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 23 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 20 4 7
Rank change year-on-year -16 +3 +18
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 725 799 909
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 9.65% 18.00% 13.44%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.45% 19.28% 15.63%
Number of salaries quoted 560 446 675
10th Percentile £26,750 £31,250 £26,000
25th Percentile £30,500 £37,500 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,749 £50,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -8.50% +5.26% -
75th Percentile £53,000 £65,000 £61,250
90th Percentile £63,750 £81,250 £72,500
England median annual salary £45,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -18.18% +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 5,825 4,144 5,815
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 77.54% 93.38% 86.01%
Number of salaries quoted 3,092 2,087 4,738
10th Percentile £28,250 £32,110 £28,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £40,620 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £67,500 £67,500 £66,778
90th Percentile £83,750 £82,500 £80,180
England median annual salary £55,000 £62,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year -12.00% +13.64% -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 23 February 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 23 February 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 -16 293 £45,000 -13.46% 181
Cheshire -11 136 £48,720 +21.80% 83
Merseyside +2 135 £45,000 +38.46% 30
Lancashire -9 113 £40,000 -23.81% 61
Cumbria +6 47 £45,000 +9.76% 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 44 (6.07%) SharePoint
2 20 (2.76%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (0.97%) Confluence
4 6 (0.83%) WordPress
5 4 (0.55%) Moodle
5 4 (0.55%) Totara
6 2 (0.28%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.28%) FactoryTalk
6 2 (0.28%) nginx
6 2 (0.28%) WinCC
7 1 (0.14%) Anypoint
7 1 (0.14%) Apache Solr
7 1 (0.14%) CMS
Applications
1 40 (5.52%) Microsoft Excel
2 26 (3.59%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (0.41%) Simulink
4 2 (0.28%) AutoCAD
4 2 (0.28%) Revit
5 1 (0.14%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.14%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.14%) Siemens NX
5 1 (0.14%) Trello
Business Applications
1 7 (0.97%) SAP Business One
2 6 (0.83%) Workday HCM
3 5 (0.69%) SAP S/4HANA
4 4 (0.55%) Shopify
5 2 (0.28%) Magento
5 2 (0.28%) Oracle Assets
5 2 (0.28%) Oracle General Ledger
5 2 (0.28%) Oracle Payables
5 2 (0.28%) Oracle Receivables
6 1 (0.14%) Dynamics AX
6 1 (0.14%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.14%) Dynamics NAV
6 1 (0.14%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.14%) Primavera
6 1 (0.14%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.14%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 135 (18.62%) Azure
2 107 (14.76%) Microsoft 365
3 72 (9.93%) AWS
4 52 (7.17%) Entra ID
5 48 (6.62%) Power Platform
6 35 (4.83%) GCP
7 34 (4.69%) SaaS
8 14 (1.93%) OneDrive
9 12 (1.66%) Power Automate
9 12 (1.66%) Serverless
10 10 (1.38%) Azure Monitor
10 10 (1.38%) Google Workspace
10 10 (1.38%) Microsoft Purview
11 9 (1.24%) Azure Sentinel
12 8 (1.10%) Cloud Computing
12 8 (1.10%) Dynamics 365
12 8 (1.10%) PaaS
13 7 (0.97%) Adobe Analytics
13 7 (0.97%) Figma
13 7 (0.97%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 47 (6.48%) Firewall
2 32 (4.41%) DNS
3 30 (4.14%) DHCP
4 22 (3.03%) VPN
5 21 (2.90%) VLAN
6 20 (2.76%) Wi-Fi
7 16 (2.21%) TCP/IP
7 16 (2.21%) Unified Communications
7 16 (2.21%) VoIP
7 16 (2.21%) WAN
8 14 (1.93%) Telepresence
8 14 (1.93%) WebEx
9 13 (1.79%) Wireless
10 10 (1.38%) Broadband
10 10 (1.38%) SD-WAN
10 10 (1.38%) Structured Cabling
11 7 (0.97%) Ethernet
11 7 (0.97%) LAN
12 4 (0.55%) NGFW
12 4 (0.55%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 36 (4.97%) Power BI
2 18 (2.48%) SQL Server
3 14 (1.93%) NoSQL
4 12 (1.66%) Tableau
5 11 (1.52%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 10 (1.38%) MongoDB
6 10 (1.38%) PostgreSQL
7 8 (1.10%) MySQL
8 7 (0.97%) Crystal Reports
9 6 (0.83%) Amazon Redshift
10 5 (0.69%) Azure SQL Database
10 5 (0.69%) Elasticsearch
10 5 (0.69%) Relational Database
11 4 (0.55%) BigQuery
11 4 (0.55%) Data Warehouse
11 4 (0.55%) DynamoDB
11 4 (0.55%) Looker
12 3 (0.41%) Big Data
13 2 (0.28%) Amazon RDS
13 2 (0.28%) Hadoop
Development Applications
1 24 (3.31%) Git
2 9 (1.24%) JIRA
3 7 (0.97%) GitLab
4 3 (0.41%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.14%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.14%) Rational DOORS
5 1 (0.14%) TeamCity
General
1 307 (42.34%) Social Skills
2 172 (23.72%) Analytical Skills
3 142 (19.59%) Finance
4 55 (7.59%) Organisational Skills
5 45 (6.21%) Automotive
6 29 (4.00%) Legal
7 27 (3.72%) Public Sector
8 24 (3.31%) Telecoms
9 23 (3.17%) Manufacturing
9 23 (3.17%) Retail
10 22 (3.03%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 22 (3.03%) Presentation Skills
11 17 (2.34%) Electronics
12 16 (2.21%) Banking
12 16 (2.21%) Law
13 13 (1.79%) Marketing
14 12 (1.66%) Advertising
14 12 (1.66%) Documentation Skills
15 11 (1.52%) Influencing Skills
15 11 (1.52%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 94 (12.97%) Analyst
2 91 (12.55%) IT Support
3 86 (11.86%) Support Engineer
4 68 (9.38%) Senior
5 45 (6.21%) IT Engineer
5 45 (6.21%) IT Support Engineer
6 35 (4.83%) Business Analyst
7 33 (4.55%) Lead
8 30 (4.14%) Developer
9 29 (4.00%) Trainee
10 26 (3.59%) Trainee Analyst
10 26 (3.59%) Trainee Business Analyst
11 25 (3.45%) Consultant
11 25 (3.45%) Support Technician
12 23 (3.17%) Architect
13 20 (2.76%) 1st Line Support
13 20 (2.76%) Technical Engineer
13 20 (2.76%) Technical Support
13 20 (2.76%) Technical Support Engineer
14 19 (2.62%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (2.90%) React
2 17 (2.34%) HTML
3 13 (1.79%) .NET
3 13 (1.79%) CSS
4 12 (1.66%) Spring
5 11 (1.52%) RESTful
5 11 (1.52%) Spring Boot
6 9 (1.24%) Vue
7 8 (1.10%) Node.js
8 7 (0.97%) Hibernate
8 7 (0.97%) Laravel
9 6 (0.83%) Django
9 6 (0.83%) EDI
9 6 (0.83%) FastAPI
10 5 (0.69%) Celery
10 5 (0.69%) Flask
10 5 (0.69%) OAuth
10 5 (0.69%) REST
11 4 (0.55%) AngularJS
11 4 (0.55%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 199 (27.45%) Driving Licence
2 51 (7.03%) Onboarding
3 28 (3.86%) Self-Motivation
4 24 (3.31%) EPoS
5 22 (3.03%) Analytical Mindset
6 19 (2.62%) Enterprise Software
7 16 (2.21%) Data Centre
8 14 (1.93%) CCTV
9 13 (1.79%) Cloud Native
10 12 (1.66%) Distributed Systems
10 12 (1.66%) Product Ownership
11 8 (1.10%) Legacy Systems
12 7 (0.97%) IoT
12 7 (0.97%) Management Information System
12 7 (0.97%) Renewable Energy
12 7 (0.97%) Social Media
12 7 (0.97%) Video Conferencing
12 7 (0.97%) Virtual Team
13 6 (0.83%) Home Automation
13 6 (0.83%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 111 (15.31%) Windows
2 43 (5.93%) Windows Server
3 26 (3.59%) Windows 10
4 22 (3.03%) Linux
5 14 (1.93%) Android
6 13 (1.79%) Apple iOS
7 10 (1.38%) Windows 7
7 10 (1.38%) Windows 8
8 8 (1.10%) Mac OS
9 5 (0.69%) Windows Server 2016
10 4 (0.55%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 2 (0.28%) Unix
12 1 (0.14%) CentOS
12 1 (0.14%) CoreOS
12 1 (0.14%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 103 (14.21%) Customer Service
2 99 (13.66%) Continuous Improvement
3 90 (12.41%) Decision-Making
4 89 (12.28%) Agile
5 84 (11.59%) Mentoring
6 68 (9.38%) Stakeholder Management
7 67 (9.24%) AI
8 62 (8.55%) Project Management
9 56 (7.72%) Cybersecurity
10 52 (7.17%) Coaching
11 45 (6.21%) ITIL
12 44 (6.07%) Analytics
13 42 (5.79%) CI/CD
14 39 (5.38%) Business Intelligence
14 39 (5.38%) DevOps
14 39 (5.38%) Service Delivery
15 38 (5.24%) Change Management
15 38 (5.24%) Process Improvement
15 38 (5.24%) Visualisation
16 36 (4.97%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 65 (8.97%) SQL
2 46 (6.34%) Python
3 22 (3.03%) Java
4 20 (2.76%) JavaScript
5 13 (1.79%) C#
6 10 (1.38%) PHP
6 10 (1.38%) PowerShell
6 10 (1.38%) TypeScript
7 7 (0.97%) Kotlin
8 4 (0.55%) Bash
8 4 (0.55%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 4 (0.55%) MATLAB
9 3 (0.41%) Go
9 3 (0.41%) Ladder Logic
10 2 (0.28%) Bicep
10 2 (0.28%) C
10 2 (0.28%) R
10 2 (0.28%) Scala
10 2 (0.28%) Shell Script
11 1 (0.14%) C++
Qualifications
1 125 (17.24%) Degree
2 32 (4.41%) DBS Check
3 22 (3.03%) BPSS Clearance
4 16 (2.21%) Master's Degree
5 15 (2.07%) Security Cleared
6 10 (1.38%) Computer Science Degree
6 10 (1.38%) SC Cleared
7 9 (1.24%) Azure Certification
7 9 (1.24%) HNC
8 8 (1.10%) Network+ Certification
9 7 (0.97%) NVQ Level 4
10 6 (0.83%) A+ Certification
10 6 (0.83%) CompTIA Security+
10 6 (0.83%) Microsoft Certification
11 5 (0.69%) HND
12 4 (0.55%) ACCA
12 4 (0.55%) CIMA
12 4 (0.55%) ITIL Certification
13 3 (0.41%) CCNA
13 3 (0.41%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (3.45%) QA
2 19 (2.62%) GDPR
3 16 (2.21%) Data Quality
3 16 (2.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 13 (1.79%) Cyber Essentials
5 11 (1.52%) SLA
6 8 (1.10%) Accessibility
6 8 (1.10%) ISO 9001
7 5 (0.69%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 4 (0.55%) California Consumer Privacy Act
8 4 (0.55%) GLBA
9 2 (0.28%) Actionable Recommendations
9 2 (0.28%) Disclosure Scotland
9 2 (0.28%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.14%) NIST
10 1 (0.14%) PMO
System Software
1 80 (11.03%) Active Directory
2 25 (3.45%) Docker
3 22 (3.03%) Hyper-V
4 11 (1.52%) VMware Infrastructure
5 9 (1.24%) VMware Workstation
6 3 (0.41%) Firmware
6 3 (0.41%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.28%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (0.28%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 42 (5.79%) BMC PATROL
2 40 (5.52%) Microsoft Intune
3 27 (3.72%) Terraform
4 23 (3.17%) Kubernetes
5 19 (2.62%) SCCM
6 14 (1.93%) Cisco CUCM
7 10 (1.38%) Ansible
7 10 (1.38%) Autotask
7 10 (1.38%) Single Sign-On
8 3 (0.41%) cPanel
8 3 (0.41%) Grafana
8 3 (0.41%) Plesk
8 3 (0.41%) Prometheus
8 3 (0.41%) Rancher
9 2 (0.28%) AssetCenter
9 2 (0.28%) Jamf Pro
10 1 (0.14%) Argo
10 1 (0.14%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.14%) Podman
10 1 (0.14%) SCVMM
Vendors
1 151 (20.83%) Microsoft
2 23 (3.17%) Oracle
3 19 (2.62%) Cisco
4 18 (2.48%) SAP
5 17 (2.34%) Google
6 16 (2.21%) VMware
7 15 (2.07%) Workday
8 10 (1.38%) ESET
8 10 (1.38%) HubSpot
8 10 (1.38%) ServiceNow
8 10 (1.38%) Siemens
9 8 (1.10%) New Relic
9 8 (1.10%) Splunk
10 7 (0.97%) Adobe
10 7 (0.97%) Apple
10 7 (0.97%) Qualtrics
11 6 (0.83%) BiZZdesign
11 6 (0.83%) iManage
12 5 (0.69%) Epicor
12 5 (0.69%) Facebook