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

6 months to
29 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 17 5 5
Rank change year-on-year -12 0 +9
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 708 677 555
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 9.35% 16.85% 13.31%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.23% 18.93% 15.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 394 381 321
10th Percentile £263 £270 £275
25th Percentile £353 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £443 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year -6.74% - -5.00%
75th Percentile £538 £573 £550
90th Percentile £600 £644 £613
England median daily rate £500 £490 £500
% change year-on-year +2.04% -2.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 73 62 29
10th Percentile £14.00 £13.76 -
25th Percentile £17.00 £17.44 £10.95
Median hourly rate £24.16 £20.68 £11.20
Median % change year-on-year +16.84% +84.70% -59.29%
75th Percentile £61.57 £31.28 £51.91
90th Percentile £85.80 £63.36 £63.75
England median hourly rate £20.48 £19.00 £16.23
% change year-on-year +7.76% +17.07% -70.37%

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 6,306 3,577 3,507
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 83.26% 89.05% 84.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,724 2,308 2,082
10th Percentile £313 £268 £313
25th Percentile £405 £375 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £465 £500
Median % change year-on-year +7.53% -7.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £556 £585
90th Percentile £675 £650 £675
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 518 206 208
10th Percentile £16.01 £13.10 £11.66
25th Percentile £21.33 £17.44 £15.13
Median hourly rate £43.96 £22.63 £32.00
Median % change year-on-year +94.26% -29.28% +15.36%
75th Percentile £70.00 £43.39 £51.22
90th Percentile £77.50 £71.98 £69.05
England median hourly rate £43.56 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +73.20% -41.51% +1.18%

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 29 August 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 29 August 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 29 August 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 -10 359 £444 -6.53% 728
Yorkshire -12 286 £450 -5.26% 423
North East -13 66 £375 -16.67% 199
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 25 (3.53%) SharePoint
2 21 (2.97%) Confluence
3 12 (1.69%) Apache Spark
4 10 (1.41%) Apache Airflow
5 8 (1.13%) Apache
6 6 (0.85%) CMS
6 6 (0.85%) Jupyter
6 6 (0.85%) Microsoft Exchange
7 4 (0.56%) CICS
8 3 (0.42%) WordPress
9 2 (0.28%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 2 (0.28%) Camunda
9 2 (0.28%) Oracle Workflow
9 2 (0.28%) WebLogic
10 1 (0.14%) Apache Superset
10 1 (0.14%) JBoss
10 1 (0.14%) Mule
10 1 (0.14%) Mule ESB
10 1 (0.14%) NetWeaver
10 1 (0.14%) WebSphere
Applications
1 38 (5.37%) Microsoft Excel
2 35 (4.94%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (1.41%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (1.13%) Microsoft Project
4 8 (1.13%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.71%) Chatbot
5 5 (0.71%) Spreadsheet
6 3 (0.42%) Acrobat
6 3 (0.42%) CATIA
7 2 (0.28%) AutoCAD
7 2 (0.28%) Navisworks
7 2 (0.28%) Revit
8 1 (0.14%) EngageOne
Business Applications
1 22 (3.11%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (1.55%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.56%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.56%) Oracle EBS
4 3 (0.42%) SAP ERP
4 3 (0.42%) Teamcenter
5 2 (0.28%) SAP HCM
5 2 (0.28%) SAP Payroll
5 2 (0.28%) Workday HCM
6 1 (0.14%) Actimize
6 1 (0.14%) CA PPM
6 1 (0.14%) ENOVIA
6 1 (0.14%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Payables
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.14%) ResourceLink
6 1 (0.14%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.14%) SAP GRC
6 1 (0.14%) SystmOne
6 1 (0.14%) VisionPLUS
Cloud Services
1 125 (17.66%) Azure
2 101 (14.27%) AWS
3 95 (13.42%) Microsoft 365
4 59 (8.33%) Power Platform
5 43 (6.07%) GCP
6 30 (4.24%) Entra ID
7 24 (3.39%) GitHub
8 22 (3.11%) OpenShift
9 17 (2.40%) Azure DevOps
10 15 (2.12%) Serverless
11 14 (1.98%) Power Automate
12 13 (1.84%) Microsoft Copilot
13 10 (1.41%) Google Kubernetes Engine
13 10 (1.41%) PowerApps
14 9 (1.27%) SaaS
15 8 (1.13%) Copilot Studio
15 8 (1.13%) GitHub Actions
16 7 (0.99%) AWS Lambda
16 7 (0.99%) Google Workspace
16 7 (0.99%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 43 (6.07%) VPN
2 30 (4.24%) Firewall
3 27 (3.81%) DNS
4 24 (3.39%) LAN
4 24 (3.39%) WAN
5 19 (2.68%) Network Security
6 18 (2.54%) Wireless
7 17 (2.40%) Wi-Fi
8 15 (2.12%) DHCP
8 15 (2.12%) VLAN
9 14 (1.98%) TCP/IP
9 14 (1.98%) VoIP
10 11 (1.55%) Cisco Nexus
11 10 (1.41%) BGP
11 10 (1.41%) OSPF
12 9 (1.27%) WLAN
13 8 (1.13%) Cisco ASA
14 7 (0.99%) IPsec
14 7 (0.99%) SAN
15 6 (0.85%) Cisco Firepower
Database & Business Intelligence
1 43 (6.07%) Power BI
2 30 (4.24%) SQL Server
3 26 (3.67%) Data Warehouse
4 22 (3.11%) MongoDB
5 15 (2.12%) Relational Database
6 14 (1.98%) PostgreSQL
6 14 (1.98%) Tableau
7 11 (1.55%) Big Data
7 11 (1.55%) Db2
8 9 (1.27%) NoSQL
9 8 (1.13%) DataStage
9 8 (1.13%) Metadata
10 7 (0.99%) MySQL
11 6 (0.85%) Oracle Database
12 5 (0.71%) Neo4j
13 4 (0.56%) Data Lake
13 4 (0.56%) Power Query
13 4 (0.56%) Snowflake Schema
14 3 (0.42%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
14 3 (0.42%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 59 (8.33%) JIRA
2 36 (5.08%) Git
3 33 (4.66%) Jenkins
4 23 (3.25%) GitLab
5 9 (1.27%) Selenium
6 8 (1.13%) REST Assured
7 7 (0.99%) Sonatype Nexus
8 6 (0.85%) Cucumber
8 6 (0.85%) Gatling
9 5 (0.71%) Maven
10 4 (0.56%) Cypress.io
10 4 (0.56%) Gradle
10 4 (0.56%) MSI
11 3 (0.42%) Claude Code
11 3 (0.42%) JUnit
11 3 (0.42%) LoadRunner
11 3 (0.42%) Mockito
11 3 (0.42%) Serenity BDD
11 3 (0.42%) SonarQube
11 3 (0.42%) Subversion
General
1 343 (48.45%) Social Skills
2 285 (40.25%) Analytical Skills
3 176 (24.86%) Finance
4 82 (11.58%) Banking
5 59 (8.33%) Public Sector
6 38 (5.37%) Manufacturing
7 36 (5.08%) Organisational Skills
8 29 (4.10%) Documentation Skills
8 29 (4.10%) Legal
9 20 (2.82%) Influencing Skills
10 17 (2.40%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 16 (2.26%) Law
12 15 (2.12%) Retail
13 10 (1.41%) Automotive
14 9 (1.27%) Aerospace
14 9 (1.27%) Financial Institution
14 9 (1.27%) Presentation Skills
14 9 (1.27%) Telecoms
15 8 (1.13%) Marketing
16 6 (0.85%) Police
Job Titles
1 114 (16.10%) Analyst
2 84 (11.86%) Developer
3 55 (7.77%) Senior
4 52 (7.34%) Lead
5 44 (6.21%) IT Support
6 39 (5.51%) Architect
7 31 (4.38%) Support Engineer
8 25 (3.53%) IT Engineer
8 25 (3.53%) Java Developer
9 24 (3.39%) Business Analyst
10 23 (3.25%) Consultant
11 22 (3.11%) Network Engineer
12 21 (2.97%) Data Analyst
13 20 (2.82%) Administrator
13 20 (2.82%) IT Support Engineer
14 19 (2.68%) Data Engineer
15 18 (2.54%) DevOps Engineer
15 18 (2.54%) Service Analyst
16 17 (2.40%) IT Analyst
16 17 (2.40%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 52 (7.34%) Terraform
2 39 (5.51%) REST
3 32 (4.52%) Spring
4 27 (3.81%) Kafka
4 27 (3.81%) Spring Boot
5 20 (2.82%) React
6 17 (2.40%) HTML
7 15 (2.12%) CSS
7 15 (2.12%) Node.js
8 14 (1.98%) OpenTelemetry
8 14 (1.98%) Playwright
9 13 (1.84%) .NET
9 13 (1.84%) OAuth
9 13 (1.84%) RESTful
10 10 (1.41%) FastAPI
10 10 (1.41%) XML
11 8 (1.13%) AngularJS
11 8 (1.13%) Web Services
12 7 (0.99%) JSON
12 7 (0.99%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 47 (6.64%) Product Ownership
2 46 (6.50%) Cloud Native
3 36 (5.08%) Onboarding
4 33 (4.66%) Data Protection Act
5 27 (3.81%) Self-Motivation
6 26 (3.67%) Enterprise Software
7 25 (3.53%) Data Centre
8 24 (3.39%) Driving Licence
9 22 (3.11%) Analytical Mindset
10 19 (2.68%) Data Structures
11 17 (2.40%) Distributed Systems
12 16 (2.26%) Management Information System
13 15 (2.12%) Legacy Systems
13 15 (2.12%) Mainframe
13 15 (2.12%) PKI
14 14 (1.98%) AI Agents
15 11 (1.55%) Mobile App
15 11 (1.55%) NHS
16 9 (1.27%) CMDB
16 9 (1.27%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 114 (16.10%) Windows
2 31 (4.38%) Linux
3 30 (4.24%) Windows 10
4 22 (3.11%) Apple iOS
4 22 (3.11%) Windows Server
5 19 (2.68%) Android
6 16 (2.26%) Unix
7 12 (1.69%) Mac OS
8 4 (0.56%) Solaris
8 4 (0.56%) zOS
9 3 (0.42%) Mac OS X
9 3 (0.42%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (0.28%) AIX
10 2 (0.28%) Data ONTAP
10 2 (0.28%) HPUX
10 2 (0.28%) Oracle Linux
10 2 (0.28%) SUSE
11 1 (0.14%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 177 (25.00%) Continuous Improvement
2 153 (21.61%) Agile
3 136 (19.21%) CI/CD
4 118 (16.67%) Stakeholder Management
5 112 (15.82%) DevOps
6 80 (11.30%) AI
7 78 (11.02%) Customer Service
8 76 (10.73%) Migration
9 75 (10.59%) ITIL
10 64 (9.04%) Analytics
10 64 (9.04%) Data Protection
11 63 (8.90%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 63 (8.90%) Test Automation
12 60 (8.47%) Change Management
13 57 (8.05%) Validation
14 56 (7.91%) Microservices
15 55 (7.77%) Decision-Making
16 54 (7.63%) Project Management
17 53 (7.49%) Containerisation
18 49 (6.92%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 108 (15.25%) Python
2 104 (14.69%) SQL
3 61 (8.62%) Java
4 49 (6.92%) PowerShell
5 24 (3.39%) JavaScript
6 21 (2.97%) Bash
7 11 (1.55%) PL/SQL
8 10 (1.41%) C#
9 9 (1.27%) R
9 9 (1.27%) Shell Script
9 9 (1.27%) TypeScript
10 8 (1.13%) T-SQL
11 7 (0.99%) Kotlin
12 6 (0.85%) COBOL
13 5 (0.71%) ABAP
13 5 (0.71%) Bicep
14 4 (0.56%) Apex Code
14 4 (0.56%) JCL
15 3 (0.42%) Go
15 3 (0.42%) Scala
Qualifications
1 92 (12.99%) Security Cleared
2 69 (9.75%) SC Cleared
3 67 (9.46%) Degree
4 30 (4.24%) Computer Science Degree
5 24 (3.39%) BPSS Clearance
6 22 (3.11%) Microsoft Certification
7 20 (2.82%) Cisco Certification
8 18 (2.54%) CISSP
9 13 (1.84%) CCNP
9 13 (1.84%) PMP
10 12 (1.69%) PMI Certification
11 11 (1.55%) A+ Certification
12 10 (1.41%) Network+ Certification
13 9 (1.27%) AWS Certification
14 8 (1.13%) Azure Certification
14 8 (1.13%) CompTIA Security+
14 8 (1.13%) HNC
15 7 (0.99%) CEH
15 7 (0.99%) DBS Check
16 6 (0.85%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 56 (7.91%) Data Quality
2 26 (3.67%) Accessibility
2 26 (3.67%) QA
3 22 (3.11%) SLA
4 14 (1.98%) GDPR
4 14 (1.98%) GRC
5 13 (1.84%) NIST
6 11 (1.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 7 (0.99%) PMO
8 6 (0.85%) WCAG
9 4 (0.56%) PCI DSS
10 3 (0.42%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.28%) COSHH
11 2 (0.28%) HIPAA
11 2 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 2 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 2 (0.28%) MiFID
12 1 (0.14%) Actionable Recommendations
12 1 (0.14%) PSD2
12 1 (0.14%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 67 (9.46%) Active Directory
2 57 (8.05%) Docker
3 26 (3.67%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (1.41%) Hyper-V
4 10 (1.41%) vSphere
5 9 (1.27%) VMware NSX
6 8 (1.13%) Virtual Desktop
7 6 (0.85%) Firmware
7 6 (0.85%) Virtual Machines
8 4 (0.56%) Oracle RAC
9 3 (0.42%) VMware ESXi
10 2 (0.28%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 2 (0.28%) EMC RecoverPoint
10 2 (0.28%) KVM
10 2 (0.28%) NFS
10 2 (0.28%) SRDF
10 2 (0.28%) XenApp
10 2 (0.28%) XenDesktop
11 1 (0.14%) Terminal Services
11 1 (0.14%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 63 (8.90%) Kubernetes
2 30 (4.24%) Ansible
2 30 (4.24%) Grafana
3 24 (3.39%) Prometheus
4 21 (2.97%) Microsoft Intune
5 19 (2.68%) SCCM
6 9 (1.27%) Argo
6 9 (1.27%) Control-M
6 9 (1.27%) vCenter Server
7 7 (0.99%) IBM Guardium
7 7 (0.99%) Nessus
8 4 (0.56%) Data Guard
8 4 (0.56%) Kustomize
8 4 (0.56%) Single Sign-On
9 3 (0.42%) CA Endevor
9 3 (0.42%) FortiGate
9 3 (0.42%) Istio
9 3 (0.42%) McAfee ePO
9 3 (0.42%) Oracle RMAN
9 3 (0.42%) WMI
Vendors
1 165 (23.31%) Microsoft
2 68 (9.60%) ServiceNow
3 54 (7.63%) SAP
4 40 (5.65%) Oracle
5 30 (4.24%) Cisco
6 27 (3.81%) VMware
7 26 (3.67%) Splunk
8 21 (2.97%) Google
9 15 (2.12%) Workday
10 13 (1.84%) IBM
11 12 (1.69%) Concur
11 12 (1.69%) Palo Alto
12 11 (1.55%) Red Hat
12 11 (1.55%) Remedy
12 11 (1.55%) Salesforce
13 10 (1.41%) F5
14 8 (1.13%) Apple
14 8 (1.13%) CheckPoint
14 8 (1.13%) CrowdStrike
14 8 (1.13%) Pure Storage