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

6 months to
21 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 22 7 8
Rank change year-on-year -15 +1 +15
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 668 727 1,211
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 6.70% 17.86% 13.31%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 9.03% 18.82% 16.13%
Number of salaries quoted 501 551 884
10th Percentile £27,250 £27,500 £26,250
25th Percentile £30,000 £35,750 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £47,683 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -10.87% +5.96% -5.26%
75th Percentile £57,500 £65,000 £61,250
90th Percentile £70,000 £78,750 £77,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £53,300 £50,000
% change year-on-year -10.88% +6.60% -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 7,394 3,863 7,506
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 74.20% 94.89% 82.47%
Number of salaries quoted 4,339 2,156 5,990
10th Percentile £29,342 £31,250 £27,500
25th Percentile £39,938 £40,000 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £54,793 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.18% +9.59% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £71,250 £66,000
90th Percentile £86,253 £83,750 £80,000
England median annual salary £57,500 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -4.17% +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 21 April 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 April 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 -23 312 £50,000 - 184
Merseyside -1 115 £35,000 +7.69% 36
Cheshire -18 106 £42,500 +13.33% 58
Lancashire -1 78 £36,500 -25.51% 78
Cumbria +5 54 £45,000 +14.65% 11
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 (7.19%) SharePoint
2 39 (5.84%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (1.35%) Confluence
4 4 (0.60%) Moodle
4 4 (0.60%) Totara
4 4 (0.60%) WordPress
5 2 (0.30%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.30%) ArcGIS
5 2 (0.30%) CMS
6 1 (0.15%) Umbraco
Applications
1 42 (6.29%) Microsoft Excel
2 28 (4.19%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (0.75%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.45%) Simulink
4 3 (0.45%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.15%) AutoCAD
5 1 (0.15%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.15%) Revit
5 1 (0.15%) Trello
Business Applications
1 20 (2.99%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (1.50%) SAP ERP
3 7 (1.05%) Magento
4 6 (0.90%) Workday HCM
5 4 (0.60%) Shopify
6 3 (0.45%) Dynamics CRM
6 3 (0.45%) SAP PP
7 2 (0.30%) Dynamics AX
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle Assets
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle General Ledger
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle Payables
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle Receivables
7 2 (0.30%) SAP Business One
8 1 (0.15%) Dynamics NAV
8 1 (0.15%) NetSuite
8 1 (0.15%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 153 (22.90%) Azure
2 127 (19.01%) Microsoft 365
3 67 (10.03%) Power Platform
4 65 (9.73%) AWS
5 43 (6.44%) Entra ID
6 34 (5.09%) GCP
7 27 (4.04%) SaaS
8 23 (3.44%) GitHub
9 22 (3.29%) Dynamics 365
10 18 (2.69%) Azure DevOps
10 18 (2.69%) Power Automate
11 16 (2.40%) Microsoft Purview
11 16 (2.40%) PowerApps
12 15 (2.25%) Serverless
13 11 (1.65%) Azure Monitor
14 10 (1.50%) Boomi
14 10 (1.50%) OneDrive
15 9 (1.35%) Google Workspace
16 8 (1.20%) Azure Sentinel
16 8 (1.20%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 60 (8.98%) Firewall
2 39 (5.84%) DNS
3 37 (5.54%) DHCP
4 30 (4.49%) VLAN
5 29 (4.34%) VPN
6 26 (3.89%) Wi-Fi
7 22 (3.29%) TCP/IP
7 22 (3.29%) Wireless
8 21 (3.14%) WAN
9 20 (2.99%) VoIP
10 14 (2.10%) LAN
10 14 (2.10%) Structured Cabling
10 14 (2.10%) Unified Communications
11 11 (1.65%) SD-WAN
12 10 (1.50%) Broadband
12 10 (1.50%) Telepresence
12 10 (1.50%) WebEx
13 8 (1.20%) Network Security
14 6 (0.90%) IP Telephony
15 5 (0.75%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 51 (7.63%) Power BI
2 25 (3.74%) SQL Server Reporting Services
3 16 (2.40%) SQL Server
4 13 (1.95%) NoSQL
5 11 (1.65%) PostgreSQL
6 10 (1.50%) MongoDB
7 7 (1.05%) Azure SQL Database
7 7 (1.05%) MySQL
8 4 (0.60%) DynamoDB
8 4 (0.60%) Looker
8 4 (0.60%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 3 (0.45%) Elasticsearch
9 3 (0.45%) Relational Database
10 2 (0.30%) Big Data
10 2 (0.30%) Crystal Reports
10 2 (0.30%) Hadoop
10 2 (0.30%) Power Query
10 2 (0.30%) SAP HANA
10 2 (0.30%) Tableau
11 1 (0.15%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 29 (4.34%) Git
2 25 (3.74%) JIRA
3 7 (1.05%) GitLab
4 6 (0.90%) Bitbucket
5 3 (0.45%) Jenkins
6 1 (0.15%) gulp
6 1 (0.15%) LabVIEW
6 1 (0.15%) Rational DOORS
6 1 (0.15%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 1 (0.15%) TeamCity
6 1 (0.15%) webpack
General
1 315 (47.16%) Social Skills
2 177 (26.50%) Analytical Skills
3 125 (18.71%) Finance
4 60 (8.98%) Organisational Skills
5 47 (7.04%) Manufacturing
6 34 (5.09%) Retail
7 33 (4.94%) Public Sector
8 27 (4.04%) Marketing
9 26 (3.89%) Automotive
10 25 (3.74%) Legal
11 23 (3.44%) Law
12 19 (2.84%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 19 (2.84%) Telecoms
13 15 (2.25%) Presentation Skills
14 14 (2.10%) Advertising
15 13 (1.95%) Banking
16 11 (1.65%) Documentation Skills
16 11 (1.65%) Electronics
17 10 (1.50%) French Language
18 9 (1.35%) Games
Job Titles
1 86 (12.87%) Support Engineer
2 84 (12.57%) Analyst
3 81 (12.13%) IT Support
4 79 (11.83%) Senior
5 53 (7.93%) Developer
6 46 (6.89%) IT Engineer
7 44 (6.59%) IT Support Engineer
8 35 (5.24%) Lead
8 35 (5.24%) Support Technician
9 32 (4.79%) Business Analyst
10 30 (4.49%) Consultant
11 23 (3.44%) Architect
11 23 (3.44%) Senior Developer
12 21 (3.14%) Technical Engineer
12 21 (3.14%) Technical Support
12 21 (3.14%) Technical Support Engineer
13 20 (2.99%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 20 (2.99%) Solutions Architect
14 19 (2.84%) 2nd Line Support
14 19 (2.84%) IT Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (4.04%) React
2 24 (3.59%) .NET
2 24 (3.59%) HTML
3 19 (2.84%) Spring
3 19 (2.84%) Spring Boot
4 18 (2.69%) EDI
4 18 (2.69%) REST
5 16 (2.40%) CSS
6 14 (2.10%) XML
7 12 (1.80%) JSON
7 12 (1.80%) RESTful
7 12 (1.80%) Vue
8 11 (1.65%) AngularJS
9 10 (1.50%) Middleware
9 10 (1.50%) SOAP
10 9 (1.35%) SAP Fiori
11 8 (1.20%) Node.js
12 7 (1.05%) OAuth
12 7 (1.05%) OAuth2
13 6 (0.90%) ARM Templates
Miscellaneous
1 90 (13.47%) Driving Licence
2 50 (7.49%) Onboarding
3 26 (3.89%) Self-Motivation
4 21 (3.14%) Analytical Mindset
5 18 (2.69%) Distributed Systems
6 17 (2.54%) CCTV
7 15 (2.25%) Data Centre
8 14 (2.10%) EPoS
9 13 (1.95%) Enterprise Software
9 13 (1.95%) Product Ownership
10 12 (1.80%) Cloud Native
10 12 (1.80%) Management Information System
11 11 (1.65%) Social Media
12 9 (1.35%) CMDB
13 8 (1.20%) Renewable Energy
14 7 (1.05%) Enterprise Cloud
14 7 (1.05%) FMCG
14 7 (1.05%) Security Posture
14 7 (1.05%) Virtual Team
15 6 (0.90%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 122 (18.26%) Windows
2 55 (8.23%) Windows Server
3 32 (4.79%) Windows 10
4 22 (3.29%) Apple iOS
5 20 (2.99%) Linux
6 13 (1.95%) Android
7 9 (1.35%) Windows 7
7 9 (1.35%) Windows 8
8 8 (1.20%) Windows Server 2016
9 7 (1.05%) Mac OS
10 5 (0.75%) Windows Server 2019
11 4 (0.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 4 (0.60%) Unix
12 3 (0.45%) Solaris
13 1 (0.15%) CentOS
13 1 (0.15%) CoreOS
13 1 (0.15%) Ubuntu
13 1 (0.15%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 137 (20.51%) Customer Service
2 115 (17.22%) Continuous Improvement
3 92 (13.77%) Mentoring
4 90 (13.47%) Decision-Making
5 81 (12.13%) Stakeholder Management
6 73 (10.93%) Agile
7 67 (10.03%) AI
8 56 (8.38%) Project Management
9 54 (8.08%) CI/CD
10 53 (7.93%) DevOps
11 50 (7.49%) Collaborative Working
12 48 (7.19%) Cybersecurity
13 47 (7.04%) Coaching
14 46 (6.89%) Business Intelligence
14 46 (6.89%) Roadmaps
15 44 (6.59%) CRM
15 44 (6.59%) ERP
16 43 (6.44%) Analytics
17 42 (6.29%) ITIL
17 42 (6.29%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 83 (12.43%) SQL
2 49 (7.34%) Python
3 31 (4.64%) JavaScript
4 27 (4.04%) C#
4 27 (4.04%) Java
5 14 (2.10%) PowerShell
6 10 (1.50%) TypeScript
7 9 (1.35%) Kotlin
8 7 (1.05%) Bash
8 7 (1.05%) PHP
9 5 (0.75%) Bicep
9 5 (0.75%) C++
10 4 (0.60%) C
10 4 (0.60%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 3 (0.45%) Go
11 3 (0.45%) Ladder Logic
11 3 (0.45%) MATLAB
11 3 (0.45%) Swift
11 3 (0.45%) T-SQL
12 2 (0.30%) VBA
Qualifications
1 92 (13.77%) Degree
2 27 (4.04%) DBS Check
3 22 (3.29%) BPSS Clearance
4 14 (2.10%) Security Cleared
5 12 (1.80%) Microsoft Certification
6 11 (1.65%) Computer Science Degree
7 8 (1.20%) Cisco Certification
7 8 (1.20%) HNC
7 8 (1.20%) Network+ Certification
8 7 (1.05%) Azure Certification
8 7 (1.05%) Master's Degree
9 6 (0.90%) CCNA
9 6 (0.90%) CompTIA Security+
9 6 (0.90%) SC Cleared
10 4 (0.60%) HND
10 4 (0.60%) ITIL Certification
10 4 (0.60%) MCSA
11 3 (0.45%) CCNP
11 3 (0.45%) PMI Certification
11 3 (0.45%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (4.94%) QA
2 25 (3.74%) SLA
3 23 (3.44%) Data Quality
4 20 (2.99%) GDPR
5 12 (1.80%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 10 (1.50%) TickIT
7 9 (1.35%) Cyber Essentials
8 8 (1.20%) ISO 9001
9 5 (0.75%) Accessibility
10 2 (0.30%) Actionable Recommendations
10 2 (0.30%) PCI DSS
11 1 (0.15%) DICOM
11 1 (0.15%) GMP
11 1 (0.15%) NEBOSH
11 1 (0.15%) PMO
System Software
1 90 (13.47%) Active Directory
2 25 (3.74%) Docker
2 25 (3.74%) Hyper-V
3 21 (3.14%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (1.35%) VMware Workstation
5 4 (0.60%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.30%) Firmware
6 2 (0.30%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.15%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 33 (4.94%) Microsoft Intune
2 31 (4.64%) Terraform
3 24 (3.59%) Kubernetes
4 21 (3.14%) SCCM
5 20 (2.99%) BMC PATROL
6 12 (1.80%) Ansible
7 10 (1.50%) Autotask
7 10 (1.50%) Cisco CUCM
7 10 (1.50%) Single Sign-On
8 5 (0.75%) FortiGate
9 4 (0.60%) Grafana
9 4 (0.60%) Jamf Pro
9 4 (0.60%) Prometheus
10 3 (0.45%) cPanel
10 3 (0.45%) Plesk
10 3 (0.45%) Podman
10 3 (0.45%) Rancher
11 1 (0.15%) McAfee ePO
11 1 (0.15%) Nagios
11 1 (0.15%) SCVMM
Vendors
1 208 (31.14%) Microsoft
2 25 (3.74%) SAP
3 23 (3.44%) VMware
4 19 (2.84%) Oracle
5 18 (2.69%) Google
6 16 (2.40%) Cisco
7 12 (1.80%) Workday
8 11 (1.65%) Apple
8 11 (1.65%) ServiceNow
9 9 (1.35%) ESET
10 8 (1.20%) New Relic
10 8 (1.20%) Splunk
11 7 (1.05%) Aruba
11 7 (1.05%) iManage
11 7 (1.05%) Meraki
11 7 (1.05%) Siemens
12 6 (0.90%) Adobe
13 5 (0.75%) BiZZdesign
14 4 (0.60%) Arista
14 4 (0.60%) HubSpot