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

6 months to
16 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 1,525 1,180 1,425
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 9.68% 21.38% 15.43%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.63% 24.60% 19.12%
Number of salaries quoted 1,020 669 457
10th Percentile £27,494 £25,375 £27,500
25th Percentile £31,250 £29,000 £33,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £37,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +13.33% -25.00% +2.04%
75th Percentile £55,063 £49,000 £61,500
90th Percentile £71,250 £65,250 £73,000
England median annual salary £45,050 £45,000 £54,000
% change year-on-year +0.11% -16.67% -1.82%

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 11,189 4,797 7,452
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 71.05% 86.93% 80.67%
Number of salaries quoted 7,928 2,810 3,394
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £30,000
25th Percentile £39,000 £32,500 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £45,390 £50,404
Median % change year-on-year +10.16% -9.95% -3.99%
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 16 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 16 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 -5 856 £42,500 - 330
East Midlands -7 667 £42,500 +30.77% 253
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 72 (4.72%) SharePoint
2 42 (2.75%) Microsoft Exchange
3 14 (0.92%) IIS
4 10 (0.66%) CMS
5 8 (0.52%) CICS
5 8 (0.52%) Confluence
6 5 (0.33%) WordPress
7 4 (0.26%) SAS
8 3 (0.20%) Apache Airflow
8 3 (0.20%) Headless CMS
8 3 (0.20%) Oracle Workflow
9 2 (0.13%) Documentum
10 1 (0.066%) Apache
10 1 (0.066%) Jupyter
10 1 (0.066%) OpenEdge
10 1 (0.066%) Oracle SOA Suite
10 1 (0.066%) Tomcat
10 1 (0.066%) Umbraco
Applications
1 131 (8.59%) Microsoft Office
2 117 (7.67%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (0.79%) Simulink
3 12 (0.79%) Spreadsheet
4 11 (0.72%) OrCAD
5 10 (0.66%) AutoCAD
5 10 (0.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 7 (0.46%) EPLAN
7 6 (0.39%) Revit
8 5 (0.33%) Microsoft Project
8 5 (0.33%) Navisworks
9 4 (0.26%) Notion
9 4 (0.26%) SOLIDWORKS
10 3 (0.20%) Chatbot
11 2 (0.13%) Adobe Creative Suite
11 2 (0.13%) Fusion 360
11 2 (0.13%) MS Visio
12 1 (0.066%) LaTeX
12 1 (0.066%) Photoshop
12 1 (0.066%) SketchUp
Business Applications
1 18 (1.18%) Dynamics CRM
2 14 (0.92%) SAP S/4HANA
3 12 (0.79%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 12 (0.79%) NetSuite
3 12 (0.79%) Shopify
4 9 (0.59%) JDE EnterpriseOne
5 7 (0.46%) SAP Business One
6 6 (0.39%) Dynamics AX
6 6 (0.39%) 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 (17.38%) Microsoft 365
2 254 (16.66%) Azure
3 131 (8.59%) Power Platform
4 100 (6.56%) Entra ID
5 78 (5.11%) AWS
6 58 (3.80%) SaaS
7 46 (3.02%) Azure DevOps
8 36 (2.36%) Dynamics 365
9 30 (1.97%) GitHub
10 25 (1.64%) Power Automate
11 24 (1.57%) Google Workspace
11 24 (1.57%) OneDrive
12 23 (1.51%) GitHub Actions
13 21 (1.38%) PowerApps
14 18 (1.18%) Microsoft Purview
15 17 (1.11%) Microsoft Copilot
16 15 (0.98%) GCP
17 14 (0.92%) Google Analytics
18 12 (0.79%) PaaS
19 9 (0.59%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 84 (5.51%) DNS
2 67 (4.39%) DHCP
3 66 (4.33%) Firewall
4 65 (4.26%) VPN
5 58 (3.80%) TCP/IP
6 36 (2.36%) VLAN
6 36 (2.36%) WAN
7 35 (2.30%) LAN
8 33 (2.16%) Wireless
9 30 (1.97%) Wi-Fi
10 20 (1.31%) Network Security
11 16 (1.05%) Internet
12 11 (0.72%) Modbus
13 10 (0.66%) VoIP
13 10 (0.66%) Wireshark
14 7 (0.46%) Cisco IOS
14 7 (0.46%) Remote Desktop
14 7 (0.46%) SSL
15 5 (0.33%) MQTT
15 5 (0.33%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 118 (7.74%) Power BI
2 58 (3.80%) SQL Server
3 39 (2.56%) Relational Database
4 26 (1.70%) Tableau
5 25 (1.64%) Data Warehouse
6 22 (1.44%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 21 (1.38%) Azure SQL Database
8 17 (1.11%) Power Query
9 16 (1.05%) Electronic Patient Records
10 12 (0.79%) Db2
10 12 (0.79%) MySQL
10 12 (0.79%) Oracle Reports
10 12 (0.79%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 11 (0.72%) Crystal Reports
11 11 (0.72%) Data Mining
12 10 (0.66%) PostgreSQL
13 9 (0.59%) Data Lake
14 7 (0.46%) MongoDB
15 6 (0.39%) Amazon Redshift
16 5 (0.33%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 55 (3.61%) Git
2 35 (2.30%) JIRA
3 32 (2.10%) Jenkins
4 10 (0.66%) LabVIEW
5 9 (0.59%) Eclipse
5 9 (0.59%) GitLab
6 7 (0.46%) Cucumber
6 7 (0.46%) Postman
6 7 (0.46%) Selenium
7 6 (0.39%) JMeter
7 6 (0.39%) 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
1 778 (51.02%) Social Skills
2 452 (29.64%) Analytical Skills
3 274 (17.97%) Manufacturing
4 241 (15.80%) Finance
5 146 (9.57%) Organisational Skills
6 108 (7.08%) Retail
7 84 (5.51%) Marketing
8 66 (4.33%) Public Sector
9 62 (4.07%) Electronics
10 57 (3.74%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 41 (2.69%) Automotive
11 41 (2.69%) Legal
12 40 (2.62%) Law
13 30 (1.97%) Influencing Skills
14 29 (1.90%) Telecoms
15 26 (1.70%) Aerospace
16 25 (1.64%) Presentation Skills
17 24 (1.57%) Documentation Skills
18 13 (0.85%) Billing
18 13 (0.85%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 179 (11.74%) Analyst
2 164 (10.75%) IT Support
3 155 (10.16%) Support Engineer
4 128 (8.39%) Senior
5 115 (7.54%) Developer
6 91 (5.97%) IT Engineer
7 87 (5.70%) Lead
8 84 (5.51%) Consultant
9 76 (4.98%) Technical Support
10 72 (4.72%) IT Support Engineer
11 65 (4.26%) Technical Engineer
12 63 (4.13%) Technical Support Engineer
13 60 (3.93%) Support Analyst
14 58 (3.80%) Support Technician
15 52 (3.41%) IT Technician
16 45 (2.95%) Administrator
17 40 (2.62%) Data Analyst
18 39 (2.56%) IT Manager
19 38 (2.49%) Infrastructure Engineer
19 38 (2.49%) IT Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 61 (4.00%) .NET
2 57 (3.74%) REST
3 32 (2.10%) Spring
4 31 (2.03%) React
5 29 (1.90%) Spring Boot
6 26 (1.70%) SOAP
7 20 (1.31%) ISPF
8 18 (1.18%) Terraform
9 17 (1.11%) Node.js
10 16 (1.05%) CSS
10 16 (1.05%) HTML
11 15 (0.98%) RESTful
12 14 (0.92%) Playwright
13 13 (0.85%) XML
14 12 (0.79%) EDI
14 12 (0.79%) Middleware
14 12 (0.79%) Web Services
15 11 (0.72%) AngularJS
15 11 (0.72%) ASP.NET
15 11 (0.72%) SAP Fiori
Miscellaneous
1 184 (12.07%) Driving Licence
2 118 (7.74%) Onboarding
3 92 (6.03%) Management Information System
4 84 (5.51%) Self-Motivation
5 56 (3.67%) Enterprise Software
6 49 (3.21%) Robotics
7 33 (2.16%) SCADA
8 29 (1.90%) NHS
9 22 (1.44%) Data Centre
9 22 (1.44%) FMCG
9 22 (1.44%) Legacy Applications
9 22 (1.44%) Social Media
10 21 (1.38%) Analytical Mindset
10 21 (1.38%) Mainframe
11 19 (1.25%) IoT
11 19 (1.25%) Legacy Systems
12 17 (1.11%) SystemC
13 16 (1.05%) Cloud Native
14 15 (0.98%) Embedded Systems
14 15 (0.98%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 266 (17.44%) Windows
2 95 (6.23%) Windows Server
3 76 (4.98%) Linux
4 36 (2.36%) Windows 10
5 15 (0.98%) Android
6 13 (0.85%) Apple iOS
6 13 (0.85%) macOS
7 9 (0.59%) 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
Processes & Methodologies
1 444 (29.11%) Continuous Improvement
2 307 (20.13%) Customer Service
3 202 (13.25%) Decision-Making
4 175 (11.48%) Analytics
5 167 (10.95%) Agile
6 148 (9.70%) Mentoring
7 140 (9.18%) Stakeholder Management
8 131 (8.59%) Collaborative Working
9 129 (8.46%) ERP
10 127 (8.33%) Project Delivery
11 126 (8.26%) Business Intelligence
12 118 (7.74%) Cybersecurity
13 111 (7.28%) AI
14 107 (7.02%) Validation
15 106 (6.95%) Project Management
16 103 (6.75%) Roadmaps
17 99 (6.49%) CRM
18 96 (6.30%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 92 (6.03%) Preventative Maintenance
20 91 (5.97%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 232 (15.21%) SQL
2 98 (6.43%) Python
3 76 (4.98%) Java
4 58 (3.80%) PowerShell
5 52 (3.41%) JavaScript
6 45 (2.95%) C#
7 23 (1.51%) C
8 20 (1.31%) COBOL
8 20 (1.31%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 20 (1.31%) JCL
9 19 (1.25%) Ladder Logic
10 18 (1.18%) TypeScript
11 15 (0.98%) C++
11 15 (0.98%) Embedded C
12 13 (0.85%) VBA
13 12 (0.79%) MATLAB
14 11 (0.72%) Bash
15 10 (0.66%) R
16 9 (0.59%) ABAP
17 7 (0.46%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 236 (15.48%) Degree
2 103 (6.75%) Security Cleared
3 86 (5.64%) SC Cleared
4 60 (3.93%) HNC
5 58 (3.80%) HND
6 28 (1.84%) Azure Certification
6 28 (1.84%) DBS Check
7 23 (1.51%) Microsoft Certification
8 21 (1.38%) NVQ Level 3
9 20 (1.31%) Cisco Certification
10 17 (1.11%) City & Guilds
11 16 (1.05%) Computer Science Degree
12 15 (0.98%) CCNA
13 13 (0.85%) Chartered Engineer
13 13 (0.85%) PMI Certification
14 12 (0.79%) NVQ Level 4
15 10 (0.66%) ACCA
16 9 (0.59%) BPSS Clearance
17 8 (0.52%) A+ Certification
17 8 (0.52%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 78 (5.11%) Data Quality
2 57 (3.74%) GDPR
3 56 (3.67%) QA
4 41 (2.69%) Cyber Essentials
5 35 (2.30%) SLA
6 30 (1.97%) Accessibility
6 30 (1.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 21 (1.38%) ISO 9001
8 10 (0.66%) PCI DSS
9 8 (0.52%) Actionable Recommendations
9 8 (0.52%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 7 (0.46%) ISO 14001
11 6 (0.39%) GMP
11 6 (0.39%) GRC
11 6 (0.39%) PMO
12 5 (0.33%) NIST
13 3 (0.20%) AQAP
13 3 (0.20%) COSHH
13 3 (0.20%) ISO 26262
13 3 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 17025
System Software
1 166 (10.89%) Active Directory
2 56 (3.67%) Hyper-V
3 32 (2.10%) VMware Infrastructure
4 29 (1.90%) Docker
5 19 (1.25%) Firmware
6 15 (0.98%) Virtual Desktop
7 11 (0.72%) Embedded Firmware
8 8 (0.52%) 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 58 (3.80%) Microsoft Intune
2 25 (1.64%) Kubernetes
3 12 (0.79%) SCCM
4 9 (0.59%) Single Sign-On
5 8 (0.52%) Ansible
5 8 (0.52%) Functional Safety
6 6 (0.39%) 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
1 478 (31.34%) Microsoft
2 64 (4.20%) SAP
3 48 (3.15%) Workday
4 46 (3.02%) Google
5 42 (2.75%) Oracle
6 39 (2.56%) VMware
7 38 (2.49%) Cisco
8 33 (2.16%) ServiceNow
9 29 (1.90%) Salesforce
10 25 (1.64%) Sage
11 20 (1.31%) IBM
12 18 (1.18%) Cognos
12 18 (1.18%) EMC
13 16 (1.05%) Siemens
14 15 (0.98%) Allen-Bradley
15 13 (0.85%) JD Edwards
16 12 (0.79%) Apple
16 12 (0.79%) Broadcom
17 11 (0.72%) Fortinet
17 11 (0.72%) Veeam