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

6 months to
16 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 131 168 191
Rank change year-on-year +37 +23 -25
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,147 716 1,261
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.51% 1.93% 1.54%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.99% 2.07% 1.79%
Number of salaries quoted 681 373 731
10th Percentile £33,750 £40,000 £36,000
25th Percentile £44,000 £46,000 £43,750
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 £96,000 £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 57,594 34,512 70,436
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 75.67% 93.12% 85.97%
Number of salaries quoted 36,194 20,484 53,623
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £39,867
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.17% +9.09% -12.00%
75th Percentile £78,750 £80,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £103,450 £93,750
UK median annual salary £57,500 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -4.17% +9.09% -10.54%

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 16 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 16 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 +69 351 £77,500 +10.71% 258
South East +30 263 £55,000 +8.91% 207
North of England +29 194 £58,000 +21.64% 123
Midlands -18 142 £37,500 -31.82% 119
North West +22 121 £60,000 +25.83% 67
East of England +1 95 £57,500 +2.68% 89
West Midlands -2 89 £44,360 -31.75% 78
South West -45 87 £55,000 - 86
East Midlands -46 51 £32,000 -37.25% 41
Yorkshire -24 50 £60,000 +26.32% 44
North East -14 23 £51,500 -9.25% 14
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 (3.75%) Apache Airflow
2 27 (2.35%) Apache Spark
3 23 (2.01%) Apache
4 21 (1.83%) Confluence
5 17 (1.48%) Microsoft Exchange
6 12 (1.05%) Appian
6 12 (1.05%) CMS
7 8 (0.70%) SharePoint
8 6 (0.52%) Kinematics
9 4 (0.35%) Headless CMS
10 2 (0.17%) IIS
10 2 (0.17%) WordPress
11 1 (0.087%) Anypoint
11 1 (0.087%) Jupyter
11 1 (0.087%) Palantir Foundry
11 1 (0.087%) SAS
Applications
1 87 (7.59%) Microsoft Excel
2 55 (4.80%) Microsoft Office
3 18 (1.57%) MS Visio
4 15 (1.31%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.61%) 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 (0.26%) Solid Edge
8 3 (0.26%) SOLIDWORKS
9 2 (0.17%) Adobe After Effects
9 2 (0.17%) Adobe Captivate
9 2 (0.17%) Adobe Illustrator
9 2 (0.17%) Adobe Premiere
9 2 (0.17%) CATIA
9 2 (0.17%) Elementor
9 2 (0.17%) Oracle Smart View
9 2 (0.17%) Photoshop
9 2 (0.17%) Weka
Business Applications
1 17 (1.48%) Dynamics CRM
1 17 (1.48%) SAP S/4HANA
2 5 (0.44%) Loan IQ
2 5 (0.44%) SAP ERP
3 4 (0.35%) SAP MDG
4 3 (0.26%) Oracle Applications
4 3 (0.26%) Oracle EBS
4 3 (0.26%) Oracle ERP
4 3 (0.26%) Workday HCM
5 2 (0.17%) IBM Planning Analytics
5 2 (0.17%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 2 (0.17%) SAP CX
5 2 (0.17%) SAP MDG-BP
6 1 (0.087%) Elite 3E
6 1 (0.087%) iTrent
6 1 (0.087%) Oracle Payables
6 1 (0.087%) Oracle Receivables
6 1 (0.087%) SAP BRIM
6 1 (0.087%) SAP Business ByDesign
6 1 (0.087%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 156 (13.60%) Azure
2 106 (9.24%) Power Platform
3 94 (8.20%) AWS
4 55 (4.80%) SaaS
5 46 (4.01%) GCP
6 42 (3.66%) Azure DevOps
7 29 (2.53%) Dynamics 365
8 28 (2.44%) Power Automate
9 27 (2.35%) Azure Data Factory
10 25 (2.18%) Snowflake
11 24 (2.09%) Amazon S3
11 24 (2.09%) Microsoft 365
11 24 (2.09%) Serverless
12 23 (2.01%) dbt
13 22 (1.92%) Entra ID
14 21 (1.83%) GitHub
15 14 (1.22%) Anthropic Claude
15 14 (1.22%) Datadog
16 13 (1.13%) OpenShift
17 12 (1.05%) Azure AI
Communications & Networking
1 27 (2.35%) CHAP
2 20 (1.74%) Broadband
2 20 (1.74%) Firewall
3 17 (1.48%) WAN
4 15 (1.31%) DNS
4 15 (1.31%) SD-WAN
5 12 (1.05%) Wireless
6 11 (0.96%) 5G
7 10 (0.87%) TCP/IP
8 9 (0.78%) HTTP
9 8 (0.70%) LAN
9 8 (0.70%) Modbus
10 7 (0.61%) MQTT
11 6 (0.52%) NAS
11 6 (0.52%) Network Security
11 6 (0.52%) Wi-Fi
12 5 (0.44%) Cisco IOS
12 5 (0.44%) Ethernet
12 5 (0.44%) VPN
12 5 (0.44%) WAAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 104 (9.07%) Power BI
2 44 (3.84%) SQL Server
3 43 (3.75%) Tableau
4 31 (2.70%) Metadata
4 31 (2.70%) Relational Database
5 29 (2.53%) PostgreSQL
6 27 (2.35%) Data Warehouse
7 16 (1.39%) Oracle Reports
7 16 (1.39%) Spark SQL
8 15 (1.31%) Oracle Database
9 14 (1.22%) Azure SQL Database
9 14 (1.22%) Data Lake
9 14 (1.22%) Parquet
10 13 (1.13%) Apache Hive
10 13 (1.13%) Impala
10 13 (1.13%) MySQL
10 13 (1.13%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 12 (1.05%) Pinecone
12 11 (0.96%) Amazon Redshift
13 10 (0.87%) Spotfire
Development Applications
1 62 (5.41%) Git
2 60 (5.23%) JIRA
3 34 (2.96%) Rational DOORS
4 20 (1.74%) Jenkins
5 17 (1.48%) Postman
6 16 (1.39%) GitLab
7 15 (1.31%) MLflow
7 15 (1.31%) Selenium
8 14 (1.22%) JMeter
8 14 (1.22%) LabVIEW
9 13 (1.13%) Cucumber
9 13 (1.13%) IBM UrbanCode
10 11 (0.96%) Eclipse
10 11 (0.96%) Snyk
10 11 (0.96%) TestRail
11 8 (0.70%) Locust
12 6 (0.52%) LoadRunner
12 6 (0.52%) SoapUI
12 6 (0.52%) Subversion
13 5 (0.44%) SpecFlow
General
1 385 (33.57%) Social Skills
2 299 (26.07%) Finance
3 269 (23.45%) Analytical Skills
4 88 (7.67%) Banking
5 75 (6.54%) Electronics
5 75 (6.54%) Manufacturing
6 72 (6.28%) Aerospace
7 54 (4.71%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 45 (3.92%) Law
8 45 (3.92%) Legal
9 43 (3.75%) Retail
10 41 (3.57%) Financial Institution
10 41 (3.57%) Marketing
11 33 (2.88%) Public Sector
12 30 (2.62%) Presentation Skills
13 27 (2.35%) Pharmaceutical
14 26 (2.27%) Organisational Skills
15 22 (1.92%) Aviation
15 22 (1.92%) Documentation Skills
15 22 (1.92%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 202 (17.61%) Analyst
2 190 (16.56%) Senior
3 142 (12.38%) Systems Engineer
4 84 (7.32%) Lead
5 76 (6.63%) Validation Engineer
6 74 (6.45%) Test Engineer
7 71 (6.19%) Business Analyst
8 66 (5.75%) Architect
9 55 (4.80%) Data Analyst
10 50 (4.36%) Integration Engineer
11 43 (3.75%) Data Engineer
12 39 (3.40%) Senior Systems Engineer
12 39 (3.40%) Systems Integration Engineer
13 38 (3.31%) Developer
13 38 (3.31%) Principal Engineer
14 37 (3.23%) Junior
15 35 (3.05%) Verification Engineer
16 34 (2.96%) Software Validation Engineer
17 30 (2.62%) Auditor
18 28 (2.44%) Principal Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 54 (4.71%) REST
2 37 (3.23%) Pandas
3 30 (2.62%) JSON
3 30 (2.62%) Middleware
4 26 (2.27%) pytest
5 24 (2.09%) XML
6 21 (1.83%) PySpark
7 20 (1.74%) OAuth
8 19 (1.66%) JWT
8 19 (1.66%) PyTorch
8 19 (1.66%) Swagger
8 19 (1.66%) TensorFlow
9 18 (1.57%) NumPy
10 17 (1.48%) RESTful
11 16 (1.39%) .NET
11 16 (1.39%) Kafka
11 16 (1.39%) React
12 15 (1.31%) CSS
12 15 (1.31%) scikit-learn
12 15 (1.31%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 75 (6.54%) Management Information System
2 52 (4.53%) Onboarding
3 40 (3.49%) Data Structures
4 36 (3.14%) Low-Code
5 35 (3.05%) Self-Motivation
6 33 (2.88%) Legacy Systems
7 29 (2.53%) Product Ownership
8 26 (2.27%) Analytical Mindset
9 24 (2.09%) Life Science
10 21 (1.83%) Data Centre
11 19 (1.66%) Enterprise Software
12 17 (1.48%) Algorithms
12 17 (1.48%) Embedded Systems
13 16 (1.39%) Robotics
14 15 (1.31%) Blockchain
14 15 (1.31%) Cloud Native
14 15 (1.31%) IoT
15 13 (1.13%) Reinsurance
16 11 (0.96%) Hackathon
16 11 (0.96%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 57 (4.97%) Linux
2 46 (4.01%) Windows
3 19 (1.66%) Unix
4 13 (1.13%) Windows Server
5 10 (0.87%) Android
6 6 (0.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (0.35%) Apple iOS
7 4 (0.35%) FreeRTOS
7 4 (0.35%) Mac OS X
8 3 (0.26%) AIX
8 3 (0.26%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.17%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.17%) ThreadX
9 2 (0.17%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.087%) Embedded Linux
10 1 (0.087%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 257 (22.41%) Problem-Solving
2 238 (20.75%) Agile
3 208 (18.13%) Continuous Improvement
4 197 (17.18%) Verification and Validation
5 170 (14.82%) Analytics
6 154 (13.43%) Data Validation
7 147 (12.82%) AI
8 144 (12.55%) CI/CD
9 142 (12.38%) Test Automation
10 126 (10.99%) Business Intelligence
11 123 (10.72%) Systems Engineering
12 117 (10.20%) Data Modelling
13 116 (10.11%) Decision-Making
13 116 (10.11%) Migration
14 113 (9.85%) DevOps
15 111 (9.68%) Data Governance
15 111 (9.68%) Stakeholder Management
16 108 (9.42%) User Acceptance Testing
17 104 (9.07%) ETL
17 104 (9.07%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 251 (21.88%) SQL
2 234 (20.40%) Python
3 43 (3.75%) Java
4 34 (2.96%) C++
5 31 (2.70%) JavaScript
6 29 (2.53%) C
7 28 (2.44%) PowerShell
8 23 (2.01%) Bash
9 21 (1.83%) Go
10 18 (1.57%) T-SQL
11 17 (1.48%) MATLAB
12 16 (1.39%) C#
13 15 (1.31%) TypeScript
14 11 (0.96%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 9 (0.78%) R
15 9 (0.78%) VBA
16 7 (0.61%) Embedded C
16 7 (0.61%) VB
17 6 (0.52%) PHP
18 5 (0.44%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 257 (22.41%) Degree
2 136 (11.86%) Security Cleared
3 113 (9.85%) BPSS Clearance
4 57 (4.97%) Master's Degree
5 51 (4.45%) SC Cleared
6 38 (3.31%) Computer Science Degree
7 36 (3.14%) CISSP
8 35 (3.05%) CISA
9 33 (2.88%) CISM
10 31 (2.70%) DV Cleared
11 29 (2.53%) SANS
12 27 (2.35%) CGEIT
12 27 (2.35%) FFIEC
13 26 (2.27%) Chartered Engineer
14 22 (1.92%) HNC
15 18 (1.57%) HND
15 18 (1.57%) ISTQB
16 14 (1.22%) PMI Certification
17 11 (0.96%) PMP
18 8 (0.70%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 163 (14.21%) Data Quality
2 119 (10.37%) QA
3 62 (5.41%) GDPR
4 42 (3.66%) Accessibility
5 37 (3.23%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 28 (2.44%) NIST
7 27 (2.35%) COBIT
8 26 (2.27%) GRC
9 21 (1.83%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 19 (1.66%) SLA
11 18 (1.57%) IFRS
12 13 (1.13%) WCAG
13 12 (1.05%) GAAP
14 10 (0.87%) Good Clinical Practice
15 9 (0.78%) IEC 61508
15 9 (0.78%) ISO 9001
15 9 (0.78%) PMO
16 8 (0.70%) GMP
16 8 (0.70%) Sarbanes-Oxley
17 7 (0.61%) GxP
System Software
1 62 (5.41%) Docker
2 24 (2.09%) Active Directory
3 23 (2.01%) Firmware
4 12 (1.05%) Virtual Machines
5 8 (0.70%) VMware Infrastructure
5 8 (0.70%) vSphere
6 5 (0.44%) Embedded Firmware
6 5 (0.44%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.17%) Ceph
7 2 (0.17%) Lustre
7 2 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
7 2 (0.17%) Terminal Services
7 2 (0.17%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.087%) iptables
8 1 (0.087%) OpenAM
8 1 (0.087%) OpenDJ
8 1 (0.087%) OpenIDM
8 1 (0.087%) pfSense
Systems Management
1 62 (5.41%) Kubernetes
2 48 (4.18%) Terraform
3 28 (2.44%) Grafana
4 19 (1.66%) Ansible
5 17 (1.48%) Prometheus
6 14 (1.22%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 11 (0.96%) Functional Safety
8 10 (0.87%) SCCM
9 7 (0.61%) Microsoft Intune
10 5 (0.44%) Argo
10 5 (0.44%) Rancher
10 5 (0.44%) yum
11 4 (0.35%) Cilium
12 3 (0.26%) Puppet
13 2 (0.17%) BMC PATROL
13 2 (0.17%) Computer Incident Response Team
13 2 (0.17%) Nessus
13 2 (0.17%) PowerCLI
14 1 (0.087%) Single Sign-On
14 1 (0.087%) SQL Sentry
Vendors
1 153 (13.34%) Microsoft
2 62 (5.41%) Oracle
3 46 (4.01%) SAP
4 36 (3.14%) Salesforce
5 21 (1.83%) Databricks
6 19 (1.66%) Red Hat
7 18 (1.57%) Cisco
8 16 (1.39%) Adobe
9 15 (1.31%) Foundry
9 15 (1.31%) ServiceNow
9 15 (1.31%) VMware
10 13 (1.13%) Google
10 13 (1.13%) IBM
10 13 (1.13%) OpenAI
11 12 (1.05%) Automation Anywhere
11 12 (1.05%) UiPath
12 11 (0.96%) Citrix
12 11 (0.96%) CrowdStrike
12 11 (0.96%) Palo Alto
12 11 (0.96%) Tenable