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

6 months to
22 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 1,277 1,378 2,267
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 11.03% 17.25% 18.06%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 14.15% 19.25% 21.00%
Number of salaries quoted 910 644 1,376
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,250 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,000 £35,000 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £52,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -19.05% +16.67% -14.29%
75th Percentile £60,000 £71,250 £62,500
90th Percentile £73,750 £84,625 £74,321
England median annual salary £45,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -18.18% +10.00% -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 9,022 7,158 10,797
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 77.91% 89.62% 86.03%
Number of salaries quoted 5,584 3,298 7,979
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,785 £27,750
25th Percentile £35,000 £43,750 £36,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £57,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -13.04% +15.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £65,000 £73,833 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,875 £85,000 £78,750
England median annual salary £55,000 £62,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year -12.00% +13.64% -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 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 22 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 -2 520 £45,000 -21.74% 203
Berkshire +4 307 £45,000 -33.33% 102
Hampshire -1 270 £35,000 -30.00% 127
Surrey -12 195 £40,000 -30.43% 93
Buckinghamshire -8 136 £50,500 -12.17% 57
Kent -8 120 £29,000 -14.71% 57
East Sussex +1 83 £56,500 +13.00% 17
Oxfordshire -5 77 £34,000 -9.33% 47
West Sussex -2 53 £60,000 +26.32% 26
Middlesex -9 17 £47,500 -19.15% 19
Isle of Wight +6 13 £43,500 +8.48% 2
Sussex -12 3 £35,000 -20.45% 2
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 38 (2.98%) SharePoint
2 33 (2.58%) Microsoft Exchange
3 21 (1.64%) IIS
4 14 (1.10%) CMS
5 10 (0.78%) WordPress
6 8 (0.63%) Confluence
7 4 (0.31%) Apache Airflow
8 3 (0.23%) govService
8 3 (0.23%) SAS
9 2 (0.16%) Anypoint
9 2 (0.16%) Apache
9 2 (0.16%) ArcGIS
10 1 (0.078%) Apache Spark
10 1 (0.078%) HCL Domino
10 1 (0.078%) HCL Notes
10 1 (0.078%) nginx
10 1 (0.078%) OpenStack
10 1 (0.078%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 112 (8.77%) Microsoft Office
2 90 (7.05%) Microsoft Excel
3 20 (1.57%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 12 (0.94%) Photoshop
4 12 (0.94%) Spreadsheet
5 9 (0.70%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 9 (0.70%) Adobe Illustrator
6 7 (0.55%) MS Visio
7 5 (0.39%) Adobe Premiere
8 3 (0.23%) Adobe After Effects
8 3 (0.23%) Adobe XD
8 3 (0.23%) InDesign
9 2 (0.16%) Adobe Captivate
9 2 (0.16%) Elementor
10 1 (0.078%) Acrobat
10 1 (0.078%) AutoCAD
10 1 (0.078%) OrCAD
10 1 (0.078%) Revit
Business Applications
1 52 (4.07%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (0.86%) NetSuite
3 10 (0.78%) SAP CO
4 6 (0.47%) Dynamics CRM
5 5 (0.39%) SAP Hybris
6 4 (0.31%) Dynamics NAV
7 3 (0.23%) JDE EnterpriseOne
7 3 (0.23%) Oracle Assets
7 3 (0.23%) Oracle Payables
7 3 (0.23%) Oracle Receivables
7 3 (0.23%) Sage X3
8 2 (0.16%) Dynamics AX
8 2 (0.16%) IBM Planning Analytics
8 2 (0.16%) Q-Pulse
8 2 (0.16%) Sage 200
9 1 (0.078%) Raiser’s Edge
9 1 (0.078%) SAP FI
9 1 (0.078%) SAP FI/CO
9 1 (0.078%) SAP IBP
9 1 (0.078%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 236 (18.48%) Azure
2 164 (12.84%) Microsoft 365
3 103 (8.07%) Power Platform
4 83 (6.50%) AWS
5 64 (5.01%) SaaS
6 62 (4.86%) Azure DevOps
7 40 (3.13%) GCP
8 37 (2.90%) Entra ID
9 19 (1.49%) Google Workspace
9 19 (1.49%) Mimecast
9 19 (1.49%) PaaS
10 18 (1.41%) Azure Logic Apps
10 18 (1.41%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 18 (1.41%) IaaS
11 16 (1.25%) Collibra
11 16 (1.25%) Dynamics 365
11 16 (1.25%) Figma
12 15 (1.17%) GitHub
13 12 (0.94%) Power Automate
14 10 (0.78%) Stripe
Communications & Networking
1 83 (6.50%) DNS
2 66 (5.17%) Firewall
3 53 (4.15%) DHCP
4 43 (3.37%) TCP/IP
5 42 (3.29%) VPN
6 26 (2.04%) Wireless
7 22 (1.72%) VLAN
8 17 (1.33%) WAN
9 14 (1.10%) Broadband
9 14 (1.10%) LAN
10 13 (1.02%) SAN
11 10 (0.78%) Intranet
12 9 (0.70%) Remote Desktop
13 8 (0.63%) HTTP
13 8 (0.63%) VoIP
14 7 (0.55%) Wi-Fi
15 6 (0.47%) PuTTY
15 6 (0.47%) SSH
16 3 (0.23%) MPLS
16 3 (0.23%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 81 (6.34%) Power BI
2 42 (3.29%) Relational Database
3 37 (2.90%) SQL Server
4 20 (1.57%) Data Lake
5 18 (1.41%) Data Warehouse
5 18 (1.41%) SAP BW
6 17 (1.33%) NoSQL
6 17 (1.33%) Power Query
7 16 (1.25%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 13 (1.02%) OLTP
9 9 (0.70%) PostgreSQL
9 9 (0.70%) Tableau
10 7 (0.55%) PowerPivot
11 6 (0.47%) Big Data
11 6 (0.47%) Hadoop
12 5 (0.39%) Data Mining
12 5 (0.39%) MySQL
13 4 (0.31%) Azure SQL Database
13 4 (0.31%) Metadata
14 3 (0.23%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 47 (3.68%) Git
2 39 (3.05%) JIRA
3 24 (1.88%) Selenium
4 15 (1.17%) GitLab
4 15 (1.17%) Robot Framework
5 13 (1.02%) Snyk
6 10 (0.78%) Rational DOORS
7 8 (0.63%) Jenkins
7 8 (0.63%) Visual Studio
8 4 (0.31%) Cypress.io
8 4 (0.31%) WebDriver
9 3 (0.23%) Postman
10 2 (0.16%) Appium
10 2 (0.16%) LabVIEW
10 2 (0.16%) REST Assured
10 2 (0.16%) TestRail
11 1 (0.078%) Android Studio
11 1 (0.078%) JMeter
11 1 (0.078%) JUnit
11 1 (0.078%) NUnit
General
1 712 (55.76%) Social Skills
2 350 (27.41%) Analytical Skills
3 268 (20.99%) Finance
4 105 (8.22%) Manufacturing
5 96 (7.52%) Marketing
6 78 (6.11%) Retail
7 75 (5.87%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 68 (5.32%) Organisational Skills
9 46 (3.60%) Electronics
10 42 (3.29%) Telecoms
11 35 (2.74%) Public Sector
12 34 (2.66%) Legal
13 31 (2.43%) Law
14 27 (2.11%) Documentation Skills
15 15 (1.17%) Presentation Skills
16 14 (1.10%) Influencing Skills
17 11 (0.86%) Automotive
17 11 (0.86%) Banking
17 11 (0.86%) Pharmaceutical
18 8 (0.63%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 228 (17.85%) Analyst
2 201 (15.74%) Senior
3 198 (15.51%) IT Support
4 164 (12.84%) Support Engineer
5 110 (8.61%) Developer
6 103 (8.07%) Support Analyst
7 87 (6.81%) Lead
8 81 (6.34%) Technical Support
9 72 (5.64%) IT Engineer
10 66 (5.17%) IT Analyst
11 63 (4.93%) IT Support Analyst
12 62 (4.86%) IT Support Engineer
13 58 (4.54%) 2nd Line Support
14 44 (3.45%) Project Engineer
14 44 (3.45%) Technical Engineer
14 44 (3.45%) Technical Support Engineer
15 42 (3.29%) Senior Analyst
15 42 (3.29%) Senior Manager
16 34 (2.66%) Software Engineer
17 33 (2.58%) Applications Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 56 (4.39%) .NET
2 47 (3.68%) HTML
3 35 (2.74%) SOAP
4 33 (2.58%) REST
5 30 (2.35%) React
6 25 (1.96%) CSS
7 21 (1.64%) XML
8 19 (1.49%) .NET Framework
9 17 (1.33%) ASP.NET
10 15 (1.17%) JSON
10 15 (1.17%) Middleware
11 13 (1.02%) Entity Framework
11 13 (1.02%) Laravel
11 13 (1.02%) WinForms
12 11 (0.86%) ARM Templates
12 11 (0.86%) Lightning Web Components
13 10 (0.78%) OLE
13 10 (0.78%) Visualforce
14 9 (0.70%) Node.js
14 9 (0.70%) SAP CO-PA
Miscellaneous
1 106 (8.30%) Onboarding
2 76 (5.95%) Driving Licence
3 65 (5.09%) Self-Motivation
4 45 (3.52%) Analytical Mindset
4 45 (3.52%) Management Information System
5 36 (2.82%) Data Centre
6 28 (2.19%) Product Ownership
7 21 (1.64%) Low-Code
8 19 (1.49%) Cloud Native
8 19 (1.49%) Social Media
9 16 (1.25%) Distributed Systems
10 11 (0.86%) Enterprise Software
10 11 (0.86%) Video Editing
11 10 (0.78%) Legacy Systems
11 10 (0.78%) Security Operations Centre
11 10 (0.78%) Video Conferencing
12 9 (0.70%) Algorithms
12 9 (0.70%) Life Science
13 8 (0.63%) IoT
13 8 (0.63%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 236 (18.48%) Windows
2 76 (5.95%) Linux
3 70 (5.48%) Windows Server
4 26 (2.04%) Windows 10
5 25 (1.96%) Mac OS
6 16 (1.25%) Android
7 12 (0.94%) Windows Server 2012
8 10 (0.78%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 10 (0.78%) Windows Server 2019
9 9 (0.70%) CentOS
10 7 (0.55%) Apple iOS
11 6 (0.47%) VMS
12 5 (0.39%) Windows 7
13 4 (0.31%) Unix
13 4 (0.31%) Windows Server 2016
14 3 (0.23%) Ubuntu
15 1 (0.078%) FreeBSD
15 1 (0.078%) OpenBSD
15 1 (0.078%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 256 (20.05%) Continuous Improvement
2 202 (15.82%) Customer Service
3 162 (12.69%) Agile
4 145 (11.35%) Analytics
5 118 (9.24%) DevOps
6 113 (8.85%) Project Management
7 112 (8.77%) Business Intelligence
8 109 (8.54%) ERP
9 100 (7.83%) Stakeholder Management
10 93 (7.28%) Decision-Making
11 89 (6.97%) CI/CD
11 89 (6.97%) Computer Science
11 89 (6.97%) Data Modelling
12 86 (6.73%) Cybersecurity
13 82 (6.42%) Mentoring
14 81 (6.34%) Technical Leadership
15 76 (5.95%) AI
16 74 (5.79%) Logistics
17 68 (5.32%) Software Engineering
18 65 (5.09%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 204 (15.97%) SQL
2 166 (13.00%) Python
3 79 (6.19%) C#
4 77 (6.03%) PowerShell
5 69 (5.40%) JavaScript
6 42 (3.29%) Java
7 27 (2.11%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 26 (2.04%) PHP
9 17 (1.33%) C++
10 16 (1.25%) PL/SQL
11 15 (1.17%) TypeScript
12 13 (1.02%) C
13 12 (0.94%) Bash
13 12 (0.94%) Bicep
13 12 (0.94%) T-SQL
14 11 (0.86%) Apex Code
15 9 (0.70%) Kusto Query Language
16 8 (0.63%) Perl
16 8 (0.63%) R
17 7 (0.55%) VBA
Qualifications
1 287 (22.47%) Degree
2 92 (7.20%) Security Cleared
3 50 (3.92%) Computer Science Degree
4 43 (3.37%) SC Cleared
5 40 (3.13%) ACCA
6 32 (2.51%) CIMA
7 30 (2.35%) Microsoft Certification
8 28 (2.19%) DBS Check
9 25 (1.96%) DV Cleared
10 24 (1.88%) BPSS Clearance
11 19 (1.49%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 18 (1.41%) A+ Certification
12 18 (1.41%) HNC
13 16 (1.25%) Master's Degree
14 11 (0.86%) Chartered Engineer
15 9 (0.70%) HND
16 8 (0.63%) MCSE
17 7 (0.55%) City & Guilds
17 7 (0.55%) Network+ Certification
18 6 (0.47%) CompTIA CySA+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 74 (5.79%) QA
2 68 (5.32%) Data Quality
3 52 (4.07%) GDPR
4 27 (2.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 21 (1.64%) Accessibility
6 18 (1.41%) SLA
7 11 (0.86%) PCI DSS
8 9 (0.70%) NIST
9 8 (0.63%) ISO 9001
10 6 (0.47%) Cyber Essentials
11 5 (0.39%) Actionable Recommendations
11 5 (0.39%) ISO 13485
12 3 (0.23%) ITGC
13 2 (0.16%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 2 (0.16%) SOC 2
13 2 (0.16%) WCAG
14 1 (0.078%) GAAP
14 1 (0.078%) IFRS
14 1 (0.078%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
14 1 (0.078%) PMO
System Software
1 160 (12.53%) Active Directory
2 39 (3.05%) Hyper-V
3 35 (2.74%) VMware Infrastructure
4 32 (2.51%) Docker
5 9 (0.70%) VMware ESXi
6 8 (0.63%) KVM
7 4 (0.31%) Firmware
8 3 (0.23%) Virtual Machines
9 2 (0.16%) Virtual Desktop
10 1 (0.078%) RHEV
10 1 (0.078%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.078%) VMware NSX
10 1 (0.078%) Xen
10 1 (0.078%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 51 (3.99%) Terraform
2 43 (3.37%) Microsoft Intune
3 27 (2.11%) Ansible
3 27 (2.11%) Kubernetes
4 16 (1.25%) SCCM
5 13 (1.02%) vCenter Server
6 10 (0.78%) ZABBIX
7 9 (0.70%) Grafana
7 9 (0.70%) Prometheus
8 8 (0.63%) Nagios
9 2 (0.16%) FortiGate
9 2 (0.16%) Nessus
9 2 (0.16%) Netcool
9 2 (0.16%) Netcool/OMNIbus
9 2 (0.16%) Proxmox
10 1 (0.078%) CASB
10 1 (0.078%) Dell DRAC
10 1 (0.078%) Docker Swarm
10 1 (0.078%) Kibana
10 1 (0.078%) Podman
Vendors
1 329 (25.76%) Microsoft
2 113 (8.85%) SAP
3 50 (3.92%) VMware
4 41 (3.21%) Google
5 39 (3.05%) Veeam
6 35 (2.74%) Adobe
7 33 (2.58%) Databricks
8 32 (2.51%) Oracle
9 31 (2.43%) NEC
9 31 (2.43%) Sage
10 30 (2.35%) Salesforce
11 24 (1.88%) HubSpot
12 17 (1.33%) ServiceNow
13 15 (1.17%) SolarWinds
14 14 (1.10%) Xamarin
15 13 (1.02%) Black Duck
15 13 (1.02%) Cisco
15 13 (1.02%) Coverity
16 11 (0.86%) Zoho
17 10 (0.78%) 3PAR