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 11 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 114 71 196
Rank change year-on-year -43 +125 -15
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,350 1,536 1,312
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.64% 3.91% 1.41%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.25% 4.22% 1.71%
Number of salaries quoted 812 413 717
10th Percentile £36,250 £40,000 £36,000
25th Percentile £43,688 £46,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £56,283 £57,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -1.26% +3.64% -12.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £72,433
90th Percentile £90,000 £95,000 £85,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year -4.35% +4.55% -11.41%

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 60,030 36,425 76,751
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 72.97% 92.76% 82.48%
Number of salaries quoted 42,034 19,839 55,940
10th Percentile £30,625 £29,000 £29,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £40,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £58,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.45% +5.45% -12.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £78,750 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £101,250 £92,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -9.54%

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 11 June 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 11 June 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 +71 391 £75,000 - 287
South East -35 305 £55,000 - 239
North of England +83 272 £55,000 +15.35% 159
North West +78 172 £55,000 +15.35% 89
Midlands -75 160 £40,000 -30.43% 122
East of England -76 107 £60,000 +5.26% 80
West Midlands -6 96 £44,000 -32.31% 74
South West -46 94 £52,750 -4.09% 112
East Midlands -81 62 £30,000 -42.31% 48
Yorkshire -9 60 £50,000 +11.11% 49
North East -10 40 £55,000 +15.79% 24
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 50 (3.70%) Apache Airflow
2 41 (3.04%) Apache Spark
3 40 (2.96%) Apache
4 20 (1.48%) Confluence
5 15 (1.11%) Microsoft Exchange
6 14 (1.04%) SharePoint
7 10 (0.74%) Jupyter
8 8 (0.59%) Appian
9 7 (0.52%) SAS
10 5 (0.37%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 5 (0.37%) CMS
10 5 (0.37%) Kinematics
11 3 (0.22%) Artix
12 2 (0.15%) IIS
13 1 (0.074%) Anypoint
13 1 (0.074%) ArcGIS
13 1 (0.074%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 87 (6.44%) Microsoft Excel
2 45 (3.33%) Microsoft Office
3 21 (1.56%) Microsoft Project
4 18 (1.33%) MS Visio
5 15 (1.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 13 (0.96%) Simulink
7 8 (0.59%) SOLIDWORKS
7 8 (0.59%) Spreadsheet
8 5 (0.37%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 5 (0.37%) AutoCAD
9 4 (0.30%) Adobe XD
9 4 (0.30%) Sketch
10 3 (0.22%) Autodesk Inventor
10 3 (0.22%) Fusion 360
10 3 (0.22%) Productboard
10 3 (0.22%) Solid Edge
10 3 (0.22%) Stateflow
11 1 (0.074%) CATIA
11 1 (0.074%) Revit
11 1 (0.074%) Trello
Business Applications
1 33 (2.44%) SAP S/4HANA
2 31 (2.30%) Dynamics CRM
3 10 (0.74%) SAP ERP
4 9 (0.67%) SAP MDG
5 8 (0.59%) Oracle EBS
6 5 (0.37%) iTrent
6 5 (0.37%) Loan IQ
6 5 (0.37%) Oracle Financials
6 5 (0.37%) SAP MDG-BP
7 4 (0.30%) Oracle Applications
8 2 (0.15%) Oracle ERP
8 2 (0.15%) Oracle Payables
8 2 (0.15%) Oracle Receivables
8 2 (0.15%) SAP EWM
8 2 (0.15%) SAP MM
8 2 (0.15%) SAP WM
9 1 (0.074%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
9 1 (0.074%) SAP Business ByDesign
9 1 (0.074%) SAP Business One
9 1 (0.074%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 175 (12.96%) Azure
2 144 (10.67%) AWS
3 125 (9.26%) Power Platform
4 67 (4.96%) GCP
5 59 (4.37%) SaaS
6 53 (3.93%) Azure DevOps
7 39 (2.89%) Microsoft 365
8 38 (2.81%) Serverless
9 36 (2.67%) Amazon S3
10 34 (2.52%) GitHub
11 27 (2.00%) Azure Data Factory
12 25 (1.85%) Dynamics 365
12 25 (1.85%) Snowflake
13 21 (1.56%) Entra ID
14 20 (1.48%) Power Automate
15 17 (1.26%) dbt
16 16 (1.19%) GitHub Actions
17 14 (1.04%) OpenShift
18 13 (0.96%) Amazon CloudWatch
18 13 (0.96%) Amazon EC2
Communications & Networking
1 65 (4.81%) Broadband
2 41 (3.04%) Firewall
3 33 (2.44%) DNS
4 22 (1.63%) CHAP
5 20 (1.48%) WAN
6 17 (1.26%) Wireless
7 16 (1.19%) SD-WAN
8 14 (1.04%) 5G
8 14 (1.04%) Network Security
9 13 (0.96%) TCP/IP
9 13 (0.96%) VPN
10 11 (0.81%) Wi-Fi
11 10 (0.74%) HTTP
11 10 (0.74%) MQTT
12 9 (0.67%) LAN
12 9 (0.67%) NAS
13 8 (0.59%) Ethernet
14 7 (0.52%) WebEx
15 6 (0.44%) Cisco ISE
16 5 (0.37%) Modbus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 123 (9.11%) Power BI
2 54 (4.00%) Tableau
3 53 (3.93%) PostgreSQL
4 49 (3.63%) SQL Server
5 40 (2.96%) Data Warehouse
6 33 (2.44%) MongoDB
7 30 (2.22%) Relational Database
8 28 (2.07%) Metadata
9 23 (1.70%) BigQuery
10 22 (1.63%) Data Lake
11 21 (1.56%) Azure SQL Database
12 18 (1.33%) Semantic Layer
12 18 (1.33%) Spark SQL
13 17 (1.26%) Oracle Database
14 15 (1.11%) MySQL
15 14 (1.04%) Amazon Athena
15 14 (1.04%) DynamoDB
15 14 (1.04%) Parquet
15 14 (1.04%) SQL Server Reporting Services
16 13 (0.96%) Impala
Development Applications
1 65 (4.81%) Git
1 65 (4.81%) JIRA
2 43 (3.19%) Jenkins
3 33 (2.44%) GitLab
4 31 (2.30%) Rational DOORS
5 22 (1.63%) Snyk
6 14 (1.04%) Postman
6 14 (1.04%) Selenium
7 13 (0.96%) IBM UrbanCode
8 12 (0.89%) LabVIEW
8 12 (0.89%) MLflow
9 10 (0.74%) Cucumber
9 10 (0.74%) Eclipse
10 9 (0.67%) Cypress.io
10 9 (0.67%) JMeter
10 9 (0.67%) TeamCity
11 6 (0.44%) Rational Rhapsody
12 5 (0.37%) LoadRunner
12 5 (0.37%) REST Assured
12 5 (0.37%) SonarQube
General
1 394 (29.19%) Social Skills
2 354 (26.22%) Finance
3 304 (22.52%) Analytical Skills
4 103 (7.63%) Aerospace
5 98 (7.26%) Electronics
6 92 (6.81%) Banking
7 91 (6.74%) Manufacturing
8 82 (6.07%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 53 (3.93%) Law
10 47 (3.48%) Legal
10 47 (3.48%) Retail
11 43 (3.19%) Marketing
11 43 (3.19%) Public Sector
12 39 (2.89%) Games
12 39 (2.89%) Pharmaceutical
13 33 (2.44%) Financial Institution
14 30 (2.22%) Organisational Skills
15 26 (1.93%) Automotive
15 26 (1.93%) Presentation Skills
16 22 (1.63%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 228 (16.89%) Senior
2 221 (16.37%) Analyst
3 134 (9.93%) Systems Engineer
4 96 (7.11%) Lead
4 96 (7.11%) Test Engineer
5 90 (6.67%) Architect
6 86 (6.37%) Validation Engineer
7 73 (5.41%) Business Analyst
8 68 (5.04%) Data Engineer
9 62 (4.59%) Data Analyst
9 62 (4.59%) Developer
10 47 (3.48%) Principal Engineer
11 39 (2.89%) Integration Engineer
12 38 (2.81%) IT Manager
13 37 (2.74%) Embedded Engineer
14 35 (2.59%) Consultant
15 34 (2.52%) Security Architect
16 33 (2.44%) Junior
17 31 (2.30%) Senior Systems Engineer
17 31 (2.30%) Software Validation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (3.11%) RESTful
2 36 (2.67%) REST
3 29 (2.15%) PySpark
4 28 (2.07%) JSON
4 28 (2.07%) Pandas
5 26 (1.93%) Kafka
5 26 (1.93%) pytest
6 23 (1.70%) Middleware
6 23 (1.70%) Node.js
6 23 (1.70%) XML
7 20 (1.48%) .NET
8 18 (1.33%) Playwright
8 18 (1.33%) Swagger
9 17 (1.26%) Regular Expression
9 17 (1.26%) XMPP
10 16 (1.19%) CSS
10 16 (1.19%) OAuth
11 15 (1.11%) PyTorch
11 15 (1.11%) TensorFlow
12 14 (1.04%) JWT
Miscellaneous
1 76 (5.63%) Cloud Native
2 73 (5.41%) Management Information System
3 67 (4.96%) Onboarding
4 51 (3.78%) Data Structures
4 51 (3.78%) Low-Code
5 33 (2.44%) Self-Motivation
6 32 (2.37%) Analytical Mindset
6 32 (2.37%) Distributed Systems
6 32 (2.37%) Embedded Systems
7 31 (2.30%) Driving Licence
7 31 (2.30%) Legacy Systems
7 31 (2.30%) Product Ownership
7 31 (2.30%) Video\Live Streaming
8 30 (2.22%) Data Centre
9 29 (2.15%) Algorithms
9 29 (2.15%) Enterprise Software
10 28 (2.07%) Life Science
11 20 (1.48%) Robotics
12 17 (1.26%) FPGA
13 16 (1.19%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 79 (5.85%) Linux
2 59 (4.37%) Windows
3 24 (1.78%) Unix
3 24 (1.78%) Windows Server
4 17 (1.26%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 7 (0.52%) Android
6 4 (0.30%) FreeRTOS
6 4 (0.30%) Mac OS X
7 3 (0.22%) AIX
7 3 (0.22%) Apple iOS
7 3 (0.22%) Kali Linux
8 2 (0.15%) Robot Operating System
8 2 (0.15%) ThreadX
9 1 (0.074%) Embedded Linux
9 1 (0.074%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 296 (21.93%) Problem-Solving
2 263 (19.48%) Agile
3 254 (18.81%) Continuous Improvement
4 229 (16.96%) AI
5 224 (16.59%) CI/CD
6 199 (14.74%) Test Automation
7 187 (13.85%) Verification and Validation
8 181 (13.41%) Analytics
9 156 (11.56%) Data Validation
10 146 (10.81%) DevOps
11 144 (10.67%) Business Intelligence
11 144 (10.67%) Data Modelling
12 143 (10.59%) Migration
13 137 (10.15%) Decision-Making
14 131 (9.70%) Software Engineering
15 127 (9.41%) Data Governance
16 125 (9.26%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 124 (9.19%) Machine Learning
18 121 (8.96%) Mentoring
18 121 (8.96%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 319 (23.63%) Python
2 288 (21.33%) SQL
3 57 (4.22%) Java
4 54 (4.00%) C++
5 52 (3.85%) C
6 49 (3.63%) Go
7 33 (2.44%) C#
8 31 (2.30%) JavaScript
9 27 (2.00%) Bash
9 27 (2.00%) PowerShell
10 24 (1.78%) MATLAB
11 19 (1.41%) T-SQL
12 15 (1.11%) Embedded C
13 14 (1.04%) Embedded C++
14 13 (0.96%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 11 (0.81%) Scala
15 11 (0.81%) TypeScript
16 9 (0.67%) VBA
17 8 (0.59%) ABAP
18 7 (0.52%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 268 (19.85%) Degree
2 154 (11.41%) Security Cleared
3 101 (7.48%) BPSS Clearance
4 72 (5.33%) SC Cleared
5 69 (5.11%) Master's Degree
6 43 (3.19%) DV Cleared
7 36 (2.67%) Chartered Engineer
7 36 (2.67%) Computer Science Degree
8 32 (2.37%) CISA
8 32 (2.37%) CISSP
8 32 (2.37%) SANS
9 29 (2.15%) CISM
10 24 (1.78%) HNC
11 22 (1.63%) CGEIT
11 22 (1.63%) FFIEC
12 20 (1.48%) HND
13 15 (1.11%) PMI Certification
14 14 (1.04%) ACCA
14 14 (1.04%) CIMA
15 12 (0.89%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 223 (16.52%) Data Quality
2 131 (9.70%) QA
3 56 (4.15%) GDPR
4 41 (3.04%) Accessibility
5 40 (2.96%) GRC
6 27 (2.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 25 (1.85%) ISO/IEC 15288
8 24 (1.78%) NIST
9 22 (1.63%) COBIT
10 19 (1.41%) IFRS
11 16 (1.19%) IEC 61508
12 15 (1.11%) PMO
12 15 (1.11%) SLA
13 12 (0.89%) GAAP
14 11 (0.81%) GMP
14 11 (0.81%) ISO 9001
15 10 (0.74%) SOC 2
16 9 (0.67%) ISO 26262
16 9 (0.67%) WCAG
17 8 (0.59%) GxP
System Software
1 62 (4.59%) Docker
2 41 (3.04%) Firmware
3 37 (2.74%) Active Directory
4 22 (1.63%) Virtual Machines
5 18 (1.33%) vSphere
6 16 (1.19%) Embedded Firmware
7 8 (0.59%) VMware Infrastructure
8 5 (0.37%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.15%) Terminal Services
10 1 (0.074%) OpenAM
10 1 (0.074%) OpenDJ
10 1 (0.074%) OpenIDM
10 1 (0.074%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 64 (4.74%) Kubernetes
2 60 (4.44%) Terraform
3 26 (1.93%) Grafana
4 19 (1.41%) Functional Safety
5 16 (1.19%) Prometheus
6 15 (1.11%) Ansible
7 11 (0.81%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 10 (0.74%) SCCM
9 9 (0.67%) Cilium
10 7 (0.52%) Kibana
11 6 (0.44%) Microsoft Intune
12 3 (0.22%) Argo
12 3 (0.22%) FortiGate
12 3 (0.22%) HP Fortify
12 3 (0.22%) Puppet
12 3 (0.22%) Rancher
12 3 (0.22%) yum
13 2 (0.15%) BMC PATROL
13 2 (0.15%) Computer Incident Response Team
14 1 (0.074%) MOM
Vendors
1 182 (13.48%) Microsoft
2 85 (6.30%) Oracle
3 78 (5.78%) SAP
4 46 (3.41%) Salesforce
5 35 (2.59%) Databricks
6 31 (2.30%) Red Hat
6 31 (2.30%) ServiceNow
7 29 (2.15%) CrowdStrike
8 25 (1.85%) VMware
9 22 (1.63%) Adobe
9 22 (1.63%) Palo Alto
9 22 (1.63%) Tenable
10 18 (1.33%) Cisco
11 17 (1.26%) Google
12 14 (1.04%) Citrix
13 13 (0.96%) McAfee
14 12 (0.89%) Foundry
15 11 (0.81%) OpenAI
16 10 (0.74%) Splunk
17 8 (0.59%) IBM