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 vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 17 September 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 5 5 13
Rank change year-on-year 0 +8 +2
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 645 537 491
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the North of England 16.14% 13.06% 9.69%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 18.12% 15.56% 10.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 370 308 261
10th Percentile £265 £260 £338
25th Percentile £375 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year - -5.00% +8.70%
75th Percentile £559 £550 £588
90th Percentile £646 £623 £650
England median daily rate £488 £500 £525
% change year-on-year -2.40% -4.76% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 56 13 19
10th Percentile £13.80 £14.85 £15.93
25th Percentile £17.30 £26.25 £18.36
Median hourly rate £20.26 £48.56 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year -58.29% +76.58% +37.50%
75th Percentile £32.13 £63.75 £45.88
90th Percentile £63.40 £76.09 £74.50
England median hourly rate £18.85 £16.23 £53.67
% change year-on-year +16.14% -69.76% +118.33%

All Process and 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 3,559 3,451 4,483
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 89.04% 83.90% 88.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,302 2,001 2,969
10th Percentile £268 £300 £285
25th Percentile £375 £400 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -7.00% -0.08% +0.08%
75th Percentile £559 £588 £600
90th Percentile £650 £675 £688
England median daily rate £510 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -2.86% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 203 179 206
10th Percentile £13.56 £12.55 £15.74
25th Percentile £17.35 £16.38 £17.81
Median hourly rate £22.32 £35.00 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year -36.24% +27.27% +36.61%
75th Percentile £35.75 £51.89 £46.18
90th Percentile £70.13 £70.00 £63.38
England median hourly rate £25.15 £43.00 £43.79
% change year-on-year -41.51% -1.81% +51.01%

Problem-Solving
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

Job postings citing Problem-Solving as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the North of England.

Job vacancy trend for Problem-Solving 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 17 September 2025.

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 17 September 2025.

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 17 September 2025. 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 +2 365 £475 +2.70% 573
Yorkshire +1 245 £480 - 317
North East -2 38 £450 -10.45% 136
Problem-Solving
England

Problem-Solving
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the North of England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 43 (6.67%) Confluence
2 22 (3.41%) SharePoint
3 18 (2.79%) Microsoft Exchange
4 15 (2.33%) Skype for Business
5 12 (1.86%) Apache Spark
6 8 (1.24%) Mattermost
7 7 (1.09%) Exchange Server 2013
8 6 (0.93%) JBoss
8 6 (0.93%) Tomcat
9 5 (0.78%) CICS
10 4 (0.62%) Apache Airflow
11 3 (0.47%) IIS
11 3 (0.47%) WebSphere
11 3 (0.47%) WebSphere Application Server
12 2 (0.31%) Apache
12 2 (0.31%) CMS
13 1 (0.16%) Mule ESB
13 1 (0.16%) NetWeaver
13 1 (0.16%) SAS
13 1 (0.16%) WebLogic
Applications
1 47 (7.29%) Microsoft Excel
2 29 (4.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 28 (4.34%) Microsoft Office
3 28 (4.34%) MS Visio
4 5 (0.78%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.31%) Simulink
6 1 (0.16%) MadCap Flare
6 1 (0.16%) Maple
6 1 (0.16%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.16%) Trello
Business Applications
1 34 (5.27%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (1.24%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (0.93%) SAP EWM
4 4 (0.62%) ContrOCC
5 3 (0.47%) Maximo
5 3 (0.47%) SAP EHS
6 1 (0.16%) IBM Planning Analytics
6 1 (0.16%) Kondor
6 1 (0.16%) LabWindows
6 1 (0.16%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.16%) Oracle ERP
6 1 (0.16%) Remedy ITSM
6 1 (0.16%) SAP CO
6 1 (0.16%) SAP FI
6 1 (0.16%) SAP FI/CO
6 1 (0.16%) SAP HR
6 1 (0.16%) SAP MM
6 1 (0.16%) SAP PP
6 1 (0.16%) SAP SD
6 1 (0.16%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 89 (13.80%) AWS
2 85 (13.18%) Azure
3 62 (9.61%) GCP
4 39 (6.05%) Power Platform
5 37 (5.74%) Microsoft 365
6 25 (3.88%) GitHub
7 18 (2.79%) Serverless
8 16 (2.48%) AWS Lambda
9 15 (2.33%) Amazon S3
10 12 (1.86%) Amazon ECS
10 12 (1.86%) Dynamics 365
11 10 (1.55%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 10 (1.55%) OneDrive
11 10 (1.55%) Power Automate
11 10 (1.55%) PowerApps
11 10 (1.55%) SaaS
12 9 (1.40%) GitHub Actions
13 8 (1.24%) Amazon EC2
13 8 (1.24%) Amazon SQS
13 8 (1.24%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 16 (2.48%) DNS
2 15 (2.33%) Skype
3 12 (1.86%) Network Security
4 10 (1.55%) Firewall
4 10 (1.55%) VPN
5 8 (1.24%) LAN
5 8 (1.24%) Softphone
5 8 (1.24%) TCP/IP
5 8 (1.24%) Unified Communications
5 8 (1.24%) WebEx
6 7 (1.09%) SAN
7 6 (0.93%) NAS
8 5 (0.78%) DHCP
9 4 (0.62%) Intrusion Detection
9 4 (0.62%) VoIP
10 3 (0.47%) SSL
10 3 (0.47%) WAN
11 2 (0.31%) DMZ
11 2 (0.31%) Internet
11 2 (0.31%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (4.50%) Power BI
2 25 (3.88%) Oracle Database
3 23 (3.57%) NoSQL
4 21 (3.26%) SQL Server
5 20 (3.10%) MongoDB
6 19 (2.95%) PostgreSQL
7 15 (2.33%) Relational Database
7 15 (2.33%) Tableau
8 13 (2.02%) MySQL
9 12 (1.86%) BigQuery
10 11 (1.71%) DynamoDB
11 10 (1.55%) Flink
11 10 (1.55%) Oracle Reports
12 9 (1.40%) Amazon RDS
12 9 (1.40%) RDBMS
13 7 (1.09%) Data Warehouse
14 6 (0.93%) Big Data
14 6 (0.93%) Redis
15 5 (0.78%) Amazon Redshift
15 5 (0.78%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 82 (12.71%) JIRA
2 68 (10.54%) Git
3 51 (7.91%) Jenkins
4 29 (4.50%) GitLab
5 14 (2.17%) JUnit
5 14 (2.17%) Maven
6 12 (1.86%) Gradle
7 10 (1.55%) Cucumber
7 10 (1.55%) Selenium
8 9 (1.40%) Postman
9 8 (1.24%) SonarQube
10 7 (1.09%) SoapUI
11 5 (0.78%) SonarLint
11 5 (0.78%) Sonatype Nexus
12 4 (0.62%) Cypress.io
12 4 (0.62%) Mockito
12 4 (0.62%) TestRail
13 2 (0.31%) Bitbucket
13 2 (0.31%) gulp
13 2 (0.31%) Rational DOORS
General
1 372 (57.67%) Social Skills
2 249 (38.60%) Analytical Skills
3 184 (28.53%) Finance
4 62 (9.61%) Banking
5 48 (7.44%) Public Sector
6 25 (3.88%) Manufacturing
7 20 (3.10%) Legal
7 20 (3.10%) Pharmaceutical
7 20 (3.10%) Presentation Skills
8 16 (2.48%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 16 (2.48%) Influencing Skills
9 15 (2.33%) Police
10 14 (2.17%) Telecoms
11 11 (1.71%) Documentation Skills
11 11 (1.71%) Retail
12 8 (1.24%) Law
12 8 (1.24%) Local Government
12 8 (1.24%) Marketing
12 8 (1.24%) Organisational Skills
13 6 (0.93%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 123 (19.07%) Analyst
2 76 (11.78%) Developer
3 48 (7.44%) Architect
4 44 (6.82%) Senior
5 38 (5.89%) Business Analyst
6 34 (5.27%) Consultant
7 33 (5.12%) Support Analyst
8 25 (3.88%) Lead
8 25 (3.88%) Support Engineer
9 23 (3.57%) Java Developer
10 21 (3.26%) IT Support
11 19 (2.95%) Administrator
11 19 (2.95%) Project Manager
12 15 (2.33%) Automation Engineer
13 14 (2.17%) Incident Manager
13 14 (2.17%) Operational Support Analyst
13 14 (2.17%) Operations Analyst
13 14 (2.17%) Operations Support Analyst
14 13 (2.02%) Full-Stack Developer
14 13 (2.02%) SAP Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (5.12%) REST
2 31 (4.81%) Kafka
3 27 (4.19%) Spring Boot
4 25 (3.88%) RESTful
5 24 (3.72%) React
5 24 (3.72%) Spring
6 22 (3.41%) HTML
7 18 (2.79%) CSS
8 16 (2.48%) FastAPI
9 15 (2.33%) AngularJS
10 14 (2.17%) .NET
11 11 (1.71%) Middleware
11 11 (1.71%) Node.js
12 9 (1.40%) Apache Beam
12 9 (1.40%) GraphQL
12 9 (1.40%) JDBC
12 9 (1.40%) JSON
12 9 (1.40%) SOAP
12 9 (1.40%) Spark Streaming
13 8 (1.24%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 38 (5.89%) Management Information System
2 36 (5.58%) Product Ownership
3 23 (3.57%) Data Protection Act
4 22 (3.41%) Cloud Native
5 15 (2.33%) Data Centre
6 14 (2.17%) Self-Motivation
7 13 (2.02%) Enterprise Software
8 12 (1.86%) Onboarding
9 11 (1.71%) Analytical Mindset
10 10 (1.55%) Algorithms
10 10 (1.55%) Public Cloud
10 10 (1.55%) Virtual Team
11 9 (1.40%) N-Tier
12 8 (1.24%) Data Structures
12 8 (1.24%) Mainframe
13 7 (1.09%) SWIFT Messaging Network
14 6 (0.93%) Hybrid Cloud
15 5 (0.78%) Legacy Systems
15 5 (0.78%) Mobile App
16 4 (0.62%) Cyberattack
Operating Systems
1 59 (9.15%) Windows
2 53 (8.22%) Linux
3 16 (2.48%) Windows Server
4 15 (2.33%) Apple iOS
5 13 (2.02%) Android
5 13 (2.02%) Unix
6 12 (1.86%) Windows 10
7 6 (0.93%) Mac OS X
8 5 (0.78%) Windows 8
8 5 (0.78%) Windows Server 2003
8 5 (0.78%) Windows Server 2008
8 5 (0.78%) Windows Server 2012
8 5 (0.78%) Windows Server 2016
8 5 (0.78%) Windows XP
9 4 (0.62%) zOS
10 2 (0.31%) Mac OS
10 2 (0.31%) VMS
11 1 (0.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 187 (28.99%) Agile
2 98 (15.19%) Stakeholder Management
3 91 (14.11%) Decision-Making
4 85 (13.18%) CI/CD
5 84 (13.02%) Continuous Improvement
6 75 (11.63%) Project Management
7 74 (11.47%) Migration
8 66 (10.23%) DevOps
9 63 (9.77%) ITIL
10 59 (9.15%) Test Automation
11 54 (8.37%) Change Management
11 54 (8.37%) Scrum
12 50 (7.75%) Analytics
13 47 (7.29%) Artificial Intelligence
13 47 (7.29%) Mentoring
14 46 (7.13%) ITSM
14 46 (7.13%) Roadmaps
15 44 (6.82%) Microservices
15 44 (6.82%) SDLC
16 43 (6.67%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 92 (14.26%) Python
2 61 (9.46%) SQL
3 60 (9.30%) Java
4 33 (5.12%) Shell Script
5 31 (4.81%) PowerShell
6 30 (4.65%) JavaScript
7 14 (2.17%) TypeScript
8 12 (1.86%) Bash
9 11 (1.71%) C#
10 6 (0.93%) JCL
10 6 (0.93%) Perl
11 5 (0.78%) Go
12 4 (0.62%) COBOL
12 4 (0.62%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 4 (0.62%) Scala
12 4 (0.62%) VBA
13 3 (0.47%) VB.NET
14 2 (0.31%) C
14 2 (0.31%) C++
14 2 (0.31%) PHP
Qualifications
1 79 (12.25%) Degree
2 66 (10.23%) Security Cleared
3 45 (6.98%) SC Cleared
4 27 (4.19%) Computer Science Degree
5 23 (3.57%) BPSS Clearance
6 21 (3.26%) Microsoft Certification
7 13 (2.02%) ITIL Certification
8 12 (1.86%) CISSP
9 11 (1.71%) PMP
9 11 (1.71%) Six Sigma Green Belt
10 9 (1.40%) A+ Certification
10 9 (1.40%) AWS Certification
10 9 (1.40%) ISTQB
11 8 (1.24%) CISM
12 7 (1.09%) Azure Certification
12 7 (1.09%) PMI Certification
13 6 (0.93%) DBS Check
14 5 (0.78%) CBAP
14 5 (0.78%) Master's Degree
14 5 (0.78%) MCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (4.96%) GDPR
2 30 (4.65%) QA
3 18 (2.79%) Data Quality
4 16 (2.48%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 14 (2.17%) Accessibility
6 11 (1.71%) PCI DSS
6 11 (1.71%) SLA
7 10 (1.55%) SEPA
8 9 (1.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 9 (1.40%) NIST
8 9 (1.40%) PMO
9 7 (1.09%) ISO 20022
10 5 (0.78%) Actionable Recommendations
10 5 (0.78%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 5 (0.78%) PSD2
11 3 (0.47%) COBIT
12 2 (0.31%) GRC
12 2 (0.31%) SOC 2
12 2 (0.31%) WCAG
13 1 (0.16%) AUTOSAR
System Software
1 46 (7.13%) Docker
2 42 (6.51%) Active Directory
3 11 (1.71%) Oracle RAC
3 11 (1.71%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (1.40%) vSphere
5 8 (1.24%) VMware NSX
6 5 (0.78%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.31%) Firmware
7 2 (0.31%) Job Entry Subsystem
7 2 (0.31%) Time Sharing Option
8 1 (0.16%) Apache ZooKeeper
8 1 (0.16%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.16%) Microcode
8 1 (0.16%) RACF
8 1 (0.16%) Virtual Servers
8 1 (0.16%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.16%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 47 (7.29%) Kubernetes
2 33 (5.12%) Ansible
3 21 (3.26%) Terraform
4 20 (3.10%) SCCM
5 14 (2.17%) Microsoft Intune
6 11 (1.71%) Data Guard
7 10 (1.55%) yum
8 9 (1.40%) Oracle RMAN
8 9 (1.40%) SCOM
9 8 (1.24%) Grafana
9 8 (1.24%) Prometheus
9 8 (1.24%) vCenter Server
10 6 (0.93%) vRealize
11 4 (0.62%) Single Sign-On
12 3 (0.47%) HP ALM
12 3 (0.47%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
13 2 (0.31%) HP Data Protector
13 2 (0.31%) NetBackup
13 2 (0.31%) Norton AntiVirus
13 2 (0.31%) QRadar
Vendors
1 157 (24.34%) Microsoft
2 65 (10.08%) SAP
3 43 (6.67%) Oracle
4 42 (6.51%) ServiceNow
5 32 (4.96%) Google
6 21 (3.26%) Splunk
7 18 (2.79%) VMware
8 14 (2.17%) Cisco
9 12 (1.86%) IBM
10 11 (1.71%) Red Hat
11 10 (1.55%) Commvault
12 7 (1.09%) BeyondTrust
12 7 (1.09%) CyberArk
12 7 (1.09%) Thycotic
13 6 (0.93%) F5
14 5 (0.78%) Apple
14 5 (0.78%) Atlassian
14 5 (0.78%) Canon
14 5 (0.78%) Computacenter
14 5 (0.78%) Databricks