Continuous Improvement Contract Job Trends in the South East

Continual Improvement
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South East requiring Continuous Improvement skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 12 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 36 54
Rank change year-on-year +9 +18 +20
Contract jobs citing Continuous Improvement 310 160 194
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 6.57% 5.08% 3.57%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 7.85% 5.64% 4.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 200 93 97
10th Percentile £306 £376 £400
25th Percentile £363 £450 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% +10.00%
75th Percentile £575 £638 £664
90th Percentile £675 £698 £700
England median daily rate £500 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 8 17
10th Percentile - £13.25 £24.05
25th Percentile £12.50 £19.06 £36.25
Median hourly rate £18.25 £40.50 £40.69
Median % change year-on-year -54.94% -0.47% +30.63%
75th Percentile £58.00 £65.91 £70.50
90th Percentile £102.75 £80.97 £74.74
England median hourly rate £31.25 £54.00 £37.50
% change year-on-year -42.13% +44.00% -37.50%

All Process & Methodology Skills
South East

Continuous Improvement falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 3,951 2,837 4,767
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 83.73% 90.09% 87.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,599 1,739 2,914
10th Percentile £256 £250 £213
25th Percentile £400 £400 £393
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £501 £509
Median % change year-on-year -0.10% -1.67% +1.80%
75th Percentile £600 £613 £613
90th Percentile £688 £675 £692
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 341 103 354
10th Percentile £14.00 £18.50 £13.25
25th Percentile £17.00 £24.18 £19.25
Median hourly rate £25.08 £45.00 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -44.28% -5.26% +5.56%
75th Percentile £57.50 £62.59 £63.00
90th Percentile £80.09 £75.40 £76.53
England median hourly rate £25.77 £35.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -26.37% - -

Continuous Improvement
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Continuous Improvement relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Continuous Improvement job vacancy trend in the South East

Continuous Improvement
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Continuous Improvement.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Continuous Improvement

Continuous Improvement
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Continuous Improvement in the South East over the 6 months to 12 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Continuous Improvement in the South East

Continuous Improvement
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Continuous Improvement.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Continuous Improvement

Continuous Improvement
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Continuous Improvement in the South East over the 6 months to 12 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Continuous Improvement in the South East

Continuous Improvement
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Continuous Improvement within the South East region over the 6 months to 12 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
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Thames Valley +13 159 £460 -12.38% 130
Berkshire +15 129 £425 -20.56% 73
Hampshire +18 86 £503 -12.61% 66
Buckinghamshire +4 28 £500 -6.98% 33
Surrey -3 21 £450 -28.00% 46
West Sussex -1 16 £500 +44.40% 18
Sussex +2 9 - - 2
East Sussex +2 9 £600 -7.69% 13
Kent -5 6 £594 +7.91% 25
Oxfordshire -16 2 £529 +17.61% 29
Continuous Improvement
England

Continuous Improvement
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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 8 (2.58%) Confluence
2 5 (1.61%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (1.29%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.65%) WebLogic
5 1 (0.32%) Camunda
5 1 (0.32%) Tomcat
Applications
1 22 (7.10%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (3.55%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (2.90%) Microsoft Project
4 7 (2.26%) MS Visio
5 5 (1.61%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 3 (0.97%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 8 (2.58%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 3 (0.97%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (0.97%) Remedy ITSM
3 2 (0.65%) Workday HCM
4 1 (0.32%) assyst
4 1 (0.32%) Oracle BRM
Cloud Services
1 80 (25.81%) Azure
2 62 (20.00%) AWS
3 39 (12.58%) GCP
4 13 (4.19%) Azure DevOps
4 13 (4.19%) Power Platform
5 12 (3.87%) Google Workspace
6 9 (2.90%) SaaS
7 8 (2.58%) Microsoft 365
8 6 (1.94%) GitHub
8 6 (1.94%) IaaS
9 5 (1.61%) Entra ID
9 5 (1.61%) PaaS
10 4 (1.29%) Serverless
11 3 (0.97%) Azure Functions
11 3 (0.97%) Azure Machine Learning
11 3 (0.97%) dbt
11 3 (0.97%) GitHub Actions
11 3 (0.97%) Power Automate
11 3 (0.97%) Vertex AI
11 3 (0.97%) Viva Engage
Communications & Networking
1 14 (4.52%) Firewall
1 14 (4.52%) Network Security
2 10 (3.23%) VPN
3 8 (2.58%) DNS
4 7 (2.26%) TCP/IP
5 5 (1.61%) MPLS
5 5 (1.61%) VLAN
6 4 (1.29%) Broadband
6 4 (1.29%) DHCP
6 4 (1.29%) WAN
7 3 (0.97%) IPv4
7 3 (0.97%) IPv6
7 3 (0.97%) SD-WAN
8 2 (0.65%) BGP
8 2 (0.65%) Intranet
8 2 (0.65%) Multicast
8 2 (0.65%) NaaS
8 2 (0.65%) OSPF
8 2 (0.65%) Software-Defined Networking
8 2 (0.65%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (3.23%) Power BI
2 6 (1.94%) Data Lake
3 5 (1.61%) Data Warehouse
3 5 (1.61%) Oracle Database
4 4 (1.29%) Metadata
5 3 (0.97%) Metadata Repository
5 3 (0.97%) Oracle Reports
5 3 (0.97%) Pinecone
5 3 (0.97%) SQL Server
5 3 (0.97%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 3 (0.97%) Tableau
5 3 (0.97%) Weaviate
6 2 (0.65%) Azure SQL Database
6 2 (0.65%) Oracle Database 11g
6 2 (0.65%) Oracle Database 12c
6 2 (0.65%) Oracle ODI
6 2 (0.65%) Relational Database
6 2 (0.65%) SQL Server Analysis Services
6 2 (0.65%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 1 (0.32%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
Development Applications
1 21 (6.77%) JIRA
2 6 (1.94%) Jenkins
3 5 (1.61%) GitLab
3 5 (1.61%) Selenium
4 4 (1.29%) Git
5 3 (0.97%) Bitbucket
6 2 (0.65%) Cucumber
6 2 (0.65%) Cypress.io
6 2 (0.65%) Oracle APEX
6 2 (0.65%) Oracle Forms
6 2 (0.65%) REST Assured
6 2 (0.65%) Visual Studio
7 1 (0.32%) Appium
7 1 (0.32%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 1 (0.32%) Gatling
7 1 (0.32%) JMeter
7 1 (0.32%) LoadRunner
7 1 (0.32%) SpecFlow
7 1 (0.32%) Subversion
7 1 (0.32%) WebDriver
General
1 153 (49.35%) Social Skills
2 80 (25.81%) Analytical Skills
3 60 (19.35%) Finance
4 41 (13.23%) Public Sector
5 17 (5.48%) Influencing Skills
5 17 (5.48%) Organisational Skills
6 14 (4.52%) Telecoms
7 11 (3.55%) Aerospace
7 11 (3.55%) Legal
8 10 (3.23%) Law
9 9 (2.90%) Documentation Skills
10 8 (2.58%) Marketing
11 7 (2.26%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 6 (1.94%) Billing
12 6 (1.94%) Manufacturing
12 6 (1.94%) Retail
13 5 (1.61%) Automotive
13 5 (1.61%) Presentation Skills
14 4 (1.29%) Environmental Health
15 3 (0.97%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 46 (14.84%) Lead
2 26 (8.39%) Senior
3 21 (6.77%) Analyst
4 17 (5.48%) Delivery Manager
5 16 (5.16%) Service Manager
6 15 (4.84%) Support Officer
7 14 (4.52%) IT Manager
7 14 (4.52%) Project Manager
8 12 (3.87%) IT Support
9 11 (3.55%) Service Delivery Manager
10 10 (3.23%) Consultant
10 10 (3.23%) Designer
10 10 (3.23%) IT Assistant
10 10 (3.23%) IT Support Assistant
10 10 (3.23%) Support Assistant
11 7 (2.26%) Service Analyst
11 7 (2.26%) Test Manager
11 7 (2.26%) Transformation Manager
12 6 (1.94%) Accountant
12 6 (1.94%) Cloud Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (2.26%) .NET
2 5 (1.61%) REST
3 4 (1.29%) Node.js
3 4 (1.29%) React
3 4 (1.29%) SOAP
4 3 (0.97%) Faiss
4 3 (0.97%) Oracle Fusion
4 3 (0.97%) RESTful
5 2 (0.65%) JSON
5 2 (0.65%) Oracle GoldenGate
5 2 (0.65%) Playwright
5 2 (0.65%) Unity (Game Engine)
5 2 (0.65%) Unreal Engine
5 2 (0.65%) XML
5 2 (0.65%) YAML
6 1 (0.32%) Elastic Stack
6 1 (0.32%) React Native
6 1 (0.32%) SAP Fiori
6 1 (0.32%) SAPUI5
6 1 (0.32%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 17 (5.48%) Enterprise Software
1 17 (5.48%) Product Ownership
2 14 (4.52%) Onboarding
3 13 (4.19%) Data Centre
4 10 (3.23%) Virtual Team
5 9 (2.90%) PMI
5 9 (2.90%) Security Operations Centre
6 8 (2.58%) Analytical Mindset
6 8 (2.58%) Legacy Systems
6 8 (2.58%) Security Posture
7 7 (2.26%) Management Information System
8 6 (1.94%) Cloud Native
8 6 (1.94%) CMDB
8 6 (1.94%) e-Learning
8 6 (1.94%) PKI
9 5 (1.61%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (1.29%) Hybrid Cloud
10 4 (1.29%) Learning Management System
10 4 (1.29%) Mainframe
10 4 (1.29%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 25 (8.06%) Linux
2 24 (7.74%) Windows
3 5 (1.61%) Windows Server
4 4 (1.29%) Unix
5 2 (0.65%) Apple iOS
5 2 (0.65%) CentOS
5 2 (0.65%) Ubuntu
5 2 (0.65%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.32%) Android
6 1 (0.32%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.32%) Solaris
6 1 (0.32%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 84 (27.10%) Problem-Solving
2 73 (23.55%) Agile
3 71 (22.90%) ITIL
4 65 (20.97%) Change Management
5 60 (19.35%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 60 (19.35%) Stakeholder Management
6 58 (18.71%) ITSM
6 58 (18.71%) Service Management
7 41 (13.23%) Performance Metrics
8 31 (10.00%) Roadmaps
8 31 (10.00%) Service Delivery
9 27 (8.71%) Decision-Making
9 27 (8.71%) DevOps
9 27 (8.71%) Incident Management
10 25 (8.06%) Incident Response
11 24 (7.74%) Risk Management
12 23 (7.42%) Analytics
12 23 (7.42%) Cybersecurity
12 23 (7.42%) ERP
12 23 (7.42%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 29 (9.35%) Python
2 17 (5.48%) PowerShell
3 13 (4.19%) SQL
4 10 (3.23%) Java
5 8 (2.58%) Bash
6 7 (2.26%) C#
7 6 (1.94%) PL/SQL
8 4 (1.29%) Bicep
9 3 (0.97%) JavaScript
9 3 (0.97%) Perl
10 2 (0.65%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 2 (0.65%) T-SQL
10 2 (0.65%) TypeScript
10 2 (0.65%) VB
11 1 (0.32%) ABAP
11 1 (0.32%) C
11 1 (0.32%) Objective-C
11 1 (0.32%) Scala
11 1 (0.32%) Swift
Qualifications
1 117 (37.74%) Security Cleared
2 82 (26.45%) SC Cleared
3 26 (8.39%) Degree
4 25 (8.06%) DV Cleared
5 16 (5.16%) PMI Certification
6 10 (3.23%) CISSP
6 10 (3.23%) ISTQB
7 9 (2.90%) ACCA
7 9 (2.90%) CIMA
7 9 (2.90%) Cisco Certification
7 9 (2.90%) Computer Science Degree
8 7 (2.26%) PMP
9 6 (1.94%) CCNP
9 6 (1.94%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
10 5 (1.61%) CCNA
10 5 (1.61%) Microsoft Certification
11 4 (1.29%) Azure Certification
12 3 (0.97%) BPSS Clearance
12 3 (0.97%) CCIE
12 3 (0.97%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (5.81%) QA
2 17 (5.48%) PMO
3 16 (5.16%) NIST
4 13 (4.19%) GDPR
5 12 (3.87%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 11 (3.55%) Data Quality
6 11 (3.55%) SLA
7 6 (1.94%) Accessibility
8 4 (1.29%) Actionable Recommendations
8 4 (1.29%) NCSC
9 3 (0.97%) Cyber Essentials
9 3 (0.97%) GRC
10 2 (0.65%) ISO/IEC 19770
11 1 (0.32%) COBIT
11 1 (0.32%) COSHH
11 1 (0.32%) Def Stans
11 1 (0.32%) HIPAA
11 1 (0.32%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.32%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.32%) SOC 2
System Software
1 13 (4.19%) VMware Infrastructure
2 10 (3.23%) Docker
3 9 (2.90%) Active Directory
4 6 (1.94%) vSphere
5 5 (1.61%) VMware NSX
6 2 (0.65%) Firmware
6 2 (0.65%) KVM
6 2 (0.65%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.32%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.32%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.32%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 13 (4.19%) Ansible
2 10 (3.23%) Kubernetes
3 8 (2.58%) Terraform
4 5 (1.61%) SCCM
4 5 (1.61%) Single Sign-On
5 4 (1.29%) Grafana
5 4 (1.29%) Nagios
5 4 (1.29%) Nessus
6 3 (0.97%) OpenVAS
6 3 (0.97%) Podman
6 3 (0.97%) Progress Chef
6 3 (0.97%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.97%) Proxmox
6 3 (0.97%) Puppet
7 2 (0.65%) Cisco Prime
7 2 (0.65%) CSIRT
7 2 (0.65%) Iperf
7 2 (0.65%) Nmap
7 2 (0.65%) vRealize
7 2 (0.65%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 45 (14.52%) Microsoft
2 36 (11.61%) Google
3 24 (7.74%) Oracle
3 24 (7.74%) ServiceNow
4 18 (5.81%) VMware
5 8 (2.58%) Cisco
6 7 (2.26%) SolarWinds
6 7 (2.26%) Workday
7 6 (1.94%) Fortinet
7 6 (1.94%) Juniper
7 6 (1.94%) Splunk
7 6 (1.94%) Zscaler
8 5 (1.61%) BMC
8 5 (1.61%) Palo Alto
8 5 (1.61%) Remedy
8 5 (1.61%) SAP
9 4 (1.29%) CheckPoint
9 4 (1.29%) Qualys
9 4 (1.29%) Rapid7
10 3 (0.97%) F5