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 21 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 3 6
Rank change year-on-year -7 +3 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 5,035 5,866 8,121
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 10.27% 18.48% 16.02%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.42% 20.28% 18.43%
Number of salaries quoted 3,535 2,631 5,637
10th Percentile £26,000 £27,750 £25,750
25th Percentile £29,000 £35,250 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £40,000 £50,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -20.00% +11.11% -10.00%
75th Percentile £57,500 £67,500 £61,250
90th Percentile £71,250 £83,750 £72,500
UK median annual salary £45,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -18.18% +10.00% -12.76%

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 37,517 28,930 44,062
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 76.52% 91.12% 86.93%
Number of salaries quoted 22,153 13,261 33,592
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,250 £27,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £41,250 £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 £65,000 £70,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £81,250 £83,750 £77,750
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,001 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -12.00%

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 21 February 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 21 February 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 -16 1,359 £42,500 -10.53% 614
South East -3 1,275 £42,500 -19.05% 884
Midlands -14 874 £37,500 -28.57% 434
North West -15 731 £46,000 -8.00% 360
South West -4 586 £40,000 -24.53% 307
West Midlands -19 510 £42,500 -22.73% 268
Yorkshire -5 489 £38,000 -12.59% 184
East of England -5 430 £37,500 -26.42% 293
East Midlands +1 362 £35,000 - 165
Scotland -7 337 £33,500 -33.00% 106
North East -5 139 £45,000 -1.10% 82
Wales -1 119 £42,500 -25.72% 62
Northern Ireland -4 80 £37,750 -36.78% 29
Isle of Man -1 1 £62,500 +150.00% 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
1 313 (6.22%) Microsoft Exchange
2 231 (4.59%) SharePoint
3 50 (0.99%) Confluence
4 45 (0.89%) IIS
5 37 (0.73%) CMS
6 24 (0.48%) Apache
6 24 (0.48%) WordPress
7 19 (0.38%) Apache Spark
8 16 (0.32%) Apache Airflow
9 12 (0.24%) Exchange Server 2013
10 10 (0.20%) Exchange Server 2007
10 10 (0.20%) Exchange Server 2010
10 10 (0.20%) nginx
11 7 (0.14%) Drupal
12 6 (0.12%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 5 (0.099%) SAS
14 4 (0.079%) Moodle
14 4 (0.079%) Totara
14 4 (0.079%) WebSphere
14 4 (0.079%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 368 (7.31%) Microsoft Office
2 320 (6.36%) Microsoft Excel
3 63 (1.25%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 28 (0.56%) Spreadsheet
5 27 (0.54%) MS Visio
6 14 (0.28%) AutoCAD
6 14 (0.28%) Microsoft Project
7 12 (0.24%) Photoshop
8 9 (0.18%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 8 (0.16%) Adobe Illustrator
9 8 (0.16%) SOLIDWORKS
10 5 (0.099%) Adobe Premiere
11 4 (0.079%) CATIA
11 4 (0.079%) Fusion 360
11 4 (0.079%) Trello
12 3 (0.060%) Adobe XD
12 3 (0.060%) Elementor
12 3 (0.060%) InDesign
12 3 (0.060%) Revit
12 3 (0.060%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 70 (1.39%) SAP S/4HANA
2 45 (0.89%) Dynamics CRM
3 25 (0.50%) NetSuite
4 15 (0.30%) SAP CO
5 13 (0.26%) Sage X3
6 12 (0.24%) Dynamics NAV
7 11 (0.22%) Oracle Payables
7 11 (0.22%) Shopify
8 10 (0.20%) iTrent
9 9 (0.18%) Oracle Assets
9 9 (0.18%) Oracle Receivables
10 8 (0.16%) SAP Business One
11 7 (0.14%) Oracle EBS
11 7 (0.14%) Workday HCM
12 6 (0.12%) Markit EDM
12 6 (0.12%) Oracle General Ledger
12 6 (0.12%) Q-Pulse
12 6 (0.12%) SAP ERP
12 6 (0.12%) SAP FI
12 6 (0.12%) SAP FI/CO
Cloud Services
1 1,062 (21.09%) Azure
2 880 (17.48%) Microsoft 365
3 453 (9.00%) AWS
4 323 (6.42%) Power Platform
5 249 (4.95%) SaaS
6 241 (4.79%) Entra ID
7 144 (2.86%) Azure DevOps
8 136 (2.70%) GCP
9 98 (1.95%) GitHub
10 90 (1.79%) Serverless
11 82 (1.63%) Power Automate
12 67 (1.33%) Dynamics 365
13 62 (1.23%) Google Workspace
14 58 (1.15%) Azure Data Factory
15 56 (1.11%) AWS Lambda
16 55 (1.09%) Amazon S3
17 47 (0.93%) AWS CloudFormation
17 47 (0.93%) Azure Synapse Analytics
18 46 (0.91%) GitHub Actions
18 46 (0.91%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 399 (7.92%) DNS
2 344 (6.83%) DHCP
3 276 (5.48%) Firewall
4 161 (3.20%) VPN
5 152 (3.02%) Wi-Fi
6 151 (3.00%) TCP/IP
7 143 (2.84%) WAN
8 126 (2.50%) LAN
9 105 (2.09%) Broadband
10 94 (1.87%) VLAN
11 85 (1.69%) VoIP
12 74 (1.47%) Wireless
13 54 (1.07%) Remote Desktop
14 50 (0.99%) Network Security
15 45 (0.89%) Internet
16 40 (0.79%) SD-WAN
17 29 (0.58%) SAN
17 29 (0.58%) Unified Communications
18 24 (0.48%) Wireshark
19 23 (0.46%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 263 (5.22%) Power BI
2 195 (3.87%) SQL Server
3 133 (2.64%) Amazon RDS
4 81 (1.61%) Relational Database
5 78 (1.55%) PostgreSQL
6 68 (1.35%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 67 (1.33%) NoSQL
8 65 (1.29%) Data Warehouse
9 60 (1.19%) MySQL
10 45 (0.89%) Tableau
11 39 (0.77%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 38 (0.75%) Data Lake
13 35 (0.70%) Azure SQL Database
14 34 (0.68%) Amazon Redshift
15 33 (0.66%) DynamoDB
15 33 (0.66%) Power Query
16 31 (0.62%) MongoDB
17 28 (0.56%) Metadata
18 24 (0.48%) Elasticsearch
19 19 (0.38%) Big Data
Development Applications
1 185 (3.67%) Git
2 160 (3.18%) JIRA
3 57 (1.13%) GitLab
4 45 (0.89%) Jenkins
5 32 (0.64%) Selenium
6 16 (0.32%) LabVIEW
6 16 (0.32%) Maven
7 15 (0.30%) Robot Framework
7 15 (0.30%) Visual Studio
8 14 (0.28%) Snyk
9 13 (0.26%) Cucumber
9 13 (0.26%) SonarQube
10 12 (0.24%) Cypress.io
10 12 (0.24%) JUnit
11 11 (0.22%) Rational DOORS
12 10 (0.20%) Bitbucket
12 10 (0.20%) Burp Suite
12 10 (0.20%) Metasploit
13 8 (0.16%) TeamCity
14 7 (0.14%) Mockito
General
1 2,655 (52.73%) Social Skills
2 1,420 (28.20%) Analytical Skills
3 1,020 (20.26%) Finance
4 328 (6.51%) Organisational Skills
5 286 (5.68%) Manufacturing
6 273 (5.42%) Retail
7 228 (4.53%) Marketing
8 216 (4.29%) Public Sector
9 184 (3.65%) Legal
10 167 (3.32%) Law
11 161 (3.20%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 160 (3.18%) Telecoms
13 130 (2.58%) Electronics
14 121 (2.40%) Banking
15 109 (2.16%) Presentation Skills
16 84 (1.67%) Documentation Skills
17 83 (1.65%) Automotive
17 83 (1.65%) Games
18 54 (1.07%) Aerospace
19 50 (0.99%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 816 (16.21%) Analyst
2 721 (14.32%) IT Support
3 591 (11.74%) Support Engineer
4 558 (11.08%) Senior
5 374 (7.43%) Developer
6 325 (6.45%) IT Engineer
7 284 (5.64%) IT Support Engineer
7 284 (5.64%) Support Analyst
8 270 (5.36%) Lead
9 228 (4.53%) Technical Support
10 202 (4.01%) Business Analyst
11 180 (3.57%) 2nd Line Support
12 178 (3.54%) Support Technician
13 169 (3.36%) Systems Engineer
14 158 (3.14%) Technical Engineer
15 150 (2.98%) Technical Support Engineer
16 146 (2.90%) Consultant
17 143 (2.84%) Architect
18 142 (2.82%) IT Analyst
19 127 (2.52%) Trainee
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 182 (3.61%) .NET
2 161 (3.20%) React
3 157 (3.12%) HTML
4 120 (2.38%) CSS
5 84 (1.67%) REST
6 75 (1.49%) Node.js
7 57 (1.13%) RESTful
8 52 (1.03%) AngularJS
9 48 (0.95%) Vue
10 46 (0.91%) SOAP
11 43 (0.85%) JSON
12 37 (0.73%) Spring
12 37 (0.73%) XML
13 35 (0.70%) ASP.NET
14 34 (0.68%) Django
15 32 (0.64%) .NET Framework
15 32 (0.64%) Spring Boot
16 31 (0.62%) Laravel
17 27 (0.54%) EDI
17 27 (0.54%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 517 (10.27%) Driving Licence
2 369 (7.33%) Onboarding
3 313 (6.22%) Self-Motivation
4 169 (3.36%) Legacy Systems
5 167 (3.32%) Management Information System
6 146 (2.90%) Analytical Mindset
7 108 (2.14%) Data Centre
8 101 (2.01%) Product Ownership
9 87 (1.73%) Cloud Native
10 66 (1.31%) Enterprise Software
11 62 (1.23%) Social Media
12 50 (0.99%) Mobile App
13 48 (0.95%) Low-Code
14 45 (0.89%) EPoS
15 43 (0.85%) Distributed Systems
15 43 (0.85%) FMCG
16 39 (0.77%) Virtual Team
17 38 (0.75%) Data Structures
18 37 (0.73%) IoT
19 36 (0.71%) Life Science
Operating Systems
1 975 (19.36%) Windows
2 437 (8.68%) Windows Server
3 348 (6.91%) Linux
4 147 (2.92%) Windows Server 2016
5 121 (2.40%) Windows 10
6 90 (1.79%) Android
7 67 (1.33%) Mac OS
8 57 (1.13%) Apple iOS
9 37 (0.73%) Windows Server 2019
10 36 (0.71%) Unix
11 25 (0.50%) Windows Server 2012
12 19 (0.38%) Windows 7
13 18 (0.36%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
14 13 (0.26%) CentOS
15 9 (0.18%) Windows 8
15 9 (0.18%) Windows Server 2008
16 8 (0.16%) VMS
17 7 (0.14%) Ubuntu
18 6 (0.12%) Debian
19 2 (0.040%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 946 (18.79%) Customer Service
2 931 (18.49%) Continuous Improvement
3 645 (12.81%) Agile
4 476 (9.45%) Project Management
5 461 (9.16%) Mentoring
6 450 (8.94%) Decision-Making
7 394 (7.83%) Analytics
8 390 (7.75%) ITIL
9 379 (7.53%) DevOps
10 378 (7.51%) Business Intelligence
11 339 (6.73%) Change Management
12 338 (6.71%) CI/CD
13 334 (6.63%) ERP
14 315 (6.26%) AI
15 309 (6.14%) Computer Science
15 309 (6.14%) Cybersecurity
16 300 (5.96%) CRM
17 297 (5.90%) Customer Experience
17 297 (5.90%) Process Improvement
18 294 (5.84%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 679 (13.49%) SQL
2 506 (10.05%) Python
3 285 (5.66%) JavaScript
4 254 (5.04%) PowerShell
5 221 (4.39%) C#
6 168 (3.34%) Java
7 80 (1.59%) TypeScript
8 75 (1.49%) PHP
9 70 (1.39%) Bash
10 59 (1.17%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 55 (1.09%) C++
12 46 (0.91%) C
13 42 (0.83%) T-SQL
14 25 (0.50%) PL/SQL
14 25 (0.50%) R
15 20 (0.40%) MATLAB
16 19 (0.38%) Go
17 18 (0.36%) Bicep
17 18 (0.36%) Perl
18 16 (0.32%) VBA
Qualifications
1 1,041 (20.68%) Degree
2 424 (8.42%) Security Cleared
3 293 (5.82%) SC Cleared
4 157 (3.12%) DBS Check
5 144 (2.86%) Microsoft Certification
6 123 (2.44%) Computer Science Degree
7 101 (2.01%) BPSS Clearance
8 74 (1.47%) Master's Degree
9 67 (1.33%) ACCA
10 65 (1.29%) A+ Certification
10 65 (1.29%) DV Cleared
11 62 (1.23%) Cisco Certification
12 59 (1.17%) CIMA
13 55 (1.09%) HND
14 50 (0.99%) HNC
15 49 (0.97%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 44 (0.87%) CCNA
16 44 (0.87%) Network+ Certification
17 42 (0.83%) AWS Certification
18 35 (0.70%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 261 (5.18%) QA
2 179 (3.56%) Cyber Essentials
2 179 (3.56%) Data Quality
3 145 (2.88%) GDPR
4 140 (2.78%) PCI DSS
5 114 (2.26%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 77 (1.53%) Accessibility
7 69 (1.37%) SLA
8 45 (0.89%) NIST
9 37 (0.73%) ISO 9001
10 28 (0.56%) Actionable Recommendations
10 28 (0.56%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 11 (0.22%) PMO
12 9 (0.18%) ISO 13485
12 9 (0.18%) SOC 2
13 7 (0.14%) ISO/IEC 20000
14 6 (0.12%) GMP
14 6 (0.12%) WCAG
15 5 (0.099%) California Consumer Privacy Act
16 4 (0.079%) GRC
System Software
1 679 (13.49%) Active Directory
2 253 (5.02%) Hyper-V
3 177 (3.52%) Docker
4 121 (2.40%) VMware Infrastructure
5 112 (2.22%) Terminal Server
6 25 (0.50%) Firmware
7 23 (0.46%) Virtual Desktop
8 16 (0.32%) Virtual Machines
8 16 (0.32%) vSphere
9 15 (0.30%) VMware ESXi
10 8 (0.16%) KVM
10 8 (0.16%) Virtual Servers
10 8 (0.16%) VMware Workstation
11 5 (0.099%) Embedded Firmware
12 4 (0.079%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 2 (0.040%) VMware NSX
13 2 (0.040%) XenApp
14 1 (0.020%) Lustre
14 1 (0.020%) RHEV
14 1 (0.020%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 203 (4.03%) Terraform
2 199 (3.95%) Microsoft Intune
3 127 (2.52%) Kubernetes
4 80 (1.59%) Ansible
5 54 (1.07%) SCCM
6 48 (0.95%) Grafana
7 42 (0.83%) BMC PATROL
8 30 (0.60%) Prometheus
9 18 (0.36%) Single Sign-On
10 16 (0.32%) Nagios
11 14 (0.28%) Cisco CUCM
12 13 (0.26%) vCenter Server
13 12 (0.24%) Jamf Pro
14 10 (0.20%) Autotask
14 10 (0.20%) AWS Copilot
14 10 (0.20%) Nmap
14 10 (0.20%) ZABBIX
15 8 (0.16%) Active Directory Federation Services
15 8 (0.16%) Control-M
16 7 (0.14%) HP Fortify
Vendors
1 1,385 (27.51%) Microsoft
2 269 (5.34%) VMware
3 225 (4.47%) SAP
4 176 (3.50%) Veeam
5 170 (3.38%) Oracle
6 141 (2.80%) SolarWinds
7 139 (2.76%) Splunk
8 132 (2.62%) Cisco
9 116 (2.30%) Google
10 113 (2.24%) Tanium
11 112 (2.22%) Brocade
11 112 (2.22%) Nimble Storage
12 77 (1.53%) Salesforce
13 71 (1.41%) ServiceNow
14 66 (1.31%) Adobe
15 61 (1.21%) Databricks
16 60 (1.19%) Apple
16 60 (1.19%) Sage
17 58 (1.15%) BT
18 48 (0.95%) HubSpot