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 3 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 104 89 210
Rank change year-on-year -15 +121 -18
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,838 1,676 1,082
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.77% 3.37% 1.30%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.41% 3.77% 1.60%
Number of salaries quoted 1,067 512 534
10th Percentile £35,000 £38,775 £36,250
25th Percentile £42,358 £42,500 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year - -8.33% -4.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £75,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £91,350 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £52,600 £54,500
% change year-on-year -0.19% -3.49% -1.66%

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 76,352 44,509 67,465
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.64% 89.49% 81.05%
Number of salaries quoted 52,648 25,381 44,449
10th Percentile £30,580 £28,500 £31,210
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £41,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £78,750 £76,250 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +10.00% - -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 3 August 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 3 August 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 -19 1,672 £55,000 - 1,567
UK excluding London -38 1,252 £52,500 -0.19% 1,014
Work from Home +120 579 £56,000 -6.67% 604
London +74 472 £75,000 -3.23% 663
South East -35 371 £55,000 - 310
North of England +112 357 £54,875 +15.53% 192
North West +92 209 £55,000 +15.35% 111
Midlands -51 192 £43,587 -20.75% 157
South West -31 133 £51,750 -1.62% 157
East of England -78 114 £62,500 +9.65% 135
West Midlands +4 104 £44,000 -23.48% 98
East Midlands -65 87 £42,500 - 59
North East +5 74 £55,000 +57.14% 39
Yorkshire +5 74 £43,000 +1.18% 45
Scotland +16 56 £52,500 -9.53% 63
Wales -39 29 £47,500 -11.63% 16
Northern Ireland -75 2 - - 4

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 61 (3.32%) Apache Airflow
2 58 (3.16%) Apache Spark
3 56 (3.05%) Apache
4 34 (1.85%) Confluence
5 31 (1.69%) SharePoint
6 21 (1.14%) ArcGIS
7 20 (1.09%) Jupyter
8 12 (0.65%) Microsoft Exchange
8 12 (0.65%) SAS
9 5 (0.27%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 5 (0.27%) CMS
10 4 (0.22%) Kinematics
11 3 (0.16%) Artix
11 3 (0.16%) Oracle SOA Suite
12 2 (0.11%) Cloud Foundry
12 2 (0.11%) IIS
12 2 (0.11%) WinCC
13 1 (0.054%) Oracle Workflow
13 1 (0.054%) Palantir Foundry
13 1 (0.054%) WebSphere
Applications
1 108 (5.88%) Microsoft Excel
2 62 (3.37%) Microsoft Office
3 30 (1.63%) Microsoft Project
4 27 (1.47%) MS Visio
5 26 (1.41%) Simulink
6 14 (0.76%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 14 (0.76%) Spreadsheet
7 10 (0.54%) SOLIDWORKS
8 5 (0.27%) AutoCAD
8 5 (0.27%) LaTeX
9 4 (0.22%) Adobe XD
9 4 (0.22%) CANalyzer
9 4 (0.22%) Mathcad
9 4 (0.22%) Sketch
10 3 (0.16%) Autodesk Inventor
10 3 (0.16%) Productboard
10 3 (0.16%) Stateflow
11 2 (0.11%) OrCAD
11 2 (0.11%) Solid Edge
12 1 (0.054%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 50 (2.72%) SAP S/4HANA
2 41 (2.23%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.60%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.54%) SAP ERP
5 9 (0.49%) Elite 3E
5 9 (0.49%) iTrent
5 9 (0.49%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.44%) Oracle Applications
6 8 (0.44%) Oracle ERP
7 5 (0.27%) Loan IQ
7 5 (0.27%) NetSuite
7 5 (0.27%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.22%) Oracle Financials
8 4 (0.22%) SAP MM
8 4 (0.22%) Teamcenter
8 4 (0.22%) Workday HCM
9 2 (0.11%) Oracle Payables
9 2 (0.11%) SAP FI/CO
9 2 (0.11%) SAP FSCM
9 2 (0.11%) SAP PSCD
Cloud Services
1 281 (15.29%) Azure
2 261 (14.20%) AWS
3 167 (9.09%) Power Platform
4 87 (4.73%) GCP
5 80 (4.35%) SaaS
6 69 (3.75%) Azure DevOps
7 53 (2.88%) Microsoft 365
8 50 (2.72%) GitHub
8 50 (2.72%) Serverless
9 44 (2.39%) Amazon S3
10 39 (2.12%) Dynamics 365
11 26 (1.41%) Entra ID
12 25 (1.36%) GitHub Actions
12 25 (1.36%) Microsoft Copilot
13 22 (1.20%) Amazon EC2
13 22 (1.20%) Cloud Computing
13 22 (1.20%) Snowflake
14 21 (1.14%) Amazon EMR
15 20 (1.09%) PowerApps
16 19 (1.03%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 71 (3.86%) Broadband
2 52 (2.83%) Firewall
3 44 (2.39%) DNS
4 30 (1.63%) TCP/IP
4 30 (1.63%) Wireless
5 25 (1.36%) Network Security
6 23 (1.25%) VPN
6 23 (1.25%) WAN
7 17 (0.92%) Ethernet
8 16 (0.87%) Wi-Fi
9 15 (0.82%) MQTT
9 15 (0.82%) SD-WAN
9 15 (0.82%) Wireshark
10 14 (0.76%) Internet
11 12 (0.65%) HTTP
11 12 (0.65%) LAN
12 11 (0.60%) 5G
12 11 (0.60%) CHAP
12 11 (0.60%) NGN
13 10 (0.54%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 151 (8.22%) Power BI
2 58 (3.16%) Data Warehouse
2 58 (3.16%) Tableau
3 56 (3.05%) PostgreSQL
4 48 (2.61%) Metadata
4 48 (2.61%) SQL Server
5 38 (2.07%) Data Lake
6 34 (1.85%) MongoDB
7 28 (1.52%) Relational Database
8 27 (1.47%) BigQuery
9 25 (1.36%) QGIS
10 24 (1.31%) Semantic Layer
11 23 (1.25%) DynamoDB
11 23 (1.25%) GIS
12 22 (1.20%) Amazon Athena
13 21 (1.14%) Azure SQL Database
13 21 (1.14%) MySQL
14 20 (1.09%) Spark SQL
14 20 (1.09%) Spatial Data
14 20 (1.09%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 119 (6.47%) JIRA
2 103 (5.60%) Git
3 51 (2.77%) Jenkins
4 46 (2.50%) GitLab
5 34 (1.85%) Rational DOORS
6 24 (1.31%) Selenium
7 22 (1.20%) Snyk
8 21 (1.14%) Postman
9 17 (0.92%) Cypress.io
10 15 (0.82%) LabVIEW
11 14 (0.76%) JMeter
12 13 (0.71%) Cucumber
12 13 (0.71%) IBM UrbanCode
13 10 (0.54%) REST Assured
13 10 (0.54%) TeamCity
14 9 (0.49%) Burp Suite
15 8 (0.44%) Rational Rhapsody
16 7 (0.38%) Zephyr
17 6 (0.33%) GDB
17 6 (0.33%) Hudson
General
1 626 (34.06%) Social Skills
2 518 (28.18%) Finance
3 452 (24.59%) Analytical Skills
4 164 (8.92%) Aerospace
4 164 (8.92%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 155 (8.43%) Manufacturing
6 134 (7.29%) Electronics
7 102 (5.55%) Banking
8 96 (5.22%) Law
9 73 (3.97%) Public Sector
10 72 (3.92%) Retail
11 64 (3.48%) Pharmaceutical
12 63 (3.43%) Organisational Skills
13 58 (3.16%) Legal
13 58 (3.16%) Marketing
14 46 (2.50%) Automotive
14 46 (2.50%) Games
15 35 (1.90%) Telecoms
16 33 (1.80%) Documentation Skills
17 32 (1.74%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 340 (18.50%) Senior
2 258 (14.04%) Analyst
3 167 (9.09%) Lead
4 127 (6.91%) Systems Engineer
5 113 (6.15%) Architect
6 112 (6.09%) Test Engineer
7 102 (5.55%) Consultant
8 100 (5.44%) Data Engineer
9 86 (4.68%) Developer
10 82 (4.46%) Business Analyst
11 68 (3.70%) Data Analyst
12 67 (3.65%) Validation Engineer
13 60 (3.26%) Software Engineer
14 54 (2.94%) Principal Engineer
15 46 (2.50%) Embedded Engineer
16 45 (2.45%) Support Engineer
17 41 (2.23%) Data Scientist
18 39 (2.12%) IT Manager
19 38 (2.07%) Senior Systems Engineer
20 37 (2.01%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 47 (2.56%) RESTful
2 42 (2.29%) Kafka
3 39 (2.12%) Node.js
3 39 (2.12%) PySpark
4 36 (1.96%) REST
5 33 (1.80%) JSON
6 31 (1.69%) PyTorch
7 30 (1.63%) XML
8 27 (1.47%) .NET
9 26 (1.41%) Middleware
9 26 (1.41%) Playwright
10 25 (1.36%) Pandas
11 21 (1.14%) CSS
11 21 (1.14%) LDAP
12 20 (1.09%) HTML
13 19 (1.03%) React
13 19 (1.03%) Regular Expression
13 19 (1.03%) XMPP
14 17 (0.92%) Oracle Fusion
15 16 (0.87%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 133 (7.24%) Cloud Native
2 124 (6.75%) Onboarding
3 92 (5.01%) Management Information System
4 70 (3.81%) Algorithms
5 68 (3.70%) Product Ownership
6 66 (3.59%) Data Structures
7 60 (3.26%) Data Centre
8 49 (2.67%) Distributed Systems
8 49 (2.67%) Embedded Systems
8 49 (2.67%) Enterprise Software
9 47 (2.56%) Driving Licence
10 45 (2.45%) Low-Code
11 37 (2.01%) Analytical Mindset
12 34 (1.85%) Legacy Systems
13 33 (1.80%) AI Agents
13 33 (1.80%) Video\Live Streaming
14 32 (1.74%) Life Science
15 29 (1.58%) Self-Motivation
16 28 (1.52%) IoT
17 27 (1.47%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 120 (6.53%) Linux
2 86 (4.68%) Windows
3 32 (1.74%) Windows Server
4 25 (1.36%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (1.03%) Unix
6 6 (0.33%) Android
6 6 (0.33%) Embedded Linux
6 6 (0.33%) FreeRTOS
7 4 (0.22%) Kali Linux
7 4 (0.22%) Mac OS
7 4 (0.22%) Mac OS X
8 2 (0.11%) AIX
8 2 (0.11%) Robot Operating System
8 2 (0.11%) ThreadX
8 2 (0.11%) VMS
8 2 (0.11%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.054%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 469 (25.52%) Problem-Solving
2 461 (25.08%) Continuous Improvement
3 402 (21.87%) Agile
4 358 (19.48%) AI
5 298 (16.21%) CI/CD
6 263 (14.31%) Analytics
7 242 (13.17%) Stakeholder Management
8 239 (13.00%) Test Automation
9 238 (12.95%) Migration
10 223 (12.13%) Mentoring
11 208 (11.32%) Decision-Making
12 192 (10.45%) Data Analysis
13 189 (10.28%) DevOps
14 187 (10.17%) Software Engineering
14 187 (10.17%) Verification and Validation
15 181 (9.85%) Business Intelligence
16 179 (9.74%) Machine Learning
17 172 (9.36%) Stakeholder Engagement
18 169 (9.19%) User Acceptance Testing
19 168 (9.14%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 472 (25.68%) Python
2 378 (20.57%) SQL
3 84 (4.57%) Java
4 83 (4.52%) C++
5 75 (4.08%) C
6 55 (2.99%) Go
7 54 (2.94%) JavaScript
8 49 (2.67%) C#
9 40 (2.18%) MATLAB
10 28 (1.52%) Bash
10 28 (1.52%) PowerShell
11 23 (1.25%) Embedded C
12 20 (1.09%) Scala
12 20 (1.09%) T-SQL
13 19 (1.03%) TypeScript
14 18 (0.98%) Embedded C++
15 15 (0.82%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 12 (0.65%) R
17 10 (0.54%) ABAP
17 10 (0.54%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 375 (20.40%) Degree
2 248 (13.49%) Security Cleared
3 134 (7.29%) SC Cleared
4 130 (7.07%) BPSS Clearance
5 82 (4.46%) DV Cleared
6 75 (4.08%) Master's Degree
7 42 (2.29%) Computer Science Degree
8 32 (1.74%) Chartered Engineer
9 30 (1.63%) CISSP
10 28 (1.52%) PhD
11 27 (1.47%) HNC
11 27 (1.47%) PMI Certification
12 25 (1.36%) ACCA
12 25 (1.36%) CIMA
13 24 (1.31%) CISM
14 23 (1.25%) AWS Certification
15 21 (1.14%) CISA
15 21 (1.14%) SANS
16 20 (1.09%) HND
17 19 (1.03%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 309 (16.81%) Data Quality
2 255 (13.87%) QA
3 81 (4.41%) Accessibility
4 58 (3.16%) GDPR
5 38 (2.07%) GRC
6 24 (1.31%) IEC 61508
7 23 (1.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 21 (1.14%) NIST
9 20 (1.09%) SLA
10 17 (0.92%) PMO
11 16 (0.87%) GxP
12 15 (0.82%) IFRS
12 15 (0.82%) ISO 26262
12 15 (0.82%) WCAG
13 14 (0.76%) GAAP
14 13 (0.71%) ISO 9001
15 12 (0.65%) GMP
15 12 (0.65%) ISO/IEC 15288
16 11 (0.60%) COBIT
16 11 (0.60%) SOC 2
System Software
1 78 (4.24%) Docker
2 65 (3.54%) Firmware
3 42 (2.29%) Active Directory
4 28 (1.52%) Embedded Firmware
4 28 (1.52%) Virtual Machines
5 22 (1.20%) vSphere
6 19 (1.03%) VMware Infrastructure
7 9 (0.49%) KVM
8 6 (0.33%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.11%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.054%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.054%) iptables
10 1 (0.054%) ProxySG
10 1 (0.054%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 80 (4.35%) Kubernetes
2 76 (4.13%) Terraform
3 41 (2.23%) Grafana
4 27 (1.47%) Ansible
5 25 (1.36%) Functional Safety
6 17 (0.92%) Prometheus
7 12 (0.65%) Puppet
8 10 (0.54%) Cilium
9 9 (0.49%) Single Sign-On
10 8 (0.44%) SCCM
11 7 (0.38%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
11 7 (0.38%) Kibana
12 5 (0.27%) Microsoft Intune
13 4 (0.22%) Argo
13 4 (0.22%) Nessus
13 4 (0.22%) Nmap
13 4 (0.22%) WMI
14 3 (0.16%) FortiGate
14 3 (0.16%) HP Fortify
14 3 (0.16%) Rancher
Vendors
1 256 (13.93%) Microsoft
2 118 (6.42%) SAP
3 102 (5.55%) Oracle
4 60 (3.26%) Salesforce
5 49 (2.67%) Databricks
6 41 (2.23%) ServiceNow
7 38 (2.07%) VMware
8 37 (2.01%) Google
9 35 (1.90%) Red Hat
10 33 (1.80%) Cisco
11 29 (1.58%) CrowdStrike
12 24 (1.31%) Palo Alto
13 22 (1.20%) Tenable
14 17 (0.92%) IBM
15 16 (0.87%) EMC
16 15 (0.82%) McAfee
17 14 (0.76%) Adobe
17 14 (0.76%) Foundry
18 13 (0.71%) Splunk
18 13 (0.71%) Workday