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

6 months to
8 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 3 5
Rank change year-on-year -3 +2 +5
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,394 1,550 2,726
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 8.98% 18.49% 15.73%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.47% 20.79% 19.21%
Number of salaries quoted 1,056 775 1,744
10th Percentile £26,625 £27,000 £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% -12.37%
75th Percentile £58,750 £62,500 £62,500
90th Percentile £73,750 £82,500 £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 11,182 7,456 14,188
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 72.01% 88.95% 81.88%
Number of salaries quoted 7,954 3,875 9,902
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,875 £28,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £35,000 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% - -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,250 £79,367
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 8 July 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 8 July 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 -7 512 £43,000 -4.44% 241
Hampshire -1 333 £40,000 -5.88% 136
Berkshire -3 242 £45,000 -10.00% 99
Surrey 0 232 £42,500 +6.25% 92
Buckinghamshire -8 153 £45,500 +21.33% 85
Kent -5 143 £30,000 -6.25% 58
Oxfordshire -1 117 £37,500 -31.82% 61
East Sussex -4 90 £50,000 - 32
West Sussex -4 72 £50,000 +7.53% 33
Middlesex +4 6 £50,000 -16.67% 12
Isle of Wight -13 1 £42,500 -22.73%
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 43 (3.08%) SharePoint
2 35 (2.51%) Microsoft Exchange
3 19 (1.36%) CMS
4 18 (1.29%) Confluence
5 7 (0.50%) OpenEdge
6 5 (0.36%) WordPress
7 4 (0.29%) Apache
8 3 (0.22%) Anypoint
8 3 (0.22%) IIS
8 3 (0.22%) OpenStack
8 3 (0.22%) SAS
9 2 (0.14%) Gentran
9 2 (0.14%) nginx
9 2 (0.14%) Tomcat
Applications
1 99 (7.10%) Microsoft Excel
2 89 (6.38%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (0.72%) Spreadsheet
4 9 (0.65%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 8 (0.57%) MS Visio
6 5 (0.36%) Lightworks
6 5 (0.36%) Photoshop
7 4 (0.29%) Adobe Illustrator
7 4 (0.29%) Microsoft Project
8 3 (0.22%) Simulink
9 2 (0.14%) Chatbot
10 1 (0.072%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 13 (0.93%) NetSuite
2 8 (0.57%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.36%) Raiser’s Edge
4 4 (0.29%) Magento
5 3 (0.22%) Dynamics NAV
5 3 (0.22%) Infor SunSystems
5 3 (0.22%) Salesforce CRM
5 3 (0.22%) SAP CO
6 2 (0.14%) Payment Gateway
6 2 (0.14%) Shopify
7 1 (0.072%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.072%) HFM
7 1 (0.072%) SAP GRC
7 1 (0.072%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 332 (23.82%) Azure
2 163 (11.69%) Microsoft 365
3 141 (10.11%) AWS
4 84 (6.03%) Power Platform
5 63 (4.52%) SaaS
6 51 (3.66%) GCP
7 48 (3.44%) Azure DevOps
8 39 (2.80%) Entra ID
9 28 (2.01%) IaaS
10 27 (1.94%) PaaS
11 25 (1.79%) Serverless
12 21 (1.51%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 21 (1.51%) GitHub
13 19 (1.36%) Datadog
14 16 (1.15%) Dynamics 365
15 15 (1.08%) OpenShift
16 14 (1.00%) Google Workspace
16 14 (1.00%) Mimecast
17 13 (0.93%) Azure Data Factory
18 12 (0.86%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 118 (8.46%) Firewall
2 68 (4.88%) DNS
3 51 (3.66%) WAN
4 50 (3.59%) LAN
4 50 (3.59%) VPN
5 45 (3.23%) TCP/IP
6 41 (2.94%) DHCP
6 41 (2.94%) Wireless
7 35 (2.51%) Wi-Fi
8 24 (1.72%) VLAN
9 23 (1.65%) VoIP
10 21 (1.51%) Network Security
11 18 (1.29%) Broadband
12 14 (1.00%) Internet
13 12 (0.86%) HTTP
14 11 (0.79%) SSL
15 9 (0.65%) MQTT
16 7 (0.50%) Remote Desktop
17 6 (0.43%) WLAN
18 5 (0.36%) Hyperconnected
Database & Business Intelligence
1 94 (6.74%) SQL Server
2 70 (5.02%) Power BI
3 24 (1.72%) PostgreSQL
4 21 (1.51%) Relational Database
5 20 (1.43%) Data Warehouse
6 15 (1.08%) NoSQL
7 14 (1.00%) MySQL
7 14 (1.00%) OLTP
8 13 (0.93%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 12 (0.86%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 12 (0.86%) Tableau
10 10 (0.72%) Power Query
11 9 (0.65%) Data Lake
12 7 (0.50%) Amazon RDS
12 7 (0.50%) Looker
13 6 (0.43%) Azure SQL Database
13 6 (0.43%) GIS
13 6 (0.43%) MongoDB
14 5 (0.36%) Elasticsearch
15 4 (0.29%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 65 (4.66%) Git
2 53 (3.80%) JIRA
3 31 (2.22%) GitLab
4 21 (1.51%) Rational DOORS
5 6 (0.43%) Selenium
6 4 (0.29%) Jenkins
7 3 (0.22%) Android Studio
7 3 (0.22%) PetaLinux
7 3 (0.22%) PHPUnit
7 3 (0.22%) Postman
7 3 (0.22%) Visual Studio
8 2 (0.14%) Appium
8 2 (0.14%) Cypress.io
8 2 (0.14%) Eclipse
8 2 (0.14%) JMeter
8 2 (0.14%) JUnit
8 2 (0.14%) Mocha
8 2 (0.14%) REST Assured
8 2 (0.14%) Subversion
8 2 (0.14%) Terragrunt
General
1 671 (48.13%) Social Skills
2 376 (26.97%) Analytical Skills
3 208 (14.92%) Finance
4 100 (7.17%) Organisational Skills
5 82 (5.88%) Manufacturing
6 60 (4.30%) Electronics
7 59 (4.23%) Retail
8 57 (4.09%) Telecoms
9 51 (3.66%) Marketing
10 47 (3.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 38 (2.73%) Aerospace
12 36 (2.58%) Law
13 33 (2.37%) Legal
14 31 (2.22%) Influencing Skills
15 29 (2.08%) Documentation Skills
16 26 (1.87%) Public Sector
17 23 (1.65%) Local Government
18 18 (1.29%) Military
19 16 (1.15%) Banking
20 15 (1.08%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 198 (14.20%) Analyst
2 152 (10.90%) IT Support
3 142 (10.19%) Senior
4 131 (9.40%) Developer
5 130 (9.33%) Support Engineer
6 93 (6.67%) IT Engineer
7 84 (6.03%) Support Analyst
8 71 (5.09%) Systems Engineer
9 69 (4.95%) Software Engineer
10 62 (4.45%) Technical Support
11 59 (4.23%) IT Support Engineer
12 58 (4.16%) Lead
13 57 (4.09%) Support Technician
14 51 (3.66%) 2nd Line Support
15 47 (3.37%) Technical Engineer
15 47 (3.37%) Technical Support Engineer
16 44 (3.16%) IT Technician
17 39 (2.80%) 1st Line Support
18 38 (2.73%) Architect
19 34 (2.44%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 82 (5.88%) .NET
2 58 (4.16%) HTML
3 48 (3.44%) SOAP
4 44 (3.16%) REST
5 37 (2.65%) CSS
6 35 (2.51%) JSON
7 33 (2.37%) React
7 33 (2.37%) XML
8 25 (1.79%) ASP.NET
9 20 (1.43%) OAuth
9 20 (1.43%) RESTful
10 19 (1.36%) ASP.NET Core
11 18 (1.29%) Middleware
12 17 (1.22%) Vue
13 16 (1.15%) ARM Templates
13 16 (1.15%) HTML5
13 16 (1.15%) RabbitMQ
14 14 (1.00%) AngularJS
14 14 (1.00%) CSS3
14 14 (1.00%) Sass
Miscellaneous
1 89 (6.38%) Driving Licence
2 70 (5.02%) Self-Motivation
3 67 (4.81%) Onboarding
4 63 (4.52%) Management Information System
5 51 (3.66%) Cloud Native
6 38 (2.73%) Product Ownership
7 32 (2.30%) Distributed Systems
8 26 (1.87%) Analytical Mindset
9 19 (1.36%) Robotics
10 17 (1.22%) NHS
10 17 (1.22%) Social Media
11 15 (1.08%) EPoS
11 15 (1.08%) Security Posture
12 13 (0.93%) Legacy Systems
12 13 (0.93%) Low-Code
13 12 (0.86%) Client/Server
13 12 (0.86%) Clustering
13 12 (0.86%) Data Centre
13 12 (0.86%) Enterprise Software
14 11 (0.79%) Video Editing
Operating Systems
1 225 (16.14%) Windows
2 119 (8.54%) Linux
3 76 (5.45%) Windows Server
4 22 (1.58%) Mac OS
5 19 (1.36%) CentOS
6 18 (1.29%) Android
7 17 (1.22%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 16 (1.15%) Windows Server 2019
9 13 (0.93%) Ubuntu
10 10 (0.72%) Windows Server 2016
11 8 (0.57%) Debian
12 6 (0.43%) Apple iOS
12 6 (0.43%) Windows 10
13 4 (0.29%) VMS
14 3 (0.22%) FreeRTOS
14 3 (0.22%) Gentoo
14 3 (0.22%) Windows 7
15 2 (0.14%) Unix
15 2 (0.14%) Windows Server 2012
16 1 (0.072%) FreeBSD
Processes & Methodologies
1 267 (19.15%) Continuous Improvement
2 250 (17.93%) Customer Service
3 183 (13.13%) Agile
4 160 (11.48%) CI/CD
5 152 (10.90%) DevOps
6 144 (10.33%) Decision-Making
7 143 (10.26%) Software Engineering
8 137 (9.83%) AI
9 129 (9.25%) Project Management
10 125 (8.97%) Cybersecurity
11 121 (8.68%) Project Delivery
12 115 (8.25%) Mentoring
13 114 (8.18%) Collaborative Working
14 113 (8.11%) ITIL
15 112 (8.03%) Stakeholder Management
16 111 (7.96%) Computer Science
17 107 (7.68%) Analytics
18 100 (7.17%) Business Intelligence
19 93 (6.67%) Logistics
20 85 (6.10%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 227 (16.28%) Python
2 215 (15.42%) SQL
3 112 (8.03%) C#
4 97 (6.96%) PowerShell
5 91 (6.53%) JavaScript
6 57 (4.09%) C++
7 55 (3.95%) Java
8 42 (3.01%) TypeScript
9 34 (2.44%) C
10 33 (2.37%) Bash
11 26 (1.87%) PHP
12 16 (1.15%) Rust
13 15 (1.08%) PL/SQL
14 13 (0.93%) Ruby
15 12 (0.86%) T-SQL
16 10 (0.72%) Bicep
16 10 (0.72%) Perl
17 8 (0.57%) Data Analysis Expressions
18 7 (0.50%) Apex Code
18 7 (0.50%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 257 (18.44%) Degree
2 99 (7.10%) Security Cleared
3 84 (6.03%) DBS Check
4 66 (4.73%) SC Cleared
5 57 (4.09%) Computer Science Degree
6 42 (3.01%) Microsoft Certification
7 37 (2.65%) BPSS Clearance
8 31 (2.22%) HNC
9 30 (2.15%) ACCA
10 29 (2.08%) CIMA
11 26 (1.87%) Chartered Engineer
12 23 (1.65%) Azure Certification
13 21 (1.51%) PMI Certification
14 20 (1.43%) PMP
15 19 (1.36%) A+ Certification
16 17 (1.22%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
17 16 (1.15%) Master's Degree
18 15 (1.08%) Microsoft Certified Professional
19 14 (1.00%) CCNA
19 14 (1.00%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 111 (7.96%) QA
2 56 (4.02%) Data Quality
3 49 (3.52%) GDPR
4 40 (2.87%) SLA
5 31 (2.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 23 (1.65%) PCI DSS
7 22 (1.58%) Accessibility
8 17 (1.22%) NIST
9 14 (1.00%) Good Clinical Practice
10 13 (0.93%) PMO
11 12 (0.86%) Cyber Essentials
12 9 (0.65%) SOC 2
13 5 (0.36%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 5 (0.36%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 5 (0.36%) GLP
13 5 (0.36%) GMP
13 5 (0.36%) GxP
13 5 (0.36%) ISO 9001
14 4 (0.29%) Def Stans
14 4 (0.29%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 126 (9.04%) Active Directory
2 72 (5.16%) Docker
3 54 (3.87%) VMware Infrastructure
4 50 (3.59%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.72%) KVM
6 7 (0.50%) Firmware
6 7 (0.50%) vSphere
7 6 (0.43%) VMware ESXi
8 5 (0.36%) ClearTrust
8 5 (0.36%) XenApp
9 4 (0.29%) Virtual Desktop
9 4 (0.29%) Virtual Machines
10 3 (0.22%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 2 (0.14%) Squid
11 2 (0.14%) VMware NSX
12 1 (0.072%) Embedded Firmware
12 1 (0.072%) Microsoft Virtual Server
12 1 (0.072%) Oracle RAC
12 1 (0.072%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 78 (5.60%) Kubernetes
2 77 (5.52%) Terraform
3 41 (2.94%) Microsoft Intune
4 37 (2.65%) Ansible
5 19 (1.36%) SCCM
6 16 (1.15%) Grafana
7 13 (0.93%) Prometheus
8 12 (0.86%) Nagios
9 8 (0.57%) Podman
10 7 (0.50%) Failover Clustering
10 7 (0.50%) ZABBIX
11 5 (0.36%) Docker Swarm
11 5 (0.36%) Graylog
11 5 (0.36%) Puppet
11 5 (0.36%) vCenter Server
12 4 (0.29%) Functional Safety
12 4 (0.29%) Jamf Pro
13 2 (0.14%) Nessus
13 2 (0.14%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
14 1 (0.072%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 399 (28.62%) Microsoft
2 62 (4.45%) VMware
3 47 (3.37%) Google
4 39 (2.80%) Oracle
5 29 (2.08%) Cisco
6 27 (1.94%) Salesforce
7 25 (1.79%) Veeam
8 24 (1.72%) Databricks
8 24 (1.72%) Fortinet
9 19 (1.36%) SonicWALL
10 18 (1.29%) Instagram
10 18 (1.29%) ServiceNow
11 17 (1.22%) Splunk
12 16 (1.15%) Aruba
13 15 (1.08%) Red Hat
13 15 (1.08%) Sage
13 15 (1.08%) SAP
14 14 (1.00%) Palo Alto
15 13 (0.93%) Dynatrace
16 12 (0.86%) Adobe