Problem-Solving Job Trends in England

Problem Solving
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in England requiring Problem-Solving skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 9 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 9 4 8
Rank change year-on-year -5 +4 +4
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 6,634 7,884 13,375
As % of all permanent jobs in England 8.10% 20.06% 14.51%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.11% 21.61% 17.56%
Number of salaries quoted 4,689 4,427 8,547
10th Percentile £27,250 £26,907 £26,000
25th Percentile £32,500 £32,500 £32,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £47,500 £50,000 £49,838
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +0.33% -9.39%
75th Percentile £68,750 £70,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £87,500 £87,500 £85,000
UK median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £48,900
% change year-on-year -5.00% +2.25% -11.09%

All Process & Methodology Skills
England

Problem-Solving 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 59,697 36,481 76,151
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 72.91% 92.81% 82.64%
Number of salaries quoted 41,672 19,839 55,609
10th Percentile £30,500 £29,000 £29,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £40,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £58,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.45% +5.45% -12.00%
75th Percentile £80,000 £78,750 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £101,250 £92,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -9.54%

Problem-Solving
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Problem-Solving relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in England.

Problem-Solving job vacancy trend in England

Problem-Solving
Salary Trend in England

Salary distribution trend for jobs in England citing Problem-Solving.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in England citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Salary Histogram in England

Salary distribution for jobs citing Problem-Solving in England over the 6 months to 9 June 2026.

Salary histogram for Problem-Solving in England

Problem-Solving
Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Problem-Solving within the England region over the 6 months to 9 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
London -5 1,954 £70,000 +7.69% 888
North of England -8 1,364 £42,500 -3.41% 618
South East -5 1,196 £45,000 +3.72% 765
Midlands -9 936 £40,000 -11.11% 392
North West -6 697 £45,000 -3.23% 340
South West -6 596 £43,500 +8.75% 297
West Midlands -9 534 £42,500 -10.53% 231
Yorkshire -11 507 £40,500 +15.71% 206
East of England -3 502 £45,000 +28.57% 285
East Midlands -8 399 £35,000 -6.67% 163
North East -13 160 £48,445 +7.65% 85
Problem-Solving
UK

Problem-Solving
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
1 360 (5.43%) Microsoft Exchange
2 354 (5.34%) SharePoint
3 76 (1.15%) Confluence
4 64 (0.96%) CMS
5 52 (0.78%) Apache
6 40 (0.60%) Apache Airflow
7 36 (0.54%) IIS
8 33 (0.50%) Apache Spark
9 26 (0.39%) WordPress
10 17 (0.26%) SAS
11 14 (0.21%) Palantir Foundry
12 10 (0.15%) Exchange Server 2013
12 10 (0.15%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 8 (0.12%) Exchange Server 2007
13 8 (0.12%) Exchange Server 2010
14 7 (0.11%) nginx
14 7 (0.11%) OpenEdge
15 6 (0.090%) Drupal
15 6 (0.090%) Moodle
16 5 (0.075%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 400 (6.03%) Microsoft Office
2 356 (5.37%) Microsoft Excel
3 64 (0.96%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 46 (0.69%) Spreadsheet
5 37 (0.56%) MS Visio
6 30 (0.45%) Microsoft Project
7 14 (0.21%) Chatbot
8 9 (0.14%) AutoCAD
8 9 (0.14%) SOLIDWORKS
9 8 (0.12%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 8 (0.12%) Adobe Illustrator
9 8 (0.12%) Fusion 360
9 8 (0.12%) Trello
10 5 (0.075%) Photoshop
10 5 (0.075%) Simulink
11 3 (0.045%) Autodesk Inventor
11 3 (0.045%) Blender
11 3 (0.045%) Maya
12 2 (0.030%) Sketch
12 2 (0.030%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 65 (0.98%) SAP S/4HANA
2 63 (0.95%) Dynamics CRM
3 36 (0.54%) NetSuite
4 22 (0.33%) Salesforce CRM
5 20 (0.30%) Shopify
6 18 (0.27%) Oracle EBS
7 16 (0.24%) Magento
8 15 (0.23%) Dynamics NAV
9 14 (0.21%) SAP ERP
10 12 (0.18%) iTrent
11 11 (0.17%) IBM Planning Analytics
11 11 (0.17%) Maximo
11 11 (0.17%) SAP CO
12 9 (0.14%) Dynamics AX
13 8 (0.12%) Sage 50
13 8 (0.12%) SAP Business One
13 8 (0.12%) Workday HCM
14 7 (0.11%) Elite 3E
14 7 (0.11%) Endur
14 7 (0.11%) Q-Pulse
Cloud Services
1 1,423 (21.45%) Azure
2 1,045 (15.75%) Microsoft 365
3 840 (12.66%) AWS
4 492 (7.42%) Power Platform
5 320 (4.82%) SaaS
6 289 (4.36%) Entra ID
7 284 (4.28%) GCP
8 177 (2.67%) Serverless
9 166 (2.50%) Azure DevOps
10 142 (2.14%) GitHub
11 136 (2.05%) Dynamics 365
12 117 (1.76%) Power Automate
13 98 (1.48%) PowerApps
14 91 (1.37%) Amazon S3
15 86 (1.30%) OneDrive
16 82 (1.24%) Google Workspace
17 75 (1.13%) PaaS
18 72 (1.09%) AWS Lambda
19 71 (1.07%) GitHub Actions
20 70 (1.06%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 418 (6.30%) Firewall
2 391 (5.89%) DNS
3 333 (5.02%) DHCP
4 264 (3.98%) VPN
5 225 (3.39%) WAN
6 202 (3.04%) Wi-Fi
7 200 (3.01%) TCP/IP
8 198 (2.98%) LAN
9 180 (2.71%) Broadband
10 132 (1.99%) VLAN
11 124 (1.87%) Wireless
12 105 (1.58%) VoIP
13 85 (1.28%) Network Security
14 65 (0.98%) SD-WAN
15 48 (0.72%) SAN
16 45 (0.68%) BGP
17 43 (0.65%) OSPF
18 42 (0.63%) Internet
19 33 (0.50%) HTTP
20 31 (0.47%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 387 (5.83%) Power BI
2 285 (4.30%) SQL Server
3 125 (1.88%) Data Warehouse
4 111 (1.67%) NoSQL
5 110 (1.66%) Tableau
6 97 (1.46%) PostgreSQL
7 94 (1.42%) Amazon RDS
8 90 (1.36%) MySQL
9 83 (1.25%) Relational Database
10 75 (1.13%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 65 (0.98%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 57 (0.86%) Big Data
13 53 (0.80%) Power Query
14 52 (0.78%) MongoDB
15 43 (0.65%) Amazon Redshift
16 40 (0.60%) Metadata
17 39 (0.59%) Azure SQL Database
17 39 (0.59%) Data Lake
17 39 (0.59%) DynamoDB
18 24 (0.36%) BigQuery
Development Applications
1 283 (4.27%) Git
2 207 (3.12%) JIRA
3 98 (1.48%) GitLab
4 94 (1.42%) Jenkins
5 30 (0.45%) Rational DOORS
6 26 (0.39%) Selenium
7 20 (0.30%) Chocolatey
7 20 (0.30%) JUnit
8 19 (0.29%) Cucumber
8 19 (0.29%) Cypress.io
8 19 (0.29%) Maven
8 19 (0.29%) Visual Studio
9 17 (0.26%) Burp Suite
9 17 (0.26%) Metasploit
10 14 (0.21%) CircleCI
10 14 (0.21%) SonarQube
10 14 (0.21%) Subversion
11 13 (0.20%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
12 12 (0.18%) Claude Code
12 12 (0.18%) LabVIEW
General
1 3,091 (46.59%) Social Skills
2 1,958 (29.51%) Analytical Skills
3 1,338 (20.17%) Finance
4 424 (6.39%) Organisational Skills
5 365 (5.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 359 (5.41%) Manufacturing
7 328 (4.94%) Law
8 322 (4.85%) Marketing
9 289 (4.36%) Retail
10 273 (4.12%) Legal
11 268 (4.04%) Banking
11 268 (4.04%) Public Sector
12 164 (2.47%) Telecoms
13 142 (2.14%) Electronics
14 135 (2.03%) Presentation Skills
15 117 (1.76%) Influencing Skills
16 108 (1.63%) Documentation Skills
17 89 (1.34%) Aerospace
18 86 (1.30%) Advertising
19 75 (1.13%) Games
Job Titles
1 868 (13.08%) Analyst
2 824 (12.42%) Senior
3 673 (10.14%) IT Support
4 614 (9.26%) Developer
5 576 (8.68%) Support Engineer
6 415 (6.26%) IT Engineer
7 402 (6.06%) Lead
8 320 (4.82%) IT Support Engineer
9 294 (4.43%) Consultant
10 245 (3.69%) Support Analyst
11 238 (3.59%) Support Technician
12 237 (3.57%) Architect
13 224 (3.38%) Software Engineer
14 223 (3.36%) Systems Engineer
15 188 (2.83%) Infrastructure Engineer
16 179 (2.70%) IT Technician
17 175 (2.64%) Technical Support
18 162 (2.44%) Administrator
19 161 (2.43%) Business Analyst
20 159 (2.40%) 2nd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 264 (3.98%) .NET
2 252 (3.80%) React
3 212 (3.20%) HTML
4 182 (2.74%) CSS
5 175 (2.64%) REST
6 137 (2.07%) Node.js
7 124 (1.87%) RESTful
8 95 (1.43%) SOAP
9 88 (1.33%) Middleware
10 84 (1.27%) JSON
11 80 (1.21%) Spring
12 70 (1.06%) AngularJS
12 70 (1.06%) Vue
13 68 (1.03%) XML
14 64 (0.96%) Kafka
15 61 (0.92%) OAuth
16 58 (0.87%) Web Services
17 56 (0.84%) gRPC
18 52 (0.78%) EDI
19 50 (0.75%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 401 (6.04%) Driving Licence
2 384 (5.79%) Onboarding
3 300 (4.52%) Self-Motivation
4 244 (3.68%) Management Information System
5 223 (3.36%) Cloud Native
6 191 (2.88%) Product Ownership
7 167 (2.52%) Data Centre
8 156 (2.35%) Distributed Systems
9 141 (2.13%) Legacy Systems
10 124 (1.87%) Analytical Mindset
11 97 (1.46%) Mobile App
12 89 (1.34%) Social Media
13 85 (1.28%) Data Structures
14 78 (1.18%) Enterprise Software
15 75 (1.13%) Security Posture
16 73 (1.10%) Algorithms
17 68 (1.03%) Low-Code
18 65 (0.98%) Virtual Team
19 62 (0.93%) Public Cloud
20 61 (0.92%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 1,031 (15.54%) Windows
2 443 (6.68%) Windows Server
3 431 (6.50%) Linux
4 164 (2.47%) Windows 10
5 123 (1.85%) Windows Server 2016
6 104 (1.57%) Android
7 84 (1.27%) Apple iOS
8 82 (1.24%) Mac OS
9 66 (0.99%) Windows Server 2019
10 46 (0.69%) Unix
11 41 (0.62%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 32 (0.48%) CentOS
13 31 (0.47%) Windows Server 2012
14 30 (0.45%) Ubuntu
15 23 (0.35%) VMS
16 14 (0.21%) Mac OS X
16 14 (0.21%) Windows 7
17 10 (0.15%) Debian
18 7 (0.11%) Windows 8
18 7 (0.11%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,291 (19.46%) Continuous Improvement
2 1,045 (15.75%) Agile
3 969 (14.61%) Customer Service
4 734 (11.06%) Mentoring
5 731 (11.02%) AI
6 716 (10.79%) Decision-Making
7 712 (10.73%) CI/CD
8 639 (9.63%) Analytics
9 622 (9.38%) DevOps
10 568 (8.56%) Software Engineering
11 564 (8.50%) Stakeholder Management
12 545 (8.22%) ITIL
13 523 (7.88%) Roadmaps
14 505 (7.61%) Computer Science
15 487 (7.34%) Project Management
16 464 (6.99%) Cybersecurity
17 458 (6.90%) Business Intelligence
18 448 (6.75%) Coaching
19 433 (6.53%) Collaborative Working
20 385 (5.80%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 1,013 (15.27%) Python
2 980 (14.77%) SQL
3 441 (6.65%) JavaScript
4 334 (5.03%) Java
5 326 (4.91%) C#
6 301 (4.54%) PowerShell
7 199 (3.00%) TypeScript
8 154 (2.32%) Bash
9 130 (1.96%) C++
10 92 (1.39%) PHP
11 88 (1.33%) Go
12 63 (0.95%) Scala
13 57 (0.86%) C
14 56 (0.84%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 50 (0.75%) T-SQL
16 46 (0.69%) R
17 45 (0.68%) PL/SQL
18 41 (0.62%) Rust
19 36 (0.54%) Apex Code
20 35 (0.53%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 1,112 (16.76%) Degree
2 520 (7.84%) Security Cleared
3 360 (5.43%) SC Cleared
4 253 (3.81%) Computer Science Degree
5 225 (3.39%) DBS Check
6 190 (2.86%) Microsoft Certification
7 116 (1.75%) Cisco Certification
8 114 (1.72%) CISSP
8 114 (1.72%) DV Cleared
9 112 (1.69%) Master's Degree
10 92 (1.39%) Azure Certification
11 85 (1.28%) BPSS Clearance
11 85 (1.28%) PMI Certification
12 78 (1.18%) A+ Certification
13 73 (1.10%) CCNA
13 73 (1.10%) PMP
14 68 (1.03%) ACCA
15 63 (0.95%) CIMA
16 57 (0.86%) Network+ Certification
17 55 (0.83%) HNC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 356 (5.37%) QA
2 321 (4.84%) Data Quality
3 265 (3.99%) GDPR
4 198 (2.98%) SLA
5 184 (2.77%) Cyber Essentials
6 162 (2.44%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 152 (2.29%) Accessibility
8 141 (2.13%) NIST
9 131 (1.97%) PCI DSS
10 50 (0.75%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 41 (0.62%) PMO
12 35 (0.53%) ISO 9001
13 28 (0.42%) GRC
14 27 (0.41%) SOC 2
15 24 (0.36%) COBIT
16 23 (0.35%) Actionable Recommendations
17 18 (0.27%) GMP
18 15 (0.23%) IFRS
19 12 (0.18%) Sarbanes-Oxley
19 12 (0.18%) TickIT
System Software
1 710 (10.70%) Active Directory
2 286 (4.31%) Docker
3 236 (3.56%) Hyper-V
4 208 (3.14%) VMware Infrastructure
5 63 (0.95%) Terminal Server
6 45 (0.68%) Virtual Desktop
7 37 (0.56%) Firmware
8 23 (0.35%) Virtual Machines
8 23 (0.35%) vSphere
9 15 (0.23%) KVM
9 15 (0.23%) VMware ESXi
10 10 (0.15%) IAG
11 7 (0.11%) Embedded Firmware
11 7 (0.11%) VMware Workstation
11 7 (0.11%) XenApp
12 6 (0.090%) VMware NSX
13 4 (0.060%) ClearTrust
13 4 (0.060%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 4 (0.060%) Virtual Servers
14 3 (0.045%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 297 (4.48%) Terraform
2 256 (3.86%) Microsoft Intune
3 243 (3.66%) Kubernetes
4 140 (2.11%) Ansible
5 89 (1.34%) Grafana
6 81 (1.22%) SCCM
7 55 (0.83%) Prometheus
8 37 (0.56%) Nagios
9 33 (0.50%) Single Sign-On
10 20 (0.30%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 18 (0.27%) Kibana
12 16 (0.24%) Jamf Pro
13 14 (0.21%) Autotask
13 14 (0.21%) FortiGate
13 14 (0.21%) vCenter Server
14 12 (0.18%) Puppet
15 11 (0.17%) Argo
15 11 (0.17%) Kubeflow
15 11 (0.17%) Nessus
16 10 (0.15%) Docker Swarm
Vendors
1 1,776 (26.77%) Microsoft
2 311 (4.69%) VMware
3 179 (2.70%) Oracle
4 170 (2.56%) Google
5 156 (2.35%) SAP
6 152 (2.29%) Cisco
7 142 (2.14%) Salesforce
8 132 (1.99%) SolarWinds
9 126 (1.90%) ServiceNow
10 124 (1.87%) Veeam
11 117 (1.76%) Splunk
12 108 (1.63%) Databricks
13 81 (1.22%) Apple
14 65 (0.98%) Tanium
15 64 (0.96%) Nimble Storage
16 63 (0.95%) Brocade
17 62 (0.93%) Adobe
18 56 (0.84%) Dell
19 53 (0.80%) Meraki
20 51 (0.77%) Red Hat