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

6 months to
18 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 1,255 1,487 2,923
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 8.50% 19.03% 15.76%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.92% 21.10% 19.41%
Number of salaries quoted 948 713 1,803
10th Percentile £26,500 £27,400 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £31,250 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £42,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.88% -5.56% -13.46%
75th Percentile £59,813 £62,500 £61,250
90th Percentile £73,750 £83,750 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £49,500
% change year-on-year -5.00% +1.01% -10.00%

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 10,531 7,047 15,056
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.36% 90.17% 81.19%
Number of salaries quoted 7,470 3,420 10,465
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,988 £27,750
25th Percentile £39,438 £35,000 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £51,750 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.28% +3.50% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,250 £78,750
England median annual salary £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -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 18 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 18 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 -9 459 £45,000 - 210
Hampshire -2 294 £40,000 -5.88% 134
Berkshire -7 225 £45,000 -10.00% 93
Surrey -1 210 £42,500 +6.25% 83
Buckinghamshire -10 135 £47,500 +26.67% 68
Kent -2 131 £29,500 -4.84% 53
Oxfordshire -1 99 £34,000 -33.98% 51
East Sussex -4 93 £50,000 - 19
West Sussex -7 58 £50,000 +7.53% 29
Isle of Wight -11 3 £41,500 -24.55% 1
Middlesex +4 2 £35,000 -41.67% 10
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 35 (2.79%) SharePoint
2 32 (2.55%) Microsoft Exchange
3 16 (1.27%) CMS
3 16 (1.27%) Confluence
4 7 (0.56%) OpenEdge
5 5 (0.40%) IIS
5 5 (0.40%) WordPress
6 3 (0.24%) Anypoint
6 3 (0.24%) Apache
6 3 (0.24%) govService
6 3 (0.24%) OpenStack
6 3 (0.24%) SAS
7 2 (0.16%) Gentran
8 1 (0.080%) nginx
8 1 (0.080%) Tomcat
Applications
1 92 (7.33%) Microsoft Excel
2 77 (6.14%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (0.80%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (0.72%) Spreadsheet
5 8 (0.64%) MS Visio
6 6 (0.48%) Photoshop
7 4 (0.32%) Adobe Illustrator
8 3 (0.24%) Microsoft Project
9 2 (0.16%) Chatbot
9 2 (0.16%) Lightworks
10 1 (0.080%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 1 (0.080%) AutoCAD
10 1 (0.080%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 11 (0.88%) NetSuite
2 9 (0.72%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (0.48%) SAP CO
4 4 (0.32%) Dynamics NAV
4 4 (0.32%) Magento
5 3 (0.24%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.16%) Infor SunSystems
6 2 (0.16%) Shopify
7 1 (0.080%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.080%) HFM
7 1 (0.080%) Raiser’s Edge
7 1 (0.080%) SAP GRC
7 1 (0.080%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 292 (23.27%) Azure
2 138 (11.00%) Microsoft 365
3 116 (9.24%) AWS
4 70 (5.58%) Power Platform
5 52 (4.14%) SaaS
6 47 (3.75%) Azure DevOps
7 38 (3.03%) GCP
8 31 (2.47%) Entra ID
9 27 (2.15%) IaaS
9 27 (2.15%) PaaS
10 24 (1.91%) Azure Synapse Analytics
11 21 (1.67%) Serverless
12 18 (1.43%) GitHub
13 17 (1.35%) Datadog
13 17 (1.35%) Dynamics 365
14 16 (1.27%) Google Workspace
15 15 (1.20%) OpenShift
16 14 (1.12%) Mimecast
17 13 (1.04%) Azure Data Factory
18 11 (0.88%) Asana
Communications & Networking
1 97 (7.73%) Firewall
2 60 (4.78%) DNS
3 41 (3.27%) WAN
4 40 (3.19%) LAN
5 36 (2.87%) DHCP
6 35 (2.79%) TCP/IP
6 35 (2.79%) VPN
7 32 (2.55%) Wireless
8 26 (2.07%) Wi-Fi
9 21 (1.67%) VoIP
10 20 (1.59%) Broadband
11 19 (1.51%) Network Security
12 17 (1.35%) VLAN
13 11 (0.88%) Internet
14 10 (0.80%) HTTP
14 10 (0.80%) SSL
15 7 (0.56%) Remote Desktop
16 6 (0.48%) WLAN
17 5 (0.40%) SAN
18 4 (0.32%) MQTT
Database & Business Intelligence
1 85 (6.77%) SQL Server
2 58 (4.62%) Power BI
3 23 (1.83%) Data Warehouse
4 22 (1.75%) PostgreSQL
5 17 (1.35%) OLTP
5 17 (1.35%) Relational Database
6 15 (1.20%) NoSQL
7 13 (1.04%) MySQL
8 10 (0.80%) Power Query
8 10 (0.80%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 9 (0.72%) Data Lake
9 9 (0.72%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 9 (0.72%) Tableau
10 7 (0.56%) Looker
11 6 (0.48%) Amazon RDS
11 6 (0.48%) GIS
12 5 (0.40%) Azure SQL Database
13 4 (0.32%) Elasticsearch
13 4 (0.32%) MongoDB
14 3 (0.24%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 58 (4.62%) Git
2 44 (3.51%) JIRA
3 30 (2.39%) GitLab
4 23 (1.83%) Rational DOORS
5 6 (0.48%) Selenium
6 3 (0.24%) Android Studio
6 3 (0.24%) Postman
6 3 (0.24%) Visual Studio
7 2 (0.16%) Appium
7 2 (0.16%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.16%) Jenkins
7 2 (0.16%) JMeter
7 2 (0.16%) JUnit
7 2 (0.16%) Mocha
7 2 (0.16%) REST Assured
7 2 (0.16%) Subversion
7 2 (0.16%) Terragrunt
8 1 (0.080%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.080%) PHPUnit
8 1 (0.080%) SonarQube
General
1 609 (48.53%) Social Skills
2 349 (27.81%) Analytical Skills
3 187 (14.90%) Finance
4 84 (6.69%) Organisational Skills
5 62 (4.94%) Manufacturing
6 54 (4.30%) Marketing
6 54 (4.30%) Telecoms
7 53 (4.22%) Electronics
8 52 (4.14%) Retail
9 43 (3.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 35 (2.79%) Aerospace
11 33 (2.63%) Law
12 26 (2.07%) Influencing Skills
12 26 (2.07%) Legal
12 26 (2.07%) Public Sector
13 25 (1.99%) Documentation Skills
13 25 (1.99%) Local Government
14 17 (1.35%) Military
15 13 (1.04%) Banking
16 12 (0.96%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 174 (13.86%) Analyst
2 138 (11.00%) IT Support
3 129 (10.28%) Senior
4 127 (10.12%) Developer
5 116 (9.24%) Support Engineer
6 79 (6.29%) IT Engineer
7 68 (5.42%) Support Analyst
8 63 (5.02%) Systems Engineer
9 55 (4.38%) Software Engineer
10 53 (4.22%) IT Support Engineer
10 53 (4.22%) Support Technician
11 51 (4.06%) Technical Support
12 49 (3.90%) Lead
13 47 (3.75%) 2nd Line Support
14 42 (3.35%) Architect
15 38 (3.03%) IT Technician
15 38 (3.03%) Technical Engineer
15 38 (3.03%) Technical Support Engineer
16 36 (2.87%) Infrastructure Engineer
17 34 (2.71%) 1st Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 79 (6.29%) .NET
2 57 (4.54%) HTML
3 50 (3.98%) SOAP
4 40 (3.19%) REST
5 35 (2.79%) CSS
6 34 (2.71%) JSON
6 34 (2.71%) XML
7 31 (2.47%) React
8 23 (1.83%) ASP.NET
9 19 (1.51%) Middleware
10 18 (1.43%) OAuth
11 17 (1.35%) RESTful
12 16 (1.27%) HTML5
13 15 (1.20%) ASP.NET Core
13 15 (1.20%) RabbitMQ
13 15 (1.20%) Vue
14 14 (1.12%) CSS3
14 14 (1.12%) Laravel
15 13 (1.04%) Ajax
15 13 (1.04%) jQuery
Miscellaneous
1 77 (6.14%) Driving Licence
2 63 (5.02%) Management Information System
3 61 (4.86%) Self-Motivation
4 55 (4.38%) Onboarding
5 42 (3.35%) Cloud Native
6 35 (2.79%) Product Ownership
7 28 (2.23%) Distributed Systems
8 25 (1.99%) Analytical Mindset
9 17 (1.35%) Low-Code
9 17 (1.35%) Social Media
10 16 (1.27%) NHS
11 15 (1.20%) Robotics
12 13 (1.04%) EPoS
12 13 (1.04%) Legacy Systems
13 12 (0.96%) Security Posture
14 11 (0.88%) Client/Server
14 11 (0.88%) Video Editing
15 10 (0.80%) Mobile App
15 10 (0.80%) Virtual Team
16 9 (0.72%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 196 (15.62%) Windows
2 101 (8.05%) Linux
3 69 (5.50%) Windows Server
4 20 (1.59%) Mac OS
5 19 (1.51%) Android
5 19 (1.51%) CentOS
6 18 (1.43%) Windows Server 2019
7 17 (1.35%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 13 (1.04%) Ubuntu
9 10 (0.80%) Windows Server 2016
10 6 (0.48%) Apple iOS
10 6 (0.48%) VMS
10 6 (0.48%) Windows Server 2012
11 5 (0.40%) Debian
12 2 (0.16%) Gentoo
12 2 (0.16%) Unix
12 2 (0.16%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.080%) Embedded Linux
13 1 (0.080%) Windows 7
13 1 (0.080%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 248 (19.76%) Continuous Improvement
2 223 (17.77%) Customer Service
3 174 (13.86%) Agile
4 142 (11.31%) CI/CD
5 137 (10.92%) DevOps
6 128 (10.20%) Decision-Making
7 127 (10.12%) Software Engineering
8 112 (8.92%) Project Management
9 109 (8.69%) AI
10 107 (8.53%) Computer Science
10 107 (8.53%) Cybersecurity
11 104 (8.29%) Mentoring
12 98 (7.81%) Project Delivery
13 96 (7.65%) Analytics
14 93 (7.41%) Collaborative Working
15 88 (7.01%) Stakeholder Management
16 87 (6.93%) Business Intelligence
16 87 (6.93%) ITIL
17 81 (6.45%) CRM
18 77 (6.14%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 200 (15.94%) Python
2 193 (15.38%) SQL
3 102 (8.13%) C#
4 85 (6.77%) JavaScript
5 73 (5.82%) PowerShell
6 52 (4.14%) Java
7 46 (3.67%) C++
8 37 (2.95%) TypeScript
9 30 (2.39%) C
10 29 (2.31%) Bash
11 28 (2.23%) PHP
12 20 (1.59%) PL/SQL
13 12 (0.96%) Ruby
13 12 (0.96%) Rust
14 11 (0.88%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 10 (0.80%) Perl
16 7 (0.56%) Apex Code
16 7 (0.56%) Bicep
16 7 (0.56%) T-SQL
17 6 (0.48%) Embedded C
Qualifications
1 246 (19.60%) Degree
2 82 (6.53%) Security Cleared
3 72 (5.74%) DBS Check
4 53 (4.22%) SC Cleared
5 52 (4.14%) Computer Science Degree
6 38 (3.03%) Microsoft Certification
7 36 (2.87%) BPSS Clearance
8 32 (2.55%) ACCA
9 31 (2.47%) CIMA
10 29 (2.31%) HNC
11 26 (2.07%) Chartered Engineer
12 20 (1.59%) A+ Certification
12 20 (1.59%) PMI Certification
13 17 (1.35%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 17 (1.35%) PMP
14 15 (1.20%) Azure Certification
15 14 (1.12%) CompTIA Security+
15 14 (1.12%) Master's Degree
15 14 (1.12%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
16 13 (1.04%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 103 (8.21%) QA
2 55 (4.38%) Data Quality
3 46 (3.67%) GDPR
4 37 (2.95%) SLA
5 25 (1.99%) Accessibility
5 25 (1.99%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 18 (1.43%) PCI DSS
7 13 (1.04%) PMO
8 12 (0.96%) Good Clinical Practice
8 12 (0.96%) NIST
9 9 (0.72%) Cyber Essentials
10 8 (0.64%) SOC 2
11 5 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 5 (0.40%) ISO 9001
12 4 (0.32%) 21 CFR Part 11
12 4 (0.32%) Def Stans
12 4 (0.32%) GLP
12 4 (0.32%) GMP
12 4 (0.32%) GxP
12 4 (0.32%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 110 (8.76%) Active Directory
2 59 (4.70%) Docker
3 47 (3.75%) VMware Infrastructure
4 40 (3.19%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.80%) KVM
6 7 (0.56%) VMware ESXi
7 5 (0.40%) ClearTrust
7 5 (0.40%) XenApp
8 4 (0.32%) Firmware
8 4 (0.32%) Virtual Desktop
9 3 (0.24%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 3 (0.24%) Virtual Machines
10 2 (0.16%) VMware NSX
10 2 (0.16%) vSphere
11 1 (0.080%) Embedded Firmware
11 1 (0.080%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.080%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.080%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 66 (5.26%) Kubernetes
2 65 (5.18%) Terraform
3 35 (2.79%) Microsoft Intune
4 32 (2.55%) Ansible
5 18 (1.43%) SCCM
6 16 (1.27%) Grafana
7 13 (1.04%) Prometheus
8 12 (0.96%) Nagios
9 8 (0.64%) vCenter Server
10 7 (0.56%) Podman
10 7 (0.56%) ZABBIX
11 5 (0.40%) Docker Swarm
11 5 (0.40%) Failover Clustering
11 5 (0.40%) Graylog
12 4 (0.32%) Functional Safety
12 4 (0.32%) Jamf Pro
13 3 (0.24%) Puppet
14 2 (0.16%) Nessus
15 1 (0.080%) Netcool
15 1 (0.080%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 346 (27.57%) Microsoft
2 54 (4.30%) VMware
3 44 (3.51%) Oracle
4 39 (3.11%) Google
5 28 (2.23%) Databricks
6 26 (2.07%) Salesforce
7 25 (1.99%) Cisco
8 24 (1.91%) Veeam
9 18 (1.43%) Instagram
10 17 (1.35%) Fortinet
11 15 (1.20%) Adobe
11 15 (1.20%) Red Hat
11 15 (1.20%) SAP
11 15 (1.20%) SonicWALL
11 15 (1.20%) Splunk
12 12 (0.96%) Aruba
12 12 (0.96%) Sage
13 11 (0.88%) Dynatrace
13 11 (0.88%) Palo Alto
13 11 (0.88%) SolarWinds