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

6 months to
17 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 21 3 5
Rank change year-on-year -18 +2 +3
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 848 1,051 1,508
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 8.42% 20.40% 15.30%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.93% 22.25% 18.19%
Number of salaries quoted 664 569 1,170
10th Percentile £26,000 £26,750 £25,000
25th Percentile £28,500 £32,500 £29,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,500 £49,000 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year -23.47% +15.29% -15.00%
75th Percentile £55,627 £62,500 £57,500
90th Percentile £68,750 £75,250 £69,000
England median annual salary £45,497 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -17.28% +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 7,760 4,724 8,292
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 77.08% 91.71% 84.11%
Number of salaries quoted 4,412 2,582 6,569
10th Percentile £28,250 £29,000 £26,250
25th Percentile £35,000 £38,000 £34,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £48,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +8.25% -7.62%
75th Percentile £65,000 £65,625 £62,500
90th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £75,000
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +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 17 March 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 17 March 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 -22 501 £42,500 -20.84% 262
East Midlands -2 344 £35,000 -11.39% 163
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 50 (5.90%) SharePoint
2 33 (3.89%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (0.94%) CMS
4 7 (0.83%) IIS
5 6 (0.71%) Exchange Server 2007
5 6 (0.71%) Exchange Server 2010
5 6 (0.71%) Exchange Server 2013
5 6 (0.71%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 4 (0.47%) Apache
6 4 (0.47%) Confluence
7 1 (0.12%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.12%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.12%) Drupal
7 1 (0.12%) NServiceBus
7 1 (0.12%) SAS
7 1 (0.12%) WebLogic
Applications
1 57 (6.72%) Microsoft Excel
2 51 (6.01%) Microsoft Office
3 15 (1.77%) Spreadsheet
4 10 (1.18%) Microsoft Project
5 9 (1.06%) AutoCAD
5 9 (1.06%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 7 (0.83%) MS Visio
6 7 (0.83%) SOLIDWORKS
7 2 (0.24%) CATIA
7 2 (0.24%) Trello
8 1 (0.12%) Abaqus
8 1 (0.12%) EPLAN
8 1 (0.12%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 24 (2.83%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (1.18%) iTrent
2 10 (1.18%) NetSuite
3 6 (0.71%) SAP S/4HANA
4 5 (0.59%) Q-Pulse
5 3 (0.35%) Dynamics NAV
5 3 (0.35%) SAP Business ByDesign
6 2 (0.24%) IBM Planning Analytics
6 2 (0.24%) Infor CloudSuite Industrial (formerly SyteLine)
6 2 (0.24%) SAP ERP
6 2 (0.24%) SAP MM
7 1 (0.12%) Cognos Controller
7 1 (0.12%) NEC Housing
7 1 (0.12%) Raiser’s Edge
7 1 (0.12%) Sage X3
7 1 (0.12%) SAP Business One
7 1 (0.12%) SAP EWM
7 1 (0.12%) SAP FI/CO
7 1 (0.12%) SAP WM
7 1 (0.12%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 183 (21.58%) Azure
2 181 (21.34%) Microsoft 365
3 79 (9.32%) AWS
4 68 (8.02%) SaaS
5 62 (7.31%) Power Platform
6 52 (6.13%) Entra ID
7 29 (3.42%) Serverless
8 26 (3.07%) Dynamics 365
9 18 (2.12%) Amazon S3
9 18 (2.12%) AWS Lambda
9 18 (2.12%) Power Automate
10 16 (1.89%) GCP
10 16 (1.89%) PowerApps
11 13 (1.53%) Google Workspace
12 12 (1.42%) OneDrive
13 9 (1.06%) Azure Data Factory
13 9 (1.06%) Azure DevOps
14 7 (0.83%) Azure Sentinel
14 7 (0.83%) OCI
15 6 (0.71%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 63 (7.43%) DNS
2 61 (7.19%) DHCP
3 46 (5.42%) VPN
4 38 (4.48%) WAN
5 32 (3.77%) Firewall
6 27 (3.18%) Remote Desktop
7 26 (3.07%) LAN
8 25 (2.95%) Internet
9 19 (2.24%) Wi-Fi
10 18 (2.12%) TCP/IP
11 15 (1.77%) SD-WAN
12 13 (1.53%) Wireless
13 10 (1.18%) VLAN
14 9 (1.06%) VoIP
15 6 (0.71%) Broadband
15 6 (0.71%) Network Security
16 5 (0.59%) ADSL
16 5 (0.59%) Ethernet
16 5 (0.59%) VDSL
16 5 (0.59%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 51 (6.01%) Power BI
2 37 (4.36%) SQL Server
3 17 (2.00%) MySQL
4 15 (1.77%) Oracle Reports
5 14 (1.65%) PostgreSQL
6 13 (1.53%) Amazon Redshift
7 12 (1.42%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 11 (1.30%) Tableau
9 10 (1.18%) Relational Database
9 10 (1.18%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 8 (0.94%) Power Query
11 7 (0.83%) Data Warehouse
12 6 (0.71%) Azure SQL Database
12 6 (0.71%) Metadata
12 6 (0.71%) NoSQL
13 5 (0.59%) Amazon RDS
13 5 (0.59%) Crystal Reports
14 4 (0.47%) Redis
14 4 (0.47%) TimescaleDB
15 3 (0.35%) GIS
Development Applications
1 27 (3.18%) JIRA
2 23 (2.71%) Git
3 8 (0.94%) JUnit
4 7 (0.83%) Burp Suite
4 7 (0.83%) Metasploit
5 6 (0.71%) GitLab
5 6 (0.71%) Jenkins
5 6 (0.71%) Maven
5 6 (0.71%) Mockito
6 5 (0.59%) Subversion
7 3 (0.35%) Appcelerator Titanium
8 2 (0.24%) Cucumber
8 2 (0.24%) Selenium
8 2 (0.24%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 2 (0.24%) Visual Studio
8 2 (0.24%) Visual Studio Code
9 1 (0.12%) MLflow
9 1 (0.12%) Postman
9 1 (0.12%) Snyk
9 1 (0.12%) Vite
General
1 405 (47.76%) Social Skills
2 277 (32.67%) Analytical Skills
3 153 (18.04%) Finance
4 78 (9.20%) Retail
5 73 (8.61%) Manufacturing
6 66 (7.78%) Organisational Skills
7 46 (5.42%) Legal
8 44 (5.19%) Law
9 35 (4.13%) Marketing
9 35 (4.13%) Public Sector
10 25 (2.95%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 20 (2.36%) Documentation Skills
12 19 (2.24%) Automotive
13 17 (2.00%) Electronics
14 13 (1.53%) Aerospace
15 12 (1.42%) Banking
15 12 (1.42%) Games
15 12 (1.42%) Presentation Skills
16 11 (1.30%) Advertising
16 11 (1.30%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 156 (18.40%) IT Support
2 143 (16.86%) Support Engineer
3 135 (15.92%) Analyst
4 102 (12.03%) IT Engineer
5 90 (10.61%) IT Support Engineer
6 72 (8.49%) Developer
7 66 (7.78%) Senior
8 65 (7.67%) Lead
9 57 (6.72%) Support Analyst
10 56 (6.60%) Technical Support
11 46 (5.42%) Technical Engineer
12 45 (5.31%) Technical Support Engineer
13 42 (4.95%) 2nd Line Support
14 40 (4.72%) Support Technician
15 34 (4.01%) Administrator
16 32 (3.77%) Architect
17 30 (3.54%) Full-Stack Developer
18 29 (3.42%) 1st/2nd Line Support
19 26 (3.07%) Infrastructure Engineer
19 26 (3.07%) IT Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (4.48%) React
2 28 (3.30%) HTML
2 28 (3.30%) Node.js
3 27 (3.18%) CSS
4 23 (2.71%) .NET
5 20 (2.36%) REST
6 9 (1.06%) JSON
7 7 (0.83%) Vue
8 6 (0.71%) AngularJS
9 5 (0.59%) Laravel
9 5 (0.59%) Middleware
9 5 (0.59%) Oracle Fusion
9 5 (0.59%) RESTful
10 4 (0.47%) ASP.NET
10 4 (0.47%) LAMP
10 4 (0.47%) Next.js
10 4 (0.47%) Spring
11 3 (0.35%) Elastic Stack
11 3 (0.35%) GraphQL
11 3 (0.35%) Tailwind CSS
Miscellaneous
1 103 (12.15%) Driving Licence
2 75 (8.84%) Onboarding
3 41 (4.83%) Management Information System
4 35 (4.13%) Self-Motivation
5 22 (2.59%) Analytical Mindset
6 19 (2.24%) Social Media
7 18 (2.12%) FMCG
8 17 (2.00%) Enterprise Software
9 14 (1.65%) Product Ownership
10 13 (1.53%) Legacy Systems
11 12 (1.42%) Security Posture
12 10 (1.18%) IoT
13 9 (1.06%) Data Structures
13 9 (1.06%) EPoS
14 8 (0.94%) Distributed Systems
15 7 (0.83%) Cyber Defence
15 7 (0.83%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
15 7 (0.83%) Insider Threat
15 7 (0.83%) Web Conferencing
16 6 (0.71%) Data Centre
Operating Systems
1 159 (18.75%) Windows
2 50 (5.90%) Windows Server
3 41 (4.83%) Linux
4 30 (3.54%) Windows 10
5 12 (1.42%) Apple iOS
6 6 (0.71%) Windows 7
6 6 (0.71%) Windows Server 2019
7 5 (0.59%) Debian
7 5 (0.59%) Ubuntu
8 4 (0.47%) Android
8 4 (0.47%) CentOS
8 4 (0.47%) Unix
9 3 (0.35%) SUSE
10 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.12%) Mac OS
11 1 (0.12%) Oracle Linux
11 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2008
11 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 186 (21.93%) Continuous Improvement
2 161 (18.99%) Customer Service
3 109 (12.85%) Agile
4 99 (11.67%) Mentoring
5 94 (11.08%) CRM
6 92 (10.85%) ERP
7 88 (10.38%) ITIL
8 84 (9.91%) Decision-Making
9 77 (9.08%) Project Management
10 66 (7.78%) Analytics
11 61 (7.19%) Business Intelligence
11 61 (7.19%) Process Improvement
11 61 (7.19%) Time Management
12 54 (6.37%) Computer Science
13 53 (6.25%) Migration
14 52 (6.13%) Stakeholder Management
15 49 (5.78%) Roadmaps
16 46 (5.42%) Service Delivery
17 45 (5.31%) Analytical Thinking
18 43 (5.07%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 151 (17.81%) SQL
2 52 (6.13%) Python
3 47 (5.54%) C#
3 47 (5.54%) JavaScript
4 24 (2.83%) Java
5 22 (2.59%) PowerShell
6 18 (2.12%) PHP
7 15 (1.77%) T-SQL
8 12 (1.42%) Bash
8 12 (1.42%) C
8 12 (1.42%) TypeScript
9 9 (1.06%) Ladder Logic
10 8 (0.94%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 7 (0.83%) PL/SQL
11 7 (0.83%) R
12 5 (0.59%) C++
13 4 (0.47%) VBA
14 3 (0.35%) Delphi
14 3 (0.35%) VB
14 3 (0.35%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 152 (17.92%) Degree
2 66 (7.78%) Security Cleared
3 49 (5.78%) SC Cleared
4 34 (4.01%) Microsoft Certification
5 28 (3.30%) Computer Science Degree
6 24 (2.83%) DBS Check
7 20 (2.36%) CISSP
8 19 (2.24%) CompTIA Security+
9 17 (2.00%) Cisco Certification
10 12 (1.42%) A+ Certification
10 12 (1.42%) CCNA
10 12 (1.42%) PMI Certification
11 11 (1.30%) BPSS Clearance
11 11 (1.30%) PMP
12 10 (1.18%) ACCA
12 10 (1.18%) CIMA
13 9 (1.06%) AWS Certification
13 9 (1.06%) CISMP
13 9 (1.06%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 8 (0.94%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 51 (6.01%) QA
2 39 (4.60%) Data Quality
3 27 (3.18%) GDPR
4 26 (3.07%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 19 (2.24%) NIST
6 13 (1.53%) Actionable Recommendations
7 11 (1.30%) Cyber Essentials
8 10 (1.18%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 8 (0.94%) SLA
10 6 (0.71%) Accessibility
11 5 (0.59%) COSHH
11 5 (0.59%) GMP
11 5 (0.59%) ISO/IEC 20000
12 3 (0.35%) HIPAA
13 2 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 19770
13 2 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 2 (0.24%) PCI DSS
14 1 (0.12%) ISO 9001
14 1 (0.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 1 (0.12%) WCAG
System Software
1 98 (11.56%) Active Directory
2 25 (2.95%) Docker
3 17 (2.00%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (1.30%) Hyper-V
5 8 (0.94%) vSphere
6 3 (0.35%) Firmware
7 2 (0.24%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (0.24%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.24%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.12%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 37 (4.36%) Microsoft Intune
2 25 (2.95%) Kubernetes
3 18 (2.12%) Terraform
4 8 (0.94%) Ansible
5 7 (0.83%) Nmap
6 6 (0.71%) Grafana
7 5 (0.59%) Nagios
7 5 (0.59%) SCCM
8 3 (0.35%) Prometheus
9 2 (0.24%) Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.12%) Argo
10 1 (0.12%) Autotask
10 1 (0.12%) AWS Copilot
10 1 (0.12%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.12%) Galera Cluster
10 1 (0.12%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.12%) Puppet
10 1 (0.12%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
10 1 (0.12%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 232 (27.36%) Microsoft
2 43 (5.07%) Oracle
3 40 (4.72%) SAP
4 35 (4.13%) Cisco
5 20 (2.36%) VMware
6 19 (2.24%) Google
6 19 (2.24%) Salesforce
7 16 (1.89%) ServiceNow
8 12 (1.42%) HP
9 9 (1.06%) Databricks
9 9 (1.06%) Meraki
9 9 (1.06%) Sage
10 7 (0.83%) Epicor
10 7 (0.83%) Infor
11 6 (0.71%) Cognos
11 6 (0.71%) Dell
11 6 (0.71%) Freshdesk
11 6 (0.71%) SolarWinds
12 5 (0.59%) Workday
12 5 (0.59%) Zscaler