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 30 October 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 51 36 97
Rank change year-on-year -15 +61 -16
Contract jobs citing Validation 87 129 58
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 4.17% 5.32% 1.84%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.66% 6.29% 2.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 58 39 24
10th Percentile - £455 £436
25th Percentile £450 £492 £514
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £585 £555
Median % change year-on-year -14.53% +5.41% +5.71%
75th Percentile £636 £649 £706
90th Percentile £649 £672 £744
England median daily rate £502 £500 £540
% change year-on-year +0.35% -7.41% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 36 25
10th Percentile £31.51 £28.00 £54.91
25th Percentile £32.90 £30.00 £60.00
Median hourly rate £62.50 £64.50 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year -3.10% -2.24% +1.51%
75th Percentile £67.40 £72.50 £73.75
90th Percentile £73.16 - £80.00
England median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £67.56
% change year-on-year +4.00% -7.49% +12.60%

All Process and 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 1,867 2,052 2,763
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 89.50% 84.58% 87.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,081 1,228 1,868
10th Percentile £222 £313 £306
25th Percentile £375 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -4.55% +4.76%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £734 £725
England median daily rate £508 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -3.33% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 274 157 288
10th Percentile £15.25 £15.57 £19.78
25th Percentile £18.87 £35.00 £45.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £65.00 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year -61.31% +8.33% -7.69%
75th Percentile £63.75 £70.25 £70.00
90th Percentile £67.95 £74.00 £83.40
England median hourly rate £25.15 £40.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -37.13% -10.11% +27.14%

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 30 October 2025.

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 30 October 2025.

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 30 October 2025. 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 -3 35 £548 +6.26% 47
Gloucestershire +6 19 £475 -18.24% 16
Wiltshire -24 14 £624 -0.24% 10
Somerset -1 11 £481 -23.91% 15
Devon +8 4 £513 +7.89% 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 11 (12.64%) Confluence
2 6 (6.90%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (6.90%) SharePoint
3 2 (2.30%) Documentum
Applications
1 7 (8.05%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (1.15%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (1.15%) Microsoft Project
2 1 (1.15%) NASTRAN
2 1 (1.15%) Siemens NX
2 1 (1.15%) Simulink
2 1 (1.15%) Stateflow
2 1 (1.15%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 2 (2.30%) Oracle Payroll
1 2 (2.30%) SAP Oil and Gas
1 2 (2.30%) SAP S/4HANA
1 2 (2.30%) Teamcenter
2 1 (1.15%) Primavera
2 1 (1.15%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 23 (26.44%) Azure
2 19 (21.84%) Azure DevOps
3 9 (10.34%) AWS
4 6 (6.90%) Microsoft 365
4 6 (6.90%) OneDrive
5 5 (5.75%) ShareGate
6 4 (4.60%) Entra ID
7 3 (3.45%) Google Workspace
7 3 (3.45%) Power Platform
8 2 (2.30%) OCI
9 1 (1.15%) GCP
9 1 (1.15%) PaaS
9 1 (1.15%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 9 (10.34%) DNS
2 8 (9.20%) BGP
2 8 (9.20%) MPLS
3 7 (8.05%) IPsec
3 7 (8.05%) Unified Communications
3 7 (8.05%) VPN
4 3 (3.45%) Firewall
5 2 (2.30%) 5G
5 2 (2.30%) TCP/IP
6 1 (1.15%) 2G
6 1 (1.15%) 4G
6 1 (1.15%) Ethernet
6 1 (1.15%) LTE
6 1 (1.15%) PBX
6 1 (1.15%) Radio Access Network
6 1 (1.15%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (3.45%) Power BI
2 2 (2.30%) Data Warehouse
2 2 (2.30%) SAP BW
2 2 (2.30%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 15 (17.24%) JIRA
2 14 (16.09%) Oracle APEX
3 3 (3.45%) Rational DOORS
4 2 (2.30%) Git
4 2 (2.30%) Jenkins
5 1 (1.15%) Eclipse
5 1 (1.15%) Oracle Forms
5 1 (1.15%) Rational Team Concert
5 1 (1.15%) SoapUI
5 1 (1.15%) Visual Studio
General
1 38 (43.68%) Social Skills
2 20 (22.99%) Analytical Skills
3 12 (13.79%) Aerospace
4 10 (11.49%) Public Sector
5 5 (5.75%) Finance
6 4 (4.60%) Electronics
7 3 (3.45%) Military
7 3 (3.45%) Telecoms
8 2 (2.30%) Documentation Skills
8 2 (2.30%) General Ledger
9 1 (1.15%) Aviation
9 1 (1.15%) Banking
9 1 (1.15%) Law
9 1 (1.15%) Organisational Skills
9 1 (1.15%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 17 (19.54%) Developer
2 16 (18.39%) Senior
3 12 (13.79%) Senior Developer
4 11 (12.64%) Analyst
5 9 (10.34%) Network Engineer
6 7 (8.05%) Lead
6 7 (8.05%) Systems Engineer
7 6 (6.90%) Consultant
7 6 (6.90%) Software Engineer
8 4 (4.60%) Architect
8 4 (4.60%) Data Engineer
8 4 (4.60%) Embedded Engineer
8 4 (4.60%) Embedded Software Engineer
8 4 (4.60%) Microsoft 365 Consultant
8 4 (4.60%) Migration Consultant
9 3 (3.45%) Data Migration Lead
9 3 (3.45%) Project Manager
9 3 (3.45%) Service Analyst
9 3 (3.45%) Test Analyst
9 3 (3.45%) Verification Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (8.05%) NETCONF
1 7 (8.05%) RESTCONF
2 3 (3.45%) REST
2 3 (3.45%) SOAP
3 2 (2.30%) AngularJS
3 2 (2.30%) Bootstrap
3 2 (2.30%) CSS
3 2 (2.30%) HTML
3 2 (2.30%) JSON
3 2 (2.30%) OAuth
3 2 (2.30%) OAuth2
3 2 (2.30%) OpenID
3 2 (2.30%) SAML
3 2 (2.30%) Web Services
3 2 (2.30%) XML
4 1 (1.15%) Node.js
4 1 (1.15%) Playwright
4 1 (1.15%) PySpark
4 1 (1.15%) PyTorch
4 1 (1.15%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 9 (10.34%) Legacy Systems
2 7 (8.05%) PKI
3 6 (6.90%) CMDB
3 6 (6.90%) Data Centre
3 6 (6.90%) SCADA
4 4 (4.60%) Embedded Systems
4 4 (4.60%) Management Information System
5 3 (3.45%) Replication
6 2 (2.30%) Data Protection Act
6 2 (2.30%) Data Structures
6 2 (2.30%) Operational Technology
6 2 (2.30%) Private Cloud
7 1 (1.15%) Algorithms
7 1 (1.15%) Analytical Mindset
7 1 (1.15%) FPGA
7 1 (1.15%) IoT
7 1 (1.15%) NB-IoT
7 1 (1.15%) Robotics
7 1 (1.15%) Verilog
7 1 (1.15%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 7 (8.05%) Windows
2 4 (4.60%) Windows Server
3 2 (2.30%) Linux
3 2 (2.30%) Windows Server 2003
4 1 (1.15%) Android
4 1 (1.15%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 21 (24.14%) DevOps
2 20 (22.99%) Agile
3 19 (21.84%) Migration
4 16 (18.39%) Scrum
5 14 (16.09%) Verification and Validation
6 13 (14.94%) Collaborative Working
7 12 (13.79%) Stakeholder Management
8 11 (12.64%) Data Validation
8 11 (12.64%) Requirements Analysis
8 11 (12.64%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 10 (11.49%) Analytics
9 10 (11.49%) Change Management
9 10 (11.49%) ITIL
9 10 (11.49%) Software Delivery
9 10 (11.49%) Web Application Development
10 9 (10.34%) Service Management
11 8 (9.20%) Data Migration
11 8 (9.20%) Network Virtualisation
11 8 (9.20%) NsoIT
11 8 (9.20%) System Testing
Programming Languages
1 20 (22.99%) SQL
2 18 (20.69%) JavaScript
2 18 (20.69%) Python
3 14 (16.09%) PL/SQL
4 10 (11.49%) PowerShell
5 6 (6.90%) C
6 2 (2.30%) ABAP
6 2 (2.30%) C++
6 2 (2.30%) Tcl
7 1 (1.15%) Ada
7 1 (1.15%) Assembly Language
7 1 (1.15%) C#
7 1 (1.15%) Fortran
7 1 (1.15%) MATLAB
7 1 (1.15%) Perl
7 1 (1.15%) Shell Script
7 1 (1.15%) SystemVerilog
7 1 (1.15%) TypeScript
7 1 (1.15%) VBA
Qualifications
1 44 (50.57%) Security Cleared
2 39 (44.83%) SC Cleared
3 14 (16.09%) Degree
4 9 (10.34%) CCNP
4 9 (10.34%) Cisco Certification
5 3 (3.45%) DV Cleared
6 2 (2.30%) Microsoft Certification
7 1 (1.15%) ACCA
7 1 (1.15%) BPSS Clearance
7 1 (1.15%) CIMA
7 1 (1.15%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (1.15%) ITIL Certification
7 1 (1.15%) Master's Degree
7 1 (1.15%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (8.05%) GDPR
2 6 (6.90%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 4 (4.60%) Def Stans
3 4 (4.60%) DO-178B
3 4 (4.60%) MISRA
4 2 (2.30%) Data Quality
5 1 (1.15%) Accessibility
5 1 (1.15%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (1.15%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (1.15%) ISO 22301
5 1 (1.15%) NIST
5 1 (1.15%) QA
5 1 (1.15%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 10 (11.49%) VMware Infrastructure
2 7 (8.05%) VMware ESXi
3 6 (6.90%) Active Directory
4 4 (4.60%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 7 (8.05%) Ansible
2 6 (6.90%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 3 (3.45%) Single Sign-On
4 1 (1.15%) HP ALM
4 1 (1.15%) Microsoft Intune
4 1 (1.15%) SCCM
Vendors
1 20 (22.99%) Oracle
2 13 (14.94%) Microsoft
3 10 (11.49%) VMware
4 8 (9.20%) Cisco
5 7 (8.05%) Atlassian
6 6 (6.90%) SAP
6 6 (6.90%) ServiceNow
7 3 (3.45%) Google
8 2 (2.30%) EMC
8 2 (2.30%) McAfee
8 2 (2.30%) Sophos
8 2 (2.30%) Workday
9 1 (1.15%) BMC
9 1 (1.15%) Ericsson
9 1 (1.15%) Nokia
9 1 (1.15%) Palo Alto
9 1 (1.15%) Ribbon
9 1 (1.15%) Salesforce
9 1 (1.15%) Siemens
9 1 (1.15%) Twitter