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

6 months to
17 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -8 +1 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,197 1,280 1,453
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 8.24% 22.01% 13.66%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.80% 25.86% 17.63%
Number of salaries quoted 846 750 709
10th Percentile £26,469 £25,265 £25,500
25th Percentile £30,500 £29,000 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £38,500 £43,227
Median % change year-on-year +10.39% -10.94% -11.78%
75th Percentile £56,875 £53,721 £58,747
90th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £71,250
England median annual salary £47,500 £45,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +5.56% -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 10,144 4,949 8,242
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 69.85% 85.09% 77.47%
Number of salaries quoted 7,222 2,998 4,983
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 £65,000 £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 17 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 17 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 -9 665 £42,500 -4.59% 511
East Midlands -9 529 £41,000 +17.14% 289
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 53 (4.43%) SharePoint
2 38 (3.17%) Microsoft Exchange
3 13 (1.09%) IIS
4 7 (0.58%) CMS
5 5 (0.42%) Confluence
5 5 (0.42%) Skype for Business
6 4 (0.33%) CICS
7 3 (0.25%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.25%) SAS
7 3 (0.25%) WordPress
8 2 (0.17%) Documentum
9 1 (0.084%) Apache
9 1 (0.084%) Appian
9 1 (0.084%) Exchange Server 2007
9 1 (0.084%) Exchange Server 2010
9 1 (0.084%) Exchange Server 2013
9 1 (0.084%) Jupyter
9 1 (0.084%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 99 (8.27%) Microsoft Office
2 81 (6.77%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (1.00%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (0.75%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (0.42%) Fusion 360
6 4 (0.33%) Microsoft Project
6 4 (0.33%) Simulink
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
9 1 (0.084%) LaTeX
9 1 (0.084%) MS Visio
9 1 (0.084%) Siemens NX
9 1 (0.084%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 17 (1.42%) Dynamics CRM
2 15 (1.25%) IBM Planning Analytics
2 15 (1.25%) SAP S/4HANA
3 13 (1.09%) SAP Business One
4 10 (0.84%) Shopify
5 9 (0.75%) JDE EnterpriseOne
6 7 (0.58%) Sage X3
7 6 (0.50%) NetSuite
8 5 (0.42%) Magento
8 5 (0.42%) Oracle ERP
8 5 (0.42%) Sage 50
8 5 (0.42%) Salesforce CRM
9 4 (0.33%) Dynamics AX
9 4 (0.33%) Line 50
10 3 (0.25%) Infor CloudSuite
10 3 (0.25%) Infor LN
10 3 (0.25%) Infor M3
11 2 (0.17%) Dynamics GP
11 2 (0.17%) Q-Pulse
11 2 (0.17%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 238 (19.88%) Microsoft 365
2 223 (18.63%) Azure
3 126 (10.53%) Power Platform
4 86 (7.18%) AWS
5 83 (6.93%) Entra ID
6 51 (4.26%) SaaS
7 32 (2.67%) Dynamics 365
8 28 (2.34%) Azure DevOps
9 25 (2.09%) Power Automate
10 19 (1.59%) PowerApps
11 16 (1.34%) GCP
11 16 (1.34%) Microsoft Copilot
11 16 (1.34%) Serverless
12 15 (1.25%) GitHub
13 14 (1.17%) Microsoft Purview
14 11 (0.92%) Amazon S3
14 11 (0.92%) AWS Lambda
14 11 (0.92%) GitHub Actions
15 10 (0.84%) Google Workspace
16 9 (0.75%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 65 (5.43%) Firewall
2 64 (5.35%) DNS
3 50 (4.18%) DHCP
4 48 (4.01%) VPN
5 44 (3.68%) TCP/IP
6 33 (2.76%) Wireless
7 30 (2.51%) VLAN
8 22 (1.84%) WAN
9 20 (1.67%) LAN
10 19 (1.59%) Network Security
11 18 (1.50%) Wi-Fi
12 15 (1.25%) VoIP
13 8 (0.67%) MQTT
14 7 (0.58%) SSL
15 6 (0.50%) Cisco IOS
15 6 (0.50%) Remote Desktop
15 6 (0.50%) SD-WAN
16 5 (0.42%) Internet
16 5 (0.42%) Skype
17 4 (0.33%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 116 (9.69%) Power BI
2 50 (4.18%) SQL Server
3 25 (2.09%) Power Query
4 24 (2.01%) Tableau
5 20 (1.67%) Data Warehouse
5 20 (1.67%) Relational Database
6 18 (1.50%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 17 (1.42%) MySQL
8 16 (1.34%) Electronic Patient Records
9 14 (1.17%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 12 (1.00%) Azure SQL Database
11 10 (0.84%) Crystal Reports
11 10 (0.84%) DynamoDB
12 9 (0.75%) Data Mining
13 8 (0.67%) PostgreSQL
14 7 (0.58%) Amazon Redshift
14 7 (0.58%) MongoDB
15 6 (0.50%) NoSQL
16 5 (0.42%) Amazon RDS
16 5 (0.42%) GIS
Development Applications
1 43 (3.59%) Git
2 27 (2.26%) JIRA
3 18 (1.50%) Jenkins
4 6 (0.50%) Maven
5 5 (0.42%) Cucumber
5 5 (0.42%) JUnit
5 5 (0.42%) Postman
5 5 (0.42%) VersionOne
6 4 (0.33%) Burp Suite
6 4 (0.33%) GitLab
6 4 (0.33%) JMeter
6 4 (0.33%) Metasploit
6 4 (0.33%) Selenium
6 4 (0.33%) SoapUI
7 3 (0.25%) Eclipse
7 3 (0.25%) Mockito
7 3 (0.25%) Subversion
7 3 (0.25%) Zephyr
8 2 (0.17%) Bitbucket
8 2 (0.17%) IBM UrbanCode
General
1 584 (48.79%) Social Skills
2 350 (29.24%) Analytical Skills
3 212 (17.71%) Finance
4 182 (15.20%) Manufacturing
5 82 (6.85%) Retail
6 75 (6.27%) Organisational Skills
7 61 (5.10%) Marketing
8 48 (4.01%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 48 (4.01%) Public Sector
9 45 (3.76%) Legal
10 43 (3.59%) Law
11 29 (2.42%) Electronics
11 29 (2.42%) Influencing Skills
12 21 (1.75%) Automotive
13 19 (1.59%) Documentation Skills
14 15 (1.25%) Telecoms
15 12 (1.00%) Games
16 10 (0.84%) Banking
17 8 (0.67%) Investment Banking
17 8 (0.67%) Wearables
Job Titles
1 186 (15.54%) Analyst
2 137 (11.45%) IT Support
3 129 (10.78%) Support Engineer
4 115 (9.61%) Developer
5 104 (8.69%) Senior
6 80 (6.68%) Technical Support
7 70 (5.85%) Technical Engineer
8 68 (5.68%) Consultant
8 68 (5.68%) IT Engineer
8 68 (5.68%) Lead
8 68 (5.68%) Technical Support Engineer
9 60 (5.01%) Support Analyst
10 58 (4.85%) Support Technician
11 52 (4.34%) IT Technician
12 50 (4.18%) IT Support Engineer
13 49 (4.09%) IT Manager
14 43 (3.59%) IT Support Technician
15 40 (3.34%) Senior Analyst
16 38 (3.17%) Data Analyst
17 29 (2.42%) 2nd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 54 (4.51%) REST
2 40 (3.34%) React
3 39 (3.26%) .NET
4 25 (2.09%) Node.js
5 24 (2.01%) Spring
6 21 (1.75%) SOAP
6 21 (1.75%) Spring Boot
7 17 (1.42%) CSS
7 17 (1.42%) HTML
8 15 (1.25%) RESTful
9 13 (1.09%) AngularJS
10 12 (1.00%) Playwright
11 11 (0.92%) JSON
12 10 (0.84%) EDI
12 10 (0.84%) Middleware
12 10 (0.84%) SAP Fiori
13 9 (0.75%) ASP.NET
13 9 (0.75%) JDBC
13 9 (0.75%) OAuth
13 9 (0.75%) SAPUI5
Miscellaneous
1 122 (10.19%) Driving Licence
2 71 (5.93%) Management Information System
3 70 (5.85%) Onboarding
4 51 (4.26%) Self-Motivation
5 29 (2.42%) Enterprise Software
6 28 (2.34%) NHS
7 20 (1.67%) Robotics
8 18 (1.50%) IoT
9 17 (1.42%) SystemC
10 16 (1.34%) Greenfield Project
11 15 (1.25%) Analytical Mindset
12 13 (1.09%) Data Structures
13 12 (1.00%) Data Centre
13 12 (1.00%) Legacy Applications
13 12 (1.00%) SCADA
13 12 (1.00%) Virtual Team
14 11 (0.92%) Cloud Native
14 11 (0.92%) CMDB
14 11 (0.92%) Legacy Systems
14 11 (0.92%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 209 (17.46%) Windows
2 81 (6.77%) Linux
3 79 (6.60%) Windows Server
4 45 (3.76%) Windows 10
5 16 (1.34%) Android
6 13 (1.09%) Apple iOS
7 10 (0.84%) Unix
8 9 (0.75%) Mac OS
8 9 (0.75%) Ubuntu
9 6 (0.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 5 (0.42%) OpenVMS
11 4 (0.33%) CentOS
11 4 (0.33%) FreeRTOS
11 4 (0.33%) VMS
12 3 (0.25%) Debian
12 3 (0.25%) Windows Server 2016
13 2 (0.17%) Solaris
13 2 (0.17%) SUSE
13 2 (0.17%) Windows 7
14 1 (0.084%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 355 (29.66%) Continuous Improvement
2 215 (17.96%) Customer Service
3 172 (14.37%) Decision-Making
4 159 (13.28%) Agile
5 156 (13.03%) Analytics
6 138 (11.53%) Mentoring
7 128 (10.69%) Collaborative Working
7 128 (10.69%) ERP
8 122 (10.19%) Business Intelligence
9 109 (9.11%) Cybersecurity
10 103 (8.60%) ITIL
11 98 (8.19%) AI
12 94 (7.85%) Service Delivery
13 87 (7.27%) Roadmaps
14 84 (7.02%) Stakeholder Management
15 77 (6.43%) CRM
16 76 (6.35%) Collaborative Culture
17 72 (6.02%) Project Delivery
18 67 (5.60%) Root Cause Analysis
18 67 (5.60%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 200 (16.71%) SQL
2 88 (7.35%) Python
3 56 (4.68%) Java
4 46 (3.84%) PowerShell
5 44 (3.68%) JavaScript
6 35 (2.92%) C#
7 31 (2.59%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 24 (2.01%) TypeScript
9 21 (1.75%) Ladder Logic
10 16 (1.34%) C
11 14 (1.17%) VBA
12 13 (1.09%) Bash
12 13 (1.09%) PHP
13 11 (0.92%) C++
14 10 (0.84%) Embedded C
15 9 (0.75%) ABAP
16 8 (0.67%) COBOL
16 8 (0.67%) JCL
17 7 (0.58%) RPG
18 6 (0.50%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 171 (14.29%) Degree
2 84 (7.02%) Security Cleared
3 69 (5.76%) SC Cleared
4 28 (2.34%) Microsoft Certification
5 23 (1.92%) Azure Certification
6 21 (1.75%) DBS Check
7 18 (1.50%) Cisco Certification
7 18 (1.50%) CISSP
8 16 (1.34%) HND
9 15 (1.25%) CompTIA Security+
10 14 (1.17%) HNC
11 13 (1.09%) PMI Certification
12 11 (0.92%) CCNA
13 10 (0.84%) Computer Science Degree
14 7 (0.58%) ACCA
14 7 (0.58%) CIMA
14 7 (0.58%) CISA
14 7 (0.58%) SSCP
15 6 (0.50%) CCSP
15 6 (0.50%) City & Guilds
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 57 (4.76%) Data Quality
2 46 (3.84%) GDPR
3 40 (3.34%) Cyber Essentials
3 40 (3.34%) QA
4 37 (3.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 37 (3.09%) SLA
5 21 (1.75%) Accessibility
6 18 (1.50%) ISO 9001
6 18 (1.50%) NIST
7 9 (0.75%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 9 (0.75%) ISO 14001
8 7 (0.58%) GRC
8 7 (0.58%) PCI DSS
9 5 (0.42%) GMP
10 4 (0.33%) Actionable Recommendations
10 4 (0.33%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 3 (0.25%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 3 (0.25%) COSHH
11 3 (0.25%) HIPAA
11 3 (0.25%) SOC 2
System Software
1 147 (12.28%) Active Directory
2 48 (4.01%) Hyper-V
3 30 (2.51%) VMware Infrastructure
4 27 (2.26%) Docker
5 15 (1.25%) Firmware
6 10 (0.84%) Virtual Desktop
7 9 (0.75%) vSphere
8 7 (0.58%) Embedded Firmware
9 5 (0.42%) Virtual Machines
10 2 (0.17%) Samba
10 2 (0.17%) XenApp
11 1 (0.084%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.084%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 42 (3.51%) Microsoft Intune
2 24 (2.01%) Kubernetes
3 19 (1.59%) Terraform
4 10 (0.84%) Ansible
4 10 (0.84%) SCCM
5 5 (0.42%) Functional Safety
5 5 (0.42%) Grafana
5 5 (0.42%) Prometheus
6 4 (0.33%) Galera Cluster
6 4 (0.33%) Nmap
6 4 (0.33%) Progress Chef
6 4 (0.33%) Puppet
6 4 (0.33%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.25%) BMC PATROL
7 3 (0.25%) Control-M
7 3 (0.25%) WhatsUp Gold
8 2 (0.17%) Nagios
8 2 (0.17%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.17%) WSUS
9 1 (0.084%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 357 (29.82%) Microsoft
2 56 (4.68%) SAP
3 42 (3.51%) VMware
4 31 (2.59%) Cisco
5 28 (2.34%) Oracle
6 25 (2.09%) ServiceNow
7 24 (2.01%) Workday
8 22 (1.84%) IBM
9 21 (1.75%) Salesforce
10 20 (1.67%) Sage
11 18 (1.50%) Cognos
11 18 (1.50%) Google
12 12 (1.00%) Databricks
13 11 (0.92%) Dell
13 11 (0.92%) HubSpot
13 11 (0.92%) Sophos
14 10 (0.84%) Epicor
14 10 (0.84%) iManage
14 10 (0.84%) Red Hat
15 9 (0.75%) Apple