Innovative Thinking Contract Job Trends in Cheshire

Innovative Thinking
North West > Cheshire

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in Cheshire requiring Innovative Thinking skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 16 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 75 70 55
Rank change year-on-year -5 -15 0
Contract jobs citing Innovative Thinking 2 1 2
As % of all contract jobs in Cheshire 0.26% 0.17% 0.37%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.30% 0.19% 0.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 2 1 1
10th Percentile £558 - -
25th Percentile £569 £675 £713
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £700 £725
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% -3.45% -
75th Percentile £644 £725 £738
90th Percentile £663 - -
North West median daily rate £600 £700 £725
% change year-on-year -14.29% -3.45% -

All Process & Methodology Skills
Cheshire

Innovative Thinking falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in Cheshire.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 673 539 472
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire 87.29% 91.98% 87.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 414 403 323
10th Percentile £346 £313 £311
25th Percentile £409 £358 £392
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £481 £440 £488
Median % change year-on-year +9.32% -9.74% -5.89%
75th Percentile £588 £537 £576
90th Percentile £653 £644 £638
North West median daily rate £485 £450 £493
% change year-on-year +7.78% -8.72% -1.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 53 22 29
10th Percentile £15.12 £12.82 £13.40
25th Percentile £17.25 £13.68 £17.72
Median hourly rate £35.82 £33.95 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +5.51% -3.00% +14.60%
75th Percentile £85.00 £50.00 £43.75
90th Percentile £85.80 £85.93 £44.50
North West median hourly rate £53.00 £29.27 £27.25
% change year-on-year +81.07% +7.41% -7.00%

Innovative Thinking
Job Vacancy Trend in Cheshire

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Innovative Thinking relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire.

Innovative Thinking job vacancy trend in Cheshire

Innovative Thinking
Daily Rate Trend in Cheshire

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Innovative Thinking.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Innovative Thinking

Innovative Thinking
Hourly Rate Trend in Cheshire

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Innovative Thinking.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Innovative Thinking

Innovative Thinking
Contract Job Locations in Cheshire

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Innovative Thinking within the Cheshire region over the 6 months to 16 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
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Chester -13 1 £650 -7.14%
Crewe - 1 £550 - 1
Innovative Thinking
North West

Innovative Thinking
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Cheshire 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 1 (50.00%) Confluence
1 1 (50.00%) JBoss
1 1 (50.00%) Mule
1 1 (50.00%) Mule ESB
1 1 (50.00%) WebLogic
Development Applications
1 1 (50.00%) Cucumber
1 1 (50.00%) Eclipse
1 1 (50.00%) JIRA
1 1 (50.00%) JUnit
General
1 2 (100.00%) Analytical Skills
1 2 (100.00%) Social Skills
2 1 (50.00%) Automotive
2 1 (50.00%) Finance
2 1 (50.00%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 1 (50.00%) Analyst
1 1 (50.00%) Business Analyst
1 1 (50.00%) Developer
1 1 (50.00%) Java Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (50.00%) J2EE
1 1 (50.00%) JSON
1 1 (50.00%) Middleware
1 1 (50.00%) Web Services
1 1 (50.00%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 1 (50.00%) Analytical Mindset
Processes & Methodologies
1 2 (100.00%) Agile
1 2 (100.00%) Problem-Solving
1 2 (100.00%) Waterfall
2 1 (50.00%) AI
2 1 (50.00%) Analytical Thinking
2 1 (50.00%) Budget Management
2 1 (50.00%) Business Process Modelling
2 1 (50.00%) CI/CD
2 1 (50.00%) Continuous Deployment
2 1 (50.00%) Creative Thinking
2 1 (50.00%) Data Analysis
2 1 (50.00%) Generative AI
2 1 (50.00%) Impact Mapping
2 1 (50.00%) Microservices
2 1 (50.00%) Project Delivery
2 1 (50.00%) SDLC
2 1 (50.00%) TDD
2 1 (50.00%) User Stories
2 1 (50.00%) Wireframes
2 1 (50.00%) Workshop Facilitation
Programming Languages
1 1 (50.00%) Java
1 1 (50.00%) PL/SQL
1 1 (50.00%) SQL
Qualifications
1 1 (50.00%) Degree
1 1 (50.00%) IIBA
1 1 (50.00%) ISEB
Vendors
1 1 (50.00%) Oracle