Problem-Solving Job Trends in the Midlands

Problem Solving
England > Midlands

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the Midlands requiring Problem-Solving skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 8 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 19 3 5
Rank change year-on-year -16 +2 +3
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 859 1,188 1,278
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 10.14% 19.50% 15.38%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.74% 21.29% 17.91%
Number of salaries quoted 676 478 1,017
10th Percentile £26,000 £28,000 £25,000
25th Percentile £28,500 £36,250 £29,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £38,000 £51,819 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year -26.67% +21.93% -19.05%
75th Percentile £53,951 £63,750 £57,500
90th Percentile £68,250 £82,500 £68,750
England median annual salary £45,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -18.18% +10.00% -10.71%

All Process & Methodology Skills
Midlands

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 the Midlands.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 6,745 5,580 7,135
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 79.62% 91.58% 85.84%
Number of salaries quoted 3,759 2,477 5,845
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,250 £26,250
25th Percentile £35,000 £39,036 £34,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £49,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +6.06% -5.71%
75th Percentile £65,000 £66,967 £62,500
90th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £75,000
England median annual salary £55,000 £61,967 £55,000
% change year-on-year -11.24% +12.67% -12.00%

Problem-Solving
Job Vacancy Trend in the Midlands

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

Problem-Solving job vacancy trend in the Midlands

Problem-Solving
Salary Trend in the Midlands

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Midlands citing Problem-Solving.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Midlands citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Salary Histogram in the Midlands

Salary distribution for jobs citing Problem-Solving in the Midlands over the 6 months to 8 February 2026.

Salary histogram for Problem-Solving in the Midlands

Problem-Solving
Job Locations in the Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Problem-Solving within the Midlands region over the 6 months to 8 February 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
West Midlands -18 502 £42,500 -22.73% 319
East Midlands 0 355 £35,000 - 173
Problem-Solving
England

Problem-Solving
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Midlands 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 56 (6.52%) SharePoint
2 30 (3.49%) Microsoft Exchange
3 14 (1.63%) IIS
4 7 (0.81%) Confluence
5 6 (0.70%) Apache
5 6 (0.70%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 3 (0.35%) CMS
6 3 (0.35%) Exchange Server 2007
6 3 (0.35%) Exchange Server 2010
6 3 (0.35%) Exchange Server 2013
7 1 (0.12%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.12%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.12%) Appian
7 1 (0.12%) HCL Notes
7 1 (0.12%) NServiceBus
7 1 (0.12%) SAS
7 1 (0.12%) WebLogic
Applications
1 67 (7.80%) Microsoft Excel
2 49 (5.70%) Microsoft Office
3 13 (1.51%) Spreadsheet
4 12 (1.40%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 10 (1.16%) Microsoft Project
6 9 (1.05%) AutoCAD
7 8 (0.93%) SOLIDWORKS
8 7 (0.81%) MS Visio
9 4 (0.47%) CATIA
10 2 (0.23%) Trello
11 1 (0.12%) Abaqus
11 1 (0.12%) EPLAN
11 1 (0.12%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 30 (3.49%) Dynamics CRM
2 12 (1.40%) iTrent
3 9 (1.05%) NetSuite
4 5 (0.58%) SAP S/4HANA
5 3 (0.35%) Dynamics NAV
5 3 (0.35%) SAP Business ByDesign
6 2 (0.23%) Infor CloudSuite Industrial (formerly SyteLine)
6 2 (0.23%) Oracle Cash Management
6 2 (0.23%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.23%) Oracle EBS R12
6 2 (0.23%) Oracle Payables
6 2 (0.23%) Q-Pulse
6 2 (0.23%) SAP ERP
6 2 (0.23%) SAP MM
7 1 (0.12%) Dynamics GP
7 1 (0.12%) HFM
7 1 (0.12%) SAP CO
7 1 (0.12%) SAP FI
7 1 (0.12%) SAP FI/CO
7 1 (0.12%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 185 (21.54%) Azure
2 173 (20.14%) Microsoft 365
3 76 (8.85%) SaaS
4 72 (8.38%) AWS
5 60 (6.98%) Power Platform
6 52 (6.05%) Entra ID
7 26 (3.03%) Dynamics 365
8 25 (2.91%) Serverless
9 17 (1.98%) Power Automate
10 15 (1.75%) Amazon S3
10 15 (1.75%) AWS Lambda
10 15 (1.75%) GCP
11 13 (1.51%) PowerApps
12 12 (1.40%) Azure DevOps
12 12 (1.40%) OneDrive
13 10 (1.16%) Google Workspace
14 9 (1.05%) Azure Data Factory
15 7 (0.81%) Azure Sentinel
15 7 (0.81%) OCI
16 6 (0.70%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 68 (7.92%) DNS
2 66 (7.68%) DHCP
3 43 (5.01%) VPN
4 36 (4.19%) Remote Desktop
5 34 (3.96%) WAN
6 29 (3.38%) Firewall
7 23 (2.68%) Internet
7 23 (2.68%) LAN
8 20 (2.33%) Wi-Fi
9 17 (1.98%) TCP/IP
10 15 (1.75%) Wireless
11 13 (1.51%) SD-WAN
11 13 (1.51%) VLAN
11 13 (1.51%) VoIP
12 9 (1.05%) ADSL
12 9 (1.05%) Ethernet
12 9 (1.05%) VDSL
13 6 (0.70%) Broadband
14 5 (0.58%) PBX
15 4 (0.47%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 51 (5.94%) SQL Server
2 46 (5.36%) Power BI
3 18 (2.10%) MySQL
4 16 (1.86%) Relational Database
5 15 (1.75%) Oracle Reports
6 14 (1.63%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 13 (1.51%) PostgreSQL
8 12 (1.40%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 11 (1.28%) Amazon Redshift
10 10 (1.16%) Tableau
11 6 (0.70%) Crystal Reports
11 6 (0.70%) Data Warehouse
11 6 (0.70%) GIS
11 6 (0.70%) Metadata
12 5 (0.58%) Amazon RDS
12 5 (0.58%) Azure SQL Database
13 4 (0.47%) BusinessObjects
13 4 (0.47%) Data Lake
14 3 (0.35%) NoSQL
14 3 (0.35%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 30 (3.49%) JIRA
2 22 (2.56%) Git
3 9 (1.05%) JUnit
4 7 (0.81%) Burp Suite
4 7 (0.81%) GitLab
4 7 (0.81%) Metasploit
4 7 (0.81%) Mockito
5 6 (0.70%) Jenkins
5 6 (0.70%) Maven
6 5 (0.58%) Subversion
7 4 (0.47%) Selenium
8 3 (0.35%) Appcelerator Titanium
8 3 (0.35%) Cucumber
8 3 (0.35%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 2 (0.23%) Visual Studio Code
10 1 (0.12%) Bitbucket Server
10 1 (0.12%) Katalon Studio
10 1 (0.12%) REST Assured
10 1 (0.12%) Snyk
10 1 (0.12%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 415 (48.31%) Social Skills
2 275 (32.01%) Analytical Skills
3 174 (20.26%) Finance
4 109 (12.69%) Retail
5 84 (9.78%) Manufacturing
6 50 (5.82%) Organisational Skills
7 49 (5.70%) Law
8 41 (4.77%) Marketing
9 40 (4.66%) Legal
10 38 (4.42%) Public Sector
11 24 (2.79%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 23 (2.68%) Electronics
13 18 (2.10%) Telecoms
14 16 (1.86%) Documentation Skills
15 15 (1.75%) Banking
16 14 (1.63%) Automotive
17 13 (1.51%) Presentation Skills
18 12 (1.40%) Aerospace
19 9 (1.05%) Games
20 6 (0.70%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 160 (18.63%) Support Engineer
2 158 (18.39%) IT Support
3 119 (13.85%) Analyst
4 104 (12.11%) IT Engineer
5 92 (10.71%) IT Support Engineer
6 79 (9.20%) Lead
7 77 (8.96%) Developer
8 74 (8.61%) Technical Support
9 66 (7.68%) Senior
10 61 (7.10%) Technical Engineer
11 59 (6.87%) Technical Support Engineer
12 58 (6.75%) Support Analyst
13 54 (6.29%) 2nd Line Support
14 42 (4.89%) Support Technician
15 35 (4.07%) Administrator
16 34 (3.96%) Applications Support
17 32 (3.73%) 1st/2nd Line Support
18 30 (3.49%) Architect
19 27 (3.14%) Full-Stack Developer
20 22 (2.56%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (4.54%) React
2 32 (3.73%) .NET
3 30 (3.49%) REST
4 28 (3.26%) HTML
5 27 (3.14%) CSS
6 23 (2.68%) Node.js
7 16 (1.86%) AngularJS
7 16 (1.86%) JSON
8 11 (1.28%) Razor View Engine
9 7 (0.81%) Middleware
9 7 (0.81%) Oracle Fusion
9 7 (0.81%) RESTful
9 7 (0.81%) Vue
10 6 (0.70%) LAMP
10 6 (0.70%) Laravel
11 5 (0.58%) Spring
11 5 (0.58%) Web Services
12 4 (0.47%) EDI
12 4 (0.47%) SOAP
12 4 (0.47%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 104 (12.11%) Driving Licence
2 103 (11.99%) Onboarding
3 48 (5.59%) Management Information System
4 44 (5.12%) Self-Motivation
5 38 (4.42%) Analytical Mindset
6 32 (3.73%) FMCG
7 14 (1.63%) Legacy Systems
8 13 (1.51%) Operational Technology
8 13 (1.51%) Product Ownership
8 13 (1.51%) Social Media
9 12 (1.40%) Enterprise Software
9 12 (1.40%) Security Posture
10 10 (1.16%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 9 (1.05%) e-Learning
11 9 (1.05%) IoT
12 8 (0.93%) Data Centre
12 8 (0.93%) Data Structures
12 8 (0.93%) Embedded Systems
12 8 (0.93%) EPoS
13 7 (0.81%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 151 (17.58%) Windows
2 58 (6.75%) Windows Server
3 38 (4.42%) Linux
4 23 (2.68%) Windows 10
5 12 (1.40%) Apple iOS
6 5 (0.58%) Windows Server 2019
7 4 (0.47%) Android
7 4 (0.47%) Debian
7 4 (0.47%) Unix
8 3 (0.35%) Windows 7
9 2 (0.23%) Windows Server 2012
10 1 (0.12%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.12%) Oracle Linux
10 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 186 (21.65%) Customer Service
2 179 (20.84%) Continuous Improvement
3 113 (13.15%) CRM
4 109 (12.69%) ERP
5 101 (11.76%) Project Management
6 94 (10.94%) Agile
7 91 (10.59%) Decision-Making
7 91 (10.59%) Mentoring
8 83 (9.66%) ITIL
9 75 (8.73%) Business Intelligence
10 71 (8.27%) Analytics
11 56 (6.52%) Root Cause Analysis
12 52 (6.05%) Analytical Thinking
12 52 (6.05%) Change Management
12 52 (6.05%) Process Improvement
13 51 (5.94%) Incident Management
13 51 (5.94%) Migration
14 50 (5.82%) E-Commerce
14 50 (5.82%) Logistics
15 49 (5.70%) Computer Science
Programming Languages
1 176 (20.49%) SQL
2 74 (8.61%) C#
3 60 (6.98%) Python
4 54 (6.29%) JavaScript
5 32 (3.73%) Java
5 32 (3.73%) PowerShell
6 21 (2.44%) PHP
7 14 (1.63%) T-SQL
8 13 (1.51%) C
9 10 (1.16%) Bash
9 10 (1.16%) TypeScript
10 8 (0.93%) Ladder Logic
11 7 (0.81%) PL/SQL
11 7 (0.81%) R
12 4 (0.47%) C++
12 4 (0.47%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 4 (0.47%) Delphi
13 3 (0.35%) VB.NET
14 2 (0.23%) Google Apps Script
14 2 (0.23%) XAML
Qualifications
1 170 (19.79%) Degree
2 73 (8.50%) Security Cleared
3 53 (6.17%) SC Cleared
4 32 (3.73%) Microsoft Certification
5 31 (3.61%) Computer Science Degree
6 22 (2.56%) DBS Check
7 19 (2.21%) Master's Degree
8 17 (1.98%) Cisco Certification
9 16 (1.86%) BPSS Clearance
10 14 (1.63%) CISSP
11 11 (1.28%) A+ Certification
11 11 (1.28%) ACCA
11 11 (1.28%) CCNA
11 11 (1.28%) CIMA
12 10 (1.16%) CompTIA Security+
12 10 (1.16%) PMI Certification
13 9 (1.05%) AWS Certification
13 9 (1.05%) CISMP
13 9 (1.05%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 9 (1.05%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 58 (6.75%) QA
2 31 (3.61%) Data Quality
3 28 (3.26%) GDPR
4 25 (2.91%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 10 (1.16%) Actionable Recommendations
5 10 (1.16%) SLA
6 9 (1.05%) NIST
7 7 (0.81%) Cyber Essentials
8 6 (0.70%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 5 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 4 (0.47%) Accessibility
11 3 (0.35%) HIPAA
11 3 (0.35%) PMO
12 2 (0.23%) COSHH
12 2 (0.23%) GMP
12 2 (0.23%) Government Security Classifications
12 2 (0.23%) ISO 20022
12 2 (0.23%) ISO/IEC 19770
12 2 (0.23%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 2 (0.23%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 108 (12.57%) Active Directory
2 23 (2.68%) Docker
3 12 (1.40%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (1.05%) Hyper-V
5 8 (0.93%) vSphere
6 6 (0.70%) Firmware
7 2 (0.23%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (0.23%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.23%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 39 (4.54%) Microsoft Intune
2 24 (2.79%) Kubernetes
3 14 (1.63%) Terraform
4 7 (0.81%) Ansible
4 7 (0.81%) Nmap
5 5 (0.58%) SCCM
6 4 (0.47%) Grafana
6 4 (0.47%) Nagios
7 3 (0.35%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.23%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.23%) Prometheus
9 1 (0.12%) Argo
9 1 (0.12%) Autotask
9 1 (0.12%) AWS Copilot
9 1 (0.12%) CA Service Virtualization
9 1 (0.12%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 242 (28.17%) Microsoft
2 68 (7.92%) SAP
3 55 (6.40%) Oracle
4 36 (4.19%) Salesforce
5 34 (3.96%) Cisco
6 16 (1.86%) ServiceNow
7 13 (1.51%) Google
7 13 (1.51%) VMware
8 9 (1.05%) Databricks
8 9 (1.05%) Meraki
8 9 (1.05%) Sage
9 7 (0.81%) Epicor
9 7 (0.81%) Infor
10 6 (0.70%) Freshdesk
10 6 (0.70%) HP
10 6 (0.70%) SolarWinds
10 6 (0.70%) Zoho
11 5 (0.58%) Panasonic
11 5 (0.58%) Samsung
11 5 (0.58%) Zscaler