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

6 months to
29 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 70 84 173
Rank change year-on-year +14 +89 +27
Permanent jobs citing Validation 2,345 1,500 1,036
As % of all permanent jobs in England 2.26% 3.50% 1.55%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.08% 3.93% 1.88%
Number of salaries quoted 1,394 408 394
10th Percentile £36,075 £38,750 £38,734
25th Percentile £42,750 £41,250 £46,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,250 £55,000 £56,509
Median % change year-on-year +5.91% -2.67% -13.06%
75th Percentile £71,250 £77,500 £75,000
90th Percentile £86,250 £91,500 £95,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £58,033
% change year-on-year +9.09% -5.23% -10.72%

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 76,170 38,152 55,061
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.53% 89.06% 82.25%
Number of salaries quoted 53,672 21,624 29,977
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £32,500
25th Percentile £42,215 £36,750 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -2.44%
75th Percentile £80,000 £76,000 £78,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £97,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £58,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% -5.17% -3.33%

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 29 September 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 29 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
London +72 607 £68,750 -14.06% 1,644
South East -11 498 £62,500 +13.64% 546
North of England +111 474 £54,750 +14.82% 416
North West +110 294 £55,000 +10.00% 220
Midlands -25 288 £50,000 -9.09% 320
South West +18 248 £55,000 +4.56% 295
East of England -43 202 £55,000 -8.33% 289
West Midlands +45 165 £50,000 -9.09% 227
East Midlands -49 123 £50,000 +17.65% 93
Yorkshire +30 94 £42,750 +0.59% 133
North East +1 86 £55,000 +57.14% 65
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 49 (2.09%) Apache Spark
2 42 (1.79%) Apache Airflow
3 41 (1.75%) Apache
4 35 (1.49%) Confluence
4 35 (1.49%) SharePoint
5 18 (0.77%) Jupyter
6 13 (0.55%) Microsoft Exchange
6 13 (0.55%) SAS
7 10 (0.43%) WinCC
8 6 (0.26%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 4 (0.17%) CMS
10 3 (0.13%) Artix
10 3 (0.13%) nginx
10 3 (0.13%) OpenStack
10 3 (0.13%) Oracle SOA Suite
11 2 (0.085%) Cloud Foundry
11 2 (0.085%) IIS
11 2 (0.085%) Palantir Foundry
12 1 (0.043%) ArcGIS
12 1 (0.043%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
Applications
1 144 (6.14%) Microsoft Excel
2 68 (2.90%) Microsoft Office
3 52 (2.22%) Simulink
4 36 (1.54%) Microsoft Project
5 23 (0.98%) Spreadsheet
6 20 (0.85%) SOLIDWORKS
7 19 (0.81%) AutoCAD
8 15 (0.64%) MS Visio
9 12 (0.51%) Revit
10 10 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
11 9 (0.38%) OrCAD
12 7 (0.30%) EPLAN
12 7 (0.30%) Navisworks
13 5 (0.21%) Mathcad
14 4 (0.17%) Stateflow
15 3 (0.13%) Adobe XD
15 3 (0.13%) Autodesk Inventor
15 3 (0.13%) CANalyzer
15 3 (0.13%) LaTeX
15 3 (0.13%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 41 (1.75%) SAP S/4HANA
2 39 (1.66%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.47%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.43%) Workday HCM
5 9 (0.38%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.34%) NetSuite
6 8 (0.34%) Oracle Applications
7 7 (0.30%) Infor M3
7 7 (0.30%) SAP ERP
8 5 (0.21%) iTrent
8 5 (0.21%) Oracle Financials
8 5 (0.21%) SAP MDG-BP
9 4 (0.17%) Elite 3E
9 4 (0.17%) Salesforce CRM
9 4 (0.17%) SAP MM
9 4 (0.17%) Teamcenter
10 3 (0.13%) Dynamics NAV
10 3 (0.13%) Oracle Payables
10 3 (0.13%) Oracle Receivables
10 3 (0.13%) Sage 200
Cloud Services
1 311 (13.26%) Azure
2 253 (10.79%) AWS
3 178 (7.59%) Power Platform
4 96 (4.09%) GCP
5 75 (3.20%) Azure DevOps
6 72 (3.07%) GitHub
7 66 (2.81%) Microsoft 365
7 66 (2.81%) SaaS
8 61 (2.60%) Serverless
9 44 (1.88%) Amazon S3
10 39 (1.66%) Entra ID
11 38 (1.62%) Dynamics 365
12 36 (1.54%) Microsoft Copilot
13 35 (1.49%) GitHub Actions
14 30 (1.28%) Microsoft Purview
15 27 (1.15%) Azure Data Factory
16 26 (1.11%) Amazon EMR
16 26 (1.11%) Cloud Computing
17 23 (0.98%) PowerApps
18 22 (0.94%) Azure Service Bus
Communications & Networking
1 70 (2.99%) DNS
2 64 (2.73%) Firewall
3 54 (2.30%) Broadband
4 42 (1.79%) VPN
5 39 (1.66%) TCP/IP
6 38 (1.62%) Ethernet
6 38 (1.62%) Network Security
7 35 (1.49%) Modbus
8 34 (1.45%) WAN
8 34 (1.45%) Wireless
9 31 (1.32%) VLAN
10 29 (1.24%) LAN
11 27 (1.15%) OSPF
12 24 (1.02%) MQTT
12 24 (1.02%) Wireshark
13 22 (0.94%) SD-WAN
14 20 (0.85%) BGP
15 18 (0.77%) 5G
16 17 (0.72%) HTTP
16 17 (0.72%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 165 (7.04%) Power BI
2 61 (2.60%) Data Warehouse
2 61 (2.60%) Metadata
3 53 (2.26%) SQL Server
4 49 (2.09%) Data Lake
4 49 (2.09%) PostgreSQL
5 38 (1.62%) Relational Database
6 37 (1.58%) Amazon Athena
7 34 (1.45%) Tableau
8 30 (1.28%) MongoDB
9 26 (1.11%) Big Data
10 25 (1.07%) DynamoDB
10 25 (1.07%) NoSQL
11 24 (1.02%) BigQuery
12 23 (0.98%) Azure SQL Database
12 23 (0.98%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 19 (0.81%) Amazon Redshift
13 19 (0.81%) Power Query
13 19 (0.81%) Semantic Layer
14 18 (0.77%) Delta Lake
Development Applications
1 135 (5.76%) JIRA
2 123 (5.25%) Git
3 59 (2.52%) Jenkins
4 53 (2.26%) GitLab
5 44 (1.88%) Rational DOORS
6 29 (1.24%) LabVIEW
7 23 (0.98%) Selenium
8 22 (0.94%) Snyk
9 19 (0.81%) Postman
10 17 (0.72%) Cypress.io
11 12 (0.51%) Claude Code
12 11 (0.47%) Burp Suite
12 11 (0.47%) Eclipse
13 10 (0.43%) JMeter
13 10 (0.43%) TeamCity
14 9 (0.38%) Cucumber
14 9 (0.38%) MLflow
15 8 (0.34%) Gatling
15 8 (0.34%) REST Assured
15 8 (0.34%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 780 (33.26%) Social Skills
2 587 (25.03%) Finance
3 558 (23.80%) Analytical Skills
4 235 (10.02%) Manufacturing
5 225 (9.59%) Electronics
6 220 (9.38%) Aerospace
7 180 (7.68%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 124 (5.29%) Law
9 105 (4.48%) Organisational Skills
9 105 (4.48%) Public Sector
10 103 (4.39%) Retail
11 102 (4.35%) Banking
12 85 (3.62%) Marketing
13 84 (3.58%) Telecoms
14 83 (3.54%) Pharmaceutical
15 81 (3.45%) Automotive
16 51 (2.17%) Legal
17 43 (1.83%) Military
18 42 (1.79%) Influencing Skills
19 39 (1.66%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 422 (18.00%) Senior
2 268 (11.43%) Systems Engineer
3 257 (10.96%) Analyst
4 190 (8.10%) Lead
5 126 (5.37%) Test Engineer
6 118 (5.03%) Data Engineer
7 115 (4.90%) Architect
8 99 (4.22%) Developer
9 84 (3.58%) Software Engineer
10 81 (3.45%) Business Analyst
11 80 (3.41%) Consultant
11 80 (3.41%) Principal Engineer
12 72 (3.07%) Electronics Engineer
13 64 (2.73%) Validation Engineer
14 62 (2.64%) Data Analyst
15 57 (2.43%) Network Engineer
16 50 (2.13%) Automation Engineer
17 49 (2.09%) Embedded Engineer
18 47 (2.00%) Data Scientist
19 45 (1.92%) Principal Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 87 (3.71%) Terraform
2 62 (2.64%) REST
3 57 (2.43%) RESTful
4 55 (2.35%) Kafka
5 49 (2.09%) Node.js
6 43 (1.83%) .NET
7 38 (1.62%) PySpark
8 36 (1.54%) Playwright
9 35 (1.49%) JSON
10 32 (1.36%) FastAPI
11 31 (1.32%) CSS
11 31 (1.32%) XML
12 29 (1.24%) HTML
12 29 (1.24%) React
13 25 (1.07%) Middleware
13 25 (1.07%) Swagger
14 24 (1.02%) LDAP
15 22 (0.94%) OAuth
16 21 (0.90%) ModSecurity
16 21 (0.90%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 155 (6.61%) Cloud Native
2 135 (5.76%) Management Information System
3 125 (5.33%) Onboarding
4 79 (3.37%) Data Centre
4 79 (3.37%) Product Ownership
5 64 (2.73%) Driving Licence
6 63 (2.69%) Embedded Systems
7 61 (2.60%) Distributed Systems
8 60 (2.56%) Data Structures
9 59 (2.52%) Enterprise Software
10 52 (2.22%) SCADA
11 48 (2.05%) Algorithms
12 47 (2.00%) Life Science
13 46 (1.96%) AI Agents
14 41 (1.75%) Analytical Mindset
15 38 (1.62%) Low-Code
15 38 (1.62%) Robotics
16 37 (1.58%) Legacy Systems
17 36 (1.54%) Self-Motivation
18 34 (1.45%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 133 (5.67%) Linux
2 92 (3.92%) Windows
3 31 (1.32%) Windows Server
4 26 (1.11%) Unix
5 14 (0.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (0.43%) Android
7 8 (0.34%) Embedded Linux
8 7 (0.30%) Mac OS
9 6 (0.26%) FreeRTOS
10 4 (0.17%) Kali Linux
10 4 (0.17%) Mac OS X
11 3 (0.13%) Apple iOS
12 2 (0.085%) Robot Operating System
12 2 (0.085%) VMS
12 2 (0.085%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.043%) AIX
13 1 (0.043%) OpenWrt
13 1 (0.043%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 612 (26.10%) Problem-Solving
2 525 (22.39%) Continuous Improvement
3 424 (18.08%) Agile
4 402 (17.14%) Verification and Validation
5 395 (16.84%) AI
6 338 (14.41%) CI/CD
7 323 (13.77%) Stakeholder Management
8 296 (12.62%) Migration
8 296 (12.62%) Test Automation
9 252 (10.75%) Analytics
10 244 (10.41%) Mentoring
11 238 (10.15%) Software Engineering
12 224 (9.55%) Decision-Making
13 219 (9.34%) DevOps
14 208 (8.87%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 207 (8.83%) Data Analysis
16 205 (8.74%) Business Intelligence
17 199 (8.49%) Roadmaps
18 190 (8.10%) Data Migration
19 184 (7.85%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 480 (20.47%) Python
2 422 (18.00%) SQL
3 93 (3.97%) C++
4 91 (3.88%) Java
5 83 (3.54%) C
6 71 (3.03%) JavaScript
7 67 (2.86%) MATLAB
8 65 (2.77%) C#
9 47 (2.00%) Go
10 35 (1.49%) Bash
11 32 (1.36%) PowerShell
12 30 (1.28%) TypeScript
13 29 (1.24%) Embedded C
14 25 (1.07%) Scala
15 21 (0.90%) R
16 18 (0.77%) Embedded C++
17 16 (0.68%) Data Analysis Expressions
18 12 (0.51%) Shell Script
19 10 (0.43%) Apex Code
19 10 (0.43%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 504 (21.49%) Degree
2 484 (20.64%) Security Cleared
3 353 (15.05%) SC Cleared
4 111 (4.73%) BPSS Clearance
5 98 (4.18%) DV Cleared
6 95 (4.05%) Master's Degree
7 49 (2.09%) Computer Science Degree
8 41 (1.75%) HND
9 38 (1.62%) PhD
10 37 (1.58%) PMI Certification
11 36 (1.54%) HNC
12 35 (1.49%) Chartered Engineer
13 32 (1.36%) CISSP
14 30 (1.28%) ACCA
15 29 (1.24%) Azure Certification
16 27 (1.15%) AWS Certification
16 27 (1.15%) CIMA
17 25 (1.07%) PMP
18 21 (0.90%) Cisco Certification
18 21 (0.90%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 355 (15.14%) Data Quality
2 289 (12.32%) QA
3 65 (2.77%) Accessibility
4 59 (2.52%) GDPR
5 37 (1.58%) GRC
6 32 (1.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 27 (1.15%) GxP
8 20 (0.85%) IEC 61508
8 20 (0.85%) SLA
9 19 (0.81%) NIST
10 16 (0.68%) ISO/IEC 15288
11 15 (0.64%) PMO
12 14 (0.60%) ISO 9001
13 13 (0.55%) ISO 26262
13 13 (0.55%) SOC 2
14 12 (0.51%) GMP
14 12 (0.51%) ISO 19650
15 10 (0.43%) GAAP
16 9 (0.38%) IFRS
16 9 (0.38%) WCAG
System Software
1 100 (4.26%) Docker
2 93 (3.97%) Firmware
3 47 (2.00%) Active Directory
4 43 (1.83%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.19%) Virtual Machines
6 16 (0.68%) vSphere
7 8 (0.34%) VMware Infrastructure
8 6 (0.26%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.13%) KVM
10 2 (0.085%) iptables
10 2 (0.085%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.085%) Virtual Servers
10 2 (0.085%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.043%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 87 (3.71%) Kubernetes
2 40 (1.71%) Grafana
3 33 (1.41%) Ansible
4 30 (1.28%) Functional Safety
5 18 (0.77%) Single Sign-On
6 16 (0.68%) Prometheus
7 11 (0.47%) Microsoft Intune
8 10 (0.43%) Puppet
9 9 (0.38%) Cilium
10 8 (0.34%) BMC PATROL
10 8 (0.34%) Kibana
10 8 (0.34%) Nessus
10 8 (0.34%) Nmap
11 5 (0.21%) WMI
12 4 (0.17%) Argo
12 4 (0.17%) FortiGate
12 4 (0.17%) Kubeflow
12 4 (0.17%) Rancher
12 4 (0.17%) SCCM
12 4 (0.17%) yum
Vendors
1 322 (13.73%) Microsoft
2 123 (5.25%) SAP
3 103 (4.39%) Oracle
4 66 (2.81%) Salesforce
5 62 (2.64%) Databricks
6 59 (2.52%) EMC
7 53 (2.26%) ServiceNow
8 51 (2.17%) Cisco
9 36 (1.54%) Google
10 32 (1.36%) CrowdStrike
11 26 (1.11%) Palo Alto
12 25 (1.07%) Sage
13 23 (0.98%) Tenable
14 22 (0.94%) VMware
15 21 (0.90%) Informatica
16 20 (0.85%) Thales
17 19 (0.81%) IBM
17 19 (0.81%) Siemens
18 18 (0.77%) Red Hat
18 18 (0.77%) Workday