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

6 months to
1 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 1,195 1,169 2,646
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 9.18% 17.47% 17.40%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.32% 19.43% 20.47%
Number of salaries quoted 914 662 1,662
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 £62,250 £70,000 £62,375
90th Percentile £79,550 £83,750 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,042 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -14.47% +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 9,700 6,016 12,926
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 74.51% 89.88% 85.02%
Number of salaries quoted 6,229 3,241 9,475
10th Percentile £28,750 £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 £66,250 £71,250 £65,000
90th Percentile £82,500 £85,000 £77,750
England median annual salary £56,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -6.67% +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 1 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 1 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 -5 441 £47,500 -13.64% 227
Hampshire -3 251 £38,500 -23.00% 129
Berkshire 0 220 £45,000 -30.77% 110
Surrey -12 193 £40,000 -23.81% 74
Buckinghamshire -8 148 £50,000 -7.81% 68
Kent -11 126 £30,000 -11.76% 41
East Sussex 0 94 £70,750 +41.50% 26
Oxfordshire -9 73 £33,600 -20.94% 51
West Sussex +1 61 £57,500 +53.33% 25
Middlesex -2 13 £47,500 -24.00% 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 40 (3.35%) SharePoint
2 35 (2.93%) Microsoft Exchange
3 17 (1.42%) CMS
4 15 (1.26%) IIS
5 11 (0.92%) WordPress
6 7 (0.59%) Confluence
7 4 (0.33%) 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 94 (7.87%) Microsoft Office
2 82 (6.86%) Microsoft Excel
3 15 (1.26%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (0.92%) Photoshop
5 10 (0.84%) Adobe Illustrator
6 9 (0.75%) 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
11 1 (0.084%) OrCAD
Business Applications
1 10 (0.84%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (0.75%) SAP CO
3 6 (0.50%) NetSuite
4 4 (0.33%) Dynamics NAV
4 4 (0.33%) 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
1 237 (19.83%) Azure
2 146 (12.22%) Microsoft 365
3 89 (7.45%) AWS
3 89 (7.45%) Power Platform
4 66 (5.52%) Azure DevOps
5 61 (5.10%) SaaS
6 37 (3.10%) GCP
7 30 (2.51%) Entra ID
8 29 (2.43%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 28 (2.34%) PaaS
10 27 (2.26%) IaaS
11 20 (1.67%) Dynamics 365
11 20 (1.67%) Mimecast
12 19 (1.59%) Google Workspace
13 18 (1.51%) GitHub
14 17 (1.42%) Azure Data Factory
14 17 (1.42%) Azure Logic Apps
15 14 (1.17%) Figma
15 14 (1.17%) OpenShift
16 13 (1.09%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 76 (6.36%) DNS
2 65 (5.44%) Firewall
3 44 (3.68%) DHCP
4 37 (3.10%) TCP/IP
5 34 (2.85%) VPN
6 25 (2.09%) Wireless
7 19 (1.59%) Broadband
8 18 (1.51%) WAN
9 16 (1.34%) VLAN
10 15 (1.26%) LAN
11 12 (1.00%) VoIP
12 11 (0.92%) HTTP
12 11 (0.92%) Intranet
13 9 (0.75%) SAN
14 7 (0.59%) Remote Desktop
14 7 (0.59%) Wi-Fi
15 6 (0.50%) PuTTY
15 6 (0.50%) SSH
16 3 (0.25%) Unified Communications
17 2 (0.17%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 69 (5.77%) Power BI
2 45 (3.77%) SQL Server
3 34 (2.85%) Relational Database
4 25 (2.09%) Data Warehouse
5 18 (1.51%) Power Query
6 15 (1.26%) OLTP
7 14 (1.17%) NoSQL
8 12 (1.00%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 11 (0.92%) Tableau
10 10 (0.84%) MySQL
11 8 (0.67%) Data Lake
11 8 (0.67%) PostgreSQL
11 8 (0.67%) PowerPivot
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 (0.33%) Metadata
15 3 (0.25%) Looker
15 3 (0.25%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 55 (4.60%) Git
2 40 (3.35%) JIRA
3 25 (2.09%) GitLab
4 23 (1.92%) Selenium
5 15 (1.26%) Robot Framework
6 14 (1.17%) Rational DOORS
7 13 (1.09%) Snyk
8 8 (0.67%) Jenkins
9 7 (0.59%) Visual Studio
10 4 (0.33%) Cypress.io
11 3 (0.25%) Appium
11 3 (0.25%) Postman
11 3 (0.25%) REST Assured
11 3 (0.25%) WebDriver
12 2 (0.17%) Cucumber
12 2 (0.17%) JMeter
12 2 (0.17%) LabVIEW
12 2 (0.17%) TestRail
13 1 (0.084%) JUnit
13 1 (0.084%) PHPUnit
General
1 596 (49.87%) Social Skills
2 345 (28.87%) Analytical Skills
3 188 (15.73%) Finance
4 75 (6.28%) Organisational Skills
5 71 (5.94%) Marketing
6 70 (5.86%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 69 (5.77%) Retail
8 61 (5.10%) Manufacturing
9 49 (4.10%) Telecoms
10 46 (3.85%) Electronics
11 36 (3.01%) Public Sector
12 35 (2.93%) Law
12 35 (2.93%) Legal
13 23 (1.92%) Documentation Skills
14 14 (1.17%) Presentation Skills
15 13 (1.09%) Influencing Skills
16 11 (0.92%) Pharmaceutical
17 10 (0.84%) Aerospace
18 9 (0.75%) Automotive
18 9 (0.75%) Banking
Job Titles
1 177 (14.81%) IT Support
2 169 (14.14%) Support Engineer
3 167 (13.97%) Analyst
4 131 (10.96%) Senior
5 111 (9.29%) Developer
6 84 (7.03%) IT Engineer
7 81 (6.78%) Support Analyst
8 68 (5.69%) IT Support Engineer
9 65 (5.44%) Technical Support
10 54 (4.52%) 2nd Line Support
11 49 (4.10%) Lead
12 47 (3.93%) Technical Engineer
12 47 (3.93%) Technical Support Engineer
13 40 (3.35%) Architect
13 40 (3.35%) IT Analyst
14 39 (3.26%) IT Support Analyst
14 39 (3.26%) Software Engineer
15 37 (3.10%) IT Technician
16 35 (2.93%) Support Technician
17 34 (2.85%) Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 56 (4.69%) .NET
2 49 (4.10%) HTML
3 33 (2.76%) SOAP
4 29 (2.43%) REST
5 26 (2.18%) React
6 25 (2.09%) CSS
7 22 (1.84%) XML
8 18 (1.51%) JSON
9 15 (1.26%) .NET Framework
9 15 (1.26%) ASP.NET
9 15 (1.26%) Middleware
10 14 (1.17%) Laravel
11 13 (1.09%) Lightning Web Components
12 12 (1.00%) ARM Templates
12 12 (1.00%) Visualforce
13 11 (0.92%) OAuth
13 11 (0.92%) OLE
14 10 (0.84%) RabbitMQ
15 9 (0.75%) Entity Framework
15 9 (0.75%) Node.js
Miscellaneous
1 84 (7.03%) Onboarding
2 81 (6.78%) Driving Licence
3 66 (5.52%) Self-Motivation
4 38 (3.18%) Management Information System
5 34 (2.85%) Product Ownership
6 25 (2.09%) Distributed Systems
7 22 (1.84%) Analytical Mindset
7 22 (1.84%) Cloud Native
7 22 (1.84%) Social Media
8 20 (1.67%) Low-Code
9 13 (1.09%) Enterprise Software
9 13 (1.09%) Legacy Systems
10 11 (0.92%) Video Editing
11 10 (0.84%) Life Science
11 10 (0.84%) Video Conferencing
12 9 (0.75%) Client/Server
12 9 (0.75%) IoT
12 9 (0.75%) NHS
12 9 (0.75%) Security Operations Centre
13 7 (0.59%) Data Centre
Operating Systems
1 215 (17.99%) Windows
2 93 (7.78%) Linux
3 63 (5.27%) Windows Server
4 24 (2.01%) Mac OS
5 19 (1.59%) Windows 10
6 17 (1.42%) Android
7 16 (1.34%) CentOS
8 15 (1.26%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 9 (0.75%) Windows Server 2012
10 8 (0.67%) Ubuntu
10 8 (0.67%) VMS
11 7 (0.59%) Apple iOS
12 6 (0.50%) Windows Server 2016
12 6 (0.50%) Windows Server 2019
13 4 (0.33%) Unix
14 2 (0.17%) Debian
15 1 (0.084%) Embedded Linux
15 1 (0.084%) FreeBSD
15 1 (0.084%) OpenBSD
15 1 (0.084%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 239 (20.00%) Continuous Improvement
2 208 (17.41%) Customer Service
3 165 (13.81%) Agile
4 141 (11.80%) DevOps
5 116 (9.71%) Analytics
6 115 (9.62%) CI/CD
7 105 (8.79%) Decision-Making
8 104 (8.70%) Business Intelligence
9 96 (8.03%) Project Management
10 91 (7.62%) Computer Science
11 88 (7.36%) Mentoring
12 82 (6.86%) AI
13 74 (6.19%) Stakeholder Management
14 73 (6.11%) Cybersecurity
14 73 (6.11%) Software Engineering
15 70 (5.86%) CRM
15 70 (5.86%) ITIL
16 67 (5.61%) Collaborative Culture
16 67 (5.61%) Data Modelling
17 66 (5.52%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 191 (15.98%) Python
2 186 (15.56%) SQL
3 74 (6.19%) PowerShell
4 71 (5.94%) C#
4 71 (5.94%) JavaScript
5 46 (3.85%) Java
6 28 (2.34%) PHP
7 27 (2.26%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 23 (1.92%) C++
9 22 (1.84%) Bash
9 22 (1.84%) C
10 18 (1.51%) PL/SQL
11 16 (1.34%) TypeScript
12 13 (1.09%) Apex Code
13 12 (1.00%) Bicep
13 12 (1.00%) Perl
14 9 (0.75%) Kusto Query Language
14 9 (0.75%) Rust
14 9 (0.75%) T-SQL
15 8 (0.67%) R
Qualifications
1 248 (20.75%) Degree
2 81 (6.78%) Security Cleared
3 49 (4.10%) ACCA
4 48 (4.02%) Computer Science Degree
5 40 (3.35%) CIMA
6 39 (3.26%) SC Cleared
7 37 (3.10%) DBS Check
8 30 (2.51%) BPSS Clearance
8 30 (2.51%) Microsoft Certification
9 24 (2.01%) DV Cleared
10 21 (1.76%) HNC
10 21 (1.76%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 18 (1.51%) A+ Certification
12 15 (1.26%) Chartered Engineer
13 12 (1.00%) Master's Degree
14 10 (0.84%) PMI Certification
15 9 (0.75%) HND
15 9 (0.75%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
16 8 (0.67%) City & Guilds
17 7 (0.59%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 68 (5.69%) QA
2 58 (4.85%) Data Quality
3 47 (3.93%) GDPR
4 24 (2.01%) SLA
5 23 (1.92%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 17 (1.42%) Accessibility
7 12 (1.00%) PCI DSS
8 11 (0.92%) NIST
9 5 (0.42%) Actionable Recommendations
9 5 (0.42%) Cyber Essentials
9 5 (0.42%) SOC 2
10 4 (0.33%) ISO 9001
10 4 (0.33%) ITGC
11 2 (0.17%) GRC
11 2 (0.17%) ISO 26262
12 1 (0.084%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 1 (0.084%) GAAP
12 1 (0.084%) IFRS
12 1 (0.084%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 1 (0.084%) PMO
System Software
1 143 (11.97%) Active Directory
2 43 (3.60%) Docker
3 35 (2.93%) Hyper-V
3 35 (2.93%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (0.84%) KVM
5 5 (0.42%) Firmware
5 5 (0.42%) VMware ESXi
5 5 (0.42%) XenApp
6 3 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
7 2 (0.17%) Virtual Desktop
8 1 (0.084%) Oracle RAC
8 1 (0.084%) Virtual Servers
8 1 (0.084%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.084%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 59 (4.94%) Terraform
2 42 (3.51%) Kubernetes
3 36 (3.01%) Ansible
4 32 (2.68%) Microsoft Intune
5 16 (1.34%) Grafana
5 16 (1.34%) SCCM
6 14 (1.17%) Prometheus
7 9 (0.75%) Nagios
7 9 (0.75%) vCenter Server
7 9 (0.75%) ZABBIX
8 3 (0.25%) Nessus
8 3 (0.25%) Puppet
9 2 (0.17%) Functional Safety
9 2 (0.17%) Netcool
9 2 (0.17%) Netcool/OMNIbus
10 1 (0.084%) Autotask
10 1 (0.084%) Dell DRAC
10 1 (0.084%) Docker Swarm
10 1 (0.084%) Podman
10 1 (0.084%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 318 (26.61%) Microsoft
2 43 (3.60%) VMware
3 42 (3.51%) Databricks
4 38 (3.18%) Google
5 34 (2.85%) Veeam
6 33 (2.76%) Adobe
7 31 (2.59%) SAP
8 30 (2.51%) Salesforce
9 29 (2.43%) Oracle
10 26 (2.18%) Sage
11 21 (1.76%) HubSpot
12 20 (1.67%) NEC
13 16 (1.34%) ServiceNow
14 15 (1.26%) Red Hat
15 13 (1.09%) Black Duck
15 13 (1.09%) Coverity
15 13 (1.09%) Dynatrace
16 12 (1.00%) MuleSoft
17 11 (0.92%) SolarWinds
17 11 (0.92%) Splunk