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

6 months to
31 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 98 77 203
Rank change year-on-year -21 +126 -15
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,640 1,576 1,048
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.80% 3.62% 1.38%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.43% 4.04% 1.69%
Number of salaries quoted 997 471 536
10th Percentile £35,000 £39,000 £36,250
25th Percentile £42,500 £42,500 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year - -4.35% -9.80%
75th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £72,500
90th Percentile £90,300 £92,500 £87,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year - -4.35% -8.00%

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 67,388 39,043 61,896
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.82% 89.74% 81.57%
Number of salaries quoted 47,625 22,552 42,071
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,750 £30,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £38,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,920 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.30% +1.67% -11.29%
75th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £95,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.33%

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 31 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 31 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 +77 464 £75,000 -4.76% 520
South East -37 362 £56,000 +1.82% 271
North of England +104 348 £55,000 +15.79% 167
North West +92 207 £55,000 +15.35% 96
Midlands -61 191 £42,500 -22.73% 129
South West -27 131 £51,750 -1.62% 130
East of England -75 112 £62,500 +9.17% 110
West Midlands +13 104 £44,000 -23.48% 78
East Midlands -66 86 £42,500 - 51
Yorkshire +9 73 £43,000 +1.18% 36
North East +4 68 £55,000 +57.14% 38
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 58 (3.54%) Apache Airflow
2 57 (3.48%) Apache Spark
3 55 (3.35%) Apache
4 30 (1.83%) SharePoint
5 28 (1.71%) Confluence
6 17 (1.04%) Jupyter
7 12 (0.73%) Microsoft Exchange
7 12 (0.73%) SAS
8 5 (0.30%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 5 (0.30%) CMS
9 4 (0.24%) Kinematics
10 3 (0.18%) Artix
10 3 (0.18%) Oracle SOA Suite
11 2 (0.12%) IIS
11 2 (0.12%) WinCC
12 1 (0.061%) ArcGIS
12 1 (0.061%) Cloud Foundry
12 1 (0.061%) Oracle Workflow
12 1 (0.061%) Palantir Foundry
12 1 (0.061%) WebSphere
Applications
1 99 (6.04%) Microsoft Excel
2 55 (3.35%) Microsoft Office
3 29 (1.77%) Microsoft Project
4 24 (1.46%) MS Visio
5 23 (1.40%) Simulink
6 13 (0.79%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 12 (0.73%) Spreadsheet
8 9 (0.55%) SOLIDWORKS
9 5 (0.30%) AutoCAD
10 4 (0.24%) Adobe XD
10 4 (0.24%) Mathcad
10 4 (0.24%) Sketch
11 3 (0.18%) Autodesk Inventor
11 3 (0.18%) LaTeX
11 3 (0.18%) Productboard
11 3 (0.18%) Stateflow
12 2 (0.12%) OrCAD
12 2 (0.12%) Solid Edge
13 1 (0.061%) EPLAN
13 1 (0.061%) Trello
Business Applications
1 42 (2.56%) SAP S/4HANA
2 38 (2.32%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.67%) SAP MDG
4 10 (0.61%) SAP ERP
5 9 (0.55%) Oracle EBS
6 8 (0.49%) Oracle Applications
7 5 (0.30%) iTrent
7 5 (0.30%) Loan IQ
7 5 (0.30%) NetSuite
7 5 (0.30%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.24%) Elite 3E
8 4 (0.24%) Oracle Financials
8 4 (0.24%) SAP MM
9 3 (0.18%) Oracle ERP
9 3 (0.18%) Workday HCM
10 2 (0.12%) Oracle Payables
10 2 (0.12%) Oracle Receivables
10 2 (0.12%) SAP CO
10 2 (0.12%) SAP FI/CO
10 2 (0.12%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 223 (13.60%) Azure
2 215 (13.11%) AWS
3 157 (9.57%) Power Platform
4 80 (4.88%) GCP
5 68 (4.15%) SaaS
6 59 (3.60%) Azure DevOps
7 51 (3.11%) Microsoft 365
8 44 (2.68%) Serverless
9 43 (2.62%) Amazon S3
10 40 (2.44%) GitHub
11 33 (2.01%) Dynamics 365
12 23 (1.40%) Entra ID
12 23 (1.40%) Microsoft Copilot
13 22 (1.34%) Cloud Computing
13 22 (1.34%) Snowflake
14 21 (1.28%) Amazon EC2
14 21 (1.28%) GitHub Actions
15 20 (1.22%) Amazon EMR
16 19 (1.16%) Microsoft Purview
16 19 (1.16%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 67 (4.09%) Broadband
2 48 (2.93%) Firewall
3 43 (2.62%) DNS
4 24 (1.46%) Network Security
4 24 (1.46%) TCP/IP
4 24 (1.46%) Wireless
5 21 (1.28%) VPN
5 21 (1.28%) WAN
6 17 (1.04%) Ethernet
7 15 (0.91%) MQTT
7 15 (0.91%) SD-WAN
7 15 (0.91%) Wi-Fi
8 12 (0.73%) HTTP
8 12 (0.73%) Internet
8 12 (0.73%) LAN
9 11 (0.67%) CHAP
10 10 (0.61%) 5G
10 10 (0.61%) NGN
10 10 (0.61%) RS-232
11 9 (0.55%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 147 (8.96%) Power BI
2 57 (3.48%) PostgreSQL
3 56 (3.41%) Data Warehouse
4 55 (3.35%) Tableau
5 48 (2.93%) SQL Server
6 41 (2.50%) Metadata
7 36 (2.20%) Data Lake
8 33 (2.01%) MongoDB
9 29 (1.77%) Relational Database
10 25 (1.52%) BigQuery
11 23 (1.40%) Semantic Layer
12 22 (1.34%) DynamoDB
13 21 (1.28%) Amazon Athena
13 21 (1.28%) Azure SQL Database
14 20 (1.22%) MySQL
14 20 (1.22%) Spark SQL
15 18 (1.10%) Power Query
15 18 (1.10%) SQL Server Integration Services
16 17 (1.04%) Oracle Database
17 16 (0.98%) Parquet
Development Applications
1 103 (6.28%) JIRA
2 91 (5.55%) Git
3 47 (2.87%) Jenkins
4 41 (2.50%) GitLab
5 31 (1.89%) Rational DOORS
6 22 (1.34%) Snyk
7 18 (1.10%) Selenium
8 15 (0.91%) LabVIEW
8 15 (0.91%) Postman
9 13 (0.79%) Cypress.io
9 13 (0.79%) IBM UrbanCode
10 12 (0.73%) Cucumber
11 11 (0.67%) JMeter
12 10 (0.61%) TeamCity
13 8 (0.49%) Rational Rhapsody
14 7 (0.43%) Burp Suite
14 7 (0.43%) REST Assured
15 6 (0.37%) GDB
15 6 (0.37%) Hudson
16 5 (0.30%) LoadRunner
General
1 529 (32.26%) Social Skills
2 450 (27.44%) Finance
3 416 (25.37%) Analytical Skills
4 142 (8.66%) Aerospace
5 133 (8.11%) Manufacturing
6 131 (7.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 127 (7.74%) Electronics
8 95 (5.79%) Banking
9 82 (5.00%) Law
10 68 (4.15%) Retail
11 63 (3.84%) Public Sector
12 58 (3.54%) Pharmaceutical
13 55 (3.35%) Organisational Skills
14 50 (3.05%) Marketing
15 49 (2.99%) Legal
16 45 (2.74%) Games
17 39 (2.38%) Automotive
18 30 (1.83%) Telecoms
19 28 (1.71%) Advertising
20 27 (1.65%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 301 (18.35%) Senior
2 244 (14.88%) Analyst
3 133 (8.11%) Lead
4 118 (7.20%) Systems Engineer
5 107 (6.52%) Test Engineer
6 102 (6.22%) Architect
7 92 (5.61%) Data Engineer
8 79 (4.82%) Business Analyst
9 78 (4.76%) Developer
10 68 (4.15%) Validation Engineer
11 65 (3.96%) Consultant
11 65 (3.96%) Data Analyst
12 53 (3.23%) Software Engineer
13 51 (3.11%) Principal Engineer
14 44 (2.68%) Support Engineer
15 42 (2.56%) Embedded Engineer
16 40 (2.44%) Data Scientist
17 38 (2.32%) IT Manager
18 37 (2.26%) Project Manager
19 36 (2.20%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (2.74%) RESTful
2 41 (2.50%) Kafka
3 36 (2.20%) PySpark
4 34 (2.07%) Node.js
5 31 (1.89%) XML
6 30 (1.83%) JSON
6 30 (1.83%) REST
7 25 (1.52%) Pandas
8 23 (1.40%) .NET
8 23 (1.40%) Middleware
9 20 (1.22%) CSS
9 20 (1.22%) LDAP
10 19 (1.16%) HTML
10 19 (1.16%) Playwright
10 19 (1.16%) Regular Expression
10 19 (1.16%) XMPP
11 16 (0.98%) FastAPI
11 16 (0.98%) React
12 14 (0.85%) Oracle Fusion
12 14 (0.85%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 120 (7.32%) Cloud Native
2 112 (6.83%) Onboarding
3 80 (4.88%) Management Information System
4 59 (3.60%) Data Structures
5 58 (3.54%) Product Ownership
6 56 (3.41%) Data Centre
7 48 (2.93%) Distributed Systems
7 48 (2.93%) Enterprise Software
8 46 (2.80%) Driving Licence
9 45 (2.74%) Low-Code
10 44 (2.68%) Algorithms
10 44 (2.68%) Embedded Systems
11 38 (2.32%) Analytical Mindset
12 33 (2.01%) Video\Live Streaming
13 31 (1.89%) Life Science
14 28 (1.71%) Legacy Systems
14 28 (1.71%) Self-Motivation
15 26 (1.59%) AI Agents
16 24 (1.46%) Robotics
17 23 (1.40%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 110 (6.71%) Linux
2 83 (5.06%) Windows
3 32 (1.95%) Windows Server
4 19 (1.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 19 (1.16%) Unix
5 6 (0.37%) Android
5 6 (0.37%) FreeRTOS
6 5 (0.30%) Embedded Linux
7 4 (0.24%) Kali Linux
7 4 (0.24%) Mac OS X
8 3 (0.18%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.12%) AIX
9 2 (0.12%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.12%) ThreadX
9 2 (0.12%) VMS
9 2 (0.12%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.061%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 423 (25.79%) Problem-Solving
2 378 (23.05%) Continuous Improvement
3 344 (20.98%) Agile
4 304 (18.54%) AI
5 275 (16.77%) CI/CD
6 220 (13.41%) Analytics
7 215 (13.11%) Migration
8 211 (12.87%) Test Automation
9 200 (12.20%) Stakeholder Management
10 187 (11.40%) Mentoring
11 183 (11.16%) Decision-Making
12 177 (10.79%) Verification and Validation
13 172 (10.49%) Business Intelligence
14 169 (10.30%) Software Engineering
15 167 (10.18%) DevOps
16 156 (9.51%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 155 (9.45%) Data Modelling
18 153 (9.33%) Data Validation
19 150 (9.15%) ERP
20 148 (9.02%) Data Analysis
Programming Languages
1 401 (24.45%) Python
2 352 (21.46%) SQL
3 78 (4.76%) C++
4 71 (4.33%) C
5 69 (4.21%) Java
6 52 (3.17%) Go
7 48 (2.93%) JavaScript
8 42 (2.56%) C#
9 36 (2.20%) MATLAB
10 29 (1.77%) PowerShell
11 27 (1.65%) Bash
12 21 (1.28%) T-SQL
13 20 (1.22%) Embedded C
14 19 (1.16%) Scala
15 18 (1.10%) Embedded C++
16 15 (0.91%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 15 (0.91%) TypeScript
17 8 (0.49%) ABAP
17 8 (0.49%) PL/SQL
17 8 (0.49%) VBA
Qualifications
1 327 (19.94%) Degree
2 213 (12.99%) Security Cleared
3 111 (6.77%) SC Cleared
4 110 (6.71%) BPSS Clearance
5 75 (4.57%) Master's Degree
6 73 (4.45%) DV Cleared
7 37 (2.26%) Computer Science Degree
8 30 (1.83%) Chartered Engineer
9 29 (1.77%) CISSP
10 24 (1.46%) HNC
10 24 (1.46%) PMI Certification
11 23 (1.40%) CISM
12 22 (1.34%) AWS Certification
12 22 (1.34%) PhD
13 21 (1.28%) ACCA
13 21 (1.28%) CIMA
13 21 (1.28%) CISA
13 21 (1.28%) SANS
14 17 (1.04%) HND
14 17 (1.04%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 293 (17.87%) Data Quality
2 210 (12.80%) QA
3 56 (3.41%) GDPR
4 52 (3.17%) Accessibility
5 38 (2.32%) GRC
6 23 (1.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 20 (1.22%) IEC 61508
8 18 (1.10%) NIST
9 17 (1.04%) PMO
10 15 (0.91%) IFRS
10 15 (0.91%) ISO 26262
10 15 (0.91%) SLA
11 14 (0.85%) GAAP
11 14 (0.85%) GxP
12 13 (0.79%) ISO 9001
13 12 (0.73%) ISO/IEC 15288
14 11 (0.67%) COBIT
14 11 (0.67%) SOC 2
14 11 (0.67%) WCAG
15 10 (0.61%) GMP
System Software
1 69 (4.21%) Docker
2 56 (3.41%) Firmware
3 42 (2.56%) Active Directory
4 28 (1.71%) Virtual Machines
5 26 (1.59%) Embedded Firmware
6 22 (1.34%) vSphere
7 12 (0.73%) VMware Infrastructure
8 5 (0.30%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.12%) KVM
9 2 (0.12%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.061%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.061%) ProxySG
10 1 (0.061%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 71 (4.33%) Kubernetes
1 71 (4.33%) Terraform
2 36 (2.20%) Grafana
3 25 (1.52%) Functional Safety
4 20 (1.22%) Ansible
5 16 (0.98%) Prometheus
6 10 (0.61%) Cilium
7 8 (0.49%) SCCM
7 8 (0.49%) Single Sign-On
8 7 (0.43%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 7 (0.43%) Kibana
9 6 (0.37%) Puppet
10 5 (0.30%) Microsoft Intune
11 4 (0.24%) Nessus
11 4 (0.24%) Nmap
11 4 (0.24%) WMI
12 3 (0.18%) FortiGate
12 3 (0.18%) HP Fortify
12 3 (0.18%) Rancher
12 3 (0.18%) yum
Vendors
1 242 (14.76%) Microsoft
2 106 (6.46%) SAP
3 95 (5.79%) Oracle
4 54 (3.29%) Salesforce
5 45 (2.74%) Databricks
6 39 (2.38%) ServiceNow
7 34 (2.07%) Red Hat
8 31 (1.89%) VMware
9 30 (1.83%) Cisco
10 29 (1.77%) CrowdStrike
10 29 (1.77%) Google
11 23 (1.40%) Palo Alto
12 22 (1.34%) Tenable
13 15 (0.91%) McAfee
14 14 (0.85%) Adobe
14 14 (0.85%) IBM
15 12 (0.73%) EMC
15 12 (0.73%) Splunk
15 12 (0.73%) Workday
16 11 (0.67%) Foundry