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 6 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 4 5
Rank change year-on-year -6 +1 +7
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 4,981 6,079 11,075
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 7.50% 20.68% 14.77%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.71% 22.56% 18.23%
Number of salaries quoted 3,691 3,121 6,963
10th Percentile £26,375 £26,250 £25,000
25th Percentile £30,000 £30,500 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £42,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year - -5.56% -10.00%
75th Percentile £58,750 £60,000 £60,000
90th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £72,500
UK median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £48,507
% change year-on-year -5.00% +3.08% -11.81%

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 46,526 26,948 60,757
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 70.05% 91.66% 81.01%
Number of salaries quoted 31,577 13,416 42,732
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,750 £27,300
25th Percentile £38,750 £33,750 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £50,967 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.01% +1.93% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,250 £77,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -9.54%

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 6 June 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 6 June 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 1,354 £42,500 -4.49% 694
South East -6 1,189 £45,000 - 777
Midlands -10 924 £42,000 -6.67% 419
North West -6 690 £45,000 -3.23% 394
South West -6 584 £43,500 +8.75% 333
West Midlands -11 528 £42,500 -10.53% 260
Yorkshire -12 507 £41,500 +18.57% 222
East of England -7 501 £45,000 +12.50% 307
East Midlands -8 393 £35,000 -6.67% 161
Scotland -5 268 £35,000 -28.28% 144
North East -15 157 £48,445 +7.65% 90
Wales -15 108 £42,500 -15.00% 59
Northern Ireland -9 71 £38,500 -30.00% 111
Isle of Man +2 3 £35,000 +1.45% 3
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
1 307 (6.16%) Microsoft Exchange
2 299 (6.00%) SharePoint
3 48 (0.96%) CMS
4 43 (0.86%) Confluence
5 32 (0.64%) IIS
6 23 (0.46%) Apache
7 21 (0.42%) WordPress
8 19 (0.38%) Apache Airflow
9 14 (0.28%) Apache Spark
10 13 (0.26%) SAS
11 11 (0.22%) Exchange Server 2013
12 9 (0.18%) Exchange Server 2007
12 9 (0.18%) Exchange Server 2010
13 7 (0.14%) OpenEdge
13 7 (0.14%) Oracle SOA Suite
14 5 (0.10%) Skype for Business
14 5 (0.10%) WebSphere
15 4 (0.080%) Moodle
15 4 (0.080%) nginx
15 4 (0.080%) OpenStack
Applications
1 302 (6.06%) Microsoft Office
2 294 (5.90%) Microsoft Excel
3 42 (0.84%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 39 (0.78%) Spreadsheet
5 35 (0.70%) MS Visio
6 11 (0.22%) Microsoft Project
7 9 (0.18%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 8 (0.16%) Adobe Illustrator
8 8 (0.16%) Fusion 360
9 6 (0.12%) AutoCAD
10 5 (0.10%) Photoshop
10 5 (0.10%) Simulink
10 5 (0.10%) Trello
11 4 (0.080%) Chatbot
12 3 (0.060%) Autodesk Inventor
13 2 (0.040%) Sketch
13 2 (0.040%) SOLIDWORKS
13 2 (0.040%) Windchill
14 1 (0.020%) Acrobat
14 1 (0.020%) Weka
Business Applications
1 47 (0.94%) SAP S/4HANA
2 33 (0.66%) Dynamics CRM
3 24 (0.48%) NetSuite
4 22 (0.44%) Dynamics NAV
5 19 (0.38%) Shopify
6 16 (0.32%) Magento
7 14 (0.28%) SAP ERP
8 12 (0.24%) Dynamics AX
8 12 (0.24%) Oracle EBS
9 11 (0.22%) IBM Planning Analytics
9 11 (0.22%) iTrent
10 10 (0.20%) SAP CO
11 8 (0.16%) Sage 50
12 7 (0.14%) Q-Pulse
12 7 (0.14%) SAP Business One
12 7 (0.14%) Workday HCM
13 5 (0.10%) Salesforce CRM
14 4 (0.080%) Line 50
14 4 (0.080%) Sage 200
14 4 (0.080%) Sage X3
Cloud Services
1 1,004 (20.16%) Azure
2 882 (17.71%) Microsoft 365
3 509 (10.22%) AWS
4 373 (7.49%) Power Platform
5 228 (4.58%) Entra ID
6 171 (3.43%) SaaS
7 141 (2.83%) GCP
8 118 (2.37%) Azure DevOps
9 110 (2.21%) Serverless
10 108 (2.17%) Dynamics 365
11 82 (1.65%) GitHub
12 78 (1.57%) Power Automate
13 69 (1.39%) PowerApps
14 62 (1.24%) OneDrive
15 59 (1.18%) Amazon S3
16 52 (1.04%) Google Workspace
17 51 (1.02%) AWS Lambda
18 46 (0.92%) IaaS
19 44 (0.88%) PaaS
20 42 (0.84%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 326 (6.54%) Firewall
2 311 (6.24%) DNS
3 262 (5.26%) DHCP
4 170 (3.41%) VPN
5 169 (3.39%) WAN
6 131 (2.63%) LAN
7 127 (2.55%) TCP/IP
8 123 (2.47%) Wi-Fi
9 108 (2.17%) Broadband
10 98 (1.97%) Wireless
11 95 (1.91%) VLAN
12 80 (1.61%) VoIP
13 77 (1.55%) Network Security
14 43 (0.86%) SD-WAN
15 35 (0.70%) Internet
16 34 (0.68%) SAN
17 19 (0.38%) HTTP
18 18 (0.36%) Remote Desktop
19 17 (0.34%) Unified Communications
20 15 (0.30%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 294 (5.90%) Power BI
2 209 (4.20%) SQL Server
3 83 (1.67%) Amazon RDS
4 73 (1.47%) MySQL
5 71 (1.43%) Data Warehouse
5 71 (1.43%) PostgreSQL
6 70 (1.41%) NoSQL
7 67 (1.35%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 61 (1.22%) Tableau
9 55 (1.10%) Relational Database
10 53 (1.06%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 43 (0.86%) Power Query
12 38 (0.76%) Big Data
13 35 (0.70%) MongoDB
14 32 (0.64%) DynamoDB
15 29 (0.58%) Data Lake
16 25 (0.50%) Amazon Redshift
17 23 (0.46%) Metadata
18 22 (0.44%) Azure SQL Database
19 21 (0.42%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 190 (3.81%) Git
2 140 (2.81%) JIRA
3 69 (1.39%) GitLab
4 42 (0.84%) Jenkins
5 30 (0.60%) Rational DOORS
6 16 (0.32%) Selenium
7 15 (0.30%) Cucumber
7 15 (0.30%) JUnit
7 15 (0.30%) Maven
8 13 (0.26%) Subversion
9 12 (0.24%) Cypress.io
9 12 (0.24%) LabVIEW
9 12 (0.24%) SonarQube
10 10 (0.20%) Bitbucket
10 10 (0.20%) Oracle Forms
11 8 (0.16%) Burp Suite
11 8 (0.16%) Eclipse
11 8 (0.16%) Metasploit
12 7 (0.14%) Mockito
12 7 (0.14%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 2,376 (47.70%) Social Skills
2 1,406 (28.23%) Analytical Skills
3 820 (16.46%) Finance
4 342 (6.87%) Manufacturing
5 315 (6.32%) Organisational Skills
6 222 (4.46%) Public Sector
7 216 (4.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 188 (3.77%) Law
9 184 (3.69%) Legal
10 183 (3.67%) Marketing
11 174 (3.49%) Retail
12 141 (2.83%) Telecoms
13 135 (2.71%) Electronics
14 130 (2.61%) Banking
15 97 (1.95%) Documentation Skills
16 86 (1.73%) Influencing Skills
17 70 (1.41%) Aerospace
18 69 (1.39%) Games
19 56 (1.12%) Presentation Skills
20 52 (1.04%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 715 (14.35%) Analyst
2 616 (12.37%) IT Support
3 542 (10.88%) Support Engineer
4 539 (10.82%) Senior
5 423 (8.49%) Developer
6 362 (7.27%) IT Engineer
7 280 (5.62%) IT Support Engineer
8 260 (5.22%) Lead
9 232 (4.66%) Support Technician
10 203 (4.08%) Support Analyst
11 195 (3.91%) Systems Engineer
12 182 (3.65%) IT Technician
13 174 (3.49%) Consultant
14 173 (3.47%) Architect
15 162 (3.25%) Technical Support
16 154 (3.09%) Software Engineer
17 147 (2.95%) Infrastructure Engineer
18 146 (2.93%) IT Support Technician
19 131 (2.63%) Technical Engineer
20 125 (2.51%) Technical Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 182 (3.65%) .NET
2 169 (3.39%) React
3 147 (2.95%) HTML
4 123 (2.47%) REST
5 115 (2.31%) CSS
6 83 (1.67%) Node.js
7 72 (1.45%) SOAP
8 65 (1.30%) RESTful
9 64 (1.28%) JSON
10 58 (1.16%) Middleware
11 56 (1.12%) XML
12 55 (1.10%) AngularJS
12 55 (1.10%) Vue
13 39 (0.78%) Spring
14 37 (0.74%) OAuth
15 36 (0.72%) EDI
16 35 (0.70%) Spring Boot
17 34 (0.68%) ASP.NET
18 33 (0.66%) Web Services
19 28 (0.56%) Laravel
Miscellaneous
1 377 (7.57%) Driving Licence
2 266 (5.34%) Onboarding
3 221 (4.44%) Self-Motivation
4 196 (3.93%) Management Information System
5 123 (2.47%) Product Ownership
6 119 (2.39%) Cloud Native
7 115 (2.31%) Legacy Systems
8 106 (2.13%) Analytical Mindset
9 98 (1.97%) Data Centre
10 76 (1.53%) Social Media
11 71 (1.43%) Distributed Systems
12 63 (1.26%) Mobile App
13 53 (1.06%) Low-Code
14 47 (0.94%) Enterprise Software
15 45 (0.90%) Virtual Team
16 41 (0.82%) Data Structures
16 41 (0.82%) Security Posture
17 38 (0.76%) Algorithms
18 36 (0.72%) Hybrid Cloud
18 36 (0.72%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 842 (16.90%) Windows
2 403 (8.09%) Windows Server
3 336 (6.75%) Linux
4 133 (2.67%) Windows 10
5 109 (2.19%) Windows Server 2016
6 103 (2.07%) Android
7 61 (1.22%) Apple iOS
8 51 (1.02%) Mac OS
9 50 (1.00%) Windows Server 2019
10 32 (0.64%) Unix
11 27 (0.54%) CentOS
11 27 (0.54%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 25 (0.50%) Ubuntu
13 20 (0.40%) Windows Server 2012
14 16 (0.32%) VMS
15 12 (0.24%) Windows 7
16 9 (0.18%) Debian
17 7 (0.14%) Windows 8
17 7 (0.14%) Windows Server 2008
18 4 (0.080%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,064 (21.36%) Continuous Improvement
2 887 (17.81%) Customer Service
3 663 (13.31%) Agile
4 500 (10.04%) Decision-Making
5 490 (9.84%) Mentoring
6 422 (8.47%) Analytics
7 421 (8.45%) CI/CD
8 420 (8.43%) AI
9 404 (8.11%) ITIL
10 396 (7.95%) DevOps
11 352 (7.07%) Collaborative Working
12 344 (6.91%) Business Intelligence
13 335 (6.73%) ERP
14 329 (6.61%) Software Engineering
15 327 (6.56%) Cybersecurity
16 319 (6.40%) Coaching
16 319 (6.40%) Project Management
17 315 (6.32%) Stakeholder Management
18 311 (6.24%) Computer Science
19 295 (5.92%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 722 (14.50%) SQL
2 581 (11.66%) Python
3 309 (6.20%) JavaScript
4 236 (4.74%) C#
5 213 (4.28%) Java
6 200 (4.02%) PowerShell
7 124 (2.49%) TypeScript
8 100 (2.01%) C++
9 92 (1.85%) Bash
10 69 (1.39%) PHP
11 51 (1.02%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 47 (0.94%) C
13 42 (0.84%) PL/SQL
14 40 (0.80%) T-SQL
15 30 (0.60%) R
16 28 (0.56%) Kotlin
17 27 (0.54%) Perl
18 24 (0.48%) Shell Script
19 23 (0.46%) Go
20 21 (0.42%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 753 (15.12%) Degree
2 385 (7.73%) Security Cleared
3 279 (5.60%) SC Cleared
4 208 (4.18%) DBS Check
5 157 (3.15%) Microsoft Certification
6 145 (2.91%) Computer Science Degree
7 85 (1.71%) BPSS Clearance
8 75 (1.51%) Cisco Certification
9 70 (1.41%) A+ Certification
10 67 (1.35%) DV Cleared
11 60 (1.20%) ACCA
12 59 (1.18%) CCNA
13 56 (1.12%) CIMA
14 53 (1.06%) HNC
15 48 (0.96%) PMI Certification
16 47 (0.94%) Master's Degree
17 46 (0.92%) Network+ Certification
18 44 (0.88%) CISSP
19 43 (0.86%) Azure Certification
20 39 (0.78%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 282 (5.66%) QA
2 236 (4.74%) Data Quality
3 144 (2.89%) GDPR
4 142 (2.85%) Cyber Essentials
5 128 (2.57%) SLA
6 113 (2.27%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 95 (1.91%) PCI DSS
8 80 (1.61%) NIST
9 73 (1.47%) Accessibility
10 38 (0.76%) ISO 9001
11 21 (0.42%) Actionable Recommendations
11 21 (0.42%) PMO
12 19 (0.38%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 14 (0.28%) GMP
14 13 (0.26%) GRC
14 13 (0.26%) ISO 14001
15 12 (0.24%) SOC 2
15 12 (0.24%) TickIT
16 8 (0.16%) ISO/IEC 20000
17 7 (0.14%) Def Stans
System Software
1 599 (12.03%) Active Directory
2 215 (4.32%) Hyper-V
3 166 (3.33%) Docker
4 161 (3.23%) VMware Infrastructure
5 64 (1.28%) Terminal Server
6 30 (0.60%) Firmware
7 28 (0.56%) Virtual Desktop
8 18 (0.36%) vSphere
9 15 (0.30%) Virtual Machines
10 13 (0.26%) VMware ESXi
11 10 (0.20%) KVM
12 7 (0.14%) VMware Workstation
13 6 (0.12%) Embedded Firmware
13 6 (0.12%) XenApp
14 4 (0.080%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 4 (0.080%) Slurm Workload Manager
14 4 (0.080%) Virtual Servers
15 3 (0.060%) ClearTrust
15 3 (0.060%) Terminal Services
16 2 (0.040%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 187 (3.75%) Terraform
2 181 (3.63%) Microsoft Intune
3 158 (3.17%) Kubernetes
4 88 (1.77%) Ansible
5 54 (1.08%) SCCM
6 47 (0.94%) Grafana
7 31 (0.62%) Prometheus
8 22 (0.44%) Nagios
9 13 (0.26%) FortiGate
9 13 (0.26%) Single Sign-On
10 12 (0.24%) vCenter Server
11 9 (0.18%) Autotask
11 9 (0.18%) Kibana
11 9 (0.18%) Puppet
11 9 (0.18%) QRadar
11 9 (0.18%) ZABBIX
12 8 (0.16%) Jamf Pro
12 8 (0.16%) logstash
12 8 (0.16%) Nmap
12 8 (0.16%) Podman
Vendors
1 1,414 (28.39%) Microsoft
2 255 (5.12%) VMware
3 133 (2.67%) Oracle
4 124 (2.49%) Veeam
5 109 (2.19%) Cisco
6 108 (2.17%) SAP
7 101 (2.03%) Google
8 97 (1.95%) Splunk
9 96 (1.93%) SolarWinds
10 72 (1.45%) Databricks
11 70 (1.41%) Salesforce
12 65 (1.30%) Nimble Storage
12 65 (1.30%) Tanium
13 64 (1.28%) Brocade
13 64 (1.28%) ServiceNow
14 63 (1.26%) Apple
15 49 (0.98%) Adobe
16 47 (0.94%) Dell
17 43 (0.86%) Sage
18 39 (0.78%) Meraki