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 10 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 4 5
Rank change year-on-year -1 +1 +4
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,923 1,683 1,901
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 10.14% 18.80% 15.48%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 14.04% 21.31% 18.95%
Number of salaries quoted 1,336 887 841
10th Percentile £27,000 £26,725 £27,750
25th Percentile £30,957 £30,650 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £41,500 £40,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.75% -20.00% -
75th Percentile £55,000 £60,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £67,500 £75,000 £83,750
England median annual salary £46,000 £45,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +2.22% -14.29% -4.55%

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 13,698 7,897 10,033
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 72.26% 88.21% 81.70%
Number of salaries quoted 9,727 4,245 5,277
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £32,500
25th Percentile £39,766 £32,500 £42,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £47,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +15.79% -13.64% -
75th Percentile £70,000 £66,250 £70,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £82,500 £83,750
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -1.32%

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 10 October 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 10 October 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 -1 728 £42,500 +6.25% 746
Hampshire -1 486 £38,500 -6.10% 414
Berkshire -2 331 £42,500 +3.66% 361
Surrey +1 292 £39,000 -2.50% 237
Kent -2 214 £40,000 +19.40% 119
Buckinghamshire -5 206 £42,500 +13.33% 184
Oxfordshire +5 191 £43,000 +1.18% 211
East Sussex 0 91 £50,000 +20.48% 80
West Sussex -8 85 £45,000 -10.89% 128
Middlesex +6 14 £35,000 -6.67% 17
Sussex -11 7 £65,000 +52.94% 22
Isle of Wight -9 3 £42,500 +3.66% 32
M4 Corridor - 1 - -
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 96 (4.99%) SharePoint
2 69 (3.59%) Microsoft Exchange
3 17 (0.88%) IIS
4 15 (0.78%) Confluence
5 8 (0.42%) CMS
6 7 (0.36%) OpenEdge
7 6 (0.31%) Apache
8 5 (0.26%) nginx
8 5 (0.26%) WordPress
9 3 (0.16%) SAS
10 2 (0.10%) Oracle Workflow
10 2 (0.10%) Tomcat
11 1 (0.052%) Apache Spark
11 1 (0.052%) ArchestrA
Applications
1 149 (7.75%) Microsoft Office
2 116 (6.03%) Microsoft Excel
3 21 (1.09%) AutoCAD
4 16 (0.83%) Microsoft Project
5 15 (0.78%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 13 (0.68%) Spreadsheet
7 10 (0.52%) MS Visio
8 9 (0.47%) Revit
8 9 (0.47%) Simulink
9 7 (0.36%) Lightworks
10 6 (0.31%) SOLIDWORKS
11 5 (0.26%) EPLAN
11 5 (0.26%) Mathematica
12 2 (0.10%) Chatbot
12 2 (0.10%) Mathcad
12 2 (0.10%) Photoshop
12 2 (0.10%) PTC Creo
12 2 (0.10%) Siemens NX
12 2 (0.10%) Solid Edge
13 1 (0.052%) OrCAD
Business Applications
1 24 (1.25%) NetSuite
2 19 (0.99%) Shopify
3 15 (0.78%) Dynamics CRM
4 7 (0.36%) Primavera
5 6 (0.31%) Raiser’s Edge
6 4 (0.21%) Magento
7 3 (0.16%) FastStats
7 3 (0.16%) FastStats PeopleStage
7 3 (0.16%) Payment Gateway
7 3 (0.16%) Sage X3
7 3 (0.16%) SAP MDG
7 3 (0.16%) SAP MDG-M
8 2 (0.10%) Academy Housing
8 2 (0.10%) Eloqua
8 2 (0.10%) Oracle Applications
8 2 (0.10%) SAP SD
8 2 (0.10%) Siebel CRM
8 2 (0.10%) Workday HCM
9 1 (0.052%) Adobe Campaign
9 1 (0.052%) C-CURE
Cloud Services
1 373 (19.40%) Azure
2 267 (13.88%) Microsoft 365
3 175 (9.10%) AWS
4 104 (5.41%) Power Platform
5 90 (4.68%) Entra ID
6 75 (3.90%) SaaS
7 50 (2.60%) GCP
8 40 (2.08%) Azure DevOps
9 35 (1.82%) GitHub
10 34 (1.77%) Google Workspace
11 30 (1.56%) Serverless
12 26 (1.35%) OneDrive
13 18 (0.94%) Anthropic Claude
14 15 (0.78%) Dynamics 365
15 14 (0.73%) Amazon ECS
15 14 (0.73%) AWS CloudFormation
15 14 (0.73%) Google Analytics
15 14 (0.73%) PaaS
16 13 (0.68%) Azure Monitor
16 13 (0.68%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 167 (8.68%) Firewall
2 93 (4.84%) DNS
3 77 (4.00%) VPN
4 70 (3.64%) DHCP
5 66 (3.43%) VLAN
6 60 (3.12%) TCP/IP
7 57 (2.96%) Wi-Fi
8 56 (2.91%) LAN
8 56 (2.91%) WAN
9 52 (2.70%) Wireless
10 39 (2.03%) Network Security
11 37 (1.92%) VoIP
12 18 (0.94%) SSL
13 14 (0.73%) Internet
14 12 (0.62%) 5G
14 12 (0.62%) MQTT
15 9 (0.47%) Ethernet
16 8 (0.42%) Broadband
16 8 (0.42%) HTTP
16 8 (0.42%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 122 (6.34%) SQL Server
2 85 (4.42%) Power BI
3 33 (1.72%) Relational Database
4 32 (1.66%) MySQL
5 29 (1.51%) PostgreSQL
6 25 (1.30%) NoSQL
7 14 (0.73%) Data Warehouse
8 12 (0.62%) GIS
8 12 (0.62%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 11 (0.57%) Amazon RDS
9 11 (0.57%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 9 (0.47%) MongoDB
11 8 (0.42%) Tableau
12 7 (0.36%) Azure SQL Database
12 7 (0.36%) DynamoDB
12 7 (0.36%) Metadata
13 6 (0.31%) OLTP
13 6 (0.31%) Power Query
14 5 (0.26%) Electronic Patient Records
14 5 (0.26%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 62 (3.22%) Git
2 57 (2.96%) JIRA
3 18 (0.94%) Rational DOORS
4 16 (0.83%) Claude Code
5 15 (0.78%) GitLab
6 13 (0.68%) Oracle Forms
6 13 (0.68%) Team Foundation Server
7 6 (0.31%) Selenium
8 5 (0.26%) Eclipse
8 5 (0.26%) Eclipse RCP
8 5 (0.26%) Jenkins
8 5 (0.26%) Visual Studio
9 4 (0.21%) LabVIEW
9 4 (0.21%) PetaLinux
9 4 (0.21%) Postman
9 4 (0.21%) Terragrunt
10 3 (0.16%) Mocha
10 3 (0.16%) PHPUnit
10 3 (0.16%) SpecFlow
11 2 (0.10%) Subversion
General
1 1,004 (52.21%) Social Skills
2 501 (26.05%) Analytical Skills
3 298 (15.50%) Finance
4 224 (11.65%) Manufacturing
5 207 (10.76%) Organisational Skills
6 153 (7.96%) Aerospace
7 133 (6.92%) Electronics
8 110 (5.72%) Retail
9 69 (3.59%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 62 (3.22%) Marketing
11 60 (3.12%) Influencing Skills
12 56 (2.91%) Legal
13 51 (2.65%) Public Sector
14 44 (2.29%) Military
14 44 (2.29%) Telecoms
15 36 (1.87%) Law
16 28 (1.46%) Aviation
17 27 (1.40%) Documentation Skills
17 27 (1.40%) Presentation Skills
18 25 (1.30%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 258 (13.42%) Analyst
2 188 (9.78%) Senior
3 175 (9.10%) IT Support
4 162 (8.42%) Developer
5 147 (7.64%) Support Analyst
6 134 (6.97%) Support Engineer
7 93 (4.84%) Lead
8 92 (4.78%) IT Engineer
9 87 (4.52%) Technical Support
10 77 (4.00%) Support Technician
11 74 (3.85%) Systems Engineer
12 68 (3.54%) Software Engineer
13 66 (3.43%) IT Support Engineer
14 62 (3.22%) Technical Engineer
15 61 (3.17%) IT Analyst
16 60 (3.12%) Technical Support Engineer
17 58 (3.02%) 2nd Line Support
18 54 (2.81%) IT Technician
19 52 (2.70%) Consultant
20 51 (2.65%) IT Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 121 (6.29%) .NET
2 74 (3.85%) Terraform
3 71 (3.69%) HTML
4 57 (2.96%) ASP.NET
5 56 (2.91%) REST
6 54 (2.81%) CSS
7 53 (2.76%) React
8 44 (2.29%) SOAP
9 37 (1.92%) ASP.NET Core
10 31 (1.61%) AngularJS
11 30 (1.56%) RESTful
12 28 (1.46%) Vue
13 27 (1.40%) ModSecurity
14 26 (1.35%) JSON
14 26 (1.35%) OAuth
14 26 (1.35%) XML
15 25 (1.30%) ASP.NET Web Forms
16 24 (1.25%) ASP.NET Web API
17 22 (1.14%) jQuery
18 21 (1.09%) LESS
Miscellaneous
1 168 (8.74%) Driving Licence
2 131 (6.81%) Onboarding
3 115 (5.98%) Management Information System
4 100 (5.20%) Self-Motivation
5 66 (3.43%) Cloud Native
6 50 (2.60%) Product Ownership
7 41 (2.13%) Data Centre
8 39 (2.03%) Robotics
9 33 (1.72%) Enterprise Software
10 32 (1.66%) Social Media
11 29 (1.51%) Analogue Electronics
12 27 (1.40%) CCTV
13 26 (1.35%) Legacy Systems
14 24 (1.25%) Analytical Mindset
15 21 (1.09%) Distributed Systems
16 19 (0.99%) Mobile App
16 19 (0.99%) Renewable Energy
17 16 (0.83%) Embedded Systems
17 16 (0.83%) IoT
18 15 (0.78%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 305 (15.86%) Windows
2 115 (5.98%) Windows Server
3 103 (5.36%) Linux
4 28 (1.46%) Android
5 26 (1.35%) Windows 10
6 22 (1.14%) Mac OS
7 19 (0.99%) Apple iOS
7 19 (0.99%) Windows Server 2019
8 11 (0.57%) Ubuntu
9 9 (0.47%) Windows Server 2016
10 7 (0.36%) Rocky
10 7 (0.36%) Windows Server 2012
11 6 (0.31%) Debian
12 5 (0.26%) CentOS
12 5 (0.26%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
13 4 (0.21%) FreeRTOS
13 4 (0.21%) Windows 7
14 3 (0.16%) Gentoo
14 3 (0.16%) Unix
15 2 (0.10%) Embedded Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 452 (23.50%) Continuous Improvement
2 389 (20.23%) Customer Service
3 229 (11.91%) Agile
4 224 (11.65%) Stakeholder Management
5 220 (11.44%) Decision-Making
6 204 (10.61%) Project Management
7 198 (10.30%) AI
8 196 (10.19%) Project Delivery
9 179 (9.31%) Collaborative Working
10 163 (8.48%) ITIL
11 157 (8.16%) Software Engineering
12 153 (7.96%) Mentoring
13 152 (7.90%) Cybersecurity
14 151 (7.85%) CI/CD
15 150 (7.80%) CRM
16 146 (7.59%) Validation
17 129 (6.71%) DevOps
18 125 (6.50%) Technical Leadership
19 120 (6.24%) Computer Science
19 120 (6.24%) Process Improvement
Programming Languages
1 228 (11.86%) SQL
2 194 (10.09%) Python
3 139 (7.23%) C#
4 111 (5.77%) JavaScript
5 92 (4.78%) PowerShell
6 72 (3.74%) C++
7 66 (3.43%) TypeScript
8 58 (3.02%) Java
9 28 (1.46%) C
10 25 (1.30%) Bash
11 24 (1.25%) Ruby
12 22 (1.14%) T-SQL
13 21 (1.09%) MATLAB
14 18 (0.94%) VB.NET
15 17 (0.88%) PHP
16 12 (0.62%) Rust
17 11 (0.57%) Data Analysis Expressions
18 9 (0.47%) ABAP
18 9 (0.47%) PL/SQL
19 8 (0.42%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 384 (19.97%) Degree
2 212 (11.02%) Security Cleared
3 144 (7.49%) SC Cleared
4 121 (6.29%) DBS Check
5 68 (3.54%) HNC
6 66 (3.43%) Microsoft Certification
7 64 (3.33%) HND
8 61 (3.17%) DV Cleared
9 59 (3.07%) BPSS Clearance
9 59 (3.07%) Computer Science Degree
10 56 (2.91%) Azure Certification
11 32 (1.66%) CISSP
12 30 (1.56%) Chartered Engineer
13 29 (1.51%) Master's Degree
14 28 (1.46%) A+ Certification
15 26 (1.35%) PMI Certification
16 25 (1.30%) AWS Certification
16 25 (1.30%) CISM
17 22 (1.14%) CompTIA Security+
17 22 (1.14%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 140 (7.28%) QA
2 71 (3.69%) GDPR
3 51 (2.65%) Data Quality
4 48 (2.50%) SLA
5 47 (2.44%) Accessibility
6 40 (2.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 23 (1.20%) NIST
8 22 (1.14%) DO-254
9 21 (1.09%) PMO
10 20 (1.04%) Cyber Essentials
11 18 (0.94%) Good Clinical Practice
12 14 (0.73%) PCI DSS
13 13 (0.68%) ISO 9001
14 12 (0.62%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
15 9 (0.47%) GMP
16 8 (0.42%) 21 CFR Part 11
16 8 (0.42%) GLP
16 8 (0.42%) GxP
17 7 (0.36%) SOC 2
18 5 (0.26%) ECSS
System Software
1 175 (9.10%) Active Directory
2 85 (4.42%) VMware Infrastructure
3 68 (3.54%) Hyper-V
4 56 (2.91%) Docker
5 21 (1.09%) Firmware
6 10 (0.52%) Virtual Desktop
7 9 (0.47%) VMware ESXi
8 8 (0.42%) Virtual Servers
9 7 (0.36%) Virtual Machines
9 7 (0.36%) vSphere
10 6 (0.31%) Embedded Firmware
11 5 (0.26%) ClearTrust
11 5 (0.26%) Squid
12 3 (0.16%) KVM
13 2 (0.10%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 1 (0.052%) LXC
14 1 (0.052%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 71 (3.69%) Microsoft Intune
2 64 (3.33%) Kubernetes
3 29 (1.51%) Ansible
4 22 (1.14%) SCCM
5 17 (0.88%) Single Sign-On
6 16 (0.83%) Jamf Pro
7 10 (0.52%) Grafana
8 9 (0.47%) Prometheus
9 8 (0.42%) Failover Clustering
9 8 (0.42%) Podman
10 7 (0.36%) Nagios
11 6 (0.31%) Functional Safety
11 6 (0.31%) Graylog
12 5 (0.26%) BMC PATROL
12 5 (0.26%) Puppet
12 5 (0.26%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
13 4 (0.21%) Docker Swarm
14 2 (0.10%) CASB
14 2 (0.10%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
14 2 (0.10%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 590 (30.68%) Microsoft
2 102 (5.30%) VMware
3 82 (4.26%) Google
4 55 (2.86%) SAP
5 53 (2.76%) Oracle
6 44 (2.29%) Veeam
7 43 (2.24%) Fortinet
8 42 (2.18%) SonicWALL
9 40 (2.08%) Cisco
10 37 (1.92%) ServiceNow
11 31 (1.61%) Salesforce
12 22 (1.14%) Apple
12 22 (1.14%) Palo Alto
13 21 (1.09%) Thales
14 20 (1.04%) Sage
15 19 (0.99%) Mentor Graphics
16 17 (0.88%) WatchGuard
17 16 (0.83%) Aruba
18 15 (0.78%) Citrix
18 15 (0.78%) EMC