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

6 months to
24 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 4 5
Rank change year-on-year -6 +1 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 5,780 6,411 9,430
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 7.94% 18.92% 14.35%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.26% 21.48% 18.07%
Number of salaries quoted 4,275 3,516 5,457
10th Percentile £26,500 £25,750 £25,500
25th Percentile £31,000 £29,962 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £41,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.66% -8.89% -10.00%
75th Percentile £58,750 £60,000 £60,000
90th Percentile £73,750 £75,000 £73,750
UK median annual salary £47,500 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -9.09%

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 51,340 29,846 52,193
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 70.49% 88.08% 79.41%
Number of salaries quoted 36,092 16,172 34,928
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,733 £28,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,851 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% - -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £66,225 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.71%

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 24 July 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 24 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
North of England -10 1,508 £45,000 +5.88% 723
South East -3 1,423 £45,000 +5.88% 863
Midlands -8 1,077 £42,000 +5.00% 491
North West -7 789 £45,000 - 368
South West -6 719 £44,000 +17.33% 382
West Midlands -9 603 £42,500 -5.56% 271
East of England -6 562 £42,500 +21.43% 306
Yorkshire -10 519 £42,500 +21.43% 244
East Midlands -10 470 £35,220 -0.79% 220
Scotland -8 234 £33,000 -25.84% 115
North East -15 200 £51,500 +35.53% 120
Wales -18 152 £45,000 -7.22% 75
Northern Ireland -16 124 £38,500 -30.00% 38
Isle of Man +2 3 £35,000 +1.45% 5
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
1 364 (6.30%) Microsoft Exchange
2 343 (5.93%) SharePoint
3 58 (1.00%) Confluence
4 51 (0.88%) CMS
5 37 (0.64%) IIS
6 30 (0.52%) Apache
7 29 (0.50%) WordPress
8 21 (0.36%) Apache Airflow
9 14 (0.24%) Apache Spark
10 13 (0.22%) SAS
11 11 (0.19%) WebSphere
12 9 (0.16%) Exchange Server 2013
12 9 (0.16%) nginx
13 8 (0.14%) WebLogic
14 7 (0.12%) Exchange Server 2007
14 7 (0.12%) Exchange Server 2010
14 7 (0.12%) OpenEdge
15 6 (0.10%) Jupyter
16 5 (0.087%) Skype for Business
17 4 (0.069%) Moodle
Applications
1 369 (6.38%) Microsoft Office
2 363 (6.28%) Microsoft Excel
3 53 (0.92%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 43 (0.74%) Spreadsheet
5 34 (0.59%) MS Visio
6 17 (0.29%) Microsoft Project
7 12 (0.21%) Simulink
8 8 (0.14%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 8 (0.14%) Adobe Illustrator
8 8 (0.14%) Chatbot
9 7 (0.12%) AutoCAD
10 5 (0.087%) Adobe XD
10 5 (0.087%) Fusion 360
10 5 (0.087%) Lightworks
10 5 (0.087%) Photoshop
10 5 (0.087%) Sketch
10 5 (0.087%) Trello
11 3 (0.052%) Autodesk Inventor
11 3 (0.052%) LaTeX
11 3 (0.052%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 55 (0.95%) SAP S/4HANA
2 34 (0.59%) NetSuite
3 31 (0.54%) Dynamics CRM
4 18 (0.31%) Shopify
5 17 (0.29%) Magento
6 16 (0.28%) SAP ERP
7 15 (0.26%) Dynamics NAV
8 14 (0.24%) Dynamics AX
9 13 (0.22%) IBM Planning Analytics
10 11 (0.19%) SAP Business One
11 10 (0.17%) JDE EnterpriseOne
12 9 (0.16%) Oracle EBS
13 8 (0.14%) Sage 50
14 7 (0.12%) Raiser’s Edge
14 7 (0.12%) Sage X3
15 6 (0.10%) iTrent
16 5 (0.087%) Dynamics GP
16 5 (0.087%) NEC Housing
16 5 (0.087%) Q-Pulse
17 4 (0.069%) Line 50
Cloud Services
1 1,222 (21.14%) Azure
2 1,074 (18.58%) Microsoft 365
3 606 (10.48%) AWS
4 461 (7.98%) Power Platform
5 302 (5.22%) Entra ID
6 206 (3.56%) SaaS
7 199 (3.44%) GCP
8 138 (2.39%) Azure DevOps
9 122 (2.11%) Dynamics 365
10 111 (1.92%) Serverless
11 103 (1.78%) GitHub
12 102 (1.76%) PowerApps
13 99 (1.71%) Power Automate
14 76 (1.31%) OneDrive
15 64 (1.11%) Microsoft Copilot
16 52 (0.90%) Amazon S3
17 51 (0.88%) Microsoft Purview
18 48 (0.83%) GitHub Actions
19 46 (0.80%) IaaS
20 44 (0.76%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 407 (7.04%) Firewall
2 380 (6.57%) DNS
3 325 (5.62%) DHCP
4 212 (3.67%) VPN
5 197 (3.41%) TCP/IP
6 195 (3.37%) WAN
7 173 (2.99%) LAN
8 151 (2.61%) Wi-Fi
9 140 (2.42%) Wireless
10 118 (2.04%) VLAN
11 111 (1.92%) Broadband
12 99 (1.71%) Network Security
13 94 (1.63%) VoIP
14 40 (0.69%) Internet
15 31 (0.54%) SD-WAN
16 28 (0.48%) SAN
17 27 (0.47%) HTTP
18 25 (0.43%) SSL
19 22 (0.38%) WLAN
20 20 (0.35%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 367 (6.35%) Power BI
2 271 (4.69%) SQL Server
3 128 (2.21%) Amazon RDS
4 109 (1.89%) MySQL
5 93 (1.61%) Data Warehouse
6 84 (1.45%) PostgreSQL
6 84 (1.45%) Relational Database
6 84 (1.45%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 71 (1.23%) NoSQL
8 69 (1.19%) Tableau
9 65 (1.12%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 46 (0.80%) MongoDB
10 46 (0.80%) Power Query
11 39 (0.67%) Big Data
12 34 (0.59%) Azure SQL Database
13 33 (0.57%) Data Lake
14 28 (0.48%) DynamoDB
15 25 (0.43%) Elasticsearch
16 20 (0.35%) Amazon Redshift
17 19 (0.33%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 233 (4.03%) Git
2 183 (3.17%) JIRA
3 80 (1.38%) GitLab
4 57 (0.99%) Jenkins
5 27 (0.47%) Rational DOORS
6 26 (0.45%) Cucumber
7 24 (0.42%) Selenium
7 24 (0.42%) Subversion
8 23 (0.40%) Eclipse
9 19 (0.33%) JUnit
10 18 (0.31%) Cypress.io
10 18 (0.31%) Postman
11 14 (0.24%) Oracle Forms
11 14 (0.24%) SonarQube
12 13 (0.22%) Claude Code
13 11 (0.19%) Bitbucket
14 10 (0.17%) JMeter
14 10 (0.17%) Maven
14 10 (0.17%) Visual Studio
15 8 (0.14%) Burp Suite
General
1 2,785 (48.18%) Social Skills
2 1,578 (27.30%) Analytical Skills
3 900 (15.57%) Finance
4 462 (7.99%) Manufacturing
5 370 (6.40%) Organisational Skills
6 260 (4.50%) Legal
7 258 (4.46%) Law
8 257 (4.45%) Public Sector
9 254 (4.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 234 (4.05%) Retail
11 183 (3.17%) Marketing
12 157 (2.72%) Electronics
13 153 (2.65%) Telecoms
14 121 (2.09%) Banking
15 108 (1.87%) Influencing Skills
16 107 (1.85%) Documentation Skills
17 98 (1.70%) Aerospace
18 78 (1.35%) Games
19 60 (1.04%) Presentation Skills
20 59 (1.02%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 798 (13.81%) Analyst
2 660 (11.42%) IT Support
3 644 (11.14%) Senior
4 611 (10.57%) Developer
5 554 (9.58%) Support Engineer
6 378 (6.54%) IT Engineer
7 306 (5.29%) Lead
8 283 (4.90%) IT Support Engineer
9 260 (4.50%) Support Analyst
9 260 (4.50%) Support Technician
10 245 (4.24%) Systems Engineer
11 219 (3.79%) Technical Support
12 211 (3.65%) IT Technician
13 207 (3.58%) Consultant
14 194 (3.36%) Software Engineer
15 192 (3.32%) Technical Engineer
16 186 (3.22%) Architect
17 179 (3.10%) Senior Developer
18 173 (2.99%) Technical Support Engineer
19 164 (2.84%) IT Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 290 (5.02%) .NET
2 198 (3.43%) React
3 175 (3.03%) HTML
4 165 (2.85%) REST
5 128 (2.21%) CSS
6 100 (1.73%) RESTful
7 98 (1.70%) Node.js
8 86 (1.49%) SOAP
9 76 (1.31%) Vue
10 74 (1.28%) JSON
11 72 (1.25%) Middleware
12 71 (1.23%) AngularJS
13 65 (1.12%) XML
14 55 (0.95%) ASP.NET
14 55 (0.95%) Spring
15 50 (0.87%) Spring Boot
16 49 (0.85%) Web Services
17 48 (0.83%) OAuth
18 41 (0.71%) Kafka
19 37 (0.64%) ASP.NET Core
Miscellaneous
1 449 (7.77%) Driving Licence
2 338 (5.85%) Onboarding
3 272 (4.71%) Self-Motivation
4 228 (3.94%) Management Information System
5 164 (2.84%) Legacy Systems
6 160 (2.77%) Cloud Native
7 144 (2.49%) Product Ownership
8 97 (1.68%) Data Centre
9 94 (1.63%) Analytical Mindset
10 89 (1.54%) Distributed Systems
11 74 (1.28%) Security Posture
12 68 (1.18%) Enterprise Software
13 67 (1.16%) Mobile App
14 66 (1.14%) Social Media
15 58 (1.00%) IoT
15 58 (1.00%) Virtual Team
16 49 (0.85%) Cyber Threat
17 48 (0.83%) NHS
18 47 (0.81%) Data Structures
18 47 (0.81%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 1,027 (17.77%) Windows
2 488 (8.44%) Windows Server
3 439 (7.60%) Linux
4 144 (2.49%) Windows 10
5 128 (2.21%) Windows Server 2016
6 107 (1.85%) Android
7 74 (1.28%) Apple iOS
8 72 (1.25%) Mac OS
9 41 (0.71%) Windows Server 2019
10 32 (0.55%) Unix
11 28 (0.48%) Ubuntu
12 24 (0.42%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
13 21 (0.36%) CentOS
14 16 (0.28%) VMS
15 14 (0.24%) Windows 7
16 13 (0.22%) Debian
17 9 (0.16%) FreeRTOS
18 8 (0.14%) Embedded Linux
19 7 (0.12%) Windows Server 2012
20 6 (0.10%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,423 (24.62%) Continuous Improvement
2 1,062 (18.37%) Customer Service
3 846 (14.64%) Agile
4 603 (10.43%) CI/CD
5 590 (10.21%) Decision-Making
6 586 (10.14%) Mentoring
7 551 (9.53%) AI
8 513 (8.88%) ITIL
9 500 (8.65%) DevOps
10 483 (8.36%) Analytics
11 471 (8.15%) Cybersecurity
12 458 (7.92%) Software Engineering
13 456 (7.89%) Stakeholder Management
14 452 (7.82%) Collaborative Working
15 425 (7.35%) Business Intelligence
16 410 (7.09%) ERP
17 390 (6.75%) Project Delivery
18 349 (6.04%) Customer Experience
19 340 (5.88%) Service Delivery
20 337 (5.83%) Computer Science
Programming Languages
1 909 (15.73%) SQL
2 642 (11.11%) Python
3 371 (6.42%) C#
4 370 (6.40%) JavaScript
5 255 (4.41%) Java
6 237 (4.10%) PowerShell
7 166 (2.87%) TypeScript
8 164 (2.84%) C++
9 107 (1.85%) Bash
10 73 (1.26%) PHP
11 61 (1.06%) C
12 58 (1.00%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 49 (0.85%) T-SQL
14 35 (0.61%) Perl
14 35 (0.61%) Ruby
15 34 (0.59%) PL/SQL
16 33 (0.57%) Go
17 31 (0.54%) Shell Script
18 29 (0.50%) Kotlin
19 27 (0.47%) Rust
Qualifications
1 840 (14.53%) Degree
2 503 (8.70%) Security Cleared
3 369 (6.38%) SC Cleared
4 182 (3.15%) DBS Check
5 166 (2.87%) Computer Science Degree
5 166 (2.87%) Microsoft Certification
6 94 (1.63%) BPSS Clearance
6 94 (1.63%) DV Cleared
7 87 (1.51%) Cisco Certification
8 81 (1.40%) Azure Certification
9 62 (1.07%) CCNA
10 61 (1.06%) HNC
11 59 (1.02%) ACCA
12 58 (1.00%) PMI Certification
13 56 (0.97%) A+ Certification
14 55 (0.95%) CIMA
14 55 (0.95%) Master's Degree
15 51 (0.88%) CISSP
16 50 (0.87%) PMP
17 45 (0.78%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 362 (6.26%) QA
2 243 (4.20%) Data Quality
3 191 (3.30%) Cyber Essentials
4 159 (2.75%) GDPR
5 147 (2.54%) SLA
6 136 (2.35%) PCI DSS
7 135 (2.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 123 (2.13%) Accessibility
9 90 (1.56%) NIST
10 37 (0.64%) ISO 9001
11 29 (0.50%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 27 (0.47%) PMO
13 22 (0.38%) GMP
14 18 (0.31%) Good Clinical Practice
15 15 (0.26%) GRC
16 14 (0.24%) SOC 2
17 13 (0.22%) Actionable Recommendations
18 12 (0.21%) TickIT
19 10 (0.17%) ISO 14001
19 10 (0.17%) WCAG
System Software
1 722 (12.49%) Active Directory
2 284 (4.91%) Hyper-V
3 228 (3.94%) Docker
4 192 (3.32%) VMware Infrastructure
5 96 (1.66%) Terminal Server
6 45 (0.78%) Firmware
7 30 (0.52%) Virtual Desktop
8 27 (0.47%) vSphere
9 23 (0.40%) Virtual Machines
10 16 (0.28%) Embedded Firmware
11 13 (0.22%) VMware ESXi
12 7 (0.12%) KVM
13 6 (0.10%) VMware Workstation
13 6 (0.10%) XenApp
14 5 (0.087%) ClearTrust
14 5 (0.087%) Squid
15 4 (0.069%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 4 (0.069%) Virtual Servers
16 3 (0.052%) Slurm Workload Manager
16 3 (0.052%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 229 (3.96%) Microsoft Intune
2 227 (3.93%) Terraform
3 209 (3.62%) Kubernetes
4 101 (1.75%) Ansible
5 64 (1.11%) Grafana
6 61 (1.06%) SCCM
7 43 (0.74%) Prometheus
8 20 (0.35%) FortiGate
9 17 (0.29%) Nagios
10 14 (0.24%) Puppet
10 14 (0.24%) Single Sign-On
11 12 (0.21%) Jamf Pro
12 11 (0.19%) Kibana
13 10 (0.17%) Autotask
13 10 (0.17%) Functional Safety
13 10 (0.17%) logstash
13 10 (0.17%) Podman
13 10 (0.17%) Proxmox
14 9 (0.16%) Failover Clustering
14 9 (0.16%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 1,786 (30.90%) Microsoft
2 324 (5.61%) VMware
3 152 (2.63%) Veeam
4 135 (2.34%) Splunk
5 130 (2.25%) Google
6 125 (2.16%) SAP
7 124 (2.15%) Cisco
8 122 (2.11%) SolarWinds
9 118 (2.04%) Oracle
10 104 (1.80%) Tanium
11 97 (1.68%) Nimble Storage
12 96 (1.66%) Brocade
12 96 (1.66%) ServiceNow
13 81 (1.40%) Salesforce
14 70 (1.21%) Databricks
15 60 (1.04%) Apple
16 56 (0.97%) Sage
17 52 (0.90%) Fortinet
18 47 (0.81%) Adobe
18 47 (0.81%) Dell