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

6 months to
11 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 2 7
Rank change year-on-year -5 +5 +7
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 788 619 584
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 13.19% 19.37% 12.29%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 15.46% 21.43% 14.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 499 383 326
10th Percentile £230 £230 £210
25th Percentile £355 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £489 £493
Median % change year-on-year -7.98% -0.81% -1.40%
75th Percentile £531 £573 £575
90th Percentile £606 £650 £654
England median daily rate £490 £500 £510
% change year-on-year -2.00% -1.96% -3.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 49 48 69
10th Percentile £15.18 £14.44 -
25th Percentile £17.00 £17.44 £10.95
Median hourly rate £41.86 £24.88 £11.50
Median % change year-on-year +68.23% +116.35% -60.51%
75th Percentile £74.26 £30.63 £20.74
90th Percentile £77.00 £55.95 £47.33
England median hourly rate £22.00 £22.14 £17.50
% change year-on-year -0.63% +26.51% -58.90%

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 5,098 2,889 4,088
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 85.34% 90.42% 86.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,267 1,873 2,530
10th Percentile £298 £268 £281
25th Percentile £399 £380 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year - -5.00% -
75th Percentile £563 £575 £588
90th Percentile £650 £650 £675
England median daily rate £505 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 343 157 351
10th Percentile £16.04 £14.33 £11.00
25th Percentile £22.93 £18.51 £12.50
Median hourly rate £45.46 £27.50 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +65.31% +55.19% -36.35%
75th Percentile £70.00 £50.00 £44.07
90th Percentile £77.50 £79.49 £51.91
England median hourly rate £40.52 £32.05 £33.78
% change year-on-year +26.43% -5.11% -9.93%

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 11 April 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 11 April 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 11 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
North West -5 390 £425 -13.18% 365
Yorkshire -4 351 £470 -1.05% 222
North East -2 56 £438 -13.79% 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 52 (6.60%) Confluence
2 25 (3.17%) SharePoint
3 23 (2.92%) Microsoft Exchange
4 17 (2.16%) Apache Spark
5 8 (1.02%) Apache
6 3 (0.38%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 3 (0.38%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.25%) JBoss
7 2 (0.25%) Oracle Workflow
7 2 (0.25%) Tomcat
7 2 (0.25%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.13%) Camunda
8 1 (0.13%) CMS
8 1 (0.13%) Moodle
8 1 (0.13%) Mule
8 1 (0.13%) Mule ESB
8 1 (0.13%) nginx
8 1 (0.13%) SAS
8 1 (0.13%) WebSphere
Applications
1 38 (4.82%) Microsoft Office
2 34 (4.31%) Microsoft Excel
3 20 (2.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (1.40%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.89%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.63%) Acrobat
7 3 (0.38%) CATIA
7 3 (0.38%) Chatbot
7 3 (0.38%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.13%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 39 (4.95%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (0.51%) Payment Gateway
3 3 (0.38%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (0.38%) iTrent
3 3 (0.38%) SAP SCM
4 2 (0.25%) Advent Geneva
4 2 (0.25%) Elite 3E
4 2 (0.25%) Oracle EBS
4 2 (0.25%) Remedy ITSM
4 2 (0.25%) SAP ERP
4 2 (0.25%) SystmOne
5 1 (0.13%) Actimize
5 1 (0.13%) NetSuite
5 1 (0.13%) ResourceLink
5 1 (0.13%) SAP BPC
5 1 (0.13%) SAP HCM
5 1 (0.13%) SAP HR
5 1 (0.13%) SAP Payroll
5 1 (0.13%) SAP PSCD
5 1 (0.13%) VisionPLUS
Cloud Services
1 137 (17.39%) Azure
2 104 (13.20%) AWS
3 61 (7.74%) Microsoft 365
4 51 (6.47%) GCP
5 50 (6.35%) GitHub
6 49 (6.22%) OpenShift
7 48 (6.09%) Power Platform
8 28 (3.55%) Entra ID
9 22 (2.79%) Azure DevOps
10 21 (2.66%) SaaS
11 17 (2.16%) Serverless
12 13 (1.65%) GitHub Actions
12 13 (1.65%) Google Workspace
13 10 (1.27%) Apigee
13 10 (1.27%) Dynamics 365
13 10 (1.27%) Power Automate
14 8 (1.02%) Azure Data Factory
14 8 (1.02%) Azure Functions
14 8 (1.02%) Azure Monitor
14 8 (1.02%) Kong
Communications & Networking
1 43 (5.46%) Firewall
2 39 (4.95%) DNS
3 26 (3.30%) Network Security
4 18 (2.28%) TCP/IP
5 13 (1.65%) WAN
6 12 (1.52%) LAN
6 12 (1.52%) Wi-Fi
7 11 (1.40%) DHCP
7 11 (1.40%) VLAN
8 10 (1.27%) WebEx
9 8 (1.02%) BGP
10 7 (0.89%) Kerberos
10 7 (0.89%) SAN
10 7 (0.89%) VPN
11 6 (0.76%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
11 6 (0.76%) HTTP
11 6 (0.76%) Software-Defined Networking
12 5 (0.63%) DMZ
12 5 (0.63%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
13 4 (0.51%) NetScaler
Database & Business Intelligence
1 35 (4.44%) Power BI
2 28 (3.55%) SQL Server
3 27 (3.43%) MongoDB
4 26 (3.30%) PostgreSQL
5 20 (2.54%) Data Warehouse
5 20 (2.54%) NoSQL
6 17 (2.16%) Relational Database
7 14 (1.78%) MySQL
8 12 (1.52%) Power Query
9 11 (1.40%) Hadoop
10 10 (1.27%) Metadata
11 8 (1.02%) PowerPivot
12 7 (0.89%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 6 (0.76%) Big Data
13 6 (0.76%) Oracle Database
13 6 (0.76%) Snowflake Schema
13 6 (0.76%) Tableau
14 5 (0.63%) BigQuery
14 5 (0.63%) DynamoDB
15 4 (0.51%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 111 (14.09%) JIRA
2 47 (5.96%) Jenkins
3 36 (4.57%) Git
4 29 (3.68%) GitLab
5 17 (2.16%) Sonatype Nexus
6 11 (1.40%) Mockito
7 9 (1.14%) Postman
8 8 (1.02%) Selenium
9 6 (0.76%) Cucumber
9 6 (0.76%) JUnit
10 3 (0.38%) CircleCI
10 3 (0.38%) Jasmine
10 3 (0.38%) JMeter
10 3 (0.38%) Oracle Forms
10 3 (0.38%) REST Assured
11 2 (0.25%) Cypress.io
11 2 (0.25%) Maven
11 2 (0.25%) SoapUI
11 2 (0.25%) Zephyr
12 1 (0.13%) Octopus Deploy
General
1 399 (50.63%) Social Skills
2 295 (37.44%) Analytical Skills
3 238 (30.20%) Finance
4 91 (11.55%) Banking
5 84 (10.66%) Public Sector
6 36 (4.57%) Legal
7 29 (3.68%) Documentation Skills
8 22 (2.79%) Influencing Skills
9 17 (2.16%) Organisational Skills
10 15 (1.90%) Law
11 13 (1.65%) Telecoms
12 12 (1.52%) Manufacturing
12 12 (1.52%) Retail
13 9 (1.14%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 7 (0.89%) Retail Banking
15 6 (0.76%) Health Technology
15 6 (0.76%) Local Government
15 6 (0.76%) Presentation Skills
16 4 (0.51%) Automotive
16 4 (0.51%) Military
Job Titles
1 140 (17.77%) Analyst
2 112 (14.21%) Developer
3 67 (8.50%) Business Analyst
4 63 (7.99%) Lead
5 52 (6.60%) Senior
6 42 (5.33%) Project Manager
7 35 (4.44%) Consultant
8 34 (4.31%) IT Support
9 33 (4.19%) Architect
10 32 (4.06%) Administrator
11 29 (3.68%) Java Developer
12 27 (3.43%) Data Engineer
13 22 (2.79%) Platform Engineer
13 22 (2.79%) Technical Analyst
14 21 (2.66%) IT Engineer
15 18 (2.28%) Software Engineer
15 18 (2.28%) Technical Business Analyst
16 16 (2.03%) Python Developer
16 16 (2.03%) SAP Consultant
16 16 (2.03%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (5.08%) REST
2 35 (4.44%) Spring
3 32 (4.06%) Kafka
3 32 (4.06%) Spring Boot
4 30 (3.81%) RESTful
5 28 (3.55%) OpenTelemetry
6 26 (3.30%) JSON
7 22 (2.79%) XML
8 21 (2.66%) SOAP
9 20 (2.54%) OAuth
10 19 (2.41%) .NET
10 19 (2.41%) React
11 16 (2.03%) FastAPI
11 16 (2.03%) HTML
12 15 (1.90%) CSS
13 14 (1.78%) Swagger
14 12 (1.52%) AngularJS
14 12 (1.52%) LDAP
14 12 (1.52%) YAML
15 11 (1.40%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 73 (9.26%) Product Ownership
2 34 (4.31%) Onboarding
3 30 (3.81%) Cloud Native
4 25 (3.17%) Data Protection Act
5 22 (2.79%) Management Information System
6 20 (2.54%) Data Centre
6 20 (2.54%) Hybrid Cloud
7 19 (2.41%) Legacy Systems
8 17 (2.16%) Self-Motivation
9 15 (1.90%) Analytical Mindset
10 14 (1.78%) Data Structures
11 13 (1.65%) Mainframe
12 12 (1.52%) Mobile App
13 10 (1.27%) CMDB
13 10 (1.27%) Distributed Systems
13 10 (1.27%) NHS
13 10 (1.27%) Virtual Team
14 9 (1.14%) AI Agents
14 9 (1.14%) Enterprise Software
14 9 (1.14%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 87 (11.04%) Windows
2 74 (9.39%) Linux
3 25 (3.17%) Windows 10
4 24 (3.05%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 21 (2.66%) Windows Server
6 19 (2.41%) Unix
7 15 (1.90%) Android
8 14 (1.78%) Apple iOS
9 12 (1.52%) Mac OS
10 8 (1.02%) CentOS
10 8 (1.02%) Ubuntu
11 7 (0.89%) Windows Server 2019
12 6 (0.76%) Mac OS X
13 4 (0.51%) Windows Server 2012
14 3 (0.38%) VMS
15 1 (0.13%) AIX
15 1 (0.13%) HPUX
15 1 (0.13%) Oracle Linux
15 1 (0.13%) Solaris
15 1 (0.13%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 231 (29.31%) Agile
2 171 (21.70%) CI/CD
3 151 (19.16%) Continuous Improvement
4 144 (18.27%) DevOps
5 112 (14.21%) Stakeholder Management
6 105 (13.32%) Migration
7 96 (12.18%) Project Management
8 84 (10.66%) Change Management
9 76 (9.64%) Containerisation
10 74 (9.39%) Analytics
11 71 (9.01%) Validation
12 68 (8.63%) Decision-Making
13 66 (8.38%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 64 (8.12%) Customer Service
14 64 (8.12%) Workshop Facilitation
15 61 (7.74%) Microservices
15 61 (7.74%) Test Automation
16 59 (7.49%) ERP
17 58 (7.36%) Data Modelling
18 56 (7.11%) Requirements Gathering
Programming Languages
1 132 (16.75%) Python
2 110 (13.96%) SQL
3 72 (9.14%) Java
4 55 (6.98%) PowerShell
5 46 (5.84%) Bash
6 30 (3.81%) JavaScript
7 24 (3.05%) TypeScript
8 20 (2.54%) C#
9 17 (2.16%) Perl
10 12 (1.52%) T-SQL
11 11 (1.40%) Groovy
11 11 (1.40%) VBA
12 9 (1.14%) CLIST
12 9 (1.14%) COBOL
12 9 (1.14%) JCL
12 9 (1.14%) REXX
12 9 (1.14%) Ruby
13 8 (1.02%) Go
13 8 (1.02%) Kotlin
14 7 (0.89%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 93 (11.80%) Security Cleared
2 79 (10.03%) Degree
3 61 (7.74%) SC Cleared
4 44 (5.58%) BPSS Clearance
5 37 (4.70%) Computer Science Degree
6 25 (3.17%) Cisco Certification
7 21 (2.66%) CCNA
7 21 (2.66%) PMP
8 16 (2.03%) Microsoft Certification
9 15 (1.90%) CCNP
10 14 (1.78%) CISSP
11 13 (1.65%) PMI Certification
12 11 (1.40%) A+ Certification
12 11 (1.40%) Network+ Certification
13 9 (1.14%) CCDP
13 9 (1.14%) RHCE
14 7 (0.89%) AWS Certification
14 7 (0.89%) Azure Certification
15 6 (0.76%) CISM
15 6 (0.76%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 41 (5.20%) Data Quality
2 39 (4.95%) QA
3 19 (2.41%) GDPR
4 17 (2.16%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 14 (1.78%) PSD2
6 11 (1.40%) NIST
6 11 (1.40%) PCI DSS
6 11 (1.40%) PMO
7 9 (1.14%) Accessibility
8 8 (1.02%) ISO 20022
9 7 (0.89%) GRC
9 7 (0.89%) SEPA
9 7 (0.89%) SLA
10 5 (0.63%) Actionable Recommendations
10 5 (0.63%) HL7
11 4 (0.51%) ISO 8583
12 3 (0.38%) HIPAA
12 3 (0.38%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 3 (0.38%) WCAG
13 2 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 69 (8.76%) Docker
2 57 (7.23%) Active Directory
3 27 (3.43%) VMware Infrastructure
4 19 (2.41%) VMware NSX
4 19 (2.41%) vSphere
5 9 (1.14%) ACF2
5 9 (1.14%) RACF
5 9 (1.14%) Time Sharing Option
6 8 (1.02%) Hyper-V
7 7 (0.89%) Virtual Machines
8 6 (0.76%) Virtual Desktop
9 3 (0.38%) ISA Server
10 2 (0.25%) Firmware
11 1 (0.13%) EMC RecoverPoint
11 1 (0.13%) NFS
11 1 (0.13%) SRDF
11 1 (0.13%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 97 (12.31%) Kubernetes
2 59 (7.49%) Ansible
3 57 (7.23%) Terraform
4 39 (4.95%) Grafana
5 29 (3.68%) Prometheus
6 21 (2.66%) Microsoft Intune
7 15 (1.90%) Argo
8 13 (1.65%) SCCM
8 13 (1.65%) vCenter Server
9 12 (1.52%) Control-M
10 11 (1.40%) IBM Guardium
10 11 (1.40%) Nessus
11 10 (1.27%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 10 (1.27%) Puppet
12 9 (1.14%) CA Endevor
12 9 (1.14%) Tivoli
12 9 (1.14%) Tivoli Storage Manager
13 4 (0.51%) EMC NetWorker
13 4 (0.51%) Kibana
14 3 (0.38%) Norton AntiVirus
Vendors
1 146 (18.53%) Microsoft
2 66 (8.38%) SAP
3 43 (5.46%) Splunk
4 41 (5.20%) VMware
5 40 (5.08%) Oracle
6 35 (4.44%) Red Hat
7 30 (3.81%) ServiceNow
8 28 (3.55%) Google
9 22 (2.79%) Workday
10 21 (2.66%) Cisco
11 14 (1.78%) Citrix
11 14 (1.78%) Sage
12 13 (1.65%) Pure Storage
12 13 (1.65%) Sonatype
13 11 (1.40%) Tenable
14 10 (1.27%) Databricks
14 10 (1.27%) F5
14 10 (1.27%) Veeam
15 9 (1.14%) Adobe
15 9 (1.14%) Dell