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

6 months to
21 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 290 331 342
Rank change year-on-year +41 +11 -96
Permanent jobs citing Thought Leadership 510 366 728
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.67% 0.87% 0.85%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.86% 0.93% 0.98%
Number of salaries quoted 184 122 497
10th Percentile £40,750 £46,375 £43,000
25th Percentile £61,250 £72,500 £62,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £80,000 £90,000 £80,000
Median % change year-on-year -11.11% +12.50% -11.11%
75th Percentile £98,125 £110,000 £100,064
90th Percentile £118,750 £131,125 £130,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £70,000 £89,500 £80,000
% change year-on-year -21.79% +11.88% +1.27%

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 58,981 39,507 74,640
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 77.68% 93.49% 87.04%
Number of salaries quoted 35,808 22,230 56,250
10th Percentile £29,750 £31,750 £29,079
25th Percentile £40,000 £43,887 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -11.29%
75th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,410 £93,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -8.90%

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 21 March 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 21 March 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 +35 441 £80,000 -10.61% 400
London +59 286 £86,500 -3.89% 241
UK excluding London -34 162 £70,000 -21.79% 282
Work from Home -4 94 £62,500 -30.17% 132
North of England -64 44 £80,000 -15.47% 52
East of England +21 41 £60,100 -38.20% 12
South East -32 39 £62,500 -10.71% 155
North West -25 36 £75,000 -20.75% 27
Scotland -20 15 £80,000 -20.00% 14
Midlands -20 11 £75,000 - 30
South West - 10 £47,000 - 19
West Midlands -7 7 £75,000 - 24
Yorkshire -44 6 £90,000 +46.94% 19
East Midlands - 4 £50,000 - 6
North East -25 2 - - 6
Wales - 2 £42,000 - 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 8 (1.57%) Apache Airflow
2 6 (1.18%) IIS
2 6 (1.18%) Palantir Foundry
3 5 (0.98%) CMS
3 5 (0.98%) WordPress
4 3 (0.59%) Apache Spark
4 3 (0.59%) Confluence
5 2 (0.39%) SharePoint
6 1 (0.20%) Apache
6 1 (0.20%) Drupal
6 1 (0.20%) nginx
6 1 (0.20%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 13 (2.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 7 (1.37%) Maya
2 7 (1.37%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (0.98%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 5 (0.98%) Adobe XD
3 5 (0.98%) InVision
3 5 (0.98%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (0.98%) Sketch
4 3 (0.59%) Adobe Illustrator
4 3 (0.59%) Elementor
4 3 (0.59%) Photoshop
5 2 (0.39%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.20%) Siemens NX
6 1 (0.20%) Trello
Business Applications
1 15 (2.94%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (1.57%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (1.18%) Endur
4 4 (0.78%) SAP MDG
5 3 (0.59%) Elite 3E
6 2 (0.39%) SAP SCM
6 2 (0.39%) Teamcenter
7 1 (0.20%) Magento
7 1 (0.20%) NetSuite
7 1 (0.20%) Oracle Applications
7 1 (0.20%) Oracle ERP
7 1 (0.20%) Payment Gateway
7 1 (0.20%) SAP ERP
7 1 (0.20%) SAP FI
7 1 (0.20%) SAP FI/CO
7 1 (0.20%) SAP MDG-F
7 1 (0.20%) SAP MDG-M
7 1 (0.20%) SAP MDG-S
7 1 (0.20%) SAP PLM
7 1 (0.20%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 84 (16.47%) AWS
2 62 (12.16%) Azure
3 49 (9.61%) SaaS
4 38 (7.45%) GCP
4 38 (7.45%) Snowflake
5 11 (2.16%) GitHub
5 11 (2.16%) Power Platform
6 9 (1.76%) AWS CloudFormation
6 9 (1.76%) Dynamics 365
7 8 (1.57%) Azure DevOps
7 8 (1.57%) Cloud Computing
8 7 (1.37%) dbt
9 6 (1.18%) Matillion
9 6 (1.18%) OCI
9 6 (1.18%) Serverless
9 6 (1.18%) SuccessFactors
10 5 (0.98%) Azure Machine Learning
10 5 (0.98%) Figma
10 5 (0.98%) Google Ads
10 5 (0.98%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 11 (2.16%) Firewall
2 6 (1.18%) Intrusion Detection
2 6 (1.18%) Network Security
3 4 (0.78%) SD-WAN
3 4 (0.78%) WAN
3 4 (0.78%) Wireless
4 3 (0.59%) Cisco ISE
4 3 (0.59%) WebEx
4 3 (0.59%) Wi-Fi
5 2 (0.39%) Broadband
5 2 (0.39%) Cisco IPT
5 2 (0.39%) LAN
5 2 (0.39%) Tactical Data Link
6 1 (0.20%) Bluetooth
6 1 (0.20%) Cisco Wireless
6 1 (0.20%) LoRaWAN
6 1 (0.20%) SSL
6 1 (0.20%) WLAN
6 1 (0.20%) ZigBee
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (6.67%) Data Warehouse
2 23 (4.51%) Data Lake
3 14 (2.75%) NoSQL
4 11 (2.16%) Tableau
5 10 (1.96%) Power BI
6 9 (1.76%) Big Data
7 8 (1.57%) Metadata
8 6 (1.18%) BigQuery
8 6 (1.18%) Hadoop
9 5 (0.98%) Data Mining
10 4 (0.78%) DataStage
10 4 (0.78%) QlikView
10 4 (0.78%) SAP HANA
11 3 (0.59%) Amazon RDS
11 3 (0.59%) SQL Server
12 2 (0.39%) Delta Lake
12 2 (0.39%) Looker
12 2 (0.39%) MongoDB
12 2 (0.39%) SAP Data Services
13 1 (0.20%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 6 (1.18%) GitLab
1 6 (1.18%) MLflow
2 5 (0.98%) Axure RP
2 5 (0.98%) Cucumber
3 4 (0.78%) ER Studio
3 4 (0.78%) ERwin
3 4 (0.78%) JIRA
3 4 (0.78%) PowerDesigner
4 2 (0.39%) Git
4 2 (0.39%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.20%) Cypress.io
5 1 (0.20%) Gatling
5 1 (0.20%) JMeter
5 1 (0.20%) Selenium
5 1 (0.20%) SonarQube
5 1 (0.20%) Vagrant
General
1 182 (35.69%) Finance
2 123 (24.12%) Social Skills
3 90 (17.65%) Analytical Skills
3 90 (17.65%) Marketing
4 62 (12.16%) Public Sector
5 57 (11.18%) Presentation Skills
6 42 (8.24%) Law
7 41 (8.04%) Retail
8 38 (7.45%) Legal
9 31 (6.08%) Banking
10 28 (5.49%) Games
10 28 (5.49%) Influencing Skills
11 26 (5.10%) Pharmaceutical
12 23 (4.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 19 (3.73%) Financial Institution
14 13 (2.55%) Aerospace
15 11 (2.16%) Publishing
16 9 (1.76%) Telecoms
17 7 (1.37%) Manufacturing
17 7 (1.37%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 111 (21.76%) Senior
2 75 (14.71%) Architect
3 70 (13.73%) Consultant
3 70 (13.73%) Lead
4 51 (10.00%) Account Executive
5 49 (9.61%) Sales Executive
6 37 (7.25%) Senior Sales Executive
7 30 (5.88%) Business Development Executive
8 25 (4.90%) Business Sales Executive
8 25 (4.90%) Sales Account Executive
8 25 (4.90%) Senior Account Executive
9 24 (4.71%) Business Architect
10 23 (4.51%) Senior Manager
11 21 (4.12%) Senior Architect
12 20 (3.92%) Business Consultant
12 20 (3.92%) Senior Consultant
12 20 (3.92%) Solutions Architect
13 18 (3.53%) Product Specialist
14 17 (3.33%) Business Manager
15 16 (3.14%) Data Management Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (2.16%) Spring
1 11 (2.16%) Spring Boot
2 9 (1.76%) Kafka
3 8 (1.57%) REST
4 7 (1.37%) CSS
4 7 (1.37%) HTML
5 6 (1.18%) React
5 6 (1.18%) SOAP
6 5 (0.98%) OAuth
6 5 (0.98%) OAuth2
6 5 (0.98%) Play Framework
6 5 (0.98%) PyTorch
6 5 (0.98%) TensorFlow
7 3 (0.59%) Flutter
7 3 (0.59%) Oracle Fusion
8 2 (0.39%) .NET
8 2 (0.39%) .NET Framework
8 2 (0.39%) AngularJS
8 2 (0.39%) SAP Fiori
8 2 (0.39%) scikit-learn
Miscellaneous
1 33 (6.47%) Life Science
2 31 (6.08%) Self-Motivation
3 30 (5.88%) Blog
4 27 (5.29%) Enterprise Software
5 26 (5.10%) Cloud Native
6 17 (3.33%) Algorithms
7 16 (3.14%) Management Information System
7 16 (3.14%) Social Media
8 14 (2.75%) Web Conferencing
9 13 (2.55%) Onboarding
10 11 (2.16%) AI Agents
10 11 (2.16%) Distributed Systems
10 11 (2.16%) e-Learning
11 10 (1.96%) Podcast
11 10 (1.96%) Product Ownership
12 9 (1.76%) Virtual Team
13 8 (1.57%) Data Fabric
13 8 (1.57%) NHS
14 7 (1.37%) Credit Risk
14 7 (1.37%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 3 (0.59%) Windows
2 2 (0.39%) Linux
3 1 (0.20%) Android
3 1 (0.20%) Apple iOS
3 1 (0.20%) VMS
3 1 (0.20%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 185 (36.27%) AI
2 149 (29.22%) Business Development
3 148 (29.02%) Decision-Making
4 135 (26.47%) Analytics
5 105 (20.59%) Roadmaps
6 104 (20.39%) Agile
7 101 (19.80%) Mentoring
8 78 (15.29%) Business Strategy
9 73 (14.31%) Problem-Solving
10 66 (12.94%) Cybersecurity
11 64 (12.55%) B2B
11 64 (12.55%) Workshop Facilitation
12 61 (11.96%) Strategic Thinking
13 59 (11.57%) Generative AI
13 59 (11.57%) Stakeholder Management
14 55 (10.78%) Computer Science
14 55 (10.78%) Data Science
14 55 (10.78%) Use Case
15 54 (10.59%) Machine Learning
15 54 (10.59%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 37 (7.25%) Python
2 30 (5.88%) Java
3 24 (4.71%) SQL
4 8 (1.57%) JavaScript
5 6 (1.18%) R
6 5 (0.98%) Kotlin
6 5 (0.98%) Scala
7 4 (0.78%) C#
8 3 (0.59%) Go
8 3 (0.59%) PowerShell
9 1 (0.20%) ABAP
9 1 (0.20%) Bash
9 1 (0.20%) PHP
9 1 (0.20%) Ruby
9 1 (0.20%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 155 (30.39%) Degree
2 58 (11.37%) Security Cleared
3 54 (10.59%) Master's Degree
4 37 (7.25%) SC Cleared
5 32 (6.27%) PhD
6 21 (4.12%) Computer Science Degree
7 18 (3.53%) CISSP
8 17 (3.33%) CISM
9 15 (2.94%) Azure Certification
10 14 (2.75%) DBS Check
11 12 (2.35%) AWS Certification
12 9 (1.76%) CRISC
12 9 (1.76%) DV Cleared
12 9 (1.76%) MBA
13 8 (1.57%) PMI Certification
13 8 (1.57%) PMP
14 7 (1.37%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
15 6 (1.18%) (ISC)2 CCSP
15 6 (1.18%) GSEC
15 6 (1.18%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (4.51%) Accessibility
2 19 (3.73%) GRC
2 19 (3.73%) GxP
3 18 (3.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 16 (3.14%) NIST
5 13 (2.55%) Data Quality
6 11 (2.16%) QA
7 8 (1.57%) EU AI Act
7 8 (1.57%) JSP 440
8 7 (1.37%) GDPR
9 6 (1.18%) Actionable Recommendations
9 6 (1.18%) EMIR
9 6 (1.18%) Government Security Classifications
9 6 (1.18%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 5 (0.98%) WCAG
11 3 (0.59%) NCSC
11 3 (0.59%) PCI DSS
11 3 (0.59%) SLA
12 2 (0.39%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.39%) NIST 800
System Software
1 7 (1.37%) Docker
2 4 (0.78%) Active Directory
3 1 (0.20%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 17 (3.33%) Terraform
2 8 (1.57%) Kubernetes
3 6 (1.18%) Ansible
4 3 (0.59%) Puppet
5 2 (0.39%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
5 2 (0.39%) Progress Chef
5 2 (0.39%) RSA Archer
6 1 (0.20%) Argo
6 1 (0.20%) Consul
6 1 (0.20%) Grafana
6 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Intune
6 1 (0.20%) Packer
6 1 (0.20%) Salt
Vendors
1 74 (14.51%) Dell
2 31 (6.08%) Databricks
2 31 (6.08%) Microsoft
2 31 (6.08%) SAP
3 27 (5.29%) Google
4 20 (3.92%) Informatica
4 20 (3.92%) Oracle
5 16 (3.14%) Denodo
5 16 (3.14%) Teradata
6 14 (2.75%) HubSpot
7 12 (2.35%) ServiceNow
8 11 (2.16%) Salesforce
9 10 (1.96%) Adobe
10 9 (1.76%) IBM
11 6 (1.18%) Cognizant
11 6 (1.18%) Foundry
11 6 (1.18%) OpenLink
11 6 (1.18%) Palantir
11 6 (1.18%) Workday
12 5 (0.98%) BT