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 25 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 6 12
Rank change year-on-year -6 +6 +12
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 178 145 157
As % of all contract jobs in Manchester 10.62% 15.69% 10.26%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.67% 17.47% 11.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 104 102 113
10th Percentile £305 £229 £313
25th Percentile £363 £375 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £463 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.70% -7.50% +11.11%
75th Percentile £519 £548 £575
90th Percentile £604 £675 £661
North West median daily rate £402 £486 £493
% change year-on-year -17.28% -1.42% +9.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 3 3
10th Percentile £23.56 £13.39 £23.19
25th Percentile £54.69 £14.33 £38.11
Median hourly rate £70.00 £15.90 £65.92
Median % change year-on-year +340.25% -75.88% +255.17%
75th Percentile £178.75 £44.20 £79.44
90th Percentile - £61.18 £85.78
North West median hourly rate £70.00 £27.13 £11.10
% change year-on-year +158.06% +144.42% -59.65%

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 1,405 830 1,334
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester 83.83% 89.83% 87.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 899 578 914
10th Percentile £300 £300 £313
25th Percentile £386 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £469 £471 £500
Median % change year-on-year -0.48% -5.75% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £588
90th Percentile £650 £693 £694
North West median daily rate £463 £475 £500
% change year-on-year -2.63% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 103 33 74
10th Percentile £21.00 £15.93 £12.43
25th Percentile £32.50 £24.25 £13.50
Median hourly rate £57.50 £32.50 £25.10
Median % change year-on-year +76.92% +29.51% -30.58%
75th Percentile £77.50 £63.75 £57.50
90th Percentile £95.00 £77.00 £72.50
North West median hourly rate £46.62 £32.00 £21.00
% change year-on-year +45.67% +52.38% -40.00%

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 25 April 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 25 April 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 25 April 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 7 - - 14
Stockport +4 3 £155 -69.00% 11
Salford +3 1 £168 -62.78% 8
Altrincham 0 1 - - 2
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 (5.62%) Confluence
2 5 (2.81%) Apache
3 4 (2.25%) Apache Spark
4 3 (1.69%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 2 (1.12%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (1.12%) SharePoint
6 1 (0.56%) Microsoft Exchange
6 1 (0.56%) nginx
6 1 (0.56%) SAS
Applications
1 9 (5.06%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (4.49%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (2.81%) MS Visio
4 3 (1.69%) Chatbot
4 3 (1.69%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (1.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 1 (0.56%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (1.12%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.56%) Advent Geneva
2 1 (0.56%) Elite 3E
2 1 (0.56%) ResourceLink
2 1 (0.56%) SAP BPC
2 1 (0.56%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.56%) SAP PSCD
2 1 (0.56%) SAP SCM
Cloud Services
1 29 (16.29%) Azure
2 28 (15.73%) AWS
3 17 (9.55%) Power Platform
4 15 (8.43%) Microsoft 365
5 7 (3.93%) GCP
5 7 (3.93%) GitHub
6 6 (3.37%) dbt
6 6 (3.37%) Entra ID
6 6 (3.37%) Power Automate
6 6 (3.37%) Serverless
7 5 (2.81%) Azure Data Factory
8 4 (2.25%) Azure AKS
8 4 (2.25%) Azure DevOps
8 4 (2.25%) Azure Monitor
8 4 (2.25%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 4 (2.25%) GitHub Actions
9 3 (1.69%) Amazon S3
9 3 (1.69%) AWS Step Functions
9 3 (1.69%) Azure Logic Apps
9 3 (1.69%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 6 (3.37%) Firewall
2 4 (2.25%) Network Security
3 3 (1.69%) HTTP
4 2 (1.12%) DNS
4 2 (1.12%) SAN
4 2 (1.12%) VPN
5 1 (0.56%) BGP
5 1 (0.56%) DHCP
5 1 (0.56%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
5 1 (0.56%) Kerberos
5 1 (0.56%) LAN
5 1 (0.56%) OSPF
5 1 (0.56%) Reverse Proxy
5 1 (0.56%) SSL
5 1 (0.56%) Structured Cabling
5 1 (0.56%) WAN
5 1 (0.56%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (7.87%) Power BI
2 13 (7.30%) Data Warehouse
3 11 (6.18%) MongoDB
4 9 (5.06%) NoSQL
4 9 (5.06%) SQL Server
5 7 (3.93%) MySQL
5 7 (3.93%) Relational Database
6 6 (3.37%) PostgreSQL
7 4 (2.25%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
7 4 (2.25%) Big Data
7 4 (2.25%) BigQuery
7 4 (2.25%) DynamoDB
7 4 (2.25%) Snowflake Schema
8 3 (1.69%) Data Vault
8 3 (1.69%) DataStage
8 3 (1.69%) DB2
8 3 (1.69%) Hadoop
8 3 (1.69%) Metadata
8 3 (1.69%) Power Query
9 2 (1.12%) BusinessObjects
Development Applications
1 22 (12.36%) JIRA
2 10 (5.62%) Git
3 7 (3.93%) Mockito
4 4 (2.25%) GitLab
4 4 (2.25%) Postman
5 3 (1.69%) Jasmine
6 2 (1.12%) JMeter
6 2 (1.12%) Selenium
6 2 (1.12%) SoapUI
General
1 81 (45.51%) Social Skills
2 67 (37.64%) Analytical Skills
3 49 (27.53%) Finance
4 24 (13.48%) Public Sector
5 13 (7.30%) Banking
6 11 (6.18%) Law
7 9 (5.06%) Telecoms
8 8 (4.49%) Organisational Skills
9 6 (3.37%) Influencing Skills
9 6 (3.37%) Legal
9 6 (3.37%) Manufacturing
10 4 (2.25%) Presentation Skills
11 2 (1.12%) Documentation Skills
11 2 (1.12%) Retail
12 1 (0.56%) Cantonese Language
12 1 (0.56%) Mandarin Language
12 1 (0.56%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 41 (23.03%) Developer
2 36 (20.22%) Analyst
3 23 (12.92%) Senior
4 15 (8.43%) Java Developer
5 14 (7.87%) Administrator
5 14 (7.87%) Data Engineer
6 11 (6.18%) Business Analyst
6 11 (6.18%) IT Analyst
6 11 (6.18%) IT Support
7 10 (5.62%) Lead
7 10 (5.62%) Support Analyst
8 9 (5.06%) Architect
8 9 (5.06%) IT Support Analyst
9 8 (4.49%) Senior Analyst
10 7 (3.93%) Backend Developer
10 7 (3.93%) Full-Stack Developer
11 6 (3.37%) Mobile Developer
11 6 (3.37%) Senior Business Analyst
12 5 (2.81%) Software Engineer
12 5 (2.81%) Technical Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (10.67%) Spring
2 18 (10.11%) Spring Boot
3 17 (9.55%) Kafka
4 11 (6.18%) RESTful
5 9 (5.06%) AngularJS
5 9 (5.06%) HTML
5 9 (5.06%) ISPF
5 9 (5.06%) OAuth
5 9 (5.06%) OAuth2
6 8 (4.49%) CSS
6 8 (4.49%) React
7 7 (3.93%) ActiveMQ
7 7 (3.93%) JAX-RS
8 5 (2.81%) XML
9 4 (2.25%) .NET
9 4 (2.25%) ARM Templates
9 4 (2.25%) CSS3
9 4 (2.25%) HTML5
9 4 (2.25%) PySpark
9 4 (2.25%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 15 (8.43%) Onboarding
2 9 (5.06%) Mainframe
2 9 (5.06%) Mobile App
2 9 (5.06%) Product Ownership
3 6 (3.37%) Management Information System
4 5 (2.81%) Analytical Mindset
4 5 (2.81%) Data Protection Act
5 4 (2.25%) AI Agents
5 4 (2.25%) CMDB
5 4 (2.25%) Data Structures
5 4 (2.25%) Greenfield Project
5 4 (2.25%) Self-Motivation
6 3 (1.69%) Legacy Systems
7 2 (1.12%) Cloud Native
7 2 (1.12%) Data Centre
7 2 (1.12%) Distributed Systems
7 2 (1.12%) Driving Licence
7 2 (1.12%) Enterprise Software
8 1 (0.56%) Public Cloud
8 1 (0.56%) Reinsurance
Operating Systems
1 12 (6.74%) Linux
1 12 (6.74%) Unix
2 11 (6.18%) Windows
3 10 (5.62%) Windows 10
4 5 (2.81%) Mac OS X
5 3 (1.69%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.56%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 45 (25.28%) Agile
2 30 (16.85%) Continuous Improvement
3 28 (15.73%) Microservices
4 25 (14.04%) Data Modelling
5 24 (13.48%) Analytics
6 23 (12.92%) Stakeholder Management
6 23 (12.92%) Test Automation
7 21 (11.80%) CI/CD
8 20 (11.24%) ETL
8 20 (11.24%) TDD
9 19 (10.67%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 18 (10.11%) Decision-Making
11 17 (9.55%) Change Management
11 17 (9.55%) Data Pipeline
11 17 (9.55%) Requirements Gathering
12 16 (8.99%) DevOps
13 15 (8.43%) Business Intelligence
13 15 (8.43%) Conflict Resolution
14 14 (7.87%) Customer Service
14 14 (7.87%) Event-Driven
Programming Languages
1 44 (24.72%) SQL
2 29 (16.29%) Java
3 14 (7.87%) Python
4 11 (6.18%) JavaScript
5 9 (5.06%) CLIST
5 9 (5.06%) COBOL
5 9 (5.06%) JCL
5 9 (5.06%) REXX
6 8 (4.49%) Kotlin
6 8 (4.49%) TypeScript
7 6 (3.37%) PowerShell
8 4 (2.25%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 4 (2.25%) T-SQL
9 3 (1.69%) PL/SQL
9 3 (1.69%) Shell Script
10 2 (1.12%) Bicep
10 2 (1.12%) C#
10 2 (1.12%) Go
10 2 (1.12%) VBA
11 1 (0.56%) SAS Macro
Qualifications
1 21 (11.80%) Degree
2 17 (9.55%) Security Cleared
3 12 (6.74%) Computer Science Degree
3 12 (6.74%) Microsoft Certification
4 11 (6.18%) A+ Certification
4 11 (6.18%) BPSS Clearance
4 11 (6.18%) Network+ Certification
5 4 (2.25%) SC Cleared
6 3 (1.69%) CCNA
6 3 (1.69%) Cisco Certification
7 2 (1.12%) Azure Certification
7 2 (1.12%) MCSE
8 1 (0.56%) CBAP
8 1 (0.56%) CCA
8 1 (0.56%) CCNP
8 1 (0.56%) CompTIA Security+
8 1 (0.56%) CTC Cleared
8 1 (0.56%) IIBA
8 1 (0.56%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
8 1 (0.56%) SAP Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (12.36%) Data Quality
2 7 (3.93%) QA
3 4 (2.25%) GDPR
3 4 (2.25%) PMO
4 2 (1.12%) GRC
5 1 (0.56%) Accessibility
5 1 (0.56%) HIPAA
5 1 (0.56%) NIST
5 1 (0.56%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 1 (0.56%) SLA
5 1 (0.56%) WCAG
System Software
1 16 (8.99%) Active Directory
2 10 (5.62%) Docker
3 9 (5.06%) ACF2
3 9 (5.06%) RACF
3 9 (5.06%) Time Sharing Option
4 3 (1.69%) ISA Server
4 3 (1.69%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.56%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 11 (6.18%) Kubernetes
2 9 (5.06%) CA Endevor
2 9 (5.06%) Terraform
2 9 (5.06%) Tivoli
2 9 (5.06%) Tivoli Storage Manager
3 3 (1.69%) Grafana
3 3 (1.69%) SCCM
4 2 (1.12%) Microsoft Intune
4 2 (1.12%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 29 (16.29%) Microsoft
2 13 (7.30%) SAP
3 9 (5.06%) Oracle
4 8 (4.49%) ServiceNow
5 6 (3.37%) Databricks
6 5 (2.81%) Adobe
7 4 (2.25%) Splunk
8 3 (1.69%) CA Agile Central
8 3 (1.69%) Dell
8 3 (1.69%) Google
8 3 (1.69%) IBM
9 2 (1.12%) Atlassian
9 2 (1.12%) DocuSign
9 2 (1.12%) IFS
9 2 (1.12%) PagerDuty
9 2 (1.12%) Teradata
9 2 (1.12%) Workday
10 1 (0.56%) Advent
10 1 (0.56%) Aruba
10 1 (0.56%) Netskope