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

6 months to
2 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 45 56
Rank change year-on-year +18 +11 +22
Contract jobs citing Continuous Improvement 280 152 189
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 6.15% 4.78% 3.43%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 7.36% 5.35% 3.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 177 86 92
10th Percentile £304 £382 £400
25th Percentile £350 £450 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -9.52% -4.55% +10.00%
75th Percentile £571 £638 £675
90th Percentile £675 £694 £700
England median daily rate £500 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 8 15
10th Percentile - £13.25 £21.92
25th Percentile £12.50 £19.06 £36.25
Median hourly rate £16.00 £40.19 £60.14
Median % change year-on-year -60.19% -33.18% +110.46%
75th Percentile £58.00 £60.49 £71.41
90th Percentile £99.00 £66.74 £75.95
England median hourly rate £28.79 £52.00 £39.82
% change year-on-year -44.63% +30.59% -33.63%

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 3,805 2,843 4,833
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 83.52% 89.35% 87.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,511 1,738 2,982
10th Percentile £250 £250 £213
25th Percentile £388 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year - -2.44% +2.50%
75th Percentile £600 £613 £613
90th Percentile £688 £675 £688
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 330 105 355
10th Percentile £13.73 £18.58 £13.25
25th Percentile £17.00 £24.18 £19.75
Median hourly rate £23.58 £45.00 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -47.61% -5.26% +5.56%
75th Percentile £56.88 £62.50 £63.29
90th Percentile £75.25 £74.95 £76.53
England median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £35.50
% change year-on-year -28.14% -1.41% +1.43%

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 2 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 2 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 2 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 +9 135 £424 -19.29% 130
Berkshire +8 108 £388 -29.55% 82
Hampshire +21 83 £500 -9.09% 81
Buckinghamshire -3 25 £500 -4.76% 29
Surrey -1 19 £450 -28.00% 51
West Sussex -1 15 £500 +97.04% 16
East Sussex +3 9 £600 -7.69% 12
Sussex +1 9 - - 5
Kent 0 7 £594 -10.42% 18
Oxfordshire -12 2 £529 +17.61% 22
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 7 (2.50%) Confluence
2 5 (1.79%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (1.07%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.71%) Camunda
4 2 (0.71%) WebLogic
5 1 (0.36%) Tomcat
Applications
1 22 (7.86%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (2.86%) Microsoft Project
2 8 (2.86%) MS Visio
3 7 (2.50%) Microsoft Excel
4 5 (1.79%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (1.07%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 8 (2.86%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 3 (1.07%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (0.71%) Workday HCM
4 1 (0.36%) assyst
4 1 (0.36%) iTrent
4 1 (0.36%) Oracle Applications
4 1 (0.36%) Oracle BRM
4 1 (0.36%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 78 (27.86%) Azure
2 60 (21.43%) AWS
3 39 (13.93%) GCP
4 13 (4.64%) Azure DevOps
5 12 (4.29%) Google Workspace
6 9 (3.21%) SaaS
7 8 (2.86%) Microsoft 365
8 7 (2.50%) Power Platform
9 6 (2.14%) Entra ID
9 6 (2.14%) GitHub
9 6 (2.14%) IaaS
10 5 (1.79%) PaaS
11 3 (1.07%) Azure Machine Learning
11 3 (1.07%) dbt
11 3 (1.07%) GitHub Actions
11 3 (1.07%) OCI
11 3 (1.07%) OpenShift
11 3 (1.07%) Power Automate
11 3 (1.07%) Vertex AI
12 2 (0.71%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 13 (4.64%) Network Security
2 12 (4.29%) Firewall
3 9 (3.21%) VPN
4 8 (2.86%) DNS
5 6 (2.14%) TCP/IP
6 4 (1.43%) DHCP
6 4 (1.43%) MPLS
6 4 (1.43%) VLAN
7 3 (1.07%) Broadband
7 3 (1.07%) IPv4
7 3 (1.07%) IPv6
7 3 (1.07%) WAN
8 2 (0.71%) Intranet
8 2 (0.71%) NaaS
8 2 (0.71%) SD-WAN
8 2 (0.71%) Software-Defined Networking
9 1 (0.36%) 5G
9 1 (0.36%) Cisco ASA
9 1 (0.36%) Radio Access Network
9 1 (0.36%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.79%) Oracle Database
2 4 (1.43%) Metadata
2 4 (1.43%) Power BI
3 3 (1.07%) Data Lake
3 3 (1.07%) Data Warehouse
3 3 (1.07%) Metadata Repository
3 3 (1.07%) Oracle Reports
3 3 (1.07%) Pinecone
3 3 (1.07%) Relational Database
3 3 (1.07%) Weaviate
4 2 (0.71%) Oracle Database 11g
4 2 (0.71%) Oracle Database 12c
4 2 (0.71%) Oracle ODI
4 2 (0.71%) SQL Server
4 2 (0.71%) Tableau
5 1 (0.36%) Big Data
5 1 (0.36%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
5 1 (0.36%) MongoDB
5 1 (0.36%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.36%) Redis
Development Applications
1 18 (6.43%) JIRA
2 6 (2.14%) Jenkins
3 5 (1.79%) GitLab
3 5 (1.79%) Selenium
4 3 (1.07%) Bitbucket
5 2 (0.71%) Cucumber
5 2 (0.71%) Cypress.io
5 2 (0.71%) Git
5 2 (0.71%) Oracle APEX
5 2 (0.71%) Oracle Forms
5 2 (0.71%) REST Assured
5 2 (0.71%) Visual Studio
6 1 (0.36%) Appium
6 1 (0.36%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.36%) Gatling
6 1 (0.36%) JMeter
6 1 (0.36%) LoadRunner
6 1 (0.36%) SpecFlow
6 1 (0.36%) Subversion
6 1 (0.36%) WebDriver
General
1 141 (50.36%) Social Skills
2 71 (25.36%) Analytical Skills
3 54 (19.29%) Finance
4 37 (13.21%) Public Sector
5 16 (5.71%) Organisational Skills
6 15 (5.36%) Influencing Skills
7 11 (3.93%) Telecoms
8 9 (3.21%) Law
8 9 (3.21%) Legal
9 8 (2.86%) Aerospace
9 8 (2.86%) Documentation Skills
10 7 (2.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 7 (2.50%) Manufacturing
10 7 (2.50%) Retail
11 6 (2.14%) Marketing
12 5 (1.79%) Automotive
12 5 (1.79%) Billing
12 5 (1.79%) Presentation Skills
13 4 (1.43%) Environmental Health
14 3 (1.07%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 38 (13.57%) Lead
2 25 (8.93%) Senior
3 15 (5.36%) Analyst
3 15 (5.36%) Delivery Manager
3 15 (5.36%) Support Officer
4 14 (5.00%) Project Manager
4 14 (5.00%) Service Manager
5 12 (4.29%) IT Support
6 11 (3.93%) Consultant
7 10 (3.57%) Designer
7 10 (3.57%) IT Assistant
7 10 (3.57%) IT Manager
7 10 (3.57%) IT Support Assistant
7 10 (3.57%) Service Delivery Manager
7 10 (3.57%) Support Assistant
8 7 (2.50%) Test Manager
8 7 (2.50%) Transformation Manager
9 6 (2.14%) Azure Engineer
9 6 (2.14%) Developer
9 6 (2.14%) Technology Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (2.50%) .NET
2 6 (2.14%) REST
3 5 (1.79%) React
4 4 (1.43%) Node.js
4 4 (1.43%) Oracle Fusion
4 4 (1.43%) SOAP
5 3 (1.07%) Faiss
5 3 (1.07%) RESTful
6 2 (0.71%) AngularJS
6 2 (0.71%) Oracle GoldenGate
6 2 (0.71%) Playwright
6 2 (0.71%) Unity (Game Engine)
6 2 (0.71%) Unreal Engine
7 1 (0.36%) Kafka
7 1 (0.36%) LDAP
7 1 (0.36%) Middleware
7 1 (0.36%) OAuth2
7 1 (0.36%) OpenID
7 1 (0.36%) Play Framework
7 1 (0.36%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 17 (6.07%) Enterprise Software
2 15 (5.36%) Product Ownership
3 13 (4.64%) Data Centre
4 11 (3.93%) Onboarding
5 9 (3.21%) PMI
5 9 (3.21%) Virtual Team
6 8 (2.86%) Security Operations Centre
7 7 (2.50%) Analytical Mindset
7 7 (2.50%) e-Learning
7 7 (2.50%) Legacy Systems
8 6 (2.14%) Cloud Native
8 6 (2.14%) PKI
9 4 (1.43%) CMDB
9 4 (1.43%) Data Protection Act
9 4 (1.43%) Hybrid Cloud
9 4 (1.43%) Learning Management System
9 4 (1.43%) Mainframe
9 4 (1.43%) Management Information System
9 4 (1.43%) Operational Technology
9 4 (1.43%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 25 (8.93%) Linux
1 25 (8.93%) Windows
2 5 (1.79%) Windows Server
3 4 (1.43%) Unix
4 3 (1.07%) Windows 10
5 2 (0.71%) Apple iOS
5 2 (0.71%) CentOS
5 2 (0.71%) Ubuntu
6 1 (0.36%) Android
6 1 (0.36%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.36%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.36%) Solaris
6 1 (0.36%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 76 (27.14%) Problem-Solving
2 69 (24.64%) Agile
3 62 (22.14%) Change Management
3 62 (22.14%) ITIL
4 58 (20.71%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 52 (18.57%) Stakeholder Management
6 51 (18.21%) ITSM
7 49 (17.50%) Service Management
8 39 (13.93%) Performance Metrics
9 29 (10.36%) Service Delivery
10 26 (9.29%) Roadmaps
11 25 (8.93%) Decision-Making
11 25 (8.93%) DevOps
12 24 (8.57%) ERP
13 23 (8.21%) Incident Management
14 22 (7.86%) Analytics
14 22 (7.86%) Incident Response
14 22 (7.86%) Scrum
15 20 (7.14%) Collaborative Working
15 20 (7.14%) Cybersecurity
Programming Languages
1 24 (8.57%) Python
2 15 (5.36%) PowerShell
3 10 (3.57%) SQL
4 9 (3.21%) Java
5 7 (2.50%) Bash
6 5 (1.79%) C#
6 5 (1.79%) PL/SQL
7 3 (1.07%) JavaScript
7 3 (1.07%) Perl
8 2 (0.71%) Bicep
8 2 (0.71%) TypeScript
9 1 (0.36%) Objective-C
9 1 (0.36%) Scala
9 1 (0.36%) Swift
9 1 (0.36%) VB
Qualifications
1 96 (34.29%) Security Cleared
2 68 (24.29%) SC Cleared
3 25 (8.93%) Degree
4 22 (7.86%) DV Cleared
5 15 (5.36%) PMI Certification
6 10 (3.57%) CISSP
7 9 (3.21%) ACCA
7 9 (3.21%) CIMA
7 9 (3.21%) Computer Science Degree
8 8 (2.86%) ISTQB
9 7 (2.50%) Cisco Certification
10 6 (2.14%) PMP
11 5 (1.79%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
11 5 (1.79%) Microsoft Certification
12 4 (1.43%) Azure Certification
12 4 (1.43%) CCNA
12 4 (1.43%) CCNP
13 3 (1.07%) GCIA
13 3 (1.07%) GCIH
13 3 (1.07%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (5.71%) PMO
1 16 (5.71%) QA
2 14 (5.00%) GDPR
2 14 (5.00%) NIST
3 11 (3.93%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 8 (2.86%) Data Quality
4 8 (2.86%) SLA
5 4 (1.43%) Actionable Recommendations
6 3 (1.07%) Accessibility
6 3 (1.07%) Cyber Essentials
6 3 (1.07%) GRC
6 3 (1.07%) NCSC
7 2 (0.71%) ISO/IEC 19770
8 1 (0.36%) COBIT
8 1 (0.36%) COSHH
8 1 (0.36%) Def Stans
8 1 (0.36%) HIPAA
8 1 (0.36%) JSP 440
8 1 (0.36%) NIST 800
8 1 (0.36%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 13 (4.64%) VMware Infrastructure
2 10 (3.57%) Active Directory
2 10 (3.57%) Docker
3 6 (2.14%) vSphere
4 5 (1.79%) VMware NSX
5 2 (0.71%) Firmware
5 2 (0.71%) KVM
5 2 (0.71%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.36%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.36%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.36%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 12 (4.29%) Ansible
2 9 (3.21%) Kubernetes
3 7 (2.50%) Terraform
4 5 (1.79%) SCCM
5 4 (1.43%) Nagios
5 4 (1.43%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (1.07%) Grafana
6 3 (1.07%) Podman
6 3 (1.07%) Progress Chef
6 3 (1.07%) Prometheus
6 3 (1.07%) Proxmox
6 3 (1.07%) Puppet
7 2 (0.71%) CSIRT
7 2 (0.71%) Nessus
7 2 (0.71%) OpenVAS
7 2 (0.71%) vRealize
7 2 (0.71%) vRealize Orchestrator
8 1 (0.36%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 1 (0.36%) Argo
8 1 (0.36%) Avamar
Vendors
1 42 (15.00%) Microsoft
2 35 (12.50%) Google
3 26 (9.29%) Oracle
4 19 (6.79%) ServiceNow
5 17 (6.07%) VMware
6 7 (2.50%) Workday
7 6 (2.14%) Cisco
7 6 (2.14%) Splunk
7 6 (2.14%) Zscaler
8 5 (1.79%) BMC
8 5 (1.79%) Fortinet
8 5 (1.79%) Juniper
8 5 (1.79%) SolarWinds
9 4 (1.43%) Palo Alto
9 4 (1.43%) SAP
10 3 (1.07%) CheckPoint
10 3 (1.07%) CyberArk
10 3 (1.07%) Red Hat
10 3 (1.07%) Salesforce
10 3 (1.07%) Tenable