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

6 months to
28 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 19 40 39
Rank change year-on-year +21 -1 +27
Contract jobs citing Continuous Improvement 430 143 243
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 7.17% 4.90% 4.37%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 8.91% 5.36% 5.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 244 86 131
10th Percentile £325 £311 £363
25th Percentile £425 £412 £456
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £518 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.50% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £600 £588 £650
90th Percentile £688 £625 £688
England median daily rate £500 £510 £525
% change year-on-year -1.94% -2.88% -7.08%
Number of hourly rates quoted 57 9 17
10th Percentile £40.35 - £18.35
25th Percentile £80.50 £15.13 £24.00
Median hourly rate £87.96 £59.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +49.08% +57.33% -16.67%
75th Percentile £88.00 £67.50 £43.75
90th Percentile £91.80 £80.10 £57.60
England median hourly rate £55.00 £48.46 £36.50
% change year-on-year +13.50% +32.77% -28.78%

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 4,826 2,668 4,653
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 80.49% 91.34% 83.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,116 1,715 2,710
10th Percentile £280 £250 £255
25th Percentile £410 £395 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £514 £500 £510
Median % change year-on-year +2.80% -1.96% +0.99%
75th Percentile £610 £600 £625
90th Percentile £700 £656 £700
England median daily rate £513 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -2.25% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 450 177 442
10th Percentile £15.05 £13.25 £13.00
25th Percentile £21.35 £15.00 £18.20
Median hourly rate £52.50 £25.30 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +107.51% -46.74% -5.00%
75th Percentile £82.25 £62.24 £62.50
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £76.86
England median hourly rate £46.43 £28.18 £36.50
% change year-on-year +64.76% -22.79% -2.46%

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 28 May 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 28 May 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 28 May 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 +12 209 £518 +3.50% 160
Berkshire +23 160 £510 +1.90% 83
Hampshire +18 130 £550 - 86
Buckinghamshire -13 41 £525 -4.55% 44
Surrey +13 38 £450 - 40
West Sussex -15 18 £513 +32.26% 19
East Sussex 0 8 £622 +13.00% 10
Oxfordshire -18 8 £725 +190.00% 37
Middlesex - 4 - - 10
Kent -8 2 £463 -18.50% 24
Sussex - 2 £600 - 2
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 13 (3.02%) Confluence
2 10 (2.33%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.47%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.23%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 1 (0.23%) SharePoint 2010
4 1 (0.23%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 28 (6.51%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (1.86%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (1.40%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (1.40%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.93%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.23%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 14 (3.26%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (1.86%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 3 (0.70%) iTrent
3 3 (0.70%) Remedy ITSM
4 2 (0.47%) Salesforce CRM
4 2 (0.47%) SAP SD
4 2 (0.47%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.23%) Maximo
5 1 (0.23%) Primavera
5 1 (0.23%) SAP BPC
5 1 (0.23%) SAP BRIM
5 1 (0.23%) SAP Business One
5 1 (0.23%) SAP Convergent Charging
5 1 (0.23%) SAP ERP
5 1 (0.23%) SAP PLM
Cloud Services
1 61 (14.19%) Azure
2 42 (9.77%) AWS
3 23 (5.35%) Power Platform
4 15 (3.49%) GCP
5 12 (2.79%) Azure DevOps
6 8 (1.86%) Entra ID
6 8 (1.86%) Serverless
7 7 (1.63%) SaaS
8 6 (1.40%) GitHub
8 6 (1.40%) GitHub Actions
8 6 (1.40%) OpenShift
9 5 (1.16%) Amazon EKS
10 4 (0.93%) Amazon S3
10 4 (0.93%) AWS Lambda
10 4 (0.93%) Azure Logic Apps
10 4 (0.93%) dbt
10 4 (0.93%) Microsoft 365
10 4 (0.93%) Microsoft Purview
11 3 (0.70%) AWS CodePipeline
11 3 (0.70%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 12 (2.79%) Firewall
2 11 (2.56%) Network Security
3 10 (2.33%) LAN
4 8 (1.86%) VPN
5 6 (1.40%) VLAN
6 5 (1.16%) TCP/IP
7 4 (0.93%) DNS
7 4 (0.93%) WAN
8 3 (0.70%) BGP
8 3 (0.70%) IPv4
8 3 (0.70%) IPv6
8 3 (0.70%) OSPF
8 3 (0.70%) SD-WAN
8 3 (0.70%) Wi-Fi
8 3 (0.70%) Wireless
9 2 (0.47%) Cisco ASA
9 2 (0.47%) MPLS
9 2 (0.47%) Multicast
9 2 (0.47%) Radio Access Network
9 2 (0.47%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (5.12%) Power BI
2 9 (2.09%) Metadata
3 6 (1.40%) Data Warehouse
3 6 (1.40%) Tableau
4 4 (0.93%) Data Lake
4 4 (0.93%) Oracle Reports
4 4 (0.93%) SQL Server
5 3 (0.70%) DynamoDB
5 3 (0.70%) Metadata Repository
5 3 (0.70%) PostgreSQL
5 3 (0.70%) Redis
5 3 (0.70%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 2 (0.47%) Azure SQL Database
6 2 (0.47%) Geospatial Data
6 2 (0.47%) GIS
6 2 (0.47%) NoSQL
6 2 (0.47%) SQL Server Analysis Services
6 2 (0.47%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 1 (0.23%) Elasticsearch
7 1 (0.23%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 27 (6.28%) Rational DOORS
2 18 (4.19%) JIRA
3 9 (2.09%) GitLab
4 7 (1.63%) Jenkins
5 4 (0.93%) Git
6 3 (0.70%) Hudson
6 3 (0.70%) Selenium
6 3 (0.70%) SonarQube
7 2 (0.47%) Sonatype Nexus
7 2 (0.47%) SpecFlow
7 2 (0.47%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.23%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.23%) Balsamiq
8 1 (0.23%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.23%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.23%) Cypress.io
8 1 (0.23%) ERwin
8 1 (0.23%) Postman
8 1 (0.23%) WebDriver
General
1 185 (43.02%) Social Skills
2 98 (22.79%) Finance
3 93 (21.63%) Analytical Skills
4 50 (11.63%) Aerospace
5 48 (11.16%) Public Sector
6 17 (3.95%) Legal
6 17 (3.95%) Organisational Skills
7 14 (3.26%) Retail
7 14 (3.26%) Telecoms
8 13 (3.02%) Influencing Skills
8 13 (3.02%) Law
9 11 (2.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 10 (2.33%) French Language
10 10 (2.33%) Spanish Language
11 6 (1.40%) Documentation Skills
12 5 (1.16%) Aviation
12 5 (1.16%) Marketing
13 4 (0.93%) Billing
13 4 (0.93%) Military
14 3 (0.70%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 60 (13.95%) Analyst
2 47 (10.93%) Lead
3 42 (9.77%) Delivery Manager
4 40 (9.30%) Senior
5 35 (8.14%) Product Manager
6 31 (7.21%) Architect
7 29 (6.74%) Product Delivery Manager
8 23 (5.35%) IT Manager
9 22 (5.12%) Systems Delivery Manager
9 22 (5.12%) Systems Manager
10 14 (3.26%) Service Manager
11 13 (3.02%) Project Manager
12 12 (2.79%) Senior Analyst
13 11 (2.56%) Data Analyst
13 11 (2.56%) Financial Analyst
13 11 (2.56%) Solutions Architect
14 10 (2.33%) 2nd Line Support
14 10 (2.33%) Consultant
14 10 (2.33%) Systems Accountant
14 10 (2.33%) Technical Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (2.09%) OAuth
2 7 (1.63%) RESTful
3 6 (1.40%) OAuth2
3 6 (1.40%) SAML
3 6 (1.40%) SOAP
4 5 (1.16%) .NET
4 5 (1.16%) GraphQL
4 5 (1.16%) LDAP
4 5 (1.16%) OpenID
5 4 (0.93%) EDI
5 4 (0.93%) Kafka
5 4 (0.93%) Keycloak
5 4 (0.93%) REST
6 3 (0.70%) ARM Templates
6 3 (0.70%) Elastic Stack
6 3 (0.70%) JSON
6 3 (0.70%) JWT
6 3 (0.70%) Middleware
6 3 (0.70%) Oracle Fusion
6 3 (0.70%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 58 (13.49%) Product Ownership
2 26 (6.05%) Data Structures
3 20 (4.65%) Onboarding
4 17 (3.95%) Data Centre
4 17 (3.95%) Management Information System
5 15 (3.49%) Legacy Systems
6 12 (2.79%) Analytical Mindset
6 12 (2.79%) Cloud Native
6 12 (2.79%) Security Posture
7 11 (2.56%) Operational Technology
7 11 (2.56%) PMI
8 8 (1.86%) Data Protection Act
9 6 (1.40%) CMDB
9 6 (1.40%) Taxonomies
10 5 (1.16%) Distributed Systems
10 5 (1.16%) PKI
10 5 (1.16%) Virtual Team
11 4 (0.93%) Enterprise Software
11 4 (0.93%) Life Science
11 4 (0.93%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 17 (3.95%) Windows
2 6 (1.40%) Linux
3 2 (0.47%) Apple iOS
3 2 (0.47%) Windows Server
4 1 (0.23%) Android
4 1 (0.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.23%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 133 (30.93%) Agile
2 103 (23.95%) Stakeholder Management
3 96 (22.33%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 74 (17.21%) Problem-Solving
5 70 (16.28%) ITIL
6 58 (13.49%) Roadmaps
7 53 (12.33%) Service Management
8 52 (12.09%) Decision-Making
9 45 (10.47%) ITSM
10 43 (10.00%) Change Management
10 43 (10.00%) Cybersecurity
11 42 (9.77%) Scaled Agile Framework
12 41 (9.53%) Risk Management
13 40 (9.30%) Computer Science
13 40 (9.30%) Configuration Management
13 40 (9.30%) DevOps
13 40 (9.30%) PRINCE2
14 39 (9.07%) CI/CD
15 36 (8.37%) Project Delivery
15 36 (8.37%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 27 (6.28%) SQL
2 17 (3.95%) Python
3 14 (3.26%) Java
4 11 (2.56%) PowerShell
5 6 (1.40%) C#
6 4 (0.93%) Bash
6 4 (0.93%) Bicep
7 3 (0.70%) JavaScript
8 2 (0.47%) Apex Code
8 2 (0.47%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 2 (0.47%) PL/SQL
8 2 (0.47%) T-SQL
8 2 (0.47%) TypeScript
9 1 (0.23%) ABAP
9 1 (0.23%) C
9 1 (0.23%) Objective-C
9 1 (0.23%) Rust
9 1 (0.23%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.23%) Swift
9 1 (0.23%) VB
Qualifications
1 205 (47.67%) Security Cleared
2 105 (24.42%) SC Cleared
3 78 (18.14%) Degree
4 52 (12.09%) DV Cleared
5 22 (5.12%) ACCA
5 22 (5.12%) CIMA
6 21 (4.88%) PMI Certification
7 11 (2.56%) PMP
8 10 (2.33%) Cisco Certification
9 9 (2.09%) CCNP
10 8 (1.86%) Azure Certification
11 7 (1.63%) CISSP
12 6 (1.40%) Computer Science Degree
13 5 (1.16%) CCNA
14 4 (0.93%) CISM
15 3 (0.70%) AWS Certification
15 3 (0.70%) CESG Certified Professional
15 3 (0.70%) ISTQB
15 3 (0.70%) JNCIS
16 2 (0.47%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (7.21%) Data Quality
2 23 (5.35%) QA
3 20 (4.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 18 (4.19%) NIST
5 16 (3.72%) PMO
6 12 (2.79%) GDPR
6 12 (2.79%) SLA
7 11 (2.56%) NCSC
8 7 (1.63%) Cyber Essentials
9 6 (1.40%) Accessibility
10 4 (0.93%) GRC
11 3 (0.70%) Def Stans
11 3 (0.70%) ISO 22301
11 3 (0.70%) ISO 31000
11 3 (0.70%) NIST 800
12 2 (0.47%) Actionable Recommendations
13 1 (0.23%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 1 (0.23%) IFRS
13 1 (0.23%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.23%) SOC 2
System Software
1 14 (3.26%) VMware Infrastructure
2 13 (3.02%) Active Directory
3 11 (2.56%) Docker
4 5 (1.16%) Virtual Machines
5 4 (0.93%) VMware NSX
6 2 (0.47%) Firmware
6 2 (0.47%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.23%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.23%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 17 (3.95%) Kubernetes
2 15 (3.49%) Terraform
3 11 (2.56%) Ansible
4 7 (1.63%) Grafana
5 6 (1.40%) Prometheus
6 5 (1.16%) Single Sign-On
7 4 (0.93%) Nagios
7 4 (0.93%) Nessus
8 3 (0.70%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 3 (0.70%) Argo
8 3 (0.70%) OpenVAS
8 3 (0.70%) Rancher
9 2 (0.47%) Cisco Prime
9 2 (0.47%) Iperf
9 2 (0.47%) Nmap
9 2 (0.47%) SCCM
10 1 (0.23%) Microsoft Intune
10 1 (0.23%) Podman
10 1 (0.23%) Puppet
10 1 (0.23%) QRadar
Vendors
1 36 (8.37%) Microsoft
2 33 (7.67%) SAP
3 30 (6.98%) ServiceNow
4 25 (5.81%) IBM
5 21 (4.88%) Oracle
5 21 (4.88%) VMware
6 9 (2.09%) Cisco
6 9 (2.09%) Salesforce
7 8 (1.86%) Google
8 7 (1.63%) Juniper
8 7 (1.63%) SolarWinds
9 6 (1.40%) Palo Alto
9 6 (1.40%) Virgin Media
10 5 (1.16%) Databricks
10 5 (1.16%) Red Hat
10 5 (1.16%) Remedy
10 5 (1.16%) Splunk
11 4 (0.93%) F5
11 4 (0.93%) Qualys
11 4 (0.93%) Rapid7