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 1 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 2 13
Rank change year-on-year -1 +11 -5
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 137 106 59
As % of all contract jobs in Cheshire 20.79% 23.35% 11.64%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 23.26% 25.85% 13.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 99 62 34
10th Percentile £305 £291 £418
25th Percentile £350 £365 £495
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £402 £493 £518
Median % change year-on-year -18.47% -4.72% +4.97%
75th Percentile £500 £570 £574
90th Percentile £619 £637 £605
North West median daily rate £430 £460 £500
% change year-on-year -6.52% -8.00% +13.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 1 7
10th Percentile £25.70 - £19.77
25th Percentile £35.75 £36.00 £32.43
Median hourly rate £52.50 £37.00 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +41.89% -12.94% +269.57%
75th Percentile £69.25 £38.00 £43.75
90th Percentile £79.30 - -
North West median hourly rate £19.52 £27.13 £42.50
% change year-on-year -28.04% -36.18% +0.38%

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 589 410 445
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire 89.38% 90.31% 87.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 426 237 295
10th Percentile £300 £300 £313
25th Percentile £356 £356 £428
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £441 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -7.26% -5.00% +5.82%
75th Percentile £538 £572 £554
90th Percentile £667 £660 £614
North West median daily rate £450 £475 £500
% change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% +1.01%
Number of hourly rates quoted 33 28 30
10th Percentile £15.50 £16.00 £14.00
25th Percentile £18.87 £20.53 £17.37
Median hourly rate £22.85 £25.79 £31.58
Median % change year-on-year -11.39% -18.34% +81.03%
75th Percentile £43.00 £79.63 £40.00
90th Percentile £76.05 £86.00 £43.75
North West median hourly rate £41.94 £30.40 £32.12
% change year-on-year +37.96% -5.34% -14.13%

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 1 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 1 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 1 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 -8 62 £375 -23.95% 9
Chester +3 31 £475 -32.14% 15
Warrington -4 16 £425 +2.97% 13
Macclesfield +1 11 £500 +2.88% 6
Crewe -4 5 £325 +11.68% 7
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 (12.41%) Confluence
2 10 (7.30%) SharePoint
3 8 (5.84%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (5.11%) Exchange Server 2013
4 7 (5.11%) Skype for Business
5 2 (1.46%) Apache
6 1 (0.73%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.73%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.73%) CMS
6 1 (0.73%) JBoss
6 1 (0.73%) Tomcat
Applications
1 16 (11.68%) Microsoft Excel
2 15 (10.95%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 12 (8.76%) MS Visio
4 11 (8.03%) Microsoft Office
5 1 (0.73%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 19 (13.87%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (2.92%) Payment Gateway
2 4 (2.92%) SAP EHS
3 3 (2.19%) SAP EWM
4 1 (0.73%) Finacle
4 1 (0.73%) SAP HCM
4 1 (0.73%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 39 (28.47%) Azure
2 32 (23.36%) AWS
3 22 (16.06%) Microsoft 365
4 8 (5.84%) OneDrive
5 7 (5.11%) Entra ID
5 7 (5.11%) GCP
6 6 (4.38%) Apigee
6 6 (4.38%) Kong
7 5 (3.65%) GitHub
7 5 (3.65%) Power Platform
8 4 (2.92%) GitHub Copilot
9 3 (2.19%) Azure DevOps
10 2 (1.46%) SaaS
11 1 (0.73%) Amazon ECS
11 1 (0.73%) Amazon S3
11 1 (0.73%) Amazon SageMaker
11 1 (0.73%) AWS CodeBuild
11 1 (0.73%) AWS Lambda
11 1 (0.73%) npm
11 1 (0.73%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 8 (5.84%) Firewall
1 8 (5.84%) Network Security
2 7 (5.11%) DNS
2 7 (5.11%) Skype
3 5 (3.65%) DMZ
3 5 (3.65%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
3 5 (3.65%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
3 5 (3.65%) Kerberos
3 5 (3.65%) LAN
3 5 (3.65%) WAN
4 2 (1.46%) TCP/IP
5 1 (0.73%) BGP
5 1 (0.73%) Cisco IOS
5 1 (0.73%) DHCP
5 1 (0.73%) HTTP
5 1 (0.73%) Internet
5 1 (0.73%) iSCSI
5 1 (0.73%) SAN
5 1 (0.73%) Wireless
5 1 (0.73%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (5.11%) Relational Database
2 5 (3.65%) MySQL
3 4 (2.92%) MS Access
3 4 (2.92%) PostgreSQL
4 2 (1.46%) Big Data
5 1 (0.73%) Apache Hive
5 1 (0.73%) Data Warehouse
5 1 (0.73%) DynamoDB
5 1 (0.73%) Hadoop
5 1 (0.73%) Metadata
5 1 (0.73%) Power BI
5 1 (0.73%) Power Query
5 1 (0.73%) SAP Data Services
5 1 (0.73%) SAP HANA
5 1 (0.73%) SQL Server
5 1 (0.73%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 33 (24.09%) JIRA
2 22 (16.06%) Git
3 9 (6.57%) GitLab
4 5 (3.65%) Jenkins
5 4 (2.92%) JUnit
5 4 (2.92%) Postman
6 3 (2.19%) Mockito
7 2 (1.46%) Selenium
8 1 (0.73%) Appium
8 1 (0.73%) CircleCI
8 1 (0.73%) Cypress.io
8 1 (0.73%) Gradle
8 1 (0.73%) Grunt
8 1 (0.73%) gulp
8 1 (0.73%) LSMW
8 1 (0.73%) Maven
8 1 (0.73%) MLflow
8 1 (0.73%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.73%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.73%) Zephyr
General
1 61 (44.53%) Social Skills
2 58 (42.34%) Analytical Skills
2 58 (42.34%) Finance
3 37 (27.01%) Banking
4 9 (6.57%) Public Sector
5 5 (3.65%) Documentation Skills
5 5 (3.65%) Influencing Skills
5 5 (3.65%) Retail Banking
6 4 (2.92%) Legal
6 4 (2.92%) Presentation Skills
7 3 (2.19%) Automotive
7 3 (2.19%) Manufacturing
7 3 (2.19%) Pharmaceutical
8 2 (1.46%) Organisational Skills
8 2 (1.46%) Retail
9 1 (0.73%) Billing
9 1 (0.73%) Electronics
9 1 (0.73%) Financial Institution
9 1 (0.73%) Marketing
9 1 (0.73%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 36 (26.28%) Analyst
2 26 (18.98%) Developer
3 21 (15.33%) Business Analyst
4 12 (8.76%) Consultant
4 12 (8.76%) Java Developer
5 8 (5.84%) Architect
6 7 (5.11%) Administrator
6 7 (5.11%) Operational Support Analyst
6 7 (5.11%) Operations Analyst
6 7 (5.11%) Operations Support Analyst
6 7 (5.11%) SAP Consultant
6 7 (5.11%) Support Analyst
6 7 (5.11%) Technical Analyst
7 6 (4.38%) Automation Engineer
7 6 (4.38%) Management Consultant
7 6 (4.38%) Technical Business Analyst
8 5 (3.65%) Service Analyst
9 4 (2.92%) Applications Architect
9 4 (2.92%) Service Desk Analyst
9 4 (2.92%) Technical Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (22.63%) REST
2 17 (12.41%) Spring
2 17 (12.41%) Spring Boot
3 15 (10.95%) JSON
4 14 (10.22%) SOAP
5 13 (9.49%) Swagger
6 12 (8.76%) JMS
7 11 (8.03%) RESTful
7 11 (8.03%) XML
8 9 (6.57%) HTML
8 9 (6.57%) OpenAPI
9 7 (5.11%) CSS
10 6 (4.38%) JWT
10 6 (4.38%) OAuth
11 5 (3.65%) LDAP
11 5 (3.65%) React
12 4 (2.92%) CSS3
12 4 (2.92%) Hibernate
12 4 (2.92%) Redux
12 4 (2.92%) SAP Fiori
Miscellaneous
1 15 (10.95%) Cloud Native
2 13 (9.49%) SWIFT Messaging Network
3 12 (8.76%) Product Ownership
4 11 (8.03%) Onboarding
5 6 (4.38%) Management Information System
6 4 (2.92%) Digital Wallet
6 4 (2.92%) Distributed Systems
7 3 (2.19%) Enterprise Software
7 3 (2.19%) Self-Motivation
8 2 (1.46%) CMDB
8 2 (1.46%) Mobile Banking
9 1 (0.73%) Blackberry
9 1 (0.73%) Data Structures
9 1 (0.73%) Graphic Design
9 1 (0.73%) Mobile App
9 1 (0.73%) Online Banking
9 1 (0.73%) Replication
9 1 (0.73%) Security Posture
9 1 (0.73%) Video Editing
Operating Systems
1 11 (8.03%) Windows
2 5 (3.65%) Linux
2 5 (3.65%) Windows 10
3 2 (1.46%) Unix
4 1 (0.73%) Apple iOS
4 1 (0.73%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 59 (43.07%) Agile
2 38 (27.74%) CI/CD
3 32 (23.36%) Stakeholder Management
4 26 (18.98%) Requirements Gathering
5 24 (17.52%) DevOps
5 24 (17.52%) Validation
6 22 (16.06%) Change Management
6 22 (16.06%) Continuous Improvement
7 21 (15.33%) Migration
7 21 (15.33%) Test Automation
8 20 (14.60%) User Acceptance Testing
8 20 (14.60%) Workshop Facilitation
9 19 (13.87%) Microservices
10 18 (13.14%) Computer Science
10 18 (13.14%) Containerisation
11 17 (12.41%) Integration Patterns
11 17 (12.41%) Six Sigma
12 16 (11.68%) ITIL
12 16 (11.68%) SDLC
12 16 (11.68%) Unit Testing
Programming Languages
1 27 (19.71%) Java
2 19 (13.87%) SQL
3 12 (8.76%) Python
4 10 (7.30%) PowerShell
5 9 (6.57%) JavaScript
6 5 (3.65%) TypeScript
7 3 (2.19%) Apex Code
7 3 (2.19%) Bash
8 1 (0.73%) ABAP
8 1 (0.73%) C#
8 1 (0.73%) Perl
8 1 (0.73%) Shell Script
8 1 (0.73%) SOQL
8 1 (0.73%) SOSL
8 1 (0.73%) T-SQL
8 1 (0.73%) VBA
Qualifications
1 31 (22.63%) Degree
2 23 (16.79%) Security Cleared
3 17 (12.41%) Computer Science Degree
3 17 (12.41%) SC Cleared
4 14 (10.22%) BPSS Clearance
5 7 (5.11%) Six Sigma Green Belt
6 3 (2.19%) AWS Certification
7 2 (1.46%) A+ Certification
7 2 (1.46%) Azure Certification
7 2 (1.46%) CBAP
7 2 (1.46%) Cisco Certification
7 2 (1.46%) CSPO
7 2 (1.46%) Microsoft Certification
7 2 (1.46%) PMI Certification
7 2 (1.46%) PMP
7 2 (1.46%) TOGAF Certification
8 1 (0.73%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
8 1 (0.73%) CCNA CyberOps
8 1 (0.73%) Check Point Certification
8 1 (0.73%) SAP Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (12.41%) PSD2
2 16 (11.68%) QA
3 15 (10.95%) ISO 20022
4 13 (9.49%) SEPA
5 6 (4.38%) PCI DSS
6 5 (3.65%) GDPR
7 3 (2.19%) ISO 8583
8 2 (1.46%) Data Quality
9 1 (0.73%) Accessibility
9 1 (0.73%) PMBOK
9 1 (0.73%) PMO
9 1 (0.73%) SLA
System Software
1 18 (13.14%) Docker
2 17 (12.41%) Active Directory
3 5 (3.65%) VMware NSX
4 1 (0.73%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 19 (13.87%) Kubernetes
2 15 (10.95%) SCCM
3 7 (5.11%) Microsoft Intune
4 6 (4.38%) Norton AntiVirus
5 3 (2.19%) Terraform
6 2 (1.46%) Ansible
7 1 (0.73%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 1 (0.73%) Autotask
7 1 (0.73%) CA Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.73%) Grafana
7 1 (0.73%) HP ALM
7 1 (0.73%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.73%) QRadar
7 1 (0.73%) Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.73%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 38 (27.74%) Microsoft
2 23 (16.79%) SAP
3 16 (11.68%) Oracle
4 6 (4.38%) F5
4 6 (4.38%) McAfee
4 6 (4.38%) MuleSoft
4 6 (4.38%) Symantec
4 6 (4.38%) VMware
5 5 (3.65%) Computacenter
5 5 (3.65%) ServiceNow
6 4 (2.92%) Salesforce
7 3 (2.19%) Cisco
7 3 (2.19%) Google
7 3 (2.19%) Snow
7 3 (2.19%) Workday
8 2 (1.46%) IBM
8 2 (1.46%) IBM Sterling
8 2 (1.46%) Palo Alto
8 2 (1.46%) SolarWinds
8 2 (1.46%) Splunk