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 1 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 2 4 7
Rank change year-on-year +2 +3 +1
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 942 1,414 791
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 15.31% 16.97% 16.31%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 18.99% 19.99% 17.57%
Number of salaries quoted 713 505 611
10th Percentile £25,750 £28,500 £28,500
25th Percentile £28,750 £34,000 £33,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,500 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -25.00% - +5.26%
75th Percentile £52,500 £62,500 £62,500
90th Percentile £67,500 £76,400 £71,250
England median annual salary £45,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -18.18% - -

All Process and 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 4,960 7,072 4,503
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 80.61% 84.90% 92.85%
Number of salaries quoted 3,324 3,163 3,519
10th Percentile £27,000 £30,750 £26,750
25th Percentile £32,500 £38,750 £36,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £47,500 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -9.52% +5.00% -3.40%
75th Percentile £65,000 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £76,250
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%

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 1 December 2025.

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 1 December 2025. 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 0 564 £42,500 -20.26% 337
East Midlands +3 378 £32,500 -7.14% 266
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 45 (4.78%) SharePoint
2 36 (3.82%) Microsoft Exchange
3 15 (1.59%) IIS
4 7 (0.74%) Confluence
5 6 (0.64%) Apache
6 3 (0.32%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 2 (0.21%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.21%) CMS
7 2 (0.21%) Exchange Server 2007
7 2 (0.21%) Exchange Server 2010
7 2 (0.21%) Exchange Server 2013
8 1 (0.11%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.11%) Appian
8 1 (0.11%) HCL Notes
8 1 (0.11%) NServiceBus
8 1 (0.11%) SAS
8 1 (0.11%) WebLogic
Applications
1 98 (10.40%) Microsoft Excel
2 59 (6.26%) Microsoft Office
3 14 (1.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (0.96%) AutoCAD
5 8 (0.85%) SOLIDWORKS
6 7 (0.74%) Microsoft Project
7 4 (0.42%) CATIA
8 3 (0.32%) MS Visio
8 3 (0.32%) Spreadsheet
8 3 (0.32%) Trello
9 1 (0.11%) EPLAN
9 1 (0.11%) Revit
Business Applications
1 38 (4.03%) Dynamics CRM
2 7 (0.74%) NetSuite
3 5 (0.53%) SAP Business One
4 4 (0.42%) Exchequer
4 4 (0.42%) iTrent
4 4 (0.42%) SAP FI
4 4 (0.42%) SAP S/4HANA
4 4 (0.42%) Shopify
5 3 (0.32%) Dynamics NAV
6 2 (0.21%) Infor CloudSuite Industrial (formerly SyteLine)
6 2 (0.21%) Oracle Cash Management
6 2 (0.21%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.21%) Oracle EBS R12
6 2 (0.21%) Oracle Payables
6 2 (0.21%) SAP ERP
6 2 (0.21%) SAP EWM
6 2 (0.21%) SAP WM
7 1 (0.11%) NEC Housing
7 1 (0.11%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 1 (0.11%) Sage X3
Cloud Services
1 192 (20.38%) Azure
2 188 (19.96%) Microsoft 365
3 82 (8.70%) SaaS
4 77 (8.17%) Power Platform
5 55 (5.84%) Entra ID
6 50 (5.31%) AWS
7 28 (2.97%) Dynamics 365
8 15 (1.59%) Power Automate
9 14 (1.49%) GCP
10 13 (1.38%) Azure DevOps
11 12 (1.27%) Cloud Computing
12 11 (1.17%) OneDrive
13 10 (1.06%) PowerApps
14 9 (0.96%) GitHub
14 9 (0.96%) Serverless
15 8 (0.85%) Azure Data Factory
16 7 (0.74%) OCI
17 5 (0.53%) Azure Key Vault
17 5 (0.53%) Azure Logic Apps
17 5 (0.53%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 68 (7.22%) DNS
2 65 (6.90%) DHCP
3 49 (5.20%) Firewall
4 46 (4.88%) Remote Desktop
5 45 (4.78%) VPN
6 36 (3.82%) WAN
7 33 (3.50%) LAN
8 19 (2.02%) Wi-Fi
9 17 (1.80%) TCP/IP
10 12 (1.27%) Wireless
11 11 (1.17%) Internet
11 11 (1.17%) VoIP
12 10 (1.06%) Network Security
13 9 (0.96%) ADSL
13 9 (0.96%) Ethernet
13 9 (0.96%) VDSL
14 8 (0.85%) Broadband
15 7 (0.74%) VLAN
16 5 (0.53%) PBX
17 4 (0.42%) Bluetooth
Database & Business Intelligence
1 69 (7.32%) Power BI
2 57 (6.05%) SQL Server
3 20 (2.12%) Relational Database
4 19 (2.02%) GIS
5 18 (1.91%) MySQL
6 17 (1.80%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 14 (1.49%) PostgreSQL
8 11 (1.17%) Metadata
9 10 (1.06%) Crystal Reports
9 10 (1.06%) Tableau
10 9 (0.96%) BusinessObjects
11 7 (0.74%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 5 (0.53%) Azure SQL Database
12 5 (0.53%) Data Mining
12 5 (0.53%) Oracle Reports
13 4 (0.42%) Amazon RDS
13 4 (0.42%) Data Lake
13 4 (0.42%) EDRMS
13 4 (0.42%) Geospatial Data
14 3 (0.32%) Data Warehouse
Development Applications
1 27 (2.87%) JIRA
2 19 (2.02%) Git
3 6 (0.64%) GitLab
4 5 (0.53%) Jenkins
4 5 (0.53%) JUnit
5 4 (0.42%) Selenium
6 3 (0.32%) Appcelerator Titanium
6 3 (0.32%) Burp Suite
6 3 (0.32%) Cucumber
6 3 (0.32%) Metasploit
6 3 (0.32%) Mockito
6 3 (0.32%) Subversion
7 2 (0.21%) Maven
7 2 (0.21%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 2 (0.21%) Vagrant
7 2 (0.21%) Visual Studio
7 2 (0.21%) Visual Studio Code
8 1 (0.11%) Babel
8 1 (0.11%) ERwin
8 1 (0.11%) webpack
General
1 503 (53.40%) Social Skills
2 264 (28.03%) Analytical Skills
3 229 (24.31%) Finance
4 153 (16.24%) Retail
5 76 (8.07%) Manufacturing
6 48 (5.10%) Law
6 48 (5.10%) Legal
7 45 (4.78%) Organisational Skills
8 44 (4.67%) Marketing
9 39 (4.14%) Public Sector
10 33 (3.50%) Digital Health
11 31 (3.29%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 20 (2.12%) Electronics
13 17 (1.80%) Banking
13 17 (1.80%) Telecoms
14 15 (1.59%) Presentation Skills
15 14 (1.49%) Automotive
15 14 (1.49%) Documentation Skills
15 14 (1.49%) Fire and Rescue
16 10 (1.06%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 177 (18.79%) Support Engineer
2 171 (18.15%) IT Support
3 147 (15.61%) Analyst
4 97 (10.30%) Technical Support
5 92 (9.77%) 2nd Line Support
6 84 (8.92%) IT Engineer
6 84 (8.92%) Technical Engineer
7 81 (8.60%) Support Analyst
7 81 (8.60%) Technical Support Engineer
8 74 (7.86%) Developer
8 74 (7.86%) IT Support Engineer
9 62 (6.58%) Lead
9 62 (6.58%) Senior
10 47 (4.99%) Support Technician
11 44 (4.67%) Applications Support
12 35 (3.72%) 1st/2nd Line Support
13 32 (3.40%) Architect
14 30 (3.18%) 2nd Line Support Analyst
15 28 (2.97%) 1st Line Support
16 27 (2.87%) Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (4.03%) .NET
2 29 (3.08%) React
3 28 (2.97%) REST
4 26 (2.76%) HTML
5 23 (2.44%) CSS
6 18 (1.91%) AngularJS
7 16 (1.70%) JSON
8 13 (1.38%) Razor View Engine
9 12 (1.27%) EDI
10 8 (0.85%) Node.js
10 8 (0.85%) Oracle Fusion
11 7 (0.74%) Middleware
12 6 (0.64%) .NET Framework
12 6 (0.64%) LAMP
12 6 (0.64%) RESTful
12 6 (0.64%) Spring
12 6 (0.64%) Vue
12 6 (0.64%) Web Services
12 6 (0.64%) XML
13 5 (0.53%) Laravel
Miscellaneous
1 123 (13.06%) Onboarding
2 112 (11.89%) Driving Licence
3 60 (6.37%) FMCG
4 46 (4.88%) Analytical Mindset
5 44 (4.67%) Self-Motivation
6 41 (4.35%) Management Information System
7 19 (2.02%) SCADA
8 17 (1.80%) Operational Technology
9 15 (1.59%) Legacy Systems
10 13 (1.38%) Security Posture
11 12 (1.27%) Data Centre
11 12 (1.27%) Data Structures
11 12 (1.27%) e-Learning
11 12 (1.27%) Product Ownership
12 10 (1.06%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
13 9 (0.96%) EPoS
14 8 (0.85%) IoT
15 7 (0.74%) iPad
15 7 (0.74%) Linux Command Line
15 7 (0.74%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 182 (19.32%) Windows
2 60 (6.37%) Windows Server
3 47 (4.99%) Windows 10
4 38 (4.03%) Linux
5 10 (1.06%) Apple iOS
5 10 (1.06%) Mac OS
6 7 (0.74%) Windows Server 2019
7 5 (0.53%) Mac OS X
7 5 (0.53%) Unix
8 3 (0.32%) Android
8 3 (0.32%) Windows Server 2016
9 2 (0.21%) VMS
9 2 (0.21%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.11%) Oracle Linux
10 1 (0.11%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.11%) Windows Mobile
10 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 221 (23.46%) Continuous Improvement
2 218 (23.14%) Customer Service
3 131 (13.91%) CRM
4 126 (13.38%) ERP
5 110 (11.68%) Logistics
6 106 (11.25%) Mentoring
7 94 (9.98%) Project Management
8 93 (9.87%) Business Intelligence
9 92 (9.77%) ITIL
10 89 (9.45%) Agile
10 89 (9.45%) Decision-Making
11 74 (7.86%) Analytics
12 72 (7.64%) Incident Management
13 66 (7.01%) Root Cause Analysis
14 59 (6.26%) Analytical Thinking
14 59 (6.26%) E-Commerce
15 55 (5.84%) Cybersecurity
16 48 (5.10%) Data Analysis
16 48 (5.10%) Project Delivery
17 47 (4.99%) Data Privacy
Programming Languages
1 190 (20.17%) SQL
2 90 (9.55%) C#
3 57 (6.05%) Python
4 49 (5.20%) JavaScript
5 29 (3.08%) Java
5 29 (3.08%) PowerShell
6 22 (2.34%) PHP
7 17 (1.80%) T-SQL
8 8 (0.85%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 8 (0.85%) TypeScript
9 7 (0.74%) C
10 5 (0.53%) Bash
10 5 (0.53%) C++
10 5 (0.53%) Ladder Logic
11 4 (0.42%) Delphi
11 4 (0.42%) Go
11 4 (0.42%) Perl
11 4 (0.42%) R
12 3 (0.32%) PL/SQL
12 3 (0.32%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 169 (17.94%) Degree
2 74 (7.86%) Security Cleared
3 48 (5.10%) SC Cleared
4 29 (3.08%) Computer Science Degree
4 29 (3.08%) Microsoft Certification
5 17 (1.80%) ACCA
5 17 (1.80%) CIMA
5 17 (1.80%) CISSP
6 16 (1.70%) DBS Check
7 15 (1.59%) Master's Degree
8 14 (1.49%) BPSS Clearance
9 13 (1.38%) Cisco Certification
9 13 (1.38%) MCP
10 10 (1.06%) CISM
10 10 (1.06%) DV Cleared
10 10 (1.06%) HND
11 9 (0.96%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 8 (0.85%) AWS Certification
12 8 (0.85%) MCSE
13 7 (0.74%) AAT
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 47 (4.99%) QA
2 31 (3.29%) Data Quality
3 26 (2.76%) GDPR
4 20 (2.12%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 18 (1.91%) SLA
6 9 (0.96%) Cyber Essentials
7 8 (0.85%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 8 (0.85%) NIST
8 7 (0.74%) Actionable Recommendations
9 5 (0.53%) PMO
10 4 (0.42%) Accessibility
11 2 (0.21%) COBIT
11 2 (0.21%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.21%) ISO 20022
11 2 (0.21%) ISO 9001
11 2 (0.21%) ISO/IEC 19770
11 2 (0.21%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 2 (0.21%) PCI DSS
12 1 (0.11%) HIPAA
12 1 (0.11%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 134 (14.23%) Active Directory
2 22 (2.34%) VMware Infrastructure
3 13 (1.38%) Docker
4 7 (0.74%) Firmware
4 7 (0.74%) Hyper-V
5 6 (0.64%) vSphere
6 2 (0.21%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.11%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 40 (4.25%) Microsoft Intune
2 14 (1.49%) Kubernetes
3 11 (1.17%) Terraform
4 4 (0.42%) SCCM
5 3 (0.32%) Ansible
5 3 (0.32%) FortiGate
5 3 (0.32%) Grafana
5 3 (0.32%) Nmap
6 2 (0.21%) Nagios
7 1 (0.11%) Argo
7 1 (0.11%) Autotask
7 1 (0.11%) AWS Copilot
7 1 (0.11%) CA Service Virtualization
7 1 (0.11%) HP Quality Center
7 1 (0.11%) Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.11%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 277 (29.41%) Microsoft
2 74 (7.86%) SAP
3 46 (4.88%) Salesforce
4 39 (4.14%) Oracle
5 36 (3.82%) Cisco
6 23 (2.44%) VMware
7 17 (1.80%) Databricks
8 15 (1.59%) ServiceNow
9 12 (1.27%) Zoho
10 11 (1.17%) HubSpot
11 10 (1.06%) Dell
11 10 (1.06%) Google
11 10 (1.06%) Juniper
12 8 (0.85%) Apple
12 8 (0.85%) McAfee
12 8 (0.85%) Sage
13 7 (0.74%) Infor
14 6 (0.64%) Freshdesk
15 5 (0.53%) Panasonic
15 5 (0.53%) Samsung