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 8 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 24 7 8
Rank change year-on-year -17 +1 +13
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 668 747 1,239
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 6.47% 17.19% 13.29%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 8.87% 17.97% 16.20%
Number of salaries quoted 505 547 892
10th Percentile £27,250 £26,766 £26,250
25th Percentile £30,500 £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 £60,000 £64,010 £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 7,529 4,157 7,649
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 72.88% 95.67% 82.06%
Number of salaries quoted 4,641 2,166 6,073
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,375 £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 £70,000 £70,938 £65,603
90th Percentile £90,000 £84,250 £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 8 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 8 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 -21 320 £50,000 -1.96% 194
Merseyside -1 115 £42,500 +30.77% 36
Cheshire -16 109 £42,500 +16.44% 77
Lancashire -4 73 £36,500 -23.45% 68
Cumbria +5 49 £42,500 +14.56% 13
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 (7.93%) SharePoint
2 41 (6.14%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (1.05%) Confluence
4 4 (0.60%) Moodle
4 4 (0.60%) Totara
5 3 (0.45%) Apache Spark
5 3 (0.45%) WordPress
6 2 (0.30%) ArcGIS
6 2 (0.30%) CMS
7 1 (0.15%) Apache
7 1 (0.15%) IIS
7 1 (0.15%) Umbraco
Applications
1 39 (5.84%) Microsoft Excel
2 24 (3.59%) Microsoft Office
3 7 (1.05%) 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 (3.74%) SAP S/4HANA
2 13 (1.95%) SAP ERP
3 7 (1.05%) Magento
4 6 (0.90%) Workday HCM
5 5 (0.75%) Dynamics CRM
6 4 (0.60%) Dynamics AX
6 4 (0.60%) SAP PP
6 4 (0.60%) Shopify
7 2 (0.30%) Dynamics NAV
8 1 (0.15%) NetSuite
8 1 (0.15%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 151 (22.60%) Azure
2 133 (19.91%) Microsoft 365
3 74 (11.08%) Power Platform
4 61 (9.13%) AWS
5 38 (5.69%) Entra ID
6 28 (4.19%) Dynamics 365
6 28 (4.19%) SaaS
7 27 (4.04%) GCP
8 24 (3.59%) GitHub
9 21 (3.14%) Power Automate
9 21 (3.14%) PowerApps
10 20 (2.99%) Microsoft Purview
11 19 (2.84%) Azure DevOps
12 12 (1.80%) Boomi
13 11 (1.65%) OneDrive
13 11 (1.65%) Serverless
14 10 (1.50%) Microsoft Copilot
15 9 (1.35%) Azure Monitor
16 8 (1.20%) Azure Sentinel
17 7 (1.05%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 58 (8.68%) Firewall
2 35 (5.24%) DNS
3 32 (4.79%) DHCP
4 31 (4.64%) VLAN
5 30 (4.49%) VPN
6 25 (3.74%) Wi-Fi
7 22 (3.29%) Wireless
8 19 (2.84%) VoIP
9 18 (2.69%) TCP/IP
10 17 (2.54%) WAN
11 11 (1.65%) Broadband
11 11 (1.65%) LAN
11 11 (1.65%) Structured Cabling
12 10 (1.50%) Unified Communications
13 9 (1.35%) SD-WAN
14 8 (1.20%) Network Security
15 6 (0.90%) IP Telephony
15 6 (0.90%) Telepresence
15 6 (0.90%) WebEx
16 5 (0.75%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 51 (7.63%) Power BI
2 29 (4.34%) SQL Server Reporting Services
3 19 (2.84%) SQL Server
4 10 (1.50%) NoSQL
5 9 (1.35%) MySQL
5 9 (1.35%) PostgreSQL
6 8 (1.20%) MongoDB
7 7 (1.05%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 4 (0.60%) Data Warehouse
8 4 (0.60%) Looker
9 3 (0.45%) Azure SQL Database
9 3 (0.45%) Big Data
9 3 (0.45%) DynamoDB
9 3 (0.45%) Elasticsearch
9 3 (0.45%) Power Query
9 3 (0.45%) Relational Database
9 3 (0.45%) SAP HANA
10 2 (0.30%) Hadoop
10 2 (0.30%) Tableau
11 1 (0.15%) Amazon Redshift
Development Applications
1 28 (4.19%) Git
2 25 (3.74%) JIRA
3 7 (1.05%) Bitbucket
3 7 (1.05%) 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
1 293 (43.86%) Social Skills
2 185 (27.69%) Analytical Skills
3 114 (17.07%) Finance
4 55 (8.23%) Organisational Skills
5 51 (7.63%) Manufacturing
6 35 (5.24%) Retail
7 33 (4.94%) Law
7 33 (4.94%) Marketing
7 33 (4.94%) Public Sector
8 27 (4.04%) Legal
9 24 (3.59%) Automotive
10 23 (3.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 15 (2.25%) Telecoms
12 14 (2.10%) Banking
13 12 (1.80%) Advertising
14 11 (1.65%) Documentation Skills
15 10 (1.50%) French Language
16 9 (1.35%) Games
16 9 (1.35%) Investment Banking
16 9 (1.35%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 83 (12.43%) Analyst
2 82 (12.28%) Senior
3 78 (11.68%) IT Support
4 77 (11.53%) Support Engineer
5 60 (8.98%) Developer
6 48 (7.19%) IT Engineer
7 46 (6.89%) IT Support Engineer
8 34 (5.09%) Support Technician
9 32 (4.79%) Consultant
9 32 (4.79%) Lead
10 27 (4.04%) Business Analyst
11 26 (3.89%) Senior Developer
12 20 (2.99%) Architect
12 20 (2.99%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 20 (2.99%) Software Engineer
13 17 (2.54%) Solutions Architect
14 16 (2.40%) 2nd Line Support
14 16 (2.40%) IT Support Technician
14 16 (2.40%) IT Technician
15 15 (2.25%) Technical Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (4.19%) React
2 26 (3.89%) REST
3 25 (3.74%) .NET
4 23 (3.44%) HTML
5 22 (3.29%) EDI
5 22 (3.29%) Spring
5 22 (3.29%) Spring Boot
6 15 (2.25%) CSS
7 14 (2.10%) AngularJS
7 14 (2.10%) SOAP
7 14 (2.10%) XML
8 13 (1.95%) Middleware
9 12 (1.80%) JSON
10 11 (1.65%) SAP Fiori
11 10 (1.50%) Vue
12 9 (1.35%) Node.js
12 9 (1.35%) RESTful
13 8 (1.20%) Web Services
14 7 (1.05%) OAuth
14 7 (1.05%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 81 (12.13%) Driving Licence
2 51 (7.63%) Onboarding
3 21 (3.14%) Self-Motivation
4 17 (2.54%) Analytical Mindset
4 17 (2.54%) Data Centre
5 16 (2.40%) Distributed Systems
6 15 (2.25%) CCTV
6 15 (2.25%) Product Ownership
7 12 (1.80%) Cloud Native
7 12 (1.80%) Enterprise Software
8 11 (1.65%) Management Information System
8 11 (1.65%) Social Media
9 9 (1.35%) CMDB
9 9 (1.35%) Enterprise Cloud
9 9 (1.35%) FMCG
10 8 (1.20%) EPoS
11 7 (1.05%) Mobile App
11 7 (1.05%) Security Posture
11 7 (1.05%) Virtual Team
12 6 (0.90%) AI Agents
Operating Systems
1 117 (17.51%) Windows
2 51 (7.63%) Windows Server
3 35 (5.24%) Windows 10
4 22 (3.29%) Apple iOS
5 20 (2.99%) Linux
6 14 (2.10%) Android
7 8 (1.20%) Windows Server 2016
8 7 (1.05%) Mac OS
8 7 (1.05%) Windows 7
8 7 (1.05%) Windows 8
9 5 (0.75%) Windows Server 2019
10 4 (0.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 4 (0.60%) Unix
11 3 (0.45%) Solaris
12 1 (0.15%) CentOS
12 1 (0.15%) CoreOS
12 1 (0.15%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.15%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 141 (21.11%) Customer Service
2 121 (18.11%) Continuous Improvement
3 96 (14.37%) Mentoring
4 80 (11.98%) Stakeholder Management
5 77 (11.53%) Decision-Making
6 72 (10.78%) Agile
7 68 (10.18%) AI
8 54 (8.08%) DevOps
9 52 (7.78%) CI/CD
9 52 (7.78%) CRM
9 52 (7.78%) Roadmaps
10 50 (7.49%) ERP
11 49 (7.34%) Collaborative Working
11 49 (7.34%) Project Management
12 48 (7.19%) User Experience
13 45 (6.74%) Analytics
14 42 (6.29%) Business Intelligence
14 42 (6.29%) Software Engineering
15 40 (5.99%) Coaching
16 39 (5.84%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 88 (13.17%) SQL
2 53 (7.93%) Python
3 33 (4.94%) C#
4 31 (4.64%) Java
4 31 (4.64%) JavaScript
5 14 (2.10%) PowerShell
6 10 (1.50%) TypeScript
7 9 (1.35%) Kotlin
8 8 (1.20%) Bash
8 8 (1.20%) C++
9 7 (1.05%) T-SQL
10 6 (0.90%) PHP
11 5 (0.75%) C
12 4 (0.60%) Bicep
13 3 (0.45%) Go
13 3 (0.45%) MATLAB
13 3 (0.45%) Scala
13 3 (0.45%) Shell Script
13 3 (0.45%) Swift
14 2 (0.30%) VBA
Qualifications
1 76 (11.38%) Degree
2 24 (3.59%) DBS Check
3 19 (2.84%) BPSS Clearance
4 18 (2.69%) Security Cleared
5 12 (1.80%) Microsoft Certification
6 11 (1.65%) SC Cleared
7 9 (1.35%) HNC
8 8 (1.20%) Cisco Certification
8 8 (1.20%) Computer Science Degree
8 8 (1.20%) Network+ Certification
9 6 (0.90%) CCNA
9 6 (0.90%) DV Cleared
10 5 (0.75%) Azure Certification
10 5 (0.75%) CompTIA Security+
10 5 (0.75%) MCSA
11 4 (0.60%) ITIL Certification
12 3 (0.45%) CCNP
12 3 (0.45%) HND
12 3 (0.45%) PMI Certification
12 3 (0.45%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (5.24%) QA
2 27 (4.04%) SLA
3 26 (3.89%) Data Quality
4 21 (3.14%) GDPR
5 12 (1.80%) TickIT
6 10 (1.50%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 9 (1.35%) Cyber Essentials
8 8 (1.20%) ISO 9001
9 6 (0.90%) 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 (13.62%) Active Directory
2 22 (3.29%) Docker
2 22 (3.29%) Hyper-V
3 18 (2.69%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (1.05%) VMware Workstation
5 4 (0.60%) Virtual Desktop
6 2 (0.30%) Firmware
6 2 (0.30%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.30%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 36 (5.39%) Microsoft Intune
2 31 (4.64%) Terraform
3 21 (3.14%) Kubernetes
4 20 (2.99%) BMC PATROL
5 19 (2.84%) SCCM
6 12 (1.80%) Ansible
7 10 (1.50%) Single Sign-On
8 8 (1.20%) Autotask
9 6 (0.90%) Cisco CUCM
10 5 (0.75%) FortiGate
11 4 (0.60%) Grafana
11 4 (0.60%) Jamf Pro
11 4 (0.60%) Prometheus
12 3 (0.45%) Podman
12 3 (0.45%) Rancher
13 2 (0.30%) cPanel
13 2 (0.30%) Plesk
14 1 (0.15%) McAfee ePO
14 1 (0.15%) Nagios
14 1 (0.15%) SCVMM
Vendors
1 216 (32.34%) Microsoft
2 28 (4.19%) SAP
3 21 (3.14%) VMware
4 16 (2.40%) Google
5 14 (2.10%) Oracle
6 13 (1.95%) Cisco
7 12 (1.80%) ServiceNow
8 11 (1.65%) Apple
8 11 (1.65%) Workday
9 10 (1.50%) iManage
10 9 (1.35%) Meraki
11 8 (1.20%) New Relic
11 8 (1.20%) Splunk
12 7 (1.05%) Aruba
12 7 (1.05%) ESET
13 6 (0.90%) Adobe
13 6 (0.90%) HubSpot
13 6 (0.90%) Intapp
14 5 (0.75%) Aderant
14 5 (0.75%) OpenAI