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 23 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 5 4 6
Rank change year-on-year -1 +2 -1
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,428 1,823 1,283
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 15.26% 15.89% 16.84%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 18.09% 19.32% 18.10%
Number of salaries quoted 947 819 737
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,000 £27,500
25th Percentile £31,250 £37,500 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £40,000 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -20.00% - -2.91%
75th Percentile £60,000 £70,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £74,850 £85,000 £82,500
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 7,892 9,434 7,087
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 84.34% 82.24% 93.01%
Number of salaries quoted 4,787 4,983 4,956
10th Percentile £27,450 £32,750 £30,938
25th Percentile £33,500 £42,625 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £48,500 £56,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -13.39% +1.82% -
75th Percentile £65,000 £72,500 £67,900
90th Percentile £80,000 £85,000 £82,500
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -1.93%

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 23 November 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 23 November 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 +1 600 £41,000 -21.90% 261
Berkshire +5 403 £41,000 -36.92% 127
Hampshire 0 342 £40,000 -20.00% 141
Surrey -12 184 £40,000 -27.27% 94
Kent +5 120 £35,000 -9.09% 73
Buckinghamshire -12 119 £39,250 -31.74% 81
Oxfordshire +3 78 £39,500 -16.84% 66
West Sussex -1 76 £60,000 +23.08% 46
East Sussex +7 47 £45,000 -10.00% 42
Isle of Wight +2 24 £43,000 - 2
Middlesex -10 23 £37,500 +11.94% 22
Sussex +6 7 £42,500 - 31
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 67 (4.69%) SharePoint
2 46 (3.22%) Microsoft Exchange
3 19 (1.33%) IIS
4 16 (1.12%) CMS
5 14 (0.98%) Confluence
6 11 (0.77%) WordPress
7 3 (0.21%) HCL Domino
7 3 (0.21%) HCL Notes
8 2 (0.14%) Anypoint
8 2 (0.14%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.14%) ArcGIS
8 2 (0.14%) OpenStack
8 2 (0.14%) SAS
8 2 (0.14%) Skype for Business
9 1 (0.070%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.070%) Appian
9 1 (0.070%) Oracle Workflow
9 1 (0.070%) Umbraco
Applications
1 161 (11.27%) Microsoft Excel
2 152 (10.64%) Microsoft Office
3 15 (1.05%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 14 (0.98%) Spreadsheet
5 10 (0.70%) Photoshop
6 9 (0.63%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 9 (0.63%) Adobe Premiere
6 9 (0.63%) Mathcad
6 9 (0.63%) Simulink
7 8 (0.56%) Adobe Illustrator
8 5 (0.35%) Adobe After Effects
8 5 (0.35%) MS Visio
9 3 (0.21%) Adobe XD
9 3 (0.21%) InDesign
9 3 (0.21%) Microsoft Project
9 3 (0.21%) Notion
10 2 (0.14%) Adobe Captivate
10 2 (0.14%) AutoCAD
10 2 (0.14%) Elementor
11 1 (0.070%) Revit
Business Applications
1 76 (5.32%) SAP S/4HANA
2 21 (1.47%) NetSuite
3 14 (0.98%) Dynamics CRM
4 8 (0.56%) JDE EnterpriseOne
5 7 (0.49%) SAP CO
5 7 (0.49%) SAP FI
5 7 (0.49%) SAP FI/CO
6 6 (0.42%) Oracle Assets
6 6 (0.42%) Oracle Payables
6 6 (0.42%) Oracle Receivables
7 5 (0.35%) SAP Hybris
8 4 (0.28%) Unit4 Business World
9 3 (0.21%) Sage 1000
9 3 (0.21%) Sage X3
9 3 (0.21%) Shopify
10 2 (0.14%) Salesforce CRM
11 1 (0.070%) Oracle EBS
11 1 (0.070%) SAP EWM
11 1 (0.070%) SAP HR
11 1 (0.070%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 317 (22.20%) Azure
2 184 (12.89%) Microsoft 365
3 130 (9.10%) Power Platform
4 102 (7.14%) AWS
5 92 (6.44%) SaaS
6 58 (4.06%) Entra ID
7 52 (3.64%) GCP
8 46 (3.22%) Azure DevOps
9 15 (1.05%) Collibra
9 15 (1.05%) PaaS
9 15 (1.05%) Vertex AI
10 14 (0.98%) IaaS
10 14 (0.98%) Power Automate
11 12 (0.84%) Dynamics 365
11 12 (0.84%) GitHub
12 10 (0.70%) OCI
13 9 (0.63%) Azure Data Factory
13 9 (0.63%) Figma
13 9 (0.63%) Nutanix
14 8 (0.56%) Google Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 87 (6.09%) DNS
2 85 (5.95%) Firewall
3 66 (4.62%) DHCP
4 59 (4.13%) TCP/IP
5 57 (3.99%) VPN
6 45 (3.15%) VLAN
7 26 (1.82%) Wi-Fi
8 25 (1.75%) LAN
8 25 (1.75%) WAN
9 19 (1.33%) Wireless
10 11 (0.77%) SAN
10 11 (0.77%) VoIP
11 8 (0.56%) Network Security
11 8 (0.56%) Wireshark
12 7 (0.49%) IP Telephony
13 6 (0.42%) Internet
13 6 (0.42%) LTE
13 6 (0.42%) Remote Desktop
13 6 (0.42%) SNMP
14 5 (0.35%) Intranet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 120 (8.40%) Power BI
2 82 (5.74%) Data Lake
3 63 (4.41%) SAP BW
4 56 (3.92%) SQL Server
5 55 (3.85%) Relational Database
6 18 (1.26%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 15 (1.05%) Data Mining
8 14 (0.98%) Oracle Reports
9 12 (0.84%) MySQL
9 12 (0.84%) NoSQL
9 12 (0.84%) PostgreSQL
9 12 (0.84%) Tableau
10 11 (0.77%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 10 (0.70%) Data Warehouse
12 8 (0.56%) Power Query
13 7 (0.49%) Amazon RDS
13 7 (0.49%) PowerPivot
14 6 (0.42%) Elasticsearch
15 5 (0.35%) Azure SQL Database
15 5 (0.35%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 62 (4.34%) Git
2 51 (3.57%) JIRA
3 20 (1.40%) Selenium
4 13 (0.91%) Robot Framework
5 11 (0.77%) Snyk
6 9 (0.63%) Visual Studio
7 8 (0.56%) Jenkins
8 5 (0.35%) MSBuild
8 5 (0.35%) Octopus Deploy
8 5 (0.35%) Team Foundation Server
9 4 (0.28%) Rational DOORS
9 4 (0.28%) WebDriver
10 3 (0.21%) Cypress.io
10 3 (0.21%) GitLab
11 2 (0.14%) TestRail
12 1 (0.070%) Browser DevTools
12 1 (0.070%) Katalon Studio
12 1 (0.070%) MLflow
12 1 (0.070%) Postman
12 1 (0.070%) REST Assured
General
1 868 (60.78%) Social Skills
2 374 (26.19%) Analytical Skills
3 303 (21.22%) Finance
4 129 (9.03%) Manufacturing
5 123 (8.61%) Marketing
6 122 (8.54%) Retail
7 71 (4.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 70 (4.90%) Law
9 58 (4.06%) Organisational Skills
10 42 (2.94%) Telecoms
11 41 (2.87%) Influencing Skills
12 40 (2.80%) Electronics
13 25 (1.75%) Legal
13 25 (1.75%) Public Sector
14 21 (1.47%) Documentation Skills
15 19 (1.33%) Automotive
16 14 (0.98%) Advertising
17 12 (0.84%) Aviation
18 9 (0.63%) Aerospace
18 9 (0.63%) Banking
Job Titles
1 323 (22.62%) Analyst
2 275 (19.26%) Senior
3 189 (13.24%) IT Support
4 175 (12.25%) Lead
5 132 (9.24%) Support Analyst
6 126 (8.82%) Support Engineer
7 97 (6.79%) Technical Support
8 82 (5.74%) Developer
9 71 (4.97%) IT Analyst
10 67 (4.69%) IT Support Analyst
11 66 (4.62%) Senior Analyst
12 57 (3.99%) SAP Analyst
13 54 (3.78%) Applications Support
14 53 (3.71%) 2nd Line Support
15 46 (3.22%) Senior Manager
16 43 (3.01%) Project Engineer
17 41 (2.87%) IT Engineer
18 40 (2.80%) Support Technician
19 39 (2.73%) Report Analyst
20 37 (2.59%) IT Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 54 (3.78%) .NET
2 52 (3.64%) HTML
3 45 (3.15%) CSS
4 42 (2.94%) REST
5 37 (2.59%) React
6 31 (2.17%) SOAP
7 27 (1.89%) Node.js
8 25 (1.75%) RESTful
9 24 (1.68%) ASP.NET
9 24 (1.68%) XML
10 22 (1.54%) JSON
11 16 (1.12%) .NET Framework
12 13 (0.91%) WinForms
13 12 (0.84%) Entity Framework
14 11 (0.77%) Web Services
15 10 (0.70%) Bootstrap
15 10 (0.70%) DCOM
16 9 (0.63%) EDI
17 8 (0.56%) AngularJS
18 7 (0.49%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 141 (9.87%) Onboarding
2 80 (5.60%) Driving Licence
3 71 (4.97%) Analytical Mindset
4 57 (3.99%) Self-Motivation
5 49 (3.43%) Management Information System
6 46 (3.22%) Data Centre
7 24 (1.68%) Product Ownership
8 22 (1.54%) Algorithms
9 16 (1.12%) Social Media
10 12 (0.84%) Security Operations Centre
11 11 (0.77%) Security Posture
11 11 (0.77%) Virtual Team
12 10 (0.70%) Cloud Native
13 8 (0.56%) Public Cloud
13 8 (0.56%) Robotics
14 7 (0.49%) Team-Oriented Environment
15 6 (0.42%) FMCG
15 6 (0.42%) IoT
15 6 (0.42%) Life Science
15 6 (0.42%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 287 (20.10%) Windows
2 89 (6.23%) Windows Server
3 52 (3.64%) Windows 10
4 46 (3.22%) Linux
5 17 (1.19%) Mac OS
6 14 (0.98%) Windows 7
7 11 (0.77%) Windows Server 2012
8 10 (0.70%) Windows Server 2019
9 7 (0.49%) Android
10 5 (0.35%) Unix
11 4 (0.28%) Apple iOS
11 4 (0.28%) VMS
12 3 (0.21%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
13 2 (0.14%) CentOS
13 2 (0.14%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 252 (17.65%) Continuous Improvement
2 206 (14.43%) Customer Service
3 204 (14.29%) Analytics
4 201 (14.08%) Agile
5 155 (10.85%) ERP
6 136 (9.52%) Business Intelligence
7 125 (8.75%) Data Modelling
8 120 (8.40%) DevOps
9 112 (7.84%) Cybersecurity
10 107 (7.49%) Mentoring
11 106 (7.42%) Data Analysis
11 106 (7.42%) Technical Leadership
12 101 (7.07%) Project Management
13 100 (7.00%) SAP Implementation
14 92 (6.44%) Incident Management
14 92 (6.44%) Quality Management
15 91 (6.37%) Decision-Making
16 89 (6.23%) Logistics
17 88 (6.16%) Stakeholder Management
18 80 (5.60%) CI/CD
Programming Languages
1 244 (17.09%) SQL
2 105 (7.35%) Python
3 79 (5.53%) PowerShell
4 73 (5.11%) C#
5 59 (4.13%) JavaScript
6 25 (1.75%) Java
7 23 (1.61%) T-SQL
8 20 (1.40%) VBA
9 15 (1.05%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 14 (0.98%) PHP
11 13 (0.91%) Kusto Query Language
12 11 (0.77%) TypeScript
13 10 (0.70%) Bash
14 9 (0.63%) MATLAB
15 6 (0.42%) C++
15 6 (0.42%) R
16 5 (0.35%) Apex Code
16 5 (0.35%) Bicep
17 4 (0.28%) Go
17 4 (0.28%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 349 (24.44%) Degree
2 113 (7.91%) Security Cleared
3 51 (3.57%) SC Cleared
4 42 (2.94%) Computer Science Degree
4 42 (2.94%) DV Cleared
5 32 (2.24%) Microsoft Certification
6 28 (1.96%) ACCA
7 22 (1.54%) BPSS Clearance
7 22 (1.54%) CIMA
8 16 (1.12%) Cisco Certification
8 16 (1.12%) DBS Check
9 14 (0.98%) ISTQB
9 14 (0.98%) MCP
10 13 (0.91%) Master's Degree
11 12 (0.84%) A+ Certification
11 12 (0.84%) CEH
12 11 (0.77%) HNC
13 10 (0.70%) CCNP
13 10 (0.70%) CISSP
13 10 (0.70%) ISEB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 118 (8.26%) Data Quality
2 79 (5.53%) QA
3 63 (4.41%) GDPR
4 30 (2.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 26 (1.82%) SLA
6 20 (1.40%) Accessibility
7 17 (1.19%) Cyber Essentials
8 12 (0.84%) NIST
9 9 (0.63%) ISO 9001
9 9 (0.63%) Software Quality Assurance
10 8 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 15288
11 5 (0.35%) ISO 13485
11 5 (0.35%) ISO 31000
12 3 (0.21%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 3 (0.21%) HIPAA
12 3 (0.21%) PCI DSS
13 2 (0.14%) GRC
13 2 (0.14%) WCAG
14 1 (0.070%) GxP
14 1 (0.070%) ISO 14001
System Software
1 153 (10.71%) Active Directory
2 45 (3.15%) Hyper-V
3 38 (2.66%) Docker
4 28 (1.96%) VMware Infrastructure
5 12 (0.84%) Firmware
5 12 (0.84%) VMware ESXi
6 9 (0.63%) Virtual Machines
7 5 (0.35%) Terminal Services
8 3 (0.21%) Virtual Desktop
9 2 (0.14%) GPFS
9 2 (0.14%) KVM
9 2 (0.14%) Lustre
9 2 (0.14%) NFS
9 2 (0.14%) RHEV
9 2 (0.14%) Xen
10 1 (0.070%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.070%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 75 (5.25%) Microsoft Intune
2 46 (3.22%) Terraform
3 31 (2.17%) Kubernetes
4 25 (1.75%) Ansible
5 14 (0.98%) SCCM
5 14 (0.98%) vCenter Server
6 10 (0.70%) ZABBIX
7 6 (0.42%) Grafana
7 6 (0.42%) Nagios
7 6 (0.42%) Prometheus
8 5 (0.35%) Single Sign-On
9 4 (0.28%) FortiGate
10 3 (0.21%) QRadar
11 2 (0.14%) Nessus
11 2 (0.14%) Proxmox
12 1 (0.070%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 1 (0.070%) Control-M
12 1 (0.070%) Kibana
12 1 (0.070%) Netcool
12 1 (0.070%) Netcool/OMNIbus
Vendors
1 399 (27.94%) Microsoft
2 206 (14.43%) SAP
3 48 (3.36%) Google
4 46 (3.22%) VMware
5 41 (2.87%) Oracle
6 40 (2.80%) Cisco
7 37 (2.59%) NEC
8 36 (2.52%) Sage
9 23 (1.61%) Salesforce
9 23 (1.61%) Veeam
10 22 (1.54%) Adobe
10 22 (1.54%) HubSpot
11 21 (1.47%) Meraki
12 19 (1.33%) Workday
13 18 (1.26%) ServiceNow
14 16 (1.12%) OpenAI
15 13 (0.91%) Databricks
15 13 (0.91%) Fortinet
15 13 (0.91%) Xamarin
16 12 (0.84%) Guidewire