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 1 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 38 60 29
Rank change year-on-year +22 -31 +64
Contract jobs citing Validation 171 67 157
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 4.56% 3.40% 6.19%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.86% 3.75% 7.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 79 38 46
10th Percentile £325 £439 £439
25th Percentile £409 £463 £491
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £582
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% -5.42% +5.73%
75th Percentile £600 £646 £638
90th Percentile £713 £650 £670
England median daily rate £500 £515 £495
% change year-on-year -2.91% +4.04% -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 45 8 41
10th Percentile £17.40 £32.34 £28.00
25th Percentile £26.00 £53.34 £30.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile £70.00 £74.06 £72.50
90th Percentile £85.00 £75.00 -
England median hourly rate £55.00 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year -15.38% - -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 2,917 1,789 2,125
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 77.83% 90.81% 83.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,626 1,026 1,229
10th Percentile £329 £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 £634 £620 £638
90th Percentile £734 £715 £724
England median daily rate £525 £512 £525
% change year-on-year +2.64% -2.57% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 480 265 204
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.10 £22.50
25th Percentile £25.75 £18.87 £48.00
Median hourly rate £62.00 £25.15 £67.50
Median % change year-on-year +146.52% -62.74% +8.00%
75th Percentile £68.75 £63.75 £72.50
90th Percentile £77.50 £68.00 £75.00
England median hourly rate £41.00 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +63.02% -41.51% -3.37%

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 1 October 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 1 October 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 1 October 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 +22 86 £550 +2.56% 109
Wiltshire +4 31 £450 -28.00% 42
Somerset -22 17 £523 -5.64% 44
Gloucestershire -1 12 £538 +19.44% 74
Devon -11 9 £463 -2.63% 18
Dorset - 9 £300 - 48
Cornwall - 1 - - 3
Avon - 1 - - 39
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 8 (4.68%) Apache
2 6 (3.51%) Confluence
3 5 (2.92%) Apache Spark
4 4 (2.34%) CMS
5 3 (1.75%) Sitecore CMS
6 2 (1.17%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (1.17%) IIS
6 2 (1.17%) Microsoft Exchange
6 2 (1.17%) Tomcat
7 1 (0.58%) Palantir Foundry
7 1 (0.58%) SharePoint
Applications
1 15 (8.77%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (2.34%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.34%) MS Visio
3 2 (1.17%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.58%) LaTeX
4 1 (0.58%) Simulink
4 1 (0.58%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 5 (2.92%) SAP HR
2 3 (1.75%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (1.75%) Magento
2 3 (1.75%) SAP CRM
2 3 (1.75%) SAP S/4HANA
3 2 (1.17%) Oracle Assets
3 2 (1.17%) SAP MM
3 2 (1.17%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
4 1 (0.58%) Dynamics NAV
4 1 (0.58%) IBM Planning Analytics
4 1 (0.58%) Integrated Workplace Management System
4 1 (0.58%) NetSuite
4 1 (0.58%) Sage 50
4 1 (0.58%) SAP PM
4 1 (0.58%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 26 (15.20%) Azure
2 20 (11.70%) GCP
3 12 (7.02%) AWS
3 12 (7.02%) dbt
4 8 (4.68%) GitHub
5 7 (4.09%) Dynamics 365
6 6 (3.51%) GitHub Actions
7 5 (2.92%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 5 (2.92%) Azure Monitor
7 5 (2.92%) Azure Sentinel
7 5 (2.92%) Microsoft 365
7 5 (2.92%) Power Platform
8 4 (2.34%) Amazon S3
8 4 (2.34%) OpenShift
9 3 (1.75%) Lucidchart
9 3 (1.75%) Power Automate
9 3 (1.75%) SAP Commerce Cloud
10 2 (1.17%) Entra ID
10 2 (1.17%) Microsoft Purview
10 2 (1.17%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 11 (6.43%) Firewall
2 10 (5.85%) DNS
2 10 (5.85%) TCP/IP
3 9 (5.26%) DHCP
4 6 (3.51%) BGP
4 6 (3.51%) VLAN
5 5 (2.92%) Ethernet
5 5 (2.92%) WAN
6 2 (1.17%) ATM
6 2 (1.17%) Network Security
6 2 (1.17%) VSAN
7 1 (0.58%) Ethernet VPN
7 1 (0.58%) Modbus
7 1 (0.58%) NetScaler
7 1 (0.58%) NX-OS
7 1 (0.58%) RS-232
7 1 (0.58%) VXLAN
7 1 (0.58%) Wireless
7 1 (0.58%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (7.02%) Metadata
2 5 (2.92%) Oracle Reports
2 5 (2.92%) Power BI
3 4 (2.34%) Big Data
3 4 (2.34%) Hadoop
3 4 (2.34%) Parquet
4 3 (1.75%) SQL Server
4 3 (1.75%) SQLite
5 1 (0.58%) BigQuery
5 1 (0.58%) Data Warehouse
5 1 (0.58%) Electronic Patient Records
5 1 (0.58%) PostgreSQL
5 1 (0.58%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.58%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 1 (0.58%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 12 (7.02%) GitLab
2 10 (5.85%) JIRA
3 8 (4.68%) Rational DOORS
3 8 (4.68%) Rational Rhapsody
4 7 (4.09%) Jenkins
5 4 (2.34%) Cucumber
5 4 (2.34%) Eclipse
5 4 (2.34%) Visual Studio
6 3 (1.75%) Selenium
7 1 (0.58%) Cypress.io
7 1 (0.58%) Gatling
7 1 (0.58%) Git
7 1 (0.58%) Oracle Forms
7 1 (0.58%) Postman
General
1 64 (37.43%) Social Skills
2 24 (14.04%) Analytical Skills
3 19 (11.11%) Finance
4 18 (10.53%) Manufacturing
5 15 (8.77%) Public Sector
6 12 (7.02%) Aerospace
7 11 (6.43%) Military
8 9 (5.26%) Banking
9 6 (3.51%) Documentation Skills
9 6 (3.51%) Organisational Skills
10 5 (2.92%) Marketing
11 4 (2.34%) Influencing Skills
11 4 (2.34%) Local Government
12 3 (1.75%) Law
12 3 (1.75%) Presentation Skills
13 2 (1.17%) Automotive
13 2 (1.17%) Electronics
13 2 (1.17%) General Ledger
13 2 (1.17%) Investment Banking
13 2 (1.17%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 17 (9.94%) Data Engineer
1 17 (9.94%) Systems Engineer
2 15 (8.77%) Senior
2 15 (8.77%) Test Engineer
3 14 (8.19%) Analyst
4 13 (7.60%) Lead
5 12 (7.02%) Administrator
5 12 (7.02%) Architect
6 10 (5.85%) GCP Engineer
7 9 (5.26%) GCP Data Engineer
8 8 (4.68%) Business Analyst
8 8 (4.68%) Consultant
8 8 (4.68%) Software Engineer
9 7 (4.09%) QA Engineer
9 7 (4.09%) Systems Administrator
10 6 (3.51%) QA Test Engineer
10 6 (3.51%) Test Automation Engineer
11 5 (2.92%) Azure Consultant
11 5 (2.92%) Data Analyst
11 5 (2.92%) Engineering Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (9.94%) Terraform
2 9 (5.26%) REST
3 8 (4.68%) Middleware
4 6 (3.51%) Web Services
5 5 (2.92%) JSON
5 5 (2.92%) Oracle Fusion
5 5 (2.92%) XML
6 4 (2.34%) Apache NiFi
6 4 (2.34%) EDI
6 4 (2.34%) Node.js
7 3 (1.75%) FastAPI
7 3 (1.75%) Playwright
7 3 (1.75%) pydantic
8 2 (1.17%) LDAP
8 2 (1.17%) Spring
8 2 (1.17%) Spring Boot
9 1 (0.58%) .NET Framework
9 1 (0.58%) Mustache
9 1 (0.58%) RESTful
9 1 (0.58%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 18 (10.53%) Management Information System
2 11 (6.43%) Legacy Systems
3 9 (5.26%) Onboarding
3 9 (5.26%) Self-Motivation
4 5 (2.92%) Data Structures
4 5 (2.92%) Enterprise Software
5 4 (2.34%) Algorithms
5 4 (2.34%) Data Protection Act
5 4 (2.34%) Linux Command Line
6 3 (1.75%) Data Centre
6 3 (1.75%) Operational Technology
7 2 (1.17%) Analytical Mindset
7 2 (1.17%) AS400
7 2 (1.17%) Clustering
7 2 (1.17%) Greenfield Project
7 2 (1.17%) Life Science
7 2 (1.17%) PKI
7 2 (1.17%) Robotics
7 2 (1.17%) SCADA
7 2 (1.17%) SWIFT Messaging Network
Operating Systems
1 22 (12.87%) Windows
2 18 (10.53%) Linux
3 7 (4.09%) Windows Server
4 6 (3.51%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 44 (25.73%) Migration
2 32 (18.71%) Verification and Validation
3 31 (18.13%) Data Validation
4 30 (17.54%) Problem-Solving
4 30 (17.54%) Stakeholder Management
5 28 (16.37%) Data Migration
6 26 (15.20%) CI/CD
7 24 (14.04%) Data Modelling
8 22 (12.87%) Agile
8 22 (12.87%) AI
8 22 (12.87%) DevOps
9 21 (12.28%) Continuous Improvement
10 20 (11.70%) Data Engineering
11 18 (10.53%) Systems Engineering
11 18 (10.53%) User Acceptance Testing
12 17 (9.94%) Data Cleansing
12 17 (9.94%) Decision-Making
12 17 (9.94%) ETL
13 16 (9.36%) Analytics
13 16 (9.36%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 32 (18.71%) SQL
2 27 (15.79%) Python
3 11 (6.43%) C++
4 8 (4.68%) C
5 7 (4.09%) JavaScript
6 6 (3.51%) PowerShell
7 4 (2.34%) Ada
7 4 (2.34%) C#
8 2 (1.17%) Bash
8 2 (1.17%) Java
9 1 (0.58%) Kotlin
9 1 (0.58%) MATLAB
9 1 (0.58%) PL/SQL
9 1 (0.58%) T-SQL
9 1 (0.58%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 53 (30.99%) Security Cleared
2 41 (23.98%) SC Cleared
3 18 (10.53%) Degree
4 13 (7.60%) DV Cleared
5 6 (3.51%) CIPD
6 3 (1.75%) ACCA
6 3 (1.75%) BPSS Clearance
6 3 (1.75%) Chartered Engineer
6 3 (1.75%) CIMA
7 2 (1.17%) Azure Certification
7 2 (1.17%) CISSP
7 2 (1.17%) Computer Science Degree
7 2 (1.17%) Master's Degree
8 1 (0.58%) CEH
8 1 (0.58%) CompTIA Security+
8 1 (0.58%) DBS Check
8 1 (0.58%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (15.20%) Data Quality
2 24 (14.04%) QA
3 9 (5.26%) GDPR
4 5 (2.92%) Def Stans
5 2 (1.17%) IFRS
5 2 (1.17%) ISO 20022
5 2 (1.17%) ISO/IEC 15288
5 2 (1.17%) SEPA
6 1 (0.58%) 21 CFR Part 11
6 1 (0.58%) ARP4761
6 1 (0.58%) DO-254
6 1 (0.58%) GAMP
6 1 (0.58%) GMP
6 1 (0.58%) IEC 61508
6 1 (0.58%) JSP 440
6 1 (0.58%) NCSC
6 1 (0.58%) NIST
6 1 (0.58%) SLA
6 1 (0.58%) SNOMED CT
System Software
1 13 (7.60%) VMware Infrastructure
2 8 (4.68%) Active Directory
3 7 (4.09%) Hyper-V
4 5 (2.92%) Virtual Machines
5 4 (2.34%) VirtualBox
6 2 (1.17%) Docker
6 2 (1.17%) VMware Workstation
7 1 (0.58%) Firmware
7 1 (0.58%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 1 (0.58%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.58%) Virtual Servers
7 1 (0.58%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.58%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 11 (6.43%) Ansible
1 11 (6.43%) Kubernetes
2 5 (2.92%) FortiGate
3 2 (1.17%) Failover Clustering
3 2 (1.17%) VxRail
4 1 (0.58%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 41 (23.98%) Microsoft
2 13 (7.60%) VMware
3 12 (7.02%) Oracle
3 12 (7.02%) SAP
4 10 (5.85%) Google
4 10 (5.85%) IBM
5 6 (3.51%) Workday
6 5 (2.92%) ServiceNow
6 5 (2.92%) Zscaler
7 3 (1.75%) Atlassian
7 3 (1.75%) Databricks
7 3 (1.75%) Sitecore
8 2 (1.17%) Sage
8 2 (1.17%) Sparx
9 1 (0.58%) Citrix
9 1 (0.58%) Civica
9 1 (0.58%) EMC
9 1 (0.58%) Informatica
9 1 (0.58%) Remedy
9 1 (0.58%) Salesforce