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

6 months to
13 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 133 161 194
Rank change year-on-year +28 +33 -34
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,285 792 1,423
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.52% 1.92% 1.53%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.00% 2.07% 1.78%
Number of salaries quoted 728 397 800
10th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £35,225
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 £53,250 £54,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -2.29% +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 64,219 38,320 79,920
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 75.73% 92.97% 86.04%
Number of salaries quoted 39,642 22,523 59,141
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 £53,300 £50,000
% change year-on-year -6.19% +6.60% -7.83%

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 13 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 13 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 +35 1,131 £60,000 +7.14% 898
UK excluding London +3 824 £53,250 -2.29% 708
Work from Home +98 373 £60,000 +5.26% 415
London +64 349 £75,000 +7.14% 281
South East +32 259 £55,000 +8.91% 230
North of England +16 188 £59,500 +24.78% 117
Midlands -22 141 £37,500 -31.82% 128
North West +16 116 £60,000 +25.83% 55
East of England +2 95 £57,500 +4.55% 113
West Midlands +4 89 £44,000 -32.31% 88
South West -34 84 £53,750 -2.27% 98
East Midlands -41 50 £34,000 -33.33% 40
Yorkshire -32 49 £60,000 +26.32% 45
Scotland -8 42 £42,000 -27.63% 31
North East -12 23 £51,500 -9.25% 18
Wales -23 14 £49,500 +0.81% 6
Northern Ireland -47 3 - - 1

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 (0.93%) Appian
7 12 (0.93%) CMS
8 10 (0.78%) 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 (6.93%) Microsoft Excel
2 62 (4.82%) Microsoft Office
3 20 (1.56%) MS Visio
4 16 (1.25%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.54%) 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 (0.54%) Workday HCM
5 5 (0.39%) Elite 3E
5 5 (0.39%) Loan IQ
5 5 (0.39%) SAP ERP
6 4 (0.31%) Markit EDM
6 4 (0.31%) SAP MDG
7 2 (0.16%) IBM Planning Analytics
7 2 (0.16%) Oracle Applications
7 2 (0.16%) Oracle EBS
7 2 (0.16%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 2 (0.16%) SAP CX
7 2 (0.16%) SAP FSCM
7 2 (0.16%) SAP MDG-BP
8 1 (0.078%) Endur
8 1 (0.078%) NetSuite
8 1 (0.078%) Oracle Financials
8 1 (0.078%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 192 (14.94%) Azure
2 126 (9.81%) AWS
3 113 (8.79%) Power Platform
4 60 (4.67%) SaaS
5 47 (3.66%) GCP
6 43 (3.35%) Azure DevOps
7 33 (2.57%) Dynamics 365
8 31 (2.41%) Azure Data Factory
8 31 (2.41%) dbt
9 29 (2.26%) Power Automate
9 29 (2.26%) Snowflake
10 25 (1.95%) GitHub
11 24 (1.87%) Amazon S3
11 24 (1.87%) Serverless
12 23 (1.79%) Entra ID
12 23 (1.79%) Microsoft 365
13 18 (1.40%) Datadog
14 16 (1.25%) OpenShift
15 15 (1.17%) Azure AI
16 14 (1.09%) Anthropic Claude
Communications & Networking
1 26 (2.02%) 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 (0.93%) 5G
8 9 (0.70%) HTTP
8 9 (0.70%) Modbus
8 9 (0.70%) Multicast
9 8 (0.62%) LAN
10 7 (0.54%) MQTT
10 7 (0.54%) 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 (8.25%) Power BI
2 45 (3.50%) 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 (5.37%) Git
2 68 (5.29%) JIRA
3 38 (2.96%) Rational DOORS
4 22 (1.71%) Jenkins
5 18 (1.40%) JMeter
6 17 (1.32%) Cucumber
6 17 (1.32%) 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 (0.93%) 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%) Zephyr
General
1 451 (35.10%) Social Skills
2 340 (26.46%) Finance
3 283 (22.02%) Analytical Skills
4 92 (7.16%) Manufacturing
5 86 (6.69%) Banking
6 78 (6.07%) Electronics
7 77 (5.99%) Aerospace
8 60 (4.67%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 60 (4.67%) Legal
9 47 (3.66%) Public Sector
10 46 (3.58%) Law
10 46 (3.58%) Retail
11 41 (3.19%) Marketing
12 40 (3.11%) Financial Institution
12 40 (3.11%) Presentation Skills
13 31 (2.41%) Pharmaceutical
14 30 (2.33%) Organisational Skills
15 25 (1.95%) Automotive
16 24 (1.87%) Telecoms
17 23 (1.79%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 217 (16.89%) Analyst
2 208 (16.19%) Senior
3 151 (11.75%) Systems Engineer
4 97 (7.55%) Lead
5 83 (6.46%) Business Analyst
6 75 (5.84%) Validation Engineer
7 71 (5.53%) Test Engineer
8 70 (5.45%) Architect
9 62 (4.82%) Consultant
10 55 (4.28%) Data Analyst
10 55 (4.28%) Integration Engineer
11 47 (3.66%) Developer
12 45 (3.50%) Senior Systems Engineer
13 44 (3.42%) Junior
14 41 (3.19%) Data Engineer
15 39 (3.04%) Systems Integration Engineer
16 37 (2.88%) Principal Engineer
16 37 (2.88%) Verification Engineer
17 35 (2.72%) Software Validation Engineer
18 29 (2.26%) Auditor
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 60 (4.67%) REST
2 40 (3.11%) PyTorch
3 37 (2.88%) Pandas
4 36 (2.80%) JSON
5 29 (2.26%) Middleware
6 26 (2.02%) pytest
7 25 (1.95%) 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 (1.32%) 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 (5.84%) Management Information System
2 57 (4.44%) Onboarding
3 48 (3.74%) Data Structures
4 37 (2.88%) Algorithms
4 37 (2.88%) Low-Code
5 36 (2.80%) Product Ownership
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 (1.32%) 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 (5.29%) Linux
2 58 (4.51%) Windows
3 17 (1.32%) Unix
4 16 (1.25%) Windows Server
5 15 (1.17%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 12 (0.93%) 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 (22.72%) Agile
1 292 (22.72%) Problem-Solving
2 251 (19.53%) Continuous Improvement
3 202 (15.72%) Verification and Validation
4 198 (15.41%) Analytics
5 179 (13.93%) AI
6 161 (12.53%) Data Validation
7 157 (12.22%) CI/CD
8 156 (12.14%) Test Automation
9 139 (10.82%) Migration
10 138 (10.74%) Stakeholder Management
11 136 (10.58%) Business Intelligence
12 133 (10.35%) Systems Engineering
13 127 (9.88%) Data Modelling
14 126 (9.81%) DevOps
14 126 (9.81%) User Acceptance Testing
15 121 (9.42%) Decision-Making
15 121 (9.42%) Mentoring
16 114 (8.87%) ETL
17 113 (8.79%) Data Governance
Programming Languages
1 282 (21.95%) Python
2 262 (20.39%) SQL
3 52 (4.05%) Java
4 41 (3.19%) C++
5 38 (2.96%) PowerShell
6 36 (2.80%) C
7 33 (2.57%) JavaScript
8 26 (2.02%) 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 (0.54%) Apex Code
15 7 (0.54%) VB
16 6 (0.47%) PHP
Qualifications
1 287 (22.33%) Degree
2 161 (12.53%) Security Cleared
3 124 (9.65%) BPSS Clearance
4 62 (4.82%) SC Cleared
5 58 (4.51%) 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 27 (2.10%) HNC
11 26 (2.02%) CGEIT
11 26 (2.02%) FFIEC
11 26 (2.02%) SANS
12 22 (1.71%) PMI Certification
13 21 (1.63%) HND
14 19 (1.48%) PMP
15 18 (1.40%) ISTQB
16 9 (0.70%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 164 (12.76%) Data Quality
2 150 (11.67%) 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 (2.02%) COBIT
8 20 (1.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 19 (1.48%) SLA
10 17 (1.32%) IFRS
10 17 (1.32%) 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 (5.76%) Docker
2 28 (2.18%) Active Directory
3 27 (2.10%) Firmware
4 15 (1.17%) VMware Infrastructure
5 12 (0.93%) 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 (5.60%) Kubernetes
2 51 (3.97%) Terraform
3 35 (2.72%) Grafana
4 25 (1.95%) Ansible
5 17 (1.32%) Prometheus
6 12 (0.93%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 10 (0.78%) SCCM
8 9 (0.70%) Functional Safety
9 8 (0.62%) Puppet
10 7 (0.54%) 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%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 167 (13.00%) Microsoft
2 69 (5.37%) 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 (0.93%) Automation Anywhere
12 12 (0.93%) Palo Alto
12 12 (0.93%) UiPath
13 11 (0.86%) Intapp
13 11 (0.86%) Tenable