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

6 months to
15 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 944 980 1,056
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 7.49% 19.22% 13.69%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.34% 21.50% 17.66%
Number of salaries quoted 699 472 414
10th Percentile £26,549 £26,250 £26,825
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,500 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £47,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% +5.56% -5.26%
75th Percentile £60,000 £57,500 £61,083
90th Percentile £75,000 £67,500 £80,000
England median annual salary £47,043 £45,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +4.54% -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 9,131 4,558 5,981
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 72.47% 89.41% 77.55%
Number of salaries quoted 6,892 2,158 3,469
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,712 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £35,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £50,500
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -0.99% -8.18%
75th Percentile £75,000 £65,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £80,000 £79,300
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -7.26%

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 15 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 15 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 -6 525 £48,175 +8.26% 710
Merseyside -4 151 £42,500 -19.81% 87
Cheshire -10 147 £42,500 -19.05% 143
Lancashire +1 79 £42,500 -2.86% 112
Cumbria -4 33 £32,500 -9.35% 17
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 80 (8.47%) SharePoint
2 54 (5.72%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (1.17%) IIS
4 5 (0.53%) Apache Spark
5 3 (0.32%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (0.32%) Oracle Workflow
6 2 (0.21%) Apache
6 2 (0.21%) CMS
6 2 (0.21%) Exchange Server 2013
6 2 (0.21%) nginx
7 1 (0.11%) ArcGIS
7 1 (0.11%) Confluence
7 1 (0.11%) Jupyter
7 1 (0.11%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 1 (0.11%) Sitecore CMS
7 1 (0.11%) Umbraco
7 1 (0.11%) WebLogic
7 1 (0.11%) WebSphere
7 1 (0.11%) WordPress
Applications
1 54 (5.72%) Microsoft Office
2 50 (5.30%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (1.69%) MS Visio
4 6 (0.64%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (0.53%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.53%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.21%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.21%) Windchill
7 1 (0.11%) Acrobat
7 1 (0.11%) Revit
7 1 (0.11%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 16 (1.69%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (1.06%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (0.74%) SAP ERP
4 4 (0.42%) Magento
4 4 (0.42%) NEC Housing
4 4 (0.42%) NetSuite
4 4 (0.42%) Oracle EBS
4 4 (0.42%) SAP PP
5 3 (0.32%) Dynamics AX
5 3 (0.32%) Oracle Cash Management
5 3 (0.32%) Oracle Payables
5 3 (0.32%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 3 (0.32%) Payment Gateway
5 3 (0.32%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.21%) Oracle ERP
6 2 (0.21%) Remedy ITSM
7 1 (0.11%) Dynamics NAV
7 1 (0.11%) Odoo
7 1 (0.11%) Oracle Applications
7 1 (0.11%) SAP ECC
Cloud Services
1 193 (20.44%) Azure
2 158 (16.74%) Microsoft 365
3 110 (11.65%) AWS
4 106 (11.23%) Power Platform
5 47 (4.98%) PowerApps
6 39 (4.13%) SaaS
7 38 (4.03%) GCP
8 37 (3.92%) Entra ID
9 33 (3.50%) GitHub
9 33 (3.50%) Power Automate
10 31 (3.28%) Microsoft Copilot
11 30 (3.18%) Azure DevOps
11 30 (3.18%) OneDrive
12 26 (2.75%) Dynamics 365
13 20 (2.12%) Microsoft Purview
14 19 (2.01%) Serverless
15 12 (1.27%) Boomi
16 11 (1.17%) Copilot Studio
16 11 (1.17%) GitHub Actions
16 11 (1.17%) Google Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 62 (6.57%) DNS
2 56 (5.93%) DHCP
3 55 (5.83%) Firewall
4 41 (4.34%) VPN
5 40 (4.24%) TCP/IP
6 30 (3.18%) Wireless
7 28 (2.97%) VLAN
8 25 (2.65%) VoIP
9 23 (2.44%) Wi-Fi
10 21 (2.22%) Network Security
11 18 (1.91%) LAN
12 14 (1.48%) WAN
13 12 (1.27%) Broadband
14 11 (1.17%) Unified Communications
15 8 (0.85%) SD-WAN
16 7 (0.74%) BGP
16 7 (0.74%) OSPF
16 7 (0.74%) Structured Cabling
17 6 (0.64%) SAN
17 6 (0.64%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 67 (7.10%) Power BI
2 54 (5.72%) SQL Server
3 27 (2.86%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 24 (2.54%) MySQL
5 21 (2.22%) Data Warehouse
6 11 (1.17%) BigQuery
6 11 (1.17%) NoSQL
7 10 (1.06%) Big Data
8 9 (0.95%) Looker
8 9 (0.95%) Power Query
9 8 (0.85%) Amazon Redshift
9 8 (0.85%) MongoDB
9 8 (0.85%) PostgreSQL
9 8 (0.85%) Redis
9 8 (0.85%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 7 (0.74%) Electronic Patient Records
11 5 (0.53%) Azure SQL Database
11 5 (0.53%) MariaDB
11 5 (0.53%) Oracle BI Publisher
11 5 (0.53%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 39 (4.13%) Git
2 33 (3.50%) JIRA
3 12 (1.27%) Jenkins
4 8 (0.85%) GitLab
5 7 (0.74%) Bitbucket
6 6 (0.64%) Cypress.io
7 5 (0.53%) Cucumber
8 4 (0.42%) Robot Framework
9 3 (0.32%) Claude Code
9 3 (0.32%) Visual Studio Code
10 2 (0.21%) Selenium
10 2 (0.21%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
11 1 (0.11%) Gemini Tracker
11 1 (0.11%) gulp
11 1 (0.11%) Maven
11 1 (0.11%) Oracle Forms
11 1 (0.11%) Rational DOORS
11 1 (0.11%) Rational Rhapsody
11 1 (0.11%) REST Assured
11 1 (0.11%) webpack
General
1 398 (42.16%) Social Skills
2 289 (30.61%) Analytical Skills
3 148 (15.68%) Finance
4 84 (8.90%) Law
5 70 (7.42%) Manufacturing
5 70 (7.42%) Organisational Skills
6 64 (6.78%) Legal
7 47 (4.98%) Retail
8 41 (4.34%) Telecoms
9 36 (3.81%) Marketing
10 35 (3.71%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 26 (2.75%) Public Sector
12 20 (2.12%) Military
13 17 (1.80%) Aerospace
14 16 (1.69%) Banking
15 12 (1.27%) Billing
15 12 (1.27%) Documentation Skills
15 12 (1.27%) Electronics
16 10 (1.06%) Automotive
16 10 (1.06%) Games
Job Titles
1 130 (13.77%) Analyst
1 130 (13.77%) Senior
2 118 (12.50%) Developer
3 63 (6.67%) IT Support
4 54 (5.72%) Support Engineer
5 46 (4.87%) Lead
6 44 (4.66%) Senior Developer
7 42 (4.45%) Consultant
7 42 (4.45%) Software Engineer
7 42 (4.45%) Support Analyst
8 35 (3.71%) Administrator
8 35 (3.71%) Support Technician
9 28 (2.97%) IT Engineer
10 27 (2.86%) IT Technician
10 27 (2.86%) Junior
11 25 (2.65%) Applications Support
12 24 (2.54%) IT Support Engineer
13 22 (2.33%) Data Engineer
13 22 (2.33%) IT Support Technician
14 21 (2.22%) Technical Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 52 (5.51%) .NET
2 45 (4.77%) HTML
2 45 (4.77%) React
3 40 (4.24%) REST
4 26 (2.75%) Terraform
5 24 (2.54%) Middleware
6 23 (2.44%) AngularJS
6 23 (2.44%) CSS
7 21 (2.22%) Spring
7 21 (2.22%) XML
8 20 (2.12%) Vue
9 19 (2.01%) Spring Boot
10 17 (1.80%) SOAP
11 16 (1.69%) EDI
12 15 (1.59%) JSON
13 13 (1.38%) Node.js
13 13 (1.38%) Web Services
14 11 (1.17%) Next.js
15 10 (1.06%) Laravel
15 10 (1.06%) React Native
Miscellaneous
1 67 (7.10%) Driving Licence
2 59 (6.25%) Onboarding
3 42 (4.45%) Self-Motivation
4 37 (3.92%) Cloud Native
5 36 (3.81%) Product Ownership
6 29 (3.07%) Management Information System
7 20 (2.12%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
8 18 (1.91%) Distributed Systems
9 15 (1.59%) NHS
9 15 (1.59%) Security Posture
10 14 (1.48%) IoT
10 14 (1.48%) Replication
11 13 (1.38%) Enterprise Software
12 12 (1.27%) Mobile App
13 11 (1.17%) Low-Code
14 10 (1.06%) FMCG
15 9 (0.95%) AI Agents
15 9 (0.95%) CCTV
15 9 (0.95%) Data Centre
15 9 (0.95%) Enterprise Cloud
Operating Systems
1 133 (14.09%) Windows
2 62 (6.57%) Windows Server
3 38 (4.03%) Linux
4 24 (2.54%) Windows 10
5 18 (1.91%) Apple iOS
6 9 (0.95%) Android
6 9 (0.95%) Mac OS
7 8 (0.85%) Windows Server 2016
8 6 (0.64%) Unix
8 6 (0.64%) Windows Server 2019
9 2 (0.21%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 2 (0.21%) Solaris
10 1 (0.11%) Embedded Linux
10 1 (0.11%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.11%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 267 (28.28%) Continuous Improvement
2 198 (20.97%) Customer Service
3 135 (14.30%) AI
4 134 (14.19%) Mentoring
5 128 (13.56%) Agile
6 121 (12.82%) Stakeholder Management
7 108 (11.44%) Decision-Making
8 102 (10.81%) CI/CD
9 97 (10.28%) CRM
10 90 (9.53%) Software Engineering
11 89 (9.43%) DevOps
12 83 (8.79%) ERP
13 82 (8.69%) Analytics
14 81 (8.58%) Roadmaps
15 77 (8.16%) Collaborative Working
16 75 (7.94%) Project Delivery
16 75 (7.94%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 63 (6.67%) User Experience
18 61 (6.46%) Cybersecurity
19 60 (6.36%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 179 (18.96%) SQL
2 120 (12.71%) Python
3 68 (7.20%) JavaScript
4 66 (6.99%) C#
5 51 (5.40%) Java
6 43 (4.56%) PowerShell
7 26 (2.75%) TypeScript
8 20 (2.12%) Bash
8 20 (2.12%) PHP
9 17 (1.80%) C++
10 13 (1.38%) Shell Script
11 11 (1.17%) T-SQL
12 9 (0.95%) C
13 8 (0.85%) Ruby
14 7 (0.74%) Go
15 6 (0.64%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 6 (0.64%) R
16 5 (0.53%) Apex Code
16 5 (0.53%) Bicep
16 5 (0.53%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 126 (13.35%) Degree
2 57 (6.04%) Security Cleared
3 34 (3.60%) SC Cleared
4 27 (2.86%) HNC
5 24 (2.54%) DBS Check
6 23 (2.44%) DV Cleared
6 23 (2.44%) Microsoft Certification
7 17 (1.80%) Computer Science Degree
8 15 (1.59%) Cisco Certification
9 14 (1.48%) BPSS Clearance
9 14 (1.48%) CCNP
10 12 (1.27%) Azure Certification
11 11 (1.17%) HND
12 9 (0.95%) Master's Degree
13 8 (0.85%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 7 (0.74%) ITIL Certification
14 7 (0.74%) Postgraduate
15 6 (0.64%) ACCA
15 6 (0.64%) PMI Certification
16 5 (0.53%) CIMA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 49 (5.19%) Data Quality
2 42 (4.45%) Accessibility
3 39 (4.13%) QA
4 34 (3.60%) GDPR
5 14 (1.48%) SLA
6 12 (1.27%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 12 (1.27%) TickIT
7 9 (0.95%) NIST
8 4 (0.42%) ISO/IEC 14443
8 4 (0.42%) ISO/IEC 7816
9 3 (0.32%) Cyber Essentials
9 3 (0.32%) PMO
10 2 (0.21%) Actionable Recommendations
10 2 (0.21%) NEBOSH
10 2 (0.21%) WCAG
11 1 (0.11%) GMP
11 1 (0.11%) GxP
11 1 (0.11%) IFRS
11 1 (0.11%) IFRS 9
11 1 (0.11%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 99 (10.49%) Active Directory
2 47 (4.98%) Docker
3 32 (3.39%) VMware Infrastructure
4 20 (2.12%) Hyper-V
5 7 (0.74%) Virtual Machines
6 4 (0.42%) Virtual Desktop
6 4 (0.42%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.32%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 37 (3.92%) Kubernetes
2 31 (3.28%) Microsoft Intune
3 14 (1.48%) Grafana
4 11 (1.17%) FortiGate
4 11 (1.17%) Prometheus
4 11 (1.17%) Single Sign-On
5 9 (0.95%) Ansible
6 5 (0.53%) Argo
7 4 (0.42%) Microsoft Clustering
8 2 (0.21%) Nagios
8 2 (0.21%) Nessus
8 2 (0.21%) Podman
9 1 (0.11%) Istio
9 1 (0.11%) Jamf Pro
9 1 (0.11%) linkerd
9 1 (0.11%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
9 1 (0.11%) Packer
9 1 (0.11%) SCCM
9 1 (0.11%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.11%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 315 (33.37%) Microsoft
2 44 (4.66%) VMware
3 35 (3.71%) SAP
4 28 (2.97%) Google
5 19 (2.01%) Cisco
6 18 (1.91%) Sage
6 18 (1.91%) YouTube
7 17 (1.80%) ServiceNow
8 15 (1.59%) Oracle
8 15 (1.59%) Salesforce
9 13 (1.38%) Aruba
9 13 (1.38%) iManage
10 10 (1.06%) Civica
11 9 (0.95%) Adobe
11 9 (0.95%) HubSpot
11 9 (0.95%) Juniper
12 8 (0.85%) Aderant
12 8 (0.85%) OpenAI
12 8 (0.85%) Tanium
13 7 (0.74%) SonicWALL