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

6 months to
10 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 22 2 5
Rank change year-on-year -20 +3 +4
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 901 1,028 1,608
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 7.82% 21.35% 14.74%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.48% 23.81% 17.87%
Number of salaries quoted 697 600 1,212
10th Percentile £26,000 £26,250 £25,000
25th Percentile £28,500 £32,500 £29,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £40,000 £47,500 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year -15.79% +11.76% -15.00%
75th Percentile £57,500 £61,904 £57,500
90th Percentile £67,850 £73,750 £69,000
England median annual salary £47,500 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -13.64% +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 8,597 4,318 8,999
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 74.61% 89.68% 82.51%
Number of salaries quoted 5,063 2,585 6,969
10th Percentile £28,250 £28,822 £26,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £36,250 £34,834
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £51,500 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -2.91% +8.42% -9.52%
75th Percentile £65,640 £65,000 £62,200
90th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £75,000
England median annual salary £57,500 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -4.17% +9.09% -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 10 April 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 10 April 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 -25 536 £42,500 -19.05% 278
East Midlands -3 362 £35,000 -12.50% 199
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 58 (6.44%) SharePoint
2 39 (4.33%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (0.89%) CMS
4 5 (0.55%) Exchange Server 2007
4 5 (0.55%) Exchange Server 2010
4 5 (0.55%) Exchange Server 2013
4 5 (0.55%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 3 (0.33%) IIS
5 3 (0.33%) Skype for Business
6 2 (0.22%) Confluence
7 1 (0.11%) Apache
7 1 (0.11%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.11%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.11%) Appian
7 1 (0.11%) Drupal
7 1 (0.11%) NServiceBus
7 1 (0.11%) SAS
7 1 (0.11%) WordPress
Applications
1 60 (6.66%) Microsoft Excel
2 55 (6.10%) Microsoft Office
3 15 (1.66%) Spreadsheet
4 10 (1.11%) Microsoft Project
5 7 (0.78%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.78%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.44%) AutoCAD
6 4 (0.44%) Fusion 360
7 2 (0.22%) SOLIDWORKS
7 2 (0.22%) Trello
8 1 (0.11%) Abaqus
8 1 (0.11%) EPLAN
8 1 (0.11%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 23 (2.55%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (1.11%) iTrent
3 8 (0.89%) NetSuite
4 6 (0.67%) SAP S/4HANA
5 5 (0.55%) Q-Pulse
6 4 (0.44%) SAP Business One
7 3 (0.33%) Dynamics NAV
7 3 (0.33%) IBM Planning Analytics
7 3 (0.33%) SAP Business ByDesign
8 2 (0.22%) SAP MM
8 2 (0.22%) Shopify
9 1 (0.11%) Cognos Controller
9 1 (0.11%) Exchequer
9 1 (0.11%) HFM
9 1 (0.11%) Line 50
9 1 (0.11%) Oracle EBS
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
1 198 (21.98%) Microsoft 365
2 188 (20.87%) Azure
3 80 (8.88%) AWS
4 75 (8.32%) Power Platform
5 63 (6.99%) Entra ID
6 51 (5.66%) SaaS
7 33 (3.66%) Serverless
8 22 (2.44%) Dynamics 365
9 21 (2.33%) Amazon S3
9 21 (2.33%) AWS Lambda
10 18 (2.00%) Power Automate
11 15 (1.66%) GCP
12 13 (1.44%) Google Workspace
12 13 (1.44%) OneDrive
12 13 (1.44%) PowerApps
13 11 (1.22%) Azure Data Factory
14 9 (1.00%) Azure DevOps
15 8 (0.89%) Azure Sentinel
15 8 (0.89%) OCI
16 6 (0.67%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 62 (6.88%) DNS
2 58 (6.44%) DHCP
3 48 (5.33%) VPN
4 38 (4.22%) WAN
5 36 (4.00%) Firewall
6 25 (2.77%) LAN
7 24 (2.66%) Internet
8 22 (2.44%) Wi-Fi
9 19 (2.11%) TCP/IP
10 16 (1.78%) Remote Desktop
10 16 (1.78%) SD-WAN
11 13 (1.44%) Wireless
12 12 (1.33%) VoIP
13 9 (1.00%) VLAN
14 7 (0.78%) Network Security
15 6 (0.67%) Broadband
16 5 (0.55%) WLAN
17 4 (0.44%) ADSL
17 4 (0.44%) Ethernet
17 4 (0.44%) VDSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 66 (7.33%) Power BI
2 38 (4.22%) SQL Server
3 17 (1.89%) MySQL
4 16 (1.78%) Power Query
5 15 (1.66%) Oracle Reports
5 15 (1.66%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 15 (1.66%) Tableau
6 13 (1.44%) Amazon Redshift
7 12 (1.33%) PostgreSQL
8 10 (1.11%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 8 (0.89%) Data Warehouse
10 7 (0.78%) NoSQL
10 7 (0.78%) Relational Database
11 6 (0.67%) Azure SQL Database
11 6 (0.67%) Star Schema
12 5 (0.55%) DynamoDB
12 5 (0.55%) Metadata
13 4 (0.44%) Amazon RDS
13 4 (0.44%) Data Mining
14 3 (0.33%) Crystal Reports
Development Applications
1 25 (2.77%) Git
1 25 (2.77%) JIRA
2 7 (0.78%) Burp Suite
2 7 (0.78%) JUnit
2 7 (0.78%) Metasploit
3 6 (0.67%) GitLab
3 6 (0.67%) Jenkins
3 6 (0.67%) Subversion
4 5 (0.55%) Maven
4 5 (0.55%) Mockito
5 3 (0.33%) Appcelerator Titanium
6 2 (0.22%) Cucumber
6 2 (0.22%) Selenium
6 2 (0.22%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 2 (0.22%) VersionOne
6 2 (0.22%) Visual Studio
6 2 (0.22%) Visual Studio Code
6 2 (0.22%) XCUITest
7 1 (0.11%) MLflow
7 1 (0.11%) Vite
General
1 420 (46.61%) Social Skills
2 285 (31.63%) Analytical Skills
3 160 (17.76%) Finance
4 89 (9.88%) Manufacturing
5 69 (7.66%) Organisational Skills
6 65 (7.21%) Retail
7 48 (5.33%) Legal
8 45 (4.99%) Law
9 43 (4.77%) Marketing
10 37 (4.11%) Public Sector
11 36 (4.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 24 (2.66%) Automotive
13 21 (2.33%) Electronics
14 19 (2.11%) Documentation Skills
15 14 (1.55%) Banking
16 12 (1.33%) Games
16 12 (1.33%) Presentation Skills
17 11 (1.22%) Advertising
18 10 (1.11%) Aerospace
18 10 (1.11%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 153 (16.98%) IT Support
2 151 (16.76%) Analyst
3 137 (15.21%) Support Engineer
4 105 (11.65%) IT Engineer
5 88 (9.77%) IT Support Engineer
6 72 (7.99%) Developer
7 70 (7.77%) Senior
8 61 (6.77%) Lead
9 60 (6.66%) Support Analyst
10 50 (5.55%) Technical Support
11 43 (4.77%) Support Technician
12 41 (4.55%) Technical Engineer
12 41 (4.55%) Technical Support Engineer
13 36 (4.00%) 2nd Line Support
14 34 (3.77%) Administrator
14 34 (3.77%) Architect
15 31 (3.44%) IT Technician
16 29 (3.22%) Full-Stack Developer
17 28 (3.11%) Infrastructure Engineer
17 28 (3.11%) IT Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (4.33%) React
2 31 (3.44%) Node.js
3 30 (3.33%) CSS
3 30 (3.33%) HTML
4 18 (2.00%) REST
5 16 (1.78%) .NET
6 8 (0.89%) JSON
7 7 (0.78%) RESTful
7 7 (0.78%) Vue
8 6 (0.67%) Laravel
8 6 (0.67%) Spring
9 5 (0.55%) AngularJS
9 5 (0.55%) Middleware
9 5 (0.55%) Oracle Fusion
9 5 (0.55%) Spring Boot
10 4 (0.44%) .NET Framework
10 4 (0.44%) ASP.NET
10 4 (0.44%) Next.js
10 4 (0.44%) XML
11 3 (0.33%) Tailwind CSS
Miscellaneous
1 98 (10.88%) Driving Licence
2 62 (6.88%) Onboarding
3 38 (4.22%) Management Information System
4 34 (3.77%) Self-Motivation
5 21 (2.33%) Analytical Mindset
6 19 (2.11%) Social Media
7 17 (1.89%) Enterprise Software
8 15 (1.66%) FMCG
9 13 (1.44%) Legacy Systems
9 13 (1.44%) Product Ownership
10 12 (1.33%) Security Posture
11 10 (1.11%) IoT
12 9 (1.00%) Distributed Systems
12 9 (1.00%) EPoS
13 8 (0.89%) Data Centre
13 8 (0.89%) Data Structures
14 7 (0.78%) Cyber Defence
14 7 (0.78%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
14 7 (0.78%) Insider Threat
14 7 (0.78%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 163 (18.09%) Windows
2 50 (5.55%) Windows Server
3 42 (4.66%) Linux
4 41 (4.55%) Windows 10
5 14 (1.55%) Apple iOS
6 7 (0.78%) Ubuntu
7 5 (0.55%) Android
7 5 (0.55%) Debian
7 5 (0.55%) Windows 7
7 5 (0.55%) Windows Server 2019
8 4 (0.44%) CentOS
9 3 (0.33%) SUSE
9 3 (0.33%) Unix
10 2 (0.22%) FreeRTOS
10 2 (0.22%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.11%) Mac OS
11 1 (0.11%) Oracle Linux
11 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 183 (20.31%) Continuous Improvement
2 162 (17.98%) Customer Service
3 112 (12.43%) Agile
4 97 (10.77%) ITIL
5 92 (10.21%) Decision-Making
6 89 (9.88%) Mentoring
7 83 (9.21%) CRM
7 83 (9.21%) ERP
8 78 (8.66%) Analytics
9 72 (7.99%) Business Intelligence
10 68 (7.55%) Project Management
11 64 (7.10%) Process Improvement
12 58 (6.44%) Collaborative Working
12 58 (6.44%) Computer Science
13 57 (6.33%) Time Management
14 54 (5.99%) Roadmaps
15 53 (5.88%) Service Delivery
16 50 (5.55%) Migration
17 48 (5.33%) Cybersecurity
17 48 (5.33%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 138 (15.32%) SQL
2 53 (5.88%) Python
3 40 (4.44%) JavaScript
4 26 (2.89%) C#
5 24 (2.66%) Java
6 23 (2.55%) PowerShell
7 21 (2.33%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 17 (1.89%) PHP
8 17 (1.89%) T-SQL
9 14 (1.55%) C
10 13 (1.44%) TypeScript
11 12 (1.33%) Bash
11 12 (1.33%) Ladder Logic
12 7 (0.78%) R
13 6 (0.67%) C++
14 5 (0.55%) PL/SQL
14 5 (0.55%) VBA
15 3 (0.33%) Delphi
15 3 (0.33%) Go
15 3 (0.33%) VB
Qualifications
1 152 (16.87%) Degree
2 68 (7.55%) Security Cleared
3 53 (5.88%) SC Cleared
4 33 (3.66%) Microsoft Certification
5 27 (3.00%) Computer Science Degree
6 22 (2.44%) CISSP
6 22 (2.44%) DBS Check
7 19 (2.11%) CompTIA Security+
8 18 (2.00%) Cisco Certification
9 12 (1.33%) A+ Certification
9 12 (1.33%) ACCA
9 12 (1.33%) CCNA
9 12 (1.33%) CIMA
9 12 (1.33%) PMI Certification
10 10 (1.11%) PMP
11 9 (1.00%) BPSS Clearance
11 9 (1.00%) CISMP
12 8 (0.89%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 7 (0.78%) AWS Certification
13 7 (0.78%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 47 (5.22%) Data Quality
2 44 (4.88%) QA
3 30 (3.33%) GDPR
4 27 (3.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 21 (2.33%) NIST
6 14 (1.55%) Cyber Essentials
7 13 (1.44%) Actionable Recommendations
7 13 (1.44%) SLA
8 10 (1.11%) Accessibility
8 10 (1.11%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 6 (0.67%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 5 (0.55%) COSHH
10 5 (0.55%) GMP
10 5 (0.55%) HIPAA
11 3 (0.33%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 3 (0.33%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 3 (0.33%) SOC 2
12 2 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 19770
12 2 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 2 (0.22%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 110 (12.21%) Active Directory
2 23 (2.55%) Docker
2 23 (2.55%) VMware Infrastructure
3 12 (1.33%) Hyper-V
4 8 (0.89%) vSphere
5 5 (0.55%) Firmware
6 3 (0.33%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.22%) Embedded Firmware
7 2 (0.22%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (0.22%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.11%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 40 (4.44%) Microsoft Intune
2 24 (2.66%) Kubernetes
3 17 (1.89%) Terraform
4 7 (0.78%) Ansible
4 7 (0.78%) Nmap
5 5 (0.55%) Grafana
5 5 (0.55%) Nagios
5 5 (0.55%) SCCM
6 3 (0.33%) Galera Cluster
6 3 (0.33%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.33%) vCenter Server
7 2 (0.22%) Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.11%) Argo
8 1 (0.11%) FortiGate
8 1 (0.11%) Progress Chef
8 1 (0.11%) Puppet
8 1 (0.11%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 234 (25.97%) Microsoft
2 36 (4.00%) Oracle
3 35 (3.88%) Cisco
4 33 (3.66%) SAP
5 29 (3.22%) VMware
6 20 (2.22%) ServiceNow
7 16 (1.78%) Google
8 14 (1.55%) Salesforce
9 12 (1.33%) Databricks
9 12 (1.33%) HP
10 10 (1.11%) Freshdesk
10 10 (1.11%) Sage
11 9 (1.00%) Dell
11 9 (1.00%) Meraki
12 7 (0.78%) SolarWinds
13 6 (0.67%) Workday
13 6 (0.67%) Zscaler
14 5 (0.55%) Avaya
14 5 (0.55%) Epicor
14 5 (0.55%) HubSpot