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

6 months to
10 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 77 83 177
Rank change year-on-year +6 +94 +25
Permanent jobs citing Validation 2,145 1,544 1,060
As % of all permanent jobs in England 2.15% 3.55% 1.54%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.93% 4.01% 1.89%
Number of salaries quoted 1,300 452 416
10th Percentile £35,975 £38,775 £39,000
25th Percentile £42,750 £41,250 £46,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £55,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +4.55% -4.35% -11.54%
75th Percentile £71,250 £75,225 £74,063
90th Percentile £86,500 £91,350 £95,000
UK median annual salary £57,750 £55,000 £58,033
% change year-on-year +5.00% -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 73,131 38,549 56,028
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.32% 88.64% 81.20%
Number of salaries quoted 52,091 22,224 32,866
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £31,750
25th Percentile £42,000 £37,500 £42,500
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 £76,250 £77,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £95,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -4.17%

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 10 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 10 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 +63 539 £70,000 -12.50% 857
South East -15 485 £60,000 +11.63% 373
North of England +108 443 £55,000 +15.79% 220
North West +107 274 £55,000 +12.61% 116
Midlands -33 248 £47,500 -13.64% 216
South West +18 223 £55,000 +4.56% 202
East of England -56 174 £55,000 -8.33% 186
West Midlands +35 143 £47,500 -13.64% 157
East Midlands -58 105 £44,424 +4.53% 59
Yorkshire +9 85 £43,000 +1.18% 66
North East +7 84 £55,000 +57.14% 40
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 44 (2.05%) Apache Spark
2 42 (1.96%) Apache Airflow
3 39 (1.82%) Apache
4 33 (1.54%) Confluence
5 32 (1.49%) SharePoint
6 18 (0.84%) Jupyter
7 13 (0.61%) SAS
8 9 (0.42%) Microsoft Exchange
9 8 (0.37%) WinCC
10 5 (0.23%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 5 (0.23%) CMS
11 3 (0.14%) Artix
11 3 (0.14%) Kinematics
11 3 (0.14%) OpenStack
11 3 (0.14%) Oracle SOA Suite
12 2 (0.093%) Cloud Foundry
12 2 (0.093%) IIS
13 1 (0.047%) ArcGIS
13 1 (0.047%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
13 1 (0.047%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 122 (5.69%) Microsoft Excel
2 68 (3.17%) Microsoft Office
3 44 (2.05%) Simulink
4 36 (1.68%) Microsoft Project
5 18 (0.84%) Spreadsheet
6 16 (0.75%) SOLIDWORKS
7 15 (0.70%) MS Visio
8 14 (0.65%) AutoCAD
9 11 (0.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
10 7 (0.33%) Revit
11 5 (0.23%) Mathcad
11 5 (0.23%) Navisworks
12 4 (0.19%) Adobe XD
12 4 (0.19%) OrCAD
12 4 (0.19%) Sketch
13 3 (0.14%) Autodesk Inventor
13 3 (0.14%) CANalyzer
13 3 (0.14%) EPLAN
13 3 (0.14%) LaTeX
13 3 (0.14%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 39 (1.82%) Dynamics CRM
2 38 (1.77%) SAP S/4HANA
3 11 (0.51%) SAP MDG
4 9 (0.42%) Oracle EBS
5 8 (0.37%) Oracle Applications
6 7 (0.33%) NetSuite
6 7 (0.33%) SAP ERP
6 7 (0.33%) Workday HCM
7 5 (0.23%) Elite 3E
7 5 (0.23%) iTrent
7 5 (0.23%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.19%) Infor M3
8 4 (0.19%) Oracle Financials
8 4 (0.19%) SAP MM
9 3 (0.14%) Loan IQ
9 3 (0.14%) Oracle ERP
9 3 (0.14%) SystmOne
9 3 (0.14%) Teamcenter
10 2 (0.093%) Oracle Payables
10 2 (0.093%) Oracle Receivables
Cloud Services
1 277 (12.91%) Azure
2 238 (11.10%) AWS
3 168 (7.83%) Power Platform
4 87 (4.06%) GCP
5 66 (3.08%) SaaS
6 64 (2.98%) Azure DevOps
7 63 (2.94%) Microsoft 365
8 55 (2.56%) GitHub
9 46 (2.14%) Serverless
10 38 (1.77%) Amazon S3
11 36 (1.68%) Dynamics 365
12 32 (1.49%) Entra ID
13 30 (1.40%) Microsoft Copilot
14 28 (1.31%) GitHub Actions
15 24 (1.12%) Cloud Computing
16 22 (1.03%) Amazon EMR
16 22 (1.03%) Azure Data Factory
16 22 (1.03%) PowerApps
17 21 (0.98%) Microsoft Purview
18 20 (0.93%) Amazon EC2
Communications & Networking
1 71 (3.31%) DNS
2 65 (3.03%) Firewall
3 60 (2.80%) Broadband
4 37 (1.72%) TCP/IP
5 36 (1.68%) VPN
6 35 (1.63%) WAN
7 34 (1.59%) Network Security
7 34 (1.59%) Wireless
8 27 (1.26%) Ethernet
8 27 (1.26%) LAN
9 25 (1.17%) Modbus
9 25 (1.17%) VLAN
10 24 (1.12%) OSPF
11 22 (1.03%) SD-WAN
12 21 (0.98%) BGP
12 21 (0.98%) MQTT
12 21 (0.98%) Wireshark
13 17 (0.79%) 5G
13 17 (0.79%) Wi-Fi
14 16 (0.75%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 156 (7.27%) Power BI
2 55 (2.56%) Data Warehouse
3 53 (2.47%) PostgreSQL
4 49 (2.28%) Metadata
5 47 (2.19%) SQL Server
6 46 (2.14%) Data Lake
7 39 (1.82%) Tableau
8 35 (1.63%) MongoDB
9 32 (1.49%) Relational Database
10 31 (1.45%) Amazon Athena
11 25 (1.17%) BigQuery
11 25 (1.17%) DynamoDB
12 22 (1.03%) Big Data
12 22 (1.03%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 21 (0.98%) Azure SQL Database
13 21 (0.98%) Semantic Layer
14 19 (0.89%) MySQL
14 19 (0.89%) NoSQL
15 16 (0.75%) Power Query
16 15 (0.70%) Amazon Redshift
Development Applications
1 124 (5.78%) JIRA
2 112 (5.22%) Git
3 55 (2.56%) Jenkins
4 48 (2.24%) GitLab
5 38 (1.77%) Rational DOORS
6 24 (1.12%) LabVIEW
6 24 (1.12%) Selenium
7 22 (1.03%) Snyk
8 18 (0.84%) Cypress.io
8 18 (0.84%) Postman
9 12 (0.56%) Burp Suite
9 12 (0.56%) Cucumber
10 10 (0.47%) JMeter
10 10 (0.47%) TeamCity
11 9 (0.42%) Gatling
11 9 (0.42%) MLflow
12 8 (0.37%) Eclipse
12 8 (0.37%) Metasploit
12 8 (0.37%) REST Assured
12 8 (0.37%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 713 (33.24%) Social Skills
2 538 (25.08%) Finance
3 512 (23.87%) Analytical Skills
4 202 (9.42%) Aerospace
5 200 (9.32%) Electronics
6 195 (9.09%) Manufacturing
7 176 (8.21%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 121 (5.64%) Law
9 96 (4.48%) Banking
10 88 (4.10%) Retail
11 87 (4.06%) Organisational Skills
12 84 (3.92%) Public Sector
13 78 (3.64%) Marketing
14 77 (3.59%) Pharmaceutical
15 71 (3.31%) Telecoms
16 64 (2.98%) Automotive
17 55 (2.56%) Legal
18 43 (2.00%) Games
19 42 (1.96%) Influencing Skills
20 38 (1.77%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 386 (18.00%) Senior
2 253 (11.79%) Systems Engineer
3 248 (11.56%) Analyst
4 178 (8.30%) Lead
5 125 (5.83%) Test Engineer
6 111 (5.17%) Architect
7 101 (4.71%) Data Engineer
8 92 (4.29%) Developer
9 77 (3.59%) Consultant
10 76 (3.54%) Business Analyst
11 72 (3.36%) Software Engineer
12 69 (3.22%) Principal Engineer
13 66 (3.08%) Validation Engineer
14 64 (2.98%) Data Analyst
15 56 (2.61%) Electronics Engineer
16 52 (2.42%) Network Engineer
17 50 (2.33%) Support Engineer
18 48 (2.24%) Data Scientist
18 48 (2.24%) Embedded Engineer
19 42 (1.96%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 76 (3.54%) Terraform
2 53 (2.47%) RESTful
3 51 (2.38%) Kafka
4 49 (2.28%) REST
5 40 (1.86%) Node.js
6 32 (1.49%) JSON
7 30 (1.40%) Playwright
8 29 (1.35%) .NET
8 29 (1.35%) PySpark
8 29 (1.35%) XML
9 27 (1.26%) FastAPI
9 27 (1.26%) LDAP
10 26 (1.21%) CSS
11 25 (1.17%) HTML
12 23 (1.07%) Middleware
13 22 (1.03%) Swagger
14 21 (0.98%) ModSecurity
14 21 (0.98%) React
15 20 (0.93%) XMPP
16 19 (0.89%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 146 (6.81%) Cloud Native
2 122 (5.69%) Onboarding
3 115 (5.36%) Management Information System
4 79 (3.68%) Data Centre
5 78 (3.64%) Product Ownership
6 59 (2.75%) Embedded Systems
6 59 (2.75%) Enterprise Software
7 58 (2.70%) Driving Licence
8 57 (2.66%) Data Structures
9 54 (2.52%) Distributed Systems
10 49 (2.28%) Algorithms
11 46 (2.14%) Low-Code
12 44 (2.05%) Life Science
13 42 (1.96%) Analytical Mindset
14 41 (1.91%) SCADA
15 39 (1.82%) Robotics
16 38 (1.77%) AI Agents
16 38 (1.77%) Legacy Systems
17 34 (1.59%) Video\Live Streaming
18 31 (1.45%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 139 (6.48%) Linux
2 92 (4.29%) Windows
3 35 (1.63%) Windows Server
4 25 (1.17%) Unix
5 19 (0.89%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (0.47%) Android
7 9 (0.42%) Embedded Linux
8 7 (0.33%) FreeRTOS
8 7 (0.33%) Mac OS
9 5 (0.23%) Kali Linux
10 4 (0.19%) Mac OS X
11 3 (0.14%) Apple iOS
12 2 (0.093%) Robot Operating System
12 2 (0.093%) ThreadX
12 2 (0.093%) VMS
12 2 (0.093%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.047%) AIX
13 1 (0.047%) OpenWrt
Processes & Methodologies
1 541 (25.22%) Problem-Solving
2 474 (22.10%) Continuous Improvement
3 393 (18.32%) Agile
4 368 (17.16%) AI
5 356 (16.60%) Verification and Validation
6 302 (14.08%) CI/CD
7 283 (13.19%) Stakeholder Management
8 266 (12.40%) Migration
9 265 (12.35%) Test Automation
10 238 (11.10%) Analytics
11 226 (10.54%) Mentoring
12 216 (10.07%) Software Engineering
13 209 (9.74%) Decision-Making
14 199 (9.28%) DevOps
15 196 (9.14%) Business Intelligence
16 189 (8.81%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 188 (8.76%) Data Analysis
18 180 (8.39%) Machine Learning
18 180 (8.39%) Roadmaps
19 174 (8.11%) Data Migration
Programming Languages
1 446 (20.79%) Python
2 381 (17.76%) SQL
3 88 (4.10%) C++
4 87 (4.06%) Java
5 84 (3.92%) C
6 63 (2.94%) JavaScript
7 57 (2.66%) MATLAB
8 55 (2.56%) Go
9 47 (2.19%) C#
10 34 (1.59%) Bash
11 31 (1.45%) Embedded C
12 28 (1.31%) PowerShell
13 23 (1.07%) Scala
14 20 (0.93%) TypeScript
15 18 (0.84%) Embedded C++
16 16 (0.75%) R
17 13 (0.61%) Data Analysis Expressions
18 12 (0.56%) T-SQL
19 9 (0.42%) Shell Script
20 8 (0.37%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 456 (21.26%) Degree
2 442 (20.61%) Security Cleared
3 311 (14.50%) SC Cleared
4 115 (5.36%) BPSS Clearance
5 100 (4.66%) DV Cleared
6 90 (4.20%) Master's Degree
7 46 (2.14%) Computer Science Degree
8 36 (1.68%) PhD
9 34 (1.59%) Chartered Engineer
9 34 (1.59%) CISSP
9 34 (1.59%) PMI Certification
10 31 (1.45%) HND
11 29 (1.35%) HNC
12 25 (1.17%) ACCA
12 25 (1.17%) CISM
13 24 (1.12%) AWS Certification
13 24 (1.12%) Azure Certification
14 22 (1.03%) CIMA
15 21 (0.98%) Cisco Certification
15 21 (0.98%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 320 (14.92%) Data Quality
2 280 (13.05%) QA
3 68 (3.17%) Accessibility
4 53 (2.47%) GDPR
5 37 (1.72%) GRC
6 29 (1.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 26 (1.21%) GxP
8 22 (1.03%) IEC 61508
9 18 (0.84%) NIST
10 17 (0.79%) PMO
11 16 (0.75%) SLA
12 15 (0.70%) ISO 26262
13 14 (0.65%) ISO 9001
14 12 (0.56%) GMP
14 12 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 15288
14 12 (0.56%) SOC 2
15 11 (0.51%) GAAP
15 11 (0.51%) IFRS
15 11 (0.51%) WCAG
16 9 (0.42%) Def Stans
System Software
1 83 (3.87%) Docker
2 82 (3.82%) Firmware
3 48 (2.24%) Active Directory
4 38 (1.77%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.31%) Virtual Machines
6 21 (0.98%) vSphere
7 10 (0.47%) VMware Infrastructure
8 4 (0.19%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.14%) KVM
10 2 (0.093%) iptables
10 2 (0.093%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.093%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.047%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.047%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 81 (3.78%) Kubernetes
2 38 (1.77%) Grafana
3 32 (1.49%) Ansible
4 27 (1.26%) Functional Safety
5 17 (0.79%) Prometheus
6 15 (0.70%) Single Sign-On
7 10 (0.47%) Cilium
8 8 (0.37%) Nessus
8 8 (0.37%) Nmap
8 8 (0.37%) Puppet
9 7 (0.33%) Kibana
9 7 (0.33%) Microsoft Intune
10 6 (0.28%) BMC PATROL
11 5 (0.23%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
11 5 (0.23%) FortiGate
11 5 (0.23%) SCCM
11 5 (0.23%) WMI
12 4 (0.19%) HP Fortify
12 4 (0.19%) Kubeflow
13 3 (0.14%) Argo
Vendors
1 279 (13.01%) Microsoft
2 117 (5.45%) SAP
3 98 (4.57%) Oracle
4 59 (2.75%) Salesforce
5 53 (2.47%) Cisco
6 52 (2.42%) Databricks
6 52 (2.42%) ServiceNow
7 37 (1.72%) Google
8 34 (1.59%) EMC
9 30 (1.40%) CrowdStrike
10 29 (1.35%) VMware
11 26 (1.21%) Palo Alto
12 23 (1.07%) Red Hat
12 23 (1.07%) Tenable
13 16 (0.75%) IBM
13 16 (0.75%) Sage
14 15 (0.70%) McAfee
14 15 (0.70%) Splunk
15 14 (0.65%) Autodesk
15 14 (0.65%) Siemens