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 31 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 153 159 184
Rank change year-on-year +6 +25 -36
Permanent jobs citing Validation 863 837 1,023
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.54% 1.79% 1.65%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.92% 1.95% 1.86%
Number of salaries quoted 471 296 622
10th Percentile £36,250 £37,500 £35,289
25th Percentile £44,972 £46,250 £45,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -14.90%
75th Percentile £78,125 £72,500 £73,750
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £85,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -15.38%

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 45,020 42,905 54,980
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 80.22% 91.64% 88.64%
Number of salaries quoted 27,200 20,892 43,493
10th Percentile £28,803 £35,000 £30,000
25th Percentile £38,750 £46,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £61,206 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year -10.14% +6.45% -8.00%
75th Percentile £77,031 £81,250 £77,500
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £96,250
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £56,500
% change year-on-year -8.33% +6.19% -9.60%

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 31 January 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 31 January 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 +40 298 £75,000 +7.14% 211
South East +25 191 £50,000 -9.09% 206
North of England -18 124 £60,000 +25.83% 116
Midlands +2 86 £35,000 -33.01% 102
North West +1 83 £55,000 +15.35% 59
East of England +18 79 £59,500 +8.18% 89
South West +20 72 £57,500 +9.32% 91
West Midlands +5 56 £38,750 -26.19% 69
Yorkshire -11 32 £63,150 +56.03% 49
East Midlands 0 29 £35,000 -32.69% 32
North East -9 9 £41,000 -1.20% 9
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 18 (2.09%) Confluence
2 17 (1.97%) Apache Airflow
3 12 (1.39%) Appian
4 10 (1.16%) Apache Spark
5 9 (1.04%) CMS
5 9 (1.04%) Microsoft Exchange
5 9 (1.04%) SharePoint
6 6 (0.70%) Apache
7 4 (0.46%) Headless CMS
7 4 (0.46%) SugarCRM
8 3 (0.35%) Jupyter
8 3 (0.35%) SAS
9 2 (0.23%) Kinematics
9 2 (0.23%) WordPress
10 1 (0.12%) Anypoint
10 1 (0.12%) Apache Superset
10 1 (0.12%) FileNet
Applications
1 66 (7.65%) Microsoft Excel
2 57 (6.60%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (1.27%) MS Visio
4 10 (1.16%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 8 (0.93%) Simulink
6 7 (0.81%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 4 (0.46%) Fusion 360
8 2 (0.23%) Adobe After Effects
8 2 (0.23%) Adobe Captivate
8 2 (0.23%) Adobe Illustrator
8 2 (0.23%) Adobe Premiere
8 2 (0.23%) Elementor
8 2 (0.23%) Oracle Smart View
8 2 (0.23%) Photoshop
8 2 (0.23%) Weka
9 1 (0.12%) CATIA
9 1 (0.12%) Doxygen
9 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Project
9 1 (0.12%) Revit
9 1 (0.12%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 18 (2.09%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (1.16%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.46%) SAP BPC
4 3 (0.35%) SAP CX
4 3 (0.35%) Workday HCM
5 2 (0.23%) Aladdin
5 2 (0.23%) Endur
5 2 (0.23%) IBM Planning Analytics
5 2 (0.23%) NetSuite
5 2 (0.23%) Oracle ERP
5 2 (0.23%) Primavera
5 2 (0.23%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.12%) Loan IQ
6 1 (0.12%) Oracle Financials
6 1 (0.12%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.12%) Remedy ITSM
6 1 (0.12%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.12%) SAP Business ByDesign
6 1 (0.12%) SAP Business One
6 1 (0.12%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 136 (15.76%) Azure
2 74 (8.57%) Power Platform
3 56 (6.49%) AWS
4 42 (4.87%) SaaS
5 36 (4.17%) Azure DevOps
6 28 (3.24%) GCP
7 22 (2.55%) Azure Data Factory
8 19 (2.20%) Power Automate
9 18 (2.09%) Dynamics 365
9 18 (2.09%) Snowflake
10 16 (1.85%) GitHub
10 16 (1.85%) Microsoft 365
11 15 (1.74%) Entra ID
12 12 (1.39%) Anthropic Claude
12 12 (1.39%) Azure AI
13 11 (1.27%) dbt
13 11 (1.27%) Figma
14 10 (1.16%) Amazon S3
14 10 (1.16%) Datadog
15 8 (0.93%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 18 (2.09%) CHAP
2 13 (1.51%) WAN
3 12 (1.39%) Firewall
4 11 (1.27%) LAN
4 11 (1.27%) SD-WAN
5 10 (1.16%) 5G
6 9 (1.04%) DNS
7 8 (0.93%) HTTP
7 8 (0.93%) MQTT
8 7 (0.81%) TCP/IP
9 6 (0.70%) Modbus
10 5 (0.58%) Cisco IOS
10 5 (0.58%) Ethernet VPN
10 5 (0.58%) VoIP
10 5 (0.58%) WAAS
10 5 (0.58%) Wireless
11 4 (0.46%) BGP
11 4 (0.46%) OSPF
11 4 (0.46%) SMTP
12 3 (0.35%) PBX
Database & Business Intelligence
1 72 (8.34%) Power BI
2 38 (4.40%) SQL Server
3 24 (2.78%) Data Warehouse
4 23 (2.67%) Metadata
5 21 (2.43%) Relational Database
6 13 (1.51%) Oracle Reports
6 13 (1.51%) Tableau
7 12 (1.39%) Pinecone
8 10 (1.16%) Azure SQL Database
8 10 (1.16%) Data Lake
8 10 (1.16%) Spotfire
9 9 (1.04%) PostgreSQL
10 8 (0.93%) Big Data
10 8 (0.93%) BigQuery
10 8 (0.93%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 7 (0.81%) Amazon Redshift
11 7 (0.81%) Looker
12 6 (0.70%) GIS
12 6 (0.70%) NoSQL
12 6 (0.70%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 58 (6.72%) JIRA
2 41 (4.75%) Git
3 39 (4.52%) Rational DOORS
4 23 (2.67%) Postman
5 17 (1.97%) Jenkins
6 15 (1.74%) MLflow
7 13 (1.51%) GitLab
7 13 (1.51%) Selenium
8 12 (1.39%) LabVIEW
9 10 (1.16%) Cucumber
9 10 (1.16%) Eclipse
9 10 (1.16%) TestRail
10 9 (1.04%) JMeter
10 9 (1.04%) SoapUI
11 7 (0.81%) LoadRunner
12 6 (0.70%) Zephyr
13 5 (0.58%) Charles Proxy
13 5 (0.58%) Fiddler
13 5 (0.58%) SpecFlow
13 5 (0.58%) TestNG
General
1 312 (36.15%) Social Skills
2 238 (27.58%) Finance
3 191 (22.13%) Analytical Skills
4 67 (7.76%) Banking
5 52 (6.03%) Electronics
6 49 (5.68%) Marketing
7 48 (5.56%) Financial Institution
8 42 (4.87%) Manufacturing
9 39 (4.52%) Presentation Skills
10 32 (3.71%) Law
11 30 (3.48%) Aerospace
11 30 (3.48%) Telecoms
12 28 (3.24%) Organisational Skills
13 27 (3.13%) Retail
14 26 (3.01%) Public Sector
15 24 (2.78%) Documentation Skills
15 24 (2.78%) Legal
16 23 (2.67%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 19 (2.20%) Pharmaceutical
18 17 (1.97%) Avionics
Job Titles
1 134 (15.53%) Analyst
2 128 (14.83%) Senior
3 100 (11.59%) Systems Engineer
4 63 (7.30%) Lead
5 54 (6.26%) Architect
6 51 (5.91%) Test Engineer
7 45 (5.21%) Business Analyst
8 43 (4.98%) Validation Engineer
9 39 (4.52%) Integration Engineer
10 32 (3.71%) Data Analyst
10 32 (3.71%) Principal Engineer
11 30 (3.48%) Data Engineer
11 30 (3.48%) Developer
11 30 (3.48%) Junior
11 30 (3.48%) Systems Integration Engineer
12 26 (3.01%) Applications Support
12 26 (3.01%) Solutions Architect
13 24 (2.78%) Principal Systems Engineer
14 22 (2.55%) Verification Engineer
15 21 (2.43%) Applications Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (5.79%) REST
2 30 (3.48%) Middleware
3 27 (3.13%) JSON
3 27 (3.13%) pytest
4 25 (2.90%) Pandas
5 21 (2.43%) PyTorch
5 21 (2.43%) scikit-learn
5 21 (2.43%) TensorFlow
5 21 (2.43%) XML
6 18 (2.09%) NumPy
7 17 (1.97%) OAuth
8 16 (1.85%) FastAPI
8 16 (1.85%) JWT
8 16 (1.85%) Swagger
8 16 (1.85%) Web Services
9 15 (1.74%) Flask
10 14 (1.62%) CSS
11 13 (1.51%) HTML
11 13 (1.51%) React
11 13 (1.51%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 57 (6.60%) Management Information System
2 37 (4.29%) Onboarding
3 30 (3.48%) Self-Motivation
4 26 (3.01%) Legacy Systems
5 25 (2.90%) Product Ownership
6 24 (2.78%) Data Structures
7 22 (2.55%) Low-Code
8 19 (2.20%) Life Science
9 17 (1.97%) Algorithms
10 16 (1.85%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 14 (1.62%) Analytical Mindset
11 14 (1.62%) Enterprise Software
12 12 (1.39%) SWIFT Messaging Network
13 11 (1.27%) Blockchain
13 11 (1.27%) Data Centre
13 11 (1.27%) Self-Driving Car
14 10 (1.16%) IoT
14 10 (1.16%) Reinsurance
15 8 (0.93%) CMDB
15 8 (0.93%) Embedded Systems
Operating Systems
1 40 (4.63%) Windows
2 35 (4.06%) Linux
3 12 (1.39%) Unix
4 10 (1.16%) Android
5 9 (1.04%) Windows Server
6 4 (0.46%) Apple iOS
7 3 (0.35%) Robot Operating System
8 2 (0.23%) AIX
8 2 (0.23%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.23%) VxWorks
8 2 (0.23%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.12%) FreeRTOS
9 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 207 (23.99%) Agile
2 192 (22.25%) Problem-Solving
3 145 (16.80%) Verification and Validation
4 121 (14.02%) Analytics
4 121 (14.02%) Data Validation
5 106 (12.28%) Continuous Improvement
6 104 (12.05%) Test Automation
7 98 (11.36%) Migration
8 97 (11.24%) DevOps
9 91 (10.54%) Systems Engineering
10 90 (10.43%) Business Intelligence
11 89 (10.31%) CI/CD
12 87 (10.08%) ETL
13 83 (9.62%) AI
14 82 (9.50%) Mentoring
15 81 (9.39%) Software Engineering
16 79 (9.15%) Decision-Making
16 79 (9.15%) Roadmaps
17 77 (8.92%) Stakeholder Management
18 71 (8.23%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 195 (22.60%) SQL
2 162 (18.77%) Python
3 31 (3.59%) Java
4 30 (3.48%) C
5 28 (3.24%) C++
6 24 (2.78%) JavaScript
7 23 (2.67%) MATLAB
7 23 (2.67%) PowerShell
8 15 (1.74%) Bash
9 12 (1.39%) TypeScript
10 11 (1.27%) C#
11 10 (1.16%) T-SQL
12 9 (1.04%) R
13 6 (0.70%) Bicep
13 6 (0.70%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 6 (0.70%) PL/SQL
14 5 (0.58%) Go
14 5 (0.58%) PHP
15 4 (0.46%) VB
16 3 (0.35%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 238 (27.58%) Degree
2 108 (12.51%) Security Cleared
3 103 (11.94%) BPSS Clearance
4 49 (5.68%) Master's Degree
5 44 (5.10%) SC Cleared
6 37 (4.29%) Computer Science Degree
7 21 (2.43%) CISA
7 21 (2.43%) CISSP
8 19 (2.20%) CGEIT
8 19 (2.20%) CISM
8 19 (2.20%) FFIEC
8 19 (2.20%) SANS
9 18 (2.09%) DV Cleared
10 17 (1.97%) HNC
11 16 (1.85%) ISTQB
12 14 (1.62%) Chartered Engineer
13 13 (1.51%) Cisco Certification
14 12 (1.39%) HND
15 10 (1.16%) CCNP
16 9 (1.04%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 103 (11.94%) Data Quality
2 100 (11.59%) QA
3 39 (4.52%) GDPR
4 37 (4.29%) ISO/IEC 15288
5 31 (3.59%) Accessibility
6 28 (3.24%) SLA
7 19 (2.20%) COBIT
7 19 (2.20%) NIST
8 13 (1.51%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 12 (1.39%) ISO 20022
9 12 (1.39%) SEPA
10 10 (1.16%) Good Clinical Practice
10 10 (1.16%) ISO/IEC 12207
11 9 (1.04%) GRC
11 9 (1.04%) WCAG
12 8 (0.93%) GxP
12 8 (0.93%) TARGET2
13 7 (0.81%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 7 (0.81%) IFRS
14 6 (0.70%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 44 (5.10%) Docker
2 16 (1.85%) Firmware
3 11 (1.27%) Active Directory
4 3 (0.35%) Hyper-V
4 3 (0.35%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.23%) Ceph
5 2 (0.23%) Lustre
5 2 (0.23%) Slurm Workload Manager
5 2 (0.23%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.23%) vSphere
6 1 (0.12%) iptables
6 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 1 (0.12%) OpenAM
6 1 (0.12%) OpenDJ
6 1 (0.12%) OpenIDM
6 1 (0.12%) pfSense
6 1 (0.12%) Terminal Services
6 1 (0.12%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.12%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 37 (4.29%) Kubernetes
2 22 (2.55%) Terraform
3 13 (1.51%) Ansible
4 10 (1.16%) Grafana
5 8 (0.93%) Microsoft Intune
6 7 (0.81%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
6 7 (0.81%) Prometheus
7 6 (0.70%) SCCM
8 4 (0.46%) Argo
8 4 (0.46%) Rancher
8 4 (0.46%) yum
9 2 (0.23%) BMC PATROL
9 2 (0.23%) Functional Safety
9 2 (0.23%) Kubeflow
9 2 (0.23%) Nessus
9 2 (0.23%) Puppet
10 1 (0.12%) Control-M
10 1 (0.12%) Kibana
10 1 (0.12%) PowerCLI
10 1 (0.12%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 113 (13.09%) Microsoft
2 52 (6.03%) SAP
3 34 (3.94%) Oracle
4 25 (2.90%) Salesforce
5 24 (2.78%) Cisco
6 17 (1.97%) Foundry
7 15 (1.74%) IBM
8 14 (1.62%) Software AG
9 13 (1.51%) Adobe
9 13 (1.51%) OpenAI
9 13 (1.51%) ServiceNow
10 12 (1.39%) Automation Anywhere
10 12 (1.39%) UiPath
11 10 (1.16%) F5
12 9 (1.04%) CheckPoint
12 9 (1.04%) Databricks
13 8 (0.93%) Intapp
14 7 (0.81%) Google
14 7 (0.81%) Guidewire
15 6 (0.70%) MuleSoft