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

6 months to
31 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 155 161 188
Rank change year-on-year +6 +27 -52
Permanent jobs citing Validation 829 907 759
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.59% 1.82% 1.68%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.94% 2.02% 1.84%
Number of salaries quoted 452 337 459
10th Percentile £36,250 £36,250 £36,750
25th Percentile £41,250 £45,000 £48,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -4.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £71,250 £77,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £98,500 £92,750
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -4.00%

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 42,784 44,895 41,229
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 82.28% 90.18% 91.26%
Number of salaries quoted 25,500 22,481 31,965
10th Percentile £28,500 £35,000 £32,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%
75th Percentile £76,000 £81,250 £80,000
90th Percentile £96,250 £100,000 £100,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%

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 December 2025.

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 December 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
London +24 256 £75,000 +19.05% 463
South East +20 205 £46,000 -21.70% 737
North of England -22 127 £54,500 +18.48% 549
Midlands +18 84 £42,215 -15.57% 403
North West -4 80 £53,375 +11.94% 287
South West +30 73 £50,000 -7.06% 320
East of England -3 71 £60,000 +9.09% 383
West Midlands +9 51 £37,500 -28.57% 213
Yorkshire -2 36 £61,250 +63.33% 224
East Midlands +6 33 £42,500 -5.56% 170
North East +2 11 £31,000 -25.30% 38
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 20 (2.41%) Confluence
2 18 (2.17%) Apache Airflow
3 13 (1.57%) Apache Spark
4 10 (1.21%) CMS
4 10 (1.21%) SugarCRM
5 9 (1.09%) SharePoint
6 8 (0.97%) Apache
7 7 (0.84%) Appian
8 5 (0.60%) Microsoft Exchange
9 4 (0.48%) Headless CMS
10 3 (0.36%) Jupyter
10 3 (0.36%) SAS
11 2 (0.24%) Kinematics
11 2 (0.24%) WordPress
12 1 (0.12%) Anypoint
12 1 (0.12%) Apache Superset
12 1 (0.12%) FileNet
12 1 (0.12%) Luigi
Applications
1 56 (6.76%) Microsoft Excel
1 56 (6.76%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (1.69%) MS Visio
2 14 (1.69%) Simulink
3 7 (0.84%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.48%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 4 (0.48%) Fusion 360
5 2 (0.24%) Adobe After Effects
5 2 (0.24%) Adobe Captivate
5 2 (0.24%) Adobe Illustrator
5 2 (0.24%) Adobe Premiere
5 2 (0.24%) Elementor
5 2 (0.24%) Mathcad
5 2 (0.24%) Oracle Smart View
5 2 (0.24%) Photoshop
5 2 (0.24%) Weka
6 1 (0.12%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.12%) CATIA
6 1 (0.12%) Doxygen
6 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 21 (2.53%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (0.72%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.48%) Oracle ERP
3 4 (0.48%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 4 (0.48%) SAP BPC
4 3 (0.36%) Oracle Assets
4 3 (0.36%) Oracle Cash Management
4 3 (0.36%) Oracle General Ledger
4 3 (0.36%) Oracle Payables
4 3 (0.36%) Oracle Receivables
4 3 (0.36%) SAP CX
4 3 (0.36%) Workday HCM
5 2 (0.24%) Aladdin
5 2 (0.24%) Endur
5 2 (0.24%) IBM Planning Analytics
5 2 (0.24%) NetSuite
5 2 (0.24%) Primavera
5 2 (0.24%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.12%) Remedy ITSM
6 1 (0.12%) SAP Business One
Cloud Services
1 116 (13.99%) Azure
2 67 (8.08%) Power Platform
3 62 (7.48%) AWS
4 40 (4.83%) SaaS
5 28 (3.38%) Azure DevOps
6 24 (2.90%) GCP
7 17 (2.05%) GitHub
8 16 (1.93%) Snowflake
9 15 (1.81%) Power Automate
10 14 (1.69%) Dynamics 365
11 13 (1.57%) Amazon S3
11 13 (1.57%) Azure Data Factory
11 13 (1.57%) dbt
11 13 (1.57%) Microsoft 365
12 12 (1.45%) Serverless
13 10 (1.21%) Entra ID
14 9 (1.09%) AWS Lambda
15 8 (0.97%) Azure AI
15 8 (0.97%) Datadog
16 7 (0.84%) Anthropic Claude
Communications & Networking
1 14 (1.69%) LAN
2 12 (1.45%) CHAP
2 12 (1.45%) DNS
2 12 (1.45%) Firewall
3 8 (0.97%) HTTP
3 8 (0.97%) TCP/IP
3 8 (0.97%) WAN
4 7 (0.84%) 5G
4 7 (0.84%) MQTT
5 6 (0.72%) SD-WAN
6 5 (0.60%) Cisco IOS
6 5 (0.60%) Modbus
6 5 (0.60%) SMTP
6 5 (0.60%) WAAS
7 4 (0.48%) DHCP
7 4 (0.48%) Ethernet VPN
7 4 (0.48%) Network Security
7 4 (0.48%) VoIP
8 3 (0.36%) NX-OS
8 3 (0.36%) PBX
Database & Business Intelligence
1 65 (7.84%) Power BI
2 28 (3.38%) Tableau
3 26 (3.14%) Data Warehouse
4 25 (3.02%) SQL Server
5 20 (2.41%) Metadata
5 20 (2.41%) Relational Database
6 19 (2.29%) BigQuery
7 12 (1.45%) Oracle Reports
8 11 (1.33%) Data Lake
9 10 (1.21%) Spotfire
10 9 (1.09%) Big Data
11 8 (0.97%) Amazon Redshift
12 7 (0.84%) Looker
12 7 (0.84%) NoSQL
12 7 (0.84%) Pinecone
12 7 (0.84%) PostgreSQL
13 6 (0.72%) GIS
14 5 (0.60%) Azure SQL Database
14 5 (0.60%) Data Vault
14 5 (0.60%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 63 (7.60%) JIRA
2 38 (4.58%) Git
3 36 (4.34%) Rational DOORS
4 21 (2.53%) Postman
5 18 (2.17%) Jenkins
6 14 (1.69%) Selenium
7 12 (1.45%) GitLab
8 10 (1.21%) MLflow
8 10 (1.21%) SoapUI
8 10 (1.21%) TestRail
9 9 (1.09%) Cucumber
9 9 (1.09%) JMeter
10 7 (0.84%) LoadRunner
11 6 (0.72%) LabVIEW
12 5 (0.60%) Charles Proxy
12 5 (0.60%) Fiddler
12 5 (0.60%) TestNG
12 5 (0.60%) Zephyr
13 4 (0.48%) Browser DevTools
13 4 (0.48%) Locust
General
1 301 (36.31%) Social Skills
2 214 (25.81%) Finance
3 174 (20.99%) Analytical Skills
4 54 (6.51%) Law
5 52 (6.27%) Banking
6 49 (5.91%) Electronics
7 44 (5.31%) Marketing
8 42 (5.07%) Documentation Skills
9 41 (4.95%) Manufacturing
10 39 (4.70%) Presentation Skills
11 36 (4.34%) Financial Institution
12 35 (4.22%) Organisational Skills
13 29 (3.50%) Retail
14 28 (3.38%) Telecoms
15 27 (3.26%) Public Sector
16 26 (3.14%) Aerospace
17 25 (3.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 25 (3.02%) Pharmaceutical
18 20 (2.41%) Influencing Skills
19 17 (2.05%) Legal
Job Titles
1 130 (15.68%) Analyst
2 121 (14.60%) Senior
3 89 (10.74%) Lead
4 77 (9.29%) Systems Engineer
5 45 (5.43%) Architect
6 41 (4.95%) Data Analyst
7 40 (4.83%) Test Engineer
8 37 (4.46%) Business Analyst
9 30 (3.62%) Data Engineer
9 30 (3.62%) Developer
9 30 (3.62%) Principal Engineer
10 28 (3.38%) Applications Engineer
10 28 (3.38%) Junior
10 28 (3.38%) Validation Engineer
11 27 (3.26%) Applications Support
12 24 (2.90%) Integration Engineer
12 24 (2.90%) Support Engineer
13 23 (2.77%) Team Leader
14 22 (2.65%) Applications Support Engineer
14 22 (2.65%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (4.83%) REST
2 26 (3.14%) Middleware
3 22 (2.65%) JSON
3 22 (2.65%) Pandas
4 20 (2.41%) XML
5 19 (2.29%) scikit-learn
6 17 (2.05%) pytest
7 16 (1.93%) TensorFlow
8 15 (1.81%) PyTorch
9 13 (1.57%) NumPy
10 12 (1.45%) FastAPI
10 12 (1.45%) React
11 11 (1.33%) CSS
11 11 (1.33%) HTML
11 11 (1.33%) Web Services
12 10 (1.21%) Flask
12 10 (1.21%) OAuth
13 9 (1.09%) Hugging Face
13 9 (1.09%) RESTful
13 9 (1.09%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 85 (10.25%) Management Information System
2 40 (4.83%) Life Science
3 35 (4.22%) Onboarding
4 29 (3.50%) Operational Technology
5 25 (3.02%) Product Ownership
5 25 (3.02%) Self-Motivation
6 18 (2.17%) Algorithms
7 16 (1.93%) Data Structures
8 15 (1.81%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
8 15 (1.81%) Legacy Systems
9 14 (1.69%) Low-Code
10 12 (1.45%) Analytical Mindset
10 12 (1.45%) Enterprise Software
10 12 (1.45%) SCADA
11 11 (1.33%) SWIFT Messaging Network
12 9 (1.09%) Credit Risk
12 9 (1.09%) Data Centre
13 8 (0.97%) CMDB
13 8 (0.97%) e-Learning
13 8 (0.97%) LIMS
Operating Systems
1 41 (4.95%) Windows
2 34 (4.10%) Linux
3 12 (1.45%) Windows Server
4 9 (1.09%) Android
5 6 (0.72%) Unix
6 5 (0.60%) Windows 10
7 3 (0.36%) Apple iOS
7 3 (0.36%) Windows Server 2016
8 2 (0.24%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.12%) AIX
9 1 (0.12%) FreeRTOS
9 1 (0.12%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 1 (0.12%) Robot Operating System
9 1 (0.12%) VxWorks
9 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 196 (23.64%) Agile
2 185 (22.32%) Problem-Solving
3 126 (15.20%) Verification and Validation
4 119 (14.35%) Data Validation
5 112 (13.51%) Analytics
6 106 (12.79%) Migration
7 102 (12.30%) Continuous Improvement
8 91 (10.98%) Test Automation
9 83 (10.01%) Systems Engineering
10 82 (9.89%) Decision-Making
10 82 (9.89%) ETL
11 81 (9.77%) Mentoring
12 79 (9.53%) DevOps
13 78 (9.41%) Business Intelligence
13 78 (9.41%) Data Analysis
14 75 (9.05%) Software Engineering
15 74 (8.93%) CI/CD
16 73 (8.81%) Roadmaps
17 72 (8.69%) Data Management
18 66 (7.96%) AI
Programming Languages
1 181 (21.83%) SQL
2 158 (19.06%) Python
3 28 (3.38%) Java
4 27 (3.26%) C
5 26 (3.14%) MATLAB
6 24 (2.90%) C++
7 22 (2.65%) JavaScript
8 20 (2.41%) PowerShell
9 13 (1.57%) Bash
9 13 (1.57%) TypeScript
10 9 (1.09%) R
10 9 (1.09%) T-SQL
11 7 (0.84%) C#
12 6 (0.72%) Bicep
13 5 (0.60%) PL/SQL
14 3 (0.36%) Embedded C
14 3 (0.36%) GLSL
14 3 (0.36%) PHP
14 3 (0.36%) Tcl
14 3 (0.36%) VB
Qualifications
1 260 (31.36%) Degree
2 95 (11.46%) Security Cleared
3 93 (11.22%) BPSS Clearance
4 46 (5.55%) SC Cleared
5 41 (4.95%) Master's Degree
6 37 (4.46%) Computer Science Degree
7 20 (2.41%) Cisco Certification
7 20 (2.41%) HNC
8 16 (1.93%) ISTQB
8 16 (1.93%) Microsoft Certification
9 14 (1.69%) CISA
9 14 (1.69%) CISSP
9 14 (1.69%) DV Cleared
10 13 (1.57%) CGEIT
10 13 (1.57%) CISM
10 13 (1.57%) FFIEC
10 13 (1.57%) SANS
11 12 (1.45%) CCNP
12 11 (1.33%) ACCA
12 11 (1.33%) Numerate Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 112 (13.51%) Data Quality
2 102 (12.30%) QA
3 35 (4.22%) SLA
4 33 (3.98%) GDPR
4 33 (3.98%) GxP
5 31 (3.74%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 24 (2.90%) Accessibility
7 17 (2.05%) NIST
8 13 (1.57%) COBIT
9 11 (1.33%) ISO 20022
9 11 (1.33%) SEPA
10 10 (1.21%) Good Clinical Practice
10 10 (1.21%) ISO/IEC 12207
10 10 (1.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 9 (1.09%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 8 (0.97%) 21 CFR Part 11
12 8 (0.97%) GRC
13 7 (0.84%) TARGET2
14 6 (0.72%) WCAG
15 5 (0.60%) ARP4761
System Software
1 38 (4.58%) Docker
2 27 (3.26%) VMware Infrastructure
3 19 (2.29%) Firmware
4 10 (1.21%) Active Directory
5 3 (0.36%) Embedded Firmware
5 3 (0.36%) VMware ESXi
5 3 (0.36%) vSphere
6 2 (0.24%) Ceph
6 2 (0.24%) Lustre
6 2 (0.24%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 2 (0.24%) Slurm Workload Manager
6 2 (0.24%) vCloud
6 2 (0.24%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.24%) Virtual Servers
7 1 (0.12%) Dovecot
7 1 (0.12%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.12%) iptables
7 1 (0.12%) OpenAM
7 1 (0.12%) OpenIDM
7 1 (0.12%) pfSense
Systems Management
1 31 (3.74%) Kubernetes
2 16 (1.93%) Terraform
3 15 (1.81%) Ansible
4 11 (1.33%) Grafana
5 9 (1.09%) Microsoft Intune
6 8 (0.97%) Prometheus
7 7 (0.84%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 5 (0.60%) SCCM
9 3 (0.36%) Argo
9 3 (0.36%) Kubeflow
9 3 (0.36%) Rancher
9 3 (0.36%) yum
10 2 (0.24%) Docker Swarm
10 2 (0.24%) Functional Safety
10 2 (0.24%) Nessus
10 2 (0.24%) Progress Chef
10 2 (0.24%) Rundeck
11 1 (0.12%) Control-M
11 1 (0.12%) Kibana
11 1 (0.12%) Puppet
Vendors
1 102 (12.30%) Microsoft
2 51 (6.15%) SAP
3 31 (3.74%) VMware
4 29 (3.50%) Oracle
5 26 (3.14%) Cisco
6 18 (2.17%) Salesforce
7 15 (1.81%) Foundry
8 12 (1.45%) IBM
9 11 (1.33%) CheckPoint
9 11 (1.33%) F5
9 11 (1.33%) Software AG
10 9 (1.09%) Databricks
11 8 (0.97%) Intapp
11 8 (0.97%) OpenAI
12 7 (0.84%) Adobe
12 7 (0.84%) Automation Anywhere
12 7 (0.84%) Splunk
12 7 (0.84%) UiPath
13 6 (0.72%) Arista
13 6 (0.72%) ServiceNow