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 16 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 13 39 39
Rank change year-on-year +26 0 +26
Contract jobs citing Continuous Improvement 577 170 238
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 8.86% 5.03% 4.27%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.89% 5.58% 5.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 350 106 125
10th Percentile £362 £319 £363
25th Percentile £432 £431 £456
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £539 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.51% +7.70% -4.76%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £650
90th Percentile £689 £650 £688
England median daily rate £510 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +2.00% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 66 12 16
10th Percentile £49.62 - £18.35
25th Percentile £80.75 £15.13 £26.05
Median hourly rate £86.20 £17.58 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +390.33% -53.12% -25.00%
75th Percentile £88.00 £67.50 £43.75
90th Percentile £92.75 £69.89 £56.88
England median hourly rate £55.00 £32.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year +71.88% -8.57% -34.40%

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 5,298 3,045 4,618
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 81.31% 90.06% 82.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,356 1,891 2,707
10th Percentile £280 £250 £263
25th Percentile £413 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -2.44% -0.49%
75th Percentile £610 £600 £638
90th Percentile £700 £675 £700
England median daily rate £525 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 523 263 424
10th Percentile £15.80 £13.50 £13.00
25th Percentile £25.12 £15.13 £18.29
Median hourly rate £55.00 £24.00 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +129.17% -52.00% -
75th Percentile £82.25 £53.63 £70.00
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £78.38
England median hourly rate £47.50 £25.15 £38.12
% change year-on-year +88.87% -34.02% -8.14%

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 16 July 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 16 July 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 16 July 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 +22 277 £523 +4.50% 184
Berkshire +28 211 £510 +2.00% 90
Hampshire +24 171 £550 -8.33% 105
Surrey +19 55 £475 -5.00% 64
Buckinghamshire -12 55 £544 +2.41% 51
West Sussex -8 32 £508 +30.97% 18
Oxfordshire -22 11 £650 +44.44% 43
Middlesex - 11 - - 6
East Sussex +3 7 £625 +13.64% 8
Kent +1 4 £468 -17.54% 20
Sussex - 1 £600 - 4
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 20 (3.47%) SharePoint
2 18 (3.12%) Confluence
3 3 (0.52%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.35%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.17%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 1 (0.17%) SharePoint 2010
5 1 (0.17%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 46 (7.97%) Microsoft Excel
2 15 (2.60%) Microsoft Project
3 13 (2.25%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 12 (2.08%) Microsoft Office
5 2 (0.35%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.17%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 15 (2.60%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (0.69%) Oracle ERP
2 4 (0.69%) Primavera
2 4 (0.69%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.52%) iTrent
3 3 (0.52%) Maximo
3 3 (0.52%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 3 (0.52%) Salesforce CRM
4 2 (0.35%) SAP SD
4 2 (0.35%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.17%) SAP BPC
5 1 (0.17%) SAP BRIM
5 1 (0.17%) SAP Business One
5 1 (0.17%) SAP Convergent Charging
5 1 (0.17%) SAP ERP
5 1 (0.17%) SAP PLM
5 1 (0.17%) SAP PSCD
5 1 (0.17%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 92 (15.94%) Azure
2 67 (11.61%) AWS
3 31 (5.37%) Power Platform
4 25 (4.33%) GCP
5 16 (2.77%) Azure DevOps
5 16 (2.77%) SaaS
6 15 (2.60%) Entra ID
7 13 (2.25%) GitHub
8 12 (2.08%) Serverless
9 8 (1.39%) GitHub Actions
9 8 (1.39%) Microsoft 365
10 6 (1.04%) AWS CloudFormation
10 6 (1.04%) Azure AKS
10 6 (1.04%) Azure Monitor
10 6 (1.04%) Microsoft Purview
10 6 (1.04%) OCI
10 6 (1.04%) OpenShift
11 5 (0.87%) Datadog
12 4 (0.69%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 4 (0.69%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 23 (3.99%) Network Security
2 20 (3.47%) DNS
3 17 (2.95%) Firewall
4 14 (2.43%) LAN
5 8 (1.39%) DHCP
5 8 (1.39%) TCP/IP
6 7 (1.21%) WAN
7 6 (1.04%) SD-WAN
7 6 (1.04%) VPN
7 6 (1.04%) Wi-Fi
8 5 (0.87%) Wireless
9 4 (0.69%) Broadband
9 4 (0.69%) DNSSEC
10 3 (0.52%) BGP
10 3 (0.52%) Intrusion Detection
10 3 (0.52%) MQTT
10 3 (0.52%) OSPF
10 3 (0.52%) Radio Access Network
10 3 (0.52%) VLAN
11 2 (0.35%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (5.20%) Power BI
2 11 (1.91%) Data Warehouse
3 7 (1.21%) Metadata
3 7 (1.21%) PostgreSQL
3 7 (1.21%) Tableau
4 4 (0.69%) Geospatial Data
4 4 (0.69%) GIS
4 4 (0.69%) Oracle Reports
4 4 (0.69%) Redis
5 3 (0.52%) Big Data
5 3 (0.52%) Data Lake
5 3 (0.52%) DynamoDB
5 3 (0.52%) Elasticsearch
5 3 (0.52%) Spark SQL
5 3 (0.52%) SQL Server
6 2 (0.35%) NoSQL
6 2 (0.35%) SAP HANA
6 2 (0.35%) SQL Server Analysis Services
6 2 (0.35%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 2 (0.35%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 31 (5.37%) JIRA
2 27 (4.68%) Rational DOORS
3 11 (1.91%) GitLab
4 10 (1.73%) Jenkins
5 9 (1.56%) Git
6 5 (0.87%) SonarQube
7 3 (0.52%) Cucumber
7 3 (0.52%) Hudson
8 2 (0.35%) Selenium
8 2 (0.35%) Sonatype Nexus
8 2 (0.35%) SpecFlow
9 1 (0.17%) Balsamiq
9 1 (0.17%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.17%) ERwin
9 1 (0.17%) JUnit
9 1 (0.17%) Mockito
9 1 (0.17%) MSI
9 1 (0.17%) Postman
9 1 (0.17%) SoapUI
9 1 (0.17%) TestRail
General
1 261 (45.23%) Social Skills
2 147 (25.48%) Analytical Skills
3 115 (19.93%) Finance
4 62 (10.75%) Public Sector
5 56 (9.71%) Aerospace
6 29 (5.03%) Organisational Skills
7 22 (3.81%) Telecoms
8 20 (3.47%) Retail
9 19 (3.29%) Influencing Skills
10 16 (2.77%) French Language
10 16 (2.77%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 16 (2.77%) Spanish Language
11 15 (2.60%) Documentation Skills
11 15 (2.60%) Legal
12 8 (1.39%) Law
12 8 (1.39%) Presentation Skills
13 7 (1.21%) Aviation
14 6 (1.04%) Marketing
15 5 (0.87%) Manufacturing
15 5 (0.87%) Military
Job Titles
1 81 (14.04%) Analyst
2 68 (11.79%) Lead
3 51 (8.84%) Senior
4 48 (8.32%) Architect
5 45 (7.80%) Delivery Manager
6 40 (6.93%) Product Manager
7 29 (5.03%) Product Delivery Manager
8 27 (4.68%) IT Manager
9 22 (3.81%) Systems Delivery Manager
9 22 (3.81%) Systems Manager
10 18 (3.12%) Data Analyst
11 17 (2.95%) Service Manager
12 16 (2.77%) 2nd Line Support
12 16 (2.77%) 2nd Line Technical Support
12 16 (2.77%) Technical Support
13 15 (2.60%) Consultant
13 15 (2.60%) Project Manager
14 14 (2.43%) Senior Analyst
14 14 (2.43%) Solutions Architect
15 13 (2.25%) Change Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (1.91%) OAuth
2 10 (1.73%) REST
2 10 (1.73%) RESTful
2 10 (1.73%) SOAP
3 8 (1.39%) Kafka
3 8 (1.39%) SAML
4 7 (1.21%) .NET
4 7 (1.21%) OpenID
5 6 (1.04%) EDI
5 6 (1.04%) GraphQL
5 6 (1.04%) LDAP
5 6 (1.04%) OAuth2
5 6 (1.04%) React
6 5 (0.87%) JSON
6 5 (0.87%) Keycloak
6 5 (0.87%) Middleware
6 5 (0.87%) YAML
7 4 (0.69%) Elastic Stack
7 4 (0.69%) HTML
7 4 (0.69%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 77 (13.34%) Product Ownership
2 31 (5.37%) Onboarding
3 27 (4.68%) Cloud Native
4 26 (4.51%) Management Information System
5 25 (4.33%) Data Structures
6 21 (3.64%) Operational Technology
7 20 (3.47%) Security Posture
8 15 (2.60%) Data Centre
9 14 (2.43%) Legacy Systems
10 13 (2.25%) Analytical Mindset
11 12 (2.08%) PMI
12 11 (1.91%) CMDB
12 11 (1.91%) Data Protection Act
13 9 (1.56%) Hybrid Cloud
14 8 (1.39%) Cyber Threat
14 8 (1.39%) Enterprise Software
14 8 (1.39%) Self-Motivation
15 7 (1.21%) Security Operations Centre
16 6 (1.04%) Taxonomies
17 5 (0.87%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 52 (9.01%) Windows
2 22 (3.81%) Linux
3 10 (1.73%) Windows Server
4 5 (0.87%) Windows Server 2019
5 3 (0.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (0.35%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.17%) Android
7 1 (0.17%) Embedded Linux
7 1 (0.17%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 193 (33.45%) Agile
2 159 (27.56%) Stakeholder Management
3 140 (24.26%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 131 (22.70%) Problem-Solving
5 107 (18.54%) ITIL
6 87 (15.08%) Decision-Making
7 80 (13.86%) Service Delivery
8 76 (13.17%) Roadmaps
9 74 (12.82%) Service Management
10 70 (12.13%) ITSM
11 64 (11.09%) Cybersecurity
12 60 (10.40%) Change Management
13 59 (10.23%) CI/CD
14 57 (9.88%) DevOps
15 55 (9.53%) Project Delivery
16 53 (9.19%) PRINCE2
17 51 (8.84%) Project Management
17 51 (8.84%) Scaled Agile Framework
18 50 (8.67%) Computer Science
18 50 (8.67%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 51 (8.84%) SQL
2 47 (8.15%) Python
3 30 (5.20%) PowerShell
4 20 (3.47%) Bash
5 18 (3.12%) Java
6 6 (1.04%) C#
6 6 (1.04%) JavaScript
7 5 (0.87%) TypeScript
8 4 (0.69%) Apex Code
8 4 (0.69%) Bicep
8 4 (0.69%) Shell Script
9 3 (0.52%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 3 (0.52%) Rust
10 2 (0.35%) ABAP
10 2 (0.35%) PL/SQL
10 2 (0.35%) T-SQL
11 1 (0.17%) Groovy
11 1 (0.17%) Objective-C
11 1 (0.17%) Perl
11 1 (0.17%) VB
Qualifications
1 285 (49.39%) Security Cleared
2 145 (25.13%) SC Cleared
3 100 (17.33%) Degree
4 86 (14.90%) DV Cleared
5 33 (5.72%) PMI Certification
6 23 (3.99%) PMP
7 18 (3.12%) ACCA
7 18 (3.12%) CIMA
8 15 (2.60%) Azure Certification
9 13 (2.25%) BPSS Clearance
10 12 (2.08%) Cisco Certification
10 12 (2.08%) CISSP
11 10 (1.73%) AWS Certification
12 9 (1.56%) CCNP
13 8 (1.39%) Computer Science Degree
14 6 (1.04%) ISTQB
14 6 (1.04%) ITIL Certification
14 6 (1.04%) Master's Degree
14 6 (1.04%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
15 5 (0.87%) CCNA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (7.45%) Data Quality
1 43 (7.45%) QA
2 35 (6.07%) PMO
3 32 (5.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 23 (3.99%) NIST
5 18 (3.12%) GDPR
5 18 (3.12%) NCSC
5 18 (3.12%) SLA
6 8 (1.39%) GRC
7 7 (1.21%) Accessibility
8 6 (1.04%) Cyber Essentials
8 6 (1.04%) ISO 9001
9 4 (0.69%) Def Stans
9 4 (0.69%) ISO 31000
9 4 (0.69%) NIST 800
10 3 (0.52%) ISO 22301
11 2 (0.35%) Disclosure Scotland
11 2 (0.35%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 2 (0.35%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.17%) COBIT
System Software
1 23 (3.99%) VMware Infrastructure
2 21 (3.64%) Active Directory
3 20 (3.47%) Docker
4 5 (0.87%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (0.87%) Virtual Machines
4 5 (0.87%) vSphere
5 4 (0.69%) IAG
5 4 (0.69%) VMware NSX
6 2 (0.35%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.35%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 32 (5.55%) Kubernetes
2 29 (5.03%) Terraform
3 21 (3.64%) Ansible
4 9 (1.56%) Grafana
5 8 (1.39%) Prometheus
6 7 (1.21%) Puppet
7 4 (0.69%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 4 (0.69%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (0.69%) Progress Chef
7 4 (0.69%) SCCM
7 4 (0.69%) Single Sign-On
8 3 (0.52%) Nessus
8 3 (0.52%) Podman
9 2 (0.35%) Argo
9 2 (0.35%) CASB
9 2 (0.35%) Cisco Prime
9 2 (0.35%) CSIRT
9 2 (0.35%) Nmap
9 2 (0.35%) Rancher
9 2 (0.35%) WMI
Vendors
1 73 (12.65%) Microsoft
2 47 (8.15%) ServiceNow
3 41 (7.11%) SAP
4 31 (5.37%) VMware
5 25 (4.33%) IBM
6 22 (3.81%) Oracle
7 11 (1.91%) Cisco
7 11 (1.91%) Salesforce
8 10 (1.73%) Google
8 10 (1.73%) Juniper
9 9 (1.56%) Databricks
10 8 (1.39%) SolarWinds
11 6 (1.04%) Palo Alto
11 6 (1.04%) Remedy
11 6 (1.04%) Virgin Media
11 6 (1.04%) Workday
12 5 (0.87%) Aruba
12 5 (0.87%) Baan
12 5 (0.87%) Qualys
12 5 (0.87%) Red Hat