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

6 months to
4 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 17 43 40
Rank change year-on-year +26 -3 +29
Contract jobs citing Continuous Improvement 531 157 238
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 8.37% 4.83% 4.16%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.28% 5.33% 5.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 315 98 123
10th Percentile £363 £312 £357
25th Percentile £434 £425 £456
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £531 £505
Median % change year-on-year -1.13% +5.15% -8.18%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £650
90th Percentile £700 £658 £688
England median daily rate £510 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +1.90% -4.76% -6.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 63 12 17
10th Percentile £46.35 - £18.35
25th Percentile £80.75 £15.13 £26.73
Median hourly rate £85.40 £17.58 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +385.78% -53.12% -25.00%
75th Percentile £88.00 £67.50 £43.75
90th Percentile £95.60 £69.89 £60.61
England median hourly rate £54.50 £28.75 £35.00
% change year-on-year +89.57% -17.86% -30.00%

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 5,164 2,946 4,732
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 81.44% 90.65% 82.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,245 1,831 2,752
10th Percentile £280 £250 £260
25th Percentile £413 £393 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -2.44% -0.49%
75th Percentile £610 £600 £635
90th Percentile £700 £663 £700
England median daily rate £523 £515 £525
% change year-on-year +1.46% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 512 243 449
10th Percentile £15.72 £13.50 £13.00
25th Percentile £22.59 £15.13 £18.32
Median hourly rate £54.50 £24.00 £49.00
Median % change year-on-year +127.08% -51.02% -2.00%
75th Percentile £82.25 £53.75 £67.81
90th Percentile £88.00 £74.75 £78.75
England median hourly rate £47.00 £25.15 £38.12
% change year-on-year +86.88% -34.02% +1.65%

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 4 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 4 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 4 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 +21 255 £525 +5.00% 207
Berkshire +31 196 £519 +1.27% 115
Hampshire +22 157 £544 -9.38% 120
Surrey +13 50 £450 -14.29% 83
Buckinghamshire -8 48 £556 +11.15% 59
West Sussex -5 30 £515 +35.08% 23
Oxfordshire -21 11 £650 +44.44% 34
Middlesex - 9 - - 5
East Sussex +1 8 £643 +22.48% 10
Kent -2 2 £463 -18.50% 23
Sussex - 1 £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 18 (3.39%) Confluence
2 12 (2.26%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.19%) Adobe Experience Manager
3 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.19%) SharePoint 2010
3 1 (0.19%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 33 (6.21%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (1.69%) Microsoft Project
3 6 (1.13%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (0.94%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.38%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.19%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.19%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 15 (2.82%) SAP S/4HANA
2 5 (0.94%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 4 (0.75%) Oracle ERP
3 4 (0.75%) Remedy ITSM
4 3 (0.56%) iTrent
4 3 (0.56%) Maximo
4 3 (0.56%) Salesforce CRM
5 2 (0.38%) Primavera
5 2 (0.38%) SAP SD
5 2 (0.38%) Teamcenter
6 1 (0.19%) SAP BPC
6 1 (0.19%) SAP BRIM
6 1 (0.19%) SAP Business One
6 1 (0.19%) SAP Convergent Charging
6 1 (0.19%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.19%) SAP PLM
6 1 (0.19%) SAP PSCD
6 1 (0.19%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 80 (15.07%) Azure
2 60 (11.30%) AWS
3 28 (5.27%) Power Platform
4 22 (4.14%) GCP
5 15 (2.82%) SaaS
6 14 (2.64%) Azure DevOps
7 12 (2.26%) Entra ID
7 12 (2.26%) GitHub
7 12 (2.26%) Serverless
8 8 (1.51%) GitHub Actions
9 7 (1.32%) Microsoft 365
10 6 (1.13%) OCI
10 6 (1.13%) OpenShift
11 5 (0.94%) AWS CloudFormation
11 5 (0.94%) Microsoft Purview
12 4 (0.75%) Amazon EKS
12 4 (0.75%) AWS Lambda
12 4 (0.75%) Azure Logic Apps
12 4 (0.75%) Datadog
12 4 (0.75%) Route 53
Communications & Networking
1 24 (4.52%) Network Security
2 18 (3.39%) Firewall
3 15 (2.82%) DNS
4 14 (2.64%) LAN
5 9 (1.69%) TCP/IP
6 8 (1.51%) DHCP
7 7 (1.32%) VPN
7 7 (1.32%) WAN
8 6 (1.13%) SD-WAN
8 6 (1.13%) Wi-Fi
9 5 (0.94%) Wireless
10 4 (0.75%) DNSSEC
10 4 (0.75%) VLAN
11 3 (0.56%) BGP
11 3 (0.56%) Broadband
11 3 (0.56%) Intrusion Detection
11 3 (0.56%) MQTT
11 3 (0.56%) OSPF
11 3 (0.56%) Radio Access Network
12 2 (0.38%) Modbus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (5.08%) Power BI
2 8 (1.51%) Metadata
3 7 (1.32%) Data Warehouse
3 7 (1.32%) Tableau
4 6 (1.13%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (0.75%) Geospatial Data
5 4 (0.75%) GIS
5 4 (0.75%) Oracle Reports
5 4 (0.75%) Redis
6 3 (0.56%) Data Lake
6 3 (0.56%) DynamoDB
6 3 (0.56%) Elasticsearch
6 3 (0.56%) SQL Server
7 2 (0.38%) Azure SQL Database
7 2 (0.38%) Metadata Repository
7 2 (0.38%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.38%) SAP HANA
7 2 (0.38%) SQL Server Analysis Services
7 2 (0.38%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 2 (0.38%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 29 (5.46%) JIRA
2 27 (5.08%) Rational DOORS
3 11 (2.07%) GitLab
4 9 (1.69%) Jenkins
5 6 (1.13%) Git
6 5 (0.94%) SonarQube
7 3 (0.56%) Cucumber
7 3 (0.56%) Hudson
7 3 (0.56%) Selenium
7 3 (0.56%) SpecFlow
8 2 (0.38%) Sonatype Nexus
9 1 (0.19%) Balsamiq
9 1 (0.19%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.19%) ERwin
9 1 (0.19%) JUnit
9 1 (0.19%) Mockito
9 1 (0.19%) Postman
9 1 (0.19%) SoapUI
9 1 (0.19%) TestRail
General
1 241 (45.39%) Social Skills
2 128 (24.11%) Analytical Skills
3 109 (20.53%) Finance
4 62 (11.68%) Public Sector
5 55 (10.36%) Aerospace
6 20 (3.77%) Organisational Skills
6 20 (3.77%) Retail
7 18 (3.39%) Telecoms
8 17 (3.20%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 17 (3.20%) Influencing Skills
9 16 (3.01%) French Language
9 16 (3.01%) Legal
9 16 (3.01%) Spanish Language
10 13 (2.45%) Documentation Skills
11 8 (1.51%) Law
12 7 (1.32%) Marketing
12 7 (1.32%) Presentation Skills
13 6 (1.13%) Aviation
14 5 (0.94%) Military
15 4 (0.75%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 75 (14.12%) Analyst
2 62 (11.68%) Lead
3 53 (9.98%) Senior
4 46 (8.66%) Delivery Manager
5 44 (8.29%) Architect
6 39 (7.34%) Product Manager
7 29 (5.46%) Product Delivery Manager
8 23 (4.33%) IT Manager
9 22 (4.14%) Systems Delivery Manager
9 22 (4.14%) Systems Manager
10 18 (3.39%) Service Manager
11 16 (3.01%) 2nd Line Support
11 16 (3.01%) 2nd Line Technical Support
11 16 (3.01%) Data Analyst
11 16 (3.01%) Technical Support
12 14 (2.64%) Consultant
12 14 (2.64%) Senior Analyst
12 14 (2.64%) Solutions Architect
13 12 (2.26%) Product Owner
13 12 (2.26%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (2.07%) OAuth
2 10 (1.88%) RESTful
2 10 (1.88%) SOAP
3 8 (1.51%) .NET
3 8 (1.51%) SAML
4 7 (1.32%) OpenID
4 7 (1.32%) REST
5 6 (1.13%) EDI
5 6 (1.13%) LDAP
5 6 (1.13%) OAuth2
5 6 (1.13%) React
6 5 (0.94%) GraphQL
6 5 (0.94%) JSON
6 5 (0.94%) Kafka
6 5 (0.94%) Keycloak
6 5 (0.94%) Middleware
7 4 (0.75%) Elastic Stack
7 4 (0.75%) HTML
7 4 (0.75%) JWT
7 4 (0.75%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 74 (13.94%) Product Ownership
2 26 (4.90%) Onboarding
3 25 (4.71%) Data Structures
4 23 (4.33%) Management Information System
5 20 (3.77%) Cloud Native
5 20 (3.77%) Security Posture
6 19 (3.58%) Operational Technology
7 16 (3.01%) Data Centre
8 15 (2.82%) Analytical Mindset
9 14 (2.64%) Legacy Systems
10 11 (2.07%) CMDB
10 11 (2.07%) PMI
11 9 (1.69%) Data Protection Act
11 9 (1.69%) Hybrid Cloud
12 8 (1.51%) Cyber Threat
13 7 (1.32%) Enterprise Software
13 7 (1.32%) Security Operations Centre
14 6 (1.13%) Taxonomies
15 5 (0.94%) PKI
15 5 (0.94%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 42 (7.91%) Windows
2 16 (3.01%) Linux
3 7 (1.32%) Windows Server
4 3 (0.56%) Windows Server 2019
5 2 (0.38%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.19%) Android
6 1 (0.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.19%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 172 (32.39%) Agile
2 143 (26.93%) Stakeholder Management
3 128 (24.11%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 109 (20.53%) Problem-Solving
5 96 (18.08%) ITIL
6 80 (15.07%) Decision-Making
7 75 (14.12%) Roadmaps
8 66 (12.43%) Service Delivery
9 63 (11.86%) Cybersecurity
9 63 (11.86%) Service Management
10 59 (11.11%) ITSM
11 51 (9.60%) CI/CD
12 50 (9.42%) Change Management
13 49 (9.23%) DevOps
14 48 (9.04%) Scaled Agile Framework
15 47 (8.85%) PRINCE2
15 47 (8.85%) Risk Management
16 45 (8.47%) Project Delivery
17 43 (8.10%) Analytics
17 43 (8.10%) Change Control
Programming Languages
1 46 (8.66%) SQL
2 40 (7.53%) Python
3 23 (4.33%) PowerShell
4 18 (3.39%) Java
5 14 (2.64%) Bash
6 7 (1.32%) C#
7 6 (1.13%) JavaScript
8 5 (0.94%) TypeScript
9 4 (0.75%) Bicep
9 4 (0.75%) Shell Script
10 3 (0.56%) Apex Code
10 3 (0.56%) Rust
11 2 (0.38%) ABAP
11 2 (0.38%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 2 (0.38%) PL/SQL
11 2 (0.38%) T-SQL
12 1 (0.19%) C
12 1 (0.19%) Perl
12 1 (0.19%) VB
12 1 (0.19%) VBA
Qualifications
1 263 (49.53%) Security Cleared
2 136 (25.61%) SC Cleared
3 84 (15.82%) Degree
4 78 (14.69%) DV Cleared
5 27 (5.08%) PMI Certification
6 20 (3.77%) ACCA
6 20 (3.77%) CIMA
7 17 (3.20%) PMP
8 13 (2.45%) Azure Certification
8 13 (2.45%) Cisco Certification
9 11 (2.07%) CISSP
10 10 (1.88%) BPSS Clearance
10 10 (1.88%) CCNP
11 8 (1.51%) AWS Certification
12 6 (1.13%) CCNA
12 6 (1.13%) Computer Science Degree
12 6 (1.13%) Master's Degree
13 5 (0.94%) CISM
13 5 (0.94%) ISTQB
13 5 (0.94%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (7.16%) Data Quality
2 34 (6.40%) QA
3 32 (6.03%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 28 (5.27%) PMO
5 23 (4.33%) NIST
6 18 (3.39%) GDPR
6 18 (3.39%) NCSC
7 15 (2.82%) SLA
8 7 (1.32%) Accessibility
8 7 (1.32%) GRC
9 6 (1.13%) Cyber Essentials
10 3 (0.56%) Def Stans
10 3 (0.56%) ISO 22301
10 3 (0.56%) ISO 31000
10 3 (0.56%) ISO 9001
10 3 (0.56%) NIST 800
11 2 (0.38%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 2 (0.38%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.19%) COBIT
12 1 (0.19%) Disclosure Scotland
System Software
1 19 (3.58%) VMware Infrastructure
2 18 (3.39%) Active Directory
3 15 (2.82%) Docker
4 5 (0.94%) Virtual Machines
5 4 (0.75%) VMware NSX
5 4 (0.75%) vSphere
6 3 (0.56%) IAG
6 3 (0.56%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (0.38%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.38%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 24 (4.52%) Kubernetes
1 24 (4.52%) Terraform
2 18 (3.39%) Ansible
3 9 (1.69%) Grafana
4 8 (1.51%) Prometheus
5 5 (0.94%) Puppet
5 5 (0.94%) SCCM
6 4 (0.75%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 4 (0.75%) Nessus
6 4 (0.75%) Single Sign-On
7 3 (0.56%) Microsoft Intune
7 3 (0.56%) OpenVAS
7 3 (0.56%) Podman
8 2 (0.38%) Argo
8 2 (0.38%) CASB
8 2 (0.38%) CSIRT
8 2 (0.38%) Iperf
8 2 (0.38%) Nmap
8 2 (0.38%) Progress Chef
8 2 (0.38%) Rancher
Vendors
1 53 (9.98%) Microsoft
2 40 (7.53%) SAP
2 40 (7.53%) ServiceNow
3 27 (5.08%) VMware
4 25 (4.71%) IBM
5 24 (4.52%) Oracle
6 12 (2.26%) Cisco
7 11 (2.07%) Google
8 10 (1.88%) Salesforce
9 9 (1.69%) Juniper
9 9 (1.69%) SolarWinds
10 6 (1.13%) Databricks
10 6 (1.13%) Palo Alto
10 6 (1.13%) Qualys
10 6 (1.13%) Remedy
10 6 (1.13%) Virgin Media
10 6 (1.13%) Workday
11 5 (0.94%) Aruba
11 5 (0.94%) Baan
11 5 (0.94%) Red Hat