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 16 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 16 5 5
Rank change year-on-year -11 0 +8
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 724 645 537
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 9.57% 16.14% 13.06%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.51% 18.12% 15.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 415 370 308
10th Percentile £275 £265 £260
25th Percentile £356 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £445 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year -6.32% - -5.00%
75th Percentile £538 £559 £550
90th Percentile £613 £646 £623
England median daily rate £500 £488 £500
% change year-on-year +2.46% -2.40% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 73 56 13
10th Percentile £13.52 £13.80 £14.85
25th Percentile £16.88 £17.30 £26.25
Median hourly rate £19.00 £20.26 £48.56
Median % change year-on-year -6.20% -58.29% +76.58%
75th Percentile £40.00 £32.13 £63.75
90th Percentile £85.80 £63.40 £76.09
England median hourly rate £19.48 £18.85 £16.23
% change year-on-year +3.34% +16.14% -69.76%

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 6,289 3,559 3,452
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 83.13% 89.04% 83.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,687 2,302 2,001
10th Percentile £313 £268 £300
25th Percentile £405 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £465 £500
Median % change year-on-year +7.53% -7.00% -0.08%
75th Percentile £588 £559 £588
90th Percentile £675 £650 £675
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 522 203 179
10th Percentile £14.68 £13.56 £12.55
25th Percentile £21.00 £17.35 £16.38
Median hourly rate £43.96 £22.32 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +97.00% -36.24% +27.27%
75th Percentile £70.00 £35.75 £51.89
90th Percentile £79.88 £70.13 £70.00
England median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% -1.91%

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 16 September 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 16 September 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 16 September 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 -9 361 £445 -6.32% 1,039
Yorkshire -8 295 £450 -6.25% 575
North East -16 70 £375 -16.67% 251
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 27 (3.73%) SharePoint
2 22 (3.04%) Confluence
3 10 (1.38%) Apache Airflow
3 10 (1.38%) Apache Spark
4 8 (1.10%) Apache
5 7 (0.97%) CMS
5 7 (0.97%) Microsoft Exchange
6 6 (0.83%) Jupyter
7 4 (0.55%) CICS
8 3 (0.41%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 3 (0.41%) WordPress
9 2 (0.28%) Camunda
9 2 (0.28%) Oracle Workflow
9 2 (0.28%) WebLogic
10 1 (0.14%) Apache Superset
10 1 (0.14%) JBoss
10 1 (0.14%) Mule
10 1 (0.14%) NetWeaver
10 1 (0.14%) Tomcat
10 1 (0.14%) WebSphere
Applications
1 40 (5.52%) Microsoft Excel
2 39 (5.39%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (1.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (1.24%) MS Visio
5 8 (1.10%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.69%) Spreadsheet
7 4 (0.55%) Chatbot
8 3 (0.41%) Acrobat
9 2 (0.28%) AutoCAD
9 2 (0.28%) CATIA
9 2 (0.28%) Navisworks
9 2 (0.28%) Revit
10 1 (0.14%) EngageOne
Business Applications
1 18 (2.49%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (1.52%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.55%) Oracle EBS
4 3 (0.41%) Dynamics CRM
4 3 (0.41%) SAP ERP
4 3 (0.41%) Teamcenter
4 3 (0.41%) Workday HCM
5 2 (0.28%) Oracle Payables
5 2 (0.28%) SAP HCM
5 2 (0.28%) SAP Payroll
6 1 (0.14%) Actimize
6 1 (0.14%) CA PPM
6 1 (0.14%) ENOVIA
6 1 (0.14%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Applications
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.14%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.14%) SAP GRC
6 1 (0.14%) SAP R/3
6 1 (0.14%) VisionPLUS
Cloud Services
1 125 (17.27%) Azure
2 99 (13.67%) Microsoft 365
3 97 (13.40%) AWS
4 56 (7.73%) Power Platform
5 43 (5.94%) GCP
6 32 (4.42%) Entra ID
7 27 (3.73%) GitHub
8 18 (2.49%) OpenShift
9 17 (2.35%) Azure DevOps
10 16 (2.21%) Serverless
11 13 (1.80%) Microsoft Copilot
12 11 (1.52%) Power Automate
13 10 (1.38%) Google Kubernetes Engine
13 10 (1.38%) SaaS
14 9 (1.24%) OneDrive
14 9 (1.24%) PowerApps
15 8 (1.10%) AWS Lambda
15 8 (1.10%) IaaS
16 7 (0.97%) Copilot Studio
17 6 (0.83%) Kong
Communications & Networking
1 45 (6.22%) VPN
2 37 (5.11%) Firewall
3 32 (4.42%) DNS
4 24 (3.31%) LAN
4 24 (3.31%) WAN
5 23 (3.18%) Network Security
6 19 (2.62%) Wi-Fi
7 18 (2.49%) Wireless
8 15 (2.07%) DHCP
8 15 (2.07%) VLAN
9 14 (1.93%) TCP/IP
9 14 (1.93%) VoIP
10 11 (1.52%) Cisco Nexus
11 10 (1.38%) BGP
11 10 (1.38%) OSPF
12 9 (1.24%) WLAN
13 8 (1.10%) BIG-IP
13 8 (1.10%) Cisco ASA
13 8 (1.10%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
13 8 (1.10%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 40 (5.52%) Power BI
2 31 (4.28%) SQL Server
3 24 (3.31%) Data Warehouse
4 19 (2.62%) MongoDB
5 15 (2.07%) Relational Database
6 12 (1.66%) PostgreSQL
6 12 (1.66%) Tableau
7 11 (1.52%) Db2
8 9 (1.24%) Metadata
9 8 (1.10%) DataStage
9 8 (1.10%) NoSQL
10 7 (0.97%) Big Data
10 7 (0.97%) MySQL
11 6 (0.83%) Oracle Database
12 5 (0.69%) Neo4j
13 4 (0.55%) Data Lake
14 3 (0.41%) Amazon Athena
14 3 (0.41%) Amazon Redshift
14 3 (0.41%) DynamoDB
14 3 (0.41%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 60 (8.29%) JIRA
2 37 (5.11%) Git
3 34 (4.70%) Jenkins
4 21 (2.90%) GitLab
5 8 (1.10%) REST Assured
5 8 (1.10%) Selenium
6 7 (0.97%) Sonatype Nexus
7 6 (0.83%) Cucumber
7 6 (0.83%) Gatling
8 5 (0.69%) Maven
9 4 (0.55%) Cypress.io
9 4 (0.55%) Gradle
9 4 (0.55%) MSI
10 3 (0.41%) Claude Code
10 3 (0.41%) JUnit
10 3 (0.41%) LoadRunner
10 3 (0.41%) Serenity BDD
10 3 (0.41%) SonarQube
11 2 (0.28%) Ant
11 2 (0.28%) Postman
General
1 367 (50.69%) Social Skills
2 293 (40.47%) Analytical Skills
3 170 (23.48%) Finance
4 84 (11.60%) Banking
5 60 (8.29%) Public Sector
6 42 (5.80%) Manufacturing
7 36 (4.97%) Organisational Skills
8 29 (4.01%) Legal
9 28 (3.87%) Documentation Skills
10 20 (2.76%) Influencing Skills
11 19 (2.62%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 16 (2.21%) Law
12 16 (2.21%) Retail
13 10 (1.38%) Automotive
14 9 (1.24%) Aerospace
14 9 (1.24%) Financial Institution
14 9 (1.24%) Marketing
14 9 (1.24%) Telecoms
15 8 (1.10%) Presentation Skills
16 6 (0.83%) Police
Job Titles
1 115 (15.88%) Analyst
2 85 (11.74%) Developer
3 59 (8.15%) Senior
4 54 (7.46%) Lead
5 49 (6.77%) IT Support
6 38 (5.25%) Architect
7 35 (4.83%) Support Engineer
8 27 (3.73%) IT Engineer
9 25 (3.45%) Business Analyst
10 24 (3.31%) Administrator
10 24 (3.31%) Network Engineer
11 23 (3.18%) Java Developer
12 22 (3.04%) IT Support Engineer
13 21 (2.90%) Consultant
13 21 (2.90%) Data Analyst
14 18 (2.49%) IT Analyst
14 18 (2.49%) Service Analyst
14 18 (2.49%) Support Analyst
15 17 (2.35%) DevOps Engineer
16 16 (2.21%) Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 51 (7.04%) Terraform
2 43 (5.94%) REST
3 30 (4.14%) Spring
4 26 (3.59%) Kafka
5 25 (3.45%) Spring Boot
6 20 (2.76%) React
7 19 (2.62%) HTML
8 18 (2.49%) Node.js
9 17 (2.35%) CSS
10 14 (1.93%) Playwright
11 13 (1.80%) .NET
11 13 (1.80%) RESTful
12 12 (1.66%) OpenTelemetry
13 11 (1.52%) OAuth
14 9 (1.24%) FastAPI
14 9 (1.24%) SOAP
14 9 (1.24%) XML
15 8 (1.10%) AngularJS
15 8 (1.10%) Web Services
16 7 (0.97%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 51 (7.04%) Product Ownership
2 49 (6.77%) Cloud Native
3 37 (5.11%) Onboarding
4 33 (4.56%) Data Protection Act
5 31 (4.28%) Data Centre
6 30 (4.14%) Self-Motivation
7 29 (4.01%) Enterprise Software
8 25 (3.45%) Driving Licence
9 21 (2.90%) Analytical Mindset
10 19 (2.62%) Data Structures
10 19 (2.62%) Distributed Systems
11 17 (2.35%) PKI
12 16 (2.21%) Management Information System
13 15 (2.07%) Mainframe
14 13 (1.80%) Legacy Systems
15 12 (1.66%) AI Agents
15 12 (1.66%) NHS
16 10 (1.38%) Virtual Team
17 9 (1.24%) Mobile App
17 9 (1.24%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 125 (17.27%) Windows
2 34 (4.70%) Linux
3 31 (4.28%) Windows 10
4 25 (3.45%) Windows Server
5 23 (3.18%) Apple iOS
6 20 (2.76%) Android
7 15 (2.07%) Unix
8 13 (1.80%) Mac OS
9 5 (0.69%) Solaris
10 4 (0.55%) zOS
11 3 (0.41%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 2 (0.28%) AIX
12 2 (0.28%) Data ONTAP
12 2 (0.28%) HPUX
12 2 (0.28%) Mac OS X
12 2 (0.28%) Oracle Linux
12 2 (0.28%) SUSE
13 1 (0.14%) Ubuntu
13 1 (0.14%) VMS
13 1 (0.14%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 178 (24.59%) Continuous Improvement
2 164 (22.65%) Agile
3 145 (20.03%) CI/CD
4 131 (18.09%) Stakeholder Management
5 112 (15.47%) DevOps
6 86 (11.88%) AI
7 84 (11.60%) Customer Service
8 78 (10.77%) ITIL
9 72 (9.94%) Migration
10 65 (8.98%) Test Automation
11 63 (8.70%) Analytics
12 62 (8.56%) Data Protection
12 62 (8.56%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 57 (7.87%) Validation
14 56 (7.73%) Decision-Making
14 56 (7.73%) Microservices
15 55 (7.60%) Change Management
16 52 (7.18%) Software Engineering
17 51 (7.04%) Project Management
18 50 (6.91%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 111 (15.33%) Python
2 105 (14.50%) SQL
3 60 (8.29%) Java
4 51 (7.04%) PowerShell
5 24 (3.31%) JavaScript
6 19 (2.62%) Bash
7 11 (1.52%) C#
7 11 (1.52%) PL/SQL
8 9 (1.24%) Shell Script
8 9 (1.24%) TypeScript
9 8 (1.10%) R
10 7 (0.97%) T-SQL
11 6 (0.83%) Apex Code
11 6 (0.83%) COBOL
12 5 (0.69%) ABAP
12 5 (0.69%) ActionScript
13 4 (0.55%) Go
13 4 (0.55%) JCL
13 4 (0.55%) Kotlin
13 4 (0.55%) Scala
Qualifications
1 99 (13.67%) Security Cleared
2 74 (10.22%) SC Cleared
3 63 (8.70%) Degree
4 28 (3.87%) BPSS Clearance
4 28 (3.87%) Computer Science Degree
5 22 (3.04%) Microsoft Certification
6 20 (2.76%) Cisco Certification
7 19 (2.62%) CISSP
8 13 (1.80%) CCNP
9 11 (1.52%) A+ Certification
9 11 (1.52%) PMP
10 10 (1.38%) Network+ Certification
10 10 (1.38%) PMI Certification
11 9 (1.24%) AWS Certification
11 9 (1.24%) HNC
12 8 (1.10%) CompTIA Security+
13 7 (0.97%) Azure Certification
13 7 (0.97%) CEH
14 6 (0.83%) OCP
14 6 (0.83%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 53 (7.32%) Data Quality
2 28 (3.87%) QA
3 27 (3.73%) Accessibility
4 22 (3.04%) SLA
5 13 (1.80%) GDPR
5 13 (1.80%) GRC
5 13 (1.80%) NIST
6 12 (1.66%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 8 (1.10%) PMO
8 6 (0.83%) WCAG
9 5 (0.69%) PCI DSS
10 3 (0.41%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.28%) COSHH
11 2 (0.28%) HIPAA
11 2 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 2 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 2 (0.28%) MiFID
12 1 (0.14%) Cyber Essentials
12 1 (0.14%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 1 (0.14%) PSD2
System Software
1 75 (10.36%) Active Directory
2 52 (7.18%) Docker
3 28 (3.87%) VMware Infrastructure
4 12 (1.66%) Hyper-V
5 9 (1.24%) vSphere
6 8 (1.10%) Virtual Desktop
6 8 (1.10%) VMware NSX
7 7 (0.97%) Virtual Machines
8 6 (0.83%) Firmware
9 4 (0.55%) Citrix Hypervisor
9 4 (0.55%) Oracle RAC
9 4 (0.55%) VMware ESXi
9 4 (0.55%) XenApp
9 4 (0.55%) XenDesktop
10 2 (0.28%) EMC RecoverPoint
10 2 (0.28%) KVM
10 2 (0.28%) NFS
10 2 (0.28%) SRDF
10 2 (0.28%) Virtual Servers
11 1 (0.14%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 59 (8.15%) Kubernetes
2 27 (3.73%) Ansible
2 27 (3.73%) Grafana
3 25 (3.45%) Microsoft Intune
4 23 (3.18%) SCCM
5 22 (3.04%) Prometheus
6 8 (1.10%) Control-M
6 8 (1.10%) vCenter Server
7 7 (0.97%) Argo
7 7 (0.97%) Nessus
8 6 (0.83%) IBM Guardium
9 4 (0.55%) Data Guard
9 4 (0.55%) Kustomize
9 4 (0.55%) McAfee ePO
9 4 (0.55%) Single Sign-On
10 3 (0.41%) CA Endevor
10 3 (0.41%) FortiGate
10 3 (0.41%) Istio
10 3 (0.41%) Oracle RMAN
10 3 (0.41%) WMI
Vendors
1 180 (24.86%) Microsoft
2 68 (9.39%) ServiceNow
3 50 (6.91%) SAP
4 39 (5.39%) Oracle
5 30 (4.14%) Cisco
6 29 (4.01%) VMware
7 24 (3.31%) Splunk
8 20 (2.76%) Google
9 15 (2.07%) F5
10 13 (1.80%) IBM
10 13 (1.80%) Salesforce
10 13 (1.80%) Workday
11 12 (1.66%) Palo Alto
12 11 (1.52%) Concur
12 11 (1.52%) Remedy
13 9 (1.24%) Red Hat
14 8 (1.10%) Apple
14 8 (1.10%) CheckPoint
14 8 (1.10%) Dell
14 8 (1.10%) Fortinet