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

6 months to
24 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 3 4
Rank change year-on-year -3 +1 +4
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,278 1,345 2,286
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 11.00% 17.25% 18.18%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 14.12% 19.23% 21.08%
Number of salaries quoted 911 640 1,389
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,250 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £35,000 £31,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £52,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -19.05% +16.67% -14.29%
75th Percentile £60,000 £71,250 £62,500
90th Percentile £75,000 £85,000 £73,979
England median annual salary £45,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -18.18% +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 9,048 6,995 10,843
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 77.87% 89.69% 86.22%
Number of salaries quoted 5,592 3,240 8,009
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,500 £27,750
25th Percentile £35,000 £43,750 £36,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £57,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -13.04% +15.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £65,000 £73,833 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £85,000 £78,750
England median annual salary £55,000 £62,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year -12.00% +13.64% -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 24 February 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 24 February 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 -2 520 £45,000 -21.74% 208
Berkshire +5 307 £45,000 -33.33% 105
Hampshire -1 266 £35,000 -30.00% 130
Surrey -12 198 £40,000 -30.43% 80
Buckinghamshire -8 136 £51,000 -11.30% 59
Kent -10 119 £29,000 -14.71% 48
East Sussex 0 85 £57,000 +14.00% 17
Oxfordshire -4 77 £34,000 -15.00% 47
West Sussex -1 55 £60,000 +26.32% 25
Middlesex -9 17 £47,500 -19.15% 12
Isle of Wight +6 12 £43,500 +8.48% 1
Sussex -11 3 £35,000 -20.45% 2
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 38 (2.97%) SharePoint
2 34 (2.66%) Microsoft Exchange
3 21 (1.64%) IIS
4 14 (1.10%) CMS
5 10 (0.78%) WordPress
6 8 (0.63%) Confluence
7 4 (0.31%) Apache Airflow
8 3 (0.23%) govService
8 3 (0.23%) SAS
9 2 (0.16%) Anypoint
9 2 (0.16%) Apache
9 2 (0.16%) ArcGIS
10 1 (0.078%) Apache Spark
10 1 (0.078%) HCL Domino
10 1 (0.078%) HCL Notes
10 1 (0.078%) nginx
10 1 (0.078%) OpenStack
10 1 (0.078%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 109 (8.53%) Microsoft Office
2 89 (6.96%) Microsoft Excel
3 19 (1.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (0.86%) Photoshop
4 11 (0.86%) Spreadsheet
5 9 (0.70%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 9 (0.70%) Adobe Illustrator
6 7 (0.55%) MS Visio
7 4 (0.31%) Adobe Premiere
8 3 (0.23%) Adobe After Effects
8 3 (0.23%) Adobe XD
8 3 (0.23%) InDesign
9 2 (0.16%) Adobe Captivate
9 2 (0.16%) Elementor
10 1 (0.078%) Acrobat
10 1 (0.078%) AutoCAD
10 1 (0.078%) OrCAD
10 1 (0.078%) Revit
Business Applications
1 52 (4.07%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (0.86%) NetSuite
3 10 (0.78%) SAP CO
4 6 (0.47%) Dynamics CRM
5 5 (0.39%) SAP Hybris
6 4 (0.31%) Dynamics NAV
7 3 (0.23%) JDE EnterpriseOne
7 3 (0.23%) Oracle Assets
7 3 (0.23%) Oracle Payables
7 3 (0.23%) Oracle Receivables
7 3 (0.23%) Sage X3
8 2 (0.16%) Dynamics AX
8 2 (0.16%) IBM Planning Analytics
8 2 (0.16%) Q-Pulse
8 2 (0.16%) Sage 200
9 1 (0.078%) Raiser’s Edge
9 1 (0.078%) SAP FI
9 1 (0.078%) SAP FI/CO
9 1 (0.078%) SAP IBP
9 1 (0.078%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 240 (18.78%) Azure
2 161 (12.60%) Microsoft 365
3 103 (8.06%) Power Platform
4 83 (6.49%) AWS
5 64 (5.01%) Azure DevOps
6 61 (4.77%) SaaS
7 40 (3.13%) GCP
8 37 (2.90%) Entra ID
9 20 (1.56%) PaaS
10 19 (1.49%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 19 (1.49%) Google Workspace
10 19 (1.49%) IaaS
10 19 (1.49%) Mimecast
11 18 (1.41%) Azure Logic Apps
12 17 (1.33%) GitHub
13 16 (1.25%) Collibra
13 16 (1.25%) Dynamics 365
13 16 (1.25%) Figma
14 12 (0.94%) Power Automate
15 10 (0.78%) Stripe
Communications & Networking
1 83 (6.49%) DNS
2 66 (5.16%) Firewall
3 53 (4.15%) DHCP
4 43 (3.36%) TCP/IP
5 42 (3.29%) VPN
6 26 (2.03%) Wireless
7 22 (1.72%) VLAN
8 17 (1.33%) WAN
9 14 (1.10%) Broadband
9 14 (1.10%) LAN
10 13 (1.02%) SAN
11 10 (0.78%) Intranet
12 9 (0.70%) Remote Desktop
13 8 (0.63%) HTTP
13 8 (0.63%) VoIP
14 7 (0.55%) Wi-Fi
15 6 (0.47%) PuTTY
15 6 (0.47%) SSH
16 3 (0.23%) MPLS
16 3 (0.23%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 81 (6.34%) Power BI
2 39 (3.05%) Relational Database
2 39 (3.05%) SQL Server
3 20 (1.56%) Data Lake
4 19 (1.49%) Data Warehouse
5 18 (1.41%) SAP BW
6 17 (1.33%) NoSQL
6 17 (1.33%) Power Query
7 16 (1.25%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 13 (1.02%) OLTP
9 9 (0.70%) PostgreSQL
9 9 (0.70%) Tableau
10 7 (0.55%) MySQL
10 7 (0.55%) PowerPivot
11 6 (0.47%) Big Data
11 6 (0.47%) Hadoop
12 5 (0.39%) Data Mining
13 4 (0.31%) Azure SQL Database
13 4 (0.31%) Metadata
14 3 (0.23%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 50 (3.91%) Git
2 39 (3.05%) JIRA
3 24 (1.88%) Selenium
4 18 (1.41%) GitLab
5 15 (1.17%) Robot Framework
6 13 (1.02%) Snyk
7 10 (0.78%) Rational DOORS
8 8 (0.63%) Jenkins
8 8 (0.63%) Visual Studio
9 4 (0.31%) Cypress.io
9 4 (0.31%) WebDriver
10 3 (0.23%) Postman
11 2 (0.16%) Appium
11 2 (0.16%) LabVIEW
11 2 (0.16%) REST Assured
11 2 (0.16%) TestRail
12 1 (0.078%) Android Studio
12 1 (0.078%) JMeter
12 1 (0.078%) JUnit
12 1 (0.078%) NUnit
General
1 708 (55.40%) Social Skills
2 354 (27.70%) Analytical Skills
3 267 (20.89%) Finance
4 103 (8.06%) Manufacturing
5 96 (7.51%) Marketing
6 77 (6.03%) Retail
7 76 (5.95%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 70 (5.48%) Organisational Skills
9 45 (3.52%) Electronics
10 43 (3.36%) Telecoms
11 35 (2.74%) Public Sector
12 34 (2.66%) Legal
13 31 (2.43%) Law
14 27 (2.11%) Documentation Skills
15 15 (1.17%) Presentation Skills
16 14 (1.10%) Influencing Skills
17 11 (0.86%) Banking
17 11 (0.86%) Pharmaceutical
18 10 (0.78%) Automotive
19 7 (0.55%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 225 (17.61%) Analyst
2 201 (15.73%) Senior
3 194 (15.18%) IT Support
4 164 (12.83%) Support Engineer
5 109 (8.53%) Developer
6 100 (7.82%) Support Analyst
7 87 (6.81%) Lead
8 79 (6.18%) Technical Support
9 73 (5.71%) IT Engineer
10 63 (4.93%) IT Analyst
11 62 (4.85%) IT Support Engineer
12 60 (4.69%) IT Support Analyst
13 58 (4.54%) 2nd Line Support
14 44 (3.44%) Project Engineer
14 44 (3.44%) Technical Engineer
14 44 (3.44%) Technical Support Engineer
15 42 (3.29%) Senior Analyst
15 42 (3.29%) Senior Manager
16 34 (2.66%) Applications Support
16 34 (2.66%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 58 (4.54%) .NET
2 49 (3.83%) HTML
3 34 (2.66%) SOAP
4 32 (2.50%) REST
5 29 (2.27%) React
6 27 (2.11%) CSS
7 21 (1.64%) XML
8 19 (1.49%) .NET Framework
9 17 (1.33%) ASP.NET
10 15 (1.17%) JSON
10 15 (1.17%) Middleware
11 13 (1.02%) Entity Framework
11 13 (1.02%) Laravel
11 13 (1.02%) WinForms
12 12 (0.94%) ARM Templates
13 11 (0.86%) Lightning Web Components
14 10 (0.78%) OLE
14 10 (0.78%) Visualforce
15 9 (0.70%) Node.js
15 9 (0.70%) SAP CO-PA
Miscellaneous
1 101 (7.90%) Onboarding
2 79 (6.18%) Driving Licence
3 64 (5.01%) Self-Motivation
4 47 (3.68%) Analytical Mindset
5 44 (3.44%) Management Information System
6 36 (2.82%) Data Centre
7 29 (2.27%) Product Ownership
8 21 (1.64%) Low-Code
9 19 (1.49%) Cloud Native
9 19 (1.49%) Social Media
10 16 (1.25%) Distributed Systems
11 11 (0.86%) Enterprise Software
11 11 (0.86%) Video Editing
12 10 (0.78%) Legacy Systems
12 10 (0.78%) Security Operations Centre
12 10 (0.78%) Video Conferencing
13 9 (0.70%) Algorithms
13 9 (0.70%) Life Science
14 8 (0.63%) FMCG
14 8 (0.63%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 234 (18.31%) Windows
2 77 (6.03%) Linux
3 71 (5.56%) Windows Server
4 26 (2.03%) Windows 10
5 25 (1.96%) Mac OS
6 16 (1.25%) Android
7 12 (0.94%) Windows Server 2012
8 11 (0.86%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 10 (0.78%) CentOS
9 10 (0.78%) Windows Server 2019
10 7 (0.55%) Apple iOS
11 6 (0.47%) VMS
12 5 (0.39%) Windows 7
13 4 (0.31%) Ubuntu
13 4 (0.31%) Unix
13 4 (0.31%) Windows Server 2016
14 1 (0.078%) FreeBSD
14 1 (0.078%) OpenBSD
14 1 (0.078%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 261 (20.42%) Continuous Improvement
2 199 (15.57%) Customer Service
3 164 (12.83%) Agile
4 146 (11.42%) Analytics
5 121 (9.47%) DevOps
6 114 (8.92%) Project Management
7 112 (8.76%) Business Intelligence
8 109 (8.53%) ERP
9 103 (8.06%) Stakeholder Management
10 94 (7.36%) Decision-Making
11 92 (7.20%) CI/CD
12 91 (7.12%) Computer Science
13 90 (7.04%) Data Modelling
14 85 (6.65%) Cybersecurity
15 83 (6.49%) Mentoring
16 82 (6.42%) Technical Leadership
17 75 (5.87%) AI
18 72 (5.63%) Logistics
19 67 (5.24%) Software Engineering
20 65 (5.09%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 204 (15.96%) SQL
2 167 (13.07%) Python
3 80 (6.26%) C#
4 79 (6.18%) PowerShell
5 71 (5.56%) JavaScript
6 42 (3.29%) Java
7 27 (2.11%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 26 (2.03%) PHP
9 17 (1.33%) C++
10 16 (1.25%) PL/SQL
11 15 (1.17%) Bash
11 15 (1.17%) TypeScript
12 13 (1.02%) C
13 12 (0.94%) Bicep
13 12 (0.94%) T-SQL
14 11 (0.86%) Apex Code
15 9 (0.70%) Kusto Query Language
16 8 (0.63%) Perl
16 8 (0.63%) R
17 7 (0.55%) VBA
Qualifications
1 287 (22.46%) Degree
2 89 (6.96%) Security Cleared
3 50 (3.91%) Computer Science Degree
4 41 (3.21%) SC Cleared
5 40 (3.13%) ACCA
6 32 (2.50%) CIMA
7 31 (2.43%) Microsoft Certification
8 27 (2.11%) DBS Check
9 24 (1.88%) BPSS Clearance
9 24 (1.88%) DV Cleared
10 20 (1.56%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 19 (1.49%) HNC
12 18 (1.41%) A+ Certification
13 15 (1.17%) Master's Degree
14 11 (0.86%) Chartered Engineer
15 9 (0.70%) HND
16 8 (0.63%) ITIL Certification
16 8 (0.63%) MCSE
17 7 (0.55%) City & Guilds
17 7 (0.55%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 72 (5.63%) QA
2 69 (5.40%) Data Quality
3 51 (3.99%) GDPR
4 27 (2.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 21 (1.64%) Accessibility
6 20 (1.56%) SLA
7 11 (0.86%) PCI DSS
8 9 (0.70%) NIST
9 7 (0.55%) ISO 9001
10 6 (0.47%) Cyber Essentials
11 5 (0.39%) Actionable Recommendations
12 4 (0.31%) ISO 13485
13 3 (0.23%) ITGC
14 2 (0.16%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 2 (0.16%) SOC 2
14 2 (0.16%) WCAG
15 1 (0.078%) GAAP
15 1 (0.078%) IFRS
15 1 (0.078%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
15 1 (0.078%) PMO
System Software
1 159 (12.44%) Active Directory
2 39 (3.05%) Hyper-V
3 35 (2.74%) Docker
3 35 (2.74%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (0.70%) VMware ESXi
5 8 (0.63%) KVM
6 4 (0.31%) Firmware
7 3 (0.23%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.16%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (0.16%) XenApp
9 1 (0.078%) RHEV
9 1 (0.078%) Virtual Servers
9 1 (0.078%) VMware NSX
9 1 (0.078%) Xen
Systems Management
1 54 (4.23%) Terraform
2 42 (3.29%) Microsoft Intune
3 30 (2.35%) Kubernetes
4 28 (2.19%) Ansible
5 16 (1.25%) SCCM
6 13 (1.02%) vCenter Server
7 11 (0.86%) Grafana
7 11 (0.86%) Prometheus
8 10 (0.78%) ZABBIX
9 9 (0.70%) Nagios
10 2 (0.16%) FortiGate
10 2 (0.16%) Nessus
10 2 (0.16%) Netcool
10 2 (0.16%) Netcool/OMNIbus
10 2 (0.16%) Proxmox
11 1 (0.078%) CASB
11 1 (0.078%) Dell DRAC
11 1 (0.078%) Docker Swarm
11 1 (0.078%) Kibana
11 1 (0.078%) Podman
Vendors
1 325 (25.43%) Microsoft
2 113 (8.84%) SAP
3 50 (3.91%) VMware
4 40 (3.13%) Google
5 39 (3.05%) Veeam
6 35 (2.74%) Adobe
7 34 (2.66%) Databricks
8 32 (2.50%) Oracle
9 31 (2.43%) NEC
9 31 (2.43%) Sage
10 29 (2.27%) Salesforce
11 24 (1.88%) HubSpot
12 17 (1.33%) ServiceNow
13 15 (1.17%) SolarWinds
14 14 (1.10%) Xamarin
15 13 (1.02%) Black Duck
15 13 (1.02%) Cisco
15 13 (1.02%) Coverity
16 10 (0.78%) 3PAR
16 10 (0.78%) Zoho