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

6 months to
24 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -4 +1 +7
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,584 1,719 2,083
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 9.10% 19.15% 15.00%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.75% 21.80% 18.60%
Number of salaries quoted 1,160 873 1,171
10th Percentile £27,000 £27,000 £27,750
25th Percentile £31,000 £32,250 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £42,500 £48,000
Median % change year-on-year - -11.46% -7.59%
75th Percentile £58,750 £60,000 £63,750
90th Percentile £72,500 £78,750 £80,000
England median annual salary £47,500 £45,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +5.56% -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 12,422 7,887 11,201
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.36% 87.86% 80.68%
Number of salaries quoted 8,907 4,241 7,080
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,750 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £33,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £67,500
90th Percentile £87,200 £81,250 £82,500
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £56,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% -1.79% -10.40%

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 24 August 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 24 August 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 -6 579 £43,250 +1.76% 272
Hampshire -2 420 £41,500 -7.78% 169
Berkshire -3 260 £45,000 +5.88% 111
Surrey -1 249 £41,585 +3.96% 98
Buckinghamshire -8 176 £42,500 +13.33% 93
Kent -5 157 £37,500 +15.38% 72
Oxfordshire +1 143 £44,000 +1.15% 69
East Sussex -4 94 £50,000 - 39
West Sussex -7 68 £50,000 -0.99% 42
Middlesex +1 10 £36,750 -2.00% 18
Isle of Wight -11 2 £42,500 -3.41% 4
Sussex -12 2 - - 17
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 59 (3.72%) SharePoint
2 45 (2.84%) Microsoft Exchange
3 18 (1.14%) Confluence
4 16 (1.01%) CMS
5 13 (0.82%) IIS
6 7 (0.44%) OpenEdge
7 6 (0.38%) Apache
7 6 (0.38%) WordPress
8 5 (0.32%) nginx
9 3 (0.19%) Anypoint
9 3 (0.19%) OpenStack
9 3 (0.19%) SAS
10 2 (0.13%) Gentran
10 2 (0.13%) Oracle Workflow
10 2 (0.13%) Tomcat
Applications
1 104 (6.57%) Microsoft Excel
2 96 (6.06%) Microsoft Office
3 14 (0.88%) Microsoft Project
4 12 (0.76%) Spreadsheet
5 10 (0.63%) AutoCAD
6 7 (0.44%) MS Visio
7 6 (0.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 6 (0.38%) Revit
8 5 (0.32%) Lightworks
9 4 (0.25%) Simulink
10 3 (0.19%) EPLAN
10 3 (0.19%) Photoshop
11 2 (0.13%) Adobe Illustrator
11 2 (0.13%) Chatbot
12 1 (0.063%) Mathcad
12 1 (0.063%) OrCAD
12 1 (0.063%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 17 (1.07%) NetSuite
2 14 (0.88%) Shopify
3 12 (0.76%) Dynamics CRM
4 7 (0.44%) Magento
5 6 (0.38%) Primavera
5 6 (0.38%) Raiser’s Edge
6 3 (0.19%) Infor SunSystems
6 3 (0.19%) Payment Gateway
6 3 (0.19%) Sage X3
6 3 (0.19%) Salesforce CRM
7 2 (0.13%) Academy Housing
7 2 (0.13%) Oracle Applications
7 2 (0.13%) Siebel CRM
7 2 (0.13%) Workday HCM
8 1 (0.063%) Elite 3E
8 1 (0.063%) HFM
8 1 (0.063%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 371 (23.42%) Azure
2 190 (11.99%) Microsoft 365
3 170 (10.73%) AWS
4 89 (5.62%) Power Platform
5 66 (4.17%) Entra ID
6 65 (4.10%) SaaS
7 49 (3.09%) GCP
8 44 (2.78%) Azure DevOps
9 36 (2.27%) GitHub
10 31 (1.96%) Serverless
11 24 (1.52%) Google Workspace
12 20 (1.26%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 19 (1.20%) IaaS
13 19 (1.20%) PaaS
14 17 (1.07%) Azure Data Factory
15 16 (1.01%) Anthropic Claude
15 16 (1.01%) Dynamics 365
15 16 (1.01%) Google Tag Manager
16 15 (0.95%) Datadog
17 14 (0.88%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 137 (8.65%) Firewall
2 73 (4.61%) DNS
3 59 (3.72%) TCP/IP
3 59 (3.72%) VPN
4 51 (3.22%) DHCP
5 49 (3.09%) WAN
6 47 (2.97%) LAN
7 45 (2.84%) Wi-Fi
7 45 (2.84%) Wireless
8 40 (2.53%) VLAN
9 32 (2.02%) Network Security
9 32 (2.02%) VoIP
10 17 (1.07%) SSL
11 14 (0.88%) Internet
12 10 (0.63%) Broadband
12 10 (0.63%) HTTP
12 10 (0.63%) MQTT
13 9 (0.57%) LTE
14 6 (0.38%) WLAN
15 5 (0.32%) VSAT
Database & Business Intelligence
1 122 (7.70%) SQL Server
2 75 (4.73%) Power BI
3 35 (2.21%) Relational Database
4 30 (1.89%) MySQL
5 29 (1.83%) PostgreSQL
6 24 (1.52%) NoSQL
7 19 (1.20%) Data Warehouse
8 14 (0.88%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 12 (0.76%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 11 (0.69%) Amazon RDS
10 11 (0.69%) Tableau
11 10 (0.63%) Data Lake
12 9 (0.57%) MongoDB
12 9 (0.57%) OLTP
13 7 (0.44%) Azure SQL Database
13 7 (0.44%) DynamoDB
13 7 (0.44%) GIS
13 7 (0.44%) Looker
14 6 (0.38%) Metadata
14 6 (0.38%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 73 (4.61%) Git
2 59 (3.72%) JIRA
3 23 (1.45%) GitLab
4 18 (1.14%) Rational DOORS
5 11 (0.69%) Claude Code
6 8 (0.51%) Oracle Forms
6 8 (0.51%) Team Foundation Server
7 6 (0.38%) Selenium
8 5 (0.32%) Eclipse
8 5 (0.32%) Eclipse RCP
8 5 (0.32%) Jenkins
8 5 (0.32%) Postman
8 5 (0.32%) Visual Studio
9 4 (0.25%) PHPUnit
9 4 (0.25%) Terragrunt
10 3 (0.19%) PetaLinux
10 3 (0.19%) SpecFlow
11 2 (0.13%) Android Studio
11 2 (0.13%) Subversion
11 2 (0.13%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 781 (49.31%) Social Skills
2 455 (28.72%) Analytical Skills
3 238 (15.03%) Finance
4 128 (8.08%) Manufacturing
5 118 (7.45%) Organisational Skills
6 96 (6.06%) Aerospace
7 90 (5.68%) Electronics
8 73 (4.61%) Retail
9 60 (3.79%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 49 (3.09%) Telecoms
11 44 (2.78%) Marketing
12 42 (2.65%) Influencing Skills
12 42 (2.65%) Legal
13 39 (2.46%) Military
14 38 (2.40%) Law
15 36 (2.27%) Public Sector
16 26 (1.64%) Documentation Skills
17 22 (1.39%) Aviation
18 21 (1.33%) Local Government
19 16 (1.01%) Banking
Job Titles
1 222 (14.02%) Analyst
2 168 (10.61%) Senior
3 158 (9.97%) Developer
4 151 (9.53%) IT Support
5 116 (7.32%) Support Engineer
6 108 (6.82%) Support Analyst
7 86 (5.43%) IT Engineer
8 72 (4.55%) Lead
9 71 (4.48%) Systems Engineer
10 69 (4.36%) Software Engineer
10 69 (4.36%) Support Technician
10 69 (4.36%) Technical Support
11 55 (3.47%) IT Support Engineer
12 52 (3.28%) 2nd Line Support
12 52 (3.28%) Architect
13 49 (3.09%) IT Technician
14 48 (3.03%) Technical Engineer
14 48 (3.03%) Technical Support Engineer
15 45 (2.84%) Consultant
16 41 (2.59%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 113 (7.13%) .NET
2 83 (5.24%) Terraform
3 74 (4.67%) HTML
4 62 (3.91%) REST
5 54 (3.41%) CSS
6 52 (3.28%) React
7 50 (3.16%) ASP.NET
7 50 (3.16%) SOAP
8 35 (2.21%) ASP.NET Core
9 34 (2.15%) OAuth
10 30 (1.89%) AngularJS
11 29 (1.83%) JSON
11 29 (1.83%) RESTful
12 28 (1.77%) Vue
13 27 (1.70%) XML
14 24 (1.52%) ModSecurity
15 19 (1.20%) ASP.NET Web API
15 19 (1.20%) jQuery
15 19 (1.20%) SAML
16 18 (1.14%) LESS
Miscellaneous
1 116 (7.32%) Driving Licence
2 102 (6.44%) Onboarding
3 80 (5.05%) Management Information System
4 76 (4.80%) Self-Motivation
5 65 (4.10%) Cloud Native
6 45 (2.84%) Product Ownership
7 35 (2.21%) Data Centre
8 31 (1.96%) Social Media
9 29 (1.83%) Distributed Systems
10 28 (1.77%) Enterprise Software
11 27 (1.70%) Analytical Mindset
11 27 (1.70%) Robotics
12 26 (1.64%) Legacy Systems
13 20 (1.26%) Analogue Electronics
14 18 (1.14%) CCTV
14 18 (1.14%) EPoS
15 17 (1.07%) Mobile App
16 16 (1.01%) NHS
17 15 (0.95%) Renewable Energy
18 14 (0.88%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 254 (16.04%) Windows
2 111 (7.01%) Linux
3 90 (5.68%) Windows Server
4 24 (1.52%) Android
5 18 (1.14%) Windows Server 2019
6 15 (0.95%) Apple iOS
6 15 (0.95%) Mac OS
7 13 (0.82%) Windows 10
8 12 (0.76%) CentOS
8 12 (0.76%) Ubuntu
9 11 (0.69%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 10 (0.63%) Windows Server 2016
11 9 (0.57%) Debian
12 4 (0.25%) Rocky
12 4 (0.25%) Windows Server 2012
13 3 (0.19%) FreeRTOS
13 3 (0.19%) Gentoo
13 3 (0.19%) Unix
13 3 (0.19%) VMS
13 3 (0.19%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 341 (21.53%) Continuous Improvement
2 282 (17.80%) Customer Service
3 217 (13.70%) Agile
4 196 (12.37%) Decision-Making
5 167 (10.54%) CI/CD
6 166 (10.48%) AI
7 163 (10.29%) Project Management
8 162 (10.23%) Software Engineering
9 156 (9.85%) Project Delivery
10 154 (9.72%) Stakeholder Management
11 153 (9.66%) DevOps
12 149 (9.41%) ITIL
13 134 (8.46%) Mentoring
14 132 (8.33%) Cybersecurity
14 132 (8.33%) Validation
15 125 (7.89%) Collaborative Working
16 119 (7.51%) Computer Science
17 118 (7.45%) Analytics
18 110 (6.94%) Logistics
19 106 (6.69%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 224 (14.14%) SQL
2 209 (13.19%) Python
3 128 (8.08%) C#
4 107 (6.76%) JavaScript
5 93 (5.87%) PowerShell
6 60 (3.79%) TypeScript
7 59 (3.72%) C++
8 58 (3.66%) Java
9 31 (1.96%) Bash
10 30 (1.89%) C
11 21 (1.33%) PHP
12 19 (1.20%) T-SQL
13 17 (1.07%) Ruby
14 13 (0.82%) VB.NET
15 11 (0.69%) PL/SQL
15 11 (0.69%) Rust
16 10 (0.63%) Perl
17 8 (0.51%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 8 (0.51%) MATLAB
18 7 (0.44%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 314 (19.82%) Degree
2 168 (10.61%) Security Cleared
3 121 (7.64%) SC Cleared
4 104 (6.57%) DBS Check
5 64 (4.04%) Computer Science Degree
6 57 (3.60%) DV Cleared
7 56 (3.54%) BPSS Clearance
8 54 (3.41%) Microsoft Certification
9 47 (2.97%) Azure Certification
10 45 (2.84%) HNC
11 37 (2.34%) HND
12 32 (2.02%) PMI Certification
13 30 (1.89%) CISSP
14 26 (1.64%) Chartered Engineer
14 26 (1.64%) PMP
15 25 (1.58%) CISM
15 25 (1.58%) Master's Degree
16 21 (1.33%) A+ Certification
16 21 (1.33%) CompTIA Security+
17 20 (1.26%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 136 (8.59%) QA
2 58 (3.66%) GDPR
3 55 (3.47%) Data Quality
4 43 (2.71%) SLA
5 34 (2.15%) Accessibility
6 32 (2.02%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 20 (1.26%) NIST
8 18 (1.14%) Cyber Essentials
8 18 (1.14%) Good Clinical Practice
8 18 (1.14%) PCI DSS
9 14 (0.88%) PMO
10 12 (0.76%) DO-254
11 11 (0.69%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 9 (0.57%) GMP
12 9 (0.57%) SOC 2
13 8 (0.51%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 8 (0.51%) GLP
13 8 (0.51%) GxP
14 7 (0.44%) ISO 9001
15 4 (0.25%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 134 (8.46%) Active Directory
2 75 (4.73%) VMware Infrastructure
3 69 (4.36%) Docker
4 57 (3.60%) Hyper-V
5 11 (0.69%) Firmware
6 9 (0.57%) VMware ESXi
6 9 (0.57%) vSphere
7 6 (0.38%) KVM
7 6 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (0.32%) ClearTrust
8 5 (0.32%) Squid
9 4 (0.25%) Virtual Desktop
10 3 (0.19%) Embedded Firmware
10 3 (0.19%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 3 (0.19%) XenApp
11 1 (0.063%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.063%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.063%) Virtual Servers
11 1 (0.063%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 78 (4.92%) Kubernetes
2 50 (3.16%) Microsoft Intune
3 36 (2.27%) Ansible
4 24 (1.52%) SCCM
5 16 (1.01%) Single Sign-On
6 12 (0.76%) Grafana
6 12 (0.76%) Jamf Pro
7 9 (0.57%) Prometheus
8 8 (0.51%) Nagios
8 8 (0.51%) Podman
9 7 (0.44%) Failover Clustering
9 7 (0.44%) Puppet
10 6 (0.38%) Graylog
11 4 (0.25%) Docker Swarm
11 4 (0.25%) Functional Safety
11 4 (0.25%) vCenter Server
11 4 (0.25%) ZABBIX
12 3 (0.19%) BMC PATROL
13 2 (0.13%) Nessus
13 2 (0.13%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 473 (29.86%) Microsoft
2 86 (5.43%) VMware
3 69 (4.36%) Google
4 53 (3.35%) Oracle
5 38 (2.40%) Cisco
6 36 (2.27%) SAP
7 35 (2.21%) Fortinet
7 35 (2.21%) SonicWALL
8 32 (2.02%) Veeam
9 31 (1.96%) ServiceNow
10 24 (1.52%) Salesforce
11 21 (1.33%) Sage
12 17 (1.07%) Databricks
13 16 (1.01%) Aruba
13 16 (1.01%) Palo Alto
14 12 (0.76%) Apple
14 12 (0.76%) ForgeRock
14 12 (0.76%) Mentor Graphics
14 12 (0.76%) Okta
14 12 (0.76%) Splunk