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 10 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 7 7
Rank change year-on-year -5 0 +7
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 861 1,024 1,138
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 7.28% 19.81% 13.65%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.14% 21.89% 17.55%
Number of salaries quoted 673 503 563
10th Percentile £26,600 £25,000 £27,500
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,500 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £45,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -5.26%
75th Percentile £60,000 £60,000 £61,125
90th Percentile £75,000 £76,250 £76,250
England median annual salary £47,500 £47,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +1.06% -6.00% -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 8,489 4,679 6,485
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 71.82% 90.54% 77.76%
Number of salaries quoted 6,493 2,282 4,398
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,500 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £35,000 £39,813
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £52,084
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -4.00% -5.30%
75th Percentile £75,000 £66,250 £65,603
90th Percentile £90,000 £80,000 £80,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £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 10 August 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 10 August 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 -11 458 £50,000 - 248
Merseyside -6 150 £42,500 -7.61% 62
Cheshire -9 144 £42,500 +13.33% 97
Lancashire -1 72 £40,000 +18.64% 68
Cumbria -11 30 £32,500 -8.96% 15
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 72 (8.36%) SharePoint
2 56 (6.50%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (1.28%) IIS
4 5 (0.58%) Apache Spark
4 5 (0.58%) Confluence
5 2 (0.23%) Apache
5 2 (0.23%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.23%) ArcGIS
5 2 (0.23%) Moodle
5 2 (0.23%) nginx
5 2 (0.23%) Totara
5 2 (0.23%) WordPress
6 1 (0.12%) CMS
6 1 (0.12%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 1 (0.12%) Umbraco
6 1 (0.12%) WebLogic
6 1 (0.12%) WebSphere
Applications
1 46 (5.34%) Microsoft Excel
2 39 (4.53%) Microsoft Office
3 15 (1.74%) MS Visio
4 6 (0.70%) Spreadsheet
5 3 (0.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.35%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.23%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.23%) Windchill
7 1 (0.12%) Acrobat
7 1 (0.12%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 22 (2.56%) SAP S/4HANA
2 13 (1.51%) SAP ERP
3 8 (0.93%) Dynamics CRM
4 6 (0.70%) Magento
5 4 (0.46%) Dynamics AX
5 4 (0.46%) NEC Housing
5 4 (0.46%) SAP PP
6 3 (0.35%) Salesforce CRM
7 2 (0.23%) Oracle ERP
7 2 (0.23%) Shopify
8 1 (0.12%) Dynamics NAV
8 1 (0.12%) Elite 3E
8 1 (0.12%) Odoo
8 1 (0.12%) Oracle Applications
8 1 (0.12%) Oracle EBS
8 1 (0.12%) SAP ECC
Cloud Services
1 192 (22.30%) Azure
2 163 (18.93%) Microsoft 365
3 100 (11.61%) AWS
3 100 (11.61%) Power Platform
4 44 (5.11%) PowerApps
5 38 (4.41%) GCP
6 35 (4.07%) Power Automate
7 32 (3.72%) Entra ID
7 32 (3.72%) SaaS
8 29 (3.37%) Azure DevOps
8 29 (3.37%) Microsoft Copilot
9 28 (3.25%) Dynamics 365
9 28 (3.25%) GitHub
9 28 (3.25%) OneDrive
10 22 (2.56%) Microsoft Purview
11 15 (1.74%) Serverless
12 12 (1.39%) Boomi
13 11 (1.28%) Snowflake
14 10 (1.16%) Copilot Studio
15 9 (1.05%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 64 (7.43%) Firewall
2 54 (6.27%) DNS
3 50 (5.81%) DHCP
4 40 (4.65%) TCP/IP
5 36 (4.18%) VPN
6 31 (3.60%) Wireless
7 30 (3.48%) VLAN
8 27 (3.14%) VoIP
9 25 (2.90%) Wi-Fi
10 22 (2.56%) Network Security
11 19 (2.21%) LAN
12 18 (2.09%) WAN
13 17 (1.97%) Broadband
14 10 (1.16%) SD-WAN
15 9 (1.05%) Structured Cabling
16 8 (0.93%) Unified Communications
17 6 (0.70%) BGP
17 6 (0.70%) IP Telephony
17 6 (0.70%) OSPF
17 6 (0.70%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 60 (6.97%) Power BI
2 49 (5.69%) SQL Server
3 30 (3.48%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 22 (2.56%) MySQL
5 20 (2.32%) Data Warehouse
6 11 (1.28%) NoSQL
7 10 (1.16%) Big Data
7 10 (1.16%) PostgreSQL
8 9 (1.05%) BigQuery
8 9 (1.05%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 8 (0.93%) Looker
10 7 (0.81%) MongoDB
10 7 (0.81%) Redis
11 6 (0.70%) Amazon Redshift
11 6 (0.70%) Electronic Patient Records
12 5 (0.58%) MariaDB
12 5 (0.58%) Power Query
12 5 (0.58%) Tableau
13 4 (0.46%) Elasticsearch
13 4 (0.46%) Neo4j
Development Applications
1 35 (4.07%) Git
2 31 (3.60%) JIRA
3 10 (1.16%) Jenkins
4 7 (0.81%) Bitbucket
5 5 (0.58%) GitLab
6 4 (0.46%) Cucumber
6 4 (0.46%) Cypress.io
6 4 (0.46%) Robot Framework
7 3 (0.35%) Claude Code
7 3 (0.35%) Visual Studio Code
8 2 (0.23%) Rational DOORS
8 2 (0.23%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 1 (0.12%) Gemini Tracker
9 1 (0.12%) gulp
9 1 (0.12%) LabVIEW
9 1 (0.12%) Oracle Forms
9 1 (0.12%) Rational Rhapsody
9 1 (0.12%) webpack
General
1 334 (38.79%) Social Skills
2 254 (29.50%) Analytical Skills
3 123 (14.29%) Finance
4 73 (8.48%) Manufacturing
5 65 (7.55%) Law
6 56 (6.50%) Organisational Skills
7 51 (5.92%) Legal
8 42 (4.88%) Retail
9 34 (3.95%) Marketing
10 27 (3.14%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 25 (2.90%) Telecoms
12 23 (2.67%) Public Sector
13 15 (1.74%) Banking
14 14 (1.63%) Games
15 13 (1.51%) Aerospace
16 11 (1.28%) Documentation Skills
17 10 (1.16%) Electronics
18 9 (1.05%) Billing
18 9 (1.05%) German Language
18 9 (1.05%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 119 (13.82%) Senior
2 117 (13.59%) Developer
3 114 (13.24%) Analyst
4 70 (8.13%) IT Support
5 63 (7.32%) Support Engineer
6 46 (5.34%) Lead
7 44 (5.11%) Senior Developer
8 43 (4.99%) Consultant
9 41 (4.76%) Software Engineer
10 39 (4.53%) Support Technician
11 35 (4.07%) IT Engineer
12 32 (3.72%) IT Support Engineer
13 31 (3.60%) Support Analyst
14 27 (3.14%) Administrator
14 27 (3.14%) IT Technician
15 23 (2.67%) IT Support Technician
15 23 (2.67%) Junior
16 20 (2.32%) Technical Analyst
16 20 (2.32%) Technical Support
17 19 (2.21%) Applications Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 52 (6.04%) .NET
2 44 (5.11%) HTML
3 43 (4.99%) React
4 35 (4.07%) REST
5 24 (2.79%) AngularJS
5 24 (2.79%) Middleware
6 23 (2.67%) CSS
6 23 (2.67%) Vue
7 22 (2.56%) Spring
8 20 (2.32%) Spring Boot
9 18 (2.09%) XML
10 17 (1.97%) EDI
10 17 (1.97%) SOAP
11 13 (1.51%) JSON
11 13 (1.51%) Node.js
12 11 (1.28%) Next.js
12 11 (1.28%) Web Services
13 10 (1.16%) Laravel
13 10 (1.16%) React Native
13 10 (1.16%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 64 (7.43%) Driving Licence
2 51 (5.92%) Onboarding
3 35 (4.07%) Product Ownership
4 32 (3.72%) Cloud Native
5 29 (3.37%) Self-Motivation
6 19 (2.21%) Distributed Systems
7 16 (1.86%) Management Information System
8 15 (1.74%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 14 (1.63%) Mobile App
9 14 (1.63%) Security Posture
10 13 (1.51%) Replication
11 11 (1.28%) CCTV
11 11 (1.28%) Data Centre
11 11 (1.28%) IoT
12 10 (1.16%) NHS
13 9 (1.05%) Enterprise Cloud
14 8 (0.93%) AI Agents
14 8 (0.93%) CMDB
14 8 (0.93%) Cyberattack
14 8 (0.93%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 138 (16.03%) Windows
2 65 (7.55%) Windows Server
3 34 (3.95%) Windows 10
4 33 (3.83%) Linux
5 17 (1.97%) Apple iOS
6 12 (1.39%) Android
7 10 (1.16%) Mac OS
8 5 (0.58%) Windows Server 2016
9 4 (0.46%) Unix
10 3 (0.35%) Windows 7
10 3 (0.35%) Windows 8
10 3 (0.35%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 2 (0.23%) Solaris
12 1 (0.12%) Embedded Linux
12 1 (0.12%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.12%) VME
12 1 (0.12%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 225 (26.13%) Continuous Improvement
2 187 (21.72%) Customer Service
3 114 (13.24%) Mentoring
4 109 (12.66%) Agile
5 107 (12.43%) Stakeholder Management
6 97 (11.27%) Decision-Making
7 96 (11.15%) CI/CD
8 94 (10.92%) AI
9 90 (10.45%) CRM
10 84 (9.76%) Roadmaps
11 83 (9.64%) DevOps
12 77 (8.94%) Software Engineering
13 75 (8.71%) Analytics
14 73 (8.48%) ERP
15 68 (7.90%) User Experience
16 62 (7.20%) Collaborative Working
17 56 (6.50%) Business Intelligence
18 52 (6.04%) Test Automation
19 51 (5.92%) Cybersecurity
20 49 (5.69%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 159 (18.47%) SQL
2 106 (12.31%) Python
3 66 (7.67%) C#
4 59 (6.85%) JavaScript
5 43 (4.99%) Java
6 29 (3.37%) PowerShell
7 20 (2.32%) TypeScript
8 19 (2.21%) PHP
9 15 (1.74%) Bash
9 15 (1.74%) C++
10 12 (1.39%) Shell Script
11 10 (1.16%) T-SQL
12 8 (0.93%) C
12 8 (0.93%) Ruby
13 6 (0.70%) Go
13 6 (0.70%) R
14 5 (0.58%) Apex Code
14 5 (0.58%) Bicep
14 5 (0.58%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 5 (0.58%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 106 (12.31%) Degree
2 48 (5.57%) Security Cleared
3 24 (2.79%) Microsoft Certification
3 24 (2.79%) SC Cleared
4 22 (2.56%) HNC
5 21 (2.44%) DBS Check
6 17 (1.97%) BPSS Clearance
6 17 (1.97%) Cisco Certification
6 17 (1.97%) DV Cleared
7 15 (1.74%) Computer Science Degree
8 13 (1.51%) CCNP
9 11 (1.28%) Azure Certification
10 9 (1.05%) Master's Degree
11 8 (0.93%) CCNA
12 7 (0.81%) HND
12 7 (0.81%) MCSA
12 7 (0.81%) Postgraduate
13 6 (0.70%) ACCA
13 6 (0.70%) PMI Certification
14 5 (0.58%) CIMA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (4.99%) Data Quality
2 37 (4.30%) QA
3 33 (3.83%) GDPR
4 30 (3.48%) Accessibility
5 25 (2.90%) SLA
6 13 (1.51%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 12 (1.39%) TickIT
8 8 (0.93%) NIST
9 4 (0.46%) ISO/IEC 14443
9 4 (0.46%) ISO/IEC 7816
10 3 (0.35%) Cyber Essentials
11 2 (0.23%) Actionable Recommendations
11 2 (0.23%) ISO 9001
11 2 (0.23%) PMO
11 2 (0.23%) WCAG
12 1 (0.12%) DICOM
12 1 (0.12%) GMP
12 1 (0.12%) IFRS
12 1 (0.12%) IFRS 9
12 1 (0.12%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 98 (11.38%) Active Directory
2 41 (4.76%) Docker
3 36 (4.18%) VMware Infrastructure
4 22 (2.56%) Hyper-V
5 6 (0.70%) Virtual Machines
6 4 (0.46%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.35%) Virtual Desktop
7 3 (0.35%) VMware Workstation
8 2 (0.23%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 33 (3.83%) Kubernetes
2 31 (3.60%) Microsoft Intune
3 23 (2.67%) Terraform
4 14 (1.63%) Grafana
5 12 (1.39%) FortiGate
6 11 (1.28%) Prometheus
7 9 (1.05%) Ansible
7 9 (1.05%) SCCM
8 5 (0.58%) Single Sign-On
9 4 (0.46%) Argo
9 4 (0.46%) Autotask
9 4 (0.46%) Microsoft Clustering
10 3 (0.35%) Jamf Pro
11 2 (0.23%) Nagios
11 2 (0.23%) Nessus
11 2 (0.23%) Podman
12 1 (0.12%) Istio
12 1 (0.12%) linkerd
12 1 (0.12%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
12 1 (0.12%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 299 (34.73%) Microsoft
2 44 (5.11%) VMware
3 32 (3.72%) SAP
4 26 (3.02%) Google
5 17 (1.97%) Cisco
6 15 (1.74%) ServiceNow
7 14 (1.63%) Salesforce
8 12 (1.39%) Aruba
8 12 (1.39%) iManage
9 11 (1.28%) Oracle
10 10 (1.16%) Adobe
11 9 (1.05%) HubSpot
11 9 (1.05%) SonicWALL
11 9 (1.05%) Sophos
12 8 (0.93%) Juniper
12 8 (0.93%) Meraki
12 8 (0.93%) OpenAI
12 8 (0.93%) Tanium
13 7 (0.81%) Aderant
14 5 (0.58%) Intapp