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

6 months to
10 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 136 164 193
Rank change year-on-year +28 +29 -31
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,279 784 1,409
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.53% 1.92% 1.53%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.02% 2.06% 1.78%
Number of salaries quoted 723 393 795
10th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £35,350
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% -9.41%
75th Percentile £77,500 £71,250 £72,433
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £53,500 £54,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -0.93% +2.86% -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 63,393 38,022 79,332
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 76.08% 92.93% 86.08%
Number of salaries quoted 39,190 22,514 58,792
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £29,008
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 £53,688 £50,000
% change year-on-year -6.87% +7.38% -7.94%

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 10 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 10 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 1,123 £60,000 +7.14% 872
UK excluding London +6 821 £53,500 -0.93% 714
Work from Home +103 366 £60,000 +5.26% 341
London +60 346 £75,000 +9.09% 268
South East +36 259 £55,000 +10.00% 215
North of England +6 185 £58,500 +22.92% 152
Midlands -29 141 £37,500 -31.82% 118
North West +15 116 £59,000 +23.73% 74
East of England -10 94 £57,500 +4.55% 96
West Midlands -4 88 £44,000 -32.31% 77
South West -36 83 £55,000 - 89
East Midlands -46 51 £34,000 -33.33% 41
Yorkshire -29 47 £60,000 +26.32% 51
Scotland -6 43 £42,000 -27.63% 42
North East -12 22 £50,000 -11.89% 27
Wales -26 15 £55,000 +12.01% 16
Northern Ireland -39 3 - - 5

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 42 (3.28%) Apache Airflow
2 27 (2.11%) Apache Spark
3 23 (1.80%) Apache
3 23 (1.80%) Confluence
4 20 (1.56%) ArcGIS
5 16 (1.25%) Microsoft Exchange
6 12 (0.94%) Appian
6 12 (0.94%) CMS
7 10 (0.78%) SharePoint
8 6 (0.47%) Kinematics
9 4 (0.31%) Headless CMS
10 2 (0.16%) WordPress
11 1 (0.078%) Anypoint
11 1 (0.078%) IIS
11 1 (0.078%) Jupyter
11 1 (0.078%) Palantir Foundry
11 1 (0.078%) SAS
Applications
1 90 (7.04%) Microsoft Excel
2 61 (4.77%) Microsoft Office
3 20 (1.56%) MS Visio
4 16 (1.25%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.55%) 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 (1.80%) SAP S/4HANA
2 18 (1.41%) Dynamics CRM
3 9 (0.70%) Oracle ERP
4 7 (0.55%) 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 BPC
7 2 (0.16%) SAP CX
7 2 (0.16%) SAP FSCM
7 2 (0.16%) SAP MDG-BP
8 1 (0.078%) Magento
8 1 (0.078%) NetSuite
8 1 (0.078%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 188 (14.70%) Azure
2 124 (9.70%) AWS
3 112 (8.76%) Power Platform
4 60 (4.69%) SaaS
5 45 (3.52%) GCP
6 43 (3.36%) Azure DevOps
7 33 (2.58%) Dynamics 365
8 31 (2.42%) dbt
9 30 (2.35%) Azure Data Factory
10 29 (2.27%) Power Automate
10 29 (2.27%) Snowflake
11 24 (1.88%) Amazon S3
11 24 (1.88%) GitHub
12 23 (1.80%) Entra ID
12 23 (1.80%) Microsoft 365
13 20 (1.56%) Serverless
14 18 (1.41%) Datadog
15 16 (1.25%) OpenShift
16 15 (1.17%) Azure AI
17 14 (1.09%) Anthropic Claude
Communications & Networking
1 26 (2.03%) CHAP
2 22 (1.72%) Broadband
3 19 (1.49%) Firewall
4 17 (1.33%) WAN
5 16 (1.25%) TCP/IP
6 15 (1.17%) DNS
6 15 (1.17%) Wireless
7 14 (1.09%) SD-WAN
8 12 (0.94%) 5G
9 9 (0.70%) HTTP
9 9 (0.70%) Modbus
9 9 (0.70%) Multicast
10 7 (0.55%) LAN
10 7 (0.55%) MQTT
10 7 (0.55%) 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
1 105 (8.21%) Power BI
2 44 (3.44%) SQL Server
3 43 (3.36%) Tableau
4 31 (2.42%) Data Warehouse
4 31 (2.42%) Relational Database
5 29 (2.27%) Metadata
6 28 (2.19%) PostgreSQL
7 25 (1.95%) GIS
8 24 (1.88%) QGIS
9 20 (1.56%) Spatial Data
10 18 (1.41%) Oracle Reports
11 15 (1.17%) Azure SQL Database
11 15 (1.17%) Oracle Database
11 15 (1.17%) Spark SQL
12 14 (1.09%) Parquet
13 13 (1.02%) Apache Hive
13 13 (1.02%) Impala
13 13 (1.02%) MySQL
13 13 (1.02%) SQL Server Reporting Services
14 12 (0.94%) Data Lake
Development Applications
1 70 (5.47%) Git
2 68 (5.32%) JIRA
3 41 (3.21%) Rational DOORS
4 22 (1.72%) Jenkins
5 18 (1.41%) JMeter
6 17 (1.33%) Cucumber
6 17 (1.33%) Postman
7 16 (1.25%) GitLab
7 16 (1.25%) LabVIEW
8 15 (1.17%) Selenium
9 14 (1.09%) MLflow
9 14 (1.09%) TestRail
10 13 (1.02%) IBM UrbanCode
11 12 (0.94%) Locust
12 11 (0.86%) Eclipse
13 7 (0.55%) Snyk
14 6 (0.47%) LoadRunner
14 6 (0.47%) SoapUI
14 6 (0.47%) Subversion
15 5 (0.39%) Visual Studio
General
1 448 (35.03%) Social Skills
2 340 (26.58%) Finance
3 282 (22.05%) Analytical Skills
4 91 (7.11%) Manufacturing
5 85 (6.65%) Banking
6 77 (6.02%) Aerospace
6 77 (6.02%) Electronics
7 60 (4.69%) Legal
8 56 (4.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 46 (3.60%) Law
10 45 (3.52%) Public Sector
10 45 (3.52%) Retail
11 40 (3.13%) Financial Institution
11 40 (3.13%) Marketing
12 39 (3.05%) Presentation Skills
13 29 (2.27%) Organisational Skills
13 29 (2.27%) Pharmaceutical
14 26 (2.03%) Automotive
15 24 (1.88%) Aviation
15 24 (1.88%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 214 (16.73%) Analyst
2 201 (15.72%) Senior
3 152 (11.88%) Systems Engineer
4 97 (7.58%) Lead
5 82 (6.41%) Business Analyst
6 76 (5.94%) Validation Engineer
7 70 (5.47%) Test Engineer
8 67 (5.24%) Architect
9 62 (4.85%) Consultant
10 57 (4.46%) Integration Engineer
11 55 (4.30%) Data Analyst
12 47 (3.67%) Developer
13 44 (3.44%) Junior
13 44 (3.44%) Senior Systems Engineer
14 43 (3.36%) Principal Engineer
15 41 (3.21%) Systems Integration Engineer
16 39 (3.05%) Data Engineer
17 37 (2.89%) Verification Engineer
18 35 (2.74%) Software Validation Engineer
19 31 (2.42%) Principal Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 60 (4.69%) REST
2 39 (3.05%) PyTorch
3 37 (2.89%) Pandas
4 36 (2.81%) JSON
5 29 (2.27%) Middleware
6 26 (2.03%) pytest
7 25 (1.95%) XML
8 20 (1.56%) OAuth
8 20 (1.56%) PySpark
9 19 (1.49%) JWT
9 19 (1.49%) Swagger
10 18 (1.41%) .NET
10 18 (1.41%) NumPy
10 18 (1.41%) TensorFlow
11 17 (1.33%) RESTful
12 16 (1.25%) React
13 15 (1.17%) CSS
13 15 (1.17%) Kafka
13 15 (1.17%) scikit-learn
13 15 (1.17%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 75 (5.86%) Management Information System
2 57 (4.46%) Onboarding
3 48 (3.75%) Data Structures
4 37 (2.89%) Algorithms
4 37 (2.89%) Low-Code
5 36 (2.81%) Product Ownership
6 34 (2.66%) Legacy Systems
7 33 (2.58%) Self-Motivation
8 26 (2.03%) Analytical Mindset
9 24 (1.88%) Life Science
10 21 (1.64%) Embedded Systems
11 20 (1.56%) Cloud Native
12 19 (1.49%) Enterprise Software
13 18 (1.41%) Data Centre
13 18 (1.41%) SCADA
14 17 (1.33%) Robotics
15 15 (1.17%) IoT
16 14 (1.09%) Blockchain
17 13 (1.02%) Reinsurance
18 11 (0.86%) FPGA
Operating Systems
1 68 (5.32%) Linux
2 58 (4.53%) Windows
3 17 (1.33%) Unix
4 16 (1.25%) Windows Server
5 15 (1.17%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 12 (0.94%) 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 (22.83%) Agile
2 291 (22.75%) Problem-Solving
3 249 (19.47%) Continuous Improvement
4 209 (16.34%) Verification and Validation
5 197 (15.40%) Analytics
6 173 (13.53%) AI
7 161 (12.59%) Data Validation
8 157 (12.28%) Test Automation
9 152 (11.88%) CI/CD
10 142 (11.10%) Systems Engineering
11 138 (10.79%) Migration
12 136 (10.63%) Business Intelligence
12 136 (10.63%) Stakeholder Management
13 126 (9.85%) Data Modelling
13 126 (9.85%) DevOps
14 125 (9.77%) User Acceptance Testing
15 123 (9.62%) Mentoring
16 120 (9.38%) Decision-Making
17 112 (8.76%) Data Governance
17 112 (8.76%) ETL
Programming Languages
1 280 (21.89%) Python
2 259 (20.25%) SQL
3 52 (4.07%) Java
4 42 (3.28%) C++
5 38 (2.97%) PowerShell
6 37 (2.89%) C
7 33 (2.58%) JavaScript
8 26 (2.03%) Bash
9 20 (1.56%) C#
10 19 (1.49%) Go
10 19 (1.49%) T-SQL
11 18 (1.41%) 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 (0.55%) Apex Code
15 7 (0.55%) VB
16 6 (0.47%) PHP
Qualifications
1 292 (22.83%) Degree
2 160 (12.51%) Security Cleared
3 133 (10.40%) BPSS Clearance
4 61 (4.77%) SC Cleared
5 57 (4.46%) Master's Degree
6 42 (3.28%) Computer Science Degree
7 33 (2.58%) CISA
7 33 (2.58%) CISSP
8 32 (2.50%) CISM
8 32 (2.50%) DV Cleared
9 28 (2.19%) Chartered Engineer
10 26 (2.03%) CGEIT
10 26 (2.03%) FFIEC
10 26 (2.03%) HNC
10 26 (2.03%) SANS
11 23 (1.80%) PMI Certification
12 20 (1.56%) HND
12 20 (1.56%) PMP
13 17 (1.33%) ISTQB
14 9 (0.70%) CIMA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 163 (12.74%) Data Quality
2 149 (11.65%) QA
3 66 (5.16%) GDPR
4 64 (5.00%) Accessibility
5 40 (3.13%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 27 (2.11%) NIST
7 26 (2.03%) COBIT
8 23 (1.80%) GRC
9 19 (1.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 18 (1.41%) SLA
11 17 (1.33%) IFRS
11 17 (1.33%) WCAG
12 13 (1.02%) IEC 61508
12 13 (1.02%) ISO 9001
13 11 (0.86%) GAAP
14 10 (0.78%) Good Clinical Practice
15 9 (0.70%) 21 CFR Part 11
15 9 (0.70%) Sarbanes-Oxley
16 8 (0.63%) PMO
17 7 (0.55%) ISO 20022
System Software
1 73 (5.71%) Docker
2 28 (2.19%) Active Directory
2 28 (2.19%) Firmware
3 15 (1.17%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (0.70%) vSphere
5 8 (0.63%) Virtual Machines
6 6 (0.47%) Embedded Firmware
6 6 (0.47%) Hyper-V
6 6 (0.47%) KVM
7 3 (0.23%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.16%) Ceph
8 2 (0.16%) Lustre
8 2 (0.16%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 2 (0.16%) Terminal Services
9 1 (0.078%) iptables
9 1 (0.078%) OpenAM
9 1 (0.078%) OpenDJ
9 1 (0.078%) OpenIDM
9 1 (0.078%) pfSense
9 1 (0.078%) vCloud
Systems Management
1 71 (5.55%) Kubernetes
2 50 (3.91%) Terraform
3 34 (2.66%) Grafana
4 25 (1.95%) Ansible
5 16 (1.25%) Prometheus
6 12 (0.94%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 10 (0.78%) SCCM
8 9 (0.70%) Functional Safety
9 8 (0.63%) Puppet
10 7 (0.55%) Microsoft Intune
11 5 (0.39%) Argo
11 5 (0.39%) Rancher
11 5 (0.39%) yum
12 2 (0.16%) BMC PATROL
12 2 (0.16%) Cilium
12 2 (0.16%) Nessus
12 2 (0.16%) PowerCLI
13 1 (0.078%) Control-M
13 1 (0.078%) FortiGate
13 1 (0.078%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 164 (12.82%) Microsoft
2 69 (5.39%) Oracle
3 56 (4.38%) SAP
4 47 (3.67%) Salesforce
5 23 (1.80%) Red Hat
5 23 (1.80%) VMware
6 19 (1.49%) Cisco
6 19 (1.49%) Databricks
6 19 (1.49%) IBM
7 18 (1.41%) Foundry
8 16 (1.25%) Adobe
8 16 (1.25%) OpenAI
8 16 (1.25%) ServiceNow
9 15 (1.17%) Google
10 13 (1.02%) Workday
11 12 (0.94%) Automation Anywhere
11 12 (0.94%) UiPath
12 11 (0.86%) Intapp
13 10 (0.78%) Citrix
13 10 (0.78%) Siemens