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

6 months to
27 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 4 5
Rank change year-on-year -4 +1 +7
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 5,357 6,091 11,242
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 7.81% 19.85% 14.68%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.12% 21.92% 18.31%
Number of salaries quoted 4,024 3,260 6,900
10th Percentile £26,500 £25,750 £25,000
25th Percentile £30,250 £30,000 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £42,134 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +0.87% -6.37% -10.00%
75th Percentile £58,750 £60,000 £60,000
90th Percentile £73,750 £77,500 £72,500
UK median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £49,329
% change year-on-year -5.00% +1.36% -10.31%

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 48,155 27,788 61,409
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 70.19% 90.57% 80.17%
Number of salaries quoted 33,844 14,241 42,806
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,500 £27,500
25th Percentile £39,000 £32,851 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £53,000 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.00% - -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £78,750
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 27 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 27 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 -8 1,448 £43,500 -1.14% 553
South East -4 1,320 £45,000 +5.88% 727
Midlands -8 986 £42,000 -1.18% 412
North West -6 758 £45,000 -2.17% 305
South West -6 631 £44,000 +17.33% 269
West Midlands -9 564 £42,500 -5.56% 229
East of England -3 547 £45,000 +28.57% 235
Yorkshire -12 508 £41,955 +19.87% 184
East Midlands -10 419 £35,000 -4.11% 183
Scotland -5 250 £32,750 -32.89% 94
North East -11 182 £50,000 +25.00% 83
Wales -21 123 £45,000 - 42
Northern Ireland -10 72 £38,500 -30.00% 80
Isle of Man +2 3 £35,000 +1.45% 4
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
1 336 (6.27%) Microsoft Exchange
2 329 (6.14%) SharePoint
3 53 (0.99%) Confluence
4 51 (0.95%) CMS
5 32 (0.60%) IIS
6 27 (0.50%) WordPress
7 25 (0.47%) Apache
8 20 (0.37%) Apache Airflow
9 15 (0.28%) Apache Spark
10 12 (0.22%) SAS
11 11 (0.21%) Exchange Server 2013
11 11 (0.21%) WebSphere
12 9 (0.17%) Exchange Server 2007
12 9 (0.17%) Exchange Server 2010
13 8 (0.15%) WebLogic
14 7 (0.13%) OpenEdge
14 7 (0.13%) Oracle SOA Suite
15 5 (0.093%) Skype for Business
16 4 (0.075%) Moodle
16 4 (0.075%) OpenStack
Applications
1 344 (6.42%) Microsoft Office
2 320 (5.97%) Microsoft Excel
3 44 (0.82%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 37 (0.69%) Spreadsheet
5 30 (0.56%) MS Visio
6 16 (0.30%) Microsoft Project
7 9 (0.17%) Simulink
8 8 (0.15%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 8 (0.15%) Adobe Illustrator
9 6 (0.11%) AutoCAD
10 5 (0.093%) Fusion 360
10 5 (0.093%) Photoshop
10 5 (0.093%) Trello
11 4 (0.075%) Chatbot
12 3 (0.056%) Adobe XD
12 3 (0.056%) Autodesk Inventor
12 3 (0.056%) Lightworks
12 3 (0.056%) Sketch
12 3 (0.056%) Windchill
13 2 (0.037%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 51 (0.95%) SAP S/4HANA
2 31 (0.58%) Dynamics CRM
3 29 (0.54%) NetSuite
4 22 (0.41%) Dynamics NAV
5 19 (0.35%) Shopify
6 16 (0.30%) Magento
7 14 (0.26%) SAP ERP
8 12 (0.22%) Dynamics AX
8 12 (0.22%) Oracle EBS
9 10 (0.19%) IBM Planning Analytics
9 10 (0.19%) iTrent
10 9 (0.17%) SAP Business One
11 8 (0.15%) Sage 50
12 7 (0.13%) Workday HCM
13 6 (0.11%) JDE EnterpriseOne
13 6 (0.11%) SAP CO
14 5 (0.093%) Q-Pulse
14 5 (0.093%) Raiser’s Edge
15 4 (0.075%) Dynamics GP
15 4 (0.075%) Line 50
Cloud Services
1 1,133 (21.15%) Azure
2 982 (18.33%) Microsoft 365
3 563 (10.51%) AWS
4 410 (7.65%) Power Platform
5 260 (4.85%) Entra ID
6 181 (3.38%) SaaS
7 175 (3.27%) GCP
8 127 (2.37%) Azure DevOps
9 114 (2.13%) Dynamics 365
9 114 (2.13%) Serverless
10 93 (1.74%) GitHub
11 91 (1.70%) Power Automate
12 83 (1.55%) PowerApps
13 70 (1.31%) OneDrive
14 56 (1.05%) Amazon S3
15 48 (0.90%) Microsoft Copilot
16 47 (0.88%) AWS Lambda
16 47 (0.88%) Google Workspace
17 46 (0.86%) IaaS
18 45 (0.84%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 396 (7.39%) Firewall
2 350 (6.53%) DNS
3 301 (5.62%) DHCP
4 213 (3.98%) VPN
5 192 (3.58%) WAN
6 163 (3.04%) LAN
7 160 (2.99%) TCP/IP
8 152 (2.84%) Wi-Fi
9 120 (2.24%) Wireless
10 115 (2.15%) VLAN
11 108 (2.02%) Broadband
12 91 (1.70%) Network Security
13 87 (1.62%) VoIP
14 43 (0.80%) Internet
15 39 (0.73%) SD-WAN
16 29 (0.54%) SAN
17 24 (0.45%) HTTP
18 21 (0.39%) SSL
18 21 (0.39%) Structured Cabling
19 18 (0.34%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 332 (6.20%) Power BI
2 241 (4.50%) SQL Server
3 98 (1.83%) Amazon RDS
4 89 (1.66%) MySQL
5 82 (1.53%) Data Warehouse
6 74 (1.38%) PostgreSQL
7 73 (1.36%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 67 (1.25%) NoSQL
9 64 (1.19%) Relational Database
10 60 (1.12%) Tableau
11 57 (1.06%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 47 (0.88%) Power Query
13 39 (0.73%) MongoDB
14 36 (0.67%) Azure SQL Database
15 35 (0.65%) Big Data
16 32 (0.60%) Data Lake
17 28 (0.52%) DynamoDB
18 27 (0.50%) Elasticsearch
19 24 (0.45%) Amazon Redshift
20 18 (0.34%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 208 (3.88%) Git
2 151 (2.82%) JIRA
3 71 (1.33%) GitLab
4 45 (0.84%) Jenkins
5 29 (0.54%) Rational DOORS
6 20 (0.37%) Cucumber
7 19 (0.35%) Subversion
8 17 (0.32%) Eclipse
8 17 (0.32%) JUnit
9 15 (0.28%) Selenium
10 14 (0.26%) SonarQube
11 13 (0.24%) Cypress.io
11 13 (0.24%) Maven
12 11 (0.21%) Oracle Forms
13 10 (0.19%) Bitbucket
13 10 (0.19%) Postman
14 8 (0.15%) Burp Suite
14 8 (0.15%) Claude Code
14 8 (0.15%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
15 7 (0.13%) Metasploit
General
1 2,550 (47.60%) Social Skills
2 1,461 (27.27%) Analytical Skills
3 854 (15.94%) Finance
4 406 (7.58%) Manufacturing
5 350 (6.53%) Organisational Skills
6 246 (4.59%) Public Sector
7 234 (4.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 216 (4.03%) Retail
9 208 (3.88%) Law
10 203 (3.79%) Legal
11 177 (3.30%) Marketing
12 135 (2.52%) Electronics
13 134 (2.50%) Telecoms
14 124 (2.31%) Banking
15 109 (2.03%) Documentation Skills
16 100 (1.87%) Influencing Skills
17 80 (1.49%) Aerospace
18 74 (1.38%) Games
19 61 (1.14%) Presentation Skills
20 55 (1.03%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 751 (14.02%) Analyst
2 652 (12.17%) IT Support
3 569 (10.62%) Support Engineer
4 558 (10.42%) Senior
5 494 (9.22%) Developer
6 387 (7.22%) IT Engineer
7 294 (5.49%) IT Support Engineer
8 285 (5.32%) Lead
9 245 (4.57%) Support Technician
10 220 (4.11%) Support Analyst
11 213 (3.98%) Systems Engineer
12 198 (3.70%) IT Technician
13 192 (3.58%) Technical Support
14 177 (3.30%) Consultant
15 176 (3.29%) Software Engineer
16 171 (3.19%) Architect
17 160 (2.99%) Technical Engineer
18 157 (2.93%) IT Support Technician
19 152 (2.84%) Technical Support Engineer
20 133 (2.48%) Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 206 (3.85%) .NET
2 191 (3.57%) React
3 160 (2.99%) HTML
4 142 (2.65%) REST
5 121 (2.26%) CSS
6 98 (1.83%) Node.js
7 83 (1.55%) RESTful
8 77 (1.44%) SOAP
9 74 (1.38%) Middleware
10 70 (1.31%) JSON
11 67 (1.25%) Vue
12 64 (1.19%) AngularJS
13 61 (1.14%) XML
14 45 (0.84%) Spring
15 43 (0.80%) Web Services
16 42 (0.78%) ASP.NET
16 42 (0.78%) Spring Boot
17 38 (0.71%) EDI
18 37 (0.69%) OAuth
19 29 (0.54%) ASP.NET Core
Miscellaneous
1 415 (7.75%) Driving Licence
2 303 (5.66%) Onboarding
3 246 (4.59%) Self-Motivation
4 198 (3.70%) Management Information System
5 149 (2.78%) Cloud Native
6 133 (2.48%) Legacy Systems
7 128 (2.39%) Product Ownership
8 99 (1.85%) Data Centre
9 98 (1.83%) Analytical Mindset
10 77 (1.44%) Distributed Systems
11 68 (1.27%) Social Media
12 67 (1.25%) Mobile App
13 66 (1.23%) Security Posture
14 51 (0.95%) Low-Code
15 50 (0.93%) Enterprise Software
15 50 (0.93%) Virtual Team
16 44 (0.82%) Data Structures
17 43 (0.80%) Algorithms
17 43 (0.80%) IoT
18 42 (0.78%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 934 (17.44%) Windows
2 453 (8.46%) Windows Server
3 375 (7.00%) Linux
4 146 (2.73%) Windows 10
5 119 (2.22%) Windows Server 2016
6 106 (1.98%) Android
7 68 (1.27%) Apple iOS
8 66 (1.23%) Mac OS
9 52 (0.97%) Windows Server 2019
10 31 (0.58%) Unix
11 28 (0.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 26 (0.49%) CentOS
12 26 (0.49%) Ubuntu
13 17 (0.32%) VMS
14 16 (0.30%) Windows Server 2012
15 14 (0.26%) Debian
15 14 (0.26%) Windows 7
16 7 (0.13%) Windows 8
17 6 (0.11%) FreeRTOS
17 6 (0.11%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,226 (22.89%) Continuous Improvement
2 964 (18.00%) Customer Service
3 712 (13.29%) Agile
4 548 (10.23%) Mentoring
5 543 (10.14%) Decision-Making
6 481 (8.98%) AI
7 469 (8.75%) CI/CD
8 460 (8.59%) Analytics
9 438 (8.18%) ITIL
10 429 (8.01%) DevOps
11 418 (7.80%) Cybersecurity
12 412 (7.69%) Collaborative Working
13 384 (7.17%) Business Intelligence
14 380 (7.09%) ERP
14 380 (7.09%) Software Engineering
15 365 (6.81%) Stakeholder Management
16 332 (6.20%) Computer Science
17 315 (5.88%) Project Delivery
18 312 (5.82%) Project Management
19 307 (5.73%) Coaching
Programming Languages
1 835 (15.59%) SQL
2 620 (11.57%) Python
3 341 (6.37%) JavaScript
4 282 (5.26%) C#
5 234 (4.37%) Java
6 230 (4.29%) PowerShell
7 151 (2.82%) TypeScript
8 133 (2.48%) C++
9 106 (1.98%) Bash
10 75 (1.40%) PHP
11 56 (1.05%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 54 (1.01%) C
13 45 (0.84%) T-SQL
14 40 (0.75%) PL/SQL
15 31 (0.58%) Perl
16 30 (0.56%) Go
16 30 (0.56%) Kotlin
17 29 (0.54%) Shell Script
18 28 (0.52%) R
19 26 (0.49%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 778 (14.52%) Degree
2 433 (8.08%) Security Cleared
3 306 (5.71%) SC Cleared
4 206 (3.85%) DBS Check
5 160 (2.99%) Microsoft Certification
6 155 (2.89%) Computer Science Degree
7 87 (1.62%) BPSS Clearance
8 81 (1.51%) Cisco Certification
9 72 (1.34%) DV Cleared
10 66 (1.23%) A+ Certification
11 63 (1.18%) CCNA
12 62 (1.16%) ACCA
13 60 (1.12%) Azure Certification
14 58 (1.08%) CIMA
15 55 (1.03%) HNC
16 53 (0.99%) PMI Certification
17 48 (0.90%) CISSP
18 46 (0.86%) Network+ Certification
19 45 (0.84%) CompTIA Security+
20 44 (0.82%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 300 (5.60%) QA
2 244 (4.55%) Data Quality
3 162 (3.02%) Cyber Essentials
4 157 (2.93%) GDPR
5 135 (2.52%) SLA
6 130 (2.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 110 (2.05%) PCI DSS
8 94 (1.75%) Accessibility
9 82 (1.53%) NIST
10 41 (0.77%) ISO 9001
11 25 (0.47%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 23 (0.43%) PMO
13 18 (0.34%) GMP
14 15 (0.28%) Actionable Recommendations
14 15 (0.28%) GRC
15 13 (0.24%) ISO 14001
16 12 (0.22%) Good Clinical Practice
16 12 (0.22%) SOC 2
16 12 (0.22%) TickIT
17 8 (0.15%) Def Stans
System Software
1 670 (12.51%) Active Directory
2 250 (4.67%) Hyper-V
3 187 (3.49%) Docker
4 178 (3.32%) VMware Infrastructure
5 72 (1.34%) Terminal Server
6 33 (0.62%) Firmware
7 32 (0.60%) Virtual Desktop
8 26 (0.49%) vSphere
9 20 (0.37%) Virtual Machines
10 11 (0.21%) Embedded Firmware
10 11 (0.21%) VMware ESXi
11 10 (0.19%) KVM
12 7 (0.13%) VMware Workstation
13 6 (0.11%) XenApp
14 5 (0.093%) ClearTrust
15 4 (0.075%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 4 (0.075%) Virtual Servers
16 3 (0.056%) Slurm Workload Manager
16 3 (0.056%) Terminal Services
16 3 (0.056%) VMware Server
Systems Management
1 202 (3.77%) Terraform
2 199 (3.71%) Microsoft Intune
3 180 (3.36%) Kubernetes
4 101 (1.89%) Ansible
5 56 (1.05%) Grafana
6 55 (1.03%) SCCM
7 37 (0.69%) Prometheus
8 21 (0.39%) Nagios
9 18 (0.34%) FortiGate
10 12 (0.22%) Kibana
11 11 (0.21%) logstash
11 11 (0.21%) vCenter Server
12 10 (0.19%) Jamf Pro
12 10 (0.19%) Podman
12 10 (0.19%) Puppet
13 9 (0.17%) Autotask
13 9 (0.17%) Failover Clustering
13 9 (0.17%) Functional Safety
13 9 (0.17%) QRadar
13 9 (0.17%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 1,605 (29.96%) Microsoft
2 285 (5.32%) VMware
3 128 (2.39%) Veeam
4 123 (2.30%) Oracle
5 121 (2.26%) Google
6 117 (2.18%) SAP
7 107 (2.00%) Cisco
7 107 (2.00%) Splunk
8 100 (1.87%) SolarWinds
9 79 (1.47%) Salesforce
10 76 (1.42%) Tanium
11 73 (1.36%) Nimble Storage
12 72 (1.34%) Brocade
13 68 (1.27%) Databricks
13 68 (1.27%) ServiceNow
14 61 (1.14%) Apple
15 52 (0.97%) Adobe
15 52 (0.97%) Sage
16 45 (0.84%) Dell
17 40 (0.75%) Meraki