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

6 months to
28 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 8 8
Rank change year-on-year -15 0 +13
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 669 714 1,233
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 6.51% 17.16% 13.36%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 8.81% 18.07% 16.22%
Number of salaries quoted 504 544 894
10th Percentile £27,250 £27,500 £26,250
25th Percentile £30,000 £35,750 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £49,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -14.14% +10.00% -5.26%
75th Percentile £60,000 £65,000 £61,250
90th Percentile £71,838 £79,625 £78,200
England median annual salary £47,500 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.52% +5.00% -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 7,591 3,952 7,601
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 73.89% 94.98% 82.33%
Number of salaries quoted 4,483 2,152 6,044
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £27,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £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 £65,603
90th Percentile £87,500 £83,750 £80,000
England median annual salary £59,450 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -0.92% +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 28 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 28 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 -24 314 £50,000 -4.31% 179
Merseyside -1 120 £37,500 +15.38% 40
Cheshire -18 106 £42,500 +14.86% 92
Lancashire -4 76 £36,500 -23.96% 89
Cumbria +4 50 £42,500 +8.28% 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 49 (7.32%) SharePoint
2 41 (6.13%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (1.20%) Confluence
4 4 (0.60%) Moodle
4 4 (0.60%) Totara
5 3 (0.45%) WordPress
6 2 (0.30%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.30%) ArcGIS
6 2 (0.30%) CMS
7 1 (0.15%) Umbraco
Applications
1 44 (6.58%) Microsoft Excel
2 27 (4.04%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (0.90%) 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 24 (3.59%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (1.79%) SAP ERP
3 7 (1.05%) Magento
4 6 (0.90%) Workday HCM
5 4 (0.60%) Dynamics CRM
5 4 (0.60%) SAP PP
5 4 (0.60%) Shopify
6 3 (0.45%) Dynamics AX
7 1 (0.15%) Dynamics NAV
7 1 (0.15%) NetSuite
7 1 (0.15%) Oracle Assets
7 1 (0.15%) Oracle General Ledger
7 1 (0.15%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.15%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.15%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 154 (23.02%) Azure
2 131 (19.58%) Microsoft 365
3 70 (10.46%) Power Platform
4 63 (9.42%) AWS
5 41 (6.13%) Entra ID
6 30 (4.48%) GCP
7 26 (3.89%) Dynamics 365
7 26 (3.89%) GitHub
7 26 (3.89%) SaaS
8 20 (2.99%) Azure DevOps
9 19 (2.84%) Power Automate
10 17 (2.54%) PowerApps
11 16 (2.39%) Microsoft Purview
12 14 (2.09%) Serverless
13 12 (1.79%) Boomi
14 11 (1.64%) Azure Monitor
15 10 (1.49%) OneDrive
16 9 (1.35%) Google Workspace
16 9 (1.35%) Microsoft Copilot
17 8 (1.20%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 61 (9.12%) Firewall
2 38 (5.68%) DNS
3 36 (5.38%) DHCP
4 30 (4.48%) VLAN
5 29 (4.33%) VPN
6 26 (3.89%) Wi-Fi
7 22 (3.29%) TCP/IP
7 22 (3.29%) Wireless
8 20 (2.99%) WAN
9 19 (2.84%) VoIP
10 13 (1.94%) LAN
10 13 (1.94%) Structured Cabling
11 12 (1.79%) Unified Communications
12 11 (1.64%) Broadband
12 11 (1.64%) SD-WAN
13 8 (1.20%) Network Security
13 8 (1.20%) Telepresence
13 8 (1.20%) WebEx
14 6 (0.90%) IP Telephony
15 5 (0.75%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 51 (7.62%) Power BI
2 29 (4.33%) SQL Server Reporting Services
3 17 (2.54%) SQL Server
4 12 (1.79%) NoSQL
5 10 (1.49%) PostgreSQL
6 9 (1.35%) MongoDB
7 8 (1.20%) MySQL
8 7 (1.05%) Azure SQL Database
9 5 (0.75%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 4 (0.60%) DynamoDB
10 4 (0.60%) Looker
11 3 (0.45%) Elasticsearch
11 3 (0.45%) Relational Database
11 3 (0.45%) SAP HANA
12 2 (0.30%) Big Data
12 2 (0.30%) Hadoop
12 2 (0.30%) Power Query
13 1 (0.15%) Data Warehouse
13 1 (0.15%) DB2
13 1 (0.15%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 29 (4.33%) Git
2 26 (3.89%) JIRA
3 8 (1.20%) GitLab
4 7 (1.05%) 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
1 311 (46.49%) Social Skills
2 181 (27.06%) Analytical Skills
3 116 (17.34%) Finance
4 59 (8.82%) Organisational Skills
5 50 (7.47%) Manufacturing
6 36 (5.38%) Retail
7 32 (4.78%) Public Sector
8 29 (4.33%) Marketing
9 28 (4.19%) Law
10 25 (3.74%) Automotive
11 24 (3.59%) Legal
12 20 (2.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 17 (2.54%) Telecoms
14 14 (2.09%) Advertising
15 13 (1.94%) Presentation Skills
16 12 (1.79%) Banking
17 10 (1.49%) Documentation Skills
18 9 (1.35%) French Language
18 9 (1.35%) Games
19 8 (1.20%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 87 (13.00%) Analyst
2 83 (12.41%) Support Engineer
3 79 (11.81%) IT Support
4 77 (11.51%) Senior
5 56 (8.37%) Developer
6 47 (7.03%) IT Engineer
7 45 (6.73%) IT Support Engineer
8 35 (5.23%) Support Technician
9 32 (4.78%) Consultant
10 31 (4.63%) Lead
11 30 (4.48%) Business Analyst
12 25 (3.74%) Senior Developer
13 21 (3.14%) Architect
14 20 (2.99%) Infrastructure Engineer
15 19 (2.84%) 2nd Line Support
15 19 (2.84%) Technical Engineer
15 19 (2.84%) Technical Support
15 19 (2.84%) Technical Support Engineer
16 18 (2.69%) IT Support Technician
16 18 (2.69%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (4.19%) React
2 24 (3.59%) .NET
2 24 (3.59%) HTML
3 23 (3.44%) REST
4 21 (3.14%) EDI
5 20 (2.99%) Spring
5 20 (2.99%) Spring Boot
6 16 (2.39%) CSS
7 14 (2.09%) XML
8 13 (1.94%) AngularJS
8 13 (1.94%) SOAP
9 12 (1.79%) JSON
9 12 (1.79%) Middleware
9 12 (1.79%) Vue
10 11 (1.64%) RESTful
10 11 (1.64%) SAP Fiori
11 9 (1.35%) Node.js
12 7 (1.05%) OAuth
12 7 (1.05%) OAuth2
12 7 (1.05%) SAP Core Interface
Miscellaneous
1 89 (13.30%) Driving Licence
2 51 (7.62%) Onboarding
3 26 (3.89%) Self-Motivation
4 21 (3.14%) Analytical Mindset
5 16 (2.39%) CCTV
5 16 (2.39%) Distributed Systems
6 15 (2.24%) Data Centre
7 13 (1.94%) Enterprise Software
8 12 (1.79%) Cloud Native
8 12 (1.79%) EPoS
9 11 (1.64%) Management Information System
9 11 (1.64%) Product Ownership
9 11 (1.64%) Social Media
10 9 (1.35%) CMDB
10 9 (1.35%) Enterprise Cloud
11 8 (1.20%) FMCG
12 7 (1.05%) Renewable Energy
12 7 (1.05%) Security Posture
13 6 (0.90%) Hybrid Cloud
13 6 (0.90%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 121 (18.09%) Windows
2 53 (7.92%) Windows Server
3 34 (5.08%) Windows 10
4 22 (3.29%) Apple iOS
5 20 (2.99%) Linux
6 14 (2.09%) 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
1 140 (20.93%) Customer Service
2 119 (17.79%) Continuous Improvement
3 90 (13.45%) Mentoring
4 86 (12.86%) Decision-Making
5 81 (12.11%) Stakeholder Management
6 70 (10.46%) Agile
7 66 (9.87%) AI
8 53 (7.92%) CI/CD
8 53 (7.92%) DevOps
9 51 (7.62%) Collaborative Working
9 51 (7.62%) Project Management
10 48 (7.17%) ERP
11 47 (7.03%) Roadmaps
12 45 (6.73%) CRM
13 44 (6.58%) Analytics
13 44 (6.58%) Business Intelligence
13 44 (6.58%) User Experience
14 43 (6.43%) Coaching
14 43 (6.43%) Cybersecurity
15 40 (5.98%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 88 (13.15%) SQL
2 50 (7.47%) Python
3 32 (4.78%) JavaScript
4 29 (4.33%) C#
5 28 (4.19%) Java
6 14 (2.09%) PowerShell
7 11 (1.64%) TypeScript
8 9 (1.35%) Kotlin
9 7 (1.05%) Bash
10 6 (0.90%) PHP
11 5 (0.75%) Bicep
11 5 (0.75%) C++
12 4 (0.60%) C
12 4 (0.60%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 4 (0.60%) T-SQL
13 3 (0.45%) Go
13 3 (0.45%) MATLAB
13 3 (0.45%) Swift
14 2 (0.30%) Ladder Logic
14 2 (0.30%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 85 (12.71%) Degree
2 25 (3.74%) DBS Check
3 20 (2.99%) BPSS Clearance
4 15 (2.24%) Security Cleared
5 12 (1.79%) Microsoft Certification
6 10 (1.49%) Computer Science Degree
7 9 (1.35%) HNC
8 8 (1.20%) Cisco Certification
8 8 (1.20%) Network+ Certification
9 7 (1.05%) SC Cleared
10 6 (0.90%) Azure Certification
10 6 (0.90%) CCNA
10 6 (0.90%) CompTIA Security+
11 4 (0.60%) HND
11 4 (0.60%) ITIL Certification
11 4 (0.60%) Master's Degree
11 4 (0.60%) MCSA
12 3 (0.45%) CCNP
12 3 (0.45%) PMI Certification
12 3 (0.45%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (5.08%) QA
2 26 (3.89%) SLA
3 23 (3.44%) Data Quality
4 19 (2.84%) GDPR
5 12 (1.79%) TickIT
6 11 (1.64%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 9 (1.35%) Cyber Essentials
8 8 (1.20%) ISO 9001
9 4 (0.60%) 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
System Software
1 94 (14.05%) Active Directory
2 26 (3.89%) Hyper-V
3 24 (3.59%) Docker
4 21 (3.14%) VMware Infrastructure
5 9 (1.35%) VMware Workstation
6 4 (0.60%) Virtual Desktop
6 4 (0.60%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.30%) Firmware
8 1 (0.15%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 33 (4.93%) Microsoft Intune
2 31 (4.63%) Terraform
3 23 (3.44%) Kubernetes
4 21 (3.14%) SCCM
5 20 (2.99%) BMC PATROL
6 12 (1.79%) Ansible
7 10 (1.49%) Autotask
7 10 (1.49%) Single Sign-On
8 8 (1.20%) Cisco CUCM
9 5 (0.75%) FortiGate
10 4 (0.60%) Grafana
10 4 (0.60%) Jamf Pro
10 4 (0.60%) Prometheus
11 3 (0.45%) Podman
11 3 (0.45%) Rancher
12 2 (0.30%) cPanel
12 2 (0.30%) Plesk
13 1 (0.15%) McAfee ePO
13 1 (0.15%) Nagios
13 1 (0.15%) SCVMM
Vendors
1 214 (31.99%) Microsoft
2 26 (3.89%) SAP
3 23 (3.44%) VMware
4 18 (2.69%) Google
5 16 (2.39%) Oracle
6 14 (2.09%) Cisco
7 11 (1.64%) Apple
7 11 (1.64%) ServiceNow
7 11 (1.64%) Workday
8 9 (1.35%) ESET
8 9 (1.35%) iManage
9 8 (1.20%) Meraki
9 8 (1.20%) New Relic
9 8 (1.20%) Splunk
10 7 (1.05%) Aruba
11 6 (0.90%) Siemens
12 5 (0.75%) Aderant
12 5 (0.75%) Adobe
12 5 (0.75%) BiZZdesign
12 5 (0.75%) Intapp