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

6 months to
2 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 19 4 8
Rank change year-on-year -15 +4 +17
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 718 785 965
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 9.31% 18.46% 13.41%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.08% 19.68% 15.65%
Number of salaries quoted 552 459 713
10th Percentile £27,250 £30,700 £26,250
25th Percentile £30,773 £36,875 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £50,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +5.26% -
75th Percentile £53,000 £65,000 £61,250
90th Percentile £64,947 £78,750 £72,750
England median annual salary £45,497 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -17.28% +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 5,943 3,988 6,166
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 77.08% 93.77% 85.67%
Number of salaries quoted 3,188 2,047 4,998
10th Percentile £28,250 £31,250 £28,000
25th Percentile £36,000 £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 £66,750
90th Percentile £85,000 £82,500 £81,250
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 2 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 2 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 -18 296 £45,000 -13.46% 199
Merseyside +2 133 £40,500 +24.62% 37
Cheshire -12 131 £48,720 +21.80% 74
Lancashire -10 111 £40,000 -23.81% 58
Cumbria +5 46 £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 47 (6.55%) SharePoint
2 23 (3.20%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (1.25%) Confluence
4 6 (0.84%) WordPress
5 4 (0.56%) Moodle
5 4 (0.56%) Totara
6 2 (0.28%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.14%) Anypoint
7 1 (0.14%) Apache Solr
7 1 (0.14%) CMS
7 1 (0.14%) nginx
Applications
1 40 (5.57%) Microsoft Excel
2 25 (3.48%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (0.42%) 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 S/4HANA
2 6 (0.84%) SAP Business One
2 6 (0.84%) Workday HCM
3 5 (0.70%) Shopify
4 3 (0.42%) SAP ERP
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%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 136 (18.94%) Azure
2 112 (15.60%) Microsoft 365
3 66 (9.19%) AWS
4 53 (7.38%) Entra ID
5 49 (6.82%) Power Platform
6 34 (4.74%) GCP
7 32 (4.46%) SaaS
8 14 (1.95%) OneDrive
9 13 (1.81%) Serverless
10 12 (1.67%) Power Automate
11 11 (1.53%) Microsoft Purview
12 10 (1.39%) Azure Monitor
12 10 (1.39%) Google Workspace
13 9 (1.25%) Azure Sentinel
14 8 (1.11%) PaaS
15 7 (0.97%) Adobe Analytics
15 7 (0.97%) Cloud Computing
15 7 (0.97%) Figma
15 7 (0.97%) IaaS
15 7 (0.97%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 48 (6.69%) Firewall
2 33 (4.60%) DNS
3 31 (4.32%) DHCP
4 22 (3.06%) VLAN
4 22 (3.06%) VPN
5 21 (2.92%) Wi-Fi
6 17 (2.37%) TCP/IP
6 17 (2.37%) VoIP
7 16 (2.23%) Unified Communications
7 16 (2.23%) WAN
8 14 (1.95%) Telepresence
8 14 (1.95%) WebEx
9 13 (1.81%) Wireless
10 11 (1.53%) Structured Cabling
11 10 (1.39%) SD-WAN
12 9 (1.25%) Broadband
13 7 (0.97%) LAN
14 5 (0.70%) Ethernet
15 4 (0.56%) Internet
15 4 (0.56%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 36 (5.01%) Power BI
2 18 (2.51%) SQL Server
3 14 (1.95%) NoSQL
4 11 (1.53%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 11 (1.53%) Tableau
5 10 (1.39%) MongoDB
5 10 (1.39%) PostgreSQL
6 7 (0.97%) MySQL
7 6 (0.84%) Crystal Reports
8 5 (0.70%) Amazon Redshift
8 5 (0.70%) Azure SQL Database
8 5 (0.70%) Elasticsearch
8 5 (0.70%) Relational Database
9 4 (0.56%) DynamoDB
10 3 (0.42%) BigQuery
10 3 (0.42%) Data Warehouse
10 3 (0.42%) Looker
11 2 (0.28%) Apache Iceberg
11 2 (0.28%) Data Mart
11 2 (0.28%) Hadoop
Development Applications
1 23 (3.20%) Git
2 11 (1.53%) JIRA
3 7 (0.97%) GitLab
4 3 (0.42%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.14%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.14%) Rational DOORS
5 1 (0.14%) TeamCity
General
1 306 (42.62%) Social Skills
2 172 (23.96%) Analytical Skills
3 145 (20.19%) Finance
4 56 (7.80%) Organisational Skills
5 45 (6.27%) Automotive
6 29 (4.04%) Legal
7 28 (3.90%) Public Sector
8 26 (3.62%) Manufacturing
9 24 (3.34%) Retail
9 24 (3.34%) Telecoms
10 22 (3.06%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 22 (3.06%) Presentation Skills
11 16 (2.23%) Banking
11 16 (2.23%) Electronics
12 15 (2.09%) Law
13 14 (1.95%) Marketing
14 11 (1.53%) Advertising
14 11 (1.53%) Documentation Skills
14 11 (1.53%) Influencing Skills
15 9 (1.25%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 93 (12.95%) Analyst
2 90 (12.53%) IT Support
3 88 (12.26%) Support Engineer
4 70 (9.75%) Senior
5 46 (6.41%) IT Engineer
5 46 (6.41%) IT Support Engineer
6 36 (5.01%) Lead
7 34 (4.74%) Business Analyst
8 30 (4.18%) Developer
9 26 (3.62%) Support Technician
9 26 (3.62%) Trainee
10 24 (3.34%) Consultant
10 24 (3.34%) Trainee Analyst
10 24 (3.34%) Trainee Business Analyst
11 23 (3.20%) Architect
12 20 (2.79%) Solutions Architect
13 19 (2.65%) 1st Line Support
13 19 (2.65%) Technical Engineer
13 19 (2.65%) Technical Support
13 19 (2.65%) Technical Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (2.79%) React
2 15 (2.09%) HTML
3 13 (1.81%) .NET
4 12 (1.67%) CSS
5 11 (1.53%) RESTful
5 11 (1.53%) Spring
5 11 (1.53%) Spring Boot
6 9 (1.25%) Vue
7 8 (1.11%) Node.js
8 7 (0.97%) Hibernate
9 6 (0.84%) Django
9 6 (0.84%) EDI
9 6 (0.84%) FastAPI
9 6 (0.84%) Laravel
10 5 (0.70%) Celery
10 5 (0.70%) Flask
11 4 (0.56%) AngularJS
11 4 (0.56%) OAuth2
11 4 (0.56%) REST
11 4 (0.56%) SAP Fiori
Miscellaneous
1 190 (26.46%) Driving Licence
2 52 (7.24%) Onboarding
3 28 (3.90%) Self-Motivation
4 23 (3.20%) EPoS
5 22 (3.06%) Analytical Mindset
6 19 (2.65%) Enterprise Software
7 16 (2.23%) Data Centre
8 15 (2.09%) CCTV
9 13 (1.81%) Distributed Systems
10 12 (1.67%) Cloud Native
11 11 (1.53%) Product Ownership
12 9 (1.25%) Social Media
13 8 (1.11%) Legacy Systems
14 7 (0.97%) CMDB
14 7 (0.97%) Management Information System
14 7 (0.97%) Renewable Energy
14 7 (0.97%) Virtual Team
15 6 (0.84%) Home Automation
15 6 (0.84%) IoT
15 6 (0.84%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 114 (15.88%) Windows
2 44 (6.13%) Windows Server
3 28 (3.90%) Windows 10
4 21 (2.92%) Linux
5 16 (2.23%) Android
6 15 (2.09%) Apple iOS
7 10 (1.39%) Windows 7
7 10 (1.39%) Windows 8
8 9 (1.25%) Mac OS
9 5 (0.70%) Windows Server 2016
10 4 (0.56%) 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
1 107 (14.90%) Customer Service
2 99 (13.79%) Continuous Improvement
3 92 (12.81%) Decision-Making
4 85 (11.84%) Agile
5 84 (11.70%) Mentoring
6 72 (10.03%) Stakeholder Management
7 66 (9.19%) AI
8 60 (8.36%) Project Management
9 56 (7.80%) Cybersecurity
10 51 (7.10%) Coaching
11 44 (6.13%) CI/CD
12 43 (5.99%) Analytics
13 42 (5.85%) ITIL
14 40 (5.57%) Business Intelligence
14 40 (5.57%) Service Delivery
15 39 (5.43%) DevOps
15 39 (5.43%) Visualisation
16 38 (5.29%) Process Improvement
17 36 (5.01%) Change Management
17 36 (5.01%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 60 (8.36%) SQL
2 45 (6.27%) Python
3 21 (2.92%) Java
4 19 (2.65%) JavaScript
5 13 (1.81%) C#
6 10 (1.39%) PowerShell
6 10 (1.39%) TypeScript
7 9 (1.25%) PHP
8 8 (1.11%) Kotlin
9 4 (0.56%) Bash
9 4 (0.56%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 4 (0.56%) MATLAB
10 3 (0.42%) Go
10 3 (0.42%) Ladder Logic
11 2 (0.28%) Bicep
11 2 (0.28%) C
11 2 (0.28%) R
11 2 (0.28%) Scala
11 2 (0.28%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.28%) Swift
Qualifications
1 123 (17.13%) Degree
2 32 (4.46%) DBS Check
3 22 (3.06%) BPSS Clearance
4 15 (2.09%) Master's Degree
4 15 (2.09%) Security Cleared
5 11 (1.53%) HNC
6 10 (1.39%) Computer Science Degree
7 9 (1.25%) Azure Certification
7 9 (1.25%) SC Cleared
8 8 (1.11%) Microsoft Certification
8 8 (1.11%) Network+ Certification
9 7 (0.97%) NVQ Level 4
10 6 (0.84%) CompTIA Security+
11 5 (0.70%) HND
12 4 (0.56%) A+ Certification
12 4 (0.56%) ACCA
12 4 (0.56%) CIMA
12 4 (0.56%) ITIL Certification
13 3 (0.42%) CCNA
13 3 (0.42%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (3.48%) QA
2 19 (2.65%) GDPR
3 16 (2.23%) Data Quality
4 15 (2.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 14 (1.95%) SLA
6 13 (1.81%) Cyber Essentials
7 8 (1.11%) Accessibility
7 8 (1.11%) ISO 9001
8 4 (0.56%) California Consumer Privacy Act
8 4 (0.56%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 4 (0.56%) 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 (11.14%) Active Directory
2 23 (3.20%) Docker
3 21 (2.92%) Hyper-V
4 12 (1.67%) VMware Infrastructure
5 9 (1.25%) VMware Workstation
6 3 (0.42%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.28%) Firmware
8 1 (0.14%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 42 (5.85%) BMC PATROL
2 40 (5.57%) Microsoft Intune
3 26 (3.62%) Terraform
4 22 (3.06%) Kubernetes
5 19 (2.65%) SCCM
6 14 (1.95%) Cisco CUCM
7 10 (1.39%) Ansible
7 10 (1.39%) Autotask
7 10 (1.39%) Single Sign-On
8 3 (0.42%) cPanel
8 3 (0.42%) Plesk
8 3 (0.42%) Rancher
9 2 (0.28%) FortiGate
9 2 (0.28%) Grafana
9 2 (0.28%) Jamf Pro
9 2 (0.28%) Prometheus
10 1 (0.14%) Argo
10 1 (0.14%) AWS Copilot
10 1 (0.14%) McAfee ePO
10 1 (0.14%) Podman
Vendors
1 156 (21.73%) Microsoft
2 23 (3.20%) Oracle
3 19 (2.65%) SAP
4 17 (2.37%) Cisco
5 15 (2.09%) Google
5 15 (2.09%) VMware
5 15 (2.09%) Workday
6 10 (1.39%) ESET
7 9 (1.25%) HubSpot
8 8 (1.11%) New Relic
8 8 (1.11%) ServiceNow
8 8 (1.11%) Siemens
8 8 (1.11%) Splunk
9 7 (0.97%) Adobe
9 7 (0.97%) Apple
9 7 (0.97%) Qualtrics
10 6 (0.84%) BiZZdesign
10 6 (0.84%) iManage
11 5 (0.70%) Epicor
11 5 (0.70%) Facebook