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 6 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 3 6
Rank change year-on-year -2 +3 +11
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 774 595 599
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 14.03% 17.84% 12.28%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 16.19% 20.01% 14.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 497 367 333
10th Percentile £220 £228 £200
25th Percentile £350 £365 £369
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £489 £500
Median % change year-on-year -7.98% -2.20% +5.26%
75th Percentile £537 £573 £587
90th Percentile £618 £650 £688
England median daily rate £492 £500 £505
% change year-on-year -1.60% -0.99% -6.48%
Number of hourly rates quoted 42 41 56
10th Percentile £15.18 £13.70 £10.95
25th Percentile £17.31 £18.63 £11.50
Median hourly rate £38.43 £25.43 £15.75
Median % change year-on-year +51.11% +61.46% -63.06%
75th Percentile £73.06 £34.11 £30.73
90th Percentile £74.26 £68.18 £46.18
England median hourly rate £20.00 £25.43 £19.50
% change year-on-year -21.35% +30.41% -51.55%

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 4,780 2,974 4,218
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 86.67% 89.18% 86.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,099 1,823 2,640
10th Percentile £260 £263 £275
25th Percentile £375 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £495
Median % change year-on-year - -4.04% -1.00%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £582
90th Percentile £644 £650 £672
England median daily rate £505 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 296 151 341
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.25 £11.50
25th Percentile £21.73 £19.13 £13.50
Median hourly rate £42.69 £28.75 £20.58
Median % change year-on-year +48.47% +39.70% -28.67%
75th Percentile £63.43 £47.47 £45.88
90th Percentile £74.26 £77.50 £53.75
England median hourly rate £29.60 £35.00 £34.00
% change year-on-year -15.43% +2.94% -4.23%

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 6 March 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 6 March 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 6 March 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 -1 386 £424 -10.79% 351
Yorkshire -4 336 £475 -5.00% 224
North East -3 61 £438 -9.00% 90
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 (6.20%) Confluence
2 32 (4.13%) SharePoint
3 29 (3.75%) Microsoft Exchange
4 15 (1.94%) Apache Spark
5 9 (1.16%) Apache
6 4 (0.52%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.39%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 3 (0.39%) Exchange Server 2013
7 3 (0.39%) Skype for Business
8 1 (0.13%) CMS
8 1 (0.13%) JBoss
8 1 (0.13%) Moodle
8 1 (0.13%) NetWeaver
8 1 (0.13%) nginx
8 1 (0.13%) SAS
8 1 (0.13%) Tomcat
Applications
1 46 (5.94%) Microsoft Office
2 45 (5.81%) Microsoft Excel
3 29 (3.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 18 (2.33%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.65%) Acrobat
5 5 (0.65%) Microsoft Project
6 4 (0.52%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.13%) Siemens NX
7 1 (0.13%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 43 (5.56%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (0.52%) Payment Gateway
3 3 (0.39%) iTrent
3 3 (0.39%) SAP EHS
3 3 (0.39%) SAP Payroll
3 3 (0.39%) SAP SCM
4 2 (0.26%) Advent Geneva
4 2 (0.26%) Dynamics AX
4 2 (0.26%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.26%) Elite 3E
4 2 (0.26%) Kondor
4 2 (0.26%) SAP ERP
4 2 (0.26%) SAP HCM
5 1 (0.13%) NetSuite
5 1 (0.13%) SAP BPC
5 1 (0.13%) SAP HR
5 1 (0.13%) SAP PSCD
5 1 (0.13%) SystmOne
5 1 (0.13%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 131 (16.93%) Azure
2 101 (13.05%) AWS
3 70 (9.04%) Microsoft 365
4 47 (6.07%) GCP
4 47 (6.07%) GitHub
5 40 (5.17%) Power Platform
6 38 (4.91%) OpenShift
7 25 (3.23%) Azure DevOps
8 24 (3.10%) Entra ID
9 22 (2.84%) Serverless
10 20 (2.58%) SaaS
11 15 (1.94%) GitHub Actions
11 15 (1.94%) Google Workspace
12 10 (1.29%) Dynamics 365
13 9 (1.16%) Amazon S3
13 9 (1.16%) Apigee
13 9 (1.16%) Azure AKS
14 8 (1.03%) AWS Lambda
14 8 (1.03%) Azure Functions
14 8 (1.03%) Azure Monitor
Communications & Networking
1 45 (5.81%) Firewall
2 34 (4.39%) DNS
3 28 (3.62%) Network Security
4 19 (2.45%) TCP/IP
5 18 (2.33%) WAN
6 17 (2.20%) LAN
7 12 (1.55%) Wi-Fi
8 11 (1.42%) DHCP
8 11 (1.42%) VLAN
9 10 (1.29%) WebEx
10 8 (1.03%) BGP
11 7 (0.90%) VPN
12 6 (0.78%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
12 6 (0.78%) HTTP
12 6 (0.78%) Kerberos
12 6 (0.78%) SAN
12 6 (0.78%) Software-Defined Networking
13 5 (0.65%) DMZ
13 5 (0.65%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
14 4 (0.52%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (4.01%) MongoDB
1 31 (4.01%) PostgreSQL
1 31 (4.01%) Power BI
2 21 (2.71%) NoSQL
3 20 (2.58%) SQL Server
4 15 (1.94%) Relational Database
5 13 (1.68%) Data Warehouse
6 12 (1.55%) Power Query
7 10 (1.29%) Hadoop
7 10 (1.29%) MySQL
8 9 (1.16%) DynamoDB
9 8 (1.03%) PowerPivot
10 7 (0.90%) Metadata
10 7 (0.90%) Oracle Database
11 6 (0.78%) BigQuery
12 5 (0.65%) Oracle Reports
12 5 (0.65%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 4 (0.52%) DB2
13 4 (0.52%) MS Access
13 4 (0.52%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 105 (13.57%) JIRA
2 48 (6.20%) Jenkins
3 37 (4.78%) Git
4 34 (4.39%) GitLab
5 17 (2.20%) Sonatype Nexus
6 11 (1.42%) Mockito
7 9 (1.16%) Cucumber
7 9 (1.16%) Postman
7 9 (1.16%) Selenium
8 5 (0.65%) Cypress.io
9 4 (0.52%) CircleCI
9 4 (0.52%) JMeter
9 4 (0.52%) JUnit
9 4 (0.52%) Oracle Forms
10 3 (0.39%) Jasmine
10 3 (0.39%) REST Assured
11 2 (0.26%) Maven
11 2 (0.26%) SoapUI
11 2 (0.26%) Zephyr
12 1 (0.13%) Subversion
General
1 403 (52.07%) Social Skills
2 288 (37.21%) Analytical Skills
3 215 (27.78%) Finance
4 85 (10.98%) Banking
5 84 (10.85%) Public Sector
6 32 (4.13%) Legal
7 24 (3.10%) Documentation Skills
8 22 (2.84%) Influencing Skills
9 13 (1.68%) Organisational Skills
10 12 (1.55%) Telecoms
11 9 (1.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 9 (1.16%) Manufacturing
11 9 (1.16%) Presentation Skills
11 9 (1.16%) Retail
12 8 (1.03%) Law
13 7 (0.90%) Retail Banking
14 6 (0.78%) Health Technology
15 5 (0.65%) Local Government
15 5 (0.65%) Military
16 3 (0.39%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 137 (17.70%) Analyst
2 115 (14.86%) Developer
3 65 (8.40%) Business Analyst
4 60 (7.75%) Lead
5 53 (6.85%) Senior
6 40 (5.17%) Project Manager
7 38 (4.91%) Consultant
8 37 (4.78%) IT Support
9 32 (4.13%) Administrator
10 29 (3.75%) Architect
10 29 (3.75%) Data Engineer
11 22 (2.84%) Java Developer
11 22 (2.84%) Software Engineer
12 21 (2.71%) IT Engineer
12 21 (2.71%) Platform Engineer
13 20 (2.58%) SAP Consultant
14 19 (2.45%) Technical Analyst
15 18 (2.33%) Python Developer
16 17 (2.20%) Support Engineer
16 17 (2.20%) Technical Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (5.04%) REST
2 34 (4.39%) Kafka
3 31 (4.01%) OpenTelemetry
3 31 (4.01%) Spring
4 29 (3.75%) Spring Boot
5 26 (3.36%) JSON
5 26 (3.36%) RESTful
6 22 (2.84%) FastAPI
6 22 (2.84%) SOAP
7 19 (2.45%) React
8 18 (2.33%) XML
9 16 (2.07%) .NET
10 14 (1.81%) Swagger
11 13 (1.68%) HTML
11 13 (1.68%) OAuth
12 12 (1.55%) AngularJS
12 12 (1.55%) CSS
12 12 (1.55%) Node.js
12 12 (1.55%) YAML
13 10 (1.29%) Elastic Stack
Miscellaneous
1 65 (8.40%) Product Ownership
2 34 (4.39%) Onboarding
3 24 (3.10%) Cloud Native
4 22 (2.84%) Data Protection Act
5 19 (2.45%) Legacy Systems
5 19 (2.45%) Self-Motivation
6 18 (2.33%) Data Centre
7 16 (2.07%) Management Information System
8 15 (1.94%) Hybrid Cloud
9 14 (1.81%) Data Structures
10 12 (1.55%) Analytical Mindset
10 12 (1.55%) CMDB
11 9 (1.16%) Algorithms
11 9 (1.16%) Enterprise Software
11 9 (1.16%) Mainframe
11 9 (1.16%) NHS
11 9 (1.16%) Public Cloud
11 9 (1.16%) SWIFT Messaging Network
12 7 (0.90%) Driving Licence
12 7 (0.90%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 88 (11.37%) Windows
2 73 (9.43%) Linux
3 26 (3.36%) Windows 10
4 22 (2.84%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 22 (2.84%) Windows Server
5 20 (2.58%) Unix
6 12 (1.55%) Android
7 9 (1.16%) Apple iOS
8 8 (1.03%) CentOS
8 8 (1.03%) Mac OS
8 8 (1.03%) Ubuntu
9 7 (0.90%) Mac OS X
9 7 (0.90%) Windows Server 2019
10 4 (0.52%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.39%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 234 (30.23%) Agile
2 174 (22.48%) CI/CD
3 134 (17.31%) Continuous Improvement
3 134 (17.31%) DevOps
4 105 (13.57%) Stakeholder Management
5 94 (12.14%) Migration
6 93 (12.02%) Project Management
7 81 (10.47%) Change Management
7 81 (10.47%) Containerisation
8 74 (9.56%) Analytics
9 69 (8.91%) Validation
10 66 (8.53%) Test Automation
11 61 (7.88%) Microservices
12 60 (7.75%) Customer Service
12 60 (7.75%) Decision-Making
12 60 (7.75%) Mentoring
12 60 (7.75%) Workshop Facilitation
13 59 (7.62%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 58 (7.49%) ITIL
15 55 (7.11%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 129 (16.67%) Python
2 98 (12.66%) SQL
3 72 (9.30%) Java
4 52 (6.72%) PowerShell
5 41 (5.30%) Bash
6 31 (4.01%) TypeScript
7 27 (3.49%) JavaScript
8 20 (2.58%) Perl
9 19 (2.45%) C#
10 12 (1.55%) Groovy
11 11 (1.42%) VBA
12 9 (1.16%) CLIST
12 9 (1.16%) COBOL
12 9 (1.16%) JCL
12 9 (1.16%) REXX
12 9 (1.16%) Ruby
13 8 (1.03%) T-SQL
14 7 (0.90%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 7 (0.90%) Go
14 7 (0.90%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 95 (12.27%) Security Cleared
2 76 (9.82%) Degree
3 66 (8.53%) SC Cleared
4 39 (5.04%) BPSS Clearance
5 35 (4.52%) Computer Science Degree
6 23 (2.97%) Cisco Certification
7 21 (2.71%) CCNA
8 16 (2.07%) PMP
9 15 (1.94%) CCNP
10 9 (1.16%) CCDP
10 9 (1.16%) Microsoft Certification
10 9 (1.16%) PMI Certification
11 8 (1.03%) A+ Certification
11 8 (1.03%) Network+ Certification
11 8 (1.03%) RHCE
12 7 (0.90%) AWS Certification
12 7 (0.90%) CISSP
13 5 (0.65%) Azure Certification
13 5 (0.65%) DBS Check
13 5 (0.65%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 45 (5.81%) QA
2 29 (3.75%) Data Quality
3 14 (1.81%) Accessibility
3 14 (1.81%) PSD2
4 11 (1.42%) GDPR
5 9 (1.16%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 9 (1.16%) PCI DSS
6 8 (1.03%) ISO 20022
6 8 (1.03%) PMO
7 7 (0.90%) SEPA
8 5 (0.65%) Actionable Recommendations
8 5 (0.65%) HL7
8 5 (0.65%) SLA
9 4 (0.52%) NIST
9 4 (0.52%) WCAG
10 3 (0.39%) ISO 8583
11 1 (0.13%) GxP
11 1 (0.13%) HIPAA
11 1 (0.13%) SOC 2
System Software
1 78 (10.08%) Docker
2 54 (6.98%) Active Directory
3 21 (2.71%) VMware Infrastructure
4 14 (1.81%) VMware NSX
5 13 (1.68%) vSphere
6 9 (1.16%) ACF2
6 9 (1.16%) RACF
6 9 (1.16%) Time Sharing Option
7 7 (0.90%) Hyper-V
8 6 (0.78%) Virtual Desktop
8 6 (0.78%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.39%) ISA Server
10 2 (0.26%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 100 (12.92%) Kubernetes
2 57 (7.36%) Terraform
3 51 (6.59%) Ansible
4 47 (6.07%) Grafana
5 38 (4.91%) Prometheus
6 20 (2.58%) Control-M
6 20 (2.58%) Microsoft Intune
6 20 (2.58%) SCCM
7 19 (2.45%) IBM Guardium
7 19 (2.45%) Nessus
8 10 (1.29%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 10 (1.29%) Puppet
9 9 (1.16%) Argo
9 9 (1.16%) CA Endevor
9 9 (1.16%) Tivoli
9 9 (1.16%) Tivoli Storage Manager
10 7 (0.90%) vCenter Server
11 6 (0.78%) Norton AntiVirus
12 4 (0.52%) EMC NetWorker
12 4 (0.52%) Kibana
Vendors
1 156 (20.16%) Microsoft
2 64 (8.27%) SAP
3 42 (5.43%) Splunk
4 37 (4.78%) Oracle
5 35 (4.52%) VMware
6 30 (3.88%) Google
6 30 (3.88%) ServiceNow
7 28 (3.62%) Red Hat
8 20 (2.58%) Cisco
8 20 (2.58%) Workday
9 19 (2.45%) Tenable
10 14 (1.81%) Citrix
10 14 (1.81%) Sage
11 13 (1.68%) Sonatype
12 11 (1.42%) Databricks
13 10 (1.29%) F5
14 9 (1.16%) Adobe
14 9 (1.16%) Veeam
15 8 (1.03%) Dell
15 8 (1.03%) IFS