Problem-Solving Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Problem Solving
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring Problem-Solving skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 28 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 4 6
Rank change year-on-year -7 +2 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 4,959 5,878 10,605
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 7.35% 20.65% 14.87%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.34% 22.46% 18.13%
Number of salaries quoted 3,666 3,002 6,911
10th Percentile £26,500 £26,250 £25,500
25th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £45,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.56% - -10.00%
75th Percentile £59,375 £61,250 £60,000
90th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £72,500
UK median annual salary £47,500 £50,055 £49,000
% change year-on-year -5.10% +2.15% -10.91%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK excluding London

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 UK excluding London.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 47,944 26,176 58,507
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 71.09% 91.95% 82.03%
Number of salaries quoted 31,206 12,882 41,747
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £27,250
25th Percentile £38,000 £35,000 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £51,324 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +2.29% +2.65% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £82,500 £77,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £58,033 £55,000
% change year-on-year +3.39% +5.51% -9.84%

Problem-Solving
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

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

Problem-Solving job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Problem-Solving
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Problem-Solving.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing Problem-Solving in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 28 May 2026.

Salary histogram for Problem-Solving in the UK excluding London

Problem-Solving
Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Problem-Solving within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 28 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
North of England -9 1,362 £42,500 -5.56% 661
South East -8 1,178 £46,000 - 705
Midlands -22 914 £42,000 -6.67% 394
North West -16 699 £45,000 -4.26% 372
South West -7 573 £43,500 +8.75% 276
West Midlands -23 535 £42,500 -11.46% 249
Yorkshire -11 514 £41,500 +9.21% 215
East of England -7 493 £43,500 +7.41% 267
East Midlands -10 375 £35,000 -9.09% 146
Scotland -5 279 £35,000 -29.15% 123
North East -17 149 £48,000 +6.67% 85
Wales -13 112 £42,500 -15.00% 53
Northern Ireland -5 68 £38,500 -30.00% 60
Isle of Man +2 3 £35,000 +1.45% 2
Problem-Solving
UK

Problem-Solving
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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
1 292 (5.89%) Microsoft Exchange
2 288 (5.81%) SharePoint
3 47 (0.95%) CMS
4 38 (0.77%) Confluence
5 29 (0.58%) IIS
6 22 (0.44%) WordPress
7 21 (0.42%) Apache
8 16 (0.32%) Apache Airflow
9 13 (0.26%) Apache Spark
9 13 (0.26%) SAS
10 11 (0.22%) Exchange Server 2013
11 9 (0.18%) Exchange Server 2007
11 9 (0.18%) Exchange Server 2010
12 7 (0.14%) OpenEdge
13 6 (0.12%) Oracle SOA Suite
14 5 (0.10%) nginx
14 5 (0.10%) Skype for Business
15 4 (0.081%) Moodle
15 4 (0.081%) OpenStack
15 4 (0.081%) Totara
Applications
1 299 (6.03%) Microsoft Office
2 289 (5.83%) Microsoft Excel
3 39 (0.79%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 38 (0.77%) Spreadsheet
5 36 (0.73%) MS Visio
6 11 (0.22%) Microsoft Project
7 9 (0.18%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 9 (0.18%) Adobe Illustrator
8 8 (0.16%) Fusion 360
9 7 (0.14%) Simulink
10 6 (0.12%) AutoCAD
10 6 (0.12%) Photoshop
11 5 (0.10%) Trello
12 4 (0.081%) Chatbot
13 3 (0.060%) Autodesk Inventor
14 2 (0.040%) Acrobat
14 2 (0.040%) Sketch
14 2 (0.040%) SOLIDWORKS
14 2 (0.040%) Windchill
15 1 (0.020%) Weka
Business Applications
1 47 (0.95%) SAP S/4HANA
2 34 (0.69%) Dynamics CRM
3 25 (0.50%) NetSuite
4 21 (0.42%) Dynamics NAV
5 19 (0.38%) Shopify
6 16 (0.32%) Magento
7 14 (0.28%) SAP ERP
8 12 (0.24%) Dynamics AX
9 11 (0.22%) iTrent
9 11 (0.22%) Oracle EBS
10 10 (0.20%) SAP CO
11 9 (0.18%) IBM Planning Analytics
12 8 (0.16%) Sage 50
13 7 (0.14%) Q-Pulse
13 7 (0.14%) SAP Business One
13 7 (0.14%) Workday HCM
14 5 (0.10%) Salesforce CRM
15 4 (0.081%) Line 50
15 4 (0.081%) Markit EDM
15 4 (0.081%) Sage 200
Cloud Services
1 992 (20.00%) Azure
2 858 (17.30%) Microsoft 365
3 501 (10.10%) AWS
4 369 (7.44%) Power Platform
5 222 (4.48%) Entra ID
6 172 (3.47%) SaaS
7 140 (2.82%) GCP
8 121 (2.44%) Azure DevOps
9 110 (2.22%) Serverless
10 102 (2.06%) Dynamics 365
11 89 (1.79%) GitHub
12 73 (1.47%) Power Automate
13 64 (1.29%) PowerApps
14 59 (1.19%) Amazon S3
15 55 (1.11%) Google Workspace
16 53 (1.07%) OneDrive
17 52 (1.05%) AWS Lambda
18 46 (0.93%) Azure Data Factory
18 46 (0.93%) IaaS
19 44 (0.89%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 312 (6.29%) Firewall
2 301 (6.07%) DNS
3 248 (5.00%) DHCP
4 170 (3.43%) WAN
5 167 (3.37%) VPN
6 130 (2.62%) LAN
7 122 (2.46%) TCP/IP
8 120 (2.42%) Wi-Fi
9 108 (2.18%) Broadband
10 102 (2.06%) Wireless
11 91 (1.84%) VLAN
12 76 (1.53%) Network Security
13 75 (1.51%) VoIP
14 43 (0.87%) SD-WAN
15 36 (0.73%) Internet
16 34 (0.69%) SAN
17 21 (0.42%) HTTP
18 19 (0.38%) Unified Communications
19 17 (0.34%) Remote Desktop
20 15 (0.30%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 293 (5.91%) Power BI
2 207 (4.17%) SQL Server
3 75 (1.51%) Data Warehouse
4 74 (1.49%) Amazon RDS
5 70 (1.41%) PostgreSQL
6 69 (1.39%) MySQL
6 69 (1.39%) NoSQL
6 69 (1.39%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 59 (1.19%) Tableau
8 53 (1.07%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 52 (1.05%) Relational Database
10 44 (0.89%) Power Query
11 37 (0.75%) Big Data
12 33 (0.67%) DynamoDB
13 30 (0.60%) MongoDB
14 28 (0.56%) Data Lake
15 25 (0.50%) Amazon Redshift
16 23 (0.46%) Oracle Reports
17 22 (0.44%) Azure SQL Database
17 22 (0.44%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 195 (3.93%) Git
2 142 (2.86%) JIRA
3 69 (1.39%) GitLab
4 44 (0.89%) Jenkins
5 29 (0.58%) Rational DOORS
6 16 (0.32%) Maven
7 15 (0.30%) Selenium
8 14 (0.28%) Cucumber
9 13 (0.26%) JUnit
9 13 (0.26%) LabVIEW
9 13 (0.26%) SonarQube
9 13 (0.26%) Subversion
10 12 (0.24%) Cypress.io
11 10 (0.20%) Bitbucket
12 9 (0.18%) Oracle Forms
13 8 (0.16%) MLflow
13 8 (0.16%) Visual Studio
14 7 (0.14%) CircleCI
14 7 (0.14%) Mockito
14 7 (0.14%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 2,347 (47.33%) Social Skills
2 1,396 (28.15%) Analytical Skills
3 838 (16.90%) Finance
4 334 (6.74%) Manufacturing
5 314 (6.33%) Organisational Skills
6 224 (4.52%) Public Sector
7 215 (4.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 191 (3.85%) Law
9 185 (3.73%) Legal
10 182 (3.67%) Marketing
11 170 (3.43%) Retail
12 142 (2.86%) Telecoms
13 137 (2.76%) Electronics
14 126 (2.54%) Banking
15 97 (1.96%) Documentation Skills
16 73 (1.47%) Influencing Skills
17 72 (1.45%) Games
18 69 (1.39%) Aerospace
19 56 (1.13%) Presentation Skills
20 52 (1.05%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 711 (14.34%) Analyst
2 614 (12.38%) IT Support
3 546 (11.01%) Senior
4 537 (10.83%) Support Engineer
5 428 (8.63%) Developer
6 354 (7.14%) IT Engineer
7 275 (5.55%) IT Support Engineer
8 255 (5.14%) Lead
9 229 (4.62%) Support Technician
10 206 (4.15%) Support Analyst
11 192 (3.87%) Systems Engineer
12 180 (3.63%) IT Technician
13 170 (3.43%) Architect
14 162 (3.27%) Consultant
15 159 (3.21%) Technical Support
16 153 (3.09%) Software Engineer
17 151 (3.04%) Infrastructure Engineer
18 144 (2.90%) IT Support Technician
19 128 (2.58%) Business Analyst
19 128 (2.58%) Technical Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 181 (3.65%) .NET
2 166 (3.35%) React
3 143 (2.88%) HTML
4 123 (2.48%) REST
5 112 (2.26%) CSS
6 82 (1.65%) Node.js
7 72 (1.45%) SOAP
8 64 (1.29%) RESTful
9 61 (1.23%) JSON
10 57 (1.15%) XML
11 55 (1.11%) Middleware
12 54 (1.09%) Vue
13 50 (1.01%) AngularJS
14 41 (0.83%) OAuth
14 41 (0.83%) Spring
15 37 (0.75%) Spring Boot
16 35 (0.71%) EDI
17 34 (0.69%) ASP.NET
18 30 (0.60%) Laravel
19 29 (0.58%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 379 (7.64%) Driving Licence
2 269 (5.42%) Onboarding
3 219 (4.42%) Self-Motivation
4 184 (3.71%) Management Information System
5 128 (2.58%) Product Ownership
6 119 (2.40%) Cloud Native
7 109 (2.20%) Analytical Mindset
8 104 (2.10%) Legacy Systems
9 97 (1.96%) Data Centre
10 76 (1.53%) Social Media
11 73 (1.47%) Distributed Systems
12 62 (1.25%) Mobile App
13 58 (1.17%) Low-Code
14 51 (1.03%) Enterprise Software
15 45 (0.91%) Virtual Team
16 42 (0.85%) Data Structures
17 36 (0.73%) Algorithms
17 36 (0.73%) NHS
17 36 (0.73%) Security Posture
18 35 (0.71%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 827 (16.68%) Windows
2 385 (7.76%) Windows Server
3 317 (6.39%) Linux
4 131 (2.64%) Windows 10
5 107 (2.16%) Android
6 100 (2.02%) Windows Server 2016
7 64 (1.29%) Apple iOS
8 52 (1.05%) Mac OS
9 46 (0.93%) Windows Server 2019
10 31 (0.63%) Unix
11 26 (0.52%) CentOS
12 25 (0.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
13 23 (0.46%) Ubuntu
14 20 (0.40%) Windows Server 2012
15 15 (0.30%) VMS
16 12 (0.24%) Windows 7
17 9 (0.18%) Debian
18 7 (0.14%) Windows 8
18 7 (0.14%) Windows Server 2008
19 4 (0.081%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,050 (21.17%) Continuous Improvement
2 874 (17.62%) Customer Service
3 666 (13.43%) Agile
4 487 (9.82%) Mentoring
5 476 (9.60%) Decision-Making
6 427 (8.61%) CI/CD
7 413 (8.33%) AI
8 411 (8.29%) Analytics
9 406 (8.19%) ITIL
10 403 (8.13%) DevOps
11 345 (6.96%) Business Intelligence
12 331 (6.67%) Coaching
13 330 (6.65%) Collaborative Working
13 330 (6.65%) Software Engineering
14 328 (6.61%) ERP
15 326 (6.57%) Cybersecurity
16 316 (6.37%) Project Management
17 309 (6.23%) Stakeholder Management
18 303 (6.11%) Computer Science
19 289 (5.83%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 693 (13.97%) SQL
2 569 (11.47%) Python
3 312 (6.29%) JavaScript
4 232 (4.68%) C#
5 209 (4.21%) Java
6 198 (3.99%) PowerShell
7 123 (2.48%) TypeScript
8 100 (2.02%) C++
9 92 (1.86%) Bash
10 70 (1.41%) PHP
11 51 (1.03%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 48 (0.97%) C
13 42 (0.85%) PL/SQL
14 38 (0.77%) T-SQL
15 29 (0.58%) R
16 26 (0.52%) Kotlin
17 24 (0.48%) Perl
18 23 (0.46%) Go
19 22 (0.44%) Ruby
19 22 (0.44%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 760 (15.33%) Degree
2 373 (7.52%) Security Cleared
3 263 (5.30%) SC Cleared
4 205 (4.13%) DBS Check
5 155 (3.13%) Microsoft Certification
6 143 (2.88%) Computer Science Degree
7 87 (1.75%) BPSS Clearance
8 74 (1.49%) A+ Certification
8 74 (1.49%) Cisco Certification
9 68 (1.37%) DV Cleared
10 61 (1.23%) ACCA
11 58 (1.17%) CCNA
12 57 (1.15%) CIMA
13 51 (1.03%) HNC
14 48 (0.97%) PMI Certification
15 47 (0.95%) Master's Degree
16 45 (0.91%) Network+ Certification
17 44 (0.89%) CISSP
18 40 (0.81%) Azure Certification
19 39 (0.79%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 275 (5.55%) QA
2 233 (4.70%) Data Quality
3 148 (2.98%) GDPR
4 128 (2.58%) SLA
5 127 (2.56%) Cyber Essentials
6 109 (2.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 88 (1.77%) PCI DSS
8 82 (1.65%) NIST
9 67 (1.35%) Accessibility
10 39 (0.79%) ISO 9001
11 20 (0.40%) Actionable Recommendations
12 16 (0.32%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 14 (0.28%) GMP
13 14 (0.28%) SOC 2
14 13 (0.26%) ISO 14001
14 13 (0.26%) PMO
15 12 (0.24%) GRC
15 12 (0.24%) TickIT
16 8 (0.16%) ISO/IEC 20000
17 6 (0.12%) COBIT
System Software
1 584 (11.78%) Active Directory
2 194 (3.91%) Hyper-V
3 169 (3.41%) Docker
4 151 (3.04%) VMware Infrastructure
5 56 (1.13%) Terminal Server
6 29 (0.58%) Firmware
7 26 (0.52%) Virtual Desktop
8 16 (0.32%) vSphere
9 15 (0.30%) Virtual Machines
10 14 (0.28%) VMware ESXi
11 10 (0.20%) KVM
12 7 (0.14%) VMware Workstation
13 6 (0.12%) XenApp
14 5 (0.10%) Embedded Firmware
15 4 (0.081%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 4 (0.081%) Slurm Workload Manager
15 4 (0.081%) Virtual Servers
16 3 (0.060%) Terminal Services
17 2 (0.040%) ClearTrust
17 2 (0.040%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 195 (3.93%) Terraform
2 177 (3.57%) Microsoft Intune
3 158 (3.19%) Kubernetes
4 87 (1.75%) Ansible
5 55 (1.11%) SCCM
6 51 (1.03%) Grafana
7 34 (0.69%) Prometheus
8 22 (0.44%) Nagios
9 14 (0.28%) Single Sign-On
10 11 (0.22%) vCenter Server
11 10 (0.20%) FortiGate
12 9 (0.18%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 9 (0.18%) Autotask
12 9 (0.18%) Kibana
12 9 (0.18%) Puppet
12 9 (0.18%) ZABBIX
13 8 (0.16%) Functional Safety
13 8 (0.16%) logstash
13 8 (0.16%) QRadar
14 7 (0.14%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 1,387 (27.97%) Microsoft
2 237 (4.78%) VMware
3 135 (2.72%) Oracle
4 115 (2.32%) Veeam
5 111 (2.24%) SAP
6 108 (2.18%) Cisco
7 103 (2.08%) Google
8 88 (1.77%) SolarWinds
8 88 (1.77%) Splunk
9 69 (1.39%) Databricks
10 65 (1.31%) Salesforce
11 64 (1.29%) Apple
11 64 (1.29%) ServiceNow
12 57 (1.15%) Nimble Storage
12 57 (1.15%) Tanium
13 56 (1.13%) Brocade
14 50 (1.01%) Adobe
15 47 (0.95%) Dell
16 44 (0.89%) Sage
17 38 (0.77%) Meraki