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

6 months to
15 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 3 5
Rank change year-on-year -4 +2 +5
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,725 1,758 1,967
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 9.41% 19.57% 15.31%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.16% 22.23% 18.98%
Number of salaries quoted 1,236 862 953
10th Percentile £27,000 £27,000 £27,810
25th Percentile £31,000 £31,250 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £42,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year - -15.00% -0.99%
75th Percentile £57,500 £60,000 £66,000
90th Percentile £70,000 £77,500 £82,500
England median annual salary £47,043 £45,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +4.54% -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 13,107 7,907 10,362
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.52% 88.04% 80.64%
Number of salaries quoted 9,396 4,166 5,928
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £40,000 £33,750 £41,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -9.09% -
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £68,750
90th Percentile £90,000 £82,500 £82,500
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -7.26%

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 15 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 15 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 -6 652 £43,000 +1.18% 603
Hampshire -3 434 £40,000 -8.57% 350
Berkshire -4 294 £42,500 - 297
Surrey -1 259 £40,000 -4.19% 197
Buckinghamshire -5 190 £42,500 +13.33% 159
Kent -4 183 £35,000 +11.11% 94
Oxfordshire +3 168 £44,000 +1.15% 152
East Sussex -3 95 £50,000 +5.26% 87
West Sussex -7 78 £48,750 -3.47% 111
Middlesex +5 12 £35,000 -6.67% 31
Sussex -12 5 £65,000 +52.94% 18
Isle of Wight -13 2 £42,500 +3.66% 17
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 80 (4.64%) SharePoint
2 57 (3.30%) Microsoft Exchange
3 18 (1.04%) Confluence
4 16 (0.93%) IIS
5 11 (0.64%) CMS
6 7 (0.41%) OpenEdge
7 6 (0.35%) Apache
8 5 (0.29%) nginx
8 5 (0.29%) WordPress
9 3 (0.17%) OpenStack
9 3 (0.17%) SAS
10 2 (0.12%) Anypoint
10 2 (0.12%) Gentran
10 2 (0.12%) Oracle Workflow
10 2 (0.12%) Tomcat
Applications
1 122 (7.07%) Microsoft Office
2 113 (6.55%) Microsoft Excel
3 18 (1.04%) AutoCAD
4 16 (0.93%) Microsoft Project
5 14 (0.81%) Spreadsheet
6 10 (0.58%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 9 (0.52%) Revit
8 8 (0.46%) MS Visio
9 5 (0.29%) Lightworks
9 5 (0.29%) Simulink
10 3 (0.17%) EPLAN
10 3 (0.17%) Mathematica
10 3 (0.17%) SOLIDWORKS
11 2 (0.12%) Chatbot
11 2 (0.12%) Photoshop
12 1 (0.058%) Mathcad
12 1 (0.058%) PTC Creo
12 1 (0.058%) Siemens NX
12 1 (0.058%) Solid Edge
12 1 (0.058%) S-PLUS
Business Applications
1 25 (1.45%) NetSuite
2 18 (1.04%) Shopify
3 16 (0.93%) Dynamics CRM
4 6 (0.35%) Primavera
4 6 (0.35%) Raiser’s Edge
5 5 (0.29%) Magento
6 3 (0.17%) Infor SunSystems
6 3 (0.17%) Payment Gateway
6 3 (0.17%) Sage X3
7 2 (0.12%) Academy Housing
7 2 (0.12%) Eloqua
7 2 (0.12%) Oracle Applications
7 2 (0.12%) Salesforce CRM
7 2 (0.12%) Siebel CRM
7 2 (0.12%) Workday HCM
8 1 (0.058%) Adobe Campaign
8 1 (0.058%) HFM
Cloud Services
1 379 (21.97%) Azure
2 233 (13.51%) Microsoft 365
3 174 (10.09%) AWS
4 99 (5.74%) Power Platform
5 82 (4.75%) Entra ID
6 69 (4.00%) SaaS
7 49 (2.84%) GCP
8 41 (2.38%) Azure DevOps
9 34 (1.97%) GitHub
10 31 (1.80%) Serverless
11 30 (1.74%) Google Workspace
12 19 (1.10%) Dynamics 365
13 18 (1.04%) Anthropic Claude
14 17 (0.99%) IaaS
14 17 (0.99%) PaaS
15 16 (0.93%) OneDrive
16 15 (0.87%) Google Tag Manager
17 14 (0.81%) Amazon ECS
17 14 (0.81%) Azure Synapse Analytics
18 13 (0.75%) Azure Monitor
Communications & Networking
1 150 (8.70%) Firewall
2 83 (4.81%) DNS
3 68 (3.94%) VPN
4 62 (3.59%) TCP/IP
5 60 (3.48%) DHCP
6 55 (3.19%) VLAN
7 52 (3.01%) WAN
8 51 (2.96%) Wi-Fi
9 50 (2.90%) LAN
10 49 (2.84%) Wireless
11 37 (2.14%) VoIP
12 36 (2.09%) Network Security
13 18 (1.04%) SSL
14 14 (0.81%) Internet
15 10 (0.58%) MQTT
16 9 (0.52%) 5G
16 9 (0.52%) LTE
17 8 (0.46%) Broadband
17 8 (0.46%) HTTP
18 7 (0.41%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 124 (7.19%) SQL Server
2 82 (4.75%) Power BI
3 35 (2.03%) Relational Database
4 30 (1.74%) MySQL
5 29 (1.68%) PostgreSQL
6 24 (1.39%) NoSQL
7 17 (0.99%) Data Warehouse
8 14 (0.81%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 12 (0.70%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 11 (0.64%) Amazon RDS
11 10 (0.58%) Tableau
12 9 (0.52%) GIS
12 9 (0.52%) MongoDB
13 7 (0.41%) Azure SQL Database
13 7 (0.41%) DynamoDB
13 7 (0.41%) OLTP
14 6 (0.35%) Data Lake
14 6 (0.35%) Metadata
15 5 (0.29%) Electronic Patient Records
15 5 (0.29%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 65 (3.77%) Git
2 62 (3.59%) JIRA
3 17 (0.99%) GitLab
3 17 (0.99%) Rational DOORS
4 14 (0.81%) Claude Code
5 11 (0.64%) Oracle Forms
5 11 (0.64%) Team Foundation Server
6 5 (0.29%) Eclipse
6 5 (0.29%) Eclipse RCP
6 5 (0.29%) Jenkins
6 5 (0.29%) Selenium
6 5 (0.29%) Visual Studio
7 4 (0.23%) Postman
7 4 (0.23%) Terragrunt
8 3 (0.17%) PetaLinux
8 3 (0.17%) PHPUnit
8 3 (0.17%) SpecFlow
9 2 (0.12%) Cucumber
9 2 (0.12%) Mocha
9 2 (0.12%) Subversion
General
1 882 (51.13%) Social Skills
2 473 (27.42%) Analytical Skills
3 269 (15.59%) Finance
4 159 (9.22%) Manufacturing
5 149 (8.64%) Organisational Skills
6 121 (7.01%) Aerospace
7 104 (6.03%) Electronics
8 93 (5.39%) Retail
9 65 (3.77%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 51 (2.96%) Marketing
11 50 (2.90%) Influencing Skills
12 48 (2.78%) Legal
12 48 (2.78%) Telecoms
13 42 (2.43%) Military
14 39 (2.26%) Public Sector
15 38 (2.20%) Law
16 26 (1.51%) Aviation
17 25 (1.45%) Documentation Skills
18 23 (1.33%) Advertising
19 20 (1.16%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 244 (14.14%) Analyst
2 178 (10.32%) Senior
3 164 (9.51%) IT Support
4 155 (8.99%) Developer
5 126 (7.30%) Support Analyst
6 124 (7.19%) Support Engineer
7 93 (5.39%) IT Engineer
8 78 (4.52%) Lead
8 78 (4.52%) Systems Engineer
9 75 (4.35%) Technical Support
10 73 (4.23%) Support Technician
11 72 (4.17%) Software Engineer
12 63 (3.65%) IT Support Engineer
13 55 (3.19%) 2nd Line Support
13 55 (3.19%) Technical Engineer
14 53 (3.07%) Technical Support Engineer
15 52 (3.01%) IT Technician
16 50 (2.90%) Architect
16 50 (2.90%) IT Analyst
17 48 (2.78%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 117 (6.78%) .NET
2 79 (4.58%) Terraform
3 73 (4.23%) HTML
4 63 (3.65%) REST
5 54 (3.13%) CSS
6 53 (3.07%) ASP.NET
7 52 (3.01%) React
8 50 (2.90%) SOAP
9 35 (2.03%) ASP.NET Core
10 30 (1.74%) AngularJS
10 30 (1.74%) OAuth
11 29 (1.68%) RESTful
12 28 (1.62%) Vue
13 27 (1.57%) ModSecurity
14 26 (1.51%) JSON
14 26 (1.51%) XML
15 22 (1.28%) ASP.NET Web API
15 22 (1.28%) jQuery
16 21 (1.22%) LESS
17 19 (1.10%) ASP.NET Web Forms
Miscellaneous
1 129 (7.48%) Driving Licence
2 122 (7.07%) Onboarding
3 94 (5.45%) Management Information System
4 87 (5.04%) Self-Motivation
5 65 (3.77%) Cloud Native
6 49 (2.84%) Product Ownership
7 41 (2.38%) Data Centre
8 32 (1.86%) Robotics
9 31 (1.80%) Enterprise Software
10 30 (1.74%) Social Media
11 27 (1.57%) Legacy Systems
12 25 (1.45%) CCTV
12 25 (1.45%) Distributed Systems
13 24 (1.39%) Analytical Mindset
14 23 (1.33%) Analogue Electronics
15 19 (1.10%) EPoS
16 18 (1.04%) Mobile App
17 16 (0.93%) Cyber Threat
17 16 (0.93%) Renewable Energy
17 16 (0.93%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 284 (16.46%) Windows
2 108 (6.26%) Linux
3 101 (5.86%) Windows Server
4 26 (1.51%) Android
5 21 (1.22%) Mac OS
6 19 (1.10%) Windows 10
6 19 (1.10%) Windows Server 2019
7 17 (0.99%) Apple iOS
8 12 (0.70%) Ubuntu
9 10 (0.58%) CentOS
9 10 (0.58%) Windows Server 2016
10 9 (0.52%) Debian
10 9 (0.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 6 (0.35%) Rocky
11 6 (0.35%) Windows Server 2012
12 3 (0.17%) FreeRTOS
12 3 (0.17%) Gentoo
12 3 (0.17%) VMS
12 3 (0.17%) Windows 7
13 2 (0.12%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 381 (22.09%) Continuous Improvement
2 323 (18.72%) Customer Service
3 232 (13.45%) Agile
4 207 (12.00%) Decision-Making
5 185 (10.72%) Stakeholder Management
6 181 (10.49%) AI
7 180 (10.43%) Project Management
8 172 (9.97%) Project Delivery
9 169 (9.80%) Software Engineering
10 158 (9.16%) CI/CD
10 158 (9.16%) ITIL
11 154 (8.93%) Collaborative Working
12 144 (8.35%) Mentoring
13 142 (8.23%) DevOps
14 141 (8.17%) Cybersecurity
15 139 (8.06%) Validation
16 129 (7.48%) CRM
17 123 (7.13%) Computer Science
18 117 (6.78%) Analytics
19 114 (6.61%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 224 (12.99%) SQL
2 197 (11.42%) Python
3 134 (7.77%) C#
4 110 (6.38%) JavaScript
5 95 (5.51%) PowerShell
6 65 (3.77%) C++
7 63 (3.65%) TypeScript
8 59 (3.42%) Java
9 27 (1.57%) C
10 26 (1.51%) Bash
11 22 (1.28%) Ruby
12 20 (1.16%) T-SQL
13 18 (1.04%) PHP
14 16 (0.93%) VB.NET
15 13 (0.75%) MATLAB
16 10 (0.58%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 10 (0.58%) Rust
17 9 (0.52%) PL/SQL
18 8 (0.46%) Perl
19 7 (0.41%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 354 (20.52%) Degree
2 191 (11.07%) Security Cleared
3 133 (7.71%) SC Cleared
4 113 (6.55%) DBS Check
5 64 (3.71%) Computer Science Degree
6 60 (3.48%) DV Cleared
6 60 (3.48%) Microsoft Certification
7 57 (3.30%) BPSS Clearance
7 57 (3.30%) HNC
8 55 (3.19%) Azure Certification
9 53 (3.07%) HND
10 32 (1.86%) CISSP
11 31 (1.80%) Master's Degree
12 30 (1.74%) Chartered Engineer
12 30 (1.74%) PMI Certification
13 29 (1.68%) A+ Certification
14 27 (1.57%) CISM
15 24 (1.39%) PMP
16 23 (1.33%) AWS Certification
17 22 (1.28%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 146 (8.46%) QA
2 70 (4.06%) GDPR
3 55 (3.19%) Data Quality
4 44 (2.55%) SLA
5 43 (2.49%) Accessibility
6 39 (2.26%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 23 (1.33%) NIST
8 19 (1.10%) Cyber Essentials
9 18 (1.04%) Good Clinical Practice
10 17 (0.99%) PCI DSS
11 16 (0.93%) PMO
12 15 (0.87%) DO-254
13 12 (0.70%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 9 (0.52%) GMP
15 8 (0.46%) 21 CFR Part 11
15 8 (0.46%) GLP
15 8 (0.46%) GxP
15 8 (0.46%) SOC 2
16 5 (0.29%) ISO 9001
16 5 (0.29%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 154 (8.93%) Active Directory
2 83 (4.81%) VMware Infrastructure
3 62 (3.59%) Docker
3 62 (3.59%) Hyper-V
4 14 (0.81%) Firmware
5 9 (0.52%) VMware ESXi
5 9 (0.52%) vSphere
6 7 (0.41%) Virtual Desktop
7 6 (0.35%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (0.29%) ClearTrust
8 5 (0.29%) Embedded Firmware
8 5 (0.29%) Squid
9 4 (0.23%) KVM
10 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 3 (0.17%) Virtual Servers
11 1 (0.058%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.058%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 71 (4.12%) Kubernetes
2 59 (3.42%) Microsoft Intune
3 33 (1.91%) Ansible
4 22 (1.28%) SCCM
5 17 (0.99%) Single Sign-On
6 15 (0.87%) Jamf Pro
7 10 (0.58%) Grafana
8 8 (0.46%) Podman
9 7 (0.41%) Failover Clustering
9 7 (0.41%) Prometheus
9 7 (0.41%) Puppet
10 6 (0.35%) Graylog
10 6 (0.35%) Nagios
11 4 (0.23%) Docker Swarm
11 4 (0.23%) Functional Safety
11 4 (0.23%) vCenter Server
12 3 (0.17%) BMC PATROL
12 3 (0.17%) ZABBIX
13 2 (0.12%) CASB
13 2 (0.12%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 533 (30.90%) Microsoft
2 99 (5.74%) VMware
3 78 (4.52%) Google
4 52 (3.01%) Oracle
5 43 (2.49%) SAP
6 39 (2.26%) Fortinet
6 39 (2.26%) SonicWALL
7 37 (2.14%) Cisco
7 37 (2.14%) ServiceNow
7 37 (2.14%) Veeam
8 31 (1.80%) Salesforce
9 23 (1.33%) Sage
10 21 (1.22%) Apple
11 19 (1.10%) Palo Alto
12 16 (0.93%) Aruba
13 15 (0.87%) Mentor Graphics
14 14 (0.81%) CA Agile Central
14 14 (0.81%) Databricks
15 13 (0.75%) Thales
16 12 (0.70%) ForgeRock