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

6 months to
20 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -7 +1 +4
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 767 650 949
As % of all permanent jobs in the West Midlands 8.51% 19.97% 15.70%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.29% 23.18% 19.70%
Number of salaries quoted 519 419 339
10th Percentile £28,250 £25,000 £25,750
25th Percentile £33,250 £29,250 £34,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £44,543 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.59% -10.91% -
75th Percentile £57,500 £57,500 £62,250
90th Percentile £68,750 £67,500 £80,000
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 6,243 2,804 4,818
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the West Midlands 69.28% 86.14% 79.72%
Number of salaries quoted 4,598 1,786 2,505
10th Percentile £31,250 £29,000 £29,850
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,009 £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 £66,498
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% -8.00%

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 20 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 20 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 -6 281 £55,000 +22.22% 283
Staffordshire -5 101 £47,500 +5.56% 64
Warwickshire -4 79 £38,750 -29.55% 82
Worcestershire -4 66 £39,000 +27.87% 38
Shropshire +1 62 £45,000 -5.26% 52
Coventry -7 37 £42,000 +30.23% 48
Wolverhampton +4 17 £49,250 -24.23% 25
Solihull +5 16 £31,000 -8.82% 30
Herefordshire -23 10 £29,750 -8.46% 15
Tipton - 7 £33,500 - 4
Walsall -1 6 £37,500 -16.67% 7
Halesowen -4 5 £47,500 +46.15% 1
Dudley - 5 £34,500 - 10
Willenhall -3 4 £37,500 -16.67%
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 42 (5.48%) SharePoint
2 30 (3.91%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (1.30%) IIS
4 7 (0.91%) Confluence
5 4 (0.52%) CICS
5 4 (0.52%) Skype for Business
6 3 (0.39%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.39%) Oracle Workflow
6 3 (0.39%) WordPress
7 2 (0.26%) Documentum
7 2 (0.26%) SAS
8 1 (0.13%) Apache
8 1 (0.13%) Appian
8 1 (0.13%) CMS
8 1 (0.13%) Jupyter
8 1 (0.13%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 65 (8.47%) Microsoft Office
2 47 (6.13%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (1.30%) Simulink
4 6 (0.78%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (0.65%) Fusion 360
5 5 (0.65%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 4 (0.52%) OrCAD
7 3 (0.39%) AutoCAD
7 3 (0.39%) Microsoft Project
8 2 (0.26%) Chatbot
8 2 (0.26%) EPLAN
8 2 (0.26%) Revit
8 2 (0.26%) SOLIDWORKS
9 1 (0.13%) LaTeX
9 1 (0.13%) MS Visio
9 1 (0.13%) Navisworks
9 1 (0.13%) Siemens NX
9 1 (0.13%) SketchUp
9 1 (0.13%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 10 (1.30%) NetSuite
1 10 (1.30%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (1.04%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.65%) Magento
3 5 (0.65%) Shopify
4 4 (0.52%) Dynamics AX
4 4 (0.52%) Line 50
4 4 (0.52%) Oracle EBS
4 4 (0.52%) Sage 50
4 4 (0.52%) Sage X3
5 3 (0.39%) Oracle Cash Management
5 3 (0.39%) Oracle Payables
5 3 (0.39%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 3 (0.39%) SAP Business One
5 3 (0.39%) SAP ERP
6 2 (0.26%) 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
1 147 (19.17%) Azure
2 130 (16.95%) Microsoft 365
3 96 (12.52%) Power Platform
4 55 (7.17%) Entra ID
5 54 (7.04%) AWS
6 44 (5.74%) SaaS
7 26 (3.39%) Azure DevOps
8 24 (3.13%) Dynamics 365
9 17 (2.22%) Power Automate
10 16 (2.09%) Microsoft Purview
11 15 (1.96%) GitHub
12 14 (1.83%) PowerApps
13 13 (1.69%) GCP
13 13 (1.69%) GitHub Actions
14 11 (1.43%) Microsoft Copilot
15 10 (1.30%) PaaS
16 9 (1.17%) Google Workspace
17 6 (0.78%) IaaS
18 5 (0.65%) Google Analytics
18 5 (0.65%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 30 (3.91%) Firewall
2 26 (3.39%) VPN
3 25 (3.26%) DNS
4 24 (3.13%) WAN
5 23 (3.00%) TCP/IP
6 21 (2.74%) Wireless
7 19 (2.48%) LAN
8 17 (2.22%) Wi-Fi
9 16 (2.09%) DHCP
10 13 (1.69%) Network Security
11 12 (1.56%) VLAN
12 10 (1.30%) VoIP
13 8 (1.04%) Wireshark
14 6 (0.78%) Cisco IOS
14 6 (0.78%) SD-WAN
15 5 (0.65%) Internet
16 4 (0.52%) Bluetooth
16 4 (0.52%) Skype
17 3 (0.39%) 5G
17 3 (0.39%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 91 (11.86%) Power BI
2 31 (4.04%) SQL Server
3 25 (3.26%) Tableau
4 21 (2.74%) Data Warehouse
5 19 (2.48%) Power Query
5 19 (2.48%) Relational Database
6 13 (1.69%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 11 (1.43%) MySQL
8 10 (1.30%) Azure SQL Database
8 10 (1.30%) Data Mining
8 10 (1.30%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 8 (1.04%) Data Lake
9 8 (1.04%) Electronic Patient Records
10 6 (0.78%) Amazon Redshift
10 6 (0.78%) Oracle Reports
10 6 (0.78%) PostgreSQL
11 5 (0.65%) Amazon RDS
11 5 (0.65%) Big Data
11 5 (0.65%) Oracle BI EE
11 5 (0.65%) QlikView
Development Applications
1 28 (3.65%) Git
2 25 (3.26%) JIRA
3 24 (3.13%) Jenkins
4 8 (1.04%) Eclipse
5 7 (0.91%) Cucumber
5 7 (0.91%) GitLab
6 6 (0.78%) JMeter
6 6 (0.78%) Maven
6 6 (0.78%) Postman
6 6 (0.78%) Selenium
7 5 (0.65%) JUnit
7 5 (0.65%) SoapUI
7 5 (0.65%) Zephyr
8 3 (0.39%) Mockito
9 2 (0.26%) Ant
9 2 (0.26%) Apache Ivy
9 2 (0.26%) IBM UrbanCode
10 1 (0.13%) Bugzilla
10 1 (0.13%) Oracle Forms
10 1 (0.13%) Visual Studio
General
1 367 (47.85%) Social Skills
2 199 (25.95%) Analytical Skills
3 123 (16.04%) Finance
4 119 (15.51%) Manufacturing
5 60 (7.82%) Organisational Skills
6 55 (7.17%) Public Sector
7 49 (6.39%) Retail
8 35 (4.56%) Marketing
9 28 (3.65%) Electronics
10 22 (2.87%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 21 (2.74%) Law
12 20 (2.61%) Automotive
12 20 (2.61%) Legal
13 15 (1.96%) Documentation Skills
14 13 (1.69%) Telecoms
15 10 (1.30%) Banking
16 9 (1.17%) Billing
16 9 (1.17%) Fire and Rescue
16 9 (1.17%) Influencing Skills
17 8 (1.04%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 91 (11.86%) Support Engineer
2 84 (10.95%) Analyst
3 72 (9.39%) Developer
4 68 (8.87%) Technical Support
5 60 (7.82%) Technical Engineer
6 58 (7.56%) IT Support
6 58 (7.56%) Technical Support Engineer
7 57 (7.43%) Lead
8 52 (6.78%) Senior
9 50 (6.52%) Consultant
10 42 (5.48%) IT Engineer
11 34 (4.43%) IT Manager
12 30 (3.91%) IT Support Engineer
12 30 (3.91%) Support Analyst
13 26 (3.39%) Administrator
14 21 (2.74%) Architect
15 16 (2.09%) 2nd Line Support
16 15 (1.96%) 1st Line Support
16 15 (1.96%) Electronics Engineer
16 15 (1.96%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (5.08%) REST
2 34 (4.43%) .NET
3 28 (3.65%) Spring
4 26 (3.39%) React
5 25 (3.26%) Spring Boot
6 15 (1.96%) RESTful
7 14 (1.83%) AngularJS
7 14 (1.83%) Playwright
8 13 (1.69%) CSS
8 13 (1.69%) HTML
9 12 (1.56%) ISPF
9 12 (1.56%) SOAP
10 11 (1.43%) Terraform
11 10 (1.30%) XML
12 8 (1.04%) LDAP
12 8 (1.04%) SAP Fiori
13 7 (0.91%) Node.js
13 7 (0.91%) Web Services
14 6 (0.78%) JDBC
14 6 (0.78%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 72 (9.39%) Driving Licence
2 44 (5.74%) Onboarding
3 42 (5.48%) Self-Motivation
4 40 (5.22%) Management Information System
5 36 (4.69%) Enterprise Software
6 19 (2.48%) NHS
7 18 (2.35%) Data Centre
8 17 (2.22%) Virtual Team
9 16 (2.09%) Analytical Mindset
10 13 (1.69%) Social Media
11 12 (1.56%) Legacy Applications
11 12 (1.56%) Mainframe
12 11 (1.43%) Data Structures
12 11 (1.43%) Public Cloud
13 10 (1.30%) Cloud Native
13 10 (1.30%) Data Protection Act
13 10 (1.30%) Hybrid Cloud
13 10 (1.30%) IoT
13 10 (1.30%) Mobile App
14 9 (1.17%) SystemC
Operating Systems
1 120 (15.65%) Windows
2 41 (5.35%) Windows Server
3 39 (5.08%) Linux
4 21 (2.74%) Windows 10
5 14 (1.83%) Android
6 10 (1.30%) Apple iOS
7 9 (1.17%) Unix
8 7 (0.91%) Mac OS
9 4 (0.52%) FreeRTOS
10 2 (0.26%) Solaris
10 2 (0.26%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.13%) CentOS
11 1 (0.13%) Debian
11 1 (0.13%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 1 (0.13%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.13%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 229 (29.86%) Continuous Improvement
2 146 (19.04%) Customer Service
3 114 (14.86%) Agile
4 97 (12.65%) Decision-Making
5 96 (12.52%) Business Intelligence
6 91 (11.86%) Analytics
7 80 (10.43%) Mentoring
8 77 (10.04%) AI
9 75 (9.78%) ERP
10 73 (9.52%) Collaborative Working
11 63 (8.21%) Stakeholder Management
12 62 (8.08%) Cybersecurity
13 58 (7.56%) CRM
14 57 (7.43%) CI/CD
15 56 (7.30%) Collaborative Culture
16 55 (7.17%) Project Management
17 54 (7.04%) ITIL
17 54 (7.04%) Root Cause Analysis
18 53 (6.91%) Project Delivery
19 52 (6.78%) Workflow
Programming Languages
1 124 (16.17%) SQL
2 65 (8.47%) Java
3 49 (6.39%) Python
4 28 (3.65%) PowerShell
5 26 (3.39%) C#
5 26 (3.39%) JavaScript
6 19 (2.48%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 18 (2.35%) Ladder Logic
8 16 (2.09%) C
8 16 (2.09%) Embedded C
9 13 (1.69%) TypeScript
10 12 (1.56%) COBOL
10 12 (1.56%) JCL
11 10 (1.30%) MATLAB
12 7 (0.91%) PL/SQL
12 7 (0.91%) RPG
13 6 (0.78%) ABAP
13 6 (0.78%) PHP
13 6 (0.78%) R
14 5 (0.65%) Bash
Qualifications
1 116 (15.12%) Degree
2 81 (10.56%) Security Cleared
3 66 (8.60%) SC Cleared
4 22 (2.87%) Azure Certification
5 15 (1.96%) DBS Check
6 12 (1.56%) HNC
6 12 (1.56%) PMI Certification
7 11 (1.43%) Cisco Certification
7 11 (1.43%) HND
7 11 (1.43%) Microsoft Certification
8 9 (1.17%) CCNA
8 9 (1.17%) Computer Science Degree
9 7 (0.91%) ACCA
9 7 (0.91%) BPSS Clearance
10 6 (0.78%) CCNP
10 6 (0.78%) CIMA
10 6 (0.78%) ISTQB
10 6 (0.78%) PMP
11 5 (0.65%) ISEB
12 4 (0.52%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 49 (6.39%) Data Quality
2 38 (4.95%) QA
3 33 (4.30%) GDPR
4 24 (3.13%) Cyber Essentials
4 24 (3.13%) SLA
5 22 (2.87%) Accessibility
6 20 (2.61%) ISO 9001
7 19 (2.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 9 (1.17%) ISO 14001
9 4 (0.52%) NIST
9 4 (0.52%) PCI DSS
10 3 (0.39%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.39%) AQAP
10 3 (0.39%) GMP
10 3 (0.39%) ISO 26262
10 3 (0.39%) PMO
10 3 (0.39%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.26%) GRC
11 2 (0.26%) HIPAA
11 2 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 82 (10.69%) Active Directory
2 25 (3.26%) Hyper-V
3 18 (2.35%) VMware Infrastructure
4 15 (1.96%) Docker
5 14 (1.83%) Firmware
6 12 (1.56%) Embedded Firmware
7 7 (0.91%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (0.65%) Virtual Desktop
9 4 (0.52%) vSphere
10 2 (0.26%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 31 (4.04%) Microsoft Intune
2 12 (1.56%) Kubernetes
3 7 (0.91%) Single Sign-On
4 6 (0.78%) Functional Safety
5 5 (0.65%) SCCM
6 4 (0.52%) Ansible
7 3 (0.39%) Progress Chef
7 3 (0.39%) Puppet
8 2 (0.26%) Grafana
8 2 (0.26%) Prometheus
8 2 (0.26%) WSUS
9 1 (0.13%) Backup Exec
9 1 (0.13%) FortiGate
9 1 (0.13%) Jamf Pro
9 1 (0.13%) Nagios
Vendors
1 213 (27.77%) Microsoft
2 39 (5.08%) SAP
3 24 (3.13%) VMware
3 24 (3.13%) Workday
4 21 (2.74%) Cisco
5 18 (2.35%) Sage
6 16 (2.09%) Google
6 16 (2.09%) Oracle
7 14 (1.83%) ServiceNow
8 12 (1.56%) HubSpot
9 11 (1.43%) Salesforce
10 9 (1.17%) Apple
10 9 (1.17%) Databricks
10 9 (1.17%) Dell
11 8 (1.04%) Broadcom
12 7 (0.91%) IBM
12 7 (0.91%) Sophos
13 6 (0.78%) iManage
13 6 (0.78%) Pega
14 5 (0.65%) SolarWinds