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

6 months to
17 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 1,248 1,482 2,916
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 8.47% 18.98% 15.79%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.86% 21.01% 19.45%
Number of salaries quoted 938 709 1,794
10th Percentile £26,500 £27,475 £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% -13.46%
75th Percentile £59,750 £62,500 £61,250
90th Percentile £74,125 £83,750 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £49,500
% change year-on-year -5.00% +1.01% -10.00%

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 10,520 7,053 14,992
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.38% 90.32% 81.19%
Number of salaries quoted 7,447 3,417 10,398
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £27,750
25th Percentile £39,876 £35,000 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £52,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.77% +4.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,250 £78,750
England median annual salary £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -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 17 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 17 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 -10 452 £45,000 -2.70% 378
Hampshire -2 294 £40,000 -4.19% 238
Berkshire -6 221 £45,000 -10.00% 162
Surrey -1 210 £42,500 +6.25% 164
Buckinghamshire -12 133 £47,500 +25.00% 124
Kent 0 132 £29,500 -4.84% 137
Oxfordshire -4 98 £34,000 -33.98% 94
East Sussex -4 93 £50,000 - 115
West Sussex -6 57 £50,000 +7.53% 99
Isle of Wight -8 3 £41,500 -24.55% 1
Middlesex +4 2 £35,000 -41.67% 8
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 35 (2.80%) SharePoint
2 32 (2.56%) Microsoft Exchange
3 16 (1.28%) CMS
3 16 (1.28%) Confluence
4 7 (0.56%) OpenEdge
5 6 (0.48%) IIS
6 5 (0.40%) WordPress
7 3 (0.24%) Anypoint
7 3 (0.24%) Apache
7 3 (0.24%) govService
7 3 (0.24%) OpenStack
7 3 (0.24%) SAS
8 2 (0.16%) Gentran
9 1 (0.080%) nginx
9 1 (0.080%) Tomcat
Applications
1 90 (7.21%) Microsoft Excel
2 74 (5.93%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (0.88%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (0.72%) Spreadsheet
5 8 (0.64%) MS Visio
6 5 (0.40%) Photoshop
7 4 (0.32%) Adobe Illustrator
8 3 (0.24%) Microsoft Project
9 2 (0.16%) Chatbot
9 2 (0.16%) Lightworks
10 1 (0.080%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 1 (0.080%) AutoCAD
10 1 (0.080%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 9 (0.72%) Dynamics CRM
1 9 (0.72%) NetSuite
2 6 (0.48%) SAP CO
3 4 (0.32%) Dynamics NAV
3 4 (0.32%) Magento
4 3 (0.24%) Salesforce CRM
5 2 (0.16%) Infor SunSystems
5 2 (0.16%) Shopify
6 1 (0.080%) Elite 3E
6 1 (0.080%) HFM
6 1 (0.080%) Raiser’s Edge
6 1 (0.080%) SAP GRC
6 1 (0.080%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 289 (23.16%) Azure
2 137 (10.98%) Microsoft 365
3 117 (9.38%) AWS
4 68 (5.45%) Power Platform
5 53 (4.25%) SaaS
6 47 (3.77%) Azure DevOps
7 38 (3.04%) GCP
8 31 (2.48%) Entra ID
9 27 (2.16%) IaaS
9 27 (2.16%) PaaS
10 24 (1.92%) Azure Synapse Analytics
11 21 (1.68%) Serverless
12 17 (1.36%) Datadog
12 17 (1.36%) Dynamics 365
12 17 (1.36%) GitHub
13 16 (1.28%) Google Workspace
14 15 (1.20%) OpenShift
15 14 (1.12%) Mimecast
16 13 (1.04%) Azure Data Factory
17 11 (0.88%) Asana
Communications & Networking
1 95 (7.61%) Firewall
2 60 (4.81%) DNS
3 39 (3.13%) WAN
4 38 (3.04%) LAN
5 36 (2.88%) DHCP
6 35 (2.80%) TCP/IP
7 34 (2.72%) VPN
8 31 (2.48%) Wireless
9 25 (2.00%) Wi-Fi
10 21 (1.68%) VoIP
11 20 (1.60%) Broadband
12 19 (1.52%) Network Security
13 17 (1.36%) VLAN
14 10 (0.80%) HTTP
14 10 (0.80%) Internet
14 10 (0.80%) SSL
15 7 (0.56%) Remote Desktop
16 6 (0.48%) WLAN
17 5 (0.40%) SAN
18 4 (0.32%) Hyperconnected
Database & Business Intelligence
1 84 (6.73%) SQL Server
2 56 (4.49%) Power BI
3 23 (1.84%) Data Warehouse
4 22 (1.76%) PostgreSQL
5 17 (1.36%) OLTP
5 17 (1.36%) Relational Database
6 16 (1.28%) NoSQL
7 13 (1.04%) MySQL
8 10 (0.80%) Power Query
8 10 (0.80%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 10 (0.80%) Tableau
9 9 (0.72%) Data Lake
9 9 (0.72%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 7 (0.56%) Looker
11 6 (0.48%) Amazon RDS
11 6 (0.48%) GIS
12 5 (0.40%) Azure SQL Database
13 4 (0.32%) Elasticsearch
13 4 (0.32%) MongoDB
14 3 (0.24%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 58 (4.65%) Git
2 44 (3.53%) JIRA
3 30 (2.40%) GitLab
4 24 (1.92%) Rational DOORS
5 6 (0.48%) Selenium
6 3 (0.24%) Android Studio
6 3 (0.24%) Postman
6 3 (0.24%) Visual Studio
7 2 (0.16%) Appium
7 2 (0.16%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.16%) Jenkins
7 2 (0.16%) JMeter
7 2 (0.16%) JUnit
7 2 (0.16%) Mocha
7 2 (0.16%) REST Assured
7 2 (0.16%) Terragrunt
8 1 (0.080%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.080%) CMake
8 1 (0.080%) Eclipse RCP
8 1 (0.080%) PHPUnit
General
1 606 (48.56%) Social Skills
2 351 (28.13%) Analytical Skills
3 182 (14.58%) Finance
4 83 (6.65%) Organisational Skills
5 61 (4.89%) Manufacturing
6 54 (4.33%) Marketing
6 54 (4.33%) Telecoms
7 52 (4.17%) Electronics
7 52 (4.17%) Retail
8 42 (3.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 35 (2.80%) Aerospace
10 32 (2.56%) Law
11 26 (2.08%) Legal
11 26 (2.08%) Public Sector
12 25 (2.00%) Documentation Skills
13 24 (1.92%) Influencing Skills
13 24 (1.92%) Local Government
14 17 (1.36%) Military
15 12 (0.96%) Banking
15 12 (0.96%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 172 (13.78%) Analyst
2 137 (10.98%) IT Support
3 127 (10.18%) Senior
4 125 (10.02%) Developer
5 117 (9.38%) Support Engineer
6 79 (6.33%) IT Engineer
7 66 (5.29%) Support Analyst
8 63 (5.05%) Systems Engineer
9 53 (4.25%) IT Support Engineer
9 53 (4.25%) Software Engineer
9 53 (4.25%) Support Technician
10 52 (4.17%) Technical Support
11 49 (3.93%) Lead
12 47 (3.77%) 2nd Line Support
13 42 (3.37%) Architect
14 39 (3.13%) Technical Engineer
14 39 (3.13%) Technical Support Engineer
15 38 (3.04%) IT Technician
16 36 (2.88%) Infrastructure Engineer
17 34 (2.72%) 1st Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 79 (6.33%) .NET
2 56 (4.49%) HTML
3 50 (4.01%) SOAP
4 40 (3.21%) REST
5 34 (2.72%) CSS
5 34 (2.72%) JSON
5 34 (2.72%) XML
6 31 (2.48%) React
7 23 (1.84%) ASP.NET
8 19 (1.52%) Middleware
9 18 (1.44%) OAuth
10 17 (1.36%) RESTful
11 16 (1.28%) HTML5
12 15 (1.20%) ASP.NET Core
12 15 (1.20%) RabbitMQ
12 15 (1.20%) Vue
13 14 (1.12%) CSS3
13 14 (1.12%) Laravel
14 13 (1.04%) Ajax
14 13 (1.04%) jQuery
Miscellaneous
1 75 (6.01%) Driving Licence
2 64 (5.13%) Management Information System
3 61 (4.89%) Self-Motivation
4 55 (4.41%) Onboarding
5 39 (3.13%) Cloud Native
6 35 (2.80%) Product Ownership
7 29 (2.32%) Distributed Systems
8 25 (2.00%) Analytical Mindset
9 17 (1.36%) Low-Code
9 17 (1.36%) Social Media
10 15 (1.20%) NHS
10 15 (1.20%) Robotics
11 13 (1.04%) EPoS
11 13 (1.04%) Legacy Systems
12 11 (0.88%) Client/Server
12 11 (0.88%) Security Posture
12 11 (0.88%) Video Editing
13 10 (0.80%) Enterprise Software
13 10 (0.80%) Mobile App
13 10 (0.80%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 194 (15.54%) Windows
2 99 (7.93%) Linux
3 68 (5.45%) Windows Server
4 20 (1.60%) Mac OS
5 19 (1.52%) Android
5 19 (1.52%) CentOS
6 17 (1.36%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 17 (1.36%) Windows Server 2019
7 13 (1.04%) Ubuntu
8 9 (0.72%) Windows Server 2016
9 7 (0.56%) VMS
10 6 (0.48%) Apple iOS
10 6 (0.48%) Windows Server 2012
11 4 (0.32%) Debian
12 2 (0.16%) Unix
12 2 (0.16%) Windows 10
13 1 (0.080%) Embedded Linux
13 1 (0.080%) FreeRTOS
13 1 (0.080%) Windows 7
13 1 (0.080%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 243 (19.47%) Continuous Improvement
2 222 (17.79%) Customer Service
3 174 (13.94%) Agile
4 140 (11.22%) CI/CD
5 135 (10.82%) DevOps
6 129 (10.34%) Decision-Making
7 125 (10.02%) Software Engineering
8 113 (9.05%) Project Management
9 108 (8.65%) AI
10 105 (8.41%) Computer Science
10 105 (8.41%) Cybersecurity
11 101 (8.09%) Mentoring
12 97 (7.77%) Analytics
12 97 (7.77%) Project Delivery
13 91 (7.29%) Collaborative Working
14 85 (6.81%) Business Intelligence
14 85 (6.81%) ITIL
14 85 (6.81%) Stakeholder Management
15 79 (6.33%) CRM
16 77 (6.17%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 198 (15.87%) Python
2 193 (15.46%) SQL
3 100 (8.01%) C#
4 83 (6.65%) JavaScript
5 70 (5.61%) PowerShell
6 52 (4.17%) Java
7 43 (3.45%) C++
8 36 (2.88%) TypeScript
9 29 (2.32%) C
10 28 (2.24%) Bash
10 28 (2.24%) PHP
11 20 (1.60%) PL/SQL
12 12 (0.96%) Rust
13 11 (0.88%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 11 (0.88%) Ruby
14 10 (0.80%) Perl
15 7 (0.56%) Apex Code
15 7 (0.56%) T-SQL
16 6 (0.48%) Bicep
16 6 (0.48%) Embedded C
Qualifications
1 245 (19.63%) Degree
2 82 (6.57%) Security Cleared
3 71 (5.69%) DBS Check
4 53 (4.25%) SC Cleared
5 50 (4.01%) Computer Science Degree
6 38 (3.04%) Microsoft Certification
7 37 (2.96%) BPSS Clearance
8 32 (2.56%) ACCA
9 31 (2.48%) CIMA
10 29 (2.32%) HNC
11 27 (2.16%) Chartered Engineer
12 20 (1.60%) A+ Certification
12 20 (1.60%) PMI Certification
13 17 (1.36%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 17 (1.36%) PMP
14 15 (1.20%) Azure Certification
14 15 (1.20%) Master's Degree
15 14 (1.12%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
16 13 (1.04%) CompTIA Security+
16 13 (1.04%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 103 (8.25%) QA
2 55 (4.41%) Data Quality
3 45 (3.61%) GDPR
4 37 (2.96%) SLA
5 25 (2.00%) Accessibility
5 25 (2.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 17 (1.36%) PCI DSS
7 13 (1.04%) PMO
8 12 (0.96%) Good Clinical Practice
9 11 (0.88%) NIST
10 9 (0.72%) Cyber Essentials
11 8 (0.64%) SOC 2
12 5 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 5 (0.40%) ISO 9001
13 4 (0.32%) Def Stans
13 4 (0.32%) GLP
13 4 (0.32%) GMP
13 4 (0.32%) GxP
13 4 (0.32%) ISO 26262
13 4 (0.32%) ITGC
System Software
1 109 (8.73%) Active Directory
2 57 (4.57%) Docker
3 47 (3.77%) VMware Infrastructure
4 39 (3.13%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.80%) KVM
6 7 (0.56%) VMware ESXi
7 5 (0.40%) ClearTrust
7 5 (0.40%) XenApp
8 4 (0.32%) Firmware
8 4 (0.32%) Virtual Desktop
9 3 (0.24%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 3 (0.24%) Virtual Machines
10 2 (0.16%) VMware NSX
10 2 (0.16%) vSphere
11 1 (0.080%) Embedded Firmware
11 1 (0.080%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.080%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.080%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 65 (5.21%) Kubernetes
2 64 (5.13%) Terraform
3 34 (2.72%) Microsoft Intune
4 31 (2.48%) Ansible
5 18 (1.44%) SCCM
6 16 (1.28%) Grafana
7 13 (1.04%) Prometheus
8 12 (0.96%) Nagios
9 8 (0.64%) vCenter Server
10 7 (0.56%) ZABBIX
11 6 (0.48%) Podman
12 5 (0.40%) Docker Swarm
12 5 (0.40%) Graylog
13 4 (0.32%) Failover Clustering
13 4 (0.32%) Functional Safety
13 4 (0.32%) Jamf Pro
14 3 (0.24%) Puppet
15 2 (0.16%) Nessus
16 1 (0.080%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
16 1 (0.080%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 341 (27.32%) Microsoft
2 54 (4.33%) VMware
3 44 (3.53%) Oracle
4 38 (3.04%) Google
5 29 (2.32%) Databricks
6 26 (2.08%) Salesforce
7 25 (2.00%) Cisco
8 24 (1.92%) Veeam
9 18 (1.44%) Instagram
10 17 (1.36%) Fortinet
11 15 (1.20%) Adobe
11 15 (1.20%) Red Hat
11 15 (1.20%) SAP
11 15 (1.20%) SonicWALL
11 15 (1.20%) Splunk
12 12 (0.96%) Aruba
13 11 (0.88%) Dynatrace
13 11 (0.88%) Hootsuite
13 11 (0.88%) Palo Alto
13 11 (0.88%) SolarWinds