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

6 months to
9 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 20 3 5
Rank change year-on-year -17 +2 +3
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 835 1,078 1,486
As % of all permanent jobs in the Midlands 8.66% 20.48% 15.32%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.22% 22.03% 18.07%
Number of salaries quoted 652 555 1,162
10th Percentile £26,000 £27,500 £25,000
25th Percentile £28,500 £33,750 £29,063
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,500 £50,000 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year -25.00% +17.65% -15.00%
75th Percentile £54,250 £62,500 £57,500
90th Percentile £68,750 £77,100 £69,000
England median annual salary £45,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -18.18% +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 7,443 4,894 8,223
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Midlands 77.19% 92.97% 84.80%
Number of salaries quoted 4,212 2,579 6,544
10th Percentile £28,250 £29,000 £26,250
25th Percentile £35,000 £38,750 £34,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £48,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +8.25% -7.62%
75th Percentile £65,000 £66,050 £62,500
90th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £75,000
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +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 9 March 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 9 March 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 -21 497 £42,500 -22.73% 275
East Midlands -2 335 £35,000 -5.41% 215
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 48 (5.75%) SharePoint
2 32 (3.83%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (1.08%) IIS
4 8 (0.96%) CMS
5 6 (0.72%) Apache
5 6 (0.72%) Exchange Server 2007
5 6 (0.72%) Exchange Server 2010
5 6 (0.72%) Exchange Server 2013
5 6 (0.72%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 4 (0.48%) Confluence
7 1 (0.12%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.12%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.12%) Drupal
7 1 (0.12%) NServiceBus
7 1 (0.12%) SAS
7 1 (0.12%) WebLogic
Applications
1 58 (6.95%) Microsoft Excel
2 51 (6.11%) Microsoft Office
3 16 (1.92%) Spreadsheet
4 10 (1.20%) Microsoft Project
5 9 (1.08%) AutoCAD
6 8 (0.96%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 8 (0.96%) SOLIDWORKS
7 7 (0.84%) MS Visio
8 3 (0.36%) CATIA
9 2 (0.24%) Trello
10 1 (0.12%) Abaqus
10 1 (0.12%) EPLAN
10 1 (0.12%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 23 (2.75%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (1.20%) iTrent
2 10 (1.20%) NetSuite
3 5 (0.60%) Q-Pulse
4 4 (0.48%) SAP S/4HANA
5 3 (0.36%) Dynamics NAV
5 3 (0.36%) SAP Business ByDesign
6 2 (0.24%) Infor CloudSuite Industrial (formerly SyteLine)
6 2 (0.24%) SAP ERP
6 2 (0.24%) SAP MM
7 1 (0.12%) Exchequer
7 1 (0.12%) HFM
7 1 (0.12%) IBM Planning Analytics
7 1 (0.12%) SAP Business One
7 1 (0.12%) SAP CO
7 1 (0.12%) SAP EWM
7 1 (0.12%) SAP FI
7 1 (0.12%) SAP FI/CO
7 1 (0.12%) SAP WM
7 1 (0.12%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 179 (21.44%) Microsoft 365
2 177 (21.20%) Azure
3 75 (8.98%) AWS
4 72 (8.62%) SaaS
5 61 (7.31%) Power Platform
6 52 (6.23%) Entra ID
7 28 (3.35%) Serverless
8 26 (3.11%) Dynamics 365
9 18 (2.16%) Power Automate
10 17 (2.04%) Amazon S3
10 17 (2.04%) AWS Lambda
11 16 (1.92%) PowerApps
12 15 (1.80%) GCP
13 13 (1.56%) Google Workspace
14 11 (1.32%) OneDrive
15 9 (1.08%) Azure Data Factory
16 7 (0.84%) Azure DevOps
16 7 (0.84%) Azure Sentinel
16 7 (0.84%) OCI
17 6 (0.72%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 64 (7.66%) DNS
2 62 (7.43%) DHCP
3 45 (5.39%) VPN
4 37 (4.43%) WAN
5 31 (3.71%) Firewall
5 31 (3.71%) Remote Desktop
6 25 (2.99%) Internet
7 24 (2.87%) LAN
8 18 (2.16%) TCP/IP
8 18 (2.16%) Wi-Fi
9 15 (1.80%) SD-WAN
10 13 (1.56%) Wireless
11 11 (1.32%) VLAN
12 10 (1.20%) VoIP
13 6 (0.72%) ADSL
13 6 (0.72%) Broadband
13 6 (0.72%) Ethernet
13 6 (0.72%) Network Security
13 6 (0.72%) VDSL
14 4 (0.48%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 50 (5.99%) Power BI
2 41 (4.91%) SQL Server
3 16 (1.92%) MySQL
4 15 (1.80%) Oracle Reports
5 14 (1.68%) PostgreSQL
6 13 (1.56%) Amazon Redshift
6 13 (1.56%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 11 (1.32%) Tableau
8 10 (1.20%) Relational Database
8 10 (1.20%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 7 (0.84%) Data Warehouse
9 7 (0.84%) Power Query
10 6 (0.72%) Metadata
11 5 (0.60%) Amazon RDS
11 5 (0.60%) Azure SQL Database
11 5 (0.60%) Crystal Reports
12 4 (0.48%) NoSQL
12 4 (0.48%) Redis
12 4 (0.48%) TimescaleDB
13 3 (0.36%) GIS
Development Applications
1 26 (3.11%) JIRA
2 19 (2.28%) Git
3 8 (0.96%) JUnit
4 7 (0.84%) Burp Suite
4 7 (0.84%) Metasploit
5 6 (0.72%) GitLab
5 6 (0.72%) Jenkins
5 6 (0.72%) Maven
5 6 (0.72%) Mockito
6 5 (0.60%) Subversion
7 3 (0.36%) Appcelerator Titanium
8 2 (0.24%) Cucumber
8 2 (0.24%) Selenium
8 2 (0.24%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 2 (0.24%) Visual Studio Code
9 1 (0.12%) MLflow
9 1 (0.12%) Snyk
9 1 (0.12%) Vite
9 1 (0.12%) webpack
9 1 (0.12%) XCUITest
General
1 404 (48.38%) Social Skills
2 277 (33.17%) Analytical Skills
3 152 (18.20%) Finance
4 84 (10.06%) Retail
5 72 (8.62%) Manufacturing
6 64 (7.66%) Organisational Skills
7 45 (5.39%) Law
7 45 (5.39%) Legal
8 33 (3.95%) Marketing
8 33 (3.95%) Public Sector
9 25 (2.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 18 (2.16%) Documentation Skills
11 17 (2.04%) Automotive
12 16 (1.92%) Electronics
13 12 (1.44%) Aerospace
13 12 (1.44%) Banking
13 12 (1.44%) Games
13 12 (1.44%) Presentation Skills
13 12 (1.44%) Telecoms
14 11 (1.32%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 155 (18.56%) IT Support
2 147 (17.60%) Support Engineer
3 137 (16.41%) Analyst
4 103 (12.34%) IT Engineer
5 91 (10.90%) IT Support Engineer
6 69 (8.26%) Developer
7 67 (8.02%) Lead
8 65 (7.78%) Senior
9 59 (7.07%) Technical Support
10 57 (6.83%) Support Analyst
11 48 (5.75%) Technical Engineer
12 47 (5.63%) 2nd Line Support
12 47 (5.63%) Technical Support Engineer
13 41 (4.91%) Support Technician
14 34 (4.07%) Administrator
15 32 (3.83%) 1st/2nd Line Support
15 32 (3.83%) Architect
16 30 (3.59%) Full-Stack Developer
17 28 (3.35%) Applications Support
18 25 (2.99%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (4.31%) React
2 26 (3.11%) HTML
3 25 (2.99%) CSS
3 25 (2.99%) Node.js
4 23 (2.75%) .NET
5 22 (2.63%) REST
6 10 (1.20%) JSON
7 9 (1.08%) AngularJS
8 7 (0.84%) Vue
9 6 (0.72%) LAMP
10 5 (0.60%) Laravel
10 5 (0.60%) Middleware
10 5 (0.60%) Oracle Fusion
10 5 (0.60%) Razor View Engine
10 5 (0.60%) RESTful
11 4 (0.48%) Next.js
11 4 (0.48%) Spring
11 4 (0.48%) WPF
12 3 (0.36%) Django
12 3 (0.36%) ODBC
Miscellaneous
1 104 (12.46%) Driving Licence
2 84 (10.06%) Onboarding
3 41 (4.91%) Management Information System
4 34 (4.07%) Self-Motivation
5 22 (2.63%) Analytical Mindset
6 20 (2.40%) FMCG
7 19 (2.28%) Social Media
8 16 (1.92%) Enterprise Software
9 13 (1.56%) Product Ownership
10 12 (1.44%) Security Posture
11 11 (1.32%) Legacy Systems
12 9 (1.08%) IoT
12 9 (1.08%) Operational Technology
13 8 (0.96%) Data Structures
13 8 (0.96%) Distributed Systems
13 8 (0.96%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
14 7 (0.84%) Cyber Defence
14 7 (0.84%) EPoS
14 7 (0.84%) Insider Threat
14 7 (0.84%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 156 (18.68%) Windows
2 52 (6.23%) Windows Server
3 41 (4.91%) Linux
4 29 (3.47%) Windows 10
5 12 (1.44%) Apple iOS
6 6 (0.72%) Windows 7
7 5 (0.60%) Debian
7 5 (0.60%) Windows Server 2019
8 4 (0.48%) Android
8 4 (0.48%) CentOS
8 4 (0.48%) Ubuntu
8 4 (0.48%) Unix
9 3 (0.36%) SUSE
10 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.12%) Mac OS
11 1 (0.12%) Oracle Linux
11 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 183 (21.92%) Continuous Improvement
2 164 (19.64%) Customer Service
3 101 (12.10%) Agile
4 98 (11.74%) Mentoring
5 96 (11.50%) ERP
6 95 (11.38%) CRM
7 86 (10.30%) Decision-Making
8 85 (10.18%) ITIL
9 80 (9.58%) Project Management
10 67 (8.02%) Analytics
11 64 (7.66%) Business Intelligence
12 59 (7.07%) Time Management
13 56 (6.71%) Process Improvement
14 52 (6.23%) Computer Science
15 51 (6.11%) Migration
16 50 (5.99%) Stakeholder Management
17 49 (5.87%) Analytical Thinking
17 49 (5.87%) Root Cause Analysis
18 46 (5.51%) Logistics
18 46 (5.51%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 158 (18.92%) SQL
2 55 (6.59%) Python
3 53 (6.35%) C#
4 47 (5.63%) JavaScript
5 25 (2.99%) Java
6 23 (2.75%) PowerShell
7 17 (2.04%) PHP
8 15 (1.80%) T-SQL
9 11 (1.32%) Bash
9 11 (1.32%) C
10 10 (1.20%) TypeScript
11 8 (0.96%) Ladder Logic
11 8 (0.96%) R
12 7 (0.84%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 7 (0.84%) PL/SQL
13 4 (0.48%) C++
13 4 (0.48%) Delphi
13 4 (0.48%) VBA
14 3 (0.36%) VB.NET
15 2 (0.24%) Google Apps Script
Qualifications
1 153 (18.32%) Degree
2 67 (8.02%) Security Cleared
3 51 (6.11%) SC Cleared
4 32 (3.83%) Microsoft Certification
5 27 (3.23%) Computer Science Degree
6 24 (2.87%) DBS Check
7 19 (2.28%) CISSP
8 18 (2.16%) CompTIA Security+
9 16 (1.92%) Cisco Certification
10 12 (1.44%) BPSS Clearance
11 11 (1.32%) A+ Certification
11 11 (1.32%) CCNA
11 11 (1.32%) Master's Degree
12 10 (1.20%) PMI Certification
13 9 (1.08%) ACCA
13 9 (1.08%) AWS Certification
13 9 (1.08%) CIMA
13 9 (1.08%) CISMP
13 9 (1.08%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 9 (1.08%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 54 (6.47%) QA
2 39 (4.67%) Data Quality
3 27 (3.23%) GDPR
4 26 (3.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 18 (2.16%) NIST
6 13 (1.56%) Actionable Recommendations
7 11 (1.32%) Cyber Essentials
8 10 (1.20%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 9 (1.08%) SLA
10 5 (0.60%) Accessibility
10 5 (0.60%) COSHH
10 5 (0.60%) GMP
10 5 (0.60%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 3 (0.36%) HIPAA
12 2 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 19770
12 2 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 2 (0.24%) PCI DSS
12 2 (0.24%) PMO
13 1 (0.12%) Government Security Classifications
13 1 (0.12%) SOC 2
System Software
1 99 (11.86%) Active Directory
2 23 (2.75%) Docker
3 16 (1.92%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (1.20%) Hyper-V
5 8 (0.96%) vSphere
6 2 (0.24%) Virtual Desktop
6 2 (0.24%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.24%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.12%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 38 (4.55%) Microsoft Intune
2 23 (2.75%) Kubernetes
3 16 (1.92%) Terraform
4 8 (0.96%) Ansible
5 7 (0.84%) Nmap
6 5 (0.60%) Grafana
6 5 (0.60%) Nagios
6 5 (0.60%) SCCM
7 3 (0.36%) Prometheus
8 2 (0.24%) Single Sign-On
9 1 (0.12%) Argo
9 1 (0.12%) Autotask
9 1 (0.12%) AWS Copilot
9 1 (0.12%) FortiGate
9 1 (0.12%) Progress Chef
9 1 (0.12%) Puppet
9 1 (0.12%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 231 (27.66%) Microsoft
2 46 (5.51%) Oracle
3 42 (5.03%) SAP
4 34 (4.07%) Cisco
5 21 (2.51%) Salesforce
6 19 (2.28%) Google
6 19 (2.28%) VMware
7 15 (1.80%) ServiceNow
8 12 (1.44%) HP
9 9 (1.08%) Databricks
9 9 (1.08%) Meraki
9 9 (1.08%) Sage
10 7 (0.84%) Epicor
10 7 (0.84%) Infor
11 6 (0.72%) Dell
11 6 (0.72%) Freshdesk
11 6 (0.72%) SolarWinds
12 5 (0.60%) Cognos
12 5 (0.60%) Zscaler
13 4 (0.48%) Avaya