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 15 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 20 7 5
Rank change year-on-year -13 -2 +8
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 175 141 147
As % of all contract jobs in Manchester 8.51% 13.85% 12.50%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.07% 15.38% 14.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 106 73 84
10th Percentile £294 £296 £245
25th Percentile £401 £363 £359
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £486 £465 £450
Median % change year-on-year +4.57% +3.45% -14.38%
75th Percentile £600 £575 £519
90th Percentile £675 £645 £600
North West median daily rate £450 £458 £450
% change year-on-year -1.64% +1.67% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 16 5
10th Percentile £15.06 - £22.00
25th Percentile £24.04 £17.30 £37.00
Median hourly rate £40.00 £20.26 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +97.48% -66.24% +246.02%
75th Percentile £77.00 £21.77 £62.50
90th Percentile £92.50 £46.95 £80.80
North West median hourly rate £24.19 £20.26 £60.00
% change year-on-year +19.43% -66.24% +130.77%

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 1,737 917 1,025
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester 84.44% 90.08% 87.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,012 596 591
10th Percentile £340 £300 £313
25th Percentile £419 £385 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £458 £475
Median % change year-on-year +12.02% -3.68% -5.00%
75th Percentile £619 £588 £575
90th Percentile £713 £674 £675
North West median daily rate £500 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +11.11% -5.26% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 185 69 35
10th Percentile £19.00 £15.92 £16.34
25th Percentile £34.00 £19.07 £26.93
Median hourly rate £60.50 £22.63 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +167.34% -35.34% +79.49%
75th Percentile £75.00 £33.00 £62.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £64.00 £73.30
North West median hourly rate £47.50 £25.15 £40.33
% change year-on-year +88.90% -37.64% +15.21%

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 15 October 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 15 October 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 15 October 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 +8 13 £160 -13.51% 10
Rochdale - 3 - - 2
Oldham -3 2 - - 2
Bury -11 2 £634 - 2
Salford -2 1 - - 6
Stockport -2 1 £140 -76.67% 10
Altrincham - 1 - - 12
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 3 (1.71%) Confluence
2 2 (1.14%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.57%) Adobe Experience Manager
3 1 (0.57%) Apache Airflow
3 1 (0.57%) CMS
3 1 (0.57%) SharePoint
Applications
1 12 (6.86%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (4.57%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (1.71%) Acrobat
4 1 (0.57%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.57%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.57%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 4 (2.29%) Dynamics CRM
1 4 (2.29%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (1.71%) SAP ERP
2 3 (1.71%) Workday HCM
3 1 (0.57%) FIS Private Capital Suite
3 1 (0.57%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 1 (0.57%) Infor M3
3 1 (0.57%) Oracle Payables
3 1 (0.57%) SAP GRC
3 1 (0.57%) SAP Travel Management
Cloud Services
1 30 (17.14%) Azure
2 24 (13.71%) AWS
3 23 (13.14%) Microsoft 365
4 15 (8.57%) Power Platform
5 11 (6.29%) GCP
5 11 (6.29%) GitHub
6 9 (5.14%) Entra ID
7 7 (4.00%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (2.86%) IaaS
8 5 (2.86%) Power Automate
8 5 (2.86%) PowerApps
9 4 (2.29%) AWS Lambda
9 4 (2.29%) Dynamics 365
9 4 (2.29%) OpenShift
9 4 (2.29%) Serverless
10 3 (1.71%) Google Sheets
10 3 (1.71%) Google Workspace
11 2 (1.14%) Cloud Computing
11 2 (1.14%) dbt
11 2 (1.14%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 14 (8.00%) Firewall
2 10 (5.71%) VPN
3 9 (5.14%) DNS
4 8 (4.57%) Network Security
5 5 (2.86%) BIG-IP
5 5 (2.86%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
5 5 (2.86%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
5 5 (2.86%) Wireless
6 3 (1.71%) DHCP
6 3 (1.71%) LAN
6 3 (1.71%) VoIP
6 3 (1.71%) Wi-Fi
7 2 (1.14%) PABX
7 2 (1.14%) Software-Defined Networking
7 2 (1.14%) VLAN
7 2 (1.14%) WAN
8 1 (0.57%) Cisco Nexus
8 1 (0.57%) Ethernet VPN
8 1 (0.57%) SD-WAN
8 1 (0.57%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (6.29%) SQL Server
2 10 (5.71%) Data Warehouse
2 10 (5.71%) Power BI
2 10 (5.71%) Relational Database
3 7 (4.00%) DataStage
4 6 (3.43%) Db2
5 3 (1.71%) Data Lake
5 3 (1.71%) MongoDB
5 3 (1.71%) Tableau
6 2 (1.14%) DynamoDB
6 2 (1.14%) Metadata
6 2 (1.14%) MySQL
6 2 (1.14%) NoSQL
6 2 (1.14%) Oracle Database
6 2 (1.14%) PostgreSQL
6 2 (1.14%) Power Query
7 1 (0.57%) Semantic Layer
7 1 (0.57%) Snowflake Schema
7 1 (0.57%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 1 (0.57%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 11 (6.29%) Git
1 11 (6.29%) Jenkins
2 10 (5.71%) JIRA
3 4 (2.29%) Gatling
3 4 (2.29%) REST Assured
4 3 (1.71%) Cucumber
4 3 (1.71%) GitLab
4 3 (1.71%) Selenium
4 3 (1.71%) Sonatype Nexus
5 2 (1.14%) Burp Suite
5 2 (1.14%) Gradle
5 2 (1.14%) LoadRunner
5 2 (1.14%) Serenity BDD
5 2 (1.14%) SonarQube
5 2 (1.14%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 1 (0.57%) Claude Code
6 1 (0.57%) JUnit
6 1 (0.57%) Maven
6 1 (0.57%) MSI
6 1 (0.57%) NUnit
General
1 90 (51.43%) Social Skills
2 77 (44.00%) Analytical Skills
3 34 (19.43%) Finance
4 18 (10.29%) Banking
5 11 (6.29%) Manufacturing
6 9 (5.14%) Organisational Skills
7 8 (4.57%) Legal
8 5 (2.86%) Influencing Skills
8 5 (2.86%) Law
8 5 (2.86%) Public Sector
9 4 (2.29%) Aerospace
9 4 (2.29%) Documentation Skills
9 4 (2.29%) Retail
10 3 (1.71%) Automotive
10 3 (1.71%) Games
10 3 (1.71%) Telecoms
11 2 (1.14%) Italian Language
11 2 (1.14%) Japanese Language
11 2 (1.14%) Marketing
11 2 (1.14%) Military
Job Titles
1 27 (15.43%) Analyst
2 23 (13.14%) Developer
3 17 (9.71%) Senior
4 14 (8.00%) Administrator
5 12 (6.86%) Architect
6 11 (6.29%) Lead
7 10 (5.71%) Consultant
7 10 (5.71%) Software Engineer
8 9 (5.14%) Java Engineer
9 8 (4.57%) Data Engineer
9 8 (4.57%) IT Support
10 7 (4.00%) Senior Developer
11 6 (3.43%) Applications Packager
11 6 (3.43%) AWS Engineer
11 6 (3.43%) Data Analyst
11 6 (3.43%) Service Analyst
11 6 (3.43%) Technical Administrator
12 5 (2.86%) DataStage Developer
12 5 (2.86%) Salesforce Developer
12 5 (2.86%) Senior Salesforce Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (9.71%) REST
2 11 (6.29%) Spring
2 11 (6.29%) Spring Boot
3 10 (5.71%) Kafka
3 10 (5.71%) Terraform
4 9 (5.14%) React
5 6 (3.43%) Node.js
6 5 (2.86%) Lightning Web Components
6 5 (2.86%) Playwright
6 5 (2.86%) SOAP
7 4 (2.29%) .NET
7 4 (2.29%) HTML
8 3 (1.71%) CSS
8 3 (1.71%) GraphQL
8 3 (1.71%) Next.js
9 2 (1.14%) OAuth
9 2 (1.14%) PySpark
9 2 (1.14%) RESTful
9 2 (1.14%) Spring Cloud
9 2 (1.14%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 19 (10.86%) Onboarding
2 12 (6.86%) Cloud Native
3 9 (5.14%) Data Protection Act
3 9 (5.14%) Distributed Systems
3 9 (5.14%) Public Cloud
4 8 (4.57%) Product Ownership
5 7 (4.00%) Driving Licence
6 6 (3.43%) Enterprise Software
6 6 (3.43%) Legacy Systems
6 6 (3.43%) Self-Motivation
7 5 (2.86%) Data Centre
8 4 (2.29%) Data Structures
8 4 (2.29%) Management Information System
9 3 (1.71%) Blackberry
9 3 (1.71%) Low-Code
9 3 (1.71%) Private Cloud
9 3 (1.71%) Smartphone
10 2 (1.14%) Hybrid Cloud
10 2 (1.14%) Legacy Applications
10 2 (1.14%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 27 (15.43%) Windows
2 14 (8.00%) Windows 10
3 9 (5.14%) Linux
4 8 (4.57%) Unix
5 6 (3.43%) Apple iOS
5 6 (3.43%) Windows Server
6 2 (1.14%) Android
7 1 (0.57%) macOS
7 1 (0.57%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 45 (25.71%) Agile
2 42 (24.00%) CI/CD
3 40 (22.86%) Stakeholder Management
4 32 (18.29%) Continuous Improvement
5 24 (13.71%) Data Modelling
5 24 (13.71%) Software Engineering
6 22 (12.57%) DevOps
7 20 (11.43%) AI
7 20 (11.43%) Decision-Making
7 20 (11.43%) Test Automation
8 19 (10.86%) Validation
9 18 (10.29%) Technical Leadership
10 16 (9.14%) ITIL
10 16 (9.14%) Microservices
10 16 (9.14%) Observability
11 15 (8.57%) Analytics
11 15 (8.57%) Customer Service
12 14 (8.00%) Performance Tuning
12 14 (8.00%) Roadmaps
12 14 (8.00%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 30 (17.14%) SQL
2 28 (16.00%) Python
3 19 (10.86%) Java
4 11 (6.29%) PowerShell
5 8 (4.57%) JavaScript
6 7 (4.00%) TypeScript
7 6 (3.43%) PL/SQL
7 6 (3.43%) Shell Script
8 5 (2.86%) ActionScript
8 5 (2.86%) Apex Code
9 4 (2.29%) Bash
10 3 (1.71%) C#
10 3 (1.71%) T-SQL
11 2 (1.14%) Go
11 2 (1.14%) Kotlin
11 2 (1.14%) VBScript
12 1 (0.57%) Bicep
12 1 (0.57%) Rust
12 1 (0.57%) SOQL
12 1 (0.57%) SOSL
Qualifications
1 24 (13.71%) Security Cleared
2 16 (9.14%) SC Cleared
3 13 (7.43%) BPSS Clearance
3 13 (7.43%) Degree
4 7 (4.00%) Computer Science Degree
5 5 (2.86%) Microsoft Certification
6 4 (2.29%) Cisco Certification
6 4 (2.29%) CISSP
7 3 (1.71%) A+ Certification
7 3 (1.71%) CCIE
7 3 (1.71%) CCNP
7 3 (1.71%) DBS Check
7 3 (1.71%) Network+ Certification
8 2 (1.14%) CCIE Security
8 2 (1.14%) CCSP
8 2 (1.14%) City & Guilds
8 2 (1.14%) HNC
8 2 (1.14%) Microsoft Certified Professional
8 2 (1.14%) PMI Certification
8 2 (1.14%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (13.71%) Data Quality
2 7 (4.00%) Accessibility
3 4 (2.29%) QA
4 3 (1.71%) GRC
4 3 (1.71%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 3 (1.71%) NIST
5 2 (1.14%) Def Stans
5 2 (1.14%) PCI DSS
5 2 (1.14%) PMO
6 1 (0.57%) Actionable Recommendations
6 1 (0.57%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.57%) NCSC
6 1 (0.57%) SLA
System Software
1 19 (10.86%) Active Directory
2 9 (5.14%) Docker
3 5 (2.86%) Virtual Desktop
4 2 (1.14%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.57%) Oracle RAC
5 1 (0.57%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.57%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 15 (8.57%) Kubernetes
2 7 (4.00%) Microsoft Intune
3 5 (2.86%) Grafana
4 4 (2.29%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (1.71%) Ansible
5 3 (1.71%) Prometheus
6 2 (1.14%) Data Guard
6 2 (1.14%) Istio
7 1 (0.57%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.57%) Puppet
7 1 (0.57%) SCCM
7 1 (0.57%) SCOM
Vendors
1 40 (22.86%) Microsoft
2 17 (9.71%) ServiceNow
3 16 (9.14%) SAP
4 12 (6.86%) Oracle
5 8 (4.57%) Google
5 8 (4.57%) IBM
6 6 (3.43%) Apple
6 6 (3.43%) F5
6 6 (3.43%) Salesforce
6 6 (3.43%) Splunk
6 6 (3.43%) Teradata
7 5 (2.86%) Adobe
7 5 (2.86%) CyberArk
8 4 (2.29%) Cisco
8 4 (2.29%) Dynatrace
8 4 (2.29%) Workday
9 3 (1.71%) Concur
9 3 (1.71%) DocuSign
9 3 (1.71%) Intapp
9 3 (1.71%) Litera