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 17 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -8 +1 +5
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 747 652 937
As % of all permanent jobs in the West Midlands 8.37% 20.04% 15.54%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.09% 23.24% 19.55%
Number of salaries quoted 508 417 330
10th Percentile £28,250 £25,000 £25,750
25th Percentile £33,438 £29,250 £33,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £45,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.56% -10.00% -
75th Percentile £57,500 £58,750 £61,813
90th Percentile £67,875 £67,500 £77,750
England median annual salary £47,000 £45,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +4.44% -14.29% -4.55%

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 6,179 2,806 4,794
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the West Midlands 69.26% 86.23% 79.52%
Number of salaries quoted 4,572 1,784 2,513
10th Percentile £31,711 £29,000 £28,822
25th Percentile £40,000 £35,688 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -4.76% -
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £66,250
90th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £80,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -7.26%

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 17 September 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 17 September 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 -6 274 £55,000 +22.22% 322
Staffordshire -6 100 £47,500 +5.56% 60
Warwickshire -5 77 £40,000 -27.27% 87
Worcestershire -4 66 £38,000 +24.59% 35
Shropshire +1 61 £45,000 -5.26% 55
Coventry -12 36 £42,000 +30.23% 54
Wolverhampton +4 17 £49,250 -24.23% 26
Solihull +2 16 £31,000 -8.82% 30
Herefordshire -23 10 £29,750 -8.46% 18
Tipton - 7 £33,500 - 4
Walsall 0 5 £37,500 -16.67% 8
Halesowen -3 5 £47,500 +46.15% 1
Willenhall -3 4 £37,500 -16.67%
Dudley - 4 £36,000 - 10
Sutton Coldfield - 3 £42,500 -
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 43 (5.76%) SharePoint
2 30 (4.02%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (1.34%) IIS
4 7 (0.94%) Confluence
5 5 (0.67%) Skype for Business
6 4 (0.54%) CICS
7 3 (0.40%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.40%) Oracle Workflow
7 3 (0.40%) WordPress
8 2 (0.27%) Documentum
8 2 (0.27%) SAS
9 1 (0.13%) Apache
9 1 (0.13%) Appian
9 1 (0.13%) CMS
9 1 (0.13%) Jupyter
9 1 (0.13%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 64 (8.57%) Microsoft Office
2 46 (6.16%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (1.34%) Simulink
4 6 (0.80%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (0.67%) Fusion 360
5 5 (0.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 3 (0.40%) AutoCAD
6 3 (0.40%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.40%) OrCAD
7 2 (0.27%) Chatbot
7 2 (0.27%) EPLAN
7 2 (0.27%) Revit
8 1 (0.13%) LaTeX
8 1 (0.13%) MS Visio
8 1 (0.13%) Navisworks
8 1 (0.13%) Siemens NX
8 1 (0.13%) SketchUp
8 1 (0.13%) SOLIDWORKS
8 1 (0.13%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 10 (1.34%) NetSuite
1 10 (1.34%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (1.07%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.67%) Magento
3 5 (0.67%) Shopify
4 4 (0.54%) Dynamics AX
4 4 (0.54%) Line 50
4 4 (0.54%) Oracle EBS
4 4 (0.54%) Sage 50
4 4 (0.54%) Sage X3
5 3 (0.40%) Oracle Cash Management
5 3 (0.40%) Oracle Payables
5 3 (0.40%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 3 (0.40%) SAP Business One
5 3 (0.40%) SAP ERP
6 2 (0.27%) JDE EnterpriseOne
7 1 (0.13%) Exchequer
7 1 (0.13%) SAP CO
7 1 (0.13%) SAP FI
7 1 (0.13%) SAP FI/CO
Cloud Services
1 143 (19.14%) Azure
2 128 (17.14%) Microsoft 365
3 96 (12.85%) Power Platform
4 54 (7.23%) AWS
4 54 (7.23%) Entra ID
5 44 (5.89%) SaaS
6 26 (3.48%) Azure DevOps
7 24 (3.21%) Dynamics 365
8 17 (2.28%) Power Automate
9 16 (2.14%) Microsoft Purview
10 15 (2.01%) GitHub
11 14 (1.87%) PowerApps
12 13 (1.74%) GCP
12 13 (1.74%) GitHub Actions
13 11 (1.47%) Microsoft Copilot
14 10 (1.34%) PaaS
15 8 (1.07%) Google Workspace
16 6 (0.80%) IaaS
17 5 (0.67%) Google Analytics
17 5 (0.67%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 30 (4.02%) Firewall
2 24 (3.21%) DNS
2 24 (3.21%) VPN
3 23 (3.08%) TCP/IP
3 23 (3.08%) WAN
4 21 (2.81%) Wireless
5 18 (2.41%) LAN
6 16 (2.14%) DHCP
6 16 (2.14%) Wi-Fi
7 13 (1.74%) Network Security
8 12 (1.61%) VLAN
9 10 (1.34%) VoIP
10 8 (1.07%) Wireshark
11 6 (0.80%) Cisco IOS
11 6 (0.80%) SD-WAN
12 5 (0.67%) Internet
12 5 (0.67%) Skype
13 4 (0.54%) Bluetooth
14 3 (0.40%) HTTP
14 3 (0.40%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 91 (12.18%) Power BI
2 30 (4.02%) SQL Server
3 25 (3.35%) Tableau
4 19 (2.54%) Data Warehouse
4 19 (2.54%) Power Query
4 19 (2.54%) Relational Database
5 12 (1.61%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 11 (1.47%) MySQL
7 10 (1.34%) Data Mining
8 9 (1.20%) Azure SQL Database
8 9 (1.20%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 8 (1.07%) Electronic Patient Records
10 7 (0.94%) Data Lake
11 6 (0.80%) Amazon Redshift
11 6 (0.80%) PostgreSQL
12 5 (0.67%) Amazon RDS
12 5 (0.67%) Big Data
12 5 (0.67%) Oracle BI EE
12 5 (0.67%) Oracle Reports
12 5 (0.67%) QlikView
Development Applications
1 27 (3.61%) Git
2 25 (3.35%) JIRA
3 24 (3.21%) Jenkins
4 8 (1.07%) Eclipse
5 7 (0.94%) Cucumber
6 6 (0.80%) GitLab
6 6 (0.80%) JMeter
6 6 (0.80%) Maven
6 6 (0.80%) Postman
6 6 (0.80%) Selenium
7 5 (0.67%) JUnit
7 5 (0.67%) SoapUI
7 5 (0.67%) Zephyr
8 3 (0.40%) Mockito
9 2 (0.27%) Ant
9 2 (0.27%) Apache Ivy
9 2 (0.27%) IBM UrbanCode
10 1 (0.13%) Bugzilla
10 1 (0.13%) Oracle Forms
10 1 (0.13%) Visual Studio
General
1 360 (48.19%) Social Skills
2 190 (25.44%) Analytical Skills
3 121 (16.20%) Finance
4 113 (15.13%) Manufacturing
5 57 (7.63%) Organisational Skills
6 53 (7.10%) Public Sector
7 48 (6.43%) Retail
8 35 (4.69%) Marketing
9 27 (3.61%) Electronics
10 22 (2.95%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 22 (2.95%) Law
11 20 (2.68%) Legal
12 18 (2.41%) Automotive
13 15 (2.01%) Documentation Skills
14 12 (1.61%) Telecoms
15 10 (1.34%) Banking
16 9 (1.20%) Influencing Skills
17 8 (1.07%) Billing
17 8 (1.07%) Fire and Rescue
17 8 (1.07%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 88 (11.78%) Support Engineer
2 87 (11.65%) Analyst
3 71 (9.50%) Developer
4 68 (9.10%) Technical Support
5 60 (8.03%) Technical Engineer
6 58 (7.76%) Technical Support Engineer
7 56 (7.50%) IT Support
7 56 (7.50%) Lead
8 50 (6.69%) Consultant
8 50 (6.69%) Senior
9 39 (5.22%) IT Engineer
10 34 (4.55%) IT Manager
11 32 (4.28%) Support Analyst
12 28 (3.75%) IT Support Engineer
13 25 (3.35%) Administrator
14 19 (2.54%) Architect
15 16 (2.14%) 1st Line Support
15 16 (2.14%) 2nd Line Support
16 15 (2.01%) Data Analyst
16 15 (2.01%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (4.95%) REST
2 33 (4.42%) .NET
3 28 (3.75%) Spring
4 26 (3.48%) React
5 25 (3.35%) Spring Boot
6 15 (2.01%) RESTful
7 14 (1.87%) AngularJS
7 14 (1.87%) Playwright
8 13 (1.74%) CSS
8 13 (1.74%) HTML
9 12 (1.61%) ISPF
10 11 (1.47%) SOAP
10 11 (1.47%) Terraform
11 10 (1.34%) XML
12 8 (1.07%) LDAP
12 8 (1.07%) SAP Fiori
13 7 (0.94%) Node.js
14 6 (0.80%) JDBC
14 6 (0.80%) SAPUI5
14 6 (0.80%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 69 (9.24%) Driving Licence
2 43 (5.76%) Onboarding
3 40 (5.35%) Management Information System
3 40 (5.35%) Self-Motivation
4 35 (4.69%) Enterprise Software
5 19 (2.54%) Data Centre
5 19 (2.54%) NHS
6 17 (2.28%) Virtual Team
7 16 (2.14%) Analytical Mindset
8 12 (1.61%) Legacy Applications
8 12 (1.61%) Mainframe
8 12 (1.61%) Social Media
9 11 (1.47%) Data Structures
9 11 (1.47%) Public Cloud
10 10 (1.34%) Cloud Native
10 10 (1.34%) Hybrid Cloud
10 10 (1.34%) Mobile App
11 9 (1.20%) Data Protection Act
11 9 (1.20%) IoT
11 9 (1.20%) SystemC
Operating Systems
1 118 (15.80%) Windows
2 39 (5.22%) Linux
2 39 (5.22%) Windows Server
3 22 (2.95%) Windows 10
4 14 (1.87%) Android
5 10 (1.34%) Apple iOS
6 9 (1.20%) Unix
7 7 (0.94%) Mac OS
8 4 (0.54%) FreeRTOS
9 2 (0.27%) Solaris
9 2 (0.27%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.13%) CentOS
10 1 (0.13%) Debian
10 1 (0.13%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.13%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.13%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 225 (30.12%) Continuous Improvement
2 139 (18.61%) Customer Service
3 110 (14.73%) Agile
4 95 (12.72%) Business Intelligence
5 94 (12.58%) Decision-Making
6 89 (11.91%) Analytics
7 79 (10.58%) Mentoring
8 77 (10.31%) AI
9 74 (9.91%) ERP
10 70 (9.37%) Collaborative Working
11 63 (8.43%) Cybersecurity
12 62 (8.30%) Stakeholder Management
13 56 (7.50%) Collaborative Culture
13 56 (7.50%) CRM
14 54 (7.23%) CI/CD
14 54 (7.23%) ITIL
14 54 (7.23%) Project Management
15 52 (6.96%) Workflow
16 51 (6.83%) Root Cause Analysis
16 51 (6.83%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 119 (15.93%) SQL
2 65 (8.70%) Java
3 46 (6.16%) Python
4 28 (3.75%) PowerShell
5 26 (3.48%) JavaScript
6 25 (3.35%) C#
7 19 (2.54%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 19 (2.54%) Ladder Logic
8 16 (2.14%) C
8 16 (2.14%) Embedded C
9 13 (1.74%) TypeScript
10 12 (1.61%) COBOL
10 12 (1.61%) JCL
11 10 (1.34%) MATLAB
12 7 (0.94%) PL/SQL
12 7 (0.94%) RPG
13 6 (0.80%) ABAP
13 6 (0.80%) PHP
13 6 (0.80%) R
14 5 (0.67%) Bash
Qualifications
1 111 (14.86%) Degree
2 81 (10.84%) Security Cleared
3 66 (8.84%) SC Cleared
4 22 (2.95%) Azure Certification
5 14 (1.87%) DBS Check
6 12 (1.61%) PMI Certification
7 11 (1.47%) Cisco Certification
7 11 (1.47%) Microsoft Certification
8 9 (1.20%) CCNA
8 9 (1.20%) HNC
8 9 (1.20%) HND
9 8 (1.07%) Computer Science Degree
10 7 (0.94%) ACCA
11 6 (0.80%) BPSS Clearance
11 6 (0.80%) CCNP
11 6 (0.80%) CIMA
11 6 (0.80%) ISTQB
11 6 (0.80%) PMP
12 5 (0.67%) ISEB
13 4 (0.54%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 47 (6.29%) Data Quality
2 36 (4.82%) QA
3 34 (4.55%) GDPR
4 24 (3.21%) Cyber Essentials
4 24 (3.21%) SLA
5 22 (2.95%) Accessibility
6 20 (2.68%) ISO 9001
6 20 (2.68%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 9 (1.20%) ISO 14001
8 5 (0.67%) NIST
9 4 (0.54%) PCI DSS
9 4 (0.54%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 3 (0.40%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.40%) AQAP
10 3 (0.40%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 3 (0.40%) GMP
10 3 (0.40%) HIPAA
10 3 (0.40%) ISO 26262
10 3 (0.40%) PMO
10 3 (0.40%) SOC 2
System Software
1 82 (10.98%) Active Directory
2 23 (3.08%) Hyper-V
3 16 (2.14%) VMware Infrastructure
4 14 (1.87%) Docker
4 14 (1.87%) Firmware
5 12 (1.61%) Embedded Firmware
6 7 (0.94%) Virtual Machines
7 5 (0.67%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (0.54%) vSphere
9 2 (0.27%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 30 (4.02%) Microsoft Intune
2 12 (1.61%) Kubernetes
3 7 (0.94%) Single Sign-On
4 6 (0.80%) Functional Safety
5 5 (0.67%) SCCM
6 4 (0.54%) Ansible
7 3 (0.40%) Progress Chef
7 3 (0.40%) Puppet
8 2 (0.27%) Grafana
8 2 (0.27%) Prometheus
8 2 (0.27%) WSUS
9 1 (0.13%) Backup Exec
9 1 (0.13%) FortiGate
9 1 (0.13%) Jamf Pro
9 1 (0.13%) Nagios
Vendors
1 208 (27.84%) Microsoft
2 39 (5.22%) SAP
3 23 (3.08%) VMware
4 21 (2.81%) Cisco
4 21 (2.81%) Workday
5 18 (2.41%) Sage
6 15 (2.01%) Google
7 14 (1.87%) Oracle
8 13 (1.74%) ServiceNow
9 12 (1.61%) HubSpot
10 11 (1.47%) Salesforce
11 10 (1.34%) Dell
12 9 (1.20%) Apple
13 8 (1.07%) Broadcom
13 8 (1.07%) Databricks
13 8 (1.07%) Sophos
14 7 (0.94%) IBM
15 6 (0.80%) iManage
15 6 (0.80%) McAfee
15 6 (0.80%) Pega