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 1 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 63 109 142
Rank change year-on-year +46 +33 -4
Contract jobs citing Validation 1,164 689 708
As % of all contract jobs in England 3.82% 2.25% 1.83%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.27% 2.57% 2.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 702 354 424
10th Percentile £358 £322 £350
25th Percentile £419 £400 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £527
Median % change year-on-year - -5.03% -4.27%
75th Percentile £618 £589 £638
90th Percentile £688 £668 £812
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 79 75 86
10th Percentile £31.20 £28.00 £51.25
25th Percentile £41.25 £45.22 £58.81
Median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £68.03
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% -8.13% +10.62%
75th Percentile £67.25 £65.00 £87.65
90th Percentile £75.45 £75.00 £90.00
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £67.53
% change year-on-year +4.00% -7.45% +9.80%

All Process and 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 27,266 26,819 34,391
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 89.52% 87.66% 88.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,363 16,442 23,467
10th Percentile £300 £313 £313
25th Percentile £405 £418 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £548
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -4.11% -0.45%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £534
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.59% -3.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,775 968 1,450
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.22 £14.64
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.26 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +19.14%
75th Percentile £50.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.75 £75.00 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £33.00 £43.42
% change year-on-year -23.79% -23.99% +24.04%

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 1 December 2025.

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 1 December 2025.

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 1 December 2025. 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 +74 541 £520 +4.00% 146
South East +7 152 £500 +15.94% 239
North of England +21 131 £428 -12.31% 84
East of England +23 113 £492 +31.25% 125
South West +2 97 £475 -18.24% 93
Midlands -6 89 £506 +22.67% 71
North West +20 84 £425 -7.86% 46
West Midlands +4 73 £515 +8.42% 51
Yorkshire -19 32 £430 +2.38% 26
East Midlands -7 16 £456 +14.06% 18
North East +4 15 £475 -32.14% 13
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 43 (3.69%) Confluence
2 29 (2.49%) SharePoint
3 26 (2.23%) Apache Spark
4 24 (2.06%) SAS
5 21 (1.80%) Apache Airflow
6 17 (1.46%) Microsoft Exchange
7 14 (1.20%) Skype for Business
8 13 (1.12%) Apache
9 8 (0.69%) CMS
10 7 (0.60%) Exchange Server 2013
10 7 (0.60%) Mattermost
11 6 (0.52%) OpenStack
12 4 (0.34%) Adobe Experience Manager
13 3 (0.26%) Anypoint
13 3 (0.26%) GeoServer
13 3 (0.26%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
13 3 (0.26%) Smallworld
13 3 (0.26%) WebLogic
14 2 (0.17%) Documentum
14 2 (0.17%) Jupyter
Applications
1 74 (6.36%) Microsoft Excel
2 34 (2.92%) Microsoft Office
3 23 (1.98%) MS Visio
4 18 (1.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.60%) Chatbot
6 6 (0.52%) Sketch
7 3 (0.26%) Microsoft Project
7 3 (0.26%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.17%) Simulink
9 1 (0.086%) CANalyzer
9 1 (0.086%) NASTRAN
9 1 (0.086%) Notion
9 1 (0.086%) Siemens NX
9 1 (0.086%) Stateflow
9 1 (0.086%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 56 (4.81%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (1.03%) Oracle EBS
3 11 (0.95%) SAP EHS
3 11 (0.95%) SAP FI
4 10 (0.86%) Aladdin
4 10 (0.86%) Remedy ITSM
5 7 (0.60%) Dynamics CRM
5 7 (0.60%) OpenText VIM for SAP
5 7 (0.60%) SAP MDG
6 6 (0.52%) SAP MM
7 5 (0.43%) Oracle Payables
8 4 (0.34%) Markit EDM
8 4 (0.34%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
8 4 (0.34%) Oracle Receivables
8 4 (0.34%) Salesforce CRM
8 4 (0.34%) SAP ERP
8 4 (0.34%) Workday HCM
9 3 (0.26%) Actimize
9 3 (0.26%) Algo Collateral
9 3 (0.26%) Oracle General Ledger
Cloud Services
1 277 (23.80%) Azure
2 130 (11.17%) AWS
3 117 (10.05%) Azure DevOps
4 107 (9.19%) Power Platform
5 53 (4.55%) GCP
6 48 (4.12%) GitHub
7 38 (3.26%) SaaS
8 35 (3.01%) Entra ID
9 29 (2.49%) GitHub Actions
10 27 (2.32%) Serverless
11 26 (2.23%) Microsoft 365
12 25 (2.15%) Snowflake
13 23 (1.98%) Azure Data Factory
13 23 (1.98%) OpenShift
14 19 (1.63%) OCI
15 18 (1.55%) Dynamics 365
16 15 (1.29%) Azure Functions
17 14 (1.20%) Azure Monitor
17 14 (1.20%) dbt
17 14 (1.20%) Tricentis Tosca
Communications & Networking
1 35 (3.01%) Firewall
1 35 (3.01%) TCP/IP
2 23 (1.98%) DNS
3 22 (1.89%) Ethernet
4 16 (1.37%) VPN
4 16 (1.37%) WAN
5 15 (1.29%) 3GPP
6 14 (1.20%) BGP
6 14 (1.20%) LTE
6 14 (1.20%) Skype
7 13 (1.12%) MPLS
7 13 (1.12%) OSPF
8 11 (0.95%) Network Security
9 10 (0.86%) SSL
9 10 (0.86%) Wireless
10 9 (0.77%) LAN
10 9 (0.77%) SD-WAN
10 9 (0.77%) SNMP
10 9 (0.77%) VLAN
11 8 (0.69%) DMARC
Database & Business Intelligence
1 102 (8.76%) Power BI
2 59 (5.07%) Data Warehouse
3 51 (4.38%) Metadata
4 35 (3.01%) Tableau
5 26 (2.23%) NoSQL
6 25 (2.15%) SQL Server
7 20 (1.72%) Data Lake
7 20 (1.72%) Relational Database
8 19 (1.63%) Oracle Database
9 17 (1.46%) SAS Enterprise Guide
10 15 (1.29%) Oracle Reports
11 14 (1.20%) Azure SQL Database
12 13 (1.12%) Amazon Redshift
12 13 (1.12%) BigQuery
13 12 (1.03%) Big Data
14 11 (0.95%) SAP HANA
15 10 (0.86%) Amazon RDS
15 10 (0.86%) Geospatial Data
15 10 (0.86%) PostgreSQL
15 10 (0.86%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 120 (10.31%) JIRA
2 61 (5.24%) Git
2 61 (5.24%) Jenkins
3 39 (3.35%) Selenium
4 32 (2.75%) GitLab
4 32 (2.75%) Oracle APEX
5 31 (2.66%) Postman
6 27 (2.32%) Visual Studio
7 22 (1.89%) Eclipse
8 16 (1.37%) Rational DOORS
8 16 (1.37%) TestRail
9 15 (1.29%) Cucumber
10 13 (1.12%) JUnit
10 13 (1.12%) Zephyr
11 12 (1.03%) JMeter
12 11 (0.95%) Bitbucket
13 9 (0.77%) REST Assured
14 7 (0.60%) Cypress.io
14 7 (0.60%) SpecFlow
15 6 (0.52%) MLflow
General
1 466 (40.03%) Social Skills
2 308 (26.46%) Finance
3 265 (22.77%) Analytical Skills
4 111 (9.54%) Public Sector
5 82 (7.04%) Banking
6 72 (6.19%) Documentation Skills
7 47 (4.04%) Presentation Skills
8 35 (3.01%) Military
9 31 (2.66%) Aerospace
10 28 (2.41%) Marketing
10 28 (2.41%) Telecoms
11 26 (2.23%) Investment Banking
12 25 (2.15%) Electronics
13 24 (2.06%) Front Office
13 24 (2.06%) Influencing Skills
14 23 (1.98%) Pharmaceutical
15 22 (1.89%) Organisational Skills
16 21 (1.80%) Manufacturing
17 16 (1.37%) Automotive
18 14 (1.20%) Legal
Job Titles
1 233 (20.02%) Analyst
2 119 (10.22%) Senior
3 102 (8.76%) Developer
4 98 (8.42%) Business Analyst
4 98 (8.42%) Consultant
5 84 (7.22%) Lead
6 58 (4.98%) Data Analyst
7 49 (4.21%) Software Engineer
8 46 (3.95%) Architect
9 44 (3.78%) Tester
10 40 (3.44%) Data Engineer
11 36 (3.09%) Senior Developer
12 33 (2.84%) Data Scientist
12 33 (2.84%) SAP Consultant
13 30 (2.58%) Test Analyst
14 26 (2.23%) Project Manager
14 26 (2.23%) QA Engineer
15 25 (2.15%) Senior Analyst
16 22 (1.89%) Test Engineer
17 21 (1.80%) Technical Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 62 (5.33%) REST
2 45 (3.87%) JSON
3 36 (3.09%) Node.js
4 35 (3.01%) XML
5 32 (2.75%) Oracle Fusion
6 29 (2.49%) Web Services
7 28 (2.41%) SOAP
8 27 (2.32%) .NET
9 24 (2.06%) RESTful
10 21 (1.80%) OAuth
11 20 (1.72%) SAP Fiori
12 18 (1.55%) Middleware
12 18 (1.55%) PySpark
13 17 (1.46%) Kafka
13 17 (1.46%) Playwright
14 16 (1.37%) PyTorch
14 16 (1.37%) SAML
15 14 (1.20%) TensorFlow
16 13 (1.12%) Pandas
16 13 (1.12%) React
Miscellaneous
1 50 (4.30%) Legacy Systems
2 44 (3.78%) Product Ownership
3 42 (3.61%) Data Structures
4 38 (3.26%) Onboarding
5 31 (2.66%) Management Information System
6 29 (2.49%) FPGA
7 26 (2.23%) Cloud Native
8 25 (2.15%) Data Centre
9 22 (1.89%) Data Protection Act
10 18 (1.55%) Algorithms
10 18 (1.55%) Derivative
10 18 (1.55%) IoT
11 16 (1.37%) Analytical Mindset
11 16 (1.37%) Enterprise Software
12 15 (1.29%) NB-IoT
12 15 (1.29%) Virtual Team
13 14 (1.20%) Security Posture
13 14 (1.20%) Self-Motivation
14 13 (1.12%) Hybrid Cloud
15 12 (1.03%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 99 (8.51%) Linux
2 81 (6.96%) Windows
3 25 (2.15%) Unix
4 8 (0.69%) Windows Server
5 7 (0.60%) Android
5 7 (0.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (0.34%) Apple iOS
7 3 (0.26%) VMS
7 3 (0.26%) zOS
8 2 (0.17%) Debian
8 2 (0.17%) Embedded Linux
8 2 (0.17%) Robot Operating System
8 2 (0.17%) Windows Server 2003
9 1 (0.086%) FreeRTOS
9 1 (0.086%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.086%) MVS
9 1 (0.086%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.086%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.086%) Windows Server 2008
9 1 (0.086%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 335 (28.78%) Agile
2 278 (23.88%) Problem-Solving
3 241 (20.70%) Migration
4 222 (19.07%) DevOps
5 202 (17.35%) CI/CD
6 185 (15.89%) Analytics
7 182 (15.64%) Data Validation
8 164 (14.09%) Stakeholder Management
9 146 (12.54%) Test Automation
10 132 (11.34%) Data Migration
11 124 (10.65%) Business Intelligence
12 115 (9.88%) ETL
13 113 (9.71%) Data Modelling
14 112 (9.62%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 112 (9.62%) User Acceptance Testing
15 107 (9.19%) Data Analysis
15 107 (9.19%) Data Governance
16 106 (9.11%) AI
17 97 (8.33%) Scrum
18 96 (8.25%) Data Pipeline
Programming Languages
1 291 (25.00%) SQL
2 269 (23.11%) Python
3 96 (8.25%) JavaScript
4 68 (5.84%) C#
5 63 (5.41%) Java
6 53 (4.55%) C++
7 47 (4.04%) PL/SQL
8 39 (3.35%) Bash
9 36 (3.09%) PowerShell
10 28 (2.41%) R
11 19 (1.63%) C
12 17 (1.46%) TypeScript
13 15 (1.29%) Shell Script
14 14 (1.20%) T-SQL
15 13 (1.12%) Groovy
15 13 (1.12%) VBA
16 10 (0.86%) ABAP
17 8 (0.69%) Apex Code
17 8 (0.69%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 8 (0.69%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 266 (22.85%) Security Cleared
2 202 (17.35%) SC Cleared
3 126 (10.82%) Degree
4 37 (3.18%) Computer Science Degree
5 30 (2.58%) Master's Degree
6 28 (2.41%) DV Cleared
7 26 (2.23%) BPSS Clearance
8 23 (1.98%) ISTQB
9 17 (1.46%) PMI Certification
10 14 (1.20%) AWS Certification
11 13 (1.12%) PhD
12 12 (1.03%) Cisco Certification
12 12 (1.03%) CISSP
13 11 (0.95%) CBAP
13 11 (0.95%) Oracle Certification
13 11 (0.95%) PMP
14 9 (0.77%) CCIE
14 9 (0.77%) ITIL Certification
15 8 (0.69%) Microsoft Certification
15 8 (0.69%) OCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 145 (12.46%) QA
2 139 (11.94%) Data Quality
3 57 (4.90%) GDPR
4 44 (3.78%) NIST
5 29 (2.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 24 (2.06%) Accessibility
7 14 (1.20%) EU AI Act
8 11 (0.95%) Def Stans
9 10 (0.86%) COBIT
10 9 (0.77%) IFRS
11 8 (0.69%) GxP
11 8 (0.69%) MISRA
11 8 (0.69%) NCSC
11 8 (0.69%) PCI DSS
12 7 (0.60%) DO-178B
12 7 (0.60%) MiFID
13 6 (0.52%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 5 (0.43%) EMIR
14 5 (0.43%) PMO
15 4 (0.34%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 47 (4.04%) Active Directory
2 37 (3.18%) Docker
3 28 (2.41%) VMware Infrastructure
4 18 (1.55%) Firmware
5 10 (0.86%) vSphere
6 9 (0.77%) VMware ESXi
6 9 (0.77%) VMware NSX
7 6 (0.52%) Dovecot
7 6 (0.52%) Postfix
8 3 (0.26%) Embedded Firmware
8 3 (0.26%) QEMU
8 3 (0.26%) Virtual Desktop
9 2 (0.17%) OpenAM
9 2 (0.17%) OpenDJ
9 2 (0.17%) OpenIDM
9 2 (0.17%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.086%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.086%) KVM
10 1 (0.086%) Time Sharing Option
10 1 (0.086%) Veritas Cluster Server
Systems Management
1 49 (4.21%) Kubernetes
2 47 (4.04%) Terraform
3 42 (3.61%) Ansible
4 16 (1.37%) Single Sign-On
5 11 (0.95%) Microsoft Intune
6 10 (0.86%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 9 (0.77%) Nessus
8 8 (0.69%) Argo
8 8 (0.69%) Istio
8 8 (0.69%) Puppet
8 8 (0.69%) SCCM
8 8 (0.69%) SCOM
9 7 (0.60%) Grafana
9 7 (0.60%) HP SiteScope
9 7 (0.60%) Kibana
10 6 (0.52%) Nmap
11 5 (0.43%) CASB
11 5 (0.43%) HP ALM
11 5 (0.43%) vCenter Server
12 4 (0.34%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 187 (16.07%) Microsoft
2 129 (11.08%) Oracle
3 87 (7.47%) SAP
4 57 (4.90%) ServiceNow
5 42 (3.61%) VMware
6 40 (3.44%) Salesforce
7 34 (2.92%) Databricks
8 33 (2.84%) Cisco
9 30 (2.58%) Splunk
10 21 (1.80%) Google
11 20 (1.72%) Workday
12 15 (1.29%) MuleSoft
13 14 (1.20%) IBM
13 14 (1.20%) Red Hat
13 14 (1.20%) Remedy
14 12 (1.03%) Informatica
14 12 (1.03%) Palo Alto
15 11 (0.95%) Adobe
15 11 (0.95%) CyberArk
15 11 (0.95%) EMC