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

6 months to
16 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 25 7 8
Rank change year-on-year -18 +1 +15
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 669 1,027 1,243
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 6.38% 22.13% 13.19%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 8.91% 23.10% 16.10%
Number of salaries quoted 512 544 892
10th Percentile £27,025 £26,500 £26,250
25th Percentile £30,500 £34,504 £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 £61,250 £63,500 £61,250
90th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £77,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £50,967 £50,000
% change year-on-year -6.80% +1.93% -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 7,510 4,445 7,721
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 71.63% 95.78% 81.94%
Number of salaries quoted 4,903 2,127 6,124
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £27,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £38,750 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% +5.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £71,250 £70,000 £65,603
90th Percentile £90,000 £83,950 £80,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year - +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 16 May 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 16 May 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 -16 335 £50,000 - 212
Cheshire -22 107 £41,000 +12.33% 71
Merseyside -5 106 £40,000 +23.08% 39
Lancashire -10 73 £36,500 -21.08% 73
Cumbria -3 44 £36,000 +0.85% 9
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 54 (8.07%) SharePoint
2 42 (6.28%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (1.05%) Confluence
4 4 (0.60%) Moodle
4 4 (0.60%) Totara
5 3 (0.45%) Apache Spark
5 3 (0.45%) WordPress
6 2 (0.30%) ArcGIS
6 2 (0.30%) CMS
6 2 (0.30%) IIS
7 1 (0.15%) Apache
7 1 (0.15%) Umbraco
Applications
1 42 (6.28%) Microsoft Excel
2 25 (3.74%) Microsoft Office
3 8 (1.20%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.45%) Simulink
4 3 (0.45%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.15%) Acrobat
5 1 (0.15%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.15%) Trello
Business Applications
1 25 (3.74%) SAP S/4HANA
2 13 (1.94%) SAP ERP
3 7 (1.05%) Magento
4 6 (0.90%) Workday HCM
5 5 (0.75%) Dynamics CRM
6 4 (0.60%) Dynamics AX
6 4 (0.60%) SAP PP
6 4 (0.60%) Shopify
7 2 (0.30%) Dynamics NAV
8 1 (0.15%) NetSuite
8 1 (0.15%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 156 (23.32%) Azure
2 135 (20.18%) Microsoft 365
3 76 (11.36%) Power Platform
4 62 (9.27%) AWS
5 35 (5.23%) Entra ID
6 28 (4.19%) Dynamics 365
6 28 (4.19%) SaaS
7 26 (3.89%) GCP
8 24 (3.59%) GitHub
9 23 (3.44%) PowerApps
10 21 (3.14%) Power Automate
11 20 (2.99%) Azure DevOps
11 20 (2.99%) Microsoft Purview
12 12 (1.79%) Boomi
13 11 (1.64%) Microsoft Copilot
13 11 (1.64%) OneDrive
14 10 (1.49%) Serverless
15 8 (1.20%) Azure Monitor
15 8 (1.20%) Azure Sentinel
16 7 (1.05%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 57 (8.52%) Firewall
2 34 (5.08%) DNS
3 33 (4.93%) VLAN
4 30 (4.48%) DHCP
4 30 (4.48%) VPN
5 24 (3.59%) Wi-Fi
6 23 (3.44%) Wireless
7 20 (2.99%) TCP/IP
8 19 (2.84%) VoIP
9 15 (2.24%) WAN
10 12 (1.79%) Unified Communications
11 11 (1.64%) LAN
11 11 (1.64%) Network Security
11 11 (1.64%) Structured Cabling
12 10 (1.49%) Broadband
13 9 (1.35%) SD-WAN
14 6 (0.90%) IP Telephony
14 6 (0.90%) Telepresence
14 6 (0.90%) WebEx
15 5 (0.75%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 52 (7.77%) Power BI
2 30 (4.48%) SQL Server Reporting Services
3 23 (3.44%) SQL Server
4 11 (1.64%) MySQL
5 10 (1.49%) NoSQL
6 9 (1.35%) PostgreSQL
7 8 (1.20%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 7 (1.05%) MongoDB
9 5 (0.75%) Data Warehouse
10 4 (0.60%) Looker
10 4 (0.60%) Power Query
11 3 (0.45%) Azure SQL Database
11 3 (0.45%) Big Data
11 3 (0.45%) DynamoDB
11 3 (0.45%) Elasticsearch
11 3 (0.45%) Relational Database
11 3 (0.45%) SAP HANA
11 3 (0.45%) Tableau
12 2 (0.30%) OLAP
12 2 (0.30%) PowerPivot
Development Applications
1 29 (4.33%) Git
2 25 (3.74%) JIRA
3 7 (1.05%) Bitbucket
3 7 (1.05%) GitLab
4 3 (0.45%) Jenkins
5 2 (0.30%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 1 (0.15%) Claude Code
6 1 (0.15%) gulp
6 1 (0.15%) LabVIEW
6 1 (0.15%) Rational DOORS
6 1 (0.15%) TeamCity
6 1 (0.15%) webpack
General
1 283 (42.30%) Social Skills
2 192 (28.70%) Analytical Skills
3 120 (17.94%) Finance
4 54 (8.07%) Organisational Skills
5 52 (7.77%) Manufacturing
6 40 (5.98%) Law
7 36 (5.38%) Retail
8 32 (4.78%) Marketing
8 32 (4.78%) Public Sector
9 29 (4.33%) Legal
10 21 (3.14%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 18 (2.69%) Telecoms
12 14 (2.09%) Banking
13 11 (1.64%) Advertising
13 11 (1.64%) Documentation Skills
14 10 (1.49%) French Language
15 9 (1.35%) Games
15 9 (1.35%) Investment Banking
16 8 (1.20%) Electronics
17 7 (1.05%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 84 (12.56%) Analyst
1 84 (12.56%) Senior
2 80 (11.96%) IT Support
3 77 (11.51%) Support Engineer
4 66 (9.87%) Developer
5 50 (7.47%) IT Engineer
6 48 (7.17%) IT Support Engineer
7 36 (5.38%) Consultant
8 34 (5.08%) Lead
8 34 (5.08%) Support Technician
9 28 (4.19%) Business Analyst
9 28 (4.19%) Senior Developer
10 24 (3.59%) Software Engineer
11 19 (2.84%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 16 (2.39%) Administrator
12 16 (2.39%) Architect
12 16 (2.39%) IT Support Technician
12 16 (2.39%) IT Technician
12 16 (2.39%) Technical Analyst
13 15 (2.24%) 2nd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (4.19%) React
2 27 (4.04%) REST
3 26 (3.89%) .NET
4 24 (3.59%) HTML
5 22 (3.29%) EDI
5 22 (3.29%) Spring
5 22 (3.29%) Spring Boot
6 16 (2.39%) CSS
7 15 (2.24%) SOAP
8 14 (2.09%) AngularJS
8 14 (2.09%) Middleware
8 14 (2.09%) XML
9 12 (1.79%) JSON
10 11 (1.64%) SAP Fiori
11 10 (1.49%) RESTful
11 10 (1.49%) Vue
12 8 (1.20%) Node.js
12 8 (1.20%) Web Services
13 7 (1.05%) OAuth2
13 7 (1.05%) SAP Core Interface
Miscellaneous
1 62 (9.27%) Driving Licence
2 52 (7.77%) Onboarding
3 21 (3.14%) Product Ownership
4 20 (2.99%) Data Centre
5 17 (2.54%) Analytical Mindset
6 16 (2.39%) Self-Motivation
7 15 (2.24%) Cloud Native
7 15 (2.24%) Distributed Systems
8 14 (2.09%) CCTV
9 11 (1.64%) Management Information System
10 10 (1.49%) Enterprise Software
10 10 (1.49%) Mobile App
11 9 (1.35%) CMDB
11 9 (1.35%) Enterprise Cloud
11 9 (1.35%) FMCG
11 9 (1.35%) Social Media
12 7 (1.05%) EPoS
12 7 (1.05%) Security Posture
13 6 (0.90%) AI Agents
13 6 (0.90%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 114 (17.04%) Windows
2 49 (7.32%) Windows Server
3 35 (5.23%) Windows 10
4 22 (3.29%) Apple iOS
5 20 (2.99%) Linux
6 14 (2.09%) Android
7 7 (1.05%) Mac OS
7 7 (1.05%) Windows 7
7 7 (1.05%) Windows 8
7 7 (1.05%) Windows Server 2016
8 5 (0.75%) Windows Server 2019
9 4 (0.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 4 (0.60%) Unix
10 3 (0.45%) Solaris
11 1 (0.15%) CentOS
11 1 (0.15%) CoreOS
11 1 (0.15%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.15%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 144 (21.52%) Customer Service
2 128 (19.13%) Continuous Improvement
3 103 (15.40%) Mentoring
4 82 (12.26%) Stakeholder Management
5 74 (11.06%) Decision-Making
6 72 (10.76%) Agile
7 69 (10.31%) AI
8 60 (8.97%) Roadmaps
9 56 (8.37%) CRM
10 54 (8.07%) DevOps
11 53 (7.92%) CI/CD
12 52 (7.77%) ERP
13 51 (7.62%) Collaborative Working
13 51 (7.62%) User Experience
14 48 (7.17%) Project Management
15 47 (7.03%) Analytics
16 46 (6.88%) Software Engineering
17 42 (6.28%) Business Intelligence
18 39 (5.83%) Coaching
18 39 (5.83%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 97 (14.50%) SQL
2 61 (9.12%) Python
3 36 (5.38%) C#
4 32 (4.78%) Java
5 31 (4.63%) JavaScript
6 14 (2.09%) PowerShell
7 10 (1.49%) C++
8 9 (1.35%) Bash
8 9 (1.35%) Kotlin
8 9 (1.35%) TypeScript
9 8 (1.20%) T-SQL
10 7 (1.05%) PHP
11 5 (0.75%) C
11 5 (0.75%) Shell Script
12 4 (0.60%) Bicep
12 4 (0.60%) Ruby
13 3 (0.45%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 3 (0.45%) Go
13 3 (0.45%) MATLAB
13 3 (0.45%) Scala
Qualifications
1 74 (11.06%) Degree
2 23 (3.44%) Security Cleared
3 22 (3.29%) DBS Check
4 18 (2.69%) BPSS Clearance
5 16 (2.39%) SC Cleared
6 13 (1.94%) Microsoft Certification
7 10 (1.49%) HNC
8 9 (1.35%) Cisco Certification
9 8 (1.20%) Computer Science Degree
9 8 (1.20%) DV Cleared
9 8 (1.20%) Network+ Certification
10 7 (1.05%) Azure Certification
11 6 (0.90%) MCSA
12 5 (0.75%) CCNA
12 5 (0.75%) CCNP
12 5 (0.75%) CompTIA Security+
13 4 (0.60%) ITIL Certification
13 4 (0.60%) PMI Certification
13 4 (0.60%) PMP
14 3 (0.45%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (4.78%) QA
2 29 (4.33%) SLA
3 28 (4.19%) Data Quality
4 22 (3.29%) GDPR
5 12 (1.79%) TickIT
6 10 (1.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 9 (1.35%) Cyber Essentials
8 8 (1.20%) Accessibility
8 8 (1.20%) ISO 9001
9 3 (0.45%) ISO/IEC 14443
9 3 (0.45%) ISO/IEC 7816
10 2 (0.30%) PCI DSS
11 1 (0.15%) DICOM
11 1 (0.15%) GMP
11 1 (0.15%) NEBOSH
11 1 (0.15%) PMO
System Software
1 92 (13.75%) Active Directory
2 22 (3.29%) Docker
3 20 (2.99%) Hyper-V
3 20 (2.99%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (1.05%) VMware Workstation
5 4 (0.60%) Virtual Desktop
6 3 (0.45%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.30%) Firmware
7 2 (0.30%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 36 (5.38%) Microsoft Intune
2 30 (4.48%) Terraform
3 21 (3.14%) Kubernetes
4 19 (2.84%) SCCM
5 12 (1.79%) Ansible
6 9 (1.35%) Single Sign-On
7 8 (1.20%) Autotask
8 6 (0.90%) Cisco CUCM
8 6 (0.90%) Grafana
8 6 (0.90%) Prometheus
9 5 (0.75%) FortiGate
10 3 (0.45%) Jamf Pro
10 3 (0.45%) Microsoft Clustering
10 3 (0.45%) Nagios
10 3 (0.45%) Podman
10 3 (0.45%) Rancher
11 2 (0.30%) cPanel
11 2 (0.30%) Plesk
12 1 (0.15%) McAfee ePO
12 1 (0.15%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 222 (33.18%) Microsoft
2 30 (4.48%) SAP
3 24 (3.59%) VMware
4 16 (2.39%) Google
5 15 (2.24%) Cisco
6 14 (2.09%) Oracle
7 11 (1.64%) ServiceNow
8 10 (1.49%) Apple
8 10 (1.49%) iManage
8 10 (1.49%) Workday
9 9 (1.35%) Aruba
10 8 (1.20%) HubSpot
10 8 (1.20%) Meraki
11 7 (1.05%) ESET
11 7 (1.05%) New Relic
11 7 (1.05%) Splunk
12 6 (0.90%) Adobe
12 6 (0.90%) Intapp
13 5 (0.75%) Aderant
13 5 (0.75%) Juniper