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 30 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -4 +1 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,342 1,515 2,843
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 8.79% 18.62% 15.82%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.22% 20.77% 19.39%
Number of salaries quoted 1,014 743 1,773
10th Percentile £26,500 £27,000 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,000 £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 £83,750 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £49,800 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.62% -0.40% -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 10,978 7,293 14,662
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.87% 89.63% 81.60%
Number of salaries quoted 7,803 3,662 10,181
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,875 £27,750
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 £81,925 £78,750
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 30 June 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 30 June 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 -8 495 £44,250 -1.67% 195
Hampshire -2 315 £40,000 -5.88% 146
Berkshire -4 238 £45,000 -10.00% 71
Surrey -1 226 £42,500 +6.25% 91
Buckinghamshire -9 144 £45,500 +21.33% 77
Kent -4 139 £30,000 -4.76% 53
Oxfordshire -1 113 £35,000 -36.36% 49
East Sussex -4 88 £50,000 - 23
West Sussex -5 66 £50,000 +7.53% 24
Middlesex +4 6 £50,000 -18.37% 8
Isle of Wight -13 2 £42,000 -23.64%
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 41 (3.06%) SharePoint
2 35 (2.61%) Microsoft Exchange
3 19 (1.42%) CMS
4 17 (1.27%) Confluence
5 7 (0.52%) OpenEdge
6 5 (0.37%) WordPress
7 3 (0.22%) Anypoint
7 3 (0.22%) IIS
7 3 (0.22%) OpenStack
7 3 (0.22%) SAS
8 2 (0.15%) Apache
8 2 (0.15%) Gentran
8 2 (0.15%) govService
8 2 (0.15%) Tomcat
Applications
1 96 (7.15%) Microsoft Excel
2 85 (6.33%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (0.75%) Spreadsheet
4 9 (0.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 8 (0.60%) MS Visio
6 5 (0.37%) Photoshop
7 4 (0.30%) Adobe Illustrator
7 4 (0.30%) Lightworks
8 3 (0.22%) Microsoft Project
8 3 (0.22%) Simulink
9 2 (0.15%) Chatbot
10 1 (0.075%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 12 (0.89%) NetSuite
2 8 (0.60%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.37%) SAP CO
4 4 (0.30%) Dynamics NAV
4 4 (0.30%) Magento
4 4 (0.30%) Raiser’s Edge
5 3 (0.22%) Infor SunSystems
5 3 (0.22%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.15%) Shopify
7 1 (0.075%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.075%) HFM
7 1 (0.075%) Payment Gateway
7 1 (0.075%) SAP GRC
7 1 (0.075%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 315 (23.47%) Azure
2 154 (11.48%) Microsoft 365
3 129 (9.61%) AWS
4 80 (5.96%) Power Platform
5 60 (4.47%) SaaS
6 47 (3.50%) Azure DevOps
7 45 (3.35%) GCP
8 37 (2.76%) Entra ID
9 27 (2.01%) IaaS
10 26 (1.94%) PaaS
11 22 (1.64%) Azure Synapse Analytics
11 22 (1.64%) Serverless
12 19 (1.42%) GitHub
13 17 (1.27%) Datadog
14 16 (1.19%) Dynamics 365
15 15 (1.12%) OpenShift
16 14 (1.04%) Google Workspace
16 14 (1.04%) Mimecast
17 13 (0.97%) Azure Data Factory
18 11 (0.82%) Asana
Communications & Networking
1 108 (8.05%) Firewall
2 63 (4.69%) DNS
3 49 (3.65%) WAN
4 48 (3.58%) LAN
5 44 (3.28%) VPN
6 39 (2.91%) DHCP
6 39 (2.91%) Wireless
7 37 (2.76%) TCP/IP
8 34 (2.53%) Wi-Fi
9 22 (1.64%) VLAN
9 22 (1.64%) VoIP
10 21 (1.56%) Network Security
11 20 (1.49%) Broadband
12 13 (0.97%) Internet
13 11 (0.82%) HTTP
13 11 (0.82%) SSL
14 7 (0.52%) MQTT
14 7 (0.52%) Remote Desktop
15 6 (0.45%) WLAN
16 5 (0.37%) Hyperconnected
Database & Business Intelligence
1 91 (6.78%) SQL Server
2 68 (5.07%) Power BI
3 23 (1.71%) PostgreSQL
4 21 (1.56%) Data Warehouse
5 19 (1.42%) Relational Database
6 15 (1.12%) OLTP
7 14 (1.04%) NoSQL
8 13 (0.97%) MySQL
8 13 (0.97%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 11 (0.82%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 11 (0.82%) Tableau
10 10 (0.75%) Power Query
11 9 (0.67%) Data Lake
12 7 (0.52%) Looker
13 6 (0.45%) Amazon RDS
13 6 (0.45%) Azure SQL Database
13 6 (0.45%) GIS
14 5 (0.37%) Elasticsearch
15 4 (0.30%) MongoDB
16 3 (0.22%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 63 (4.69%) Git
2 46 (3.43%) JIRA
3 31 (2.31%) GitLab
4 23 (1.71%) Rational DOORS
5 6 (0.45%) Selenium
6 4 (0.30%) Jenkins
7 3 (0.22%) Android Studio
7 3 (0.22%) PetaLinux
7 3 (0.22%) Postman
7 3 (0.22%) Visual Studio
8 2 (0.15%) Appium
8 2 (0.15%) Eclipse
8 2 (0.15%) Eclipse RCP
8 2 (0.15%) JMeter
8 2 (0.15%) JUnit
8 2 (0.15%) Mocha
8 2 (0.15%) PHPUnit
8 2 (0.15%) REST Assured
8 2 (0.15%) Subversion
8 2 (0.15%) Terragrunt
General
1 645 (48.06%) Social Skills
2 365 (27.20%) Analytical Skills
3 199 (14.83%) Finance
4 95 (7.08%) Organisational Skills
5 76 (5.66%) Manufacturing
6 55 (4.10%) Retail
7 54 (4.02%) Electronics
7 54 (4.02%) Telecoms
8 51 (3.80%) Marketing
9 47 (3.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 38 (2.83%) Aerospace
11 35 (2.61%) Law
12 32 (2.38%) Legal
13 31 (2.31%) Influencing Skills
14 29 (2.16%) Documentation Skills
15 25 (1.86%) Local Government
16 24 (1.79%) Public Sector
17 18 (1.34%) Military
18 16 (1.19%) Banking
19 15 (1.12%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 185 (13.79%) Analyst
2 148 (11.03%) IT Support
3 135 (10.06%) Senior
4 129 (9.61%) Developer
5 125 (9.31%) Support Engineer
6 90 (6.71%) IT Engineer
7 74 (5.51%) Support Analyst
8 69 (5.14%) Systems Engineer
9 65 (4.84%) Software Engineer
10 58 (4.32%) IT Support Engineer
11 57 (4.25%) Technical Support
12 56 (4.17%) Lead
13 55 (4.10%) Support Technician
14 48 (3.58%) 2nd Line Support
15 44 (3.28%) IT Technician
16 43 (3.20%) Technical Engineer
16 43 (3.20%) Technical Support Engineer
17 39 (2.91%) Architect
18 36 (2.68%) 1st Line Support
19 34 (2.53%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 81 (6.04%) .NET
2 59 (4.40%) HTML
3 48 (3.58%) SOAP
4 41 (3.06%) REST
5 37 (2.76%) CSS
6 36 (2.68%) JSON
7 34 (2.53%) XML
8 32 (2.38%) React
9 25 (1.86%) ASP.NET
10 18 (1.34%) ASP.NET Core
10 18 (1.34%) Middleware
10 18 (1.34%) OAuth
10 18 (1.34%) RESTful
11 17 (1.27%) Vue
12 16 (1.19%) HTML5
13 15 (1.12%) RabbitMQ
14 14 (1.04%) ARM Templates
14 14 (1.04%) CSS3
15 13 (0.97%) AngularJS
15 13 (0.97%) Sass
Miscellaneous
1 85 (6.33%) Driving Licence
2 68 (5.07%) Self-Motivation
3 65 (4.84%) Onboarding
4 61 (4.55%) Management Information System
5 47 (3.50%) Cloud Native
6 36 (2.68%) Product Ownership
7 27 (2.01%) Distributed Systems
8 25 (1.86%) Analytical Mindset
9 18 (1.34%) Robotics
10 17 (1.27%) NHS
10 17 (1.27%) Social Media
11 15 (1.12%) EPoS
11 15 (1.12%) Low-Code
12 14 (1.04%) Security Posture
13 13 (0.97%) Legacy Systems
14 12 (0.89%) Client/Server
15 11 (0.82%) Clustering
15 11 (0.82%) Enterprise Software
15 11 (0.82%) Video Editing
15 11 (0.82%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 212 (15.80%) Windows
2 110 (8.20%) Linux
3 69 (5.14%) Windows Server
4 21 (1.56%) Mac OS
5 19 (1.42%) Android
5 19 (1.42%) CentOS
6 17 (1.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 17 (1.27%) Windows Server 2019
7 13 (0.97%) Ubuntu
8 10 (0.75%) Windows Server 2016
9 7 (0.52%) Debian
10 6 (0.45%) Apple iOS
11 5 (0.37%) VMS
12 4 (0.30%) Windows 10
13 3 (0.22%) FreeRTOS
13 3 (0.22%) Gentoo
13 3 (0.22%) Windows 7
13 3 (0.22%) Windows Server 2012
14 2 (0.15%) Unix
15 1 (0.075%) FreeBSD
Processes & Methodologies
1 259 (19.30%) Continuous Improvement
2 239 (17.81%) Customer Service
3 177 (13.19%) Agile
4 149 (11.10%) CI/CD
5 141 (10.51%) Decision-Making
6 140 (10.43%) DevOps
7 138 (10.28%) Software Engineering
8 123 (9.17%) AI
8 123 (9.17%) Project Management
9 120 (8.94%) Cybersecurity
10 114 (8.49%) Mentoring
11 109 (8.12%) Project Delivery
12 107 (7.97%) Computer Science
13 106 (7.90%) Collaborative Working
14 102 (7.60%) Analytics
15 100 (7.45%) ITIL
15 100 (7.45%) Stakeholder Management
16 96 (7.15%) Business Intelligence
17 89 (6.63%) Logistics
18 83 (6.18%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 213 (15.87%) Python
2 212 (15.80%) SQL
3 109 (8.12%) C#
4 90 (6.71%) PowerShell
5 88 (6.56%) JavaScript
6 55 (4.10%) C++
7 52 (3.87%) Java
8 40 (2.98%) TypeScript
9 32 (2.38%) Bash
9 32 (2.38%) C
10 26 (1.94%) PHP
11 17 (1.27%) PL/SQL
12 15 (1.12%) Rust
13 13 (0.97%) Ruby
14 11 (0.82%) T-SQL
15 10 (0.75%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 10 (0.75%) Perl
16 8 (0.60%) Bicep
17 7 (0.52%) MATLAB
18 6 (0.45%) Embedded C
Qualifications
1 248 (18.48%) Degree
2 89 (6.63%) Security Cleared
3 81 (6.04%) DBS Check
4 57 (4.25%) SC Cleared
5 53 (3.95%) Computer Science Degree
6 41 (3.06%) Microsoft Certification
7 38 (2.83%) BPSS Clearance
8 31 (2.31%) ACCA
9 30 (2.24%) CIMA
9 30 (2.24%) HNC
10 28 (2.09%) Chartered Engineer
11 22 (1.64%) PMI Certification
12 20 (1.49%) A+ Certification
12 20 (1.49%) Azure Certification
12 20 (1.49%) PMP
13 17 (1.27%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 17 (1.27%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
14 14 (1.04%) CCNA
14 14 (1.04%) Cisco Certification
14 14 (1.04%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 108 (8.05%) QA
2 57 (4.25%) Data Quality
3 50 (3.73%) GDPR
4 37 (2.76%) SLA
5 28 (2.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 24 (1.79%) Accessibility
7 20 (1.49%) PCI DSS
8 14 (1.04%) Good Clinical Practice
8 14 (1.04%) NIST
9 13 (0.97%) PMO
10 11 (0.82%) Cyber Essentials
11 8 (0.60%) SOC 2
12 5 (0.37%) 21 CFR Part 11
12 5 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 5 (0.37%) GLP
12 5 (0.37%) GMP
12 5 (0.37%) GxP
12 5 (0.37%) ISO 9001
13 4 (0.30%) Def Stans
13 4 (0.30%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 123 (9.17%) Active Directory
2 64 (4.77%) Docker
3 48 (3.58%) VMware Infrastructure
4 47 (3.50%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.75%) KVM
6 6 (0.45%) vSphere
7 5 (0.37%) ClearTrust
7 5 (0.37%) VMware ESXi
7 5 (0.37%) XenApp
8 4 (0.30%) Firmware
8 4 (0.30%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (0.30%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.22%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 2 (0.15%) VMware NSX
11 1 (0.075%) Embedded Firmware
11 1 (0.075%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.075%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.075%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 69 (5.14%) Kubernetes
1 69 (5.14%) Terraform
2 37 (2.76%) Microsoft Intune
3 34 (2.53%) Ansible
4 18 (1.34%) SCCM
5 16 (1.19%) Grafana
6 13 (0.97%) Prometheus
7 12 (0.89%) Nagios
8 8 (0.60%) Podman
9 7 (0.52%) Failover Clustering
9 7 (0.52%) ZABBIX
10 6 (0.45%) vCenter Server
11 5 (0.37%) Docker Swarm
11 5 (0.37%) Graylog
12 4 (0.30%) Functional Safety
12 4 (0.30%) Jamf Pro
12 4 (0.30%) Puppet
13 2 (0.15%) Nessus
13 2 (0.15%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
14 1 (0.075%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 379 (28.24%) Microsoft
2 56 (4.17%) VMware
3 43 (3.20%) Google
4 41 (3.06%) Oracle
5 27 (2.01%) Cisco
5 27 (2.01%) Salesforce
6 25 (1.86%) Databricks
7 23 (1.71%) Veeam
8 21 (1.56%) Fortinet
9 18 (1.34%) Instagram
10 17 (1.27%) SAP
11 16 (1.19%) Aruba
11 16 (1.19%) SonicWALL
11 16 (1.19%) Splunk
12 15 (1.12%) Red Hat
13 14 (1.04%) Adobe
13 14 (1.04%) Sage
14 13 (0.97%) ServiceNow
15 12 (0.89%) Palo Alto
16 11 (0.82%) Dynatrace