Thought Leadership Job Trends

Thought Leadership
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring Thought Leadership skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 18 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 308 264 429
Rank change year-on-year -44 +165 -174
Permanent jobs citing Thought Leadership 614 574 530
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.62% 1.17% 0.54%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.84% 1.30% 0.66%
Number of salaries quoted 241 157 342
10th Percentile £44,500 £45,000 £35,000
25th Percentile £60,000 £56,250 £50,313
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £80,000 £82,500 £73,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.03% +13.01% -9.51%
75th Percentile £102,500 £103,750 £97,500
90th Percentile £117,500 £120,000 £120,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £72,500 £66,250 £70,000
% change year-on-year +9.43% -5.36% -

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Thought Leadership 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 73,194 44,164 80,263
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.69% 90.07% 82.10%
Number of salaries quoted 50,654 24,819 55,696
10th Percentile £30,250 £28,750 £30,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £38,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £56,888 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.47% +3.43% -8.71%
75th Percentile £78,750 £76,840 £72,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £98,474 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +10.00% - -9.09%

Thought Leadership
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Thought Leadership relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Thought Leadership job vacancy trend in the UK

Thought Leadership
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Thought Leadership.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Thought Leadership

Thought Leadership
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Thought Leadership over the 6 months to 18 July 2026.

Salary histogram for Thought Leadership in the UK

Thought Leadership
Top 16 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Thought Leadership within the UK over the 6 months to 18 July 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
England -45 560 £80,000 +1.59% 296
London -8 362 £86,500 +1.76% 233
UK excluding London -93 185 £72,500 +9.43% 79
Work from Home +2 134 £67,500 -20.59% 121
North of England -30 65 £95,000 +0.38% 22
East of England - 47 £60,100 - 5
North West +10 40 £95,000 +0.38% 20
Midlands -17 36 £80,000 +77.78% 6
South East -113 22 £37,500 -23.47% 29
West Midlands -22 19 £80,000 +77.78% 2
Yorkshire -27 18 £76,840 +2.45% 2
East Midlands +1 17 £50,000 - 4
South West -56 8 £59,750 -25.31% 10
North East -49 7 £100,000 +71.67%
Scotland +1 4 £110,000 +15.79% 3
Wales - 3 £55,000 - 3

Thought Leadership
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 15 (2.44%) Palantir Foundry
2 9 (1.47%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (1.14%) Apache Spark
4 5 (0.81%) CMS
5 4 (0.65%) Confluence
6 3 (0.49%) SAS
7 2 (0.33%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.33%) SharePoint
7 2 (0.33%) Umbraco
7 2 (0.33%) WordPress
8 1 (0.16%) Apache
8 1 (0.16%) Drupal
8 1 (0.16%) IIS
8 1 (0.16%) nginx
Applications
1 9 (1.47%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 3 (0.49%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (0.49%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.16%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 1 (0.16%) Adobe XD
3 1 (0.16%) InVision
3 1 (0.16%) MS Visio
3 1 (0.16%) Siemens NX
3 1 (0.16%) Sketch
3 1 (0.16%) Trello
Business Applications
1 25 (4.07%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (0.98%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.81%) SAP MDG
4 4 (0.65%) SAP MDG-F
5 3 (0.49%) Elite 3E
5 3 (0.49%) SAP MDG-BP
5 3 (0.49%) Summit
6 2 (0.33%) Distributed Ledger
6 2 (0.33%) SAP CO
6 2 (0.33%) SAP FI
6 2 (0.33%) SAP FI/CO
7 1 (0.16%) Magento
7 1 (0.16%) NetSuite
7 1 (0.16%) SAP IBP
7 1 (0.16%) SAP MDG-M
7 1 (0.16%) SAP MDG-S
7 1 (0.16%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 152 (24.76%) AWS
2 88 (14.33%) Azure
3 63 (10.26%) SaaS
4 49 (7.98%) GCP
5 35 (5.70%) Cloud Computing
6 27 (4.40%) AWS CloudFormation
6 27 (4.40%) Snowflake
7 21 (3.42%) Serverless
8 14 (2.28%) Power Platform
9 13 (2.12%) Amazon Bedrock
9 13 (2.12%) GitHub
10 10 (1.63%) PaaS
11 9 (1.47%) Azure AI
12 8 (1.30%) SuccessFactors
13 7 (1.14%) Amazon EKS
13 7 (1.14%) GitHub Actions
14 6 (0.98%) Amazon ECS
14 6 (0.98%) Amazon Kinesis
14 6 (0.98%) Azure DevOps
14 6 (0.98%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 19 (3.09%) Firewall
2 10 (1.63%) Internet
3 7 (1.14%) Intrusion Detection
3 7 (1.14%) Network Security
4 5 (0.81%) Wireless
5 4 (0.65%) Broadband
5 4 (0.65%) Cisco ISE
5 4 (0.65%) Cisco Wireless
5 4 (0.65%) LAN
5 4 (0.65%) SD-WAN
5 4 (0.65%) WAN
5 4 (0.65%) WebEx
5 4 (0.65%) WLAN
6 2 (0.33%) AMQP
6 2 (0.33%) Cisco IPT
6 2 (0.33%) MQTT
6 2 (0.33%) SSL
7 1 (0.16%) SMS
7 1 (0.16%) Wi-Fi
7 1 (0.16%) ZigBee
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (5.05%) Data Warehouse
2 29 (4.72%) Data Lake
3 23 (3.75%) NoSQL
4 12 (1.95%) Power BI
5 9 (1.47%) Big Data
6 6 (0.98%) SAP HANA
7 5 (0.81%) Hadoop
7 5 (0.81%) Metadata
8 4 (0.65%) BusinessObjects
8 4 (0.65%) Data Mining
8 4 (0.65%) Delta Lake
9 3 (0.49%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (0.49%) Semantic Layer
9 3 (0.49%) SQL Server Analysis Services
10 2 (0.33%) Amazon Redshift
10 2 (0.33%) Geospatial Data
10 2 (0.33%) SAP BW
10 2 (0.33%) SQL Server
10 2 (0.33%) Tableau
11 1 (0.16%) Pinecone
Development Applications
1 20 (3.26%) GitLab
2 19 (3.09%) Cucumber
3 6 (0.98%) MLflow
4 4 (0.65%) Claude Code
4 4 (0.65%) Git
4 4 (0.65%) Jenkins
4 4 (0.65%) JIRA
4 4 (0.65%) Maven
5 2 (0.33%) rollup.js
6 1 (0.16%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.16%) Axure RP
6 1 (0.16%) Cypress.io
6 1 (0.16%) Gatling
6 1 (0.16%) JMeter
6 1 (0.16%) mountebank
6 1 (0.16%) Selenium
6 1 (0.16%) Vagrant
6 1 (0.16%) Vite
General
1 206 (33.55%) Finance
2 163 (26.55%) Social Skills
3 111 (18.08%) Marketing
4 103 (16.78%) Public Sector
5 95 (15.47%) Analytical Skills
6 63 (10.26%) Presentation Skills
7 61 (9.93%) Retail
8 44 (7.17%) Banking
8 44 (7.17%) Legal
9 36 (5.86%) Influencing Skills
10 34 (5.54%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 20 (3.26%) Brand Awareness
11 20 (3.26%) Financial Institution
12 16 (2.61%) Telecoms
13 15 (2.44%) Manufacturing
14 13 (2.12%) Law
14 13 (2.12%) Organisational Skills
14 13 (2.12%) Public Speaking
15 12 (1.95%) Military
16 11 (1.79%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 151 (24.59%) Senior
2 106 (17.26%) Architect
3 77 (12.54%) Consultant
4 74 (12.05%) Lead
5 59 (9.61%) Sales Executive
6 56 (9.12%) Account Executive
7 45 (7.33%) Senior Manager
8 40 (6.51%) Business Development Executive
9 39 (6.35%) Senior Sales Executive
10 34 (5.54%) Senior Account Executive
11 33 (5.37%) Business Sales Executive
11 33 (5.37%) Sales Account Executive
11 33 (5.37%) Solutions Architect
12 30 (4.89%) Senior Architect
13 24 (3.91%) Data Management Specialist
13 24 (3.91%) Product Specialist
14 23 (3.75%) Product Manager
14 23 (3.75%) Senior Consultant
15 22 (3.58%) Lead Architect
16 21 (3.42%) Java Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (4.89%) Kafka
2 23 (3.75%) Spring
2 23 (3.75%) Spring Boot
3 10 (1.63%) LangGraph
4 8 (1.30%) LangChain
5 6 (0.98%) REST
5 6 (0.98%) SOAP
5 6 (0.98%) XML
6 5 (0.81%) CrewAI
6 5 (0.81%) FastAPI
6 5 (0.81%) Model Context Protocol
6 5 (0.81%) PyTorch
6 5 (0.81%) TensorFlow
7 4 (0.65%) PySpark
7 4 (0.65%) RabbitMQ
7 4 (0.65%) React
7 4 (0.65%) VML
8 3 (0.49%) Middleware
8 3 (0.49%) OAuth
8 3 (0.49%) OpenMP
Miscellaneous
1 61 (9.93%) Cloud Native
2 49 (7.98%) Onboarding
3 46 (7.49%) Enterprise Software
4 36 (5.86%) Blog
5 25 (4.07%) e-Learning
6 23 (3.75%) Distributed Systems
7 21 (3.42%) AI Agents
8 20 (3.26%) Public Cloud
9 18 (2.93%) Management Information System
10 17 (2.77%) Product Ownership
11 16 (2.61%) Self-Motivation
12 15 (2.44%) Social Media
13 14 (2.28%) NHS
13 14 (2.28%) Web Conferencing
14 12 (1.95%) Legacy Applications
14 12 (1.95%) Life Science
15 11 (1.79%) Data Fabric
15 11 (1.79%) Greenfield Project
16 10 (1.63%) Enterprise Cloud
16 10 (1.63%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 5 (0.81%) Linux
1 5 (0.81%) Windows
2 1 (0.16%) Unix
2 1 (0.16%) VMS
2 1 (0.16%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 205 (33.39%) AI
2 182 (29.64%) Business Development
3 171 (27.85%) Mentoring
4 162 (26.38%) Decision-Making
5 152 (24.76%) Roadmaps
6 144 (23.45%) Analytics
7 99 (16.12%) Agile
8 84 (13.68%) Stakeholder Management
9 77 (12.54%) Problem-Solving
10 72 (11.73%) B2B
10 72 (11.73%) DevOps
11 70 (11.40%) Business Strategy
12 68 (11.07%) Continuous Improvement
13 66 (10.75%) CI/CD
14 65 (10.59%) Strategic Thinking
15 63 (10.26%) Coaching
15 63 (10.26%) Cybersecurity
16 61 (9.93%) Machine Learning
17 57 (9.28%) Workshop Facilitation
18 56 (9.12%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 46 (7.49%) Python
2 43 (7.00%) Java
3 33 (5.37%) SQL
4 8 (1.30%) R
5 4 (0.65%) Bash
5 4 (0.65%) Go
5 4 (0.65%) PowerShell
6 3 (0.49%) C#
6 3 (0.49%) Kotlin
7 2 (0.33%) ABAP
7 2 (0.33%) Bicep
8 1 (0.16%) JavaScript
8 1 (0.16%) PHP
8 1 (0.16%) Scala
8 1 (0.16%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 168 (27.36%) Degree
2 81 (13.19%) Security Cleared
3 50 (8.14%) SC Cleared
4 34 (5.54%) AWS Certification
5 24 (3.91%) CISSP
6 22 (3.58%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
6 22 (3.58%) CISM
7 20 (3.26%) Master's Degree
8 18 (2.93%) Computer Science Degree
9 14 (2.28%) Azure Certification
9 14 (2.28%) DV Cleared
10 13 (2.12%) CRISC
10 13 (2.12%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
11 11 (1.79%) DBS Check
12 9 (1.47%) Cisco Certification
12 9 (1.47%) MBA
13 8 (1.30%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 8 (1.30%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
14 7 (1.14%) GSEC
15 6 (0.98%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (5.54%) GRC
2 29 (4.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 23 (3.75%) NIST
4 19 (3.09%) GDPR
5 14 (2.28%) JSP 440
6 13 (2.12%) Accessibility
7 12 (1.95%) Data Quality
8 11 (1.79%) PCI DSS
9 10 (1.63%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 10 (1.63%) SLA
10 9 (1.47%) EU AI Act
10 9 (1.47%) QA
11 7 (1.14%) Basel III
11 7 (1.14%) Government Security Classifications
12 5 (0.81%) Cyber Essentials
13 4 (0.65%) PMO
14 3 (0.49%) IFRS
14 3 (0.49%) NCSC
15 2 (0.33%) California Consumer Privacy Act
15 2 (0.33%) GAAP
System Software
1 18 (2.93%) Docker
2 6 (0.98%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.49%) Slurm Workload Manager
4 1 (0.16%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 22 (3.58%) Kubernetes
2 17 (2.77%) Terraform
3 11 (1.79%) Ansible
4 5 (0.81%) Puppet
5 4 (0.65%) Argo
6 3 (0.49%) Progress Chef
7 2 (0.33%) RSA Archer
7 2 (0.33%) Salt
8 1 (0.16%) Amdocs OSS
8 1 (0.16%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 1 (0.16%) Consul
8 1 (0.16%) EMC NetWorker
8 1 (0.16%) Grafana
8 1 (0.16%) Packer
Vendors
1 96 (15.64%) Dell
2 56 (9.12%) Microsoft
3 38 (6.19%) SAP
4 33 (5.37%) Databricks
5 26 (4.23%) Salesforce
6 25 (4.07%) Informatica
6 25 (4.07%) Teradata
7 24 (3.91%) Denodo
8 22 (3.58%) ServiceNow
9 19 (3.09%) Google
10 16 (2.61%) Foundry
11 15 (2.44%) Palantir
12 13 (2.12%) HubSpot
13 7 (1.14%) OpenAI
13 7 (1.14%) Oracle
13 7 (1.14%) Workday
14 6 (0.98%) Cisco
14 6 (0.98%) Cognizant
15 5 (0.81%) Ariba
16 4 (0.65%) Juniper