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

6 months to
11 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 156 172 181
Rank change year-on-year +16 +9 -31
Permanent jobs citing Validation 872 780 1,096
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.50% 1.74% 1.66%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.88% 1.89% 1.89%
Number of salaries quoted 471 276 673
10th Percentile £36,250 £37,625 £35,050
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 £79,875 £72,500 £73,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £84,750
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -15.20%

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 46,489 41,225 58,019
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 79.81% 92.12% 88.13%
Number of salaries quoted 28,280 20,343 45,933
10th Percentile £29,000 £35,000 £29,750
25th Percentile £38,750 £46,250 £40,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £62,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -12.00% +13.64% -12.00%
75th Percentile £77,500 £82,100 £75,000
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 11 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 11 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 +50 302 £75,000 +5.26% 226
South East +25 189 £55,000 - 203
North of England -20 124 £60,000 +25.83% 112
Midlands +12 93 £35,000 -33.33% 120
North West +12 85 £55,000 +15.35% 73
East of England +17 82 £57,500 +4.55% 83
South West +6 69 £62,500 +18.82% 69
West Midlands +2 60 £40,000 -28.89% 84
East Midlands -5 32 £35,000 -32.69% 35
Yorkshire -25 30 £62,500 +54.42% 32
North East -15 9 £41,500 - 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 19 (2.18%) Apache Airflow
2 18 (2.06%) Confluence
3 12 (1.38%) Appian
3 12 (1.38%) Microsoft Exchange
4 10 (1.15%) Apache Spark
4 10 (1.15%) SharePoint
5 9 (1.03%) CMS
6 6 (0.69%) Apache
7 4 (0.46%) Headless CMS
8 3 (0.34%) Jupyter
9 2 (0.23%) Kinematics
9 2 (0.23%) SAS
9 2 (0.23%) SugarCRM
9 2 (0.23%) WordPress
10 1 (0.11%) Anypoint
10 1 (0.11%) FileNet
Applications
1 73 (8.37%) Microsoft Excel
2 55 (6.31%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (1.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (1.26%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.80%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 5 (0.57%) Simulink
7 4 (0.46%) Fusion 360
8 2 (0.23%) Adobe After Effects
8 2 (0.23%) Adobe Captivate
8 2 (0.23%) Adobe Illustrator
8 2 (0.23%) Adobe Premiere
8 2 (0.23%) Elementor
8 2 (0.23%) Oracle Smart View
8 2 (0.23%) Photoshop
8 2 (0.23%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.23%) Weka
9 1 (0.11%) Doxygen
9 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Project
9 1 (0.11%) Revit
9 1 (0.11%) Solid Edge
Business Applications
1 18 (2.06%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (1.26%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.46%) SAP BPC
4 3 (0.34%) SAP CX
4 3 (0.34%) Workday HCM
5 2 (0.23%) Endur
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%) Loan IQ
6 1 (0.11%) Magento
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
6 1 (0.11%) SAP MDG
6 1 (0.11%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 133 (15.25%) Azure
2 74 (8.49%) Power Platform
3 53 (6.08%) AWS
4 45 (5.16%) SaaS
5 36 (4.13%) Azure DevOps
6 27 (3.10%) GCP
7 22 (2.52%) Azure Data Factory
8 20 (2.29%) Power Automate
9 19 (2.18%) Dynamics 365
9 19 (2.18%) Microsoft 365
9 19 (2.18%) Snowflake
10 18 (2.06%) Entra ID
11 15 (1.72%) dbt
11 15 (1.72%) GitHub
12 12 (1.38%) Anthropic Claude
12 12 (1.38%) Azure AI
13 11 (1.26%) Figma
14 10 (1.15%) Amazon S3
14 10 (1.15%) Datadog
15 9 (1.03%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 19 (2.18%) CHAP
2 13 (1.49%) WAN
3 12 (1.38%) Firewall
4 11 (1.26%) LAN
4 11 (1.26%) SD-WAN
5 10 (1.15%) 5G
6 9 (1.03%) DNS
7 8 (0.92%) HTTP
7 8 (0.92%) MQTT
8 7 (0.80%) TCP/IP
9 6 (0.69%) Modbus
10 5 (0.57%) Cisco IOS
10 5 (0.57%) Ethernet VPN
10 5 (0.57%) VoIP
10 5 (0.57%) WAAS
10 5 (0.57%) Wireless
11 4 (0.46%) BGP
11 4 (0.46%) OSPF
11 4 (0.46%) SMTP
12 3 (0.34%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 72 (8.26%) Power BI
2 36 (4.13%) SQL Server
3 23 (2.64%) Data Warehouse
4 22 (2.52%) Metadata
4 22 (2.52%) Relational Database
5 13 (1.49%) Oracle Reports
5 13 (1.49%) Tableau
6 12 (1.38%) Pinecone
7 11 (1.26%) Azure SQL Database
7 11 (1.26%) PostgreSQL
8 10 (1.15%) Spotfire
8 10 (1.15%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 9 (1.03%) Data Lake
10 8 (0.92%) Amazon Redshift
11 7 (0.80%) BigQuery
11 7 (0.80%) Data Vault
11 7 (0.80%) MySQL
12 6 (0.69%) Data Mining
12 6 (0.69%) DB2
12 6 (0.69%) GIS
Development Applications
1 56 (6.42%) JIRA
2 42 (4.82%) Git
3 36 (4.13%) Rational DOORS
4 23 (2.64%) Postman
5 18 (2.06%) Jenkins
6 14 (1.61%) GitLab
7 13 (1.49%) LabVIEW
7 13 (1.49%) MLflow
7 13 (1.49%) Selenium
8 11 (1.26%) Eclipse
9 10 (1.15%) Cucumber
9 10 (1.15%) TestRail
10 9 (1.03%) JMeter
10 9 (1.03%) SoapUI
11 7 (0.80%) LoadRunner
12 6 (0.69%) Subversion
12 6 (0.69%) Zephyr
13 5 (0.57%) Charles Proxy
13 5 (0.57%) Fiddler
13 5 (0.57%) SpecFlow
General
1 315 (36.12%) Social Skills
2 239 (27.41%) Finance
3 207 (23.74%) Analytical Skills
4 68 (7.80%) Banking
5 52 (5.96%) Electronics
6 50 (5.73%) Financial Institution
7 48 (5.50%) Marketing
8 42 (4.82%) Manufacturing
9 38 (4.36%) Presentation Skills
10 37 (4.24%) Law
11 34 (3.90%) Aerospace
12 29 (3.33%) Organisational Skills
12 29 (3.33%) Telecoms
13 26 (2.98%) Legal
13 26 (2.98%) Retail
14 24 (2.75%) Documentation Skills
14 24 (2.75%) Public Sector
15 22 (2.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 18 (2.06%) Billing
16 18 (2.06%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 139 (15.94%) Analyst
2 132 (15.14%) Senior
3 105 (12.04%) Systems Engineer
4 66 (7.57%) Lead
5 58 (6.65%) Architect
6 53 (6.08%) Test Engineer
7 48 (5.50%) Business Analyst
8 47 (5.39%) Validation Engineer
9 43 (4.93%) Integration Engineer
10 38 (4.36%) Data Analyst
11 33 (3.78%) Systems Integration Engineer
12 32 (3.67%) Junior
12 32 (3.67%) Principal Engineer
13 30 (3.44%) Data Engineer
14 27 (3.10%) Developer
14 27 (3.10%) Solutions Architect
15 26 (2.98%) Senior Systems Engineer
16 24 (2.75%) Principal Systems Engineer
16 24 (2.75%) Verification Engineer
17 23 (2.64%) Auditor
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (5.73%) REST
2 31 (3.56%) Middleware
3 30 (3.44%) JSON
4 27 (3.10%) pytest
5 26 (2.98%) Pandas
6 23 (2.64%) XML
7 19 (2.18%) NumPy
7 19 (2.18%) PyTorch
7 19 (2.18%) scikit-learn
7 19 (2.18%) TensorFlow
8 17 (1.95%) OAuth
9 16 (1.83%) FastAPI
9 16 (1.83%) JWT
9 16 (1.83%) Swagger
9 16 (1.83%) Web Services
10 15 (1.72%) Flask
11 14 (1.61%) CSS
11 14 (1.61%) RESTful
12 13 (1.49%) HTML
12 13 (1.49%) Hugging Face
Miscellaneous
1 58 (6.65%) Management Information System
2 40 (4.59%) Onboarding
3 30 (3.44%) Data Structures
3 30 (3.44%) Self-Motivation
4 26 (2.98%) Legacy Systems
5 24 (2.75%) Product Ownership
6 23 (2.64%) Low-Code
7 19 (2.18%) Life Science
8 18 (2.06%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 16 (1.83%) Analytical Mindset
10 14 (1.61%) Enterprise Software
11 13 (1.49%) Algorithms
11 13 (1.49%) Reinsurance
11 13 (1.49%) SWIFT Messaging Network
12 12 (1.38%) Blockchain
13 11 (1.26%) Data Centre
13 11 (1.26%) Self-Driving Car
14 10 (1.15%) IoT
15 8 (0.92%) CMDB
15 8 (0.92%) Embedded Systems
Operating Systems
1 39 (4.47%) Windows
2 36 (4.13%) Linux
3 12 (1.38%) Unix
4 10 (1.15%) Android
5 8 (0.92%) Windows Server
6 4 (0.46%) Apple iOS
7 3 (0.34%) Robot Operating System
8 2 (0.23%) AIX
8 2 (0.23%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.23%) VxWorks
9 1 (0.11%) FreeRTOS
9 1 (0.11%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 214 (24.54%) Agile
2 194 (22.25%) Problem-Solving
3 155 (17.78%) Verification and Validation
4 126 (14.45%) Data Validation
5 117 (13.42%) Analytics
6 111 (12.73%) Continuous Improvement
7 109 (12.50%) Test Automation
8 101 (11.58%) DevOps
9 97 (11.12%) Migration
10 94 (10.78%) CI/CD
11 92 (10.55%) Systems Engineering
12 89 (10.21%) Business Intelligence
13 88 (10.09%) AI
14 86 (9.86%) Mentoring
15 82 (9.40%) Software Engineering
16 81 (9.29%) ETL
17 80 (9.17%) Roadmaps
18 79 (9.06%) Stakeholder Management
19 78 (8.94%) Decision-Making
20 77 (8.83%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 197 (22.59%) SQL
2 165 (18.92%) Python
3 34 (3.90%) Java
4 31 (3.56%) C
5 29 (3.33%) C++
6 26 (2.98%) PowerShell
7 24 (2.75%) JavaScript
8 20 (2.29%) MATLAB
9 17 (1.95%) Bash
10 13 (1.49%) T-SQL
11 12 (1.38%) TypeScript
12 9 (1.03%) C#
12 9 (1.03%) R
13 7 (0.80%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 6 (0.69%) Bicep
14 6 (0.69%) Go
15 5 (0.57%) PHP
16 4 (0.46%) VB
17 3 (0.34%) Shell Script
17 3 (0.34%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 235 (26.95%) Degree
2 113 (12.96%) Security Cleared
3 103 (11.81%) BPSS Clearance
4 48 (5.50%) Master's Degree
5 45 (5.16%) SC Cleared
6 38 (4.36%) Computer Science Degree
7 24 (2.75%) CISA
7 24 (2.75%) CISSP
8 22 (2.52%) CISM
9 20 (2.29%) CGEIT
9 20 (2.29%) FFIEC
9 20 (2.29%) SANS
10 19 (2.18%) DV Cleared
11 16 (1.83%) HNC
11 16 (1.83%) ISTQB
12 14 (1.61%) Chartered Engineer
13 12 (1.38%) Cisco Certification
13 12 (1.38%) HND
14 11 (1.26%) PMI Certification
14 11 (1.26%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 107 (12.27%) Data Quality
2 89 (10.21%) QA
3 43 (4.93%) GDPR
4 35 (4.01%) ISO/IEC 15288
5 27 (3.10%) Accessibility
6 20 (2.29%) COBIT
6 20 (2.29%) NIST
7 17 (1.95%) SLA
8 16 (1.83%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 13 (1.49%) ISO 20022
9 13 (1.49%) SEPA
10 10 (1.15%) Good Clinical Practice
10 10 (1.15%) GRC
11 9 (1.03%) GxP
11 9 (1.03%) TARGET2
11 9 (1.03%) WCAG
12 8 (0.92%) 21 CFR Part 11
12 8 (0.92%) ISO/IEC 12207
13 7 (0.80%) IFRS
14 6 (0.69%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 46 (5.28%) Docker
2 15 (1.72%) Firmware
3 14 (1.61%) Active Directory
4 4 (0.46%) Hyper-V
5 3 (0.34%) VMware Infrastructure
6 2 (0.23%) Ceph
6 2 (0.23%) Lustre
6 2 (0.23%) Slurm Workload Manager
6 2 (0.23%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.23%) vSphere
7 1 (0.11%) iptables
7 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 1 (0.11%) OpenAM
7 1 (0.11%) OpenDJ
7 1 (0.11%) OpenIDM
7 1 (0.11%) pfSense
7 1 (0.11%) Terminal Services
7 1 (0.11%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.11%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 40 (4.59%) Kubernetes
2 26 (2.98%) Terraform
3 14 (1.61%) Ansible
4 12 (1.38%) Grafana
5 9 (1.03%) Prometheus
6 8 (0.92%) Microsoft Intune
7 7 (0.80%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 6 (0.69%) SCCM
9 5 (0.57%) Argo
9 5 (0.57%) Rancher
9 5 (0.57%) yum
10 2 (0.23%) BMC PATROL
10 2 (0.23%) Nessus
10 2 (0.23%) Puppet
11 1 (0.11%) Control-M
11 1 (0.11%) Functional Safety
11 1 (0.11%) Kibana
11 1 (0.11%) PowerCLI
11 1 (0.11%) Single Sign-On
11 1 (0.11%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 114 (13.07%) Microsoft
2 50 (5.73%) SAP
3 31 (3.56%) Oracle
4 27 (3.10%) Salesforce
5 23 (2.64%) Cisco
6 17 (1.95%) Foundry
7 14 (1.61%) IBM
7 14 (1.61%) OpenAI
7 14 (1.61%) ServiceNow
7 14 (1.61%) Software AG
8 13 (1.49%) Adobe
9 12 (1.38%) Automation Anywhere
9 12 (1.38%) UiPath
10 10 (1.15%) Databricks
10 10 (1.15%) F5
11 9 (1.03%) CheckPoint
12 8 (0.92%) Intapp
13 7 (0.80%) Google
13 7 (0.80%) Guidewire
14 6 (0.69%) Citrix