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 30 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 69 86 173
Rank change year-on-year +17 +87 +31
Permanent jobs citing Validation 2,357 1,505 1,043
As % of all permanent jobs in England 2.27% 3.50% 1.57%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.08% 3.93% 1.90%
Number of salaries quoted 1,403 413 392
10th Percentile £35,800 £38,750 £38,734
25th Percentile £42,750 £41,250 £46,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,500 £55,000 £57,004
Median % change year-on-year +6.36% -3.52% -12.30%
75th Percentile £71,250 £77,500 £75,000
90th Percentile £86,250 £91,200 £95,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £58,033
% change year-on-year +9.09% -5.23% -10.72%

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 76,412 38,327 54,773
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.56% 89.12% 82.24%
Number of salaries quoted 53,811 21,662 29,728
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £32,500
25th Percentile £42,233 £36,750 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -2.44%
75th Percentile £80,000 £76,250 £78,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £97,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £58,033
% change year-on-year +9.09% -5.23% -3.28%

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 30 September 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 30 September 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 +70 610 £69,375 -13.28% 1,688
South East -15 502 £62,500 +16.28% 566
North of England +117 472 £52,951 +11.05% 433
North West +110 294 £55,000 +9.94% 227
Midlands -24 293 £50,000 -9.09% 333
South West +21 248 £55,000 +4.56% 312
East of England -41 203 £55,000 -8.33% 310
West Midlands +45 167 £50,000 -9.09% 233
East Midlands -50 126 £50,000 +17.65% 100
Yorkshire +19 92 £42,500 - 143
North East +4 86 £55,000 +57.14% 65
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 49 (2.08%) Apache Spark
2 42 (1.78%) Apache Airflow
3 41 (1.74%) Apache
4 36 (1.53%) Confluence
5 35 (1.48%) SharePoint
6 18 (0.76%) Jupyter
7 13 (0.55%) Microsoft Exchange
7 13 (0.55%) SAS
8 10 (0.42%) WinCC
9 6 (0.25%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 4 (0.17%) CMS
10 4 (0.17%) Palantir Foundry
11 3 (0.13%) Artix
11 3 (0.13%) nginx
11 3 (0.13%) OpenStack
11 3 (0.13%) Oracle SOA Suite
12 2 (0.085%) Cloud Foundry
12 2 (0.085%) IIS
13 1 (0.042%) Oracle Workflow
13 1 (0.042%) WebSphere
Applications
1 145 (6.15%) Microsoft Excel
2 68 (2.89%) Microsoft Office
3 52 (2.21%) Simulink
4 36 (1.53%) Microsoft Project
5 23 (0.98%) Spreadsheet
6 20 (0.85%) SOLIDWORKS
7 19 (0.81%) AutoCAD
8 15 (0.64%) MS Visio
9 12 (0.51%) Revit
10 10 (0.42%) Microsoft PowerPoint
11 9 (0.38%) OrCAD
12 7 (0.30%) EPLAN
12 7 (0.30%) Navisworks
13 5 (0.21%) Mathcad
14 4 (0.17%) CANalyzer
14 4 (0.17%) Stateflow
15 3 (0.13%) Adobe XD
15 3 (0.13%) Autodesk Inventor
15 3 (0.13%) Productboard
15 3 (0.13%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 41 (1.74%) SAP S/4HANA
2 39 (1.65%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.47%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.42%) Workday HCM
5 9 (0.38%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.34%) NetSuite
6 8 (0.34%) Oracle Applications
7 7 (0.30%) Infor M3
7 7 (0.30%) SAP ERP
8 5 (0.21%) iTrent
8 5 (0.21%) Oracle Financials
8 5 (0.21%) SAP MDG-BP
9 4 (0.17%) Elite 3E
9 4 (0.17%) Salesforce CRM
9 4 (0.17%) SAP MM
9 4 (0.17%) Teamcenter
10 3 (0.13%) Oracle Payables
10 3 (0.13%) Oracle Receivables
10 3 (0.13%) Sage 200
10 3 (0.13%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 312 (13.24%) Azure
2 254 (10.78%) AWS
3 181 (7.68%) Power Platform
4 96 (4.07%) GCP
5 75 (3.18%) Azure DevOps
6 73 (3.10%) GitHub
7 66 (2.80%) Microsoft 365
8 65 (2.76%) SaaS
9 61 (2.59%) Serverless
10 44 (1.87%) Amazon S3
11 40 (1.70%) Entra ID
12 38 (1.61%) Dynamics 365
13 36 (1.53%) Microsoft Copilot
14 35 (1.48%) GitHub Actions
15 29 (1.23%) Microsoft Purview
16 27 (1.15%) Azure Data Factory
17 26 (1.10%) Amazon EMR
17 26 (1.10%) Cloud Computing
18 23 (0.98%) Azure Service Bus
18 23 (0.98%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 70 (2.97%) DNS
2 64 (2.72%) Firewall
3 54 (2.29%) Broadband
4 42 (1.78%) VPN
5 39 (1.65%) TCP/IP
6 38 (1.61%) Ethernet
6 38 (1.61%) Network Security
7 35 (1.48%) Modbus
8 34 (1.44%) WAN
8 34 (1.44%) Wireless
9 31 (1.32%) VLAN
10 29 (1.23%) LAN
11 27 (1.15%) OSPF
12 25 (1.06%) MQTT
13 24 (1.02%) Wireshark
14 22 (0.93%) SD-WAN
15 20 (0.85%) BGP
16 18 (0.76%) 5G
17 17 (0.72%) DHCP
17 17 (0.72%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 168 (7.13%) Power BI
2 61 (2.59%) Data Warehouse
2 61 (2.59%) Metadata
3 53 (2.25%) SQL Server
4 49 (2.08%) Data Lake
4 49 (2.08%) PostgreSQL
5 38 (1.61%) Relational Database
6 37 (1.57%) Amazon Athena
7 34 (1.44%) Tableau
8 31 (1.32%) MongoDB
9 26 (1.10%) Big Data
9 26 (1.10%) NoSQL
10 25 (1.06%) DynamoDB
11 24 (1.02%) BigQuery
11 24 (1.02%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 23 (0.98%) Azure SQL Database
13 19 (0.81%) Amazon Redshift
13 19 (0.81%) Power Query
13 19 (0.81%) Semantic Layer
14 18 (0.76%) Delta Lake
Development Applications
1 136 (5.77%) JIRA
2 123 (5.22%) Git
3 59 (2.50%) Jenkins
4 53 (2.25%) GitLab
5 44 (1.87%) Rational DOORS
6 29 (1.23%) LabVIEW
7 23 (0.98%) Selenium
8 22 (0.93%) Snyk
9 19 (0.81%) Postman
10 17 (0.72%) Cypress.io
11 12 (0.51%) Claude Code
12 11 (0.47%) Burp Suite
12 11 (0.47%) Eclipse
12 11 (0.47%) Rational Rhapsody
13 10 (0.42%) JMeter
13 10 (0.42%) TeamCity
14 9 (0.38%) Cucumber
14 9 (0.38%) MLflow
15 8 (0.34%) Gatling
15 8 (0.34%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 787 (33.39%) Social Skills
2 592 (25.12%) Finance
3 565 (23.97%) Analytical Skills
4 237 (10.06%) Manufacturing
5 228 (9.67%) Electronics
6 222 (9.42%) Aerospace
7 182 (7.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 124 (5.26%) Law
9 106 (4.50%) Public Sector
10 105 (4.45%) Organisational Skills
11 103 (4.37%) Banking
11 103 (4.37%) Retail
12 86 (3.65%) Telecoms
13 85 (3.61%) Marketing
14 83 (3.52%) Pharmaceutical
15 81 (3.44%) Automotive
16 51 (2.16%) Legal
17 46 (1.95%) Military
18 43 (1.82%) Influencing Skills
19 39 (1.65%) Games
Job Titles
1 428 (18.16%) Senior
2 268 (11.37%) Systems Engineer
3 259 (10.99%) Analyst
4 187 (7.93%) Lead
5 125 (5.30%) Test Engineer
6 119 (5.05%) Data Engineer
7 114 (4.84%) Architect
8 99 (4.20%) Developer
9 88 (3.73%) Software Engineer
10 83 (3.52%) Principal Engineer
11 81 (3.44%) Business Analyst
11 81 (3.44%) Consultant
12 72 (3.05%) Electronics Engineer
13 62 (2.63%) Data Analyst
13 62 (2.63%) Validation Engineer
14 57 (2.42%) Network Engineer
15 50 (2.12%) Automation Engineer
16 49 (2.08%) Embedded Engineer
17 47 (1.99%) Data Scientist
18 45 (1.91%) Principal Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 87 (3.69%) Terraform
2 62 (2.63%) REST
3 58 (2.46%) RESTful
4 57 (2.42%) Kafka
5 49 (2.08%) Node.js
6 44 (1.87%) .NET
7 38 (1.61%) PySpark
8 36 (1.53%) Playwright
9 34 (1.44%) JSON
10 33 (1.40%) FastAPI
11 31 (1.32%) CSS
12 29 (1.23%) HTML
12 29 (1.23%) React
12 29 (1.23%) XML
13 26 (1.10%) Swagger
14 25 (1.06%) Middleware
15 24 (1.02%) LDAP
16 22 (0.93%) OAuth
16 22 (0.93%) RabbitMQ
17 21 (0.89%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 155 (6.58%) Cloud Native
2 135 (5.73%) Management Information System
3 126 (5.35%) Onboarding
4 79 (3.35%) Data Centre
4 79 (3.35%) Product Ownership
5 64 (2.72%) Driving Licence
6 63 (2.67%) Embedded Systems
7 61 (2.59%) Distributed Systems
8 60 (2.55%) Data Structures
9 59 (2.50%) Enterprise Software
10 52 (2.21%) SCADA
11 48 (2.04%) Algorithms
12 47 (1.99%) Life Science
13 46 (1.95%) AI Agents
14 41 (1.74%) Analytical Mindset
15 38 (1.61%) Low-Code
15 38 (1.61%) Robotics
16 37 (1.57%) Legacy Systems
17 36 (1.53%) Self-Motivation
18 34 (1.44%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 133 (5.64%) Linux
2 92 (3.90%) Windows
3 31 (1.32%) Windows Server
4 26 (1.10%) Unix
5 14 (0.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (0.42%) Android
7 8 (0.34%) Embedded Linux
8 7 (0.30%) Mac OS
9 6 (0.25%) FreeRTOS
10 4 (0.17%) Kali Linux
10 4 (0.17%) Mac OS X
11 3 (0.13%) Apple iOS
12 2 (0.085%) Robot Operating System
12 2 (0.085%) VMS
12 2 (0.085%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.042%) AIX
13 1 (0.042%) OpenWrt
13 1 (0.042%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 615 (26.09%) Problem-Solving
2 528 (22.40%) Continuous Improvement
3 428 (18.16%) Agile
4 405 (17.18%) Verification and Validation
5 396 (16.80%) AI
6 340 (14.43%) CI/CD
7 325 (13.79%) Stakeholder Management
8 298 (12.64%) Migration
8 298 (12.64%) Test Automation
9 253 (10.73%) Analytics
9 253 (10.73%) Mentoring
10 242 (10.27%) Software Engineering
11 225 (9.55%) Decision-Making
12 220 (9.33%) DevOps
13 210 (8.91%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 208 (8.82%) Business Intelligence
14 208 (8.82%) Data Analysis
15 201 (8.53%) Roadmaps
16 192 (8.15%) Data Migration
17 185 (7.85%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 484 (20.53%) Python
2 425 (18.03%) SQL
3 95 (4.03%) C++
4 91 (3.86%) Java
5 86 (3.65%) C
6 71 (3.01%) JavaScript
7 67 (2.84%) MATLAB
8 65 (2.76%) C#
9 47 (1.99%) Go
10 35 (1.48%) Bash
11 33 (1.40%) PowerShell
12 30 (1.27%) TypeScript
13 29 (1.23%) Embedded C
14 25 (1.06%) Scala
15 21 (0.89%) R
16 18 (0.76%) Embedded C++
17 17 (0.72%) Data Analysis Expressions
18 12 (0.51%) Shell Script
19 10 (0.42%) Apex Code
19 10 (0.42%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 509 (21.60%) Degree
2 486 (20.62%) Security Cleared
3 354 (15.02%) SC Cleared
4 114 (4.84%) BPSS Clearance
5 98 (4.16%) DV Cleared
6 95 (4.03%) Master's Degree
7 49 (2.08%) Computer Science Degree
8 42 (1.78%) HND
9 38 (1.61%) PhD
10 37 (1.57%) PMI Certification
11 36 (1.53%) Chartered Engineer
11 36 (1.53%) HNC
12 32 (1.36%) CISSP
13 30 (1.27%) ACCA
14 29 (1.23%) Azure Certification
15 27 (1.15%) AWS Certification
15 27 (1.15%) CIMA
16 26 (1.10%) PMP
17 21 (0.89%) Cisco Certification
17 21 (0.89%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 359 (15.23%) Data Quality
2 289 (12.26%) QA
3 67 (2.84%) Accessibility
4 60 (2.55%) GDPR
5 37 (1.57%) GRC
6 32 (1.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 27 (1.15%) GxP
8 20 (0.85%) IEC 61508
8 20 (0.85%) SLA
9 19 (0.81%) NIST
10 16 (0.68%) ISO/IEC 15288
11 15 (0.64%) ISO 9001
11 15 (0.64%) PMO
12 13 (0.55%) ISO 26262
12 13 (0.55%) SOC 2
13 12 (0.51%) GMP
13 12 (0.51%) ISO 19650
14 10 (0.42%) GAAP
15 9 (0.38%) IFRS
15 9 (0.38%) WCAG
System Software
1 101 (4.29%) Docker
2 93 (3.95%) Firmware
3 48 (2.04%) Active Directory
4 43 (1.82%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.19%) Virtual Machines
6 16 (0.68%) vSphere
7 8 (0.34%) VMware Infrastructure
8 6 (0.25%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.13%) KVM
10 2 (0.085%) iptables
10 2 (0.085%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.085%) Virtual Servers
10 2 (0.085%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.042%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 89 (3.78%) Kubernetes
2 40 (1.70%) Grafana
3 33 (1.40%) Ansible
4 31 (1.32%) Functional Safety
5 18 (0.76%) Single Sign-On
6 16 (0.68%) Prometheus
7 11 (0.47%) Microsoft Intune
8 10 (0.42%) Puppet
9 9 (0.38%) Cilium
10 8 (0.34%) BMC PATROL
10 8 (0.34%) Kibana
10 8 (0.34%) Nessus
10 8 (0.34%) Nmap
11 5 (0.21%) WMI
12 4 (0.17%) Argo
12 4 (0.17%) FortiGate
12 4 (0.17%) Kubeflow
12 4 (0.17%) Rancher
12 4 (0.17%) SCCM
12 4 (0.17%) yum
Vendors
1 324 (13.75%) Microsoft
2 123 (5.22%) SAP
3 103 (4.37%) Oracle
4 67 (2.84%) Salesforce
5 61 (2.59%) Databricks
5 61 (2.59%) EMC
6 53 (2.25%) ServiceNow
7 51 (2.16%) Cisco
8 36 (1.53%) Google
9 32 (1.36%) CrowdStrike
10 26 (1.10%) Palo Alto
11 25 (1.06%) Sage
12 23 (0.98%) Tenable
13 22 (0.93%) VMware
14 21 (0.89%) Informatica
15 20 (0.85%) Thales
16 19 (0.81%) IBM
16 19 (0.81%) Siemens
17 18 (0.76%) Red Hat
17 18 (0.76%) Workday