Degree Job Trends in the North West

Academic Degree
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies advertised in the North West with a requirement for Degree qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months leading up to 13 November 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 2 5 13
Rank change year-on-year +3 +8 -2
Permanent jobs citing Degree 1,464 1,007 446
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 28.67% 14.60% 11.58%
As % of the Qualifications category 73.31% 52.86% 43.30%
Number of salaries quoted 288 459 310
10th Percentile £24,750 £32,400 £30,975
25th Percentile £30,857 £40,000 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £46,000 £50,000 £50,437
Median % change year-on-year -8.00% -0.87% +7.02%
75th Percentile £57,625 £59,081 £63,000
90th Percentile £67,650 £68,750 £73,750
England median annual salary £52,500 £57,836 £60,000
% change year-on-year -9.23% -3.61% +9.09%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
North West

Degree falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in the North West.

Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 1,997 1,905 1,030
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 39.11% 27.62% 26.75%
Number of salaries quoted 654 826 698
10th Percentile £27,000 £31,250 £30,500
25th Percentile £30,777 £40,530 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £48,000 £50,055 £55,043
Median % change year-on-year -4.10% -9.06% +10.09%
75th Percentile £61,250 £63,750 £68,075
90th Percentile £77,500 £75,000 £78,875
England median annual salary £55,000 £58,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year -5.17% +0.87% +4.55%

Degree
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

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

Degree job vacancy trend in the North West

Degree
Salary Trend in the North West

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Degree.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Degree

Degree
Salary Histogram in the North West

Salary distribution for jobs citing Degree in the North West over the 6 months to 13 November 2025.

Salary histogram for Degree in the North West

Degree
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 Degree within the North West region over the 6 months to 13 November 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
Manchester +12 522 £40,500 -22.86% 196
Lancashire 0 311 £47,683 -4.74% 150
Cheshire +4 299 £48,979 -2.04% 54
Merseyside +10 192 £37,500 - 28
Cumbria -1 144 £50,000 +4.17% 16
Degree
England

Degree
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 25 (1.71%) SharePoint
2 17 (1.16%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (0.41%) CMS
3 6 (0.41%) WordPress
4 5 (0.34%) Confluence
5 3 (0.20%) Headless CMS
5 3 (0.20%) Magnolia
5 3 (0.20%) Umbraco
5 3 (0.20%) WinCC
6 1 (0.068%) FactoryTalk
6 1 (0.068%) SAS
Applications
1 265 (18.10%) Chatbot
2 66 (4.51%) Microsoft Office
3 61 (4.17%) Microsoft Excel
4 20 (1.37%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 11 (0.75%) Microsoft Project
6 9 (0.61%) AutoCAD
7 8 (0.55%) MS Visio
8 7 (0.48%) Simulink
9 6 (0.41%) Photoshop
10 4 (0.27%) Revit
11 3 (0.20%) Autodesk Inventor
12 2 (0.14%) Adobe After Effects
12 2 (0.14%) Adobe Illustrator
12 2 (0.14%) Adobe Premiere
12 2 (0.14%) Trello
13 1 (0.068%) Adobe XD
13 1 (0.068%) CANalyzer
13 1 (0.068%) Siemens NX
13 1 (0.068%) Sketch
13 1 (0.068%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 8 (0.55%) Unit4 Business World
2 7 (0.48%) SAP WM
3 3 (0.20%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (0.20%) Sage X3
4 2 (0.14%) Oracle Assets
4 2 (0.14%) Oracle General Ledger
4 2 (0.14%) Oracle Payables
4 2 (0.14%) Oracle Receivables
4 2 (0.14%) ResourceLink
4 2 (0.14%) SAP S/4HANA
5 1 (0.068%) Primavera
5 1 (0.068%) SAP CO
5 1 (0.068%) SAP ERP
5 1 (0.068%) SAP FI
5 1 (0.068%) SAP FI/CO
5 1 (0.068%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 575 (39.28%) Cloud Computing
2 44 (3.01%) Azure
3 40 (2.73%) Power Platform
4 38 (2.60%) Microsoft 365
5 18 (1.23%) AWS
6 15 (1.02%) SaaS
7 13 (0.89%) Entra ID
8 9 (0.61%) GCP
9 8 (0.55%) Microsoft Copilot
10 7 (0.48%) Google Analytics
11 6 (0.41%) Dynamics 365
12 5 (0.34%) IaaS
12 5 (0.34%) Microsoft Purview
12 5 (0.34%) Snowflake
13 4 (0.27%) OneDrive
14 3 (0.20%) Contentful
14 3 (0.20%) Contentsquare
14 3 (0.20%) Google Drive
14 3 (0.20%) Google Workspace
14 3 (0.20%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 574 (39.21%) Internet
2 14 (0.96%) PPP
3 12 (0.82%) Firewall
4 8 (0.55%) VLAN
5 7 (0.48%) VPN
6 6 (0.41%) LAN
6 6 (0.41%) TCP/IP
6 6 (0.41%) WAN
7 5 (0.34%) SSL
7 5 (0.34%) VoIP
8 4 (0.27%) Modbus
8 4 (0.27%) Wireless
9 3 (0.20%) Network Security
10 2 (0.14%) Ethernet
10 2 (0.14%) MQTT
10 2 (0.14%) Profibus
11 1 (0.068%) Cisco IPT
11 1 (0.068%) DHCP
11 1 (0.068%) DNS
11 1 (0.068%) Intrusion Detection
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (2.32%) Power BI
2 13 (0.89%) SQL Server
2 13 (0.89%) Tableau
3 7 (0.48%) MongoDB
3 7 (0.48%) NoSQL
3 7 (0.48%) Relational Database
4 5 (0.34%) Amazon Redshift
4 5 (0.34%) Data Lake
4 5 (0.34%) Data Warehouse
5 4 (0.27%) BigQuery
5 4 (0.27%) Looker
5 4 (0.27%) Mixpanel
5 4 (0.27%) PostgreSQL
6 2 (0.14%) Azure SQL Database
6 2 (0.14%) Big Data
6 2 (0.14%) GIS
6 2 (0.14%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 1 (0.068%) MySQL
7 1 (0.068%) Neo4j
7 1 (0.068%) SAP BW
Development Applications
1 19 (1.30%) JIRA
2 7 (0.48%) Git
3 4 (0.27%) Rational DOORS
4 3 (0.20%) JIRA Agile
5 2 (0.14%) Visual Studio
6 1 (0.068%) CANoe
6 1 (0.068%) Cypress.io
6 1 (0.068%) Jenkins
General
1 767 (52.39%) Social Skills
2 641 (43.78%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 581 (39.69%) Banking
4 223 (15.23%) Analytical Skills
5 122 (8.33%) Finance
6 74 (5.05%) Manufacturing
7 67 (4.58%) Retail
8 38 (2.60%) Electronics
9 33 (2.25%) Public Sector
10 28 (1.91%) Organisational Skills
11 25 (1.71%) Legal
12 21 (1.43%) Aerospace
13 20 (1.37%) Law
14 16 (1.09%) Avionics
15 15 (1.02%) Marketing
16 14 (0.96%) Pharmaceutical
17 12 (0.82%) Military
18 11 (0.75%) Influencing Skills
18 11 (0.75%) Telecoms
19 8 (0.55%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 475 (32.45%) Lecturer
2 301 (20.56%) Trainer
3 118 (8.06%) Senior
4 70 (4.78%) Systems Engineer
5 68 (4.64%) Analyst
6 48 (3.28%) Principal Engineer
7 33 (2.25%) Principal Systems Engineer
8 29 (1.98%) Support Specialist
9 28 (1.91%) Lead
9 28 (1.91%) Microsoft Specialist
10 27 (1.84%) Business Analyst
11 26 (1.78%) Developer
12 21 (1.43%) Account Executive
12 21 (1.43%) Customer Support Specialist
12 21 (1.43%) Sales Account Executive
12 21 (1.43%) Sales Executive
12 21 (1.43%) Telesales Executive
13 20 (1.37%) Support Engineer
14 17 (1.16%) Architect
15 15 (1.02%) Senior Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (0.61%) HTML
2 8 (0.55%) .NET
2 8 (0.55%) RESTful
3 7 (0.48%) React
4 6 (0.41%) .NET Core
4 6 (0.41%) ASP.NET
4 6 (0.41%) Software Packaging
4 6 (0.41%) Web Services
5 5 (0.34%) CSS
5 5 (0.34%) Middleware
5 5 (0.34%) Spring
6 4 (0.27%) .NET Framework
6 4 (0.27%) Celery
6 4 (0.27%) Django
6 4 (0.27%) FastAPI
6 4 (0.27%) Flask
6 4 (0.27%) Spring Boot
6 4 (0.27%) Vue
7 3 (0.20%) REST
8 2 (0.14%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 577 (39.41%) IoT
2 43 (2.94%) Management Information System
3 39 (2.66%) Robotics
4 21 (1.43%) Driving Licence
5 19 (1.30%) Self-Motivation
6 16 (1.09%) Blog
7 14 (0.96%) Onboarding
8 13 (0.89%) Social Media
9 12 (0.82%) Analytical Mindset
9 12 (0.82%) Molecular Biology
9 12 (0.82%) Renewable Energy
10 10 (0.68%) Data Centre
10 10 (0.68%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 9 (0.61%) Operational Technology
11 9 (0.61%) SCADA
12 8 (0.55%) Life Science
13 7 (0.48%) Graphic Design
14 6 (0.41%) Data Protection Act
14 6 (0.41%) Greenfield Project
14 6 (0.41%) Microsoft Licensing
Operating Systems
1 31 (2.12%) Windows
2 13 (0.89%) Windows Server
3 12 (0.82%) Linux
4 7 (0.48%) Windows Server 2016
5 6 (0.41%) Windows Server 2019
6 4 (0.27%) Mac OS
6 4 (0.27%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.068%) CentOS
7 1 (0.068%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.068%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.068%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 963 (65.78%) AI
2 620 (42.35%) Machine Learning
3 616 (42.08%) Cybersecurity
4 593 (40.51%) User Experience
5 576 (39.34%) Web Development
6 266 (18.17%) Conversational UI
7 197 (13.46%) Problem-Solving
8 114 (7.79%) Chemistry
9 94 (6.42%) Computer Science
10 77 (5.26%) Systems Engineering
11 75 (5.12%) Project Management
12 70 (4.78%) Customer Service
13 64 (4.37%) Continuous Improvement
13 64 (4.37%) Mathematics
14 63 (4.30%) Agile
15 60 (4.10%) Mentoring
16 50 (3.42%) Decision-Making
17 43 (2.94%) ITIL
18 42 (2.87%) CRM
19 39 (2.66%) Generative AI
Programming Languages
1 54 (3.69%) SQL
2 26 (1.78%) Python
3 18 (1.23%) C#
3 18 (1.23%) MATLAB
4 12 (0.82%) Java
5 10 (0.68%) JavaScript
5 10 (0.68%) PowerShell
6 9 (0.61%) C
7 8 (0.55%) C++
8 7 (0.48%) R
9 6 (0.41%) Delphi
10 5 (0.34%) Ruby
11 4 (0.27%) Dart
11 4 (0.27%) PHP
11 4 (0.27%) Rust
11 4 (0.27%) TypeScript
12 3 (0.20%) Shell Script
12 3 (0.20%) SystemVerilog
13 2 (0.14%) Bash
13 2 (0.14%) Data Analysis Expressions
Qualifications
1 768 (52.46%) Master's Degree
2 723 (49.39%) PhD
3 576 (39.34%) Postgraduate
4 140 (9.56%) BPSS Clearance
5 52 (3.55%) Computer Science Degree
6 36 (2.46%) HND
7 32 (2.19%) DBS Check
8 29 (1.98%) HNC
9 28 (1.91%) Chartered Engineer
10 17 (1.16%) PMP
11 14 (0.96%) CCNA
11 14 (0.96%) Cisco Certification
12 12 (0.82%) Microsoft Certification
13 11 (0.75%) PMI Certification
13 11 (0.75%) Security Cleared
14 9 (0.61%) Numerate Degree
14 9 (0.61%) SC Cleared
15 7 (0.48%) CIPD
15 7 (0.48%) Network+ Certification
16 6 (0.41%) CIMA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (1.43%) QA
2 15 (1.02%) GDPR
3 10 (0.68%) Data Quality
4 9 (0.61%) NEBOSH
5 6 (0.41%) Accessibility
5 6 (0.41%) California Consumer Privacy Act
5 6 (0.41%) GLBA
5 6 (0.41%) PMO
6 5 (0.34%) IEC 61508
7 4 (0.27%) Def Stans
7 4 (0.27%) GAAP
7 4 (0.27%) ISO 9001
7 4 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 3 (0.20%) DO-254
9 2 (0.14%) COBIT
9 2 (0.14%) Disclosure Scotland
9 2 (0.14%) GRC
9 2 (0.14%) ISO 19650
9 2 (0.14%) P3O
9 2 (0.14%) SLA
System Software
1 20 (1.37%) Active Directory
2 10 (0.68%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (0.41%) Docker
3 6 (0.41%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (0.41%) VMware ESXi
4 5 (0.34%) vSphere
5 4 (0.27%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.14%) Firmware
7 1 (0.068%) Dovecot
7 1 (0.068%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 12 (0.82%) Microsoft Intune
2 8 (0.55%) Kubernetes
3 5 (0.34%) Autotask
3 5 (0.34%) Jamf Pro
3 5 (0.34%) vCenter Server
4 4 (0.27%) Functional Safety
5 2 (0.14%) Single Sign-On
5 2 (0.14%) SmoothWall
6 1 (0.068%) AssetCenter
6 1 (0.068%) Grafana
6 1 (0.068%) Nessus
6 1 (0.068%) SCCM
6 1 (0.068%) Terraform
Vendors
1 265 (18.10%) PayPal
2 135 (9.22%) Microsoft
3 53 (3.62%) Adobe
4 52 (3.55%) Google
5 39 (2.66%) Databricks
6 23 (1.57%) SAP
7 22 (1.50%) Dell
8 15 (1.02%) ServiceNow
9 14 (0.96%) Cisco
9 14 (0.96%) TOWER Software
10 12 (0.82%) Bloomberg
11 11 (0.75%) Apple
11 11 (0.75%) Palo Alto
11 11 (0.75%) VMware
12 10 (0.68%) Workday
13 7 (0.48%) iManage
14 6 (0.41%) Oracle
14 6 (0.41%) Siemens
15 5 (0.34%) IBM
15 5 (0.34%) Meraki