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

6 months to
11 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 26 2 6
Rank change year-on-year -24 +4 +4
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 538 730 1,029
As % of all permanent jobs in the West Midlands 7.11% 21.79% 14.90%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 9.47% 24.16% 17.86%
Number of salaries quoted 401 407 774
10th Percentile £26,000 £27,900 £25,000
25th Percentile £30,250 £36,250 £30,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £52,500 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year -19.05% +23.53% -15.00%
75th Percentile £58,750 £63,750 £57,500
90th Percentile £72,500 £77,500 £70,000
England median annual salary £47,500 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -13.64% +10.00% -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 5,683 3,021 5,761
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the West Midlands 75.06% 90.18% 83.42%
Number of salaries quoted 3,316 1,694 4,463
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,580 £26,250
25th Percentile £40,000 £40,000 £35,375
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £53,688 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -2.21% +7.38% -4.76%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £83,750 £80,875 £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 11 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 11 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 -12 175 £49,500 -13.91% 97
Staffordshire -8 102 £31,500 -37.00% 39
Warwickshire -14 65 £32,500 -7.14% 40
Worcestershire -14 44 £35,000 - 25
Shropshire -16 30 £42,500 - 20
Herefordshire -10 26 £52,500 +4.48% 7
Coventry -15 25 £53,599 -6.78% 12
Solihull -4 15 £87,500 +59.09% 7
Walsall +1 6 £44,000 -13.73% 5
Dudley -2 6 £75,000 +114.29% 2
Halesowen -4 6 £47,500 -
Tipton -6 4 £34,000 - 2
Wolverhampton -30 3 £80,000 +146.15% 4
Kingswinford -5 2 £45,250 +20.67% 1
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 (8.92%) SharePoint
2 29 (5.39%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (0.93%) Exchange Server 2007
3 5 (0.93%) Exchange Server 2010
3 5 (0.93%) Exchange Server 2013
3 5 (0.93%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 3 (0.56%) Skype for Business
5 2 (0.37%) Confluence
5 2 (0.37%) WordPress
6 1 (0.19%) Apache
6 1 (0.19%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.19%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.19%) Appian
6 1 (0.19%) IIS
6 1 (0.19%) NServiceBus
6 1 (0.19%) SAS
Applications
1 39 (7.25%) Microsoft Excel
2 37 (6.88%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (2.23%) Spreadsheet
4 7 (1.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (1.30%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (0.74%) Fusion 360
5 4 (0.74%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.37%) AutoCAD
6 2 (0.37%) Trello
7 1 (0.19%) Abaqus
7 1 (0.19%) Sketch
7 1 (0.19%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 18 (3.35%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (0.93%) NetSuite
3 4 (0.74%) SAP S/4HANA
4 3 (0.56%) Dynamics NAV
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%) Sage X3
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
1 118 (21.93%) Azure
2 112 (20.82%) Microsoft 365
3 50 (9.29%) Power Platform
4 42 (7.81%) Entra ID
5 33 (6.13%) AWS
6 31 (5.76%) SaaS
7 16 (2.97%) Dynamics 365
8 13 (2.42%) Power Automate
9 12 (2.23%) PowerApps
10 11 (2.04%) OneDrive
11 9 (1.67%) Azure Data Factory
11 9 (1.67%) Google Workspace
12 8 (1.49%) 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 (0.74%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 30 (5.58%) VPN
2 26 (4.83%) DNS
3 23 (4.28%) Firewall
3 23 (4.28%) Internet
3 23 (4.28%) WAN
4 22 (4.09%) DHCP
4 22 (4.09%) Wi-Fi
5 16 (2.97%) LAN
6 10 (1.86%) SD-WAN
7 9 (1.67%) VoIP
8 8 (1.49%) VLAN
9 7 (1.30%) Network Security
10 6 (1.12%) Broadband
11 5 (0.93%) Wireless
12 4 (0.74%) ADSL
12 4 (0.74%) Ethernet
12 4 (0.74%) VDSL
13 3 (0.56%) Bluetooth
13 3 (0.56%) Skype
13 3 (0.56%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 46 (8.55%) Power BI
2 16 (2.97%) SQL Server
3 11 (2.04%) Tableau
4 10 (1.86%) Oracle Reports
4 10 (1.86%) Power Query
5 9 (1.67%) MySQL
6 7 (1.30%) PostgreSQL
6 7 (1.30%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 7 (1.30%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 6 (1.12%) Star Schema
8 5 (0.93%) Data Warehouse
8 5 (0.93%) NoSQL
8 5 (0.93%) Relational Database
9 4 (0.74%) Amazon RDS
9 4 (0.74%) Data Mining
9 4 (0.74%) Metadata
10 3 (0.56%) Crystal Reports
10 3 (0.56%) GIS
10 3 (0.56%) Redis
10 3 (0.56%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 20 (3.72%) Git
2 19 (3.53%) 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%) Snyk
7 1 (0.19%) SoapUI
7 1 (0.19%) TeamCity
7 1 (0.19%) Visual Studio
General
1 251 (46.65%) Social Skills
2 164 (30.48%) Analytical Skills
3 117 (21.75%) Finance
4 66 (12.27%) Manufacturing
5 43 (7.99%) Organisational Skills
6 42 (7.81%) Legal
7 37 (6.88%) Public Sector
8 32 (5.95%) Law
9 26 (4.83%) Marketing
10 23 (4.28%) Retail
11 14 (2.60%) Automotive
11 14 (2.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 13 (2.42%) Banking
13 11 (2.04%) Presentation Skills
14 8 (1.49%) Telecoms
15 7 (1.30%) Electronics
16 6 (1.12%) Advertising
16 6 (1.12%) Investment Banking
17 5 (0.93%) Aerospace
17 5 (0.93%) Games
Job Titles
1 98 (18.22%) Analyst
2 86 (15.99%) Support Engineer
3 78 (14.50%) IT Support
4 59 (10.97%) IT Engineer
5 49 (9.11%) IT Support Engineer
6 44 (8.18%) Lead
7 42 (7.81%) Senior
8 39 (7.25%) Developer
9 37 (6.88%) Technical Support
10 35 (6.51%) Support Analyst
11 34 (6.32%) Technical Engineer
11 34 (6.32%) Technical Support Engineer
12 24 (4.46%) Architect
13 19 (3.53%) Business Analyst
13 19 (3.53%) Senior Analyst
14 18 (3.35%) Infrastructure Engineer
15 17 (3.16%) 2nd Line Support
15 17 (3.16%) Instructor
16 16 (2.97%) IT Analyst
16 16 (2.97%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (2.60%) REST
2 12 (2.23%) .NET
2 12 (2.23%) React
3 9 (1.67%) CSS
3 9 (1.67%) HTML
4 6 (1.12%) Node.js
5 5 (0.93%) AngularJS
5 5 (0.93%) Spring
6 4 (0.74%) .NET Framework
6 4 (0.74%) JSON
6 4 (0.74%) Oracle Fusion
6 4 (0.74%) RESTful
6 4 (0.74%) Spring Boot
6 4 (0.74%) Vue
7 3 (0.56%) GraphQL
7 3 (0.56%) WinForms
7 3 (0.56%) XML
8 2 (0.37%) Elastic Stack
8 2 (0.37%) Kafka
8 2 (0.37%) React Native
Miscellaneous
1 38 (7.06%) Driving Licence
2 31 (5.76%) Onboarding
3 28 (5.20%) Self-Motivation
4 20 (3.72%) Management Information System
5 19 (3.53%) Social Media
6 15 (2.79%) FMCG
7 11 (2.04%) Analytical Mindset
8 10 (1.86%) Enterprise Software
8 10 (1.86%) Legacy Systems
8 10 (1.86%) Product Ownership
9 7 (1.30%) Cyber Defence
9 7 (1.30%) Data Centre
9 7 (1.30%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 7 (1.30%) IoT
10 5 (0.93%) Data Structures
10 5 (0.93%) EPoS
10 5 (0.93%) Virtual Team
11 4 (0.74%) Hybrid Cloud
11 4 (0.74%) Reference Data
11 4 (0.74%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 80 (14.87%) Windows
2 23 (4.28%) Windows 10
3 17 (3.16%) Linux
4 13 (2.42%) Apple iOS
4 13 (2.42%) Windows Server
5 5 (0.93%) Android
5 5 (0.93%) Windows 7
6 2 (0.37%) FreeRTOS
6 2 (0.37%) Mac OS
6 2 (0.37%) Unix
7 1 (0.19%) CentOS
7 1 (0.19%) Debian
7 1 (0.19%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
7 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 106 (19.70%) Continuous Improvement
2 73 (13.57%) Agile
3 65 (12.08%) Customer Service
4 62 (11.52%) ITIL
5 57 (10.59%) Analytics
5 57 (10.59%) Decision-Making
5 57 (10.59%) Project Management
6 51 (9.48%) Business Intelligence
7 45 (8.36%) ERP
7 45 (8.36%) Mentoring
8 44 (8.18%) CRM
9 40 (7.43%) Roadmaps
10 37 (6.88%) Coaching
11 35 (6.51%) Cybersecurity
11 35 (6.51%) Migration
12 34 (6.32%) AI
13 33 (6.13%) Collaborative Working
13 33 (6.13%) Computer Science
13 33 (6.13%) Service Delivery
14 32 (5.95%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 71 (13.20%) SQL
2 32 (5.95%) Python
3 19 (3.53%) Java
4 17 (3.16%) PowerShell
5 13 (2.42%) Data Analysis Expressions
5 13 (2.42%) JavaScript
6 12 (2.23%) Ladder Logic
7 11 (2.04%) C
7 11 (2.04%) PHP
8 10 (1.86%) T-SQL
9 9 (1.67%) Bash
10 8 (1.49%) C#
11 6 (1.12%) TypeScript
12 5 (0.93%) C++
12 5 (0.93%) PL/SQL
12 5 (0.93%) R
13 3 (0.56%) Rust
14 2 (0.37%) Bicep
14 2 (0.37%) Go
14 2 (0.37%) Google Apps Script
Qualifications
1 86 (15.99%) Degree
2 48 (8.92%) Security Cleared
3 36 (6.69%) SC Cleared
4 20 (3.72%) DBS Check
5 19 (3.53%) Microsoft Certification
6 11 (2.04%) A+ Certification
6 11 (2.04%) Computer Science Degree
7 10 (1.86%) CISSP
8 9 (1.67%) ACCA
8 9 (1.67%) BPSS Clearance
8 9 (1.67%) CIMA
9 8 (1.49%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 7 (1.30%) CISA
10 7 (1.30%) CompTIA Security+
10 7 (1.30%) SSCP
11 6 (1.12%) MCITP
12 5 (0.93%) PMI Certification
13 4 (0.74%) Cisco Certification
13 4 (0.74%) Oracle Certification
13 4 (0.74%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (6.13%) Data Quality
2 24 (4.46%) QA
3 22 (4.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 18 (3.35%) GDPR
4 18 (3.35%) NIST
5 13 (2.42%) Cyber Essentials
6 11 (2.04%) SLA
7 10 (1.86%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 6 (1.12%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 5 (0.93%) Accessibility
9 5 (0.93%) HIPAA
10 3 (0.56%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.56%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 3 (0.56%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 3 (0.56%) SOC 2
11 2 (0.37%) ISO 14001
11 2 (0.37%) ISO 9001
11 2 (0.37%) ISO/IEC 19770
12 1 (0.19%) Government Security Classifications
12 1 (0.19%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 59 (10.97%) Active Directory
2 18 (3.35%) Docker
3 13 (2.42%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (1.49%) Hyper-V
5 4 (0.74%) Firmware
6 2 (0.37%) Embedded Firmware
6 2 (0.37%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 28 (5.20%) Microsoft Intune
2 18 (3.35%) Kubernetes
3 12 (2.23%) 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%) Argo
7 1 (0.19%) FortiGate
7 1 (0.19%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.19%) Puppet
7 1 (0.19%) SCCM
7 1 (0.19%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 146 (27.14%) Microsoft
2 24 (4.46%) SAP
3 23 (4.28%) Oracle
4 19 (3.53%) Cisco
5 16 (2.97%) VMware
6 12 (2.23%) Sage
7 9 (1.67%) Dell
7 9 (1.67%) Google
7 9 (1.67%) Salesforce
8 8 (1.49%) HP
8 8 (1.49%) ServiceNow
9 7 (1.30%) Meraki
10 6 (1.12%) Databricks
10 6 (1.12%) Zscaler
11 5 (0.93%) Avaya
11 5 (0.93%) SolarWinds
12 4 (0.74%) McAfee
12 4 (0.74%) Sophos
13 3 (0.56%) Epicor
13 3 (0.56%) Infor