Problem-Solving Contract Job Trends in Cheshire

Problem Solving
North West > Cheshire

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in Cheshire requiring Problem-Solving skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 26 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 4 2 14
Rank change year-on-year -2 +12 -6
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 117 112 55
As % of all contract jobs in Cheshire 17.84% 25.81% 10.81%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 20.14% 27.79% 12.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 85 70 30
10th Percentile £303 £230 £456
25th Percentile £350 £356 £495
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £400 £489 £510
Median % change year-on-year -18.20% -4.12% +2.72%
75th Percentile £488 £562 £574
90th Percentile £560 £640 £586
North West median daily rate £420 £465 £500
% change year-on-year -9.68% -7.00% +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 2 8
10th Percentile £32.40 £39.40 £14.00
25th Percentile £52.50 £44.50 £21.21
Median hourly rate £86.00 £53.50 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +60.75% +25.88% +83.59%
75th Percentile - £62.00 £43.75
90th Percentile - £66.80 -
North West median hourly rate £41.86 £27.50 £26.39
% change year-on-year +52.20% +4.21% -38.10%

All Process & Methodology Skills
Cheshire

Problem-Solving 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 581 403 451
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire 88.57% 92.86% 88.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 417 243 297
10th Percentile £305 £278 £265
25th Percentile £358 £356 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £473 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -5.50% +5.26%
75th Percentile £551 £550 £560
90th Percentile £679 £638 £611
North West median daily rate £450 £475 £500
% change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 31 34
10th Percentile £15.50 £19.00 £14.00
25th Percentile £16.47 £24.09 £17.29
Median hourly rate £22.85 £32.50 £25.14
Median % change year-on-year -29.69% +29.30% +29.50%
75th Percentile £42.25 £81.75 £39.50
90th Percentile £86.00 £86.00 £43.75
North West median hourly rate £45.00 £31.64 £26.00
% change year-on-year +42.23% +21.69% -30.67%

Problem-Solving
Job Vacancy Trend in Cheshire

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Problem-Solving relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire.

Problem-Solving job vacancy trend in Cheshire

Problem-Solving
Daily Rate Trend in Cheshire

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Problem-Solving.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Daily Rate Histogram in Cheshire

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Problem-Solving in Cheshire over the 6 months to 26 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Problem-Solving in Cheshire

Problem-Solving
Hourly Rate Trend in Cheshire

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Problem-Solving.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Hourly Rate Histogram in Cheshire

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Problem-Solving in Cheshire over the 6 months to 26 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Problem-Solving in Cheshire

Problem-Solving
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 Problem-Solving within the Cheshire region over the 6 months to 26 February 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
Knutsford -9 57 £371 -24.08% 5
Chester +1 24 £475 -33.33% 12
Warrington -7 14 £425 +84.78% 13
Macclesfield +1 10 £500 +1.42% 1
Crewe -4 5 £325 +11.68% 7
Alderley Edge 0 1 £400 - 2
Problem-Solving
North West

Problem-Solving
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 17 (14.53%) Confluence
2 6 (5.13%) SharePoint
3 4 (3.42%) Exchange Server 2013
3 4 (3.42%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (3.42%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.85%) Apache
4 1 (0.85%) Apache Airflow
4 1 (0.85%) CMS
4 1 (0.85%) JBoss
4 1 (0.85%) Tomcat
Applications
1 13 (11.11%) Microsoft Excel
2 12 (10.26%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 8 (6.84%) Microsoft Office
3 8 (6.84%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.85%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 13 (11.11%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (3.42%) Payment Gateway
3 3 (2.56%) SAP EHS
4 2 (1.71%) SAP HCM
4 2 (1.71%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 32 (27.35%) Azure
2 28 (23.93%) AWS
3 18 (15.38%) Microsoft 365
4 8 (6.84%) Entra ID
5 7 (5.98%) GCP
6 6 (5.13%) Apigee
6 6 (5.13%) Kong
7 5 (4.27%) GitHub
7 5 (4.27%) Power Platform
8 4 (3.42%) GitHub Copilot
8 4 (3.42%) OneDrive
9 3 (2.56%) Azure DevOps
9 3 (2.56%) SaaS
10 1 (0.85%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 1 (0.85%) Amazon S3
10 1 (0.85%) AWS Lambda
10 1 (0.85%) Datadog
10 1 (0.85%) Google Workspace
10 1 (0.85%) IaaS
10 1 (0.85%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 6 (5.13%) DNS
1 6 (5.13%) Firewall
1 6 (5.13%) Network Security
2 5 (4.27%) DMZ
2 5 (4.27%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
2 5 (4.27%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
2 5 (4.27%) Kerberos
3 4 (3.42%) LAN
3 4 (3.42%) Skype
3 4 (3.42%) WAN
4 1 (0.85%) DHCP
4 1 (0.85%) HTTP
4 1 (0.85%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (5.98%) Relational Database
2 4 (3.42%) MS Access
2 4 (3.42%) MySQL
2 4 (3.42%) PostgreSQL
3 2 (1.71%) SAP HANA
4 1 (0.85%) Big Data
4 1 (0.85%) Data Warehouse
4 1 (0.85%) DynamoDB
4 1 (0.85%) Metadata
4 1 (0.85%) Power BI
4 1 (0.85%) Power Query
4 1 (0.85%) SQL Server
4 1 (0.85%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 29 (24.79%) JIRA
2 16 (13.68%) Git
3 9 (7.69%) GitLab
4 4 (3.42%) Jenkins
4 4 (3.42%) JUnit
4 4 (3.42%) Postman
5 3 (2.56%) Mockito
6 2 (1.71%) Zephyr
7 1 (0.85%) CircleCI
7 1 (0.85%) Gradle
7 1 (0.85%) Maven
7 1 (0.85%) MLflow
7 1 (0.85%) Selenium
7 1 (0.85%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 52 (44.44%) Analytical Skills
1 52 (44.44%) Social Skills
2 50 (42.74%) Finance
3 33 (28.21%) Banking
4 8 (6.84%) Public Sector
5 7 (5.98%) Retail Banking
6 6 (5.13%) Documentation Skills
6 6 (5.13%) Influencing Skills
7 4 (3.42%) Presentation Skills
8 3 (2.56%) Automotive
8 3 (2.56%) Legal
8 3 (2.56%) Manufacturing
8 3 (2.56%) Pharmaceutical
9 2 (1.71%) Organisational Skills
9 2 (1.71%) Retail
10 1 (0.85%) Billing
10 1 (0.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 34 (29.06%) Analyst
2 22 (18.80%) Business Analyst
3 20 (17.09%) Developer
4 9 (7.69%) Java Developer
5 8 (6.84%) Architect
6 7 (5.98%) Administrator
6 7 (5.98%) Consultant
6 7 (5.98%) Technical Analyst
7 6 (5.13%) SAP Consultant
7 6 (5.13%) Technical Business Analyst
8 5 (4.27%) Automation Engineer
8 5 (4.27%) Service Analyst
9 4 (3.42%) Applications Architect
9 4 (3.42%) Operational Support Analyst
9 4 (3.42%) Operations Analyst
9 4 (3.42%) Payments Analyst
9 4 (3.42%) Payments Business Analyst
9 4 (3.42%) React Developer
9 4 (3.42%) Service Desk Analyst
9 4 (3.42%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (21.37%) REST
2 15 (12.82%) JSON
3 14 (11.97%) SOAP
4 13 (11.11%) Swagger
5 12 (10.26%) RESTful
5 12 (10.26%) Spring
5 12 (10.26%) Spring Boot
6 11 (9.40%) XML
7 9 (7.69%) HTML
7 9 (7.69%) OpenAPI
8 7 (5.98%) CSS
8 7 (5.98%) JMS
9 6 (5.13%) JWT
9 6 (5.13%) OAuth
10 5 (4.27%) LDAP
10 5 (4.27%) React
11 4 (3.42%) CSS3
11 4 (3.42%) Hibernate
11 4 (3.42%) Spring MVC
11 4 (3.42%) Spring Security
Miscellaneous
1 13 (11.11%) Product Ownership
2 10 (8.55%) Cloud Native
2 10 (8.55%) Onboarding
3 8 (6.84%) SWIFT Messaging Network
4 5 (4.27%) Management Information System
5 4 (3.42%) Digital Wallet
6 3 (2.56%) Distributed Systems
6 3 (2.56%) Self-Motivation
7 2 (1.71%) Mobile Banking
8 1 (0.85%) Blackberry
8 1 (0.85%) CMDB
8 1 (0.85%) Data Protection Act
8 1 (0.85%) Data Structures
8 1 (0.85%) Enterprise Software
8 1 (0.85%) Graphic Design
8 1 (0.85%) Online Banking
8 1 (0.85%) Video Editing
Operating Systems
1 10 (8.55%) Windows
2 5 (4.27%) Linux
2 5 (4.27%) Windows 10
3 2 (1.71%) Unix
4 1 (0.85%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 57 (48.72%) Agile
2 32 (27.35%) CI/CD
3 28 (23.93%) Stakeholder Management
4 25 (21.37%) Change Management
5 21 (17.95%) Continuous Improvement
5 21 (17.95%) Requirements Gathering
6 20 (17.09%) DevOps
6 20 (17.09%) Validation
6 20 (17.09%) Workshop Facilitation
7 18 (15.38%) Microservices
7 18 (15.38%) Migration
7 18 (15.38%) User Acceptance Testing
8 17 (14.53%) Integration Patterns
9 16 (13.68%) Computer Science
10 14 (11.97%) Roadmaps
10 14 (11.97%) Scrum
10 14 (11.97%) Six Sigma
10 14 (11.97%) Test Automation
11 13 (11.11%) API Design
11 13 (11.11%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 20 (17.09%) Java
2 14 (11.97%) SQL
3 8 (6.84%) JavaScript
3 8 (6.84%) PowerShell
3 8 (6.84%) Python
4 6 (5.13%) TypeScript
5 3 (2.56%) Apex Code
6 2 (1.71%) ABAP
6 2 (1.71%) Bash
7 1 (0.85%) C#
7 1 (0.85%) Shell Script
7 1 (0.85%) SOQL
7 1 (0.85%) SOSL
7 1 (0.85%) T-SQL
7 1 (0.85%) VBA
Qualifications
1 25 (21.37%) Degree
2 17 (14.53%) Security Cleared
3 16 (13.68%) Computer Science Degree
4 13 (11.11%) BPSS Clearance
5 11 (9.40%) SC Cleared
6 7 (5.98%) Six Sigma Green Belt
7 3 (2.56%) AWS Certification
8 2 (1.71%) Azure Certification
8 2 (1.71%) ISTQB
8 2 (1.71%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
8 2 (1.71%) PMI Certification
8 2 (1.71%) PMP
8 2 (1.71%) TOGAF Certification
9 1 (0.85%) A+ Certification
9 1 (0.85%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
9 1 (0.85%) CBAP
9 1 (0.85%) CSPO
9 1 (0.85%) ITIL Certification
9 1 (0.85%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 1 (0.85%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (10.26%) PSD2
2 11 (9.40%) QA
3 9 (7.69%) ISO 20022
4 8 (6.84%) SEPA
5 5 (4.27%) PCI DSS
6 3 (2.56%) Data Quality
6 3 (2.56%) GDPR
6 3 (2.56%) ISO 8583
7 1 (0.85%) PMO
7 1 (0.85%) SLA
System Software
1 14 (11.97%) Active Directory
2 13 (11.11%) Docker
3 5 (4.27%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 14 (11.97%) Kubernetes
2 11 (9.40%) SCCM
3 6 (5.13%) Norton AntiVirus
4 4 (3.42%) Microsoft Intune
5 3 (2.56%) Terraform
6 2 (1.71%) Ansible
6 2 (1.71%) HP ALM
7 1 (0.85%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 1 (0.85%) Autotask
7 1 (0.85%) CA Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.85%) Grafana
7 1 (0.85%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.85%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 33 (28.21%) Microsoft
2 17 (14.53%) SAP
3 11 (9.40%) Oracle
4 7 (5.98%) ServiceNow
5 6 (5.13%) McAfee
5 6 (5.13%) MuleSoft
5 6 (5.13%) Symantec
6 5 (4.27%) Computacenter
6 5 (4.27%) F5
6 5 (4.27%) VMware
7 4 (3.42%) Salesforce
8 3 (2.56%) Google
8 3 (2.56%) Snow
8 3 (2.56%) Workday
9 2 (1.71%) HP
10 1 (0.85%) IBM
10 1 (0.85%) IBM Sterling
10 1 (0.85%) Informatica
10 1 (0.85%) Sage
10 1 (0.85%) Splunk