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

6 months to
7 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 3 5
Rank change year-on-year -7 +2 +4
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,023 1,165 1,913
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 7.85% 21.45% 14.08%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.26% 24.80% 17.77%
Number of salaries quoted 761 665 1,115
10th Percentile £26,265 £25,000 £25,000
25th Percentile £29,750 £29,750 £29,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,000 £42,000 £40,000
Median % change year-on-year - +5.00% -16.23%
75th Percentile £56,875 £57,500 £57,500
90th Percentile £67,500 £67,500 £70,000
England median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -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 9,087 4,698 10,765
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 69.74% 86.49% 79.21%
Number of salaries quoted 6,445 2,765 7,320
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,750 £26,250
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,500 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £48,500 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year +8.25% +2.11% -9.52%
75th Percentile £67,500 £63,750 £62,500
90th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £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 7 July 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 7 July 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 -9 575 £42,500 -5.56% 252
East Midlands -10 445 £35,000 -4.11% 248
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 62 (6.06%) SharePoint
2 41 (4.01%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (1.08%) CMS
4 10 (0.98%) IIS
5 5 (0.49%) Skype for Business
6 4 (0.39%) Exchange Server 2007
6 4 (0.39%) Exchange Server 2010
6 4 (0.39%) Exchange Server 2013
7 3 (0.29%) WordPress
8 2 (0.20%) Confluence
8 2 (0.20%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 1 (0.098%) Appian
9 1 (0.098%) Documentum
9 1 (0.098%) Drupal
9 1 (0.098%) SAS
Applications
1 91 (8.90%) Microsoft Office
2 70 (6.84%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (1.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (0.88%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (0.49%) Fusion 360
6 4 (0.39%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.098%) AutoCAD
7 1 (0.098%) Simulink
7 1 (0.098%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 14 (1.37%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (1.17%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 9 (0.88%) Dynamics CRM
4 7 (0.68%) JDE EnterpriseOne
4 7 (0.68%) SAP Business One
5 5 (0.49%) iTrent
5 5 (0.49%) Magento
5 5 (0.49%) Q-Pulse
5 5 (0.49%) Shopify
6 4 (0.39%) Line 50
6 4 (0.39%) Sage 50
6 4 (0.39%) Sage X3
7 3 (0.29%) Dynamics AX
7 3 (0.29%) SAP Business ByDesign
8 2 (0.20%) Oracle EBS
9 1 (0.098%) NetSuite
9 1 (0.098%) Oracle Payables
9 1 (0.098%) Sage 200
9 1 (0.098%) SAP CO
9 1 (0.098%) SAP FI/CO
Cloud Services
1 222 (21.70%) Microsoft 365
2 182 (17.79%) Azure
3 100 (9.78%) Power Platform
4 80 (7.82%) Entra ID
5 74 (7.23%) AWS
6 35 (3.42%) SaaS
7 24 (2.35%) Serverless
8 20 (1.96%) Amazon S3
8 20 (1.96%) Dynamics 365
9 18 (1.76%) AWS Lambda
9 18 (1.76%) Power Automate
10 15 (1.47%) PowerApps
11 14 (1.37%) Microsoft Purview
11 14 (1.37%) OneDrive
12 12 (1.17%) GCP
12 12 (1.17%) Google Workspace
13 10 (0.98%) Microsoft Copilot
14 9 (0.88%) Azure Data Factory
14 9 (0.88%) Azure DevOps
15 8 (0.78%) Amazon Cognito
Communications & Networking
1 62 (6.06%) DNS
2 61 (5.96%) Firewall
3 53 (5.18%) DHCP
3 53 (5.18%) VPN
4 38 (3.71%) TCP/IP
5 33 (3.23%) WAN
6 31 (3.03%) Wireless
7 24 (2.35%) LAN
7 24 (2.35%) VLAN
8 23 (2.25%) Wi-Fi
9 15 (1.47%) Network Security
10 13 (1.27%) VoIP
11 12 (1.17%) Internet
11 12 (1.17%) SD-WAN
12 8 (0.78%) MQTT
13 5 (0.49%) Remote Desktop
13 5 (0.49%) Skype
13 5 (0.49%) SSL
14 4 (0.39%) Bluetooth
14 4 (0.39%) Cisco IOS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 94 (9.19%) Power BI
2 41 (4.01%) SQL Server
3 23 (2.25%) Tableau
4 21 (2.05%) Power Query
5 20 (1.96%) MySQL
6 14 (1.37%) Relational Database
6 14 (1.37%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 13 (1.27%) Data Warehouse
8 12 (1.17%) Azure SQL Database
9 11 (1.08%) Amazon Redshift
9 11 (1.08%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 8 (0.78%) DynamoDB
11 7 (0.68%) Amazon RDS
11 7 (0.68%) MongoDB
11 7 (0.68%) Star Schema
12 6 (0.59%) Data Mining
12 6 (0.59%) PostgreSQL
13 5 (0.49%) Crystal Reports
13 5 (0.49%) NoSQL
14 4 (0.39%) Neo4j
Development Applications
1 20 (1.96%) Git
2 11 (1.08%) JIRA
3 5 (0.49%) Burp Suite
3 5 (0.49%) JUnit
3 5 (0.49%) Metasploit
3 5 (0.49%) VersionOne
4 4 (0.39%) Maven
4 4 (0.39%) Mockito
5 3 (0.29%) Subversion
6 2 (0.20%) Jenkins
6 2 (0.20%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 2 (0.20%) TeamCity
6 2 (0.20%) Visual Studio
7 1 (0.098%) Appium
7 1 (0.098%) Bugzilla
7 1 (0.098%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.098%) Eclipse
7 1 (0.098%) Oracle Forms
7 1 (0.098%) SoapUI
7 1 (0.098%) Yeoman
General
1 488 (47.70%) Social Skills
2 306 (29.91%) Analytical Skills
3 173 (16.91%) Finance
4 145 (14.17%) Manufacturing
5 67 (6.55%) Retail
6 64 (6.26%) Organisational Skills
7 46 (4.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 46 (4.50%) Marketing
8 40 (3.91%) Legal
9 35 (3.42%) Law
10 34 (3.32%) Public Sector
11 27 (2.64%) Influencing Skills
12 22 (2.15%) Electronics
13 21 (2.05%) Automotive
14 19 (1.86%) Documentation Skills
15 13 (1.27%) Telecoms
16 12 (1.17%) Banking
17 11 (1.08%) Games
18 10 (0.98%) Advertising
18 10 (0.98%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 165 (16.13%) Analyst
2 148 (14.47%) Support Engineer
3 133 (13.00%) IT Support
4 96 (9.38%) Developer
5 91 (8.90%) Senior
6 84 (8.21%) IT Engineer
7 79 (7.72%) Technical Support
8 71 (6.94%) Technical Engineer
8 71 (6.94%) Technical Support Engineer
9 65 (6.35%) IT Support Engineer
10 62 (6.06%) Support Technician
11 51 (4.99%) Lead
12 47 (4.59%) IT Technician
13 43 (4.20%) Support Analyst
14 41 (4.01%) IT Manager
14 41 (4.01%) IT Support Technician
15 38 (3.71%) Data Analyst
16 36 (3.52%) Consultant
17 32 (3.13%) Senior Analyst
18 27 (2.64%) Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (4.11%) React
2 39 (3.81%) REST
3 31 (3.03%) Node.js
4 27 (2.64%) .NET
5 20 (1.96%) CSS
5 20 (1.96%) HTML
6 14 (1.37%) Spring
7 12 (1.17%) AngularJS
8 11 (1.08%) Spring Boot
9 10 (0.98%) RESTful
9 10 (0.98%) SOAP
10 9 (0.88%) Middleware
11 8 (0.78%) JDBC
11 8 (0.78%) OAuth
11 8 (0.78%) SAP Fiori
11 8 (0.78%) SAPUI5
12 7 (0.68%) ASP.NET
13 6 (0.59%) ASP.NET Core
14 5 (0.49%) EDI
15 4 (0.39%) LDAP
Miscellaneous
1 99 (9.68%) Driving Licence
2 53 (5.18%) Onboarding
3 50 (4.89%) Management Information System
4 44 (4.30%) Self-Motivation
5 19 (1.86%) Enterprise Software
6 17 (1.66%) IoT
7 16 (1.56%) Analytical Mindset
8 13 (1.27%) Legacy Systems
8 13 (1.27%) Security Posture
9 11 (1.08%) Greenfield Project
9 11 (1.08%) Social Media
9 11 (1.08%) Virtual Team
10 9 (0.88%) Data Structures
10 9 (0.88%) Mobile App
10 9 (0.88%) NHS
10 9 (0.88%) Replication
10 9 (0.88%) SCADA
11 8 (0.78%) Data Centre
11 8 (0.78%) Hybrid Cloud
11 8 (0.78%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 179 (17.50%) Windows
2 66 (6.45%) Windows Server
3 63 (6.16%) Linux
4 50 (4.89%) Windows 10
5 14 (1.37%) Android
6 11 (1.08%) Apple iOS
7 10 (0.98%) Ubuntu
8 7 (0.68%) Debian
8 7 (0.68%) Mac OS
9 6 (0.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 5 (0.49%) CentOS
10 5 (0.49%) OpenVMS
10 5 (0.49%) Unix
10 5 (0.49%) Windows 7
11 4 (0.39%) FreeRTOS
11 4 (0.39%) VMS
12 3 (0.29%) SUSE
13 1 (0.098%) Windows Server 2016
13 1 (0.098%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 267 (26.10%) Continuous Improvement
2 178 (17.40%) Customer Service
3 141 (13.78%) Decision-Making
4 129 (12.61%) Analytics
5 120 (11.73%) Collaborative Working
6 119 (11.63%) Mentoring
7 118 (11.53%) Agile
8 101 (9.87%) ERP
9 97 (9.48%) Business Intelligence
9 97 (9.48%) ITIL
10 90 (8.80%) Cybersecurity
10 90 (8.80%) Service Delivery
11 75 (7.33%) AI
12 67 (6.55%) Roadmaps
13 62 (6.06%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 60 (5.87%) Process Improvement
15 59 (5.77%) CRM
16 58 (5.67%) Computer Science
17 57 (5.57%) Root Cause Analysis
18 55 (5.38%) Coaching
Programming Languages
1 173 (16.91%) SQL
2 81 (7.92%) Python
3 42 (4.11%) PowerShell
4 39 (3.81%) Java
5 30 (2.93%) C#
6 29 (2.83%) JavaScript
7 25 (2.44%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 19 (1.86%) Ladder Logic
9 17 (1.66%) TypeScript
10 15 (1.47%) VBA
11 13 (1.27%) Bash
11 13 (1.27%) PHP
12 11 (1.08%) C
13 10 (0.98%) C++
14 8 (0.78%) ABAP
15 7 (0.68%) RPG
15 7 (0.68%) T-SQL
16 6 (0.59%) Go
16 6 (0.59%) R
17 5 (0.49%) Embedded C
Qualifications
1 139 (13.59%) Degree
2 75 (7.33%) Security Cleared
3 58 (5.67%) SC Cleared
4 31 (3.03%) Microsoft Certification
5 25 (2.44%) DBS Check
6 19 (1.86%) CISSP
7 17 (1.66%) Azure Certification
7 17 (1.66%) Computer Science Degree
8 15 (1.47%) CompTIA Security+
9 13 (1.27%) Cisco Certification
10 11 (1.08%) A+ Certification
11 8 (0.78%) ACCA
11 8 (0.78%) BPSS Clearance
11 8 (0.78%) CIMA
12 7 (0.68%) CISA
12 7 (0.68%) PMI Certification
12 7 (0.68%) SSCP
13 6 (0.59%) CCNA
13 6 (0.59%) CCSP
13 6 (0.59%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 48 (4.69%) Data Quality
2 44 (4.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 41 (4.01%) Cyber Essentials
4 33 (3.23%) QA
5 31 (3.03%) GDPR
6 25 (2.44%) SLA
7 21 (2.05%) NIST
8 17 (1.66%) Accessibility
9 16 (1.56%) ISO 9001
10 13 (1.27%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 9 (0.88%) ISO 14001
12 7 (0.68%) Actionable Recommendations
12 7 (0.68%) GRC
12 7 (0.68%) PCI DSS
13 5 (0.49%) COSHH
13 5 (0.49%) GMP
14 4 (0.39%) HIPAA
14 4 (0.39%) Sarbanes-Oxley
15 3 (0.29%) ISO/IEC 20000
15 3 (0.29%) SOC 2
System Software
1 138 (13.49%) Active Directory
2 43 (4.20%) Hyper-V
3 32 (3.13%) VMware Infrastructure
4 20 (1.96%) Docker
5 9 (0.88%) Firmware
6 8 (0.78%) vSphere
7 5 (0.49%) Embedded Firmware
7 5 (0.49%) Virtual Machines
8 3 (0.29%) Virtual Desktop
9 2 (0.20%) Samba
10 1 (0.098%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.098%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 49 (4.79%) Microsoft Intune
2 19 (1.86%) Kubernetes
3 13 (1.27%) Terraform
4 9 (0.88%) Ansible
5 6 (0.59%) Grafana
6 5 (0.49%) Nagios
6 5 (0.49%) Nmap
6 5 (0.49%) Prometheus
7 4 (0.39%) Functional Safety
7 4 (0.39%) Galera Cluster
7 4 (0.39%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.29%) SCCM
9 2 (0.20%) Progress Chef
9 2 (0.20%) Puppet
9 2 (0.20%) Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.098%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.098%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 295 (28.84%) Microsoft
2 40 (3.91%) VMware
3 37 (3.62%) SAP
4 28 (2.74%) Cisco
5 19 (1.86%) IBM
6 16 (1.56%) Google
6 16 (1.56%) Sage
7 15 (1.47%) Cognos
7 15 (1.47%) Salesforce
7 15 (1.47%) Workday
8 12 (1.17%) Dell
8 12 (1.17%) ServiceNow
9 11 (1.08%) Oracle
9 11 (1.08%) Red Hat
10 9 (0.88%) iManage
11 8 (0.78%) HP
11 8 (0.78%) SolarWinds
12 7 (0.68%) Apple
12 7 (0.68%) Epicor
12 7 (0.68%) JD Edwards