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

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 58 114 133
Rank change year-on-year +56 +19 +4
Contract jobs citing Validation 1,296 609 669
As % of all contract jobs in England 4.09% 2.27% 1.86%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.64% 2.55% 2.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 793 322 385
10th Percentile £356 £335 £350
25th Percentile £413 £406 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -6.98% -2.27%
75th Percentile £618 £600 £623
90th Percentile £700 £700 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £538
% change year-on-year - -6.98% -1.06%
Number of hourly rates quoted 71 44 100
10th Percentile £31.59 £29.30 £51.24
25th Percentile £42.78 £47.19 £60.38
Median hourly rate £65.00 £57.40 £70.16
Median % change year-on-year +13.25% -18.19% +10.96%
75th Percentile £67.54 £64.06 £85.46
90th Percentile £77.25 £70.58 £90.00
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £57.40 £70.00
% change year-on-year +13.25% -18.01% +10.71%

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 27,954 23,866 31,707
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 88.33% 89.11% 87.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,831 14,651 21,413
10th Percentile £304 £310 £305
25th Percentile £409 £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 1,737 769 1,474
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.60 £14.23
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.50 £18.93
Median hourly rate £25.15 £34.50 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -27.10% -18.82% +21.43%
75th Percentile £57.50 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £69.79 £75.00 £77.00
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £40.50
% change year-on-year -22.62% -19.75% +15.71%

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 14 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 14 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 14 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 +73 615 £513 -2.38% 193
North of England +20 162 £415 -1.25% 151
South East +15 152 £500 +2.56% 321
South West +5 111 £475 -17.39% 154
North West +25 105 £400 -3.03% 61
Midlands +8 105 £515 +21.18% 120
East of England +27 103 £492 +27.02% 159
West Midlands +10 88 £517 +8.79% 59
Yorkshire -14 42 £487 +15.95% 66
East Midlands -16 17 £475 +30.58% 61
North East -1 15 £475 -42.42% 26
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 (3.63%) Confluence
2 29 (2.24%) SAS
3 27 (2.08%) Apache Spark
3 27 (2.08%) SharePoint
4 20 (1.54%) Microsoft Exchange
5 19 (1.47%) Apache Airflow
6 14 (1.08%) Skype for Business
7 12 (0.93%) Apache
8 9 (0.69%) Exchange Server 2013
9 8 (0.62%) CMS
10 7 (0.54%) Mattermost
11 6 (0.46%) OpenStack
12 5 (0.39%) Appian
12 5 (0.39%) Jupyter
13 4 (0.31%) Adobe Experience Manager
13 4 (0.31%) Anypoint
14 3 (0.23%) GeoServer
14 3 (0.23%) Oracle SOA Suite
14 3 (0.23%) Smallworld
14 3 (0.23%) WebSphere
Applications
1 74 (5.71%) Microsoft Excel
2 37 (2.85%) Microsoft Office
3 23 (1.77%) MS Visio
4 18 (1.39%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 8 (0.62%) Chatbot
6 7 (0.54%) Microsoft Project
7 6 (0.46%) Sketch
8 4 (0.31%) Notion
9 3 (0.23%) LaTeX
9 3 (0.23%) Spreadsheet
10 2 (0.15%) Simulink
11 1 (0.077%) CATIA
11 1 (0.077%) OrCAD
11 1 (0.077%) Siemens NX
11 1 (0.077%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 65 (5.02%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (0.93%) Oracle EBS
3 11 (0.85%) SAP EHS
3 11 (0.85%) SAP FI
4 9 (0.69%) Aladdin
4 9 (0.69%) Oracle General Ledger
4 9 (0.69%) Oracle Payables
4 9 (0.69%) Remedy ITSM
5 7 (0.54%) NetSuite
5 7 (0.54%) OpenText VIM for SAP
5 7 (0.54%) SAP MDG
6 6 (0.46%) Dynamics CRM
6 6 (0.46%) Markit EDM
6 6 (0.46%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 6 (0.46%) Oracle Receivables
6 6 (0.46%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
6 6 (0.46%) SAP MM
7 5 (0.39%) Oracle Assets
7 5 (0.39%) Workday HCM
8 4 (0.31%) Oracle EBS R12
Cloud Services
1 308 (23.77%) Azure
2 141 (10.88%) AWS
3 121 (9.34%) Azure DevOps
4 106 (8.18%) Power Platform
5 54 (4.17%) GitHub
6 52 (4.01%) GCP
7 47 (3.63%) SaaS
8 43 (3.32%) Entra ID
9 35 (2.70%) Azure Data Factory
10 34 (2.62%) Serverless
11 31 (2.39%) GitHub Actions
12 26 (2.01%) Microsoft 365
12 26 (2.01%) OpenShift
13 25 (1.93%) OCI
13 25 (1.93%) Snowflake
14 17 (1.31%) Amazon S3
14 17 (1.31%) Dynamics 365
15 16 (1.23%) Azure Functions
15 16 (1.23%) Azure Synapse Analytics
15 16 (1.23%) Tricentis Tosca
Communications & Networking
1 33 (2.55%) Firewall
2 29 (2.24%) TCP/IP
3 20 (1.54%) DNS
3 20 (1.54%) Ethernet
4 17 (1.31%) WAN
5 16 (1.23%) 3GPP
6 15 (1.16%) Network Security
6 15 (1.16%) VPN
7 14 (1.08%) Skype
8 12 (0.93%) BGP
8 12 (0.93%) Internet
8 12 (0.93%) LTE
9 11 (0.85%) LAN
9 11 (0.85%) MPLS
9 11 (0.85%) OSPF
9 11 (0.85%) VLAN
9 11 (0.85%) Wireless
10 10 (0.77%) DMARC
10 10 (0.77%) TACACS
11 8 (0.62%) DKIM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 98 (7.56%) Power BI
2 57 (4.40%) Metadata
3 54 (4.17%) Data Warehouse
4 37 (2.85%) Tableau
5 32 (2.47%) SQL Server
6 28 (2.16%) Data Lake
7 23 (1.77%) NoSQL
8 21 (1.62%) SAS Enterprise Guide
9 20 (1.54%) Oracle Database
10 17 (1.31%) Relational Database
11 16 (1.23%) Oracle Reports
12 15 (1.16%) Azure SQL Database
12 15 (1.16%) Big Data
12 15 (1.16%) Pinecone
13 13 (1.00%) Elasticsearch
14 12 (0.93%) Amazon Redshift
14 12 (0.93%) SQL Server Integration Services
15 11 (0.85%) BigQuery
15 11 (0.85%) Delta Lake
15 11 (0.85%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 133 (10.26%) JIRA
2 65 (5.02%) Jenkins
3 64 (4.94%) Git
4 40 (3.09%) Selenium
5 38 (2.93%) GitLab
6 34 (2.62%) Postman
7 33 (2.55%) Oracle APEX
8 19 (1.47%) Rational DOORS
8 19 (1.47%) Visual Studio
9 15 (1.16%) Eclipse
10 14 (1.08%) JMeter
11 13 (1.00%) Cucumber
11 13 (1.00%) TestRail
12 12 (0.93%) Bitbucket
13 11 (0.85%) MLflow
14 10 (0.77%) JUnit
14 10 (0.77%) Zephyr
15 8 (0.62%) REST Assured
15 8 (0.62%) SpecFlow
16 6 (0.46%) Cypress.io
General
1 494 (38.12%) Social Skills
2 363 (28.01%) Finance
3 276 (21.30%) Analytical Skills
4 125 (9.65%) Public Sector
5 106 (8.18%) Banking
6 65 (5.02%) Documentation Skills
7 48 (3.70%) Presentation Skills
8 29 (2.24%) Influencing Skills
8 29 (2.24%) Military
9 28 (2.16%) Electronics
10 27 (2.08%) Front Office
10 27 (2.08%) Telecoms
11 26 (2.01%) Manufacturing
12 25 (1.93%) Investment Banking
12 25 (1.93%) Marketing
13 23 (1.77%) Aerospace
14 21 (1.62%) Financial Institution
14 21 (1.62%) Pharmaceutical
15 19 (1.47%) Legal
16 18 (1.39%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 260 (20.06%) Analyst
2 130 (10.03%) Senior
3 114 (8.80%) Business Analyst
4 105 (8.10%) Lead
5 104 (8.02%) Developer
6 101 (7.79%) Consultant
7 68 (5.25%) Architect
8 61 (4.71%) Data Analyst
9 53 (4.09%) Data Engineer
10 48 (3.70%) Software Engineer
11 42 (3.24%) Tester
12 41 (3.16%) Project Manager
13 35 (2.70%) Senior Developer
14 34 (2.62%) SAP Consultant
15 32 (2.47%) Senior Analyst
16 29 (2.24%) Test Analyst
17 28 (2.16%) Data Scientist
18 27 (2.08%) QA Engineer
19 26 (2.01%) Test Manager
20 25 (1.93%) Technical Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 82 (6.33%) REST
2 54 (4.17%) JSON
3 46 (3.55%) XML
4 43 (3.32%) Oracle Fusion
5 35 (2.70%) Middleware
5 35 (2.70%) SOAP
6 34 (2.62%) OAuth
7 32 (2.47%) Node.js
8 27 (2.08%) .NET
8 27 (2.08%) RESTful
9 26 (2.01%) PyTorch
10 25 (1.93%) Kafka
10 25 (1.93%) PySpark
10 25 (1.93%) Web Services
11 23 (1.77%) Swagger
11 23 (1.77%) TensorFlow
12 21 (1.62%) SAP Fiori
13 19 (1.47%) JWT
13 19 (1.47%) Playwright
14 18 (1.39%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 69 (5.32%) Legacy Systems
2 53 (4.09%) Data Structures
3 49 (3.78%) Onboarding
4 45 (3.47%) Product Ownership
5 35 (2.70%) Management Information System
6 32 (2.47%) FPGA
7 29 (2.24%) Cloud Native
8 23 (1.77%) Algorithms
9 22 (1.70%) Analytical Mindset
9 22 (1.70%) Data Protection Act
10 20 (1.54%) Data Centre
10 20 (1.54%) Derivative
10 20 (1.54%) IoT
11 15 (1.16%) Replication
12 13 (1.00%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
12 13 (1.00%) NB-IoT
13 12 (0.93%) PCIe
14 11 (0.85%) Embedded Systems
14 11 (0.85%) Greenfield Project
14 11 (0.85%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 96 (7.41%) Linux
2 74 (5.71%) Windows
3 30 (2.31%) Unix
4 11 (0.85%) Android
5 7 (0.54%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (0.46%) Windows Server
7 5 (0.39%) zOS
8 4 (0.31%) Apple iOS
9 3 (0.23%) Embedded Linux
10 2 (0.15%) Debian
10 2 (0.15%) Robot Operating System
11 1 (0.077%) FreeRTOS
11 1 (0.077%) Mac OS
11 1 (0.077%) MVS
11 1 (0.077%) VMS
11 1 (0.077%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 376 (29.01%) Agile
2 302 (23.30%) Problem-Solving
3 279 (21.53%) Migration
4 248 (19.14%) DevOps
5 219 (16.90%) CI/CD
6 212 (16.36%) Stakeholder Management
7 205 (15.82%) Data Validation
8 196 (15.12%) Analytics
9 159 (12.27%) Test Automation
10 148 (11.42%) Data Modelling
11 145 (11.19%) AI
12 143 (11.03%) Data Migration
13 141 (10.88%) User Acceptance Testing
14 140 (10.80%) ETL
15 131 (10.11%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 127 (9.80%) Business Intelligence
17 112 (8.64%) Data Governance
18 109 (8.41%) Data Analysis
18 109 (8.41%) Data Pipeline
19 106 (8.18%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 338 (26.08%) SQL
2 290 (22.38%) Python
3 94 (7.25%) JavaScript
4 72 (5.56%) Java
5 64 (4.94%) C#
6 53 (4.09%) PL/SQL
7 49 (3.78%) C++
8 44 (3.40%) Bash
9 42 (3.24%) PowerShell
10 30 (2.31%) C
11 24 (1.85%) R
12 20 (1.54%) TypeScript
13 15 (1.16%) Groovy
14 14 (1.08%) Shell Script
15 11 (0.85%) T-SQL
16 10 (0.77%) ABAP
17 9 (0.69%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 9 (0.69%) VBA
18 7 (0.54%) Ada
18 7 (0.54%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 282 (21.76%) Security Cleared
2 209 (16.13%) SC Cleared
3 129 (9.95%) Degree
4 51 (3.94%) Computer Science Degree
5 32 (2.47%) BPSS Clearance
6 31 (2.39%) DV Cleared
7 30 (2.31%) Master's Degree
8 27 (2.08%) PMI Certification
9 25 (1.93%) ISTQB
10 20 (1.54%) PMP
11 18 (1.39%) AWS Certification
12 15 (1.16%) CBAP
13 13 (1.00%) Cisco Certification
13 13 (1.00%) Oracle Certification
14 9 (0.69%) Azure Certification
14 9 (0.69%) CCIE
14 9 (0.69%) ITIL Certification
14 9 (0.69%) OCA
15 8 (0.62%) Microsoft Certification
16 7 (0.54%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 167 (12.89%) QA
2 158 (12.19%) Data Quality
3 74 (5.71%) GDPR
4 53 (4.09%) NIST
5 29 (2.24%) Accessibility
5 29 (2.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 16 (1.23%) IFRS
7 14 (1.08%) EU AI Act
8 12 (0.93%) IFRS 17
9 11 (0.85%) Def Stans
10 10 (0.77%) GxP
10 10 (0.77%) MiFID
10 10 (0.77%) MISRA
10 10 (0.77%) NCSC
11 9 (0.69%) DO-178B
11 9 (0.69%) PCI DSS
11 9 (0.69%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 7 (0.54%) Actionable Recommendations
13 6 (0.46%) EMIR
13 6 (0.46%) GRC
System Software
1 51 (3.94%) Docker
2 45 (3.47%) Active Directory
3 25 (1.93%) VMware Infrastructure
4 23 (1.77%) Firmware
5 8 (0.62%) VMware NSX
6 7 (0.54%) VMware ESXi
7 6 (0.46%) Dovecot
7 6 (0.46%) Postfix
8 5 (0.39%) Virtual Desktop
9 4 (0.31%) Embedded Firmware
9 4 (0.31%) vSphere
10 3 (0.23%) Hyper-V
10 3 (0.23%) KVM
10 3 (0.23%) QEMU
11 2 (0.15%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
11 2 (0.15%) Ceph
11 2 (0.15%) OpenAM
11 2 (0.15%) OpenDJ
11 2 (0.15%) OpenIDM
11 2 (0.15%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 65 (5.02%) Kubernetes
2 57 (4.40%) Terraform
3 46 (3.55%) Ansible
4 15 (1.16%) Single Sign-On
5 13 (1.00%) Kibana
5 13 (1.00%) Microsoft Intune
5 13 (1.00%) Puppet
6 10 (0.77%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 9 (0.69%) Grafana
7 9 (0.69%) SCCM
8 7 (0.54%) HP SiteScope
8 7 (0.54%) SCOM
9 6 (0.46%) Nessus
9 6 (0.46%) Nmap
10 5 (0.39%) Argo
10 5 (0.39%) Istio
11 4 (0.31%) Prometheus
12 3 (0.23%) CloudHub
12 3 (0.23%) Kubeflow
12 3 (0.23%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 190 (14.66%) Microsoft
2 146 (11.27%) Oracle
3 103 (7.95%) SAP
4 55 (4.24%) ServiceNow
5 48 (3.70%) Databricks
6 35 (2.70%) Cisco
7 34 (2.62%) Splunk
8 33 (2.55%) VMware
9 30 (2.31%) Salesforce
10 29 (2.24%) Google
11 21 (1.62%) Workday
12 19 (1.47%) IBM
12 19 (1.47%) MuleSoft
13 15 (1.16%) Murex
14 13 (1.00%) Adobe
14 13 (1.00%) Bloomberg
14 13 (1.00%) Informatica
15 12 (0.93%) Palo Alto
16 11 (0.85%) CyberArk
16 11 (0.85%) Red Hat