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

6 months to
7 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 152 168 180
Rank change year-on-year +16 +12 -32
Permanent jobs citing Validation 867 811 1,099
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.51% 1.77% 1.66%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.89% 1.93% 1.88%
Number of salaries quoted 470 289 677
10th Percentile £36,250 £37,500 £35,150
25th Percentile £45,000 £47,000 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -12.00%
75th Percentile £79,500 £72,500 £73,750
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £85,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -15.38%

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 45,818 42,048 58,304
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 79.92% 92.01% 88.24%
Number of salaries quoted 27,795 20,551 46,192
10th Percentile £29,000 £35,000 £29,750
25th Percentile £38,750 £46,250 £40,988
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £61,967 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -11.24% +12.67% -12.00%
75th Percentile £77,500 £81,250 £75,750
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £95,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -12.00%

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 7 February 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 7 February 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 +53 301 £75,000 +7.14% 268
South East +16 189 £53,500 -2.73% 189
North of England -24 126 £60,000 +25.83% 136
Midlands -3 87 £35,000 -33.33% 124
North West +10 86 £55,000 +15.35% 85
East of England +20 82 £57,500 +4.55% 85
South West +13 69 £60,000 +14.07% 74
West Midlands +6 56 £37,500 -31.82% 85
Yorkshire -25 32 £63,150 +56.03% 41
East Midlands -5 30 £35,000 -32.69% 39
North East -14 8 £43,249 +4.21% 10
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 (2.19%) Apache Airflow
2 18 (2.08%) Confluence
3 12 (1.38%) Appian
4 11 (1.27%) Apache Spark
4 11 (1.27%) Microsoft Exchange
5 9 (1.04%) CMS
5 9 (1.04%) SharePoint
6 6 (0.69%) Apache
7 4 (0.46%) Headless CMS
8 3 (0.35%) Jupyter
8 3 (0.35%) SugarCRM
9 2 (0.23%) Kinematics
9 2 (0.23%) SAS
9 2 (0.23%) WordPress
10 1 (0.12%) Anypoint
10 1 (0.12%) FileNet
Applications
1 70 (8.07%) Microsoft Excel
2 55 (6.34%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (1.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 11 (1.27%) MS Visio
4 7 (0.81%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 6 (0.69%) Simulink
6 4 (0.46%) Fusion 360
7 2 (0.23%) Adobe After Effects
7 2 (0.23%) Adobe Captivate
7 2 (0.23%) Adobe Illustrator
7 2 (0.23%) Adobe Premiere
7 2 (0.23%) Elementor
7 2 (0.23%) Oracle Smart View
7 2 (0.23%) Photoshop
7 2 (0.23%) Weka
8 1 (0.12%) GNU Octave
8 1 (0.12%) Mathcad
8 1 (0.12%) Revit
8 1 (0.12%) Solid Edge
8 1 (0.12%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 18 (2.08%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (1.15%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.46%) SAP BPC
4 3 (0.35%) SAP CX
4 3 (0.35%) Workday HCM
5 2 (0.23%) Endur
5 2 (0.23%) IBM Planning Analytics
5 2 (0.23%) NetSuite
5 2 (0.23%) Oracle ERP
5 2 (0.23%) Primavera
5 2 (0.23%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.12%) Aladdin
6 1 (0.12%) Loan IQ
6 1 (0.12%) Magento
6 1 (0.12%) Oracle Financials
6 1 (0.12%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.12%) Remedy ITSM
6 1 (0.12%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.12%) SAP Business ByDesign
6 1 (0.12%) SAP FSCM
Cloud Services
1 133 (15.34%) Azure
2 70 (8.07%) Power Platform
3 54 (6.23%) AWS
4 44 (5.07%) SaaS
5 36 (4.15%) Azure DevOps
6 27 (3.11%) GCP
7 22 (2.54%) Azure Data Factory
8 20 (2.31%) Snowflake
9 18 (2.08%) Dynamics 365
9 18 (2.08%) Microsoft 365
9 18 (2.08%) Power Automate
10 17 (1.96%) Entra ID
11 15 (1.73%) dbt
11 15 (1.73%) GitHub
12 12 (1.38%) Anthropic Claude
12 12 (1.38%) Azure AI
13 11 (1.27%) Figma
14 10 (1.15%) Amazon S3
14 10 (1.15%) Datadog
15 9 (1.04%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 19 (2.19%) CHAP
2 13 (1.50%) WAN
3 12 (1.38%) Firewall
4 11 (1.27%) LAN
4 11 (1.27%) SD-WAN
5 10 (1.15%) 5G
6 9 (1.04%) DNS
7 8 (0.92%) HTTP
7 8 (0.92%) MQTT
8 7 (0.81%) TCP/IP
9 6 (0.69%) Modbus
10 5 (0.58%) Cisco IOS
10 5 (0.58%) Ethernet VPN
10 5 (0.58%) VoIP
10 5 (0.58%) WAAS
10 5 (0.58%) Wireless
11 4 (0.46%) BGP
11 4 (0.46%) OSPF
11 4 (0.46%) SMTP
12 3 (0.35%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 68 (7.84%) Power BI
2 35 (4.04%) SQL Server
3 23 (2.65%) Data Warehouse
4 22 (2.54%) Metadata
4 22 (2.54%) Relational Database
5 13 (1.50%) Oracle Reports
5 13 (1.50%) Tableau
6 12 (1.38%) Pinecone
7 11 (1.27%) Azure SQL Database
7 11 (1.27%) PostgreSQL
8 10 (1.15%) Spotfire
9 9 (1.04%) Data Lake
9 9 (1.04%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 8 (0.92%) Amazon Redshift
11 7 (0.81%) Big Data
11 7 (0.81%) BigQuery
11 7 (0.81%) Data Vault
11 7 (0.81%) MySQL
12 6 (0.69%) Data Mining
12 6 (0.69%) DB2
Development Applications
1 57 (6.57%) JIRA
2 41 (4.73%) Git
3 38 (4.38%) Rational DOORS
4 23 (2.65%) Postman
5 18 (2.08%) Jenkins
6 14 (1.61%) GitLab
6 14 (1.61%) MLflow
7 13 (1.50%) Selenium
8 12 (1.38%) LabVIEW
9 11 (1.27%) Eclipse
10 10 (1.15%) Cucumber
10 10 (1.15%) TestRail
11 9 (1.04%) JMeter
11 9 (1.04%) SoapUI
12 7 (0.81%) LoadRunner
13 6 (0.69%) Zephyr
14 5 (0.58%) Fiddler
14 5 (0.58%) SpecFlow
14 5 (0.58%) Subversion
14 5 (0.58%) TestNG
General
1 311 (35.87%) Social Skills
2 239 (27.57%) Finance
3 200 (23.07%) Analytical Skills
4 68 (7.84%) Banking
5 52 (6.00%) Electronics
6 50 (5.77%) Financial Institution
7 49 (5.65%) Marketing
8 42 (4.84%) Manufacturing
9 39 (4.50%) Presentation Skills
10 35 (4.04%) Law
11 31 (3.58%) Aerospace
12 29 (3.34%) Telecoms
13 28 (3.23%) Organisational Skills
14 26 (3.00%) Retail
15 25 (2.88%) Legal
16 24 (2.77%) Documentation Skills
16 24 (2.77%) Public Sector
17 21 (2.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 18 (2.08%) Billing
18 18 (2.08%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 134 (15.46%) Senior
2 133 (15.34%) Analyst
3 103 (11.88%) Systems Engineer
4 66 (7.61%) Lead
5 58 (6.69%) Architect
6 51 (5.88%) Test Engineer
7 47 (5.42%) Business Analyst
8 46 (5.31%) Validation Engineer
9 42 (4.84%) Integration Engineer
10 35 (4.04%) Data Analyst
11 33 (3.81%) Systems Integration Engineer
12 32 (3.69%) Principal Engineer
13 31 (3.58%) Junior
14 30 (3.46%) Data Engineer
15 29 (3.34%) Developer
16 27 (3.11%) Solutions Architect
17 25 (2.88%) Senior Systems Engineer
18 24 (2.77%) Principal Systems Engineer
19 23 (2.65%) Verification Engineer
20 22 (2.54%) Auditor
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (5.77%) REST
2 31 (3.58%) Middleware
3 29 (3.34%) JSON
4 27 (3.11%) pytest
5 26 (3.00%) Pandas
6 22 (2.54%) XML
7 20 (2.31%) PyTorch
7 20 (2.31%) scikit-learn
7 20 (2.31%) TensorFlow
8 19 (2.19%) NumPy
9 17 (1.96%) OAuth
10 16 (1.85%) FastAPI
10 16 (1.85%) JWT
10 16 (1.85%) Swagger
10 16 (1.85%) Web Services
11 15 (1.73%) Flask
12 14 (1.61%) CSS
12 14 (1.61%) RESTful
13 13 (1.50%) HTML
13 13 (1.50%) React
Miscellaneous
1 59 (6.81%) Management Information System
2 39 (4.50%) Onboarding
3 30 (3.46%) Self-Motivation
4 28 (3.23%) Data Structures
5 26 (3.00%) Legacy Systems
6 24 (2.77%) Product Ownership
7 23 (2.65%) Low-Code
8 19 (2.19%) Life Science
9 17 (1.96%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 14 (1.61%) Algorithms
10 14 (1.61%) Analytical Mindset
10 14 (1.61%) Enterprise Software
11 13 (1.50%) Reinsurance
11 13 (1.50%) SWIFT Messaging Network
12 12 (1.38%) Blockchain
13 11 (1.27%) Data Centre
13 11 (1.27%) Self-Driving Car
14 10 (1.15%) IoT
15 9 (1.04%) Embedded Systems
16 8 (0.92%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 39 (4.50%) Windows
2 35 (4.04%) Linux
3 12 (1.38%) Unix
4 10 (1.15%) Android
5 8 (0.92%) Windows Server
6 4 (0.46%) Apple iOS
7 3 (0.35%) Robot Operating System
8 2 (0.23%) AIX
8 2 (0.23%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.23%) VxWorks
9 1 (0.12%) FreeRTOS
9 1 (0.12%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 211 (24.34%) Agile
2 193 (22.26%) Problem-Solving
3 154 (17.76%) Verification and Validation
4 124 (14.30%) Data Validation
5 119 (13.73%) Analytics
6 109 (12.57%) Continuous Improvement
7 107 (12.34%) Test Automation
8 98 (11.30%) DevOps
8 98 (11.30%) Migration
9 95 (10.96%) Systems Engineering
10 93 (10.73%) CI/CD
11 88 (10.15%) AI
12 86 (9.92%) Mentoring
13 85 (9.80%) Business Intelligence
14 83 (9.57%) ETL
14 83 (9.57%) Software Engineering
15 81 (9.34%) Roadmaps
16 78 (9.00%) Decision-Making
16 78 (9.00%) Stakeholder Management
17 76 (8.77%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 197 (22.72%) SQL
2 165 (19.03%) Python
3 33 (3.81%) Java
4 31 (3.58%) C
5 28 (3.23%) C++
6 24 (2.77%) JavaScript
6 24 (2.77%) PowerShell
7 21 (2.42%) MATLAB
8 15 (1.73%) Bash
9 12 (1.38%) TypeScript
10 11 (1.27%) T-SQL
11 9 (1.04%) C#
11 9 (1.04%) R
12 6 (0.69%) Bicep
13 5 (0.58%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 5 (0.58%) Go
13 5 (0.58%) PHP
14 4 (0.46%) PL/SQL
14 4 (0.46%) VB
15 3 (0.35%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 238 (27.45%) Degree
2 111 (12.80%) Security Cleared
3 106 (12.23%) BPSS Clearance
4 48 (5.54%) Master's Degree
5 45 (5.19%) SC Cleared
6 38 (4.38%) Computer Science Degree
7 23 (2.65%) CISA
7 23 (2.65%) CISSP
8 21 (2.42%) CISM
9 20 (2.31%) CGEIT
9 20 (2.31%) FFIEC
9 20 (2.31%) SANS
10 18 (2.08%) DV Cleared
11 17 (1.96%) HNC
12 16 (1.85%) ISTQB
13 14 (1.61%) Chartered Engineer
14 12 (1.38%) Cisco Certification
14 12 (1.38%) HND
15 10 (1.15%) CCNP
15 10 (1.15%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 103 (11.88%) Data Quality
2 91 (10.50%) QA
3 40 (4.61%) GDPR
4 38 (4.38%) ISO/IEC 15288
5 27 (3.11%) Accessibility
6 21 (2.42%) SLA
7 20 (2.31%) COBIT
7 20 (2.31%) NIST
8 15 (1.73%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 13 (1.50%) ISO 20022
9 13 (1.50%) SEPA
10 10 (1.15%) Good Clinical Practice
10 10 (1.15%) GRC
10 10 (1.15%) ISO/IEC 12207
11 9 (1.04%) GxP
11 9 (1.04%) TARGET2
11 9 (1.04%) WCAG
12 8 (0.92%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 7 (0.81%) IFRS
14 6 (0.69%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 46 (5.31%) Docker
2 16 (1.85%) Firmware
3 13 (1.50%) Active Directory
4 4 (0.46%) Hyper-V
5 3 (0.35%) VMware Infrastructure
6 2 (0.23%) Ceph
6 2 (0.23%) Lustre
6 2 (0.23%) Slurm Workload Manager
6 2 (0.23%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.23%) vSphere
7 1 (0.12%) iptables
7 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 1 (0.12%) OpenAM
7 1 (0.12%) OpenDJ
7 1 (0.12%) OpenIDM
7 1 (0.12%) pfSense
7 1 (0.12%) Terminal Services
7 1 (0.12%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.12%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 39 (4.50%) Kubernetes
2 25 (2.88%) Terraform
3 13 (1.50%) Ansible
4 12 (1.38%) Grafana
5 9 (1.04%) Prometheus
6 8 (0.92%) Microsoft Intune
7 7 (0.81%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 6 (0.69%) SCCM
9 4 (0.46%) Argo
9 4 (0.46%) Rancher
9 4 (0.46%) yum
10 2 (0.23%) BMC PATROL
10 2 (0.23%) Nessus
10 2 (0.23%) Puppet
11 1 (0.12%) Control-M
11 1 (0.12%) Functional Safety
11 1 (0.12%) Kibana
11 1 (0.12%) Kubeflow
11 1 (0.12%) PowerCLI
11 1 (0.12%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 110 (12.69%) Microsoft
2 51 (5.88%) SAP
3 32 (3.69%) Oracle
4 25 (2.88%) Salesforce
5 23 (2.65%) Cisco
6 17 (1.96%) Foundry
7 16 (1.85%) IBM
8 14 (1.61%) OpenAI
8 14 (1.61%) ServiceNow
8 14 (1.61%) Software AG
9 13 (1.50%) Adobe
10 12 (1.38%) Automation Anywhere
10 12 (1.38%) UiPath
11 10 (1.15%) Databricks
11 10 (1.15%) F5
12 9 (1.04%) CheckPoint
13 8 (0.92%) Intapp
14 7 (0.81%) Google
14 7 (0.81%) Guidewire
15 6 (0.69%) MuleSoft