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 3 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 30 39 64
Rank change year-on-year +9 +25 +8
Contract jobs citing Continuous Improvement 274 181 161
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 6.24% 5.17% 3.27%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 7.41% 5.84% 3.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 170 99 84
10th Percentile £303 £398 £400
25th Percentile £350 £450 £441
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £550 £537
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% +2.42% +4.17%
75th Percentile £574 £638 £650
90th Percentile £651 £698 £700
England median daily rate £500 £530 £550
% change year-on-year -5.66% -3.64% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 11 11
10th Percentile - £13.25 £16.25
25th Percentile £12.50 £21.00 £35.55
Median hourly rate £16.00 £52.50 £61.00
Median % change year-on-year -69.52% -13.93% +113.47%
75th Percentile £58.00 £59.53 £71.41
90th Percentile £92.52 £61.76 £72.33
England median hourly rate £26.11 £51.25 £65.00
% change year-on-year -49.05% -21.15% +4.00%

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 3,698 3,101 4,397
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 84.28% 88.50% 89.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,440 1,921 2,815
10th Percentile £223 £250 £213
25th Percentile £400 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £510 £515
Median % change year-on-year -1.96% -0.97% +0.98%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £614
90th Percentile £688 £675 £688
England median daily rate £500 £525 £540
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 341 119 247
10th Percentile £14.75 £19.84 £17.60
25th Percentile £17.00 £26.13 £26.13
Median hourly rate £22.50 £47.25 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -52.38% -14.10% +37.50%
75th Percentile £53.75 £63.00 £66.25
90th Percentile £77.50 £74.89 £76.53
England median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +27.14%

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 3 January 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 3 January 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 3 January 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 +4 138 £434 -21.14% 154
Berkshire +1 106 £410 -25.45% 86
Hampshire +15 72 £475 -9.52% 84
Buckinghamshire +6 27 £500 -9.09% 37
Surrey 0 24 £500 -23.08% 39
West Sussex +1 14 £500 +11.11% 25
Sussex 0 9 - - 3
Kent +5 8 £594 +7.91% 48
East Sussex +5 6 £600 -14.29% 15
Oxfordshire -12 5 £529 +17.61% 34
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 (2.92%) Confluence
2 6 (2.19%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.46%) Microsoft Exchange
4 3 (1.09%) Camunda
5 2 (0.73%) WebLogic
6 1 (0.36%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.36%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.36%) CMS
6 1 (0.36%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.36%) Umbraco
Applications
1 21 (7.66%) Microsoft Office
2 16 (5.84%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (3.65%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 10 (3.65%) Microsoft Project
3 10 (3.65%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.73%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.36%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 5 (1.82%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (1.09%) NetSuite
2 3 (1.09%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 3 (1.09%) Workday HCM
3 1 (0.36%) assyst
3 1 (0.36%) iTrent
3 1 (0.36%) Oracle Applications
3 1 (0.36%) Oracle BRM
3 1 (0.36%) SAP HCM
3 1 (0.36%) SAP HR
3 1 (0.36%) SAP PM
Cloud Services
1 76 (27.74%) Azure
2 55 (20.07%) AWS
3 37 (13.50%) GCP
4 14 (5.11%) Azure DevOps
5 12 (4.38%) Google Workspace
6 11 (4.01%) Power Platform
7 10 (3.65%) SaaS
8 9 (3.28%) GitHub
9 8 (2.92%) Microsoft 365
10 6 (2.19%) Entra ID
10 6 (2.19%) IaaS
11 5 (1.82%) GitHub Actions
11 5 (1.82%) PaaS
12 4 (1.46%) Serverless
13 3 (1.09%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 3 (1.09%) Azure Functions
13 3 (1.09%) Azure Monitor
13 3 (1.09%) Lucidchart
13 3 (1.09%) OpenShift
13 3 (1.09%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 12 (4.38%) Network Security
2 10 (3.65%) Firewall
3 8 (2.92%) DNS
4 7 (2.55%) VPN
5 4 (1.46%) DHCP
5 4 (1.46%) TCP/IP
6 3 (1.09%) Broadband
6 3 (1.09%) MPLS
6 3 (1.09%) WAN
7 2 (0.73%) Internet
7 2 (0.73%) IPv4
7 2 (0.73%) IPv6
7 2 (0.73%) LAN
7 2 (0.73%) NaaS
7 2 (0.73%) SD-WAN
7 2 (0.73%) Software-Defined Networking
7 2 (0.73%) VLAN
8 1 (0.36%) 5G
8 1 (0.36%) NGN
8 1 (0.36%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (2.92%) Power BI
2 5 (1.82%) Oracle Database
3 4 (1.46%) Data Lake
3 4 (1.46%) Data Warehouse
3 4 (1.46%) Relational Database
3 4 (1.46%) SQL Server
4 3 (1.09%) Oracle Reports
5 2 (0.73%) DynamoDB
5 2 (0.73%) Metadata
5 2 (0.73%) Oracle Database 11g
5 2 (0.73%) Oracle Database 12c
5 2 (0.73%) Oracle ODI
5 2 (0.73%) Pinecone
5 2 (0.73%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (0.73%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 2 (0.73%) Tableau
5 2 (0.73%) Weaviate
6 1 (0.36%) Data Hub
6 1 (0.36%) Data Vault
6 1 (0.36%) Metadata Repository
Development Applications
1 21 (7.66%) JIRA
2 7 (2.55%) Jenkins
3 6 (2.19%) GitLab
4 5 (1.82%) Selenium
5 4 (1.46%) Git
6 3 (1.09%) Bitbucket
6 3 (1.09%) Rational DOORS
7 2 (0.73%) Cucumber
7 2 (0.73%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.73%) Oracle APEX
7 2 (0.73%) Oracle Forms
7 2 (0.73%) REST Assured
7 2 (0.73%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.36%) Appium
8 1 (0.36%) Gatling
8 1 (0.36%) HP UFT
8 1 (0.36%) JMeter
8 1 (0.36%) Katalon Studio
8 1 (0.36%) LoadRunner
8 1 (0.36%) Subversion
General
1 139 (50.73%) Social Skills
2 72 (26.28%) Analytical Skills
3 53 (19.34%) Finance
4 27 (9.85%) Public Sector
5 18 (6.57%) Organisational Skills
6 13 (4.74%) Influencing Skills
7 12 (4.38%) Manufacturing
8 9 (3.28%) Retail
9 8 (2.92%) Aerospace
9 8 (2.92%) Documentation Skills
9 8 (2.92%) Legal
10 7 (2.55%) Telecoms
11 6 (2.19%) Law
12 5 (1.82%) Billing
12 5 (1.82%) Presentation Skills
13 4 (1.46%) Automotive
13 4 (1.46%) Aviation
13 4 (1.46%) Environmental Health
13 4 (1.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 3 (1.09%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 37 (13.50%) Lead
2 27 (9.85%) Analyst
2 27 (9.85%) Senior
3 15 (5.47%) Project Manager
3 15 (5.47%) Support Officer
4 13 (4.74%) Consultant
5 12 (4.38%) IT Support
6 11 (4.01%) Support Assistant
7 10 (3.65%) Delivery Manager
7 10 (3.65%) IT Assistant
7 10 (3.65%) IT Support Assistant
8 8 (2.92%) Architect
8 8 (2.92%) IT Manager
8 8 (2.92%) Senior Analyst
8 8 (2.92%) Service Analyst
8 8 (2.92%) Service Manager
8 8 (2.92%) Test Manager
9 7 (2.55%) Designer
9 7 (2.55%) Service Delivery Manager
10 6 (2.19%) Technology Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (2.55%) .NET
1 7 (2.55%) REST
2 6 (2.19%) React
3 4 (1.46%) Oracle Fusion
3 4 (1.46%) RESTful
3 4 (1.46%) SOAP
4 3 (1.09%) AngularJS
4 3 (1.09%) Node.js
5 2 (0.73%) Faiss
5 2 (0.73%) Kafka
5 2 (0.73%) Oracle GoldenGate
5 2 (0.73%) Playwright
5 2 (0.73%) Unity (Game Engine)
5 2 (0.73%) Unreal Engine
6 1 (0.36%) Elastic Stack
6 1 (0.36%) Keycloak
6 1 (0.36%) Lightning Web Components
6 1 (0.36%) Play Framework
6 1 (0.36%) Spring Boot
6 1 (0.36%) WebdriverIO
Miscellaneous
1 17 (6.20%) Enterprise Software
2 15 (5.47%) Onboarding
3 12 (4.38%) Data Centre
4 10 (3.65%) Product Ownership
4 10 (3.65%) Virtual Team
5 9 (3.28%) Security Operations Centre
6 8 (2.92%) PMI
7 7 (2.55%) e-Learning
7 7 (2.55%) Legacy Systems
8 6 (2.19%) Management Information System
8 6 (2.19%) PKI
9 5 (1.82%) Analytical Mindset
9 5 (1.82%) Cloud Native
10 4 (1.46%) Hybrid Cloud
10 4 (1.46%) Learning Management System
10 4 (1.46%) Life Science
10 4 (1.46%) Operational Technology
10 4 (1.46%) Security Posture
10 4 (1.46%) Self-Motivation
10 4 (1.46%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 26 (9.49%) Linux
2 25 (9.12%) Windows
3 5 (1.82%) Windows Server
4 4 (1.46%) Unix
5 3 (1.09%) Windows 10
6 2 (0.73%) CentOS
6 2 (0.73%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.36%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.36%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.36%) Solaris
7 1 (0.36%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (29.20%) Agile
2 79 (28.83%) Problem-Solving
3 60 (21.90%) ITIL
4 58 (21.17%) Change Management
5 55 (20.07%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 49 (17.88%) Service Management
7 47 (17.15%) ITSM
8 42 (15.33%) Stakeholder Management
9 37 (13.50%) Performance Metrics
10 30 (10.95%) Decision-Making
11 28 (10.22%) DevOps
12 26 (9.49%) Roadmaps
13 25 (9.12%) Project Management
14 23 (8.39%) Collaborative Working
14 23 (8.39%) Cybersecurity
14 23 (8.39%) Service Delivery
15 21 (7.66%) Incident Response
15 21 (7.66%) PRINCE2
15 21 (7.66%) Project Delivery
16 20 (7.30%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 21 (7.66%) Python
2 14 (5.11%) PowerShell
3 13 (4.74%) SQL
4 6 (2.19%) Bash
5 5 (1.82%) C#
5 5 (1.82%) Java
5 5 (1.82%) PL/SQL
6 3 (1.09%) Perl
7 2 (0.73%) Bicep
8 1 (0.36%) Apex Code
8 1 (0.36%) JavaScript
8 1 (0.36%) Scala
8 1 (0.36%) TypeScript
8 1 (0.36%) VB
Qualifications
1 87 (31.75%) Security Cleared
2 60 (21.90%) SC Cleared
3 32 (11.68%) Degree
4 18 (6.57%) DV Cleared
5 16 (5.84%) PMI Certification
6 11 (4.01%) CISSP
7 10 (3.65%) Computer Science Degree
8 8 (2.92%) PMP
9 7 (2.55%) ACCA
9 7 (2.55%) CIMA
9 7 (2.55%) Cisco Certification
9 7 (2.55%) ISTQB
10 5 (1.82%) CCNA
10 5 (1.82%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
10 5 (1.82%) Microsoft Certification
11 4 (1.46%) Azure Certification
11 4 (1.46%) CCNP
11 4 (1.46%) GCIA
11 4 (1.46%) GCIH
11 4 (1.46%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (6.20%) GDPR
2 15 (5.47%) PMO
3 13 (4.74%) QA
4 12 (4.38%) NIST
4 12 (4.38%) SLA
5 10 (3.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 6 (2.19%) Data Quality
7 4 (1.46%) Accessibility
8 3 (1.09%) Actionable Recommendations
8 3 (1.09%) Cyber Essentials
9 2 (0.73%) GRC
9 2 (0.73%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.73%) ISO/IEC 19770
9 2 (0.73%) NCSC
9 2 (0.73%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.36%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 1 (0.36%) COBIT
10 1 (0.36%) JSP 440
10 1 (0.36%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.36%) SOC 2
System Software
1 11 (4.01%) Docker
1 11 (4.01%) VMware Infrastructure
2 9 (3.28%) Active Directory
3 6 (2.19%) vSphere
4 5 (1.82%) VMware NSX
5 2 (0.73%) Firmware
5 2 (0.73%) KVM
5 2 (0.73%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.73%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.36%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.36%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 11 (4.01%) Ansible
2 9 (3.28%) Kubernetes
3 8 (2.92%) Terraform
4 4 (1.46%) SCCM
4 4 (1.46%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (1.09%) Grafana
5 3 (1.09%) Nagios
5 3 (1.09%) Podman
5 3 (1.09%) Progress Chef
5 3 (1.09%) Prometheus
5 3 (1.09%) Proxmox
5 3 (1.09%) Puppet
6 2 (0.73%) CSIRT
6 2 (0.73%) vRealize
6 2 (0.73%) vRealize Orchestrator
7 1 (0.36%) Amdocs OSS
7 1 (0.36%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 1 (0.36%) Rancher
7 1 (0.36%) SELinux
7 1 (0.36%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 49 (17.88%) Microsoft
2 34 (12.41%) Google
3 21 (7.66%) Oracle
4 20 (7.30%) ServiceNow
5 15 (5.47%) VMware
6 9 (3.28%) SAP
7 8 (2.92%) Cisco
7 8 (2.92%) Juniper
7 8 (2.92%) Workday
8 7 (2.55%) Splunk
9 6 (2.19%) Salesforce
9 6 (2.19%) Zscaler
10 4 (1.46%) Fortinet
11 3 (1.09%) BMC
11 3 (1.09%) CyberArk
11 3 (1.09%) IFS
11 3 (1.09%) Palo Alto
11 3 (1.09%) Red Hat
11 3 (1.09%) SolarWinds
11 3 (1.09%) Tenable