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

6 months to
4 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 3 5
Rank change year-on-year -3 +2 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,501 1,599 2,068
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 9.05% 18.40% 14.81%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.64% 20.89% 18.31%
Number of salaries quoted 1,112 812 1,235
10th Percentile £27,000 £27,000 £27,000
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,438 £36,125
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £42,500 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year +5.88% -10.53% -7.50%
75th Percentile £58,750 £62,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £72,500 £80,000 £77,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year - -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 11,871 7,655 11,294
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.58% 88.09% 80.86%
Number of salaries quoted 8,455 4,121 7,399
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,733 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £33,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £51,852
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -3.57% -5.72%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £66,250
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,250 £80,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £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 August 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 August 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 -7 549 £43,000 +1.18% 331
Hampshire -1 384 £45,000 - 205
Surrey +1 253 £42,500 +6.25% 115
Berkshire -2 246 £45,000 +5.88% 152
Buckinghamshire -6 175 £42,500 +13.33% 107
Kent -8 139 £35,000 +11.11% 79
Oxfordshire +1 128 £41,982 -12.99% 77
East Sussex -4 91 £50,000 - 43
West Sussex -7 73 £50,000 +5.26% 41
Middlesex +8 7 £65,000 +73.33% 13
Isle of Wight -9 2 £42,500 -22.73% 3
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 48 (3.20%) SharePoint
2 43 (2.86%) Microsoft Exchange
3 19 (1.27%) CMS
3 19 (1.27%) Confluence
4 9 (0.60%) IIS
5 7 (0.47%) Apache
5 7 (0.47%) OpenEdge
5 7 (0.47%) WordPress
6 5 (0.33%) nginx
7 3 (0.20%) Anypoint
7 3 (0.20%) OpenStack
7 3 (0.20%) SAS
8 2 (0.13%) Gentran
8 2 (0.13%) Tomcat
9 1 (0.067%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 106 (7.06%) Microsoft Excel
2 85 (5.66%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (0.73%) Microsoft Project
3 11 (0.73%) Spreadsheet
4 9 (0.60%) MS Visio
5 8 (0.53%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 6 (0.40%) AutoCAD
7 5 (0.33%) Lightworks
7 5 (0.33%) Photoshop
8 4 (0.27%) Adobe Illustrator
9 3 (0.20%) Revit
9 3 (0.20%) Simulink
10 2 (0.13%) Chatbot
10 2 (0.13%) EPLAN
11 1 (0.067%) Mathcad
11 1 (0.067%) OrCAD
Business Applications
1 14 (0.93%) NetSuite
2 9 (0.60%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (0.47%) Magento
4 6 (0.40%) Raiser’s Edge
4 6 (0.40%) Shopify
5 3 (0.20%) Infor SunSystems
5 3 (0.20%) Payment Gateway
5 3 (0.20%) Sage X3
5 3 (0.20%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.13%) Academy Housing
6 2 (0.13%) Oracle Applications
6 2 (0.13%) Primavera
6 2 (0.13%) Workday HCM
7 1 (0.067%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.067%) HFM
7 1 (0.067%) SAP GRC
7 1 (0.067%) Siebel CRM
Cloud Services
1 358 (23.85%) Azure
2 169 (11.26%) AWS
3 167 (11.13%) Microsoft 365
4 83 (5.53%) Power Platform
5 63 (4.20%) SaaS
6 52 (3.46%) Entra ID
7 50 (3.33%) GCP
8 46 (3.06%) Azure DevOps
9 32 (2.13%) GitHub
9 32 (2.13%) Serverless
10 21 (1.40%) IaaS
10 21 (1.40%) PaaS
11 19 (1.27%) Azure Synapse Analytics
11 19 (1.27%) Datadog
12 18 (1.20%) Dynamics 365
13 17 (1.13%) GitHub Actions
14 16 (1.07%) Google Workspace
15 15 (1.00%) Amazon ECS
15 15 (1.00%) Azure Data Factory
15 15 (1.00%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 130 (8.66%) Firewall
2 65 (4.33%) DNS
3 54 (3.60%) TCP/IP
3 54 (3.60%) VPN
4 49 (3.26%) WAN
5 47 (3.13%) LAN
6 42 (2.80%) DHCP
7 40 (2.66%) Wi-Fi
7 40 (2.66%) Wireless
8 30 (2.00%) VLAN
8 30 (2.00%) VoIP
9 27 (1.80%) Network Security
10 15 (1.00%) SSL
11 14 (0.93%) Broadband
12 13 (0.87%) Internet
13 10 (0.67%) HTTP
13 10 (0.67%) MQTT
14 9 (0.60%) LTE
15 6 (0.40%) Remote Desktop
15 6 (0.40%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 111 (7.40%) SQL Server
2 70 (4.66%) Power BI
3 35 (2.33%) Relational Database
4 28 (1.87%) PostgreSQL
5 27 (1.80%) MySQL
6 24 (1.60%) NoSQL
7 18 (1.20%) Data Warehouse
8 15 (1.00%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 13 (0.87%) Tableau
10 12 (0.80%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 11 (0.73%) Amazon RDS
11 11 (0.73%) OLTP
12 10 (0.67%) Data Lake
13 8 (0.53%) DynamoDB
13 8 (0.53%) MongoDB
14 7 (0.47%) GIS
14 7 (0.47%) Looker
15 6 (0.40%) Power Query
16 5 (0.33%) Azure SQL Database
17 4 (0.27%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 74 (4.93%) Git
2 60 (4.00%) JIRA
3 32 (2.13%) GitLab
4 20 (1.33%) Rational DOORS
5 9 (0.60%) Claude Code
6 7 (0.47%) Selenium
7 6 (0.40%) Oracle Forms
7 6 (0.40%) Team Foundation Server
8 5 (0.33%) Eclipse
8 5 (0.33%) Eclipse RCP
8 5 (0.33%) Jenkins
9 4 (0.27%) PHPUnit
9 4 (0.27%) Postman
9 4 (0.27%) Terragrunt
9 4 (0.27%) Visual Studio
10 3 (0.20%) Android Studio
10 3 (0.20%) PetaLinux
10 3 (0.20%) SpecFlow
11 2 (0.13%) Appium
11 2 (0.13%) Mocha
General
1 727 (48.43%) Social Skills
2 431 (28.71%) Analytical Skills
3 222 (14.79%) Finance
4 110 (7.33%) Organisational Skills
5 109 (7.26%) Manufacturing
6 84 (5.60%) Electronics
7 69 (4.60%) Aerospace
8 62 (4.13%) Retail
9 55 (3.66%) Telecoms
10 54 (3.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 41 (2.73%) Marketing
12 40 (2.66%) Law
13 37 (2.47%) Influencing Skills
13 37 (2.47%) Legal
14 35 (2.33%) Public Sector
15 32 (2.13%) Documentation Skills
16 27 (1.80%) Military
17 23 (1.53%) Local Government
18 18 (1.20%) Aviation
18 18 (1.20%) Banking
Job Titles
1 207 (13.79%) Analyst
2 157 (10.46%) Senior
3 147 (9.79%) Developer
3 147 (9.79%) IT Support
4 121 (8.06%) Support Engineer
5 93 (6.20%) Support Analyst
6 88 (5.86%) IT Engineer
7 71 (4.73%) Lead
7 71 (4.73%) Software Engineer
8 70 (4.66%) Systems Engineer
9 66 (4.40%) Technical Support
10 62 (4.13%) Support Technician
11 55 (3.66%) 2nd Line Support
11 55 (3.66%) IT Support Engineer
12 50 (3.33%) Technical Engineer
12 50 (3.33%) Technical Support Engineer
13 45 (3.00%) Architect
14 44 (2.93%) IT Technician
15 39 (2.60%) Senior Developer
16 38 (2.53%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 103 (6.86%) .NET
2 70 (4.66%) HTML
3 55 (3.66%) REST
4 51 (3.40%) CSS
5 48 (3.20%) React
5 48 (3.20%) SOAP
6 44 (2.93%) ASP.NET
7 32 (2.13%) JSON
7 32 (2.13%) OAuth
8 31 (2.07%) ASP.NET Core
9 28 (1.87%) RESTful
9 28 (1.87%) XML
10 27 (1.80%) Vue
11 26 (1.73%) AngularJS
12 17 (1.13%) ASP.NET Web API
12 17 (1.13%) jQuery
12 17 (1.13%) RabbitMQ
12 17 (1.13%) SAML
13 16 (1.07%) HTML5
13 16 (1.07%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 108 (7.20%) Driving Licence
2 81 (5.40%) Onboarding
3 77 (5.13%) Self-Motivation
4 72 (4.80%) Management Information System
5 60 (4.00%) Cloud Native
6 40 (2.66%) Product Ownership
7 30 (2.00%) Distributed Systems
8 29 (1.93%) Data Centre
9 28 (1.87%) Analytical Mindset
10 26 (1.73%) Social Media
11 24 (1.60%) Legacy Systems
12 22 (1.47%) Robotics
13 21 (1.40%) Enterprise Software
14 18 (1.20%) NHS
15 17 (1.13%) EPoS
16 16 (1.07%) Analogue Electronics
17 15 (1.00%) Security Posture
18 14 (0.93%) CCTV
18 14 (0.93%) Renewable Energy
19 13 (0.87%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 239 (15.92%) Windows
2 117 (7.79%) Linux
3 87 (5.80%) Windows Server
4 21 (1.40%) Android
5 20 (1.33%) Mac OS
6 17 (1.13%) Windows Server 2019
7 16 (1.07%) CentOS
8 14 (0.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 12 (0.80%) Ubuntu
10 11 (0.73%) Apple iOS
11 10 (0.67%) Windows 10
12 9 (0.60%) Debian
12 9 (0.60%) Windows Server 2016
13 3 (0.20%) FreeRTOS
13 3 (0.20%) Gentoo
13 3 (0.20%) Unix
13 3 (0.20%) VMS
13 3 (0.20%) Windows 7
14 2 (0.13%) Windows Server 2012
15 1 (0.067%) FreeBSD
Processes & Methodologies
1 320 (21.32%) Continuous Improvement
2 260 (17.32%) Customer Service
3 209 (13.92%) Agile
4 178 (11.86%) Decision-Making
5 174 (11.59%) CI/CD
6 164 (10.93%) AI
7 158 (10.53%) DevOps
8 156 (10.39%) Software Engineering
9 154 (10.26%) Project Management
10 144 (9.59%) Project Delivery
11 138 (9.19%) ITIL
12 134 (8.93%) Stakeholder Management
13 130 (8.66%) Cybersecurity
14 128 (8.53%) Mentoring
15 118 (7.86%) Collaborative Working
15 118 (7.86%) Validation
16 115 (7.66%) Computer Science
17 110 (7.33%) Analytics
18 99 (6.60%) Logistics
19 98 (6.53%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 219 (14.59%) SQL
2 218 (14.52%) Python
3 120 (7.99%) C#
4 100 (6.66%) JavaScript
5 93 (6.20%) PowerShell
6 63 (4.20%) C++
7 58 (3.86%) Java
8 56 (3.73%) TypeScript
9 38 (2.53%) Bash
10 35 (2.33%) C
11 24 (1.60%) PHP
12 14 (0.93%) T-SQL
13 13 (0.87%) Ruby
13 13 (0.87%) Rust
14 12 (0.80%) PL/SQL
15 11 (0.73%) Perl
15 11 (0.73%) VB.NET
16 7 (0.47%) Bicep
16 7 (0.47%) Embedded C
16 7 (0.47%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 296 (19.72%) Degree
2 144 (9.59%) Security Cleared
3 105 (7.00%) SC Cleared
4 98 (6.53%) DBS Check
5 65 (4.33%) Computer Science Degree
6 50 (3.33%) Microsoft Certification
7 49 (3.26%) BPSS Clearance
8 42 (2.80%) HNC
9 36 (2.40%) DV Cleared
10 34 (2.27%) Azure Certification
11 30 (2.00%) PMI Certification
12 27 (1.80%) HND
13 26 (1.73%) Chartered Engineer
13 26 (1.73%) PMP
14 25 (1.67%) ACCA
15 24 (1.60%) CIMA
16 23 (1.53%) Master's Degree
17 20 (1.33%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
18 18 (1.20%) CISSP
18 18 (1.20%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 130 (8.66%) QA
2 53 (3.53%) Data Quality
3 49 (3.26%) GDPR
4 42 (2.80%) SLA
5 29 (1.93%) Accessibility
6 25 (1.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 20 (1.33%) PCI DSS
8 18 (1.20%) Good Clinical Practice
9 16 (1.07%) Cyber Essentials
10 15 (1.00%) NIST
11 14 (0.93%) PMO
12 11 (0.73%) SOC 2
13 9 (0.60%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 9 (0.60%) GMP
14 8 (0.53%) 21 CFR Part 11
14 8 (0.53%) DO-254
14 8 (0.53%) GLP
14 8 (0.53%) GxP
15 7 (0.47%) ISO 9001
16 4 (0.27%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 120 (7.99%) Active Directory
2 75 (5.00%) Docker
3 69 (4.60%) VMware Infrastructure
4 56 (3.73%) Hyper-V
5 9 (0.60%) Firmware
5 9 (0.60%) KVM
6 8 (0.53%) VMware ESXi
6 8 (0.53%) vSphere
7 5 (0.33%) ClearTrust
7 5 (0.33%) Squid
7 5 (0.33%) XenApp
8 4 (0.27%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (0.27%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.20%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 2 (0.13%) Embedded Firmware
10 2 (0.13%) VMware NSX
11 1 (0.067%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.067%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.067%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 89 (5.93%) Terraform
2 85 (5.66%) Kubernetes
3 49 (3.26%) Microsoft Intune
4 39 (2.60%) Ansible
5 23 (1.53%) SCCM
6 16 (1.07%) Grafana
7 13 (0.87%) Prometheus
8 11 (0.73%) Nagios
9 9 (0.60%) Podman
9 9 (0.60%) Single Sign-On
10 8 (0.53%) Jamf Pro
11 7 (0.47%) Failover Clustering
11 7 (0.47%) Puppet
12 6 (0.40%) ZABBIX
13 5 (0.33%) Docker Swarm
13 5 (0.33%) Graylog
14 4 (0.27%) Functional Safety
14 4 (0.27%) vCenter Server
15 2 (0.13%) Nessus
15 2 (0.13%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
Vendors
1 426 (28.38%) Microsoft
2 76 (5.06%) VMware
3 53 (3.53%) Google
4 50 (3.33%) Oracle
5 37 (2.47%) Cisco
6 32 (2.13%) Fortinet
7 30 (2.00%) Salesforce
7 30 (2.00%) SonicWALL
8 28 (1.87%) Veeam
9 26 (1.73%) SAP
9 26 (1.73%) ServiceNow
10 20 (1.33%) Databricks
10 20 (1.33%) Sage
11 16 (1.07%) Aruba
12 15 (1.00%) Palo Alto
12 15 (1.00%) Red Hat
12 15 (1.00%) Splunk
13 14 (0.93%) Instagram
14 13 (0.87%) Dynatrace
15 10 (0.67%) Meraki