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 1 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 115 80 198
Rank change year-on-year -35 +118 -11
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,418 1,519 1,290
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.65% 3.69% 1.39%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.25% 4.03% 1.69%
Number of salaries quoted 885 432 701
10th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £36,000
25th Percentile £43,000 £46,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.51% +3.64% -12.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £72,500 £72,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £95,000 £85,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £57,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -3.51% +3.64% -12.00%

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 63,156 37,707 76,142
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.63% 91.52% 82.29%
Number of salaries quoted 44,618 21,070 54,965
10th Percentile £31,000 £28,822 £29,490
25th Percentile £41,250 £39,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -12.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £93,750
UK median annual salary £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -9.09%

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 1 July 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 1 July 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 +68 402 £75,000 -1.64% 448
South East -45 317 £55,000 - 280
North of England +86 288 £55,000 +15.35% 169
North West +74 182 £55,000 +15.35% 90
Midlands -70 165 £40,000 -27.27% 136
South West -40 110 £53,000 -3.64% 115
East of England -73 110 £60,000 +5.26% 93
West Midlands -9 96 £44,000 -29.60% 70
East Midlands -81 67 £30,000 -36.84% 66
Yorkshire +2 61 £44,000 +5.39% 51
North East -14 45 £55,000 +15.79% 28
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 52 (3.67%) Apache Airflow
2 48 (3.39%) Apache Spark
3 46 (3.24%) Apache
4 22 (1.55%) Confluence
5 19 (1.34%) SharePoint
6 14 (0.99%) Microsoft Exchange
7 12 (0.85%) Jupyter
8 10 (0.71%) SAS
9 5 (0.35%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 5 (0.35%) Appian
10 4 (0.28%) CMS
10 4 (0.28%) Kinematics
11 3 (0.21%) Artix
12 2 (0.14%) IIS
13 1 (0.071%) ArcGIS
13 1 (0.071%) Oracle Workflow
13 1 (0.071%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 84 (5.92%) Microsoft Excel
2 42 (2.96%) Microsoft Office
3 24 (1.69%) Microsoft Project
4 19 (1.34%) MS Visio
5 17 (1.20%) Simulink
6 15 (1.06%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 8 (0.56%) SOLIDWORKS
7 8 (0.56%) Spreadsheet
8 5 (0.35%) AutoCAD
9 4 (0.28%) Adobe XD
9 4 (0.28%) Sketch
10 3 (0.21%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 3 (0.21%) Autodesk Inventor
10 3 (0.21%) Productboard
10 3 (0.21%) Solid Edge
10 3 (0.21%) Stateflow
11 1 (0.071%) CATIA
11 1 (0.071%) Chatbot
11 1 (0.071%) Revit
11 1 (0.071%) Trello
Business Applications
1 39 (2.75%) Dynamics CRM
2 36 (2.54%) SAP S/4HANA
3 11 (0.78%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.71%) SAP ERP
5 9 (0.63%) Oracle EBS
6 5 (0.35%) iTrent
6 5 (0.35%) Loan IQ
6 5 (0.35%) Oracle Applications
6 5 (0.35%) Oracle Financials
6 5 (0.35%) SAP MDG-BP
7 3 (0.21%) Oracle ERP
8 2 (0.14%) FastStats
8 2 (0.14%) NetSuite
8 2 (0.14%) Oracle Payables
8 2 (0.14%) Oracle Receivables
8 2 (0.14%) SAP Business One
8 2 (0.14%) SAP EWM
8 2 (0.14%) SAP MM
8 2 (0.14%) SAP WM
9 1 (0.071%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
Cloud Services
1 183 (12.91%) Azure
2 162 (11.42%) AWS
3 138 (9.73%) Power Platform
4 75 (5.29%) GCP
5 67 (4.72%) SaaS
6 57 (4.02%) Azure DevOps
7 39 (2.75%) Microsoft 365
7 39 (2.75%) Serverless
8 38 (2.68%) Amazon S3
9 34 (2.40%) GitHub
10 28 (1.97%) Dynamics 365
11 25 (1.76%) Azure Data Factory
12 23 (1.62%) Snowflake
13 19 (1.34%) Entra ID
14 18 (1.27%) GitHub Actions
15 17 (1.20%) Power Automate
16 16 (1.13%) Amazon EC2
16 16 (1.13%) Amazon EMR
16 16 (1.13%) dbt
17 14 (0.99%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 67 (4.72%) Broadband
2 42 (2.96%) Firewall
3 33 (2.33%) DNS
4 18 (1.27%) WAN
5 17 (1.20%) CHAP
5 17 (1.20%) Wireless
6 16 (1.13%) Network Security
6 16 (1.13%) TCP/IP
7 14 (0.99%) SD-WAN
7 14 (0.99%) VPN
8 12 (0.85%) Wi-Fi
9 11 (0.78%) 5G
9 11 (0.78%) Ethernet
9 11 (0.78%) HTTP
9 11 (0.78%) MQTT
10 10 (0.71%) LAN
11 9 (0.63%) NAS
12 7 (0.49%) WebEx
13 6 (0.42%) Cisco ISE
13 6 (0.42%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 136 (9.59%) Power BI
2 56 (3.95%) PostgreSQL
2 56 (3.95%) Tableau
3 52 (3.67%) SQL Server
4 48 (3.39%) Data Warehouse
5 33 (2.33%) Metadata
5 33 (2.33%) MongoDB
6 30 (2.12%) Relational Database
7 27 (1.90%) BigQuery
8 25 (1.76%) Data Lake
9 23 (1.62%) Azure SQL Database
10 20 (1.41%) Semantic Layer
11 19 (1.34%) Spark SQL
12 18 (1.27%) Amazon Athena
12 18 (1.27%) DynamoDB
13 17 (1.20%) MySQL
13 17 (1.20%) Oracle Database
14 16 (1.13%) Parquet
15 14 (0.99%) SQL Server Reporting Services
16 13 (0.92%) Amazon Redshift
Development Applications
1 76 (5.36%) JIRA
2 70 (4.94%) Git
3 45 (3.17%) Jenkins
4 36 (2.54%) GitLab
5 29 (2.05%) Rational DOORS
6 22 (1.55%) Snyk
7 16 (1.13%) LabVIEW
8 15 (1.06%) Selenium
9 14 (0.99%) Postman
10 13 (0.92%) IBM UrbanCode
11 10 (0.71%) Cucumber
11 10 (0.71%) Cypress.io
11 10 (0.71%) TeamCity
12 9 (0.63%) Eclipse
12 9 (0.63%) JMeter
12 9 (0.63%) MLflow
13 7 (0.49%) Rational Rhapsody
14 5 (0.35%) LoadRunner
14 5 (0.35%) REST Assured
14 5 (0.35%) SonarQube
General
1 437 (30.82%) Social Skills
2 375 (26.45%) Finance
3 332 (23.41%) Analytical Skills
4 107 (7.55%) Aerospace
5 102 (7.19%) Electronics
6 96 (6.77%) Manufacturing
7 93 (6.56%) Banking
8 87 (6.14%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 57 (4.02%) Retail
10 52 (3.67%) Law
11 49 (3.46%) Public Sector
12 42 (2.96%) Legal
12 42 (2.96%) Marketing
12 42 (2.96%) Organisational Skills
12 42 (2.96%) Pharmaceutical
13 41 (2.89%) Games
14 33 (2.33%) Automotive
15 32 (2.26%) Financial Institution
16 23 (1.62%) Documentation Skills
17 21 (1.48%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 245 (17.28%) Senior
2 228 (16.08%) Analyst
3 124 (8.74%) Systems Engineer
4 107 (7.55%) Lead
5 96 (6.77%) Test Engineer
6 92 (6.49%) Architect
7 82 (5.78%) Validation Engineer
8 78 (5.50%) Data Engineer
9 72 (5.08%) Business Analyst
10 68 (4.80%) Data Analyst
11 65 (4.58%) Developer
12 43 (3.03%) Principal Engineer
13 40 (2.82%) Support Engineer
14 39 (2.75%) Embedded Engineer
14 39 (2.75%) IT Manager
15 37 (2.61%) Consultant
16 35 (2.47%) Integration Engineer
16 35 (2.47%) Security Architect
17 34 (2.40%) Project Manager
17 34 (2.40%) Senior Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (3.03%) RESTful
2 33 (2.33%) PySpark
3 32 (2.26%) REST
4 31 (2.19%) JSON
4 31 (2.19%) Node.js
5 30 (2.12%) Kafka
6 27 (1.90%) XML
7 25 (1.76%) Pandas
8 23 (1.62%) Middleware
9 22 (1.55%) .NET
10 20 (1.41%) pytest
11 19 (1.34%) Playwright
12 18 (1.27%) Regular Expression
12 18 (1.27%) XMPP
13 17 (1.20%) CSS
13 17 (1.20%) Swagger
14 16 (1.13%) HTML
15 14 (0.99%) FastAPI
15 14 (0.99%) LDAP
16 13 (0.92%) PyTorch
Miscellaneous
1 90 (6.35%) Cloud Native
2 76 (5.36%) Onboarding
3 64 (4.51%) Data Structures
4 61 (4.30%) Management Information System
5 48 (3.39%) Low-Code
6 42 (2.96%) Product Ownership
7 40 (2.82%) Algorithms
7 40 (2.82%) Driving Licence
8 39 (2.75%) Embedded Systems
9 35 (2.47%) Data Centre
9 35 (2.47%) Distributed Systems
9 35 (2.47%) Enterprise Software
9 35 (2.47%) Self-Motivation
10 33 (2.33%) Analytical Mindset
11 31 (2.19%) Video\Live Streaming
12 29 (2.05%) Legacy Systems
13 28 (1.97%) Life Science
14 22 (1.55%) Robotics
15 19 (1.34%) PKI
16 18 (1.27%) FPGA
Operating Systems
1 94 (6.63%) Linux
2 68 (4.80%) Windows
3 28 (1.97%) Windows Server
4 23 (1.62%) Unix
5 18 (1.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (0.42%) Android
7 4 (0.28%) FreeRTOS
7 4 (0.28%) Kali Linux
7 4 (0.28%) Mac OS X
8 3 (0.21%) AIX
8 3 (0.21%) Apple iOS
8 3 (0.21%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.14%) Embedded Linux
9 2 (0.14%) ThreadX
10 1 (0.071%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.071%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 318 (22.43%) Problem-Solving
2 289 (20.38%) Agile
3 278 (19.61%) Continuous Improvement
4 246 (17.35%) AI
5 240 (16.93%) CI/CD
6 201 (14.17%) Test Automation
7 192 (13.54%) Analytics
8 174 (12.27%) Verification and Validation
9 166 (11.71%) Migration
10 164 (11.57%) Data Validation
11 161 (11.35%) Business Intelligence
12 152 (10.72%) DevOps
13 150 (10.58%) Data Modelling
14 147 (10.37%) Stakeholder Management
15 143 (10.08%) Decision-Making
16 140 (9.87%) Software Engineering
17 133 (9.38%) Data Governance
18 130 (9.17%) Mentoring
19 125 (8.82%) Stakeholder Engagement
20 121 (8.53%) Machine Learning
Programming Languages
1 348 (24.54%) Python
2 317 (22.36%) SQL
3 65 (4.58%) C++
4 63 (4.44%) C
5 57 (4.02%) Java
6 50 (3.53%) Go
7 39 (2.75%) C#
8 34 (2.40%) JavaScript
9 31 (2.19%) MATLAB
10 25 (1.76%) Bash
11 24 (1.69%) T-SQL
12 23 (1.62%) PowerShell
13 18 (1.27%) Embedded C
13 18 (1.27%) Embedded C++
14 16 (1.13%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 14 (0.99%) Scala
16 13 (0.92%) TypeScript
17 9 (0.63%) VBA
18 8 (0.56%) ABAP
19 7 (0.49%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 265 (18.69%) Degree
2 159 (11.21%) Security Cleared
3 98 (6.91%) BPSS Clearance
4 75 (5.29%) Master's Degree
5 74 (5.22%) SC Cleared
6 46 (3.24%) DV Cleared
7 37 (2.61%) Computer Science Degree
8 34 (2.40%) Chartered Engineer
9 27 (1.90%) CISA
9 27 (1.90%) CISSP
9 27 (1.90%) SANS
10 25 (1.76%) HNC
11 24 (1.69%) CISM
12 18 (1.27%) HND
13 17 (1.20%) ACCA
13 17 (1.20%) CGEIT
13 17 (1.20%) CIMA
13 17 (1.20%) FFIEC
14 14 (0.99%) PhD
14 14 (0.99%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 250 (17.63%) Data Quality
2 160 (11.28%) QA
3 51 (3.60%) GDPR
4 40 (2.82%) Accessibility
5 36 (2.54%) GRC
6 25 (1.76%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 21 (1.48%) NIST
8 19 (1.34%) ISO/IEC 15288
9 18 (1.27%) IEC 61508
9 18 (1.27%) IFRS
10 17 (1.20%) COBIT
11 16 (1.13%) PMO
12 14 (0.99%) ISO 9001
13 13 (0.92%) GAAP
14 12 (0.85%) ISO 26262
14 12 (0.85%) SLA
15 11 (0.78%) SOC 2
16 10 (0.71%) GxP
17 9 (0.63%) GMP
17 9 (0.63%) WCAG
System Software
1 63 (4.44%) Docker
2 43 (3.03%) Firmware
3 37 (2.61%) Active Directory
4 22 (1.55%) Virtual Machines
5 21 (1.48%) Embedded Firmware
6 19 (1.34%) vSphere
7 8 (0.56%) VMware Infrastructure
8 5 (0.35%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.14%) Terminal Services
10 1 (0.071%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 64 (4.51%) Terraform
2 63 (4.44%) Kubernetes
3 28 (1.97%) Grafana
4 23 (1.62%) Functional Safety
5 15 (1.06%) Prometheus
6 13 (0.92%) Ansible
7 10 (0.71%) Cilium
8 7 (0.49%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 7 (0.49%) Kibana
9 6 (0.42%) Puppet
9 6 (0.42%) SCCM
10 3 (0.21%) Argo
10 3 (0.21%) FortiGate
10 3 (0.21%) HP Fortify
10 3 (0.21%) Rancher
10 3 (0.21%) yum
11 2 (0.14%) BMC PATROL
11 2 (0.14%) Computer Incident Response Team
11 2 (0.14%) Nessus
11 2 (0.14%) Nmap
Vendors
1 185 (13.05%) Microsoft
2 87 (6.14%) SAP
3 83 (5.85%) Oracle
4 46 (3.24%) Salesforce
5 39 (2.75%) Databricks
6 32 (2.26%) Red Hat
6 32 (2.26%) ServiceNow
7 29 (2.05%) CrowdStrike
8 26 (1.83%) VMware
9 22 (1.55%) Palo Alto
9 22 (1.55%) Tenable
10 21 (1.48%) Cisco
10 21 (1.48%) Google
11 20 (1.41%) Adobe
12 14 (0.99%) Citrix
12 14 (0.99%) McAfee
13 13 (0.92%) Foundry
14 9 (0.63%) IBM
14 9 (0.63%) OpenAI
15 8 (0.56%) EMC