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

6 months to
31 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 84 77 184
Rank change year-on-year -7 +107 +17
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,990 1,572 1,055
As % of all permanent jobs in England 2.05% 3.58% 1.48%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.79% 4.04% 1.82%
Number of salaries quoted 1,211 479 434
10th Percentile £36,250 £38,950 £39,000
25th Percentile £42,875 £41,250 £47,125
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.55% -8.33% -6.25%
75th Percentile £72,500 £75,000 £74,688
90th Percentile £87,500 £92,500 £93,750
UK median annual salary £57,500 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +4.55% -8.33% -5.88%

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 71,329 38,953 57,899
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.37% 88.79% 81.22%
Number of salaries quoted 50,672 22,634 35,794
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £42,000 £37,500 £41,250
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 £76,250 £75,949
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £95,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £56,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% -1.79% -6.67%

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 31 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 31 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 +69 521 £70,000 -12.50% 860
South East -19 456 £59,745 +8.63% 368
North of England +92 404 £55,000 +15.79% 224
North West +98 239 £55,000 +15.35% 124
Midlands -38 225 £47,500 -13.64% 170
South West +7 198 £55,000 +4.56% 208
East of England -60 153 £57,500 +4.07% 181
West Midlands +26 126 £47,500 -13.64% 116
East Midlands -64 98 £46,743 +9.98% 54
North East +5 83 £55,000 +57.14% 48
Yorkshire +12 82 £43,000 +1.18% 54
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 45 (2.26%) Apache Airflow
2 43 (2.16%) Apache Spark
3 42 (2.11%) Apache
4 32 (1.61%) Confluence
5 31 (1.56%) SharePoint
6 18 (0.90%) Jupyter
7 13 (0.65%) SAS
8 9 (0.45%) Microsoft Exchange
9 6 (0.30%) WinCC
10 5 (0.25%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 5 (0.25%) CMS
11 4 (0.20%) Kinematics
12 3 (0.15%) Artix
12 3 (0.15%) IIS
12 3 (0.15%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 2 (0.10%) Cloud Foundry
14 1 (0.050%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
14 1 (0.050%) OpenStack
14 1 (0.050%) Oracle Workflow
14 1 (0.050%) WebSphere
Applications
1 113 (5.68%) Microsoft Excel
2 61 (3.07%) Microsoft Office
3 38 (1.91%) Simulink
4 35 (1.76%) Microsoft Project
5 17 (0.85%) SOLIDWORKS
6 16 (0.80%) Spreadsheet
7 15 (0.75%) MS Visio
8 11 (0.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
9 10 (0.50%) AutoCAD
10 5 (0.25%) Mathcad
11 4 (0.20%) Adobe XD
11 4 (0.20%) OrCAD
11 4 (0.20%) Revit
11 4 (0.20%) Sketch
12 3 (0.15%) Autodesk Inventor
12 3 (0.15%) LaTeX
12 3 (0.15%) Productboard
12 3 (0.15%) Stateflow
13 2 (0.10%) EPLAN
13 2 (0.10%) Navisworks
Business Applications
1 38 (1.91%) Dynamics CRM
2 36 (1.81%) SAP S/4HANA
3 10 (0.50%) SAP MDG
4 9 (0.45%) Oracle EBS
5 8 (0.40%) Oracle Applications
5 8 (0.40%) SAP ERP
6 7 (0.35%) NetSuite
7 6 (0.30%) Workday HCM
8 5 (0.25%) Elite 3E
8 5 (0.25%) iTrent
8 5 (0.25%) SAP MDG-BP
9 4 (0.20%) Loan IQ
9 4 (0.20%) Oracle Financials
9 4 (0.20%) SAP MM
10 3 (0.15%) Infor M3
10 3 (0.15%) Oracle ERP
10 3 (0.15%) SystmOne
10 3 (0.15%) Teamcenter
11 2 (0.10%) Oracle Payables
11 2 (0.10%) Oracle Receivables
Cloud Services
1 263 (13.22%) Azure
2 235 (11.81%) AWS
3 156 (7.84%) Power Platform
4 86 (4.32%) GCP
5 64 (3.22%) SaaS
6 62 (3.12%) Microsoft 365
7 60 (3.02%) Azure DevOps
8 54 (2.71%) GitHub
9 44 (2.21%) Serverless
10 37 (1.86%) Amazon S3
11 32 (1.61%) Dynamics 365
12 31 (1.56%) Entra ID
13 28 (1.41%) Microsoft Copilot
14 27 (1.36%) GitHub Actions
15 22 (1.11%) Amazon EMR
16 21 (1.06%) Amazon EC2
16 21 (1.06%) Cloud Computing
17 19 (0.95%) Microsoft Purview
17 19 (0.95%) PowerApps
18 17 (0.85%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 62 (3.12%) Broadband
1 62 (3.12%) DNS
2 60 (3.02%) Firewall
3 33 (1.66%) Network Security
3 33 (1.66%) Wireless
4 32 (1.61%) VPN
4 32 (1.61%) WAN
5 31 (1.56%) TCP/IP
6 25 (1.26%) Ethernet
7 24 (1.21%) LAN
8 21 (1.06%) SD-WAN
9 20 (1.01%) VLAN
10 19 (0.95%) Modbus
10 19 (0.95%) MQTT
10 19 (0.95%) OSPF
11 18 (0.90%) BGP
12 17 (0.85%) Wi-Fi
13 16 (0.80%) Wireshark
14 14 (0.70%) 5G
14 14 (0.70%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 145 (7.29%) Power BI
2 56 (2.81%) Data Warehouse
3 53 (2.66%) PostgreSQL
4 46 (2.31%) Metadata
5 45 (2.26%) SQL Server
6 42 (2.11%) Data Lake
7 37 (1.86%) Tableau
8 34 (1.71%) MongoDB
9 29 (1.46%) Relational Database
10 28 (1.41%) Amazon Athena
11 25 (1.26%) BigQuery
11 25 (1.26%) DynamoDB
12 22 (1.11%) Semantic Layer
13 21 (1.06%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 19 (0.95%) Azure SQL Database
14 19 (0.95%) MySQL
15 18 (0.90%) Big Data
16 16 (0.80%) NoSQL
17 14 (0.70%) Amazon Redshift
18 13 (0.65%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 120 (6.03%) JIRA
2 104 (5.23%) Git
3 51 (2.56%) Jenkins
4 45 (2.26%) GitLab
5 34 (1.71%) Rational DOORS
6 23 (1.16%) Selenium
7 22 (1.11%) Snyk
8 21 (1.06%) LabVIEW
9 18 (0.90%) Cypress.io
9 18 (0.90%) Postman
10 12 (0.60%) Cucumber
11 11 (0.55%) JMeter
12 10 (0.50%) Burp Suite
12 10 (0.50%) Gatling
12 10 (0.50%) TeamCity
13 8 (0.40%) Rational Rhapsody
13 8 (0.40%) REST Assured
14 7 (0.35%) Hudson
14 7 (0.35%) LoadRunner
14 7 (0.35%) MLflow
General
1 653 (32.81%) Social Skills
2 507 (25.48%) Finance
3 480 (24.12%) Analytical Skills
4 182 (9.15%) Aerospace
5 181 (9.10%) Manufacturing
6 178 (8.94%) Electronics
7 173 (8.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 108 (5.43%) Law
9 96 (4.82%) Banking
10 81 (4.07%) Public Sector
11 80 (4.02%) Retail
12 73 (3.67%) Marketing
13 70 (3.52%) Pharmaceutical
14 67 (3.37%) Organisational Skills
15 58 (2.91%) Automotive
16 51 (2.56%) Legal
17 49 (2.46%) Telecoms
18 44 (2.21%) Games
19 40 (2.01%) Influencing Skills
20 37 (1.86%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 365 (18.34%) Senior
2 247 (12.41%) Analyst
3 214 (10.75%) Systems Engineer
4 165 (8.29%) Lead
5 124 (6.23%) Test Engineer
6 107 (5.38%) Architect
7 99 (4.97%) Data Engineer
8 87 (4.37%) Developer
9 76 (3.82%) Business Analyst
10 71 (3.57%) Software Engineer
11 69 (3.47%) Consultant
12 67 (3.37%) Principal Engineer
13 63 (3.17%) Data Analyst
13 63 (3.17%) Validation Engineer
14 50 (2.51%) Support Engineer
15 47 (2.36%) Data Scientist
15 47 (2.36%) Embedded Engineer
16 46 (2.31%) Network Engineer
17 43 (2.16%) Electronics Engineer
18 41 (2.06%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 70 (3.52%) Terraform
2 49 (2.46%) RESTful
3 47 (2.36%) Kafka
4 44 (2.21%) REST
5 37 (1.86%) Node.js
6 30 (1.51%) JSON
7 29 (1.46%) .NET
8 28 (1.41%) XML
9 27 (1.36%) LDAP
10 26 (1.31%) Playwright
10 26 (1.31%) PySpark
11 25 (1.26%) Middleware
12 23 (1.16%) CSS
13 22 (1.11%) HTML
14 21 (1.06%) FastAPI
14 21 (1.06%) ModSecurity
15 20 (1.01%) React
15 20 (1.01%) Swagger
16 19 (0.95%) Regular Expression
16 19 (0.95%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 142 (7.14%) Cloud Native
2 123 (6.18%) Onboarding
3 109 (5.48%) Management Information System
4 75 (3.77%) Data Centre
4 75 (3.77%) Product Ownership
5 57 (2.86%) Enterprise Software
6 56 (2.81%) Data Structures
6 56 (2.81%) Embedded Systems
7 55 (2.76%) Distributed Systems
7 55 (2.76%) Driving Licence
8 47 (2.36%) Low-Code
9 46 (2.31%) Algorithms
10 41 (2.06%) Life Science
11 40 (2.01%) Analytical Mindset
12 38 (1.91%) Robotics
13 36 (1.81%) AI Agents
14 35 (1.76%) Legacy Systems
14 35 (1.76%) Video\Live Streaming
15 34 (1.71%) SCADA
16 30 (1.51%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 126 (6.33%) Linux
2 90 (4.52%) Windows
3 35 (1.76%) Windows Server
4 21 (1.06%) Unix
5 19 (0.95%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (0.50%) Android
7 9 (0.45%) Embedded Linux
8 6 (0.30%) FreeRTOS
9 5 (0.25%) Kali Linux
9 5 (0.25%) Mac OS
10 4 (0.20%) Mac OS X
11 3 (0.15%) Apple iOS
12 2 (0.10%) Robot Operating System
12 2 (0.10%) ThreadX
12 2 (0.10%) VMS
12 2 (0.10%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.050%) AIX
13 1 (0.050%) OpenWrt
Processes & Methodologies
1 502 (25.23%) Problem-Solving
2 456 (22.91%) Continuous Improvement
3 384 (19.30%) Agile
4 349 (17.54%) AI
5 304 (15.28%) Verification and Validation
6 291 (14.62%) CI/CD
7 259 (13.02%) Stakeholder Management
8 256 (12.86%) Test Automation
9 244 (12.26%) Migration
10 233 (11.71%) Analytics
11 222 (11.16%) Mentoring
12 206 (10.35%) Software Engineering
13 205 (10.30%) Decision-Making
14 189 (9.50%) DevOps
15 183 (9.20%) Business Intelligence
16 173 (8.69%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 172 (8.64%) Machine Learning
18 169 (8.49%) Roadmaps
19 168 (8.44%) Data Analysis
20 159 (7.99%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 426 (21.41%) Python
2 366 (18.39%) SQL
3 87 (4.37%) C++
4 81 (4.07%) Java
5 79 (3.97%) C
6 59 (2.96%) JavaScript
7 55 (2.76%) Go
8 51 (2.56%) MATLAB
9 46 (2.31%) C#
10 30 (1.51%) Bash
11 28 (1.41%) PowerShell
12 26 (1.31%) Embedded C
13 22 (1.11%) Scala
14 20 (1.01%) TypeScript
15 18 (0.90%) Embedded C++
16 15 (0.75%) R
17 12 (0.60%) T-SQL
18 11 (0.55%) Data Analysis Expressions
19 8 (0.40%) ABAP
19 8 (0.40%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 424 (21.31%) Degree
2 384 (19.30%) Security Cleared
3 257 (12.91%) SC Cleared
4 114 (5.73%) BPSS Clearance
5 98 (4.92%) DV Cleared
6 86 (4.32%) Master's Degree
7 44 (2.21%) Computer Science Degree
8 36 (1.81%) CISSP
9 33 (1.66%) Chartered Engineer
10 32 (1.61%) PhD
11 31 (1.56%) PMI Certification
12 28 (1.41%) CISM
12 28 (1.41%) HNC
13 26 (1.31%) HND
14 24 (1.21%) AWS Certification
15 23 (1.16%) ACCA
15 23 (1.16%) Azure Certification
16 22 (1.11%) CIMA
17 19 (0.95%) Cisco Certification
18 18 (0.90%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 298 (14.97%) Data Quality
2 270 (13.57%) QA
3 64 (3.22%) Accessibility
4 50 (2.51%) GDPR
5 37 (1.86%) GRC
6 26 (1.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 23 (1.16%) IEC 61508
8 22 (1.11%) GxP
9 19 (0.95%) NIST
10 17 (0.85%) PMO
11 15 (0.75%) ISO 26262
11 15 (0.75%) SLA
12 13 (0.65%) ISO 9001
13 12 (0.60%) GAAP
13 12 (0.60%) IFRS
14 11 (0.55%) GMP
14 11 (0.55%) SOC 2
14 11 (0.55%) WCAG
15 10 (0.50%) ISO/IEC 15288
16 9 (0.45%) Def Stans
System Software
1 75 (3.77%) Docker
1 75 (3.77%) Firmware
2 47 (2.36%) Active Directory
3 35 (1.76%) Embedded Firmware
4 28 (1.41%) Virtual Machines
5 21 (1.06%) vSphere
6 10 (0.50%) VMware Infrastructure
7 4 (0.20%) Hyper-V
8 3 (0.15%) KVM
9 2 (0.10%) iptables
9 2 (0.10%) ProxySG
9 2 (0.10%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.050%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.050%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 75 (3.77%) Kubernetes
2 37 (1.86%) Grafana
3 26 (1.31%) Ansible
3 26 (1.31%) Functional Safety
4 15 (0.75%) Single Sign-On
5 14 (0.70%) Prometheus
6 10 (0.50%) Cilium
7 7 (0.35%) Kibana
7 7 (0.35%) Microsoft Intune
8 6 (0.30%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 6 (0.30%) Nessus
8 6 (0.30%) Nmap
8 6 (0.30%) Puppet
9 5 (0.25%) FortiGate
9 5 (0.25%) SCCM
9 5 (0.25%) WMI
10 4 (0.20%) BMC PATROL
10 4 (0.20%) HP Fortify
10 4 (0.20%) Kubeflow
11 2 (0.10%) WSUS
Vendors
1 258 (12.96%) Microsoft
2 111 (5.58%) SAP
3 94 (4.72%) Oracle
4 57 (2.86%) Salesforce
5 51 (2.56%) Databricks
6 49 (2.46%) ServiceNow
7 48 (2.41%) Cisco
8 37 (1.86%) Google
9 29 (1.46%) CrowdStrike
9 29 (1.46%) VMware
10 27 (1.36%) EMC
11 26 (1.31%) Palo Alto
12 24 (1.21%) Red Hat
13 22 (1.11%) Tenable
14 15 (0.75%) McAfee
15 14 (0.70%) IBM
15 14 (0.70%) Splunk
15 14 (0.70%) Workday
16 12 (0.60%) ForgeRock
16 12 (0.60%) Okta