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 19 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 3 5
Rank change year-on-year -3 +2 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,561 1,715 2,057
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 9.06% 19.20% 14.86%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.70% 21.81% 18.39%
Number of salaries quoted 1,141 865 1,198
10th Percentile £27,000 £27,000 £27,500
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,500 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £42,500 £48,000
Median % change year-on-year - -11.46% -6.66%
75th Percentile £58,750 £61,250 £63,750
90th Percentile £72,500 £78,750 £79,605
England median annual salary £47,500 £45,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +5.56% -10.00% -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 12,296 7,863 11,186
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.39% 88.02% 80.82%
Number of salaries quoted 8,798 4,205 7,198
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,925 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £33,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £67,500
90th Percentile £86,250 £81,250 £81,250
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -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 19 August 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 19 August 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 -5 570 £42,750 +0.59% 389
Hampshire -2 410 £42,500 -5.56% 224
Berkshire -3 254 £43,250 +1.76% 162
Surrey -1 249 £42,500 +6.25% 143
Buckinghamshire -7 177 £42,500 +13.33% 126
Kent -5 152 £37,500 +15.38% 99
Oxfordshire +1 139 £41,982 -5.13% 103
East Sussex -4 97 £50,000 - 60
West Sussex -8 70 £50,000 -0.99% 60
Middlesex +1 8 £50,000 +33.33% 32
Isle of Wight -8 2 £42,500 -9.57% 20
Sussex -13 1 - - 16
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 55 (3.52%) SharePoint
2 44 (2.82%) Microsoft Exchange
3 18 (1.15%) Confluence
4 17 (1.09%) CMS
5 13 (0.83%) IIS
6 7 (0.45%) Apache
6 7 (0.45%) OpenEdge
6 7 (0.45%) WordPress
7 5 (0.32%) nginx
8 3 (0.19%) Anypoint
8 3 (0.19%) OpenStack
8 3 (0.19%) SAS
9 2 (0.13%) Gentran
9 2 (0.13%) Oracle Workflow
9 2 (0.13%) Tomcat
Applications
1 103 (6.60%) Microsoft Excel
2 92 (5.89%) Microsoft Office
3 14 (0.90%) Microsoft Project
4 12 (0.77%) Spreadsheet
5 10 (0.64%) AutoCAD
6 7 (0.45%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 7 (0.45%) MS Visio
7 6 (0.38%) Revit
8 5 (0.32%) Lightworks
9 4 (0.26%) Photoshop
9 4 (0.26%) Simulink
10 3 (0.19%) Adobe Illustrator
10 3 (0.19%) EPLAN
11 2 (0.13%) Chatbot
12 1 (0.064%) Mathcad
12 1 (0.064%) OrCAD
12 1 (0.064%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 16 (1.02%) NetSuite
2 13 (0.83%) Shopify
3 11 (0.70%) Dynamics CRM
4 7 (0.45%) Magento
5 6 (0.38%) Primavera
5 6 (0.38%) Raiser’s Edge
6 3 (0.19%) Infor SunSystems
6 3 (0.19%) Payment Gateway
6 3 (0.19%) Sage X3
6 3 (0.19%) Salesforce CRM
7 2 (0.13%) Academy Housing
7 2 (0.13%) Oracle Applications
7 2 (0.13%) Siebel CRM
7 2 (0.13%) Workday HCM
8 1 (0.064%) Elite 3E
8 1 (0.064%) HFM
8 1 (0.064%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 371 (23.77%) Azure
2 180 (11.53%) Microsoft 365
3 170 (10.89%) AWS
4 86 (5.51%) Power Platform
5 66 (4.23%) SaaS
6 63 (4.04%) Entra ID
7 50 (3.20%) GCP
8 44 (2.82%) Azure DevOps
9 37 (2.37%) GitHub
10 31 (1.99%) Serverless
11 20 (1.28%) Google Workspace
11 20 (1.28%) IaaS
11 20 (1.28%) PaaS
12 19 (1.22%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 17 (1.09%) Datadog
14 16 (1.02%) Anthropic Claude
14 16 (1.02%) Dynamics 365
14 16 (1.02%) GitHub Actions
14 16 (1.02%) Google Tag Manager
15 15 (0.96%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 134 (8.58%) Firewall
2 69 (4.42%) DNS
3 56 (3.59%) TCP/IP
4 55 (3.52%) VPN
5 48 (3.07%) DHCP
5 48 (3.07%) WAN
6 46 (2.95%) LAN
7 43 (2.75%) Wi-Fi
8 41 (2.63%) Wireless
9 35 (2.24%) VLAN
10 32 (2.05%) VoIP
11 31 (1.99%) Network Security
12 16 (1.02%) SSL
13 14 (0.90%) Internet
14 11 (0.70%) Broadband
15 10 (0.64%) HTTP
15 10 (0.64%) MQTT
16 9 (0.58%) LTE
17 6 (0.38%) WLAN
18 5 (0.32%) VSAT
Database & Business Intelligence
1 121 (7.75%) SQL Server
2 72 (4.61%) Power BI
3 36 (2.31%) Relational Database
4 32 (2.05%) MySQL
5 29 (1.86%) PostgreSQL
6 24 (1.54%) NoSQL
7 18 (1.15%) Data Warehouse
8 14 (0.90%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 12 (0.77%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 12 (0.77%) Tableau
10 11 (0.70%) Amazon RDS
11 10 (0.64%) Data Lake
12 9 (0.58%) MongoDB
12 9 (0.58%) OLTP
13 7 (0.45%) Azure SQL Database
13 7 (0.45%) DynamoDB
13 7 (0.45%) GIS
13 7 (0.45%) Looker
14 5 (0.32%) Electronic Patient Records
15 4 (0.26%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 75 (4.80%) Git
2 59 (3.78%) JIRA
3 27 (1.73%) GitLab
4 18 (1.15%) Rational DOORS
5 11 (0.70%) Claude Code
6 8 (0.51%) Oracle Forms
6 8 (0.51%) Team Foundation Server
7 6 (0.38%) Selenium
8 5 (0.32%) Eclipse
8 5 (0.32%) Eclipse RCP
8 5 (0.32%) Jenkins
8 5 (0.32%) Postman
8 5 (0.32%) Visual Studio
9 4 (0.26%) PHPUnit
9 4 (0.26%) Terragrunt
10 3 (0.19%) PetaLinux
10 3 (0.19%) SpecFlow
11 2 (0.13%) Android Studio
11 2 (0.13%) Mocha
11 2 (0.13%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 773 (49.52%) Social Skills
2 450 (28.83%) Analytical Skills
3 226 (14.48%) Finance
4 125 (8.01%) Manufacturing
5 114 (7.30%) Organisational Skills
6 95 (6.09%) Aerospace
7 90 (5.77%) Electronics
8 71 (4.55%) Retail
9 58 (3.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 51 (3.27%) Telecoms
11 43 (2.75%) Marketing
12 41 (2.63%) Influencing Skills
13 40 (2.56%) Legal
14 38 (2.43%) Law
14 38 (2.43%) Military
15 37 (2.37%) Public Sector
16 29 (1.86%) Documentation Skills
17 22 (1.41%) Aviation
18 21 (1.35%) Local Government
19 16 (1.02%) Banking
Job Titles
1 212 (13.58%) Analyst
2 168 (10.76%) Senior
3 155 (9.93%) Developer
4 145 (9.29%) IT Support
5 114 (7.30%) Support Engineer
6 102 (6.53%) Support Analyst
7 85 (5.45%) IT Engineer
8 70 (4.48%) Lead
8 70 (4.48%) Software Engineer
9 69 (4.42%) Systems Engineer
10 67 (4.29%) Support Technician
11 66 (4.23%) Technical Support
12 53 (3.40%) 2nd Line Support
12 53 (3.40%) Architect
12 53 (3.40%) IT Support Engineer
13 48 (3.07%) IT Technician
14 46 (2.95%) Technical Engineer
14 46 (2.95%) Technical Support Engineer
15 44 (2.82%) Consultant
16 41 (2.63%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 112 (7.17%) .NET
2 76 (4.87%) HTML
3 61 (3.91%) REST
4 56 (3.59%) CSS
5 52 (3.33%) React
6 49 (3.14%) ASP.NET
6 49 (3.14%) SOAP
7 36 (2.31%) OAuth
8 34 (2.18%) ASP.NET Core
9 30 (1.92%) AngularJS
9 30 (1.92%) JSON
10 29 (1.86%) RESTful
11 28 (1.79%) Vue
12 26 (1.67%) XML
13 24 (1.54%) ModSecurity
14 21 (1.35%) SAML
15 19 (1.22%) ASP.NET Web API
15 19 (1.22%) jQuery
16 18 (1.15%) LESS
17 17 (1.09%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 116 (7.43%) Driving Licence
2 95 (6.09%) Onboarding
3 79 (5.06%) Management Information System
4 75 (4.80%) Self-Motivation
5 65 (4.16%) Cloud Native
6 43 (2.75%) Product Ownership
7 35 (2.24%) Data Centre
8 32 (2.05%) Social Media
9 30 (1.92%) Distributed Systems
10 28 (1.79%) Analytical Mindset
10 28 (1.79%) Enterprise Software
11 27 (1.73%) Robotics
12 26 (1.67%) Legacy Systems
13 20 (1.28%) Analogue Electronics
14 18 (1.15%) EPoS
15 17 (1.09%) CCTV
15 17 (1.09%) NHS
16 16 (1.02%) Mobile App
17 15 (0.96%) Renewable Energy
18 14 (0.90%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 248 (15.89%) Windows
2 112 (7.17%) Linux
3 89 (5.70%) Windows Server
4 22 (1.41%) Android
5 17 (1.09%) Windows Server 2019
6 15 (0.96%) Mac OS
7 13 (0.83%) Apple iOS
7 13 (0.83%) CentOS
8 12 (0.77%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 12 (0.77%) Ubuntu
8 12 (0.77%) Windows 10
9 10 (0.64%) Windows Server 2016
10 9 (0.58%) Debian
11 4 (0.26%) Windows Server 2012
12 3 (0.19%) FreeRTOS
12 3 (0.19%) Gentoo
12 3 (0.19%) Rocky
12 3 (0.19%) Unix
12 3 (0.19%) VMS
12 3 (0.19%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 339 (21.72%) Continuous Improvement
2 271 (17.36%) Customer Service
3 213 (13.65%) Agile
4 198 (12.68%) Decision-Making
5 169 (10.83%) CI/CD
6 167 (10.70%) AI
7 162 (10.38%) Project Management
7 162 (10.38%) Software Engineering
8 155 (9.93%) Project Delivery
9 153 (9.80%) DevOps
10 151 (9.67%) Stakeholder Management
11 148 (9.48%) ITIL
12 134 (8.58%) Mentoring
13 131 (8.39%) Cybersecurity
14 130 (8.33%) Validation
15 122 (7.82%) Computer Science
16 121 (7.75%) Collaborative Working
17 119 (7.62%) Analytics
18 106 (6.79%) Logistics
19 104 (6.66%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 223 (14.29%) SQL
2 212 (13.58%) Python
3 128 (8.20%) C#
4 109 (6.98%) JavaScript
5 92 (5.89%) PowerShell
6 60 (3.84%) C++
6 60 (3.84%) TypeScript
7 57 (3.65%) Java
8 34 (2.18%) Bash
9 31 (1.99%) C
10 21 (1.35%) PHP
11 17 (1.09%) T-SQL
12 15 (0.96%) Ruby
13 13 (0.83%) VB.NET
14 12 (0.77%) Rust
15 11 (0.70%) PL/SQL
16 10 (0.64%) Perl
17 8 (0.51%) MATLAB
18 7 (0.45%) Bicep
19 6 (0.38%) Embedded C
Qualifications
1 309 (19.80%) Degree
2 168 (10.76%) Security Cleared
3 120 (7.69%) SC Cleared
4 100 (6.41%) DBS Check
5 65 (4.16%) Computer Science Degree
6 56 (3.59%) DV Cleared
7 55 (3.52%) BPSS Clearance
8 51 (3.27%) Microsoft Certification
9 46 (2.95%) Azure Certification
10 45 (2.88%) HNC
11 36 (2.31%) HND
12 32 (2.05%) PMI Certification
13 30 (1.92%) CISSP
14 26 (1.67%) PMP
15 25 (1.60%) Chartered Engineer
15 25 (1.60%) CISM
15 25 (1.60%) Master's Degree
16 20 (1.28%) CompTIA Security+
16 20 (1.28%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
17 19 (1.22%) ACCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 135 (8.65%) QA
2 56 (3.59%) GDPR
3 55 (3.52%) Data Quality
4 44 (2.82%) SLA
5 33 (2.11%) Accessibility
6 31 (1.99%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 20 (1.28%) NIST
8 18 (1.15%) Good Clinical Practice
8 18 (1.15%) PCI DSS
9 17 (1.09%) Cyber Essentials
10 14 (0.90%) PMO
11 12 (0.77%) DO-254
12 10 (0.64%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 9 (0.58%) GMP
13 9 (0.58%) SOC 2
14 8 (0.51%) 21 CFR Part 11
14 8 (0.51%) GLP
14 8 (0.51%) GxP
15 7 (0.45%) ISO 9001
16 4 (0.26%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 129 (8.26%) Active Directory
2 72 (4.61%) Docker
2 72 (4.61%) VMware Infrastructure
3 57 (3.65%) Hyper-V
4 11 (0.70%) Firmware
5 9 (0.58%) VMware ESXi
5 9 (0.58%) vSphere
6 7 (0.45%) KVM
7 5 (0.32%) ClearTrust
7 5 (0.32%) Squid
7 5 (0.32%) Virtual Machines
8 4 (0.26%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (0.26%) XenApp
9 3 (0.19%) Embedded Firmware
9 3 (0.19%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 1 (0.064%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 1 (0.064%) Oracle RAC
10 1 (0.064%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.064%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 85 (5.45%) Terraform
2 81 (5.19%) Kubernetes
3 50 (3.20%) Microsoft Intune
4 37 (2.37%) Ansible
5 23 (1.47%) SCCM
6 16 (1.02%) Single Sign-On
7 14 (0.90%) Grafana
8 11 (0.70%) Prometheus
9 10 (0.64%) Jamf Pro
10 9 (0.58%) Nagios
11 8 (0.51%) Podman
12 7 (0.45%) Failover Clustering
12 7 (0.45%) Puppet
13 6 (0.38%) Graylog
14 5 (0.32%) ZABBIX
15 4 (0.26%) Docker Swarm
15 4 (0.26%) Functional Safety
15 4 (0.26%) vCenter Server
16 2 (0.13%) BMC PATROL
16 2 (0.13%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 456 (29.21%) Microsoft
2 81 (5.19%) VMware
3 64 (4.10%) Google
4 53 (3.40%) Oracle
5 38 (2.43%) Cisco
6 35 (2.24%) SAP
7 34 (2.18%) Fortinet
8 33 (2.11%) SonicWALL
9 31 (1.99%) Veeam
10 30 (1.92%) ServiceNow
11 23 (1.47%) Salesforce
12 21 (1.35%) Sage
13 18 (1.15%) Databricks
14 16 (1.02%) Aruba
14 16 (1.02%) Palo Alto
15 13 (0.83%) Splunk
16 12 (0.77%) ForgeRock
16 12 (0.77%) Mentor Graphics
16 12 (0.77%) Okta
16 12 (0.77%) Red Hat