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 13 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 14 4 6
Rank change year-on-year -10 +2 +10
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 745 706 619
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 10.37% 18.45% 13.16%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.29% 20.81% 15.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 425 405 353
10th Percentile £298 £257 £287
25th Percentile £363 £368 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £447 £475 £485
Median % change year-on-year -5.89% -2.06% -7.62%
75th Percentile £538 £553 £550
90th Percentile £610 £652 £638
England median daily rate £495 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.00% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 63 68 61
10th Percentile £16.20 £12.60 -
25th Percentile £17.25 £17.85 £10.95
Median hourly rate £32.23 £22.14 £11.50
Median % change year-on-year +45.55% +92.52% -58.18%
75th Percentile £74.26 £35.08 £26.39
90th Percentile £89.00 £63.40 £62.50
England median hourly rate £21.49 £21.28 £16.23
% change year-on-year +0.99% +31.12% -69.09%

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 6,064 3,393 3,955
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 84.40% 88.66% 84.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,639 2,192 2,363
10th Percentile £313 £268 £298
25th Percentile £402 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £466 £495
Median % change year-on-year +5.21% -5.91% -1.04%
75th Percentile £588 £556 £580
90th Percentile £675 £650 £663
England median daily rate £525 £514 £525
% change year-on-year +2.14% -2.10% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 442 192 361
10th Percentile £16.62 £12.82 £11.30
25th Percentile £22.63 £17.71 £12.55
Median hourly rate £45.25 £25.04 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year +80.73% +13.81% -3.68%
75th Percentile £71.80 £47.53 £45.88
90th Percentile £83.03 £74.88 £66.61
England median hourly rate £47.00 £25.15 £38.12
% change year-on-year +86.88% -34.02% -5.96%

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 13 July 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 13 July 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 13 July 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 -11 373 £447 -6.88% 389
Yorkshire -7 328 £450 -5.26% 252
North East -16 50 £366 -18.61% 121
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 39 (5.23%) Confluence
2 22 (2.95%) Apache Spark
3 18 (2.42%) SharePoint
4 10 (1.34%) Apache Airflow
5 9 (1.21%) Apache
6 8 (1.07%) Microsoft Exchange
7 6 (0.81%) Jupyter
8 4 (0.54%) CMS
9 3 (0.40%) CICS
10 2 (0.27%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 2 (0.27%) Camunda
10 2 (0.27%) Oracle Workflow
10 2 (0.27%) WebLogic
11 1 (0.13%) Apache Superset
11 1 (0.13%) JBoss
11 1 (0.13%) Mule
11 1 (0.13%) Mule ESB
11 1 (0.13%) Tomcat
11 1 (0.13%) WebSphere
11 1 (0.13%) WordPress
Applications
1 35 (4.70%) Microsoft Excel
2 27 (3.62%) Microsoft Office
3 13 (1.74%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (1.48%) MS Visio
5 6 (0.81%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.67%) Chatbot
7 3 (0.40%) CATIA
7 3 (0.40%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.13%) Acrobat
8 1 (0.13%) EngageOne
Business Applications
1 37 (4.97%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (1.07%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.54%) Dynamics CRM
4 3 (0.40%) Oracle EBS
4 3 (0.40%) Payment Gateway
4 3 (0.40%) SAP HCM
4 3 (0.40%) SAP Payroll
5 2 (0.27%) NetSuite
5 2 (0.27%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.13%) Actimize
6 1 (0.13%) Elite 3E
6 1 (0.13%) FIS Private Capital Suite
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle Applications
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.13%) ResourceLink
6 1 (0.13%) SystmOne
6 1 (0.13%) VisionPLUS
Cloud Services
1 126 (16.91%) Azure
2 90 (12.08%) AWS
3 58 (7.79%) Microsoft 365
4 55 (7.38%) Power Platform
5 43 (5.77%) GCP
6 39 (5.23%) GitHub
6 39 (5.23%) OpenShift
7 23 (3.09%) Entra ID
8 16 (2.15%) Azure DevOps
9 12 (1.61%) Microsoft Copilot
9 12 (1.61%) Serverless
10 11 (1.48%) Google Kubernetes Engine
10 11 (1.48%) SaaS
11 10 (1.34%) Power Automate
12 9 (1.21%) GitHub Actions
12 9 (1.21%) PowerApps
13 8 (1.07%) Azure Monitor
13 8 (1.07%) Copilot Studio
14 7 (0.94%) Azure Storage
14 7 (0.94%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 33 (4.43%) DNS
2 29 (3.89%) Firewall
3 25 (3.36%) VPN
4 18 (2.42%) WAN
5 17 (2.28%) Network Security
6 16 (2.15%) LAN
7 15 (2.01%) TCP/IP
8 13 (1.74%) VLAN
9 12 (1.61%) Wi-Fi
9 12 (1.61%) Wireless
10 11 (1.48%) DHCP
10 11 (1.48%) SAN
11 8 (1.07%) VoIP
12 7 (0.94%) Cisco Nexus
12 7 (0.94%) Kerberos
13 6 (0.81%) BGP
13 6 (0.81%) WLAN
14 5 (0.67%) OSPF
14 5 (0.67%) SD-WAN
15 4 (0.54%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 43 (5.77%) Power BI
2 34 (4.56%) SQL Server
3 33 (4.43%) MongoDB
4 23 (3.09%) PostgreSQL
5 22 (2.95%) Data Warehouse
6 16 (2.15%) Relational Database
7 14 (1.88%) Tableau
8 13 (1.74%) NoSQL
9 12 (1.61%) Big Data
10 11 (1.48%) Hadoop
11 10 (1.34%) MySQL
12 9 (1.21%) Metadata
13 8 (1.07%) Db2
13 8 (1.07%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 6 (0.81%) DataStage
15 5 (0.67%) Snowflake Schema
16 4 (0.54%) Data Vault
16 4 (0.54%) Neo4j
16 4 (0.54%) Oracle Database
16 4 (0.54%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 103 (13.83%) JIRA
2 41 (5.50%) Jenkins
3 34 (4.56%) Git
4 26 (3.49%) GitLab
5 14 (1.88%) Sonatype Nexus
6 12 (1.61%) Mockito
7 10 (1.34%) Selenium
8 9 (1.21%) Postman
9 7 (0.94%) REST Assured
10 6 (0.81%) JUnit
11 5 (0.67%) Cucumber
11 5 (0.67%) Gatling
12 3 (0.40%) Claude Code
12 3 (0.40%) Cypress.io
12 3 (0.40%) Gradle
12 3 (0.40%) MSI
12 3 (0.40%) Serenity BDD
13 2 (0.27%) JMeter
13 2 (0.27%) Oracle Forms
13 2 (0.27%) Visual Studio
General
1 356 (47.79%) Social Skills
2 321 (43.09%) Analytical Skills
3 213 (28.59%) Finance
4 84 (11.28%) Banking
5 61 (8.19%) Public Sector
6 35 (4.70%) Documentation Skills
7 28 (3.76%) Influencing Skills
8 27 (3.62%) Legal
9 24 (3.22%) Organisational Skills
10 19 (2.55%) Manufacturing
11 16 (2.15%) Retail
12 14 (1.88%) Law
13 9 (1.21%) Telecoms
14 8 (1.07%) Financial Institution
14 8 (1.07%) Presentation Skills
15 7 (0.94%) Aerospace
15 7 (0.94%) Automotive
15 7 (0.94%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 6 (0.81%) Marketing
17 4 (0.54%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 141 (18.93%) Analyst
2 91 (12.21%) Developer
3 64 (8.59%) Lead
4 52 (6.98%) Senior
5 45 (6.04%) Architect
6 42 (5.64%) Business Analyst
7 31 (4.16%) Consultant
8 30 (4.03%) IT Support
9 28 (3.76%) Administrator
9 28 (3.76%) Java Developer
10 27 (3.62%) Project Manager
11 26 (3.49%) Data Engineer
12 24 (3.22%) Python Developer
13 23 (3.09%) DevOps Engineer
14 21 (2.82%) Data Analyst
14 21 (2.82%) IT Engineer
15 18 (2.42%) Network Engineer
16 17 (2.28%) IT Analyst
16 17 (2.28%) Support Engineer
17 16 (2.15%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (5.10%) Kafka
2 35 (4.70%) REST
3 33 (4.43%) OpenTelemetry
4 30 (4.03%) Spring
5 25 (3.36%) Spring Boot
6 21 (2.82%) FastAPI
7 18 (2.42%) React
7 18 (2.42%) RESTful
8 15 (2.01%) JSON
9 13 (1.74%) .NET
10 12 (1.61%) Playwright
11 11 (1.48%) HTML
11 11 (1.48%) SOAP
11 11 (1.48%) XML
12 10 (1.34%) CSS
12 10 (1.34%) LDAP
12 10 (1.34%) Node.js
13 9 (1.21%) JAX-RS
13 9 (1.21%) OAuth
14 8 (1.07%) ActiveMQ
Miscellaneous
1 54 (7.25%) Product Ownership
2 45 (6.04%) Cloud Native
3 33 (4.43%) Data Protection Act
4 32 (4.30%) Onboarding
5 26 (3.49%) Data Centre
6 23 (3.09%) Analytical Mindset
6 23 (3.09%) Legacy Systems
7 21 (2.82%) Self-Motivation
8 18 (2.42%) Management Information System
9 17 (2.28%) Hybrid Cloud
9 17 (2.28%) Mainframe
10 16 (2.15%) Driving Licence
11 15 (2.01%) AI Agents
12 14 (1.88%) Enterprise Software
13 13 (1.74%) Distributed Systems
14 12 (1.61%) Data Structures
15 11 (1.48%) Virtual Team
16 10 (1.34%) PKI
17 9 (1.21%) Mobile App
17 9 (1.21%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 77 (10.34%) Windows
2 43 (5.77%) Linux
3 26 (3.49%) Windows 10
4 19 (2.55%) Unix
5 16 (2.15%) Apple iOS
6 12 (1.61%) Mac OS
7 11 (1.48%) Android
8 10 (1.34%) Windows Server
9 7 (0.94%) Mac OS X
10 6 (0.81%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 4 (0.54%) Windows Server 2019
12 3 (0.40%) Solaris
12 3 (0.40%) zOS
13 2 (0.27%) AIX
13 2 (0.27%) Data ONTAP
13 2 (0.27%) HPUX
13 2 (0.27%) Oracle Linux
13 2 (0.27%) SUSE
13 2 (0.27%) Ubuntu
13 2 (0.27%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 194 (26.04%) Agile
2 152 (20.40%) CI/CD
3 149 (20.00%) Continuous Improvement
4 133 (17.85%) DevOps
5 111 (14.90%) Stakeholder Management
6 101 (13.56%) Migration
7 82 (11.01%) Project Management
8 81 (10.87%) Change Management
9 77 (10.34%) Analytics
10 70 (9.40%) ITIL
11 69 (9.26%) Test Automation
12 68 (9.13%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 67 (8.99%) AI
13 67 (8.99%) Containerisation
14 64 (8.59%) Validation
15 61 (8.19%) Customer Service
16 59 (7.92%) ERP
17 58 (7.79%) Decision-Making
18 57 (7.65%) Data Protection
19 55 (7.38%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 130 (17.45%) Python
2 98 (13.15%) SQL
3 60 (8.05%) Java
4 58 (7.79%) PowerShell
5 33 (4.43%) Bash
6 22 (2.95%) JavaScript
7 12 (1.61%) TypeScript
8 10 (1.34%) PL/SQL
9 9 (1.21%) C#
9 9 (1.21%) R
10 8 (1.07%) COBOL
10 8 (1.07%) Shell Script
11 7 (0.94%) Bicep
11 7 (0.94%) JCL
12 6 (0.81%) ABAP
12 6 (0.81%) Kotlin
12 6 (0.81%) T-SQL
13 5 (0.67%) Go
13 5 (0.67%) VBA
14 4 (0.54%) REXX
Qualifications
1 89 (11.95%) Security Cleared
2 70 (9.40%) Degree
3 62 (8.32%) SC Cleared
4 39 (5.23%) BPSS Clearance
5 27 (3.62%) Computer Science Degree
6 26 (3.49%) Microsoft Certification
7 22 (2.95%) Cisco Certification
8 18 (2.42%) CISSP
9 17 (2.28%) PMP
10 16 (2.15%) A+ Certification
11 15 (2.01%) CCNA
11 15 (2.01%) Network+ Certification
12 13 (1.74%) PMI Certification
13 11 (1.48%) CCNP
14 9 (1.21%) CompTIA Security+
15 8 (1.07%) AWS Certification
15 8 (1.07%) Azure Certification
16 7 (0.94%) CEH
16 7 (0.94%) MCSE
17 6 (0.81%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (6.17%) Data Quality
2 26 (3.49%) QA
3 17 (2.28%) Accessibility
4 14 (1.88%) GDPR
5 13 (1.74%) SLA
6 11 (1.48%) GRC
6 11 (1.48%) PMO
7 10 (1.34%) NIST
8 9 (1.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 7 (0.94%) PSD2
10 6 (0.81%) PCI DSS
11 5 (0.67%) Actionable Recommendations
12 4 (0.54%) ISO 20022
12 4 (0.54%) SEPA
13 3 (0.40%) ISO 8583
13 3 (0.40%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 2 (0.27%) HIPAA
14 2 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27005
14 2 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 42001
15 1 (0.13%) WCAG
System Software
1 64 (8.59%) Docker
2 54 (7.25%) Active Directory
3 22 (2.95%) VMware Infrastructure
4 17 (2.28%) vSphere
5 15 (2.01%) VMware NSX
6 10 (1.34%) Virtual Machines
7 7 (0.94%) Firmware
8 4 (0.54%) ACF2
8 4 (0.54%) RACF
8 4 (0.54%) Time Sharing Option
8 4 (0.54%) Virtual Desktop
9 3 (0.40%) Hyper-V
10 2 (0.27%) EMC RecoverPoint
10 2 (0.27%) KVM
10 2 (0.27%) NFS
10 2 (0.27%) SRDF
10 2 (0.27%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.13%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.13%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 84 (11.28%) Kubernetes
2 59 (7.92%) Terraform
3 49 (6.58%) Ansible
4 45 (6.04%) Grafana
5 36 (4.83%) Prometheus
6 17 (2.28%) Control-M
7 15 (2.01%) Argo
7 15 (2.01%) IBM Guardium
7 15 (2.01%) Nessus
7 15 (2.01%) vCenter Server
8 13 (1.74%) Microsoft Intune
9 11 (1.48%) SCCM
10 5 (0.67%) CA Endevor
10 5 (0.67%) Kustomize
11 4 (0.54%) Single Sign-On
12 3 (0.40%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 3 (0.40%) FortiGate
12 3 (0.40%) Istio
12 3 (0.40%) McAfee ePO
12 3 (0.40%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 130 (17.45%) Microsoft
2 64 (8.59%) SAP
3 53 (7.11%) ServiceNow
4 47 (6.31%) Splunk
5 33 (4.43%) Oracle
6 26 (3.49%) VMware
7 24 (3.22%) Google
8 23 (3.09%) Cisco
9 20 (2.68%) Workday
10 19 (2.55%) Red Hat
11 15 (2.01%) Pure Storage
11 15 (2.01%) Tenable
12 12 (1.61%) Concur
12 12 (1.61%) Sage
13 11 (1.48%) Dell
14 10 (1.34%) F5
14 10 (1.34%) IBM
14 10 (1.34%) Palo Alto
15 8 (1.07%) Remedy
15 8 (1.07%) Salesforce