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 23 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 3 6
Rank change year-on-year -8 +3 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 4,794 5,302 9,581
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 8.71% 19.57% 15.64%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.64% 21.28% 18.33%
Number of salaries quoted 3,418 2,999 6,476
10th Percentile £26,250 £26,929 £25,750
25th Percentile £29,250 £32,500 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £41,000 £50,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -18.00% +11.11% -10.00%
75th Percentile £57,500 £65,000 £61,250
90th Percentile £73,750 £80,000 £72,500
UK median annual salary £45,000 £53,844 £50,000
% change year-on-year -16.43% +7.69% -9.09%

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 41,200 24,917 52,273
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 74.86% 91.98% 85.35%
Number of salaries quoted 24,600 13,620 38,651
10th Percentile £28,250 £29,250 £27,335
25th Percentile £35,000 £39,000 £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 £67,250 £70,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £82,500 £83,750 £77,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -11.29%

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 23 March 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 23 March 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 -18 1,296 £41,000 -11.83% 675
South East -7 1,192 £45,000 -10.86% 809
Midlands -20 857 £37,500 -21.88% 468
North West -17 661 £42,500 -11.46% 370
South West -6 535 £43,500 -11.22% 316
Yorkshire -7 504 £35,000 -17.65% 228
West Midlands -23 502 £42,500 -20.83% 270
East of England -9 431 £40,000 -20.00% 281
East Midlands -2 352 £35,000 -6.67% 197
Scotland -7 305 £36,000 -22.69% 132
North East -8 131 £45,000 - 90
Wales -4 112 £40,000 -33.33% 76
Northern Ireland -1 90 £35,000 -41.39% 20
Isle of Man -1 1 £62,500 +72.41% 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
1 289 (6.03%) Microsoft Exchange
2 245 (5.11%) SharePoint
3 49 (1.02%) Confluence
4 46 (0.96%) CMS
5 32 (0.67%) IIS
6 24 (0.50%) WordPress
7 18 (0.38%) Apache
8 16 (0.33%) Apache Spark
9 13 (0.27%) Exchange Server 2013
10 12 (0.25%) Apache Airflow
11 11 (0.23%) Exchange Server 2007
11 11 (0.23%) Exchange Server 2010
11 11 (0.23%) SAS
12 8 (0.17%) nginx
13 7 (0.15%) Drupal
14 6 (0.13%) Oracle SOA Suite
15 4 (0.083%) Moodle
15 4 (0.083%) Totara
15 4 (0.083%) WebSphere
15 4 (0.083%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 348 (7.26%) Microsoft Office
2 295 (6.15%) Microsoft Excel
3 59 (1.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 30 (0.63%) MS Visio
5 22 (0.46%) Spreadsheet
6 15 (0.31%) Microsoft Project
7 11 (0.23%) AutoCAD
7 11 (0.23%) Photoshop
8 10 (0.21%) Adobe Illustrator
9 8 (0.17%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 5 (0.10%) SOLIDWORKS
11 4 (0.083%) Adobe XD
11 4 (0.083%) Fusion 360
11 4 (0.083%) Simulink
11 4 (0.083%) Trello
12 3 (0.063%) Elementor
12 3 (0.063%) InDesign
13 2 (0.042%) Adobe Premiere
13 2 (0.042%) CATIA
13 2 (0.042%) Revit
Business Applications
1 41 (0.86%) Dynamics CRM
2 27 (0.56%) SAP S/4HANA
3 25 (0.52%) NetSuite
4 13 (0.27%) Sage X3
4 13 (0.27%) SAP CO
4 13 (0.27%) Shopify
5 12 (0.25%) Dynamics NAV
6 10 (0.21%) iTrent
6 10 (0.21%) SAP ERP
7 7 (0.15%) Magento
7 7 (0.15%) Q-Pulse
7 7 (0.15%) Workday HCM
8 6 (0.13%) Markit EDM
9 5 (0.10%) Dynamics AX
9 5 (0.10%) SAP Hybris
10 4 (0.083%) Dynamics GP
10 4 (0.083%) IBM Planning Analytics
10 4 (0.083%) Oracle EBS
10 4 (0.083%) SAP FI
10 4 (0.083%) SAP FI/CO
Cloud Services
1 1,001 (20.88%) Azure
2 850 (17.73%) Microsoft 365
3 442 (9.22%) AWS
4 300 (6.26%) Power Platform
5 237 (4.94%) Entra ID
6 233 (4.86%) SaaS
7 135 (2.82%) GCP
8 129 (2.69%) Azure DevOps
9 98 (2.04%) GitHub
10 97 (2.02%) Serverless
11 70 (1.46%) Power Automate
12 66 (1.38%) Dynamics 365
13 65 (1.36%) Azure Data Factory
14 61 (1.27%) Google Workspace
15 55 (1.15%) AWS Lambda
15 55 (1.15%) Azure Synapse Analytics
16 54 (1.13%) Amazon S3
17 50 (1.04%) GitHub Actions
17 50 (1.04%) PaaS
18 45 (0.94%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 352 (7.34%) DNS
2 295 (6.15%) DHCP
3 284 (5.92%) Firewall
4 154 (3.21%) VPN
5 151 (3.15%) WAN
6 146 (3.05%) TCP/IP
7 142 (2.96%) Wi-Fi
8 127 (2.65%) LAN
9 109 (2.27%) Broadband
10 95 (1.98%) VLAN
11 78 (1.63%) VoIP
12 75 (1.56%) Wireless
13 52 (1.08%) Network Security
14 47 (0.98%) Remote Desktop
15 43 (0.90%) SD-WAN
16 35 (0.73%) Internet
17 29 (0.60%) SAN
18 28 (0.58%) Unified Communications
19 22 (0.46%) Wireshark
20 20 (0.42%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 245 (5.11%) Power BI
2 191 (3.98%) SQL Server
3 93 (1.94%) Amazon RDS
4 82 (1.71%) PostgreSQL
5 70 (1.46%) Relational Database
6 67 (1.40%) NoSQL
6 67 (1.40%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 66 (1.38%) MySQL
8 56 (1.17%) Data Warehouse
9 39 (0.81%) Power Query
10 38 (0.79%) Azure SQL Database
10 38 (0.79%) Tableau
11 34 (0.71%) DynamoDB
11 34 (0.71%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 30 (0.63%) MongoDB
13 26 (0.54%) Amazon Redshift
14 25 (0.52%) Elasticsearch
15 23 (0.48%) Metadata
16 21 (0.44%) Data Lake
17 19 (0.40%) Big Data
Development Applications
1 193 (4.03%) Git
2 164 (3.42%) JIRA
3 62 (1.29%) GitLab
4 44 (0.92%) Jenkins
5 31 (0.65%) Selenium
6 17 (0.35%) LabVIEW
7 16 (0.33%) Visual Studio
8 15 (0.31%) Maven
8 15 (0.31%) Rational DOORS
8 15 (0.31%) Robot Framework
9 14 (0.29%) Snyk
10 13 (0.27%) Cypress.io
11 12 (0.25%) Cucumber
12 11 (0.23%) JUnit
12 11 (0.23%) SonarQube
13 10 (0.21%) Burp Suite
13 10 (0.21%) Metasploit
14 9 (0.19%) Bitbucket
15 7 (0.15%) CircleCI
15 7 (0.15%) Postman
General
1 2,447 (51.04%) Social Skills
2 1,341 (27.97%) Analytical Skills
3 899 (18.75%) Finance
4 346 (7.22%) Organisational Skills
5 250 (5.21%) Manufacturing
6 226 (4.71%) Retail
7 221 (4.61%) Public Sector
8 212 (4.42%) Marketing
9 190 (3.96%) Legal
10 180 (3.75%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 159 (3.32%) Law
12 134 (2.80%) Telecoms
13 119 (2.48%) Electronics
14 114 (2.38%) Banking
15 99 (2.07%) Presentation Skills
16 84 (1.75%) Documentation Skills
17 82 (1.71%) Games
18 64 (1.34%) Automotive
19 57 (1.19%) Influencing Skills
20 48 (1.00%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 737 (15.37%) Analyst
2 699 (14.58%) IT Support
3 600 (12.52%) Support Engineer
4 488 (10.18%) Senior
5 383 (7.99%) Developer
6 343 (7.15%) IT Engineer
7 294 (6.13%) IT Support Engineer
8 249 (5.19%) Support Analyst
9 233 (4.86%) Lead
10 193 (4.03%) Support Technician
11 191 (3.98%) Technical Support
12 180 (3.75%) Business Analyst
13 171 (3.57%) 2nd Line Support
14 149 (3.11%) Systems Engineer
15 147 (3.07%) IT Technician
16 146 (3.05%) Architect
17 144 (3.00%) Consultant
18 141 (2.94%) Technical Engineer
19 132 (2.75%) IT Support Technician
19 132 (2.75%) Technical Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 165 (3.44%) .NET
2 153 (3.19%) React
3 144 (3.00%) HTML
4 109 (2.27%) CSS
5 82 (1.71%) Node.js
6 69 (1.44%) REST
7 58 (1.21%) RESTful
8 49 (1.02%) Vue
9 40 (0.83%) AngularJS
10 39 (0.81%) SOAP
11 37 (0.77%) ASP.NET
11 37 (0.77%) Spring
12 35 (0.73%) JSON
12 35 (0.73%) XML
13 34 (0.71%) Django
14 33 (0.69%) Spring Boot
15 31 (0.65%) GraphQL
15 31 (0.65%) Laravel
16 30 (0.63%) OAuth
17 29 (0.60%) .NET Framework
Miscellaneous
1 435 (9.07%) Driving Licence
2 322 (6.72%) Onboarding
3 293 (6.11%) Self-Motivation
4 162 (3.38%) Management Information System
5 128 (2.67%) Legacy Systems
6 115 (2.40%) Analytical Mindset
7 97 (2.02%) Product Ownership
8 86 (1.79%) Data Centre
9 84 (1.75%) Cloud Native
10 83 (1.73%) Social Media
11 67 (1.40%) Enterprise Software
12 62 (1.29%) Mobile App
13 53 (1.11%) Distributed Systems
14 48 (1.00%) Low-Code
15 38 (0.79%) EPoS
16 37 (0.77%) Data Structures
16 37 (0.77%) NHS
17 36 (0.75%) IoT
18 32 (0.67%) Security Posture
18 32 (0.67%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 933 (19.46%) Windows
2 398 (8.30%) Windows Server
3 313 (6.53%) Linux
4 130 (2.71%) Windows 10
5 114 (2.38%) Windows Server 2016
6 113 (2.36%) Android
7 64 (1.34%) Apple iOS
8 59 (1.23%) Mac OS
9 38 (0.79%) Windows Server 2019
10 36 (0.75%) Unix
11 23 (0.48%) Windows Server 2012
12 22 (0.46%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
13 20 (0.42%) CentOS
14 18 (0.38%) Windows 7
15 15 (0.31%) Ubuntu
16 11 (0.23%) Windows 8
17 9 (0.19%) VMS
17 9 (0.19%) Windows Server 2008
18 7 (0.15%) Debian
19 3 (0.063%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 936 (19.52%) Continuous Improvement
2 891 (18.59%) Customer Service
3 647 (13.50%) Agile
4 468 (9.76%) Decision-Making
5 462 (9.64%) Mentoring
6 422 (8.80%) ITIL
7 409 (8.53%) Project Management
8 374 (7.80%) DevOps
9 363 (7.57%) CI/CD
10 347 (7.24%) Analytics
11 338 (7.05%) Business Intelligence
12 330 (6.88%) AI
13 303 (6.32%) Cybersecurity
14 287 (5.99%) Coaching
15 285 (5.94%) Computer Science
16 280 (5.84%) Process Improvement
17 278 (5.80%) Stakeholder Management
18 274 (5.72%) CRM
19 271 (5.65%) Service Delivery
20 267 (5.57%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 600 (12.52%) SQL
2 484 (10.10%) Python
3 282 (5.88%) JavaScript
4 233 (4.86%) PowerShell
5 191 (3.98%) C#
6 162 (3.38%) Java
7 90 (1.88%) TypeScript
8 74 (1.54%) Bash
9 67 (1.40%) PHP
10 63 (1.31%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 58 (1.21%) C++
12 45 (0.94%) C
13 41 (0.86%) T-SQL
14 27 (0.56%) PL/SQL
15 26 (0.54%) R
16 25 (0.52%) Kotlin
17 19 (0.40%) Bicep
17 19 (0.40%) Go
18 18 (0.38%) VBA
19 17 (0.35%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 920 (19.19%) Degree
2 352 (7.34%) Security Cleared
3 234 (4.88%) SC Cleared
4 173 (3.61%) DBS Check
5 154 (3.21%) Microsoft Certification
6 122 (2.54%) Computer Science Degree
7 93 (1.94%) BPSS Clearance
8 74 (1.54%) ACCA
9 68 (1.42%) Cisco Certification
10 66 (1.38%) CIMA
11 65 (1.36%) DV Cleared
12 64 (1.34%) A+ Certification
13 57 (1.19%) CCNA
14 51 (1.06%) HNC
14 51 (1.06%) Master's Degree
15 47 (0.98%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 43 (0.90%) CISSP
17 42 (0.88%) AWS Certification
18 40 (0.83%) HND
18 40 (0.83%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 242 (5.05%) QA
2 175 (3.65%) Data Quality
3 145 (3.02%) GDPR
4 142 (2.96%) Cyber Essentials
5 112 (2.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 102 (2.13%) PCI DSS
7 81 (1.69%) SLA
8 67 (1.40%) Accessibility
9 62 (1.29%) NIST
10 37 (0.77%) ISO 9001
11 29 (0.60%) Actionable Recommendations
12 25 (0.52%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 13 (0.27%) GMP
14 12 (0.25%) SOC 2
15 9 (0.19%) PMO
16 7 (0.15%) ISO/IEC 20000
17 6 (0.13%) California Consumer Privacy Act
17 6 (0.13%) GRC
18 5 (0.10%) HIPAA
18 5 (0.10%) WCAG
System Software
1 636 (13.27%) Active Directory
2 212 (4.42%) Hyper-V
3 176 (3.67%) Docker
4 129 (2.69%) VMware Infrastructure
5 72 (1.50%) Terminal Server
6 27 (0.56%) Firmware
7 21 (0.44%) Virtual Desktop
8 17 (0.35%) Virtual Machines
9 14 (0.29%) vSphere
10 11 (0.23%) VMware ESXi
11 10 (0.21%) KVM
11 10 (0.21%) VMware Workstation
12 6 (0.13%) Virtual Servers
12 6 (0.13%) XenApp
13 4 (0.083%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 3 (0.063%) Embedded Firmware
15 2 (0.042%) Slurm Workload Manager
15 2 (0.042%) VMware NSX
16 1 (0.021%) BitLocker
16 1 (0.021%) iptables
Systems Management
1 196 (4.09%) Terraform
2 188 (3.92%) Microsoft Intune
3 128 (2.67%) Kubernetes
4 82 (1.71%) Ansible
5 60 (1.25%) SCCM
6 49 (1.02%) Grafana
7 32 (0.67%) Prometheus
8 22 (0.46%) BMC PATROL
9 19 (0.40%) Nagios
9 19 (0.40%) Single Sign-On
10 15 (0.31%) Jamf Pro
11 14 (0.29%) Autotask
11 14 (0.29%) Cisco CUCM
12 13 (0.27%) vCenter Server
13 11 (0.23%) ZABBIX
14 10 (0.21%) AWS Copilot
14 10 (0.21%) Nmap
15 9 (0.19%) FortiGate
16 7 (0.15%) Control-M
16 7 (0.15%) HP Fortify
Vendors
1 1,339 (27.93%) Microsoft
2 231 (4.82%) VMware
3 146 (3.05%) Oracle
4 133 (2.77%) Veeam
5 120 (2.50%) SAP
6 114 (2.38%) Cisco
7 112 (2.34%) Google
8 102 (2.13%) Splunk
9 100 (2.09%) SolarWinds
10 78 (1.63%) ServiceNow
11 73 (1.52%) Tanium
12 72 (1.50%) Brocade
12 72 (1.50%) Nimble Storage
13 69 (1.44%) Adobe
14 68 (1.42%) Databricks
15 66 (1.38%) Apple
16 63 (1.31%) Salesforce
17 62 (1.29%) Sage
18 44 (0.92%) Dell
19 42 (0.88%) HubSpot