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

6 months to
16 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 17 3 5
Rank change year-on-year -14 +2 +3
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 876 1,222 890
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 11.11% 19.25% 15.53%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.71% 21.27% 17.93%
Number of salaries quoted 697 490 691
10th Percentile £26,000 £28,500 £26,000
25th Percentile £28,750 £35,000 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £38,500 £50,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -23.00% +11.11% -10.09%
75th Percentile £53,951 £63,750 £59,375
90th Percentile £68,750 £80,250 £68,750
England median annual salary £45,000 £55,000 £54,000
% change year-on-year -18.18% +1.85% -1.82%

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 6,389 5,745 4,964
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 81.02% 90.52% 86.60%
Number of salaries quoted 3,561 2,530 4,097
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,250 £26,500
25th Percentile £35,000 £38,750 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £65,000 £67,500 £62,500
90th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £75,000
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 16 January 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 January 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 -18 510 £42,500 -22.73% 276
East Midlands +1 365 £35,000 - 257
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 (5.14%) SharePoint
2 30 (3.42%) Microsoft Exchange
3 13 (1.48%) IIS
4 7 (0.80%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 6 (0.68%) Apache
5 6 (0.68%) Confluence
6 2 (0.23%) Exchange Server 2007
6 2 (0.23%) Exchange Server 2010
6 2 (0.23%) Exchange Server 2013
7 1 (0.11%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.11%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.11%) Appian
7 1 (0.11%) HCL Notes
7 1 (0.11%) NServiceBus
7 1 (0.11%) SAS
7 1 (0.11%) WebLogic
Applications
1 81 (9.25%) Microsoft Excel
2 45 (5.14%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (1.26%) Spreadsheet
4 10 (1.14%) Microsoft Project
5 9 (1.03%) AutoCAD
5 9 (1.03%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 8 (0.91%) SOLIDWORKS
7 7 (0.80%) MS Visio
8 4 (0.46%) CATIA
9 3 (0.34%) Trello
10 1 (0.11%) Abaqus
10 1 (0.11%) EPLAN
10 1 (0.11%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 37 (4.22%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (1.03%) iTrent
2 9 (1.03%) NetSuite
3 3 (0.34%) Dynamics NAV
3 3 (0.34%) SAP FI
3 3 (0.34%) SAP S/4HANA
4 2 (0.23%) Infor CloudSuite Industrial (formerly SyteLine)
4 2 (0.23%) Oracle Cash Management
4 2 (0.23%) Oracle EBS
4 2 (0.23%) Oracle EBS R12
4 2 (0.23%) Oracle Payables
4 2 (0.23%) SAP Business ByDesign
4 2 (0.23%) SAP ERP
4 2 (0.23%) SAP MM
4 2 (0.23%) Shopify
5 1 (0.11%) Cognos Controller
5 1 (0.11%) Dynamics GP
5 1 (0.11%) HFM
5 1 (0.11%) Oracle BPM
5 1 (0.11%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
Cloud Services
1 192 (21.92%) Azure
2 170 (19.41%) Microsoft 365
3 82 (9.36%) SaaS
4 72 (8.22%) AWS
5 60 (6.85%) Power Platform
6 53 (6.05%) Entra ID
7 28 (3.20%) Dynamics 365
8 20 (2.28%) Serverless
9 14 (1.60%) Amazon S3
9 14 (1.60%) GCP
9 14 (1.60%) Power Automate
10 12 (1.37%) AWS Lambda
10 12 (1.37%) Azure DevOps
11 10 (1.14%) PowerApps
12 9 (1.03%) GitHub
12 9 (1.03%) OneDrive
13 8 (0.91%) Azure Sentinel
13 8 (0.91%) Cloud Computing
14 7 (0.80%) OCI
15 6 (0.68%) Amazon CloudWatch
Communications & Networking
1 66 (7.53%) DNS
2 62 (7.08%) DHCP
3 41 (4.68%) VPN
4 40 (4.57%) Remote Desktop
5 30 (3.42%) Firewall
6 29 (3.31%) WAN
7 21 (2.40%) LAN
8 20 (2.28%) Internet
9 17 (1.94%) Wi-Fi
10 13 (1.48%) TCP/IP
10 13 (1.48%) VLAN
10 13 (1.48%) Wireless
11 12 (1.37%) VoIP
12 10 (1.14%) SD-WAN
13 9 (1.03%) ADSL
13 9 (1.03%) Ethernet
13 9 (1.03%) VDSL
14 7 (0.80%) Broadband
15 5 (0.57%) Bluetooth
15 5 (0.57%) PBX
Database & Business Intelligence
1 52 (5.94%) SQL Server
2 48 (5.48%) Power BI
3 17 (1.94%) MySQL
3 17 (1.94%) Relational Database
4 15 (1.71%) Oracle Reports
4 15 (1.71%) PostgreSQL
5 13 (1.48%) GIS
6 12 (1.37%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 10 (1.14%) Tableau
8 9 (1.03%) Amazon Redshift
9 7 (0.80%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 6 (0.68%) Amazon RDS
10 6 (0.68%) Crystal Reports
10 6 (0.68%) Metadata
11 5 (0.57%) Azure SQL Database
12 4 (0.46%) BusinessObjects
12 4 (0.46%) Data Lake
12 4 (0.46%) Data Mining
13 3 (0.34%) Data Warehouse
14 2 (0.23%) MS Access
Development Applications
1 32 (3.65%) JIRA
2 23 (2.63%) Git
3 9 (1.03%) JUnit
4 8 (0.91%) GitLab
5 7 (0.80%) Burp Suite
5 7 (0.80%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.80%) Metasploit
5 7 (0.80%) Mockito
5 7 (0.80%) Subversion
6 6 (0.68%) Maven
7 4 (0.46%) Selenium
8 3 (0.34%) Appcelerator Titanium
8 3 (0.34%) Cucumber
9 2 (0.23%) Vagrant
9 2 (0.23%) Visual Studio Code
10 1 (0.11%) Babel
10 1 (0.11%) Rational DOORS
10 1 (0.11%) Sonatype Nexus
10 1 (0.11%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
10 1 (0.11%) webpack
General
1 436 (49.77%) Social Skills
2 278 (31.74%) Analytical Skills
3 181 (20.66%) Finance
4 116 (13.24%) Retail
5 83 (9.47%) Manufacturing
6 48 (5.48%) Law
6 48 (5.48%) Organisational Skills
7 42 (4.79%) Legal
8 41 (4.68%) Marketing
9 38 (4.34%) Public Sector
10 24 (2.74%) Electronics
10 24 (2.74%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 18 (2.05%) Documentation Skills
12 17 (1.94%) Telecoms
13 16 (1.83%) Presentation Skills
14 13 (1.48%) Automotive
14 13 (1.48%) Banking
15 12 (1.37%) Aerospace
15 12 (1.37%) Fire and Rescue
16 8 (0.91%) Games
Job Titles
1 158 (18.04%) Support Engineer
2 155 (17.69%) IT Support
3 131 (14.95%) Analyst
4 94 (10.73%) IT Engineer
5 83 (9.47%) IT Support Engineer
6 79 (9.02%) Developer
7 77 (8.79%) Technical Support
8 76 (8.68%) Lead
9 70 (7.99%) Support Analyst
10 68 (7.76%) 2nd Line Support
11 65 (7.42%) Senior
11 65 (7.42%) Technical Engineer
12 62 (7.08%) Technical Support Engineer
13 40 (4.57%) Support Technician
14 37 (4.22%) Applications Support
15 33 (3.77%) Administrator
16 32 (3.65%) Architect
17 30 (3.42%) 1st/2nd Line Support
18 26 (2.97%) 1st Line Support
19 24 (2.74%) Full-Stack Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (4.11%) React
2 33 (3.77%) .NET
3 30 (3.42%) REST
4 29 (3.31%) HTML
5 27 (3.08%) CSS
6 19 (2.17%) Node.js
7 17 (1.94%) AngularJS
8 16 (1.83%) JSON
9 11 (1.26%) Razor View Engine
10 8 (0.91%) Middleware
10 8 (0.91%) Oracle Fusion
10 8 (0.91%) RESTful
11 7 (0.80%) EDI
11 7 (0.80%) Vue
12 6 (0.68%) LAMP
12 6 (0.68%) Laravel
12 6 (0.68%) Spring
13 5 (0.57%) Web Services
14 4 (0.46%) SOAP
14 4 (0.46%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 116 (13.24%) Onboarding
2 104 (11.87%) Driving Licence
3 46 (5.25%) Self-Motivation
4 44 (5.02%) Management Information System
5 42 (4.79%) Analytical Mindset
6 33 (3.77%) FMCG
7 15 (1.71%) Legacy Systems
8 14 (1.60%) SCADA
9 13 (1.48%) Operational Technology
9 13 (1.48%) Product Ownership
9 13 (1.48%) Security Posture
10 12 (1.37%) e-Learning
11 11 (1.26%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
12 10 (1.14%) Embedded Systems
12 10 (1.14%) Enterprise Software
12 10 (1.14%) Social Media
13 8 (0.91%) Data Structures
13 8 (0.91%) IoT
14 7 (0.80%) Linux Command Line
14 7 (0.80%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 152 (17.35%) Windows
2 57 (6.51%) Windows Server
3 42 (4.79%) Linux
4 27 (3.08%) Windows 10
5 11 (1.26%) Apple iOS
6 5 (0.57%) Windows Server 2019
7 4 (0.46%) Mac OS
7 4 (0.46%) Unix
8 3 (0.34%) Android
8 3 (0.34%) Mac OS X
9 2 (0.23%) VMS
9 2 (0.23%) Windows 7
9 2 (0.23%) Windows Server 2012
10 1 (0.11%) Debian
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
1 190 (21.69%) Customer Service
2 186 (21.23%) Continuous Improvement
3 120 (13.70%) CRM
4 116 (13.24%) ERP
5 102 (11.64%) Project Management
6 98 (11.19%) Agile
7 96 (10.96%) Mentoring
8 90 (10.27%) ITIL
9 88 (10.05%) Decision-Making
10 77 (8.79%) Business Intelligence
11 70 (7.99%) Analytics
12 65 (7.42%) Incident Management
13 61 (6.96%) Root Cause Analysis
14 59 (6.74%) Logistics
15 57 (6.51%) Analytical Thinking
15 57 (6.51%) Process Improvement
16 55 (6.28%) E-Commerce
17 53 (6.05%) Computer Science
18 52 (5.94%) Change Management
19 51 (5.82%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 184 (21.00%) SQL
2 81 (9.25%) C#
3 67 (7.65%) Python
4 53 (6.05%) JavaScript
5 33 (3.77%) Java
6 31 (3.54%) PowerShell
7 22 (2.51%) PHP
8 16 (1.83%) T-SQL
9 12 (1.37%) C
10 10 (1.14%) TypeScript
11 9 (1.03%) Bash
12 7 (0.80%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 7 (0.80%) PL/SQL
13 6 (0.68%) R
14 5 (0.57%) C++
14 5 (0.57%) Ladder Logic
15 4 (0.46%) Delphi
15 4 (0.46%) Perl
16 3 (0.34%) Groovy
16 3 (0.34%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 174 (19.86%) Degree
2 83 (9.47%) Security Cleared
3 57 (6.51%) SC Cleared
4 33 (3.77%) Computer Science Degree
4 33 (3.77%) Microsoft Certification
5 21 (2.40%) DBS Check
6 18 (2.05%) Cisco Certification
6 18 (2.05%) Master's Degree
7 17 (1.94%) ACCA
7 17 (1.94%) BPSS Clearance
7 17 (1.94%) CIMA
8 16 (1.83%) CISSP
9 13 (1.48%) MCP
10 11 (1.26%) CCNA
11 10 (1.14%) AWS Certification
11 10 (1.14%) CompTIA Security+
11 10 (1.14%) DV Cleared
11 10 (1.14%) MCSE
12 9 (1.03%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 9 (1.03%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 59 (6.74%) QA
2 29 (3.31%) GDPR
3 28 (3.20%) Data Quality
4 23 (2.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 11 (1.26%) SLA
6 10 (1.14%) NIST
7 9 (1.03%) Actionable Recommendations
8 8 (0.91%) Cyber Essentials
9 7 (0.80%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 5 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 4 (0.46%) Accessibility
12 3 (0.34%) PMO
13 2 (0.23%) Government Security Classifications
13 2 (0.23%) HIPAA
13 2 (0.23%) ISO 20022
13 2 (0.23%) ISO 9001
13 2 (0.23%) ISO/IEC 19770
13 2 (0.23%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 2 (0.23%) PCI DSS
14 1 (0.11%) IEC 61508
System Software
1 117 (13.36%) Active Directory
2 22 (2.51%) Docker
3 14 (1.60%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (0.80%) Firmware
4 7 (0.80%) Hyper-V
4 7 (0.80%) vSphere
5 2 (0.23%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.23%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.23%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 38 (4.34%) Microsoft Intune
2 22 (2.51%) Kubernetes
3 15 (1.71%) Terraform
4 7 (0.80%) Nmap
5 6 (0.68%) Ansible
6 5 (0.57%) SCCM
7 4 (0.46%) Nagios
8 3 (0.34%) Grafana
8 3 (0.34%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.23%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.11%) Argo
10 1 (0.11%) Autotask
10 1 (0.11%) AWS Copilot
10 1 (0.11%) CA Service Virtualization
10 1 (0.11%) HP Quality Center
10 1 (0.11%) Prometheus
10 1 (0.11%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 263 (30.02%) Microsoft
2 70 (7.99%) SAP
3 59 (6.74%) Oracle
4 40 (4.57%) Salesforce
5 34 (3.88%) Cisco
6 15 (1.71%) ServiceNow
7 14 (1.60%) VMware
8 12 (1.37%) Databricks
9 10 (1.14%) Sage
9 10 (1.14%) Zoho
10 9 (1.03%) Google
11 8 (0.91%) HubSpot
11 8 (0.91%) Meraki
12 7 (0.80%) Infor
13 6 (0.68%) Epicor
13 6 (0.68%) Freshdesk
13 6 (0.68%) QAD
13 6 (0.68%) Zscaler
14 5 (0.57%) HP
14 5 (0.57%) Progress