Distributed Systems Contract Job Trends in the North West
Distributed Systems
England > North West
The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Distributed Systems in contract job vacancies in the North West. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Distributed Systems over the 6 months leading up to 23 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 23 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 118 | 121 | 112 |
| Rank change year-on-year | +3 | -9 | +34 |
| Contract jobs citing Distributed Systems | 70 | 16 | 8 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the North West | 1.74% | 0.70% | 0.34% |
| As % of the Miscellaneous category | 4.94% | 2.03% | 1.18% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 39 | 12 | 6 |
| 10th Percentile | £401 | £420 | £414 |
| 25th Percentile | £438 | £502 | £434 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £560 | £518 | £483 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +8.21% | +7.25% | -25.77% |
| 75th Percentile | £631 | £591 | £497 |
| 90th Percentile | £701 | £683 | £498 |
| England median daily rate | £550 | £525 | £644 |
| % change year-on-year | +4.76% | -18.45% | +7.29% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 12 | 0 | 1 |
| 10th Percentile | £75.13 | - | - |
| 25th Percentile | £76.81 | - | £82.50 |
| Median hourly rate | £77.00 | - | £85.00 |
| 75th Percentile | £77.81 | - | £87.50 |
| 90th Percentile | £87.75 | - | - |
| England median hourly rate | £75.00 | £67.00 | £57.50 |
| % change year-on-year | +11.94% | +16.52% | - |
All Generic Skills
North West
Distributed Systems falls under the General and Transferable Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring generic IT skills in the North West.
| 6 months to 23 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills | 1,418 | 789 | 678 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West | 35.20% | 34.35% | 28.79% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 816 | 550 | 352 |
| 10th Percentile | £313 | £262 | £291 |
| 25th Percentile | £413 | £363 | £375 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £500 | £450 | £489 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +11.11% | -7.98% | -2.20% |
| 75th Percentile | £600 | £575 | £566 |
| 90th Percentile | £675 | £657 | £675 |
| England median daily rate | £525 | £525 | £543 |
| % change year-on-year | - | -3.23% | -1.36% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 159 | 47 | 27 |
| 10th Percentile | £14.25 | £15.57 | £17.56 |
| 25th Percentile | £21.14 | £18.69 | £21.15 |
| Median hourly rate | £43.96 | £29.27 | £32.50 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +50.19% | -9.94% | -20.73% |
| 75th Percentile | £67.50 | £52.50 | £52.75 |
| 90th Percentile | £85.08 | £70.68 | £89.70 |
| England median hourly rate | £33.99 | £27.50 | £52.50 |
| % change year-on-year | +23.60% | -47.62% | +16.67% |
Distributed Systems Job Vacancy Trend in the North West
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Distributed Systems relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.
Distributed Systems Daily Rate Trend in the North West
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Distributed Systems.
Distributed Systems Daily Rate Histogram in the North West
Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Distributed Systems in the North West over the 6 months to 23 October 2026.
Distributed Systems Hourly Rate Trend in the North West
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Distributed Systems.
Distributed Systems Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West
Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Distributed Systems in the North West over the 6 months to 23 October 2026.
Distributed Systems Contract Job Locations in the North West
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Distributed Systems within the North West region over the 6 months to 23 October 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester | -11 | 49 | £575 | +4.55% | 56 |
| Cheshire | +13 | 16 | £474 | -6.14% | 6 |
| Merseyside | -10 | 4 | £538 | +5.39% | 2 |
| Cumbria | - | 1 | £395 | - | |
| Distributed Systems England |
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Distributed Systems Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Miscellaneous
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cloud Native | 50.0% | 35 |
| 2 | Onboarding | 10.0% | 7 |
| 3 | Legacy Systems | 8.6% | 6 |
| 3 | PKI | 8.6% | 6 |
| 5 | AI Agents | 5.7% | 4 |
| 5 | Data Protection Act | 5.7% | 4 |
| 5 | Management Information System | 5.7% | 4 |
| 5 | Product Ownership | 5.7% | 4 |
| 5 | Tandem | 5.7% | 4 |
| 10 | Client/Server | 4.3% | 3 |
| 10 | Enterprise Software | 4.3% | 3 |
| 12 | Distributed Architecture | 2.9% | 2 |
| 12 | Greenfield Project | 2.9% | 2 |
| 12 | Virtual Team | 2.9% | 2 |
| 15 | Distributed Denial-of-Service | 1.4% | 1 |
| 15 | Legacy Applications | 1.4% | 1 |
| 15 | Marketing Technology | 1.4% | 1 |
| 15 | Mobile App | 1.4% | 1 |
| 15 | Online Gambling | 1.4% | 1 |
| 15 | Self-Motivation | 1.4% | 1 |