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

6 months to
9 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 3 6
Rank change year-on-year -3 +3 +4
Permanent jobs citing Problem-Solving 1,391 1,564 2,665
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 8.94% 18.45% 15.44%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.42% 20.78% 18.89%
Number of salaries quoted 1,048 781 1,741
10th Percentile £26,875 £27,000 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,000 £31,250 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £42,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.88% -5.56% -12.37%
75th Percentile £58,750 £62,500 £62,500
90th Percentile £73,750 £82,500 £72,500
England median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £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 11,202 7,527 14,106
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 72.03% 88.79% 81.74%
Number of salaries quoted 7,965 3,936 9,868
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,938 £28,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £35,000 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% - -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,250 £80,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% -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 9 July 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 9 July 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 -7 513 £45,000 - 264
Hampshire -2 336 £40,000 -5.88% 136
Berkshire -4 244 £45,000 -10.00% 105
Surrey 0 230 £42,500 +6.25% 80
Buckinghamshire -8 154 £45,500 +21.33% 88
Kent -5 138 £30,000 -6.25% 53
Oxfordshire -1 115 £37,500 -31.82% 75
East Sussex -4 90 £50,000 - 27
West Sussex -6 72 £50,000 +7.53% 30
Middlesex +5 6 £50,000 -16.67% 12
Isle of Wight -13 1 £42,500 -22.73% 1
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 44 (3.16%) SharePoint
2 38 (2.73%) Microsoft Exchange
3 19 (1.37%) CMS
4 18 (1.29%) Confluence
5 7 (0.50%) OpenEdge
6 5 (0.36%) WordPress
7 4 (0.29%) Apache
8 3 (0.22%) Anypoint
8 3 (0.22%) IIS
8 3 (0.22%) OpenStack
8 3 (0.22%) SAS
9 2 (0.14%) Gentran
9 2 (0.14%) nginx
9 2 (0.14%) Tomcat
Applications
1 99 (7.12%) Microsoft Excel
2 86 (6.18%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (0.72%) Spreadsheet
4 9 (0.65%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 8 (0.58%) MS Visio
6 5 (0.36%) Lightworks
6 5 (0.36%) Photoshop
7 4 (0.29%) Adobe Illustrator
7 4 (0.29%) Microsoft Project
8 3 (0.22%) Simulink
9 2 (0.14%) Chatbot
10 1 (0.072%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 13 (0.93%) NetSuite
2 8 (0.58%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (0.43%) Raiser’s Edge
4 4 (0.29%) Magento
5 3 (0.22%) Infor SunSystems
5 3 (0.22%) Salesforce CRM
5 3 (0.22%) SAP CO
6 2 (0.14%) Dynamics NAV
6 2 (0.14%) Payment Gateway
6 2 (0.14%) Shopify
7 1 (0.072%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.072%) HFM
7 1 (0.072%) SAP GRC
7 1 (0.072%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 331 (23.80%) Azure
2 164 (11.79%) Microsoft 365
3 142 (10.21%) AWS
4 85 (6.11%) Power Platform
5 62 (4.46%) SaaS
6 51 (3.67%) GCP
7 48 (3.45%) Azure DevOps
8 42 (3.02%) Entra ID
9 27 (1.94%) IaaS
10 26 (1.87%) PaaS
10 26 (1.87%) Serverless
11 22 (1.58%) GitHub
12 20 (1.44%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 19 (1.37%) Datadog
14 17 (1.22%) Dynamics 365
15 15 (1.08%) OpenShift
16 14 (1.01%) Google Workspace
17 13 (0.93%) Azure Data Factory
17 13 (0.93%) GitHub Actions
17 13 (0.93%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 119 (8.55%) Firewall
2 67 (4.82%) DNS
3 52 (3.74%) VPN
4 51 (3.67%) WAN
5 50 (3.59%) LAN
6 47 (3.38%) TCP/IP
7 42 (3.02%) Wireless
8 41 (2.95%) DHCP
9 36 (2.59%) Wi-Fi
10 26 (1.87%) VLAN
11 24 (1.73%) VoIP
12 21 (1.51%) Network Security
13 17 (1.22%) Broadband
14 13 (0.93%) Internet
15 11 (0.79%) HTTP
15 11 (0.79%) SSL
16 9 (0.65%) MQTT
17 7 (0.50%) Remote Desktop
18 6 (0.43%) WLAN
19 4 (0.29%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 95 (6.83%) SQL Server
2 71 (5.10%) Power BI
3 24 (1.73%) PostgreSQL
4 21 (1.51%) Relational Database
5 19 (1.37%) Data Warehouse
6 16 (1.15%) NoSQL
7 14 (1.01%) MySQL
7 14 (1.01%) OLTP
8 13 (0.93%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 12 (0.86%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 12 (0.86%) Tableau
10 10 (0.72%) Power Query
11 9 (0.65%) Data Lake
12 8 (0.58%) Amazon RDS
13 7 (0.50%) Looker
14 6 (0.43%) GIS
15 5 (0.36%) Azure SQL Database
15 5 (0.36%) DynamoDB
15 5 (0.36%) MongoDB
16 4 (0.29%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 65 (4.67%) Git
2 52 (3.74%) JIRA
3 31 (2.23%) GitLab
4 21 (1.51%) Rational DOORS
5 6 (0.43%) Selenium
6 4 (0.29%) Jenkins
7 3 (0.22%) Android Studio
7 3 (0.22%) PetaLinux
7 3 (0.22%) PHPUnit
7 3 (0.22%) Postman
7 3 (0.22%) Visual Studio
8 2 (0.14%) Appium
8 2 (0.14%) Cypress.io
8 2 (0.14%) Eclipse
8 2 (0.14%) JMeter
8 2 (0.14%) JUnit
8 2 (0.14%) Mocha
8 2 (0.14%) REST Assured
8 2 (0.14%) Subversion
8 2 (0.14%) Terragrunt
General
1 671 (48.24%) Social Skills
2 376 (27.03%) Analytical Skills
3 205 (14.74%) Finance
4 100 (7.19%) Organisational Skills
5 83 (5.97%) Manufacturing
6 61 (4.39%) Electronics
7 58 (4.17%) Retail
8 56 (4.03%) Telecoms
9 50 (3.59%) Marketing
10 47 (3.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 38 (2.73%) Aerospace
12 36 (2.59%) Law
13 33 (2.37%) Legal
14 32 (2.30%) Influencing Skills
15 29 (2.08%) Documentation Skills
16 26 (1.87%) Public Sector
17 23 (1.65%) Local Government
18 18 (1.29%) Military
19 16 (1.15%) Banking
20 15 (1.08%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 198 (14.23%) Analyst
2 151 (10.86%) IT Support
3 143 (10.28%) Senior
4 131 (9.42%) Developer
5 128 (9.20%) Support Engineer
6 93 (6.69%) IT Engineer
7 84 (6.04%) Support Analyst
8 71 (5.10%) Systems Engineer
9 69 (4.96%) Software Engineer
10 61 (4.39%) Technical Support
11 60 (4.31%) Lead
12 58 (4.17%) IT Support Engineer
13 57 (4.10%) Support Technician
14 52 (3.74%) 2nd Line Support
15 47 (3.38%) Technical Engineer
15 47 (3.38%) Technical Support Engineer
16 44 (3.16%) IT Technician
17 37 (2.66%) 1st Line Support
17 37 (2.66%) Architect
18 35 (2.52%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 82 (5.90%) .NET
2 59 (4.24%) HTML
3 48 (3.45%) SOAP
4 44 (3.16%) REST
5 37 (2.66%) CSS
6 35 (2.52%) JSON
7 33 (2.37%) XML
8 32 (2.30%) React
9 25 (1.80%) ASP.NET
10 21 (1.51%) OAuth
11 20 (1.44%) RESTful
12 19 (1.37%) ASP.NET Core
13 18 (1.29%) Middleware
14 17 (1.22%) Vue
15 16 (1.15%) ARM Templates
15 16 (1.15%) HTML5
15 16 (1.15%) RabbitMQ
16 14 (1.01%) CSS3
16 14 (1.01%) Kafka
16 14 (1.01%) Sass
Miscellaneous
1 89 (6.40%) Driving Licence
2 71 (5.10%) Self-Motivation
3 68 (4.89%) Onboarding
4 62 (4.46%) Management Information System
5 51 (3.67%) Cloud Native
6 37 (2.66%) Product Ownership
7 32 (2.30%) Distributed Systems
8 26 (1.87%) Analytical Mindset
9 19 (1.37%) Robotics
10 17 (1.22%) NHS
10 17 (1.22%) Social Media
11 15 (1.08%) EPoS
11 15 (1.08%) Security Posture
12 14 (1.01%) Legacy Systems
13 13 (0.93%) Data Centre
13 13 (0.93%) Low-Code
14 12 (0.86%) CCTV
14 12 (0.86%) Client/Server
14 12 (0.86%) Clustering
14 12 (0.86%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 226 (16.25%) Windows
2 117 (8.41%) Linux
3 78 (5.61%) Windows Server
4 22 (1.58%) Mac OS
5 18 (1.29%) Android
5 18 (1.29%) CentOS
6 16 (1.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 16 (1.15%) Windows Server 2019
7 13 (0.93%) Ubuntu
8 10 (0.72%) Windows Server 2016
9 8 (0.58%) Debian
10 6 (0.43%) Apple iOS
10 6 (0.43%) Windows 10
11 3 (0.22%) FreeRTOS
11 3 (0.22%) Gentoo
11 3 (0.22%) VMS
11 3 (0.22%) Windows 7
12 2 (0.14%) Unix
12 2 (0.14%) Windows Server 2012
13 1 (0.072%) FreeBSD
Processes & Methodologies
1 269 (19.34%) Continuous Improvement
2 249 (17.90%) Customer Service
3 184 (13.23%) Agile
4 161 (11.57%) CI/CD
5 152 (10.93%) DevOps
6 146 (10.50%) Decision-Making
7 143 (10.28%) Software Engineering
8 138 (9.92%) AI
9 131 (9.42%) Project Management
10 126 (9.06%) Cybersecurity
11 122 (8.77%) Project Delivery
12 115 (8.27%) Mentoring
13 114 (8.20%) Collaborative Working
13 114 (8.20%) ITIL
14 111 (7.98%) Computer Science
14 111 (7.98%) Stakeholder Management
15 107 (7.69%) Analytics
16 100 (7.19%) Business Intelligence
17 95 (6.83%) Logistics
18 85 (6.11%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 226 (16.25%) Python
2 212 (15.24%) SQL
3 112 (8.05%) C#
4 98 (7.05%) PowerShell
5 90 (6.47%) JavaScript
6 57 (4.10%) C++
7 55 (3.95%) Java
8 42 (3.02%) TypeScript
9 34 (2.44%) Bash
9 34 (2.44%) C
10 25 (1.80%) PHP
11 16 (1.15%) Rust
12 15 (1.08%) PL/SQL
13 13 (0.93%) Ruby
14 12 (0.86%) T-SQL
15 10 (0.72%) Bicep
15 10 (0.72%) Perl
16 8 (0.58%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 7 (0.50%) Apex Code
17 7 (0.50%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 259 (18.62%) Degree
2 99 (7.12%) Security Cleared
3 84 (6.04%) DBS Check
4 67 (4.82%) SC Cleared
5 57 (4.10%) Computer Science Degree
6 43 (3.09%) Microsoft Certification
7 37 (2.66%) BPSS Clearance
8 32 (2.30%) HNC
9 29 (2.08%) ACCA
10 28 (2.01%) CIMA
11 26 (1.87%) Chartered Engineer
12 23 (1.65%) Azure Certification
13 22 (1.58%) PMI Certification
14 21 (1.51%) PMP
15 18 (1.29%) A+ Certification
16 17 (1.22%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
17 16 (1.15%) Master's Degree
18 14 (1.01%) Cisco Certification
18 14 (1.01%) CompTIA Security+
18 14 (1.01%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 112 (8.05%) QA
2 55 (3.95%) Data Quality
3 48 (3.45%) GDPR
4 39 (2.80%) SLA
5 30 (2.16%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 23 (1.65%) Accessibility
6 23 (1.65%) PCI DSS
7 17 (1.22%) NIST
8 15 (1.08%) Good Clinical Practice
9 13 (0.93%) PMO
10 12 (0.86%) Cyber Essentials
11 9 (0.65%) SOC 2
12 6 (0.43%) 21 CFR Part 11
12 6 (0.43%) GLP
12 6 (0.43%) GMP
12 6 (0.43%) GxP
13 5 (0.36%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 5 (0.36%) ISO 9001
14 4 (0.29%) Def Stans
14 4 (0.29%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 127 (9.13%) Active Directory
2 72 (5.18%) Docker
3 56 (4.03%) VMware Infrastructure
4 52 (3.74%) Hyper-V
5 10 (0.72%) KVM
6 8 (0.58%) vSphere
7 7 (0.50%) Firmware
8 6 (0.43%) VMware ESXi
9 5 (0.36%) ClearTrust
9 5 (0.36%) XenApp
10 4 (0.29%) Virtual Desktop
10 4 (0.29%) Virtual Machines
11 3 (0.22%) Slurm Workload Manager
12 2 (0.14%) Squid
12 2 (0.14%) VMware NSX
13 1 (0.072%) Embedded Firmware
13 1 (0.072%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 1 (0.072%) Oracle RAC
13 1 (0.072%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 78 (5.61%) Kubernetes
2 77 (5.54%) Terraform
3 42 (3.02%) Microsoft Intune
4 37 (2.66%) Ansible
5 19 (1.37%) SCCM
6 16 (1.15%) Grafana
7 13 (0.93%) Prometheus
8 12 (0.86%) Nagios
9 8 (0.58%) Podman
10 7 (0.50%) Failover Clustering
10 7 (0.50%) ZABBIX
11 5 (0.36%) Docker Swarm
11 5 (0.36%) Graylog
11 5 (0.36%) Puppet
11 5 (0.36%) vCenter Server
12 4 (0.29%) Functional Safety
12 4 (0.29%) Jamf Pro
13 2 (0.14%) Nessus
13 2 (0.14%) Symantec Endpoint Protection
14 1 (0.072%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 402 (28.90%) Microsoft
2 64 (4.60%) VMware
3 47 (3.38%) Google
4 39 (2.80%) Oracle
5 30 (2.16%) Cisco
6 27 (1.94%) Salesforce
7 25 (1.80%) Fortinet
7 25 (1.80%) Veeam
8 23 (1.65%) Databricks
9 20 (1.44%) SonicWALL
10 18 (1.29%) Instagram
10 18 (1.29%) ServiceNow
11 17 (1.22%) Splunk
12 16 (1.15%) Aruba
13 15 (1.08%) Palo Alto
13 15 (1.08%) Red Hat
13 15 (1.08%) Sage
13 15 (1.08%) SAP
14 13 (0.93%) Dynatrace
15 12 (0.86%) Adobe