Validation Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Validation
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring Validation skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 14 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 148 150 157
Rank change year-on-year +2 +7 -51
Permanent jobs citing Validation 596 659 665
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 1.41% 1.83% 1.93%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.79% 2.06% 2.17%
Number of salaries quoted 305 239 315
10th Percentile £32,500 £36,250 £36,134
25th Percentile £39,625 £43,000 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £53,000 £52,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +0.95% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £67,500 £62,500 £66,250
90th Percentile £80,000 £75,000 £76,250
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -11.54%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK excluding London

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 the UK excluding London.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 33,283 31,985 30,588
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 78.49% 89.04% 88.64%
Number of salaries quoted 19,187 14,363 22,780
10th Percentile £27,750 £31,250 £28,000
25th Percentile £33,500 £41,250 £38,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £55,000 £52,000
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +5.77% -5.45%
75th Percentile £65,000 £70,000 £66,250
90th Percentile £80,000 £83,750 £80,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%

Validation
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Validation relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Validation job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Validation
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Validation.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Validation

Validation
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing Validation in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 14 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Validation in the UK excluding London

Validation
Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Validation within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 14 January 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
South East +30 202 £50,000 -13.04% 321
North of England -24 123 £55,000 +19.29% 151
Midlands +8 83 £40,000 -23.08% 120
East of England +10 77 £60,000 +9.09% 159
North West -5 77 £54,500 +14.30% 61
South West +23 68 £55,000 +4.56% 154
West Midlands -2 51 £36,250 -30.95% 59
Yorkshire -8 36 £61,250 +51.33% 66
East Midlands +3 32 £42,500 -5.56% 61
Scotland -10 32 £60,000 +3.39% 43
North East +3 10 £31,000 -25.30% 26
Wales +11 8 £65,000 +32.37% 35
Northern Ireland -19 3 - - 14
Validation
UK

Validation
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 15 (2.52%) Confluence
2 9 (1.51%) CMS
3 7 (1.17%) Apache Airflow
3 7 (1.17%) SugarCRM
4 5 (0.84%) Apache
4 5 (0.84%) Apache Spark
5 4 (0.67%) Headless CMS
6 3 (0.50%) SharePoint
7 2 (0.34%) WordPress
8 1 (0.17%) Apache Superset
8 1 (0.17%) FileNet
8 1 (0.17%) Kinematics
8 1 (0.17%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 51 (8.56%) Microsoft Excel
2 48 (8.05%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (2.01%) Simulink
4 8 (1.34%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 4 (0.67%) Fusion 360
6 3 (0.50%) MS Visio
7 2 (0.34%) Adobe After Effects
7 2 (0.34%) Adobe Captivate
7 2 (0.34%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 2 (0.34%) Adobe Illustrator
7 2 (0.34%) Adobe Premiere
7 2 (0.34%) Elementor
7 2 (0.34%) Mathcad
7 2 (0.34%) Photoshop
7 2 (0.34%) Weka
8 1 (0.17%) Doxygen
8 1 (0.17%) GNU Octave
8 1 (0.17%) Oracle Smart View
8 1 (0.17%) OrCAD
8 1 (0.17%) Solid Edge
Business Applications
1 10 (1.68%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (1.01%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.67%) Markit EDM
3 4 (0.67%) SAP BPC
4 3 (0.50%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 2 (0.34%) NetSuite
5 2 (0.34%) Oracle Assets
5 2 (0.34%) Oracle Cash Management
5 2 (0.34%) Oracle General Ledger
5 2 (0.34%) Oracle Payables
5 2 (0.34%) Oracle Receivables
5 2 (0.34%) Primavera
5 2 (0.34%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.17%) Oracle ERP
6 1 (0.17%) Oracle Financials
6 1 (0.17%) Remedy ITSM
6 1 (0.17%) SAP Business One
6 1 (0.17%) Shopify
6 1 (0.17%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 58 (9.73%) Azure
2 56 (9.40%) Power Platform
3 26 (4.36%) AWS
4 18 (3.02%) Dynamics 365
4 18 (3.02%) SaaS
5 17 (2.85%) dbt
6 14 (2.35%) Snowflake
7 12 (2.01%) Azure DevOps
8 11 (1.85%) GitHub
9 8 (1.34%) Azure Data Factory
10 6 (1.01%) Datadog
10 6 (1.01%) PaaS
11 5 (0.84%) Amazon S3
11 5 (0.84%) AWS CloudFormation
11 5 (0.84%) AWS Step Functions
11 5 (0.84%) GCP
12 4 (0.67%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 4 (0.67%) Collibra
12 4 (0.67%) Entra ID
12 4 (0.67%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 9 (1.51%) 5G
1 9 (1.51%) WAN
2 8 (1.34%) HTTP
2 8 (1.34%) MQTT
3 7 (1.17%) SD-WAN
3 7 (1.17%) TCP/IP
4 6 (1.01%) DNS
4 6 (1.01%) Modbus
5 4 (0.67%) Firewall
5 4 (0.67%) SMTP
6 3 (0.50%) Wireless
7 2 (0.34%) DHCP
7 2 (0.34%) GSM
7 2 (0.34%) Internet
7 2 (0.34%) IPsec
7 2 (0.34%) LAN
7 2 (0.34%) LTE
7 2 (0.34%) SSL
7 2 (0.34%) VLAN
7 2 (0.34%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 54 (9.06%) Power BI
2 21 (3.52%) Data Warehouse
3 19 (3.19%) Metadata
3 19 (3.19%) Tableau
4 14 (2.35%) Relational Database
5 11 (1.85%) Oracle Reports
6 10 (1.68%) Spotfire
6 10 (1.68%) SQL Server
7 8 (1.34%) BigQuery
8 7 (1.17%) Amazon Redshift
8 7 (1.17%) PostgreSQL
9 5 (0.84%) Data Lake
10 4 (0.67%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
10 4 (0.67%) Data Vault
10 4 (0.67%) MySQL
10 4 (0.67%) SAP HANA
11 3 (0.50%) Big Data
11 3 (0.50%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.50%) GIS
11 3 (0.50%) SAP BW
Development Applications
1 44 (7.38%) JIRA
2 43 (7.21%) Rational DOORS
3 32 (5.37%) Git
4 9 (1.51%) LabVIEW
5 8 (1.34%) TestRail
6 7 (1.17%) Cucumber
6 7 (1.17%) Jenkins
6 7 (1.17%) JMeter
7 6 (1.01%) Locust
7 6 (1.01%) Postman
8 5 (0.84%) Selenium
9 4 (0.67%) Subversion
10 3 (0.50%) ERwin
10 3 (0.50%) GitLab
10 3 (0.50%) PowerDesigner
10 3 (0.50%) Rational Rhapsody
11 2 (0.34%) Charles Proxy
11 2 (0.34%) LoadRunner
11 2 (0.34%) Robot Framework
11 2 (0.34%) SonarQube
General
1 172 (28.86%) Social Skills
2 109 (18.29%) Analytical Skills
3 93 (15.60%) Finance
4 52 (8.72%) Electronics
5 40 (6.71%) Manufacturing
6 33 (5.54%) Aerospace
7 27 (4.53%) Law
8 23 (3.86%) Pharmaceutical
8 23 (3.86%) Presentation Skills
9 22 (3.69%) Documentation Skills
9 22 (3.69%) Public Sector
9 22 (3.69%) Retail
10 21 (3.52%) Marketing
11 20 (3.36%) Organisational Skills
12 17 (2.85%) Avionics
12 17 (2.85%) Legal
13 16 (2.68%) Automotive
13 16 (2.68%) Aviation
13 16 (2.68%) Telecoms
14 9 (1.51%) Games
Job Titles
1 100 (16.78%) Analyst
2 88 (14.77%) Systems Engineer
3 87 (14.60%) Senior
4 55 (9.23%) Lead
5 40 (6.71%) Test Engineer
6 33 (5.54%) Validation Engineer
7 32 (5.37%) Integration Engineer
8 31 (5.20%) Applications Engineer
9 29 (4.87%) Junior
10 27 (4.53%) Applications Support
10 27 (4.53%) Principal Engineer
11 26 (4.36%) Business Analyst
11 26 (4.36%) Support Engineer
12 25 (4.19%) Applications Support Engineer
13 23 (3.86%) Systems Integration Engineer
14 20 (3.36%) Data Analyst
15 19 (3.19%) Principal Systems Engineer
15 19 (3.19%) Support Analyst
15 19 (3.19%) Verification Engineer
16 17 (2.85%) Systems Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (2.52%) REST
2 11 (1.85%) React
3 9 (1.51%) CSS
3 9 (1.51%) Middleware
4 8 (1.34%) HTML
5 7 (1.17%) GraphQL
5 7 (1.17%) JSON
5 7 (1.17%) Next.js
5 7 (1.17%) OLE
5 7 (1.17%) pytest
6 6 (1.01%) Gherkin
6 6 (1.01%) Pandas
6 6 (1.01%) XML
7 5 (0.84%) Playwright
7 5 (0.84%) PySpark
8 4 (0.67%) .NET
8 4 (0.67%) SOAP
9 3 (0.50%) OpenGL
9 3 (0.50%) Oracle Fusion
9 3 (0.50%) Vulkan
Miscellaneous
1 46 (7.72%) Management Information System
2 32 (5.37%) Life Science
3 22 (3.69%) Product Ownership
4 20 (3.36%) Self-Motivation
5 18 (3.02%) Operational Technology
6 15 (2.52%) Onboarding
7 14 (2.35%) SCADA
8 12 (2.01%) Algorithms
9 10 (1.68%) Embedded Systems
9 10 (1.68%) Enterprise Software
10 9 (1.51%) Analytical Mindset
10 9 (1.51%) FPGA
11 8 (1.34%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 8 (1.34%) IoT
11 8 (1.34%) LIMS
11 8 (1.34%) Self-Driving Car
12 7 (1.17%) e-Learning
12 7 (1.17%) Semantic Web
13 6 (1.01%) Cloud Native
13 6 (1.01%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 32 (5.37%) Windows
2 24 (4.03%) Linux
3 8 (1.34%) Windows Server
4 7 (1.17%) Unix
5 5 (0.84%) Windows 10
6 3 (0.50%) Android
7 2 (0.34%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.34%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.17%) FreeRTOS
8 1 (0.17%) Robot Operating System
8 1 (0.17%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 139 (23.32%) Verification and Validation
2 134 (22.48%) Agile
3 122 (20.47%) Problem-Solving
4 91 (15.27%) Continuous Improvement
5 89 (14.93%) Systems Engineering
6 70 (11.74%) Migration
7 63 (10.57%) Data Validation
8 62 (10.40%) Data Analysis
9 61 (10.23%) Business Intelligence
10 58 (9.73%) Analytics
11 55 (9.23%) Test Automation
12 50 (8.39%) Software Engineering
13 49 (8.22%) Mentoring
14 48 (8.05%) Data Management
15 47 (7.89%) Data Cleansing
16 44 (7.38%) Data Migration
16 44 (7.38%) ERP
17 42 (7.05%) CI/CD
17 42 (7.05%) DevOps
17 42 (7.05%) ETL
Programming Languages
1 104 (17.45%) SQL
2 96 (16.11%) Python
3 28 (4.70%) C
4 26 (4.36%) MATLAB
5 25 (4.19%) C++
6 14 (2.35%) Java
6 14 (2.35%) JavaScript
7 11 (1.85%) TypeScript
8 7 (1.17%) Bash
8 7 (1.17%) PowerShell
9 6 (1.01%) C#
10 3 (0.50%) Embedded C
10 3 (0.50%) GLSL
10 3 (0.50%) Go
10 3 (0.50%) Google Apps Script
10 3 (0.50%) Tcl
10 3 (0.50%) VB
11 2 (0.34%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 2 (0.34%) PHP
11 2 (0.34%) R
Qualifications
1 186 (31.21%) Degree
2 103 (17.28%) BPSS Clearance
3 91 (15.27%) Security Cleared
4 37 (6.21%) SC Cleared
5 19 (3.19%) Master's Degree
6 18 (3.02%) HNC
7 17 (2.85%) Computer Science Degree
8 14 (2.35%) DV Cleared
9 13 (2.18%) PMI Certification
9 13 (2.18%) PMP
10 11 (1.85%) Chartered Engineer
10 11 (1.85%) HND
11 10 (1.68%) Microsoft Certification
12 8 (1.34%) CCNA
12 8 (1.34%) Cisco Certification
13 7 (1.17%) ISTQB
13 7 (1.17%) Numerate Degree
13 7 (1.17%) RIBA
14 5 (0.84%) A+ Certification
14 5 (0.84%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 76 (12.75%) QA
2 57 (9.56%) Data Quality
3 38 (6.38%) ISO/IEC 15288
4 27 (4.53%) SLA
5 22 (3.69%) Accessibility
6 21 (3.52%) GxP
7 16 (2.68%) ISO/IEC 12207
8 10 (1.68%) Good Clinical Practice
9 9 (1.51%) GDPR
10 8 (1.34%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 7 (1.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 6 (1.01%) WCAG
13 5 (0.84%) ARP4761
14 4 (0.67%) GMP
14 4 (0.67%) ISO 13485
14 4 (0.67%) ISO 20022
14 4 (0.67%) PCI DSS
14 4 (0.67%) SEPA
14 4 (0.67%) TARGET2
15 3 (0.50%) NIST
System Software
1 22 (3.69%) Docker
2 17 (2.85%) Firmware
3 13 (2.18%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (1.85%) Active Directory
5 7 (1.17%) Embedded Firmware
6 2 (0.34%) Ceph
6 2 (0.34%) Lustre
6 2 (0.34%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 2 (0.34%) Slurm Workload Manager
6 2 (0.34%) vCloud
6 2 (0.34%) Virtual Servers
7 1 (0.17%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.17%) pfSense
7 1 (0.17%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.17%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.17%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 17 (2.85%) Kubernetes
2 11 (1.85%) Terraform
3 9 (1.51%) Grafana
4 7 (1.17%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
5 6 (1.01%) Ansible
6 3 (0.50%) Argo
6 3 (0.50%) Rancher
6 3 (0.50%) yum
7 2 (0.34%) Docker Swarm
7 2 (0.34%) Functional Safety
7 2 (0.34%) Microsoft Intune
7 2 (0.34%) Nessus
7 2 (0.34%) Prometheus
7 2 (0.34%) Rundeck
8 1 (0.17%) Control-M
8 1 (0.17%) Kibana
8 1 (0.17%) Puppet
8 1 (0.17%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 77 (12.92%) Microsoft
2 30 (5.03%) SAP
3 24 (4.03%) Oracle
4 22 (3.69%) IBM
5 17 (2.85%) VMware
6 11 (1.85%) Salesforce
7 6 (1.01%) Cisco
8 5 (0.84%) MuleSoft
8 5 (0.84%) ServiceNow
9 4 (0.67%) Ab Initio
9 4 (0.67%) Databricks
9 4 (0.67%) Google
9 4 (0.67%) Guidewire
10 3 (0.50%) Agilent
10 3 (0.50%) EMC
10 3 (0.50%) Siemens
11 2 (0.34%) Adobe
11 2 (0.34%) BT
11 2 (0.34%) MathWorks
11 2 (0.34%) Sage