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 22 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -7 +1 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,145 1,434 2,795
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 7.91% 18.66% 16.95%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.00% 20.60% 20.21%
Number of salaries quoted 857 669 1,749
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,250 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,500 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £46,000 £46,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -1.08% +3.33% -14.29%
75th Percentile £62,500 £63,250 £61,500
90th Percentile £78,600 £83,750 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £50,967 £50,000
% change year-on-year -6.80% +1.93% -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 10,411 6,961 13,828
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.93% 90.59% 83.88%
Number of salaries quoted 7,083 3,225 9,783
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,500 £27,500
25th Percentile £39,328 £36,250 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £53,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +2.80% +7.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £82,500 £77,500
England median annual salary £60,000 £60,000 £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 22 May 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 22 May 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 -11 420 £47,500 -6.80% 208
Hampshire -4 261 £45,000 +5.88% 124
Berkshire -8 200 £47,500 -9.52% 94
Surrey -2 188 £40,000 -5.88% 79
Buckinghamshire -12 134 £48,000 -5.82% 59
Kent -5 122 £29,000 -8.66% 52
East Sussex -5 92 £59,000 +18.00% 18
Oxfordshire -5 86 £35,750 -35.00% 58
West Sussex -5 53 £56,983 +22.54% 26
Isle of Wight -11 3 £41,500 -24.55%
Middlesex +2 2 £35,000 -44.00% 24
Sussex -19 1 £30,000 -29.41% 11
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 34 (2.97%) SharePoint
2 28 (2.45%) Microsoft Exchange
3 16 (1.40%) CMS
4 10 (0.87%) IIS
5 9 (0.79%) Confluence
6 6 (0.52%) OpenEdge
7 5 (0.44%) WordPress
8 4 (0.35%) OpenStack
9 3 (0.26%) Anypoint
9 3 (0.26%) Apache
9 3 (0.26%) govService
9 3 (0.26%) SAS
10 2 (0.17%) Apache Airflow
10 2 (0.17%) Gentran
11 1 (0.087%) ArcGIS
11 1 (0.087%) nginx
11 1 (0.087%) Tomcat
Applications
1 88 (7.69%) Microsoft Excel
2 66 (5.76%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (0.96%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (0.70%) MS Visio
4 8 (0.70%) Spreadsheet
5 6 (0.52%) Photoshop
6 5 (0.44%) Adobe Illustrator
7 3 (0.26%) Microsoft Project
8 2 (0.17%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 1 (0.087%) Acrobat
9 1 (0.087%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 10 (0.87%) Dynamics CRM
1 10 (0.87%) NetSuite
2 9 (0.79%) SAP CO
3 4 (0.35%) Dynamics NAV
3 4 (0.35%) Magento
3 4 (0.35%) Salesforce CRM
4 2 (0.17%) Dynamics AX
4 2 (0.17%) IBM Planning Analytics
4 2 (0.17%) Infor SunSystems
4 2 (0.17%) Q-Pulse
4 2 (0.17%) Sage 200
4 2 (0.17%) Shopify
5 1 (0.087%) Elite 3E
5 1 (0.087%) HFM
5 1 (0.087%) PeopleSoft HRMS
5 1 (0.087%) Raiser’s Edge
5 1 (0.087%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.087%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 259 (22.62%) Azure
2 118 (10.31%) Microsoft 365
3 105 (9.17%) AWS
4 82 (7.16%) Power Platform
5 51 (4.45%) Azure DevOps
6 50 (4.37%) SaaS
7 35 (3.06%) GCP
8 30 (2.62%) IaaS
8 30 (2.62%) PaaS
9 26 (2.27%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 22 (1.92%) Entra ID
11 20 (1.75%) Google Workspace
12 18 (1.57%) Dynamics 365
13 17 (1.48%) Serverless
14 16 (1.40%) Azure Logic Apps
14 16 (1.40%) Mimecast
15 15 (1.31%) Azure Data Factory
15 15 (1.31%) Datadog
15 15 (1.31%) OpenShift
16 14 (1.22%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 65 (5.68%) Firewall
2 59 (5.15%) DNS
3 33 (2.88%) DHCP
4 30 (2.62%) TCP/IP
5 25 (2.18%) VPN
6 21 (1.83%) Wireless
7 20 (1.75%) Broadband
8 17 (1.48%) WAN
9 14 (1.22%) LAN
10 13 (1.14%) VoIP
11 10 (0.87%) HTTP
12 8 (0.70%) SAN
12 8 (0.70%) VLAN
12 8 (0.70%) Wi-Fi
13 7 (0.61%) Intranet
13 7 (0.61%) Remote Desktop
13 7 (0.61%) SSL
14 6 (0.52%) Network Security
14 6 (0.52%) PuTTY
14 6 (0.52%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 71 (6.20%) SQL Server
2 62 (5.41%) Power BI
3 23 (2.01%) Data Warehouse
4 21 (1.83%) PostgreSQL
4 21 (1.83%) Relational Database
5 18 (1.57%) OLTP
6 13 (1.14%) NoSQL
7 12 (1.05%) MySQL
7 12 (1.05%) Tableau
8 11 (0.96%) Power Query
8 11 (0.96%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 7 (0.61%) Data Lake
9 7 (0.61%) Looker
9 7 (0.61%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 5 (0.44%) Big Data
10 5 (0.44%) Data Mining
10 5 (0.44%) Hadoop
11 4 (0.35%) GIS
12 3 (0.26%) Snowflake Schema
12 3 (0.26%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 57 (4.98%) Git
2 39 (3.41%) JIRA
3 29 (2.53%) GitLab
4 23 (2.01%) Rational DOORS
5 7 (0.61%) Selenium
6 4 (0.35%) Jenkins
6 4 (0.35%) Visual Studio
7 3 (0.26%) Android Studio
7 3 (0.26%) Cypress.io
7 3 (0.26%) Postman
8 2 (0.17%) Appium
8 2 (0.17%) JMeter
8 2 (0.17%) LabVIEW
8 2 (0.17%) REST Assured
8 2 (0.17%) Robot Framework
8 2 (0.17%) Snyk
8 2 (0.17%) Terragrunt
9 1 (0.087%) JUnit
9 1 (0.087%) SonarQube
9 1 (0.087%) Zephyr
General
1 546 (47.69%) Social Skills
2 334 (29.17%) Analytical Skills
3 186 (16.24%) Finance
4 70 (6.11%) Organisational Skills
5 60 (5.24%) Marketing
6 58 (5.07%) Manufacturing
7 47 (4.10%) Telecoms
8 45 (3.93%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 44 (3.84%) Retail
10 43 (3.76%) Electronics
11 29 (2.53%) Public Sector
12 27 (2.36%) Aerospace
12 27 (2.36%) Law
13 26 (2.27%) Legal
14 21 (1.83%) Documentation Skills
15 15 (1.31%) Pharmaceutical
16 14 (1.22%) Presentation Skills
17 12 (1.05%) Military
18 11 (0.96%) Automotive
18 11 (0.96%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 157 (13.71%) Analyst
2 134 (11.70%) IT Support
3 124 (10.83%) Senior
4 120 (10.48%) Developer
5 116 (10.13%) Support Engineer
6 71 (6.20%) IT Engineer
7 68 (5.94%) Support Analyst
8 57 (4.98%) Systems Engineer
9 51 (4.45%) Technical Support
10 48 (4.19%) IT Support Engineer
11 46 (4.02%) Lead
12 43 (3.76%) 2nd Line Support
12 43 (3.76%) Architect
12 43 (3.76%) Software Engineer
13 42 (3.67%) Support Technician
14 38 (3.32%) IT Technician
14 38 (3.32%) Technical Engineer
14 38 (3.32%) Technical Support Engineer
15 36 (3.14%) Infrastructure Engineer
16 31 (2.71%) 1st Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 65 (5.68%) .NET
2 57 (4.98%) HTML
3 48 (4.19%) SOAP
4 38 (3.32%) REST
5 34 (2.97%) XML
6 33 (2.88%) CSS
7 31 (2.71%) JSON
8 23 (2.01%) React
9 21 (1.83%) Middleware
10 16 (1.40%) OAuth
11 15 (1.31%) CSS3
11 15 (1.31%) HTML5
11 15 (1.31%) Laravel
11 15 (1.31%) RabbitMQ
12 14 (1.22%) jQuery
13 13 (1.14%) Ajax
13 13 (1.14%) Sass
14 12 (1.05%) LESS
14 12 (1.05%) RESTful
15 11 (0.96%) ASP.NET
Miscellaneous
1 65 (5.68%) Driving Licence
2 58 (5.07%) Onboarding
2 58 (5.07%) Self-Motivation
3 48 (4.19%) Management Information System
4 38 (3.32%) Product Ownership
5 37 (3.23%) Cloud Native
6 33 (2.88%) Distributed Systems
7 26 (2.27%) Analytical Mindset
8 21 (1.83%) Low-Code
9 17 (1.48%) Social Media
10 14 (1.22%) NHS
11 13 (1.14%) Legacy Systems
12 11 (0.96%) Enterprise Software
12 11 (0.96%) Robotics
12 11 (0.96%) Video Editing
13 10 (0.87%) Algorithms
13 10 (0.87%) Client/Server
14 9 (0.79%) Cyber Defence
14 9 (0.79%) Hybrid Cloud
14 9 (0.79%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 169 (14.76%) Windows
2 98 (8.56%) Linux
3 59 (5.15%) Windows Server
4 21 (1.83%) Android
5 18 (1.57%) CentOS
5 18 (1.57%) Mac OS
6 16 (1.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 11 (0.96%) Ubuntu
7 11 (0.96%) Windows Server 2019
8 9 (0.79%) VMS
9 8 (0.70%) Windows Server 2016
10 7 (0.61%) Apple iOS
10 7 (0.61%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.26%) Debian
11 3 (0.26%) Unix
12 2 (0.17%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.087%) Embedded Linux
13 1 (0.087%) FreeBSD
13 1 (0.087%) OpenBSD
13 1 (0.087%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 233 (20.35%) Continuous Improvement
2 194 (16.94%) Customer Service
3 163 (14.24%) Agile
4 138 (12.05%) DevOps
5 135 (11.79%) CI/CD
6 112 (9.78%) Decision-Making
7 110 (9.61%) Analytics
8 107 (9.34%) Software Engineering
9 106 (9.26%) Computer Science
10 97 (8.47%) AI
11 94 (8.21%) Business Intelligence
12 86 (7.51%) Project Management
13 81 (7.07%) Mentoring
14 79 (6.90%) CRM
14 79 (6.90%) Data Modelling
14 79 (6.90%) Project Delivery
15 78 (6.81%) Cybersecurity
16 72 (6.29%) ERP
17 70 (6.11%) ITIL
18 68 (5.94%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 202 (17.64%) Python
2 186 (16.24%) SQL
3 87 (7.60%) C#
4 83 (7.25%) JavaScript
5 63 (5.50%) PowerShell
6 51 (4.45%) Java
7 32 (2.79%) C++
8 29 (2.53%) PHP
9 25 (2.18%) Bash
9 25 (2.18%) C
10 23 (2.01%) TypeScript
11 21 (1.83%) PL/SQL
12 15 (1.31%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 12 (1.05%) Perl
14 11 (0.96%) Rust
15 8 (0.70%) Apex Code
15 8 (0.70%) Bicep
15 8 (0.70%) Ruby
16 7 (0.61%) R
16 7 (0.61%) Scala
Qualifications
1 236 (20.61%) Degree
2 78 (6.81%) Security Cleared
3 53 (4.63%) Computer Science Degree
3 53 (4.63%) DBS Check
4 48 (4.19%) SC Cleared
5 41 (3.58%) Microsoft Certification
6 37 (3.23%) BPSS Clearance
7 36 (3.14%) ACCA
8 33 (2.88%) CIMA
9 27 (2.36%) A+ Certification
9 27 (2.36%) HNC
10 25 (2.18%) Chartered Engineer
11 17 (1.48%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 15 (1.31%) DV Cleared
12 15 (1.31%) Master's Degree
13 13 (1.14%) PMI Certification
14 12 (1.05%) Azure Certification
15 10 (0.87%) HND
15 10 (0.87%) Network+ Certification
15 10 (0.87%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 80 (6.99%) QA
2 61 (5.33%) Data Quality
3 46 (4.02%) GDPR
4 37 (3.23%) SLA
5 21 (1.83%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 16 (1.40%) Accessibility
7 15 (1.31%) PCI DSS
8 11 (0.96%) NIST
9 8 (0.70%) SOC 2
10 6 (0.52%) ISO 9001
11 5 (0.44%) Actionable Recommendations
12 4 (0.35%) Cyber Essentials
12 4 (0.35%) ISO 26262
12 4 (0.35%) ITGC
13 3 (0.26%) Def Stans
13 3 (0.26%) Good Clinical Practice
14 2 (0.17%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 2 (0.17%) GRC
14 2 (0.17%) IFRS
15 1 (0.087%) PMO
System Software
1 97 (8.47%) Active Directory
2 51 (4.45%) Docker
3 40 (3.49%) VMware Infrastructure
4 27 (2.36%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.87%) KVM
6 6 (0.52%) VMware ESXi
7 5 (0.44%) XenApp
8 4 (0.35%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (0.35%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.26%) Firmware
9 3 (0.26%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 2 (0.17%) vSphere
11 1 (0.087%) ClearTrust
11 1 (0.087%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.087%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 62 (5.41%) Kubernetes
2 60 (5.24%) Terraform
3 32 (2.79%) Ansible
4 24 (2.10%) Microsoft Intune
5 15 (1.31%) Grafana
5 15 (1.31%) SCCM
6 12 (1.05%) Prometheus
7 10 (0.87%) Nagios
8 7 (0.61%) ZABBIX
9 6 (0.52%) vCenter Server
10 4 (0.35%) Functional Safety
10 4 (0.35%) Graylog
10 4 (0.35%) Puppet
11 3 (0.26%) Docker Swarm
11 3 (0.26%) Podman
12 2 (0.17%) Failover Clustering
12 2 (0.17%) Jamf Pro
12 2 (0.17%) Nessus
13 1 (0.087%) Netcool
13 1 (0.087%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 308 (26.90%) Microsoft
2 44 (3.84%) Oracle
2 44 (3.84%) VMware
3 38 (3.32%) Google
4 37 (3.23%) Databricks
5 27 (2.36%) Salesforce
6 25 (2.18%) Veeam
7 21 (1.83%) SAP
8 20 (1.75%) Adobe
9 17 (1.48%) Instagram
10 16 (1.40%) Red Hat
11 13 (1.14%) Splunk
12 12 (1.05%) Cisco
12 12 (1.05%) Dynatrace
12 12 (1.05%) Sage
13 11 (0.96%) Hootsuite
13 11 (0.96%) SolarWinds
13 11 (0.96%) Wrike
14 9 (0.79%) Braze
14 9 (0.79%) HubSpot