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

6 months to
20 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 156 161 191
Rank change year-on-year +5 +30 -50
Permanent jobs citing Validation 825 864 886
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.53% 1.81% 1.65%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.90% 1.99% 1.85%
Number of salaries quoted 453 316 525
10th Percentile £36,250 £36,250 £35,884
25th Percentile £42,500 £45,938 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £56,500
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -2.65% -13.08%
75th Percentile £77,500 £71,250 £74,000
90th Percentile £91,000 £100,000 £88,250
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £56,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% -1.79% -13.85%

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 43,473 43,343 47,936
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 80.77% 91.03% 89.18%
Number of salaries quoted 26,126 21,134 37,387
10th Percentile £28,750 £35,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £38,000 £46,250 £42,439
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £58,500
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +2.56% -6.40%
75th Percentile £76,250 £81,250 £77,500
90th Percentile £97,500 £100,000 £97,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -8.00%

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 20 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 20 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 +39 271 £75,000 +16.73% 176
South East +16 188 £48,500 -15.65% 321
North of England -14 126 £55,000 +19.01% 174
Midlands +13 83 £40,000 -23.08% 147
North West -2 79 £54,500 +14.30% 67
East of England +11 75 £60,000 +9.09% 167
South West +22 69 £55,000 +4.56% 164
West Midlands +6 53 £37,500 -28.57% 73
Yorkshire -8 37 £61,250 +51.33% 82
East Midlands -1 30 £42,500 -15.00% 73
North East 0 10 £36,000 -13.25% 26
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 19 (2.30%) Confluence
2 18 (2.18%) Apache Airflow
3 12 (1.45%) Apache Spark
4 10 (1.21%) Appian
5 9 (1.09%) CMS
5 9 (1.09%) SharePoint
6 7 (0.85%) Apache
7 5 (0.61%) Microsoft Exchange
7 5 (0.61%) SugarCRM
8 4 (0.48%) Headless CMS
9 3 (0.36%) Jupyter
9 3 (0.36%) SAS
10 2 (0.24%) Kinematics
10 2 (0.24%) WordPress
11 1 (0.12%) Anypoint
11 1 (0.12%) Apache Superset
11 1 (0.12%) FileNet
Applications
1 57 (6.91%) Microsoft Excel
2 55 (6.67%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (1.45%) MS Visio
4 10 (1.21%) Simulink
5 7 (0.85%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 7 (0.85%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 4 (0.48%) Fusion 360
7 2 (0.24%) Adobe After Effects
7 2 (0.24%) Adobe Captivate
7 2 (0.24%) Adobe Illustrator
7 2 (0.24%) Adobe Premiere
7 2 (0.24%) Elementor
7 2 (0.24%) Oracle Smart View
7 2 (0.24%) Photoshop
7 2 (0.24%) Weka
8 1 (0.12%) CATIA
8 1 (0.12%) Doxygen
8 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Project
8 1 (0.12%) Revit
8 1 (0.12%) Solid Edge
Business Applications
1 19 (2.30%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (1.09%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.48%) Oracle ERP
3 4 (0.48%) SAP BPC
4 3 (0.36%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
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%) Oracle Assets
5 2 (0.24%) Oracle Cash Management
5 2 (0.24%) Oracle General Ledger
5 2 (0.24%) Oracle Payables
5 2 (0.24%) Oracle Receivables
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
1 123 (14.91%) Azure
2 65 (7.88%) Power Platform
3 58 (7.03%) AWS
4 39 (4.73%) SaaS
5 34 (4.12%) Azure DevOps
6 28 (3.39%) GCP
7 19 (2.30%) Dynamics 365
8 17 (2.06%) Azure Data Factory
8 17 (2.06%) Power Automate
8 17 (2.06%) Snowflake
9 16 (1.94%) GitHub
10 13 (1.58%) dbt
11 12 (1.45%) Microsoft 365
12 11 (1.33%) Figma
13 10 (1.21%) Amazon S3
13 10 (1.21%) Anthropic Claude
13 10 (1.21%) Azure AI
14 9 (1.09%) Entra ID
15 8 (0.97%) Datadog
15 8 (0.97%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 14 (1.70%) CHAP
2 12 (1.45%) Firewall
3 11 (1.33%) LAN
3 11 (1.33%) WAN
4 10 (1.21%) DNS
4 10 (1.21%) SD-WAN
5 9 (1.09%) 5G
6 8 (0.97%) HTTP
6 8 (0.97%) MQTT
7 7 (0.85%) TCP/IP
8 6 (0.73%) Modbus
9 5 (0.61%) Cisco IOS
9 5 (0.61%) SMTP
9 5 (0.61%) VoIP
9 5 (0.61%) WAAS
9 5 (0.61%) Wireless
10 4 (0.48%) Ethernet VPN
11 3 (0.36%) IP Telephony
11 3 (0.36%) OSPF
11 3 (0.36%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 63 (7.64%) Power BI
2 28 (3.39%) SQL Server
3 25 (3.03%) Data Warehouse
4 21 (2.55%) Metadata
5 18 (2.18%) Relational Database
6 15 (1.82%) Tableau
7 14 (1.70%) Oracle Reports
8 11 (1.33%) BigQuery
9 10 (1.21%) Data Lake
9 10 (1.21%) Pinecone
9 10 (1.21%) Spotfire
10 8 (0.97%) Amazon Redshift
10 8 (0.97%) Big Data
11 7 (0.85%) Looker
12 6 (0.73%) Azure SQL Database
12 6 (0.73%) GIS
12 6 (0.73%) NoSQL
12 6 (0.73%) PostgreSQL
13 5 (0.61%) SAP HANA
13 5 (0.61%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 60 (7.27%) JIRA
2 39 (4.73%) Rational DOORS
3 38 (4.61%) Git
4 23 (2.79%) Postman
5 15 (1.82%) Jenkins
6 13 (1.58%) Selenium
7 12 (1.45%) MLflow
8 10 (1.21%) Cucumber
8 10 (1.21%) GitLab
8 10 (1.21%) TestRail
9 9 (1.09%) JMeter
9 9 (1.09%) LabVIEW
9 9 (1.09%) SoapUI
10 8 (0.97%) Eclipse
11 7 (0.85%) LoadRunner
12 6 (0.73%) Zephyr
13 5 (0.61%) Fiddler
13 5 (0.61%) SpecFlow
13 5 (0.61%) Subversion
13 5 (0.61%) TestNG
General
1 301 (36.48%) Social Skills
2 223 (27.03%) Finance
3 178 (21.58%) Analytical Skills
4 57 (6.91%) Banking
5 52 (6.30%) Electronics
6 42 (5.09%) Manufacturing
6 42 (5.09%) Marketing
7 39 (4.73%) Financial Institution
8 37 (4.48%) Presentation Skills
9 34 (4.12%) Law
10 31 (3.76%) Documentation Skills
11 30 (3.64%) Organisational Skills
12 29 (3.52%) Telecoms
13 28 (3.39%) Aerospace
14 24 (2.91%) Public Sector
14 24 (2.91%) Retail
15 23 (2.79%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 21 (2.55%) Pharmaceutical
17 20 (2.42%) Legal
18 17 (2.06%) Avionics
Job Titles
1 127 (15.39%) Analyst
2 123 (14.91%) Senior
3 96 (11.64%) Systems Engineer
4 63 (7.64%) Lead
5 50 (6.06%) Architect
6 47 (5.70%) Test Engineer
7 39 (4.73%) Business Analyst
8 37 (4.48%) Validation Engineer
9 34 (4.12%) Integration Engineer
10 31 (3.76%) Data Engineer
10 31 (3.76%) Principal Engineer
11 30 (3.64%) Data Analyst
11 30 (3.64%) Developer
12 29 (3.52%) Junior
13 28 (3.39%) Applications Engineer
14 27 (3.27%) Applications Support
15 25 (3.03%) Systems Integration Engineer
16 24 (2.91%) Solutions Architect
17 23 (2.79%) Principal Systems Engineer
17 23 (2.79%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (5.82%) REST
2 28 (3.39%) Middleware
3 25 (3.03%) Pandas
4 23 (2.79%) pytest
5 22 (2.67%) JSON
6 20 (2.42%) scikit-learn
7 18 (2.18%) PyTorch
7 18 (2.18%) TensorFlow
7 18 (2.18%) XML
8 16 (1.94%) NumPy
9 15 (1.82%) OAuth
10 14 (1.70%) CSS
10 14 (1.70%) FastAPI
10 14 (1.70%) JWT
10 14 (1.70%) Swagger
10 14 (1.70%) Web Services
11 13 (1.58%) Flask
11 13 (1.58%) HTML
12 12 (1.45%) React
13 11 (1.33%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 56 (6.79%) Management Information System
2 34 (4.12%) Onboarding
3 24 (2.91%) Product Ownership
3 24 (2.91%) Self-Motivation
4 21 (2.55%) Legacy Systems
5 19 (2.30%) Life Science
5 19 (2.30%) Low-Code
6 17 (2.06%) Algorithms
6 17 (2.06%) Data Structures
7 15 (1.82%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
8 12 (1.45%) Analytical Mindset
8 12 (1.45%) Enterprise Software
8 12 (1.45%) SCADA
9 11 (1.33%) SWIFT Messaging Network
10 9 (1.09%) Data Centre
10 9 (1.09%) IoT
10 9 (1.09%) Self-Driving Car
10 9 (1.09%) Virtual Team
11 8 (0.97%) Blockchain
11 8 (0.97%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 39 (4.73%) Windows
2 35 (4.24%) Linux
3 10 (1.21%) Android
4 9 (1.09%) Unix
4 9 (1.09%) Windows Server
5 4 (0.48%) Apple iOS
5 4 (0.48%) Windows 10
6 2 (0.24%) Mac OS
6 2 (0.24%) Robot Operating System
6 2 (0.24%) VxWorks
7 1 (0.12%) AIX
7 1 (0.12%) FreeRTOS
7 1 (0.12%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 197 (23.88%) Agile
2 187 (22.67%) Problem-Solving
3 142 (17.21%) Verification and Validation
4 114 (13.82%) Analytics
5 111 (13.45%) Data Validation
6 106 (12.85%) Continuous Improvement
7 98 (11.88%) Migration
8 97 (11.76%) Test Automation
9 90 (10.91%) DevOps
10 88 (10.67%) Systems Engineering
11 84 (10.18%) CI/CD
12 82 (9.94%) ETL
12 82 (9.94%) Mentoring
13 81 (9.82%) Business Intelligence
14 77 (9.33%) Data Analysis
14 77 (9.33%) Software Engineering
15 76 (9.21%) Decision-Making
16 74 (8.97%) Stakeholder Management
17 72 (8.73%) AI
17 72 (8.73%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 182 (22.06%) SQL
2 152 (18.42%) Python
3 29 (3.52%) Java
4 28 (3.39%) C
5 25 (3.03%) C++
6 24 (2.91%) MATLAB
7 23 (2.79%) JavaScript
8 18 (2.18%) PowerShell
9 15 (1.82%) Bash
10 12 (1.45%) TypeScript
11 10 (1.21%) C#
12 8 (0.97%) R
13 6 (0.73%) Bicep
13 6 (0.73%) PL/SQL
13 6 (0.73%) T-SQL
14 5 (0.61%) PHP
15 4 (0.48%) Go
16 3 (0.36%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 3 (0.36%) GLSL
16 3 (0.36%) Google Apps Script
Qualifications
1 232 (28.12%) Degree
2 108 (13.09%) Security Cleared
3 100 (12.12%) BPSS Clearance
4 47 (5.70%) SC Cleared
5 46 (5.58%) Master's Degree
6 34 (4.12%) Computer Science Degree
7 17 (2.06%) DV Cleared
8 16 (1.94%) CISA
8 16 (1.94%) Cisco Certification
8 16 (1.94%) CISSP
8 16 (1.94%) HNC
8 16 (1.94%) ISTQB
9 15 (1.82%) CGEIT
9 15 (1.82%) CISM
9 15 (1.82%) FFIEC
9 15 (1.82%) SANS
10 14 (1.70%) Chartered Engineer
11 12 (1.45%) Microsoft Certification
12 11 (1.33%) CCNP
12 11 (1.33%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 107 (12.97%) QA
2 100 (12.12%) Data Quality
3 36 (4.36%) ISO/IEC 15288
4 33 (4.00%) SLA
5 32 (3.88%) GDPR
6 30 (3.64%) Accessibility
7 18 (2.18%) NIST
8 15 (1.82%) 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
11 9 (1.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 9 (1.09%) WCAG
12 8 (0.97%) GRC
12 8 (0.97%) GxP
13 7 (0.85%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 7 (0.85%) TARGET2
14 6 (0.73%) Sarbanes-Oxley
15 5 (0.61%) ARP4761
System Software
1 43 (5.21%) Docker
2 16 (1.94%) Firmware
3 7 (0.85%) Active Directory
4 3 (0.36%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.24%) Ceph
5 2 (0.24%) Lustre
5 2 (0.24%) Slurm Workload Manager
5 2 (0.24%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.24%) vSphere
6 1 (0.12%) Dovecot
6 1 (0.12%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.12%) iptables
6 1 (0.12%) OpenAM
6 1 (0.12%) OpenDJ
6 1 (0.12%) OpenIDM
6 1 (0.12%) pfSense
6 1 (0.12%) Postfix
6 1 (0.12%) vCloud
6 1 (0.12%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.12%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 36 (4.36%) Kubernetes
2 18 (2.18%) Terraform
3 14 (1.70%) Ansible
4 11 (1.33%) Grafana
5 8 (0.97%) Microsoft Intune
6 7 (0.85%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
6 7 (0.85%) Prometheus
7 5 (0.61%) SCCM
8 4 (0.48%) Argo
8 4 (0.48%) Rancher
8 4 (0.48%) yum
9 2 (0.24%) BMC PATROL
9 2 (0.24%) Functional Safety
9 2 (0.24%) Kubeflow
9 2 (0.24%) Nessus
9 2 (0.24%) Puppet
10 1 (0.12%) Control-M
10 1 (0.12%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.12%) Rundeck
10 1 (0.12%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 108 (13.09%) Microsoft
2 51 (6.18%) SAP
3 30 (3.64%) Oracle
4 26 (3.15%) Cisco
5 21 (2.55%) Salesforce
6 15 (1.82%) Foundry
7 13 (1.58%) Software AG
8 12 (1.45%) IBM
9 11 (1.33%) OpenAI
9 11 (1.33%) ServiceNow
10 10 (1.21%) Adobe
10 10 (1.21%) Automation Anywhere
10 10 (1.21%) CheckPoint
10 10 (1.21%) F5
10 10 (1.21%) UiPath
11 8 (0.97%) Databricks
11 8 (0.97%) Intapp
12 7 (0.85%) Google
12 7 (0.85%) Guidewire
13 6 (0.73%) MuleSoft