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 24 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -7 +1 +5
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,401 1,217 1,453
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 8.93% 21.75% 14.67%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.78% 25.32% 18.51%
Number of salaries quoted 966 697 520
10th Percentile £27,000 £25,250 £26,250
25th Percentile £30,813 £29,000 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £38,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year +11.84% -20.00% -3.06%
75th Percentile £56,857 £50,269 £60,000
90th Percentile £71,250 £65,000 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,000 £45,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +4.44% -14.29% -4.55%

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 10,961 4,807 7,849
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 69.89% 85.92% 79.26%
Number of salaries quoted 7,764 2,871 3,823
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,500 £36,250
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 £63,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £77,500
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £58,298
% change year-on-year +9.09% -5.66% -6.72%

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 24 September 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 24 September 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 -7 785 £42,500 -4.59% 795
East Midlands -8 614 £41,500 +25.76% 504
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 72 (5.14%) SharePoint
2 43 (3.07%) Microsoft Exchange
3 14 (1.00%) IIS
4 8 (0.57%) Confluence
5 7 (0.50%) CMS
6 4 (0.29%) CICS
6 4 (0.29%) SAS
6 4 (0.29%) Skype for Business
7 3 (0.21%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.21%) Headless CMS
7 3 (0.21%) Oracle Workflow
7 3 (0.21%) WordPress
8 2 (0.14%) Documentum
9 1 (0.071%) Apache
9 1 (0.071%) Appian
9 1 (0.071%) Jupyter
9 1 (0.071%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 1 (0.071%) Tomcat
Applications
1 124 (8.85%) Microsoft Office
2 96 (6.85%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (0.86%) Spreadsheet
4 11 (0.79%) Simulink
5 9 (0.64%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 6 (0.43%) Fusion 360
7 5 (0.36%) AutoCAD
7 5 (0.36%) OrCAD
8 4 (0.29%) EPLAN
8 4 (0.29%) Microsoft Project
8 4 (0.29%) Revit
9 3 (0.21%) Navisworks
9 3 (0.21%) SOLIDWORKS
10 2 (0.14%) Chatbot
10 2 (0.14%) MS Visio
11 1 (0.071%) Autodesk Inventor
11 1 (0.071%) LaTeX
11 1 (0.071%) Photoshop
11 1 (0.071%) Siemens NX
11 1 (0.071%) SketchUp
Business Applications
1 18 (1.28%) Dynamics CRM
2 14 (1.00%) SAP S/4HANA
3 13 (0.93%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 13 (0.93%) Shopify
4 12 (0.86%) SAP Business One
5 10 (0.71%) NetSuite
6 9 (0.64%) JDE EnterpriseOne
7 7 (0.50%) Sage X3
8 6 (0.43%) Dynamics AX
9 5 (0.36%) Magento
9 5 (0.36%) Oracle EBS
9 5 (0.36%) Oracle ERP
9 5 (0.36%) Payment Gateway
9 5 (0.36%) Sage 50
9 5 (0.36%) Salesforce CRM
10 4 (0.29%) Line 50
10 4 (0.29%) Oracle Payables
11 3 (0.21%) Infor M3
11 3 (0.21%) Oracle Cash Management
11 3 (0.21%) SAP FI
Cloud Services
1 265 (18.92%) Microsoft 365
2 237 (16.92%) Azure
3 132 (9.42%) Power Platform
4 93 (6.64%) Entra ID
5 84 (6.00%) AWS
6 55 (3.93%) SaaS
7 37 (2.64%) Dynamics 365
8 36 (2.57%) Azure DevOps
9 26 (1.86%) Power Automate
10 19 (1.36%) GitHub
10 19 (1.36%) Google Workspace
10 19 (1.36%) OneDrive
10 19 (1.36%) PowerApps
11 17 (1.21%) Microsoft Copilot
11 17 (1.21%) Microsoft Purview
12 16 (1.14%) GCP
13 15 (1.07%) GitHub Actions
14 13 (0.93%) PaaS
15 11 (0.79%) Google Analytics
15 11 (0.79%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 76 (5.42%) DNS
2 65 (4.64%) Firewall
3 62 (4.43%) DHCP
4 61 (4.35%) VPN
5 53 (3.78%) TCP/IP
6 34 (2.43%) Wireless
7 33 (2.36%) VLAN
8 32 (2.28%) WAN
9 30 (2.14%) LAN
10 27 (1.93%) Wi-Fi
11 20 (1.43%) Network Security
12 16 (1.14%) VoIP
13 12 (0.86%) Internet
14 9 (0.64%) Wireshark
15 8 (0.57%) Modbus
16 7 (0.50%) Cisco IOS
16 7 (0.50%) Remote Desktop
17 6 (0.43%) MQTT
17 6 (0.43%) SD-WAN
17 6 (0.43%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 122 (8.71%) Power BI
2 57 (4.07%) SQL Server
3 27 (1.93%) Relational Database
3 27 (1.93%) Tableau
4 24 (1.71%) Data Warehouse
5 22 (1.57%) Power Query
6 21 (1.50%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 17 (1.21%) Azure SQL Database
8 16 (1.14%) Electronic Patient Records
9 15 (1.07%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 14 (1.00%) MySQL
11 12 (0.86%) Data Mining
12 11 (0.79%) Crystal Reports
13 10 (0.71%) Oracle Reports
14 9 (0.64%) Data Lake
14 9 (0.64%) DynamoDB
14 9 (0.64%) PostgreSQL
15 6 (0.43%) Amazon Redshift
15 6 (0.43%) MongoDB
16 5 (0.36%) Oracle BI EE
Development Applications
1 45 (3.21%) Git
2 32 (2.28%) JIRA
3 24 (1.71%) Jenkins
4 9 (0.64%) Eclipse
5 7 (0.50%) Cucumber
5 7 (0.50%) GitLab
5 7 (0.50%) LabVIEW
5 7 (0.50%) Postman
5 7 (0.50%) Selenium
6 6 (0.43%) JMeter
6 6 (0.43%) Maven
7 5 (0.36%) JUnit
7 5 (0.36%) SoapUI
7 5 (0.36%) VersionOne
7 5 (0.36%) Zephyr
8 4 (0.29%) Burp Suite
8 4 (0.29%) Metasploit
9 3 (0.21%) Mockito
9 3 (0.21%) Subversion
10 2 (0.14%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 723 (51.61%) Social Skills
2 403 (28.77%) Analytical Skills
3 241 (17.20%) Manufacturing
4 226 (16.13%) Finance
5 118 (8.42%) Organisational Skills
6 102 (7.28%) Retail
7 78 (5.57%) Marketing
8 63 (4.50%) Public Sector
9 55 (3.93%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 49 (3.50%) Electronics
11 42 (3.00%) Law
12 40 (2.86%) Legal
13 37 (2.64%) Automotive
14 30 (2.14%) Influencing Skills
15 20 (1.43%) Documentation Skills
15 20 (1.43%) Telecoms
16 16 (1.14%) Aerospace
16 16 (1.14%) Presentation Skills
17 12 (0.86%) Billing
18 11 (0.79%) Banking
Job Titles
1 189 (13.49%) Analyst
2 152 (10.85%) IT Support
3 143 (10.21%) Support Engineer
4 113 (8.07%) Senior
5 112 (7.99%) Developer
6 86 (6.14%) IT Engineer
7 81 (5.78%) Consultant
8 80 (5.71%) Lead
9 76 (5.42%) Technical Support
10 65 (4.64%) Support Analyst
10 65 (4.64%) Technical Engineer
11 63 (4.50%) IT Support Engineer
11 63 (4.50%) Technical Support Engineer
12 58 (4.14%) Support Technician
13 50 (3.57%) IT Technician
14 41 (2.93%) Data Analyst
15 40 (2.86%) IT Manager
15 40 (2.86%) IT Support Technician
16 37 (2.64%) Administrator
17 33 (2.36%) 2nd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 57 (4.07%) REST
2 45 (3.21%) .NET
3 37 (2.64%) React
4 28 (2.00%) Spring
5 25 (1.78%) SOAP
5 25 (1.78%) Spring Boot
6 20 (1.43%) Node.js
7 17 (1.21%) CSS
7 17 (1.21%) HTML
7 17 (1.21%) RESTful
7 17 (1.21%) Terraform
8 14 (1.00%) AngularJS
8 14 (1.00%) Playwright
9 12 (0.86%) EDI
9 12 (0.86%) ISPF
9 12 (0.86%) JSON
9 12 (0.86%) XML
10 11 (0.79%) Middleware
10 11 (0.79%) SAP Fiori
11 9 (0.64%) SAPUI5
Miscellaneous
1 162 (11.56%) Driving Licence
2 102 (7.28%) Onboarding
3 81 (5.78%) Management Information System
4 72 (5.14%) Self-Motivation
5 42 (3.00%) Enterprise Software
6 35 (2.50%) Robotics
7 28 (2.00%) NHS
8 22 (1.57%) Analytical Mindset
9 19 (1.36%) SCADA
10 18 (1.28%) Data Centre
10 18 (1.28%) IoT
11 17 (1.21%) Social Media
11 17 (1.21%) SystemC
11 17 (1.21%) Virtual Team
12 15 (1.07%) CMDB
12 15 (1.07%) Greenfield Project
13 14 (1.00%) Data Structures
13 14 (1.00%) Legacy Applications
14 13 (0.93%) Legacy Systems
14 13 (0.93%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 248 (17.70%) Windows
2 90 (6.42%) Windows Server
3 79 (5.64%) Linux
4 46 (3.28%) Windows 10
5 17 (1.21%) Android
6 13 (0.93%) Apple iOS
7 10 (0.71%) Mac OS
7 10 (0.71%) Unix
8 7 (0.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 5 (0.36%) OpenVMS
10 4 (0.29%) FreeRTOS
10 4 (0.29%) Ubuntu
10 4 (0.29%) VMS
11 3 (0.21%) Solaris
11 3 (0.21%) Windows Server 2016
12 2 (0.14%) Debian
13 1 (0.071%) AIX
13 1 (0.071%) CentOS
13 1 (0.071%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
13 1 (0.071%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 404 (28.84%) Continuous Improvement
2 284 (20.27%) Customer Service
3 187 (13.35%) Decision-Making
4 171 (12.21%) Analytics
5 165 (11.78%) Agile
6 143 (10.21%) Mentoring
7 137 (9.78%) ERP
8 132 (9.42%) Business Intelligence
9 126 (8.99%) Collaborative Working
10 121 (8.64%) Cybersecurity
11 108 (7.71%) Stakeholder Management
12 104 (7.42%) Project Delivery
13 103 (7.35%) AI
14 98 (7.00%) Service Delivery
15 96 (6.85%) ITIL
16 94 (6.71%) Roadmaps
17 93 (6.64%) Project Management
18 88 (6.28%) CRM
19 83 (5.92%) Stakeholder Engagement
20 82 (5.85%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 218 (15.56%) SQL
2 97 (6.92%) Python
3 69 (4.93%) Java
4 57 (4.07%) PowerShell
5 47 (3.35%) JavaScript
6 37 (2.64%) C#
7 27 (1.93%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 22 (1.57%) C
9 21 (1.50%) Ladder Logic
9 21 (1.50%) TypeScript
10 17 (1.21%) Embedded C
11 13 (0.93%) VBA
12 12 (0.86%) COBOL
12 12 (0.86%) JCL
13 11 (0.79%) Bash
13 11 (0.79%) C++
13 11 (0.79%) MATLAB
14 9 (0.64%) ABAP
15 8 (0.57%) R
16 7 (0.50%) PHP
Qualifications
1 212 (15.13%) Degree
2 100 (7.14%) Security Cleared
3 84 (6.00%) SC Cleared
4 40 (2.86%) HND
5 39 (2.78%) HNC
6 25 (1.78%) Azure Certification
7 23 (1.64%) DBS Check
8 22 (1.57%) Microsoft Certification
9 19 (1.36%) Cisco Certification
10 14 (1.00%) Computer Science Degree
10 14 (1.00%) PMI Certification
11 13 (0.93%) CCNA
11 13 (0.93%) NVQ Level 3
12 12 (0.86%) City & Guilds
12 12 (0.86%) NVQ Level 4
13 11 (0.79%) ACCA
14 9 (0.64%) CISSP
15 8 (0.57%) CIMA
16 7 (0.50%) A+ Certification
16 7 (0.50%) Chartered Engineer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 66 (4.71%) Data Quality
2 55 (3.93%) GDPR
3 51 (3.64%) QA
4 42 (3.00%) SLA
5 40 (2.86%) Cyber Essentials
6 31 (2.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 25 (1.78%) Accessibility
8 22 (1.57%) ISO 9001
9 10 (0.71%) PCI DSS
10 9 (0.64%) ISO 14001
11 7 (0.50%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 7 (0.50%) GRC
12 6 (0.43%) NIST
13 4 (0.29%) Actionable Recommendations
13 4 (0.29%) GMP
13 4 (0.29%) PMO
14 3 (0.21%) AQAP
14 3 (0.21%) COSHH
14 3 (0.21%) ISO 26262
14 3 (0.21%) ISO/IEC 17025
System Software
1 162 (11.56%) Active Directory
2 53 (3.78%) Hyper-V
3 30 (2.14%) VMware Infrastructure
4 25 (1.78%) Docker
5 21 (1.50%) Firmware
6 13 (0.93%) Embedded Firmware
6 13 (0.93%) Virtual Desktop
7 8 (0.57%) Virtual Machines
8 6 (0.43%) vSphere
9 2 (0.14%) Samba
9 2 (0.14%) XenApp
10 1 (0.071%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 52 (3.71%) Microsoft Intune
2 21 (1.50%) Kubernetes
3 10 (0.71%) SCCM
4 8 (0.57%) Ansible
4 8 (0.57%) Single Sign-On
5 6 (0.43%) Functional Safety
6 4 (0.29%) BMC PATROL
6 4 (0.29%) Grafana
6 4 (0.29%) Nmap
6 4 (0.29%) Prometheus
7 3 (0.21%) Backup Exec
7 3 (0.21%) Control-M
7 3 (0.21%) Jamf Pro
7 3 (0.21%) Progress Chef
7 3 (0.21%) Puppet
7 3 (0.21%) WhatsUp Gold
8 2 (0.14%) Galera Cluster
8 2 (0.14%) vCenter Server
8 2 (0.14%) WSUS
9 1 (0.071%) Nagios
Vendors
1 430 (30.69%) Microsoft
2 68 (4.85%) SAP
3 41 (2.93%) VMware
4 39 (2.78%) Workday
5 37 (2.64%) Oracle
6 35 (2.50%) Google
7 34 (2.43%) Cisco
8 32 (2.28%) ServiceNow
9 26 (1.86%) Sage
10 22 (1.57%) Salesforce
11 20 (1.43%) IBM
12 17 (1.21%) Cognos
13 14 (1.00%) Allen-Bradley
13 14 (1.00%) Databricks
14 13 (0.93%) JD Edwards
15 12 (0.86%) Apple
15 12 (0.86%) HubSpot
16 11 (0.79%) Sophos
17 10 (0.71%) Epicor
18 9 (0.64%) Dell