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

6 months to
10 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 13 39 42
Rank change year-on-year +26 +3 +31
Contract jobs citing Continuous Improvement 664 166 204
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 10.00% 4.75% 4.40%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.39% 5.32% 5.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 379 95 107
10th Percentile £338 £351 £360
25th Percentile £434 £449 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £537 £500 £508
Median % change year-on-year +7.40% -1.57% -7.64%
75th Percentile £613 £600 £638
90th Percentile £700 £650 £673
England median daily rate £520 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +4.00% -4.76% -8.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 52 11 9
10th Percentile £20.78 - £21.85
25th Percentile £47.69 £15.13 £25.99
Median hourly rate £74.50 £15.25 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year +388.52% -70.95% +9.38%
75th Percentile £87.04 £58.00 £58.75
90th Percentile £88.00 £70.16 £60.73
England median hourly rate £35.00 £27.86 £48.48
% change year-on-year +25.65% -42.54% -22.44%

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 5,359 3,120 3,820
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 80.74% 89.22% 82.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,231 1,937 2,290
10th Percentile £275 £222 £256
25th Percentile £425 £385 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -2.44% -1.14%
75th Percentile £619 £600 £633
90th Percentile £706 £663 £700
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.95% -2.87% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 617 311 271
10th Percentile £13.45 £13.50 £16.00
25th Percentile £17.23 £15.50 £34.50
Median hourly rate £52.43 £22.07 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +137.54% -61.52% +9.24%
75th Percentile £70.00 £52.38 £71.82
90th Percentile £87.16 £69.65 £78.75
England median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% +1.18%

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 10 September 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 10 September 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 10 September 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 +25 298 £550 +7.32% 266
Berkshire +30 209 £550 +7.32% 145
Hampshire +18 204 £575 +6.48% 168
Buckinghamshire +1 72 £572 +11.61% 53
Surrey +23 70 £450 -10.00% 79
West Sussex +6 41 £483 +25.32% 44
Middlesex - 24 - - 4
Oxfordshire -14 17 £650 -1.89% 74
Kent +3 7 £405 - 42
East Sussex +1 3 £575 +17.95% 22
Sussex - 1 £600 - 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 35 (5.27%) SharePoint
2 17 (2.56%) Confluence
3 4 (0.60%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.30%) Oracle Application Server
4 2 (0.30%) Smallworld
5 1 (0.15%) Apache
5 1 (0.15%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.15%) Apache Superset
5 1 (0.15%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.15%) SharePoint 2010
5 1 (0.15%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 67 (10.09%) Microsoft Excel
2 31 (4.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 26 (3.92%) Microsoft Project
4 16 (2.41%) Microsoft Office
5 2 (0.30%) Chatbot
5 2 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.15%) CINEMA 4D
6 1 (0.15%) Houdini
6 1 (0.15%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.15%) NUKE
Business Applications
1 17 (2.56%) SAP S/4HANA
2 5 (0.75%) Primavera
3 4 (0.60%) Oracle ERP
4 3 (0.45%) iTrent
4 3 (0.45%) Maximo
4 3 (0.45%) NEC Housing
4 3 (0.45%) Workday HCM
5 2 (0.30%) Dynamics CRM
5 2 (0.30%) Salesforce CRM
5 2 (0.30%) SAP SD
5 2 (0.30%) Teamcenter
6 1 (0.15%) Oracle EBS
6 1 (0.15%) Oracle EBS R12
6 1 (0.15%) Remedy ITSM
6 1 (0.15%) SAP BPC
6 1 (0.15%) SAP Business One
6 1 (0.15%) SAP Convergent Charging
6 1 (0.15%) SAP MM
6 1 (0.15%) SAP PLM
6 1 (0.15%) SAP PSCD
Cloud Services
1 125 (18.83%) Azure
2 97 (14.61%) AWS
3 35 (5.27%) Power Platform
4 33 (4.97%) GCP
5 25 (3.77%) SaaS
6 23 (3.46%) GitHub
7 22 (3.31%) Azure DevOps
8 21 (3.16%) Entra ID
9 17 (2.56%) Microsoft 365
10 15 (2.26%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 15 (2.26%) Azure Monitor
10 15 (2.26%) Serverless
11 13 (1.96%) GitHub Actions
12 12 (1.81%) OpenShift
13 11 (1.66%) Datadog
14 8 (1.20%) AWS CloudFormation
14 8 (1.20%) AWS Lambda
14 8 (1.20%) OCI
15 7 (1.05%) Azure AKS
16 6 (0.90%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 27 (4.07%) DNS
2 25 (3.77%) Network Security
3 17 (2.56%) Firewall
4 13 (1.96%) LAN
5 11 (1.66%) DHCP
6 10 (1.51%) Broadband
7 9 (1.36%) TCP/IP
8 8 (1.20%) WAN
9 7 (1.05%) SD-WAN
9 7 (1.05%) VPN
9 7 (1.05%) Wi-Fi
10 6 (0.90%) Wireless
11 5 (0.75%) Intranet
12 4 (0.60%) DNSSEC
12 4 (0.60%) Radio Access Network
12 4 (0.60%) Software-Defined Networking
13 3 (0.45%) Intrusion Detection
13 3 (0.45%) MQTT
13 3 (0.45%) VLAN
14 2 (0.30%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 32 (4.82%) Power BI
2 17 (2.56%) Metadata
3 15 (2.26%) Relational Database
4 14 (2.11%) Data Warehouse
5 11 (1.66%) PostgreSQL
6 7 (1.05%) Oracle Reports
6 7 (1.05%) Spark SQL
7 6 (0.90%) DynamoDB
7 6 (0.90%) Tableau
8 4 (0.60%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (0.45%) Big Data
9 3 (0.45%) Elasticsearch
9 3 (0.45%) Geospatial Data
9 3 (0.45%) GIS
9 3 (0.45%) NoSQL
9 3 (0.45%) Redis
10 2 (0.30%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.30%) Oracle ODI
10 2 (0.30%) SAP HANA
10 2 (0.30%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 30 (4.52%) JIRA
2 29 (4.37%) Git
3 20 (3.01%) GitLab
4 19 (2.86%) Jenkins
5 14 (2.11%) Selenium
6 6 (0.90%) MSI
6 6 (0.90%) Rational DOORS
7 5 (0.75%) SonarQube
8 2 (0.30%) Cucumber
8 2 (0.30%) Hudson
8 2 (0.30%) REST Assured
8 2 (0.30%) Sonatype Nexus
9 1 (0.15%) Mockito
9 1 (0.15%) Octopus Deploy
9 1 (0.15%) Postman
9 1 (0.15%) RStudio
9 1 (0.15%) SoapUI
9 1 (0.15%) SpecFlow
9 1 (0.15%) Subversion
9 1 (0.15%) TestRail
General
1 317 (47.74%) Social Skills
2 195 (29.37%) Analytical Skills
3 119 (17.92%) Finance
4 70 (10.54%) Public Sector
5 53 (7.98%) Aerospace
6 45 (6.78%) Organisational Skills
7 31 (4.67%) Influencing Skills
8 21 (3.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 21 (3.16%) Retail
9 20 (3.01%) Telecoms
10 19 (2.86%) Legal
11 17 (2.56%) Manufacturing
12 16 (2.41%) Documentation Skills
12 16 (2.41%) French Language
12 16 (2.41%) Spanish Language
13 14 (2.11%) Military
14 13 (1.96%) Presentation Skills
15 8 (1.20%) Games
16 7 (1.05%) Local Government
16 7 (1.05%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 85 (12.80%) Analyst
2 82 (12.35%) Lead
3 63 (9.49%) Architect
4 61 (9.19%) Senior
5 42 (6.33%) Delivery Manager
6 30 (4.52%) Product Manager
7 25 (3.77%) Consultant
8 23 (3.46%) Data Analyst
9 21 (3.16%) Product Delivery Manager
10 18 (2.71%) Project Manager
11 16 (2.41%) 2nd Line Support
11 16 (2.41%) 2nd Line Technical Support
11 16 (2.41%) Security Analyst
11 16 (2.41%) Technical Support
12 15 (2.26%) IT Manager
12 15 (2.26%) Senior Manager
12 15 (2.26%) Service Manager
12 15 (2.26%) Solutions Architect
13 14 (2.11%) Senior Analyst
14 13 (1.96%) Engineering Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 53 (7.98%) Terraform
2 14 (2.11%) REST
3 11 (1.66%) .NET
3 11 (1.66%) ARM Templates
4 10 (1.51%) OAuth
4 10 (1.51%) PySpark
4 10 (1.51%) RESTful
4 10 (1.51%) SOAP
5 9 (1.36%) Kafka
6 8 (1.20%) SAML
7 7 (1.05%) EDI
7 7 (1.05%) OpenID
8 6 (0.90%) JSON
8 6 (0.90%) LDAP
8 6 (0.90%) Middleware
9 5 (0.75%) GraphQL
9 5 (0.75%) HTML
9 5 (0.75%) OAuth2
9 5 (0.75%) React
10 4 (0.60%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 62 (9.34%) Product Ownership
2 38 (5.72%) Cloud Native
3 37 (5.57%) Onboarding
4 33 (4.97%) Management Information System
5 24 (3.61%) Operational Technology
6 20 (3.01%) Security Posture
7 18 (2.71%) Hybrid Cloud
8 15 (2.26%) CMDB
9 14 (2.11%) Cyber Threat
9 14 (2.11%) Data Centre
10 13 (1.96%) PMI
11 12 (1.81%) Analytical Mindset
11 12 (1.81%) Data Protection Act
11 12 (1.81%) Enterprise Software
12 11 (1.66%) Data Structures
12 11 (1.66%) Security Operations Centre
12 11 (1.66%) Self-Motivation
13 10 (1.51%) Social Media
13 10 (1.51%) Virtual Team
14 8 (1.20%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 73 (10.99%) Windows
2 33 (4.97%) Linux
3 23 (3.46%) Windows Server
4 7 (1.05%) Windows Server 2019
5 4 (0.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.15%) Embedded Linux
6 1 (0.15%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.15%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 241 (36.30%) Agile
2 193 (29.07%) Problem-Solving
3 186 (28.01%) Stakeholder Management
4 152 (22.89%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 122 (18.37%) ITIL
6 104 (15.66%) Decision-Making
7 100 (15.06%) Roadmaps
8 92 (13.86%) Service Delivery
9 90 (13.55%) CI/CD
9 90 (13.55%) Service Management
10 88 (13.25%) DevOps
11 79 (11.90%) Cybersecurity
12 75 (11.30%) Change Management
13 74 (11.14%) Project Delivery
14 72 (10.84%) ITSM
15 67 (10.09%) Validation
16 63 (9.49%) Infrastructure as Code
16 63 (9.49%) PRINCE2
17 61 (9.19%) Project Management
18 59 (8.89%) AI
Programming Languages
1 81 (12.20%) Python
2 75 (11.30%) SQL
3 47 (7.08%) PowerShell
4 27 (4.07%) Bash
5 16 (2.41%) Java
6 9 (1.36%) Bicep
7 7 (1.05%) C#
7 7 (1.05%) JavaScript
8 6 (0.90%) Apex Code
9 5 (0.75%) TypeScript
10 4 (0.60%) Go
10 4 (0.60%) Shell Script
11 3 (0.45%) PL/SQL
11 3 (0.45%) Rust
12 2 (0.30%) Kusto Query Language
12 2 (0.30%) Magik
13 1 (0.15%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 1 (0.15%) Groovy
13 1 (0.15%) Perl
13 1 (0.15%) R
Qualifications
1 330 (49.70%) Security Cleared
2 173 (26.05%) SC Cleared
3 125 (18.83%) DV Cleared
4 114 (17.17%) Degree
5 36 (5.42%) PMI Certification
6 25 (3.77%) PMP
7 20 (3.01%) Computer Science Degree
8 19 (2.86%) Azure Certification
9 17 (2.56%) CISSP
10 16 (2.41%) ACCA
10 16 (2.41%) BPSS Clearance
10 16 (2.41%) CIMA
11 14 (2.11%) AWS Certification
11 14 (2.11%) ITIL Certification
12 11 (1.66%) Cisco Certification
13 9 (1.36%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
14 7 (1.05%) CISM
15 6 (0.90%) Master's Degree
15 6 (0.90%) Microsoft Certification
15 6 (0.90%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 54 (8.13%) PMO
1 54 (8.13%) QA
2 51 (7.68%) Data Quality
3 32 (4.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 22 (3.31%) NIST
5 21 (3.16%) GDPR
6 17 (2.56%) SLA
7 14 (2.11%) NCSC
8 9 (1.36%) ISO 9001
9 8 (1.20%) Cyber Essentials
9 8 (1.20%) GRC
10 6 (0.90%) ISO 22301
11 4 (0.60%) Def Stans
11 4 (0.60%) NIST 800
12 3 (0.45%) ISO 31000
13 2 (0.30%) Accessibility
13 2 (0.30%) Disclosure Scotland
13 2 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 20000
13 2 (0.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 1 (0.15%) COBIT
System Software
1 29 (4.37%) Active Directory
2 25 (3.77%) Docker
2 25 (3.77%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (1.20%) IAG
4 6 (0.90%) vSphere
5 5 (0.75%) Virtual Desktop
5 5 (0.75%) Virtual Machines
5 5 (0.75%) VMware NSX
6 4 (0.60%) Hyper-V
7 3 (0.45%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 48 (7.23%) Kubernetes
2 35 (5.27%) Ansible
3 11 (1.66%) Grafana
4 9 (1.36%) WMI
5 8 (1.20%) Microsoft Intune
5 8 (1.20%) Puppet
6 7 (1.05%) Prometheus
6 7 (1.05%) SCCM
7 5 (0.75%) Progress Chef
8 4 (0.60%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 3 (0.45%) MOM
9 3 (0.45%) Podman
9 3 (0.45%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.30%) Argo
10 2 (0.30%) CASB
10 2 (0.30%) CSIRT
10 2 (0.30%) Istio
10 2 (0.30%) vCenter Server
11 1 (0.15%) Kubeflow
11 1 (0.15%) QRadar
Vendors
1 133 (20.03%) Microsoft
2 47 (7.08%) SAP
3 46 (6.93%) ServiceNow
4 33 (4.97%) VMware
5 25 (3.77%) Oracle
6 18 (2.71%) Databricks
7 17 (2.56%) Salesforce
8 14 (2.11%) Google
9 11 (1.66%) Dynatrace
9 11 (1.66%) Juniper
10 8 (1.20%) Cisco
10 8 (1.20%) Nexthink
10 8 (1.20%) Workday
11 6 (0.90%) Baan
11 6 (0.90%) IBM
11 6 (0.90%) Splunk
11 6 (0.90%) Virgin Media
12 5 (0.75%) Red Hat
12 5 (0.75%) SolarWinds
13 4 (0.60%) Infoblox