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

6 months to
4 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 9 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -6 +1 +4
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,450 1,205 1,422
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 9.19% 21.34% 14.78%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.07% 24.56% 18.47%
Number of salaries quoted 983 683 492
10th Percentile £27,314 £25,375 £26,750
25th Percentile £30,875 £29,000 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £38,000 £48,754
Median % change year-on-year +11.84% -22.06% -0.50%
75th Percentile £56,250 £50,000 £60,000
90th Percentile £71,250 £65,000 £72,500
England median annual salary £46,000 £45,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +2.22% -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 11,091 4,906 7,700
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 70.26% 86.88% 80.02%
Number of salaries quoted 7,845 2,837 3,622
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,175 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,500 £36,762
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £51,000 £46,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.87% -8.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £65,000 £63,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £78,750
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -2.44%

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 4 October 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 4 October 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 -7 815 £42,500 - 840
East Midlands -7 633 £41,750 +28.46% 561
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 70 (4.83%) SharePoint
2 42 (2.90%) Microsoft Exchange
3 14 (0.97%) IIS
4 10 (0.69%) CMS
5 8 (0.55%) Confluence
6 6 (0.41%) CICS
7 4 (0.28%) SAS
7 4 (0.28%) WordPress
8 3 (0.21%) Apache Airflow
8 3 (0.21%) Headless CMS
8 3 (0.21%) Oracle Workflow
8 3 (0.21%) Skype for Business
9 2 (0.14%) Documentum
10 1 (0.069%) Apache
10 1 (0.069%) Appian
10 1 (0.069%) Jupyter
10 1 (0.069%) Oracle SOA Suite
10 1 (0.069%) Tomcat
10 1 (0.069%) Umbraco
Applications
1 127 (8.76%) Microsoft Office
2 105 (7.24%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (0.83%) Spreadsheet
4 11 (0.76%) Simulink
5 9 (0.62%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 8 (0.55%) OrCAD
7 5 (0.34%) AutoCAD
7 5 (0.34%) EPLAN
8 4 (0.28%) Microsoft Project
8 4 (0.28%) Revit
9 3 (0.21%) Fusion 360
9 3 (0.21%) Navisworks
9 3 (0.21%) SOLIDWORKS
10 2 (0.14%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 2 (0.14%) Chatbot
10 2 (0.14%) MS Visio
11 1 (0.069%) LaTeX
11 1 (0.069%) Photoshop
11 1 (0.069%) Siemens NX
11 1 (0.069%) SketchUp
Business Applications
1 18 (1.24%) Dynamics CRM
2 14 (0.97%) SAP S/4HANA
3 13 (0.90%) IBM Planning Analytics
4 12 (0.83%) Shopify
5 11 (0.76%) SAP Business One
6 10 (0.69%) NetSuite
7 9 (0.62%) JDE EnterpriseOne
8 7 (0.48%) Sage X3
9 6 (0.41%) Dynamics AX
9 6 (0.41%) Magento
10 5 (0.34%) Oracle EBS
10 5 (0.34%) Oracle ERP
10 5 (0.34%) Payment Gateway
10 5 (0.34%) Sage 50
10 5 (0.34%) Salesforce CRM
11 4 (0.28%) Oracle Payables
12 3 (0.21%) Infor CloudSuite
12 3 (0.21%) Infor LN
12 3 (0.21%) Infor M3
12 3 (0.21%) Oracle Cash Management
Cloud Services
1 268 (18.48%) Microsoft 365
2 242 (16.69%) Azure
3 129 (8.90%) Power Platform
4 97 (6.69%) Entra ID
5 83 (5.72%) AWS
6 58 (4.00%) SaaS
7 41 (2.83%) Azure DevOps
8 36 (2.48%) Dynamics 365
9 23 (1.59%) GitHub
9 23 (1.59%) Power Automate
10 22 (1.52%) Google Workspace
10 22 (1.52%) OneDrive
11 19 (1.31%) GitHub Actions
12 18 (1.24%) Microsoft Purview
12 18 (1.24%) PowerApps
13 17 (1.17%) Microsoft Copilot
14 16 (1.10%) GCP
15 13 (0.90%) Google Analytics
15 13 (0.90%) PaaS
16 10 (0.69%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 78 (5.38%) DNS
2 65 (4.48%) Firewall
3 64 (4.41%) DHCP
4 62 (4.28%) VPN
5 53 (3.66%) TCP/IP
6 34 (2.34%) Wireless
7 33 (2.28%) VLAN
8 32 (2.21%) WAN
9 31 (2.14%) LAN
10 28 (1.93%) Wi-Fi
11 19 (1.31%) Network Security
12 15 (1.03%) VoIP
13 12 (0.83%) Internet
14 9 (0.62%) Modbus
14 9 (0.62%) Wireshark
15 7 (0.48%) Cisco IOS
15 7 (0.48%) Remote Desktop
16 6 (0.41%) SSL
17 5 (0.34%) Ethernet
17 5 (0.34%) MQTT
Database & Business Intelligence
1 119 (8.21%) Power BI
2 61 (4.21%) SQL Server
3 29 (2.00%) Relational Database
4 25 (1.72%) Data Warehouse
4 25 (1.72%) Tableau
5 22 (1.52%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 20 (1.38%) Azure SQL Database
7 19 (1.31%) Power Query
8 16 (1.10%) Electronic Patient Records
9 12 (0.83%) Data Mining
9 12 (0.83%) MySQL
9 12 (0.83%) Oracle Reports
9 12 (0.83%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 11 (0.76%) Crystal Reports
11 10 (0.69%) PostgreSQL
12 9 (0.62%) Data Lake
12 9 (0.62%) DynamoDB
13 8 (0.55%) Db2
14 6 (0.41%) Amazon Redshift
14 6 (0.41%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 47 (3.24%) Git
2 32 (2.21%) JIRA
3 28 (1.93%) Jenkins
4 9 (0.62%) Eclipse
5 8 (0.55%) GitLab
5 8 (0.55%) LabVIEW
6 7 (0.48%) Cucumber
6 7 (0.48%) Postman
6 7 (0.48%) Selenium
7 6 (0.41%) JMeter
7 6 (0.41%) Maven
8 5 (0.34%) JUnit
8 5 (0.34%) SoapUI
8 5 (0.34%) VersionOne
8 5 (0.34%) Zephyr
9 4 (0.28%) Burp Suite
9 4 (0.28%) Metasploit
10 3 (0.21%) Mockito
10 3 (0.21%) Subversion
11 2 (0.14%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 751 (51.79%) Social Skills
2 423 (29.17%) Analytical Skills
3 250 (17.24%) Manufacturing
4 232 (16.00%) Finance
5 135 (9.31%) Organisational Skills
6 109 (7.52%) Retail
7 81 (5.59%) Marketing
8 66 (4.55%) Public Sector
9 57 (3.93%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 54 (3.72%) Electronics
11 41 (2.83%) Legal
12 39 (2.69%) Law
13 38 (2.62%) Automotive
14 29 (2.00%) Influencing Skills
15 24 (1.66%) Telecoms
16 21 (1.45%) Aerospace
16 21 (1.45%) Documentation Skills
17 20 (1.38%) Presentation Skills
18 13 (0.90%) Billing
19 11 (0.76%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 186 (12.83%) Analyst
2 159 (10.97%) IT Support
3 147 (10.14%) Support Engineer
4 120 (8.28%) Senior
5 114 (7.86%) Developer
6 90 (6.21%) IT Engineer
7 84 (5.79%) Consultant
8 83 (5.72%) Lead
9 75 (5.17%) Technical Support
10 68 (4.69%) IT Support Engineer
11 64 (4.41%) Support Analyst
11 64 (4.41%) Technical Engineer
12 62 (4.28%) Technical Support Engineer
13 59 (4.07%) Support Technician
14 50 (3.45%) IT Technician
15 42 (2.90%) Data Analyst
16 40 (2.76%) Administrator
17 39 (2.69%) IT Manager
17 39 (2.69%) IT Support Technician
18 34 (2.34%) Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 58 (4.00%) REST
2 53 (3.66%) .NET
3 35 (2.41%) React
4 30 (2.07%) Spring
5 27 (1.86%) Spring Boot
6 26 (1.79%) SOAP
7 20 (1.38%) Node.js
8 16 (1.10%) CSS
8 16 (1.10%) HTML
8 16 (1.10%) ISPF
8 16 (1.10%) Terraform
9 15 (1.03%) RESTful
10 14 (0.97%) Playwright
11 12 (0.83%) AngularJS
11 12 (0.83%) EDI
12 11 (0.76%) SAP Fiori
12 11 (0.76%) XML
13 10 (0.69%) JSON
13 10 (0.69%) Middleware
13 10 (0.69%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 175 (12.07%) Driving Licence
2 108 (7.45%) Onboarding
3 84 (5.79%) Management Information System
4 74 (5.10%) Self-Motivation
5 50 (3.45%) Enterprise Software
6 41 (2.83%) Robotics
7 28 (1.93%) NHS
8 25 (1.72%) SCADA
9 21 (1.45%) Analytical Mindset
10 19 (1.31%) Data Centre
11 18 (1.24%) Legacy Applications
11 18 (1.24%) Social Media
12 17 (1.17%) IoT
12 17 (1.17%) Mainframe
12 17 (1.17%) SystemC
13 16 (1.10%) CMDB
13 16 (1.10%) FMCG
13 16 (1.10%) Legacy Systems
13 16 (1.10%) Virtual Team
14 15 (1.03%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 259 (17.86%) Windows
2 95 (6.55%) Windows Server
3 76 (5.24%) Linux
4 44 (3.03%) Windows 10
5 16 (1.10%) Android
6 12 (0.83%) Apple iOS
6 12 (0.83%) Mac OS
7 9 (0.62%) Unix
8 7 (0.48%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 5 (0.34%) OpenVMS
10 4 (0.28%) FreeRTOS
10 4 (0.28%) VMS
10 4 (0.28%) Windows Server 2016
11 3 (0.21%) Solaris
11 3 (0.21%) Ubuntu
12 2 (0.14%) Debian
13 1 (0.069%) AIX
13 1 (0.069%) CentOS
13 1 (0.069%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
13 1 (0.069%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 419 (28.90%) Continuous Improvement
2 299 (20.62%) Customer Service
3 187 (12.90%) Decision-Making
4 169 (11.66%) Agile
5 168 (11.59%) Analytics
6 143 (9.86%) Mentoring
7 138 (9.52%) ERP
8 129 (8.90%) Business Intelligence
9 125 (8.62%) Collaborative Working
10 123 (8.48%) Cybersecurity
11 118 (8.14%) Stakeholder Management
12 112 (7.72%) Project Delivery
13 104 (7.17%) AI
14 98 (6.76%) Project Management
14 98 (6.76%) Roadmaps
15 96 (6.62%) Service Delivery
16 94 (6.48%) ITIL
17 93 (6.41%) CRM
18 90 (6.21%) Validation
19 88 (6.07%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 222 (15.31%) SQL
2 99 (6.83%) Python
3 71 (4.90%) Java
4 58 (4.00%) PowerShell
5 49 (3.38%) JavaScript
6 41 (2.83%) C#
7 24 (1.66%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 22 (1.52%) C
9 21 (1.45%) TypeScript
10 19 (1.31%) Ladder Logic
11 17 (1.17%) Embedded C
12 16 (1.10%) COBOL
12 16 (1.10%) JCL
13 13 (0.90%) VBA
14 11 (0.76%) C++
14 11 (0.76%) MATLAB
15 10 (0.69%) Bash
15 10 (0.69%) R
16 9 (0.62%) ABAP
17 7 (0.48%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 222 (15.31%) Degree
2 101 (6.97%) Security Cleared
3 85 (5.86%) SC Cleared
4 47 (3.24%) HNC
5 46 (3.17%) HND
6 26 (1.79%) Azure Certification
6 26 (1.79%) DBS Check
7 22 (1.52%) Microsoft Certification
8 19 (1.31%) Cisco Certification
9 18 (1.24%) NVQ Level 3
10 16 (1.10%) Computer Science Degree
11 15 (1.03%) City & Guilds
12 14 (0.97%) PMI Certification
13 13 (0.90%) CCNA
14 12 (0.83%) NVQ Level 4
15 10 (0.69%) ACCA
16 9 (0.62%) CISSP
17 8 (0.55%) BPSS Clearance
17 8 (0.55%) Chartered Engineer
18 7 (0.48%) A+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 64 (4.41%) Data Quality
2 56 (3.86%) GDPR
3 52 (3.59%) QA
4 41 (2.83%) Cyber Essentials
5 40 (2.76%) SLA
6 31 (2.14%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 25 (1.72%) Accessibility
8 21 (1.45%) ISO 9001
9 10 (0.69%) PCI DSS
10 8 (0.55%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 8 (0.55%) ISO 14001
11 7 (0.48%) GRC
12 6 (0.41%) GMP
12 6 (0.41%) NIST
13 5 (0.34%) PMO
14 4 (0.28%) Actionable Recommendations
15 3 (0.21%) AQAP
15 3 (0.21%) COSHH
15 3 (0.21%) ISO 26262
15 3 (0.21%) ISO/IEC 17025
System Software
1 168 (11.59%) Active Directory
2 54 (3.72%) Hyper-V
3 30 (2.07%) VMware Infrastructure
4 27 (1.86%) Docker
5 21 (1.45%) Firmware
6 14 (0.97%) Virtual Desktop
7 13 (0.90%) Embedded Firmware
8 8 (0.55%) Virtual Machines
9 5 (0.34%) vSphere
10 2 (0.14%) Samba
10 2 (0.14%) XenApp
11 1 (0.069%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 52 (3.59%) Microsoft Intune
2 23 (1.59%) Kubernetes
3 11 (0.76%) SCCM
4 9 (0.62%) Single Sign-On
5 8 (0.55%) Ansible
6 7 (0.48%) Functional Safety
7 6 (0.41%) Backup Exec
8 4 (0.28%) BMC PATROL
8 4 (0.28%) Grafana
8 4 (0.28%) Nmap
8 4 (0.28%) Prometheus
9 3 (0.21%) Control-M
9 3 (0.21%) Jamf Pro
9 3 (0.21%) Progress Chef
9 3 (0.21%) Puppet
9 3 (0.21%) WhatsUp Gold
10 2 (0.14%) WSUS
11 1 (0.069%) FortiGate
11 1 (0.069%) Nagios
11 1 (0.069%) NetBackup
Vendors
1 452 (31.17%) Microsoft
2 68 (4.69%) SAP
3 45 (3.10%) Workday
4 42 (2.90%) Oracle
5 40 (2.76%) Google
5 40 (2.76%) VMware
6 33 (2.28%) Cisco
7 32 (2.21%) ServiceNow
8 26 (1.79%) Sage
9 24 (1.66%) Salesforce
10 20 (1.38%) IBM
11 19 (1.31%) Cognos
12 15 (1.03%) Allen-Bradley
13 13 (0.90%) JD Edwards
13 13 (0.90%) Siemens
14 12 (0.83%) Databricks
14 12 (0.83%) EMC
15 11 (0.76%) Apple
15 11 (0.76%) HubSpot
15 11 (0.76%) Veeam