Continuous Improvement Job Trends

Continual Improvement
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring Continuous Improvement skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 15 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 19 21 49
Rank change year-on-year +2 +28 +1
Permanent jobs citing Continuous Improvement 4,757 4,065 2,821
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 7.89% 7.58% 5.09%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 9.75% 8.36% 5.66%
Number of salaries quoted 2,613 1,785 1,926
10th Percentile £31,695 £35,000 £34,000
25th Percentile £43,497 £45,000 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £62,250 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.75% - -4.00%
75th Percentile £81,250 £79,500 £77,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £52,500 £53,000
% change year-on-year +4.76% -0.94% -7.83%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Continuous Improvement 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.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 48,808 48,616 49,870
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 80.95% 90.71% 89.93%
Number of salaries quoted 28,796 23,669 37,967
10th Percentile £28,500 £35,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £77,715
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £51,971
% change year-on-year -9.09% +5.83% -5.51%

Continuous Improvement
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Continuous Improvement relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Continuous Improvement job vacancy trend in the UK

Continuous Improvement
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Continuous Improvement.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Continuous Improvement

Continuous Improvement
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Continuous Improvement over the 6 months to 15 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Continuous Improvement in the UK

Continuous Improvement
Top 17 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Continuous Improvement within the UK over the 6 months to 15 January 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
England -6 3,867 £62,500 +4.17% 1,886
UK excluding London -3 3,183 £55,000 +4.76% 1,771
Work from Home +21 1,633 £64,290 +2.05% 958
London +7 1,216 £76,000 - 404
South East +6 815 £57,750 -7.97% 503
North of England -2 794 £57,500 +15.00% 422
Midlands -11 517 £52,774 +0.52% 268
Scotland +27 461 £70,039 +27.34% 94
Yorkshire +16 345 £62,250 +31.05% 148
North West -6 337 £55,768 +4.80% 214
West Midlands -14 310 £57,500 +2.22% 152
South West +13 288 £55,000 +22.22% 217
East Midlands -3 207 £41,500 - 113
East of England -19 181 £49,000 -3.86% 201
North East +6 114 £55,000 +46.67% 66
Wales +14 106 £52,500 +10.98% 79
Northern Ireland +15 47 £55,000 -23.84% 29

Continuous Improvement
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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
1 197 (4.14%) SharePoint
2 96 (2.02%) Confluence
3 92 (1.93%) Microsoft Exchange
4 28 (0.59%) CMS
5 19 (0.40%) IIS
6 18 (0.38%) Apache Spark
7 13 (0.27%) Apache Airflow
8 9 (0.19%) Apache
9 7 (0.15%) Anypoint
9 7 (0.15%) Umbraco
10 6 (0.13%) Drupal
10 6 (0.13%) WordPress
11 5 (0.11%) Camunda
11 5 (0.11%) Exchange Server 2013
11 5 (0.11%) nginx
11 5 (0.11%) OpenStack
12 4 (0.084%) Appian
12 4 (0.084%) Moodle
12 4 (0.084%) Oracle Workflow
13 3 (0.063%) Oracle Coherence
Applications
1 343 (7.21%) Microsoft Excel
2 329 (6.92%) Microsoft Office
3 121 (2.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 37 (0.78%) Microsoft Project
5 29 (0.61%) MS Visio
6 14 (0.29%) Photoshop
7 13 (0.27%) SOLIDWORKS
8 10 (0.21%) Spreadsheet
9 9 (0.19%) Adobe Premiere
9 9 (0.19%) AutoCAD
9 9 (0.19%) Trello
10 8 (0.17%) Adobe XD
11 7 (0.15%) Chatbot
12 6 (0.13%) Windchill
13 5 (0.11%) Oracle Smart View
13 5 (0.11%) Siemens NX
14 4 (0.084%) 3ds Max
14 4 (0.084%) Autodesk Inventor
14 4 (0.084%) Blender
14 4 (0.084%) Maya
Business Applications
1 78 (1.64%) SAP S/4HANA
2 49 (1.03%) Dynamics CRM
3 30 (0.63%) Oracle Payables
4 24 (0.50%) NetSuite
5 22 (0.46%) Oracle Receivables
6 17 (0.36%) Oracle Assets
6 17 (0.36%) SAP FI
7 16 (0.34%) Workday HCM
8 15 (0.32%) Dynamics NAV
8 15 (0.32%) Oracle ERP
8 15 (0.32%) Shopify
9 14 (0.29%) SAP CO
9 14 (0.29%) SAP FI/CO
10 13 (0.27%) Dynamics GP
10 13 (0.27%) Remedy ITSM
10 13 (0.27%) Unit4 Business World
11 12 (0.25%) SAP ERP
12 11 (0.23%) Oracle General Ledger
13 10 (0.21%) Elite 3E
14 9 (0.19%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 994 (20.90%) Azure
2 563 (11.84%) AWS
3 460 (9.67%) Microsoft 365
4 402 (8.45%) Power Platform
5 352 (7.40%) SaaS
6 255 (5.36%) Azure DevOps
7 187 (3.93%) GCP
8 186 (3.91%) Entra ID
9 185 (3.89%) GitHub
10 137 (2.88%) Serverless
11 88 (1.85%) GitHub Actions
12 79 (1.66%) Power Automate
13 75 (1.58%) Dynamics 365
14 67 (1.41%) PaaS
15 66 (1.39%) PowerApps
16 59 (1.24%) Snowflake
17 58 (1.22%) AWS CloudFormation
18 57 (1.20%) AWS Lambda
19 56 (1.18%) GitHub Copilot
20 52 (1.09%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 138 (2.90%) Firewall
2 104 (2.19%) WAN
3 91 (1.91%) DNS
4 79 (1.66%) DHCP
5 77 (1.62%) LAN
6 75 (1.58%) VPN
7 54 (1.14%) Wi-Fi
8 51 (1.07%) TCP/IP
9 45 (0.95%) Network Security
10 43 (0.90%) Remote Desktop
11 41 (0.86%) Wireless
12 35 (0.74%) Broadband
13 32 (0.67%) SD-WAN
14 30 (0.63%) VLAN
15 23 (0.48%) Internet
16 21 (0.44%) SAN
17 14 (0.29%) Intranet
18 13 (0.27%) WLAN
19 12 (0.25%) VoIP
20 11 (0.23%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 344 (7.23%) Power BI
2 201 (4.23%) SQL Server
3 103 (2.17%) Data Warehouse
4 79 (1.66%) Tableau
5 72 (1.51%) Relational Database
6 63 (1.32%) MySQL
7 58 (1.22%) NoSQL
8 43 (0.90%) PostgreSQL
9 41 (0.86%) MongoDB
9 41 (0.86%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 34 (0.71%) Azure SQL Database
11 31 (0.65%) Looker
11 31 (0.65%) Metadata
12 28 (0.59%) Power Query
13 27 (0.57%) Data Lake
14 26 (0.55%) SQL Server Integration Services
15 24 (0.50%) BigQuery
16 18 (0.38%) DynamoDB
17 17 (0.36%) Amazon RDS
18 16 (0.34%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 370 (7.78%) JIRA
2 187 (3.93%) Git
3 125 (2.63%) Jenkins
4 61 (1.28%) GitLab
5 41 (0.86%) Selenium
6 40 (0.84%) eCATT
7 31 (0.65%) Cypress.io
8 30 (0.63%) SonarQube
9 25 (0.53%) Visual Studio
10 22 (0.46%) JMeter
11 20 (0.42%) Cucumber
11 20 (0.42%) Postman
11 20 (0.42%) Rational DOORS
12 19 (0.40%) Bitbucket
13 18 (0.38%) Oracle Forms
14 14 (0.29%) webpack
15 12 (0.25%) NeoLoad
16 11 (0.23%) WebDriver
17 10 (0.21%) gulp
17 10 (0.21%) JUnit
General
1 2,184 (45.91%) Social Skills
2 1,388 (29.18%) Finance
3 1,058 (22.24%) Analytical Skills
4 375 (7.88%) Marketing
5 329 (6.92%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 317 (6.66%) Legal
7 302 (6.35%) Retail
8 280 (5.89%) Manufacturing
9 270 (5.68%) Law
10 258 (5.42%) Organisational Skills
11 232 (4.88%) Public Sector
12 209 (4.39%) Influencing Skills
13 180 (3.78%) Banking
14 157 (3.30%) Presentation Skills
15 86 (1.81%) Back Office
16 84 (1.77%) Electronics
17 78 (1.64%) Documentation Skills
18 65 (1.37%) Games
18 65 (1.37%) Telecoms
19 55 (1.16%) French Language
Job Titles
1 704 (14.80%) Senior
2 628 (13.20%) Lead
3 578 (12.15%) Analyst
4 390 (8.20%) Developer
5 243 (5.11%) Architect
6 195 (4.10%) Senior Manager
7 182 (3.83%) Support Engineer
8 141 (2.96%) IT Support
9 137 (2.88%) Service Manager
10 133 (2.80%) IT Manager
11 131 (2.75%) Product Manager
12 118 (2.48%) Software Engineer
13 116 (2.44%) Consultant
14 105 (2.21%) Development Manager
15 102 (2.14%) Support Analyst
16 96 (2.02%) 2nd Line Support
17 95 (2.00%) Project Manager
18 94 (1.98%) Business Analyst
19 89 (1.87%) QA Manager
20 88 (1.85%) Quality Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 278 (5.84%) .NET
2 226 (4.75%) React
3 136 (2.86%) REST
4 119 (2.50%) CSS
5 104 (2.19%) HTML
6 99 (2.08%) RESTful
7 83 (1.74%) Node.js
8 75 (1.58%) Spring
9 69 (1.45%) Spring Boot
10 60 (1.26%) SOAP
11 58 (1.22%) Middleware
12 52 (1.09%) AngularJS
13 49 (1.03%) Lightning Web Components
14 47 (0.99%) .NET Core
15 45 (0.95%) .NET Framework
16 39 (0.82%) EDI
17 38 (0.80%) Django
18 35 (0.74%) OAuth
19 33 (0.69%) Kafka
19 33 (0.69%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 300 (6.31%) Product Ownership
2 291 (6.12%) Onboarding
3 250 (5.26%) Management Information System
4 225 (4.73%) Cloud Native
5 170 (3.57%) Self-Motivation
6 165 (3.47%) Analytical Mindset
7 137 (2.88%) Driving Licence
8 105 (2.21%) FMCG
9 99 (2.08%) Data Centre
10 86 (1.81%) Security Posture
11 85 (1.79%) Distributed Systems
12 77 (1.62%) Legacy Systems
13 66 (1.39%) Enterprise Software
14 63 (1.32%) Hybrid Cloud
15 61 (1.28%) Virtual Team
16 58 (1.22%) Data Structures
17 53 (1.11%) Mobile App
18 47 (0.99%) Low-Code
19 40 (0.84%) Greenfield Project
19 40 (0.84%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 402 (8.45%) Windows
2 144 (3.03%) Linux
3 136 (2.86%) Windows Server
4 112 (2.35%) Windows 10
5 47 (0.99%) Apple iOS
6 45 (0.95%) Android
7 39 (0.82%) Windows Server 2019
8 36 (0.76%) Mac OS
9 27 (0.57%) Unix
10 25 (0.53%) Windows Server 2016
11 18 (0.38%) Windows Server 2012
12 12 (0.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 12 (0.25%) VMS
13 6 (0.13%) SUSE
13 6 (0.13%) Windows 7
13 6 (0.13%) Windows 8
14 4 (0.084%) AIX
14 4 (0.084%) CentOS
15 3 (0.063%) Debian
15 3 (0.063%) OpenWrt
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,349 (28.36%) Problem-Solving
2 1,319 (27.73%) Agile
3 698 (14.67%) Stakeholder Management
4 697 (14.65%) Decision-Making
5 682 (14.34%) Analytics
6 657 (13.81%) Mentoring
7 641 (13.47%) DevOps
8 615 (12.93%) CI/CD
9 609 (12.80%) Project Management
10 591 (12.42%) Coaching
11 586 (12.32%) Roadmaps
12 546 (11.48%) AI
13 514 (10.81%) ITIL
14 472 (9.92%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 443 (9.31%) Business Intelligence
16 437 (9.19%) Customer Experience
17 386 (8.11%) Cybersecurity
18 384 (8.07%) Change Management
19 376 (7.90%) Service Delivery
20 371 (7.80%) Customer Service
Programming Languages
1 546 (11.48%) SQL
2 460 (9.67%) Python
3 309 (6.50%) C#
4 256 (5.38%) JavaScript
5 226 (4.75%) Java
6 215 (4.52%) PowerShell
7 147 (3.09%) TypeScript
8 95 (2.00%) Bash
9 45 (0.95%) C++
10 43 (0.90%) Apex Code
11 38 (0.80%) Bicep
12 36 (0.76%) PHP
13 33 (0.69%) T-SQL
14 32 (0.67%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 27 (0.57%) Go
16 24 (0.50%) Kusto Query Language
16 24 (0.50%) VBA
17 20 (0.42%) SOQL
18 19 (0.40%) C
19 16 (0.34%) SOSL
Qualifications
1 981 (20.62%) Degree
2 413 (8.68%) Security Cleared
3 226 (4.75%) SC Cleared
4 188 (3.95%) Computer Science Degree
5 101 (2.12%) PMI Certification
6 99 (2.08%) BPSS Clearance
7 97 (2.04%) Microsoft Certification
8 91 (1.91%) Master's Degree
9 90 (1.89%) CISSP
10 88 (1.85%) PMP
11 77 (1.62%) Azure Certification
12 72 (1.51%) DV Cleared
13 70 (1.47%) DBS Check
14 67 (1.41%) ACCA
14 67 (1.41%) CISM
15 64 (1.35%) AWS Certification
15 64 (1.35%) Six Sigma Yellow Belt
16 55 (1.16%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
17 50 (1.05%) CIMA
18 47 (0.99%) CRISC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 522 (10.97%) QA
2 222 (4.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 188 (3.95%) Accessibility
4 185 (3.89%) Data Quality
5 183 (3.85%) GDPR
6 166 (3.49%) SLA
7 125 (2.63%) NIST
8 118 (2.48%) PMO
9 91 (1.91%) Cyber Essentials
10 76 (1.60%) GRC
11 45 (0.95%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 41 (0.86%) SOC 2
13 37 (0.78%) ISO/IEC 12207
14 35 (0.74%) PCI DSS
15 33 (0.69%) Actionable Recommendations
15 33 (0.69%) WCAG
16 31 (0.65%) Def Stans
17 28 (0.59%) ISO 9001
18 27 (0.57%) NCSC
19 25 (0.53%) IFRS
System Software
1 293 (6.16%) Active Directory
2 209 (4.39%) Docker
3 69 (1.45%) VMware Infrastructure
4 47 (0.99%) Hyper-V
5 41 (0.86%) Virtual Machines
6 36 (0.76%) Firmware
7 30 (0.63%) Virtual Desktop
8 20 (0.42%) VMware ESXi
9 9 (0.19%) vSphere
10 6 (0.13%) Embedded Firmware
10 6 (0.13%) KVM
11 4 (0.084%) BitLocker
11 4 (0.084%) Virtual Servers
11 4 (0.084%) VMware NSX
12 3 (0.063%) NFS
13 2 (0.042%) QEMU
14 1 (0.021%) HDFS
14 1 (0.021%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 1 (0.021%) Terminal Server
14 1 (0.021%) vCloud
Systems Management
1 254 (5.34%) Terraform
2 221 (4.65%) Kubernetes
3 152 (3.20%) Microsoft Intune
4 113 (2.38%) Ansible
5 73 (1.53%) Grafana
6 56 (1.18%) SCCM
7 45 (0.95%) Prometheus
8 41 (0.86%) HP ALM
9 31 (0.65%) Single Sign-On
10 22 (0.46%) FortiGate
11 18 (0.38%) vCenter Server
12 13 (0.27%) Autotask
13 12 (0.25%) Argo
14 11 (0.23%) Active Directory Federation Services
15 9 (0.19%) WSUS
16 8 (0.17%) Jamf Pro
17 7 (0.15%) HP Fortify
18 6 (0.13%) Nessus
19 5 (0.11%) Kubeflow
19 5 (0.11%) SCOM
Vendors
1 966 (20.31%) Microsoft
2 242 (5.09%) SAP
3 167 (3.51%) Oracle
4 166 (3.49%) ServiceNow
5 163 (3.43%) Salesforce
6 119 (2.50%) Cisco
7 101 (2.12%) VMware
8 80 (1.68%) Google
9 60 (1.26%) Adobe
10 59 (1.24%) HP
11 58 (1.22%) Workday
12 49 (1.03%) IBM
13 41 (0.86%) Databricks
14 36 (0.76%) Apple
15 34 (0.71%) Dell
16 33 (0.69%) Fortinet
16 33 (0.69%) Siemens
16 33 (0.69%) SolarWinds
17 32 (0.67%) Splunk
18 31 (0.65%) YouTube