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 18 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 51 103 127
Rank change year-on-year +52 +24 +6
Contract jobs citing Validation 1,493 634 723
As % of all contract jobs in England 4.32% 2.46% 1.92%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.94% 2.73% 2.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 917 357 405
10th Percentile £350 £346 £317
25th Percentile £404 £409 £435
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £613
90th Percentile £702 £725 £725
UK median daily rate £499 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -5.05% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 75 34 152
10th Percentile £31.95 £25.56 £30.70
25th Percentile £42.78 £47.50 £52.50
Median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% -3.85% +3.92%
75th Percentile £68.75 £65.44 £75.25
90th Percentile £74.50 £75.18 £90.00
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year +4.00% -3.85% +3.92%

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 30,243 23,214 32,931
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 87.45% 89.92% 87.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 19,352 14,394 21,863
10th Percentile £311 £308 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £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 1,888 728 2,002
10th Percentile £15.18 £15.62 £13.32
25th Percentile £18.24 £21.20 £16.25
Median hourly rate £25.89 £35.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -26.04% - -
75th Percentile £60.61 £65.00 £61.04
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.33 £72.90
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year -22.62% -7.14% -

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 18 February 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 18 February 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 18 February 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 +67 706 £525 -4.55% 201
North of England +38 212 £425 +1.19% 120
South East +9 169 £503 +0.50% 211
North West +33 140 £401 +1.39% 78
Midlands +22 133 £491 +0.72% 127
South West +9 125 £475 -17.39% 88
West Midlands +17 110 £493 +0.61% 83
East of England +18 95 £478 +19.50% 93
Yorkshire +1 62 £465 -4.62% 35
East Midlands -9 22 £463 +26.02% 42
North East -4 12 £450 -45.45% 7
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 59 (3.95%) Confluence
2 31 (2.08%) Apache Spark
3 29 (1.94%) SharePoint
4 27 (1.81%) SAS
5 22 (1.47%) Apache Airflow
6 17 (1.14%) Microsoft Exchange
7 14 (0.94%) Apache
8 11 (0.74%) Skype for Business
9 9 (0.60%) Appian
10 8 (0.54%) Exchange Server 2013
11 7 (0.47%) CMS
12 6 (0.40%) Jupyter
13 5 (0.33%) Mattermost
13 5 (0.33%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
14 4 (0.27%) Adobe Experience Manager
14 4 (0.27%) Anypoint
15 3 (0.20%) GeoServer
15 3 (0.20%) OpenStack
15 3 (0.20%) Oracle SOA Suite
15 3 (0.20%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 82 (5.49%) Microsoft Excel
2 35 (2.34%) Microsoft Office
3 25 (1.67%) MS Visio
4 17 (1.14%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 8 (0.54%) Chatbot
5 8 (0.54%) Microsoft Project
6 7 (0.47%) Spreadsheet
7 6 (0.40%) Sketch
8 4 (0.27%) Notion
9 3 (0.20%) LaTeX
10 2 (0.13%) Simulink
11 1 (0.067%) CANalyzer
11 1 (0.067%) CATIA
11 1 (0.067%) OrCAD
11 1 (0.067%) Siemens NX
11 1 (0.067%) Stateflow
11 1 (0.067%) UXPin
Business Applications
1 63 (4.22%) SAP S/4HANA
2 18 (1.21%) Oracle EBS
3 12 (0.80%) Oracle Payables
4 11 (0.74%) Oracle General Ledger
4 11 (0.74%) SAP EHS
4 11 (0.74%) Workday HCM
5 9 (0.60%) Aladdin
5 9 (0.60%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 9 (0.60%) Oracle Receivables
6 8 (0.54%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
6 8 (0.54%) SAP FI
7 7 (0.47%) Dynamics CRM
7 7 (0.47%) NetSuite
7 7 (0.47%) Oracle Assets
7 7 (0.47%) Remedy ITSM
7 7 (0.47%) SAP MDG
8 6 (0.40%) OpenText VIM for SAP
8 6 (0.40%) Payment Gateway
8 6 (0.40%) SAP MM
8 6 (0.40%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 348 (23.31%) Azure
2 165 (11.05%) AWS
3 122 (8.17%) Azure DevOps
3 122 (8.17%) Power Platform
4 65 (4.35%) GCP
5 64 (4.29%) GitHub
6 54 (3.62%) Entra ID
7 48 (3.22%) SaaS
8 44 (2.95%) Serverless
9 42 (2.81%) Azure Data Factory
10 35 (2.34%) GitHub Actions
11 31 (2.08%) Snowflake
12 30 (2.01%) OCI
13 27 (1.81%) OpenShift
14 26 (1.74%) Amazon S3
14 26 (1.74%) Microsoft 365
15 21 (1.41%) AWS Lambda
16 18 (1.21%) Azure Synapse Analytics
17 17 (1.14%) Dynamics 365
18 16 (1.07%) Amazon GuardDuty
Communications & Networking
1 52 (3.48%) Firewall
2 27 (1.81%) Network Security
2 27 (1.81%) TCP/IP
3 17 (1.14%) DNS
4 16 (1.07%) Ethernet
4 16 (1.07%) VLAN
5 15 (1.00%) VPN
6 12 (0.80%) BGP
6 12 (0.80%) Wireless
7 11 (0.74%) OSPF
7 11 (0.74%) Skype
7 11 (0.74%) WAN
8 10 (0.67%) MPLS
9 9 (0.60%) LAN
9 9 (0.60%) SAN
10 8 (0.54%) HTTP
10 8 (0.54%) TACACS
11 7 (0.47%) NAS
12 6 (0.40%) Cisco ASA
12 6 (0.40%) Cisco ISE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 115 (7.70%) Power BI
2 68 (4.55%) Metadata
3 62 (4.15%) Data Warehouse
4 40 (2.68%) SQL Server
4 40 (2.68%) Tableau
5 32 (2.14%) Data Lake
6 25 (1.67%) NoSQL
7 21 (1.41%) Amazon Redshift
8 18 (1.21%) Pinecone
9 16 (1.07%) Big Data
9 16 (1.07%) Delta Lake
9 16 (1.07%) Oracle Database
9 16 (1.07%) Oracle Reports
9 16 (1.07%) PostgreSQL
9 16 (1.07%) Relational Database
9 16 (1.07%) SAS Enterprise Guide
10 14 (0.94%) BigQuery
10 14 (0.94%) Elasticsearch
10 14 (0.94%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 13 (0.87%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 151 (10.11%) JIRA
2 75 (5.02%) Git
3 66 (4.42%) Jenkins
4 45 (3.01%) Selenium
5 43 (2.88%) GitLab
6 41 (2.75%) Postman
7 32 (2.14%) Oracle APEX
8 24 (1.61%) Rational DOORS
9 20 (1.34%) JMeter
10 17 (1.14%) Cucumber
11 16 (1.07%) JUnit
12 15 (1.00%) MLflow
12 15 (1.00%) Visual Studio
13 12 (0.80%) TestRail
14 11 (0.74%) REST Assured
15 10 (0.67%) Zephyr
16 9 (0.60%) Bitbucket
16 9 (0.60%) Eclipse
17 7 (0.47%) Cypress.io
17 7 (0.47%) SpecFlow
General
1 555 (37.17%) Social Skills
2 444 (29.74%) Finance
3 315 (21.10%) Analytical Skills
4 129 (8.64%) Banking
5 128 (8.57%) Public Sector
6 77 (5.16%) Documentation Skills
7 45 (3.01%) Presentation Skills
8 34 (2.28%) Manufacturing
9 33 (2.21%) Influencing Skills
10 30 (2.01%) Front Office
11 29 (1.94%) Electronics
12 28 (1.88%) Aerospace
12 28 (1.88%) Marketing
13 27 (1.81%) Telecoms
14 25 (1.67%) Military
15 24 (1.61%) Investment Banking
16 23 (1.54%) Legal
16 23 (1.54%) Pharmaceutical
17 21 (1.41%) Financial Institution
17 21 (1.41%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 302 (20.23%) Analyst
2 152 (10.18%) Senior
3 136 (9.11%) Lead
4 132 (8.84%) Business Analyst
5 107 (7.17%) Developer
6 105 (7.03%) Consultant
7 99 (6.63%) Architect
8 79 (5.29%) Data Engineer
9 75 (5.02%) Data Analyst
10 48 (3.22%) Software Engineer
11 45 (3.01%) Project Manager
12 44 (2.95%) Tester
13 38 (2.55%) Senior Analyst
14 34 (2.28%) Senior Developer
14 34 (2.28%) Test Analyst
15 32 (2.14%) Solutions Architect
15 32 (2.14%) Test Manager
16 31 (2.08%) SAP Consultant
17 28 (1.88%) Embedded Engineer
18 27 (1.81%) Data Scientist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 96 (6.43%) REST
2 66 (4.42%) JSON
3 49 (3.28%) XML
4 47 (3.15%) OAuth
4 47 (3.15%) Oracle Fusion
5 41 (2.75%) Middleware
6 40 (2.68%) Kafka
7 38 (2.55%) SOAP
8 32 (2.14%) .NET
8 32 (2.14%) RESTful
9 30 (2.01%) PySpark
9 30 (2.01%) PyTorch
10 29 (1.94%) Swagger
11 28 (1.88%) Node.js
11 28 (1.88%) TensorFlow
12 26 (1.74%) Web Services
13 25 (1.67%) Playwright
14 24 (1.61%) Pandas
14 24 (1.61%) pytest
15 23 (1.54%) JWT
Miscellaneous
1 91 (6.10%) Legacy Systems
2 63 (4.22%) Data Structures
3 55 (3.68%) Product Ownership
4 54 (3.62%) Onboarding
5 40 (2.68%) Cloud Native
6 39 (2.61%) Management Information System
7 27 (1.81%) Analytical Mindset
7 27 (1.81%) Data Protection Act
8 24 (1.61%) Algorithms
8 24 (1.61%) Data Centre
9 20 (1.34%) Derivative
10 19 (1.27%) Distributed Systems
10 19 (1.27%) Replication
11 18 (1.21%) FPGA
11 18 (1.21%) Hybrid Cloud
12 16 (1.07%) Security Posture
13 15 (1.00%) Greenfield Project
14 14 (0.94%) Credit Risk
14 14 (0.94%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
15 12 (0.80%) PCIe
Operating Systems
1 85 (5.69%) Linux
1 85 (5.69%) Windows
2 33 (2.21%) Unix
3 10 (0.67%) Android
4 6 (0.40%) zOS
5 5 (0.33%) Mac OS
5 5 (0.33%) Windows Server
6 3 (0.20%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.20%) Embedded Linux
7 2 (0.13%) Debian
7 2 (0.13%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.067%) FreeRTOS
8 1 (0.067%) pSOS
8 1 (0.067%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.067%) Robot Operating System
Processes & Methodologies
1 391 (26.19%) Agile
2 351 (23.51%) Problem-Solving
3 332 (22.24%) Migration
4 269 (18.02%) Stakeholder Management
5 251 (16.81%) DevOps
6 246 (16.48%) Data Validation
7 232 (15.54%) Analytics
8 228 (15.27%) CI/CD
9 197 (13.19%) Data Modelling
10 186 (12.46%) Test Automation
11 185 (12.39%) Data Migration
12 180 (12.06%) User Acceptance Testing
13 178 (11.92%) AI
13 178 (11.92%) ETL
14 154 (10.31%) Business Intelligence
15 151 (10.11%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 145 (9.71%) Continuous Improvement
17 134 (8.98%) Data Analysis
18 130 (8.71%) Data Governance
19 122 (8.17%) Data Pipeline
Programming Languages
1 375 (25.12%) SQL
2 316 (21.17%) Python
3 91 (6.10%) JavaScript
4 79 (5.29%) Java
5 57 (3.82%) C#
6 51 (3.42%) PL/SQL
7 42 (2.81%) C++
8 41 (2.75%) Bash
8 41 (2.75%) PowerShell
9 39 (2.61%) C
10 27 (1.81%) TypeScript
11 24 (1.61%) R
12 18 (1.21%) Bicep
13 17 (1.14%) Ada
13 17 (1.14%) Groovy
14 16 (1.07%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 14 (0.94%) Shell Script
16 12 (0.80%) Scala
16 12 (0.80%) T-SQL
16 12 (0.80%) VBA
Qualifications
1 320 (21.43%) Security Cleared
2 234 (15.67%) SC Cleared
3 150 (10.05%) Degree
4 55 (3.68%) Computer Science Degree
5 44 (2.95%) BPSS Clearance
6 37 (2.48%) Master's Degree
7 36 (2.41%) DV Cleared
8 28 (1.88%) PMI Certification
9 26 (1.74%) ISTQB
10 21 (1.41%) PMP
11 17 (1.14%) AWS Certification
12 16 (1.07%) CBAP
13 13 (0.87%) Cisco Certification
13 13 (0.87%) CISSP
14 11 (0.74%) Azure Certification
14 11 (0.74%) Microsoft Certification
14 11 (0.74%) Oracle Certification
15 10 (0.67%) CCNP
16 9 (0.60%) CCIE
16 9 (0.60%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 207 (13.86%) Data Quality
2 186 (12.46%) QA
3 80 (5.36%) GDPR
4 60 (4.02%) NIST
5 38 (2.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 30 (2.01%) Accessibility
7 20 (1.34%) IFRS
8 18 (1.21%) IFRS 17
9 15 (1.00%) Def Stans
10 14 (0.94%) PCI DSS
11 13 (0.87%) EU AI Act
12 12 (0.80%) NCSC
13 11 (0.74%) COBIT
14 10 (0.67%) GRC
14 10 (0.67%) MiFID
14 10 (0.67%) MISRA
15 9 (0.60%) DO-178B
15 9 (0.60%) GxP
15 9 (0.60%) PMO
16 8 (0.54%) GMP
System Software
1 62 (4.15%) Docker
2 42 (2.81%) Active Directory
3 29 (1.94%) VMware Infrastructure
4 20 (1.34%) Firmware
5 12 (0.80%) VMware NSX
6 8 (0.54%) Virtual Desktop
7 7 (0.47%) Hyper-V
7 7 (0.47%) VMware ESXi
8 4 (0.27%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
8 4 (0.27%) NFS
8 4 (0.27%) vSphere
9 3 (0.20%) Embedded Firmware
9 3 (0.20%) KVM
10 2 (0.13%) Ceph
10 2 (0.13%) Lustre
10 2 (0.13%) OpenAM
10 2 (0.13%) OpenIDM
10 2 (0.13%) QEMU
10 2 (0.13%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 2 (0.13%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 88 (5.89%) Kubernetes
2 69 (4.62%) Terraform
3 39 (2.61%) Ansible
4 22 (1.47%) Single Sign-On
5 18 (1.21%) Microsoft Intune
5 18 (1.21%) Prometheus
6 15 (1.00%) Grafana
6 15 (1.00%) Kibana
7 14 (0.94%) Puppet
8 13 (0.87%) SCCM
9 11 (0.74%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 10 (0.67%) Nessus
11 8 (0.54%) Nmap
12 6 (0.40%) SCOM
13 5 (0.33%) CASB
13 5 (0.33%) HP SiteScope
14 4 (0.27%) EMC VPLEX
14 4 (0.27%) Iperf
14 4 (0.27%) vMotion
15 3 (0.20%) CloudHub
Vendors
1 204 (13.66%) Microsoft
2 152 (10.18%) Oracle
3 117 (7.84%) SAP
4 61 (4.09%) Databricks
4 61 (4.09%) ServiceNow
5 50 (3.35%) Splunk
6 40 (2.68%) Cisco
7 38 (2.55%) Salesforce
8 35 (2.34%) VMware
9 34 (2.28%) Google
10 29 (1.94%) Workday
11 22 (1.47%) MuleSoft
12 20 (1.34%) Palo Alto
13 19 (1.27%) IBM
13 19 (1.27%) Murex
13 19 (1.27%) Sage
14 18 (1.21%) Informatica
15 14 (0.94%) Avaloq
15 14 (0.94%) Bloomberg
15 14 (0.94%) Remedy