Thought Leadership Job Trends

Thought Leadership
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring Thought Leadership skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 27 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
27 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 291 256 405
Rank change year-on-year -35 +149 -142
Permanent jobs citing Thought Leadership 594 571 619
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.62% 1.25% 0.59%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.85% 1.36% 0.71%
Number of salaries quoted 245 159 396
10th Percentile £45,000 £45,000 £35,000
25th Percentile £62,500 £57,500 £52,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £80,000 £82,500 £75,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.03% +10.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £100,000 £101,875 £97,500
90th Percentile £115,000 £120,000 £132,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £71,250 £67,500 £78,750
% change year-on-year +5.56% -14.29% +12.50%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Thought Leadership 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.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 69,907 41,954 86,795
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.40% 92.11% 82.23%
Number of salaries quoted 48,219 22,640 61,471
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,750 £29,750
25th Percentile £41,250 £38,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -9.54%
75th Percentile £78,750 £77,500 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £100,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £53,000 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +6.00% - -9.09%

Thought Leadership
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Thought Leadership relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Thought Leadership job vacancy trend in the UK

Thought Leadership
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Thought Leadership.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Thought Leadership

Thought Leadership
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Thought Leadership over the 6 months to 27 June 2026.

Salary histogram for Thought Leadership in the UK

Thought Leadership
Top 16 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Thought Leadership within the UK over the 6 months to 27 June 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
England -55 542 £80,000 -0.93% 244
London -18 335 £82,500 -8.33% 189
UK excluding London -67 198 £71,250 +5.56% 79
Work from Home +3 130 £70,000 -15.15% 91
North of England -10 72 £95,000 +5.77% 18
North West +10 47 £95,000 +0.38% 13
East of England - 46 £60,100 - 4
Midlands -17 35 £80,000 +77.78% 7
South East -111 28 £37,500 -42.31% 34
West Midlands -17 19 £80,000 +77.78% 1
Yorkshire -29 18 £76,840 +2.45% 2
East Midlands -9 16 £50,000 - 6
South West -48 10 £59,750 -27.58% 11
North East -37 7 £100,000 +71.67% 3
Scotland +1 4 £110,000 +15.79% 4
Wales - 3 £55,000 - 1

Thought Leadership
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 14 (2.36%) Palantir Foundry
2 9 (1.52%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (1.01%) Apache Spark
4 5 (0.84%) CMS
5 4 (0.67%) Apache Airflow
5 4 (0.67%) Confluence
6 2 (0.34%) SharePoint
6 2 (0.34%) Umbraco
6 2 (0.34%) WordPress
7 1 (0.17%) Apache
7 1 (0.17%) Drupal
7 1 (0.17%) IIS
7 1 (0.17%) nginx
7 1 (0.17%) SAS
Applications
1 10 (1.68%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 4 (0.67%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (0.67%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.34%) Adobe XD
3 2 (0.34%) InVision
3 2 (0.34%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.34%) Sketch
4 1 (0.17%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 1 (0.17%) Siemens NX
4 1 (0.17%) Trello
Business Applications
1 22 (3.70%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (1.01%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.84%) SAP MDG
4 4 (0.67%) SAP MDG-F
5 3 (0.51%) Elite 3E
5 3 (0.51%) SAP MDG-BP
6 2 (0.34%) Distributed Ledger
6 2 (0.34%) SAP CO
6 2 (0.34%) SAP FI
6 2 (0.34%) SAP FI/CO
7 1 (0.17%) Magento
7 1 (0.17%) NetSuite
7 1 (0.17%) SAP IBP
7 1 (0.17%) SAP MDG-M
7 1 (0.17%) SAP MDG-S
7 1 (0.17%) Summit
7 1 (0.17%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 127 (21.38%) AWS
2 83 (13.97%) Azure
3 61 (10.27%) SaaS
4 47 (7.91%) GCP
5 29 (4.88%) Snowflake
6 23 (3.87%) AWS CloudFormation
7 20 (3.37%) Serverless
8 19 (3.20%) Cloud Computing
9 14 (2.36%) Power Platform
10 11 (1.85%) PaaS
11 10 (1.68%) Amazon Bedrock
11 10 (1.68%) GitHub
12 9 (1.52%) Azure AI
13 8 (1.35%) Amazon EKS
13 8 (1.35%) SuccessFactors
14 7 (1.18%) GitHub Actions
15 6 (1.01%) Amazon ECS
15 6 (1.01%) Amazon S3
15 6 (1.01%) Azure DevOps
15 6 (1.01%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 18 (3.03%) Firewall
2 7 (1.18%) Intrusion Detection
2 7 (1.18%) Network Security
2 7 (1.18%) Wireless
3 6 (1.01%) Cisco ISE
3 6 (1.01%) SD-WAN
3 6 (1.01%) WAN
3 6 (1.01%) WebEx
4 5 (0.84%) Broadband
4 5 (0.84%) Internet
5 4 (0.67%) Cisco Wireless
5 4 (0.67%) LAN
5 4 (0.67%) WLAN
6 3 (0.51%) Wi-Fi
7 2 (0.34%) Cisco IPT
7 2 (0.34%) SSL
7 2 (0.34%) Tactical Data Link
8 1 (0.17%) Bluetooth
8 1 (0.17%) LoRaWAN
8 1 (0.17%) SMS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (5.05%) Data Warehouse
2 28 (4.71%) Data Lake
3 19 (3.20%) NoSQL
4 12 (2.02%) Power BI
5 7 (1.18%) Big Data
6 5 (0.84%) Metadata
7 4 (0.67%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (0.67%) Delta Lake
7 4 (0.67%) SAP HANA
8 3 (0.51%) Data Mining
8 3 (0.51%) Hadoop
8 3 (0.51%) Semantic Layer
9 2 (0.34%) Amazon Redshift
9 2 (0.34%) BusinessObjects
9 2 (0.34%) Geospatial Data
9 2 (0.34%) SAP BW
9 2 (0.34%) SQL Server
9 2 (0.34%) Tableau
10 1 (0.17%) InterSystems Cache
10 1 (0.17%) Redis
Development Applications
1 17 (2.86%) Cucumber
1 17 (2.86%) GitLab
2 6 (1.01%) MLflow
3 4 (0.67%) JIRA
4 3 (0.51%) Git
4 3 (0.51%) Jenkins
5 2 (0.34%) Axure RP
5 2 (0.34%) Claude Code
5 2 (0.34%) Maven
5 2 (0.34%) rollup.js
6 1 (0.17%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.17%) Cypress.io
6 1 (0.17%) Gatling
6 1 (0.17%) JMeter
6 1 (0.17%) mountebank
6 1 (0.17%) Selenium
6 1 (0.17%) Vagrant
General
1 203 (34.18%) Finance
2 160 (26.94%) Social Skills
3 103 (17.34%) Marketing
4 100 (16.84%) Analytical Skills
5 88 (14.81%) Public Sector
6 62 (10.44%) Presentation Skills
7 57 (9.60%) Retail
8 45 (7.58%) Banking
9 39 (6.57%) Legal
10 35 (5.89%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 31 (5.22%) Influencing Skills
12 19 (3.20%) Financial Institution
13 17 (2.86%) Brand Awareness
14 14 (2.36%) Telecoms
15 13 (2.19%) Law
15 13 (2.19%) Manufacturing
16 11 (1.85%) Organisational Skills
17 9 (1.52%) Aerospace
17 9 (1.52%) Pharmaceutical
18 7 (1.18%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 152 (25.59%) Senior
2 96 (16.16%) Architect
3 83 (13.97%) Consultant
4 74 (12.46%) Lead
5 60 (10.10%) Account Executive
6 59 (9.93%) Sales Executive
7 44 (7.41%) Senior Manager
8 40 (6.73%) Business Development Executive
9 39 (6.57%) Senior Sales Executive
10 34 (5.72%) Senior Account Executive
11 33 (5.56%) Business Sales Executive
11 33 (5.56%) Sales Account Executive
12 26 (4.38%) Senior Architect
13 25 (4.21%) Senior Consultant
13 25 (4.21%) Solutions Architect
14 24 (4.04%) Data Management Specialist
14 24 (4.04%) Java Engineer
14 24 (4.04%) Product Specialist
15 22 (3.70%) Lead Architect
16 21 (3.54%) Business Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (4.21%) Kafka
2 22 (3.70%) Spring
2 22 (3.70%) Spring Boot
3 7 (1.18%) LangChain
3 7 (1.18%) LangGraph
4 6 (1.01%) REST
4 6 (1.01%) SOAP
4 6 (1.01%) XML
5 5 (0.84%) PyTorch
5 5 (0.84%) TensorFlow
6 4 (0.67%) FastAPI
6 4 (0.67%) OAuth
6 4 (0.67%) OAuth2
6 4 (0.67%) PySpark
6 4 (0.67%) VML
7 3 (0.51%) CSS
7 3 (0.51%) Flutter
7 3 (0.51%) HTML
7 3 (0.51%) React
8 2 (0.34%) XGBoost
Miscellaneous
1 56 (9.43%) Cloud Native
2 44 (7.41%) Enterprise Software
3 31 (5.22%) Onboarding
4 26 (4.38%) Blog
5 23 (3.87%) e-Learning
6 19 (3.20%) Distributed Systems
7 18 (3.03%) Management Information System
7 18 (3.03%) Product Ownership
8 17 (2.86%) AI Agents
8 17 (2.86%) Public Cloud
9 16 (2.69%) Life Science
10 14 (2.36%) Self-Motivation
11 13 (2.19%) Web Conferencing
12 12 (2.02%) Legacy Applications
13 11 (1.85%) Data Fabric
13 11 (1.85%) Greenfield Project
14 10 (1.68%) Enterprise Cloud
14 10 (1.68%) Security Posture
15 9 (1.52%) Social Media
16 8 (1.35%) Podcast
Operating Systems
1 5 (0.84%) Windows
2 4 (0.67%) Linux
3 1 (0.17%) VMS
3 1 (0.17%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 182 (30.64%) AI
1 182 (30.64%) Business Development
2 166 (27.95%) Decision-Making
3 156 (26.26%) Mentoring
4 132 (22.22%) Analytics
5 131 (22.05%) Roadmaps
6 101 (17.00%) Agile
7 79 (13.30%) Stakeholder Management
8 74 (12.46%) Problem-Solving
9 69 (11.62%) Business Strategy
9 69 (11.62%) DevOps
10 66 (11.11%) Workshop Facilitation
11 64 (10.77%) B2B
12 63 (10.61%) Cybersecurity
13 62 (10.44%) Continuous Improvement
13 62 (10.44%) Strategic Thinking
14 58 (9.76%) CI/CD
15 55 (9.26%) Coaching
15 55 (9.26%) Machine Learning
16 53 (8.92%) Use Case
Programming Languages
1 46 (7.74%) Java
2 43 (7.24%) Python
3 29 (4.88%) SQL
4 9 (1.52%) R
5 4 (0.67%) Kotlin
5 4 (0.67%) PowerShell
6 3 (0.51%) C#
6 3 (0.51%) Go
7 2 (0.34%) ABAP
7 2 (0.34%) Bicep
7 2 (0.34%) JavaScript
8 1 (0.17%) Bash
8 1 (0.17%) PHP
8 1 (0.17%) Scala
Qualifications
1 151 (25.42%) Degree
2 74 (12.46%) Security Cleared
3 41 (6.90%) SC Cleared
4 29 (4.88%) AWS Certification
5 24 (4.04%) CISSP
6 23 (3.87%) CISM
7 22 (3.70%) Master's Degree
8 20 (3.37%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 15 (2.53%) Azure Certification
10 14 (2.36%) DV Cleared
11 13 (2.19%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
12 12 (2.02%) CRISC
13 11 (1.85%) DBS Check
14 9 (1.52%) (ISC)2 CCSP
14 9 (1.52%) Cisco Certification
14 9 (1.52%) Computer Science Degree
15 8 (1.35%) MBA
16 7 (1.18%) GSEC
16 7 (1.18%) PhD
17 6 (1.01%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (6.06%) GRC
2 28 (4.71%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 22 (3.70%) NIST
4 18 (3.03%) Accessibility
5 17 (2.86%) GDPR
6 14 (2.36%) Data Quality
6 14 (2.36%) JSP 440
7 10 (1.68%) PCI DSS
8 9 (1.52%) EU AI Act
8 9 (1.52%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 9 (1.52%) QA
9 8 (1.35%) Basel III
9 8 (1.35%) SLA
10 7 (1.18%) Government Security Classifications
11 6 (1.01%) GxP
12 5 (0.84%) Cyber Essentials
13 3 (0.51%) IFRS
14 2 (0.34%) GAAP
14 2 (0.34%) NIST 800
14 2 (0.34%) WCAG
System Software
1 17 (2.86%) Docker
2 6 (1.01%) Active Directory
3 1 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
3 1 (0.17%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 20 (3.37%) Kubernetes
2 16 (2.69%) Terraform
3 11 (1.85%) Ansible
4 5 (0.84%) Puppet
5 4 (0.67%) Argo
6 3 (0.51%) Progress Chef
7 2 (0.34%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 2 (0.34%) RSA Archer
7 2 (0.34%) Salt
8 1 (0.17%) Amdocs OSS
8 1 (0.17%) Consul
8 1 (0.17%) EMC NetWorker
8 1 (0.17%) Grafana
8 1 (0.17%) Packer
Vendors
1 96 (16.16%) Dell
2 57 (9.60%) Microsoft
3 39 (6.57%) SAP
4 33 (5.56%) Databricks
5 25 (4.21%) Informatica
6 24 (4.04%) Denodo
6 24 (4.04%) Teradata
7 22 (3.70%) Salesforce
7 22 (3.70%) ServiceNow
8 19 (3.20%) Google
9 15 (2.53%) Foundry
10 14 (2.36%) Palantir
11 13 (2.19%) HubSpot
12 9 (1.52%) Oracle
13 6 (1.01%) Aruba
13 6 (1.01%) Cisco
13 6 (1.01%) Cognizant
13 6 (1.01%) Fortinet
13 6 (1.01%) Juniper
13 6 (1.01%) OpenAI