Strategic Thinking Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Strategic Thinking
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the Thames Valley requiring Strategic Thinking skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 14 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 104 106 161
Rank change year-on-year +2 +55 +56
Permanent jobs citing Strategic Thinking 67 77 38
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 1.66% 2.28% 0.96%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.06% 2.48% 1.08%
Number of salaries quoted 24 38 17
10th Percentile £46,250 £49,625 £43,941
25th Percentile £59,063 £50,967 £60,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £71,250 £55,000 £70,000
Median % change year-on-year +29.55% -21.43% -16.17%
75th Percentile £86,250 £85,800 £90,000
90th Percentile £104,500 £90,000 £99,000
South East median annual salary £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
% change year-on-year +3.70% +3.85% -

All Process & Methodology Skills
Thames Valley

Strategic 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 3,245 3,106 3,530
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 80.48% 91.78% 89.19%
Number of salaries quoted 1,770 1,383 2,439
10th Percentile £30,000 £35,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £35,500 £45,000 £39,043
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% +9.09% -
75th Percentile £68,750 £76,000 £68,750
90th Percentile £80,000 £90,000 £83,750
South East median annual salary £50,000 £58,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -14.53% +11.43% -4.55%

Strategic Thinking
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

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

Strategic Thinking job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

Strategic Thinking
Salary Trend in the Thames Valley

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

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

Strategic Thinking
Salary Histogram in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution for jobs citing Strategic Thinking in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 14 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Strategic Thinking in the Thames Valley

Strategic 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 Strategic Thinking within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 14 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
Buckinghamshire -9 33 £55,000 +7.91% 10
Oxfordshire +31 18 £75,000 +11.11% 9
Berkshire -9 16 £70,000 +27.27% 39
Strategic Thinking
South East

Strategic 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 4 (5.97%) Azure
2 2 (2.99%) Microsoft 365
3 1 (1.49%) Azure Data Factory
3 1 (1.49%) Entra ID
3 1 (1.49%) iPaaS
3 1 (1.49%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 2 (2.99%) Broadband
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.49%) Data Lake
1 1 (1.49%) Data Warehouse
1 1 (1.49%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 22 (32.84%) Git
1 22 (32.84%) Jenkins
1 22 (32.84%) JIRA
General
1 49 (73.13%) Social Skills
2 33 (49.25%) Organisational Skills
3 16 (23.88%) Analytical Skills
4 5 (7.46%) Finance
5 2 (2.99%) Games
5 2 (2.99%) Manufacturing
5 2 (2.99%) Presentation Skills
5 2 (2.99%) Telecoms
6 1 (1.49%) Banking
6 1 (1.49%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 32 (47.76%) Lead
2 10 (14.93%) Architect
2 10 (14.93%) Software Manager
3 6 (8.96%) Head of IT
4 4 (5.97%) Business Architect
4 4 (5.97%) Enterprise Architect
4 4 (5.97%) Enterprise Information Architect
4 4 (5.97%) Enterprise Security Architect
4 4 (5.97%) Information Architect
4 4 (5.97%) Information Security Architect
4 4 (5.97%) IT Manager
4 4 (5.97%) Product Manager
4 4 (5.97%) Security Architect
5 2 (2.99%) Data Manager
5 2 (2.99%) Head of Engineering
5 2 (2.99%) Head of Infrastructure
5 2 (2.99%) Head of IT Infrastructure
5 2 (2.99%) Head of IT Security
5 2 (2.99%) Head of Security
5 2 (2.99%) Systems Architect
Miscellaneous
1 9 (13.43%) Onboarding
2 6 (8.96%) Management Information System
3 4 (5.97%) Life Science
3 4 (5.97%) Product Ownership
4 2 (2.99%) Cyber Security Posture
4 2 (2.99%) Driving Licence
4 2 (2.99%) Enterprise Software
5 1 (1.49%) Mobile App
5 1 (1.49%) Security Posture
5 1 (1.49%) Self-Motivation
Processes & Methodologies
1 46 (68.66%) Continuous Improvement
2 34 (50.75%) Process Improvement
3 26 (38.81%) Change Management
4 24 (35.82%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 23 (34.33%) Change Control
6 22 (32.84%) Configuration Management
6 22 (32.84%) Customer Requirements
6 22 (32.84%) Data-Driven Decision Making
6 22 (32.84%) Programme Management
6 22 (32.84%) Technical Leadership
7 16 (23.88%) Stakeholder Management
8 14 (20.90%) Analytical Thinking
8 14 (20.90%) Problem-Solving
8 14 (20.90%) Roadmaps
9 11 (16.42%) Agile
10 10 (14.93%) Decision-Making
11 9 (13.43%) Actionable Insight
12 8 (11.94%) Computer Science
12 8 (11.94%) User Experience
13 7 (10.45%) IT Strategy
Programming Languages
1 1 (1.49%) SQL
Qualifications
1 35 (52.24%) Degree
2 22 (32.84%) Security Cleared
3 9 (13.43%) ACCA
4 8 (11.94%) Master's Degree
5 7 (10.45%) Computer Science Degree
6 6 (8.96%) CISM
6 6 (8.96%) CISSP
7 4 (5.97%) DBS Check
7 4 (5.97%) TOGAF Certification
8 2 (2.99%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 1 (1.49%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (32.84%) Def Stans
1 22 (32.84%) QA
2 5 (7.46%) GRC
3 4 (5.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 2 (2.99%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (2.99%) NIST
5 1 (1.49%) Accessibility
5 1 (1.49%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (1.49%) GDPR
Systems Management
1 1 (1.49%) Terraform
Vendors
1 9 (13.43%) Xero
2 4 (5.97%) Microsoft
2 4 (5.97%) Salesforce
2 4 (5.97%) SAP
3 2 (2.99%) Concur
4 1 (1.49%) Databricks
4 1 (1.49%) HubSpot