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 25 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 40 57 28
Rank change year-on-year +17 -29 +68
Contract jobs citing Validation 152 65 157
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 4.05% 3.31% 6.02%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.21% 3.65% 7.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 68 37 47
10th Percentile £325 £435 £441
25th Percentile £404 £463 £476
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £524 £550 £582
Median % change year-on-year -4.77% -5.50% +5.82%
75th Percentile £600 £649 £643
90th Percentile £715 £650 £672
England median daily rate £500 £515 £500
% change year-on-year -2.91% +3.00% -7.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 7 41
10th Percentile £17.69 £32.00 £28.00
25th Percentile £26.00 £49.17 £30.00
Median hourly rate £65.75 £65.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +1.15% - -1.49%
75th Percentile £70.00 £74.38 £72.50
90th Percentile £85.00 £75.00 -
England median hourly rate £54.25 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year -16.54% - -3.70%

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 2,920 1,781 2,189
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 77.72% 90.77% 83.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,636 1,025 1,283
10th Percentile £325 £213 £300
25th Percentile £450 £363 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £633 £619 £638
90th Percentile £730 £713 £722
England median daily rate £525 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 477 262 209
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.25 £21.96
25th Percentile £25.75 £18.60 £48.00
Median hourly rate £62.00 £25.15 £67.50
Median % change year-on-year +146.52% -62.74% +7.57%
75th Percentile £68.75 £63.75 £72.50
90th Percentile £78.28 £68.00 £75.00
England median hourly rate £42.00 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +67.00% -41.51% -2.05%

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 25 September 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 25 September 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 25 September 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 +13 82 £550 +2.56% 94
Wiltshire -2 23 £430 -31.20% 43
Somerset -24 14 £524 -17.19% 45
Gloucestershire -1 10 £469 +4.17% 45
Devon -11 9 £463 -2.63% 14
Dorset - 9 £300 - 31
Cornwall - 1 - - 3
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 4 (2.63%) Confluence
2 3 (1.97%) CMS
2 3 (1.97%) Sitecore CMS
3 2 (1.32%) Apache
3 2 (1.32%) Apache Airflow
3 2 (1.32%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.66%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.66%) Palantir Foundry
4 1 (0.66%) SharePoint
Applications
1 14 (9.21%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (2.63%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (1.97%) MS Visio
4 2 (1.32%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.66%) LaTeX
5 1 (0.66%) Simulink
5 1 (0.66%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 4 (2.63%) SAP HR
2 3 (1.97%) Magento
2 3 (1.97%) SAP CRM
2 3 (1.97%) SAP S/4HANA
3 2 (1.32%) Oracle Assets
3 2 (1.32%) SAP MM
3 2 (1.32%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
4 1 (0.66%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.66%) Dynamics NAV
4 1 (0.66%) IBM Planning Analytics
4 1 (0.66%) NetSuite
4 1 (0.66%) Sage 50
4 1 (0.66%) SAP PM
4 1 (0.66%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 24 (15.79%) Azure
2 18 (11.84%) GCP
3 11 (7.24%) AWS
3 11 (7.24%) dbt
4 7 (4.61%) GitHub
5 6 (3.95%) Dynamics 365
6 5 (3.29%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 5 (3.29%) Azure Monitor
6 5 (3.29%) Azure Sentinel
6 5 (3.29%) GitHub Actions
6 5 (3.29%) Microsoft 365
7 4 (2.63%) Power Platform
8 3 (1.97%) Power Automate
8 3 (1.97%) SAP Commerce Cloud
9 2 (1.32%) Azure Data Factory
9 2 (1.32%) Azure Stack
9 2 (1.32%) Google Workspace
9 2 (1.32%) Intacct
9 2 (1.32%) PowerApps
9 2 (1.32%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 10 (6.58%) Firewall
2 9 (5.92%) DNS
2 9 (5.92%) TCP/IP
3 8 (5.26%) DHCP
4 6 (3.95%) BGP
5 5 (3.29%) Ethernet
5 5 (3.29%) VLAN
5 5 (3.29%) WAN
6 2 (1.32%) ATM
6 2 (1.32%) Network Security
6 2 (1.32%) VSAN
7 1 (0.66%) Ethernet VPN
7 1 (0.66%) Modbus
7 1 (0.66%) NX-OS
7 1 (0.66%) RS-232
7 1 (0.66%) VXLAN
7 1 (0.66%) Wireless
7 1 (0.66%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (5.26%) Metadata
2 4 (2.63%) Oracle Reports
2 4 (2.63%) Power BI
3 3 (1.97%) SQL Server
3 3 (1.97%) SQLite
4 1 (0.66%) BigQuery
4 1 (0.66%) Data Warehouse
4 1 (0.66%) Electronic Patient Records
4 1 (0.66%) PostgreSQL
4 1 (0.66%) Relational Database
4 1 (0.66%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 1 (0.66%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 8 (5.26%) JIRA
1 8 (5.26%) Rational DOORS
1 8 (5.26%) Rational Rhapsody
2 7 (4.61%) GitLab
3 6 (3.95%) Jenkins
4 4 (2.63%) Cucumber
4 4 (2.63%) Eclipse
4 4 (2.63%) Visual Studio
5 3 (1.97%) Selenium
6 1 (0.66%) Cypress.io
6 1 (0.66%) Gatling
6 1 (0.66%) Git
6 1 (0.66%) Oracle Forms
6 1 (0.66%) Postman
General
1 57 (37.50%) Social Skills
2 21 (13.82%) Analytical Skills
3 19 (12.50%) Finance
4 15 (9.87%) Manufacturing
5 13 (8.55%) Public Sector
6 11 (7.24%) Military
7 9 (5.92%) Aerospace
7 9 (5.92%) Banking
8 6 (3.95%) Organisational Skills
9 5 (3.29%) Documentation Skills
10 4 (2.63%) Influencing Skills
10 4 (2.63%) Local Government
10 4 (2.63%) Marketing
11 3 (1.97%) Law
11 3 (1.97%) Presentation Skills
12 2 (1.32%) Automotive
12 2 (1.32%) Electronics
12 2 (1.32%) General Ledger
12 2 (1.32%) Investment Banking
12 2 (1.32%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 17 (11.18%) Systems Engineer
2 14 (9.21%) Test Engineer
3 12 (7.89%) Architect
3 12 (7.89%) Data Engineer
3 12 (7.89%) Lead
3 12 (7.89%) Senior
4 11 (7.24%) Administrator
4 11 (7.24%) Analyst
5 9 (5.92%) GCP Engineer
6 8 (5.26%) Consultant
6 8 (5.26%) GCP Data Engineer
6 8 (5.26%) Software Engineer
7 7 (4.61%) Systems Administrator
8 6 (3.95%) Business Analyst
8 6 (3.95%) QA Engineer
8 6 (3.95%) Test Automation Engineer
9 5 (3.29%) Developer
9 5 (3.29%) Engineering Specialist
9 5 (3.29%) Technical Analyst
9 5 (3.29%) Technical Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (7.89%) Terraform
2 5 (3.29%) Middleware
2 5 (3.29%) REST
3 4 (2.63%) JSON
3 4 (2.63%) Node.js
3 4 (2.63%) Oracle Fusion
3 4 (2.63%) Web Services
3 4 (2.63%) XML
4 3 (1.97%) EDI
4 3 (1.97%) FastAPI
4 3 (1.97%) Playwright
4 3 (1.97%) pydantic
5 2 (1.32%) Spring
5 2 (1.32%) Spring Boot
6 1 (0.66%) .NET Framework
6 1 (0.66%) Handlebars
6 1 (0.66%) Mustache
6 1 (0.66%) RESTful
6 1 (0.66%) XSLT
6 1 (0.66%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 16 (10.53%) Management Information System
2 10 (6.58%) Legacy Systems
3 8 (5.26%) Onboarding
3 8 (5.26%) Self-Motivation
4 4 (2.63%) Data Protection Act
5 3 (1.97%) Data Centre
5 3 (1.97%) Data Structures
5 3 (1.97%) Enterprise Software
5 3 (1.97%) Linux Command Line
5 3 (1.97%) Operational Technology
6 2 (1.32%) Analytical Mindset
6 2 (1.32%) Clustering
6 2 (1.32%) Greenfield Project
6 2 (1.32%) Life Science
6 2 (1.32%) PKI
6 2 (1.32%) Robotics
6 2 (1.32%) SCADA
6 2 (1.32%) SWIFT Messaging Network
7 1 (0.66%) Embedded Systems
7 1 (0.66%) FMCG
Operating Systems
1 19 (12.50%) Windows
2 15 (9.87%) Linux
3 6 (3.95%) Windows Server
4 5 (3.29%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 40 (26.32%) Migration
2 32 (21.05%) Verification and Validation
3 28 (18.42%) Stakeholder Management
4 25 (16.45%) Data Migration
4 25 (16.45%) Data Validation
5 24 (15.79%) Problem-Solving
6 19 (12.50%) Agile
6 19 (12.50%) CI/CD
7 18 (11.84%) Systems Engineering
8 17 (11.18%) AI
8 17 (11.18%) Continuous Improvement
8 17 (11.18%) Data Modelling
9 16 (10.53%) ETL
10 15 (9.87%) Analytics
10 15 (9.87%) Data Cleansing
10 15 (9.87%) Data Engineering
10 15 (9.87%) DevOps
10 15 (9.87%) ERP
10 15 (9.87%) User Acceptance Testing
11 14 (9.21%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 25 (16.45%) SQL
2 22 (14.47%) Python
3 11 (7.24%) C++
4 8 (5.26%) C
5 7 (4.61%) JavaScript
6 4 (2.63%) Ada
6 4 (2.63%) C#
7 3 (1.97%) PowerShell
8 2 (1.32%) Java
9 1 (0.66%) Kotlin
9 1 (0.66%) MATLAB
9 1 (0.66%) PL/SQL
9 1 (0.66%) T-SQL
9 1 (0.66%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 41 (26.97%) Security Cleared
2 35 (23.03%) SC Cleared
3 14 (9.21%) Degree
4 6 (3.95%) DV Cleared
5 5 (3.29%) CIPD
6 3 (1.97%) ACCA
6 3 (1.97%) BPSS Clearance
6 3 (1.97%) Chartered Engineer
6 3 (1.97%) CIMA
7 2 (1.32%) Azure Certification
7 2 (1.32%) CISSP
7 2 (1.32%) Computer Science Degree
7 2 (1.32%) Master's Degree
8 1 (0.66%) CEH
8 1 (0.66%) CompTIA Security+
8 1 (0.66%) DBS Check
8 1 (0.66%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (14.47%) QA
2 20 (13.16%) Data Quality
3 7 (4.61%) GDPR
4 5 (3.29%) Def Stans
5 2 (1.32%) IFRS
5 2 (1.32%) ISO 20022
5 2 (1.32%) ISO/IEC 15288
5 2 (1.32%) SEPA
6 1 (0.66%) 21 CFR Part 11
6 1 (0.66%) ARP4761
6 1 (0.66%) DO-254
6 1 (0.66%) GAMP
6 1 (0.66%) GMP
6 1 (0.66%) IEC 61508
6 1 (0.66%) JSP 440
6 1 (0.66%) NCSC
6 1 (0.66%) NIST
6 1 (0.66%) SLA
6 1 (0.66%) SNOMED CT
System Software
1 11 (7.24%) VMware Infrastructure
2 6 (3.95%) Hyper-V
3 5 (3.29%) Active Directory
3 5 (3.29%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (1.97%) VirtualBox
5 2 (1.32%) VMware Workstation
6 1 (0.66%) Docker
6 1 (0.66%) Firmware
6 1 (0.66%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 1 (0.66%) Virtual Servers
6 1 (0.66%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 6 (3.95%) Ansible
2 5 (3.29%) FortiGate
2 5 (3.29%) Kubernetes
3 2 (1.32%) Failover Clustering
3 2 (1.32%) VxRail
4 1 (0.66%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 37 (24.34%) Microsoft
2 11 (7.24%) SAP
2 11 (7.24%) VMware
3 10 (6.58%) Oracle
4 9 (5.92%) Google
4 9 (5.92%) IBM
5 5 (3.29%) Workday
5 5 (3.29%) Zscaler
6 3 (1.97%) Atlassian
6 3 (1.97%) Databricks
6 3 (1.97%) ServiceNow
6 3 (1.97%) Sitecore
7 2 (1.32%) Sage
7 2 (1.32%) Sparx
8 1 (0.66%) Cisco
8 1 (0.66%) EMC
8 1 (0.66%) Informatica
8 1 (0.66%) Red Hat
8 1 (0.66%) Salesforce
8 1 (0.66%) Siemens