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

6 months to
6 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 4 4
Rank change year-on-year -7 0 +6
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,134 1,235 2,737
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 7.71% 16.29% 16.78%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.60% 18.10% 19.89%
Number of salaries quoted 853 682 1,756
10th Percentile £26,500 £28,025 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £32,500 £32,375
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £46,000 £50,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.00% +11.11% -14.29%
75th Percentile £63,750 £67,500 £62,125
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 10,700 6,822 13,760
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 72.75% 90.00% 84.38%
Number of salaries quoted 6,927 3,392 9,861
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £27,500
25th Percentile £39,000 £37,000 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £53,750 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -2.27% +10.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £68,813 £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 6 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 6 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 -9 430 £47,500 -9.52% 237
Hampshire -8 246 £40,000 -20.00% 156
Berkshire -4 217 £47,038 -21.60% 119
Surrey -13 181 £40,000 -23.81% 81
Buckinghamshire -8 133 £50,500 -0.92% 68
Kent -15 118 £29,500 -7.09% 64
East Sussex -1 97 £61,500 +43.02% 15
Oxfordshire -5 80 £34,000 -32.00% 53
West Sussex -5 51 £57,500 +23.66% 27
Isle of Wight -9 4 £42,000 -23.64%
Middlesex +2 3 £41,250 -32.65% 15
Sussex -15 1 £30,000 +5.26% 5
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 30 (2.65%) SharePoint
2 28 (2.47%) Microsoft Exchange
3 16 (1.41%) CMS
4 10 (0.88%) IIS
5 7 (0.62%) Confluence
6 5 (0.44%) WordPress
7 4 (0.35%) OpenStack
8 3 (0.26%) Anypoint
8 3 (0.26%) Apache
8 3 (0.26%) Apache Airflow
8 3 (0.26%) govService
9 2 (0.18%) Gentran
9 2 (0.18%) SAS
10 1 (0.088%) ArcGIS
10 1 (0.088%) nginx
10 1 (0.088%) Tomcat
Applications
1 88 (7.76%) Microsoft Excel
2 76 (6.70%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (0.97%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (0.79%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.62%) Spreadsheet
6 6 (0.53%) Photoshop
7 5 (0.44%) Adobe Illustrator
8 3 (0.26%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 3 (0.26%) Microsoft Project
9 1 (0.088%) Acrobat
9 1 (0.088%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 12 (1.06%) NetSuite
2 10 (0.88%) Dynamics CRM
3 9 (0.79%) SAP CO
4 4 (0.35%) Dynamics NAV
4 4 (0.35%) Magento
5 3 (0.26%) 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%) Sage X3
7 1 (0.088%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.088%) HFM
7 1 (0.088%) PeopleSoft HRMS
7 1 (0.088%) Raiser’s Edge
7 1 (0.088%) SAP GRC
7 1 (0.088%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 235 (20.72%) Azure
2 116 (10.23%) Microsoft 365
3 91 (8.02%) AWS
4 87 (7.67%) Power Platform
5 55 (4.85%) SaaS
6 49 (4.32%) Azure DevOps
7 33 (2.91%) GCP
8 30 (2.65%) IaaS
8 30 (2.65%) PaaS
9 27 (2.38%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 21 (1.85%) Entra ID
11 20 (1.76%) Dynamics 365
12 19 (1.68%) Google Workspace
13 18 (1.59%) Mimecast
14 17 (1.50%) Azure Data Factory
14 17 (1.50%) Azure Logic Apps
15 15 (1.32%) Datadog
15 15 (1.32%) OpenShift
16 14 (1.23%) GitHub
17 11 (0.97%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 61 (5.38%) Firewall
2 54 (4.76%) DNS
3 28 (2.47%) DHCP
4 26 (2.29%) TCP/IP
5 21 (1.85%) Broadband
5 21 (1.85%) VPN
6 20 (1.76%) Wireless
7 16 (1.41%) WAN
8 14 (1.23%) LAN
9 13 (1.15%) VoIP
10 11 (0.97%) HTTP
11 9 (0.79%) Intranet
12 8 (0.71%) SAN
13 7 (0.62%) Remote Desktop
14 6 (0.53%) PuTTY
14 6 (0.53%) SSH
14 6 (0.53%) VLAN
14 6 (0.53%) Wi-Fi
15 4 (0.35%) SSL
16 3 (0.26%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 67 (5.91%) Power BI
2 58 (5.11%) SQL Server
3 25 (2.20%) Relational Database
4 24 (2.12%) Data Warehouse
5 17 (1.50%) OLTP
6 16 (1.41%) PostgreSQL
7 14 (1.23%) Power Query
8 13 (1.15%) NoSQL
8 13 (1.15%) Tableau
9 12 (1.06%) MySQL
10 8 (0.71%) Data Lake
11 7 (0.62%) Looker
11 7 (0.62%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 6 (0.53%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 5 (0.44%) Big Data
13 5 (0.44%) Data Mining
13 5 (0.44%) Hadoop
14 4 (0.35%) PowerPivot
15 3 (0.26%) Azure SQL Database
15 3 (0.26%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 50 (4.41%) Git
2 38 (3.35%) JIRA
3 28 (2.47%) GitLab
4 19 (1.68%) Rational DOORS
5 8 (0.71%) Selenium
6 6 (0.53%) Jenkins
7 4 (0.35%) Visual Studio
8 3 (0.26%) Android Studio
8 3 (0.26%) Cypress.io
8 3 (0.26%) Postman
8 3 (0.26%) Robot Framework
9 2 (0.18%) Appium
9 2 (0.18%) JMeter
9 2 (0.18%) LabVIEW
9 2 (0.18%) REST Assured
9 2 (0.18%) Snyk
10 1 (0.088%) Cucumber
10 1 (0.088%) JUnit
10 1 (0.088%) PHPUnit
10 1 (0.088%) WebDriver
General
1 528 (46.56%) Social Skills
2 331 (29.19%) Analytical Skills
3 189 (16.67%) Finance
4 67 (5.91%) Organisational Skills
5 62 (5.47%) Marketing
6 58 (5.11%) Manufacturing
7 54 (4.76%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 47 (4.14%) Telecoms
9 44 (3.88%) Retail
10 41 (3.62%) Electronics
11 29 (2.56%) Public Sector
12 26 (2.29%) Legal
13 24 (2.12%) Law
14 22 (1.94%) Documentation Skills
15 21 (1.85%) Aerospace
16 15 (1.32%) Presentation Skills
17 14 (1.23%) Pharmaceutical
18 13 (1.15%) Automotive
19 8 (0.71%) Local Government
19 8 (0.71%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 168 (14.81%) Analyst
2 133 (11.73%) IT Support
3 131 (11.55%) Senior
4 123 (10.85%) Support Engineer
5 109 (9.61%) Developer
6 71 (6.26%) Support Analyst
7 65 (5.73%) IT Engineer
8 56 (4.94%) Technical Support
9 48 (4.23%) Lead
10 47 (4.14%) IT Support Engineer
10 47 (4.14%) Systems Engineer
11 46 (4.06%) 2nd Line Support
12 42 (3.70%) Architect
13 41 (3.62%) Technical Engineer
13 41 (3.62%) Technical Support Engineer
14 36 (3.17%) Software Engineer
14 36 (3.17%) Support Technician
15 35 (3.09%) IT Technician
16 32 (2.82%) Infrastructure Engineer
16 32 (2.82%) IT Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 55 (4.85%) .NET
2 51 (4.50%) HTML
3 45 (3.97%) SOAP
4 37 (3.26%) REST
5 31 (2.73%) XML
6 27 (2.38%) CSS
6 27 (2.38%) JSON
7 25 (2.20%) Middleware
8 21 (1.85%) React
9 16 (1.41%) OAuth
10 15 (1.32%) Laravel
10 15 (1.32%) RabbitMQ
11 13 (1.15%) ARM Templates
12 11 (0.97%) CSS3
12 11 (0.97%) HTML5
12 11 (0.97%) RESTful
13 10 (0.88%) jQuery
13 10 (0.88%) Lightning Web Components
13 10 (0.88%) Visualforce
14 9 (0.79%) SAP CO-PA
Miscellaneous
1 72 (6.35%) Onboarding
2 61 (5.38%) Driving Licence
3 59 (5.20%) Self-Motivation
4 43 (3.79%) Management Information System
5 38 (3.35%) Product Ownership
6 30 (2.65%) Distributed Systems
7 28 (2.47%) Cloud Native
8 27 (2.38%) Analytical Mindset
9 19 (1.68%) Low-Code
10 18 (1.59%) Social Media
11 16 (1.41%) Legacy Systems
12 11 (0.97%) Hybrid Cloud
12 11 (0.97%) Life Science
12 11 (0.97%) Video Editing
13 10 (0.88%) Algorithms
13 10 (0.88%) Client/Server
13 10 (0.88%) Enterprise Software
13 10 (0.88%) Security Operations Centre
14 9 (0.79%) Cyber Defence
14 9 (0.79%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 160 (14.11%) Windows
2 91 (8.02%) Linux
3 53 (4.67%) Windows Server
4 21 (1.85%) Mac OS
5 20 (1.76%) Android
6 18 (1.59%) CentOS
7 16 (1.41%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 10 (0.88%) Ubuntu
9 9 (0.79%) VMS
10 7 (0.62%) Windows Server 2012
11 6 (0.53%) Apple iOS
11 6 (0.53%) Windows 10
11 6 (0.53%) Windows Server 2016
11 6 (0.53%) Windows Server 2019
12 3 (0.26%) Debian
12 3 (0.26%) Unix
13 1 (0.088%) Embedded Linux
13 1 (0.088%) FreeBSD
13 1 (0.088%) OpenBSD
13 1 (0.088%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 235 (20.72%) Continuous Improvement
2 198 (17.46%) Customer Service
3 160 (14.11%) Agile
4 135 (11.90%) DevOps
5 126 (11.11%) CI/CD
6 119 (10.49%) Analytics
7 111 (9.79%) Decision-Making
8 102 (8.99%) Computer Science
9 101 (8.91%) Business Intelligence
10 92 (8.11%) Project Management
11 87 (7.67%) Software Engineering
12 85 (7.50%) AI
13 83 (7.32%) CRM
14 79 (6.97%) Data Modelling
15 69 (6.08%) Project Delivery
15 69 (6.08%) Stakeholder Management
16 68 (6.00%) ERP
16 68 (6.00%) Mentoring
17 67 (5.91%) Cybersecurity
18 66 (5.82%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 192 (16.93%) Python
2 176 (15.52%) SQL
3 70 (6.17%) JavaScript
4 67 (5.91%) C#
5 66 (5.82%) PowerShell
6 51 (4.50%) Java
7 30 (2.65%) PHP
8 25 (2.20%) Bash
9 24 (2.12%) C++
10 22 (1.94%) C
11 20 (1.76%) PL/SQL
12 19 (1.68%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 14 (1.23%) TypeScript
14 12 (1.06%) Perl
15 11 (0.97%) Bicep
16 10 (0.88%) Apex Code
17 9 (0.79%) Rust
18 7 (0.62%) R
18 7 (0.62%) Scala
19 6 (0.53%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 231 (20.37%) Degree
2 74 (6.53%) Security Cleared
3 51 (4.50%) DBS Check
4 49 (4.32%) Computer Science Degree
5 43 (3.79%) ACCA
6 42 (3.70%) SC Cleared
7 38 (3.35%) CIMA
7 38 (3.35%) Microsoft Certification
8 33 (2.91%) BPSS Clearance
9 26 (2.29%) A+ Certification
10 25 (2.20%) HNC
11 21 (1.85%) Chartered Engineer
12 19 (1.68%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 18 (1.59%) DV Cleared
14 14 (1.23%) Master's Degree
15 12 (1.06%) PMI Certification
16 10 (0.88%) HND
16 10 (0.88%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
17 9 (0.79%) PMP
18 8 (0.71%) City & Guilds
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 69 (6.08%) QA
2 66 (5.82%) Data Quality
3 44 (3.88%) GDPR
4 31 (2.73%) SLA
5 23 (2.03%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 15 (1.32%) PCI DSS
7 13 (1.15%) Accessibility
8 12 (1.06%) NIST
9 7 (0.62%) SOC 2
10 6 (0.53%) ISO 9001
11 5 (0.44%) Actionable Recommendations
12 4 (0.35%) ISO 26262
12 4 (0.35%) ITGC
13 2 (0.18%) GRC
13 2 (0.18%) IFRS
14 1 (0.088%) Cyber Essentials
14 1 (0.088%) PMO
System Software
1 100 (8.82%) Active Directory
2 50 (4.41%) Docker
3 31 (2.73%) VMware Infrastructure
4 24 (2.12%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.88%) KVM
6 5 (0.44%) XenApp
7 4 (0.35%) Firmware
7 4 (0.35%) Virtual Desktop
7 4 (0.35%) VMware ESXi
8 3 (0.26%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 2 (0.18%) vSphere
10 1 (0.088%) Oracle RAC
10 1 (0.088%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.088%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 56 (4.94%) Terraform
2 51 (4.50%) Kubernetes
3 29 (2.56%) Ansible
4 20 (1.76%) Microsoft Intune
5 15 (1.32%) Grafana
5 15 (1.32%) SCCM
6 12 (1.06%) Prometheus
7 9 (0.79%) Nagios
8 7 (0.62%) ZABBIX
9 6 (0.53%) vCenter Server
10 4 (0.35%) Functional Safety
10 4 (0.35%) Puppet
11 3 (0.26%) Graylog
11 3 (0.26%) Nessus
12 2 (0.18%) Docker Swarm
12 2 (0.18%) Podman
13 1 (0.088%) CASB
13 1 (0.088%) Dell DRAC
13 1 (0.088%) Packer
13 1 (0.088%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 302 (26.63%) Microsoft
2 39 (3.44%) Databricks
2 39 (3.44%) Oracle
3 35 (3.09%) VMware
4 34 (3.00%) Google
5 29 (2.56%) Salesforce
6 26 (2.29%) Veeam
7 24 (2.12%) Adobe
7 24 (2.12%) SAP
8 16 (1.41%) Red Hat
9 14 (1.23%) Sage
9 14 (1.23%) Splunk
10 13 (1.15%) HubSpot
11 12 (1.06%) Dynatrace
12 11 (0.97%) Hootsuite
12 11 (0.97%) Instagram
12 11 (0.97%) ServiceNow
12 11 (0.97%) Wrike
13 10 (0.88%) SolarWinds
14 9 (0.79%) MuleSoft