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 21 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 87 80 185
Rank change year-on-year -7 +105 +12
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,896 1,596 1,069
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.99% 3.65% 1.47%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.71% 4.09% 1.82%
Number of salaries quoted 1,140 480 464
10th Percentile £35,000 £38,750 £36,788
25th Percentile £42,500 £41,250 £46,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £56,050 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +1.91% -8.33% -7.69%
75th Percentile £73,750 £71,250 £75,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £92,500 £93,750
UK median annual salary £56,000 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +1.82% -8.33% -6.25%

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 70,019 38,976 58,865
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.51% 89.20% 81.10%
Number of salaries quoted 49,558 22,475 37,906
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £42,000 £37,500 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,500
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -0.90% -11.20%
75th Percentile £80,000 £76,250 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,500 £95,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.71%

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 21 August 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 21 August 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 +66 517 £71,000 -11.25% 361
South East -25 427 £58,500 +11.43% 295
North of England +103 396 £55,000 +15.79% 169
North West +86 232 £55,000 +15.35% 92
Midlands -52 208 £44,720 -18.69% 152
South West -2 174 £55,000 +4.56% 151
East of England -62 141 £60,000 +10.60% 138
West Midlands +11 114 £44,720 -18.69% 98
East Midlands -62 93 £46,209 +8.73% 54
North East +7 83 £55,000 +57.14% 40
Yorkshire +6 81 £43,000 +1.18% 39
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 (3.06%) Apache Airflow
2 55 (2.90%) Apache Spark
3 54 (2.85%) Apache
4 32 (1.69%) Confluence
5 31 (1.64%) SharePoint
6 19 (1.00%) Jupyter
7 13 (0.69%) SAS
8 9 (0.47%) Microsoft Exchange
9 5 (0.26%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 5 (0.26%) WinCC
10 4 (0.21%) CMS
10 4 (0.21%) Kinematics
11 3 (0.16%) Artix
11 3 (0.16%) Oracle SOA Suite
12 2 (0.11%) Cloud Foundry
12 2 (0.11%) IIS
13 1 (0.053%) ArcGIS
13 1 (0.053%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
13 1 (0.053%) Oracle Workflow
13 1 (0.053%) WebSphere
Applications
1 116 (6.12%) Microsoft Excel
2 61 (3.22%) Microsoft Office
3 36 (1.90%) Microsoft Project
4 33 (1.74%) Simulink
5 26 (1.37%) MS Visio
6 16 (0.84%) Spreadsheet
7 13 (0.69%) SOLIDWORKS
8 12 (0.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
9 9 (0.47%) AutoCAD
10 5 (0.26%) Mathcad
11 4 (0.21%) Adobe XD
11 4 (0.21%) OrCAD
11 4 (0.21%) Sketch
12 3 (0.16%) Autodesk Inventor
12 3 (0.16%) LaTeX
12 3 (0.16%) Productboard
12 3 (0.16%) Revit
12 3 (0.16%) Stateflow
13 2 (0.11%) EPLAN
13 2 (0.11%) Solid Edge
Business Applications
1 38 (2.00%) Dynamics CRM
1 38 (2.00%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (0.53%) SAP MDG
3 9 (0.47%) Oracle EBS
3 9 (0.47%) SAP ERP
4 8 (0.42%) Oracle Applications
5 7 (0.37%) NetSuite
6 6 (0.32%) Workday HCM
7 5 (0.26%) Elite 3E
7 5 (0.26%) iTrent
7 5 (0.26%) Loan IQ
7 5 (0.26%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.21%) Oracle Financials
8 4 (0.21%) SAP MM
9 3 (0.16%) Oracle ERP
9 3 (0.16%) SystmOne
9 3 (0.16%) Teamcenter
10 2 (0.11%) Oracle Receivables
10 2 (0.11%) Refinitiv Enterprise Platform
10 2 (0.11%) SAP FI/CO
Cloud Services
1 256 (13.50%) Azure
2 241 (12.71%) AWS
3 155 (8.18%) Power Platform
4 87 (4.59%) GCP
5 67 (3.53%) SaaS
6 62 (3.27%) Microsoft 365
7 58 (3.06%) Azure DevOps
8 51 (2.69%) GitHub
9 49 (2.58%) Amazon S3
10 46 (2.43%) Serverless
11 32 (1.69%) Dynamics 365
12 31 (1.64%) Entra ID
13 29 (1.53%) Microsoft Copilot
14 26 (1.37%) GitHub Actions
15 22 (1.16%) Amazon EC2
15 22 (1.16%) Amazon EMR
16 20 (1.05%) Cloud Computing
17 19 (1.00%) Microsoft Purview
17 19 (1.00%) PowerApps
17 19 (1.00%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 63 (3.32%) Broadband
2 56 (2.95%) DNS
3 55 (2.90%) Firewall
4 33 (1.74%) Network Security
5 30 (1.58%) WAN
6 29 (1.53%) TCP/IP
6 29 (1.53%) Wireless
7 28 (1.48%) VPN
8 22 (1.16%) Ethernet
9 21 (1.11%) LAN
10 20 (1.05%) SD-WAN
11 18 (0.95%) MQTT
12 17 (0.90%) Wi-Fi
13 16 (0.84%) BGP
14 15 (0.79%) OSPF
15 14 (0.74%) VLAN
16 13 (0.69%) HTTP
16 13 (0.69%) Internet
16 13 (0.69%) Modbus
16 13 (0.69%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 145 (7.65%) Power BI
2 55 (2.90%) Data Warehouse
3 53 (2.80%) PostgreSQL
4 48 (2.53%) Tableau
5 47 (2.48%) SQL Server
6 45 (2.37%) Metadata
7 40 (2.11%) Data Lake
8 33 (1.74%) MongoDB
9 28 (1.48%) Amazon Athena
9 28 (1.48%) Relational Database
10 26 (1.37%) DynamoDB
11 25 (1.32%) BigQuery
12 22 (1.16%) Semantic Layer
13 21 (1.11%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 20 (1.05%) Azure SQL Database
15 19 (1.00%) MySQL
15 19 (1.00%) Spark SQL
16 17 (0.90%) Big Data
17 16 (0.84%) Oracle Database
18 15 (0.79%) Amazon Redshift
Development Applications
1 117 (6.17%) JIRA
2 107 (5.64%) Git
3 49 (2.58%) Jenkins
4 43 (2.27%) GitLab
5 32 (1.69%) Rational DOORS
6 22 (1.16%) Selenium
6 22 (1.16%) Snyk
7 18 (0.95%) Cypress.io
7 18 (0.95%) Postman
8 17 (0.90%) LabVIEW
9 14 (0.74%) Cucumber
10 13 (0.69%) JMeter
11 12 (0.63%) IBM UrbanCode
12 10 (0.53%) Gatling
12 10 (0.53%) TeamCity
13 9 (0.47%) Burp Suite
14 8 (0.42%) Rational Rhapsody
14 8 (0.42%) REST Assured
15 7 (0.37%) Hudson
15 7 (0.37%) LoadRunner
General
1 620 (32.70%) Social Skills
2 506 (26.69%) Finance
3 476 (25.11%) Analytical Skills
4 177 (9.34%) Aerospace
5 170 (8.97%) Manufacturing
6 168 (8.86%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 162 (8.54%) Electronics
8 109 (5.75%) Banking
9 102 (5.38%) Law
10 80 (4.22%) Retail
11 78 (4.11%) Public Sector
12 70 (3.69%) Marketing
13 67 (3.53%) Pharmaceutical
14 63 (3.32%) Organisational Skills
15 53 (2.80%) Automotive
16 51 (2.69%) Legal
17 46 (2.43%) Games
18 41 (2.16%) Telecoms
19 37 (1.95%) Influencing Skills
20 33 (1.74%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 350 (18.46%) Senior
2 257 (13.55%) Analyst
3 174 (9.18%) Systems Engineer
4 155 (8.18%) Lead
5 118 (6.22%) Test Engineer
6 106 (5.59%) Architect
7 97 (5.12%) Data Engineer
8 86 (4.54%) Business Analyst
9 84 (4.43%) Developer
10 69 (3.64%) Consultant
11 68 (3.59%) Software Engineer
12 64 (3.38%) Validation Engineer
13 62 (3.27%) Principal Engineer
14 61 (3.22%) Data Analyst
15 49 (2.58%) Support Engineer
16 47 (2.48%) Data Scientist
16 47 (2.48%) Embedded Engineer
17 41 (2.16%) IT Manager
18 40 (2.11%) Network Engineer
18 40 (2.11%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 71 (3.74%) Terraform
2 47 (2.48%) RESTful
3 43 (2.27%) Kafka
4 38 (2.00%) REST
5 37 (1.95%) PySpark
6 36 (1.90%) Node.js
7 29 (1.53%) JSON
8 27 (1.42%) .NET
8 27 (1.42%) LDAP
8 27 (1.42%) XML
9 25 (1.32%) Playwright
10 24 (1.27%) Middleware
11 22 (1.16%) CSS
12 21 (1.11%) HTML
12 21 (1.11%) ModSecurity
12 21 (1.11%) Pandas
13 19 (1.00%) FastAPI
13 19 (1.00%) OAuth
13 19 (1.00%) Regular Expression
13 19 (1.00%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 138 (7.28%) Cloud Native
2 125 (6.59%) Onboarding
3 105 (5.54%) Management Information System
4 73 (3.85%) Data Centre
5 68 (3.59%) Product Ownership
6 55 (2.90%) Data Structures
6 55 (2.90%) Enterprise Software
7 53 (2.80%) Distributed Systems
8 52 (2.74%) Driving Licence
8 52 (2.74%) Embedded Systems
9 47 (2.48%) Low-Code
10 45 (2.37%) Algorithms
11 39 (2.06%) Life Science
12 38 (2.00%) Analytical Mindset
13 35 (1.85%) Video\Live Streaming
14 34 (1.79%) Legacy Systems
15 33 (1.74%) AI Agents
16 32 (1.69%) Robotics
17 27 (1.42%) Self-Motivation
18 26 (1.37%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 120 (6.33%) Linux
2 88 (4.64%) Windows
3 34 (1.79%) Windows Server
4 19 (1.00%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 19 (1.00%) Unix
5 9 (0.47%) Embedded Linux
6 8 (0.42%) Android
7 6 (0.32%) FreeRTOS
8 5 (0.26%) Kali Linux
9 4 (0.21%) Mac OS
9 4 (0.21%) Mac OS X
10 2 (0.11%) Robot Operating System
10 2 (0.11%) ThreadX
10 2 (0.11%) VMS
10 2 (0.11%) Windows 10
11 1 (0.053%) AIX
11 1 (0.053%) Apple iOS
11 1 (0.053%) OpenWrt
Processes & Methodologies
1 488 (25.74%) Problem-Solving
2 434 (22.89%) Continuous Improvement
3 386 (20.36%) Agile
4 349 (18.41%) AI
5 294 (15.51%) CI/CD
6 255 (13.45%) Verification and Validation
7 248 (13.08%) Stakeholder Management
8 245 (12.92%) Analytics
9 242 (12.76%) Test Automation
10 238 (12.55%) Migration
11 215 (11.34%) Mentoring
12 205 (10.81%) Decision-Making
13 201 (10.60%) Software Engineering
14 180 (9.49%) Business Intelligence
15 179 (9.44%) DevOps
16 175 (9.23%) Data Analysis
17 171 (9.02%) Stakeholder Engagement
18 169 (8.91%) Machine Learning
19 165 (8.70%) Roadmaps
20 157 (8.28%) Data Migration
Programming Languages
1 429 (22.63%) Python
2 369 (19.46%) SQL
3 84 (4.43%) C++
4 79 (4.17%) Java
5 75 (3.96%) C
6 58 (3.06%) JavaScript
7 55 (2.90%) Go
8 46 (2.43%) MATLAB
9 44 (2.32%) C#
10 28 (1.48%) Bash
11 27 (1.42%) PowerShell
12 24 (1.27%) Embedded C
13 22 (1.16%) Scala
14 18 (0.95%) Embedded C++
15 17 (0.90%) TypeScript
16 14 (0.74%) R
16 14 (0.74%) T-SQL
17 11 (0.58%) Data Analysis Expressions
18 8 (0.42%) ABAP
18 8 (0.42%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 397 (20.94%) Degree
2 338 (17.83%) Security Cleared
3 213 (11.23%) SC Cleared
4 116 (6.12%) BPSS Clearance
5 98 (5.17%) DV Cleared
6 83 (4.38%) Master's Degree
7 41 (2.16%) Computer Science Degree
8 38 (2.00%) CISSP
9 30 (1.58%) CISM
9 30 (1.58%) PhD
9 30 (1.58%) PMI Certification
10 29 (1.53%) Chartered Engineer
11 27 (1.42%) HNC
12 24 (1.27%) AWS Certification
13 23 (1.21%) ACCA
13 23 (1.21%) Azure Certification
13 23 (1.21%) CIMA
13 23 (1.21%) HND
14 19 (1.00%) SANS
15 18 (0.95%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 303 (15.98%) Data Quality
2 260 (13.71%) QA
3 64 (3.38%) Accessibility
4 53 (2.80%) GDPR
5 37 (1.95%) GRC
6 25 (1.32%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 23 (1.21%) IEC 61508
8 21 (1.11%) NIST
9 19 (1.00%) GxP
10 18 (0.95%) PMO
11 17 (0.90%) SLA
12 15 (0.79%) ISO 26262
13 14 (0.74%) GAAP
13 14 (0.74%) IFRS
14 13 (0.69%) WCAG
15 12 (0.63%) ISO 9001
16 11 (0.58%) GMP
16 11 (0.58%) SOC 2
17 9 (0.47%) COBIT
18 8 (0.42%) Def Stans
System Software
1 75 (3.96%) Docker
2 70 (3.69%) Firmware
3 46 (2.43%) Active Directory
4 31 (1.64%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.48%) Virtual Machines
6 21 (1.11%) vSphere
7 10 (0.53%) VMware Infrastructure
8 4 (0.21%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.16%) KVM
10 2 (0.11%) iptables
10 2 (0.11%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.11%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.053%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.053%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 75 (3.96%) Kubernetes
2 39 (2.06%) Grafana
3 26 (1.37%) Functional Safety
4 22 (1.16%) Ansible
5 15 (0.79%) Single Sign-On
6 14 (0.74%) Prometheus
7 10 (0.53%) Cilium
8 7 (0.37%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 7 (0.37%) Kibana
8 7 (0.37%) Microsoft Intune
9 6 (0.32%) Puppet
10 5 (0.26%) FortiGate
10 5 (0.26%) Nessus
10 5 (0.26%) Nmap
10 5 (0.26%) SCCM
10 5 (0.26%) WMI
11 4 (0.21%) HP Fortify
11 4 (0.21%) Kubeflow
12 2 (0.11%) Argo
12 2 (0.11%) kaniko
Vendors
1 260 (13.71%) Microsoft
2 110 (5.80%) SAP
3 104 (5.49%) Oracle
4 54 (2.85%) Salesforce
5 52 (2.74%) Databricks
6 47 (2.48%) ServiceNow
7 44 (2.32%) Cisco
8 38 (2.00%) Google
9 35 (1.85%) Red Hat
10 29 (1.53%) CrowdStrike
10 29 (1.53%) VMware
11 26 (1.37%) Palo Alto
12 25 (1.32%) EMC
13 22 (1.16%) Tenable
14 15 (0.79%) McAfee
14 15 (0.79%) Workday
15 14 (0.74%) Splunk
16 12 (0.63%) ForgeRock
16 12 (0.63%) Foundry
16 12 (0.63%) Okta