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 12 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -7 +1 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,297 1,238 1,441
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 8.51% 21.87% 14.29%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.24% 25.68% 18.32%
Number of salaries quoted 910 713 558
10th Percentile £26,975 £25,250 £25,750
25th Percentile £30,563 £29,000 £32,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £38,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +11.84% -15.56% -8.63%
75th Percentile £57,375 £51,250 £59,000
90th Percentile £71,250 £65,000 £71,250
England median annual salary £47,085 £45,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +4.63% -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 10,596 4,821 7,866
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 69.55% 85.18% 77.98%
Number of salaries quoted 7,560 2,893 4,132
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £28,750
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,500 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £47,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.53% -5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £65,000 £63,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £77,400
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -8.00%

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 12 September 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 12 September 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 -8 715 £42,500 -4.59% 530
East Midlands -8 580 £41,250 +17.86% 364
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 67 (5.17%) SharePoint
2 42 (3.24%) Microsoft Exchange
3 15 (1.16%) IIS
4 9 (0.69%) Confluence
5 5 (0.39%) CMS
5 5 (0.39%) Skype for Business
6 4 (0.31%) CICS
6 4 (0.31%) SAS
7 3 (0.23%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.23%) Oracle Workflow
7 3 (0.23%) WordPress
8 2 (0.15%) Documentum
9 1 (0.077%) Apache
9 1 (0.077%) Appian
9 1 (0.077%) Headless CMS
9 1 (0.077%) Jupyter
9 1 (0.077%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 1 (0.077%) Tomcat
Applications
1 114 (8.79%) Microsoft Office
2 86 (6.63%) Microsoft Excel
3 11 (0.85%) Spreadsheet
4 10 (0.77%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 9 (0.69%) Simulink
6 6 (0.46%) AutoCAD
6 6 (0.46%) Fusion 360
7 4 (0.31%) Microsoft Project
7 4 (0.31%) Revit
8 3 (0.23%) EPLAN
8 3 (0.23%) Navisworks
9 2 (0.15%) Chatbot
9 2 (0.15%) MS Visio
9 2 (0.15%) OrCAD
9 2 (0.15%) SOLIDWORKS
10 1 (0.077%) Adobe Illustrator
10 1 (0.077%) Autodesk Inventor
10 1 (0.077%) CorelDRAW
10 1 (0.077%) Photoshop
10 1 (0.077%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 19 (1.46%) Dynamics CRM
2 15 (1.16%) SAP S/4HANA
3 14 (1.08%) IBM Planning Analytics
4 12 (0.93%) SAP Business One
5 11 (0.85%) Shopify
6 10 (0.77%) NetSuite
7 9 (0.69%) JDE EnterpriseOne
8 7 (0.54%) Sage X3
9 6 (0.46%) Dynamics AX
10 5 (0.39%) Magento
10 5 (0.39%) Oracle EBS
10 5 (0.39%) Oracle ERP
10 5 (0.39%) Sage 50
10 5 (0.39%) Salesforce CRM
11 4 (0.31%) Line 50
11 4 (0.31%) Oracle Payables
12 3 (0.23%) Infor CloudSuite
12 3 (0.23%) Infor LN
12 3 (0.23%) Infor M3
12 3 (0.23%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 253 (19.51%) Microsoft 365
2 228 (17.58%) Azure
3 127 (9.79%) Power Platform
4 87 (6.71%) AWS
4 87 (6.71%) Entra ID
5 52 (4.01%) SaaS
6 35 (2.70%) Azure DevOps
6 35 (2.70%) Dynamics 365
7 25 (1.93%) Power Automate
8 19 (1.46%) GitHub
9 18 (1.39%) PowerApps
10 17 (1.31%) Microsoft Copilot
10 17 (1.31%) Microsoft Purview
11 16 (1.23%) GCP
12 15 (1.16%) GitHub Actions
12 15 (1.16%) OneDrive
13 14 (1.08%) Google Workspace
14 13 (1.00%) Serverless
15 12 (0.93%) PaaS
16 10 (0.77%) Amazon S3
Communications & Networking
1 71 (5.47%) DNS
2 66 (5.09%) Firewall
3 57 (4.39%) DHCP
3 57 (4.39%) VPN
4 51 (3.93%) TCP/IP
5 35 (2.70%) Wireless
6 32 (2.47%) VLAN
7 28 (2.16%) LAN
7 28 (2.16%) WAN
8 25 (1.93%) Wi-Fi
9 20 (1.54%) Network Security
10 17 (1.31%) VoIP
11 8 (0.62%) MQTT
12 7 (0.54%) Cisco IOS
12 7 (0.54%) Internet
12 7 (0.54%) Remote Desktop
12 7 (0.54%) Wireshark
13 6 (0.46%) Modbus
13 6 (0.46%) SD-WAN
13 6 (0.46%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 118 (9.10%) Power BI
2 51 (3.93%) SQL Server
3 29 (2.24%) Relational Database
4 27 (2.08%) Tableau
5 22 (1.70%) Data Warehouse
5 22 (1.70%) Power Query
6 20 (1.54%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 18 (1.39%) MySQL
8 16 (1.23%) Electronic Patient Records
9 14 (1.08%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 13 (1.00%) Data Mining
11 12 (0.93%) Azure SQL Database
12 11 (0.85%) Crystal Reports
13 10 (0.77%) DynamoDB
14 9 (0.69%) Oracle Reports
15 8 (0.62%) PostgreSQL
16 7 (0.54%) Data Lake
17 6 (0.46%) Amazon Redshift
17 6 (0.46%) MongoDB
18 5 (0.39%) Amazon RDS
Development Applications
1 47 (3.62%) Git
2 33 (2.54%) JIRA
3 24 (1.85%) Jenkins
4 7 (0.54%) Cucumber
4 7 (0.54%) Eclipse
5 6 (0.46%) GitLab
5 6 (0.46%) JMeter
5 6 (0.46%) Maven
5 6 (0.46%) Postman
5 6 (0.46%) Selenium
6 5 (0.39%) JUnit
6 5 (0.39%) LabVIEW
6 5 (0.39%) SoapUI
6 5 (0.39%) VersionOne
6 5 (0.39%) Zephyr
7 4 (0.31%) Burp Suite
7 4 (0.31%) Metasploit
8 3 (0.23%) Mockito
8 3 (0.23%) Subversion
9 2 (0.15%) Bitbucket
General
1 656 (50.58%) Social Skills
2 377 (29.07%) Analytical Skills
3 214 (16.50%) Finance
4 210 (16.19%) Manufacturing
5 94 (7.25%) Retail
6 92 (7.09%) Organisational Skills
7 72 (5.55%) Marketing
8 54 (4.16%) Public Sector
9 53 (4.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 43 (3.32%) Law
11 40 (3.08%) Electronics
11 40 (3.08%) Legal
12 30 (2.31%) Influencing Skills
13 28 (2.16%) Automotive
14 19 (1.46%) Documentation Skills
15 17 (1.31%) Telecoms
16 11 (0.85%) Banking
17 10 (0.77%) Presentation Skills
18 9 (0.69%) Aerospace
18 9 (0.69%) Billing
Job Titles
1 180 (13.88%) Analyst
2 141 (10.87%) IT Support
3 130 (10.02%) Support Engineer
4 115 (8.87%) Developer
5 103 (7.94%) Senior
6 78 (6.01%) Consultant
7 77 (5.94%) IT Engineer
7 77 (5.94%) Lead
8 76 (5.86%) Technical Support
9 65 (5.01%) Technical Engineer
10 64 (4.93%) Support Analyst
11 63 (4.86%) Technical Support Engineer
12 57 (4.39%) Support Technician
13 55 (4.24%) IT Support Engineer
14 49 (3.78%) IT Technician
15 42 (3.24%) IT Manager
16 41 (3.16%) IT Support Technician
17 38 (2.93%) Data Analyst
18 34 (2.62%) Administrator
19 32 (2.47%) Senior Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 54 (4.16%) REST
2 44 (3.39%) .NET
3 39 (3.01%) React
4 28 (2.16%) Spring
5 25 (1.93%) Spring Boot
6 23 (1.77%) SOAP
7 22 (1.70%) Node.js
8 19 (1.46%) CSS
8 19 (1.46%) HTML
9 16 (1.23%) RESTful
9 16 (1.23%) Terraform
10 14 (1.08%) AngularJS
10 14 (1.08%) Playwright
11 12 (0.93%) EDI
11 12 (0.93%) ISPF
11 12 (0.93%) JSON
11 12 (0.93%) XML
12 11 (0.85%) Middleware
13 10 (0.77%) SAP Fiori
14 9 (0.69%) SAPUI5
Miscellaneous
1 147 (11.33%) Driving Licence
2 95 (7.32%) Onboarding
3 76 (5.86%) Management Information System
4 65 (5.01%) Self-Motivation
5 37 (2.85%) Enterprise Software
6 33 (2.54%) Robotics
7 28 (2.16%) NHS
8 20 (1.54%) Analytical Mindset
9 19 (1.46%) Data Centre
9 19 (1.46%) IoT
10 17 (1.31%) SystemC
10 17 (1.31%) Virtual Team
11 16 (1.23%) Greenfield Project
11 16 (1.23%) Legacy Applications
12 15 (1.16%) SCADA
13 13 (1.00%) CMDB
13 13 (1.00%) Data Structures
13 13 (1.00%) Mainframe
14 12 (0.93%) Legacy Systems
14 12 (0.93%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 230 (17.73%) Windows
2 83 (6.40%) Windows Server
3 81 (6.25%) Linux
4 43 (3.32%) Windows 10
5 18 (1.39%) Android
6 14 (1.08%) Apple iOS
7 10 (0.77%) Mac OS
7 10 (0.77%) Unix
8 6 (0.46%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 6 (0.46%) Ubuntu
9 5 (0.39%) OpenVMS
10 4 (0.31%) FreeRTOS
10 4 (0.31%) VMS
11 3 (0.23%) Windows Server 2016
12 2 (0.15%) Debian
12 2 (0.15%) Solaris
13 1 (0.077%) CentOS
13 1 (0.077%) Windows 7
13 1 (0.077%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 382 (29.45%) Continuous Improvement
2 254 (19.58%) Customer Service
3 179 (13.80%) Decision-Making
4 159 (12.26%) Agile
4 159 (12.26%) Analytics
5 136 (10.49%) Mentoring
6 129 (9.95%) ERP
7 125 (9.64%) Business Intelligence
8 121 (9.33%) Collaborative Working
9 114 (8.79%) Cybersecurity
10 97 (7.48%) AI
10 97 (7.48%) Stakeholder Management
11 96 (7.40%) ITIL
12 95 (7.32%) Service Delivery
13 92 (7.09%) Project Delivery
13 92 (7.09%) Roadmaps
14 85 (6.55%) Project Management
15 82 (6.32%) CRM
16 79 (6.09%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 75 (5.78%) Collaborative Culture
Programming Languages
1 204 (15.73%) SQL
2 91 (7.02%) Python
3 69 (5.32%) Java
4 53 (4.09%) PowerShell
5 49 (3.78%) JavaScript
6 37 (2.85%) C#
7 29 (2.24%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 23 (1.77%) TypeScript
9 21 (1.62%) C
9 21 (1.62%) Ladder Logic
10 15 (1.16%) Embedded C
11 13 (1.00%) VBA
12 12 (0.93%) Bash
12 12 (0.93%) C++
12 12 (0.93%) COBOL
12 12 (0.93%) JCL
13 11 (0.85%) PHP
14 9 (0.69%) ABAP
14 9 (0.69%) MATLAB
15 8 (0.62%) R
Qualifications
1 197 (15.19%) Degree
2 98 (7.56%) Security Cleared
3 82 (6.32%) SC Cleared
4 33 (2.54%) HND
5 31 (2.39%) HNC
6 25 (1.93%) Microsoft Certification
7 24 (1.85%) Azure Certification
8 21 (1.62%) DBS Check
9 20 (1.54%) Cisco Certification
10 15 (1.16%) PMI Certification
11 14 (1.08%) CCNA
12 12 (0.93%) NVQ Level 4
13 11 (0.85%) Computer Science Degree
13 11 (0.85%) NVQ Level 3
14 10 (0.77%) CISSP
14 10 (0.77%) City & Guilds
15 8 (0.62%) ACCA
16 7 (0.54%) A+ Certification
16 7 (0.54%) Chartered Engineer
16 7 (0.54%) CIMA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 62 (4.78%) Data Quality
2 53 (4.09%) GDPR
3 47 (3.62%) QA
4 41 (3.16%) SLA
5 39 (3.01%) Cyber Essentials
6 34 (2.62%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 26 (2.00%) Accessibility
8 22 (1.70%) ISO 9001
9 9 (0.69%) ISO 14001
10 8 (0.62%) NIST
11 7 (0.54%) GRC
11 7 (0.54%) PCI DSS
12 6 (0.46%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 4 (0.31%) Actionable Recommendations
13 4 (0.31%) GMP
13 4 (0.31%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 3 (0.23%) AQAP
14 3 (0.23%) COSHH
14 3 (0.23%) HIPAA
14 3 (0.23%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 158 (12.18%) Active Directory
2 51 (3.93%) Hyper-V
3 30 (2.31%) VMware Infrastructure
4 26 (2.00%) Docker
5 20 (1.54%) Firmware
6 13 (1.00%) Virtual Desktop
7 11 (0.85%) Embedded Firmware
8 8 (0.62%) Virtual Machines
8 8 (0.62%) vSphere
9 2 (0.15%) Samba
9 2 (0.15%) XenApp
10 1 (0.077%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.077%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 49 (3.78%) Microsoft Intune
2 23 (1.77%) Kubernetes
3 10 (0.77%) SCCM
4 8 (0.62%) Ansible
5 6 (0.46%) Functional Safety
5 6 (0.46%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (0.39%) Grafana
7 4 (0.31%) BMC PATROL
7 4 (0.31%) Galera Cluster
7 4 (0.31%) Nmap
7 4 (0.31%) Prometheus
7 4 (0.31%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.23%) Control-M
8 3 (0.23%) Jamf Pro
8 3 (0.23%) Progress Chef
8 3 (0.23%) Puppet
8 3 (0.23%) WhatsUp Gold
9 2 (0.15%) WSUS
10 1 (0.077%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.077%) Nagios
Vendors
1 392 (30.22%) Microsoft
2 68 (5.24%) SAP
3 40 (3.08%) VMware
4 35 (2.70%) Oracle
5 34 (2.62%) Cisco
6 31 (2.39%) Workday
7 30 (2.31%) ServiceNow
8 24 (1.85%) Sage
9 22 (1.70%) Google
9 22 (1.70%) Salesforce
10 21 (1.62%) IBM
11 17 (1.31%) Cognos
12 15 (1.16%) Databricks
13 14 (1.08%) Allen-Bradley
14 12 (0.93%) Apple
14 12 (0.93%) HubSpot
14 12 (0.93%) JD Edwards
15 11 (0.85%) Sophos
16 10 (0.77%) Dell
16 10 (0.77%) Epicor