IT Strategy Job Trends in the North West

IT/Technology Strategy
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the North West requiring IT Strategy skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 3 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 131 126 118
Rank change year-on-year -5 -8 +54
Permanent jobs citing IT Strategy 46 86 70
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 0.74% 1.66% 1.76%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.90% 1.84% 1.96%
Number of salaries quoted 36 39 58
10th Percentile £46,375 £41,150 £34,625
25th Percentile £60,750 £50,000 £50,313
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £68,500 £62,000 £65,351
Median % change year-on-year +10.48% -5.13% -6.64%
75th Percentile £80,500 £82,500 £80,000
90th Percentile £117,500 £92,750 £84,964
England median annual salary £80,000 £75,000 £72,500
% change year-on-year +6.67% +3.45% -6.45%

All Process & Methodology Skills
North West

IT Strategy 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 5,110 4,671 3,576
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 82.50% 90.38% 89.83%
Number of salaries quoted 2,464 2,286 2,752
10th Percentile £28,000 £32,500 £31,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £40,988
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,000 £54,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -3.70% -1.82%
75th Percentile £65,000 £66,354 £70,000
90th Percentile £81,250 £80,000 £82,548
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%

IT Strategy
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

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

IT Strategy job vacancy trend in the North West

IT Strategy
Salary Trend in the North West

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing IT Strategy.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing IT Strategy

IT Strategy
Salary Histogram in the North West

Salary distribution for jobs citing IT Strategy in the North West over the 6 months to 3 January 2026.

Salary histogram for IT Strategy in the North West

IT Strategy
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 IT Strategy within the North West region over the 6 months to 3 January 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
Manchester -10 24 £68,500 -7.12% 10
Cheshire -18 9 £62,500 -27.75% 5
Merseyside -2 8 £120,000 +144.90% 2
Lancashire +3 3 £63,237 +3.15% 6
IT Strategy
England

IT Strategy
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 2 (4.35%) Microsoft Exchange
1 2 (4.35%) SharePoint
2 1 (2.17%) Confluence
2 1 (2.17%) SAS
Applications
1 4 (8.70%) Chatbot
2 1 (2.17%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (2.17%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 2 (4.35%) SAP WM
2 1 (2.17%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 17 (36.96%) Azure
2 9 (19.57%) AWS
2 9 (19.57%) Microsoft 365
3 8 (17.39%) Power Platform
4 5 (10.87%) OCI
5 3 (6.52%) Dynamics 365
6 2 (4.35%) Entra ID
6 2 (4.35%) GitHub
7 1 (2.17%) Azure Sentinel
7 1 (2.17%) GCP
7 1 (2.17%) IaaS
7 1 (2.17%) Microsoft Copilot
7 1 (2.17%) Mimecast
7 1 (2.17%) SaaS
7 1 (2.17%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 4 (8.70%) VoIP
2 2 (4.35%) NAS
2 2 (4.35%) Network Security
2 2 (4.35%) SAN
3 1 (2.17%) Firewall
3 1 (2.17%) Internet
3 1 (2.17%) IPsec
3 1 (2.17%) Junos
3 1 (2.17%) LAN
3 1 (2.17%) MPLS
3 1 (2.17%) SD-WAN
3 1 (2.17%) VPN
3 1 (2.17%) WAN
3 1 (2.17%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (15.22%) Power BI
2 5 (10.87%) Tableau
3 2 (4.35%) Data Warehouse
4 1 (2.17%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 2 (4.35%) Octopus Deploy
2 1 (2.17%) JIRA
General
1 26 (56.52%) Social Skills
2 15 (32.61%) Finance
3 8 (17.39%) Analytical Skills
3 8 (17.39%) Marketing
4 7 (15.22%) Law
5 4 (8.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 1 (2.17%) Banking
6 1 (2.17%) Games
6 1 (2.17%) Influencing Skills
6 1 (2.17%) Organisational Skills
6 1 (2.17%) Pharmaceutical
6 1 (2.17%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 16 (34.78%) Architect
2 12 (26.09%) Senior
3 9 (19.57%) Senior Architect
4 6 (13.04%) Enterprise Architect
4 6 (13.04%) Infrastructure Architect
4 6 (13.04%) Solutions Architect
5 5 (10.87%) Consultant
5 5 (10.87%) Enterprise Infrastructure Architect
5 5 (10.87%) IT Manager
5 5 (10.87%) Lead
5 5 (10.87%) Senior Enterprise Architect
5 5 (10.87%) Senior Infrastructure Architect
6 4 (8.70%) Chief Technology Officer
6 4 (8.70%) Head of IT
6 4 (8.70%) Senior Solutions Architect
7 2 (4.35%) Corporate Sales Executive
7 2 (4.35%) Head of Digital
7 2 (4.35%) Sales Executive
7 2 (4.35%) Senior Consultant
7 2 (4.35%) Technology Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (2.17%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 3 (6.52%) Hybrid Cloud
2 2 (4.35%) Operational Technology
3 1 (2.17%) Credit Risk
3 1 (2.17%) Legacy Systems
3 1 (2.17%) Management Information System
3 1 (2.17%) Onboarding
3 1 (2.17%) Product Ownership
3 1 (2.17%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 3 (6.52%) Windows
1 3 (6.52%) Windows Server
2 1 (2.17%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 23 (50.00%) Technology Strategy
2 13 (28.26%) Problem-Solving
3 11 (23.91%) Enterprise Architecture
4 10 (21.74%) Cybersecurity
4 10 (21.74%) Stakeholder Management
5 9 (19.57%) Project Management
6 8 (17.39%) AI
6 8 (17.39%) Collaborative Culture
6 8 (17.39%) Continuous Improvement
7 7 (15.22%) Analytics
7 7 (15.22%) ERP
7 7 (15.22%) Roadmaps
7 7 (15.22%) Service Delivery
7 7 (15.22%) Strategic Thinking
7 7 (15.22%) TOGAF
8 6 (13.04%) Agile
8 6 (13.04%) Customer Service
8 6 (13.04%) ITIL
9 5 (10.87%) Data Analytics
9 5 (10.87%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 3 (6.52%) Python
1 3 (6.52%) SQL
2 2 (4.35%) Bicep
2 2 (4.35%) PowerShell
3 1 (2.17%) Java
3 1 (2.17%) R
Qualifications
1 9 (19.57%) Degree
2 3 (6.52%) Master's Degree
2 3 (6.52%) Microsoft Certification
2 3 (6.52%) PMP
3 2 (4.35%) Azure Certification
3 2 (4.35%) PMI Certification
3 2 (4.35%) Security Cleared
4 1 (2.17%) AWS Certification
4 1 (2.17%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
4 1 (2.17%) BPSS Clearance
4 1 (2.17%) CCNA
4 1 (2.17%) CCNP
4 1 (2.17%) Cisco Certification
4 1 (2.17%) HNC
4 1 (2.17%) HND
4 1 (2.17%) JNCIA
4 1 (2.17%) SC Cleared
4 1 (2.17%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (6.52%) QA
2 2 (4.35%) Cyber Essentials
3 1 (2.17%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 1 (2.17%) Data Quality
3 1 (2.17%) GDPR
3 1 (2.17%) IASME
3 1 (2.17%) NIST
System Software
1 4 (8.70%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 1 (2.17%) Grafana
1 1 (2.17%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 17 (36.96%) Microsoft
2 7 (15.22%) Oracle
3 4 (8.70%) Cisco
3 4 (8.70%) HubSpot
4 3 (6.52%) SAP
5 2 (4.35%) Dell
5 2 (4.35%) Fortinet
5 2 (4.35%) VMware
6 1 (2.17%) Alteryx
6 1 (2.17%) CrowdStrike
6 1 (2.17%) Databricks
6 1 (2.17%) Extreme Networks
6 1 (2.17%) Fujitsu
6 1 (2.17%) HP
6 1 (2.17%) Juniper
6 1 (2.17%) Palo Alto
6 1 (2.17%) Pega