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

6 months to
14 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 7 4 9
Rank change year-on-year -3 +5 +7
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 681 516 550
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 14.70% 14.26% 11.74%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 16.54% 16.47% 13.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 440 289 311
10th Percentile £213 £212 £231
25th Percentile £350 £360 £386
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £469 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.26% -5.00% +5.93%
75th Percentile £550 £550 £587
90th Percentile £625 £625 £700
England median daily rate £483 £500 £503
% change year-on-year -3.50% -0.55% -6.90%
Number of hourly rates quoted 51 21 23
10th Percentile £15.18 £12.00 £16.25
25th Percentile £17.30 £15.90 £16.59
Median hourly rate £20.26 £25.43 £20.28
Median % change year-on-year -20.35% +25.39% -9.87%
75th Percentile £44.94 £41.50 £46.18
90th Percentile £69.45 £93.00 £53.24
England median hourly rate £18.87 £20.00 £35.75
% change year-on-year -5.65% -44.06% +25.44%

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 4,118 3,133 4,166
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 88.90% 86.57% 88.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,734 1,786 2,758
10th Percentile £215 £263 £288
25th Percentile £363 £381 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £467 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.74% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £550 £575 £600
90th Percentile £650 £669 £675
England median daily rate £506 £525 £545
% change year-on-year -3.62% -3.67% -0.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 261 160 186
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.20 £15.75
25th Percentile £19.29 £17.25 £17.75
Median hourly rate £29.60 £29.00 £28.37
Median % change year-on-year +2.07% +2.22% +28.95%
75th Percentile £52.50 £46.18 £46.18
90th Percentile £69.45 £67.57 £62.88
England median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.25
% change year-on-year -28.14% -20.90% +18.63%

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 14 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 14 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 14 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 -1 365 £450 -1.64% 526
Yorkshire -6 270 £475 -5.00% 389
North East -3 53 £450 -18.18% 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 (5.73%) SharePoint
2 31 (4.55%) Microsoft Exchange
3 27 (3.96%) Confluence
4 9 (1.32%) Apache
5 7 (1.03%) Exchange Server 2013
5 7 (1.03%) Skype for Business
6 6 (0.88%) Apache Spark
7 4 (0.59%) Apache Airflow
8 3 (0.44%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 2 (0.29%) CICS
9 2 (0.29%) CMS
10 1 (0.15%) EPiServer
10 1 (0.15%) JBoss
10 1 (0.15%) Moodle
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%) Tomcat
10 1 (0.15%) WebLogic
Applications
1 50 (7.34%) Microsoft Office
2 48 (7.05%) Microsoft Excel
3 28 (4.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 16 (2.35%) MS Visio
5 8 (1.17%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.15%) Acrobat
6 1 (0.15%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.15%) Siemens NX
6 1 (0.15%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 36 (5.29%) SAP S/4HANA
2 5 (0.73%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.59%) ContrOCC
3 4 (0.59%) SAP EHS
3 4 (0.59%) SAP EWM
4 3 (0.44%) iTrent
4 3 (0.44%) Kondor
4 3 (0.44%) Maximo
4 3 (0.44%) SAP SCM
5 2 (0.29%) Advent Geneva
5 2 (0.29%) Dynamics AX
5 2 (0.29%) SAP ERP
5 2 (0.29%) SAP Payroll
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
6 1 (0.15%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 112 (16.45%) Azure
2 104 (15.27%) AWS
3 63 (9.25%) Microsoft 365
4 51 (7.49%) GCP
5 38 (5.58%) Power Platform
6 36 (5.29%) GitHub
7 23 (3.38%) Serverless
8 18 (2.64%) SaaS
9 17 (2.50%) OpenShift
10 16 (2.35%) Entra ID
11 15 (2.20%) AWS Lambda
12 14 (2.06%) Amazon ECS
12 14 (2.06%) Azure DevOps
12 14 (2.06%) Google Workspace
13 11 (1.62%) Amazon S3
13 11 (1.62%) Datadog
13 11 (1.62%) GitHub Actions
13 11 (1.62%) OneDrive
14 10 (1.47%) Amazon SQS
14 10 (1.47%) Apigee
Communications & Networking
1 30 (4.41%) Firewall
2 26 (3.82%) Network Security
3 14 (2.06%) DNS
4 10 (1.47%) LAN
4 10 (1.47%) WAN
5 8 (1.17%) BGP
5 8 (1.17%) VLAN
6 7 (1.03%) Skype
6 7 (1.03%) TCP/IP
6 7 (1.03%) WebEx
7 6 (0.88%) Software-Defined Networking
8 5 (0.73%) HTTP
9 4 (0.59%) DHCP
9 4 (0.59%) DMZ
9 4 (0.59%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
9 4 (0.59%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
9 4 (0.59%) SAN
9 4 (0.59%) Wi-Fi
10 3 (0.44%) Internet
10 3 (0.44%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (4.26%) Power BI
2 28 (4.11%) PostgreSQL
3 20 (2.94%) NoSQL
3 20 (2.94%) SQL Server
4 19 (2.79%) MongoDB
4 19 (2.79%) Relational Database
5 16 (2.35%) DynamoDB
5 16 (2.35%) Oracle Database
6 13 (1.91%) MySQL
7 12 (1.76%) BigQuery
8 11 (1.62%) Power Query
9 8 (1.17%) Amazon Aurora
10 7 (1.03%) Amazon RDS
10 7 (1.03%) Data Warehouse
11 6 (0.88%) DB2
11 6 (0.88%) Oracle Reports
11 6 (0.88%) PowerPivot
11 6 (0.88%) RDBMS
11 6 (0.88%) Redis
12 4 (0.59%) MS Access
Development Applications
1 80 (11.75%) JIRA
2 59 (8.66%) Git
3 46 (6.75%) Jenkins
4 33 (4.85%) GitLab
5 14 (2.06%) Cucumber
6 9 (1.32%) Postman
7 8 (1.17%) Cypress.io
7 8 (1.17%) Selenium
7 8 (1.17%) SonarQube
8 7 (1.03%) JUnit
8 7 (1.03%) SoapUI
9 6 (0.88%) Maven
9 6 (0.88%) Sonatype Nexus
10 5 (0.73%) Gradle
10 5 (0.73%) SonarLint
11 4 (0.59%) Mockito
11 4 (0.59%) Oracle Forms
11 4 (0.59%) TestRail
12 3 (0.44%) Jasmine
12 3 (0.44%) JMeter
General
1 359 (52.72%) Social Skills
2 225 (33.04%) Analytical Skills
3 186 (27.31%) Finance
4 77 (11.31%) Public Sector
5 65 (9.54%) Banking
6 22 (3.23%) Legal
7 14 (2.06%) Influencing Skills
7 14 (2.06%) Manufacturing
8 12 (1.76%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 12 (1.76%) Organisational Skills
9 10 (1.47%) Presentation Skills
9 10 (1.47%) Telecoms
10 8 (1.17%) Law
10 8 (1.17%) Local Government
10 8 (1.17%) Pharmaceutical
10 8 (1.17%) Police
11 7 (1.03%) Military
12 6 (0.88%) Electronics
13 5 (0.73%) Marketing
13 5 (0.73%) Retail
Job Titles
1 108 (15.86%) Developer
2 105 (15.42%) Analyst
3 46 (6.75%) Senior
4 38 (5.58%) Business Analyst
5 36 (5.29%) Consultant
6 35 (5.14%) IT Support
7 33 (4.85%) Project Manager
8 31 (4.55%) Administrator
9 30 (4.41%) Architect
9 30 (4.41%) Lead
10 25 (3.67%) Java Developer
11 20 (2.94%) Automation Engineer
11 20 (2.94%) Software Engineer
11 20 (2.94%) Support Analyst
12 19 (2.79%) Support Engineer
13 18 (2.64%) IT Engineer
14 17 (2.50%) Platform Engineer
15 16 (2.35%) Data Engineer
16 15 (2.20%) IT Support Engineer
17 14 (2.06%) Technical Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (5.87%) Spring Boot
2 38 (5.58%) Spring
3 33 (4.85%) REST
4 28 (4.11%) RESTful
5 26 (3.82%) Kafka
6 22 (3.23%) FastAPI
7 20 (2.94%) React
8 16 (2.35%) .NET
8 16 (2.35%) Node.js
9 13 (1.91%) HTML
9 13 (1.91%) JSON
9 13 (1.91%) XML
10 12 (1.76%) Elastic Stack
11 11 (1.62%) AngularJS
11 11 (1.62%) OAuth
12 10 (1.47%) CSS
12 10 (1.47%) JMS
12 10 (1.47%) JWT
12 10 (1.47%) OpenTelemetry
13 9 (1.32%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 53 (7.78%) Product Ownership
2 26 (3.82%) Cloud Native
3 25 (3.67%) Onboarding
4 17 (2.50%) Data Protection Act
5 16 (2.35%) Data Structures
5 16 (2.35%) Self-Motivation
6 13 (1.91%) Enterprise Software
6 13 (1.91%) Management Information System
6 13 (1.91%) SWIFT Messaging Network
7 12 (1.76%) Analytical Mindset
7 12 (1.76%) Data Centre
8 10 (1.47%) Algorithms
9 9 (1.32%) CMDB
9 9 (1.32%) Legacy Systems
9 9 (1.32%) Mainframe
10 8 (1.17%) Greenfield Project
11 7 (1.03%) NHS
12 6 (0.88%) Hybrid Cloud
12 6 (0.88%) Mobile App
12 6 (0.88%) N-Tier
Operating Systems
1 79 (11.60%) Windows
2 64 (9.40%) Linux
3 21 (3.08%) Windows 10
4 18 (2.64%) Windows Server
5 14 (2.06%) Unix
6 13 (1.91%) Android
7 12 (1.76%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 11 (1.62%) Apple iOS
9 6 (0.88%) Mac OS X
10 5 (0.73%) VMS
11 3 (0.44%) Mac OS
12 1 (0.15%) Windows Server 2012
12 1 (0.15%) Windows Server 2019
12 1 (0.15%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 197 (28.93%) Agile
2 127 (18.65%) CI/CD
3 109 (16.01%) Continuous Improvement
4 99 (14.54%) DevOps
4 99 (14.54%) Stakeholder Management
5 68 (9.99%) Containerisation
5 68 (9.99%) Test Automation
6 66 (9.69%) Project Management
7 63 (9.25%) Decision-Making
8 62 (9.10%) Microservices
9 60 (8.81%) Migration
10 57 (8.37%) Mentoring
11 53 (7.78%) AI
12 52 (7.64%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 51 (7.49%) Analytics
13 51 (7.49%) Scrum
13 51 (7.49%) SDLC
14 48 (7.05%) Business Intelligence
15 47 (6.90%) Change Management
16 46 (6.75%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 110 (16.15%) Python
2 77 (11.31%) Java
3 75 (11.01%) SQL
4 37 (5.43%) PowerShell
5 34 (4.99%) Bash
6 24 (3.52%) JavaScript
7 23 (3.38%) TypeScript
8 19 (2.79%) C#
9 17 (2.50%) Shell Script
10 13 (1.91%) Perl
11 9 (1.32%) Groovy
11 9 (1.32%) VBA
12 8 (1.17%) T-SQL
13 7 (1.03%) COBOL
13 7 (1.03%) Go
13 7 (1.03%) JCL
14 6 (0.88%) CLIST
14 6 (0.88%) REXX
15 5 (0.73%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 5 (0.73%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 90 (13.22%) Security Cleared
2 76 (11.16%) Degree
3 62 (9.10%) SC Cleared
4 33 (4.85%) Computer Science Degree
5 28 (4.11%) BPSS Clearance
6 16 (2.35%) CISSP
7 14 (2.06%) Cisco Certification
8 12 (1.76%) Six Sigma Green Belt
9 10 (1.47%) CCNA
9 10 (1.47%) CCNP
9 10 (1.47%) CISM
9 10 (1.47%) PMP
10 9 (1.32%) CCDP
11 8 (1.17%) AWS Certification
12 7 (1.03%) DBS Check
12 7 (1.03%) ISTQB
13 6 (0.88%) PMI Certification
14 5 (0.73%) Azure Certification
15 4 (0.59%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 3 (0.44%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 48 (7.05%) QA
2 30 (4.41%) GDPR
3 28 (4.11%) Data Quality
4 18 (2.64%) Accessibility
5 15 (2.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 14 (2.06%) PCI DSS
7 11 (1.62%) ISO 20022
7 11 (1.62%) NIST
7 11 (1.62%) PSD2
7 11 (1.62%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 10 (1.47%) SEPA
9 8 (1.17%) PMO
9 8 (1.17%) SLA
10 4 (0.59%) HL7
11 3 (0.44%) WCAG
12 2 (0.29%) HIPAA
13 1 (0.15%) Actionable Recommendations
13 1 (0.15%) IEC 61508
13 1 (0.15%) ISO 26262
13 1 (0.15%) PMBOK
System Software
1 70 (10.28%) Docker
2 40 (5.87%) Active Directory
3 10 (1.47%) Oracle RAC
3 10 (1.47%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (1.17%) VMware NSX
5 7 (1.03%) RACF
5 7 (1.03%) Time Sharing Option
6 6 (0.88%) ACF2
7 5 (0.73%) vSphere
8 3 (0.44%) ISA Server
9 2 (0.29%) Virtual Desktop
9 2 (0.29%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.15%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.15%) Firmware
10 1 (0.15%) Hyper-V
10 1 (0.15%) Job Entry Subsystem
10 1 (0.15%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 78 (11.45%) Kubernetes
2 42 (6.17%) Terraform
3 34 (4.99%) Ansible
4 28 (4.11%) Grafana
5 23 (3.38%) Prometheus
5 23 (3.38%) SCCM
6 18 (2.64%) Microsoft Intune
7 10 (1.47%) Control-M
7 10 (1.47%) Data Guard
7 10 (1.47%) yum
8 9 (1.32%) IBM Guardium
8 9 (1.32%) Nessus
9 6 (0.88%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 6 (0.88%) CA Endevor
9 6 (0.88%) Tivoli
9 6 (0.88%) Tivoli Storage Manager
10 5 (0.73%) Norton AntiVirus
11 4 (0.59%) EMC NetWorker
12 3 (0.44%) HP ALM
12 3 (0.44%) Kibana
Vendors
1 168 (24.67%) Microsoft
2 68 (9.99%) SAP
3 44 (6.46%) Oracle
4 38 (5.58%) ServiceNow
5 30 (4.41%) Google
6 26 (3.82%) VMware
7 20 (2.94%) Splunk
8 13 (1.91%) Cisco
9 12 (1.76%) Red Hat
10 10 (1.47%) Citrix
10 10 (1.47%) Databricks
11 9 (1.32%) Tenable
12 8 (1.17%) F5
12 8 (1.17%) IFS
13 7 (1.03%) BeyondTrust
13 7 (1.03%) Brio
13 7 (1.03%) Computacenter
13 7 (1.03%) CyberArk
13 7 (1.03%) Thycotic
14 6 (0.88%) Workday