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 9 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -5 +1 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,196 1,454 2,905
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 8.31% 18.61% 16.14%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.63% 20.62% 19.67%
Number of salaries quoted 888 692 1,784
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,000 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £31,250 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £43,387 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.72% -3.59% -14.29%
75th Percentile £60,063 £62,500 £61,250
90th Percentile £75,000 £82,500 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £49,838
% change year-on-year -5.00% +0.33% -9.39%

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 10,282 7,050 14,766
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.42% 90.22% 82.06%
Number of salaries quoted 7,210 3,376 10,247
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £27,750
25th Percentile £39,656 £35,000 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% +5.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,250 £78,750
England median annual salary £60,000 £58,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +3.45% +5.45% -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 9 June 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 9 June 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 -10 434 £45,000 -10.00% 207
Hampshire -4 279 £40,000 -2.44% 142
Berkshire -6 209 £45,000 -10.00% 87
Surrey -1 203 £41,585 +3.96% 89
Buckinghamshire -9 135 £47,500 +8.51% 70
Kent 0 129 £29,500 -7.09% 56
East Sussex -4 91 £57,500 +15.00% 16
Oxfordshire -2 90 £37,500 -29.58% 50
West Sussex -10 50 £54,483 +17.17% 31
Isle of Wight -11 3 £41,500 -24.55%
Middlesex +5 2 £35,000 -42.86% 16
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 34 (2.84%) SharePoint
2 30 (2.51%) Microsoft Exchange
3 16 (1.34%) CMS
4 14 (1.17%) Confluence
5 9 (0.75%) IIS
6 7 (0.59%) OpenEdge
7 5 (0.42%) WordPress
8 4 (0.33%) SAS
9 3 (0.25%) Anypoint
9 3 (0.25%) Apache
9 3 (0.25%) govService
9 3 (0.25%) OpenStack
10 2 (0.17%) Apache Airflow
10 2 (0.17%) Gentran
11 1 (0.084%) nginx
11 1 (0.084%) Tomcat
Applications
1 91 (7.61%) Microsoft Excel
2 68 (5.69%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (1.00%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (0.75%) Spreadsheet
5 7 (0.59%) MS Visio
6 5 (0.42%) Photoshop
7 4 (0.33%) Adobe Illustrator
8 3 (0.25%) Microsoft Project
9 2 (0.17%) Chatbot
10 1 (0.084%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 1 (0.084%) AutoCAD
10 1 (0.084%) Lightworks
Business Applications
1 10 (0.84%) Dynamics CRM
1 10 (0.84%) NetSuite
2 7 (0.59%) SAP CO
3 4 (0.33%) Dynamics NAV
3 4 (0.33%) Magento
3 4 (0.33%) Salesforce CRM
4 2 (0.17%) Dynamics AX
4 2 (0.17%) IBM Planning Analytics
4 2 (0.17%) Infor SunSystems
4 2 (0.17%) Q-Pulse
4 2 (0.17%) Sage 200
4 2 (0.17%) Shopify
5 1 (0.084%) Elite 3E
5 1 (0.084%) HFM
5 1 (0.084%) Raiser’s Edge
5 1 (0.084%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.084%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 272 (22.74%) Azure
2 128 (10.70%) Microsoft 365
3 111 (9.28%) AWS
4 69 (5.77%) Power Platform
5 50 (4.18%) SaaS
6 47 (3.93%) Azure DevOps
7 37 (3.09%) GCP
8 28 (2.34%) IaaS
8 28 (2.34%) PaaS
9 27 (2.26%) Entra ID
10 24 (2.01%) Azure Synapse Analytics
11 21 (1.76%) Serverless
12 18 (1.51%) Dynamics 365
13 17 (1.42%) Google Workspace
14 16 (1.34%) GitHub
15 15 (1.25%) Datadog
15 15 (1.25%) OpenShift
16 14 (1.17%) Mimecast
17 12 (1.00%) Azure Data Factory
17 12 (1.00%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 83 (6.94%) Firewall
2 60 (5.02%) DNS
3 36 (3.01%) DHCP
4 35 (2.93%) TCP/IP
5 31 (2.59%) VPN
6 30 (2.51%) WAN
7 29 (2.42%) LAN
8 27 (2.26%) Wireless
9 20 (1.67%) Broadband
10 17 (1.42%) VoIP
10 17 (1.42%) Wi-Fi
11 16 (1.34%) VLAN
12 14 (1.17%) Network Security
13 10 (0.84%) HTTP
14 9 (0.75%) SSL
15 7 (0.59%) Remote Desktop
16 6 (0.50%) Internet
17 5 (0.42%) SAN
17 5 (0.42%) WLAN
18 4 (0.33%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 80 (6.69%) SQL Server
2 54 (4.52%) Power BI
3 24 (2.01%) Data Warehouse
4 22 (1.84%) PostgreSQL
5 18 (1.51%) NoSQL
6 17 (1.42%) OLTP
6 17 (1.42%) Relational Database
7 14 (1.17%) MySQL
8 12 (1.00%) Tableau
9 11 (0.92%) Power Query
9 11 (0.92%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 8 (0.67%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 7 (0.59%) Data Lake
11 7 (0.59%) Looker
12 6 (0.50%) Amazon RDS
12 6 (0.50%) GIS
13 5 (0.42%) Big Data
13 5 (0.42%) Data Mining
13 5 (0.42%) Hadoop
14 3 (0.25%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 58 (4.85%) Git
2 43 (3.60%) JIRA
3 31 (2.59%) GitLab
4 24 (2.01%) Rational DOORS
5 7 (0.59%) Selenium
6 4 (0.33%) Visual Studio
7 3 (0.25%) Android Studio
7 3 (0.25%) Cypress.io
7 3 (0.25%) Postman
8 2 (0.17%) Appium
8 2 (0.17%) Jenkins
8 2 (0.17%) JMeter
8 2 (0.17%) JUnit
8 2 (0.17%) LabVIEW
8 2 (0.17%) Mocha
8 2 (0.17%) REST Assured
8 2 (0.17%) Terragrunt
9 1 (0.084%) Cucumber
9 1 (0.084%) PHPUnit
9 1 (0.084%) WebDriver
General
1 585 (48.91%) Social Skills
2 346 (28.93%) Analytical Skills
3 180 (15.05%) Finance
4 80 (6.69%) Organisational Skills
5 60 (5.02%) Marketing
6 52 (4.35%) Manufacturing
6 52 (4.35%) Telecoms
7 50 (4.18%) Electronics
8 49 (4.10%) Retail
9 41 (3.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 34 (2.84%) Aerospace
11 30 (2.51%) Law
12 27 (2.26%) Public Sector
13 23 (1.92%) Documentation Skills
13 23 (1.92%) Local Government
14 22 (1.84%) Legal
15 20 (1.67%) Influencing Skills
16 15 (1.25%) Military
17 13 (1.09%) Pharmaceutical
18 12 (1.00%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 160 (13.38%) Analyst
2 131 (10.95%) IT Support
3 128 (10.70%) Senior
4 120 (10.03%) Developer
5 110 (9.20%) Support Engineer
6 75 (6.27%) IT Engineer
7 65 (5.43%) Support Analyst
8 63 (5.27%) Systems Engineer
9 51 (4.26%) Support Technician
10 50 (4.18%) IT Support Engineer
11 47 (3.93%) Software Engineer
12 46 (3.85%) 2nd Line Support
12 46 (3.85%) Lead
12 46 (3.85%) Technical Support
13 44 (3.68%) Architect
14 37 (3.09%) IT Technician
15 35 (2.93%) Infrastructure Engineer
16 34 (2.84%) Technical Engineer
16 34 (2.84%) Technical Support Engineer
17 32 (2.68%) 1st Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 73 (6.10%) .NET
2 57 (4.77%) HTML
3 48 (4.01%) SOAP
4 38 (3.18%) REST
5 36 (3.01%) CSS
6 33 (2.76%) JSON
6 33 (2.76%) XML
7 27 (2.26%) React
8 20 (1.67%) Middleware
9 18 (1.51%) OAuth
10 17 (1.42%) HTML5
11 16 (1.34%) ASP.NET
11 16 (1.34%) Laravel
12 15 (1.25%) CSS3
12 15 (1.25%) RabbitMQ
12 15 (1.25%) RESTful
13 13 (1.09%) Ajax
13 13 (1.09%) jQuery
13 13 (1.09%) Sass
14 12 (1.00%) LESS
Miscellaneous
1 75 (6.27%) Driving Licence
2 62 (5.18%) Management Information System
3 60 (5.02%) Self-Motivation
4 56 (4.68%) Onboarding
5 38 (3.18%) Cloud Native
6 35 (2.93%) Product Ownership
7 32 (2.68%) Distributed Systems
8 24 (2.01%) Analytical Mindset
9 18 (1.51%) Low-Code
10 17 (1.42%) Social Media
11 16 (1.34%) NHS
12 15 (1.25%) Robotics
13 13 (1.09%) Legacy Systems
14 11 (0.92%) Enterprise Software
14 11 (0.92%) Video Editing
15 10 (0.84%) Algorithms
15 10 (0.84%) Client/Server
15 10 (0.84%) EPoS
16 9 (0.75%) Hybrid Cloud
16 9 (0.75%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 178 (14.88%) Windows
2 96 (8.03%) Linux
3 64 (5.35%) Windows Server
4 20 (1.67%) Android
5 19 (1.59%) CentOS
5 19 (1.59%) Mac OS
6 17 (1.42%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 17 (1.42%) Windows Server 2019
7 13 (1.09%) Ubuntu
8 10 (0.84%) Windows Server 2016
9 7 (0.59%) VMS
9 7 (0.59%) Windows Server 2012
10 6 (0.50%) Apple iOS
11 3 (0.25%) Debian
12 2 (0.17%) Unix
13 1 (0.084%) Embedded Linux
13 1 (0.084%) FreeBSD
13 1 (0.084%) OpenBSD
13 1 (0.084%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.084%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 233 (19.48%) Continuous Improvement
2 210 (17.56%) Customer Service
3 171 (14.30%) Agile
4 137 (11.45%) CI/CD
5 136 (11.37%) DevOps
6 129 (10.79%) Decision-Making
7 118 (9.87%) Software Engineering
8 111 (9.28%) Project Management
9 109 (9.11%) AI
10 107 (8.95%) Computer Science
11 103 (8.61%) Analytics
12 94 (7.86%) Project Delivery
13 90 (7.53%) Mentoring
14 87 (7.27%) Cybersecurity
15 84 (7.02%) Business Intelligence
15 84 (7.02%) Collaborative Working
16 81 (6.77%) CRM
16 81 (6.77%) Stakeholder Management
17 79 (6.61%) ITIL
18 76 (6.35%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 198 (16.56%) Python
2 186 (15.55%) SQL
3 93 (7.78%) C#
4 79 (6.61%) JavaScript
5 67 (5.60%) PowerShell
6 54 (4.52%) Java
7 36 (3.01%) C++
8 30 (2.51%) PHP
9 28 (2.34%) TypeScript
10 27 (2.26%) C
11 26 (2.17%) Bash
12 20 (1.67%) PL/SQL
13 12 (1.00%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 11 (0.92%) Rust
15 10 (0.84%) Perl
16 9 (0.75%) Ruby
17 7 (0.59%) Apex Code
17 7 (0.59%) Bicep
17 7 (0.59%) R
17 7 (0.59%) Scala
Qualifications
1 245 (20.48%) Degree
2 83 (6.94%) Security Cleared
3 67 (5.60%) DBS Check
4 53 (4.43%) SC Cleared
5 49 (4.10%) Computer Science Degree
6 37 (3.09%) BPSS Clearance
6 37 (3.09%) Microsoft Certification
7 32 (2.68%) ACCA
8 31 (2.59%) CIMA
9 29 (2.42%) HNC
10 27 (2.26%) Chartered Engineer
11 20 (1.67%) A+ Certification
12 18 (1.51%) Master's Degree
12 18 (1.51%) PMI Certification
13 17 (1.42%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 15 (1.25%) PMP
15 13 (1.09%) Azure Certification
15 13 (1.09%) DV Cleared
16 12 (1.00%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
17 11 (0.92%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 98 (8.19%) QA
2 57 (4.77%) Data Quality
3 44 (3.68%) GDPR
4 39 (3.26%) SLA
5 24 (2.01%) Accessibility
6 23 (1.92%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 15 (1.25%) PCI DSS
8 12 (1.00%) PMO
9 11 (0.92%) NIST
10 9 (0.75%) Cyber Essentials
10 9 (0.75%) Good Clinical Practice
11 8 (0.67%) SOC 2
12 6 (0.50%) ISO 9001
13 5 (0.42%) Actionable Recommendations
13 5 (0.42%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 4 (0.33%) Def Stans
14 4 (0.33%) ISO 26262
14 4 (0.33%) ITGC
15 2 (0.17%) DO-254
15 2 (0.17%) GxP
System Software
1 104 (8.70%) Active Directory
2 53 (4.43%) Docker
3 45 (3.76%) VMware Infrastructure
4 38 (3.18%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.84%) KVM
6 7 (0.59%) VMware ESXi
7 5 (0.42%) Firmware
7 5 (0.42%) XenApp
8 4 (0.33%) ClearTrust
8 4 (0.33%) Virtual Desktop
9 3 (0.25%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 3 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
10 2 (0.17%) VMware NSX
10 2 (0.17%) vSphere
11 1 (0.084%) Embedded Firmware
11 1 (0.084%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.084%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.084%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 64 (5.35%) Kubernetes
1 64 (5.35%) Terraform
2 32 (2.68%) Microsoft Intune
3 30 (2.51%) Ansible
4 17 (1.42%) SCCM
5 15 (1.25%) Grafana
6 12 (1.00%) Nagios
6 12 (1.00%) Prometheus
7 7 (0.59%) vCenter Server
7 7 (0.59%) ZABBIX
8 5 (0.42%) Docker Swarm
8 5 (0.42%) Podman
9 4 (0.33%) Failover Clustering
9 4 (0.33%) Functional Safety
9 4 (0.33%) Graylog
9 4 (0.33%) Jamf Pro
10 3 (0.25%) Puppet
11 2 (0.17%) Nessus
12 1 (0.084%) Netcool
12 1 (0.084%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 320 (26.76%) Microsoft
2 51 (4.26%) VMware
3 43 (3.60%) Oracle
4 37 (3.09%) Google
5 35 (2.93%) Databricks
6 27 (2.26%) Salesforce
7 25 (2.09%) Veeam
8 21 (1.76%) Cisco
9 18 (1.51%) Instagram
10 17 (1.42%) SAP
11 15 (1.25%) Adobe
11 15 (1.25%) Red Hat
11 15 (1.25%) Splunk
12 14 (1.17%) Fortinet
12 14 (1.17%) SonicWALL
13 12 (1.00%) Sage
13 12 (1.00%) SolarWinds
14 11 (0.92%) Dynatrace
14 11 (0.92%) Hootsuite
14 11 (0.92%) Wrike