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

6 months to
1 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 105 88 208
Rank change year-on-year -17 +120 -10
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,823 1,673 1,120
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.77% 3.38% 1.30%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.40% 3.77% 1.61%
Number of salaries quoted 1,068 509 565
10th Percentile £35,000 £38,750 £36,100
25th Percentile £42,215 £42,500 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year - -4.35% -8.73%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £72,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £91,500 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £52,600 £54,500
% change year-on-year -0.19% -3.49% -3.47%

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 76,038 44,320 69,725
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.68% 89.51% 81.15%
Number of salaries quoted 52,466 25,228 46,329
10th Percentile £30,603 £28,500 £30,500
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £40,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.41%
75th Percentile £78,750 £76,250 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +10.00% - -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 1 August 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 1 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 -18 1,658 £55,000 - 1,542
UK excluding London -37 1,239 £52,500 -0.19% 1,026
Work from Home +123 578 £56,000 -6.67% 583
London +77 470 £75,000 -3.23% 650
South East -36 368 £55,000 - 307
North of England +102 353 £55,000 +15.79% 207
North West +93 207 £55,000 +15.35% 123
Midlands -56 191 £42,500 -22.73% 149
South West -32 131 £51,750 -1.62% 162
East of England -79 112 £62,500 +9.65% 135
West Midlands +6 104 £44,000 -23.48% 90
East Midlands -69 86 £42,500 - 58
Yorkshire +12 74 £43,000 +1.18% 43
North East +5 72 £55,000 +57.14% 44
Scotland +20 55 £50,000 -13.84% 71
Wales -42 29 £47,500 -11.63% 19
Northern Ireland -72 2 - - 6

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 61 (3.35%) Apache Airflow
2 58 (3.18%) Apache Spark
3 56 (3.07%) Apache
4 33 (1.81%) Confluence
5 31 (1.70%) SharePoint
6 21 (1.15%) ArcGIS
7 20 (1.10%) Jupyter
8 13 (0.71%) Microsoft Exchange
9 12 (0.66%) SAS
10 5 (0.27%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 5 (0.27%) CMS
11 4 (0.22%) Kinematics
12 3 (0.16%) Artix
12 3 (0.16%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 2 (0.11%) Cloud Foundry
13 2 (0.11%) IIS
13 2 (0.11%) WinCC
14 1 (0.055%) Oracle Workflow
14 1 (0.055%) Palantir Foundry
14 1 (0.055%) WebSphere
Applications
1 106 (5.81%) Microsoft Excel
2 61 (3.35%) Microsoft Office
3 30 (1.65%) Microsoft Project
4 26 (1.43%) MS Visio
4 26 (1.43%) Simulink
5 14 (0.77%) Spreadsheet
6 13 (0.71%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 9 (0.49%) SOLIDWORKS
8 5 (0.27%) AutoCAD
8 5 (0.27%) LaTeX
9 4 (0.22%) Adobe XD
9 4 (0.22%) CANalyzer
9 4 (0.22%) Mathcad
9 4 (0.22%) Sketch
10 3 (0.16%) Autodesk Inventor
10 3 (0.16%) Productboard
10 3 (0.16%) Stateflow
11 2 (0.11%) OrCAD
11 2 (0.11%) Solid Edge
12 1 (0.055%) PTC Creo
Business Applications
1 50 (2.74%) SAP S/4HANA
2 41 (2.25%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.60%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.55%) SAP ERP
5 9 (0.49%) Elite 3E
5 9 (0.49%) iTrent
5 9 (0.49%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.44%) Oracle Applications
6 8 (0.44%) Oracle ERP
7 5 (0.27%) Loan IQ
7 5 (0.27%) NetSuite
7 5 (0.27%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.22%) Oracle Financials
8 4 (0.22%) SAP MM
8 4 (0.22%) Teamcenter
8 4 (0.22%) Workday HCM
9 2 (0.11%) SAP CO
9 2 (0.11%) SAP FI
9 2 (0.11%) SAP FI/CO
9 2 (0.11%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 278 (15.25%) Azure
2 258 (14.15%) AWS
3 168 (9.22%) Power Platform
4 86 (4.72%) GCP
5 81 (4.44%) SaaS
6 69 (3.78%) Azure DevOps
7 53 (2.91%) Microsoft 365
8 50 (2.74%) Serverless
9 48 (2.63%) GitHub
10 44 (2.41%) Amazon S3
11 39 (2.14%) Dynamics 365
12 25 (1.37%) Entra ID
13 24 (1.32%) GitHub Actions
14 23 (1.26%) Microsoft Copilot
15 22 (1.21%) Amazon EC2
15 22 (1.21%) Cloud Computing
15 22 (1.21%) Snowflake
16 21 (1.15%) Amazon EMR
17 20 (1.10%) PowerApps
18 19 (1.04%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 71 (3.89%) Broadband
2 52 (2.85%) Firewall
3 44 (2.41%) DNS
4 30 (1.65%) TCP/IP
4 30 (1.65%) Wireless
5 24 (1.32%) Network Security
6 23 (1.26%) VPN
6 23 (1.26%) WAN
7 17 (0.93%) Ethernet
8 16 (0.88%) Wi-Fi
9 15 (0.82%) MQTT
9 15 (0.82%) SD-WAN
9 15 (0.82%) Wireshark
10 14 (0.77%) Internet
11 12 (0.66%) HTTP
11 12 (0.66%) LAN
12 11 (0.60%) 5G
12 11 (0.60%) CHAP
12 11 (0.60%) NGN
13 10 (0.55%) RS-232
Database & Business Intelligence
1 152 (8.34%) Power BI
2 58 (3.18%) Tableau
3 57 (3.13%) Data Warehouse
3 57 (3.13%) PostgreSQL
4 49 (2.69%) SQL Server
5 46 (2.52%) Metadata
6 37 (2.03%) Data Lake
7 34 (1.87%) MongoDB
8 29 (1.59%) Relational Database
9 27 (1.48%) BigQuery
10 25 (1.37%) QGIS
11 24 (1.32%) Semantic Layer
12 23 (1.26%) DynamoDB
12 23 (1.26%) GIS
13 22 (1.21%) Amazon Athena
14 21 (1.15%) Azure SQL Database
14 21 (1.15%) MySQL
15 20 (1.10%) Power Query
15 20 (1.10%) Spark SQL
15 20 (1.10%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 116 (6.36%) JIRA
2 99 (5.43%) Git
3 51 (2.80%) Jenkins
4 46 (2.52%) GitLab
5 34 (1.87%) Rational DOORS
6 24 (1.32%) Selenium
7 22 (1.21%) Snyk
8 21 (1.15%) Postman
9 16 (0.88%) Cypress.io
10 15 (0.82%) LabVIEW
11 14 (0.77%) JMeter
12 13 (0.71%) Cucumber
12 13 (0.71%) IBM UrbanCode
13 10 (0.55%) REST Assured
13 10 (0.55%) TeamCity
14 9 (0.49%) Burp Suite
15 8 (0.44%) Rational Rhapsody
16 6 (0.33%) GDB
16 6 (0.33%) Hudson
16 6 (0.33%) JUnit
General
1 618 (33.90%) Social Skills
2 510 (27.98%) Finance
3 447 (24.52%) Analytical Skills
4 160 (8.78%) Aerospace
5 159 (8.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 152 (8.34%) Manufacturing
7 133 (7.30%) Electronics
8 102 (5.60%) Banking
9 92 (5.05%) Law
10 74 (4.06%) Public Sector
11 72 (3.95%) Retail
12 63 (3.46%) Organisational Skills
12 63 (3.46%) Pharmaceutical
13 57 (3.13%) Legal
14 54 (2.96%) Marketing
15 46 (2.52%) Automotive
16 45 (2.47%) Games
17 35 (1.92%) Telecoms
18 33 (1.81%) Documentation Skills
19 31 (1.70%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 336 (18.43%) Senior
2 260 (14.26%) Analyst
3 164 (9.00%) Lead
4 128 (7.02%) Systems Engineer
5 112 (6.14%) Architect
6 111 (6.09%) Test Engineer
7 102 (5.60%) Consultant
8 98 (5.38%) Data Engineer
9 86 (4.72%) Developer
10 82 (4.50%) Business Analyst
11 70 (3.84%) Data Analyst
12 67 (3.68%) Validation Engineer
13 57 (3.13%) Software Engineer
14 52 (2.85%) Principal Engineer
15 45 (2.47%) Embedded Engineer
15 45 (2.47%) Support Engineer
16 41 (2.25%) Data Scientist
17 39 (2.14%) IT Manager
18 38 (2.08%) Senior Systems Engineer
19 37 (2.03%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 47 (2.58%) RESTful
2 42 (2.30%) Kafka
3 39 (2.14%) Node.js
3 39 (2.14%) PySpark
4 36 (1.97%) REST
5 34 (1.87%) JSON
6 31 (1.70%) PyTorch
6 31 (1.70%) XML
7 26 (1.43%) .NET
7 26 (1.43%) Middleware
8 25 (1.37%) Pandas
8 25 (1.37%) Playwright
9 21 (1.15%) CSS
10 20 (1.10%) HTML
10 20 (1.10%) LDAP
11 19 (1.04%) React
11 19 (1.04%) Regular Expression
11 19 (1.04%) XMPP
12 17 (0.93%) Oracle Fusion
13 16 (0.88%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 131 (7.19%) Cloud Native
2 122 (6.69%) Onboarding
3 91 (4.99%) Management Information System
4 70 (3.84%) Algorithms
5 67 (3.68%) Data Structures
6 64 (3.51%) Product Ownership
7 60 (3.29%) Data Centre
8 48 (2.63%) Distributed Systems
8 48 (2.63%) Embedded Systems
8 48 (2.63%) Enterprise Software
9 47 (2.58%) Driving Licence
10 45 (2.47%) Low-Code
11 38 (2.08%) Analytical Mindset
12 33 (1.81%) AI Agents
12 33 (1.81%) Legacy Systems
12 33 (1.81%) Video\Live Streaming
13 32 (1.76%) Life Science
14 29 (1.59%) Self-Motivation
15 28 (1.54%) IoT
16 26 (1.43%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 119 (6.53%) Linux
2 86 (4.72%) Windows
3 32 (1.76%) Windows Server
4 25 (1.37%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (1.04%) Unix
6 6 (0.33%) Android
6 6 (0.33%) Embedded Linux
6 6 (0.33%) FreeRTOS
7 4 (0.22%) Kali Linux
7 4 (0.22%) Mac OS
7 4 (0.22%) Mac OS X
8 2 (0.11%) AIX
8 2 (0.11%) Robot Operating System
8 2 (0.11%) ThreadX
8 2 (0.11%) VMS
8 2 (0.11%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.055%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 463 (25.40%) Problem-Solving
2 452 (24.79%) Continuous Improvement
3 393 (21.56%) Agile
4 350 (19.20%) AI
5 293 (16.07%) CI/CD
6 259 (14.21%) Analytics
7 240 (13.17%) Migration
8 238 (13.06%) Stakeholder Management
9 237 (13.00%) Test Automation
10 216 (11.85%) Mentoring
11 203 (11.14%) Decision-Making
12 190 (10.42%) Data Analysis
13 188 (10.31%) Verification and Validation
14 187 (10.26%) DevOps
15 182 (9.98%) Software Engineering
16 181 (9.93%) Business Intelligence
17 175 (9.60%) Machine Learning
18 172 (9.43%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 168 (9.22%) User Acceptance Testing
20 166 (9.11%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 468 (25.67%) Python
2 379 (20.79%) SQL
3 81 (4.44%) C++
3 81 (4.44%) Java
4 74 (4.06%) C
5 54 (2.96%) Go
6 52 (2.85%) JavaScript
7 49 (2.69%) C#
8 40 (2.19%) MATLAB
9 29 (1.59%) PowerShell
10 28 (1.54%) Bash
11 23 (1.26%) Embedded C
12 21 (1.15%) T-SQL
13 19 (1.04%) Scala
14 18 (0.99%) Embedded C++
14 18 (0.99%) TypeScript
15 15 (0.82%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 12 (0.66%) R
17 10 (0.55%) ABAP
17 10 (0.55%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 371 (20.35%) Degree
2 244 (13.38%) Security Cleared
3 133 (7.30%) SC Cleared
4 127 (6.97%) BPSS Clearance
5 80 (4.39%) DV Cleared
6 75 (4.11%) Master's Degree
7 42 (2.30%) Computer Science Degree
8 32 (1.76%) Chartered Engineer
9 29 (1.59%) CISSP
10 28 (1.54%) PhD
11 27 (1.48%) HNC
12 26 (1.43%) PMI Certification
13 25 (1.37%) ACCA
13 25 (1.37%) CIMA
14 23 (1.26%) AWS Certification
14 23 (1.26%) CISM
15 21 (1.15%) CISA
15 21 (1.15%) SANS
16 20 (1.10%) HND
17 18 (0.99%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 310 (17.00%) Data Quality
2 252 (13.82%) QA
3 81 (4.44%) Accessibility
4 58 (3.18%) GDPR
5 38 (2.08%) GRC
6 24 (1.32%) IEC 61508
6 24 (1.32%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 21 (1.15%) NIST
8 20 (1.10%) SLA
9 17 (0.93%) PMO
10 15 (0.82%) GxP
10 15 (0.82%) IFRS
10 15 (0.82%) ISO 26262
10 15 (0.82%) WCAG
11 14 (0.77%) GAAP
12 13 (0.71%) ISO 9001
13 12 (0.66%) GMP
13 12 (0.66%) ISO/IEC 15288
14 11 (0.60%) COBIT
14 11 (0.60%) SOC 2
System Software
1 78 (4.28%) Docker
2 63 (3.46%) Firmware
3 42 (2.30%) Active Directory
4 28 (1.54%) Virtual Machines
5 27 (1.48%) Embedded Firmware
6 22 (1.21%) vSphere
7 18 (0.99%) VMware Infrastructure
8 8 (0.44%) KVM
9 5 (0.27%) Hyper-V
10 2 (0.11%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.055%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.055%) iptables
11 1 (0.055%) ProxySG
11 1 (0.055%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 79 (4.33%) Kubernetes
2 76 (4.17%) Terraform
3 41 (2.25%) Grafana
4 27 (1.48%) Ansible
5 25 (1.37%) Functional Safety
6 17 (0.93%) Prometheus
7 12 (0.66%) Puppet
8 10 (0.55%) Cilium
9 8 (0.44%) SCCM
9 8 (0.44%) Single Sign-On
10 7 (0.38%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
10 7 (0.38%) Kibana
11 5 (0.27%) Microsoft Intune
12 4 (0.22%) Argo
12 4 (0.22%) Nessus
12 4 (0.22%) Nmap
12 4 (0.22%) WMI
13 3 (0.16%) FortiGate
13 3 (0.16%) Rancher
13 3 (0.16%) yum
Vendors
1 254 (13.93%) Microsoft
2 118 (6.47%) SAP
3 103 (5.65%) Oracle
4 59 (3.24%) Salesforce
5 48 (2.63%) Databricks
6 41 (2.25%) ServiceNow
7 37 (2.03%) VMware
8 36 (1.97%) Google
9 34 (1.87%) Red Hat
10 33 (1.81%) Cisco
11 29 (1.59%) CrowdStrike
12 24 (1.32%) Palo Alto
13 22 (1.21%) Tenable
14 17 (0.93%) IBM
15 16 (0.88%) EMC
16 15 (0.82%) McAfee
17 14 (0.77%) Adobe
17 14 (0.77%) Foundry
18 13 (0.71%) Splunk
18 13 (0.71%) Workday