Validation Contract Job Trends in the South West

Validation
England > South West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South West requiring Validation skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 10 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 46 38 40
Rank change year-on-year -8 +2 +46
Contract jobs citing Validation 127 83 125
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 3.54% 4.36% 4.48%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.45% 4.87% 5.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 63 48 41
10th Percentile £338 £439 £400
25th Percentile £419 £525 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £575 £575
Median % change year-on-year -8.70% - +4.55%
75th Percentile £600 £649 £638
90th Percentile £725 £655 £672
England median daily rate £500 £520 £478
% change year-on-year -3.85% +8.90% -13.18%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 6 37
10th Percentile £17.75 £31.67 £28.00
25th Percentile £35.13 £41.26 £47.83
Median hourly rate £65.00 £70.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -7.14% +7.69% +5.69%
75th Percentile £69.69 £75.00 £72.50
90th Percentile £85.00 £79.38 -
England median hourly rate £62.50 £62.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year - -3.85% +3.17%

All Process & Methodology Skills
South West

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 West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 2,855 1,705 2,333
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 79.53% 89.50% 83.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,596 1,004 1,494
10th Percentile £325 £220 £263
25th Percentile £424 £363 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.42%
75th Percentile £613 £620 £631
90th Percentile £723 £695 £700
England median daily rate £525 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 425 206 285
10th Percentile £14.83 £14.92 £15.50
25th Percentile £28.00 £18.51 £40.00
Median hourly rate £57.50 £25.15 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +128.63% -61.31% -
75th Percentile £68.00 £63.75 £72.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.00 £77.50
England median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +74.79% -41.51% +2.19%

Validation
Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Validation relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West.

Validation job vacancy trend in the South West

Validation
Daily Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Validation.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Validation

Validation
Daily Rate Histogram in the South West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Validation in the South West over the 6 months to 10 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Validation in the South West

Validation
Hourly Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Validation.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Validation

Validation
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Validation in the South West over the 6 months to 10 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Validation in the South West

Validation
Contract Job Locations in the South West

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 West region over the 6 months to 10 August 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
Bristol +6 60 £550 +0.23% 75
Somerset -15 20 £524 -17.19% 10
Wiltshire -21 20 £388 -37.70% 24
Dorset -2 8 £449 -18.36% 13
Devon -13 8 £463 +15.63% 13
Gloucestershire -18 7 £531 +51.79% 36
Cornwall - 1 - - 1
Validation
England

Validation
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South West 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 3 (2.36%) Confluence
2 2 (1.57%) Apache
2 2 (1.57%) CMS
2 2 (1.57%) Sitecore CMS
3 1 (0.79%) Apache Airflow
3 1 (0.79%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.79%) Jupyter
3 1 (0.79%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 5 (3.94%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (2.36%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (2.36%) MS Visio
3 2 (1.57%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.79%) LaTeX
4 1 (0.79%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (1.57%) Magento
1 2 (1.57%) Oracle Assets
1 2 (1.57%) SAP CRM
1 2 (1.57%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
1 2 (1.57%) Unit4 Business World
2 1 (0.79%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.79%) Dynamics NAV
2 1 (0.79%) IBM Planning Analytics
2 1 (0.79%) NetSuite
2 1 (0.79%) Sage 50
2 1 (0.79%) SystmOne
2 1 (0.79%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 32 (25.20%) Azure
2 13 (10.24%) AWS
3 6 (4.72%) Dynamics 365
3 6 (4.72%) GCP
4 5 (3.94%) Azure ExpressRoute
4 5 (3.94%) Azure Monitor
4 5 (3.94%) Azure Sentinel
5 4 (3.15%) GitHub
6 3 (2.36%) GitHub Actions
6 3 (2.36%) Power Platform
7 2 (1.57%) Azure Data Factory
7 2 (1.57%) Azure DevOps
7 2 (1.57%) Azure Stack
7 2 (1.57%) Boomi
7 2 (1.57%) Intacct
7 2 (1.57%) Lucidchart
7 2 (1.57%) SAP Commerce Cloud
7 2 (1.57%) Snowflake
8 1 (0.79%) Microsoft 365
8 1 (0.79%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 9 (7.09%) TCP/IP
2 8 (6.30%) Firewall
3 7 (5.51%) DNS
4 6 (4.72%) DHCP
4 6 (4.72%) Ethernet
5 5 (3.94%) BGP
5 5 (3.94%) WAN
6 3 (2.36%) VLAN
6 3 (2.36%) VSAN
7 2 (1.57%) ATM
7 2 (1.57%) Network Security
8 1 (0.79%) Modbus
8 1 (0.79%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (3.15%) Metadata
1 4 (3.15%) SQL Server
2 3 (2.36%) Power BI
2 3 (2.36%) SQLite
3 2 (1.57%) Electronic Patient Records
4 1 (0.79%) PostgreSQL
4 1 (0.79%) Relational Database
4 1 (0.79%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 7 (5.51%) Rational DOORS
2 6 (4.72%) Eclipse
2 6 (4.72%) Rational Rhapsody
2 6 (4.72%) Visual Studio
3 5 (3.94%) JIRA
4 4 (3.15%) GitLab
4 4 (3.15%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.79%) Cypress.io
5 1 (0.79%) Gatling
5 1 (0.79%) Oracle Forms
General
1 45 (35.43%) Social Skills
2 20 (15.75%) Analytical Skills
3 19 (14.96%) Finance
4 12 (9.45%) Public Sector
5 10 (7.87%) Military
6 9 (7.09%) Manufacturing
7 7 (5.51%) Organisational Skills
8 6 (4.72%) Aerospace
9 5 (3.94%) Documentation Skills
10 4 (3.15%) Local Government
10 4 (3.15%) Presentation Skills
11 3 (2.36%) Banking
11 3 (2.36%) Influencing Skills
11 3 (2.36%) Law
11 3 (2.36%) Police
12 2 (1.57%) Aviation
12 2 (1.57%) General Ledger
12 2 (1.57%) Investment Banking
12 2 (1.57%) Marketing
12 2 (1.57%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 15 (11.81%) Analyst
2 14 (11.02%) Senior
3 12 (9.45%) Architect
4 11 (8.66%) Systems Engineer
5 10 (7.87%) Business Analyst
5 10 (7.87%) Software Engineer
5 10 (7.87%) Test Engineer
6 9 (7.09%) Consultant
7 8 (6.30%) Data Architect
8 7 (5.51%) Administrator
8 7 (5.51%) Lead
8 7 (5.51%) Systems Administrator
9 6 (4.72%) C# Software Engineer
9 6 (4.72%) Technical Analyst
10 5 (3.94%) Azure Consultant
10 5 (3.94%) C++ Software Engineer
10 5 (3.94%) Engineering Specialist
10 5 (3.94%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 5 (3.94%) Technical Business Analyst
11 4 (3.15%) Embedded Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (5.51%) Middleware
2 6 (4.72%) Node.js
2 6 (4.72%) Web Services
3 4 (3.15%) REST
3 4 (3.15%) XML
4 3 (2.36%) .NET
4 3 (2.36%) .NET Framework
4 3 (2.36%) EDI
4 3 (2.36%) FastAPI
4 3 (2.36%) JSON
4 3 (2.36%) pydantic
5 2 (1.57%) Flash
5 2 (1.57%) Oracle Fusion
6 1 (0.79%) Flask
6 1 (0.79%) Handlebars
6 1 (0.79%) Mustache
6 1 (0.79%) Pandas
6 1 (0.79%) PySpark
6 1 (0.79%) RESTful
6 1 (0.79%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 9 (7.09%) Legacy Systems
2 8 (6.30%) Data Structures
3 7 (5.51%) Management Information System
4 5 (3.94%) Onboarding
5 4 (3.15%) Data Centre
5 4 (3.15%) Data Protection Act
6 3 (2.36%) Analytical Mindset
6 3 (2.36%) Clustering
6 3 (2.36%) Linux Command Line
6 3 (2.36%) Operational Technology
6 3 (2.36%) Self-Motivation
7 2 (1.57%) Enterprise Software
7 2 (1.57%) Life Science
7 2 (1.57%) NHS
7 2 (1.57%) SCADA
8 1 (0.79%) Enterprise Cloud
8 1 (0.79%) FMCG
8 1 (0.79%) Hybrid Cloud
8 1 (0.79%) LIMS
8 1 (0.79%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 19 (14.96%) Windows
2 13 (10.24%) Linux
3 5 (3.94%) Windows Server
4 3 (2.36%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 37 (29.13%) Migration
2 25 (19.69%) Verification and Validation
3 23 (18.11%) Stakeholder Management
4 22 (17.32%) Data Migration
5 20 (15.75%) Problem-Solving
6 18 (14.17%) Data Validation
6 18 (14.17%) ERP
7 16 (12.60%) Agile
7 16 (12.60%) CI/CD
7 16 (12.60%) User Acceptance Testing
8 15 (11.81%) Continuous Improvement
8 15 (11.81%) Data Mapping
8 15 (11.81%) Systems Engineering
9 12 (9.45%) Data Cleansing
9 12 (9.45%) Integration Testing
9 12 (9.45%) Software Engineering
9 12 (9.45%) System Testing
10 11 (8.66%) Configuration Management
11 10 (7.87%) Analytics
11 10 (7.87%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 14 (11.02%) Python
2 13 (10.24%) SQL
3 11 (8.66%) C++
4 7 (5.51%) JavaScript
5 6 (4.72%) C#
6 5 (3.94%) C
7 4 (3.15%) Ada
8 2 (1.57%) Java
9 1 (0.79%) Kotlin
9 1 (0.79%) PL/SQL
9 1 (0.79%) PowerShell
9 1 (0.79%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 40 (31.50%) Security Cleared
2 34 (26.77%) SC Cleared
3 12 (9.45%) Degree
4 4 (3.15%) Chartered Engineer
4 4 (3.15%) DV Cleared
5 3 (2.36%) ACCA
5 3 (2.36%) BPSS Clearance
5 3 (2.36%) CIMA
6 2 (1.57%) CCNA
6 2 (1.57%) CEH
6 2 (1.57%) Cisco Certification
6 2 (1.57%) CompTIA Security+
6 2 (1.57%) Computer Science Degree
6 2 (1.57%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.79%) CIPD
7 1 (0.79%) CISMP
7 1 (0.79%) CRISC
7 1 (0.79%) DBS Check
7 1 (0.79%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
7 1 (0.79%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (10.24%) QA
2 12 (9.45%) Data Quality
3 4 (3.15%) Def Stans
3 4 (3.15%) GDPR
4 2 (1.57%) IFRS
4 2 (1.57%) ISO/IEC 15288
4 2 (1.57%) NCSC
4 2 (1.57%) NIST
4 2 (1.57%) SNOMED CT
5 1 (0.79%) 21 CFR Part 11
5 1 (0.79%) Accessibility
5 1 (0.79%) ARP4761
5 1 (0.79%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.79%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (0.79%) DO-254
5 1 (0.79%) HL7
5 1 (0.79%) HMG Security Policy Framework
5 1 (0.79%) IEC 61508
5 1 (0.79%) ISO/IEC 27005
5 1 (0.79%) JSP 440
System Software
1 9 (7.09%) VMware Infrastructure
2 5 (3.94%) Active Directory
2 5 (3.94%) Hyper-V
2 5 (3.94%) Virtual Machines
3 3 (2.36%) VirtualBox
4 2 (1.57%) VMware Workstation
5 1 (0.79%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.79%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 10 (7.87%) Terraform
2 5 (3.94%) FortiGate
2 5 (3.94%) Kubernetes
3 3 (2.36%) Ansible
4 2 (1.57%) Failover Clustering
4 2 (1.57%) VxRail
5 1 (0.79%) Functional Safety
5 1 (0.79%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 29 (22.83%) Microsoft
2 9 (7.09%) VMware
3 5 (3.94%) IBM
3 5 (3.94%) Zscaler
4 4 (3.15%) Oracle
5 3 (2.36%) Databricks
5 3 (2.36%) SAP
6 2 (1.57%) Atlassian
6 2 (1.57%) MuleSoft
6 2 (1.57%) Sage
6 2 (1.57%) ServiceNow
6 2 (1.57%) Siemens
6 2 (1.57%) Sitecore
6 2 (1.57%) Sparx
7 1 (0.79%) Alteryx
7 1 (0.79%) Foundry
7 1 (0.79%) Informatica
7 1 (0.79%) InterSystems
7 1 (0.79%) Palantir
7 1 (0.79%) UiPath