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 10 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 14 7 7
Rank change year-on-year -7 0 +9
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 784 1,028 1,420
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 7.01% 20.05% 13.69%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 9.84% 21.79% 17.27%
Number of salaries quoted 624 517 847
10th Percentile £26,500 £25,052 £26,250
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,500 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £46,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -2.17% -3.16% -
75th Percentile £61,250 £62,000 £61,250
90th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £77,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £49,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -3.06% -2.00% -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 7,965 4,718 8,223
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the North West 71.23% 92.04% 79.30%
Number of salaries quoted 6,122 2,274 6,081
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,000 £28,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £35,750 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,055 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.88% +0.11% -9.09%
75th Percentile £75,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £82,500 £80,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -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 10 July 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 10 July 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 -11 416 £50,000 - 196
Cheshire -10 128 £40,500 +8.00% 72
Merseyside -8 123 £42,500 +6.25% 29
Lancashire +5 76 £41,500 +23.09% 82
Cumbria -8 35 £32,500 -0.31% 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 67 (8.55%) SharePoint
2 56 (7.14%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (1.40%) IIS
4 6 (0.77%) Confluence
5 5 (0.64%) Apache Spark
6 4 (0.51%) Moodle
6 4 (0.51%) Totara
7 2 (0.26%) Apache
7 2 (0.26%) ArcGIS
7 2 (0.26%) nginx
7 2 (0.26%) WordPress
8 1 (0.13%) CMS
8 1 (0.13%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 1 (0.13%) Umbraco
Applications
1 49 (6.25%) Microsoft Excel
2 30 (3.83%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (1.28%) MS Visio
4 5 (0.64%) Spreadsheet
5 3 (0.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 2 (0.26%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.26%) Windchill
7 1 (0.13%) Acrobat
7 1 (0.13%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 24 (3.06%) SAP S/4HANA
2 13 (1.66%) SAP ERP
3 7 (0.89%) Magento
4 6 (0.77%) Workday HCM
5 5 (0.64%) Dynamics CRM
6 4 (0.51%) Dynamics AX
6 4 (0.51%) SAP PP
6 4 (0.51%) Shopify
7 2 (0.26%) Dynamics NAV
8 1 (0.13%) Odoo
8 1 (0.13%) Oracle Applications
8 1 (0.13%) Oracle EBS
8 1 (0.13%) Salesforce CRM
8 1 (0.13%) SAP ECC
Cloud Services
1 185 (23.60%) Azure
2 159 (20.28%) Microsoft 365
3 97 (12.37%) AWS
4 86 (10.97%) Power Platform
5 37 (4.72%) PowerApps
6 29 (3.70%) Power Automate
7 28 (3.57%) Dynamics 365
8 27 (3.44%) GCP
8 27 (3.44%) SaaS
9 26 (3.32%) Azure DevOps
9 26 (3.32%) GitHub
10 23 (2.93%) Entra ID
10 23 (2.93%) Microsoft Copilot
11 20 (2.55%) OneDrive
12 18 (2.30%) Microsoft Purview
13 16 (2.04%) Serverless
14 12 (1.53%) Boomi
15 9 (1.15%) Azure Data Factory
15 9 (1.15%) Copilot Studio
16 8 (1.02%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 78 (9.95%) Firewall
2 55 (7.02%) DNS
3 51 (6.51%) DHCP
4 41 (5.23%) VPN
5 39 (4.97%) TCP/IP
6 37 (4.72%) VLAN
7 36 (4.59%) Wi-Fi
8 25 (3.19%) VoIP
9 24 (3.06%) Wireless
10 20 (2.55%) Network Security
11 17 (2.17%) WAN
12 16 (2.04%) LAN
13 14 (1.79%) Structured Cabling
14 12 (1.53%) Broadband
15 11 (1.40%) SD-WAN
16 6 (0.77%) IP Telephony
16 6 (0.77%) SAN
16 6 (0.77%) Wireshark
17 5 (0.64%) Unified Communications
18 4 (0.51%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 55 (7.02%) Power BI
2 41 (5.23%) SQL Server
3 32 (4.08%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 15 (1.91%) Data Warehouse
4 15 (1.91%) MySQL
5 13 (1.66%) PostgreSQL
6 10 (1.28%) NoSQL
7 9 (1.15%) Big Data
7 9 (1.15%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 6 (0.77%) MongoDB
9 5 (0.64%) Elasticsearch
9 5 (0.64%) Power Query
9 5 (0.64%) Tableau
10 4 (0.51%) Looker
10 4 (0.51%) Neo4j
10 4 (0.51%) Redis
11 3 (0.38%) Amazon RDS
11 3 (0.38%) Amazon Redshift
11 3 (0.38%) Relational Database
11 3 (0.38%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 31 (3.95%) Git
2 26 (3.32%) JIRA
3 7 (0.89%) Jenkins
4 6 (0.77%) GitLab
5 5 (0.64%) Bitbucket
6 4 (0.51%) Cucumber
6 4 (0.51%) Cypress.io
6 4 (0.51%) Robot Framework
7 3 (0.38%) Claude Code
8 2 (0.26%) Rational DOORS
8 2 (0.26%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 1 (0.13%) Gemini Tracker
9 1 (0.13%) gulp
9 1 (0.13%) LabVIEW
9 1 (0.13%) Oracle Forms
9 1 (0.13%) Rational Rhapsody
9 1 (0.13%) webpack
General
1 311 (39.67%) Social Skills
2 217 (27.68%) Analytical Skills
3 114 (14.54%) Finance
4 67 (8.55%) Manufacturing
5 66 (8.42%) Organisational Skills
6 57 (7.27%) Law
7 41 (5.23%) Retail
8 39 (4.97%) Legal
9 33 (4.21%) Marketing
10 32 (4.08%) Public Sector
11 17 (2.17%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 16 (2.04%) Documentation Skills
13 15 (1.91%) Banking
13 15 (1.91%) Telecoms
14 12 (1.53%) Games
15 10 (1.28%) Aerospace
16 9 (1.15%) Investment Banking
17 8 (1.02%) Influencing Skills
18 7 (0.89%) Portuguese Language
18 7 (0.89%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 107 (13.65%) Senior
2 99 (12.63%) Developer
3 92 (11.73%) Analyst
4 84 (10.71%) IT Support
5 77 (9.82%) Support Engineer
6 51 (6.51%) IT Engineer
7 49 (6.25%) IT Support Engineer
8 44 (5.61%) Lead
9 38 (4.85%) Consultant
10 37 (4.72%) Software Engineer
11 35 (4.46%) Senior Developer
12 34 (4.34%) Support Technician
13 19 (2.42%) Administrator
13 19 (2.42%) Senior Analyst
14 18 (2.30%) Infrastructure Engineer
15 17 (2.17%) Business Analyst
15 17 (2.17%) Support Analyst
16 16 (2.04%) 1st Line Support
16 16 (2.04%) 2nd Line Support
16 16 (2.04%) Technical Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 46 (5.87%) .NET
2 43 (5.48%) React
3 39 (4.97%) HTML
4 33 (4.21%) REST
5 24 (3.06%) AngularJS
5 24 (3.06%) Spring
6 23 (2.93%) CSS
6 23 (2.93%) Middleware
7 22 (2.81%) Spring Boot
7 22 (2.81%) Vue
8 21 (2.68%) EDI
9 16 (2.04%) SOAP
10 14 (1.79%) XML
11 13 (1.66%) JSON
11 13 (1.66%) Node.js
12 11 (1.40%) Next.js
12 11 (1.40%) RESTful
12 11 (1.40%) Web Services
13 10 (1.28%) React Native
14 9 (1.15%) SAP Fiori
Miscellaneous
1 71 (9.06%) Driving Licence
2 53 (6.76%) Onboarding
3 36 (4.59%) Cloud Native
4 35 (4.46%) Product Ownership
5 24 (3.06%) Data Centre
6 21 (2.68%) Distributed Systems
6 21 (2.68%) Self-Motivation
7 15 (1.91%) Mobile App
8 13 (1.66%) CCTV
8 13 (1.66%) Security Posture
9 12 (1.53%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 11 (1.40%) Management Information System
11 10 (1.28%) Analytical Mindset
12 9 (1.15%) Enterprise Cloud
12 9 (1.15%) Social Media
13 8 (1.02%) AI Agents
14 7 (0.89%) Legacy Systems
14 7 (0.89%) Low-Code
14 7 (0.89%) Replication
15 6 (0.77%) FMCG
Operating Systems
1 141 (17.98%) Windows
2 69 (8.80%) Windows Server
3 48 (6.12%) Windows 10
4 25 (3.19%) Linux
5 24 (3.06%) Apple iOS
6 19 (2.42%) Android
7 7 (0.89%) Windows 7
7 7 (0.89%) Windows 8
7 7 (0.89%) Windows Server 2016
8 6 (0.77%) Mac OS
9 5 (0.64%) Windows Server 2019
10 3 (0.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 3 (0.38%) Unix
11 2 (0.26%) Solaris
12 1 (0.13%) CentOS
12 1 (0.13%) CoreOS
12 1 (0.13%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.13%) VME
12 1 (0.13%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 190 (24.23%) Continuous Improvement
2 176 (22.45%) Customer Service
3 116 (14.80%) Mentoring
4 92 (11.73%) Agile
4 92 (11.73%) Decision-Making
5 88 (11.22%) AI
5 88 (11.22%) CI/CD
6 86 (10.97%) Stakeholder Management
7 79 (10.08%) Roadmaps
8 74 (9.44%) Analytics
8 74 (9.44%) CRM
9 72 (9.18%) Software Engineering
10 70 (8.93%) DevOps
11 62 (7.91%) User Experience
12 61 (7.78%) ERP
13 59 (7.53%) Collaborative Working
14 52 (6.63%) Test Automation
15 48 (6.12%) Cybersecurity
16 46 (5.87%) Business Intelligence
16 46 (5.87%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 135 (17.22%) SQL
2 100 (12.76%) Python
3 55 (7.02%) C#
4 52 (6.63%) JavaScript
5 40 (5.10%) Java
6 27 (3.44%) PowerShell
7 17 (2.17%) TypeScript
8 16 (2.04%) Bash
9 13 (1.66%) PHP
10 12 (1.53%) C++
11 10 (1.28%) T-SQL
12 8 (1.02%) Ruby
13 6 (0.77%) Kotlin
13 6 (0.77%) R
13 6 (0.77%) Shell Script
14 5 (0.64%) Bicep
14 5 (0.64%) C
14 5 (0.64%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 4 (0.51%) Apex Code
16 3 (0.38%) SOQL
Qualifications
1 91 (11.61%) Degree
2 42 (5.36%) Security Cleared
3 26 (3.32%) DBS Check
4 23 (2.93%) SC Cleared
5 20 (2.55%) Microsoft Certification
6 15 (1.91%) BPSS Clearance
6 15 (1.91%) Cisco Certification
6 15 (1.91%) Computer Science Degree
7 13 (1.66%) DV Cleared
8 12 (1.53%) HNC
9 11 (1.40%) CCNP
10 8 (1.02%) Azure Certification
10 8 (1.02%) CCNA
10 8 (1.02%) Master's Degree
11 7 (0.89%) MCSA
11 7 (0.89%) Postgraduate
12 5 (0.64%) ACCA
12 5 (0.64%) CompTIA Security+
12 5 (0.64%) PMI Certification
13 4 (0.51%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (5.36%) Data Quality
2 33 (4.21%) QA
3 30 (3.83%) GDPR
4 27 (3.44%) SLA
5 26 (3.32%) Accessibility
6 18 (2.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 12 (1.53%) TickIT
8 8 (1.02%) ISO 9001
9 7 (0.89%) NIST
10 6 (0.77%) Cyber Essentials
11 4 (0.51%) ISO/IEC 14443
11 4 (0.51%) ISO/IEC 7816
12 2 (0.26%) Actionable Recommendations
12 2 (0.26%) WCAG
13 1 (0.13%) DICOM
13 1 (0.13%) IFRS
13 1 (0.13%) IFRS 9
13 1 (0.13%) PCI DSS
13 1 (0.13%) PMO
13 1 (0.13%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 96 (12.24%) Active Directory
2 36 (4.59%) VMware Infrastructure
3 35 (4.46%) Docker
4 24 (3.06%) Hyper-V
5 7 (0.89%) VMware Workstation
6 4 (0.51%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.38%) Virtual Desktop
7 3 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.26%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 35 (4.46%) Kubernetes
2 29 (3.70%) Microsoft Intune
3 26 (3.32%) Terraform
4 17 (2.17%) SCCM
5 13 (1.66%) Ansible
6 12 (1.53%) Grafana
7 11 (1.40%) Prometheus
8 9 (1.15%) FortiGate
9 8 (1.02%) Autotask
10 4 (0.51%) Argo
10 4 (0.51%) Microsoft Clustering
11 3 (0.38%) Jamf Pro
12 2 (0.26%) Nagios
12 2 (0.26%) Podman
13 1 (0.13%) Istio
13 1 (0.13%) linkerd
13 1 (0.13%) Rancher
13 1 (0.13%) SCVMM
13 1 (0.13%) Single Sign-On
13 1 (0.13%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 278 (35.46%) Microsoft
2 40 (5.10%) VMware
3 30 (3.83%) SAP
4 17 (2.17%) Google
5 13 (1.66%) Cisco
6 12 (1.53%) Aruba
6 12 (1.53%) ServiceNow
7 11 (1.40%) HubSpot
8 10 (1.28%) Adobe
8 10 (1.28%) iManage
8 10 (1.28%) Salesforce
9 9 (1.15%) SonicWALL
9 9 (1.15%) Sophos
10 8 (1.02%) Meraki
11 7 (0.89%) ESET
11 7 (0.89%) Juniper
11 7 (0.89%) Oracle
11 7 (0.89%) Tanium
11 7 (0.89%) Workday
12 6 (0.77%) Apple