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

6 months to
4 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 2 7
Rank change year-on-year -6 +5 +9
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 761 646 586
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 12.45% 19.56% 12.48%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 14.69% 21.71% 14.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 474 386 336
10th Percentile £263 £224 £226
25th Percentile £358 £375 £374
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £489 £493
Median % change year-on-year -7.98% -0.81% -1.40%
75th Percentile £522 £573 £575
90th Percentile £612 £650 £650
England median daily rate £488 £500 £513
% change year-on-year -2.50% -2.44% -2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 46 50 73
10th Percentile £15.90 £16.84 -
25th Percentile £17.00 £21.24 £10.95
Median hourly rate £38.75 £26.28 £13.50
Median % change year-on-year +47.46% +94.65% -66.50%
75th Percentile £74.82 £37.03 £26.39
90th Percentile £178.75 £63.04 £60.56
England median hourly rate £22.81 £22.07 £17.50
% change year-on-year +3.35% +26.11% -65.00%

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 5,181 2,976 4,030
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 84.80% 90.10% 85.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,274 1,913 2,466
10th Percentile £305 £263 £300
25th Percentile £400 £380 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £498
Median % change year-on-year - -4.52% -0.50%
75th Percentile £572 £565 £588
90th Percentile £650 £650 £675
England median daily rate £510 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -2.86% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 331 152 359
10th Percentile £16.25 £13.74 £11.06
25th Percentile £22.73 £18.41 £12.50
Median hourly rate £52.78 £28.75 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +83.57% +62.25% -39.52%
75th Percentile £70.75 £57.76 £44.74
90th Percentile £80.00 £83.13 £57.50
England median hourly rate £45.46 £30.00 £36.05
% change year-on-year +51.53% -16.77% -2.97%

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 4 May 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 4 May 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 4 May 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 -5 364 £405 -17.35% 362
Yorkshire -5 350 £463 -2.63% 215
North East -7 54 £425 -11.23% 79
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 44 (5.78%) Confluence
2 18 (2.37%) SharePoint
3 15 (1.97%) Apache Spark
4 10 (1.31%) Microsoft Exchange
5 8 (1.05%) Apache
6 4 (0.53%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.39%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 2 (0.26%) CMS
8 2 (0.26%) JBoss
8 2 (0.26%) Oracle Workflow
8 2 (0.26%) Tomcat
8 2 (0.26%) WebLogic
9 1 (0.13%) Camunda
9 1 (0.13%) Mule
9 1 (0.13%) Mule ESB
9 1 (0.13%) nginx
9 1 (0.13%) SAS
9 1 (0.13%) WebSphere
Applications
1 33 (4.34%) Microsoft Excel
2 31 (4.07%) Microsoft Office
3 14 (1.84%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (1.31%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.92%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.66%) Acrobat
6 5 (0.66%) Chatbot
7 4 (0.53%) Spreadsheet
8 3 (0.39%) CATIA
9 1 (0.13%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 39 (5.12%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (0.53%) Payment Gateway
2 4 (0.53%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.39%) Oracle EBS
3 3 (0.39%) SAP SCM
4 2 (0.26%) SAP ERP
5 1 (0.13%) Actimize
5 1 (0.13%) Dynamics CRM
5 1 (0.13%) NetSuite
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Applications
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.13%) ResourceLink
5 1 (0.13%) SAP BPC
5 1 (0.13%) SAP HCM
5 1 (0.13%) SAP HR
5 1 (0.13%) SAP Payroll
5 1 (0.13%) SAP PSCD
5 1 (0.13%) SystmOne
5 1 (0.13%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.13%) VisionPLUS
Cloud Services
1 125 (16.43%) Azure
2 102 (13.40%) AWS
3 55 (7.23%) Microsoft 365
4 50 (6.57%) Power Platform
5 49 (6.44%) OpenShift
6 46 (6.04%) GCP
7 42 (5.52%) GitHub
8 21 (2.76%) Entra ID
9 18 (2.37%) Azure DevOps
10 17 (2.23%) SaaS
11 16 (2.10%) Serverless
12 10 (1.31%) Apigee
12 10 (1.31%) GitHub Actions
13 9 (1.18%) Google Workspace
14 8 (1.05%) Azure AKS
14 8 (1.05%) Azure Functions
14 8 (1.05%) Dynamics 365
14 8 (1.05%) Kong
15 7 (0.92%) Azure Data Factory
15 7 (0.92%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 35 (4.60%) DNS
2 32 (4.20%) Firewall
3 18 (2.37%) TCP/IP
4 17 (2.23%) Network Security
5 13 (1.71%) WAN
6 11 (1.45%) LAN
6 11 (1.45%) Wi-Fi
7 10 (1.31%) SAN
8 9 (1.18%) DHCP
9 7 (0.92%) Kerberos
10 6 (0.79%) HTTP
10 6 (0.79%) VPN
11 5 (0.66%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
11 5 (0.66%) VLAN
12 4 (0.53%) DMZ
12 4 (0.53%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
12 4 (0.53%) NetScaler
12 4 (0.53%) VoIP
12 4 (0.53%) WebEx
12 4 (0.53%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (5.12%) Power BI
2 28 (3.68%) MongoDB
2 28 (3.68%) PostgreSQL
3 27 (3.55%) SQL Server
4 22 (2.89%) Data Warehouse
5 18 (2.37%) NoSQL
6 17 (2.23%) Relational Database
7 12 (1.58%) MySQL
7 12 (1.58%) Tableau
8 11 (1.45%) Hadoop
9 10 (1.31%) Metadata
10 9 (1.18%) Power Query
11 7 (0.92%) Big Data
11 7 (0.92%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 6 (0.79%) BigQuery
13 5 (0.66%) PowerPivot
13 5 (0.66%) Snowflake Schema
14 4 (0.53%) DataStage
14 4 (0.53%) DB2
14 4 (0.53%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 107 (14.06%) JIRA
2 43 (5.65%) Jenkins
3 35 (4.60%) Git
4 27 (3.55%) GitLab
5 11 (1.45%) Mockito
5 11 (1.45%) Sonatype Nexus
6 9 (1.18%) Postman
7 6 (0.79%) JUnit
7 6 (0.79%) Selenium
8 5 (0.66%) Cucumber
9 3 (0.39%) CircleCI
9 3 (0.39%) Jasmine
9 3 (0.39%) JMeter
9 3 (0.39%) MSI
9 3 (0.39%) Oracle Forms
10 2 (0.26%) Cypress.io
10 2 (0.26%) Maven
10 2 (0.26%) REST Assured
10 2 (0.26%) SoapUI
10 2 (0.26%) Zephyr
General
1 379 (49.80%) Social Skills
2 291 (38.24%) Analytical Skills
3 233 (30.62%) Finance
4 91 (11.96%) Banking
5 80 (10.51%) Public Sector
6 30 (3.94%) Legal
7 29 (3.81%) Documentation Skills
8 21 (2.76%) Influencing Skills
9 19 (2.50%) Organisational Skills
10 15 (1.97%) Law
10 15 (1.97%) Retail
10 15 (1.97%) Telecoms
11 14 (1.84%) Manufacturing
12 10 (1.31%) Presentation Skills
13 8 (1.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 7 (0.92%) Retail Banking
15 6 (0.79%) Health Technology
16 5 (0.66%) Military
17 3 (0.39%) Aerospace
17 3 (0.39%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 142 (18.66%) Analyst
2 108 (14.19%) Developer
3 60 (7.88%) Business Analyst
4 57 (7.49%) Lead
5 50 (6.57%) Senior
6 40 (5.26%) Project Manager
7 33 (4.34%) Architect
7 33 (4.34%) Consultant
8 32 (4.20%) Administrator
9 30 (3.94%) Java Developer
10 28 (3.68%) Data Engineer
11 27 (3.55%) IT Support
12 20 (2.63%) Technical Analyst
13 19 (2.50%) Python Developer
14 18 (2.37%) IT Engineer
15 17 (2.23%) Data Analyst
16 16 (2.10%) DevOps Engineer
16 16 (2.10%) SAP Consultant
16 16 (2.10%) Software Engineer
17 15 (1.97%) IT Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (4.73%) REST
2 35 (4.60%) Spring
3 32 (4.20%) OpenTelemetry
3 32 (4.20%) Spring Boot
4 31 (4.07%) Kafka
5 29 (3.81%) RESTful
6 22 (2.89%) JSON
7 20 (2.63%) React
8 19 (2.50%) FastAPI
9 18 (2.37%) OAuth
9 18 (2.37%) SOAP
9 18 (2.37%) XML
10 17 (2.23%) HTML
11 15 (1.97%) CSS
12 14 (1.84%) .NET
12 14 (1.84%) Swagger
13 12 (1.58%) AngularJS
13 12 (1.58%) LDAP
13 12 (1.58%) YAML
14 10 (1.31%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 63 (8.28%) Product Ownership
2 33 (4.34%) Onboarding
3 29 (3.81%) Cloud Native
4 25 (3.29%) Data Protection Act
5 22 (2.89%) Data Centre
5 22 (2.89%) Legacy Systems
6 19 (2.50%) Hybrid Cloud
7 18 (2.37%) Management Information System
8 17 (2.23%) Analytical Mindset
9 16 (2.10%) Mainframe
10 15 (1.97%) Self-Motivation
11 14 (1.84%) Mobile App
12 12 (1.58%) Data Structures
13 11 (1.45%) AI Agents
14 10 (1.31%) Virtual Team
15 9 (1.18%) CMDB
15 9 (1.18%) Driving Licence
15 9 (1.18%) NHS
16 8 (1.05%) Distributed Systems
16 8 (1.05%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 76 (9.99%) Windows
2 59 (7.75%) Linux
3 24 (3.15%) Windows 10
4 21 (2.76%) Unix
5 17 (2.23%) Apple iOS
6 16 (2.10%) Android
7 14 (1.84%) Mac OS
8 13 (1.71%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 9 (1.18%) Ubuntu
9 9 (1.18%) Windows Server
10 8 (1.05%) CentOS
11 7 (0.92%) Windows Server 2019
12 6 (0.79%) Mac OS X
13 4 (0.53%) VMS
13 4 (0.53%) Windows Server 2012
14 2 (0.26%) AIX
14 2 (0.26%) HPUX
14 2 (0.26%) Oracle Linux
14 2 (0.26%) Solaris
14 2 (0.26%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 219 (28.78%) Agile
2 158 (20.76%) CI/CD
3 143 (18.79%) Continuous Improvement
4 135 (17.74%) DevOps
5 102 (13.40%) Migration
6 101 (13.27%) Stakeholder Management
7 86 (11.30%) Project Management
8 79 (10.38%) Change Management
9 75 (9.86%) Validation
10 73 (9.59%) Analytics
11 68 (8.94%) Containerisation
12 65 (8.54%) Decision-Making
12 65 (8.54%) Workshop Facilitation
13 64 (8.41%) Customer Service
14 61 (8.02%) ERP
15 60 (7.88%) Test Automation
16 59 (7.75%) Microservices
17 58 (7.62%) ITIL
18 57 (7.49%) AI
19 56 (7.36%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 128 (16.82%) Python
2 111 (14.59%) SQL
3 65 (8.54%) Java
4 46 (6.04%) PowerShell
5 34 (4.47%) Bash
6 25 (3.29%) JavaScript
7 23 (3.02%) TypeScript
8 12 (1.58%) C#
9 11 (1.45%) COBOL
9 11 (1.45%) JCL
10 10 (1.31%) R
11 9 (1.18%) CLIST
11 9 (1.18%) Kotlin
11 9 (1.18%) Perl
11 9 (1.18%) REXX
11 9 (1.18%) Ruby
12 8 (1.05%) Go
12 8 (1.05%) PL/SQL
12 8 (1.05%) T-SQL
12 8 (1.05%) VBA
Qualifications
1 79 (10.38%) Security Cleared
2 78 (10.25%) Degree
3 46 (6.04%) SC Cleared
4 40 (5.26%) BPSS Clearance
5 39 (5.12%) Computer Science Degree
6 24 (3.15%) Microsoft Certification
7 19 (2.50%) PMP
8 18 (2.37%) A+ Certification
8 18 (2.37%) Cisco Certification
9 17 (2.23%) Network+ Certification
10 16 (2.10%) CCNA
11 12 (1.58%) CISSP
11 12 (1.58%) PMI Certification
12 10 (1.31%) RHCE
13 8 (1.05%) MCSE
14 7 (0.92%) CCNP
15 6 (0.79%) AWS Certification
15 6 (0.79%) Azure Certification
16 5 (0.66%) CompTIA Security+
16 5 (0.66%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (4.99%) Data Quality
2 36 (4.73%) QA
3 17 (2.23%) GDPR
4 13 (1.71%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 12 (1.58%) PMO
5 12 (1.58%) PSD2
6 10 (1.31%) Accessibility
7 8 (1.05%) GRC
7 8 (1.05%) ISO 20022
7 8 (1.05%) PCI DSS
7 8 (1.05%) SLA
8 7 (0.92%) NIST
8 7 (0.92%) SEPA
9 5 (0.66%) Actionable Recommendations
9 5 (0.66%) HL7
10 4 (0.53%) ISO 8583
11 3 (0.39%) HIPAA
11 3 (0.39%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 3 (0.39%) WCAG
12 2 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 63 (8.28%) Docker
2 46 (6.04%) Active Directory
3 24 (3.15%) VMware Infrastructure
4 17 (2.23%) vSphere
5 16 (2.10%) VMware NSX
6 9 (1.18%) ACF2
6 9 (1.18%) RACF
6 9 (1.18%) Time Sharing Option
7 8 (1.05%) Hyper-V
8 7 (0.92%) Virtual Machines
9 6 (0.79%) Virtual Desktop
10 3 (0.39%) Firmware
10 3 (0.39%) ISA Server
11 1 (0.13%) EMC RecoverPoint
11 1 (0.13%) NFS
11 1 (0.13%) SRDF
11 1 (0.13%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 92 (12.09%) Kubernetes
2 55 (7.23%) Ansible
2 55 (7.23%) Terraform
3 41 (5.39%) Grafana
4 31 (4.07%) Prometheus
5 18 (2.37%) Microsoft Intune
6 15 (1.97%) Control-M
7 14 (1.84%) Argo
7 14 (1.84%) IBM Guardium
7 14 (1.84%) Nessus
8 13 (1.71%) vCenter Server
9 12 (1.58%) SCCM
10 11 (1.45%) CA Endevor
11 10 (1.31%) Puppet
12 9 (1.18%) Tivoli
12 9 (1.18%) Tivoli Storage Manager
13 5 (0.66%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 4 (0.53%) Kibana
15 3 (0.39%) EMC NetWorker
16 2 (0.26%) Norton AntiVirus
Vendors
1 136 (17.87%) Microsoft
2 65 (8.54%) SAP
3 46 (6.04%) Splunk
4 39 (5.12%) Oracle
5 30 (3.94%) ServiceNow
5 30 (3.94%) VMware
6 25 (3.29%) Red Hat
7 23 (3.02%) Google
8 17 (2.23%) Cisco
8 17 (2.23%) Workday
9 14 (1.84%) Sage
9 14 (1.84%) Tenable
10 13 (1.71%) Pure Storage
11 12 (1.58%) Dell
12 10 (1.31%) Adobe
12 10 (1.31%) Veeam
13 9 (1.18%) Databricks
13 9 (1.18%) F5
14 8 (1.05%) MuleSoft
14 8 (1.05%) Sonatype