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

6 months to
29 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 1,180 1,436 2,819
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 8.14% 18.66% 16.58%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.29% 20.57% 19.92%
Number of salaries quoted 881 674 1,761
10th Percentile £26,701 £28,075 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,313 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £45,250 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -0.55% +0.56% -14.29%
75th Percentile £62,500 £62,500 £61,500
90th Percentile £77,500 £83,750 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £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 10,456 6,980 14,154
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 72.16% 90.70% 83.22%
Number of salaries quoted 7,172 3,240 9,965
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,375 £27,675
25th Percentile £39,000 £36,000 £36,750
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 £82,500 £77,650
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 29 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 29 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 -11 433 £47,500 -6.80% 159
Hampshire -4 273 £40,000 -5.88% 108
Berkshire -7 202 £47,038 -14.48% 66
Surrey -4 195 £42,500 +4.30% 72
Buckinghamshire -12 139 £47,750 -4.50% 57
Kent -3 122 £29,500 -4.84% 50
East Sussex -5 93 £57,500 +15.00% 9
Oxfordshire -6 92 £36,250 -34.09% 38
West Sussex -5 53 £56,465 +21.43% 19
Isle of Wight -9 3 £41,500 -24.55%
Middlesex +2 2 £35,000 -44.00% 21
Sussex -20 1 £30,000 -29.41% 6
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 (2.88%) SharePoint
2 29 (2.46%) Microsoft Exchange
3 16 (1.36%) CMS
4 11 (0.93%) Confluence
5 10 (0.85%) IIS
6 7 (0.59%) OpenEdge
7 5 (0.42%) WordPress
8 4 (0.34%) SAS
9 3 (0.25%) Anypoint
9 3 (0.25%) Apache
9 3 (0.25%) govService
9 3 (0.25%) OpenStack
10 2 (0.17%) Apache Airflow
10 2 (0.17%) Gentran
11 1 (0.085%) ArcGIS
11 1 (0.085%) nginx
11 1 (0.085%) Tomcat
Applications
1 89 (7.54%) Microsoft Excel
2 65 (5.51%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (0.93%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (0.68%) MS Visio
4 8 (0.68%) Spreadsheet
5 6 (0.51%) Photoshop
6 5 (0.42%) Adobe Illustrator
7 3 (0.25%) Microsoft Project
8 2 (0.17%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 2 (0.17%) Chatbot
9 1 (0.085%) Acrobat
9 1 (0.085%) AutoCAD
9 1 (0.085%) Lightworks
Business Applications
1 10 (0.85%) Dynamics CRM
1 10 (0.85%) NetSuite
2 9 (0.76%) SAP CO
3 4 (0.34%) Dynamics NAV
3 4 (0.34%) Magento
3 4 (0.34%) 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 (0.085%) Elite 3E
5 1 (0.085%) HFM
5 1 (0.085%) PeopleSoft HRMS
5 1 (0.085%) Raiser’s Edge
5 1 (0.085%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.085%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 271 (22.97%) Azure
2 124 (10.51%) Microsoft 365
3 110 (9.32%) AWS
4 81 (6.86%) Power Platform
5 54 (4.58%) Azure DevOps
6 53 (4.49%) SaaS
7 36 (3.05%) GCP
8 30 (2.54%) IaaS
8 30 (2.54%) PaaS
9 27 (2.29%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 22 (1.86%) Entra ID
11 19 (1.61%) Google Workspace
11 19 (1.61%) Serverless
12 18 (1.53%) Dynamics 365
13 16 (1.36%) Azure Logic Apps
13 16 (1.36%) GitHub
14 15 (1.27%) Azure Data Factory
14 15 (1.27%) Datadog
14 15 (1.27%) Mimecast
14 15 (1.27%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 76 (6.44%) Firewall
2 62 (5.25%) DNS
3 36 (3.05%) DHCP
3 36 (3.05%) TCP/IP
4 28 (2.37%) VPN
5 24 (2.03%) WAN
5 24 (2.03%) Wireless
6 21 (1.78%) LAN
7 20 (1.69%) Broadband
8 14 (1.19%) Wi-Fi
9 13 (1.10%) VLAN
10 12 (1.02%) Network Security
10 12 (1.02%) VoIP
11 11 (0.93%) HTTP
12 7 (0.59%) Remote Desktop
12 7 (0.59%) SSL
13 6 (0.51%) PuTTY
13 6 (0.51%) SAN
13 6 (0.51%) SSH
14 5 (0.42%) Intranet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 76 (6.44%) SQL Server
2 62 (5.25%) Power BI
3 24 (2.03%) Data Warehouse
4 21 (1.78%) PostgreSQL
5 20 (1.69%) Relational Database
6 18 (1.53%) OLTP
7 16 (1.36%) NoSQL
8 12 (1.02%) MySQL
8 12 (1.02%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 12 (1.02%) Tableau
9 11 (0.93%) Power Query
10 7 (0.59%) Data Lake
10 7 (0.59%) Looker
10 7 (0.59%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 6 (0.51%) GIS
12 5 (0.42%) Amazon RDS
12 5 (0.42%) Big Data
12 5 (0.42%) Data Mining
12 5 (0.42%) Hadoop
13 3 (0.25%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 58 (4.92%) Git
2 39 (3.31%) JIRA
3 28 (2.37%) GitLab
4 23 (1.95%) Rational DOORS
5 7 (0.59%) Selenium
6 5 (0.42%) Visual Studio
7 3 (0.25%) Android Studio
7 3 (0.25%) Cypress.io
7 3 (0.25%) Postman
8 2 (0.17%) Appium
8 2 (0.17%) Jenkins
8 2 (0.17%) JMeter
8 2 (0.17%) JUnit
8 2 (0.17%) LabVIEW
8 2 (0.17%) REST Assured
8 2 (0.17%) Robot Framework
8 2 (0.17%) Snyk
8 2 (0.17%) Terragrunt
9 1 (0.085%) Artifactory
9 1 (0.085%) SonarQube
General
1 569 (48.22%) Social Skills
2 341 (28.90%) Analytical Skills
3 187 (15.85%) Finance
4 79 (6.69%) Organisational Skills
5 61 (5.17%) Marketing
6 60 (5.08%) Manufacturing
7 48 (4.07%) Electronics
7 48 (4.07%) Telecoms
8 46 (3.90%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 45 (3.81%) Retail
10 31 (2.63%) Aerospace
11 29 (2.46%) Law
11 29 (2.46%) Public Sector
12 23 (1.95%) Legal
13 22 (1.86%) Documentation Skills
14 14 (1.19%) Local Government
14 14 (1.19%) Military
15 13 (1.10%) Pharmaceutical
15 13 (1.10%) Presentation Skills
16 11 (0.93%) Aeronautics
Job Titles
1 156 (13.22%) Analyst
2 135 (11.44%) IT Support
3 127 (10.76%) Developer
3 127 (10.76%) Senior
4 115 (9.75%) Support Engineer
5 71 (6.02%) IT Engineer
6 67 (5.68%) Support Analyst
7 62 (5.25%) Systems Engineer
8 51 (4.32%) Technical Support
9 48 (4.07%) IT Support Engineer
9 48 (4.07%) Software Engineer
9 48 (4.07%) Support Technician
10 46 (3.90%) Lead
11 45 (3.81%) 2nd Line Support
12 44 (3.73%) Architect
13 39 (3.31%) IT Technician
14 37 (3.14%) Technical Engineer
14 37 (3.14%) Technical Support Engineer
15 36 (3.05%) Infrastructure Engineer
16 32 (2.71%) 1st Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 72 (6.10%) .NET
2 56 (4.75%) HTML
3 49 (4.15%) SOAP
4 40 (3.39%) REST
5 34 (2.88%) XML
6 33 (2.80%) CSS
6 33 (2.80%) JSON
7 26 (2.20%) React
8 21 (1.78%) Middleware
9 18 (1.53%) OAuth
10 16 (1.36%) Laravel
11 15 (1.27%) CSS3
11 15 (1.27%) HTML5
11 15 (1.27%) RabbitMQ
12 14 (1.19%) ASP.NET
12 14 (1.19%) jQuery
12 14 (1.19%) RESTful
13 13 (1.10%) Ajax
13 13 (1.10%) Sass
14 12 (1.02%) LESS
Miscellaneous
1 70 (5.93%) Driving Licence
2 58 (4.92%) Onboarding
2 58 (4.92%) Self-Motivation
3 51 (4.32%) Management Information System
4 38 (3.22%) Product Ownership
5 37 (3.14%) Cloud Native
6 33 (2.80%) Distributed Systems
7 25 (2.12%) Analytical Mindset
8 22 (1.86%) Low-Code
9 17 (1.44%) Social Media
10 16 (1.36%) NHS
11 14 (1.19%) Legacy Systems
11 14 (1.19%) Robotics
12 11 (0.93%) Enterprise Software
12 11 (0.93%) Video Editing
13 10 (0.85%) Algorithms
13 10 (0.85%) Client/Server
14 9 (0.76%) Cyber Defence
14 9 (0.76%) Hybrid Cloud
14 9 (0.76%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 176 (14.92%) Windows
2 101 (8.56%) Linux
3 63 (5.34%) Windows Server
4 23 (1.95%) Android
5 19 (1.61%) CentOS
6 18 (1.53%) Mac OS
7 17 (1.44%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 13 (1.10%) Windows Server 2019
9 12 (1.02%) Ubuntu
10 9 (0.76%) VMS
10 9 (0.76%) Windows Server 2016
11 8 (0.68%) Apple iOS
12 7 (0.59%) Windows Server 2012
13 3 (0.25%) Debian
14 2 (0.17%) Unix
14 2 (0.17%) Windows 10
15 1 (0.085%) Embedded Linux
15 1 (0.085%) FreeBSD
15 1 (0.085%) OpenBSD
15 1 (0.085%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 235 (19.92%) Continuous Improvement
2 199 (16.86%) Customer Service
3 169 (14.32%) Agile
4 141 (11.95%) DevOps
5 140 (11.86%) CI/CD
6 116 (9.83%) Software Engineering
7 115 (9.75%) Decision-Making
8 110 (9.32%) Computer Science
9 108 (9.15%) Analytics
10 107 (9.07%) AI
11 93 (7.88%) Business Intelligence
12 91 (7.71%) Project Management
13 89 (7.54%) Mentoring
14 86 (7.29%) Project Delivery
15 83 (7.03%) Cybersecurity
16 81 (6.86%) CRM
17 80 (6.78%) Data Modelling
18 74 (6.27%) ITIL
19 73 (6.19%) ERP
20 71 (6.02%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 206 (17.46%) Python
2 192 (16.27%) SQL
3 97 (8.22%) C#
4 85 (7.20%) JavaScript
5 65 (5.51%) PowerShell
6 53 (4.49%) Java
7 37 (3.14%) C++
8 30 (2.54%) PHP
9 27 (2.29%) C
10 25 (2.12%) Bash
10 25 (2.12%) TypeScript
11 21 (1.78%) PL/SQL
12 15 (1.27%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 11 (0.93%) Perl
13 11 (0.93%) Rust
14 9 (0.76%) Ruby
15 8 (0.68%) Apex Code
16 7 (0.59%) Bicep
16 7 (0.59%) R
16 7 (0.59%) Scala
Qualifications
1 241 (20.42%) Degree
2 84 (7.12%) Security Cleared
3 57 (4.83%) DBS Check
4 54 (4.58%) SC Cleared
5 50 (4.24%) Computer Science Degree
6 38 (3.22%) Microsoft Certification
7 34 (2.88%) ACCA
8 33 (2.80%) BPSS Clearance
9 32 (2.71%) CIMA
10 29 (2.46%) HNC
11 25 (2.12%) Chartered Engineer
12 23 (1.95%) A+ Certification
13 18 (1.53%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 16 (1.36%) Master's Degree
15 14 (1.19%) DV Cleared
16 13 (1.10%) Azure Certification
16 13 (1.10%) PMI Certification
17 10 (0.85%) HND
17 10 (0.85%) PMP
18 9 (0.76%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 85 (7.20%) QA
2 59 (5.00%) Data Quality
3 46 (3.90%) GDPR
4 39 (3.31%) SLA
5 23 (1.95%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 17 (1.44%) Accessibility
7 15 (1.27%) PCI DSS
8 11 (0.93%) NIST
9 8 (0.68%) SOC 2
10 6 (0.51%) Cyber Essentials
10 6 (0.51%) ISO 9001
11 5 (0.42%) Actionable Recommendations
12 4 (0.34%) Def Stans
12 4 (0.34%) Good Clinical Practice
12 4 (0.34%) ISO 26262
12 4 (0.34%) ITGC
13 3 (0.25%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 3 (0.25%) PMO
14 2 (0.17%) GRC
14 2 (0.17%) IFRS
System Software
1 100 (8.47%) Active Directory
2 51 (4.32%) Docker
3 45 (3.81%) VMware Infrastructure
4 34 (2.88%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.85%) KVM
6 7 (0.59%) VMware ESXi
7 5 (0.42%) Firmware
7 5 (0.42%) XenApp
8 4 (0.34%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (0.34%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.25%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 2 (0.17%) ClearTrust
10 2 (0.17%) VMware NSX
10 2 (0.17%) vSphere
11 1 (0.085%) Embedded Firmware
11 1 (0.085%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.085%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.085%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 63 (5.34%) Terraform
2 62 (5.25%) Kubernetes
3 31 (2.63%) Ansible
4 26 (2.20%) Microsoft Intune
5 16 (1.36%) SCCM
6 15 (1.27%) Grafana
7 12 (1.02%) Prometheus
8 11 (0.93%) Nagios
9 7 (0.59%) vCenter Server
9 7 (0.59%) ZABBIX
10 4 (0.34%) Docker Swarm
10 4 (0.34%) Functional Safety
10 4 (0.34%) Graylog
10 4 (0.34%) Podman
11 3 (0.25%) Failover Clustering
11 3 (0.25%) Puppet
12 2 (0.17%) Jamf Pro
12 2 (0.17%) Nessus
13 1 (0.085%) Netcool
13 1 (0.085%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 316 (26.78%) Microsoft
2 50 (4.24%) VMware
3 44 (3.73%) Oracle
4 38 (3.22%) Databricks
4 38 (3.22%) Google
5 27 (2.29%) Salesforce
6 24 (2.03%) Veeam
7 20 (1.69%) SAP
8 18 (1.53%) Adobe
8 18 (1.53%) Instagram
9 17 (1.44%) Cisco
10 15 (1.27%) Red Hat
11 13 (1.10%) Splunk
12 12 (1.02%) Fortinet
12 12 (1.02%) Sage
12 12 (1.02%) SolarWinds
13 11 (0.93%) Dynatrace
13 11 (0.93%) Hootsuite
13 11 (0.93%) Wrike
14 10 (0.85%) SonicWALL