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 21 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 7 5
Rank change year-on-year -5 -2 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 989 1,000 1,081
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 7.73% 19.51% 14.00%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.63% 21.87% 17.87%
Number of salaries quoted 717 489 412
10th Percentile £26,561 £26,250 £27,000
25th Percentile £31,543 £33,125 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £48,720 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -7.64% +8.27% -5.26%
75th Percentile £60,000 £55,000 £60,250
90th Percentile £75,000 £67,500 £78,400
England median annual salary £46,901 £45,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +4.22% -14.29% -4.55%

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 9,307 4,573 6,048
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 72.70% 89.23% 78.31%
Number of salaries quoted 6,967 2,181 3,430
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,750 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,400 £35,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £50,500
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -0.99% -8.18%
75th Percentile £75,000 £65,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £80,000 £78,750
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,560
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.45% -7.90%

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 21 September 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 21 September 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 -7 553 £47,500 +6.74% 719
Merseyside -4 161 £42,500 -19.81% 94
Cheshire -11 150 £42,500 -19.05% 123
Lancashire +3 84 £42,500 -10.70% 115
Cumbria 0 31 £32,500 -9.35% 21
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 82 (8.29%) SharePoint
2 53 (5.36%) Microsoft Exchange
3 12 (1.21%) IIS
4 5 (0.51%) Apache Spark
5 3 (0.30%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (0.30%) Oracle Workflow
6 2 (0.20%) Apache
6 2 (0.20%) CMS
6 2 (0.20%) Confluence
6 2 (0.20%) Exchange Server 2013
6 2 (0.20%) nginx
7 1 (0.10%) ArcGIS
7 1 (0.10%) Jupyter
7 1 (0.10%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 1 (0.10%) SharePoint Server
7 1 (0.10%) Sitecore CMS
7 1 (0.10%) Umbraco
7 1 (0.10%) WebLogic
7 1 (0.10%) WebSphere
7 1 (0.10%) WordPress
Applications
1 57 (5.76%) Microsoft Office
2 56 (5.66%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (1.62%) MS Visio
4 6 (0.61%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (0.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.51%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.20%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.20%) Windchill
7 1 (0.10%) Acrobat
7 1 (0.10%) Revit
7 1 (0.10%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 17 (1.72%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (0.91%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (0.71%) SAP ERP
4 4 (0.40%) NEC Housing
4 4 (0.40%) NetSuite
4 4 (0.40%) Oracle EBS
4 4 (0.40%) SAP PP
5 3 (0.30%) Dynamics AX
5 3 (0.30%) Magento
5 3 (0.30%) Oracle Cash Management
5 3 (0.30%) Oracle Payables
5 3 (0.30%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 3 (0.30%) Payment Gateway
5 3 (0.30%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.20%) Oracle ERP
6 2 (0.20%) Remedy ITSM
7 1 (0.10%) Dynamics NAV
7 1 (0.10%) Odoo
7 1 (0.10%) Oracle Applications
7 1 (0.10%) SAP ECC
Cloud Services
1 195 (19.72%) Azure
2 158 (15.98%) Microsoft 365
3 111 (11.22%) AWS
4 110 (11.12%) Power Platform
5 49 (4.95%) PowerApps
6 42 (4.25%) Entra ID
7 40 (4.04%) SaaS
8 37 (3.74%) GCP
8 37 (3.74%) GitHub
9 36 (3.64%) Power Automate
10 33 (3.34%) Microsoft Copilot
11 32 (3.24%) OneDrive
12 31 (3.13%) Azure DevOps
13 26 (2.63%) Dynamics 365
14 19 (1.92%) Microsoft Purview
14 19 (1.92%) Serverless
15 13 (1.31%) Copilot Studio
16 12 (1.21%) Boomi
16 12 (1.21%) GitHub Actions
17 11 (1.11%) Google Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 66 (6.67%) DNS
2 57 (5.76%) DHCP
3 56 (5.66%) Firewall
4 42 (4.25%) VPN
5 39 (3.94%) TCP/IP
6 31 (3.13%) Wireless
7 26 (2.63%) VLAN
8 23 (2.33%) VoIP
9 22 (2.22%) Network Security
9 22 (2.22%) Wi-Fi
10 17 (1.72%) LAN
11 14 (1.42%) WAN
12 12 (1.21%) Broadband
13 11 (1.11%) Unified Communications
14 9 (0.91%) SD-WAN
15 8 (0.81%) BGP
16 7 (0.71%) OSPF
16 7 (0.71%) SNMP
17 6 (0.61%) SAN
17 6 (0.61%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 68 (6.88%) Power BI
2 54 (5.46%) SQL Server
3 26 (2.63%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 25 (2.53%) MySQL
5 21 (2.12%) Data Warehouse
6 12 (1.21%) BigQuery
7 10 (1.01%) Big Data
7 10 (1.01%) NoSQL
7 10 (1.01%) Power Query
8 9 (0.91%) Looker
9 8 (0.81%) Amazon Redshift
9 8 (0.81%) MongoDB
9 8 (0.81%) PostgreSQL
9 8 (0.81%) Redis
9 8 (0.81%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 7 (0.71%) Electronic Patient Records
11 6 (0.61%) MariaDB
11 6 (0.61%) Metadata
11 6 (0.61%) Relational Database
12 5 (0.51%) Data Lake
Development Applications
1 39 (3.94%) Git
2 35 (3.54%) JIRA
3 14 (1.42%) Jenkins
4 9 (0.91%) GitLab
5 7 (0.71%) Bitbucket
6 6 (0.61%) Cypress.io
7 5 (0.51%) Cucumber
8 4 (0.40%) Claude Code
8 4 (0.40%) Robot Framework
9 3 (0.30%) Visual Studio Code
10 2 (0.20%) Selenium
10 2 (0.20%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
11 1 (0.10%) Artifactory
11 1 (0.10%) gulp
11 1 (0.10%) Maven
11 1 (0.10%) Oracle Forms
11 1 (0.10%) Rational DOORS
11 1 (0.10%) Rational Rhapsody
11 1 (0.10%) Vagrant
11 1 (0.10%) webpack
General
1 415 (41.96%) Social Skills
2 308 (31.14%) Analytical Skills
3 157 (15.87%) Finance
4 84 (8.49%) Law
5 76 (7.68%) Manufacturing
6 70 (7.08%) Organisational Skills
7 66 (6.67%) Legal
8 55 (5.56%) Telecoms
9 52 (5.26%) Retail
10 43 (4.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 37 (3.74%) Marketing
12 27 (2.73%) Public Sector
13 21 (2.12%) Military
14 19 (1.92%) Banking
15 17 (1.72%) Aerospace
16 13 (1.31%) Billing
17 12 (1.21%) Automotive
17 12 (1.21%) Documentation Skills
18 11 (1.11%) Electronics
19 10 (1.01%) Games
Job Titles
1 139 (14.05%) Analyst
2 136 (13.75%) Senior
3 122 (12.34%) Developer
4 64 (6.47%) IT Support
5 54 (5.46%) Support Engineer
6 48 (4.85%) Lead
7 46 (4.65%) Senior Developer
8 45 (4.55%) Support Analyst
9 42 (4.25%) Consultant
9 42 (4.25%) Software Engineer
10 35 (3.54%) Administrator
11 34 (3.44%) Support Technician
12 28 (2.83%) IT Engineer
13 27 (2.73%) Applications Support
13 27 (2.73%) Junior
14 26 (2.63%) IT Technician
15 24 (2.43%) IT Support Engineer
16 22 (2.22%) Architect
16 22 (2.22%) Data Engineer
16 22 (2.22%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 51 (5.16%) .NET
2 47 (4.75%) React
3 44 (4.45%) HTML
4 43 (4.35%) REST
5 28 (2.83%) Terraform
6 25 (2.53%) Middleware
7 22 (2.22%) AngularJS
8 21 (2.12%) CSS
9 20 (2.02%) Spring
9 20 (2.02%) Vue
9 20 (2.02%) XML
10 18 (1.82%) Spring Boot
11 17 (1.72%) SOAP
12 16 (1.62%) EDI
13 15 (1.52%) JSON
14 14 (1.42%) Node.js
15 12 (1.21%) Web Services
16 11 (1.11%) Kafka
16 11 (1.11%) Next.js
17 10 (1.01%) Microsoft Graph
Miscellaneous
1 65 (6.57%) Driving Licence
2 61 (6.17%) Onboarding
3 43 (4.35%) Self-Motivation
4 37 (3.74%) Cloud Native
4 37 (3.74%) Product Ownership
5 33 (3.34%) Management Information System
6 22 (2.22%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
7 20 (2.02%) Distributed Systems
7 20 (2.02%) IoT
8 17 (1.72%) NHS
9 16 (1.62%) Enterprise Software
9 16 (1.62%) Security Posture
10 14 (1.42%) Replication
11 12 (1.21%) Mobile App
12 11 (1.11%) Data Centre
12 11 (1.11%) FMCG
12 11 (1.11%) Low-Code
13 9 (0.91%) AI Agents
13 9 (0.91%) Enterprise Cloud
13 9 (0.91%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 135 (13.65%) Windows
2 62 (6.27%) Windows Server
3 40 (4.04%) Linux
4 22 (2.22%) Windows 10
5 19 (1.92%) Apple iOS
6 9 (0.91%) Android
6 9 (0.91%) Mac OS
7 7 (0.71%) Windows Server 2016
8 6 (0.61%) Unix
8 6 (0.61%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (0.30%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (0.20%) Solaris
10 2 (0.20%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.10%) Embedded Linux
11 1 (0.10%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 282 (28.51%) Continuous Improvement
2 195 (19.72%) Customer Service
3 143 (14.46%) AI
4 142 (14.36%) Mentoring
5 141 (14.26%) Agile
6 131 (13.25%) Stakeholder Management
7 109 (11.02%) Decision-Making
8 108 (10.92%) CI/CD
9 94 (9.50%) ERP
10 93 (9.40%) Software Engineering
11 92 (9.30%) CRM
11 92 (9.30%) DevOps
12 90 (9.10%) Analytics
13 89 (9.00%) Collaborative Working
14 87 (8.80%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 84 (8.49%) Project Delivery
15 84 (8.49%) Roadmaps
16 66 (6.67%) User Acceptance Testing
17 63 (6.37%) Cybersecurity
17 63 (6.37%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 178 (18.00%) SQL
2 125 (12.64%) Python
3 70 (7.08%) JavaScript
4 65 (6.57%) C#
5 51 (5.16%) Java
6 47 (4.75%) PowerShell
7 28 (2.83%) TypeScript
8 22 (2.22%) Bash
9 20 (2.02%) PHP
10 15 (1.52%) C++
11 13 (1.31%) Shell Script
12 11 (1.11%) T-SQL
13 8 (0.81%) C
13 8 (0.81%) Ruby
14 7 (0.71%) Go
15 6 (0.61%) Bicep
15 6 (0.61%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 6 (0.61%) R
16 5 (0.51%) Apex Code
16 5 (0.51%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 132 (13.35%) Degree
2 60 (6.07%) Security Cleared
3 37 (3.74%) SC Cleared
4 34 (3.44%) HNC
5 31 (3.13%) DBS Check
6 23 (2.33%) DV Cleared
7 22 (2.22%) Microsoft Certification
8 17 (1.72%) Computer Science Degree
9 14 (1.42%) CCNP
9 14 (1.42%) Cisco Certification
10 13 (1.31%) Azure Certification
10 13 (1.31%) BPSS Clearance
11 10 (1.01%) HND
11 10 (1.01%) Master's Degree
12 8 (0.81%) ACCA
12 8 (0.81%) ITIL Certification
12 8 (0.81%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 7 (0.71%) CIMA
13 7 (0.71%) Postgraduate
14 6 (0.61%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 49 (4.95%) Data Quality
2 45 (4.55%) Accessibility
3 41 (4.15%) QA
4 34 (3.44%) GDPR
5 14 (1.42%) SLA
6 13 (1.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 12 (1.21%) TickIT
8 9 (0.91%) NIST
9 4 (0.40%) ISO/IEC 14443
9 4 (0.40%) ISO/IEC 7816
9 4 (0.40%) PMO
10 3 (0.30%) Cyber Essentials
10 3 (0.30%) NEBOSH
11 2 (0.20%) Actionable Recommendations
11 2 (0.20%) WCAG
12 1 (0.10%) DICOM
12 1 (0.10%) GMP
12 1 (0.10%) Good Clinical Practice
12 1 (0.10%) GxP
12 1 (0.10%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 103 (10.41%) Active Directory
2 49 (4.95%) Docker
3 31 (3.13%) VMware Infrastructure
4 19 (1.92%) Hyper-V
5 8 (0.81%) Virtual Machines
6 4 (0.40%) Virtual Desktop
6 4 (0.40%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.30%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 38 (3.84%) Kubernetes
2 31 (3.13%) Microsoft Intune
3 14 (1.42%) Grafana
4 11 (1.11%) FortiGate
4 11 (1.11%) Prometheus
4 11 (1.11%) Single Sign-On
5 10 (1.01%) Ansible
6 5 (0.51%) Argo
7 4 (0.40%) Microsoft Clustering
8 2 (0.20%) Nagios
8 2 (0.20%) Nessus
8 2 (0.20%) Podman
8 2 (0.20%) SCCM
9 1 (0.10%) Functional Safety
9 1 (0.10%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
9 1 (0.10%) Packer
9 1 (0.10%) Progress Chef
9 1 (0.10%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
9 1 (0.10%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.10%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 329 (33.27%) Microsoft
2 44 (4.45%) VMware
3 36 (3.64%) SAP
4 29 (2.93%) Google
5 23 (2.33%) Sage
6 19 (1.92%) Cisco
7 18 (1.82%) YouTube
8 16 (1.62%) ServiceNow
9 15 (1.52%) Civica
9 15 (1.52%) Salesforce
10 14 (1.42%) Oracle
11 13 (1.31%) Aruba
11 13 (1.31%) iManage
12 9 (0.91%) Juniper
12 9 (0.91%) OpenAI
13 8 (0.81%) Aderant
13 8 (0.81%) Adobe
13 8 (0.81%) HubSpot
13 8 (0.81%) Tanium
14 6 (0.61%) New Relic