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

6 months to
10 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 5,021 5,919 11,401
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 7.62% 20.10% 14.76%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.94% 22.03% 18.36%
Number of salaries quoted 3,729 3,113 7,001
10th Percentile £26,265 £26,000 £25,000
25th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £42,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year - -5.56% -10.00%
75th Percentile £58,750 £60,000 £60,000
90th Percentile £74,000 £77,500 £72,500
UK median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £49,000
% change year-on-year -5.00% +2.04% -10.91%

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 45,890 26,873 62,108
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 69.62% 91.25% 80.42%
Number of salaries quoted 31,846 13,591 43,459
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,750 £27,500
25th Percentile £38,750 £33,250 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% - -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,250 £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 10 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 10 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 1,363 £42,500 -4.49% 588
South East -5 1,200 £45,000 +5.88% 740
Midlands -9 931 £40,000 -11.11% 389
North West -6 698 £45,000 -3.23% 334
South West -6 593 £43,500 +8.75% 289
West Midlands -9 530 £42,500 -10.53% 231
Yorkshire -11 502 £41,500 +18.57% 186
East of England -3 501 £45,000 +28.57% 274
East Midlands -8 398 £35,000 -6.67% 160
Scotland -3 267 £35,000 -28.28% 104
North East -14 163 £48,500 +7.78% 78
Wales -14 115 £43,750 -12.50% 44
Northern Ireland -6 71 £38,500 -30.00% 68
Isle of Man +2 3 £35,000 +1.45% 1
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
1 310 (6.17%) Microsoft Exchange
2 299 (5.95%) SharePoint
3 47 (0.94%) CMS
3 47 (0.94%) Confluence
4 29 (0.58%) IIS
5 23 (0.46%) Apache
5 23 (0.46%) WordPress
6 20 (0.40%) Apache Airflow
7 14 (0.28%) Apache Spark
8 13 (0.26%) SAS
9 11 (0.22%) Exchange Server 2013
10 9 (0.18%) Exchange Server 2007
10 9 (0.18%) Exchange Server 2010
11 7 (0.14%) OpenEdge
11 7 (0.14%) Oracle SOA Suite
12 5 (0.100%) nginx
12 5 (0.100%) Skype for Business
12 5 (0.100%) WebSphere
13 4 (0.080%) Moodle
13 4 (0.080%) OpenStack
Applications
1 305 (6.07%) Microsoft Office
2 299 (5.95%) Microsoft Excel
3 44 (0.88%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 37 (0.74%) Spreadsheet
5 34 (0.68%) MS Visio
6 14 (0.28%) Microsoft Project
7 9 (0.18%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 8 (0.16%) Adobe Illustrator
8 8 (0.16%) Fusion 360
9 6 (0.12%) AutoCAD
10 5 (0.100%) Photoshop
10 5 (0.100%) Simulink
11 4 (0.080%) Chatbot
11 4 (0.080%) Trello
12 3 (0.060%) Autodesk Inventor
13 2 (0.040%) Adobe XD
13 2 (0.040%) Sketch
13 2 (0.040%) SOLIDWORKS
13 2 (0.040%) Windchill
14 1 (0.020%) Acrobat
Business Applications
1 48 (0.96%) SAP S/4HANA
2 33 (0.66%) Dynamics CRM
3 24 (0.48%) 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%) Oracle EBS
9 11 (0.22%) iTrent
10 10 (0.20%) Dynamics AX
11 9 (0.18%) IBM Planning Analytics
12 8 (0.16%) Sage 50
12 8 (0.16%) SAP Business One
12 8 (0.16%) SAP CO
13 7 (0.14%) Workday HCM
14 5 (0.100%) Q-Pulse
14 5 (0.100%) Salesforce CRM
15 4 (0.080%) Dynamics GP
15 4 (0.080%) Line 50
15 4 (0.080%) Sage X3
Cloud Services
1 1,029 (20.49%) Azure
2 890 (17.73%) Microsoft 365
3 515 (10.26%) AWS
4 366 (7.29%) Power Platform
5 233 (4.64%) Entra ID
6 169 (3.37%) SaaS
7 148 (2.95%) GCP
8 117 (2.33%) Azure DevOps
9 110 (2.19%) Dynamics 365
9 110 (2.19%) Serverless
10 81 (1.61%) GitHub
11 77 (1.53%) Power Automate
12 69 (1.37%) PowerApps
13 62 (1.23%) OneDrive
14 57 (1.14%) Amazon S3
15 52 (1.04%) Google Workspace
16 49 (0.98%) AWS Lambda
17 45 (0.90%) IaaS
18 44 (0.88%) PaaS
19 40 (0.80%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 342 (6.81%) Firewall
2 322 (6.41%) DNS
3 274 (5.46%) DHCP
4 175 (3.49%) VPN
5 169 (3.37%) WAN
6 135 (2.69%) LAN
7 129 (2.57%) TCP/IP
8 125 (2.49%) Wi-Fi
9 107 (2.13%) Broadband
10 104 (2.07%) Wireless
11 100 (1.99%) VLAN
12 82 (1.63%) VoIP
13 79 (1.57%) Network Security
14 41 (0.82%) SD-WAN
15 35 (0.70%) Internet
16 33 (0.66%) SAN
17 19 (0.38%) HTTP
18 17 (0.34%) Remote Desktop
19 15 (0.30%) Unified Communications
19 15 (0.30%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 289 (5.76%) Power BI
2 211 (4.20%) SQL Server
3 95 (1.89%) Amazon RDS
4 73 (1.45%) Data Warehouse
4 73 (1.45%) MySQL
5 70 (1.39%) NoSQL
6 68 (1.35%) PostgreSQL
7 66 (1.31%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 59 (1.18%) Tableau
9 55 (1.10%) Relational Database
10 50 (1.00%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 44 (0.88%) Power Query
12 38 (0.76%) Big Data
13 35 (0.70%) MongoDB
14 30 (0.60%) DynamoDB
15 28 (0.56%) Data Lake
16 25 (0.50%) Amazon Redshift
17 23 (0.46%) Azure SQL Database
17 23 (0.46%) Metadata
18 21 (0.42%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 190 (3.78%) Git
2 144 (2.87%) JIRA
3 67 (1.33%) GitLab
4 40 (0.80%) Jenkins
5 30 (0.60%) Rational DOORS
6 16 (0.32%) Cucumber
6 16 (0.32%) Selenium
7 15 (0.30%) JUnit
8 14 (0.28%) Maven
8 14 (0.28%) Subversion
9 11 (0.22%) Cypress.io
9 11 (0.22%) Oracle Forms
9 11 (0.22%) SonarQube
10 10 (0.20%) LabVIEW
11 9 (0.18%) Bitbucket
12 8 (0.16%) Burp Suite
12 8 (0.16%) Eclipse
13 7 (0.14%) Metasploit
13 7 (0.14%) Mockito
13 7 (0.14%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 2,402 (47.84%) Social Skills
2 1,413 (28.14%) Analytical Skills
3 817 (16.27%) Finance
4 345 (6.87%) Manufacturing
5 320 (6.37%) Organisational Skills
6 227 (4.52%) Public Sector
7 220 (4.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 190 (3.78%) Law
9 189 (3.76%) Legal
10 183 (3.64%) Marketing
11 179 (3.57%) Retail
12 138 (2.75%) Telecoms
13 133 (2.65%) Electronics
14 132 (2.63%) Banking
15 101 (2.01%) Documentation Skills
16 89 (1.77%) Influencing Skills
17 72 (1.43%) Aerospace
18 68 (1.35%) Games
19 53 (1.06%) Presentation Skills
20 52 (1.04%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 725 (14.44%) Analyst
2 612 (12.19%) IT Support
3 536 (10.68%) Senior
4 531 (10.58%) Support Engineer
5 432 (8.60%) Developer
6 363 (7.23%) IT Engineer
7 276 (5.50%) IT Support Engineer
8 260 (5.18%) Lead
9 233 (4.64%) Support Technician
10 205 (4.08%) Systems Engineer
11 204 (4.06%) Support Analyst
12 181 (3.60%) IT Technician
13 174 (3.47%) Architect
14 171 (3.41%) Consultant
15 163 (3.25%) Technical Support
16 156 (3.11%) Software Engineer
17 147 (2.93%) IT Support Technician
18 144 (2.87%) Infrastructure Engineer
19 132 (2.63%) Technical Engineer
20 126 (2.51%) Technical Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 187 (3.72%) .NET
2 173 (3.45%) React
3 150 (2.99%) HTML
4 128 (2.55%) REST
5 117 (2.33%) CSS
6 88 (1.75%) Node.js
7 73 (1.45%) SOAP
8 66 (1.31%) RESTful
9 65 (1.29%) JSON
10 59 (1.18%) Middleware
10 59 (1.18%) Vue
11 58 (1.16%) AngularJS
12 57 (1.14%) XML
13 39 (0.78%) Spring
14 38 (0.76%) OAuth
15 36 (0.72%) ASP.NET
16 35 (0.70%) Spring Boot
16 35 (0.70%) Web Services
17 33 (0.66%) EDI
18 30 (0.60%) Laravel
Miscellaneous
1 382 (7.61%) Driving Licence
2 272 (5.42%) Onboarding
3 223 (4.44%) Self-Motivation
4 196 (3.90%) Management Information System
5 125 (2.49%) Legacy Systems
5 125 (2.49%) Product Ownership
6 124 (2.47%) Cloud Native
7 102 (2.03%) Analytical Mindset
8 97 (1.93%) Data Centre
9 74 (1.47%) Distributed Systems
10 73 (1.45%) Social Media
11 64 (1.27%) Mobile App
12 52 (1.04%) Low-Code
13 48 (0.96%) Enterprise Software
14 47 (0.94%) Security Posture
15 44 (0.88%) Virtual Team
16 42 (0.84%) Data Structures
17 38 (0.76%) Algorithms
18 35 (0.70%) Hybrid Cloud
18 35 (0.70%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 843 (16.79%) Windows
2 412 (8.21%) Windows Server
3 339 (6.75%) Linux
4 133 (2.65%) Windows 10
5 117 (2.33%) Windows Server 2016
6 97 (1.93%) Android
7 62 (1.23%) Apple iOS
8 52 (1.04%) Mac OS
8 52 (1.04%) Windows Server 2019
9 30 (0.60%) Unix
10 26 (0.52%) CentOS
11 25 (0.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 24 (0.48%) Ubuntu
13 19 (0.38%) Windows Server 2012
14 15 (0.30%) VMS
15 12 (0.24%) Windows 7
16 10 (0.20%) Debian
17 7 (0.14%) Windows 8
17 7 (0.14%) Windows Server 2008
18 4 (0.080%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,092 (21.75%) Continuous Improvement
2 899 (17.90%) Customer Service
3 670 (13.34%) Agile
4 505 (10.06%) Decision-Making
5 500 (9.96%) Mentoring
6 426 (8.48%) AI
7 423 (8.42%) Analytics
8 422 (8.40%) CI/CD
9 402 (8.01%) ITIL
10 394 (7.85%) DevOps
11 366 (7.29%) Collaborative Working
12 340 (6.77%) ERP
13 338 (6.73%) Business Intelligence
13 338 (6.73%) Cybersecurity
14 336 (6.69%) Software Engineering
15 322 (6.41%) Coaching
16 321 (6.39%) Project Management
16 321 (6.39%) Stakeholder Management
17 310 (6.17%) Computer Science
18 294 (5.86%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 734 (14.62%) SQL
2 571 (11.37%) Python
3 311 (6.19%) JavaScript
4 243 (4.84%) C#
5 215 (4.28%) Java
6 199 (3.96%) PowerShell
7 129 (2.57%) TypeScript
8 100 (1.99%) C++
9 88 (1.75%) Bash
10 72 (1.43%) PHP
11 50 (1.00%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 47 (0.94%) C
13 43 (0.86%) PL/SQL
14 40 (0.80%) T-SQL
15 30 (0.60%) Kotlin
15 30 (0.60%) R
16 26 (0.52%) Perl
17 24 (0.48%) Go
18 23 (0.46%) Shell Script
19 22 (0.44%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 755 (15.04%) Degree
2 390 (7.77%) Security Cleared
3 284 (5.66%) SC Cleared
4 208 (4.14%) DBS Check
5 153 (3.05%) Microsoft Certification
6 145 (2.89%) Computer Science Degree
7 84 (1.67%) BPSS Clearance
8 75 (1.49%) Cisco Certification
9 69 (1.37%) A+ Certification
10 66 (1.31%) DV Cleared
11 62 (1.23%) ACCA
12 59 (1.18%) CCNA
13 58 (1.16%) CIMA
14 53 (1.06%) PMI Certification
15 52 (1.04%) HNC
16 48 (0.96%) Network+ Certification
17 47 (0.94%) Master's Degree
18 43 (0.86%) Azure Certification
18 43 (0.86%) CISSP
19 41 (0.82%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 287 (5.72%) QA
2 235 (4.68%) Data Quality
3 153 (3.05%) Cyber Essentials
4 142 (2.83%) GDPR
5 127 (2.53%) SLA
6 116 (2.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 104 (2.07%) PCI DSS
8 82 (1.63%) NIST
9 81 (1.61%) Accessibility
10 38 (0.76%) ISO 9001
11 21 (0.42%) PMO
12 20 (0.40%) Actionable Recommendations
12 20 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 16 (0.32%) GMP
14 13 (0.26%) GRC
14 13 (0.26%) ISO 14001
15 12 (0.24%) SOC 2
15 12 (0.24%) TickIT
16 9 (0.18%) Good Clinical Practice
17 8 (0.16%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 614 (12.23%) Active Directory
2 227 (4.52%) Hyper-V
3 162 (3.23%) VMware Infrastructure
4 161 (3.21%) Docker
5 72 (1.43%) Terminal Server
6 29 (0.58%) Firmware
7 28 (0.56%) Virtual Desktop
8 18 (0.36%) vSphere
9 14 (0.28%) Virtual Machines
10 13 (0.26%) VMware ESXi
11 10 (0.20%) KVM
12 7 (0.14%) Embedded Firmware
12 7 (0.14%) VMware Workstation
13 6 (0.12%) XenApp
14 4 (0.080%) ClearTrust
14 4 (0.080%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 4 (0.080%) Virtual Servers
15 3 (0.060%) Slurm Workload Manager
15 3 (0.060%) Terminal Services
16 2 (0.040%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 186 (3.70%) Microsoft Intune
1 186 (3.70%) Terraform
2 157 (3.13%) Kubernetes
3 84 (1.67%) Ansible
4 55 (1.10%) SCCM
5 47 (0.94%) Grafana
6 31 (0.62%) Prometheus
7 21 (0.42%) Nagios
8 14 (0.28%) FortiGate
9 13 (0.26%) Single Sign-On
10 12 (0.24%) vCenter Server
11 9 (0.18%) Autotask
11 9 (0.18%) Jamf Pro
11 9 (0.18%) Kibana
11 9 (0.18%) Puppet
11 9 (0.18%) QRadar
11 9 (0.18%) ZABBIX
12 8 (0.16%) Functional Safety
12 8 (0.16%) logstash
12 8 (0.16%) Podman
Vendors
1 1,434 (28.56%) Microsoft
2 264 (5.26%) VMware
3 131 (2.61%) Oracle
4 129 (2.57%) Veeam
5 110 (2.19%) SAP
6 107 (2.13%) Splunk
7 106 (2.11%) Google
8 104 (2.07%) Cisco
9 103 (2.05%) SolarWinds
10 74 (1.47%) Tanium
11 73 (1.45%) Nimble Storage
12 72 (1.43%) Brocade
13 68 (1.35%) Salesforce
14 67 (1.33%) Databricks
15 62 (1.23%) Apple
16 61 (1.21%) ServiceNow
17 51 (1.02%) Adobe
18 45 (0.90%) Dell
19 44 (0.88%) Sage
20 39 (0.78%) Meraki