Validation Job Trends in England

Validation
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in England requiring Validation skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 2 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 140 172 183
Rank change year-on-year +32 +11 -26
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,059 677 1,259
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.49% 1.85% 1.60%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.95% 1.99% 1.86%
Number of salaries quoted 630 351 722
10th Percentile £34,500 £40,000 £35,775
25th Percentile £45,000 £46,000 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £56,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% +1.82% -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £71,250 £72,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £85,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £56,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +7.14% +1.82% -8.71%

All Process & Methodology Skills
England

Validation falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in England.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 54,337 34,070 67,704
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 76.70% 93.20% 86.26%
Number of salaries quoted 34,149 20,338 52,300
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £43,844 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £56,875 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.21% +9.09% -12.00%
75th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £98,750 £103,750 £95,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -10.57%

Validation
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Validation relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in England.

Validation job vacancy trend in England

Validation
Salary Trend in England

Salary distribution trend for jobs in England citing Validation.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in England citing Validation

Validation
Salary Histogram in England

Salary distribution for jobs citing Validation in England over the 6 months to 2 April 2026.

Salary histogram for Validation in England

Validation
Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Validation within the England region over the 6 months to 2 April 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
London +66 330 £75,000 +7.14% 268
South East +40 255 £55,000 +10.00% 215
North of England +4 170 £58,500 +23.16% 152
Midlands -23 124 £37,500 -31.82% 118
North West +17 108 £59,000 +23.73% 74
East of England -9 91 £58,750 +6.82% 96
West Midlands -10 77 £44,000 -33.58% 77
South West -25 75 £55,000 - 89
East Midlands -44 45 £35,000 -31.37% 41
Yorkshire -31 41 £60,000 +26.32% 51
North East -8 21 £50,000 -11.89% 27
Validation
UK

Validation
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 41 (3.87%) Apache Airflow
2 27 (2.55%) Apache Spark
3 23 (2.17%) Apache
4 15 (1.42%) Microsoft Exchange
5 14 (1.32%) Confluence
6 12 (1.13%) Appian
6 12 (1.13%) CMS
7 8 (0.76%) SharePoint
8 5 (0.47%) Kinematics
9 4 (0.38%) Headless CMS
10 2 (0.19%) WordPress
11 1 (0.094%) Anypoint
11 1 (0.094%) IIS
11 1 (0.094%) Jupyter
11 1 (0.094%) SAS
Applications
1 85 (8.03%) Microsoft Excel
2 52 (4.91%) Microsoft Office
3 16 (1.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 16 (1.51%) MS Visio
4 7 (0.66%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 5 (0.47%) Simulink
5 5 (0.47%) Spreadsheet
6 4 (0.38%) Fusion 360
6 4 (0.38%) Microsoft Project
7 2 (0.19%) Adobe After Effects
7 2 (0.19%) Adobe Captivate
7 2 (0.19%) Adobe Illustrator
7 2 (0.19%) Adobe Premiere
7 2 (0.19%) Elementor
7 2 (0.19%) Oracle Smart View
7 2 (0.19%) Photoshop
7 2 (0.19%) Solid Edge
7 2 (0.19%) SOLIDWORKS
7 2 (0.19%) Weka
8 1 (0.094%) PTC Creo
Business Applications
1 17 (1.61%) SAP S/4HANA
2 14 (1.32%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.47%) Loan IQ
4 4 (0.38%) SAP BPC
4 4 (0.38%) SAP ERP
5 3 (0.28%) Workday HCM
6 2 (0.19%) IBM Planning Analytics
6 2 (0.19%) Oracle ERP
6 2 (0.19%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 2 (0.19%) SAP CX
6 2 (0.19%) SAP MDG
7 1 (0.094%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.094%) Endur
7 1 (0.094%) Oracle Applications
7 1 (0.094%) Oracle Financials
7 1 (0.094%) Primavera
7 1 (0.094%) Remedy ITSM
7 1 (0.094%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.094%) SAP Business ByDesign
7 1 (0.094%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 146 (13.79%) Azure
2 102 (9.63%) Power Platform
3 83 (7.84%) AWS
4 53 (5.00%) SaaS
5 40 (3.78%) Azure DevOps
5 40 (3.78%) GCP
6 28 (2.64%) Power Automate
7 25 (2.36%) Azure Data Factory
8 24 (2.27%) Amazon S3
8 24 (2.27%) Dynamics 365
8 24 (2.27%) Snowflake
9 22 (2.08%) dbt
10 21 (1.98%) Entra ID
11 20 (1.89%) Microsoft 365
12 19 (1.79%) GitHub
13 14 (1.32%) Datadog
14 13 (1.23%) Anthropic Claude
14 13 (1.23%) OpenShift
15 12 (1.13%) Azure AI
16 11 (1.04%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 25 (2.36%) CHAP
2 18 (1.70%) Broadband
3 16 (1.51%) WAN
4 15 (1.42%) Firewall
5 14 (1.32%) DNS
5 14 (1.32%) SD-WAN
6 11 (1.04%) 5G
7 10 (0.94%) Wireless
8 9 (0.85%) HTTP
8 9 (0.85%) TCP/IP
9 7 (0.66%) LAN
9 7 (0.66%) Modbus
9 7 (0.66%) MQTT
10 6 (0.57%) NAS
11 5 (0.47%) Cisco IOS
11 5 (0.47%) VPN
11 5 (0.47%) WAAS
12 4 (0.38%) Ethernet
12 4 (0.38%) SMTP
12 4 (0.38%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 100 (9.44%) Power BI
2 43 (4.06%) Tableau
3 42 (3.97%) SQL Server
4 28 (2.64%) Data Warehouse
4 28 (2.64%) Metadata
4 28 (2.64%) Relational Database
5 24 (2.27%) PostgreSQL
6 15 (1.42%) Oracle Reports
6 15 (1.42%) Spark SQL
7 14 (1.32%) Azure SQL Database
7 14 (1.32%) Oracle Database
8 13 (1.23%) Apache Hive
8 13 (1.23%) Impala
8 13 (1.23%) MySQL
8 13 (1.23%) Parquet
8 13 (1.23%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 12 (1.13%) Pinecone
10 10 (0.94%) Amazon Redshift
10 10 (0.94%) Data Lake
10 10 (0.94%) Spotfire
Development Applications
1 59 (5.57%) Git
2 52 (4.91%) JIRA
3 35 (3.31%) Rational DOORS
4 18 (1.70%) Postman
5 17 (1.61%) Jenkins
6 14 (1.32%) GitLab
6 14 (1.32%) JMeter
6 14 (1.32%) LabVIEW
6 14 (1.32%) MLflow
7 13 (1.23%) Cucumber
7 13 (1.23%) IBM UrbanCode
7 13 (1.23%) Selenium
8 11 (1.04%) Eclipse
8 11 (1.04%) TestRail
9 8 (0.76%) Locust
10 7 (0.66%) SoapUI
11 6 (0.57%) LoadRunner
11 6 (0.57%) Subversion
12 5 (0.47%) SpecFlow
12 5 (0.47%) Zephyr
General
1 362 (34.18%) Social Skills
2 263 (24.83%) Finance
3 252 (23.80%) Analytical Skills
4 84 (7.93%) Banking
5 65 (6.14%) Electronics
6 63 (5.95%) Manufacturing
7 56 (5.29%) Aerospace
8 44 (4.15%) Legal
9 43 (4.06%) Law
9 43 (4.06%) Marketing
10 41 (3.87%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 40 (3.78%) Financial Institution
12 39 (3.68%) Retail
13 31 (2.93%) Presentation Skills
14 27 (2.55%) Public Sector
15 26 (2.46%) Organisational Skills
16 23 (2.17%) Documentation Skills
16 23 (2.17%) Telecoms
17 22 (2.08%) Pharmaceutical
18 20 (1.89%) Games
Job Titles
1 187 (17.66%) Analyst
2 166 (15.68%) Senior
3 131 (12.37%) Systems Engineer
4 79 (7.46%) Lead
5 70 (6.61%) Validation Engineer
6 68 (6.42%) Test Engineer
7 64 (6.04%) Business Analyst
8 53 (5.00%) Architect
9 49 (4.63%) Data Analyst
9 49 (4.63%) Integration Engineer
10 42 (3.97%) Principal Engineer
11 39 (3.68%) Systems Integration Engineer
12 38 (3.59%) Developer
13 37 (3.49%) Data Engineer
14 36 (3.40%) Senior Systems Engineer
15 34 (3.21%) Junior
16 32 (3.02%) Software Validation Engineer
16 32 (3.02%) Verification Engineer
17 30 (2.83%) Principal Systems Engineer
18 28 (2.64%) Auditor
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 54 (5.10%) REST
2 37 (3.49%) Pandas
3 30 (2.83%) JSON
4 27 (2.55%) Middleware
5 26 (2.46%) pytest
6 24 (2.27%) XML
7 19 (1.79%) OAuth
7 19 (1.79%) PySpark
8 18 (1.70%) JWT
8 18 (1.70%) NumPy
8 18 (1.70%) PyTorch
8 18 (1.70%) Swagger
8 18 (1.70%) TensorFlow
9 16 (1.51%) RESTful
10 15 (1.42%) .NET
10 15 (1.42%) React
10 15 (1.42%) scikit-learn
10 15 (1.42%) Web Services
11 14 (1.32%) CSS
11 14 (1.32%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 71 (6.70%) Management Information System
2 52 (4.91%) Onboarding
3 41 (3.87%) Data Structures
4 36 (3.40%) Low-Code
5 31 (2.93%) Legacy Systems
6 30 (2.83%) Self-Motivation
7 28 (2.64%) Product Ownership
8 25 (2.36%) Analytical Mindset
9 24 (2.27%) Life Science
10 19 (1.79%) Enterprise Software
11 15 (1.42%) Robotics
12 14 (1.32%) Blockchain
12 14 (1.32%) Embedded Systems
13 13 (1.23%) Algorithms
13 13 (1.23%) IoT
13 13 (1.23%) Reinsurance
14 11 (1.04%) Hackathon
14 11 (1.04%) Self-Driving Car
15 10 (0.94%) Data Centre
16 9 (0.85%) Cloud Native
Operating Systems
1 52 (4.91%) Linux
2 43 (4.06%) Windows
3 17 (1.61%) Unix
4 13 (1.23%) Windows Server
5 10 (0.94%) Android
6 6 (0.57%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (0.38%) Apple iOS
8 3 (0.28%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.19%) AIX
9 2 (0.19%) FreeRTOS
9 2 (0.19%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.19%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.094%) Embedded Linux
10 1 (0.094%) Kali Linux
10 1 (0.094%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 231 (21.81%) Agile
2 227 (21.44%) Problem-Solving
3 189 (17.85%) Verification and Validation
4 182 (17.19%) Continuous Improvement
5 158 (14.92%) Analytics
6 148 (13.98%) Data Validation
7 133 (12.56%) Test Automation
8 127 (11.99%) Business Intelligence
9 122 (11.52%) AI
9 122 (11.52%) CI/CD
10 118 (11.14%) Systems Engineering
11 111 (10.48%) Data Modelling
12 110 (10.39%) DevOps
13 107 (10.10%) Decision-Making
14 103 (9.73%) Migration
15 101 (9.54%) Mentoring
16 100 (9.44%) ETL
17 98 (9.25%) Data Governance
18 97 (9.16%) Stakeholder Management
19 96 (9.07%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 236 (22.29%) SQL
2 223 (21.06%) Python
3 43 (4.06%) Java
4 30 (2.83%) JavaScript
5 29 (2.74%) C++
6 28 (2.64%) PowerShell
7 27 (2.55%) C
8 21 (1.98%) Bash
9 19 (1.79%) T-SQL
10 18 (1.70%) Go
11 16 (1.51%) C#
11 16 (1.51%) MATLAB
12 14 (1.32%) TypeScript
13 11 (1.04%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 9 (0.85%) R
14 9 (0.85%) VBA
15 7 (0.66%) VB
16 6 (0.57%) PHP
17 5 (0.47%) Embedded C
17 5 (0.47%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 239 (22.57%) Degree
2 130 (12.28%) Security Cleared
3 114 (10.76%) BPSS Clearance
4 54 (5.10%) Master's Degree
5 49 (4.63%) SC Cleared
6 37 (3.49%) Computer Science Degree
7 32 (3.02%) CISA
7 32 (3.02%) CISSP
8 31 (2.93%) CISM
9 29 (2.74%) DV Cleared
10 25 (2.36%) CGEIT
10 25 (2.36%) FFIEC
10 25 (2.36%) SANS
11 24 (2.27%) Chartered Engineer
12 20 (1.89%) HNC
13 18 (1.70%) ISTQB
14 15 (1.42%) HND
14 15 (1.42%) PMI Certification
14 15 (1.42%) PMP
15 8 (0.76%) CIMA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 149 (14.07%) Data Quality
2 112 (10.58%) QA
3 60 (5.67%) GDPR
4 43 (4.06%) Accessibility
5 38 (3.59%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 26 (2.46%) NIST
7 25 (2.36%) COBIT
8 19 (1.79%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 18 (1.70%) SLA
10 16 (1.51%) IFRS
11 13 (1.23%) GRC
11 13 (1.23%) WCAG
12 11 (1.04%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 10 (0.94%) GAAP
13 10 (0.94%) Good Clinical Practice
14 9 (0.85%) ISO 9001
15 7 (0.66%) 21 CFR Part 11
15 7 (0.66%) GxP
15 7 (0.66%) ISO 20022
15 7 (0.66%) PMO
System Software
1 58 (5.48%) Docker
2 22 (2.08%) Active Directory
3 21 (1.98%) Firmware
4 9 (0.85%) vSphere
5 8 (0.76%) VMware Infrastructure
6 5 (0.47%) Hyper-V
7 3 (0.28%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.19%) Ceph
8 2 (0.19%) Embedded Firmware
8 2 (0.19%) Lustre
8 2 (0.19%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 2 (0.19%) Terminal Services
9 1 (0.094%) iptables
9 1 (0.094%) OpenAM
9 1 (0.094%) OpenDJ
9 1 (0.094%) OpenIDM
9 1 (0.094%) pfSense
9 1 (0.094%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 56 (5.29%) Kubernetes
2 42 (3.97%) Terraform
3 24 (2.27%) Grafana
4 17 (1.61%) Ansible
5 14 (1.32%) Prometheus
6 12 (1.13%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 10 (0.94%) SCCM
8 7 (0.66%) Microsoft Intune
9 6 (0.57%) Functional Safety
10 5 (0.47%) Argo
10 5 (0.47%) Rancher
10 5 (0.47%) yum
11 2 (0.19%) BMC PATROL
11 2 (0.19%) Cilium
11 2 (0.19%) Nessus
11 2 (0.19%) PowerCLI
11 2 (0.19%) Puppet
12 1 (0.094%) HP Fortify
12 1 (0.094%) Istio
12 1 (0.094%) SQL Sentry
Vendors
1 142 (13.41%) Microsoft
2 54 (5.10%) Oracle
3 48 (4.53%) SAP
4 38 (3.59%) Salesforce
5 19 (1.79%) Red Hat
6 17 (1.61%) Cisco
6 17 (1.61%) Databricks
7 16 (1.51%) Adobe
7 16 (1.51%) Foundry
7 16 (1.51%) ServiceNow
7 16 (1.51%) VMware
8 13 (1.23%) IBM
8 13 (1.23%) OpenAI
9 12 (1.13%) Automation Anywhere
9 12 (1.13%) Google
9 12 (1.13%) UiPath
10 11 (1.04%) Software AG
11 10 (0.94%) Citrix
11 10 (0.94%) Workday
12 9 (0.85%) Intapp