Validation Job Trends

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

6 months to
3 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 134 171 187
Rank change year-on-year +37 +16 -29
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,224 754 1,430
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.53% 1.84% 1.59%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.00% 1.98% 1.84%
Number of salaries quoted 689 376 787
10th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £35,000
25th Percentile £43,750 £46,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £56,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% +1.82% -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £71,250 £72,433
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,625 £85,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £53,500 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -2.73% +4.76% -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 61,258 38,052 77,913
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 76.49% 93.03% 86.40%
Number of salaries quoted 37,754 22,305 57,991
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £29,079
25th Percentile £40,000 £43,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -10.57%
75th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £73,410
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -8.26%

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 3 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 3 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 +30 1,067 £60,000 +7.14% 872
UK excluding London +12 785 £53,500 -2.73% 714
Work from Home +93 349 £57,500 +1.77% 341
London +62 329 £75,000 +7.14% 268
South East +40 254 £55,000 +10.00% 215
North of England +2 173 £59,000 +24.21% 152
Midlands -18 127 £37,500 -31.82% 118
North West +14 109 £59,000 +23.73% 74
East of England -6 93 £57,500 +4.55% 96
West Midlands -11 78 £44,000 -32.31% 77
South West -29 77 £55,000 - 89
East Midlands -37 47 £35,000 -31.37% 41
Scotland -20 44 £42,000 -27.63% 42
Yorkshire -35 43 £60,000 +26.32% 51
North East -5 21 £50,000 -11.89% 27
Wales -19 15 £55,000 +12.01% 16
Northern Ireland -37 4 - - 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 41 (3.35%) Apache Airflow
2 27 (2.21%) Apache Spark
3 23 (1.88%) Apache
4 20 (1.63%) ArcGIS
5 19 (1.55%) Confluence
6 15 (1.23%) Microsoft Exchange
7 12 (0.98%) Appian
7 12 (0.98%) CMS
8 9 (0.74%) SharePoint
9 5 (0.41%) Kinematics
10 4 (0.33%) Headless CMS
11 2 (0.16%) WordPress
12 1 (0.082%) Anypoint
12 1 (0.082%) IIS
12 1 (0.082%) Jupyter
12 1 (0.082%) Palantir Foundry
12 1 (0.082%) SAS
Applications
1 88 (7.19%) Microsoft Excel
2 59 (4.82%) Microsoft Office
3 18 (1.47%) MS Visio
4 17 (1.39%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.57%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 6 (0.49%) Simulink
7 5 (0.41%) Spreadsheet
8 4 (0.33%) CANalyzer
8 4 (0.33%) Fusion 360
8 4 (0.33%) Microsoft Project
9 3 (0.25%) Solid Edge
9 3 (0.25%) 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 24 (1.96%) SAP S/4HANA
2 16 (1.31%) Dynamics CRM
3 8 (0.65%) Oracle ERP
4 7 (0.57%) Workday HCM
5 5 (0.41%) Elite 3E
5 5 (0.41%) Loan IQ
6 4 (0.33%) Markit EDM
6 4 (0.33%) SAP BPC
6 4 (0.33%) SAP ERP
7 3 (0.25%) SAP MDG
8 2 (0.16%) IBM Planning Analytics
8 2 (0.16%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
8 2 (0.16%) SAP CX
8 2 (0.16%) SAP FSCM
9 1 (0.082%) Endur
9 1 (0.082%) Magento
9 1 (0.082%) NetSuite
9 1 (0.082%) Oracle Applications
9 1 (0.082%) Oracle Financials
9 1 (0.082%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 185 (15.11%) Azure
2 121 (9.89%) AWS
3 110 (8.99%) Power Platform
4 59 (4.82%) SaaS
5 43 (3.51%) GCP
6 42 (3.43%) Azure DevOps
7 31 (2.53%) dbt
7 31 (2.53%) Dynamics 365
8 30 (2.45%) Azure Data Factory
9 29 (2.37%) Snowflake
10 28 (2.29%) Power Automate
11 25 (2.04%) Amazon S3
12 23 (1.88%) GitHub
13 22 (1.80%) Entra ID
14 20 (1.63%) Microsoft 365
15 18 (1.47%) Datadog
16 16 (1.31%) OpenShift
17 15 (1.23%) Azure AI
18 13 (1.06%) Anthropic Claude
18 13 (1.06%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 25 (2.04%) CHAP
2 21 (1.72%) Broadband
3 17 (1.39%) Firewall
3 17 (1.39%) WAN
4 15 (1.23%) TCP/IP
5 14 (1.14%) DNS
5 14 (1.14%) SD-WAN
5 14 (1.14%) Wireless
6 12 (0.98%) 5G
7 9 (0.74%) HTTP
7 9 (0.74%) Multicast
8 8 (0.65%) Modbus
9 7 (0.57%) LAN
9 7 (0.57%) MQTT
9 7 (0.57%) Wireshark
10 6 (0.49%) ATM
10 6 (0.49%) NAS
10 6 (0.49%) tcpdump
10 6 (0.49%) VPN
11 5 (0.41%) WAAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 103 (8.42%) Power BI
2 43 (3.51%) SQL Server
2 43 (3.51%) Tableau
3 34 (2.78%) Data Warehouse
4 29 (2.37%) Metadata
4 29 (2.37%) Relational Database
5 25 (2.04%) GIS
5 25 (2.04%) PostgreSQL
6 20 (1.63%) QGIS
6 20 (1.63%) Spatial Data
7 17 (1.39%) Oracle Reports
8 15 (1.23%) Spark SQL
9 14 (1.14%) Azure SQL Database
9 14 (1.14%) Oracle Database
9 14 (1.14%) Parquet
10 13 (1.06%) Apache Hive
10 13 (1.06%) Impala
10 13 (1.06%) MySQL
10 13 (1.06%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 12 (0.98%) Pinecone
Development Applications
1 67 (5.47%) Git
2 64 (5.23%) JIRA
3 42 (3.43%) Rational DOORS
4 22 (1.80%) Jenkins
5 19 (1.55%) Postman
6 18 (1.47%) JMeter
7 17 (1.39%) Cucumber
8 16 (1.31%) LabVIEW
9 15 (1.23%) GitLab
10 14 (1.14%) MLflow
10 14 (1.14%) TestRail
11 13 (1.06%) IBM UrbanCode
11 13 (1.06%) Selenium
12 12 (0.98%) Locust
13 11 (0.90%) Eclipse
14 7 (0.57%) SoapUI
15 6 (0.49%) LoadRunner
15 6 (0.49%) Subversion
16 5 (0.41%) Robot Framework
16 5 (0.41%) SpecFlow
General
1 432 (35.29%) Social Skills
2 322 (26.31%) Finance
3 272 (22.22%) Analytical Skills
4 84 (6.86%) Banking
5 82 (6.70%) Manufacturing
6 71 (5.80%) Electronics
7 70 (5.72%) Aerospace
8 58 (4.74%) Legal
9 49 (4.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 43 (3.51%) Law
10 43 (3.51%) Marketing
10 43 (3.51%) Retail
11 42 (3.43%) Public Sector
12 40 (3.27%) Financial Institution
13 39 (3.19%) Presentation Skills
14 30 (2.45%) Organisational Skills
15 28 (2.29%) Pharmaceutical
16 24 (1.96%) Automotive
16 24 (1.96%) Telecoms
17 22 (1.80%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 206 (16.83%) Analyst
2 190 (15.52%) Senior
3 144 (11.76%) Systems Engineer
4 95 (7.76%) Lead
5 77 (6.29%) Business Analyst
6 73 (5.96%) Validation Engineer
7 68 (5.56%) Test Engineer
8 61 (4.98%) Architect
9 59 (4.82%) Consultant
10 55 (4.49%) Integration Engineer
11 52 (4.25%) Data Analyst
12 45 (3.68%) Developer
13 42 (3.43%) Principal Engineer
13 42 (3.43%) Senior Systems Engineer
14 41 (3.35%) Junior
15 39 (3.19%) Systems Integration Engineer
16 37 (3.02%) Data Engineer
17 35 (2.86%) Software Validation Engineer
17 35 (2.86%) Verification Engineer
18 31 (2.53%) Principal Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 58 (4.74%) REST
2 39 (3.19%) PyTorch
3 37 (3.02%) Pandas
4 35 (2.86%) JSON
5 28 (2.29%) Middleware
6 26 (2.12%) pytest
7 25 (2.04%) XML
8 20 (1.63%) PySpark
9 19 (1.55%) OAuth
10 18 (1.47%) JWT
10 18 (1.47%) NumPy
10 18 (1.47%) Swagger
10 18 (1.47%) TensorFlow
11 17 (1.39%) .NET
12 16 (1.31%) RESTful
13 15 (1.23%) React
13 15 (1.23%) scikit-learn
13 15 (1.23%) Web Services
14 14 (1.14%) CSS
14 14 (1.14%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 74 (6.05%) Management Information System
2 56 (4.58%) Onboarding
3 48 (3.92%) Data Structures
4 37 (3.02%) Low-Code
4 37 (3.02%) Product Ownership
5 33 (2.70%) Algorithms
5 33 (2.70%) Legacy Systems
6 29 (2.37%) Self-Motivation
7 25 (2.04%) Analytical Mindset
8 24 (1.96%) Life Science
9 18 (1.47%) Cloud Native
9 18 (1.47%) Embedded Systems
9 18 (1.47%) Enterprise Software
10 15 (1.23%) Robotics
11 14 (1.14%) Blockchain
11 14 (1.14%) SCADA
12 13 (1.06%) Data Centre
12 13 (1.06%) IoT
12 13 (1.06%) Reinsurance
13 11 (0.90%) Hackathon
Operating Systems
1 65 (5.31%) Linux
2 56 (4.58%) Windows
3 17 (1.39%) Unix
4 16 (1.31%) Windows Server
5 15 (1.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 12 (0.98%) Android
7 4 (0.33%) Apple iOS
7 4 (0.33%) CentOS
8 3 (0.25%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.16%) AIX
9 2 (0.16%) FreeRTOS
9 2 (0.16%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.16%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.082%) Embedded Linux
10 1 (0.082%) Kali Linux
10 1 (0.082%) Rocky
10 1 (0.082%) ThreadX
10 1 (0.082%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.082%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 289 (23.61%) Agile
2 265 (21.65%) Problem-Solving
3 235 (19.20%) Continuous Improvement
4 199 (16.26%) Verification and Validation
5 193 (15.77%) Analytics
6 159 (12.99%) AI
7 158 (12.91%) Data Validation
8 151 (12.34%) Test Automation
9 143 (11.68%) CI/CD
10 136 (11.11%) Business Intelligence
11 135 (11.03%) Systems Engineering
12 129 (10.54%) Migration
13 126 (10.29%) Data Modelling
13 126 (10.29%) Stakeholder Management
14 123 (10.05%) DevOps
15 120 (9.80%) Mentoring
16 116 (9.48%) User Acceptance Testing
17 115 (9.40%) Decision-Making
18 113 (9.23%) ETL
19 109 (8.91%) Data Governance
Programming Languages
1 273 (22.30%) Python
2 250 (20.42%) SQL
3 51 (4.17%) Java
4 38 (3.10%) C++
4 38 (3.10%) PowerShell
5 35 (2.86%) C
6 30 (2.45%) JavaScript
7 25 (2.04%) Bash
8 20 (1.63%) C#
9 19 (1.55%) T-SQL
10 18 (1.47%) Go
11 17 (1.39%) MATLAB
12 14 (1.14%) TypeScript
13 11 (0.90%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 11 (0.90%) R
14 9 (0.74%) VBA
15 8 (0.65%) Embedded C
16 7 (0.57%) Apex Code
16 7 (0.57%) VB
17 6 (0.49%) PHP
Qualifications
1 279 (22.79%) Degree
2 157 (12.83%) Security Cleared
3 130 (10.62%) BPSS Clearance
4 58 (4.74%) SC Cleared
5 56 (4.58%) Master's Degree
6 43 (3.51%) Computer Science Degree
7 32 (2.61%) CISA
7 32 (2.61%) CISSP
7 32 (2.61%) DV Cleared
8 31 (2.53%) CISM
9 28 (2.29%) Chartered Engineer
10 25 (2.04%) CGEIT
10 25 (2.04%) FFIEC
10 25 (2.04%) SANS
11 24 (1.96%) PMI Certification
12 23 (1.88%) HNC
12 23 (1.88%) PMP
13 18 (1.47%) HND
14 17 (1.39%) ISTQB
15 11 (0.90%) ACCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 158 (12.91%) Data Quality
2 146 (11.93%) QA
3 67 (5.47%) Accessibility
4 65 (5.31%) GDPR
5 41 (3.35%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 26 (2.12%) NIST
7 25 (2.04%) COBIT
8 19 (1.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 18 (1.47%) GRC
9 18 (1.47%) SLA
10 17 (1.39%) WCAG
11 16 (1.31%) IFRS
12 13 (1.06%) ISO 9001
13 11 (0.90%) IEC 61508
13 11 (0.90%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 10 (0.82%) GAAP
14 10 (0.82%) Good Clinical Practice
15 9 (0.74%) 21 CFR Part 11
16 8 (0.65%) ISO/IEC 12207
17 7 (0.57%) ISO 20022
System Software
1 71 (5.80%) Docker
2 27 (2.21%) Active Directory
3 26 (2.12%) Firmware
4 15 (1.23%) VMware Infrastructure
5 10 (0.82%) vSphere
6 6 (0.49%) Hyper-V
6 6 (0.49%) KVM
7 4 (0.33%) Embedded Firmware
7 4 (0.33%) VMware ESXi
8 3 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
9 2 (0.16%) Ceph
9 2 (0.16%) Lustre
9 2 (0.16%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 2 (0.16%) Terminal Services
10 1 (0.082%) iptables
10 1 (0.082%) OpenAM
10 1 (0.082%) OpenDJ
10 1 (0.082%) OpenIDM
10 1 (0.082%) pfSense
10 1 (0.082%) vCloud
Systems Management
1 69 (5.64%) Kubernetes
2 49 (4.00%) Terraform
3 32 (2.61%) Grafana
4 25 (2.04%) Ansible
5 15 (1.23%) Prometheus
6 12 (0.98%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 10 (0.82%) SCCM
8 8 (0.65%) Puppet
9 7 (0.57%) Microsoft Intune
10 6 (0.49%) Functional Safety
11 5 (0.41%) Argo
11 5 (0.41%) Rancher
11 5 (0.41%) yum
12 2 (0.16%) BMC PATROL
12 2 (0.16%) Cilium
12 2 (0.16%) Nessus
12 2 (0.16%) PowerCLI
13 1 (0.082%) Control-M
13 1 (0.082%) Istio
13 1 (0.082%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 156 (12.75%) Microsoft
2 62 (5.07%) Oracle
3 59 (4.82%) SAP
4 47 (3.84%) Salesforce
5 24 (1.96%) VMware
6 23 (1.88%) Red Hat
7 20 (1.63%) Foundry
7 20 (1.63%) IBM
8 19 (1.55%) Cisco
8 19 (1.55%) Databricks
9 16 (1.31%) Adobe
9 16 (1.31%) OpenAI
10 15 (1.23%) Google
10 15 (1.23%) ServiceNow
11 13 (1.06%) Workday
12 12 (0.98%) Automation Anywhere
12 12 (0.98%) UiPath
13 10 (0.82%) Citrix
13 10 (0.82%) Intapp
13 10 (0.82%) Software AG