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

6 months to
8 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 14 4 5
Rank change year-on-year -10 +1 +11
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 740 697 622
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 10.40% 18.57% 13.05%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.34% 20.85% 15.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 424 402 351
10th Percentile £297 £256 £275
25th Percentile £363 £371 £381
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £447 £475 £480
Median % change year-on-year -5.89% -1.04% -8.57%
75th Percentile £538 £560 £550
90th Percentile £614 £656 £638
England median daily rate £494 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.30% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 66 66
10th Percentile £16.00 £12.49 -
25th Percentile £17.25 £17.99 £10.95
Median hourly rate £32.23 £22.14 £11.50
Median % change year-on-year +45.55% +92.52% -58.18%
75th Percentile £74.26 £37.03 £28.16
90th Percentile £89.75 £63.40 £62.50
England median hourly rate £21.35 £21.27 £16.23
% change year-on-year +0.40% +31.02% -68.49%

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 5,998 3,343 4,019
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 84.29% 89.08% 84.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,607 2,157 2,395
10th Percentile £313 £268 £300
25th Percentile £402 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £469 £495
Median % change year-on-year +3.94% -5.25% -1.49%
75th Percentile £588 £556 £581
90th Percentile £675 £650 £665
England median daily rate £524 £515 £525
% change year-on-year +1.65% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 429 187 375
10th Percentile £16.62 £12.82 £11.11
25th Percentile £22.20 £17.62 £12.55
Median hourly rate £46.43 £25.00 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year +85.72% +19.05% -6.79%
75th Percentile £71.91 £49.38 £45.88
90th Percentile £81.45 £76.75 £65.46
England median hourly rate £47.00 £25.15 £38.12
% change year-on-year +86.88% -34.02% -4.70%

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 July 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 July 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 July 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 -11 366 £447 -7.74% 411
Yorkshire -7 332 £450 -5.26% 257
North East -21 48 £356 -20.83% 123
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 39 (5.27%) Confluence
2 22 (2.97%) Apache Spark
3 17 (2.30%) SharePoint
4 10 (1.35%) Apache Airflow
5 9 (1.22%) Apache
6 8 (1.08%) Microsoft Exchange
7 6 (0.81%) Jupyter
8 3 (0.41%) CICS
8 3 (0.41%) CMS
9 2 (0.27%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 2 (0.27%) Camunda
9 2 (0.27%) Oracle Workflow
9 2 (0.27%) 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%) nginx
10 1 (0.14%) Tomcat
Applications
1 35 (4.73%) Microsoft Excel
2 26 (3.51%) Microsoft Office
3 14 (1.89%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (1.35%) MS Visio
5 6 (0.81%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.68%) Chatbot
7 3 (0.41%) CATIA
7 3 (0.41%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.14%) Acrobat
8 1 (0.14%) EngageOne
Business Applications
1 38 (5.14%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (1.08%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.54%) Dynamics CRM
4 3 (0.41%) Oracle EBS
4 3 (0.41%) Payment Gateway
5 2 (0.27%) NetSuite
5 2 (0.27%) SAP HCM
5 2 (0.27%) SAP Payroll
6 1 (0.14%) Actimize
6 1 (0.14%) Elite 3E
6 1 (0.14%) FIS Private Capital Suite
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Applications
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.14%) ResourceLink
6 1 (0.14%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.14%) SystmOne
6 1 (0.14%) VisionPLUS
Cloud Services
1 126 (17.03%) Azure
2 88 (11.89%) AWS
3 58 (7.84%) Microsoft 365
4 55 (7.43%) Power Platform
5 43 (5.81%) GCP
6 39 (5.27%) OpenShift
7 38 (5.14%) GitHub
8 24 (3.24%) Entra ID
9 16 (2.16%) Azure DevOps
10 12 (1.62%) Serverless
11 11 (1.49%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 11 (1.49%) Microsoft Copilot
11 11 (1.49%) SaaS
12 10 (1.35%) Power Automate
13 9 (1.22%) PowerApps
14 8 (1.08%) Azure Monitor
14 8 (1.08%) Copilot Studio
14 8 (1.08%) GitHub Actions
15 7 (0.95%) Azure Storage
15 7 (0.95%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 30 (4.05%) DNS
2 27 (3.65%) Firewall
3 23 (3.11%) VPN
4 17 (2.30%) WAN
5 16 (2.16%) Network Security
6 14 (1.89%) LAN
7 13 (1.76%) TCP/IP
8 12 (1.62%) VLAN
9 11 (1.49%) SAN
9 11 (1.49%) Wi-Fi
9 11 (1.49%) Wireless
10 9 (1.22%) DHCP
11 7 (0.95%) Kerberos
11 7 (0.95%) VoIP
12 6 (0.81%) Cisco Nexus
13 5 (0.68%) BGP
13 5 (0.68%) SD-WAN
13 5 (0.68%) WLAN
14 4 (0.54%) OSPF
14 4 (0.54%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 43 (5.81%) Power BI
2 34 (4.59%) SQL Server
3 33 (4.46%) MongoDB
4 23 (3.11%) PostgreSQL
5 21 (2.84%) Data Warehouse
6 15 (2.03%) Relational Database
7 14 (1.89%) Tableau
8 13 (1.76%) NoSQL
9 12 (1.62%) Big Data
10 11 (1.49%) Hadoop
11 10 (1.35%) MySQL
12 9 (1.22%) Metadata
13 8 (1.08%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 7 (0.95%) Db2
15 5 (0.68%) DataStage
15 5 (0.68%) Snowflake Schema
16 4 (0.54%) Data Vault
16 4 (0.54%) Neo4j
16 4 (0.54%) Oracle Database
16 4 (0.54%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 105 (14.19%) JIRA
2 43 (5.81%) Jenkins
3 34 (4.59%) Git
4 27 (3.65%) GitLab
5 15 (2.03%) Sonatype Nexus
6 12 (1.62%) Mockito
7 11 (1.49%) Selenium
8 9 (1.22%) Postman
9 8 (1.08%) REST Assured
10 6 (0.81%) Cucumber
10 6 (0.81%) JUnit
11 5 (0.68%) Gatling
12 3 (0.41%) Cypress.io
12 3 (0.41%) Gradle
12 3 (0.41%) MSI
12 3 (0.41%) Serenity BDD
13 2 (0.27%) Burp Suite
13 2 (0.27%) MSBuild
13 2 (0.27%) SonarQube
13 2 (0.27%) Zephyr
General
1 353 (47.70%) Social Skills
2 316 (42.70%) Analytical Skills
3 216 (29.19%) Finance
4 84 (11.35%) Banking
5 58 (7.84%) Public Sector
6 36 (4.86%) Documentation Skills
7 29 (3.92%) Influencing Skills
8 27 (3.65%) Legal
9 24 (3.24%) Organisational Skills
10 17 (2.30%) Manufacturing
11 16 (2.16%) Retail
12 14 (1.89%) Law
13 10 (1.35%) Telecoms
14 8 (1.08%) Financial Institution
14 8 (1.08%) Presentation Skills
15 7 (0.95%) Automotive
16 6 (0.81%) Aerospace
16 6 (0.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 6 (0.81%) Marketing
17 4 (0.54%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 141 (19.05%) Analyst
2 89 (12.03%) Developer
3 63 (8.51%) Lead
4 47 (6.35%) Senior
5 45 (6.08%) Architect
6 44 (5.95%) Business Analyst
7 32 (4.32%) Consultant
8 30 (4.05%) IT Support
9 29 (3.92%) Administrator
10 28 (3.78%) Java Developer
10 28 (3.78%) Project Manager
11 26 (3.51%) Data Engineer
12 24 (3.24%) Python Developer
13 22 (2.97%) DevOps Engineer
14 21 (2.84%) Data Analyst
15 20 (2.70%) IT Engineer
16 18 (2.43%) IT Analyst
17 17 (2.30%) Support Analyst
18 16 (2.16%) Network Engineer
18 16 (2.16%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (5.00%) Kafka
2 36 (4.86%) REST
3 33 (4.46%) OpenTelemetry
4 30 (4.05%) Spring
5 25 (3.38%) Spring Boot
6 21 (2.84%) FastAPI
7 18 (2.43%) React
7 18 (2.43%) RESTful
8 15 (2.03%) JSON
9 13 (1.76%) .NET
10 12 (1.62%) Playwright
11 11 (1.49%) LDAP
11 11 (1.49%) SOAP
11 11 (1.49%) XML
12 10 (1.35%) HTML
13 9 (1.22%) CSS
13 9 (1.22%) JAX-RS
13 9 (1.22%) Node.js
13 9 (1.22%) OAuth
14 8 (1.08%) ActiveMQ
Miscellaneous
1 55 (7.43%) Product Ownership
2 45 (6.08%) Cloud Native
3 33 (4.46%) Data Protection Act
4 32 (4.32%) Onboarding
5 24 (3.24%) Data Centre
5 24 (3.24%) Legacy Systems
6 22 (2.97%) Analytical Mindset
7 21 (2.84%) Self-Motivation
8 18 (2.43%) Management Information System
9 17 (2.30%) Hybrid Cloud
9 17 (2.30%) Mainframe
10 15 (2.03%) AI Agents
10 15 (2.03%) Driving Licence
11 14 (1.89%) Enterprise Software
12 12 (1.62%) Data Structures
12 12 (1.62%) Distributed Systems
13 11 (1.49%) Virtual Team
14 9 (1.22%) Mobile App
14 9 (1.22%) PKI
14 9 (1.22%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 78 (10.54%) Windows
2 43 (5.81%) Linux
3 26 (3.51%) Windows 10
4 18 (2.43%) Unix
5 16 (2.16%) Apple iOS
6 13 (1.76%) Mac OS
7 11 (1.49%) Android
8 10 (1.35%) Windows Server
9 7 (0.95%) Mac OS X
9 7 (0.95%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 4 (0.54%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.41%) Solaris
11 3 (0.41%) Ubuntu
11 3 (0.41%) zOS
12 2 (0.27%) AIX
12 2 (0.27%) CentOS
12 2 (0.27%) Data ONTAP
12 2 (0.27%) HPUX
12 2 (0.27%) Oracle Linux
12 2 (0.27%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 192 (25.95%) Agile
2 151 (20.41%) CI/CD
3 144 (19.46%) Continuous Improvement
4 134 (18.11%) DevOps
5 108 (14.59%) Stakeholder Management
6 104 (14.05%) Migration
7 83 (11.22%) Project Management
8 80 (10.81%) Change Management
9 76 (10.27%) Analytics
10 71 (9.59%) ITIL
11 68 (9.19%) Test Automation
12 67 (9.05%) AI
13 65 (8.78%) Containerisation
13 65 (8.78%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 64 (8.65%) Validation
15 63 (8.51%) Customer Service
16 62 (8.38%) ERP
17 58 (7.84%) Decision-Making
18 57 (7.70%) Data Protection
19 55 (7.43%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 128 (17.30%) Python
2 98 (13.24%) SQL
3 61 (8.24%) Java
4 57 (7.70%) PowerShell
5 32 (4.32%) Bash
6 21 (2.84%) JavaScript
7 12 (1.62%) TypeScript
8 9 (1.22%) C#
8 9 (1.22%) PL/SQL
8 9 (1.22%) R
9 8 (1.08%) COBOL
10 7 (0.95%) Bicep
10 7 (0.95%) JCL
10 7 (0.95%) Shell Script
11 6 (0.81%) Kotlin
11 6 (0.81%) T-SQL
12 5 (0.68%) ABAP
12 5 (0.68%) Go
12 5 (0.68%) VBA
13 4 (0.54%) REXX
Qualifications
1 87 (11.76%) Security Cleared
2 70 (9.46%) Degree
3 60 (8.11%) SC Cleared
4 38 (5.14%) BPSS Clearance
5 28 (3.78%) Computer Science Degree
6 27 (3.65%) Microsoft Certification
7 21 (2.84%) Cisco Certification
8 17 (2.30%) A+ Certification
8 17 (2.30%) CISSP
8 17 (2.30%) PMP
9 16 (2.16%) Network+ Certification
10 15 (2.03%) CCNA
11 13 (1.76%) PMI Certification
12 10 (1.35%) CCNP
13 8 (1.08%) CompTIA Security+
14 7 (0.95%) AWS Certification
14 7 (0.95%) Azure Certification
14 7 (0.95%) MCSE
15 6 (0.81%) CEH
15 6 (0.81%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (6.22%) Data Quality
2 24 (3.24%) QA
3 15 (2.03%) Accessibility
3 15 (2.03%) GDPR
4 13 (1.76%) SLA
5 11 (1.49%) PMO
6 10 (1.35%) GRC
6 10 (1.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 10 (1.35%) NIST
7 7 (0.95%) PSD2
8 6 (0.81%) PCI DSS
9 5 (0.68%) Actionable Recommendations
10 4 (0.54%) ISO 20022
10 4 (0.54%) SEPA
11 3 (0.41%) ISO 8583
11 3 (0.41%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.27%) HIPAA
12 2 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 2 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 42001
13 1 (0.14%) GxP
System Software
1 64 (8.65%) Docker
2 55 (7.43%) Active Directory
3 22 (2.97%) VMware Infrastructure
4 17 (2.30%) vSphere
5 15 (2.03%) VMware NSX
6 10 (1.35%) Virtual Machines
7 7 (0.95%) Firmware
8 4 (0.54%) ACF2
8 4 (0.54%) RACF
8 4 (0.54%) Time Sharing Option
8 4 (0.54%) Virtual Desktop
9 3 (0.41%) Hyper-V
10 2 (0.27%) EMC RecoverPoint
10 2 (0.27%) KVM
10 2 (0.27%) NFS
10 2 (0.27%) SRDF
10 2 (0.27%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.14%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.14%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 83 (11.22%) Kubernetes
2 57 (7.70%) Terraform
3 51 (6.89%) Ansible
4 44 (5.95%) Grafana
5 35 (4.73%) Prometheus
6 17 (2.30%) Control-M
7 15 (2.03%) Argo
7 15 (2.03%) IBM Guardium
7 15 (2.03%) Nessus
7 15 (2.03%) vCenter Server
8 14 (1.89%) Microsoft Intune
9 11 (1.49%) SCCM
10 5 (0.68%) CA Endevor
10 5 (0.68%) Kustomize
11 4 (0.54%) Single Sign-On
12 3 (0.41%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 3 (0.41%) Istio
12 3 (0.41%) McAfee ePO
12 3 (0.41%) Tivoli
12 3 (0.41%) Tivoli Storage Manager
Vendors
1 126 (17.03%) Microsoft
2 65 (8.78%) SAP
3 53 (7.16%) ServiceNow
4 46 (6.22%) Splunk
5 32 (4.32%) Oracle
6 26 (3.51%) VMware
7 24 (3.24%) Google
8 21 (2.84%) Cisco
8 21 (2.84%) Workday
9 20 (2.70%) Red Hat
10 15 (2.03%) Pure Storage
10 15 (2.03%) Tenable
11 13 (1.76%) Sage
12 12 (1.62%) Concur
13 11 (1.49%) Dell
14 9 (1.22%) F5
15 8 (1.08%) IBM
15 8 (1.08%) Palo Alto
15 8 (1.08%) Remedy
15 8 (1.08%) Salesforce