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 27 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
27 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 25 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -22 +1 +5
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 910 1,135 1,771
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 6.86% 23.43% 14.34%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 9.47% 26.18% 17.85%
Number of salaries quoted 692 587 1,208
10th Percentile £26,269 £25,650 £25,000
25th Percentile £29,625 £31,250 £29,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,000 £45,000 £41,250
Median % change year-on-year -6.67% +9.09% -13.16%
75th Percentile £57,500 £61,250 £57,500
90th Percentile £67,725 £70,500 £70,000
England median annual salary £47,500 £50,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -5.94% +1.00% -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 9,613 4,335 9,919
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 72.49% 89.49% 80.32%
Number of salaries quoted 5,862 2,346 7,332
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,968 £26,250
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,500 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,936 £49,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year +3.95% +3.16% -9.52%
75th Percentile £67,500 £63,750 £62,213
90th Percentile £82,500 £75,000 £75,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £60,000 £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 27 May 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 27 May 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 -24 532 £42,500 -11.46% 244
East Midlands -10 374 £35,000 -9.09% 139
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 52 (5.71%) SharePoint
2 38 (4.18%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (1.21%) CMS
4 5 (0.55%) IIS
4 5 (0.55%) Skype for Business
5 4 (0.44%) Exchange Server 2007
5 4 (0.44%) Exchange Server 2010
5 4 (0.44%) Exchange Server 2013
5 4 (0.44%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 3 (0.33%) WordPress
7 2 (0.22%) Confluence
8 1 (0.11%) Appian
8 1 (0.11%) Drupal
8 1 (0.11%) SAS
Applications
1 69 (7.58%) Microsoft Office
2 56 (6.15%) Microsoft Excel
3 17 (1.87%) Spreadsheet
4 8 (0.88%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (0.66%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.55%) Fusion 360
7 4 (0.44%) MS Visio
8 1 (0.11%) Abaqus
8 1 (0.11%) AutoCAD
8 1 (0.11%) Sketch
8 1 (0.11%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 12 (1.32%) Dynamics CRM
2 8 (0.88%) iTrent
2 8 (0.88%) SAP S/4HANA
3 7 (0.77%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 7 (0.77%) SAP Business One
4 5 (0.55%) Magento
4 5 (0.55%) Q-Pulse
4 5 (0.55%) Shopify
5 4 (0.44%) Line 50
5 4 (0.44%) Sage 50
6 3 (0.33%) NetSuite
6 3 (0.33%) Sage X3
6 3 (0.33%) SAP Business ByDesign
7 2 (0.22%) SAP MM
8 1 (0.11%) Dynamics NAV
8 1 (0.11%) Exchequer
8 1 (0.11%) Oracle EBS
8 1 (0.11%) SAP FI
8 1 (0.11%) SAP FI/CO
8 1 (0.11%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 196 (21.54%) Microsoft 365
2 161 (17.69%) Azure
3 82 (9.01%) Power Platform
4 78 (8.57%) AWS
5 62 (6.81%) Entra ID
6 30 (3.30%) Serverless
7 28 (3.08%) SaaS
8 23 (2.53%) Amazon S3
9 22 (2.42%) AWS Lambda
10 19 (2.09%) Dynamics 365
11 17 (1.87%) Power Automate
12 14 (1.54%) PowerApps
13 13 (1.43%) GCP
13 13 (1.43%) Google Workspace
13 13 (1.43%) OneDrive
14 12 (1.32%) Microsoft Copilot
15 8 (0.88%) Azure Data Factory
16 7 (0.77%) Amazon Cognito
16 7 (0.77%) Amazon EventBridge
16 7 (0.77%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 54 (5.93%) DNS
2 46 (5.05%) DHCP
3 45 (4.95%) Firewall
3 45 (4.95%) VPN
4 37 (4.07%) WAN
5 28 (3.08%) Wireless
6 24 (2.64%) LAN
6 24 (2.64%) TCP/IP
7 21 (2.31%) Wi-Fi
8 19 (2.09%) Internet
9 18 (1.98%) VLAN
10 16 (1.76%) SD-WAN
11 13 (1.43%) VoIP
12 11 (1.21%) Network Security
13 7 (0.77%) MQTT
14 5 (0.55%) Bluetooth
14 5 (0.55%) Skype
15 4 (0.44%) SAN
16 3 (0.33%) Remote Desktop
16 3 (0.33%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 72 (7.91%) Power BI
2 30 (3.30%) SQL Server
3 20 (2.20%) Tableau
4 18 (1.98%) Power Query
5 15 (1.65%) MySQL
6 14 (1.54%) Amazon Redshift
7 13 (1.43%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 10 (1.10%) Oracle Reports
9 7 (0.77%) Data Warehouse
9 7 (0.77%) DynamoDB
9 7 (0.77%) Star Schema
10 6 (0.66%) Azure SQL Database
11 5 (0.55%) MongoDB
11 5 (0.55%) NoSQL
11 5 (0.55%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 4 (0.44%) Amazon RDS
12 4 (0.44%) Data Mining
12 4 (0.44%) FileMaker
12 4 (0.44%) PostgreSQL
12 4 (0.44%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 19 (2.09%) Git
2 16 (1.76%) JIRA
3 8 (0.88%) JUnit
4 7 (0.77%) Maven
4 7 (0.77%) Mockito
5 6 (0.66%) Subversion
6 5 (0.55%) VersionOne
7 4 (0.44%) Burp Suite
7 4 (0.44%) Metasploit
8 3 (0.33%) GitLab
8 3 (0.33%) Jenkins
9 2 (0.22%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 2 (0.22%) TeamCity
9 2 (0.22%) Visual Studio
9 2 (0.22%) XCUITest
10 1 (0.11%) Balsamiq
10 1 (0.11%) Bugzilla
10 1 (0.11%) Cucumber
10 1 (0.11%) MLflow
10 1 (0.11%) Postman
General
1 400 (43.96%) Social Skills
2 283 (31.10%) Analytical Skills
3 159 (17.47%) Finance
4 100 (10.99%) Manufacturing
5 60 (6.59%) Organisational Skills
6 49 (5.38%) Retail
7 45 (4.95%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 38 (4.18%) Law
9 37 (4.07%) Legal
9 37 (4.07%) Marketing
10 30 (3.30%) Public Sector
11 25 (2.75%) Electronics
12 21 (2.31%) Influencing Skills
13 20 (2.20%) Documentation Skills
14 17 (1.87%) Automotive
15 13 (1.43%) Banking
16 12 (1.32%) Telecoms
17 11 (1.21%) Investment Banking
18 9 (0.99%) Advertising
18 9 (0.99%) Games
Job Titles
1 142 (15.60%) Analyst
2 135 (14.84%) Support Engineer
3 115 (12.64%) IT Support
4 87 (9.56%) IT Engineer
4 87 (9.56%) Senior
5 77 (8.46%) Developer
6 68 (7.47%) IT Support Engineer
7 62 (6.81%) Technical Support
8 56 (6.15%) Technical Engineer
8 56 (6.15%) Technical Support Engineer
9 50 (5.49%) Lead
10 49 (5.38%) Support Technician
11 38 (4.18%) Support Analyst
12 33 (3.63%) Consultant
13 31 (3.41%) IT Technician
14 29 (3.19%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 29 (3.19%) Senior Analyst
15 28 (3.08%) Data Analyst
15 28 (3.08%) IT Support Technician
16 27 (2.97%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (4.95%) React
2 30 (3.30%) Node.js
3 26 (2.86%) REST
4 25 (2.75%) CSS
4 25 (2.75%) HTML
5 18 (1.98%) .NET
6 13 (1.43%) Spring
7 11 (1.21%) AngularJS
7 11 (1.21%) RESTful
8 10 (1.10%) Spring Boot
9 6 (0.66%) EDI
10 5 (0.55%) Middleware
11 4 (0.44%) .NET Framework
11 4 (0.44%) ASP.NET
11 4 (0.44%) ASP.NET Core
11 4 (0.44%) JSON
11 4 (0.44%) Laravel
12 3 (0.33%) GraphQL
12 3 (0.33%) Playwright
12 3 (0.33%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 96 (10.55%) Driving Licence
2 46 (5.05%) Onboarding
3 42 (4.62%) Management Information System
4 38 (4.18%) Self-Motivation
5 18 (1.98%) Social Media
6 16 (1.76%) Analytical Mindset
7 14 (1.54%) Enterprise Software
8 12 (1.32%) Legacy Systems
9 11 (1.21%) FMCG
10 10 (1.10%) IoT
10 10 (1.10%) Security Posture
10 10 (1.10%) Virtual Team
11 9 (0.99%) Data Centre
12 8 (0.88%) Greenfield Project
12 8 (0.88%) Hybrid Cloud
12 8 (0.88%) iSeries
12 8 (0.88%) Product Ownership
13 7 (0.77%) AS400
13 7 (0.77%) Cyber Defence
13 7 (0.77%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 149 (16.37%) Windows
2 55 (6.04%) Windows Server
3 46 (5.05%) Linux
4 41 (4.51%) Windows 10
5 10 (1.10%) Apple iOS
6 8 (0.88%) Ubuntu
7 7 (0.77%) Android
8 6 (0.66%) Debian
9 5 (0.55%) CentOS
9 5 (0.55%) Windows 7
10 4 (0.44%) FreeRTOS
10 4 (0.44%) Mac OS
10 4 (0.44%) Unix
10 4 (0.44%) VMS
11 3 (0.33%) SUSE
12 2 (0.22%) Windows Server 2012
12 2 (0.22%) Windows Server 2019
13 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 205 (22.53%) Continuous Improvement
2 151 (16.59%) Customer Service
3 125 (13.74%) Agile
4 111 (12.20%) Decision-Making
5 93 (10.22%) Analytics
6 91 (10.00%) Mentoring
7 90 (9.89%) Collaborative Working
8 85 (9.34%) ITIL
9 76 (8.35%) ERP
10 72 (7.91%) Business Intelligence
10 72 (7.91%) Service Delivery
11 68 (7.47%) Cybersecurity
12 66 (7.25%) AI
13 65 (7.14%) Process Improvement
14 62 (6.81%) Roadmaps
15 56 (6.15%) Computer Science
16 55 (6.04%) CRM
16 55 (6.04%) Project Management
17 51 (5.60%) Root Cause Analysis
18 50 (5.49%) Coaching
Programming Languages
1 135 (14.84%) SQL
2 73 (8.02%) Python
3 34 (3.74%) Java
3 34 (3.74%) PowerShell
4 30 (3.30%) JavaScript
5 22 (2.42%) C#
6 21 (2.31%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 19 (2.09%) TypeScript
8 14 (1.54%) Bash
9 13 (1.43%) Ladder Logic
9 13 (1.43%) PHP
10 12 (1.32%) C
11 10 (1.10%) C++
12 8 (0.88%) R
12 8 (0.88%) T-SQL
12 8 (0.88%) VBA
13 7 (0.77%) PL/SQL
13 7 (0.77%) RPG
14 4 (0.44%) Embedded C
14 4 (0.44%) Go
Qualifications
1 134 (14.73%) Degree
2 64 (7.03%) Security Cleared
3 49 (5.38%) SC Cleared
4 33 (3.63%) Microsoft Certification
5 30 (3.30%) DBS Check
6 24 (2.64%) Computer Science Degree
7 15 (1.65%) CISSP
7 15 (1.65%) CompTIA Security+
8 14 (1.54%) Cisco Certification
9 11 (1.21%) A+ Certification
9 11 (1.21%) BPSS Clearance
9 11 (1.21%) CCNA
9 11 (1.21%) PMI Certification
10 10 (1.10%) ACCA
10 10 (1.10%) CIMA
11 9 (0.99%) PMP
12 7 (0.77%) Azure Certification
12 7 (0.77%) CISA
12 7 (0.77%) MCSE
12 7 (0.77%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 41 (4.51%) Data Quality
2 39 (4.29%) QA
3 28 (3.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 25 (2.75%) GDPR
5 21 (2.31%) Cyber Essentials
6 19 (2.09%) NIST
7 18 (1.98%) SLA
8 13 (1.43%) Accessibility
9 9 (0.99%) Actionable Recommendations
9 9 (0.99%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 9 (0.99%) ISO 14001
9 9 (0.99%) ISO 9001
10 6 (0.66%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 5 (0.55%) COSHH
11 5 (0.55%) GMP
11 5 (0.55%) HIPAA
11 5 (0.55%) PCI DSS
12 3 (0.33%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 3 (0.33%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 3 (0.33%) SOC 2
System Software
1 107 (11.76%) Active Directory
2 24 (2.64%) VMware Infrastructure
3 23 (2.53%) Docker
4 19 (2.09%) Hyper-V
5 9 (0.99%) vSphere
6 8 (0.88%) Firmware
7 4 (0.44%) Embedded Firmware
8 3 (0.33%) Virtual Desktop
9 2 (0.22%) Virtual Machines
9 2 (0.22%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.11%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.11%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 36 (3.96%) Microsoft Intune
2 21 (2.31%) Kubernetes
3 15 (1.65%) Terraform
4 7 (0.77%) Ansible
5 6 (0.66%) Nagios
6 4 (0.44%) Functional Safety
6 4 (0.44%) Grafana
6 4 (0.44%) Nmap
6 4 (0.44%) Prometheus
6 4 (0.44%) SCCM
7 3 (0.33%) Galera Cluster
7 3 (0.33%) vCenter Server
8 2 (0.22%) Progress Chef
8 2 (0.22%) Puppet
8 2 (0.22%) Single Sign-On
9 1 (0.11%) FortiGate
9 1 (0.11%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 236 (25.93%) Microsoft
2 33 (3.63%) SAP
3 32 (3.52%) Cisco
3 32 (3.52%) VMware
4 26 (2.86%) Oracle
5 16 (1.76%) Google
5 16 (1.76%) Sage
6 14 (1.54%) IBM
7 12 (1.32%) Dell
7 12 (1.32%) Salesforce
8 11 (1.21%) ServiceNow
8 11 (1.21%) SolarWinds
9 10 (1.10%) Cognos
9 10 (1.10%) Workday
10 9 (0.99%) Databricks
10 9 (0.99%) Meraki
11 8 (0.88%) HP
12 7 (0.77%) Zscaler
13 6 (0.66%) Avaya
13 6 (0.66%) Xero