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

6 months to
12 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 3 6
Rank change year-on-year -3 +3 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,399 1,570 2,586
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 8.91% 18.29% 15.24%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.39% 20.63% 18.67%
Number of salaries quoted 1,055 778 1,681
10th Percentile £27,000 £27,000 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,125 £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 £82,500 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £49,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -3.06% -2.00% -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 11,294 7,609 13,850
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.94% 88.64% 81.61%
Number of salaries quoted 8,038 3,980 9,655
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,875 £28,000
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 £81,250 £80,000
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 12 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 12 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 -7 519 £43,000 -4.44% 259
Hampshire -2 339 £40,000 -5.88% 156
Berkshire -3 242 £45,000 -10.00% 104
Surrey 0 235 £42,500 +6.25% 81
Buckinghamshire -8 160 £45,000 +20.00% 82
Kent -5 132 £30,000 -6.25% 49
Oxfordshire -2 117 £37,500 -29.58% 75
East Sussex -4 90 £50,000 - 22
West Sussex -7 72 £50,000 +7.53% 36
Middlesex +5 6 £50,000 -16.67% 11
Isle of Wight -11 1 £42,500 -22.73% 2
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 44 (3.15%) SharePoint
2 38 (2.72%) Microsoft Exchange
3 19 (1.36%) CMS
4 18 (1.29%) Confluence
5 7 (0.50%) OpenEdge
6 5 (0.36%) WordPress
7 4 (0.29%) Apache
7 4 (0.29%) IIS
8 3 (0.21%) Anypoint
8 3 (0.21%) OpenStack
8 3 (0.21%) SAS
9 2 (0.14%) Gentran
9 2 (0.14%) nginx
9 2 (0.14%) Tomcat
10 1 (0.071%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 98 (7.01%) Microsoft Excel
2 85 (6.08%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (0.71%) Spreadsheet
4 9 (0.64%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 8 (0.57%) MS Visio
6 5 (0.36%) Lightworks
6 5 (0.36%) Photoshop
7 4 (0.29%) Adobe Illustrator
7 4 (0.29%) Microsoft Project
8 3 (0.21%) Simulink
9 2 (0.14%) Chatbot
10 1 (0.071%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 13 (0.93%) NetSuite
2 8 (0.57%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (0.43%) Raiser’s Edge
4 5 (0.36%) Magento
5 3 (0.21%) Infor SunSystems
5 3 (0.21%) Salesforce CRM
5 3 (0.21%) SAP CO
5 3 (0.21%) Shopify
6 2 (0.14%) Dynamics NAV
6 2 (0.14%) Payment Gateway
7 1 (0.071%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.071%) HFM
7 1 (0.071%) Sage X3
7 1 (0.071%) SAP GRC
7 1 (0.071%) SAP S/4HANA
7 1 (0.071%) Siebel CRM
Cloud Services
1 331 (23.66%) Azure
2 161 (11.51%) Microsoft 365
3 144 (10.29%) AWS
4 83 (5.93%) Power Platform
5 61 (4.36%) SaaS
6 51 (3.65%) GCP
7 46 (3.29%) Azure DevOps
8 42 (3.00%) Entra ID
9 28 (2.00%) Serverless
10 27 (1.93%) IaaS
10 27 (1.93%) PaaS
11 25 (1.79%) GitHub
12 20 (1.43%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 19 (1.36%) Datadog
14 17 (1.22%) Dynamics 365
15 15 (1.07%) OpenShift
16 14 (1.00%) GitHub Actions
17 13 (0.93%) Amazon ECS
17 13 (0.93%) AWS CloudFormation
17 13 (0.93%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 122 (8.72%) Firewall
2 63 (4.50%) DNS
3 52 (3.72%) VPN
4 51 (3.65%) WAN
5 50 (3.57%) LAN
5 50 (3.57%) TCP/IP
6 42 (3.00%) Wireless
7 38 (2.72%) DHCP
8 36 (2.57%) Wi-Fi
9 26 (1.86%) VLAN
10 25 (1.79%) VoIP
11 21 (1.50%) Network Security
12 17 (1.22%) Broadband
13 13 (0.93%) Internet
14 11 (0.79%) SSL
15 10 (0.71%) HTTP
16 9 (0.64%) MQTT
17 7 (0.50%) Remote Desktop
18 6 (0.43%) WLAN
19 5 (0.36%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 100 (7.15%) SQL Server
2 70 (5.00%) Power BI
3 25 (1.79%) PostgreSQL
4 24 (1.72%) Relational Database
5 19 (1.36%) Data Warehouse
6 17 (1.22%) NoSQL
7 16 (1.14%) MySQL
8 13 (0.93%) OLTP
8 13 (0.93%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 12 (0.86%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 12 (0.86%) Tableau
10 9 (0.64%) Amazon RDS
10 9 (0.64%) Data Lake
11 8 (0.57%) Power Query
12 7 (0.50%) Looker
12 7 (0.50%) MongoDB
13 6 (0.43%) DynamoDB
13 6 (0.43%) GIS
14 5 (0.36%) Azure SQL Database
15 4 (0.29%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 66 (4.72%) Git
2 52 (3.72%) JIRA
3 31 (2.22%) GitLab
4 21 (1.50%) Rational DOORS
5 6 (0.43%) Selenium
6 4 (0.29%) Jenkins
7 3 (0.21%) Android Studio
7 3 (0.21%) Claude Code
7 3 (0.21%) PetaLinux
7 3 (0.21%) PHPUnit
7 3 (0.21%) Postman
7 3 (0.21%) Visual Studio
8 2 (0.14%) Cypress.io
8 2 (0.14%) Eclipse
8 2 (0.14%) JMeter
8 2 (0.14%) JUnit
8 2 (0.14%) Mocha
8 2 (0.14%) REST Assured
8 2 (0.14%) Subversion
8 2 (0.14%) Terragrunt
General
1 673 (48.11%) Social Skills
2 380 (27.16%) Analytical Skills
3 207 (14.80%) Finance
4 103 (7.36%) Organisational Skills
5 83 (5.93%) Manufacturing
6 62 (4.43%) Electronics
7 58 (4.15%) Retail
8 57 (4.07%) Telecoms
9 50 (3.57%) Marketing
10 47 (3.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 38 (2.72%) Aerospace
12 36 (2.57%) Law
13 35 (2.50%) Legal
14 32 (2.29%) Influencing Skills
15 29 (2.07%) Documentation Skills
16 27 (1.93%) Public Sector
17 23 (1.64%) Local Government
18 18 (1.29%) Military
19 16 (1.14%) Banking
20 15 (1.07%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 197 (14.08%) Analyst
2 149 (10.65%) IT Support
3 145 (10.36%) Senior
4 134 (9.58%) Developer
5 125 (8.93%) Support Engineer
6 93 (6.65%) IT Engineer
7 84 (6.00%) Support Analyst
8 71 (5.08%) Systems Engineer
9 68 (4.86%) Software Engineer
10 61 (4.36%) Lead
11 60 (4.29%) Technical Support
12 58 (4.15%) IT Support Engineer
12 58 (4.15%) Support Technician
13 53 (3.79%) 2nd Line Support
14 46 (3.29%) Technical Engineer
14 46 (3.29%) Technical Support Engineer
15 43 (3.07%) IT Technician
16 37 (2.64%) 1st Line Support
16 37 (2.64%) Architect
17 36 (2.57%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 87 (6.22%) .NET
2 59 (4.22%) HTML
3 47 (3.36%) REST
3 47 (3.36%) SOAP
4 38 (2.72%) CSS
5 36 (2.57%) JSON
6 33 (2.36%) React
6 33 (2.36%) XML
7 27 (1.93%) ASP.NET
8 22 (1.57%) OAuth
9 21 (1.50%) RESTful
10 20 (1.43%) ASP.NET Core
11 19 (1.36%) Middleware
12 17 (1.22%) RabbitMQ
12 17 (1.22%) Vue
13 16 (1.14%) ARM Templates
13 16 (1.14%) HTML5
14 15 (1.07%) Kafka
15 14 (1.00%) AngularJS
15 14 (1.00%) Sass
Miscellaneous
1 89 (6.36%) Driving Licence
2 72 (5.15%) Self-Motivation
3 69 (4.93%) Onboarding
4 65 (4.65%) Management Information System
5 51 (3.65%) Cloud Native
6 38 (2.72%) Product Ownership
7 33 (2.36%) Distributed Systems
8 26 (1.86%) Analytical Mindset
9 19 (1.36%) Robotics
10 17 (1.22%) NHS
10 17 (1.22%) Social Media
11 15 (1.07%) Enterprise Software
11 15 (1.07%) EPoS
11 15 (1.07%) Security Posture
12 14 (1.00%) Data Centre
12 14 (1.00%) Legacy Systems
13 13 (0.93%) Clustering
14 12 (0.86%) CCTV
15 11 (0.79%) Client/Server
15 11 (0.79%) Video Editing
Operating Systems
1 229 (16.37%) Windows
2 116 (8.29%) Linux
3 80 (5.72%) Windows Server
4 21 (1.50%) Mac OS
5 17 (1.22%) Android
5 17 (1.22%) CentOS
6 15 (1.07%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 15 (1.07%) Windows Server 2019
7 13 (0.93%) Ubuntu
8 10 (0.71%) Windows Server 2016
9 8 (0.57%) Debian
10 6 (0.43%) Apple iOS
10 6 (0.43%) Windows 10
11 3 (0.21%) FreeRTOS
11 3 (0.21%) Gentoo
11 3 (0.21%) Unix
11 3 (0.21%) VMS
11 3 (0.21%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.071%) FreeBSD
12 1 (0.071%) OpenBSD
Processes & Methodologies
1 268 (19.16%) Continuous Improvement
2 249 (17.80%) Customer Service
3 187 (13.37%) Agile
4 161 (11.51%) CI/CD
5 151 (10.79%) DevOps
6 150 (10.72%) Decision-Making
7 145 (10.36%) Software Engineering
8 142 (10.15%) AI
9 133 (9.51%) Project Management
10 127 (9.08%) Cybersecurity
11 126 (9.01%) Project Delivery
12 117 (8.36%) ITIL
13 116 (8.29%) Collaborative Working
13 116 (8.29%) Mentoring
14 113 (8.08%) Computer Science
15 111 (7.93%) Stakeholder Management
16 108 (7.72%) Analytics
17 98 (7.01%) Business Intelligence
18 97 (6.93%) Logistics
19 87 (6.22%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 222 (15.87%) Python
2 214 (15.30%) SQL
3 113 (8.08%) C#
4 98 (7.01%) PowerShell
5 90 (6.43%) JavaScript
6 57 (4.07%) C++
6 57 (4.07%) Java
7 44 (3.15%) TypeScript
8 35 (2.50%) Bash
9 33 (2.36%) C
10 24 (1.72%) PHP
11 15 (1.07%) PL/SQL
11 15 (1.07%) Rust
12 13 (0.93%) Ruby
13 12 (0.86%) T-SQL
14 10 (0.71%) Bicep
14 10 (0.71%) Perl
15 8 (0.57%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 7 (0.50%) Apex Code
16 7 (0.50%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 265 (18.94%) Degree
2 100 (7.15%) Security Cleared
3 86 (6.15%) DBS Check
4 69 (4.93%) SC Cleared
5 58 (4.15%) Computer Science Degree
6 43 (3.07%) Microsoft Certification
7 36 (2.57%) BPSS Clearance
8 32 (2.29%) HNC
9 29 (2.07%) ACCA
10 28 (2.00%) CIMA
11 26 (1.86%) Chartered Engineer
12 23 (1.64%) Azure Certification
13 22 (1.57%) PMI Certification
14 21 (1.50%) PMP
15 18 (1.29%) A+ Certification
16 17 (1.22%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
17 16 (1.14%) Master's Degree
18 14 (1.00%) CCNA
18 14 (1.00%) CompTIA Security+
18 14 (1.00%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 111 (7.93%) QA
2 55 (3.93%) Data Quality
3 47 (3.36%) GDPR
4 39 (2.79%) SLA
5 31 (2.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 24 (1.72%) Accessibility
7 23 (1.64%) PCI DSS
8 17 (1.22%) NIST
9 16 (1.14%) Good Clinical Practice
10 13 (0.93%) PMO
11 12 (0.86%) Cyber Essentials
12 10 (0.71%) SOC 2
13 6 (0.43%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 6 (0.43%) GLP
13 6 (0.43%) GMP
13 6 (0.43%) GxP
14 5 (0.36%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 5 (0.36%) ISO 9001
15 4 (0.29%) Def Stans
15 4 (0.29%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 123 (8.79%) Active Directory
2 74 (5.29%) Docker
3 56 (4.00%) VMware Infrastructure
4 52 (3.72%) Hyper-V
5 9 (0.64%) KVM
6 8 (0.57%) vSphere
7 7 (0.50%) Firmware
8 5 (0.36%) ClearTrust
8 5 (0.36%) VMware ESXi
8 5 (0.36%) XenApp
9 4 (0.29%) Virtual Desktop
9 4 (0.29%) Virtual Machines
10 3 (0.21%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 2 (0.14%) Squid
11 2 (0.14%) VMware NSX
12 1 (0.071%) Embedded Firmware
12 1 (0.071%) Microsoft Virtual Server
12 1 (0.071%) Oracle RAC
12 1 (0.071%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 80 (5.72%) Kubernetes
2 79 (5.65%) Terraform
3 41 (2.93%) Microsoft Intune
4 37 (2.64%) Ansible
5 20 (1.43%) SCCM
6 16 (1.14%) Grafana
7 13 (0.93%) Prometheus
8 12 (0.86%) Nagios
9 8 (0.57%) Podman
10 7 (0.50%) Failover Clustering
10 7 (0.50%) ZABBIX
11 5 (0.36%) Docker Swarm
11 5 (0.36%) Graylog
11 5 (0.36%) Puppet
12 4 (0.29%) Functional Safety
12 4 (0.29%) Jamf Pro
12 4 (0.29%) vCenter Server
13 2 (0.14%) Nessus
13 2 (0.14%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
14 1 (0.071%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 402 (28.73%) Microsoft
2 63 (4.50%) VMware
3 48 (3.43%) Google
4 41 (2.93%) Oracle
5 31 (2.22%) Cisco
6 27 (1.93%) Fortinet
6 27 (1.93%) Salesforce
7 23 (1.64%) Databricks
7 23 (1.64%) Veeam
8 22 (1.57%) SonicWALL
9 18 (1.29%) Instagram
9 18 (1.29%) ServiceNow
10 17 (1.22%) Splunk
11 16 (1.14%) Aruba
11 16 (1.14%) Sage
11 16 (1.14%) SAP
12 15 (1.07%) Palo Alto
12 15 (1.07%) Red Hat
13 13 (0.93%) Dynatrace
14 12 (0.86%) Adobe