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

6 months to
27 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 3 6
Rank change year-on-year -2 +3 +11
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 767 568 609
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 14.27% 17.26% 12.60%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 16.38% 19.41% 14.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 500 350 339
10th Percentile £220 £219 £200
25th Percentile £350 £360 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% +5.26%
75th Percentile £538 £550 £583
90th Percentile £618 £640 £688
England median daily rate £492 £500 £510
% change year-on-year -1.60% -1.96% -5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 36 39 49
10th Percentile £15.18 £13.36 £11.40
25th Percentile £16.89 £17.85 £11.75
Median hourly rate £41.86 £25.43 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year +64.59% +45.31% -56.57%
75th Percentile £70.65 £30.63 £43.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £57.84 £47.50
England median hourly rate £19.25 £25.43 £21.01
% change year-on-year -24.30% +21.04% -42.13%

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 4,683 2,927 4,204
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 87.14% 88.94% 86.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,063 1,772 2,639
10th Percentile £256 £263 £274
25th Percentile £375 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £495
Median % change year-on-year - -4.04% -1.00%
75th Percentile £551 £575 £585
90th Percentile £650 £651 £672
England median daily rate £505 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 276 147 324
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.24 £11.77
25th Percentile £21.65 £19.13 £14.00
Median hourly rate £44.00 £27.50 £20.89
Median % change year-on-year +60.00% +31.67% -24.60%
75th Percentile £62.03 £46.18 £46.18
90th Percentile £74.26 £75.85 £53.75
England median hourly rate £28.50 £35.00 £34.23
% change year-on-year -18.57% +2.25% -2.20%

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 27 February 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 27 February 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 27 February 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 -1 383 £424 -10.32% 303
Yorkshire -4 331 £475 -5.00% 186
North East -3 61 £450 -6.40% 76
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 48 (6.26%) Confluence
2 33 (4.30%) SharePoint
3 28 (3.65%) Microsoft Exchange
4 14 (1.83%) Apache Spark
5 9 (1.17%) Apache
6 5 (0.65%) Apache Airflow
7 4 (0.52%) Exchange Server 2013
7 4 (0.52%) Skype for Business
8 3 (0.39%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 1 (0.13%) CMS
9 1 (0.13%) JBoss
9 1 (0.13%) Moodle
9 1 (0.13%) NetWeaver
9 1 (0.13%) nginx
9 1 (0.13%) SAS
9 1 (0.13%) Tomcat
Applications
1 47 (6.13%) Microsoft Excel
1 47 (6.13%) Microsoft Office
2 30 (3.91%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 20 (2.61%) MS Visio
4 5 (0.65%) Acrobat
4 5 (0.65%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.39%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.13%) Siemens NX
6 1 (0.13%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 45 (5.87%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (0.52%) Payment Gateway
3 3 (0.39%) iTrent
3 3 (0.39%) SAP EHS
3 3 (0.39%) SAP Payroll
3 3 (0.39%) SAP SCM
4 2 (0.26%) Advent Geneva
4 2 (0.26%) Dynamics AX
4 2 (0.26%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.26%) Elite 3E
4 2 (0.26%) Kondor
4 2 (0.26%) NetSuite
4 2 (0.26%) SAP ERP
4 2 (0.26%) SAP HCM
5 1 (0.13%) SAP BPC
5 1 (0.13%) SAP HR
5 1 (0.13%) SAP PSCD
5 1 (0.13%) SystmOne
5 1 (0.13%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 132 (17.21%) Azure
2 101 (13.17%) AWS
3 70 (9.13%) Microsoft 365
4 46 (6.00%) GCP
5 44 (5.74%) GitHub
6 43 (5.61%) Power Platform
7 35 (4.56%) OpenShift
8 23 (3.00%) Azure DevOps
8 23 (3.00%) Entra ID
9 21 (2.74%) Serverless
10 20 (2.61%) SaaS
11 14 (1.83%) Google Workspace
12 13 (1.69%) GitHub Actions
13 10 (1.30%) Dynamics 365
14 9 (1.17%) Amazon S3
14 9 (1.17%) Apigee
15 8 (1.04%) Amazon ECS
15 8 (1.04%) AWS Lambda
15 8 (1.04%) Azure AKS
15 8 (1.04%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 45 (5.87%) Firewall
2 32 (4.17%) DNS
3 28 (3.65%) Network Security
4 19 (2.48%) TCP/IP
5 18 (2.35%) WAN
6 17 (2.22%) LAN
7 12 (1.56%) Wi-Fi
8 11 (1.43%) DHCP
8 11 (1.43%) VLAN
9 9 (1.17%) WebEx
10 8 (1.04%) BGP
11 7 (0.91%) VPN
12 6 (0.78%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
12 6 (0.78%) Kerberos
12 6 (0.78%) SAN
12 6 (0.78%) Software-Defined Networking
13 5 (0.65%) DMZ
13 5 (0.65%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
13 5 (0.65%) HTTP
14 4 (0.52%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (4.43%) Power BI
2 30 (3.91%) MongoDB
2 30 (3.91%) PostgreSQL
3 20 (2.61%) NoSQL
3 20 (2.61%) SQL Server
4 15 (1.96%) Relational Database
5 13 (1.69%) Data Warehouse
6 12 (1.56%) Power Query
7 10 (1.30%) MySQL
8 9 (1.17%) DynamoDB
8 9 (1.17%) Hadoop
9 8 (1.04%) PowerPivot
10 7 (0.91%) Metadata
10 7 (0.91%) Oracle Database
11 6 (0.78%) BigQuery
12 5 (0.65%) Data Lake
12 5 (0.65%) Oracle Reports
12 5 (0.65%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 4 (0.52%) MS Access
13 4 (0.52%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 104 (13.56%) JIRA
2 47 (6.13%) Jenkins
3 35 (4.56%) Git
4 34 (4.43%) GitLab
5 17 (2.22%) Sonatype Nexus
6 11 (1.43%) Mockito
7 9 (1.17%) Cucumber
7 9 (1.17%) Postman
8 8 (1.04%) Selenium
9 5 (0.65%) Cypress.io
10 4 (0.52%) CircleCI
10 4 (0.52%) JMeter
10 4 (0.52%) JUnit
10 4 (0.52%) Oracle Forms
11 3 (0.39%) Jasmine
11 3 (0.39%) REST Assured
12 2 (0.26%) Maven
12 2 (0.26%) SoapUI
12 2 (0.26%) Zephyr
13 1 (0.13%) Atlassian Bamboo
General
1 400 (52.15%) Social Skills
2 285 (37.16%) Analytical Skills
3 215 (28.03%) Finance
4 87 (11.34%) Banking
5 81 (10.56%) Public Sector
6 31 (4.04%) Legal
7 24 (3.13%) Documentation Skills
8 22 (2.87%) Influencing Skills
9 12 (1.56%) Organisational Skills
9 12 (1.56%) Telecoms
10 9 (1.17%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 9 (1.17%) Manufacturing
10 9 (1.17%) Presentation Skills
11 8 (1.04%) Law
11 8 (1.04%) Retail
12 7 (0.91%) Retail Banking
13 6 (0.78%) Health Technology
14 5 (0.65%) Local Government
14 5 (0.65%) Military
15 3 (0.39%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 137 (17.86%) Analyst
2 116 (15.12%) Developer
3 66 (8.60%) Business Analyst
4 59 (7.69%) Lead
5 57 (7.43%) Senior
6 39 (5.08%) Project Manager
7 37 (4.82%) Consultant
7 37 (4.82%) IT Support
8 30 (3.91%) Administrator
9 29 (3.78%) Architect
10 28 (3.65%) Data Engineer
11 23 (3.00%) Java Developer
12 22 (2.87%) Software Engineer
13 21 (2.74%) IT Engineer
13 21 (2.74%) Platform Engineer
14 19 (2.48%) SAP Consultant
14 19 (2.48%) Technical Analyst
15 18 (2.35%) Support Analyst
16 17 (2.22%) Support Engineer
16 17 (2.22%) Technical Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (4.95%) REST
2 34 (4.43%) Kafka
3 31 (4.04%) Spring
4 30 (3.91%) OpenTelemetry
5 29 (3.78%) Spring Boot
6 27 (3.52%) RESTful
7 26 (3.39%) JSON
8 22 (2.87%) SOAP
9 21 (2.74%) FastAPI
10 19 (2.48%) React
11 18 (2.35%) XML
12 16 (2.09%) .NET
13 14 (1.83%) HTML
13 14 (1.83%) Swagger
14 13 (1.69%) OAuth
15 12 (1.56%) AngularJS
15 12 (1.56%) CSS
15 12 (1.56%) Node.js
15 12 (1.56%) YAML
16 10 (1.30%) Elastic Stack
Miscellaneous
1 63 (8.21%) Product Ownership
2 34 (4.43%) Onboarding
3 24 (3.13%) Cloud Native
4 21 (2.74%) Data Protection Act
5 19 (2.48%) Data Centre
5 19 (2.48%) Legacy Systems
6 18 (2.35%) Self-Motivation
7 16 (2.09%) Management Information System
8 15 (1.96%) Hybrid Cloud
9 14 (1.83%) Data Structures
10 12 (1.56%) Analytical Mindset
10 12 (1.56%) CMDB
11 9 (1.17%) Algorithms
11 9 (1.17%) Enterprise Software
11 9 (1.17%) Mainframe
11 9 (1.17%) Public Cloud
11 9 (1.17%) SWIFT Messaging Network
12 8 (1.04%) NHS
13 7 (0.91%) Distributed Systems
13 7 (0.91%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 85 (11.08%) Windows
2 74 (9.65%) Linux
3 23 (3.00%) Windows 10
4 22 (2.87%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 22 (2.87%) Windows Server
5 21 (2.74%) Unix
6 12 (1.56%) Android
7 9 (1.17%) Apple iOS
8 8 (1.04%) CentOS
8 8 (1.04%) Mac OS
8 8 (1.04%) Mac OS X
8 8 (1.04%) Ubuntu
9 7 (0.91%) Windows Server 2019
10 4 (0.52%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.39%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 234 (30.51%) Agile
2 169 (22.03%) CI/CD
3 135 (17.60%) Continuous Improvement
4 132 (17.21%) DevOps
5 104 (13.56%) Stakeholder Management
6 94 (12.26%) Migration
7 92 (11.99%) Project Management
8 77 (10.04%) Change Management
8 77 (10.04%) Containerisation
9 73 (9.52%) Analytics
10 69 (9.00%) Validation
11 65 (8.47%) Test Automation
12 63 (8.21%) Microservices
13 61 (7.95%) Decision-Making
13 61 (7.95%) Workshop Facilitation
14 60 (7.82%) Customer Service
14 60 (7.82%) Mentoring
15 59 (7.69%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 58 (7.56%) ITIL
17 56 (7.30%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 123 (16.04%) Python
2 96 (12.52%) SQL
3 74 (9.65%) Java
4 48 (6.26%) PowerShell
5 39 (5.08%) Bash
6 31 (4.04%) TypeScript
7 25 (3.26%) JavaScript
8 20 (2.61%) Perl
9 19 (2.48%) C#
10 11 (1.43%) Groovy
10 11 (1.43%) VBA
11 9 (1.17%) CLIST
11 9 (1.17%) COBOL
11 9 (1.17%) JCL
11 9 (1.17%) REXX
11 9 (1.17%) Ruby
12 8 (1.04%) T-SQL
13 7 (0.91%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 7 (0.91%) Go
13 7 (0.91%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 94 (12.26%) Security Cleared
2 75 (9.78%) Degree
3 65 (8.47%) SC Cleared
4 39 (5.08%) BPSS Clearance
5 35 (4.56%) Computer Science Degree
6 23 (3.00%) Cisco Certification
7 21 (2.74%) CCNA
8 15 (1.96%) CCNP
8 15 (1.96%) PMP
9 9 (1.17%) CCDP
9 9 (1.17%) Microsoft Certification
10 8 (1.04%) A+ Certification
10 8 (1.04%) Network+ Certification
10 8 (1.04%) PMI Certification
10 8 (1.04%) RHCE
11 7 (0.91%) AWS Certification
11 7 (0.91%) CISSP
11 7 (0.91%) Six Sigma Green Belt
12 5 (0.65%) DBS Check
12 5 (0.65%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 44 (5.74%) QA
2 30 (3.91%) Data Quality
3 16 (2.09%) Accessibility
4 14 (1.83%) PSD2
5 13 (1.69%) GDPR
6 9 (1.17%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 9 (1.17%) PCI DSS
7 8 (1.04%) ISO 20022
7 8 (1.04%) PMO
8 7 (0.91%) SEPA
9 5 (0.65%) Actionable Recommendations
9 5 (0.65%) HL7
9 5 (0.65%) SLA
10 4 (0.52%) NIST
10 4 (0.52%) WCAG
11 3 (0.39%) ISO 8583
12 2 (0.26%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.13%) GxP
13 1 (0.13%) HIPAA
13 1 (0.13%) SOC 2
System Software
1 75 (9.78%) Docker
2 53 (6.91%) Active Directory
3 21 (2.74%) VMware Infrastructure
4 14 (1.83%) VMware NSX
5 13 (1.69%) vSphere
6 9 (1.17%) ACF2
6 9 (1.17%) RACF
6 9 (1.17%) Time Sharing Option
7 7 (0.91%) Hyper-V
8 6 (0.78%) Virtual Desktop
9 5 (0.65%) Virtual Machines
10 3 (0.39%) ISA Server
11 2 (0.26%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 97 (12.65%) Kubernetes
2 55 (7.17%) Terraform
3 50 (6.52%) Ansible
4 46 (6.00%) Grafana
5 37 (4.82%) Prometheus
6 21 (2.74%) Microsoft Intune
6 21 (2.74%) SCCM
7 19 (2.48%) Control-M
8 18 (2.35%) IBM Guardium
8 18 (2.35%) Nessus
9 10 (1.30%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 10 (1.30%) Puppet
10 9 (1.17%) CA Endevor
10 9 (1.17%) Tivoli
10 9 (1.17%) Tivoli Storage Manager
11 8 (1.04%) Argo
12 7 (0.91%) vCenter Server
13 6 (0.78%) Norton AntiVirus
14 4 (0.52%) EMC NetWorker
14 4 (0.52%) Kibana
Vendors
1 156 (20.34%) Microsoft
2 66 (8.60%) SAP
3 40 (5.22%) Splunk
4 37 (4.82%) Oracle
5 35 (4.56%) VMware
6 31 (4.04%) ServiceNow
7 28 (3.65%) Google
8 27 (3.52%) Red Hat
9 19 (2.48%) Cisco
9 19 (2.48%) Workday
10 18 (2.35%) Tenable
11 13 (1.69%) Citrix
11 13 (1.69%) Databricks
11 13 (1.69%) Sage
11 13 (1.69%) Sonatype
12 10 (1.30%) F5
13 9 (1.17%) Adobe
13 9 (1.17%) Veeam
14 8 (1.04%) Dell
14 8 (1.04%) IFS