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 18 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 21 4 8
Rank change year-on-year -17 +4 +15
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 645 760 1,088
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 7.80% 19.58% 13.42%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.24% 20.67% 15.85%
Number of salaries quoted 484 531 788
10th Percentile £27,075 £30,000 £26,250
25th Percentile £30,000 £36,250 £33,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £50,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +5.26% -
75th Percentile £53,000 £66,250 £61,250
90th Percentile £68,666 £81,250 £75,000
England median annual salary £45,249 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -17.73% +10.00% -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 6,300 3,676 6,863
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 76.17% 94.72% 84.64%
Number of salaries quoted 3,459 2,166 5,513
10th Percentile £28,250 £31,250 £28,000
25th Percentile £36,250 £40,619 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £54,793 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.75% +9.59% -9.09%
75th Percentile £68,750 £70,000 £66,250
90th Percentile £85,000 £83,750 £80,000
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +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 18 March 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 18 March 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 -20 294 £50,000 -9.09% 195
Cheshire -10 106 £45,000 +12.50% 59
Merseyside -1 104 £32,500 - 27
Lancashire -12 95 £36,500 -29.39% 86
Cumbria +7 45 £45,000 +12.50% 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 48 (7.44%) SharePoint
2 31 (4.81%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (1.71%) Confluence
4 4 (0.62%) Moodle
4 4 (0.62%) Totara
5 3 (0.47%) WordPress
6 2 (0.31%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.16%) Anypoint
7 1 (0.16%) Apache Solr
7 1 (0.16%) ArcGIS
7 1 (0.16%) CMS
Applications
1 38 (5.89%) Microsoft Excel
2 23 (3.57%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (0.47%) Simulink
4 2 (0.31%) AutoCAD
4 2 (0.31%) Revit
5 1 (0.16%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.16%) Trello
Business Applications
1 11 (1.71%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (0.93%) SAP ERP
2 6 (0.93%) Workday HCM
3 5 (0.78%) Shopify
4 3 (0.47%) Magento
5 2 (0.31%) Oracle Assets
5 2 (0.31%) Oracle General Ledger
5 2 (0.31%) Oracle Payables
5 2 (0.31%) Oracle Receivables
5 2 (0.31%) SAP Business One
6 1 (0.16%) Dynamics AX
6 1 (0.16%) Dynamics NAV
6 1 (0.16%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 139 (21.55%) Azure
2 122 (18.91%) Microsoft 365
3 60 (9.30%) AWS
4 50 (7.75%) Entra ID
5 46 (7.13%) Power Platform
6 32 (4.96%) GCP
7 31 (4.81%) SaaS
8 16 (2.48%) Microsoft Purview
9 13 (2.02%) Serverless
10 11 (1.71%) Google Workspace
10 11 (1.71%) OneDrive
10 11 (1.71%) Power Automate
11 10 (1.55%) Azure Monitor
12 9 (1.40%) Azure Sentinel
12 9 (1.40%) PowerApps
13 8 (1.24%) Microsoft Copilot
13 8 (1.24%) PaaS
14 7 (1.09%) Adobe Analytics
14 7 (1.09%) Dynamics 365
14 7 (1.09%) Figma
Communications & Networking
1 55 (8.53%) Firewall
2 35 (5.43%) DNS
3 33 (5.12%) DHCP
4 28 (4.34%) VLAN
5 24 (3.72%) VPN
5 24 (3.72%) Wi-Fi
6 22 (3.41%) VoIP
7 21 (3.26%) WAN
8 20 (3.10%) TCP/IP
9 16 (2.48%) Unified Communications
9 16 (2.48%) Wireless
10 14 (2.17%) Telepresence
10 14 (2.17%) WebEx
11 13 (2.02%) Structured Cabling
12 11 (1.71%) Broadband
12 11 (1.71%) LAN
12 11 (1.71%) SD-WAN
13 5 (0.78%) Ethernet
13 5 (0.78%) Network Security
14 4 (0.62%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 32 (4.96%) Power BI
2 20 (3.10%) SQL Server
3 14 (2.17%) NoSQL
4 11 (1.71%) PostgreSQL
4 11 (1.71%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 10 (1.55%) MongoDB
6 8 (1.24%) Tableau
7 7 (1.09%) MySQL
8 6 (0.93%) Azure SQL Database
9 5 (0.78%) Elasticsearch
10 4 (0.62%) DynamoDB
10 4 (0.62%) Relational Database
11 2 (0.31%) Amazon RDS
11 2 (0.31%) Amazon Redshift
11 2 (0.31%) Apache Iceberg
11 2 (0.31%) Big Data
11 2 (0.31%) Crystal Reports
11 2 (0.31%) Data Warehouse
11 2 (0.31%) Hadoop
12 1 (0.16%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 23 (3.57%) Git
2 14 (2.17%) JIRA
3 7 (1.09%) GitLab
4 3 (0.47%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.16%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.16%) LabVIEW
5 1 (0.16%) Rational DOORS
5 1 (0.16%) TeamCity
General
1 295 (45.74%) Social Skills
2 163 (25.27%) Analytical Skills
3 135 (20.93%) Finance
4 59 (9.15%) Organisational Skills
5 32 (4.96%) Manufacturing
6 29 (4.50%) Public Sector
7 25 (3.88%) Automotive
7 25 (3.88%) Legal
8 23 (3.57%) Retail
9 22 (3.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 22 (3.41%) Telecoms
10 21 (3.26%) Presentation Skills
11 15 (2.33%) Banking
12 13 (2.02%) Electronics
12 13 (2.02%) Marketing
13 12 (1.86%) Law
14 11 (1.71%) Documentation Skills
14 11 (1.71%) Influencing Skills
15 10 (1.55%) Advertising
16 9 (1.40%) French Language
Job Titles
1 90 (13.95%) Support Engineer
2 87 (13.49%) IT Support
3 86 (13.33%) Analyst
4 65 (10.08%) Senior
5 48 (7.44%) IT Engineer
5 48 (7.44%) IT Support Engineer
6 39 (6.05%) Lead
7 33 (5.12%) Business Analyst
8 31 (4.81%) Developer
9 30 (4.65%) Support Technician
10 23 (3.57%) Architect
10 23 (3.57%) Trainee
10 23 (3.57%) Trainee Analyst
10 23 (3.57%) Trainee Business Analyst
11 21 (3.26%) Consultant
12 20 (3.10%) Solutions Architect
13 18 (2.79%) IT Support Technician
13 18 (2.79%) IT Technician
14 17 (2.64%) Technical Engineer
14 17 (2.64%) Technical Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (2.79%) React
2 15 (2.33%) .NET
3 13 (2.02%) Spring
3 13 (2.02%) Spring Boot
4 12 (1.86%) RESTful
5 11 (1.71%) CSS
5 11 (1.71%) HTML
5 11 (1.71%) Vue
6 10 (1.55%) Node.js
7 7 (1.09%) Hibernate
8 6 (0.93%) Django
8 6 (0.93%) EDI
8 6 (0.93%) FastAPI
9 5 (0.78%) Celery
9 5 (0.78%) Flask
9 5 (0.78%) Laravel
9 5 (0.78%) OAuth
9 5 (0.78%) OAuth2
10 4 (0.62%) AngularJS
10 4 (0.62%) SAP Fiori
Miscellaneous
1 119 (18.45%) Driving Licence
2 51 (7.91%) Onboarding
3 26 (4.03%) Self-Motivation
4 21 (3.26%) EPoS
5 20 (3.10%) Analytical Mindset
6 17 (2.64%) CCTV
7 16 (2.48%) Data Centre
7 16 (2.48%) Enterprise Software
8 14 (2.17%) Distributed Systems
9 12 (1.86%) Product Ownership
10 11 (1.71%) Social Media
11 10 (1.55%) Cloud Native
11 10 (1.55%) Management Information System
12 9 (1.40%) CMDB
12 9 (1.40%) Legacy Systems
13 8 (1.24%) Renewable Energy
14 7 (1.09%) Mobile App
14 7 (1.09%) Security Posture
14 7 (1.09%) Virtual Team
15 6 (0.93%) Home Automation
Operating Systems
1 123 (19.07%) Windows
2 53 (8.22%) Windows Server
3 32 (4.96%) Windows 10
4 21 (3.26%) Linux
5 17 (2.64%) Apple iOS
6 16 (2.48%) Android
7 11 (1.71%) Windows 7
7 11 (1.71%) Windows 8
8 10 (1.55%) Mac OS
9 8 (1.24%) Windows Server 2016
10 4 (0.62%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.31%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 2 (0.31%) Unix
12 1 (0.16%) CentOS
12 1 (0.16%) CoreOS
12 1 (0.16%) Solaris
12 1 (0.16%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 117 (18.14%) Customer Service
2 109 (16.90%) Continuous Improvement
3 89 (13.80%) Decision-Making
4 82 (12.71%) Agile
4 82 (12.71%) Mentoring
5 79 (12.25%) Stakeholder Management
6 64 (9.92%) AI
7 60 (9.30%) Project Management
8 55 (8.53%) Cybersecurity
9 50 (7.75%) Coaching
10 47 (7.29%) ITIL
11 44 (6.82%) CI/CD
12 42 (6.51%) Analytics
12 42 (6.51%) Service Delivery
13 39 (6.05%) User Experience
14 37 (5.74%) Business Intelligence
14 37 (5.74%) Customer Experience
15 36 (5.58%) Collaborative Culture
15 36 (5.58%) DevOps
15 36 (5.58%) Process Improvement
Programming Languages
1 58 (8.99%) SQL
2 42 (6.51%) Python
3 23 (3.57%) Java
4 18 (2.79%) JavaScript
5 15 (2.33%) C#
6 10 (1.55%) TypeScript
7 9 (1.40%) Kotlin
7 9 (1.40%) PowerShell
8 8 (1.24%) PHP
9 4 (0.62%) Bash
9 4 (0.62%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 3 (0.47%) Go
10 3 (0.47%) Ladder Logic
10 3 (0.47%) MATLAB
11 2 (0.31%) Bicep
11 2 (0.31%) C
11 2 (0.31%) R
11 2 (0.31%) Scala
11 2 (0.31%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.31%) VBA
Qualifications
1 112 (17.36%) Degree
2 32 (4.96%) DBS Check
3 23 (3.57%) BPSS Clearance
4 16 (2.48%) Security Cleared
5 14 (2.17%) HNC
6 13 (2.02%) Microsoft Certification
7 10 (1.55%) Master's Degree
8 9 (1.40%) Computer Science Degree
8 9 (1.40%) SC Cleared
9 8 (1.24%) Azure Certification
9 8 (1.24%) Network+ Certification
10 7 (1.09%) CCNA
10 7 (1.09%) Cisco Certification
10 7 (1.09%) NVQ Level 4
11 6 (0.93%) CompTIA Security+
12 5 (0.78%) ITIL Certification
13 4 (0.62%) HND
13 4 (0.62%) MCSA
14 3 (0.47%) DV Cleared
15 2 (0.31%) Chartered Engineer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (4.19%) QA
2 20 (3.10%) GDPR
2 20 (3.10%) SLA
3 17 (2.64%) Data Quality
4 14 (2.17%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 10 (1.55%) Cyber Essentials
6 8 (1.24%) Accessibility
6 8 (1.24%) ISO 9001
7 3 (0.47%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 3 (0.47%) GLBA
8 2 (0.31%) Actionable Recommendations
8 2 (0.31%) Disclosure Scotland
8 2 (0.31%) PCI DSS
9 1 (0.16%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 1 (0.16%) NIST
9 1 (0.16%) PMO
System Software
1 85 (13.18%) Active Directory
2 23 (3.57%) Hyper-V
3 21 (3.26%) Docker
4 15 (2.33%) VMware Infrastructure
5 10 (1.55%) VMware Workstation
6 3 (0.47%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.31%) Firmware
8 1 (0.16%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 36 (5.58%) Microsoft Intune
2 25 (3.88%) Terraform
3 22 (3.41%) BMC PATROL
3 22 (3.41%) SCCM
4 21 (3.26%) Kubernetes
5 14 (2.17%) Cisco CUCM
6 12 (1.86%) Autotask
7 10 (1.55%) Ansible
7 10 (1.55%) Single Sign-On
8 5 (0.78%) Jamf Pro
9 4 (0.62%) FortiGate
10 3 (0.47%) cPanel
10 3 (0.47%) Plesk
10 3 (0.47%) Rancher
11 1 (0.16%) Argo
11 1 (0.16%) Grafana
11 1 (0.16%) McAfee ePO
11 1 (0.16%) Nagios
11 1 (0.16%) Prometheus
11 1 (0.16%) SCVMM
Vendors
1 170 (26.36%) Microsoft
2 24 (3.72%) Oracle
3 20 (3.10%) Cisco
4 18 (2.79%) SAP
4 18 (2.79%) VMware
5 14 (2.17%) Google
5 14 (2.17%) Workday
6 11 (1.71%) ESET
7 10 (1.55%) Apple
8 8 (1.24%) Adobe
8 8 (1.24%) New Relic
8 8 (1.24%) ServiceNow
8 8 (1.24%) Splunk
9 7 (1.09%) Qualtrics
9 7 (1.09%) Siemens
10 6 (0.93%) BiZZdesign
10 6 (0.93%) HubSpot
10 6 (0.93%) Meraki
11 5 (0.78%) Facebook
11 5 (0.78%) iManage