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 5 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 7 4 9
Rank change year-on-year -3 +5 +8
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 694 549 542
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 14.90% 14.35% 11.58%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 16.74% 16.74% 13.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 448 299 308
10th Percentile £213 £266 £250
25th Percentile £350 £375 £387
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £456 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% -5.00% +5.93%
75th Percentile £550 £550 £587
90th Percentile £625 £613 £700
England median daily rate £476 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -4.85% - -7.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 56 20 22
10th Percentile £14.52 £11.98 £16.25
25th Percentile £17.30 £15.74 £17.14
Median hourly rate £20.26 £25.10 £22.49
Median % change year-on-year -19.29% +11.61% -0.07%
75th Percentile £44.94 £44.94 £46.18
90th Percentile £72.21 £93.90 £54.12
England median hourly rate £19.00 £19.50 £42.90
% change year-on-year -2.56% -54.55% +43.01%

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 4,145 3,280 4,149
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 88.99% 85.71% 88.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,774 1,823 2,765
10th Percentile £213 £275 £281
25th Percentile £360 £390 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.63% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £550 £575 £600
90th Percentile £650 £665 £675
England median daily rate £500 £525 £545
% change year-on-year -4.76% -3.67% -0.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 254 175 189
10th Percentile £15.33 £15.00 £15.95
25th Percentile £19.07 £17.50 £17.75
Median hourly rate £25.15 £29.00 £28.30
Median % change year-on-year -13.28% +2.47% +31.63%
75th Percentile £46.71 £46.18 £46.18
90th Percentile £69.95 £66.80 £61.99
England median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +18.67%

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 5 December 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 5 December 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 5 December 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 -1 385 £450 -5.26% 499
Yorkshire -6 264 £478 -1.55% 403
North East -2 52 £450 -5.26% 143
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 38 (5.48%) SharePoint
2 30 (4.32%) Microsoft Exchange
3 28 (4.03%) Confluence
4 9 (1.30%) Apache
5 7 (1.01%) Exchange Server 2013
5 7 (1.01%) Skype for Business
6 6 (0.86%) Apache Spark
7 5 (0.72%) JBoss
7 5 (0.72%) Tomcat
8 4 (0.58%) Apache Airflow
9 2 (0.29%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 2 (0.29%) CICS
9 2 (0.29%) CMS
10 1 (0.14%) EPiServer
10 1 (0.14%) Moodle
10 1 (0.14%) Mule
10 1 (0.14%) Mule ESB
10 1 (0.14%) NetWeaver
10 1 (0.14%) SAS
10 1 (0.14%) WebLogic
Applications
1 53 (7.64%) Microsoft Excel
2 49 (7.06%) Microsoft Office
3 27 (3.89%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 19 (2.74%) MS Visio
5 7 (1.01%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.29%) Simulink
7 1 (0.14%) Acrobat
7 1 (0.14%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 33 (4.76%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (0.86%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.58%) ContrOCC
3 4 (0.58%) SAP EHS
3 4 (0.58%) SAP EWM
4 3 (0.43%) iTrent
4 3 (0.43%) Kondor
4 3 (0.43%) Maximo
5 2 (0.29%) Advent Geneva
5 2 (0.29%) Dynamics AX
5 2 (0.29%) SAP ERP
5 2 (0.29%) SAP Payroll
6 1 (0.14%) Elite 3E
6 1 (0.14%) Finacle
6 1 (0.14%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.14%) SAP HCM
6 1 (0.14%) SAP HR
6 1 (0.14%) SAP PSCD
6 1 (0.14%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 104 (14.99%) AWS
2 102 (14.70%) Azure
3 58 (8.36%) Microsoft 365
4 48 (6.92%) GCP
5 43 (6.20%) Power Platform
6 35 (5.04%) GitHub
7 22 (3.17%) Serverless
8 17 (2.45%) OpenShift
9 16 (2.31%) SaaS
10 15 (2.16%) AWS Lambda
11 14 (2.02%) Amazon ECS
11 14 (2.02%) Google Workspace
12 13 (1.87%) Azure DevOps
12 13 (1.87%) Entra ID
13 11 (1.59%) Amazon S3
13 11 (1.59%) Datadog
13 11 (1.59%) GitHub Actions
13 11 (1.59%) Power Automate
14 10 (1.44%) Amazon SQS
14 10 (1.44%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 27 (3.89%) Firewall
1 27 (3.89%) Network Security
2 11 (1.59%) DNS
3 10 (1.44%) LAN
3 10 (1.44%) WAN
4 8 (1.15%) VLAN
5 7 (1.01%) BGP
5 7 (1.01%) Skype
5 7 (1.01%) WebEx
6 6 (0.86%) Software-Defined Networking
7 5 (0.72%) TCP/IP
8 4 (0.58%) DMZ
8 4 (0.58%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
8 4 (0.58%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
8 4 (0.58%) HTTP
8 4 (0.58%) SAN
9 3 (0.43%) Internet
9 3 (0.43%) VoIP
9 3 (0.43%) Wi-Fi
10 2 (0.29%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (4.90%) Power BI
2 28 (4.03%) PostgreSQL
3 20 (2.88%) NoSQL
4 19 (2.74%) MongoDB
4 19 (2.74%) SQL Server
5 18 (2.59%) Relational Database
6 16 (2.31%) Oracle Database
7 15 (2.16%) DynamoDB
8 13 (1.87%) BigQuery
8 13 (1.87%) MySQL
9 12 (1.73%) Power Query
10 8 (1.15%) Amazon Aurora
10 8 (1.15%) Amazon RDS
10 8 (1.15%) Data Warehouse
11 6 (0.86%) DB2
11 6 (0.86%) PowerPivot
11 6 (0.86%) Redis
11 6 (0.86%) Tableau
12 5 (0.72%) Oracle Reports
12 5 (0.72%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 87 (12.54%) JIRA
2 62 (8.93%) Git
3 49 (7.06%) Jenkins
4 32 (4.61%) GitLab
5 14 (2.02%) Cucumber
6 11 (1.59%) JUnit
6 11 (1.59%) Selenium
7 10 (1.44%) Maven
7 10 (1.44%) Sonatype Nexus
8 9 (1.30%) Gradle
8 9 (1.30%) Postman
9 8 (1.15%) Cypress.io
9 8 (1.15%) SonarQube
10 7 (1.01%) SoapUI
11 5 (0.72%) SonarLint
12 4 (0.58%) Mockito
12 4 (0.58%) TestRail
13 3 (0.43%) JMeter
13 3 (0.43%) Oracle Forms
14 2 (0.29%) Jasmine
General
1 367 (52.88%) Social Skills
2 238 (34.29%) Analytical Skills
3 192 (27.67%) Finance
4 74 (10.66%) Public Sector
5 66 (9.51%) Banking
6 21 (3.03%) Legal
7 15 (2.16%) Influencing Skills
8 14 (2.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 13 (1.87%) Manufacturing
10 11 (1.59%) Police
11 10 (1.44%) Organisational Skills
11 10 (1.44%) Presentation Skills
11 10 (1.44%) Telecoms
12 9 (1.30%) Law
12 9 (1.30%) Local Government
12 9 (1.30%) Pharmaceutical
13 7 (1.01%) Military
14 6 (0.86%) Electronics
15 5 (0.72%) Health Technology
15 5 (0.72%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 114 (16.43%) Developer
2 111 (15.99%) Analyst
3 46 (6.63%) Senior
4 39 (5.62%) Business Analyst
5 35 (5.04%) Consultant
5 35 (5.04%) IT Support
6 34 (4.90%) Architect
7 33 (4.76%) Lead
8 30 (4.32%) Administrator
8 30 (4.32%) Project Manager
9 29 (4.18%) Java Developer
10 22 (3.17%) Support Analyst
11 20 (2.88%) Software Engineer
12 19 (2.74%) Automation Engineer
12 19 (2.74%) Support Engineer
13 18 (2.59%) IT Engineer
14 16 (2.31%) Platform Engineer
15 15 (2.16%) IT Support Engineer
15 15 (2.16%) Service Analyst
16 14 (2.02%) Technical Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (6.20%) REST
1 43 (6.20%) Spring Boot
2 41 (5.91%) Spring
3 28 (4.03%) RESTful
4 26 (3.75%) Kafka
5 22 (3.17%) FastAPI
6 20 (2.88%) React
7 17 (2.45%) .NET
8 16 (2.31%) SOAP
9 15 (2.16%) HTML
9 15 (2.16%) JSON
9 15 (2.16%) Node.js
10 13 (1.87%) AngularJS
11 12 (1.73%) CSS
11 12 (1.73%) XML
12 11 (1.59%) OAuth
13 10 (1.44%) JMS
13 10 (1.44%) JWT
13 10 (1.44%) OpenTelemetry
14 9 (1.30%) Elastic Stack
Miscellaneous
1 57 (8.21%) Product Ownership
2 26 (3.75%) Cloud Native
3 23 (3.31%) Onboarding
4 19 (2.74%) Data Protection Act
5 17 (2.45%) Self-Motivation
6 16 (2.31%) Management Information System
7 15 (2.16%) Data Structures
8 13 (1.87%) Analytical Mindset
8 13 (1.87%) Enterprise Software
8 13 (1.87%) SWIFT Messaging Network
9 11 (1.59%) Data Centre
10 10 (1.44%) Algorithms
11 9 (1.30%) CMDB
11 9 (1.30%) Legacy Systems
11 9 (1.30%) Mainframe
11 9 (1.30%) Mobile App
11 9 (1.30%) Virtual Team
12 7 (1.01%) Greenfield Project
12 7 (1.01%) NHS
13 6 (0.86%) N-Tier
Operating Systems
1 76 (10.95%) Windows
2 66 (9.51%) Linux
3 20 (2.88%) Windows 10
4 18 (2.59%) Unix
5 17 (2.45%) Windows Server
6 12 (1.73%) Android
6 12 (1.73%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 9 (1.30%) Apple iOS
8 6 (0.86%) Mac OS X
9 4 (0.58%) VMS
10 1 (0.14%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.14%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 204 (29.39%) Agile
2 130 (18.73%) CI/CD
3 106 (15.27%) Continuous Improvement
4 99 (14.27%) Stakeholder Management
5 94 (13.54%) DevOps
6 71 (10.23%) Test Automation
7 69 (9.94%) Decision-Making
7 69 (9.94%) Project Management
8 67 (9.65%) Containerisation
9 64 (9.22%) Microservices
10 61 (8.79%) Migration
11 60 (8.65%) Analytics
12 58 (8.36%) Mentoring
13 52 (7.49%) Business Intelligence
13 52 (7.49%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 51 (7.35%) AI
14 51 (7.35%) Scrum
15 50 (7.20%) Requirements Gathering
15 50 (7.20%) SDLC
16 49 (7.06%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 108 (15.56%) Python
2 86 (12.39%) Java
3 77 (11.10%) SQL
4 34 (4.90%) PowerShell
5 32 (4.61%) Bash
6 28 (4.03%) JavaScript
7 22 (3.17%) TypeScript
8 21 (3.03%) Shell Script
9 19 (2.74%) C#
10 13 (1.87%) Perl
11 9 (1.30%) Groovy
11 9 (1.30%) VBA
12 8 (1.15%) T-SQL
13 7 (1.01%) COBOL
13 7 (1.01%) Go
13 7 (1.01%) JCL
14 6 (0.86%) CLIST
14 6 (0.86%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 6 (0.86%) REXX
15 5 (0.72%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 91 (13.11%) Security Cleared
2 83 (11.96%) Degree
3 64 (9.22%) SC Cleared
4 34 (4.90%) Computer Science Degree
5 28 (4.03%) BPSS Clearance
6 15 (2.16%) CISSP
7 13 (1.87%) Cisco Certification
8 12 (1.73%) Six Sigma Green Belt
9 10 (1.44%) PMP
10 9 (1.30%) CCDP
10 9 (1.30%) CCNA
10 9 (1.30%) CCNP
10 9 (1.30%) CISM
11 8 (1.15%) AWS Certification
11 8 (1.15%) DBS Check
12 7 (1.01%) ISTQB
13 6 (0.86%) PMI Certification
14 5 (0.72%) Azure Certification
15 4 (0.58%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 4 (0.58%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (6.63%) QA
2 32 (4.61%) GDPR
3 25 (3.60%) Data Quality
4 19 (2.74%) Accessibility
5 14 (2.02%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 13 (1.87%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 13 (1.87%) PCI DSS
7 11 (1.59%) ISO 20022
7 11 (1.59%) NIST
7 11 (1.59%) PSD2
8 10 (1.44%) SEPA
8 10 (1.44%) SLA
9 8 (1.15%) PMO
10 4 (0.58%) HL7
11 3 (0.43%) WCAG
12 2 (0.29%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.29%) COBIT
12 2 (0.29%) HIPAA
13 1 (0.14%) IEC 61508
13 1 (0.14%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 69 (9.94%) Docker
2 37 (5.33%) Active Directory
3 10 (1.44%) Oracle RAC
4 8 (1.15%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (1.15%) VMware NSX
5 7 (1.01%) RACF
5 7 (1.01%) Time Sharing Option
6 6 (0.86%) ACF2
7 4 (0.58%) vSphere
8 2 (0.29%) ISA Server
8 2 (0.29%) Virtual Machines
9 1 (0.14%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.14%) Firmware
9 1 (0.14%) Job Entry Subsystem
9 1 (0.14%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 73 (10.52%) Kubernetes
2 39 (5.62%) Terraform
3 31 (4.47%) Ansible
4 25 (3.60%) Grafana
5 22 (3.17%) SCCM
6 20 (2.88%) Prometheus
7 15 (2.16%) Microsoft Intune
8 10 (1.44%) Control-M
8 10 (1.44%) Data Guard
8 10 (1.44%) yum
9 9 (1.30%) IBM Guardium
9 9 (1.30%) Nessus
10 6 (0.86%) CA Endevor
10 6 (0.86%) Tivoli
10 6 (0.86%) Tivoli Storage Manager
11 5 (0.72%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 5 (0.72%) Norton AntiVirus
12 4 (0.58%) EMC NetWorker
13 3 (0.43%) HP ALM
13 3 (0.43%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 175 (25.22%) Microsoft
2 64 (9.22%) SAP
3 47 (6.77%) ServiceNow
4 46 (6.63%) Oracle
5 34 (4.90%) Google
6 24 (3.46%) VMware
7 16 (2.31%) Splunk
8 12 (1.73%) Cisco
8 12 (1.73%) Red Hat
9 10 (1.44%) Citrix
10 9 (1.30%) Databricks
10 9 (1.30%) Tenable
11 8 (1.15%) IFS
12 7 (1.01%) BeyondTrust
12 7 (1.01%) Brio
12 7 (1.01%) Computacenter
12 7 (1.01%) CyberArk
12 7 (1.01%) F5
12 7 (1.01%) Thycotic
13 6 (0.86%) IBM