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

6 months to
15 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 1,511 1,173 1,435
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 9.61% 21.22% 15.39%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.55% 24.42% 19.08%
Number of salaries quoted 1,007 663 466
10th Percentile £27,377 £25,375 £27,500
25th Percentile £31,250 £29,000 £33,528
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £37,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +13.33% -25.00% +2.04%
75th Percentile £55,500 £48,875 £61,250
90th Percentile £71,250 £66,000 £73,125
England median annual salary £46,000 £45,000 £53,500
% change year-on-year +2.22% -15.89% -2.73%

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 11,153 4,803 7,520
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 70.96% 86.87% 80.63%
Number of salaries quoted 7,902 2,802 3,427
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £30,000
25th Percentile £39,000 £32,500 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £45,445 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.02% -9.11% -4.76%
75th Percentile £65,000 £63,750 £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% -1.32%

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 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 15 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 -5 848 £42,500 - 209
East Midlands -7 661 £42,250 +30.00% 138
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 71 (4.70%) SharePoint
2 41 (2.71%) Microsoft Exchange
3 14 (0.93%) IIS
4 10 (0.66%) CMS
5 8 (0.53%) Confluence
6 7 (0.46%) CICS
7 5 (0.33%) WordPress
8 4 (0.26%) SAS
9 3 (0.20%) Apache Airflow
9 3 (0.20%) Headless CMS
9 3 (0.20%) Oracle Workflow
10 2 (0.13%) Documentum
11 1 (0.066%) Apache
11 1 (0.066%) Jupyter
11 1 (0.066%) Oracle SOA Suite
11 1 (0.066%) Tomcat
11 1 (0.066%) Umbraco
Applications
1 135 (8.93%) Microsoft Office
2 115 (7.61%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (0.79%) Simulink
3 12 (0.79%) Spreadsheet
4 10 (0.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (0.66%) OrCAD
5 9 (0.60%) AutoCAD
6 7 (0.46%) EPLAN
7 5 (0.33%) Microsoft Project
7 5 (0.33%) Navisworks
7 5 (0.33%) Revit
8 4 (0.26%) Notion
9 3 (0.20%) Chatbot
9 3 (0.20%) SOLIDWORKS
10 2 (0.13%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 2 (0.13%) Fusion 360
10 2 (0.13%) MS Visio
11 1 (0.066%) Autodesk Inventor
11 1 (0.066%) Elementor
11 1 (0.066%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 18 (1.19%) Dynamics CRM
2 13 (0.86%) SAP S/4HANA
3 12 (0.79%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 12 (0.79%) NetSuite
3 12 (0.79%) Shopify
4 9 (0.60%) JDE EnterpriseOne
5 7 (0.46%) SAP Business One
6 6 (0.40%) Dynamics AX
6 6 (0.40%) Sage X3
7 5 (0.33%) Magento
7 5 (0.33%) Oracle ERP
7 5 (0.33%) Payment Gateway
7 5 (0.33%) Sage 50
7 5 (0.33%) Salesforce CRM
8 4 (0.26%) Maximo
8 4 (0.26%) Oracle EBS
9 3 (0.20%) Infor M3
9 3 (0.20%) SAP CO
9 3 (0.20%) SAP FI
9 3 (0.20%) SAP FI/CO
Cloud Services
1 265 (17.54%) Microsoft 365
2 252 (16.68%) Azure
3 128 (8.47%) Power Platform
4 99 (6.55%) Entra ID
5 79 (5.23%) AWS
6 58 (3.84%) SaaS
7 44 (2.91%) Azure DevOps
8 36 (2.38%) Dynamics 365
9 28 (1.85%) GitHub
10 24 (1.59%) Google Workspace
10 24 (1.59%) OneDrive
10 24 (1.59%) Power Automate
11 21 (1.39%) GitHub Actions
12 20 (1.32%) PowerApps
13 18 (1.19%) Microsoft Purview
14 17 (1.13%) Microsoft Copilot
15 15 (0.99%) GCP
16 14 (0.93%) Google Analytics
17 12 (0.79%) PaaS
18 9 (0.60%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 81 (5.36%) DNS
2 66 (4.37%) Firewall
3 65 (4.30%) VPN
4 64 (4.24%) DHCP
5 55 (3.64%) TCP/IP
6 36 (2.38%) WAN
7 35 (2.32%) LAN
8 34 (2.25%) VLAN
9 33 (2.18%) Wireless
10 30 (1.99%) Wi-Fi
11 19 (1.26%) Network Security
12 16 (1.06%) Internet
13 11 (0.73%) Modbus
14 10 (0.66%) VoIP
15 9 (0.60%) Wireshark
16 7 (0.46%) Cisco IOS
16 7 (0.46%) Remote Desktop
16 7 (0.46%) SSL
17 5 (0.33%) Ethernet
17 5 (0.33%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 115 (7.61%) Power BI
2 58 (3.84%) SQL Server
3 37 (2.45%) Relational Database
4 25 (1.65%) Data Warehouse
4 25 (1.65%) Tableau
5 22 (1.46%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 21 (1.39%) Azure SQL Database
7 17 (1.13%) Power Query
8 16 (1.06%) Electronic Patient Records
9 12 (0.79%) MySQL
9 12 (0.79%) Oracle Reports
9 12 (0.79%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 11 (0.73%) Crystal Reports
10 11 (0.73%) Data Mining
10 11 (0.73%) Db2
11 10 (0.66%) PostgreSQL
12 9 (0.60%) Data Lake
13 7 (0.46%) MongoDB
14 6 (0.40%) Amazon Redshift
14 6 (0.40%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 55 (3.64%) Git
2 34 (2.25%) JIRA
3 30 (1.99%) Jenkins
4 10 (0.66%) LabVIEW
5 9 (0.60%) Eclipse
5 9 (0.60%) GitLab
6 7 (0.46%) Cucumber
6 7 (0.46%) Postman
6 7 (0.46%) Selenium
7 6 (0.40%) JMeter
7 6 (0.40%) Maven
8 5 (0.33%) JUnit
8 5 (0.33%) SoapUI
8 5 (0.33%) Zephyr
9 4 (0.26%) Burp Suite
9 4 (0.26%) Metasploit
10 3 (0.20%) Mockito
11 2 (0.13%) Ant
11 2 (0.13%) Apache Ivy
11 2 (0.13%) Subversion
General
1 771 (51.03%) Social Skills
2 449 (29.72%) Analytical Skills
3 266 (17.60%) Manufacturing
4 237 (15.68%) Finance
5 145 (9.60%) Organisational Skills
6 110 (7.28%) Retail
7 83 (5.49%) Marketing
8 65 (4.30%) Public Sector
9 62 (4.10%) Electronics
10 57 (3.77%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 41 (2.71%) Automotive
11 41 (2.71%) Legal
12 40 (2.65%) Law
13 29 (1.92%) Influencing Skills
14 28 (1.85%) Telecoms
15 26 (1.72%) Aerospace
16 25 (1.65%) Presentation Skills
17 24 (1.59%) Documentation Skills
18 13 (0.86%) Billing
18 13 (0.86%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 177 (11.71%) Analyst
2 164 (10.85%) IT Support
3 154 (10.19%) Support Engineer
4 128 (8.47%) Senior
5 114 (7.54%) Developer
6 92 (6.09%) IT Engineer
7 87 (5.76%) Lead
8 82 (5.43%) Consultant
9 76 (5.03%) Technical Support
10 72 (4.77%) IT Support Engineer
11 65 (4.30%) Technical Engineer
12 63 (4.17%) Technical Support Engineer
13 60 (3.97%) Support Analyst
14 59 (3.90%) Support Technician
15 52 (3.44%) IT Technician
16 44 (2.91%) Administrator
17 40 (2.65%) Data Analyst
18 38 (2.51%) Infrastructure Engineer
18 38 (2.51%) IT Manager
18 38 (2.51%) IT Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 58 (3.84%) .NET
2 57 (3.77%) REST
3 33 (2.18%) React
4 31 (2.05%) Spring
5 28 (1.85%) Spring Boot
6 26 (1.72%) SOAP
7 18 (1.19%) ISPF
7 18 (1.19%) Node.js
7 18 (1.19%) Terraform
8 16 (1.06%) CSS
8 16 (1.06%) HTML
9 15 (0.99%) RESTful
10 14 (0.93%) Playwright
11 13 (0.86%) XML
12 12 (0.79%) AngularJS
12 12 (0.79%) EDI
12 12 (0.79%) Middleware
12 12 (0.79%) Web Services
13 11 (0.73%) ASP.NET
13 11 (0.73%) SAP Fiori
Miscellaneous
1 185 (12.24%) Driving Licence
2 116 (7.68%) Onboarding
3 89 (5.89%) Management Information System
4 84 (5.56%) Self-Motivation
5 54 (3.57%) Enterprise Software
6 49 (3.24%) Robotics
7 32 (2.12%) SCADA
8 29 (1.92%) NHS
9 22 (1.46%) Data Centre
9 22 (1.46%) Social Media
10 21 (1.39%) Analytical Mindset
11 20 (1.32%) FMCG
11 20 (1.32%) Legacy Applications
12 19 (1.26%) IoT
12 19 (1.26%) Legacy Systems
12 19 (1.26%) Mainframe
13 17 (1.13%) SystemC
14 16 (1.06%) CMDB
15 15 (0.99%) Cloud Native
15 15 (0.99%) Data Structures
Operating Systems
1 264 (17.47%) Windows
2 95 (6.29%) Windows Server
3 74 (4.90%) Linux
4 36 (2.38%) Windows 10
5 15 (0.99%) Android
6 13 (0.86%) Apple iOS
6 13 (0.86%) macOS
7 9 (0.60%) Unix
8 7 (0.46%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 5 (0.33%) OpenVMS
9 5 (0.33%) Windows Server 2016
10 4 (0.26%) VMS
11 3 (0.20%) Solaris
11 3 (0.20%) Ubuntu
12 2 (0.13%) Debian
12 2 (0.13%) FreeRTOS
13 1 (0.066%) AIX
13 1 (0.066%) CentOS
13 1 (0.066%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
13 1 (0.066%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 437 (28.92%) Continuous Improvement
2 307 (20.32%) Customer Service
3 199 (13.17%) Decision-Making
4 173 (11.45%) Analytics
5 167 (11.05%) Agile
6 150 (9.93%) Mentoring
7 135 (8.93%) Stakeholder Management
8 129 (8.54%) Collaborative Working
9 128 (8.47%) ERP
10 126 (8.34%) Project Delivery
11 124 (8.21%) Business Intelligence
12 119 (7.88%) Cybersecurity
13 109 (7.21%) AI
14 105 (6.95%) Project Management
15 104 (6.88%) Validation
16 102 (6.75%) Roadmaps
17 98 (6.49%) CRM
18 94 (6.22%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 91 (6.02%) Service Delivery
20 90 (5.96%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 230 (15.22%) SQL
2 96 (6.35%) Python
3 75 (4.96%) Java
4 57 (3.77%) PowerShell
5 52 (3.44%) JavaScript
6 44 (2.91%) C#
7 23 (1.52%) C
8 21 (1.39%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 19 (1.26%) Ladder Logic
9 19 (1.26%) TypeScript
10 18 (1.19%) COBOL
10 18 (1.19%) JCL
11 15 (0.99%) C++
11 15 (0.99%) Embedded C
12 13 (0.86%) VBA
13 12 (0.79%) MATLAB
14 10 (0.66%) Bash
14 10 (0.66%) R
15 9 (0.60%) ABAP
16 7 (0.46%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 233 (15.42%) Degree
2 102 (6.75%) Security Cleared
3 85 (5.63%) SC Cleared
4 57 (3.77%) HNC
5 55 (3.64%) HND
6 28 (1.85%) Azure Certification
6 28 (1.85%) DBS Check
7 22 (1.46%) Microsoft Certification
8 20 (1.32%) NVQ Level 3
9 19 (1.26%) Cisco Certification
10 16 (1.06%) City & Guilds
10 16 (1.06%) Computer Science Degree
11 14 (0.93%) CCNA
12 13 (0.86%) Chartered Engineer
12 13 (0.86%) PMI Certification
13 12 (0.79%) NVQ Level 4
14 10 (0.66%) ACCA
15 9 (0.60%) BPSS Clearance
16 8 (0.53%) A+ Certification
16 8 (0.53%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 77 (5.10%) Data Quality
2 56 (3.71%) GDPR
2 56 (3.71%) QA
3 41 (2.71%) Cyber Essentials
4 36 (2.38%) SLA
5 30 (1.99%) Accessibility
5 30 (1.99%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 20 (1.32%) ISO 9001
7 10 (0.66%) PCI DSS
8 8 (0.53%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 7 (0.46%) Actionable Recommendations
9 7 (0.46%) ISO 14001
10 6 (0.40%) GMP
10 6 (0.40%) GRC
10 6 (0.40%) PMO
11 5 (0.33%) NIST
12 3 (0.20%) AQAP
12 3 (0.20%) COSHH
12 3 (0.20%) ISO 26262
12 3 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 17025
System Software
1 165 (10.92%) Active Directory
2 56 (3.71%) Hyper-V
3 32 (2.12%) VMware Infrastructure
4 29 (1.92%) Docker
5 19 (1.26%) Firmware
6 15 (0.99%) Virtual Desktop
7 11 (0.73%) Embedded Firmware
8 8 (0.53%) Virtual Machines
9 5 (0.33%) vSphere
10 2 (0.13%) Samba
10 2 (0.13%) XenApp
11 1 (0.066%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 57 (3.77%) Microsoft Intune
2 25 (1.65%) Kubernetes
3 12 (0.79%) SCCM
4 9 (0.60%) Single Sign-On
5 8 (0.53%) Ansible
5 8 (0.53%) Functional Safety
6 6 (0.40%) Backup Exec
7 5 (0.33%) Jamf Pro
8 4 (0.26%) BMC PATROL
8 4 (0.26%) Grafana
8 4 (0.26%) Nmap
8 4 (0.26%) Prometheus
9 3 (0.20%) Control-M
9 3 (0.20%) Progress Chef
9 3 (0.20%) Puppet
9 3 (0.20%) WhatsUp Gold
10 2 (0.13%) WSUS
11 1 (0.066%) FortiGate
11 1 (0.066%) Nagios
11 1 (0.066%) NetBackup
Vendors
1 477 (31.57%) Microsoft
2 63 (4.17%) SAP
3 48 (3.18%) Workday
4 46 (3.04%) Google
5 42 (2.78%) Oracle
6 39 (2.58%) VMware
7 38 (2.51%) Cisco
8 32 (2.12%) ServiceNow
9 29 (1.92%) Salesforce
10 25 (1.65%) Sage
11 20 (1.32%) IBM
12 18 (1.19%) Cognos
13 17 (1.13%) EMC
14 15 (0.99%) Allen-Bradley
14 15 (0.99%) Siemens
15 13 (0.86%) JD Edwards
16 12 (0.79%) Apple
16 12 (0.79%) Databricks
17 11 (0.73%) Broadcom
17 11 (0.73%) Fortinet