Validation Contracts in the South East

Validation
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the South East requiring Validation skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Validation over the 6 months leading up to 15 August 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Aug 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 44 85 115
Rank change year-on-year +41 +30 0
Contract jobs citing Validation 165 116 101
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the South East 4.65% 2.36% 1.81%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.17% 2.86% 2.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 108 67 60
10th Percentile £325 £268 £395
25th Percentile £422 £363 £471
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £482 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.73% -8.19% +5.00%
75th Percentile £600 £575 £600
90th Percentile £620 £617 £646
England median daily rate £515 £480 £550
% change year-on-year +7.29% -12.73% +3.79%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 22 23
10th Percentile £47.86 £54.04 £25.50
25th Percentile £51.20 £60.66 £42.50
Median hourly rate £56.25 £75.93 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -25.92% +38.05% +22.22%
75th Percentile £62.50 £76.86 £60.19
90th Percentile £63.63 - £65.33
England median hourly rate £62.50 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year -3.85% - +19.46%

All Process and Methodology Skills
South East

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 the South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 3,189 4,059 4,963
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 89.93% 82.75% 88.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,990 2,483 3,350
10th Percentile £250 £255 £253
25th Percentile £400 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £518 £518
Median % change year-on-year -3.39% -0.09% +3.60%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £623
90th Percentile £670 £700 £700
England median daily rate £513 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -2.38% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 296 323 233
10th Percentile £13.50 £15.00 £15.30
25th Percentile £15.13 £26.25 £21.05
Median hourly rate £21.50 £57.35 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -62.51% +14.70% +100.00%
75th Percentile £50.00 £70.09 £63.75
90th Percentile £70.71 £76.86 £75.00
England median hourly rate £25.15 £43.00 £41.50
% change year-on-year -41.51% +3.61% +56.60%

Validation
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Job postings citing Validation as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Job vacancy trend for Validation in the South East

Validation
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the South East

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Validation in the South East.

Daily rate trend for Validation in the South East

Validation
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Validation in the South East over the 6 months to 15 August 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Validation in the South East

Validation
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Validation in the South East.

Hourly rate trend for Validation in the South East

Validation
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Validation in the South East over the 6 months to 15 August 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Validation in the South East

Validation
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Validation within the South East region over the 6 months to 15 August 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
Thames Valley +60 84 £500 +33.33% 67
Berkshire +52 60 £510 +31.61% 31
Hampshire +13 42 £500 -14.09% 42
Buckinghamshire +23 20 £375 - 14
Surrey -9 15 £600 +41.18% 25
West Sussex +13 11 £470 +10.59% 15
Oxfordshire -10 4 £475 +35.71% 24
Kent -5 1 - - 7
Validation
England

Validation
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the South East by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 7 (4.24%) Confluence
2 4 (2.42%) Apache Airflow
2 4 (2.42%) Oracle SOA Suite
2 4 (2.42%) SharePoint
3 3 (1.82%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (1.82%) OpenStack
3 3 (1.82%) Smallworld
4 2 (1.21%) ArcGIS
4 2 (1.21%) Oracle Spatial
4 2 (1.21%) SAS
4 2 (1.21%) TPMS
4 2 (1.21%) WebLogic
5 1 (0.61%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.61%) Jupyter
5 1 (0.61%) Oracle Workflow
5 1 (0.61%) WebSphere
Applications
1 9 (5.45%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (2.42%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.61%) Adobe Captivate
3 1 (0.61%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.61%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 9 (5.45%) Oracle EBS
2 5 (3.03%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (1.82%) Oracle EBS R12
3 3 (1.82%) Payment Gateway
4 2 (1.21%) Maximo
4 2 (1.21%) Oracle ERP
4 2 (1.21%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.61%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.61%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 19 (11.52%) AWS
2 15 (9.09%) Azure
3 11 (6.67%) Power Platform
4 8 (4.85%) Azure DevOps
5 7 (4.24%) Cloud Computing
6 5 (3.03%) GCP
6 5 (3.03%) Serverless
7 4 (2.42%) Amazon S3
7 4 (2.42%) AWS Lambda
7 4 (2.42%) dbt
7 4 (2.42%) OCI
8 3 (1.82%) Amazon EMR
8 3 (1.82%) Amazon Kinesis
8 3 (1.82%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 3 (1.82%) OpenShift
8 3 (1.82%) SaaS
9 2 (1.21%) Dynamics 365
9 2 (1.21%) Microsoft 365
10 1 (0.61%) GitHub
10 1 (0.61%) Lucidchart
Communications & Networking
1 9 (5.45%) Firewall
1 9 (5.45%) Network Security
2 7 (4.24%) SNMP
2 7 (4.24%) VPN
3 4 (2.42%) HTTP
3 4 (2.42%) Software-Defined Radio
4 3 (1.82%) 5G
4 3 (1.82%) BGP
4 3 (1.82%) DNS
4 3 (1.82%) LAN
4 3 (1.82%) MPLS
4 3 (1.82%) OSPF
4 3 (1.82%) TACACS
4 3 (1.82%) WAN
4 3 (1.82%) Wireless
5 2 (1.21%) Broadband
5 2 (1.21%) SMS
5 2 (1.21%) SS7
5 2 (1.21%) VoWiFi
5 2 (1.21%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (6.67%) NoSQL
1 11 (6.67%) Power BI
2 10 (6.06%) Data Warehouse
3 7 (4.24%) Metadata
3 7 (4.24%) Oracle Reports
3 7 (4.24%) Tableau
4 6 (3.64%) Data Lake
5 5 (3.03%) Relational Database
5 5 (3.03%) SQL Server
6 3 (1.82%) Amazon Redshift
6 3 (1.82%) BusinessObjects
6 3 (1.82%) GIS
6 3 (1.82%) Oracle BI Publisher
6 3 (1.82%) Spatial Data
7 2 (1.21%) Big Data
7 2 (1.21%) MS Access
7 2 (1.21%) NewSQL
7 2 (1.21%) Qlik Sense
8 1 (0.61%) Crystal Reports
8 1 (0.61%) MySQL
Development Applications
1 25 (15.15%) JIRA
2 10 (6.06%) Git
3 9 (5.45%) Jenkins
4 4 (2.42%) GoogleTest
4 4 (2.42%) Robot Framework
5 3 (1.82%) Bitbucket
6 2 (1.21%) Cucumber
6 2 (1.21%) MLflow
6 2 (1.21%) Postman
6 2 (1.21%) QARun
6 2 (1.21%) Selenium
6 2 (1.21%) SoapUI
6 2 (1.21%) Toad
6 2 (1.21%) WinRunner
7 1 (0.61%) Eclipse
7 1 (0.61%) LabVIEW
7 1 (0.61%) Maven
7 1 (0.61%) NUnit
7 1 (0.61%) Rational DOORS
7 1 (0.61%) TeamCity
General
1 82 (49.70%) Social Skills
2 43 (26.06%) Analytical Skills
3 15 (9.09%) Telecoms
4 11 (6.67%) Finance
5 5 (3.03%) Aerospace
5 5 (3.03%) Documentation Skills
6 4 (2.42%) Banking
6 4 (2.42%) Public Sector
7 3 (1.82%) Billing
7 3 (1.82%) Legal
7 3 (1.82%) Manufacturing
7 3 (1.82%) Presentation Skills
8 2 (1.21%) Avionics
8 2 (1.21%) Electronics
8 2 (1.21%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 2 (1.21%) Influencing Skills
8 2 (1.21%) Organisational Skills
8 2 (1.21%) Retail
9 1 (0.61%) Automotive
9 1 (0.61%) Military
Job Titles
1 27 (16.36%) Analyst
2 17 (10.30%) Senior
3 14 (8.48%) FPGA Engineer
4 12 (7.27%) Architect
4 12 (7.27%) Consultant
4 12 (7.27%) Data Analyst
5 8 (4.85%) Business Analyst
5 8 (4.85%) Cloud Engineer
5 8 (4.85%) Network Engineer
5 8 (4.85%) Test Analyst
6 7 (4.24%) Data Engineer
6 7 (4.24%) DevOps Engineer
6 7 (4.24%) Lead
6 7 (4.24%) Test Engineer
6 7 (4.24%) Tester
7 6 (3.64%) AWS Engineer
7 6 (3.64%) Senior Analyst
7 6 (3.64%) VMware Engineer
8 5 (3.03%) Senior Test Analyst
8 5 (3.03%) Test Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (4.85%) Web Services
2 6 (3.64%) CSS
3 4 (2.42%) HTML
3 4 (2.42%) Kafka
3 4 (2.42%) Middleware
4 3 (1.82%) Node.js
4 3 (1.82%) Oracle Fusion
4 3 (1.82%) SAP Fiori
5 2 (1.21%) Jest
5 2 (1.21%) Playwright
5 2 (1.21%) PostGIS
5 2 (1.21%) PyTorch
5 2 (1.21%) React
5 2 (1.21%) Sass
5 2 (1.21%) TensorFlow
6 1 (0.61%) Hugging Face
6 1 (0.61%) JSON
6 1 (0.61%) SAP PI
6 1 (0.61%) SOAP
6 1 (0.61%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 17 (10.30%) FPGA
2 14 (8.48%) Verilog
3 13 (7.88%) Product Ownership
4 9 (5.45%) Data Structures
4 9 (5.45%) Legacy Systems
5 5 (3.03%) Cloud Native
5 5 (3.03%) Data Centre
5 5 (3.03%) Onboarding
5 5 (3.03%) SCADA
6 4 (2.42%) Management Information System
7 3 (1.82%) Hybrid Cloud
8 2 (1.21%) Algorithms
8 2 (1.21%) Analytical Mindset
8 2 (1.21%) Credit Risk
8 2 (1.21%) Embedded Systems
8 2 (1.21%) Learning Management System
8 2 (1.21%) Linux Command Line
8 2 (1.21%) Public Cloud
8 2 (1.21%) Replication
8 2 (1.21%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 26 (15.76%) Linux
2 18 (10.91%) Unix
3 15 (9.09%) Windows
4 2 (1.21%) VMS
5 1 (0.61%) Android
5 1 (0.61%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.61%) Windows 7
5 1 (0.61%) Windows Server
5 1 (0.61%) Windows Server 2008
5 1 (0.61%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 45 (27.27%) Problem-Solving
2 44 (26.67%) Migration
3 31 (18.79%) Agile
4 26 (15.76%) Data Migration
5 24 (14.55%) Software Engineering
6 23 (13.94%) Test Automation
7 22 (13.33%) DevOps
8 19 (11.52%) Data Validation
9 18 (10.91%) CI/CD
9 18 (10.91%) Data Modelling
9 18 (10.91%) ETL
9 18 (10.91%) Verification and Validation
10 17 (10.30%) Business Intelligence
11 15 (9.09%) Data Collection
12 14 (8.48%) Analytics
12 14 (8.48%) FPGA Design
12 14 (8.48%) Integration Testing
13 13 (7.88%) Test Strategy
14 12 (7.27%) Data Mapping
14 12 (7.27%) Data Transformation
Programming Languages
1 45 (27.27%) SQL
2 41 (24.85%) Python
3 15 (9.09%) Shell Script
4 14 (8.48%) SystemVerilog
4 14 (8.48%) Tcl
5 10 (6.06%) PL/SQL
6 8 (4.85%) Java
7 5 (3.03%) C#
7 5 (3.03%) Perl
7 5 (3.03%) Scala
8 4 (2.42%) TypeScript
9 3 (1.82%) PowerShell
10 2 (1.21%) C
10 2 (1.21%) C++
10 2 (1.21%) JavaScript
10 2 (1.21%) Magik
10 2 (1.21%) VB
11 1 (0.61%) Embedded C
11 1 (0.61%) Korn
Qualifications
1 36 (21.82%) Security Cleared
2 25 (15.15%) SC Cleared
3 21 (12.73%) Degree
4 12 (7.27%) AWS Certification
5 11 (6.67%) Cisco Certification
6 8 (4.85%) CCNP
6 8 (4.85%) Computer Science Degree
7 7 (4.24%) CCNA
8 6 (3.64%) CISSP
8 6 (3.64%) DV Cleared
9 5 (3.03%) CISM
9 5 (3.03%) Master's Degree
10 4 (2.42%) CCIE
11 3 (1.82%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 3 (1.82%) JNCIE
12 2 (1.21%) BPSS Clearance
12 2 (1.21%) CEH
13 1 (0.61%) ISEB
13 1 (0.61%) ISTQB
13 1 (0.61%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (11.52%) QA
2 17 (10.30%) Data Quality
3 8 (4.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 7 (4.24%) GDPR
5 5 (3.03%) NIST
6 4 (2.42%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 2 (1.21%) COBIT
7 2 (1.21%) HIPAA
7 2 (1.21%) IFRS
7 2 (1.21%) IFRS 9
7 2 (1.21%) ISO 9001
7 2 (1.21%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 1 (0.61%) EU AI Act
8 1 (0.61%) GRC
8 1 (0.61%) ITGC
8 1 (0.61%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.61%) PMO
8 1 (0.61%) RMADS
System Software
1 6 (3.64%) VMware ESXi
1 6 (3.64%) vSphere
2 5 (3.03%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (2.42%) Active Directory
3 4 (2.42%) Docker
4 3 (1.82%) Firmware
4 3 (1.82%) VMware NSX
5 1 (0.61%) Oracle RAC
5 1 (0.61%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 5 (3.03%) Kubernetes
1 5 (3.03%) Terraform
2 4 (2.42%) Ansible
3 2 (1.21%) Kubeflow
4 1 (0.61%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
4 1 (0.61%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
4 1 (0.61%) Oracle RMAN
4 1 (0.61%) Rsyslog
4 1 (0.61%) SCOM
Vendors
1 22 (13.33%) Microsoft
2 15 (9.09%) Oracle
3 14 (8.48%) Xilinx
4 11 (6.67%) VMware
5 8 (4.85%) Cisco
6 7 (4.24%) SAP
7 5 (3.03%) ServiceNow
8 4 (2.42%) F5
8 4 (2.42%) Salesforce
8 4 (2.42%) Virgin Media
9 3 (1.82%) Databricks
9 3 (1.82%) ESRI
9 3 (1.82%) Fortinet
9 3 (1.82%) Juniper
10 2 (1.21%) Autodesk
10 2 (1.21%) Citrix
10 2 (1.21%) Google
10 2 (1.21%) Mentor Graphics
10 2 (1.21%) Remedy
10 2 (1.21%) Splunk