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

6 months to
17 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -7 +1 +5
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,348 1,230 1,448
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 8.72% 21.96% 14.42%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.51% 25.61% 18.37%
Number of salaries quoted 932 706 542
10th Percentile £27,000 £25,250 £25,750
25th Percentile £30,938 £29,000 £32,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £38,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +11.84% -15.56% -8.16%
75th Percentile £57,500 £51,250 £59,875
90th Percentile £71,250 £65,625 £71,250
England median annual salary £47,000 £45,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +4.44% -14.29% -4.55%

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 10,779 4,802 7,883
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 69.76% 85.75% 78.52%
Number of salaries quoted 7,663 2,883 4,022
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £28,822
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,500 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £47,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.53% -5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £65,000 £63,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £77,500
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -7.26%

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 17 September 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 17 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
West Midlands -8 747 £42,500 -5.56% 735
East Midlands -8 599 £41,250 +17.86% 474
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 69 (5.12%) SharePoint
2 44 (3.26%) Microsoft Exchange
3 14 (1.04%) IIS
4 8 (0.59%) Confluence
5 6 (0.45%) CMS
6 5 (0.37%) Skype for Business
7 4 (0.30%) CICS
7 4 (0.30%) SAS
8 3 (0.22%) Apache Airflow
8 3 (0.22%) Oracle Workflow
8 3 (0.22%) WordPress
9 2 (0.15%) Documentum
9 2 (0.15%) Headless CMS
10 1 (0.074%) Apache
10 1 (0.074%) Appian
10 1 (0.074%) Jupyter
10 1 (0.074%) Oracle SOA Suite
10 1 (0.074%) Tomcat
Applications
1 120 (8.90%) Microsoft Office
2 91 (6.75%) Microsoft Excel
3 11 (0.82%) Spreadsheet
4 10 (0.74%) Simulink
5 9 (0.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 6 (0.45%) Fusion 360
7 5 (0.37%) AutoCAD
8 4 (0.30%) EPLAN
8 4 (0.30%) Microsoft Project
8 4 (0.30%) Revit
9 3 (0.22%) Navisworks
9 3 (0.22%) OrCAD
10 2 (0.15%) Chatbot
10 2 (0.15%) MS Visio
10 2 (0.15%) SOLIDWORKS
11 1 (0.074%) Adobe Illustrator
11 1 (0.074%) CorelDRAW
11 1 (0.074%) Photoshop
11 1 (0.074%) Siemens NX
11 1 (0.074%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 19 (1.41%) Dynamics CRM
2 15 (1.11%) SAP S/4HANA
3 13 (0.96%) IBM Planning Analytics
4 12 (0.89%) SAP Business One
5 11 (0.82%) Shopify
6 10 (0.74%) NetSuite
7 9 (0.67%) JDE EnterpriseOne
8 7 (0.52%) Sage X3
9 6 (0.45%) Dynamics AX
10 5 (0.37%) Magento
10 5 (0.37%) Oracle EBS
10 5 (0.37%) Oracle ERP
10 5 (0.37%) Payment Gateway
10 5 (0.37%) Sage 50
10 5 (0.37%) Salesforce CRM
11 4 (0.30%) Line 50
11 4 (0.30%) Oracle Payables
12 3 (0.22%) Infor M3
12 3 (0.22%) Oracle Cash Management
12 3 (0.22%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
Cloud Services
1 262 (19.44%) Microsoft 365
2 234 (17.36%) Azure
3 134 (9.94%) Power Platform
4 90 (6.68%) Entra ID
5 84 (6.23%) AWS
6 54 (4.01%) SaaS
7 37 (2.74%) Dynamics 365
8 36 (2.67%) Azure DevOps
9 25 (1.85%) Power Automate
10 19 (1.41%) GitHub
11 18 (1.34%) PowerApps
12 17 (1.26%) Google Workspace
12 17 (1.26%) Microsoft Copilot
12 17 (1.26%) Microsoft Purview
12 17 (1.26%) OneDrive
13 16 (1.19%) GCP
14 15 (1.11%) GitHub Actions
15 12 (0.89%) PaaS
15 12 (0.89%) Serverless
16 9 (0.67%) Amazon S3
Communications & Networking
1 74 (5.49%) DNS
2 66 (4.90%) Firewall
3 60 (4.45%) DHCP
4 57 (4.23%) VPN
5 51 (3.78%) TCP/IP
6 34 (2.52%) Wireless
7 32 (2.37%) VLAN
8 29 (2.15%) WAN
9 27 (2.00%) LAN
10 26 (1.93%) Wi-Fi
11 20 (1.48%) Network Security
12 17 (1.26%) VoIP
13 10 (0.74%) Internet
14 8 (0.59%) Wireshark
15 7 (0.52%) Cisco IOS
15 7 (0.52%) Modbus
15 7 (0.52%) MQTT
15 7 (0.52%) Remote Desktop
16 6 (0.45%) SD-WAN
16 6 (0.45%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 125 (9.27%) Power BI
2 55 (4.08%) SQL Server
3 28 (2.08%) Tableau
4 27 (2.00%) Relational Database
5 23 (1.71%) Power Query
6 22 (1.63%) Data Warehouse
7 20 (1.48%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 16 (1.19%) Azure SQL Database
8 16 (1.19%) Electronic Patient Records
8 16 (1.19%) MySQL
9 14 (1.04%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 12 (0.89%) Data Mining
11 11 (0.82%) Crystal Reports
12 9 (0.67%) DynamoDB
12 9 (0.67%) Oracle Reports
12 9 (0.67%) PostgreSQL
13 7 (0.52%) Data Lake
14 6 (0.45%) Amazon Redshift
14 6 (0.45%) MongoDB
15 5 (0.37%) Oracle BI EE
Development Applications
1 43 (3.19%) Git
2 32 (2.37%) JIRA
3 24 (1.78%) Jenkins
4 8 (0.59%) Eclipse
5 7 (0.52%) Cucumber
5 7 (0.52%) Postman
5 7 (0.52%) Selenium
6 6 (0.45%) GitLab
6 6 (0.45%) JMeter
6 6 (0.45%) LabVIEW
6 6 (0.45%) Maven
7 5 (0.37%) JUnit
7 5 (0.37%) SoapUI
7 5 (0.37%) VersionOne
7 5 (0.37%) Zephyr
8 4 (0.30%) Burp Suite
8 4 (0.30%) Metasploit
9 3 (0.22%) Mockito
9 3 (0.22%) Subversion
10 2 (0.15%) Ant
General
1 690 (51.19%) Social Skills
2 392 (29.08%) Analytical Skills
3 222 (16.47%) Finance
4 220 (16.32%) Manufacturing
5 104 (7.72%) Organisational Skills
6 99 (7.34%) Retail
7 76 (5.64%) Marketing
8 58 (4.30%) Public Sector
9 55 (4.08%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 44 (3.26%) Electronics
10 44 (3.26%) Law
11 39 (2.89%) Legal
12 31 (2.30%) Influencing Skills
13 29 (2.15%) Automotive
14 19 (1.41%) Documentation Skills
15 18 (1.34%) Telecoms
16 14 (1.04%) Presentation Skills
17 13 (0.96%) Aerospace
18 11 (0.82%) Banking
19 10 (0.74%) Billing
Job Titles
1 191 (14.17%) Analyst
2 146 (10.83%) IT Support
3 135 (10.01%) Support Engineer
4 112 (8.31%) Developer
5 108 (8.01%) Senior
6 82 (6.08%) IT Engineer
7 81 (6.01%) Consultant
8 77 (5.71%) Lead
9 75 (5.56%) Technical Support
10 66 (4.90%) Support Analyst
11 64 (4.75%) Technical Engineer
12 62 (4.60%) Technical Support Engineer
13 59 (4.38%) IT Support Engineer
14 58 (4.30%) Support Technician
15 50 (3.71%) IT Technician
16 42 (3.12%) Data Analyst
16 42 (3.12%) IT Manager
17 40 (2.97%) IT Support Technician
18 35 (2.60%) Administrator
19 32 (2.37%) 2nd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 55 (4.08%) REST
2 44 (3.26%) .NET
3 37 (2.74%) React
4 28 (2.08%) Spring
5 25 (1.85%) Spring Boot
6 24 (1.78%) SOAP
7 20 (1.48%) Node.js
8 18 (1.34%) CSS
8 18 (1.34%) HTML
9 17 (1.26%) RESTful
10 16 (1.19%) Terraform
11 14 (1.04%) AngularJS
11 14 (1.04%) Playwright
12 12 (0.89%) EDI
12 12 (0.89%) ISPF
12 12 (0.89%) JSON
12 12 (0.89%) XML
13 11 (0.82%) Middleware
13 11 (0.82%) SAP Fiori
14 9 (0.67%) SAPUI5
Miscellaneous
1 157 (11.65%) Driving Licence
2 101 (7.49%) Onboarding
3 78 (5.79%) Management Information System
4 65 (4.82%) Self-Motivation
5 39 (2.89%) Enterprise Software
6 33 (2.45%) Robotics
7 28 (2.08%) NHS
8 20 (1.48%) Analytical Mindset
9 19 (1.41%) Data Centre
10 18 (1.34%) IoT
11 17 (1.26%) SCADA
11 17 (1.26%) SystemC
11 17 (1.26%) Virtual Team
12 15 (1.11%) Greenfield Project
13 14 (1.04%) CMDB
13 14 (1.04%) Data Structures
13 14 (1.04%) Legacy Applications
13 14 (1.04%) Social Media
14 13 (0.96%) Mainframe
15 12 (0.89%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 238 (17.66%) Windows
2 86 (6.38%) Windows Server
3 79 (5.86%) Linux
4 47 (3.49%) Windows 10
5 18 (1.34%) Android
6 14 (1.04%) Apple iOS
7 10 (0.74%) Mac OS
7 10 (0.74%) Unix
8 6 (0.45%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 5 (0.37%) OpenVMS
9 5 (0.37%) Ubuntu
10 4 (0.30%) FreeRTOS
10 4 (0.30%) VMS
11 2 (0.15%) Debian
11 2 (0.15%) Solaris
11 2 (0.15%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.074%) CentOS
12 1 (0.074%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 388 (28.78%) Continuous Improvement
2 272 (20.18%) Customer Service
3 182 (13.50%) Decision-Making
4 166 (12.31%) Analytics
5 162 (12.02%) Agile
6 141 (10.46%) Mentoring
7 134 (9.94%) ERP
8 133 (9.87%) Business Intelligence
9 122 (9.05%) Collaborative Working
10 120 (8.90%) Cybersecurity
11 103 (7.64%) Stakeholder Management
12 100 (7.42%) AI
13 99 (7.34%) Project Delivery
14 98 (7.27%) Service Delivery
15 96 (7.12%) ITIL
16 93 (6.90%) Roadmaps
17 91 (6.75%) Project Management
18 86 (6.38%) CRM
19 82 (6.08%) Stakeholder Engagement
20 75 (5.56%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 213 (15.80%) SQL
2 91 (6.75%) Python
3 68 (5.04%) Java
4 55 (4.08%) PowerShell
5 47 (3.49%) JavaScript
6 37 (2.74%) C#
7 30 (2.23%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 22 (1.63%) Ladder Logic
9 21 (1.56%) C
9 21 (1.56%) TypeScript
10 16 (1.19%) Embedded C
11 13 (0.96%) VBA
12 12 (0.89%) C++
12 12 (0.89%) COBOL
12 12 (0.89%) JCL
13 11 (0.82%) Bash
14 10 (0.74%) MATLAB
15 9 (0.67%) ABAP
16 8 (0.59%) PHP
16 8 (0.59%) R
Qualifications
1 200 (14.84%) Degree
2 100 (7.42%) Security Cleared
3 84 (6.23%) SC Cleared
4 35 (2.60%) HND
5 33 (2.45%) HNC
6 25 (1.85%) Azure Certification
7 24 (1.78%) Microsoft Certification
8 22 (1.63%) DBS Check
9 19 (1.41%) Cisco Certification
10 14 (1.04%) PMI Certification
11 13 (0.96%) CCNA
12 12 (0.89%) Computer Science Degree
12 12 (0.89%) NVQ Level 3
12 12 (0.89%) NVQ Level 4
13 11 (0.82%) City & Guilds
14 10 (0.74%) CISSP
15 8 (0.59%) ACCA
16 7 (0.52%) A+ Certification
16 7 (0.52%) Chartered Engineer
17 6 (0.45%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 64 (4.75%) Data Quality
2 54 (4.01%) GDPR
3 49 (3.64%) QA
4 41 (3.04%) SLA
5 39 (2.89%) Cyber Essentials
6 34 (2.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 25 (1.85%) Accessibility
8 22 (1.63%) ISO 9001
9 9 (0.67%) ISO 14001
9 9 (0.67%) PCI DSS
10 8 (0.59%) NIST
11 7 (0.52%) GRC
12 6 (0.45%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 4 (0.30%) Actionable Recommendations
13 4 (0.30%) GMP
13 4 (0.30%) PMO
13 4 (0.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 3 (0.22%) COSHH
14 3 (0.22%) HIPAA
14 3 (0.22%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 163 (12.09%) Active Directory
2 51 (3.78%) Hyper-V
3 30 (2.23%) VMware Infrastructure
4 24 (1.78%) Docker
5 20 (1.48%) Firmware
6 13 (0.96%) Virtual Desktop
7 12 (0.89%) Embedded Firmware
8 8 (0.59%) Virtual Machines
9 7 (0.52%) vSphere
10 2 (0.15%) Samba
10 2 (0.15%) XenApp
11 1 (0.074%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 50 (3.71%) Microsoft Intune
2 21 (1.56%) Kubernetes
3 10 (0.74%) SCCM
4 8 (0.59%) Ansible
5 7 (0.52%) Single Sign-On
6 6 (0.45%) Functional Safety
7 4 (0.30%) BMC PATROL
7 4 (0.30%) Grafana
7 4 (0.30%) Nmap
7 4 (0.30%) Prometheus
8 3 (0.22%) Control-M
8 3 (0.22%) Galera Cluster
8 3 (0.22%) Jamf Pro
8 3 (0.22%) Progress Chef
8 3 (0.22%) Puppet
8 3 (0.22%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.22%) WhatsUp Gold
9 2 (0.15%) Backup Exec
9 2 (0.15%) WSUS
10 1 (0.074%) Nagios
Vendors
1 415 (30.79%) Microsoft
2 69 (5.12%) SAP
3 41 (3.04%) VMware
4 35 (2.60%) Cisco
4 35 (2.60%) Oracle
5 34 (2.52%) Workday
6 30 (2.23%) Google
6 30 (2.23%) ServiceNow
7 25 (1.85%) Sage
8 22 (1.63%) Salesforce
9 20 (1.48%) IBM
10 17 (1.26%) Cognos
11 15 (1.11%) Databricks
12 14 (1.04%) Allen-Bradley
13 12 (0.89%) Apple
13 12 (0.89%) HubSpot
13 12 (0.89%) JD Edwards
14 11 (0.82%) Sophos
15 10 (0.74%) Dell
15 10 (0.74%) Epicor