Problem-Solving Job Trends in the West Midlands

Problem Solving
England > West Midlands

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the West Midlands requiring Problem-Solving skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 25 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 26 2 4
Rank change year-on-year -24 +2 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 532 700 1,118
As % of all permanent jobs in the West Midlands 6.57% 20.90% 15.55%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 8.90% 23.41% 18.68%
Number of salaries quoted 395 422 763
10th Percentile £26,100 £27,750 £25,000
25th Percentile £30,250 £36,250 £29,875
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £50,500 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year -15.84% +18.82% -15.00%
75th Percentile £58,375 £63,750 £58,747
90th Percentile £69,500 £76,350 £70,000
England median annual salary £47,500 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.52% +5.00% -9.09%

All Process & Methodology Skills
West Midlands

Problem-Solving 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 in the West Midlands.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 5,975 2,990 5,984
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the West Midlands 73.82% 89.25% 83.24%
Number of salaries quoted 3,515 1,703 4,538
10th Percentile £30,000 £29,300 £26,250
25th Percentile £40,000 £38,754 £35,700
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £53,300 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -1.50% +6.60% -4.76%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £83,750 £80,000 £77,500
England median annual salary £58,600 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -2.33% +9.09% -12.00%

Problem-Solving
Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Problem-Solving relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands.

Problem-Solving job vacancy trend in the West Midlands

Problem-Solving
Salary Trend in the West Midlands

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Problem-Solving.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Salary Histogram in the West Midlands

Salary distribution for jobs citing Problem-Solving in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 25 April 2026.

Salary histogram for Problem-Solving in the West Midlands

Problem-Solving
Job Locations in the West Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Problem-Solving within the West Midlands region over the 6 months to 25 April 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
Birmingham -13 171 £50,000 -9.09% 72
Staffordshire -10 106 £31,500 -37.00% 34
Warwickshire -16 65 £32,500 - 47
Worcestershire -15 42 £35,000 +14.75% 26
Shropshire -15 30 £46,250 +8.82% 20
Coventry -16 26 £52,500 -8.70% 13
Herefordshire -16 20 £52,500 +4.48% 6
Solihull -1 15 £87,500 +59.09% 6
Walsall +3 7 £44,000 -13.73% 3
Tipton -3 7 £33,500 -
Halesowen -4 7 £47,500 - 1
Dudley +2 6 £75,000 +114.29% 2
Wolverhampton -27 3 £80,000 +146.15% 1
Wednesbury -5 1 £42,500 -5.56%
Sutton Coldfield -7 1 £28,000 - 1
Kingswinford -7 1 £30,500 -18.67%
Problem-Solving
England

Problem-Solving
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the West Midlands 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 48 (9.02%) SharePoint
2 29 (5.45%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (0.94%) Oracle SOA Suite
3 5 (0.94%) Skype for Business
4 4 (0.75%) Exchange Server 2007
4 4 (0.75%) Exchange Server 2010
4 4 (0.75%) Exchange Server 2013
5 3 (0.56%) WordPress
6 2 (0.38%) Confluence
7 1 (0.19%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.19%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.19%) Appian
7 1 (0.19%) SAS
Applications
1 39 (7.33%) Microsoft Excel
2 36 (6.77%) Microsoft Office
3 13 (2.44%) Spreadsheet
4 8 (1.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (1.32%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.94%) Fusion 360
7 4 (0.75%) MS Visio
8 1 (0.19%) Abaqus
8 1 (0.19%) AutoCAD
8 1 (0.19%) Sketch
8 1 (0.19%) Trello
Business Applications
1 13 (2.44%) Dynamics CRM
2 4 (0.75%) NetSuite
2 4 (0.75%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (0.75%) Shopify
3 3 (0.56%) Line 50
3 3 (0.56%) Magento
3 3 (0.56%) Sage X3
3 3 (0.56%) SAP Business ByDesign
4 2 (0.38%) SAP Business One
4 2 (0.38%) SAP MM
5 1 (0.19%) Dynamics NAV
5 1 (0.19%) Exchequer
5 1 (0.19%) Raiser’s Edge
Cloud Services
1 117 (21.99%) Microsoft 365
2 111 (20.86%) Azure
3 49 (9.21%) Power Platform
4 42 (7.89%) Entra ID
5 35 (6.58%) AWS
6 26 (4.89%) SaaS
7 12 (2.26%) Dynamics 365
7 12 (2.26%) Power Automate
8 11 (2.07%) OneDrive
8 11 (2.07%) PowerApps
9 9 (1.69%) Azure Data Factory
9 9 (1.69%) Google Workspace
10 8 (1.50%) Serverless
11 7 (1.32%) Azure Sentinel
11 7 (1.32%) Microsoft Copilot
12 6 (1.13%) GCP
13 5 (0.94%) Amazon S3
13 5 (0.94%) AWS Lambda
14 4 (0.75%) Amazon EC2
14 4 (0.75%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 28 (5.26%) VPN
2 24 (4.51%) DNS
2 24 (4.51%) Firewall
3 23 (4.32%) WAN
4 21 (3.95%) Internet
4 21 (3.95%) Wi-Fi
5 20 (3.76%) DHCP
6 15 (2.82%) LAN
7 10 (1.88%) SD-WAN
8 9 (1.69%) Network Security
8 9 (1.69%) VLAN
9 8 (1.50%) VoIP
10 6 (1.13%) Wireless
11 5 (0.94%) Bluetooth
11 5 (0.94%) Skype
12 4 (0.75%) Broadband
13 3 (0.56%) TCP/IP
14 2 (0.38%) Ethernet
14 2 (0.38%) SAN
14 2 (0.38%) VDSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 45 (8.46%) Power BI
2 17 (3.20%) SQL Server
3 11 (2.07%) Power Query
4 9 (1.69%) Tableau
5 8 (1.50%) Oracle Reports
6 7 (1.32%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 7 (1.32%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 6 (1.13%) MySQL
7 6 (1.13%) Star Schema
8 5 (0.94%) NoSQL
8 5 (0.94%) PostgreSQL
9 4 (0.75%) Amazon RDS
9 4 (0.75%) Data Mining
9 4 (0.75%) Metadata
10 3 (0.56%) Data Warehouse
10 3 (0.56%) FileMaker
10 3 (0.56%) GIS
10 3 (0.56%) Redis
10 3 (0.56%) Relational Database
10 3 (0.56%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 17 (3.20%) Git
2 16 (3.01%) JIRA
3 6 (1.13%) JUnit
4 5 (0.94%) GitLab
4 5 (0.94%) Jenkins
4 5 (0.94%) Maven
4 5 (0.94%) Mockito
5 2 (0.38%) Appcelerator Titanium
5 2 (0.38%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 1 (0.19%) Balsamiq
6 1 (0.19%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.19%) Cucumber
6 1 (0.19%) MLflow
6 1 (0.19%) Postman
6 1 (0.19%) Selenium
6 1 (0.19%) SoapUI
6 1 (0.19%) TeamCity
6 1 (0.19%) Visual Studio
6 1 (0.19%) Yeoman
General
1 237 (44.55%) Social Skills
2 158 (29.70%) Analytical Skills
3 116 (21.80%) Finance
4 64 (12.03%) Manufacturing
5 41 (7.71%) Organisational Skills
6 40 (7.52%) Legal
7 34 (6.39%) Public Sector
8 27 (5.08%) Law
9 25 (4.70%) Retail
10 24 (4.51%) Marketing
11 15 (2.82%) Automotive
11 15 (2.82%) Banking
12 12 (2.26%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 10 (1.88%) Presentation Skills
14 9 (1.69%) Electronics
15 8 (1.50%) Investment Banking
16 7 (1.32%) Telecoms
17 6 (1.13%) Advertising
18 5 (0.94%) Documentation Skills
19 4 (0.75%) Games
Job Titles
1 101 (18.98%) Analyst
2 88 (16.54%) Support Engineer
3 76 (14.29%) IT Support
4 60 (11.28%) IT Engineer
5 49 (9.21%) IT Support Engineer
6 42 (7.89%) Lead
7 40 (7.52%) Senior
8 38 (7.14%) Technical Support
9 36 (6.77%) Support Analyst
9 36 (6.77%) Technical Engineer
9 36 (6.77%) Technical Support Engineer
10 32 (6.02%) Developer
11 22 (4.14%) Architect
12 20 (3.76%) 2nd Line Support
12 20 (3.76%) Business Analyst
13 18 (3.38%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 17 (3.20%) Instructor
14 17 (3.20%) Senior Analyst
15 16 (3.01%) Consultant
15 16 (3.01%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (2.63%) REST
2 11 (2.07%) React
3 9 (1.69%) .NET
3 9 (1.69%) CSS
3 9 (1.69%) HTML
4 7 (1.32%) Spring
5 6 (1.13%) AngularJS
5 6 (1.13%) Spring Boot
6 5 (0.94%) RESTful
7 4 (0.75%) .NET Framework
7 4 (0.75%) Node.js
8 3 (0.56%) GraphQL
8 3 (0.56%) Oracle Fusion
8 3 (0.56%) WinForms
9 2 (0.38%) Elastic Stack
9 2 (0.38%) JSON
9 2 (0.38%) Kafka
9 2 (0.38%) WPF
10 1 (0.19%) Django
10 1 (0.19%) HTML5 Canvas
Miscellaneous
1 43 (8.08%) Driving Licence
2 29 (5.45%) Onboarding
3 28 (5.26%) Self-Motivation
4 18 (3.38%) Social Media
5 17 (3.20%) Management Information System
6 15 (2.82%) FMCG
7 10 (1.88%) Analytical Mindset
7 10 (1.88%) Enterprise Software
8 8 (1.50%) Legacy Systems
8 8 (1.50%) Product Ownership
9 7 (1.32%) Cyber Defence
9 7 (1.32%) Data Centre
9 7 (1.32%) Virtual Team
10 6 (1.13%) IoT
11 5 (0.94%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
12 4 (0.75%) CAN bus
12 4 (0.75%) Hybrid Cloud
12 4 (0.75%) Reference Data
12 4 (0.75%) Web Conferencing
13 3 (0.56%) Team-Oriented Environment
Operating Systems
1 87 (16.35%) Windows
2 26 (4.89%) Windows 10
3 18 (3.38%) Linux
4 15 (2.82%) Windows Server
5 13 (2.44%) Apple iOS
6 5 (0.94%) Android
6 5 (0.94%) Windows 7
7 4 (0.75%) FreeRTOS
8 3 (0.56%) Mac OS
8 3 (0.56%) Unix
9 2 (0.38%) CentOS
9 2 (0.38%) Debian
9 2 (0.38%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 107 (20.11%) Continuous Improvement
2 69 (12.97%) Agile
3 65 (12.22%) Customer Service
3 65 (12.22%) ITIL
4 58 (10.90%) Decision-Making
5 51 (9.59%) Analytics
6 50 (9.40%) Project Management
7 48 (9.02%) Business Intelligence
8 46 (8.65%) ERP
9 43 (8.08%) CRM
9 43 (8.08%) Mentoring
10 38 (7.14%) Collaborative Working
11 37 (6.95%) Cybersecurity
12 36 (6.77%) Roadmaps
13 35 (6.58%) AI
13 35 (6.58%) Coaching
14 33 (6.20%) Migration
15 31 (5.83%) Process Improvement
16 30 (5.64%) Computer Science
16 30 (5.64%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 68 (12.78%) SQL
2 35 (6.58%) Python
3 21 (3.95%) Java
4 19 (3.57%) PowerShell
5 14 (2.63%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 13 (2.44%) C
6 13 (2.44%) Ladder Logic
7 9 (1.69%) Bash
7 9 (1.69%) PHP
8 8 (1.50%) JavaScript
9 6 (1.13%) C#
9 6 (1.13%) T-SQL
9 6 (1.13%) TypeScript
10 5 (0.94%) C++
10 5 (0.94%) PL/SQL
10 5 (0.94%) R
11 4 (0.75%) Embedded C
12 3 (0.56%) Rust
13 2 (0.38%) Go
13 2 (0.38%) Google Apps Script
Qualifications
1 71 (13.35%) Degree
2 44 (8.27%) Security Cleared
3 38 (7.14%) SC Cleared
4 19 (3.57%) Microsoft Certification
5 18 (3.38%) DBS Check
6 11 (2.07%) A+ Certification
7 10 (1.88%) CISSP
8 8 (1.50%) BPSS Clearance
8 8 (1.50%) Computer Science Degree
8 8 (1.50%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 7 (1.32%) ACCA
9 7 (1.32%) CIMA
9 7 (1.32%) CISA
9 7 (1.32%) CompTIA Security+
9 7 (1.32%) SSCP
10 6 (1.13%) MCITP
11 5 (0.94%) PMI Certification
12 4 (0.75%) AWS Certification
12 4 (0.75%) Oracle Certification
12 4 (0.75%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (6.02%) Data Quality
2 26 (4.89%) QA
3 22 (4.14%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 18 (3.38%) NIST
5 17 (3.20%) GDPR
6 15 (2.82%) Cyber Essentials
7 13 (2.44%) SLA
8 10 (1.88%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 7 (1.32%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 6 (1.13%) HIPAA
11 5 (0.94%) Accessibility
12 4 (0.75%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 4 (0.75%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 4 (0.75%) SOC 2
13 3 (0.56%) Actionable Recommendations
13 3 (0.56%) ISO 14001
13 3 (0.56%) ISO 9001
14 2 (0.38%) ISO/IEC 19770
14 2 (0.38%) PMO
System Software
1 62 (11.65%) Active Directory
2 17 (3.20%) Docker
3 13 (2.44%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (1.50%) Hyper-V
5 6 (1.13%) Firmware
6 4 (0.75%) Embedded Firmware
7 2 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 28 (5.26%) Microsoft Intune
2 17 (3.20%) Kubernetes
3 13 (2.44%) Terraform
4 6 (1.13%) Ansible
5 3 (0.56%) Nagios
5 3 (0.56%) Prometheus
6 2 (0.38%) Grafana
6 2 (0.38%) Progress Chef
6 2 (0.38%) Puppet
6 2 (0.38%) Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.19%) SCCM
7 1 (0.19%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 143 (26.88%) Microsoft
2 20 (3.76%) Cisco
2 20 (3.76%) Oracle
3 18 (3.38%) SAP
3 18 (3.38%) VMware
4 12 (2.26%) Sage
5 10 (1.88%) Dell
6 9 (1.69%) Google
7 8 (1.50%) Salesforce
7 8 (1.50%) SolarWinds
8 7 (1.32%) HP
8 7 (1.32%) Meraki
8 7 (1.32%) Zscaler
9 6 (1.13%) Avaya
9 6 (1.13%) McAfee
9 6 (1.13%) Sophos
10 5 (0.94%) ServiceNow
11 4 (0.75%) Databricks
12 3 (0.56%) Adobe
12 3 (0.56%) Apple