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

6 months to
5 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 15 3 7
Rank change year-on-year -12 +4 +1
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 919 1,178 1,790
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 7.17% 23.49% 13.75%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.07% 26.27% 17.33%
Number of salaries quoted 685 617 1,193
10th Percentile £26,279 £25,500 £25,000
25th Percentile £29,500 £30,750 £28,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £40,000 £45,000 £40,000
Median % change year-on-year -11.11% +12.50% -15.79%
75th Percentile £55,627 £58,750 £57,500
90th Percentile £67,000 £68,750 £69,000
England median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £49,500
% change year-on-year -5.00% +1.01% -10.00%

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 9,122 4,484 10,328
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 71.16% 89.41% 79.36%
Number of salaries quoted 5,877 2,470 7,475
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,863 £26,250
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,500 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £51,000 £49,795 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year +2.42% +4.83% -9.52%
75th Percentile £67,500 £63,750 £62,500
90th Percentile £82,500 £75,000 £75,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £58,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +3.45% +5.45% -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 5 June 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 5 June 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 -23 527 £42,500 -10.53% 264
East Midlands -9 389 £35,000 -9.09% 167
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 54 (5.88%) SharePoint
2 40 (4.35%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (1.20%) CMS
4 6 (0.65%) IIS
5 5 (0.54%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 5 (0.54%) Skype for Business
6 4 (0.44%) Exchange Server 2007
6 4 (0.44%) Exchange Server 2010
6 4 (0.44%) Exchange Server 2013
7 3 (0.33%) WordPress
8 2 (0.22%) Confluence
9 1 (0.11%) Appian
9 1 (0.11%) Drupal
9 1 (0.11%) SAS
Applications
1 71 (7.73%) Microsoft Office
2 58 (6.31%) Microsoft Excel
3 17 (1.85%) Spreadsheet
4 8 (0.87%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.54%) Fusion 360
5 5 (0.54%) Microsoft Project
6 4 (0.44%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.11%) Abaqus
7 1 (0.11%) AutoCAD
7 1 (0.11%) Sketch
7 1 (0.11%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 11 (1.20%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (0.98%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 8 (0.87%) SAP S/4HANA
4 7 (0.76%) iTrent
4 7 (0.76%) SAP Business One
5 5 (0.54%) Magento
5 5 (0.54%) Q-Pulse
5 5 (0.54%) Shopify
6 4 (0.44%) Line 50
6 4 (0.44%) Sage 50
6 4 (0.44%) Sage X3
7 3 (0.33%) SAP Business ByDesign
8 2 (0.22%) NetSuite
8 2 (0.22%) Oracle EBS
9 1 (0.11%) Dynamics NAV
9 1 (0.11%) Exchequer
9 1 (0.11%) SAP CO
9 1 (0.11%) SAP FI
9 1 (0.11%) SAP FI/CO
9 1 (0.11%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 196 (21.33%) Microsoft 365
2 159 (17.30%) Azure
3 80 (8.71%) Power Platform
4 77 (8.38%) AWS
5 64 (6.96%) Entra ID
6 29 (3.16%) Serverless
7 27 (2.94%) SaaS
8 24 (2.61%) Amazon S3
9 23 (2.50%) AWS Lambda
10 20 (2.18%) Dynamics 365
11 16 (1.74%) Power Automate
12 13 (1.41%) Google Workspace
12 13 (1.41%) OneDrive
12 13 (1.41%) PowerApps
13 11 (1.20%) Microsoft Copilot
14 10 (1.09%) GCP
15 8 (0.87%) Amazon Cognito
15 8 (0.87%) Amazon EventBridge
15 8 (0.87%) Amazon SQS
15 8 (0.87%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 55 (5.98%) DNS
2 49 (5.33%) Firewall
2 49 (5.33%) VPN
3 48 (5.22%) DHCP
4 35 (3.81%) WAN
5 27 (2.94%) Wireless
6 26 (2.83%) TCP/IP
7 22 (2.39%) LAN
8 21 (2.29%) Wi-Fi
9 20 (2.18%) VLAN
10 19 (2.07%) Internet
11 16 (1.74%) SD-WAN
12 14 (1.52%) VoIP
13 11 (1.20%) Network Security
14 8 (0.87%) MQTT
15 5 (0.54%) Bluetooth
15 5 (0.54%) Skype
16 4 (0.44%) LoRaWAN
17 3 (0.33%) Remote Desktop
17 3 (0.33%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 70 (7.62%) Power BI
2 30 (3.26%) SQL Server
3 19 (2.07%) Tableau
4 18 (1.96%) Power Query
5 16 (1.74%) MySQL
6 14 (1.52%) Amazon Redshift
7 13 (1.41%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 9 (0.98%) Oracle Reports
8 9 (0.98%) Relational Database
9 8 (0.87%) DynamoDB
10 7 (0.76%) Star Schema
11 6 (0.65%) Azure SQL Database
11 6 (0.65%) Data Warehouse
12 5 (0.54%) MongoDB
12 5 (0.54%) NoSQL
13 4 (0.44%) Amazon RDS
13 4 (0.44%) Data Mining
13 4 (0.44%) FileMaker
13 4 (0.44%) Neo4j
13 4 (0.44%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 18 (1.96%) Git
2 12 (1.31%) JIRA
3 8 (0.87%) JUnit
4 7 (0.76%) Maven
4 7 (0.76%) Mockito
5 5 (0.54%) Burp Suite
5 5 (0.54%) Metasploit
5 5 (0.54%) Subversion
5 5 (0.54%) VersionOne
6 3 (0.33%) Jenkins
7 2 (0.22%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 2 (0.22%) TeamCity
7 2 (0.22%) Visual Studio
7 2 (0.22%) XCUITest
8 1 (0.11%) Balsamiq
8 1 (0.11%) Bugzilla
8 1 (0.11%) Carbide.c++
8 1 (0.11%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.11%) Oracle Forms
8 1 (0.11%) Postman
General
1 412 (44.83%) Social Skills
2 289 (31.45%) Analytical Skills
3 161 (17.52%) Finance
4 104 (11.32%) Manufacturing
5 59 (6.42%) Organisational Skills
6 50 (5.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 50 (5.44%) Retail
7 37 (4.03%) Marketing
8 35 (3.81%) Legal
9 34 (3.70%) Law
10 28 (3.05%) Public Sector
11 26 (2.83%) Influencing Skills
12 23 (2.50%) Electronics
13 18 (1.96%) Documentation Skills
14 17 (1.85%) Automotive
15 13 (1.41%) Banking
16 12 (1.31%) Telecoms
17 11 (1.20%) Investment Banking
18 9 (0.98%) Advertising
19 8 (0.87%) Games
Job Titles
1 151 (16.43%) Analyst
2 139 (15.13%) Support Engineer
3 114 (12.40%) IT Support
4 90 (9.79%) Senior
5 87 (9.47%) IT Engineer
6 77 (8.38%) Developer
7 68 (7.40%) IT Support Engineer
8 66 (7.18%) Technical Support
9 60 (6.53%) Technical Engineer
9 60 (6.53%) Technical Support Engineer
10 51 (5.55%) Support Technician
11 50 (5.44%) Lead
12 37 (4.03%) Support Analyst
13 36 (3.92%) Data Analyst
14 33 (3.59%) IT Technician
15 32 (3.48%) Consultant
15 32 (3.48%) Senior Analyst
16 30 (3.26%) IT Support Technician
17 28 (3.05%) Infrastructure Engineer
17 28 (3.05%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (4.68%) React
2 27 (2.94%) Node.js
2 27 (2.94%) REST
3 23 (2.50%) CSS
3 23 (2.50%) HTML
4 17 (1.85%) .NET
5 13 (1.41%) Spring
6 11 (1.20%) AngularJS
7 10 (1.09%) RESTful
7 10 (1.09%) Spring Boot
8 6 (0.65%) EDI
9 4 (0.44%) .NET Framework
9 4 (0.44%) ASP.NET
9 4 (0.44%) ASP.NET Core
9 4 (0.44%) JSON
9 4 (0.44%) Middleware
10 3 (0.33%) Laravel
10 3 (0.33%) Playwright
10 3 (0.33%) SOAP
11 2 (0.22%) OpenTelemetry
Miscellaneous
1 93 (10.12%) Driving Licence
2 46 (5.01%) Management Information System
2 46 (5.01%) Onboarding
3 40 (4.35%) Self-Motivation
4 18 (1.96%) Social Media
5 16 (1.74%) Analytical Mindset
6 12 (1.31%) Legacy Systems
7 11 (1.20%) Enterprise Software
7 11 (1.20%) IoT
7 11 (1.20%) Security Posture
8 10 (1.09%) FMCG
8 10 (1.09%) Greenfield Project
8 10 (1.09%) Virtual Team
9 9 (0.98%) Data Centre
10 8 (0.87%) Hybrid Cloud
10 8 (0.87%) iSeries
10 8 (0.87%) Mobile App
10 8 (0.87%) Product Ownership
10 8 (0.87%) Replication
11 7 (0.76%) AS400
Operating Systems
1 151 (16.43%) Windows
2 56 (6.09%) Windows Server
3 49 (5.33%) Linux
4 46 (5.01%) Windows 10
5 9 (0.98%) Apple iOS
5 9 (0.98%) Ubuntu
6 7 (0.76%) Android
7 6 (0.65%) Debian
8 5 (0.54%) CentOS
8 5 (0.54%) Windows 7
9 4 (0.44%) FreeRTOS
9 4 (0.44%) Mac OS
9 4 (0.44%) Unix
9 4 (0.44%) VMS
10 3 (0.33%) SUSE
11 2 (0.22%) Windows Server 2012
12 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 212 (23.07%) Continuous Improvement
2 154 (16.76%) Customer Service
3 124 (13.49%) Agile
4 123 (13.38%) Decision-Making
5 104 (11.32%) Analytics
6 96 (10.45%) Collaborative Working
6 96 (10.45%) Mentoring
7 85 (9.25%) ITIL
8 77 (8.38%) ERP
9 75 (8.16%) Service Delivery
10 71 (7.73%) Business Intelligence
10 71 (7.73%) Cybersecurity
11 69 (7.51%) Roadmaps
12 66 (7.18%) AI
12 66 (7.18%) Process Improvement
13 56 (6.09%) Computer Science
14 53 (5.77%) Coaching
14 53 (5.77%) CRM
14 53 (5.77%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 50 (5.44%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 146 (15.89%) SQL
2 79 (8.60%) Python
3 37 (4.03%) PowerShell
4 31 (3.37%) Java
5 28 (3.05%) JavaScript
6 21 (2.29%) C#
6 21 (2.29%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 17 (1.85%) TypeScript
8 14 (1.52%) Ladder Logic
9 13 (1.41%) Bash
10 12 (1.31%) PHP
11 11 (1.20%) C
12 10 (1.09%) VBA
13 8 (0.87%) C++
13 8 (0.87%) PL/SQL
13 8 (0.87%) R
13 8 (0.87%) T-SQL
14 7 (0.76%) RPG
15 6 (0.65%) Go
16 4 (0.44%) RPG/400
Qualifications
1 130 (14.15%) Degree
2 64 (6.96%) Security Cleared
3 49 (5.33%) SC Cleared
4 34 (3.70%) Microsoft Certification
5 32 (3.48%) DBS Check
6 23 (2.50%) Computer Science Degree
7 16 (1.74%) CISSP
8 15 (1.63%) CompTIA Security+
9 13 (1.41%) Cisco Certification
10 11 (1.20%) A+ Certification
11 10 (1.09%) ACCA
11 10 (1.09%) BPSS Clearance
11 10 (1.09%) CCNA
11 10 (1.09%) CIMA
11 10 (1.09%) PMI Certification
12 8 (0.87%) PMP
13 7 (0.76%) Azure Certification
13 7 (0.76%) CISA
13 7 (0.76%) MCSE
13 7 (0.76%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 41 (4.46%) Data Quality
2 38 (4.13%) QA
3 32 (3.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 27 (2.94%) GDPR
5 25 (2.72%) Cyber Essentials
6 21 (2.29%) NIST
6 21 (2.29%) SLA
7 13 (1.41%) Accessibility
8 11 (1.20%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 9 (0.98%) Actionable Recommendations
9 9 (0.98%) ISO 14001
9 9 (0.98%) ISO 9001
10 7 (0.76%) PCI DSS
11 6 (0.65%) ISO/IEC 20000
12 5 (0.54%) COSHH
12 5 (0.54%) GMP
12 5 (0.54%) HIPAA
13 4 (0.44%) GRC
13 4 (0.44%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 3 (0.33%) SOC 2
System Software
1 113 (12.30%) Active Directory
2 27 (2.94%) VMware Infrastructure
3 22 (2.39%) Docker
4 21 (2.29%) Hyper-V
5 10 (1.09%) vSphere
6 8 (0.87%) Firmware
7 4 (0.44%) Embedded Firmware
8 3 (0.33%) Virtual Desktop
8 3 (0.33%) Virtual Machines
9 2 (0.22%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.11%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.11%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 37 (4.03%) Microsoft Intune
2 20 (2.18%) Kubernetes
3 14 (1.52%) Terraform
4 7 (0.76%) Ansible
5 5 (0.54%) Nagios
5 5 (0.54%) Nmap
6 4 (0.44%) Functional Safety
6 4 (0.44%) Galera Cluster
6 4 (0.44%) Grafana
6 4 (0.44%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.33%) Prometheus
7 3 (0.33%) SCCM
7 3 (0.33%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.22%) Progress Chef
8 2 (0.22%) Puppet
9 1 (0.11%) FortiGate
9 1 (0.11%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 241 (26.22%) Microsoft
2 35 (3.81%) VMware
3 31 (3.37%) Cisco
3 31 (3.37%) SAP
4 25 (2.72%) Oracle
5 17 (1.85%) Sage
6 16 (1.74%) Google
6 16 (1.74%) IBM
7 14 (1.52%) Salesforce
8 12 (1.31%) Cognos
8 12 (1.31%) Dell
8 12 (1.31%) Workday
9 11 (1.20%) ServiceNow
9 11 (1.20%) SolarWinds
10 9 (0.98%) Databricks
10 9 (0.98%) Meraki
11 8 (0.87%) HP
12 6 (0.65%) Apple
12 6 (0.65%) Avaya
12 6 (0.65%) McAfee