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

6 months to
28 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 83 78 182
Rank change year-on-year -5 +104 +23
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,971 1,581 1,073
As % of all permanent jobs in England 2.04% 3.61% 1.47%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.78% 4.07% 1.81%
Number of salaries quoted 1,202 480 450
10th Percentile £35,100 £38,750 £38,734
25th Percentile £42,563 £41,250 £46,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.55% -8.33% -7.69%
75th Percentile £72,500 £75,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £87,725 £92,500 £93,875
UK median annual salary £57,500 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +4.55% -8.33% -7.69%

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 71,000 38,870 59,186
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 73.37% 88.85% 80.99%
Number of salaries quoted 50,434 22,497 37,418
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 £56,460
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -2.59% -8.94%
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% - -8.33%

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 28 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 28 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 +69 519 £70,000 -12.50% 1,524
South East -16 449 £59,490 +8.16% 479
North of England +103 404 £55,000 +15.79% 319
North West +87 239 £55,000 +15.35% 180
Midlands -38 219 £47,500 -13.64% 247
South West -4 196 £55,000 +4.56% 308
East of England -60 151 £57,500 +13.30% 282
West Midlands +22 122 £47,500 -13.64% 161
East Midlands -61 96 £48,372 +13.82% 86
North East +10 83 £55,000 +57.14% 59
Yorkshire +10 82 £43,000 +1.18% 87
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 45 (2.28%) Apache Airflow
2 43 (2.18%) Apache Spark
3 42 (2.13%) Apache
4 32 (1.62%) Confluence
5 31 (1.57%) SharePoint
6 18 (0.91%) Jupyter
7 13 (0.66%) SAS
8 9 (0.46%) Microsoft Exchange
9 6 (0.30%) WinCC
10 5 (0.25%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 5 (0.25%) CMS
11 4 (0.20%) Kinematics
12 3 (0.15%) Artix
12 3 (0.15%) IIS
12 3 (0.15%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 2 (0.10%) Cloud Foundry
14 1 (0.051%) ArcGIS
14 1 (0.051%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
14 1 (0.051%) OpenStack
14 1 (0.051%) WebSphere
Applications
1 115 (5.83%) Microsoft Excel
2 61 (3.09%) Microsoft Office
3 36 (1.83%) Simulink
4 35 (1.78%) Microsoft Project
5 17 (0.86%) SOLIDWORKS
6 16 (0.81%) Spreadsheet
7 15 (0.76%) MS Visio
8 11 (0.56%) Microsoft PowerPoint
9 10 (0.51%) AutoCAD
10 5 (0.25%) Mathcad
11 4 (0.20%) Adobe XD
11 4 (0.20%) OrCAD
11 4 (0.20%) Revit
11 4 (0.20%) Sketch
12 3 (0.15%) Autodesk Inventor
12 3 (0.15%) LaTeX
12 3 (0.15%) Productboard
12 3 (0.15%) Stateflow
13 2 (0.10%) EPLAN
13 2 (0.10%) Navisworks
Business Applications
1 38 (1.93%) Dynamics CRM
2 36 (1.83%) SAP S/4HANA
3 10 (0.51%) SAP MDG
4 9 (0.46%) Oracle EBS
5 8 (0.41%) Oracle Applications
5 8 (0.41%) SAP ERP
6 7 (0.36%) NetSuite
7 6 (0.30%) Workday HCM
8 5 (0.25%) Elite 3E
8 5 (0.25%) iTrent
8 5 (0.25%) Loan IQ
8 5 (0.25%) SAP MDG-BP
9 4 (0.20%) Oracle Financials
9 4 (0.20%) SAP MM
10 3 (0.15%) Oracle ERP
10 3 (0.15%) SystmOne
10 3 (0.15%) Teamcenter
11 2 (0.10%) Oracle Payables
11 2 (0.10%) Oracle Receivables
11 2 (0.10%) Refinitiv Enterprise Platform
Cloud Services
1 262 (13.29%) Azure
2 232 (11.77%) AWS
3 157 (7.97%) Power Platform
4 86 (4.36%) GCP
5 66 (3.35%) SaaS
6 62 (3.15%) Microsoft 365
7 59 (2.99%) Azure DevOps
8 53 (2.69%) GitHub
9 44 (2.23%) Serverless
10 37 (1.88%) Amazon S3
11 33 (1.67%) Dynamics 365
12 31 (1.57%) Entra ID
13 28 (1.42%) Microsoft Copilot
14 27 (1.37%) GitHub Actions
15 22 (1.12%) Amazon EMR
16 21 (1.07%) Amazon EC2
16 21 (1.07%) Cloud Computing
17 19 (0.96%) Microsoft Purview
17 19 (0.96%) PowerApps
18 18 (0.91%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 62 (3.15%) Broadband
2 61 (3.09%) DNS
3 60 (3.04%) Firewall
4 33 (1.67%) Network Security
4 33 (1.67%) Wireless
5 32 (1.62%) WAN
6 31 (1.57%) TCP/IP
6 31 (1.57%) VPN
7 24 (1.22%) Ethernet
7 24 (1.22%) LAN
8 21 (1.07%) SD-WAN
9 19 (0.96%) MQTT
9 19 (0.96%) VLAN
10 18 (0.91%) BGP
10 18 (0.91%) OSPF
11 17 (0.86%) Wi-Fi
12 16 (0.81%) Modbus
13 15 (0.76%) Wireshark
14 14 (0.71%) 5G
14 14 (0.71%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 146 (7.41%) Power BI
2 56 (2.84%) Data Warehouse
3 53 (2.69%) PostgreSQL
4 46 (2.33%) Metadata
5 45 (2.28%) SQL Server
6 40 (2.03%) Data Lake
7 37 (1.88%) Tableau
8 34 (1.73%) MongoDB
9 29 (1.47%) Relational Database
10 28 (1.42%) Amazon Athena
11 25 (1.27%) BigQuery
11 25 (1.27%) DynamoDB
12 22 (1.12%) Semantic Layer
13 21 (1.07%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 19 (0.96%) Azure SQL Database
14 19 (0.96%) MySQL
15 18 (0.91%) Big Data
16 16 (0.81%) NoSQL
17 14 (0.71%) Amazon Redshift
18 13 (0.66%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 120 (6.09%) JIRA
2 102 (5.18%) Git
3 51 (2.59%) Jenkins
4 45 (2.28%) GitLab
5 34 (1.73%) Rational DOORS
6 23 (1.17%) Selenium
7 22 (1.12%) Snyk
8 18 (0.91%) Cypress.io
8 18 (0.91%) LabVIEW
8 18 (0.91%) Postman
9 12 (0.61%) Cucumber
10 11 (0.56%) JMeter
11 10 (0.51%) Burp Suite
11 10 (0.51%) Gatling
11 10 (0.51%) TeamCity
12 8 (0.41%) Rational Rhapsody
12 8 (0.41%) REST Assured
13 7 (0.36%) Hudson
13 7 (0.36%) LoadRunner
13 7 (0.36%) MLflow
General
1 647 (32.83%) Social Skills
2 503 (25.52%) Finance
3 479 (24.30%) Analytical Skills
4 182 (9.23%) Aerospace
5 177 (8.98%) Manufacturing
6 173 (8.78%) Electronics
7 172 (8.73%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 108 (5.48%) Law
9 96 (4.87%) Banking
10 80 (4.06%) Public Sector
10 80 (4.06%) Retail
11 73 (3.70%) Marketing
12 69 (3.50%) Pharmaceutical
13 66 (3.35%) Organisational Skills
14 58 (2.94%) Automotive
15 52 (2.64%) Legal
16 49 (2.49%) Telecoms
17 45 (2.28%) Games
18 39 (1.98%) Influencing Skills
19 37 (1.88%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 365 (18.52%) Senior
2 248 (12.58%) Analyst
3 204 (10.35%) Systems Engineer
4 161 (8.17%) Lead
5 122 (6.19%) Test Engineer
6 107 (5.43%) Architect
7 97 (4.92%) Data Engineer
8 87 (4.41%) Developer
9 76 (3.86%) Business Analyst
10 70 (3.55%) Software Engineer
11 69 (3.50%) Consultant
12 66 (3.35%) Principal Engineer
13 63 (3.20%) Data Analyst
13 63 (3.20%) Validation Engineer
14 49 (2.49%) Support Engineer
15 47 (2.38%) Data Scientist
15 47 (2.38%) Embedded Engineer
16 45 (2.28%) Network Engineer
17 42 (2.13%) Electronics Engineer
18 41 (2.08%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 70 (3.55%) Terraform
2 49 (2.49%) RESTful
3 47 (2.38%) Kafka
4 44 (2.23%) REST
5 36 (1.83%) Node.js
6 30 (1.52%) JSON
7 29 (1.47%) .NET
8 27 (1.37%) LDAP
8 27 (1.37%) XML
9 26 (1.32%) Playwright
10 25 (1.27%) Middleware
10 25 (1.27%) PySpark
11 23 (1.17%) CSS
12 22 (1.12%) HTML
13 21 (1.07%) FastAPI
13 21 (1.07%) ModSecurity
14 20 (1.01%) Swagger
15 19 (0.96%) React
15 19 (0.96%) Regular Expression
15 19 (0.96%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 141 (7.15%) Cloud Native
2 122 (6.19%) Onboarding
3 109 (5.53%) Management Information System
4 75 (3.81%) Data Centre
5 74 (3.75%) Product Ownership
6 58 (2.94%) Enterprise Software
7 55 (2.79%) Data Structures
7 55 (2.79%) Distributed Systems
7 55 (2.79%) Driving Licence
7 55 (2.79%) Embedded Systems
8 48 (2.44%) Low-Code
9 46 (2.33%) Algorithms
10 41 (2.08%) Life Science
11 39 (1.98%) Analytical Mindset
12 38 (1.93%) Robotics
13 35 (1.78%) AI Agents
13 35 (1.78%) Legacy Systems
13 35 (1.78%) Video\Live Streaming
14 30 (1.52%) IoT
14 30 (1.52%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 125 (6.34%) Linux
2 90 (4.57%) Windows
3 35 (1.78%) Windows Server
4 20 (1.01%) Unix
5 19 (0.96%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (0.51%) Android
7 9 (0.46%) Embedded Linux
8 6 (0.30%) FreeRTOS
9 5 (0.25%) Kali Linux
9 5 (0.25%) Mac OS
10 4 (0.20%) Mac OS X
11 3 (0.15%) Apple iOS
12 2 (0.10%) Robot Operating System
12 2 (0.10%) ThreadX
12 2 (0.10%) VMS
12 2 (0.10%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.051%) AIX
13 1 (0.051%) OpenWrt
Processes & Methodologies
1 501 (25.42%) Problem-Solving
2 453 (22.98%) Continuous Improvement
3 383 (19.43%) Agile
4 348 (17.66%) AI
5 293 (14.87%) Verification and Validation
6 290 (14.71%) CI/CD
7 258 (13.09%) Stakeholder Management
8 252 (12.79%) Test Automation
9 242 (12.28%) Migration
10 231 (11.72%) Analytics
11 223 (11.31%) Mentoring
12 205 (10.40%) Software Engineering
13 202 (10.25%) Decision-Making
14 188 (9.54%) DevOps
15 183 (9.28%) Business Intelligence
16 174 (8.83%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 173 (8.78%) Machine Learning
18 167 (8.47%) Data Analysis
18 167 (8.47%) Roadmaps
19 158 (8.02%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 423 (21.46%) Python
2 363 (18.42%) SQL
3 86 (4.36%) C++
4 80 (4.06%) Java
5 78 (3.96%) C
6 60 (3.04%) JavaScript
7 55 (2.79%) Go
8 49 (2.49%) MATLAB
9 46 (2.33%) C#
10 30 (1.52%) Bash
11 29 (1.47%) PowerShell
12 25 (1.27%) Embedded C
13 22 (1.12%) Scala
14 19 (0.96%) TypeScript
15 18 (0.91%) Embedded C++
16 15 (0.76%) R
17 12 (0.61%) T-SQL
18 11 (0.56%) Data Analysis Expressions
19 8 (0.41%) ABAP
19 8 (0.41%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 422 (21.41%) Degree
2 373 (18.92%) Security Cleared
3 246 (12.48%) SC Cleared
4 118 (5.99%) BPSS Clearance
5 98 (4.97%) DV Cleared
6 86 (4.36%) Master's Degree
7 43 (2.18%) Computer Science Degree
8 36 (1.83%) CISSP
9 33 (1.67%) Chartered Engineer
10 32 (1.62%) PhD
11 31 (1.57%) PMI Certification
12 28 (1.42%) CISM
12 28 (1.42%) HNC
13 26 (1.32%) HND
14 24 (1.22%) ACCA
14 24 (1.22%) AWS Certification
15 23 (1.17%) Azure Certification
15 23 (1.17%) CIMA
16 19 (0.96%) Cisco Certification
17 18 (0.91%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 294 (14.92%) Data Quality
2 271 (13.75%) QA
3 65 (3.30%) Accessibility
4 51 (2.59%) GDPR
5 37 (1.88%) GRC
6 26 (1.32%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 23 (1.17%) IEC 61508
8 21 (1.07%) GxP
9 19 (0.96%) NIST
10 18 (0.91%) PMO
11 16 (0.81%) SLA
12 15 (0.76%) ISO 26262
13 13 (0.66%) GAAP
13 13 (0.66%) IFRS
13 13 (0.66%) ISO 9001
14 11 (0.56%) GMP
14 11 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 15288
14 11 (0.56%) SOC 2
14 11 (0.56%) WCAG
15 9 (0.46%) Def Stans
System Software
1 75 (3.81%) Docker
2 73 (3.70%) Firmware
3 47 (2.38%) Active Directory
4 34 (1.73%) Embedded Firmware
5 28 (1.42%) Virtual Machines
6 21 (1.07%) vSphere
7 10 (0.51%) VMware Infrastructure
8 4 (0.20%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.15%) KVM
10 2 (0.10%) iptables
10 2 (0.10%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.10%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.051%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.051%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 75 (3.81%) Kubernetes
2 37 (1.88%) Grafana
3 26 (1.32%) Ansible
3 26 (1.32%) Functional Safety
4 15 (0.76%) Single Sign-On
5 14 (0.71%) Prometheus
6 10 (0.51%) Cilium
7 7 (0.36%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 7 (0.36%) Kibana
7 7 (0.36%) Microsoft Intune
8 6 (0.30%) Nessus
8 6 (0.30%) Nmap
8 6 (0.30%) Puppet
9 5 (0.25%) FortiGate
9 5 (0.25%) SCCM
9 5 (0.25%) WMI
10 4 (0.20%) BMC PATROL
10 4 (0.20%) HP Fortify
10 4 (0.20%) Kubeflow
11 2 (0.10%) WSUS
Vendors
1 260 (13.19%) Microsoft
2 111 (5.63%) SAP
3 93 (4.72%) Oracle
4 57 (2.89%) Salesforce
5 51 (2.59%) Databricks
6 49 (2.49%) ServiceNow
7 48 (2.44%) Cisco
8 37 (1.88%) Google
9 29 (1.47%) CrowdStrike
9 29 (1.47%) VMware
10 27 (1.37%) EMC
11 26 (1.32%) Palo Alto
12 24 (1.22%) Red Hat
13 22 (1.12%) Tenable
14 15 (0.76%) McAfee
15 14 (0.71%) IBM
15 14 (0.71%) Splunk
15 14 (0.71%) Workday
16 12 (0.61%) ForgeRock
16 12 (0.61%) Okta