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 6 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -3 +1 +4
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,331 1,517 2,200
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 12.07% 17.71% 18.26%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 15.23% 19.85% 21.16%
Number of salaries quoted 908 672 1,316
10th Percentile £26,250 £28,525 £26,000
25th Percentile £30,438 £35,750 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £41,500 £52,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -20.95% +16.67% -18.18%
75th Percentile £60,000 £71,250 £62,500
90th Percentile £75,000 £83,750 £75,000
England median annual salary £45,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -18.18% +10.00% -10.71%

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 8,737 7,642 10,396
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 79.24% 89.19% 86.30%
Number of salaries quoted 5,318 3,485 7,665
10th Percentile £28,000 £32,750 £28,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £43,750 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £58,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -13.79% +16.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £65,000 £75,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £85,000 £78,750
England median annual salary £55,000 £62,205 £55,440
% change year-on-year -11.58% +12.20% -11.30%

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 6 February 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 6 February 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 -1 569 £45,000 -21.74% 207
Berkshire +5 366 £45,000 -33.33% 102
Hampshire 0 277 £37,500 -25.00% 129
Surrey -11 189 £38,500 -33.04% 90
Buckinghamshire -8 129 £52,500 -8.70% 58
Kent -10 122 £30,000 -22.08% 51
East Sussex +1 79 £55,750 +11.50% 19
Oxfordshire -6 74 £34,250 -24.05% 49
West Sussex -3 57 £60,000 +26.32% 37
Middlesex -15 17 £47,500 +41.79% 12
Isle of Wight +7 15 £42,500 +5.98% 3
Sussex -8 3 £35,000 -54.84% 7
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 44 (3.31%) SharePoint
2 34 (2.55%) Microsoft Exchange
3 22 (1.65%) IIS
4 12 (0.90%) CMS
5 8 (0.60%) WordPress
6 7 (0.53%) Confluence
7 4 (0.30%) Apache Airflow
7 4 (0.30%) SAS
8 3 (0.23%) govService
8 3 (0.23%) HCL Domino
8 3 (0.23%) HCL Notes
9 2 (0.15%) Anypoint
9 2 (0.15%) ArcGIS
10 1 (0.075%) Apache
10 1 (0.075%) Apache Spark
10 1 (0.075%) nginx
10 1 (0.075%) OpenStack
10 1 (0.075%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 139 (10.44%) Microsoft Excel
2 120 (9.02%) Microsoft Office
3 20 (1.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 14 (1.05%) Spreadsheet
5 12 (0.90%) Photoshop
6 11 (0.83%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 9 (0.68%) Adobe Illustrator
7 9 (0.68%) Adobe Premiere
8 6 (0.45%) MS Visio
9 5 (0.38%) Adobe After Effects
10 3 (0.23%) Adobe XD
10 3 (0.23%) InDesign
11 2 (0.15%) Adobe Captivate
11 2 (0.15%) AutoCAD
11 2 (0.15%) Elementor
11 2 (0.15%) Notion
12 1 (0.075%) EPLAN
12 1 (0.075%) MicroStation
12 1 (0.075%) ProjectWise
12 1 (0.075%) Revit
Business Applications
1 64 (4.81%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (0.75%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (0.75%) NetSuite
2 10 (0.75%) SAP CO
3 8 (0.60%) JDE EnterpriseOne
4 6 (0.45%) Oracle Assets
4 6 (0.45%) Oracle Payables
4 6 (0.45%) Oracle Receivables
5 5 (0.38%) SAP Hybris
6 4 (0.30%) Dynamics NAV
7 3 (0.23%) Sage X3
7 3 (0.23%) Salesforce CRM
8 2 (0.15%) Dynamics AX
8 2 (0.15%) IBM Planning Analytics
8 2 (0.15%) Q-Pulse
8 2 (0.15%) Sage 200
9 1 (0.075%) Raiser’s Edge
9 1 (0.075%) SAP FI
9 1 (0.075%) SAP FI/CO
9 1 (0.075%) SAP IBP
Cloud Services
1 281 (21.11%) Azure
2 167 (12.55%) Microsoft 365
3 142 (10.67%) Power Platform
4 76 (5.71%) AWS
5 70 (5.26%) SaaS
6 59 (4.43%) Azure DevOps
7 37 (2.78%) Entra ID
8 36 (2.70%) GCP
9 19 (1.43%) PaaS
10 18 (1.35%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 18 (1.35%) IaaS
11 16 (1.20%) Azure Logic Apps
11 16 (1.20%) Collibra
11 16 (1.20%) Figma
12 15 (1.13%) Google Workspace
13 14 (1.05%) GitHub
13 14 (1.05%) Mimecast
14 12 (0.90%) Power Automate
15 11 (0.83%) Azure Data Factory
15 11 (0.83%) Stripe
Communications & Networking
1 87 (6.54%) DNS
2 65 (4.88%) Firewall
3 60 (4.51%) DHCP
4 48 (3.61%) TCP/IP
5 44 (3.31%) VPN
6 27 (2.03%) VLAN
6 27 (2.03%) Wireless
7 16 (1.20%) WAN
8 14 (1.05%) SAN
9 13 (0.98%) LAN
10 11 (0.83%) Broadband
10 11 (0.83%) Wi-Fi
11 9 (0.68%) Intranet
12 8 (0.60%) VoIP
13 7 (0.53%) PuTTY
13 7 (0.53%) SSH
14 6 (0.45%) HTTP
14 6 (0.45%) Remote Desktop
15 4 (0.30%) MPLS
16 3 (0.23%) BGP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 123 (9.24%) Power BI
2 65 (4.88%) Data Lake
3 63 (4.73%) SAP BW
4 48 (3.61%) Relational Database
5 43 (3.23%) SQL Server
6 18 (1.35%) Data Warehouse
6 18 (1.35%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 16 (1.20%) NoSQL
8 14 (1.05%) Power Query
9 12 (0.90%) OLTP
10 9 (0.68%) PostgreSQL
11 8 (0.60%) MySQL
11 8 (0.60%) Tableau
12 7 (0.53%) Big Data
12 7 (0.53%) PowerPivot
13 6 (0.45%) Azure SQL Database
13 6 (0.45%) Hadoop
14 5 (0.38%) Data Mining
15 4 (0.30%) Metadata
16 3 (0.23%) GIS
Development Applications
1 42 (3.16%) Git
2 37 (2.78%) JIRA
3 23 (1.73%) Selenium
4 15 (1.13%) Robot Framework
5 13 (0.98%) Snyk
6 9 (0.68%) GitLab
7 8 (0.60%) Rational DOORS
7 8 (0.60%) Visual Studio
8 7 (0.53%) Jenkins
9 4 (0.30%) WebDriver
10 3 (0.23%) Cypress.io
11 2 (0.15%) LabVIEW
11 2 (0.15%) Postman
11 2 (0.15%) TestRail
12 1 (0.075%) Browser DevTools
12 1 (0.075%) JUnit
12 1 (0.075%) Katalon Studio
12 1 (0.075%) MLflow
12 1 (0.075%) NUnit
12 1 (0.075%) REST Assured
General
1 769 (57.78%) Social Skills
2 343 (25.77%) Analytical Skills
3 296 (22.24%) Finance
4 124 (9.32%) Manufacturing
5 105 (7.89%) Marketing
6 80 (6.01%) Retail
7 76 (5.71%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 66 (4.96%) Organisational Skills
9 41 (3.08%) Electronics
10 39 (2.93%) Telecoms
11 38 (2.85%) Legal
12 31 (2.33%) Public Sector
13 25 (1.88%) Law
14 24 (1.80%) Documentation Skills
15 19 (1.43%) Influencing Skills
16 13 (0.98%) Presentation Skills
17 12 (0.90%) Advertising
18 11 (0.83%) Pharmaceutical
19 10 (0.75%) Automotive
20 9 (0.68%) Banking
Job Titles
1 267 (20.06%) Analyst
2 223 (16.75%) Senior
3 196 (14.73%) IT Support
4 154 (11.57%) Support Engineer
5 123 (9.24%) Lead
6 109 (8.19%) Support Analyst
7 103 (7.74%) Developer
8 88 (6.61%) Technical Support
9 74 (5.56%) IT Analyst
10 71 (5.33%) IT Support Analyst
11 62 (4.66%) IT Engineer
12 56 (4.21%) Senior Analyst
13 53 (3.98%) 2nd Line Support
13 53 (3.98%) IT Support Engineer
14 52 (3.91%) Report Analyst
15 49 (3.68%) Senior Manager
16 48 (3.61%) Project Engineer
17 45 (3.38%) SAP Analyst
18 41 (3.08%) Technical Engineer
19 40 (3.01%) Technical Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 55 (4.13%) .NET
2 49 (3.68%) HTML
3 36 (2.70%) SOAP
4 35 (2.63%) REST
5 29 (2.18%) CSS
6 28 (2.10%) React
7 21 (1.58%) XML
8 19 (1.43%) .NET Framework
9 18 (1.35%) ASP.NET
10 14 (1.05%) JSON
10 14 (1.05%) Middleware
11 13 (0.98%) Entity Framework
11 13 (0.98%) WinForms
12 12 (0.90%) EDI
13 11 (0.83%) Laravel
14 9 (0.68%) ARM Templates
14 9 (0.68%) Node.js
14 9 (0.68%) SAP CO-PA
15 8 (0.60%) CSS3
15 8 (0.60%) Lightning Web Components
Miscellaneous
1 122 (9.17%) Onboarding
2 69 (5.18%) Driving Licence
3 61 (4.58%) Self-Motivation
4 43 (3.23%) Analytical Mindset
5 39 (2.93%) Management Information System
6 37 (2.78%) Data Centre
7 26 (1.95%) Product Ownership
8 18 (1.35%) Low-Code
9 17 (1.28%) Cloud Native
10 16 (1.20%) Social Media
11 14 (1.05%) Distributed Systems
12 10 (0.75%) Enterprise Software
12 10 (0.75%) Legacy Systems
12 10 (0.75%) Security Operations Centre
12 10 (0.75%) Video Conferencing
13 9 (0.68%) FMCG
13 9 (0.68%) Life Science
13 9 (0.68%) Video Editing
14 7 (0.53%) Learning Management System
14 7 (0.53%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 237 (17.81%) Windows
2 71 (5.33%) Windows Server
3 61 (4.58%) Linux
4 31 (2.33%) Windows 10
5 18 (1.35%) Mac OS
6 14 (1.05%) Android
7 13 (0.98%) Windows Server 2012
8 10 (0.75%) Windows Server 2019
9 7 (0.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 7 (0.53%) VMS
9 7 (0.53%) Windows 7
10 6 (0.45%) Apple iOS
10 6 (0.45%) CentOS
11 4 (0.30%) Windows Server 2016
12 3 (0.23%) Unix
13 1 (0.075%) Ubuntu
13 1 (0.075%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 248 (18.63%) Continuous Improvement
2 200 (15.03%) Customer Service
3 185 (13.90%) Analytics
4 158 (11.87%) Agile
5 149 (11.19%) Business Intelligence
6 140 (10.52%) Data Modelling
7 139 (10.44%) ERP
8 107 (8.04%) DevOps
9 104 (7.81%) Project Management
10 103 (7.74%) Stakeholder Management
11 93 (6.99%) Technical Leadership
12 92 (6.91%) Computer Science
13 88 (6.61%) Decision-Making
14 86 (6.46%) Logistics
15 83 (6.24%) Cybersecurity
15 83 (6.24%) Mentoring
16 79 (5.94%) CI/CD
16 79 (5.94%) Quality Management
16 79 (5.94%) SAP Implementation
17 77 (5.79%) Data Analysis
Programming Languages
1 214 (16.08%) SQL
2 145 (10.89%) Python
3 78 (5.86%) C#
4 74 (5.56%) PowerShell
5 65 (4.88%) JavaScript
6 37 (2.78%) Java
7 26 (1.95%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 25 (1.88%) PHP
9 15 (1.13%) PL/SQL
9 15 (1.13%) T-SQL
10 14 (1.05%) C++
10 14 (1.05%) TypeScript
11 12 (0.90%) Bicep
12 9 (0.68%) C
12 9 (0.68%) Kusto Query Language
13 8 (0.60%) Apex Code
13 8 (0.60%) VBA
14 7 (0.53%) Bash
14 7 (0.53%) Perl
14 7 (0.53%) R
Qualifications
1 354 (26.60%) Degree
2 96 (7.21%) Security Cleared
3 50 (3.76%) Computer Science Degree
4 44 (3.31%) SC Cleared
5 33 (2.48%) ACCA
6 29 (2.18%) Microsoft Certification
7 27 (2.03%) DV Cleared
8 26 (1.95%) DBS Check
9 25 (1.88%) CIMA
10 20 (1.50%) BPSS Clearance
11 19 (1.43%) A+ Certification
11 19 (1.43%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 16 (1.20%) Master's Degree
13 15 (1.13%) HNC
14 10 (0.75%) Chartered Engineer
15 8 (0.60%) HND
15 8 (0.60%) MCSE
16 7 (0.53%) CCNA
16 7 (0.53%) Cisco Certification
16 7 (0.53%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 121 (9.09%) Data Quality
2 71 (5.33%) QA
3 49 (3.68%) GDPR
4 29 (2.18%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 22 (1.65%) Accessibility
5 22 (1.65%) SLA
6 10 (0.75%) Cyber Essentials
7 9 (0.68%) ISO 9001
7 9 (0.68%) PCI DSS
8 7 (0.53%) NIST
9 5 (0.38%) Actionable Recommendations
9 5 (0.38%) ISO 13485
10 2 (0.15%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.15%) Software Quality Assurance
10 2 (0.15%) WCAG
11 1 (0.075%) IFRS
11 1 (0.075%) ISO 19650
11 1 (0.075%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 1 (0.075%) ITGC
11 1 (0.075%) PMO
System Software
1 158 (11.87%) Active Directory
2 40 (3.01%) Hyper-V
3 33 (2.48%) VMware Infrastructure
4 27 (2.03%) Docker
5 10 (0.75%) VMware ESXi
6 6 (0.45%) KVM
7 3 (0.23%) Firmware
7 3 (0.23%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.15%) RHEV
8 2 (0.15%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (0.15%) Xen
9 1 (0.075%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 51 (3.83%) Microsoft Intune
2 46 (3.46%) Terraform
3 24 (1.80%) Ansible
4 23 (1.73%) Kubernetes
5 16 (1.20%) SCCM
6 14 (1.05%) vCenter Server
7 8 (0.60%) ZABBIX
8 7 (0.53%) Grafana
8 7 (0.53%) Nagios
8 7 (0.53%) Prometheus
9 3 (0.23%) FortiGate
10 2 (0.15%) Nessus
10 2 (0.15%) Netcool
10 2 (0.15%) Netcool/OMNIbus
10 2 (0.15%) Proxmox
11 1 (0.075%) CASB
11 1 (0.075%) Control-M
11 1 (0.075%) Dell DRAC
11 1 (0.075%) Kibana
11 1 (0.075%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 336 (25.24%) Microsoft
2 182 (13.67%) SAP
3 49 (3.68%) VMware
4 39 (2.93%) Google
5 36 (2.70%) NEC
5 36 (2.70%) Oracle
6 35 (2.63%) Adobe
6 35 (2.63%) Veeam
7 33 (2.48%) Databricks
8 29 (2.18%) Sage
9 27 (2.03%) Salesforce
10 24 (1.80%) HubSpot
11 18 (1.35%) Cisco
12 17 (1.28%) ServiceNow
13 15 (1.13%) SolarWinds
14 13 (0.98%) Black Duck
14 13 (0.98%) Coverity
14 13 (0.98%) Xamarin
15 12 (0.90%) IBM
16 11 (0.83%) Zoho