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

6 months to
21 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 17 7 7
Rank change year-on-year -10 0 +14
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 711 877 511
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 11.69% 16.51% 14.76%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.87% 18.33% 15.80%
Number of salaries quoted 523 422 343
10th Percentile £27,100 £31,250 £26,000
25th Percentile £32,000 £35,000 £34,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £48,000 £47,683 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year +0.66% +0.39% -
75th Percentile £53,000 £61,000 £64,375
90th Percentile £64,328 £77,500 £72,500
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 5,126 4,784 3,235
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 84.30% 90.04% 93.47%
Number of salaries quoted 2,456 2,385 2,462
10th Percentile £28,000 £32,269 £31,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -5.45% +0.22%
75th Percentile £65,000 £66,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £83,750
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%

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 December 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 December 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 -17 270 £42,500 -15.00% 156
Cheshire -11 148 £53,000 +32.50% 61
Merseyside +2 142 £48,720 +49.91% 83
Lancashire -7 100 £45,497 -13.34% 154
Cumbria +5 49 £45,000 +7.14% 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 42 (5.91%) SharePoint
2 20 (2.81%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (0.98%) WordPress
4 5 (0.70%) Confluence
5 4 (0.56%) Camunda
6 2 (0.28%) Apache Solr
6 2 (0.28%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.28%) FactoryTalk
6 2 (0.28%) nginx
6 2 (0.28%) WinCC
7 1 (0.14%) Anypoint
7 1 (0.14%) Apache
7 1 (0.14%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.14%) CMS
Applications
1 42 (5.91%) Microsoft Office
2 39 (5.49%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (0.84%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.42%) Simulink
5 2 (0.28%) AutoCAD
5 2 (0.28%) Revit
6 1 (0.14%) Siemens NX
6 1 (0.14%) Trello
Business Applications
1 8 (1.13%) SAP Business One
2 4 (0.56%) SAP WM
2 4 (0.56%) Unit4 Business World
3 2 (0.28%) NetSuite
3 2 (0.28%) Oracle Assets
3 2 (0.28%) Oracle General Ledger
3 2 (0.28%) Oracle Payables
3 2 (0.28%) Oracle Receivables
3 2 (0.28%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.14%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.14%) Primavera
4 1 (0.14%) Shopify
4 1 (0.14%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 114 (16.03%) Azure
2 77 (10.83%) Microsoft 365
3 70 (9.85%) AWS
4 50 (7.03%) Entra ID
5 46 (6.47%) Power Platform
6 39 (5.49%) GCP
7 33 (4.64%) SaaS
8 15 (2.11%) OneDrive
9 13 (1.83%) Microsoft Purview
9 13 (1.83%) Serverless
10 12 (1.69%) Power Automate
11 9 (1.27%) Azure Monitor
12 8 (1.13%) Microsoft Copilot
12 8 (1.13%) PaaS
13 7 (0.98%) Dynamics 365
13 7 (0.98%) IaaS
14 6 (0.84%) Adobe Analytics
14 6 (0.84%) AWS Lambda
14 6 (0.84%) Cloud Computing
14 6 (0.84%) Figma
Communications & Networking
1 27 (3.80%) Firewall
2 18 (2.53%) DNS
3 16 (2.25%) DHCP
3 16 (2.25%) VoIP
4 15 (2.11%) Unified Communications
5 13 (1.83%) Telepresence
5 13 (1.83%) WebEx
6 12 (1.69%) TCP/IP
7 10 (1.41%) WAN
7 10 (1.41%) Wireless
8 9 (1.27%) VPN
9 7 (0.98%) LAN
9 7 (0.98%) Wi-Fi
10 6 (0.84%) Broadband
10 6 (0.84%) VLAN
11 5 (0.70%) Ethernet
11 5 (0.70%) Structured Cabling
12 4 (0.56%) SD-WAN
13 3 (0.42%) ATM
13 3 (0.42%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 37 (5.20%) Power BI
2 22 (3.09%) SQL Server
3 13 (1.83%) NoSQL
3 13 (1.83%) Tableau
4 11 (1.55%) MySQL
5 10 (1.41%) MongoDB
6 9 (1.27%) PostgreSQL
7 8 (1.13%) Crystal Reports
8 7 (0.98%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 6 (0.84%) Amazon Redshift
9 6 (0.84%) Oracle Reports
10 5 (0.70%) Azure SQL Database
10 5 (0.70%) Data Warehouse
10 5 (0.70%) Elasticsearch
11 4 (0.56%) Big Data
11 4 (0.56%) BigQuery
11 4 (0.56%) DynamoDB
11 4 (0.56%) Looker
11 4 (0.56%) Relational Database
12 2 (0.28%) Amazon RDS
Development Applications
1 20 (2.81%) Git
2 12 (1.69%) GitLab
3 7 (0.98%) Bitbucket
3 7 (0.98%) Jenkins
3 7 (0.98%) JIRA
4 5 (0.70%) SonarQube
4 5 (0.70%) Sonatype Nexus
5 4 (0.56%) LabVIEW
6 1 (0.14%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.14%) TeamCity
General
1 310 (43.60%) Social Skills
2 173 (24.33%) Analytical Skills
3 147 (20.68%) Finance
4 49 (6.89%) Automotive
5 45 (6.33%) Legal
6 32 (4.50%) Organisational Skills
7 26 (3.66%) Public Sector
8 24 (3.38%) Retail
9 22 (3.09%) Telecoms
10 21 (2.95%) Manufacturing
11 19 (2.67%) Electronics
11 19 (2.67%) Law
11 19 (2.67%) Presentation Skills
12 17 (2.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 15 (2.11%) Banking
13 15 (2.11%) Marketing
14 14 (1.97%) Advertising
15 13 (1.83%) Pharmaceutical
16 12 (1.69%) Influencing Skills
17 11 (1.55%) Police
Job Titles
1 88 (12.38%) Analyst
2 66 (9.28%) IT Support
3 63 (8.86%) Senior
4 58 (8.16%) Support Engineer
5 51 (7.17%) Lead
6 44 (6.19%) Developer
7 30 (4.22%) Business Analyst
8 27 (3.80%) Trainee
9 26 (3.66%) Systems Engineer
10 25 (3.52%) Architect
10 25 (3.52%) Team Leader
11 23 (3.23%) Trainee Analyst
11 23 (3.23%) Trainee Business Analyst
12 22 (3.09%) Solutions Architect
13 21 (2.95%) IT Engineer
13 21 (2.95%) IT Support Engineer
14 20 (2.81%) Consultant
14 20 (2.81%) HR Advisor
15 19 (2.67%) Support Analyst
15 19 (2.67%) Support Team Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (2.95%) React
2 16 (2.25%) HTML
3 12 (1.69%) RESTful
4 11 (1.55%) .NET
4 11 (1.55%) CSS
5 9 (1.27%) Node.js
5 9 (1.27%) REST
5 9 (1.27%) Spring
6 8 (1.13%) Hibernate
6 8 (1.13%) Oracle Fusion
6 8 (1.13%) Spring Boot
7 7 (0.98%) Laravel
7 7 (0.98%) Vue
8 6 (0.84%) AngularJS
9 5 (0.70%) Django
9 5 (0.70%) JSON
9 5 (0.70%) Software Packaging
9 5 (0.70%) XML
10 4 (0.56%) ASP.NET
10 4 (0.56%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 180 (25.32%) Driving Licence
2 58 (8.16%) Onboarding
3 30 (4.22%) Self-Motivation
4 20 (2.81%) Analytical Mindset
4 20 (2.81%) Enterprise Software
4 20 (2.81%) EPoS
5 15 (2.11%) Management Information System
6 13 (1.83%) Cloud Native
6 13 (1.83%) Distributed Systems
7 12 (1.69%) CCTV
8 11 (1.55%) Video Conferencing
9 10 (1.41%) IoT
10 7 (0.98%) NHS
10 7 (0.98%) Product Ownership
10 7 (0.98%) SCADA
10 7 (0.98%) Virtual Team
11 6 (0.84%) Data Protection Act
11 6 (0.84%) Home Automation
11 6 (0.84%) Life Science
11 6 (0.84%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 82 (11.53%) Windows
2 29 (4.08%) Windows Server
3 19 (2.67%) Linux
4 10 (1.41%) Windows 10
5 5 (0.70%) Android
6 4 (0.56%) Mac OS
6 4 (0.56%) Windows 7
6 4 (0.56%) Windows 8
7 3 (0.42%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.28%) Unix
9 1 (0.14%) CentOS
9 1 (0.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 1 (0.14%) Solaris
9 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2008
9 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 113 (15.89%) Continuous Improvement
2 99 (13.92%) Decision-Making
3 98 (13.78%) Agile
4 75 (10.55%) Customer Service
5 71 (9.99%) Project Management
6 70 (9.85%) Mentoring
7 54 (7.59%) Stakeholder Management
8 52 (7.31%) AI
8 52 (7.31%) DevOps
9 50 (7.03%) CRM
9 50 (7.03%) ITIL
10 49 (6.89%) Cybersecurity
11 45 (6.33%) Analytics
12 42 (5.91%) Change Management
12 42 (5.91%) Coaching
13 41 (5.77%) Business Intelligence
14 39 (5.49%) CI/CD
14 39 (5.49%) Service Delivery
15 38 (5.34%) Business Strategy
15 38 (5.34%) Collaborative Culture
Programming Languages
1 75 (10.55%) SQL
2 36 (5.06%) Python
3 22 (3.09%) Java
4 20 (2.81%) JavaScript
5 14 (1.97%) PowerShell
6 11 (1.55%) PHP
7 10 (1.41%) C#
7 10 (1.41%) MATLAB
7 10 (1.41%) TypeScript
8 7 (0.98%) Go
9 5 (0.70%) Elixir
9 5 (0.70%) Ruby
10 4 (0.56%) Bash
10 4 (0.56%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 3 (0.42%) Kotlin
11 3 (0.42%) Ladder Logic
11 3 (0.42%) Scala
12 2 (0.28%) C
12 2 (0.28%) R
12 2 (0.28%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 147 (20.68%) Degree
2 32 (4.50%) BPSS Clearance
3 22 (3.09%) DBS Check
3 22 (3.09%) Master's Degree
4 17 (2.39%) Security Cleared
5 13 (1.83%) SC Cleared
6 10 (1.41%) Azure Certification
7 9 (1.27%) Computer Science Degree
8 8 (1.13%) A+ Certification
8 8 (1.13%) HNC
8 8 (1.13%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 7 (0.98%) ACCA
9 7 (0.98%) CIMA
9 7 (0.98%) Microsoft Certification
9 7 (0.98%) NVQ Level 4
10 5 (0.70%) CIPD
10 5 (0.70%) PMI Certification
11 4 (0.56%) HND
11 4 (0.56%) ITIL Certification
11 4 (0.56%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (3.66%) GDPR
1 26 (3.66%) QA
2 20 (2.81%) Data Quality
3 9 (1.27%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 9 (1.27%) SLA
4 8 (1.13%) Accessibility
4 8 (1.13%) Cyber Essentials
5 6 (0.84%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 5 (0.70%) California Consumer Privacy Act
6 5 (0.70%) GLBA
6 5 (0.70%) PMO
7 2 (0.28%) Actionable Recommendations
7 2 (0.28%) COBIT
7 2 (0.28%) Disclosure Scotland
7 2 (0.28%) ITGC
8 1 (0.14%) ISO 14001
8 1 (0.14%) ISO 9001
8 1 (0.14%) NIST
8 1 (0.14%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 65 (9.14%) Active Directory
2 30 (4.22%) Docker
3 19 (2.67%) Hyper-V
4 5 (0.70%) VMware Infrastructure
5 3 (0.42%) Firmware
5 3 (0.42%) Virtual Desktop
5 3 (0.42%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.42%) VMware Workstation
6 2 (0.28%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.14%) HDFS
Systems Management
1 42 (5.91%) BMC PATROL
2 30 (4.22%) Microsoft Intune
3 24 (3.38%) Kubernetes
4 23 (3.23%) Terraform
5 13 (1.83%) Cisco CUCM
6 9 (1.27%) Single Sign-On
7 7 (0.98%) Ansible
7 7 (0.98%) SCCM
8 4 (0.56%) Autotask
8 4 (0.56%) Grafana
8 4 (0.56%) Prometheus
9 3 (0.42%) cPanel
9 3 (0.42%) Plesk
10 2 (0.28%) AssetCenter
10 2 (0.28%) Jamf Pro
10 2 (0.28%) Rancher
11 1 (0.14%) Argo
11 1 (0.14%) AWS Copilot
11 1 (0.14%) FortiGate
11 1 (0.14%) Podman
Vendors
1 130 (18.28%) Microsoft
2 29 (4.08%) ServiceNow
3 28 (3.94%) Workday
4 25 (3.52%) Oracle
5 20 (2.81%) SAP
6 19 (2.67%) Cisco
7 13 (1.83%) Google
8 11 (1.55%) VMware
9 10 (1.41%) Siemens
10 7 (0.98%) HubSpot
10 7 (0.98%) New Relic
10 7 (0.98%) Splunk
11 6 (0.84%) Adobe
11 6 (0.84%) BiZZdesign
11 6 (0.84%) iManage
11 6 (0.84%) Qualtrics
12 5 (0.70%) ESET
12 5 (0.70%) Facebook
12 5 (0.70%) SnapLogic
13 4 (0.56%) EXASOL