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

6 months to
27 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 22 7 8
Rank change year-on-year -15 +1 +14
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 695 978 1,244
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 6.35% 21.70% 12.79%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 8.84% 22.68% 15.87%
Number of salaries quoted 541 482 895
10th Percentile £26,750 £26,500 £26,175
25th Percentile £31,250 £33,750 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £47,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.26% +4.44% -5.26%
75th Percentile £61,250 £63,945 £61,250
90th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £77,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £50,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -5.94% +1.00% -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 7,860 4,313 7,841
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 71.79% 95.70% 80.63%
Number of salaries quoted 5,237 1,932 6,200
10th Percentile £30,000 £29,750 £27,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £37,500 £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 £72,500 £71,250 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £85,000 £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 27 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 27 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 -16 355 £50,007 +0.01% 246
Cheshire -20 112 £41,000 +12.33% 57
Merseyside -5 111 £42,500 +13.33% 30
Lancashire -7 76 £37,000 -7.50% 71
Cumbria -3 36 £35,000 -1.95% 7
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 58 (8.35%) SharePoint
2 44 (6.33%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (1.01%) Confluence
4 4 (0.58%) Apache Spark
4 4 (0.58%) Moodle
4 4 (0.58%) Totara
5 2 (0.29%) Apache
5 2 (0.29%) ArcGIS
5 2 (0.29%) CMS
5 2 (0.29%) IIS
5 2 (0.29%) WordPress
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 1 (0.14%) Umbraco
Applications
1 43 (6.19%) Microsoft Excel
2 27 (3.88%) Microsoft Office
3 9 (1.29%) MS Visio
4 4 (0.58%) Simulink
5 3 (0.43%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.29%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.14%) Acrobat
7 1 (0.14%) Trello
Business Applications
1 25 (3.60%) SAP S/4HANA
2 13 (1.87%) SAP ERP
3 7 (1.01%) Magento
4 6 (0.86%) Workday HCM
5 5 (0.72%) Dynamics CRM
6 4 (0.58%) Dynamics AX
6 4 (0.58%) SAP PP
6 4 (0.58%) Shopify
7 2 (0.29%) Dynamics NAV
8 1 (0.14%) NetSuite
8 1 (0.14%) Odoo
8 1 (0.14%) Oracle Applications
8 1 (0.14%) Oracle EBS
8 1 (0.14%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 162 (23.31%) Azure
2 139 (20.00%) Microsoft 365
3 77 (11.08%) Power Platform
4 69 (9.93%) AWS
5 32 (4.60%) Entra ID
6 28 (4.03%) Dynamics 365
7 26 (3.74%) SaaS
8 25 (3.60%) PowerApps
9 24 (3.45%) GCP
9 24 (3.45%) GitHub
10 23 (3.31%) Azure DevOps
11 21 (3.02%) Microsoft Purview
12 20 (2.88%) Power Automate
13 13 (1.87%) Serverless
14 12 (1.73%) Boomi
14 12 (1.73%) OneDrive
15 10 (1.44%) Microsoft Copilot
16 8 (1.15%) Azure Sentinel
17 7 (1.01%) Azure Logic Apps
17 7 (1.01%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 57 (8.20%) Firewall
2 35 (5.04%) DNS
3 33 (4.75%) VLAN
4 31 (4.46%) DHCP
5 29 (4.17%) VPN
6 25 (3.60%) Wi-Fi
7 23 (3.31%) Wireless
8 21 (3.02%) VoIP
9 20 (2.88%) TCP/IP
10 15 (2.16%) WAN
11 13 (1.87%) Unified Communications
12 12 (1.73%) LAN
12 12 (1.73%) Network Security
13 11 (1.58%) Structured Cabling
14 10 (1.44%) Broadband
15 9 (1.29%) SD-WAN
16 6 (0.86%) IP Telephony
16 6 (0.86%) SAN
16 6 (0.86%) Telepresence
16 6 (0.86%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 52 (7.48%) Power BI
2 31 (4.46%) SQL Server Reporting Services
3 26 (3.74%) SQL Server
4 11 (1.58%) MySQL
5 10 (1.44%) Data Warehouse
5 10 (1.44%) NoSQL
5 10 (1.44%) PostgreSQL
6 9 (1.29%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 7 (1.01%) Big Data
8 6 (0.86%) MongoDB
9 5 (0.72%) Power Query
10 4 (0.58%) Azure SQL Database
10 4 (0.58%) Looker
10 4 (0.58%) Tableau
11 3 (0.43%) DynamoDB
11 3 (0.43%) Elasticsearch
11 3 (0.43%) PowerPivot
11 3 (0.43%) Relational Database
11 3 (0.43%) SAP HANA
11 3 (0.43%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 29 (4.17%) Git
2 28 (4.03%) JIRA
3 9 (1.29%) GitLab
4 7 (1.01%) Bitbucket
5 6 (0.86%) Jenkins
6 2 (0.29%) Claude Code
6 2 (0.29%) Rational DOORS
6 2 (0.29%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 1 (0.14%) Gemini Tracker
7 1 (0.14%) gulp
7 1 (0.14%) LabVIEW
7 1 (0.14%) Oracle Forms
7 1 (0.14%) Rational Rhapsody
7 1 (0.14%) webpack
General
1 289 (41.58%) Social Skills
2 203 (29.21%) Analytical Skills
3 122 (17.55%) Finance
4 57 (8.20%) Manufacturing
5 55 (7.91%) Organisational Skills
6 45 (6.47%) Law
7 37 (5.32%) Retail
8 34 (4.89%) Legal
9 33 (4.75%) Public Sector
10 31 (4.46%) Marketing
11 21 (3.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 19 (2.73%) Telecoms
13 15 (2.16%) Banking
14 11 (1.58%) French Language
15 10 (1.44%) Advertising
15 10 (1.44%) Documentation Skills
15 10 (1.44%) Investment Banking
16 9 (1.29%) Games
17 8 (1.15%) Electronics
18 7 (1.01%) Italian Language
Job Titles
1 89 (12.81%) Senior
2 82 (11.80%) IT Support
3 81 (11.65%) Analyst
4 79 (11.37%) Support Engineer
5 76 (10.94%) Developer
6 53 (7.63%) IT Engineer
7 51 (7.34%) IT Support Engineer
8 41 (5.90%) Consultant
9 35 (5.04%) Lead
10 34 (4.89%) Support Technician
11 30 (4.32%) Software Engineer
12 29 (4.17%) Senior Developer
13 26 (3.74%) Business Analyst
14 20 (2.88%) Infrastructure Engineer
15 17 (2.45%) Administrator
15 17 (2.45%) Technical Analyst
16 16 (2.30%) IT Support Technician
16 16 (2.30%) IT Technician
17 14 (2.01%) 1st Line Support
17 14 (2.01%) 2nd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (4.60%) .NET
2 29 (4.17%) REST
3 28 (4.03%) React
4 25 (3.60%) HTML
5 23 (3.31%) Spring
5 23 (3.31%) Spring Boot
6 22 (3.17%) EDI
7 17 (2.45%) CSS
8 16 (2.30%) AngularJS
8 16 (2.30%) SOAP
9 15 (2.16%) Middleware
10 14 (2.01%) XML
11 12 (1.73%) JSON
11 12 (1.73%) RESTful
12 11 (1.58%) SAP Fiori
12 11 (1.58%) Vue
13 8 (1.15%) Next.js
13 8 (1.15%) Node.js
13 8 (1.15%) React Native
13 8 (1.15%) Ruby on Rails
Miscellaneous
1 63 (9.06%) Driving Licence
2 52 (7.48%) Onboarding
3 30 (4.32%) Product Ownership
4 22 (3.17%) Cloud Native
5 21 (3.02%) Data Centre
6 17 (2.45%) Analytical Mindset
7 16 (2.30%) Distributed Systems
8 15 (2.16%) Self-Motivation
9 13 (1.87%) CCTV
9 13 (1.87%) Mobile App
10 10 (1.44%) Management Information System
11 9 (1.29%) Enterprise Cloud
11 9 (1.29%) FMCG
11 9 (1.29%) Social Media
12 8 (1.15%) CMDB
12 8 (1.15%) Enterprise Software
13 7 (1.01%) EPoS
13 7 (1.01%) Low-Code
14 6 (0.86%) AI Agents
14 6 (0.86%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 115 (16.55%) Windows
2 52 (7.48%) Windows Server
3 37 (5.32%) Windows 10
4 22 (3.17%) Apple iOS
5 17 (2.45%) Linux
6 13 (1.87%) Android
7 7 (1.01%) Mac OS
7 7 (1.01%) Windows 7
7 7 (1.01%) Windows 8
7 7 (1.01%) Windows Server 2016
8 5 (0.72%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (0.43%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (0.43%) Unix
10 2 (0.29%) Solaris
11 1 (0.14%) CentOS
11 1 (0.14%) CoreOS
11 1 (0.14%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.14%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 150 (21.58%) Customer Service
2 142 (20.43%) Continuous Improvement
3 111 (15.97%) Mentoring
4 89 (12.81%) Stakeholder Management
5 79 (11.37%) Decision-Making
6 78 (11.22%) Agile
7 71 (10.22%) AI
8 66 (9.50%) Roadmaps
9 64 (9.21%) CRM
10 63 (9.06%) CI/CD
11 61 (8.78%) DevOps
12 55 (7.91%) Analytics
13 54 (7.77%) ERP
13 54 (7.77%) User Experience
14 52 (7.48%) Software Engineering
15 49 (7.05%) Collaborative Working
16 47 (6.76%) Project Management
17 44 (6.33%) Test Automation
18 42 (6.04%) Business Intelligence
18 42 (6.04%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 108 (15.54%) SQL
2 74 (10.65%) Python
3 40 (5.76%) C#
4 36 (5.18%) Java
5 34 (4.89%) JavaScript
6 17 (2.45%) PowerShell
7 12 (1.73%) C++
8 10 (1.44%) Bash
9 9 (1.29%) T-SQL
10 8 (1.15%) Kotlin
10 8 (1.15%) Ruby
11 7 (1.01%) TypeScript
12 6 (0.86%) PHP
13 5 (0.72%) C
14 4 (0.58%) Apex Code
14 4 (0.58%) Bicep
14 4 (0.58%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 4 (0.58%) MATLAB
14 4 (0.58%) Scala
14 4 (0.58%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 73 (10.50%) Degree
2 28 (4.03%) Security Cleared
3 21 (3.02%) DBS Check
4 20 (2.88%) SC Cleared
5 17 (2.45%) BPSS Clearance
6 15 (2.16%) Microsoft Certification
7 11 (1.58%) HNC
8 10 (1.44%) Cisco Certification
9 8 (1.15%) Azure Certification
9 8 (1.15%) Computer Science Degree
9 8 (1.15%) DV Cleared
9 8 (1.15%) Network+ Certification
10 7 (1.01%) MCSA
11 6 (0.86%) CCNP
12 5 (0.72%) CCNA
12 5 (0.72%) CompTIA Security+
13 4 (0.58%) ITIL Certification
13 4 (0.58%) PMI Certification
13 4 (0.58%) PMP
13 4 (0.58%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (4.89%) Data Quality
2 29 (4.17%) QA
3 28 (4.03%) SLA
4 25 (3.60%) GDPR
5 12 (1.73%) TickIT
6 10 (1.44%) Accessibility
6 10 (1.44%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 9 (1.29%) Cyber Essentials
8 8 (1.15%) ISO 9001
9 4 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 14443
9 4 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 7816
10 2 (0.29%) PCI DSS
11 1 (0.14%) Actionable Recommendations
11 1 (0.14%) DICOM
11 1 (0.14%) GMP
11 1 (0.14%) NEBOSH
11 1 (0.14%) PMO
11 1 (0.14%) WCAG
System Software
1 92 (13.24%) Active Directory
2 24 (3.45%) Docker
3 23 (3.31%) VMware Infrastructure
4 19 (2.73%) Hyper-V
5 7 (1.01%) VMware Workstation
6 4 (0.58%) Virtual Desktop
6 4 (0.58%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (0.43%) Firmware
7 3 (0.43%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 36 (5.18%) Microsoft Intune
2 30 (4.32%) Terraform
3 25 (3.60%) Kubernetes
4 19 (2.73%) SCCM
5 10 (1.44%) Ansible
6 8 (1.15%) Autotask
6 8 (1.15%) Grafana
6 8 (1.15%) Prometheus
7 6 (0.86%) Cisco CUCM
7 6 (0.86%) Single Sign-On
8 5 (0.72%) FortiGate
9 4 (0.58%) Microsoft Clustering
10 3 (0.43%) Jamf Pro
10 3 (0.43%) Rancher
11 2 (0.29%) Argo
11 2 (0.29%) Nagios
11 2 (0.29%) Podman
12 1 (0.14%) SCVMM
12 1 (0.14%) vCenter Server
12 1 (0.14%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 231 (33.24%) Microsoft
2 32 (4.60%) SAP
3 26 (3.74%) VMware
4 16 (2.30%) Cisco
4 16 (2.30%) Google
5 15 (2.16%) Oracle
6 11 (1.58%) ServiceNow
7 10 (1.44%) Apple
7 10 (1.44%) Aruba
7 10 (1.44%) iManage
7 10 (1.44%) Workday
8 9 (1.29%) HubSpot
9 8 (1.15%) Meraki
10 7 (1.01%) ESET
10 7 (1.01%) Salesforce
11 6 (0.86%) Adobe
11 6 (0.86%) Intapp
11 6 (0.86%) Juniper
12 5 (0.72%) Aderant
12 5 (0.72%) New Relic