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 3 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 4 6
Rank change year-on-year -6 +2 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 5,474 6,174 11,162
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 7.84% 19.22% 14.57%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.14% 21.48% 18.20%
Number of salaries quoted 4,101 3,349 6,835
10th Percentile £26,500 £25,750 £25,047
25th Percentile £30,250 £30,000 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £42,038 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +1.10% -6.58% -9.35%
75th Percentile £58,750 £60,000 £60,000
90th Percentile £73,750 £76,840 £72,500
UK median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £49,107
% change year-on-year -5.00% +1.82% -10.72%

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 49,150 28,737 61,319
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 70.41% 89.46% 80.05%
Number of salaries quoted 34,589 15,099 42,652
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,500 £27,500
25th Percentile £39,238 £32,851 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £53,688 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.38% - -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% -9.09%

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 3 July 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 3 July 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 1,462 £44,000 +3.53% 695
South East -4 1,356 £45,000 +5.88% 834
Midlands -7 1,002 £42,000 -1.18% 454
North West -6 768 £45,000 -2.17% 383
South West -6 652 £44,000 +17.33% 338
West Midlands -9 567 £42,500 -5.56% 247
East of England -3 561 £44,750 +27.86% 289
Yorkshire -12 511 £42,500 +21.43% 219
East Midlands -10 432 £35,000 -4.11% 208
Scotland -4 252 £32,750 -32.89% 132
North East -16 183 £50,000 +25.00% 110
Wales -21 125 £42,500 -15.00% 54
Northern Ireland -10 84 £38,500 -30.00% 79
Isle of Man +2 3 £35,000 +1.45% 5
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
1 340 (6.21%) Microsoft Exchange
2 337 (6.16%) SharePoint
3 53 (0.97%) Confluence
4 52 (0.95%) CMS
5 33 (0.60%) IIS
6 28 (0.51%) WordPress
7 26 (0.47%) Apache
8 20 (0.37%) Apache Airflow
9 15 (0.27%) Apache Spark
10 12 (0.22%) SAS
11 11 (0.20%) Exchange Server 2013
11 11 (0.20%) WebSphere
12 9 (0.16%) Exchange Server 2007
12 9 (0.16%) Exchange Server 2010
13 8 (0.15%) WebLogic
14 7 (0.13%) OpenEdge
15 6 (0.11%) Oracle SOA Suite
16 5 (0.091%) nginx
16 5 (0.091%) OpenStack
16 5 (0.091%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 351 (6.41%) Microsoft Office
2 333 (6.08%) Microsoft Excel
3 48 (0.88%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 38 (0.69%) Spreadsheet
5 30 (0.55%) MS Visio
6 15 (0.27%) Microsoft Project
7 10 (0.18%) Simulink
8 8 (0.15%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 8 (0.15%) Adobe Illustrator
9 6 (0.11%) AutoCAD
10 5 (0.091%) Chatbot
10 5 (0.091%) Fusion 360
10 5 (0.091%) Lightworks
10 5 (0.091%) Photoshop
10 5 (0.091%) Trello
11 4 (0.073%) Adobe XD
11 4 (0.073%) Sketch
12 3 (0.055%) Autodesk Inventor
12 3 (0.055%) Windchill
13 2 (0.037%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 52 (0.95%) SAP S/4HANA
2 30 (0.55%) Dynamics CRM
3 29 (0.53%) NetSuite
4 21 (0.38%) Dynamics NAV
5 19 (0.35%) Shopify
6 16 (0.29%) Magento
7 15 (0.27%) SAP ERP
8 13 (0.24%) Dynamics AX
9 12 (0.22%) Oracle EBS
10 11 (0.20%) IBM Planning Analytics
11 9 (0.16%) iTrent
11 9 (0.16%) SAP Business One
12 8 (0.15%) Sage 50
13 7 (0.13%) JDE EnterpriseOne
13 7 (0.13%) Workday HCM
14 6 (0.11%) Raiser’s Edge
15 5 (0.091%) Q-Pulse
15 5 (0.091%) SAP CO
16 4 (0.073%) Dynamics GP
16 4 (0.073%) Line 50
Cloud Services
1 1,155 (21.10%) Azure
2 1,013 (18.51%) Microsoft 365
3 573 (10.47%) AWS
4 423 (7.73%) Power Platform
5 275 (5.02%) Entra ID
6 187 (3.42%) SaaS
7 183 (3.34%) GCP
8 127 (2.32%) Azure DevOps
9 114 (2.08%) Dynamics 365
10 112 (2.05%) Serverless
11 93 (1.70%) Power Automate
12 92 (1.68%) GitHub
13 87 (1.59%) PowerApps
14 72 (1.32%) OneDrive
15 54 (0.99%) Amazon S3
16 52 (0.95%) Microsoft Copilot
17 46 (0.84%) Google Workspace
17 46 (0.84%) IaaS
17 46 (0.84%) PaaS
18 45 (0.82%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 406 (7.42%) Firewall
2 361 (6.59%) DNS
3 309 (5.64%) DHCP
4 218 (3.98%) VPN
5 194 (3.54%) WAN
6 170 (3.11%) TCP/IP
7 169 (3.09%) LAN
8 159 (2.90%) Wi-Fi
9 124 (2.27%) Wireless
10 114 (2.08%) VLAN
11 105 (1.92%) Broadband
12 92 (1.68%) Network Security
13 89 (1.63%) VoIP
14 44 (0.80%) Internet
15 36 (0.66%) SD-WAN
16 29 (0.53%) SAN
17 25 (0.46%) HTTP
18 21 (0.38%) SSL
18 21 (0.38%) Structured Cabling
19 20 (0.37%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 343 (6.27%) Power BI
2 245 (4.48%) SQL Server
3 98 (1.79%) Amazon RDS
4 91 (1.66%) MySQL
5 83 (1.52%) Data Warehouse
6 76 (1.39%) PostgreSQL
6 76 (1.39%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 68 (1.24%) Relational Database
8 63 (1.15%) Tableau
9 62 (1.13%) NoSQL
10 59 (1.08%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 47 (0.86%) Power Query
12 40 (0.73%) MongoDB
13 36 (0.66%) Azure SQL Database
14 35 (0.64%) Big Data
15 32 (0.58%) Data Lake
16 29 (0.53%) Elasticsearch
17 24 (0.44%) DynamoDB
18 23 (0.42%) Amazon Redshift
19 17 (0.31%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 210 (3.84%) Git
2 158 (2.89%) JIRA
3 73 (1.33%) GitLab
4 45 (0.82%) Jenkins
5 28 (0.51%) Rational DOORS
6 21 (0.38%) Cucumber
7 20 (0.37%) Subversion
8 18 (0.33%) Eclipse
9 17 (0.31%) JUnit
10 15 (0.27%) SonarQube
11 14 (0.26%) Cypress.io
11 14 (0.26%) Selenium
12 12 (0.22%) Maven
13 11 (0.20%) Oracle Forms
14 10 (0.18%) Bitbucket
14 10 (0.18%) Postman
15 8 (0.15%) Burp Suite
15 8 (0.15%) Claude Code
15 8 (0.15%) MLflow
15 8 (0.15%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 2,612 (47.72%) Social Skills
2 1,472 (26.89%) Analytical Skills
3 856 (15.64%) Finance
4 424 (7.75%) Manufacturing
5 358 (6.54%) Organisational Skills
6 254 (4.64%) Public Sector
7 238 (4.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 222 (4.06%) Retail
9 220 (4.02%) Law
10 218 (3.98%) Legal
11 179 (3.27%) Marketing
12 137 (2.50%) Electronics
12 137 (2.50%) Telecoms
13 124 (2.27%) Banking
14 111 (2.03%) Documentation Skills
15 102 (1.86%) Influencing Skills
16 82 (1.50%) Aerospace
17 72 (1.32%) Games
18 58 (1.06%) Advertising
19 57 (1.04%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 769 (14.05%) Analyst
2 670 (12.24%) IT Support
3 585 (10.69%) Support Engineer
4 576 (10.52%) Senior
5 512 (9.35%) Developer
6 401 (7.33%) IT Engineer
7 303 (5.54%) IT Support Engineer
8 288 (5.26%) Lead
9 248 (4.53%) Support Technician
10 240 (4.38%) Support Analyst
11 218 (3.98%) Systems Engineer
12 202 (3.69%) IT Technician
13 201 (3.67%) Technical Support
14 183 (3.34%) Software Engineer
15 177 (3.23%) Consultant
16 172 (3.14%) Architect
17 169 (3.09%) Technical Engineer
18 160 (2.92%) Technical Support Engineer
19 158 (2.89%) IT Support Technician
20 139 (2.54%) IT Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 219 (4.00%) .NET
2 192 (3.51%) React
3 160 (2.92%) HTML
4 147 (2.69%) REST
5 120 (2.19%) CSS
6 98 (1.79%) Node.js
7 86 (1.57%) RESTful
8 80 (1.46%) SOAP
9 74 (1.35%) Middleware
10 71 (1.30%) JSON
11 69 (1.26%) Vue
12 67 (1.22%) AngularJS
13 62 (1.13%) XML
14 46 (0.84%) Spring
15 45 (0.82%) Web Services
16 42 (0.77%) Spring Boot
17 41 (0.75%) ASP.NET
18 40 (0.73%) EDI
19 39 (0.71%) OAuth
20 29 (0.53%) ASP.NET Core
Miscellaneous
1 423 (7.73%) Driving Licence
2 321 (5.86%) Onboarding
3 253 (4.62%) Self-Motivation
4 196 (3.58%) Management Information System
5 153 (2.80%) Cloud Native
6 135 (2.47%) Legacy Systems
7 128 (2.34%) Product Ownership
8 101 (1.85%) Data Centre
9 98 (1.79%) Analytical Mindset
10 82 (1.50%) Distributed Systems
11 68 (1.24%) Social Media
12 67 (1.22%) Security Posture
13 64 (1.17%) Mobile App
14 52 (0.95%) Enterprise Software
15 50 (0.91%) Virtual Team
16 49 (0.90%) Low-Code
17 46 (0.84%) IoT
18 44 (0.80%) Algorithms
19 43 (0.79%) NHS
19 43 (0.79%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 962 (17.57%) Windows
2 462 (8.44%) Windows Server
3 385 (7.03%) Linux
4 152 (2.78%) Windows 10
5 118 (2.16%) Windows Server 2016
6 109 (1.99%) Android
7 71 (1.30%) Apple iOS
8 69 (1.26%) Mac OS
9 52 (0.95%) Windows Server 2019
10 31 (0.57%) Unix
11 29 (0.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 26 (0.47%) CentOS
12 26 (0.47%) Ubuntu
13 17 (0.31%) VMS
14 15 (0.27%) Windows 7
15 14 (0.26%) Debian
15 14 (0.26%) Windows Server 2012
16 7 (0.13%) FreeRTOS
16 7 (0.13%) Windows 8
17 6 (0.11%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,269 (23.18%) Continuous Improvement
2 991 (18.10%) Customer Service
3 725 (13.24%) Agile
4 558 (10.19%) Mentoring
5 557 (10.18%) Decision-Making
6 498 (9.10%) AI
7 491 (8.97%) CI/CD
8 468 (8.55%) Analytics
9 460 (8.40%) ITIL
10 444 (8.11%) DevOps
11 437 (7.98%) Cybersecurity
12 425 (7.76%) Collaborative Working
13 402 (7.34%) Software Engineering
14 396 (7.23%) Business Intelligence
15 386 (7.05%) ERP
16 377 (6.89%) Stakeholder Management
17 330 (6.03%) Project Delivery
18 327 (5.97%) Computer Science
19 317 (5.79%) Service Delivery
20 312 (5.70%) Coaching
Programming Languages
1 853 (15.58%) SQL
2 632 (11.55%) Python
3 347 (6.34%) JavaScript
4 298 (5.44%) C#
5 241 (4.40%) PowerShell
6 239 (4.37%) Java
7 155 (2.83%) TypeScript
8 139 (2.54%) C++
9 107 (1.95%) Bash
10 75 (1.37%) PHP
11 57 (1.04%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 56 (1.02%) C
13 46 (0.84%) T-SQL
14 38 (0.69%) PL/SQL
15 32 (0.58%) Perl
16 31 (0.57%) Shell Script
17 30 (0.55%) Go
18 29 (0.53%) Kotlin
19 28 (0.51%) R
20 27 (0.49%) Rust
Qualifications
1 777 (14.19%) Degree
2 442 (8.07%) Security Cleared
3 313 (5.72%) SC Cleared
4 208 (3.80%) DBS Check
5 162 (2.96%) Microsoft Certification
6 154 (2.81%) Computer Science Degree
7 86 (1.57%) BPSS Clearance
8 81 (1.48%) Cisco Certification
9 75 (1.37%) DV Cleared
10 66 (1.21%) Azure Certification
11 64 (1.17%) A+ Certification
12 63 (1.15%) ACCA
13 62 (1.13%) CCNA
14 59 (1.08%) CIMA
15 58 (1.06%) HNC
16 48 (0.88%) CISSP
16 48 (0.88%) PMI Certification
17 46 (0.84%) Master's Degree
18 44 (0.80%) CompTIA Security+
18 44 (0.80%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 314 (5.74%) QA
2 244 (4.46%) Data Quality
3 164 (3.00%) Cyber Essentials
4 155 (2.83%) GDPR
5 138 (2.52%) SLA
6 133 (2.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 112 (2.05%) PCI DSS
8 100 (1.83%) Accessibility
9 83 (1.52%) NIST
10 40 (0.73%) ISO 9001
11 27 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 24 (0.44%) PMO
13 19 (0.35%) GMP
14 15 (0.27%) GRC
15 14 (0.26%) Actionable Recommendations
15 14 (0.26%) Good Clinical Practice
16 13 (0.24%) ISO 14001
17 12 (0.22%) SOC 2
17 12 (0.22%) TickIT
18 8 (0.15%) Def Stans
System Software
1 692 (12.64%) Active Directory
2 256 (4.68%) Hyper-V
3 194 (3.54%) Docker
4 181 (3.31%) VMware Infrastructure
5 72 (1.32%) Terminal Server
6 35 (0.64%) Firmware
7 31 (0.57%) Virtual Desktop
8 26 (0.47%) vSphere
9 20 (0.37%) Virtual Machines
10 12 (0.22%) Embedded Firmware
11 11 (0.20%) VMware ESXi
12 10 (0.18%) KVM
13 7 (0.13%) VMware Workstation
14 6 (0.11%) XenApp
15 5 (0.091%) ClearTrust
16 4 (0.073%) Microsoft Virtual Server
16 4 (0.073%) Virtual Servers
17 3 (0.055%) Slurm Workload Manager
17 3 (0.055%) Terminal Services
17 3 (0.055%) VMware Server
Systems Management
1 210 (3.84%) Terraform
2 207 (3.78%) Microsoft Intune
3 190 (3.47%) Kubernetes
4 105 (1.92%) Ansible
5 58 (1.06%) Grafana
6 56 (1.02%) SCCM
7 37 (0.68%) Prometheus
8 21 (0.38%) Nagios
9 18 (0.33%) FortiGate
10 12 (0.22%) Kibana
11 11 (0.20%) logstash
11 11 (0.20%) Puppet
11 11 (0.20%) vCenter Server
12 10 (0.18%) Jamf Pro
12 10 (0.18%) Podman
12 10 (0.18%) Proxmox
12 10 (0.18%) QRadar
12 10 (0.18%) Single Sign-On
13 9 (0.16%) Failover Clustering
13 9 (0.16%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 1,656 (30.25%) Microsoft
2 290 (5.30%) VMware
3 129 (2.36%) Veeam
4 123 (2.25%) Google
5 116 (2.12%) SAP
6 115 (2.10%) Oracle
7 108 (1.97%) Splunk
8 106 (1.94%) Cisco
9 98 (1.79%) SolarWinds
10 79 (1.44%) Salesforce
11 77 (1.41%) ServiceNow
12 76 (1.39%) Tanium
13 73 (1.33%) Nimble Storage
14 72 (1.32%) Brocade
15 67 (1.22%) Databricks
16 59 (1.08%) Apple
17 53 (0.97%) Sage
18 51 (0.93%) Adobe
19 47 (0.86%) Dell
20 42 (0.77%) Fortinet