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 12 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 61 112 132
Rank change year-on-year +51 +20 +7
Contract jobs citing Validation 1,257 603 677
As % of all contract jobs in England 4.05% 2.26% 1.86%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.59% 2.53% 2.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 761 318 389
10th Percentile £356 £330 £350
25th Percentile £413 £403 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -6.98% -2.27%
75th Percentile £615 £600 £623
90th Percentile £700 £700 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £538
% change year-on-year - -6.98% -0.65%
Number of hourly rates quoted 73 44 100
10th Percentile £31.77 £29.23 £51.24
25th Percentile £41.94 £46.25 £60.38
Median hourly rate £65.00 £55.81 £70.16
Median % change year-on-year +16.48% -20.46% +11.45%
75th Percentile £67.50 £64.06 £85.46
90th Percentile £76.80 £70.58 £90.00
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £55.81 £70.00
% change year-on-year +16.48% -20.28% +11.20%

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 27,375 23,793 32,010
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 88.27% 89.07% 87.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,424 14,594 21,607
10th Percentile £304 £310 £305
25th Percentile £410 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £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 1,725 761 1,484
10th Percentile £15.13 £15.53 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.88 £20.30 £18.93
Median hourly rate £25.15 £34.00 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -26.03% -20.00% +21.43%
75th Percentile £57.50 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £69.86 £75.00 £77.00
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £32.25 £40.50
% change year-on-year -22.00% -20.38% +16.41%

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 12 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 12 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 12 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 +76 593 £513 +0.49% 202
North of England +24 154 £412 -1.85% 177
South East +14 150 £500 +2.56% 361
South West +1 107 £475 -17.39% 162
East of England +24 105 £492 +27.02% 166
North West +21 102 £400 -3.03% 69
Midlands +2 102 £515 +21.18% 132
West Midlands +9 86 £515 +8.42% 54
Yorkshire -11 37 £456 +8.63% 81
East Midlands -14 16 £456 +25.43% 76
North East +2 15 £475 -42.42% 29
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 47 (3.74%) Confluence
2 27 (2.15%) SAS
2 27 (2.15%) SharePoint
3 26 (2.07%) Apache Spark
4 19 (1.51%) Microsoft Exchange
5 18 (1.43%) Apache Airflow
6 14 (1.11%) Skype for Business
7 12 (0.95%) Apache
8 9 (0.72%) Exchange Server 2013
9 8 (0.64%) CMS
10 7 (0.56%) Mattermost
11 6 (0.48%) OpenStack
12 4 (0.32%) Adobe Experience Manager
12 4 (0.32%) Anypoint
12 4 (0.32%) Appian
12 4 (0.32%) Jupyter
13 3 (0.24%) GeoServer
13 3 (0.24%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
13 3 (0.24%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 3 (0.24%) WebSphere
Applications
1 70 (5.57%) Microsoft Excel
2 36 (2.86%) Microsoft Office
3 21 (1.67%) MS Visio
4 16 (1.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.56%) Chatbot
5 7 (0.56%) Microsoft Project
6 6 (0.48%) Sketch
7 4 (0.32%) Notion
8 3 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
9 2 (0.16%) LaTeX
9 2 (0.16%) Simulink
10 1 (0.080%) CATIA
10 1 (0.080%) OrCAD
10 1 (0.080%) Siemens NX
10 1 (0.080%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 63 (5.01%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (0.95%) Oracle EBS
3 11 (0.88%) SAP EHS
3 11 (0.88%) SAP FI
4 9 (0.72%) Remedy ITSM
5 8 (0.64%) Aladdin
5 8 (0.64%) Oracle General Ledger
5 8 (0.64%) Oracle Payables
6 7 (0.56%) NetSuite
6 7 (0.56%) OpenText VIM for SAP
6 7 (0.56%) SAP MDG
7 6 (0.48%) Dynamics CRM
7 6 (0.48%) SAP MM
8 5 (0.40%) Oracle Assets
8 5 (0.40%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
8 5 (0.40%) Oracle Receivables
8 5 (0.40%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
8 5 (0.40%) Workday HCM
9 4 (0.32%) Oracle EBS R12
9 4 (0.32%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 294 (23.39%) Azure
2 133 (10.58%) AWS
3 118 (9.39%) Azure DevOps
4 102 (8.11%) Power Platform
5 54 (4.30%) GitHub
6 48 (3.82%) GCP
7 47 (3.74%) SaaS
8 40 (3.18%) Entra ID
9 34 (2.70%) Azure Data Factory
10 33 (2.63%) Serverless
11 31 (2.47%) GitHub Actions
12 26 (2.07%) Microsoft 365
12 26 (2.07%) OpenShift
13 24 (1.91%) OCI
14 21 (1.67%) Snowflake
15 17 (1.35%) Amazon S3
15 17 (1.35%) Dynamics 365
16 16 (1.27%) Azure Synapse Analytics
16 16 (1.27%) Tricentis Tosca
17 15 (1.19%) Azure Functions
Communications & Networking
1 31 (2.47%) Firewall
2 29 (2.31%) TCP/IP
3 19 (1.51%) DNS
3 19 (1.51%) Ethernet
4 18 (1.43%) 3GPP
5 17 (1.35%) WAN
6 15 (1.19%) Network Security
6 15 (1.19%) VPN
7 14 (1.11%) LTE
7 14 (1.11%) Skype
8 12 (0.95%) BGP
8 12 (0.95%) Internet
9 11 (0.88%) LAN
9 11 (0.88%) MPLS
9 11 (0.88%) OSPF
9 11 (0.88%) VLAN
9 11 (0.88%) Wireless
10 10 (0.80%) DMARC
10 10 (0.80%) TACACS
11 8 (0.64%) DKIM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 95 (7.56%) Power BI
2 57 (4.53%) Metadata
3 52 (4.14%) Data Warehouse
4 35 (2.78%) Tableau
5 29 (2.31%) SQL Server
6 27 (2.15%) Data Lake
7 20 (1.59%) NoSQL
7 20 (1.59%) SAS Enterprise Guide
8 19 (1.51%) Oracle Database
9 16 (1.27%) Oracle Reports
10 15 (1.19%) Azure SQL Database
10 15 (1.19%) Relational Database
11 14 (1.11%) Big Data
11 14 (1.11%) Pinecone
12 13 (1.03%) Elasticsearch
13 12 (0.95%) Amazon Redshift
13 12 (0.95%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 11 (0.88%) BigQuery
14 11 (0.88%) Delta Lake
14 11 (0.88%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 129 (10.26%) JIRA
2 63 (5.01%) Git
3 62 (4.93%) Jenkins
4 39 (3.10%) Selenium
5 35 (2.78%) GitLab
6 33 (2.63%) Oracle APEX
7 31 (2.47%) Postman
8 19 (1.51%) Rational DOORS
8 19 (1.51%) Visual Studio
9 15 (1.19%) Eclipse
10 13 (1.03%) Cucumber
10 13 (1.03%) TestRail
11 12 (0.95%) Bitbucket
11 12 (0.95%) JMeter
12 11 (0.88%) MLflow
13 10 (0.80%) JUnit
13 10 (0.80%) Zephyr
14 8 (0.64%) REST Assured
14 8 (0.64%) SpecFlow
15 6 (0.48%) Cypress.io
General
1 483 (38.42%) Social Skills
2 347 (27.61%) Finance
3 270 (21.48%) Analytical Skills
4 122 (9.71%) Public Sector
5 102 (8.11%) Banking
6 65 (5.17%) Documentation Skills
7 48 (3.82%) Presentation Skills
8 29 (2.31%) Influencing Skills
8 29 (2.31%) Military
9 28 (2.23%) Electronics
10 27 (2.15%) Telecoms
11 26 (2.07%) Front Office
12 25 (1.99%) Manufacturing
12 25 (1.99%) Marketing
13 24 (1.91%) Investment Banking
14 22 (1.75%) Aerospace
15 21 (1.67%) Financial Institution
15 21 (1.67%) Pharmaceutical
16 18 (1.43%) Legal
17 17 (1.35%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 248 (19.73%) Analyst
2 127 (10.10%) Senior
3 109 (8.67%) Business Analyst
4 104 (8.27%) Lead
5 101 (8.04%) Developer
6 98 (7.80%) Consultant
7 64 (5.09%) Architect
8 57 (4.53%) Data Analyst
9 49 (3.90%) Data Engineer
10 48 (3.82%) Software Engineer
11 42 (3.34%) Tester
12 40 (3.18%) Project Manager
13 35 (2.78%) Senior Developer
14 34 (2.70%) SAP Consultant
15 31 (2.47%) Senior Analyst
16 26 (2.07%) Data Scientist
16 26 (2.07%) Test Analyst
17 25 (1.99%) QA Engineer
17 25 (1.99%) Technical Analyst
18 24 (1.91%) Test Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 79 (6.28%) REST
2 53 (4.22%) JSON
3 44 (3.50%) XML
4 42 (3.34%) Oracle Fusion
5 35 (2.78%) SOAP
6 33 (2.63%) Middleware
7 31 (2.47%) OAuth
8 30 (2.39%) Node.js
9 25 (1.99%) .NET
9 25 (1.99%) PySpark
9 25 (1.99%) PyTorch
9 25 (1.99%) RESTful
10 24 (1.91%) Web Services
11 23 (1.83%) Swagger
12 22 (1.75%) Kafka
12 22 (1.75%) TensorFlow
13 21 (1.67%) SAP Fiori
14 18 (1.43%) JWT
14 18 (1.43%) OpenAPI
15 17 (1.35%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 64 (5.09%) Legacy Systems
2 53 (4.22%) Data Structures
3 47 (3.74%) Onboarding
4 44 (3.50%) Product Ownership
5 33 (2.63%) FPGA
5 33 (2.63%) Management Information System
6 26 (2.07%) Cloud Native
7 22 (1.75%) Data Protection Act
7 22 (1.75%) IoT
8 21 (1.67%) Algorithms
8 21 (1.67%) Analytical Mindset
9 20 (1.59%) Data Centre
9 20 (1.59%) Derivative
10 15 (1.19%) NB-IoT
11 13 (1.03%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 13 (1.03%) Replication
12 11 (0.88%) Embedded Systems
12 11 (0.88%) Fixed Income
12 11 (0.88%) Hybrid Cloud
12 11 (0.88%) PCIe
Operating Systems
1 97 (7.72%) Linux
2 74 (5.89%) Windows
3 30 (2.39%) Unix
4 11 (0.88%) Android
5 7 (0.56%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 5 (0.40%) Windows Server
7 4 (0.32%) Apple iOS
7 4 (0.32%) zOS
8 3 (0.24%) Embedded Linux
9 2 (0.16%) Debian
9 2 (0.16%) Robot Operating System
10 1 (0.080%) FreeRTOS
10 1 (0.080%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.080%) MVS
10 1 (0.080%) VMS
10 1 (0.080%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 366 (29.12%) Agile
2 293 (23.31%) Problem-Solving
3 268 (21.32%) Migration
4 242 (19.25%) DevOps
5 210 (16.71%) CI/CD
6 208 (16.55%) Stakeholder Management
7 194 (15.43%) Data Validation
8 191 (15.19%) Analytics
9 152 (12.09%) Test Automation
10 142 (11.30%) Data Modelling
11 140 (11.14%) Data Migration
12 137 (10.90%) AI
13 131 (10.42%) ETL
13 131 (10.42%) User Acceptance Testing
14 128 (10.18%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 124 (9.86%) Business Intelligence
16 108 (8.59%) Data Governance
17 105 (8.35%) Data Analysis
18 104 (8.27%) Continuous Improvement
18 104 (8.27%) Data Pipeline
Programming Languages
1 323 (25.70%) SQL
2 278 (22.12%) Python
3 93 (7.40%) JavaScript
4 67 (5.33%) Java
5 62 (4.93%) C#
6 53 (4.22%) PL/SQL
7 49 (3.90%) C++
8 44 (3.50%) Bash
9 41 (3.26%) PowerShell
10 29 (2.31%) C
11 24 (1.91%) R
12 17 (1.35%) TypeScript
13 15 (1.19%) Groovy
14 14 (1.11%) Shell Script
15 11 (0.88%) T-SQL
16 10 (0.80%) ABAP
17 9 (0.72%) VBA
18 8 (0.64%) Data Analysis Expressions
19 7 (0.56%) Ada
19 7 (0.56%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 276 (21.96%) Security Cleared
2 205 (16.31%) SC Cleared
3 126 (10.02%) Degree
4 50 (3.98%) Computer Science Degree
5 31 (2.47%) BPSS Clearance
6 30 (2.39%) DV Cleared
7 29 (2.31%) Master's Degree
8 26 (2.07%) PMI Certification
9 23 (1.83%) ISTQB
10 19 (1.51%) PMP
11 18 (1.43%) AWS Certification
12 15 (1.19%) CBAP
13 13 (1.03%) Cisco Certification
13 13 (1.03%) Oracle Certification
14 9 (0.72%) Azure Certification
14 9 (0.72%) CCIE
14 9 (0.72%) ITIL Certification
14 9 (0.72%) OCA
15 7 (0.56%) CISSP
15 7 (0.56%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 159 (12.65%) QA
2 150 (11.93%) Data Quality
3 72 (5.73%) GDPR
4 52 (4.14%) NIST
5 29 (2.31%) Accessibility
6 26 (2.07%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 14 (1.11%) EU AI Act
8 13 (1.03%) IFRS
9 11 (0.88%) Def Stans
10 10 (0.80%) GxP
10 10 (0.80%) MiFID
10 10 (0.80%) MISRA
10 10 (0.80%) NCSC
11 9 (0.72%) DO-178B
11 9 (0.72%) IFRS 17
11 9 (0.72%) PCI DSS
12 8 (0.64%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 7 (0.56%) Actionable Recommendations
14 6 (0.48%) EMIR
14 6 (0.48%) GRC
System Software
1 50 (3.98%) Docker
2 44 (3.50%) Active Directory
3 23 (1.83%) Firmware
3 23 (1.83%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (0.56%) VMware ESXi
4 7 (0.56%) VMware NSX
5 6 (0.48%) Dovecot
5 6 (0.48%) Postfix
6 5 (0.40%) Virtual Desktop
7 4 (0.32%) Embedded Firmware
7 4 (0.32%) vSphere
8 3 (0.24%) Hyper-V
8 3 (0.24%) KVM
8 3 (0.24%) QEMU
9 2 (0.16%) Ceph
9 2 (0.16%) Lustre
9 2 (0.16%) OpenAM
9 2 (0.16%) OpenDJ
9 2 (0.16%) OpenIDM
9 2 (0.16%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 63 (5.01%) Kubernetes
2 56 (4.46%) Terraform
3 46 (3.66%) Ansible
4 14 (1.11%) Single Sign-On
5 13 (1.03%) Kibana
5 13 (1.03%) Microsoft Intune
5 13 (1.03%) Puppet
6 9 (0.72%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 9 (0.72%) Grafana
6 9 (0.72%) SCCM
7 7 (0.56%) HP SiteScope
7 7 (0.56%) SCOM
8 6 (0.48%) Nessus
8 6 (0.48%) Nmap
9 5 (0.40%) Argo
9 5 (0.40%) Istio
10 4 (0.32%) Prometheus
11 3 (0.24%) CloudHub
11 3 (0.24%) Kubeflow
11 3 (0.24%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 185 (14.72%) Microsoft
2 143 (11.38%) Oracle
3 100 (7.96%) SAP
4 52 (4.14%) ServiceNow
5 45 (3.58%) Databricks
6 35 (2.78%) Cisco
7 34 (2.70%) Splunk
8 31 (2.47%) VMware
9 30 (2.39%) Salesforce
10 27 (2.15%) Google
11 21 (1.67%) Workday
12 19 (1.51%) MuleSoft
13 17 (1.35%) IBM
14 14 (1.11%) Murex
15 13 (1.03%) Adobe
16 12 (0.95%) Bloomberg
16 12 (0.95%) Informatica
16 12 (0.95%) Palo Alto
17 11 (0.88%) Avaloq
17 11 (0.88%) Red Hat