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

6 months to
18 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 7 5
Rank change year-on-year -5 -2 +7
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 986 1,005 1,079
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 7.75% 19.48% 13.87%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.66% 21.83% 17.76%
Number of salaries quoted 721 495 414
10th Percentile £26,561 £26,250 £26,825
25th Percentile £31,543 £32,625 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £48,720 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -7.64% +8.27% -5.26%
75th Percentile £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
90th Percentile £75,000 £67,500 £78,200
England median annual salary £47,000 £45,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +4.44% -14.29% -4.55%

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 9,249 4,603 6,076
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 72.74% 89.24% 78.11%
Number of salaries quoted 6,937 2,199 3,467
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,750 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £35,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £50,309
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -0.61% -8.53%
75th Percentile £75,000 £65,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £80,000 £78,750
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -8.00%

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 September 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 September 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 -7 553 £47,500 +6.74% 509
Merseyside -4 157 £42,500 -19.81% 79
Cheshire -10 151 £42,500 -19.05% 115
Lancashire +2 84 £42,500 -10.70% 100
Cumbria -3 31 £32,500 -9.35% 18
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 81 (8.22%) SharePoint
2 53 (5.38%) Microsoft Exchange
3 12 (1.22%) IIS
4 5 (0.51%) Apache Spark
5 3 (0.30%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (0.30%) Oracle Workflow
6 2 (0.20%) Apache
6 2 (0.20%) CMS
6 2 (0.20%) Exchange Server 2013
6 2 (0.20%) nginx
7 1 (0.10%) ArcGIS
7 1 (0.10%) Confluence
7 1 (0.10%) Jupyter
7 1 (0.10%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 1 (0.10%) SharePoint Server
7 1 (0.10%) Sitecore CMS
7 1 (0.10%) Umbraco
7 1 (0.10%) WebLogic
7 1 (0.10%) WebSphere
7 1 (0.10%) WordPress
Applications
1 56 (5.68%) Microsoft Office
2 54 (5.48%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (1.62%) MS Visio
4 6 (0.61%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (0.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.51%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.20%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.20%) Windchill
7 1 (0.10%) Acrobat
7 1 (0.10%) Revit
7 1 (0.10%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 17 (1.72%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (1.01%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (0.71%) SAP ERP
4 4 (0.41%) Magento
4 4 (0.41%) NEC Housing
4 4 (0.41%) NetSuite
4 4 (0.41%) Oracle EBS
4 4 (0.41%) SAP PP
5 3 (0.30%) Dynamics AX
5 3 (0.30%) Oracle Cash Management
5 3 (0.30%) Oracle Payables
5 3 (0.30%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 3 (0.30%) Payment Gateway
5 3 (0.30%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.20%) Oracle ERP
6 2 (0.20%) Remedy ITSM
7 1 (0.10%) Dynamics NAV
7 1 (0.10%) Odoo
7 1 (0.10%) Oracle Applications
7 1 (0.10%) SAP ECC
Cloud Services
1 195 (19.78%) Azure
2 159 (16.13%) Microsoft 365
3 112 (11.36%) AWS
4 109 (11.05%) Power Platform
5 48 (4.87%) PowerApps
6 40 (4.06%) Entra ID
6 40 (4.06%) SaaS
7 38 (3.85%) GCP
8 36 (3.65%) GitHub
9 34 (3.45%) Power Automate
10 32 (3.25%) Microsoft Copilot
11 31 (3.14%) Azure DevOps
11 31 (3.14%) OneDrive
12 26 (2.64%) Dynamics 365
13 20 (2.03%) Serverless
14 19 (1.93%) Microsoft Purview
15 12 (1.22%) Boomi
15 12 (1.22%) Copilot Studio
15 12 (1.22%) GitHub Actions
15 12 (1.22%) Google Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 64 (6.49%) DNS
2 56 (5.68%) DHCP
3 55 (5.58%) Firewall
4 42 (4.26%) VPN
5 39 (3.96%) TCP/IP
6 31 (3.14%) Wireless
7 26 (2.64%) VLAN
8 23 (2.33%) VoIP
9 22 (2.23%) Wi-Fi
10 21 (2.13%) Network Security
11 17 (1.72%) LAN
12 14 (1.42%) WAN
13 12 (1.22%) Broadband
14 11 (1.12%) Unified Communications
15 9 (0.91%) SD-WAN
16 8 (0.81%) BGP
17 7 (0.71%) OSPF
17 7 (0.71%) SNMP
18 6 (0.61%) SAN
18 6 (0.61%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 68 (6.90%) Power BI
2 54 (5.48%) SQL Server
3 26 (2.64%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 25 (2.54%) MySQL
5 21 (2.13%) Data Warehouse
6 12 (1.22%) BigQuery
7 11 (1.12%) NoSQL
8 10 (1.01%) Big Data
8 10 (1.01%) Looker
9 9 (0.91%) Power Query
10 8 (0.81%) Amazon Redshift
10 8 (0.81%) MongoDB
10 8 (0.81%) PostgreSQL
10 8 (0.81%) Redis
10 8 (0.81%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 7 (0.71%) Electronic Patient Records
11 7 (0.71%) Relational Database
12 6 (0.61%) MariaDB
13 5 (0.51%) Oracle BI Publisher
13 5 (0.51%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 40 (4.06%) Git
2 34 (3.45%) JIRA
3 13 (1.32%) Jenkins
4 9 (0.91%) GitLab
5 7 (0.71%) Bitbucket
6 6 (0.61%) Cypress.io
7 5 (0.51%) Cucumber
8 4 (0.41%) Claude Code
8 4 (0.41%) Robot Framework
9 3 (0.30%) Visual Studio Code
10 2 (0.20%) Selenium
10 2 (0.20%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
11 1 (0.10%) Artifactory
11 1 (0.10%) gulp
11 1 (0.10%) Maven
11 1 (0.10%) Oracle Forms
11 1 (0.10%) Rational DOORS
11 1 (0.10%) Rational Rhapsody
11 1 (0.10%) Vagrant
11 1 (0.10%) webpack
General
1 420 (42.60%) Social Skills
2 304 (30.83%) Analytical Skills
3 160 (16.23%) Finance
4 91 (9.23%) Law
5 75 (7.61%) Organisational Skills
6 74 (7.51%) Manufacturing
7 68 (6.90%) Legal
8 53 (5.38%) Telecoms
9 50 (5.07%) Retail
10 40 (4.06%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 38 (3.85%) Marketing
12 27 (2.74%) Public Sector
13 26 (2.64%) Military
14 18 (1.83%) Banking
15 17 (1.72%) Aerospace
16 13 (1.32%) Billing
17 12 (1.22%) Documentation Skills
17 12 (1.22%) Electronics
18 11 (1.12%) Automotive
19 10 (1.01%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 137 (13.89%) Analyst
2 134 (13.59%) Senior
3 122 (12.37%) Developer
4 64 (6.49%) IT Support
5 54 (5.48%) Support Engineer
6 48 (4.87%) Lead
7 46 (4.67%) Senior Developer
8 45 (4.56%) Support Analyst
9 44 (4.46%) Consultant
10 43 (4.36%) Software Engineer
11 35 (3.55%) Administrator
12 34 (3.45%) Support Technician
13 28 (2.84%) IT Engineer
14 27 (2.74%) Junior
15 26 (2.64%) Applications Support
15 26 (2.64%) IT Technician
16 24 (2.43%) IT Support Engineer
17 22 (2.23%) Architect
17 22 (2.23%) Data Engineer
17 22 (2.23%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 52 (5.27%) .NET
2 48 (4.87%) React
3 46 (4.67%) HTML
4 43 (4.36%) REST
5 28 (2.84%) Terraform
6 25 (2.54%) Middleware
7 23 (2.33%) AngularJS
7 23 (2.33%) CSS
8 21 (2.13%) Spring
8 21 (2.13%) Vue
9 20 (2.03%) XML
10 19 (1.93%) Spring Boot
11 17 (1.72%) SOAP
12 16 (1.62%) EDI
13 15 (1.52%) JSON
14 14 (1.42%) Node.js
15 12 (1.22%) Web Services
16 11 (1.12%) Kafka
16 11 (1.12%) Next.js
17 10 (1.01%) Microsoft Graph
Miscellaneous
1 66 (6.69%) Driving Licence
2 62 (6.29%) Onboarding
3 43 (4.36%) Self-Motivation
4 37 (3.75%) Cloud Native
5 36 (3.65%) Product Ownership
6 34 (3.45%) Management Information System
7 21 (2.13%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
8 20 (2.03%) Distributed Systems
9 18 (1.83%) IoT
10 17 (1.72%) NHS
11 16 (1.62%) Security Posture
12 15 (1.52%) Enterprise Software
13 14 (1.42%) Replication
14 12 (1.22%) Mobile App
15 11 (1.12%) FMCG
15 11 (1.12%) Low-Code
16 10 (1.01%) Data Centre
17 9 (0.91%) AI Agents
17 9 (0.91%) Enterprise Cloud
18 8 (0.81%) Fibre Optics
Operating Systems
1 135 (13.69%) Windows
2 61 (6.19%) Windows Server
3 40 (4.06%) Linux
4 22 (2.23%) Windows 10
5 19 (1.93%) Apple iOS
6 9 (0.91%) Android
6 9 (0.91%) Mac OS
7 7 (0.71%) Windows Server 2016
8 6 (0.61%) Unix
8 6 (0.61%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (0.30%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (0.20%) Solaris
10 2 (0.20%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.10%) Embedded Linux
11 1 (0.10%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 274 (27.79%) Continuous Improvement
2 201 (20.39%) Customer Service
3 141 (14.30%) AI
3 141 (14.30%) Mentoring
4 137 (13.89%) Agile
5 130 (13.18%) Stakeholder Management
6 113 (11.46%) Decision-Making
7 107 (10.85%) CI/CD
8 98 (9.94%) CRM
9 93 (9.43%) Software Engineering
10 92 (9.33%) ERP
11 91 (9.23%) DevOps
12 88 (8.92%) Analytics
13 86 (8.72%) Collaborative Working
13 86 (8.72%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 83 (8.42%) Project Delivery
14 83 (8.42%) Roadmaps
15 65 (6.59%) User Acceptance Testing
16 63 (6.39%) User Experience
17 61 (6.19%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 180 (18.26%) SQL
2 125 (12.68%) Python
3 72 (7.30%) JavaScript
4 66 (6.69%) C#
5 52 (5.27%) Java
6 45 (4.56%) PowerShell
7 28 (2.84%) TypeScript
8 22 (2.23%) Bash
9 20 (2.03%) PHP
10 17 (1.72%) C++
11 13 (1.32%) Shell Script
12 11 (1.12%) T-SQL
13 9 (0.91%) C
14 8 (0.81%) Ruby
15 7 (0.71%) Go
16 6 (0.61%) Bicep
16 6 (0.61%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 6 (0.61%) R
17 5 (0.51%) Apex Code
17 5 (0.51%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 132 (13.39%) Degree
2 59 (5.98%) Security Cleared
3 36 (3.65%) SC Cleared
4 32 (3.25%) HNC
5 29 (2.94%) DBS Check
6 23 (2.33%) DV Cleared
7 22 (2.23%) Microsoft Certification
8 18 (1.83%) Computer Science Degree
9 14 (1.42%) CCNP
9 14 (1.42%) Cisco Certification
10 13 (1.32%) Azure Certification
11 12 (1.22%) BPSS Clearance
12 10 (1.01%) HND
12 10 (1.01%) Master's Degree
13 8 (0.81%) ACCA
13 8 (0.81%) ITIL Certification
13 8 (0.81%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 7 (0.71%) CIMA
14 7 (0.71%) Postgraduate
15 6 (0.61%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 53 (5.38%) Data Quality
2 43 (4.36%) Accessibility
3 40 (4.06%) QA
4 35 (3.55%) GDPR
5 14 (1.42%) SLA
6 13 (1.32%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 12 (1.22%) TickIT
8 9 (0.91%) NIST
9 4 (0.41%) ISO/IEC 14443
9 4 (0.41%) ISO/IEC 7816
9 4 (0.41%) PMO
10 3 (0.30%) Cyber Essentials
10 3 (0.30%) NEBOSH
11 2 (0.20%) Actionable Recommendations
11 2 (0.20%) WCAG
12 1 (0.10%) DICOM
12 1 (0.10%) GMP
12 1 (0.10%) Good Clinical Practice
12 1 (0.10%) GxP
12 1 (0.10%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 103 (10.45%) Active Directory
2 49 (4.97%) Docker
3 31 (3.14%) VMware Infrastructure
4 19 (1.93%) Hyper-V
5 8 (0.81%) Virtual Machines
6 4 (0.41%) Virtual Desktop
6 4 (0.41%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.30%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 38 (3.85%) Kubernetes
2 30 (3.04%) Microsoft Intune
3 14 (1.42%) Grafana
4 11 (1.12%) FortiGate
4 11 (1.12%) Prometheus
4 11 (1.12%) Single Sign-On
5 10 (1.01%) Ansible
6 5 (0.51%) Argo
7 4 (0.41%) Microsoft Clustering
8 2 (0.20%) Nagios
8 2 (0.20%) Nessus
8 2 (0.20%) Podman
9 1 (0.10%) Functional Safety
9 1 (0.10%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
9 1 (0.10%) Packer
9 1 (0.10%) Progress Chef
9 1 (0.10%) SCCM
9 1 (0.10%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
9 1 (0.10%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.10%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 325 (32.96%) Microsoft
2 43 (4.36%) VMware
3 36 (3.65%) SAP
4 30 (3.04%) Google
5 23 (2.33%) Sage
6 19 (1.93%) Cisco
7 18 (1.83%) YouTube
8 17 (1.72%) ServiceNow
9 16 (1.62%) Salesforce
10 15 (1.52%) Civica
11 14 (1.42%) iManage
11 14 (1.42%) Oracle
12 13 (1.32%) Aruba
13 9 (0.91%) Adobe
13 9 (0.91%) HubSpot
13 9 (0.91%) Juniper
13 9 (0.91%) OpenAI
14 8 (0.81%) Aderant
14 8 (0.81%) Tanium
15 6 (0.61%) Databricks