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 1 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -4 +1 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,343 1,520 2,846
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 8.77% 18.73% 15.83%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.21% 20.91% 19.40%
Number of salaries quoted 1,015 749 1,773
10th Percentile £26,500 £27,000 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,000 £31,250 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £42,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.88% -5.56% -12.37%
75th Percentile £58,750 £62,500 £61,500
90th Percentile £73,750 £83,750 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -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 10,998 7,268 14,669
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.84% 89.56% 81.60%
Number of salaries quoted 7,822 3,694 10,186
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,875 £27,750
25th Percentile £40,000 £35,000 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% - -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £82,500 £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 1 July 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 1 July 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 -8 497 £45,000 - 250
Hampshire -2 316 £40,000 -5.88% 161
Berkshire -4 238 £45,000 -10.00% 101
Surrey 0 223 £42,500 +6.25% 107
Buckinghamshire -9 144 £45,500 +21.33% 84
Kent -5 139 £30,000 -4.76% 64
Oxfordshire -1 115 £36,250 -34.09% 68
East Sussex -3 89 £50,000 - 24
West Sussex -6 67 £50,000 +7.53% 26
Middlesex +4 6 £50,000 -18.37% 9
Isle of Wight -12 1 £42,500 -22.73%
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 41 (3.05%) SharePoint
2 34 (2.53%) Microsoft Exchange
3 19 (1.41%) CMS
4 17 (1.27%) Confluence
5 7 (0.52%) OpenEdge
6 5 (0.37%) WordPress
7 3 (0.22%) Anypoint
7 3 (0.22%) IIS
7 3 (0.22%) OpenStack
7 3 (0.22%) SAS
8 2 (0.15%) Apache
8 2 (0.15%) Gentran
8 2 (0.15%) Tomcat
9 1 (0.074%) govService
Applications
1 96 (7.15%) Microsoft Excel
2 86 (6.40%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (0.74%) Spreadsheet
4 9 (0.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 8 (0.60%) MS Visio
6 5 (0.37%) Lightworks
6 5 (0.37%) Photoshop
7 4 (0.30%) Adobe Illustrator
8 3 (0.22%) Microsoft Project
8 3 (0.22%) Simulink
9 2 (0.15%) Chatbot
10 1 (0.074%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 12 (0.89%) NetSuite
2 8 (0.60%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.37%) Raiser’s Edge
3 5 (0.37%) SAP CO
4 4 (0.30%) Dynamics NAV
4 4 (0.30%) Magento
5 3 (0.22%) Infor SunSystems
5 3 (0.22%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.15%) Shopify
7 1 (0.074%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.074%) HFM
7 1 (0.074%) Payment Gateway
7 1 (0.074%) SAP GRC
7 1 (0.074%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 316 (23.53%) Azure
2 154 (11.47%) Microsoft 365
3 130 (9.68%) AWS
4 80 (5.96%) Power Platform
5 60 (4.47%) SaaS
6 46 (3.43%) Azure DevOps
6 46 (3.43%) GCP
7 37 (2.76%) Entra ID
8 28 (2.08%) IaaS
9 27 (2.01%) PaaS
10 22 (1.64%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 22 (1.64%) Serverless
11 18 (1.34%) GitHub
12 17 (1.27%) Datadog
13 16 (1.19%) Dynamics 365
14 15 (1.12%) OpenShift
15 14 (1.04%) Google Workspace
15 14 (1.04%) Mimecast
16 13 (0.97%) Azure Data Factory
17 11 (0.82%) Asana
Communications & Networking
1 109 (8.12%) Firewall
2 64 (4.77%) DNS
3 49 (3.65%) WAN
4 48 (3.57%) LAN
5 46 (3.43%) VPN
6 40 (2.98%) DHCP
6 40 (2.98%) Wireless
7 38 (2.83%) TCP/IP
8 35 (2.61%) Wi-Fi
9 23 (1.71%) VLAN
10 22 (1.64%) VoIP
11 21 (1.56%) Network Security
12 18 (1.34%) Broadband
13 13 (0.97%) Internet
14 12 (0.89%) HTTP
15 11 (0.82%) SSL
16 8 (0.60%) MQTT
17 7 (0.52%) Remote Desktop
18 6 (0.45%) WLAN
19 5 (0.37%) Hyperconnected
Database & Business Intelligence
1 90 (6.70%) SQL Server
2 68 (5.06%) Power BI
3 23 (1.71%) PostgreSQL
4 21 (1.56%) Data Warehouse
5 19 (1.41%) Relational Database
6 15 (1.12%) OLTP
7 14 (1.04%) NoSQL
8 13 (0.97%) MySQL
8 13 (0.97%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 11 (0.82%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 11 (0.82%) Tableau
10 10 (0.74%) Power Query
11 9 (0.67%) Data Lake
12 7 (0.52%) Looker
13 6 (0.45%) Amazon RDS
13 6 (0.45%) Azure SQL Database
13 6 (0.45%) GIS
14 5 (0.37%) Elasticsearch
15 4 (0.30%) MongoDB
16 3 (0.22%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 63 (4.69%) Git
2 46 (3.43%) JIRA
3 31 (2.31%) GitLab
4 23 (1.71%) Rational DOORS
5 5 (0.37%) Selenium
6 4 (0.30%) Jenkins
7 3 (0.22%) Android Studio
7 3 (0.22%) PetaLinux
7 3 (0.22%) Postman
8 2 (0.15%) Appium
8 2 (0.15%) Cypress.io
8 2 (0.15%) Eclipse
8 2 (0.15%) Eclipse RCP
8 2 (0.15%) JMeter
8 2 (0.15%) JUnit
8 2 (0.15%) Mocha
8 2 (0.15%) PHPUnit
8 2 (0.15%) REST Assured
8 2 (0.15%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.15%) Visual Studio
General
1 647 (48.18%) Social Skills
2 364 (27.10%) Analytical Skills
3 200 (14.89%) Finance
4 95 (7.07%) Organisational Skills
5 76 (5.66%) Manufacturing
6 54 (4.02%) Electronics
6 54 (4.02%) Retail
6 54 (4.02%) Telecoms
7 51 (3.80%) Marketing
8 47 (3.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 38 (2.83%) Aerospace
10 34 (2.53%) Law
11 31 (2.31%) Influencing Skills
11 31 (2.31%) Legal
12 29 (2.16%) Documentation Skills
13 24 (1.79%) Local Government
13 24 (1.79%) Public Sector
14 18 (1.34%) Military
15 16 (1.19%) Banking
16 15 (1.12%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 186 (13.85%) Analyst
2 148 (11.02%) IT Support
3 135 (10.05%) Senior
4 128 (9.53%) Developer
5 127 (9.46%) Support Engineer
6 91 (6.78%) IT Engineer
7 76 (5.66%) Support Analyst
8 70 (5.21%) Systems Engineer
9 65 (4.84%) Software Engineer
10 59 (4.39%) Technical Support
11 58 (4.32%) IT Support Engineer
12 55 (4.10%) Support Technician
13 54 (4.02%) Lead
14 48 (3.57%) 2nd Line Support
15 45 (3.35%) Technical Engineer
15 45 (3.35%) Technical Support Engineer
16 44 (3.28%) IT Technician
17 39 (2.90%) Architect
18 36 (2.68%) 1st Line Support
19 34 (2.53%) Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 80 (5.96%) .NET
2 57 (4.24%) HTML
3 48 (3.57%) SOAP
4 41 (3.05%) REST
5 36 (2.68%) CSS
5 36 (2.68%) JSON
6 34 (2.53%) XML
7 32 (2.38%) React
8 24 (1.79%) ASP.NET
9 19 (1.41%) RESTful
10 18 (1.34%) ASP.NET Core
10 18 (1.34%) Middleware
10 18 (1.34%) OAuth
11 17 (1.27%) Vue
12 16 (1.19%) HTML5
13 15 (1.12%) ARM Templates
13 15 (1.12%) RabbitMQ
14 14 (1.04%) CSS3
15 13 (0.97%) AngularJS
15 13 (0.97%) Sass
Miscellaneous
1 85 (6.33%) Driving Licence
2 68 (5.06%) Self-Motivation
3 65 (4.84%) Onboarding
4 60 (4.47%) Management Information System
5 48 (3.57%) Cloud Native
6 36 (2.68%) Product Ownership
7 28 (2.08%) Distributed Systems
8 25 (1.86%) Analytical Mindset
9 18 (1.34%) Robotics
10 17 (1.27%) NHS
10 17 (1.27%) Social Media
11 15 (1.12%) EPoS
12 14 (1.04%) Low-Code
12 14 (1.04%) Security Posture
13 13 (0.97%) Legacy Systems
14 12 (0.89%) Client/Server
15 11 (0.82%) CCTV
15 11 (0.82%) Clustering
15 11 (0.82%) Enterprise Software
15 11 (0.82%) Video Editing
Operating Systems
1 212 (15.79%) Windows
2 110 (8.19%) Linux
3 69 (5.14%) Windows Server
4 21 (1.56%) Mac OS
5 19 (1.41%) Android
5 19 (1.41%) CentOS
6 17 (1.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 17 (1.27%) Windows Server 2019
7 13 (0.97%) Ubuntu
8 10 (0.74%) Windows Server 2016
9 7 (0.52%) Debian
10 6 (0.45%) Apple iOS
11 5 (0.37%) VMS
12 4 (0.30%) Windows 10
13 3 (0.22%) FreeRTOS
13 3 (0.22%) Gentoo
13 3 (0.22%) Windows 7
13 3 (0.22%) Windows Server 2012
14 2 (0.15%) Unix
15 1 (0.074%) FreeBSD
Processes & Methodologies
1 258 (19.21%) Continuous Improvement
2 239 (17.80%) Customer Service
3 176 (13.10%) Agile
4 151 (11.24%) CI/CD
5 141 (10.50%) Decision-Making
5 141 (10.50%) DevOps
6 137 (10.20%) Software Engineering
7 123 (9.16%) AI
7 123 (9.16%) Project Management
8 120 (8.94%) Cybersecurity
9 111 (8.27%) Mentoring
10 110 (8.19%) Project Delivery
11 108 (8.04%) Computer Science
12 107 (7.97%) Collaborative Working
13 103 (7.67%) Analytics
14 102 (7.59%) Stakeholder Management
15 100 (7.45%) ITIL
16 96 (7.15%) Business Intelligence
17 89 (6.63%) Logistics
18 83 (6.18%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 215 (16.01%) Python
2 210 (15.64%) SQL
3 108 (8.04%) C#
4 92 (6.85%) PowerShell
5 87 (6.48%) JavaScript
6 55 (4.10%) C++
7 50 (3.72%) Java
8 40 (2.98%) TypeScript
9 32 (2.38%) Bash
9 32 (2.38%) C
10 26 (1.94%) PHP
11 16 (1.19%) PL/SQL
12 15 (1.12%) Rust
13 13 (0.97%) Ruby
14 11 (0.82%) T-SQL
15 10 (0.74%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 10 (0.74%) Perl
16 9 (0.67%) Bicep
17 7 (0.52%) MATLAB
18 6 (0.45%) Embedded C
Qualifications
1 248 (18.47%) Degree
2 89 (6.63%) Security Cleared
3 81 (6.03%) DBS Check
4 57 (4.24%) SC Cleared
5 54 (4.02%) Computer Science Degree
6 41 (3.05%) Microsoft Certification
7 38 (2.83%) BPSS Clearance
8 31 (2.31%) ACCA
9 30 (2.23%) CIMA
9 30 (2.23%) HNC
10 28 (2.08%) Chartered Engineer
11 21 (1.56%) PMI Certification
12 20 (1.49%) A+ Certification
12 20 (1.49%) Azure Certification
12 20 (1.49%) PMP
13 17 (1.27%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 17 (1.27%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
14 14 (1.04%) CCNA
14 14 (1.04%) Cisco Certification
14 14 (1.04%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 107 (7.97%) QA
2 57 (4.24%) Data Quality
3 50 (3.72%) GDPR
4 37 (2.76%) SLA
5 28 (2.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 23 (1.71%) Accessibility
7 21 (1.56%) PCI DSS
8 15 (1.12%) NIST
9 14 (1.04%) Good Clinical Practice
10 13 (0.97%) PMO
11 11 (0.82%) Cyber Essentials
12 8 (0.60%) SOC 2
13 5 (0.37%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 5 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 5 (0.37%) GLP
13 5 (0.37%) GMP
13 5 (0.37%) GxP
13 5 (0.37%) ISO 9001
14 4 (0.30%) Def Stans
14 4 (0.30%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 124 (9.23%) Active Directory
2 66 (4.91%) Docker
3 49 (3.65%) VMware Infrastructure
4 48 (3.57%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.74%) KVM
6 7 (0.52%) vSphere
7 5 (0.37%) ClearTrust
7 5 (0.37%) VMware ESXi
7 5 (0.37%) XenApp
8 4 (0.30%) Firmware
8 4 (0.30%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (0.30%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.22%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 2 (0.15%) VMware NSX
11 1 (0.074%) Embedded Firmware
11 1 (0.074%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.074%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.074%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 71 (5.29%) Kubernetes
1 71 (5.29%) Terraform
2 37 (2.76%) Microsoft Intune
3 34 (2.53%) Ansible
4 18 (1.34%) SCCM
5 16 (1.19%) Grafana
6 13 (0.97%) Prometheus
7 12 (0.89%) Nagios
8 8 (0.60%) Podman
9 7 (0.52%) Failover Clustering
9 7 (0.52%) ZABBIX
10 6 (0.45%) vCenter Server
11 5 (0.37%) Docker Swarm
11 5 (0.37%) Graylog
12 4 (0.30%) Functional Safety
12 4 (0.30%) Jamf Pro
12 4 (0.30%) Puppet
13 2 (0.15%) Nessus
13 2 (0.15%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
14 1 (0.074%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 381 (28.37%) Microsoft
2 57 (4.24%) VMware
3 43 (3.20%) Google
4 39 (2.90%) Oracle
5 27 (2.01%) Cisco
6 26 (1.94%) Salesforce
7 25 (1.86%) Databricks
8 23 (1.71%) Veeam
9 21 (1.56%) Fortinet
10 18 (1.34%) Instagram
11 16 (1.19%) Aruba
11 16 (1.19%) SAP
11 16 (1.19%) SonicWALL
11 16 (1.19%) Splunk
12 15 (1.12%) Red Hat
13 14 (1.04%) Sage
14 13 (0.97%) ServiceNow
15 12 (0.89%) Adobe
15 12 (0.89%) Palo Alto
16 11 (0.82%) Dynatrace