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 October 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 2 4 10
Rank change year-on-year +2 +6 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 988 1,045 577
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 20.73% 14.81% 13.78%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 23.76% 18.38% 14.56%
Number of salaries quoted 496 329 440
10th Percentile £26,250 £28,757 £25,000
25th Percentile £32,500 £32,500 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £48,720 £47,683 £48,000
Median % change year-on-year +2.17% -0.66% +2.35%
75th Percentile £53,750 £60,000 £63,750
90th Percentile £67,500 £72,500 £73,750
England median annual salary £45,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -18.18% - -

All Process and 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 4,159 5,687 3,964
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 87.28% 80.62% 94.65%
Number of salaries quoted 2,202 2,893 3,036
10th Percentile £27,000 £31,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £34,250 £40,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -5.45% +4.76%
75th Percentile £64,125 £65,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £79,879 £78,750 £82,548
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -

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 October 2025.

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 October 2025. 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 -2 335 £45,000 -14.29% 409
Lancashire 0 269 £45,497 -4.58% 210
Cheshire +4 201 £53,000 +32.50% 168
Merseyside +2 155 £53,000 +63.08% 57
Cumbria -3 27 £35,854 -20.32% 16
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 34 (3.44%) SharePoint
2 17 (1.72%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (0.51%) WordPress
4 4 (0.40%) Camunda
5 3 (0.30%) Confluence
5 3 (0.30%) nginx
6 2 (0.20%) Apache
6 2 (0.20%) Apache Solr
6 2 (0.20%) FactoryTalk
6 2 (0.20%) IIS
6 2 (0.20%) WinCC
7 1 (0.10%) Anypoint
7 1 (0.10%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.10%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.10%) SAS
Applications
1 50 (5.06%) Microsoft Office
2 49 (4.96%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (0.61%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (0.61%) Microsoft Project
3 6 (0.61%) MS Visio
3 6 (0.61%) Trello
4 2 (0.20%) AutoCAD
5 1 (0.10%) CANalyzer
5 1 (0.10%) Revit
5 1 (0.10%) Siemens NX
5 1 (0.10%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 14 (1.42%) Unit4 Business World
2 13 (1.32%) NetSuite
3 7 (0.71%) SAP WM
4 6 (0.61%) SAP Business One
5 5 (0.51%) Sage 200
5 5 (0.51%) Sage CRM
6 1 (0.10%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.10%) Oracle ERP
6 1 (0.10%) Payment Gateway
6 1 (0.10%) Primavera
6 1 (0.10%) SAP CO
6 1 (0.10%) SAP FI
6 1 (0.10%) SAP FI/CO
6 1 (0.10%) SAP S/4HANA
6 1 (0.10%) Shopify
6 1 (0.10%) Teamcenter
6 1 (0.10%) Visualfiles
Cloud Services
1 87 (8.81%) Azure
2 75 (7.59%) AWS
3 64 (6.48%) Microsoft 365
4 34 (3.44%) Entra ID
5 32 (3.24%) GCP
6 27 (2.73%) Power Platform
7 21 (2.13%) SaaS
8 12 (1.21%) AWS Lambda
8 12 (1.21%) Serverless
9 11 (1.11%) Dynamics 365
10 10 (1.01%) OneDrive
11 8 (0.81%) Power Automate
12 7 (0.71%) Cloud Computing
13 6 (0.61%) Microsoft Copilot
13 6 (0.61%) Snowflake
14 5 (0.51%) Adobe Analytics
14 5 (0.51%) Amazon SQS
14 5 (0.51%) Figma
14 5 (0.51%) iPaaS
14 5 (0.51%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 262 (26.52%) VPN
2 250 (25.30%) Cisco IOS
3 32 (3.24%) Firewall
4 15 (1.52%) Broadband
5 12 (1.21%) WAN
6 10 (1.01%) DNS
7 8 (0.81%) VoIP
8 7 (0.71%) TCP/IP
9 6 (0.61%) DHCP
10 5 (0.51%) LAN
10 5 (0.51%) Network Security
10 5 (0.51%) Wireless
11 4 (0.40%) Internet
11 4 (0.40%) MPLS
11 4 (0.40%) Telepresence
11 4 (0.40%) Unified Communications
11 4 (0.40%) WebEx
12 3 (0.30%) ATM
12 3 (0.30%) Ethernet
12 3 (0.30%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (2.53%) Power BI
2 24 (2.43%) SQL Server
3 15 (1.52%) Tableau
4 12 (1.21%) MySQL
4 12 (1.21%) NoSQL
5 10 (1.01%) Data Warehouse
6 9 (0.91%) DynamoDB
6 9 (0.91%) PostgreSQL
7 7 (0.71%) Big Data
7 7 (0.71%) MongoDB
7 7 (0.71%) Relational Database
8 6 (0.61%) Amazon Redshift
8 6 (0.61%) Crystal Reports
8 6 (0.61%) Looker
8 6 (0.61%) Oracle Reports
9 4 (0.40%) BigQuery
9 4 (0.40%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 3 (0.30%) Elasticsearch
10 3 (0.30%) Metadata
10 3 (0.30%) Redis
Development Applications
1 17 (1.72%) Git
2 13 (1.32%) JIRA
3 9 (0.91%) GitLab
4 7 (0.71%) Jenkins
5 5 (0.51%) Bitbucket
5 5 (0.51%) SonarQube
5 5 (0.51%) Sonatype Nexus
6 4 (0.40%) LabVIEW
7 2 (0.20%) Cypress.io
8 1 (0.10%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.10%) CANoe
8 1 (0.10%) Mocha
8 1 (0.10%) NUnit
8 1 (0.10%) Sinon.JS
General
1 439 (44.43%) Analytical Skills
2 333 (33.70%) Social Skills
3 263 (26.62%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 148 (14.98%) Finance
5 107 (10.83%) Manufacturing
6 82 (8.30%) Retail
7 42 (4.25%) Legal
8 38 (3.85%) Organisational Skills
9 27 (2.73%) Games
9 27 (2.73%) Pharmaceutical
10 26 (2.63%) Automotive
11 24 (2.43%) Banking
12 21 (2.13%) Marketing
13 20 (2.02%) Law
14 17 (1.72%) Public Sector
15 16 (1.62%) Dutch Language
15 16 (1.62%) Finnish Language
15 16 (1.62%) Norwegian Language
15 16 (1.62%) Presentation Skills
16 14 (1.42%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 257 (26.01%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 97 (9.82%) Analyst
3 65 (6.58%) Senior
4 60 (6.07%) Trainer
5 57 (5.77%) Developer
6 54 (5.47%) IT Support
7 38 (3.85%) Lead
7 38 (3.85%) Support Engineer
8 34 (3.44%) Support Analyst
9 27 (2.73%) Consultant
10 22 (2.23%) Applications Support
11 21 (2.13%) Senior Developer
12 20 (2.02%) 1st Line Support
13 19 (1.92%) Systems Support
13 19 (1.92%) Technical Engineer
14 18 (1.82%) IT Analyst
14 18 (1.82%) Systems Engineer
14 18 (1.82%) Team Leader
14 18 (1.82%) Technical Support
14 18 (1.82%) Technical Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 250 (25.30%) Elastic Stack
2 25 (2.53%) React
3 16 (1.62%) HTML
4 15 (1.52%) .NET
5 12 (1.21%) RESTful
6 11 (1.11%) Node.js
7 10 (1.01%) CSS
7 10 (1.01%) REST
8 9 (0.91%) Spring
9 8 (0.81%) .NET Core
9 8 (0.81%) Amazon Corretto
9 8 (0.81%) Spring Boot
10 7 (0.71%) Hibernate
11 6 (0.61%) Oracle Fusion
11 6 (0.61%) RabbitMQ
11 6 (0.61%) Vue
12 5 (0.51%) AngularJS
12 5 (0.51%) Entity Framework
12 5 (0.51%) Laravel
12 5 (0.51%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 250 (25.30%) Cyberattack
2 143 (14.47%) Driving Licence
3 61 (6.17%) Robotics
4 39 (3.95%) Onboarding
5 29 (2.94%) Self-Motivation
6 24 (2.43%) EPoS
7 18 (1.82%) Management Information System
8 16 (1.62%) Cloud Native
9 14 (1.42%) Analytical Mindset
9 14 (1.42%) Social Media
10 11 (1.11%) e-Learning
11 9 (0.91%) Data Protection Act
11 9 (0.91%) Enterprise Software
11 9 (0.91%) Video Conferencing
12 8 (0.81%) Private Cloud
12 8 (0.81%) Product Ownership
13 7 (0.71%) Distributed Systems
13 7 (0.71%) IoT
13 7 (0.71%) Life Science
13 7 (0.71%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 316 (31.98%) Windows
2 271 (27.43%) Linux
3 254 (25.71%) Android
4 25 (2.53%) Windows Server
5 10 (1.01%) Windows 10
6 4 (0.40%) Unix
7 3 (0.30%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.20%) CentOS
8 2 (0.20%) Windows 7
8 2 (0.20%) Windows 8
9 1 (0.10%) Apple iOS
9 1 (0.10%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.10%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 301 (30.47%) DevOps
2 266 (26.92%) Mathematics
3 265 (26.82%) Risk Management
4 263 (26.62%) Line Management
5 261 (26.42%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 259 (26.21%) Task Automation
7 253 (25.61%) Storage Management
8 251 (25.40%) Platform Engineering
9 111 (11.23%) Continuous Improvement
10 108 (10.93%) Agile
11 93 (9.41%) AI
12 87 (8.81%) Decision-Making
13 83 (8.40%) Customer Service
14 74 (7.49%) Machine Learning
15 67 (6.78%) CRM
16 66 (6.68%) Project Management
17 64 (6.48%) ERP
17 64 (6.48%) Generative AI
18 62 (6.28%) LLM
19 60 (6.07%) Red Team
Programming Languages
1 288 (29.15%) Python
2 261 (26.42%) PowerShell
3 255 (25.81%) Bash
4 93 (9.41%) SQL
5 28 (2.83%) Java
6 21 (2.13%) JavaScript
7 18 (1.82%) TypeScript
8 16 (1.62%) C#
9 10 (1.01%) PHP
10 7 (0.71%) MATLAB
11 5 (0.51%) C++
11 5 (0.51%) Elixir
11 5 (0.51%) Go
11 5 (0.51%) Ruby
12 4 (0.40%) VBA
13 3 (0.30%) C
13 3 (0.30%) R
13 3 (0.30%) Shell Script
14 2 (0.20%) Kotlin
14 2 (0.20%) Scala
Qualifications
1 210 (21.26%) Degree
2 28 (2.83%) DBS Check
3 26 (2.63%) Master's Degree
4 25 (2.53%) BPSS Clearance
5 17 (1.72%) Computer Science Degree
5 17 (1.72%) Security Cleared
6 14 (1.42%) PMI Certification
6 14 (1.42%) SC Cleared
7 13 (1.32%) PMP
8 9 (0.91%) A+ Certification
9 8 (0.81%) TOGAF Certification
10 7 (0.71%) ACCA
10 7 (0.71%) Azure Certification
10 7 (0.71%) CIMA
10 7 (0.71%) Cisco Certification
10 7 (0.71%) HNC
10 7 (0.71%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 6 (0.61%) CCNP
11 6 (0.61%) Microsoft Certification
12 5 (0.51%) CCNA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (3.44%) QA
2 28 (2.83%) GDPR
3 19 (1.92%) Data Quality
4 12 (1.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 11 (1.11%) SLA
6 7 (0.71%) Accessibility
7 6 (0.61%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 6 (0.61%) Cyber Essentials
7 6 (0.61%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 5 (0.51%) GLBA
8 5 (0.51%) PMO
9 2 (0.20%) COBIT
9 2 (0.20%) Disclosure Scotland
9 2 (0.20%) ITGC
9 2 (0.20%) NIST
10 1 (0.10%) AUTOSAR
10 1 (0.10%) GRC
10 1 (0.10%) HIPAA
10 1 (0.10%) ISO 14001
10 1 (0.10%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 290 (29.35%) Docker
2 270 (27.33%) Hyper-V
3 250 (25.30%) VMware NSX
3 250 (25.30%) vSphere
4 46 (4.66%) Active Directory
5 8 (0.81%) VMware Infrastructure
6 3 (0.30%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.20%) Firmware
7 2 (0.20%) Virtual Desktop
8 1 (0.10%) Dovecot
8 1 (0.10%) Embedded Firmware
8 1 (0.10%) HDFS
8 1 (0.10%) Postfix
8 1 (0.10%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 266 (26.92%) Terraform
2 254 (25.71%) Ansible
3 31 (3.14%) Kubernetes
4 28 (2.83%) Microsoft Intune
5 22 (2.23%) BMC PATROL
6 5 (0.51%) Grafana
6 5 (0.51%) Prometheus
7 4 (0.40%) Cisco CUCM
7 4 (0.40%) Proxmox
8 3 (0.30%) FortiGate
8 3 (0.30%) SCCM
9 2 (0.20%) AssetCenter
9 2 (0.20%) Autotask
10 1 (0.10%) AWS Copilot
10 1 (0.10%) Jamf Pro
10 1 (0.10%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
10 1 (0.10%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.10%) Puppet
10 1 (0.10%) Rancher
10 1 (0.10%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 277 (28.04%) Cisco
2 253 (25.61%) Juniper
3 250 (25.30%) 3PAR
3 250 (25.30%) Splunk
4 127 (12.85%) Microsoft
5 84 (8.50%) Google
6 65 (6.58%) Adobe
7 63 (6.38%) Databricks
8 26 (2.63%) SAP
9 23 (2.33%) ServiceNow
10 22 (2.23%) Workday
11 16 (1.62%) Oracle
12 14 (1.42%) VMware
13 12 (1.21%) BT
14 9 (0.91%) ESET
15 8 (0.81%) Facebook
15 8 (0.81%) Sage
16 7 (0.71%) HubSpot
16 7 (0.71%) Siemens
16 7 (0.71%) Sophos