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

6 months to
13 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -7 +1 +4
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,190 1,235 2,730
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 8.60% 18.24% 17.42%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.71% 20.26% 20.58%
Number of salaries quoted 908 672 1,711
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,250 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,375 £33,938 £31,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £50,967 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -11.71% +13.26% -13.46%
75th Percentile £62,500 £70,000 £62,250
90th Percentile £80,000 £83,750 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -13.64% +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 10,158 6,097 13,266
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 73.43% 90.03% 84.63%
Number of salaries quoted 6,529 3,277 9,747
10th Percentile £29,750 £29,000 £27,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £40,000 £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 £68,750 £70,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £83,750 £78,268
England median annual salary £57,500 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -4.17% +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 13 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 13 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 -5 446 £47,500 -15.94% 215
Hampshire -5 247 £40,000 -20.00% 131
Berkshire -1 222 £45,000 -30.77% 98
Surrey -13 193 £40,000 -23.96% 78
Buckinghamshire -9 147 £52,500 +3.01% 61
Kent -13 121 £30,000 -10.45% 42
East Sussex 0 97 £80,000 +60.00% 27
Oxfordshire -12 77 £34,000 -20.00% 57
West Sussex -1 61 £57,500 +31.43% 40
Isle of Wight +3 11 £43,500 -20.91%
Middlesex -1 10 £47,500 -22.45% 12
Sussex -15 1 £30,000 +5.26% 7
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 (2.61%) SharePoint
2 29 (2.44%) Microsoft Exchange
3 17 (1.43%) CMS
4 12 (1.01%) IIS
5 8 (0.67%) Confluence
5 8 (0.67%) WordPress
6 4 (0.34%) Anypoint
6 4 (0.34%) OpenStack
7 3 (0.25%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.25%) govService
7 3 (0.25%) SAS
8 2 (0.17%) Apache
8 2 (0.17%) Gentran
9 1 (0.084%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.084%) ArcGIS
9 1 (0.084%) nginx
Applications
1 91 (7.65%) Microsoft Excel
2 89 (7.48%) Microsoft Office
3 14 (1.18%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (0.84%) Photoshop
5 9 (0.76%) Adobe Illustrator
5 9 (0.76%) MS Visio
6 7 (0.59%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 7 (0.59%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.17%) Adobe After Effects
7 2 (0.17%) Adobe Captivate
7 2 (0.17%) Adobe Premiere
7 2 (0.17%) Adobe XD
7 2 (0.17%) Elementor
7 2 (0.17%) InDesign
7 2 (0.17%) Microsoft Project
8 1 (0.084%) Acrobat
8 1 (0.084%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 10 (0.84%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (0.76%) NetSuite
2 9 (0.76%) SAP CO
3 4 (0.34%) Dynamics NAV
3 4 (0.34%) Magento
4 3 (0.25%) Sage X3
4 3 (0.25%) Salesforce CRM
4 3 (0.25%) SAP S/4HANA
5 2 (0.17%) Dynamics AX
5 2 (0.17%) IBM Planning Analytics
5 2 (0.17%) Infor SunSystems
5 2 (0.17%) Q-Pulse
5 2 (0.17%) Sage 200
6 1 (0.084%) Elite 3E
6 1 (0.084%) HFM
6 1 (0.084%) PeopleSoft HRMS
6 1 (0.084%) Raiser’s Edge
6 1 (0.084%) SAP GRC
6 1 (0.084%) SAP Hybris
6 1 (0.084%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 232 (19.50%) Azure
2 133 (11.18%) Microsoft 365
3 92 (7.73%) Power Platform
4 85 (7.14%) AWS
5 58 (4.87%) SaaS
6 57 (4.79%) Azure DevOps
7 33 (2.77%) GCP
8 30 (2.52%) PaaS
9 29 (2.44%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 29 (2.44%) IaaS
10 25 (2.10%) Entra ID
11 20 (1.68%) Dynamics 365
12 19 (1.60%) Google Workspace
12 19 (1.60%) Mimecast
13 17 (1.43%) Azure Data Factory
13 17 (1.43%) Azure Logic Apps
13 17 (1.43%) GitHub
14 15 (1.26%) OpenShift
15 13 (1.09%) Datadog
16 12 (1.01%) Figma
Communications & Networking
1 65 (5.46%) DNS
2 63 (5.29%) Firewall
3 38 (3.19%) DHCP
4 33 (2.77%) TCP/IP
5 29 (2.44%) VPN
6 26 (2.18%) Wireless
7 21 (1.76%) Broadband
8 18 (1.51%) WAN
9 16 (1.34%) LAN
10 14 (1.18%) VoIP
11 11 (0.92%) HTTP
11 11 (0.92%) Intranet
11 11 (0.92%) VLAN
12 9 (0.76%) SAN
13 7 (0.59%) Remote Desktop
14 6 (0.50%) PuTTY
14 6 (0.50%) SSH
15 5 (0.42%) Wi-Fi
16 3 (0.25%) LTE
16 3 (0.25%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 72 (6.05%) Power BI
2 47 (3.95%) SQL Server
3 35 (2.94%) Relational Database
4 25 (2.10%) Data Warehouse
5 18 (1.51%) Power Query
6 13 (1.09%) NoSQL
6 13 (1.09%) OLTP
6 13 (1.09%) Tableau
7 10 (0.84%) MySQL
8 9 (0.76%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 8 (0.67%) Data Lake
9 8 (0.67%) PostgreSQL
9 8 (0.67%) PowerPivot
10 6 (0.50%) Hadoop
10 6 (0.50%) Looker
11 5 (0.42%) Azure SQL Database
11 5 (0.42%) Big Data
11 5 (0.42%) Data Mining
11 5 (0.42%) Metadata
12 4 (0.34%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 51 (4.29%) Git
2 42 (3.53%) JIRA
3 25 (2.10%) GitLab
4 17 (1.43%) Selenium
5 15 (1.26%) Rational DOORS
6 10 (0.84%) Robot Framework
7 8 (0.67%) Snyk
8 7 (0.59%) Jenkins
9 6 (0.50%) Visual Studio
10 4 (0.34%) Cypress.io
11 3 (0.25%) Postman
12 2 (0.17%) Appium
12 2 (0.17%) JMeter
12 2 (0.17%) LabVIEW
12 2 (0.17%) REST Assured
12 2 (0.17%) TestRail
12 2 (0.17%) WebDriver
13 1 (0.084%) CMake
13 1 (0.084%) SonarQube
13 1 (0.084%) Zephyr
General
1 576 (48.40%) Social Skills
2 350 (29.41%) Analytical Skills
3 198 (16.64%) Finance
4 77 (6.47%) Organisational Skills
5 70 (5.88%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 69 (5.80%) Marketing
7 63 (5.29%) Retail
8 62 (5.21%) Manufacturing
9 47 (3.95%) Telecoms
10 44 (3.70%) Electronics
11 36 (3.03%) Law
11 36 (3.03%) Public Sector
12 33 (2.77%) Legal
13 24 (2.02%) Documentation Skills
14 15 (1.26%) Presentation Skills
15 13 (1.09%) Aerospace
16 12 (1.01%) Automotive
17 11 (0.92%) Influencing Skills
17 11 (0.92%) Pharmaceutical
18 7 (0.59%) Banking
Job Titles
1 169 (14.20%) Analyst
2 161 (13.53%) IT Support
3 156 (13.11%) Support Engineer
4 135 (11.34%) Senior
5 110 (9.24%) Developer
6 76 (6.39%) IT Engineer
6 76 (6.39%) Support Analyst
7 62 (5.21%) Technical Support
8 61 (5.13%) IT Support Engineer
9 53 (4.45%) 2nd Line Support
10 52 (4.37%) Lead
11 45 (3.78%) Technical Engineer
11 45 (3.78%) Technical Support Engineer
12 43 (3.61%) Architect
13 38 (3.19%) Systems Engineer
14 37 (3.11%) IT Technician
15 36 (3.03%) Software Engineer
16 35 (2.94%) IT Analyst
16 35 (2.94%) Support Technician
17 34 (2.86%) IT Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 55 (4.62%) .NET
2 47 (3.95%) HTML
3 35 (2.94%) SOAP
4 33 (2.77%) REST
5 25 (2.10%) React
6 24 (2.02%) CSS
7 23 (1.93%) XML
8 21 (1.76%) JSON
9 18 (1.51%) Middleware
10 14 (1.18%) Laravel
11 13 (1.09%) ARM Templates
11 13 (1.09%) Lightning Web Components
12 12 (1.01%) ASP.NET
12 12 (1.01%) OAuth
12 12 (1.01%) Visualforce
13 11 (0.92%) .NET Framework
13 11 (0.92%) RabbitMQ
14 10 (0.84%) OLE
15 9 (0.76%) Node.js
15 9 (0.76%) SAP CO-PA
Miscellaneous
1 82 (6.89%) Onboarding
2 71 (5.97%) Driving Licence
3 67 (5.63%) Self-Motivation
4 40 (3.36%) Management Information System
5 35 (2.94%) Product Ownership
6 26 (2.18%) Distributed Systems
7 25 (2.10%) Analytical Mindset
8 24 (2.02%) Cloud Native
9 20 (1.68%) Low-Code
9 20 (1.68%) Social Media
10 13 (1.09%) Enterprise Software
10 13 (1.09%) Legacy Systems
11 11 (0.92%) Video Editing
12 10 (0.84%) Life Science
13 9 (0.76%) Client/Server
13 9 (0.76%) IoT
13 9 (0.76%) NHS
13 9 (0.76%) Video Conferencing
14 8 (0.67%) Algorithms
14 8 (0.67%) Data Centre
Operating Systems
1 190 (15.97%) Windows
2 90 (7.56%) Linux
3 60 (5.04%) Windows Server
4 23 (1.93%) Mac OS
5 18 (1.51%) CentOS
6 17 (1.43%) Android
7 16 (1.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 13 (1.09%) Windows 10
9 9 (0.76%) Ubuntu
9 9 (0.76%) VMS
10 8 (0.67%) Windows Server 2012
11 7 (0.59%) Apple iOS
12 6 (0.50%) Windows Server 2016
12 6 (0.50%) Windows Server 2019
13 4 (0.34%) Unix
14 3 (0.25%) Debian
15 1 (0.084%) Embedded Linux
15 1 (0.084%) FreeBSD
15 1 (0.084%) OpenBSD
15 1 (0.084%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 245 (20.59%) Continuous Improvement
2 206 (17.31%) Customer Service
3 163 (13.70%) Agile
4 139 (11.68%) DevOps
5 119 (10.00%) Analytics
6 115 (9.66%) CI/CD
7 110 (9.24%) Decision-Making
8 106 (8.91%) Business Intelligence
9 98 (8.24%) Project Management
10 96 (8.07%) Computer Science
11 84 (7.06%) Mentoring
12 82 (6.89%) AI
13 77 (6.47%) CRM
14 75 (6.30%) Data Modelling
14 75 (6.30%) Software Engineering
15 74 (6.22%) Stakeholder Management
16 69 (5.80%) Cybersecurity
16 69 (5.80%) ITIL
17 66 (5.55%) Project Delivery
18 63 (5.29%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 198 (16.64%) Python
2 185 (15.55%) SQL
3 73 (6.13%) PowerShell
4 71 (5.97%) C#
4 71 (5.97%) JavaScript
5 50 (4.20%) Java
6 28 (2.35%) PHP
7 27 (2.27%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 24 (2.02%) C++
9 22 (1.85%) Bash
9 22 (1.85%) C
10 16 (1.34%) PL/SQL
10 16 (1.34%) TypeScript
11 13 (1.09%) Apex Code
11 13 (1.09%) Bicep
12 12 (1.01%) Perl
13 9 (0.76%) Kusto Query Language
13 9 (0.76%) Rust
14 7 (0.59%) R
14 7 (0.59%) Scala
Qualifications
1 246 (20.67%) Degree
2 71 (5.97%) Security Cleared
3 51 (4.29%) ACCA
4 49 (4.12%) Computer Science Degree
5 43 (3.61%) CIMA
6 41 (3.45%) DBS Check
7 36 (3.03%) SC Cleared
8 31 (2.61%) Microsoft Certification
9 30 (2.52%) BPSS Clearance
10 22 (1.85%) HNC
11 21 (1.76%) A+ Certification
11 21 (1.76%) DV Cleared
12 19 (1.60%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 17 (1.43%) Chartered Engineer
14 14 (1.18%) Master's Degree
15 12 (1.01%) PMI Certification
16 10 (0.84%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
17 9 (0.76%) PMP
18 8 (0.67%) City & Guilds
18 8 (0.67%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 71 (5.97%) QA
2 66 (5.55%) Data Quality
3 47 (3.95%) GDPR
4 29 (2.44%) SLA
5 24 (2.02%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 17 (1.43%) Accessibility
7 15 (1.26%) PCI DSS
8 13 (1.09%) NIST
9 6 (0.50%) SOC 2
10 5 (0.42%) Actionable Recommendations
10 5 (0.42%) ISO 9001
11 4 (0.34%) ISO 26262
11 4 (0.34%) ITGC
12 2 (0.17%) GRC
12 2 (0.17%) IFRS
13 1 (0.084%) Cyber Essentials
13 1 (0.084%) GAAP
13 1 (0.084%) PMO
System Software
1 128 (10.76%) Active Directory
2 46 (3.87%) Docker
3 34 (2.86%) VMware Infrastructure
4 30 (2.52%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.84%) KVM
6 5 (0.42%) Firmware
6 5 (0.42%) VMware ESXi
6 5 (0.42%) XenApp
7 3 (0.25%) Slurm Workload Manager
7 3 (0.25%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (0.17%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.17%) vSphere
9 1 (0.084%) Oracle RAC
9 1 (0.084%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 57 (4.79%) Terraform
2 45 (3.78%) Kubernetes
3 34 (2.86%) Ansible
4 26 (2.18%) Microsoft Intune
5 17 (1.43%) Grafana
6 16 (1.34%) SCCM
7 13 (1.09%) Prometheus
8 9 (0.76%) Nagios
8 9 (0.76%) vCenter Server
8 9 (0.76%) ZABBIX
9 4 (0.34%) Functional Safety
9 4 (0.34%) Nessus
9 4 (0.34%) Puppet
10 2 (0.17%) Netcool
10 2 (0.17%) Netcool/OMNIbus
11 1 (0.084%) Control-M
11 1 (0.084%) Kibana
11 1 (0.084%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
11 1 (0.084%) Oracle RMAN
11 1 (0.084%) Packer
Vendors
1 315 (26.47%) Microsoft
2 42 (3.53%) Databricks
3 40 (3.36%) VMware
4 35 (2.94%) Google
5 31 (2.61%) Adobe
5 31 (2.61%) Salesforce
6 30 (2.52%) Oracle
6 30 (2.52%) SAP
6 30 (2.52%) Veeam
7 20 (1.68%) NEC
7 20 (1.68%) Sage
8 16 (1.34%) HubSpot
8 16 (1.34%) Red Hat
8 16 (1.34%) ServiceNow
9 13 (1.09%) Dynatrace
10 12 (1.01%) MuleSoft
10 12 (1.01%) Splunk
11 11 (0.92%) Hootsuite
11 11 (0.92%) Instagram
11 11 (0.92%) SolarWinds