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 27 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
27 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 17 42 38
Rank change year-on-year +25 -4 +33
Contract jobs citing Continuous Improvement 511 151 239
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 8.19% 4.90% 4.20%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.08% 5.37% 5.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 300 92 123
10th Percentile £358 £314 £351
25th Percentile £431 £424 £456
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £505
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% +3.96% -8.18%
75th Percentile £611 £600 £650
90th Percentile £700 £650 £688
England median daily rate £505 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +1.00% -4.76% -6.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 62 12 18
10th Percentile £46.30 - £18.35
25th Percentile £80.75 £15.13 £27.36
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 £52.19
90th Percentile - £69.89 £62.07
England median hourly rate £55.00 £31.40 £36.50
% change year-on-year +75.15% -13.97% -13.41%

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 5,068 2,810 4,710
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 81.19% 91.26% 82.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,207 1,751 2,721
10th Percentile £280 £250 £262
25th Percentile £413 £391 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -2.44% +0.49%
75th Percentile £610 £600 £634
90th Percentile £700 £665 £700
England median daily rate £520 £515 £525
% change year-on-year +0.97% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 496 224 461
10th Percentile £15.17 £13.33 £13.00
25th Percentile £23.00 £15.12 £18.20
Median hourly rate £53.90 £24.66 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +118.57% -48.08% -6.95%
75th Percentile £82.25 £55.00 £67.02
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £77.50
England median hourly rate £47.00 £25.50 £38.12
% change year-on-year +84.31% -33.11% +1.87%

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 27 June 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 27 June 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 27 June 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 +15 245 £520 +4.00% 164
Berkshire +26 189 £519 +3.80% 68
Hampshire +20 151 £550 -8.33% 94
Surrey +16 52 £450 -14.29% 67
Buckinghamshire -11 45 £525 - 62
West Sussex -11 26 £550 +41.94% 29
Oxfordshire -21 11 £650 +160.00% 34
East Sussex 0 8 £643 +22.48% 7
Middlesex - 6 - - 4
Kent -2 2 £463 -18.50% 20
Sussex - 1 £600 - 9
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 16 (3.13%) Confluence
2 11 (2.15%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.20%) Adobe Experience Manager
3 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.20%) SharePoint 2010
3 1 (0.20%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 32 (6.26%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (1.37%) Microsoft Project
3 6 (1.17%) Microsoft Office
4 4 (0.78%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.39%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.20%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 15 (2.94%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (1.17%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 4 (0.78%) Oracle ERP
3 4 (0.78%) Remedy ITSM
4 3 (0.59%) iTrent
4 3 (0.59%) Maximo
5 2 (0.39%) Salesforce CRM
5 2 (0.39%) SAP SD
5 2 (0.39%) Teamcenter
6 1 (0.20%) Primavera
6 1 (0.20%) SAP BPC
6 1 (0.20%) SAP BRIM
6 1 (0.20%) SAP Business One
6 1 (0.20%) SAP Convergent Charging
6 1 (0.20%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.20%) SAP PLM
6 1 (0.20%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 74 (14.48%) Azure
2 54 (10.57%) AWS
3 28 (5.48%) Power Platform
4 19 (3.72%) GCP
5 14 (2.74%) SaaS
6 12 (2.35%) Azure DevOps
6 12 (2.35%) Entra ID
7 11 (2.15%) Serverless
8 8 (1.57%) GitHub
9 6 (1.17%) Microsoft 365
9 6 (1.17%) OCI
9 6 (1.17%) OpenShift
10 5 (0.98%) AWS CloudFormation
10 5 (0.98%) GitHub Actions
10 5 (0.98%) Microsoft Purview
11 4 (0.78%) Amazon EKS
11 4 (0.78%) Amazon S3
11 4 (0.78%) AWS Lambda
11 4 (0.78%) dbt
11 4 (0.78%) Route 53
Communications & Networking
1 19 (3.72%) Network Security
2 18 (3.52%) Firewall
3 14 (2.74%) LAN
4 11 (2.15%) DNS
5 9 (1.76%) TCP/IP
6 7 (1.37%) DHCP
6 7 (1.37%) VPN
6 7 (1.37%) WAN
7 6 (1.17%) SD-WAN
7 6 (1.17%) Wi-Fi
8 5 (0.98%) Wireless
9 4 (0.78%) DNSSEC
9 4 (0.78%) VLAN
10 3 (0.59%) BGP
10 3 (0.59%) Intrusion Detection
10 3 (0.59%) MQTT
10 3 (0.59%) OSPF
10 3 (0.59%) Radio Access Network
11 2 (0.39%) Cisco ASA
11 2 (0.39%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (5.28%) Power BI
2 9 (1.76%) Metadata
3 7 (1.37%) Data Warehouse
3 7 (1.37%) Tableau
4 6 (1.17%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (0.78%) Geospatial Data
5 4 (0.78%) GIS
5 4 (0.78%) Oracle Reports
5 4 (0.78%) Redis
6 3 (0.59%) Data Lake
6 3 (0.59%) DynamoDB
6 3 (0.59%) Elasticsearch
6 3 (0.59%) Metadata Repository
6 3 (0.59%) SQL Server
7 2 (0.39%) Azure SQL Database
7 2 (0.39%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.39%) SAP HANA
7 2 (0.39%) SQL Server Analysis Services
7 2 (0.39%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 2 (0.39%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 27 (5.28%) Rational DOORS
2 26 (5.09%) JIRA
3 10 (1.96%) GitLab
4 8 (1.57%) Jenkins
5 6 (1.17%) Git
6 5 (0.98%) SonarQube
7 3 (0.59%) Hudson
7 3 (0.59%) Selenium
8 2 (0.39%) Cucumber
8 2 (0.39%) Sonatype Nexus
8 2 (0.39%) SpecFlow
9 1 (0.20%) Balsamiq
9 1 (0.20%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.20%) Cypress.io
9 1 (0.20%) JUnit
9 1 (0.20%) Mockito
9 1 (0.20%) Postman
9 1 (0.20%) SoapUI
9 1 (0.20%) TestRail
9 1 (0.20%) WebDriver
General
1 232 (45.40%) Social Skills
2 124 (24.27%) Analytical Skills
3 108 (21.14%) Finance
4 64 (12.52%) Public Sector
5 54 (10.57%) Aerospace
6 20 (3.91%) Retail
7 18 (3.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 18 (3.52%) Organisational Skills
8 17 (3.33%) Influencing Skills
8 17 (3.33%) Legal
8 17 (3.33%) Telecoms
9 16 (3.13%) French Language
9 16 (3.13%) Spanish Language
10 12 (2.35%) Documentation Skills
11 10 (1.96%) Law
12 8 (1.57%) Presentation Skills
13 6 (1.17%) Aviation
13 6 (1.17%) Marketing
14 5 (0.98%) Military
15 4 (0.78%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 74 (14.48%) Analyst
2 58 (11.35%) Lead
3 54 (10.57%) Senior
4 46 (9.00%) Delivery Manager
5 42 (8.22%) Architect
6 39 (7.63%) Product Manager
7 29 (5.68%) Product Delivery Manager
8 23 (4.50%) IT Manager
9 22 (4.31%) Systems Delivery Manager
9 22 (4.31%) Systems Manager
10 17 (3.33%) Service Manager
11 16 (3.13%) 2nd Line Support
11 16 (3.13%) 2nd Line Technical Support
11 16 (3.13%) Data Analyst
11 16 (3.13%) Technical Support
12 14 (2.74%) Senior Analyst
12 14 (2.74%) Solutions Architect
13 13 (2.54%) Consultant
13 13 (2.54%) Project Manager
14 11 (2.15%) Senior Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (2.15%) OAuth
2 9 (1.76%) RESTful
3 8 (1.57%) SAML
3 8 (1.57%) SOAP
4 7 (1.37%) .NET
4 7 (1.37%) OpenID
5 6 (1.17%) EDI
5 6 (1.17%) LDAP
5 6 (1.17%) OAuth2
5 6 (1.17%) REST
6 5 (0.98%) GraphQL
6 5 (0.98%) JSON
6 5 (0.98%) Kafka
6 5 (0.98%) Keycloak
6 5 (0.98%) React
7 4 (0.78%) ARM Templates
7 4 (0.78%) Elastic Stack
7 4 (0.78%) JWT
7 4 (0.78%) Middleware
7 4 (0.78%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 71 (13.89%) Product Ownership
2 25 (4.89%) Data Structures
3 23 (4.50%) Management Information System
4 21 (4.11%) Onboarding
5 19 (3.72%) Security Posture
6 18 (3.52%) Cloud Native
7 17 (3.33%) Operational Technology
8 16 (3.13%) Data Centre
9 14 (2.74%) Legacy Systems
10 13 (2.54%) Analytical Mindset
11 11 (2.15%) PMI
12 10 (1.96%) CMDB
13 9 (1.76%) Data Protection Act
14 7 (1.37%) Security Operations Centre
15 6 (1.17%) Taxonomies
16 5 (0.98%) Distributed Systems
16 5 (0.98%) Enterprise Software
16 5 (0.98%) Hybrid Cloud
16 5 (0.98%) PKI
16 5 (0.98%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 37 (7.24%) Windows
2 13 (2.54%) Linux
3 4 (0.78%) Windows Server
4 2 (0.39%) Apple iOS
4 2 (0.39%) Windows Server 2019
5 1 (0.20%) Android
5 1 (0.20%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 170 (33.27%) Agile
2 137 (26.81%) Stakeholder Management
3 115 (22.50%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 104 (20.35%) Problem-Solving
5 89 (17.42%) ITIL
6 76 (14.87%) Decision-Making
7 73 (14.29%) Roadmaps
8 59 (11.55%) Cybersecurity
9 57 (11.15%) Service Management
10 55 (10.76%) Service Delivery
11 52 (10.18%) ITSM
12 48 (9.39%) Change Management
12 48 (9.39%) CI/CD
13 47 (9.20%) PRINCE2
13 47 (9.20%) Risk Management
13 47 (9.20%) Scaled Agile Framework
14 45 (8.81%) DevOps
15 44 (8.61%) Analytics
15 44 (8.61%) Computer Science
16 43 (8.41%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 44 (8.61%) SQL
2 34 (6.65%) Python
3 20 (3.91%) PowerShell
4 16 (3.13%) Java
5 12 (2.35%) Bash
6 7 (1.37%) C#
7 6 (1.17%) JavaScript
8 4 (0.78%) TypeScript
9 3 (0.59%) Apex Code
9 3 (0.59%) Bicep
9 3 (0.59%) Rust
9 3 (0.59%) Shell Script
10 2 (0.39%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 2 (0.39%) PL/SQL
10 2 (0.39%) T-SQL
11 1 (0.20%) ABAP
11 1 (0.20%) C
11 1 (0.20%) Perl
11 1 (0.20%) VB
11 1 (0.20%) VBA
Qualifications
1 252 (49.32%) Security Cleared
2 132 (25.83%) SC Cleared
3 87 (17.03%) Degree
4 72 (14.09%) DV Cleared
5 27 (5.28%) PMI Certification
6 21 (4.11%) ACCA
6 21 (4.11%) CIMA
7 17 (3.33%) PMP
8 12 (2.35%) Azure Certification
8 12 (2.35%) Cisco Certification
9 11 (2.15%) CISSP
10 10 (1.96%) CCNP
11 9 (1.76%) BPSS Clearance
12 7 (1.37%) AWS Certification
12 7 (1.37%) Computer Science Degree
13 6 (1.17%) CISM
14 5 (0.98%) CCNA
14 5 (0.98%) ISTQB
14 5 (0.98%) Master's Degree
15 4 (0.78%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (7.44%) Data Quality
2 32 (6.26%) QA
3 30 (5.87%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 26 (5.09%) PMO
5 22 (4.31%) NIST
6 17 (3.33%) GDPR
7 16 (3.13%) NCSC
8 12 (2.35%) SLA
9 8 (1.57%) Accessibility
10 7 (1.37%) GRC
11 6 (1.17%) Cyber Essentials
12 3 (0.59%) Def Stans
12 3 (0.59%) ISO 22301
12 3 (0.59%) ISO 31000
12 3 (0.59%) NIST 800
13 2 (0.39%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 1 (0.20%) Actionable Recommendations
14 1 (0.20%) COBIT
14 1 (0.20%) ISO 9001
14 1 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 16 (3.13%) Active Directory
2 15 (2.94%) Docker
2 15 (2.94%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (0.98%) Virtual Machines
4 4 (0.78%) VMware NSX
5 2 (0.39%) IAG
5 2 (0.39%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.39%) vSphere
6 1 (0.20%) Firmware
6 1 (0.20%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.20%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 22 (4.31%) Terraform
2 21 (4.11%) Kubernetes
3 16 (3.13%) Ansible
4 8 (1.57%) Grafana
5 7 (1.37%) Prometheus
6 5 (0.98%) Puppet
7 4 (0.78%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 4 (0.78%) Nessus
7 4 (0.78%) SCCM
7 4 (0.78%) Single Sign-On
8 3 (0.59%) Microsoft Intune
8 3 (0.59%) OpenVAS
8 3 (0.59%) Podman
9 2 (0.39%) Argo
9 2 (0.39%) Cisco Prime
9 2 (0.39%) Iperf
9 2 (0.39%) Nmap
9 2 (0.39%) Progress Chef
9 2 (0.39%) Rancher
10 1 (0.20%) Nagios
Vendors
1 47 (9.20%) Microsoft
2 39 (7.63%) SAP
3 37 (7.24%) ServiceNow
4 25 (4.89%) IBM
4 25 (4.89%) Oracle
5 23 (4.50%) VMware
6 11 (2.15%) Cisco
7 9 (1.76%) Google
7 9 (1.76%) Salesforce
8 8 (1.57%) Juniper
8 8 (1.57%) SolarWinds
9 6 (1.17%) Palo Alto
9 6 (1.17%) Qualys
9 6 (1.17%) Remedy
9 6 (1.17%) Virgin Media
9 6 (1.17%) Workday
10 5 (0.98%) Aruba
10 5 (0.98%) Baan
10 5 (0.98%) Databricks
10 5 (0.98%) Red Hat