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

6 months to
5 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 102 86 206
Rank change year-on-year -16 +120 -10
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,872 1,675 1,094
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.79% 3.38% 1.31%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.44% 3.77% 1.61%
Number of salaries quoted 1,085 509 532
10th Percentile £34,850 £38,750 £36,250
25th Percentile £42,215 £42,500 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year - -8.33% -4.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £75,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £90,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £52,600 £54,500
% change year-on-year -0.19% -3.49% -0.99%

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 76,763 44,374 67,952
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.58% 89.45% 81.06%
Number of salaries quoted 52,880 25,244 44,456
10th Percentile £30,750 £28,500 £31,246
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £41,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.71%
75th Percentile £78,750 £75,246 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £49,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +12.24% -2.00% -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 5 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 5 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 -17 1,705 £55,000 - 1,778
UK excluding London -38 1,276 £52,500 -0.19% 1,133
Work from Home +124 585 £56,000 -6.67% 673
London +82 481 £73,377 -5.32% 775
South East -35 385 £55,000 - 329
North of England +108 355 £52,500 +10.53% 209
North West +91 206 £55,000 +15.35% 120
Midlands -55 195 £44,000 -20.00% 178
South West -22 138 £51,000 -3.04% 166
East of England -78 118 £60,000 +5.26% 155
West Midlands +4 107 £44,360 -22.85% 113
East Midlands -67 87 £42,500 - 65
Yorkshire +10 75 £43,000 +1.18% 47
North East +6 74 £55,000 +57.14% 45
Scotland +18 56 £52,500 -9.53% 82
Wales -32 29 £47,500 -11.63% 20
Northern Ireland -75 2 - - 17

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 (3.26%) Apache Airflow
2 57 (3.04%) Apache Spark
3 55 (2.94%) Apache
4 34 (1.82%) Confluence
5 31 (1.66%) SharePoint
6 21 (1.12%) ArcGIS
7 20 (1.07%) Jupyter
8 13 (0.69%) Microsoft Exchange
9 12 (0.64%) SAS
10 5 (0.27%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 5 (0.27%) CMS
11 4 (0.21%) Kinematics
12 3 (0.16%) Artix
12 3 (0.16%) Oracle SOA Suite
12 3 (0.16%) WinCC
13 2 (0.11%) Cloud Foundry
13 2 (0.11%) IIS
14 1 (0.053%) Oracle Workflow
14 1 (0.053%) Palantir Foundry
14 1 (0.053%) WebSphere
Applications
1 113 (6.04%) Microsoft Excel
2 66 (3.53%) Microsoft Office
3 31 (1.66%) Microsoft Project
4 27 (1.44%) MS Visio
5 26 (1.39%) Simulink
6 16 (0.85%) Spreadsheet
7 15 (0.80%) Microsoft PowerPoint
8 11 (0.59%) SOLIDWORKS
9 5 (0.27%) AutoCAD
9 5 (0.27%) LaTeX
10 4 (0.21%) Adobe XD
10 4 (0.21%) CANalyzer
10 4 (0.21%) Mathcad
10 4 (0.21%) Sketch
11 3 (0.16%) Autodesk Inventor
11 3 (0.16%) Productboard
11 3 (0.16%) Stateflow
12 2 (0.11%) OrCAD
12 2 (0.11%) Solid Edge
13 1 (0.053%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 50 (2.67%) SAP S/4HANA
2 41 (2.19%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.59%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.53%) Elite 3E
4 10 (0.53%) SAP ERP
5 9 (0.48%) iTrent
5 9 (0.48%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.43%) Oracle Applications
6 8 (0.43%) Oracle ERP
7 5 (0.27%) Loan IQ
7 5 (0.27%) NetSuite
7 5 (0.27%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.21%) Oracle Financials
8 4 (0.21%) SAP MM
8 4 (0.21%) Teamcenter
8 4 (0.21%) 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
1 289 (15.44%) Azure
2 265 (14.16%) AWS
3 166 (8.87%) Power Platform
4 89 (4.75%) GCP
5 81 (4.33%) SaaS
6 68 (3.63%) Azure DevOps
7 54 (2.88%) GitHub
7 54 (2.88%) Microsoft 365
8 50 (2.67%) Serverless
9 44 (2.35%) Amazon S3
10 39 (2.08%) Dynamics 365
11 28 (1.50%) Entra ID
12 27 (1.44%) GitHub Actions
12 27 (1.44%) Microsoft Copilot
13 22 (1.18%) Amazon EC2
13 22 (1.18%) Cloud Computing
14 21 (1.12%) Amazon EMR
15 20 (1.07%) PowerApps
15 20 (1.07%) Snowflake
16 19 (1.01%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 71 (3.79%) Broadband
2 54 (2.88%) Firewall
3 45 (2.40%) DNS
4 33 (1.76%) Wireless
5 30 (1.60%) TCP/IP
6 27 (1.44%) Network Security
7 26 (1.39%) WAN
8 24 (1.28%) VPN
9 18 (0.96%) Ethernet
9 18 (0.96%) SD-WAN
10 16 (0.85%) Wi-Fi
11 15 (0.80%) LAN
11 15 (0.80%) MQTT
12 14 (0.75%) Internet
12 14 (0.75%) Wireshark
13 12 (0.64%) BGP
13 12 (0.64%) HTTP
14 11 (0.59%) 5G
14 11 (0.59%) NGN
14 11 (0.59%) RS-232
Database & Business Intelligence
1 150 (8.01%) Power BI
2 58 (3.10%) Tableau
3 57 (3.04%) Data Warehouse
4 56 (2.99%) PostgreSQL
5 51 (2.72%) SQL Server
6 48 (2.56%) Metadata
7 38 (2.03%) Data Lake
8 34 (1.82%) MongoDB
9 31 (1.66%) Relational Database
10 27 (1.44%) BigQuery
11 25 (1.34%) QGIS
12 23 (1.23%) DynamoDB
12 23 (1.23%) GIS
12 23 (1.23%) Semantic Layer
13 22 (1.18%) Amazon Athena
14 21 (1.12%) MySQL
14 21 (1.12%) SQL Server Integration Services
15 20 (1.07%) Azure SQL Database
15 20 (1.07%) Power Query
15 20 (1.07%) Spark SQL
Development Applications
1 122 (6.52%) JIRA
2 107 (5.72%) Git
3 52 (2.78%) Jenkins
4 47 (2.51%) GitLab
5 34 (1.82%) Rational DOORS
6 24 (1.28%) Selenium
7 22 (1.18%) Snyk
8 21 (1.12%) Postman
9 17 (0.91%) Cypress.io
10 16 (0.85%) LabVIEW
11 14 (0.75%) JMeter
12 13 (0.69%) Cucumber
12 13 (0.69%) IBM UrbanCode
13 10 (0.53%) REST Assured
13 10 (0.53%) TeamCity
14 9 (0.48%) Burp Suite
15 8 (0.43%) Rational Rhapsody
16 7 (0.37%) MLflow
16 7 (0.37%) Zephyr
17 6 (0.32%) Hudson
General
1 640 (34.19%) Social Skills
2 531 (28.37%) Finance
3 464 (24.79%) Analytical Skills
4 173 (9.24%) Aerospace
5 172 (9.19%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 161 (8.60%) Manufacturing
7 142 (7.59%) Electronics
8 103 (5.50%) Banking
9 100 (5.34%) Law
10 76 (4.06%) Public Sector
11 72 (3.85%) Retail
12 64 (3.42%) Organisational Skills
12 64 (3.42%) Pharmaceutical
13 62 (3.31%) Marketing
14 60 (3.21%) Legal
15 47 (2.51%) Automotive
16 46 (2.46%) Games
17 37 (1.98%) Telecoms
18 34 (1.82%) Documentation Skills
19 33 (1.76%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 343 (18.32%) Senior
2 265 (14.16%) Analyst
3 168 (8.97%) Lead
4 129 (6.89%) Systems Engineer
5 114 (6.09%) Architect
6 113 (6.04%) Test Engineer
7 104 (5.56%) Consultant
8 100 (5.34%) Data Engineer
9 86 (4.59%) Developer
10 84 (4.49%) Business Analyst
11 69 (3.69%) Data Analyst
12 66 (3.53%) Validation Engineer
13 64 (3.42%) Software Engineer
14 56 (2.99%) Principal Engineer
15 46 (2.46%) Embedded Engineer
16 45 (2.40%) Support Engineer
17 42 (2.24%) Data Scientist
18 39 (2.08%) IT Manager
19 37 (1.98%) Project Manager
19 37 (1.98%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 47 (2.51%) RESTful
2 42 (2.24%) Kafka
3 39 (2.08%) Node.js
3 39 (2.08%) PySpark
4 38 (2.03%) REST
5 33 (1.76%) JSON
6 32 (1.71%) PyTorch
7 30 (1.60%) XML
8 29 (1.55%) .NET
9 27 (1.44%) Middleware
10 26 (1.39%) Playwright
11 24 (1.28%) Pandas
12 22 (1.18%) LDAP
13 21 (1.12%) CSS
14 20 (1.07%) HTML
15 19 (1.01%) React
15 19 (1.01%) Regular Expression
15 19 (1.01%) XMPP
16 17 (0.91%) Oracle Fusion
17 16 (0.85%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 135 (7.21%) Cloud Native
2 130 (6.94%) Onboarding
3 94 (5.02%) Management Information System
4 70 (3.74%) Algorithms
5 69 (3.69%) Product Ownership
6 65 (3.47%) Data Centre
6 65 (3.47%) Data Structures
7 51 (2.72%) Embedded Systems
7 51 (2.72%) Enterprise Software
8 49 (2.62%) Distributed Systems
9 47 (2.51%) Driving Licence
10 46 (2.46%) Low-Code
11 38 (2.03%) Analytical Mindset
12 36 (1.92%) Legacy Systems
13 35 (1.87%) AI Agents
14 33 (1.76%) Video\Live Streaming
15 32 (1.71%) Life Science
16 29 (1.55%) Robotics
16 29 (1.55%) Self-Motivation
17 28 (1.50%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 119 (6.36%) Linux
2 87 (4.65%) Windows
3 33 (1.76%) Windows Server
4 24 (1.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (1.01%) Unix
6 6 (0.32%) Android
6 6 (0.32%) Embedded Linux
6 6 (0.32%) FreeRTOS
7 4 (0.21%) Kali Linux
7 4 (0.21%) Mac OS
7 4 (0.21%) 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 (0.053%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 481 (25.69%) Problem-Solving
2 468 (25.00%) Continuous Improvement
3 409 (21.85%) Agile
4 363 (19.39%) AI
5 300 (16.03%) CI/CD
6 263 (14.05%) Analytics
7 249 (13.30%) Stakeholder Management
8 242 (12.93%) Migration
9 241 (12.87%) Test Automation
10 228 (12.18%) Mentoring
11 212 (11.32%) Decision-Making
12 198 (10.58%) Data Analysis
13 197 (10.52%) Software Engineering
14 191 (10.20%) Verification and Validation
15 189 (10.10%) DevOps
16 183 (9.78%) Machine Learning
17 180 (9.62%) Business Intelligence
18 173 (9.24%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 171 (9.13%) User Acceptance Testing
20 170 (9.08%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 478 (25.53%) Python
2 384 (20.51%) SQL
3 86 (4.59%) Java
4 83 (4.43%) C++
5 76 (4.06%) C
6 56 (2.99%) JavaScript
7 55 (2.94%) Go
8 51 (2.72%) C#
9 41 (2.19%) MATLAB
10 30 (1.60%) PowerShell
11 28 (1.50%) Bash
12 23 (1.23%) Embedded C
13 20 (1.07%) Scala
13 20 (1.07%) T-SQL
14 19 (1.01%) TypeScript
15 18 (0.96%) Embedded C++
16 15 (0.80%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 12 (0.64%) R
18 10 (0.53%) ABAP
18 10 (0.53%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 385 (20.57%) Degree
2 260 (13.89%) Security Cleared
3 141 (7.53%) SC Cleared
4 131 (7.00%) BPSS Clearance
5 90 (4.81%) DV Cleared
6 75 (4.01%) Master's Degree
7 42 (2.24%) Computer Science Degree
8 32 (1.71%) Chartered Engineer
9 31 (1.66%) CISSP
10 28 (1.50%) HNC
10 28 (1.50%) PhD
10 28 (1.50%) PMI Certification
11 25 (1.34%) ACCA
11 25 (1.34%) CIMA
11 25 (1.34%) CISM
12 23 (1.23%) AWS Certification
13 22 (1.18%) HND
14 20 (1.07%) CISA
14 20 (1.07%) SANS
15 19 (1.01%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 309 (16.51%) Data Quality
2 261 (13.94%) QA
3 83 (4.43%) Accessibility
4 56 (2.99%) GDPR
5 38 (2.03%) GRC
6 25 (1.34%) IEC 61508
6 25 (1.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 22 (1.18%) SLA
8 21 (1.12%) NIST
9 18 (0.96%) PMO
10 16 (0.85%) GxP
11 15 (0.80%) IFRS
11 15 (0.80%) ISO 26262
11 15 (0.80%) WCAG
12 14 (0.75%) GAAP
13 13 (0.69%) ISO 9001
14 12 (0.64%) GMP
14 12 (0.64%) ISO/IEC 15288
15 11 (0.59%) SOC 2
16 10 (0.53%) COBIT
System Software
1 77 (4.11%) Docker
2 72 (3.85%) Firmware
3 43 (2.30%) Active Directory
4 29 (1.55%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.50%) Virtual Machines
6 22 (1.18%) vSphere
7 18 (0.96%) VMware Infrastructure
8 8 (0.43%) KVM
9 6 (0.32%) Hyper-V
10 2 (0.11%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.053%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.053%) iptables
11 1 (0.053%) ProxySG
11 1 (0.053%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 79 (4.22%) Kubernetes
2 77 (4.11%) Terraform
3 42 (2.24%) Grafana
4 27 (1.44%) Ansible
5 25 (1.34%) Functional Safety
6 18 (0.96%) Prometheus
7 11 (0.59%) Puppet
8 10 (0.53%) Cilium
8 10 (0.53%) Single Sign-On
9 8 (0.43%) SCCM
10 7 (0.37%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
10 7 (0.37%) Kibana
11 5 (0.27%) Microsoft Intune
12 4 (0.21%) Argo
12 4 (0.21%) FortiGate
12 4 (0.21%) Nessus
12 4 (0.21%) Nmap
12 4 (0.21%) WMI
13 3 (0.16%) Kubeflow
13 3 (0.16%) yum
Vendors
1 266 (14.21%) Microsoft
2 119 (6.36%) SAP
3 103 (5.50%) Oracle
4 59 (3.15%) Salesforce
5 49 (2.62%) Databricks
6 43 (2.30%) ServiceNow
7 39 (2.08%) Google
8 37 (1.98%) VMware
9 35 (1.87%) Cisco
9 35 (1.87%) Red Hat
10 29 (1.55%) CrowdStrike
11 25 (1.34%) Palo Alto
12 22 (1.18%) Tenable
13 19 (1.01%) EMC
14 17 (0.91%) IBM
15 16 (0.85%) Foundry
16 15 (0.80%) McAfee
17 14 (0.75%) Adobe
17 14 (0.75%) Splunk
18 13 (0.69%) Workday