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 1 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 7 4 10
Rank change year-on-year -3 +6 +6
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 674 541 548
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 14.74% 14.08% 11.55%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 16.61% 16.46% 13.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 434 292 315
10th Percentile £213 £275 £231
25th Percentile £350 £375 £385
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £464 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.37% -5.00% +5.26%
75th Percentile £550 £550 £587
90th Percentile £626 £612 £700
England median daily rate £475 £500 £501
% change year-on-year -5.00% -0.10% -7.31%
Number of hourly rates quoted 56 19 22
10th Percentile £13.85 £11.95 £16.25
25th Percentile £17.30 £15.58 £17.14
Median hourly rate £20.26 £24.76 £22.49
Median % change year-on-year -18.19% +10.12% -0.07%
75th Percentile £44.94 £48.38 £46.18
90th Percentile £72.21 £94.80 £54.12
England median hourly rate £18.90 £19.50 £44.43
% change year-on-year -3.10% -56.11% +48.10%

All Process and 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 4,059 3,286 4,196
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 88.76% 85.55% 88.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,718 1,811 2,790
10th Percentile £213 £285 £275
25th Percentile £360 £390 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.63% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £550 £575 £600
90th Percentile £650 £663 £675
England median daily rate £500 £525 £548
% change year-on-year -4.76% -4.11% -0.45%
Number of hourly rates quoted 250 179 194
10th Percentile £15.24 £15.00 £15.75
25th Percentile £19.02 £17.88 £17.75
Median hourly rate £25.15 £31.50 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year -20.16% +14.55% +27.91%
75th Percentile £45.46 £46.18 £46.18
90th Percentile £70.29 £70.00 £60.14
England median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +19.14%

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 1 December 2025.

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 1 December 2025.

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 1 December 2025. 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 -1 376 £450 -5.26% 506
Yorkshire -6 254 £480 -1.84% 392
North East -3 49 £450 -0.88% 114
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 34 (5.04%) SharePoint
2 29 (4.30%) Microsoft Exchange
3 28 (4.15%) Confluence
4 8 (1.19%) Apache
5 7 (1.04%) Exchange Server 2013
5 7 (1.04%) Skype for Business
6 6 (0.89%) Apache Spark
7 5 (0.74%) JBoss
7 5 (0.74%) Tomcat
8 4 (0.59%) Apache Airflow
9 2 (0.30%) CICS
9 2 (0.30%) CMS
10 1 (0.15%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 1 (0.15%) EPiServer
10 1 (0.15%) IIS
10 1 (0.15%) Mule
10 1 (0.15%) Mule ESB
10 1 (0.15%) NetWeaver
10 1 (0.15%) SAS
10 1 (0.15%) WebLogic
Applications
1 54 (8.01%) Microsoft Excel
2 48 (7.12%) Microsoft Office
3 27 (4.01%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 19 (2.82%) MS Visio
5 7 (1.04%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.30%) Simulink
7 1 (0.15%) Acrobat
7 1 (0.15%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.15%) Maple
Business Applications
1 33 (4.90%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (0.89%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.59%) ContrOCC
3 4 (0.59%) SAP EHS
3 4 (0.59%) SAP EWM
4 3 (0.45%) iTrent
4 3 (0.45%) Kondor
4 3 (0.45%) Maximo
5 2 (0.30%) Advent Geneva
5 2 (0.30%) Dynamics AX
5 2 (0.30%) SAP ERP
5 2 (0.30%) SAP Payroll
6 1 (0.15%) Elite 3E
6 1 (0.15%) Finacle
6 1 (0.15%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.15%) SAP HCM
6 1 (0.15%) SAP HR
6 1 (0.15%) SAP PSCD
6 1 (0.15%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 97 (14.39%) AWS
1 97 (14.39%) Azure
2 55 (8.16%) Microsoft 365
3 43 (6.38%) GCP
4 42 (6.23%) Power Platform
5 36 (5.34%) GitHub
6 20 (2.97%) Serverless
7 16 (2.37%) SaaS
8 15 (2.23%) Azure DevOps
9 14 (2.08%) Amazon ECS
9 14 (2.08%) AWS Lambda
9 14 (2.08%) Google Workspace
10 13 (1.93%) Entra ID
10 13 (1.93%) GitHub Actions
11 11 (1.63%) Amazon S3
11 11 (1.63%) Datadog
12 10 (1.48%) Dynamics 365
12 10 (1.48%) OneDrive
12 10 (1.48%) Power Automate
13 9 (1.34%) Apigee
Communications & Networking
1 27 (4.01%) Firewall
2 26 (3.86%) Network Security
3 10 (1.48%) DNS
3 10 (1.48%) LAN
3 10 (1.48%) WAN
4 8 (1.19%) VLAN
5 7 (1.04%) BGP
5 7 (1.04%) Skype
5 7 (1.04%) WebEx
6 6 (0.89%) Software-Defined Networking
7 5 (0.74%) TCP/IP
8 4 (0.59%) HTTP
9 3 (0.45%) DMZ
9 3 (0.45%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
9 3 (0.45%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
9 3 (0.45%) Internet
9 3 (0.45%) SAN
9 3 (0.45%) VoIP
9 3 (0.45%) Wi-Fi
10 2 (0.30%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (4.90%) Power BI
2 28 (4.15%) PostgreSQL
3 19 (2.82%) NoSQL
3 19 (2.82%) SQL Server
4 18 (2.67%) MongoDB
4 18 (2.67%) Relational Database
5 16 (2.37%) Oracle Database
6 14 (2.08%) DynamoDB
7 13 (1.93%) MySQL
8 12 (1.78%) BigQuery
8 12 (1.78%) Power Query
9 9 (1.34%) Amazon RDS
10 8 (1.19%) Amazon Aurora
10 8 (1.19%) Data Warehouse
11 7 (1.04%) Tableau
12 6 (0.89%) PowerPivot
12 6 (0.89%) Redis
13 5 (0.74%) DB2
13 5 (0.74%) Oracle Reports
13 5 (0.74%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 87 (12.91%) JIRA
2 62 (9.20%) Git
3 48 (7.12%) Jenkins
4 29 (4.30%) GitLab
5 14 (2.08%) Cucumber
6 11 (1.63%) JUnit
6 11 (1.63%) Selenium
7 10 (1.48%) Maven
7 10 (1.48%) Sonatype Nexus
8 9 (1.34%) Gradle
8 9 (1.34%) Postman
9 8 (1.19%) Cypress.io
9 8 (1.19%) SonarQube
10 7 (1.04%) SoapUI
11 5 (0.74%) SonarLint
12 4 (0.59%) Mockito
12 4 (0.59%) TestRail
13 3 (0.45%) JMeter
13 3 (0.45%) Oracle Forms
14 2 (0.30%) Liquibase
General
1 357 (52.97%) Social Skills
2 234 (34.72%) Analytical Skills
3 187 (27.74%) Finance
4 72 (10.68%) Public Sector
5 65 (9.64%) Banking
6 20 (2.97%) Legal
7 16 (2.37%) Influencing Skills
8 14 (2.08%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 13 (1.93%) Manufacturing
10 12 (1.78%) Police
11 10 (1.48%) Local Government
11 10 (1.48%) Organisational Skills
11 10 (1.48%) Telecoms
12 9 (1.34%) Law
12 9 (1.34%) Pharmaceutical
12 9 (1.34%) Presentation Skills
13 7 (1.04%) Marketing
13 7 (1.04%) Military
14 6 (0.89%) Electronics
15 5 (0.74%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 111 (16.47%) Developer
2 109 (16.17%) Analyst
3 45 (6.68%) Senior
4 36 (5.34%) Business Analyst
5 35 (5.19%) Consultant
5 35 (5.19%) IT Support
6 33 (4.90%) Architect
6 33 (4.90%) Lead
7 28 (4.15%) Administrator
7 28 (4.15%) Java Developer
7 28 (4.15%) Project Manager
8 22 (3.26%) Support Analyst
9 20 (2.97%) Software Engineer
10 19 (2.82%) Support Engineer
11 17 (2.52%) Automation Engineer
12 16 (2.37%) IT Engineer
12 16 (2.37%) Platform Engineer
13 15 (2.23%) IT Support Engineer
14 14 (2.08%) Service Analyst
14 14 (2.08%) Technical Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (6.23%) REST
2 40 (5.93%) Spring Boot
3 37 (5.49%) Spring
4 27 (4.01%) RESTful
5 25 (3.71%) Kafka
6 22 (3.26%) FastAPI
7 20 (2.97%) React
8 18 (2.67%) .NET
9 16 (2.37%) SOAP
10 15 (2.23%) JSON
11 14 (2.08%) HTML
12 13 (1.93%) Node.js
13 12 (1.78%) AngularJS
13 12 (1.78%) XML
14 11 (1.63%) CSS
15 10 (1.48%) JMS
15 10 (1.48%) JWT
15 10 (1.48%) OpenTelemetry
16 9 (1.34%) Hibernate
16 9 (1.34%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 50 (7.42%) Product Ownership
2 25 (3.71%) Cloud Native
3 21 (3.12%) Onboarding
4 20 (2.97%) Data Protection Act
5 16 (2.37%) Management Information System
6 15 (2.23%) Data Structures
6 15 (2.23%) Self-Motivation
7 14 (2.08%) Analytical Mindset
8 13 (1.93%) Enterprise Software
8 13 (1.93%) SWIFT Messaging Network
9 10 (1.48%) Algorithms
9 10 (1.48%) Data Centre
10 9 (1.34%) CMDB
10 9 (1.34%) Legacy Systems
10 9 (1.34%) Mainframe
10 9 (1.34%) Virtual Team
11 7 (1.04%) Greenfield Project
11 7 (1.04%) Mobile App
11 7 (1.04%) NHS
11 7 (1.04%) N-Tier
Operating Systems
1 74 (10.98%) Windows
2 62 (9.20%) Linux
3 19 (2.82%) Unix
3 19 (2.82%) Windows 10
4 17 (2.52%) Windows Server
5 12 (1.78%) Android
5 12 (1.78%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 9 (1.34%) Apple iOS
7 6 (0.89%) Mac OS X
8 3 (0.45%) VMS
9 1 (0.15%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.15%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 205 (30.42%) Agile
2 123 (18.25%) CI/CD
3 102 (15.13%) Continuous Improvement
4 98 (14.54%) Stakeholder Management
5 87 (12.91%) DevOps
6 71 (10.53%) Project Management
7 69 (10.24%) Test Automation
8 68 (10.09%) Decision-Making
9 63 (9.35%) Containerisation
10 60 (8.90%) Analytics
11 59 (8.75%) Microservices
11 59 (8.75%) Migration
12 57 (8.46%) Mentoring
13 52 (7.72%) Change Management
13 52 (7.72%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 51 (7.57%) Business Intelligence
14 51 (7.57%) Scrum
15 50 (7.42%) SDLC
16 49 (7.27%) AI
17 48 (7.12%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 105 (15.58%) Python
2 80 (11.87%) Java
3 75 (11.13%) SQL
4 34 (5.04%) PowerShell
5 28 (4.15%) Bash
5 28 (4.15%) JavaScript
6 21 (3.12%) Shell Script
6 21 (3.12%) TypeScript
7 19 (2.82%) C#
8 13 (1.93%) Perl
9 9 (1.34%) VBA
10 7 (1.04%) COBOL
10 7 (1.04%) Go
10 7 (1.04%) Groovy
10 7 (1.04%) JCL
10 7 (1.04%) T-SQL
11 6 (0.89%) CLIST
11 6 (0.89%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 6 (0.89%) REXX
12 3 (0.45%) ABAP
Qualifications
1 90 (13.35%) Security Cleared
2 81 (12.02%) Degree
3 63 (9.35%) SC Cleared
4 35 (5.19%) Computer Science Degree
5 28 (4.15%) BPSS Clearance
6 15 (2.23%) CISSP
7 12 (1.78%) Cisco Certification
7 12 (1.78%) Six Sigma Green Belt
8 11 (1.63%) PMP
9 9 (1.34%) AWS Certification
9 9 (1.34%) CCDP
9 9 (1.34%) CCNP
9 9 (1.34%) CISM
10 8 (1.19%) CCNA
10 8 (1.19%) DBS Check
11 7 (1.04%) ISTQB
12 6 (0.89%) PMI Certification
13 5 (0.74%) Azure Certification
14 4 (0.59%) CBAP
14 4 (0.59%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (6.82%) QA
2 31 (4.60%) GDPR
3 25 (3.71%) Data Quality
4 19 (2.82%) Accessibility
5 14 (2.08%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 13 (1.93%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 13 (1.93%) PCI DSS
7 11 (1.63%) ISO 20022
7 11 (1.63%) NIST
7 11 (1.63%) PSD2
8 10 (1.48%) SEPA
8 10 (1.48%) SLA
9 8 (1.19%) PMO
10 4 (0.59%) HL7
11 3 (0.45%) WCAG
12 2 (0.30%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.30%) COBIT
13 1 (0.15%) Actionable Recommendations
13 1 (0.15%) GRC
13 1 (0.15%) SOC 2
System Software
1 66 (9.79%) Docker
2 36 (5.34%) Active Directory
3 10 (1.48%) Oracle RAC
4 8 (1.19%) VMware Infrastructure
5 7 (1.04%) RACF
5 7 (1.04%) Time Sharing Option
5 7 (1.04%) VMware NSX
6 6 (0.89%) ACF2
7 4 (0.59%) vSphere
8 2 (0.30%) Firmware
8 2 (0.30%) Virtual Machines
9 1 (0.15%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.15%) ISA Server
9 1 (0.15%) Job Entry Subsystem
9 1 (0.15%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 65 (9.64%) Kubernetes
2 33 (4.90%) Terraform
3 26 (3.86%) Ansible
4 22 (3.26%) Grafana
4 22 (3.26%) SCCM
5 17 (2.52%) Prometheus
6 15 (2.23%) Microsoft Intune
7 10 (1.48%) Control-M
7 10 (1.48%) Data Guard
7 10 (1.48%) yum
8 9 (1.34%) IBM Guardium
8 9 (1.34%) Nessus
9 6 (0.89%) CA Endevor
9 6 (0.89%) Tivoli
9 6 (0.89%) Tivoli Storage Manager
10 5 (0.74%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 5 (0.74%) Norton AntiVirus
11 4 (0.59%) EMC NetWorker
12 3 (0.45%) HP ALM
12 3 (0.45%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 171 (25.37%) Microsoft
2 64 (9.50%) SAP
3 46 (6.82%) ServiceNow
4 45 (6.68%) Oracle
5 35 (5.19%) Google
6 23 (3.41%) VMware
7 15 (2.23%) Splunk
8 13 (1.93%) Red Hat
9 12 (1.78%) Cisco
10 11 (1.63%) Databricks
11 10 (1.48%) Citrix
12 9 (1.34%) Tenable
13 8 (1.19%) IFS
14 7 (1.04%) BeyondTrust
14 7 (1.04%) Brio
14 7 (1.04%) CyberArk
14 7 (1.04%) IBM
14 7 (1.04%) Thycotic
15 6 (0.89%) Computacenter
15 6 (0.89%) Workday