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 30 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 72 93 178
Rank change year-on-year +21 +85 +21
Permanent jobs citing Validation 2,558 1,592 1,129
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 2.17% 3.23% 1.51%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.96% 3.62% 1.85%
Number of salaries quoted 1,504 447 427
10th Percentile £35,575 £38,730 £38,734
25th Percentile £42,750 £41,250 £47,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £58,033
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -5.23% -10.72%
75th Percentile £71,250 £76,875 £77,500
90th Percentile £86,250 £90,000 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £52,600 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.56% -4.36% -4.35%

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 86,307 43,936 60,951
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.14% 89.11% 81.72%
Number of salaries quoted 59,386 24,309 33,164
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £32,500
25th Percentile £41,750 £36,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £58,033
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -5.23% -3.28%
75th Percentile £79,641 £75,000 £77,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £96,250 £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 30 September 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 30 September 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 +17 2,357 £58,500 +6.36% 3,739
UK excluding London -4 1,851 £55,000 +4.56% 2,309
Work from Home +134 677 £60,000 -3.23% 1,401
London +70 610 £69,375 -13.28% 1,671
South East -15 502 £62,500 +16.28% 564
North of England +117 472 £52,951 +11.05% 430
North West +110 294 £55,000 +9.94% 224
Midlands -24 293 £50,000 -9.09% 331
South West +21 248 £55,000 +4.56% 302
East of England -41 203 £55,000 -8.33% 306
West Midlands +45 167 £50,000 -9.09% 231
East Midlands -50 126 £50,000 +17.65% 100
Yorkshire +19 92 £42,500 - 142
Scotland +56 88 £70,000 +18.61% 287
North East +4 86 £55,000 +57.14% 66
Wales -38 43 £70,000 +16.67% 47
Northern Ireland -86 5 - - 73
Isle of Man - 5 £38,500 - 2

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 51 (1.99%) Apache Spark
2 46 (1.80%) Apache Airflow
3 43 (1.68%) Apache
4 38 (1.49%) Confluence
5 37 (1.45%) SharePoint
6 20 (0.78%) Jupyter
7 15 (0.59%) Microsoft Exchange
8 13 (0.51%) SAS
9 10 (0.39%) WinCC
10 6 (0.23%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 4 (0.16%) CMS
11 4 (0.16%) Palantir Foundry
12 3 (0.12%) Artix
12 3 (0.12%) nginx
12 3 (0.12%) OpenStack
12 3 (0.12%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 2 (0.078%) Cloud Foundry
13 2 (0.078%) IIS
14 1 (0.039%) Oracle Workflow
14 1 (0.039%) WebSphere
Applications
1 148 (5.79%) Microsoft Excel
2 70 (2.74%) Microsoft Office
3 55 (2.15%) Simulink
4 36 (1.41%) Microsoft Project
5 25 (0.98%) Spreadsheet
6 20 (0.78%) AutoCAD
6 20 (0.78%) SOLIDWORKS
7 16 (0.63%) MS Visio
8 13 (0.51%) Revit
9 10 (0.39%) Microsoft PowerPoint
10 9 (0.35%) OrCAD
11 8 (0.31%) EPLAN
11 8 (0.31%) Navisworks
12 5 (0.20%) LaTeX
12 5 (0.20%) Mathcad
13 4 (0.16%) CANalyzer
13 4 (0.16%) Stateflow
14 3 (0.12%) Autodesk Inventor
14 3 (0.12%) Notion
14 3 (0.12%) Productboard
Business Applications
1 44 (1.72%) SAP S/4HANA
2 42 (1.64%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.43%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.39%) Workday HCM
5 9 (0.35%) iTrent
5 9 (0.35%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.31%) NetSuite
6 8 (0.31%) Oracle Applications
7 7 (0.27%) Infor M3
7 7 (0.27%) SAP ERP
7 7 (0.27%) Teamcenter
8 6 (0.23%) Elite 3E
9 5 (0.20%) Oracle Financials
9 5 (0.20%) SAP MDG-BP
10 4 (0.16%) Maximo
10 4 (0.16%) Salesforce CRM
10 4 (0.16%) SAP MM
11 3 (0.12%) Oracle Payables
11 3 (0.12%) Oracle Receivables
11 3 (0.12%) Sage 200
Cloud Services
1 337 (13.17%) Azure
2 277 (10.83%) AWS
3 189 (7.39%) Power Platform
4 104 (4.07%) GCP
5 86 (3.36%) Azure DevOps
6 78 (3.05%) GitHub
7 75 (2.93%) SaaS
8 70 (2.74%) Serverless
9 68 (2.66%) Microsoft 365
10 47 (1.84%) Amazon S3
11 43 (1.68%) Entra ID
12 41 (1.60%) Dynamics 365
13 38 (1.49%) GitHub Actions
14 36 (1.41%) Microsoft Copilot
15 30 (1.17%) Microsoft Purview
16 29 (1.13%) Azure Data Factory
17 27 (1.06%) Amazon EMR
18 26 (1.02%) Azure Service Bus
18 26 (1.02%) Cloud Computing
19 25 (0.98%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 70 (2.74%) DNS
2 69 (2.70%) Firewall
3 55 (2.15%) Broadband
4 43 (1.68%) VPN
4 43 (1.68%) Wireless
5 40 (1.56%) Ethernet
6 39 (1.52%) Network Security
6 39 (1.52%) TCP/IP
7 37 (1.45%) WAN
8 35 (1.37%) Modbus
9 32 (1.25%) VLAN
10 30 (1.17%) LAN
11 28 (1.09%) OSPF
12 25 (0.98%) MQTT
13 24 (0.94%) Wireshark
14 23 (0.90%) SD-WAN
15 21 (0.82%) BGP
16 19 (0.74%) 5G
17 17 (0.66%) HTTP
17 17 (0.66%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 173 (6.76%) Power BI
2 71 (2.78%) Metadata
3 64 (2.50%) Data Warehouse
4 56 (2.19%) Data Lake
5 53 (2.07%) SQL Server
6 49 (1.92%) PostgreSQL
7 40 (1.56%) Amazon Athena
8 39 (1.52%) Relational Database
8 39 (1.52%) Tableau
9 32 (1.25%) MongoDB
10 28 (1.09%) BigQuery
11 27 (1.06%) Big Data
11 27 (1.06%) NoSQL
12 25 (0.98%) DynamoDB
13 24 (0.94%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 23 (0.90%) Azure SQL Database
15 22 (0.86%) Amazon Redshift
16 20 (0.78%) Power Query
16 20 (0.78%) Semantic Layer
17 19 (0.74%) Delta Lake
Development Applications
1 144 (5.63%) JIRA
2 130 (5.08%) Git
3 63 (2.46%) Jenkins
4 57 (2.23%) GitLab
5 48 (1.88%) Rational DOORS
6 30 (1.17%) LabVIEW
6 30 (1.17%) Selenium
7 25 (0.98%) Postman
8 22 (0.86%) Snyk
9 20 (0.78%) Cypress.io
10 13 (0.51%) Burp Suite
10 13 (0.51%) Claude Code
11 12 (0.47%) JMeter
12 11 (0.43%) Eclipse
12 11 (0.43%) Rational Rhapsody
12 11 (0.43%) REST Assured
13 10 (0.39%) TeamCity
14 9 (0.35%) Cucumber
14 9 (0.35%) MLflow
14 9 (0.35%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 856 (33.46%) Social Skills
2 657 (25.68%) Finance
3 612 (23.92%) Analytical Skills
4 254 (9.93%) Manufacturing
5 247 (9.66%) Aerospace
6 241 (9.42%) Electronics
7 211 (8.25%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 142 (5.55%) Law
9 115 (4.50%) Organisational Skills
9 115 (4.50%) Public Sector
10 110 (4.30%) Banking
11 107 (4.18%) Retail
12 96 (3.75%) Telecoms
13 93 (3.64%) Marketing
14 85 (3.32%) Pharmaceutical
15 83 (3.24%) Automotive
16 59 (2.31%) Legal
17 48 (1.88%) Influencing Skills
18 47 (1.84%) Military
19 46 (1.80%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 459 (17.94%) Senior
2 312 (12.20%) Systems Engineer
3 280 (10.95%) Analyst
4 215 (8.41%) Lead
5 132 (5.16%) Data Engineer
5 132 (5.16%) Test Engineer
6 125 (4.89%) Architect
7 105 (4.10%) Developer
8 97 (3.79%) Consultant
9 92 (3.60%) Software Engineer
10 86 (3.36%) Business Analyst
11 85 (3.32%) Principal Engineer
12 80 (3.13%) Electronics Engineer
13 68 (2.66%) Data Analyst
14 64 (2.50%) Validation Engineer
15 58 (2.27%) Network Engineer
16 50 (1.95%) Automation Engineer
16 50 (1.95%) Design Engineer
17 49 (1.92%) Embedded Engineer
18 47 (1.84%) Data Scientist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 90 (3.52%) Terraform
2 62 (2.42%) REST
3 60 (2.35%) RESTful
4 59 (2.31%) Kafka
5 53 (2.07%) Node.js
6 47 (1.84%) .NET
7 45 (1.76%) PySpark
8 43 (1.68%) Playwright
9 36 (1.41%) JSON
10 34 (1.33%) XML
11 33 (1.29%) FastAPI
12 32 (1.25%) React
13 31 (1.21%) CSS
14 29 (1.13%) HTML
15 26 (1.02%) Swagger
16 25 (0.98%) Middleware
17 24 (0.94%) LDAP
18 22 (0.86%) OAuth
18 22 (0.86%) RabbitMQ
19 21 (0.82%) ModSecurity
Miscellaneous
1 168 (6.57%) Cloud Native
2 147 (5.75%) Management Information System
3 128 (5.00%) Onboarding
4 87 (3.40%) Product Ownership
5 81 (3.17%) Data Centre
6 70 (2.74%) Embedded Systems
7 68 (2.66%) Driving Licence
8 62 (2.42%) Data Structures
8 62 (2.42%) Distributed Systems
9 59 (2.31%) Enterprise Software
10 55 (2.15%) Algorithms
11 54 (2.11%) AI Agents
11 54 (2.11%) SCADA
12 47 (1.84%) Life Science
13 43 (1.68%) IoT
14 41 (1.60%) Analytical Mindset
15 40 (1.56%) Legacy Systems
16 38 (1.49%) Low-Code
16 38 (1.49%) Robotics
17 37 (1.45%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 134 (5.24%) Linux
2 94 (3.67%) Windows
3 31 (1.21%) Windows Server
4 26 (1.02%) Unix
5 14 (0.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (0.39%) Android
7 8 (0.31%) Embedded Linux
7 8 (0.31%) Mac OS
8 6 (0.23%) FreeRTOS
9 4 (0.16%) Kali Linux
9 4 (0.16%) Mac OS X
10 3 (0.12%) Apple iOS
11 2 (0.078%) Robot Operating System
11 2 (0.078%) VMS
11 2 (0.078%) Windows 10
12 1 (0.039%) AIX
12 1 (0.039%) OpenWrt
12 1 (0.039%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 669 (26.15%) Problem-Solving
2 579 (22.63%) Continuous Improvement
3 466 (18.22%) Agile
4 465 (18.18%) Verification and Validation
5 429 (16.77%) AI
6 357 (13.96%) CI/CD
7 346 (13.53%) Stakeholder Management
8 324 (12.67%) Test Automation
9 320 (12.51%) Migration
10 275 (10.75%) Mentoring
11 273 (10.67%) Analytics
12 256 (10.01%) Software Engineering
13 245 (9.58%) Decision-Making
14 238 (9.30%) DevOps
15 228 (8.91%) Data Analysis
16 227 (8.87%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 215 (8.41%) Business Intelligence
18 207 (8.09%) Roadmaps
19 199 (7.78%) Machine Learning
20 198 (7.74%) Data Migration
Programming Languages
1 526 (20.56%) Python
2 452 (17.67%) SQL
3 105 (4.10%) Java
4 95 (3.71%) C++
5 86 (3.36%) C
6 76 (2.97%) JavaScript
7 72 (2.81%) C#
7 72 (2.81%) MATLAB
8 48 (1.88%) Go
9 36 (1.41%) Bash
10 34 (1.33%) TypeScript
11 33 (1.29%) PowerShell
12 29 (1.13%) Embedded C
13 28 (1.09%) R
14 25 (0.98%) Scala
15 18 (0.70%) Embedded C++
16 17 (0.66%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 12 (0.47%) Shell Script
18 10 (0.39%) Apex Code
18 10 (0.39%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 555 (21.70%) Degree
1 555 (21.70%) Security Cleared
2 415 (16.22%) SC Cleared
3 125 (4.89%) BPSS Clearance
4 108 (4.22%) DV Cleared
5 95 (3.71%) Master's Degree
6 55 (2.15%) Computer Science Degree
7 44 (1.72%) HND
7 44 (1.72%) PhD
8 40 (1.56%) Chartered Engineer
9 37 (1.45%) HNC
9 37 (1.45%) PMI Certification
10 32 (1.25%) CISSP
11 30 (1.17%) ACCA
12 29 (1.13%) Azure Certification
13 28 (1.09%) AWS Certification
14 27 (1.06%) CIMA
15 26 (1.02%) PMP
16 21 (0.82%) Cisco Certification
16 21 (0.82%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 383 (14.97%) Data Quality
2 309 (12.08%) QA
3 81 (3.17%) Accessibility
4 64 (2.50%) GDPR
5 37 (1.45%) GRC
6 33 (1.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 28 (1.09%) GxP
8 25 (0.98%) SLA
9 23 (0.90%) NIST
10 20 (0.78%) IEC 61508
11 16 (0.63%) ISO 9001
11 16 (0.63%) ISO/IEC 15288
12 15 (0.59%) GMP
12 15 (0.59%) PMO
13 13 (0.51%) ISO 19650
13 13 (0.51%) ISO 26262
13 13 (0.51%) SOC 2
14 12 (0.47%) WCAG
15 10 (0.39%) GAAP
16 9 (0.35%) JTAG
System Software
1 103 (4.03%) Docker
2 102 (3.99%) Firmware
3 48 (1.88%) Active Directory
4 45 (1.76%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.09%) Virtual Machines
6 16 (0.63%) vSphere
7 8 (0.31%) VMware Infrastructure
8 6 (0.23%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.12%) KVM
10 2 (0.078%) iptables
10 2 (0.078%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.078%) Virtual Servers
10 2 (0.078%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.039%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 90 (3.52%) Kubernetes
2 45 (1.76%) Grafana
3 34 (1.33%) Ansible
4 32 (1.25%) Functional Safety
5 18 (0.70%) Single Sign-On
6 17 (0.66%) Prometheus
7 11 (0.43%) Microsoft Intune
8 10 (0.39%) Puppet
9 9 (0.35%) Cilium
10 8 (0.31%) BMC PATROL
10 8 (0.31%) Kibana
10 8 (0.31%) Nessus
10 8 (0.31%) Nmap
11 5 (0.20%) Argo
11 5 (0.20%) WMI
12 4 (0.16%) FortiGate
12 4 (0.16%) Kubeflow
12 4 (0.16%) Rancher
12 4 (0.16%) SCCM
12 4 (0.16%) yum
Vendors
1 338 (13.21%) Microsoft
2 129 (5.04%) SAP
3 104 (4.07%) Oracle
4 68 (2.66%) Databricks
4 68 (2.66%) Salesforce
5 66 (2.58%) EMC
6 54 (2.11%) Cisco
6 54 (2.11%) ServiceNow
7 42 (1.64%) Google
8 32 (1.25%) CrowdStrike
9 28 (1.09%) Palo Alto
10 27 (1.06%) Thales
11 25 (0.98%) Sage
12 23 (0.90%) IBM
12 23 (0.90%) Tenable
13 22 (0.86%) Siemens
13 22 (0.86%) VMware
14 21 (0.82%) Informatica
15 18 (0.70%) Autodesk
15 18 (0.70%) Red Hat