Problem-Solving Job Trends in the North West

Problem Solving
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the North West requiring Problem-Solving skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 11 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 24 8 8
Rank change year-on-year -16 0 +15
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 661 832 1,247
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 6.47% 18.42% 13.27%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 9.00% 19.25% 16.18%
Number of salaries quoted 503 554 890
10th Percentile £27,250 £26,943 £26,250
25th Percentile £30,250 £35,000 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £47,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% +5.56% -5.26%
75th Percentile £60,250 £63,688 £61,250
90th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £77,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.52% +5.00% -9.09%

All Process & Methodology Skills
North West

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 North West.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 7,348 4,323 7,705
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 71.93% 95.73% 82.02%
Number of salaries quoted 4,747 2,192 6,107
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,025 £27,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £38,750 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% +5.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,400 £71,250 £65,603
90th Percentile £90,000 £84,385 £80,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year - +9.09% -12.00%

Problem-Solving
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

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

Problem-Solving job vacancy trend in the North West

Problem-Solving
Salary Trend in the North West

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Problem-Solving.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Salary Histogram in the North West

Salary distribution for jobs citing Problem-Solving in the North West over the 6 months to 11 May 2026.

Salary histogram for Problem-Solving in the North West

Problem-Solving
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 Problem-Solving within the North West region over the 6 months to 11 May 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 -15 323 £50,000 - 195
Merseyside -4 109 £42,500 +30.77% 33
Cheshire -17 107 £42,500 +16.44% 76
Lancashire -7 72 £36,500 -23.31% 66
Cumbria +3 47 £39,250 +5.80% 12
Problem-Solving
England

Problem-Solving
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 53 (8.02%) SharePoint
2 40 (6.05%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (1.06%) Confluence
4 4 (0.61%) Moodle
4 4 (0.61%) Totara
5 3 (0.45%) Apache Spark
5 3 (0.45%) WordPress
6 2 (0.30%) ArcGIS
6 2 (0.30%) CMS
6 2 (0.30%) IIS
7 1 (0.15%) Apache
7 1 (0.15%) Umbraco
Applications
1 40 (6.05%) Microsoft Excel
2 24 (3.63%) Microsoft Office
3 8 (1.21%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.45%) Simulink
4 3 (0.45%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.15%) Acrobat
5 1 (0.15%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.15%) Trello
Business Applications
1 25 (3.78%) SAP S/4HANA
2 13 (1.97%) SAP ERP
3 7 (1.06%) Magento
4 6 (0.91%) Workday HCM
5 5 (0.76%) Dynamics CRM
6 4 (0.61%) Dynamics AX
6 4 (0.61%) SAP PP
6 4 (0.61%) Shopify
7 2 (0.30%) Dynamics NAV
8 1 (0.15%) NetSuite
8 1 (0.15%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 153 (23.15%) Azure
2 134 (20.27%) Microsoft 365
3 77 (11.65%) Power Platform
4 61 (9.23%) AWS
5 37 (5.60%) Entra ID
6 29 (4.39%) SaaS
7 28 (4.24%) Dynamics 365
8 26 (3.93%) GCP
9 24 (3.63%) GitHub
10 22 (3.33%) PowerApps
11 21 (3.18%) Power Automate
12 20 (3.03%) Azure DevOps
12 20 (3.03%) Microsoft Purview
13 12 (1.82%) Boomi
14 11 (1.66%) OneDrive
15 10 (1.51%) Microsoft Copilot
15 10 (1.51%) Serverless
16 9 (1.36%) Azure Monitor
17 8 (1.21%) Azure Sentinel
18 7 (1.06%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 57 (8.62%) Firewall
2 35 (5.30%) DNS
3 31 (4.69%) DHCP
3 31 (4.69%) VLAN
4 30 (4.54%) VPN
5 24 (3.63%) Wi-Fi
6 23 (3.48%) Wireless
7 18 (2.72%) TCP/IP
7 18 (2.72%) VoIP
8 15 (2.27%) WAN
9 11 (1.66%) Structured Cabling
9 11 (1.66%) Unified Communications
10 10 (1.51%) Broadband
10 10 (1.51%) LAN
11 9 (1.36%) Network Security
11 9 (1.36%) SD-WAN
12 6 (0.91%) IP Telephony
12 6 (0.91%) Telepresence
12 6 (0.91%) WebEx
13 4 (0.61%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 53 (8.02%) Power BI
2 30 (4.54%) SQL Server Reporting Services
3 22 (3.33%) SQL Server
4 11 (1.66%) MySQL
5 10 (1.51%) NoSQL
6 9 (1.36%) PostgreSQL
7 8 (1.21%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 7 (1.06%) MongoDB
9 5 (0.76%) Data Warehouse
10 4 (0.61%) Looker
10 4 (0.61%) Power Query
11 3 (0.45%) Azure SQL Database
11 3 (0.45%) Big Data
11 3 (0.45%) DynamoDB
11 3 (0.45%) Elasticsearch
11 3 (0.45%) Relational Database
11 3 (0.45%) SAP HANA
11 3 (0.45%) Tableau
12 2 (0.30%) OLAP
12 2 (0.30%) PowerPivot
Development Applications
1 29 (4.39%) Git
2 25 (3.78%) JIRA
3 7 (1.06%) Bitbucket
3 7 (1.06%) GitLab
4 3 (0.45%) Jenkins
5 2 (0.30%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 1 (0.15%) Claude Code
6 1 (0.15%) gulp
6 1 (0.15%) LabVIEW
6 1 (0.15%) Rational DOORS
6 1 (0.15%) TeamCity
6 1 (0.15%) webpack
General
1 286 (43.27%) Social Skills
2 186 (28.14%) Analytical Skills
3 113 (17.10%) Finance
4 54 (8.17%) Organisational Skills
5 51 (7.72%) Manufacturing
6 36 (5.45%) Law
7 35 (5.30%) Retail
8 33 (4.99%) Marketing
9 32 (4.84%) Public Sector
10 27 (4.08%) Legal
11 22 (3.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 15 (2.27%) Telecoms
13 14 (2.12%) Banking
14 13 (1.97%) Automotive
15 11 (1.66%) Advertising
15 11 (1.66%) Documentation Skills
16 10 (1.51%) French Language
17 9 (1.36%) Games
17 9 (1.36%) Investment Banking
18 8 (1.21%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 84 (12.71%) Analyst
2 82 (12.41%) Senior
3 79 (11.95%) IT Support
4 76 (11.50%) Support Engineer
5 64 (9.68%) Developer
6 49 (7.41%) IT Engineer
7 47 (7.11%) IT Support Engineer
8 34 (5.14%) Lead
8 34 (5.14%) Support Technician
9 33 (4.99%) Consultant
10 28 (4.24%) Business Analyst
10 28 (4.24%) Senior Developer
11 22 (3.33%) Software Engineer
12 18 (2.72%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 17 (2.57%) Administrator
13 17 (2.57%) Architect
14 16 (2.42%) 2nd Line Support
14 16 (2.42%) IT Support Technician
14 16 (2.42%) IT Technician
15 15 (2.27%) Technical Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (4.24%) React
2 27 (4.08%) REST
3 25 (3.78%) .NET
4 24 (3.63%) HTML
5 22 (3.33%) EDI
5 22 (3.33%) Spring
5 22 (3.33%) Spring Boot
6 16 (2.42%) CSS
7 15 (2.27%) SOAP
8 14 (2.12%) AngularJS
8 14 (2.12%) Middleware
8 14 (2.12%) XML
9 12 (1.82%) JSON
10 11 (1.66%) SAP Fiori
11 10 (1.51%) RESTful
11 10 (1.51%) Vue
12 8 (1.21%) Node.js
12 8 (1.21%) Web Services
13 7 (1.06%) OAuth2
13 7 (1.06%) SAP Core Interface
Miscellaneous
1 70 (10.59%) Driving Licence
2 49 (7.41%) Onboarding
3 19 (2.87%) Product Ownership
4 18 (2.72%) Data Centre
5 17 (2.57%) Analytical Mindset
6 16 (2.42%) Self-Motivation
7 15 (2.27%) Distributed Systems
8 14 (2.12%) CCTV
8 14 (2.12%) Cloud Native
9 12 (1.82%) Enterprise Software
10 10 (1.51%) Management Information System
11 9 (1.36%) CMDB
11 9 (1.36%) Enterprise Cloud
11 9 (1.36%) FMCG
11 9 (1.36%) Mobile App
11 9 (1.36%) Social Media
12 7 (1.06%) EPoS
12 7 (1.06%) Security Posture
13 6 (0.91%) AI Agents
13 6 (0.91%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 114 (17.25%) Windows
2 48 (7.26%) Windows Server
3 35 (5.30%) Windows 10
4 22 (3.33%) Apple iOS
5 20 (3.03%) Linux
6 14 (2.12%) Android
7 7 (1.06%) Mac OS
7 7 (1.06%) Windows 7
7 7 (1.06%) Windows 8
7 7 (1.06%) Windows Server 2016
8 5 (0.76%) Windows Server 2019
9 4 (0.61%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 4 (0.61%) Unix
10 3 (0.45%) Solaris
11 1 (0.15%) CentOS
11 1 (0.15%) CoreOS
11 1 (0.15%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.15%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 139 (21.03%) Customer Service
2 122 (18.46%) Continuous Improvement
3 101 (15.28%) Mentoring
4 80 (12.10%) Stakeholder Management
5 73 (11.04%) Decision-Making
6 71 (10.74%) Agile
7 66 (9.98%) AI
8 55 (8.32%) DevOps
8 55 (8.32%) Roadmaps
9 53 (8.02%) CI/CD
10 52 (7.87%) CRM
11 50 (7.56%) ERP
12 49 (7.41%) Collaborative Working
12 49 (7.41%) User Experience
13 47 (7.11%) Project Management
14 45 (6.81%) Software Engineering
15 44 (6.66%) Analytics
16 43 (6.51%) Business Intelligence
17 39 (5.90%) Coaching
18 37 (5.60%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 94 (14.22%) SQL
2 57 (8.62%) Python
3 33 (4.99%) C#
4 31 (4.69%) Java
4 31 (4.69%) JavaScript
5 14 (2.12%) PowerShell
6 9 (1.36%) C++
6 9 (1.36%) Kotlin
6 9 (1.36%) TypeScript
7 8 (1.21%) Bash
7 8 (1.21%) T-SQL
8 7 (1.06%) PHP
9 5 (0.76%) C
9 5 (0.76%) Shell Script
10 4 (0.61%) Bicep
11 3 (0.45%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 3 (0.45%) Go
11 3 (0.45%) MATLAB
11 3 (0.45%) Scala
11 3 (0.45%) Swift
Qualifications
1 74 (11.20%) Degree
2 23 (3.48%) DBS Check
3 20 (3.03%) Security Cleared
4 18 (2.72%) BPSS Clearance
5 13 (1.97%) SC Cleared
6 11 (1.66%) Microsoft Certification
7 10 (1.51%) HNC
8 8 (1.21%) Cisco Certification
8 8 (1.21%) Computer Science Degree
8 8 (1.21%) Network+ Certification
9 7 (1.06%) DV Cleared
10 5 (0.76%) Azure Certification
10 5 (0.76%) CCNA
10 5 (0.76%) CompTIA Security+
11 4 (0.61%) CCNP
11 4 (0.61%) ITIL Certification
11 4 (0.61%) MCSA
12 3 (0.45%) HND
12 3 (0.45%) PMI Certification
12 3 (0.45%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (5.30%) QA
2 28 (4.24%) Data Quality
3 27 (4.08%) SLA
4 21 (3.18%) GDPR
5 12 (1.82%) TickIT
6 10 (1.51%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 9 (1.36%) Cyber Essentials
8 8 (1.21%) ISO 9001
9 6 (0.91%) Accessibility
10 2 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 14443
10 2 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 7816
10 2 (0.30%) PCI DSS
11 1 (0.15%) DICOM
11 1 (0.15%) GMP
11 1 (0.15%) NEBOSH
System Software
1 91 (13.77%) Active Directory
2 22 (3.33%) Docker
3 21 (3.18%) Hyper-V
4 18 (2.72%) VMware Infrastructure
5 7 (1.06%) VMware Workstation
6 4 (0.61%) Virtual Desktop
7 3 (0.45%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.30%) Firmware
8 2 (0.30%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 35 (5.30%) Microsoft Intune
2 31 (4.69%) Terraform
3 21 (3.18%) Kubernetes
4 19 (2.87%) SCCM
5 12 (1.82%) Ansible
6 10 (1.51%) BMC PATROL
6 10 (1.51%) Single Sign-On
7 8 (1.21%) Autotask
8 6 (0.91%) Cisco CUCM
9 5 (0.76%) FortiGate
10 4 (0.61%) Grafana
10 4 (0.61%) Prometheus
11 3 (0.45%) Jamf Pro
11 3 (0.45%) Podman
11 3 (0.45%) Rancher
12 2 (0.30%) cPanel
12 2 (0.30%) Plesk
13 1 (0.15%) McAfee ePO
13 1 (0.15%) Nagios
13 1 (0.15%) SCVMM
Vendors
1 218 (32.98%) Microsoft
2 29 (4.39%) SAP
3 22 (3.33%) VMware
4 16 (2.42%) Google
5 14 (2.12%) Oracle
6 13 (1.97%) Cisco
7 11 (1.66%) ServiceNow
8 10 (1.51%) Apple
8 10 (1.51%) iManage
8 10 (1.51%) Workday
9 8 (1.21%) Aruba
9 8 (1.21%) Meraki
9 8 (1.21%) New Relic
9 8 (1.21%) Splunk
10 7 (1.06%) ESET
11 6 (0.91%) Adobe
11 6 (0.91%) HubSpot
11 6 (0.91%) Intapp
12 5 (0.76%) Aderant
12 5 (0.76%) OpenAI