Problem-Solving Job Trends in the South East

Problem Solving
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the South East requiring Problem-Solving skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 24 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -5 +1 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,306 1,505 2,890
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 8.69% 18.98% 15.72%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.13% 21.05% 19.36%
Number of salaries quoted 991 735 1,794
10th Percentile £26,500 £27,150 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,000 £31,250 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £42,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.88% -5.56% -13.46%
75th Percentile £58,750 £62,500 £61,250
90th Percentile £73,750 £83,750 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -9.09%

All Process & Methodology Skills
South East

Problem-Solving falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the South East.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 10,766 7,151 14,931
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.60% 90.17% 81.23%
Number of salaries quoted 7,650 3,519 10,375
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,750 £27,750
25th Percentile £39,070 £35,000 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,600 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +8.70% +1.20% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £82,500 £78,750
England median annual salary £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -12.00%

Problem-Solving
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Problem-Solving relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Problem-Solving job vacancy trend in the South East

Problem-Solving
Salary Trend in the South East

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Problem-Solving.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Salary Histogram in the South East

Salary distribution for jobs citing Problem-Solving in the South East over the 6 months to 24 June 2026.

Salary histogram for Problem-Solving in the South East

Problem-Solving
Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Problem-Solving within the South East region over the 6 months to 24 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Thames Valley -8 478 £45,000 - 198
Hampshire -3 308 £40,000 -4.19% 126
Berkshire -4 231 £45,000 -10.00% 77
Surrey -1 218 £42,500 +6.25% 78
Buckinghamshire -10 141 £47,500 +26.67% 77
Kent -3 136 £29,500 -6.35% 54
Oxfordshire -3 106 £35,000 -34.27% 46
East Sussex -4 92 £50,000 - 22
West Sussex -4 63 £50,000 +7.53% 25
Middlesex +6 4 £35,000 -42.86% 8
Isle of Wight -12 2 £42,000 -23.64%
Problem-Solving
England

Problem-Solving
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 38 (2.91%) SharePoint
2 34 (2.60%) Microsoft Exchange
3 17 (1.30%) CMS
3 17 (1.30%) Confluence
4 7 (0.54%) OpenEdge
5 5 (0.38%) WordPress
6 3 (0.23%) Anypoint
6 3 (0.23%) govService
6 3 (0.23%) IIS
6 3 (0.23%) OpenStack
6 3 (0.23%) SAS
7 2 (0.15%) Apache
7 2 (0.15%) Gentran
8 1 (0.077%) Tomcat
Applications
1 93 (7.12%) Microsoft Excel
2 82 (6.28%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (0.77%) Spreadsheet
4 9 (0.69%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 8 (0.61%) MS Visio
6 5 (0.38%) Photoshop
7 4 (0.31%) Adobe Illustrator
8 3 (0.23%) Lightworks
8 3 (0.23%) Microsoft Project
9 2 (0.15%) Chatbot
9 2 (0.15%) Simulink
10 1 (0.077%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 12 (0.92%) NetSuite
2 8 (0.61%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (0.46%) SAP CO
4 4 (0.31%) Dynamics NAV
4 4 (0.31%) Magento
5 3 (0.23%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.15%) Infor SunSystems
6 2 (0.15%) Raiser’s Edge
6 2 (0.15%) Shopify
7 1 (0.077%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.077%) HFM
7 1 (0.077%) SAP GRC
7 1 (0.077%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 310 (23.74%) Azure
2 147 (11.26%) Microsoft 365
3 124 (9.49%) AWS
4 75 (5.74%) Power Platform
5 55 (4.21%) SaaS
6 48 (3.68%) Azure DevOps
7 44 (3.37%) GCP
8 35 (2.68%) Entra ID
9 27 (2.07%) IaaS
10 26 (1.99%) PaaS
11 23 (1.76%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 22 (1.68%) Serverless
13 17 (1.30%) Datadog
13 17 (1.30%) GitHub
14 16 (1.23%) Dynamics 365
15 15 (1.15%) Google Workspace
15 15 (1.15%) OpenShift
16 14 (1.07%) Mimecast
17 13 (1.00%) Azure Data Factory
18 11 (0.84%) Asana
Communications & Networking
1 103 (7.89%) Firewall
2 63 (4.82%) DNS
3 46 (3.52%) WAN
4 45 (3.45%) LAN
5 41 (3.14%) VPN
6 39 (2.99%) DHCP
7 38 (2.91%) TCP/IP
8 35 (2.68%) Wireless
9 31 (2.37%) Wi-Fi
10 22 (1.68%) VoIP
11 21 (1.61%) Network Security
12 20 (1.53%) Broadband
12 20 (1.53%) VLAN
13 13 (1.00%) Internet
14 11 (0.84%) SSL
15 10 (0.77%) HTTP
16 7 (0.54%) Remote Desktop
17 6 (0.46%) MQTT
17 6 (0.46%) WLAN
18 5 (0.38%) Hyperconnected
Database & Business Intelligence
1 87 (6.66%) SQL Server
2 63 (4.82%) Power BI
3 22 (1.68%) Data Warehouse
3 22 (1.68%) PostgreSQL
4 17 (1.30%) Relational Database
5 16 (1.23%) OLTP
6 14 (1.07%) NoSQL
7 12 (0.92%) MySQL
8 11 (0.84%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 10 (0.77%) Power Query
9 10 (0.77%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 9 (0.69%) Data Lake
10 9 (0.69%) Tableau
11 7 (0.54%) Looker
12 6 (0.46%) Amazon RDS
12 6 (0.46%) Azure SQL Database
12 6 (0.46%) GIS
13 5 (0.38%) Elasticsearch
14 4 (0.31%) MongoDB
15 3 (0.23%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 61 (4.67%) Git
2 45 (3.45%) JIRA
3 30 (2.30%) GitLab
4 23 (1.76%) Rational DOORS
5 5 (0.38%) Selenium
6 3 (0.23%) Android Studio
6 3 (0.23%) Postman
7 2 (0.15%) Appium
7 2 (0.15%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.15%) Eclipse
7 2 (0.15%) Eclipse RCP
7 2 (0.15%) Jenkins
7 2 (0.15%) JMeter
7 2 (0.15%) JUnit
7 2 (0.15%) Mocha
7 2 (0.15%) PetaLinux
7 2 (0.15%) REST Assured
7 2 (0.15%) Subversion
7 2 (0.15%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.15%) Visual Studio
General
1 632 (48.39%) Social Skills
2 360 (27.57%) Analytical Skills
3 194 (14.85%) Finance
4 86 (6.58%) Organisational Skills
5 69 (5.28%) Manufacturing
6 55 (4.21%) Retail
7 54 (4.13%) Telecoms
8 53 (4.06%) Electronics
9 51 (3.91%) Marketing
10 45 (3.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 38 (2.91%) Aerospace
12 35 (2.68%) Law
13 29 (2.22%) Legal
14 28 (2.14%) Documentation Skills
14 28 (2.14%) Influencing Skills
15 26 (1.99%) Public Sector
16 25 (1.91%) Local Government
17 18 (1.38%) Military
18 15 (1.15%) Banking
19 13 (1.00%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 180 (13.78%) Analyst
2 143 (10.95%) IT Support
3 130 (9.95%) Senior
4 128 (9.80%) Developer
5 122 (9.34%) Support Engineer
6 85 (6.51%) IT Engineer
7 72 (5.51%) Support Analyst
8 67 (5.13%) Systems Engineer
9 62 (4.75%) Software Engineer
10 57 (4.36%) Technical Support
11 55 (4.21%) IT Support Engineer
11 55 (4.21%) Lead
12 54 (4.13%) Support Technician
13 47 (3.60%) 2nd Line Support
14 43 (3.29%) Technical Engineer
14 43 (3.29%) Technical Support Engineer
15 41 (3.14%) Architect
15 41 (3.14%) IT Technician
16 36 (2.76%) Infrastructure Engineer
17 35 (2.68%) 1st Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 81 (6.20%) .NET
2 58 (4.44%) HTML
3 50 (3.83%) SOAP
4 42 (3.22%) REST
5 36 (2.76%) CSS
5 36 (2.76%) JSON
5 36 (2.76%) XML
6 32 (2.45%) React
7 24 (1.84%) ASP.NET
8 19 (1.45%) Middleware
9 18 (1.38%) OAuth
9 18 (1.38%) RESTful
10 17 (1.30%) ASP.NET Core
10 17 (1.30%) Vue
11 16 (1.23%) HTML5
12 14 (1.07%) CSS3
12 14 (1.07%) RabbitMQ
13 13 (1.00%) AngularJS
13 13 (1.00%) jQuery
13 13 (1.00%) Laravel
Miscellaneous
1 83 (6.36%) Driving Licence
2 65 (4.98%) Self-Motivation
3 62 (4.75%) Management Information System
4 59 (4.52%) Onboarding
5 43 (3.29%) Cloud Native
6 36 (2.76%) Product Ownership
7 27 (2.07%) Distributed Systems
8 25 (1.91%) Analytical Mindset
9 18 (1.38%) Robotics
10 17 (1.30%) Low-Code
10 17 (1.30%) Social Media
11 16 (1.23%) NHS
12 15 (1.15%) EPoS
13 14 (1.07%) Legacy Systems
13 14 (1.07%) Security Posture
14 12 (0.92%) Client/Server
15 11 (0.84%) Video Editing
16 10 (0.77%) Enterprise Software
16 10 (0.77%) Mobile App
16 10 (0.77%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 209 (16.00%) Windows
2 107 (8.19%) Linux
3 71 (5.44%) Windows Server
4 21 (1.61%) Mac OS
5 19 (1.45%) Android
5 19 (1.45%) CentOS
6 17 (1.30%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 17 (1.30%) Windows Server 2019
7 13 (1.00%) Ubuntu
8 10 (0.77%) Windows Server 2016
9 6 (0.46%) Apple iOS
9 6 (0.46%) VMS
10 5 (0.38%) Debian
10 5 (0.38%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.23%) Windows 10
12 2 (0.15%) FreeRTOS
12 2 (0.15%) Gentoo
12 2 (0.15%) Unix
12 2 (0.15%) Windows 7
13 1 (0.077%) FreeBSD
Processes & Methodologies
1 256 (19.60%) Continuous Improvement
2 231 (17.69%) Customer Service
3 179 (13.71%) Agile
4 147 (11.26%) CI/CD
5 138 (10.57%) DevOps
6 135 (10.34%) Decision-Making
7 134 (10.26%) Software Engineering
8 118 (9.04%) Project Management
9 116 (8.88%) Cybersecurity
10 115 (8.81%) AI
11 107 (8.19%) Computer Science
11 107 (8.19%) Mentoring
12 103 (7.89%) Project Delivery
13 99 (7.58%) Collaborative Working
14 98 (7.50%) Analytics
15 94 (7.20%) Stakeholder Management
16 93 (7.12%) ITIL
17 92 (7.04%) Business Intelligence
18 83 (6.36%) Logistics
19 80 (6.13%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 208 (15.93%) Python
2 205 (15.70%) SQL
3 108 (8.27%) C#
4 88 (6.74%) JavaScript
5 82 (6.28%) PowerShell
6 52 (3.98%) C++
7 51 (3.91%) Java
8 38 (2.91%) TypeScript
9 31 (2.37%) C
10 30 (2.30%) Bash
11 26 (1.99%) PHP
12 18 (1.38%) PL/SQL
13 14 (1.07%) Rust
14 12 (0.92%) Ruby
15 11 (0.84%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 10 (0.77%) Perl
17 9 (0.69%) T-SQL
18 7 (0.54%) Apex Code
18 7 (0.54%) Bicep
19 6 (0.46%) Embedded C
Qualifications
1 247 (18.91%) Degree
2 86 (6.58%) Security Cleared
3 77 (5.90%) DBS Check
4 55 (4.21%) SC Cleared
5 53 (4.06%) Computer Science Degree
6 40 (3.06%) Microsoft Certification
7 38 (2.91%) BPSS Clearance
8 32 (2.45%) ACCA
9 31 (2.37%) CIMA
10 29 (2.22%) HNC
11 28 (2.14%) Chartered Engineer
12 20 (1.53%) A+ Certification
12 20 (1.53%) PMI Certification
13 18 (1.38%) Azure Certification
13 18 (1.38%) PMP
14 17 (1.30%) Microsoft Certified Professional
15 15 (1.15%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
16 14 (1.07%) CCNA
16 14 (1.07%) Cisco Certification
16 14 (1.07%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 105 (8.04%) QA
2 56 (4.29%) Data Quality
3 48 (3.68%) GDPR
4 37 (2.83%) SLA
5 27 (2.07%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 23 (1.76%) Accessibility
7 18 (1.38%) PCI DSS
8 13 (1.00%) NIST
8 13 (1.00%) PMO
9 12 (0.92%) Good Clinical Practice
10 11 (0.84%) Cyber Essentials
11 8 (0.61%) SOC 2
12 5 (0.38%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 5 (0.38%) ISO 9001
13 4 (0.31%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 4 (0.31%) Def Stans
13 4 (0.31%) GLP
13 4 (0.31%) GMP
13 4 (0.31%) GxP
13 4 (0.31%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 119 (9.11%) Active Directory
2 61 (4.67%) Docker
3 47 (3.60%) VMware Infrastructure
4 44 (3.37%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.77%) KVM
6 6 (0.46%) VMware ESXi
7 5 (0.38%) ClearTrust
7 5 (0.38%) XenApp
8 4 (0.31%) Firmware
8 4 (0.31%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (0.31%) Virtual Machines
8 4 (0.31%) vSphere
9 3 (0.23%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 2 (0.15%) VMware NSX
11 1 (0.077%) Embedded Firmware
11 1 (0.077%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.077%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.077%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 68 (5.21%) Kubernetes
2 67 (5.13%) Terraform
3 37 (2.83%) Microsoft Intune
4 33 (2.53%) Ansible
5 18 (1.38%) SCCM
6 16 (1.23%) Grafana
7 13 (1.00%) Prometheus
8 12 (0.92%) Nagios
9 7 (0.54%) Podman
9 7 (0.54%) vCenter Server
9 7 (0.54%) ZABBIX
10 6 (0.46%) Failover Clustering
11 5 (0.38%) Docker Swarm
11 5 (0.38%) Graylog
12 4 (0.31%) Functional Safety
12 4 (0.31%) Jamf Pro
13 3 (0.23%) Puppet
14 2 (0.15%) Nessus
15 1 (0.077%) Netcool
15 1 (0.077%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 366 (28.02%) Microsoft
2 55 (4.21%) VMware
3 43 (3.29%) Google
4 42 (3.22%) Oracle
5 27 (2.07%) Salesforce
6 26 (1.99%) Cisco
6 26 (1.99%) Databricks
7 24 (1.84%) Veeam
8 20 (1.53%) Fortinet
9 18 (1.38%) Instagram
10 17 (1.30%) SAP
11 16 (1.23%) SonicWALL
11 16 (1.23%) Splunk
12 15 (1.15%) Red Hat
13 14 (1.07%) Adobe
13 14 (1.07%) Aruba
14 13 (1.00%) Sage
15 12 (0.92%) Palo Alto
16 11 (0.84%) Dynatrace
16 11 (0.84%) SolarWinds