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

6 months to
3 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 3 5
Rank change year-on-year -3 +2 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,498 1,605 2,044
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 9.03% 18.44% 14.78%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.60% 20.94% 18.29%
Number of salaries quoted 1,111 818 1,235
10th Percentile £27,000 £27,000 £27,000
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,500 £36,125
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £42,500 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year +5.88% -10.53% -7.77%
75th Percentile £58,750 £62,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £72,500 £80,375 £77,500
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 11,889 7,665 11,178
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.68% 88.07% 80.83%
Number of salaries quoted 8,476 4,140 7,386
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,748 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £33,982 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £51,500
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -2.91% -6.36%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £66,250
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,250 £80,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -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 3 August 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 3 August 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 -6 552 £43,500 +2.35% 283
Hampshire -1 380 £45,000 - 188
Surrey 0 253 £42,500 +6.25% 112
Berkshire -3 247 £45,000 +2.86% 137
Buckinghamshire -7 176 £42,500 +13.33% 86
Kent -8 138 £35,000 +11.11% 64
Oxfordshire +1 129 £42,500 -15.00% 63
East Sussex -4 90 £50,000 - 40
West Sussex -7 74 £50,000 +5.26% 33
Middlesex +7 7 £65,000 +73.33% 13
Isle of Wight -8 1 £42,500 -22.73% 3
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 49 (3.27%) SharePoint
2 44 (2.94%) Microsoft Exchange
3 19 (1.27%) CMS
3 19 (1.27%) Confluence
4 9 (0.60%) IIS
5 7 (0.47%) Apache
5 7 (0.47%) OpenEdge
5 7 (0.47%) WordPress
6 5 (0.33%) nginx
7 3 (0.20%) Anypoint
7 3 (0.20%) OpenStack
7 3 (0.20%) SAS
8 2 (0.13%) Gentran
8 2 (0.13%) Tomcat
9 1 (0.067%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 107 (7.14%) Microsoft Excel
2 85 (5.67%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (0.73%) Spreadsheet
4 10 (0.67%) Microsoft Project
5 9 (0.60%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 9 (0.60%) MS Visio
6 5 (0.33%) AutoCAD
6 5 (0.33%) Lightworks
6 5 (0.33%) Photoshop
7 4 (0.27%) Adobe Illustrator
8 3 (0.20%) Simulink
9 2 (0.13%) Chatbot
9 2 (0.13%) EPLAN
9 2 (0.13%) Revit
10 1 (0.067%) Mathcad
10 1 (0.067%) OrCAD
Business Applications
1 14 (0.93%) NetSuite
2 8 (0.53%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (0.47%) Magento
4 6 (0.40%) Raiser’s Edge
4 6 (0.40%) Shopify
5 3 (0.20%) Infor SunSystems
5 3 (0.20%) Payment Gateway
5 3 (0.20%) Sage X3
5 3 (0.20%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.13%) Academy Housing
6 2 (0.13%) Primavera
6 2 (0.13%) Workday HCM
7 1 (0.067%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.067%) HFM
7 1 (0.067%) Oracle Applications
7 1 (0.067%) SAP CO
7 1 (0.067%) SAP GRC
7 1 (0.067%) Siebel CRM
Cloud Services
1 354 (23.63%) Azure
2 169 (11.28%) AWS
3 167 (11.15%) Microsoft 365
4 83 (5.54%) Power Platform
5 63 (4.21%) SaaS
6 52 (3.47%) Entra ID
7 50 (3.34%) GCP
8 44 (2.94%) Azure DevOps
9 32 (2.14%) Serverless
10 31 (2.07%) GitHub
11 22 (1.47%) IaaS
11 22 (1.47%) PaaS
12 19 (1.27%) Datadog
13 18 (1.20%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 18 (1.20%) Dynamics 365
14 17 (1.13%) GitHub Actions
15 16 (1.07%) Google Workspace
16 15 (1.00%) Amazon ECS
16 15 (1.00%) OpenShift
17 14 (0.93%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 129 (8.61%) Firewall
2 65 (4.34%) DNS
3 55 (3.67%) VPN
4 54 (3.60%) TCP/IP
5 49 (3.27%) WAN
6 47 (3.14%) LAN
7 42 (2.80%) DHCP
8 40 (2.67%) Wi-Fi
8 40 (2.67%) Wireless
9 30 (2.00%) VLAN
9 30 (2.00%) VoIP
10 27 (1.80%) Network Security
11 15 (1.00%) SSL
12 14 (0.93%) Broadband
13 13 (0.87%) Internet
14 10 (0.67%) HTTP
14 10 (0.67%) MQTT
15 9 (0.60%) LTE
16 6 (0.40%) Remote Desktop
16 6 (0.40%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 109 (7.28%) SQL Server
2 70 (4.67%) Power BI
3 34 (2.27%) Relational Database
4 28 (1.87%) PostgreSQL
5 27 (1.80%) MySQL
6 23 (1.54%) NoSQL
7 17 (1.13%) Data Warehouse
8 15 (1.00%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 13 (0.87%) Tableau
10 12 (0.80%) OLTP
10 12 (0.80%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 11 (0.73%) Amazon RDS
12 10 (0.67%) Data Lake
13 8 (0.53%) DynamoDB
13 8 (0.53%) MongoDB
14 7 (0.47%) GIS
14 7 (0.47%) Looker
15 6 (0.40%) Power Query
16 5 (0.33%) Azure SQL Database
17 4 (0.27%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 74 (4.94%) Git
2 60 (4.01%) JIRA
3 32 (2.14%) GitLab
4 20 (1.34%) Rational DOORS
5 9 (0.60%) Claude Code
6 7 (0.47%) Selenium
7 6 (0.40%) Oracle Forms
7 6 (0.40%) Team Foundation Server
8 5 (0.33%) Eclipse
8 5 (0.33%) Eclipse RCP
8 5 (0.33%) Jenkins
9 4 (0.27%) PHPUnit
9 4 (0.27%) Postman
9 4 (0.27%) Terragrunt
9 4 (0.27%) Visual Studio
10 3 (0.20%) Android Studio
10 3 (0.20%) PetaLinux
10 3 (0.20%) SpecFlow
11 2 (0.13%) Appium
11 2 (0.13%) Mocha
General
1 730 (48.73%) Social Skills
2 430 (28.70%) Analytical Skills
3 225 (15.02%) Finance
4 110 (7.34%) Organisational Skills
5 107 (7.14%) Manufacturing
6 81 (5.41%) Electronics
7 66 (4.41%) Aerospace
8 63 (4.21%) Retail
9 57 (3.81%) Telecoms
10 54 (3.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 43 (2.87%) Marketing
12 40 (2.67%) Law
13 37 (2.47%) Influencing Skills
13 37 (2.47%) Legal
14 34 (2.27%) Public Sector
15 33 (2.20%) Documentation Skills
16 26 (1.74%) Military
17 23 (1.54%) Local Government
18 18 (1.20%) Banking
19 17 (1.13%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 207 (13.82%) Analyst
2 158 (10.55%) Senior
3 147 (9.81%) Developer
4 146 (9.75%) IT Support
5 119 (7.94%) Support Engineer
6 93 (6.21%) Support Analyst
7 87 (5.81%) IT Engineer
8 70 (4.67%) Software Engineer
8 70 (4.67%) Systems Engineer
9 68 (4.54%) Lead
10 66 (4.41%) Technical Support
11 62 (4.14%) Support Technician
12 54 (3.60%) IT Support Engineer
13 53 (3.54%) 2nd Line Support
14 50 (3.34%) Technical Engineer
14 50 (3.34%) Technical Support Engineer
15 46 (3.07%) Architect
16 44 (2.94%) IT Technician
17 40 (2.67%) Senior Developer
18 38 (2.54%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 101 (6.74%) .NET
2 70 (4.67%) HTML
3 54 (3.60%) REST
4 50 (3.34%) CSS
5 48 (3.20%) SOAP
6 47 (3.14%) React
7 42 (2.80%) ASP.NET
8 32 (2.14%) JSON
8 32 (2.14%) OAuth
9 29 (1.94%) ASP.NET Core
9 29 (1.94%) XML
10 27 (1.80%) RESTful
11 25 (1.67%) AngularJS
11 25 (1.67%) Vue
12 17 (1.13%) ASP.NET Web API
12 17 (1.13%) jQuery
12 17 (1.13%) RabbitMQ
12 17 (1.13%) SAML
13 16 (1.07%) LESS
13 16 (1.07%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 106 (7.08%) Driving Licence
2 79 (5.27%) Onboarding
3 77 (5.14%) Self-Motivation
4 71 (4.74%) Management Information System
5 60 (4.01%) Cloud Native
6 41 (2.74%) Product Ownership
7 30 (2.00%) Distributed Systems
8 28 (1.87%) Analytical Mindset
9 26 (1.74%) Data Centre
9 26 (1.74%) Social Media
10 23 (1.54%) Legacy Systems
11 22 (1.47%) Robotics
12 21 (1.40%) Enterprise Software
13 18 (1.20%) NHS
14 17 (1.13%) EPoS
15 15 (1.00%) Analogue Electronics
15 15 (1.00%) Security Posture
16 14 (0.93%) CCTV
16 14 (0.93%) Renewable Energy
17 13 (0.87%) Clustering
Operating Systems
1 239 (15.95%) Windows
2 118 (7.88%) Linux
3 87 (5.81%) Windows Server
4 20 (1.34%) Android
4 20 (1.34%) Mac OS
5 17 (1.13%) Windows Server 2019
6 16 (1.07%) CentOS
7 14 (0.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 12 (0.80%) Ubuntu
9 10 (0.67%) Apple iOS
9 10 (0.67%) Windows 10
10 9 (0.60%) Debian
10 9 (0.60%) Windows Server 2016
11 3 (0.20%) FreeRTOS
11 3 (0.20%) Gentoo
11 3 (0.20%) Unix
11 3 (0.20%) VMS
11 3 (0.20%) Windows 7
12 2 (0.13%) Windows Server 2012
13 1 (0.067%) Embedded Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 315 (21.03%) Continuous Improvement
2 255 (17.02%) Customer Service
3 208 (13.89%) Agile
4 178 (11.88%) Decision-Making
5 174 (11.62%) CI/CD
6 164 (10.95%) AI
7 158 (10.55%) DevOps
8 155 (10.35%) Project Management
8 155 (10.35%) Software Engineering
9 144 (9.61%) Project Delivery
10 137 (9.15%) ITIL
11 133 (8.88%) Stakeholder Management
12 130 (8.68%) Cybersecurity
13 127 (8.48%) Mentoring
14 121 (8.08%) Collaborative Working
15 117 (7.81%) Computer Science
16 116 (7.74%) Validation
17 111 (7.41%) Analytics
18 99 (6.61%) Logistics
19 98 (6.54%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 218 (14.55%) Python
1 218 (14.55%) SQL
2 118 (7.88%) C#
3 99 (6.61%) JavaScript
4 93 (6.21%) PowerShell
5 63 (4.21%) C++
6 58 (3.87%) Java
7 56 (3.74%) TypeScript
8 38 (2.54%) Bash
9 34 (2.27%) C
10 24 (1.60%) PHP
11 13 (0.87%) PL/SQL
11 13 (0.87%) Ruby
11 13 (0.87%) Rust
11 13 (0.87%) T-SQL
12 11 (0.73%) Perl
12 11 (0.73%) VB.NET
13 8 (0.53%) Bicep
14 7 (0.47%) Embedded C
14 7 (0.47%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 296 (19.76%) Degree
2 141 (9.41%) Security Cleared
3 102 (6.81%) SC Cleared
4 98 (6.54%) DBS Check
5 66 (4.41%) Computer Science Degree
6 50 (3.34%) Microsoft Certification
7 47 (3.14%) BPSS Clearance
8 39 (2.60%) HNC
9 34 (2.27%) Azure Certification
9 34 (2.27%) DV Cleared
10 29 (1.94%) PMI Certification
11 26 (1.74%) Chartered Engineer
11 26 (1.74%) PMP
12 25 (1.67%) ACCA
13 24 (1.60%) CIMA
13 24 (1.60%) HND
14 23 (1.54%) Master's Degree
15 20 (1.34%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
16 18 (1.20%) CISSP
16 18 (1.20%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 128 (8.54%) QA
2 53 (3.54%) Data Quality
3 48 (3.20%) GDPR
4 42 (2.80%) SLA
5 30 (2.00%) Accessibility
6 27 (1.80%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 21 (1.40%) PCI DSS
8 18 (1.20%) Good Clinical Practice
9 16 (1.07%) Cyber Essentials
9 16 (1.07%) NIST
10 14 (0.93%) PMO
11 11 (0.73%) SOC 2
12 9 (0.60%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 9 (0.60%) GMP
13 8 (0.53%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 8 (0.53%) GLP
13 8 (0.53%) GxP
14 7 (0.47%) DO-254
15 6 (0.40%) ISO 9001
16 4 (0.27%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 120 (8.01%) Active Directory
2 77 (5.14%) Docker
3 68 (4.54%) VMware Infrastructure
4 55 (3.67%) Hyper-V
5 9 (0.60%) KVM
6 8 (0.53%) Firmware
6 8 (0.53%) VMware ESXi
6 8 (0.53%) vSphere
7 5 (0.33%) ClearTrust
7 5 (0.33%) Squid
7 5 (0.33%) XenApp
8 4 (0.27%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (0.27%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.20%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 2 (0.13%) VMware NSX
11 1 (0.067%) Embedded Firmware
11 1 (0.067%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.067%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.067%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 89 (5.94%) Terraform
2 86 (5.74%) Kubernetes
3 50 (3.34%) Microsoft Intune
4 39 (2.60%) Ansible
5 23 (1.54%) SCCM
6 16 (1.07%) Grafana
7 13 (0.87%) Prometheus
8 11 (0.73%) Nagios
9 9 (0.60%) Podman
9 9 (0.60%) Single Sign-On
10 8 (0.53%) Jamf Pro
11 7 (0.47%) Failover Clustering
11 7 (0.47%) Puppet
11 7 (0.47%) ZABBIX
12 5 (0.33%) Docker Swarm
12 5 (0.33%) Graylog
13 4 (0.27%) Functional Safety
13 4 (0.27%) vCenter Server
14 2 (0.13%) Nessus
14 2 (0.13%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 424 (28.30%) Microsoft
2 75 (5.01%) VMware
3 53 (3.54%) Google
4 49 (3.27%) Oracle
5 37 (2.47%) Cisco
6 32 (2.14%) Fortinet
7 30 (2.00%) Salesforce
7 30 (2.00%) SonicWALL
8 27 (1.80%) Veeam
9 25 (1.67%) SAP
10 24 (1.60%) ServiceNow
11 20 (1.34%) Databricks
11 20 (1.34%) Sage
12 16 (1.07%) Aruba
13 15 (1.00%) Palo Alto
13 15 (1.00%) Red Hat
13 15 (1.00%) Splunk
14 14 (0.93%) Instagram
15 13 (0.87%) Dynatrace
16 10 (0.67%) Meraki