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

6 months to
19 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 132 161 202
Rank change year-on-year +29 +41 -26
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,316 811 1,429
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.51% 1.94% 1.51%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.01% 2.09% 1.76%
Number of salaries quoted 749 403 794
10th Percentile £34,500 £40,000 £35,500
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% -11.41%
75th Percentile £77,500 £71,250 £72,433
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,000 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £53,300 £52,500
% change year-on-year +3.19% +1.52% -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 65,473 38,805 81,335
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 75.33% 92.93% 85.93%
Number of salaries quoted 40,444 22,598 59,573
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £29,000
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 £52,600 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.94% +5.20% -8.90%

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 19 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 19 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 +27 1,162 £60,000 +7.14% 831
UK excluding London +16 853 £55,000 +3.19% 630
Work from Home +102 385 £60,000 +5.26% 382
London +71 351 £76,250 +8.93% 274
South East +20 266 £55,000 +7.84% 205
North of England +29 203 £58,500 +22.69% 125
Midlands -22 143 £37,500 -33.33% 111
North West +32 126 £60,000 +25.83% 60
East of England -4 95 £60,000 +5.26% 83
West Midlands -12 90 £44,000 -33.58% 77
South West -42 88 £55,000 +0.92% 78
Yorkshire -19 53 £60,000 +26.32% 50
East Midlands -50 51 £32,000 -37.25% 34
Scotland -26 42 £42,000 -27.63% 33
North East -12 24 £53,250 -6.17% 17
Wales -23 15 £55,000 +5.66% 10
Northern Ireland -41 3 - - 1

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 44 (3.34%) Apache Airflow
2 27 (2.05%) Apache Spark
3 25 (1.90%) Confluence
4 23 (1.75%) Apache
5 20 (1.52%) ArcGIS
6 17 (1.29%) Microsoft Exchange
7 12 (0.91%) Appian
7 12 (0.91%) CMS
8 9 (0.68%) SharePoint
9 6 (0.46%) Kinematics
10 4 (0.30%) Headless CMS
11 2 (0.15%) IIS
11 2 (0.15%) WordPress
12 1 (0.076%) Anypoint
12 1 (0.076%) Jupyter
12 1 (0.076%) Palantir Foundry
12 1 (0.076%) SAS
Applications
1 92 (6.99%) Microsoft Excel
2 62 (4.71%) Microsoft Office
3 20 (1.52%) MS Visio
4 16 (1.22%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.53%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 6 (0.46%) Simulink
7 5 (0.38%) Spreadsheet
8 4 (0.30%) CANalyzer
8 4 (0.30%) Fusion 360
8 4 (0.30%) Microsoft Project
9 3 (0.23%) Solid Edge
9 3 (0.23%) SOLIDWORKS
10 2 (0.15%) Adobe After Effects
10 2 (0.15%) Adobe Captivate
10 2 (0.15%) Adobe Illustrator
10 2 (0.15%) Adobe Premiere
10 2 (0.15%) CATIA
10 2 (0.15%) Oracle Smart View
10 2 (0.15%) Photoshop
10 2 (0.15%) Weka
Business Applications
1 28 (2.13%) SAP S/4HANA
2 18 (1.37%) Dynamics CRM
3 9 (0.68%) Oracle ERP
4 8 (0.61%) SAP ERP
5 7 (0.53%) Workday HCM
6 6 (0.46%) Elite 3E
7 5 (0.38%) Loan IQ
7 5 (0.38%) SAP MDG
8 4 (0.30%) Markit EDM
9 3 (0.23%) Oracle Applications
9 3 (0.23%) Oracle EBS
9 3 (0.23%) SAP MDG-BP
10 2 (0.15%) iTrent
10 2 (0.15%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
10 2 (0.15%) SAP CX
10 2 (0.15%) SAP FSCM
11 1 (0.076%) Magento
11 1 (0.076%) Oracle Receivables
11 1 (0.076%) SAP BPC
11 1 (0.076%) SAP BRIM
Cloud Services
1 200 (15.20%) Azure
2 131 (9.95%) AWS
3 117 (8.89%) Power Platform
4 62 (4.71%) SaaS
5 49 (3.72%) GCP
6 44 (3.34%) Azure DevOps
7 34 (2.58%) Dynamics 365
8 32 (2.43%) Azure Data Factory
8 32 (2.43%) dbt
9 30 (2.28%) Snowflake
10 28 (2.13%) Power Automate
11 26 (1.98%) GitHub
12 25 (1.90%) Microsoft 365
13 24 (1.82%) Amazon S3
13 24 (1.82%) Entra ID
13 24 (1.82%) Serverless
14 18 (1.37%) Datadog
15 16 (1.22%) OpenShift
16 15 (1.14%) Azure AI
17 14 (1.06%) Anthropic Claude
Communications & Networking
1 27 (2.05%) CHAP
2 24 (1.82%) Broadband
2 24 (1.82%) Firewall
3 19 (1.44%) WAN
4 17 (1.29%) DNS
5 16 (1.22%) SD-WAN
5 16 (1.22%) TCP/IP
5 16 (1.22%) Wireless
6 11 (0.84%) 5G
7 9 (0.68%) HTTP
7 9 (0.68%) LAN
7 9 (0.68%) Modbus
7 9 (0.68%) Multicast
8 8 (0.61%) Wireshark
9 7 (0.53%) MQTT
9 7 (0.53%) NAS
10 6 (0.46%) ATM
10 6 (0.46%) Network Security
10 6 (0.46%) tcpdump
10 6 (0.46%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 110 (8.36%) Power BI
2 45 (3.42%) SQL Server
3 44 (3.34%) Tableau
4 33 (2.51%) Data Warehouse
4 33 (2.51%) Metadata
5 32 (2.43%) Relational Database
6 29 (2.20%) PostgreSQL
7 24 (1.82%) GIS
7 24 (1.82%) QGIS
8 20 (1.52%) Spatial Data
9 18 (1.37%) Oracle Reports
10 16 (1.22%) Spark SQL
11 15 (1.14%) Azure SQL Database
11 15 (1.14%) Data Lake
11 15 (1.14%) Oracle Database
12 14 (1.06%) Parquet
13 13 (0.99%) Apache Hive
13 13 (0.99%) Impala
13 13 (0.99%) MySQL
13 13 (0.99%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 68 (5.17%) Git
2 65 (4.94%) JIRA
3 38 (2.89%) Rational DOORS
4 25 (1.90%) Jenkins
5 19 (1.44%) JMeter
6 18 (1.37%) Cucumber
6 18 (1.37%) GitLab
6 18 (1.37%) Postman
7 16 (1.22%) LabVIEW
7 16 (1.22%) Selenium
8 15 (1.14%) MLflow
9 13 (0.99%) IBM UrbanCode
10 12 (0.91%) Locust
10 12 (0.91%) TestRail
11 11 (0.84%) Snyk
12 10 (0.76%) Eclipse
13 7 (0.53%) LoadRunner
14 6 (0.46%) SoapUI
14 6 (0.46%) Subversion
15 5 (0.38%) SpecFlow
General
1 451 (34.27%) Social Skills
2 359 (27.28%) Finance
3 290 (22.04%) Analytical Skills
4 97 (7.37%) Manufacturing
5 88 (6.69%) Aerospace
6 87 (6.61%) Banking
7 82 (6.23%) Electronics
8 61 (4.64%) Legal
9 60 (4.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 48 (3.65%) Public Sector
11 47 (3.57%) Retail
12 45 (3.42%) Law
13 41 (3.12%) Financial Institution
13 41 (3.12%) Marketing
14 38 (2.89%) Presentation Skills
15 32 (2.43%) Pharmaceutical
16 30 (2.28%) Organisational Skills
17 27 (2.05%) Automotive
18 24 (1.82%) Aviation
19 22 (1.67%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 221 (16.79%) Analyst
2 208 (15.81%) Senior
3 156 (11.85%) Systems Engineer
4 100 (7.60%) Lead
5 83 (6.31%) Business Analyst
6 78 (5.93%) Validation Engineer
7 77 (5.85%) Test Engineer
8 74 (5.62%) Architect
9 63 (4.79%) Consultant
10 58 (4.41%) Data Analyst
11 56 (4.26%) Integration Engineer
12 45 (3.42%) Developer
12 45 (3.42%) Junior
12 45 (3.42%) Senior Systems Engineer
13 44 (3.34%) Data Engineer
14 39 (2.96%) Principal Engineer
14 39 (2.96%) Systems Integration Engineer
15 36 (2.74%) Software Validation Engineer
15 36 (2.74%) Verification Engineer
16 30 (2.28%) Auditor
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 59 (4.48%) REST
2 40 (3.04%) PyTorch
3 37 (2.81%) Pandas
4 36 (2.74%) JSON
5 31 (2.36%) Middleware
6 26 (1.98%) pytest
6 26 (1.98%) XML
7 21 (1.60%) PySpark
8 20 (1.52%) OAuth
9 19 (1.44%) JWT
9 19 (1.44%) Swagger
9 19 (1.44%) TensorFlow
10 18 (1.37%) .NET
10 18 (1.37%) NumPy
11 17 (1.29%) RESTful
12 16 (1.22%) Kafka
12 16 (1.22%) React
13 15 (1.14%) CSS
13 15 (1.14%) scikit-learn
13 15 (1.14%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 78 (5.93%) Management Information System
2 57 (4.33%) Onboarding
3 49 (3.72%) Data Structures
4 38 (2.89%) Product Ownership
5 37 (2.81%) Algorithms
6 36 (2.74%) Low-Code
7 35 (2.66%) Self-Motivation
8 33 (2.51%) Legacy Systems
9 27 (2.05%) Analytical Mindset
10 24 (1.82%) Life Science
11 23 (1.75%) Cloud Native
12 22 (1.67%) Data Centre
12 22 (1.67%) Embedded Systems
13 18 (1.37%) Enterprise Software
13 18 (1.37%) SCADA
14 17 (1.29%) Robotics
15 15 (1.14%) Blockchain
15 15 (1.14%) IoT
16 13 (0.99%) Reinsurance
17 11 (0.84%) Driving Licence
Operating Systems
1 73 (5.55%) Linux
2 61 (4.64%) Windows
3 19 (1.44%) Unix
4 18 (1.37%) Windows Server
5 17 (1.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 12 (0.91%) Android
7 4 (0.30%) Apple iOS
7 4 (0.30%) CentOS
7 4 (0.30%) FreeRTOS
7 4 (0.30%) Mac OS X
8 3 (0.23%) AIX
8 3 (0.23%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.15%) Kali Linux
9 2 (0.15%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.15%) ThreadX
9 2 (0.15%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.076%) Embedded Linux
10 1 (0.076%) Rocky
10 1 (0.076%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.076%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 295 (22.42%) Problem-Solving
2 290 (22.04%) Agile
3 258 (19.60%) Continuous Improvement
4 204 (15.50%) Analytics
4 204 (15.50%) Verification and Validation
5 181 (13.75%) AI
6 165 (12.54%) CI/CD
7 162 (12.31%) Data Validation
8 161 (12.23%) Test Automation
9 144 (10.94%) Migration
10 139 (10.56%) Business Intelligence
11 138 (10.49%) Stakeholder Management
12 137 (10.41%) Systems Engineering
13 130 (9.88%) Data Modelling
13 130 (9.88%) User Acceptance Testing
14 127 (9.65%) DevOps
15 126 (9.57%) Decision-Making
16 124 (9.42%) Mentoring
17 121 (9.19%) Data Governance
18 114 (8.66%) ETL
Programming Languages
1 287 (21.81%) Python
2 264 (20.06%) SQL
3 51 (3.88%) Java
4 44 (3.34%) C++
5 37 (2.81%) PowerShell
6 36 (2.74%) C
7 31 (2.36%) JavaScript
8 28 (2.13%) Bash
9 21 (1.60%) Go
10 20 (1.52%) C#
11 18 (1.37%) MATLAB
11 18 (1.37%) T-SQL
12 15 (1.14%) TypeScript
13 11 (0.84%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 11 (0.84%) R
14 10 (0.76%) Embedded C
15 9 (0.68%) VBA
16 7 (0.53%) Apex Code
16 7 (0.53%) VB
17 6 (0.46%) PHP
Qualifications
1 302 (22.95%) Degree
2 164 (12.46%) Security Cleared
3 129 (9.80%) BPSS Clearance
4 63 (4.79%) Master's Degree
5 60 (4.56%) SC Cleared
6 45 (3.42%) Computer Science Degree
7 37 (2.81%) CISSP
8 35 (2.66%) CISA
8 35 (2.66%) DV Cleared
9 34 (2.58%) CISM
10 30 (2.28%) Chartered Engineer
11 29 (2.20%) SANS
12 27 (2.05%) CGEIT
12 27 (2.05%) FFIEC
13 26 (1.98%) HNC
14 22 (1.67%) PMI Certification
15 21 (1.60%) HND
16 19 (1.44%) PMP
17 15 (1.14%) ISTQB
18 9 (0.68%) ACCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 173 (13.15%) Data Quality
2 151 (11.47%) QA
3 66 (5.02%) Accessibility
3 66 (5.02%) GDPR
4 38 (2.89%) ISO/IEC 15288
5 29 (2.20%) GRC
5 29 (2.20%) NIST
6 27 (2.05%) COBIT
7 22 (1.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 19 (1.44%) SLA
9 17 (1.29%) IFRS
9 17 (1.29%) WCAG
10 15 (1.14%) IEC 61508
11 13 (0.99%) ISO 9001
12 12 (0.91%) GAAP
13 10 (0.76%) Good Clinical Practice
14 9 (0.68%) 21 CFR Part 11
14 9 (0.68%) PMO
15 8 (0.61%) GMP
15 8 (0.61%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 76 (5.78%) Docker
2 32 (2.43%) Active Directory
3 26 (1.98%) Firmware
4 15 (1.14%) VMware Infrastructure
5 12 (0.91%) Virtual Machines
6 11 (0.84%) vSphere
7 6 (0.46%) Embedded Firmware
7 6 (0.46%) Hyper-V
7 6 (0.46%) KVM
8 3 (0.23%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.15%) Ceph
9 2 (0.15%) Lustre
9 2 (0.15%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 2 (0.15%) Terminal Services
10 1 (0.076%) iptables
10 1 (0.076%) OpenAM
10 1 (0.076%) OpenDJ
10 1 (0.076%) OpenIDM
10 1 (0.076%) pfSense
10 1 (0.076%) vCloud
Systems Management
1 75 (5.70%) Kubernetes
2 55 (4.18%) Terraform
3 37 (2.81%) Grafana
4 26 (1.98%) Ansible
5 18 (1.37%) Prometheus
6 14 (1.06%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 11 (0.84%) Functional Safety
8 10 (0.76%) SCCM
9 9 (0.68%) Puppet
10 7 (0.53%) Microsoft Intune
11 5 (0.38%) Argo
11 5 (0.38%) Rancher
11 5 (0.38%) yum
12 4 (0.30%) Cilium
13 2 (0.15%) BMC PATROL
13 2 (0.15%) Computer Incident Response Team
13 2 (0.15%) HP Fortify
13 2 (0.15%) Nessus
13 2 (0.15%) PowerCLI
14 1 (0.076%) Control-M
Vendors
1 169 (12.84%) Microsoft
2 71 (5.40%) Oracle
3 61 (4.64%) SAP
4 46 (3.50%) Salesforce
5 25 (1.90%) Red Hat
5 25 (1.90%) VMware
6 21 (1.60%) Cisco
6 21 (1.60%) Databricks
7 18 (1.37%) Foundry
7 18 (1.37%) IBM
8 17 (1.29%) Google
9 16 (1.22%) Adobe
9 16 (1.22%) OpenAI
10 14 (1.06%) ServiceNow
11 12 (0.91%) Automation Anywhere
11 12 (0.91%) Citrix
11 12 (0.91%) Palo Alto
11 12 (0.91%) UiPath
11 12 (0.91%) Workday
12 11 (0.84%) Tenable