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

6 months to
10 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -5 +1 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,200 1,452 2,912
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 8.34% 18.69% 16.08%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.68% 20.72% 19.65%
Number of salaries quoted 896 691 1,797
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,000 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £31,250 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £42,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.88% -5.56% -14.29%
75th Percentile £60,000 £62,500 £61,250
90th Percentile £75,000 £82,500 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £49,919
% change year-on-year -5.00% +0.16% -9.24%

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 10,274 7,009 14,820
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.40% 90.21% 81.82%
Number of salaries quoted 7,234 3,367 10,313
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £27,750
25th Percentile £39,969 £35,000 £37,500
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 £81,250 £78,750
England median annual salary £60,000 £58,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +3.45% +5.45% -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 10 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 10 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 -10 439 £45,000 -10.00% 212
Hampshire -4 278 £40,000 -1.36% 135
Berkshire -6 212 £45,000 -10.00% 93
Surrey -1 204 £42,500 +6.25% 91
Buckinghamshire -10 137 £47,500 +25.00% 71
Kent -1 126 £29,000 -8.66% 55
Oxfordshire -2 90 £35,000 -34.27% 48
East Sussex -4 90 £53,750 +7.50% 17
West Sussex -7 53 £52,500 +12.90% 29
Isle of Wight -11 3 £41,500 -24.55%
Middlesex +5 2 £35,000 -41.67% 14
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 33 (2.75%) SharePoint
2 29 (2.42%) Microsoft Exchange
3 16 (1.33%) CMS
4 15 (1.25%) Confluence
5 8 (0.67%) IIS
6 7 (0.58%) OpenEdge
7 5 (0.42%) WordPress
8 4 (0.33%) 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%) Gentran
11 1 (0.083%) Apache Airflow
11 1 (0.083%) nginx
11 1 (0.083%) Tomcat
Applications
1 90 (7.50%) Microsoft Excel
2 69 (5.75%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (1.00%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (0.75%) Spreadsheet
5 7 (0.58%) MS Visio
6 5 (0.42%) Photoshop
7 4 (0.33%) Adobe Illustrator
8 3 (0.25%) Microsoft Project
9 2 (0.17%) Chatbot
10 1 (0.083%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 1 (0.083%) AutoCAD
10 1 (0.083%) Lightworks
Business Applications
1 10 (0.83%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (0.75%) NetSuite
3 7 (0.58%) SAP CO
4 4 (0.33%) Dynamics NAV
4 4 (0.33%) Magento
4 4 (0.33%) Salesforce CRM
5 2 (0.17%) Infor SunSystems
5 2 (0.17%) Shopify
6 1 (0.083%) Elite 3E
6 1 (0.083%) HFM
6 1 (0.083%) Raiser’s Edge
6 1 (0.083%) SAP GRC
6 1 (0.083%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 274 (22.83%) Azure
2 125 (10.42%) Microsoft 365
3 113 (9.42%) AWS
4 66 (5.50%) Power Platform
5 50 (4.17%) SaaS
6 46 (3.83%) Azure DevOps
7 38 (3.17%) GCP
8 28 (2.33%) IaaS
8 28 (2.33%) PaaS
9 27 (2.25%) Entra ID
10 23 (1.92%) Azure Synapse Analytics
11 21 (1.75%) Serverless
12 18 (1.50%) Dynamics 365
13 17 (1.42%) GitHub
13 17 (1.42%) Google Workspace
14 16 (1.33%) Datadog
15 15 (1.25%) OpenShift
16 14 (1.17%) Mimecast
17 12 (1.00%) Azure Data Factory
17 12 (1.00%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 87 (7.25%) Firewall
2 60 (5.00%) DNS
3 36 (3.00%) DHCP
4 35 (2.92%) TCP/IP
5 32 (2.67%) WAN
6 31 (2.58%) LAN
6 31 (2.58%) VPN
7 29 (2.42%) Wireless
8 20 (1.67%) Broadband
9 18 (1.50%) VoIP
9 18 (1.50%) Wi-Fi
10 17 (1.42%) Network Security
11 16 (1.33%) VLAN
12 10 (0.83%) HTTP
13 9 (0.75%) SSL
14 7 (0.58%) Internet
14 7 (0.58%) Remote Desktop
15 6 (0.50%) WLAN
16 5 (0.42%) SAN
17 4 (0.33%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 83 (6.92%) SQL Server
2 52 (4.33%) Power BI
3 23 (1.92%) Data Warehouse
4 22 (1.83%) PostgreSQL
5 18 (1.50%) NoSQL
6 17 (1.42%) OLTP
6 17 (1.42%) Relational Database
7 14 (1.17%) MySQL
8 11 (0.92%) Power Query
8 11 (0.92%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 11 (0.92%) Tableau
9 8 (0.67%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 7 (0.58%) Data Lake
10 7 (0.58%) Looker
11 6 (0.50%) Amazon RDS
11 6 (0.50%) GIS
12 4 (0.33%) Azure SQL Database
12 4 (0.33%) Big Data
12 4 (0.33%) Hadoop
12 4 (0.33%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 58 (4.83%) Git
2 44 (3.67%) JIRA
3 31 (2.58%) GitLab
4 24 (2.00%) Rational DOORS
5 7 (0.58%) Selenium
6 3 (0.25%) Android Studio
6 3 (0.25%) Cypress.io
6 3 (0.25%) Postman
6 3 (0.25%) Visual Studio
7 2 (0.17%) Appium
7 2 (0.17%) Jenkins
7 2 (0.17%) JMeter
7 2 (0.17%) JUnit
7 2 (0.17%) Mocha
7 2 (0.17%) REST Assured
7 2 (0.17%) Terragrunt
8 1 (0.083%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.083%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.083%) PHPUnit
8 1 (0.083%) WebDriver
General
1 586 (48.83%) Social Skills
2 346 (28.83%) Analytical Skills
3 181 (15.08%) Finance
4 80 (6.67%) Organisational Skills
5 59 (4.92%) Marketing
6 52 (4.33%) Manufacturing
6 52 (4.33%) Telecoms
7 50 (4.17%) Retail
8 49 (4.08%) Electronics
9 41 (3.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 34 (2.83%) Aerospace
11 30 (2.50%) Law
12 27 (2.25%) Public Sector
13 24 (2.00%) Local Government
14 23 (1.92%) Documentation Skills
15 22 (1.83%) Influencing Skills
15 22 (1.83%) Legal
16 15 (1.25%) Military
17 12 (1.00%) Pharmaceutical
17 12 (1.00%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 162 (13.50%) Analyst
2 129 (10.75%) IT Support
3 127 (10.58%) Senior
4 126 (10.50%) Developer
5 109 (9.08%) Support Engineer
6 74 (6.17%) IT Engineer
7 63 (5.25%) Support Analyst
7 63 (5.25%) Systems Engineer
8 51 (4.25%) Support Technician
9 49 (4.08%) IT Support Engineer
10 48 (4.00%) Software Engineer
11 46 (3.83%) 2nd Line Support
11 46 (3.83%) Technical Support
12 45 (3.75%) Lead
13 43 (3.58%) Architect
14 36 (3.00%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 36 (3.00%) IT Technician
15 34 (2.83%) Technical Engineer
15 34 (2.83%) Technical Support Engineer
16 33 (2.75%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 76 (6.33%) .NET
2 57 (4.75%) HTML
3 49 (4.08%) SOAP
4 39 (3.25%) REST
5 36 (3.00%) CSS
6 33 (2.75%) JSON
6 33 (2.75%) XML
7 29 (2.42%) React
8 20 (1.67%) ASP.NET
8 20 (1.67%) Middleware
9 18 (1.50%) OAuth
10 17 (1.42%) HTML5
11 16 (1.33%) Laravel
11 16 (1.33%) RESTful
12 15 (1.25%) CSS3
12 15 (1.25%) RabbitMQ
13 13 (1.08%) Ajax
13 13 (1.08%) jQuery
13 13 (1.08%) Sass
13 13 (1.08%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 73 (6.08%) Driving Licence
2 64 (5.33%) Management Information System
3 62 (5.17%) Self-Motivation
4 56 (4.67%) Onboarding
5 40 (3.33%) Cloud Native
6 34 (2.83%) Product Ownership
7 31 (2.58%) Distributed Systems
8 24 (2.00%) Analytical Mindset
9 18 (1.50%) Low-Code
10 17 (1.42%) Social Media
11 15 (1.25%) NHS
11 15 (1.25%) Robotics
12 13 (1.08%) Legacy Systems
13 11 (0.92%) Enterprise Software
13 11 (0.92%) EPoS
13 11 (0.92%) Video Editing
14 10 (0.83%) Client/Server
15 9 (0.75%) Algorithms
15 9 (0.75%) Hybrid Cloud
15 9 (0.75%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 178 (14.83%) Windows
2 98 (8.17%) Linux
3 64 (5.33%) Windows Server
4 19 (1.58%) Android
4 19 (1.58%) CentOS
4 19 (1.58%) Mac OS
5 17 (1.42%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 17 (1.42%) Windows Server 2019
6 13 (1.08%) Ubuntu
7 9 (0.75%) Windows Server 2016
8 7 (0.58%) VMS
9 6 (0.50%) Apple iOS
9 6 (0.50%) Windows Server 2012
10 4 (0.33%) Debian
11 2 (0.17%) Unix
12 1 (0.083%) Embedded Linux
12 1 (0.083%) FreeBSD
12 1 (0.083%) Gentoo
12 1 (0.083%) OpenBSD
12 1 (0.083%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 232 (19.33%) Continuous Improvement
2 209 (17.42%) Customer Service
3 173 (14.42%) Agile
4 137 (11.42%) CI/CD
5 135 (11.25%) DevOps
6 130 (10.83%) Decision-Making
7 120 (10.00%) Software Engineering
8 112 (9.33%) Project Management
9 109 (9.08%) AI
10 106 (8.83%) Computer Science
11 100 (8.33%) Analytics
12 96 (8.00%) Mentoring
13 95 (7.92%) Project Delivery
14 91 (7.58%) Cybersecurity
15 85 (7.08%) Collaborative Working
16 82 (6.83%) Business Intelligence
17 80 (6.67%) CRM
18 79 (6.58%) ITIL
19 78 (6.50%) Stakeholder Management
20 74 (6.17%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 196 (16.33%) Python
2 189 (15.75%) SQL
3 96 (8.00%) C#
4 80 (6.67%) JavaScript
5 68 (5.67%) PowerShell
6 53 (4.42%) Java
7 37 (3.08%) C++
8 30 (2.50%) PHP
8 30 (2.50%) TypeScript
9 27 (2.25%) Bash
9 27 (2.25%) C
10 20 (1.67%) PL/SQL
11 12 (1.00%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 11 (0.92%) Rust
13 10 (0.83%) Perl
13 10 (0.83%) Ruby
14 7 (0.58%) Apex Code
14 7 (0.58%) Bicep
15 6 (0.50%) R
15 6 (0.50%) Scala
Qualifications
1 248 (20.67%) Degree
2 82 (6.83%) Security Cleared
3 67 (5.58%) DBS Check
4 52 (4.33%) SC Cleared
5 49 (4.08%) Computer Science Degree
6 37 (3.08%) Microsoft Certification
7 36 (3.00%) BPSS Clearance
8 32 (2.67%) ACCA
9 31 (2.58%) CIMA
10 29 (2.42%) HNC
11 26 (2.17%) Chartered Engineer
12 20 (1.67%) A+ Certification
13 18 (1.50%) PMI Certification
14 17 (1.42%) Master's Degree
14 17 (1.42%) Microsoft Certified Professional
15 15 (1.25%) PMP
16 13 (1.08%) Azure Certification
16 13 (1.08%) DV Cleared
17 12 (1.00%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
18 11 (0.92%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 98 (8.17%) QA
2 55 (4.58%) Data Quality
3 44 (3.67%) GDPR
4 37 (3.08%) SLA
5 25 (2.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 24 (2.00%) Accessibility
7 17 (1.42%) PCI DSS
8 12 (1.00%) PMO
9 11 (0.92%) NIST
10 9 (0.75%) Cyber Essentials
10 9 (0.75%) Good Clinical Practice
11 8 (0.67%) SOC 2
12 5 (0.42%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 5 (0.42%) ISO 9001
13 4 (0.33%) Actionable Recommendations
13 4 (0.33%) Def Stans
13 4 (0.33%) ISO 26262
13 4 (0.33%) ITGC
14 2 (0.17%) GRC
14 2 (0.17%) IFRS
System Software
1 103 (8.58%) Active Directory
2 54 (4.50%) Docker
3 46 (3.83%) VMware Infrastructure
4 38 (3.17%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.83%) KVM
6 7 (0.58%) VMware ESXi
7 5 (0.42%) XenApp
8 4 (0.33%) ClearTrust
8 4 (0.33%) Firmware
8 4 (0.33%) Virtual Desktop
9 3 (0.25%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 3 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
10 2 (0.17%) VMware NSX
10 2 (0.17%) vSphere
11 1 (0.083%) Embedded Firmware
11 1 (0.083%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.083%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.083%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 64 (5.33%) Kubernetes
1 64 (5.33%) Terraform
2 32 (2.67%) Microsoft Intune
3 31 (2.58%) Ansible
4 17 (1.42%) SCCM
5 15 (1.25%) Grafana
6 12 (1.00%) Nagios
6 12 (1.00%) Prometheus
7 7 (0.58%) vCenter Server
7 7 (0.58%) ZABBIX
8 6 (0.50%) Podman
9 5 (0.42%) Docker Swarm
10 4 (0.33%) Failover Clustering
10 4 (0.33%) Functional Safety
10 4 (0.33%) Graylog
10 4 (0.33%) Jamf Pro
11 3 (0.25%) Puppet
12 2 (0.17%) Nessus
13 1 (0.083%) Netcool
13 1 (0.083%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 321 (26.75%) Microsoft
2 52 (4.33%) VMware
3 43 (3.58%) Oracle
4 38 (3.17%) Google
5 32 (2.67%) Databricks
6 25 (2.08%) Salesforce
7 24 (2.00%) Veeam
8 22 (1.83%) Cisco
9 18 (1.50%) Instagram
10 17 (1.42%) SAP
11 15 (1.25%) Adobe
11 15 (1.25%) Red Hat
11 15 (1.25%) Splunk
12 14 (1.17%) Fortinet
12 14 (1.17%) SonicWALL
13 12 (1.00%) SolarWinds
14 11 (0.92%) Dynatrace
14 11 (0.92%) Hootsuite
14 11 (0.92%) Wrike
15 10 (0.83%) Sage