Validation Contract Job Trends in England

Validation
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring Validation skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 26 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 56 114 122
Rank change year-on-year +58 +8 +13
Contract jobs citing Validation 1,332 605 729
As % of all contract jobs in England 4.13% 2.29% 1.94%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.70% 2.56% 2.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 811 319 416
10th Percentile £350 £337 £329
25th Percentile £408 £408 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -1.87% -2.73%
75th Percentile £614 £618 £613
90th Percentile £700 £721 £739
UK median daily rate £500 £520 £538
% change year-on-year -3.85% -3.26% -1.01%
Number of hourly rates quoted 75 40 134
10th Percentile £31.53 £28.73 £35.56
25th Percentile £42.78 £47.19 £52.50
Median hourly rate £65.00 £57.65 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year +12.76% -12.63% +4.82%
75th Percentile £68.75 £63.75 £79.21
90th Percentile £74.50 £66.15 £90.00
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £57.65 £65.98
% change year-on-year +12.76% -12.63% +4.82%

All Process & Methodology Skills
England

Validation falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 28,352 23,648 32,972
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 87.85% 89.40% 87.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,131 14,458 22,099
10th Percentile £305 £310 £300
25th Percentile £410 £413 £415
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £503 £525 £530
Median % change year-on-year -4.29% -0.94% -3.64%
75th Percentile £625 £645 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,777 764 1,811
10th Percentile £15.05 £15.62 £14.00
25th Percentile £17.87 £21.00 £17.13
Median hourly rate £25.15 £34.06 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year -26.15% -6.70% +7.35%
75th Percentile £58.75 £63.75 £62.50
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £36.02
% change year-on-year -22.62% -9.78% +12.89%

Validation
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Validation relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Validation job vacancy trend in England

Validation
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Validation.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Validation

Validation
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Validation in England over the 6 months to 26 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Validation in England

Validation
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Validation.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Validation

Validation
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Validation in England over the 6 months to 26 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Validation in England

Validation
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Validation within the England region over the 6 months to 26 January 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
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
London +81 624 £515 -2.37% 212
North of England +30 179 £419 -7.00% 176
South East +12 160 £500 - 332
South West +11 116 £475 -17.82% 163
North West +26 115 £400 -3.03% 70
Midlands +13 111 £515 +7.01% 159
East of England +19 93 £482 +20.44% 166
West Midlands +10 92 £515 +5.64% 84
Yorkshire -3 51 £487 -0.10% 84
East Midlands -14 19 £475 +58.33% 73
North East -5 15 £463 -36.21% 23
Validation
UK

Validation
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 52 (3.90%) Confluence
2 31 (2.33%) SAS
3 29 (2.18%) SharePoint
4 28 (2.10%) Apache Spark
5 23 (1.73%) Apache Airflow
6 19 (1.43%) Microsoft Exchange
7 14 (1.05%) Skype for Business
8 12 (0.90%) Apache
9 9 (0.68%) Exchange Server 2013
10 8 (0.60%) CMS
11 7 (0.53%) Mattermost
12 6 (0.45%) Appian
12 6 (0.45%) OpenStack
13 4 (0.30%) Adobe Experience Manager
13 4 (0.30%) Anypoint
13 4 (0.30%) Jupyter
13 4 (0.30%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
14 3 (0.23%) GeoServer
14 3 (0.23%) Smallworld
14 3 (0.23%) WebLogic
Applications
1 71 (5.33%) Microsoft Excel
2 38 (2.85%) Microsoft Office
3 23 (1.73%) MS Visio
4 13 (0.98%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.53%) Chatbot
5 7 (0.53%) Microsoft Project
6 6 (0.45%) Sketch
7 4 (0.30%) Notion
7 4 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
8 3 (0.23%) LaTeX
9 2 (0.15%) Simulink
10 1 (0.075%) CANalyzer
10 1 (0.075%) CATIA
10 1 (0.075%) OrCAD
10 1 (0.075%) Siemens NX
10 1 (0.075%) Stateflow
10 1 (0.075%) UXPin
Business Applications
1 63 (4.73%) SAP S/4HANA
2 15 (1.13%) Oracle EBS
3 11 (0.83%) Oracle General Ledger
3 11 (0.83%) Oracle Payables
3 11 (0.83%) SAP EHS
4 10 (0.75%) SAP FI
5 9 (0.68%) Aladdin
5 9 (0.68%) Remedy ITSM
6 8 (0.60%) Oracle Receivables
6 8 (0.60%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 7 (0.53%) NetSuite
7 7 (0.53%) OpenText VIM for SAP
7 7 (0.53%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 7 (0.53%) SAP MDG
8 6 (0.45%) Dynamics CRM
8 6 (0.45%) Markit EDM
8 6 (0.45%) Oracle Assets
8 6 (0.45%) SAP MM
9 5 (0.38%) Oracle EBS R12
10 4 (0.30%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 313 (23.50%) Azure
2 154 (11.56%) AWS
3 122 (9.16%) Azure DevOps
4 109 (8.18%) Power Platform
5 56 (4.20%) GCP
6 54 (4.05%) GitHub
7 50 (3.75%) Entra ID
8 45 (3.38%) SaaS
9 37 (2.78%) Serverless
10 34 (2.55%) Azure Data Factory
11 30 (2.25%) GitHub Actions
12 29 (2.18%) Snowflake
13 28 (2.10%) OCI
14 26 (1.95%) Microsoft 365
15 24 (1.80%) OpenShift
16 19 (1.43%) Amazon S3
17 17 (1.28%) AWS Lambda
17 17 (1.28%) Dynamics 365
18 16 (1.20%) Azure Functions
18 16 (1.20%) Tricentis Tosca
Communications & Networking
1 36 (2.70%) Firewall
2 25 (1.88%) TCP/IP
3 20 (1.50%) Network Security
4 19 (1.43%) Ethernet
5 18 (1.35%) WAN
6 15 (1.13%) VPN
7 14 (1.05%) Skype
8 13 (0.98%) VLAN
9 12 (0.90%) BGP
9 12 (0.90%) LAN
9 12 (0.90%) Wireless
10 11 (0.83%) DNS
10 11 (0.83%) MPLS
10 11 (0.83%) OSPF
10 11 (0.83%) TACACS
11 9 (0.68%) SD-WAN
12 8 (0.60%) SNMP
13 7 (0.53%) HTTP
14 6 (0.45%) Cisco ISE
14 6 (0.45%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 102 (7.66%) Power BI
2 59 (4.43%) Metadata
3 55 (4.13%) Data Warehouse
4 37 (2.78%) Tableau
5 33 (2.48%) SQL Server
6 28 (2.10%) Data Lake
7 25 (1.88%) NoSQL
8 21 (1.58%) SAS Enterprise Guide
9 17 (1.28%) Relational Database
10 16 (1.20%) Oracle Database
11 15 (1.13%) Oracle Reports
12 14 (1.05%) Amazon Redshift
12 14 (1.05%) Big Data
12 14 (1.05%) Elasticsearch
12 14 (1.05%) Pinecone
13 13 (0.98%) Azure SQL Database
14 12 (0.90%) Delta Lake
14 12 (0.90%) SQL Server Integration Services
15 11 (0.83%) BigQuery
16 10 (0.75%) Looker
Development Applications
1 145 (10.89%) JIRA
2 66 (4.95%) Jenkins
3 61 (4.58%) Git
4 39 (2.93%) GitLab
5 37 (2.78%) Postman
6 36 (2.70%) Selenium
7 32 (2.40%) Oracle APEX
8 23 (1.73%) Rational DOORS
9 19 (1.43%) Visual Studio
10 15 (1.13%) JMeter
11 13 (0.98%) Eclipse
11 13 (0.98%) TestRail
12 12 (0.90%) Cucumber
13 10 (0.75%) Bitbucket
13 10 (0.75%) JUnit
13 10 (0.75%) MLflow
13 10 (0.75%) Zephyr
14 9 (0.68%) REST Assured
15 7 (0.53%) SpecFlow
16 6 (0.45%) Cypress.io
General
1 507 (38.06%) Social Skills
2 371 (27.85%) Finance
3 287 (21.55%) Analytical Skills
4 126 (9.46%) Public Sector
5 114 (8.56%) Banking
6 70 (5.26%) Documentation Skills
7 49 (3.68%) Presentation Skills
8 29 (2.18%) Influencing Skills
9 28 (2.10%) Aerospace
9 28 (2.10%) Manufacturing
9 28 (2.10%) Marketing
10 27 (2.03%) Electronics
10 27 (2.03%) Front Office
10 27 (2.03%) Military
10 27 (2.03%) Telecoms
11 23 (1.73%) Investment Banking
12 22 (1.65%) Pharmaceutical
13 21 (1.58%) Financial Institution
14 18 (1.35%) Legal
15 17 (1.28%) General Ledger
Job Titles
1 266 (19.97%) Analyst
2 140 (10.51%) Senior
3 119 (8.93%) Business Analyst
4 115 (8.63%) Lead
5 103 (7.73%) Consultant
6 102 (7.66%) Developer
7 73 (5.48%) Architect
8 62 (4.65%) Data Analyst
9 56 (4.20%) Data Engineer
10 50 (3.75%) Software Engineer
11 40 (3.00%) Project Manager
11 40 (3.00%) Tester
12 34 (2.55%) Senior Analyst
12 34 (2.55%) Senior Developer
13 32 (2.40%) SAP Consultant
14 30 (2.25%) Test Analyst
14 30 (2.25%) Test Manager
15 26 (1.95%) Data Scientist
16 25 (1.88%) QA Engineer
16 25 (1.88%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 88 (6.61%) REST
2 56 (4.20%) JSON
3 47 (3.53%) Oracle Fusion
3 47 (3.53%) XML
4 38 (2.85%) Middleware
4 38 (2.85%) OAuth
5 37 (2.78%) SOAP
6 31 (2.33%) Node.js
7 27 (2.03%) .NET
7 27 (2.03%) Kafka
8 26 (1.95%) PySpark
8 26 (1.95%) PyTorch
8 26 (1.95%) RESTful
9 25 (1.88%) Swagger
9 25 (1.88%) Web Services
10 23 (1.73%) TensorFlow
11 21 (1.58%) Playwright
12 20 (1.50%) JWT
12 20 (1.50%) SAML
12 20 (1.50%) SAP Fiori
Miscellaneous
1 73 (5.48%) Legacy Systems
2 54 (4.05%) Data Structures
3 50 (3.75%) Product Ownership
4 48 (3.60%) Onboarding
5 38 (2.85%) Management Information System
6 36 (2.70%) Cloud Native
7 25 (1.88%) Data Centre
8 24 (1.80%) Algorithms
8 24 (1.80%) Analytical Mindset
9 22 (1.65%) Data Protection Act
10 18 (1.35%) Derivative
10 18 (1.35%) FPGA
11 16 (1.20%) Replication
12 13 (0.98%) Credit Risk
13 12 (0.90%) Distributed Systems
13 12 (0.90%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
14 11 (0.83%) Embedded Systems
14 11 (0.83%) Enterprise Software
14 11 (0.83%) Hybrid Cloud
14 11 (0.83%) PCIe
Operating Systems
1 86 (6.46%) Linux
2 72 (5.41%) Windows
3 29 (2.18%) Unix
4 11 (0.83%) Android
5 5 (0.38%) Windows Server
5 5 (0.38%) zOS
6 4 (0.30%) Apple iOS
7 3 (0.23%) Embedded Linux
8 2 (0.15%) Debian
8 2 (0.15%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.15%) Robot Operating System
9 1 (0.075%) FreeRTOS
9 1 (0.075%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 1 (0.075%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 383 (28.75%) Agile
2 314 (23.57%) Problem-Solving
3 289 (21.70%) Migration
4 259 (19.44%) DevOps
5 224 (16.82%) Stakeholder Management
6 221 (16.59%) CI/CD
7 213 (15.99%) Data Validation
8 200 (15.02%) Analytics
9 163 (12.24%) Test Automation
10 158 (11.86%) Data Modelling
11 157 (11.79%) User Acceptance Testing
12 149 (11.19%) Data Migration
13 147 (11.04%) AI
14 139 (10.44%) ETL
15 137 (10.29%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 132 (9.91%) Business Intelligence
17 118 (8.86%) Data Governance
18 114 (8.56%) Continuous Improvement
18 114 (8.56%) Data Analysis
19 109 (8.18%) Data Pipeline
Programming Languages
1 344 (25.83%) SQL
2 292 (21.92%) Python
3 93 (6.98%) JavaScript
4 78 (5.86%) Java
5 57 (4.28%) C#
6 50 (3.75%) PL/SQL
7 46 (3.45%) C++
8 43 (3.23%) Bash
9 40 (3.00%) PowerShell
10 36 (2.70%) C
11 24 (1.80%) TypeScript
12 23 (1.73%) R
13 16 (1.20%) Groovy
14 14 (1.05%) Ada
14 14 (1.05%) Shell Script
15 12 (0.90%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 12 (0.90%) Scala
16 10 (0.75%) T-SQL
17 9 (0.68%) ABAP
17 9 (0.68%) VBA
Qualifications
1 290 (21.77%) Security Cleared
2 211 (15.84%) SC Cleared
3 134 (10.06%) Degree
4 55 (4.13%) Computer Science Degree
5 35 (2.63%) DV Cleared
6 34 (2.55%) BPSS Clearance
7 33 (2.48%) Master's Degree
8 26 (1.95%) PMI Certification
9 25 (1.88%) ISTQB
10 20 (1.50%) AWS Certification
11 19 (1.43%) PMP
12 15 (1.13%) CBAP
13 13 (0.98%) Cisco Certification
13 13 (0.98%) Oracle Certification
14 10 (0.75%) Azure Certification
15 9 (0.68%) CCIE
15 9 (0.68%) ITIL Certification
15 9 (0.68%) OCA
16 7 (0.53%) CCNP
16 7 (0.53%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 166 (12.46%) QA
2 165 (12.39%) Data Quality
3 76 (5.71%) GDPR
4 56 (4.20%) NIST
5 35 (2.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 28 (2.10%) Accessibility
7 18 (1.35%) IFRS
8 15 (1.13%) IFRS 17
9 14 (1.05%) Def Stans
10 13 (0.98%) EU AI Act
11 11 (0.83%) GxP
11 11 (0.83%) PCI DSS
12 10 (0.75%) MiFID
12 10 (0.75%) MISRA
12 10 (0.75%) NCSC
13 9 (0.68%) DO-178B
14 8 (0.60%) COBIT
14 8 (0.60%) Sarbanes-Oxley
15 7 (0.53%) GRC
15 7 (0.53%) PMO
System Software
1 54 (4.05%) Docker
2 42 (3.15%) Active Directory
3 23 (1.73%) VMware Infrastructure
4 21 (1.58%) Firmware
5 11 (0.83%) VMware NSX
6 7 (0.53%) VMware ESXi
7 6 (0.45%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (0.30%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
8 4 (0.30%) Embedded Firmware
8 4 (0.30%) vSphere
9 3 (0.23%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.23%) KVM
9 3 (0.23%) QEMU
10 2 (0.15%) Ceph
10 2 (0.15%) Lustre
10 2 (0.15%) OpenAM
10 2 (0.15%) OpenDJ
10 2 (0.15%) OpenIDM
10 2 (0.15%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 1 (0.075%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 69 (5.18%) Kubernetes
2 60 (4.50%) Terraform
3 45 (3.38%) Ansible
4 19 (1.43%) Single Sign-On
5 15 (1.13%) Microsoft Intune
6 14 (1.05%) Kibana
6 14 (1.05%) Puppet
7 10 (0.75%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 10 (0.75%) SCCM
8 9 (0.68%) Grafana
9 7 (0.53%) HP SiteScope
9 7 (0.53%) SCOM
10 6 (0.45%) Nessus
10 6 (0.45%) Nmap
11 4 (0.30%) Prometheus
12 3 (0.23%) Argo
12 3 (0.23%) CloudHub
12 3 (0.23%) FortiGate
12 3 (0.23%) Istio
12 3 (0.23%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 188 (14.11%) Microsoft
2 143 (10.74%) Oracle
3 101 (7.58%) SAP
4 56 (4.20%) ServiceNow
5 48 (3.60%) Databricks
6 40 (3.00%) Cisco
7 35 (2.63%) Splunk
8 34 (2.55%) Salesforce
9 33 (2.48%) Google
10 28 (2.10%) VMware
11 19 (1.43%) Workday
12 18 (1.35%) IBM
12 18 (1.35%) MuleSoft
13 17 (1.28%) Murex
14 15 (1.13%) Palo Alto
15 13 (0.98%) Informatica
16 12 (0.90%) Adobe
16 12 (0.90%) Avaloq
16 12 (0.90%) Sage
17 11 (0.83%) Fortinet