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 26 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -8 +1 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,158 1,424 2,804
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 7.98% 18.74% 16.69%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.08% 20.67% 20.01%
Number of salaries quoted 866 668 1,757
10th Percentile £26,851 £28,250 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,188 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £46,663 £46,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +1.44% +2.22% -14.29%
75th Percentile £62,500 £62,500 £61,250
90th Percentile £78,625 £83,750 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £50,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -5.94% +1.00% -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 10,449 6,889 14,011
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 72.04% 90.67% 83.38%
Number of salaries quoted 7,143 3,192 9,907
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,500 £27,500
25th Percentile £39,140 £36,250 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% +5.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,925 £77,600
England median annual salary £60,000 £60,000 £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 26 May 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 26 May 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 -11 420 £47,500 -6.80% 202
Hampshire -4 271 £40,000 -2.44% 124
Berkshire -7 201 £47,500 -9.52% 88
Surrey -3 192 £41,250 +1.23% 86
Buckinghamshire -12 133 £48,000 -4.92% 66
Kent -4 120 £29,000 -6.45% 50
East Sussex -3 95 £59,000 +18.00% 13
Oxfordshire -4 86 £37,500 -31.82% 50
West Sussex -6 50 £53,233 +14.48% 25
Isle of Wight -10 3 £41,500 -24.55%
Middlesex +2 2 £35,000 -44.00% 19
Sussex -19 1 £30,000 -29.41% 10
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 34 (2.94%) SharePoint
2 29 (2.50%) Microsoft Exchange
3 16 (1.38%) CMS
4 10 (0.86%) Confluence
4 10 (0.86%) IIS
5 7 (0.60%) OpenEdge
6 5 (0.43%) WordPress
7 3 (0.26%) Anypoint
7 3 (0.26%) Apache
7 3 (0.26%) govService
7 3 (0.26%) OpenStack
7 3 (0.26%) SAS
8 2 (0.17%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.17%) Gentran
9 1 (0.086%) ArcGIS
9 1 (0.086%) nginx
9 1 (0.086%) Tomcat
Applications
1 86 (7.43%) Microsoft Excel
2 65 (5.61%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (0.95%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (0.69%) MS Visio
4 8 (0.69%) Spreadsheet
5 6 (0.52%) Photoshop
6 5 (0.43%) Adobe Illustrator
7 3 (0.26%) Microsoft Project
8 2 (0.17%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 1 (0.086%) Acrobat
9 1 (0.086%) AutoCAD
9 1 (0.086%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 10 (0.86%) Dynamics CRM
1 10 (0.86%) NetSuite
2 9 (0.78%) SAP CO
3 4 (0.35%) Dynamics NAV
3 4 (0.35%) Magento
3 4 (0.35%) Salesforce CRM
4 2 (0.17%) Dynamics AX
4 2 (0.17%) IBM Planning Analytics
4 2 (0.17%) Infor SunSystems
4 2 (0.17%) Q-Pulse
4 2 (0.17%) Sage 200
4 2 (0.17%) Shopify
5 1 (0.086%) Elite 3E
5 1 (0.086%) HFM
5 1 (0.086%) PeopleSoft HRMS
5 1 (0.086%) Raiser’s Edge
5 1 (0.086%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.086%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 262 (22.63%) Azure
2 119 (10.28%) Microsoft 365
3 109 (9.41%) AWS
4 80 (6.91%) Power Platform
5 53 (4.58%) Azure DevOps
6 51 (4.40%) SaaS
7 35 (3.02%) GCP
8 30 (2.59%) IaaS
8 30 (2.59%) PaaS
9 26 (2.25%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 21 (1.81%) Entra ID
11 20 (1.73%) Google Workspace
12 19 (1.64%) Serverless
13 18 (1.55%) Dynamics 365
14 16 (1.38%) Azure Logic Apps
14 16 (1.38%) Datadog
14 16 (1.38%) GitHub
14 16 (1.38%) Mimecast
15 15 (1.30%) Azure Data Factory
15 15 (1.30%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 67 (5.79%) Firewall
2 59 (5.09%) DNS
3 33 (2.85%) DHCP
4 30 (2.59%) TCP/IP
5 25 (2.16%) VPN
6 21 (1.81%) Wireless
7 20 (1.73%) Broadband
8 16 (1.38%) WAN
9 13 (1.12%) LAN
10 12 (1.04%) VoIP
11 10 (0.86%) HTTP
12 9 (0.78%) VLAN
13 8 (0.69%) Wi-Fi
14 7 (0.60%) Network Security
14 7 (0.60%) Remote Desktop
14 7 (0.60%) SSL
15 6 (0.52%) PuTTY
15 6 (0.52%) SAN
15 6 (0.52%) SSH
16 5 (0.43%) Intranet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 74 (6.39%) SQL Server
2 61 (5.27%) Power BI
3 23 (1.99%) Data Warehouse
4 21 (1.81%) PostgreSQL
5 20 (1.73%) Relational Database
6 18 (1.55%) OLTP
7 15 (1.30%) NoSQL
8 12 (1.04%) MySQL
8 12 (1.04%) Tableau
9 11 (0.95%) Power Query
9 11 (0.95%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 7 (0.60%) Data Lake
10 7 (0.60%) Looker
10 7 (0.60%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 5 (0.43%) Big Data
11 5 (0.43%) Data Mining
11 5 (0.43%) GIS
11 5 (0.43%) Hadoop
12 4 (0.35%) Amazon RDS
13 3 (0.26%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 58 (5.01%) Git
2 40 (3.45%) JIRA
3 29 (2.50%) GitLab
4 23 (1.99%) Rational DOORS
5 7 (0.60%) Selenium
6 5 (0.43%) Visual Studio
7 4 (0.35%) Jenkins
8 3 (0.26%) Android Studio
8 3 (0.26%) Cypress.io
8 3 (0.26%) Postman
9 2 (0.17%) Appium
9 2 (0.17%) JMeter
9 2 (0.17%) LabVIEW
9 2 (0.17%) REST Assured
9 2 (0.17%) Robot Framework
9 2 (0.17%) Snyk
9 2 (0.17%) Terragrunt
10 1 (0.086%) JUnit
10 1 (0.086%) SonarQube
10 1 (0.086%) Zephyr
General
1 550 (47.50%) Social Skills
2 335 (28.93%) Analytical Skills
3 183 (15.80%) Finance
4 72 (6.22%) Organisational Skills
5 60 (5.18%) Marketing
6 58 (5.01%) Manufacturing
7 48 (4.15%) Electronics
8 46 (3.97%) Telecoms
9 45 (3.89%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 44 (3.80%) Retail
11 28 (2.42%) Aerospace
11 28 (2.42%) Law
12 26 (2.25%) Public Sector
13 24 (2.07%) Legal
14 22 (1.90%) Documentation Skills
15 15 (1.30%) Pharmaceutical
16 14 (1.21%) Presentation Skills
17 13 (1.12%) Military
18 11 (0.95%) Automotive
18 11 (0.95%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 154 (13.30%) Analyst
2 135 (11.66%) IT Support
3 127 (10.97%) Senior
4 123 (10.62%) Developer
5 116 (10.02%) Support Engineer
6 67 (5.79%) IT Engineer
7 66 (5.70%) Support Analyst
8 59 (5.09%) Systems Engineer
9 53 (4.58%) Technical Support
10 47 (4.06%) IT Support Engineer
11 46 (3.97%) Support Technician
12 45 (3.89%) 2nd Line Support
12 45 (3.89%) Lead
12 45 (3.89%) Software Engineer
13 43 (3.71%) Architect
14 40 (3.45%) IT Technician
15 39 (3.37%) Technical Engineer
15 39 (3.37%) Technical Support Engineer
16 36 (3.11%) Infrastructure Engineer
17 32 (2.76%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 68 (5.87%) .NET
2 57 (4.92%) HTML
3 48 (4.15%) SOAP
4 39 (3.37%) REST
5 34 (2.94%) XML
6 33 (2.85%) CSS
7 32 (2.76%) JSON
8 24 (2.07%) React
9 21 (1.81%) Middleware
10 18 (1.55%) OAuth
11 15 (1.30%) CSS3
11 15 (1.30%) HTML5
11 15 (1.30%) Laravel
11 15 (1.30%) RabbitMQ
12 14 (1.21%) jQuery
13 13 (1.12%) Ajax
13 13 (1.12%) ASP.NET
13 13 (1.12%) Sass
14 12 (1.04%) LESS
14 12 (1.04%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 66 (5.70%) Driving Licence
2 59 (5.09%) Self-Motivation
3 58 (5.01%) Onboarding
4 48 (4.15%) Management Information System
5 38 (3.28%) Product Ownership
6 37 (3.20%) Cloud Native
7 33 (2.85%) Distributed Systems
8 24 (2.07%) Analytical Mindset
9 21 (1.81%) Low-Code
10 17 (1.47%) Social Media
11 14 (1.21%) Legacy Systems
11 14 (1.21%) NHS
12 13 (1.12%) Robotics
13 11 (0.95%) Enterprise Software
13 11 (0.95%) Video Editing
14 10 (0.86%) Algorithms
14 10 (0.86%) Client/Server
15 9 (0.78%) Cyber Defence
15 9 (0.78%) Hybrid Cloud
15 9 (0.78%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 172 (14.85%) Windows
2 100 (8.64%) Linux
3 60 (5.18%) Windows Server
4 22 (1.90%) Android
5 19 (1.64%) CentOS
6 18 (1.55%) Mac OS
7 17 (1.47%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 12 (1.04%) Ubuntu
8 12 (1.04%) Windows Server 2019
9 9 (0.78%) VMS
10 8 (0.69%) Windows Server 2016
11 7 (0.60%) Apple iOS
11 7 (0.60%) Windows Server 2012
12 3 (0.26%) Debian
12 3 (0.26%) Unix
13 2 (0.17%) Windows 10
14 1 (0.086%) Embedded Linux
14 1 (0.086%) FreeBSD
14 1 (0.086%) OpenBSD
14 1 (0.086%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 233 (20.12%) Continuous Improvement
2 196 (16.93%) Customer Service
3 167 (14.42%) Agile
4 141 (12.18%) DevOps
5 139 (12.00%) CI/CD
6 112 (9.67%) Decision-Making
7 111 (9.59%) Software Engineering
8 108 (9.33%) Analytics
9 107 (9.24%) Computer Science
10 102 (8.81%) AI
11 93 (8.03%) Business Intelligence
12 89 (7.69%) Project Management
13 85 (7.34%) Mentoring
14 81 (6.99%) CRM
14 81 (6.99%) Project Delivery
15 79 (6.82%) Data Modelling
16 78 (6.74%) Cybersecurity
17 73 (6.30%) ERP
18 72 (6.22%) ITIL
19 68 (5.87%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 204 (17.62%) Python
2 187 (16.15%) SQL
3 91 (7.86%) C#
4 86 (7.43%) JavaScript
5 64 (5.53%) PowerShell
6 52 (4.49%) Java
7 35 (3.02%) C++
8 29 (2.50%) PHP
9 27 (2.33%) C
10 26 (2.25%) Bash
11 25 (2.16%) TypeScript
12 21 (1.81%) PL/SQL
13 15 (1.30%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 11 (0.95%) Perl
14 11 (0.95%) Rust
15 9 (0.78%) Ruby
16 8 (0.69%) Apex Code
16 8 (0.69%) Bicep
17 7 (0.60%) R
17 7 (0.60%) Scala
Qualifications
1 241 (20.81%) Degree
2 82 (7.08%) Security Cleared
3 56 (4.84%) DBS Check
4 52 (4.49%) Computer Science Degree
5 51 (4.40%) SC Cleared
6 38 (3.28%) Microsoft Certification
7 35 (3.02%) ACCA
8 33 (2.85%) BPSS Clearance
8 33 (2.85%) CIMA
9 28 (2.42%) HNC
10 25 (2.16%) Chartered Engineer
11 24 (2.07%) A+ Certification
12 17 (1.47%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 15 (1.30%) DV Cleared
13 15 (1.30%) Master's Degree
14 13 (1.12%) PMI Certification
15 12 (1.04%) Azure Certification
16 10 (0.86%) HND
16 10 (0.86%) PMP
17 7 (0.60%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 82 (7.08%) QA
2 58 (5.01%) Data Quality
3 45 (3.89%) GDPR
4 38 (3.28%) SLA
5 21 (1.81%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 17 (1.47%) Accessibility
7 15 (1.30%) PCI DSS
8 11 (0.95%) NIST
9 8 (0.69%) SOC 2
10 6 (0.52%) ISO 9001
11 5 (0.43%) Actionable Recommendations
12 4 (0.35%) Cyber Essentials
12 4 (0.35%) Def Stans
12 4 (0.35%) Good Clinical Practice
12 4 (0.35%) ISO 26262
12 4 (0.35%) ITGC
13 2 (0.17%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 2 (0.17%) GRC
13 2 (0.17%) IFRS
14 1 (0.086%) PMO
System Software
1 97 (8.38%) Active Directory
2 52 (4.49%) Docker
3 42 (3.63%) VMware Infrastructure
4 28 (2.42%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.86%) KVM
6 7 (0.60%) VMware ESXi
7 5 (0.43%) Firmware
7 5 (0.43%) XenApp
8 4 (0.35%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (0.35%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.26%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 2 (0.17%) VMware NSX
10 2 (0.17%) vSphere
11 1 (0.086%) ClearTrust
11 1 (0.086%) Embedded Firmware
11 1 (0.086%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 63 (5.44%) Kubernetes
2 62 (5.35%) Terraform
3 33 (2.85%) Ansible
4 24 (2.07%) Microsoft Intune
5 17 (1.47%) SCCM
6 16 (1.38%) Grafana
7 13 (1.12%) Prometheus
8 11 (0.95%) Nagios
9 7 (0.60%) vCenter Server
9 7 (0.60%) ZABBIX
10 4 (0.35%) Docker Swarm
10 4 (0.35%) Functional Safety
10 4 (0.35%) Graylog
10 4 (0.35%) Podman
11 3 (0.26%) Puppet
12 2 (0.17%) Failover Clustering
12 2 (0.17%) Jamf Pro
12 2 (0.17%) Nessus
13 1 (0.086%) CASB
13 1 (0.086%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 309 (26.68%) Microsoft
2 46 (3.97%) VMware
3 44 (3.80%) Oracle
4 38 (3.28%) Google
5 37 (3.20%) Databricks
6 27 (2.33%) Salesforce
7 25 (2.16%) Veeam
8 20 (1.73%) SAP
9 19 (1.64%) Adobe
10 18 (1.55%) Instagram
11 16 (1.38%) Red Hat
12 14 (1.21%) Splunk
13 12 (1.04%) Cisco
13 12 (1.04%) Dynatrace
13 12 (1.04%) Sage
14 11 (0.95%) Hootsuite
14 11 (0.95%) SolarWinds
14 11 (0.95%) Wrike
15 10 (0.86%) SonicWALL
16 9 (0.78%) HubSpot