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

6 months to
15 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -8 +1 +4
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 954 1,126 2,020
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 7.69% 22.41% 14.40%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.08% 25.20% 18.26%
Number of salaries quoted 712 633 1,187
10th Percentile £26,320 £25,267 £25,000
25th Percentile £29,625 £30,000 £28,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £41,500 £43,000 £40,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.49% +7.50% -15.79%
75th Percentile £56,250 £58,750 £57,500
90th Percentile £67,375 £67,500 £69,400
England median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £49,669
% change year-on-year -5.00% +0.67% -9.69%

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 8,608 4,468 11,062
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 69.41% 88.92% 78.83%
Number of salaries quoted 6,029 2,539 7,671
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,750 £26,250
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,500 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £51,300 £48,500 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year +5.77% +2.11% -9.52%
75th Percentile £67,500 £63,750 £62,500
90th Percentile £82,500 £75,250 £75,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -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 15 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 15 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 -9 543 £42,500 -5.56% 243
East Midlands -8 408 £35,000 -6.67% 169
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 (6.08%) SharePoint
2 42 (4.40%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (1.15%) CMS
4 7 (0.73%) IIS
5 5 (0.52%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 5 (0.52%) Skype for Business
6 4 (0.42%) Exchange Server 2007
6 4 (0.42%) Exchange Server 2010
6 4 (0.42%) Exchange Server 2013
7 3 (0.31%) WordPress
8 2 (0.21%) Confluence
9 1 (0.10%) Appian
9 1 (0.10%) Drupal
9 1 (0.10%) SAS
Applications
1 77 (8.07%) Microsoft Office
2 63 (6.60%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (1.47%) Spreadsheet
4 9 (0.94%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (0.63%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.52%) Fusion 360
7 4 (0.42%) MS Visio
8 1 (0.10%) AutoCAD
8 1 (0.10%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 11 (1.15%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (1.05%) SAP S/4HANA
3 9 (0.94%) IBM Planning Analytics
4 7 (0.73%) iTrent
4 7 (0.73%) SAP Business One
5 5 (0.52%) Magento
5 5 (0.52%) Q-Pulse
5 5 (0.52%) Shopify
6 4 (0.42%) Line 50
6 4 (0.42%) Sage 50
6 4 (0.42%) Sage X3
7 3 (0.31%) SAP Business ByDesign
8 2 (0.21%) NetSuite
8 2 (0.21%) Oracle EBS
9 1 (0.10%) Dynamics AX
9 1 (0.10%) Exchequer
9 1 (0.10%) JDE EnterpriseOne
9 1 (0.10%) SAP FI
9 1 (0.10%) SAP FI/CO
9 1 (0.10%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 202 (21.17%) Microsoft 365
2 172 (18.03%) Azure
3 88 (9.22%) Power Platform
4 81 (8.49%) AWS
5 68 (7.13%) Entra ID
6 29 (3.04%) SaaS
6 29 (3.04%) Serverless
7 24 (2.52%) Amazon S3
8 23 (2.41%) AWS Lambda
9 20 (2.10%) Dynamics 365
10 16 (1.68%) Power Automate
11 13 (1.36%) Google Workspace
11 13 (1.36%) OneDrive
11 13 (1.36%) PowerApps
12 10 (1.05%) GCP
12 10 (1.05%) Microsoft Copilot
13 9 (0.94%) Azure Data Factory
13 9 (0.94%) Azure DevOps
14 8 (0.84%) Amazon Cognito
14 8 (0.84%) Amazon SQS
Communications & Networking
1 54 (5.66%) DNS
1 54 (5.66%) Firewall
2 51 (5.35%) VPN
3 48 (5.03%) DHCP
4 34 (3.56%) WAN
5 31 (3.25%) TCP/IP
6 27 (2.83%) Wireless
7 23 (2.41%) VLAN
8 22 (2.31%) LAN
9 20 (2.10%) Wi-Fi
10 17 (1.78%) Internet
11 16 (1.68%) SD-WAN
12 14 (1.47%) VoIP
13 12 (1.26%) Network Security
14 8 (0.84%) MQTT
15 5 (0.52%) Skype
16 4 (0.42%) Bluetooth
16 4 (0.42%) LoRaWAN
17 3 (0.31%) Remote Desktop
17 3 (0.31%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 79 (8.28%) Power BI
2 33 (3.46%) SQL Server
3 19 (1.99%) Power Query
3 19 (1.99%) Tableau
4 17 (1.78%) MySQL
5 14 (1.47%) Amazon Redshift
6 13 (1.36%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 10 (1.05%) Relational Database
8 9 (0.94%) Data Warehouse
9 8 (0.84%) Azure SQL Database
9 8 (0.84%) DynamoDB
10 7 (0.73%) Star Schema
11 6 (0.63%) MongoDB
11 6 (0.63%) Oracle Reports
11 6 (0.63%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 5 (0.52%) Amazon RDS
12 5 (0.52%) NoSQL
13 4 (0.42%) Data Mining
13 4 (0.42%) FileMaker
13 4 (0.42%) Neo4j
Development Applications
1 19 (1.99%) Git
2 13 (1.36%) JIRA
3 8 (0.84%) JUnit
4 7 (0.73%) Burp Suite
4 7 (0.73%) Maven
4 7 (0.73%) Metasploit
4 7 (0.73%) Mockito
5 5 (0.52%) VersionOne
6 4 (0.42%) Subversion
7 3 (0.31%) Jenkins
8 2 (0.21%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 2 (0.21%) TeamCity
8 2 (0.21%) Visual Studio
8 2 (0.21%) XCUITest
9 1 (0.10%) Appium
9 1 (0.10%) Bugzilla
9 1 (0.10%) Carbide.c++
9 1 (0.10%) Oracle Forms
9 1 (0.10%) Postman
9 1 (0.10%) TestRail
General
1 433 (45.39%) Social Skills
2 297 (31.13%) Analytical Skills
3 165 (17.30%) Finance
4 114 (11.95%) Manufacturing
5 61 (6.39%) Organisational Skills
6 57 (5.97%) Retail
7 48 (5.03%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 40 (4.19%) Marketing
9 37 (3.88%) Legal
10 34 (3.56%) Law
11 31 (3.25%) Public Sector
12 27 (2.83%) Influencing Skills
13 23 (2.41%) Electronics
14 18 (1.89%) Documentation Skills
15 17 (1.78%) Automotive
16 13 (1.36%) Banking
16 13 (1.36%) Telecoms
17 11 (1.15%) Investment Banking
18 9 (0.94%) Advertising
19 8 (0.84%) Games
Job Titles
1 154 (16.14%) Analyst
2 141 (14.78%) Support Engineer
3 115 (12.05%) IT Support
4 91 (9.54%) Senior
5 85 (8.91%) Developer
6 84 (8.81%) IT Engineer
7 70 (7.34%) Technical Support
8 66 (6.92%) IT Support Engineer
9 64 (6.71%) Technical Engineer
9 64 (6.71%) Technical Support Engineer
10 54 (5.66%) Support Technician
11 49 (5.14%) Lead
12 37 (3.88%) Data Analyst
13 36 (3.77%) IT Technician
13 36 (3.77%) Support Analyst
14 33 (3.46%) IT Support Technician
15 32 (3.35%) Consultant
15 32 (3.35%) IT Manager
15 32 (3.35%) Senior Analyst
16 26 (2.73%) Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (4.61%) React
2 30 (3.14%) Node.js
2 30 (3.14%) REST
3 23 (2.41%) CSS
3 23 (2.41%) HTML
4 19 (1.99%) .NET
5 13 (1.36%) Spring
6 11 (1.15%) AngularJS
7 10 (1.05%) RESTful
7 10 (1.05%) Spring Boot
8 7 (0.73%) Middleware
9 5 (0.52%) ASP.NET
9 5 (0.52%) ASP.NET Core
9 5 (0.52%) EDI
9 5 (0.52%) SOAP
10 4 (0.42%) JDBC
10 4 (0.42%) JSON
10 4 (0.42%) OAuth
10 4 (0.42%) SAP Fiori
10 4 (0.42%) SAPUI5
Miscellaneous
1 91 (9.54%) Driving Licence
2 50 (5.24%) Management Information System
2 50 (5.24%) Onboarding
3 42 (4.40%) Self-Motivation
4 15 (1.57%) Analytical Mindset
4 15 (1.57%) Social Media
5 13 (1.36%) Enterprise Software
5 13 (1.36%) Security Posture
6 12 (1.26%) IoT
7 11 (1.15%) Greenfield Project
7 11 (1.15%) Legacy Systems
8 10 (1.05%) FMCG
9 9 (0.94%) Data Centre
9 9 (0.94%) Mobile App
9 9 (0.94%) Replication
9 9 (0.94%) Virtual Team
10 8 (0.84%) Data Structures
10 8 (0.84%) iSeries
10 8 (0.84%) SCADA
11 7 (0.73%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 156 (16.35%) Windows
2 59 (6.18%) Windows Server
3 55 (5.77%) Linux
4 49 (5.14%) Windows 10
5 11 (1.15%) Apple iOS
6 10 (1.05%) Android
6 10 (1.05%) Ubuntu
7 7 (0.73%) Debian
8 5 (0.52%) CentOS
8 5 (0.52%) Mac OS
8 5 (0.52%) Windows 7
9 4 (0.42%) FreeRTOS
9 4 (0.42%) Unix
9 4 (0.42%) VMS
10 3 (0.31%) SUSE
11 2 (0.21%) OpenVMS
11 2 (0.21%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 2 (0.21%) Windows Server 2012
12 1 (0.10%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.10%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 230 (24.11%) Continuous Improvement
2 160 (16.77%) Customer Service
3 133 (13.94%) Decision-Making
4 122 (12.79%) Agile
5 111 (11.64%) Analytics
6 103 (10.80%) Collaborative Working
7 101 (10.59%) Mentoring
8 89 (9.33%) ITIL
9 82 (8.60%) ERP
10 81 (8.49%) Business Intelligence
10 81 (8.49%) Service Delivery
11 77 (8.07%) Cybersecurity
12 71 (7.44%) Roadmaps
13 68 (7.13%) AI
13 68 (7.13%) Process Improvement
14 60 (6.29%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 58 (6.08%) Computer Science
16 55 (5.77%) CRM
17 54 (5.66%) Coaching
18 51 (5.35%) Customer Experience
Programming Languages
1 156 (16.35%) SQL
2 82 (8.60%) Python
3 41 (4.30%) PowerShell
4 33 (3.46%) Java
5 29 (3.04%) JavaScript
6 23 (2.41%) C#
7 22 (2.31%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 17 (1.78%) TypeScript
9 16 (1.68%) Ladder Logic
10 15 (1.57%) Bash
11 13 (1.36%) PHP
12 12 (1.26%) VBA
13 11 (1.15%) C
14 8 (0.84%) C++
14 8 (0.84%) PL/SQL
14 8 (0.84%) R
15 7 (0.73%) RPG
15 7 (0.73%) T-SQL
16 6 (0.63%) Go
17 4 (0.42%) RPG/400
Qualifications
1 136 (14.26%) Degree
2 71 (7.44%) Security Cleared
3 55 (5.77%) SC Cleared
4 33 (3.46%) Microsoft Certification
5 29 (3.04%) DBS Check
6 22 (2.31%) Computer Science Degree
7 19 (1.99%) CISSP
8 16 (1.68%) CompTIA Security+
9 14 (1.47%) Cisco Certification
10 11 (1.15%) A+ Certification
11 10 (1.05%) ACCA
11 10 (1.05%) CIMA
11 10 (1.05%) PMI Certification
12 9 (0.94%) Azure Certification
12 9 (0.94%) BPSS Clearance
12 9 (0.94%) CCNA
13 8 (0.84%) PMP
14 7 (0.73%) CISA
14 7 (0.73%) MCSE
14 7 (0.73%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (4.51%) Data Quality
2 38 (3.98%) QA
3 36 (3.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 31 (3.25%) Cyber Essentials
5 30 (3.14%) GDPR
6 22 (2.31%) NIST
6 22 (2.31%) SLA
7 14 (1.47%) Accessibility
8 13 (1.36%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 11 (1.15%) ISO 9001
10 10 (1.05%) Actionable Recommendations
11 9 (0.94%) ISO 14001
12 7 (0.73%) PCI DSS
13 6 (0.63%) GRC
13 6 (0.63%) ISO/IEC 20000
14 5 (0.52%) COSHH
14 5 (0.52%) GMP
15 4 (0.42%) HIPAA
15 4 (0.42%) Sarbanes-Oxley
16 3 (0.31%) SOC 2
System Software
1 118 (12.37%) Active Directory
2 29 (3.04%) VMware Infrastructure
3 27 (2.83%) Hyper-V
4 23 (2.41%) Docker
5 10 (1.05%) vSphere
6 8 (0.84%) Firmware
7 4 (0.42%) Embedded Firmware
7 4 (0.42%) Virtual Desktop
7 4 (0.42%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.21%) VMware ESXi
9 1 (0.10%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.10%) Samba
9 1 (0.10%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 40 (4.19%) Microsoft Intune
2 22 (2.31%) Kubernetes
3 14 (1.47%) Terraform
4 9 (0.94%) Ansible
5 7 (0.73%) Nmap
6 5 (0.52%) Grafana
6 5 (0.52%) Nagios
7 4 (0.42%) Functional Safety
7 4 (0.42%) Galera Cluster
7 4 (0.42%) Prometheus
7 4 (0.42%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.31%) SCCM
8 3 (0.31%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.21%) Progress Chef
9 2 (0.21%) Puppet
10 1 (0.10%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.10%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 257 (26.94%) Microsoft
2 37 (3.88%) VMware
3 33 (3.46%) SAP
4 30 (3.14%) Cisco
5 23 (2.41%) Oracle
6 17 (1.78%) Sage
7 16 (1.68%) Google
7 16 (1.68%) IBM
8 15 (1.57%) Salesforce
9 12 (1.26%) Cognos
9 12 (1.26%) Dell
9 12 (1.26%) Workday
10 11 (1.15%) SolarWinds
11 10 (1.05%) ServiceNow
12 9 (0.94%) Databricks
13 8 (0.84%) HP
13 8 (0.84%) Meraki
14 7 (0.73%) Apple
14 7 (0.73%) Red Hat
15 6 (0.63%) Avaya