Critical Thinking Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Critical Thinking
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the Thames Valley requiring Critical Thinking skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 6 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 166 170 183
Rank change year-on-year +4 +13 +27
Permanent jobs citing Critical Thinking 6 12 5
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 0.15% 0.35% 0.14%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.19% 0.38% 0.15%
Number of salaries quoted 4 5 5
10th Percentile - £36,200 £48,250
25th Percentile - - £51,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £50,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +30.00% -16.67% -14.29%
75th Percentile £65,938 - -
90th Percentile £67,625 - -
South East median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +5.00% -16.67% -14.29%

All Process & Methodology Skills
Thames Valley

Critical Thinking 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 Thames Valley.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 3,243 3,158 3,305
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 80.75% 91.64% 90.05%
Number of salaries quoted 1,736 1,437 2,296
10th Percentile £30,000 £35,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £35,000 £45,000 £39,790
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% +9.09% -
75th Percentile £67,500 £76,000 £68,750
90th Percentile £80,000 £90,000 £85,000
South East median annual salary £50,000 £57,500 £53,000
% change year-on-year -13.04% +8.49% -3.64%

Critical Thinking
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Critical Thinking relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

Critical Thinking job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

Critical Thinking
Salary Trend in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Critical Thinking.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking
Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Critical Thinking within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 6 January 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
Berkshire 0 6 £65,000 - 5
Critical Thinking
South East

Critical Thinking
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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:

Cloud Services
1 1 (16.67%) AWS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (16.67%) Relational Database
General
1 6 (100.00%) Analytical Skills
2 1 (16.67%) Manufacturing
2 1 (16.67%) Presentation Skills
2 1 (16.67%) Social Skills
Job Titles
1 4 (66.67%) Architect
1 4 (66.67%) Business Architect
2 2 (33.33%) Lead
3 1 (16.67%) Data Scientist
3 1 (16.67%) Lead Architect
Processes & Methodologies
1 6 (100.00%) Decision-Making
2 5 (83.33%) Analytical Thinking
2 5 (83.33%) Strategic Thinking
3 4 (66.67%) Continuous Improvement
3 4 (66.67%) Cost Optimisation
3 4 (66.67%) Roadmaps
4 3 (50.00%) Cost Reduction
4 3 (50.00%) Digital Transformation Programme
4 3 (50.00%) Process Improvement
4 3 (50.00%) Strategic Roadmap
5 2 (33.33%) Enterprise Architecture
6 1 (16.67%) Data Analysis
6 1 (16.67%) Data Management
6 1 (16.67%) ETL
6 1 (16.67%) Mathematics
6 1 (16.67%) Predictive Analytics
6 1 (16.67%) Statistics
6 1 (16.67%) Strategic Planning
6 1 (16.67%) Test Automation
6 1 (16.67%) Visualisation
Programming Languages
1 1 (16.67%) Python
1 1 (16.67%) R
1 1 (16.67%) SQL
Qualifications
1 1 (16.67%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (16.67%) Accessibility
1 1 (16.67%) Data Quality
Vendors
1 2 (33.33%) Salesforce
1 2 (33.33%) SAP