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 2 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 43 42 41
Rank change year-on-year -1 -1 +38
Contract jobs citing Validation 129 83 143
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 3.62% 4.66% 4.34%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.53% 5.14% 5.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 60 52 48
10th Percentile £359 £423 £208
25th Percentile £400 £525 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £514 £575 £531
Median % change year-on-year -10.65% +8.24% -8.41%
75th Percentile £584 £649 £638
90th Percentile £626 £688 £672
England median daily rate £500 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -11.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 5 51
10th Percentile £17.75 £46.00 £28.00
25th Percentile £29.25 £65.00 £47.83
Median hourly rate £65.00 £75.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.33% +15.38% +5.69%
75th Percentile £67.50 - £72.50
90th Percentile £85.00 £80.25 -
England median hourly rate £62.82 £60.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year +4.70% - -4.00%

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 2,847 1,614 2,719
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 79.90% 90.57% 82.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,538 968 1,712
10th Percentile £325 £217 £260
25th Percentile £413 £363 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £606 £613 £625
90th Percentile £700 £688 £700
England median daily rate £520 £515 £525
% change year-on-year +0.97% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 476 179 381
10th Percentile £16.62 £16.89 £13.86
25th Percentile £32.50 £18.69 £29.75
Median hourly rate £57.50 £28.55 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +101.40% -48.09% -8.33%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.50 £70.25
90th Percentile £72.54 £70.00 £75.00
England median hourly rate £46.62 £25.15 £38.12
% change year-on-year +85.35% -34.02% +1.65%

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 2 July 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 2 July 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 2 July 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 +12 73 £525 -4.55% 46
Somerset -11 16 £523 -11.63% 12
Wiltshire -27 16 £450 -25.00% 11
Dorset -1 9 £449 -18.36% 10
Gloucestershire -13 6 £531 +38.47% 28
Devon -13 6 £600 +50.00% 6
Cornwall - 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 5 (3.88%) Confluence
2 3 (2.33%) Apache
3 2 (1.55%) Apache Airflow
4 1 (0.78%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.78%) Jupyter
4 1 (0.78%) SharePoint
Applications
1 7 (5.43%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (1.55%) MS Visio
2 2 (1.55%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.78%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.78%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 6 (4.65%) Teamcenter
2 2 (1.55%) Oracle Assets
2 2 (1.55%) Unit4 Business World
3 1 (0.78%) NetSuite
3 1 (0.78%) Sage 50
3 1 (0.78%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 28 (21.71%) Azure
2 11 (8.53%) AWS
3 5 (3.88%) Azure ExpressRoute
3 5 (3.88%) Azure Monitor
3 5 (3.88%) Azure Sentinel
3 5 (3.88%) Dynamics 365
3 5 (3.88%) GCP
4 4 (3.10%) GitHub
4 4 (3.10%) Power Platform
5 3 (2.33%) Azure Data Factory
5 3 (2.33%) Azure DevOps
6 2 (1.55%) Boomi
6 2 (1.55%) GitHub Actions
6 2 (1.55%) Intacct
6 2 (1.55%) Lucidchart
6 2 (1.55%) Snowflake
7 1 (0.78%) AWS CloudFormation
7 1 (0.78%) Entra ID
7 1 (0.78%) Microsoft 365
7 1 (0.78%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 10 (7.75%) Ethernet
2 9 (6.98%) Firewall
2 9 (6.98%) TCP/IP
3 7 (5.43%) DNS
4 5 (3.88%) BGP
4 5 (3.88%) DHCP
4 5 (3.88%) WAN
5 2 (1.55%) Network Security
5 2 (1.55%) VLAN
6 1 (0.78%) VoIP
6 1 (0.78%) VSAN
6 1 (0.78%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (3.88%) SQL Server
2 4 (3.10%) Power BI
3 3 (2.33%) Metadata
4 2 (1.55%) Electronic Patient Records
5 1 (0.78%) Data Warehouse
5 1 (0.78%) Delta Lake
5 1 (0.78%) PostgreSQL
5 1 (0.78%) Power Query
5 1 (0.78%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 6 (4.65%) Eclipse
1 6 (4.65%) Rational DOORS
1 6 (4.65%) Visual Studio
2 5 (3.88%) JIRA
2 5 (3.88%) Rational Rhapsody
3 3 (2.33%) GitLab
3 3 (2.33%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.78%) Cypress.io
4 1 (0.78%) Gatling
4 1 (0.78%) Oracle Forms
General
1 39 (30.23%) Social Skills
2 19 (14.73%) Analytical Skills
3 14 (10.85%) Finance
4 11 (8.53%) Manufacturing
4 11 (8.53%) Military
5 10 (7.75%) Aerospace
6 8 (6.20%) Public Sector
7 7 (5.43%) Organisational Skills
8 6 (4.65%) Aviation
9 3 (2.33%) Banking
9 3 (2.33%) Police
10 2 (1.55%) Billing
10 2 (1.55%) Documentation Skills
10 2 (1.55%) General Ledger
10 2 (1.55%) Investment Banking
10 2 (1.55%) Law
10 2 (1.55%) Presentation Skills
10 2 (1.55%) Publishing
11 1 (0.78%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 1 (0.78%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 14 (10.85%) Analyst
2 11 (8.53%) Senior
2 11 (8.53%) Software Engineer
2 11 (8.53%) Validation Engineer
3 10 (7.75%) Architect
3 10 (7.75%) Test Engineer
4 8 (6.20%) Consultant
4 8 (6.20%) Data Architect
4 8 (6.20%) Embedded Engineer
5 7 (5.43%) Administrator
5 7 (5.43%) Lead
5 7 (5.43%) Systems Administrator
5 7 (5.43%) Systems Engineer
6 6 (4.65%) Business Analyst
6 6 (4.65%) C# Software Engineer
6 6 (4.65%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 6 (4.65%) Support Engineer
6 6 (4.65%) Technical Engineer
6 6 (4.65%) Technical Support
6 6 (4.65%) Technical Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (4.65%) Middleware
1 6 (4.65%) Node.js
1 6 (4.65%) Web Services
2 3 (2.33%) .NET
2 3 (2.33%) .NET Framework
2 3 (2.33%) JSON
2 3 (2.33%) REST
2 3 (2.33%) XML
3 2 (1.55%) EDI
3 2 (1.55%) Flask
3 2 (1.55%) Oracle Fusion
3 2 (1.55%) Pandas
4 1 (0.78%) Flash
4 1 (0.78%) OAuth
4 1 (0.78%) OAuth2
4 1 (0.78%) OpenID
4 1 (0.78%) Playwright
4 1 (0.78%) PySpark
4 1 (0.78%) RESTful
4 1 (0.78%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 9 (6.98%) Data Structures
2 7 (5.43%) Legacy Systems
3 6 (4.65%) Management Information System
4 4 (3.10%) FPGA
4 4 (3.10%) PCIe
5 2 (1.55%) Analytical Mindset
5 2 (1.55%) Data Centre
5 2 (1.55%) Linux Command Line
5 2 (1.55%) NHS
5 2 (1.55%) Onboarding
5 2 (1.55%) Operational Technology
5 2 (1.55%) Replication
5 2 (1.55%) Self-Motivation
6 1 (0.78%) Autonomous Agent
6 1 (0.78%) Clustering
6 1 (0.78%) Data Protection Act
6 1 (0.78%) FMCG
6 1 (0.78%) PKI
6 1 (0.78%) SCADA
6 1 (0.78%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 19 (14.73%) Windows
2 13 (10.08%) Linux
3 4 (3.10%) Windows Server
4 2 (1.55%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 31 (24.03%) Migration
2 28 (21.71%) Verification and Validation
3 23 (17.83%) Problem-Solving
4 21 (16.28%) Data Validation
5 20 (15.50%) Data Migration
6 16 (12.40%) ERP
6 16 (12.40%) Stakeholder Management
7 15 (11.63%) Agile
7 15 (11.63%) CI/CD
7 15 (11.63%) Continuous Improvement
7 15 (11.63%) Systems Engineering
8 12 (9.30%) Data Cleansing
8 12 (9.30%) Data Mapping
8 12 (9.30%) Integration Testing
8 12 (9.30%) User Acceptance Testing
9 11 (8.53%) Configuration Management
9 11 (8.53%) Software Engineering
9 11 (8.53%) System Testing
10 10 (7.75%) Data Transformation
11 9 (6.98%) Analytics
Programming Languages
1 15 (11.63%) Python
1 15 (11.63%) SQL
2 10 (7.75%) C++
3 8 (6.20%) C
4 7 (5.43%) JavaScript
5 6 (4.65%) C#
6 5 (3.88%) Ada
7 2 (1.55%) Java
7 2 (1.55%) PowerShell
8 1 (0.78%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 1 (0.78%) Kotlin
8 1 (0.78%) PL/SQL
8 1 (0.78%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 48 (37.21%) Security Cleared
2 40 (31.01%) SC Cleared
3 9 (6.98%) Degree
4 6 (4.65%) DV Cleared
5 3 (2.33%) BPSS Clearance
5 3 (2.33%) Computer Science Degree
6 2 (1.55%) ACCA
6 2 (1.55%) CCNA
6 2 (1.55%) CEH
6 2 (1.55%) Chartered Engineer
6 2 (1.55%) CIMA
6 2 (1.55%) Cisco Certification
6 2 (1.55%) CompTIA Security+
7 1 (0.78%) CIPD
7 1 (0.78%) CISA
7 1 (0.78%) CISMP
7 1 (0.78%) CISSP
7 1 (0.78%) ISEB
7 1 (0.78%) Microsoft Certification
7 1 (0.78%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (10.08%) Data Quality
1 13 (10.08%) QA
2 4 (3.10%) GDPR
3 3 (2.33%) Def Stans
4 2 (1.55%) Accessibility
4 2 (1.55%) IFRS
4 2 (1.55%) NCSC
4 2 (1.55%) NIST
4 2 (1.55%) SNOMED CT
5 1 (0.78%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.78%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (0.78%) GMP
5 1 (0.78%) HL7
5 1 (0.78%) HMG Security Policy Framework
5 1 (0.78%) IEC 61508
5 1 (0.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 1 (0.78%) ISO/IEC 27005
5 1 (0.78%) JSP 440
System Software
1 7 (5.43%) Active Directory
1 7 (5.43%) VMware Infrastructure
2 3 (2.33%) Hyper-V
2 3 (2.33%) Virtual Machines
3 2 (1.55%) VirtualBox
3 2 (1.55%) VMware Workstation
4 1 (0.78%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.78%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 10 (7.75%) Terraform
2 5 (3.88%) FortiGate
3 4 (3.10%) Kubernetes
4 2 (1.55%) Ansible
5 1 (0.78%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 1 (0.78%) Functional Safety
5 1 (0.78%) SCCM
5 1 (0.78%) SCOM
5 1 (0.78%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (0.78%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 25 (19.38%) Microsoft
2 8 (6.20%) VMware
3 6 (4.65%) Siemens
4 5 (3.88%) Zscaler
5 4 (3.10%) IBM
5 4 (3.10%) Oracle
6 3 (2.33%) Databricks
7 2 (1.55%) Alteryx
7 2 (1.55%) MuleSoft
7 2 (1.55%) Sage
8 1 (0.78%) Blue Prism
8 1 (0.78%) EMC
8 1 (0.78%) Informatica
8 1 (0.78%) InterSystems
8 1 (0.78%) SAP
8 1 (0.78%) Tagetik
8 1 (0.78%) UiPath
8 1 (0.78%) Workday