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 6 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 95 79 202
Rank change year-on-year -16 +123 -9
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,717 1,585 1,001
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.85% 3.64% 1.37%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.51% 4.06% 1.69%
Number of salaries quoted 1,032 478 488
10th Percentile £34,525 £38,750 £36,250
25th Percentile £42,500 £42,500 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year - -8.33% -6.25%
75th Percentile £74,300 £71,250 £75,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £91,500 £90,375
UK median annual salary £55,000 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year - -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 68,438 39,016 59,226
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.74% 89.57% 81.29%
Number of salaries quoted 48,346 22,579 39,414
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £31,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -12.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £98,750 £95,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.71%

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 6 August 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 6 August 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 +77 486 £72,500 -6.45% 747
South East -38 388 £56,000 +1.82% 326
North of England +106 360 £52,500 +10.53% 221
North West +97 208 £55,000 +15.35% 128
Midlands -52 194 £44,000 -20.00% 181
South West -18 139 £51,750 -1.62% 171
East of England -75 119 £62,500 +9.65% 147
West Midlands +7 106 £44,360 -26.07% 112
East Midlands -65 87 £42,500 - 69
North East +9 77 £55,000 +57.14% 43
Yorkshire +17 75 £43,000 +1.18% 53
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 58 (3.38%) Apache Airflow
2 55 (3.20%) Apache
2 55 (3.20%) Apache Spark
3 30 (1.75%) Confluence
3 30 (1.75%) SharePoint
4 18 (1.05%) Jupyter
5 12 (0.70%) SAS
6 11 (0.64%) Microsoft Exchange
7 5 (0.29%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 5 (0.29%) CMS
8 4 (0.23%) Kinematics
8 4 (0.23%) WinCC
9 3 (0.17%) Artix
9 3 (0.17%) Oracle SOA Suite
10 2 (0.12%) Cloud Foundry
10 2 (0.12%) IIS
11 1 (0.058%) ArcGIS
11 1 (0.058%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
11 1 (0.058%) Oracle Workflow
11 1 (0.058%) WebSphere
Applications
1 113 (6.58%) Microsoft Excel
2 62 (3.61%) Microsoft Office
3 31 (1.81%) Microsoft Project
4 26 (1.51%) MS Visio
5 23 (1.34%) Simulink
6 16 (0.93%) Spreadsheet
7 15 (0.87%) Microsoft PowerPoint
8 11 (0.64%) SOLIDWORKS
9 6 (0.35%) AutoCAD
10 4 (0.23%) Adobe XD
10 4 (0.23%) Mathcad
10 4 (0.23%) Sketch
11 3 (0.17%) Autodesk Inventor
11 3 (0.17%) LaTeX
11 3 (0.17%) Productboard
11 3 (0.17%) Stateflow
12 2 (0.12%) OrCAD
12 2 (0.12%) Solid Edge
13 1 (0.058%) EPLAN
13 1 (0.058%) Trello
Business Applications
1 41 (2.39%) SAP S/4HANA
2 38 (2.21%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.64%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.58%) SAP ERP
5 9 (0.52%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.47%) Oracle Applications
7 6 (0.35%) NetSuite
8 5 (0.29%) Elite 3E
8 5 (0.29%) iTrent
8 5 (0.29%) Loan IQ
8 5 (0.29%) SAP MDG-BP
9 4 (0.23%) Oracle Financials
9 4 (0.23%) SAP MM
9 4 (0.23%) Workday HCM
10 3 (0.17%) Oracle ERP
10 3 (0.17%) Teamcenter
11 2 (0.12%) SAP CO
11 2 (0.12%) SAP FI
11 2 (0.12%) SAP FI/CO
11 2 (0.12%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 240 (13.98%) Azure
2 229 (13.34%) AWS
3 158 (9.20%) Power Platform
4 83 (4.83%) GCP
5 67 (3.90%) SaaS
6 59 (3.44%) Azure DevOps
7 53 (3.09%) Microsoft 365
8 47 (2.74%) GitHub
9 44 (2.56%) Amazon S3
9 44 (2.56%) Serverless
10 34 (1.98%) Dynamics 365
11 27 (1.57%) Microsoft Copilot
12 25 (1.46%) Entra ID
13 24 (1.40%) GitHub Actions
14 22 (1.28%) Amazon EC2
14 22 (1.28%) Cloud Computing
15 21 (1.22%) Amazon EMR
16 19 (1.11%) Microsoft Purview
16 19 (1.11%) PowerApps
16 19 (1.11%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 66 (3.84%) Broadband
2 51 (2.97%) Firewall
3 47 (2.74%) DNS
4 29 (1.69%) Network Security
5 27 (1.57%) Wireless
6 26 (1.51%) TCP/IP
7 24 (1.40%) VPN
7 24 (1.40%) WAN
8 18 (1.05%) Ethernet
8 18 (1.05%) SD-WAN
9 16 (0.93%) MQTT
9 16 (0.93%) Wi-Fi
10 15 (0.87%) LAN
11 13 (0.76%) HTTP
11 13 (0.76%) Internet
12 11 (0.64%) BGP
12 11 (0.64%) NGN
12 11 (0.64%) RS-232
13 10 (0.58%) 5G
13 10 (0.58%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 148 (8.62%) Power BI
2 56 (3.26%) Data Warehouse
3 55 (3.20%) PostgreSQL
4 54 (3.15%) Tableau
5 50 (2.91%) SQL Server
6 43 (2.50%) Metadata
7 37 (2.15%) Data Lake
8 33 (1.92%) MongoDB
9 29 (1.69%) Relational Database
10 25 (1.46%) BigQuery
11 23 (1.34%) Amazon Athena
11 23 (1.34%) DynamoDB
12 22 (1.28%) Semantic Layer
13 21 (1.22%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 20 (1.16%) Azure SQL Database
14 20 (1.16%) MySQL
14 20 (1.16%) Spark SQL
15 19 (1.11%) Power Query
16 17 (0.99%) Oracle Database
17 16 (0.93%) Parquet
Development Applications
1 111 (6.46%) JIRA
2 101 (5.88%) Git
3 48 (2.80%) Jenkins
4 43 (2.50%) GitLab
5 31 (1.81%) Rational DOORS
6 22 (1.28%) Snyk
7 18 (1.05%) Selenium
8 16 (0.93%) LabVIEW
9 15 (0.87%) Postman
10 14 (0.82%) Cypress.io
11 13 (0.76%) IBM UrbanCode
12 12 (0.70%) Cucumber
13 11 (0.64%) JMeter
14 10 (0.58%) TeamCity
15 8 (0.47%) Rational Rhapsody
16 7 (0.41%) Burp Suite
16 7 (0.41%) MLflow
16 7 (0.41%) REST Assured
17 6 (0.35%) GDB
17 6 (0.35%) Hudson
General
1 559 (32.56%) Social Skills
2 473 (27.55%) Finance
3 440 (25.63%) Analytical Skills
4 158 (9.20%) Aerospace
5 152 (8.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 146 (8.50%) Manufacturing
7 138 (8.04%) Electronics
8 98 (5.71%) Banking
9 93 (5.42%) Law
10 68 (3.96%) Retail
11 67 (3.90%) Public Sector
12 62 (3.61%) Pharmaceutical
13 59 (3.44%) Organisational Skills
14 57 (3.32%) Marketing
15 52 (3.03%) Legal
16 46 (2.68%) Games
17 42 (2.45%) Automotive
18 32 (1.86%) Telecoms
19 29 (1.69%) Documentation Skills
19 29 (1.69%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 313 (18.23%) Senior
2 251 (14.62%) Analyst
3 141 (8.21%) Lead
4 121 (7.05%) Systems Engineer
5 108 (6.29%) Test Engineer
6 102 (5.94%) Architect
7 95 (5.53%) Data Engineer
8 81 (4.72%) Business Analyst
9 79 (4.60%) Developer
10 67 (3.90%) Consultant
11 66 (3.84%) Validation Engineer
12 63 (3.67%) Software Engineer
13 62 (3.61%) Data Analyst
14 57 (3.32%) Principal Engineer
15 44 (2.56%) Support Engineer
16 43 (2.50%) Data Scientist
16 43 (2.50%) Embedded Engineer
17 38 (2.21%) IT Manager
18 37 (2.15%) Project Manager
19 36 (2.10%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (2.62%) RESTful
2 41 (2.39%) Kafka
3 37 (2.15%) PySpark
4 35 (2.04%) Node.js
5 33 (1.92%) REST
6 29 (1.69%) XML
7 27 (1.57%) JSON
8 26 (1.51%) .NET
9 24 (1.40%) Middleware
9 24 (1.40%) Pandas
10 22 (1.28%) LDAP
11 21 (1.22%) CSS
12 20 (1.16%) HTML
12 20 (1.16%) Playwright
13 19 (1.11%) Regular Expression
13 19 (1.11%) XMPP
14 17 (0.99%) FastAPI
15 16 (0.93%) React
16 15 (0.87%) Swagger
17 14 (0.82%) ModSecurity
Miscellaneous
1 126 (7.34%) Onboarding
2 124 (7.22%) Cloud Native
3 90 (5.24%) Management Information System
4 64 (3.73%) Product Ownership
5 63 (3.67%) Data Centre
6 57 (3.32%) Data Structures
7 50 (2.91%) Enterprise Software
8 48 (2.80%) Distributed Systems
9 47 (2.74%) Driving Licence
9 47 (2.74%) Embedded Systems
10 45 (2.62%) Low-Code
11 44 (2.56%) Algorithms
12 38 (2.21%) Analytical Mindset
13 35 (2.04%) Life Science
14 33 (1.92%) Video\Live Streaming
15 31 (1.81%) Legacy Systems
16 30 (1.75%) AI Agents
17 28 (1.63%) Robotics
17 28 (1.63%) Self-Motivation
18 24 (1.40%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 113 (6.58%) Linux
2 86 (5.01%) Windows
3 34 (1.98%) Windows Server
4 19 (1.11%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 19 (1.11%) Unix
5 6 (0.35%) Android
5 6 (0.35%) Embedded Linux
5 6 (0.35%) FreeRTOS
6 4 (0.23%) Kali Linux
6 4 (0.23%) Mac OS X
7 3 (0.17%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.12%) AIX
8 2 (0.12%) Robot Operating System
8 2 (0.12%) ThreadX
8 2 (0.12%) VMS
8 2 (0.12%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.058%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 451 (26.27%) Problem-Solving
2 400 (23.30%) Continuous Improvement
3 365 (21.26%) Agile
4 320 (18.64%) AI
5 284 (16.54%) CI/CD
6 227 (13.22%) Analytics
7 223 (12.99%) Migration
8 217 (12.64%) Test Automation
9 215 (12.52%) Stakeholder Management
10 204 (11.88%) Mentoring
11 195 (11.36%) Decision-Making
12 184 (10.72%) Software Engineering
13 182 (10.60%) Verification and Validation
14 174 (10.13%) Business Intelligence
14 174 (10.13%) DevOps
15 161 (9.38%) Data Analysis
16 160 (9.32%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 158 (9.20%) Roadmaps
18 157 (9.14%) Machine Learning
19 156 (9.09%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 413 (24.05%) Python
2 356 (20.73%) SQL
3 81 (4.72%) C++
4 73 (4.25%) C
4 73 (4.25%) Java
5 55 (3.20%) Go
6 52 (3.03%) JavaScript
7 44 (2.56%) C#
8 36 (2.10%) MATLAB
9 29 (1.69%) PowerShell
10 27 (1.57%) Bash
11 20 (1.16%) Embedded C
11 20 (1.16%) Scala
12 19 (1.11%) T-SQL
13 18 (1.05%) Embedded C++
14 16 (0.93%) TypeScript
15 15 (0.87%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 8 (0.47%) ABAP
16 8 (0.47%) PL/SQL
16 8 (0.47%) VBA
Qualifications
1 351 (20.44%) Degree
2 241 (14.04%) Security Cleared
3 129 (7.51%) SC Cleared
4 116 (6.76%) BPSS Clearance
5 87 (5.07%) DV Cleared
6 75 (4.37%) Master's Degree
7 40 (2.33%) Computer Science Degree
8 33 (1.92%) CISSP
9 30 (1.75%) Chartered Engineer
10 26 (1.51%) CISM
10 26 (1.51%) PMI Certification
11 25 (1.46%) HNC
12 23 (1.34%) ACCA
12 23 (1.34%) AWS Certification
12 23 (1.34%) CIMA
12 23 (1.34%) PhD
13 20 (1.16%) CISA
13 20 (1.16%) SANS
14 19 (1.11%) HND
15 17 (0.99%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 295 (17.18%) Data Quality
2 226 (13.16%) QA
3 55 (3.20%) Accessibility
3 55 (3.20%) GDPR
4 38 (2.21%) GRC
5 24 (1.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 21 (1.22%) IEC 61508
7 19 (1.11%) NIST
8 18 (1.05%) PMO
9 16 (0.93%) GxP
9 16 (0.93%) SLA
10 15 (0.87%) GAAP
10 15 (0.87%) IFRS
10 15 (0.87%) ISO 26262
11 13 (0.76%) ISO 9001
12 11 (0.64%) GMP
12 11 (0.64%) ISO/IEC 15288
12 11 (0.64%) SOC 2
12 11 (0.64%) WCAG
13 10 (0.58%) COBIT
System Software
1 70 (4.08%) Docker
2 65 (3.79%) Firmware
3 42 (2.45%) Active Directory
4 28 (1.63%) Embedded Firmware
4 28 (1.63%) Virtual Machines
5 22 (1.28%) vSphere
6 14 (0.82%) VMware Infrastructure
7 5 (0.29%) Hyper-V
8 3 (0.17%) KVM
8 3 (0.17%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.12%) ProxySG
10 1 (0.058%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.058%) iptables
10 1 (0.058%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 73 (4.25%) Kubernetes
1 73 (4.25%) Terraform
2 35 (2.04%) Grafana
3 25 (1.46%) Functional Safety
4 21 (1.22%) Ansible
5 15 (0.87%) Prometheus
6 10 (0.58%) Cilium
6 10 (0.58%) Single Sign-On
7 8 (0.47%) SCCM
8 7 (0.41%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 7 (0.41%) Kibana
9 6 (0.35%) Puppet
10 5 (0.29%) Microsoft Intune
11 4 (0.23%) FortiGate
11 4 (0.23%) Nessus
11 4 (0.23%) Nmap
11 4 (0.23%) WMI
12 3 (0.17%) Argo
12 3 (0.17%) HP Fortify
12 3 (0.17%) Rancher
Vendors
1 256 (14.91%) Microsoft
2 110 (6.41%) SAP
3 97 (5.65%) Oracle
4 55 (3.20%) Salesforce
5 47 (2.74%) Databricks
6 42 (2.45%) ServiceNow
7 35 (2.04%) Cisco
7 35 (2.04%) Red Hat
8 34 (1.98%) Google
9 33 (1.92%) VMware
10 29 (1.69%) CrowdStrike
11 25 (1.46%) Palo Alto
12 22 (1.28%) Tenable
13 15 (0.87%) EMC
13 15 (0.87%) McAfee
14 14 (0.82%) Adobe
14 14 (0.82%) IBM
15 13 (0.76%) Foundry
15 13 (0.76%) Splunk
15 13 (0.76%) Workday