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

6 months to
21 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 130 163 196
Rank change year-on-year +33 +33 -16
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,306 810 1,434
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.49% 1.94% 1.52%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.98% 2.08% 1.77%
Number of salaries quoted 744 403 791
10th Percentile £34,650 £40,000 £35,500
25th Percentile £43,750 £46,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £56,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% +1.82% -11.41%
75th Percentile £77,500 £71,250 £72,433
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £52,600 £52,500
% change year-on-year +4.56% +0.19% -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 65,992 38,867 81,094
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 75.24% 92.91% 85.83%
Number of salaries quoted 40,690 22,673 59,246
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £39,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.17% +9.09% -10.86%
75th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -8.90%

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 April 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 April 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 +28 1,154 £60,000 +7.14% 829
UK excluding London +9 847 £55,000 +4.56% 656
Work from Home +100 383 £60,000 +5.26% 385
London +58 348 £77,500 +10.71% 261
South East +20 257 £55,000 +7.84% 212
North of England +31 207 £58,000 +21.64% 119
Midlands -14 142 £37,500 -33.33% 108
North West +23 129 £59,000 +23.73% 61
East of England -2 97 £60,000 +5.26% 92
West Midlands -9 91 £44,360 -33.04% 70
South West -46 87 £55,000 +0.92% 80
Yorkshire -26 54 £60,000 +26.32% 44
East Midlands -55 49 £32,000 -37.25% 38
Scotland -18 42 £42,000 -27.63% 36
North East -18 24 £53,250 -6.17% 16
Wales -27 14 £49,500 -4.90% 11
Northern Ireland -44 3 - - 12

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 44 (3.37%) Apache Airflow
2 27 (2.07%) Apache Spark
3 25 (1.91%) Confluence
4 23 (1.76%) Apache
5 20 (1.53%) ArcGIS
6 17 (1.30%) Microsoft Exchange
7 12 (0.92%) Appian
7 12 (0.92%) CMS
8 8 (0.61%) SharePoint
9 6 (0.46%) Kinematics
10 4 (0.31%) Headless CMS
11 2 (0.15%) IIS
11 2 (0.15%) WordPress
12 1 (0.077%) Anypoint
12 1 (0.077%) Jupyter
12 1 (0.077%) Palantir Foundry
12 1 (0.077%) SAS
Applications
1 91 (6.97%) Microsoft Excel
2 63 (4.82%) Microsoft Office
3 20 (1.53%) MS Visio
4 16 (1.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.54%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 6 (0.46%) Simulink
7 5 (0.38%) Microsoft Project
7 5 (0.38%) Spreadsheet
8 4 (0.31%) CANalyzer
8 4 (0.31%) Fusion 360
9 3 (0.23%) Solid Edge
9 3 (0.23%) SOLIDWORKS
10 2 (0.15%) Adobe After Effects
10 2 (0.15%) Adobe Captivate
10 2 (0.15%) Adobe Illustrator
10 2 (0.15%) Adobe Premiere
10 2 (0.15%) CATIA
10 2 (0.15%) Elementor
10 2 (0.15%) Oracle Smart View
10 2 (0.15%) Photoshop
Business Applications
1 28 (2.14%) SAP S/4HANA
2 19 (1.45%) Dynamics CRM
3 9 (0.69%) Oracle ERP
4 8 (0.61%) SAP ERP
5 7 (0.54%) Workday HCM
6 6 (0.46%) Elite 3E
7 5 (0.38%) Loan IQ
7 5 (0.38%) SAP MDG
8 4 (0.31%) Markit EDM
9 3 (0.23%) Oracle Applications
9 3 (0.23%) Oracle EBS
9 3 (0.23%) SAP MDG-BP
10 2 (0.15%) iTrent
10 2 (0.15%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
10 2 (0.15%) SAP CX
10 2 (0.15%) SAP FSCM
11 1 (0.077%) Magento
11 1 (0.077%) NetSuite
11 1 (0.077%) Oracle Receivables
11 1 (0.077%) SAP BRIM
Cloud Services
1 198 (15.16%) Azure
2 130 (9.95%) AWS
3 119 (9.11%) Power Platform
4 61 (4.67%) SaaS
5 48 (3.68%) GCP
6 42 (3.22%) Azure DevOps
7 35 (2.68%) Dynamics 365
8 33 (2.53%) Azure Data Factory
9 32 (2.45%) dbt
10 30 (2.30%) Snowflake
11 27 (2.07%) Power Automate
12 26 (1.99%) GitHub
12 26 (1.99%) Microsoft 365
12 26 (1.99%) Serverless
13 24 (1.84%) Amazon S3
13 24 (1.84%) Entra ID
14 18 (1.38%) Datadog
15 16 (1.23%) OpenShift
16 15 (1.15%) Azure AI
17 14 (1.07%) Anthropic Claude
Communications & Networking
1 28 (2.14%) CHAP
2 25 (1.91%) Broadband
3 24 (1.84%) Firewall
4 19 (1.45%) WAN
5 17 (1.30%) DNS
6 16 (1.23%) SD-WAN
6 16 (1.23%) TCP/IP
6 16 (1.23%) Wireless
7 11 (0.84%) 5G
8 9 (0.69%) HTTP
8 9 (0.69%) LAN
8 9 (0.69%) Modbus
8 9 (0.69%) Multicast
9 8 (0.61%) Wireshark
10 7 (0.54%) MQTT
10 7 (0.54%) NAS
11 6 (0.46%) Ethernet
11 6 (0.46%) Network Security
11 6 (0.46%) tcpdump
11 6 (0.46%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 112 (8.58%) Power BI
2 45 (3.45%) SQL Server
3 44 (3.37%) Tableau
4 34 (2.60%) Data Warehouse
5 33 (2.53%) Metadata
6 32 (2.45%) Relational Database
7 29 (2.22%) PostgreSQL
8 24 (1.84%) GIS
8 24 (1.84%) QGIS
9 20 (1.53%) Spatial Data
10 18 (1.38%) Oracle Reports
11 17 (1.30%) Data Lake
12 16 (1.23%) Spark SQL
13 15 (1.15%) Azure SQL Database
13 15 (1.15%) Oracle Database
14 14 (1.07%) Parquet
15 13 (1.00%) Apache Hive
15 13 (1.00%) Impala
15 13 (1.00%) MySQL
15 13 (1.00%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 66 (5.05%) Git
2 65 (4.98%) JIRA
3 38 (2.91%) Rational DOORS
4 23 (1.76%) Jenkins
5 19 (1.45%) JMeter
6 18 (1.38%) Cucumber
6 18 (1.38%) Postman
7 17 (1.30%) GitLab
8 16 (1.23%) LabVIEW
9 15 (1.15%) MLflow
9 15 (1.15%) Selenium
10 13 (1.00%) IBM UrbanCode
10 13 (1.00%) Snyk
11 12 (0.92%) Locust
12 11 (0.84%) TestRail
13 10 (0.77%) Eclipse
14 7 (0.54%) LoadRunner
15 6 (0.46%) SoapUI
15 6 (0.46%) Subversion
16 5 (0.38%) Visual Studio
General
1 444 (34.00%) Social Skills
2 356 (27.26%) Finance
3 286 (21.90%) Analytical Skills
4 96 (7.35%) Manufacturing
5 87 (6.66%) Banking
6 85 (6.51%) Aerospace
7 80 (6.13%) Electronics
8 61 (4.67%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 61 (4.67%) Legal
9 48 (3.68%) Public Sector
10 45 (3.45%) Retail
11 44 (3.37%) Law
12 41 (3.14%) Marketing
13 40 (3.06%) Financial Institution
14 37 (2.83%) Presentation Skills
15 36 (2.76%) Pharmaceutical
16 30 (2.30%) Organisational Skills
17 26 (1.99%) Automotive
18 23 (1.76%) Aviation
19 21 (1.61%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 221 (16.92%) Analyst
2 207 (15.85%) Senior
3 155 (11.87%) Systems Engineer
4 99 (7.58%) Lead
5 82 (6.28%) Business Analyst
6 77 (5.90%) Architect
6 77 (5.90%) Test Engineer
7 76 (5.82%) Validation Engineer
8 63 (4.82%) Consultant
9 58 (4.44%) Data Analyst
10 53 (4.06%) Integration Engineer
11 45 (3.45%) Data Engineer
11 45 (3.45%) Junior
11 45 (3.45%) Senior Systems Engineer
12 44 (3.37%) Developer
13 36 (2.76%) Principal Engineer
13 36 (2.76%) Software Validation Engineer
13 36 (2.76%) Systems Integration Engineer
13 36 (2.76%) Verification Engineer
14 31 (2.37%) Auditor
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 58 (4.44%) REST
2 39 (2.99%) PyTorch
3 36 (2.76%) JSON
3 36 (2.76%) Pandas
4 31 (2.37%) Middleware
5 26 (1.99%) pytest
6 25 (1.91%) XML
7 21 (1.61%) OAuth
7 21 (1.61%) PySpark
8 19 (1.45%) JWT
8 19 (1.45%) Swagger
9 18 (1.38%) .NET
9 18 (1.38%) TensorFlow
10 17 (1.30%) NumPy
10 17 (1.30%) RESTful
11 16 (1.23%) Kafka
11 16 (1.23%) React
12 15 (1.15%) CSS
12 15 (1.15%) Web Services
13 14 (1.07%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 79 (6.05%) Management Information System
2 54 (4.13%) Onboarding
3 48 (3.68%) Data Structures
4 37 (2.83%) Product Ownership
5 36 (2.76%) Algorithms
6 35 (2.68%) Low-Code
7 34 (2.60%) Self-Motivation
8 33 (2.53%) Legacy Systems
9 27 (2.07%) Analytical Mindset
10 26 (1.99%) Life Science
11 24 (1.84%) Cloud Native
12 22 (1.68%) Data Centre
13 21 (1.61%) Embedded Systems
14 20 (1.53%) Enterprise Software
15 18 (1.38%) SCADA
16 17 (1.30%) Robotics
17 15 (1.15%) Blockchain
17 15 (1.15%) IoT
18 13 (1.00%) Driving Licence
18 13 (1.00%) Reinsurance
Operating Systems
1 69 (5.28%) Linux
2 59 (4.52%) Windows
3 19 (1.45%) Unix
4 17 (1.30%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 17 (1.30%) Windows Server
5 12 (0.92%) Android
6 4 (0.31%) Apple iOS
6 4 (0.31%) CentOS
6 4 (0.31%) FreeRTOS
6 4 (0.31%) Mac OS X
7 3 (0.23%) AIX
7 3 (0.23%) Robot Operating System
8 2 (0.15%) Kali Linux
8 2 (0.15%) ThreadX
8 2 (0.15%) VxWorks
9 1 (0.077%) Embedded Linux
9 1 (0.077%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.077%) Rocky
9 1 (0.077%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.077%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 291 (22.28%) Problem-Solving
2 288 (22.05%) Agile
3 254 (19.45%) Continuous Improvement
4 206 (15.77%) Analytics
5 200 (15.31%) Verification and Validation
6 180 (13.78%) AI
7 164 (12.56%) CI/CD
8 161 (12.33%) Data Validation
9 160 (12.25%) Test Automation
10 143 (10.95%) Migration
11 140 (10.72%) Business Intelligence
12 137 (10.49%) Stakeholder Management
13 133 (10.18%) Systems Engineering
14 131 (10.03%) Data Modelling
15 128 (9.80%) User Acceptance Testing
16 126 (9.65%) DevOps
17 125 (9.57%) Decision-Making
18 122 (9.34%) Data Governance
19 121 (9.26%) Mentoring
20 115 (8.81%) ETL
Programming Languages
1 283 (21.67%) Python
2 262 (20.06%) SQL
3 51 (3.91%) Java
4 43 (3.29%) C++
5 37 (2.83%) PowerShell
6 34 (2.60%) C
7 30 (2.30%) JavaScript
8 24 (1.84%) Bash
9 22 (1.68%) Go
10 20 (1.53%) C#
11 18 (1.38%) T-SQL
12 17 (1.30%) MATLAB
13 15 (1.15%) TypeScript
14 11 (0.84%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 10 (0.77%) Embedded C
15 10 (0.77%) R
16 9 (0.69%) VBA
17 7 (0.54%) Apex Code
17 7 (0.54%) VB
18 6 (0.46%) ABAP
Qualifications
1 297 (22.74%) Degree
2 160 (12.25%) Security Cleared
3 124 (9.49%) BPSS Clearance
4 62 (4.75%) Master's Degree
5 58 (4.44%) SC Cleared
6 45 (3.45%) Computer Science Degree
7 38 (2.91%) CISSP
8 36 (2.76%) CISA
9 35 (2.68%) CISM
10 34 (2.60%) DV Cleared
11 30 (2.30%) Chartered Engineer
11 30 (2.30%) SANS
12 28 (2.14%) CGEIT
12 28 (2.14%) FFIEC
13 25 (1.91%) HNC
14 22 (1.68%) HND
14 22 (1.68%) PMI Certification
15 19 (1.45%) PMP
16 14 (1.07%) ISTQB
17 9 (0.69%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 173 (13.25%) Data Quality
2 149 (11.41%) QA
3 68 (5.21%) Accessibility
4 67 (5.13%) GDPR
5 38 (2.91%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 31 (2.37%) GRC
7 30 (2.30%) NIST
8 28 (2.14%) COBIT
9 21 (1.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 17 (1.30%) IFRS
10 17 (1.30%) WCAG
11 15 (1.15%) IEC 61508
11 15 (1.15%) SLA
12 13 (1.00%) ISO 9001
13 12 (0.92%) GAAP
14 10 (0.77%) GMP
14 10 (0.77%) Good Clinical Practice
15 9 (0.69%) 21 CFR Part 11
15 9 (0.69%) PMO
16 7 (0.54%) ISO 20022
System Software
1 72 (5.51%) Docker
2 32 (2.45%) Active Directory
3 25 (1.91%) Firmware
4 15 (1.15%) VMware Infrastructure
5 14 (1.07%) Virtual Machines
6 11 (0.84%) vSphere
7 6 (0.46%) Hyper-V
7 6 (0.46%) KVM
8 5 (0.38%) Embedded Firmware
9 3 (0.23%) VMware ESXi
10 2 (0.15%) Terminal Services
11 1 (0.077%) iptables
11 1 (0.077%) OpenAM
11 1 (0.077%) OpenDJ
11 1 (0.077%) OpenIDM
11 1 (0.077%) pfSense
Systems Management
1 74 (5.67%) Kubernetes
2 51 (3.91%) Terraform
3 35 (2.68%) Grafana
4 23 (1.76%) Ansible
5 16 (1.23%) Prometheus
6 14 (1.07%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 11 (0.84%) Functional Safety
8 10 (0.77%) SCCM
9 9 (0.69%) Puppet
10 7 (0.54%) Microsoft Intune
11 5 (0.38%) Argo
11 5 (0.38%) Rancher
11 5 (0.38%) yum
12 4 (0.31%) Cilium
13 2 (0.15%) BMC PATROL
13 2 (0.15%) Computer Incident Response Team
13 2 (0.15%) HP Fortify
13 2 (0.15%) PowerCLI
14 1 (0.077%) Control-M
14 1 (0.077%) Nessus
Vendors
1 171 (13.09%) Microsoft
2 72 (5.51%) Oracle
3 60 (4.59%) SAP
4 47 (3.60%) Salesforce
5 25 (1.91%) Red Hat
5 25 (1.91%) VMware
6 22 (1.68%) Databricks
7 21 (1.61%) Cisco
8 18 (1.38%) IBM
9 17 (1.30%) Foundry
9 17 (1.30%) Google
10 16 (1.23%) Adobe
10 16 (1.23%) OpenAI
11 15 (1.15%) ServiceNow
12 14 (1.07%) Palo Alto
13 13 (1.00%) CrowdStrike
13 13 (1.00%) Tenable
14 12 (0.92%) Automation Anywhere
14 12 (0.92%) UiPath
14 12 (0.92%) Workday