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

6 months to
11 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 2 4
Rank change year-on-year -9 +2 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,186 1,268 1,477
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 8.21% 22.05% 13.73%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.75% 25.93% 17.64%
Number of salaries quoted 842 739 725
10th Percentile £26,300 £25,264 £25,500
25th Percentile £30,500 £29,250 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £39,758 £43,072
Median % change year-on-year +6.90% -7.70% -12.10%
75th Percentile £56,875 £53,750 £58,750
90th Percentile £69,650 £67,500 £71,250
England median annual salary £47,500 £46,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +2.15% -7.00% -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 10,095 4,890 8,375
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 69.88% 85.03% 77.85%
Number of salaries quoted 7,169 2,982 5,074
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,968 £28,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,500 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £47,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.53% -5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £66,250 £63,750 £63,750
90th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £76,250
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +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 11 August 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 11 August 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 -10 654 £42,500 -5.56% 375
East Midlands -9 529 £40,000 +12.68% 257
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 52 (4.38%) SharePoint
2 38 (3.20%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (0.93%) IIS
4 8 (0.67%) CMS
5 5 (0.42%) Confluence
5 5 (0.42%) Skype for Business
6 3 (0.25%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.25%) CICS
6 3 (0.25%) SAS
6 3 (0.25%) WordPress
7 2 (0.17%) Documentum
7 2 (0.17%) Exchange Server 2007
7 2 (0.17%) Exchange Server 2010
7 2 (0.17%) Exchange Server 2013
8 1 (0.084%) Apache
8 1 (0.084%) Appian
8 1 (0.084%) Drupal
8 1 (0.084%) Jupyter
8 1 (0.084%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 98 (8.26%) Microsoft Office
2 81 (6.83%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (1.01%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (0.84%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (0.42%) Fusion 360
6 4 (0.34%) Microsoft Project
7 3 (0.25%) AutoCAD
8 2 (0.17%) Chatbot
8 2 (0.17%) Navisworks
8 2 (0.17%) OrCAD
8 2 (0.17%) Revit
8 2 (0.17%) Simulink
9 1 (0.084%) LaTeX
9 1 (0.084%) MS Visio
9 1 (0.084%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 15 (1.26%) Dynamics CRM
1 15 (1.26%) SAP S/4HANA
2 14 (1.18%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 13 (1.10%) SAP Business One
4 9 (0.76%) JDE EnterpriseOne
4 9 (0.76%) Shopify
5 7 (0.59%) Sage X3
6 5 (0.42%) Magento
6 5 (0.42%) NetSuite
6 5 (0.42%) Oracle ERP
6 5 (0.42%) Sage 50
6 5 (0.42%) Salesforce CRM
7 4 (0.34%) Dynamics AX
7 4 (0.34%) Line 50
8 3 (0.25%) Infor CloudSuite
8 3 (0.25%) Infor LN
8 3 (0.25%) Infor M3
9 2 (0.17%) Dynamics GP
9 2 (0.17%) Dynamics NAV
9 2 (0.17%) Q-Pulse
Cloud Services
1 237 (19.98%) Microsoft 365
2 215 (18.13%) Azure
3 122 (10.29%) Power Platform
4 86 (7.25%) AWS
5 85 (7.17%) Entra ID
6 49 (4.13%) SaaS
7 31 (2.61%) Dynamics 365
8 24 (2.02%) Azure DevOps
9 22 (1.85%) Power Automate
10 16 (1.35%) GCP
10 16 (1.35%) Microsoft Copilot
10 16 (1.35%) PowerApps
11 15 (1.26%) Serverless
12 14 (1.18%) Microsoft Purview
13 13 (1.10%) GitHub
14 11 (0.93%) Amazon S3
14 11 (0.93%) AWS Lambda
14 11 (0.93%) Google Workspace
15 9 (0.76%) GitHub Actions
15 9 (0.76%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 65 (5.48%) Firewall
2 64 (5.40%) DNS
3 50 (4.22%) DHCP
4 49 (4.13%) VPN
5 44 (3.71%) TCP/IP
6 33 (2.78%) Wireless
7 29 (2.45%) VLAN
8 24 (2.02%) WAN
9 20 (1.69%) LAN
10 19 (1.60%) Wi-Fi
11 18 (1.52%) Network Security
12 15 (1.26%) VoIP
13 9 (0.76%) Internet
14 8 (0.67%) MQTT
15 7 (0.59%) SD-WAN
15 7 (0.59%) SSL
16 6 (0.51%) Cisco IOS
17 5 (0.42%) Remote Desktop
17 5 (0.42%) Skype
18 4 (0.34%) Bluetooth
Database & Business Intelligence
1 112 (9.44%) Power BI
2 49 (4.13%) SQL Server
3 26 (2.19%) Power Query
4 23 (1.94%) Tableau
5 20 (1.69%) Data Warehouse
6 18 (1.52%) Relational Database
6 18 (1.52%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 16 (1.35%) MySQL
8 14 (1.18%) Electronic Patient Records
8 14 (1.18%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 12 (1.01%) Azure SQL Database
10 10 (0.84%) Crystal Reports
10 10 (0.84%) DynamoDB
11 8 (0.67%) Data Mining
12 7 (0.59%) Amazon Redshift
12 7 (0.59%) MongoDB
12 7 (0.59%) PostgreSQL
13 6 (0.51%) GIS
13 6 (0.51%) NoSQL
14 5 (0.42%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 40 (3.37%) Git
2 26 (2.19%) JIRA
3 16 (1.35%) Jenkins
4 6 (0.51%) Maven
5 5 (0.42%) Cucumber
5 5 (0.42%) JUnit
5 5 (0.42%) Postman
5 5 (0.42%) VersionOne
6 4 (0.34%) Burp Suite
6 4 (0.34%) GitLab
6 4 (0.34%) JMeter
6 4 (0.34%) Metasploit
6 4 (0.34%) Selenium
6 4 (0.34%) SoapUI
7 3 (0.25%) Mockito
7 3 (0.25%) Subversion
7 3 (0.25%) Zephyr
8 2 (0.17%) Apache Ivy
8 2 (0.17%) Bitbucket
8 2 (0.17%) TeamCity
General
1 575 (48.48%) Social Skills
2 344 (29.01%) Analytical Skills
3 207 (17.45%) Finance
4 179 (15.09%) Manufacturing
5 78 (6.58%) Retail
6 74 (6.24%) Organisational Skills
7 56 (4.72%) Marketing
8 50 (4.22%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 47 (3.96%) Public Sector
10 44 (3.71%) Legal
11 41 (3.46%) Law
12 29 (2.45%) Influencing Skills
13 27 (2.28%) Electronics
14 21 (1.77%) Documentation Skills
15 20 (1.69%) Automotive
16 15 (1.26%) Telecoms
17 12 (1.01%) Games
18 10 (0.84%) Banking
19 9 (0.76%) Advertising
20 8 (0.67%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 184 (15.51%) Analyst
2 138 (11.64%) IT Support
3 131 (11.05%) Support Engineer
4 110 (9.27%) Developer
5 103 (8.68%) Senior
6 78 (6.58%) Technical Support
7 71 (5.99%) IT Engineer
8 69 (5.82%) Technical Engineer
9 68 (5.73%) Lead
10 67 (5.65%) Technical Support Engineer
11 62 (5.23%) Consultant
12 61 (5.14%) Support Technician
13 57 (4.81%) Support Analyst
14 52 (4.38%) IT Support Engineer
14 52 (4.38%) IT Technician
15 50 (4.22%) IT Manager
16 43 (3.63%) IT Support Technician
17 40 (3.37%) Senior Analyst
18 38 (3.20%) Data Analyst
19 28 (2.36%) 2nd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 54 (4.55%) REST
2 39 (3.29%) React
3 35 (2.95%) .NET
4 24 (2.02%) Node.js
5 22 (1.85%) Spring
6 21 (1.77%) SOAP
7 19 (1.60%) Spring Boot
8 17 (1.43%) CSS
8 17 (1.43%) HTML
9 14 (1.18%) RESTful
10 12 (1.01%) AngularJS
10 12 (1.01%) Playwright
11 11 (0.93%) JSON
12 10 (0.84%) EDI
12 10 (0.84%) SAP Fiori
13 9 (0.76%) JDBC
13 9 (0.76%) Middleware
13 9 (0.76%) OAuth
13 9 (0.76%) SAPUI5
14 8 (0.67%) ASP.NET
Miscellaneous
1 124 (10.46%) Driving Licence
2 70 (5.90%) Management Information System
3 67 (5.65%) Onboarding
4 48 (4.05%) Self-Motivation
5 28 (2.36%) Enterprise Software
6 26 (2.19%) NHS
7 19 (1.60%) Robotics
8 17 (1.43%) IoT
9 16 (1.35%) Greenfield Project
10 15 (1.26%) Analytical Mindset
10 15 (1.26%) SystemC
11 14 (1.18%) Data Structures
12 12 (1.01%) Social Media
13 11 (0.93%) CMDB
13 11 (0.93%) Legacy Systems
13 11 (0.93%) Mobile App
13 11 (0.93%) SCADA
13 11 (0.93%) Security Posture
13 11 (0.93%) Virtual Team
14 10 (0.84%) Legacy Applications
Operating Systems
1 211 (17.79%) Windows
2 80 (6.75%) Linux
3 75 (6.32%) Windows Server
4 46 (3.88%) Windows 10
5 15 (1.26%) Android
6 12 (1.01%) Apple iOS
7 10 (0.84%) Ubuntu
8 9 (0.76%) Mac OS
8 9 (0.76%) Unix
9 6 (0.51%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 5 (0.42%) CentOS
10 5 (0.42%) OpenVMS
11 4 (0.34%) FreeRTOS
11 4 (0.34%) VMS
12 3 (0.25%) Debian
12 3 (0.25%) SUSE
12 3 (0.25%) Windows 7
13 2 (0.17%) Solaris
13 2 (0.17%) Windows Server 2016
14 1 (0.084%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 355 (29.93%) Continuous Improvement
2 207 (17.45%) Customer Service
3 171 (14.42%) Decision-Making
4 156 (13.15%) Agile
5 150 (12.65%) Analytics
6 139 (11.72%) Mentoring
7 129 (10.88%) Collaborative Working
8 126 (10.62%) ERP
9 118 (9.95%) Business Intelligence
10 106 (8.94%) Cybersecurity
10 106 (8.94%) ITIL
11 99 (8.35%) AI
12 98 (8.26%) Service Delivery
13 82 (6.91%) Roadmaps
14 81 (6.83%) Stakeholder Management
15 74 (6.24%) Collaborative Culture
15 74 (6.24%) CRM
16 69 (5.82%) Root Cause Analysis
17 68 (5.73%) Project Delivery
18 66 (5.56%) Process Improvement
Programming Languages
1 194 (16.36%) SQL
2 86 (7.25%) Python
3 53 (4.47%) Java
4 46 (3.88%) PowerShell
5 41 (3.46%) JavaScript
6 34 (2.87%) C#
7 31 (2.61%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 24 (2.02%) TypeScript
9 21 (1.77%) Ladder Logic
10 15 (1.26%) VBA
11 14 (1.18%) Bash
11 14 (1.18%) C
12 13 (1.10%) PHP
13 10 (0.84%) C++
14 9 (0.76%) ABAP
15 8 (0.67%) Embedded C
16 7 (0.59%) RPG
17 6 (0.51%) COBOL
17 6 (0.51%) JCL
17 6 (0.51%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 166 (14.00%) Degree
2 83 (7.00%) Security Cleared
3 68 (5.73%) SC Cleared
4 29 (2.45%) Microsoft Certification
5 27 (2.28%) DBS Check
6 21 (1.77%) Azure Certification
7 18 (1.52%) CISSP
8 16 (1.35%) Cisco Certification
8 16 (1.35%) HND
9 15 (1.26%) CompTIA Security+
10 14 (1.18%) HNC
11 13 (1.10%) PMI Certification
12 10 (0.84%) Computer Science Degree
13 9 (0.76%) CCNA
14 7 (0.59%) ACCA
14 7 (0.59%) BPSS Clearance
14 7 (0.59%) CIMA
14 7 (0.59%) CISA
14 7 (0.59%) SSCP
15 6 (0.51%) CCSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 55 (4.64%) Data Quality
2 45 (3.79%) GDPR
3 41 (3.46%) Cyber Essentials
4 40 (3.37%) QA
5 39 (3.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 36 (3.04%) SLA
7 22 (1.85%) Accessibility
8 19 (1.60%) NIST
9 18 (1.52%) ISO 9001
10 10 (0.84%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 9 (0.76%) ISO 14001
12 7 (0.59%) GRC
12 7 (0.59%) PCI DSS
13 5 (0.42%) Actionable Recommendations
14 4 (0.34%) GMP
14 4 (0.34%) Sarbanes-Oxley
15 3 (0.25%) California Consumer Privacy Act
15 3 (0.25%) COSHH
15 3 (0.25%) HIPAA
15 3 (0.25%) SOC 2
System Software
1 146 (12.31%) Active Directory
2 46 (3.88%) Hyper-V
3 30 (2.53%) VMware Infrastructure
4 26 (2.19%) Docker
5 13 (1.10%) Firmware
6 9 (0.76%) Virtual Desktop
7 8 (0.67%) vSphere
8 6 (0.51%) Embedded Firmware
9 5 (0.42%) Virtual Machines
10 2 (0.17%) Samba
11 1 (0.084%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.084%) Terminal Services
11 1 (0.084%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 43 (3.63%) Microsoft Intune
2 24 (2.02%) Kubernetes
3 19 (1.60%) Terraform
4 10 (0.84%) Ansible
4 10 (0.84%) SCCM
5 6 (0.51%) Grafana
6 5 (0.42%) Prometheus
7 4 (0.34%) Functional Safety
7 4 (0.34%) Galera Cluster
7 4 (0.34%) Nmap
7 4 (0.34%) Progress Chef
7 4 (0.34%) Puppet
7 4 (0.34%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.25%) BMC PATROL
8 3 (0.25%) Control-M
8 3 (0.25%) WhatsUp Gold
9 2 (0.17%) Nagios
9 2 (0.17%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.17%) WSUS
10 1 (0.084%) FortiGate
Vendors
1 349 (29.43%) Microsoft
2 53 (4.47%) SAP
3 41 (3.46%) VMware
4 31 (2.61%) Cisco
5 25 (2.11%) Oracle
5 25 (2.11%) ServiceNow
6 23 (1.94%) Workday
7 21 (1.77%) IBM
8 20 (1.69%) Salesforce
9 19 (1.60%) Sage
10 17 (1.43%) Cognos
10 17 (1.43%) Google
11 11 (0.93%) Dell
11 11 (0.93%) HubSpot
11 11 (0.93%) Red Hat
12 10 (0.84%) Databricks
12 10 (0.84%) Epicor
12 10 (0.84%) iManage
13 9 (0.76%) Apple
13 9 (0.76%) JD Edwards