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

6 months to
3 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -7 +1 +4
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,190 1,169 2,653
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 9.06% 17.44% 17.36%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.20% 19.42% 20.44%
Number of salaries quoted 909 662 1,668
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,250 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £35,000 £31,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £50,967 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -11.71% +13.26% -14.29%
75th Percentile £62,500 £70,000 £62,500
90th Percentile £80,000 £83,750 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -13.64% +10.00% -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 9,755 6,019 12,978
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 74.28% 89.80% 84.93%
Number of salaries quoted 6,269 3,241 9,511
10th Percentile £29,000 £30,000 £27,500
25th Percentile £36,250 £41,250 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £67,000 £70,600 £65,000
90th Percentile £83,750 £83,750 £77,750
England median annual salary £57,500 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -4.17% +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 3 April 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 April 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 -5 440 £47,500 -15.94% 227
Hampshire -3 248 £38,500 -23.00% 129
Berkshire 0 219 £45,000 -30.77% 110
Surrey -11 193 £40,000 -23.81% 74
Buckinghamshire -8 148 £50,500 -6.88% 68
Kent -12 126 £30,000 -11.76% 41
East Sussex 0 95 £80,000 +60.00% 26
Oxfordshire -9 73 £32,850 -22.71% 51
West Sussex -1 59 £57,500 +53.33% 25
Middlesex -2 13 £47,500 -22.45% 10
Isle of Wight +4 12 £43,500 -20.91%
Sussex -17 1 £30,000 +5.26% 13
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 37 (3.11%) SharePoint
2 33 (2.77%) Microsoft Exchange
3 18 (1.51%) CMS
4 13 (1.09%) IIS
5 10 (0.84%) WordPress
6 8 (0.67%) Confluence
7 4 (0.34%) Anypoint
8 3 (0.25%) Apache Airflow
8 3 (0.25%) govService
8 3 (0.25%) OpenStack
8 3 (0.25%) SAS
9 2 (0.17%) Apache
10 1 (0.084%) Apache Spark
10 1 (0.084%) ArcGIS
10 1 (0.084%) nginx
Applications
1 95 (7.98%) Microsoft Office
2 83 (6.97%) Microsoft Excel
3 15 (1.26%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (0.92%) Photoshop
5 10 (0.84%) Adobe Illustrator
6 9 (0.76%) MS Visio
7 8 (0.67%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 5 (0.42%) Spreadsheet
9 3 (0.25%) Adobe XD
9 3 (0.25%) InDesign
10 2 (0.17%) Adobe After Effects
10 2 (0.17%) Adobe Captivate
10 2 (0.17%) Adobe Premiere
10 2 (0.17%) AutoCAD
10 2 (0.17%) Elementor
11 1 (0.084%) Acrobat
11 1 (0.084%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 10 (0.84%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (0.76%) SAP CO
3 6 (0.50%) NetSuite
4 4 (0.34%) Dynamics NAV
4 4 (0.34%) Magento
5 3 (0.25%) Sage X3
5 3 (0.25%) Salesforce CRM
5 3 (0.25%) SAP Hybris
5 3 (0.25%) SAP S/4HANA
6 2 (0.17%) Dynamics AX
6 2 (0.17%) IBM Planning Analytics
6 2 (0.17%) Q-Pulse
6 2 (0.17%) Sage 200
7 1 (0.084%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.084%) Infor SunSystems
7 1 (0.084%) PeopleSoft HRMS
7 1 (0.084%) Raiser’s Edge
7 1 (0.084%) SAP GRC
7 1 (0.084%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 234 (19.66%) Azure
2 147 (12.35%) Microsoft 365
3 89 (7.48%) Power Platform
4 87 (7.31%) AWS
5 62 (5.21%) Azure DevOps
6 60 (5.04%) SaaS
7 36 (3.03%) GCP
8 29 (2.44%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 28 (2.35%) Entra ID
9 28 (2.35%) PaaS
10 27 (2.27%) IaaS
11 20 (1.68%) Dynamics 365
11 20 (1.68%) Mimecast
12 19 (1.60%) Google Workspace
13 18 (1.51%) GitHub
14 17 (1.43%) Azure Data Factory
14 17 (1.43%) Azure Logic Apps
15 15 (1.26%) OpenShift
16 14 (1.18%) Figma
17 13 (1.09%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 73 (6.13%) DNS
2 64 (5.38%) Firewall
3 43 (3.61%) DHCP
4 36 (3.03%) TCP/IP
5 31 (2.61%) VPN
6 26 (2.18%) Wireless
7 20 (1.68%) Broadband
8 18 (1.51%) WAN
9 15 (1.26%) LAN
10 14 (1.18%) VLAN
11 13 (1.09%) VoIP
12 11 (0.92%) HTTP
12 11 (0.92%) Intranet
13 9 (0.76%) SAN
14 7 (0.59%) Remote Desktop
15 6 (0.50%) PuTTY
15 6 (0.50%) SSH
15 6 (0.50%) Wi-Fi
16 3 (0.25%) Unified Communications
17 2 (0.17%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 69 (5.80%) Power BI
2 44 (3.70%) SQL Server
3 34 (2.86%) Relational Database
4 25 (2.10%) Data Warehouse
5 18 (1.51%) Power Query
6 15 (1.26%) OLTP
7 14 (1.18%) NoSQL
8 11 (0.92%) Tableau
9 10 (0.84%) MySQL
9 10 (0.84%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 8 (0.67%) Data Lake
10 8 (0.67%) PowerPivot
11 7 (0.59%) PostgreSQL
12 6 (0.50%) Hadoop
13 5 (0.42%) Azure SQL Database
13 5 (0.42%) Big Data
13 5 (0.42%) Data Mining
14 4 (0.34%) Looker
14 4 (0.34%) Metadata
15 3 (0.25%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 52 (4.37%) Git
2 41 (3.45%) JIRA
3 25 (2.10%) GitLab
4 20 (1.68%) Selenium
5 15 (1.26%) Rational DOORS
6 13 (1.09%) Robot Framework
7 11 (0.92%) Snyk
8 7 (0.59%) Jenkins
8 7 (0.59%) Visual Studio
9 4 (0.34%) Cypress.io
10 3 (0.25%) Postman
11 2 (0.17%) Appium
11 2 (0.17%) JMeter
11 2 (0.17%) LabVIEW
11 2 (0.17%) REST Assured
11 2 (0.17%) TestRail
11 2 (0.17%) WebDriver
12 1 (0.084%) Android Studio
12 1 (0.084%) Cucumber
12 1 (0.084%) PHPUnit
General
1 590 (49.58%) Social Skills
2 343 (28.82%) Analytical Skills
3 190 (15.97%) Finance
4 75 (6.30%) Organisational Skills
5 71 (5.97%) Marketing
6 70 (5.88%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 67 (5.63%) Retail
8 62 (5.21%) Manufacturing
9 48 (4.03%) Telecoms
10 45 (3.78%) Electronics
11 36 (3.03%) Public Sector
12 35 (2.94%) Law
12 35 (2.94%) Legal
13 22 (1.85%) Documentation Skills
14 14 (1.18%) Presentation Skills
15 12 (1.01%) Influencing Skills
16 11 (0.92%) Aerospace
16 11 (0.92%) Pharmaceutical
17 10 (0.84%) Automotive
18 9 (0.76%) Banking
Job Titles
1 175 (14.71%) IT Support
2 167 (14.03%) Analyst
3 166 (13.95%) Support Engineer
4 130 (10.92%) Senior
5 111 (9.33%) Developer
6 83 (6.97%) IT Engineer
7 81 (6.81%) Support Analyst
8 67 (5.63%) IT Support Engineer
9 64 (5.38%) Technical Support
10 53 (4.45%) 2nd Line Support
11 48 (4.03%) Lead
12 46 (3.87%) Technical Engineer
12 46 (3.87%) Technical Support Engineer
13 41 (3.45%) Architect
14 40 (3.36%) IT Analyst
15 39 (3.28%) IT Support Analyst
16 37 (3.11%) Software Engineer
17 35 (2.94%) IT Technician
17 35 (2.94%) Systems Engineer
18 33 (2.77%) Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 54 (4.54%) .NET
2 49 (4.12%) HTML
3 34 (2.86%) SOAP
4 29 (2.44%) REST
5 26 (2.18%) React
6 25 (2.10%) CSS
7 23 (1.93%) XML
8 19 (1.60%) JSON
9 16 (1.34%) Middleware
10 14 (1.18%) ASP.NET
10 14 (1.18%) Laravel
11 13 (1.09%) .NET Framework
11 13 (1.09%) Lightning Web Components
12 12 (1.01%) ARM Templates
12 12 (1.01%) Visualforce
13 11 (0.92%) OAuth
13 11 (0.92%) OLE
14 10 (0.84%) RabbitMQ
15 9 (0.76%) Node.js
15 9 (0.76%) SAP CO-PA
Miscellaneous
1 84 (7.06%) Onboarding
2 81 (6.81%) Driving Licence
3 68 (5.71%) Self-Motivation
4 38 (3.19%) Management Information System
5 32 (2.69%) Product Ownership
6 25 (2.10%) Distributed Systems
7 22 (1.85%) Analytical Mindset
7 22 (1.85%) Cloud Native
7 22 (1.85%) Social Media
8 20 (1.68%) Low-Code
9 13 (1.09%) Legacy Systems
10 12 (1.01%) Enterprise Software
11 11 (0.92%) Video Editing
12 10 (0.84%) Life Science
12 10 (0.84%) Video Conferencing
13 9 (0.76%) Client/Server
13 9 (0.76%) IoT
13 9 (0.76%) NHS
13 9 (0.76%) Security Operations Centre
14 7 (0.59%) Data Centre
Operating Systems
1 210 (17.65%) Windows
2 93 (7.82%) Linux
3 62 (5.21%) Windows Server
4 24 (2.02%) Mac OS
5 17 (1.43%) Android
5 17 (1.43%) CentOS
5 17 (1.43%) Windows 10
6 15 (1.26%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 9 (0.76%) Ubuntu
7 9 (0.76%) Windows Server 2012
8 8 (0.67%) VMS
9 7 (0.59%) Apple iOS
9 7 (0.59%) Windows Server 2016
10 6 (0.50%) Windows Server 2019
11 4 (0.34%) Unix
12 2 (0.17%) Debian
13 1 (0.084%) Embedded Linux
13 1 (0.084%) FreeBSD
13 1 (0.084%) OpenBSD
13 1 (0.084%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 238 (20.00%) Continuous Improvement
2 208 (17.48%) Customer Service
3 163 (13.70%) Agile
4 138 (11.60%) DevOps
5 117 (9.83%) Analytics
6 113 (9.50%) CI/CD
7 107 (8.99%) Decision-Making
8 104 (8.74%) Business Intelligence
9 96 (8.07%) Project Management
10 91 (7.65%) Computer Science
11 88 (7.39%) Mentoring
12 83 (6.97%) AI
13 72 (6.05%) Stakeholder Management
14 71 (5.97%) CRM
14 71 (5.97%) Cybersecurity
14 71 (5.97%) Software Engineering
15 69 (5.80%) ITIL
16 68 (5.71%) Data Modelling
17 67 (5.63%) Collaborative Culture
18 66 (5.55%) Process Improvement
Programming Languages
1 192 (16.13%) Python
2 184 (15.46%) SQL
3 75 (6.30%) PowerShell
4 71 (5.97%) JavaScript
5 69 (5.80%) C#
6 46 (3.87%) Java
7 28 (2.35%) PHP
8 27 (2.27%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 23 (1.93%) C++
10 22 (1.85%) Bash
10 22 (1.85%) C
11 18 (1.51%) PL/SQL
12 16 (1.34%) TypeScript
13 13 (1.09%) Apex Code
14 12 (1.01%) Bicep
14 12 (1.01%) Perl
15 9 (0.76%) Kusto Query Language
15 9 (0.76%) Rust
16 8 (0.67%) R
17 7 (0.59%) VBA
Qualifications
1 248 (20.84%) Degree
2 78 (6.55%) Security Cleared
3 49 (4.12%) ACCA
4 46 (3.87%) Computer Science Degree
5 40 (3.36%) CIMA
6 38 (3.19%) SC Cleared
7 37 (3.11%) DBS Check
8 31 (2.61%) Microsoft Certification
9 30 (2.52%) BPSS Clearance
10 23 (1.93%) DV Cleared
11 21 (1.76%) HNC
11 21 (1.76%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 20 (1.68%) A+ Certification
13 16 (1.34%) Chartered Engineer
14 13 (1.09%) Master's Degree
15 11 (0.92%) PMI Certification
16 10 (0.84%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
17 9 (0.76%) HND
18 8 (0.67%) City & Guilds
18 8 (0.67%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 68 (5.71%) QA
2 59 (4.96%) Data Quality
3 47 (3.95%) GDPR
4 24 (2.02%) SLA
5 23 (1.93%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 17 (1.43%) Accessibility
7 13 (1.09%) PCI DSS
8 11 (0.92%) NIST
9 5 (0.42%) Actionable Recommendations
9 5 (0.42%) SOC 2
10 4 (0.34%) Cyber Essentials
10 4 (0.34%) ISO 9001
10 4 (0.34%) ITGC
11 3 (0.25%) ISO 26262
12 2 (0.17%) GRC
13 1 (0.084%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 1 (0.084%) GAAP
13 1 (0.084%) IFRS
13 1 (0.084%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 1 (0.084%) PMO
System Software
1 142 (11.93%) Active Directory
2 43 (3.61%) Docker
3 35 (2.94%) VMware Infrastructure
4 33 (2.77%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.84%) KVM
6 5 (0.42%) Firmware
6 5 (0.42%) VMware ESXi
6 5 (0.42%) XenApp
7 3 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 2 (0.17%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (0.17%) vSphere
9 1 (0.084%) Oracle RAC
9 1 (0.084%) Virtual Servers
9 1 (0.084%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 58 (4.87%) Terraform
2 43 (3.61%) Kubernetes
3 35 (2.94%) Ansible
4 31 (2.61%) Microsoft Intune
5 16 (1.34%) Grafana
5 16 (1.34%) SCCM
6 14 (1.18%) Prometheus
7 10 (0.84%) vCenter Server
8 9 (0.76%) Nagios
8 9 (0.76%) ZABBIX
9 4 (0.34%) Nessus
10 3 (0.25%) Functional Safety
10 3 (0.25%) Puppet
11 2 (0.17%) Netcool
11 2 (0.17%) Netcool/OMNIbus
12 1 (0.084%) CASB
12 1 (0.084%) Control-M
12 1 (0.084%) Docker Swarm
12 1 (0.084%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
12 1 (0.084%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 318 (26.72%) Microsoft
2 42 (3.53%) Databricks
2 42 (3.53%) VMware
3 38 (3.19%) Google
4 33 (2.77%) Adobe
4 33 (2.77%) Veeam
5 31 (2.61%) SAP
6 29 (2.44%) Oracle
6 29 (2.44%) Salesforce
7 23 (1.93%) Sage
8 20 (1.68%) NEC
9 19 (1.60%) HubSpot
10 16 (1.34%) Red Hat
11 15 (1.26%) ServiceNow
12 13 (1.09%) Dynatrace
13 12 (1.01%) MuleSoft
13 12 (1.01%) Splunk
14 11 (0.92%) Cisco
14 11 (0.92%) Coverity
14 11 (0.92%) SolarWinds