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

6 months to
17 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 2 6
Rank change year-on-year -25 +4 +4
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 535 691 1,044
As % of all permanent jobs in the West Midlands 6.85% 20.71% 14.81%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 9.19% 23.13% 17.79%
Number of salaries quoted 401 416 778
10th Percentile £26,250 £27,750 £25,000
25th Percentile £30,250 £36,250 £29,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £52,137 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year -18.48% +22.67% -15.00%
75th Percentile £58,750 £63,750 £57,500
90th Percentile £70,000 £76,500 £70,000
England median annual salary £47,500 £54,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -12.04% +8.00% -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 5,821 2,988 5,868
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the West Midlands 74.54% 89.54% 83.23%
Number of salaries quoted 3,393 1,690 4,527
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,225 £26,250
25th Percentile £40,000 £39,152 £35,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £53,400 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -1.69% +6.80% -4.76%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £83,750 £80,125 £77,500
England median annual salary £57,500 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -4.17% +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 17 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 17 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 -13 174 £48,750 -11.36% 81
Staffordshire -7 105 £31,500 -37.00% 38
Warwickshire -15 63 £32,500 -7.14% 59
Worcestershire -15 42 £35,000 +6.87% 26
Shropshire -16 30 £42,500 - 18
Coventry -15 26 £52,774 -8.22% 17
Herefordshire -12 23 £52,500 +4.48% 7
Solihull -3 16 £87,500 +59.09% 9
Walsall +3 6 £44,000 -13.73% 4
Dudley +2 6 £75,000 +114.29% 2
Halesowen -3 6 £47,500 - 1
Tipton -4 5 £33,500 - 2
Wolverhampton -27 3 £80,000 +146.15% 3
Kingswinford -5 2 £45,250 +20.67%
Wednesbury -5 2 £42,500 -5.56%
Sutton Coldfield -8 1 £28,000 -
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 (8.97%) SharePoint
2 28 (5.23%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (0.93%) Oracle SOA Suite
3 5 (0.93%) 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 2 (0.37%) Confluence
5 2 (0.37%) WordPress
6 1 (0.19%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.19%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.19%) Appian
6 1 (0.19%) NServiceBus
6 1 (0.19%) SAS
Applications
1 38 (7.10%) Microsoft Excel
2 35 (6.54%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (2.24%) Spreadsheet
4 7 (1.31%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (1.31%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.93%) Fusion 360
6 4 (0.75%) MS Visio
7 2 (0.37%) Trello
8 1 (0.19%) Abaqus
8 1 (0.19%) AutoCAD
8 1 (0.19%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 18 (3.36%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (0.93%) NetSuite
3 4 (0.75%) SAP S/4HANA
4 3 (0.56%) Dynamics NAV
4 3 (0.56%) Sage X3
4 3 (0.56%) SAP Business ByDesign
4 3 (0.56%) Shopify
5 2 (0.37%) Line 50
5 2 (0.37%) Magento
5 2 (0.37%) SAP Business One
5 2 (0.37%) SAP MM
6 1 (0.19%) Exchequer
6 1 (0.19%) Raiser’s Edge
Cloud Services
1 116 (21.68%) Azure
2 115 (21.50%) Microsoft 365
3 49 (9.16%) Power Platform
4 42 (7.85%) Entra ID
5 33 (6.17%) AWS
6 31 (5.79%) SaaS
7 17 (3.18%) Dynamics 365
8 13 (2.43%) Power Automate
9 12 (2.24%) PowerApps
10 11 (2.06%) OneDrive
11 9 (1.68%) Azure Data Factory
11 9 (1.68%) Google Workspace
12 8 (1.50%) Serverless
13 6 (1.12%) Azure Sentinel
13 6 (1.12%) Microsoft Copilot
13 6 (1.12%) OCI
14 5 (0.93%) Amazon S3
14 5 (0.93%) AWS Lambda
14 5 (0.93%) GCP
15 4 (0.75%) Amazon EC2
Communications & Networking
1 29 (5.42%) VPN
2 25 (4.67%) DNS
3 23 (4.30%) Firewall
4 22 (4.11%) Internet
4 22 (4.11%) WAN
5 21 (3.93%) DHCP
5 21 (3.93%) Wi-Fi
6 15 (2.80%) LAN
7 9 (1.68%) SD-WAN
8 8 (1.50%) VLAN
8 8 (1.50%) VoIP
9 7 (1.31%) Network Security
10 5 (0.93%) Broadband
10 5 (0.93%) Skype
11 4 (0.75%) Bluetooth
11 4 (0.75%) Wireless
12 3 (0.56%) ADSL
12 3 (0.56%) Ethernet
12 3 (0.56%) TCP/IP
12 3 (0.56%) VDSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 44 (8.22%) Power BI
2 15 (2.80%) SQL Server
3 10 (1.87%) Oracle Reports
3 10 (1.87%) Power Query
4 9 (1.68%) Tableau
5 8 (1.50%) MySQL
6 7 (1.31%) PostgreSQL
6 7 (1.31%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 7 (1.31%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 6 (1.12%) Star Schema
8 5 (0.93%) NoSQL
8 5 (0.93%) Relational Database
9 4 (0.75%) Amazon RDS
9 4 (0.75%) Metadata
10 3 (0.56%) Crystal Reports
10 3 (0.56%) Data Mining
10 3 (0.56%) Data Warehouse
10 3 (0.56%) GIS
10 3 (0.56%) Redis
10 3 (0.56%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 21 (3.93%) Git
2 19 (3.55%) JIRA
3 6 (1.12%) JUnit
4 5 (0.93%) GitLab
4 5 (0.93%) Jenkins
4 5 (0.93%) Maven
4 5 (0.93%) Mockito
5 3 (0.56%) Appcelerator Titanium
6 2 (0.37%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 2 (0.37%) Visual Studio Code
7 1 (0.19%) Balsamiq
7 1 (0.19%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.19%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.19%) MLflow
7 1 (0.19%) Postman
7 1 (0.19%) Selenium
7 1 (0.19%) SoapUI
7 1 (0.19%) TeamCity
7 1 (0.19%) Visual Studio
General
1 247 (46.17%) Social Skills
2 160 (29.91%) Analytical Skills
3 116 (21.68%) Finance
4 65 (12.15%) Manufacturing
5 42 (7.85%) Organisational Skills
6 41 (7.66%) Legal
7 35 (6.54%) Public Sector
8 29 (5.42%) Law
9 24 (4.49%) Marketing
9 24 (4.49%) Retail
10 15 (2.80%) Automotive
11 14 (2.62%) Banking
11 14 (2.62%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 11 (2.06%) Presentation Skills
13 7 (1.31%) Electronics
13 7 (1.31%) Investment Banking
14 6 (1.12%) Advertising
14 6 (1.12%) Telecoms
15 5 (0.93%) Documentation Skills
15 5 (0.93%) Games
Job Titles
1 100 (18.69%) Analyst
2 84 (15.70%) Support Engineer
3 77 (14.39%) IT Support
4 59 (11.03%) IT Engineer
5 48 (8.97%) IT Support Engineer
6 45 (8.41%) Lead
7 42 (7.85%) Senior
8 38 (7.10%) Support Analyst
9 37 (6.92%) Developer
10 36 (6.73%) Technical Support
11 33 (6.17%) Technical Engineer
11 33 (6.17%) Technical Support Engineer
12 24 (4.49%) Architect
13 19 (3.55%) Business Analyst
13 19 (3.55%) Senior Analyst
14 18 (3.36%) 2nd Line Support
14 18 (3.36%) Infrastructure Engineer
15 17 (3.18%) Instructor
16 16 (2.99%) Consultant
16 16 (2.99%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (2.80%) REST
2 13 (2.43%) React
3 11 (2.06%) .NET
4 9 (1.68%) CSS
4 9 (1.68%) HTML
5 6 (1.12%) AngularJS
5 6 (1.12%) Node.js
5 6 (1.12%) Spring
6 5 (0.93%) Spring Boot
7 4 (0.75%) .NET Framework
7 4 (0.75%) Oracle Fusion
7 4 (0.75%) RESTful
7 4 (0.75%) Vue
8 3 (0.56%) GraphQL
8 3 (0.56%) WinForms
9 2 (0.37%) Elastic Stack
9 2 (0.37%) Kafka
9 2 (0.37%) Next.js
9 2 (0.37%) React Native
9 2 (0.37%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 37 (6.92%) Driving Licence
2 30 (5.61%) Onboarding
3 26 (4.86%) Self-Motivation
4 18 (3.36%) Management Information System
4 18 (3.36%) Social Media
5 15 (2.80%) FMCG
6 11 (2.06%) Analytical Mindset
7 10 (1.87%) Enterprise Software
7 10 (1.87%) Legacy Systems
8 9 (1.68%) Product Ownership
9 7 (1.31%) Cyber Defence
9 7 (1.31%) Data Centre
9 7 (1.31%) IoT
10 6 (1.12%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 6 (1.12%) Virtual Team
11 5 (0.93%) Data Structures
12 4 (0.75%) Hybrid Cloud
12 4 (0.75%) Reference Data
12 4 (0.75%) Web Conferencing
13 3 (0.56%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 84 (15.70%) Windows
2 25 (4.67%) Windows 10
3 15 (2.80%) Linux
4 14 (2.62%) Windows Server
5 13 (2.43%) Apple iOS
6 5 (0.93%) Android
6 5 (0.93%) Windows 7
7 3 (0.56%) FreeRTOS
8 2 (0.37%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.37%) Unix
9 1 (0.19%) CentOS
9 1 (0.19%) Debian
9 1 (0.19%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 106 (19.81%) Continuous Improvement
2 70 (13.08%) Agile
3 64 (11.96%) ITIL
4 63 (11.78%) Customer Service
5 56 (10.47%) Decision-Making
6 55 (10.28%) Project Management
7 52 (9.72%) Analytics
8 48 (8.97%) Business Intelligence
9 46 (8.60%) ERP
10 45 (8.41%) CRM
11 44 (8.22%) Mentoring
12 40 (7.48%) Roadmaps
13 35 (6.54%) Coaching
13 35 (6.54%) Cybersecurity
14 34 (6.36%) Collaborative Working
14 34 (6.36%) Migration
15 33 (6.17%) AI
15 33 (6.17%) Project Delivery
16 31 (5.79%) Computer Science
16 31 (5.79%) Process Improvement
Programming Languages
1 68 (12.71%) SQL
2 31 (5.79%) Python
3 20 (3.74%) Java
4 18 (3.36%) PowerShell
5 13 (2.43%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 12 (2.24%) C
6 12 (2.24%) JavaScript
6 12 (2.24%) Ladder Logic
7 10 (1.87%) PHP
8 8 (1.50%) Bash
8 8 (1.50%) C#
8 8 (1.50%) T-SQL
9 6 (1.12%) TypeScript
10 5 (0.93%) C++
10 5 (0.93%) PL/SQL
10 5 (0.93%) R
11 3 (0.56%) Embedded C
11 3 (0.56%) Rust
12 2 (0.37%) Go
12 2 (0.37%) Google Apps Script
Qualifications
1 81 (15.14%) Degree
2 45 (8.41%) Security Cleared
3 38 (7.10%) SC Cleared
4 19 (3.55%) Microsoft Certification
5 18 (3.36%) DBS Check
6 11 (2.06%) A+ Certification
7 10 (1.87%) CISSP
8 9 (1.68%) BPSS Clearance
8 9 (1.68%) Computer Science Degree
9 8 (1.50%) ACCA
9 8 (1.50%) CIMA
9 8 (1.50%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 7 (1.31%) CISA
10 7 (1.31%) CompTIA Security+
10 7 (1.31%) SSCP
11 6 (1.12%) MCITP
12 5 (0.93%) PMI Certification
13 4 (0.75%) AWS Certification
13 4 (0.75%) Oracle Certification
13 4 (0.75%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (6.17%) Data Quality
2 24 (4.49%) QA
3 22 (4.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 18 (3.36%) NIST
5 17 (3.18%) GDPR
6 14 (2.62%) Cyber Essentials
7 12 (2.24%) SLA
8 10 (1.87%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 6 (1.12%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 5 (0.93%) Accessibility
10 5 (0.93%) HIPAA
11 3 (0.56%) Actionable Recommendations
11 3 (0.56%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 3 (0.56%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 3 (0.56%) SOC 2
12 2 (0.37%) ISO 14001
12 2 (0.37%) ISO 9001
12 2 (0.37%) ISO/IEC 19770
12 2 (0.37%) PMO
13 1 (0.19%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 61 (11.40%) Active Directory
2 16 (2.99%) Docker
3 13 (2.43%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (1.50%) Hyper-V
5 5 (0.93%) Firmware
6 3 (0.56%) Embedded Firmware
7 2 (0.37%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 28 (5.23%) Microsoft Intune
2 16 (2.99%) Kubernetes
3 12 (2.24%) Terraform
4 5 (0.93%) Ansible
5 3 (0.56%) Nagios
5 3 (0.56%) Prometheus
6 2 (0.37%) Grafana
6 2 (0.37%) Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.19%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.19%) Puppet
7 1 (0.19%) SCCM
7 1 (0.19%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 143 (26.73%) Microsoft
2 22 (4.11%) Oracle
3 20 (3.74%) SAP
4 19 (3.55%) Cisco
5 18 (3.36%) VMware
6 12 (2.24%) Sage
7 10 (1.87%) Dell
8 9 (1.68%) Google
9 8 (1.50%) Salesforce
10 7 (1.31%) HP
10 7 (1.31%) Meraki
10 7 (1.31%) ServiceNow
11 6 (1.12%) McAfee
11 6 (1.12%) SolarWinds
11 6 (1.12%) Sophos
11 6 (1.12%) Zscaler
12 5 (0.93%) Avaya
13 4 (0.75%) Databricks
14 3 (0.56%) Epicor
14 3 (0.56%) Infor