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 8 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 15 6 4
Rank change year-on-year -9 -2 +8
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 742 619 567
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 9.69% 15.02% 13.68%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.64% 16.94% 16.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 426 359 317
10th Percentile £282 £258 £275
25th Percentile £357 £362 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% - -5.00%
75th Percentile £550 £550 £550
90th Percentile £639 £651 £613
England median daily rate £500 £488 £500
% change year-on-year +2.51% -2.45% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 78 58 12
10th Percentile £13.45 £13.82 £13.43
25th Percentile £15.16 £17.30 £26.25
Median hourly rate £18.75 £20.26 £49.14
Median % change year-on-year -7.45% -58.78% +130.03%
75th Percentile £39.50 £43.84 £63.75
90th Percentile £77.00 £63.51 £77.63
England median hourly rate £19.37 £18.86 £16.23
% change year-on-year +2.68% +16.20% -69.76%

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 6,376 3,655 3,497
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 83.30% 88.71% 84.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,678 2,390 1,922
10th Percentile £313 £251 £300
25th Percentile £406 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £471 £495
Median % change year-on-year +6.27% -4.95% -1.00%
75th Percentile £588 £556 £575
90th Percentile £675 £673 £663
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 562 207 179
10th Percentile £13.81 £14.20 £13.75
25th Percentile £18.50 £17.46 £17.05
Median hourly rate £43.96 £24.50 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +79.43% -30.00% +28.68%
75th Percentile £69.75 £41.94 £51.91
90th Percentile £77.00 £67.25 £70.00
England median hourly rate £40.00 £25.15 £42.69
% change year-on-year +59.05% -41.09% -4.07%

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 8 October 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 8 October 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 8 October 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 -9 370 £450 -1.48% 815
Yorkshire -6 293 £473 -4.55% 574
North East -10 81 £375 -16.67% 263
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 29 (3.91%) SharePoint
2 28 (3.77%) Confluence
3 13 (1.75%) Apache
4 11 (1.48%) Apache Airflow
4 11 (1.48%) Apache Spark
5 7 (0.94%) CMS
5 7 (0.94%) Microsoft Exchange
6 6 (0.81%) Jupyter
7 4 (0.54%) CICS
7 4 (0.54%) WebLogic
8 3 (0.40%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 3 (0.40%) IBM HTTP Server
8 3 (0.40%) nginx
8 3 (0.40%) Oracle HTTP Server
8 3 (0.40%) Tomcat
8 3 (0.40%) WebLogic Portal
8 3 (0.40%) WebSphere
8 3 (0.40%) WebSphere Application Server
8 3 (0.40%) WebSphere Portal
8 3 (0.40%) WordPress
Applications
1 44 (5.93%) Microsoft Excel
1 44 (5.93%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (1.35%) MS Visio
3 8 (1.08%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 8 (1.08%) Microsoft Project
4 5 (0.67%) Chatbot
5 3 (0.40%) Acrobat
5 3 (0.40%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.27%) AutoCAD
6 2 (0.27%) Navisworks
6 2 (0.27%) Revit
7 1 (0.13%) EngageOne
Business Applications
1 18 (2.43%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (1.35%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.54%) Dynamics CRM
4 3 (0.40%) SAP ERP
4 3 (0.40%) Teamcenter
4 3 (0.40%) Workday HCM
5 2 (0.27%) Oracle EBS
5 2 (0.27%) Oracle Payables
5 2 (0.27%) SAP HCM
5 2 (0.27%) SAP Payroll
5 2 (0.27%) SAP R/3
6 1 (0.13%) CA PPM
6 1 (0.13%) ENOVIA
6 1 (0.13%) FIS Private Capital Suite
6 1 (0.13%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle Applications
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.13%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.13%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 129 (17.39%) Azure
2 103 (13.88%) AWS
3 99 (13.34%) Microsoft 365
4 50 (6.74%) Power Platform
5 48 (6.47%) GCP
6 35 (4.72%) Entra ID
7 31 (4.18%) GitHub
8 22 (2.96%) Azure DevOps
9 21 (2.83%) Serverless
10 16 (2.16%) OpenShift
11 13 (1.75%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 12 (1.62%) SaaS
13 11 (1.48%) AWS Lambda
13 11 (1.48%) IaaS
14 10 (1.35%) Power Automate
14 10 (1.35%) PowerApps
15 9 (1.21%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 9 (1.21%) GitHub Actions
15 9 (1.21%) Microsoft Copilot
15 9 (1.21%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 46 (6.20%) VPN
2 43 (5.80%) Firewall
3 33 (4.45%) DNS
4 29 (3.91%) Network Security
5 26 (3.50%) WAN
6 24 (3.23%) LAN
7 22 (2.96%) Wi-Fi
8 18 (2.43%) Wireless
9 17 (2.29%) VoIP
10 15 (2.02%) DHCP
10 15 (2.02%) VLAN
11 14 (1.89%) TCP/IP
12 11 (1.48%) BIG-IP
12 11 (1.48%) Cisco Nexus
12 11 (1.48%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
12 11 (1.48%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
13 10 (1.35%) BGP
13 10 (1.35%) OSPF
14 9 (1.21%) WLAN
15 8 (1.08%) Cisco ASA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (4.58%) Power BI
2 27 (3.64%) SQL Server
3 20 (2.70%) Data Warehouse
4 19 (2.56%) MongoDB
5 17 (2.29%) Relational Database
6 11 (1.48%) Db2
7 10 (1.35%) PostgreSQL
7 10 (1.35%) Tableau
8 8 (1.08%) Big Data
8 8 (1.08%) DataStage
8 8 (1.08%) Metadata
9 7 (0.94%) Oracle Database
10 6 (0.81%) Data Lake
10 6 (0.81%) Neo4j
10 6 (0.81%) NoSQL
11 5 (0.67%) Amazon Athena
11 5 (0.67%) Amazon Redshift
11 5 (0.67%) DynamoDB
11 5 (0.67%) MySQL
12 4 (0.54%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 57 (7.68%) JIRA
2 42 (5.66%) Git
3 36 (4.85%) Jenkins
4 23 (3.10%) GitLab
5 8 (1.08%) REST Assured
5 8 (1.08%) Selenium
6 7 (0.94%) Sonatype Nexus
7 6 (0.81%) Cucumber
7 6 (0.81%) Gatling
8 5 (0.67%) Maven
9 4 (0.54%) Cypress.io
9 4 (0.54%) Gradle
9 4 (0.54%) MSI
10 3 (0.40%) Claude Code
10 3 (0.40%) LoadRunner
10 3 (0.40%) Serenity BDD
10 3 (0.40%) SonarQube
11 2 (0.27%) Burp Suite
11 2 (0.27%) MSBuild
11 2 (0.27%) Postman
General
1 380 (51.21%) Social Skills
2 295 (39.76%) Analytical Skills
3 158 (21.29%) Finance
4 77 (10.38%) Banking
5 59 (7.95%) Public Sector
6 46 (6.20%) Manufacturing
7 43 (5.80%) Organisational Skills
8 29 (3.91%) Documentation Skills
9 26 (3.50%) Legal
10 22 (2.96%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 20 (2.70%) Influencing Skills
12 13 (1.75%) Retail
13 12 (1.62%) Telecoms
14 11 (1.48%) Law
14 11 (1.48%) Marketing
15 10 (1.35%) Aerospace
15 10 (1.35%) Automotive
15 10 (1.35%) Presentation Skills
16 9 (1.21%) Financial Institution
17 6 (0.81%) Police
Job Titles
1 95 (12.80%) Analyst
2 93 (12.53%) Developer
3 69 (9.30%) Senior
4 60 (8.09%) Lead
5 46 (6.20%) IT Support
6 34 (4.58%) Support Engineer
7 32 (4.31%) Architect
8 26 (3.50%) Consultant
8 26 (3.50%) IT Engineer
8 26 (3.50%) Network Engineer
9 23 (3.10%) Administrator
10 22 (2.96%) IT Support Engineer
11 21 (2.83%) Business Analyst
12 19 (2.56%) Data Engineer
12 19 (2.56%) Java Developer
13 18 (2.43%) DevOps Engineer
13 18 (2.43%) Senior Developer
14 17 (2.29%) Data Analyst
14 17 (2.29%) Python Developer
14 17 (2.29%) Service Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 56 (7.55%) Terraform
2 49 (6.60%) REST
3 27 (3.64%) Kafka
3 27 (3.64%) Spring
4 24 (3.23%) Node.js
5 23 (3.10%) Spring Boot
6 19 (2.56%) HTML
7 18 (2.43%) React
8 15 (2.02%) CSS
8 15 (2.02%) Playwright
9 12 (1.62%) .NET
9 12 (1.62%) OpenTelemetry
10 11 (1.48%) RESTful
10 11 (1.48%) Web Services
11 9 (1.21%) JSON
12 8 (1.08%) FastAPI
12 8 (1.08%) Middleware
12 8 (1.08%) OAuth
12 8 (1.08%) SOAP
12 8 (1.08%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 61 (8.22%) Cloud Native
2 46 (6.20%) Product Ownership
3 45 (6.06%) Onboarding
4 37 (4.99%) Self-Motivation
5 36 (4.85%) Data Centre
6 33 (4.45%) Data Protection Act
7 32 (4.31%) Enterprise Software
8 27 (3.64%) Driving Licence
9 25 (3.37%) Distributed Systems
10 20 (2.70%) Analytical Mindset
11 17 (2.29%) Management Information System
11 17 (2.29%) PKI
12 15 (2.02%) Data Structures
12 15 (2.02%) Public Cloud
13 14 (1.89%) Legacy Systems
14 13 (1.75%) NHS
15 11 (1.48%) Mainframe
16 10 (1.35%) AI Agents
17 9 (1.21%) CMDB
17 9 (1.21%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 125 (16.85%) Windows
2 34 (4.58%) Linux
3 32 (4.31%) Windows 10
4 26 (3.50%) Windows Server
5 25 (3.37%) Apple iOS
6 20 (2.70%) Android
7 15 (2.02%) Unix
8 11 (1.48%) Mac OS
9 6 (0.81%) Solaris
10 4 (0.54%) zOS
11 3 (0.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 2 (0.27%) AIX
12 2 (0.27%) HPUX
12 2 (0.27%) Oracle Linux
12 2 (0.27%) SUSE
12 2 (0.27%) VMS
13 1 (0.13%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.13%) Mac OS X
13 1 (0.13%) Ubuntu
13 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 181 (24.39%) Continuous Improvement
2 180 (24.26%) Agile
3 163 (21.97%) CI/CD
4 143 (19.27%) Stakeholder Management
5 113 (15.23%) DevOps
6 90 (12.13%) AI
7 81 (10.92%) Customer Service
8 75 (10.11%) ITIL
8 75 (10.11%) Test Automation
9 71 (9.57%) Migration
10 66 (8.89%) Observability
11 64 (8.63%) Infrastructure as Code
12 62 (8.36%) Decision-Making
13 61 (8.22%) Analytics
13 61 (8.22%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 60 (8.09%) Software Engineering
15 59 (7.95%) Data Protection
16 58 (7.82%) Microservices
17 56 (7.55%) Technical Leadership
17 56 (7.55%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 118 (15.90%) Python
2 98 (13.21%) SQL
3 60 (8.09%) Java
4 54 (7.28%) PowerShell
5 29 (3.91%) JavaScript
6 15 (2.02%) Bash
6 15 (2.02%) TypeScript
7 10 (1.35%) C#
8 9 (1.21%) PL/SQL
8 9 (1.21%) Shell Script
9 8 (1.08%) ActionScript
10 7 (0.94%) R
11 6 (0.81%) Apex Code
11 6 (0.81%) COBOL
11 6 (0.81%) Go
11 6 (0.81%) Kotlin
12 5 (0.67%) PHP
13 4 (0.54%) ABAP
13 4 (0.54%) JCL
13 4 (0.54%) Scala
Qualifications
1 112 (15.09%) Security Cleared
2 89 (11.99%) SC Cleared
3 60 (8.09%) Degree
4 33 (4.45%) BPSS Clearance
5 24 (3.23%) Computer Science Degree
6 20 (2.70%) CISSP
7 18 (2.43%) Cisco Certification
8 17 (2.29%) Microsoft Certification
9 13 (1.75%) CCNP
10 11 (1.48%) AWS Certification
10 11 (1.48%) PMI Certification
10 11 (1.48%) PMP
11 10 (1.35%) HNC
12 8 (1.08%) A+ Certification
13 7 (0.94%) Azure Certification
13 7 (0.94%) CISM
13 7 (0.94%) Network+ Certification
14 6 (0.81%) CompTIA Security+
14 6 (0.81%) DBS Check
14 6 (0.81%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 53 (7.14%) Data Quality
2 31 (4.18%) QA
3 24 (3.23%) Accessibility
4 20 (2.70%) SLA
5 12 (1.62%) GDPR
6 10 (1.35%) NIST
7 9 (1.21%) GRC
8 8 (1.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 7 (0.94%) PMO
10 6 (0.81%) WCAG
11 5 (0.67%) PCI DSS
12 4 (0.54%) NCSC
13 2 (0.27%) COSHH
13 2 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials
13 2 (0.27%) IEC 61508
13 2 (0.27%) MiFID
14 1 (0.13%) Actionable Recommendations
14 1 (0.13%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 1 (0.13%) HIPAA
14 1 (0.13%) HL7
System Software
1 75 (10.11%) Active Directory
2 51 (6.87%) Docker
3 30 (4.04%) VMware Infrastructure
4 12 (1.62%) Hyper-V
4 12 (1.62%) Virtual Desktop
5 9 (1.21%) vSphere
6 8 (1.08%) Firmware
7 6 (0.81%) Virtual Machines
8 5 (0.67%) Citrix Hypervisor
8 5 (0.67%) VMware ESXi
8 5 (0.67%) XenApp
8 5 (0.67%) XenDesktop
9 4 (0.54%) Oracle RAC
9 4 (0.54%) Virtual Servers
9 4 (0.54%) VMware NSX
10 2 (0.27%) KVM
11 1 (0.13%) ACF2
11 1 (0.13%) HDFS
11 1 (0.13%) SRDF
11 1 (0.13%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 67 (9.03%) Kubernetes
2 28 (3.77%) Grafana
3 27 (3.64%) Microsoft Intune
4 26 (3.50%) Prometheus
5 23 (3.10%) SCCM
6 21 (2.83%) Ansible
7 10 (1.35%) Nessus
8 9 (1.21%) Control-M
9 7 (0.94%) IBM Guardium
10 6 (0.81%) McAfee ePO
11 5 (0.67%) Data Guard
11 5 (0.67%) FortiGate
12 4 (0.54%) Kustomize
12 4 (0.54%) Single Sign-On
13 3 (0.40%) Argo
13 3 (0.40%) Failover Clustering
13 3 (0.40%) Istio
13 3 (0.40%) Oracle RMAN
13 3 (0.40%) vCenter Server
13 3 (0.40%) WMI
Vendors
1 183 (24.66%) Microsoft
2 59 (7.95%) ServiceNow
3 40 (5.39%) SAP
4 39 (5.26%) Oracle
5 32 (4.31%) VMware
6 31 (4.18%) Cisco
7 23 (3.10%) Google
8 19 (2.56%) Splunk
9 18 (2.43%) F5
10 14 (1.89%) IBM
10 14 (1.89%) Palo Alto
11 13 (1.75%) Salesforce
11 13 (1.75%) Workday
12 12 (1.62%) Fortinet
13 11 (1.48%) Concur
14 10 (1.35%) Apple
14 10 (1.35%) Red Hat
14 10 (1.35%) Remedy
14 10 (1.35%) Tenable
15 9 (1.21%) Dell