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 29 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 109 88 211
Rank change year-on-year -21 +123 -14
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,759 1,671 1,134
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.73% 3.39% 1.30%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.35% 3.78% 1.60%
Number of salaries quoted 1,036 507 575
10th Percentile £35,000 £39,000 £36,100
25th Percentile £42,215 £42,500 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year - -4.35% -8.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £72,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £91,900 £87,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £52,600 £54,250
% change year-on-year -0.19% -3.04% -1.44%

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 74,889 44,229 70,800
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.63% 89.64% 81.30%
Number of salaries quoted 51,640 25,065 47,390
10th Percentile £30,500 £28,750 £30,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £40,000
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 £73,750
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 29 July 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 29 July 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 1,599 £55,000 - 1,158
UK excluding London -42 1,192 £52,500 -0.19% 809
Work from Home +109 563 £55,500 -7.50% 437
London +78 454 £75,000 -6.25% 471
South East -41 350 £56,000 +1.82% 254
North of England +101 340 £55,000 +15.79% 167
North West +78 203 £55,000 +15.35% 93
Midlands -59 186 £42,500 -22.73% 125
South West -24 127 £51,250 -2.57% 114
East of England -77 111 £62,500 +9.65% 102
West Midlands +2 100 £44,000 -23.48% 72
East Midlands -73 85 £42,500 - 53
Yorkshire +12 71 £43,000 +1.18% 41
North East +2 66 £55,000 +41.94% 35
Scotland +15 50 £52,500 -9.53% 50
Wales -38 28 £47,500 -11.63% 13
Northern Ireland -68 2 - - 3

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 58 (3.30%) Apache Airflow
2 55 (3.13%) Apache Spark
3 53 (3.01%) Apache
4 32 (1.82%) Confluence
5 31 (1.76%) SharePoint
6 21 (1.19%) ArcGIS
7 19 (1.08%) Jupyter
8 14 (0.80%) Microsoft Exchange
9 12 (0.68%) SAS
10 5 (0.28%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 5 (0.28%) CMS
11 4 (0.23%) Kinematics
12 3 (0.17%) Artix
12 3 (0.17%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 2 (0.11%) IIS
13 2 (0.11%) WinCC
14 1 (0.057%) Appian
14 1 (0.057%) Cloud Foundry
14 1 (0.057%) Oracle Workflow
14 1 (0.057%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 98 (5.57%) Microsoft Excel
2 59 (3.35%) Microsoft Office
3 27 (1.53%) Microsoft Project
4 25 (1.42%) MS Visio
5 24 (1.36%) Simulink
6 13 (0.74%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 13 (0.74%) Spreadsheet
7 8 (0.45%) SOLIDWORKS
8 5 (0.28%) AutoCAD
8 5 (0.28%) LaTeX
9 4 (0.23%) Adobe XD
9 4 (0.23%) CANalyzer
9 4 (0.23%) Sketch
10 3 (0.17%) Autodesk Inventor
10 3 (0.17%) Productboard
10 3 (0.17%) Stateflow
11 2 (0.11%) Mathcad
11 2 (0.11%) Solid Edge
12 1 (0.057%) Chatbot
12 1 (0.057%) Trello
Business Applications
1 50 (2.84%) SAP S/4HANA
2 41 (2.33%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.63%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.57%) SAP ERP
5 9 (0.51%) Elite 3E
5 9 (0.51%) iTrent
5 9 (0.51%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.45%) Oracle Applications
6 8 (0.45%) Oracle ERP
7 5 (0.28%) Loan IQ
7 5 (0.28%) NetSuite
7 5 (0.28%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.23%) Oracle Financials
8 4 (0.23%) SAP MM
9 3 (0.17%) Teamcenter
9 3 (0.17%) Workday HCM
10 2 (0.11%) Oracle Payables
10 2 (0.11%) Oracle Receivables
10 2 (0.11%) SAP FSCM
10 2 (0.11%) SAP PSCD
Cloud Services
1 265 (15.07%) Azure
2 245 (13.93%) AWS
3 164 (9.32%) Power Platform
4 84 (4.78%) GCP
5 82 (4.66%) SaaS
6 67 (3.81%) Azure DevOps
7 51 (2.90%) Microsoft 365
8 50 (2.84%) Serverless
9 47 (2.67%) GitHub
10 43 (2.44%) Amazon S3
11 37 (2.10%) Dynamics 365
12 24 (1.36%) Entra ID
12 24 (1.36%) GitHub Actions
13 23 (1.31%) Microsoft Copilot
14 22 (1.25%) Cloud Computing
14 22 (1.25%) Snowflake
15 21 (1.19%) Amazon EC2
16 20 (1.14%) Amazon EMR
16 20 (1.14%) Azure Data Factory
16 20 (1.14%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 71 (4.04%) Broadband
2 50 (2.84%) Firewall
3 41 (2.33%) DNS
4 30 (1.71%) TCP/IP
5 29 (1.65%) Wireless
6 22 (1.25%) Network Security
6 22 (1.25%) WAN
7 21 (1.19%) VPN
8 17 (0.97%) Ethernet
9 15 (0.85%) MQTT
9 15 (0.85%) Wi-Fi
9 15 (0.85%) Wireshark
10 14 (0.80%) Internet
10 14 (0.80%) SD-WAN
11 12 (0.68%) HTTP
11 12 (0.68%) LAN
12 11 (0.63%) CHAP
13 10 (0.57%) 5G
13 10 (0.57%) BGP
13 10 (0.57%) RS-232
Database & Business Intelligence
1 147 (8.36%) Power BI
2 58 (3.30%) PostgreSQL
3 57 (3.24%) Tableau
4 56 (3.18%) Data Warehouse
5 49 (2.79%) SQL Server
6 45 (2.56%) Metadata
7 35 (1.99%) Data Lake
8 34 (1.93%) MongoDB
9 29 (1.65%) Relational Database
10 27 (1.53%) BigQuery
11 25 (1.42%) QGIS
12 24 (1.36%) Semantic Layer
13 23 (1.31%) GIS
14 22 (1.25%) DynamoDB
15 21 (1.19%) Amazon Athena
15 21 (1.19%) MySQL
16 20 (1.14%) Azure SQL Database
16 20 (1.14%) Spark SQL
16 20 (1.14%) Spatial Data
17 18 (1.02%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 110 (6.25%) JIRA
2 94 (5.34%) Git
3 51 (2.90%) Jenkins
4 45 (2.56%) GitLab
5 32 (1.82%) Rational DOORS
6 22 (1.25%) Selenium
6 22 (1.25%) Snyk
7 19 (1.08%) Postman
8 15 (0.85%) Cypress.io
9 14 (0.80%) JMeter
9 14 (0.80%) LabVIEW
10 13 (0.74%) IBM UrbanCode
11 12 (0.68%) Cucumber
12 10 (0.57%) TeamCity
13 9 (0.51%) Burp Suite
13 9 (0.51%) REST Assured
14 7 (0.40%) Rational Rhapsody
15 6 (0.34%) GDB
15 6 (0.34%) Hudson
15 6 (0.34%) JUnit
General
1 589 (33.48%) Social Skills
2 491 (27.91%) Finance
3 420 (23.88%) Analytical Skills
4 146 (8.30%) Aerospace
5 145 (8.24%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 144 (8.19%) Manufacturing
7 127 (7.22%) Electronics
8 101 (5.74%) Banking
9 85 (4.83%) Law
10 72 (4.09%) Retail
11 70 (3.98%) Public Sector
12 59 (3.35%) Organisational Skills
13 58 (3.30%) Pharmaceutical
14 56 (3.18%) Legal
15 51 (2.90%) Marketing
16 45 (2.56%) Automotive
16 45 (2.56%) Games
17 33 (1.88%) Telecoms
18 32 (1.82%) Documentation Skills
19 29 (1.65%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 322 (18.31%) Senior
2 258 (14.67%) Analyst
3 153 (8.70%) Lead
4 125 (7.11%) Systems Engineer
5 110 (6.25%) Test Engineer
6 109 (6.20%) Architect
7 96 (5.46%) Consultant
8 94 (5.34%) Data Engineer
9 83 (4.72%) Developer
10 80 (4.55%) Business Analyst
11 71 (4.04%) Data Analyst
12 68 (3.87%) Validation Engineer
13 55 (3.13%) Software Engineer
14 50 (2.84%) Principal Engineer
15 45 (2.56%) Embedded Engineer
16 43 (2.44%) Support Engineer
17 40 (2.27%) IT Manager
18 39 (2.22%) Data Scientist
19 37 (2.10%) Project Manager
19 37 (2.10%) Senior Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (2.73%) RESTful
2 39 (2.22%) Kafka
3 38 (2.16%) Node.js
3 38 (2.16%) PySpark
4 33 (1.88%) JSON
4 33 (1.88%) REST
5 32 (1.82%) PyTorch
6 31 (1.76%) XML
7 26 (1.48%) Pandas
8 25 (1.42%) .NET
9 24 (1.36%) Middleware
10 23 (1.31%) Playwright
11 20 (1.14%) CSS
12 19 (1.08%) HTML
12 19 (1.08%) LDAP
12 19 (1.08%) Regular Expression
12 19 (1.08%) XMPP
13 18 (1.02%) React
14 17 (0.97%) FastAPI
14 17 (0.97%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 126 (7.16%) Cloud Native
2 114 (6.48%) Onboarding
3 82 (4.66%) Management Information System
4 69 (3.92%) Algorithms
5 67 (3.81%) Data Structures
6 64 (3.64%) Product Ownership
7 55 (3.13%) Data Centre
8 48 (2.73%) Embedded Systems
9 47 (2.67%) Distributed Systems
9 47 (2.67%) Driving Licence
9 47 (2.67%) Enterprise Software
10 46 (2.62%) Low-Code
11 38 (2.16%) Analytical Mindset
12 33 (1.88%) Video\Live Streaming
13 31 (1.76%) AI Agents
13 31 (1.76%) Life Science
14 30 (1.71%) Legacy Systems
15 29 (1.65%) Self-Motivation
16 26 (1.48%) IoT
17 25 (1.42%) FPGA
Operating Systems
1 116 (6.59%) Linux
2 84 (4.78%) Windows
3 31 (1.76%) Windows Server
4 25 (1.42%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (1.08%) Unix
6 6 (0.34%) Android
6 6 (0.34%) FreeRTOS
7 5 (0.28%) Embedded Linux
8 4 (0.23%) Kali Linux
8 4 (0.23%) Mac OS
8 4 (0.23%) Mac OS X
9 2 (0.11%) AIX
9 2 (0.11%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.11%) ThreadX
9 2 (0.11%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.057%) Apple iOS
10 1 (0.057%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 431 (24.50%) Problem-Solving
2 426 (24.22%) Continuous Improvement
3 378 (21.49%) Agile
4 338 (19.22%) AI
5 281 (15.97%) CI/CD
6 249 (14.16%) Analytics
7 233 (13.25%) Test Automation
8 229 (13.02%) Migration
9 228 (12.96%) Stakeholder Management
10 204 (11.60%) Mentoring
11 193 (10.97%) Decision-Making
12 181 (10.29%) Data Analysis
13 180 (10.23%) Verification and Validation
14 177 (10.06%) DevOps
15 176 (10.01%) Business Intelligence
16 175 (9.95%) Software Engineering
17 170 (9.66%) Machine Learning
18 165 (9.38%) Data Validation
19 163 (9.27%) Stakeholder Engagement
20 161 (9.15%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 458 (26.04%) Python
2 374 (21.26%) SQL
3 78 (4.43%) C++
3 78 (4.43%) Java
4 71 (4.04%) C
5 52 (2.96%) Go
6 50 (2.84%) JavaScript
7 49 (2.79%) C#
8 38 (2.16%) MATLAB
9 29 (1.65%) PowerShell
10 28 (1.59%) Bash
11 22 (1.25%) T-SQL
12 21 (1.19%) Embedded C
13 18 (1.02%) Embedded C++
13 18 (1.02%) Scala
13 18 (1.02%) TypeScript
14 15 (0.85%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 11 (0.63%) R
16 10 (0.57%) ABAP
16 10 (0.57%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 350 (19.90%) Degree
2 222 (12.62%) Security Cleared
3 118 (6.71%) BPSS Clearance
4 116 (6.59%) SC Cleared
5 74 (4.21%) Master's Degree
6 70 (3.98%) DV Cleared
7 40 (2.27%) Computer Science Degree
8 30 (1.71%) Chartered Engineer
9 27 (1.53%) CISSP
9 27 (1.53%) HNC
10 26 (1.48%) PhD
11 24 (1.36%) ACCA
11 24 (1.36%) CIMA
12 22 (1.25%) CISM
12 22 (1.25%) PMI Certification
13 21 (1.19%) AWS Certification
13 21 (1.19%) CISA
13 21 (1.19%) SANS
14 19 (1.08%) HND
15 17 (0.97%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 299 (17.00%) Data Quality
2 238 (13.53%) QA
3 74 (4.21%) Accessibility
4 57 (3.24%) GDPR
5 38 (2.16%) GRC
6 25 (1.42%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 24 (1.36%) IEC 61508
8 20 (1.14%) NIST
9 18 (1.02%) SLA
10 17 (0.97%) PMO
11 15 (0.85%) IFRS
12 14 (0.80%) GAAP
13 13 (0.74%) GxP
13 13 (0.74%) ISO 26262
13 13 (0.74%) ISO 9001
13 13 (0.74%) WCAG
14 12 (0.68%) ISO/IEC 15288
15 11 (0.63%) COBIT
15 11 (0.63%) SOC 2
16 10 (0.57%) GMP
System Software
1 76 (4.32%) Docker
2 62 (3.52%) Firmware
3 41 (2.33%) Active Directory
4 27 (1.53%) Embedded Firmware
4 27 (1.53%) Virtual Machines
5 21 (1.19%) vSphere
6 16 (0.91%) VMware Infrastructure
7 7 (0.40%) KVM
8 4 (0.23%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.11%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.057%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.057%) ProxySG
10 1 (0.057%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 77 (4.38%) Kubernetes
2 74 (4.21%) Terraform
3 40 (2.27%) Grafana
4 26 (1.48%) Ansible
5 24 (1.36%) Functional Safety
6 17 (0.97%) Prometheus
7 12 (0.68%) Puppet
8 10 (0.57%) Cilium
9 7 (0.40%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 7 (0.40%) Kibana
9 7 (0.40%) SCCM
9 7 (0.40%) Single Sign-On
10 4 (0.23%) Argo
10 4 (0.23%) Microsoft Intune
10 4 (0.23%) Nessus
10 4 (0.23%) Nmap
11 3 (0.17%) FortiGate
11 3 (0.17%) Rancher
11 3 (0.17%) WMI
11 3 (0.17%) yum
Vendors
1 244 (13.87%) Microsoft
2 110 (6.25%) SAP
3 99 (5.63%) Oracle
4 56 (3.18%) Salesforce
5 47 (2.67%) Databricks
6 36 (2.05%) ServiceNow
7 35 (1.99%) VMware
8 34 (1.93%) Google
8 34 (1.93%) Red Hat
9 32 (1.82%) Cisco
10 29 (1.65%) CrowdStrike
11 24 (1.36%) Palo Alto
12 22 (1.25%) Tenable
13 16 (0.91%) IBM
14 15 (0.85%) McAfee
15 14 (0.80%) Adobe
15 14 (0.80%) Foundry
16 13 (0.74%) EMC
16 13 (0.74%) Splunk
17 12 (0.68%) Workday