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

6 months to
4 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 19 40 39
Rank change year-on-year +21 -1 +27
Contract jobs citing Continuous Improvement 445 145 243
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 7.47% 4.95% 4.31%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 9.26% 5.42% 5.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 258 88 129
10th Percentile £325 £321 £361
25th Percentile £425 £416 £456
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £518 £513 £505
Median % change year-on-year +1.12% +1.49% -8.18%
75th Percentile £608 £588 £650
90th Percentile £700 £633 £688
England median daily rate £500 £505 £525
% change year-on-year -0.99% -3.81% -6.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 57 9 16
10th Percentile £40.35 - £18.35
25th Percentile £80.50 £15.13 £26.05
Median hourly rate £87.96 £19.91 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +341.79% -46.91% -16.67%
75th Percentile £88.00 £67.50 £43.75
90th Percentile £91.80 £71.41 £58.25
England median hourly rate £55.00 £46.06 £36.50
% change year-on-year +19.41% +26.19% -28.78%

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 4,806 2,676 4,675
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 80.71% 91.27% 82.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,069 1,716 2,701
10th Percentile £280 £250 £259
25th Percentile £412 £399 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £500 £510
Median % change year-on-year +3.00% -1.96% +0.99%
75th Percentile £606 £600 £625
90th Percentile £700 £656 £700
England median daily rate £515 £523 £525
% change year-on-year -1.55% -0.36% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 457 181 449
10th Percentile £15.05 £13.25 £13.00
25th Percentile £21.35 £15.00 £18.20
Median hourly rate £52.50 £25.15 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +108.75% -47.05% -9.52%
75th Percentile £82.25 £60.00 £62.50
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £76.89
England median hourly rate £47.00 £28.53 £37.50
% change year-on-year +64.77% -23.93% +0.54%

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 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 4 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 4 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 +12 211 £519 +3.80% 185
Berkshire +26 159 £510 +1.95% 97
Hampshire +20 135 £550 - 107
Surrey +19 46 £450 - 52
Buckinghamshire -17 44 £525 -4.55% 49
West Sussex -11 19 £531 +37.10% 23
Oxfordshire -14 8 £725 +190.00% 42
East Sussex -1 7 £622 +13.00% 7
Middlesex - 4 - - 8
Kent -4 2 £463 -18.50% 28
Sussex - 2 £600 - 4
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 14 (3.15%) Confluence
2 10 (2.25%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.45%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.22%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 1 (0.22%) SharePoint 2010
4 1 (0.22%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 28 (6.29%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (1.80%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (1.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (1.35%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.90%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.22%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 15 (3.37%) SAP S/4HANA
2 7 (1.57%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 3 (0.67%) iTrent
3 3 (0.67%) Remedy ITSM
4 2 (0.45%) Maximo
4 2 (0.45%) Salesforce CRM
4 2 (0.45%) SAP SD
4 2 (0.45%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.22%) Primavera
5 1 (0.22%) SAP BPC
5 1 (0.22%) SAP BRIM
5 1 (0.22%) SAP Business One
5 1 (0.22%) SAP Convergent Charging
5 1 (0.22%) SAP ERP
5 1 (0.22%) SAP PLM
Cloud Services
1 64 (14.38%) Azure
2 42 (9.44%) AWS
3 23 (5.17%) Power Platform
4 14 (3.15%) GCP
5 13 (2.92%) Azure DevOps
6 10 (2.25%) Entra ID
7 9 (2.02%) Serverless
8 7 (1.57%) SaaS
9 6 (1.35%) GitHub
9 6 (1.35%) GitHub Actions
9 6 (1.35%) OpenShift
10 5 (1.12%) Microsoft 365
10 5 (1.12%) Microsoft Purview
11 4 (0.90%) Amazon EKS
11 4 (0.90%) Amazon S3
11 4 (0.90%) AWS Lambda
11 4 (0.90%) Azure Logic Apps
11 4 (0.90%) dbt
11 4 (0.90%) PaaS
12 3 (0.67%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 12 (2.70%) Network Security
2 11 (2.47%) Firewall
2 11 (2.47%) LAN
3 8 (1.80%) VPN
4 6 (1.35%) VLAN
5 5 (1.12%) DNS
5 5 (1.12%) TCP/IP
6 4 (0.90%) WAN
6 4 (0.90%) Wi-Fi
7 3 (0.67%) BGP
7 3 (0.67%) DHCP
7 3 (0.67%) IPv4
7 3 (0.67%) IPv6
7 3 (0.67%) OSPF
7 3 (0.67%) SD-WAN
7 3 (0.67%) Wireless
8 2 (0.45%) MPLS
8 2 (0.45%) MQTT
8 2 (0.45%) Multicast
8 2 (0.45%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (4.94%) Power BI
2 9 (2.02%) Metadata
3 6 (1.35%) Data Warehouse
3 6 (1.35%) Tableau
4 4 (0.90%) Data Lake
4 4 (0.90%) Oracle Reports
4 4 (0.90%) SQL Server
5 3 (0.67%) DynamoDB
5 3 (0.67%) Geospatial Data
5 3 (0.67%) GIS
5 3 (0.67%) Metadata Repository
5 3 (0.67%) PostgreSQL
5 3 (0.67%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 2 (0.45%) Azure SQL Database
6 2 (0.45%) Elasticsearch
6 2 (0.45%) NoSQL
6 2 (0.45%) Redis
6 2 (0.45%) SAP HANA
6 2 (0.45%) SQL Server Analysis Services
6 2 (0.45%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 27 (6.07%) Rational DOORS
2 21 (4.72%) JIRA
3 9 (2.02%) GitLab
4 8 (1.80%) Jenkins
5 5 (1.12%) Git
6 4 (0.90%) SonarQube
7 3 (0.67%) Hudson
7 3 (0.67%) Selenium
8 2 (0.45%) Sonatype Nexus
8 2 (0.45%) SpecFlow
8 2 (0.45%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.22%) Balsamiq
9 1 (0.22%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.22%) Cucumber
9 1 (0.22%) Cypress.io
9 1 (0.22%) ERwin
9 1 (0.22%) Postman
9 1 (0.22%) SoapUI
9 1 (0.22%) TestRail
9 1 (0.22%) WebDriver
General
1 193 (43.37%) Social Skills
2 100 (22.47%) Analytical Skills
3 97 (21.80%) Finance
4 51 (11.46%) Public Sector
5 50 (11.24%) Aerospace
6 17 (3.82%) Legal
6 17 (3.82%) Organisational Skills
7 16 (3.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 14 (3.15%) Retail
8 14 (3.15%) Telecoms
9 13 (2.92%) Influencing Skills
10 12 (2.70%) Law
11 11 (2.47%) French Language
11 11 (2.47%) Spanish Language
12 6 (1.35%) Documentation Skills
13 5 (1.12%) Aviation
13 5 (1.12%) Marketing
14 4 (0.90%) Billing
14 4 (0.90%) Military
15 3 (0.67%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 64 (14.38%) Analyst
2 46 (10.34%) Senior
3 44 (9.89%) Delivery Manager
3 44 (9.89%) Lead
4 35 (7.87%) Architect
4 35 (7.87%) Product Manager
5 29 (6.52%) Product Delivery Manager
6 23 (5.17%) IT Manager
7 22 (4.94%) Systems Delivery Manager
7 22 (4.94%) Systems Manager
8 15 (3.37%) Service Manager
9 13 (2.92%) Project Manager
9 13 (2.92%) Solutions Architect
10 12 (2.70%) Consultant
10 12 (2.70%) Data Analyst
10 12 (2.70%) Senior Analyst
11 11 (2.47%) 2nd Line Support
11 11 (2.47%) 2nd Line Technical Support
11 11 (2.47%) Financial Analyst
11 11 (2.47%) Technical Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (2.25%) OAuth
2 8 (1.80%) RESTful
2 8 (1.80%) SOAP
3 7 (1.57%) SAML
4 6 (1.35%) .NET
4 6 (1.35%) LDAP
4 6 (1.35%) OAuth2
4 6 (1.35%) OpenID
5 5 (1.12%) GraphQL
5 5 (1.12%) REST
6 4 (0.90%) ARM Templates
6 4 (0.90%) EDI
6 4 (0.90%) JSON
6 4 (0.90%) Kafka
6 4 (0.90%) Keycloak
7 3 (0.67%) Elastic Stack
7 3 (0.67%) JWT
7 3 (0.67%) Middleware
7 3 (0.67%) Playwright
7 3 (0.67%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 60 (13.48%) Product Ownership
2 25 (5.62%) Data Structures
3 20 (4.49%) Onboarding
4 18 (4.04%) Management Information System
5 17 (3.82%) Data Centre
6 15 (3.37%) Legacy Systems
7 13 (2.92%) Analytical Mindset
8 12 (2.70%) Cloud Native
8 12 (2.70%) Operational Technology
8 12 (2.70%) Security Posture
9 11 (2.47%) PMI
10 8 (1.80%) CMDB
11 7 (1.57%) Data Protection Act
12 6 (1.35%) Taxonomies
13 5 (1.12%) Distributed Systems
13 5 (1.12%) PKI
13 5 (1.12%) Virtual Team
14 4 (0.90%) Enterprise Software
14 4 (0.90%) Security Operations Centre
14 4 (0.90%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 19 (4.27%) Windows
2 6 (1.35%) Linux
3 2 (0.45%) Apple iOS
3 2 (0.45%) Windows Server
4 1 (0.22%) Android
4 1 (0.22%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.22%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 141 (31.69%) Agile
2 104 (23.37%) Stakeholder Management
3 98 (22.02%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 79 (17.75%) Problem-Solving
5 73 (16.40%) ITIL
6 59 (13.26%) Roadmaps
7 55 (12.36%) Decision-Making
7 55 (12.36%) Service Management
8 47 (10.56%) ITSM
9 45 (10.11%) Cybersecurity
10 44 (9.89%) Scaled Agile Framework
11 43 (9.66%) Change Management
11 43 (9.66%) CI/CD
12 42 (9.44%) Risk Management
13 41 (9.21%) Configuration Management
13 41 (9.21%) DevOps
14 39 (8.76%) Computer Science
14 39 (8.76%) PRINCE2
14 39 (8.76%) Project Delivery
15 37 (8.31%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 29 (6.52%) SQL
2 18 (4.04%) Python
3 15 (3.37%) Java
4 10 (2.25%) PowerShell
5 6 (1.35%) C#
6 4 (0.90%) Bash
6 4 (0.90%) Bicep
7 3 (0.67%) JavaScript
8 2 (0.45%) Apex Code
8 2 (0.45%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 2 (0.45%) PL/SQL
8 2 (0.45%) Rust
8 2 (0.45%) Shell Script
8 2 (0.45%) T-SQL
8 2 (0.45%) TypeScript
9 1 (0.22%) ABAP
9 1 (0.22%) C
9 1 (0.22%) Objective-C
9 1 (0.22%) Swift
9 1 (0.22%) VB
Qualifications
1 217 (48.76%) Security Cleared
2 114 (25.62%) SC Cleared
3 77 (17.30%) Degree
4 56 (12.58%) DV Cleared
5 22 (4.94%) ACCA
5 22 (4.94%) CIMA
6 21 (4.72%) PMI Certification
7 11 (2.47%) PMP
8 10 (2.25%) Azure Certification
8 10 (2.25%) Cisco Certification
9 9 (2.02%) CCNP
10 7 (1.57%) CISSP
11 5 (1.12%) CCNA
11 5 (1.12%) Computer Science Degree
11 5 (1.12%) ISTQB
12 4 (0.90%) AWS Certification
12 4 (0.90%) CISM
13 3 (0.67%) BPSS Clearance
13 3 (0.67%) JNCIS
13 3 (0.67%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (7.64%) Data Quality
2 25 (5.62%) QA
3 20 (4.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 18 (4.04%) PMO
5 17 (3.82%) NIST
6 13 (2.92%) GDPR
7 12 (2.70%) NCSC
7 12 (2.70%) SLA
8 7 (1.57%) Cyber Essentials
9 6 (1.35%) Accessibility
10 4 (0.90%) GRC
11 3 (0.67%) Def Stans
11 3 (0.67%) ISO 22301
11 3 (0.67%) ISO 31000
11 3 (0.67%) NIST 800
12 2 (0.45%) Actionable Recommendations
13 1 (0.22%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 1 (0.22%) IFRS
13 1 (0.22%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.22%) SOC 2
System Software
1 15 (3.37%) Active Directory
2 13 (2.92%) VMware Infrastructure
3 12 (2.70%) Docker
4 5 (1.12%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.67%) VMware NSX
6 2 (0.45%) Firmware
6 2 (0.45%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.22%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.22%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 18 (4.04%) Kubernetes
2 16 (3.60%) Terraform
3 11 (2.47%) Ansible
4 7 (1.57%) Grafana
5 6 (1.35%) Prometheus
6 4 (0.90%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 4 (0.90%) Nessus
6 4 (0.90%) Single Sign-On
7 3 (0.67%) Nagios
7 3 (0.67%) OpenVAS
8 2 (0.45%) Argo
8 2 (0.45%) Cisco Prime
8 2 (0.45%) Iperf
8 2 (0.45%) Nmap
8 2 (0.45%) Podman
8 2 (0.45%) Puppet
8 2 (0.45%) Rancher
8 2 (0.45%) SCCM
9 1 (0.22%) HP ALM
9 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 40 (8.99%) Microsoft
2 35 (7.87%) SAP
3 33 (7.42%) ServiceNow
4 25 (5.62%) IBM
5 20 (4.49%) Oracle
5 20 (4.49%) VMware
6 9 (2.02%) Cisco
6 9 (2.02%) Salesforce
7 7 (1.57%) Juniper
7 7 (1.57%) SolarWinds
8 6 (1.35%) Databricks
8 6 (1.35%) Google
8 6 (1.35%) Virgin Media
9 5 (1.12%) Palo Alto
9 5 (1.12%) Red Hat
9 5 (1.12%) Remedy
10 4 (0.90%) F5
10 4 (0.90%) Qualys
10 4 (0.90%) Rapid7
11 3 (0.67%) Workday