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

6 months to
13 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 131 166 186
Rank change year-on-year +35 +20 -29
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,131 715 1,253
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.50% 1.94% 1.55%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.98% 2.09% 1.80%
Number of salaries quoted 673 372 731
10th Percentile £33,900 £40,000 £35,750
25th Percentile £44,972 £46,000 £43,125
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £56,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% +1.82% -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £71,250 £72,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £96,125 £85,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £56,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +7.14% +1.82% -8.33%

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 57,108 34,279 69,496
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 75.86% 93.11% 85.95%
Number of salaries quoted 35,996 20,481 53,320
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.17% +9.09% -12.00%
75th Percentile £78,500 £80,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £103,750 £93,750
UK median annual salary £57,500 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -4.17% +9.09% -10.57%

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 13 April 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 13 April 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 +64 349 £75,000 +7.14% 291
South East +32 259 £55,000 +8.91% 228
North of England +16 188 £59,500 +24.78% 116
Midlands -22 141 £37,500 -31.82% 124
North West +16 116 £60,000 +25.83% 58
East of England +2 95 £57,500 +4.55% 109
West Midlands +4 89 £44,000 -32.31% 87
South West -34 84 £53,750 -2.27% 90
East Midlands -41 50 £34,000 -33.33% 37
Yorkshire -32 49 £60,000 +26.32% 42
North East -12 23 £51,500 -9.25% 17
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 43 (3.80%) Apache Airflow
2 27 (2.39%) Apache Spark
3 23 (2.03%) Apache
4 20 (1.77%) Confluence
5 16 (1.41%) Microsoft Exchange
6 12 (1.06%) Appian
6 12 (1.06%) CMS
7 9 (0.80%) SharePoint
8 6 (0.53%) Kinematics
9 4 (0.35%) Headless CMS
10 2 (0.18%) IIS
10 2 (0.18%) WordPress
11 1 (0.088%) Anypoint
11 1 (0.088%) Jupyter
11 1 (0.088%) Palantir Foundry
11 1 (0.088%) SAS
Applications
1 86 (7.60%) Microsoft Excel
2 55 (4.86%) Microsoft Office
3 18 (1.59%) MS Visio
4 15 (1.33%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.62%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 5 (0.44%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.44%) Simulink
6 5 (0.44%) Spreadsheet
7 4 (0.35%) Fusion 360
8 3 (0.27%) Solid Edge
8 3 (0.27%) SOLIDWORKS
9 2 (0.18%) Adobe After Effects
9 2 (0.18%) Adobe Captivate
9 2 (0.18%) Adobe Illustrator
9 2 (0.18%) Adobe Premiere
9 2 (0.18%) CATIA
9 2 (0.18%) Elementor
9 2 (0.18%) Oracle Smart View
9 2 (0.18%) Photoshop
9 2 (0.18%) Weka
Business Applications
1 17 (1.50%) SAP S/4HANA
2 16 (1.41%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.44%) Loan IQ
3 5 (0.44%) SAP ERP
4 4 (0.35%) SAP MDG
5 3 (0.27%) Oracle ERP
5 3 (0.27%) Workday HCM
6 2 (0.18%) IBM Planning Analytics
6 2 (0.18%) Oracle Applications
6 2 (0.18%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.18%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 2 (0.18%) SAP CX
6 2 (0.18%) SAP MDG-BP
7 1 (0.088%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.088%) iTrent
7 1 (0.088%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.088%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.088%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.088%) SAP BRIM
7 1 (0.088%) SAP Business ByDesign
Cloud Services
1 150 (13.26%) Azure
2 104 (9.20%) Power Platform
3 91 (8.05%) AWS
4 53 (4.69%) SaaS
5 44 (3.89%) GCP
6 41 (3.63%) Azure DevOps
7 29 (2.56%) Power Automate
8 27 (2.39%) Dynamics 365
9 26 (2.30%) Azure Data Factory
10 25 (2.21%) Snowflake
11 24 (2.12%) Amazon S3
11 24 (2.12%) Serverless
12 23 (2.03%) dbt
12 23 (2.03%) Microsoft 365
13 21 (1.86%) Entra ID
14 20 (1.77%) GitHub
15 14 (1.24%) Anthropic Claude
15 14 (1.24%) Datadog
16 13 (1.15%) OpenShift
17 12 (1.06%) Azure AI
Communications & Networking
1 26 (2.30%) CHAP
2 20 (1.77%) Broadband
3 17 (1.50%) Firewall
3 17 (1.50%) WAN
4 15 (1.33%) DNS
4 15 (1.33%) SD-WAN
5 12 (1.06%) Wireless
6 11 (0.97%) 5G
7 10 (0.88%) TCP/IP
8 9 (0.80%) HTTP
9 8 (0.71%) LAN
9 8 (0.71%) Modbus
10 7 (0.62%) MQTT
11 6 (0.53%) NAS
11 6 (0.53%) Wi-Fi
12 5 (0.44%) Cisco IOS
12 5 (0.44%) Ethernet
12 5 (0.44%) Network Security
12 5 (0.44%) VPN
12 5 (0.44%) WAAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 102 (9.02%) Power BI
2 44 (3.89%) SQL Server
3 43 (3.80%) Tableau
4 31 (2.74%) Relational Database
5 29 (2.56%) PostgreSQL
6 28 (2.48%) Metadata
7 27 (2.39%) Data Warehouse
8 16 (1.41%) Oracle Reports
9 15 (1.33%) Azure SQL Database
9 15 (1.33%) Oracle Database
9 15 (1.33%) Spark SQL
10 14 (1.24%) Parquet
11 13 (1.15%) Apache Hive
11 13 (1.15%) Data Lake
11 13 (1.15%) Impala
11 13 (1.15%) MySQL
11 13 (1.15%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 12 (1.06%) Pinecone
13 11 (0.97%) Amazon Redshift
14 10 (0.88%) Spotfire
Development Applications
1 63 (5.57%) Git
2 60 (5.31%) JIRA
3 34 (3.01%) Rational DOORS
4 18 (1.59%) Jenkins
5 17 (1.50%) Postman
6 15 (1.33%) GitLab
6 15 (1.33%) MLflow
6 15 (1.33%) Selenium
7 14 (1.24%) JMeter
7 14 (1.24%) LabVIEW
8 13 (1.15%) Cucumber
8 13 (1.15%) IBM UrbanCode
9 11 (0.97%) Eclipse
9 11 (0.97%) Snyk
9 11 (0.97%) TestRail
10 8 (0.71%) Locust
11 6 (0.53%) LoadRunner
11 6 (0.53%) SoapUI
11 6 (0.53%) Subversion
12 5 (0.44%) SpecFlow
General
1 381 (33.69%) Social Skills
2 284 (25.11%) Finance
3 262 (23.17%) Analytical Skills
4 86 (7.60%) Banking
5 75 (6.63%) Manufacturing
6 73 (6.45%) Electronics
7 65 (5.75%) Aerospace
8 54 (4.77%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 46 (4.07%) Law
9 46 (4.07%) Legal
10 42 (3.71%) Retail
11 41 (3.63%) Marketing
12 40 (3.54%) Financial Institution
13 33 (2.92%) Public Sector
14 31 (2.74%) Presentation Skills
15 26 (2.30%) Organisational Skills
15 26 (2.30%) Pharmaceutical
16 23 (2.03%) Documentation Skills
16 23 (2.03%) Telecoms
17 22 (1.95%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 202 (17.86%) Analyst
2 188 (16.62%) Senior
3 141 (12.47%) Systems Engineer
4 81 (7.16%) Lead
5 73 (6.45%) Validation Engineer
6 72 (6.37%) Business Analyst
7 71 (6.28%) Test Engineer
8 63 (5.57%) Architect
9 54 (4.77%) Data Analyst
10 49 (4.33%) Integration Engineer
11 41 (3.63%) Data Engineer
12 40 (3.54%) Developer
13 39 (3.45%) Senior Systems Engineer
13 39 (3.45%) Systems Integration Engineer
14 37 (3.27%) Junior
14 37 (3.27%) Principal Engineer
15 35 (3.09%) Verification Engineer
16 33 (2.92%) Software Validation Engineer
17 29 (2.56%) Auditor
18 27 (2.39%) Principal Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 55 (4.86%) REST
2 37 (3.27%) Pandas
3 31 (2.74%) JSON
4 27 (2.39%) Middleware
5 26 (2.30%) pytest
6 24 (2.12%) XML
7 20 (1.77%) OAuth
7 20 (1.77%) PySpark
8 19 (1.68%) JWT
8 19 (1.68%) PyTorch
8 19 (1.68%) Swagger
8 19 (1.68%) TensorFlow
9 18 (1.59%) NumPy
10 17 (1.50%) RESTful
11 16 (1.41%) .NET
11 16 (1.41%) Kafka
11 16 (1.41%) React
12 15 (1.33%) CSS
12 15 (1.33%) scikit-learn
12 15 (1.33%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 72 (6.37%) Management Information System
2 52 (4.60%) Onboarding
3 41 (3.63%) Data Structures
4 37 (3.27%) Low-Code
5 33 (2.92%) Legacy Systems
5 33 (2.92%) Self-Motivation
6 27 (2.39%) Analytical Mindset
6 27 (2.39%) Product Ownership
7 24 (2.12%) Life Science
8 21 (1.86%) Data Centre
9 19 (1.68%) Enterprise Software
10 17 (1.50%) Algorithms
11 16 (1.41%) Embedded Systems
11 16 (1.41%) Robotics
12 15 (1.33%) IoT
13 14 (1.24%) Blockchain
14 13 (1.15%) Cloud Native
14 13 (1.15%) Reinsurance
15 11 (0.97%) Hackathon
15 11 (0.97%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 56 (4.95%) Linux
2 45 (3.98%) Windows
3 17 (1.50%) Unix
4 13 (1.15%) Windows Server
5 10 (0.88%) Android
6 6 (0.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (0.35%) Apple iOS
7 4 (0.35%) Mac OS X
8 3 (0.27%) FreeRTOS
8 3 (0.27%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.18%) AIX
9 2 (0.18%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.18%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.088%) Embedded Linux
10 1 (0.088%) Kali Linux
10 1 (0.088%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 254 (22.46%) Problem-Solving
2 237 (20.95%) Agile
3 203 (17.95%) Continuous Improvement
4 195 (17.24%) Verification and Validation
5 166 (14.68%) Analytics
6 152 (13.44%) Data Validation
7 146 (12.91%) AI
8 140 (12.38%) CI/CD
9 139 (12.29%) Test Automation
10 126 (11.14%) Business Intelligence
11 119 (10.52%) Systems Engineering
12 115 (10.17%) Data Modelling
13 114 (10.08%) Migration
14 113 (9.99%) Decision-Making
15 112 (9.90%) DevOps
16 110 (9.73%) Stakeholder Management
17 106 (9.37%) User Acceptance Testing
18 105 (9.28%) Data Governance
19 102 (9.02%) Mentoring
20 101 (8.93%) ETL
Programming Languages
1 249 (22.02%) SQL
2 232 (20.51%) Python
3 44 (3.89%) Java
4 33 (2.92%) C++
4 33 (2.92%) JavaScript
5 29 (2.56%) C
5 29 (2.56%) PowerShell
6 22 (1.95%) Bash
7 20 (1.77%) Go
8 19 (1.68%) T-SQL
9 17 (1.50%) MATLAB
10 16 (1.41%) C#
11 15 (1.33%) TypeScript
12 11 (0.97%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 9 (0.80%) R
13 9 (0.80%) VBA
14 7 (0.62%) VB
15 6 (0.53%) Embedded C
15 6 (0.53%) PHP
16 5 (0.44%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 248 (21.93%) Degree
2 133 (11.76%) Security Cleared
3 111 (9.81%) BPSS Clearance
4 54 (4.77%) Master's Degree
5 51 (4.51%) SC Cleared
6 37 (3.27%) Computer Science Degree
7 33 (2.92%) CISA
7 33 (2.92%) CISSP
8 32 (2.83%) CISM
9 30 (2.65%) DV Cleared
10 26 (2.30%) CGEIT
10 26 (2.30%) FFIEC
10 26 (2.30%) SANS
11 25 (2.21%) Chartered Engineer
12 24 (2.12%) HNC
13 18 (1.59%) HND
13 18 (1.59%) ISTQB
14 14 (1.24%) PMI Certification
15 11 (0.97%) PMP
16 8 (0.71%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 159 (14.06%) Data Quality
2 119 (10.52%) QA
3 61 (5.39%) GDPR
4 42 (3.71%) Accessibility
5 36 (3.18%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 27 (2.39%) NIST
7 26 (2.30%) COBIT
8 25 (2.21%) GRC
9 20 (1.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 19 (1.68%) SLA
11 17 (1.50%) IFRS
12 13 (1.15%) WCAG
13 11 (0.97%) GAAP
14 10 (0.88%) Good Clinical Practice
15 9 (0.80%) ISO 9001
16 8 (0.71%) GMP
16 8 (0.71%) PMO
16 8 (0.71%) Sarbanes-Oxley
17 7 (0.62%) ISO 20022
17 7 (0.62%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 60 (5.31%) Docker
2 23 (2.03%) Active Directory
2 23 (2.03%) Firmware
3 12 (1.06%) Virtual Machines
4 8 (0.71%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (0.71%) vSphere
5 5 (0.44%) Hyper-V
6 4 (0.35%) Embedded Firmware
7 2 (0.18%) Ceph
7 2 (0.18%) Lustre
7 2 (0.18%) Slurm Workload Manager
7 2 (0.18%) Terminal Services
7 2 (0.18%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.088%) iptables
8 1 (0.088%) OpenAM
8 1 (0.088%) OpenDJ
8 1 (0.088%) OpenIDM
8 1 (0.088%) pfSense
Systems Management
1 59 (5.22%) Kubernetes
2 45 (3.98%) Terraform
3 27 (2.39%) Grafana
4 17 (1.50%) Ansible
5 16 (1.41%) Prometheus
6 12 (1.06%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 10 (0.88%) SCCM
8 9 (0.80%) Functional Safety
9 7 (0.62%) Microsoft Intune
10 5 (0.44%) Argo
10 5 (0.44%) Rancher
10 5 (0.44%) yum
11 3 (0.27%) Cilium
12 2 (0.18%) BMC PATROL
12 2 (0.18%) Nessus
12 2 (0.18%) PowerCLI
12 2 (0.18%) Puppet
13 1 (0.088%) Control-M
13 1 (0.088%) FortiGate
13 1 (0.088%) Kibana
Vendors
1 152 (13.44%) Microsoft
2 61 (5.39%) Oracle
3 46 (4.07%) SAP
4 39 (3.45%) Salesforce
5 19 (1.68%) Databricks
5 19 (1.68%) Red Hat
6 18 (1.59%) Cisco
7 16 (1.41%) Adobe
7 16 (1.41%) ServiceNow
8 15 (1.33%) Foundry
8 15 (1.33%) VMware
9 13 (1.15%) IBM
9 13 (1.15%) OpenAI
10 12 (1.06%) Automation Anywhere
10 12 (1.06%) Google
10 12 (1.06%) UiPath
11 11 (0.97%) CrowdStrike
11 11 (0.97%) Palo Alto
11 11 (0.97%) Tenable
12 10 (0.88%) Intapp