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 21 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 6 8
Rank change year-on-year -6 +2 +16
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 171 148 182
As % of all contract jobs in Manchester 11.18% 15.35% 11.50%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.06% 16.88% 13.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 108 110 122
10th Percentile £313 £223 £313
25th Percentile £367 £369 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £463 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.70% -7.50% +11.11%
75th Percentile £519 £561 £592
90th Percentile £602 £671 £699
North West median daily rate £424 £481 £500
% change year-on-year -11.81% -3.90% +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 4 6
10th Percentile £16.97 £13.70 £13.64
25th Percentile £31.25 £15.12 £14.59
Median hourly rate £62.50 £26.45 £16.86
Median % change year-on-year +136.29% +56.88% -64.51%
75th Percentile £75.00 £45.88 £55.99
90th Percentile - £61.85 £79.44
North West median hourly rate £41.86 £28.75 £11.20
% change year-on-year +45.58% +156.81% -75.86%

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 1,309 877 1,373
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester 85.56% 90.98% 86.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 853 601 957
10th Percentile £300 £313 £313
25th Percentile £384 £400 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £455 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +1.11% -10.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £575
90th Percentile £638 £680 £675
North West median daily rate £455 £475 £500
% change year-on-year -4.21% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 93 33 77
10th Percentile £19.75 £15.93 £12.46
25th Percentile £23.00 £24.25 £13.50
Median hourly rate £55.00 £32.50 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year +69.23% +25.00% -33.33%
75th Percentile £73.75 £60.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £84.20 £64.00 £72.50
North West median hourly rate £45.00 £31.64 £22.98
% change year-on-year +42.23% +37.71% -38.57%

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 21 March 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 21 March 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 21 March 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
Stockport +3 3 £155 -69.00% 7
Bolton -2 2 - - 23
Oldham - 2 - - 7
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 9 (5.26%) Confluence
2 5 (2.92%) Apache
3 3 (1.75%) Adobe Experience Manager
3 3 (1.75%) Apache Spark
3 3 (1.75%) SharePoint
4 2 (1.17%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.58%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.58%) nginx
5 1 (0.58%) SAS
Applications
1 7 (4.09%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (3.51%) MS Visio
3 4 (2.34%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (1.75%) Chatbot
4 3 (1.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (1.75%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.58%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (1.17%) Advent Geneva
1 2 (1.17%) Dynamics CRM
1 2 (1.17%) Kondor
1 2 (1.17%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.58%) Dynamics AX
2 1 (0.58%) Elite 3E
2 1 (0.58%) ResourceLink
2 1 (0.58%) SAP BPC
2 1 (0.58%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.58%) SAP PSCD
2 1 (0.58%) SAP SCM
Cloud Services
1 36 (21.05%) Azure
2 29 (16.96%) AWS
3 23 (13.45%) Power Platform
4 10 (5.85%) GitHub
5 9 (5.26%) GCP
5 9 (5.26%) Microsoft 365
6 8 (4.68%) Serverless
7 7 (4.09%) Entra ID
7 7 (4.09%) GitHub Actions
7 7 (4.09%) Power Automate
8 6 (3.51%) Azure DevOps
9 5 (2.92%) Azure Data Factory
9 5 (2.92%) dbt
9 5 (2.92%) SaaS
10 4 (2.34%) Azure AKS
10 4 (2.34%) Azure Monitor
10 4 (2.34%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 4 (2.34%) Boomi
10 4 (2.34%) Dynamics 365
11 3 (1.75%) AtomSphere
Communications & Networking
1 6 (3.51%) Firewall
2 4 (2.34%) Network Security
3 3 (1.75%) HTTP
4 2 (1.17%) DNS
4 2 (1.17%) LAN
4 2 (1.17%) SAN
4 2 (1.17%) VPN
4 2 (1.17%) VSAN
4 2 (1.17%) WAN
4 2 (1.17%) Wi-Fi
5 1 (0.58%) BGP
5 1 (0.58%) DHCP
5 1 (0.58%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
5 1 (0.58%) Kerberos
5 1 (0.58%) OSPF
5 1 (0.58%) Reverse Proxy
5 1 (0.58%) SSL
5 1 (0.58%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (10.53%) Power BI
2 12 (7.02%) MongoDB
3 11 (6.43%) SQL Server
4 9 (5.26%) Data Warehouse
5 8 (4.68%) NoSQL
6 7 (4.09%) Relational Database
7 6 (3.51%) MySQL
8 5 (2.92%) DynamoDB
9 4 (2.34%) Big Data
9 4 (2.34%) PostgreSQL
10 3 (1.75%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
10 3 (1.75%) BigQuery
10 3 (1.75%) Hadoop
10 3 (1.75%) Metadata
10 3 (1.75%) Oracle Database
10 3 (1.75%) Power Query
10 3 (1.75%) Snowflake Schema
10 3 (1.75%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 2 (1.17%) Data Vault
11 2 (1.17%) DocumentDB
Development Applications
1 14 (8.19%) JIRA
2 9 (5.26%) Git
3 6 (3.51%) GitLab
3 6 (3.51%) Mockito
4 4 (2.34%) Postman
5 3 (1.75%) Jasmine
5 3 (1.75%) Selenium
6 2 (1.17%) Jenkins
6 2 (1.17%) JMeter
6 2 (1.17%) SoapUI
General
1 76 (44.44%) Social Skills
2 52 (30.41%) Analytical Skills
3 46 (26.90%) Finance
4 26 (15.20%) Public Sector
5 10 (5.85%) Banking
6 7 (4.09%) Influencing Skills
7 6 (3.51%) Law
7 6 (3.51%) Legal
7 6 (3.51%) Organisational Skills
8 4 (2.34%) Manufacturing
9 3 (1.75%) Documentation Skills
9 3 (1.75%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 3 (1.75%) Presentation Skills
9 3 (1.75%) Telecoms
10 2 (1.17%) Games
10 2 (1.17%) Retail
11 1 (0.58%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 43 (25.15%) Developer
2 30 (17.54%) Analyst
3 26 (15.20%) Senior
4 14 (8.19%) Data Engineer
5 12 (7.02%) Business Analyst
5 12 (7.02%) Java Developer
6 10 (5.85%) Lead
7 9 (5.26%) Administrator
7 9 (5.26%) Architect
7 9 (5.26%) Senior Analyst
8 7 (4.09%) Backend Developer
8 7 (4.09%) Full-Stack Developer
8 7 (4.09%) Software Engineer
9 6 (3.51%) Mobile Developer
9 6 (3.51%) Senior Business Analyst
10 5 (2.92%) Consultant
10 5 (2.92%) IT Analyst
10 5 (2.92%) IT Support
10 5 (2.92%) Scrum Master
10 5 (2.92%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (10.53%) Spring
2 17 (9.94%) Spring Boot
3 16 (9.36%) Kafka
4 9 (5.26%) ISPF
4 9 (5.26%) OAuth
4 9 (5.26%) OAuth2
4 9 (5.26%) RESTful
5 7 (4.09%) .NET
5 7 (4.09%) AngularJS
6 6 (3.51%) ActiveMQ
6 6 (3.51%) CSS
6 6 (3.51%) HTML
6 6 (3.51%) JAX-RS
6 6 (3.51%) React
6 6 (3.51%) XML
7 5 (2.92%) REST
7 5 (2.92%) SOAP
8 4 (2.34%) CSS3
8 4 (2.34%) HTML5
8 4 (2.34%) PySpark
Miscellaneous
1 9 (5.26%) Mainframe
1 9 (5.26%) Mobile App
1 9 (5.26%) Onboarding
2 7 (4.09%) Product Ownership
3 6 (3.51%) Greenfield Project
3 6 (3.51%) Management Information System
4 5 (2.92%) Analytical Mindset
4 5 (2.92%) Self-Motivation
5 4 (2.34%) CMDB
6 3 (1.75%) AI Agents
6 3 (1.75%) Data Protection Act
6 3 (1.75%) Data Structures
6 3 (1.75%) FMCG
7 2 (1.17%) Cloud Native
7 2 (1.17%) Data Centre
7 2 (1.17%) Distributed Systems
7 2 (1.17%) Driving Licence
7 2 (1.17%) Enterprise Software
7 2 (1.17%) Legacy Systems
7 2 (1.17%) SWIFT Messaging Network
Operating Systems
1 13 (7.60%) Linux
2 11 (6.43%) Unix
3 5 (2.92%) Mac OS X
3 5 (2.92%) Windows
4 4 (2.34%) Windows 10
5 2 (1.17%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.58%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.58%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 47 (27.49%) Agile
2 27 (15.79%) Continuous Improvement
3 26 (15.20%) Microservices
4 25 (14.62%) CI/CD
4 25 (14.62%) Test Automation
5 24 (14.04%) Analytics
6 23 (13.45%) DevOps
7 22 (12.87%) Data Modelling
7 22 (12.87%) Stakeholder Management
8 20 (11.70%) TDD
9 19 (11.11%) Business Intelligence
10 18 (10.53%) ETL
10 18 (10.53%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 17 (9.94%) Requirements Gathering
12 16 (9.36%) Data Pipeline
12 16 (9.36%) Decision-Making
12 16 (9.36%) Event-Driven
13 15 (8.77%) Change Management
13 15 (8.77%) Mentoring
14 14 (8.19%) Event-Driven Architecture
Programming Languages
1 41 (23.98%) SQL
2 31 (18.13%) Java
3 17 (9.94%) Python
4 11 (6.43%) JavaScript
5 9 (5.26%) CLIST
5 9 (5.26%) COBOL
5 9 (5.26%) JCL
5 9 (5.26%) REXX
5 9 (5.26%) TypeScript
6 8 (4.68%) Kotlin
7 6 (3.51%) C#
7 6 (3.51%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 5 (2.92%) PowerShell
8 5 (2.92%) T-SQL
9 4 (2.34%) Go
10 3 (1.75%) Bash
10 3 (1.75%) Groovy
11 2 (1.17%) Bicep
11 2 (1.17%) VBA
12 1 (0.58%) ABAP
Qualifications
1 16 (9.36%) Security Cleared
2 13 (7.60%) Degree
3 10 (5.85%) BPSS Clearance
4 6 (3.51%) Computer Science Degree
4 6 (3.51%) Microsoft Certification
5 5 (2.92%) A+ Certification
5 5 (2.92%) Network+ Certification
6 4 (2.34%) SC Cleared
7 3 (1.75%) CCNA
7 3 (1.75%) Cisco Certification
8 2 (1.17%) Azure Certification
8 2 (1.17%) MCSE
8 2 (1.17%) VCAP
8 2 (1.17%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 1 (0.58%) CBAP
9 1 (0.58%) CCNP
9 1 (0.58%) CTC Cleared
9 1 (0.58%) IIBA
9 1 (0.58%) PMP
9 1 (0.58%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (9.36%) Data Quality
2 6 (3.51%) QA
3 4 (2.34%) GDPR
4 3 (1.75%) PMO
5 2 (1.17%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.58%) GRC
6 1 (0.58%) HIPAA
6 1 (0.58%) NIST
6 1 (0.58%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 1 (0.58%) WCAG
System Software
1 14 (8.19%) Docker
2 10 (5.85%) Active Directory
3 9 (5.26%) ACF2
3 9 (5.26%) RACF
3 9 (5.26%) Time Sharing Option
4 3 (1.75%) ISA Server
4 3 (1.75%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (1.17%) VMware NSX
5 2 (1.17%) vSphere
6 1 (0.58%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 15 (8.77%) Kubernetes
2 13 (7.60%) Terraform
3 9 (5.26%) CA Endevor
3 9 (5.26%) Tivoli
3 9 (5.26%) Tivoli Storage Manager
4 5 (2.92%) Grafana
5 4 (2.34%) Prometheus
6 3 (1.75%) SCCM
7 2 (1.17%) Microsoft Intune
8 1 (0.58%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 26 (15.20%) Microsoft
2 9 (5.26%) Oracle
3 7 (4.09%) Databricks
3 7 (4.09%) SAP
4 5 (2.92%) ServiceNow
5 4 (2.34%) Adobe
5 4 (2.34%) Splunk
6 3 (1.75%) CA Agile Central
6 3 (1.75%) Dell
6 3 (1.75%) Google
7 2 (1.17%) Advent
7 2 (1.17%) Bloomberg
7 2 (1.17%) IFS
7 2 (1.17%) PagerDuty
7 2 (1.17%) VMware
7 2 (1.17%) Workday
8 1 (0.58%) Cisco
8 1 (0.58%) DocuSign
8 1 (0.58%) Netskope
8 1 (0.58%) Symantec