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

6 months to
28 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -8 +1 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,094 1,242 1,579
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 7.94% 21.77% 13.77%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.38% 25.50% 17.55%
Number of salaries quoted 802 712 826
10th Percentile £26,038 £25,267 £25,000
25th Percentile £30,000 £29,250 £29,813
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,000 £40,000 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -5.88% -11.46%
75th Percentile £56,250 £57,500 £57,875
90th Percentile £67,500 £67,500 £70,000
England median annual salary £47,500 £47,500 £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 9,615 4,870 8,995
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 69.79% 85.38% 78.42%
Number of salaries quoted 6,846 2,941 5,693
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,750 £27,500
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 £67,000 £63,750 £63,250
90th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £75,772
England median annual salary £60,000 £56,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +6.19% +2.73% -11.29%

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 28 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 28 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 -9 612 £42,500 -5.56% 282
East Midlands -10 478 £37,500 +5.63% 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 56 (5.12%) SharePoint
2 38 (3.47%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (0.91%) CMS
4 9 (0.82%) IIS
5 5 (0.46%) Confluence
5 5 (0.46%) Skype for Business
6 4 (0.37%) Exchange Server 2007
6 4 (0.37%) Exchange Server 2010
6 4 (0.37%) Exchange Server 2013
7 3 (0.27%) WordPress
8 2 (0.18%) Apache Airflow
9 1 (0.091%) Apache
9 1 (0.091%) Appian
9 1 (0.091%) CICS
9 1 (0.091%) Documentum
9 1 (0.091%) Drupal
9 1 (0.091%) Jupyter
9 1 (0.091%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 1 (0.091%) SAS
Applications
1 99 (9.05%) Microsoft Office
2 82 (7.50%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (1.28%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (0.82%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (0.46%) Fusion 360
6 4 (0.37%) Microsoft Project
7 2 (0.18%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.091%) AutoCAD
8 1 (0.091%) LaTeX
8 1 (0.091%) MS Visio
8 1 (0.091%) Simulink
8 1 (0.091%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 16 (1.46%) SAP S/4HANA
2 14 (1.28%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 12 (1.10%) Dynamics CRM
4 11 (1.01%) SAP Business One
5 9 (0.82%) JDE EnterpriseOne
6 5 (0.46%) Magento
6 5 (0.46%) Sage 50
6 5 (0.46%) Sage X3
6 5 (0.46%) Shopify
7 4 (0.37%) Dynamics AX
7 4 (0.37%) Line 50
7 4 (0.37%) Q-Pulse
8 3 (0.27%) NetSuite
8 3 (0.27%) SAP CO
8 3 (0.27%) SAP FI
8 3 (0.27%) SAP FI/CO
9 2 (0.18%) Oracle EBS
10 1 (0.091%) Dynamics GP
10 1 (0.091%) Exchequer
10 1 (0.091%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 234 (21.39%) Microsoft 365
2 193 (17.64%) Azure
3 113 (10.33%) Power Platform
4 81 (7.40%) Entra ID
5 80 (7.31%) AWS
6 40 (3.66%) SaaS
7 26 (2.38%) Dynamics 365
8 19 (1.74%) Power Automate
9 18 (1.65%) Serverless
10 16 (1.46%) PowerApps
11 14 (1.28%) Amazon S3
11 14 (1.28%) Azure DevOps
11 14 (1.28%) GCP
11 14 (1.28%) Microsoft Copilot
11 14 (1.28%) Microsoft Purview
12 13 (1.19%) AWS Lambda
12 13 (1.19%) Google Workspace
13 12 (1.10%) OneDrive
14 9 (0.82%) GitHub
15 8 (0.73%) Amazon SQS
Communications & Networking
1 66 (6.03%) Firewall
2 61 (5.58%) DNS
3 49 (4.48%) VPN
4 48 (4.39%) DHCP
5 41 (3.75%) TCP/IP
6 34 (3.11%) Wireless
7 30 (2.74%) WAN
8 28 (2.56%) VLAN
9 23 (2.10%) LAN
10 21 (1.92%) Wi-Fi
11 18 (1.65%) Network Security
12 13 (1.19%) VoIP
13 9 (0.82%) Internet
13 9 (0.82%) SD-WAN
14 8 (0.73%) MQTT
15 7 (0.64%) SSL
16 6 (0.55%) Cisco IOS
17 5 (0.46%) Skype
18 4 (0.37%) HTTP
18 4 (0.37%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 105 (9.60%) Power BI
2 45 (4.11%) SQL Server
3 25 (2.29%) Power Query
4 24 (2.19%) Tableau
5 20 (1.83%) Data Warehouse
6 18 (1.65%) MySQL
7 15 (1.37%) Relational Database
7 15 (1.37%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 15 (1.37%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 12 (1.10%) Azure SQL Database
9 9 (0.82%) DynamoDB
10 8 (0.73%) Amazon Redshift
11 7 (0.64%) Crystal Reports
11 7 (0.64%) MongoDB
11 7 (0.64%) PostgreSQL
11 7 (0.64%) Star Schema
12 6 (0.55%) Amazon RDS
12 6 (0.55%) Data Mining
13 4 (0.37%) Neo4j
13 4 (0.37%) NoSQL
Development Applications
1 31 (2.83%) Git
2 22 (2.01%) JIRA
3 10 (0.91%) Jenkins
4 5 (0.46%) Cucumber
4 5 (0.46%) JUnit
4 5 (0.46%) Maven
4 5 (0.46%) Postman
4 5 (0.46%) VersionOne
5 4 (0.37%) Burp Suite
5 4 (0.37%) GitLab
5 4 (0.37%) JMeter
5 4 (0.37%) Metasploit
5 4 (0.37%) Selenium
5 4 (0.37%) SoapUI
6 3 (0.27%) Mockito
6 3 (0.27%) Subversion
6 3 (0.27%) Zephyr
7 2 (0.18%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 2 (0.18%) TeamCity
7 2 (0.18%) Visual Studio
General
1 543 (49.63%) Social Skills
2 320 (29.25%) Analytical Skills
3 192 (17.55%) Finance
4 157 (14.35%) Manufacturing
5 74 (6.76%) Retail
6 73 (6.67%) Organisational Skills
7 45 (4.11%) Marketing
8 43 (3.93%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 39 (3.56%) Legal
10 37 (3.38%) Law
10 37 (3.38%) Public Sector
11 26 (2.38%) Influencing Skills
12 23 (2.10%) Electronics
13 20 (1.83%) Automotive
14 19 (1.74%) Documentation Skills
15 15 (1.37%) Telecoms
16 13 (1.19%) Games
17 11 (1.01%) Banking
18 9 (0.82%) Advertising
18 9 (0.82%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 182 (16.64%) Analyst
2 146 (13.35%) IT Support
3 139 (12.71%) Support Engineer
4 99 (9.05%) Developer
5 95 (8.68%) Senior
6 78 (7.13%) Technical Support
7 77 (7.04%) IT Engineer
8 71 (6.49%) Technical Engineer
9 69 (6.31%) Technical Support Engineer
10 66 (6.03%) Support Technician
11 58 (5.30%) IT Support Engineer
11 58 (5.30%) Lead
12 53 (4.84%) IT Technician
13 52 (4.75%) Support Analyst
14 49 (4.48%) IT Manager
15 46 (4.20%) IT Support Technician
16 45 (4.11%) Consultant
17 39 (3.56%) Data Analyst
18 37 (3.38%) Senior Analyst
19 27 (2.47%) 2nd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (4.57%) REST
2 38 (3.47%) React
3 29 (2.65%) .NET
4 25 (2.29%) Node.js
5 20 (1.83%) SOAP
6 18 (1.65%) Spring
7 15 (1.37%) CSS
7 15 (1.37%) HTML
7 15 (1.37%) Spring Boot
8 12 (1.10%) AngularJS
8 12 (1.10%) RESTful
9 10 (0.91%) Playwright
9 10 (0.91%) SAP Fiori
10 9 (0.82%) JDBC
10 9 (0.82%) JSON
10 9 (0.82%) Middleware
10 9 (0.82%) OAuth
10 9 (0.82%) SAPUI5
11 6 (0.55%) EDI
11 6 (0.55%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 107 (9.78%) Driving Licence
2 60 (5.48%) Management Information System
3 56 (5.12%) Onboarding
4 45 (4.11%) Self-Motivation
5 25 (2.29%) Enterprise Software
6 17 (1.55%) IoT
7 16 (1.46%) Analytical Mindset
8 15 (1.37%) Greenfield Project
8 15 (1.37%) NHS
9 13 (1.19%) Legacy Systems
10 12 (1.10%) Data Centre
10 12 (1.10%) Security Posture
10 12 (1.10%) Social Media
11 11 (1.01%) Virtual Team
12 10 (0.91%) Data Structures
12 10 (0.91%) Mobile App
12 10 (0.91%) Replication
13 9 (0.82%) CMDB
13 9 (0.82%) Robotics
13 9 (0.82%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 196 (17.92%) Windows
2 71 (6.49%) Linux
3 67 (6.12%) Windows Server
4 46 (4.20%) Windows 10
5 15 (1.37%) Android
6 10 (0.91%) Apple iOS
6 10 (0.91%) Ubuntu
7 7 (0.64%) Mac OS
8 6 (0.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 6 (0.55%) Unix
9 5 (0.46%) CentOS
9 5 (0.46%) Debian
9 5 (0.46%) OpenVMS
9 5 (0.46%) Windows 7
10 4 (0.37%) FreeRTOS
10 4 (0.37%) VMS
11 3 (0.27%) SUSE
12 1 (0.091%) Solaris
12 1 (0.091%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.091%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 313 (28.61%) Continuous Improvement
2 186 (17.00%) Customer Service
3 154 (14.08%) Decision-Making
4 143 (13.07%) Analytics
5 137 (12.52%) Agile
6 133 (12.16%) Mentoring
7 128 (11.70%) Collaborative Working
8 113 (10.33%) ERP
9 110 (10.05%) Business Intelligence
10 105 (9.60%) ITIL
11 97 (8.87%) Cybersecurity
12 96 (8.78%) Service Delivery
13 90 (8.23%) AI
14 72 (6.58%) Roadmaps
15 68 (6.22%) Stakeholder Management
16 67 (6.12%) Process Improvement
17 66 (6.03%) CRM
17 66 (6.03%) Root Cause Analysis
17 66 (6.03%) Stakeholder Engagement
18 62 (5.67%) Data Management
Programming Languages
1 190 (17.37%) SQL
2 83 (7.59%) Python
3 45 (4.11%) Java
4 44 (4.02%) PowerShell
5 33 (3.02%) JavaScript
6 30 (2.74%) C#
7 29 (2.65%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 20 (1.83%) Ladder Logic
9 19 (1.74%) TypeScript
10 16 (1.46%) VBA
11 13 (1.19%) PHP
12 12 (1.10%) Bash
13 10 (0.91%) C
13 10 (0.91%) C++
14 9 (0.82%) ABAP
15 7 (0.64%) RPG
15 7 (0.64%) T-SQL
16 6 (0.55%) Go
17 5 (0.46%) Embedded C
18 4 (0.37%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 145 (13.25%) Degree
2 73 (6.67%) Security Cleared
3 59 (5.39%) SC Cleared
4 31 (2.83%) Microsoft Certification
5 27 (2.47%) DBS Check
6 19 (1.74%) Azure Certification
7 18 (1.65%) CISSP
8 15 (1.37%) Cisco Certification
8 15 (1.37%) CompTIA Security+
9 11 (1.01%) Computer Science Degree
10 8 (0.73%) CCNA
11 7 (0.64%) A+ Certification
11 7 (0.64%) ACCA
11 7 (0.64%) BPSS Clearance
11 7 (0.64%) CIMA
11 7 (0.64%) CISA
11 7 (0.64%) PMI Certification
11 7 (0.64%) SSCP
12 6 (0.55%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 6 (0.55%) CCSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 51 (4.66%) Data Quality
2 41 (3.75%) Cyber Essentials
2 41 (3.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 37 (3.38%) QA
4 35 (3.20%) GDPR
5 31 (2.83%) SLA
6 20 (1.83%) Accessibility
7 19 (1.74%) NIST
8 17 (1.55%) ISO 9001
9 11 (1.01%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 9 (0.82%) ISO 14001
11 7 (0.64%) Actionable Recommendations
11 7 (0.64%) GRC
11 7 (0.64%) PCI DSS
12 4 (0.37%) COSHH
12 4 (0.37%) GMP
12 4 (0.37%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 3 (0.27%) California Consumer Privacy Act
13 3 (0.27%) HIPAA
13 3 (0.27%) SOC 2
System Software
1 141 (12.89%) Active Directory
2 45 (4.11%) Hyper-V
3 32 (2.93%) VMware Infrastructure
4 22 (2.01%) Docker
5 10 (0.91%) Firmware
6 8 (0.73%) vSphere
7 6 (0.55%) Virtual Desktop
8 5 (0.46%) Embedded Firmware
8 5 (0.46%) Virtual Machines
9 2 (0.18%) Samba
10 1 (0.091%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.091%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 45 (4.11%) Microsoft Intune
2 20 (1.83%) Kubernetes
3 15 (1.37%) Terraform
4 10 (0.91%) Ansible
5 6 (0.55%) Grafana
5 6 (0.55%) SCCM
6 5 (0.46%) Prometheus
7 4 (0.37%) Functional Safety
7 4 (0.37%) Galera Cluster
7 4 (0.37%) Nmap
7 4 (0.37%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.27%) BMC PATROL
8 3 (0.27%) Control-M
8 3 (0.27%) Progress Chef
8 3 (0.27%) Puppet
8 3 (0.27%) WhatsUp Gold
9 2 (0.18%) Nagios
10 1 (0.091%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.091%) Jamf Pro
10 1 (0.091%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 321 (29.34%) Microsoft
2 45 (4.11%) SAP
3 41 (3.75%) VMware
4 29 (2.65%) Cisco
5 23 (2.10%) ServiceNow
6 21 (1.92%) IBM
7 18 (1.65%) Google
7 18 (1.65%) Workday
8 17 (1.55%) Cognos
8 17 (1.55%) Sage
9 14 (1.28%) Salesforce
10 12 (1.10%) Dell
10 12 (1.10%) Oracle
11 11 (1.01%) Red Hat
12 10 (0.91%) HubSpot
12 10 (0.91%) iManage
13 9 (0.82%) JD Edwards
14 8 (0.73%) Epicor
14 8 (0.73%) HP
14 8 (0.73%) SolarWinds