Problem-Solving Contract Job Trends in Manchester

Problem Solving
North West > Manchester

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

6 months to
6 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 6 10
Rank change year-on-year -5 +4 +12
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 181 143 155
As % of all contract jobs in Manchester 10.65% 15.56% 10.45%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.61% 17.35% 11.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 103 100 111
10th Percentile £304 £224 £313
25th Percentile £364 £375 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £463 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.70% -7.50% +11.11%
75th Percentile £519 £550 £575
90th Percentile £604 £678 £663
North West median daily rate £410 £490 £493
% change year-on-year -16.33% -0.61% +9.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 2 5
10th Percentile £16.67 £18.23 £30.95
25th Percentile £36.25 £26.45 £57.50
Median hourly rate £70.00 £41.38 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +69.16% -31.03% +221.50%
75th Percentile £178.75 £57.57 £68.88
90th Percentile - £66.53 £81.55
North West median hourly rate £66.25 £28.13 £11.20
% change year-on-year +135.56% +151.23% -72.42%

All Process & Methodology Skills
Manchester

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 Manchester.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 1,435 824 1,296
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester 84.46% 89.66% 87.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 902 572 883
10th Percentile £308 £306 £325
25th Percentile £382 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £471 £500
Median % change year-on-year -0.37% -5.75% -
75th Percentile £575 £567 £596
90th Percentile £650 £675 £694
North West median daily rate £463 £475 £500
% change year-on-year -2.63% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 116 34 75
10th Percentile £21.00 £15.32 £12.44
25th Percentile £36.13 £24.25 £13.50
Median hourly rate £57.50 £32.75 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year +75.57% +25.96% -30.29%
75th Percentile £77.50 £70.31 £57.50
90th Percentile £92.50 £78.38 £72.50
North West median hourly rate £55.00 £32.50 £22.50
% change year-on-year +69.23% +44.44% -38.61%

Problem-Solving
Job Vacancy Trend in Manchester

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

Problem-Solving job vacancy trend in Manchester

Problem-Solving
Daily Rate Trend in Manchester

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

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

Problem-Solving
Daily Rate Histogram in Manchester

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Problem-Solving in Manchester over the 6 months to 6 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Problem-Solving in Manchester

Problem-Solving
Hourly Rate Trend in Manchester

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

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

Problem-Solving
Hourly Rate Histogram in Manchester

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Problem-Solving in Manchester over the 6 months to 6 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Problem-Solving in Manchester

Problem-Solving
Contract Job Locations in Manchester

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 Manchester region over the 6 months to 6 May 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
Bolton -1 8 - - 17
Stockport +3 3 £155 -69.00% 9
Salford +3 1 £168 -62.78% 11
Altrincham 0 1 - - 3
Problem-Solving
North West

Problem-Solving
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Manchester 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 10 (5.52%) Confluence
2 5 (2.76%) Apache
3 3 (1.66%) Adobe Experience Manager
3 3 (1.66%) Apache Spark
4 2 (1.10%) Apache Airflow
4 2 (1.10%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.55%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.55%) nginx
5 1 (0.55%) SAS
Applications
1 9 (4.97%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (4.42%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (2.76%) MS Visio
4 3 (1.66%) Chatbot
4 3 (1.66%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (1.10%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 1 (0.55%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 3 (1.66%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.55%) Advent Geneva
2 1 (0.55%) Elite 3E
2 1 (0.55%) ResourceLink
2 1 (0.55%) SAP BPC
2 1 (0.55%) SAP ERP
2 1 (0.55%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.55%) SAP PSCD
2 1 (0.55%) SAP SCM
Cloud Services
1 28 (15.47%) AWS
2 27 (14.92%) Azure
3 17 (9.39%) Power Platform
4 14 (7.73%) Microsoft 365
5 7 (3.87%) GCP
6 6 (3.31%) dbt
6 6 (3.31%) GitHub
6 6 (3.31%) Power Automate
7 5 (2.76%) Azure Data Factory
7 5 (2.76%) Entra ID
7 5 (2.76%) Serverless
8 4 (2.21%) Azure AKS
8 4 (2.21%) Azure DevOps
8 4 (2.21%) Azure Monitor
8 4 (2.21%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 3 (1.66%) Amazon S3
9 3 (1.66%) AWS Step Functions
9 3 (1.66%) Azure Logic Apps
9 3 (1.66%) GitHub Actions
9 3 (1.66%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 6 (3.31%) Firewall
2 4 (2.21%) Network Security
3 3 (1.66%) HTTP
4 2 (1.10%) DNS
4 2 (1.10%) SAN
4 2 (1.10%) VPN
4 2 (1.10%) Wi-Fi
5 1 (0.55%) BGP
5 1 (0.55%) DHCP
5 1 (0.55%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
5 1 (0.55%) Kerberos
5 1 (0.55%) LAN
5 1 (0.55%) OSPF
5 1 (0.55%) Reverse Proxy
5 1 (0.55%) SSL
5 1 (0.55%) Structured Cabling
5 1 (0.55%) WAN
5 1 (0.55%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (7.73%) Power BI
2 13 (7.18%) Data Warehouse
3 10 (5.52%) MongoDB
4 9 (4.97%) SQL Server
5 8 (4.42%) NoSQL
6 7 (3.87%) MySQL
6 7 (3.87%) Relational Database
7 6 (3.31%) PostgreSQL
8 4 (2.21%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
8 4 (2.21%) Big Data
8 4 (2.21%) BigQuery
8 4 (2.21%) Snowflake Schema
9 3 (1.66%) Data Vault
9 3 (1.66%) DataStage
9 3 (1.66%) DB2
9 3 (1.66%) DynamoDB
9 3 (1.66%) Hadoop
9 3 (1.66%) Metadata
9 3 (1.66%) Power Query
10 2 (1.10%) BusinessObjects
Development Applications
1 22 (12.15%) JIRA
2 10 (5.52%) Git
3 7 (3.87%) Mockito
4 4 (2.21%) GitLab
4 4 (2.21%) Postman
5 3 (1.66%) Jasmine
5 3 (1.66%) Selenium
6 2 (1.10%) JMeter
6 2 (1.10%) SoapUI
7 1 (0.55%) Claude Code
7 1 (0.55%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.55%) Cypress.io
7 1 (0.55%) JUnit
General
1 83 (45.86%) Social Skills
2 69 (38.12%) Analytical Skills
3 49 (27.07%) Finance
4 25 (13.81%) Public Sector
5 13 (7.18%) Banking
6 11 (6.08%) Law
7 9 (4.97%) Telecoms
8 8 (4.42%) Organisational Skills
9 7 (3.87%) Manufacturing
10 6 (3.31%) Influencing Skills
10 6 (3.31%) Legal
11 4 (2.21%) Presentation Skills
12 3 (1.66%) Retail
13 2 (1.10%) Documentation Skills
14 1 (0.55%) Cantonese Language
14 1 (0.55%) Mandarin Language
14 1 (0.55%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 41 (22.65%) Developer
2 37 (20.44%) Analyst
3 23 (12.71%) Senior
4 15 (8.29%) Java Developer
5 14 (7.73%) Administrator
5 14 (7.73%) Data Engineer
6 11 (6.08%) Business Analyst
6 11 (6.08%) IT Analyst
6 11 (6.08%) IT Support
7 10 (5.52%) Architect
7 10 (5.52%) Lead
7 10 (5.52%) Support Analyst
8 9 (4.97%) IT Support Analyst
9 8 (4.42%) Senior Analyst
10 7 (3.87%) Backend Developer
10 7 (3.87%) Full-Stack Developer
11 6 (3.31%) Mobile Developer
11 6 (3.31%) Senior Business Analyst
11 6 (3.31%) Software Engineer
12 5 (2.76%) Scrum Master
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (10.50%) Spring
2 18 (9.94%) Spring Boot
3 16 (8.84%) Kafka
4 11 (6.08%) RESTful
5 10 (5.52%) AngularJS
5 10 (5.52%) React
6 9 (4.97%) HTML
6 9 (4.97%) ISPF
7 8 (4.42%) CSS
7 8 (4.42%) OAuth
7 8 (4.42%) OAuth2
8 7 (3.87%) ActiveMQ
8 7 (3.87%) JAX-RS
9 5 (2.76%) REST
9 5 (2.76%) XML
10 4 (2.21%) ARM Templates
10 4 (2.21%) CSS3
10 4 (2.21%) HTML5
10 4 (2.21%) Jest
10 4 (2.21%) PySpark
Miscellaneous
1 15 (8.29%) Onboarding
2 12 (6.63%) Product Ownership
3 10 (5.52%) Mainframe
4 9 (4.97%) Mobile App
5 6 (3.31%) Management Information System
6 5 (2.76%) Analytical Mindset
7 4 (2.21%) AI Agents
7 4 (2.21%) CMDB
7 4 (2.21%) Data Protection Act
7 4 (2.21%) Data Structures
7 4 (2.21%) Legacy Systems
7 4 (2.21%) Self-Motivation
8 3 (1.66%) Cloud Native
8 3 (1.66%) Driving Licence
8 3 (1.66%) Greenfield Project
9 2 (1.10%) Data Centre
9 2 (1.10%) Distributed Systems
9 2 (1.10%) Enterprise Software
10 1 (0.55%) Legacy Applications
10 1 (0.55%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 12 (6.63%) Linux
1 12 (6.63%) Unix
2 11 (6.08%) Windows
3 10 (5.52%) Windows 10
4 5 (2.76%) Mac OS X
5 3 (1.66%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.55%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 47 (25.97%) Agile
2 30 (16.57%) Continuous Improvement
3 29 (16.02%) Microservices
4 26 (14.36%) Test Automation
5 25 (13.81%) Data Modelling
6 23 (12.71%) Analytics
6 23 (12.71%) CI/CD
6 23 (12.71%) Stakeholder Management
7 20 (11.05%) ETL
8 19 (10.50%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 19 (10.50%) TDD
9 18 (9.94%) Decision-Making
10 17 (9.39%) Change Management
10 17 (9.39%) Requirements Gathering
11 16 (8.84%) Data Pipeline
12 15 (8.29%) Business Intelligence
12 15 (8.29%) Conflict Resolution
12 15 (8.29%) DevOps
13 14 (7.73%) BDD
13 14 (7.73%) SDLC
Programming Languages
1 42 (23.20%) SQL
2 31 (17.13%) Java
3 13 (7.18%) Python
4 12 (6.63%) JavaScript
5 9 (4.97%) CLIST
5 9 (4.97%) COBOL
5 9 (4.97%) JCL
5 9 (4.97%) REXX
5 9 (4.97%) TypeScript
6 8 (4.42%) Kotlin
7 6 (3.31%) PowerShell
8 4 (2.21%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 4 (2.21%) T-SQL
9 3 (1.66%) PL/SQL
9 3 (1.66%) Shell Script
10 2 (1.10%) Bicep
10 2 (1.10%) C#
10 2 (1.10%) Go
10 2 (1.10%) VBA
11 1 (0.55%) ABAP
Qualifications
1 22 (12.15%) Degree
2 19 (10.50%) Security Cleared
3 12 (6.63%) BPSS Clearance
3 12 (6.63%) Computer Science Degree
3 12 (6.63%) Microsoft Certification
4 11 (6.08%) A+ Certification
4 11 (6.08%) Network+ Certification
5 4 (2.21%) SC Cleared
6 3 (1.66%) CCNA
6 3 (1.66%) Cisco Certification
7 2 (1.10%) Azure Certification
7 2 (1.10%) MCSE
8 1 (0.55%) CBAP
8 1 (0.55%) CISM
8 1 (0.55%) City & Guilds
8 1 (0.55%) CTC Cleared
8 1 (0.55%) IIBA
8 1 (0.55%) PMI Certification
8 1 (0.55%) PMP
8 1 (0.55%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (12.15%) Data Quality
2 7 (3.87%) QA
3 4 (2.21%) GDPR
3 4 (2.21%) PMO
4 2 (1.10%) Accessibility
4 2 (1.10%) GRC
5 1 (0.55%) HIPAA
5 1 (0.55%) NIST
5 1 (0.55%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 1 (0.55%) SLA
5 1 (0.55%) WCAG
System Software
1 15 (8.29%) Active Directory
2 9 (4.97%) ACF2
2 9 (4.97%) Docker
2 9 (4.97%) RACF
2 9 (4.97%) Time Sharing Option
3 3 (1.66%) ISA Server
3 3 (1.66%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.55%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 11 (6.08%) Kubernetes
2 9 (4.97%) CA Endevor
2 9 (4.97%) Tivoli
2 9 (4.97%) Tivoli Storage Manager
3 8 (4.42%) Terraform
4 3 (1.66%) Grafana
4 3 (1.66%) SCCM
5 2 (1.10%) Microsoft Intune
5 2 (1.10%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 28 (15.47%) Microsoft
2 14 (7.73%) SAP
3 9 (4.97%) Oracle
4 8 (4.42%) ServiceNow
5 5 (2.76%) Adobe
5 5 (2.76%) Databricks
6 4 (2.21%) Splunk
7 3 (1.66%) CA Agile Central
7 3 (1.66%) Dell
7 3 (1.66%) Google
7 3 (1.66%) IBM
8 2 (1.10%) Atlassian
8 2 (1.10%) DocuSign
8 2 (1.10%) IFS
8 2 (1.10%) PagerDuty
8 2 (1.10%) Teradata
8 2 (1.10%) Workday
9 1 (0.55%) Advent
9 1 (0.55%) Aruba
9 1 (0.55%) Netskope