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

6 months to
28 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 124 79 205
Rank change year-on-year -45 +126 -19
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,464 1,582 1,391
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.57% 3.70% 1.40%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.12% 3.97% 1.67%
Number of salaries quoted 832 423 768
10th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £35,500
25th Percentile £42,500 £46,625 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £56,283 £57,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -1.26% +3.64% -12.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £72,063
90th Percentile £90,000 £95,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -4.55% +4.76% -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 68,898 39,816 83,478
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.92% 93.23% 83.93%
Number of salaries quoted 44,884 20,923 60,289
10th Percentile £30,000 £29,750 £29,250
25th Percentile £40,750 £41,000 £39,885
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £58,033 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.39% +5.51% -9.84%
75th Percentile £78,750 £78,750 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £101,250 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £51,324 £50,000
% change year-on-year +2.29% +2.65% -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 28 May 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 28 May 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 -50 1,309 £57,500 +2.68% 838
UK excluding London -67 965 £52,500 -4.55% 638
Work from Home +135 464 £55,000 -8.33% 358
London +64 378 £75,000 +1.69% 299
South East -40 293 £55,000 +4.76% 193
North of England +62 259 £55,000 +15.35% 139
Midlands -78 165 £40,000 -30.43% 90
North West +61 162 £55,000 +15.35% 77
West Midlands -10 102 £44,000 -32.31% 57
East of England -87 100 £60,000 +5.26% 87
South West -50 93 £52,500 -2.78% 94
East Midlands -87 61 £30,000 -42.31% 33
Yorkshire -17 60 £51,250 +7.89% 42
Scotland -13 40 £42,000 -27.63% 30
North East -13 37 £52,500 -25.00% 21
Wales -34 14 £44,000 -26.67% 15
Northern Ireland -33 3 - - 11

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 48 (3.28%) Apache Airflow
2 34 (2.32%) Apache Spark
3 33 (2.25%) Apache
4 26 (1.78%) Confluence
5 21 (1.43%) ArcGIS
6 16 (1.09%) Microsoft Exchange
7 14 (0.96%) SharePoint
8 9 (0.61%) Appian
9 8 (0.55%) CMS
10 7 (0.48%) Jupyter
11 6 (0.41%) Kinematics
11 6 (0.41%) SAS
12 5 (0.34%) Adobe Experience Manager
13 3 (0.20%) Artix
14 2 (0.14%) IIS
15 1 (0.068%) Anypoint
15 1 (0.068%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 92 (6.28%) Microsoft Excel
2 55 (3.76%) Microsoft Office
3 22 (1.50%) MS Visio
4 17 (1.16%) Microsoft Project
5 16 (1.09%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 14 (0.96%) Simulink
7 8 (0.55%) SOLIDWORKS
8 7 (0.48%) Spreadsheet
9 5 (0.34%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 5 (0.34%) AutoCAD
10 4 (0.27%) Adobe XD
10 4 (0.27%) CANalyzer
10 4 (0.27%) Sketch
11 3 (0.20%) Autodesk Inventor
11 3 (0.20%) Fusion 360
11 3 (0.20%) Productboard
11 3 (0.20%) Solid Edge
12 2 (0.14%) CATIA
12 2 (0.14%) Stateflow
13 1 (0.068%) Oracle Smart View
Business Applications
1 37 (2.53%) SAP S/4HANA
2 29 (1.98%) Dynamics CRM
3 10 (0.68%) SAP ERP
4 9 (0.61%) Oracle ERP
5 7 (0.48%) SAP MDG
6 6 (0.41%) Elite 3E
6 6 (0.41%) Loan IQ
7 5 (0.34%) Oracle EBS
7 5 (0.34%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.27%) iTrent
8 4 (0.27%) Markit EDM
9 3 (0.20%) Oracle Applications
9 3 (0.20%) Oracle Financials
10 2 (0.14%) Oracle Payables
10 2 (0.14%) Oracle Receivables
10 2 (0.14%) SAP FSCM
10 2 (0.14%) SAP PSCD
11 1 (0.068%) Raiser’s Edge
11 1 (0.068%) SAP BRIM
11 1 (0.068%) SAP MDG-F
Cloud Services
1 209 (14.28%) Azure
2 166 (11.34%) AWS
3 132 (9.02%) Power Platform
4 66 (4.51%) GCP
5 61 (4.17%) SaaS
6 50 (3.42%) Azure DevOps
7 39 (2.66%) GitHub
8 38 (2.60%) Microsoft 365
8 38 (2.60%) Serverless
9 34 (2.32%) Amazon S3
10 33 (2.25%) Azure Data Factory
11 30 (2.05%) Dynamics 365
11 30 (2.05%) Snowflake
12 25 (1.71%) Entra ID
13 23 (1.57%) dbt
14 21 (1.43%) Power Automate
15 16 (1.09%) OpenShift
16 14 (0.96%) Azure AI
16 14 (0.96%) GitHub Actions
17 12 (0.82%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 56 (3.83%) Broadband
2 39 (2.66%) Firewall
3 25 (1.71%) DNS
3 25 (1.71%) WAN
4 24 (1.64%) Wireless
5 23 (1.57%) CHAP
6 19 (1.30%) TCP/IP
7 18 (1.23%) 5G
7 18 (1.23%) SD-WAN
8 14 (0.96%) Network Security
9 11 (0.75%) HTTP
9 11 (0.75%) MQTT
9 11 (0.75%) VPN
10 10 (0.68%) Wi-Fi
10 10 (0.68%) Wireshark
11 9 (0.61%) LAN
11 9 (0.61%) NAS
12 8 (0.55%) Ethernet
13 7 (0.48%) ATM
13 7 (0.48%) Modbus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 125 (8.54%) Power BI
2 53 (3.62%) Tableau
3 49 (3.35%) SQL Server
4 44 (3.01%) PostgreSQL
5 41 (2.80%) Data Warehouse
6 31 (2.12%) Relational Database
7 30 (2.05%) Metadata
8 25 (1.71%) MongoDB
8 25 (1.71%) QGIS
9 23 (1.57%) GIS
10 21 (1.43%) Azure SQL Database
10 21 (1.43%) Data Lake
11 20 (1.37%) BigQuery
11 20 (1.37%) Spatial Data
12 18 (1.23%) Semantic Layer
12 18 (1.23%) Spark SQL
13 17 (1.16%) Oracle Reports
14 16 (1.09%) Oracle Database
15 15 (1.02%) MySQL
16 14 (0.96%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 72 (4.92%) Git
2 65 (4.44%) JIRA
3 40 (2.73%) Jenkins
4 35 (2.39%) Rational DOORS
5 30 (2.05%) GitLab
6 22 (1.50%) Snyk
7 17 (1.16%) LabVIEW
8 15 (1.02%) Postman
9 13 (0.89%) IBM UrbanCode
9 13 (0.89%) MLflow
10 12 (0.82%) Selenium
11 11 (0.75%) Cucumber
12 10 (0.68%) Eclipse
12 10 (0.68%) JMeter
13 9 (0.61%) TeamCity
14 8 (0.55%) Cypress.io
15 7 (0.48%) TestRail
16 6 (0.41%) Rational Rhapsody
16 6 (0.41%) Robot Framework
17 5 (0.34%) SpecFlow
General
1 458 (31.28%) Social Skills
2 385 (26.30%) Finance
3 321 (21.93%) Analytical Skills
4 112 (7.65%) Manufacturing
5 110 (7.51%) Aerospace
6 105 (7.17%) Electronics
7 91 (6.22%) Banking
8 85 (5.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 61 (4.17%) Legal
10 55 (3.76%) Retail
11 53 (3.62%) Public Sector
12 47 (3.21%) Law
12 47 (3.21%) Marketing
13 43 (2.94%) Pharmaceutical
14 37 (2.53%) Organisational Skills
15 34 (2.32%) Presentation Skills
16 32 (2.19%) Financial Institution
17 31 (2.12%) Games
18 30 (2.05%) Automotive
19 23 (1.57%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 240 (16.39%) Senior
2 235 (16.05%) Analyst
3 154 (10.52%) Systems Engineer
4 102 (6.97%) Lead
5 96 (6.56%) Architect
6 93 (6.35%) Test Engineer
7 86 (5.87%) Business Analyst
8 83 (5.67%) Validation Engineer
9 71 (4.85%) Consultant
10 61 (4.17%) Data Analyst
10 61 (4.17%) Data Engineer
11 60 (4.10%) Developer
12 51 (3.48%) Integration Engineer
13 47 (3.21%) Principal Engineer
14 45 (3.07%) Junior
15 40 (2.73%) Embedded Engineer
16 37 (2.53%) Senior Systems Engineer
17 36 (2.46%) Verification Engineer
18 35 (2.39%) Systems Integration Engineer
19 33 (2.25%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 47 (3.21%) REST
2 36 (2.46%) PyTorch
3 32 (2.19%) RESTful
4 31 (2.12%) JSON
5 29 (1.98%) Pandas
6 28 (1.91%) PySpark
7 27 (1.84%) Middleware
7 27 (1.84%) pytest
8 23 (1.57%) .NET
8 23 (1.57%) Kafka
9 20 (1.37%) Node.js
9 20 (1.37%) XML
10 18 (1.23%) CSS
10 18 (1.23%) Playwright
10 18 (1.23%) Swagger
11 17 (1.16%) OAuth
12 16 (1.09%) TensorFlow
13 15 (1.02%) JWT
13 15 (1.02%) NumPy
14 14 (0.96%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 81 (5.53%) Management Information System
2 68 (4.64%) Onboarding
3 63 (4.30%) Cloud Native
4 56 (3.83%) Data Structures
5 46 (3.14%) Algorithms
6 43 (2.94%) Low-Code
7 39 (2.66%) Product Ownership
8 35 (2.39%) Embedded Systems
9 34 (2.32%) Self-Motivation
10 32 (2.19%) Data Centre
11 31 (2.12%) Analytical Mindset
11 31 (2.12%) Legacy Systems
12 29 (1.98%) Driving Licence
13 27 (1.84%) Enterprise Software
14 26 (1.78%) Life Science
15 23 (1.57%) FPGA
16 22 (1.50%) Video\Live Streaming
17 21 (1.43%) Distributed Systems
18 20 (1.37%) Robotics
19 17 (1.16%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 82 (5.60%) Linux
2 67 (4.58%) Windows
3 24 (1.64%) Unix
4 23 (1.57%) Windows Server
5 21 (1.43%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 13 (0.89%) Android
7 5 (0.34%) Apple iOS
8 4 (0.27%) FreeRTOS
8 4 (0.27%) Mac OS X
9 3 (0.20%) AIX
9 3 (0.20%) CentOS
9 3 (0.20%) Kali Linux
9 3 (0.20%) Robot Operating System
10 2 (0.14%) ThreadX
11 1 (0.068%) Embedded Linux
11 1 (0.068%) Mac OS
11 1 (0.068%) Rocky
11 1 (0.068%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.068%) VxWorks
11 1 (0.068%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 328 (22.40%) Problem-Solving
2 298 (20.36%) Agile
3 278 (18.99%) Continuous Improvement
4 240 (16.39%) AI
5 218 (14.89%) CI/CD
6 215 (14.69%) Analytics
7 200 (13.66%) Verification and Validation
8 199 (13.59%) Test Automation
9 162 (11.07%) Data Validation
10 159 (10.86%) Migration
11 153 (10.45%) Business Intelligence
12 147 (10.04%) Data Modelling
13 145 (9.90%) DevOps
14 144 (9.84%) Decision-Making
15 140 (9.56%) Stakeholder Management
16 138 (9.43%) Software Engineering
17 137 (9.36%) Stakeholder Engagement
18 135 (9.22%) Mentoring
19 132 (9.02%) Data Governance
20 131 (8.95%) Machine Learning
Programming Languages
1 349 (23.84%) Python
2 295 (20.15%) SQL
3 62 (4.23%) Java
4 60 (4.10%) C++
5 53 (3.62%) C
6 41 (2.80%) Go
7 37 (2.53%) C#
8 35 (2.39%) PowerShell
9 33 (2.25%) JavaScript
10 29 (1.98%) Bash
11 27 (1.84%) MATLAB
12 18 (1.23%) T-SQL
13 17 (1.16%) Embedded C
14 14 (0.96%) TypeScript
15 13 (0.89%) Embedded C++
16 12 (0.82%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 10 (0.68%) VBA
18 9 (0.61%) ABAP
19 8 (0.55%) R
19 8 (0.55%) Scala
Qualifications
1 316 (21.58%) Degree
2 174 (11.89%) Security Cleared
3 116 (7.92%) BPSS Clearance
4 74 (5.05%) SC Cleared
5 70 (4.78%) Master's Degree
6 43 (2.94%) Computer Science Degree
7 42 (2.87%) DV Cleared
8 38 (2.60%) Chartered Engineer
9 33 (2.25%) CISA
9 33 (2.25%) CISSP
10 30 (2.05%) CISM
10 30 (2.05%) SANS
11 27 (1.84%) HNC
12 25 (1.71%) HND
13 23 (1.57%) CGEIT
13 23 (1.57%) FFIEC
13 23 (1.57%) PMI Certification
14 20 (1.37%) PMP
15 12 (0.82%) ACCA
15 12 (0.82%) CIMA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 211 (14.41%) Data Quality
2 156 (10.66%) QA
3 60 (4.10%) Accessibility
3 60 (4.10%) GDPR
4 45 (3.07%) GRC
5 29 (1.98%) ISO/IEC 15288
5 29 (1.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 25 (1.71%) NIST
7 23 (1.57%) COBIT
8 20 (1.37%) IEC 61508
9 19 (1.30%) IFRS
10 17 (1.16%) SLA
11 14 (0.96%) ISO 9001
11 14 (0.96%) PMO
12 12 (0.82%) GAAP
12 12 (0.82%) GMP
13 10 (0.68%) Good Clinical Practice
13 10 (0.68%) ISO 13485
13 10 (0.68%) SOC 2
13 10 (0.68%) WCAG
System Software
1 67 (4.58%) Docker
2 45 (3.07%) Firmware
3 37 (2.53%) Active Directory
4 22 (1.50%) Virtual Machines
5 15 (1.02%) vSphere
6 14 (0.96%) Embedded Firmware
6 14 (0.96%) VMware Infrastructure
7 6 (0.41%) KVM
8 5 (0.34%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.14%) Terminal Services
9 2 (0.14%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.068%) OpenAM
10 1 (0.068%) OpenDJ
10 1 (0.068%) OpenIDM
Systems Management
1 72 (4.92%) Kubernetes
2 56 (3.83%) Terraform
3 30 (2.05%) Grafana
4 23 (1.57%) Ansible
5 18 (1.23%) Functional Safety
6 16 (1.09%) Prometheus
7 14 (0.96%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 11 (0.75%) SCCM
9 9 (0.61%) Cilium
9 9 (0.61%) Puppet
10 8 (0.55%) Microsoft Intune
11 4 (0.27%) Argo
11 4 (0.27%) Kibana
11 4 (0.27%) Rancher
11 4 (0.27%) yum
12 3 (0.20%) FortiGate
12 3 (0.20%) HP Fortify
13 2 (0.14%) BMC PATROL
13 2 (0.14%) Computer Incident Response Team
14 1 (0.068%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 191 (13.05%) Microsoft
2 87 (5.94%) Oracle
3 82 (5.60%) SAP
4 52 (3.55%) Salesforce
5 30 (2.05%) Databricks
5 30 (2.05%) Red Hat
6 28 (1.91%) ServiceNow
6 28 (1.91%) VMware
7 26 (1.78%) CrowdStrike
8 24 (1.64%) Cisco
8 24 (1.64%) Palo Alto
9 22 (1.50%) Adobe
9 22 (1.50%) Google
9 22 (1.50%) Tenable
10 15 (1.02%) Foundry
10 15 (1.02%) OpenAI
11 14 (0.96%) Citrix
11 14 (0.96%) IBM
12 9 (0.61%) McAfee
12 9 (0.61%) Splunk