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

6 months to
20 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 13 4 5
Rank change year-on-year -9 +1 +10
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 737 700 601
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 10.21% 18.23% 13.22%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.16% 20.56% 15.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 419 400 346
10th Percentile £297 £258 £251
25th Percentile £363 £369 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £485
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -2.06% -6.73%
75th Percentile £538 £575 £550
90th Percentile £600 £653 £638
England median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 63 71 57
10th Percentile £16.20 £12.76 -
25th Percentile £17.25 £17.48 £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 £32.31 £26.39
90th Percentile £89.00 £63.40 £63.00
England median hourly rate £21.49 £21.25 £16.23
% change year-on-year +1.13% +30.93% -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 6,061 3,405 3,818
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 83.95% 88.67% 83.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,618 2,182 2,307
10th Percentile £313 £268 £300
25th Percentile £403 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £469 £495
Median % change year-on-year +4.90% -5.25% -1.00%
75th Percentile £588 £556 £580
90th Percentile £675 £650 £664
England median daily rate £525 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 454 200 323
10th Percentile £16.62 £12.82 £11.19
25th Percentile £22.63 £17.47 £13.00
Median hourly rate £45.97 £22.63 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year +103.12% +2.86% -18.06%
75th Percentile £71.80 £44.78 £46.18
90th Percentile £83.60 £72.50 £66.61
England median hourly rate £47.50 £25.15 £39.50
% change year-on-year +88.87% -36.33% -7.06%

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 20 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 20 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 20 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 -11 368 £450 -8.54% 307
Yorkshire -7 323 £450 -5.26% 194
North East -19 52 £370 -17.78% 88
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 (5.29%) Confluence
2 22 (2.99%) Apache Spark
3 19 (2.58%) SharePoint
4 11 (1.49%) Apache Airflow
5 9 (1.22%) Apache
6 8 (1.09%) Microsoft Exchange
7 6 (0.81%) Jupyter
8 4 (0.54%) CMS
9 3 (0.41%) 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 (0.14%) Apache Superset
11 1 (0.14%) Mule
11 1 (0.14%) Mule ESB
11 1 (0.14%) nginx
11 1 (0.14%) Tomcat
11 1 (0.14%) WebSphere
11 1 (0.14%) WordPress
Applications
1 35 (4.75%) Microsoft Excel
2 26 (3.53%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (1.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (1.49%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.95%) Microsoft Project
6 6 (0.81%) Chatbot
7 3 (0.41%) CATIA
7 3 (0.41%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.27%) Acrobat
9 1 (0.14%) EngageOne
Business Applications
1 33 (4.48%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (1.22%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.54%) Dynamics CRM
4 3 (0.41%) Oracle EBS
4 3 (0.41%) Payment Gateway
4 3 (0.41%) SAP HCM
4 3 (0.41%) SAP Payroll
5 2 (0.27%) NetSuite
5 2 (0.27%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.14%) Actimize
6 1 (0.14%) FIS Private Capital Suite
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Applications
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.14%) ResourceLink
6 1 (0.14%) SystmOne
6 1 (0.14%) VisionPLUS
Cloud Services
1 124 (16.82%) Azure
2 87 (11.80%) AWS
3 62 (8.41%) Microsoft 365
4 55 (7.46%) Power Platform
5 39 (5.29%) GCP
6 38 (5.16%) GitHub
6 38 (5.16%) OpenShift
7 24 (3.26%) Entra ID
8 16 (2.17%) Azure DevOps
9 12 (1.63%) Microsoft Copilot
10 11 (1.49%) SaaS
11 10 (1.36%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 10 (1.36%) Power Automate
11 10 (1.36%) Serverless
12 9 (1.22%) GitHub Actions
12 9 (1.22%) PowerApps
13 8 (1.09%) Copilot Studio
14 7 (0.95%) Azure Monitor
15 6 (0.81%) Azure Storage
15 6 (0.81%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 33 (4.48%) DNS
2 31 (4.21%) Firewall
3 30 (4.07%) VPN
4 18 (2.44%) WAN
5 17 (2.31%) LAN
5 17 (2.31%) Network Security
6 16 (2.17%) TCP/IP
7 15 (2.04%) VLAN
7 15 (2.04%) Wireless
8 14 (1.90%) Wi-Fi
9 12 (1.63%) DHCP
10 9 (1.22%) SAN
10 9 (1.22%) VoIP
11 8 (1.09%) BGP
11 8 (1.09%) Cisco Nexus
11 8 (1.09%) WLAN
12 7 (0.95%) Kerberos
12 7 (0.95%) OSPF
13 5 (0.68%) Cisco ASA
13 5 (0.68%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 43 (5.83%) Power BI
2 35 (4.75%) SQL Server
3 33 (4.48%) MongoDB
4 24 (3.26%) PostgreSQL
5 23 (3.12%) Data Warehouse
6 16 (2.17%) Relational Database
7 15 (2.04%) Tableau
8 14 (1.90%) NoSQL
9 12 (1.63%) Big Data
10 11 (1.49%) Hadoop
11 10 (1.36%) Metadata
11 10 (1.36%) MySQL
12 8 (1.09%) Db2
12 8 (1.09%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 6 (0.81%) DataStage
14 5 (0.68%) Oracle Database
14 5 (0.68%) Snowflake Schema
15 4 (0.54%) Data Lake
15 4 (0.54%) Data Vault
15 4 (0.54%) Neo4j
Development Applications
1 99 (13.43%) JIRA
2 40 (5.43%) Jenkins
3 32 (4.34%) Git
4 26 (3.53%) GitLab
5 12 (1.63%) Mockito
5 12 (1.63%) Sonatype Nexus
6 10 (1.36%) Selenium
7 9 (1.22%) Postman
8 7 (0.95%) REST Assured
9 6 (0.81%) JUnit
10 5 (0.68%) Cucumber
10 5 (0.68%) Gatling
11 4 (0.54%) Cypress.io
12 3 (0.41%) Claude Code
12 3 (0.41%) Gradle
12 3 (0.41%) MSI
12 3 (0.41%) Serenity BDD
13 2 (0.27%) JMeter
13 2 (0.27%) Oracle Forms
13 2 (0.27%) Visual Studio
General
1 348 (47.22%) Social Skills
2 321 (43.55%) Analytical Skills
3 207 (28.09%) Finance
4 80 (10.85%) Banking
5 62 (8.41%) Public Sector
6 35 (4.75%) Documentation Skills
7 28 (3.80%) Influencing Skills
8 26 (3.53%) Legal
8 26 (3.53%) Organisational Skills
9 18 (2.44%) Manufacturing
10 17 (2.31%) Retail
11 14 (1.90%) Law
12 9 (1.22%) Telecoms
13 8 (1.09%) Financial Institution
13 8 (1.09%) Presentation Skills
14 7 (0.95%) Aerospace
14 7 (0.95%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 7 (0.95%) Marketing
15 6 (0.81%) Automotive
16 5 (0.68%) Police
Job Titles
1 143 (19.40%) Analyst
2 89 (12.08%) Developer
3 63 (8.55%) Lead
4 55 (7.46%) Senior
5 44 (5.97%) Architect
6 42 (5.70%) Business Analyst
7 30 (4.07%) Consultant
8 28 (3.80%) IT Support
9 27 (3.66%) Data Engineer
9 27 (3.66%) Java Developer
10 25 (3.39%) Administrator
11 24 (3.26%) Project Manager
11 24 (3.26%) Python Developer
12 22 (2.99%) Data Analyst
12 22 (2.99%) DevOps Engineer
13 20 (2.71%) Network Engineer
14 18 (2.44%) IT Engineer
15 17 (2.31%) Support Engineer
16 16 (2.17%) IT Analyst
17 15 (2.04%) Service Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (5.02%) Kafka
2 33 (4.48%) OpenTelemetry
3 32 (4.34%) REST
4 29 (3.93%) Spring
5 24 (3.26%) Spring Boot
6 21 (2.85%) FastAPI
7 19 (2.58%) React
8 18 (2.44%) RESTful
9 16 (2.17%) JSON
10 13 (1.76%) HTML
10 13 (1.76%) Playwright
11 12 (1.63%) .NET
11 12 (1.63%) CSS
11 12 (1.63%) XML
12 10 (1.36%) LDAP
12 10 (1.36%) Node.js
12 10 (1.36%) OAuth
12 10 (1.36%) SOAP
13 9 (1.22%) JAX-RS
14 8 (1.09%) ActiveMQ
Miscellaneous
1 54 (7.33%) Product Ownership
2 40 (5.43%) Cloud Native
3 33 (4.48%) Data Protection Act
4 32 (4.34%) Onboarding
5 25 (3.39%) Data Centre
6 23 (3.12%) Legacy Systems
6 23 (3.12%) Self-Motivation
7 22 (2.99%) Analytical Mindset
8 18 (2.44%) Management Information System
9 17 (2.31%) Driving Licence
9 17 (2.31%) Hybrid Cloud
10 16 (2.17%) Enterprise Software
11 14 (1.90%) Mainframe
12 13 (1.76%) AI Agents
12 13 (1.76%) Data Structures
13 12 (1.63%) Distributed Systems
13 12 (1.63%) PKI
14 11 (1.49%) Virtual Team
15 9 (1.22%) Mobile App
15 9 (1.22%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 76 (10.31%) Windows
2 41 (5.56%) Linux
3 26 (3.53%) Windows 10
4 19 (2.58%) Unix
5 15 (2.04%) Apple iOS
6 12 (1.63%) Mac OS
7 10 (1.36%) Android
7 10 (1.36%) Windows Server
8 7 (0.95%) Mac OS X
9 4 (0.54%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 3 (0.41%) Solaris
10 3 (0.41%) Windows Server 2019
10 3 (0.41%) zOS
11 2 (0.27%) AIX
11 2 (0.27%) Data ONTAP
11 2 (0.27%) HPUX
11 2 (0.27%) Oracle Linux
11 2 (0.27%) SUSE
11 2 (0.27%) Windows Server 2012
12 1 (0.14%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 194 (26.32%) Agile
2 154 (20.90%) CI/CD
2 154 (20.90%) Continuous Improvement
3 130 (17.64%) DevOps
4 114 (15.47%) Stakeholder Management
5 97 (13.16%) Migration
6 78 (10.58%) Analytics
6 78 (10.58%) Project Management
7 77 (10.45%) Change Management
8 70 (9.50%) AI
8 70 (9.50%) ITIL
9 69 (9.36%) Test Automation
10 68 (9.23%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 66 (8.96%) Containerisation
12 63 (8.55%) Validation
13 60 (8.14%) Decision-Making
14 58 (7.87%) Customer Service
15 57 (7.73%) Data Protection
16 55 (7.46%) Business Intelligence
16 55 (7.46%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 129 (17.50%) Python
2 100 (13.57%) SQL
3 58 (7.87%) PowerShell
4 57 (7.73%) Java
5 32 (4.34%) Bash
6 23 (3.12%) JavaScript
7 13 (1.76%) TypeScript
8 10 (1.36%) PL/SQL
9 9 (1.22%) R
10 8 (1.09%) C#
10 8 (1.09%) Shell Script
11 6 (0.81%) ABAP
11 6 (0.81%) Bicep
11 6 (0.81%) Kotlin
11 6 (0.81%) T-SQL
12 5 (0.68%) COBOL
12 5 (0.68%) Go
12 5 (0.68%) VBA
13 4 (0.54%) JCL
14 3 (0.41%) Data Analysis Expressions
Qualifications
1 93 (12.62%) Security Cleared
2 69 (9.36%) Degree
3 65 (8.82%) SC Cleared
4 34 (4.61%) BPSS Clearance
5 26 (3.53%) Computer Science Degree
6 23 (3.12%) Microsoft Certification
7 21 (2.85%) Cisco Certification
8 18 (2.44%) CISSP
9 15 (2.04%) PMP
10 13 (1.76%) A+ Certification
10 13 (1.76%) PMI Certification
11 12 (1.63%) CCNA
11 12 (1.63%) CCNP
11 12 (1.63%) Network+ Certification
12 9 (1.22%) CompTIA Security+
13 8 (1.09%) AWS Certification
13 8 (1.09%) Azure Certification
14 7 (0.95%) CEH
15 6 (0.81%) CISM
15 6 (0.81%) HNC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 48 (6.51%) Data Quality
2 24 (3.26%) QA
3 20 (2.71%) Accessibility
4 14 (1.90%) GDPR
4 14 (1.90%) SLA
5 11 (1.49%) GRC
6 10 (1.36%) NIST
7 9 (1.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 9 (1.22%) PMO
8 6 (0.81%) PCI DSS
9 5 (0.68%) PSD2
10 4 (0.54%) Actionable Recommendations
11 3 (0.41%) ISO 8583
11 3 (0.41%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.27%) HIPAA
12 2 (0.27%) ISO 20022
12 2 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 2 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 2 (0.27%) SEPA
12 2 (0.27%) WCAG
System Software
1 62 (8.41%) Docker
2 54 (7.33%) Active Directory
3 21 (2.85%) VMware Infrastructure
4 17 (2.31%) vSphere
5 15 (2.04%) VMware NSX
6 9 (1.22%) Virtual Machines
7 7 (0.95%) Firmware
8 5 (0.68%) Virtual Desktop
9 2 (0.27%) EMC RecoverPoint
9 2 (0.27%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.27%) KVM
9 2 (0.27%) NFS
9 2 (0.27%) SRDF
9 2 (0.27%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.14%) ACF2
10 1 (0.14%) Oracle RAC
10 1 (0.14%) RACF
10 1 (0.14%) Terminal Services
10 1 (0.14%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 81 (10.99%) Kubernetes
2 57 (7.73%) Terraform
3 46 (6.24%) Ansible
4 45 (6.11%) Grafana
5 36 (4.88%) Prometheus
6 17 (2.31%) Control-M
7 15 (2.04%) Argo
7 15 (2.04%) IBM Guardium
7 15 (2.04%) Nessus
7 15 (2.04%) vCenter Server
8 13 (1.76%) Microsoft Intune
9 10 (1.36%) SCCM
10 5 (0.68%) Single Sign-On
11 4 (0.54%) Kustomize
12 3 (0.41%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 3 (0.41%) FortiGate
12 3 (0.41%) Istio
12 3 (0.41%) McAfee ePO
12 3 (0.41%) WMI
13 2 (0.27%) CA Endevor
Vendors
1 127 (17.23%) Microsoft
2 60 (8.14%) SAP
3 57 (7.73%) ServiceNow
4 47 (6.38%) Splunk
5 32 (4.34%) Oracle
6 26 (3.53%) Cisco
7 25 (3.39%) VMware
8 21 (2.85%) Google
9 19 (2.58%) Workday
10 18 (2.44%) Red Hat
11 15 (2.04%) Pure Storage
11 15 (2.04%) Tenable
12 12 (1.63%) Concur
13 11 (1.49%) Sage
14 10 (1.36%) F5
14 10 (1.36%) IBM
14 10 (1.36%) Palo Alto
15 9 (1.22%) Dell
15 9 (1.22%) Remedy
16 8 (1.09%) CheckPoint