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

6 months to
12 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 76 83 177
Rank change year-on-year +7 +94 +29
Permanent jobs citing Validation 2,153 1,545 1,060
As % of all permanent jobs in England 2.15% 3.56% 1.53%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.94% 4.02% 1.88%
Number of salaries quoted 1,305 446 415
10th Percentile £35,850 £38,875 £39,000
25th Percentile £42,750 £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 £71,000 £75,900 £72,500
90th Percentile £86,250 £92,000 £94,500
UK median annual salary £58,250 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +5.91% -4.35% -10.16%

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 73,230 38,473 56,250
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.20% 88.68% 81.32%
Number of salaries quoted 52,112 22,159 32,915
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £31,750
25th Percentile £42,229 £37,500 £42,500
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 £77,500
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 12 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 12 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 +68 539 £70,000 -12.50% 1,281
South East -15 484 £62,500 +19.05% 446
North of England +110 448 £55,000 +15.79% 270
North West +100 276 £55,000 +15.35% 155
Midlands -33 250 £48,750 -11.36% 259
South West +18 230 £58,750 +11.69% 256
East of England -56 170 £55,000 -8.33% 252
West Midlands +28 142 £50,000 -9.09% 177
East Midlands -55 108 £46,209 +8.73% 81
Yorkshire +7 87 £43,000 +1.18% 74
North East +5 85 £55,000 +57.14% 44
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 46 (2.14%) Apache Spark
2 42 (1.95%) Apache Airflow
3 39 (1.81%) Apache
4 33 (1.53%) Confluence
5 32 (1.49%) SharePoint
6 18 (0.84%) Jupyter
7 13 (0.60%) SAS
8 9 (0.42%) Microsoft Exchange
9 8 (0.37%) WinCC
10 5 (0.23%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 5 (0.23%) CMS
11 3 (0.14%) Artix
11 3 (0.14%) Kinematics
11 3 (0.14%) OpenStack
11 3 (0.14%) Oracle SOA Suite
12 2 (0.093%) Cloud Foundry
12 2 (0.093%) IIS
13 1 (0.046%) nginx
13 1 (0.046%) Oracle Workflow
13 1 (0.046%) WebSphere
Applications
1 123 (5.71%) Microsoft Excel
2 68 (3.16%) Microsoft Office
3 45 (2.09%) Simulink
4 36 (1.67%) Microsoft Project
5 17 (0.79%) SOLIDWORKS
5 17 (0.79%) Spreadsheet
6 15 (0.70%) MS Visio
7 14 (0.65%) AutoCAD
8 10 (0.46%) Microsoft PowerPoint
9 7 (0.33%) Revit
10 5 (0.23%) Mathcad
10 5 (0.23%) Navisworks
11 4 (0.19%) Adobe XD
11 4 (0.19%) EPLAN
11 4 (0.19%) OrCAD
11 4 (0.19%) Sketch
12 3 (0.14%) CANalyzer
12 3 (0.14%) LaTeX
12 3 (0.14%) Productboard
12 3 (0.14%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 39 (1.81%) Dynamics CRM
2 38 (1.76%) SAP S/4HANA
3 11 (0.51%) SAP MDG
4 9 (0.42%) Oracle EBS
5 8 (0.37%) Oracle Applications
5 8 (0.37%) Workday HCM
6 7 (0.33%) NetSuite
6 7 (0.33%) SAP ERP
7 5 (0.23%) Elite 3E
7 5 (0.23%) iTrent
7 5 (0.23%) SAP MDG-BP
8 4 (0.19%) Infor M3
8 4 (0.19%) Oracle Financials
8 4 (0.19%) SAP MM
9 3 (0.14%) Loan IQ
9 3 (0.14%) Oracle ERP
9 3 (0.14%) SystmOne
9 3 (0.14%) Teamcenter
10 2 (0.093%) FastStats
10 2 (0.093%) SAP EWM
Cloud Services
1 279 (12.96%) Azure
2 239 (11.10%) AWS
3 166 (7.71%) Power Platform
4 86 (3.99%) GCP
5 66 (3.07%) Azure DevOps
6 63 (2.93%) Microsoft 365
6 63 (2.93%) SaaS
7 58 (2.69%) GitHub
8 50 (2.32%) Serverless
9 41 (1.90%) Amazon S3
10 34 (1.58%) Dynamics 365
11 32 (1.49%) Entra ID
12 30 (1.39%) Microsoft Copilot
13 29 (1.35%) GitHub Actions
14 25 (1.16%) Cloud Computing
15 24 (1.11%) Amazon EMR
15 24 (1.11%) Azure Data Factory
16 22 (1.02%) Microsoft Purview
16 22 (1.02%) PowerApps
17 21 (0.98%) Amazon EC2
Communications & Networking
1 72 (3.34%) DNS
2 65 (3.02%) Firewall
3 60 (2.79%) Broadband
4 37 (1.72%) TCP/IP
5 36 (1.67%) VPN
6 35 (1.63%) WAN
7 34 (1.58%) Network Security
8 33 (1.53%) Wireless
9 27 (1.25%) Ethernet
9 27 (1.25%) LAN
10 25 (1.16%) Modbus
10 25 (1.16%) VLAN
11 24 (1.11%) OSPF
12 22 (1.02%) SD-WAN
13 21 (0.98%) BGP
13 21 (0.98%) MQTT
13 21 (0.98%) Wireshark
14 17 (0.79%) 5G
15 16 (0.74%) HTTP
15 16 (0.74%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 154 (7.15%) Power BI
2 57 (2.65%) Data Warehouse
3 51 (2.37%) PostgreSQL
4 50 (2.32%) Metadata
5 48 (2.23%) Data Lake
6 47 (2.18%) SQL Server
7 38 (1.76%) Tableau
8 35 (1.63%) MongoDB
9 34 (1.58%) Amazon Athena
10 31 (1.44%) Relational Database
11 25 (1.16%) BigQuery
11 25 (1.16%) DynamoDB
12 24 (1.11%) Big Data
13 22 (1.02%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 21 (0.98%) Azure SQL Database
14 21 (0.98%) Semantic Layer
15 20 (0.93%) NoSQL
16 17 (0.79%) Amazon Redshift
16 17 (0.79%) MySQL
17 16 (0.74%) Delta Lake
Development Applications
1 124 (5.76%) JIRA
2 114 (5.29%) Git
3 57 (2.65%) Jenkins
4 49 (2.28%) GitLab
5 37 (1.72%) Rational DOORS
6 25 (1.16%) Selenium
7 24 (1.11%) LabVIEW
8 22 (1.02%) Snyk
9 19 (0.88%) Cypress.io
9 19 (0.88%) Postman
10 12 (0.56%) Burp Suite
11 11 (0.51%) Cucumber
11 11 (0.51%) JMeter
12 10 (0.46%) TeamCity
13 9 (0.42%) Gatling
13 9 (0.42%) MLflow
14 8 (0.37%) Claude Code
14 8 (0.37%) Eclipse
14 8 (0.37%) REST Assured
14 8 (0.37%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 706 (32.79%) Social Skills
2 538 (24.99%) Finance
3 514 (23.87%) Analytical Skills
4 207 (9.61%) Aerospace
5 200 (9.29%) Manufacturing
6 198 (9.20%) Electronics
7 174 (8.08%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 121 (5.62%) Law
9 95 (4.41%) Banking
10 92 (4.27%) Retail
11 87 (4.04%) Organisational Skills
12 86 (3.99%) Public Sector
13 79 (3.67%) Pharmaceutical
14 78 (3.62%) Marketing
15 72 (3.34%) Telecoms
16 67 (3.11%) Automotive
17 54 (2.51%) Legal
18 42 (1.95%) Games
18 42 (1.95%) Influencing Skills
19 37 (1.72%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 384 (17.84%) Senior
2 261 (12.12%) Systems Engineer
3 249 (11.57%) Analyst
4 178 (8.27%) Lead
5 124 (5.76%) Test Engineer
6 113 (5.25%) Architect
7 105 (4.88%) Data Engineer
8 90 (4.18%) Developer
9 76 (3.53%) Business Analyst
10 75 (3.48%) Consultant
11 72 (3.34%) Software Engineer
12 70 (3.25%) Principal Engineer
13 65 (3.02%) Validation Engineer
14 64 (2.97%) Data Analyst
15 57 (2.65%) Electronics Engineer
16 53 (2.46%) Network Engineer
17 50 (2.32%) Support Engineer
18 48 (2.23%) Data Scientist
18 48 (2.23%) Embedded Engineer
19 42 (1.95%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 75 (3.48%) Terraform
2 51 (2.37%) Kafka
2 51 (2.37%) RESTful
3 50 (2.32%) REST
4 40 (1.86%) Node.js
5 33 (1.53%) PySpark
6 31 (1.44%) JSON
6 31 (1.44%) Playwright
7 29 (1.35%) .NET
7 29 (1.35%) XML
8 27 (1.25%) FastAPI
8 27 (1.25%) LDAP
9 26 (1.21%) CSS
10 25 (1.16%) HTML
11 23 (1.07%) Middleware
12 21 (0.98%) ModSecurity
12 21 (0.98%) React
13 20 (0.93%) Swagger
13 20 (0.93%) XMPP
14 19 (0.88%) Regular Expression
Miscellaneous
1 146 (6.78%) Cloud Native
2 119 (5.53%) Onboarding
3 114 (5.29%) Management Information System
4 79 (3.67%) Data Centre
4 79 (3.67%) Product Ownership
5 59 (2.74%) Driving Licence
6 58 (2.69%) Embedded Systems
6 58 (2.69%) Enterprise Software
7 57 (2.65%) Data Structures
8 54 (2.51%) Distributed Systems
9 49 (2.28%) Algorithms
10 46 (2.14%) Low-Code
11 45 (2.09%) Life Science
12 41 (1.90%) Analytical Mindset
12 41 (1.90%) SCADA
13 39 (1.81%) Robotics
14 38 (1.76%) AI Agents
15 37 (1.72%) Legacy Systems
16 34 (1.58%) Video\Live Streaming
17 30 (1.39%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 138 (6.41%) Linux
2 92 (4.27%) Windows
3 35 (1.63%) Windows Server
4 24 (1.11%) Unix
5 19 (0.88%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (0.46%) Android
7 8 (0.37%) Embedded Linux
8 7 (0.33%) Mac OS
9 6 (0.28%) FreeRTOS
10 5 (0.23%) Kali Linux
11 4 (0.19%) Mac OS X
12 3 (0.14%) Apple iOS
13 2 (0.093%) Robot Operating System
13 2 (0.093%) VMS
13 2 (0.093%) Windows 10
14 1 (0.046%) AIX
14 1 (0.046%) OpenWrt
14 1 (0.046%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 545 (25.31%) Problem-Solving
2 473 (21.97%) Continuous Improvement
3 395 (18.35%) Agile
4 371 (17.23%) AI
5 365 (16.95%) Verification and Validation
6 303 (14.07%) CI/CD
7 281 (13.05%) Stakeholder Management
8 267 (12.40%) Test Automation
9 264 (12.26%) Migration
10 239 (11.10%) Analytics
11 226 (10.50%) Mentoring
12 217 (10.08%) Software Engineering
13 208 (9.66%) Decision-Making
14 198 (9.20%) DevOps
15 195 (9.06%) Business Intelligence
16 190 (8.82%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 185 (8.59%) Data Analysis
18 183 (8.50%) Machine Learning
19 182 (8.45%) Roadmaps
20 172 (7.99%) Data Migration
Programming Languages
1 448 (20.81%) Python
2 388 (18.02%) SQL
3 88 (4.09%) C++
4 85 (3.95%) Java
5 82 (3.81%) C
6 65 (3.02%) JavaScript
7 58 (2.69%) MATLAB
8 54 (2.51%) Go
9 48 (2.23%) C#
10 33 (1.53%) Bash
11 29 (1.35%) Embedded C
12 27 (1.25%) PowerShell
13 24 (1.11%) Scala
14 21 (0.98%) TypeScript
15 18 (0.84%) Embedded C++
15 18 (0.84%) R
16 13 (0.60%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 11 (0.51%) T-SQL
18 9 (0.42%) Shell Script
19 8 (0.37%) ABAP
Qualifications
1 458 (21.27%) Degree
2 453 (21.04%) Security Cleared
3 323 (15.00%) SC Cleared
4 115 (5.34%) BPSS Clearance
5 100 (4.64%) DV Cleared
6 91 (4.23%) Master's Degree
7 48 (2.23%) Computer Science Degree
8 35 (1.63%) PhD
9 34 (1.58%) Chartered Engineer
9 34 (1.58%) CISSP
9 34 (1.58%) PMI Certification
10 31 (1.44%) HND
11 29 (1.35%) HNC
12 25 (1.16%) Azure Certification
12 25 (1.16%) CISM
13 24 (1.11%) ACCA
13 24 (1.11%) AWS Certification
14 21 (0.98%) CIMA
14 21 (0.98%) Cisco Certification
14 21 (0.98%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 323 (15.00%) Data Quality
2 280 (13.01%) QA
3 68 (3.16%) Accessibility
4 53 (2.46%) GDPR
5 37 (1.72%) GRC
6 29 (1.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 27 (1.25%) GxP
8 22 (1.02%) IEC 61508
9 18 (0.84%) NIST
10 16 (0.74%) PMO
10 16 (0.74%) SLA
11 15 (0.70%) ISO 26262
12 14 (0.65%) ISO 9001
13 12 (0.56%) GMP
13 12 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 15288
13 12 (0.56%) SOC 2
14 10 (0.46%) WCAG
15 9 (0.42%) Def Stans
15 9 (0.42%) ISO 19650
16 8 (0.37%) MISRA C
System Software
1 81 (3.76%) Docker
2 80 (3.72%) Firmware
3 48 (2.23%) Active Directory
4 38 (1.76%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.30%) Virtual Machines
6 21 (0.98%) vSphere
7 9 (0.42%) VMware Infrastructure
8 4 (0.19%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.14%) KVM
10 2 (0.093%) iptables
10 2 (0.093%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.093%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.046%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.046%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 78 (3.62%) Kubernetes
2 37 (1.72%) Grafana
3 32 (1.49%) Ansible
4 27 (1.25%) Functional Safety
5 17 (0.79%) Prometheus
6 15 (0.70%) Single Sign-On
7 10 (0.46%) Cilium
8 8 (0.37%) Nessus
8 8 (0.37%) Nmap
8 8 (0.37%) Puppet
9 7 (0.33%) Kibana
9 7 (0.33%) Microsoft Intune
10 6 (0.28%) BMC PATROL
11 5 (0.23%) FortiGate
11 5 (0.23%) WMI
12 4 (0.19%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
12 4 (0.19%) HP Fortify
12 4 (0.19%) Kubeflow
12 4 (0.19%) SCCM
13 3 (0.14%) yum
Vendors
1 278 (12.91%) Microsoft
2 118 (5.48%) SAP
3 98 (4.55%) Oracle
4 56 (2.60%) Salesforce
5 54 (2.51%) Databricks
6 52 (2.42%) Cisco
6 52 (2.42%) ServiceNow
7 37 (1.72%) EMC
7 37 (1.72%) Google
8 30 (1.39%) CrowdStrike
9 28 (1.30%) VMware
10 26 (1.21%) Palo Alto
11 23 (1.07%) Red Hat
11 23 (1.07%) Tenable
12 17 (0.79%) Sage
13 15 (0.70%) IBM
13 15 (0.70%) McAfee
13 15 (0.70%) Siemens
13 15 (0.70%) Splunk
14 14 (0.65%) Okta