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

6 months to
29 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 3 5
Rank change year-on-year -3 +2 +5
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,850 1,689 1,969
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 9.79% 18.98% 15.57%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.60% 21.51% 19.13%
Number of salaries quoted 1,297 874 875
10th Percentile £27,000 £27,000 £27,200
25th Percentile £31,000 £31,250 £36,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £41,585 £41,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +1.43% -18.00% -0.99%
75th Percentile £57,500 £60,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £68,750 £75,970 £83,750
England median annual salary £46,500 £45,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +3.33% -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 13,603 7,851 10,294
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 72.00% 88.20% 81.42%
Number of salaries quoted 9,672 4,192 5,500
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £31,975
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,750 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £49,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +12.24% -10.91% -
75th Percentile £70,000 £66,433 £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% -2.44%

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 29 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 29 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 -4 700 £42,500 +3.66% 622
Hampshire -1 469 £40,000 -5.88% 337
Berkshire -4 318 £42,500 - 310
Surrey -1 280 £40,000 -5.88% 173
Buckinghamshire -5 202 £42,500 +13.33% 147
Kent -1 198 £35,000 +7.69% 96
Oxfordshire +3 180 £44,000 +2.33% 172
East Sussex -1 93 £50,000 +5.26% 78
West Sussex -7 84 £45,000 -10.89% 103
Middlesex +4 13 £35,000 -6.67% 12
Sussex -11 7 £65,000 +52.94% 18
Isle of Wight -9 2 £42,500 +3.66% 3
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 92 (4.97%) SharePoint
2 65 (3.51%) Microsoft Exchange
3 17 (0.92%) Confluence
3 17 (0.92%) IIS
4 10 (0.54%) CMS
5 7 (0.38%) OpenEdge
6 6 (0.32%) Apache
7 5 (0.27%) nginx
7 5 (0.27%) WordPress
8 3 (0.16%) SAS
9 2 (0.11%) Gentran
9 2 (0.11%) Oracle Workflow
9 2 (0.11%) Tomcat
10 1 (0.054%) Apache Spark
10 1 (0.054%) OpenStack
Applications
1 145 (7.84%) Microsoft Office
2 120 (6.49%) Microsoft Excel
3 19 (1.03%) AutoCAD
4 18 (0.97%) Microsoft Project
5 16 (0.86%) Spreadsheet
6 14 (0.76%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 9 (0.49%) MS Visio
7 9 (0.49%) Revit
8 6 (0.32%) Lightworks
8 6 (0.32%) Simulink
9 5 (0.27%) SOLIDWORKS
10 4 (0.22%) Mathematica
11 3 (0.16%) EPLAN
12 2 (0.11%) Chatbot
12 2 (0.11%) Photoshop
12 2 (0.11%) PTC Creo
12 2 (0.11%) Siemens NX
12 2 (0.11%) Solid Edge
13 1 (0.054%) Mathcad
13 1 (0.054%) S-PLUS
Business Applications
1 26 (1.41%) NetSuite
2 19 (1.03%) Shopify
3 15 (0.81%) Dynamics CRM
4 7 (0.38%) Primavera
5 6 (0.32%) Raiser’s Edge
6 5 (0.27%) Magento
7 3 (0.16%) Payment Gateway
7 3 (0.16%) Sage X3
8 2 (0.11%) Academy Housing
8 2 (0.11%) Eloqua
8 2 (0.11%) Infor SunSystems
8 2 (0.11%) Oracle Applications
8 2 (0.11%) Siebel CRM
8 2 (0.11%) Workday HCM
9 1 (0.054%) Adobe Campaign
9 1 (0.054%) FastStats
9 1 (0.054%) FastStats PeopleStage
9 1 (0.054%) HFM
9 1 (0.054%) Oracle Receivables
9 1 (0.054%) SAP MDG
Cloud Services
1 374 (20.22%) Azure
2 257 (13.89%) Microsoft 365
3 175 (9.46%) AWS
4 103 (5.57%) Power Platform
5 90 (4.86%) Entra ID
6 75 (4.05%) SaaS
7 48 (2.59%) GCP
8 40 (2.16%) Azure DevOps
9 35 (1.89%) GitHub
10 33 (1.78%) Google Workspace
11 32 (1.73%) Serverless
12 23 (1.24%) OneDrive
13 18 (0.97%) Anthropic Claude
14 15 (0.81%) Amazon ECS
14 15 (0.81%) Dynamics 365
14 15 (0.81%) PaaS
15 14 (0.76%) Google Analytics
15 14 (0.76%) Google Tag Manager
15 14 (0.76%) IaaS
16 13 (0.70%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 162 (8.76%) Firewall
2 90 (4.86%) DNS
3 73 (3.95%) VPN
4 67 (3.62%) DHCP
5 60 (3.24%) VLAN
6 59 (3.19%) TCP/IP
7 56 (3.03%) Wi-Fi
8 54 (2.92%) WAN
9 53 (2.86%) LAN
9 53 (2.86%) Wireless
10 39 (2.11%) VoIP
11 38 (2.05%) Network Security
12 18 (0.97%) SSL
13 13 (0.70%) Internet
14 11 (0.59%) MQTT
15 9 (0.49%) 5G
15 9 (0.49%) Broadband
15 9 (0.49%) LTE
16 8 (0.43%) Ethernet
17 7 (0.38%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 122 (6.59%) SQL Server
2 84 (4.54%) Power BI
3 35 (1.89%) Relational Database
4 31 (1.68%) MySQL
5 30 (1.62%) PostgreSQL
6 25 (1.35%) NoSQL
7 14 (0.76%) Data Warehouse
8 13 (0.70%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 12 (0.65%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 11 (0.59%) Amazon RDS
10 11 (0.59%) GIS
11 9 (0.49%) MongoDB
11 9 (0.49%) Tableau
12 7 (0.38%) DynamoDB
12 7 (0.38%) Metadata
13 6 (0.32%) Azure SQL Database
13 6 (0.32%) OLTP
14 5 (0.27%) Electronic Patient Records
14 5 (0.27%) Power Query
15 4 (0.22%) Looker
Development Applications
1 64 (3.46%) Git
2 62 (3.35%) JIRA
3 16 (0.86%) GitLab
3 16 (0.86%) Rational DOORS
4 15 (0.81%) Claude Code
5 12 (0.65%) Oracle Forms
5 12 (0.65%) Team Foundation Server
6 6 (0.32%) Jenkins
6 6 (0.32%) Selenium
7 5 (0.27%) Eclipse
7 5 (0.27%) Eclipse RCP
7 5 (0.27%) Visual Studio
8 4 (0.22%) PetaLinux
8 4 (0.22%) Postman
8 4 (0.22%) Terragrunt
9 3 (0.16%) Mocha
9 3 (0.16%) PHPUnit
9 3 (0.16%) SpecFlow
10 2 (0.11%) Cucumber
10 2 (0.11%) LabVIEW
General
1 965 (52.16%) Social Skills
2 487 (26.32%) Analytical Skills
3 294 (15.89%) Finance
4 194 (10.49%) Manufacturing
5 185 (10.00%) Organisational Skills
6 143 (7.73%) Aerospace
7 116 (6.27%) Electronics
8 107 (5.78%) Retail
9 67 (3.62%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 62 (3.35%) Marketing
11 54 (2.92%) Influencing Skills
12 53 (2.86%) Legal
13 48 (2.59%) Public Sector
14 45 (2.43%) Military
15 44 (2.38%) Telecoms
16 38 (2.05%) Law
17 28 (1.51%) Aviation
17 28 (1.51%) Documentation Skills
18 25 (1.35%) Presentation Skills
19 24 (1.30%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 260 (14.05%) Analyst
2 182 (9.84%) Senior
3 174 (9.41%) IT Support
4 154 (8.32%) Developer
5 141 (7.62%) Support Analyst
6 132 (7.14%) Support Engineer
7 96 (5.19%) IT Engineer
8 85 (4.59%) Lead
9 83 (4.49%) Technical Support
10 76 (4.11%) Support Technician
11 71 (3.84%) Systems Engineer
12 69 (3.73%) Software Engineer
13 68 (3.68%) IT Support Engineer
14 60 (3.24%) Technical Engineer
15 58 (3.14%) 2nd Line Support
15 58 (3.14%) IT Analyst
15 58 (3.14%) Technical Support Engineer
16 53 (2.86%) IT Technician
17 52 (2.81%) Consultant
18 49 (2.65%) IT Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 121 (6.54%) .NET
2 77 (4.16%) Terraform
3 72 (3.89%) HTML
4 61 (3.30%) REST
5 55 (2.97%) ASP.NET
6 54 (2.92%) CSS
7 53 (2.86%) React
8 47 (2.54%) SOAP
9 36 (1.95%) ASP.NET Core
10 31 (1.68%) AngularJS
10 31 (1.68%) RESTful
11 29 (1.57%) JSON
12 28 (1.51%) Vue
12 28 (1.51%) XML
13 27 (1.46%) ModSecurity
13 27 (1.46%) OAuth
14 23 (1.24%) ASP.NET Web API
14 23 (1.24%) ASP.NET Web Forms
15 22 (1.19%) jQuery
16 21 (1.14%) LESS
Miscellaneous
1 151 (8.16%) Driving Licence
2 130 (7.03%) Onboarding
3 108 (5.84%) Management Information System
4 93 (5.03%) Self-Motivation
5 65 (3.51%) Cloud Native
6 50 (2.70%) Product Ownership
7 40 (2.16%) Data Centre
8 35 (1.89%) Robotics
9 32 (1.73%) Enterprise Software
10 30 (1.62%) Social Media
11 26 (1.41%) Analogue Electronics
12 25 (1.35%) Analytical Mindset
12 25 (1.35%) CCTV
12 25 (1.35%) Legacy Systems
13 22 (1.19%) Distributed Systems
14 18 (0.97%) Mobile App
14 18 (0.97%) Renewable Energy
15 17 (0.92%) EPoS
16 16 (0.86%) Embedded Systems
16 16 (0.86%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 299 (16.16%) Windows
2 112 (6.05%) Windows Server
3 103 (5.57%) Linux
4 27 (1.46%) Android
5 24 (1.30%) Windows 10
6 22 (1.19%) Mac OS
7 19 (1.03%) Windows Server 2019
8 18 (0.97%) Apple iOS
9 10 (0.54%) Ubuntu
10 9 (0.49%) Windows Server 2016
11 7 (0.38%) Debian
12 6 (0.32%) CentOS
12 6 (0.32%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 6 (0.32%) Rocky
12 6 (0.32%) Windows Server 2012
13 4 (0.22%) FreeRTOS
14 3 (0.16%) Gentoo
14 3 (0.16%) Unix
14 3 (0.16%) Windows 7
15 2 (0.11%) Embedded Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 422 (22.81%) Continuous Improvement
2 368 (19.89%) Customer Service
3 231 (12.49%) Agile
4 219 (11.84%) Decision-Making
5 212 (11.46%) Stakeholder Management
6 197 (10.65%) Project Management
7 190 (10.27%) AI
8 185 (10.00%) Project Delivery
9 172 (9.30%) Collaborative Working
10 162 (8.76%) Software Engineering
11 158 (8.54%) ITIL
12 154 (8.32%) CI/CD
13 146 (7.89%) CRM
13 146 (7.89%) Cybersecurity
14 145 (7.84%) Mentoring
15 143 (7.73%) Validation
16 135 (7.30%) DevOps
17 126 (6.81%) Computer Science
18 120 (6.49%) ERP
19 117 (6.32%) Analytics
Programming Languages
1 228 (12.32%) SQL
2 193 (10.43%) Python
3 139 (7.51%) C#
4 112 (6.05%) JavaScript
5 91 (4.92%) PowerShell
6 68 (3.68%) C++
7 66 (3.57%) TypeScript
8 63 (3.41%) Java
9 25 (1.35%) Bash
9 25 (1.35%) C
10 23 (1.24%) Ruby
11 21 (1.14%) T-SQL
12 18 (0.97%) VB.NET
13 17 (0.92%) PHP
14 16 (0.86%) MATLAB
15 11 (0.59%) Rust
16 10 (0.54%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 9 (0.49%) PL/SQL
18 7 (0.38%) Bicep
18 7 (0.38%) Perl
Qualifications
1 366 (19.78%) Degree
2 203 (10.97%) Security Cleared
3 136 (7.35%) SC Cleared
4 117 (6.32%) DBS Check
5 65 (3.51%) HNC
5 65 (3.51%) Microsoft Certification
6 62 (3.35%) Computer Science Degree
7 61 (3.30%) HND
8 59 (3.19%) BPSS Clearance
8 59 (3.19%) DV Cleared
9 55 (2.97%) Azure Certification
10 32 (1.73%) CISSP
11 30 (1.62%) PMI Certification
12 29 (1.57%) A+ Certification
12 29 (1.57%) Master's Degree
13 28 (1.51%) Chartered Engineer
14 26 (1.41%) CISM
15 24 (1.30%) PMP
16 23 (1.24%) AWS Certification
17 22 (1.19%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 144 (7.78%) QA
2 72 (3.89%) GDPR
3 53 (2.86%) Data Quality
4 51 (2.76%) SLA
5 42 (2.27%) Accessibility
6 41 (2.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 23 (1.24%) NIST
8 20 (1.08%) Cyber Essentials
9 19 (1.03%) DO-254
10 18 (0.97%) Good Clinical Practice
11 17 (0.92%) PMO
12 16 (0.86%) PCI DSS
13 12 (0.65%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 12 (0.65%) ISO 9001
14 9 (0.49%) GMP
15 8 (0.43%) 21 CFR Part 11
15 8 (0.43%) GLP
15 8 (0.43%) GxP
16 7 (0.38%) SOC 2
17 5 (0.27%) Def Stans
System Software
1 168 (9.08%) Active Directory
2 83 (4.49%) VMware Infrastructure
3 66 (3.57%) Hyper-V
4 59 (3.19%) Docker
5 17 (0.92%) Firmware
6 10 (0.54%) Virtual Desktop
7 9 (0.49%) VMware ESXi
8 8 (0.43%) vSphere
9 7 (0.38%) Virtual Servers
10 6 (0.32%) Embedded Firmware
10 6 (0.32%) Virtual Machines
11 5 (0.27%) ClearTrust
11 5 (0.27%) Squid
12 3 (0.16%) KVM
13 1 (0.054%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 1 (0.054%) Slurm Workload Manager
13 1 (0.054%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 67 (3.62%) Kubernetes
2 65 (3.51%) Microsoft Intune
3 32 (1.73%) Ansible
4 22 (1.19%) SCCM
5 17 (0.92%) Single Sign-On
6 15 (0.81%) Jamf Pro
7 10 (0.54%) Grafana
8 8 (0.43%) Podman
8 8 (0.43%) Prometheus
9 7 (0.38%) Failover Clustering
9 7 (0.38%) Nagios
10 6 (0.32%) Functional Safety
10 6 (0.32%) Graylog
11 5 (0.27%) BMC PATROL
11 5 (0.27%) Puppet
11 5 (0.27%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
12 4 (0.22%) Docker Swarm
13 3 (0.16%) vCenter Server
14 2 (0.11%) CASB
14 2 (0.11%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 578 (31.24%) Microsoft
2 99 (5.35%) VMware
3 81 (4.38%) Google
4 54 (2.92%) Oracle
5 48 (2.59%) SAP
6 41 (2.22%) Fortinet
6 41 (2.22%) SonicWALL
6 41 (2.22%) Veeam
7 39 (2.11%) Cisco
8 38 (2.05%) ServiceNow
9 33 (1.78%) Salesforce
10 22 (1.19%) Apple
10 22 (1.19%) Sage
11 21 (1.14%) Palo Alto
12 18 (0.97%) Mentor Graphics
12 18 (0.97%) Thales
13 16 (0.86%) Aruba
13 16 (0.86%) WatchGuard
14 15 (0.81%) CA Agile Central
14 15 (0.81%) EMC