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

6 months to
7 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 9 3 6
Rank change year-on-year -6 +3 +4
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 5,010 6,200 7,877
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 10.85% 18.48% 15.88%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 14.05% 20.43% 18.27%
Number of salaries quoted 3,464 2,636 5,522
10th Percentile £26,000 £28,500 £25,500
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 £57,500 £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 35,664 30,352 43,117
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 77.25% 90.48% 86.93%
Number of salaries quoted 20,716 13,600 33,117
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 £80,000 £83,750 £78,750
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 7 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 7 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
South East -3 1,321 £42,500 -19.05% 845
North of England -17 1,301 £42,500 -10.53% 656
Midlands -16 855 £38,500 -25.70% 479
North West -14 712 £46,750 -6.50% 376
South West -2 581 £40,000 -25.08% 345
West Midlands -18 501 £42,500 -22.73% 310
Yorkshire -5 456 £36,500 -16.09% 218
East of England -4 429 £37,500 -26.42% 280
East Midlands 0 352 £35,000 - 169
Scotland -3 352 £33,500 -34.95% 129
North East -4 133 £40,662 -18.68% 71
Wales +2 125 £42,674 -18.72% 57
Northern Ireland -2 70 £47,500 -20.83% 29
Isle of Man +1 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
1 297 (5.93%) Microsoft Exchange
2 222 (4.43%) SharePoint
3 46 (0.92%) Confluence
4 45 (0.90%) IIS
5 31 (0.62%) CMS
6 24 (0.48%) WordPress
7 22 (0.44%) Apache
8 19 (0.38%) Apache Spark
9 15 (0.30%) Apache Airflow
10 10 (0.20%) nginx
11 9 (0.18%) Exchange Server 2013
12 7 (0.14%) Exchange Server 2007
12 7 (0.14%) 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%) HCL Notes
14 4 (0.080%) Headless CMS
14 4 (0.080%) SAS
15 3 (0.060%) govService
Applications
1 379 (7.56%) Microsoft Office
2 374 (7.47%) Microsoft Excel
3 69 (1.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 27 (0.54%) Spreadsheet
5 26 (0.52%) MS Visio
6 18 (0.36%) AutoCAD
7 14 (0.28%) Microsoft Project
8 12 (0.24%) Photoshop
9 11 (0.22%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 9 (0.18%) Adobe Illustrator
10 9 (0.18%) SOLIDWORKS
11 8 (0.16%) Adobe Premiere
12 5 (0.100%) Adobe After Effects
12 5 (0.100%) Simulink
13 4 (0.080%) CATIA
13 4 (0.080%) Fusion 360
13 4 (0.080%) Oracle Smart View
14 3 (0.060%) Adobe XD
14 3 (0.060%) Elementor
14 3 (0.060%) Trello
Business Applications
1 81 (1.62%) SAP S/4HANA
2 46 (0.92%) Dynamics CRM
3 22 (0.44%) NetSuite
4 18 (0.36%) Oracle Payables
5 16 (0.32%) Oracle Assets
5 16 (0.32%) Oracle Receivables
6 15 (0.30%) SAP CO
7 13 (0.26%) Sage X3
8 12 (0.24%) iTrent
9 11 (0.22%) Dynamics NAV
10 10 (0.20%) Oracle General Ledger
11 8 (0.16%) JDE EnterpriseOne
11 8 (0.16%) Oracle ERP
11 8 (0.16%) Oracle Financials
11 8 (0.16%) SAP Business One
11 8 (0.16%) Shopify
12 7 (0.14%) Oracle EBS
12 7 (0.14%) Workday HCM
13 6 (0.12%) Markit EDM
13 6 (0.12%) SAP FI/CO
Cloud Services
1 1,108 (22.12%) Azure
2 838 (16.73%) Microsoft 365
3 427 (8.52%) AWS
4 360 (7.19%) Power Platform
5 257 (5.13%) SaaS
6 225 (4.49%) Entra ID
7 146 (2.91%) Azure DevOps
8 123 (2.46%) GCP
9 104 (2.08%) GitHub
10 83 (1.66%) Serverless
11 77 (1.54%) Power Automate
12 58 (1.16%) Azure Data Factory
13 57 (1.14%) Dynamics 365
14 53 (1.06%) AWS Lambda
15 51 (1.02%) Amazon S3
16 50 (1.00%) Google Workspace
17 46 (0.92%) GitHub Actions
18 45 (0.90%) Azure Synapse Analytics
18 45 (0.90%) PaaS
19 44 (0.88%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 395 (7.88%) DNS
2 343 (6.85%) DHCP
3 265 (5.29%) Firewall
4 152 (3.03%) TCP/IP
5 151 (3.01%) VPN
6 150 (2.99%) Wi-Fi
7 132 (2.63%) WAN
8 119 (2.38%) LAN
9 96 (1.92%) Broadband
10 93 (1.86%) VLAN
11 86 (1.72%) VoIP
12 73 (1.46%) Wireless
13 53 (1.06%) Remote Desktop
14 49 (0.98%) Network Security
15 40 (0.80%) Internet
16 36 (0.72%) SD-WAN
17 34 (0.68%) SAN
18 30 (0.60%) Unified Communications
19 24 (0.48%) Wireshark
20 23 (0.46%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 304 (6.07%) Power BI
2 211 (4.21%) SQL Server
3 133 (2.65%) Amazon RDS
4 89 (1.78%) Relational Database
5 81 (1.62%) Data Lake
6 77 (1.54%) PostgreSQL
7 74 (1.48%) MySQL
8 66 (1.32%) NoSQL
9 65 (1.30%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 64 (1.28%) Data Warehouse
10 64 (1.28%) SAP BW
11 39 (0.78%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 38 (0.76%) Tableau
13 36 (0.72%) Azure SQL Database
14 31 (0.62%) Amazon Redshift
14 31 (0.62%) DynamoDB
15 29 (0.58%) MongoDB
16 28 (0.56%) Metadata
17 26 (0.52%) Elasticsearch
17 26 (0.52%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 183 (3.65%) Git
2 158 (3.15%) JIRA
3 48 (0.96%) GitLab
4 42 (0.84%) Jenkins
5 30 (0.60%) Selenium
6 18 (0.36%) 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%) Metasploit
13 9 (0.18%) Cypress.io
13 9 (0.18%) TeamCity
14 8 (0.16%) Octopus Deploy
14 8 (0.16%) Rational DOORS
General
1 2,663 (53.15%) Social Skills
2 1,409 (28.12%) Analytical Skills
3 1,049 (20.94%) Finance
4 301 (6.01%) Organisational Skills
5 299 (5.97%) Manufacturing
6 281 (5.61%) Retail
7 245 (4.89%) Marketing
8 208 (4.15%) Public Sector
9 184 (3.67%) Legal
10 162 (3.23%) Law
11 157 (3.13%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 153 (3.05%) Telecoms
13 128 (2.55%) Electronics
14 118 (2.36%) Banking
15 109 (2.18%) Presentation Skills
16 83 (1.66%) Games
17 78 (1.56%) Automotive
18 71 (1.42%) Documentation Skills
19 59 (1.18%) Influencing Skills
20 57 (1.14%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 846 (16.89%) Analyst
2 689 (13.75%) IT Support
3 565 (11.28%) Senior
4 562 (11.22%) Support Engineer
5 382 (7.62%) Developer
6 303 (6.05%) Lead
7 300 (5.99%) IT Engineer
8 284 (5.67%) Support Analyst
9 262 (5.23%) IT Support Engineer
10 242 (4.83%) Technical Support
11 211 (4.21%) Business Analyst
12 174 (3.47%) 2nd Line Support
13 166 (3.31%) Systems Engineer
14 162 (3.23%) Support Technician
14 162 (3.23%) Technical Engineer
15 154 (3.07%) Technical Support Engineer
16 140 (2.79%) Architect
16 140 (2.79%) IT Analyst
17 130 (2.59%) Consultant
18 128 (2.55%) Trainee
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 196 (3.91%) .NET
2 163 (3.25%) HTML
3 154 (3.07%) React
4 127 (2.53%) CSS
5 87 (1.74%) REST
6 69 (1.38%) Node.js
7 61 (1.22%) RESTful
8 50 (1.00%) AngularJS
9 49 (0.98%) SOAP
9 49 (0.98%) Vue
10 48 (0.96%) JSON
11 45 (0.90%) ASP.NET
12 41 (0.82%) XML
13 38 (0.76%) Spring
14 35 (0.70%) .NET Framework
15 33 (0.66%) Django
16 32 (0.64%) EDI
17 29 (0.58%) Laravel
18 28 (0.56%) Spring Boot
19 27 (0.54%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 492 (9.82%) Driving Licence
2 375 (7.49%) Onboarding
3 310 (6.19%) Self-Motivation
4 167 (3.33%) Legacy Systems
5 166 (3.31%) Management Information System
6 158 (3.15%) Analytical Mindset
7 109 (2.18%) Data Centre
8 99 (1.98%) Product Ownership
9 85 (1.70%) Cloud Native
10 65 (1.30%) Enterprise Software
11 51 (1.02%) Social Media
12 47 (0.94%) Mobile App
13 46 (0.92%) FMCG
14 44 (0.88%) EPoS
14 44 (0.88%) Virtual Team
15 39 (0.78%) Distributed Systems
15 39 (0.78%) Low-Code
16 37 (0.74%) Data Structures
17 33 (0.66%) Life Science
17 33 (0.66%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 943 (18.82%) Windows
2 428 (8.54%) Windows Server
3 336 (6.71%) Linux
4 144 (2.87%) Windows Server 2016
5 117 (2.34%) Windows 10
6 79 (1.58%) Android
7 60 (1.20%) Mac OS
8 55 (1.10%) Apple iOS
9 37 (0.74%) Unix
10 35 (0.70%) Windows Server 2019
11 25 (0.50%) Windows Server 2012
12 16 (0.32%) Windows 7
13 14 (0.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
14 9 (0.18%) VMS
15 8 (0.16%) CentOS
15 8 (0.16%) Windows Server 2008
16 7 (0.14%) Windows 8
17 4 (0.080%) Debian
18 3 (0.060%) Ubuntu
19 2 (0.040%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 931 (18.58%) Customer Service
2 903 (18.02%) Continuous Improvement
3 646 (12.89%) Agile
4 480 (9.58%) Project Management
5 449 (8.96%) Mentoring
6 443 (8.84%) Decision-Making
7 434 (8.66%) Analytics
8 415 (8.28%) Business Intelligence
9 378 (7.54%) ITIL
10 370 (7.39%) DevOps
11 357 (7.13%) ERP
12 341 (6.81%) Change Management
13 330 (6.59%) CI/CD
14 305 (6.09%) AI
15 304 (6.07%) Computer Science
15 304 (6.07%) Stakeholder Management
16 301 (6.01%) Cybersecurity
17 299 (5.97%) CRM
18 290 (5.79%) Process Improvement
19 286 (5.71%) Customer Experience
Programming Languages
1 707 (14.11%) SQL
2 490 (9.78%) Python
3 282 (5.63%) JavaScript
4 256 (5.11%) PowerShell
5 238 (4.75%) C#
6 166 (3.31%) Java
7 81 (1.62%) PHP
8 76 (1.52%) TypeScript
9 61 (1.22%) Bash
10 60 (1.20%) C++
11 56 (1.12%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 43 (0.86%) C
12 43 (0.86%) T-SQL
13 25 (0.50%) PL/SQL
14 24 (0.48%) R
15 22 (0.44%) MATLAB
16 18 (0.36%) Bicep
16 18 (0.36%) Go
17 17 (0.34%) Perl
18 14 (0.28%) VBA
Qualifications
1 1,124 (22.44%) Degree
2 418 (8.34%) Security Cleared
3 291 (5.81%) SC Cleared
4 162 (3.23%) DBS Check
5 148 (2.95%) Microsoft Certification
6 132 (2.63%) Computer Science Degree
7 97 (1.94%) BPSS Clearance
8 75 (1.50%) Master's Degree
9 67 (1.34%) A+ Certification
9 67 (1.34%) Cisco Certification
10 64 (1.28%) DV Cleared
11 60 (1.20%) ACCA
12 57 (1.14%) HND
13 52 (1.04%) CIMA
14 49 (0.98%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 48 (0.96%) CCNA
15 48 (0.96%) Network+ Certification
16 45 (0.90%) HNC
17 40 (0.80%) AWS Certification
18 33 (0.66%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 260 (5.19%) QA
2 215 (4.29%) Data Quality
3 179 (3.57%) Cyber Essentials
4 135 (2.69%) PCI DSS
5 132 (2.63%) GDPR
6 111 (2.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 81 (1.62%) Accessibility
8 69 (1.38%) SLA
9 43 (0.86%) NIST
10 35 (0.70%) ISO 9001
11 26 (0.52%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 25 (0.50%) Actionable Recommendations
13 15 (0.30%) PMO
14 9 (0.18%) ISO 13485
15 7 (0.14%) ISO/IEC 20000
15 7 (0.14%) SOC 2
16 6 (0.12%) California Consumer Privacy Act
16 6 (0.12%) WCAG
17 5 (0.100%) GLBA
18 4 (0.080%) GRC
System Software
1 664 (13.25%) Active Directory
2 244 (4.87%) Hyper-V
3 168 (3.35%) Docker
4 112 (2.24%) Terminal Server
5 109 (2.18%) VMware Infrastructure
6 28 (0.56%) Firmware
7 26 (0.52%) Virtual Desktop
8 17 (0.34%) vSphere
9 16 (0.32%) VMware ESXi
10 15 (0.30%) Virtual Machines
11 8 (0.16%) Virtual Servers
12 6 (0.12%) KVM
12 6 (0.12%) VMware Workstation
13 5 (0.100%) Embedded Firmware
14 4 (0.080%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 2 (0.040%) RHEV
15 2 (0.040%) Xen
16 1 (0.020%) HDFS
16 1 (0.020%) XenApp
16 1 (0.020%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 196 (3.91%) Terraform
2 192 (3.83%) Microsoft Intune
3 119 (2.38%) Kubernetes
4 78 (1.56%) Ansible
5 50 (1.00%) SCCM
6 44 (0.88%) Grafana
7 42 (0.84%) BMC PATROL
8 27 (0.54%) Prometheus
9 20 (0.40%) Single Sign-On
10 15 (0.30%) Nagios
11 14 (0.28%) Cisco CUCM
11 14 (0.28%) vCenter Server
12 12 (0.24%) Jamf Pro
13 10 (0.20%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 10 (0.20%) AWS Copilot
13 10 (0.20%) Nmap
14 8 (0.16%) Autotask
14 8 (0.16%) Control-M
14 8 (0.16%) ZABBIX
15 7 (0.14%) FortiGate
Vendors
1 1,359 (27.13%) Microsoft
2 298 (5.95%) SAP
3 253 (5.05%) VMware
4 180 (3.59%) Oracle
5 171 (3.41%) Veeam
6 139 (2.77%) SolarWinds
7 136 (2.71%) Splunk
8 133 (2.65%) Cisco
9 113 (2.26%) Tanium
10 112 (2.24%) Brocade
10 112 (2.24%) Nimble Storage
11 104 (2.08%) Google
12 81 (1.62%) Salesforce
13 74 (1.48%) ServiceNow
14 66 (1.32%) Adobe
15 60 (1.20%) Databricks
16 59 (1.18%) Sage
17 56 (1.12%) BT
18 55 (1.10%) Apple
19 46 (0.92%) HubSpot