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

6 months to
20 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -5 +1 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,268 1,494 2,911
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 8.55% 18.99% 15.63%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.95% 21.03% 19.30%
Number of salaries quoted 961 721 1,808
10th Percentile £26,500 £27,375 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £31,250 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £42,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.88% -5.56% -13.46%
75th Percentile £59,750 £62,500 £61,250
90th Percentile £73,750 £83,750 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £49,000
% change year-on-year -5.00% +2.04% -10.91%

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 10,607 7,103 15,080
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.48% 90.27% 80.98%
Number of salaries quoted 7,533 3,467 10,485
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,750 £27,750
25th Percentile £39,280 £35,000 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £51,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.84% +2.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,250 £78,750
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 20 June 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 20 June 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 -10 461 £45,000 - 217
Hampshire -2 297 £40,000 -4.19% 125
Berkshire -6 223 £45,000 -10.00% 96
Surrey -1 216 £42,500 +6.25% 93
Buckinghamshire -9 139 £47,500 +26.67% 70
Kent -3 134 £29,000 -6.45% 57
Oxfordshire -4 99 £34,000 -36.15% 53
East Sussex -4 90 £50,000 - 19
West Sussex -7 59 £50,000 +7.53% 29
Middlesex +7 3 £35,000 -41.67% 8
Isle of Wight -14 3 £41,500 -24.55%
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 (2.68%) SharePoint
2 31 (2.44%) Microsoft Exchange
3 17 (1.34%) CMS
4 16 (1.26%) Confluence
5 7 (0.55%) OpenEdge
6 5 (0.39%) WordPress
7 4 (0.32%) IIS
8 3 (0.24%) Anypoint
8 3 (0.24%) govService
8 3 (0.24%) OpenStack
8 3 (0.24%) SAS
9 2 (0.16%) Apache
9 2 (0.16%) Gentran
10 1 (0.079%) Tomcat
Applications
1 92 (7.26%) Microsoft Excel
2 79 (6.23%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (0.79%) Spreadsheet
4 9 (0.71%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.55%) MS Visio
6 5 (0.39%) Photoshop
7 4 (0.32%) Adobe Illustrator
8 3 (0.24%) Microsoft Project
9 2 (0.16%) Chatbot
9 2 (0.16%) Lightworks
10 1 (0.079%) AutoCAD
10 1 (0.079%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 12 (0.95%) NetSuite
2 9 (0.71%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (0.47%) SAP CO
4 4 (0.32%) Dynamics NAV
4 4 (0.32%) Magento
5 3 (0.24%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.16%) Infor SunSystems
6 2 (0.16%) Shopify
7 1 (0.079%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.079%) HFM
7 1 (0.079%) SAP GRC
7 1 (0.079%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 300 (23.66%) Azure
2 141 (11.12%) Microsoft 365
3 121 (9.54%) AWS
4 74 (5.84%) Power Platform
5 53 (4.18%) SaaS
6 47 (3.71%) Azure DevOps
7 41 (3.23%) GCP
8 33 (2.60%) Entra ID
9 26 (2.05%) IaaS
9 26 (2.05%) PaaS
10 23 (1.81%) Azure Synapse Analytics
11 22 (1.74%) Serverless
12 18 (1.42%) GitHub
13 17 (1.34%) Datadog
13 17 (1.34%) Dynamics 365
14 15 (1.18%) Google Workspace
14 15 (1.18%) OpenShift
15 14 (1.10%) Mimecast
16 13 (1.03%) Azure Data Factory
17 11 (0.87%) Asana
Communications & Networking
1 97 (7.65%) Firewall
2 59 (4.65%) DNS
3 43 (3.39%) WAN
4 42 (3.31%) LAN
5 37 (2.92%) VPN
6 36 (2.84%) TCP/IP
7 35 (2.76%) DHCP
8 32 (2.52%) Wireless
9 27 (2.13%) Wi-Fi
10 21 (1.66%) VoIP
11 20 (1.58%) Broadband
11 20 (1.58%) Network Security
12 17 (1.34%) VLAN
13 11 (0.87%) Internet
13 11 (0.87%) SSL
14 10 (0.79%) HTTP
15 7 (0.55%) Remote Desktop
16 6 (0.47%) WLAN
17 5 (0.39%) MQTT
18 4 (0.32%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 85 (6.70%) SQL Server
2 62 (4.89%) Power BI
3 22 (1.74%) Data Warehouse
3 22 (1.74%) PostgreSQL
4 17 (1.34%) Relational Database
5 16 (1.26%) OLTP
6 14 (1.10%) NoSQL
7 12 (0.95%) MySQL
8 10 (0.79%) Power Query
8 10 (0.79%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 10 (0.79%) Tableau
9 9 (0.71%) Data Lake
9 9 (0.71%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 7 (0.55%) Looker
11 6 (0.47%) Amazon RDS
11 6 (0.47%) GIS
12 5 (0.39%) Azure SQL Database
13 4 (0.32%) Elasticsearch
13 4 (0.32%) MongoDB
14 3 (0.24%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 60 (4.73%) Git
2 45 (3.55%) JIRA
3 30 (2.37%) GitLab
4 23 (1.81%) Rational DOORS
5 6 (0.47%) Selenium
6 3 (0.24%) Android Studio
6 3 (0.24%) Postman
6 3 (0.24%) Visual Studio
7 2 (0.16%) Appium
7 2 (0.16%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.16%) Eclipse
7 2 (0.16%) Eclipse RCP
7 2 (0.16%) Jenkins
7 2 (0.16%) JMeter
7 2 (0.16%) JUnit
7 2 (0.16%) Mocha
7 2 (0.16%) REST Assured
7 2 (0.16%) Subversion
7 2 (0.16%) Terragrunt
8 1 (0.079%) PHPUnit
General
1 612 (48.26%) Social Skills
2 353 (27.84%) Analytical Skills
3 189 (14.91%) Finance
4 83 (6.55%) Organisational Skills
5 67 (5.28%) Manufacturing
6 54 (4.26%) Retail
7 53 (4.18%) Marketing
7 53 (4.18%) Telecoms
8 51 (4.02%) Electronics
9 43 (3.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 38 (3.00%) Aerospace
11 34 (2.68%) Law
12 29 (2.29%) Legal
13 28 (2.21%) Influencing Skills
14 26 (2.05%) Documentation Skills
14 26 (2.05%) Public Sector
15 25 (1.97%) Local Government
16 17 (1.34%) Military
17 14 (1.10%) Banking
18 13 (1.03%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 173 (13.64%) Analyst
2 139 (10.96%) IT Support
3 130 (10.25%) Senior
4 127 (10.02%) Developer
5 116 (9.15%) Support Engineer
6 82 (6.47%) IT Engineer
7 69 (5.44%) Support Analyst
8 66 (5.21%) Systems Engineer
9 59 (4.65%) Software Engineer
10 54 (4.26%) IT Support Engineer
10 54 (4.26%) Support Technician
11 51 (4.02%) Lead
11 51 (4.02%) Technical Support
12 47 (3.71%) 2nd Line Support
13 40 (3.15%) Architect
13 40 (3.15%) IT Technician
14 38 (3.00%) Technical Engineer
14 38 (3.00%) Technical Support Engineer
15 36 (2.84%) Infrastructure Engineer
16 34 (2.68%) 1st Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 80 (6.31%) .NET
2 57 (4.50%) HTML
3 49 (3.86%) SOAP
4 41 (3.23%) REST
5 36 (2.84%) CSS
6 35 (2.76%) JSON
7 34 (2.68%) XML
8 30 (2.37%) React
9 23 (1.81%) ASP.NET
10 19 (1.50%) Middleware
11 18 (1.42%) OAuth
12 17 (1.34%) RESTful
13 16 (1.26%) HTML5
14 15 (1.18%) ASP.NET Core
14 15 (1.18%) Vue
15 14 (1.10%) CSS3
15 14 (1.10%) RabbitMQ
16 13 (1.03%) Ajax
16 13 (1.03%) jQuery
16 13 (1.03%) Laravel
Miscellaneous
1 81 (6.39%) Driving Licence
2 65 (5.13%) Self-Motivation
3 63 (4.97%) Management Information System
4 57 (4.50%) Onboarding
5 42 (3.31%) Cloud Native
6 36 (2.84%) Product Ownership
7 28 (2.21%) Distributed Systems
8 25 (1.97%) Analytical Mindset
9 17 (1.34%) Low-Code
9 17 (1.34%) Robotics
9 17 (1.34%) Social Media
10 16 (1.26%) NHS
11 14 (1.10%) EPoS
11 14 (1.10%) Legacy Systems
12 13 (1.03%) Security Posture
13 12 (0.95%) Client/Server
14 11 (0.87%) Enterprise Software
14 11 (0.87%) Video Editing
15 10 (0.79%) Virtual Team
16 9 (0.71%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 200 (15.77%) Windows
2 104 (8.20%) Linux
3 69 (5.44%) Windows Server
4 20 (1.58%) Mac OS
5 19 (1.50%) Android
5 19 (1.50%) CentOS
6 17 (1.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 17 (1.34%) Windows Server 2019
7 13 (1.03%) Ubuntu
8 10 (0.79%) Windows Server 2016
9 6 (0.47%) Apple iOS
9 6 (0.47%) VMS
10 5 (0.39%) Debian
10 5 (0.39%) Windows Server 2012
11 2 (0.16%) Gentoo
11 2 (0.16%) Unix
11 2 (0.16%) Windows 10
12 1 (0.079%) FreeBSD
12 1 (0.079%) OpenBSD
12 1 (0.079%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 251 (19.79%) Continuous Improvement
2 222 (17.51%) Customer Service
3 174 (13.72%) Agile
4 145 (11.44%) CI/CD
5 137 (10.80%) DevOps
6 134 (10.57%) Decision-Making
7 131 (10.33%) Software Engineering
8 115 (9.07%) Project Management
9 114 (8.99%) AI
10 111 (8.75%) Cybersecurity
11 109 (8.60%) Computer Science
12 104 (8.20%) Mentoring
13 100 (7.89%) Analytics
14 98 (7.73%) Project Delivery
15 95 (7.49%) Collaborative Working
16 92 (7.26%) Business Intelligence
17 89 (7.02%) ITIL
18 87 (6.86%) Stakeholder Management
19 80 (6.31%) CRM
20 79 (6.23%) Logistics
Programming Languages
1 204 (16.09%) Python
2 198 (15.62%) SQL
3 105 (8.28%) C#
4 86 (6.78%) JavaScript
5 77 (6.07%) PowerShell
6 53 (4.18%) Java
7 49 (3.86%) C++
8 37 (2.92%) TypeScript
9 30 (2.37%) C
10 29 (2.29%) Bash
11 26 (2.05%) PHP
12 19 (1.50%) PL/SQL
13 13 (1.03%) Rust
14 12 (0.95%) Ruby
15 11 (0.87%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 10 (0.79%) Perl
17 9 (0.71%) T-SQL
18 7 (0.55%) Apex Code
18 7 (0.55%) Bicep
19 6 (0.47%) Embedded C
Qualifications
1 250 (19.72%) Degree
2 84 (6.62%) Security Cleared
3 74 (5.84%) DBS Check
4 55 (4.34%) SC Cleared
5 53 (4.18%) Computer Science Degree
6 39 (3.08%) Microsoft Certification
7 38 (3.00%) BPSS Clearance
8 32 (2.52%) ACCA
9 31 (2.44%) CIMA
10 29 (2.29%) HNC
11 28 (2.21%) Chartered Engineer
12 20 (1.58%) A+ Certification
12 20 (1.58%) PMI Certification
13 17 (1.34%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 17 (1.34%) PMP
14 16 (1.26%) Azure Certification
15 14 (1.10%) CompTIA Security+
15 14 (1.10%) Master's Degree
15 14 (1.10%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
16 13 (1.03%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 103 (8.12%) QA
2 55 (4.34%) Data Quality
3 46 (3.63%) GDPR
4 37 (2.92%) SLA
5 26 (2.05%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 24 (1.89%) Accessibility
7 18 (1.42%) PCI DSS
8 13 (1.03%) NIST
8 13 (1.03%) PMO
9 12 (0.95%) Good Clinical Practice
10 11 (0.87%) Cyber Essentials
11 8 (0.63%) SOC 2
12 5 (0.39%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 5 (0.39%) ISO 9001
13 4 (0.32%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 4 (0.32%) Def Stans
13 4 (0.32%) GLP
13 4 (0.32%) GMP
13 4 (0.32%) GxP
13 4 (0.32%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 111 (8.75%) Active Directory
2 60 (4.73%) Docker
3 45 (3.55%) VMware Infrastructure
4 40 (3.15%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.79%) KVM
6 6 (0.47%) VMware ESXi
7 5 (0.39%) ClearTrust
7 5 (0.39%) XenApp
8 4 (0.32%) Firmware
8 4 (0.32%) Virtual Desktop
9 3 (0.24%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 3 (0.24%) Virtual Machines
10 2 (0.16%) VMware NSX
10 2 (0.16%) vSphere
11 1 (0.079%) Embedded Firmware
11 1 (0.079%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.079%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.079%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 67 (5.28%) Kubernetes
2 65 (5.13%) Terraform
3 36 (2.84%) Microsoft Intune
4 33 (2.60%) Ansible
5 18 (1.42%) SCCM
6 16 (1.26%) Grafana
7 13 (1.03%) Prometheus
8 12 (0.95%) Nagios
9 7 (0.55%) Podman
9 7 (0.55%) vCenter Server
9 7 (0.55%) ZABBIX
10 5 (0.39%) Docker Swarm
10 5 (0.39%) Failover Clustering
10 5 (0.39%) Graylog
11 4 (0.32%) Functional Safety
11 4 (0.32%) Jamf Pro
12 3 (0.24%) Puppet
13 2 (0.16%) Nessus
14 1 (0.079%) Netcool
14 1 (0.079%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 353 (27.84%) Microsoft
2 52 (4.10%) VMware
3 43 (3.39%) Oracle
4 40 (3.15%) Google
5 27 (2.13%) Databricks
6 26 (2.05%) Salesforce
7 25 (1.97%) Cisco
8 24 (1.89%) Veeam
9 18 (1.42%) Fortinet
9 18 (1.42%) Instagram
10 16 (1.26%) SAP
10 16 (1.26%) SonicWALL
10 16 (1.26%) Splunk
11 15 (1.18%) Red Hat
12 14 (1.10%) Adobe
13 13 (1.03%) Sage
14 12 (0.95%) Aruba
15 11 (0.87%) Dynatrace
15 11 (0.87%) SolarWinds
15 11 (0.87%) Wrike