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

6 months to
24 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 133 161 192
Rank change year-on-year +28 +31 -22
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,162 743 1,271
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.48% 1.99% 1.53%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.97% 2.14% 1.79%
Number of salaries quoted 690 385 724
10th Percentile £33,700 £40,000 £36,000
25th Percentile £44,972 £46,000 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £56,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% +1.82% -11.41%
75th Percentile £77,500 £71,250 £72,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,000 £85,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £56,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +6.19% +2.73% -11.41%

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 59,005 34,747 71,049
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 75.29% 92.96% 85.73%
Number of salaries quoted 37,172 20,692 53,693
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £39,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.33% +9.09% -12.00%
75th Percentile £78,750 £80,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £100,000 £102,500 £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 24 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 24 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 +60 349 £77,500 +10.71% 234
South East +18 263 £55,000 +7.84% 213
North of England +30 206 £57,050 +19.64% 108
Midlands -28 141 £37,500 -33.33% 101
North West +24 127 £59,000 +23.73% 61
East of England -2 98 £60,000 +5.26% 99
West Midlands -9 88 £44,360 -33.04% 59
South West -43 88 £55,000 +0.92% 83
Yorkshire -31 53 £60,000 +26.32% 32
East Midlands -54 51 £32,000 -37.25% 42
North East -13 26 £51,500 -9.25% 16
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 44 (3.79%) Apache Airflow
2 28 (2.41%) Apache Spark
3 23 (1.98%) Apache
4 20 (1.72%) Confluence
5 17 (1.46%) Microsoft Exchange
6 12 (1.03%) Appian
6 12 (1.03%) CMS
7 7 (0.60%) SharePoint
8 6 (0.52%) Kinematics
9 4 (0.34%) Headless CMS
10 2 (0.17%) IIS
10 2 (0.17%) WordPress
11 1 (0.086%) Anypoint
11 1 (0.086%) ArcGIS
11 1 (0.086%) Jupyter
11 1 (0.086%) Palantir Foundry
11 1 (0.086%) SAS
Applications
1 88 (7.57%) Microsoft Excel
2 57 (4.91%) Microsoft Office
3 18 (1.55%) MS Visio
4 15 (1.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.60%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 5 (0.43%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.43%) Simulink
6 5 (0.43%) Spreadsheet
7 4 (0.34%) 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
10 1 (0.086%) Navisworks
Business Applications
1 22 (1.89%) SAP S/4HANA
2 18 (1.55%) Dynamics CRM
3 8 (0.69%) SAP ERP
4 5 (0.43%) Loan IQ
4 5 (0.43%) SAP MDG
5 3 (0.26%) Oracle Applications
5 3 (0.26%) Oracle EBS
5 3 (0.26%) Oracle ERP
5 3 (0.26%) SAP MDG-BP
5 3 (0.26%) Workday HCM
6 2 (0.17%) iTrent
6 2 (0.17%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 2 (0.17%) SAP CX
7 1 (0.086%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.086%) Magento
7 1 (0.086%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.086%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.086%) SAP BRIM
7 1 (0.086%) SAP Business ByDesign
7 1 (0.086%) SAP FSCM
Cloud Services
1 157 (13.51%) Azure
2 111 (9.55%) Power Platform
3 91 (7.83%) AWS
4 49 (4.22%) SaaS
5 45 (3.87%) GCP
6 43 (3.70%) Azure DevOps
7 31 (2.67%) Dynamics 365
8 29 (2.50%) Azure Data Factory
9 27 (2.32%) Power Automate
9 27 (2.32%) Serverless
10 26 (2.24%) Microsoft 365
10 26 (2.24%) Snowflake
11 25 (2.15%) Amazon S3
12 22 (1.89%) Entra ID
12 22 (1.89%) GitHub
13 20 (1.72%) dbt
14 14 (1.20%) Anthropic Claude
15 13 (1.12%) OpenShift
16 12 (1.03%) Azure AI
17 11 (0.95%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 28 (2.41%) CHAP
2 23 (1.98%) Broadband
2 23 (1.98%) Firewall
3 19 (1.64%) WAN
4 18 (1.55%) DNS
5 17 (1.46%) SD-WAN
6 13 (1.12%) Wireless
7 11 (0.95%) 5G
7 11 (0.95%) TCP/IP
8 10 (0.86%) HTTP
8 10 (0.86%) LAN
9 8 (0.69%) Modbus
10 7 (0.60%) Ethernet
10 7 (0.60%) MQTT
10 7 (0.60%) NAS
10 7 (0.60%) Network Security
11 6 (0.52%) Cisco ISE
11 6 (0.52%) VPN
11 6 (0.52%) WebEx
11 6 (0.52%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 109 (9.38%) Power BI
2 45 (3.87%) Tableau
3 44 (3.79%) SQL Server
4 33 (2.84%) Metadata
5 32 (2.75%) Relational Database
6 29 (2.50%) Data Warehouse
6 29 (2.50%) PostgreSQL
7 19 (1.64%) Data Lake
8 17 (1.46%) Spark SQL
9 16 (1.38%) Oracle Reports
10 15 (1.29%) Azure SQL Database
10 15 (1.29%) Oracle Database
11 14 (1.20%) Parquet
12 13 (1.12%) Apache Hive
12 13 (1.12%) Impala
12 13 (1.12%) MySQL
12 13 (1.12%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 12 (1.03%) Amazon Redshift
13 12 (1.03%) Pinecone
14 10 (0.86%) Spotfire
Development Applications
1 63 (5.42%) Git
2 55 (4.73%) JIRA
3 34 (2.93%) Rational DOORS
4 19 (1.64%) Jenkins
5 18 (1.55%) Postman
6 16 (1.38%) GitLab
7 15 (1.29%) MLflow
7 15 (1.29%) Selenium
8 14 (1.20%) LabVIEW
9 13 (1.12%) IBM UrbanCode
9 13 (1.12%) Snyk
10 11 (0.95%) JMeter
11 10 (0.86%) Cucumber
11 10 (0.86%) Eclipse
12 8 (0.69%) TestRail
13 7 (0.60%) LoadRunner
14 6 (0.52%) SoapUI
14 6 (0.52%) Subversion
15 5 (0.43%) SpecFlow
16 4 (0.34%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 373 (32.10%) Social Skills
2 300 (25.82%) Finance
3 269 (23.15%) Analytical Skills
4 87 (7.49%) Banking
5 82 (7.06%) Manufacturing
6 78 (6.71%) Electronics
7 77 (6.63%) Aerospace
8 54 (4.65%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 45 (3.87%) Legal
10 43 (3.70%) Law
11 42 (3.61%) Marketing
12 40 (3.44%) Retail
13 39 (3.36%) Financial Institution
14 34 (2.93%) Public Sector
15 31 (2.67%) Pharmaceutical
16 28 (2.41%) Presentation Skills
17 26 (2.24%) Organisational Skills
18 24 (2.07%) Aviation
19 22 (1.89%) Automotive
20 21 (1.81%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 205 (17.64%) Analyst
2 190 (16.35%) Senior
3 147 (12.65%) Systems Engineer
4 82 (7.06%) Test Engineer
5 81 (6.97%) Lead
6 76 (6.54%) Validation Engineer
7 70 (6.02%) Business Analyst
8 69 (5.94%) Architect
9 57 (4.91%) Data Analyst
10 47 (4.04%) Data Engineer
10 47 (4.04%) Integration Engineer
11 40 (3.44%) Developer
12 38 (3.27%) Junior
12 38 (3.27%) Senior Systems Engineer
13 36 (3.10%) Principal Engineer
13 36 (3.10%) Systems Integration Engineer
14 35 (3.01%) Verification Engineer
15 34 (2.93%) Software Validation Engineer
16 31 (2.67%) Auditor
17 28 (2.41%) Security Auditor
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 53 (4.56%) REST
2 35 (3.01%) Pandas
3 31 (2.67%) JSON
4 29 (2.50%) Middleware
5 26 (2.24%) pytest
6 23 (1.98%) XML
7 22 (1.89%) PySpark
8 20 (1.72%) OAuth
9 19 (1.64%) Swagger
10 18 (1.55%) JWT
10 18 (1.55%) PyTorch
10 18 (1.55%) TensorFlow
11 17 (1.46%) .NET
11 17 (1.46%) RESTful
12 16 (1.38%) Kafka
12 16 (1.38%) NumPy
12 16 (1.38%) React
13 15 (1.29%) CSS
13 15 (1.29%) Playwright
13 15 (1.29%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 76 (6.54%) Management Information System
2 50 (4.30%) Onboarding
3 40 (3.44%) Data Structures
4 36 (3.10%) Self-Motivation
5 35 (3.01%) Low-Code
6 32 (2.75%) Legacy Systems
7 27 (2.32%) Analytical Mindset
8 26 (2.24%) Product Ownership
9 25 (2.15%) Life Science
10 21 (1.81%) Data Centre
11 20 (1.72%) Enterprise Software
12 19 (1.64%) Embedded Systems
13 16 (1.38%) Algorithms
13 16 (1.38%) Robotics
14 15 (1.29%) Blockchain
14 15 (1.29%) Cloud Native
14 15 (1.29%) IoT
15 14 (1.20%) Reinsurance
16 12 (1.03%) Driving Licence
17 11 (0.95%) Hackathon
Operating Systems
1 60 (5.16%) Linux
2 47 (4.04%) Windows
3 19 (1.64%) Unix
4 15 (1.29%) Windows Server
5 10 (0.86%) Android
6 8 (0.69%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (0.34%) Apple iOS
7 4 (0.34%) FreeRTOS
7 4 (0.34%) Mac OS X
8 3 (0.26%) AIX
8 3 (0.26%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.17%) Kali Linux
9 2 (0.17%) ThreadX
9 2 (0.17%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.086%) Embedded Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 259 (22.29%) Problem-Solving
2 228 (19.62%) Agile
3 205 (17.64%) Continuous Improvement
4 195 (16.78%) Verification and Validation
5 172 (14.80%) Analytics
6 156 (13.43%) Data Validation
7 148 (12.74%) CI/CD
8 147 (12.65%) AI
9 144 (12.39%) Test Automation
10 131 (11.27%) Business Intelligence
11 122 (10.50%) Data Modelling
12 120 (10.33%) Decision-Making
13 119 (10.24%) Data Governance
14 118 (10.15%) Migration
15 117 (10.07%) Systems Engineering
16 110 (9.47%) DevOps
17 109 (9.38%) User Acceptance Testing
18 107 (9.21%) Stakeholder Management
19 105 (9.04%) ETL
20 101 (8.69%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 253 (21.77%) SQL
2 233 (20.05%) Python
3 38 (3.27%) Java
4 37 (3.18%) C++
5 29 (2.50%) JavaScript
6 28 (2.41%) C
6 28 (2.41%) PowerShell
7 22 (1.89%) Go
8 21 (1.81%) Bash
9 18 (1.55%) T-SQL
10 17 (1.46%) C#
11 16 (1.38%) MATLAB
12 15 (1.29%) TypeScript
13 12 (1.03%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 9 (0.77%) VBA
15 8 (0.69%) R
16 7 (0.60%) Embedded C
16 7 (0.60%) VB
17 6 (0.52%) PHP
18 5 (0.43%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 258 (22.20%) Degree
2 130 (11.19%) Security Cleared
3 109 (9.38%) BPSS Clearance
4 57 (4.91%) Master's Degree
5 44 (3.79%) SC Cleared
6 38 (3.27%) CISSP
7 37 (3.18%) Computer Science Degree
8 36 (3.10%) CISA
9 35 (3.01%) CISM
10 31 (2.67%) DV Cleared
10 31 (2.67%) SANS
11 28 (2.41%) CGEIT
11 28 (2.41%) FFIEC
12 27 (2.32%) Chartered Engineer
13 23 (1.98%) HNC
14 20 (1.72%) HND
15 14 (1.20%) PMI Certification
16 13 (1.12%) ISTQB
17 11 (0.95%) PMP
18 8 (0.69%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 171 (14.72%) Data Quality
2 115 (9.90%) QA
3 62 (5.34%) GDPR
4 40 (3.44%) Accessibility
5 37 (3.18%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 30 (2.58%) NIST
7 28 (2.41%) COBIT
7 28 (2.41%) GRC
8 20 (1.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 17 (1.46%) IFRS
10 15 (1.29%) SLA
11 12 (1.03%) GAAP
12 10 (0.86%) GMP
12 10 (0.86%) Good Clinical Practice
12 10 (0.86%) IEC 61508
13 9 (0.77%) ISO 9001
13 9 (0.77%) PMO
13 9 (0.77%) WCAG
14 7 (0.60%) GxP
14 7 (0.60%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 53 (4.56%) Docker
2 27 (2.32%) Active Directory
3 22 (1.89%) Firmware
4 14 (1.20%) Virtual Machines
5 10 (0.86%) vSphere
6 8 (0.69%) VMware Infrastructure
7 5 (0.43%) Embedded Firmware
7 5 (0.43%) Hyper-V
8 2 (0.17%) Terminal Services
8 2 (0.17%) VMware ESXi
9 1 (0.086%) iptables
9 1 (0.086%) OpenAM
9 1 (0.086%) OpenDJ
9 1 (0.086%) OpenIDM
9 1 (0.086%) pfSense
Systems Management
1 55 (4.73%) Kubernetes
2 43 (3.70%) Terraform
3 25 (2.15%) Grafana
4 16 (1.38%) Ansible
4 16 (1.38%) Prometheus
5 14 (1.20%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
6 12 (1.03%) Functional Safety
7 10 (0.86%) SCCM
8 7 (0.60%) Microsoft Intune
9 5 (0.43%) Argo
9 5 (0.43%) Rancher
9 5 (0.43%) yum
10 4 (0.34%) Cilium
11 3 (0.26%) Puppet
12 2 (0.17%) BMC PATROL
12 2 (0.17%) Computer Incident Response Team
12 2 (0.17%) HP Fortify
12 2 (0.17%) Kibana
12 2 (0.17%) PowerCLI
13 1 (0.086%) SQL Sentry
Vendors
1 160 (13.77%) Microsoft
2 64 (5.51%) Oracle
3 50 (4.30%) SAP
4 37 (3.18%) Salesforce
5 24 (2.07%) Databricks
6 21 (1.81%) Red Hat
7 20 (1.72%) Cisco
8 17 (1.46%) VMware
9 16 (1.38%) Adobe
10 15 (1.29%) ServiceNow
11 14 (1.20%) CrowdStrike
11 14 (1.20%) Foundry
11 14 (1.20%) Google
12 13 (1.12%) IBM
12 13 (1.12%) OpenAI
12 13 (1.12%) Palo Alto
12 13 (1.12%) Tenable
13 12 (1.03%) Automation Anywhere
13 12 (1.03%) Citrix
13 12 (1.03%) UiPath