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

6 months to
28 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 136 168 181
Rank change year-on-year +32 +13 -28
Permanent jobs citing Validation 1,034 683 1,247
As % of all permanent jobs in England 1.49% 1.87% 1.61%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.94% 2.00% 1.86%
Number of salaries quoted 608 346 716
10th Percentile £34,850 £39,375 £35,570
25th Percentile £44,993 £46,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £56,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% +1.82% -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £71,250 £72,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £85,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £56,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +7.14% +1.82% -11.41%

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 53,421 34,107 67,015
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 77.17% 93.42% 86.49%
Number of salaries quoted 33,389 20,285 51,851
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,500 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £44,590 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,040 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.27% +9.09% -12.00%
75th Percentile £77,500 £81,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £98,750 £102,500 £95,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -11.29%

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 March 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 March 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 +66 331 £75,000 +7.14% 268
South East +36 246 £55,000 +10.55% 215
North of England -1 161 £58,000 +22.11% 152
Midlands -19 123 £37,500 -31.82% 118
North West +12 103 £58,000 +21.64% 74
East of England -17 90 £58,750 +6.82% 96
West Midlands -4 75 £43,108 -34.93% 77
South West -35 69 £55,000 - 89
East Midlands -40 46 £35,000 -31.37% 41
Yorkshire -41 38 £59,000 +24.21% 51
North East -9 20 £48,500 -14.54% 27
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 41 (3.97%) Apache Airflow
2 27 (2.61%) Apache Spark
3 23 (2.22%) Apache
4 13 (1.26%) Confluence
4 13 (1.26%) Microsoft Exchange
5 12 (1.16%) Appian
5 12 (1.16%) CMS
6 8 (0.77%) SharePoint
7 5 (0.48%) Kinematics
8 4 (0.39%) Headless CMS
9 2 (0.19%) WordPress
10 1 (0.097%) Anypoint
10 1 (0.097%) IIS
10 1 (0.097%) Jupyter
10 1 (0.097%) SAS
Applications
1 89 (8.61%) Microsoft Excel
2 52 (5.03%) Microsoft Office
3 18 (1.74%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 17 (1.64%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.68%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 5 (0.48%) Spreadsheet
7 4 (0.39%) Fusion 360
7 4 (0.39%) Microsoft Project
7 4 (0.39%) Simulink
8 2 (0.19%) Adobe After Effects
8 2 (0.19%) Adobe Captivate
8 2 (0.19%) Adobe Illustrator
8 2 (0.19%) Adobe Premiere
8 2 (0.19%) Elementor
8 2 (0.19%) Oracle Smart View
8 2 (0.19%) Photoshop
8 2 (0.19%) Solid Edge
8 2 (0.19%) SOLIDWORKS
8 2 (0.19%) Weka
9 1 (0.097%) PTC Creo
Business Applications
1 21 (2.03%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (1.06%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.48%) Loan IQ
3 5 (0.48%) SAP ERP
4 4 (0.39%) SAP BPC
5 3 (0.29%) Workday HCM
6 2 (0.19%) IBM Planning Analytics
6 2 (0.19%) Oracle ERP
6 2 (0.19%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 2 (0.19%) SAP CX
6 2 (0.19%) SAP MDG
7 1 (0.097%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.097%) Endur
7 1 (0.097%) NetSuite
7 1 (0.097%) Oracle Financials
7 1 (0.097%) Primavera
7 1 (0.097%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.097%) SAP Business ByDesign
7 1 (0.097%) SAP FSCM
7 1 (0.097%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 144 (13.93%) Azure
2 100 (9.67%) Power Platform
3 81 (7.83%) AWS
4 54 (5.22%) SaaS
5 40 (3.87%) Azure DevOps
6 38 (3.68%) GCP
7 24 (2.32%) Amazon S3
7 24 (2.32%) Power Automate
7 24 (2.32%) Snowflake
8 23 (2.22%) Azure Data Factory
9 22 (2.13%) dbt
10 21 (2.03%) Dynamics 365
11 20 (1.93%) Entra ID
12 19 (1.84%) GitHub
13 18 (1.74%) Microsoft 365
14 14 (1.35%) Datadog
15 13 (1.26%) Anthropic Claude
15 13 (1.26%) OpenShift
16 12 (1.16%) Azure AI
17 10 (0.97%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 25 (2.42%) CHAP
2 18 (1.74%) Broadband
3 15 (1.45%) WAN
4 14 (1.35%) Firewall
5 13 (1.26%) DNS
5 13 (1.26%) SD-WAN
6 11 (1.06%) 5G
7 9 (0.87%) HTTP
7 9 (0.87%) TCP/IP
7 9 (0.87%) Wireless
8 7 (0.68%) LAN
8 7 (0.68%) MQTT
9 6 (0.58%) Modbus
9 6 (0.58%) NAS
10 5 (0.48%) Cisco IOS
10 5 (0.48%) WAAS
11 4 (0.39%) SMTP
11 4 (0.39%) VoIP
11 4 (0.39%) VPN
12 3 (0.29%) PBX
Database & Business Intelligence
1 99 (9.57%) Power BI
2 43 (4.16%) SQL Server
2 43 (4.16%) Tableau
3 27 (2.61%) Data Warehouse
3 27 (2.61%) Relational Database
4 26 (2.51%) Metadata
5 24 (2.32%) PostgreSQL
6 14 (1.35%) Azure SQL Database
6 14 (1.35%) Oracle Reports
6 14 (1.35%) Spark SQL
7 13 (1.26%) Apache Hive
7 13 (1.26%) Impala
7 13 (1.26%) MySQL
7 13 (1.26%) Oracle Database
7 13 (1.26%) Parquet
8 12 (1.16%) Pinecone
8 12 (1.16%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 10 (0.97%) Amazon Redshift
9 10 (0.97%) Spotfire
10 9 (0.87%) BigQuery
Development Applications
1 59 (5.71%) Git
2 50 (4.84%) JIRA
3 34 (3.29%) Rational DOORS
4 18 (1.74%) Jenkins
5 17 (1.64%) Postman
6 14 (1.35%) Cucumber
6 14 (1.35%) GitLab
6 14 (1.35%) LabVIEW
6 14 (1.35%) MLflow
7 13 (1.26%) IBM UrbanCode
7 13 (1.26%) JMeter
7 13 (1.26%) Selenium
8 11 (1.06%) Eclipse
9 10 (0.97%) TestRail
10 8 (0.77%) Locust
11 7 (0.68%) LoadRunner
11 7 (0.68%) SoapUI
12 6 (0.58%) Subversion
13 5 (0.48%) SpecFlow
14 4 (0.39%) Zephyr
General
1 362 (35.01%) Social Skills
2 260 (25.15%) Finance
3 247 (23.89%) Analytical Skills
4 84 (8.12%) Banking
5 60 (5.80%) Manufacturing
6 57 (5.51%) Electronics
7 50 (4.84%) Aerospace
8 47 (4.55%) Marketing
9 43 (4.16%) Legal
10 42 (4.06%) Law
11 41 (3.97%) Financial Institution
12 39 (3.77%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 36 (3.48%) Retail
14 34 (3.29%) Presentation Skills
15 27 (2.61%) Public Sector
16 26 (2.51%) Organisational Skills
17 23 (2.22%) Documentation Skills
17 23 (2.22%) Telecoms
18 21 (2.03%) Pharmaceutical
19 19 (1.84%) Games
Job Titles
1 184 (17.79%) Analyst
2 160 (15.47%) Senior
3 127 (12.28%) Systems Engineer
4 78 (7.54%) Lead
5 64 (6.19%) Validation Engineer
6 61 (5.90%) Test Engineer
7 60 (5.80%) Business Analyst
8 51 (4.93%) Architect
9 50 (4.84%) Data Analyst
10 49 (4.74%) Integration Engineer
11 39 (3.77%) Systems Integration Engineer
12 38 (3.68%) Developer
12 38 (3.68%) Principal Engineer
13 36 (3.48%) Senior Systems Engineer
14 35 (3.38%) Data Engineer
15 33 (3.19%) Junior
16 30 (2.90%) Software Validation Engineer
16 30 (2.90%) Verification Engineer
17 28 (2.71%) Auditor
17 28 (2.71%) Principal Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 52 (5.03%) REST
2 37 (3.58%) Pandas
3 29 (2.80%) JSON
4 26 (2.51%) pytest
5 25 (2.42%) Middleware
6 22 (2.13%) XML
7 19 (1.84%) OAuth
8 18 (1.74%) JWT
8 18 (1.74%) NumPy
8 18 (1.74%) PySpark
8 18 (1.74%) PyTorch
8 18 (1.74%) Swagger
8 18 (1.74%) TensorFlow
9 16 (1.55%) RESTful
10 15 (1.45%) Kafka
10 15 (1.45%) React
10 15 (1.45%) scikit-learn
10 15 (1.45%) Web Services
11 14 (1.35%) .NET
11 14 (1.35%) CSS
Miscellaneous
1 72 (6.96%) Management Information System
2 51 (4.93%) Onboarding
3 41 (3.97%) Data Structures
4 36 (3.48%) Low-Code
5 31 (3.00%) Legacy Systems
6 28 (2.71%) Product Ownership
6 28 (2.71%) Self-Motivation
7 24 (2.32%) Life Science
8 23 (2.22%) Analytical Mindset
9 19 (1.84%) Enterprise Software
10 14 (1.35%) Blockchain
10 14 (1.35%) Robotics
11 13 (1.26%) Algorithms
11 13 (1.26%) Reinsurance
12 12 (1.16%) IoT
13 11 (1.06%) Data Centre
13 11 (1.06%) Embedded Systems
13 11 (1.06%) Hackathon
13 11 (1.06%) Self-Driving Car
14 8 (0.77%) GNSS
Operating Systems
1 51 (4.93%) Linux
2 43 (4.16%) Windows
3 17 (1.64%) Unix
4 12 (1.16%) Windows Server
5 10 (0.97%) Android
6 5 (0.48%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (0.39%) Apple iOS
8 3 (0.29%) Robot Operating System
9 2 (0.19%) AIX
9 2 (0.19%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.19%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.097%) Embedded Linux
10 1 (0.097%) FreeRTOS
10 1 (0.097%) Kali Linux
10 1 (0.097%) ThreadX
Processes & Methodologies
1 237 (22.92%) Agile
2 228 (22.05%) Problem-Solving
3 181 (17.50%) Verification and Validation
4 175 (16.92%) Continuous Improvement
5 155 (14.99%) Analytics
6 146 (14.12%) Data Validation
7 135 (13.06%) Test Automation
8 126 (12.19%) Business Intelligence
9 121 (11.70%) CI/CD
10 118 (11.41%) AI
11 114 (11.03%) Systems Engineering
12 111 (10.74%) DevOps
13 107 (10.35%) Data Modelling
13 107 (10.35%) Decision-Making
14 104 (10.06%) Migration
15 99 (9.57%) ETL
16 97 (9.38%) Mentoring
17 96 (9.28%) User Acceptance Testing
18 95 (9.19%) Stakeholder Management
19 92 (8.90%) Data Governance
Programming Languages
1 235 (22.73%) SQL
2 217 (20.99%) Python
3 44 (4.26%) Java
4 30 (2.90%) JavaScript
4 30 (2.90%) PowerShell
5 27 (2.61%) C++
6 25 (2.42%) C
7 21 (2.03%) Bash
8 20 (1.93%) T-SQL
9 17 (1.64%) Go
10 14 (1.35%) C#
10 14 (1.35%) MATLAB
10 14 (1.35%) TypeScript
11 11 (1.06%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 9 (0.87%) R
12 9 (0.87%) VBA
13 7 (0.68%) VB
14 6 (0.58%) PHP
15 5 (0.48%) VBScript
16 4 (0.39%) Embedded C
Qualifications
1 233 (22.53%) Degree
2 128 (12.38%) Security Cleared
3 112 (10.83%) BPSS Clearance
4 53 (5.13%) Master's Degree
5 48 (4.64%) SC Cleared
6 37 (3.58%) Computer Science Degree
7 32 (3.09%) CISA
7 32 (3.09%) CISSP
8 31 (3.00%) CISM
9 27 (2.61%) DV Cleared
10 25 (2.42%) CGEIT
10 25 (2.42%) FFIEC
10 25 (2.42%) SANS
11 23 (2.22%) Chartered Engineer
12 19 (1.84%) HNC
13 17 (1.64%) ISTQB
14 15 (1.45%) PMI Certification
14 15 (1.45%) PMP
15 14 (1.35%) HND
16 7 (0.68%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 148 (14.31%) Data Quality
2 114 (11.03%) QA
3 57 (5.51%) GDPR
4 44 (4.26%) Accessibility
5 37 (3.58%) ISO/IEC 15288
6 26 (2.51%) NIST
7 25 (2.42%) COBIT
8 18 (1.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 18 (1.74%) SLA
9 15 (1.45%) IFRS
10 13 (1.26%) WCAG
11 11 (1.06%) GRC
12 10 (0.97%) Good Clinical Practice
12 10 (0.97%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 9 (0.87%) GAAP
13 9 (0.87%) ISO 9001
14 8 (0.77%) ISO 20022
15 7 (0.68%) 21 CFR Part 11
15 7 (0.68%) GxP
16 6 (0.58%) GMP
System Software
1 57 (5.51%) Docker
2 21 (2.03%) Active Directory
3 19 (1.84%) Firmware
4 8 (0.77%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (0.77%) vSphere
5 5 (0.48%) Hyper-V
6 3 (0.29%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.19%) Ceph
7 2 (0.19%) Lustre
7 2 (0.19%) Slurm Workload Manager
7 2 (0.19%) Terminal Services
8 1 (0.097%) Embedded Firmware
8 1 (0.097%) iptables
8 1 (0.097%) OpenAM
8 1 (0.097%) OpenDJ
8 1 (0.097%) OpenIDM
8 1 (0.097%) pfSense
8 1 (0.097%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 54 (5.22%) Kubernetes
2 40 (3.87%) Terraform
3 23 (2.22%) Grafana
4 17 (1.64%) Ansible
5 14 (1.35%) Prometheus
6 12 (1.16%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 10 (0.97%) SCCM
8 7 (0.68%) Microsoft Intune
9 5 (0.48%) Argo
9 5 (0.48%) Rancher
9 5 (0.48%) yum
10 3 (0.29%) Functional Safety
11 2 (0.19%) BMC PATROL
11 2 (0.19%) Nessus
11 2 (0.19%) PowerCLI
11 2 (0.19%) Puppet
12 1 (0.097%) Control-M
12 1 (0.097%) FortiGate
12 1 (0.097%) Kibana
12 1 (0.097%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 140 (13.54%) Microsoft
2 54 (5.22%) SAP
3 53 (5.13%) Oracle
4 36 (3.48%) Salesforce
5 18 (1.74%) Red Hat
6 17 (1.64%) Cisco
7 16 (1.55%) Adobe
7 16 (1.55%) Foundry
7 16 (1.55%) ServiceNow
8 15 (1.45%) Databricks
8 15 (1.45%) VMware
9 13 (1.26%) IBM
9 13 (1.26%) OpenAI
10 12 (1.16%) Automation Anywhere
10 12 (1.16%) Google
10 12 (1.16%) Software AG
10 12 (1.16%) UiPath
11 10 (0.97%) Citrix
12 9 (0.87%) Intapp
12 9 (0.87%) Workday