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 5 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 81 81 180
Rank change year-on-year 0 +99 +18
Permanent jobs citing Validation 2,044 1,546 1,035
As % of all permanent jobs in England 2.08% 3.58% 1.49%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.84% 4.05% 1.84%
Number of salaries quoted 1,245 457 422
10th Percentile £36,250 £38,750 £39,000
25th Percentile £43,250 £41,250 £46,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £55,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +4.55% -4.35% -11.54%
75th Percentile £72,500 £75,000 £74,688
90th Percentile £87,000 £91,500 £95,000
UK median annual salary £57,500 £55,000 £58,033
% change year-on-year +4.55% -5.23% -9.32%

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 71,905 38,217 56,104
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.27% 88.53% 80.99%
Number of salaries quoted 51,202 22,024 33,984
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £42,500 £37,397 £41,750
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 £76,250
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £95,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -4.17%

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 5 September 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 5 September 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 +65 524 £70,000 -12.50% 1,297
South East -15 466 £60,000 +11.63% 448
North of England +100 411 £55,000 +15.79% 247
North West +96 245 £55,000 +15.35% 140
Midlands -38 235 £47,500 -13.64% 230
South West +18 211 £55,000 +4.56% 271
East of England -57 164 £56,250 -6.25% 268
West Midlands +28 134 £47,500 -13.64% 158
East Midlands -60 100 £46,209 +8.73% 72
Yorkshire +3 83 £43,000 +1.18% 63
North East -1 83 £55,000 +57.14% 47
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 43 (2.10%) Apache Airflow
1 43 (2.10%) Apache Spark
2 40 (1.96%) Apache
3 32 (1.57%) Confluence
4 31 (1.52%) SharePoint
5 18 (0.88%) Jupyter
6 13 (0.64%) SAS
7 9 (0.44%) Microsoft Exchange
8 7 (0.34%) WinCC
9 5 (0.24%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 5 (0.24%) CMS
10 3 (0.15%) Artix
10 3 (0.15%) Kinematics
10 3 (0.15%) Oracle SOA Suite
11 2 (0.098%) Cloud Foundry
11 2 (0.098%) IIS
12 1 (0.049%) ArcGIS
12 1 (0.049%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
12 1 (0.049%) Oracle Workflow
12 1 (0.049%) WebSphere
Applications
1 115 (5.63%) Microsoft Excel
2 61 (2.98%) Microsoft Office
3 42 (2.05%) Simulink
4 36 (1.76%) Microsoft Project
5 17 (0.83%) SOLIDWORKS
5 17 (0.83%) Spreadsheet
6 14 (0.68%) MS Visio
7 11 (0.54%) AutoCAD
7 11 (0.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
8 5 (0.24%) Mathcad
8 5 (0.24%) Revit
9 4 (0.20%) Adobe XD
9 4 (0.20%) OrCAD
9 4 (0.20%) Sketch
10 3 (0.15%) Autodesk Inventor
10 3 (0.15%) LaTeX
10 3 (0.15%) Navisworks
10 3 (0.15%) Productboard
10 3 (0.15%) Stateflow
11 2 (0.098%) Solid Edge
Business Applications
1 39 (1.91%) Dynamics CRM
2 37 (1.81%) SAP S/4HANA
3 10 (0.49%) SAP MDG
4 9 (0.44%) Oracle EBS
5 8 (0.39%) Oracle Applications
6 7 (0.34%) NetSuite
6 7 (0.34%) SAP ERP
6 7 (0.34%) Workday HCM
7 5 (0.24%) Elite 3E
7 5 (0.24%) iTrent
7 5 (0.24%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.20%) Oracle Financials
8 4 (0.20%) SAP MM
9 3 (0.15%) Infor M3
9 3 (0.15%) Loan IQ
9 3 (0.15%) Oracle ERP
9 3 (0.15%) SystmOne
9 3 (0.15%) Teamcenter
10 2 (0.098%) Dynamics NAV
10 2 (0.098%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 269 (13.16%) Azure
2 233 (11.40%) AWS
3 163 (7.97%) Power Platform
4 87 (4.26%) GCP
5 66 (3.23%) SaaS
6 63 (3.08%) Azure DevOps
7 62 (3.03%) Microsoft 365
8 55 (2.69%) GitHub
9 43 (2.10%) Serverless
10 36 (1.76%) Amazon S3
11 35 (1.71%) Dynamics 365
12 32 (1.57%) Entra ID
13 28 (1.37%) GitHub Actions
13 28 (1.37%) Microsoft Copilot
14 24 (1.17%) Cloud Computing
15 22 (1.08%) Amazon EMR
16 21 (1.03%) Microsoft Purview
17 20 (0.98%) Amazon EC2
17 20 (0.98%) Azure Data Factory
17 20 (0.98%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 66 (3.23%) DNS
2 62 (3.03%) Firewall
3 60 (2.94%) Broadband
4 35 (1.71%) VPN
5 34 (1.66%) Network Security
5 34 (1.66%) Wireless
6 33 (1.61%) TCP/IP
6 33 (1.61%) WAN
7 27 (1.32%) Ethernet
8 25 (1.22%) LAN
9 22 (1.08%) SD-WAN
10 21 (1.03%) Modbus
10 21 (1.03%) OSPF
10 21 (1.03%) VLAN
11 20 (0.98%) MQTT
12 19 (0.93%) BGP
13 18 (0.88%) Wireshark
14 17 (0.83%) Wi-Fi
15 14 (0.68%) 5G
15 14 (0.68%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 151 (7.39%) Power BI
2 56 (2.74%) Data Warehouse
3 51 (2.50%) PostgreSQL
4 48 (2.35%) Metadata
5 45 (2.20%) SQL Server
6 43 (2.10%) Data Lake
7 38 (1.86%) Tableau
8 33 (1.61%) MongoDB
9 31 (1.52%) Relational Database
10 29 (1.42%) Amazon Athena
11 25 (1.22%) BigQuery
11 25 (1.22%) DynamoDB
12 21 (1.03%) Big Data
12 21 (1.03%) Semantic Layer
12 21 (1.03%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 20 (0.98%) Azure SQL Database
14 17 (0.83%) MySQL
14 17 (0.83%) NoSQL
15 15 (0.73%) Power Query
16 14 (0.68%) Delta Lake
Development Applications
1 119 (5.82%) JIRA
2 105 (5.14%) Git
3 53 (2.59%) Jenkins
4 46 (2.25%) GitLab
5 33 (1.61%) Rational DOORS
6 23 (1.13%) LabVIEW
7 22 (1.08%) Selenium
7 22 (1.08%) Snyk
8 18 (0.88%) Cypress.io
8 18 (0.88%) Postman
9 12 (0.59%) Cucumber
10 11 (0.54%) Burp Suite
11 10 (0.49%) JMeter
11 10 (0.49%) TeamCity
12 9 (0.44%) Gatling
13 8 (0.39%) Rational Rhapsody
13 8 (0.39%) REST Assured
14 7 (0.34%) Hudson
14 7 (0.34%) Metasploit
14 7 (0.34%) MLflow
General
1 670 (32.78%) Social Skills
2 516 (25.24%) Finance
3 491 (24.02%) Analytical Skills
4 187 (9.15%) Aerospace
5 184 (9.00%) Electronics
6 183 (8.95%) Manufacturing
7 175 (8.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 110 (5.38%) Law
9 94 (4.60%) Banking
10 82 (4.01%) Public Sector
11 79 (3.86%) Retail
12 74 (3.62%) Marketing
12 74 (3.62%) Pharmaceutical
13 71 (3.47%) Organisational Skills
14 61 (2.98%) Automotive
15 55 (2.69%) Legal
16 51 (2.50%) Telecoms
17 43 (2.10%) Games
18 42 (2.05%) Influencing Skills
19 36 (1.76%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 373 (18.25%) Senior
2 246 (12.04%) Analyst
3 231 (11.30%) Systems Engineer
4 169 (8.27%) Lead
5 125 (6.12%) Test Engineer
6 110 (5.38%) Architect
7 99 (4.84%) Data Engineer
8 89 (4.35%) Developer
9 75 (3.67%) Business Analyst
10 72 (3.52%) Consultant
10 72 (3.52%) Software Engineer
11 66 (3.23%) Principal Engineer
11 66 (3.23%) Validation Engineer
12 63 (3.08%) Data Analyst
13 49 (2.40%) Network Engineer
13 49 (2.40%) Support Engineer
14 48 (2.35%) Data Scientist
14 48 (2.35%) Embedded Engineer
15 44 (2.15%) Electronics Engineer
16 42 (2.05%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 73 (3.57%) Terraform
2 50 (2.45%) RESTful
3 49 (2.40%) Kafka
4 45 (2.20%) REST
5 40 (1.96%) Node.js
6 30 (1.47%) JSON
7 29 (1.42%) .NET
7 29 (1.42%) XML
8 27 (1.32%) LDAP
8 27 (1.32%) Playwright
8 27 (1.32%) PySpark
9 24 (1.17%) CSS
9 24 (1.17%) Middleware
10 23 (1.13%) HTML
11 22 (1.08%) FastAPI
12 21 (1.03%) ModSecurity
12 21 (1.03%) React
12 21 (1.03%) Swagger
13 20 (0.98%) XMPP
14 19 (0.93%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 143 (7.00%) Cloud Native
2 122 (5.97%) Onboarding
3 114 (5.58%) Management Information System
4 77 (3.77%) Data Centre
5 76 (3.72%) Product Ownership
6 59 (2.89%) Enterprise Software
7 58 (2.84%) Embedded Systems
8 57 (2.79%) Data Structures
8 57 (2.79%) Driving Licence
9 54 (2.64%) Distributed Systems
10 48 (2.35%) Algorithms
10 48 (2.35%) Low-Code
11 45 (2.20%) Life Science
12 40 (1.96%) Analytical Mindset
13 39 (1.91%) Robotics
14 38 (1.86%) Legacy Systems
15 37 (1.81%) AI Agents
15 37 (1.81%) SCADA
16 34 (1.66%) Video\Live Streaming
17 29 (1.42%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 131 (6.41%) Linux
2 91 (4.45%) Windows
3 35 (1.71%) Windows Server
4 24 (1.17%) Unix
5 19 (0.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (0.49%) Android
7 9 (0.44%) Embedded Linux
8 6 (0.29%) FreeRTOS
8 6 (0.29%) Mac OS
9 5 (0.24%) Kali Linux
10 4 (0.20%) Mac OS X
11 3 (0.15%) Apple iOS
12 2 (0.098%) Robot Operating System
12 2 (0.098%) ThreadX
12 2 (0.098%) VMS
12 2 (0.098%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.049%) AIX
13 1 (0.049%) OpenWrt
Processes & Methodologies
1 516 (25.24%) Problem-Solving
2 460 (22.50%) Continuous Improvement
3 383 (18.74%) Agile
4 359 (17.56%) AI
5 325 (15.90%) Verification and Validation
6 295 (14.43%) CI/CD
7 271 (13.26%) Stakeholder Management
8 256 (12.52%) Test Automation
9 248 (12.13%) Migration
10 236 (11.55%) Analytics
11 221 (10.81%) Mentoring
12 208 (10.18%) Software Engineering
13 207 (10.13%) Decision-Making
14 191 (9.34%) DevOps
15 189 (9.25%) Business Intelligence
16 178 (8.71%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 176 (8.61%) Machine Learning
18 175 (8.56%) Roadmaps
19 171 (8.37%) Data Analysis
20 162 (7.93%) Data Migration
Programming Languages
1 435 (21.28%) Python
2 374 (18.30%) SQL
3 88 (4.31%) C++
4 83 (4.06%) Java
5 82 (4.01%) C
6 61 (2.98%) JavaScript
7 55 (2.69%) MATLAB
8 54 (2.64%) Go
9 47 (2.30%) C#
10 31 (1.52%) Bash
11 28 (1.37%) Embedded C
12 27 (1.32%) PowerShell
13 23 (1.13%) Scala
14 20 (0.98%) TypeScript
15 18 (0.88%) Embedded C++
16 16 (0.78%) R
17 12 (0.59%) T-SQL
18 11 (0.54%) Data Analysis Expressions
19 8 (0.39%) ABAP
19 8 (0.39%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 433 (21.18%) Degree
2 406 (19.86%) Security Cleared
3 280 (13.70%) SC Cleared
4 111 (5.43%) BPSS Clearance
5 98 (4.79%) DV Cleared
6 88 (4.31%) Master's Degree
7 47 (2.30%) Computer Science Degree
8 36 (1.76%) CISSP
9 34 (1.66%) PhD
10 33 (1.61%) PMI Certification
11 31 (1.52%) Chartered Engineer
12 29 (1.42%) HNC
13 28 (1.37%) HND
14 27 (1.32%) CISM
15 24 (1.17%) ACCA
15 24 (1.17%) AWS Certification
15 24 (1.17%) Azure Certification
16 22 (1.08%) CIMA
17 21 (1.03%) Cisco Certification
18 20 (0.98%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 310 (15.17%) Data Quality
2 271 (13.26%) QA
3 66 (3.23%) Accessibility
4 55 (2.69%) GDPR
5 37 (1.81%) GRC
6 28 (1.37%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 26 (1.27%) GxP
8 22 (1.08%) IEC 61508
9 20 (0.98%) NIST
10 17 (0.83%) PMO
11 15 (0.73%) ISO 26262
11 15 (0.73%) SLA
12 13 (0.64%) ISO 9001
13 11 (0.54%) GAAP
13 11 (0.54%) GMP
13 11 (0.54%) IFRS
13 11 (0.54%) SOC 2
13 11 (0.54%) WCAG
14 10 (0.49%) ISO/IEC 15288
15 9 (0.44%) Def Stans
System Software
1 80 (3.91%) Docker
2 77 (3.77%) Firmware
3 48 (2.35%) Active Directory
4 36 (1.76%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.37%) Virtual Machines
6 21 (1.03%) vSphere
7 10 (0.49%) VMware Infrastructure
8 4 (0.20%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.15%) KVM
10 2 (0.098%) iptables
10 2 (0.098%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.098%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.049%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.049%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 79 (3.86%) Kubernetes
2 36 (1.76%) Grafana
3 29 (1.42%) Ansible
4 26 (1.27%) Functional Safety
5 15 (0.73%) Prometheus
5 15 (0.73%) Single Sign-On
6 10 (0.49%) Cilium
7 7 (0.34%) Kibana
7 7 (0.34%) Microsoft Intune
7 7 (0.34%) Nessus
7 7 (0.34%) Nmap
7 7 (0.34%) Puppet
8 5 (0.24%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 5 (0.24%) FortiGate
8 5 (0.24%) SCCM
8 5 (0.24%) WMI
9 4 (0.20%) BMC PATROL
9 4 (0.20%) HP Fortify
9 4 (0.20%) Kubeflow
10 2 (0.098%) SolarWinds Orion
Vendors
1 266 (13.01%) Microsoft
2 115 (5.63%) SAP
3 97 (4.75%) Oracle
4 58 (2.84%) Salesforce
5 52 (2.54%) Databricks
6 51 (2.50%) Cisco
6 51 (2.50%) ServiceNow
7 36 (1.76%) Google
8 30 (1.47%) CrowdStrike
9 29 (1.42%) VMware
10 27 (1.32%) EMC
11 26 (1.27%) Palo Alto
12 23 (1.13%) Red Hat
12 23 (1.13%) Tenable
13 15 (0.73%) McAfee
13 15 (0.73%) Splunk
14 14 (0.68%) IBM
14 14 (0.68%) Workday
15 13 (0.64%) Okta
16 12 (0.59%) ForgeRock