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

6 months to
25 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 19 4 5
Rank change year-on-year -15 +1 +3
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 869 1,118 1,316
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 9.48% 19.71% 15.58%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.09% 21.29% 18.13%
Number of salaries quoted 681 484 1,037
10th Percentile £26,000 £28,000 £25,000
25th Percentile £28,500 £36,250 £29,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,500 £52,500 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year -28.57% +23.53% -15.80%
75th Percentile £53,951 £63,750 £58,750
90th Percentile £67,500 £85,000 £68,750
England median annual salary £45,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -18.18% +10.00% -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 7,186 5,251 7,257
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 78.36% 92.56% 85.89%
Number of salaries quoted 4,057 2,449 5,855
10th Percentile £28,000 £30,750 £26,250
25th Percentile £35,000 £38,754 £34,834
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £49,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +6.06% -5.71%
75th Percentile £65,000 £66,967 £62,500
90th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £75,000
England median annual salary £55,000 £62,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year -12.00% +13.64% -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 25 February 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 25 February 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 -20 505 £42,500 -22.73% 258
East Midlands -1 361 £35,000 -5.41% 162
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 (6.21%) SharePoint
2 32 (3.68%) Microsoft Exchange
3 12 (1.38%) IIS
4 6 (0.69%) Apache
4 6 (0.69%) Exchange Server 2007
4 6 (0.69%) Exchange Server 2010
4 6 (0.69%) Exchange Server 2013
4 6 (0.69%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 5 (0.58%) CMS
5 5 (0.58%) Confluence
6 1 (0.12%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.12%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.12%) Drupal
6 1 (0.12%) NServiceBus
6 1 (0.12%) SAS
6 1 (0.12%) WebLogic
Applications
1 64 (7.36%) Microsoft Excel
2 53 (6.10%) Microsoft Office
3 16 (1.84%) Spreadsheet
4 10 (1.15%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (1.15%) Microsoft Project
5 9 (1.04%) AutoCAD
6 8 (0.92%) SOLIDWORKS
7 7 (0.81%) MS Visio
8 4 (0.46%) CATIA
9 2 (0.23%) Trello
10 1 (0.12%) Abaqus
10 1 (0.12%) EPLAN
10 1 (0.12%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 27 (3.11%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (1.15%) iTrent
2 10 (1.15%) NetSuite
3 5 (0.58%) Q-Pulse
3 5 (0.58%) SAP S/4HANA
4 3 (0.35%) Dynamics NAV
4 3 (0.35%) SAP Business ByDesign
5 2 (0.23%) Infor CloudSuite Industrial (formerly SyteLine)
5 2 (0.23%) Oracle Cash Management
5 2 (0.23%) Oracle Payables
5 2 (0.23%) SAP ERP
5 2 (0.23%) SAP MM
6 1 (0.12%) NEC Housing
6 1 (0.12%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.12%) Raiser’s Edge
6 1 (0.12%) Sage X3
6 1 (0.12%) SAP EWM
6 1 (0.12%) SAP FI
6 1 (0.12%) SAP WM
6 1 (0.12%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 184 (21.17%) Azure
2 181 (20.83%) Microsoft 365
3 75 (8.63%) AWS
3 75 (8.63%) SaaS
4 66 (7.59%) Power Platform
5 53 (6.10%) Entra ID
6 29 (3.34%) Dynamics 365
7 27 (3.11%) Serverless
8 19 (2.19%) Power Automate
9 17 (1.96%) Amazon S3
9 17 (1.96%) AWS Lambda
10 16 (1.84%) GCP
10 16 (1.84%) PowerApps
11 14 (1.61%) Google Workspace
12 12 (1.38%) OneDrive
13 11 (1.27%) Azure DevOps
14 9 (1.04%) Azure Data Factory
15 7 (0.81%) Azure Sentinel
15 7 (0.81%) OCI
16 6 (0.69%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 68 (7.83%) DNS
2 66 (7.59%) DHCP
3 48 (5.52%) VPN
4 38 (4.37%) WAN
5 34 (3.91%) Firewall
5 34 (3.91%) Remote Desktop
6 28 (3.22%) Internet
7 25 (2.88%) LAN
8 21 (2.42%) Wi-Fi
9 19 (2.19%) TCP/IP
10 17 (1.96%) Wireless
11 15 (1.73%) SD-WAN
12 13 (1.50%) VoIP
13 12 (1.38%) VLAN
14 9 (1.04%) ADSL
14 9 (1.04%) Ethernet
14 9 (1.04%) VDSL
15 7 (0.81%) Network Security
16 6 (0.69%) Broadband
17 5 (0.58%) PBX
Database & Business Intelligence
1 52 (5.98%) Power BI
2 46 (5.29%) SQL Server
3 16 (1.84%) MySQL
4 15 (1.73%) Oracle Reports
5 14 (1.61%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 13 (1.50%) Amazon Redshift
6 13 (1.50%) PostgreSQL
6 13 (1.50%) Relational Database
6 13 (1.50%) Tableau
7 12 (1.38%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 6 (0.69%) Data Warehouse
8 6 (0.69%) Metadata
8 6 (0.69%) Power Query
9 5 (0.58%) Amazon RDS
9 5 (0.58%) Azure SQL Database
9 5 (0.58%) Crystal Reports
9 5 (0.58%) GIS
10 4 (0.46%) Data Lake
11 3 (0.35%) NoSQL
11 3 (0.35%) Redis
Development Applications
1 27 (3.11%) JIRA
2 20 (2.30%) Git
3 8 (0.92%) JUnit
4 7 (0.81%) Burp Suite
4 7 (0.81%) Metasploit
5 6 (0.69%) GitLab
5 6 (0.69%) Jenkins
5 6 (0.69%) Maven
5 6 (0.69%) Mockito
6 5 (0.58%) Subversion
7 3 (0.35%) Appcelerator Titanium
7 3 (0.35%) Cucumber
7 3 (0.35%) Selenium
8 2 (0.23%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 2 (0.23%) Visual Studio Code
9 1 (0.12%) Babel
9 1 (0.12%) Balsamiq
9 1 (0.12%) Cypress.io
9 1 (0.12%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.12%) webpack
General
1 422 (48.56%) Social Skills
2 286 (32.91%) Analytical Skills
3 163 (18.76%) Finance
4 102 (11.74%) Retail
5 82 (9.44%) Manufacturing
6 62 (7.13%) Organisational Skills
7 47 (5.41%) Law
8 40 (4.60%) Legal
9 39 (4.49%) Public Sector
10 37 (4.26%) Marketing
11 26 (2.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 23 (2.65%) Electronics
13 19 (2.19%) Documentation Skills
13 19 (2.19%) Telecoms
14 15 (1.73%) Automotive
15 14 (1.61%) Banking
16 13 (1.50%) Presentation Skills
17 12 (1.38%) Aerospace
18 10 (1.15%) Advertising
19 8 (0.92%) Games
Job Titles
1 158 (18.18%) Support Engineer
2 157 (18.07%) IT Support
3 128 (14.73%) Analyst
4 104 (11.97%) IT Engineer
5 92 (10.59%) IT Support Engineer
6 80 (9.21%) Lead
7 75 (8.63%) Developer
8 71 (8.17%) Technical Support
9 63 (7.25%) Senior
10 58 (6.67%) Support Analyst
10 58 (6.67%) Technical Engineer
11 56 (6.44%) Technical Support Engineer
12 51 (5.87%) 2nd Line Support
13 47 (5.41%) Support Technician
14 35 (4.03%) Administrator
15 33 (3.80%) Architect
16 32 (3.68%) 1st/2nd Line Support
16 32 (3.68%) Applications Support
17 29 (3.34%) Full-Stack Developer
18 24 (2.76%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (4.37%) React
2 30 (3.45%) .NET
3 28 (3.22%) CSS
4 27 (3.11%) HTML
5 25 (2.88%) REST
6 24 (2.76%) Node.js
7 13 (1.50%) AngularJS
7 13 (1.50%) JSON
8 9 (1.04%) Razor View Engine
9 7 (0.81%) Oracle Fusion
9 7 (0.81%) Vue
10 6 (0.69%) LAMP
10 6 (0.69%) Middleware
11 5 (0.58%) Laravel
11 5 (0.58%) RESTful
12 4 (0.46%) Next.js
12 4 (0.46%) Spring
12 4 (0.46%) Web Services
12 4 (0.46%) WPF
13 3 (0.35%) Tailwind CSS
Miscellaneous
1 111 (12.77%) Driving Licence
2 98 (11.28%) Onboarding
3 49 (5.64%) Management Information System
4 43 (4.95%) Self-Motivation
5 33 (3.80%) Analytical Mindset
6 30 (3.45%) FMCG
7 19 (2.19%) Social Media
8 15 (1.73%) Enterprise Software
9 14 (1.61%) Product Ownership
10 13 (1.50%) Legacy Systems
11 12 (1.38%) Operational Technology
11 12 (1.38%) Security Posture
12 10 (1.15%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
13 9 (1.04%) Data Structures
13 9 (1.04%) EPoS
13 9 (1.04%) IoT
14 7 (0.81%) Distributed Systems
14 7 (0.81%) Embedded Systems
14 7 (0.81%) Linux Command Line
14 7 (0.81%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 161 (18.53%) Windows
2 56 (6.44%) Windows Server
3 40 (4.60%) Linux
4 27 (3.11%) Windows 10
5 12 (1.38%) Apple iOS
6 6 (0.69%) Windows 7
7 5 (0.58%) Debian
7 5 (0.58%) Windows Server 2019
8 4 (0.46%) Android
8 4 (0.46%) Unix
9 3 (0.35%) CentOS
9 3 (0.35%) Ubuntu
10 2 (0.23%) SUSE
10 2 (0.23%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.12%) Mac OS
11 1 (0.12%) Oracle Linux
11 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 194 (22.32%) Continuous Improvement
2 178 (20.48%) Customer Service
3 113 (13.00%) CRM
4 109 (12.54%) ERP
5 95 (10.93%) Mentoring
6 94 (10.82%) Agile
6 94 (10.82%) Decision-Making
7 93 (10.70%) Project Management
8 86 (9.90%) ITIL
9 80 (9.21%) Business Intelligence
10 73 (8.40%) Analytics
11 58 (6.67%) Computer Science
12 56 (6.44%) Process Improvement
12 56 (6.44%) Root Cause Analysis
13 55 (6.33%) Time Management
14 54 (6.21%) Migration
15 53 (6.10%) Service Delivery
16 52 (5.98%) Analytical Thinking
17 51 (5.87%) Change Management
18 49 (5.64%) Logistics
Programming Languages
1 170 (19.56%) SQL
2 68 (7.83%) C#
3 59 (6.79%) Python
4 53 (6.10%) JavaScript
5 30 (3.45%) Java
6 29 (3.34%) PowerShell
7 19 (2.19%) PHP
8 15 (1.73%) T-SQL
9 13 (1.50%) C
10 12 (1.38%) Bash
11 9 (1.04%) TypeScript
12 8 (0.92%) Ladder Logic
13 7 (0.81%) PL/SQL
13 7 (0.81%) R
14 6 (0.69%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 4 (0.46%) Delphi
15 4 (0.46%) VBA
16 3 (0.35%) C++
16 3 (0.35%) VB.NET
17 2 (0.23%) Perl
Qualifications
1 169 (19.45%) Degree
2 75 (8.63%) Security Cleared
3 55 (6.33%) SC Cleared
4 32 (3.68%) Computer Science Degree
4 32 (3.68%) Microsoft Certification
5 25 (2.88%) DBS Check
6 17 (1.96%) Cisco Certification
6 17 (1.96%) Master's Degree
7 15 (1.73%) BPSS Clearance
7 15 (1.73%) CISSP
8 12 (1.38%) CompTIA Security+
9 11 (1.27%) A+ Certification
9 11 (1.27%) CCNA
10 10 (1.15%) PMI Certification
11 9 (1.04%) ACCA
11 9 (1.04%) AWS Certification
11 9 (1.04%) CIMA
11 9 (1.04%) CISMP
11 9 (1.04%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 9 (1.04%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 57 (6.56%) QA
2 39 (4.49%) Data Quality
3 28 (3.22%) GDPR
4 25 (2.88%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 13 (1.50%) Actionable Recommendations
6 10 (1.15%) NIST
6 10 (1.15%) SLA
7 9 (1.04%) Cyber Essentials
8 8 (0.92%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 5 (0.58%) Accessibility
9 5 (0.58%) COSHH
9 5 (0.58%) GMP
9 5 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 3 (0.35%) HIPAA
11 2 (0.23%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.23%) ISO 20022
11 2 (0.23%) ISO/IEC 19770
11 2 (0.23%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 2 (0.23%) PCI DSS
11 2 (0.23%) PMO
System Software
1 103 (11.85%) Active Directory
2 23 (2.65%) Docker
3 16 (1.84%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (1.27%) Hyper-V
5 9 (1.04%) vSphere
6 4 (0.46%) Firmware
7 2 (0.23%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (0.23%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.23%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 41 (4.72%) Microsoft Intune
2 24 (2.76%) Kubernetes
3 16 (1.84%) Terraform
4 8 (0.92%) Ansible
5 7 (0.81%) Nmap
6 5 (0.58%) Grafana
6 5 (0.58%) SCCM
7 4 (0.46%) Nagios
8 2 (0.23%) Prometheus
8 2 (0.23%) Single Sign-On
9 1 (0.12%) Argo
9 1 (0.12%) Autotask
9 1 (0.12%) AWS Copilot
9 1 (0.12%) CA Service Virtualization
9 1 (0.12%) FortiGate
9 1 (0.12%) Progress Chef
9 1 (0.12%) Puppet
9 1 (0.12%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 243 (27.96%) Microsoft
2 61 (7.02%) SAP
3 51 (5.87%) Oracle
4 37 (4.26%) Cisco
5 31 (3.57%) Salesforce
6 19 (2.19%) VMware
7 17 (1.96%) Google
8 15 (1.73%) ServiceNow
9 12 (1.38%) HP
10 9 (1.04%) Databricks
10 9 (1.04%) Meraki
10 9 (1.04%) Sage
11 7 (0.81%) Epicor
11 7 (0.81%) Infor
12 6 (0.69%) Dell
12 6 (0.69%) Freshdesk
12 6 (0.69%) SolarWinds
13 5 (0.58%) Panasonic
13 5 (0.58%) Samsung
13 5 (0.58%) Zscaler