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

6 months to
12 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 296 410 255
Rank change year-on-year +114 -155 -27
Permanent jobs citing Thought Leadership 421 317 707
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.71% 0.59% 1.26%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.88% 0.65% 1.40%
Number of salaries quoted 146 123 416
10th Percentile £45,750 £61,500 £62,500
25th Percentile £61,938 £72,500 £75,208
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £80,000 £85,000 £82,500
Median % change year-on-year -5.88% +3.03% -8.33%
75th Percentile £108,438 £107,500 £100,064
90th Percentile £122,500 £111,000 £130,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £70,000 £85,750 £79,632
% change year-on-year -18.37% +7.68% -0.46%

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 48,033 48,451 50,427
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 81.00% 90.60% 89.96%
Number of salaries quoted 28,230 23,579 38,463
10th Percentile £28,500 £35,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £78,479
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £52,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +5.77% -5.45%

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 12 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Thought Leadership in the UK

Thought Leadership
Top 17 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 12 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
England +144 381 £80,000 -4.97% 434
London +134 267 £86,500 -1.14% 151
UK excluding London +24 124 £70,000 -18.37% 383
Work from Home +19 58 £80,000 -4.01% 119
South East +34 43 £45,000 -37.93% 163
North of England +13 30 £77,500 -4.02% 65
North West +37 26 £70,000 -19.08% 21
Scotland -15 20 £77,250 -22.75% 13
South West +14 10 £62,500 -21.88% 45
Midlands +18 9 £102,500 +32.26% 43
East of England +9 9 £45,500 -52.11% 43
West Midlands +19 6 £88,750 +18.33% 12
Yorkshire -14 2 £97,500 +56.00% 28
North East - 2 - - 16
Northern Ireland - 2 - - 6
East Midlands -7 1 £100,000 +5.26% 29
Wales - 1 £47,500 - 13

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 8 (1.90%) Apache Spark
2 7 (1.66%) Apache Airflow
3 5 (1.19%) CMS
3 5 (1.19%) IIS
3 5 (1.19%) WordPress
4 3 (0.71%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 2 (0.48%) SharePoint
6 1 (0.24%) CICS
6 1 (0.24%) WebSphere
Applications
1 15 (3.56%) Maya
2 10 (2.38%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (2.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 5 (1.19%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 5 (1.19%) Microsoft Office
4 4 (0.95%) Adobe XD
4 4 (0.95%) InVision
4 4 (0.95%) Photoshop
4 4 (0.95%) Sketch
5 3 (0.71%) Adobe Illustrator
5 3 (0.71%) Chatbot
5 3 (0.71%) Elementor
Business Applications
1 20 (4.75%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (1.90%) Dynamics CRM
2 8 (1.90%) Endur
3 4 (0.95%) SAP MDG
4 3 (0.71%) Payment Gateway
4 3 (0.71%) SAP ERP
5 2 (0.48%) SAP CO
5 2 (0.48%) SAP FI
5 2 (0.48%) SAP FI/CO
5 2 (0.48%) SAP SCM
5 2 (0.48%) Shopify
6 1 (0.24%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.24%) Oracle Applications
6 1 (0.24%) Oracle ERP
6 1 (0.24%) SAP FSCM
6 1 (0.24%) SAP IBP
6 1 (0.24%) SAP PLM
6 1 (0.24%) SAP WM
6 1 (0.24%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 92 (21.85%) AWS
2 63 (14.96%) Azure
3 33 (7.84%) SaaS
4 27 (6.41%) GCP
5 25 (5.94%) Amazon Bedrock
5 25 (5.94%) Vertex AI
6 24 (5.70%) Snowflake
7 16 (3.80%) Power Platform
8 14 (3.33%) Cloud Computing
9 13 (3.09%) OCI
10 12 (2.85%) GitHub
11 10 (2.38%) Azure DevOps
12 9 (2.14%) Dynamics 365
12 9 (2.14%) Serverless
13 8 (1.90%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 7 (1.66%) dbt
15 6 (1.43%) Matillion
16 5 (1.19%) Azure Machine Learning
16 5 (1.19%) Google Ads
17 4 (0.95%) Figma
Communications & Networking
1 2 (0.48%) LAN
1 2 (0.48%) WAN
2 1 (0.24%) BGP
2 1 (0.24%) Firewall
2 1 (0.24%) MPLS
2 1 (0.24%) SD-WAN
2 1 (0.24%) Software-Defined Networking
2 1 (0.24%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (6.65%) NoSQL
2 27 (6.41%) Data Warehouse
3 16 (3.80%) Big Data
4 15 (3.56%) Metadata
4 15 (3.56%) Power BI
5 14 (3.33%) Hadoop
6 11 (2.61%) Tableau
7 8 (1.90%) Amazon Redshift
8 6 (1.43%) BigQuery
9 5 (1.19%) Data Lake
9 5 (1.19%) Data Mining
9 5 (1.19%) MongoDB
10 4 (0.95%) DataStage
10 4 (0.95%) QlikView
11 3 (0.71%) DynamoDB
11 3 (0.71%) Relational Database
11 3 (0.71%) SAP HANA
11 3 (0.71%) SQL Server
12 2 (0.48%) Looker
12 2 (0.48%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 15 (3.56%) ERwin
2 4 (0.95%) Axure RP
2 4 (0.95%) ER Studio
2 4 (0.95%) MLflow
2 4 (0.95%) PowerDesigner
3 3 (0.71%) JIRA
4 2 (0.48%) GitLab
4 2 (0.48%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.24%) Git
5 1 (0.24%) SonarQube
5 1 (0.24%) Vite
General
1 162 (38.48%) Finance
2 134 (31.83%) Social Skills
3 113 (26.84%) Analytical Skills
4 92 (21.85%) Law
5 74 (17.58%) Marketing
6 49 (11.64%) Games
7 38 (9.03%) Pharmaceutical
8 36 (8.55%) Banking
9 34 (8.08%) Retail
10 29 (6.89%) Public Sector
11 25 (5.94%) Legal
12 21 (4.99%) Presentation Skills
13 19 (4.51%) Influencing Skills
14 11 (2.61%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 10 (2.38%) Aerospace
15 10 (2.38%) Dutch Language
15 10 (2.38%) Financial Institution
15 10 (2.38%) French Language
15 10 (2.38%) Publishing
16 9 (2.14%) Billing
Job Titles
1 90 (21.38%) Lead
2 79 (18.76%) Senior
3 76 (18.05%) Consultant
4 75 (17.81%) Architect
5 44 (10.45%) Senior Consultant
6 25 (5.94%) Gen AI Consultant
7 24 (5.70%) Lead Architect
8 23 (5.46%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
8 23 (5.46%) Solutions Architect
9 19 (4.51%) Data Architect
10 18 (4.28%) IT Manager
11 17 (4.04%) Marketing Manager
12 14 (3.33%) Senior Manager
13 13 (3.09%) Business Architect
14 11 (2.61%) Lead Data Architect
14 11 (2.61%) Product Lead
15 10 (2.38%) Business Manager
15 10 (2.38%) Data Scientist
15 10 (2.38%) IT Services Manager
15 10 (2.38%) Technology Director
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (6.41%) LangChain
2 15 (3.56%) React
3 12 (2.85%) REST
4 10 (2.38%) AngularJS
5 8 (1.90%) Kafka
6 7 (1.66%) Vue
7 5 (1.19%) .NET
7 5 (1.19%) CSS
7 5 (1.19%) HTML
7 5 (1.19%) Play Framework
8 4 (0.95%) Spring
9 3 (0.71%) .NET Framework
9 3 (0.71%) Middleware
9 3 (0.71%) OAuth
9 3 (0.71%) Oracle Fusion
9 3 (0.71%) Spring Boot
10 2 (0.48%) Node.js
10 2 (0.48%) OAuth2
10 2 (0.48%) SAP Fiori
10 2 (0.48%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 38 (9.03%) Legacy Systems
2 37 (8.79%) Algorithms
2 37 (8.79%) Life Science
3 31 (7.36%) Self-Motivation
4 25 (5.94%) Product Ownership
5 24 (5.70%) Enterprise Software
6 19 (4.51%) Social Media
7 17 (4.04%) Blog
8 15 (3.56%) Management Information System
9 14 (3.33%) Onboarding
10 12 (2.85%) Data Structures
11 11 (2.61%) Cloud Native
12 10 (2.38%) Blockchain
13 9 (2.14%) FMCG
13 9 (2.14%) Web Conferencing
14 8 (1.90%) Credit Risk
15 7 (1.66%) Low-Code
15 7 (1.66%) Podcast
15 7 (1.66%) Virtual Team
16 5 (1.19%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 1 (0.24%) Android
1 1 (0.24%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 187 (44.42%) AI
2 144 (34.20%) Analytics
3 133 (31.59%) Agile
4 132 (31.35%) Roadmaps
5 104 (24.70%) Business Development
6 98 (23.28%) Machine Learning
7 95 (22.57%) Computer Science
8 89 (21.14%) Stakeholder Management
9 86 (20.43%) Business Strategy
10 83 (19.71%) Generative AI
11 77 (18.29%) IT Strategy
11 77 (18.29%) Problem-Solving
12 74 (17.58%) Decision-Making
13 73 (17.34%) Mentoring
14 63 (14.96%) Data Science
15 61 (14.49%) Enterprise Architecture
16 54 (12.83%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 49 (11.64%) Data Strategy
17 49 (11.64%) DevOps
18 46 (10.93%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 46 (10.93%) Python
2 25 (5.94%) SQL
3 17 (4.04%) JavaScript
4 15 (3.56%) Java
5 6 (1.43%) Scala
6 5 (1.19%) C#
6 5 (1.19%) R
7 3 (0.71%) Kotlin
7 3 (0.71%) PowerShell
8 2 (0.48%) TypeScript
9 1 (0.24%) ABAP
9 1 (0.24%) Bash
9 1 (0.24%) Go
9 1 (0.24%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 160 (38.00%) Degree
2 84 (19.95%) Master's Degree
3 59 (14.01%) PhD
4 47 (11.16%) Computer Science Degree
5 22 (5.23%) Security Cleared
6 16 (3.80%) SC Cleared
7 11 (2.61%) TOGAF Certification
8 10 (2.38%) PMI Certification
8 10 (2.38%) PMP
9 9 (2.14%) MBA
10 8 (1.90%) DBS Check
11 7 (1.66%) Azure Certification
11 7 (1.66%) CISSP
12 6 (1.43%) CISM
13 3 (0.71%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 3 (0.71%) AWS Certification
13 3 (0.71%) BPSS Clearance
13 3 (0.71%) Cisco Certification
13 3 (0.71%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
13 3 (0.71%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (7.13%) GxP
2 16 (3.80%) Accessibility
3 14 (3.33%) Data Quality
3 14 (3.33%) GDPR
3 14 (3.33%) QA
4 10 (2.38%) PMO
5 8 (1.90%) EMIR
6 7 (1.66%) SLA
7 6 (1.43%) Actionable Recommendations
7 6 (1.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 5 (1.19%) WCAG
9 4 (0.95%) NIST
10 3 (0.71%) NCSC
11 2 (0.48%) PCI DSS
12 1 (0.24%) GMP
12 1 (0.24%) GRC
System Software
1 4 (0.95%) Docker
2 1 (0.24%) RACF
Systems Management
1 16 (3.80%) Terraform
2 5 (1.19%) Kubernetes
3 3 (0.71%) Ansible
4 2 (0.48%) Grafana
5 1 (0.24%) Microsoft Intune
5 1 (0.24%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 41 (9.74%) Google
2 28 (6.65%) Oracle
2 28 (6.65%) SAP
3 26 (6.18%) Databricks
3 26 (6.18%) Microsoft
4 11 (2.61%) Adobe
5 8 (1.90%) IBM
5 8 (1.90%) OpenLink
6 7 (1.66%) ServiceNow
7 6 (1.43%) Cognizant
8 5 (1.19%) BT
8 5 (1.19%) HubSpot
8 5 (1.19%) Salesforce
9 4 (0.95%) Informatica
10 3 (0.71%) Facebook
10 3 (0.71%) Instagram
10 3 (0.71%) MuleSoft
10 3 (0.71%) OpenAI
11 2 (0.48%) BiZZdesign
11 2 (0.48%) Workday