Problem-Solving Jobs

Problem Solving
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies requiring Problem-Solving skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the annual salaries offered in vacancies that cited Problem-Solving over the 6 months leading up to 19 March 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Mar 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 5 6 13
Rank change year-on-year +1 +7 +2
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 9,400 13,462 15,012
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 17.90% 15.30% 13.40%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 19.06% 17.47% 14.00%
Number of salaries quoted 4,961 8,913 7,417
10th Percentile £27,500 £26,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £37,500 £33,750 £40,834
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £50,000 £55,398
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -9.74% +2.59%
75th Percentile £73,750 £68,750 £77,500
90th Percentile £88,225 £86,250 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,500 £45,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +5.56% -10.00% +8.17%

All Process and Methodology Skills
UK

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.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 49,308 77,062 107,201
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 93.88% 87.57% 95.69%
Number of salaries quoted 25,524 56,309 63,246
10th Percentile £32,000 £29,250 £34,500
25th Percentile £45,000 £40,000 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,500 £55,000 £62,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.36% -11.29% +3.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £73,750 £82,500
90th Percentile £99,500 £93,750 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £53,928 £50,000 £54,882
% change year-on-year +7.86% -8.90% +4.63%

Problem-Solving
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing Problem-Solving as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Problem-Solving in the UK

Problem-Solving
Salary Trend

3-month moving average salary quoted in jobs citing Problem-Solving.

Salary trend for Problem-Solving in the UK

Problem-Solving
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Problem-Solving over the 6 months to 19 March 2025.

Salary histogram for Problem-Solving in the UK

Problem-Solving
Top 19 Job Locations

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 over the 6 months to 19 March 2025. 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
England +1 7,779 £52,500 +5.00% 7,372
UK excluding London +2 6,608 £47,500 +5.56% 4,443
Work from Home +6 3,565 £55,000 - 3,332
London +4 2,342 £65,000 -7.14% 3,526
North of England +3 1,742 £45,383 -3.44% 1,154
South East 0 1,298 £50,000 +11.11% 1,272
Scotland +19 1,099 £41,500 -12.63% 257
Midlands 0 1,082 £48,000 +12.94% 721
North West +1 962 £46,000 -3.16% 655
West Midlands +3 751 £55,000 +29.41% 402
South West +4 613 £47,500 - 489
East of England 0 610 £50,000 +16.28% 572
Yorkshire +2 552 £42,000 -6.67% 363
East Midlands -1 329 £40,000 +6.67% 294
North East +9 228 £38,300 -15.12% 155
Wales 0 161 £50,000 +19.62% 89
Northern Ireland -6 31 £59,715 +19.43% 55
Isle of Man 0 5 £36,250 -19.44% 1
Channel Islands +5 2 £25,000 -46.81% 1

Problem-Solving
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 282 (3.00%) SharePoint
2 166 (1.77%) Microsoft Exchange
3 124 (1.32%) Confluence
4 122 (1.30%) CMS
5 63 (0.67%) Apache Spark
6 60 (0.64%) Apache
7 47 (0.50%) WordPress
8 44 (0.47%) OpenEdge
9 43 (0.46%) IIS
10 37 (0.39%) Umbraco
11 34 (0.36%) Apache Airflow
12 29 (0.31%) SAS
13 23 (0.24%) Jupyter
14 22 (0.23%) nginx
15 14 (0.15%) Tomcat
16 13 (0.14%) IBM Domino
17 11 (0.12%) Adobe Experience Manager
17 11 (0.12%) Apache Solr
18 9 (0.096%) Drupal
19 8 (0.085%) OpenStack
Applications
1 371 (3.95%) Microsoft Excel
2 348 (3.70%) Microsoft Office
3 181 (1.93%) Simulink
4 89 (0.95%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 70 (0.74%) Microsoft Project
6 67 (0.71%) Photoshop
7 51 (0.54%) MS Visio
8 43 (0.46%) Adobe Illustrator
9 40 (0.43%) Trello
10 24 (0.26%) Mathcad
11 18 (0.19%) Chatbot
12 17 (0.18%) Adobe Premiere
12 17 (0.18%) Spreadsheet
13 15 (0.16%) Adobe XD
14 12 (0.13%) Adobe After Effects
14 12 (0.13%) Maya
14 12 (0.13%) Sketch
15 11 (0.12%) Adobe Creative Suite
15 11 (0.12%) InDesign
16 9 (0.096%) CapCut
Business Applications
1 148 (1.57%) NetSuite
2 145 (1.54%) Teamcenter
3 90 (0.96%) Dynamics CRM
4 79 (0.84%) Shopify
5 51 (0.54%) SAP S/4HANA
6 27 (0.29%) Oracle EBS
7 25 (0.27%) Dynamics NAV
8 20 (0.21%) Salesforce CRM
9 14 (0.15%) Endur
9 14 (0.15%) Oracle Applications
10 9 (0.096%) SAP Business One
10 9 (0.096%) SAP HR
10 9 (0.096%) SAP SD
11 8 (0.085%) Remedy ITSM
12 7 (0.074%) Dynamics AX
12 7 (0.074%) iTrent
12 7 (0.074%) Magento
12 7 (0.074%) Payment Gateway
13 6 (0.064%) Adobe Campaign
13 6 (0.064%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 1,547 (16.46%) Azure
2 1,080 (11.49%) AWS
3 820 (8.72%) Microsoft 365
4 576 (6.13%) Power Platform
5 388 (4.13%) SaaS
6 308 (3.28%) GCP
7 236 (2.51%) Azure DevOps
8 199 (2.12%) Dynamics 365
9 192 (2.04%) GitHub
10 156 (1.66%) Entra ID
11 148 (1.57%) Serverless
12 110 (1.17%) Power Automate
13 106 (1.13%) Cloud Computing
14 102 (1.09%) PowerApps
15 73 (0.78%) Azure Data Factory
16 67 (0.71%) OneDrive
16 67 (0.71%) Snowflake
17 65 (0.69%) Amazon S3
18 63 (0.67%) Azure Logic Apps
18 63 (0.67%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 1,022 (10.87%) Broadband
2 407 (4.33%) Firewall
3 355 (3.78%) Network Security
4 255 (2.71%) DNS
5 239 (2.54%) Internet
6 199 (2.12%) TCP/IP
7 198 (2.11%) VPN
8 179 (1.90%) WAN
8 179 (1.90%) WLAN
9 173 (1.84%) Intrusion Detection
10 171 (1.82%) DHCP
11 153 (1.63%) LAN
12 123 (1.31%) Wi-Fi
13 92 (0.98%) Wireless
14 91 (0.97%) VLAN
15 86 (0.91%) VoIP
16 65 (0.69%) SAN
17 60 (0.64%) SD-WAN
18 52 (0.55%) Intranet
18 52 (0.55%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 511 (5.44%) SQL Server
2 450 (4.79%) Power BI
3 206 (2.19%) PostgreSQL
4 204 (2.17%) MySQL
5 195 (2.07%) Tableau
6 159 (1.69%) Data Warehouse
7 154 (1.64%) Relational Database
8 146 (1.55%) NoSQL
9 123 (1.31%) Power Query
10 119 (1.27%) Big Data
11 107 (1.14%) GIS
12 105 (1.12%) Geospatial Data
13 103 (1.10%) MongoDB
14 68 (0.72%) Azure SQL Database
14 68 (0.72%) SQL Server Reporting Services
15 65 (0.69%) Data Lake
16 58 (0.62%) SQL Server Integration Services
17 53 (0.56%) Elasticsearch
18 49 (0.52%) Redis
19 47 (0.50%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 469 (4.99%) Git
2 329 (3.50%) JIRA
3 154 (1.64%) Jenkins
4 149 (1.59%) Rational DOORS
5 73 (0.78%) Visual Studio
6 59 (0.63%) GitLab
7 49 (0.52%) Octopus Deploy
8 46 (0.49%) Selenium
9 36 (0.38%) Postman
10 35 (0.37%) Team Foundation Server
11 32 (0.34%) Fiddler
12 31 (0.33%) Bitbucket
12 31 (0.33%) Dreamweaver
13 29 (0.31%) Cypress.io
14 28 (0.30%) JUnit
15 26 (0.28%) webpack
16 25 (0.27%) Gradle
17 24 (0.26%) MSBuild
17 24 (0.26%) Subversion
17 24 (0.26%) TeamCity
General
1 4,741 (50.44%) Social Skills
2 2,741 (29.16%) Analytical Skills
3 2,590 (27.55%) Finance
4 679 (7.22%) Presentation Skills
5 577 (6.14%) Banking
6 496 (5.28%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 489 (5.20%) Marketing
8 445 (4.73%) Retail
9 439 (4.67%) Games
10 398 (4.23%) Manufacturing
11 397 (4.22%) Organisational Skills
12 366 (3.89%) Telecoms
13 323 (3.44%) Law
14 315 (3.35%) Electronics
15 274 (2.91%) Legal
16 190 (2.02%) Public Sector
17 188 (2.00%) Influencing Skills
18 175 (1.86%) Aerospace
19 107 (1.14%) Advertising
20 100 (1.06%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 1,406 (14.96%) Senior
2 1,080 (11.49%) Analyst
3 1,038 (11.04%) Developer
4 700 (7.45%) IT Support
5 580 (6.17%) Lead
6 505 (5.37%) Support Engineer
7 402 (4.28%) Architect
8 353 (3.76%) Senior Manager
9 348 (3.70%) IT Engineer
10 342 (3.64%) Sales Representative
11 288 (3.06%) Consultant
12 285 (3.03%) Junior
13 279 (2.97%) IT Support Engineer
13 279 (2.97%) Software Engineer
14 241 (2.56%) Systems Engineer
15 235 (2.50%) Engineering Manager
16 228 (2.43%) Project Manager
17 226 (2.40%) Customer Service Advisor
18 209 (2.22%) Senior Developer
19 208 (2.21%) Development Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 652 (6.94%) HTML
2 543 (5.78%) .NET
3 449 (4.78%) CSS
4 362 (3.85%) React
5 237 (2.52%) REST
6 217 (2.31%) RESTful
7 177 (1.88%) XML
8 163 (1.73%) AngularJS
8 163 (1.73%) Node.js
9 162 (1.72%) .NET Framework
10 160 (1.70%) ASP.NET
11 126 (1.34%) HTML5
12 123 (1.31%) SOAP
13 122 (1.30%) JSON
14 114 (1.21%) CSS3
15 105 (1.12%) .NET Core
15 105 (1.12%) Web Services
16 96 (1.02%) Kafka
17 92 (0.98%) Entity Framework
18 81 (0.86%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 803 (8.54%) Social Media
2 457 (4.86%) Management Information System
3 381 (4.05%) Self-Motivation
4 356 (3.79%) Xbox
5 287 (3.05%) Driving Licence
6 279 (2.97%) Enterprise Software
7 272 (2.89%) Algorithms
8 214 (2.28%) Onboarding
9 183 (1.95%) Product Ownership
10 161 (1.71%) Cyberattack
11 160 (1.70%) Mobile App
12 141 (1.50%) Analytical Mindset
12 141 (1.50%) Data Centre
12 141 (1.50%) Legacy Systems
13 127 (1.35%) IoT
14 112 (1.19%) FMCG
15 98 (1.04%) Virtual Team
16 97 (1.03%) Cloud Native
17 70 (0.74%) Security Posture
18 69 (0.73%) Data Structures
Operating Systems
1 1,410 (15.00%) Windows
2 661 (7.03%) Linux
3 329 (3.50%) Windows Server
4 226 (2.40%) Windows 10
5 159 (1.69%) Android
6 152 (1.62%) Unix
7 146 (1.55%) Apple iOS
8 117 (1.24%) Mac OS
9 40 (0.43%) Windows 7
10 36 (0.38%) Windows Vista
11 32 (0.34%) Windows Server 2016
12 28 (0.30%) Windows Server 2019
13 27 (0.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
14 16 (0.17%) Mac OS X
15 15 (0.16%) Windows Server 2012
16 12 (0.13%) CentOS
17 11 (0.12%) Embedded Linux
18 10 (0.11%) Ubuntu
19 8 (0.085%) VMS
19 8 (0.085%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,377 (14.65%) Agile
2 1,306 (13.89%) Customer Service
3 1,236 (13.15%) Continuous Improvement
4 1,151 (12.24%) Computer Science
5 1,149 (12.22%) Mentoring
5 1,149 (12.22%) Project Management
6 792 (8.43%) DevOps
7 742 (7.89%) ITIL
8 714 (7.60%) Analytics
9 661 (7.03%) Software Engineering
10 645 (6.86%) Mathematics
11 621 (6.61%) CI/CD
12 611 (6.50%) Collaborative Working
13 596 (6.34%) Decision-Making
14 589 (6.27%) Roadmaps
15 571 (6.07%) Service Delivery
16 570 (6.06%) Business Intelligence
17 562 (5.98%) Artificial Intelligence
18 533 (5.67%) Cybersecurity
19 467 (4.97%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 1,396 (14.85%) SQL
2 1,003 (10.67%) Python
3 779 (8.29%) JavaScript
4 683 (7.27%) C#
5 536 (5.70%) Java
6 290 (3.09%) PowerShell
7 259 (2.76%) TypeScript
8 208 (2.21%) C++
9 199 (2.12%) MATLAB
10 181 (1.93%) PHP
11 158 (1.68%) C
12 146 (1.55%) Bash
13 96 (1.02%) T-SQL
14 85 (0.90%) Shell Script
15 82 (0.87%) R
16 61 (0.65%) PL/SQL
17 58 (0.62%) VB
18 50 (0.53%) Kotlin
19 47 (0.50%) Go
20 41 (0.44%) Objective-C
Qualifications
1 2,400 (25.53%) Degree
2 697 (7.41%) Computer Science Degree
3 472 (5.02%) Security Cleared
4 408 (4.34%) Microsoft Certification
5 294 (3.13%) Cisco Certification
6 266 (2.83%) Master's Degree
7 247 (2.63%) BPSS Clearance
8 244 (2.60%) CCNA
9 238 (2.53%) DV Cleared
10 222 (2.36%) CCNP
11 200 (2.13%) MCP
12 188 (2.00%) MCSE
12 188 (2.00%) SC Cleared
13 186 (1.98%) DBS Check
13 186 (1.98%) LPIC
14 138 (1.47%) PMI Certification
15 133 (1.41%) Azure Certification
16 130 (1.38%) PMP
17 129 (1.37%) CISSP
18 107 (1.14%) CBAP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 480 (5.11%) QA
2 234 (2.49%) GDPR
3 193 (2.05%) SLA
4 185 (1.97%) Accessibility
5 174 (1.85%) Data Quality
6 173 (1.84%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 125 (1.33%) NIST
8 67 (0.71%) PMO
9 63 (0.67%) Cyber Essentials
10 49 (0.52%) PCI DSS
11 47 (0.50%) SOC 2
12 37 (0.39%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 35 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 34 (0.36%) ISO 9001
15 29 (0.31%) HIPAA
15 29 (0.31%) WCAG
16 24 (0.26%) Actionable Recommendations
16 24 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 15288
17 21 (0.22%) GRC
18 20 (0.21%) COBIT
System Software
1 607 (6.46%) Active Directory
2 372 (3.96%) Docker
3 211 (2.24%) VMware Infrastructure
4 120 (1.28%) Hyper-V
5 59 (0.63%) Virtual Desktop
6 58 (0.62%) vSphere
7 50 (0.53%) Firmware
8 47 (0.50%) Virtual Machines
9 40 (0.43%) VMware ESXi
10 19 (0.20%) Virtual Servers
11 16 (0.17%) Embedded Firmware
12 14 (0.15%) VMware NSX
13 11 (0.12%) XenApp
14 7 (0.074%) HDFS
15 5 (0.053%) BitLocker
15 5 (0.053%) Postfix
16 4 (0.043%) EMC RecoverPoint
16 4 (0.043%) LXC
17 3 (0.032%) Citrix Hypervisor
17 3 (0.032%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 380 (4.04%) Kubernetes
2 269 (2.86%) Terraform
3 154 (1.64%) Ansible
4 140 (1.49%) Microsoft Intune
5 71 (0.76%) Prometheus
6 68 (0.72%) Grafana
7 65 (0.69%) SCCM
8 25 (0.27%) Nagios
9 24 (0.26%) Puppet
10 20 (0.21%) Progress Chef
11 19 (0.20%) Nessus
12 16 (0.17%) Single Sign-On
13 13 (0.14%) CASB
14 12 (0.13%) Microsoft Clustering
14 12 (0.13%) vCenter Server
15 11 (0.12%) Argo
16 10 (0.11%) Active Directory Federation Services
16 10 (0.11%) FortiGate
16 10 (0.11%) Kibana
16 10 (0.11%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 1,844 (19.62%) Microsoft
2 684 (7.28%) Sun
3 409 (4.35%) Cisco
4 370 (3.94%) Google
5 315 (3.35%) VMware
6 307 (3.27%) BT
7 261 (2.78%) Oracle
8 248 (2.64%) SAP
9 222 (2.36%) Salesforce
10 191 (2.03%) IBM
11 163 (1.73%) Databricks
12 142 (1.51%) ServiceNow
13 97 (1.03%) Citrix
14 93 (0.99%) Adobe
15 75 (0.80%) Apple
16 66 (0.70%) Meraki
17 61 (0.65%) HP
18 55 (0.59%) Veeam
19 53 (0.56%) Dell
20 45 (0.48%) Progress