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 19 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 3 6
Rank change year-on-year -5 +3 +3
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 4,956 6,689 5,958
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 11.49% 18.79% 15.85%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 14.72% 21.04% 17.97%
Number of salaries quoted 3,423 2,693 3,913
10th Percentile £26,010 £28,500 £26,000
25th Percentile £29,000 £36,250 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £40,000 £50,000 £47,000
Median % change year-on-year -20.00% +6.38% -6.00%
75th Percentile £56,750 £67,500 £62,500
90th Percentile £71,250 £82,500 £73,750
UK median annual salary £45,000 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -18.18% +4.76% -8.70%

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 33,661 31,793 33,153
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 78.04% 89.30% 88.18%
Number of salaries quoted 19,399 14,248 24,845
10th Percentile £27,750 £31,250 £27,750
25th Percentile £33,750 £41,250 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £65,000 £70,000 £65,500
90th Percentile £80,000 £83,750 £80,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £57,965
% change year-on-year -8.33% +3.51% -7.26%

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 19 January 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 19 January 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
South East -3 1,328 £41,000 -21.90% 1,441
North of England -15 1,246 £45,000 -5.26% 857
Midlands -15 869 £37,750 -24.50% 625
North West -13 684 £47,500 -4.97% 380
South West -1 577 £40,000 -26.82% 585
West Midlands -18 509 £42,500 -22.73% 288
Yorkshire -4 440 £35,000 -19.49% 347
East of England -7 411 £35,000 -31.33% 640
East Midlands +1 359 £35,000 - 330
Scotland -3 347 £33,500 -34.95% 165
Wales +6 142 £45,250 -9.50% 187
North East -3 122 £33,500 -33.00% 141
Northern Ireland 0 59 £50,000 -31.03% 82
Isle of Man +1 1 £62,500 +150.00% 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
1 275 (5.55%) Microsoft Exchange
2 209 (4.22%) SharePoint
3 48 (0.97%) IIS
4 44 (0.89%) Confluence
5 24 (0.48%) Apache
6 22 (0.44%) Apache Spark
6 22 (0.44%) CMS
6 22 (0.44%) WordPress
7 15 (0.30%) Apache Airflow
8 9 (0.18%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 8 (0.16%) nginx
10 6 (0.12%) Drupal
10 6 (0.12%) HCL Notes
11 5 (0.10%) Exchange Server 2013
11 5 (0.10%) SAS
12 4 (0.081%) Apache Solr
12 4 (0.081%) ArcGIS
13 3 (0.061%) HCL Domino
13 3 (0.061%) Umbraco
13 3 (0.061%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 406 (8.19%) Microsoft Excel
2 400 (8.07%) Microsoft Office
3 67 (1.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 31 (0.63%) Spreadsheet
5 25 (0.50%) MS Visio
6 19 (0.38%) AutoCAD
7 15 (0.30%) Microsoft Project
8 14 (0.28%) Photoshop
9 12 (0.24%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 11 (0.22%) SOLIDWORKS
11 10 (0.20%) Adobe Illustrator
12 9 (0.18%) Adobe Premiere
13 5 (0.10%) Adobe After Effects
13 5 (0.10%) Simulink
14 4 (0.081%) CATIA
14 4 (0.081%) Fusion 360
14 4 (0.081%) Oracle Smart View
14 4 (0.081%) Trello
15 3 (0.061%) Adobe XD
15 3 (0.061%) Autodesk Inventor
Business Applications
1 90 (1.82%) SAP S/4HANA
2 57 (1.15%) Dynamics CRM
3 26 (0.52%) NetSuite
4 18 (0.36%) Oracle Payables
4 18 (0.36%) SAP CO
5 16 (0.32%) Oracle Assets
5 16 (0.32%) Oracle Receivables
6 13 (0.26%) Sage X3
6 13 (0.26%) SAP FI
7 11 (0.22%) SAP FI/CO
8 10 (0.20%) Dynamics NAV
8 10 (0.20%) Oracle ERP
8 10 (0.20%) Oracle General Ledger
9 9 (0.18%) iTrent
9 9 (0.18%) SAP Business One
10 8 (0.16%) JDE EnterpriseOne
10 8 (0.16%) Oracle Financials
10 8 (0.16%) Shopify
11 6 (0.12%) Markit EDM
11 6 (0.12%) Sage 200
Cloud Services
1 1,077 (21.73%) Azure
2 796 (16.06%) Microsoft 365
3 405 (8.17%) AWS
4 356 (7.18%) Power Platform
5 273 (5.51%) SaaS
6 222 (4.48%) Entra ID
7 144 (2.91%) Azure DevOps
8 111 (2.24%) GCP
9 101 (2.04%) GitHub
10 81 (1.63%) Serverless
11 70 (1.41%) Power Automate
12 52 (1.05%) Amazon S3
12 52 (1.05%) AWS Lambda
12 52 (1.05%) Dynamics 365
13 51 (1.03%) Azure Data Factory
14 44 (0.89%) Azure Synapse Analytics
15 43 (0.87%) AWS CloudFormation
16 42 (0.85%) GitHub Actions
17 41 (0.83%) OneDrive
17 41 (0.83%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 363 (7.32%) DNS
2 314 (6.34%) DHCP
3 242 (4.88%) Firewall
4 153 (3.09%) TCP/IP
5 146 (2.95%) VPN
6 142 (2.87%) Wi-Fi
7 117 (2.36%) WAN
8 109 (2.20%) LAN
9 93 (1.88%) VLAN
10 84 (1.69%) VoIP
11 80 (1.61%) Broadband
12 64 (1.29%) Wireless
13 56 (1.13%) Remote Desktop
14 50 (1.01%) Network Security
15 39 (0.79%) Internet
16 36 (0.73%) SAN
17 30 (0.61%) SD-WAN
17 30 (0.61%) Unified Communications
18 24 (0.48%) Ethernet
19 17 (0.34%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 305 (6.15%) Power BI
2 218 (4.40%) SQL Server
3 120 (2.42%) Amazon RDS
4 92 (1.86%) Relational Database
5 82 (1.65%) Data Lake
6 81 (1.63%) PostgreSQL
7 80 (1.61%) MySQL
8 64 (1.29%) SAP BW
9 63 (1.27%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 62 (1.25%) NoSQL
11 61 (1.23%) Data Warehouse
12 41 (0.83%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 41 (0.83%) Tableau
13 35 (0.71%) Azure SQL Database
14 31 (0.63%) Amazon Redshift
14 31 (0.63%) DynamoDB
15 30 (0.61%) GIS
15 30 (0.61%) Metadata
16 28 (0.56%) MongoDB
17 26 (0.52%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 178 (3.59%) Git
2 160 (3.23%) JIRA
3 51 (1.03%) GitLab
4 44 (0.89%) Jenkins
5 31 (0.63%) Selenium
6 18 (0.36%) Visual Studio
7 16 (0.32%) LabVIEW
8 15 (0.30%) Bitbucket
8 15 (0.30%) Robot Framework
8 15 (0.30%) SonarQube
9 14 (0.28%) Maven
9 14 (0.28%) Snyk
10 12 (0.24%) JUnit
10 12 (0.24%) TeamCity
11 11 (0.22%) Cucumber
11 11 (0.22%) Octopus Deploy
12 10 (0.20%) Burp Suite
12 10 (0.20%) Cypress.io
12 10 (0.20%) Metasploit
13 9 (0.18%) Rational DOORS
General
1 2,654 (53.55%) Social Skills
2 1,379 (27.82%) Analytical Skills
3 1,057 (21.33%) Finance
4 318 (6.42%) Manufacturing
5 295 (5.95%) Retail
6 254 (5.13%) Organisational Skills
7 251 (5.06%) Marketing
8 197 (3.97%) Public Sector
9 172 (3.47%) Legal
10 162 (3.27%) Law
11 143 (2.89%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 140 (2.82%) Telecoms
13 124 (2.50%) Electronics
14 113 (2.28%) Banking
15 107 (2.16%) Presentation Skills
16 81 (1.63%) Automotive
17 76 (1.53%) Games
18 67 (1.35%) Documentation Skills
19 61 (1.23%) Aerospace
20 59 (1.19%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 868 (17.51%) Analyst
2 665 (13.42%) IT Support
3 557 (11.24%) Senior
4 527 (10.63%) Support Engineer
5 375 (7.57%) Developer
6 321 (6.48%) Lead
7 311 (6.28%) Support Analyst
8 258 (5.21%) IT Engineer
9 256 (5.17%) Technical Support
10 227 (4.58%) IT Support Engineer
11 210 (4.24%) Business Analyst
12 174 (3.51%) 2nd Line Support
13 171 (3.45%) Technical Engineer
14 168 (3.39%) Systems Engineer
15 162 (3.27%) Support Technician
16 157 (3.17%) Technical Support Engineer
17 142 (2.87%) IT Analyst
18 136 (2.74%) Architect
19 133 (2.68%) Applications Support
20 129 (2.60%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 199 (4.02%) .NET
2 156 (3.15%) HTML
3 149 (3.01%) React
4 122 (2.46%) CSS
5 93 (1.88%) REST
6 60 (1.21%) RESTful
7 57 (1.15%) Node.js
8 51 (1.03%) ASP.NET
8 51 (1.03%) SOAP
9 49 (0.99%) AngularJS
9 49 (0.99%) JSON
10 44 (0.89%) XML
11 42 (0.85%) Vue
12 37 (0.75%) .NET Framework
12 37 (0.75%) Spring
13 36 (0.73%) Django
14 31 (0.63%) EDI
15 26 (0.52%) Spring Boot
16 24 (0.48%) Entity Framework
16 24 (0.48%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 487 (9.83%) Driving Licence
2 386 (7.79%) Onboarding
3 312 (6.30%) Self-Motivation
4 168 (3.39%) Management Information System
5 161 (3.25%) Analytical Mindset
6 151 (3.05%) Legacy Systems
7 100 (2.02%) Product Ownership
8 94 (1.90%) Data Centre
9 74 (1.49%) Cloud Native
10 60 (1.21%) Enterprise Software
11 47 (0.95%) FMCG
11 47 (0.95%) Virtual Team
12 43 (0.87%) Social Media
13 41 (0.83%) e-Learning
13 41 (0.83%) Mobile App
14 40 (0.81%) EPoS
15 35 (0.71%) Video Conferencing
16 34 (0.69%) Data Structures
16 34 (0.69%) IoT
17 33 (0.67%) Distributed Systems
Operating Systems
1 930 (18.77%) Windows
2 397 (8.01%) Windows Server
3 317 (6.40%) Linux
4 121 (2.44%) Windows 10
5 117 (2.36%) Windows Server 2016
6 70 (1.41%) Android
7 58 (1.17%) Mac OS
8 53 (1.07%) Apple iOS
9 37 (0.75%) Unix
10 32 (0.65%) Windows Server 2019
11 22 (0.44%) Windows Server 2012
12 16 (0.32%) Windows 7
13 13 (0.26%) VMS
14 10 (0.20%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
15 6 (0.12%) CentOS
16 5 (0.10%) Windows 8
16 5 (0.10%) Windows Server 2008
17 4 (0.081%) Ubuntu
18 2 (0.040%) Mac OS X
18 2 (0.040%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 914 (18.44%) Customer Service
2 906 (18.28%) Continuous Improvement
3 661 (13.34%) Agile
4 482 (9.73%) Project Management
5 450 (9.08%) Mentoring
6 434 (8.76%) Analytics
6 434 (8.76%) Decision-Making
7 412 (8.31%) Business Intelligence
8 386 (7.79%) ITIL
9 376 (7.59%) ERP
10 370 (7.47%) DevOps
11 345 (6.96%) Change Management
12 318 (6.42%) CI/CD
13 304 (6.13%) Cybersecurity
14 302 (6.09%) Stakeholder Management
15 300 (6.05%) CRM
16 296 (5.97%) Computer Science
17 290 (5.85%) AI
18 289 (5.83%) Process Improvement
19 259 (5.23%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 746 (15.05%) SQL
2 458 (9.24%) Python
3 264 (5.33%) JavaScript
4 255 (5.15%) PowerShell
5 253 (5.10%) C#
6 161 (3.25%) Java
7 76 (1.53%) PHP
8 65 (1.31%) TypeScript
9 62 (1.25%) C++
10 54 (1.09%) Bash
11 51 (1.03%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 49 (0.99%) T-SQL
13 37 (0.75%) C
14 25 (0.50%) MATLAB
15 21 (0.42%) PL/SQL
16 20 (0.40%) Go
17 18 (0.36%) Perl
17 18 (0.36%) VBA
18 17 (0.34%) R
19 16 (0.32%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 1,152 (23.24%) Degree
2 421 (8.49%) Security Cleared
3 285 (5.75%) SC Cleared
4 161 (3.25%) DBS Check
5 147 (2.97%) Microsoft Certification
6 132 (2.66%) Computer Science Degree
7 105 (2.12%) BPSS Clearance
8 78 (1.57%) DV Cleared
9 73 (1.47%) Master's Degree
10 70 (1.41%) Cisco Certification
11 62 (1.25%) A+ Certification
12 59 (1.19%) ACCA
12 59 (1.19%) HND
13 55 (1.11%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 51 (1.03%) CIMA
15 50 (1.01%) CCNA
16 48 (0.97%) Network+ Certification
17 44 (0.89%) AWS Certification
18 41 (0.83%) HNC
19 37 (0.75%) MCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 263 (5.31%) QA
2 233 (4.70%) Data Quality
3 161 (3.25%) Cyber Essentials
4 125 (2.52%) GDPR
5 116 (2.34%) PCI DSS
6 101 (2.04%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 82 (1.65%) Accessibility
8 70 (1.41%) SLA
9 40 (0.81%) NIST
10 31 (0.63%) ISO 9001
11 26 (0.52%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 25 (0.50%) Actionable Recommendations
13 17 (0.34%) PMO
14 9 (0.18%) ISO 13485
15 8 (0.16%) ISO/IEC 20000
16 6 (0.12%) California Consumer Privacy Act
16 6 (0.12%) SOC 2
16 6 (0.12%) WCAG
17 5 (0.10%) GLBA
17 5 (0.10%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 643 (12.97%) Active Directory
2 221 (4.46%) Hyper-V
3 159 (3.21%) Docker
4 109 (2.20%) VMware Infrastructure
5 96 (1.94%) Terminal Server
6 30 (0.61%) Firmware
7 24 (0.48%) Virtual Desktop
8 18 (0.36%) VMware ESXi
8 18 (0.36%) vSphere
9 16 (0.32%) Virtual Machines
10 7 (0.14%) Virtual Servers
11 6 (0.12%) KVM
12 5 (0.10%) Embedded Firmware
13 4 (0.081%) VMware Workstation
14 3 (0.061%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 2 (0.040%) RHEV
15 2 (0.040%) Xen
16 1 (0.020%) HDFS
16 1 (0.020%) Slurm Workload Manager
16 1 (0.020%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 197 (3.97%) Microsoft Intune
2 190 (3.83%) Terraform
3 113 (2.28%) Kubernetes
4 70 (1.41%) Ansible
5 49 (0.99%) SCCM
6 42 (0.85%) BMC PATROL
7 41 (0.83%) Grafana
8 28 (0.56%) Prometheus
9 23 (0.46%) Single Sign-On
10 16 (0.32%) vCenter Server
11 14 (0.28%) Cisco CUCM
11 14 (0.28%) Nagios
12 13 (0.26%) Jamf Pro
13 10 (0.20%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 10 (0.20%) AWS Copilot
13 10 (0.20%) Nmap
14 9 (0.18%) ZABBIX
15 8 (0.16%) Control-M
16 7 (0.14%) FortiGate
17 6 (0.12%) Autotask
Vendors
1 1,365 (27.54%) Microsoft
2 320 (6.46%) SAP
3 239 (4.82%) VMware
4 189 (3.81%) Oracle
5 151 (3.05%) Veeam
6 142 (2.87%) Cisco
7 121 (2.44%) SolarWinds
8 118 (2.38%) Splunk
9 97 (1.96%) Google
9 97 (1.96%) Tanium
10 96 (1.94%) Brocade
10 96 (1.94%) Nimble Storage
11 82 (1.65%) Salesforce
12 80 (1.61%) ServiceNow
13 66 (1.33%) Sage
14 65 (1.31%) Databricks
15 59 (1.19%) Apple
16 57 (1.15%) Adobe
17 55 (1.11%) BT
18 47 (0.95%) HubSpot