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

6 months to
21 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 114 83 203
Rank change year-on-year -31 +120 -10
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,668 1,668 1,247
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.67% 3.39% 1.33%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.27% 3.77% 1.63%
Number of salaries quoted 1,010 498 653
10th Percentile £35,000 £39,000 £35,500
25th Percentile £42,500 £45,750 £42,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -12.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £72,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £95,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £53,000 £54,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -1.85% +2.86% -4.62%

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 73,631 44,290 76,685
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.59% 90.03% 81.87%
Number of salaries quoted 50,962 24,903 52,597
10th Percentile £30,500 £28,750 £30,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £56,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% +1.82% -8.84%
75th Percentile £78,750 £76,250 £73,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £98,474 £93,750
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 21 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 21 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 -31 1,512 £55,000 - 997
UK excluding London -47 1,125 £53,000 -1.85% 653
Work from Home +116 534 £55,000 -8.33% 416
London +82 427 £75,000 -4.76% 411
South East -46 335 £55,500 +0.91% 196
North of England +101 313 £55,000 +15.79% 154
North West +83 192 £55,000 +15.35% 90
Midlands -60 182 £42,500 -22.73% 109
South West -35 114 £50,260 -4.45% 75
East of England -75 109 £62,500 +9.65% 85
West Midlands +10 101 £43,250 -30.80% 58
East Midlands -71 79 £38,000 -10.59% 51
Yorkshire +2 65 £43,500 +2.35% 37
North East -1 56 £55,000 +29.41% 27
Scotland +8 44 £50,000 -13.84% 33
Wales -38 28 £47,500 -11.63% 11
Northern Ireland -65 2 - - 5

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 54 (3.24%) Apache Airflow
2 52 (3.12%) Apache Spark
3 49 (2.94%) Apache
4 29 (1.74%) SharePoint
5 27 (1.62%) Confluence
6 21 (1.26%) ArcGIS
7 18 (1.08%) Jupyter
8 16 (0.96%) Microsoft Exchange
9 12 (0.72%) SAS
10 5 (0.30%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 5 (0.30%) CMS
11 4 (0.24%) Kinematics
12 3 (0.18%) Artix
13 2 (0.12%) Appian
13 2 (0.12%) IIS
13 2 (0.12%) Oracle SOA Suite
14 1 (0.060%) Oracle Workflow
14 1 (0.060%) Palantir Foundry
14 1 (0.060%) WebSphere
Applications
1 91 (5.46%) Microsoft Excel
2 53 (3.18%) Microsoft Office
3 26 (1.56%) Microsoft Project
4 21 (1.26%) MS Visio
5 20 (1.20%) Simulink
6 16 (0.96%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 12 (0.72%) Spreadsheet
8 8 (0.48%) SOLIDWORKS
9 5 (0.30%) AutoCAD
9 5 (0.30%) LaTeX
10 4 (0.24%) Adobe XD
10 4 (0.24%) CANalyzer
10 4 (0.24%) Sketch
11 3 (0.18%) Autodesk Inventor
11 3 (0.18%) Productboard
11 3 (0.18%) Stateflow
12 2 (0.12%) Solid Edge
13 1 (0.060%) CATIA
13 1 (0.060%) Trello
13 1 (0.060%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 47 (2.82%) SAP S/4HANA
2 43 (2.58%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.66%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.60%) SAP ERP
5 9 (0.54%) iTrent
5 9 (0.54%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.48%) Oracle ERP
7 7 (0.42%) Oracle Applications
8 6 (0.36%) Elite 3E
9 5 (0.30%) Loan IQ
9 5 (0.30%) SAP MDG-BP
10 4 (0.24%) Oracle Financials
10 4 (0.24%) SAP MM
11 3 (0.18%) NetSuite
12 2 (0.12%) Oracle Payables
12 2 (0.12%) Oracle Receivables
12 2 (0.12%) SAP Business One
12 2 (0.12%) SAP FSCM
12 2 (0.12%) SAP PSCD
12 2 (0.12%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 249 (14.93%) Azure
2 224 (13.43%) AWS
3 164 (9.83%) Power Platform
4 81 (4.86%) SaaS
5 79 (4.74%) GCP
6 65 (3.90%) Azure DevOps
7 50 (3.00%) Serverless
8 48 (2.88%) Microsoft 365
9 41 (2.46%) Amazon S3
10 40 (2.40%) GitHub
11 34 (2.04%) Dynamics 365
12 24 (1.44%) Azure Data Factory
13 23 (1.38%) Entra ID
14 22 (1.32%) GitHub Actions
14 22 (1.32%) Snowflake
15 21 (1.26%) Cloud Computing
16 20 (1.20%) Amazon EC2
17 18 (1.08%) Amazon EMR
17 18 (1.08%) Power Automate
17 18 (1.08%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 70 (4.20%) Broadband
2 50 (3.00%) Firewall
3 37 (2.22%) DNS
4 26 (1.56%) TCP/IP
4 26 (1.56%) Wireless
5 19 (1.14%) VPN
6 18 (1.08%) Network Security
6 18 (1.08%) WAN
7 16 (0.96%) Ethernet
8 14 (0.84%) CHAP
8 14 (0.84%) Internet
8 14 (0.84%) Wi-Fi
8 14 (0.84%) Wireshark
9 13 (0.78%) MQTT
10 11 (0.66%) HTTP
10 11 (0.66%) SD-WAN
11 9 (0.54%) LAN
11 9 (0.54%) NAS
11 9 (0.54%) NGN
11 9 (0.54%) RS-232
Database & Business Intelligence
1 149 (8.93%) Power BI
2 61 (3.66%) PostgreSQL
3 59 (3.54%) Tableau
4 53 (3.18%) Data Warehouse
5 52 (3.12%) SQL Server
6 41 (2.46%) Metadata
7 34 (2.04%) MongoDB
8 32 (1.92%) Data Lake
9 30 (1.80%) Relational Database
10 26 (1.56%) BigQuery
11 25 (1.50%) QGIS
12 24 (1.44%) Semantic Layer
13 23 (1.38%) GIS
14 22 (1.32%) Azure SQL Database
14 22 (1.32%) MySQL
15 21 (1.26%) DynamoDB
16 20 (1.20%) Amazon Athena
16 20 (1.20%) Spark SQL
16 20 (1.20%) Spatial Data
17 17 (1.02%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 101 (6.06%) JIRA
2 83 (4.98%) Git
3 51 (3.06%) Jenkins
4 45 (2.70%) GitLab
5 30 (1.80%) Rational DOORS
6 22 (1.32%) Snyk
7 20 (1.20%) Selenium
8 17 (1.02%) Postman
9 14 (0.84%) LabVIEW
10 13 (0.78%) Cypress.io
10 13 (0.78%) IBM UrbanCode
10 13 (0.78%) JMeter
11 11 (0.66%) Cucumber
12 10 (0.60%) TeamCity
13 9 (0.54%) Burp Suite
14 8 (0.48%) REST Assured
15 7 (0.42%) Rational Rhapsody
16 6 (0.36%) GDB
16 6 (0.36%) MLflow
16 6 (0.36%) Zephyr
General
1 550 (32.97%) Social Skills
2 440 (26.38%) Finance
3 387 (23.20%) Analytical Skills
4 134 (8.03%) Manufacturing
5 123 (7.37%) Aerospace
6 120 (7.19%) Electronics
7 107 (6.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 90 (5.40%) Banking
9 70 (4.20%) Retail
10 64 (3.84%) Public Sector
11 56 (3.36%) Pharmaceutical
12 55 (3.30%) Law
12 55 (3.30%) Organisational Skills
13 54 (3.24%) Legal
14 46 (2.76%) Marketing
15 43 (2.58%) Games
16 41 (2.46%) Automotive
17 30 (1.80%) Documentation Skills
18 29 (1.74%) Financial Institution
19 26 (1.56%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 301 (18.05%) Senior
2 252 (15.11%) Analyst
3 135 (8.09%) Lead
4 120 (7.19%) Systems Engineer
5 104 (6.24%) Test Engineer
6 103 (6.18%) Architect
7 90 (5.40%) Data Engineer
8 89 (5.34%) Consultant
9 79 (4.74%) Business Analyst
10 77 (4.62%) Developer
11 73 (4.38%) Data Analyst
11 73 (4.38%) Validation Engineer
12 44 (2.64%) Embedded Engineer
12 44 (2.64%) Support Engineer
13 41 (2.46%) Principal Engineer
13 41 (2.46%) Software Engineer
14 40 (2.40%) IT Manager
15 39 (2.34%) Senior Systems Engineer
16 37 (2.22%) Project Manager
17 35 (2.10%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 46 (2.76%) RESTful
2 37 (2.22%) Node.js
2 37 (2.22%) PySpark
3 33 (1.98%) JSON
3 33 (1.98%) Kafka
4 32 (1.92%) XML
5 31 (1.86%) PyTorch
6 29 (1.74%) REST
7 26 (1.56%) Pandas
8 22 (1.32%) .NET
8 22 (1.32%) Middleware
9 20 (1.20%) Playwright
10 19 (1.14%) Regular Expression
10 19 (1.14%) XMPP
11 18 (1.08%) CSS
12 17 (1.02%) HTML
13 16 (0.96%) FastAPI
13 16 (0.96%) React
14 15 (0.90%) LDAP
14 15 (0.90%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 109 (6.53%) Cloud Native
2 105 (6.29%) Onboarding
3 76 (4.56%) Management Information System
4 72 (4.32%) Data Structures
5 63 (3.78%) Algorithms
6 56 (3.36%) Product Ownership
7 48 (2.88%) Data Centre
7 48 (2.88%) Embedded Systems
8 46 (2.76%) Low-Code
9 45 (2.70%) Distributed Systems
9 45 (2.70%) Driving Licence
10 41 (2.46%) Enterprise Software
11 38 (2.28%) Analytical Mindset
12 33 (1.98%) Self-Motivation
13 31 (1.86%) Life Science
13 31 (1.86%) Video\Live Streaming
14 30 (1.80%) Legacy Systems
15 26 (1.56%) IoT
16 24 (1.44%) FPGA
16 24 (1.44%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 113 (6.77%) Linux
2 83 (4.98%) Windows
3 31 (1.86%) Windows Server
4 25 (1.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (1.14%) Unix
6 6 (0.36%) Android
6 6 (0.36%) FreeRTOS
7 5 (0.30%) Embedded Linux
8 4 (0.24%) Kali Linux
8 4 (0.24%) Mac OS
8 4 (0.24%) Mac OS X
9 3 (0.18%) Robot Operating System
10 2 (0.12%) AIX
10 2 (0.12%) ThreadX
10 2 (0.12%) Windows 10
11 1 (0.060%) Apple iOS
11 1 (0.060%) CentOS
11 1 (0.060%) Rocky
11 1 (0.060%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.060%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 390 (23.38%) Problem-Solving
2 374 (22.42%) Continuous Improvement
3 350 (20.98%) Agile
4 313 (18.76%) AI
5 262 (15.71%) CI/CD
6 238 (14.27%) Analytics
7 219 (13.13%) Test Automation
8 218 (13.07%) Migration
9 198 (11.87%) Stakeholder Management
10 187 (11.21%) Mentoring
11 176 (10.55%) Business Intelligence
12 172 (10.31%) Decision-Making
13 171 (10.25%) Data Validation
14 169 (10.13%) DevOps
15 166 (9.95%) Data Analysis
16 165 (9.89%) Verification and Validation
17 160 (9.59%) Data Modelling
18 156 (9.35%) Software Engineering
19 153 (9.17%) Machine Learning
20 152 (9.11%) Collaborative Working
Programming Languages
1 431 (25.84%) Python
2 355 (21.28%) SQL
3 73 (4.38%) C++
4 69 (4.14%) C
5 68 (4.08%) Java
6 50 (3.00%) Go
7 46 (2.76%) C#
8 42 (2.52%) JavaScript
9 33 (1.98%) MATLAB
10 29 (1.74%) PowerShell
11 26 (1.56%) Bash
12 24 (1.44%) T-SQL
13 21 (1.26%) Embedded C
14 18 (1.08%) Embedded C++
15 16 (0.96%) Scala
15 16 (0.96%) TypeScript
16 15 (0.90%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 10 (0.60%) ABAP
17 10 (0.60%) R
18 9 (0.54%) VBA
Qualifications
1 328 (19.66%) Degree
2 190 (11.39%) Security Cleared
3 105 (6.29%) BPSS Clearance
4 94 (5.64%) SC Cleared
5 74 (4.44%) Master's Degree
6 51 (3.06%) DV Cleared
7 38 (2.28%) Computer Science Degree
8 30 (1.80%) Chartered Engineer
9 29 (1.74%) HNC
10 24 (1.44%) CISA
10 24 (1.44%) CISSP
10 24 (1.44%) SANS
11 22 (1.32%) PhD
12 21 (1.26%) CISM
13 20 (1.20%) ACCA
13 20 (1.20%) CIMA
14 19 (1.14%) AWS Certification
14 19 (1.14%) HND
15 16 (0.96%) ISTQB
15 16 (0.96%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 287 (17.21%) Data Quality
2 222 (13.31%) QA
3 62 (3.72%) Accessibility
4 59 (3.54%) GDPR
5 37 (2.22%) GRC
6 26 (1.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 22 (1.32%) IEC 61508
8 20 (1.20%) NIST
9 16 (0.96%) PMO
9 16 (0.96%) SLA
10 15 (0.90%) IFRS
10 15 (0.90%) ISO 9001
11 14 (0.84%) COBIT
12 13 (0.78%) GAAP
12 13 (0.78%) GxP
12 13 (0.78%) ISO 26262
12 13 (0.78%) ISO/IEC 15288
13 12 (0.72%) WCAG
14 11 (0.66%) SOC 2
15 9 (0.54%) MISRA
System Software
1 69 (4.14%) Docker
2 58 (3.48%) Firmware
3 41 (2.46%) Active Directory
4 26 (1.56%) Embedded Firmware
4 26 (1.56%) Virtual Machines
5 21 (1.26%) vSphere
6 15 (0.90%) VMware Infrastructure
7 6 (0.36%) KVM
8 5 (0.30%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.12%) Terminal Services
9 2 (0.12%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.060%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 71 (4.26%) Terraform
2 68 (4.08%) Kubernetes
3 38 (2.28%) Grafana
4 23 (1.38%) Ansible
4 23 (1.38%) Functional Safety
5 15 (0.90%) Prometheus
6 12 (0.72%) Puppet
7 10 (0.60%) Cilium
8 7 (0.42%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 7 (0.42%) Kibana
8 7 (0.42%) SCCM
9 4 (0.24%) Microsoft Intune
9 4 (0.24%) Nessus
9 4 (0.24%) Nmap
10 3 (0.18%) FortiGate
10 3 (0.18%) HP Fortify
10 3 (0.18%) Rancher
10 3 (0.18%) Single Sign-On
10 3 (0.18%) WMI
10 3 (0.18%) yum
Vendors
1 226 (13.55%) Microsoft
2 105 (6.29%) SAP
3 97 (5.82%) Oracle
4 55 (3.30%) Salesforce
5 45 (2.70%) Databricks
6 35 (2.10%) ServiceNow
7 34 (2.04%) Red Hat
7 34 (2.04%) VMware
8 29 (1.74%) CrowdStrike
9 27 (1.62%) Google
10 26 (1.56%) Cisco
11 23 (1.38%) Palo Alto
12 22 (1.32%) Tenable
13 17 (1.02%) Adobe
13 17 (1.02%) IBM
14 16 (0.96%) Foundry
15 15 (0.90%) McAfee
16 14 (0.84%) Citrix
17 13 (0.78%) EMC
18 12 (0.72%) Informatica