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

6 months to
1 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 98 80 202
Rank change year-on-year -18 +122 -12
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,658 1,577 1,026
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.81% 3.62% 1.37%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.45% 4.04% 1.68%
Number of salaries quoted 1,008 472 519
10th Percentile £35,000 £38,775 £36,250
25th Percentile £42,500 £42,500 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year - -4.35% -10.16%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £72,500
90th Percentile £90,225 £92,500 £90,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year - -4.35% -8.73%

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 67,626 39,031 60,942
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.87% 89.63% 81.40%
Number of salaries quoted 47,761 22,628 41,205
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,750 £30,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,750 £40,478
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -11.41%
75th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £95,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.41%

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 1 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 1 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 +77 470 £75,000 -3.23% 662
South East -36 368 £55,000 - 302
North of England +102 353 £55,000 +15.79% 200
North West +93 207 £55,000 +15.35% 117
Midlands -56 191 £42,500 -22.73% 156
South West -32 131 £51,750 -1.62% 152
East of England -79 112 £62,500 +9.65% 136
West Midlands +6 104 £44,000 -23.48% 95
East Midlands -69 86 £42,500 - 61
Yorkshire +12 74 £43,000 +1.18% 43
North East +5 72 £55,000 +57.14% 43
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 60 (3.62%) Apache Airflow
2 58 (3.50%) Apache Spark
3 56 (3.38%) Apache
4 30 (1.81%) SharePoint
5 29 (1.75%) Confluence
6 18 (1.09%) Jupyter
7 12 (0.72%) Microsoft Exchange
7 12 (0.72%) SAS
8 5 (0.30%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 5 (0.30%) CMS
9 4 (0.24%) Kinematics
10 3 (0.18%) Artix
10 3 (0.18%) Oracle SOA Suite
11 2 (0.12%) Cloud Foundry
11 2 (0.12%) IIS
11 2 (0.12%) WinCC
12 1 (0.060%) ArcGIS
12 1 (0.060%) Oracle Workflow
12 1 (0.060%) Palantir Foundry
12 1 (0.060%) WebSphere
Applications
1 103 (6.21%) Microsoft Excel
2 56 (3.38%) Microsoft Office
3 30 (1.81%) Microsoft Project
4 25 (1.51%) MS Visio
5 23 (1.39%) Simulink
6 13 (0.78%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 13 (0.78%) Spreadsheet
7 9 (0.54%) SOLIDWORKS
8 5 (0.30%) AutoCAD
9 4 (0.24%) Adobe XD
9 4 (0.24%) Mathcad
9 4 (0.24%) Sketch
10 3 (0.18%) Autodesk Inventor
10 3 (0.18%) LaTeX
10 3 (0.18%) Productboard
10 3 (0.18%) Stateflow
11 2 (0.12%) OrCAD
11 2 (0.12%) Solid Edge
12 1 (0.060%) EPLAN
12 1 (0.060%) Trello
Business Applications
1 42 (2.53%) SAP S/4HANA
2 38 (2.29%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.66%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.60%) SAP ERP
5 9 (0.54%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.48%) Oracle Applications
7 5 (0.30%) iTrent
7 5 (0.30%) Loan IQ
7 5 (0.30%) NetSuite
7 5 (0.30%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.24%) Elite 3E
8 4 (0.24%) Oracle Financials
8 4 (0.24%) SAP MM
8 4 (0.24%) Workday HCM
9 3 (0.18%) Oracle ERP
10 2 (0.12%) SAP CO
10 2 (0.12%) SAP FI
10 2 (0.12%) SAP FI/CO
10 2 (0.12%) SAP WM
10 2 (0.12%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 230 (13.87%) Azure
2 222 (13.39%) AWS
3 159 (9.59%) Power Platform
4 81 (4.89%) GCP
5 68 (4.10%) SaaS
6 60 (3.62%) Azure DevOps
7 52 (3.14%) Microsoft 365
8 44 (2.65%) Amazon S3
8 44 (2.65%) Serverless
9 41 (2.47%) GitHub
10 33 (1.99%) Dynamics 365
11 23 (1.39%) Entra ID
11 23 (1.39%) Microsoft Copilot
12 22 (1.33%) Amazon EC2
12 22 (1.33%) Cloud Computing
12 22 (1.33%) Snowflake
13 21 (1.27%) Amazon EMR
13 21 (1.27%) GitHub Actions
14 19 (1.15%) Microsoft Purview
14 19 (1.15%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 67 (4.04%) Broadband
2 49 (2.96%) Firewall
3 44 (2.65%) DNS
4 24 (1.45%) Network Security
4 24 (1.45%) TCP/IP
4 24 (1.45%) Wireless
5 22 (1.33%) VPN
6 21 (1.27%) WAN
7 17 (1.03%) Ethernet
8 16 (0.97%) Wi-Fi
9 15 (0.90%) MQTT
9 15 (0.90%) SD-WAN
10 12 (0.72%) HTTP
10 12 (0.72%) Internet
10 12 (0.72%) LAN
11 11 (0.66%) CHAP
11 11 (0.66%) NGN
12 10 (0.60%) 5G
12 10 (0.60%) RS-232
13 9 (0.54%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 149 (8.99%) Power BI
2 57 (3.44%) PostgreSQL
3 56 (3.38%) Data Warehouse
4 55 (3.32%) Tableau
5 49 (2.96%) SQL Server
6 41 (2.47%) Metadata
7 36 (2.17%) Data Lake
8 33 (1.99%) MongoDB
9 29 (1.75%) Relational Database
10 25 (1.51%) BigQuery
11 23 (1.39%) DynamoDB
11 23 (1.39%) Semantic Layer
12 22 (1.33%) Amazon Athena
13 21 (1.27%) Azure SQL Database
13 21 (1.27%) MySQL
14 20 (1.21%) Spark SQL
15 19 (1.15%) Power Query
15 19 (1.15%) SQL Server Integration Services
16 17 (1.03%) Oracle Database
17 16 (0.97%) Parquet
Development Applications
1 105 (6.33%) JIRA
2 93 (5.61%) Git
3 47 (2.83%) Jenkins
4 42 (2.53%) GitLab
5 31 (1.87%) Rational DOORS
6 22 (1.33%) Snyk
7 18 (1.09%) Selenium
8 15 (0.90%) LabVIEW
8 15 (0.90%) Postman
9 13 (0.78%) Cypress.io
9 13 (0.78%) IBM UrbanCode
10 12 (0.72%) Cucumber
11 11 (0.66%) JMeter
12 10 (0.60%) TeamCity
13 8 (0.48%) Rational Rhapsody
14 7 (0.42%) Burp Suite
14 7 (0.42%) REST Assured
15 6 (0.36%) GDB
15 6 (0.36%) Hudson
16 5 (0.30%) LoadRunner
General
1 537 (32.39%) Social Skills
2 454 (27.38%) Finance
3 425 (25.63%) Analytical Skills
4 142 (8.56%) Aerospace
5 137 (8.26%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 133 (8.02%) Manufacturing
7 127 (7.66%) Electronics
8 96 (5.79%) Banking
9 84 (5.07%) Law
10 68 (4.10%) Retail
11 65 (3.92%) Public Sector
12 59 (3.56%) Pharmaceutical
13 56 (3.38%) Organisational Skills
14 51 (3.08%) Marketing
15 49 (2.96%) Legal
16 45 (2.71%) Games
17 39 (2.35%) Automotive
18 30 (1.81%) Telecoms
19 28 (1.69%) Advertising
19 28 (1.69%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 307 (18.52%) Senior
2 246 (14.84%) Analyst
3 136 (8.20%) Lead
4 117 (7.06%) Systems Engineer
5 106 (6.39%) Test Engineer
6 102 (6.15%) Architect
7 94 (5.67%) Data Engineer
8 80 (4.83%) Business Analyst
9 79 (4.76%) Developer
10 67 (4.04%) Validation Engineer
11 66 (3.98%) Consultant
12 65 (3.92%) Data Analyst
13 54 (3.26%) Software Engineer
14 51 (3.08%) Principal Engineer
15 45 (2.71%) Support Engineer
16 42 (2.53%) Embedded Engineer
17 41 (2.47%) Data Scientist
18 38 (2.29%) IT Manager
19 37 (2.23%) Project Manager
20 36 (2.17%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (2.71%) RESTful
2 42 (2.53%) Kafka
3 37 (2.23%) PySpark
4 35 (2.11%) Node.js
5 31 (1.87%) REST
5 31 (1.87%) XML
6 30 (1.81%) JSON
7 25 (1.51%) Pandas
8 24 (1.45%) Middleware
9 23 (1.39%) .NET
10 21 (1.27%) CSS
11 20 (1.21%) HTML
11 20 (1.21%) LDAP
12 19 (1.15%) Playwright
12 19 (1.15%) Regular Expression
12 19 (1.15%) XMPP
13 16 (0.97%) FastAPI
13 16 (0.97%) React
14 14 (0.84%) Oracle Fusion
14 14 (0.84%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 121 (7.30%) Cloud Native
2 118 (7.12%) Onboarding
3 83 (5.01%) Management Information System
4 60 (3.62%) Data Structures
5 58 (3.50%) Data Centre
5 58 (3.50%) Product Ownership
6 48 (2.90%) Distributed Systems
6 48 (2.90%) Enterprise Software
7 46 (2.77%) Driving Licence
8 45 (2.71%) Low-Code
9 44 (2.65%) Algorithms
9 44 (2.65%) Embedded Systems
10 38 (2.29%) Analytical Mindset
11 33 (1.99%) Video\Live Streaming
12 32 (1.93%) Life Science
13 29 (1.75%) Legacy Systems
14 28 (1.69%) Self-Motivation
15 27 (1.63%) AI Agents
16 25 (1.51%) Robotics
17 24 (1.45%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 112 (6.76%) Linux
2 84 (5.07%) Windows
3 32 (1.93%) Windows Server
4 19 (1.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 19 (1.15%) Unix
5 6 (0.36%) Android
5 6 (0.36%) Embedded Linux
5 6 (0.36%) FreeRTOS
6 4 (0.24%) Kali Linux
6 4 (0.24%) Mac OS X
7 3 (0.18%) 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 (0.060%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 431 (26.00%) Problem-Solving
2 387 (23.34%) Continuous Improvement
3 352 (21.23%) Agile
4 308 (18.58%) AI
5 281 (16.95%) CI/CD
6 222 (13.39%) Analytics
7 221 (13.33%) Migration
8 214 (12.91%) Test Automation
9 202 (12.18%) Stakeholder Management
10 191 (11.52%) Mentoring
11 185 (11.16%) Decision-Making
12 175 (10.55%) Verification and Validation
13 174 (10.49%) Business Intelligence
14 173 (10.43%) DevOps
15 170 (10.25%) Software Engineering
16 158 (9.53%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 157 (9.47%) Data Modelling
18 153 (9.23%) Data Validation
19 152 (9.17%) Data Analysis
19 152 (9.17%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 406 (24.49%) Python
2 355 (21.41%) SQL
3 78 (4.70%) C++
4 71 (4.28%) C
5 70 (4.22%) Java
6 54 (3.26%) Go
7 49 (2.96%) JavaScript
8 42 (2.53%) C#
9 36 (2.17%) MATLAB
10 29 (1.75%) PowerShell
11 27 (1.63%) Bash
12 21 (1.27%) T-SQL
13 20 (1.21%) Embedded C
14 19 (1.15%) Scala
15 18 (1.09%) Embedded C++
16 15 (0.90%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 15 (0.90%) TypeScript
17 8 (0.48%) ABAP
17 8 (0.48%) PL/SQL
17 8 (0.48%) VBA
Qualifications
1 332 (20.02%) Degree
2 221 (13.33%) Security Cleared
3 118 (7.12%) SC Cleared
4 111 (6.69%) BPSS Clearance
5 75 (4.52%) Master's Degree
6 74 (4.46%) DV Cleared
7 39 (2.35%) Computer Science Degree
8 30 (1.81%) Chartered Engineer
9 29 (1.75%) CISSP
10 25 (1.51%) PMI Certification
11 24 (1.45%) HNC
12 23 (1.39%) AWS Certification
12 23 (1.39%) CISM
13 22 (1.33%) ACCA
13 22 (1.33%) CIMA
13 22 (1.33%) PhD
14 21 (1.27%) CISA
14 21 (1.27%) SANS
15 17 (1.03%) HND
15 17 (1.03%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 297 (17.91%) Data Quality
2 217 (13.09%) QA
3 57 (3.44%) GDPR
4 52 (3.14%) Accessibility
5 38 (2.29%) GRC
6 23 (1.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 20 (1.21%) IEC 61508
8 18 (1.09%) NIST
9 17 (1.03%) PMO
10 15 (0.90%) GxP
10 15 (0.90%) IFRS
10 15 (0.90%) ISO 26262
10 15 (0.90%) SLA
11 14 (0.84%) GAAP
12 13 (0.78%) ISO 9001
13 12 (0.72%) ISO/IEC 15288
14 11 (0.66%) COBIT
14 11 (0.66%) SOC 2
14 11 (0.66%) WCAG
15 10 (0.60%) GMP
System Software
1 71 (4.28%) Docker
2 56 (3.38%) Firmware
3 42 (2.53%) Active Directory
4 28 (1.69%) Virtual Machines
5 26 (1.57%) Embedded Firmware
6 22 (1.33%) vSphere
7 12 (0.72%) VMware Infrastructure
8 5 (0.30%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.12%) KVM
9 2 (0.12%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.060%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.060%) iptables
10 1 (0.060%) ProxySG
10 1 (0.060%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 73 (4.40%) Terraform
2 72 (4.34%) Kubernetes
3 36 (2.17%) Grafana
4 25 (1.51%) Functional Safety
5 20 (1.21%) Ansible
6 16 (0.97%) Prometheus
7 10 (0.60%) Cilium
8 8 (0.48%) SCCM
8 8 (0.48%) Single Sign-On
9 7 (0.42%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
9 7 (0.42%) Kibana
10 6 (0.36%) Puppet
11 5 (0.30%) Microsoft Intune
12 4 (0.24%) Nessus
12 4 (0.24%) Nmap
12 4 (0.24%) WMI
13 3 (0.18%) FortiGate
13 3 (0.18%) HP Fortify
13 3 (0.18%) Rancher
13 3 (0.18%) yum
Vendors
1 244 (14.72%) Microsoft
2 107 (6.45%) SAP
3 97 (5.85%) Oracle
4 55 (3.32%) Salesforce
5 46 (2.77%) Databricks
6 40 (2.41%) ServiceNow
7 34 (2.05%) Red Hat
8 31 (1.87%) Cisco
8 31 (1.87%) VMware
9 30 (1.81%) Google
10 29 (1.75%) CrowdStrike
11 23 (1.39%) Palo Alto
12 22 (1.33%) Tenable
13 15 (0.90%) McAfee
14 14 (0.84%) Adobe
14 14 (0.84%) IBM
15 13 (0.78%) Workday
16 12 (0.72%) EMC
16 12 (0.72%) Remedy
16 12 (0.72%) Splunk