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 21 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 46 44 61
Rank change year-on-year -2 +17 +7
Contract jobs citing Validation 116 78 99
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 3.44% 4.63% 3.13%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.37% 5.09% 3.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 53 49 29
10th Percentile £333 £419 £193
25th Percentile £400 £525 £220
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £575 £400
Median % change year-on-year -17.39% +43.75% -30.07%
75th Percentile £538 £653 £538
90th Percentile £600 £695 £645
England median daily rate £498 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -5.24% +5.00% -9.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 6 34
10th Percentile £17.75 £56.63 £47.83
25th Percentile £58.43 £63.13 £52.50
Median hourly rate £65.00 £70.00 £60.25
Median % change year-on-year -7.14% +16.18% -2.03%
75th Percentile £67.25 £75.00 £71.29
90th Percentile £74.20 £79.38 £72.50
England median hourly rate £65.00 £56.77 £60.50
% change year-on-year +14.50% -6.17% -3.20%

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 2,656 1,531 2,626
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 78.70% 90.81% 82.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,442 949 1,680
10th Percentile £325 £220 £225
25th Percentile £413 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £607 £620 £625
90th Percentile £713 £688 £700
England median daily rate £513 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -2.38% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 458 160 343
10th Percentile £16.44 £18.20 £13.88
25th Percentile £25.30 £18.87 £29.75
Median hourly rate £57.50 £57.50 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year - +4.55% -8.33%
75th Percentile £65.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £70.00 £77.50
England median hourly rate £46.80 £28.75 £36.50
% change year-on-year +62.78% -21.23% -0.11%

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 21 May 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 21 May 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 21 May 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 +10 67 £463 -17.78% 48
Somerset -5 16 £525 +15.07% 3
Wiltshire -32 14 £475 -17.39% 12
Dorset -7 6 £449 -25.17% 11
Devon -14 6 £600 +50.00% 8
Gloucestershire -8 4 £525 +141.56% 24
Cornwall - 1 - - 6
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 10 (8.62%) Confluence
2 3 (2.59%) Jupyter
3 1 (0.86%) Apache
3 1 (0.86%) Apache Airflow
3 1 (0.86%) SharePoint
Applications
1 8 (6.90%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (1.72%) LaTeX
2 2 (1.72%) MS Visio
3 1 (0.86%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (5.17%) Teamcenter
2 2 (1.72%) Unit4 Business World
3 1 (0.86%) NetSuite
3 1 (0.86%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 20 (17.24%) Azure
2 8 (6.90%) AWS
3 4 (3.45%) Dynamics 365
3 4 (3.45%) GCP
4 3 (2.59%) Azure Data Factory
4 3 (2.59%) Azure DevOps
4 3 (2.59%) GitHub
4 3 (2.59%) Power Platform
5 2 (1.72%) Boomi
5 2 (1.72%) Lucidchart
6 1 (0.86%) AWS CloudFormation
6 1 (0.86%) dbt
6 1 (0.86%) GitHub Actions
6 1 (0.86%) Intacct
6 1 (0.86%) OCI
6 1 (0.86%) PowerApps
6 1 (0.86%) SaaS
6 1 (0.86%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 12 (10.34%) Ethernet
1 12 (10.34%) TCP/IP
2 4 (3.45%) DNS
3 3 (2.59%) DHCP
3 3 (2.59%) Firewall
4 1 (0.86%) Network Security
4 1 (0.86%) VLAN
4 1 (0.86%) VoIP
4 1 (0.86%) VSAN
4 1 (0.86%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (3.45%) SQL Server
2 2 (1.72%) Delta Lake
2 2 (1.72%) Electronic Patient Records
2 2 (1.72%) Metadata
2 2 (1.72%) Power BI
3 1 (0.86%) Data Warehouse
3 1 (0.86%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 10 (8.62%) JIRA
2 6 (5.17%) Rational DOORS
3 5 (4.31%) Eclipse
3 5 (4.31%) Visual Studio
4 4 (3.45%) Rational Rhapsody
5 1 (0.86%) GitLab
5 1 (0.86%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.86%) Oracle APEX
General
1 29 (25.00%) Social Skills
2 17 (14.66%) Analytical Skills
3 13 (11.21%) Finance
4 11 (9.48%) Military
5 9 (7.76%) Manufacturing
6 8 (6.90%) Aerospace
7 6 (5.17%) Aviation
7 6 (5.17%) Organisational Skills
7 6 (5.17%) Public Sector
8 3 (2.59%) Electronics
8 3 (2.59%) Police
9 2 (1.72%) Banking
9 2 (1.72%) Investment Banking
9 2 (1.72%) Presentation Skills
10 1 (0.86%) Back Office
10 1 (0.86%) Billing
10 1 (0.86%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (0.86%) Law
10 1 (0.86%) Local Government
10 1 (0.86%) Retail
Job Titles
1 15 (12.93%) Validation Engineer
2 14 (12.07%) Analyst
3 12 (10.34%) Embedded Engineer
3 12 (10.34%) Software Engineer
4 8 (6.90%) Systems Engineer
5 7 (6.03%) Architect
5 7 (6.03%) Embedded Software Engineer
5 7 (6.03%) Integration Engineer
6 6 (5.17%) Administrator
6 6 (5.17%) Data Architect
6 6 (5.17%) Senior
6 6 (5.17%) Support Engineer
6 6 (5.17%) Systems Administrator
6 6 (5.17%) Technical Engineer
6 6 (5.17%) Technical Support
6 6 (5.17%) Technical Support Engineer
6 6 (5.17%) Test Engineer
7 5 (4.31%) C# Software Engineer
7 5 (4.31%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 5 (4.31%) Software Validation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (4.31%) Node.js
1 5 (4.31%) Web Services
2 4 (3.45%) Middleware
3 3 (2.59%) .NET
3 3 (2.59%) .NET Framework
4 2 (1.72%) Flask
4 2 (1.72%) JSON
4 2 (1.72%) Pandas
4 2 (1.72%) XML
5 1 (0.86%) EDI
5 1 (0.86%) FHIR
5 1 (0.86%) Flash
5 1 (0.86%) OAuth
5 1 (0.86%) OAuth2
5 1 (0.86%) OpenID
5 1 (0.86%) PySpark
5 1 (0.86%) REST
5 1 (0.86%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 12 (10.34%) Data Structures
2 8 (6.90%) PCIe
3 7 (6.03%) FPGA
4 6 (5.17%) Legacy Systems
5 3 (2.59%) Cloud Native
5 3 (2.59%) Embedded Systems
5 3 (2.59%) Management Information System
6 2 (1.72%) Algorithms
6 2 (1.72%) Analytical Mindset
6 2 (1.72%) Data Centre
6 2 (1.72%) Greenfield Project
6 2 (1.72%) Onboarding
7 1 (0.86%) Clustering
7 1 (0.86%) Device Driver
7 1 (0.86%) Linux Command Line
7 1 (0.86%) NHS
7 1 (0.86%) Operational Technology
7 1 (0.86%) Private Cloud
7 1 (0.86%) Renewable Energy
7 1 (0.86%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 16 (13.79%) Windows
2 15 (12.93%) Linux
3 3 (2.59%) Windows Server
4 2 (1.72%) Android
5 1 (0.86%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 28 (24.14%) Verification and Validation
2 25 (21.55%) Problem-Solving
3 22 (18.97%) Migration
4 18 (15.52%) Data Validation
4 18 (15.52%) Systems Engineering
5 16 (13.79%) Data Migration
6 14 (12.07%) ERP
7 13 (11.21%) Agile
7 13 (11.21%) Continuous Improvement
7 13 (11.21%) Data Mapping
7 13 (11.21%) Integration Testing
8 12 (10.34%) CI/CD
8 12 (10.34%) Software Engineering
9 11 (9.48%) Data Transformation
9 11 (9.48%) Stakeholder Management
9 11 (9.48%) Unit Testing
10 10 (8.62%) Data Cleansing
10 10 (8.62%) ETL
10 10 (8.62%) Workflow
11 9 (7.76%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 19 (16.38%) Python
2 15 (12.93%) C
3 13 (11.21%) SQL
4 9 (7.76%) C++
5 8 (6.90%) JavaScript
6 5 (4.31%) C#
7 4 (3.45%) Ada
7 4 (3.45%) PowerShell
8 3 (2.59%) Embedded C
9 2 (1.72%) Java
9 2 (1.72%) MATLAB
10 1 (0.86%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 1 (0.86%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 45 (38.79%) Security Cleared
2 38 (32.76%) SC Cleared
3 6 (5.17%) DV Cleared
4 5 (4.31%) Degree
5 2 (1.72%) BPSS Clearance
5 2 (1.72%) CCNA
5 2 (1.72%) Cisco Certification
5 2 (1.72%) Computer Science Degree
6 1 (0.86%) CEH
6 1 (0.86%) Chartered Engineer
6 1 (0.86%) CISA
6 1 (0.86%) CISMP
6 1 (0.86%) CISSP
6 1 (0.86%) CompTIA Security+
6 1 (0.86%) CRISC
6 1 (0.86%) ISEB
6 1 (0.86%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
6 1 (0.86%) Microsoft Certification
6 1 (0.86%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (10.34%) QA
2 11 (9.48%) Data Quality
3 5 (4.31%) Def Stans
4 4 (3.45%) GDPR
5 3 (2.59%) DO-178B
5 3 (2.59%) MISRA
6 2 (1.72%) Accessibility
6 2 (1.72%) NCSC
6 2 (1.72%) NIST
6 2 (1.72%) SNOMED CT
7 1 (0.86%) Cyber Essentials
7 1 (0.86%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 1 (0.86%) GMP
7 1 (0.86%) HL7
7 1 (0.86%) HMG Security Policy Framework
7 1 (0.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 1 (0.86%) ISO/IEC 27005
7 1 (0.86%) JSP 440
System Software
1 5 (4.31%) Active Directory
1 5 (4.31%) Firmware
1 5 (4.31%) VMware Infrastructure
2 2 (1.72%) Hyper-V
2 2 (1.72%) Virtual Machines
3 1 (0.86%) VirtualBox
3 1 (0.86%) VMware ESXi
3 1 (0.86%) VMware NSX
3 1 (0.86%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 3 (2.59%) Kubernetes
1 3 (2.59%) Terraform
2 1 (0.86%) Active Directory Federation Services
2 1 (0.86%) Ansible
2 1 (0.86%) SCCM
2 1 (0.86%) SCOM
2 1 (0.86%) Single Sign-On
2 1 (0.86%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 16 (13.79%) Microsoft
2 6 (5.17%) Siemens
2 6 (5.17%) VMware
3 3 (2.59%) Databricks
3 3 (2.59%) IBM
4 2 (1.72%) MuleSoft
4 2 (1.72%) Oracle
5 1 (0.86%) Alteryx
5 1 (0.86%) Blue Prism
5 1 (0.86%) EMC
5 1 (0.86%) InterSystems
5 1 (0.86%) Sage
5 1 (0.86%) SAP
5 1 (0.86%) Tagetik
5 1 (0.86%) UiPath