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

6 months to
10 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 123 81 201
Rank change year-on-year -42 +120 -8
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,405 1,612 1,417
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.55% 3.68% 1.47%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.08% 3.95% 1.72%
Number of salaries quoted 795 442 778
10th Percentile £34,700 £40,000 £35,425
25th Percentile £42,750 £46,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,490 £56,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.23% +1.82% -12.00%
75th Percentile £76,875 £71,250 £72,325
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -4.55% +4.76% -6.67%

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 67,438 40,826 82,224
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 74.22% 93.31% 85.22%
Number of salaries quoted 42,850 22,742 59,687
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,250 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - +9.09% -10.10%
75th Percentile £78,750 £80,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £102,491 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year - +5.00% -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 10 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 10 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 -49 1,253 £60,000 +7.14% 812
UK excluding London -69 916 £52,500 -4.55% 625
Work from Home +126 446 £57,500 -2.13% 380
London +66 371 £77,500 +10.71% 290
South East -46 287 £55,000 +7.84% 203
North of England +36 230 £55,000 +15.35% 124
Midlands -79 156 £40,000 -27.27% 90
North West +53 144 £55,000 +15.35% 74
West Midlands -10 101 £43,250 -33.46% 53
East of England -79 97 £60,000 +5.26% 83
South West -47 93 £52,500 -2.78% 86
Yorkshire -29 55 £55,000 +15.79% 37
East Midlands -95 53 £30,000 -41.18% 37
Scotland -17 41 £42,000 -27.63% 35
North East -15 31 £52,500 -7.49% 14
Wales -28 12 £44,000 -20.00% 17
Northern Ireland -37 2 - - 8

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 47 (3.35%) Apache Airflow
2 28 (1.99%) Apache Spark
3 27 (1.92%) Apache
4 26 (1.85%) Confluence
5 21 (1.49%) ArcGIS
6 16 (1.14%) Microsoft Exchange
7 12 (0.85%) Appian
8 10 (0.71%) CMS
9 9 (0.64%) SharePoint
10 7 (0.50%) SAS
11 6 (0.43%) Kinematics
12 3 (0.21%) Jupyter
13 2 (0.14%) Adobe Experience Manager
13 2 (0.14%) Artix
13 2 (0.14%) Headless CMS
13 2 (0.14%) IIS
14 1 (0.071%) Anypoint
14 1 (0.071%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 91 (6.48%) Microsoft Excel
2 62 (4.41%) Microsoft Office
3 20 (1.42%) MS Visio
4 14 (1.00%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 10 (0.71%) Microsoft Project
5 10 (0.71%) Simulink
6 6 (0.43%) Spreadsheet
7 5 (0.36%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 5 (0.36%) SOLIDWORKS
8 4 (0.28%) CANalyzer
8 4 (0.28%) Fusion 360
9 3 (0.21%) Adobe XD
9 3 (0.21%) AutoCAD
9 3 (0.21%) Sketch
9 3 (0.21%) Solid Edge
10 2 (0.14%) Autodesk Inventor
10 2 (0.14%) CATIA
10 2 (0.14%) Oracle Smart View
10 2 (0.14%) Productboard
11 1 (0.071%) Navisworks
Business Applications
1 36 (2.56%) SAP S/4HANA
2 23 (1.64%) Dynamics CRM
3 10 (0.71%) SAP ERP
4 9 (0.64%) Oracle ERP
5 7 (0.50%) SAP MDG
6 6 (0.43%) Elite 3E
6 6 (0.43%) Loan IQ
6 6 (0.43%) Workday HCM
7 5 (0.36%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.28%) Markit EDM
9 3 (0.21%) iTrent
9 3 (0.21%) Oracle Applications
9 3 (0.21%) Oracle EBS
10 2 (0.14%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
10 2 (0.14%) SAP FSCM
10 2 (0.14%) SAP PSCD
11 1 (0.071%) Oracle Payables
11 1 (0.071%) Oracle Receivables
11 1 (0.071%) SAP BRIM
11 1 (0.071%) SAP Business ByDesign
Cloud Services
1 206 (14.66%) Azure
2 146 (10.39%) AWS
3 125 (8.90%) Power Platform
4 65 (4.63%) SaaS
5 56 (3.99%) GCP
6 47 (3.35%) Azure DevOps
7 35 (2.49%) Azure Data Factory
7 35 (2.49%) Serverless
8 34 (2.42%) Dynamics 365
9 31 (2.21%) Microsoft 365
10 30 (2.14%) Snowflake
11 29 (2.06%) GitHub
12 27 (1.92%) Amazon S3
13 25 (1.78%) Power Automate
14 24 (1.71%) dbt
14 24 (1.71%) Entra ID
15 17 (1.21%) OpenShift
16 16 (1.14%) Azure AI
17 15 (1.07%) Anthropic Claude
18 12 (0.85%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 51 (3.63%) Broadband
2 32 (2.28%) Firewall
3 29 (2.06%) CHAP
4 24 (1.71%) DNS
5 22 (1.57%) WAN
6 20 (1.42%) Wireless
7 19 (1.35%) TCP/IP
8 18 (1.28%) 5G
9 17 (1.21%) SD-WAN
10 12 (0.85%) HTTP
11 10 (0.71%) Wireshark
12 9 (0.64%) LAN
12 9 (0.64%) Modbus
12 9 (0.64%) MQTT
12 9 (0.64%) NAS
12 9 (0.64%) VPN
13 8 (0.57%) Multicast
13 8 (0.57%) Network Security
13 8 (0.57%) Wi-Fi
14 7 (0.50%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 117 (8.33%) Power BI
2 50 (3.56%) SQL Server
3 48 (3.42%) Tableau
4 44 (3.13%) PostgreSQL
5 35 (2.49%) Data Warehouse
5 35 (2.49%) Metadata
6 31 (2.21%) Relational Database
7 25 (1.78%) QGIS
8 24 (1.71%) MongoDB
9 23 (1.64%) GIS
10 21 (1.49%) Data Lake
11 20 (1.42%) Spatial Data
12 18 (1.28%) Oracle Reports
13 17 (1.21%) Azure SQL Database
13 17 (1.21%) Spark SQL
14 15 (1.07%) BigQuery
14 15 (1.07%) Oracle Database
15 14 (1.00%) MySQL
15 14 (1.00%) Parquet
15 14 (1.00%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 69 (4.91%) Git
2 68 (4.84%) JIRA
3 39 (2.78%) Rational DOORS
4 30 (2.14%) Jenkins
5 23 (1.64%) GitLab
6 20 (1.42%) Snyk
7 18 (1.28%) Postman
8 17 (1.21%) LabVIEW
9 15 (1.07%) MLflow
9 15 (1.07%) Selenium
10 13 (0.93%) IBM UrbanCode
11 12 (0.85%) Cucumber
11 12 (0.85%) JMeter
12 11 (0.78%) TestRail
13 10 (0.71%) Eclipse
14 7 (0.50%) LoadRunner
15 6 (0.43%) Cypress.io
15 6 (0.43%) Robot Framework
16 5 (0.36%) SonarQube
16 5 (0.36%) SpecFlow
General
1 456 (32.46%) Social Skills
2 372 (26.48%) Finance
3 301 (21.42%) Analytical Skills
4 108 (7.69%) Manufacturing
5 102 (7.26%) Aerospace
6 96 (6.83%) Electronics
7 86 (6.12%) Banking
8 73 (5.20%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 60 (4.27%) Legal
10 50 (3.56%) Public Sector
11 48 (3.42%) Retail
12 43 (3.06%) Law
12 43 (3.06%) Marketing
13 39 (2.78%) Financial Institution
13 39 (2.78%) Pharmaceutical
14 37 (2.63%) Presentation Skills
15 35 (2.49%) Games
16 34 (2.42%) Organisational Skills
17 30 (2.14%) Automotive
18 23 (1.64%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 230 (16.37%) Senior
2 225 (16.01%) Analyst
3 156 (11.10%) Systems Engineer
4 101 (7.19%) Lead
5 92 (6.55%) Architect
6 89 (6.33%) Test Engineer
7 84 (5.98%) Business Analyst
8 80 (5.69%) Validation Engineer
9 69 (4.91%) Consultant
10 60 (4.27%) Data Analyst
11 52 (3.70%) Data Engineer
12 51 (3.63%) Integration Engineer
13 49 (3.49%) Developer
14 44 (3.13%) Junior
15 43 (3.06%) Principal Engineer
16 42 (2.99%) Senior Systems Engineer
17 36 (2.56%) Systems Integration Engineer
17 36 (2.56%) Verification Engineer
18 32 (2.28%) Auditor
18 32 (2.28%) Embedded Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 53 (3.77%) REST
2 37 (2.63%) PyTorch
3 34 (2.42%) JSON
3 34 (2.42%) Pandas
4 32 (2.28%) RESTful
5 29 (2.06%) Middleware
6 28 (1.99%) pytest
7 22 (1.57%) PySpark
7 22 (1.57%) XML
8 20 (1.42%) .NET
8 20 (1.42%) OAuth
8 20 (1.42%) Swagger
9 18 (1.28%) JWT
10 17 (1.21%) Kafka
10 17 (1.21%) NumPy
10 17 (1.21%) Playwright
10 17 (1.21%) TensorFlow
11 16 (1.14%) CSS
12 14 (1.00%) Oracle Fusion
12 14 (1.00%) React
Miscellaneous
1 86 (6.12%) Management Information System
2 58 (4.13%) Onboarding
3 51 (3.63%) Data Structures
4 47 (3.35%) Low-Code
5 45 (3.20%) Cloud Native
6 44 (3.13%) Algorithms
7 39 (2.78%) Product Ownership
8 36 (2.56%) Self-Motivation
9 35 (2.49%) Legacy Systems
10 30 (2.14%) Analytical Mindset
10 30 (2.14%) Data Centre
11 27 (1.92%) Embedded Systems
12 24 (1.71%) Life Science
13 23 (1.64%) Enterprise Software
14 22 (1.57%) Video\Live Streaming
15 20 (1.42%) Distributed Systems
15 20 (1.42%) Driving Licence
16 18 (1.28%) Robotics
17 17 (1.21%) SCADA
18 16 (1.14%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 81 (5.77%) Linux
2 67 (4.77%) Windows
3 21 (1.49%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 21 (1.49%) Unix
3 21 (1.49%) Windows Server
4 13 (0.93%) Android
5 5 (0.36%) Apple iOS
6 4 (0.28%) CentOS
6 4 (0.28%) FreeRTOS
6 4 (0.28%) Mac OS X
7 3 (0.21%) AIX
7 3 (0.21%) Kali Linux
7 3 (0.21%) Robot Operating System
8 2 (0.14%) ThreadX
9 1 (0.071%) Embedded Linux
9 1 (0.071%) Rocky
9 1 (0.071%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.071%) VxWorks
9 1 (0.071%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 310 (22.06%) Problem-Solving
2 290 (20.64%) Agile
3 270 (19.22%) Continuous Improvement
4 221 (15.73%) AI
5 220 (15.66%) Analytics
6 207 (14.73%) Verification and Validation
7 194 (13.81%) CI/CD
8 191 (13.59%) Test Automation
9 164 (11.67%) Data Validation
10 153 (10.89%) Migration
11 145 (10.32%) Business Intelligence
11 145 (10.32%) Data Modelling
12 138 (9.82%) Decision-Making
13 136 (9.68%) Stakeholder Management
14 132 (9.40%) Data Governance
14 132 (9.40%) User Acceptance Testing
15 131 (9.32%) Software Engineering
16 130 (9.25%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 129 (9.18%) DevOps
18 126 (8.97%) Systems Engineering
Programming Languages
1 322 (22.92%) Python
2 282 (20.07%) SQL
3 56 (3.99%) C++
4 51 (3.63%) Java
5 47 (3.35%) C
6 38 (2.70%) PowerShell
7 36 (2.56%) Go
8 29 (2.06%) Bash
9 28 (1.99%) C#
9 28 (1.99%) JavaScript
10 23 (1.64%) MATLAB
11 18 (1.28%) T-SQL
12 14 (1.00%) Embedded C
13 13 (0.93%) TypeScript
14 12 (0.85%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 9 (0.64%) R
15 9 (0.64%) VBA
16 8 (0.57%) ABAP
16 8 (0.57%) Embedded C++
17 7 (0.50%) VB
Qualifications
1 309 (21.99%) Degree
2 170 (12.10%) Security Cleared
3 129 (9.18%) BPSS Clearance
4 67 (4.77%) SC Cleared
5 65 (4.63%) Master's Degree
6 42 (2.99%) DV Cleared
7 41 (2.92%) Computer Science Degree
8 39 (2.78%) CISA
8 39 (2.78%) CISSP
9 37 (2.63%) Chartered Engineer
10 36 (2.56%) CISM
11 35 (2.49%) SANS
12 29 (2.06%) CGEIT
12 29 (2.06%) FFIEC
13 27 (1.92%) HNC
14 24 (1.71%) HND
15 23 (1.64%) PMI Certification
16 20 (1.42%) PMP
17 14 (1.00%) ISTQB
18 10 (0.71%) ACCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 196 (13.95%) Data Quality
2 151 (10.75%) QA
3 68 (4.84%) GDPR
4 59 (4.20%) Accessibility
5 38 (2.70%) GRC
6 37 (2.63%) ISO/IEC 15288
7 31 (2.21%) NIST
8 29 (2.06%) COBIT
9 21 (1.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 20 (1.42%) IFRS
11 18 (1.28%) IEC 61508
12 15 (1.07%) SLA
13 13 (0.93%) GAAP
13 13 (0.93%) ISO 9001
14 11 (0.78%) GMP
14 11 (0.78%) PMO
15 10 (0.71%) Good Clinical Practice
15 10 (0.71%) WCAG
16 9 (0.64%) 21 CFR Part 11
16 9 (0.64%) ISO/IEC 12207
System Software
1 62 (4.41%) Docker
2 36 (2.56%) Active Directory
3 34 (2.42%) Firmware
4 20 (1.42%) Virtual Machines
5 15 (1.07%) VMware Infrastructure
5 15 (1.07%) vSphere
6 8 (0.57%) Embedded Firmware
7 6 (0.43%) KVM
8 5 (0.36%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.21%) VMware ESXi
10 2 (0.14%) Terminal Services
11 1 (0.071%) iptables
11 1 (0.071%) OpenAM
11 1 (0.071%) OpenDJ
11 1 (0.071%) OpenIDM
Systems Management
1 67 (4.77%) Kubernetes
2 47 (3.35%) Terraform
3 31 (2.21%) Grafana
4 25 (1.78%) Ansible
5 17 (1.21%) Prometheus
6 15 (1.07%) Functional Safety
7 14 (1.00%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 11 (0.78%) SCCM
9 9 (0.64%) Puppet
10 8 (0.57%) Microsoft Intune
11 4 (0.28%) Argo
11 4 (0.28%) Cilium
11 4 (0.28%) Rancher
11 4 (0.28%) yum
12 3 (0.21%) HP Fortify
12 3 (0.21%) Kibana
13 2 (0.14%) BMC PATROL
13 2 (0.14%) Computer Incident Response Team
13 2 (0.14%) PowerCLI
14 1 (0.071%) SQL Sentry
Vendors
1 183 (13.02%) Microsoft
2 78 (5.55%) Oracle
3 71 (5.05%) SAP
4 49 (3.49%) Salesforce
5 30 (2.14%) Red Hat
6 28 (1.99%) VMware
7 26 (1.85%) Databricks
8 23 (1.64%) CrowdStrike
9 22 (1.57%) Cisco
9 22 (1.57%) Palo Alto
10 20 (1.42%) Google
10 20 (1.42%) ServiceNow
10 20 (1.42%) Tenable
11 18 (1.28%) Adobe
11 18 (1.28%) IBM
12 17 (1.21%) OpenAI
13 14 (1.00%) Citrix
14 13 (0.93%) Foundry
15 12 (0.85%) Automation Anywhere
15 12 (0.85%) UiPath