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 2 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 2 7
Rank change year-on-year -9 +5 +8
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 722 658 582
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 10.96% 19.75% 12.28%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.02% 21.99% 14.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 429 387 331
10th Percentile £300 £224 £240
25th Percentile £363 £375 £370
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £488 £488
Median % change year-on-year -7.69% - -2.55%
75th Percentile £537 £558 £550
90th Percentile £613 £650 £638
England median daily rate £500 £500 £510
% change year-on-year - -1.96% -2.86%
Number of hourly rates quoted 55 53 73
10th Percentile £14.62 £15.20 -
25th Percentile £17.00 £21.24 £10.95
Median hourly rate £32.23 £25.43 £13.50
Median % change year-on-year +26.72% +88.37% -61.43%
75th Percentile £74.26 £34.11 £28.75
90th Percentile £141.65 £63.32 £60.56
England median hourly rate £21.35 £21.39 £16.23
% change year-on-year -0.19% +31.79% -68.73%

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 5,547 2,992 4,018
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 84.19% 89.82% 84.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,413 1,927 2,426
10th Percentile £313 £268 £300
25th Percentile £400 £381 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £495
Median % change year-on-year - -4.04% -1.00%
75th Percentile £575 £550 £588
90th Percentile £669 £645 £675
England median daily rate £514 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -2.10% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 363 150 387
10th Percentile £16.01 £12.82 £11.07
25th Percentile £22.68 £17.93 £12.55
Median hourly rate £50.00 £25.15 £20.77
Median % change year-on-year +98.81% +21.09% -23.64%
75th Percentile £71.50 £51.50 £46.18
90th Percentile £80.00 £76.38 £63.75
England median hourly rate £47.00 £28.60 £37.50
% change year-on-year +64.34% -23.73% +0.43%

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 2 June 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 2 June 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 2 June 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
Yorkshire -6 348 £460 -3.16% 230
North West -8 336 £425 -13.09% 388
North East -15 46 £375 -16.67% 93
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 (6.65%) Confluence
2 18 (2.49%) SharePoint
3 17 (2.35%) Apache Spark
4 9 (1.25%) Microsoft Exchange
5 5 (0.69%) Apache Airflow
6 4 (0.55%) Apache
7 3 (0.42%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 3 (0.42%) CICS
8 2 (0.28%) Camunda
8 2 (0.28%) CMS
8 2 (0.28%) JBoss
8 2 (0.28%) Jupyter
8 2 (0.28%) Oracle Workflow
8 2 (0.28%) Tomcat
8 2 (0.28%) WebLogic
9 1 (0.14%) Mule
9 1 (0.14%) Mule ESB
9 1 (0.14%) nginx
9 1 (0.14%) WebSphere
Applications
1 34 (4.71%) Microsoft Excel
2 24 (3.32%) Microsoft Office
3 15 (2.08%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (1.39%) MS Visio
5 6 (0.83%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.69%) Chatbot
7 4 (0.55%) Acrobat
7 4 (0.55%) Spreadsheet
8 3 (0.42%) CATIA
9 1 (0.14%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 38 (5.26%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (0.83%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.55%) Payment Gateway
4 3 (0.42%) Oracle EBS
4 3 (0.42%) SAP SCM
5 2 (0.28%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.14%) Actimize
6 1 (0.14%) Elite 3E
6 1 (0.14%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Applications
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.14%) ResourceLink
6 1 (0.14%) SAP BPC
6 1 (0.14%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.14%) SAP HCM
6 1 (0.14%) SAP Payroll
6 1 (0.14%) SystmOne
6 1 (0.14%) Teamcenter
6 1 (0.14%) VisionPLUS
Cloud Services
1 137 (18.98%) Azure
2 99 (13.71%) AWS
3 54 (7.48%) Microsoft 365
4 52 (7.20%) GCP
4 52 (7.20%) OpenShift
4 52 (7.20%) Power Platform
5 42 (5.82%) GitHub
6 24 (3.32%) Entra ID
7 17 (2.35%) Azure DevOps
7 17 (2.35%) SaaS
8 15 (2.08%) Serverless
9 10 (1.39%) GitHub Actions
10 9 (1.25%) Google Kubernetes Engine
10 9 (1.25%) Microsoft Copilot
10 9 (1.25%) Power Automate
11 7 (0.97%) Azure Functions
11 7 (0.97%) Azure Monitor
11 7 (0.97%) Azure Storage
11 7 (0.97%) Dynamics 365
11 7 (0.97%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 33 (4.57%) DNS
2 25 (3.46%) Firewall
3 17 (2.35%) TCP/IP
4 16 (2.22%) WAN
5 13 (1.80%) LAN
6 12 (1.66%) Network Security
7 11 (1.52%) SAN
7 11 (1.52%) Wi-Fi
8 9 (1.25%) DHCP
9 8 (1.11%) VLAN
10 7 (0.97%) Kerberos
10 7 (0.97%) VPN
11 6 (0.83%) Wireless
12 4 (0.55%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
12 4 (0.55%) NAS
12 4 (0.55%) NetScaler
13 3 (0.42%) DMZ
13 3 (0.42%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
13 3 (0.42%) VoIP
13 3 (0.42%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 41 (5.68%) Power BI
2 29 (4.02%) MongoDB
3 25 (3.46%) SQL Server
4 24 (3.32%) PostgreSQL
5 21 (2.91%) Data Warehouse
6 15 (2.08%) Relational Database
7 14 (1.94%) NoSQL
8 12 (1.66%) Tableau
9 11 (1.52%) Hadoop
10 10 (1.39%) Big Data
10 10 (1.39%) Metadata
11 8 (1.11%) MySQL
12 7 (0.97%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 6 (0.83%) DB2
13 6 (0.83%) Power Query
14 5 (0.69%) DataStage
14 5 (0.69%) Snowflake Schema
15 4 (0.55%) Neo4j
15 4 (0.55%) Oracle Database
15 4 (0.55%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 112 (15.51%) JIRA
2 47 (6.51%) Jenkins
3 32 (4.43%) Git
4 27 (3.74%) GitLab
5 13 (1.80%) Sonatype Nexus
6 11 (1.52%) Mockito
7 10 (1.39%) Postman
7 10 (1.39%) Selenium
8 7 (0.97%) JUnit
9 6 (0.83%) Cucumber
9 6 (0.83%) REST Assured
10 4 (0.55%) Gatling
11 3 (0.42%) CircleCI
11 3 (0.42%) MSI
11 3 (0.42%) Oracle Forms
11 3 (0.42%) Serenity BDD
12 2 (0.28%) Gradle
12 2 (0.28%) JMeter
12 2 (0.28%) Maven
12 2 (0.28%) SoapUI
General
1 366 (50.69%) Social Skills
2 290 (40.17%) Analytical Skills
3 212 (29.36%) Finance
4 86 (11.91%) Banking
5 61 (8.45%) Public Sector
6 35 (4.85%) Documentation Skills
7 25 (3.46%) Legal
8 24 (3.32%) Influencing Skills
9 23 (3.19%) Organisational Skills
10 17 (2.35%) Law
10 17 (2.35%) Retail
11 15 (2.08%) Telecoms
12 14 (1.94%) Manufacturing
13 9 (1.25%) Presentation Skills
14 8 (1.11%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 7 (0.97%) Retail Banking
16 5 (0.69%) Local Government
17 4 (0.55%) Automotive
17 4 (0.55%) Marketing
17 4 (0.55%) Military
Job Titles
1 141 (19.53%) Analyst
2 82 (11.36%) Developer
3 59 (8.17%) Lead
4 57 (7.89%) Business Analyst
5 47 (6.51%) Senior
6 37 (5.12%) Architect
7 35 (4.85%) Consultant
7 35 (4.85%) Project Manager
8 26 (3.60%) Administrator
8 26 (3.60%) Data Engineer
9 24 (3.32%) Java Developer
10 22 (3.05%) DevOps Engineer
10 22 (3.05%) IT Support
11 20 (2.77%) Python Developer
12 17 (2.35%) Data Analyst
12 17 (2.35%) IT Analyst
13 16 (2.22%) Technical Analyst
14 15 (2.08%) IT Engineer
14 15 (2.08%) SAP Consultant
14 15 (2.08%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (5.12%) REST
2 34 (4.71%) Kafka
3 32 (4.43%) OpenTelemetry
4 27 (3.74%) Spring
5 21 (2.91%) RESTful
5 21 (2.91%) Spring Boot
6 20 (2.77%) React
7 19 (2.63%) FastAPI
7 19 (2.63%) JSON
8 16 (2.22%) SOAP
9 15 (2.08%) HTML
9 15 (2.08%) XML
10 14 (1.94%) CSS
11 12 (1.66%) .NET
11 12 (1.66%) LDAP
11 12 (1.66%) YAML
12 11 (1.52%) Swagger
13 10 (1.39%) OAuth
14 9 (1.25%) AngularJS
14 9 (1.25%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 64 (8.86%) Product Ownership
2 35 (4.85%) Cloud Native
3 30 (4.16%) Onboarding
4 26 (3.60%) Data Protection Act
5 24 (3.32%) Legacy Systems
6 23 (3.19%) Data Centre
7 20 (2.77%) Management Information System
8 19 (2.63%) Analytical Mindset
8 19 (2.63%) Hybrid Cloud
8 19 (2.63%) Self-Motivation
9 15 (2.08%) Mainframe
10 13 (1.80%) AI Agents
11 11 (1.52%) Driving Licence
12 10 (1.39%) Data Structures
12 10 (1.39%) Mobile App
12 10 (1.39%) Public Cloud
12 10 (1.39%) Virtual Team
13 9 (1.25%) Distributed Systems
14 8 (1.11%) Enterprise Software
14 8 (1.11%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 71 (9.83%) Windows
2 54 (7.48%) Linux
3 18 (2.49%) Unix
3 18 (2.49%) Windows 10
4 17 (2.35%) Apple iOS
5 16 (2.22%) Mac OS
6 13 (1.80%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 11 (1.52%) Android
8 10 (1.39%) Windows Server
9 9 (1.25%) Ubuntu
10 8 (1.11%) CentOS
11 7 (0.97%) Windows Server 2019
12 6 (0.83%) Mac OS X
13 4 (0.55%) Windows Server 2012
14 3 (0.42%) VMS
15 2 (0.28%) AIX
15 2 (0.28%) HPUX
15 2 (0.28%) Solaris
15 2 (0.28%) SUSE
15 2 (0.28%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 198 (27.42%) Agile
2 159 (22.02%) CI/CD
3 145 (20.08%) DevOps
4 139 (19.25%) Continuous Improvement
5 105 (14.54%) Migration
5 105 (14.54%) Stakeholder Management
6 91 (12.60%) Project Management
7 77 (10.66%) Change Management
8 74 (10.25%) Analytics
9 68 (9.42%) Validation
10 63 (8.73%) Containerisation
10 63 (8.73%) Decision-Making
11 61 (8.45%) Test Automation
12 60 (8.31%) ITIL
13 58 (8.03%) Customer Service
13 58 (8.03%) ERP
14 57 (7.89%) Workshop Facilitation
15 56 (7.76%) Microservices
16 55 (7.62%) AI
17 54 (7.48%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 132 (18.28%) Python
2 94 (13.02%) SQL
3 60 (8.31%) Java
4 53 (7.34%) PowerShell
5 37 (5.12%) Bash
6 26 (3.60%) JavaScript
7 17 (2.35%) TypeScript
8 10 (1.39%) C#
9 9 (1.25%) Perl
9 9 (1.25%) R
9 9 (1.25%) Ruby
10 8 (1.11%) COBOL
10 8 (1.11%) Go
10 8 (1.11%) PL/SQL
10 8 (1.11%) Shell Script
11 6 (0.83%) Groovy
11 6 (0.83%) JCL
11 6 (0.83%) Kotlin
11 6 (0.83%) T-SQL
11 6 (0.83%) VBA
Qualifications
1 75 (10.39%) Degree
2 73 (10.11%) Security Cleared
3 44 (6.09%) SC Cleared
4 40 (5.54%) BPSS Clearance
5 32 (4.43%) Computer Science Degree
6 24 (3.32%) Microsoft Certification
7 17 (2.35%) A+ Certification
7 17 (2.35%) Cisco Certification
7 17 (2.35%) CISSP
7 17 (2.35%) PMP
8 16 (2.22%) Network+ Certification
9 15 (2.08%) CCNA
10 12 (1.66%) PMI Certification
11 10 (1.39%) RHCE
12 8 (1.11%) AWS Certification
12 8 (1.11%) Azure Certification
12 8 (1.11%) CompTIA Security+
13 7 (0.97%) CCNP
13 7 (0.97%) CISM
13 7 (0.97%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (4.99%) Data Quality
2 23 (3.19%) QA
3 16 (2.22%) GDPR
4 12 (1.66%) PMO
5 11 (1.52%) Accessibility
5 11 (1.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 10 (1.39%) SLA
7 9 (1.25%) GRC
7 9 (1.25%) NIST
7 9 (1.25%) PSD2
8 8 (1.11%) PCI DSS
9 5 (0.69%) Actionable Recommendations
9 5 (0.69%) ISO 20022
10 4 (0.55%) ISO 8583
10 4 (0.55%) SEPA
11 3 (0.42%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.28%) HIPAA
12 2 (0.28%) HL7
12 2 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 2 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 61 (8.45%) Docker
2 46 (6.37%) Active Directory
3 26 (3.60%) VMware Infrastructure
4 19 (2.63%) vSphere
5 15 (2.08%) VMware NSX
6 9 (1.25%) Hyper-V
7 7 (0.97%) Virtual Desktop
7 7 (0.97%) Virtual Machines
8 4 (0.55%) ACF2
8 4 (0.55%) RACF
9 3 (0.42%) Firmware
9 3 (0.42%) Time Sharing Option
10 2 (0.28%) EMC RecoverPoint
10 2 (0.28%) ISA Server
10 2 (0.28%) NFS
10 2 (0.28%) SRDF
10 2 (0.28%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 90 (12.47%) Kubernetes
2 62 (8.59%) Ansible
3 59 (8.17%) Terraform
4 46 (6.37%) Grafana
5 37 (5.12%) Prometheus
6 20 (2.77%) Microsoft Intune
7 15 (2.08%) Argo
7 15 (2.08%) Control-M
7 15 (2.08%) vCenter Server
8 14 (1.94%) IBM Guardium
8 14 (1.94%) Nessus
9 10 (1.39%) Puppet
10 9 (1.25%) SCCM
11 5 (0.69%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 5 (0.69%) CA Endevor
11 5 (0.69%) Kustomize
12 4 (0.55%) Kibana
13 3 (0.42%) Tivoli
13 3 (0.42%) Tivoli Storage Manager
14 2 (0.28%) EMC NetWorker
Vendors
1 118 (16.34%) Microsoft
2 64 (8.86%) SAP
3 50 (6.93%) Splunk
4 32 (4.43%) Oracle
5 31 (4.29%) ServiceNow
5 31 (4.29%) VMware
6 26 (3.60%) Red Hat
7 23 (3.19%) Google
8 17 (2.35%) Cisco
9 16 (2.22%) Workday
10 15 (2.08%) Pure Storage
11 14 (1.94%) Sage
11 14 (1.94%) Tenable
12 12 (1.66%) Dell
13 10 (1.39%) Veeam
14 8 (1.11%) Adobe
14 8 (1.11%) Apple
14 8 (1.11%) Databricks
14 8 (1.11%) F5
14 8 (1.11%) Sonatype