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

6 months to
26 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 17 41 39
Rank change year-on-year +24 -2 +33
Contract jobs citing Continuous Improvement 511 153 241
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 8.22% 5.00% 4.23%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.11% 5.48% 5.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 299 93 125
10th Percentile £358 £315 £352
25th Percentile £431 £420 £456
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £505
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% +3.96% -8.18%
75th Percentile £616 £600 £650
90th Percentile £706 £650 £688
England median daily rate £504 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +0.77% -4.76% -7.08%
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% -12.74%

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 5,053 2,793 4,717
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 81.24% 91.24% 82.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,200 1,743 2,728
10th Percentile £280 £250 £263
25th Percentile £413 £387 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -2.44% -
75th Percentile £610 £600 £634
90th Percentile £700 £663 £700
England median daily rate £520 £515 £525
% change year-on-year +0.97% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 495 221 467
10th Percentile £15.15 £13.25 £13.00
25th Percentile £23.11 £15.12 £18.26
Median hourly rate £53.90 £24.00 £47.78
Median % change year-on-year +124.58% -49.77% -8.29%
75th Percentile £82.25 £55.00 £65.50
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £77.19
England median hourly rate £47.50 £25.15 £38.12
% change year-on-year +88.87% -34.02% +8.48%

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 26 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 26 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 26 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 +16 243 £520 +4.00% 176
Berkshire +24 187 £519 +3.80% 75
Hampshire +18 153 £550 -8.33% 94
Surrey +14 52 £450 -14.29% 70
Buckinghamshire -15 45 £525 - 62
West Sussex -9 26 £550 +41.94% 29
Oxfordshire -21 11 £650 +160.00% 39
East Sussex 0 8 £643 +22.48% 7
Middlesex - 6 - - 4
Kent -2 2 £463 -18.50% 21
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 7 (1.37%) 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 53 (10.37%) AWS
3 28 (5.48%) Power Platform
4 18 (3.52%) GCP
5 13 (2.54%) Azure DevOps
5 13 (2.54%) SaaS
6 12 (2.35%) Entra ID
7 10 (1.96%) 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 18 (3.52%) Firewall
1 18 (3.52%) Network Security
2 14 (2.74%) LAN
3 11 (2.15%) DNS
4 9 (1.76%) TCP/IP
5 7 (1.37%) DHCP
5 7 (1.37%) VPN
5 7 (1.37%) WAN
6 6 (1.17%) SD-WAN
6 6 (1.17%) Wi-Fi
7 5 (0.98%) Wireless
8 4 (0.78%) DNSSEC
8 4 (0.78%) VLAN
9 3 (0.59%) BGP
9 3 (0.59%) Intrusion Detection
9 3 (0.59%) MQTT
9 3 (0.59%) OSPF
9 3 (0.59%) Radio Access Network
10 2 (0.39%) Cisco ASA
10 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
8 2 (0.39%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.20%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.20%) Cypress.io
9 1 (0.20%) ERwin
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
2 125 (24.46%) Analytical Skills
3 109 (21.33%) Finance
4 64 (12.52%) Public Sector
5 55 (10.76%) 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%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 74 (14.48%) Analyst
2 58 (11.35%) Lead
3 54 (10.57%) Senior
4 46 (9.00%) Delivery Manager
5 41 (8.02%) 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 18 (3.52%) Cloud Native
5 18 (3.52%) Security Posture
6 17 (3.33%) Operational Technology
7 16 (3.13%) Data Centre
8 14 (2.74%) Legacy Systems
9 13 (2.54%) Analytical Mindset
10 11 (2.15%) PMI
11 10 (1.96%) CMDB
12 9 (1.76%) Data Protection Act
13 7 (1.37%) Security Operations Centre
14 6 (1.17%) Taxonomies
15 5 (0.98%) Distributed Systems
15 5 (0.98%) Enterprise Software
15 5 (0.98%) PKI
15 5 (0.98%) Virtual Team
16 4 (0.78%) Self-Motivation
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
1 171 (33.46%) Agile
2 136 (26.61%) Stakeholder Management
3 115 (22.50%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 105 (20.55%) Problem-Solving
5 89 (17.42%) ITIL
6 76 (14.87%) Decision-Making
7 72 (14.09%) Roadmaps
8 58 (11.35%) Cybersecurity
9 57 (11.15%) Service Management
10 55 (10.76%) Service Delivery
11 52 (10.18%) ITSM
12 49 (9.59%) Change Management
13 48 (9.39%) CI/CD
14 47 (9.20%) Scaled Agile Framework
15 46 (9.00%) PRINCE2
15 46 (9.00%) Risk Management
16 45 (8.81%) DevOps
17 44 (8.61%) Analytics
17 44 (8.61%) Computer Science
18 43 (8.41%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 44 (8.61%) SQL
2 33 (6.46%) Python
3 19 (3.72%) PowerShell
4 16 (3.13%) Java
5 11 (2.15%) 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 26 (5.09%) PMI Certification
6 22 (4.31%) ACCA
6 22 (4.31%) CIMA
7 16 (3.13%) PMP
8 12 (2.35%) Azure Certification
9 11 (2.15%) Cisco Certification
10 10 (1.96%) CCNP
11 9 (1.76%) BPSS Clearance
11 9 (1.76%) CISSP
12 8 (1.57%) Computer Science Degree
13 7 (1.37%) AWS Certification
14 5 (0.98%) CCNA
14 5 (0.98%) CISM
14 5 (0.98%) ISTQB
15 4 (0.78%) ITIL Certification
15 4 (0.78%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (7.44%) Data Quality
2 32 (6.26%) QA
3 29 (5.68%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 26 (5.09%) PMO
5 20 (3.91%) NIST
6 17 (3.33%) GDPR
7 16 (3.13%) NCSC
8 12 (2.35%) SLA
9 8 (1.57%) Accessibility
10 6 (1.17%) Cyber Essentials
10 6 (1.17%) GRC
11 3 (0.59%) Def Stans
11 3 (0.59%) ISO 22301
11 3 (0.59%) ISO 31000
11 3 (0.59%) NIST 800
12 2 (0.39%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.20%) COBIT
13 1 (0.20%) Disclosure Scotland
13 1 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 20000
13 1 (0.20%) ITGC
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%) Firmware
5 2 (0.39%) IAG
5 2 (0.39%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.39%) vSphere
6 1 (0.20%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.20%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 22 (4.31%) Terraform
2 20 (3.91%) 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 26 (5.09%) Oracle
5 25 (4.89%) IBM
6 23 (4.50%) VMware
7 11 (2.15%) Cisco
8 9 (1.76%) Salesforce
9 8 (1.57%) Google
9 8 (1.57%) Juniper
9 8 (1.57%) SolarWinds
10 6 (1.17%) Palo Alto
10 6 (1.17%) Qualys
10 6 (1.17%) Remedy
10 6 (1.17%) Virgin Media
10 6 (1.17%) Workday
11 5 (0.98%) Aruba
11 5 (0.98%) Baan
11 5 (0.98%) Databricks
11 5 (0.98%) Red Hat