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

6 months to
11 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 151 162 199
Rank change year-on-year +11 +37 -59
Permanent jobs citing Validation 820 880 798
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.57% 1.82% 1.61%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.93% 2.01% 1.79%
Number of salaries quoted 450 329 469
10th Percentile £36,250 £36,250 £36,128
25th Percentile £41,250 £45,000 £47,500
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 £71,250 £76,250
90th Percentile £91,375 £100,000 £90,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -11.54%

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 42,481 43,790 44,458
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 81.29% 90.69% 89.78%
Number of salaries quoted 25,455 21,528 34,408
10th Percentile £28,560 £35,000 £31,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,628 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%
75th Percentile £76,250 £81,250 £80,000
90th Percentile £97,500 £100,000 £98,750
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%

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 11 January 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 11 January 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 +22 260 £75,000 +20.00% 195
South East +24 197 £49,250 -10.45% 294
North of England -8 122 £55,000 +19.57% 141
Midlands +12 84 £40,500 -22.12% 97
North West -2 76 £54,500 +14.30% 60
East of England 0 75 £60,000 +9.09% 120
South West +16 69 £52,500 -0.19% 131
West Midlands +13 51 £37,500 -28.57% 46
Yorkshire -14 36 £61,250 +63.33% 62
East Midlands +4 33 £42,500 -5.56% 51
North East -2 10 £31,000 -25.30% 21
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 19 (2.32%) Confluence
2 18 (2.20%) Apache Airflow
3 12 (1.46%) Apache Spark
4 9 (1.10%) Appian
4 9 (1.10%) CMS
4 9 (1.10%) SharePoint
5 8 (0.98%) SugarCRM
6 7 (0.85%) Apache
7 5 (0.61%) Microsoft Exchange
8 4 (0.49%) Headless CMS
9 3 (0.37%) Jupyter
9 3 (0.37%) SAS
10 2 (0.24%) Kinematics
10 2 (0.24%) WordPress
11 1 (0.12%) Anypoint
11 1 (0.12%) Apache Superset
11 1 (0.12%) FileNet
Applications
1 56 (6.83%) Microsoft Office
2 55 (6.71%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (1.59%) MS Visio
4 12 (1.46%) Simulink
5 7 (0.85%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 7 (0.85%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 4 (0.49%) Fusion 360
7 2 (0.24%) Adobe After Effects
7 2 (0.24%) Adobe Captivate
7 2 (0.24%) Adobe Illustrator
7 2 (0.24%) Adobe Premiere
7 2 (0.24%) Elementor
7 2 (0.24%) Oracle Smart View
7 2 (0.24%) Photoshop
7 2 (0.24%) Weka
8 1 (0.12%) CATIA
8 1 (0.12%) Doxygen
8 1 (0.12%) GNU Octave
8 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Project
8 1 (0.12%) Solid Edge
Business Applications
1 20 (2.44%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (0.98%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.49%) Oracle ERP
3 4 (0.49%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 4 (0.49%) SAP BPC
4 3 (0.37%) Oracle Assets
4 3 (0.37%) Oracle Cash Management
4 3 (0.37%) Oracle General Ledger
4 3 (0.37%) Oracle Payables
4 3 (0.37%) Oracle Receivables
4 3 (0.37%) SAP CX
4 3 (0.37%) Workday HCM
5 2 (0.24%) Aladdin
5 2 (0.24%) Endur
5 2 (0.24%) IBM Planning Analytics
5 2 (0.24%) NetSuite
5 2 (0.24%) Primavera
5 2 (0.24%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.12%) SAP Business ByDesign
6 1 (0.12%) SAP MDG
Cloud Services
1 121 (14.76%) Azure
2 64 (7.80%) Power Platform
3 59 (7.20%) AWS
4 41 (5.00%) SaaS
5 30 (3.66%) Azure DevOps
6 26 (3.17%) GCP
7 17 (2.07%) Dynamics 365
7 17 (2.07%) Power Automate
7 17 (2.07%) Snowflake
8 15 (1.83%) Azure Data Factory
8 15 (1.83%) GitHub
9 13 (1.59%) dbt
9 13 (1.59%) Microsoft 365
10 11 (1.34%) Amazon S3
11 10 (1.22%) Azure AI
11 10 (1.22%) Entra ID
11 10 (1.22%) Figma
12 9 (1.10%) Anthropic Claude
12 9 (1.10%) Serverless
13 8 (0.98%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 14 (1.71%) CHAP
1 14 (1.71%) LAN
2 12 (1.46%) DNS
2 12 (1.46%) Firewall
3 9 (1.10%) WAN
4 8 (0.98%) 5G
4 8 (0.98%) HTTP
4 8 (0.98%) TCP/IP
5 7 (0.85%) MQTT
5 7 (0.85%) SD-WAN
6 5 (0.61%) Cisco IOS
6 5 (0.61%) Modbus
6 5 (0.61%) SMTP
6 5 (0.61%) WAAS
7 4 (0.49%) DHCP
7 4 (0.49%) Ethernet VPN
7 4 (0.49%) Network Security
7 4 (0.49%) VoIP
8 3 (0.37%) NX-OS
8 3 (0.37%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 62 (7.56%) Power BI
2 27 (3.29%) SQL Server
3 23 (2.80%) Tableau
4 22 (2.68%) Data Warehouse
5 20 (2.44%) Metadata
6 18 (2.20%) Relational Database
7 17 (2.07%) BigQuery
8 14 (1.71%) Oracle Reports
9 10 (1.22%) Data Lake
9 10 (1.22%) Spotfire
10 9 (1.10%) Pinecone
11 8 (0.98%) Big Data
12 7 (0.85%) Amazon Redshift
12 7 (0.85%) Looker
12 7 (0.85%) PostgreSQL
13 6 (0.73%) GIS
14 5 (0.61%) Azure SQL Database
14 5 (0.61%) Data Vault
14 5 (0.61%) NoSQL
14 5 (0.61%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 60 (7.32%) JIRA
2 38 (4.63%) Rational DOORS
3 36 (4.39%) Git
4 23 (2.80%) Postman
5 15 (1.83%) Jenkins
6 14 (1.71%) Selenium
7 11 (1.34%) GitLab
7 11 (1.34%) MLflow
8 10 (1.22%) SoapUI
8 10 (1.22%) TestRail
9 9 (1.10%) Cucumber
9 9 (1.10%) JMeter
10 7 (0.85%) Eclipse
10 7 (0.85%) LabVIEW
10 7 (0.85%) LoadRunner
11 5 (0.61%) Charles Proxy
11 5 (0.61%) Fiddler
11 5 (0.61%) TestNG
11 5 (0.61%) Zephyr
12 4 (0.49%) Locust
General
1 302 (36.83%) Social Skills
2 216 (26.34%) Finance
3 175 (21.34%) Analytical Skills
4 55 (6.71%) Banking
5 51 (6.22%) Electronics
6 44 (5.37%) Law
6 44 (5.37%) Marketing
7 41 (5.00%) Manufacturing
8 40 (4.88%) Presentation Skills
9 39 (4.76%) Documentation Skills
10 38 (4.63%) Financial Institution
11 33 (4.02%) Organisational Skills
12 29 (3.54%) Telecoms
13 26 (3.17%) Aerospace
13 26 (3.17%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 25 (3.05%) Public Sector
14 25 (3.05%) Retail
15 23 (2.80%) Pharmaceutical
16 19 (2.32%) Influencing Skills
17 17 (2.07%) Avionics
Job Titles
1 127 (15.49%) Analyst
2 119 (14.51%) Senior
3 87 (10.61%) Systems Engineer
4 77 (9.39%) Lead
5 48 (5.85%) Architect
6 42 (5.12%) Test Engineer
7 36 (4.39%) Business Analyst
8 35 (4.27%) Data Analyst
9 32 (3.90%) Validation Engineer
10 30 (3.66%) Data Engineer
10 30 (3.66%) Integration Engineer
10 30 (3.66%) Junior
10 30 (3.66%) Principal Engineer
11 29 (3.54%) Developer
12 28 (3.41%) Applications Engineer
13 27 (3.29%) Applications Support
14 23 (2.80%) Solutions Architect
14 23 (2.80%) Support Engineer
15 22 (2.68%) Applications Support Engineer
15 22 (2.68%) Systems Integration Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (5.37%) REST
2 28 (3.41%) Middleware
3 24 (2.93%) Pandas
4 23 (2.80%) JSON
5 20 (2.44%) pytest
5 20 (2.44%) scikit-learn
6 19 (2.32%) XML
7 17 (2.07%) TensorFlow
8 16 (1.95%) PyTorch
9 15 (1.83%) NumPy
10 14 (1.71%) CSS
10 14 (1.71%) FastAPI
10 14 (1.71%) OAuth
11 13 (1.59%) HTML
11 13 (1.59%) JWT
11 13 (1.59%) Swagger
11 13 (1.59%) Web Services
12 12 (1.46%) Flask
13 11 (1.34%) React
14 10 (1.22%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 71 (8.66%) Management Information System
2 35 (4.27%) Onboarding
3 29 (3.54%) Life Science
4 24 (2.93%) Product Ownership
4 24 (2.93%) Self-Motivation
5 18 (2.20%) Operational Technology
6 17 (2.07%) Legacy Systems
6 17 (2.07%) Low-Code
7 16 (1.95%) Algorithms
8 15 (1.83%) Data Structures
8 15 (1.83%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 12 (1.46%) Analytical Mindset
9 12 (1.46%) Enterprise Software
9 12 (1.46%) SCADA
10 11 (1.34%) SWIFT Messaging Network
11 9 (1.10%) Credit Risk
11 9 (1.10%) Data Centre
12 8 (0.98%) e-Learning
12 8 (0.98%) IoT
12 8 (0.98%) LIMS
Operating Systems
1 41 (5.00%) Windows
2 33 (4.02%) Linux
3 11 (1.34%) Windows Server
4 8 (0.98%) Android
5 7 (0.85%) Unix
6 5 (0.61%) Windows 10
7 2 (0.24%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.24%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.12%) AIX
8 1 (0.12%) FreeRTOS
8 1 (0.12%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.12%) Robot Operating System
8 1 (0.12%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 194 (23.66%) Agile
2 187 (22.80%) Problem-Solving
3 131 (15.98%) Verification and Validation
4 117 (14.27%) Data Validation
5 112 (13.66%) Analytics
6 102 (12.44%) Migration
7 101 (12.32%) Continuous Improvement
8 91 (11.10%) Test Automation
9 83 (10.12%) Systems Engineering
10 82 (10.00%) DevOps
11 80 (9.76%) Decision-Making
11 80 (9.76%) Mentoring
12 79 (9.63%) ETL
13 76 (9.27%) Data Analysis
14 75 (9.15%) Software Engineering
15 74 (9.02%) Business Intelligence
15 74 (9.02%) CI/CD
16 72 (8.78%) Roadmaps
17 68 (8.29%) Data Management
18 67 (8.17%) AI
Programming Languages
1 183 (22.32%) SQL
2 154 (18.78%) Python
3 26 (3.17%) C
3 26 (3.17%) Java
4 25 (3.05%) MATLAB
5 23 (2.80%) C++
5 23 (2.80%) JavaScript
6 18 (2.20%) PowerShell
7 13 (1.59%) Bash
8 12 (1.46%) TypeScript
9 8 (0.98%) R
10 7 (0.85%) C#
10 7 (0.85%) T-SQL
11 6 (0.73%) Bicep
12 5 (0.61%) PHP
12 5 (0.61%) PL/SQL
13 3 (0.37%) Embedded C
13 3 (0.37%) GLSL
13 3 (0.37%) Tcl
13 3 (0.37%) VB
Qualifications
1 245 (29.88%) Degree
2 102 (12.44%) Security Cleared
3 93 (11.34%) BPSS Clearance
4 47 (5.73%) SC Cleared
5 43 (5.24%) Master's Degree
6 36 (4.39%) Computer Science Degree
7 19 (2.32%) Cisco Certification
7 19 (2.32%) HNC
8 16 (1.95%) CISA
8 16 (1.95%) CISSP
8 16 (1.95%) ISTQB
9 15 (1.83%) CGEIT
9 15 (1.83%) CISM
9 15 (1.83%) FFIEC
9 15 (1.83%) Microsoft Certification
9 15 (1.83%) SANS
10 14 (1.71%) DV Cleared
11 12 (1.46%) CCNP
12 11 (1.34%) Chartered Engineer
13 10 (1.22%) Numerate Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 105 (12.80%) Data Quality
2 100 (12.20%) QA
3 35 (4.27%) SLA
4 31 (3.78%) GDPR
5 30 (3.66%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 27 (3.29%) Accessibility
7 21 (2.56%) GxP
8 19 (2.32%) NIST
9 15 (1.83%) COBIT
10 11 (1.34%) ISO 20022
10 11 (1.34%) SEPA
11 10 (1.22%) Good Clinical Practice
11 10 (1.22%) ISO/IEC 12207
11 10 (1.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
12 9 (1.10%) WCAG
13 8 (0.98%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 8 (0.98%) GRC
13 8 (0.98%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 7 (0.85%) TARGET2
15 5 (0.61%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 41 (5.00%) Docker
2 17 (2.07%) Firmware
3 15 (1.83%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (1.10%) Active Directory
5 2 (0.24%) Ceph
5 2 (0.24%) Lustre
5 2 (0.24%) Microsoft Virtual Server
5 2 (0.24%) Slurm Workload Manager
5 2 (0.24%) vCloud
5 2 (0.24%) Virtual Servers
5 2 (0.24%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.24%) vSphere
6 1 (0.12%) Dovecot
6 1 (0.12%) Embedded Firmware
6 1 (0.12%) OpenAM
6 1 (0.12%) OpenDJ
6 1 (0.12%) OpenIDM
6 1 (0.12%) pfSense
6 1 (0.12%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.12%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 33 (4.02%) Kubernetes
2 15 (1.83%) Terraform
3 14 (1.71%) Ansible
4 10 (1.22%) Grafana
5 9 (1.10%) Microsoft Intune
6 7 (0.85%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 6 (0.73%) Prometheus
8 5 (0.61%) SCCM
9 3 (0.37%) Argo
9 3 (0.37%) Rancher
9 3 (0.37%) yum
10 2 (0.24%) Docker Swarm
10 2 (0.24%) Functional Safety
10 2 (0.24%) Kubeflow
10 2 (0.24%) Nessus
10 2 (0.24%) Rundeck
11 1 (0.12%) Control-M
11 1 (0.12%) Progress Chef
11 1 (0.12%) Puppet
11 1 (0.12%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 104 (12.68%) Microsoft
2 50 (6.10%) SAP
3 31 (3.78%) Oracle
4 25 (3.05%) Cisco
5 21 (2.56%) Salesforce
6 19 (2.32%) VMware
7 15 (1.83%) Foundry
8 13 (1.59%) Software AG
9 12 (1.46%) IBM
10 11 (1.34%) CheckPoint
10 11 (1.34%) F5
11 10 (1.22%) Adobe
11 10 (1.22%) OpenAI
12 9 (1.10%) Automation Anywhere
12 9 (1.10%) ServiceNow
12 9 (1.10%) UiPath
13 8 (0.98%) Databricks
13 8 (0.98%) Intapp
14 7 (0.85%) Google
15 6 (0.73%) Guidewire