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 15 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 179 180 192
Rank change year-on-year +1 +12 -54
Permanent jobs citing Validation 830 1,038 962
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.57% 1.53% 1.82%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.82% 1.84% 1.94%
Number of salaries quoted 455 390 543
10th Percentile £38,000 £37,438 £37,500
25th Percentile £41,250 £46,250 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £56,509 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.18% -5.82% -
75th Percentile £80,000 £75,000 £78,107
90th Percentile £92,500 £95,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £53,500 £54,500 £55,043
% change year-on-year -1.83% -0.99% +10.09%

All Process and 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 45,647 56,467 49,706
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 86.17% 83.08% 93.81%
Number of salaries quoted 27,329 29,505 38,075
10th Percentile £28,250 £34,000 £32,500
25th Percentile £35,625 £45,000 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -
75th Percentile £75,000 £79,250 £80,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £98,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,500 £54,714 £52,500
% change year-on-year -13.18% +4.22% -

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 15 November 2025.

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 15 November 2025. 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 +5 753 £60,000 +9.09% 1,171
UK excluding London -1 537 £53,500 -1.83% 800
London +25 243 £80,000 +14.29% 457
South East +2 195 £53,000 -18.46% 258
Work from Home +40 192 £62,000 -4.62% 528
North of England -17 113 £52,500 +15.38% 124
Midlands +55 76 £47,500 -5.00% 112
South West +15 66 £50,000 -16.67% 134
North West -5 65 £53,375 +11.94% 85
West Midlands +36 50 £51,250 +2.50% 72
East of England -19 49 £59,500 +8.18% 146
Yorkshire -1 34 £57,617 +44.04% 27
Scotland -5 30 £60,000 +6.18% 43
East Midlands +32 26 £42,500 -5.56% 38
North East +1 14 £35,000 -26.70% 12
Wales +19 10 £61,250 +31.13% 17
Northern Ireland -5 2 - - 8

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 (3.01%) Confluence
2 19 (2.29%) Apache Airflow
3 18 (2.17%) Apache Spark
4 10 (1.20%) SugarCRM
5 9 (1.08%) Apache
6 8 (0.96%) SharePoint
7 7 (0.84%) CMS
8 6 (0.72%) SAS
9 3 (0.36%) Headless CMS
9 3 (0.36%) Jupyter
10 2 (0.24%) Microsoft Exchange
10 2 (0.24%) WordPress
11 1 (0.12%) Apache Superset
11 1 (0.12%) Appian
11 1 (0.12%) ArcGIS
11 1 (0.12%) FileNet
11 1 (0.12%) Luigi
Applications
1 51 (6.14%) Microsoft Excel
2 43 (5.18%) Microsoft Office
3 22 (2.65%) Simulink
4 18 (2.17%) MS Visio
5 13 (1.57%) Mathcad
6 9 (1.08%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 7 (0.84%) AutoCAD
8 5 (0.60%) Blender
9 4 (0.48%) Revit
10 3 (0.36%) Adobe Illustrator
10 3 (0.36%) Photoshop
10 3 (0.36%) SOLIDWORKS
11 2 (0.24%) Adobe After Effects
11 2 (0.24%) Adobe Captivate
11 2 (0.24%) Adobe Creative Suite
11 2 (0.24%) Adobe Premiere
11 2 (0.24%) Elementor
11 2 (0.24%) Oracle Smart View
11 2 (0.24%) Weka
12 1 (0.12%) Navisworks
Business Applications
1 27 (3.25%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (0.96%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (0.72%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 5 (0.60%) Oracle Assets
4 5 (0.60%) Oracle Cash Management
4 5 (0.60%) Oracle General Ledger
4 5 (0.60%) Oracle Payables
4 5 (0.60%) Oracle Receivables
5 4 (0.48%) Oracle ERP
5 4 (0.48%) SAP BPC
5 4 (0.48%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
6 3 (0.36%) NetSuite
6 3 (0.36%) Oracle Financials
7 2 (0.24%) Aladdin
7 2 (0.24%) Endur
7 2 (0.24%) IBM Planning Analytics
7 2 (0.24%) Primavera
7 2 (0.24%) SAP CX
7 2 (0.24%) SAP ERP
7 2 (0.24%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 112 (13.49%) Azure
2 85 (10.24%) Power Platform
3 83 (10.00%) AWS
4 39 (4.70%) SaaS
5 29 (3.49%) Azure DevOps
6 26 (3.13%) GCP
7 19 (2.29%) Amazon S3
7 19 (2.29%) Dynamics 365
7 19 (2.29%) GitHub
8 17 (2.05%) Serverless
8 17 (2.05%) Snowflake
9 15 (1.81%) AWS Lambda
10 14 (1.69%) Datadog
11 13 (1.57%) dbt
12 12 (1.45%) AWS CloudFormation
13 11 (1.33%) Amazon SageMaker
14 10 (1.20%) Microsoft 365
15 9 (1.08%) Microsoft Purview
15 9 (1.08%) Power Automate
16 8 (0.96%) AWS Step Functions
Communications & Networking
1 16 (1.93%) LAN
2 13 (1.57%) Ethernet
2 13 (1.57%) Firewall
3 10 (1.20%) Modbus
3 10 (1.20%) WAN
4 8 (0.96%) 5G
4 8 (0.96%) Internet
4 8 (0.96%) Profibus
5 7 (0.84%) SD-WAN
6 6 (0.72%) DNS
6 6 (0.72%) Ethernet VPN
7 5 (0.60%) BGP
7 5 (0.60%) Network Security
7 5 (0.60%) NX-OS
7 5 (0.60%) OSPF
7 5 (0.60%) TCP/IP
8 4 (0.48%) CHAP
8 4 (0.48%) DHCP
8 4 (0.48%) MPLS
8 4 (0.48%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 80 (9.64%) Power BI
2 45 (5.42%) Tableau
3 33 (3.98%) Data Warehouse
4 24 (2.89%) SQL Server
5 23 (2.77%) Metadata
6 20 (2.41%) BigQuery
7 15 (1.81%) Big Data
8 13 (1.57%) NoSQL
8 13 (1.57%) Relational Database
9 12 (1.45%) PostgreSQL
10 10 (1.20%) Data Lake
11 9 (1.08%) Amazon Athena
12 8 (0.96%) Amazon Aurora
12 8 (0.96%) Amazon Redshift
13 7 (0.84%) BusinessObjects
13 7 (0.84%) MongoDB
13 7 (0.84%) MySQL
14 6 (0.72%) GIS
14 6 (0.72%) Looker
14 6 (0.72%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 73 (8.80%) JIRA
2 45 (5.42%) Git
3 35 (4.22%) Rational DOORS
4 26 (3.13%) Jenkins
5 19 (2.29%) Postman
6 14 (1.69%) Selenium
7 11 (1.33%) GitLab
8 10 (1.20%) Cucumber
8 10 (1.20%) JMeter
9 9 (1.08%) SoapUI
10 7 (0.84%) Cypress.io
10 7 (0.84%) Locust
11 6 (0.72%) MLflow
11 6 (0.72%) TestRail
12 5 (0.60%) LoadRunner
12 5 (0.60%) SonarQube
12 5 (0.60%) TestNG
12 5 (0.60%) Zephyr
13 4 (0.48%) WebDriver
13 4 (0.48%) webpack
General
1 321 (38.67%) Social Skills
2 245 (29.52%) Finance
3 171 (20.60%) Analytical Skills
4 64 (7.71%) Law
5 52 (6.27%) Manufacturing
6 50 (6.02%) Electronics
7 49 (5.90%) Documentation Skills
8 47 (5.66%) Marketing
9 40 (4.82%) Banking
10 38 (4.58%) Presentation Skills
11 36 (4.34%) Retail
12 33 (3.98%) Aerospace
12 33 (3.98%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 32 (3.86%) Organisational Skills
14 29 (3.49%) Financial Institution
15 27 (3.25%) Influencing Skills
16 26 (3.13%) Telecoms
17 23 (2.77%) Billing
17 23 (2.77%) Pharmaceutical
17 23 (2.77%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 124 (14.94%) Analyst
2 118 (14.22%) Senior
3 98 (11.81%) Lead
4 58 (6.99%) Systems Engineer
5 44 (5.30%) Data Analyst
6 40 (4.82%) Business Analyst
7 37 (4.46%) Data Engineer
8 34 (4.10%) Architect
9 33 (3.98%) Support Engineer
10 28 (3.37%) Applications Engineer
10 28 (3.37%) Test Engineer
11 26 (3.13%) Applications Support
11 26 (3.13%) Developer
12 25 (3.01%) Administrator
13 24 (2.89%) Data Quality Analyst
13 24 (2.89%) Principal Engineer
13 24 (2.89%) Quality Analyst
14 23 (2.77%) Team Leader
15 22 (2.65%) Applications Support Engineer
16 19 (2.29%) Hardware Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (2.89%) REST
2 20 (2.41%) JSON
2 20 (2.41%) Middleware
2 20 (2.41%) XML
3 18 (2.17%) Kafka
4 17 (2.05%) scikit-learn
5 16 (1.93%) Pandas
6 15 (1.81%) PyTorch
7 14 (1.69%) TensorFlow
8 11 (1.33%) React
9 10 (1.20%) HTML
9 10 (1.20%) PySpark
10 8 (0.96%) NumPy
10 8 (0.96%) Playwright
11 7 (0.84%) CSS
11 7 (0.84%) Gherkin
11 7 (0.84%) Web Services
12 6 (0.72%) SOAP
12 6 (0.72%) Spring
12 6 (0.72%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 70 (8.43%) Management Information System
2 38 (4.58%) Onboarding
3 37 (4.46%) Life Science
3 37 (4.46%) Self-Motivation
4 36 (4.34%) Product Ownership
5 30 (3.61%) Algorithms
6 27 (3.25%) Operational Technology
7 17 (2.05%) SCADA
8 16 (1.93%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 12 (1.45%) Analytical Mindset
9 12 (1.45%) Credit Risk
9 12 (1.45%) Data Structures
9 12 (1.45%) FPGA
10 11 (1.33%) Data Centre
10 11 (1.33%) Embedded Systems
10 11 (1.33%) SWIFT Messaging Network
11 10 (1.20%) Legacy Systems
12 9 (1.08%) Driving Licence
12 9 (1.08%) Virtual Team
13 8 (0.96%) Cloud Native
Operating Systems
1 31 (3.73%) Linux
1 31 (3.73%) Windows
2 14 (1.69%) Windows Server
3 7 (0.84%) Windows Server 2016
4 5 (0.60%) Windows 10
4 5 (0.60%) Windows Server 2019
5 4 (0.48%) Unix
6 2 (0.24%) FreeRTOS
6 2 (0.24%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.12%) AIX
7 1 (0.12%) Android
7 1 (0.12%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.12%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.12%) VMS
7 1 (0.12%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 226 (27.23%) Agile
2 222 (26.75%) Problem-Solving
3 121 (14.58%) Data Validation
4 117 (14.10%) Migration
5 115 (13.86%) Verification and Validation
6 114 (13.73%) Continuous Improvement
7 101 (12.17%) Analytics
8 93 (11.20%) Test Automation
9 90 (10.84%) Decision-Making
10 89 (10.72%) Business Intelligence
10 89 (10.72%) Data Analysis
11 87 (10.48%) Mentoring
12 85 (10.24%) Data Management
12 85 (10.24%) DevOps
13 82 (9.88%) CI/CD
13 82 (9.88%) Software Engineering
13 82 (9.88%) Systems Engineering
14 81 (9.76%) ETL
15 78 (9.40%) Stakeholder Management
16 70 (8.43%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 184 (22.17%) Python
2 171 (20.60%) SQL
3 39 (4.70%) Java
4 35 (4.22%) MATLAB
5 32 (3.86%) C
5 32 (3.86%) C++
6 20 (2.41%) JavaScript
7 17 (2.05%) PowerShell
8 15 (1.81%) R
9 13 (1.57%) Bash
10 11 (1.33%) T-SQL
11 9 (1.08%) TypeScript
12 8 (0.96%) Ladder Logic
13 6 (0.72%) C#
14 5 (0.60%) Scala
15 4 (0.48%) Go
16 3 (0.36%) Apex Code
16 3 (0.36%) Bicep
16 3 (0.36%) Google Apps Script
16 3 (0.36%) PROC SQL
Qualifications
1 272 (32.77%) Degree
2 78 (9.40%) BPSS Clearance
3 76 (9.16%) Security Cleared
4 62 (7.47%) Master's Degree
5 47 (5.66%) SC Cleared
6 41 (4.94%) Computer Science Degree
7 25 (3.01%) Cisco Certification
8 19 (2.29%) HNC
9 15 (1.81%) Microsoft Certification
9 15 (1.81%) PhD
10 14 (1.69%) CCNA
10 14 (1.69%) DV Cleared
11 13 (1.57%) ACCA
11 13 (1.57%) CCNP
12 11 (1.33%) CCIE
12 11 (1.33%) ISTQB
12 11 (1.33%) Numerate Degree
13 10 (1.20%) Network+ Certification
14 9 (1.08%) CIMA
15 8 (0.96%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 113 (13.61%) Data Quality
2 109 (13.13%) QA
3 40 (4.82%) GxP
4 35 (4.22%) ISO/IEC 15288
5 30 (3.61%) Accessibility
5 30 (3.61%) SLA
6 23 (2.77%) GDPR
7 14 (1.69%) ISO/IEC 12207
8 11 (1.33%) ISO 20022
8 11 (1.33%) SEPA
9 9 (1.08%) 21 CFR Part 11
9 9 (1.08%) NIST
9 9 (1.08%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 7 (0.84%) TARGET2
10 7 (0.84%) WCAG
11 5 (0.60%) ARP4761
11 5 (0.60%) COBIT
11 5 (0.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
12 4 (0.48%) NCSC
13 3 (0.36%) AUTOSAR
System Software
1 43 (5.18%) Docker
2 30 (3.61%) VMware Infrastructure
3 26 (3.13%) Firmware
4 14 (1.69%) Active Directory
5 12 (1.45%) Embedded Firmware
6 6 (0.72%) Virtual Machines
6 6 (0.72%) VMware ESXi
6 6 (0.72%) vSphere
7 5 (0.60%) vCloud
8 3 (0.36%) Apache Flume
8 3 (0.36%) HDFS
9 2 (0.24%) Ceph
9 2 (0.24%) Lustre
9 2 (0.24%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 2 (0.24%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 2 (0.24%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.12%) Dovecot
10 1 (0.12%) Hyper-V
10 1 (0.12%) pfSense
10 1 (0.12%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 31 (3.73%) Kubernetes
2 24 (2.89%) Terraform
3 22 (2.65%) Grafana
4 17 (2.05%) Ansible
5 11 (1.33%) Prometheus
6 5 (0.60%) Docker Swarm
6 5 (0.60%) Kubeflow
6 5 (0.60%) vCenter Server
7 4 (0.48%) Kibana
7 4 (0.48%) Rundeck
8 3 (0.36%) logstash
8 3 (0.36%) Oozie
9 2 (0.24%) Functional Safety
9 2 (0.24%) Microsoft Intune
9 2 (0.24%) Nessus
9 2 (0.24%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.12%) Control-M
10 1 (0.12%) Puppet
10 1 (0.12%) yum
10 1 (0.12%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 89 (10.72%) Microsoft
2 57 (6.87%) SAP
3 36 (4.34%) VMware
4 26 (3.13%) Cisco
4 26 (3.13%) Oracle
5 25 (3.01%) Salesforce
6 19 (2.29%) IBM
7 13 (1.57%) MathWorks
8 12 (1.45%) CheckPoint
8 12 (1.45%) F5
8 12 (1.45%) Foundry
8 12 (1.45%) Siemens
9 10 (1.20%) Allen-Bradley
9 10 (1.20%) Databricks
10 9 (1.08%) ServiceNow
11 8 (0.96%) Informatica
11 8 (0.96%) Intapp
11 8 (0.96%) Rockwell
11 8 (0.96%) Software AG
11 8 (0.96%) Splunk