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 12 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 25 38 50
Rank change year-on-year +13 +12 +31
Contract jobs citing Continuous Improvement 375 168 211
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 7.21% 5.63% 3.75%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 8.71% 6.13% 4.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 222 103 104
10th Percentile £306 £332 £400
25th Percentile £400 £423 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +4.76% +5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £625 £650
90th Percentile £657 £675 £688
England median daily rate £500 £525 £540
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 58 10 21
10th Percentile £12.50 £19.24 £18.35
25th Percentile £28.66 £21.00 £26.73
Median hourly rate £85.40 £60.38 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +41.44% +61.01% +13.38%
75th Percentile £88.00 £67.50 £60.39
90th Percentile £95.75 £79.23 £70.50
England median hourly rate £45.46 £55.25 £37.50
% change year-on-year -17.72% +47.33% -33.03%

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 4,303 2,740 4,881
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 82.73% 91.79% 86.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,820 1,732 2,914
10th Percentile £273 £250 £213
25th Percentile £405 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £506 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.23% +1.25% -1.48%
75th Percentile £600 £613 £612
90th Percentile £700 £675 £688
England median daily rate £505 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 378 136 380
10th Percentile £15.04 £15.00 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.00 £18.20
Median hourly rate £30.00 £38.75 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year -22.58% +3.33% -16.67%
75th Percentile £79.26 £62.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £75.16
England median hourly rate £30.00 £34.50 £32.50
% change year-on-year -13.04% +6.15% -9.72%

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 12 March 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 12 March 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 12 March 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 +14 206 £461 -11.77% 122
Berkshire +19 168 £425 -15.84% 74
Hampshire +11 93 £500 -14.89% 80
Buckinghamshire -2 35 £518 -10.00% 27
Surrey +5 26 £525 -6.67% 45
West Sussex -6 18 £500 +29.03% 17
East Sussex +3 11 £622 +13.00% 13
Sussex - 9 - - 7
Kent -11 4 £594 +7.91% 25
Oxfordshire -17 3 £525 +110.00% 25
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 9 (2.40%) Confluence
2 7 (1.87%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.33%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (0.53%) WebLogic
5 1 (0.27%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 1 (0.27%) Tomcat
Applications
1 23 (6.13%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (3.73%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (1.87%) Microsoft Project
3 7 (1.87%) MS Visio
4 6 (1.60%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.80%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 8 (2.13%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 3 (0.80%) Remedy ITSM
3 2 (0.53%) SAP S/4HANA
3 2 (0.53%) Workday HCM
4 1 (0.27%) assyst
4 1 (0.27%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.27%) Oracle BRM
4 1 (0.27%) Primavera
4 1 (0.27%) Salesforce CRM
4 1 (0.27%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 83 (22.13%) Azure
2 64 (17.07%) AWS
3 38 (10.13%) GCP
4 14 (3.73%) Power Platform
5 13 (3.47%) Azure DevOps
6 12 (3.20%) Google Workspace
7 10 (2.67%) SaaS
8 8 (2.13%) Microsoft 365
9 7 (1.87%) GitHub
10 6 (1.60%) Entra ID
10 6 (1.60%) OpenShift
11 5 (1.33%) PaaS
11 5 (1.33%) Serverless
12 4 (1.07%) Amazon EKS
12 4 (1.07%) GitHub Actions
12 4 (1.07%) IaaS
13 3 (0.80%) Azure Functions
13 3 (0.80%) Azure Machine Learning
13 3 (0.80%) Power Automate
13 3 (0.80%) Viva Engage
Communications & Networking
1 13 (3.47%) Firewall
1 13 (3.47%) Network Security
2 10 (2.67%) VPN
3 9 (2.40%) DNS
4 7 (1.87%) TCP/IP
5 5 (1.33%) MPLS
5 5 (1.33%) VLAN
6 4 (1.07%) Broadband
6 4 (1.07%) DHCP
6 4 (1.07%) WAN
7 3 (0.80%) IPv4
7 3 (0.80%) IPv6
7 3 (0.80%) SD-WAN
8 2 (0.53%) BGP
8 2 (0.53%) Cisco ASA
8 2 (0.53%) Intranet
8 2 (0.53%) Multicast
8 2 (0.53%) NaaS
8 2 (0.53%) OSPF
8 2 (0.53%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (2.93%) Power BI
2 6 (1.60%) Data Lake
3 5 (1.33%) Data Warehouse
3 5 (1.33%) Metadata
3 5 (1.33%) Oracle Database
4 4 (1.07%) Tableau
5 3 (0.80%) Metadata Repository
5 3 (0.80%) Oracle Reports
5 3 (0.80%) Pinecone
5 3 (0.80%) SQL Server
5 3 (0.80%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 3 (0.80%) Weaviate
6 2 (0.53%) DynamoDB
6 2 (0.53%) Oracle Database 11g
6 2 (0.53%) Oracle Database 12c
6 2 (0.53%) Oracle ODI
6 2 (0.53%) PostgreSQL
6 2 (0.53%) Relational Database
6 2 (0.53%) SQL Server Analysis Services
6 2 (0.53%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 25 (6.67%) Rational DOORS
2 19 (5.07%) JIRA
3 6 (1.60%) GitLab
3 6 (1.60%) Jenkins
4 5 (1.33%) Git
5 4 (1.07%) Selenium
6 2 (0.53%) Cypress.io
6 2 (0.53%) Oracle APEX
6 2 (0.53%) Oracle Forms
6 2 (0.53%) SpecFlow
6 2 (0.53%) Visual Studio
7 1 (0.27%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 1 (0.27%) Balsamiq
7 1 (0.27%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.27%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.27%) Hudson
7 1 (0.27%) JMeter
7 1 (0.27%) LoadRunner
7 1 (0.27%) Subversion
7 1 (0.27%) WebDriver
General
1 173 (46.13%) Social Skills
2 83 (22.13%) Analytical Skills
3 71 (18.93%) Finance
4 44 (11.73%) Aerospace
5 43 (11.47%) Public Sector
6 19 (5.07%) Influencing Skills
6 19 (5.07%) Organisational Skills
7 14 (3.73%) Telecoms
8 13 (3.47%) Legal
9 11 (2.93%) Law
10 9 (2.40%) Documentation Skills
11 7 (1.87%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 7 (1.87%) Manufacturing
12 6 (1.60%) Marketing
13 5 (1.33%) Presentation Skills
13 5 (1.33%) Retail
14 4 (1.07%) Billing
14 4 (1.07%) Military
15 3 (0.80%) Automotive
16 2 (0.53%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 49 (13.07%) Lead
2 44 (11.73%) Delivery Manager
3 33 (8.80%) Product Manager
4 32 (8.53%) Senior
5 27 (7.20%) Product Delivery Manager
6 25 (6.67%) Analyst
7 22 (5.87%) Systems Delivery Manager
7 22 (5.87%) Systems Manager
8 20 (5.33%) IT Manager
9 17 (4.53%) Service Manager
10 15 (4.00%) Support Officer
11 14 (3.73%) Project Manager
12 13 (3.47%) Consultant
13 12 (3.20%) IT Support
13 12 (3.20%) Service Delivery Manager
14 10 (2.67%) Designer
14 10 (2.67%) IT Assistant
14 10 (2.67%) IT Support Assistant
14 10 (2.67%) Support Assistant
15 9 (2.40%) Systems Accountant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (1.60%) .NET
2 4 (1.07%) Node.js
3 3 (0.80%) Faiss
3 3 (0.80%) Oracle Fusion
3 3 (0.80%) Playwright
3 3 (0.80%) RESTful
3 3 (0.80%) SOAP
3 3 (0.80%) Spring
3 3 (0.80%) Spring Boot
3 3 (0.80%) YAML
4 2 (0.53%) Elastic Stack
4 2 (0.53%) JSON
4 2 (0.53%) Kafka
4 2 (0.53%) Keycloak
4 2 (0.53%) OAuth
4 2 (0.53%) Oracle GoldenGate
4 2 (0.53%) REST
4 2 (0.53%) Unity (Game Engine)
4 2 (0.53%) Unreal Engine
4 2 (0.53%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 44 (11.73%) Product Ownership
2 22 (5.87%) Data Structures
3 17 (4.53%) Data Centre
3 17 (4.53%) Enterprise Software
3 17 (4.53%) Onboarding
4 15 (4.00%) Management Information System
5 14 (3.73%) Legacy Systems
6 11 (2.93%) Virtual Team
7 10 (2.67%) Analytical Mindset
7 10 (2.67%) PKI
7 10 (2.67%) Security Operations Centre
8 9 (2.40%) Security Posture
9 8 (2.13%) Cloud Native
10 7 (1.87%) PMI
11 6 (1.60%) Data Protection Act
12 5 (1.33%) CMDB
13 4 (1.07%) e-Learning
13 4 (1.07%) Mainframe
13 4 (1.07%) Operational Technology
13 4 (1.07%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 27 (7.20%) Linux
2 22 (5.87%) Windows
3 4 (1.07%) Unix
3 4 (1.07%) Windows Server
4 2 (0.53%) Apple iOS
4 2 (0.53%) CentOS
4 2 (0.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 2 (0.53%) Ubuntu
4 2 (0.53%) Windows 10
5 1 (0.27%) Android
5 1 (0.27%) Solaris
5 1 (0.27%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 102 (27.20%) Agile
2 92 (24.53%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 83 (22.13%) ITIL
4 82 (21.87%) Problem-Solving
5 72 (19.20%) Stakeholder Management
6 69 (18.40%) Change Management
7 67 (17.87%) Service Management
8 66 (17.60%) ITSM
9 52 (13.87%) Roadmaps
10 41 (10.93%) Performance Metrics
10 41 (10.93%) PRINCE2
11 38 (10.13%) Computer Science
11 38 (10.13%) Configuration Management
12 36 (9.60%) Service Delivery
13 34 (9.07%) DevOps
13 34 (9.07%) Risk Management
13 34 (9.07%) Scaled Agile Framework
14 32 (8.53%) Analytics
14 32 (8.53%) Programme Management
14 32 (8.53%) Systems Engineering
Programming Languages
1 28 (7.47%) Python
2 17 (4.53%) PowerShell
3 13 (3.47%) Java
4 12 (3.20%) SQL
5 9 (2.40%) Bash
6 6 (1.60%) C#
6 6 (1.60%) PL/SQL
7 3 (0.80%) Bicep
7 3 (0.80%) JavaScript
7 3 (0.80%) Perl
8 2 (0.53%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 2 (0.53%) T-SQL
8 2 (0.53%) TypeScript
8 2 (0.53%) VB
9 1 (0.27%) ABAP
9 1 (0.27%) C
9 1 (0.27%) Objective-C
9 1 (0.27%) Scala
9 1 (0.27%) Swift
Qualifications
1 167 (44.53%) Security Cleared
2 95 (25.33%) SC Cleared
3 65 (17.33%) Degree
4 30 (8.00%) DV Cleared
5 15 (4.00%) PMI Certification
6 10 (2.67%) CISSP
6 10 (2.67%) ISTQB
7 9 (2.40%) PMP
8 8 (2.13%) ACCA
8 8 (2.13%) CIMA
8 8 (2.13%) Cisco Certification
8 8 (2.13%) Computer Science Degree
9 6 (1.60%) Azure Certification
9 6 (1.60%) CCNP
9 6 (1.60%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
10 4 (1.07%) BPSS Clearance
10 4 (1.07%) CCNA
10 4 (1.07%) Microsoft Certification
11 3 (0.80%) BC Cleared
11 3 (0.80%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (5.33%) NIST
1 20 (5.33%) QA
2 16 (4.27%) Data Quality
2 16 (4.27%) PMO
3 15 (4.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 13 (3.47%) GDPR
4 13 (3.47%) SLA
5 7 (1.87%) Cyber Essentials
6 6 (1.60%) Accessibility
6 6 (1.60%) NCSC
7 5 (1.33%) GRC
8 4 (1.07%) Actionable Recommendations
9 3 (0.80%) Def Stans
9 3 (0.80%) NIST 800
10 2 (0.53%) ISO 22301
10 2 (0.53%) ISO 31000
11 1 (0.27%) COBIT
11 1 (0.27%) COSHH
11 1 (0.27%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.27%) SOC 2
System Software
1 12 (3.20%) Docker
1 12 (3.20%) VMware Infrastructure
2 10 (2.67%) Active Directory
3 4 (1.07%) vSphere
4 3 (0.80%) VMware NSX
5 2 (0.53%) Firmware
5 2 (0.53%) KVM
5 2 (0.53%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.27%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.27%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.27%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 15 (4.00%) Ansible
2 12 (3.20%) Kubernetes
3 8 (2.13%) Terraform
4 5 (1.33%) Grafana
4 5 (1.33%) SCCM
4 5 (1.33%) Single Sign-On
5 4 (1.07%) Nagios
5 4 (1.07%) Nessus
5 4 (1.07%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.80%) OpenVAS
6 3 (0.80%) Podman
6 3 (0.80%) Progress Chef
6 3 (0.80%) Proxmox
6 3 (0.80%) Puppet
7 2 (0.53%) Argo
7 2 (0.53%) Cisco Prime
7 2 (0.53%) Iperf
7 2 (0.53%) Nmap
7 2 (0.53%) Rancher
8 1 (0.27%) CSIRT
Vendors
1 42 (11.20%) Microsoft
2 36 (9.60%) Google
3 31 (8.27%) ServiceNow
4 23 (6.13%) IBM
5 22 (5.87%) Oracle
6 18 (4.80%) VMware
7 8 (2.13%) Cisco
7 8 (2.13%) SAP
8 7 (1.87%) SolarWinds
8 7 (1.87%) Workday
9 6 (1.60%) Fortinet
9 6 (1.60%) Juniper
9 6 (1.60%) Red Hat
9 6 (1.60%) Splunk
9 6 (1.60%) Zscaler
10 5 (1.33%) BMC
10 5 (1.33%) Palo Alto
10 5 (1.33%) Remedy
10 5 (1.33%) Salesforce
11 4 (1.07%) Rapid7