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 20 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 47 95 128
Rank change year-on-year +48 +33 +6
Contract jobs citing Validation 1,700 677 691
As % of all contract jobs in England 4.58% 2.77% 1.83%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.29% 3.05% 2.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,058 409 384
10th Percentile £350 £363 £325
25th Percentile £406 £423 £433
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £545 £525
Median % change year-on-year -10.09% +3.81% -4.55%
75th Percentile £595 £638 £623
90th Percentile £700 £725 £725
UK median daily rate £486 £530 £538
% change year-on-year -8.39% -1.40% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 93 41 144
10th Percentile £33.30 £25.26 £23.55
25th Percentile £60.00 £47.50 £50.94
Median hourly rate £65.00 £57.75 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +12.55% -3.75% -4.00%
75th Percentile £72.50 £65.00 £75.16
90th Percentile £82.25 £75.00 £90.00
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £57.65 £60.00
% change year-on-year +12.76% -3.93% -4.08%

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 32,109 22,180 32,789
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 86.44% 90.75% 86.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,603 14,473 21,697
10th Percentile £313 £313 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £503 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.19% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £614 £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 1,967 822 2,143
10th Percentile £15.45 £15.07 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.00 £16.04
Median hourly rate £32.50 £33.26 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -2.27% +2.32% -12.87%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £77.47 £71.13
UK median hourly rate £30.00 £32.50 £32.50
% change year-on-year -7.69% - -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 20 March 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 20 March 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 20 March 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 +67 788 £510 -7.27% 270
North of England +35 230 £433 -8.95% 144
South East -5 197 £500 - 219
Midlands +38 183 £486 +2.24% 110
North West +29 149 £418 -7.11% 72
West Midlands +22 144 £486 -1.65% 72
South West +6 134 £475 -17.39% 89
East of England +24 117 £492 +9.38% 103
Yorkshire -3 72 £462 +9.93% 50
East Midlands -6 37 £550 +49.46% 38
North East -7 12 £450 -37.93% 22
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 72 (4.24%) Confluence
2 32 (1.88%) Apache Spark
2 32 (1.88%) SAS
3 31 (1.82%) Apache Airflow
4 16 (0.94%) Apache
5 15 (0.88%) SharePoint
6 11 (0.65%) Microsoft Exchange
7 9 (0.53%) Appian
8 8 (0.47%) Jupyter
9 6 (0.35%) ArcGIS
9 6 (0.35%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
9 6 (0.35%) Oracle Workflow
10 5 (0.29%) CMS
11 4 (0.24%) Anypoint
11 4 (0.24%) Smallworld
12 3 (0.18%) CICS
12 3 (0.18%) GeoServer
12 3 (0.18%) Oracle Self-Service HR
12 3 (0.18%) Oracle SOA Suite
12 3 (0.18%) WebLogic
Applications
1 86 (5.06%) Microsoft Excel
2 23 (1.35%) MS Visio
3 21 (1.24%) Microsoft Office
4 13 (0.76%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 11 (0.65%) Microsoft Project
6 10 (0.59%) Spreadsheet
7 8 (0.47%) Chatbot
8 4 (0.24%) Notion
9 3 (0.18%) LaTeX
10 2 (0.12%) CATIA
10 2 (0.12%) Sketch
11 1 (0.059%) Autodesk Inventor
11 1 (0.059%) CANalyzer
11 1 (0.059%) MicroStation
11 1 (0.059%) OrCAD
11 1 (0.059%) Simulink
11 1 (0.059%) UXPin
Business Applications
1 84 (4.94%) SAP S/4HANA
2 30 (1.76%) Oracle EBS
3 13 (0.76%) Oracle General Ledger
3 13 (0.76%) Oracle Payables
3 13 (0.76%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 13 (0.76%) Workday HCM
4 10 (0.59%) Oracle Receivables
5 9 (0.53%) Oracle Assets
5 9 (0.53%) SAP FI
6 8 (0.47%) Aladdin
6 8 (0.47%) Dynamics CRM
6 8 (0.47%) OpenText VIM for SAP
7 7 (0.41%) NetSuite
7 7 (0.41%) Oracle EBS R12
7 7 (0.41%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 7 (0.41%) SAP MDG
7 7 (0.41%) SAP MM
8 6 (0.35%) Oracle Financials
8 6 (0.35%) Sage X3
8 6 (0.35%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 402 (23.65%) Azure
2 204 (12.00%) AWS
3 147 (8.65%) Power Platform
4 131 (7.71%) Azure DevOps
5 80 (4.71%) GitHub
6 78 (4.59%) GCP
7 53 (3.12%) Azure Data Factory
8 50 (2.94%) Entra ID
8 50 (2.94%) Serverless
9 48 (2.82%) GitHub Actions
10 46 (2.71%) SaaS
11 42 (2.47%) OCI
12 36 (2.12%) Amazon S3
13 35 (2.06%) Snowflake
14 29 (1.71%) Azure Synapse Analytics
15 27 (1.59%) OpenShift
16 25 (1.47%) AWS Lambda
17 22 (1.29%) Microsoft 365
18 21 (1.24%) SuccessFactors
19 19 (1.12%) Boomi
Communications & Networking
1 61 (3.59%) Firewall
2 45 (2.65%) Network Security
3 33 (1.94%) TCP/IP
4 21 (1.24%) DNS
4 21 (1.24%) Ethernet
5 18 (1.06%) VPN
6 15 (0.88%) SAN
6 15 (0.88%) VLAN
6 15 (0.88%) WAN
7 13 (0.76%) NAS
8 10 (0.59%) HTTP
9 9 (0.53%) LAN
9 9 (0.53%) SD-WAN
9 9 (0.53%) Wireless
10 8 (0.47%) BGP
10 8 (0.47%) Internet
10 8 (0.47%) OSPF
11 7 (0.41%) Cisco ISE
11 7 (0.41%) MPLS
11 7 (0.41%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 136 (8.00%) Power BI
2 88 (5.18%) Data Warehouse
3 85 (5.00%) Metadata
4 55 (3.24%) SQL Server
5 50 (2.94%) Tableau
6 41 (2.41%) Data Lake
7 37 (2.18%) PostgreSQL
8 28 (1.65%) Oracle Reports
9 25 (1.47%) Amazon Redshift
9 25 (1.47%) NoSQL
10 23 (1.35%) Delta Lake
11 22 (1.29%) Relational Database
12 20 (1.18%) Azure SQL Database
12 20 (1.18%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 19 (1.12%) Big Data
13 19 (1.12%) Oracle Database
14 18 (1.06%) Pinecone
14 18 (1.06%) SAS Enterprise Guide
15 14 (0.82%) Star Schema
16 13 (0.76%) Amazon Athena
Development Applications
1 173 (10.18%) JIRA
2 101 (5.94%) Git
3 80 (4.71%) Jenkins
4 58 (3.41%) Selenium
5 48 (2.82%) GitLab
6 40 (2.35%) Postman
7 35 (2.06%) JUnit
8 32 (1.88%) Cucumber
9 31 (1.82%) Rational DOORS
10 29 (1.71%) Oracle APEX
11 27 (1.59%) JMeter
12 20 (1.18%) Visual Studio
12 20 (1.18%) WebDriver
13 18 (1.06%) MLflow
14 14 (0.82%) Eclipse
15 12 (0.71%) REST Assured
16 11 (0.65%) Bitbucket
17 10 (0.59%) TestRail
18 9 (0.53%) Cypress.io
18 9 (0.53%) Rational Rhapsody
General
1 595 (35.00%) Social Skills
2 516 (30.35%) Finance
3 340 (20.00%) Analytical Skills
4 153 (9.00%) Public Sector
5 146 (8.59%) Banking
6 85 (5.00%) Documentation Skills
7 48 (2.82%) Presentation Skills
8 45 (2.65%) Manufacturing
9 42 (2.47%) Aerospace
10 32 (1.88%) Pharmaceutical
11 31 (1.82%) Electronics
12 30 (1.76%) Marketing
13 28 (1.65%) Influencing Skills
14 27 (1.59%) Military
15 26 (1.53%) Financial Institution
15 26 (1.53%) Front Office
16 25 (1.47%) Organisational Skills
17 24 (1.41%) Retail
18 23 (1.35%) Legal
18 23 (1.35%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 310 (18.24%) Analyst
2 177 (10.41%) Senior
3 174 (10.24%) Lead
4 144 (8.47%) Business Analyst
5 121 (7.12%) Consultant
6 117 (6.88%) Data Engineer
6 117 (6.88%) Developer
7 112 (6.59%) Architect
8 81 (4.76%) Data Analyst
9 68 (4.00%) Project Manager
10 51 (3.00%) Tester
11 47 (2.76%) Software Engineer
12 41 (2.41%) SAP Consultant
13 38 (2.24%) Senior Analyst
14 37 (2.18%) Senior Developer
15 33 (1.94%) Test Analyst
16 32 (1.88%) Embedded Engineer
16 32 (1.88%) Test Engineer
17 31 (1.82%) Security Engineer
18 30 (1.76%) Test Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 114 (6.71%) REST
2 72 (4.24%) JSON
3 59 (3.47%) Oracle Fusion
4 54 (3.18%) Kafka
5 52 (3.06%) XML
6 47 (2.76%) OAuth
7 44 (2.59%) Middleware
8 40 (2.35%) SOAP
9 37 (2.18%) .NET
10 36 (2.12%) Node.js
10 36 (2.12%) PySpark
11 31 (1.82%) PyTorch
11 31 (1.82%) Web Services
12 30 (1.76%) Swagger
13 29 (1.71%) RESTful
14 28 (1.65%) Playwright
15 27 (1.59%) pytest
15 27 (1.59%) TensorFlow
16 24 (1.41%) Pandas
17 23 (1.35%) JWT
Miscellaneous
1 105 (6.18%) Legacy Systems
2 84 (4.94%) Data Structures
3 72 (4.24%) Product Ownership
4 60 (3.53%) Onboarding
5 42 (2.47%) Cloud Native
6 41 (2.41%) Management Information System
7 36 (2.12%) Data Centre
8 33 (1.94%) Analytical Mindset
9 28 (1.65%) Distributed Systems
10 26 (1.53%) Replication
11 23 (1.35%) Data Protection Act
12 22 (1.29%) Algorithms
13 18 (1.06%) Derivative
13 18 (1.06%) Greenfield Project
13 18 (1.06%) Hybrid Cloud
13 18 (1.06%) Public Cloud
14 16 (0.94%) Credit Risk
14 16 (0.94%) Virtual Team
15 14 (0.82%) AI Agents
15 14 (0.82%) Distributed Architecture
Operating Systems
1 88 (5.18%) Windows
2 69 (4.06%) Linux
3 26 (1.53%) Unix
4 9 (0.53%) Android
5 7 (0.41%) Windows Server
6 6 (0.35%) zOS
7 5 (0.29%) Mac OS
8 3 (0.18%) Embedded Linux
9 2 (0.12%) Apple iOS
9 2 (0.12%) Debian
9 2 (0.12%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.059%) Data ONTAP
10 1 (0.059%) FreeRTOS
10 1 (0.059%) pSOS
10 1 (0.059%) Robot Operating System
Processes & Methodologies
1 415 (24.41%) Migration
2 408 (24.00%) Agile
3 355 (20.88%) Problem-Solving
4 312 (18.35%) Stakeholder Management
5 293 (17.24%) Data Validation
6 289 (17.00%) CI/CD
7 276 (16.24%) Analytics
8 271 (15.94%) DevOps
9 254 (14.94%) Data Migration
10 235 (13.82%) Data Modelling
11 224 (13.18%) ETL
12 216 (12.71%) User Acceptance Testing
13 203 (11.94%) Test Automation
14 197 (11.59%) AI
15 191 (11.24%) Continuous Improvement
16 182 (10.71%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 177 (10.41%) Business Intelligence
18 166 (9.76%) Data Governance
19 147 (8.65%) Workshop Facilitation
20 144 (8.47%) Data Pipeline
Programming Languages
1 426 (25.06%) SQL
2 315 (18.53%) Python
3 87 (5.12%) Java
3 87 (5.12%) JavaScript
4 64 (3.76%) C#
5 50 (2.94%) PL/SQL
6 46 (2.71%) C++
7 40 (2.35%) PowerShell
8 38 (2.24%) C
9 28 (1.65%) TypeScript
10 27 (1.59%) Bash
11 23 (1.35%) R
12 22 (1.29%) Bicep
12 22 (1.29%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 20 (1.18%) Ada
14 17 (1.00%) Groovy
15 16 (0.94%) T-SQL
16 14 (0.82%) Scala
17 12 (0.71%) VBA
18 10 (0.59%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 367 (21.59%) Security Cleared
2 265 (15.59%) SC Cleared
3 153 (9.00%) Degree
4 51 (3.00%) Computer Science Degree
5 49 (2.88%) BPSS Clearance
6 38 (2.24%) DV Cleared
7 33 (1.94%) Master's Degree
8 28 (1.65%) PMI Certification
9 25 (1.47%) PMP
10 23 (1.35%) ISTQB
11 15 (0.88%) Cisco Certification
11 15 (0.88%) CISSP
12 14 (0.82%) CBAP
12 14 (0.82%) Microsoft Certification
13 13 (0.76%) AWS Certification
14 12 (0.71%) CCNP
15 9 (0.53%) Azure Certification
16 8 (0.47%) CCNA
16 8 (0.47%) Oracle Certification
17 7 (0.41%) IIBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 265 (15.59%) Data Quality
2 217 (12.76%) QA
3 94 (5.53%) GDPR
4 71 (4.18%) NIST
5 56 (3.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 24 (1.41%) Accessibility
7 22 (1.29%) IFRS
8 19 (1.12%) Def Stans
8 19 (1.12%) IFRS 17
9 18 (1.06%) SLA
10 17 (1.00%) GRC
11 16 (0.94%) PMO
12 14 (0.82%) PCI DSS
13 13 (0.76%) NCSC
14 12 (0.71%) COBIT
15 11 (0.65%) GxP
15 11 (0.65%) MiFID
16 10 (0.59%) HL7
16 10 (0.59%) MISRA
16 10 (0.59%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 74 (4.35%) Docker
2 40 (2.35%) Active Directory
3 32 (1.88%) VMware Infrastructure
4 21 (1.24%) Firmware
5 10 (0.59%) VMware NSX
6 8 (0.47%) Virtual Desktop
7 7 (0.41%) Hyper-V
7 7 (0.41%) VMware ESXi
8 5 (0.29%) NFS
9 4 (0.24%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
9 4 (0.24%) Virtual Machines
10 3 (0.18%) Embedded Firmware
10 3 (0.18%) vSphere
11 2 (0.12%) Ceph
11 2 (0.12%) KVM
11 2 (0.12%) Lustre
11 2 (0.12%) OpenAM
11 2 (0.12%) OpenDJ
11 2 (0.12%) OpenIDM
11 2 (0.12%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 109 (6.41%) Kubernetes
2 77 (4.53%) Terraform
3 28 (1.65%) Ansible
3 28 (1.65%) Prometheus
3 28 (1.65%) Single Sign-On
4 25 (1.47%) Grafana
5 11 (0.65%) Kibana
5 11 (0.65%) Microsoft Intune
5 11 (0.65%) Puppet
6 9 (0.53%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 6 (0.35%) Nessus
7 6 (0.35%) SCCM
8 5 (0.29%) CASB
9 4 (0.24%) EMC NetWorker
9 4 (0.24%) EMC VPLEX
9 4 (0.24%) FortiGate
9 4 (0.24%) vMotion
10 3 (0.18%) NetBackup
10 3 (0.18%) OMEGAMON
10 3 (0.18%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 224 (13.18%) Microsoft
2 180 (10.59%) Oracle
3 147 (8.65%) SAP
4 80 (4.71%) Databricks
5 72 (4.24%) ServiceNow
6 41 (2.41%) Salesforce
7 40 (2.35%) Splunk
8 39 (2.29%) VMware
9 34 (2.00%) Google
10 32 (1.88%) Cisco
11 29 (1.71%) Informatica
12 28 (1.65%) Sage
13 27 (1.59%) Workday
14 26 (1.53%) MuleSoft
15 21 (1.24%) IBM
16 19 (1.12%) Palo Alto
17 16 (0.94%) CyberArk
18 15 (0.88%) Murex
18 15 (0.88%) OpenAI
19 13 (0.76%) Bloomberg