Problem-Solving Contract Job Trends in the North of England

Problem Solving
England > North of England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North of England requiring Problem-Solving skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 30 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 3 7
Rank change year-on-year -2 +4 +10
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 726 552 598
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 14.42% 16.46% 12.11%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 16.43% 18.65% 13.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 479 335 339
10th Percentile £211 £208 £256
25th Percentile £350 £357 £378
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% +6.72%
75th Percentile £538 £550 £582
90th Percentile £625 £625 £688
England median daily rate £500 £500 £513
% change year-on-year - -2.50% -5.03%
Number of hourly rates quoted 33 26 42
10th Percentile £15.18 £12.85 £11.05
25th Percentile £15.62 £16.19 £13.39
Median hourly rate £19.25 £26.28 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year -26.74% +50.16% -43.07%
75th Percentile £55.00 £36.28 £43.75
90th Percentile £73.30 £61.71 £46.18
England median hourly rate £18.50 £22.50 £23.50
% change year-on-year -17.78% -4.26% -27.59%

All Process & Methodology Skills
North of England

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 the North of England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 4,418 2,959 4,304
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 87.75% 88.25% 87.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,942 1,721 2,777
10th Percentile £230 £263 £281
25th Percentile £365 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £468 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.47% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £550 £575 £588
90th Percentile £650 £656 £675
England median daily rate £501 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.67% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 261 141 289
10th Percentile £15.34 £15.00 £11.77
25th Percentile £20.82 £17.25 £14.13
Median hourly rate £41.86 £27.50 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year +52.20% +10.00% +9.39%
75th Percentile £57.50 £46.18 £46.18
90th Percentile £70.00 £73.56 £53.75
England median hourly rate £25.15 £34.31 £36.34
% change year-on-year -26.69% -5.59% +3.81%

Problem-Solving
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

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

Problem-Solving job vacancy trend in the North of England

Problem-Solving
Daily Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Problem-Solving.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Daily Rate Histogram in the North of England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Problem-Solving in the North of England over the 6 months to 30 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Problem-Solving in the North of England

Problem-Solving
Hourly Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Problem-Solving.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North of England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Problem-Solving in the North of England over the 6 months to 30 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Problem-Solving in the North of England

Problem-Solving
Contract Job Locations in the North of England

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 North of England region over the 6 months to 30 January 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
North West -3 381 £430 -7.03% 351
Yorkshire -5 292 £482 -3.60% 245
North East -4 61 £450 -15.29% 92
Problem-Solving
England

Problem-Solving
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North of England 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 44 (6.06%) Confluence
2 39 (5.37%) SharePoint
3 31 (4.27%) Microsoft Exchange
4 9 (1.24%) Apache
5 7 (0.96%) Exchange Server 2013
5 7 (0.96%) Skype for Business
6 6 (0.83%) Apache Spark
7 4 (0.55%) Apache Airflow
8 3 (0.41%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 2 (0.28%) JBoss
9 2 (0.28%) Tomcat
10 1 (0.14%) CICS
10 1 (0.14%) CMS
10 1 (0.14%) Moodle
10 1 (0.14%) Mule
10 1 (0.14%) Mule ESB
10 1 (0.14%) NetWeaver
10 1 (0.14%) SAS
10 1 (0.14%) WebLogic
Applications
1 51 (7.02%) Microsoft Office
2 48 (6.61%) Microsoft Excel
3 32 (4.41%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 18 (2.48%) MS Visio
5 6 (0.83%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.69%) Acrobat
7 2 (0.28%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.14%) Siemens NX
8 1 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 42 (5.79%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (0.55%) Dynamics CRM
2 4 (0.55%) Payment Gateway
2 4 (0.55%) SAP EHS
3 3 (0.41%) iTrent
3 3 (0.41%) Kondor
3 3 (0.41%) SAP EWM
3 3 (0.41%) SAP SCM
4 2 (0.28%) Advent Geneva
4 2 (0.28%) Dynamics AX
4 2 (0.28%) Elite 3E
4 2 (0.28%) NetSuite
4 2 (0.28%) SAP ERP
4 2 (0.28%) SAP Payroll
5 1 (0.14%) Finacle
5 1 (0.14%) SAP BPC
5 1 (0.14%) SAP HCM
5 1 (0.14%) SAP HR
5 1 (0.14%) SAP PSCD
5 1 (0.14%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 135 (18.60%) Azure
2 110 (15.15%) AWS
3 73 (10.06%) Microsoft 365
4 53 (7.30%) GCP
5 43 (5.92%) GitHub
6 41 (5.65%) Power Platform
7 26 (3.58%) Serverless
8 24 (3.31%) Entra ID
9 23 (3.17%) OpenShift
10 21 (2.89%) SaaS
11 20 (2.75%) Azure DevOps
12 14 (1.93%) Amazon ECS
12 14 (1.93%) AWS Lambda
12 14 (1.93%) GitHub Actions
12 14 (1.93%) Google Workspace
13 13 (1.79%) Apigee
14 11 (1.52%) Dynamics 365
15 10 (1.38%) Datadog
15 10 (1.38%) OneDrive
15 10 (1.38%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 40 (5.51%) Firewall
2 30 (4.13%) Network Security
3 25 (3.44%) DNS
4 17 (2.34%) TCP/IP
5 15 (2.07%) LAN
5 15 (2.07%) WAN
6 10 (1.38%) DHCP
7 8 (1.10%) BGP
7 8 (1.10%) Wi-Fi
8 7 (0.96%) Skype
8 7 (0.96%) VLAN
8 7 (0.96%) WebEx
9 6 (0.83%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
9 6 (0.83%) Kerberos
9 6 (0.83%) Software-Defined Networking
9 6 (0.83%) VPN
10 5 (0.69%) DMZ
10 5 (0.69%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
10 5 (0.69%) HTTP
10 5 (0.69%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 32 (4.41%) PostgreSQL
2 31 (4.27%) Power BI
3 22 (3.03%) MongoDB
4 20 (2.75%) NoSQL
5 19 (2.62%) Relational Database
6 17 (2.34%) SQL Server
7 15 (2.07%) DynamoDB
7 15 (2.07%) MySQL
8 12 (1.65%) BigQuery
8 12 (1.65%) Power Query
9 11 (1.52%) Oracle Database
10 10 (1.38%) Data Warehouse
11 8 (1.10%) Amazon Aurora
11 8 (1.10%) PowerPivot
12 7 (0.96%) Amazon RDS
13 6 (0.83%) Oracle Reports
13 6 (0.83%) RDBMS
13 6 (0.83%) Redis
14 5 (0.69%) DB2
15 4 (0.55%) MS Access
Development Applications
1 95 (13.09%) JIRA
2 51 (7.02%) Jenkins
3 50 (6.89%) Git
4 36 (4.96%) GitLab
5 16 (2.20%) Sonatype Nexus
6 11 (1.52%) Cucumber
6 11 (1.52%) Selenium
7 7 (0.96%) Cypress.io
7 7 (0.96%) Maven
7 7 (0.96%) Mockito
7 7 (0.96%) Postman
7 7 (0.96%) SonarQube
8 6 (0.83%) Gradle
9 5 (0.69%) JMeter
9 5 (0.69%) JUnit
9 5 (0.69%) SonarLint
10 4 (0.55%) CircleCI
10 4 (0.55%) Oracle Forms
11 3 (0.41%) Jasmine
11 3 (0.41%) REST Assured
General
1 392 (53.99%) Social Skills
2 247 (34.02%) Analytical Skills
3 204 (28.10%) Finance
4 93 (12.81%) Banking
5 81 (11.16%) Public Sector
6 31 (4.27%) Legal
7 17 (2.34%) Documentation Skills
7 17 (2.34%) Telecoms
8 15 (2.07%) Influencing Skills
9 13 (1.79%) Manufacturing
9 13 (1.79%) Organisational Skills
10 10 (1.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 9 (1.24%) Law
12 8 (1.10%) Military
12 8 (1.10%) Presentation Skills
13 7 (0.96%) Local Government
14 6 (0.83%) Electronics
14 6 (0.83%) Health Technology
14 6 (0.83%) Marketing
15 5 (0.69%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 118 (16.25%) Analyst
2 113 (15.56%) Developer
3 62 (8.54%) Business Analyst
4 49 (6.75%) Senior
5 43 (5.92%) Lead
6 37 (5.10%) Consultant
6 37 (5.10%) IT Support
7 35 (4.82%) Project Manager
8 30 (4.13%) Architect
9 26 (3.58%) Administrator
10 22 (3.03%) Java Developer
11 21 (2.89%) Software Engineer
11 21 (2.89%) Support Analyst
12 20 (2.75%) IT Engineer
12 20 (2.75%) Platform Engineer
13 19 (2.62%) Data Engineer
14 17 (2.34%) Support Engineer
14 17 (2.34%) Technical Analyst
15 16 (2.20%) Automation Engineer
15 16 (2.20%) Technical Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (5.92%) REST
2 41 (5.65%) Spring Boot
3 37 (5.10%) Spring
4 30 (4.13%) RESTful
5 25 (3.44%) Kafka
6 22 (3.03%) JSON
7 20 (2.75%) React
7 20 (2.75%) SOAP
8 18 (2.48%) XML
9 17 (2.34%) FastAPI
10 16 (2.20%) OpenTelemetry
11 14 (1.93%) .NET
11 14 (1.93%) Node.js
11 14 (1.93%) OAuth
12 13 (1.79%) HTML
12 13 (1.79%) JWT
12 13 (1.79%) Swagger
13 12 (1.65%) Elastic Stack
13 12 (1.65%) JMS
13 12 (1.65%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 69 (9.50%) Product Ownership
2 36 (4.96%) Onboarding
3 29 (3.99%) Cloud Native
4 19 (2.62%) Data Protection Act
5 16 (2.20%) Data Centre
5 16 (2.20%) Data Structures
5 16 (2.20%) SWIFT Messaging Network
6 15 (2.07%) Legacy Systems
7 14 (1.93%) Enterprise Software
7 14 (1.93%) Management Information System
8 13 (1.79%) CMDB
8 13 (1.79%) Self-Motivation
9 11 (1.52%) Analytical Mindset
9 11 (1.52%) Mainframe
10 10 (1.38%) Algorithms
11 9 (1.24%) NHS
12 7 (0.96%) Hybrid Cloud
12 7 (0.96%) Mobile App
13 6 (0.83%) Distributed Systems
13 6 (0.83%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 87 (11.98%) Windows
2 70 (9.64%) Linux
3 24 (3.31%) Windows 10
4 21 (2.89%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 21 (2.89%) Windows Server
5 18 (2.48%) Unix
6 13 (1.79%) Android
7 11 (1.52%) Apple iOS
8 8 (1.10%) CentOS
8 8 (1.10%) Ubuntu
9 7 (0.96%) Mac OS
10 6 (0.83%) Mac OS X
10 6 (0.83%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.41%) VMS
11 3 (0.41%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 221 (30.44%) Agile
2 162 (22.31%) CI/CD
3 127 (17.49%) Continuous Improvement
4 120 (16.53%) DevOps
5 115 (15.84%) Stakeholder Management
6 84 (11.57%) Project Management
7 77 (10.61%) Containerisation
8 76 (10.47%) Migration
9 70 (9.64%) Test Automation
10 68 (9.37%) Change Management
11 66 (9.09%) Microservices
12 60 (8.26%) ITIL
13 58 (7.99%) Decision-Making
13 58 (7.99%) Mentoring
14 57 (7.85%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 56 (7.71%) Customer Service
16 55 (7.58%) Analytics
16 55 (7.58%) Validation
17 52 (7.16%) Requirements Gathering
17 52 (7.16%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 110 (15.15%) Python
2 86 (11.85%) Java
3 84 (11.57%) SQL
4 44 (6.06%) PowerShell
5 35 (4.82%) Bash
6 30 (4.13%) TypeScript
7 26 (3.58%) JavaScript
8 21 (2.89%) Perl
9 17 (2.34%) C#
10 11 (1.52%) Shell Script
10 11 (1.52%) VBA
11 10 (1.38%) Go
12 9 (1.24%) CLIST
12 9 (1.24%) COBOL
12 9 (1.24%) Groovy
12 9 (1.24%) JCL
12 9 (1.24%) REXX
12 9 (1.24%) Ruby
13 8 (1.10%) T-SQL
14 6 (0.83%) Data Analysis Expressions
Qualifications
1 91 (12.53%) Security Cleared
2 76 (10.47%) Degree
3 61 (8.40%) SC Cleared
4 34 (4.68%) Computer Science Degree
5 33 (4.55%) BPSS Clearance
6 19 (2.62%) Cisco Certification
7 15 (2.07%) CCNA
8 13 (1.79%) PMP
9 12 (1.65%) CCNP
10 9 (1.24%) A+ Certification
10 9 (1.24%) CCDP
10 9 (1.24%) Microsoft Certification
11 8 (1.10%) AWS Certification
11 8 (1.10%) CISSP
11 8 (1.10%) RHCE
11 8 (1.10%) Six Sigma Green Belt
12 7 (0.96%) Network+ Certification
12 7 (0.96%) PMI Certification
13 5 (0.69%) DBS Check
14 4 (0.55%) CBAP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 48 (6.61%) QA
2 24 (3.31%) Data Quality
3 19 (2.62%) Accessibility
3 19 (2.62%) GDPR
3 19 (2.62%) PSD2
4 15 (2.07%) ISO 20022
5 13 (1.79%) SEPA
6 12 (1.65%) PCI DSS
7 10 (1.38%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 7 (0.96%) PMO
9 6 (0.83%) HL7
9 6 (0.83%) SLA
10 5 (0.69%) NIST
11 4 (0.55%) Actionable Recommendations
11 4 (0.55%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 4 (0.55%) WCAG
12 3 (0.41%) ISO 8583
13 2 (0.28%) HIPAA
14 1 (0.14%) IEC 61508
14 1 (0.14%) PMBOK
System Software
1 81 (11.16%) Docker
2 54 (7.44%) Active Directory
3 16 (2.20%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (1.24%) ACF2
4 9 (1.24%) RACF
4 9 (1.24%) Time Sharing Option
5 8 (1.10%) VMware NSX
6 7 (0.96%) Hyper-V
7 6 (0.83%) vSphere
8 5 (0.69%) Virtual Desktop
9 3 (0.41%) ISA Server
9 3 (0.41%) Oracle RAC
10 2 (0.28%) Virtual Machines
11 1 (0.14%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 91 (12.53%) Kubernetes
2 51 (7.02%) Terraform
3 45 (6.20%) Ansible
4 37 (5.10%) Grafana
5 30 (4.13%) Prometheus
6 26 (3.58%) SCCM
7 24 (3.31%) Microsoft Intune
8 14 (1.93%) Control-M
9 13 (1.79%) IBM Guardium
9 13 (1.79%) Nessus
10 10 (1.38%) Puppet
11 9 (1.24%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 9 (1.24%) CA Endevor
11 9 (1.24%) Tivoli
11 9 (1.24%) Tivoli Storage Manager
12 6 (0.83%) Norton AntiVirus
13 5 (0.69%) Kibana
14 4 (0.55%) EMC NetWorker
15 3 (0.41%) Data Guard
15 3 (0.41%) yum
Vendors
1 160 (22.04%) Microsoft
2 68 (9.37%) SAP
3 44 (6.06%) Oracle
4 32 (4.41%) ServiceNow
5 30 (4.13%) VMware
6 29 (3.99%) Splunk
7 26 (3.58%) Google
8 21 (2.89%) Red Hat
9 18 (2.48%) Cisco
10 13 (1.79%) Tenable
10 13 (1.79%) Workday
11 12 (1.65%) Sonatype
12 10 (1.38%) Citrix
12 10 (1.38%) Databricks
12 10 (1.38%) F5
13 9 (1.24%) Adobe
13 9 (1.24%) Veeam
14 8 (1.10%) Brio
14 8 (1.10%) Computacenter
14 8 (1.10%) Sage