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 25 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 274 437 261
Rank change year-on-year +163 -176 -36
Permanent jobs citing Thought Leadership 468 331 653
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.88% 0.49% 1.27%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.03% 0.58% 1.35%
Number of salaries quoted 146 151 373
10th Percentile £40,000 £53,750 £63,750
25th Percentile £58,750 £65,000 £75,208
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £80,000 £82,500 £82,500
Median % change year-on-year -3.03% - -2.94%
75th Percentile £112,500 £100,375 £97,290
90th Percentile £123,750 £110,000 £119,500
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 45,329 56,886 48,300
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 84.95% 84.65% 93.78%
Number of salaries quoted 27,632 29,709 37,183
10th Percentile £28,250 £34,000 £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 £79,500 £80,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £98,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,500 £54,439 £52,500
% change year-on-year -12.75% +3.69% -

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 25 November 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 25 November 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 +206 434 £80,000 - 394
London +177 318 £100,000 +18.57% 205
UK excluding London +56 119 £62,500 -21.88% 293
Work from Home +75 78 £60,000 -28.01% 267
South East +63 54 £35,000 -51.72% 174
North of England +37 17 £68,750 -20.52% 37
North West +53 15 £56,250 -37.89% 27
Midlands +51 14 £87,500 +34.62% 27
Scotland -18 12 £68,500 -31.50% 21
West Midlands +46 10 £67,500 +3.85% 20
South West +36 10 £61,920 -22.60% 18
East of England +4 9 £45,500 -49.30% 15
East Midlands +30 2 £100,000 +50.94% 7
Yorkshire +14 2 £90,000 +44.00% 7
Northern Ireland - 2 - - 3
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 14 (2.99%) Apache Spark
2 5 (1.07%) CMS
2 5 (1.07%) WordPress
3 4 (0.85%) Apache Airflow
3 4 (0.85%) nginx
3 4 (0.85%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 2 (0.43%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.21%) CICS
5 1 (0.21%) Confluence
5 1 (0.21%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.21%) WebLogic
5 1 (0.21%) WebSphere
Applications
1 12 (2.56%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (2.35%) Maya
2 11 (2.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 7 (1.50%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (1.07%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 4 (0.85%) Chatbot
5 4 (0.85%) Photoshop
6 3 (0.64%) Adobe Illustrator
6 3 (0.64%) Elementor
7 2 (0.43%) Adobe After Effects
7 2 (0.43%) Adobe Premiere
8 1 (0.21%) Adobe XD
8 1 (0.21%) InVision
8 1 (0.21%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 34 (7.26%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (1.92%) Dynamics CRM
3 8 (1.71%) SAP SCM
4 7 (1.50%) Endur
5 4 (0.85%) Payment Gateway
6 3 (0.64%) SAP CO
6 3 (0.64%) SAP ERP
6 3 (0.64%) SAP EWM
6 3 (0.64%) SAP FI
6 3 (0.64%) SAP FI/CO
6 3 (0.64%) SAP IBP
6 3 (0.64%) SAP MDG
6 3 (0.64%) SAP PP
7 2 (0.43%) SAP APO
7 2 (0.43%) SAP FSCM
7 2 (0.43%) SAP MM
7 2 (0.43%) SAP QM
7 2 (0.43%) SAP WM
7 2 (0.43%) Shopify
8 1 (0.21%) Oracle BPM
Cloud Services
1 97 (20.73%) Azure
2 94 (20.09%) AWS
3 35 (7.48%) GCP
4 33 (7.05%) SaaS
5 25 (5.34%) Amazon Bedrock
5 25 (5.34%) Vertex AI
6 22 (4.70%) Power Platform
7 15 (3.21%) GitHub
8 14 (2.99%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 14 (2.99%) Cloud Computing
8 14 (2.99%) Snowflake
9 13 (2.78%) Azure DevOps
10 10 (2.14%) Serverless
11 9 (1.92%) OCI
12 8 (1.71%) Dynamics 365
13 5 (1.07%) Azure Machine Learning
13 5 (1.07%) Google Ads
13 5 (1.07%) IaaS
13 5 (1.07%) Microsoft 365
13 5 (1.07%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 5 (1.07%) DNS
2 4 (0.85%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
2 4 (0.85%) Network Security
3 1 (0.21%) BGP
3 1 (0.21%) Firewall
3 1 (0.21%) LAN
3 1 (0.21%) MPLS
3 1 (0.21%) Software-Defined Networking
3 1 (0.21%) SSH
3 1 (0.21%) TCP/IP
3 1 (0.21%) WAN
3 1 (0.21%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (6.62%) NoSQL
2 29 (6.20%) Data Warehouse
3 22 (4.70%) Metadata
4 21 (4.49%) Power BI
5 19 (4.06%) Data Lake
6 17 (3.63%) Big Data
7 14 (2.99%) Hadoop
8 13 (2.78%) Amazon Redshift
9 7 (1.50%) Tableau
10 6 (1.28%) BigQuery
11 5 (1.07%) MongoDB
12 4 (0.85%) DataStage
12 4 (0.85%) QlikView
13 3 (0.64%) DynamoDB
13 3 (0.64%) Looker
13 3 (0.64%) Relational Database
13 3 (0.64%) SAP HANA
13 3 (0.64%) SQL Server
14 2 (0.43%) Oracle Reports
14 2 (0.43%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 15 (3.21%) ERwin
2 10 (2.14%) JIRA
3 6 (1.28%) GitLab
4 4 (0.85%) ER Studio
4 4 (0.85%) PowerDesigner
5 3 (0.64%) eCATT
5 3 (0.64%) MLflow
6 2 (0.43%) Git
6 2 (0.43%) Jenkins
7 1 (0.21%) Axure RP
7 1 (0.21%) SonarQube
7 1 (0.21%) Vite
7 1 (0.21%) WaveMaker
General
1 154 (32.91%) Finance
2 153 (32.69%) Social Skills
3 147 (31.41%) Analytical Skills
4 125 (26.71%) Law
5 100 (21.37%) Marketing
6 47 (10.04%) Retail
7 46 (9.83%) Games
7 46 (9.83%) Presentation Skills
8 37 (7.91%) Banking
9 33 (7.05%) Influencing Skills
10 30 (6.41%) Public Sector
11 25 (5.34%) Pharmaceutical
12 24 (5.13%) Legal
13 19 (4.06%) Advertising
14 14 (2.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 14 (2.99%) Manufacturing
15 9 (1.92%) Publishing
16 8 (1.71%) Billing
16 8 (1.71%) Dutch Language
16 8 (1.71%) French Language
Job Titles
1 103 (22.01%) Senior
2 93 (19.87%) Lead
3 78 (16.67%) Architect
4 63 (13.46%) Consultant
5 42 (8.97%) Senior Consultant
6 36 (7.69%) Solutions Architect
7 25 (5.34%) Gen AI Consultant
8 24 (5.13%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
9 23 (4.91%) Account Executive
10 22 (4.70%) Lead Architect
11 18 (3.85%) Data Architect
11 18 (3.85%) Product Lead
12 17 (3.63%) IT Manager
13 16 (3.42%) Marketing Manager
14 15 (3.21%) Senior Manager
15 13 (2.78%) Data Scientist
15 13 (2.78%) SAP Consultant
16 11 (2.35%) Lead Data Architect
16 11 (2.35%) Sales Executive
16 11 (2.35%) Senior Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (5.77%) LangChain
2 17 (3.63%) React
3 15 (3.21%) REST
4 13 (2.78%) Kafka
5 10 (2.14%) AngularJS
6 8 (1.71%) .NET
7 7 (1.50%) Vue
8 6 (1.28%) Oracle Fusion
9 5 (1.07%) ASP.NET
9 5 (1.07%) Hugging Face
9 5 (1.07%) JSON
9 5 (1.07%) SAP Fiori
9 5 (1.07%) XML
10 4 (0.85%) Middleware
11 3 (0.64%) .NET Framework
11 3 (0.64%) CSS
11 3 (0.64%) HTML
11 3 (0.64%) SAPUI5
12 2 (0.43%) PyTorch
12 2 (0.43%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 44 (9.40%) Algorithms
2 38 (8.12%) Legacy Systems
3 36 (7.69%) Product Ownership
4 31 (6.62%) Self-Motivation
5 26 (5.56%) Analytical Mindset
5 26 (5.56%) Virtual Team
6 25 (5.34%) Enterprise Software
7 22 (4.70%) Life Science
8 21 (4.49%) FMCG
9 18 (3.85%) Management Information System
9 18 (3.85%) Onboarding
9 18 (3.85%) Social Media
10 15 (3.21%) Blog
11 12 (2.56%) Cloud Native
12 11 (2.35%) Data Structures
13 8 (1.71%) Blockchain
13 8 (1.71%) Digital Media
13 8 (1.71%) Web Conferencing
14 7 (1.50%) Low-Code
14 7 (1.50%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 1 (0.21%) Android
1 1 (0.21%) Apple iOS
1 1 (0.21%) Linux
1 1 (0.21%) Solaris
1 1 (0.21%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 192 (41.03%) AI
2 172 (36.75%) Analytics
3 169 (36.11%) Roadmaps
4 137 (29.27%) Agile
5 114 (24.36%) Machine Learning
6 92 (19.66%) Problem-Solving
7 91 (19.44%) Business Strategy
7 91 (19.44%) Computer Science
8 89 (19.02%) Decision-Making
9 85 (18.16%) Business Development
10 79 (16.88%) Generative AI
11 75 (16.03%) Stakeholder Management
12 70 (14.96%) IT Strategy
13 69 (14.74%) Project Management
14 68 (14.53%) DevOps
14 68 (14.53%) Mentoring
15 66 (14.10%) Data Science
16 57 (12.18%) Enterprise Architecture
17 52 (11.11%) B2B
18 48 (10.26%) Data Strategy
Programming Languages
1 55 (11.75%) Python
2 32 (6.84%) SQL
3 18 (3.85%) JavaScript
4 9 (1.92%) Java
5 7 (1.50%) C#
6 3 (0.64%) C++
6 3 (0.64%) PowerShell
7 2 (0.43%) Bash
7 2 (0.43%) Scala
7 2 (0.43%) TypeScript
8 1 (0.21%) Bicep
8 1 (0.21%) Bourne shell
8 1 (0.21%) C-shell
8 1 (0.21%) Kotlin
8 1 (0.21%) Perl
8 1 (0.21%) Ruby
8 1 (0.21%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 173 (36.97%) Degree
2 69 (14.74%) Master's Degree
3 55 (11.75%) Computer Science Degree
4 52 (11.11%) PhD
5 17 (3.63%) Security Cleared
6 13 (2.78%) SC Cleared
7 9 (1.92%) Azure Certification
7 9 (1.92%) DBS Check
7 9 (1.92%) PMI Certification
7 9 (1.92%) PMP
7 9 (1.92%) TOGAF Certification
8 8 (1.71%) CISSP
9 6 (1.28%) Cisco Certification
9 6 (1.28%) SAP Certification
10 5 (1.07%) AWS Certification
10 5 (1.07%) CISM
10 5 (1.07%) MBA
11 4 (0.85%) CCNA
11 4 (0.85%) CCNP
11 4 (0.85%) CISA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (5.34%) Data Quality
1 25 (5.34%) QA
2 21 (4.49%) GDPR
3 20 (4.27%) GxP
4 12 (2.56%) Accessibility
5 10 (2.14%) PMO
6 8 (1.71%) SLA
7 7 (1.50%) EMIR
8 4 (0.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 4 (0.85%) NIST
9 3 (0.64%) Actionable Recommendations
10 2 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 2 (0.43%) NCSC
10 2 (0.43%) NIST 800
10 2 (0.43%) PCI DSS
10 2 (0.43%) WCAG
11 1 (0.21%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 1 (0.21%) GRC
11 1 (0.21%) HIPAA
11 1 (0.21%) SOC 2
System Software
1 7 (1.50%) Docker
2 1 (0.21%) RACF
2 1 (0.21%) Virtual Machines
2 1 (0.21%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 24 (5.13%) Terraform
2 12 (2.56%) Kubernetes
3 4 (0.85%) Ansible
4 2 (0.43%) Grafana
5 1 (0.21%) Microsoft Intune
5 1 (0.21%) Oracle ZFS
5 1 (0.21%) Prometheus
5 1 (0.21%) VxRail
Vendors
1 49 (10.47%) Google
2 41 (8.76%) SAP
3 37 (7.91%) Microsoft
4 26 (5.56%) Databricks
5 22 (4.70%) Oracle
6 17 (3.63%) Adobe
7 15 (3.21%) Dell
8 13 (2.78%) ServiceNow
9 9 (1.92%) OpenAI
10 8 (1.71%) TikTok
11 7 (1.50%) OpenLink
12 6 (1.28%) Foundry
13 5 (1.07%) Cognizant
13 5 (1.07%) F5
13 5 (1.07%) HubSpot
13 5 (1.07%) IBM
13 5 (1.07%) Salesforce
14 4 (0.85%) Facebook
14 4 (0.85%) Informatica
14 4 (0.85%) Palantir