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

6 months to
15 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 143 194 183
Rank change year-on-year +51 -11 -30
Permanent jobs citing Validation 880 732 1,114
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.48% 1.64% 1.68%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.87% 1.77% 1.90%
Number of salaries quoted 483 275 683
10th Percentile £36,250 £36,750 £35,000
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 £78,750 £71,250 £73,500
90th Percentile £94,250 £100,000 £85,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -14.90%

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 47,129 41,258 58,606
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 79.49% 92.34% 88.19%
Number of salaries quoted 28,853 20,302 46,329
10th Percentile £29,000 £35,000 £29,750
25th Percentile £38,750 £46,250 £40,702
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £62,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -12.00% +13.64% -12.00%
75th Percentile £77,424 £82,500 £75,250
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 15 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 15 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 +57 302 £75,000 +11.11% 172
South East +28 192 £54,250 +3.33% 185
North of England -2 124 £60,000 +25.83% 113
Midlands +11 98 £36,250 -30.95% 115
North West +12 86 £55,000 +15.35% 74
East of England +16 82 £57,500 +4.55% 74
South West +11 68 £62,500 +18.82% 58
West Midlands +9 62 £41,108 -26.92% 76
East Midlands +1 35 £35,000 -32.69% 38
Yorkshire -18 29 £65,000 +60.60% 32
North East -8 9 £45,497 +9.63% 7
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 20 (2.27%) Apache Airflow
2 16 (1.82%) Confluence
3 13 (1.48%) Microsoft Exchange
4 12 (1.36%) Appian
5 11 (1.25%) Apache Spark
6 10 (1.14%) SharePoint
7 9 (1.02%) CMS
8 6 (0.68%) Apache
9 4 (0.45%) Headless CMS
10 2 (0.23%) Jupyter
10 2 (0.23%) Kinematics
10 2 (0.23%) SugarCRM
10 2 (0.23%) WordPress
11 1 (0.11%) Anypoint
11 1 (0.11%) FileNet
11 1 (0.11%) SAS
Applications
1 77 (8.75%) Microsoft Excel
2 54 (6.14%) Microsoft Office
3 13 (1.48%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (1.02%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.80%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 4 (0.45%) Fusion 360
6 4 (0.45%) Simulink
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%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.23%) Weka
8 1 (0.11%) GNU Octave
8 1 (0.11%) OrCAD
8 1 (0.11%) Revit
8 1 (0.11%) Solid Edge
Business Applications
1 19 (2.16%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (1.25%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.45%) SAP BPC
4 3 (0.34%) SAP CX
4 3 (0.34%) Workday HCM
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 (0.11%) Aladdin
6 1 (0.11%) Endur
6 1 (0.11%) Loan IQ
6 1 (0.11%) Magento
6 1 (0.11%) Oracle Financials
6 1 (0.11%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.11%) Remedy ITSM
6 1 (0.11%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.11%) SAP Business ByDesign
6 1 (0.11%) SAP FSCM
Cloud Services
1 133 (15.11%) Azure
2 81 (9.20%) Power Platform
3 53 (6.02%) AWS
4 47 (5.34%) SaaS
5 37 (4.20%) Azure DevOps
6 27 (3.07%) GCP
7 22 (2.50%) Azure Data Factory
8 20 (2.27%) Power Automate
8 20 (2.27%) Snowflake
9 19 (2.16%) Dynamics 365
9 19 (2.16%) Microsoft 365
10 18 (2.05%) Entra ID
11 16 (1.82%) dbt
11 16 (1.82%) GitHub
12 12 (1.36%) Anthropic Claude
12 12 (1.36%) Azure AI
13 11 (1.25%) Figma
14 10 (1.14%) Amazon S3
15 9 (1.02%) Datadog
15 9 (1.02%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 20 (2.27%) CHAP
2 12 (1.36%) WAN
3 11 (1.25%) SD-WAN
4 10 (1.14%) 5G
4 10 (1.14%) Firewall
5 8 (0.91%) DNS
5 8 (0.91%) HTTP
5 8 (0.91%) LAN
5 8 (0.91%) MQTT
6 7 (0.80%) TCP/IP
7 6 (0.68%) Modbus
8 5 (0.57%) Cisco IOS
8 5 (0.57%) VoIP
8 5 (0.57%) WAAS
8 5 (0.57%) Wireless
9 4 (0.45%) Ethernet VPN
9 4 (0.45%) NAS
9 4 (0.45%) SMTP
10 3 (0.34%) Internet
10 3 (0.34%) WinSCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 79 (8.98%) Power BI
2 36 (4.09%) SQL Server
3 23 (2.61%) Data Warehouse
3 23 (2.61%) Metadata
3 23 (2.61%) Relational Database
4 15 (1.70%) Tableau
5 13 (1.48%) Oracle Reports
6 12 (1.36%) Azure SQL Database
6 12 (1.36%) Pinecone
6 12 (1.36%) PostgreSQL
7 11 (1.25%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 10 (1.14%) Spotfire
9 9 (1.02%) Data Lake
10 8 (0.91%) Amazon Redshift
10 8 (0.91%) MySQL
11 7 (0.80%) BigQuery
11 7 (0.80%) Data Vault
11 7 (0.80%) DB2
12 6 (0.68%) Data Mining
12 6 (0.68%) GIS
Development Applications
1 53 (6.02%) JIRA
2 41 (4.66%) Git
3 36 (4.09%) Rational DOORS
4 22 (2.50%) Postman
5 17 (1.93%) Jenkins
6 15 (1.70%) GitLab
7 14 (1.59%) MLflow
8 13 (1.48%) LabVIEW
9 12 (1.36%) Selenium
10 11 (1.25%) Eclipse
11 10 (1.14%) Cucumber
11 10 (1.14%) TestRail
12 9 (1.02%) JMeter
12 9 (1.02%) SoapUI
13 7 (0.80%) LoadRunner
14 6 (0.68%) Subversion
15 5 (0.57%) SpecFlow
15 5 (0.57%) Zephyr
16 4 (0.45%) Fiddler
16 4 (0.45%) TestNG
General
1 322 (36.59%) Social Skills
2 240 (27.27%) Finance
3 209 (23.75%) Analytical Skills
4 69 (7.84%) Banking
5 51 (5.80%) Financial Institution
6 50 (5.68%) Electronics
7 48 (5.45%) Marketing
8 41 (4.66%) Manufacturing
9 38 (4.32%) Law
9 38 (4.32%) Presentation Skills
10 34 (3.86%) Aerospace
11 29 (3.30%) Legal
12 28 (3.18%) Organisational Skills
12 28 (3.18%) Telecoms
13 26 (2.95%) Retail
14 23 (2.61%) Public Sector
15 22 (2.50%) Documentation Skills
15 22 (2.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 18 (2.05%) Billing
17 17 (1.93%) Avionics
Job Titles
1 141 (16.02%) Analyst
2 134 (15.23%) Senior
3 107 (12.16%) Systems Engineer
4 68 (7.73%) Lead
5 60 (6.82%) Architect
6 52 (5.91%) Test Engineer
7 48 (5.45%) Business Analyst
8 47 (5.34%) Validation Engineer
9 42 (4.77%) Integration Engineer
10 40 (4.55%) Data Analyst
11 33 (3.75%) Junior
11 33 (3.75%) Systems Integration Engineer
12 32 (3.64%) Principal Engineer
13 30 (3.41%) Data Engineer
14 27 (3.07%) Developer
14 27 (3.07%) Solutions Architect
15 26 (2.95%) Senior Systems Engineer
16 24 (2.73%) Auditor
16 24 (2.73%) Principal Systems Engineer
16 24 (2.73%) Verification Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (5.68%) REST
2 32 (3.64%) Middleware
3 30 (3.41%) JSON
4 27 (3.07%) Pandas
5 26 (2.95%) pytest
6 23 (2.61%) XML
7 19 (2.16%) PyTorch
7 19 (2.16%) TensorFlow
8 18 (2.05%) NumPy
8 18 (2.05%) scikit-learn
9 17 (1.93%) OAuth
10 16 (1.82%) JWT
10 16 (1.82%) Swagger
10 16 (1.82%) Web Services
11 15 (1.70%) FastAPI
12 14 (1.59%) CSS
12 14 (1.59%) Flask
12 14 (1.59%) RESTful
13 13 (1.48%) HTML
13 13 (1.48%) React
Miscellaneous
1 59 (6.70%) Management Information System
2 40 (4.55%) Onboarding
3 32 (3.64%) Data Structures
4 30 (3.41%) Self-Motivation
5 26 (2.95%) Legacy Systems
6 23 (2.61%) Low-Code
6 23 (2.61%) Product Ownership
7 19 (2.16%) Life Science
8 18 (2.05%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 17 (1.93%) Analytical Mindset
10 15 (1.70%) Enterprise Software
11 13 (1.48%) Blockchain
11 13 (1.48%) Reinsurance
11 13 (1.48%) SWIFT Messaging Network
12 12 (1.36%) Algorithms
13 11 (1.25%) Self-Driving Car
14 10 (1.14%) Data Centre
14 10 (1.14%) IoT
15 8 (0.91%) CMDB
15 8 (0.91%) e-Learning
Operating Systems
1 38 (4.32%) Windows
2 37 (4.20%) Linux
3 14 (1.59%) Unix
4 10 (1.14%) Android
5 6 (0.68%) Windows Server
6 4 (0.45%) Apple iOS
7 3 (0.34%) AIX
7 3 (0.34%) Robot Operating System
8 2 (0.23%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.23%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 213 (24.20%) Agile
2 194 (22.05%) Problem-Solving
3 157 (17.84%) Verification and Validation
4 126 (14.32%) Data Validation
5 118 (13.41%) Analytics
6 116 (13.18%) Continuous Improvement
7 107 (12.16%) Test Automation
8 101 (11.48%) DevOps
9 99 (11.25%) Migration
10 97 (11.02%) Business Intelligence
11 94 (10.68%) CI/CD
11 94 (10.68%) Systems Engineering
12 88 (10.00%) AI
12 88 (10.00%) Mentoring
13 83 (9.43%) Decision-Making
14 81 (9.20%) Data Modelling
14 81 (9.20%) Software Engineering
14 81 (9.20%) Stakeholder Management
15 80 (9.09%) ETL
16 79 (8.98%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 203 (23.07%) SQL
2 168 (19.09%) Python
3 34 (3.86%) Java
4 30 (3.41%) C
5 28 (3.18%) C++
6 27 (3.07%) PowerShell
7 24 (2.73%) JavaScript
8 19 (2.16%) MATLAB
9 17 (1.93%) Bash
10 15 (1.70%) T-SQL
11 12 (1.36%) TypeScript
12 9 (1.02%) C#
12 9 (1.02%) R
13 8 (0.91%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 7 (0.80%) Go
15 5 (0.57%) Bicep
15 5 (0.57%) PHP
15 5 (0.57%) VB
16 4 (0.45%) VBA
17 3 (0.34%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 231 (26.25%) Degree
2 113 (12.84%) Security Cleared
3 105 (11.93%) BPSS Clearance
4 47 (5.34%) Master's Degree
5 44 (5.00%) SC Cleared
6 39 (4.43%) Computer Science Degree
7 25 (2.84%) CISA
7 25 (2.84%) CISSP
8 23 (2.61%) CISM
9 21 (2.39%) CGEIT
9 21 (2.39%) FFIEC
9 21 (2.39%) SANS
10 19 (2.16%) DV Cleared
11 16 (1.82%) HNC
11 16 (1.82%) ISTQB
12 14 (1.59%) Chartered Engineer
13 13 (1.48%) PMI Certification
13 13 (1.48%) PMP
14 12 (1.36%) HND
15 8 (0.91%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 109 (12.39%) Data Quality
2 88 (10.00%) QA
3 46 (5.23%) GDPR
4 37 (4.20%) ISO/IEC 15288
5 27 (3.07%) Accessibility
6 21 (2.39%) COBIT
6 21 (2.39%) NIST
7 17 (1.93%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 17 (1.93%) SLA
8 13 (1.48%) ISO 20022
8 13 (1.48%) SEPA
9 10 (1.14%) Good Clinical Practice
9 10 (1.14%) GRC
10 9 (1.02%) TARGET2
10 9 (1.02%) WCAG
11 8 (0.91%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 8 (0.91%) GxP
11 8 (0.91%) ISO/IEC 12207
12 7 (0.80%) IFRS
13 5 (0.57%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 47 (5.34%) Docker
2 16 (1.82%) Firmware
3 14 (1.59%) Active Directory
4 5 (0.57%) Hyper-V
5 4 (0.45%) VMware Infrastructure
6 3 (0.34%) VMware ESXi
6 3 (0.34%) vSphere
7 2 (0.23%) Ceph
7 2 (0.23%) Lustre
7 2 (0.23%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.11%) iptables
8 1 (0.11%) OpenAM
8 1 (0.11%) OpenDJ
8 1 (0.11%) OpenIDM
8 1 (0.11%) pfSense
8 1 (0.11%) Terminal Services
8 1 (0.11%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 41 (4.66%) Kubernetes
2 29 (3.30%) Terraform
3 16 (1.82%) Ansible
4 13 (1.48%) Grafana
5 10 (1.14%) Prometheus
6 7 (0.80%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
6 7 (0.80%) Microsoft Intune
6 7 (0.80%) SCCM
7 5 (0.57%) Argo
7 5 (0.57%) Rancher
7 5 (0.57%) yum
8 2 (0.23%) BMC PATROL
8 2 (0.23%) Nessus
8 2 (0.23%) PowerCLI
8 2 (0.23%) Puppet
9 1 (0.11%) Control-M
9 1 (0.11%) Kibana
9 1 (0.11%) Single Sign-On
9 1 (0.11%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 114 (12.95%) Microsoft
2 52 (5.91%) SAP
3 33 (3.75%) Oracle
4 28 (3.18%) Salesforce
5 20 (2.27%) Cisco
6 17 (1.93%) Foundry
7 14 (1.59%) IBM
7 14 (1.59%) OpenAI
7 14 (1.59%) ServiceNow
7 14 (1.59%) Software AG
8 13 (1.48%) Adobe
9 12 (1.36%) Automation Anywhere
9 12 (1.36%) Databricks
9 12 (1.36%) UiPath
10 8 (0.91%) Citrix
10 8 (0.91%) F5
10 8 (0.91%) Intapp
11 7 (0.80%) CheckPoint
11 7 (0.80%) Google
11 7 (0.80%) Guidewire