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

6 months to
2 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 4 6
Rank change year-on-year -7 +2 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 4,958 6,042 10,876
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 7.35% 20.69% 14.76%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.35% 22.51% 18.15%
Number of salaries quoted 3,685 3,109 6,968
10th Percentile £26,425 £26,250 £25,000
25th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £43,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -2.30% -3.33% -10.00%
75th Percentile £58,750 £61,000 £60,000
90th Percentile £74,000 £77,500 £72,500
UK median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £48,900
% change year-on-year -5.00% +2.25% -11.09%

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 47,913 26,846 59,915
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 71.01% 91.93% 81.33%
Number of salaries quoted 31,350 13,298 42,447
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,968 £27,250
25th Percentile £38,250 £34,500 £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 £81,825 £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 2 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 2 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 1,357 £42,500 -5.56% 702
South East -6 1,184 £45,000 - 788
Midlands -21 913 £40,000 -11.11% 421
North West -16 691 £45,000 -4.26% 391
South West -7 571 £43,500 +8.75% 336
West Midlands -25 531 £42,500 -10.53% 255
Yorkshire -11 514 £40,500 +15.71% 231
East of England -7 498 £44,500 +11.25% 323
East Midlands -11 378 £35,000 -9.09% 167
Scotland -4 274 £35,000 -28.28% 151
North East -14 152 £48,445 +7.65% 90
Wales -12 110 £42,500 -15.00% 62
Northern Ireland -10 69 £38,500 -30.00% 117
Isle of Man +3 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
1 298 (6.01%) SharePoint
2 296 (5.97%) Microsoft Exchange
3 47 (0.95%) CMS
4 40 (0.81%) Confluence
5 30 (0.61%) IIS
6 23 (0.46%) Apache
7 21 (0.42%) WordPress
8 17 (0.34%) 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
15 4 (0.081%) Moodle
15 4 (0.081%) nginx
15 4 (0.081%) OpenStack
15 4 (0.081%) Totara
Applications
1 300 (6.05%) Microsoft Office
2 292 (5.89%) Microsoft Excel
3 41 (0.83%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 39 (0.79%) Spreadsheet
5 35 (0.71%) 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 6 (0.12%) AutoCAD
9 6 (0.12%) Photoshop
10 5 (0.10%) Simulink
10 5 (0.10%) Trello
11 4 (0.081%) Chatbot
12 3 (0.061%) Autodesk Inventor
13 2 (0.040%) Acrobat
13 2 (0.040%) Sketch
13 2 (0.040%) SOLIDWORKS
13 2 (0.040%) Windchill
14 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
8 12 (0.24%) Oracle EBS
9 11 (0.22%) iTrent
10 10 (0.20%) IBM Planning Analytics
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 (0.081%) Line 50
14 4 (0.081%) Sage 200
14 4 (0.081%) Sage X3
Cloud Services
1 993 (20.03%) Azure
2 878 (17.71%) Microsoft 365
3 498 (10.04%) AWS
4 371 (7.48%) Power Platform
5 229 (4.62%) Entra ID
6 172 (3.47%) SaaS
7 138 (2.78%) GCP
8 121 (2.44%) Azure DevOps
9 107 (2.16%) Serverless
10 105 (2.12%) Dynamics 365
11 81 (1.63%) GitHub
12 76 (1.53%) Power Automate
13 67 (1.35%) PowerApps
14 59 (1.19%) Amazon S3
15 57 (1.15%) OneDrive
16 54 (1.09%) Google Workspace
17 51 (1.03%) AWS Lambda
18 46 (0.93%) IaaS
19 44 (0.89%) Azure Data Factory
19 44 (0.89%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 322 (6.49%) Firewall
2 304 (6.13%) DNS
3 255 (5.14%) DHCP
4 174 (3.51%) WAN
5 169 (3.41%) VPN
6 134 (2.70%) LAN
7 123 (2.48%) TCP/IP
7 123 (2.48%) Wi-Fi
8 108 (2.18%) Broadband
9 103 (2.08%) Wireless
10 97 (1.96%) VLAN
11 79 (1.59%) VoIP
12 77 (1.55%) Network Security
13 43 (0.87%) SD-WAN
14 36 (0.73%) Internet
15 34 (0.69%) SAN
16 19 (0.38%) HTTP
16 19 (0.38%) Unified Communications
17 18 (0.36%) Remote Desktop
18 15 (0.30%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 294 (5.93%) Power BI
2 209 (4.22%) SQL Server
3 75 (1.51%) Amazon RDS
4 73 (1.47%) Data Warehouse
5 70 (1.41%) MySQL
6 68 (1.37%) PostgreSQL
6 68 (1.37%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 67 (1.35%) NoSQL
8 60 (1.21%) Tableau
9 52 (1.05%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 50 (1.01%) Relational Database
11 44 (0.89%) Power Query
12 38 (0.77%) Big Data
13 33 (0.67%) DynamoDB
14 31 (0.63%) MongoDB
15 29 (0.58%) Data Lake
16 25 (0.50%) Amazon Redshift
17 24 (0.48%) Oracle Reports
18 22 (0.44%) Azure SQL Database
18 22 (0.44%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 185 (3.73%) Git
2 142 (2.86%) JIRA
3 66 (1.33%) GitLab
4 42 (0.85%) Jenkins
5 30 (0.61%) Rational DOORS
6 16 (0.32%) Maven
7 14 (0.28%) Cucumber
7 14 (0.28%) JUnit
7 14 (0.28%) Selenium
8 13 (0.26%) SonarQube
8 13 (0.26%) Subversion
9 12 (0.24%) Cypress.io
9 12 (0.24%) LabVIEW
10 10 (0.20%) Bitbucket
10 10 (0.20%) Oracle Forms
11 8 (0.16%) MLflow
11 8 (0.16%) Visual Studio
12 7 (0.14%) Metasploit
12 7 (0.14%) Mockito
12 7 (0.14%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 2,354 (47.48%) Social Skills
2 1,382 (27.87%) Analytical Skills
3 819 (16.52%) Finance
4 340 (6.86%) Manufacturing
5 319 (6.43%) Organisational Skills
6 224 (4.52%) Public Sector
7 207 (4.18%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 190 (3.83%) Law
9 182 (3.67%) Marketing
10 179 (3.61%) Legal
11 174 (3.51%) Retail
12 143 (2.88%) Telecoms
13 135 (2.72%) Electronics
14 130 (2.62%) Banking
15 98 (1.98%) Documentation Skills
16 80 (1.61%) Influencing Skills
17 70 (1.41%) Aerospace
18 69 (1.39%) Games
19 56 (1.13%) Presentation Skills
20 51 (1.03%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 708 (14.28%) Analyst
2 626 (12.63%) IT Support
3 546 (11.01%) Support Engineer
4 535 (10.79%) Senior
5 425 (8.57%) Developer
6 364 (7.34%) IT Engineer
7 283 (5.71%) IT Support Engineer
8 253 (5.10%) Lead
9 237 (4.78%) Support Technician
10 207 (4.18%) Support Analyst
11 190 (3.83%) Systems Engineer
12 187 (3.77%) IT Technician
13 172 (3.47%) Architect
14 170 (3.43%) Consultant
15 162 (3.27%) Technical Support
16 154 (3.11%) Software Engineer
17 151 (3.05%) IT Support Technician
18 148 (2.99%) Infrastructure Engineer
19 130 (2.62%) Technical Engineer
20 124 (2.50%) Technical Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 183 (3.69%) .NET
2 166 (3.35%) React
3 144 (2.90%) HTML
4 122 (2.46%) REST
5 112 (2.26%) CSS
6 79 (1.59%) Node.js
7 71 (1.43%) SOAP
8 64 (1.29%) JSON
9 63 (1.27%) RESTful
10 56 (1.13%) Middleware
10 56 (1.13%) XML
11 53 (1.07%) AngularJS
11 53 (1.07%) Vue
12 40 (0.81%) Spring
13 38 (0.77%) OAuth
14 36 (0.73%) Spring Boot
15 35 (0.71%) ASP.NET
15 35 (0.71%) EDI
16 30 (0.61%) Web Services
17 29 (0.58%) Laravel
Miscellaneous
1 380 (7.66%) Driving Licence
2 264 (5.32%) Onboarding
3 223 (4.50%) Self-Motivation
4 193 (3.89%) Management Information System
5 124 (2.50%) Product Ownership
6 119 (2.40%) Cloud Native
7 107 (2.16%) Analytical Mindset
7 107 (2.16%) Legacy Systems
8 96 (1.94%) Data Centre
9 76 (1.53%) Social Media
10 72 (1.45%) Distributed Systems
11 63 (1.27%) Mobile App
12 57 (1.15%) Low-Code
13 49 (0.99%) Enterprise Software
14 45 (0.91%) Virtual Team
15 41 (0.83%) Data Structures
16 38 (0.77%) Security Posture
17 36 (0.73%) Algorithms
17 36 (0.73%) Hybrid Cloud
17 36 (0.73%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 835 (16.84%) Windows
2 396 (7.99%) Windows Server
3 320 (6.45%) Linux
4 132 (2.66%) Windows 10
5 104 (2.10%) Android
6 101 (2.04%) Windows Server 2016
7 62 (1.25%) Apple iOS
8 52 (1.05%) Mac OS
9 50 (1.01%) Windows Server 2019
10 31 (0.63%) Unix
11 26 (0.52%) CentOS
12 25 (0.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
13 24 (0.48%) 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 1,053 (21.24%) Continuous Improvement
2 886 (17.87%) Customer Service
3 660 (13.31%) Agile
4 487 (9.82%) Mentoring
5 484 (9.76%) Decision-Making
6 420 (8.47%) CI/CD
7 417 (8.41%) AI
8 411 (8.29%) Analytics
9 407 (8.21%) ITIL
10 397 (8.01%) DevOps
11 345 (6.96%) Business Intelligence
12 341 (6.88%) Collaborative Working
13 333 (6.72%) ERP
14 328 (6.62%) Software Engineering
15 326 (6.58%) Cybersecurity
16 322 (6.49%) Coaching
17 321 (6.47%) Project Management
18 309 (6.23%) Stakeholder Management
19 305 (6.15%) Computer Science
20 285 (5.75%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 702 (14.16%) SQL
2 567 (11.44%) Python
3 311 (6.27%) JavaScript
4 236 (4.76%) C#
5 209 (4.22%) Java
6 198 (3.99%) PowerShell
7 122 (2.46%) TypeScript
8 99 (2.00%) C++
9 91 (1.84%) Bash
10 69 (1.39%) PHP
11 51 (1.03%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 47 (0.95%) C
13 42 (0.85%) PL/SQL
14 40 (0.81%) T-SQL
15 30 (0.61%) R
16 28 (0.56%) Kotlin
17 26 (0.52%) Perl
18 23 (0.46%) Go
18 23 (0.46%) Shell Script
19 22 (0.44%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 748 (15.09%) Degree
2 369 (7.44%) Security Cleared
3 265 (5.34%) SC Cleared
4 209 (4.22%) DBS Check
5 156 (3.15%) Microsoft Certification
6 143 (2.88%) Computer Science Degree
7 85 (1.71%) BPSS Clearance
8 75 (1.51%) Cisco Certification
9 72 (1.45%) A+ Certification
10 67 (1.35%) DV Cleared
11 59 (1.19%) CCNA
12 58 (1.17%) ACCA
13 54 (1.09%) CIMA
14 51 (1.03%) HNC
15 49 (0.99%) PMI Certification
16 47 (0.95%) Network+ Certification
17 46 (0.93%) Master's Degree
18 44 (0.89%) CISSP
19 40 (0.81%) Azure Certification
20 38 (0.77%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 279 (5.63%) QA
2 238 (4.80%) Data Quality
3 146 (2.94%) GDPR
4 132 (2.66%) Cyber Essentials
5 128 (2.58%) SLA
6 110 (2.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 88 (1.77%) PCI DSS
8 81 (1.63%) NIST
9 68 (1.37%) Accessibility
10 38 (0.77%) ISO 9001
11 20 (0.40%) Actionable Recommendations
12 19 (0.38%) PMO
13 18 (0.36%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 14 (0.28%) GMP
15 13 (0.26%) GRC
15 13 (0.26%) ISO 14001
15 13 (0.26%) SOC 2
16 12 (0.24%) TickIT
17 8 (0.16%) ISO/IEC 20000
18 7 (0.14%) Def Stans
System Software
1 596 (12.02%) Active Directory
2 203 (4.09%) Hyper-V
3 163 (3.29%) Docker
4 157 (3.17%) VMware Infrastructure
5 56 (1.13%) Terminal Server
6 30 (0.61%) Firmware
7 27 (0.54%) Virtual Desktop
8 17 (0.34%) 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%) 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 (0.061%) ClearTrust
16 3 (0.061%) Terminal Services
17 2 (0.040%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 184 (3.71%) Terraform
2 182 (3.67%) Microsoft Intune
3 153 (3.09%) Kubernetes
4 86 (1.73%) Ansible
5 55 (1.11%) SCCM
6 47 (0.95%) Grafana
7 31 (0.63%) Prometheus
8 21 (0.42%) Nagios
9 13 (0.26%) Single Sign-On
10 12 (0.24%) vCenter Server
11 11 (0.22%) FortiGate
12 9 (0.18%) Autotask
12 9 (0.18%) Kibana
12 9 (0.18%) Puppet
12 9 (0.18%) ZABBIX
13 8 (0.16%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 8 (0.16%) Functional Safety
13 8 (0.16%) Jamf Pro
13 8 (0.16%) logstash
13 8 (0.16%) QRadar
Vendors
1 1,410 (28.44%) Microsoft
2 243 (4.90%) VMware
3 136 (2.74%) Oracle
4 116 (2.34%) Veeam
5 111 (2.24%) SAP
6 109 (2.20%) Cisco
7 103 (2.08%) Google
8 88 (1.77%) SolarWinds
9 87 (1.75%) Splunk
10 69 (1.39%) Databricks
11 66 (1.33%) Salesforce
12 65 (1.31%) Apple
13 64 (1.29%) ServiceNow
14 57 (1.15%) Nimble Storage
15 56 (1.13%) Brocade
15 56 (1.13%) Tanium
16 51 (1.03%) Adobe
17 47 (0.95%) Dell
18 43 (0.87%) Sage
19 39 (0.79%) Meraki