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

6 months to
26 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 22 2 6
Rank change year-on-year -20 +4 +4
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 503 784 854
As % of all permanent jobs in the West Midlands 8.17% 20.60% 15.87%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.40% 21.94% 18.31%
Number of salaries quoted 376 338 683
10th Percentile £26,250 £31,250 £25,000
25th Percentile £30,250 £42,500 £30,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £55,000 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year -22.73% +29.41% -17.95%
75th Percentile £58,750 £67,500 £58,125
90th Percentile £72,750 £100,000 £67,500
England median annual salary £45,497 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -17.28% +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 4,836 3,573 4,663
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the West Midlands 78.54% 93.88% 86.64%
Number of salaries quoted 2,618 1,660 3,784
10th Percentile £29,000 £32,475 £26,250
25th Percentile £38,500 £42,200 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £67,500 £68,750 £63,750
90th Percentile £82,500 £82,500 £77,500
England median annual salary £55,000 £62,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year -12.00% +13.64% -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 26 February 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 26 February 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 -11 153 £47,085 -20.77% 84
Staffordshire -9 107 £31,500 -37.00% 29
Warwickshire -17 58 £32,500 -35.00% 46
Shropshire -11 37 £47,500 -13.64% 21
Worcestershire -15 33 £37,500 -42.31% 26
Herefordshire 0 24 £52,500 +4.48% 8
Coventry -15 17 £67,500 +12.50% 14
Solihull -5 16 £90,000 +63.64% 6
Halesowen -2 9 £32,500 - 1
Walsall -3 4 £44,000 +39.68% 2
Wednesbury -4 4 £42,500 -5.56%
Dudley -3 3 £75,000 +114.29% 4
Kingswinford -5 2 £45,250 +20.67%
Wolverhampton -22 2 £85,000 +119.35% 5
Sutton Coldfield -6 1 £28,000 - 1
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 (8.55%) SharePoint
2 24 (4.77%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (1.99%) IIS
4 6 (1.19%) Apache
4 6 (1.19%) Exchange Server 2007
4 6 (1.19%) Exchange Server 2010
4 6 (1.19%) Exchange Server 2013
4 6 (1.19%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 1 (0.20%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.20%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.20%) Confluence
5 1 (0.20%) NServiceBus
5 1 (0.20%) SAS
5 1 (0.20%) WebLogic
Applications
1 40 (7.95%) Microsoft Excel
2 34 (6.76%) Microsoft Office
3 13 (2.58%) Spreadsheet
4 8 (1.59%) AutoCAD
4 8 (1.59%) SOLIDWORKS
5 7 (1.39%) Microsoft Project
6 6 (1.19%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 4 (0.80%) MS Visio
8 2 (0.40%) Trello
9 1 (0.20%) Abaqus
9 1 (0.20%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 21 (4.17%) Dynamics CRM
2 7 (1.39%) NetSuite
3 3 (0.60%) Dynamics NAV
3 3 (0.60%) SAP Business ByDesign
4 2 (0.40%) Infor CloudSuite Industrial (formerly SyteLine)
4 2 (0.40%) SAP MM
5 1 (0.20%) Exchequer
5 1 (0.20%) Raiser’s Edge
5 1 (0.20%) Sage X3
5 1 (0.20%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 118 (23.46%) Azure
2 93 (18.49%) Microsoft 365
3 47 (9.34%) Power Platform
4 37 (7.36%) SaaS
5 36 (7.16%) AWS
6 30 (5.96%) Entra ID
7 23 (4.57%) Dynamics 365
8 17 (3.38%) Power Automate
9 16 (3.18%) PowerApps
10 11 (2.19%) OneDrive
11 10 (1.99%) Serverless
12 8 (1.59%) Azure Data Factory
12 8 (1.59%) GCP
12 8 (1.59%) Google Workspace
13 7 (1.39%) Azure DevOps
14 5 (0.99%) Amazon S3
14 5 (0.99%) AWS Lambda
14 5 (0.99%) Azure Sentinel
14 5 (0.99%) OCI
15 4 (0.80%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 35 (6.96%) VPN
2 28 (5.57%) Internet
3 27 (5.37%) DNS
4 25 (4.97%) DHCP
5 24 (4.77%) WAN
6 21 (4.17%) Wi-Fi
7 19 (3.78%) Firewall
8 18 (3.58%) LAN
9 11 (2.19%) VoIP
9 11 (2.19%) Wireless
10 9 (1.79%) ADSL
10 9 (1.79%) Ethernet
10 9 (1.79%) SD-WAN
10 9 (1.79%) VDSL
11 7 (1.39%) VLAN
12 6 (1.19%) Broadband
13 5 (0.99%) Network Security
13 5 (0.99%) PBX
13 5 (0.99%) TCP/IP
14 2 (0.40%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (7.75%) Power BI
2 28 (5.57%) SQL Server
3 12 (2.39%) MySQL
3 12 (2.39%) Relational Database
4 11 (2.19%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 10 (1.99%) Oracle Reports
5 10 (1.99%) PostgreSQL
6 9 (1.79%) Tableau
7 8 (1.59%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 5 (0.99%) Amazon RDS
8 5 (0.99%) Crystal Reports
8 5 (0.99%) Data Warehouse
9 4 (0.80%) GIS
9 4 (0.80%) Metadata
9 4 (0.80%) Power Query
9 4 (0.80%) Redis
9 4 (0.80%) TimescaleDB
10 2 (0.40%) BusinessObjects
10 2 (0.40%) Data Mining
10 2 (0.40%) MS Access
Development Applications
1 18 (3.58%) JIRA
2 16 (3.18%) Git
3 7 (1.39%) JUnit
4 6 (1.19%) Maven
4 6 (1.19%) Mockito
5 5 (0.99%) GitLab
5 5 (0.99%) Jenkins
6 3 (0.60%) Appcelerator Titanium
7 2 (0.40%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 2 (0.40%) Visual Studio Code
8 1 (0.20%) Babel
8 1 (0.20%) Balsamiq
8 1 (0.20%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.20%) Cypress.io
8 1 (0.20%) MLflow
8 1 (0.20%) Selenium
8 1 (0.20%) Snyk
8 1 (0.20%) Vite
8 1 (0.20%) webpack
General
1 250 (49.70%) Social Skills
2 137 (27.24%) Analytical Skills
3 116 (23.06%) Finance
4 65 (12.92%) Manufacturing
5 40 (7.95%) Organisational Skills
6 36 (7.16%) Legal
7 35 (6.96%) Law
7 35 (6.96%) Public Sector
8 29 (5.77%) Retail
9 27 (5.37%) Marketing
10 16 (3.18%) Telecoms
11 13 (2.58%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 12 (2.39%) Presentation Skills
13 11 (2.19%) Banking
14 8 (1.59%) Automotive
14 8 (1.59%) Electronics
15 7 (1.39%) Aerospace
16 6 (1.19%) Advertising
17 4 (0.80%) Documentation Skills
17 4 (0.80%) Games
Job Titles
1 92 (18.29%) Support Engineer
2 80 (15.90%) Analyst
3 72 (14.31%) IT Support
4 55 (10.93%) IT Engineer
5 49 (9.74%) Developer
5 49 (9.74%) Lead
6 45 (8.95%) IT Support Engineer
7 44 (8.75%) Technical Support
8 42 (8.35%) Technical Engineer
9 41 (8.15%) Technical Support Engineer
10 39 (7.75%) Senior
11 29 (5.77%) Support Analyst
12 22 (4.37%) Architect
12 22 (4.37%) Business Analyst
13 20 (3.98%) Applications Support
14 17 (3.38%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 17 (3.38%) Instructor
15 15 (2.98%) Consultant
16 14 (2.78%) Administrator
16 14 (2.78%) Senior Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (4.77%) .NET
2 22 (4.37%) REST
3 19 (3.78%) React
4 12 (2.39%) AngularJS
5 11 (2.19%) JSON
6 8 (1.59%) Razor View Engine
7 7 (1.39%) HTML
7 7 (1.39%) Node.js
8 6 (1.19%) CSS
8 6 (1.19%) LAMP
9 5 (0.99%) Vue
10 4 (0.80%) GraphQL
10 4 (0.80%) Oracle Fusion
10 4 (0.80%) Web Services
10 4 (0.80%) WPF
11 3 (0.60%) .NET Framework
11 3 (0.60%) ODBC
11 3 (0.60%) React Native
11 3 (0.60%) RESTful
11 3 (0.60%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 42 (8.35%) Onboarding
2 39 (7.75%) Driving Licence
3 33 (6.56%) Self-Motivation
4 22 (4.37%) Management Information System
5 19 (3.78%) Social Media
6 15 (2.98%) FMCG
7 11 (2.19%) Product Ownership
8 9 (1.79%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
8 9 (1.79%) IoT
8 9 (1.79%) Operational Technology
9 8 (1.59%) Enterprise Software
9 8 (1.59%) Legacy Systems
10 7 (1.39%) Linux Command Line
11 6 (1.19%) Analytical Mindset
11 6 (1.19%) PDA
12 5 (0.99%) Data Centre
12 5 (0.99%) Data Structures
12 5 (0.99%) EPoS
13 4 (0.80%) Hybrid Cloud
13 4 (0.80%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 70 (13.92%) Windows
2 18 (3.58%) Linux
3 17 (3.38%) Windows 10
4 10 (1.99%) Apple iOS
5 8 (1.59%) Windows Server
6 6 (1.19%) Windows 7
7 2 (0.40%) Android
7 2 (0.40%) Unix
8 1 (0.20%) CentOS
8 1 (0.20%) Debian
8 1 (0.20%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 97 (19.28%) Continuous Improvement
2 68 (13.52%) Agile
3 62 (12.33%) Project Management
4 57 (11.33%) Customer Service
5 55 (10.93%) ITIL
6 52 (10.34%) Decision-Making
7 50 (9.94%) Business Intelligence
8 49 (9.74%) Analytics
9 47 (9.34%) CRM
10 40 (7.95%) Mentoring
11 38 (7.55%) Roadmaps
12 36 (7.16%) Migration
13 35 (6.96%) Customer Experience
14 34 (6.76%) ERP
15 33 (6.56%) Computer Science
15 33 (6.56%) Service Delivery
16 31 (6.16%) Coaching
17 29 (5.77%) Stakeholder Management
17 29 (5.77%) Time Management
18 26 (5.17%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 92 (18.29%) SQL
2 37 (7.36%) Python
3 30 (5.96%) C#
3 30 (5.96%) JavaScript
4 22 (4.37%) Java
4 22 (4.37%) PowerShell
5 13 (2.58%) PHP
5 13 (2.58%) T-SQL
6 10 (1.99%) Bash
7 9 (1.79%) C
8 8 (1.59%) Ladder Logic
8 8 (1.59%) TypeScript
9 7 (1.39%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 6 (1.19%) PL/SQL
11 5 (0.99%) R
12 4 (0.80%) C++
13 3 (0.60%) Delphi
13 3 (0.60%) VB.NET
14 2 (0.40%) Google Apps Script
14 2 (0.40%) XAML
Qualifications
1 89 (17.69%) Degree
2 56 (11.13%) Security Cleared
3 38 (7.55%) SC Cleared
4 23 (4.57%) DBS Check
5 21 (4.17%) Microsoft Certification
6 18 (3.58%) Computer Science Degree
7 15 (2.98%) BPSS Clearance
8 10 (1.99%) A+ Certification
9 9 (1.79%) Master's Degree
10 8 (1.59%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 6 (1.19%) ACCA
11 6 (1.19%) CIMA
11 6 (1.19%) MCITP
12 5 (0.99%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
13 4 (0.80%) AWS Certification
13 4 (0.80%) Cisco Certification
13 4 (0.80%) Oracle Certification
14 3 (0.60%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
14 3 (0.60%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
14 3 (0.60%) AWS Certified SysOps Administrator
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (5.77%) Data Quality
2 21 (4.17%) QA
3 17 (3.38%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 13 (2.58%) GDPR
5 8 (1.59%) Cyber Essentials
5 8 (1.59%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 7 (1.39%) NIST
6 7 (1.39%) SLA
7 5 (0.99%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 3 (0.60%) Actionable Recommendations
8 3 (0.60%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.40%) Government Security Classifications
9 2 (0.40%) ISO 9001
9 2 (0.40%) ISO/IEC 19770
10 1 (0.20%) COBIT
10 1 (0.20%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 1 (0.20%) PMO
10 1 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.20%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.20%) WCAG
System Software
1 44 (8.75%) Active Directory
2 21 (4.17%) Docker
3 9 (1.79%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (0.60%) Firmware
4 3 (0.60%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.40%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 23 (4.57%) Microsoft Intune
2 21 (4.17%) Kubernetes
3 12 (2.39%) Terraform
4 6 (1.19%) Ansible
5 3 (0.60%) Grafana
5 3 (0.60%) Nagios
5 3 (0.60%) Prometheus
6 2 (0.40%) Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.20%) Argo
7 1 (0.20%) AWS Copilot
7 1 (0.20%) FortiGate
7 1 (0.20%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.20%) Puppet
7 1 (0.20%) SCCM
7 1 (0.20%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 150 (29.82%) Microsoft
2 34 (6.76%) Oracle
3 27 (5.37%) SAP
4 16 (3.18%) Cisco
5 13 (2.58%) Salesforce
6 11 (2.19%) Google
7 9 (1.79%) Databricks
7 9 (1.79%) HP
7 9 (1.79%) Sage
7 9 (1.79%) VMware
8 7 (1.39%) Infor
8 7 (1.39%) Meraki
8 7 (1.39%) ServiceNow
9 6 (1.19%) Dell
10 5 (0.99%) Epicor
10 5 (0.99%) Panasonic
10 5 (0.99%) Samsung
10 5 (0.99%) Zscaler
11 4 (0.80%) Avaya
11 4 (0.80%) SolarWinds