Problem-Solving Contract Job Trends in the North West

Problem Solving
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North West requiring Problem-Solving skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 6 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 3 9
Rank change year-on-year -5 +6 +11
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 389 370 303
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 12.42% 19.08% 10.93%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 14.71% 21.02% 12.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 232 228 176
10th Percentile £213 £208 £313
25th Percentile £350 £363 £381
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -10.53% -5.00% +11.11%
75th Percentile £513 £581 £575
90th Percentile £575 £678 £656
England median daily rate £490 £500 £510
% change year-on-year -2.00% -1.96% -4.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 28 50
10th Percentile £15.18 £16.98 -
25th Percentile £18.81 £22.66 £10.95
Median hourly rate £53.52 £27.31 £11.20
Median % change year-on-year +95.94% +143.97% -72.42%
75th Percentile £74.26 £31.50 £43.75
90th Percentile £85.10 £59.13 £51.91
England median hourly rate £20.79 £22.32 £18.00
% change year-on-year -6.85% +24.00% -58.96%

All Process & Methodology Skills
North West

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 West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 2,644 1,760 2,404
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 84.39% 90.77% 86.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,650 1,148 1,559
10th Percentile £256 £291 £311
25th Percentile £375 £390 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £460 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -3.16% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £588
90th Percentile £650 £656 £688
England median daily rate £505 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 243 112 250
10th Percentile £19.52 £16.37 £10.95
25th Percentile £25.38 £22.72 £13.36
Median hourly rate £45.46 £31.64 £23.48
Median % change year-on-year +43.68% +34.78% -34.79%
75th Percentile £71.91 £60.00 £45.00
90th Percentile £85.00 £80.40 £51.91
England median hourly rate £37.50 £32.50 £33.00
% change year-on-year +15.38% -1.52% -13.95%

Problem-Solving
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Problem-Solving relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Problem-Solving job vacancy trend in the North West

Problem-Solving
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Problem-Solving.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Problem-Solving in the North West over the 6 months to 6 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Problem-Solving in the North West

Problem-Solving
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Problem-Solving.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Problem-Solving in the North West over the 6 months to 6 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Problem-Solving in the North West

Problem-Solving
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 Problem-Solving within the North West region over the 6 months to 6 April 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 -6 179 £450 -2.70% 221
Cheshire -7 99 £402 -19.36% 56
Lancashire -3 55 £550 +6.28% 89
Merseyside -11 38 £225 -35.71% 37
Cumbria 0 15 £494 +17.91% 14
Problem-Solving
England

Problem-Solving
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West 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 28 (7.20%) Confluence
2 15 (3.86%) SharePoint
3 14 (3.60%) Microsoft Exchange
4 6 (1.54%) Apache
5 4 (1.03%) Apache Spark
6 3 (0.77%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 2 (0.51%) Apache Airflow
8 1 (0.26%) Camunda
8 1 (0.26%) CMS
8 1 (0.26%) JBoss
8 1 (0.26%) Moodle
8 1 (0.26%) nginx
8 1 (0.26%) SAS
8 1 (0.26%) Tomcat
Applications
1 23 (5.91%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (2.57%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (2.06%) MS Visio
4 5 (1.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (1.29%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.77%) CATIA
5 3 (0.77%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.51%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.26%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 33 (8.48%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (1.03%) Payment Gateway
3 3 (0.77%) iTrent
3 3 (0.77%) SAP SCM
4 2 (0.51%) Advent Geneva
4 2 (0.51%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.51%) SAP Payroll
5 1 (0.26%) Elite 3E
5 1 (0.26%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.26%) ResourceLink
5 1 (0.26%) SAP BPC
5 1 (0.26%) SAP HCM
5 1 (0.26%) SAP HR
5 1 (0.26%) SAP PSCD
5 1 (0.26%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 79 (20.31%) Azure
2 68 (17.48%) AWS
3 33 (8.48%) Microsoft 365
4 28 (7.20%) Power Platform
5 21 (5.40%) GCP
6 20 (5.14%) Entra ID
7 16 (4.11%) GitHub
8 9 (2.31%) Azure DevOps
8 9 (2.31%) Power Automate
9 8 (2.06%) GitHub Actions
10 7 (1.80%) Apigee
10 7 (1.80%) Kong
10 7 (1.80%) SaaS
11 6 (1.54%) Azure Data Factory
11 6 (1.54%) dbt
11 6 (1.54%) Serverless
12 4 (1.03%) Azure AKS
12 4 (1.03%) Azure Monitor
12 4 (1.03%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 4 (1.03%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 26 (6.68%) Firewall
2 22 (5.66%) DNS
3 14 (3.60%) Network Security
4 10 (2.57%) VLAN
5 9 (2.31%) DHCP
5 9 (2.31%) WebEx
6 8 (2.06%) BGP
7 7 (1.80%) Kerberos
7 7 (1.80%) TCP/IP
8 6 (1.54%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
8 6 (1.54%) LAN
8 6 (1.54%) Software-Defined Networking
8 6 (1.54%) WAN
9 5 (1.29%) DMZ
9 5 (1.29%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
9 5 (1.29%) HTTP
9 5 (1.29%) Wi-Fi
10 4 (1.03%) NetScaler
11 3 (0.77%) Wireless
12 2 (0.51%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (4.63%) Power BI
2 17 (4.37%) SQL Server
3 15 (3.86%) Relational Database
4 13 (3.34%) Data Warehouse
5 12 (3.08%) MySQL
6 11 (2.83%) MongoDB
7 10 (2.57%) NoSQL
7 10 (2.57%) PostgreSQL
8 5 (1.29%) Snowflake Schema
9 4 (1.03%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
9 4 (1.03%) Big Data
9 4 (1.03%) DynamoDB
9 4 (1.03%) Metadata
9 4 (1.03%) Power Query
9 4 (1.03%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 3 (0.77%) BigQuery
10 3 (0.77%) Data Vault
10 3 (0.77%) Hadoop
10 3 (0.77%) Oracle Database
11 2 (0.51%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 51 (13.11%) JIRA
2 28 (7.20%) Git
3 15 (3.86%) GitLab
4 10 (2.57%) Mockito
5 8 (2.06%) Postman
6 6 (1.54%) Jenkins
7 5 (1.29%) JUnit
8 4 (1.03%) Selenium
9 3 (0.77%) Jasmine
10 2 (0.51%) JMeter
10 2 (0.51%) SoapUI
10 2 (0.51%) Zephyr
11 1 (0.26%) CANoe
11 1 (0.26%) Gradle
11 1 (0.26%) IntelliJ
11 1 (0.26%) Maven
11 1 (0.26%) ScriptRunner
11 1 (0.26%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 166 (42.67%) Social Skills
2 149 (38.30%) Analytical Skills
3 130 (33.42%) Finance
4 45 (11.57%) Banking
5 40 (10.28%) Public Sector
6 18 (4.63%) Legal
7 11 (2.83%) Influencing Skills
7 11 (2.83%) Manufacturing
7 11 (2.83%) Organisational Skills
8 9 (2.31%) Documentation Skills
8 9 (2.31%) Law
9 7 (1.80%) Retail Banking
10 6 (1.54%) Telecoms
11 5 (1.29%) Retail
12 4 (1.03%) Aerospace
12 4 (1.03%) Automotive
12 4 (1.03%) Local Government
12 4 (1.03%) Presentation Skills
13 3 (0.77%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 2 (0.51%) Billing
Job Titles
1 70 (17.99%) Developer
2 69 (17.74%) Analyst
3 34 (8.74%) Business Analyst
4 26 (6.68%) Administrator
4 26 (6.68%) Senior
5 25 (6.43%) Java Developer
6 21 (5.40%) Consultant
6 21 (5.40%) Lead
7 18 (4.63%) Platform Engineer
7 18 (4.63%) Project Manager
8 17 (4.37%) IT Support
8 17 (4.37%) SAP Consultant
9 16 (4.11%) Architect
10 14 (3.60%) Data Engineer
11 13 (3.34%) Finance Manager
11 13 (3.34%) Finance Project Manager
11 13 (3.34%) Transformation Consultant
12 11 (2.83%) Full-Stack Developer
12 11 (2.83%) IT Analyst
12 11 (2.83%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (8.23%) Spring
2 31 (7.97%) Spring Boot
3 30 (7.71%) REST
4 24 (6.17%) RESTful
5 20 (5.14%) OAuth
6 18 (4.63%) Kafka
6 18 (4.63%) SOAP
7 17 (4.37%) JSON
7 17 (4.37%) XML
8 16 (4.11%) HTML
9 14 (3.60%) CSS
9 14 (3.60%) React
10 13 (3.34%) Swagger
11 11 (2.83%) AngularJS
11 11 (2.83%) OAuth2
12 10 (2.57%) .NET
13 9 (2.31%) HTML5
13 9 (2.31%) ISPF
13 9 (2.31%) OpenAPI
13 9 (2.31%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 40 (10.28%) Product Ownership
2 18 (4.63%) Onboarding
3 15 (3.86%) Management Information System
4 13 (3.34%) Cloud Native
5 9 (2.31%) Mainframe
5 9 (2.31%) Mobile App
6 8 (2.06%) Analytical Mindset
6 8 (2.06%) Data Structures
6 8 (2.06%) SWIFT Messaging Network
7 7 (1.80%) Self-Motivation
8 6 (1.54%) Data Centre
8 6 (1.54%) Data Protection Act
8 6 (1.54%) Distributed Systems
9 5 (1.29%) Fat Client
9 5 (1.29%) Greenfield Project
9 5 (1.29%) Private Cloud
9 5 (1.29%) Public Cloud
9 5 (1.29%) Thin Client
10 4 (1.03%) Digital Wallet
10 4 (1.03%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 45 (11.57%) Windows
2 30 (7.71%) Linux
3 19 (4.88%) Windows Server
4 17 (4.37%) Windows 10
5 13 (3.34%) Unix
6 12 (3.08%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 10 (2.57%) Android
8 8 (2.06%) Apple iOS
9 7 (1.80%) Windows Server 2019
10 5 (1.29%) Mac OS
10 5 (1.29%) Mac OS X
11 4 (1.03%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 110 (28.28%) Agile
2 72 (18.51%) Change Management
3 71 (18.25%) Continuous Improvement
4 61 (15.68%) CI/CD
5 59 (15.17%) Stakeholder Management
6 53 (13.62%) Migration
7 51 (13.11%) Project Management
8 49 (12.60%) Validation
9 47 (12.08%) DevOps
9 47 (12.08%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 47 (12.08%) Workshop Facilitation
10 46 (11.83%) Microservices
11 43 (11.05%) Requirements Gathering
12 39 (10.03%) Test Automation
13 38 (9.77%) Data Migration
13 38 (9.77%) ERP
14 35 (9.00%) Computer Science
15 34 (8.74%) Customer Service
16 32 (8.23%) Containerisation
16 32 (8.23%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 64 (16.45%) SQL
2 54 (13.88%) Java
3 38 (9.77%) PowerShell
3 38 (9.77%) Python
4 22 (5.66%) JavaScript
5 16 (4.11%) Bash
5 16 (4.11%) TypeScript
6 9 (2.31%) C#
6 9 (2.31%) CLIST
6 9 (2.31%) COBOL
6 9 (2.31%) JCL
6 9 (2.31%) REXX
7 8 (2.06%) Kotlin
7 8 (2.06%) Perl
8 7 (1.80%) T-SQL
9 5 (1.29%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 5 (1.29%) Go
10 3 (0.77%) Bicep
10 3 (0.77%) Shell Script
10 3 (0.77%) VBA
Qualifications
1 64 (16.45%) Security Cleared
2 52 (13.37%) Degree
3 41 (10.54%) SC Cleared
4 33 (8.48%) BPSS Clearance
5 29 (7.46%) Computer Science Degree
6 16 (4.11%) Cisco Certification
7 14 (3.60%) CCNA
8 11 (2.83%) CCNP
9 9 (2.31%) Microsoft Certification
10 8 (2.06%) A+ Certification
10 8 (2.06%) CCDP
10 8 (2.06%) Network+ Certification
11 7 (1.80%) CISSP
12 5 (1.29%) Azure Certification
12 5 (1.29%) PMI Certification
12 5 (1.29%) PMP
13 4 (1.03%) AWS Certification
13 4 (1.03%) CISM
14 3 (0.77%) CISA
14 3 (0.77%) HNC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (6.94%) Data Quality
2 19 (4.88%) QA
3 13 (3.34%) PSD2
4 9 (2.31%) ISO 20022
5 8 (2.06%) NIST
5 8 (2.06%) SEPA
6 7 (1.80%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 6 (1.54%) GDPR
7 6 (1.54%) GRC
8 5 (1.29%) PCI DSS
8 5 (1.29%) PMO
9 3 (0.77%) ISO 8583
10 2 (0.51%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 2 (0.51%) SLA
11 1 (0.26%) Accessibility
11 1 (0.26%) HIPAA
11 1 (0.26%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.26%) WCAG
System Software
1 44 (11.31%) Active Directory
2 36 (9.25%) Docker
3 12 (3.08%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (2.31%) ACF2
4 9 (2.31%) RACF
4 9 (2.31%) Time Sharing Option
5 8 (2.06%) VMware NSX
6 7 (1.80%) vSphere
7 5 (1.29%) Virtual Desktop
8 3 (0.77%) Hyper-V
8 3 (0.77%) ISA Server
8 3 (0.77%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 37 (9.51%) Kubernetes
2 15 (3.86%) Terraform
3 12 (3.08%) SCCM
4 9 (2.31%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 9 (2.31%) CA Endevor
4 9 (2.31%) Microsoft Intune
4 9 (2.31%) Tivoli
4 9 (2.31%) Tivoli Storage Manager
5 7 (1.80%) Grafana
6 5 (1.29%) Prometheus
7 3 (0.77%) Ansible
7 3 (0.77%) Norton AntiVirus
8 2 (0.51%) Argo
8 2 (0.51%) HP ALM
9 1 (0.26%) CA Single Sign-On
9 1 (0.26%) Functional Safety
9 1 (0.26%) Jamf Pro
9 1 (0.26%) Single Sign-On
9 1 (0.26%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 73 (18.77%) Microsoft
2 50 (12.85%) SAP
3 25 (6.43%) Oracle
4 23 (5.91%) VMware
5 17 (4.37%) ServiceNow
6 14 (3.60%) Sage
7 13 (3.34%) Citrix
8 12 (3.08%) Red Hat
9 10 (2.57%) Cisco
9 10 (2.57%) F5
10 8 (2.06%) Splunk
10 8 (2.06%) Workday
11 7 (1.80%) MuleSoft
12 6 (1.54%) Databricks
12 6 (1.54%) Google
13 5 (1.29%) Computacenter
14 4 (1.03%) Adobe
14 4 (1.03%) Aruba
14 4 (1.03%) Atlassian
14 4 (1.03%) Veeam