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

6 months to
27 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 2 6
Rank change year-on-year -8 +4 +10
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 738 659 576
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 11.38% 20.15% 12.38%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.51% 22.39% 14.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 441 390 327
10th Percentile £298 £208 £273
25th Percentile £363 £375 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £488 £490
Median % change year-on-year -7.83% -0.36% -2.00%
75th Percentile £530 £573 £566
90th Percentile £613 £656 £638
England median daily rate £500 £500 £511
% change year-on-year - -2.17% -2.65%
Number of hourly rates quoted 54 49 73
10th Percentile £14.45 £16.55 -
25th Percentile £17.00 £21.24 £10.95
Median hourly rate £33.61 £25.43 £13.50
Median % change year-on-year +32.18% +88.37% -66.25%
75th Percentile £74.26 £34.11 £28.75
90th Percentile £150.93 £63.08 £60.56
England median hourly rate £21.35 £21.39 £16.23
% change year-on-year -0.19% +31.79% -68.02%

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 5,462 2,943 3,948
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 84.23% 89.97% 84.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,369 1,895 2,404
10th Percentile £313 £263 £300
25th Percentile £400 £380 £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 £668 £645 £675
England median daily rate £514 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -2.10% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 355 147 376
10th Percentile £16.07 £12.82 £11.07
25th Percentile £22.68 £18.31 £12.53
Median hourly rate £50.00 £25.15 £19.34
Median % change year-on-year +98.81% +30.04% -31.76%
75th Percentile £71.50 £51.00 £45.88
90th Percentile £80.60 £76.75 £62.50
England median hourly rate £45.00 £28.00 £36.50
% change year-on-year +60.71% -23.29% -2.67%

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 27 May 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 27 May 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 27 May 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 -8 353 £425 -13.27% 360
Yorkshire -6 349 £467 -1.79% 210
North East -14 44 £425 -5.56% 84
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 (6.50%) Confluence
2 21 (2.85%) SharePoint
3 14 (1.90%) Apache Spark
4 10 (1.36%) Microsoft Exchange
5 4 (0.54%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.41%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 3 (0.41%) Apache
7 2 (0.27%) Camunda
7 2 (0.27%) CMS
7 2 (0.27%) JBoss
7 2 (0.27%) Oracle Workflow
7 2 (0.27%) Tomcat
7 2 (0.27%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.14%) CICS
8 1 (0.14%) Mule
8 1 (0.14%) Mule ESB
8 1 (0.14%) nginx
8 1 (0.14%) WebSphere
Applications
1 32 (4.34%) Microsoft Excel
2 25 (3.39%) Microsoft Office
3 15 (2.03%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (1.36%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.95%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.68%) Chatbot
7 4 (0.54%) Acrobat
7 4 (0.54%) Spreadsheet
8 3 (0.41%) CATIA
9 1 (0.14%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 38 (5.15%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (0.81%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.54%) Payment Gateway
4 3 (0.41%) Oracle EBS
4 3 (0.41%) SAP SCM
5 1 (0.14%) Actimize
5 1 (0.14%) Dynamics CRM
5 1 (0.14%) Elite 3E
5 1 (0.14%) NetSuite
5 1 (0.14%) Oracle Applications
5 1 (0.14%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.14%) ResourceLink
5 1 (0.14%) SAP BPC
5 1 (0.14%) SAP ERP
5 1 (0.14%) SAP HCM
5 1 (0.14%) SAP Payroll
5 1 (0.14%) SystmOne
5 1 (0.14%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.14%) VisionPLUS
Cloud Services
1 138 (18.70%) Azure
2 104 (14.09%) AWS
3 56 (7.59%) Microsoft 365
4 54 (7.32%) GCP
5 51 (6.91%) OpenShift
5 51 (6.91%) Power Platform
6 41 (5.56%) GitHub
7 24 (3.25%) Entra ID
8 18 (2.44%) Azure DevOps
9 17 (2.30%) SaaS
10 15 (2.03%) Serverless
11 9 (1.22%) GitHub Actions
11 9 (1.22%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 9 (1.22%) Microsoft Copilot
11 9 (1.22%) Power Automate
12 7 (0.95%) Azure Functions
12 7 (0.95%) Azure Monitor
12 7 (0.95%) Dynamics 365
12 7 (0.95%) Google Workspace
13 6 (0.81%) Apigee
Communications & Networking
1 34 (4.61%) DNS
2 25 (3.39%) Firewall
3 17 (2.30%) TCP/IP
4 16 (2.17%) WAN
5 13 (1.76%) LAN
5 13 (1.76%) Network Security
6 11 (1.49%) SAN
6 11 (1.49%) Wi-Fi
7 9 (1.22%) DHCP
8 8 (1.08%) VLAN
9 7 (0.95%) Kerberos
10 6 (0.81%) VPN
11 5 (0.68%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
11 5 (0.68%) Wireless
12 4 (0.54%) DMZ
12 4 (0.54%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
12 4 (0.54%) NetScaler
13 3 (0.41%) NAS
13 3 (0.41%) VoIP
13 3 (0.41%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 40 (5.42%) Power BI
2 28 (3.79%) MongoDB
3 24 (3.25%) PostgreSQL
3 24 (3.25%) SQL Server
4 21 (2.85%) Data Warehouse
5 16 (2.17%) NoSQL
6 15 (2.03%) Relational Database
7 12 (1.63%) Tableau
8 11 (1.49%) Hadoop
9 10 (1.36%) Metadata
10 8 (1.08%) Big Data
11 7 (0.95%) MySQL
11 7 (0.95%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 5 (0.68%) DataStage
12 5 (0.68%) DB2
12 5 (0.68%) Power Query
12 5 (0.68%) Snowflake Schema
13 4 (0.54%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
13 4 (0.54%) Data Vault
13 4 (0.54%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 112 (15.18%) JIRA
2 46 (6.23%) Jenkins
3 30 (4.07%) Git
4 24 (3.25%) GitLab
5 13 (1.76%) Sonatype Nexus
6 11 (1.49%) Mockito
7 10 (1.36%) Postman
7 10 (1.36%) Selenium
8 7 (0.95%) JUnit
9 6 (0.81%) Cucumber
9 6 (0.81%) REST Assured
10 4 (0.54%) Gatling
11 3 (0.41%) CircleCI
11 3 (0.41%) MSI
11 3 (0.41%) Oracle Forms
11 3 (0.41%) Serenity BDD
12 2 (0.27%) JMeter
12 2 (0.27%) Maven
12 2 (0.27%) SoapUI
12 2 (0.27%) Zephyr
General
1 362 (49.05%) Social Skills
2 289 (39.16%) Analytical Skills
3 215 (29.13%) Finance
4 85 (11.52%) Banking
5 62 (8.40%) Public Sector
6 35 (4.74%) Documentation Skills
7 27 (3.66%) Legal
8 24 (3.25%) Influencing Skills
8 24 (3.25%) Organisational Skills
9 17 (2.30%) Law
9 17 (2.30%) Retail
10 15 (2.03%) Telecoms
11 14 (1.90%) Manufacturing
12 9 (1.22%) Presentation Skills
13 8 (1.08%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 7 (0.95%) Retail Banking
15 4 (0.54%) Automotive
15 4 (0.54%) Financial Institution
15 4 (0.54%) Marketing
15 4 (0.54%) Military
Job Titles
1 141 (19.11%) Analyst
2 94 (12.74%) Developer
3 58 (7.86%) Lead
4 57 (7.72%) Business Analyst
5 49 (6.64%) Senior
6 37 (5.01%) Architect
7 35 (4.74%) Consultant
7 35 (4.74%) Project Manager
8 28 (3.79%) Data Engineer
9 26 (3.52%) Java Developer
10 25 (3.39%) Administrator
11 22 (2.98%) DevOps Engineer
11 22 (2.98%) IT Support
12 19 (2.57%) Python Developer
13 17 (2.30%) Data Analyst
13 17 (2.30%) IT Engineer
14 16 (2.17%) IT Analyst
14 16 (2.17%) Technical Analyst
15 15 (2.03%) SAP Consultant
16 14 (1.90%) Risk Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (5.01%) REST
2 36 (4.88%) Kafka
3 33 (4.47%) Spring
4 32 (4.34%) OpenTelemetry
5 27 (3.66%) Spring Boot
6 22 (2.98%) React
7 21 (2.85%) RESTful
8 19 (2.57%) FastAPI
8 19 (2.57%) JSON
9 16 (2.17%) SOAP
10 15 (2.03%) HTML
10 15 (2.03%) OAuth
10 15 (2.03%) XML
11 14 (1.90%) CSS
12 12 (1.63%) LDAP
12 12 (1.63%) YAML
13 11 (1.49%) .NET
13 11 (1.49%) AngularJS
13 11 (1.49%) Swagger
14 9 (1.22%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 65 (8.81%) Product Ownership
2 32 (4.34%) Cloud Native
3 31 (4.20%) Onboarding
4 26 (3.52%) Data Protection Act
5 23 (3.12%) Legacy Systems
6 22 (2.98%) Data Centre
7 20 (2.71%) Analytical Mindset
7 20 (2.71%) Self-Motivation
8 19 (2.57%) Hybrid Cloud
9 18 (2.44%) Management Information System
10 15 (2.03%) Mobile App
11 13 (1.76%) Mainframe
12 12 (1.63%) AI Agents
13 11 (1.49%) Driving Licence
14 10 (1.36%) Data Structures
14 10 (1.36%) Public Cloud
14 10 (1.36%) Virtual Team
15 8 (1.08%) CMDB
15 8 (1.08%) Distributed Systems
15 8 (1.08%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 71 (9.62%) Windows
2 54 (7.32%) Linux
3 19 (2.57%) Windows 10
4 18 (2.44%) Unix
5 17 (2.30%) Apple iOS
6 16 (2.17%) Mac OS
7 13 (1.76%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 11 (1.49%) Android
9 10 (1.36%) Windows Server
10 9 (1.22%) Ubuntu
11 8 (1.08%) CentOS
12 7 (0.95%) Windows Server 2019
13 6 (0.81%) Mac OS X
14 4 (0.54%) Windows Server 2012
15 3 (0.41%) VMS
16 2 (0.27%) AIX
16 2 (0.27%) HPUX
16 2 (0.27%) Oracle Linux
16 2 (0.27%) Solaris
16 2 (0.27%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 200 (27.10%) Agile
2 157 (21.27%) CI/CD
3 144 (19.51%) Continuous Improvement
4 142 (19.24%) DevOps
5 105 (14.23%) Migration
6 103 (13.96%) Stakeholder Management
7 91 (12.33%) Project Management
8 78 (10.57%) Change Management
9 73 (9.89%) Analytics
10 67 (9.08%) Validation
11 63 (8.54%) Test Automation
12 62 (8.40%) Microservices
13 61 (8.27%) Containerisation
13 61 (8.27%) Decision-Making
14 60 (8.13%) ITIL
15 58 (7.86%) Customer Service
15 58 (7.86%) ERP
16 57 (7.72%) Workshop Facilitation
17 54 (7.32%) AI
18 53 (7.18%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 131 (17.75%) Python
2 100 (13.55%) SQL
3 67 (9.08%) Java
4 52 (7.05%) PowerShell
5 35 (4.74%) Bash
6 26 (3.52%) JavaScript
7 17 (2.30%) TypeScript
8 11 (1.49%) Kotlin
9 9 (1.22%) C#
9 9 (1.22%) Perl
9 9 (1.22%) R
9 9 (1.22%) Ruby
10 8 (1.08%) Go
10 8 (1.08%) PL/SQL
10 8 (1.08%) Shell Script
11 7 (0.95%) COBOL
12 6 (0.81%) Bicep
12 6 (0.81%) Groovy
12 6 (0.81%) JCL
12 6 (0.81%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 75 (10.16%) Degree
2 72 (9.76%) Security Cleared
3 41 (5.56%) SC Cleared
4 39 (5.28%) BPSS Clearance
5 30 (4.07%) Computer Science Degree
6 25 (3.39%) Microsoft Certification
7 18 (2.44%) A+ Certification
7 18 (2.44%) Cisco Certification
8 17 (2.30%) CISSP
8 17 (2.30%) Network+ Certification
8 17 (2.30%) PMP
9 16 (2.17%) CCNA
10 12 (1.63%) PMI Certification
11 10 (1.36%) RHCE
12 8 (1.08%) AWS Certification
12 8 (1.08%) CompTIA Security+
12 8 (1.08%) MCSE
13 7 (0.95%) Azure Certification
13 7 (0.95%) CCNP
13 7 (0.95%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (5.01%) Data Quality
2 23 (3.12%) QA
3 16 (2.17%) GDPR
4 12 (1.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 12 (1.63%) PMO
5 11 (1.49%) Accessibility
6 10 (1.36%) SLA
7 9 (1.22%) GRC
7 9 (1.22%) NIST
7 9 (1.22%) PSD2
8 8 (1.08%) PCI DSS
9 5 (0.68%) Actionable Recommendations
9 5 (0.68%) ISO 20022
10 4 (0.54%) ISO 8583
10 4 (0.54%) SEPA
11 3 (0.41%) HIPAA
11 3 (0.41%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.27%) HL7
12 2 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 2 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 60 (8.13%) Docker
2 47 (6.37%) Active Directory
3 25 (3.39%) VMware Infrastructure
4 18 (2.44%) vSphere
5 16 (2.17%) VMware NSX
6 8 (1.08%) Hyper-V
7 7 (0.95%) Virtual Desktop
7 7 (0.95%) Virtual Machines
8 3 (0.41%) ACF2
8 3 (0.41%) Firmware
8 3 (0.41%) RACF
8 3 (0.41%) Time Sharing Option
9 2 (0.27%) ISA Server
10 1 (0.14%) EMC RecoverPoint
10 1 (0.14%) NFS
10 1 (0.14%) SRDF
10 1 (0.14%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 90 (12.20%) Kubernetes
2 61 (8.27%) Ansible
3 56 (7.59%) Terraform
4 45 (6.10%) Grafana
5 36 (4.88%) Prometheus
6 19 (2.57%) Microsoft Intune
7 15 (2.03%) Control-M
8 14 (1.90%) Argo
8 14 (1.90%) IBM Guardium
8 14 (1.90%) Nessus
8 14 (1.90%) vCenter Server
9 11 (1.49%) SCCM
10 10 (1.36%) Puppet
11 5 (0.68%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 5 (0.68%) CA Endevor
11 5 (0.68%) Kustomize
12 4 (0.54%) Kibana
13 3 (0.41%) Tivoli
13 3 (0.41%) Tivoli Storage Manager
14 2 (0.27%) FortiGate
Vendors
1 118 (15.99%) Microsoft
2 63 (8.54%) SAP
3 49 (6.64%) Splunk
4 32 (4.34%) ServiceNow
5 31 (4.20%) Oracle
5 31 (4.20%) VMware
6 25 (3.39%) Red Hat
7 23 (3.12%) Google
8 16 (2.17%) Cisco
8 16 (2.17%) Workday
9 14 (1.90%) Pure Storage
9 14 (1.90%) Sage
9 14 (1.90%) Tenable
10 12 (1.63%) Dell
11 9 (1.22%) F5
11 9 (1.22%) Veeam
12 8 (1.08%) Adobe
12 8 (1.08%) Apple
12 8 (1.08%) IFS
12 8 (1.08%) Sonatype