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 1 October 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 265 465 258
Rank change year-on-year +200 -207 -44
Permanent jobs citing Thought Leadership 551 332 754
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.11% 0.44% 1.29%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.25% 0.54% 1.37%
Number of salaries quoted 145 170 401
10th Percentile £43,000 £47,500 £56,219
25th Percentile £58,750 £65,000 £67,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £80,000 £80,000 £80,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -4.19%
75th Percentile £105,000 £97,500 £95,000
90th Percentile £121,500 £111,250 £117,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £65,000 £80,000 £79,632
% change year-on-year -18.75% +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 44,107 61,151 54,889
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 89.15% 81.78% 94.26%
Number of salaries quoted 24,402 33,284 41,954
10th Percentile £28,500 £32,500 £32,500
25th Percentile £36,250 £42,500 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £58,274 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.62% -2.88% -
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £80,000
90th Percentile £96,250 £96,250 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,500 £52,500 £54,000
% change year-on-year -9.52% -2.78% +2.86%

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 1 October 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 1 October 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 +226 515 £77,500 -0.64% 289
London +211 368 £95,000 +18.75% 185
UK excluding London +95 153 £65,000 -18.75% 146
Work from Home +79 103 £65,000 -18.75% 198
South East +107 81 £43,750 -43.55% 48
North of England +31 25 £77,500 +21.57% 41
Midlands +42 18 £67,500 +3.85% 16
North West +15 16 £77,500 +26.53% 26
Scotland +3 15 £74,500 -25.50% 16
West Midlands +43 14 £61,250 -5.77% 13
South West +46 10 £71,920 -10.10% 14
Yorkshire +13 9 £85,000 +15.25% 12
East Midlands +21 2 £100,000 +5.26% 3
Northern Ireland - 2 - - 1
East of England -14 1 £45,000 -40.98% 11
Wales - 1 £47,500 - 1

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 14 (2.54%) Apache Spark
2 7 (1.27%) CMS
3 6 (1.09%) Confluence
3 6 (1.09%) nginx
3 6 (1.09%) WordPress
4 4 (0.73%) Apache Airflow
4 4 (0.73%) Microsoft Exchange
4 4 (0.73%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 2 (0.36%) CICS
5 2 (0.36%) WebSphere
6 1 (0.18%) SharePoint
6 1 (0.18%) WebLogic
Applications
1 18 (3.27%) Microsoft Excel
2 13 (2.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 12 (2.18%) Maya
4 4 (0.73%) Chatbot
4 4 (0.73%) Microsoft Office
4 4 (0.73%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.36%) Adobe After Effects
5 2 (0.36%) Adobe Premiere
6 1 (0.18%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 1 (0.18%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.18%) Photoshop
Business Applications
1 30 (5.44%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (2.00%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (1.27%) NetSuite
4 6 (1.09%) SAP SCM
5 4 (0.73%) Endur
5 4 (0.73%) SAP EWM
6 3 (0.54%) Payment Gateway
6 3 (0.54%) SAP CO
6 3 (0.54%) SAP FI
6 3 (0.54%) SAP FI/CO
6 3 (0.54%) SAP FSCM
6 3 (0.54%) SAP PP
7 2 (0.36%) SAP APO
7 2 (0.36%) SAP ERP
7 2 (0.36%) SAP IBP
7 2 (0.36%) SAP MDG
7 2 (0.36%) SAP MM
7 2 (0.36%) SAP Oil and Gas
7 2 (0.36%) SAP QM
7 2 (0.36%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 119 (21.60%) Azure
2 96 (17.42%) AWS
3 34 (6.17%) GCP
4 29 (5.26%) SaaS
5 25 (4.54%) Amazon Bedrock
5 25 (4.54%) Vertex AI
6 19 (3.45%) Power Platform
7 18 (3.27%) Cloud Computing
8 16 (2.90%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 16 (2.90%) Serverless
9 15 (2.72%) GitHub
10 13 (2.36%) Snowflake
11 9 (1.63%) Azure DevOps
12 8 (1.45%) OCI
13 7 (1.27%) IaaS
14 6 (1.09%) Azure Machine Learning
14 6 (1.09%) OpenShift
15 5 (0.91%) AWS CloudFormation
15 5 (0.91%) AWS Lambda
15 5 (0.91%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 11 (2.00%) DNS
2 6 (1.09%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
2 6 (1.09%) Network Security
3 3 (0.54%) Internet
4 1 (0.18%) ATM
4 1 (0.18%) BGP
4 1 (0.18%) Firewall
4 1 (0.18%) LAN
4 1 (0.18%) MPLS
4 1 (0.18%) Software-Defined Networking
4 1 (0.18%) SSH
4 1 (0.18%) SSL
4 1 (0.18%) TCP/IP
4 1 (0.18%) VPN
4 1 (0.18%) WAN
4 1 (0.18%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (7.08%) Data Lake
2 33 (5.99%) NoSQL
3 22 (3.99%) Data Warehouse
4 20 (3.63%) Metadata
5 18 (3.27%) Big Data
6 17 (3.09%) Power BI
7 15 (2.72%) Amazon Redshift
8 14 (2.54%) Hadoop
9 4 (0.73%) BigQuery
9 4 (0.73%) MongoDB
10 3 (0.54%) DynamoDB
10 3 (0.54%) Power Query
10 3 (0.54%) PowerPivot
10 3 (0.54%) Relational Database
10 3 (0.54%) SQL Server
11 2 (0.36%) DB2
11 2 (0.36%) Looker
11 2 (0.36%) Oracle Reports
11 2 (0.36%) Tableau
12 1 (0.18%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
Development Applications
1 15 (2.72%) JIRA
2 12 (2.18%) ERwin
3 7 (1.27%) GitLab
4 3 (0.54%) eCATT
4 3 (0.54%) MLflow
5 1 (0.18%) Axure RP
5 1 (0.18%) Balsamiq
5 1 (0.18%) Git
5 1 (0.18%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.18%) VersaTest
5 1 (0.18%) Vite
5 1 (0.18%) WaveMaker
General
1 206 (37.39%) Analytical Skills
2 202 (36.66%) Social Skills
3 183 (33.21%) Law
4 165 (29.95%) Finance
5 104 (18.87%) Marketing
6 64 (11.62%) Retail
7 55 (9.98%) Games
8 53 (9.62%) Influencing Skills
9 42 (7.62%) Presentation Skills
10 39 (7.08%) Banking
10 39 (7.08%) Public Sector
11 24 (4.36%) Advertising
12 20 (3.63%) Legal
13 17 (3.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 17 (3.09%) Pharmaceutical
14 14 (2.54%) Manufacturing
15 13 (2.36%) Publishing
16 10 (1.81%) Dutch Language
16 10 (1.81%) French Language
16 10 (1.81%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 153 (27.77%) Senior
2 93 (16.88%) Lead
3 82 (14.88%) Architect
4 67 (12.16%) Consultant
5 46 (8.35%) Senior Consultant
6 45 (8.17%) Solutions Architect
7 29 (5.26%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
8 26 (4.72%) Account Executive
9 25 (4.54%) Gen AI Consultant
9 25 (4.54%) Senior Architect
9 25 (4.54%) ServiceNow Architect
10 24 (4.36%) Senior Solutions Architect
11 23 (4.17%) Lead Architect
12 19 (3.45%) Product Lead
13 17 (3.09%) IT Manager
14 15 (2.72%) Data Scientist
14 15 (2.72%) Senior Manager
15 14 (2.54%) Data Architect
15 14 (2.54%) SAP Consultant
16 13 (2.36%) Account Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (4.72%) LangChain
2 20 (3.63%) REST
3 16 (2.90%) React
4 13 (2.36%) Kafka
5 10 (1.81%) AngularJS
6 9 (1.63%) .NET
7 7 (1.27%) CSS
7 7 (1.27%) Vue
7 7 (1.27%) Web Services
8 6 (1.09%) SAP Fiori
8 6 (1.09%) SOAP
8 6 (1.09%) XML
9 5 (0.91%) ASP.NET
9 5 (0.91%) JSON
10 3 (0.54%) .NET Framework
10 3 (0.54%) HTML
10 3 (0.54%) Hugging Face
10 3 (0.54%) Middleware
10 3 (0.54%) Oracle Fusion
10 3 (0.54%) SAPUI5
Miscellaneous
1 52 (9.44%) Analytical Mindset
2 50 (9.07%) Algorithms
3 47 (8.53%) Product Ownership
4 45 (8.17%) Legacy Systems
5 30 (5.44%) FMCG
6 24 (4.36%) Enterprise Software
6 24 (4.36%) Self-Motivation
6 24 (4.36%) Virtual Team
7 20 (3.63%) Social Media
8 18 (3.27%) Cloud Native
9 17 (3.09%) Onboarding
10 16 (2.90%) Digital Media
11 15 (2.72%) Public Cloud
12 14 (2.54%) Life Science
12 14 (2.54%) Management Information System
13 13 (2.36%) Data Structures
14 11 (2.00%) Blog
15 10 (1.81%) Blockchain
15 10 (1.81%) Web Conferencing
16 8 (1.45%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 1 (0.18%) Linux
1 1 (0.18%) Solaris
1 1 (0.18%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 217 (39.38%) Roadmaps
2 200 (36.30%) Artificial Intelligence
3 197 (35.75%) Analytics
4 177 (32.12%) Agile
5 155 (28.13%) Problem-Solving
6 135 (24.50%) Machine Learning
7 118 (21.42%) Business Strategy
8 101 (18.33%) Project Management
9 98 (17.79%) Decision-Making
10 91 (16.52%) Business Development
10 91 (16.52%) Stakeholder Management
11 87 (15.79%) Computer Science
12 79 (14.34%) Data Science
12 79 (14.34%) DevOps
13 76 (13.79%) Coaching
13 76 (13.79%) Mentoring
14 73 (13.25%) IT Strategy
15 63 (11.43%) Generative AI
16 62 (11.25%) Strategic Roadmap
17 59 (10.71%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 70 (12.70%) Python
2 36 (6.53%) SQL
3 29 (5.26%) JavaScript
4 12 (2.18%) Java
5 7 (1.27%) C#
6 4 (0.73%) C++
6 4 (0.73%) R
7 3 (0.54%) PowerShell
8 2 (0.36%) Scala
9 1 (0.18%) Bash
9 1 (0.18%) Bicep
9 1 (0.18%) Bourne shell
9 1 (0.18%) COBOL
9 1 (0.18%) C-shell
9 1 (0.18%) Kotlin
9 1 (0.18%) Perl
9 1 (0.18%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.18%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 197 (35.75%) Degree
2 60 (10.89%) Master's Degree
3 59 (10.71%) Computer Science Degree
4 46 (8.35%) PhD
5 21 (3.81%) Security Cleared
6 15 (2.72%) SC Cleared
7 10 (1.81%) PMI Certification
8 9 (1.63%) TOGAF Certification
9 8 (1.45%) Cisco Certification
10 7 (1.27%) MBA
10 7 (1.27%) PMP
11 6 (1.09%) CCNA
11 6 (1.09%) CCNP
11 6 (1.09%) CISSP
12 5 (0.91%) APMG
12 5 (0.91%) AWS Certification
12 5 (0.91%) Azure Certification
13 4 (0.73%) CISA
13 4 (0.73%) CISM
13 4 (0.73%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (6.17%) QA
2 26 (4.72%) Data Quality
3 22 (3.99%) GDPR
4 13 (2.36%) Accessibility
5 11 (2.00%) GxP
6 10 (1.81%) PMO
7 8 (1.45%) SLA
8 6 (1.09%) WCAG
9 4 (0.73%) EMIR
9 4 (0.73%) P3O
10 3 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 3 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 3 (0.54%) NIST
10 3 (0.54%) NIST 800
11 2 (0.36%) Actionable Recommendations
11 2 (0.36%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.36%) GRC
12 1 (0.18%) NCSC
12 1 (0.18%) PCI DSS
12 1 (0.18%) SOC 2
System Software
1 7 (1.27%) Docker
2 2 (0.36%) RACF
3 1 (0.18%) Virtual Machines
3 1 (0.18%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 21 (3.81%) Terraform
2 15 (2.72%) Kubernetes
3 4 (0.73%) Ansible
4 3 (0.54%) Grafana
4 3 (0.54%) Prometheus
5 1 (0.18%) HP UCMDB
5 1 (0.18%) Oracle ZFS
5 1 (0.18%) VxRail
Vendors
1 54 (9.80%) Google
2 38 (6.90%) SAP
3 34 (6.17%) ServiceNow
4 33 (5.99%) Microsoft
5 31 (5.63%) Adobe
6 26 (4.72%) TikTok
7 23 (4.17%) Databricks
8 19 (3.45%) Oracle
9 17 (3.09%) Dell
10 14 (2.54%) Salesforce
11 9 (1.63%) OpenAI
12 8 (1.45%) Foundry
13 7 (1.27%) F5
13 7 (1.27%) Splunk
14 6 (1.09%) Palantir
15 5 (0.91%) Pinterest
15 5 (0.91%) Snapchat
16 4 (0.73%) OpenLink
17 3 (0.54%) Avaloq
17 3 (0.54%) Temenos