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 2 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 282 440 258
Rank change year-on-year +158 -182 -31
Permanent jobs citing Thought Leadership 453 333 659
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.83% 0.52% 1.30%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.00% 0.61% 1.39%
Number of salaries quoted 141 155 383
10th Percentile £40,000 £54,250 £65,000
25th Percentile £58,750 £66,250 £75,208
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £82,250 £84,180 £82,500
Median % change year-on-year -2.29% +2.04% -2.94%
75th Percentile £112,500 £100,000 £97,290
90th Percentile £125,000 £110,000 £117,447
UK excluding London median annual salary £62,500 £80,000 £79,632
% change year-on-year -21.88% +0.46% +9.84%

All Process and 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 45,523 54,873 47,405
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 83.89% 85.86% 93.74%
Number of salaries quoted 27,788 28,510 36,562
10th Percentile £28,250 £34,905 £32,500
25th Percentile £36,250 £45,000 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £80,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £98,750 £98,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,500 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -13.64% +4.76% -0.94%

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 2 December 2025.

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 2 December 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 +206 417 £82,250 +2.81% 283
London +175 319 £100,000 +18.57% 183
UK excluding London +40 101 £62,500 -21.88% 253
Work from Home +58 74 £65,000 -22.78% 180
South East +40 40 £35,000 -51.72% 167
North of England +37 16 £62,500 -27.75% 34
North West +48 15 £56,250 -37.89% 11
Scotland -17 12 £68,500 -31.50% 11
Midlands +40 11 £100,000 +53.85% 16
South West +22 10 £61,920 -22.60% 16
East of England +12 9 £45,500 -49.30% 12
West Midlands +42 8 £71,250 +9.62% 14
Northern Ireland - 2 - - 3
East Midlands +22 1 £100,000 +50.94% 2
Yorkshire -3 1 £105,000 +68.00% 9
Wales - 1 £47,500 -

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 13 (2.87%) Apache Spark
2 5 (1.10%) Apache Airflow
2 5 (1.10%) CMS
2 5 (1.10%) WordPress
3 3 (0.66%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 2 (0.44%) nginx
4 2 (0.44%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.22%) CICS
5 1 (0.22%) Confluence
5 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.22%) WebSphere
Applications
1 15 (3.31%) Maya
2 12 (2.65%) Microsoft Excel
3 11 (2.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (1.55%) Microsoft Office
5 5 (1.10%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 4 (0.88%) Chatbot
6 4 (0.88%) Photoshop
7 3 (0.66%) Adobe Illustrator
7 3 (0.66%) Elementor
8 2 (0.44%) Adobe After Effects
8 2 (0.44%) Adobe Premiere
8 2 (0.44%) Adobe XD
8 2 (0.44%) InVision
8 2 (0.44%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 34 (7.51%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (1.99%) Dynamics CRM
3 8 (1.77%) Endur
4 7 (1.55%) SAP SCM
5 4 (0.88%) Payment Gateway
5 4 (0.88%) SAP MDG
6 3 (0.66%) SAP CO
6 3 (0.66%) SAP ERP
6 3 (0.66%) SAP EWM
6 3 (0.66%) SAP FI
6 3 (0.66%) SAP FI/CO
6 3 (0.66%) SAP IBP
6 3 (0.66%) SAP PP
7 2 (0.44%) SAP APO
7 2 (0.44%) SAP FSCM
7 2 (0.44%) SAP QM
7 2 (0.44%) SAP WM
7 2 (0.44%) Shopify
8 1 (0.22%) SAP LE
8 1 (0.22%) SAP Oil and Gas
Cloud Services
1 92 (20.31%) AWS
2 81 (17.88%) Azure
3 33 (7.28%) SaaS
4 32 (7.06%) GCP
5 25 (5.52%) Amazon Bedrock
5 25 (5.52%) Vertex AI
6 21 (4.64%) Power Platform
7 16 (3.53%) GitHub
8 15 (3.31%) Cloud Computing
9 14 (3.09%) Azure DevOps
9 14 (3.09%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 14 (3.09%) Snowflake
10 11 (2.43%) OCI
11 10 (2.21%) Serverless
12 9 (1.99%) Dynamics 365
13 6 (1.32%) Azure Machine Learning
14 5 (1.10%) GitHub Actions
14 5 (1.10%) Google Ads
14 5 (1.10%) Google Gemini
14 5 (1.10%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 3 (0.66%) DNS
2 2 (0.44%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
2 2 (0.44%) Network Security
3 1 (0.22%) BGP
3 1 (0.22%) Firewall
3 1 (0.22%) LAN
3 1 (0.22%) MPLS
3 1 (0.22%) Software-Defined Networking
3 1 (0.22%) SSH
3 1 (0.22%) TCP/IP
3 1 (0.22%) WAN
3 1 (0.22%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (6.84%) Data Warehouse
1 31 (6.84%) NoSQL
2 20 (4.42%) Metadata
2 20 (4.42%) Power BI
3 16 (3.53%) Big Data
4 14 (3.09%) Hadoop
5 13 (2.87%) Amazon Redshift
6 7 (1.55%) Data Lake
6 7 (1.55%) Tableau
7 6 (1.32%) BigQuery
8 5 (1.10%) MongoDB
9 4 (0.88%) DataStage
9 4 (0.88%) QlikView
10 3 (0.66%) DynamoDB
10 3 (0.66%) Looker
10 3 (0.66%) Relational Database
10 3 (0.66%) SAP HANA
10 3 (0.66%) SQL Server
11 2 (0.44%) Oracle Reports
11 2 (0.44%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 15 (3.31%) ERwin
2 10 (2.21%) JIRA
3 4 (0.88%) ER Studio
3 4 (0.88%) GitLab
3 4 (0.88%) MLflow
3 4 (0.88%) PowerDesigner
4 3 (0.66%) eCATT
5 2 (0.44%) Axure RP
5 2 (0.44%) Git
5 2 (0.44%) Jenkins
6 1 (0.22%) SonarQube
6 1 (0.22%) Vite
6 1 (0.22%) WaveMaker
General
1 161 (35.54%) Finance
2 142 (31.35%) Social Skills
3 137 (30.24%) Analytical Skills
4 115 (25.39%) Law
5 97 (21.41%) Marketing
6 56 (12.36%) Games
7 45 (9.93%) Presentation Skills
7 45 (9.93%) Retail
8 40 (8.83%) Banking
9 34 (7.51%) Public Sector
10 24 (5.30%) Legal
10 24 (5.30%) Pharmaceutical
11 22 (4.86%) Influencing Skills
12 19 (4.19%) Advertising
13 13 (2.87%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 13 (2.87%) Manufacturing
14 10 (2.21%) Dutch Language
14 10 (2.21%) French Language
15 9 (1.99%) Billing
15 9 (1.99%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 91 (20.09%) Lead
2 83 (18.32%) Senior
3 72 (15.89%) Architect
4 64 (14.13%) Consultant
5 41 (9.05%) Senior Consultant
6 32 (7.06%) Solutions Architect
7 28 (6.18%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
8 25 (5.52%) Gen AI Consultant
9 22 (4.86%) Account Executive
9 22 (4.86%) Lead Architect
10 19 (4.19%) IT Manager
11 18 (3.97%) Data Architect
12 16 (3.53%) Marketing Manager
12 16 (3.53%) Product Lead
13 14 (3.09%) Data Scientist
14 13 (2.87%) SAP Consultant
14 13 (2.87%) Senior Manager
15 11 (2.43%) Lead Data Architect
15 11 (2.43%) Sales Executive
16 10 (2.21%) Technology Director
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (5.96%) LangChain
2 17 (3.75%) React
3 15 (3.31%) REST
4 13 (2.87%) Kafka
5 10 (2.21%) AngularJS
6 8 (1.77%) .NET
7 7 (1.55%) Vue
8 5 (1.10%) ASP.NET
8 5 (1.10%) JSON
8 5 (1.10%) Oracle Fusion
8 5 (1.10%) XML
9 4 (0.88%) SAP Fiori
10 3 (0.66%) .NET Framework
10 3 (0.66%) CSS
10 3 (0.66%) HTML
10 3 (0.66%) Hugging Face
10 3 (0.66%) Middleware
10 3 (0.66%) SAPUI5
11 2 (0.44%) PyTorch
11 2 (0.44%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 49 (10.82%) Algorithms
2 38 (8.39%) Legacy Systems
3 33 (7.28%) Product Ownership
4 32 (7.06%) Self-Motivation
5 28 (6.18%) Enterprise Software
6 26 (5.74%) Virtual Team
7 22 (4.86%) Life Science
8 19 (4.19%) FMCG
9 18 (3.97%) Social Media
10 17 (3.75%) Management Information System
11 16 (3.53%) Blog
11 16 (3.53%) Onboarding
12 14 (3.09%) Analytical Mindset
13 12 (2.65%) Cloud Native
13 12 (2.65%) Data Structures
14 10 (2.21%) Blockchain
15 8 (1.77%) Credit Risk
15 8 (1.77%) Web Conferencing
16 7 (1.55%) Low-Code
17 6 (1.32%) Digital Media
Operating Systems
1 1 (0.22%) Android
1 1 (0.22%) Apple iOS
1 1 (0.22%) Linux
1 1 (0.22%) Solaris
1 1 (0.22%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 192 (42.38%) AI
2 163 (35.98%) Analytics
3 150 (33.11%) Roadmaps
4 127 (28.04%) Agile
5 98 (21.63%) Business Strategy
5 98 (21.63%) Machine Learning
6 89 (19.65%) Computer Science
7 87 (19.21%) Decision-Making
8 86 (18.98%) Business Development
9 82 (18.10%) Problem-Solving
10 77 (17.00%) Generative AI
11 75 (16.56%) Stakeholder Management
12 74 (16.34%) IT Strategy
13 70 (15.45%) Mentoring
14 66 (14.57%) Project Management
15 65 (14.35%) DevOps
16 55 (12.14%) Data Science
16 55 (12.14%) Enterprise Architecture
17 51 (11.26%) B2B
18 49 (10.82%) Data Strategy
Programming Languages
1 59 (13.02%) Python
2 31 (6.84%) SQL
3 19 (4.19%) JavaScript
4 7 (1.55%) C#
4 7 (1.55%) Java
5 3 (0.66%) C++
5 3 (0.66%) PowerShell
6 2 (0.44%) Bash
6 2 (0.44%) TypeScript
7 1 (0.22%) ABAP
7 1 (0.22%) Bicep
7 1 (0.22%) Bourne shell
7 1 (0.22%) C-shell
7 1 (0.22%) Kotlin
7 1 (0.22%) Perl
7 1 (0.22%) Ruby
7 1 (0.22%) Scala
7 1 (0.22%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 177 (39.07%) Degree
2 75 (16.56%) Master's Degree
3 57 (12.58%) PhD
4 53 (11.70%) Computer Science Degree
5 20 (4.42%) Security Cleared
6 15 (3.31%) SC Cleared
7 10 (2.21%) PMI Certification
7 10 (2.21%) PMP
8 9 (1.99%) Azure Certification
8 9 (1.99%) TOGAF Certification
9 8 (1.77%) CISSP
9 8 (1.77%) DBS Check
10 6 (1.32%) CISM
10 6 (1.32%) SAP Certification
11 5 (1.10%) AWS Certification
11 5 (1.10%) MBA
12 4 (0.88%) CISA
12 4 (0.88%) Cisco Certification
13 3 (0.66%) CRISC
13 3 (0.66%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (4.86%) Data Quality
1 22 (4.86%) QA
2 20 (4.42%) GxP
3 19 (4.19%) GDPR
4 12 (2.65%) Accessibility
5 10 (2.21%) PMO
6 8 (1.77%) EMIR
6 8 (1.77%) SLA
7 5 (1.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 4 (0.88%) NIST
9 3 (0.66%) Actionable Recommendations
9 3 (0.66%) WCAG
10 2 (0.44%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 2 (0.44%) NCSC
10 2 (0.44%) NIST 800
10 2 (0.44%) PCI DSS
11 1 (0.22%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 1 (0.22%) GMP
11 1 (0.22%) GRC
System Software
1 7 (1.55%) Docker
2 1 (0.22%) RACF
2 1 (0.22%) Virtual Machines
2 1 (0.22%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 23 (5.08%) Terraform
2 10 (2.21%) Kubernetes
3 4 (0.88%) Ansible
4 2 (0.44%) Grafana
5 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Intune
5 1 (0.22%) Oracle ZFS
5 1 (0.22%) Prometheus
5 1 (0.22%) VxRail
Vendors
1 48 (10.60%) Google
2 40 (8.83%) SAP
3 36 (7.95%) Microsoft
4 26 (5.74%) Databricks
5 22 (4.86%) Oracle
6 17 (3.75%) Adobe
7 15 (3.31%) Dell
8 9 (1.99%) ServiceNow
9 8 (1.77%) OpenLink
10 7 (1.55%) OpenAI
10 7 (1.55%) TikTok
11 6 (1.32%) Cognizant
11 6 (1.32%) Foundry
12 5 (1.10%) HubSpot
12 5 (1.10%) IBM
12 5 (1.10%) Salesforce
13 4 (0.88%) Facebook
13 4 (0.88%) Palantir
13 4 (0.88%) Pinterest
13 4 (0.88%) Snapchat