Creative Thinking Job Trends in the North West

Creative Thinking
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the North West requiring Creative Thinking skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 31 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 160 106 165
Rank change year-on-year -54 +59 +114
Permanent jobs citing Creative Thinking 23 109 23
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 0.37% 2.09% 0.60%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.45% 2.31% 0.67%
Number of salaries quoted 4 18 12
10th Percentile £42,575 £48,458 £48,504
25th Percentile £50,563 £54,793 £68,790
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £65,000 £75,669
Median % change year-on-year +7.69% -14.10% +32.14%
75th Percentile £93,125 £78,750 £95,000
90th Percentile £103,250 £86,375 £104,000
England median annual salary £44,273 £60,750 £65,066
% change year-on-year -27.12% -6.63% +0.10%

All Process & Methodology Skills
North West

Creative Thinking 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 North West.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 5,122 4,712 3,458
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 83.27% 90.23% 89.61%
Number of salaries quoted 2,464 2,332 2,655
10th Percentile £28,000 £32,500 £31,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -5.45% -
75th Percentile £65,000 £66,250 £70,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £82,548
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%

Creative Thinking
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Creative Thinking relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Creative Thinking job vacancy trend in the North West

Creative Thinking
Salary Trend in the North West

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Creative Thinking.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Creative Thinking

Creative Thinking
Salary Histogram in the North West

Salary distribution for jobs citing Creative Thinking in the North West over the 6 months to 31 December 2025.

Salary histogram for Creative Thinking in the North West

Creative Thinking
Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Creative Thinking within the North West region over the 6 months to 31 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
Merseyside -4 10 - - 1
Cheshire -16 8 £61,250 -16.95% 2
Manchester -44 5 £77,500 -6.06% 7
Creative Thinking
England

Creative Thinking
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West 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 10 (43.48%) SharePoint
Applications
1 3 (13.04%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 10 (43.48%) Microsoft 365
2 7 (30.43%) Azure
3 6 (26.09%) Cloud Computing
3 6 (26.09%) Mimecast
4 2 (8.70%) Dynamics 365
4 2 (8.70%) Power Platform
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (8.70%) Power BI
2 1 (4.35%) Relational Database
2 1 (4.35%) Tableau
General
1 15 (65.22%) Finance
1 15 (65.22%) Social Skills
2 7 (30.43%) Analytical Skills
3 4 (17.39%) Banking
4 1 (4.35%) Financial Institution
4 1 (4.35%) Health Technology
4 1 (4.35%) Law
4 1 (4.35%) Legal
4 1 (4.35%) Marketing
4 1 (4.35%) Organisational Skills
4 1 (4.35%) Retail
Job Titles
1 11 (47.83%) Analyst
2 10 (43.48%) Service Analyst
3 6 (26.09%) IT Analyst
3 6 (26.09%) Service Desk Analyst
4 4 (17.39%) Business Analyst
4 4 (17.39%) Payments Business Analyst
5 2 (8.70%) Digital Director
5 2 (8.70%) Lead
6 1 (4.35%) Data Analyst
6 1 (4.35%) Data Scientist
6 1 (4.35%) E-Commerce Director
6 1 (4.35%) Engineering Manager
6 1 (4.35%) Software Engineering Manager
6 1 (4.35%) Software Manager
Miscellaneous
1 5 (21.74%) Management Information System
2 4 (17.39%) SWIFT Messaging Network
3 2 (8.70%) Self-Motivation
3 2 (8.70%) Social Media
4 1 (4.35%) Analytical Mindset
4 1 (4.35%) FMCG
Operating Systems
1 11 (47.83%) Windows
2 10 (43.48%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 19 (82.61%) Agile
2 14 (60.87%) Coaching
2 14 (60.87%) Mentoring
3 10 (43.48%) Customer Service
3 10 (43.48%) Incident Management
3 10 (43.48%) Workflow
4 4 (17.39%) Analytical Thinking
4 4 (17.39%) Business Analysis
4 4 (17.39%) Business Development
4 4 (17.39%) Epics
4 4 (17.39%) ITIL
4 4 (17.39%) Product Backlog
4 4 (17.39%) Product Roadmap
4 4 (17.39%) Product Vision
4 4 (17.39%) Requirements Workshops
4 4 (17.39%) Roadmaps
4 4 (17.39%) Scaled Agile Framework
4 4 (17.39%) Scrum
4 4 (17.39%) Use Case
4 4 (17.39%) Workflow Analysis
Programming Languages
1 1 (4.35%) Python
1 1 (4.35%) SQL
Qualifications
1 1 (4.35%) DBS Check
1 1 (4.35%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (17.39%) SEPA
1 4 (17.39%) SLA
1 4 (17.39%) TARGET2
2 1 (4.35%) California Consumer Privacy Act
2 1 (4.35%) GDPR
2 1 (4.35%) GLBA
System Software
1 10 (43.48%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 6 (26.09%) SCCM
Vendors
1 10 (43.48%) ServiceNow
2 8 (34.78%) Microsoft
3 6 (26.09%) Sophos
4 1 (4.35%) Cognos