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 24 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 66 107 141
Rank change year-on-year +41 +34 +1
Contract jobs citing Validation 1,151 712 709
As % of all contract jobs in England 3.80% 2.29% 1.81%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.23% 2.62% 2.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 689 365 425
10th Percentile £358 £325 £353
25th Percentile £419 £406 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -6.98% -2.27%
75th Percentile £623 £600 £638
90th Percentile £688 £674 £813
UK median daily rate £500 £511 £528
% change year-on-year -2.20% -3.17% -3.43%
Number of hourly rates quoted 81 79 89
10th Percentile £31.50 £28.00 £50.96
25th Percentile £41.25 £45.22 £56.30
Median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £67.56
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% -7.49% +9.85%
75th Percentile £67.25 £65.50 £84.36
90th Percentile £77.25 £75.00 £90.00
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £67.50
% change year-on-year +4.00% -7.41% +9.76%

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 27,211 27,167 34,832
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 89.94% 87.25% 88.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,255 16,583 23,814
10th Percentile £300 £313 £313
25th Percentile £405 £419 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £525 £545
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% -3.67% -0.91%
75th Percentile £625 £649 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £531
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.13% -3.45%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,796 995 1,467
10th Percentile £14.92 £15.10 £14.50
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.22 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £36.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -30.14% -20.00% +25.00%
75th Percentile £50.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.75 £75.00 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £43.90
% change year-on-year -28.14% -20.27% +25.43%

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 24 November 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 24 November 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 24 November 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 +71 525 £525 +0.48% 170
South East +5 156 £500 - 250
North of England +16 122 £425 -13.92% 70
East of England +24 112 £500 +33.33% 119
South West +2 106 £475 -18.80% 111
Midlands -16 91 £493 -0.51% 92
North West +12 78 £425 -15.00% 48
West Midlands -8 74 £500 -4.76% 66
Yorkshire -15 32 £400 -4.76% 17
East Midlands -5 17 £438 +9.38% 25
North East +1 12 £515 -26.43% 6
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 46 (4.00%) Confluence
2 31 (2.69%) SharePoint
3 26 (2.26%) Apache Spark
4 22 (1.91%) SAS
5 21 (1.82%) Apache Airflow
6 16 (1.39%) Microsoft Exchange
7 15 (1.30%) Skype for Business
8 13 (1.13%) Apache
9 8 (0.70%) CMS
10 7 (0.61%) Exchange Server 2013
10 7 (0.61%) Mattermost
11 6 (0.52%) OpenStack
12 4 (0.35%) Adobe Experience Manager
12 4 (0.35%) Smallworld
12 4 (0.35%) WebLogic
13 3 (0.26%) Anypoint
13 3 (0.26%) ArcGIS
13 3 (0.26%) GeoServer
14 2 (0.17%) Jupyter
14 2 (0.17%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
Applications
1 74 (6.43%) Microsoft Excel
2 38 (3.30%) Microsoft Office
3 22 (1.91%) MS Visio
4 18 (1.56%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.61%) Chatbot
6 6 (0.52%) Sketch
7 3 (0.26%) Microsoft Project
7 3 (0.26%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.17%) Simulink
9 1 (0.087%) CANalyzer
9 1 (0.087%) NASTRAN
9 1 (0.087%) Notion
9 1 (0.087%) Siemens NX
9 1 (0.087%) Stateflow
9 1 (0.087%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 55 (4.78%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (1.04%) Aladdin
3 11 (0.96%) Oracle EBS
3 11 (0.96%) SAP EHS
4 10 (0.87%) Remedy ITSM
4 10 (0.87%) SAP FI
5 8 (0.70%) SAP MDG
6 7 (0.61%) OpenText VIM for SAP
7 6 (0.52%) SAP MM
8 5 (0.43%) Dynamics CRM
8 5 (0.43%) Oracle Payables
8 5 (0.43%) Workday HCM
9 4 (0.35%) Markit EDM
9 4 (0.35%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
9 4 (0.35%) Oracle Receivables
9 4 (0.35%) Salesforce CRM
9 4 (0.35%) Teamcenter
10 3 (0.26%) Oracle EBS R12
10 3 (0.26%) SAP HR
10 3 (0.26%) SAP PM
Cloud Services
1 259 (22.50%) Azure
2 123 (10.69%) AWS
3 109 (9.47%) Azure DevOps
4 103 (8.95%) Power Platform
5 51 (4.43%) GCP
6 44 (3.82%) GitHub
7 35 (3.04%) SaaS
8 33 (2.87%) Entra ID
9 26 (2.26%) GitHub Actions
9 26 (2.26%) Microsoft 365
9 26 (2.26%) Serverless
9 26 (2.26%) Snowflake
10 23 (2.00%) OpenShift
11 21 (1.82%) Azure Data Factory
12 19 (1.65%) OCI
13 16 (1.39%) Dynamics 365
14 15 (1.30%) Azure Functions
15 14 (1.22%) Azure Monitor
15 14 (1.22%) dbt
15 14 (1.22%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 33 (2.87%) TCP/IP
2 32 (2.78%) Firewall
3 28 (2.43%) DNS
4 22 (1.91%) BGP
4 22 (1.91%) Ethernet
4 22 (1.91%) VPN
5 21 (1.82%) MPLS
6 16 (1.39%) WAN
7 15 (1.30%) 3GPP
7 15 (1.30%) Skype
8 14 (1.22%) LTE
9 13 (1.13%) OSPF
10 10 (0.87%) SSL
11 9 (0.78%) LAN
11 9 (0.78%) SD-WAN
11 9 (0.78%) SNMP
11 9 (0.78%) Wireless
12 8 (0.70%) DMARC
12 8 (0.70%) HTTP
12 8 (0.70%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 98 (8.51%) Power BI
2 55 (4.78%) Data Warehouse
3 44 (3.82%) Metadata
4 34 (2.95%) Tableau
5 27 (2.35%) NoSQL
6 23 (2.00%) SQL Server
7 20 (1.74%) Relational Database
8 19 (1.65%) Data Lake
8 19 (1.65%) Oracle Database
9 17 (1.48%) SAS Enterprise Guide
10 15 (1.30%) Oracle Reports
11 14 (1.22%) Azure SQL Database
12 13 (1.13%) BigQuery
13 12 (1.04%) Big Data
14 11 (0.96%) Amazon Redshift
14 11 (0.96%) PostgreSQL
14 11 (0.96%) SAP HANA
15 10 (0.87%) Geospatial Data
16 9 (0.78%) Amazon RDS
16 9 (0.78%) Pinecone
Development Applications
1 122 (10.60%) JIRA
2 59 (5.13%) Git
3 55 (4.78%) Jenkins
4 35 (3.04%) Selenium
5 32 (2.78%) Oracle APEX
6 29 (2.52%) GitLab
6 29 (2.52%) Postman
7 27 (2.35%) Visual Studio
8 22 (1.91%) Eclipse
9 16 (1.39%) Rational DOORS
10 15 (1.30%) TestRail
11 14 (1.22%) Cucumber
12 12 (1.04%) JUnit
12 12 (1.04%) Zephyr
13 10 (0.87%) Bitbucket
13 10 (0.87%) JMeter
14 7 (0.61%) Cypress.io
14 7 (0.61%) REST Assured
15 6 (0.52%) MLflow
15 6 (0.52%) SpecFlow
General
1 478 (41.53%) Social Skills
2 305 (26.50%) Finance
3 256 (22.24%) Analytical Skills
4 106 (9.21%) Public Sector
5 78 (6.78%) Banking
6 71 (6.17%) Documentation Skills
7 48 (4.17%) Presentation Skills
8 33 (2.87%) Military
9 32 (2.78%) Aerospace
10 29 (2.52%) Marketing
10 29 (2.52%) Telecoms
11 27 (2.35%) Electronics
11 27 (2.35%) Front Office
12 26 (2.26%) Investment Banking
13 23 (2.00%) Influencing Skills
14 22 (1.91%) Pharmaceutical
15 21 (1.82%) Manufacturing
15 21 (1.82%) Organisational Skills
16 17 (1.48%) Automotive
17 14 (1.22%) Legal
Job Titles
1 230 (19.98%) Analyst
2 112 (9.73%) Senior
3 103 (8.95%) Developer
4 100 (8.69%) Business Analyst
5 99 (8.60%) Consultant
6 87 (7.56%) Lead
7 62 (5.39%) Data Analyst
8 47 (4.08%) Software Engineer
9 45 (3.91%) Architect
10 43 (3.74%) Tester
11 36 (3.13%) Senior Developer
12 35 (3.04%) Data Engineer
13 33 (2.87%) Data Scientist
14 32 (2.78%) SAP Consultant
15 28 (2.43%) Test Analyst
16 25 (2.17%) Project Manager
17 23 (2.00%) QA Engineer
18 22 (1.91%) Test Engineer
19 21 (1.82%) Network Engineer
19 21 (1.82%) Senior Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 61 (5.30%) REST
2 43 (3.74%) JSON
3 36 (3.13%) Node.js
4 34 (2.95%) XML
5 30 (2.61%) Web Services
6 29 (2.52%) Oracle Fusion
6 29 (2.52%) SOAP
7 27 (2.35%) .NET
8 26 (2.26%) RESTful
9 21 (1.82%) OAuth
10 19 (1.65%) SAP Fiori
11 17 (1.48%) Middleware
12 16 (1.39%) Playwright
13 15 (1.30%) Kafka
13 15 (1.30%) PyTorch
14 14 (1.22%) SAML
15 13 (1.13%) Pandas
15 13 (1.13%) PySpark
15 13 (1.13%) React
15 13 (1.13%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 49 (4.26%) Legacy Systems
2 41 (3.56%) Product Ownership
3 38 (3.30%) Data Structures
4 36 (3.13%) Onboarding
5 34 (2.95%) Management Information System
6 30 (2.61%) FPGA
7 25 (2.17%) Cloud Native
8 24 (2.09%) Data Centre
9 22 (1.91%) Data Protection Act
10 18 (1.56%) Algorithms
10 18 (1.56%) Derivative
10 18 (1.56%) IoT
11 16 (1.39%) Enterprise Software
12 15 (1.30%) Analytical Mindset
12 15 (1.30%) NB-IoT
12 15 (1.30%) Virtual Team
13 13 (1.13%) SCADA
13 13 (1.13%) Security Posture
13 13 (1.13%) Self-Motivation
14 12 (1.04%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 98 (8.51%) Linux
2 80 (6.95%) Windows
3 26 (2.26%) Unix
4 8 (0.70%) Windows Server
5 7 (0.61%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (0.52%) Android
7 4 (0.35%) Apple iOS
7 4 (0.35%) VMS
8 2 (0.17%) Robot Operating System
8 2 (0.17%) Windows Server 2003
8 2 (0.17%) zOS
9 1 (0.087%) Debian
9 1 (0.087%) Embedded Linux
9 1 (0.087%) FreeRTOS
9 1 (0.087%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.087%) MVS
9 1 (0.087%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.087%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.087%) Windows Server 2008
9 1 (0.087%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 326 (28.32%) Agile
2 270 (23.46%) Problem-Solving
3 233 (20.24%) Migration
4 206 (17.90%) DevOps
5 188 (16.33%) CI/CD
6 178 (15.46%) Analytics
7 172 (14.94%) Data Validation
8 161 (13.99%) Stakeholder Management
9 144 (12.51%) Test Automation
10 128 (11.12%) Data Migration
11 121 (10.51%) Business Intelligence
12 111 (9.64%) Data Analysis
12 111 (9.64%) Data Modelling
13 107 (9.30%) User Acceptance Testing
14 106 (9.21%) ETL
14 106 (9.21%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 104 (9.04%) AI
16 101 (8.77%) Data Governance
17 100 (8.69%) Scrum
18 96 (8.34%) Visualisation
Programming Languages
1 286 (24.85%) SQL
2 266 (23.11%) Python
3 95 (8.25%) JavaScript
4 66 (5.73%) C#
5 62 (5.39%) Java
6 52 (4.52%) C++
7 47 (4.08%) PL/SQL
8 38 (3.30%) Bash
9 37 (3.21%) PowerShell
10 27 (2.35%) R
11 18 (1.56%) TypeScript
12 17 (1.48%) C
13 16 (1.39%) Shell Script
14 15 (1.30%) VBA
15 13 (1.13%) Groovy
15 13 (1.13%) T-SQL
16 10 (0.87%) ABAP
17 9 (0.78%) Apex Code
17 9 (0.78%) Tcl
18 8 (0.70%) Data Analysis Expressions
Qualifications
1 269 (23.37%) Security Cleared
2 209 (18.16%) SC Cleared
3 131 (11.38%) Degree
4 35 (3.04%) Computer Science Degree
5 31 (2.69%) DV Cleared
6 26 (2.26%) BPSS Clearance
6 26 (2.26%) Master's Degree
7 23 (2.00%) ISTQB
8 19 (1.65%) Cisco Certification
9 17 (1.48%) PMI Certification
10 14 (1.22%) PhD
11 13 (1.13%) AWS Certification
12 12 (1.04%) CCNP
12 12 (1.04%) CISSP
13 10 (0.87%) Oracle Certification
13 10 (0.87%) PMP
14 9 (0.78%) CBAP
14 9 (0.78%) CCIE
14 9 (0.78%) ITIL Certification
15 8 (0.70%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 136 (11.82%) QA
2 127 (11.03%) Data Quality
3 51 (4.43%) GDPR
4 41 (3.56%) NIST
5 26 (2.26%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 22 (1.91%) Accessibility
7 14 (1.22%) EU AI Act
8 10 (0.87%) Def Stans
9 9 (0.78%) MiFID
10 8 (0.70%) COBIT
10 8 (0.70%) EMIR
10 8 (0.70%) GxP
10 8 (0.70%) PCI DSS
11 7 (0.61%) MISRA
12 6 (0.52%) DO-178B
12 6 (0.52%) IFRS
12 6 (0.52%) NCSC
12 6 (0.52%) PMO
12 6 (0.52%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 4 (0.35%) HL7
System Software
1 46 (4.00%) Active Directory
2 35 (3.04%) VMware Infrastructure
3 34 (2.95%) Docker
4 19 (1.65%) VMware ESXi
5 16 (1.39%) Firmware
6 14 (1.22%) vSphere
7 9 (0.78%) VMware NSX
8 6 (0.52%) Dovecot
8 6 (0.52%) Postfix
9 3 (0.26%) QEMU
9 3 (0.26%) Virtual Machines
10 2 (0.17%) Embedded Firmware
10 2 (0.17%) OpenAM
10 2 (0.17%) OpenDJ
10 2 (0.17%) OpenIDM
10 2 (0.17%) Virtual Desktop
11 1 (0.087%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.087%) Hyper-V
11 1 (0.087%) KVM
11 1 (0.087%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 47 (4.08%) Ansible
1 47 (4.08%) Kubernetes
2 44 (3.82%) Terraform
3 15 (1.30%) Single Sign-On
4 11 (0.96%) Microsoft Intune
5 10 (0.87%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 9 (0.78%) Nessus
6 9 (0.78%) SCCM
7 8 (0.70%) Argo
7 8 (0.70%) Istio
7 8 (0.70%) SCOM
8 7 (0.61%) Grafana
8 7 (0.61%) HP SiteScope
8 7 (0.61%) Puppet
9 6 (0.52%) Kibana
9 6 (0.52%) Nmap
10 5 (0.43%) HP ALM
10 5 (0.43%) vCenter Server
11 4 (0.35%) CASB
11 4 (0.35%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 186 (16.16%) Microsoft
2 130 (11.29%) Oracle
3 87 (7.56%) SAP
4 52 (4.52%) ServiceNow
4 52 (4.52%) VMware
5 38 (3.30%) Salesforce
6 35 (3.04%) Cisco
7 29 (2.52%) Databricks
8 28 (2.43%) Splunk
9 22 (1.91%) Google
9 22 (1.91%) Workday
10 14 (1.22%) MuleSoft
10 14 (1.22%) Red Hat
10 14 (1.22%) Remedy
11 13 (1.13%) IBM
12 11 (0.96%) CyberArk
12 11 (0.96%) EMC
13 10 (0.87%) F5
13 10 (0.87%) Fortinet
13 10 (0.87%) Informatica