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

6 months to
13 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 4 4
Rank change year-on-year -8 0 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,126 1,318 2,798
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 7.92% 17.15% 17.07%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.00% 18.95% 20.28%
Number of salaries quoted 848 680 1,757
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,250 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,500 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £47,125 £50,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.75% +11.11% -14.29%
75th Percentile £62,500 £67,500 £62,500
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 10,240 6,954 13,797
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 72.04% 90.50% 84.17%
Number of salaries quoted 6,930 3,373 9,805
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,000 £27,500
25th Percentile £39,829 £36,250 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year - +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 13 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 13 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 -9 419 £47,500 -9.52% 232
Hampshire -5 250 £42,500 -10.53% 144
Berkshire -3 206 £47,500 -20.83% 108
Surrey -3 181 £40,000 -15.79% 81
Buckinghamshire -11 131 £50,000 -1.90% 76
Kent -3 123 £29,000 -6.45% 52
East Sussex -5 94 £70,750 +41.50% 16
Oxfordshire -3 82 £34,000 -38.18% 51
West Sussex -5 50 £57,500 +23.66% 18
Isle of Wight -7 3 £41,500 -24.55%
Middlesex +2 2 £35,000 -44.00% 14
Sussex -17 1 £30,000 +5.26% 7
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 31 (2.75%) SharePoint
2 27 (2.40%) Microsoft Exchange
3 16 (1.42%) CMS
4 10 (0.89%) IIS
5 7 (0.62%) Confluence
6 5 (0.44%) WordPress
7 4 (0.36%) OpenEdge
7 4 (0.36%) OpenStack
8 3 (0.27%) Anypoint
8 3 (0.27%) Apache
8 3 (0.27%) govService
9 2 (0.18%) Apache Airflow
9 2 (0.18%) Gentran
9 2 (0.18%) SAS
10 1 (0.089%) ArcGIS
10 1 (0.089%) nginx
10 1 (0.089%) Tomcat
Applications
1 87 (7.73%) Microsoft Excel
2 72 (6.39%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (0.98%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (0.80%) MS Visio
5 8 (0.71%) Spreadsheet
6 6 (0.53%) Photoshop
7 5 (0.44%) Adobe Illustrator
8 3 (0.27%) Microsoft Project
9 2 (0.18%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 1 (0.089%) Acrobat
10 1 (0.089%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 11 (0.98%) NetSuite
2 10 (0.89%) Dynamics CRM
3 9 (0.80%) SAP CO
4 4 (0.36%) Dynamics NAV
4 4 (0.36%) 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%) Shopify
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
7 1 (0.089%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 250 (22.20%) Azure
2 115 (10.21%) Microsoft 365
3 99 (8.79%) AWS
4 84 (7.46%) Power Platform
5 53 (4.71%) SaaS
6 50 (4.44%) Azure DevOps
7 35 (3.11%) GCP
8 30 (2.66%) IaaS
8 30 (2.66%) PaaS
9 26 (2.31%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 19 (1.69%) Dynamics 365
10 19 (1.69%) Entra ID
10 19 (1.69%) Google Workspace
11 17 (1.51%) Azure Logic Apps
11 17 (1.51%) Mimecast
12 15 (1.33%) Azure Data Factory
12 15 (1.33%) Datadog
12 15 (1.33%) OpenShift
12 15 (1.33%) Serverless
13 14 (1.24%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 62 (5.51%) Firewall
2 57 (5.06%) DNS
3 31 (2.75%) DHCP
4 29 (2.58%) TCP/IP
5 23 (2.04%) VPN
6 20 (1.78%) Broadband
6 20 (1.78%) Wireless
7 17 (1.51%) WAN
8 15 (1.33%) LAN
9 12 (1.07%) VoIP
10 10 (0.89%) HTTP
11 8 (0.71%) Intranet
11 8 (0.71%) SAN
12 7 (0.62%) Remote Desktop
13 6 (0.53%) PuTTY
13 6 (0.53%) SSH
13 6 (0.53%) VLAN
13 6 (0.53%) Wi-Fi
14 5 (0.44%) SSL
15 4 (0.36%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 67 (5.95%) SQL Server
2 64 (5.68%) Power BI
3 23 (2.04%) Data Warehouse
3 23 (2.04%) Relational Database
4 21 (1.87%) PostgreSQL
5 17 (1.51%) OLTP
6 13 (1.15%) NoSQL
7 12 (1.07%) MySQL
7 12 (1.07%) Power Query
7 12 (1.07%) Tableau
8 10 (0.89%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 7 (0.62%) Data Lake
9 7 (0.62%) Looker
9 7 (0.62%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 5 (0.44%) Big Data
10 5 (0.44%) Data Mining
10 5 (0.44%) Hadoop
11 3 (0.27%) Azure SQL Database
11 3 (0.27%) Elasticsearch
11 3 (0.27%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 55 (4.88%) Git
2 35 (3.11%) JIRA
3 28 (2.49%) GitLab
4 21 (1.87%) Rational DOORS
5 7 (0.62%) Selenium
6 4 (0.36%) Jenkins
6 4 (0.36%) Visual Studio
7 3 (0.27%) Android Studio
7 3 (0.27%) Cypress.io
7 3 (0.27%) Postman
8 2 (0.18%) Appium
8 2 (0.18%) JMeter
8 2 (0.18%) LabVIEW
8 2 (0.18%) REST Assured
8 2 (0.18%) Robot Framework
8 2 (0.18%) Snyk
9 1 (0.089%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.089%) JUnit
9 1 (0.089%) SonarQube
9 1 (0.089%) Zephyr
General
1 526 (46.71%) Social Skills
2 328 (29.13%) Analytical Skills
3 187 (16.61%) Finance
4 68 (6.04%) Organisational Skills
5 61 (5.42%) Marketing
6 58 (5.15%) Manufacturing
7 49 (4.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 46 (4.09%) Telecoms
9 44 (3.91%) Retail
10 42 (3.73%) Electronics
11 29 (2.58%) Public Sector
12 25 (2.22%) Law
13 24 (2.13%) Aerospace
14 23 (2.04%) Legal
15 20 (1.78%) Documentation Skills
16 15 (1.33%) Pharmaceutical
17 14 (1.24%) Presentation Skills
18 13 (1.15%) Automotive
19 10 (0.89%) Local Government
20 9 (0.80%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 162 (14.39%) Analyst
2 131 (11.63%) IT Support
3 123 (10.92%) Senior
4 118 (10.48%) Developer
5 115 (10.21%) Support Engineer
6 70 (6.22%) Support Analyst
7 67 (5.95%) IT Engineer
8 54 (4.80%) Systems Engineer
9 51 (4.53%) Technical Support
10 47 (4.17%) Lead
11 45 (4.00%) IT Support Engineer
12 43 (3.82%) 2nd Line Support
12 43 (3.82%) Architect
13 38 (3.37%) Software Engineer
13 38 (3.37%) Support Technician
13 38 (3.37%) Technical Engineer
13 38 (3.37%) Technical Support Engineer
14 37 (3.29%) IT Technician
15 34 (3.02%) Infrastructure Engineer
16 30 (2.66%) IT Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 62 (5.51%) .NET
2 53 (4.71%) HTML
3 46 (4.09%) SOAP
4 39 (3.46%) REST
5 31 (2.75%) XML
6 30 (2.66%) CSS
7 28 (2.49%) JSON
8 24 (2.13%) Middleware
9 23 (2.04%) React
10 16 (1.42%) OAuth
11 15 (1.33%) Laravel
11 15 (1.33%) RabbitMQ
12 14 (1.24%) CSS3
12 14 (1.24%) HTML5
13 13 (1.15%) jQuery
14 12 (1.07%) Ajax
14 12 (1.07%) Sass
15 11 (0.98%) ARM Templates
15 11 (0.98%) LESS
15 11 (0.98%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 60 (5.33%) Driving Licence
1 60 (5.33%) Onboarding
1 60 (5.33%) Self-Motivation
2 45 (4.00%) Management Information System
3 39 (3.46%) Product Ownership
4 34 (3.02%) Cloud Native
5 33 (2.93%) Distributed Systems
6 27 (2.40%) Analytical Mindset
7 20 (1.78%) Low-Code
8 17 (1.51%) Social Media
9 15 (1.33%) Legacy Systems
10 13 (1.15%) NHS
11 11 (0.98%) Enterprise Software
11 11 (0.98%) Video Editing
12 10 (0.89%) Algorithms
12 10 (0.89%) Client/Server
13 9 (0.80%) Cyber Defence
13 9 (0.80%) Hybrid Cloud
14 8 (0.71%) IoT
14 8 (0.71%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 162 (14.39%) Windows
2 94 (8.35%) Linux
3 54 (4.80%) Windows Server
4 18 (1.60%) Android
4 18 (1.60%) Mac OS
5 17 (1.51%) CentOS
6 15 (1.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 10 (0.89%) Ubuntu
8 9 (0.80%) VMS
9 8 (0.71%) Windows Server 2016
9 8 (0.71%) Windows Server 2019
10 7 (0.62%) Windows Server 2012
11 6 (0.53%) Apple iOS
12 3 (0.27%) Debian
12 3 (0.27%) Unix
12 3 (0.27%) Windows 10
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
1 233 (20.69%) Continuous Improvement
2 191 (16.96%) Customer Service
3 161 (14.30%) Agile
4 137 (12.17%) DevOps
5 130 (11.55%) CI/CD
6 113 (10.04%) Analytics
7 112 (9.95%) Decision-Making
8 105 (9.33%) Computer Science
9 98 (8.70%) Business Intelligence
10 97 (8.61%) Software Engineering
11 90 (7.99%) AI
12 89 (7.90%) Project Management
13 80 (7.10%) Data Modelling
14 78 (6.93%) CRM
15 75 (6.66%) Mentoring
16 73 (6.48%) Project Delivery
17 70 (6.22%) ERP
18 69 (6.13%) Cybersecurity
19 68 (6.04%) ITIL
20 66 (5.86%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 196 (17.41%) Python
2 180 (15.99%) SQL
3 79 (7.02%) C#
4 78 (6.93%) JavaScript
5 63 (5.60%) PowerShell
6 51 (4.53%) Java
7 30 (2.66%) PHP
8 28 (2.49%) C++
9 24 (2.13%) Bash
9 24 (2.13%) C
10 20 (1.78%) PL/SQL
11 19 (1.69%) TypeScript
12 16 (1.42%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 12 (1.07%) Perl
14 10 (0.89%) Rust
15 9 (0.80%) Apex Code
15 9 (0.80%) Bicep
16 7 (0.62%) R
16 7 (0.62%) Ruby
16 7 (0.62%) Scala
Qualifications
1 228 (20.25%) Degree
2 76 (6.75%) Security Cleared
3 51 (4.53%) Computer Science Degree
4 50 (4.44%) DBS Check
5 45 (4.00%) SC Cleared
6 39 (3.46%) ACCA
6 39 (3.46%) Microsoft Certification
7 35 (3.11%) BPSS Clearance
7 35 (3.11%) CIMA
8 27 (2.40%) A+ Certification
9 25 (2.22%) HNC
10 23 (2.04%) Chartered Engineer
11 18 (1.60%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 17 (1.51%) DV Cleared
13 14 (1.24%) Master's Degree
14 13 (1.15%) PMI Certification
15 10 (0.89%) Azure Certification
15 10 (0.89%) HND
15 10 (0.89%) PMP
16 7 (0.62%) City & Guilds
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 74 (6.57%) QA
2 64 (5.68%) Data Quality
3 45 (4.00%) GDPR
4 34 (3.02%) SLA
5 20 (1.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 15 (1.33%) Accessibility
6 15 (1.33%) PCI DSS
7 10 (0.89%) NIST
8 8 (0.71%) SOC 2
9 6 (0.53%) ISO 9001
10 5 (0.44%) Actionable Recommendations
11 4 (0.36%) ISO 26262
11 4 (0.36%) ITGC
12 2 (0.18%) Def Stans
12 2 (0.18%) GRC
12 2 (0.18%) IFRS
13 1 (0.089%) Cyber Essentials
13 1 (0.089%) Good Clinical Practice
13 1 (0.089%) PMO
System Software
1 97 (8.61%) Active Directory
2 50 (4.44%) Docker
3 35 (3.11%) VMware Infrastructure
4 25 (2.22%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.89%) KVM
6 5 (0.44%) VMware ESXi
6 5 (0.44%) XenApp
7 4 (0.36%) Firmware
7 4 (0.36%) Virtual Desktop
7 4 (0.36%) Virtual Machines
8 3 (0.27%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 2 (0.18%) vSphere
10 1 (0.089%) Oracle RAC
10 1 (0.089%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 57 (5.06%) Kubernetes
2 56 (4.97%) Terraform
3 31 (2.75%) Ansible
4 21 (1.87%) Microsoft Intune
5 15 (1.33%) Grafana
5 15 (1.33%) SCCM
6 12 (1.07%) Prometheus
7 9 (0.80%) Nagios
8 7 (0.62%) ZABBIX
9 6 (0.53%) vCenter Server
10 4 (0.36%) Functional Safety
10 4 (0.36%) Graylog
10 4 (0.36%) Puppet
11 2 (0.18%) Docker Swarm
11 2 (0.18%) Failover Clustering
11 2 (0.18%) Nessus
11 2 (0.18%) Podman
12 1 (0.089%) CASB
12 1 (0.089%) Dell DRAC
12 1 (0.089%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 306 (27.18%) Microsoft
2 42 (3.73%) Oracle
3 39 (3.46%) VMware
4 37 (3.29%) Databricks
5 35 (3.11%) Google
6 27 (2.40%) Salesforce
7 24 (2.13%) Veeam
8 22 (1.95%) Adobe
9 21 (1.87%) SAP
10 16 (1.42%) Red Hat
11 15 (1.33%) Instagram
12 12 (1.07%) Dynatrace
12 12 (1.07%) Sage
12 12 (1.07%) Splunk
13 11 (0.98%) Hootsuite
13 11 (0.98%) HubSpot
13 11 (0.98%) Wrike
14 10 (0.89%) SolarWinds
15 9 (0.80%) Braze
15 9 (0.80%) ServiceNow