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 7 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 5 3 6
Rank change year-on-year -2 +3 -1
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,392 1,754 1,252
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 14.21% 16.87% 16.97%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 17.22% 19.94% 18.29%
Number of salaries quoted 939 804 713
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,000 £27,500
25th Percentile £30,500 £36,750 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £40,500 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -19.00% - -4.76%
75th Percentile £60,000 £70,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £75,000 £85,000 £82,000
England median annual salary £45,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -18.18% - -

All Process and 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 8,085 8,795 6,846
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 82.56% 84.58% 92.79%
Number of salaries quoted 4,925 4,575 4,815
10th Percentile £27,500 £32,750 £30,500
25th Percentile £33,750 £43,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £57,500 £54,763
Median % change year-on-year -13.04% +5.00% -0.43%
75th Percentile £65,000 £73,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £80,000 £85,000 £82,500
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%

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 7 December 2025.

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 7 December 2025. 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 0 584 £42,500 -23.77% 420
Berkshire +5 388 £42,500 -34.62% 194
Hampshire +1 338 £40,000 -20.00% 216
Surrey -14 180 £40,000 -27.27% 139
Kent -3 122 £31,500 -17.65% 124
Buckinghamshire -11 121 £43,773 -23.87% 131
Oxfordshire 0 75 £38,000 -20.00% 105
West Sussex -2 71 £60,000 +26.32% 55
East Sussex +4 50 £45,000 -10.00% 50
Middlesex -12 22 £37,500 +11.94% 21
Isle of Wight -2 16 £41,750 - 19
Sussex +1 5 £41,250 - 24
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 58 (4.17%) SharePoint
2 45 (3.23%) Microsoft Exchange
3 19 (1.36%) IIS
4 15 (1.08%) CMS
5 13 (0.93%) Confluence
6 11 (0.79%) WordPress
7 3 (0.22%) HCL Domino
7 3 (0.22%) HCL Notes
7 3 (0.22%) OpenStack
7 3 (0.22%) SAS
8 2 (0.14%) Anypoint
8 2 (0.14%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.14%) ArcGIS
8 2 (0.14%) Skype for Business
9 1 (0.072%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 157 (11.28%) Microsoft Excel
2 149 (10.70%) Microsoft Office
3 14 (1.01%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 14 (1.01%) Spreadsheet
4 11 (0.79%) Photoshop
5 9 (0.65%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 9 (0.65%) Adobe Illustrator
5 9 (0.65%) Adobe Premiere
6 5 (0.36%) Adobe After Effects
6 5 (0.36%) MS Visio
7 3 (0.22%) Adobe XD
7 3 (0.22%) InDesign
7 3 (0.22%) Microsoft Project
7 3 (0.22%) Notion
8 2 (0.14%) Adobe Captivate
8 2 (0.14%) AutoCAD
8 2 (0.14%) Elementor
8 2 (0.14%) Mathcad
8 2 (0.14%) Simulink
9 1 (0.072%) OrCAD
Business Applications
1 75 (5.39%) SAP S/4HANA
2 20 (1.44%) NetSuite
3 11 (0.79%) Dynamics CRM
4 8 (0.57%) JDE EnterpriseOne
5 7 (0.50%) SAP CO
5 7 (0.50%) SAP FI
5 7 (0.50%) SAP FI/CO
6 6 (0.43%) Oracle Assets
6 6 (0.43%) Oracle Payables
6 6 (0.43%) Oracle Receivables
7 5 (0.36%) SAP Hybris
8 3 (0.22%) Sage X3
8 3 (0.22%) Shopify
9 2 (0.14%) Salesforce CRM
9 2 (0.14%) Unit4 Business World
10 1 (0.072%) Dynamics GP
10 1 (0.072%) PeopleSoft HRMS
10 1 (0.072%) SAP EWM
10 1 (0.072%) SAP HR
10 1 (0.072%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 300 (21.55%) Azure
2 182 (13.07%) Microsoft 365
3 129 (9.27%) Power Platform
4 96 (6.90%) AWS
5 88 (6.32%) SaaS
6 56 (4.02%) Entra ID
7 52 (3.74%) GCP
8 50 (3.59%) Azure DevOps
9 15 (1.08%) Collibra
9 15 (1.08%) PaaS
9 15 (1.08%) Vertex AI
10 14 (1.01%) IaaS
11 13 (0.93%) GitHub
11 13 (0.93%) Power Automate
12 11 (0.79%) Dynamics 365
13 10 (0.72%) OCI
14 9 (0.65%) Adobe Creative Cloud
14 9 (0.65%) Figma
14 9 (0.65%) Google Workspace
14 9 (0.65%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 82 (5.89%) DNS
2 75 (5.39%) Firewall
3 63 (4.53%) DHCP
4 56 (4.02%) TCP/IP
5 54 (3.88%) VPN
6 44 (3.16%) VLAN
7 26 (1.87%) Wi-Fi
8 21 (1.51%) LAN
8 21 (1.51%) WAN
9 19 (1.36%) Wireless
10 14 (1.01%) SAN
11 12 (0.86%) VoIP
12 8 (0.57%) Intranet
12 8 (0.57%) Wireshark
13 6 (0.43%) LTE
13 6 (0.43%) Network Security
13 6 (0.43%) Remote Desktop
14 5 (0.36%) Internet
14 5 (0.36%) IP Telephony
14 5 (0.36%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 118 (8.48%) Power BI
2 67 (4.81%) Data Lake
3 63 (4.53%) SAP BW
4 59 (4.24%) Relational Database
5 47 (3.38%) SQL Server
6 17 (1.22%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 15 (1.08%) Data Mining
8 14 (1.01%) Oracle Reports
9 11 (0.79%) Data Warehouse
9 11 (0.79%) NoSQL
10 9 (0.65%) MySQL
10 9 (0.65%) PostgreSQL
10 9 (0.65%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 9 (0.65%) Tableau
11 8 (0.57%) Power Query
12 7 (0.50%) PowerPivot
13 6 (0.43%) Elasticsearch
13 6 (0.43%) OLTP
14 5 (0.36%) Azure SQL Database
15 4 (0.29%) Amazon RDS
Development Applications
1 63 (4.53%) Git
2 51 (3.66%) JIRA
3 20 (1.44%) Selenium
4 14 (1.01%) Robot Framework
5 12 (0.86%) Snyk
6 10 (0.72%) Jenkins
7 9 (0.65%) Visual Studio
8 5 (0.36%) GitLab
9 4 (0.29%) MSBuild
9 4 (0.29%) Octopus Deploy
9 4 (0.29%) Rational DOORS
9 4 (0.29%) Team Foundation Server
9 4 (0.29%) WebDriver
10 3 (0.22%) Cypress.io
11 2 (0.14%) TestRail
12 1 (0.072%) Browser DevTools
12 1 (0.072%) Katalon Studio
12 1 (0.072%) MLflow
12 1 (0.072%) Postman
12 1 (0.072%) REST Assured
General
1 834 (59.91%) Social Skills
2 351 (25.22%) Analytical Skills
3 299 (21.48%) Finance
4 133 (9.55%) Manufacturing
5 122 (8.76%) Marketing
6 111 (7.97%) Retail
7 71 (5.10%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 59 (4.24%) Organisational Skills
9 51 (3.66%) Law
10 42 (3.02%) Telecoms
11 40 (2.87%) Electronics
12 32 (2.30%) Legal
13 29 (2.08%) Public Sector
14 24 (1.72%) Influencing Skills
15 22 (1.58%) Documentation Skills
16 15 (1.08%) Advertising
17 14 (1.01%) Automotive
18 12 (0.86%) Aviation
19 9 (0.65%) Banking
19 9 (0.65%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 311 (22.34%) Analyst
2 254 (18.25%) Senior
3 197 (14.15%) IT Support
4 168 (12.07%) Lead
5 134 (9.63%) Support Engineer
6 125 (8.98%) Support Analyst
7 98 (7.04%) Technical Support
8 84 (6.03%) Developer
9 72 (5.17%) IT Analyst
10 69 (4.96%) IT Support Analyst
11 65 (4.67%) Senior Analyst
12 57 (4.09%) SAP Analyst
13 53 (3.81%) 2nd Line Support
14 51 (3.66%) Applications Support
15 47 (3.38%) Senior Manager
16 45 (3.23%) IT Engineer
17 44 (3.16%) Report Analyst
18 42 (3.02%) Project Engineer
18 42 (3.02%) Support Technician
19 40 (2.87%) Technical Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 53 (3.81%) HTML
2 48 (3.45%) .NET
3 42 (3.02%) REST
4 41 (2.95%) CSS
5 38 (2.73%) React
6 32 (2.30%) SOAP
7 26 (1.87%) Node.js
8 24 (1.72%) RESTful
8 24 (1.72%) XML
9 20 (1.44%) ASP.NET
9 20 (1.44%) JSON
10 18 (1.29%) .NET Framework
11 13 (0.93%) Entity Framework
11 13 (0.93%) WinForms
12 10 (0.72%) DCOM
12 10 (0.72%) Web Services
13 9 (0.65%) Bootstrap
13 9 (0.65%) EDI
14 7 (0.50%) AngularJS
14 7 (0.50%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 138 (9.91%) Onboarding
2 77 (5.53%) Driving Licence
3 58 (4.17%) Self-Motivation
4 53 (3.81%) Analytical Mindset
5 46 (3.30%) Data Centre
6 42 (3.02%) Management Information System
7 26 (1.87%) Product Ownership
8 22 (1.58%) Algorithms
9 16 (1.15%) Social Media
10 11 (0.79%) Security Posture
11 10 (0.72%) Cloud Native
11 10 (0.72%) Security Operations Centre
12 8 (0.57%) Public Cloud
12 8 (0.57%) Robotics
12 8 (0.57%) Team-Oriented Environment
12 8 (0.57%) Virtual Team
13 7 (0.50%) Distributed Systems
14 6 (0.43%) Digital Signage
14 6 (0.43%) Low-Code
14 6 (0.43%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 279 (20.04%) Windows
2 84 (6.03%) Windows Server
3 51 (3.66%) Windows 10
4 48 (3.45%) Linux
5 16 (1.15%) Mac OS
6 12 (0.86%) Windows 7
7 11 (0.79%) Windows Server 2012
8 10 (0.72%) Android
8 10 (0.72%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (0.43%) Apple iOS
10 4 (0.29%) Unix
10 4 (0.29%) VMS
11 3 (0.22%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 2 (0.14%) CentOS
12 2 (0.14%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 254 (18.25%) Continuous Improvement
2 203 (14.58%) Customer Service
3 186 (13.36%) Analytics
4 183 (13.15%) Agile
5 148 (10.63%) ERP
6 135 (9.70%) Business Intelligence
7 126 (9.05%) Data Modelling
8 123 (8.84%) DevOps
9 104 (7.47%) Technical Leadership
10 103 (7.40%) Data Analysis
11 102 (7.33%) Cybersecurity
12 100 (7.18%) SAP Implementation
13 98 (7.04%) Mentoring
14 97 (6.97%) Project Management
15 92 (6.61%) Quality Management
16 91 (6.54%) Incident Management
17 90 (6.47%) Logistics
17 90 (6.47%) Stakeholder Management
18 87 (6.25%) Decision-Making
19 82 (5.89%) CI/CD
Programming Languages
1 233 (16.74%) SQL
2 99 (7.11%) Python
3 77 (5.53%) PowerShell
4 69 (4.96%) C#
5 61 (4.38%) JavaScript
6 21 (1.51%) Java
7 20 (1.44%) T-SQL
8 18 (1.29%) VBA
9 16 (1.15%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 14 (1.01%) Kusto Query Language
10 14 (1.01%) PHP
11 11 (0.79%) TypeScript
12 9 (0.65%) Bash
13 6 (0.43%) Bicep
13 6 (0.43%) C++
13 6 (0.43%) PL/SQL
13 6 (0.43%) R
14 5 (0.36%) Apex Code
15 4 (0.29%) Go
15 4 (0.29%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 347 (24.93%) Degree
2 108 (7.76%) Security Cleared
3 48 (3.45%) SC Cleared
4 41 (2.95%) Computer Science Degree
5 39 (2.80%) DV Cleared
6 34 (2.44%) Microsoft Certification
7 32 (2.30%) ACCA
8 24 (1.72%) CIMA
9 19 (1.36%) BPSS Clearance
10 18 (1.29%) Cisco Certification
11 17 (1.22%) DBS Check
12 16 (1.15%) A+ Certification
13 14 (1.01%) MCP
14 13 (0.93%) ISTQB
15 12 (0.86%) CCNA
15 12 (0.86%) Master's Degree
16 11 (0.79%) CEH
16 11 (0.79%) HNC
17 10 (0.72%) CISM
17 10 (0.72%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 124 (8.91%) Data Quality
2 79 (5.68%) QA
3 58 (4.17%) GDPR
4 32 (2.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 25 (1.80%) SLA
6 20 (1.44%) Accessibility
7 17 (1.22%) Cyber Essentials
8 12 (0.86%) NIST
9 9 (0.65%) ISO 9001
10 8 (0.57%) Software Quality Assurance
11 5 (0.36%) ISO 13485
11 5 (0.36%) ISO 31000
12 3 (0.22%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 3 (0.22%) HIPAA
12 3 (0.22%) PCI DSS
13 2 (0.14%) WCAG
14 1 (0.072%) GAAP
14 1 (0.072%) ISO 14001
14 1 (0.072%) ISO/IEC 20000
14 1 (0.072%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 155 (11.14%) Active Directory
2 43 (3.09%) Hyper-V
3 40 (2.87%) Docker
4 28 (2.01%) VMware Infrastructure
5 11 (0.79%) Firmware
6 10 (0.72%) VMware ESXi
7 9 (0.65%) Virtual Machines
8 3 (0.22%) Terminal Services
8 3 (0.22%) Virtual Desktop
9 2 (0.14%) KVM
9 2 (0.14%) RHEV
9 2 (0.14%) Xen
10 1 (0.072%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.072%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 74 (5.32%) Microsoft Intune
2 47 (3.38%) Terraform
3 32 (2.30%) Kubernetes
4 28 (2.01%) Ansible
5 16 (1.15%) SCCM
6 14 (1.01%) vCenter Server
7 10 (0.72%) ZABBIX
8 7 (0.50%) Grafana
8 7 (0.50%) Prometheus
9 6 (0.43%) Nagios
10 5 (0.36%) Single Sign-On
11 4 (0.29%) FortiGate
12 3 (0.22%) QRadar
13 2 (0.14%) Nessus
13 2 (0.14%) Proxmox
14 1 (0.072%) Control-M
14 1 (0.072%) Kibana
14 1 (0.072%) Netcool
14 1 (0.072%) Netcool/OMNIbus
14 1 (0.072%) Puppet
Vendors
1 386 (27.73%) Microsoft
2 206 (14.80%) SAP
3 51 (3.66%) Google
4 45 (3.23%) VMware
5 39 (2.80%) Cisco
5 39 (2.80%) Oracle
6 37 (2.66%) NEC
7 32 (2.30%) Sage
8 26 (1.87%) Adobe
9 25 (1.80%) Veeam
10 21 (1.51%) Meraki
11 20 (1.44%) HubSpot
11 20 (1.44%) Salesforce
12 17 (1.22%) ServiceNow
13 16 (1.15%) OpenAI
14 15 (1.08%) Databricks
14 15 (1.08%) Workday
15 13 (0.93%) Xamarin
16 12 (0.86%) Coverity
16 12 (0.86%) SolarWinds