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 5 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 37 45 81
Rank change year-on-year +8 +36 -25
Contract jobs citing Validation 135 78 69
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 4.67% 4.53% 2.19%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.78% 5.01% 2.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 81 43 29
10th Percentile £363 £421 £193
25th Percentile £450 £503 £220
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £575 £475
Median % change year-on-year -17.39% +21.05% -16.96%
75th Percentile £511 £675 £725
90th Percentile £573 £744 £747
England median daily rate £500 £540 £530
% change year-on-year -7.41% +1.89% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 12 28
10th Percentile £45.01 £25.26 £47.83
25th Percentile £60.00 £42.31 £52.50
Median hourly rate £64.07 £62.50 £55.25
Median % change year-on-year +2.51% +13.12% -11.24%
75th Percentile £67.25 £66.38 £67.15
90th Percentile £72.63 £74.25 £74.30
England median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year +4.00% -3.85% +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 2,336 1,556 2,656
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 80.77% 90.31% 84.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,264 995 1,708
10th Percentile £305 £225 £270
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £529
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -0.71% -3.69%
75th Percentile £606 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £700 £713
England median daily rate £505 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 416 106 332
10th Percentile £15.94 £25.13 £14.42
25th Percentile £23.16 £55.00 £29.75
Median hourly rate £57.50 £65.00 £48.72
Median % change year-on-year -11.54% +33.42% -20.78%
75th Percentile £65.00 £68.00 £66.26
90th Percentile £66.63 £70.00 £77.50
England median hourly rate £29.32 £35.00 £33.78
% change year-on-year -16.23% +3.63% -5.26%

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 5 March 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 5 March 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 5 March 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 70 £475 -17.39% 27
Gloucestershire +21 36 £475 +118.55% 26
Wiltshire -39 11 £535 -6.96% 9
Somerset -9 8 £475 +8.57% 7
Devon - 5 £475 - 18
Dorset -8 3 £449 -25.17% 10
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 (7.41%) Confluence
2 7 (5.19%) SharePoint
3 6 (4.44%) Microsoft Exchange
4 3 (2.22%) Jupyter
5 1 (0.74%) Apache
5 1 (0.74%) Apache Airflow
Applications
1 4 (2.96%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (1.48%) LaTeX
2 2 (1.48%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.74%) Simulink
3 1 (0.74%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 6 (4.44%) Teamcenter
2 2 (1.48%) Primavera
2 2 (1.48%) SAP Oil and Gas
3 1 (0.74%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 45 (33.33%) Azure
2 35 (25.93%) Azure DevOps
3 7 (5.19%) AWS
4 6 (4.44%) Microsoft 365
4 6 (4.44%) OneDrive
5 5 (3.70%) ShareGate
6 4 (2.96%) Entra ID
7 3 (2.22%) Power Platform
8 2 (1.48%) Azure Data Factory
8 2 (1.48%) GitHub
8 2 (1.48%) Google Workspace
9 1 (0.74%) OCI
9 1 (0.74%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 11 (8.15%) TCP/IP
2 10 (7.41%) Ethernet
3 4 (2.96%) Firewall
4 3 (2.22%) DNS
5 1 (0.74%) 2G
5 1 (0.74%) 4G
5 1 (0.74%) 5G
5 1 (0.74%) Radio Access Network
5 1 (0.74%) VoIP
5 1 (0.74%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (1.48%) Delta Lake
1 2 (1.48%) Power BI
2 1 (0.74%) Data Warehouse
2 1 (0.74%) Metadata
2 1 (0.74%) Power Query
2 1 (0.74%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 30 (22.22%) Oracle APEX
2 14 (10.37%) JIRA
3 5 (3.70%) Rational DOORS
4 3 (2.22%) Eclipse
4 3 (2.22%) Visual Studio
5 2 (1.48%) Git
5 2 (1.48%) Jenkins
6 1 (0.74%) Oracle Forms
6 1 (0.74%) Rational Rhapsody
6 1 (0.74%) Rational Team Concert
6 1 (0.74%) SoapUI
General
1 54 (40.00%) Social Skills
2 21 (15.56%) Analytical Skills
3 11 (8.15%) Aerospace
4 10 (7.41%) Finance
4 10 (7.41%) Military
5 9 (6.67%) Electronics
6 7 (5.19%) Public Sector
7 6 (4.44%) Aviation
7 6 (4.44%) Manufacturing
8 3 (2.22%) Presentation Skills
8 3 (2.22%) Telecoms
9 2 (1.48%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (1.48%) Police
10 1 (0.74%) Back Office
10 1 (0.74%) Billing
10 1 (0.74%) General Ledger
10 1 (0.74%) Law
10 1 (0.74%) Organisational Skills
10 1 (0.74%) Pharmaceutical
10 1 (0.74%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 33 (24.44%) Senior
2 31 (22.96%) Developer
3 29 (21.48%) Senior Developer
4 16 (11.85%) Validation Engineer
5 15 (11.11%) Embedded Engineer
6 13 (9.63%) Analyst
6 13 (9.63%) Software Engineer
7 10 (7.41%) Embedded Software Engineer
8 7 (5.19%) Integration Engineer
8 7 (5.19%) Systems Engineer
9 6 (4.44%) Consultant
9 6 (4.44%) Support Engineer
9 6 (4.44%) Technical Engineer
9 6 (4.44%) Technical Support
9 6 (4.44%) Technical Support Engineer
10 5 (3.70%) Architect
10 5 (3.70%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 5 (3.70%) Network Engineer
10 5 (3.70%) Software Validation Engineer
11 4 (2.96%) Network Integration Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (2.96%) REST
1 4 (2.96%) Web Services
2 3 (2.22%) Node.js
2 3 (2.22%) OAuth
2 3 (2.22%) OAuth2
2 3 (2.22%) OpenID
2 3 (2.22%) SAML
2 3 (2.22%) SOAP
3 2 (1.48%) AngularJS
3 2 (1.48%) Bootstrap
3 2 (1.48%) CSS
3 2 (1.48%) Flask
3 2 (1.48%) HTML
3 2 (1.48%) JSON
3 2 (1.48%) Pandas
3 2 (1.48%) XML
4 1 (0.74%) Flash
4 1 (0.74%) Playwright
4 1 (0.74%) PySpark
Miscellaneous
1 9 (6.67%) Embedded Systems
1 9 (6.67%) Legacy Systems
2 8 (5.93%) PCIe
3 7 (5.19%) FPGA
4 5 (3.70%) Data Structures
5 3 (2.22%) Management Information System
5 3 (2.22%) Private Cloud
5 3 (2.22%) Replication
6 2 (1.48%) Algorithms
6 2 (1.48%) Cloud Native
6 2 (1.48%) CMDB
6 2 (1.48%) Data Centre
6 2 (1.48%) SCADA
7 1 (0.74%) Analytical Mindset
7 1 (0.74%) Clustering
7 1 (0.74%) Greenfield Project
7 1 (0.74%) IoT
7 1 (0.74%) NB-IoT
7 1 (0.74%) Onboarding
7 1 (0.74%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 16 (11.85%) Windows
2 11 (8.15%) Linux
3 4 (2.96%) Android
4 3 (2.22%) Windows Server
5 1 (0.74%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 46 (34.07%) Agile
2 35 (25.93%) DevOps
3 33 (24.44%) Scrum
4 30 (22.22%) Verification and Validation
5 29 (21.48%) Collaborative Working
5 29 (21.48%) Requirements Analysis
6 27 (20.00%) Software Delivery
6 27 (20.00%) Web Application Development
7 24 (17.78%) Problem-Solving
8 22 (16.30%) Systems Engineering
9 16 (11.85%) Software Engineering
10 15 (11.11%) Stakeholder Management
11 14 (10.37%) Continuous Improvement
12 13 (9.63%) Data Validation
12 13 (9.63%) Migration
13 11 (8.15%) Change Management
13 11 (8.15%) Unit Testing
14 10 (7.41%) Data Migration
15 9 (6.67%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 9 (6.67%) Workflow
Programming Languages
1 39 (28.89%) JavaScript
1 39 (28.89%) SQL
2 30 (22.22%) PL/SQL
3 19 (14.07%) C
4 16 (11.85%) Python
5 13 (9.63%) PowerShell
6 4 (2.96%) C++
7 3 (2.22%) C#
7 3 (2.22%) Embedded C
7 3 (2.22%) MATLAB
8 2 (1.48%) Ada
9 1 (0.74%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 1 (0.74%) Fortran
9 1 (0.74%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 77 (57.04%) Security Cleared
2 67 (49.63%) SC Cleared
3 10 (7.41%) Degree
4 7 (5.19%) DV Cleared
5 4 (2.96%) Microsoft Certification
6 2 (1.48%) BPSS Clearance
6 2 (1.48%) CCNA
6 2 (1.48%) Cisco Certification
6 2 (1.48%) CISSP
6 2 (1.48%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.74%) ACCA
7 1 (0.74%) Chartered Engineer
7 1 (0.74%) CISA
7 1 (0.74%) CompTIA Security+
7 1 (0.74%) CRISC
7 1 (0.74%) HND
7 1 (0.74%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
7 1 (0.74%) ITIL Certification
7 1 (0.74%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.74%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (7.41%) Def Stans
1 10 (7.41%) QA
2 9 (6.67%) DO-178B
2 9 (6.67%) MISRA
3 8 (5.93%) GDPR
4 6 (4.44%) Data Quality
4 6 (4.44%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 3 (2.22%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.74%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.74%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 1 (0.74%) GMP
6 1 (0.74%) HMG Security Policy Framework
6 1 (0.74%) ISO/IEC 27005
6 1 (0.74%) NCSC
6 1 (0.74%) NIST
System Software
1 11 (8.15%) Firmware
2 8 (5.93%) Active Directory
3 4 (2.96%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.74%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.74%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 7 (5.19%) Active Directory Federation Services
2 4 (2.96%) Single Sign-On
3 2 (1.48%) Kubernetes
3 2 (1.48%) SCCM
4 1 (0.74%) HP ALM
4 1 (0.74%) Microsoft Intune
4 1 (0.74%) SCOM
4 1 (0.74%) Terraform
4 1 (0.74%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 33 (24.44%) Oracle
2 18 (13.33%) Microsoft
3 6 (4.44%) Siemens
3 6 (4.44%) Twitter
4 5 (3.70%) VMware
5 3 (2.22%) Databricks
5 3 (2.22%) SAP
6 2 (1.48%) Google
6 2 (1.48%) ServiceNow
7 1 (0.74%) Alteryx
7 1 (0.74%) Blue Prism
7 1 (0.74%) BMC
7 1 (0.74%) EMC
7 1 (0.74%) HP
7 1 (0.74%) IBM
7 1 (0.74%) MathWorks
7 1 (0.74%) Remedy
7 1 (0.74%) Salesforce
7 1 (0.74%) Tagetik
7 1 (0.74%) Workday