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 2 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -8 +1 +4
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,003 1,142 1,960
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 7.79% 21.65% 14.21%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.20% 24.87% 17.96%
Number of salaries quoted 744 652 1,143
10th Percentile £26,265 £25,027 £25,000
25th Percentile £29,750 £29,750 £28,875
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,000 £42,500 £40,000
Median % change year-on-year -1.18% +6.25% -15.79%
75th Percentile £56,906 £57,500 £57,500
90th Percentile £67,500 £67,500 £70,000
England median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -9.09%

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 8,959 4,592 10,916
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 69.60% 87.07% 79.14%
Number of salaries quoted 6,330 2,684 7,447
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,750 £26,250
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,500 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £48,750 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year +7.69% +2.63% -9.52%
75th Percentile £67,500 £65,000 £62,500
90th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £75,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -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 2 July 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 2 July 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 -9 570 £42,500 -5.56% 258
East Midlands -10 430 £35,000 -4.11% 210
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 62 (6.18%) SharePoint
2 41 (4.09%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (1.10%) CMS
4 10 (1.00%) IIS
5 5 (0.50%) Skype for Business
6 4 (0.40%) Exchange Server 2007
6 4 (0.40%) Exchange Server 2010
6 4 (0.40%) Exchange Server 2013
7 3 (0.30%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 3 (0.30%) WordPress
8 2 (0.20%) Confluence
9 1 (0.100%) Appian
9 1 (0.100%) Documentum
9 1 (0.100%) Drupal
9 1 (0.100%) SAS
Applications
1 86 (8.57%) Microsoft Office
2 67 (6.68%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (1.20%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (0.80%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (0.50%) Fusion 360
6 4 (0.40%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.100%) AutoCAD
7 1 (0.100%) Simulink
7 1 (0.100%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 13 (1.30%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (1.10%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 9 (0.90%) Dynamics CRM
4 7 (0.70%) SAP Business One
5 6 (0.60%) iTrent
5 6 (0.60%) JDE EnterpriseOne
6 5 (0.50%) Magento
6 5 (0.50%) Q-Pulse
6 5 (0.50%) Shopify
7 4 (0.40%) Line 50
7 4 (0.40%) Sage 50
7 4 (0.40%) Sage X3
8 3 (0.30%) Dynamics AX
8 3 (0.30%) SAP Business ByDesign
9 2 (0.20%) Oracle EBS
10 1 (0.100%) Oracle Payables
10 1 (0.100%) Sage 200
10 1 (0.100%) SAP CO
10 1 (0.100%) SAP EWM
10 1 (0.100%) SAP FI/CO
Cloud Services
1 218 (21.73%) Microsoft 365
2 182 (18.15%) Azure
3 96 (9.57%) Power Platform
4 78 (7.78%) Entra ID
5 76 (7.58%) AWS
6 32 (3.19%) SaaS
7 24 (2.39%) Serverless
8 20 (1.99%) Amazon S3
9 19 (1.89%) Dynamics 365
10 18 (1.79%) AWS Lambda
10 18 (1.79%) Power Automate
11 15 (1.50%) PowerApps
12 14 (1.40%) OneDrive
13 13 (1.30%) Google Workspace
13 13 (1.30%) Microsoft Purview
14 12 (1.20%) GCP
15 10 (1.00%) Microsoft Copilot
16 9 (0.90%) Azure Data Factory
16 9 (0.90%) Azure DevOps
17 8 (0.80%) Amazon EventBridge
Communications & Networking
1 58 (5.78%) DNS
1 58 (5.78%) Firewall
2 53 (5.28%) VPN
3 51 (5.08%) DHCP
4 36 (3.59%) TCP/IP
5 33 (3.29%) WAN
6 30 (2.99%) Wireless
7 24 (2.39%) LAN
7 24 (2.39%) VLAN
8 23 (2.29%) Wi-Fi
9 15 (1.50%) Network Security
10 13 (1.30%) SD-WAN
10 13 (1.30%) VoIP
11 12 (1.20%) Internet
12 8 (0.80%) MQTT
13 5 (0.50%) Skype
14 4 (0.40%) Bluetooth
14 4 (0.40%) LoRaWAN
14 4 (0.40%) Remote Desktop
14 4 (0.40%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 90 (8.97%) Power BI
2 39 (3.89%) SQL Server
3 21 (2.09%) Tableau
4 20 (1.99%) MySQL
5 19 (1.89%) Power Query
6 14 (1.40%) Relational Database
7 13 (1.30%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 12 (1.20%) Azure SQL Database
8 12 (1.20%) Data Warehouse
9 11 (1.10%) Amazon Redshift
10 10 (1.00%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 8 (0.80%) DynamoDB
12 7 (0.70%) Amazon RDS
12 7 (0.70%) MongoDB
12 7 (0.70%) Star Schema
13 6 (0.60%) Data Mining
13 6 (0.60%) PostgreSQL
14 5 (0.50%) NoSQL
15 4 (0.40%) FileMaker
15 4 (0.40%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 20 (1.99%) Git
2 12 (1.20%) JIRA
3 6 (0.60%) JUnit
4 5 (0.50%) Burp Suite
4 5 (0.50%) Maven
4 5 (0.50%) Metasploit
4 5 (0.50%) Mockito
4 5 (0.50%) VersionOne
5 3 (0.30%) Subversion
6 2 (0.20%) Jenkins
6 2 (0.20%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 2 (0.20%) TeamCity
6 2 (0.20%) Visual Studio
7 1 (0.100%) Appium
7 1 (0.100%) Eclipse
7 1 (0.100%) Oracle Forms
7 1 (0.100%) Postman
7 1 (0.100%) TestRail
7 1 (0.100%) XCUITest
7 1 (0.100%) Yeoman
General
1 467 (46.56%) Social Skills
2 303 (30.21%) Analytical Skills
3 171 (17.05%) Finance
4 141 (14.06%) Manufacturing
5 64 (6.38%) Organisational Skills
6 62 (6.18%) Retail
7 45 (4.49%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 43 (4.29%) Marketing
9 39 (3.89%) Legal
10 35 (3.49%) Law
11 34 (3.39%) Public Sector
12 27 (2.69%) Influencing Skills
13 21 (2.09%) Automotive
13 21 (2.09%) Electronics
14 19 (1.89%) Documentation Skills
15 12 (1.20%) Banking
15 12 (1.20%) Telecoms
16 11 (1.10%) Games
17 10 (1.00%) Investment Banking
18 9 (0.90%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 161 (16.05%) Analyst
2 148 (14.76%) Support Engineer
3 128 (12.76%) IT Support
4 93 (9.27%) Developer
5 92 (9.17%) Senior
6 86 (8.57%) IT Engineer
7 76 (7.58%) Technical Support
8 69 (6.88%) Technical Engineer
8 69 (6.88%) Technical Support Engineer
9 67 (6.68%) IT Support Engineer
10 59 (5.88%) Support Technician
11 49 (4.89%) Lead
12 43 (4.29%) IT Technician
13 41 (4.09%) Support Analyst
14 39 (3.89%) IT Manager
15 38 (3.79%) IT Support Technician
16 37 (3.69%) Data Analyst
17 36 (3.59%) Consultant
18 32 (3.19%) Senior Analyst
19 26 (2.59%) Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (4.19%) React
2 37 (3.69%) REST
3 30 (2.99%) Node.js
4 26 (2.59%) .NET
5 20 (1.99%) CSS
5 20 (1.99%) HTML
6 13 (1.30%) Spring
7 12 (1.20%) AngularJS
8 10 (1.00%) RESTful
8 10 (1.00%) Spring Boot
9 9 (0.90%) Middleware
10 8 (0.80%) SOAP
11 7 (0.70%) JDBC
11 7 (0.70%) OAuth
11 7 (0.70%) SAP Fiori
11 7 (0.70%) SAPUI5
12 6 (0.60%) ASP.NET
12 6 (0.60%) ASP.NET Core
13 5 (0.50%) EDI
14 4 (0.40%) LDAP
Miscellaneous
1 95 (9.47%) Driving Licence
2 53 (5.28%) Onboarding
3 49 (4.89%) Management Information System
4 45 (4.49%) Self-Motivation
5 18 (1.79%) Enterprise Software
6 16 (1.60%) Analytical Mindset
6 16 (1.60%) IoT
7 13 (1.30%) Legacy Systems
7 13 (1.30%) Security Posture
8 11 (1.10%) Greenfield Project
8 11 (1.10%) Social Media
8 11 (1.10%) Virtual Team
9 9 (0.90%) Data Structures
9 9 (0.90%) Mobile App
9 9 (0.90%) Replication
9 9 (0.90%) SCADA
10 8 (0.80%) Data Centre
10 8 (0.80%) FMCG
10 8 (0.80%) Hybrid Cloud
10 8 (0.80%) iSeries
Operating Systems
1 172 (17.15%) Windows
2 65 (6.48%) Windows Server
3 61 (6.08%) Linux
4 50 (4.99%) Windows 10
5 13 (1.30%) Android
6 11 (1.10%) Apple iOS
7 10 (1.00%) Ubuntu
8 7 (0.70%) Debian
8 7 (0.70%) Mac OS
9 6 (0.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 5 (0.50%) CentOS
10 5 (0.50%) OpenVMS
10 5 (0.50%) Unix
10 5 (0.50%) Windows 7
11 4 (0.40%) FreeRTOS
11 4 (0.40%) VMS
12 3 (0.30%) SUSE
13 1 (0.100%) Windows Server 2016
13 1 (0.100%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 258 (25.72%) Continuous Improvement
2 172 (17.15%) Customer Service
3 138 (13.76%) Decision-Making
4 122 (12.16%) Analytics
5 119 (11.86%) Agile
6 116 (11.57%) Mentoring
7 113 (11.27%) Collaborative Working
8 98 (9.77%) ERP
9 96 (9.57%) ITIL
10 93 (9.27%) Business Intelligence
11 89 (8.87%) Cybersecurity
12 88 (8.77%) Service Delivery
13 75 (7.48%) AI
14 67 (6.68%) Roadmaps
15 62 (6.18%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 61 (6.08%) Process Improvement
17 58 (5.78%) CRM
18 57 (5.68%) Computer Science
19 56 (5.58%) Root Cause Analysis
20 55 (5.48%) Coaching
Programming Languages
1 169 (16.85%) SQL
2 82 (8.18%) Python
3 43 (4.29%) PowerShell
4 38 (3.79%) Java
5 29 (2.89%) C#
6 28 (2.79%) JavaScript
7 24 (2.39%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 18 (1.79%) Ladder Logic
9 17 (1.69%) TypeScript
10 14 (1.40%) Bash
10 14 (1.40%) VBA
11 13 (1.30%) PHP
12 11 (1.10%) C
13 9 (0.90%) C++
14 7 (0.70%) ABAP
14 7 (0.70%) R
14 7 (0.70%) RPG
14 7 (0.70%) T-SQL
15 6 (0.60%) Go
15 6 (0.60%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 135 (13.46%) Degree
2 76 (7.58%) Security Cleared
3 59 (5.88%) SC Cleared
4 31 (3.09%) Microsoft Certification
5 25 (2.49%) DBS Check
6 19 (1.89%) CISSP
7 17 (1.69%) Computer Science Degree
8 16 (1.60%) Azure Certification
9 15 (1.50%) CompTIA Security+
10 13 (1.30%) Cisco Certification
11 11 (1.10%) A+ Certification
12 9 (0.90%) ACCA
12 9 (0.90%) CIMA
13 8 (0.80%) BPSS Clearance
14 7 (0.70%) CISA
14 7 (0.70%) SSCP
15 6 (0.60%) (ISC)2 CCSP
15 6 (0.60%) CCSP
15 6 (0.60%) HND
15 6 (0.60%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (4.59%) Data Quality
2 43 (4.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 40 (3.99%) Cyber Essentials
4 35 (3.49%) QA
5 30 (2.99%) GDPR
6 24 (2.39%) SLA
7 21 (2.09%) NIST
8 16 (1.60%) Accessibility
9 15 (1.50%) ISO 9001
10 13 (1.30%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 9 (0.90%) ISO 14001
12 7 (0.70%) Actionable Recommendations
12 7 (0.70%) GRC
12 7 (0.70%) PCI DSS
13 5 (0.50%) COSHH
13 5 (0.50%) GMP
14 4 (0.40%) HIPAA
14 4 (0.40%) ISO/IEC 20000
14 4 (0.40%) Sarbanes-Oxley
15 3 (0.30%) California Consumer Privacy Act
System Software
1 134 (13.36%) Active Directory
2 40 (3.99%) Hyper-V
3 31 (3.09%) VMware Infrastructure
4 21 (2.09%) Docker
5 9 (0.90%) Firmware
6 8 (0.80%) vSphere
7 5 (0.50%) Embedded Firmware
7 5 (0.50%) Virtual Machines
8 3 (0.30%) Virtual Desktop
9 2 (0.20%) Samba
10 1 (0.100%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.100%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 47 (4.69%) Microsoft Intune
2 20 (1.99%) Kubernetes
3 13 (1.30%) Terraform
4 9 (0.90%) Ansible
5 6 (0.60%) Grafana
6 5 (0.50%) Nagios
6 5 (0.50%) Nmap
6 5 (0.50%) Prometheus
7 4 (0.40%) Functional Safety
7 4 (0.40%) Galera Cluster
7 4 (0.40%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.30%) SCCM
8 3 (0.30%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.20%) Progress Chef
9 2 (0.20%) Puppet
10 1 (0.100%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.100%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 284 (28.32%) Microsoft
2 39 (3.89%) VMware
3 35 (3.49%) SAP
4 27 (2.69%) Cisco
5 18 (1.79%) IBM
6 17 (1.69%) Google
6 17 (1.69%) Sage
7 16 (1.60%) Salesforce
8 14 (1.40%) Cognos
8 14 (1.40%) Workday
9 13 (1.30%) Oracle
10 12 (1.20%) Dell
11 11 (1.10%) Red Hat
11 11 (1.10%) ServiceNow
12 9 (0.90%) SolarWinds
13 8 (0.80%) Databricks
13 8 (0.80%) HP
13 8 (0.80%) iManage
14 7 (0.70%) Apple
15 6 (0.60%) JD Edwards