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 16 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -8 +1 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,195 1,277 1,453
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 8.26% 21.99% 13.65%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.83% 25.82% 17.62%
Number of salaries quoted 847 749 710
10th Percentile £26,437 £25,264 £25,500
25th Percentile £30,500 £29,000 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £38,500 £43,227
Median % change year-on-year +10.39% -10.94% -11.78%
75th Percentile £56,838 £53,750 £58,750
90th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £71,250
England median annual salary £47,500 £46,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +3.26% -8.00% -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 10,105 4,945 8,246
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 69.83% 85.16% 77.49%
Number of salaries quoted 7,200 2,999 4,986
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,968 £28,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,500 £35,000
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 £63,750 £63,750
90th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £76,250
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -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 16 August 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 16 August 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 -9 664 £42,500 -4.00% 358
East Midlands -9 528 £41,000 +17.14% 229
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 54 (4.52%) SharePoint
2 40 (3.35%) Microsoft Exchange
3 13 (1.09%) IIS
4 8 (0.67%) CMS
5 5 (0.42%) Confluence
5 5 (0.42%) Skype for Business
6 4 (0.33%) CICS
7 3 (0.25%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.25%) SAS
7 3 (0.25%) WordPress
8 2 (0.17%) Documentum
8 2 (0.17%) Exchange Server 2007
8 2 (0.17%) Exchange Server 2010
8 2 (0.17%) Exchange Server 2013
9 1 (0.084%) Apache
9 1 (0.084%) Appian
9 1 (0.084%) Drupal
9 1 (0.084%) Jupyter
9 1 (0.084%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 98 (8.20%) Microsoft Office
2 81 (6.78%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (1.00%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (0.75%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (0.42%) Fusion 360
6 4 (0.33%) Microsoft Project
7 3 (0.25%) AutoCAD
7 3 (0.25%) Simulink
8 2 (0.17%) Chatbot
8 2 (0.17%) Navisworks
8 2 (0.17%) OrCAD
8 2 (0.17%) Revit
9 1 (0.084%) LaTeX
9 1 (0.084%) MS Visio
9 1 (0.084%) Siemens NX
9 1 (0.084%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 17 (1.42%) Dynamics CRM
2 15 (1.26%) IBM Planning Analytics
2 15 (1.26%) SAP S/4HANA
3 13 (1.09%) SAP Business One
4 9 (0.75%) JDE EnterpriseOne
4 9 (0.75%) Shopify
5 7 (0.59%) Sage X3
6 5 (0.42%) Magento
6 5 (0.42%) NetSuite
6 5 (0.42%) Oracle ERP
6 5 (0.42%) Sage 50
6 5 (0.42%) Salesforce CRM
7 4 (0.33%) Dynamics AX
7 4 (0.33%) Line 50
8 3 (0.25%) Infor CloudSuite
8 3 (0.25%) Infor LN
8 3 (0.25%) Infor M3
9 2 (0.17%) Dynamics GP
9 2 (0.17%) Dynamics NAV
9 2 (0.17%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 240 (20.08%) Microsoft 365
2 224 (18.74%) Azure
3 125 (10.46%) Power Platform
4 86 (7.20%) AWS
5 84 (7.03%) Entra ID
6 49 (4.10%) SaaS
7 33 (2.76%) Dynamics 365
8 28 (2.34%) Azure DevOps
9 25 (2.09%) Power Automate
10 19 (1.59%) PowerApps
11 16 (1.34%) Microsoft Copilot
11 16 (1.34%) Serverless
12 15 (1.26%) GCP
12 15 (1.26%) GitHub
13 14 (1.17%) Microsoft Purview
14 11 (0.92%) Amazon S3
14 11 (0.92%) AWS Lambda
14 11 (0.92%) GitHub Actions
15 10 (0.84%) Google Workspace
16 9 (0.75%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 65 (5.44%) DNS
1 65 (5.44%) Firewall
2 51 (4.27%) DHCP
3 49 (4.10%) VPN
4 44 (3.68%) TCP/IP
5 33 (2.76%) Wireless
6 30 (2.51%) VLAN
7 23 (1.92%) WAN
8 21 (1.76%) LAN
9 19 (1.59%) Network Security
9 19 (1.59%) Wi-Fi
10 15 (1.26%) VoIP
11 8 (0.67%) MQTT
12 7 (0.59%) SSL
13 6 (0.50%) Cisco IOS
13 6 (0.50%) Remote Desktop
13 6 (0.50%) SD-WAN
14 5 (0.42%) Internet
14 5 (0.42%) Skype
15 4 (0.33%) Bluetooth
Database & Business Intelligence
1 115 (9.62%) Power BI
2 50 (4.18%) SQL Server
3 25 (2.09%) Power Query
4 23 (1.92%) Tableau
5 20 (1.67%) Data Warehouse
5 20 (1.67%) Relational Database
6 18 (1.51%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 17 (1.42%) MySQL
8 16 (1.34%) Electronic Patient Records
9 14 (1.17%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 12 (1.00%) Azure SQL Database
11 10 (0.84%) Crystal Reports
11 10 (0.84%) DynamoDB
12 9 (0.75%) Data Mining
13 8 (0.67%) PostgreSQL
14 7 (0.59%) Amazon Redshift
14 7 (0.59%) MongoDB
15 6 (0.50%) NoSQL
16 5 (0.42%) Amazon RDS
16 5 (0.42%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 43 (3.60%) Git
2 27 (2.26%) JIRA
3 18 (1.51%) Jenkins
4 6 (0.50%) Maven
5 5 (0.42%) Cucumber
5 5 (0.42%) JUnit
5 5 (0.42%) Postman
5 5 (0.42%) VersionOne
6 4 (0.33%) Burp Suite
6 4 (0.33%) GitLab
6 4 (0.33%) JMeter
6 4 (0.33%) Metasploit
6 4 (0.33%) Selenium
6 4 (0.33%) SoapUI
7 3 (0.25%) Mockito
7 3 (0.25%) Subversion
7 3 (0.25%) Zephyr
8 2 (0.17%) Apache Ivy
8 2 (0.17%) Bitbucket
8 2 (0.17%) IBM UrbanCode
General
1 581 (48.62%) Social Skills
2 348 (29.12%) Analytical Skills
3 211 (17.66%) Finance
4 182 (15.23%) Manufacturing
5 80 (6.69%) Retail
6 77 (6.44%) Organisational Skills
7 58 (4.85%) Marketing
8 50 (4.18%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 48 (4.02%) Public Sector
10 44 (3.68%) Legal
11 41 (3.43%) Law
12 29 (2.43%) Influencing Skills
13 27 (2.26%) Electronics
14 21 (1.76%) Automotive
15 19 (1.59%) Documentation Skills
16 15 (1.26%) Telecoms
17 12 (1.00%) Games
18 10 (0.84%) Banking
19 8 (0.67%) Investment Banking
19 8 (0.67%) Wearables
Job Titles
1 186 (15.56%) Analyst
2 138 (11.55%) IT Support
3 130 (10.88%) Support Engineer
4 115 (9.62%) Developer
5 104 (8.70%) Senior
6 79 (6.61%) Technical Support
7 70 (5.86%) IT Engineer
7 70 (5.86%) Technical Engineer
8 68 (5.69%) Technical Support Engineer
9 67 (5.61%) Lead
10 66 (5.52%) Consultant
11 60 (5.02%) Support Analyst
12 58 (4.85%) Support Technician
13 52 (4.35%) IT Technician
14 51 (4.27%) IT Support Engineer
15 49 (4.10%) IT Manager
16 43 (3.60%) IT Support Technician
17 40 (3.35%) Senior Analyst
18 37 (3.10%) Data Analyst
19 29 (2.43%) 2nd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 54 (4.52%) REST
2 40 (3.35%) React
3 39 (3.26%) .NET
4 25 (2.09%) Node.js
5 24 (2.01%) Spring
6 21 (1.76%) SOAP
6 21 (1.76%) Spring Boot
7 18 (1.51%) CSS
7 18 (1.51%) HTML
8 15 (1.26%) RESTful
9 13 (1.09%) AngularJS
10 12 (1.00%) Playwright
11 11 (0.92%) JSON
12 10 (0.84%) EDI
12 10 (0.84%) Middleware
12 10 (0.84%) SAP Fiori
13 9 (0.75%) ASP.NET
13 9 (0.75%) JDBC
13 9 (0.75%) OAuth
13 9 (0.75%) SAPUI5
Miscellaneous
1 124 (10.38%) Driving Licence
2 70 (5.86%) Management Information System
3 68 (5.69%) Onboarding
4 52 (4.35%) Self-Motivation
5 29 (2.43%) Enterprise Software
6 28 (2.34%) NHS
7 20 (1.67%) Robotics
8 18 (1.51%) IoT
9 17 (1.42%) SystemC
10 16 (1.34%) Greenfield Project
11 14 (1.17%) Analytical Mindset
12 13 (1.09%) Data Structures
13 12 (1.00%) Legacy Applications
13 12 (1.00%) Virtual Team
14 11 (0.92%) Cloud Native
14 11 (0.92%) CMDB
14 11 (0.92%) Data Centre
14 11 (0.92%) Legacy Systems
14 11 (0.92%) Mobile App
14 11 (0.92%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 210 (17.57%) Windows
2 81 (6.78%) Linux
3 79 (6.61%) Windows Server
4 46 (3.85%) Windows 10
5 16 (1.34%) Android
6 13 (1.09%) Apple iOS
7 10 (0.84%) Unix
8 9 (0.75%) Mac OS
8 9 (0.75%) Ubuntu
9 6 (0.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 5 (0.42%) OpenVMS
11 4 (0.33%) CentOS
11 4 (0.33%) FreeRTOS
11 4 (0.33%) VMS
12 3 (0.25%) Debian
12 3 (0.25%) Windows 7
12 3 (0.25%) Windows Server 2016
13 2 (0.17%) Solaris
13 2 (0.17%) SUSE
14 1 (0.084%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 358 (29.96%) Continuous Improvement
2 214 (17.91%) Customer Service
3 173 (14.48%) Decision-Making
4 160 (13.39%) Agile
5 155 (12.97%) Analytics
6 139 (11.63%) Mentoring
7 128 (10.71%) Collaborative Working
8 127 (10.63%) ERP
9 121 (10.13%) Business Intelligence
10 108 (9.04%) Cybersecurity
11 105 (8.79%) ITIL
12 98 (8.20%) AI
13 95 (7.95%) Service Delivery
14 86 (7.20%) Roadmaps
15 84 (7.03%) Stakeholder Management
16 77 (6.44%) Collaborative Culture
17 76 (6.36%) CRM
18 70 (5.86%) Project Delivery
19 67 (5.61%) Root Cause Analysis
19 67 (5.61%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 198 (16.57%) SQL
2 88 (7.36%) Python
3 56 (4.69%) Java
4 45 (3.77%) PowerShell
5 43 (3.60%) JavaScript
6 35 (2.93%) C#
7 31 (2.59%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 24 (2.01%) TypeScript
9 21 (1.76%) Ladder Logic
10 15 (1.26%) C
11 14 (1.17%) VBA
12 13 (1.09%) Bash
12 13 (1.09%) PHP
13 11 (0.92%) C++
14 9 (0.75%) ABAP
14 9 (0.75%) Embedded C
15 8 (0.67%) COBOL
15 8 (0.67%) JCL
16 7 (0.59%) RPG
17 6 (0.50%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 170 (14.23%) Degree
2 84 (7.03%) Security Cleared
3 69 (5.77%) SC Cleared
4 29 (2.43%) Microsoft Certification
5 23 (1.92%) Azure Certification
6 21 (1.76%) DBS Check
7 18 (1.51%) Cisco Certification
7 18 (1.51%) CISSP
8 16 (1.34%) HND
9 15 (1.26%) CompTIA Security+
10 14 (1.17%) HNC
11 13 (1.09%) PMI Certification
12 11 (0.92%) CCNA
13 10 (0.84%) Computer Science Degree
14 7 (0.59%) ACCA
14 7 (0.59%) BPSS Clearance
14 7 (0.59%) CIMA
14 7 (0.59%) CISA
14 7 (0.59%) SSCP
15 6 (0.50%) CCSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 57 (4.77%) Data Quality
2 44 (3.68%) GDPR
3 41 (3.43%) Cyber Essentials
4 40 (3.35%) QA
5 38 (3.18%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 36 (3.01%) SLA
7 22 (1.84%) Accessibility
8 18 (1.51%) ISO 9001
8 18 (1.51%) NIST
9 10 (0.84%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 9 (0.75%) ISO 14001
11 7 (0.59%) GRC
11 7 (0.59%) PCI DSS
12 5 (0.42%) GMP
13 4 (0.33%) Actionable Recommendations
13 4 (0.33%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 3 (0.25%) California Consumer Privacy Act
14 3 (0.25%) COSHH
14 3 (0.25%) HIPAA
14 3 (0.25%) SOC 2
System Software
1 148 (12.38%) Active Directory
2 48 (4.02%) Hyper-V
3 30 (2.51%) VMware Infrastructure
4 27 (2.26%) Docker
5 14 (1.17%) Firmware
6 10 (0.84%) Virtual Desktop
7 9 (0.75%) vSphere
8 6 (0.50%) Embedded Firmware
9 5 (0.42%) Virtual Machines
10 2 (0.17%) Samba
10 2 (0.17%) XenApp
11 1 (0.084%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.084%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 44 (3.68%) Microsoft Intune
2 24 (2.01%) Kubernetes
3 19 (1.59%) Terraform
4 10 (0.84%) Ansible
4 10 (0.84%) SCCM
5 5 (0.42%) Functional Safety
5 5 (0.42%) Grafana
5 5 (0.42%) Prometheus
6 4 (0.33%) Galera Cluster
6 4 (0.33%) Nmap
6 4 (0.33%) Progress Chef
6 4 (0.33%) Puppet
6 4 (0.33%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.25%) BMC PATROL
7 3 (0.25%) Control-M
7 3 (0.25%) WhatsUp Gold
8 2 (0.17%) Nagios
8 2 (0.17%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.17%) WSUS
9 1 (0.084%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 357 (29.87%) Microsoft
2 55 (4.60%) SAP
3 42 (3.51%) VMware
4 32 (2.68%) Cisco
5 27 (2.26%) Oracle
6 25 (2.09%) ServiceNow
7 24 (2.01%) Workday
8 22 (1.84%) IBM
9 21 (1.76%) Salesforce
10 19 (1.59%) Sage
11 18 (1.51%) Cognos
12 16 (1.34%) Google
13 12 (1.00%) Databricks
13 12 (1.00%) Dell
14 11 (0.92%) HubSpot
14 11 (0.92%) Sophos
15 10 (0.84%) Epicor
15 10 (0.84%) iManage
15 10 (0.84%) Red Hat
16 9 (0.75%) Apple