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 2 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 67 88 176
Rank change year-on-year +21 +88 +25
Permanent jobs citing Validation 2,383 1,503 1,045
As % of all permanent jobs in England 2.29% 3.48% 1.56%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.11% 3.90% 1.90%
Number of salaries quoted 1,408 412 394
10th Percentile £35,925 £38,750 £38,734
25th Percentile £42,750 £41,250 £46,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,750 £55,000 £57,004
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -3.52% -12.30%
75th Percentile £71,250 £77,500 £75,000
90th Percentile £86,250 £90,000 £95,000
UK median annual salary £59,490 £55,000 £58,033
% change year-on-year +8.16% -5.23% -10.72%

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 76,510 38,541 55,124
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.60% 89.13% 82.33%
Number of salaries quoted 53,897 21,791 29,983
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £32,500
25th Percentile £42,000 £36,750 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -2.44%
75th Percentile £80,000 £76,250 £78,250
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £97,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £58,465
% change year-on-year +9.09% -5.93% -2.56%

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 2 October 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 2 October 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 +74 618 £70,000 -12.50% 2,138
South East -15 499 £62,500 +16.28% 749
North of England +116 479 £51,000 +6.96% 474
Midlands -17 304 £50,000 -9.09% 368
North West +103 299 £55,000 +9.88% 255
South West +24 247 £55,000 +4.56% 368
East of England -45 207 £55,000 -8.33% 386
West Midlands +48 171 £48,750 -11.36% 242
East Midlands -43 133 £50,000 +17.65% 126
Yorkshire +29 93 £42,500 - 146
North East +3 87 £55,000 +57.14% 74
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 49 (2.06%) Apache Spark
2 43 (1.80%) Apache Airflow
3 42 (1.76%) Apache
4 38 (1.59%) Confluence
5 35 (1.47%) SharePoint
6 18 (0.76%) CMS
6 18 (0.76%) Jupyter
7 13 (0.55%) Microsoft Exchange
7 13 (0.55%) SAS
8 10 (0.42%) WinCC
9 6 (0.25%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 4 (0.17%) Palantir Foundry
11 3 (0.13%) Artix
11 3 (0.13%) nginx
11 3 (0.13%) OpenStack
11 3 (0.13%) Oracle SOA Suite
12 2 (0.084%) Cloud Foundry
12 2 (0.084%) IIS
13 1 (0.042%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
13 1 (0.042%) Kinematics
Applications
1 149 (6.25%) Microsoft Excel
2 67 (2.81%) Microsoft Office
3 52 (2.18%) Simulink
4 37 (1.55%) Microsoft Project
5 25 (1.05%) Spreadsheet
6 20 (0.84%) AutoCAD
6 20 (0.84%) SOLIDWORKS
7 15 (0.63%) MS Visio
8 13 (0.55%) Revit
9 11 (0.46%) Microsoft PowerPoint
10 10 (0.42%) OrCAD
11 8 (0.34%) Navisworks
12 7 (0.29%) EPLAN
13 5 (0.21%) Mathcad
14 4 (0.17%) CANalyzer
14 4 (0.17%) Stateflow
15 3 (0.13%) Autodesk Inventor
15 3 (0.13%) LaTeX
15 3 (0.13%) Productboard
15 3 (0.13%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 42 (1.76%) SAP S/4HANA
2 38 (1.59%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.46%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.42%) Workday HCM
5 9 (0.38%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.34%) NetSuite
6 8 (0.34%) Oracle Applications
7 7 (0.29%) Infor M3
7 7 (0.29%) SAP ERP
8 5 (0.21%) iTrent
8 5 (0.21%) Oracle Financials
8 5 (0.21%) SAP MDG-BP
9 4 (0.17%) Elite 3E
9 4 (0.17%) Salesforce CRM
9 4 (0.17%) SAP MM
9 4 (0.17%) Teamcenter
10 3 (0.13%) Oracle Payables
10 3 (0.13%) Oracle Receivables
10 3 (0.13%) Sage 200
10 3 (0.13%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 317 (13.30%) Azure
2 257 (10.78%) AWS
3 181 (7.60%) Power Platform
4 98 (4.11%) GCP
5 77 (3.23%) GitHub
6 74 (3.11%) Azure DevOps
7 66 (2.77%) Microsoft 365
8 65 (2.73%) SaaS
9 61 (2.56%) Serverless
10 44 (1.85%) Amazon S3
11 42 (1.76%) Entra ID
12 37 (1.55%) GitHub Actions
13 36 (1.51%) Dynamics 365
14 35 (1.47%) Microsoft Copilot
15 29 (1.22%) Microsoft Purview
16 26 (1.09%) Amazon EMR
16 26 (1.09%) Azure Data Factory
16 26 (1.09%) Cloud Computing
17 22 (0.92%) Azure Service Bus
18 21 (0.88%) Amazon CloudWatch
Communications & Networking
1 70 (2.94%) DNS
2 63 (2.64%) Firewall
3 54 (2.27%) Broadband
4 43 (1.80%) VPN
5 40 (1.68%) TCP/IP
6 38 (1.59%) Network Security
7 36 (1.51%) Ethernet
7 36 (1.51%) Wireless
8 35 (1.47%) Modbus
9 34 (1.43%) WAN
10 32 (1.34%) VLAN
11 29 (1.22%) LAN
12 27 (1.13%) OSPF
13 25 (1.05%) MQTT
14 24 (1.01%) Wireshark
15 22 (0.92%) SD-WAN
16 20 (0.84%) BGP
17 18 (0.76%) 5G
17 18 (0.76%) DHCP
18 17 (0.71%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 169 (7.09%) Power BI
2 63 (2.64%) Metadata
3 60 (2.52%) Data Warehouse
4 54 (2.27%) SQL Server
5 50 (2.10%) PostgreSQL
6 49 (2.06%) Data Lake
7 38 (1.59%) Relational Database
8 37 (1.55%) Amazon Athena
9 34 (1.43%) Tableau
10 31 (1.30%) MongoDB
11 28 (1.17%) NoSQL
12 26 (1.09%) Big Data
13 25 (1.05%) DynamoDB
14 24 (1.01%) BigQuery
15 22 (0.92%) SQL Server Integration Services
16 21 (0.88%) Azure SQL Database
17 19 (0.80%) Amazon Redshift
17 19 (0.80%) Power Query
17 19 (0.80%) Semantic Layer
18 18 (0.76%) MySQL
Development Applications
1 140 (5.87%) JIRA
2 125 (5.25%) Git
3 60 (2.52%) Jenkins
4 56 (2.35%) GitLab
5 44 (1.85%) Rational DOORS
6 30 (1.26%) LabVIEW
7 22 (0.92%) Selenium
7 22 (0.92%) Snyk
8 19 (0.80%) Postman
9 17 (0.71%) Cypress.io
10 12 (0.50%) Claude Code
11 11 (0.46%) Burp Suite
11 11 (0.46%) Eclipse
11 11 (0.46%) Rational Rhapsody
12 10 (0.42%) JMeter
12 10 (0.42%) TeamCity
13 9 (0.38%) Cucumber
13 9 (0.38%) MLflow
14 8 (0.34%) Gatling
14 8 (0.34%) REST Assured
General
1 801 (33.61%) Social Skills
2 610 (25.60%) Finance
3 564 (23.67%) Analytical Skills
4 235 (9.86%) Manufacturing
5 229 (9.61%) Electronics
6 226 (9.48%) Aerospace
7 198 (8.31%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 123 (5.16%) Law
9 106 (4.45%) Organisational Skills
9 106 (4.45%) Public Sector
10 104 (4.36%) Banking
11 102 (4.28%) Marketing
11 102 (4.28%) Retail
12 86 (3.61%) Telecoms
13 83 (3.48%) Pharmaceutical
14 82 (3.44%) Automotive
15 52 (2.18%) Legal
16 46 (1.93%) Military
17 42 (1.76%) Documentation Skills
18 40 (1.68%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 434 (18.21%) Senior
2 266 (11.16%) Systems Engineer
3 261 (10.95%) Analyst
4 189 (7.93%) Lead
5 121 (5.08%) Test Engineer
6 119 (4.99%) Data Engineer
7 113 (4.74%) Architect
8 100 (4.20%) Developer
9 89 (3.73%) Software Engineer
10 82 (3.44%) Business Analyst
10 82 (3.44%) Principal Engineer
11 81 (3.40%) Consultant
12 73 (3.06%) Electronics Engineer
13 65 (2.73%) Data Analyst
14 60 (2.52%) Validation Engineer
15 57 (2.39%) Network Engineer
16 51 (2.14%) Automation Engineer
17 47 (1.97%) Data Scientist
18 46 (1.93%) Embedded Engineer
19 45 (1.89%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 87 (3.65%) Terraform
2 64 (2.69%) REST
3 59 (2.48%) RESTful
4 57 (2.39%) Kafka
5 49 (2.06%) Node.js
6 48 (2.01%) .NET
7 37 (1.55%) PySpark
8 36 (1.51%) JSON
8 36 (1.51%) Playwright
9 34 (1.43%) FastAPI
10 31 (1.30%) CSS
11 30 (1.26%) React
12 29 (1.22%) HTML
12 29 (1.22%) XML
13 26 (1.09%) Swagger
14 23 (0.97%) LDAP
14 23 (0.97%) Middleware
14 23 (0.97%) RabbitMQ
15 22 (0.92%) OAuth
16 21 (0.88%) ModSecurity
Miscellaneous
1 157 (6.59%) Cloud Native
2 140 (5.87%) Onboarding
3 137 (5.75%) Management Information System
4 79 (3.32%) Data Centre
5 78 (3.27%) Product Ownership
6 67 (2.81%) Driving Licence
7 65 (2.73%) Distributed Systems
8 64 (2.69%) Embedded Systems
9 61 (2.56%) Data Structures
10 60 (2.52%) Enterprise Software
11 53 (2.22%) SCADA
12 49 (2.06%) AI Agents
13 48 (2.01%) Algorithms
13 48 (2.01%) Life Science
14 40 (1.68%) Analytical Mindset
14 40 (1.68%) Robotics
15 38 (1.59%) Legacy Systems
15 38 (1.59%) Low-Code
16 36 (1.51%) Self-Motivation
17 33 (1.38%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 132 (5.54%) Linux
2 92 (3.86%) Windows
3 31 (1.30%) Windows Server
4 26 (1.09%) Unix
5 13 (0.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (0.42%) Android
7 8 (0.34%) Embedded Linux
8 7 (0.29%) Mac OS
9 5 (0.21%) FreeRTOS
10 4 (0.17%) Kali Linux
10 4 (0.17%) Mac OS X
11 3 (0.13%) Apple iOS
12 2 (0.084%) Robot Operating System
12 2 (0.084%) VMS
12 2 (0.084%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.042%) AIX
13 1 (0.042%) OpenWrt
13 1 (0.042%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 621 (26.06%) Problem-Solving
2 531 (22.28%) Continuous Improvement
3 434 (18.21%) Agile
4 414 (17.37%) AI
5 406 (17.04%) Verification and Validation
6 344 (14.44%) CI/CD
7 329 (13.81%) Stakeholder Management
8 304 (12.76%) Test Automation
9 298 (12.51%) Migration
10 255 (10.70%) Analytics
11 252 (10.57%) Mentoring
12 246 (10.32%) Software Engineering
13 228 (9.57%) Decision-Making
14 222 (9.32%) DevOps
15 210 (8.81%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 209 (8.77%) Business Intelligence
16 209 (8.77%) Data Analysis
17 202 (8.48%) Roadmaps
18 193 (8.10%) Data Migration
19 185 (7.76%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 489 (20.52%) Python
2 428 (17.96%) SQL
3 95 (3.99%) C++
4 93 (3.90%) Java
5 87 (3.65%) C
6 71 (2.98%) JavaScript
7 68 (2.85%) C#
8 66 (2.77%) MATLAB
9 47 (1.97%) Go
10 35 (1.47%) Bash
11 33 (1.38%) PowerShell
12 31 (1.30%) TypeScript
13 29 (1.22%) Embedded C
14 25 (1.05%) Scala
15 22 (0.92%) R
16 18 (0.76%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 17 (0.71%) Embedded C++
18 12 (0.50%) Shell Script
19 10 (0.42%) Apex Code
20 9 (0.38%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 517 (21.70%) Degree
2 488 (20.48%) Security Cleared
3 356 (14.94%) SC Cleared
4 116 (4.87%) BPSS Clearance
5 97 (4.07%) DV Cleared
5 97 (4.07%) Master's Degree
6 50 (2.10%) Computer Science Degree
7 43 (1.80%) HND
8 38 (1.59%) PhD
9 37 (1.55%) Chartered Engineer
9 37 (1.55%) PMI Certification
10 36 (1.51%) HNC
11 32 (1.34%) CISSP
12 31 (1.30%) Azure Certification
13 29 (1.22%) ACCA
14 27 (1.13%) AWS Certification
15 26 (1.09%) CIMA
15 26 (1.09%) PMP
16 21 (0.88%) Cisco Certification
16 21 (0.88%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 361 (15.15%) Data Quality
2 296 (12.42%) QA
3 69 (2.90%) Accessibility
4 59 (2.48%) GDPR
5 37 (1.55%) GRC
6 32 (1.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 27 (1.13%) GxP
8 20 (0.84%) SLA
9 19 (0.80%) IEC 61508
9 19 (0.80%) NIST
10 16 (0.67%) ISO/IEC 15288
11 15 (0.63%) ISO 9001
12 13 (0.55%) ISO 19650
12 13 (0.55%) ISO 26262
12 13 (0.55%) PMO
12 13 (0.55%) SOC 2
13 12 (0.50%) GMP
14 9 (0.38%) GAAP
14 9 (0.38%) WCAG
15 8 (0.34%) IFRS
System Software
1 107 (4.49%) Docker
2 93 (3.90%) Firmware
3 48 (2.01%) Active Directory
4 43 (1.80%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.17%) Virtual Machines
6 15 (0.63%) vSphere
7 8 (0.34%) VMware Infrastructure
8 6 (0.25%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.13%) KVM
10 2 (0.084%) iptables
10 2 (0.084%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.084%) Virtual Servers
10 2 (0.084%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.042%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 91 (3.82%) Kubernetes
2 41 (1.72%) Grafana
3 33 (1.38%) Ansible
4 30 (1.26%) Functional Safety
5 18 (0.76%) Single Sign-On
6 16 (0.67%) Prometheus
7 12 (0.50%) Microsoft Intune
8 10 (0.42%) Puppet
9 9 (0.38%) Cilium
10 8 (0.34%) BMC PATROL
10 8 (0.34%) Kibana
10 8 (0.34%) Nessus
10 8 (0.34%) Nmap
11 5 (0.21%) WMI
12 4 (0.17%) Argo
12 4 (0.17%) FortiGate
12 4 (0.17%) Kubeflow
12 4 (0.17%) Rancher
12 4 (0.17%) SCCM
12 4 (0.17%) yum
Vendors
1 323 (13.55%) Microsoft
2 125 (5.25%) SAP
3 105 (4.41%) Oracle
4 81 (3.40%) Salesforce
5 63 (2.64%) EMC
6 61 (2.56%) Databricks
7 54 (2.27%) ServiceNow
8 51 (2.14%) Cisco
9 36 (1.51%) Google
10 32 (1.34%) CrowdStrike
11 26 (1.09%) Palo Alto
12 25 (1.05%) Adobe
12 25 (1.05%) Sage
13 23 (0.97%) Tenable
14 21 (0.88%) Informatica
14 21 (0.88%) VMware
15 20 (0.84%) Thales
16 19 (0.80%) IBM
16 19 (0.80%) Siemens
17 17 (0.71%) Red Hat