Problem-Solving Job Trends in the South West

Problem Solving
England > South West

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the South West requiring Problem-Solving skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 18 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 4 9
Rank change year-on-year -3 +5 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 587 671 946
As % of all permanent jobs in the South West 9.99% 18.74% 14.27%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 14.04% 21.24% 16.19%
Number of salaries quoted 364 298 714
10th Percentile £26,000 £30,625 £25,538
25th Percentile £29,250 £37,500 £32,938
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £41,250 £55,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -25.00% +15.79% -
75th Percentile £57,500 £68,750 £61,250
90th Percentile £72,125 £81,250 £72,500
England median annual salary £45,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -18.18% +10.00% -9.09%

All Process & Methodology Skills
South 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 South West.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 4,180 3,159 5,844
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South West 71.15% 88.24% 88.13%
Number of salaries quoted 2,830 1,515 4,588
10th Percentile £28,250 £31,250 £28,500
25th Percentile £35,000 £42,500 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -2.91%
75th Percentile £68,750 £70,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £82,500 £78,750
England median annual salary £55,000 £62,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year -12.00% +13.64% -12.00%

Problem-Solving
Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Problem-Solving relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the South West.

Problem-Solving job vacancy trend in the South West

Problem-Solving
Salary Trend in the South West

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Problem-Solving.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Salary Histogram in the South West

Salary distribution for jobs citing Problem-Solving in the South West over the 6 months to 18 February 2026.

Salary histogram for Problem-Solving in the South West

Problem-Solving
Job Locations in the South 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 South West region over the 6 months to 18 February 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
Bristol -11 147 £45,250 -17.73% 76
Somerset +10 102 £33,000 -35.18% 61
Wiltshire -5 87 £44,000 -20.00% 31
Gloucestershire -5 86 £42,500 -29.17% 64
Devon -1 79 £40,000 -11.11% 36
Dorset -2 49 £36,500 -30.48% 20
Cornwall -2 23 £32,000 -36.00% 12
Avon - 1 £52,500 - 52
Problem-Solving
England

Problem-Solving
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South 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
1 132 (22.49%) Microsoft Exchange
2 41 (6.98%) SharePoint
3 13 (2.21%) Confluence
4 10 (1.70%) CMS
5 5 (0.85%) Apache
6 3 (0.51%) IIS
7 2 (0.34%) Headless CMS
7 2 (0.34%) nginx
7 2 (0.34%) Umbraco
7 2 (0.34%) WordPress
8 1 (0.17%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 1 (0.17%) Joomla!
8 1 (0.17%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.17%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 35 (5.96%) Microsoft Excel
1 35 (5.96%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.02%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (0.68%) Fusion 360
4 2 (0.34%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.17%) AutoCAD
5 1 (0.17%) Elementor
5 1 (0.17%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.17%) Photoshop
Business Applications
1 3 (0.51%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.17%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.17%) Sage 200
2 1 (0.17%) Salesforce CRM
2 1 (0.17%) Shopify
2 1 (0.17%) Visualfiles
Cloud Services
1 190 (32.37%) Azure
2 182 (31.01%) Microsoft 365
3 70 (11.93%) AWS
4 38 (6.47%) Power Platform
5 25 (4.26%) Entra ID
6 22 (3.75%) GitHub
7 18 (3.07%) GCP
8 14 (2.39%) Power Automate
8 14 (2.39%) SaaS
9 11 (1.87%) OneDrive
10 9 (1.53%) GitHub Actions
11 8 (1.36%) Azure DevOps
12 6 (1.02%) Datadog
12 6 (1.02%) Figma
12 6 (1.02%) PowerApps
12 6 (1.02%) Serverless
13 5 (0.85%) Amazon ECS
13 5 (0.85%) Google Workspace
14 4 (0.68%) Amazon EKS
14 4 (0.68%) DigitalOcean
Communications & Networking
1 130 (22.15%) DNS
2 117 (19.93%) DHCP
3 33 (5.62%) Firewall
4 31 (5.28%) WAN
5 30 (5.11%) Wi-Fi
6 22 (3.75%) LAN
7 18 (3.07%) TCP/IP
8 14 (2.39%) 5G
9 13 (2.21%) SD-WAN
9 13 (2.21%) VPN
10 12 (2.04%) VLAN
11 10 (1.70%) VoIP
12 9 (1.53%) DKIM
12 9 (1.53%) DMARC
13 8 (1.36%) Broadband
14 6 (1.02%) HTTP
14 6 (1.02%) IPsec
14 6 (1.02%) Network Security
15 5 (0.85%) SAN
16 4 (0.68%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 99 (16.87%) Amazon RDS
2 35 (5.96%) Power BI
3 17 (2.90%) MySQL
4 12 (2.04%) MongoDB
4 12 (2.04%) SQL Server
5 11 (1.87%) NoSQL
5 11 (1.87%) Power Query
6 10 (1.70%) Data Warehouse
7 8 (1.36%) PowerPivot
8 7 (1.19%) PostgreSQL
8 7 (1.19%) Relational Database
8 7 (1.19%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 7 (1.19%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 7 (1.19%) Tableau
9 6 (1.02%) Metadata
10 5 (0.85%) Big Data
10 5 (0.85%) Geospatial Data
10 5 (0.85%) Metadata Repository
11 3 (0.51%) Elasticsearch
11 3 (0.51%) OLAP
Development Applications
1 40 (6.81%) Git
2 24 (4.09%) JIRA
3 14 (2.39%) Jenkins
4 12 (2.04%) LabVIEW
5 11 (1.87%) GitLab
6 6 (1.02%) CircleCI
6 6 (1.02%) Visual Studio
6 6 (1.02%) Xcode
7 4 (0.68%) IDA Disassembler
8 3 (0.51%) Balsamiq
8 3 (0.51%) Burp Suite
8 3 (0.51%) Cucumber
8 3 (0.51%) Metasploit
8 3 (0.51%) SonarQube
9 2 (0.34%) Gradle
9 2 (0.34%) Maven
10 1 (0.17%) Bitbucket
10 1 (0.17%) Gatling
10 1 (0.17%) LoadRunner
10 1 (0.17%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 326 (55.54%) Social Skills
2 216 (36.80%) Analytical Skills
3 105 (17.89%) Finance
4 37 (6.30%) Organisational Skills
5 29 (4.94%) Public Sector
6 24 (4.09%) Presentation Skills
7 22 (3.75%) Electronics
8 20 (3.41%) Legal
8 20 (3.41%) Manufacturing
9 19 (3.24%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 17 (2.90%) Telecoms
11 16 (2.73%) Retail
12 14 (2.39%) Aerospace
13 13 (2.21%) Military
14 10 (1.70%) Marketing
15 8 (1.36%) Agriculture
15 8 (1.36%) Banking
15 8 (1.36%) Law
16 7 (1.19%) Automotive
16 7 (1.19%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 104 (17.72%) Systems Engineer
2 89 (15.16%) Analyst
3 49 (8.35%) Developer
4 48 (8.18%) Senior
5 42 (7.16%) Support Analyst
6 39 (6.64%) IT Support
6 39 (6.64%) Support Engineer
7 29 (4.94%) Software Engineer
8 28 (4.77%) Business Analyst
9 22 (3.75%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 21 (3.58%) Technical Support
10 21 (3.58%) Test Engineer
11 19 (3.24%) IT Analyst
11 19 (3.24%) IT Engineer
12 18 (3.07%) 2nd Line Support
12 18 (3.07%) IT Support Analyst
13 17 (2.90%) Consultant
14 16 (2.73%) 1st Line Support
15 15 (2.56%) Trainee Analyst
15 15 (2.56%) Trainee Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (3.92%) React
2 19 (3.24%) RESTful
3 18 (3.07%) Node.js
4 16 (2.73%) .NET
5 15 (2.56%) CSS
6 14 (2.39%) Vue
7 12 (2.04%) HTML
7 12 (2.04%) pytest
8 11 (1.87%) Spring
9 9 (1.53%) AngularJS
10 7 (1.19%) Flutter
10 7 (1.19%) React Native
10 7 (1.19%) Spring Boot
11 6 (1.02%) .NET Framework
11 6 (1.02%) Apache NiFi
11 6 (1.02%) REST
12 5 (0.85%) Entity Framework
12 5 (0.85%) Laravel
13 4 (0.68%) Autofac
13 4 (0.68%) Bootstrap
Miscellaneous
1 106 (18.06%) Legacy Systems
2 46 (7.84%) Driving Licence
3 35 (5.96%) Self-Motivation
4 24 (4.09%) Onboarding
5 21 (3.58%) Satnav
6 20 (3.41%) GNSS
7 18 (3.07%) Mobile App
8 12 (2.04%) Cloud Native
8 12 (2.04%) Self-Driving Car
9 10 (1.70%) Product Ownership
10 8 (1.36%) Renewable Energy
11 7 (1.19%) Algorithms
11 7 (1.19%) Analytical Mindset
12 6 (1.02%) Data Centre
12 6 (1.02%) Digital Signage
12 6 (1.02%) EPoS
12 6 (1.02%) PMI
13 5 (0.85%) Enterprise Software
13 5 (0.85%) IoT
13 5 (0.85%) Reference Data
Operating Systems
1 197 (33.56%) Windows
2 147 (25.04%) Windows Server
3 141 (24.02%) Linux
4 99 (16.87%) Windows Server 2016
5 14 (2.39%) Apple iOS
6 13 (2.21%) Mac OS
6 13 (2.21%) Unix
7 11 (1.87%) Windows 10
8 10 (1.70%) Android
9 5 (0.85%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.17%) CentOS
10 1 (0.17%) CoreOS
10 1 (0.17%) Debian
10 1 (0.17%) OpenWrt
10 1 (0.17%) Solaris
10 1 (0.17%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 172 (29.30%) Customer Service
2 118 (20.10%) Customer Experience
3 115 (19.59%) Migration
4 112 (19.08%) Kalman Filter
5 99 (16.87%) Email Filtering
5 99 (16.87%) Vulnerability Remediation
5 99 (16.87%) Web Filtering
6 98 (16.70%) Vulnerability Scanning
7 75 (12.78%) Agile
8 71 (12.10%) Continuous Improvement
9 59 (10.05%) Test Automation
10 55 (9.37%) DevOps
11 54 (9.20%) ITIL
12 51 (8.69%) Project Management
12 51 (8.69%) Software Engineering
13 46 (7.84%) Business Intelligence
13 46 (7.84%) Mentoring
14 45 (7.67%) Service Delivery
15 43 (7.33%) CI/CD
16 41 (6.98%) B2B
Programming Languages
1 78 (13.29%) Python
2 48 (8.18%) SQL
3 44 (7.50%) PowerShell
4 26 (4.43%) JavaScript
5 25 (4.26%) Bash
6 21 (3.58%) Java
7 20 (3.41%) C++
8 19 (3.24%) C#
8 19 (3.24%) TypeScript
9 15 (2.56%) MATLAB
10 9 (1.53%) PHP
11 8 (1.36%) C
12 7 (1.19%) Swift
13 6 (1.02%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 6 (1.02%) Go
14 3 (0.51%) Google Apps Script
14 3 (0.51%) R
14 3 (0.51%) Tcl
14 3 (0.51%) VBScript
15 2 (0.34%) Scala
Qualifications
1 184 (31.35%) Security Cleared
2 138 (23.51%) SC Cleared
3 102 (17.38%) Degree
4 30 (5.11%) DV Cleared
5 20 (3.41%) BPSS Clearance
5 20 (3.41%) Microsoft Certification
6 18 (3.07%) HND
7 15 (2.56%) Network+ Certification
8 13 (2.21%) A+ Certification
9 10 (1.70%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 7 (1.19%) CCNA
10 7 (1.19%) Cisco Certification
10 7 (1.19%) PMI Certification
11 6 (1.02%) Computer Science Degree
11 6 (1.02%) CREST Certified
11 6 (1.02%) Master's Degree
12 4 (0.68%) CEH
12 4 (0.68%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 3 (0.51%) CITP
13 3 (0.51%) MCITP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 110 (18.74%) Cyber Essentials
2 101 (17.21%) PCI DSS
3 13 (2.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 10 (1.70%) Accessibility
4 10 (1.70%) ISO 9001
4 10 (1.70%) QA
4 10 (1.70%) SLA
5 7 (1.19%) GDPR
5 7 (1.19%) NIST
6 4 (0.68%) ISO 13485
7 3 (0.51%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 3 (0.51%) PMO
8 2 (0.34%) Actionable Recommendations
8 2 (0.34%) COBIT
8 2 (0.34%) Data Quality
8 2 (0.34%) SOC 2
9 1 (0.17%) ISO 20022
9 1 (0.17%) P3O
9 1 (0.17%) WCAG
System Software
1 155 (26.41%) Active Directory
2 124 (21.12%) Hyper-V
3 98 (16.70%) Terminal Server
4 24 (4.09%) Docker
5 16 (2.73%) VMware Infrastructure
6 4 (0.68%) Firmware
7 2 (0.34%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.17%) iptables
8 1 (0.17%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 23 (3.92%) Kubernetes
2 21 (3.58%) Microsoft Intune
3 17 (2.90%) Terraform
4 15 (2.56%) Ansible
5 12 (2.04%) Grafana
6 7 (1.19%) Jamf Pro
7 6 (1.02%) SCCM
7 6 (1.02%) Single Sign-On
8 4 (0.68%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 3 (0.51%) Kibana
9 3 (0.51%) logstash
9 3 (0.51%) Nmap
9 3 (0.51%) Prometheus
9 3 (0.51%) VxRail
10 2 (0.34%) CASB
10 2 (0.34%) Data Guard
10 2 (0.34%) Nagios
10 2 (0.34%) Puppet
11 1 (0.17%) Istio
11 1 (0.17%) linkerd
Vendors
1 224 (38.16%) Microsoft
2 122 (20.78%) VMware
3 108 (18.40%) Veeam
4 103 (17.55%) Splunk
5 98 (16.70%) Brocade
5 98 (16.70%) Nimble Storage
5 98 (16.70%) SolarWinds
5 98 (16.70%) Tanium
6 22 (3.75%) Cisco
7 19 (3.24%) Apple
8 12 (2.04%) Oracle
9 10 (1.70%) Google
10 8 (1.36%) Dell
10 8 (1.36%) Progress
11 7 (1.19%) Adobe
11 7 (1.19%) ServiceNow
12 6 (1.02%) arcserve
12 6 (1.02%) Red Hat
12 6 (1.02%) Salesforce
12 6 (1.02%) Xamarin