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

6 months to
15 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 94 84 197
Rank change year-on-year -10 +113 -1
Permanent jobs citing Validation 2,018 1,704 1,150
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.89% 3.42% 1.38%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.58% 3.83% 1.71%
Number of salaries quoted 1,166 531 525
10th Percentile £35,000 £38,750 £36,250
25th Percentile £42,500 £41,250 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year - -8.33% -5.51%
75th Percentile £73,750 £71,250 £76,250
90th Percentile £88,750 £90,000 £93,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £52,600 £54,995
% change year-on-year +4.56% -4.35% -2.59%

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 78,311 44,508 67,246
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.48% 89.25% 80.98%
Number of salaries quoted 53,938 25,218 43,343
10th Percentile £30,775 £28,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £36,750 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.71%
75th Percentile £78,750 £75,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,250 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +15.79% -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 15 August 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 August 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 -13 1,845 £55,000 - 2,894
UK excluding London -26 1,410 £55,000 +4.56% 1,778
Work from Home +113 602 £56,000 -6.67% 1,060
London +70 507 £72,500 -6.45% 1,442
South East -23 416 £56,500 +5.12% 447
North of England +102 387 £55,000 +15.79% 294
North West +93 222 £55,000 +15.35% 176
Midlands -55 203 £44,000 -20.00% 246
South West -13 165 £53,500 +1.71% 269
East of England -67 137 £60,000 +5.26% 257
West Midlands +14 112 £44,360 -22.85% 161
East Midlands -63 90 £42,837 +0.79% 85
North East +7 85 £55,000 +57.14% 56
Yorkshire +14 80 £43,000 +1.18% 69
Scotland +26 71 £55,000 -5.23% 204
Wales -35 30 £47,500 -11.63% 56
Northern Ireland -69 2 - - 32
Isle of Man - 1 £38,500 - 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 63 (3.12%) Apache Airflow
2 60 (2.97%) Apache Spark
3 58 (2.87%) Apache
4 35 (1.73%) Confluence
5 32 (1.59%) SharePoint
6 21 (1.04%) Jupyter
7 12 (0.59%) ArcGIS
7 12 (0.59%) SAS
8 10 (0.50%) Microsoft Exchange
9 5 (0.25%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 5 (0.25%) CMS
9 5 (0.25%) WinCC
10 4 (0.20%) Kinematics
11 3 (0.15%) Artix
11 3 (0.15%) Oracle SOA Suite
12 2 (0.099%) Cloud Foundry
12 2 (0.099%) IIS
13 1 (0.050%) FactoryTalk
13 1 (0.050%) Palantir Foundry
13 1 (0.050%) WebSphere
Applications
1 121 (6.00%) Microsoft Excel
2 69 (3.42%) Microsoft Office
3 36 (1.78%) Microsoft Project
4 35 (1.73%) Simulink
5 28 (1.39%) MS Visio
6 17 (0.84%) Spreadsheet
7 16 (0.79%) Microsoft PowerPoint
8 14 (0.69%) SOLIDWORKS
9 8 (0.40%) AutoCAD
10 5 (0.25%) LaTeX
10 5 (0.25%) Mathcad
11 4 (0.20%) Adobe XD
11 4 (0.20%) CANalyzer
11 4 (0.20%) Sketch
12 3 (0.15%) Autodesk Inventor
12 3 (0.15%) OrCAD
12 3 (0.15%) Productboard
12 3 (0.15%) Stateflow
13 2 (0.099%) Revit
13 2 (0.099%) Solid Edge
Business Applications
1 49 (2.43%) SAP S/4HANA
2 41 (2.03%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.55%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.50%) SAP ERP
5 9 (0.45%) iTrent
5 9 (0.45%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.40%) Elite 3E
6 8 (0.40%) Oracle Applications
7 7 (0.35%) NetSuite
8 6 (0.30%) Teamcenter
9 5 (0.25%) Loan IQ
9 5 (0.25%) Oracle ERP
9 5 (0.25%) SAP MDG-BP
9 5 (0.25%) Workday HCM
10 4 (0.20%) Oracle Financials
10 4 (0.20%) SAP MM
11 2 (0.099%) Oracle Payables
11 2 (0.099%) Oracle Receivables
11 2 (0.099%) SAP CO
11 2 (0.099%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 295 (14.62%) Azure
2 270 (13.38%) AWS
3 159 (7.88%) Power Platform
4 94 (4.66%) GCP
5 79 (3.91%) SaaS
6 66 (3.27%) Azure DevOps
7 61 (3.02%) Microsoft 365
8 58 (2.87%) GitHub
9 52 (2.58%) Serverless
10 49 (2.43%) Amazon S3
11 38 (1.88%) Dynamics 365
12 32 (1.59%) Entra ID
13 30 (1.49%) Microsoft Copilot
14 29 (1.44%) GitHub Actions
15 23 (1.14%) Amazon EMR
16 22 (1.09%) Amazon EC2
16 22 (1.09%) Snowflake
17 20 (0.99%) Cloud Computing
18 19 (0.94%) Microsoft Purview
19 18 (0.89%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 70 (3.47%) Broadband
2 56 (2.78%) Firewall
3 51 (2.53%) DNS
4 34 (1.68%) Wireless
5 33 (1.64%) Network Security
6 31 (1.54%) TCP/IP
7 30 (1.49%) WAN
8 27 (1.34%) VPN
9 21 (1.04%) Ethernet
10 19 (0.94%) LAN
10 19 (0.94%) SD-WAN
11 17 (0.84%) MQTT
11 17 (0.84%) Wi-Fi
12 16 (0.79%) BGP
13 15 (0.74%) Internet
13 15 (0.74%) Wireshark
14 14 (0.69%) OSPF
15 13 (0.64%) HTTP
16 12 (0.59%) VLAN
17 11 (0.55%) NGN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 144 (7.14%) Power BI
2 59 (2.92%) Data Warehouse
3 57 (2.82%) Tableau
4 53 (2.63%) PostgreSQL
5 49 (2.43%) Metadata
5 49 (2.43%) SQL Server
6 47 (2.33%) Data Lake
7 34 (1.68%) MongoDB
8 30 (1.49%) Relational Database
9 27 (1.34%) Amazon Athena
9 27 (1.34%) BigQuery
10 24 (1.19%) DynamoDB
11 23 (1.14%) Semantic Layer
12 21 (1.04%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 20 (0.99%) Azure SQL Database
13 20 (0.99%) Spark SQL
14 19 (0.94%) MySQL
15 18 (0.89%) Big Data
16 17 (0.84%) Oracle Database
16 17 (0.84%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 128 (6.34%) JIRA
2 113 (5.60%) Git
3 52 (2.58%) Jenkins
4 46 (2.28%) GitLab
5 38 (1.88%) Rational DOORS
6 26 (1.29%) Selenium
7 22 (1.09%) Postman
7 22 (1.09%) Snyk
8 19 (0.94%) Cypress.io
9 17 (0.84%) LabVIEW
10 15 (0.74%) JMeter
11 14 (0.69%) Cucumber
12 13 (0.64%) IBM UrbanCode
13 10 (0.50%) REST Assured
13 10 (0.50%) TeamCity
14 9 (0.45%) Burp Suite
15 8 (0.40%) Rational Rhapsody
15 8 (0.40%) Zephyr
16 7 (0.35%) Gatling
16 7 (0.35%) MLflow
General
1 688 (34.09%) Social Skills
2 567 (28.10%) Finance
3 498 (24.68%) Analytical Skills
4 199 (9.86%) Aerospace
4 199 (9.86%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 184 (9.12%) Manufacturing
6 165 (8.18%) Electronics
7 114 (5.65%) Banking
8 113 (5.60%) Law
9 83 (4.11%) Public Sector
10 81 (4.01%) Retail
11 77 (3.82%) Marketing
12 71 (3.52%) Organisational Skills
13 70 (3.47%) Pharmaceutical
14 57 (2.82%) Legal
15 56 (2.78%) Automotive
16 48 (2.38%) Telecoms
17 47 (2.33%) Games
18 38 (1.88%) Influencing Skills
19 36 (1.78%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 374 (18.53%) Senior
2 274 (13.58%) Analyst
3 181 (8.97%) Lead
4 175 (8.67%) Systems Engineer
5 121 (6.00%) Test Engineer
6 117 (5.80%) Architect
7 104 (5.15%) Data Engineer
8 96 (4.76%) Consultant
9 88 (4.36%) Developer
10 87 (4.31%) Business Analyst
11 73 (3.62%) Software Engineer
12 67 (3.32%) Validation Engineer
13 66 (3.27%) Data Analyst
14 65 (3.22%) Principal Engineer
15 47 (2.33%) Data Scientist
15 47 (2.33%) Embedded Engineer
16 46 (2.28%) Support Engineer
17 44 (2.18%) Electronics Engineer
18 42 (2.08%) IT Manager
19 40 (1.98%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (2.38%) RESTful
2 45 (2.23%) Kafka
3 41 (2.03%) PySpark
4 40 (1.98%) Node.js
5 39 (1.93%) REST
6 31 (1.54%) .NET
6 31 (1.54%) JSON
7 29 (1.44%) Playwright
7 29 (1.44%) XML
8 27 (1.34%) LDAP
9 25 (1.24%) Middleware
10 23 (1.14%) Pandas
10 23 (1.14%) PyTorch
11 22 (1.09%) CSS
12 21 (1.04%) HTML
12 21 (1.04%) ModSecurity
12 21 (1.04%) React
13 19 (0.94%) OAuth
13 19 (0.94%) Regular Expression
13 19 (0.94%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 150 (7.43%) Cloud Native
2 133 (6.59%) Onboarding
3 111 (5.50%) Management Information System
4 74 (3.67%) Product Ownership
5 72 (3.57%) Data Centre
6 63 (3.12%) Algorithms
7 59 (2.92%) Data Structures
8 57 (2.82%) Embedded Systems
9 55 (2.73%) Enterprise Software
10 51 (2.53%) Distributed Systems
10 51 (2.53%) Driving Licence
11 45 (2.23%) Low-Code
12 38 (1.88%) AI Agents
12 38 (1.88%) Legacy Systems
13 37 (1.83%) Analytical Mindset
13 37 (1.83%) Life Science
14 34 (1.68%) Robotics
14 34 (1.68%) Video\Live Streaming
15 31 (1.54%) IoT
16 29 (1.44%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 122 (6.05%) Linux
2 88 (4.36%) Windows
3 34 (1.68%) Windows Server
4 23 (1.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (0.94%) Unix
6 8 (0.40%) Embedded Linux
7 7 (0.35%) Android
8 6 (0.30%) FreeRTOS
9 4 (0.20%) Kali Linux
9 4 (0.20%) Mac OS
9 4 (0.20%) Mac OS X
10 2 (0.099%) Robot Operating System
10 2 (0.099%) ThreadX
10 2 (0.099%) VMS
10 2 (0.099%) Windows 10
11 1 (0.050%) AIX
11 1 (0.050%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 527 (26.11%) Problem-Solving
2 495 (24.53%) Continuous Improvement
3 425 (21.06%) Agile
4 385 (19.08%) AI
5 307 (15.21%) CI/CD
6 276 (13.68%) Analytics
7 262 (12.98%) Stakeholder Management
8 258 (12.78%) Test Automation
9 254 (12.59%) Verification and Validation
10 246 (12.19%) Migration
11 242 (11.99%) Mentoring
12 229 (11.35%) Decision-Making
13 213 (10.56%) Software Engineering
14 203 (10.06%) Data Analysis
15 199 (9.86%) Machine Learning
16 191 (9.46%) DevOps
17 181 (8.97%) Business Intelligence
18 180 (8.92%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 174 (8.62%) Roadmaps
20 172 (8.52%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 492 (24.38%) Python
2 390 (19.33%) SQL
3 94 (4.66%) Java
4 87 (4.31%) C++
5 77 (3.82%) C
6 62 (3.07%) JavaScript
7 55 (2.73%) Go
8 53 (2.63%) C#
9 50 (2.48%) MATLAB
10 29 (1.44%) Bash
11 27 (1.34%) PowerShell
12 26 (1.29%) Embedded C
13 22 (1.09%) Scala
14 21 (1.04%) TypeScript
15 18 (0.89%) Embedded C++
16 15 (0.74%) R
16 15 (0.74%) T-SQL
17 12 (0.59%) Data Analysis Expressions
18 10 (0.50%) ABAP
19 9 (0.45%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 436 (21.61%) Degree
2 340 (16.85%) Security Cleared
3 208 (10.31%) SC Cleared
4 139 (6.89%) BPSS Clearance
5 108 (5.35%) DV Cleared
6 83 (4.11%) Master's Degree
7 44 (2.18%) Computer Science Degree
8 38 (1.88%) CISSP
9 36 (1.78%) PhD
10 34 (1.68%) Chartered Engineer
11 30 (1.49%) CISM
11 30 (1.49%) HNC
12 29 (1.44%) PMI Certification
13 26 (1.29%) ACCA
13 26 (1.29%) CIMA
14 25 (1.24%) HND
15 24 (1.19%) AWS Certification
16 23 (1.14%) Azure Certification
17 19 (0.94%) SANS
18 18 (0.89%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 319 (15.81%) Data Quality
2 276 (13.68%) QA
3 88 (4.36%) Accessibility
4 55 (2.73%) GDPR
5 38 (1.88%) GRC
6 27 (1.34%) IEC 61508
7 26 (1.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 25 (1.24%) NIST
9 22 (1.09%) SLA
10 18 (0.89%) GxP
10 18 (0.89%) PMO
11 16 (0.79%) WCAG
12 15 (0.74%) GAAP
12 15 (0.74%) IFRS
12 15 (0.74%) ISO 26262
13 13 (0.64%) GMP
14 12 (0.59%) ISO 9001
15 11 (0.55%) SOC 2
16 9 (0.45%) COBIT
16 9 (0.45%) ISO/IEC 15288
System Software
1 81 (4.01%) Docker
2 77 (3.82%) Firmware
3 45 (2.23%) Active Directory
4 31 (1.54%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.39%) Virtual Machines
6 21 (1.04%) vSphere
7 16 (0.79%) VMware Infrastructure
8 7 (0.35%) KVM
9 4 (0.20%) Hyper-V
10 2 (0.099%) iptables
10 2 (0.099%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.099%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.050%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.050%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 81 (4.01%) Kubernetes
2 74 (3.67%) Terraform
3 43 (2.13%) Grafana
4 26 (1.29%) Functional Safety
5 25 (1.24%) Ansible
6 16 (0.79%) Prometheus
7 15 (0.74%) Single Sign-On
8 10 (0.50%) Cilium
8 10 (0.50%) Puppet
9 7 (0.35%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 7 (0.35%) Kibana
9 7 (0.35%) SCCM
10 6 (0.30%) Microsoft Intune
11 5 (0.25%) WMI
12 4 (0.20%) FortiGate
12 4 (0.20%) Kubeflow
12 4 (0.20%) Nessus
12 4 (0.20%) Nmap
13 3 (0.15%) Argo
13 3 (0.15%) HP Fortify
Vendors
1 276 (13.68%) Microsoft
2 123 (6.10%) SAP
3 107 (5.30%) Oracle
4 58 (2.87%) Salesforce
5 57 (2.82%) Databricks
6 46 (2.28%) Google
6 46 (2.28%) ServiceNow
7 44 (2.18%) Cisco
8 36 (1.78%) Red Hat
9 35 (1.73%) VMware
10 29 (1.44%) CrowdStrike
11 27 (1.34%) EMC
11 27 (1.34%) Palo Alto
12 22 (1.09%) Tenable
13 18 (0.89%) Foundry
14 17 (0.84%) IBM
14 17 (0.84%) Splunk
15 15 (0.74%) McAfee
16 14 (0.69%) Siemens
16 14 (0.69%) Workday