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

6 months to
12 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 3 5
Rank change year-on-year -4 +2 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,720 1,781 1,995
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 9.40% 19.63% 15.36%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.17% 22.34% 19.03%
Number of salaries quoted 1,232 875 968
10th Percentile £27,000 £27,000 £27,750
25th Percentile £30,777 £31,250 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £42,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year - -15.00% -1.96%
75th Percentile £57,500 £60,000 £66,198
90th Percentile £69,875 £77,500 £82,500
England median annual salary £47,085 £45,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +4.63% -14.29% -4.55%

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 13,062 7,971 10,485
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 71.40% 87.86% 80.71%
Number of salaries quoted 9,376 4,230 6,045
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £40,000 £33,750 £40,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -9.09% -
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £68,750
90th Percentile £90,000 £82,500 £82,500
England median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -8.00%

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 12 September 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 12 September 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 -6 649 £43,000 +1.18% 429
Hampshire -3 435 £40,000 -5.88% 242
Berkshire -5 290 £43,000 +1.18% 206
Surrey -1 262 £40,000 - 141
Buckinghamshire -6 192 £42,500 +13.33% 124
Kent -4 182 £35,000 +7.69% 65
Oxfordshire +3 167 £44,500 +2.30% 104
East Sussex -3 93 £50,000 - 53
West Sussex -7 75 £46,250 -8.42% 67
Middlesex +2 12 £35,000 -6.67% 16
Sussex -10 5 £65,000 +52.94% 18
Isle of Wight -14 2 £42,500 +3.66% 10
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 79 (4.59%) SharePoint
2 57 (3.31%) Microsoft Exchange
3 18 (1.05%) Confluence
4 16 (0.93%) IIS
5 13 (0.76%) CMS
6 7 (0.41%) OpenEdge
7 6 (0.35%) Apache
8 5 (0.29%) nginx
8 5 (0.29%) WordPress
9 3 (0.17%) OpenStack
9 3 (0.17%) SAS
10 2 (0.12%) Anypoint
10 2 (0.12%) Gentran
10 2 (0.12%) Oracle Workflow
10 2 (0.12%) Tomcat
Applications
1 123 (7.15%) Microsoft Office
2 114 (6.63%) Microsoft Excel
3 18 (1.05%) AutoCAD
4 16 (0.93%) Microsoft Project
5 14 (0.81%) Spreadsheet
6 10 (0.58%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 9 (0.52%) Revit
8 8 (0.47%) MS Visio
9 5 (0.29%) Lightworks
10 4 (0.23%) Simulink
11 3 (0.17%) EPLAN
11 3 (0.17%) SOLIDWORKS
12 2 (0.12%) Chatbot
12 2 (0.12%) Mathematica
12 2 (0.12%) Photoshop
13 1 (0.058%) Mathcad
13 1 (0.058%) OrCAD
13 1 (0.058%) PTC Creo
13 1 (0.058%) Siemens NX
13 1 (0.058%) Solid Edge
Business Applications
1 24 (1.40%) NetSuite
2 17 (0.99%) Shopify
3 16 (0.93%) Dynamics CRM
4 6 (0.35%) Magento
4 6 (0.35%) Primavera
4 6 (0.35%) Raiser’s Edge
5 3 (0.17%) Infor SunSystems
5 3 (0.17%) Payment Gateway
5 3 (0.17%) Sage X3
6 2 (0.12%) Academy Housing
6 2 (0.12%) Eloqua
6 2 (0.12%) Oracle Applications
6 2 (0.12%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.12%) Siebel CRM
6 2 (0.12%) Workday HCM
7 1 (0.058%) Adobe Campaign
7 1 (0.058%) HFM
Cloud Services
1 378 (21.98%) Azure
2 229 (13.31%) Microsoft 365
3 174 (10.12%) AWS
4 97 (5.64%) Power Platform
5 80 (4.65%) Entra ID
6 70 (4.07%) SaaS
7 49 (2.85%) GCP
8 41 (2.38%) Azure DevOps
9 34 (1.98%) GitHub
10 31 (1.80%) Serverless
11 30 (1.74%) Google Workspace
12 18 (1.05%) Anthropic Claude
12 18 (1.05%) Dynamics 365
12 18 (1.05%) IaaS
12 18 (1.05%) PaaS
13 17 (0.99%) Google Tag Manager
14 16 (0.93%) OneDrive
15 15 (0.87%) Azure Synapse Analytics
16 14 (0.81%) Amazon ECS
16 14 (0.81%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 151 (8.78%) Firewall
2 83 (4.83%) DNS
3 68 (3.95%) VPN
4 63 (3.66%) TCP/IP
5 60 (3.49%) DHCP
6 55 (3.20%) VLAN
7 52 (3.02%) WAN
8 51 (2.97%) Wi-Fi
9 50 (2.91%) LAN
9 50 (2.91%) Wireless
10 36 (2.09%) Network Security
10 36 (2.09%) VoIP
11 18 (1.05%) SSL
12 14 (0.81%) Internet
13 10 (0.58%) MQTT
14 9 (0.52%) 5G
14 9 (0.52%) Broadband
14 9 (0.52%) LTE
15 8 (0.47%) HTTP
16 7 (0.41%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 124 (7.21%) SQL Server
2 81 (4.71%) Power BI
3 35 (2.03%) Relational Database
4 30 (1.74%) MySQL
5 29 (1.69%) PostgreSQL
6 24 (1.40%) NoSQL
7 17 (0.99%) Data Warehouse
8 14 (0.81%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 12 (0.70%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 11 (0.64%) Amazon RDS
11 10 (0.58%) Tableau
12 9 (0.52%) MongoDB
13 7 (0.41%) Azure SQL Database
13 7 (0.41%) Data Lake
13 7 (0.41%) DynamoDB
13 7 (0.41%) GIS
13 7 (0.41%) Looker
13 7 (0.41%) OLTP
14 6 (0.35%) Metadata
15 5 (0.29%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 66 (3.84%) Git
2 62 (3.60%) JIRA
3 18 (1.05%) GitLab
4 17 (0.99%) Rational DOORS
5 14 (0.81%) Claude Code
6 11 (0.64%) Oracle Forms
6 11 (0.64%) Team Foundation Server
7 5 (0.29%) Eclipse
7 5 (0.29%) Eclipse RCP
7 5 (0.29%) Jenkins
7 5 (0.29%) Selenium
7 5 (0.29%) Visual Studio
8 4 (0.23%) Postman
8 4 (0.23%) Terragrunt
9 3 (0.17%) PetaLinux
9 3 (0.17%) PHPUnit
9 3 (0.17%) SpecFlow
10 2 (0.12%) Cucumber
10 2 (0.12%) Mocha
10 2 (0.12%) Subversion
General
1 878 (51.05%) Social Skills
2 473 (27.50%) Analytical Skills
3 266 (15.47%) Finance
4 155 (9.01%) Manufacturing
5 148 (8.60%) Organisational Skills
6 119 (6.92%) Aerospace
7 101 (5.87%) Electronics
8 92 (5.35%) Retail
9 65 (3.78%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 54 (3.14%) Marketing
11 50 (2.91%) Influencing Skills
12 48 (2.79%) Telecoms
13 47 (2.73%) Legal
14 42 (2.44%) Military
15 39 (2.27%) Law
15 39 (2.27%) Public Sector
16 26 (1.51%) Aviation
17 25 (1.45%) Documentation Skills
18 22 (1.28%) Advertising
19 19 (1.10%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 240 (13.95%) Analyst
2 176 (10.23%) Senior
3 164 (9.53%) IT Support
4 156 (9.07%) Developer
5 125 (7.27%) Support Analyst
6 124 (7.21%) Support Engineer
7 92 (5.35%) IT Engineer
8 78 (4.53%) Lead
9 75 (4.36%) Systems Engineer
9 75 (4.36%) Technical Support
10 74 (4.30%) Support Technician
11 72 (4.19%) Software Engineer
12 62 (3.60%) IT Support Engineer
13 55 (3.20%) Technical Engineer
14 54 (3.14%) 2nd Line Support
15 53 (3.08%) IT Technician
15 53 (3.08%) Technical Support Engineer
16 51 (2.97%) Architect
17 49 (2.85%) IT Analyst
18 48 (2.79%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 117 (6.80%) .NET
2 79 (4.59%) Terraform
3 73 (4.24%) HTML
4 63 (3.66%) REST
5 54 (3.14%) CSS
6 53 (3.08%) ASP.NET
7 52 (3.02%) React
8 50 (2.91%) SOAP
9 35 (2.03%) ASP.NET Core
10 30 (1.74%) AngularJS
10 30 (1.74%) OAuth
11 29 (1.69%) RESTful
12 28 (1.63%) Vue
13 27 (1.57%) JSON
13 27 (1.57%) ModSecurity
14 26 (1.51%) XML
15 22 (1.28%) ASP.NET Web API
15 22 (1.28%) jQuery
16 21 (1.22%) LESS
17 19 (1.10%) ASP.NET Web Forms
Miscellaneous
1 129 (7.50%) Driving Licence
2 121 (7.03%) Onboarding
3 92 (5.35%) Management Information System
4 88 (5.12%) Self-Motivation
5 63 (3.66%) Cloud Native
6 49 (2.85%) Product Ownership
7 41 (2.38%) Data Centre
8 31 (1.80%) Robotics
9 30 (1.74%) Social Media
10 29 (1.69%) Enterprise Software
11 28 (1.63%) Legacy Systems
12 25 (1.45%) CCTV
12 25 (1.45%) Distributed Systems
13 23 (1.34%) Analogue Electronics
13 23 (1.34%) Analytical Mindset
14 19 (1.10%) EPoS
15 18 (1.05%) Mobile App
16 16 (0.93%) Cyber Threat
16 16 (0.93%) Security Operations Centre
17 15 (0.87%) Cyber Defence
Operating Systems
1 283 (16.45%) Windows
2 109 (6.34%) Linux
3 100 (5.81%) Windows Server
4 26 (1.51%) Android
5 20 (1.16%) Mac OS
6 19 (1.10%) Windows Server 2019
7 18 (1.05%) Windows 10
8 17 (0.99%) Apple iOS
9 12 (0.70%) Ubuntu
10 10 (0.58%) CentOS
10 10 (0.58%) Windows Server 2016
11 9 (0.52%) Debian
11 9 (0.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 6 (0.35%) Rocky
13 5 (0.29%) Windows Server 2012
14 3 (0.17%) FreeRTOS
14 3 (0.17%) Gentoo
14 3 (0.17%) VMS
14 3 (0.17%) Windows 7
15 2 (0.12%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 373 (21.69%) Continuous Improvement
2 322 (18.72%) Customer Service
3 232 (13.49%) Agile
4 208 (12.09%) Decision-Making
5 183 (10.64%) Stakeholder Management
6 178 (10.35%) Project Management
7 176 (10.23%) AI
8 172 (10.00%) Project Delivery
9 168 (9.77%) Software Engineering
10 158 (9.19%) CI/CD
11 157 (9.13%) ITIL
12 153 (8.90%) Collaborative Working
13 143 (8.31%) DevOps
14 142 (8.26%) Cybersecurity
14 142 (8.26%) Mentoring
15 135 (7.85%) Validation
16 131 (7.62%) CRM
17 123 (7.15%) Computer Science
18 119 (6.92%) Analytics
19 113 (6.57%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 225 (13.08%) SQL
2 199 (11.57%) Python
3 134 (7.79%) C#
4 110 (6.40%) JavaScript
5 95 (5.52%) PowerShell
6 64 (3.72%) C++
7 63 (3.66%) TypeScript
8 60 (3.49%) Java
9 28 (1.63%) C
10 26 (1.51%) Bash
11 22 (1.28%) Ruby
12 20 (1.16%) T-SQL
13 18 (1.05%) PHP
14 16 (0.93%) VB.NET
15 12 (0.70%) MATLAB
16 10 (0.58%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 10 (0.58%) Rust
17 9 (0.52%) PL/SQL
18 8 (0.47%) Perl
19 7 (0.41%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 349 (20.29%) Degree
2 188 (10.93%) Security Cleared
3 132 (7.67%) SC Cleared
4 112 (6.51%) DBS Check
5 64 (3.72%) Computer Science Degree
6 60 (3.49%) DV Cleared
7 59 (3.43%) Microsoft Certification
8 57 (3.31%) BPSS Clearance
8 57 (3.31%) HNC
9 53 (3.08%) Azure Certification
10 52 (3.02%) HND
11 32 (1.86%) CISSP
12 30 (1.74%) PMI Certification
13 28 (1.63%) A+ Certification
13 28 (1.63%) Chartered Engineer
13 28 (1.63%) CISM
13 28 (1.63%) Master's Degree
14 24 (1.40%) PMP
15 22 (1.28%) AWS Certification
15 22 (1.28%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 145 (8.43%) QA
2 71 (4.13%) GDPR
3 56 (3.26%) Data Quality
4 45 (2.62%) SLA
5 42 (2.44%) Accessibility
6 39 (2.27%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 24 (1.40%) NIST
8 19 (1.10%) Cyber Essentials
9 18 (1.05%) Good Clinical Practice
9 18 (1.05%) PCI DSS
10 16 (0.93%) PMO
11 15 (0.87%) DO-254
12 12 (0.70%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 9 (0.52%) GMP
13 9 (0.52%) SOC 2
14 8 (0.47%) 21 CFR Part 11
14 8 (0.47%) GLP
14 8 (0.47%) GxP
15 5 (0.29%) ISO 9001
15 5 (0.29%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 155 (9.01%) Active Directory
2 83 (4.83%) VMware Infrastructure
3 62 (3.60%) Docker
3 62 (3.60%) Hyper-V
4 12 (0.70%) Firmware
5 9 (0.52%) VMware ESXi
5 9 (0.52%) vSphere
6 7 (0.41%) Virtual Desktop
7 6 (0.35%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (0.29%) ClearTrust
8 5 (0.29%) Squid
9 4 (0.23%) Embedded Firmware
9 4 (0.23%) KVM
10 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 3 (0.17%) Virtual Servers
11 1 (0.058%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.058%) VMware NSX
11 1 (0.058%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 71 (4.13%) Kubernetes
2 58 (3.37%) Microsoft Intune
3 33 (1.92%) Ansible
4 23 (1.34%) SCCM
5 17 (0.99%) Single Sign-On
6 15 (0.87%) Jamf Pro
7 10 (0.58%) Grafana
8 8 (0.47%) Podman
9 7 (0.41%) Failover Clustering
9 7 (0.41%) Prometheus
9 7 (0.41%) Puppet
10 6 (0.35%) Graylog
10 6 (0.35%) Nagios
11 4 (0.23%) Docker Swarm
11 4 (0.23%) Functional Safety
11 4 (0.23%) vCenter Server
12 3 (0.17%) BMC PATROL
12 3 (0.17%) ZABBIX
13 2 (0.12%) Nessus
13 2 (0.12%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 531 (30.87%) Microsoft
2 99 (5.76%) VMware
3 80 (4.65%) Google
4 52 (3.02%) Oracle
5 41 (2.38%) SAP
6 39 (2.27%) Fortinet
6 39 (2.27%) SonicWALL
7 38 (2.21%) Cisco
8 37 (2.15%) Veeam
9 34 (1.98%) ServiceNow
10 30 (1.74%) Salesforce
11 24 (1.40%) Sage
12 19 (1.10%) Apple
12 19 (1.10%) Palo Alto
13 16 (0.93%) Aruba
14 15 (0.87%) Mentor Graphics
15 14 (0.81%) CA Agile Central
15 14 (0.81%) Databricks
16 12 (0.70%) ForgeRock
16 12 (0.70%) Okta