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

6 months to
8 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 334 233 457
Rank change year-on-year -101 +224 -200
Permanent jobs citing Thought Leadership 607 627 365
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.54% 1.28% 0.47%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.74% 1.44% 0.58%
Number of salaries quoted 267 158 194
10th Percentile £49,000 £45,000 £47,500
25th Percentile £63,750 £58,750 £62,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £90,000 £80,000 £80,000
Median % change year-on-year +12.50% - -
75th Percentile £110,625 £105,938 £97,500
90th Percentile £122,500 £128,000 £118,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £80,000 £65,000 £80,000
% change year-on-year +23.08% -18.75% +3.47%

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 81,553 43,498 62,779
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 72.98% 88.46% 80.40%
Number of salaries quoted 56,728 24,515 37,208
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £31,750
25th Percentile £41,750 £36,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £80,000 £75,000 £76,056
90th Percentile £100,000 £96,750 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £52,200
% change year-on-year +15.79% -9.00% -4.22%

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 8 September 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 8 September 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 -84 555 £90,000 +12.50% 1,867
London -56 365 £100,000 +11.11% 1,438
UK excluding London -106 192 £80,000 +23.08% 663
Work from Home -10 136 £80,000 +1.59% 998
North of England -33 60 £95,000 +0.38% 176
Midlands -17 41 £80,000 +23.08% 63
North West -9 34 £95,000 +0.38% 143
South East -128 29 £65,000 +48.57% 81
West Midlands -27 25 £80,000 +39.13% 41
East of England - 22 £60,100 - 26
Wales -52 17 £55,000 +15.79% 5
South West -73 17 £86,250 +7.81% 104
East Midlands -18 16 £60,000 - 22
Yorkshire -34 15 £72,170 -15.09% 24
North East - 11 £100,000 - 9
Scotland -12 6 £110,000 +37.50% 137
Northern Ireland -78 1 - - 73

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 16 (2.64%) Palantir Foundry
2 10 (1.65%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (0.82%) Apache Spark
3 5 (0.82%) Confluence
4 4 (0.66%) CMS
5 3 (0.49%) ArcGIS
5 3 (0.49%) SAS
6 2 (0.33%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.33%) Umbraco
7 1 (0.16%) Apache
7 1 (0.16%) Drupal
7 1 (0.16%) IIS
7 1 (0.16%) nginx
7 1 (0.16%) SharePoint
7 1 (0.16%) WordPress
Applications
1 5 (0.82%) Microsoft Excel
1 5 (0.82%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 3 (0.49%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.33%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 25 (4.12%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (0.99%) Distributed Ledger
3 4 (0.66%) Oracle ERP
3 4 (0.66%) SAP MDG
3 4 (0.66%) SAP MDG-F
4 3 (0.49%) Dynamics CRM
4 3 (0.49%) SAP ERP
4 3 (0.49%) SAP MDG-BP
4 3 (0.49%) Summit
5 2 (0.33%) SAP CO
5 2 (0.33%) SAP FI
5 2 (0.33%) SAP FI/CO
6 1 (0.16%) Magento
6 1 (0.16%) SAP IBP
6 1 (0.16%) SAP MDG-M
6 1 (0.16%) SAP MDG-S
Cloud Services
1 177 (29.16%) AWS
2 109 (17.96%) Azure
3 60 (9.88%) GCP
4 58 (9.56%) SaaS
5 35 (5.77%) Cloud Computing
6 33 (5.44%) AWS CloudFormation
7 25 (4.12%) Serverless
8 17 (2.80%) GitHub
8 17 (2.80%) Power Platform
8 17 (2.80%) Snowflake
9 16 (2.64%) Amazon Bedrock
10 14 (2.31%) Azure AI
11 9 (1.48%) Amazon EKS
11 9 (1.48%) Amazon S3
11 9 (1.48%) AWS Lambda
11 9 (1.48%) Azure DevOps
11 9 (1.48%) PaaS
12 8 (1.32%) Amazon ECS
12 8 (1.32%) GitHub Actions
12 8 (1.32%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 14 (2.31%) Firewall
2 10 (1.65%) Internet
3 9 (1.48%) WAN
3 9 (1.48%) Wireless
4 8 (1.32%) SD-WAN
5 7 (1.15%) Broadband
5 7 (1.15%) Cisco ISE
5 7 (1.15%) Cisco Wireless
5 7 (1.15%) LAN
5 7 (1.15%) WebEx
5 7 (1.15%) WLAN
6 4 (0.66%) Network Security
7 3 (0.49%) Intrusion Detection
8 2 (0.33%) AMQP
8 2 (0.33%) BGP
8 2 (0.33%) Cisco IPT
8 2 (0.33%) MQTT
8 2 (0.33%) OSPF
8 2 (0.33%) SSL
8 2 (0.33%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (4.61%) NoSQL
2 20 (3.29%) Data Mining
2 20 (3.29%) Data Warehouse
3 19 (3.13%) Tableau
4 17 (2.80%) Amazon QuickSight
5 16 (2.64%) Data Lake
6 15 (2.47%) Power BI
7 11 (1.81%) Metadata
8 7 (1.15%) Big Data
9 5 (0.82%) Geospatial Data
9 5 (0.82%) SAP HANA
10 4 (0.66%) BusinessObjects
10 4 (0.66%) Hadoop
11 3 (0.49%) Amazon Redshift
11 3 (0.49%) Delta Lake
11 3 (0.49%) Relational Database
11 3 (0.49%) Semantic Layer
11 3 (0.49%) SQL Server Analysis Services
12 2 (0.33%) Pinecone
12 2 (0.33%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 25 (4.12%) GitLab
2 23 (3.79%) Cucumber
3 9 (1.48%) Jenkins
4 7 (1.15%) Git
5 6 (0.99%) Maven
6 5 (0.82%) JIRA
6 5 (0.82%) MLflow
7 4 (0.66%) Claude Code
8 2 (0.33%) Ant
8 2 (0.33%) Apache Ivy
8 2 (0.33%) Balsamiq
8 2 (0.33%) IBM UrbanCode
8 2 (0.33%) rollup.js
8 2 (0.33%) Vite
9 1 (0.16%) Atlassian Bamboo
9 1 (0.16%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.16%) Gatling
9 1 (0.16%) JMeter
9 1 (0.16%) mountebank
9 1 (0.16%) Vagrant
General
1 244 (40.20%) Finance
2 196 (32.29%) Social Skills
3 134 (22.08%) Marketing
4 102 (16.80%) Public Sector
5 74 (12.19%) Analytical Skills
6 65 (10.71%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 58 (9.56%) Retail
8 50 (8.24%) Banking
9 49 (8.07%) Influencing Skills
10 45 (7.41%) Presentation Skills
11 35 (5.77%) Legal
12 27 (4.45%) Law
13 22 (3.62%) Back Office
14 20 (3.29%) Brand Awareness
14 20 (3.29%) Financial Institution
15 17 (2.80%) Public Speaking
16 16 (2.64%) Telecoms
17 15 (2.47%) Aerospace
17 15 (2.47%) Manufacturing
17 15 (2.47%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 130 (21.42%) Senior
2 120 (19.77%) Architect
3 69 (11.37%) Lead
4 64 (10.54%) Consultant
5 45 (7.41%) Senior Manager
6 35 (5.77%) Solutions Architect
7 31 (5.11%) Product Manager
8 30 (4.94%) Sales Executive
9 29 (4.78%) Senior Architect
10 24 (3.95%) Lead Architect
11 23 (3.79%) Java Engineer
11 23 (3.79%) Senior Product Manager
12 22 (3.62%) Principal Engineer
12 22 (3.62%) Principal Java Engineer
13 21 (3.46%) Security Architect
13 21 (3.46%) Senior Consultant
14 20 (3.29%) Account Manager
14 20 (3.29%) Business Development Executive
14 20 (3.29%) Digital Product Manager
14 20 (3.29%) Senior Digital Product Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (5.27%) Kafka
2 24 (3.95%) Spring
2 24 (3.95%) Spring Boot
3 22 (3.62%) Terraform
4 13 (2.14%) LangGraph
5 12 (1.98%) LangChain
6 9 (1.48%) FastAPI
7 6 (0.99%) CrewAI
7 6 (0.99%) XML
8 5 (0.82%) Model Context Protocol
9 4 (0.66%) Middleware
9 4 (0.66%) Oracle Fusion
9 4 (0.66%) PyTorch
9 4 (0.66%) RabbitMQ
9 4 (0.66%) React
9 4 (0.66%) TensorFlow
9 4 (0.66%) VML
10 3 (0.49%) CSS
10 3 (0.49%) OpenACC
10 3 (0.49%) OpenMP
Miscellaneous
1 82 (13.51%) Cloud Native
2 65 (10.71%) Onboarding
3 45 (7.41%) Enterprise Software
4 37 (6.10%) Blog
5 28 (4.61%) Distributed Systems
6 27 (4.45%) AI Agents
7 25 (4.12%) e-Learning
7 25 (4.12%) Product Ownership
8 24 (3.95%) Public Cloud
9 18 (2.97%) Social Media
10 15 (2.47%) Web Conferencing
11 13 (2.14%) Enterprise Cloud
11 13 (2.14%) Self-Motivation
12 12 (1.98%) Management Information System
13 11 (1.81%) Legacy Applications
13 11 (1.81%) NHS
14 10 (1.65%) Greenfield Project
15 9 (1.48%) Hackathon
16 8 (1.32%) Cyber Threat
16 8 (1.32%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 8 (1.32%) Linux
1 8 (1.32%) Windows
2 3 (0.49%) Windows Server
3 2 (0.33%) Solaris
3 2 (0.33%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 210 (34.60%) AI
2 185 (30.48%) Mentoring
3 174 (28.67%) Roadmaps
4 172 (28.34%) Business Development
5 140 (23.06%) Analytics
6 133 (21.91%) Decision-Making
7 127 (20.92%) Stakeholder Management
8 110 (18.12%) Agile
9 84 (13.84%) Continuous Improvement
10 79 (13.01%) CI/CD
11 75 (12.36%) DevOps
11 75 (12.36%) Machine Learning
11 75 (12.36%) Risk Management
12 74 (12.19%) Problem-Solving
13 69 (11.37%) Coaching
14 66 (10.87%) Infrastructure as Code
15 63 (10.38%) B2B
16 57 (9.39%) Strategic Thinking
16 57 (9.39%) Technical Leadership
17 54 (8.90%) Business Strategy
Programming Languages
1 78 (12.85%) Python
2 59 (9.72%) SQL
3 43 (7.08%) Java
4 11 (1.81%) R
5 7 (1.15%) PowerShell
6 5 (0.82%) Bash
7 3 (0.49%) Go
8 2 (0.33%) ABAP
8 2 (0.33%) Apex Code
8 2 (0.33%) Bicep
8 2 (0.33%) C#
8 2 (0.33%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 2 (0.33%) JavaScript
8 2 (0.33%) Scala
8 2 (0.33%) SOQL
8 2 (0.33%) SOSL
8 2 (0.33%) TypeScript
9 1 (0.16%) PHP
9 1 (0.16%) Ruby
9 1 (0.16%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 144 (23.72%) Degree
2 94 (15.49%) Security Cleared
3 64 (10.54%) SC Cleared
4 44 (7.25%) AWS Certification
5 26 (4.28%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
6 24 (3.95%) Master's Degree
7 18 (2.97%) CISSP
8 17 (2.80%) Azure Certification
8 17 (2.80%) Computer Science Degree
9 16 (2.64%) CISM
10 15 (2.47%) BPSS Clearance
11 12 (1.98%) DV Cleared
11 12 (1.98%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
11 12 (1.98%) Postgraduate
12 9 (1.48%) Cisco Certification
12 9 (1.48%) CRISC
12 9 (1.48%) MBA
13 8 (1.32%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
14 7 (1.15%) (ISC)2 CCSP
15 6 (0.99%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (4.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 26 (4.28%) GRC
3 23 (3.79%) GDPR
4 21 (3.46%) NIST
5 19 (3.13%) Data Quality
6 17 (2.80%) Accessibility
7 13 (2.14%) QA
7 13 (2.14%) SLA
8 10 (1.65%) PCI DSS
9 9 (1.48%) JSP 440
10 7 (1.15%) Basel III
10 7 (1.15%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 6 (0.99%) EU AI Act
12 5 (0.82%) Cyber Essentials
13 4 (0.66%) IFRS
13 4 (0.66%) PMO
14 3 (0.49%) Government Security Classifications
14 3 (0.49%) NCSC
14 3 (0.49%) SOC 2
15 2 (0.33%) IFRS 17
System Software
1 23 (3.79%) Docker
2 7 (1.15%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.49%) Slurm Workload Manager
4 1 (0.16%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 30 (4.94%) Kubernetes
2 12 (1.98%) Ansible
3 6 (0.99%) Puppet
4 4 (0.66%) Argo
4 4 (0.66%) Progress Chef
5 3 (0.49%) Istio
5 3 (0.49%) Jamf Pro
5 3 (0.49%) Microsoft Intune
6 2 (0.33%) Salt
7 1 (0.16%) Amdocs OSS
7 1 (0.16%) AppManager
7 1 (0.16%) Consul
7 1 (0.16%) EMC NetWorker
7 1 (0.16%) FortiGate
7 1 (0.16%) Packer
7 1 (0.16%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 65 (10.71%) Microsoft
2 40 (6.59%) Dell
3 34 (5.60%) SAP
4 29 (4.78%) Google
5 27 (4.45%) Databricks
6 24 (3.95%) Salesforce
7 19 (3.13%) Foundry
8 17 (2.80%) ServiceNow
9 16 (2.64%) Informatica
9 16 (2.64%) Palantir
10 13 (2.14%) Teradata
11 12 (1.98%) Denodo
12 11 (1.81%) Cisco
13 10 (1.65%) OpenAI
13 10 (1.65%) Oracle
14 8 (1.32%) Fortinet
15 7 (1.15%) Aruba
15 7 (1.15%) Juniper
16 6 (0.99%) Cognizant
16 6 (0.99%) HubSpot