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

6 months to
1 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 69 87 170
Rank change year-on-year +18 +83 +35
Permanent jobs citing Validation 2,362 1,504 1,046
As % of all permanent jobs in England 2.28% 3.49% 1.57%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.09% 3.91% 1.90%
Number of salaries quoted 1,407 413 394
10th Percentile £35,900 £38,750 £38,734
25th Percentile £42,750 £41,250 £46,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,000 £55,000 £57,004
Median % change year-on-year +5.45% -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 76,388 38,475 54,955
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.58% 89.15% 82.30%
Number of salaries quoted 53,883 21,744 29,840
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £32,500
25th Percentile £42,215 £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 £78,267
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £97,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £58,274
% change year-on-year +9.09% -5.62% -2.88%

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 October 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 October 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 +77 613 £70,000 -12.50% 1,799
South East -16 500 £62,500 +16.28% 622
North of England +110 474 £52,951 +11.05% 443
North West +110 295 £55,000 +9.88% 232
Midlands -18 294 £50,000 -9.09% 351
South West +22 249 £55,000 +4.56% 345
East of England -43 203 £55,000 -8.33% 344
West Midlands +43 168 £50,000 -9.09% 239
East Midlands -48 126 £50,000 +17.65% 112
Yorkshire +26 92 £42,500 - 140
North East +3 87 £55,000 +57.14% 72
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 (2.07%) Apache Spark
2 42 (1.78%) Apache Airflow
3 41 (1.74%) Apache
4 37 (1.57%) 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%) Kinematics
13 1 (0.042%) WebSphere
Applications
1 148 (6.27%) Microsoft Excel
2 68 (2.88%) Microsoft Office
3 52 (2.20%) Simulink
4 37 (1.57%) Microsoft Project
5 25 (1.06%) Spreadsheet
6 20 (0.85%) SOLIDWORKS
7 19 (0.80%) 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 40 (1.69%) 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%) Dynamics NAV
10 3 (0.13%) Oracle Payables
10 3 (0.13%) Oracle Receivables
10 3 (0.13%) Sage 200
Cloud Services
1 316 (13.38%) Azure
2 254 (10.75%) AWS
3 183 (7.75%) Power Platform
4 97 (4.11%) GCP
5 76 (3.22%) GitHub
6 75 (3.18%) Azure DevOps
7 66 (2.79%) Microsoft 365
8 65 (2.75%) SaaS
9 61 (2.58%) Serverless
10 44 (1.86%) Amazon S3
11 41 (1.74%) Entra ID
12 38 (1.61%) Dynamics 365
13 37 (1.57%) GitHub Actions
14 36 (1.52%) Microsoft Copilot
15 29 (1.23%) Microsoft Purview
16 28 (1.19%) Azure Data Factory
17 26 (1.10%) Amazon EMR
17 26 (1.10%) Cloud Computing
18 23 (0.97%) Azure Service Bus
18 23 (0.97%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 69 (2.92%) DNS
2 63 (2.67%) Firewall
3 54 (2.29%) Broadband
4 42 (1.78%) VPN
5 39 (1.65%) TCP/IP
6 38 (1.61%) Network Security
7 37 (1.57%) Ethernet
8 35 (1.48%) Modbus
9 34 (1.44%) WAN
9 34 (1.44%) Wireless
10 31 (1.31%) VLAN
11 29 (1.23%) LAN
12 27 (1.14%) OSPF
13 25 (1.06%) MQTT
14 24 (1.02%) Wireshark
15 22 (0.93%) SD-WAN
16 20 (0.85%) BGP
17 18 (0.76%) 5G
18 17 (0.72%) HTTP
18 17 (0.72%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 170 (7.20%) Power BI
2 63 (2.67%) Metadata
3 61 (2.58%) Data Warehouse
4 53 (2.24%) SQL Server
5 50 (2.12%) Data Lake
5 50 (2.12%) PostgreSQL
6 39 (1.65%) Relational Database
7 37 (1.57%) Amazon Athena
8 34 (1.44%) Tableau
9 31 (1.31%) MongoDB
10 26 (1.10%) Big Data
10 26 (1.10%) NoSQL
11 25 (1.06%) DynamoDB
12 24 (1.02%) BigQuery
12 24 (1.02%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 23 (0.97%) Azure SQL Database
14 19 (0.80%) Amazon Redshift
14 19 (0.80%) Power Query
14 19 (0.80%) Semantic Layer
15 18 (0.76%) Delta Lake
Development Applications
1 138 (5.84%) JIRA
2 123 (5.21%) Git
3 59 (2.50%) Jenkins
4 55 (2.33%) GitLab
5 44 (1.86%) Rational DOORS
6 29 (1.23%) LabVIEW
7 23 (0.97%) Selenium
8 22 (0.93%) Snyk
9 19 (0.80%) 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%) REST Assured
15 8 (0.34%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 793 (33.57%) Social Skills
2 597 (25.28%) Finance
3 568 (24.05%) Analytical Skills
4 237 (10.03%) Manufacturing
5 227 (9.61%) Electronics
6 221 (9.36%) Aerospace
7 185 (7.83%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 123 (5.21%) Law
9 107 (4.53%) Public Sector
10 106 (4.49%) Organisational Skills
11 104 (4.40%) Banking
12 103 (4.36%) Retail
13 88 (3.73%) Marketing
14 86 (3.64%) Telecoms
15 83 (3.51%) Pharmaceutical
16 80 (3.39%) Automotive
17 51 (2.16%) Legal
18 46 (1.95%) Military
19 43 (1.82%) Influencing Skills
20 40 (1.69%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 429 (18.16%) Senior
2 268 (11.35%) Systems Engineer
3 261 (11.05%) Analyst
4 188 (7.96%) Lead
5 123 (5.21%) Test Engineer
6 120 (5.08%) Data Engineer
7 113 (4.78%) Architect
8 100 (4.23%) Developer
9 88 (3.73%) Software Engineer
10 83 (3.51%) Business Analyst
10 83 (3.51%) Principal Engineer
11 81 (3.43%) Consultant
12 72 (3.05%) Electronics Engineer
13 64 (2.71%) Data Analyst
14 60 (2.54%) Validation Engineer
15 57 (2.41%) Network Engineer
16 51 (2.16%) Automation Engineer
17 48 (2.03%) Embedded Engineer
18 47 (1.99%) Data Scientist
19 45 (1.91%) Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 87 (3.68%) Terraform
2 65 (2.75%) REST
3 58 (2.46%) RESTful
4 57 (2.41%) Kafka
5 49 (2.07%) Node.js
6 45 (1.91%) .NET
7 38 (1.61%) PySpark
8 36 (1.52%) Playwright
9 35 (1.48%) JSON
10 34 (1.44%) FastAPI
11 31 (1.31%) 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 23 (0.97%) LDAP
16 22 (0.93%) OAuth
16 22 (0.93%) RabbitMQ
17 21 (0.89%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 155 (6.56%) Cloud Native
2 137 (5.80%) Management Information System
3 126 (5.33%) Onboarding
4 79 (3.34%) Data Centre
4 79 (3.34%) Product Ownership
5 66 (2.79%) Driving Licence
6 63 (2.67%) Distributed Systems
6 63 (2.67%) Embedded Systems
7 61 (2.58%) Data Structures
8 60 (2.54%) Enterprise Software
9 53 (2.24%) SCADA
10 48 (2.03%) Algorithms
10 48 (2.03%) Life Science
11 47 (1.99%) AI Agents
12 41 (1.74%) Analytical Mindset
13 38 (1.61%) Low-Code
13 38 (1.61%) Robotics
14 37 (1.57%) Legacy Systems
15 36 (1.52%) Self-Motivation
16 34 (1.44%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 132 (5.59%) Linux
2 91 (3.85%) Windows
3 30 (1.27%) Windows Server
4 26 (1.10%) Unix
5 13 (0.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (0.42%) Android
7 8 (0.34%) Embedded Linux
8 7 (0.30%) Mac OS
9 5 (0.21%) 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
1 616 (26.08%) Problem-Solving
2 528 (22.35%) Continuous Improvement
3 433 (18.33%) Agile
4 405 (17.15%) Verification and Validation
5 399 (16.89%) AI
6 343 (14.52%) CI/CD
7 328 (13.89%) Stakeholder Management
8 301 (12.74%) Test Automation
9 300 (12.70%) Migration
10 255 (10.80%) Analytics
10 255 (10.80%) Mentoring
11 243 (10.29%) Software Engineering
12 227 (9.61%) Decision-Making
13 221 (9.36%) DevOps
14 211 (8.93%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 210 (8.89%) Business Intelligence
16 209 (8.85%) Data Analysis
17 201 (8.51%) Roadmaps
18 194 (8.21%) Data Migration
19 186 (7.87%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 486 (20.58%) Python
2 429 (18.16%) SQL
3 94 (3.98%) C++
4 92 (3.90%) Java
5 85 (3.60%) C
6 71 (3.01%) JavaScript
7 66 (2.79%) C#
7 66 (2.79%) MATLAB
8 47 (1.99%) Go
9 35 (1.48%) Bash
10 33 (1.40%) PowerShell
11 30 (1.27%) TypeScript
12 29 (1.23%) Embedded C
13 25 (1.06%) Scala
14 22 (0.93%) R
15 18 (0.76%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 18 (0.76%) Embedded C++
16 12 (0.51%) Shell Script
17 10 (0.42%) Apex Code
17 10 (0.42%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 511 (21.63%) Degree
2 487 (20.62%) Security Cleared
3 355 (15.03%) SC Cleared
4 114 (4.83%) BPSS Clearance
5 97 (4.11%) DV Cleared
6 96 (4.06%) Master's Degree
7 49 (2.07%) Computer Science Degree
8 42 (1.78%) HND
9 38 (1.61%) PhD
10 37 (1.57%) PMI Certification
11 36 (1.52%) Chartered Engineer
11 36 (1.52%) HNC
12 32 (1.35%) CISSP
13 30 (1.27%) ACCA
13 30 (1.27%) Azure Certification
14 27 (1.14%) AWS Certification
14 27 (1.14%) CIMA
15 26 (1.10%) PMP
16 21 (0.89%) Cisco Certification
16 21 (0.89%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 362 (15.33%) Data Quality
2 294 (12.45%) QA
3 68 (2.88%) Accessibility
4 61 (2.58%) GDPR
5 37 (1.57%) GRC
6 32 (1.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 27 (1.14%) GxP
8 20 (0.85%) SLA
9 19 (0.80%) IEC 61508
9 19 (0.80%) 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
1 104 (4.40%) Docker
2 92 (3.90%) Firmware
3 47 (1.99%) Active Directory
4 42 (1.78%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.19%) Virtual Machines
6 15 (0.64%) 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 (3.77%) Kubernetes
2 42 (1.78%) Grafana
3 33 (1.40%) Ansible
4 30 (1.27%) 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
1 326 (13.80%) Microsoft
2 124 (5.25%) SAP
3 103 (4.36%) Oracle
4 67 (2.84%) Salesforce
5 61 (2.58%) Databricks
5 61 (2.58%) EMC
6 54 (2.29%) ServiceNow
7 51 (2.16%) Cisco
8 36 (1.52%) Google
9 32 (1.35%) CrowdStrike
10 26 (1.10%) Palo Alto
11 25 (1.06%) Sage
12 23 (0.97%) Tenable
13 21 (0.89%) Informatica
13 21 (0.89%) VMware
14 20 (0.85%) Thales
15 19 (0.80%) IBM
15 19 (0.80%) Siemens
16 18 (0.76%) Workday
17 17 (0.72%) Red Hat