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

6 months to
19 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 116 77 199
Rank change year-on-year -39 +122 -14
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,363 1,521 1,314
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.63% 3.82% 1.38%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.23% 4.13% 1.68%
Number of salaries quoted 837 425 714
10th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £36,000
25th Percentile £43,000 £46,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.51% +3.64% -12.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £72,500 £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 61,081 36,808 78,076
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.11% 92.55% 81.88%
Number of salaries quoted 42,962 20,151 56,711
10th Percentile £30,750 £29,000 £29,500
25th Percentile £41,250 £40,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -12.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £78,750 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £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 19 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 19 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 +66 387 £75,000 - 251
South East -43 307 £55,000 - 241
North of England +89 281 £55,000 +15.35% 126
North West +79 179 £55,000 +15.35% 60
Midlands -72 161 £40,000 -27.27% 93
East of England -76 110 £60,000 +5.26% 76
South West -49 96 £53,000 -3.64% 99
West Midlands -2 94 £44,000 -29.60% 51
East Midlands -78 65 £30,000 -39.70% 42
Yorkshire -5 60 £50,000 +18.69% 43
North East -6 42 £55,000 +15.79% 25
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 (3.67%) Apache Airflow
2 45 (3.30%) Apache Spark
3 43 (3.15%) Apache
4 21 (1.54%) Confluence
5 14 (1.03%) Microsoft Exchange
5 14 (1.03%) SharePoint
6 11 (0.81%) Jupyter
7 9 (0.66%) SAS
8 7 (0.51%) Appian
9 5 (0.37%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 4 (0.29%) CMS
10 4 (0.29%) Kinematics
11 3 (0.22%) Artix
12 2 (0.15%) IIS
13 1 (0.073%) ArcGIS
13 1 (0.073%) Oracle Workflow
13 1 (0.073%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 83 (6.09%) Microsoft Excel
2 40 (2.93%) Microsoft Office
3 24 (1.76%) Microsoft Project
4 19 (1.39%) MS Visio
5 15 (1.10%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 15 (1.10%) Simulink
6 8 (0.59%) SOLIDWORKS
6 8 (0.59%) Spreadsheet
7 5 (0.37%) AutoCAD
8 4 (0.29%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 4 (0.29%) Adobe XD
8 4 (0.29%) Sketch
9 3 (0.22%) Autodesk Inventor
9 3 (0.22%) Productboard
9 3 (0.22%) Solid Edge
9 3 (0.22%) Stateflow
10 1 (0.073%) CATIA
10 1 (0.073%) Chatbot
10 1 (0.073%) Revit
10 1 (0.073%) Trello
Business Applications
1 37 (2.71%) Dynamics CRM
2 34 (2.49%) SAP S/4HANA
3 10 (0.73%) SAP ERP
3 10 (0.73%) SAP MDG
4 8 (0.59%) Oracle EBS
5 5 (0.37%) iTrent
5 5 (0.37%) Loan IQ
5 5 (0.37%) Oracle Financials
5 5 (0.37%) SAP MDG-BP
6 4 (0.29%) Oracle Applications
7 2 (0.15%) FastStats
7 2 (0.15%) Oracle ERP
7 2 (0.15%) Oracle Payables
7 2 (0.15%) Oracle Receivables
7 2 (0.15%) SAP EWM
7 2 (0.15%) SAP MM
7 2 (0.15%) SAP WM
8 1 (0.073%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
8 1 (0.073%) SAP FSCM
8 1 (0.073%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 178 (13.06%) Azure
2 150 (11.01%) AWS
3 132 (9.68%) Power Platform
4 72 (5.28%) GCP
5 62 (4.55%) SaaS
6 54 (3.96%) Azure DevOps
7 38 (2.79%) Serverless
8 36 (2.64%) Microsoft 365
9 35 (2.57%) Amazon S3
10 34 (2.49%) GitHub
11 28 (2.05%) Dynamics 365
12 26 (1.91%) Azure Data Factory
13 24 (1.76%) Snowflake
14 19 (1.39%) Power Automate
15 18 (1.32%) Entra ID
16 17 (1.25%) dbt
16 17 (1.25%) GitHub Actions
17 14 (1.03%) Amazon EC2
17 14 (1.03%) OpenShift
18 13 (0.95%) Amazon EMR
Communications & Networking
1 67 (4.92%) Broadband
2 42 (3.08%) Firewall
3 34 (2.49%) DNS
4 20 (1.47%) WAN
5 19 (1.39%) CHAP
6 17 (1.25%) Wireless
7 16 (1.17%) Network Security
7 16 (1.17%) SD-WAN
8 14 (1.03%) TCP/IP
8 14 (1.03%) VPN
9 13 (0.95%) 5G
10 12 (0.88%) Wi-Fi
11 11 (0.81%) MQTT
12 10 (0.73%) Ethernet
12 10 (0.73%) HTTP
12 10 (0.73%) LAN
13 9 (0.66%) NAS
14 7 (0.51%) WebEx
15 6 (0.44%) Cisco ISE
16 5 (0.37%) Modbus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 130 (9.54%) Power BI
2 56 (4.11%) Tableau
3 53 (3.89%) PostgreSQL
4 49 (3.60%) SQL Server
5 44 (3.23%) Data Warehouse
6 33 (2.42%) MongoDB
7 31 (2.27%) Relational Database
8 29 (2.13%) Metadata
9 25 (1.83%) BigQuery
10 22 (1.61%) Azure SQL Database
10 22 (1.61%) Data Lake
11 20 (1.47%) Semantic Layer
12 19 (1.39%) Spark SQL
13 17 (1.25%) Oracle Database
14 15 (1.10%) Amazon Athena
14 15 (1.10%) DynamoDB
14 15 (1.10%) MySQL
14 15 (1.10%) SQL Server Reporting Services
15 14 (1.03%) Parquet
16 13 (0.95%) Impala
Development Applications
1 71 (5.21%) JIRA
2 64 (4.70%) Git
3 44 (3.23%) Jenkins
4 33 (2.42%) GitLab
5 29 (2.13%) Rational DOORS
6 22 (1.61%) Snyk
7 15 (1.10%) Postman
8 14 (1.03%) Selenium
9 13 (0.95%) IBM UrbanCode
10 12 (0.88%) LabVIEW
11 11 (0.81%) MLflow
12 10 (0.73%) Cucumber
12 10 (0.73%) Eclipse
12 10 (0.73%) TeamCity
13 9 (0.66%) Cypress.io
13 9 (0.66%) JMeter
14 6 (0.44%) Rational Rhapsody
15 5 (0.37%) LoadRunner
15 5 (0.37%) REST Assured
15 5 (0.37%) SonarQube
General
1 405 (29.71%) Social Skills
2 354 (25.97%) Finance
3 312 (22.89%) Analytical Skills
4 106 (7.78%) Aerospace
5 97 (7.12%) Electronics
6 95 (6.97%) Manufacturing
7 92 (6.75%) Banking
8 82 (6.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 52 (3.82%) Law
10 50 (3.67%) Retail
11 46 (3.37%) Legal
12 42 (3.08%) Marketing
12 42 (3.08%) Public Sector
13 40 (2.93%) Games
14 39 (2.86%) Pharmaceutical
15 32 (2.35%) Automotive
15 32 (2.35%) Financial Institution
16 31 (2.27%) Organisational Skills
17 23 (1.69%) Presentation Skills
18 22 (1.61%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 233 (17.09%) Senior
2 223 (16.36%) Analyst
3 129 (9.46%) Systems Engineer
4 100 (7.34%) Lead
5 94 (6.90%) Architect
5 94 (6.90%) Test Engineer
6 83 (6.09%) Validation Engineer
7 74 (5.43%) Business Analyst
8 71 (5.21%) Data Engineer
9 63 (4.62%) Data Analyst
9 63 (4.62%) Developer
10 44 (3.23%) Principal Engineer
11 39 (2.86%) Embedded Engineer
12 38 (2.79%) Integration Engineer
13 36 (2.64%) IT Manager
14 34 (2.49%) Consultant
14 34 (2.49%) Security Architect
15 33 (2.42%) Project Manager
15 33 (2.42%) Support Engineer
16 31 (2.27%) Senior Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (3.08%) RESTful
2 34 (2.49%) REST
3 30 (2.20%) JSON
3 30 (2.20%) PySpark
4 28 (2.05%) Kafka
4 28 (2.05%) Node.js
5 26 (1.91%) Pandas
5 26 (1.91%) XML
6 24 (1.76%) Middleware
6 24 (1.76%) pytest
7 21 (1.54%) .NET
8 19 (1.39%) Swagger
9 18 (1.32%) Playwright
9 18 (1.32%) Regular Expression
9 18 (1.32%) XMPP
10 15 (1.10%) CSS
10 15 (1.10%) LDAP
10 15 (1.10%) OAuth
10 15 (1.10%) PyTorch
10 15 (1.10%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 84 (6.16%) Cloud Native
2 66 (4.84%) Onboarding
3 63 (4.62%) Management Information System
4 59 (4.33%) Data Structures
5 50 (3.67%) Low-Code
6 36 (2.64%) Driving Licence
6 36 (2.64%) Embedded Systems
7 34 (2.49%) Algorithms
7 34 (2.49%) Product Ownership
7 34 (2.49%) Self-Motivation
8 33 (2.42%) Distributed Systems
8 33 (2.42%) Enterprise Software
9 32 (2.35%) Data Centre
10 31 (2.27%) Analytical Mindset
10 31 (2.27%) Video\Live Streaming
11 30 (2.20%) Legacy Systems
12 28 (2.05%) Life Science
13 21 (1.54%) Robotics
14 18 (1.32%) FPGA
14 18 (1.32%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 83 (6.09%) Linux
2 59 (4.33%) Windows
3 25 (1.83%) Windows Server
4 23 (1.69%) Unix
5 18 (1.32%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 5 (0.37%) Android
7 4 (0.29%) FreeRTOS
7 4 (0.29%) Mac OS X
8 3 (0.22%) AIX
8 3 (0.22%) Apple iOS
8 3 (0.22%) Kali Linux
9 2 (0.15%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.15%) ThreadX
10 1 (0.073%) Embedded Linux
10 1 (0.073%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 301 (22.08%) Problem-Solving
2 269 (19.74%) Agile
3 261 (19.15%) Continuous Improvement
4 236 (17.31%) AI
5 231 (16.95%) CI/CD
6 197 (14.45%) Test Automation
7 182 (13.35%) Analytics
8 180 (13.21%) Verification and Validation
9 159 (11.67%) Data Validation
10 153 (11.23%) Business Intelligence
11 148 (10.86%) Data Modelling
11 148 (10.86%) DevOps
12 147 (10.79%) Migration
13 136 (9.98%) Decision-Making
14 135 (9.90%) Software Engineering
15 130 (9.54%) Stakeholder Management
16 128 (9.39%) Data Governance
17 123 (9.02%) Mentoring
18 122 (8.95%) Machine Learning
19 121 (8.88%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 327 (23.99%) Python
2 297 (21.79%) SQL
3 60 (4.40%) C++
4 56 (4.11%) C
5 55 (4.04%) Java
6 49 (3.60%) Go
7 37 (2.71%) C#
8 31 (2.27%) JavaScript
9 26 (1.91%) MATLAB
10 24 (1.76%) Bash
11 23 (1.69%) PowerShell
12 21 (1.54%) T-SQL
13 18 (1.32%) Embedded C++
14 17 (1.25%) Embedded C
15 13 (0.95%) Scala
16 12 (0.88%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 11 (0.81%) TypeScript
18 9 (0.66%) VBA
19 8 (0.59%) ABAP
20 7 (0.51%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 260 (19.08%) Degree
2 154 (11.30%) Security Cleared
3 100 (7.34%) BPSS Clearance
4 72 (5.28%) SC Cleared
5 71 (5.21%) Master's Degree
6 43 (3.15%) DV Cleared
7 36 (2.64%) Computer Science Degree
8 34 (2.49%) Chartered Engineer
9 29 (2.13%) CISA
9 29 (2.13%) CISSP
9 29 (2.13%) SANS
10 26 (1.91%) CISM
11 24 (1.76%) HNC
12 19 (1.39%) CGEIT
12 19 (1.39%) FFIEC
12 19 (1.39%) HND
13 16 (1.17%) ACCA
13 16 (1.17%) CIMA
14 15 (1.10%) PMI Certification
15 12 (0.88%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 232 (17.02%) Data Quality
2 139 (10.20%) QA
3 55 (4.04%) GDPR
4 40 (2.93%) Accessibility
5 37 (2.71%) GRC
6 26 (1.91%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 24 (1.76%) ISO/IEC 15288
8 22 (1.61%) NIST
9 19 (1.39%) COBIT
9 19 (1.39%) IFRS
10 18 (1.32%) IEC 61508
11 15 (1.10%) PMO
12 13 (0.95%) GAAP
12 13 (0.95%) SLA
13 12 (0.88%) ISO 9001
14 11 (0.81%) ISO 26262
14 11 (0.81%) SOC 2
15 9 (0.66%) GMP
15 9 (0.66%) GxP
16 8 (0.59%) WCAG
System Software
1 63 (4.62%) Docker
2 38 (2.79%) Firmware
3 37 (2.71%) Active Directory
4 22 (1.61%) Virtual Machines
5 19 (1.39%) vSphere
6 16 (1.17%) Embedded Firmware
7 8 (0.59%) VMware Infrastructure
8 5 (0.37%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.15%) Terminal Services
10 1 (0.073%) OpenAM
10 1 (0.073%) OpenDJ
10 1 (0.073%) OpenIDM
10 1 (0.073%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 64 (4.70%) Kubernetes
2 61 (4.48%) Terraform
3 26 (1.91%) Grafana
4 23 (1.69%) Functional Safety
5 15 (1.10%) Prometheus
6 13 (0.95%) Ansible
7 10 (0.73%) Cilium
7 10 (0.73%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 7 (0.51%) Kibana
8 7 (0.51%) SCCM
9 3 (0.22%) FortiGate
9 3 (0.22%) HP Fortify
9 3 (0.22%) Puppet
10 2 (0.15%) Argo
10 2 (0.15%) BMC PATROL
10 2 (0.15%) Computer Incident Response Team
10 2 (0.15%) Microsoft Intune
10 2 (0.15%) Rancher
10 2 (0.15%) yum
11 1 (0.073%) MOM
Vendors
1 177 (12.99%) Microsoft
2 87 (6.38%) Oracle
3 82 (6.02%) SAP
4 46 (3.37%) Salesforce
5 38 (2.79%) Databricks
6 34 (2.49%) ServiceNow
7 32 (2.35%) Red Hat
8 29 (2.13%) CrowdStrike
9 26 (1.91%) VMware
10 22 (1.61%) Palo Alto
10 22 (1.61%) Tenable
11 21 (1.54%) Adobe
12 18 (1.32%) Cisco
12 18 (1.32%) Google
13 14 (1.03%) Citrix
13 14 (1.03%) McAfee
14 12 (0.88%) Foundry
15 10 (0.73%) OpenAI
16 9 (0.66%) IBM
16 9 (0.66%) Splunk