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

6 months to
12 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 150 157 202
Rank change year-on-year +7 +45 -64
Permanent jobs citing Validation 815 876 801
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.56% 1.82% 1.61%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.92% 2.01% 1.80%
Number of salaries quoted 443 326 472
10th Percentile £36,250 £36,875 £36,313
25th Percentile £41,250 £45,000 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -8.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £71,250 £76,250
90th Percentile £92,250 £100,000 £90,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -11.54%

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 42,425 43,642 44,587
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 81.21% 90.74% 89.79%
Number of salaries quoted 25,405 21,401 34,519
10th Percentile £28,675 £35,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,628 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%
75th Percentile £76,250 £81,250 £80,000
90th Percentile £97,500 £100,000 £98,750
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%

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 12 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 12 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 +31 260 £75,000 +20.00% 196
South East +22 198 £49,500 -10.00% 354
North of England -16 121 £55,233 +19.79% 167
Midlands +7 81 £40,000 -23.08% 123
North West +4 76 £54,500 +14.30% 63
East of England +3 75 £60,000 +9.09% 160
South West +24 67 £55,000 +4.56% 159
West Midlands -2 49 £37,500 -28.57% 50
Yorkshire -8 35 £62,500 +54.42% 79
East Midlands +3 32 £42,500 -5.56% 71
North East -3 10 £31,000 -25.30% 27
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 (2.33%) Confluence
2 18 (2.21%) Apache Airflow
3 12 (1.47%) Apache Spark
4 9 (1.10%) Appian
4 9 (1.10%) CMS
4 9 (1.10%) SharePoint
5 8 (0.98%) SugarCRM
6 7 (0.86%) Apache
7 5 (0.61%) Microsoft Exchange
8 4 (0.49%) Headless CMS
9 3 (0.37%) Jupyter
9 3 (0.37%) SAS
10 2 (0.25%) Kinematics
10 2 (0.25%) WordPress
11 1 (0.12%) Anypoint
11 1 (0.12%) Apache Superset
11 1 (0.12%) FileNet
Applications
1 56 (6.87%) Microsoft Office
2 55 (6.75%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (1.60%) MS Visio
4 11 (1.35%) Simulink
5 7 (0.86%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 7 (0.86%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 4 (0.49%) Fusion 360
7 2 (0.25%) Adobe After Effects
7 2 (0.25%) Adobe Captivate
7 2 (0.25%) Adobe Illustrator
7 2 (0.25%) Adobe Premiere
7 2 (0.25%) Elementor
7 2 (0.25%) Oracle Smart View
7 2 (0.25%) Photoshop
7 2 (0.25%) Weka
8 1 (0.12%) CATIA
8 1 (0.12%) Doxygen
8 1 (0.12%) GNU Octave
8 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Project
8 1 (0.12%) Solid Edge
Business Applications
1 20 (2.45%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (0.98%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.49%) Oracle ERP
3 4 (0.49%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 4 (0.49%) SAP BPC
4 3 (0.37%) Oracle Assets
4 3 (0.37%) Oracle Cash Management
4 3 (0.37%) Oracle General Ledger
4 3 (0.37%) Oracle Payables
4 3 (0.37%) Oracle Receivables
4 3 (0.37%) SAP CX
4 3 (0.37%) Workday HCM
5 2 (0.25%) Aladdin
5 2 (0.25%) Endur
5 2 (0.25%) IBM Planning Analytics
5 2 (0.25%) NetSuite
5 2 (0.25%) Primavera
5 2 (0.25%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.12%) Loan IQ
6 1 (0.12%) SAP Business One
Cloud Services
1 121 (14.85%) Azure
2 64 (7.85%) Power Platform
3 58 (7.12%) AWS
4 41 (5.03%) SaaS
5 30 (3.68%) Azure DevOps
6 26 (3.19%) GCP
7 18 (2.21%) Dynamics 365
8 17 (2.09%) Power Automate
8 17 (2.09%) Snowflake
9 15 (1.84%) Azure Data Factory
9 15 (1.84%) GitHub
10 13 (1.60%) dbt
10 13 (1.60%) Microsoft 365
11 11 (1.35%) Amazon S3
12 10 (1.23%) Azure AI
12 10 (1.23%) Entra ID
12 10 (1.23%) Figma
13 9 (1.10%) Anthropic Claude
13 9 (1.10%) Serverless
14 8 (0.98%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 14 (1.72%) CHAP
2 13 (1.60%) LAN
3 11 (1.35%) DNS
3 11 (1.35%) Firewall
4 8 (0.98%) 5G
4 8 (0.98%) HTTP
4 8 (0.98%) WAN
5 7 (0.86%) MQTT
5 7 (0.86%) TCP/IP
6 6 (0.74%) SD-WAN
7 5 (0.61%) Cisco IOS
7 5 (0.61%) Modbus
7 5 (0.61%) SMTP
7 5 (0.61%) WAAS
8 4 (0.49%) Ethernet VPN
8 4 (0.49%) VoIP
9 3 (0.37%) DHCP
9 3 (0.37%) NX-OS
9 3 (0.37%) PBX
9 3 (0.37%) PSTN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 62 (7.61%) Power BI
2 28 (3.44%) SQL Server
3 23 (2.82%) Data Warehouse
4 20 (2.45%) Metadata
5 19 (2.33%) Relational Database
5 19 (2.33%) Tableau
6 14 (1.72%) Oracle Reports
7 13 (1.60%) BigQuery
8 10 (1.23%) Data Lake
8 10 (1.23%) Spotfire
9 9 (1.10%) Pinecone
10 8 (0.98%) Big Data
11 7 (0.86%) Amazon Redshift
11 7 (0.86%) Looker
11 7 (0.86%) PostgreSQL
12 6 (0.74%) GIS
13 5 (0.61%) Azure SQL Database
13 5 (0.61%) Data Vault
13 5 (0.61%) NoSQL
13 5 (0.61%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 60 (7.36%) JIRA
2 38 (4.66%) Rational DOORS
3 35 (4.29%) Git
4 23 (2.82%) Postman
5 14 (1.72%) Jenkins
5 14 (1.72%) Selenium
6 11 (1.35%) MLflow
7 10 (1.23%) GitLab
7 10 (1.23%) SoapUI
7 10 (1.23%) TestRail
8 9 (1.10%) Cucumber
8 9 (1.10%) JMeter
9 7 (0.86%) Eclipse
9 7 (0.86%) LabVIEW
9 7 (0.86%) LoadRunner
10 5 (0.61%) Charles Proxy
10 5 (0.61%) Fiddler
10 5 (0.61%) TestNG
10 5 (0.61%) Zephyr
11 4 (0.49%) Locust
General
1 303 (37.18%) Social Skills
2 215 (26.38%) Finance
3 174 (21.35%) Analytical Skills
4 55 (6.75%) Banking
5 51 (6.26%) Electronics
6 44 (5.40%) Law
6 44 (5.40%) Marketing
7 41 (5.03%) Manufacturing
8 40 (4.91%) Presentation Skills
9 38 (4.66%) Financial Institution
10 36 (4.42%) Documentation Skills
11 32 (3.93%) Organisational Skills
12 28 (3.44%) Telecoms
13 26 (3.19%) Aerospace
13 26 (3.19%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 25 (3.07%) Public Sector
14 25 (3.07%) Retail
15 23 (2.82%) Pharmaceutical
16 19 (2.33%) Influencing Skills
17 17 (2.09%) Avionics
Job Titles
1 122 (14.97%) Analyst
2 119 (14.60%) Senior
3 87 (10.67%) Systems Engineer
4 77 (9.45%) Lead
5 48 (5.89%) Architect
6 42 (5.15%) Test Engineer
7 36 (4.42%) Business Analyst
8 32 (3.93%) Data Analyst
8 32 (3.93%) Validation Engineer
9 31 (3.80%) Data Engineer
10 30 (3.68%) Integration Engineer
11 29 (3.56%) Developer
11 29 (3.56%) Junior
11 29 (3.56%) Principal Engineer
12 28 (3.44%) Applications Engineer
13 27 (3.31%) Applications Support
14 23 (2.82%) Solutions Architect
14 23 (2.82%) Support Engineer
15 22 (2.70%) Applications Support Engineer
15 22 (2.70%) Systems Integration Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (5.40%) REST
2 28 (3.44%) Middleware
3 24 (2.94%) Pandas
4 23 (2.82%) JSON
5 20 (2.45%) pytest
5 20 (2.45%) scikit-learn
6 19 (2.33%) XML
7 17 (2.09%) TensorFlow
8 16 (1.96%) PyTorch
9 15 (1.84%) NumPy
10 14 (1.72%) CSS
10 14 (1.72%) FastAPI
10 14 (1.72%) OAuth
11 13 (1.60%) HTML
11 13 (1.60%) JWT
11 13 (1.60%) Swagger
11 13 (1.60%) Web Services
12 12 (1.47%) Flask
13 11 (1.35%) React
14 10 (1.23%) Hugging Face
Miscellaneous
1 69 (8.47%) Management Information System
2 35 (4.29%) Onboarding
3 30 (3.68%) Life Science
4 24 (2.94%) Product Ownership
4 24 (2.94%) Self-Motivation
5 18 (2.21%) Low-Code
5 18 (2.21%) Operational Technology
6 17 (2.09%) Legacy Systems
7 16 (1.96%) Algorithms
8 15 (1.84%) Data Structures
8 15 (1.84%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 12 (1.47%) Analytical Mindset
9 12 (1.47%) Enterprise Software
9 12 (1.47%) SCADA
10 11 (1.35%) SWIFT Messaging Network
11 9 (1.10%) Data Centre
12 8 (0.98%) Blockchain
12 8 (0.98%) CMDB
12 8 (0.98%) IoT
12 8 (0.98%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 41 (5.03%) Windows
2 33 (4.05%) Linux
3 11 (1.35%) Windows Server
4 8 (0.98%) Android
5 7 (0.86%) Unix
6 5 (0.61%) Windows 10
7 2 (0.25%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.25%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.12%) AIX
8 1 (0.12%) FreeRTOS
8 1 (0.12%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.12%) Robot Operating System
8 1 (0.12%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 194 (23.80%) Agile
2 184 (22.58%) Problem-Solving
3 132 (16.20%) Verification and Validation
4 113 (13.87%) Analytics
4 113 (13.87%) Data Validation
5 100 (12.27%) Continuous Improvement
6 98 (12.02%) Migration
7 89 (10.92%) Test Automation
8 82 (10.06%) DevOps
8 82 (10.06%) Systems Engineering
9 80 (9.82%) Decision-Making
9 80 (9.82%) ETL
9 80 (9.82%) Mentoring
10 76 (9.33%) Data Analysis
11 75 (9.20%) Business Intelligence
11 75 (9.20%) Software Engineering
12 74 (9.08%) CI/CD
13 72 (8.83%) Roadmaps
14 69 (8.47%) Data Management
15 68 (8.34%) AI
Programming Languages
1 179 (21.96%) SQL
2 150 (18.40%) Python
3 26 (3.19%) Java
4 25 (3.07%) C
5 24 (2.94%) MATLAB
6 23 (2.82%) JavaScript
7 22 (2.70%) C++
8 18 (2.21%) PowerShell
9 13 (1.60%) Bash
10 12 (1.47%) TypeScript
11 8 (0.98%) R
12 7 (0.86%) C#
13 6 (0.74%) Bicep
13 6 (0.74%) T-SQL
14 5 (0.61%) PHP
14 5 (0.61%) PL/SQL
15 3 (0.37%) GLSL
15 3 (0.37%) Go
15 3 (0.37%) Google Apps Script
15 3 (0.37%) VB
Qualifications
1 245 (30.06%) Degree
2 102 (12.52%) Security Cleared
3 94 (11.53%) BPSS Clearance
4 47 (5.77%) SC Cleared
5 44 (5.40%) Master's Degree
6 36 (4.42%) Computer Science Degree
7 19 (2.33%) Cisco Certification
7 19 (2.33%) HNC
8 16 (1.96%) CISA
8 16 (1.96%) CISSP
8 16 (1.96%) ISTQB
9 15 (1.84%) CGEIT
9 15 (1.84%) CISM
9 15 (1.84%) FFIEC
9 15 (1.84%) Microsoft Certification
9 15 (1.84%) SANS
10 14 (1.72%) DV Cleared
11 12 (1.47%) CCNP
12 11 (1.35%) Chartered Engineer
13 10 (1.23%) ACCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 101 (12.39%) Data Quality
2 99 (12.15%) QA
3 35 (4.29%) SLA
4 31 (3.80%) GDPR
5 30 (3.68%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 28 (3.44%) Accessibility
7 21 (2.58%) GxP
8 18 (2.21%) NIST
9 15 (1.84%) COBIT
10 11 (1.35%) ISO 20022
10 11 (1.35%) SEPA
11 10 (1.23%) Good Clinical Practice
11 10 (1.23%) ISO/IEC 12207
12 9 (1.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
12 9 (1.10%) WCAG
13 8 (0.98%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 8 (0.98%) GRC
14 7 (0.86%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 7 (0.86%) TARGET2
15 5 (0.61%) ARP4761
System Software
1 41 (5.03%) Docker
2 17 (2.09%) Firmware
3 15 (1.84%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (1.10%) Active Directory
5 2 (0.25%) Ceph
5 2 (0.25%) Lustre
5 2 (0.25%) Microsoft Virtual Server
5 2 (0.25%) Slurm Workload Manager
5 2 (0.25%) vCloud
5 2 (0.25%) Virtual Servers
5 2 (0.25%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.25%) vSphere
6 1 (0.12%) Embedded Firmware
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%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.12%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 33 (4.05%) Kubernetes
2 15 (1.84%) Terraform
3 14 (1.72%) Ansible
4 10 (1.23%) Grafana
5 9 (1.10%) Microsoft Intune
6 7 (0.86%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 6 (0.74%) Prometheus
8 5 (0.61%) SCCM
9 3 (0.37%) Argo
9 3 (0.37%) Rancher
9 3 (0.37%) yum
10 2 (0.25%) Docker Swarm
10 2 (0.25%) Functional Safety
10 2 (0.25%) Kubeflow
10 2 (0.25%) Nessus
10 2 (0.25%) Rundeck
11 1 (0.12%) Control-M
11 1 (0.12%) Progress Chef
11 1 (0.12%) Puppet
11 1 (0.12%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 106 (13.01%) Microsoft
2 51 (6.26%) SAP
3 31 (3.80%) Oracle
4 25 (3.07%) Cisco
5 21 (2.58%) Salesforce
6 19 (2.33%) VMware
7 15 (1.84%) Foundry
8 13 (1.60%) Software AG
9 12 (1.47%) IBM
10 11 (1.35%) CheckPoint
10 11 (1.35%) F5
11 10 (1.23%) Adobe
11 10 (1.23%) OpenAI
12 9 (1.10%) Automation Anywhere
12 9 (1.10%) ServiceNow
12 9 (1.10%) UiPath
13 8 (0.98%) Databricks
13 8 (0.98%) Intapp
14 7 (0.86%) Google
15 6 (0.74%) Guidewire