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

6 months to
8 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -9 +1 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,130 1,330 2,786
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 7.75% 17.39% 17.02%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.64% 19.20% 20.19%
Number of salaries quoted 849 682 1,757
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,250 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,500 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £46,000 £50,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.00% +11.11% -14.29%
75th Percentile £62,500 £67,500 £62,500
90th Percentile £80,000 £83,750 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.52% +5.00% -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 10,620 6,927 13,797
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 72.86% 90.55% 84.27%
Number of salaries quoted 6,882 3,394 9,837
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £27,500
25th Percentile £39,070 £36,250 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year - +10.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £68,750 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £83,750 £77,500
England median annual salary £60,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year - +9.09% -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 8 May 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 8 May 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 -9 433 £47,500 -9.52% 218
Hampshire -8 243 £40,000 -18.37% 158
Berkshire -5 217 £47,500 -20.83% 95
Surrey -11 179 £40,000 -21.95% 79
Buckinghamshire -14 133 £50,000 -1.90% 73
Kent -12 117 £29,000 -6.45% 61
East Sussex -4 96 £70,750 +52.15% 12
Oxfordshire -3 83 £34,000 -32.00% 53
West Sussex -4 52 £57,500 +23.66% 21
Isle of Wight -9 4 £42,000 -23.64%
Middlesex -1 2 £35,000 -44.00% 13
Sussex -16 1 £30,000 +5.26% 4
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 30 (2.65%) SharePoint
2 28 (2.48%) Microsoft Exchange
3 16 (1.42%) CMS
4 10 (0.88%) IIS
5 7 (0.62%) Confluence
6 5 (0.44%) WordPress
7 4 (0.35%) OpenStack
8 3 (0.27%) Anypoint
8 3 (0.27%) Apache
8 3 (0.27%) Apache Airflow
8 3 (0.27%) govService
9 2 (0.18%) Gentran
9 2 (0.18%) OpenEdge
9 2 (0.18%) SAS
10 1 (0.088%) ArcGIS
10 1 (0.088%) nginx
10 1 (0.088%) Tomcat
Applications
1 87 (7.70%) Microsoft Excel
2 74 (6.55%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (0.97%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (0.80%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.62%) Spreadsheet
6 6 (0.53%) Photoshop
7 5 (0.44%) Adobe Illustrator
8 3 (0.27%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 3 (0.27%) Microsoft Project
9 1 (0.088%) Acrobat
9 1 (0.088%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 12 (1.06%) NetSuite
2 10 (0.88%) Dynamics CRM
3 9 (0.80%) SAP CO
4 4 (0.35%) Dynamics NAV
4 4 (0.35%) Magento
5 3 (0.27%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.18%) Dynamics AX
6 2 (0.18%) IBM Planning Analytics
6 2 (0.18%) Infor SunSystems
6 2 (0.18%) Q-Pulse
6 2 (0.18%) Sage 200
7 1 (0.088%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.088%) HFM
7 1 (0.088%) PeopleSoft HRMS
7 1 (0.088%) Raiser’s Edge
7 1 (0.088%) Sage X3
7 1 (0.088%) SAP GRC
7 1 (0.088%) SAP S/4HANA
7 1 (0.088%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 241 (21.33%) Azure
2 115 (10.18%) Microsoft 365
3 93 (8.23%) AWS
4 85 (7.52%) Power Platform
5 55 (4.87%) SaaS
6 50 (4.42%) Azure DevOps
7 34 (3.01%) GCP
8 30 (2.65%) IaaS
8 30 (2.65%) PaaS
9 27 (2.39%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 19 (1.68%) Dynamics 365
10 19 (1.68%) Google Workspace
11 18 (1.59%) Entra ID
11 18 (1.59%) Mimecast
12 17 (1.50%) Azure Data Factory
12 17 (1.50%) Azure Logic Apps
13 15 (1.33%) Datadog
13 15 (1.33%) OpenShift
14 14 (1.24%) GitHub
15 12 (1.06%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 61 (5.40%) Firewall
2 54 (4.78%) DNS
3 29 (2.57%) DHCP
4 26 (2.30%) TCP/IP
5 23 (2.04%) VPN
6 21 (1.86%) Broadband
7 20 (1.77%) Wireless
8 18 (1.59%) WAN
9 16 (1.42%) LAN
10 13 (1.15%) VoIP
11 10 (0.88%) HTTP
12 8 (0.71%) Intranet
12 8 (0.71%) SAN
13 7 (0.62%) Remote Desktop
14 6 (0.53%) PuTTY
14 6 (0.53%) SSH
14 6 (0.53%) Wi-Fi
15 5 (0.44%) VLAN
16 4 (0.35%) SSL
17 3 (0.27%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 66 (5.84%) Power BI
2 61 (5.40%) SQL Server
3 24 (2.12%) Data Warehouse
3 24 (2.12%) Relational Database
4 18 (1.59%) PostgreSQL
5 17 (1.50%) OLTP
6 13 (1.15%) NoSQL
6 13 (1.15%) Power Query
6 13 (1.15%) Tableau
7 12 (1.06%) MySQL
8 8 (0.71%) Data Lake
8 8 (0.71%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 7 (0.62%) Looker
10 6 (0.53%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 5 (0.44%) Big Data
11 5 (0.44%) Data Mining
11 5 (0.44%) Hadoop
12 3 (0.27%) Azure SQL Database
12 3 (0.27%) Metadata
12 3 (0.27%) PowerPivot
Development Applications
1 51 (4.51%) Git
2 37 (3.27%) JIRA
3 28 (2.48%) GitLab
4 19 (1.68%) Rational DOORS
5 8 (0.71%) Selenium
6 6 (0.53%) Jenkins
7 4 (0.35%) Visual Studio
8 3 (0.27%) Android Studio
8 3 (0.27%) Cypress.io
8 3 (0.27%) Postman
8 3 (0.27%) Robot Framework
9 2 (0.18%) Appium
9 2 (0.18%) JMeter
9 2 (0.18%) LabVIEW
9 2 (0.18%) REST Assured
9 2 (0.18%) Snyk
10 1 (0.088%) Cucumber
10 1 (0.088%) JUnit
10 1 (0.088%) PHPUnit
10 1 (0.088%) WebDriver
General
1 525 (46.46%) Social Skills
2 330 (29.20%) Analytical Skills
3 187 (16.55%) Finance
4 67 (5.93%) Organisational Skills
5 61 (5.40%) Marketing
6 58 (5.13%) Manufacturing
7 54 (4.78%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 47 (4.16%) Telecoms
9 44 (3.89%) Retail
10 41 (3.63%) Electronics
11 29 (2.57%) Public Sector
12 26 (2.30%) Legal
13 25 (2.21%) Law
14 21 (1.86%) Aerospace
15 20 (1.77%) Documentation Skills
16 15 (1.33%) Presentation Skills
17 14 (1.24%) Pharmaceutical
18 13 (1.15%) Automotive
19 9 (0.80%) Influencing Skills
19 9 (0.80%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 164 (14.51%) Analyst
2 131 (11.59%) IT Support
3 130 (11.50%) Senior
4 118 (10.44%) Support Engineer
5 111 (9.82%) Developer
6 71 (6.28%) Support Analyst
7 64 (5.66%) IT Engineer
8 52 (4.60%) Technical Support
9 49 (4.34%) Systems Engineer
10 46 (4.07%) Lead
11 45 (3.98%) IT Support Engineer
12 44 (3.89%) 2nd Line Support
13 42 (3.72%) Architect
14 39 (3.45%) Technical Engineer
14 39 (3.45%) Technical Support Engineer
15 36 (3.19%) IT Technician
15 36 (3.19%) Software Engineer
15 36 (3.19%) Support Technician
16 33 (2.92%) Infrastructure Engineer
17 31 (2.74%) IT Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 56 (4.96%) .NET
2 51 (4.51%) HTML
3 45 (3.98%) SOAP
4 37 (3.27%) REST
5 31 (2.74%) XML
6 28 (2.48%) CSS
7 27 (2.39%) JSON
8 25 (2.21%) Middleware
9 20 (1.77%) React
10 16 (1.42%) OAuth
11 15 (1.33%) RabbitMQ
12 14 (1.24%) Laravel
13 12 (1.06%) ARM Templates
13 12 (1.06%) CSS3
13 12 (1.06%) HTML5
14 11 (0.97%) jQuery
14 11 (0.97%) RESTful
15 10 (0.88%) Ajax
15 10 (0.88%) Sass
15 10 (0.88%) Visualforce
Miscellaneous
1 65 (5.75%) Onboarding
2 62 (5.49%) Self-Motivation
3 60 (5.31%) Driving Licence
4 44 (3.89%) Management Information System
5 38 (3.36%) Product Ownership
6 31 (2.74%) Distributed Systems
7 30 (2.65%) Cloud Native
8 27 (2.39%) Analytical Mindset
9 19 (1.68%) Low-Code
10 18 (1.59%) Social Media
11 15 (1.33%) Legacy Systems
12 12 (1.06%) Life Science
13 11 (0.97%) NHS
13 11 (0.97%) Video Editing
14 10 (0.88%) Algorithms
14 10 (0.88%) Client/Server
14 10 (0.88%) Enterprise Software
14 10 (0.88%) Hybrid Cloud
15 8 (0.71%) Data Centre
15 8 (0.71%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 159 (14.07%) Windows
2 91 (8.05%) Linux
3 52 (4.60%) Windows Server
4 19 (1.68%) Android
4 19 (1.68%) Mac OS
5 17 (1.50%) CentOS
6 15 (1.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 10 (0.88%) Ubuntu
8 9 (0.80%) VMS
9 7 (0.62%) Windows Server 2012
9 7 (0.62%) Windows Server 2016
9 7 (0.62%) Windows Server 2019
10 6 (0.53%) Apple iOS
11 3 (0.27%) Debian
11 3 (0.27%) Unix
11 3 (0.27%) Windows 10
12 1 (0.088%) Embedded Linux
12 1 (0.088%) FreeBSD
12 1 (0.088%) OpenBSD
12 1 (0.088%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 237 (20.97%) Continuous Improvement
2 195 (17.26%) Customer Service
3 163 (14.42%) Agile
4 137 (12.12%) DevOps
5 128 (11.33%) CI/CD
6 117 (10.35%) Analytics
7 112 (9.91%) Decision-Making
8 106 (9.38%) Computer Science
9 100 (8.85%) Business Intelligence
10 93 (8.23%) Project Management
11 89 (7.88%) Software Engineering
12 86 (7.61%) AI
13 83 (7.35%) CRM
14 80 (7.08%) Data Modelling
15 73 (6.46%) Project Delivery
16 70 (6.19%) Mentoring
16 70 (6.19%) Stakeholder Management
17 69 (6.11%) Cybersecurity
17 69 (6.11%) ERP
18 68 (6.02%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 191 (16.90%) Python
2 177 (15.66%) SQL
3 70 (6.19%) C#
3 70 (6.19%) JavaScript
4 64 (5.66%) PowerShell
5 51 (4.51%) Java
6 28 (2.48%) PHP
7 26 (2.30%) C++
8 24 (2.12%) Bash
9 23 (2.04%) C
10 20 (1.77%) PL/SQL
11 18 (1.59%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 15 (1.33%) TypeScript
13 11 (0.97%) Perl
14 10 (0.88%) Apex Code
14 10 (0.88%) Bicep
15 9 (0.80%) Rust
16 7 (0.62%) R
16 7 (0.62%) Ruby
16 7 (0.62%) Scala
Qualifications
1 232 (20.53%) Degree
2 74 (6.55%) Security Cleared
3 52 (4.60%) Computer Science Degree
4 51 (4.51%) DBS Check
5 43 (3.81%) SC Cleared
6 41 (3.63%) ACCA
7 38 (3.36%) Microsoft Certification
8 37 (3.27%) CIMA
9 33 (2.92%) BPSS Clearance
10 26 (2.30%) A+ Certification
11 25 (2.21%) HNC
12 21 (1.86%) Chartered Engineer
13 18 (1.59%) DV Cleared
13 18 (1.59%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 14 (1.24%) Master's Degree
15 13 (1.15%) PMI Certification
16 11 (0.97%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
17 10 (0.88%) HND
17 10 (0.88%) PMP
18 8 (0.71%) City & Guilds
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 72 (6.37%) QA
2 65 (5.75%) Data Quality
3 44 (3.89%) GDPR
4 32 (2.83%) SLA
5 20 (1.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 15 (1.33%) PCI DSS
7 13 (1.15%) Accessibility
8 10 (0.88%) NIST
9 8 (0.71%) SOC 2
10 6 (0.53%) ISO 9001
11 5 (0.44%) Actionable Recommendations
12 4 (0.35%) ISO 26262
12 4 (0.35%) ITGC
13 2 (0.18%) GRC
13 2 (0.18%) IFRS
14 1 (0.088%) Cyber Essentials
14 1 (0.088%) Def Stans
14 1 (0.088%) PMO
System Software
1 97 (8.58%) Active Directory
2 51 (4.51%) Docker
3 32 (2.83%) VMware Infrastructure
4 24 (2.12%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.88%) KVM
6 5 (0.44%) XenApp
7 4 (0.35%) Firmware
7 4 (0.35%) Virtual Desktop
7 4 (0.35%) VMware ESXi
8 3 (0.27%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 3 (0.27%) Virtual Machines
9 2 (0.18%) vSphere
10 1 (0.088%) Oracle RAC
10 1 (0.088%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 56 (4.96%) Terraform
2 54 (4.78%) Kubernetes
3 30 (2.65%) Ansible
4 20 (1.77%) Microsoft Intune
5 16 (1.42%) Grafana
6 15 (1.33%) SCCM
7 13 (1.15%) Prometheus
8 9 (0.80%) Nagios
9 7 (0.62%) ZABBIX
10 6 (0.53%) vCenter Server
11 4 (0.35%) Functional Safety
11 4 (0.35%) Puppet
12 3 (0.27%) Graylog
12 3 (0.27%) Nessus
13 2 (0.18%) Docker Swarm
13 2 (0.18%) Podman
14 1 (0.088%) Autotask
14 1 (0.088%) CASB
14 1 (0.088%) Dell DRAC
14 1 (0.088%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 301 (26.64%) Microsoft
2 40 (3.54%) Oracle
3 39 (3.45%) Databricks
4 36 (3.19%) VMware
5 34 (3.01%) Google
6 29 (2.57%) Salesforce
7 25 (2.21%) Veeam
8 24 (2.12%) Adobe
9 22 (1.95%) SAP
10 16 (1.42%) Red Hat
11 13 (1.15%) Instagram
11 13 (1.15%) Sage
11 13 (1.15%) Splunk
12 12 (1.06%) Dynatrace
13 11 (0.97%) Hootsuite
13 11 (0.97%) HubSpot
13 11 (0.97%) Wrike
14 10 (0.88%) ServiceNow
14 10 (0.88%) SolarWinds
15 9 (0.80%) MuleSoft