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

6 months to
28 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 4 6
Rank change year-on-year -8 +2 +3
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,158 1,228 2,690
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 8.01% 17.41% 16.59%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.99% 19.38% 19.64%
Number of salaries quoted 873 678 1,744
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,000 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,750 £32,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £50,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +11.11% -14.29%
75th Percentile £62,500 £70,000 £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 10,534 6,335 13,695
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 72.86% 89.79% 84.44%
Number of salaries quoted 6,761 3,368 9,834
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,500 £27,500
25th Percentile £38,500 £37,500 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% +10.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £70,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £83,750 £77,750
England median annual salary £59,450 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -0.92% +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 28 April 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 28 April 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 -6 446 £47,500 -13.64% 172
Hampshire -6 243 £40,000 -20.00% 137
Berkshire -1 225 £45,000 -30.77% 77
Surrey -13 185 £40,000 -23.81% 67
Buckinghamshire -12 140 £52,500 +3.01% 54
Kent -16 117 £30,000 -7.69% 52
East Sussex -1 101 £59,000 +18.00% 13
Oxfordshire -10 81 £34,000 -22.37% 44
West Sussex -2 52 £57,500 +23.66% 23
Isle of Wight -4 7 £43,500 -20.91%
Middlesex +3 3 £47,500 -22.45% 15
Sussex -15 1 £30,000 +5.26% 5
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 31 (2.68%) SharePoint
2 30 (2.59%) Microsoft Exchange
3 15 (1.30%) CMS
4 10 (0.86%) IIS
5 6 (0.52%) Confluence
6 5 (0.43%) WordPress
7 4 (0.35%) OpenStack
8 3 (0.26%) Anypoint
8 3 (0.26%) Apache Airflow
8 3 (0.26%) govService
9 2 (0.17%) Apache
9 2 (0.17%) Gentran
9 2 (0.17%) SAS
10 1 (0.086%) ArcGIS
10 1 (0.086%) nginx
Applications
1 86 (7.43%) Microsoft Excel
2 82 (7.08%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (1.04%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (0.78%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.60%) Photoshop
5 7 (0.60%) Spreadsheet
6 6 (0.52%) Adobe Illustrator
7 4 (0.35%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 3 (0.26%) Microsoft Project
9 1 (0.086%) Acrobat
9 1 (0.086%) Adobe After Effects
9 1 (0.086%) Adobe Captivate
9 1 (0.086%) Adobe Premiere
9 1 (0.086%) AutoCAD
9 1 (0.086%) Elementor
Business Applications
1 12 (1.04%) NetSuite
2 10 (0.86%) Dynamics CRM
3 9 (0.78%) SAP CO
4 4 (0.35%) Dynamics NAV
4 4 (0.35%) Magento
5 3 (0.26%) Sage X3
5 3 (0.26%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.17%) Dynamics AX
6 2 (0.17%) IBM Planning Analytics
6 2 (0.17%) Infor SunSystems
6 2 (0.17%) Q-Pulse
6 2 (0.17%) Sage 200
6 2 (0.17%) SAP S/4HANA
7 1 (0.086%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.086%) HFM
7 1 (0.086%) PeopleSoft HRMS
7 1 (0.086%) Raiser’s Edge
7 1 (0.086%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 233 (20.12%) Azure
2 119 (10.28%) Microsoft 365
3 90 (7.77%) Power Platform
4 85 (7.34%) AWS
5 60 (5.18%) SaaS
6 49 (4.23%) Azure DevOps
7 32 (2.76%) GCP
8 30 (2.59%) IaaS
8 30 (2.59%) PaaS
9 28 (2.42%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 23 (1.99%) Entra ID
11 20 (1.73%) Dynamics 365
11 20 (1.73%) Google Workspace
12 19 (1.64%) Mimecast
13 17 (1.47%) Azure Data Factory
13 17 (1.47%) Azure Logic Apps
14 15 (1.30%) GitHub
14 15 (1.30%) OpenShift
15 14 (1.21%) Datadog
16 12 (1.04%) Asana
Communications & Networking
1 62 (5.35%) Firewall
2 59 (5.09%) DNS
3 31 (2.68%) DHCP
4 29 (2.50%) TCP/IP
5 24 (2.07%) VPN
6 22 (1.90%) Wireless
7 21 (1.81%) Broadband
8 18 (1.55%) WAN
9 16 (1.38%) LAN
10 14 (1.21%) VoIP
11 12 (1.04%) HTTP
12 11 (0.95%) Intranet
13 8 (0.69%) SAN
14 7 (0.60%) Remote Desktop
14 7 (0.60%) VLAN
15 6 (0.52%) PuTTY
15 6 (0.52%) SSH
15 6 (0.52%) Wi-Fi
16 4 (0.35%) SSL
17 3 (0.26%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 70 (6.04%) Power BI
2 55 (4.75%) SQL Server
3 29 (2.50%) Relational Database
4 25 (2.16%) Data Warehouse
5 15 (1.30%) OLTP
5 15 (1.30%) Power Query
6 13 (1.12%) NoSQL
6 13 (1.12%) PostgreSQL
6 13 (1.12%) Tableau
7 11 (0.95%) MySQL
8 8 (0.69%) Data Lake
9 7 (0.60%) Looker
9 7 (0.60%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 5 (0.43%) Big Data
10 5 (0.43%) Data Mining
10 5 (0.43%) Hadoop
10 5 (0.43%) Metadata
10 5 (0.43%) PowerPivot
10 5 (0.43%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 4 (0.35%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 48 (4.15%) Git
2 37 (3.20%) JIRA
3 26 (2.25%) GitLab
4 19 (1.64%) Rational DOORS
5 9 (0.78%) Selenium
6 6 (0.52%) Jenkins
7 4 (0.35%) Robot Framework
7 4 (0.35%) Visual Studio
8 3 (0.26%) Android Studio
8 3 (0.26%) Cypress.io
8 3 (0.26%) Postman
8 3 (0.26%) Snyk
9 2 (0.17%) Appium
9 2 (0.17%) JMeter
9 2 (0.17%) LabVIEW
9 2 (0.17%) REST Assured
10 1 (0.086%) Artifactory
10 1 (0.086%) Cucumber
10 1 (0.086%) SonarQube
10 1 (0.086%) Zephyr
General
1 541 (46.72%) Social Skills
2 339 (29.27%) Analytical Skills
3 187 (16.15%) Finance
4 71 (6.13%) Organisational Skills
5 66 (5.70%) Marketing
6 58 (5.01%) Manufacturing
7 54 (4.66%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 46 (3.97%) Retail
8 46 (3.97%) Telecoms
9 40 (3.45%) Electronics
10 33 (2.85%) Public Sector
11 28 (2.42%) Law
12 26 (2.25%) Legal
13 22 (1.90%) Documentation Skills
14 20 (1.73%) Aerospace
15 15 (1.30%) Presentation Skills
16 13 (1.12%) Automotive
16 13 (1.12%) Pharmaceutical
17 8 (0.69%) Influencing Skills
17 8 (0.69%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 170 (14.68%) Analyst
2 143 (12.35%) IT Support
3 136 (11.74%) Support Engineer
4 132 (11.40%) Senior
5 109 (9.41%) Developer
6 74 (6.39%) Support Analyst
7 69 (5.96%) IT Engineer
8 56 (4.84%) Technical Support
9 52 (4.49%) IT Support Engineer
10 48 (4.15%) Lead
11 47 (4.06%) 2nd Line Support
12 46 (3.97%) Systems Engineer
13 44 (3.80%) Architect
14 42 (3.63%) Technical Engineer
14 42 (3.63%) Technical Support Engineer
15 38 (3.28%) IT Technician
16 36 (3.11%) Support Technician
17 34 (2.94%) Software Engineer
18 33 (2.85%) IT Analyst
19 31 (2.68%) Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 54 (4.66%) .NET
2 48 (4.15%) HTML
3 42 (3.63%) SOAP
4 37 (3.20%) REST
5 28 (2.42%) XML
6 24 (2.07%) CSS
6 24 (2.07%) JSON
6 24 (2.07%) Middleware
7 22 (1.90%) React
8 15 (1.30%) OAuth
9 14 (1.21%) Laravel
9 14 (1.21%) RabbitMQ
10 12 (1.04%) ARM Templates
10 12 (1.04%) Lightning Web Components
11 11 (0.95%) Visualforce
12 9 (0.78%) ASP.NET
12 9 (0.78%) OLE
12 9 (0.78%) RESTful
12 9 (0.78%) SAP CO-PA
13 8 (0.69%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 79 (6.82%) Onboarding
2 62 (5.35%) Driving Licence
3 61 (5.27%) Self-Motivation
4 43 (3.71%) Management Information System
5 37 (3.20%) Product Ownership
6 30 (2.59%) Analytical Mindset
7 28 (2.42%) Distributed Systems
8 26 (2.25%) Cloud Native
9 19 (1.64%) Low-Code
10 18 (1.55%) Social Media
11 15 (1.30%) Legacy Systems
12 11 (0.95%) Enterprise Software
12 11 (0.95%) Video Editing
13 10 (0.86%) Algorithms
13 10 (0.86%) Life Science
13 10 (0.86%) Security Operations Centre
14 9 (0.78%) Client/Server
14 9 (0.78%) Hybrid Cloud
14 9 (0.78%) NHS
14 9 (0.78%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 167 (14.42%) Windows
2 91 (7.86%) Linux
3 55 (4.75%) Windows Server
4 21 (1.81%) Mac OS
5 20 (1.73%) Android
6 18 (1.55%) CentOS
7 16 (1.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 9 (0.78%) Ubuntu
8 9 (0.78%) VMS
9 8 (0.69%) Windows 10
10 7 (0.60%) Windows Server 2012
11 6 (0.52%) Apple iOS
11 6 (0.52%) Windows Server 2016
12 5 (0.43%) Windows Server 2019
13 3 (0.26%) Debian
13 3 (0.26%) Unix
14 1 (0.086%) Embedded Linux
14 1 (0.086%) FreeBSD
14 1 (0.086%) OpenBSD
14 1 (0.086%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 241 (20.81%) Continuous Improvement
2 205 (17.70%) Customer Service
3 155 (13.39%) Agile
4 135 (11.66%) DevOps
5 121 (10.45%) CI/CD
6 119 (10.28%) Analytics
7 108 (9.33%) Decision-Making
8 104 (8.98%) Business Intelligence
9 98 (8.46%) Computer Science
10 95 (8.20%) Project Management
11 86 (7.43%) CRM
12 80 (6.91%) Software Engineering
13 78 (6.74%) AI
13 78 (6.74%) Data Modelling
14 71 (6.13%) Mentoring
15 69 (5.96%) Cybersecurity
15 69 (5.96%) Project Delivery
16 67 (5.79%) Stakeholder Management
17 66 (5.70%) ERP
17 66 (5.70%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 195 (16.84%) Python
2 180 (15.54%) SQL
3 71 (6.13%) PowerShell
4 68 (5.87%) JavaScript
5 67 (5.79%) C#
6 52 (4.49%) Java
7 28 (2.42%) PHP
8 24 (2.07%) C++
9 23 (1.99%) C
10 22 (1.90%) Bash
10 22 (1.90%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 18 (1.55%) PL/SQL
12 13 (1.12%) TypeScript
13 12 (1.04%) Apex Code
13 12 (1.04%) Perl
14 11 (0.95%) Bicep
15 9 (0.78%) Rust
16 8 (0.69%) Kusto Query Language
17 7 (0.60%) R
17 7 (0.60%) Scala
Qualifications
1 228 (19.69%) Degree
2 72 (6.22%) Security Cleared
3 48 (4.15%) DBS Check
4 47 (4.06%) Computer Science Degree
5 46 (3.97%) ACCA
6 40 (3.45%) CIMA
7 39 (3.37%) SC Cleared
8 36 (3.11%) Microsoft Certification
9 33 (2.85%) BPSS Clearance
10 24 (2.07%) A+ Certification
11 23 (1.99%) HNC
12 21 (1.81%) Chartered Engineer
13 19 (1.64%) DV Cleared
13 19 (1.64%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 13 (1.12%) Master's Degree
15 12 (1.04%) PMI Certification
16 10 (0.86%) HND
16 10 (0.86%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
17 9 (0.78%) PMP
18 8 (0.69%) City & Guilds
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 69 (5.96%) Data Quality
2 67 (5.79%) QA
3 44 (3.80%) GDPR
4 31 (2.68%) SLA
5 23 (1.99%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 15 (1.30%) PCI DSS
7 13 (1.12%) Accessibility
8 12 (1.04%) NIST
9 6 (0.52%) ISO 9001
9 6 (0.52%) SOC 2
10 5 (0.43%) Actionable Recommendations
11 4 (0.35%) ISO 26262
11 4 (0.35%) ITGC
12 2 (0.17%) GRC
12 2 (0.17%) IFRS
13 1 (0.086%) Cyber Essentials
13 1 (0.086%) PMO
System Software
1 110 (9.50%) Active Directory
2 47 (4.06%) Docker
3 32 (2.76%) VMware Infrastructure
4 26 (2.25%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.86%) KVM
6 5 (0.43%) Virtual Desktop
6 5 (0.43%) XenApp
7 4 (0.35%) Firmware
7 4 (0.35%) VMware ESXi
8 3 (0.26%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 2 (0.17%) vSphere
10 1 (0.086%) Oracle RAC
10 1 (0.086%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.086%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 53 (4.58%) Terraform
2 47 (4.06%) Kubernetes
3 28 (2.42%) Ansible
4 22 (1.90%) Microsoft Intune
5 14 (1.21%) Grafana
5 14 (1.21%) SCCM
6 11 (0.95%) Prometheus
7 8 (0.69%) Nagios
8 7 (0.60%) ZABBIX
9 6 (0.52%) vCenter Server
10 4 (0.35%) Functional Safety
10 4 (0.35%) Puppet
11 3 (0.26%) Graylog
11 3 (0.26%) Nessus
12 2 (0.17%) Kibana
13 1 (0.086%) FortiGate
13 1 (0.086%) Netcool
13 1 (0.086%) Netcool/OMNIbus
13 1 (0.086%) Oracle RMAN
13 1 (0.086%) Packer
Vendors
1 312 (26.94%) Microsoft
2 41 (3.54%) Databricks
3 36 (3.11%) Oracle
3 36 (3.11%) VMware
4 34 (2.94%) Google
5 31 (2.68%) Salesforce
6 28 (2.42%) Veeam
7 26 (2.25%) Adobe
7 26 (2.25%) SAP
8 16 (1.38%) HubSpot
8 16 (1.38%) Red Hat
8 16 (1.38%) Sage
9 13 (1.12%) Dynatrace
9 13 (1.12%) Splunk
10 12 (1.04%) ServiceNow
11 11 (0.95%) Hootsuite
11 11 (0.95%) Instagram
11 11 (0.95%) Wrike
12 10 (0.86%) MuleSoft
12 10 (0.86%) SolarWinds