Validation Job Trends

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 29 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 168 169 204
Rank change year-on-year +1 +35 -72
Permanent jobs citing Validation 856 1,068 893
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.58% 1.61% 1.75%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.87% 1.89% 1.86%
Number of salaries quoted 471 415 506
10th Percentile £36,250 £36,500 £36,875
25th Percentile £41,250 £46,250 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -
75th Percentile £80,000 £74,943 £79,313
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,000 £91,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £52,600 £55,000
% change year-on-year -0.19% -4.36% +10.00%

All Process and 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 45,730 56,495 47,974
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 84.51% 85.27% 93.76%
Number of salaries quoted 27,916 29,477 36,918
10th Percentile £28,250 £34,000 £32,500
25th Percentile £36,250 £45,000 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £80,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £98,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,500 £54,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -12.84% +3.81% -0.94%

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 29 November 2025.

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 29 November 2025. 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 +17 776 £60,000 +9.09% 694
UK excluding London +1 560 £52,500 -0.19% 633
London +33 244 £80,000 +18.52% 200
Work from Home +58 201 £61,375 +4.47% 315
South East +13 196 £52,500 -8.70% 292
North of England -11 114 £52,500 +15.38% 65
Midlands +58 83 £42,500 -15.00% 77
South West +25 72 £50,000 -16.67% 89
North West +3 70 £52,750 +14.15% 32
East of England -5 57 £56,250 +2.27% 119
West Midlands +51 53 £42,500 -15.00% 52
Yorkshire -11 32 £60,000 +50.00% 25
East Midlands +37 30 £42,500 -10.53% 24
Scotland -14 28 £65,039 +15.10% 28
North East +7 12 £35,000 -26.70% 9
Wales +15 10 £61,250 +24.74% 11
Northern Ireland -8 2 - - 4

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 24 (2.80%) Confluence
2 19 (2.22%) Apache Airflow
3 17 (1.99%) Apache Spark
4 10 (1.17%) Apache
4 10 (1.17%) SugarCRM
5 8 (0.93%) CMS
5 8 (0.93%) SharePoint
6 5 (0.58%) SAS
7 4 (0.47%) Headless CMS
8 3 (0.35%) Appian
8 3 (0.35%) Jupyter
8 3 (0.35%) Microsoft Exchange
9 2 (0.23%) WordPress
10 1 (0.12%) Apache Superset
10 1 (0.12%) ArcGIS
10 1 (0.12%) FileNet
10 1 (0.12%) Luigi
Applications
1 55 (6.43%) Microsoft Excel
2 49 (5.72%) Microsoft Office
3 18 (2.10%) MS Visio
3 18 (2.10%) Simulink
4 8 (0.93%) Mathcad
4 8 (0.93%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (0.70%) AutoCAD
6 4 (0.47%) Blender
6 4 (0.47%) Revit
7 3 (0.35%) Adobe Illustrator
7 3 (0.35%) Oracle Smart View
7 3 (0.35%) Photoshop
8 2 (0.23%) Adobe After Effects
8 2 (0.23%) Adobe Captivate
8 2 (0.23%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 2 (0.23%) Adobe Premiere
8 2 (0.23%) Elementor
8 2 (0.23%) SOLIDWORKS
8 2 (0.23%) Weka
9 1 (0.12%) Navisworks
Business Applications
1 27 (3.15%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (0.93%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (0.82%) Workday HCM
4 5 (0.58%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 4 (0.47%) SAP BPC
6 3 (0.35%) NetSuite
6 3 (0.35%) Oracle Assets
6 3 (0.35%) Oracle Cash Management
6 3 (0.35%) Oracle General Ledger
6 3 (0.35%) Oracle Payables
6 3 (0.35%) Oracle Receivables
6 3 (0.35%) SAP CX
6 3 (0.35%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
7 2 (0.23%) Aladdin
7 2 (0.23%) Endur
7 2 (0.23%) IBM Planning Analytics
7 2 (0.23%) Oracle ERP
7 2 (0.23%) Primavera
7 2 (0.23%) SAP ERP
7 2 (0.23%) SAP MDG
Cloud Services
1 115 (13.43%) Azure
2 84 (9.81%) Power Platform
3 79 (9.23%) AWS
4 41 (4.79%) SaaS
5 29 (3.39%) Azure DevOps
6 24 (2.80%) GCP
7 20 (2.34%) Dynamics 365
8 19 (2.22%) Snowflake
9 17 (1.99%) Amazon S3
10 16 (1.87%) GitHub
11 15 (1.75%) dbt
11 15 (1.75%) Serverless
12 13 (1.52%) AWS Lambda
12 13 (1.52%) Datadog
13 11 (1.29%) Azure Data Factory
13 11 (1.29%) Power Automate
14 10 (1.17%) Amazon SageMaker
15 9 (1.05%) AWS CloudFormation
15 9 (1.05%) Microsoft 365
16 8 (0.93%) AWS Step Functions
Communications & Networking
1 17 (1.99%) LAN
2 13 (1.52%) Firewall
3 11 (1.29%) Ethernet
4 10 (1.17%) Modbus
5 9 (1.05%) DNS
5 9 (1.05%) WAN
6 8 (0.93%) Internet
7 7 (0.82%) 5G
7 7 (0.82%) TCP/IP
8 6 (0.70%) CHAP
8 6 (0.70%) Ethernet VPN
8 6 (0.70%) Profibus
8 6 (0.70%) SD-WAN
9 5 (0.58%) BGP
9 5 (0.58%) DHCP
9 5 (0.58%) Network Security
9 5 (0.58%) NX-OS
9 5 (0.58%) OSPF
10 4 (0.47%) MPLS
10 4 (0.47%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 78 (9.11%) Power BI
2 42 (4.91%) Tableau
3 35 (4.09%) Data Warehouse
4 25 (2.92%) Metadata
5 24 (2.80%) SQL Server
6 20 (2.34%) BigQuery
7 16 (1.87%) Relational Database
8 13 (1.52%) Big Data
9 11 (1.29%) Data Lake
9 11 (1.29%) NoSQL
9 11 (1.29%) PostgreSQL
10 8 (0.93%) Amazon Redshift
11 7 (0.82%) Amazon Athena
11 7 (0.82%) Amazon Aurora
11 7 (0.82%) Looker
11 7 (0.82%) MongoDB
12 6 (0.70%) BusinessObjects
12 6 (0.70%) GIS
12 6 (0.70%) Oracle Reports
12 6 (0.70%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 78 (9.11%) JIRA
2 48 (5.61%) Git
3 42 (4.91%) Rational DOORS
4 25 (2.92%) Jenkins
5 20 (2.34%) Postman
6 16 (1.87%) Selenium
7 12 (1.40%) GitLab
7 12 (1.40%) JMeter
8 11 (1.29%) Cucumber
9 10 (1.17%) SoapUI
10 8 (0.93%) MLflow
10 8 (0.93%) TestRail
11 7 (0.82%) LoadRunner
11 7 (0.82%) Locust
12 5 (0.58%) Cypress.io
12 5 (0.58%) TestNG
12 5 (0.58%) Zephyr
13 4 (0.47%) Browser DevTools
13 4 (0.47%) SonarQube
13 4 (0.47%) WebDriver
General
1 324 (37.85%) Social Skills
2 246 (28.74%) Finance
3 170 (19.86%) Analytical Skills
4 56 (6.54%) Law
4 56 (6.54%) Manufacturing
5 51 (5.96%) Electronics
6 49 (5.72%) Marketing
7 48 (5.61%) Documentation Skills
8 42 (4.91%) Banking
9 40 (4.67%) Presentation Skills
10 39 (4.56%) Aerospace
11 33 (3.86%) Retail
12 32 (3.74%) Organisational Skills
13 31 (3.62%) Financial Institution
13 31 (3.62%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 28 (3.27%) Telecoms
15 26 (3.04%) Influencing Skills
15 26 (3.04%) Public Sector
16 23 (2.69%) Pharmaceutical
17 22 (2.57%) Billing
Job Titles
1 123 (14.37%) Senior
2 119 (13.90%) Analyst
3 100 (11.68%) Lead
4 67 (7.83%) Systems Engineer
5 43 (5.02%) Data Analyst
6 38 (4.44%) Architect
6 38 (4.44%) Business Analyst
7 34 (3.97%) Test Engineer
8 33 (3.86%) Data Engineer
9 32 (3.74%) Support Engineer
10 29 (3.39%) Applications Engineer
10 29 (3.39%) Developer
11 27 (3.15%) Administrator
11 27 (3.15%) Applications Support
12 26 (3.04%) Principal Engineer
13 23 (2.69%) Applications Support Engineer
13 23 (2.69%) Team Leader
14 22 (2.57%) Data Quality Analyst
14 22 (2.57%) Quality Analyst
15 20 (2.34%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (3.39%) REST
2 23 (2.69%) Middleware
3 22 (2.57%) JSON
4 21 (2.45%) XML
5 18 (2.10%) scikit-learn
6 17 (1.99%) Pandas
7 16 (1.87%) PyTorch
7 16 (1.87%) TensorFlow
8 15 (1.75%) Kafka
9 14 (1.64%) React
10 10 (1.17%) HTML
11 9 (1.05%) Web Services
12 8 (0.93%) NumPy
12 8 (0.93%) PySpark
12 8 (0.93%) pytest
13 7 (0.82%) CSS
13 7 (0.82%) FastAPI
13 7 (0.82%) Gherkin
13 7 (0.82%) Hugging Face
13 7 (0.82%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 71 (8.29%) Management Information System
2 39 (4.56%) Onboarding
3 38 (4.44%) Life Science
4 37 (4.32%) Self-Motivation
5 32 (3.74%) Product Ownership
6 28 (3.27%) Algorithms
7 27 (3.15%) Operational Technology
8 18 (2.10%) SCADA
9 16 (1.87%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 13 (1.52%) Legacy Systems
11 12 (1.40%) Analytical Mindset
11 12 (1.40%) Data Centre
11 12 (1.40%) Data Structures
11 12 (1.40%) FPGA
12 11 (1.29%) Credit Risk
12 11 (1.29%) Embedded Systems
12 11 (1.29%) SWIFT Messaging Network
13 10 (1.17%) Low-Code
14 9 (1.05%) Virtual Team
15 8 (0.93%) Cloud Native
Operating Systems
1 38 (4.44%) Linux
2 36 (4.21%) Windows
3 13 (1.52%) Windows Server
4 7 (0.82%) Windows Server 2016
5 5 (0.58%) Windows 10
5 5 (0.58%) Windows Server 2019
6 3 (0.35%) Unix
7 2 (0.23%) FreeRTOS
7 2 (0.23%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.12%) AIX
8 1 (0.12%) Android
8 1 (0.12%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.12%) CentOS
8 1 (0.12%) VMS
8 1 (0.12%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 235 (27.45%) Agile
2 209 (24.42%) Problem-Solving
3 127 (14.84%) Verification and Validation
4 123 (14.37%) Data Validation
5 122 (14.25%) Continuous Improvement
6 118 (13.79%) Migration
7 104 (12.15%) Analytics
8 97 (11.33%) Test Automation
9 92 (10.75%) Decision-Making
10 91 (10.63%) Systems Engineering
11 88 (10.28%) Business Intelligence
12 86 (10.05%) Data Analysis
12 86 (10.05%) Mentoring
13 84 (9.81%) CI/CD
13 84 (9.81%) DevOps
13 84 (9.81%) Software Engineering
14 82 (9.58%) ETL
15 81 (9.46%) Data Management
16 77 (9.00%) Stakeholder Management
17 74 (8.64%) AI
Programming Languages
1 177 (20.68%) Python
1 177 (20.68%) SQL
2 38 (4.44%) Java
3 37 (4.32%) C++
4 36 (4.21%) C
5 30 (3.50%) MATLAB
6 20 (2.34%) JavaScript
7 19 (2.22%) PowerShell
8 14 (1.64%) R
9 13 (1.52%) Bash
10 10 (1.17%) T-SQL
10 10 (1.17%) TypeScript
11 6 (0.70%) C#
11 6 (0.70%) Ladder Logic
12 3 (0.35%) Bicep
12 3 (0.35%) Embedded C
12 3 (0.35%) GLSL
12 3 (0.35%) Go
12 3 (0.35%) Google Apps Script
12 3 (0.35%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 276 (32.24%) Degree
2 91 (10.63%) BPSS Clearance
3 89 (10.40%) Security Cleared
4 58 (6.78%) Master's Degree
5 50 (5.84%) SC Cleared
6 40 (4.67%) Computer Science Degree
7 26 (3.04%) Cisco Certification
8 20 (2.34%) HNC
9 18 (2.10%) DV Cleared
10 15 (1.75%) Microsoft Certification
11 14 (1.64%) CCNA
11 14 (1.64%) CCNP
12 12 (1.40%) CCIE
12 12 (1.40%) ISTQB
12 12 (1.40%) Numerate Degree
13 11 (1.29%) ACCA
14 10 (1.17%) Network+ Certification
15 9 (1.05%) Chartered Engineer
15 9 (1.05%) CISA
15 9 (1.05%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 114 (13.32%) Data Quality
2 112 (13.08%) QA
3 38 (4.44%) GxP
4 35 (4.09%) ISO/IEC 15288
5 30 (3.50%) SLA
6 28 (3.27%) GDPR
7 26 (3.04%) Accessibility
8 16 (1.87%) ISO/IEC 12207
9 11 (1.29%) ISO 20022
9 11 (1.29%) NIST
9 11 (1.29%) SEPA
10 9 (1.05%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 7 (0.82%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 7 (0.82%) COBIT
11 7 (0.82%) TARGET2
11 7 (0.82%) WCAG
12 5 (0.58%) ARP4761
13 4 (0.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
13 4 (0.47%) NCSC
14 3 (0.35%) AUTOSAR
System Software
1 42 (4.91%) Docker
2 31 (3.62%) VMware Infrastructure
3 26 (3.04%) Firmware
4 14 (1.64%) Active Directory
5 12 (1.40%) Embedded Firmware
6 7 (0.82%) VMware ESXi
6 7 (0.82%) vSphere
7 6 (0.70%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (0.58%) vCloud
9 2 (0.23%) Apache Flume
9 2 (0.23%) Ceph
9 2 (0.23%) HDFS
9 2 (0.23%) Lustre
9 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 2 (0.23%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 2 (0.23%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.12%) DFS Replication
10 1 (0.12%) Hyper-V
10 1 (0.12%) Postfix
10 1 (0.12%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 32 (3.74%) Kubernetes
2 21 (2.45%) Grafana
2 21 (2.45%) Terraform
3 18 (2.10%) Ansible
4 11 (1.29%) Prometheus
5 5 (0.58%) Docker Swarm
5 5 (0.58%) Kubeflow
5 5 (0.58%) vCenter Server
6 4 (0.47%) Rundeck
7 3 (0.35%) Kibana
8 2 (0.23%) Argo
8 2 (0.23%) Functional Safety
8 2 (0.23%) logstash
8 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Intune
8 2 (0.23%) Nessus
8 2 (0.23%) Oozie
8 2 (0.23%) Progress Chef
8 2 (0.23%) Rancher
8 2 (0.23%) yum
9 1 (0.12%) Puppet
Vendors
1 95 (11.10%) Microsoft
2 58 (6.78%) SAP
3 37 (4.32%) VMware
4 27 (3.15%) Cisco
5 24 (2.80%) Oracle
5 24 (2.80%) Salesforce
6 22 (2.57%) IBM
7 15 (1.75%) Foundry
8 13 (1.52%) CheckPoint
8 13 (1.52%) F5
9 12 (1.40%) Siemens
10 11 (1.29%) Workday
11 9 (1.05%) Allen-Bradley
11 9 (1.05%) Databricks
11 9 (1.05%) Software AG
12 8 (0.93%) Intapp
12 8 (0.93%) MathWorks
12 8 (0.93%) Splunk
13 7 (0.82%) EMC
14 6 (0.70%) Informatica