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 5 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 73 92 174
Rank change year-on-year +19 +82 +32
Permanent jobs citing Validation 2,581 1,597 1,134
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 2.19% 3.22% 1.53%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.99% 3.61% 1.87%
Number of salaries quoted 1,505 446 425
10th Percentile £35,850 £38,725 £38,734
25th Percentile £42,750 £41,250 £46,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,490 £55,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +8.16% -4.35% -11.54%
75th Percentile £71,250 £77,188 £77,500
90th Percentile £86,250 £89,375 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £52,600 £54,500
% change year-on-year +4.56% -3.49% -5.22%

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 86,353 44,239 60,788
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.12% 89.09% 81.92%
Number of salaries quoted 59,227 24,477 32,914
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,250 £32,500
25th Percentile £41,250 £36,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £59,430
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -7.45% -0.95%
75th Percentile £78,750 £75,000 £77,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £96,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year +15.79% -9.52% -2.78%

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 5 October 2026.

Salary histogram for Validation in the UK

Validation
Top 18 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 5 October 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 +20 2,376 £57,500 +4.55% 4,440
UK excluding London -3 1,865 £55,000 +4.56% 2,873
Work from Home +135 676 £60,000 -5.88% 1,702
London +68 618 £68,750 -14.06% 1,986
South East -15 498 £62,500 +16.28% 718
North of England +124 480 £50,750 +6.64% 511
Midlands -17 301 £50,000 -9.09% 410
North West +108 299 £55,000 +9.94% 269
South West +24 243 £55,000 +4.56% 319
East of England -36 207 £55,000 -10.20% 359
West Midlands +51 170 £47,500 -13.64% 266
East Midlands -43 131 £50,000 +17.65% 144
Yorkshire +21 93 £42,500 - 163
Scotland +40 91 £70,000 +18.61% 403
North East +6 88 £55,000 +57.14% 82
Wales -30 44 £70,000 +12.00% 88
Isle of Man - 5 £38,500 - 4
Northern Ireland -79 4 - - 101

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 52 (2.01%) Apache Spark
2 46 (1.78%) Apache Airflow
3 45 (1.74%) Apache
4 38 (1.47%) Confluence
5 37 (1.43%) SharePoint
6 20 (0.77%) Jupyter
7 18 (0.70%) CMS
8 13 (0.50%) Microsoft Exchange
8 13 (0.50%) SAS
9 10 (0.39%) WinCC
10 6 (0.23%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 3 (0.12%) Artix
11 3 (0.12%) nginx
11 3 (0.12%) OpenStack
11 3 (0.12%) Oracle SOA Suite
11 3 (0.12%) Palantir Foundry
12 2 (0.077%) Cloud Foundry
12 2 (0.077%) IIS
13 1 (0.039%) ArcGIS
13 1 (0.039%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
Applications
1 152 (5.89%) Microsoft Excel
2 71 (2.75%) Microsoft Office
3 55 (2.13%) Simulink
4 37 (1.43%) Microsoft Project
5 29 (1.12%) Spreadsheet
6 21 (0.81%) AutoCAD
7 19 (0.74%) SOLIDWORKS
8 16 (0.62%) MS Visio
9 15 (0.58%) Revit
10 11 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
10 11 (0.43%) OrCAD
11 10 (0.39%) Navisworks
12 8 (0.31%) EPLAN
13 6 (0.23%) Notion
14 5 (0.19%) LaTeX
14 5 (0.19%) Mathcad
14 5 (0.19%) Stateflow
15 4 (0.15%) CANalyzer
16 3 (0.12%) Autodesk Inventor
16 3 (0.12%) Productboard
Business Applications
1 45 (1.74%) SAP S/4HANA
2 39 (1.51%) Dynamics CRM
3 10 (0.39%) SAP MDG
3 10 (0.39%) Workday HCM
4 9 (0.35%) iTrent
5 8 (0.31%) NetSuite
5 8 (0.31%) Oracle EBS
6 7 (0.27%) Infor M3
6 7 (0.27%) Oracle Applications
6 7 (0.27%) SAP ERP
6 7 (0.27%) Teamcenter
7 5 (0.19%) Elite 3E
7 5 (0.19%) Maximo
7 5 (0.19%) Oracle Financials
8 4 (0.15%) Salesforce CRM
8 4 (0.15%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.15%) SAP MM
9 3 (0.12%) Oracle ERP
9 3 (0.12%) Sage 200
9 3 (0.12%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 343 (13.29%) Azure
2 279 (10.81%) AWS
3 189 (7.32%) Power Platform
4 103 (3.99%) GCP
5 84 (3.25%) Azure DevOps
6 82 (3.18%) GitHub
7 75 (2.91%) SaaS
8 68 (2.63%) Microsoft 365
8 68 (2.63%) Serverless
9 48 (1.86%) Amazon S3
10 44 (1.70%) Entra ID
11 39 (1.51%) GitHub Actions
12 36 (1.39%) Dynamics 365
13 35 (1.36%) Microsoft Copilot
14 31 (1.20%) Microsoft Purview
15 28 (1.08%) Amazon EMR
15 28 (1.08%) Azure Data Factory
16 27 (1.05%) Cloud Computing
17 26 (1.01%) AWS Lambda
18 25 (0.97%) Azure Service Bus
Communications & Networking
1 70 (2.71%) DNS
1 70 (2.71%) Firewall
2 56 (2.17%) Broadband
3 44 (1.70%) Wireless
4 43 (1.67%) VPN
5 42 (1.63%) TCP/IP
6 39 (1.51%) Ethernet
7 38 (1.47%) Network Security
8 37 (1.43%) WAN
9 36 (1.39%) Modbus
10 34 (1.32%) VLAN
11 31 (1.20%) OSPF
12 30 (1.16%) LAN
13 26 (1.01%) Wireshark
14 25 (0.97%) MQTT
15 23 (0.89%) BGP
15 23 (0.89%) SD-WAN
16 19 (0.74%) 5G
17 18 (0.70%) DHCP
18 17 (0.66%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 174 (6.74%) Power BI
2 74 (2.87%) Metadata
3 63 (2.44%) Data Warehouse
4 55 (2.13%) Data Lake
5 54 (2.09%) SQL Server
6 49 (1.90%) PostgreSQL
7 41 (1.59%) Amazon Athena
8 39 (1.51%) Tableau
9 38 (1.47%) Relational Database
10 31 (1.20%) MongoDB
11 28 (1.08%) Big Data
11 28 (1.08%) BigQuery
11 28 (1.08%) NoSQL
12 24 (0.93%) DynamoDB
13 22 (0.85%) Amazon Redshift
13 22 (0.85%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 21 (0.81%) Azure SQL Database
14 21 (0.81%) Power Query
15 19 (0.74%) MySQL
15 19 (0.74%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 143 (5.54%) JIRA
2 131 (5.08%) Git
3 64 (2.48%) Jenkins
4 61 (2.36%) GitLab
5 46 (1.78%) Rational DOORS
6 31 (1.20%) LabVIEW
7 27 (1.05%) Selenium
8 24 (0.93%) Postman
9 20 (0.77%) Cypress.io
10 19 (0.74%) Snyk
11 13 (0.50%) Burp Suite
11 13 (0.50%) Claude Code
12 11 (0.43%) Eclipse
12 11 (0.43%) JMeter
12 11 (0.43%) Rational Rhapsody
12 11 (0.43%) REST Assured
12 11 (0.43%) Sonatype Nexus
13 9 (0.35%) Cucumber
13 9 (0.35%) MLflow
14 8 (0.31%) Gatling
General
1 873 (33.82%) Social Skills
2 667 (25.84%) Finance
3 609 (23.60%) Analytical Skills
4 259 (10.03%) Manufacturing
5 253 (9.80%) Aerospace
6 245 (9.49%) Electronics
7 225 (8.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 141 (5.46%) Law
9 117 (4.53%) Organisational Skills
9 117 (4.53%) Public Sector
10 110 (4.26%) Banking
10 110 (4.26%) Marketing
11 102 (3.95%) Retail
12 98 (3.80%) Telecoms
13 85 (3.29%) Pharmaceutical
14 83 (3.22%) Automotive
15 58 (2.25%) Legal
16 50 (1.94%) Documentation Skills
17 47 (1.82%) Military
18 42 (1.63%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 462 (17.90%) Senior
2 307 (11.89%) Systems Engineer
3 273 (10.58%) Analyst
4 217 (8.41%) Lead
5 132 (5.11%) Data Engineer
6 127 (4.92%) Test Engineer
7 121 (4.69%) Architect
8 108 (4.18%) Developer
9 96 (3.72%) Consultant
10 92 (3.56%) Software Engineer
11 84 (3.25%) Electronics Engineer
12 83 (3.22%) Principal Engineer
13 80 (3.10%) Business Analyst
14 68 (2.63%) Data Analyst
15 61 (2.36%) Validation Engineer
16 60 (2.32%) Network Engineer
17 54 (2.09%) Design Engineer
18 52 (2.01%) Automation Engineer
19 48 (1.86%) Administrator
20 47 (1.82%) Data Scientist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 88 (3.41%) Terraform
2 63 (2.44%) REST
3 61 (2.36%) RESTful
4 59 (2.29%) Kafka
5 54 (2.09%) Node.js
6 51 (1.98%) .NET
7 43 (1.67%) Playwright
7 43 (1.67%) PySpark
8 38 (1.47%) JSON
9 34 (1.32%) FastAPI
9 34 (1.32%) XML
10 33 (1.28%) CSS
10 33 (1.28%) React
11 31 (1.20%) HTML
12 26 (1.01%) Swagger
13 23 (0.89%) LDAP
13 23 (0.89%) RabbitMQ
14 22 (0.85%) OAuth
15 21 (0.81%) Middleware
15 21 (0.81%) ModSecurity
Miscellaneous
1 170 (6.59%) Cloud Native
2 149 (5.77%) Management Information System
3 145 (5.62%) Onboarding
4 86 (3.33%) Product Ownership
5 79 (3.06%) Data Centre
6 72 (2.79%) Driving Licence
7 71 (2.75%) Embedded Systems
8 65 (2.52%) Distributed Systems
9 63 (2.44%) Data Structures
10 60 (2.32%) Enterprise Software
11 58 (2.25%) AI Agents
12 56 (2.17%) Algorithms
13 55 (2.13%) SCADA
14 48 (1.86%) Life Science
15 42 (1.63%) IoT
16 41 (1.59%) Legacy Systems
17 40 (1.55%) Robotics
18 39 (1.51%) Analytical Mindset
19 37 (1.43%) Analogue Electronics
19 37 (1.43%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 132 (5.11%) Linux
2 93 (3.60%) Windows
3 31 (1.20%) Windows Server
4 26 (1.01%) Unix
5 13 (0.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (0.39%) Android
7 8 (0.31%) Embedded Linux
7 8 (0.31%) Mac OS
8 5 (0.19%) FreeRTOS
9 4 (0.15%) Kali Linux
9 4 (0.15%) Mac OS X
10 3 (0.12%) Apple iOS
11 2 (0.077%) Robot Operating System
11 2 (0.077%) VMS
11 2 (0.077%) Windows 10
12 1 (0.039%) AIX
12 1 (0.039%) OpenWrt
12 1 (0.039%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 679 (26.31%) Problem-Solving
2 586 (22.70%) Continuous Improvement
3 468 (18.13%) Agile
3 468 (18.13%) Verification and Validation
4 446 (17.28%) AI
5 358 (13.87%) CI/CD
6 347 (13.44%) Stakeholder Management
7 328 (12.71%) Test Automation
8 319 (12.36%) Migration
9 274 (10.62%) Analytics
10 273 (10.58%) Mentoring
11 256 (9.92%) Software Engineering
12 246 (9.53%) Decision-Making
13 240 (9.30%) DevOps
14 228 (8.83%) Data Analysis
15 226 (8.76%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 213 (8.25%) Business Intelligence
17 208 (8.06%) Roadmaps
18 202 (7.83%) Machine Learning
19 200 (7.75%) Data Migration
Programming Languages
1 532 (20.61%) Python
2 457 (17.71%) SQL
3 108 (4.18%) Java
4 95 (3.68%) C++
5 89 (3.45%) C
6 78 (3.02%) JavaScript
7 77 (2.98%) C#
8 71 (2.75%) MATLAB
9 47 (1.82%) Go
10 36 (1.39%) Bash
11 35 (1.36%) PowerShell
11 35 (1.36%) TypeScript
12 30 (1.16%) Embedded C
13 29 (1.12%) R
14 25 (0.97%) Scala
15 20 (0.77%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 18 (0.70%) Embedded C++
17 12 (0.46%) Shell Script
18 11 (0.43%) Apex Code
19 9 (0.35%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 563 (21.81%) Security Cleared
2 557 (21.58%) Degree
3 426 (16.51%) SC Cleared
4 126 (4.88%) BPSS Clearance
5 106 (4.11%) DV Cleared
6 96 (3.72%) Master's Degree
7 53 (2.05%) Computer Science Degree
8 46 (1.78%) HND
9 44 (1.70%) PhD
10 39 (1.51%) Chartered Engineer
11 37 (1.43%) HNC
12 36 (1.39%) PMI Certification
13 32 (1.24%) CISSP
14 31 (1.20%) Azure Certification
15 30 (1.16%) ACCA
16 28 (1.08%) AWS Certification
17 27 (1.05%) CIMA
18 26 (1.01%) PMP
19 23 (0.89%) Cisco Certification
20 21 (0.81%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 384 (14.88%) Data Quality
2 314 (12.17%) QA
3 86 (3.33%) Accessibility
4 65 (2.52%) GDPR
5 33 (1.28%) GRC
5 33 (1.28%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 28 (1.08%) GxP
7 25 (0.97%) SLA
8 23 (0.89%) NIST
9 19 (0.74%) IEC 61508
10 18 (0.70%) ISO 9001
11 16 (0.62%) GMP
12 15 (0.58%) ISO 19650
12 15 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 15288
13 12 (0.46%) ISO 26262
13 12 (0.46%) SOC 2
13 12 (0.46%) WCAG
14 11 (0.43%) PMO
15 9 (0.35%) GAAP
15 9 (0.35%) JTAG
System Software
1 110 (4.26%) Docker
2 104 (4.03%) Firmware
3 49 (1.90%) Active Directory
4 46 (1.78%) Embedded Firmware
5 25 (0.97%) Virtual Machines
6 15 (0.58%) vSphere
7 8 (0.31%) VMware Infrastructure
8 6 (0.23%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.12%) KVM
10 2 (0.077%) iptables
10 2 (0.077%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.077%) Virtual Servers
10 2 (0.077%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.039%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 92 (3.56%) Kubernetes
2 45 (1.74%) Grafana
3 36 (1.39%) Ansible
4 29 (1.12%) Functional Safety
5 18 (0.70%) Single Sign-On
6 16 (0.62%) Prometheus
7 12 (0.46%) Microsoft Intune
8 10 (0.39%) Puppet
9 8 (0.31%) BMC PATROL
9 8 (0.31%) Cilium
9 8 (0.31%) Kibana
9 8 (0.31%) Nessus
9 8 (0.31%) Nmap
10 5 (0.19%) Argo
10 5 (0.19%) WMI
11 4 (0.15%) FortiGate
11 4 (0.15%) Kubeflow
11 4 (0.15%) Rancher
11 4 (0.15%) SCCM
11 4 (0.15%) yum
Vendors
1 339 (13.13%) Microsoft
2 131 (5.08%) SAP
3 103 (3.99%) Oracle
4 83 (3.22%) Salesforce
5 71 (2.75%) EMC
6 67 (2.60%) Databricks
7 56 (2.17%) Cisco
8 55 (2.13%) ServiceNow
9 44 (1.70%) Google
10 30 (1.16%) Thales
11 29 (1.12%) CrowdStrike
12 25 (0.97%) Adobe
12 25 (0.97%) Palo Alto
12 25 (0.97%) Sage
13 23 (0.89%) IBM
14 21 (0.81%) Informatica
14 21 (0.81%) Siemens
14 21 (0.81%) VMware
15 20 (0.77%) Tenable
16 18 (0.70%) Autodesk