%) Microsoft Excel
2 63 (4.65%) Microsoft Office
3 20 (1.48%) MS Visio
4 15 (1.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 8 (0.59%) Simulink
6 6 (0.44%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 6 (0.44%) Microsoft Project
6 6 (0.44%) Spreadsheet
7 4 (0.30%) CANalyzer
7 4 (0.30%) Fusion 360
8 3 (0.22%) Solid Edge
8 3 (0.22%) SOLIDWORKS
9 2 (0.15%) AutoCAD
9 2 (0.15%) CATIA
9 2 (0.15%) Oracle Smart View
10 1 (0.074%) Adobe XD
10 1 (0.074%) Elementor
10 1 (0.074%) Navisworks
10 1 (0.074%) Photoshop
10 1 (0.074%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 34 (2.51%) SAP S/4HANA
2 19 (1.40%) Dynamics CRM
3 9 (0.66%) Oracle ERP
3 9 (0.66%) SAP ERP
4 7 (0.52%) Workday HCM
5 6 (0.44%) Elite 3E
5 6 (0.44%) Loan IQ
5 6 (0.44%) SAP MDG
6 4 (0.30%) Markit EDM
6 4 (0.30%) SAP MDG-BP
7 3 (0.22%) iTrent
7 3 (0.22%) Oracle Applications
7 3 (0.22%) Oracle EBS
8 2 (0.15%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
8 2 (0.15%) SAP FSCM
8 2 (0.15%) SAP PSCD
9 1 (0.074%) Magento
9 1 (0.074%) SAP Business ByDesign
9 1 (0.074%) SAP EHS
9 1 (0.074%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 201 (14.83%) Azure
2 133 (9.82%) AWS
3 119 (8.78%) Power Platform
4 54 (3.99%) SaaS
5 53 (3.91%) GCP
6 44 (3.25%) Azure DevOps
7 36 (2.66%) Dynamics 365
8 35 (2.58%) Azure Data Factory
9 30 (2.21%) Serverless
9 30 (2.21%) Snowflake
10 27 (1.99%) Microsoft 365
11 26 (1.92%) Amazon S3
11 26 (1.92%) GitHub
11 26 (1.92%) Power Automate
12 24 (1.77%) dbt
12 24 (1.77%) Entra ID
13 16 (1.18%) OpenShift
14 15 (1.11%) Anthropic Claude
14 15 (1.11%) Azure AI
15 12 (0.89%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 35 (2.58%) Broadband
2 31 (2.29%) Firewall
3 29 (2.14%) CHAP
4 23 (1.70%) DNS
5 21 (1.55%) WAN
6 18 (1.33%) TCP/IP
6 18 (1.33%) Wireless
7 17 (1.25%) SD-WAN
8 13 (0.96%) 5G
9 11 (0.81%) HTTP
10 10 (0.74%) Wireshark
11 9 (0.66%) LAN
11 9 (0.66%) Modbus
11 9 (0.66%) NAS
12 8 (0.59%) Multicast
12 8 (0.59%) VPN
13 7 (0.52%) Ethernet
13 7 (0.52%) MQTT
13 7 (0.52%) Network Security
14 6 (0.44%) ATM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 112 (8.27%) Power BI
2 48 (3.54%) SQL Server
3 45 (3.32%) Tableau
4 34 (2.51%) Data Warehouse
4 34 (2.51%) Metadata
4 34 (2.51%) PostgreSQL
5 33 (2.44%) Relational Database
6 25 (1.85%) QGIS
7 23 (1.70%) GIS
8 21 (1.55%) Data Lake
9 20 (1.48%) Spatial Data
10 18 (1.33%) Oracle Reports
11 17 (1.25%) Spark SQL
12 16 (1.18%) Azure SQL Database
13 15 (1.11%) Oracle Database
14 14 (1.03%) MongoDB
14 14 (1.03%) MySQL
14 14 (1.03%) Parquet
14 14 (1.03%) Semantic Layer
15 13 (0.96%) Impala
Development Applications
1 66 (4.87%) Git
2 61 (4.50%) JIRA
3 39 (2.88%) Rational DOORS
4 27 (1.99%) Jenkins
5 20 (1.48%) GitLab
6 17 (1.25%) LabVIEW
6 17 (1.25%) Postman
7 16 (1.18%) Snyk
8 15 (1.11%) MLflow
8 15 (1.11%) Selenium
9 13 (0.96%) IBM UrbanCode
10 12 (0.89%) JMeter
11 11 (0.81%) Cucumber
11 11 (0.81%) TestRail
12 10 (0.74%) Eclipse
13 7 (0.52%) LoadRunner
14 5 (0.37%) Cypress.io
14 5 (0.37%) SpecFlow
14 5 (0.37%) Subversion
14 5 (0.37%) Visual Studio
General
1 447 (32.99%) Social Skills
2 369 (27.23%) Finance
3 290 (21.40%) Analytical Skills
4 106 (7.82%) Manufacturing
5 99 (7.31%) Aerospace
6 88 (6.49%) Electronics
7 86 (6.35%) Banking
8 69 (5.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 60 (4.43%) Legal
10 51 (3.76%) Public Sector
11 44 (3.25%) Retail
12 43 (3.17%) Law
13 40 (2.95%) Financial Institution
13 40 (2.95%) Marketing
14 39 (2.88%) Pharmaceutical
15 36 (2.66%) Presentation Skills
16 30 (2.21%) Organisational Skills
17 29 (2.14%) Automotive
18 25 (1.85%) Games
19 24 (1.77%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 223 (16.46%) Senior
2 220 (16.24%) Analyst
3 157 (11.59%) Systems Engineer
4 95 (7.01%) Lead
5 91 (6.72%) Test Engineer
6 84 (6.20%) Architect
7 83 (6.13%) Business Analyst
8 81 (5.98%) Validation Engineer
9 65 (4.80%) Consultant
10 58 (4.28%) Data Analyst
11 52 (3.84%) Integration Engineer
12 49 (3.62%) Data Engineer
13 47 (3.47%) Developer
14 45 (3.32%) Junior
15 44 (3.25%) Senior Systems Engineer
16 42 (3.10%) Principal Engineer
17 38 (2.80%) Verification Engineer
18 36 (2.66%) Software Validation Engineer
18 36 (2.66%) Systems Integration Engineer
19 32 (2.36%) Auditor
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 54 (3.99%) REST
2 38 (2.80%) PyTorch
3 35 (2.58%) JSON
4 34 (2.51%) Pandas
5 29 (2.14%) Middleware
6 26 (1.92%) pytest
7 23 (1.70%) XML
8 22 (1.62%) PySpark
8 22 (1.62%) RESTful
9 20 (1.48%) OAuth
10 19 (1.40%) .NET
10 19 (1.40%) Swagger
11 18 (1.33%) JWT
11 18 (1.33%) TensorFlow
12 16 (1.18%) Kafka
12 16 (1.18%) NumPy
12 16 (1.18%) Playwright
13 15 (1.11%) React
14 14 (1.03%) Oracle Fusion
14 14 (1.03%) scikit-learn
Miscellaneous
1 81 (5.98%) Management Information System
2 57 (4.21%) Onboarding
3 51 (3.76%) Data Structures
4 39 (2.88%) Low-Code
5 38 (2.80%) Algorithms
6 36 (2.66%) Product Ownership
6 36 (2.66%) Self-Motivation
7 35 (2.58%) Cloud Native
8 34 (2.51%) Legacy Systems
9 27 (1.99%) Analytical Mindset
10 26 (1.92%) Data Centre
10 26 (1.92%) Life Science
11 23 (1.70%) Embedded Systems
12 20 (1.48%) Enterprise Software
13 18 (1.33%) SCADA
14 17 (1.25%) Robotics
15 16 (1.18%) Driving Licence
16 15 (1.11%) Blockchain
17 14 (1.03%) IoT
17 14 (1.03%) Reinsurance
Operating Systems
1 78 (5.76%) Linux
2 65 (4.80%) Windows
3 21 (1.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 21 (1.55%) Windows Server
4 20 (1.48%) Unix
5 12 (0.89%) Android
6 4 (0.30%) Apple iOS
6 4 (0.30%) CentOS
6 4 (0.30%) FreeRTOS
6 4 (0.30%) Mac OS X
7 3 (0.22%) AIX
7 3 (0.22%) Kali Linux
7 3 (0.22%) Robot Operating System
8 2 (0.15%) ThreadX
8 2 (0.15%) VxWorks
9 1 (0.074%) Embedded Linux
9 1 (0.074%) Rocky
9 1 (0.074%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.074%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 302 (22.29%) Problem-Solving
2 283 (20.89%) Agile
3 255 (18.82%) Continuous Improvement
4 210 (15.50%) Verification and Validation
5 206 (15.20%) Analytics
6 194 (14.32%) AI
7 176 (12.99%) Test Automation
8 174 (12.84%) CI/CD
9 167 (12.32%) Data Validation
10 149 (11.00%) Migration
11 140 (10.33%) Business Intelligence
12 138 (10.18%) Data Modelling
13 134 (9.89%) Stakeholder Management
14 133 (9.82%) User Acceptance Testing
15 131 (9.67%) Decision-Making
16 130 (9.59%) Systems Engineering
17 127 (9.37%) Data Governance
17 127 (9.37%) Mentoring
18 122 (9.00%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 119 (8.78%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 298 (21.99%) Python
2 269 (19.85%) SQL
3 49 (3.62%) C++
4 47 (3.47%) Java
5 40 (2.95%) C
6 37 (2.73%) PowerShell
7 27 (1.99%) JavaScript
8 26 (1.92%) Bash
8 26 (1.92%) Go
9 24 (1.77%) C#
10 22 (1.62%) MATLAB
11 18 (1.33%) T-SQL
12 14 (1.03%) TypeScript
13 12 (0.89%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 12 (0.89%) Embedded C
14 9 (0.66%) R
14 9 (0.66%) VBA
15 7 (0.52%) ABAP
15 7 (0.52%) Apex Code
15 7 (0.52%) VB
Qualifications
1 304 (22.44%) Degree
2 166 (12.25%) Security Cleared
3 131 (9.67%) BPSS Clearance
4 64 (4.72%) Master's Degree
5 61 (4.50%) SC Cleared
6 40 (2.95%) Computer Science Degree
7 39 (2.88%) CISSP
8 38 (2.80%) CISA
8 38 (2.80%) DV Cleared
9 36 (2.66%) Chartered Engineer
9 36 (2.66%) CISM
10 33 (2.44%) SANS
11 29 (2.14%) CGEIT
11 29 (2.14%) FFIEC
12 28 (2.07%) HNC
13 24 (1.77%) HND
14 23 (1.70%) PMI Certification
15 20 (1.48%) PMP
16 12 (0.89%) ISTQB
17 10 (0.74%) ACCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 187 (13.80%) Data Quality
2 147 (10.85%) QA
3 65 (4.80%) GDPR
4 60 (4.43%) Accessibility
5 37 (2.73%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 34 (2.51%) GRC
7 31 (2.29%) NIST
8 29 (2.14%) COBIT
9 21 (1.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 18 (1.33%) IEC 61508
10 18 (1.33%) IFRS
11 15 (1.11%) SLA
12 13 (0.96%) ISO 9001
13 12 (0.89%) GAAP
14 11 (0.81%) GMP
15 10 (0.74%) Good Clinical Practice
15 10 (0.74%) PMO
15 10 (0.74%) WCAG
16 9 (0.66%) 21 CFR Part 11
16 9 (0.66%) ISO/IEC 12207
System Software
1 63 (4.65%) Docker
2 36 (2.66%) Active Directory
3 28 (2.07%) Firmware
4 17 (1.25%) Virtual Machines
5 15 (1.11%) VMware Infrastructure
5 15 (1.11%) vSphere
6 6 (0.44%) Hyper-V
6 6 (0.44%) KVM
7 5 (0.37%) Embedded Firmware
8 3 (0.22%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.15%) Terminal Services
10 1 (0.074%) iptables
10 1 (0.074%) OpenAM
10 1 (0.074%) OpenDJ
10 1 (0.074%) OpenIDM
10 1 (0.074%) pfSense
Systems Management
1 65 (4.80%) Kubernetes
2 46 (3.39%) Terraform
3 32 (2.36%) Grafana
4 25 (1.85%) Ansible
5 17 (1.25%) Prometheus
6 14 (1.03%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
6 14 (1.03%) Functional Safety
7 10 (0.74%) Puppet
7 10 (0.74%) SCCM
8 7 (0.52%) Microsoft Intune
9 4 (0.30%) Argo
9 4 (0.30%) Cilium
9 4 (0.30%) Rancher
9 4 (0.30%) yum
10 3 (0.22%) HP Fortify
10 3 (0.22%) Kibana
11 2 (0.15%) BMC PATROL
11 2 (0.15%) Computer Incident Response Team
11 2 (0.15%) PowerCLI
12 1 (0.074%) Control-M
Vendors
1 176 (12.99%) Microsoft
2 74 (5.46%) Oracle
3 63 (4.65%) SAP
4 43 (3.17%) Salesforce
5 29 (2.14%) Red Hat
5 29 (2.14%) VMware
6 24 (1.77%) Databricks
7 21 (1.55%) Cisco
8 18 (1.33%) CrowdStrike
8 18 (1.33%) IBM
8 18 (1.33%) Palo Alto
9 17 (1.25%) Foundry
9 17 (1.25%) Google
10 16 (1.18%) OpenAI
10 16 (1.18%) ServiceNow
10 16 (1.18%) Tenable
11 15 (1.11%) Adobe
12 14 (1.03%) Citrix
13 12 (0.89%) Automation Anywhere
13 12 (0.89%) UiPath