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 28 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 16 4 7
Rank change year-on-year -12 +3 +2
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 917 1,251 771
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 11.68% 18.64% 15.27%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 14.33% 20.82% 17.19%
Number of salaries quoted 702 500 616
10th Percentile £25,875 £28,500 £26,250
25th Percentile £28,795 £34,938 £32,188
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £38,500 £50,000 £48,085
Median % change year-on-year -23.00% +3.98% -3.83%
75th Percentile £53,901 £62,688 £60,250
90th Percentile £68,650 £76,500 £70,000
England median annual salary £45,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -18.18% - -

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 6,399 6,010 4,486
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 81.52% 89.54% 88.87%
Number of salaries quoted 3,536 2,661 3,680
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,250 £26,500
25th Percentile £35,000 £38,750 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £49,500 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.71% +5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £65,000 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £76,250
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%

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 28 December 2025.

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 28 December 2025. 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 -16 547 £42,618 -22.51% 807
East Midlands +1 369 £33,000 -7.69% 638
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 46 (5.02%) SharePoint
2 36 (3.93%) Microsoft Exchange
3 13 (1.42%) IIS
4 6 (0.65%) Apache
4 6 (0.65%) Confluence
5 5 (0.55%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 2 (0.22%) Exchange Server 2007
6 2 (0.22%) Exchange Server 2010
6 2 (0.22%) Exchange Server 2013
7 1 (0.11%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.11%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.11%) Appian
7 1 (0.11%) HCL Notes
7 1 (0.11%) NServiceBus
7 1 (0.11%) SAS
7 1 (0.11%) WebLogic
Applications
1 90 (9.81%) Microsoft Excel
2 53 (5.78%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (1.20%) Spreadsheet
4 10 (1.09%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 9 (0.98%) AutoCAD
6 8 (0.87%) Microsoft Project
6 8 (0.87%) SOLIDWORKS
7 6 (0.65%) MS Visio
8 4 (0.44%) CATIA
9 3 (0.33%) Trello
10 1 (0.11%) Abaqus
10 1 (0.11%) EPLAN
10 1 (0.11%) Revit
10 1 (0.11%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 41 (4.47%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (0.98%) NetSuite
3 6 (0.65%) iTrent
4 4 (0.44%) SAP FI
4 4 (0.44%) Shopify
5 3 (0.33%) Dynamics NAV
5 3 (0.33%) SAP Business One
5 3 (0.33%) SAP S/4HANA
6 2 (0.22%) Infor CloudSuite Industrial (formerly SyteLine)
6 2 (0.22%) Oracle Cash Management
6 2 (0.22%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.22%) Oracle EBS R12
6 2 (0.22%) Oracle Payables
6 2 (0.22%) SAP ERP
6 2 (0.22%) SAP MM
7 1 (0.11%) Magento
7 1 (0.11%) NEC Housing
7 1 (0.11%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 1 (0.11%) Sage X3
7 1 (0.11%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 188 (20.50%) Azure
2 177 (19.30%) Microsoft 365
3 82 (8.94%) SaaS
4 68 (7.42%) Power Platform
5 63 (6.87%) AWS
6 53 (5.78%) Entra ID
7 30 (3.27%) Dynamics 365
8 16 (1.74%) GCP
9 15 (1.64%) Power Automate
10 13 (1.42%) Azure DevOps
10 13 (1.42%) Serverless
11 11 (1.20%) OneDrive
11 11 (1.20%) PowerApps
12 9 (0.98%) GitHub
13 8 (0.87%) Cloud Computing
14 7 (0.76%) Amazon S3
14 7 (0.76%) OCI
15 5 (0.55%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 5 (0.55%) Azure Data Factory
15 5 (0.55%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 68 (7.42%) DNS
2 64 (6.98%) DHCP
3 44 (4.80%) Remote Desktop
4 40 (4.36%) VPN
5 35 (3.82%) Firewall
6 34 (3.71%) WAN
7 28 (3.05%) LAN
8 19 (2.07%) Internet
9 17 (1.85%) Wi-Fi
10 13 (1.42%) TCP/IP
11 12 (1.31%) Wireless
12 11 (1.20%) VoIP
13 10 (1.09%) VLAN
14 9 (0.98%) ADSL
14 9 (0.98%) Ethernet
14 9 (0.98%) VDSL
15 7 (0.76%) Broadband
16 6 (0.65%) SD-WAN
17 5 (0.55%) Bluetooth
17 5 (0.55%) PBX
Database & Business Intelligence
1 56 (6.11%) Power BI
2 53 (5.78%) SQL Server
3 18 (1.96%) MySQL
3 18 (1.96%) Relational Database
4 15 (1.64%) GIS
4 15 (1.64%) PostgreSQL
5 13 (1.42%) Oracle Reports
6 12 (1.31%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 10 (1.09%) Tableau
8 7 (0.76%) Metadata
8 7 (0.76%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 6 (0.65%) Azure SQL Database
9 6 (0.65%) Crystal Reports
10 5 (0.55%) Amazon RDS
10 5 (0.55%) BusinessObjects
10 5 (0.55%) Data Lake
11 4 (0.44%) Data Mining
12 3 (0.33%) Amazon Redshift
12 3 (0.33%) Data Warehouse
12 3 (0.33%) Oracle BI Publisher
Development Applications
1 30 (3.27%) JIRA
2 22 (2.40%) Git
3 8 (0.87%) GitLab
4 7 (0.76%) JUnit
4 7 (0.76%) Subversion
5 6 (0.65%) Jenkins
6 5 (0.55%) Burp Suite
6 5 (0.55%) Metasploit
6 5 (0.55%) Mockito
7 4 (0.44%) Maven
7 4 (0.44%) Selenium
8 3 (0.33%) Appcelerator Titanium
8 3 (0.33%) Cucumber
9 2 (0.22%) Vagrant
9 2 (0.22%) Visual Studio Code
10 1 (0.11%) Babel
10 1 (0.11%) Rational DOORS
10 1 (0.11%) Sonatype Nexus
10 1 (0.11%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
10 1 (0.11%) webpack
General
1 477 (52.02%) Social Skills
2 273 (29.77%) Analytical Skills
3 219 (23.88%) Finance
4 152 (16.58%) Retail
5 80 (8.72%) Manufacturing
6 48 (5.23%) Law
7 44 (4.80%) Marketing
7 44 (4.80%) Organisational Skills
8 40 (4.36%) Legal
9 36 (3.93%) Public Sector
10 33 (3.60%) Digital Health
11 27 (2.94%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 23 (2.51%) Electronics
13 19 (2.07%) Documentation Skills
13 19 (2.07%) Telecoms
14 15 (1.64%) Presentation Skills
15 14 (1.53%) Banking
15 14 (1.53%) Fire and Rescue
16 12 (1.31%) Automotive
17 11 (1.20%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 163 (17.78%) Support Engineer
2 154 (16.79%) IT Support
3 134 (14.61%) Analyst
4 88 (9.60%) IT Engineer
5 82 (8.94%) Technical Support
6 76 (8.29%) 2nd Line Support
6 76 (8.29%) IT Support Engineer
7 74 (8.07%) Support Analyst
8 73 (7.96%) Developer
9 71 (7.74%) Technical Engineer
10 69 (7.52%) Lead
11 68 (7.42%) Technical Support Engineer
12 66 (7.20%) Senior
13 46 (5.02%) Support Technician
14 39 (4.25%) Applications Support
15 35 (3.82%) Architect
16 31 (3.38%) 1st/2nd Line Support
17 30 (3.27%) Administrator
18 28 (3.05%) 1st Line Support
19 26 (2.84%) 2nd Line Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 35 (3.82%) .NET
2 30 (3.27%) React
3 28 (3.05%) REST
4 24 (2.62%) HTML
5 22 (2.40%) CSS
6 17 (1.85%) AngularJS
7 16 (1.74%) JSON
8 13 (1.42%) Node.js
9 11 (1.20%) Razor View Engine
10 10 (1.09%) EDI
11 8 (0.87%) Middleware
11 8 (0.87%) Oracle Fusion
11 8 (0.87%) RESTful
12 7 (0.76%) Vue
13 6 (0.65%) LAMP
13 6 (0.65%) Laravel
13 6 (0.65%) Spring
14 5 (0.55%) Web Services
15 4 (0.44%) ASP.NET
15 4 (0.44%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 115 (12.54%) Onboarding
2 111 (12.10%) Driving Licence
3 62 (6.76%) FMCG
4 48 (5.23%) Self-Motivation
5 41 (4.47%) Analytical Mindset
6 40 (4.36%) Management Information System
7 18 (1.96%) SCADA
8 15 (1.64%) Legacy Systems
9 13 (1.42%) Operational Technology
9 13 (1.42%) Product Ownership
9 13 (1.42%) Security Posture
10 12 (1.31%) e-Learning
11 10 (1.09%) Data Centre
11 10 (1.09%) Embedded Systems
11 10 (1.09%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 10 (1.09%) Social Media
12 9 (0.98%) Enterprise Software
13 8 (0.87%) Data Structures
13 8 (0.87%) IoT
13 8 (0.87%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 164 (17.88%) Windows
2 58 (6.32%) Windows Server
3 40 (4.36%) Linux
4 34 (3.71%) Windows 10
5 11 (1.20%) Apple iOS
6 6 (0.65%) Mac OS
7 5 (0.55%) Mac OS X
7 5 (0.55%) Windows Server 2019
8 4 (0.44%) Unix
9 3 (0.33%) Android
10 2 (0.22%) VMS
10 2 (0.22%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.11%) Oracle Linux
11 1 (0.11%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.11%) Windows Mobile
11 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2008
11 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 219 (23.88%) Continuous Improvement
2 194 (21.16%) Customer Service
3 127 (13.85%) CRM
4 121 (13.20%) ERP
5 102 (11.12%) Logistics
6 101 (11.01%) Project Management
7 97 (10.58%) Agile
8 96 (10.47%) Mentoring
9 90 (9.81%) ITIL
10 86 (9.38%) Decision-Making
11 83 (9.05%) Business Intelligence
12 73 (7.96%) Analytics
13 71 (7.74%) Incident Management
14 66 (7.20%) Root Cause Analysis
15 59 (6.43%) Analytical Thinking
15 59 (6.43%) E-Commerce
16 56 (6.11%) Process Improvement
17 50 (5.45%) Computer Science
18 49 (5.34%) Change Management
18 49 (5.34%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 185 (20.17%) SQL
2 85 (9.27%) C#
3 60 (6.54%) Python
4 47 (5.13%) JavaScript
5 34 (3.71%) Java
6 30 (3.27%) PowerShell
7 23 (2.51%) PHP
8 16 (1.74%) T-SQL
9 10 (1.09%) C
9 10 (1.09%) TypeScript
10 8 (0.87%) Bash
11 7 (0.76%) C++
11 7 (0.76%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 5 (0.55%) Ladder Logic
12 5 (0.55%) PL/SQL
12 5 (0.55%) R
13 4 (0.44%) Delphi
13 4 (0.44%) Perl
14 3 (0.33%) Groovy
14 3 (0.33%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 179 (19.52%) Degree
2 79 (8.62%) Security Cleared
3 54 (5.89%) SC Cleared
4 35 (3.82%) Microsoft Certification
5 32 (3.49%) Computer Science Degree
6 24 (2.62%) DBS Check
7 18 (1.96%) ACCA
7 18 (1.96%) CIMA
7 18 (1.96%) Master's Degree
8 17 (1.85%) BPSS Clearance
8 17 (1.85%) Cisco Certification
9 16 (1.74%) CISSP
10 15 (1.64%) MCP
11 10 (1.09%) AWS Certification
11 10 (1.09%) CISM
11 10 (1.09%) MCSE
12 9 (0.98%) CCNA
12 9 (0.98%) DV Cleared
12 9 (0.98%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 8 (0.87%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 52 (5.67%) QA
2 27 (2.94%) Data Quality
3 25 (2.73%) GDPR
4 22 (2.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 14 (1.53%) SLA
6 11 (1.20%) Cyber Essentials
7 10 (1.09%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 9 (0.98%) NIST
9 8 (0.87%) Actionable Recommendations
10 4 (0.44%) Accessibility
11 3 (0.33%) PMO
12 2 (0.22%) COBIT
12 2 (0.22%) Government Security Classifications
12 2 (0.22%) HIPAA
12 2 (0.22%) ISO 20022
12 2 (0.22%) ISO 9001
12 2 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 19770
12 2 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 20000
12 2 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 2 (0.22%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 120 (13.09%) Active Directory
2 19 (2.07%) Docker
2 19 (2.07%) VMware Infrastructure
3 7 (0.76%) Firmware
3 7 (0.76%) Hyper-V
3 7 (0.76%) vSphere
4 2 (0.22%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (0.22%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.11%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 38 (4.14%) Microsoft Intune
2 19 (2.07%) Kubernetes
3 14 (1.53%) Terraform
4 5 (0.55%) Ansible
4 5 (0.55%) Nmap
4 5 (0.55%) SCCM
5 3 (0.33%) Grafana
5 3 (0.33%) Nagios
6 2 (0.22%) FortiGate
7 1 (0.11%) Argo
7 1 (0.11%) Autotask
7 1 (0.11%) AWS Copilot
7 1 (0.11%) CA Service Virtualization
7 1 (0.11%) HP Quality Center
7 1 (0.11%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.11%) Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.11%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 267 (29.12%) Microsoft
2 72 (7.85%) SAP
3 53 (5.78%) Oracle
4 38 (4.14%) Salesforce
5 34 (3.71%) Cisco
6 19 (2.07%) VMware
7 15 (1.64%) ServiceNow
8 12 (1.31%) Zoho
9 11 (1.20%) Databricks
10 10 (1.09%) Google
10 10 (1.09%) HubSpot
11 9 (0.98%) Meraki
11 9 (0.98%) Sage
12 7 (0.76%) Dell
12 7 (0.76%) Infor
12 7 (0.76%) Juniper
13 6 (0.65%) Apple
13 6 (0.65%) Freshdesk
13 6 (0.65%) QAD
14 5 (0.55%) McAfee