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 3 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 22 39 39
Rank change year-on-year +17 0 +34
Contract jobs citing Continuous Improvement 412 148 235
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 7.03% 4.93% 4.24%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 8.64% 5.39% 5.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 244 95 124
10th Percentile £306 £325 £400
25th Percentile £413 £416 £462
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £588 £594 £650
90th Percentile £650 £665 £688
England median daily rate £500 £517 £525
% change year-on-year -3.29% -1.52% -7.08%
Number of hourly rates quoted 55 8 19
10th Percentile £29.05 £20.67 £17.93
25th Percentile £80.75 £21.00 £21.18
Median hourly rate £88.00 £62.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +41.94% +65.33% -6.25%
75th Percentile - £70.22 £49.38
90th Percentile £96.50 £80.97 £63.30
England median hourly rate £55.25 £55.25 £37.50
% change year-on-year - +47.33% -37.50%

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 4,768 2,747 4,699
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 81.32% 91.51% 84.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,108 1,755 2,739
10th Percentile £280 £254 £243
25th Percentile £406 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £500 £501
Median % change year-on-year +2.50% -0.10% -1.86%
75th Percentile £613 £600 £623
90th Percentile £713 £675 £700
England median daily rate £510 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -2.95% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 435 172 437
10th Percentile £15.25 £13.85 £13.00
25th Percentile £21.29 £16.05 £18.20
Median hourly rate £52.50 £28.00 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +87.50% -41.05% -5.00%
75th Percentile £81.05 £62.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £76.86
England median hourly rate £45.00 £30.00 £36.00
% change year-on-year +50.00% -16.67% -3.59%

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 3 May 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 3 May 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 3 May 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 +15 210 £500 - 133
Berkshire +30 175 £480 -4.00% 57
Hampshire +15 114 £513 -10.87% 99
Surrey +8 36 £513 +7.89% 45
Buckinghamshire -13 33 £525 - 43
West Sussex -11 18 £475 +22.58% 19
East Sussex +4 10 £600 +9.09% 12
Kent -11 2 £463 -15.91% 27
Oxfordshire -22 2 £413 +65.10% 36
Sussex - 2 - - 3
Middlesex - 2 - - 10
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 11 (2.67%) SharePoint
2 8 (1.94%) Confluence
3 5 (1.21%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.24%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 1 (0.24%) SharePoint 2010
4 1 (0.24%) SharePoint 2013
4 1 (0.24%) Tomcat
Applications
1 28 (6.80%) Microsoft Excel
2 12 (2.91%) Microsoft Office
3 7 (1.70%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 6 (1.46%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (0.97%) MS Visio
6 3 (0.73%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 10 (2.43%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (1.94%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 3 (0.73%) iTrent
3 3 (0.73%) Remedy ITSM
4 2 (0.49%) SAP SD
5 1 (0.24%) assyst
5 1 (0.24%) Dynamics CRM
5 1 (0.24%) Oracle BRM
5 1 (0.24%) Primavera
5 1 (0.24%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.24%) SAP Business One
5 1 (0.24%) SAP ERP
5 1 (0.24%) SAP PLM
5 1 (0.24%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 66 (16.02%) Azure
2 50 (12.14%) AWS
3 26 (6.31%) GCP
4 25 (6.07%) Power Platform
5 12 (2.91%) Azure DevOps
5 12 (2.91%) SaaS
6 8 (1.94%) Microsoft 365
7 6 (1.46%) Amazon EKS
7 6 (1.46%) Serverless
8 5 (1.21%) PaaS
9 4 (0.97%) dbt
9 4 (0.97%) Entra ID
9 4 (0.97%) IaaS
9 4 (0.97%) OpenShift
10 3 (0.73%) AWS Lambda
10 3 (0.73%) Azure Logic Apps
10 3 (0.73%) Azure Machine Learning
10 3 (0.73%) GitHub Actions
10 3 (0.73%) SuccessFactors
10 3 (0.73%) Viva Engage
Communications & Networking
1 13 (3.16%) Firewall
1 13 (3.16%) Network Security
2 11 (2.67%) VPN
3 6 (1.46%) VLAN
4 5 (1.21%) LAN
4 5 (1.21%) TCP/IP
5 4 (0.97%) WAN
6 3 (0.73%) BGP
6 3 (0.73%) Broadband
6 3 (0.73%) DNS
6 3 (0.73%) IPv4
6 3 (0.73%) IPv6
6 3 (0.73%) MPLS
6 3 (0.73%) OSPF
6 3 (0.73%) SD-WAN
6 3 (0.73%) Wi-Fi
6 3 (0.73%) Wireless
7 2 (0.49%) Intranet
7 2 (0.49%) Intrusion Detection
7 2 (0.49%) Multicast
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (5.10%) Power BI
2 7 (1.70%) Metadata
3 6 (1.46%) Data Warehouse
3 6 (1.46%) Tableau
4 5 (1.21%) Oracle Reports
5 4 (0.97%) Data Lake
5 4 (0.97%) SQL Server
6 3 (0.73%) Metadata Repository
6 3 (0.73%) Pinecone
6 3 (0.73%) PostgreSQL
6 3 (0.73%) Redis
6 3 (0.73%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 3 (0.73%) Weaviate
7 2 (0.49%) Azure SQL Database
7 2 (0.49%) SQL Server Analysis Services
7 2 (0.49%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 1 (0.24%) Geospatial Data
8 1 (0.24%) GIS
8 1 (0.24%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.24%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 27 (6.55%) Rational DOORS
2 14 (3.40%) JIRA
3 6 (1.46%) GitLab
4 4 (0.97%) Git
4 4 (0.97%) Jenkins
5 3 (0.73%) Selenium
6 2 (0.49%) Hudson
6 2 (0.49%) SpecFlow
6 2 (0.49%) Visual Studio
7 1 (0.24%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 1 (0.24%) Balsamiq
7 1 (0.24%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.24%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.24%) Cypress.io
7 1 (0.24%) Oracle APEX
7 1 (0.24%) Oracle Forms
7 1 (0.24%) Postman
7 1 (0.24%) WebDriver
General
1 178 (43.20%) Social Skills
2 95 (23.06%) Finance
3 88 (21.36%) Analytical Skills
4 48 (11.65%) Public Sector
5 44 (10.68%) Aerospace
6 16 (3.88%) Influencing Skills
6 16 (3.88%) Legal
6 16 (3.88%) Telecoms
7 14 (3.40%) Law
7 14 (3.40%) Organisational Skills
8 11 (2.67%) Retail
9 10 (2.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 6 (1.46%) Marketing
11 5 (1.21%) Manufacturing
12 4 (0.97%) Automotive
12 4 (0.97%) Billing
12 4 (0.97%) French Language
12 4 (0.97%) Presentation Skills
12 4 (0.97%) Spanish Language
13 3 (0.73%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 49 (11.89%) Lead
2 45 (10.92%) Delivery Manager
3 44 (10.68%) Analyst
4 38 (9.22%) Senior
5 35 (8.50%) Product Manager
6 29 (7.04%) Product Delivery Manager
7 23 (5.58%) IT Manager
8 22 (5.34%) Systems Delivery Manager
8 22 (5.34%) Systems Manager
9 20 (4.85%) Architect
10 17 (4.13%) Service Manager
11 13 (3.16%) Project Manager
12 12 (2.91%) Senior Analyst
13 11 (2.67%) Consultant
14 10 (2.43%) Accountant
14 10 (2.43%) Designer
14 10 (2.43%) Financial Analyst
14 10 (2.43%) Systems Accountant
15 9 (2.18%) Senior Financial Analyst
15 9 (2.18%) Transformation Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (1.46%) .NET
2 5 (1.21%) Oracle Fusion
3 4 (0.97%) EDI
3 4 (0.97%) Node.js
3 4 (0.97%) RESTful
4 3 (0.73%) Faiss
4 3 (0.73%) Kafka
4 3 (0.73%) Keycloak
4 3 (0.73%) Playwright
4 3 (0.73%) YAML
5 2 (0.49%) ADO
5 2 (0.49%) Elastic Stack
5 2 (0.49%) JSON
5 2 (0.49%) Spring
5 2 (0.49%) Spring Boot
5 2 (0.49%) Unity (Game Engine)
5 2 (0.49%) Unreal Engine
5 2 (0.49%) XML
6 1 (0.24%) Hibernate
6 1 (0.24%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 46 (11.17%) Product Ownership
2 25 (6.07%) Data Structures
3 19 (4.61%) Data Centre
4 17 (4.13%) Management Information System
4 17 (4.13%) Onboarding
5 16 (3.88%) Legacy Systems
6 13 (3.16%) Security Posture
7 12 (2.91%) Analytical Mindset
8 10 (2.43%) Cloud Native
9 9 (2.18%) Operational Technology
10 8 (1.94%) Data Protection Act
10 8 (1.94%) PMI
10 8 (1.94%) Security Operations Centre
11 7 (1.70%) CMDB
11 7 (1.70%) PKI
12 6 (1.46%) Taxonomies
12 6 (1.46%) Virtual Team
13 5 (1.21%) e-Learning
13 5 (1.21%) Hybrid Cloud
13 5 (1.21%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 12 (2.91%) Windows
2 8 (1.94%) Linux
3 2 (0.49%) Apple iOS
4 1 (0.24%) Android
4 1 (0.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.24%) Unix
4 1 (0.24%) VMS
4 1 (0.24%) Windows 10
4 1 (0.24%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 105 (25.49%) Agile
2 95 (23.06%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 93 (22.57%) Stakeholder Management
4 87 (21.12%) ITIL
5 76 (18.45%) Problem-Solving
6 69 (16.75%) Service Management
7 62 (15.05%) ITSM
8 58 (14.08%) Change Management
9 48 (11.65%) Roadmaps
10 46 (11.17%) Decision-Making
11 44 (10.68%) PRINCE2
12 40 (9.71%) Computer Science
12 40 (9.71%) Cybersecurity
13 39 (9.47%) Service Delivery
14 38 (9.22%) Analytics
15 37 (8.98%) Configuration Management
15 37 (8.98%) Risk Management
16 36 (8.74%) ERP
16 36 (8.74%) Scaled Agile Framework
17 34 (8.25%) Performance Metrics
Programming Languages
1 19 (4.61%) SQL
2 18 (4.37%) Python
3 11 (2.67%) Java
4 10 (2.43%) PowerShell
5 6 (1.46%) C#
6 5 (1.21%) Bash
7 4 (0.97%) Bicep
8 3 (0.73%) PL/SQL
9 2 (0.49%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 2 (0.49%) JavaScript
9 2 (0.49%) T-SQL
9 2 (0.49%) TypeScript
10 1 (0.24%) ABAP
10 1 (0.24%) Apex Code
10 1 (0.24%) C
10 1 (0.24%) Objective-C
10 1 (0.24%) Swift
10 1 (0.24%) VB
Qualifications
1 192 (46.60%) Security Cleared
2 101 (24.51%) SC Cleared
3 76 (18.45%) Degree
4 45 (10.92%) DV Cleared
5 20 (4.85%) ACCA
5 20 (4.85%) CIMA
6 19 (4.61%) PMI Certification
7 12 (2.91%) PMP
8 10 (2.43%) Cisco Certification
9 9 (2.18%) CCNP
9 9 (2.18%) CISSP
10 7 (1.70%) Azure Certification
11 6 (1.46%) Computer Science Degree
12 5 (1.21%) CCNA
12 5 (1.21%) ISTQB
13 4 (0.97%) CISM
14 3 (0.73%) CESG Certified Professional
14 3 (0.73%) JNCIS
14 3 (0.73%) Microsoft Certification
14 3 (0.73%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (6.80%) Data Quality
2 19 (4.61%) PMO
2 19 (4.61%) QA
3 15 (3.64%) NIST
4 14 (3.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 13 (3.16%) SLA
6 10 (2.43%) GDPR
7 8 (1.94%) Cyber Essentials
7 8 (1.94%) NCSC
8 6 (1.46%) Accessibility
9 5 (1.21%) GRC
10 3 (0.73%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.73%) Def Stans
10 3 (0.73%) ISO 22301
10 3 (0.73%) ISO 31000
10 3 (0.73%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.24%) COBIT
11 1 (0.24%) IFRS
11 1 (0.24%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.24%) SOC 2
System Software
1 13 (3.16%) VMware Infrastructure
2 10 (2.43%) Active Directory
3 8 (1.94%) Docker
4 6 (1.46%) VMware NSX
5 5 (1.21%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.49%) Firmware
6 2 (0.49%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.24%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.24%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 11 (2.67%) Kubernetes
2 9 (2.18%) Terraform
3 8 (1.94%) Ansible
4 6 (1.46%) Single Sign-On
5 5 (1.21%) Grafana
5 5 (1.21%) SCCM
6 4 (0.97%) Nagios
6 4 (0.97%) Nessus
6 4 (0.97%) Prometheus
7 3 (0.73%) Argo
7 3 (0.73%) OpenVAS
7 3 (0.73%) Rancher
8 2 (0.49%) Cisco Prime
8 2 (0.49%) Iperf
8 2 (0.49%) Nmap
9 1 (0.24%) CSIRT
9 1 (0.24%) Progress Chef
9 1 (0.24%) Puppet
9 1 (0.24%) QRadar
9 1 (0.24%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 35 (8.50%) ServiceNow
2 33 (8.01%) Microsoft
3 29 (7.04%) SAP
4 28 (6.80%) Oracle
5 25 (6.07%) IBM
6 23 (5.58%) Google
7 22 (5.34%) VMware
8 10 (2.43%) Cisco
9 8 (1.94%) Palo Alto
10 7 (1.70%) Juniper
10 7 (1.70%) SolarWinds
11 6 (1.46%) Fortinet
11 6 (1.46%) Salesforce
11 6 (1.46%) Splunk
12 5 (1.21%) BMC
12 5 (1.21%) CheckPoint
12 5 (1.21%) Remedy
13 4 (0.97%) F5
13 4 (0.97%) Qualys
13 4 (0.97%) Rapid7