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

6 months to
4 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 4 4
Rank change year-on-year -8 0 +5
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,129 1,237 2,736
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 7.75% 16.89% 16.78%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.65% 18.80% 19.89%
Number of salaries quoted 848 681 1,756
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,000 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,500 £32,375
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £46,000 £50,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.00% +11.11% -14.29%
75th Percentile £62,813 £67,500 £62,125
90th Percentile £80,000 £83,750 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.52% +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 10,602 6,579 13,757
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 72.75% 89.84% 84.39%
Number of salaries quoted 6,842 3,384 9,857
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £27,500
25th Percentile £38,750 £37,250 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% +10.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £68,750 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £83,750 £77,500
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 4 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 4 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 -9 429 £47,500 -9.52% 204
Hampshire -8 243 £40,000 -20.00% 161
Berkshire -5 216 £46,575 -24.88% 93
Surrey -13 179 £40,000 -23.81% 71
Buckinghamshire -10 133 £50,000 -1.90% 62
Kent -16 117 £29,000 -8.66% 60
East Sussex -1 99 £61,500 +43.02% 13
Oxfordshire -9 80 £34,000 -32.00% 52
West Sussex -4 51 £57,500 +23.66% 22
Isle of Wight -9 4 £42,000 -23.64%
Middlesex +5 3 £41,250 -32.65% 17
Sussex -16 1 £30,000 +5.26% 4
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 30 (2.66%) SharePoint
2 28 (2.48%) Microsoft Exchange
3 16 (1.42%) CMS
4 10 (0.89%) IIS
5 6 (0.53%) Confluence
5 6 (0.53%) WordPress
6 4 (0.35%) OpenStack
7 3 (0.27%) Anypoint
7 3 (0.27%) Apache
7 3 (0.27%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.27%) govService
8 2 (0.18%) Gentran
8 2 (0.18%) SAS
9 1 (0.089%) ArcGIS
9 1 (0.089%) nginx
9 1 (0.089%) Tomcat
Applications
1 86 (7.62%) Microsoft Excel
2 75 (6.64%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (0.97%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (0.80%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.62%) Photoshop
5 7 (0.62%) Spreadsheet
6 6 (0.53%) Adobe Illustrator
7 4 (0.35%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 3 (0.27%) Microsoft Project
9 1 (0.089%) Acrobat
9 1 (0.089%) Adobe After Effects
9 1 (0.089%) Adobe Captivate
9 1 (0.089%) Adobe Premiere
9 1 (0.089%) AutoCAD
9 1 (0.089%) Elementor
Business Applications
1 12 (1.06%) NetSuite
2 10 (0.89%) Dynamics CRM
3 9 (0.80%) SAP CO
4 4 (0.35%) Dynamics NAV
4 4 (0.35%) Magento
5 3 (0.27%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.18%) Dynamics AX
6 2 (0.18%) IBM Planning Analytics
6 2 (0.18%) Infor SunSystems
6 2 (0.18%) Q-Pulse
6 2 (0.18%) Sage 200
6 2 (0.18%) Sage X3
6 2 (0.18%) SAP S/4HANA
7 1 (0.089%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.089%) HFM
7 1 (0.089%) PeopleSoft HRMS
7 1 (0.089%) Raiser’s Edge
7 1 (0.089%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 233 (20.64%) Azure
2 115 (10.19%) Microsoft 365
3 89 (7.88%) AWS
4 87 (7.71%) Power Platform
5 58 (5.14%) SaaS
6 49 (4.34%) Azure DevOps
7 32 (2.83%) GCP
8 30 (2.66%) IaaS
8 30 (2.66%) PaaS
9 28 (2.48%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 21 (1.86%) Entra ID
11 20 (1.77%) Dynamics 365
11 20 (1.77%) Google Workspace
12 18 (1.59%) Mimecast
13 17 (1.51%) Azure Data Factory
13 17 (1.51%) Azure Logic Apps
14 15 (1.33%) Datadog
14 15 (1.33%) OpenShift
15 14 (1.24%) GitHub
16 11 (0.97%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 62 (5.49%) Firewall
2 56 (4.96%) DNS
3 30 (2.66%) DHCP
4 26 (2.30%) TCP/IP
5 22 (1.95%) VPN
6 21 (1.86%) Broadband
7 20 (1.77%) Wireless
8 16 (1.42%) WAN
9 14 (1.24%) LAN
10 13 (1.15%) VoIP
11 11 (0.97%) HTTP
12 9 (0.80%) Intranet
13 8 (0.71%) SAN
14 7 (0.62%) Remote Desktop
15 6 (0.53%) PuTTY
15 6 (0.53%) SSH
15 6 (0.53%) VLAN
15 6 (0.53%) Wi-Fi
16 4 (0.35%) SSL
17 3 (0.27%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 67 (5.93%) Power BI
2 57 (5.05%) SQL Server
3 25 (2.21%) Data Warehouse
3 25 (2.21%) Relational Database
4 16 (1.42%) PostgreSQL
5 15 (1.33%) OLTP
6 14 (1.24%) Power Query
7 13 (1.15%) NoSQL
7 13 (1.15%) Tableau
8 12 (1.06%) MySQL
9 8 (0.71%) Data Lake
10 7 (0.62%) Looker
11 6 (0.53%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 5 (0.44%) Big Data
12 5 (0.44%) Data Mining
12 5 (0.44%) Hadoop
12 5 (0.44%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 4 (0.35%) PowerPivot
14 3 (0.27%) Azure SQL Database
14 3 (0.27%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 49 (4.34%) Git
2 37 (3.28%) JIRA
3 27 (2.39%) GitLab
4 19 (1.68%) Rational DOORS
5 8 (0.71%) Selenium
6 6 (0.53%) Jenkins
7 4 (0.35%) Visual Studio
8 3 (0.27%) Android Studio
8 3 (0.27%) Cypress.io
8 3 (0.27%) Postman
8 3 (0.27%) Robot Framework
9 2 (0.18%) Appium
9 2 (0.18%) JMeter
9 2 (0.18%) LabVIEW
9 2 (0.18%) REST Assured
9 2 (0.18%) Snyk
10 1 (0.089%) Cucumber
10 1 (0.089%) PHPUnit
10 1 (0.089%) WebDriver
10 1 (0.089%) Zephyr
General
1 525 (46.50%) Social Skills
2 330 (29.23%) Analytical Skills
3 187 (16.56%) Finance
4 69 (6.11%) Organisational Skills
5 63 (5.58%) Marketing
6 59 (5.23%) Manufacturing
7 53 (4.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 46 (4.07%) Telecoms
9 43 (3.81%) Retail
10 40 (3.54%) Electronics
11 29 (2.57%) Public Sector
12 26 (2.30%) Legal
13 24 (2.13%) Law
14 21 (1.86%) Aerospace
14 21 (1.86%) Documentation Skills
15 15 (1.33%) Presentation Skills
16 13 (1.15%) Automotive
16 13 (1.15%) Pharmaceutical
17 8 (0.71%) Influencing Skills
17 8 (0.71%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 165 (14.61%) Analyst
2 132 (11.69%) IT Support
3 129 (11.43%) Senior
4 124 (10.98%) Support Engineer
5 109 (9.65%) Developer
6 69 (6.11%) Support Analyst
7 64 (5.67%) IT Engineer
8 56 (4.96%) Technical Support
9 47 (4.16%) IT Support Engineer
9 47 (4.16%) Lead
9 47 (4.16%) Systems Engineer
10 45 (3.99%) 2nd Line Support
11 44 (3.90%) Architect
12 41 (3.63%) Technical Engineer
12 41 (3.63%) Technical Support Engineer
13 36 (3.19%) IT Technician
13 36 (3.19%) Support Technician
14 35 (3.10%) Software Engineer
15 32 (2.83%) Infrastructure Engineer
16 30 (2.66%) IT Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 55 (4.87%) .NET
2 50 (4.43%) HTML
3 43 (3.81%) SOAP
4 37 (3.28%) REST
5 29 (2.57%) XML
6 27 (2.39%) CSS
6 27 (2.39%) JSON
7 25 (2.21%) Middleware
8 21 (1.86%) React
9 16 (1.42%) OAuth
10 15 (1.33%) Laravel
10 15 (1.33%) RabbitMQ
11 12 (1.06%) ARM Templates
12 11 (0.97%) CSS3
12 11 (0.97%) HTML5
12 11 (0.97%) RESTful
13 10 (0.89%) jQuery
13 10 (0.89%) Lightning Web Components
13 10 (0.89%) Visualforce
14 9 (0.80%) SAP CO-PA
Miscellaneous
1 74 (6.55%) Onboarding
2 60 (5.31%) Driving Licence
3 59 (5.23%) Self-Motivation
4 42 (3.72%) Management Information System
5 37 (3.28%) Product Ownership
6 30 (2.66%) Distributed Systems
7 28 (2.48%) Cloud Native
8 27 (2.39%) Analytical Mindset
9 19 (1.68%) Low-Code
10 18 (1.59%) Social Media
11 16 (1.42%) Legacy Systems
12 11 (0.97%) Life Science
12 11 (0.97%) Video Editing
13 10 (0.89%) Algorithms
13 10 (0.89%) Client/Server
13 10 (0.89%) Enterprise Software
13 10 (0.89%) Hybrid Cloud
13 10 (0.89%) Security Operations Centre
14 9 (0.80%) Cyber Defence
14 9 (0.80%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 158 (13.99%) Windows
2 90 (7.97%) Linux
3 52 (4.61%) Windows Server
4 21 (1.86%) Mac OS
5 20 (1.77%) Android
6 17 (1.51%) CentOS
7 15 (1.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 9 (0.80%) Ubuntu
8 9 (0.80%) VMS
9 7 (0.62%) Windows Server 2012
10 6 (0.53%) Apple iOS
10 6 (0.53%) Windows 10
10 6 (0.53%) Windows Server 2016
11 5 (0.44%) Windows Server 2019
12 3 (0.27%) Debian
12 3 (0.27%) Unix
13 1 (0.089%) Embedded Linux
13 1 (0.089%) FreeBSD
13 1 (0.089%) OpenBSD
13 1 (0.089%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 235 (20.81%) Continuous Improvement
2 197 (17.45%) Customer Service
3 158 (13.99%) Agile
4 135 (11.96%) DevOps
5 126 (11.16%) CI/CD
6 117 (10.36%) Analytics
7 109 (9.65%) Decision-Making
8 101 (8.95%) Business Intelligence
8 101 (8.95%) Computer Science
9 93 (8.24%) Project Management
10 85 (7.53%) Software Engineering
11 83 (7.35%) CRM
12 82 (7.26%) AI
13 80 (7.09%) Data Modelling
14 69 (6.11%) Project Delivery
14 69 (6.11%) Stakeholder Management
15 68 (6.02%) ERP
15 68 (6.02%) Mentoring
16 66 (5.85%) Cybersecurity
16 66 (5.85%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 192 (17.01%) Python
2 174 (15.41%) SQL
3 70 (6.20%) JavaScript
4 67 (5.93%) C#
5 65 (5.76%) PowerShell
6 52 (4.61%) Java
7 29 (2.57%) PHP
8 24 (2.13%) Bash
8 24 (2.13%) C++
9 22 (1.95%) C
10 19 (1.68%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 18 (1.59%) PL/SQL
12 14 (1.24%) TypeScript
13 12 (1.06%) Perl
14 11 (0.97%) Bicep
15 10 (0.89%) Apex Code
16 9 (0.80%) Rust
17 7 (0.62%) R
17 7 (0.62%) Scala
18 6 (0.53%) DCL
Qualifications
1 227 (20.11%) Degree
2 72 (6.38%) Security Cleared
3 49 (4.34%) Computer Science Degree
3 49 (4.34%) DBS Check
4 43 (3.81%) ACCA
5 40 (3.54%) SC Cleared
6 38 (3.37%) CIMA
7 36 (3.19%) Microsoft Certification
8 33 (2.92%) BPSS Clearance
9 24 (2.13%) A+ Certification
9 24 (2.13%) HNC
10 21 (1.86%) Chartered Engineer
11 18 (1.59%) DV Cleared
11 18 (1.59%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 14 (1.24%) Master's Degree
13 12 (1.06%) PMI Certification
14 10 (0.89%) HND
14 10 (0.89%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
15 9 (0.80%) PMP
16 8 (0.71%) City & Guilds
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 70 (6.20%) QA
2 67 (5.93%) Data Quality
3 44 (3.90%) GDPR
4 31 (2.75%) SLA
5 23 (2.04%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 15 (1.33%) PCI DSS
7 13 (1.15%) Accessibility
8 12 (1.06%) NIST
9 7 (0.62%) SOC 2
10 6 (0.53%) ISO 9001
11 5 (0.44%) Actionable Recommendations
12 4 (0.35%) ISO 26262
12 4 (0.35%) ITGC
13 2 (0.18%) GRC
13 2 (0.18%) IFRS
14 1 (0.089%) Cyber Essentials
14 1 (0.089%) PMO
System Software
1 102 (9.03%) Active Directory
2 49 (4.34%) Docker
3 31 (2.75%) VMware Infrastructure
4 24 (2.13%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.89%) KVM
6 5 (0.44%) XenApp
7 4 (0.35%) Firmware
7 4 (0.35%) Virtual Desktop
7 4 (0.35%) VMware ESXi
8 3 (0.27%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 2 (0.18%) vSphere
10 1 (0.089%) Oracle RAC
10 1 (0.089%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.089%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 55 (4.87%) Terraform
2 50 (4.43%) Kubernetes
3 28 (2.48%) Ansible
4 20 (1.77%) Microsoft Intune
5 15 (1.33%) Grafana
5 15 (1.33%) SCCM
6 12 (1.06%) Prometheus
7 8 (0.71%) Nagios
8 7 (0.62%) ZABBIX
9 6 (0.53%) vCenter Server
10 4 (0.35%) Functional Safety
10 4 (0.35%) Puppet
11 3 (0.27%) Graylog
11 3 (0.27%) Nessus
12 1 (0.089%) CASB
12 1 (0.089%) Docker Swarm
12 1 (0.089%) FortiGate
12 1 (0.089%) Kibana
12 1 (0.089%) Oracle RMAN
12 1 (0.089%) Packer
Vendors
1 302 (26.75%) Microsoft
2 40 (3.54%) Databricks
3 37 (3.28%) Oracle
4 35 (3.10%) VMware
5 34 (3.01%) Google
6 29 (2.57%) Salesforce
7 26 (2.30%) Veeam
8 25 (2.21%) Adobe
8 25 (2.21%) SAP
9 16 (1.42%) Red Hat
10 14 (1.24%) Sage
11 13 (1.15%) HubSpot
11 13 (1.15%) Splunk
12 12 (1.06%) Dynatrace
12 12 (1.06%) ServiceNow
13 11 (0.97%) Hootsuite
13 11 (0.97%) Instagram
13 11 (0.97%) Wrike
14 10 (0.89%) SolarWinds
15 9 (0.80%) MuleSoft