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

6 months to
10 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 3 5
Rank change year-on-year -3 +2 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,539 1,616 2,016
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 9.07% 18.46% 14.65%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.67% 20.96% 18.10%
Number of salaries quoted 1,130 833 1,220
10th Percentile £27,000 £27,000 £27,000
25th Percentile £31,250 £31,250 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £42,500 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year +5.88% -10.53% -7.77%
75th Percentile £58,750 £61,250 £63,750
90th Percentile £72,500 £79,750 £77,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £47,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +1.06% -6.00% -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 12,150 7,709 11,138
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.61% 88.06% 80.95%
Number of salaries quoted 8,654 4,170 7,310
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,733 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £33,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £67,500
90th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £80,638
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -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 10 August 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 10 August 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 -5 564 £43,000 +1.18% 332
Hampshire -2 401 £42,500 -5.56% 207
Surrey +1 255 £42,500 +6.25% 112
Berkshire -2 250 £45,000 +5.88% 152
Buckinghamshire -5 179 £42,500 +13.33% 107
Kent -8 143 £36,250 +15.08% 78
Oxfordshire +2 135 £41,982 -5.13% 79
East Sussex -4 93 £50,000 - 45
West Sussex -8 71 £50,000 +2.56% 53
Middlesex +6 7 £65,000 +73.33% 14
Isle of Wight -11 2 £42,500 -16.67% 3
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 51 (3.31%) SharePoint
2 45 (2.92%) Microsoft Exchange
3 20 (1.30%) CMS
4 19 (1.23%) Confluence
5 10 (0.65%) IIS
6 8 (0.52%) WordPress
7 7 (0.45%) Apache
7 7 (0.45%) OpenEdge
8 5 (0.32%) nginx
9 3 (0.19%) Anypoint
9 3 (0.19%) OpenStack
9 3 (0.19%) SAS
10 2 (0.13%) Gentran
10 2 (0.13%) Tomcat
11 1 (0.065%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 104 (6.76%) Microsoft Excel
2 87 (5.65%) Microsoft Office
3 13 (0.84%) Microsoft Project
4 12 (0.78%) Spreadsheet
5 9 (0.58%) MS Visio
6 8 (0.52%) AutoCAD
6 8 (0.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 5 (0.32%) Lightworks
7 5 (0.32%) Photoshop
8 4 (0.26%) Adobe Illustrator
8 4 (0.26%) Revit
8 4 (0.26%) Simulink
9 3 (0.19%) EPLAN
10 2 (0.13%) Chatbot
11 1 (0.065%) Mathcad
11 1 (0.065%) OrCAD
11 1 (0.065%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 13 (0.84%) NetSuite
2 10 (0.65%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (0.65%) Shopify
3 7 (0.45%) Magento
4 6 (0.39%) Raiser’s Edge
5 4 (0.26%) Primavera
6 3 (0.19%) Infor SunSystems
6 3 (0.19%) Payment Gateway
6 3 (0.19%) Sage X3
6 3 (0.19%) Salesforce CRM
7 2 (0.13%) Academy Housing
7 2 (0.13%) Oracle Applications
7 2 (0.13%) Workday HCM
8 1 (0.065%) Elite 3E
8 1 (0.065%) HFM
8 1 (0.065%) SAP GRC
8 1 (0.065%) Siebel CRM
Cloud Services
1 362 (23.52%) Azure
2 175 (11.37%) Microsoft 365
3 168 (10.92%) AWS
4 84 (5.46%) Power Platform
5 64 (4.16%) SaaS
6 56 (3.64%) Entra ID
7 51 (3.31%) GCP
8 44 (2.86%) Azure DevOps
9 33 (2.14%) GitHub
10 32 (2.08%) Serverless
11 21 (1.36%) IaaS
11 21 (1.36%) PaaS
12 19 (1.23%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 18 (1.17%) Datadog
13 18 (1.17%) Google Workspace
14 17 (1.10%) Dynamics 365
15 16 (1.04%) GitHub Actions
16 15 (0.97%) Amazon ECS
17 14 (0.91%) Azure Data Factory
17 14 (0.91%) Google Tag Manager
Communications & Networking
1 130 (8.45%) Firewall
2 66 (4.29%) DNS
3 55 (3.57%) VPN
4 54 (3.51%) TCP/IP
5 48 (3.12%) WAN
6 46 (2.99%) LAN
7 44 (2.86%) DHCP
8 42 (2.73%) Wi-Fi
9 40 (2.60%) Wireless
10 32 (2.08%) VLAN
11 30 (1.95%) VoIP
12 27 (1.75%) Network Security
13 15 (0.97%) SSL
14 13 (0.84%) Broadband
14 13 (0.84%) Internet
15 11 (0.71%) HTTP
16 10 (0.65%) MQTT
17 9 (0.58%) LTE
18 6 (0.39%) Remote Desktop
18 6 (0.39%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 115 (7.47%) SQL Server
2 71 (4.61%) Power BI
3 35 (2.27%) Relational Database
4 29 (1.88%) MySQL
4 29 (1.88%) PostgreSQL
5 24 (1.56%) NoSQL
6 18 (1.17%) Data Warehouse
7 15 (0.97%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 13 (0.84%) Tableau
9 12 (0.78%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 11 (0.71%) Amazon RDS
11 10 (0.65%) Data Lake
11 10 (0.65%) OLTP
12 8 (0.52%) DynamoDB
12 8 (0.52%) MongoDB
13 7 (0.45%) GIS
13 7 (0.45%) Looker
14 6 (0.39%) Azure SQL Database
15 4 (0.26%) Elasticsearch
15 4 (0.26%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 77 (5.00%) Git
2 60 (3.90%) JIRA
3 31 (2.01%) GitLab
4 20 (1.30%) Rational DOORS
5 10 (0.65%) Claude Code
6 7 (0.45%) Oracle Forms
6 7 (0.45%) Selenium
6 7 (0.45%) Team Foundation Server
7 5 (0.32%) Eclipse
7 5 (0.32%) Eclipse RCP
7 5 (0.32%) Jenkins
7 5 (0.32%) Postman
8 4 (0.26%) PHPUnit
8 4 (0.26%) Terragrunt
8 4 (0.26%) Visual Studio
9 3 (0.19%) Android Studio
9 3 (0.19%) PetaLinux
9 3 (0.19%) SpecFlow
10 2 (0.13%) REST Assured
10 2 (0.13%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 748 (48.60%) Social Skills
2 443 (28.78%) Analytical Skills
3 223 (14.49%) Finance
4 123 (7.99%) Manufacturing
5 113 (7.34%) Organisational Skills
6 89 (5.78%) Electronics
7 81 (5.26%) Aerospace
8 68 (4.42%) Retail
9 60 (3.90%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 54 (3.51%) Telecoms
11 45 (2.92%) Marketing
12 41 (2.66%) Law
13 40 (2.60%) Influencing Skills
14 37 (2.40%) Legal
15 36 (2.34%) Public Sector
16 32 (2.08%) Documentation Skills
16 32 (2.08%) Military
17 23 (1.49%) Local Government
18 20 (1.30%) Aviation
19 18 (1.17%) Banking
Job Titles
1 209 (13.58%) Analyst
2 163 (10.59%) Senior
3 149 (9.68%) IT Support
4 146 (9.49%) Developer
5 117 (7.60%) Support Engineer
6 97 (6.30%) Support Analyst
7 86 (5.59%) IT Engineer
8 71 (4.61%) Lead
9 70 (4.55%) Software Engineer
9 70 (4.55%) Systems Engineer
10 67 (4.35%) Technical Support
11 64 (4.16%) Support Technician
12 53 (3.44%) 2nd Line Support
12 53 (3.44%) IT Support Engineer
13 49 (3.18%) Technical Engineer
13 49 (3.18%) Technical Support Engineer
14 48 (3.12%) Architect
15 46 (2.99%) IT Technician
16 40 (2.60%) Consultant
17 39 (2.53%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 104 (6.76%) .NET
2 72 (4.68%) HTML
3 58 (3.77%) REST
4 54 (3.51%) CSS
5 49 (3.18%) React
5 49 (3.18%) SOAP
6 45 (2.92%) ASP.NET
7 34 (2.21%) OAuth
8 32 (2.08%) ASP.NET Core
9 31 (2.01%) JSON
10 28 (1.82%) RESTful
11 27 (1.75%) AngularJS
11 27 (1.75%) Vue
12 26 (1.69%) XML
13 19 (1.23%) SAML
14 18 (1.17%) ASP.NET Web API
14 18 (1.17%) jQuery
15 17 (1.10%) LESS
15 17 (1.10%) ModSecurity
16 16 (1.04%) Entity Framework
Miscellaneous
1 112 (7.28%) Driving Licence
2 88 (5.72%) Onboarding
3 78 (5.07%) Self-Motivation
4 76 (4.94%) Management Information System
5 63 (4.09%) Cloud Native
6 43 (2.79%) Product Ownership
7 32 (2.08%) Social Media
8 30 (1.95%) Data Centre
8 30 (1.95%) Distributed Systems
9 28 (1.82%) Analytical Mindset
10 27 (1.75%) Robotics
11 25 (1.62%) Legacy Systems
12 23 (1.49%) Enterprise Software
13 18 (1.17%) EPoS
13 18 (1.17%) NHS
14 17 (1.10%) Analogue Electronics
15 15 (0.97%) CCTV
15 15 (0.97%) Renewable Energy
15 15 (0.97%) Security Posture
16 14 (0.91%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 245 (15.92%) Windows
2 118 (7.67%) Linux
3 88 (5.72%) Windows Server
4 21 (1.36%) Android
5 18 (1.17%) Mac OS
6 17 (1.10%) Windows Server 2019
7 16 (1.04%) CentOS
8 15 (0.97%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 13 (0.84%) Ubuntu
10 11 (0.71%) Apple iOS
11 10 (0.65%) Windows 10
12 9 (0.58%) Debian
12 9 (0.58%) Windows Server 2016
13 3 (0.19%) FreeRTOS
13 3 (0.19%) Gentoo
13 3 (0.19%) Unix
13 3 (0.19%) VMS
13 3 (0.19%) Windows 7
14 2 (0.13%) Rocky
14 2 (0.13%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 329 (21.38%) Continuous Improvement
2 263 (17.09%) Customer Service
3 212 (13.78%) Agile
4 188 (12.22%) Decision-Making
5 172 (11.18%) CI/CD
6 170 (11.05%) AI
7 161 (10.46%) Project Management
8 159 (10.33%) Software Engineering
9 156 (10.14%) DevOps
10 149 (9.68%) Project Delivery
11 141 (9.16%) Stakeholder Management
12 140 (9.10%) ITIL
13 132 (8.58%) Cybersecurity
14 131 (8.51%) Mentoring
15 128 (8.32%) Validation
16 119 (7.73%) Computer Science
17 118 (7.67%) Collaborative Working
18 115 (7.47%) Analytics
19 104 (6.76%) Logistics
20 97 (6.30%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 217 (14.10%) SQL
2 216 (14.04%) Python
3 118 (7.67%) C#
4 102 (6.63%) JavaScript
5 92 (5.98%) PowerShell
6 62 (4.03%) C++
7 57 (3.70%) Java
7 57 (3.70%) TypeScript
8 38 (2.47%) Bash
9 33 (2.14%) C
10 24 (1.56%) PHP
11 15 (0.97%) T-SQL
12 14 (0.91%) Ruby
13 13 (0.84%) Rust
14 12 (0.78%) VB.NET
15 11 (0.71%) Perl
15 11 (0.71%) PL/SQL
16 8 (0.52%) MATLAB
17 7 (0.45%) Bicep
18 6 (0.39%) Embedded C
Qualifications
1 303 (19.69%) Degree
2 156 (10.14%) Security Cleared
3 112 (7.28%) SC Cleared
4 98 (6.37%) DBS Check
5 65 (4.22%) Computer Science Degree
6 53 (3.44%) BPSS Clearance
7 49 (3.18%) Microsoft Certification
8 46 (2.99%) DV Cleared
8 46 (2.99%) HNC
9 37 (2.40%) Azure Certification
10 32 (2.08%) HND
11 31 (2.01%) PMI Certification
12 27 (1.75%) Chartered Engineer
13 26 (1.69%) PMP
14 24 (1.56%) CISSP
14 24 (1.56%) Master's Degree
15 23 (1.49%) ACCA
16 22 (1.43%) CIMA
17 20 (1.30%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
18 18 (1.17%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 133 (8.64%) QA
2 54 (3.51%) Data Quality
3 53 (3.44%) GDPR
4 43 (2.79%) SLA
5 31 (2.01%) Accessibility
6 29 (1.88%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 20 (1.30%) PCI DSS
8 18 (1.17%) Good Clinical Practice
8 18 (1.17%) NIST
9 16 (1.04%) Cyber Essentials
10 14 (0.91%) PMO
11 11 (0.71%) SOC 2
12 9 (0.58%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 9 (0.58%) DO-254
12 9 (0.58%) GMP
13 8 (0.52%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 8 (0.52%) GLP
13 8 (0.52%) GxP
13 8 (0.52%) ISO 9001
14 4 (0.26%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 123 (7.99%) Active Directory
2 75 (4.87%) Docker
3 71 (4.61%) VMware Infrastructure
4 57 (3.70%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.65%) Firmware
6 9 (0.58%) KVM
6 9 (0.58%) VMware ESXi
6 9 (0.58%) vSphere
7 5 (0.32%) ClearTrust
7 5 (0.32%) Squid
7 5 (0.32%) Virtual Machines
7 5 (0.32%) XenApp
8 4 (0.26%) Virtual Desktop
9 3 (0.19%) Embedded Firmware
9 3 (0.19%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 2 (0.13%) VMware NSX
11 1 (0.065%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.065%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.065%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 87 (5.65%) Terraform
2 84 (5.46%) Kubernetes
3 49 (3.18%) Microsoft Intune
4 40 (2.60%) Ansible
5 23 (1.49%) SCCM
6 15 (0.97%) Grafana
7 12 (0.78%) Prometheus
7 12 (0.78%) Single Sign-On
8 11 (0.71%) Nagios
9 9 (0.58%) Podman
10 8 (0.52%) Jamf Pro
11 7 (0.45%) Failover Clustering
11 7 (0.45%) Puppet
12 6 (0.39%) ZABBIX
13 5 (0.32%) Docker Swarm
13 5 (0.32%) Graylog
14 4 (0.26%) Functional Safety
14 4 (0.26%) vCenter Server
15 2 (0.13%) Nessus
15 2 (0.13%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 442 (28.72%) Microsoft
2 79 (5.13%) VMware
3 59 (3.83%) Google
4 51 (3.31%) Oracle
5 37 (2.40%) Cisco
6 33 (2.14%) Fortinet
7 31 (2.01%) SonicWALL
8 30 (1.95%) SAP
9 29 (1.88%) Veeam
10 27 (1.75%) Salesforce
10 27 (1.75%) ServiceNow
11 20 (1.30%) Databricks
11 20 (1.30%) Sage
12 16 (1.04%) Aruba
12 16 (1.04%) Palo Alto
13 15 (0.97%) Splunk
14 14 (0.91%) Instagram
14 14 (0.91%) Red Hat
15 12 (0.78%) Dynatrace
16 11 (0.71%) EMC