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 5 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -4 +1 +7
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,633 1,743 2,002
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 9.17% 19.40% 15.26%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.87% 22.17% 18.97%
Number of salaries quoted 1,192 870 1,008
10th Percentile £27,000 £27,000 £27,758
25th Percentile £31,250 £31,250 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £42,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year - -15.00% -2.44%
75th Percentile £57,536 £60,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £71,000 £77,625 £82,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £45,000 £51,500
% change year-on-year +5.56% -12.62% -6.36%

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 12,689 7,861 10,555
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.27% 87.48% 80.46%
Number of salaries quoted 9,138 4,198 6,274
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,750 £31,250
25th Percentile £40,000 £33,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £53,150
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -5.93% -3.36%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £67,500
90th Percentile £87,500 £81,475 £82,500
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -8.00%

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 5 September 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 5 September 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 -5 604 £43,500 +2.35% 400
Hampshire -2 426 £41,000 -8.89% 223
Berkshire -3 271 £45,000 +5.88% 189
Surrey -1 257 £41,585 -0.40% 131
Buckinghamshire -6 180 £42,500 +13.33% 115
Kent -4 165 £38,750 +15.67% 68
Oxfordshire +2 153 £44,500 +3.49% 98
East Sussex -4 92 £50,000 - 54
West Sussex -8 69 £50,000 -0.99% 72
Middlesex +1 10 £36,750 -2.00% 14
Sussex -12 3 £65,000 +52.94% 23
Isle of Wight -14 2 £42,500 -3.41% 13
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 69 (4.23%) SharePoint
2 51 (3.12%) Microsoft Exchange
3 18 (1.10%) Confluence
4 16 (0.98%) IIS
5 15 (0.92%) CMS
6 7 (0.43%) OpenEdge
7 6 (0.37%) Apache
7 6 (0.37%) WordPress
8 5 (0.31%) nginx
9 3 (0.18%) Anypoint
9 3 (0.18%) OpenStack
9 3 (0.18%) SAS
10 2 (0.12%) Gentran
10 2 (0.12%) Oracle Workflow
10 2 (0.12%) Tomcat
Applications
1 103 (6.31%) Microsoft Excel
2 101 (6.18%) Microsoft Office
3 14 (0.86%) Microsoft Project
4 12 (0.73%) AutoCAD
4 12 (0.73%) Spreadsheet
5 8 (0.49%) Revit
6 6 (0.37%) MS Visio
7 5 (0.31%) Lightworks
7 5 (0.31%) Microsoft PowerPoint
8 4 (0.24%) Simulink
9 3 (0.18%) EPLAN
10 2 (0.12%) Chatbot
10 2 (0.12%) Photoshop
11 1 (0.061%) Adobe Illustrator
11 1 (0.061%) Mathcad
11 1 (0.061%) OrCAD
11 1 (0.061%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 20 (1.22%) NetSuite
2 16 (0.98%) Shopify
3 13 (0.80%) Dynamics CRM
4 6 (0.37%) Magento
4 6 (0.37%) Primavera
4 6 (0.37%) Raiser’s Edge
5 3 (0.18%) Infor SunSystems
5 3 (0.18%) Payment Gateway
5 3 (0.18%) Sage X3
5 3 (0.18%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.12%) Academy Housing
6 2 (0.12%) Oracle Applications
6 2 (0.12%) Siebel CRM
6 2 (0.12%) Workday HCM
7 1 (0.061%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.061%) HFM
Cloud Services
1 377 (23.09%) Azure
2 209 (12.80%) Microsoft 365
3 172 (10.53%) AWS
4 92 (5.63%) Power Platform
5 75 (4.59%) Entra ID
6 65 (3.98%) SaaS
7 48 (2.94%) GCP
8 44 (2.69%) Azure DevOps
9 36 (2.20%) GitHub
10 31 (1.90%) Serverless
11 27 (1.65%) Google Workspace
12 18 (1.10%) IaaS
12 18 (1.10%) PaaS
13 17 (1.04%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 17 (1.04%) Google Tag Manager
14 16 (0.98%) Anthropic Claude
14 16 (0.98%) Dynamics 365
15 15 (0.92%) Azure Data Factory
16 14 (0.86%) Amazon ECS
16 14 (0.86%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 147 (9.00%) Firewall
2 79 (4.84%) DNS
3 66 (4.04%) VPN
4 62 (3.80%) TCP/IP
5 58 (3.55%) DHCP
6 51 (3.12%) VLAN
7 50 (3.06%) WAN
8 48 (2.94%) LAN
8 48 (2.94%) Wi-Fi
9 47 (2.88%) Wireless
10 35 (2.14%) Network Security
11 34 (2.08%) VoIP
12 18 (1.10%) SSL
13 14 (0.86%) Internet
14 10 (0.61%) MQTT
15 9 (0.55%) Broadband
15 9 (0.55%) LTE
16 8 (0.49%) HTTP
17 6 (0.37%) WLAN
18 5 (0.31%) VSAT
Database & Business Intelligence
1 124 (7.59%) SQL Server
2 78 (4.78%) Power BI
3 37 (2.27%) Relational Database
4 30 (1.84%) MySQL
5 29 (1.78%) PostgreSQL
6 24 (1.47%) NoSQL
7 18 (1.10%) Data Warehouse
8 14 (0.86%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 12 (0.73%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 11 (0.67%) Amazon RDS
11 10 (0.61%) Tableau
12 9 (0.55%) MongoDB
13 8 (0.49%) Data Lake
13 8 (0.49%) OLTP
14 7 (0.43%) Azure SQL Database
14 7 (0.43%) DynamoDB
14 7 (0.43%) GIS
14 7 (0.43%) Looker
15 6 (0.37%) Metadata
15 6 (0.37%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 69 (4.23%) Git
2 60 (3.67%) JIRA
3 21 (1.29%) GitLab
4 17 (1.04%) Rational DOORS
5 14 (0.86%) Claude Code
6 11 (0.67%) Oracle Forms
6 11 (0.67%) Team Foundation Server
7 5 (0.31%) Eclipse
7 5 (0.31%) Eclipse RCP
7 5 (0.31%) Jenkins
7 5 (0.31%) Selenium
7 5 (0.31%) Visual Studio
8 4 (0.24%) Postman
8 4 (0.24%) Terragrunt
9 3 (0.18%) PetaLinux
9 3 (0.18%) PHPUnit
9 3 (0.18%) SpecFlow
10 2 (0.12%) Cucumber
10 2 (0.12%) Mocha
10 2 (0.12%) Subversion
General
1 811 (49.66%) Social Skills
2 464 (28.41%) Analytical Skills
3 254 (15.55%) Finance
4 131 (8.02%) Manufacturing
5 130 (7.96%) Organisational Skills
6 103 (6.31%) Aerospace
7 94 (5.76%) Electronics
8 75 (4.59%) Retail
9 62 (3.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 48 (2.94%) Marketing
11 47 (2.88%) Influencing Skills
12 46 (2.82%) Telecoms
13 45 (2.76%) Legal
14 40 (2.45%) Military
15 39 (2.39%) Law
16 36 (2.20%) Public Sector
17 25 (1.53%) Aviation
17 25 (1.53%) Documentation Skills
18 19 (1.16%) Local Government
19 16 (0.98%) Banking
Job Titles
1 232 (14.21%) Analyst
2 170 (10.41%) Senior
3 158 (9.68%) Developer
4 155 (9.49%) IT Support
5 117 (7.16%) Support Analyst
6 115 (7.04%) Support Engineer
7 89 (5.45%) IT Engineer
8 74 (4.53%) Lead
9 72 (4.41%) Software Engineer
9 72 (4.41%) Systems Engineer
10 70 (4.29%) Support Technician
10 70 (4.29%) Technical Support
11 59 (3.61%) IT Support Engineer
12 51 (3.12%) 2nd Line Support
12 51 (3.12%) Architect
13 50 (3.06%) Technical Engineer
14 49 (3.00%) IT Technician
15 48 (2.94%) Consultant
15 48 (2.94%) Technical Support Engineer
16 43 (2.63%) IT Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 116 (7.10%) .NET
2 82 (5.02%) Terraform
3 73 (4.47%) HTML
4 64 (3.92%) REST
5 54 (3.31%) CSS
6 53 (3.25%) ASP.NET
7 52 (3.18%) React
8 51 (3.12%) SOAP
9 35 (2.14%) ASP.NET Core
10 33 (2.02%) OAuth
11 30 (1.84%) AngularJS
12 29 (1.78%) RESTful
13 28 (1.71%) JSON
13 28 (1.71%) Vue
14 27 (1.65%) XML
15 26 (1.59%) ModSecurity
16 22 (1.35%) ASP.NET Web API
16 22 (1.35%) jQuery
17 21 (1.29%) LESS
18 18 (1.10%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 120 (7.35%) Driving Licence
2 108 (6.61%) Onboarding
3 81 (4.96%) Management Information System
4 80 (4.90%) Self-Motivation
5 63 (3.86%) Cloud Native
6 49 (3.00%) Product Ownership
7 39 (2.39%) Data Centre
8 31 (1.90%) Social Media
9 30 (1.84%) Enterprise Software
10 28 (1.71%) Legacy Systems
11 27 (1.65%) Robotics
12 26 (1.59%) Analytical Mindset
12 26 (1.59%) Distributed Systems
13 22 (1.35%) Analogue Electronics
14 21 (1.29%) CCTV
15 18 (1.10%) EPoS
15 18 (1.10%) Mobile App
16 15 (0.92%) Cyber Threat
16 15 (0.92%) NHS
16 15 (0.92%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 267 (16.35%) Windows
2 110 (6.74%) Linux
3 95 (5.82%) Windows Server
4 24 (1.47%) Android
5 19 (1.16%) Windows Server 2019
6 18 (1.10%) Mac OS
7 16 (0.98%) Apple iOS
7 16 (0.98%) Windows 10
8 13 (0.80%) Ubuntu
9 10 (0.61%) CentOS
9 10 (0.61%) Windows Server 2016
10 9 (0.55%) Debian
10 9 (0.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 6 (0.37%) Rocky
12 5 (0.31%) Windows Server 2012
13 3 (0.18%) FreeRTOS
13 3 (0.18%) Gentoo
13 3 (0.18%) Unix
13 3 (0.18%) VMS
13 3 (0.18%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 349 (21.37%) Continuous Improvement
2 298 (18.25%) Customer Service
3 229 (14.02%) Agile
4 203 (12.43%) Decision-Making
5 170 (10.41%) Project Management
6 169 (10.35%) Software Engineering
7 168 (10.29%) Stakeholder Management
8 167 (10.23%) AI
9 164 (10.04%) CI/CD
9 164 (10.04%) Project Delivery
10 151 (9.25%) ITIL
11 150 (9.19%) DevOps
12 138 (8.45%) Collaborative Working
13 135 (8.27%) Cybersecurity
13 135 (8.27%) Mentoring
13 135 (8.27%) Validation
14 119 (7.29%) CRM
15 117 (7.16%) Analytics
15 117 (7.16%) Computer Science
16 110 (6.74%) Logistics
Programming Languages
1 224 (13.72%) SQL
2 202 (12.37%) Python
3 132 (8.08%) C#
4 110 (6.74%) JavaScript
5 96 (5.88%) PowerShell
6 64 (3.92%) TypeScript
7 61 (3.74%) C++
8 58 (3.55%) Java
9 29 (1.78%) Bash
9 29 (1.78%) C
10 22 (1.35%) Ruby
11 20 (1.22%) T-SQL
12 18 (1.10%) PHP
13 16 (0.98%) VB.NET
14 10 (0.61%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 10 (0.61%) PL/SQL
14 10 (0.61%) Rust
15 8 (0.49%) MATLAB
15 8 (0.49%) Perl
16 7 (0.43%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 322 (19.72%) Degree
2 175 (10.72%) Security Cleared
3 123 (7.53%) SC Cleared
4 107 (6.55%) DBS Check
5 63 (3.86%) Computer Science Degree
6 60 (3.67%) DV Cleared
7 57 (3.49%) Microsoft Certification
8 56 (3.43%) BPSS Clearance
9 50 (3.06%) Azure Certification
10 46 (2.82%) HNC
11 41 (2.51%) HND
12 33 (2.02%) PMI Certification
13 32 (1.96%) CISSP
14 27 (1.65%) CISM
14 27 (1.65%) PMP
15 25 (1.53%) A+ Certification
15 25 (1.53%) Chartered Engineer
16 24 (1.47%) Master's Degree
17 22 (1.35%) CompTIA Security+
18 20 (1.22%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 140 (8.57%) QA
2 67 (4.10%) GDPR
3 57 (3.49%) Data Quality
4 43 (2.63%) SLA
5 37 (2.27%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 35 (2.14%) Accessibility
7 23 (1.41%) NIST
8 19 (1.16%) Cyber Essentials
9 18 (1.10%) Good Clinical Practice
9 18 (1.10%) PCI DSS
10 16 (0.98%) PMO
11 15 (0.92%) DO-254
12 12 (0.73%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 9 (0.55%) GMP
13 9 (0.55%) SOC 2
14 8 (0.49%) 21 CFR Part 11
14 8 (0.49%) GLP
14 8 (0.49%) GxP
15 6 (0.37%) ISO 9001
16 4 (0.24%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 143 (8.76%) Active Directory
2 80 (4.90%) VMware Infrastructure
3 65 (3.98%) Docker
4 61 (3.74%) Hyper-V
5 12 (0.73%) Firmware
6 9 (0.55%) VMware ESXi
6 9 (0.55%) vSphere
7 6 (0.37%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (0.31%) ClearTrust
8 5 (0.31%) KVM
8 5 (0.31%) Squid
8 5 (0.31%) Virtual Desktop
9 4 (0.24%) Embedded Firmware
10 3 (0.18%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 2 (0.12%) Virtual Servers
11 2 (0.12%) XenApp
12 1 (0.061%) Microsoft Virtual Server
12 1 (0.061%) Oracle RAC
12 1 (0.061%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 74 (4.53%) Kubernetes
2 53 (3.25%) Microsoft Intune
3 34 (2.08%) Ansible
4 23 (1.41%) SCCM
5 17 (1.04%) Single Sign-On
6 14 (0.86%) Jamf Pro
7 12 (0.73%) Grafana
8 9 (0.55%) Prometheus
9 8 (0.49%) Podman
10 7 (0.43%) Failover Clustering
10 7 (0.43%) Nagios
10 7 (0.43%) Puppet
11 6 (0.37%) Graylog
12 4 (0.24%) Docker Swarm
12 4 (0.24%) Functional Safety
12 4 (0.24%) vCenter Server
13 3 (0.18%) BMC PATROL
13 3 (0.18%) ZABBIX
14 2 (0.12%) Nessus
14 2 (0.12%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 499 (30.56%) Microsoft
2 94 (5.76%) VMware
3 73 (4.47%) Google
4 54 (3.31%) Oracle
5 39 (2.39%) SAP
6 38 (2.33%) Cisco
6 38 (2.33%) SonicWALL
7 37 (2.27%) Fortinet
8 36 (2.20%) Veeam
9 32 (1.96%) ServiceNow
10 27 (1.65%) Salesforce
11 21 (1.29%) Sage
12 18 (1.10%) Palo Alto
13 16 (0.98%) Apple
13 16 (0.98%) Aruba
13 16 (0.98%) Databricks
14 15 (0.92%) Mentor Graphics
15 14 (0.86%) CA Agile Central
16 12 (0.73%) ForgeRock
16 12 (0.73%) Okta