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 12 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 40 50 74
Rank change year-on-year +10 +24 -11
Contract jobs citing Validation 122 82 78
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 4.50% 4.37% 2.51%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.53% 4.93% 2.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 73 40 31
10th Percentile £363 £427 £208
25th Percentile £450 £508 £220
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £575 £500
Median % change year-on-year -17.39% +15.00% -13.04%
75th Percentile £500 £675 £725
90th Percentile £552 £727 £747
England median daily rate £499 £525 £528
% change year-on-year -5.05% -0.47% -4.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 13 34
10th Percentile £39.64 £25.26 £48.48
25th Percentile £60.00 £48.00 £52.50
Median hourly rate £64.07 £62.50 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +2.51% +4.17% -4.60%
75th Percentile £67.31 £66.00 £69.49
90th Percentile £73.08 £73.50 £74.00
England median hourly rate £65.00 £60.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year +7.44% -6.92% +3.92%

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 2,205 1,664 2,611
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 81.40% 88.70% 84.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,234 1,025 1,681
10th Percentile £275 £225 £270
25th Percentile £409 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £530
Median % change year-on-year - -0.94% -2.75%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £700 £725
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 388 101 326
10th Percentile £16.62 £19.83 £14.54
25th Percentile £22.73 £47.50 £31.60
Median hourly rate £57.50 £65.00 £52.35
Median % change year-on-year -11.54% +24.16% -14.87%
75th Percentile £65.00 £68.00 £68.75
90th Percentile - £70.00 £78.00
England median hourly rate £25.77 £35.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -26.37% - -

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 12 February 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 12 February 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 12 February 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 +18 64 £475 -13.64% 32
Gloucestershire +18 36 £475 -18.24% 19
Somerset -12 8 £475 +8.57% 5
Wiltshire -37 7 £524 -8.91% 3
Devon - 5 £475 - 4
Dorset -6 1 - - 5
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 9 (7.38%) Confluence
2 7 (5.74%) SharePoint
3 6 (4.92%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (1.64%) Jupyter
5 1 (0.82%) Apache
5 1 (0.82%) Apache Airflow
Applications
1 4 (3.28%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (1.64%) LaTeX
2 2 (1.64%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.82%) Siemens NX
3 1 (0.82%) Simulink
3 1 (0.82%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 5 (4.10%) Teamcenter
2 2 (1.64%) Primavera
2 2 (1.64%) SAP Oil and Gas
3 1 (0.82%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 43 (35.25%) Azure
2 36 (29.51%) Azure DevOps
3 6 (4.92%) Microsoft 365
3 6 (4.92%) OneDrive
4 5 (4.10%) AWS
4 5 (4.10%) ShareGate
5 4 (3.28%) Entra ID
6 3 (2.46%) Power Platform
7 2 (1.64%) Azure Data Factory
7 2 (1.64%) GitHub
7 2 (1.64%) Google Workspace
8 1 (0.82%) OCI
8 1 (0.82%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 9 (7.38%) TCP/IP
2 8 (6.56%) Ethernet
3 4 (3.28%) Firewall
4 3 (2.46%) DNS
5 1 (0.82%) 2G
5 1 (0.82%) 4G
5 1 (0.82%) 5G
5 1 (0.82%) Radio Access Network
5 1 (0.82%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (1.64%) Delta Lake
1 2 (1.64%) Power BI
2 1 (0.82%) Data Warehouse
2 1 (0.82%) Power Query
2 1 (0.82%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 31 (25.41%) Oracle APEX
2 13 (10.66%) JIRA
3 5 (4.10%) Rational DOORS
4 2 (1.64%) Git
4 2 (1.64%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.82%) Eclipse
5 1 (0.82%) Oracle Forms
5 1 (0.82%) Rational Rhapsody
5 1 (0.82%) Rational Team Concert
5 1 (0.82%) SoapUI
5 1 (0.82%) Visual Studio
General
1 50 (40.98%) Social Skills
2 20 (16.39%) Analytical Skills
3 10 (8.20%) Aerospace
4 9 (7.38%) Electronics
4 9 (7.38%) Finance
5 8 (6.56%) Military
6 5 (4.10%) Aviation
6 5 (4.10%) Manufacturing
6 5 (4.10%) Public Sector
7 3 (2.46%) Telecoms
8 2 (1.64%) General Ledger
9 1 (0.82%) Back Office
9 1 (0.82%) Billing
9 1 (0.82%) Documentation Skills
9 1 (0.82%) Law
9 1 (0.82%) Organisational Skills
9 1 (0.82%) Pharmaceutical
9 1 (0.82%) Presentation Skills
9 1 (0.82%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 32 (26.23%) Developer
2 31 (25.41%) Senior
3 29 (23.77%) Senior Developer
4 16 (13.11%) Validation Engineer
5 15 (12.30%) Embedded Engineer
6 12 (9.84%) Analyst
7 11 (9.02%) Software Engineer
8 10 (8.20%) Embedded Software Engineer
9 7 (5.74%) Integration Engineer
10 6 (4.92%) Systems Engineer
11 5 (4.10%) Network Engineer
11 5 (4.10%) Software Validation Engineer
11 5 (4.10%) Support Engineer
11 5 (4.10%) Technical Engineer
11 5 (4.10%) Technical Support
11 5 (4.10%) Technical Support Engineer
12 4 (3.28%) Lead
12 4 (3.28%) Microsoft 365 Consultant
12 4 (3.28%) Migration Consultant
12 4 (3.28%) Network Integration Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (3.28%) REST
2 3 (2.46%) OAuth
2 3 (2.46%) OAuth2
2 3 (2.46%) OpenID
2 3 (2.46%) SAML
2 3 (2.46%) SOAP
3 2 (1.64%) AngularJS
3 2 (1.64%) Bootstrap
3 2 (1.64%) CSS
3 2 (1.64%) HTML
3 2 (1.64%) JSON
3 2 (1.64%) Web Services
3 2 (1.64%) XML
4 1 (0.82%) Flask
4 1 (0.82%) Node.js
4 1 (0.82%) Pandas
4 1 (0.82%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 9 (7.38%) Embedded Systems
1 9 (7.38%) Legacy Systems
2 8 (6.56%) PCIe
3 7 (5.74%) FPGA
4 6 (4.92%) Data Structures
5 3 (2.46%) Management Information System
5 3 (2.46%) Private Cloud
5 3 (2.46%) Replication
6 2 (1.64%) Algorithms
6 2 (1.64%) Cloud Native
6 2 (1.64%) CMDB
6 2 (1.64%) SCADA
7 1 (0.82%) Data Protection Act
7 1 (0.82%) Device Driver
7 1 (0.82%) Greenfield Project
7 1 (0.82%) IoT
7 1 (0.82%) NB-IoT
7 1 (0.82%) PKI
7 1 (0.82%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 14 (11.48%) Windows
2 9 (7.38%) Linux
3 4 (3.28%) Android
4 3 (2.46%) Windows Server
5 1 (0.82%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 44 (36.07%) Agile
2 36 (29.51%) DevOps
3 34 (27.87%) Scrum
4 29 (23.77%) Collaborative Working
4 29 (23.77%) Requirements Analysis
5 27 (22.13%) Software Delivery
5 27 (22.13%) Web Application Development
6 26 (21.31%) Verification and Validation
7 23 (18.85%) Problem-Solving
8 22 (18.03%) Systems Engineering
9 14 (11.48%) Software Engineering
10 12 (9.84%) Continuous Improvement
10 12 (9.84%) Migration
10 12 (9.84%) Stakeholder Management
11 11 (9.02%) Change Management
11 11 (9.02%) Data Validation
12 9 (7.38%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 9 (7.38%) Unit Testing
13 8 (6.56%) Data Migration
13 8 (6.56%) Workflow
Programming Languages
1 39 (31.97%) SQL
2 38 (31.15%) JavaScript
3 31 (25.41%) PL/SQL
4 19 (15.57%) C
5 13 (10.66%) PowerShell
6 12 (9.84%) Python
7 3 (2.46%) Embedded C
7 3 (2.46%) MATLAB
8 2 (1.64%) Ada
8 2 (1.64%) C++
9 1 (0.82%) C#
9 1 (0.82%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 1 (0.82%) Fortran
9 1 (0.82%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 67 (54.92%) Security Cleared
2 58 (47.54%) SC Cleared
3 9 (7.38%) Degree
4 6 (4.92%) DV Cleared
5 4 (3.28%) Microsoft Certification
6 1 (0.82%) ACCA
6 1 (0.82%) BPSS Clearance
6 1 (0.82%) CIMA
6 1 (0.82%) CISSP
6 1 (0.82%) Computer Science Degree
6 1 (0.82%) HND
6 1 (0.82%) ITIL Certification
6 1 (0.82%) Master's Degree
6 1 (0.82%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (8.20%) Def Stans
2 9 (7.38%) DO-178B
2 9 (7.38%) MISRA
3 7 (5.74%) GDPR
4 6 (4.92%) QA
5 5 (4.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 4 (3.28%) Data Quality
7 2 (1.64%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.82%) GMP
System Software
1 11 (9.02%) Firmware
2 8 (6.56%) Active Directory
3 3 (2.46%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 7 (5.74%) Active Directory Federation Services
2 4 (3.28%) Single Sign-On
3 2 (1.64%) SCCM
4 1 (0.82%) HP ALM
4 1 (0.82%) Microsoft Intune
4 1 (0.82%) SCOM
4 1 (0.82%) Terraform
Vendors
1 35 (28.69%) Oracle
2 16 (13.11%) Microsoft
3 6 (4.92%) Siemens
4 5 (4.10%) Twitter
5 4 (3.28%) SAP
5 4 (3.28%) VMware
6 2 (1.64%) Databricks
6 2 (1.64%) Google
6 2 (1.64%) ServiceNow
6 2 (1.64%) Workday
7 1 (0.82%) Alteryx
7 1 (0.82%) BMC
7 1 (0.82%) EMC
7 1 (0.82%) HP
7 1 (0.82%) IBM
7 1 (0.82%) MathWorks
7 1 (0.82%) Remedy
7 1 (0.82%) Salesforce