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

6 months to
11 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 2 6
Rank change year-on-year -10 +4 +9
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 709 683 601
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 10.49% 20.06% 12.40%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.45% 22.32% 14.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 422 404 344
10th Percentile £298 £233 £243
25th Percentile £362 £375 £373
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £483
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -1.55% -3.50%
75th Percentile £538 £555 £550
90th Percentile £615 £650 £638
England median daily rate £500 £500 £501
% change year-on-year - -0.20% -4.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 53 56 72
10th Percentile £14.28 £13.76 -
25th Percentile £17.00 £20.40 £10.95
Median hourly rate £32.23 £25.22 £13.50
Median % change year-on-year +27.80% +86.78% -55.00%
75th Percentile £74.26 £39.35 £31.79
90th Percentile £160.20 £63.40 £61.53
England median hourly rate £21.35 £21.39 £16.23
% change year-on-year -0.19% +31.79% -69.03%

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 5,693 3,060 4,068
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 84.23% 89.89% 83.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,472 1,975 2,424
10th Percentile £313 £269 £300
25th Percentile £400 £379 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £478 £469 £500
Median % change year-on-year +1.81% -6.20% -
75th Percentile £581 £550 £588
90th Percentile £675 £644 £670
England median daily rate £515 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -0.96% -0.95% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 385 154 401
10th Percentile £16.07 £12.82 £11.11
25th Percentile £22.68 £17.93 £12.55
Median hourly rate £50.00 £25.15 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year +98.81% +19.76% -16.00%
75th Percentile £71.50 £51.50 £46.18
90th Percentile £80.60 £75.88 £63.75
England median hourly rate £47.50 £28.00 £37.50
% change year-on-year +69.64% -25.33% +4.17%

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 June 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 June 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 June 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 -10 340 £433 -8.95% 346
Yorkshire -6 328 £455 -4.16% 188
North East -15 47 £375 -16.67% 84
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 46 (6.49%) Confluence
2 18 (2.54%) Apache Spark
3 15 (2.12%) SharePoint
4 9 (1.27%) Microsoft Exchange
5 6 (0.85%) Apache Airflow
6 5 (0.71%) Apache
7 3 (0.42%) CICS
7 3 (0.42%) Jupyter
8 2 (0.28%) Camunda
8 2 (0.28%) CMS
8 2 (0.28%) JBoss
8 2 (0.28%) Oracle Workflow
8 2 (0.28%) Tomcat
8 2 (0.28%) WebLogic
9 1 (0.14%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 1 (0.14%) Mule
9 1 (0.14%) Mule ESB
9 1 (0.14%) NetWeaver
9 1 (0.14%) nginx
9 1 (0.14%) WebSphere
Applications
1 36 (5.08%) Microsoft Excel
2 22 (3.10%) Microsoft Office
3 15 (2.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (1.41%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.71%) Chatbot
5 5 (0.71%) Microsoft Project
6 4 (0.56%) Acrobat
6 4 (0.56%) Spreadsheet
7 3 (0.42%) CATIA
Business Applications
1 37 (5.22%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (0.85%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.56%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.56%) Payment Gateway
4 3 (0.42%) Oracle EBS
5 2 (0.28%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.14%) Actimize
6 1 (0.14%) Elite 3E
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%) SAP BPC
6 1 (0.14%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.14%) SAP HCM
6 1 (0.14%) SAP Payroll
6 1 (0.14%) SAP SCM
6 1 (0.14%) SystmOne
6 1 (0.14%) VisionPLUS
Cloud Services
1 130 (18.34%) Azure
2 92 (12.98%) AWS
3 54 (7.62%) Microsoft 365
4 48 (6.77%) Power Platform
5 44 (6.21%) GCP
6 38 (5.36%) GitHub
6 38 (5.36%) OpenShift
7 23 (3.24%) Entra ID
8 16 (2.26%) Azure DevOps
8 16 (2.26%) SaaS
9 13 (1.83%) Serverless
10 10 (1.41%) GitHub Actions
10 10 (1.41%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 9 (1.27%) Microsoft Copilot
12 8 (1.13%) Power Automate
13 7 (0.99%) Azure Functions
13 7 (0.99%) Azure Monitor
13 7 (0.99%) Azure Storage
13 7 (0.99%) Google Workspace
14 6 (0.85%) dbt
Communications & Networking
1 31 (4.37%) DNS
2 26 (3.67%) Firewall
3 18 (2.54%) WAN
4 16 (2.26%) TCP/IP
5 15 (2.12%) LAN
6 13 (1.83%) Network Security
7 12 (1.69%) Wi-Fi
8 11 (1.55%) SAN
9 10 (1.41%) VLAN
10 8 (1.13%) DHCP
10 8 (1.13%) VPN
11 7 (0.99%) Kerberos
12 6 (0.85%) Wireless
13 4 (0.56%) BGP
13 4 (0.56%) Cisco Nexus
13 4 (0.56%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
13 4 (0.56%) NAS
13 4 (0.56%) NetScaler
13 4 (0.56%) SSL
13 4 (0.56%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (5.50%) Power BI
2 29 (4.09%) MongoDB
3 27 (3.81%) SQL Server
4 23 (3.24%) PostgreSQL
5 22 (3.10%) Data Warehouse
6 15 (2.12%) Relational Database
7 13 (1.83%) NoSQL
8 12 (1.69%) Tableau
9 11 (1.55%) Big Data
9 11 (1.55%) Hadoop
10 9 (1.27%) Metadata
11 8 (1.13%) MySQL
12 7 (0.99%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 6 (0.85%) Db2
13 6 (0.85%) Power Query
14 5 (0.71%) DataStage
14 5 (0.71%) Snowflake Schema
15 4 (0.56%) Data Vault
15 4 (0.56%) Neo4j
15 4 (0.56%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 111 (15.66%) JIRA
2 43 (6.06%) Jenkins
3 31 (4.37%) Git
4 24 (3.39%) GitLab
5 13 (1.83%) Sonatype Nexus
6 11 (1.55%) Mockito
7 10 (1.41%) Postman
7 10 (1.41%) Selenium
8 7 (0.99%) JUnit
9 6 (0.85%) Cucumber
9 6 (0.85%) REST Assured
10 4 (0.56%) Gatling
11 3 (0.42%) MSI
11 3 (0.42%) Oracle Forms
11 3 (0.42%) Serenity BDD
12 2 (0.28%) CircleCI
12 2 (0.28%) Gradle
12 2 (0.28%) JMeter
12 2 (0.28%) Maven
12 2 (0.28%) Zephyr
General
1 359 (50.63%) Social Skills
2 295 (41.61%) Analytical Skills
3 215 (30.32%) Finance
4 88 (12.41%) Banking
5 56 (7.90%) Public Sector
6 35 (4.94%) Documentation Skills
7 27 (3.81%) Legal
8 24 (3.39%) Influencing Skills
9 22 (3.10%) Organisational Skills
10 16 (2.26%) Retail
11 15 (2.12%) Law
11 15 (2.12%) Telecoms
12 13 (1.83%) Manufacturing
13 9 (1.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 7 (0.99%) Presentation Skills
14 7 (0.99%) Retail Banking
15 5 (0.71%) Local Government
16 4 (0.56%) Automotive
16 4 (0.56%) Billing
16 4 (0.56%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 143 (20.17%) Analyst
2 82 (11.57%) Developer
3 61 (8.60%) Lead
4 55 (7.76%) Business Analyst
5 46 (6.49%) Senior
6 37 (5.22%) Architect
7 36 (5.08%) Consultant
8 28 (3.95%) Project Manager
9 26 (3.67%) Data Engineer
9 26 (3.67%) Java Developer
10 24 (3.39%) Administrator
11 23 (3.24%) IT Support
12 20 (2.82%) DevOps Engineer
12 20 (2.82%) Python Developer
13 18 (2.54%) Data Analyst
14 16 (2.26%) IT Analyst
14 16 (2.26%) IT Engineer
14 16 (2.26%) Support Analyst
14 16 (2.26%) Technical Analyst
15 15 (2.12%) SAP Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (5.36%) REST
2 36 (5.08%) Kafka
3 32 (4.51%) OpenTelemetry
4 26 (3.67%) Spring
5 21 (2.96%) Spring Boot
6 20 (2.82%) React
7 19 (2.68%) FastAPI
7 19 (2.68%) RESTful
8 18 (2.54%) JSON
9 16 (2.26%) SOAP
10 14 (1.97%) XML
11 13 (1.83%) HTML
12 12 (1.69%) .NET
12 12 (1.69%) CSS
12 12 (1.69%) LDAP
13 11 (1.55%) Swagger
13 11 (1.55%) YAML
14 10 (1.41%) OAuth
15 8 (1.13%) AngularJS
15 8 (1.13%) JAX-RS
Miscellaneous
1 58 (8.18%) Product Ownership
2 36 (5.08%) Cloud Native
3 30 (4.23%) Data Protection Act
4 29 (4.09%) Onboarding
5 25 (3.53%) Legacy Systems
6 21 (2.96%) Data Centre
6 21 (2.96%) Management Information System
7 20 (2.82%) Analytical Mindset
8 18 (2.54%) Self-Motivation
9 16 (2.26%) Hybrid Cloud
10 15 (2.12%) Mainframe
11 13 (1.83%) AI Agents
12 12 (1.69%) Driving Licence
13 11 (1.55%) Virtual Team
14 10 (1.41%) Data Structures
14 10 (1.41%) Distributed Systems
14 10 (1.41%) Enterprise Software
14 10 (1.41%) Mobile App
14 10 (1.41%) Public Cloud
15 8 (1.13%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 71 (10.01%) Windows
2 47 (6.63%) Linux
3 19 (2.68%) Unix
4 18 (2.54%) Windows 10
5 16 (2.26%) Apple iOS
6 15 (2.12%) Mac OS
7 13 (1.83%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 11 (1.55%) Android
9 10 (1.41%) Windows Server
10 9 (1.27%) Ubuntu
11 8 (1.13%) CentOS
12 7 (0.99%) Windows Server 2019
13 6 (0.85%) Mac OS X
14 4 (0.56%) Windows Server 2012
15 2 (0.28%) AIX
15 2 (0.28%) Data ONTAP
15 2 (0.28%) HPUX
15 2 (0.28%) Oracle Linux
15 2 (0.28%) Solaris
15 2 (0.28%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 194 (27.36%) Agile
2 150 (21.16%) CI/CD
3 136 (19.18%) Continuous Improvement
3 136 (19.18%) DevOps
4 103 (14.53%) Migration
5 102 (14.39%) Stakeholder Management
6 87 (12.27%) Project Management
7 80 (11.28%) Change Management
8 72 (10.16%) Analytics
9 69 (9.73%) Validation
10 64 (9.03%) ITIL
11 62 (8.74%) Test Automation
12 61 (8.60%) Containerisation
12 61 (8.60%) Customer Service
13 60 (8.46%) Decision-Making
13 60 (8.46%) ERP
14 55 (7.76%) Workshop Facilitation
15 54 (7.62%) AI
15 54 (7.62%) Microservices
15 54 (7.62%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 128 (18.05%) Python
2 97 (13.68%) SQL
3 60 (8.46%) Java
4 51 (7.19%) PowerShell
5 31 (4.37%) Bash
6 27 (3.81%) JavaScript
7 16 (2.26%) TypeScript
8 9 (1.27%) C#
8 9 (1.27%) Perl
8 9 (1.27%) R
8 9 (1.27%) Ruby
8 9 (1.27%) Shell Script
9 8 (1.13%) COBOL
9 8 (1.13%) Go
9 8 (1.13%) PL/SQL
10 6 (0.85%) Bicep
10 6 (0.85%) JCL
10 6 (0.85%) Kotlin
10 6 (0.85%) VBA
11 5 (0.71%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 73 (10.30%) Degree
2 70 (9.87%) Security Cleared
3 44 (6.21%) SC Cleared
4 40 (5.64%) BPSS Clearance
5 30 (4.23%) Computer Science Degree
6 25 (3.53%) Microsoft Certification
7 19 (2.68%) Cisco Certification
8 17 (2.40%) A+ Certification
9 16 (2.26%) CISSP
9 16 (2.26%) Network+ Certification
9 16 (2.26%) PMP
10 15 (2.12%) CCNA
11 12 (1.69%) PMI Certification
12 10 (1.41%) RHCE
13 9 (1.27%) CCNP
14 8 (1.13%) AWS Certification
14 8 (1.13%) Azure Certification
14 8 (1.13%) CompTIA Security+
15 7 (0.99%) MCSE
16 6 (0.85%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 40 (5.64%) Data Quality
2 21 (2.96%) QA
3 17 (2.40%) GDPR
4 13 (1.83%) Accessibility
5 12 (1.69%) PMO
6 10 (1.41%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 10 (1.41%) SLA
7 9 (1.27%) GRC
7 9 (1.27%) NIST
7 9 (1.27%) PSD2
8 7 (0.99%) PCI DSS
9 5 (0.71%) Actionable Recommendations
9 5 (0.71%) ISO 20022
10 4 (0.56%) ISO 8583
10 4 (0.56%) SEPA
11 3 (0.42%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.28%) HIPAA
12 2 (0.28%) HL7
12 2 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 2 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 61 (8.60%) Docker
2 48 (6.77%) Active Directory
3 25 (3.53%) VMware Infrastructure
4 19 (2.68%) vSphere
5 15 (2.12%) VMware NSX
6 8 (1.13%) Hyper-V
7 7 (0.99%) Virtual Machines
8 6 (0.85%) Virtual Desktop
9 5 (0.71%) Firmware
10 4 (0.56%) ACF2
10 4 (0.56%) RACF
11 3 (0.42%) Time Sharing Option
12 2 (0.28%) EMC RecoverPoint
12 2 (0.28%) NFS
12 2 (0.28%) SRDF
12 2 (0.28%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 82 (11.57%) Kubernetes
2 52 (7.33%) Ansible
2 52 (7.33%) Terraform
3 41 (5.78%) Grafana
4 32 (4.51%) Prometheus
5 19 (2.68%) Microsoft Intune
6 15 (2.12%) Argo
6 15 (2.12%) Control-M
6 15 (2.12%) vCenter Server
7 14 (1.97%) IBM Guardium
7 14 (1.97%) Nessus
8 9 (1.27%) SCCM
9 8 (1.13%) Puppet
10 5 (0.71%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 5 (0.71%) CA Endevor
10 5 (0.71%) Kustomize
11 3 (0.42%) Kibana
11 3 (0.42%) Tivoli
11 3 (0.42%) Tivoli Storage Manager
12 2 (0.28%) EMC VPLEX
Vendors
1 115 (16.22%) Microsoft
2 63 (8.89%) SAP
3 46 (6.49%) Splunk
4 37 (5.22%) ServiceNow
5 31 (4.37%) Oracle
6 30 (4.23%) VMware
7 26 (3.67%) Red Hat
8 24 (3.39%) Google
9 19 (2.68%) Cisco
9 19 (2.68%) Workday
10 15 (2.12%) Pure Storage
11 14 (1.97%) Sage
11 14 (1.97%) Tenable
12 12 (1.69%) Dell
13 10 (1.41%) F5
13 10 (1.41%) Veeam
14 8 (1.13%) Databricks
14 8 (1.13%) Salesforce
14 8 (1.13%) Sonatype
15 7 (0.99%) Apple