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 15 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 4 6
Rank change year-on-year -8 +2 +7
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 4,750 5,857 10,585
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 7.22% 20.38% 15.43%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.18% 22.14% 18.50%
Number of salaries quoted 3,503 3,165 6,883
10th Percentile £26,265 £26,250 £25,500
25th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £45,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.56% - -10.00%
75th Percentile £59,750 £62,500 £60,000
90th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £72,500
UK median annual salary £47,500 £51,500 £49,500
% change year-on-year -7.77% +4.04% -10.00%

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 46,644 26,450 57,231
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 70.94% 92.04% 83.41%
Number of salaries quoted 29,912 13,669 40,959
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,500 £27,000
25th Percentile £37,500 £36,250 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year - +5.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £82,500 £77,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year - +9.09% -10.10%

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 15 May 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 15 May 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 -11 1,300 £42,500 -5.56% 690
South East -9 1,137 £46,663 -6.68% 782
Midlands -22 864 £40,000 -11.11% 432
North West -16 675 £45,000 -5.26% 363
South West -8 540 £43,500 +2.35% 306
West Midlands -25 507 £42,500 -11.46% 257
Yorkshire -12 494 £41,500 +3.75% 236
East of England -8 468 £40,839 -7.18% 282
East Midlands -10 354 £35,000 -12.50% 175
Scotland -3 287 £35,000 -30.00% 114
North East -17 131 £48,445 +7.65% 98
Wales -13 109 £42,500 -15.00% 72
Northern Ireland -8 67 £40,000 -27.27% 29
Isle of Man +3 2 £35,000 -3.45%
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
1 279 (5.87%) Microsoft Exchange
2 270 (5.68%) SharePoint
3 47 (0.99%) CMS
4 35 (0.74%) Confluence
5 25 (0.53%) IIS
5 25 (0.53%) WordPress
6 21 (0.44%) Apache
7 15 (0.32%) Apache Airflow
7 15 (0.32%) Apache Spark
8 11 (0.23%) Exchange Server 2013
8 11 (0.23%) SAS
9 9 (0.19%) Exchange Server 2007
9 9 (0.19%) Exchange Server 2010
10 7 (0.15%) Drupal
11 6 (0.13%) nginx
12 5 (0.11%) OpenStack
12 5 (0.11%) Skype for Business
13 4 (0.084%) Moodle
13 4 (0.084%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 4 (0.084%) Totara
Applications
1 301 (6.34%) Microsoft Office
2 278 (5.85%) Microsoft Excel
3 38 (0.80%) Spreadsheet
4 37 (0.78%) MS Visio
5 36 (0.76%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 10 (0.21%) Microsoft Project
7 9 (0.19%) Adobe Illustrator
7 9 (0.19%) Fusion 360
8 8 (0.17%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 6 (0.13%) Photoshop
10 5 (0.11%) AutoCAD
10 5 (0.11%) Simulink
11 3 (0.063%) Autodesk Inventor
11 3 (0.063%) Trello
12 2 (0.042%) Acrobat
12 2 (0.042%) Sketch
12 2 (0.042%) Weka
13 1 (0.021%) Abaqus
13 1 (0.021%) Adobe XD
13 1 (0.021%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 46 (0.97%) SAP S/4HANA
2 35 (0.74%) Dynamics CRM
3 24 (0.51%) NetSuite
4 20 (0.42%) Dynamics NAV
5 19 (0.40%) Shopify
6 16 (0.34%) Magento
7 14 (0.29%) SAP ERP
8 13 (0.27%) iTrent
9 12 (0.25%) Dynamics AX
10 11 (0.23%) SAP CO
11 8 (0.17%) Oracle EBS
12 7 (0.15%) IBM Planning Analytics
12 7 (0.15%) Q-Pulse
12 7 (0.15%) SAP Business One
12 7 (0.15%) Workday HCM
13 5 (0.11%) Salesforce CRM
14 4 (0.084%) Line 50
14 4 (0.084%) Markit EDM
14 4 (0.084%) Sage 200
14 4 (0.084%) Sage 50
Cloud Services
1 933 (19.64%) Azure
2 815 (17.16%) Microsoft 365
3 463 (9.75%) AWS
4 342 (7.20%) Power Platform
5 213 (4.48%) Entra ID
6 169 (3.56%) SaaS
7 133 (2.80%) GCP
8 117 (2.46%) Azure DevOps
9 106 (2.23%) Serverless
10 95 (2.00%) Dynamics 365
11 88 (1.85%) GitHub
12 71 (1.49%) Power Automate
13 60 (1.26%) Amazon S3
14 56 (1.18%) AWS Lambda
15 55 (1.16%) Google Workspace
15 55 (1.16%) PowerApps
16 47 (0.99%) Azure Data Factory
16 47 (0.99%) IaaS
16 47 (0.99%) OneDrive
17 46 (0.97%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 291 (6.13%) Firewall
2 289 (6.08%) DNS
3 232 (4.88%) DHCP
4 159 (3.35%) WAN
5 157 (3.31%) VPN
6 120 (2.53%) LAN
7 114 (2.40%) Wi-Fi
8 111 (2.34%) TCP/IP
9 101 (2.13%) Broadband
10 97 (2.04%) Wireless
11 81 (1.71%) VLAN
12 67 (1.41%) VoIP
13 62 (1.31%) Network Security
14 41 (0.86%) SD-WAN
15 36 (0.76%) SAN
16 34 (0.72%) Internet
17 20 (0.42%) HTTP
18 19 (0.40%) Unified Communications
19 17 (0.36%) Wireshark
20 15 (0.32%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 275 (5.79%) Power BI
2 195 (4.11%) SQL Server
3 69 (1.45%) MySQL
4 67 (1.41%) PostgreSQL
5 64 (1.35%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 63 (1.33%) NoSQL
7 61 (1.28%) Data Warehouse
8 59 (1.24%) Amazon RDS
9 53 (1.12%) Relational Database
10 52 (1.09%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 49 (1.03%) Tableau
12 43 (0.91%) Power Query
13 36 (0.76%) DynamoDB
14 31 (0.65%) MongoDB
15 25 (0.53%) Amazon Redshift
16 24 (0.51%) Big Data
16 24 (0.51%) Data Lake
17 20 (0.42%) Azure SQL Database
17 20 (0.42%) Elasticsearch
17 20 (0.42%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 188 (3.96%) Git
2 135 (2.84%) JIRA
3 72 (1.52%) GitLab
4 47 (0.99%) Jenkins
5 26 (0.55%) Rational DOORS
6 18 (0.38%) Maven
7 16 (0.34%) Selenium
7 16 (0.34%) SonarQube
8 14 (0.29%) Cucumber
8 14 (0.29%) Cypress.io
9 13 (0.27%) LabVIEW
10 11 (0.23%) Bitbucket
11 8 (0.17%) Visual Studio
12 7 (0.15%) CircleCI
12 7 (0.15%) JUnit
13 6 (0.13%) Burp Suite
13 6 (0.13%) JMeter
13 6 (0.13%) Mockito
13 6 (0.13%) Oracle Forms
13 6 (0.13%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 2,215 (46.63%) Social Skills
2 1,309 (27.56%) Analytical Skills
3 824 (17.35%) Finance
4 307 (6.46%) Manufacturing
5 303 (6.38%) Organisational Skills
6 217 (4.57%) Public Sector
7 213 (4.48%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 183 (3.85%) Marketing
9 169 (3.56%) Law
10 166 (3.49%) Legal
11 158 (3.33%) Retail
12 133 (2.80%) Telecoms
13 128 (2.69%) Electronics
14 124 (2.61%) Banking
15 88 (1.85%) Documentation Skills
16 71 (1.49%) Games
17 59 (1.24%) Influencing Skills
18 56 (1.18%) Aerospace
18 56 (1.18%) Presentation Skills
19 52 (1.09%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 697 (14.67%) Analyst
2 590 (12.42%) IT Support
3 524 (11.03%) Support Engineer
4 521 (10.97%) Senior
5 384 (8.08%) Developer
6 341 (7.18%) IT Engineer
7 264 (5.56%) IT Support Engineer
8 256 (5.39%) Lead
9 208 (4.38%) Support Technician
10 198 (4.17%) Support Analyst
11 170 (3.58%) Systems Engineer
12 166 (3.49%) Architect
13 163 (3.43%) IT Technician
14 152 (3.20%) Technical Support
15 149 (3.14%) Infrastructure Engineer
16 143 (3.01%) Consultant
17 140 (2.95%) Business Analyst
18 139 (2.93%) Software Engineer
19 134 (2.82%) IT Support Technician
20 126 (2.65%) 2nd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 157 (3.31%) .NET
2 153 (3.22%) React
3 137 (2.88%) HTML
4 108 (2.27%) CSS
4 108 (2.27%) REST
5 78 (1.64%) Node.js
6 68 (1.43%) SOAP
7 58 (1.22%) RESTful
8 55 (1.16%) JSON
8 55 (1.16%) Middleware
9 54 (1.14%) XML
10 47 (0.99%) Vue
11 45 (0.95%) AngularJS
12 43 (0.91%) Spring
13 40 (0.84%) Spring Boot
14 38 (0.80%) OAuth
15 32 (0.67%) EDI
16 29 (0.61%) Laravel
17 28 (0.59%) ASP.NET
18 27 (0.57%) GraphQL
Miscellaneous
1 368 (7.75%) Driving Licence
2 268 (5.64%) Onboarding
3 216 (4.55%) Self-Motivation
4 172 (3.62%) Management Information System
5 119 (2.51%) Product Ownership
6 108 (2.27%) Analytical Mindset
7 106 (2.23%) Cloud Native
8 95 (2.00%) Data Centre
9 93 (1.96%) Legacy Systems
10 75 (1.58%) Social Media
11 70 (1.47%) Distributed Systems
12 56 (1.18%) Mobile App
13 55 (1.16%) Low-Code
14 54 (1.14%) Enterprise Software
15 42 (0.88%) Virtual Team
16 38 (0.80%) Data Structures
17 33 (0.69%) Algorithms
17 33 (0.69%) Hybrid Cloud
17 33 (0.69%) IoT
17 33 (0.69%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 795 (16.74%) Windows
2 358 (7.54%) Windows Server
3 296 (6.23%) Linux
4 124 (2.61%) Windows 10
5 103 (2.17%) Android
6 90 (1.89%) Windows Server 2016
7 62 (1.31%) Apple iOS
8 53 (1.12%) Mac OS
9 42 (0.88%) Windows Server 2019
10 31 (0.65%) Unix
11 25 (0.53%) CentOS
11 25 (0.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 22 (0.46%) Ubuntu
13 20 (0.42%) Windows Server 2012
14 14 (0.29%) VMS
15 12 (0.25%) Windows 7
16 9 (0.19%) Debian
17 7 (0.15%) Windows 8
17 7 (0.15%) Windows Server 2008
18 4 (0.084%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 966 (20.34%) Continuous Improvement
2 832 (17.52%) Customer Service
3 637 (13.41%) Agile
4 448 (9.43%) Decision-Making
5 445 (9.37%) Mentoring
6 403 (8.48%) CI/CD
7 392 (8.25%) DevOps
7 392 (8.25%) ITIL
8 381 (8.02%) Analytics
9 370 (7.79%) AI
10 331 (6.97%) Business Intelligence
11 328 (6.91%) Project Management
12 315 (6.63%) Coaching
13 301 (6.34%) ERP
14 297 (6.25%) Software Engineering
15 293 (6.17%) Cybersecurity
16 292 (6.15%) Collaborative Working
17 290 (6.11%) Stakeholder Management
18 285 (6.00%) Computer Science
19 266 (5.60%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 617 (12.99%) SQL
2 515 (10.84%) Python
3 284 (5.98%) JavaScript
4 198 (4.17%) C#
5 194 (4.08%) Java
6 190 (4.00%) PowerShell
7 116 (2.44%) TypeScript
8 89 (1.87%) Bash
9 83 (1.75%) C++
10 70 (1.47%) PHP
11 48 (1.01%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 46 (0.97%) C
13 36 (0.76%) PL/SQL
14 33 (0.69%) T-SQL
15 27 (0.57%) Kotlin
16 26 (0.55%) R
17 23 (0.48%) Shell Script
18 21 (0.44%) Go
19 19 (0.40%) Rust
19 19 (0.40%) Scala
Qualifications
1 749 (15.77%) Degree
2 333 (7.01%) Security Cleared
3 230 (4.84%) SC Cleared
4 201 (4.23%) DBS Check
5 154 (3.24%) Microsoft Certification
6 139 (2.93%) Computer Science Degree
7 90 (1.89%) BPSS Clearance
8 77 (1.62%) A+ Certification
9 68 (1.43%) Cisco Certification
10 67 (1.41%) ACCA
11 63 (1.33%) DV Cleared
12 61 (1.28%) CIMA
13 55 (1.16%) CCNA
14 49 (1.03%) PMI Certification
15 46 (0.97%) Master's Degree
16 45 (0.95%) HNC
16 45 (0.95%) Network+ Certification
17 42 (0.88%) CISSP
18 36 (0.76%) CompTIA Security+
18 36 (0.76%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 265 (5.58%) QA
2 215 (4.53%) Data Quality
3 144 (3.03%) GDPR
4 122 (2.57%) SLA
5 113 (2.38%) Cyber Essentials
6 105 (2.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 82 (1.73%) PCI DSS
8 76 (1.60%) NIST
9 61 (1.28%) Accessibility
10 39 (0.82%) ISO 9001
11 17 (0.36%) Actionable Recommendations
11 17 (0.36%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 15 (0.32%) SOC 2
13 14 (0.29%) GMP
14 12 (0.25%) PMO
14 12 (0.25%) TickIT
15 11 (0.23%) GRC
15 11 (0.23%) ISO 14001
16 8 (0.17%) ISO/IEC 20000
17 6 (0.13%) COBIT
System Software
1 563 (11.85%) Active Directory
2 169 (3.56%) Hyper-V
3 165 (3.47%) Docker
4 131 (2.76%) VMware Infrastructure
5 48 (1.01%) Terminal Server
6 26 (0.55%) Virtual Desktop
7 25 (0.53%) Firmware
8 17 (0.36%) vSphere
9 13 (0.27%) VMware ESXi
10 11 (0.23%) Virtual Machines
11 10 (0.21%) KVM
12 7 (0.15%) VMware Workstation
13 6 (0.13%) XenApp
14 4 (0.084%) Embedded Firmware
14 4 (0.084%) Slurm Workload Manager
15 3 (0.063%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 3 (0.063%) Terminal Services
15 3 (0.063%) Virtual Servers
16 1 (0.021%) BitLocker
16 1 (0.021%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 194 (4.08%) Terraform
2 168 (3.54%) Microsoft Intune
3 148 (3.12%) Kubernetes
4 87 (1.83%) Ansible
5 57 (1.20%) SCCM
6 49 (1.03%) Grafana
7 32 (0.67%) Prometheus
8 22 (0.46%) Nagios
9 17 (0.36%) Single Sign-On
10 10 (0.21%) BMC PATROL
10 10 (0.21%) Puppet
10 10 (0.21%) vCenter Server
11 9 (0.19%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 9 (0.19%) Autotask
11 9 (0.19%) Kibana
11 9 (0.19%) ZABBIX
12 8 (0.17%) FortiGate
12 8 (0.17%) HP Fortify
12 8 (0.17%) logstash
13 7 (0.15%) Podman
Vendors
1 1,317 (27.73%) Microsoft
2 208 (4.38%) VMware
3 132 (2.78%) Oracle
4 109 (2.29%) SAP
5 101 (2.13%) Veeam
6 100 (2.11%) Google
7 96 (2.02%) Cisco
8 80 (1.68%) SolarWinds
9 79 (1.66%) Splunk
10 68 (1.43%) Databricks
11 65 (1.37%) Apple
12 63 (1.33%) ServiceNow
13 60 (1.26%) Salesforce
14 54 (1.14%) Adobe
15 49 (1.03%) Dell
15 49 (1.03%) Tanium
16 48 (1.01%) Brocade
16 48 (1.01%) Nimble Storage
17 35 (0.74%) HubSpot
17 35 (0.74%) Sage