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 18 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 9 3 15
Rank change year-on-year -6 +12 -7
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 95 132 58
As % of all contract jobs in Cheshire 12.93% 26.04% 10.41%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 14.91% 27.33% 12.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 68 96 31
10th Percentile £313 £258 £300
25th Percentile £350 £380 £379
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £421 £503 £520
Median % change year-on-year -16.27% -3.37% +8.33%
75th Percentile £538 £591 £566
90th Percentile £620 £716 £585
North West median daily rate £440 £475 £488
% change year-on-year -7.37% -2.56% +2.63%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 2 7
10th Percentile - £39.40 £14.00
25th Percentile £29.99 £44.50 £27.63
Median hourly rate £35.82 £53.50 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -33.05% +25.88% +67.82%
75th Percentile £37.16 £62.00 £43.75
90th Percentile £66.46 £66.80 -
North West median hourly rate £37.50 £28.75 £11.20
% change year-on-year +30.43% +156.81% -59.29%

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 637 483 464
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire 86.67% 95.27% 83.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 413 357 311
10th Percentile £315 £313 £310
25th Percentile £400 £358 £390
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £438 £475
Median % change year-on-year +5.71% -7.89% -9.52%
75th Percentile £585 £538 £580
90th Percentile £653 £671 £638
North West median daily rate £475 £460 £500
% change year-on-year +3.26% -8.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 36 24 33
10th Percentile £13.47 £12.82 £14.00
25th Percentile £16.01 £17.46 £17.72
Median hourly rate £82.50 £38.50 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +114.29% +5.48% +24.74%
75th Percentile £85.00 £73.81 £43.75
90th Percentile - £86.00 -
North West median hourly rate £53.00 £32.00 £30.75
% change year-on-year +65.63% +4.07% +0.69%

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 18 June 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 18 June 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 18 June 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 -5 55 £394 -14.03% 3
Chester -10 15 £550 -21.43% 16
Warrington -11 10 £425 +95.40% 13
Crewe +1 4 - - 5
Macclesfield +2 1 £525 -4.55% 2
Alderley Edge -1 1 £400 - 1
Northwich - 1 - - 3
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 (17.89%) Confluence
2 2 (2.11%) Camunda
3 1 (1.05%) JBoss
3 1 (1.05%) Mule
3 1 (1.05%) Mule ESB
3 1 (1.05%) SharePoint
3 1 (1.05%) WebLogic
Applications
1 4 (4.21%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (3.16%) CATIA
3 1 (1.05%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (1.05%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (1.05%) MS Visio
3 1 (1.05%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 4 (4.21%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (3.16%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (1.05%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (1.05%) SAP HCM
3 1 (1.05%) SAP Payroll
3 1 (1.05%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 31 (32.63%) Azure
2 27 (28.42%) AWS
3 10 (10.53%) Entra ID
4 9 (9.47%) GCP
5 6 (6.32%) Power Platform
6 4 (4.21%) Apigee
6 4 (4.21%) Kong
6 4 (4.21%) Microsoft 365
7 2 (2.11%) AWS KMS
7 2 (2.11%) Azure DevOps
7 2 (2.11%) Azure Key Vault
7 2 (2.11%) GitHub
7 2 (2.11%) OpenShift
7 2 (2.11%) SaaS
8 1 (1.05%) Akamai
8 1 (1.05%) AWS Step Functions
8 1 (1.05%) Dynamics 365
8 1 (1.05%) GitHub Actions
8 1 (1.05%) IaaS
8 1 (1.05%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 7 (7.37%) Firewall
2 6 (6.32%) DNS
3 5 (5.26%) Kerberos
4 3 (3.16%) DMZ
4 3 (3.16%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
4 3 (3.16%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
4 3 (3.16%) Network Security
4 3 (3.16%) SAN
4 3 (3.16%) SSL
4 3 (3.16%) VPN
5 2 (2.11%) BGP
5 2 (2.11%) Cisco Nexus
5 2 (2.11%) LAN
5 2 (2.11%) MPLS
5 2 (2.11%) OSPF
5 2 (2.11%) VLAN
5 2 (2.11%) WAN
5 2 (2.11%) Wi-Fi
5 2 (2.11%) Wireshark
6 1 (1.05%) DHCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (4.21%) Power BI
2 3 (3.16%) Relational Database
3 2 (2.11%) SQL Server
4 1 (1.05%) SAP HANA
4 1 (1.05%) Sybase ASE
Development Applications
1 24 (25.26%) JIRA
2 6 (6.32%) GitLab
3 5 (5.26%) Git
3 5 (5.26%) JUnit
4 4 (4.21%) Postman
5 3 (3.16%) Mockito
6 2 (2.11%) Cucumber
6 2 (2.11%) Jenkins
6 2 (2.11%) Zephyr
7 1 (1.05%) Bitbucket
7 1 (1.05%) CANoe
7 1 (1.05%) Eclipse
7 1 (1.05%) IntelliJ
7 1 (1.05%) Selenium
7 1 (1.05%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 53 (55.79%) Analytical Skills
2 44 (46.32%) Social Skills
3 37 (38.95%) Finance
4 27 (28.42%) Banking
5 7 (7.37%) Retail Banking
6 6 (6.32%) Manufacturing
7 5 (5.26%) Documentation Skills
8 4 (4.21%) Automotive
9 3 (3.16%) Aerospace
10 2 (2.11%) Billing
10 2 (2.11%) Influencing Skills
10 2 (2.11%) Legal
10 2 (2.11%) Public Sector
11 1 (1.05%) Financial Institution
11 1 (1.05%) Investment Banking
11 1 (1.05%) Organisational Skills
11 1 (1.05%) Retail
Job Titles
1 23 (24.21%) Analyst
2 16 (16.84%) Business Analyst
3 13 (13.68%) Developer
4 6 (6.32%) Architect
4 6 (6.32%) Lead
4 6 (6.32%) Security Engineer
5 5 (5.26%) Full-Stack Developer
5 5 (5.26%) Java Developer
6 4 (4.21%) Consultant
6 4 (4.21%) React Developer
7 3 (3.16%) Applications Architect
7 3 (3.16%) Automation Engineer
7 3 (3.16%) Field Engineer
7 3 (3.16%) Field Service Engineer
7 3 (3.16%) IT Engineer
7 3 (3.16%) Payments Analyst
7 3 (3.16%) Programmer
7 3 (3.16%) Risk Analyst
7 3 (3.16%) Technical Analyst
7 3 (3.16%) Technical Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (17.89%) REST
2 12 (12.63%) JSON
3 9 (9.47%) Swagger
4 8 (8.42%) SOAP
4 8 (8.42%) XML
5 7 (7.37%) HTML
5 7 (7.37%) OAuth
5 7 (7.37%) RESTful
6 6 (6.32%) CSS
6 6 (6.32%) OpenAPI
7 5 (5.26%) HTML5
7 5 (5.26%) LDAP
7 5 (5.26%) React
7 5 (5.26%) Spring
8 4 (4.21%) CSS3
8 4 (4.21%) JWT
8 4 (4.21%) Middleware
8 4 (4.21%) MobX
8 4 (4.21%) Redux
8 4 (4.21%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 14 (14.74%) Product Ownership
2 7 (7.37%) Analytical Mindset
3 6 (6.32%) Cloud Native
3 6 (6.32%) Management Information System
4 5 (5.26%) Data Centre
4 5 (5.26%) Onboarding
5 4 (4.21%) Cyber Threat
5 4 (4.21%) PKI
5 4 (4.21%) SWIFT Messaging Network
6 3 (3.16%) Data Protection Act
6 3 (3.16%) Digital Wallet
7 2 (2.11%) Distributed Systems
7 2 (2.11%) Legacy Systems
7 2 (2.11%) Virtual Team
8 1 (1.05%) Cyber Kill Chain
8 1 (1.05%) Embedded Systems
8 1 (1.05%) Mobile Banking
8 1 (1.05%) Security Posture
8 1 (1.05%) Self-Motivation
8 1 (1.05%) Virtual Reality
Operating Systems
1 11 (11.58%) Windows
2 8 (8.42%) Linux
3 5 (5.26%) Apple iOS
4 4 (4.21%) Mac OS
5 3 (3.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 3 (3.16%) Unix
6 2 (2.11%) AIX
6 2 (2.11%) Android
6 2 (2.11%) HPUX
6 2 (2.11%) Oracle Linux
6 2 (2.11%) Solaris
6 2 (2.11%) SUSE
7 1 (1.05%) Windows 10
7 1 (1.05%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 35 (36.84%) Agile
2 25 (26.32%) Stakeholder Management
3 20 (21.05%) CI/CD
4 19 (20.00%) Change Management
5 18 (18.95%) Continuous Improvement
6 14 (14.74%) ITIL
7 13 (13.68%) DevOps
7 13 (13.68%) Migration
7 13 (13.68%) Requirements Gathering
8 12 (12.63%) Integration Patterns
8 12 (12.63%) Scrum
9 10 (10.53%) Computer Science
9 10 (10.53%) Data Protection
9 10 (10.53%) Risk Management
9 10 (10.53%) Sprint Planning
9 10 (10.53%) Test Automation
9 10 (10.53%) User Acceptance Testing
10 9 (9.47%) Cybersecurity
10 9 (9.47%) User Stories
11 8 (8.42%) Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 13 (13.68%) Java
1 13 (13.68%) PowerShell
2 12 (12.63%) Python
3 9 (9.47%) SQL
4 7 (7.37%) JavaScript
5 6 (6.32%) TypeScript
6 3 (3.16%) Apex Code
6 3 (3.16%) Bash
7 1 (1.05%) ABAP
7 1 (1.05%) Bicep
7 1 (1.05%) Korn
7 1 (1.05%) PL/SQL
7 1 (1.05%) Shell Script
7 1 (1.05%) SOQL
7 1 (1.05%) SOSL
7 1 (1.05%) VBA
Qualifications
1 18 (18.95%) Degree
2 15 (15.79%) BPSS Clearance
3 11 (11.58%) CISSP
4 9 (9.47%) Computer Science Degree
5 7 (7.37%) Cisco Certification
6 5 (5.26%) AWS Certification
6 5 (5.26%) CompTIA Security+
6 5 (5.26%) Security Cleared
7 4 (4.21%) CEH
7 4 (4.21%) CISM
7 4 (4.21%) Microsoft Certification
8 3 (3.16%) A+ Certification
8 3 (3.16%) Azure Certification
8 3 (3.16%) CCNA
8 3 (3.16%) CISA
8 3 (3.16%) CRISC
8 3 (3.16%) HNC
8 3 (3.16%) MCSE
8 3 (3.16%) Network+ Certification
8 3 (3.16%) NVQ Level 4
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (8.42%) NIST
2 7 (7.37%) PSD2
3 6 (6.32%) GRC
3 6 (6.32%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 6 (6.32%) QA
4 4 (4.21%) ISO 20022
4 4 (4.21%) PCI DSS
4 4 (4.21%) SEPA
5 3 (3.16%) SLA
6 2 (2.11%) GDPR
6 2 (2.11%) ISO 8583
6 2 (2.11%) ISO/IEC 27005
7 1 (1.05%) Data Quality
7 1 (1.05%) PMO
System Software
1 10 (10.53%) Active Directory
2 6 (6.32%) Docker
3 4 (4.21%) VMware NSX
4 2 (2.11%) Firmware
5 1 (1.05%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (1.05%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (1.05%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 6 (6.32%) Kubernetes
2 4 (4.21%) Ansible
3 3 (3.16%) Terraform
4 2 (2.11%) Argo
4 2 (2.11%) Grafana
4 2 (2.11%) HP ALM
4 2 (2.11%) Microsoft Intune
4 2 (2.11%) SCCM
5 1 (1.05%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 1 (1.05%) CA Single Sign-On
5 1 (1.05%) Functional Safety
5 1 (1.05%) Norton AntiVirus
5 1 (1.05%) Prometheus
5 1 (1.05%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (1.05%) vCenter Server
5 1 (1.05%) WMI
Vendors
1 14 (14.74%) Microsoft
2 11 (11.58%) ServiceNow
3 8 (8.42%) Oracle
4 6 (6.32%) HP
4 6 (6.32%) SAP
4 6 (6.32%) Splunk
5 5 (5.26%) F5
5 5 (5.26%) Workday
6 4 (4.21%) BeyondTrust
6 4 (4.21%) CrowdStrike
6 4 (4.21%) MuleSoft
6 4 (4.21%) Remedy
6 4 (4.21%) VMware
7 3 (3.16%) Computacenter
7 3 (3.16%) Dell
7 3 (3.16%) Red Hat
7 3 (3.16%) Salesforce
8 2 (2.11%) Cisco
8 2 (2.11%) Fortinet
8 2 (2.11%) Google