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

6 months to
24 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 16 5 11
Rank change year-on-year -11 +6 +10
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 177 154 151
As % of all contract jobs in Manchester 9.57% 16.85% 10.27%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.46% 18.99% 11.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 101 101 93
10th Percentile £290 £295 £313
25th Percentile £366 £400 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £440 £463 £475
Median % change year-on-year -4.86% -2.63% -5.00%
75th Percentile £530 £600 £563
90th Percentile £640 £703 £655
North West median daily rate £440 £475 £488
% change year-on-year -7.37% -2.56% +1.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 3 5
10th Percentile £14.80 £23.71 £30.95
25th Percentile £30.00 £40.13 £57.50
Median hourly rate £62.50 £70.00 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year -10.71% +16.67% +221.50%
75th Percentile £85.00 £71.25 £68.88
90th Percentile £178.75 £72.00 £81.55
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
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 1,545 811 1,264
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester 83.51% 88.73% 85.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 924 564 828
10th Percentile £300 £308 £321
25th Percentile £400 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -10.00% -
75th Percentile £581 £563 £588
90th Percentile £666 £675 £688
North West median daily rate £475 £456 £495
% change year-on-year +4.17% -7.88% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 144 27 82
10th Percentile £22.63 £14.17 £12.50
25th Percentile £30.00 £22.48 £14.13
Median hourly rate £55.00 £60.00 £26.26
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +128.48% +16.71%
75th Percentile £77.13 £74.38 £57.50
90th Percentile £89.25 £86.20 £72.50
North West median hourly rate £50.00 £32.00 £30.00
% change year-on-year +56.25% +6.67% -0.89%

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 24 June 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 24 June 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 24 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
Bolton -2 9 - - 12
Stockport +1 4 £155 -69.00% 12
Salford +1 2 £168 -73.20% 12
Altrincham 0 1 - - 3
Rochdale - 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 11 (6.21%) Confluence
2 3 (1.69%) Apache Spark
3 2 (1.13%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.56%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 1 (0.56%) CMS
4 1 (0.56%) nginx
4 1 (0.56%) SharePoint
Applications
1 12 (6.78%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (5.65%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (2.82%) MS Visio
4 2 (1.13%) Chatbot
4 2 (1.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (1.13%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.56%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 3 (1.69%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (1.13%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.56%) Elite 3E
3 1 (0.56%) FIS Private Capital Suite
3 1 (0.56%) ResourceLink
3 1 (0.56%) SAP BPC
3 1 (0.56%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 30 (16.95%) Azure
2 24 (13.56%) AWS
3 17 (9.60%) Power Platform
4 16 (9.04%) Microsoft 365
5 9 (5.08%) GitHub
6 7 (3.95%) GCP
7 6 (3.39%) Power Automate
8 5 (2.82%) Azure DevOps
9 4 (2.26%) Azure AKS
9 4 (2.26%) Azure Monitor
9 4 (2.26%) dbt
9 4 (2.26%) Entra ID
9 4 (2.26%) Google Sheets
9 4 (2.26%) Google Workspace
9 4 (2.26%) OpenShift
10 3 (1.69%) Azure Data Factory
10 3 (1.69%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 3 (1.69%) GitHub Actions
11 2 (1.13%) Intacct
11 2 (1.13%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 4 (2.26%) Firewall
2 3 (1.69%) VPN
3 2 (1.13%) Wi-Fi
3 2 (1.13%) Wireless
4 1 (0.56%) DNS
4 1 (0.56%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
4 1 (0.56%) Kerberos
4 1 (0.56%) Network Security
4 1 (0.56%) Reverse Proxy
4 1 (0.56%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (9.04%) Power BI
2 12 (6.78%) Data Warehouse
2 12 (6.78%) MongoDB
3 11 (6.21%) SQL Server
4 7 (3.95%) Relational Database
5 6 (3.39%) MySQL
5 6 (3.39%) NoSQL
5 6 (3.39%) PostgreSQL
6 4 (2.26%) Big Data
6 4 (2.26%) DataStage
6 4 (2.26%) Snowflake Schema
7 3 (1.69%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
7 3 (1.69%) Data Vault
7 3 (1.69%) Db2
7 3 (1.69%) Hadoop
7 3 (1.69%) Metadata
7 3 (1.69%) Power Query
7 3 (1.69%) Tableau
8 2 (1.13%) BusinessObjects
9 1 (0.56%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 26 (14.69%) JIRA
2 14 (7.91%) Git
3 7 (3.95%) Mockito
4 6 (3.39%) GitLab
5 5 (2.82%) Jenkins
5 5 (2.82%) Selenium
6 4 (2.26%) Gatling
6 4 (2.26%) Postman
6 4 (2.26%) REST Assured
7 3 (1.69%) Cucumber
8 2 (1.13%) Burp Suite
8 2 (1.13%) Gradle
8 2 (1.13%) JMeter
8 2 (1.13%) LoadRunner
8 2 (1.13%) Serenity BDD
8 2 (1.13%) SoapUI
8 2 (1.13%) SonarQube
8 2 (1.13%) Sonatype Nexus
9 1 (0.56%) Claude Code
9 1 (0.56%) JUnit
General
1 85 (48.02%) Social Skills
2 75 (42.37%) Analytical Skills
3 39 (22.03%) Finance
4 20 (11.30%) Public Sector
5 15 (8.47%) Banking
6 10 (5.65%) Organisational Skills
7 9 (5.08%) Law
7 9 (5.08%) Manufacturing
7 9 (5.08%) Telecoms
8 7 (3.95%) Influencing Skills
9 4 (2.26%) Documentation Skills
9 4 (2.26%) Legal
9 4 (2.26%) Retail
10 3 (1.69%) Presentation Skills
11 2 (1.13%) Automotive
11 2 (1.13%) Games
11 2 (1.13%) Marketing
12 1 (0.56%) Aerospace
12 1 (0.56%) Financial Institution
12 1 (0.56%) Mandarin Language
Job Titles
1 41 (23.16%) Analyst
2 27 (15.25%) Developer
3 18 (10.17%) Senior
4 15 (8.47%) Java Developer
4 15 (8.47%) Lead
5 14 (7.91%) Data Engineer
6 13 (7.34%) Architect
6 13 (7.34%) IT Support
7 11 (6.21%) Administrator
7 11 (6.21%) Support Analyst
8 10 (5.65%) IT Analyst
9 9 (5.08%) Business Analyst
9 9 (5.08%) IT Support Analyst
10 8 (4.52%) Senior Analyst
11 7 (3.95%) Technical Administrator
12 6 (3.39%) Senior Business Analyst
12 6 (3.39%) Software Engineer
13 5 (2.82%) Solutions Architect
13 5 (2.82%) Support Engineer
13 5 (2.82%) Test Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (9.04%) Kafka
2 15 (8.47%) Spring
3 14 (7.91%) Spring Boot
4 12 (6.78%) React
5 8 (4.52%) RESTful
6 7 (3.95%) ActiveMQ
6 7 (3.95%) JAX-RS
7 6 (3.39%) HTML
8 5 (2.82%) AngularJS
8 5 (2.82%) CSS
8 5 (2.82%) Node.js
8 5 (2.82%) Playwright
8 5 (2.82%) REST
9 4 (2.26%) ARM Templates
9 4 (2.26%) XML
10 3 (1.69%) .NET
10 3 (1.69%) EDI
10 3 (1.69%) EDIFACT
10 3 (1.69%) ISPF
10 3 (1.69%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 16 (9.04%) Onboarding
2 9 (5.08%) Product Ownership
3 8 (4.52%) Data Protection Act
4 7 (3.95%) Cloud Native
5 6 (3.39%) Legacy Systems
5 6 (3.39%) Management Information System
6 5 (2.82%) AI Agents
6 5 (2.82%) Driving Licence
7 4 (2.26%) Analytical Mindset
7 4 (2.26%) Data Structures
7 4 (2.26%) Mainframe
7 4 (2.26%) Mobile App
7 4 (2.26%) Self-Motivation
8 3 (1.69%) Enterprise Software
8 3 (1.69%) Private Cloud
8 3 (1.69%) Public Cloud
9 2 (1.13%) CMDB
9 2 (1.13%) iPad
9 2 (1.13%) Linux Command Line
9 2 (1.13%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 15 (8.47%) Windows
2 12 (6.78%) Linux
3 11 (6.21%) Windows 10
4 10 (5.65%) Unix
5 5 (2.82%) Mac OS X
6 2 (1.13%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 44 (24.86%) Agile
2 33 (18.64%) Stakeholder Management
3 32 (18.08%) CI/CD
4 29 (16.38%) Continuous Improvement
5 24 (13.56%) Data Modelling
5 24 (13.56%) Microservices
6 23 (12.99%) Test Automation
7 21 (11.86%) Analytics
7 21 (11.86%) DevOps
8 20 (11.30%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 19 (10.73%) Decision-Making
10 18 (10.17%) ITIL
11 17 (9.60%) Business Intelligence
12 16 (9.04%) ETL
13 15 (8.47%) AI
13 15 (8.47%) Change Management
13 15 (8.47%) Data Analysis
14 14 (7.91%) Data Pipeline
14 14 (7.91%) Requirements Gathering
14 14 (7.91%) Workflow
Programming Languages
1 34 (19.21%) SQL
2 26 (14.69%) Java
3 19 (10.73%) Python
4 12 (6.78%) JavaScript
5 8 (4.52%) PowerShell
6 6 (3.39%) TypeScript
7 4 (2.26%) Shell Script
8 3 (1.69%) Bash
8 3 (1.69%) CLIST
8 3 (1.69%) COBOL
8 3 (1.69%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 3 (1.69%) JCL
8 3 (1.69%) Kotlin
8 3 (1.69%) PL/SQL
8 3 (1.69%) REXX
8 3 (1.69%) T-SQL
9 2 (1.13%) Bicep
9 2 (1.13%) Go
9 2 (1.13%) VBA
10 1 (0.56%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 21 (11.86%) Degree
1 21 (11.86%) Security Cleared
2 13 (7.34%) BPSS Clearance
2 13 (7.34%) Microsoft Certification
3 10 (5.65%) A+ Certification
3 10 (5.65%) Network+ Certification
3 10 (5.65%) SC Cleared
4 9 (5.08%) Computer Science Degree
5 2 (1.13%) Azure Certification
5 2 (1.13%) CISM
5 2 (1.13%) CISSP
5 2 (1.13%) City & Guilds
5 2 (1.13%) CompTIA Security+
5 2 (1.13%) Microsoft Certified Professional
5 2 (1.13%) PMI Certification
5 2 (1.13%) PMP
6 1 (0.56%) APMG
6 1 (0.56%) CBAP
6 1 (0.56%) IIBA
6 1 (0.56%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (14.12%) Data Quality
2 5 (2.82%) Accessibility
3 4 (2.26%) PMO
3 4 (2.26%) QA
4 3 (1.69%) GRC
5 2 (1.13%) GDPR
5 2 (1.13%) SLA
6 1 (0.56%) NIST
6 1 (0.56%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 1 (0.56%) WCAG
System Software
1 16 (9.04%) Active Directory
2 15 (8.47%) Docker
3 3 (1.69%) ACF2
3 3 (1.69%) RACF
3 3 (1.69%) Time Sharing Option
3 3 (1.69%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 16 (9.04%) Kubernetes
2 13 (7.34%) Terraform
3 7 (3.95%) Grafana
4 4 (2.26%) Prometheus
5 3 (1.69%) CA Endevor
5 3 (1.69%) Tivoli
5 3 (1.69%) Tivoli Storage Manager
6 2 (1.13%) Ansible
6 2 (1.13%) Istio
6 2 (1.13%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (0.56%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 33 (18.64%) Microsoft
2 16 (9.04%) SAP
3 13 (7.34%) ServiceNow
4 10 (5.65%) Oracle
5 7 (3.95%) Google
6 6 (3.39%) Splunk
7 5 (2.82%) DocuSign
8 4 (2.26%) Concur
8 4 (2.26%) Dynatrace
8 4 (2.26%) IBM
9 3 (1.69%) Teradata
10 2 (1.13%) Adobe
10 2 (1.13%) AppDynamics
10 2 (1.13%) Atlassian
10 2 (1.13%) CA Agile Central
10 2 (1.13%) Databricks
10 2 (1.13%) Dell
10 2 (1.13%) Moogsoft
10 2 (1.13%) PagerDuty
10 2 (1.13%) Sage