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

6 months to
24 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 15 5 6
Rank change year-on-year -10 +1 +7
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 360 353 295
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 9.23% 16.30% 12.36%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.18% 18.42% 14.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 196 207 169
10th Percentile £245 £258 £233
25th Percentile £325 £358 £360
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £445 £469 £463
Median % change year-on-year -5.12% +1.41% -4.24%
75th Percentile £538 £548 £550
90th Percentile £638 £671 £600
England median daily rate £500 £488 £500
% change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 46 37 8
10th Percentile £15.02 £12.21 £21.98
25th Percentile £17.25 £17.30 £26.25
Median hourly rate £36.66 £20.26 £54.28
Median % change year-on-year +80.99% -62.68% +108.77%
75th Percentile £77.00 £47.12 £66.67
90th Percentile £178.75 £66.04 £83.32
England median hourly rate £19.48 £18.92 £16.23
% change year-on-year +2.96% +16.57% -69.76%

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 3,221 1,916 1,991
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 82.57% 88.46% 83.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,843 1,273 1,117
10th Percentile £295 £287 £294
25th Percentile £402 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £455 £490
Median % change year-on-year +9.89% -7.14% -2.00%
75th Percentile £598 £575 £585
90th Percentile £675 £678 £675
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 340 132 108
10th Percentile £14.99 £13.54 £16.43
25th Percentile £24.00 £17.30 £29.25
Median hourly rate £46.96 £25.15 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +86.76% -40.84% +28.79%
75th Percentile £71.91 £45.37 £62.50
90th Percentile £83.75 £67.25 £72.40
England median hourly rate £42.00 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +67.00% -41.51% -2.39%

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 24 September 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 24 September 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 24 September 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 -13 169 £475 +1.06% 535
Cheshire -2 122 £443 -2.80% 124
Lancashire -10 33 £300 -33.33% 113
Cumbria -11 17 £420 +110.00% 21
Merseyside -28 10 £408 -18.50% 107
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 12 (3.33%) Confluence
2 10 (2.78%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.83%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (0.56%) Camunda
4 2 (0.56%) CMS
5 1 (0.28%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 1 (0.28%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.28%) JBoss
5 1 (0.28%) Mule
5 1 (0.28%) Mule ESB
5 1 (0.28%) NetWeaver
5 1 (0.28%) WebLogic
Applications
1 31 (8.61%) Microsoft Office
2 18 (5.00%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (2.22%) MS Visio
4 6 (1.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.83%) Acrobat
5 3 (0.83%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.28%) CATIA
6 1 (0.28%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 11 (3.06%) Remedy ITSM
2 9 (2.50%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (0.83%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (0.83%) SAP ERP
3 3 (0.83%) Teamcenter
3 3 (0.83%) Workday HCM
4 2 (0.56%) Oracle Payables
4 2 (0.56%) SAP HCM
4 2 (0.56%) SAP Payroll
5 1 (0.28%) ENOVIA
5 1 (0.28%) FIS Private Capital Suite
5 1 (0.28%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.28%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 57 (15.83%) Azure
1 57 (15.83%) Microsoft 365
2 47 (13.06%) AWS
3 24 (6.67%) Power Platform
4 15 (4.17%) GCP
5 14 (3.89%) Entra ID
6 10 (2.78%) Power Automate
7 9 (2.50%) GitHub
8 5 (1.39%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (1.39%) OpenShift
9 4 (1.11%) AWS Lambda
9 4 (1.11%) IaaS
9 4 (1.11%) PowerApps
10 3 (0.83%) AWS CloudFormation
10 3 (0.83%) ChatGPT
10 3 (0.83%) Google Sheets
10 3 (0.83%) Google Workspace
10 3 (0.83%) n8n
10 3 (0.83%) Serverless
10 3 (0.83%) Zapier
Communications & Networking
1 36 (10.00%) VPN
2 18 (5.00%) Firewall
3 14 (3.89%) DNS
3 14 (3.89%) WAN
4 11 (3.06%) LAN
4 11 (3.06%) Network Security
5 10 (2.78%) Wireless
6 7 (1.94%) DHCP
6 7 (1.94%) Wi-Fi
7 6 (1.67%) BIG-IP
7 6 (1.67%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
7 6 (1.67%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
8 5 (1.39%) NetScaler
8 5 (1.39%) SD-WAN
8 5 (1.39%) TCP/IP
9 4 (1.11%) SSL
9 4 (1.11%) VLAN
10 3 (0.83%) DMZ
10 3 (0.83%) MPLS
10 3 (0.83%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (5.56%) Power BI
2 15 (4.17%) SQL Server
3 12 (3.33%) Data Warehouse
4 11 (3.06%) Relational Database
5 7 (1.94%) DataStage
6 6 (1.67%) Db2
7 5 (1.39%) MongoDB
7 5 (1.39%) PostgreSQL
8 4 (1.11%) MySQL
8 4 (1.11%) NoSQL
9 3 (0.83%) Snowflake Schema
10 2 (0.56%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.56%) DynamoDB
10 2 (0.56%) Metadata
10 2 (0.56%) Power Query
10 2 (0.56%) SAP HANA
10 2 (0.56%) Tableau
11 1 (0.28%) Data Vault
11 1 (0.28%) Looker
11 1 (0.28%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 29 (8.06%) JIRA
2 12 (3.33%) Git
3 11 (3.06%) Jenkins
4 7 (1.94%) GitLab
5 5 (1.39%) Cucumber
6 4 (1.11%) Gatling
6 4 (1.11%) MSI
6 4 (1.11%) REST Assured
6 4 (1.11%) Selenium
6 4 (1.11%) Sonatype Nexus
7 3 (0.83%) JUnit
7 3 (0.83%) SonarQube
8 2 (0.56%) Burp Suite
8 2 (0.56%) Claude Code
8 2 (0.56%) Gradle
8 2 (0.56%) LoadRunner
8 2 (0.56%) Maven
8 2 (0.56%) Mockito
8 2 (0.56%) Serenity BDD
8 2 (0.56%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 197 (54.72%) Social Skills
2 152 (42.22%) Analytical Skills
3 72 (20.00%) Finance
4 38 (10.56%) Banking
5 35 (9.72%) Manufacturing
6 19 (5.28%) Organisational Skills
7 18 (5.00%) Legal
8 10 (2.78%) Automotive
8 10 (2.78%) Law
9 9 (2.50%) Documentation Skills
10 8 (2.22%) Aerospace
10 8 (2.22%) Telecoms
11 7 (1.94%) Public Sector
12 6 (1.67%) Retail
13 5 (1.39%) Influencing Skills
14 3 (0.83%) Games
14 3 (0.83%) Investment Banking
14 3 (0.83%) Marketing
14 3 (0.83%) Presentation Skills
15 2 (0.56%) Military
Job Titles
1 53 (14.72%) Analyst
2 35 (9.72%) IT Support
3 29 (8.06%) Developer
4 25 (6.94%) Support Engineer
5 23 (6.39%) Senior
6 21 (5.83%) Administrator
6 21 (5.83%) Lead
7 17 (4.72%) Architect
7 17 (4.72%) IT Engineer
8 16 (4.44%) IT Analyst
9 15 (4.17%) Consultant
9 15 (4.17%) Support Analyst
10 14 (3.89%) IT Support Engineer
10 14 (3.89%) Service Analyst
11 12 (3.33%) IT Support Analyst
11 12 (3.33%) Service Desk Analyst
12 11 (3.06%) Network Engineer
13 10 (2.78%) Data Engineer
13 10 (2.78%) Desktop Engineer
13 10 (2.78%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (4.44%) REST
2 14 (3.89%) Spring
2 14 (3.89%) Terraform
3 13 (3.61%) Spring Boot
4 11 (3.06%) Kafka
4 11 (3.06%) React
5 7 (1.94%) HTML
6 6 (1.67%) JSON
6 6 (1.67%) Playwright
6 6 (1.67%) XML
7 5 (1.39%) Node.js
8 4 (1.11%) AngularJS
8 4 (1.11%) CSS
8 4 (1.11%) Lightning Web Components
8 4 (1.11%) Middleware
8 4 (1.11%) OAuth
8 4 (1.11%) RESTful
8 4 (1.11%) SOAP
9 3 (0.83%) SailPoint
9 3 (0.83%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 31 (8.61%) Onboarding
2 17 (4.72%) Driving Licence
3 15 (4.17%) Product Ownership
4 14 (3.89%) Cloud Native
4 14 (3.89%) Data Protection Act
4 14 (3.89%) Distributed Systems
4 14 (3.89%) Enterprise Software
5 13 (3.61%) Data Centre
6 11 (3.06%) Analytical Mindset
7 9 (2.50%) Data Structures
7 9 (2.50%) Management Information System
7 9 (2.50%) Self-Motivation
8 8 (2.22%) CMDB
8 8 (2.22%) Legacy Systems
9 7 (1.94%) Public Cloud
10 6 (1.67%) PKI
11 5 (1.39%) Security Posture
11 5 (1.39%) Virtual Team
12 4 (1.11%) Smartphone
13 3 (0.83%) Enterprise Storage
Operating Systems
1 92 (25.56%) Windows
2 28 (7.78%) Windows 10
3 19 (5.28%) Linux
4 17 (4.72%) Windows Server
5 13 (3.61%) Unix
6 10 (2.78%) Mac OS
7 8 (2.22%) Apple iOS
8 5 (1.39%) Solaris
9 2 (0.56%) AIX
9 2 (0.56%) Android
9 2 (0.56%) HPUX
9 2 (0.56%) Oracle Linux
9 2 (0.56%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 2 (0.56%) SUSE
10 1 (0.28%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 82 (22.78%) Continuous Improvement
2 76 (21.11%) Stakeholder Management
3 61 (16.94%) ITIL
4 57 (15.83%) Customer Service
5 56 (15.56%) Agile
6 50 (13.89%) CI/CD
7 37 (10.28%) AI
8 33 (9.17%) Migration
9 32 (8.89%) Change Management
10 31 (8.61%) DevOps
10 31 (8.61%) Root Cause Analysis
11 30 (8.33%) Analytics
11 30 (8.33%) Service Management
12 27 (7.50%) Data Protection
12 27 (7.50%) Software Engineering
13 26 (7.22%) Computer Science
13 26 (7.22%) Process Improvement
14 25 (6.94%) Decision-Making
14 25 (6.94%) Incident Management
14 25 (6.94%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 46 (12.78%) Python
2 45 (12.50%) SQL
3 32 (8.89%) PowerShell
4 28 (7.78%) Java
5 8 (2.22%) JavaScript
6 7 (1.94%) PL/SQL
6 7 (1.94%) Shell Script
7 6 (1.67%) Bash
8 5 (1.39%) T-SQL
9 4 (1.11%) Apex Code
10 3 (0.83%) ActionScript
10 3 (0.83%) C#
10 3 (0.83%) Go
10 3 (0.83%) TypeScript
11 2 (0.56%) ABAP
11 2 (0.56%) Bicep
11 2 (0.56%) VBScript
12 1 (0.28%) Assembly Language
12 1 (0.28%) Korn
12 1 (0.28%) Perl
Qualifications
1 55 (15.28%) Security Cleared
2 41 (11.39%) Degree
3 38 (10.56%) SC Cleared
4 21 (5.83%) BPSS Clearance
5 19 (5.28%) Computer Science Degree
6 15 (4.17%) CISSP
7 14 (3.89%) Microsoft Certification
8 11 (3.06%) A+ Certification
8 11 (3.06%) Cisco Certification
9 10 (2.78%) Network+ Certification
10 9 (2.50%) HNC
11 8 (2.22%) AWS Certification
12 6 (1.67%) CompTIA Security+
12 6 (1.67%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 5 (1.39%) CCNA
13 5 (1.39%) CCNP
13 5 (1.39%) CISM
13 5 (1.39%) HND
14 4 (1.11%) PMI Certification
14 4 (1.11%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (8.89%) Data Quality
2 18 (5.00%) SLA
3 10 (2.78%) GRC
3 10 (2.78%) NIST
4 7 (1.94%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 7 (1.94%) QA
5 5 (1.39%) Accessibility
6 3 (0.83%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.56%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.56%) GDPR
7 2 (0.56%) IEC 61508
7 2 (0.56%) PMO
8 1 (0.28%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 1 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 27005
8 1 (0.28%) NCSC
8 1 (0.28%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 54 (15.00%) Active Directory
2 15 (4.17%) VMware Infrastructure
3 12 (3.33%) Docker
4 8 (2.22%) Virtual Desktop
5 7 (1.94%) Hyper-V
6 5 (1.39%) Citrix Hypervisor
6 5 (1.39%) Firmware
6 5 (1.39%) XenApp
6 5 (1.39%) XenDesktop
7 4 (1.11%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.28%) Microsoft App-V
8 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Virtual Server
8 1 (0.28%) Oracle RAC
8 1 (0.28%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.28%) Virtual Servers
8 1 (0.28%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 23 (6.39%) SCCM
2 16 (4.44%) Kubernetes
2 16 (4.44%) Microsoft Intune
3 6 (1.67%) Ansible
3 6 (1.67%) Grafana
4 5 (1.39%) Prometheus
5 4 (1.11%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (0.83%) FortiGate
6 3 (0.83%) Functional Safety
6 3 (0.83%) McAfee ePO
7 2 (0.56%) Istio
7 2 (0.56%) WMI
8 1 (0.28%) Data Guard
8 1 (0.28%) Failover Clustering
8 1 (0.28%) Progress Chef
8 1 (0.28%) Puppet
8 1 (0.28%) SCOM
8 1 (0.28%) WSUS
Vendors
1 102 (28.33%) Microsoft
2 49 (13.61%) ServiceNow
3 29 (8.06%) SAP
4 18 (5.00%) Oracle
5 16 (4.44%) VMware
6 15 (4.17%) Splunk
7 14 (3.89%) Cisco
8 12 (3.33%) Workday
9 11 (3.06%) F5
9 11 (3.06%) Remedy
10 9 (2.50%) Google
10 9 (2.50%) Salesforce
11 7 (1.94%) BeyondTrust
11 7 (1.94%) Citrix
11 7 (1.94%) IBM
11 7 (1.94%) Palo Alto
12 6 (1.67%) Atlassian
12 6 (1.67%) Bomgar
12 6 (1.67%) CrowdStrike
12 6 (1.67%) Teradata