Validation Job Trends

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 17 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 160 157 188
Rank change year-on-year -3 +31 -44
Permanent jobs citing Validation 928 967 1,003
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.52% 1.81% 1.70%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.88% 2.00% 1.89%
Number of salaries quoted 495 354 568
10th Percentile £36,250 £37,500 £36,688
25th Percentile £41,983 £45,313 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £56,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -1.79% -13.85%
75th Percentile £77,500 £71,250 £73,750
90th Percentile £90,750 £100,000 £86,625
UK excluding London median annual salary £53,000 £52,550 £52,500
% change year-on-year +0.86% +0.10% -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 49,261 48,421 52,980
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 80.81% 90.77% 89.63%
Number of salaries quoted 29,011 23,517 40,505
10th Percentile £28,500 £35,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £42,439
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £58,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +3.45% -7.20%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £77,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +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 17 January 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 17 January 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 +6 836 £60,000 +9.09% 1,092
UK excluding London +2 595 £53,000 +0.86% 1,054
London +37 273 £75,000 +19.05% 164
Work from Home +83 240 £60,000 +9.09% 497
South East +24 194 £49,250 -14.35% 335
North of England -7 123 £55,117 +19.27% 178
Midlands +10 86 £40,000 -23.08% 141
East of England +5 77 £60,000 +9.09% 180
North West -4 77 £54,500 +14.30% 71
South West +21 70 £55,000 +4.56% 170
West Midlands +10 54 £37,500 -28.57% 69
Yorkshire -8 37 £60,000 +48.25% 78
Scotland -9 34 £51,000 -12.12% 38
East Midlands +2 32 £42,500 -5.56% 70
North East -4 9 £31,000 -25.30% 30
Wales +6 8 £65,000 +32.37% 43
Northern Ireland -16 3 - - 17

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 25 (2.69%) Confluence
2 18 (1.94%) Apache Airflow
3 12 (1.29%) Apache Spark
4 11 (1.19%) SharePoint
5 10 (1.08%) Appian
6 9 (0.97%) CMS
7 7 (0.75%) Apache
7 7 (0.75%) SugarCRM
8 5 (0.54%) Microsoft Exchange
9 4 (0.43%) Headless CMS
10 3 (0.32%) Jupyter
10 3 (0.32%) SAS
11 2 (0.22%) Kinematics
11 2 (0.22%) WordPress
12 1 (0.11%) Anypoint
12 1 (0.11%) Apache Superset
12 1 (0.11%) ArcGIS
12 1 (0.11%) FileNet
Applications
1 63 (6.79%) Microsoft Excel
1 63 (6.79%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (1.62%) MS Visio
3 14 (1.51%) Simulink
4 8 (0.86%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.75%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 4 (0.43%) Fusion 360
6 4 (0.43%) Mathcad
7 3 (0.32%) Oracle Smart View
7 3 (0.32%) Revit
8 2 (0.22%) Adobe After Effects
8 2 (0.22%) Adobe Captivate
8 2 (0.22%) Adobe Illustrator
8 2 (0.22%) Adobe Premiere
8 2 (0.22%) AutoCAD
8 2 (0.22%) Elementor
8 2 (0.22%) Photoshop
8 2 (0.22%) Weka
9 1 (0.11%) GNU Octave
9 1 (0.11%) Navisworks
Business Applications
1 20 (2.16%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (1.19%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (0.75%) Workday HCM
4 5 (0.54%) Oracle ERP
5 4 (0.43%) Markit EDM
5 4 (0.43%) SAP BPC
6 3 (0.32%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 3 (0.32%) SAP CX
7 2 (0.22%) Aladdin
7 2 (0.22%) Endur
7 2 (0.22%) IBM Planning Analytics
7 2 (0.22%) NetSuite
7 2 (0.22%) Oracle Assets
7 2 (0.22%) Oracle Cash Management
7 2 (0.22%) Oracle General Ledger
7 2 (0.22%) Oracle Payables
7 2 (0.22%) Oracle Receivables
7 2 (0.22%) Primavera
7 2 (0.22%) SAP ERP
8 1 (0.11%) SAP Business One
Cloud Services
1 139 (14.98%) Azure
2 74 (7.97%) Power Platform
3 69 (7.44%) AWS
4 43 (4.63%) SaaS
5 40 (4.31%) Azure DevOps
6 29 (3.13%) GCP
7 26 (2.80%) Snowflake
8 21 (2.26%) Azure Data Factory
8 21 (2.26%) Dynamics 365
9 20 (2.16%) dbt
10 18 (1.94%) Power Automate
11 17 (1.83%) GitHub
12 14 (1.51%) Microsoft 365
13 12 (1.29%) Amazon S3
14 11 (1.19%) Azure AI
14 11 (1.19%) Datadog
14 11 (1.19%) Entra ID
14 11 (1.19%) Figma
15 10 (1.08%) Anthropic Claude
16 9 (0.97%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 14 (1.51%) CHAP
1 14 (1.51%) Firewall
2 13 (1.40%) LAN
2 13 (1.40%) WAN
3 11 (1.19%) DNS
4 10 (1.08%) 5G
4 10 (1.08%) SD-WAN
5 8 (0.86%) HTTP
5 8 (0.86%) MQTT
6 7 (0.75%) Modbus
6 7 (0.75%) TCP/IP
6 7 (0.75%) Wireless
7 5 (0.54%) Cisco IOS
7 5 (0.54%) Ethernet VPN
7 5 (0.54%) SMTP
7 5 (0.54%) VoIP
7 5 (0.54%) WAAS
8 4 (0.43%) Internet
8 4 (0.43%) OSPF
8 4 (0.43%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 71 (7.65%) Power BI
2 33 (3.56%) Data Warehouse
3 30 (3.23%) SQL Server
4 25 (2.69%) Metadata
5 23 (2.48%) Tableau
6 19 (2.05%) Relational Database
7 14 (1.51%) BigQuery
7 14 (1.51%) Oracle Reports
8 10 (1.08%) Data Lake
8 10 (1.08%) Pinecone
8 10 (1.08%) Spotfire
9 9 (0.97%) Amazon Redshift
10 8 (0.86%) Big Data
11 7 (0.75%) Looker
11 7 (0.75%) PostgreSQL
12 6 (0.65%) Azure SQL Database
12 6 (0.65%) GIS
12 6 (0.65%) NoSQL
12 6 (0.65%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 5 (0.54%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 75 (8.08%) JIRA
2 50 (5.39%) Rational DOORS
3 44 (4.74%) Git
4 23 (2.48%) Postman
5 19 (2.05%) Jenkins
6 14 (1.51%) Selenium
6 14 (1.51%) TestRail
7 13 (1.40%) Cucumber
8 12 (1.29%) JMeter
8 12 (1.29%) MLflow
9 11 (1.19%) LabVIEW
10 10 (1.08%) GitLab
11 9 (0.97%) SoapUI
12 8 (0.86%) Eclipse
13 7 (0.75%) LoadRunner
13 7 (0.75%) Locust
14 6 (0.65%) Zephyr
15 5 (0.54%) Charles Proxy
15 5 (0.54%) Robot Framework
15 5 (0.54%) SpecFlow
General
1 336 (36.21%) Social Skills
2 265 (28.56%) Finance
3 199 (21.44%) Analytical Skills
4 60 (6.47%) Electronics
5 57 (6.14%) Banking
6 45 (4.85%) Manufacturing
6 45 (4.85%) Presentation Skills
7 43 (4.63%) Marketing
8 39 (4.20%) Financial Institution
9 38 (4.09%) Aerospace
10 35 (3.77%) Documentation Skills
10 35 (3.77%) Law
11 32 (3.45%) Organisational Skills
11 32 (3.45%) Public Sector
12 30 (3.23%) Telecoms
13 27 (2.91%) Retail
14 26 (2.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 25 (2.69%) Legal
16 23 (2.48%) Pharmaceutical
17 18 (1.94%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 147 (15.84%) Analyst
2 134 (14.44%) Senior
3 100 (10.78%) Systems Engineer
4 79 (8.51%) Lead
5 53 (5.71%) Architect
5 53 (5.71%) Business Analyst
6 45 (4.85%) Test Engineer
7 38 (4.09%) Validation Engineer
8 35 (3.77%) Junior
9 34 (3.66%) Data Analyst
9 34 (3.66%) Developer
9 34 (3.66%) Integration Engineer
10 33 (3.56%) Data Engineer
11 32 (3.45%) Applications Engineer
11 32 (3.45%) Principal Engineer
12 31 (3.34%) Applications Support
13 28 (3.02%) Support Engineer
14 26 (2.80%) Applications Support Engineer
15 25 (2.69%) Solutions Architect
15 25 (2.69%) Systems Integration Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (5.17%) REST
2 28 (3.02%) Middleware
3 25 (2.69%) Pandas
4 24 (2.59%) JSON
5 22 (2.37%) pytest
6 21 (2.26%) scikit-learn
7 19 (2.05%) XML
8 18 (1.94%) PyTorch
8 18 (1.94%) TensorFlow
9 16 (1.72%) NumPy
10 15 (1.62%) OAuth
11 14 (1.51%) CSS
11 14 (1.51%) FastAPI
11 14 (1.51%) JWT
11 14 (1.51%) Swagger
11 14 (1.51%) Web Services
12 13 (1.40%) Flask
12 13 (1.40%) HTML
13 12 (1.29%) React
14 11 (1.19%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 63 (6.79%) Management Information System
2 37 (3.99%) Onboarding
3 35 (3.77%) Product Ownership
4 26 (2.80%) Self-Motivation
5 23 (2.48%) Life Science
6 22 (2.37%) Legacy Systems
7 19 (2.05%) Low-Code
8 17 (1.83%) Algorithms
8 17 (1.83%) Data Structures
9 15 (1.62%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 14 (1.51%) SCADA
11 13 (1.40%) Analytical Mindset
12 12 (1.29%) Data Centre
12 12 (1.29%) Enterprise Software
13 11 (1.19%) SWIFT Messaging Network
14 10 (1.08%) Cloud Native
14 10 (1.08%) Embedded Systems
14 10 (1.08%) FPGA
14 10 (1.08%) Virtual Team
15 9 (0.97%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 52 (5.60%) Windows
2 39 (4.20%) Linux
3 12 (1.29%) Android
3 12 (1.29%) Windows Server
4 9 (0.97%) Unix
5 4 (0.43%) Apple iOS
5 4 (0.43%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 4 (0.43%) Windows 10
6 3 (0.32%) CentOS
7 2 (0.22%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.22%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.11%) AIX
8 1 (0.11%) FreeRTOS
8 1 (0.11%) Robot Operating System
8 1 (0.11%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 242 (26.08%) Agile
2 216 (23.28%) Problem-Solving
3 153 (16.49%) Verification and Validation
4 133 (14.33%) Continuous Improvement
5 121 (13.04%) Data Validation
6 120 (12.93%) Analytics
7 118 (12.72%) Migration
8 107 (11.53%) Systems Engineering
8 107 (11.53%) Test Automation
9 104 (11.21%) DevOps
10 101 (10.88%) CI/CD
11 90 (9.70%) Business Intelligence
11 90 (9.70%) ETL
12 86 (9.27%) Mentoring
13 84 (9.05%) Decision-Making
14 82 (8.84%) Data Analysis
15 80 (8.62%) Software Engineering
16 79 (8.51%) AI
17 78 (8.41%) Data Management
17 78 (8.41%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 201 (21.66%) SQL
2 172 (18.53%) Python
3 36 (3.88%) C
4 33 (3.56%) C++
4 33 (3.56%) Java
5 29 (3.13%) MATLAB
6 28 (3.02%) PowerShell
7 23 (2.48%) JavaScript
8 19 (2.05%) Bash
9 13 (1.40%) C#
10 12 (1.29%) TypeScript
11 10 (1.08%) R
12 6 (0.65%) Bicep
12 6 (0.65%) PL/SQL
12 6 (0.65%) T-SQL
13 5 (0.54%) Apex Code
13 5 (0.54%) PHP
14 4 (0.43%) Go
15 3 (0.32%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 3 (0.32%) GLSL
Qualifications
1 268 (28.88%) Degree
2 132 (14.22%) Security Cleared
3 112 (12.07%) BPSS Clearance
4 58 (6.25%) SC Cleared
5 50 (5.39%) Master's Degree
6 40 (4.31%) Computer Science Degree
7 20 (2.16%) DV Cleared
8 18 (1.94%) Cisco Certification
8 18 (1.94%) HNC
9 16 (1.72%) Chartered Engineer
9 16 (1.72%) CISA
9 16 (1.72%) CISSP
9 16 (1.72%) ISTQB
10 15 (1.62%) CGEIT
10 15 (1.62%) CISM
10 15 (1.62%) FFIEC
10 15 (1.62%) PMI Certification
10 15 (1.62%) PMP
10 15 (1.62%) SANS
11 14 (1.51%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 118 (12.72%) QA
2 106 (11.42%) Data Quality
3 47 (5.06%) ISO/IEC 15288
4 33 (3.56%) Accessibility
4 33 (3.56%) GDPR
4 33 (3.56%) SLA
5 18 (1.94%) NIST
6 17 (1.83%) ISO/IEC 12207
7 15 (1.62%) COBIT
8 12 (1.29%) WCAG
9 11 (1.19%) GxP
9 11 (1.19%) ISO 20022
9 11 (1.19%) SEPA
10 10 (1.08%) Good Clinical Practice
11 9 (0.97%) GRC
11 9 (0.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
12 8 (0.86%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 7 (0.75%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 7 (0.75%) TARGET2
14 5 (0.54%) ARP4761
System Software
1 50 (5.39%) Docker
2 24 (2.59%) Firmware
3 13 (1.40%) Active Directory
4 6 (0.65%) Embedded Firmware
4 6 (0.65%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.22%) Ceph
5 2 (0.22%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.22%) Lustre
5 2 (0.22%) Microsoft Virtual Server
5 2 (0.22%) Slurm Workload Manager
5 2 (0.22%) vCloud
5 2 (0.22%) Virtual Servers
5 2 (0.22%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.22%) vSphere
6 1 (0.11%) Dovecot
6 1 (0.11%) iptables
6 1 (0.11%) OpenAM
6 1 (0.11%) OpenIDM
6 1 (0.11%) pfSense
6 1 (0.11%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 42 (4.53%) Kubernetes
2 22 (2.37%) Terraform
3 18 (1.94%) Grafana
4 16 (1.72%) Ansible
5 9 (0.97%) Microsoft Intune
6 8 (0.86%) Prometheus
7 7 (0.75%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 5 (0.54%) SCCM
9 4 (0.43%) Argo
9 4 (0.43%) Rancher
9 4 (0.43%) yum
10 2 (0.22%) BMC PATROL
10 2 (0.22%) Docker Swarm
10 2 (0.22%) Functional Safety
10 2 (0.22%) Kubeflow
10 2 (0.22%) Nessus
10 2 (0.22%) Puppet
11 1 (0.11%) Control-M
11 1 (0.11%) Progress Chef
11 1 (0.11%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 119 (12.82%) Microsoft
2 53 (5.71%) SAP
3 34 (3.66%) Oracle
4 29 (3.13%) Salesforce
5 28 (3.02%) Cisco
6 24 (2.59%) IBM
7 15 (1.62%) Foundry
8 13 (1.40%) Software AG
9 12 (1.29%) OpenAI
10 11 (1.19%) CheckPoint
10 11 (1.19%) F5
10 11 (1.19%) ServiceNow
11 10 (1.08%) Adobe
11 10 (1.08%) Automation Anywhere
11 10 (1.08%) UiPath
11 10 (1.08%) VMware
12 9 (0.97%) Splunk
12 9 (0.97%) Workday
13 8 (0.86%) Databricks
13 8 (0.86%) Intapp