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 15 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 3 6
Rank change year-on-year -7 +3 +4
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 5,030 6,009 8,036
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 10.51% 18.41% 16.05%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.69% 20.27% 18.47%
Number of salaries quoted 3,518 2,605 5,563
10th Percentile £26,000 £28,500 £25,525
25th Percentile £29,000 £36,250 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £40,000 £50,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -20.00% +11.11% -10.00%
75th Percentile £56,750 £67,500 £61,250
90th Percentile £71,250 £83,750 £72,500
UK median annual salary £45,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -18.18% +10.00% -13.04%

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 36,740 29,644 43,503
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 76.78% 90.83% 86.90%
Number of salaries quoted 21,609 13,368 33,266
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,250 £27,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £41,250 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -8.90%
75th Percentile £65,000 £70,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £81,250 £83,750 £78,625
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -12.00%

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 15 February 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 15 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
North of England -17 1,343 £42,500 -10.70% 593
South East -3 1,293 £42,500 -19.05% 861
Midlands -16 860 £37,500 -28.49% 450
North West -15 728 £46,000 -8.00% 350
South West -5 583 £40,000 -24.81% 316
West Midlands -19 500 £42,500 -22.73% 281
Yorkshire -6 477 £35,750 -17.82% 188
East of England -3 440 £37,500 -26.42% 281
East Midlands 0 358 £34,000 -2.86% 169
Scotland -6 346 £33,500 -35.81% 100
North East -5 138 £43,250 -9.42% 66
Wales +1 120 £42,500 -19.05% 63
Northern Ireland -4 70 £42,750 -28.41% 30
Isle of Man 0 1 £62,500 +150.00% 1
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
1 305 (6.06%) Microsoft Exchange
2 228 (4.53%) SharePoint
3 47 (0.93%) Confluence
4 44 (0.87%) IIS
5 35 (0.70%) CMS
6 25 (0.50%) WordPress
7 24 (0.48%) Apache
8 20 (0.40%) Apache Spark
9 16 (0.32%) Apache Airflow
10 11 (0.22%) Exchange Server 2013
11 10 (0.20%) nginx
12 9 (0.18%) Exchange Server 2007
12 9 (0.18%) Exchange Server 2010
13 6 (0.12%) Drupal
13 6 (0.12%) Oracle SOA Suite
14 4 (0.080%) Apache Solr
14 4 (0.080%) Headless CMS
14 4 (0.080%) SAS
14 4 (0.080%) WebSphere
14 4 (0.080%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 372 (7.40%) Microsoft Office
2 342 (6.80%) Microsoft Excel
3 63 (1.25%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 28 (0.56%) Spreadsheet
5 27 (0.54%) MS Visio
6 15 (0.30%) AutoCAD
7 14 (0.28%) Microsoft Project
8 12 (0.24%) Photoshop
9 10 (0.20%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 9 (0.18%) Adobe Illustrator
11 8 (0.16%) SOLIDWORKS
12 6 (0.12%) Adobe Premiere
13 4 (0.080%) Adobe After Effects
13 4 (0.080%) CATIA
13 4 (0.080%) Fusion 360
14 3 (0.060%) Adobe XD
14 3 (0.060%) Elementor
14 3 (0.060%) InDesign
14 3 (0.060%) Revit
14 3 (0.060%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 75 (1.49%) SAP S/4HANA
2 45 (0.89%) Dynamics CRM
3 26 (0.52%) NetSuite
4 15 (0.30%) SAP CO
5 14 (0.28%) Oracle Payables
6 13 (0.26%) Sage X3
7 12 (0.24%) Dynamics NAV
7 12 (0.24%) Oracle Assets
7 12 (0.24%) Oracle Receivables
8 11 (0.22%) iTrent
9 9 (0.18%) Shopify
10 8 (0.16%) Oracle General Ledger
10 8 (0.16%) SAP Business One
11 7 (0.14%) Oracle EBS
11 7 (0.14%) Workday HCM
12 6 (0.12%) Markit EDM
12 6 (0.12%) Oracle ERP
12 6 (0.12%) Oracle Financials
12 6 (0.12%) SAP FI
12 6 (0.12%) SAP FI/CO
Cloud Services
1 1,081 (21.49%) Azure
2 867 (17.24%) Microsoft 365
3 446 (8.87%) AWS
4 335 (6.66%) Power Platform
5 251 (4.99%) SaaS
6 238 (4.73%) Entra ID
7 146 (2.90%) Azure DevOps
8 131 (2.60%) GCP
9 99 (1.97%) GitHub
10 87 (1.73%) Serverless
11 80 (1.59%) Power Automate
12 63 (1.25%) Dynamics 365
13 58 (1.15%) Google Workspace
14 57 (1.13%) Azure Data Factory
15 55 (1.09%) AWS Lambda
16 53 (1.05%) Amazon S3
17 48 (0.95%) OneDrive
18 46 (0.91%) Azure Synapse Analytics
18 46 (0.91%) GitHub Actions
19 45 (0.89%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 397 (7.89%) DNS
2 344 (6.84%) DHCP
3 272 (5.41%) Firewall
4 157 (3.12%) VPN
5 156 (3.10%) TCP/IP
6 152 (3.02%) Wi-Fi
7 140 (2.78%) WAN
8 123 (2.45%) LAN
9 102 (2.03%) Broadband
10 94 (1.87%) VLAN
11 86 (1.71%) VoIP
12 74 (1.47%) Wireless
13 54 (1.07%) Remote Desktop
14 49 (0.97%) Network Security
15 43 (0.85%) Internet
16 39 (0.78%) SD-WAN
17 30 (0.60%) SAN
18 29 (0.58%) Unified Communications
19 24 (0.48%) Wireshark
20 23 (0.46%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 278 (5.53%) Power BI
2 201 (4.00%) SQL Server
3 133 (2.64%) Amazon RDS
4 82 (1.63%) Relational Database
5 74 (1.47%) PostgreSQL
6 67 (1.33%) MySQL
7 65 (1.29%) NoSQL
7 65 (1.29%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 63 (1.25%) Data Warehouse
9 53 (1.05%) Data Lake
10 43 (0.85%) Tableau
11 37 (0.74%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 35 (0.70%) Azure SQL Database
13 34 (0.68%) SAP BW
14 33 (0.66%) Amazon Redshift
15 31 (0.62%) DynamoDB
16 30 (0.60%) Power Query
17 29 (0.58%) MongoDB
18 28 (0.56%) Metadata
19 26 (0.52%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 184 (3.66%) Git
2 159 (3.16%) JIRA
3 52 (1.03%) GitLab
4 42 (0.83%) Jenkins
5 30 (0.60%) Selenium
6 17 (0.34%) Visual Studio
7 16 (0.32%) LabVIEW
8 15 (0.30%) Robot Framework
9 14 (0.28%) Maven
9 14 (0.28%) Snyk
10 12 (0.24%) JUnit
11 11 (0.22%) Bitbucket
11 11 (0.22%) Cucumber
11 11 (0.22%) SonarQube
12 10 (0.20%) Burp Suite
12 10 (0.20%) Cypress.io
12 10 (0.20%) Metasploit
13 9 (0.18%) Rational DOORS
14 8 (0.16%) TeamCity
15 7 (0.14%) Mockito
General
1 2,671 (53.10%) Social Skills
2 1,407 (27.97%) Analytical Skills
3 1,043 (20.74%) Finance
4 317 (6.30%) Organisational Skills
5 286 (5.69%) Manufacturing
6 280 (5.57%) Retail
7 235 (4.67%) Marketing
8 213 (4.23%) Public Sector
9 182 (3.62%) Legal
10 168 (3.34%) Law
11 162 (3.22%) Telecoms
12 157 (3.12%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 131 (2.60%) Electronics
14 121 (2.41%) Banking
15 108 (2.15%) Presentation Skills
16 82 (1.63%) Games
17 79 (1.57%) Automotive
18 78 (1.55%) Documentation Skills
19 57 (1.13%) Aerospace
20 49 (0.97%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 838 (16.66%) Analyst
2 719 (14.29%) IT Support
3 581 (11.55%) Support Engineer
4 560 (11.13%) Senior
5 376 (7.48%) Developer
6 318 (6.32%) IT Engineer
7 287 (5.71%) Support Analyst
8 282 (5.61%) Lead
9 280 (5.57%) IT Support Engineer
10 236 (4.69%) Technical Support
11 211 (4.19%) Business Analyst
12 179 (3.56%) 2nd Line Support
13 173 (3.44%) Support Technician
14 167 (3.32%) Systems Engineer
15 158 (3.14%) Technical Engineer
16 151 (3.00%) Technical Support Engineer
17 142 (2.82%) Architect
17 142 (2.82%) IT Analyst
18 137 (2.72%) Consultant
19 128 (2.54%) Trainee
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 190 (3.78%) .NET
2 160 (3.18%) HTML
3 157 (3.12%) React
4 124 (2.47%) CSS
5 84 (1.67%) REST
6 72 (1.43%) Node.js
7 57 (1.13%) RESTful
8 52 (1.03%) AngularJS
9 48 (0.95%) Vue
10 46 (0.91%) SOAP
11 44 (0.87%) JSON
12 41 (0.82%) ASP.NET
13 38 (0.76%) Spring
14 35 (0.70%) XML
15 34 (0.68%) .NET Framework
16 33 (0.66%) Django
17 30 (0.60%) Laravel
17 30 (0.60%) Spring Boot
18 28 (0.56%) EDI
19 26 (0.52%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 510 (10.14%) Driving Licence
2 377 (7.50%) Onboarding
3 310 (6.16%) Self-Motivation
4 169 (3.36%) Legacy Systems
5 167 (3.32%) Management Information System
6 153 (3.04%) Analytical Mindset
7 108 (2.15%) Data Centre
8 98 (1.95%) Product Ownership
9 86 (1.71%) Cloud Native
10 66 (1.31%) Enterprise Software
11 56 (1.11%) Social Media
12 49 (0.97%) Mobile App
13 47 (0.93%) EPoS
14 45 (0.89%) FMCG
15 43 (0.85%) Low-Code
16 42 (0.83%) Distributed Systems
17 39 (0.78%) Virtual Team
18 38 (0.76%) Data Structures
19 36 (0.72%) Life Science
20 35 (0.70%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 965 (19.18%) Windows
2 439 (8.73%) Windows Server
3 345 (6.86%) Linux
4 146 (2.90%) Windows Server 2016
5 122 (2.43%) Windows 10
6 88 (1.75%) Android
7 65 (1.29%) Mac OS
8 58 (1.15%) Apple iOS
9 36 (0.72%) Unix
9 36 (0.72%) Windows Server 2019
10 25 (0.50%) Windows Server 2012
11 18 (0.36%) Windows 7
12 15 (0.30%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
13 10 (0.20%) CentOS
14 9 (0.18%) Windows 8
14 9 (0.18%) Windows Server 2008
15 8 (0.16%) VMS
16 5 (0.099%) Debian
16 5 (0.099%) Ubuntu
17 2 (0.040%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 950 (18.89%) Customer Service
2 918 (18.25%) Continuous Improvement
3 643 (12.78%) Agile
4 479 (9.52%) Project Management
5 460 (9.15%) Mentoring
6 444 (8.83%) Decision-Making
7 405 (8.05%) Analytics
8 392 (7.79%) Business Intelligence
9 385 (7.65%) ITIL
10 374 (7.44%) DevOps
11 345 (6.86%) ERP
12 339 (6.74%) Change Management
13 334 (6.64%) CI/CD
14 311 (6.18%) AI
15 308 (6.12%) Cybersecurity
16 305 (6.06%) Computer Science
17 303 (6.02%) CRM
18 301 (5.98%) Process Improvement
19 298 (5.92%) Stakeholder Management
20 294 (5.84%) Customer Experience
Programming Languages
1 689 (13.70%) SQL
2 496 (9.86%) Python
3 283 (5.63%) JavaScript
4 255 (5.07%) PowerShell
5 229 (4.55%) C#
6 167 (3.32%) Java
7 80 (1.59%) PHP
8 77 (1.53%) TypeScript
9 64 (1.27%) Bash
10 58 (1.15%) C++
10 58 (1.15%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 45 (0.89%) C
12 43 (0.85%) T-SQL
13 24 (0.48%) PL/SQL
13 24 (0.48%) R
14 20 (0.40%) MATLAB
15 19 (0.38%) Go
16 18 (0.36%) Bicep
17 17 (0.34%) Perl
18 16 (0.32%) Scala
Qualifications
1 1,070 (21.27%) Degree
2 422 (8.39%) Security Cleared
3 292 (5.81%) SC Cleared
4 161 (3.20%) DBS Check
5 148 (2.94%) Microsoft Certification
6 127 (2.52%) Computer Science Degree
7 98 (1.95%) BPSS Clearance
8 73 (1.45%) Master's Degree
9 65 (1.29%) A+ Certification
10 64 (1.27%) ACCA
10 64 (1.27%) DV Cleared
11 63 (1.25%) Cisco Certification
12 56 (1.11%) CIMA
13 55 (1.09%) HND
14 49 (0.97%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 46 (0.91%) HNC
16 45 (0.89%) CCNA
16 45 (0.89%) Network+ Certification
17 40 (0.80%) AWS Certification
18 35 (0.70%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 263 (5.23%) QA
2 189 (3.76%) Data Quality
3 179 (3.56%) Cyber Essentials
4 144 (2.86%) GDPR
5 140 (2.78%) PCI DSS
6 113 (2.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 79 (1.57%) Accessibility
8 66 (1.31%) SLA
9 45 (0.89%) NIST
10 34 (0.68%) ISO 9001
11 26 (0.52%) Actionable Recommendations
11 26 (0.52%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 12 (0.24%) PMO
13 9 (0.18%) ISO 13485
13 9 (0.18%) SOC 2
14 7 (0.14%) ISO/IEC 20000
15 6 (0.12%) WCAG
16 5 (0.099%) California Consumer Privacy Act
17 4 (0.080%) GLBA
17 4 (0.080%) GRC
System Software
1 674 (13.40%) Active Directory
2 251 (4.99%) Hyper-V
3 172 (3.42%) Docker
4 118 (2.35%) VMware Infrastructure
5 112 (2.23%) Terminal Server
6 27 (0.54%) Firmware
7 23 (0.46%) Virtual Desktop
8 16 (0.32%) Virtual Machines
8 16 (0.32%) vSphere
9 15 (0.30%) VMware ESXi
10 8 (0.16%) Virtual Servers
10 8 (0.16%) VMware Workstation
11 7 (0.14%) KVM
12 5 (0.099%) Embedded Firmware
13 4 (0.080%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 2 (0.040%) RHEV
14 2 (0.040%) Xen
14 2 (0.040%) XenApp
15 1 (0.020%) HDFS
15 1 (0.020%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 198 (3.94%) Microsoft Intune
1 198 (3.94%) Terraform
2 123 (2.45%) Kubernetes
3 80 (1.59%) Ansible
4 52 (1.03%) SCCM
5 48 (0.95%) Grafana
6 42 (0.83%) BMC PATROL
7 30 (0.60%) Prometheus
8 18 (0.36%) Single Sign-On
9 16 (0.32%) Nagios
10 14 (0.28%) Cisco CUCM
11 13 (0.26%) vCenter Server
12 12 (0.24%) Jamf Pro
13 10 (0.20%) Autotask
13 10 (0.20%) AWS Copilot
13 10 (0.20%) Nmap
14 9 (0.18%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 9 (0.18%) ZABBIX
15 8 (0.16%) Control-M
16 7 (0.14%) FortiGate
Vendors
1 1,381 (27.46%) Microsoft
2 264 (5.25%) VMware
3 256 (5.09%) SAP
4 173 (3.44%) Oracle
5 172 (3.42%) Veeam
6 140 (2.78%) SolarWinds
7 138 (2.74%) Splunk
8 129 (2.56%) Cisco
9 113 (2.25%) Tanium
10 112 (2.23%) Brocade
10 112 (2.23%) Google
10 112 (2.23%) Nimble Storage
11 78 (1.55%) Salesforce
12 71 (1.41%) ServiceNow
13 65 (1.29%) Adobe
14 60 (1.19%) Sage
15 59 (1.17%) BT
15 59 (1.17%) Databricks
16 58 (1.15%) Apple
17 47 (0.93%) HubSpot