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

6 months to
28 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 108 86 208
Rank change year-on-year -22 +122 -14
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,753 1,679 1,149
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.72% 3.41% 1.30%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.34% 3.80% 1.60%
Number of salaries quoted 1,037 513 585
10th Percentile £35,000 £39,000 £35,850
25th Percentile £42,215 £44,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £56,509
Median % change year-on-year - -2.67% -9.59%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £72,250
90th Percentile £90,000 £92,500 £85,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £53,175 £52,500
% change year-on-year -1.27% +1.29% -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 74,833 44,225 71,828
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.64% 89.70% 81.44%
Number of salaries quoted 51,638 25,059 48,434
10th Percentile £30,500 £28,750 £30,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.66%
75th Percentile £78,750 £76,250 £73,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £93,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +10.00% - -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 July 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 July 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 -20 1,592 £55,000 - 1,000
UK excluding London -41 1,188 £52,500 -1.27% 705
Work from Home +112 558 £55,000 -8.33% 380
London +76 452 £75,000 -6.25% 397
South East -33 349 £55,000 - 220
North of England +97 339 £55,000 +15.79% 152
North West +90 203 £55,000 +15.35% 83
Midlands -56 186 £42,500 -22.73% 120
South West -27 124 £50,000 -4.94% 96
East of England -75 111 £62,500 +9.65% 82
West Midlands +12 101 £44,000 -26.67% 69
East Midlands -69 84 £42,500 - 51
Yorkshire +1 70 £43,000 +1.18% 37
North East +5 66 £55,000 +41.94% 33
Scotland +16 50 £50,000 -13.84% 40
Wales -41 29 £45,750 -14.88% 11
Northern Ireland -67 2 - - 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 58 (3.31%) Apache Airflow
2 55 (3.14%) Apache Spark
3 53 (3.02%) Apache
4 31 (1.77%) SharePoint
5 30 (1.71%) Confluence
6 21 (1.20%) ArcGIS
7 19 (1.08%) Jupyter
8 13 (0.74%) Microsoft Exchange
9 12 (0.68%) SAS
10 5 (0.29%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 5 (0.29%) CMS
11 4 (0.23%) Kinematics
12 3 (0.17%) Artix
12 3 (0.17%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 2 (0.11%) IIS
14 1 (0.057%) Appian
14 1 (0.057%) Cloud Foundry
14 1 (0.057%) Oracle Workflow
14 1 (0.057%) WebSphere
14 1 (0.057%) WinCC
Applications
1 98 (5.59%) Microsoft Excel
2 59 (3.37%) Microsoft Office
3 27 (1.54%) Microsoft Project
4 25 (1.43%) MS Visio
5 23 (1.31%) Simulink
6 13 (0.74%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 13 (0.74%) Spreadsheet
7 8 (0.46%) SOLIDWORKS
8 5 (0.29%) AutoCAD
8 5 (0.29%) LaTeX
9 4 (0.23%) Adobe XD
9 4 (0.23%) CANalyzer
9 4 (0.23%) Sketch
10 3 (0.17%) Autodesk Inventor
10 3 (0.17%) Productboard
10 3 (0.17%) Stateflow
11 2 (0.11%) Mathcad
11 2 (0.11%) Solid Edge
12 1 (0.057%) Chatbot
12 1 (0.057%) Trello
Business Applications
1 48 (2.74%) SAP S/4HANA
2 41 (2.34%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.63%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.57%) SAP ERP
5 9 (0.51%) iTrent
5 9 (0.51%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.46%) Oracle Applications
6 8 (0.46%) Oracle ERP
7 6 (0.34%) Elite 3E
8 5 (0.29%) Loan IQ
8 5 (0.29%) SAP MDG-BP
9 4 (0.23%) NetSuite
9 4 (0.23%) Oracle Financials
9 4 (0.23%) SAP MM
10 3 (0.17%) Teamcenter
11 2 (0.11%) SAP Business One
11 2 (0.11%) SAP CO
11 2 (0.11%) SAP FI
11 2 (0.11%) SAP FI/CO
11 2 (0.11%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 261 (14.89%) Azure
2 244 (13.92%) AWS
3 163 (9.30%) Power Platform
4 84 (4.79%) GCP
5 82 (4.68%) SaaS
6 66 (3.76%) Azure DevOps
7 50 (2.85%) Microsoft 365
7 50 (2.85%) Serverless
8 48 (2.74%) GitHub
9 42 (2.40%) Amazon S3
10 36 (2.05%) Dynamics 365
11 24 (1.37%) GitHub Actions
12 23 (1.31%) Entra ID
12 23 (1.31%) Microsoft Copilot
13 22 (1.25%) Snowflake
14 21 (1.20%) Amazon EC2
14 21 (1.20%) Azure Data Factory
14 21 (1.20%) Cloud Computing
15 20 (1.14%) Amazon EMR
15 20 (1.14%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 71 (4.05%) Broadband
2 51 (2.91%) Firewall
3 41 (2.34%) DNS
4 30 (1.71%) TCP/IP
4 30 (1.71%) Wireless
5 22 (1.25%) Network Security
5 22 (1.25%) WAN
6 21 (1.20%) VPN
7 17 (0.97%) Ethernet
8 15 (0.86%) Wi-Fi
8 15 (0.86%) Wireshark
9 14 (0.80%) Internet
9 14 (0.80%) MQTT
9 14 (0.80%) SD-WAN
10 12 (0.68%) CHAP
10 12 (0.68%) HTTP
10 12 (0.68%) LAN
11 10 (0.57%) 5G
11 10 (0.57%) BGP
11 10 (0.57%) NGN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 146 (8.33%) Power BI
2 58 (3.31%) PostgreSQL
3 56 (3.19%) Tableau
4 55 (3.14%) Data Warehouse
5 48 (2.74%) SQL Server
6 45 (2.57%) Metadata
7 35 (2.00%) Data Lake
8 34 (1.94%) MongoDB
9 29 (1.65%) Relational Database
10 27 (1.54%) BigQuery
11 25 (1.43%) QGIS
12 24 (1.37%) Semantic Layer
13 23 (1.31%) GIS
14 22 (1.25%) DynamoDB
15 21 (1.20%) Amazon Athena
15 21 (1.20%) MySQL
16 20 (1.14%) Azure SQL Database
16 20 (1.14%) Spark SQL
16 20 (1.14%) Spatial Data
17 19 (1.08%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 109 (6.22%) JIRA
2 95 (5.42%) Git
3 52 (2.97%) Jenkins
4 47 (2.68%) GitLab
5 33 (1.88%) Rational DOORS
6 22 (1.25%) Selenium
6 22 (1.25%) Snyk
7 19 (1.08%) Postman
8 15 (0.86%) Cypress.io
8 15 (0.86%) LabVIEW
9 14 (0.80%) JMeter
10 13 (0.74%) IBM UrbanCode
11 12 (0.68%) Cucumber
12 10 (0.57%) TeamCity
13 9 (0.51%) Burp Suite
13 9 (0.51%) REST Assured
14 7 (0.40%) Rational Rhapsody
15 6 (0.34%) GDB
15 6 (0.34%) Hudson
15 6 (0.34%) JUnit
General
1 582 (33.20%) Social Skills
2 487 (27.78%) Finance
3 415 (23.67%) Analytical Skills
4 143 (8.16%) Aerospace
4 143 (8.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 143 (8.16%) Manufacturing
5 125 (7.13%) Electronics
6 103 (5.88%) Banking
7 78 (4.45%) Law
8 71 (4.05%) Retail
9 70 (3.99%) Public Sector
10 58 (3.31%) Pharmaceutical
11 56 (3.19%) Organisational Skills
12 55 (3.14%) Legal
13 49 (2.80%) Marketing
14 45 (2.57%) Games
15 43 (2.45%) Automotive
16 32 (1.83%) Documentation Skills
17 31 (1.77%) Telecoms
18 29 (1.65%) Billing
Job Titles
1 320 (18.25%) Senior
2 259 (14.77%) Analyst
3 154 (8.78%) Lead
4 126 (7.19%) Systems Engineer
5 108 (6.16%) Architect
5 108 (6.16%) Test Engineer
6 96 (5.48%) Consultant
7 94 (5.36%) Data Engineer
8 82 (4.68%) Business Analyst
9 81 (4.62%) Developer
10 74 (4.22%) Data Analyst
11 72 (4.11%) Validation Engineer
12 53 (3.02%) Software Engineer
13 49 (2.80%) Principal Engineer
14 45 (2.57%) Embedded Engineer
15 43 (2.45%) Support Engineer
16 40 (2.28%) IT Manager
17 39 (2.22%) Data Scientist
17 39 (2.22%) Senior Systems Engineer
18 36 (2.05%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 47 (2.68%) RESTful
2 38 (2.17%) Kafka
2 38 (2.17%) Node.js
2 38 (2.17%) PySpark
3 31 (1.77%) JSON
3 31 (1.77%) PyTorch
3 31 (1.77%) XML
4 30 (1.71%) REST
5 26 (1.48%) Pandas
6 25 (1.43%) .NET
7 23 (1.31%) Middleware
7 23 (1.31%) Playwright
8 20 (1.14%) CSS
9 19 (1.08%) HTML
9 19 (1.08%) Regular Expression
9 19 (1.08%) XMPP
10 18 (1.03%) LDAP
10 18 (1.03%) React
11 17 (0.97%) Oracle Fusion
12 16 (0.91%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 122 (6.96%) Cloud Native
2 114 (6.50%) Onboarding
3 80 (4.56%) Management Information System
4 69 (3.94%) Data Structures
5 68 (3.88%) Algorithms
6 61 (3.48%) Product Ownership
7 55 (3.14%) Data Centre
8 48 (2.74%) Embedded Systems
9 46 (2.62%) Distributed Systems
9 46 (2.62%) Driving Licence
9 46 (2.62%) Enterprise Software
10 44 (2.51%) Low-Code
11 38 (2.17%) Analytical Mindset
12 32 (1.83%) Video\Live Streaming
13 31 (1.77%) AI Agents
13 31 (1.77%) Legacy Systems
13 31 (1.77%) Life Science
14 28 (1.60%) Self-Motivation
15 26 (1.48%) IoT
16 25 (1.43%) FPGA
Operating Systems
1 118 (6.73%) Linux
2 85 (4.85%) Windows
3 32 (1.83%) Windows Server
4 25 (1.43%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (1.08%) Unix
6 6 (0.34%) Android
6 6 (0.34%) FreeRTOS
7 5 (0.29%) Embedded Linux
8 4 (0.23%) Kali Linux
8 4 (0.23%) Mac OS
8 4 (0.23%) Mac OS X
9 2 (0.11%) AIX
9 2 (0.11%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.11%) ThreadX
9 2 (0.11%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.057%) Apple iOS
10 1 (0.057%) CentOS
10 1 (0.057%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.057%) VMS
10 1 (0.057%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 423 (24.13%) Problem-Solving
2 420 (23.96%) Continuous Improvement
3 378 (21.56%) Agile
4 338 (19.28%) AI
5 281 (16.03%) CI/CD
6 250 (14.26%) Analytics
7 231 (13.18%) Test Automation
8 226 (12.89%) Migration
9 219 (12.49%) Stakeholder Management
10 204 (11.64%) Mentoring
11 188 (10.72%) Decision-Making
12 183 (10.44%) Data Analysis
13 181 (10.33%) Verification and Validation
14 176 (10.04%) DevOps
15 174 (9.93%) Business Intelligence
16 173 (9.87%) Software Engineering
17 169 (9.64%) Machine Learning
18 164 (9.36%) Data Validation
19 162 (9.24%) Data Modelling
20 161 (9.18%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 456 (26.01%) Python
2 371 (21.16%) SQL
3 78 (4.45%) C++
4 77 (4.39%) Java
5 71 (4.05%) C
6 53 (3.02%) Go
7 50 (2.85%) JavaScript
8 49 (2.80%) C#
9 37 (2.11%) MATLAB
10 29 (1.65%) PowerShell
11 28 (1.60%) Bash
12 22 (1.25%) T-SQL
13 21 (1.20%) Embedded C
14 18 (1.03%) Embedded C++
14 18 (1.03%) Scala
14 18 (1.03%) TypeScript
15 15 (0.86%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 11 (0.63%) R
17 10 (0.57%) ABAP
17 10 (0.57%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 349 (19.91%) Degree
2 219 (12.49%) Security Cleared
3 120 (6.85%) BPSS Clearance
4 116 (6.62%) SC Cleared
5 74 (4.22%) Master's Degree
6 67 (3.82%) DV Cleared
7 40 (2.28%) Computer Science Degree
8 30 (1.71%) Chartered Engineer
9 29 (1.65%) HNC
10 28 (1.60%) CISSP
11 26 (1.48%) PhD
12 23 (1.31%) CISA
13 22 (1.25%) CISM
13 22 (1.25%) SANS
14 21 (1.20%) ACCA
14 21 (1.20%) AWS Certification
14 21 (1.20%) CIMA
14 21 (1.20%) PMI Certification
15 19 (1.08%) HND
16 17 (0.97%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 297 (16.94%) Data Quality
2 237 (13.52%) QA
3 73 (4.16%) Accessibility
4 56 (3.19%) GDPR
5 38 (2.17%) GRC
6 25 (1.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 24 (1.37%) IEC 61508
8 21 (1.20%) NIST
9 18 (1.03%) SLA
10 17 (0.97%) PMO
11 15 (0.86%) IFRS
12 14 (0.80%) GxP
12 14 (0.80%) ISO 9001
13 13 (0.74%) GAAP
13 13 (0.74%) ISO 26262
13 13 (0.74%) ISO/IEC 15288
13 13 (0.74%) WCAG
14 12 (0.68%) COBIT
15 11 (0.63%) SOC 2
16 9 (0.51%) MISRA
System Software
1 74 (4.22%) Docker
2 62 (3.54%) Firmware
3 41 (2.34%) Active Directory
4 27 (1.54%) Embedded Firmware
4 27 (1.54%) Virtual Machines
5 22 (1.25%) vSphere
6 17 (0.97%) VMware Infrastructure
7 7 (0.40%) KVM
8 5 (0.29%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.17%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.057%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.057%) ProxySG
10 1 (0.057%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 75 (4.28%) Kubernetes
1 75 (4.28%) Terraform
2 40 (2.28%) Grafana
3 27 (1.54%) Ansible
4 24 (1.37%) Functional Safety
5 17 (0.97%) Prometheus
6 12 (0.68%) Puppet
7 10 (0.57%) Cilium
8 7 (0.40%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 7 (0.40%) Kibana
8 7 (0.40%) SCCM
9 6 (0.34%) Single Sign-On
10 4 (0.23%) Argo
10 4 (0.23%) Microsoft Intune
10 4 (0.23%) Nessus
10 4 (0.23%) Nmap
11 3 (0.17%) FortiGate
11 3 (0.17%) HP Fortify
11 3 (0.17%) Rancher
11 3 (0.17%) WMI
Vendors
1 243 (13.86%) Microsoft
2 107 (6.10%) SAP
3 97 (5.53%) Oracle
4 56 (3.19%) Salesforce
5 47 (2.68%) Databricks
6 37 (2.11%) ServiceNow
7 36 (2.05%) VMware
8 35 (2.00%) Red Hat
9 33 (1.88%) Cisco
9 33 (1.88%) Google
10 29 (1.65%) CrowdStrike
11 24 (1.37%) Palo Alto
12 22 (1.25%) Tenable
13 17 (0.97%) IBM
14 15 (0.86%) McAfee
15 14 (0.80%) Adobe
15 14 (0.80%) Foundry
16 13 (0.74%) EMC
16 13 (0.74%) Splunk
17 12 (0.68%) Citrix