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

6 months to
15 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 71 94 174
Rank change year-on-year +23 +80 +28
Permanent jobs citing Validation 2,709 1,570 1,084
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 2.28% 3.19% 1.53%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.11% 3.59% 1.86%
Number of salaries quoted 1,582 438 402
10th Percentile £36,250 £38,679 £38,734
25th Percentile £42,750 £41,250 £46,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,000 £55,000 £57,004
Median % change year-on-year +5.45% -3.52% -12.30%
75th Percentile £71,250 £76,250 £77,500
90th Percentile £86,250 £87,875 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £52,600 £54,500
% change year-on-year +4.56% -3.49% -5.22%

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 87,229 43,738 58,305
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.43% 88.90% 82.16%
Number of salaries quoted 59,718 24,553 31,325
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,250 £32,925
25th Percentile £41,250 £36,250 £44,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -
75th Percentile £78,243 £75,000 £78,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £52,600
% change year-on-year +15.79% -9.70% -2.59%

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 October 2026.

Salary histogram for Validation in the UK

Validation
Top 18 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 October 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 +18 2,479 £57,500 +4.55% 2,687
UK excluding London -4 1,961 £55,000 +4.56% 1,510
Work from Home +139 702 £60,000 -7.69% 1,853
London +82 642 £65,000 -18.75% 1,365
South East -16 512 £62,500 +19.05% 393
North of England +118 498 £51,000 +6.96% 266
Midlands -13 327 £50,000 -9.09% 192
North West +108 301 £55,000 +9.88% 140
South West +28 253 £55,000 +10.00% 185
East of England -42 222 £55,500 -9.39% 216
West Midlands +48 177 £45,000 -18.18% 121
East Midlands -39 150 £50,000 +17.65% 71
Yorkshire +34 103 £42,500 - 88
Scotland +57 101 £70,000 +16.67% 200
North East +6 94 £55,000 +57.14% 39
Wales -25 51 £60,000 -7.69% 34
Isle of Man - 5 £38,500 - 2
Northern Ireland -74 4 - - 45

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 56 (2.07%) Apache Spark
2 47 (1.73%) Apache
2 47 (1.73%) Apache Airflow
3 39 (1.44%) SharePoint
4 38 (1.40%) Confluence
5 32 (1.18%) CMS
6 23 (0.85%) Microsoft Exchange
7 21 (0.78%) Jupyter
8 13 (0.48%) SAS
9 10 (0.37%) WinCC
10 6 (0.22%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 6 (0.22%) Palantir Foundry
11 4 (0.15%) Artix
12 3 (0.11%) nginx
12 3 (0.11%) OpenStack
12 3 (0.11%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 2 (0.074%) Cloud Foundry
13 2 (0.074%) FactoryTalk
14 1 (0.037%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
14 1 (0.037%) WebSphere
Applications
1 169 (6.24%) Microsoft Excel
2 75 (2.77%) Microsoft Office
3 57 (2.10%) Simulink
4 38 (1.40%) Microsoft Project
5 31 (1.14%) Spreadsheet
6 26 (0.96%) AutoCAD
7 19 (0.70%) SOLIDWORKS
8 18 (0.66%) Revit
9 17 (0.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
9 17 (0.63%) MS Visio
10 13 (0.48%) Navisworks
10 13 (0.48%) OrCAD
11 12 (0.44%) Notion
12 11 (0.41%) EPLAN
13 6 (0.22%) Mathcad
14 5 (0.18%) Chatbot
14 5 (0.18%) LaTeX
14 5 (0.18%) Stateflow
15 4 (0.15%) CANalyzer
16 3 (0.11%) Productboard
Business Applications
1 44 (1.62%) SAP S/4HANA
2 40 (1.48%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.41%) Workday HCM
4 9 (0.33%) SAP MDG
5 8 (0.30%) iTrent
5 8 (0.30%) NetSuite
6 7 (0.26%) Elite 3E
6 7 (0.26%) Infor M3
6 7 (0.26%) Maximo
6 7 (0.26%) Oracle EBS
6 7 (0.26%) Teamcenter
7 6 (0.22%) Oracle Applications
7 6 (0.22%) SAP ERP
8 5 (0.18%) Oracle Financials
8 5 (0.18%) Sage 200
8 5 (0.18%) Salesforce CRM
9 4 (0.15%) SAP MM
10 3 (0.11%) Dynamics NAV
10 3 (0.11%) SAP MDG-BP
10 3 (0.11%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 367 (13.55%) Azure
2 290 (10.71%) AWS
3 204 (7.53%) Power Platform
4 105 (3.88%) GCP
5 90 (3.32%) Azure DevOps
6 88 (3.25%) GitHub
7 84 (3.10%) SaaS
8 72 (2.66%) Microsoft 365
9 63 (2.33%) Serverless
10 52 (1.92%) Entra ID
11 51 (1.88%) Amazon S3
12 41 (1.51%) GitHub Actions
13 37 (1.37%) Microsoft Copilot
14 36 (1.33%) Dynamics 365
15 33 (1.22%) Microsoft Purview
16 30 (1.11%) Amazon EMR
17 28 (1.03%) AWS Lambda
17 28 (1.03%) Azure Data Factory
17 28 (1.03%) Azure Service Bus
17 28 (1.03%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 77 (2.84%) Firewall
2 74 (2.73%) DNS
3 57 (2.10%) Broadband
4 52 (1.92%) TCP/IP
5 49 (1.81%) VPN
6 48 (1.77%) Wireless
7 42 (1.55%) Ethernet
8 41 (1.51%) Modbus
8 41 (1.51%) VLAN
9 39 (1.44%) WAN
10 36 (1.33%) Network Security
11 34 (1.26%) OSPF
12 32 (1.18%) LAN
13 29 (1.07%) MQTT
14 27 (1.00%) Wireshark
15 24 (0.89%) BGP
15 24 (0.89%) SD-WAN
16 21 (0.78%) DHCP
17 19 (0.70%) 5G
17 19 (0.70%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 187 (6.90%) Power BI
2 81 (2.99%) Metadata
3 68 (2.51%) Data Warehouse
4 57 (2.10%) SQL Server
5 53 (1.96%) Data Lake
6 47 (1.73%) PostgreSQL
7 42 (1.55%) Amazon Athena
8 41 (1.51%) Tableau
9 40 (1.48%) Relational Database
10 30 (1.11%) MongoDB
11 28 (1.03%) Big Data
11 28 (1.03%) BigQuery
12 27 (1.00%) NoSQL
12 27 (1.00%) Power Query
13 23 (0.85%) Amazon Redshift
14 22 (0.81%) DynamoDB
14 22 (0.81%) SQL Server Integration Services
15 21 (0.78%) Azure SQL Database
16 19 (0.70%) MySQL
16 19 (0.70%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 145 (5.35%) JIRA
2 137 (5.06%) Git
3 70 (2.58%) GitLab
4 68 (2.51%) Jenkins
5 54 (1.99%) Rational DOORS
6 34 (1.26%) LabVIEW
7 27 (1.00%) Selenium
8 24 (0.89%) Postman
9 20 (0.74%) Cypress.io
10 14 (0.52%) Claude Code
11 13 (0.48%) Burp Suite
12 12 (0.44%) JMeter
12 12 (0.44%) Snyk
12 12 (0.44%) Sonatype Nexus
13 11 (0.41%) Eclipse
13 11 (0.41%) Rational Rhapsody
13 11 (0.41%) REST Assured
14 9 (0.33%) Cucumber
14 9 (0.33%) Zephyr
15 8 (0.30%) Metasploit
General
1 923 (34.07%) Social Skills
2 689 (25.43%) Finance
3 646 (23.85%) Analytical Skills
4 290 (10.71%) Manufacturing
5 273 (10.08%) Electronics
6 270 (9.97%) Aerospace
7 256 (9.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 143 (5.28%) Law
9 126 (4.65%) Marketing
10 124 (4.58%) Organisational Skills
11 122 (4.50%) Public Sector
12 112 (4.13%) Banking
13 105 (3.88%) Telecoms
14 104 (3.84%) Retail
15 88 (3.25%) Automotive
16 85 (3.14%) Pharmaceutical
17 62 (2.29%) Legal
18 52 (1.92%) Documentation Skills
19 50 (1.85%) Military
20 43 (1.59%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 467 (17.24%) Senior
2 313 (11.55%) Systems Engineer
3 272 (10.04%) Analyst
4 228 (8.42%) Lead
5 139 (5.13%) Data Engineer
6 133 (4.91%) Test Engineer
7 118 (4.36%) Architect
8 110 (4.06%) Developer
9 107 (3.95%) Consultant
10 102 (3.77%) Software Engineer
11 96 (3.54%) Electronics Engineer
12 92 (3.40%) Principal Engineer
13 81 (2.99%) Business Analyst
14 75 (2.77%) Design Engineer
15 67 (2.47%) Data Analyst
16 63 (2.33%) Network Engineer
17 61 (2.25%) Validation Engineer
18 59 (2.18%) Automation Engineer
19 52 (1.92%) Administrator
20 50 (1.85%) Principal Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 94 (3.47%) Terraform
2 69 (2.55%) REST
3 64 (2.36%) Kafka
4 63 (2.33%) RESTful
5 58 (2.14%) .NET
6 55 (2.03%) Node.js
7 45 (1.66%) PySpark
8 43 (1.59%) Playwright
9 40 (1.48%) JSON
10 38 (1.40%) FastAPI
10 38 (1.40%) XML
11 33 (1.22%) CSS
11 33 (1.22%) React
12 32 (1.18%) HTML
13 31 (1.14%) Swagger
14 27 (1.00%) OpenAPI
14 27 (1.00%) RabbitMQ
15 23 (0.85%) LDAP
15 23 (0.85%) Middleware
16 22 (0.81%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 175 (6.46%) Cloud Native
2 165 (6.09%) Management Information System
3 162 (5.98%) Onboarding
4 87 (3.21%) Product Ownership
5 79 (2.92%) Driving Licence
6 76 (2.81%) Embedded Systems
7 75 (2.77%) Data Centre
8 70 (2.58%) Distributed Systems
9 67 (2.47%) Data Structures
10 64 (2.36%) Enterprise Software
11 63 (2.33%) AI Agents
12 61 (2.25%) SCADA
13 54 (1.99%) Algorithms
14 51 (1.88%) Life Science
15 45 (1.66%) Analogue Electronics
15 45 (1.66%) IoT
16 43 (1.59%) Robotics
17 41 (1.51%) Legacy Systems
17 41 (1.51%) Low-Code
18 37 (1.37%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 139 (5.13%) Linux
2 97 (3.58%) Windows
3 36 (1.33%) Windows Server
4 26 (0.96%) Unix
5 14 (0.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 11 (0.41%) Android
7 9 (0.33%) macOS
8 8 (0.30%) Embedded Linux
9 4 (0.15%) Kali Linux
10 3 (0.11%) Apple iOS
10 3 (0.11%) FreeRTOS
10 3 (0.11%) Windows 10
11 2 (0.074%) Robot Operating System
11 2 (0.074%) VMS
12 1 (0.037%) CentOS
12 1 (0.037%) OpenWrt
12 1 (0.037%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 718 (26.50%) Problem-Solving
2 625 (23.07%) Continuous Improvement
3 494 (18.24%) Agile
4 488 (18.01%) Verification and Validation
5 484 (17.87%) AI
6 370 (13.66%) CI/CD
7 362 (13.36%) Stakeholder Management
8 349 (12.88%) Test Automation
9 331 (12.22%) Migration
10 297 (10.96%) Mentoring
11 294 (10.85%) Analytics
12 273 (10.08%) Software Engineering
13 265 (9.78%) Decision-Making
14 257 (9.49%) DevOps
15 233 (8.60%) Data Analysis
16 225 (8.31%) Business Intelligence
16 225 (8.31%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 213 (7.86%) Roadmaps
18 209 (7.72%) Technical Leadership
19 207 (7.64%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 571 (21.08%) Python
2 476 (17.57%) SQL
3 113 (4.17%) Java
4 99 (3.65%) C++
5 96 (3.54%) C
6 86 (3.17%) C#
7 78 (2.88%) JavaScript
8 72 (2.66%) MATLAB
9 46 (1.70%) Go
10 42 (1.55%) PowerShell
11 39 (1.44%) Bash
12 35 (1.29%) TypeScript
13 30 (1.11%) Embedded C
13 30 (1.11%) R
14 26 (0.96%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 25 (0.92%) Scala
16 19 (0.70%) Embedded C++
17 14 (0.52%) Shell Script
18 13 (0.48%) T-SQL
19 11 (0.41%) Apex Code
Qualifications
1 600 (22.15%) Degree
2 586 (21.63%) Security Cleared
3 439 (16.21%) SC Cleared
4 123 (4.54%) BPSS Clearance
5 108 (3.99%) DV Cleared
6 106 (3.91%) Master's Degree
7 54 (1.99%) PhD
8 51 (1.88%) Computer Science Degree
9 48 (1.77%) HND
10 40 (1.48%) Chartered Engineer
11 39 (1.44%) HNC
12 35 (1.29%) Azure Certification
12 35 (1.29%) PMI Certification
13 31 (1.14%) ACCA
14 30 (1.11%) CISSP
15 29 (1.07%) AWS Certification
16 28 (1.03%) CIMA
17 26 (0.96%) PMP
18 25 (0.92%) Cisco Certification
19 21 (0.78%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 404 (14.91%) Data Quality
2 321 (11.85%) QA
3 95 (3.51%) Accessibility
4 71 (2.62%) GDPR
5 34 (1.26%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 30 (1.11%) GxP
7 27 (1.00%) SLA
8 26 (0.96%) GRC
9 21 (0.78%) ISO 9001
9 21 (0.78%) NIST
10 20 (0.74%) ISO 19650
10 20 (0.74%) ISO/IEC 15288
11 16 (0.59%) GMP
11 16 (0.59%) IEC 61508
12 12 (0.44%) SOC 2
12 12 (0.44%) WCAG
13 11 (0.41%) ISO 26262
13 11 (0.41%) PMO
14 9 (0.33%) Cyber Essentials
14 9 (0.33%) JTAG
System Software
1 118 (4.36%) Docker
2 107 (3.95%) Firmware
3 53 (1.96%) Active Directory
4 46 (1.70%) Embedded Firmware
5 17 (0.63%) Virtual Machines
6 15 (0.55%) vSphere
7 10 (0.37%) VMware Infrastructure
8 6 (0.22%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.11%) KVM
9 3 (0.11%) Virtual Servers
9 3 (0.11%) VMware ESXi
10 2 (0.074%) iptables
10 2 (0.074%) ProxySG
11 1 (0.037%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.037%) LXC
Systems Management
1 97 (3.58%) Kubernetes
2 48 (1.77%) Grafana
3 41 (1.51%) Ansible
4 28 (1.03%) Functional Safety
5 18 (0.66%) Single Sign-On
6 17 (0.63%) Microsoft Intune
6 17 (0.63%) Prometheus
7 13 (0.48%) Puppet
8 9 (0.33%) BMC PATROL
9 8 (0.30%) Kibana
9 8 (0.30%) Nessus
9 8 (0.30%) Nmap
10 7 (0.26%) Cilium
11 6 (0.22%) Argo
12 5 (0.18%) Autotask
12 5 (0.18%) Rancher
12 5 (0.18%) SCCM
12 5 (0.18%) WMI
12 5 (0.18%) yum
13 4 (0.15%) FortiGate
Vendors
1 372 (13.73%) Microsoft
2 130 (4.80%) SAP
3 107 (3.95%) Salesforce
4 103 (3.80%) Oracle
5 86 (3.17%) EMC
6 74 (2.73%) Databricks
7 58 (2.14%) Cisco
8 56 (2.07%) ServiceNow
9 45 (1.66%) Google
10 39 (1.44%) Adobe
11 33 (1.22%) Thales
12 30 (1.11%) Samsung
13 28 (1.03%) TikTok
14 27 (1.00%) Sage
15 26 (0.96%) IBM
16 23 (0.85%) Siemens
16 23 (0.85%) VMware
17 22 (0.81%) CrowdStrike
17 22 (0.81%) Informatica
18 21 (0.78%) Autodesk