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

6 months to
29 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 3 5
Rank change year-on-year -3 +2 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,448 1,582 2,164
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 8.91% 18.28% 14.86%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.42% 20.71% 18.36%
Number of salaries quoted 1,087 801 1,320
10th Percentile £27,000 £27,000 £26,725
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,250 £34,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £42,500 £47,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.88% -9.57% -8.47%
75th Percentile £58,750 £62,500 £62,500
90th Percentile £72,500 £81,250 £76,250
England median annual salary £47,500 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -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 11,655 7,640 11,789
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.70% 88.27% 80.93%
Number of salaries quoted 8,296 4,069 7,890
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,750 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £34,000 £38,620
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 £56,185 £55,000
% change year-on-year +6.79% +2.16% -11.29%

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 29 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 29 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 -7 537 £45,000 +5.88% 237
Hampshire -2 361 £45,000 - 157
Surrey 0 246 £42,500 +3.98% 87
Berkshire -4 245 £45,000 - 108
Buckinghamshire -7 173 £42,500 +13.33% 74
Kent -8 134 £35,000 +11.11% 54
Oxfordshire -1 119 £42,500 -16.26% 57
East Sussex -4 87 £50,000 - 32
West Sussex -8 73 £50,000 +2.56% 25
Middlesex +5 6 £50,000 +33.33% 13
Isle of Wight -10 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 46 (3.18%) SharePoint
2 40 (2.76%) Microsoft Exchange
3 19 (1.31%) Confluence
4 18 (1.24%) CMS
5 7 (0.48%) Apache
5 7 (0.48%) OpenEdge
6 6 (0.41%) IIS
7 5 (0.35%) nginx
7 5 (0.35%) WordPress
8 3 (0.21%) Anypoint
8 3 (0.21%) OpenStack
8 3 (0.21%) SAS
9 2 (0.14%) Gentran
9 2 (0.14%) Tomcat
10 1 (0.069%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 105 (7.25%) Microsoft Excel
2 82 (5.66%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (0.76%) Spreadsheet
4 9 (0.62%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 8 (0.55%) MS Visio
6 5 (0.35%) Lightworks
6 5 (0.35%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.35%) Photoshop
7 4 (0.28%) Adobe Illustrator
8 3 (0.21%) AutoCAD
8 3 (0.21%) Simulink
9 2 (0.14%) Chatbot
9 2 (0.14%) Revit
Business Applications
1 14 (0.97%) NetSuite
2 8 (0.55%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (0.48%) Magento
4 6 (0.41%) Raiser’s Edge
5 5 (0.35%) Shopify
6 3 (0.21%) Infor SunSystems
6 3 (0.21%) Sage X3
6 3 (0.21%) Salesforce CRM
7 2 (0.14%) Academy Housing
7 2 (0.14%) Payment Gateway
8 1 (0.069%) Elite 3E
8 1 (0.069%) HFM
8 1 (0.069%) Oracle Applications
8 1 (0.069%) SAP CO
8 1 (0.069%) SAP GRC
8 1 (0.069%) Siebel CRM
8 1 (0.069%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 341 (23.55%) Azure
2 162 (11.19%) Microsoft 365
3 154 (10.64%) AWS
4 87 (6.01%) Power Platform
5 64 (4.42%) SaaS
6 48 (3.31%) Entra ID
7 47 (3.25%) GCP
8 46 (3.18%) Azure DevOps
9 30 (2.07%) GitHub
9 30 (2.07%) Serverless
10 23 (1.59%) IaaS
10 23 (1.59%) PaaS
11 20 (1.38%) Dynamics 365
12 19 (1.31%) Datadog
13 17 (1.17%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 17 (1.17%) GitHub Actions
14 16 (1.10%) Google Workspace
15 15 (1.04%) Amazon ECS
15 15 (1.04%) OpenShift
16 14 (0.97%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 126 (8.70%) Firewall
2 63 (4.35%) DNS
3 55 (3.80%) TCP/IP
4 52 (3.59%) VPN
5 49 (3.38%) WAN
6 48 (3.31%) LAN
7 39 (2.69%) DHCP
7 39 (2.69%) Wireless
8 37 (2.56%) Wi-Fi
9 29 (2.00%) VoIP
10 27 (1.86%) VLAN
11 23 (1.59%) Network Security
12 13 (0.90%) Broadband
12 13 (0.90%) Internet
12 13 (0.90%) SSL
13 10 (0.69%) HTTP
14 9 (0.62%) LTE
14 9 (0.62%) MQTT
15 7 (0.48%) Remote Desktop
16 6 (0.41%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 107 (7.39%) SQL Server
2 73 (5.04%) Power BI
3 29 (2.00%) Relational Database
4 26 (1.80%) PostgreSQL
5 22 (1.52%) MySQL
5 22 (1.52%) NoSQL
6 17 (1.17%) Data Warehouse
7 16 (1.10%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 13 (0.90%) Tableau
9 12 (0.83%) OLTP
9 12 (0.83%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 11 (0.76%) Amazon RDS
11 10 (0.69%) Data Lake
12 8 (0.55%) DynamoDB
13 7 (0.48%) GIS
13 7 (0.48%) Looker
13 7 (0.48%) MongoDB
13 7 (0.48%) Power Query
14 5 (0.35%) Azure SQL Database
15 4 (0.28%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 71 (4.90%) Git
2 56 (3.87%) JIRA
3 30 (2.07%) GitLab
4 20 (1.38%) Rational DOORS
5 6 (0.41%) Selenium
6 5 (0.35%) Claude Code
6 5 (0.35%) Jenkins
6 5 (0.35%) Postman
7 4 (0.28%) Eclipse
7 4 (0.28%) Eclipse RCP
7 4 (0.28%) Terragrunt
8 3 (0.21%) Android Studio
8 3 (0.21%) Oracle Forms
8 3 (0.21%) PetaLinux
8 3 (0.21%) PHPUnit
8 3 (0.21%) Team Foundation Server
8 3 (0.21%) Visual Studio
9 2 (0.14%) Appium
9 2 (0.14%) Mocha
9 2 (0.14%) REST Assured
General
1 698 (48.20%) Social Skills
2 410 (28.31%) Analytical Skills
3 219 (15.12%) Finance
4 108 (7.46%) Organisational Skills
5 95 (6.56%) Manufacturing
6 69 (4.77%) Electronics
7 62 (4.28%) Retail
8 57 (3.94%) Telecoms
9 52 (3.59%) Aerospace
10 48 (3.31%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 42 (2.90%) Marketing
12 37 (2.56%) Law
12 37 (2.56%) Legal
13 35 (2.42%) Influencing Skills
14 33 (2.28%) Documentation Skills
15 30 (2.07%) Public Sector
16 23 (1.59%) Local Government
17 19 (1.31%) Military
18 17 (1.17%) Banking
19 14 (0.97%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 206 (14.23%) Analyst
2 151 (10.43%) Senior
3 146 (10.08%) IT Support
4 139 (9.60%) Developer
5 123 (8.49%) Support Engineer
6 91 (6.28%) IT Engineer
7 90 (6.22%) Support Analyst
8 69 (4.77%) Systems Engineer
9 68 (4.70%) Software Engineer
10 66 (4.56%) Lead
11 65 (4.49%) Technical Support
12 60 (4.14%) Support Technician
13 57 (3.94%) IT Support Engineer
14 56 (3.87%) 2nd Line Support
15 49 (3.38%) Technical Engineer
15 49 (3.38%) Technical Support Engineer
16 42 (2.90%) IT Technician
17 41 (2.83%) Architect
18 38 (2.62%) Senior Developer
19 37 (2.56%) Applications Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 96 (6.63%) .NET
2 66 (4.56%) HTML
3 52 (3.59%) REST
4 48 (3.31%) SOAP
5 46 (3.18%) CSS
6 42 (2.90%) React
7 37 (2.56%) ASP.NET
8 33 (2.28%) JSON
9 30 (2.07%) OAuth
9 30 (2.07%) XML
10 28 (1.93%) ASP.NET Core
11 26 (1.80%) RESTful
12 23 (1.59%) Vue
13 22 (1.52%) AngularJS
14 17 (1.17%) RabbitMQ
15 16 (1.10%) ARM Templates
15 16 (1.10%) HTML5
15 16 (1.10%) Middleware
16 15 (1.04%) jQuery
16 15 (1.04%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 100 (6.91%) Driving Licence
2 73 (5.04%) Onboarding
2 73 (5.04%) Self-Motivation
3 68 (4.70%) Management Information System
4 59 (4.07%) Cloud Native
5 39 (2.69%) Product Ownership
6 30 (2.07%) Distributed Systems
7 28 (1.93%) Analytical Mindset
8 21 (1.45%) Data Centre
9 20 (1.38%) Robotics
9 20 (1.38%) Social Media
10 18 (1.24%) Enterprise Software
10 18 (1.24%) Legacy Systems
11 17 (1.17%) NHS
12 15 (1.04%) EPoS
12 15 (1.04%) Security Posture
13 13 (0.90%) Analogue Electronics
13 13 (0.90%) CCTV
13 13 (0.90%) Clustering
14 12 (0.83%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 234 (16.16%) Windows
2 115 (7.94%) Linux
3 85 (5.87%) Windows Server
4 21 (1.45%) Mac OS
5 20 (1.38%) Android
6 16 (1.10%) CentOS
6 16 (1.10%) Windows Server 2019
7 14 (0.97%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 12 (0.83%) Ubuntu
9 10 (0.69%) Apple iOS
9 10 (0.69%) Windows 10
10 9 (0.62%) Windows Server 2016
11 8 (0.55%) Debian
12 3 (0.21%) FreeRTOS
12 3 (0.21%) Gentoo
12 3 (0.21%) Unix
12 3 (0.21%) VMS
12 3 (0.21%) Windows 7
13 2 (0.14%) Windows Server 2012
14 1 (0.069%) Embedded Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 299 (20.65%) Continuous Improvement
2 249 (17.20%) Customer Service
3 199 (13.74%) Agile
4 171 (11.81%) CI/CD
5 170 (11.74%) Decision-Making
6 158 (10.91%) AI
7 156 (10.77%) DevOps
8 146 (10.08%) Software Engineering
9 144 (9.94%) Project Management
10 140 (9.67%) Project Delivery
11 133 (9.19%) ITIL
12 127 (8.77%) Stakeholder Management
13 124 (8.56%) Cybersecurity
14 122 (8.43%) Mentoring
15 118 (8.15%) Collaborative Working
16 114 (7.87%) Computer Science
17 109 (7.53%) Analytics
18 102 (7.04%) Business Intelligence
19 101 (6.98%) Validation
20 99 (6.84%) Logistics
Programming Languages
1 217 (14.99%) SQL
2 215 (14.85%) Python
3 115 (7.94%) C#
4 93 (6.42%) JavaScript
4 93 (6.42%) PowerShell
5 61 (4.21%) C++
6 55 (3.80%) Java
7 50 (3.45%) TypeScript
8 37 (2.56%) Bash
9 33 (2.28%) C
10 22 (1.52%) PHP
11 13 (0.90%) PL/SQL
11 13 (0.90%) Ruby
11 13 (0.90%) T-SQL
12 12 (0.83%) Rust
13 11 (0.76%) Perl
14 8 (0.55%) Bicep
14 8 (0.55%) VB.NET
15 7 (0.48%) MATLAB
16 6 (0.41%) Apex Code
Qualifications
1 278 (19.20%) Degree
2 122 (8.43%) Security Cleared
3 95 (6.56%) DBS Check
4 86 (5.94%) SC Cleared
5 63 (4.35%) Computer Science Degree
6 49 (3.38%) Microsoft Certification
7 39 (2.69%) BPSS Clearance
8 37 (2.56%) HNC
9 31 (2.14%) Azure Certification
10 27 (1.86%) ACCA
11 26 (1.80%) CIMA
12 25 (1.73%) Chartered Engineer
12 25 (1.73%) PMI Certification
12 25 (1.73%) PMP
13 23 (1.59%) DV Cleared
14 21 (1.45%) HND
15 19 (1.31%) Master's Degree
15 19 (1.31%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
16 16 (1.10%) A+ Certification
16 16 (1.10%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 119 (8.22%) QA
2 53 (3.66%) Data Quality
3 48 (3.31%) GDPR
4 41 (2.83%) SLA
5 28 (1.93%) Accessibility
6 27 (1.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 21 (1.45%) PCI DSS
8 18 (1.24%) Good Clinical Practice
9 16 (1.10%) NIST
10 14 (0.97%) Cyber Essentials
11 13 (0.90%) PMO
12 11 (0.76%) SOC 2
13 8 (0.55%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 8 (0.55%) GLP
13 8 (0.55%) GMP
13 8 (0.55%) GxP
14 7 (0.48%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
15 6 (0.41%) DO-254
15 6 (0.41%) ISO 9001
16 4 (0.28%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 118 (8.15%) Active Directory
2 74 (5.11%) Docker
3 63 (4.35%) VMware Infrastructure
4 50 (3.45%) Hyper-V
5 8 (0.55%) Firmware
5 8 (0.55%) VMware ESXi
5 8 (0.55%) vSphere
6 7 (0.48%) KVM
7 5 (0.35%) ClearTrust
7 5 (0.35%) Squid
7 5 (0.35%) XenApp
8 4 (0.28%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (0.28%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.21%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 2 (0.14%) VMware NSX
11 1 (0.069%) Embedded Firmware
11 1 (0.069%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.069%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.069%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 83 (5.73%) Terraform
2 80 (5.52%) Kubernetes
3 48 (3.31%) Microsoft Intune
4 37 (2.56%) Ansible
5 23 (1.59%) SCCM
6 16 (1.10%) Grafana
7 13 (0.90%) Prometheus
8 11 (0.76%) Nagios
9 8 (0.55%) Podman
10 7 (0.48%) Failover Clustering
10 7 (0.48%) Single Sign-On
10 7 (0.48%) ZABBIX
11 6 (0.41%) Jamf Pro
12 5 (0.35%) Docker Swarm
12 5 (0.35%) Graylog
12 5 (0.35%) Puppet
13 4 (0.28%) Functional Safety
13 4 (0.28%) vCenter Server
14 2 (0.14%) Nessus
14 2 (0.14%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 409 (28.25%) Microsoft
2 70 (4.83%) VMware
3 50 (3.45%) Google
4 44 (3.04%) Oracle
5 34 (2.35%) Cisco
6 30 (2.07%) Fortinet
7 29 (2.00%) Salesforce
8 27 (1.86%) SonicWALL
9 26 (1.80%) Veeam
10 21 (1.45%) Databricks
10 21 (1.45%) ServiceNow
11 20 (1.38%) Sage
12 18 (1.24%) SAP
13 16 (1.10%) Aruba
14 15 (1.04%) Red Hat
14 15 (1.04%) Splunk
15 14 (0.97%) Instagram
16 13 (0.90%) Dynatrace
16 13 (0.90%) Palo Alto
17 9 (0.62%) Qualys