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

6 months to
14 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 137 161 196
Rank change year-on-year +24 +35 -25
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,283 791 1,420
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.51% 1.92% 1.53%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.00% 2.07% 1.77%
Number of salaries quoted 726 397 796
10th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £35,375
25th Percentile £43,500 £46,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £56,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% +1.82% -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £71,250 £72,433
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £54,000 £54,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -0.92% +3.81% -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 64,151 38,285 80,022
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 75.65% 92.95% 86.03%
Number of salaries quoted 39,600 22,564 59,023
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.17% +9.09% -10.57%
75th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £53,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -5.66% +6.00% -7.94%

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 14 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 14 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 +32 1,128 £60,000 +7.14% 845
UK excluding London 0 823 £54,000 -0.92% 648
Work from Home +107 374 £60,000 +5.26% 372
London +56 348 £75,000 +7.14% 269
South East +28 257 £55,000 +8.91% 207
North of England +26 188 £59,500 +24.78% 121
Midlands -22 141 £37,500 -31.82% 125
North West +20 116 £60,000 +25.83% 58
East of England -4 95 £57,500 +4.55% 93
West Midlands -5 89 £44,000 -32.31% 86
South West -36 84 £53,750 -2.27% 84
East Midlands -46 50 £34,000 -33.33% 39
Yorkshire -34 49 £60,000 +26.32% 45
Scotland -12 42 £42,000 -27.63% 24
North East -14 23 £51,500 -9.25% 19
Wales -22 15 £55,000 +12.01% 7
Northern Ireland -45 3 - - 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 43 (3.35%) Apache Airflow
2 27 (2.10%) Apache Spark
3 24 (1.87%) Confluence
4 23 (1.79%) Apache
5 20 (1.56%) ArcGIS
6 16 (1.25%) Microsoft Exchange
7 12 (0.94%) Appian
7 12 (0.94%) CMS
8 9 (0.70%) SharePoint
9 6 (0.47%) Kinematics
10 4 (0.31%) Headless CMS
11 2 (0.16%) IIS
11 2 (0.16%) WordPress
12 1 (0.078%) Anypoint
12 1 (0.078%) Jupyter
12 1 (0.078%) Palantir Foundry
12 1 (0.078%) SAS
Applications
1 89 (6.94%) Microsoft Excel
2 62 (4.83%) Microsoft Office
3 20 (1.56%) MS Visio
4 16 (1.25%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.55%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 6 (0.47%) Simulink
7 5 (0.39%) Microsoft Project
7 5 (0.39%) 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 (0.16%) Adobe After Effects
10 2 (0.16%) Adobe Captivate
10 2 (0.16%) Adobe Illustrator
10 2 (0.16%) Adobe Premiere
10 2 (0.16%) CATIA
10 2 (0.16%) Oracle Smart View
10 2 (0.16%) Photoshop
10 2 (0.16%) Weka
Business Applications
1 23 (1.79%) SAP S/4HANA
2 18 (1.40%) Dynamics CRM
3 9 (0.70%) Oracle ERP
4 7 (0.55%) Workday HCM
5 6 (0.47%) Elite 3E
6 5 (0.39%) Loan IQ
6 5 (0.39%) SAP ERP
7 4 (0.31%) Markit EDM
7 4 (0.31%) SAP MDG
8 2 (0.16%) IBM Planning Analytics
8 2 (0.16%) Oracle Applications
8 2 (0.16%) Oracle EBS
8 2 (0.16%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
8 2 (0.16%) SAP CX
8 2 (0.16%) SAP FSCM
8 2 (0.16%) SAP MDG-BP
9 1 (0.078%) Endur
9 1 (0.078%) NetSuite
9 1 (0.078%) Oracle Financials
9 1 (0.078%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 192 (14.96%) Azure
2 126 (9.82%) AWS
3 113 (8.81%) Power Platform
4 60 (4.68%) SaaS
5 47 (3.66%) GCP
6 43 (3.35%) Azure DevOps
7 33 (2.57%) Dynamics 365
8 31 (2.42%) Azure Data Factory
8 31 (2.42%) dbt
9 29 (2.26%) Snowflake
10 27 (2.10%) Power Automate
11 25 (1.95%) GitHub
12 24 (1.87%) Amazon S3
12 24 (1.87%) Serverless
13 23 (1.79%) Entra ID
13 23 (1.79%) Microsoft 365
14 18 (1.40%) Datadog
15 16 (1.25%) OpenShift
16 15 (1.17%) Azure AI
17 14 (1.09%) Anthropic Claude
Communications & Networking
1 26 (2.03%) CHAP
2 23 (1.79%) Broadband
3 19 (1.48%) Firewall
4 18 (1.40%) WAN
5 16 (1.25%) TCP/IP
5 16 (1.25%) Wireless
6 15 (1.17%) DNS
6 15 (1.17%) SD-WAN
7 12 (0.94%) 5G
8 9 (0.70%) HTTP
8 9 (0.70%) Modbus
8 9 (0.70%) Multicast
9 8 (0.62%) LAN
10 7 (0.55%) MQTT
10 7 (0.55%) Wireshark
11 6 (0.47%) ATM
11 6 (0.47%) NAS
11 6 (0.47%) tcpdump
11 6 (0.47%) VPN
11 6 (0.47%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 106 (8.26%) Power BI
2 45 (3.51%) SQL Server
3 43 (3.35%) Tableau
4 32 (2.49%) Data Warehouse
4 32 (2.49%) Relational Database
5 29 (2.26%) Metadata
5 29 (2.26%) PostgreSQL
6 25 (1.95%) GIS
7 24 (1.87%) QGIS
8 20 (1.56%) Spatial Data
9 18 (1.40%) Oracle Reports
10 15 (1.17%) Azure SQL Database
10 15 (1.17%) Oracle Database
10 15 (1.17%) Spark SQL
11 14 (1.09%) Data Lake
11 14 (1.09%) Parquet
12 13 (1.01%) Apache Hive
12 13 (1.01%) Impala
12 13 (1.01%) MySQL
12 13 (1.01%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 69 (5.38%) Git
2 68 (5.30%) JIRA
3 38 (2.96%) Rational DOORS
4 22 (1.71%) Jenkins
5 18 (1.40%) JMeter
6 17 (1.33%) Cucumber
6 17 (1.33%) Postman
7 16 (1.25%) GitLab
7 16 (1.25%) LabVIEW
8 15 (1.17%) MLflow
8 15 (1.17%) Selenium
9 14 (1.09%) TestRail
10 13 (1.01%) IBM UrbanCode
11 12 (0.94%) Locust
12 11 (0.86%) Eclipse
12 11 (0.86%) Snyk
13 6 (0.47%) LoadRunner
13 6 (0.47%) SoapUI
13 6 (0.47%) Subversion
14 5 (0.39%) Robot Framework
General
1 451 (35.15%) Social Skills
2 342 (26.66%) Finance
3 283 (22.06%) Analytical Skills
4 92 (7.17%) Manufacturing
5 86 (6.70%) Banking
6 78 (6.08%) Electronics
7 77 (6.00%) Aerospace
8 61 (4.75%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 61 (4.75%) Legal
9 47 (3.66%) Public Sector
10 45 (3.51%) Law
10 45 (3.51%) Retail
11 41 (3.20%) Marketing
12 40 (3.12%) Financial Institution
13 39 (3.04%) Presentation Skills
14 31 (2.42%) Pharmaceutical
15 30 (2.34%) Organisational Skills
16 25 (1.95%) Automotive
17 24 (1.87%) Telecoms
18 23 (1.79%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 217 (16.91%) Analyst
2 206 (16.06%) Senior
3 151 (11.77%) Systems Engineer
4 97 (7.56%) Lead
5 83 (6.47%) Business Analyst
6 75 (5.85%) Validation Engineer
7 71 (5.53%) Test Engineer
8 70 (5.46%) Architect
9 62 (4.83%) Consultant
10 55 (4.29%) Data Analyst
10 55 (4.29%) Integration Engineer
11 45 (3.51%) Developer
11 45 (3.51%) Senior Systems Engineer
12 44 (3.43%) Junior
13 41 (3.20%) Data Engineer
14 39 (3.04%) Systems Integration Engineer
15 37 (2.88%) Principal Engineer
15 37 (2.88%) Verification Engineer
16 35 (2.73%) Software Validation Engineer
17 29 (2.26%) Auditor
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 58 (4.52%) REST
2 40 (3.12%) PyTorch
3 37 (2.88%) Pandas
4 34 (2.65%) JSON
5 29 (2.26%) Middleware
6 26 (2.03%) pytest
7 23 (1.79%) XML
8 20 (1.56%) OAuth
8 20 (1.56%) PySpark
9 19 (1.48%) JWT
9 19 (1.48%) Swagger
9 19 (1.48%) TensorFlow
10 18 (1.40%) .NET
10 18 (1.40%) NumPy
11 17 (1.33%) RESTful
12 16 (1.25%) Kafka
12 16 (1.25%) React
13 15 (1.17%) CSS
13 15 (1.17%) scikit-learn
13 15 (1.17%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 75 (5.85%) Management Information System
2 55 (4.29%) Onboarding
3 48 (3.74%) Data Structures
4 37 (2.88%) Algorithms
4 37 (2.88%) Product Ownership
5 36 (2.81%) Low-Code
6 34 (2.65%) Legacy Systems
7 33 (2.57%) Self-Motivation
8 27 (2.10%) Analytical Mindset
9 24 (1.87%) Life Science
10 22 (1.71%) Cloud Native
10 22 (1.71%) Data Centre
11 20 (1.56%) Embedded Systems
12 19 (1.48%) Enterprise Software
13 18 (1.40%) SCADA
14 17 (1.33%) Robotics
15 15 (1.17%) IoT
16 14 (1.09%) Blockchain
17 13 (1.01%) Reinsurance
18 11 (0.86%) Driving Licence
Operating Systems
1 68 (5.30%) Linux
2 58 (4.52%) Windows
3 17 (1.33%) Unix
4 16 (1.25%) Windows Server
5 15 (1.17%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 12 (0.94%) Android
7 4 (0.31%) Apple iOS
7 4 (0.31%) CentOS
7 4 (0.31%) Mac OS X
8 3 (0.23%) FreeRTOS
8 3 (0.23%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.16%) AIX
9 2 (0.16%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.16%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.078%) Embedded Linux
10 1 (0.078%) Kali Linux
10 1 (0.078%) Rocky
10 1 (0.078%) ThreadX
10 1 (0.078%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.078%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 292 (22.76%) Agile
2 290 (22.60%) Problem-Solving
3 253 (19.72%) Continuous Improvement
4 202 (15.74%) Verification and Validation
5 199 (15.51%) Analytics
6 179 (13.95%) AI
7 161 (12.55%) Data Validation
8 157 (12.24%) CI/CD
9 156 (12.16%) Test Automation
10 139 (10.83%) Migration
11 138 (10.76%) Stakeholder Management
12 137 (10.68%) Business Intelligence
13 133 (10.37%) Systems Engineering
14 127 (9.90%) Data Modelling
15 126 (9.82%) DevOps
15 126 (9.82%) User Acceptance Testing
16 122 (9.51%) Decision-Making
17 121 (9.43%) Mentoring
18 114 (8.89%) ETL
19 113 (8.81%) Data Governance
Programming Languages
1 282 (21.98%) Python
2 260 (20.27%) SQL
3 52 (4.05%) Java
4 41 (3.20%) C++
5 38 (2.96%) PowerShell
6 36 (2.81%) C
7 31 (2.42%) JavaScript
8 26 (2.03%) Bash
9 20 (1.56%) C#
9 20 (1.56%) Go
10 19 (1.48%) T-SQL
11 18 (1.40%) MATLAB
12 15 (1.17%) TypeScript
13 11 (0.86%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 11 (0.86%) R
14 9 (0.70%) Embedded C
14 9 (0.70%) VBA
15 7 (0.55%) Apex Code
15 7 (0.55%) VB
16 6 (0.47%) PHP
Qualifications
1 287 (22.37%) Degree
2 161 (12.55%) Security Cleared
3 122 (9.51%) BPSS Clearance
4 62 (4.83%) SC Cleared
5 58 (4.52%) Master's Degree
6 43 (3.35%) Computer Science Degree
7 33 (2.57%) CISA
7 33 (2.57%) CISSP
7 33 (2.57%) DV Cleared
8 32 (2.49%) CISM
9 28 (2.18%) Chartered Engineer
10 26 (2.03%) CGEIT
10 26 (2.03%) FFIEC
10 26 (2.03%) SANS
11 25 (1.95%) HNC
12 22 (1.71%) PMI Certification
13 21 (1.64%) HND
14 19 (1.48%) PMP
15 18 (1.40%) ISTQB
16 9 (0.70%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 165 (12.86%) Data Quality
2 150 (11.69%) QA
3 66 (5.14%) Accessibility
3 66 (5.14%) GDPR
4 37 (2.88%) ISO/IEC 15288
5 28 (2.18%) GRC
6 27 (2.10%) NIST
7 26 (2.03%) COBIT
8 20 (1.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 19 (1.48%) SLA
10 17 (1.33%) IFRS
10 17 (1.33%) WCAG
11 13 (1.01%) IEC 61508
11 13 (1.01%) ISO 9001
12 11 (0.86%) GAAP
13 10 (0.78%) Good Clinical Practice
14 9 (0.70%) 21 CFR Part 11
15 8 (0.62%) GMP
15 8 (0.62%) PMO
15 8 (0.62%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 74 (5.77%) Docker
2 28 (2.18%) Active Directory
3 27 (2.10%) Firmware
4 15 (1.17%) VMware Infrastructure
5 12 (0.94%) Virtual Machines
6 9 (0.70%) vSphere
7 6 (0.47%) Hyper-V
7 6 (0.47%) KVM
8 5 (0.39%) Embedded Firmware
9 3 (0.23%) VMware ESXi
10 2 (0.16%) Ceph
10 2 (0.16%) Lustre
10 2 (0.16%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 2 (0.16%) Terminal Services
11 1 (0.078%) iptables
11 1 (0.078%) OpenAM
11 1 (0.078%) OpenDJ
11 1 (0.078%) OpenIDM
11 1 (0.078%) pfSense
11 1 (0.078%) vCloud
Systems Management
1 72 (5.61%) Kubernetes
2 51 (3.98%) Terraform
3 35 (2.73%) Grafana
4 25 (1.95%) Ansible
5 17 (1.33%) Prometheus
6 12 (0.94%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 10 (0.78%) SCCM
8 9 (0.70%) Functional Safety
9 8 (0.62%) Puppet
10 7 (0.55%) Microsoft Intune
11 5 (0.39%) Argo
11 5 (0.39%) Rancher
11 5 (0.39%) yum
12 3 (0.23%) Cilium
13 2 (0.16%) BMC PATROL
13 2 (0.16%) Nessus
13 2 (0.16%) PowerCLI
14 1 (0.078%) Control-M
14 1 (0.078%) FortiGate
14 1 (0.078%) Kibana
Vendors
1 167 (13.02%) Microsoft
2 69 (5.38%) Oracle
3 56 (4.36%) SAP
4 48 (3.74%) Salesforce
5 23 (1.79%) Red Hat
5 23 (1.79%) VMware
6 20 (1.56%) Cisco
7 19 (1.48%) Databricks
8 18 (1.40%) Foundry
8 18 (1.40%) IBM
9 16 (1.25%) Adobe
9 16 (1.25%) OpenAI
9 16 (1.25%) ServiceNow
10 15 (1.17%) Google
11 13 (1.01%) Workday
12 12 (0.94%) Automation Anywhere
12 12 (0.94%) Palo Alto
12 12 (0.94%) UiPath
13 11 (0.86%) CrowdStrike
13 11 (0.86%) Tenable