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

6 months to
3 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 15 6 6
Rank change year-on-year -9 0 +9
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 356 371 311
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 9.02% 17.11% 12.99%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.86% 19.30% 15.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 192 208 185
10th Percentile £241 £269 £244
25th Percentile £333 £384 £358
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £444 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year -6.53% - -
75th Percentile £538 £550 £538
90th Percentile £613 £688 £598
England median daily rate £500 £490 £500
% change year-on-year +2.04% -2.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 46 39 25
10th Percentile £14.43 £12.21 -
25th Percentile £17.25 £17.30 -
Median hourly rate £36.66 £20.26 £10.95
Median % change year-on-year +80.99% +84.98% -68.56%
75th Percentile £76.50 £47.12 £28.75
90th Percentile £178.75 £64.72 £62.50
England median hourly rate £20.25 £19.00 £16.23
% change year-on-year +6.58% +17.07% -70.25%

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 3,277 1,922 2,021
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 83.00% 88.65% 84.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,930 1,255 1,207
10th Percentile £295 £299 £313
25th Percentile £400 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -10.00% -
75th Percentile £597 £566 £588
90th Percentile £680 £668 £680
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 327 127 134
10th Percentile £16.01 £13.23 £10.97
25th Percentile £25.05 £17.44 £20.13
Median hourly rate £46.80 £25.15 £40.16
Median % change year-on-year +86.08% -37.38% +18.13%
75th Percentile £73.00 £52.50 £55.34
90th Percentile £85.00 £71.87 £70.90
England median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +74.79% -41.51% +1.18%

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 3 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 3 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 3 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 -16 171 £450 -5.21% 531
Cheshire -3 119 £445 -5.12% 121
Lancashire -10 32 £300 -33.33% 136
Cumbria -7 16 £420 +34.40% 16
Merseyside -26 11 £408 -18.50% 67
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 (3.37%) Confluence
2 11 (3.09%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.84%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (0.56%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.56%) Camunda
4 2 (0.56%) CMS
5 1 (0.28%) Adobe Experience Manager
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 28 (7.87%) Microsoft Office
2 17 (4.78%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (2.25%) MS Visio
4 7 (1.97%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 4 (1.12%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.84%) Acrobat
6 3 (0.84%) CATIA
7 1 (0.28%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.28%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 12 (3.37%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (3.09%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.84%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (0.84%) SAP ERP
3 3 (0.84%) Teamcenter
4 2 (0.56%) SAP HCM
4 2 (0.56%) SAP Payroll
4 2 (0.56%) Workday HCM
5 1 (0.28%) ENOVIA
5 1 (0.28%) FIS Private Capital Suite
5 1 (0.28%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.28%) ResourceLink
5 1 (0.28%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.28%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 63 (17.70%) Azure
2 58 (16.29%) Microsoft 365
3 54 (15.17%) AWS
4 26 (7.30%) Power Platform
5 15 (4.21%) GCP
6 13 (3.65%) Entra ID
7 12 (3.37%) Power Automate
8 7 (1.97%) GitHub
9 6 (1.69%) OpenShift
10 5 (1.40%) Azure DevOps
11 4 (1.12%) PowerApps
12 3 (0.84%) Anthropic Claude
12 3 (0.84%) AWS Lambda
12 3 (0.84%) Azure Data Factory
12 3 (0.84%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 3 (0.84%) dbt
12 3 (0.84%) Google Sheets
12 3 (0.84%) Google Workspace
12 3 (0.84%) n8n
12 3 (0.84%) Zapier
Communications & Networking
1 35 (9.83%) VPN
2 15 (4.21%) Firewall
3 14 (3.93%) WAN
4 12 (3.37%) DNS
5 11 (3.09%) LAN
6 10 (2.81%) Wireless
7 8 (2.25%) Network Security
8 7 (1.97%) DHCP
8 7 (1.97%) Wi-Fi
9 5 (1.40%) SD-WAN
9 5 (1.40%) TCP/IP
10 4 (1.12%) SSL
10 4 (1.12%) VLAN
11 3 (0.84%) BGP
11 3 (0.84%) BIG-IP
11 3 (0.84%) DMZ
11 3 (0.84%) MPLS
11 3 (0.84%) OSPF
11 3 (0.84%) SAN
11 3 (0.84%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (6.18%) Power BI
2 16 (4.49%) SQL Server
3 15 (4.21%) Data Warehouse
4 12 (3.37%) Relational Database
5 7 (1.97%) DataStage
5 7 (1.97%) PostgreSQL
6 6 (1.69%) Db2
6 6 (1.69%) MongoDB
6 6 (1.69%) NoSQL
7 5 (1.40%) MySQL
8 4 (1.12%) Snowflake Schema
9 3 (0.84%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
9 3 (0.84%) Big Data
9 3 (0.84%) Power Query
9 3 (0.84%) Tableau
10 2 (0.56%) Data Vault
10 2 (0.56%) DynamoDB
10 2 (0.56%) Metadata
10 2 (0.56%) SAP HANA
11 1 (0.28%) Amazon RDS
Development Applications
1 29 (8.15%) JIRA
2 12 (3.37%) Git
3 9 (2.53%) Jenkins
4 7 (1.97%) GitLab
5 5 (1.40%) Cucumber
6 4 (1.12%) Gatling
6 4 (1.12%) MSI
6 4 (1.12%) REST Assured
6 4 (1.12%) Selenium
6 4 (1.12%) Sonatype Nexus
7 3 (0.84%) JUnit
7 3 (0.84%) 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
1 188 (52.81%) Social Skills
2 148 (41.57%) Analytical Skills
3 82 (23.03%) Finance
4 40 (11.24%) Banking
5 32 (8.99%) Manufacturing
6 19 (5.34%) Organisational Skills
7 18 (5.06%) Legal
8 11 (3.09%) Law
9 10 (2.81%) Aerospace
9 10 (2.81%) Automotive
9 10 (2.81%) Documentation Skills
9 10 (2.81%) Public Sector
10 7 (1.97%) Telecoms
11 6 (1.69%) Retail
12 5 (1.40%) Influencing Skills
13 4 (1.12%) Investment Banking
13 4 (1.12%) Presentation Skills
14 3 (0.84%) Games
14 3 (0.84%) Marketing
15 2 (0.56%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 57 (16.01%) Analyst
2 33 (9.27%) IT Support
3 32 (8.99%) Developer
4 23 (6.46%) Lead
4 23 (6.46%) Support Engineer
5 21 (5.90%) Architect
6 20 (5.62%) Senior
7 17 (4.78%) Consultant
8 16 (4.49%) IT Analyst
8 16 (4.49%) IT Engineer
9 15 (4.21%) Administrator
9 15 (4.21%) Support Analyst
10 14 (3.93%) Service Analyst
11 13 (3.65%) IT Support Engineer
11 13 (3.65%) Java Developer
12 12 (3.37%) Data Engineer
12 12 (3.37%) IT Support Analyst
12 12 (3.37%) Service Desk Analyst
13 11 (3.09%) Network Engineer
14 10 (2.81%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (5.34%) Spring
2 17 (4.78%) Spring Boot
3 15 (4.21%) REST
4 13 (3.65%) Terraform
5 12 (3.37%) React
6 11 (3.09%) Kafka
7 9 (2.53%) OAuth
8 8 (2.25%) HTML
8 8 (2.25%) XML
9 6 (1.69%) JSON
9 6 (1.69%) Playwright
10 5 (1.40%) AngularJS
10 5 (1.40%) CSS
10 5 (1.40%) Node.js
10 5 (1.40%) RESTful
11 4 (1.12%) Middleware
11 4 (1.12%) OAuth2
11 4 (1.12%) OpenID
11 4 (1.12%) SailPoint
11 4 (1.12%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 29 (8.15%) Onboarding
2 16 (4.49%) Driving Licence
3 14 (3.93%) Data Protection Act
4 13 (3.65%) Enterprise Software
4 13 (3.65%) Product Ownership
5 12 (3.37%) Analytical Mindset
5 12 (3.37%) Cloud Native
5 12 (3.37%) Management Information System
6 11 (3.09%) Distributed Systems
7 10 (2.81%) Data Centre
7 10 (2.81%) Data Structures
8 8 (2.25%) CMDB
8 8 (2.25%) Legacy Systems
9 6 (1.69%) PKI
9 6 (1.69%) Self-Motivation
10 5 (1.40%) Virtual Team
11 4 (1.12%) Cyber Threat
11 4 (1.12%) Hybrid Cloud
11 4 (1.12%) Mobile App
11 4 (1.12%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 85 (23.88%) Windows
2 26 (7.30%) Windows 10
3 18 (5.06%) Linux
4 14 (3.93%) Unix
4 14 (3.93%) Windows Server
5 10 (2.81%) Mac OS
6 8 (2.25%) Apple iOS
7 4 (1.12%) Solaris
8 2 (0.56%) AIX
8 2 (0.56%) Android
8 2 (0.56%) HPUX
8 2 (0.56%) Oracle Linux
8 2 (0.56%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 2 (0.56%) SUSE
9 1 (0.28%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 86 (24.16%) Continuous Improvement
2 71 (19.94%) Stakeholder Management
3 57 (16.01%) ITIL
4 53 (14.89%) Customer Service
5 50 (14.04%) Agile
6 47 (13.20%) CI/CD
7 37 (10.39%) AI
7 37 (10.39%) Migration
8 34 (9.55%) Change Management
9 31 (8.71%) Analytics
9 31 (8.71%) DevOps
10 30 (8.43%) Data Protection
10 30 (8.43%) Root Cause Analysis
11 29 (8.15%) Computer Science
11 29 (8.15%) Data Modelling
12 27 (7.58%) Service Management
12 27 (7.58%) Validation
13 25 (7.02%) ERP
13 25 (7.02%) Incident Management
13 25 (7.02%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 49 (13.76%) SQL
2 44 (12.36%) Python
3 32 (8.99%) Java
4 31 (8.71%) PowerShell
5 9 (2.53%) JavaScript
6 8 (2.25%) Shell Script
7 7 (1.97%) Bash
7 7 (1.97%) PL/SQL
8 6 (1.69%) T-SQL
9 4 (1.12%) Apex Code
9 4 (1.12%) Kotlin
10 3 (0.84%) TypeScript
11 2 (0.56%) ABAP
11 2 (0.56%) Bicep
11 2 (0.56%) C#
11 2 (0.56%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 2 (0.56%) Go
11 2 (0.56%) Korn
12 1 (0.28%) Perl
12 1 (0.28%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 49 (13.76%) Security Cleared
2 43 (12.08%) Degree
3 34 (9.55%) SC Cleared
4 21 (5.90%) Computer Science Degree
5 16 (4.49%) BPSS Clearance
5 16 (4.49%) CISSP
6 14 (3.93%) Microsoft Certification
7 12 (3.37%) Cisco Certification
8 11 (3.09%) A+ Certification
9 10 (2.81%) Network+ Certification
10 8 (2.25%) AWS Certification
11 7 (1.97%) CompTIA Security+
11 7 (1.97%) HNC
12 6 (1.69%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 5 (1.40%) CCNA
13 5 (1.40%) CCNP
13 5 (1.40%) CEH
13 5 (1.40%) CISM
13 5 (1.40%) PMI Certification
13 5 (1.40%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (10.39%) Data Quality
2 17 (4.78%) SLA
3 13 (3.65%) GRC
3 13 (3.65%) NIST
4 9 (2.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 8 (2.25%) QA
6 4 (1.12%) Accessibility
6 4 (1.12%) GDPR
6 4 (1.12%) PMO
7 3 (0.84%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 27005
9 1 (0.28%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.28%) ISO 20022
9 1 (0.28%) NCSC
9 1 (0.28%) PSD2
9 1 (0.28%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 1 (0.28%) SEPA
9 1 (0.28%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 49 (13.76%) Active Directory
2 15 (4.21%) Docker
3 14 (3.93%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (2.25%) Virtual Desktop
5 5 (1.40%) Firmware
5 5 (1.40%) Hyper-V
5 5 (1.40%) VMware NSX
6 3 (0.84%) Citrix Hypervisor
6 3 (0.84%) XenApp
6 3 (0.84%) XenDesktop
7 2 (0.56%) vSphere
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
Systems Management
1 20 (5.62%) SCCM
2 19 (5.34%) Kubernetes
3 14 (3.93%) Microsoft Intune
4 8 (2.25%) Ansible
5 7 (1.97%) Grafana
6 5 (1.40%) Prometheus
7 4 (1.12%) Single Sign-On
8 3 (0.84%) FortiGate
8 3 (0.84%) McAfee ePO
9 2 (0.56%) Istio
9 2 (0.56%) WMI
10 1 (0.28%) Argo
10 1 (0.28%) Data Guard
10 1 (0.28%) Failover Clustering
10 1 (0.28%) Functional Safety
10 1 (0.28%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.28%) Puppet
10 1 (0.28%) SCOM
10 1 (0.28%) vCenter Server
10 1 (0.28%) WSUS
Vendors
1 95 (26.69%) Microsoft
2 48 (13.48%) ServiceNow
3 34 (9.55%) SAP
4 21 (5.90%) Oracle
5 16 (4.49%) Splunk
6 15 (4.21%) VMware
7 14 (3.93%) Cisco
8 12 (3.37%) Workday
9 11 (3.09%) Remedy
10 9 (2.53%) Salesforce
11 8 (2.25%) F5
11 8 (2.25%) Google
12 7 (1.97%) BeyondTrust
12 7 (1.97%) IBM
12 7 (1.97%) Palo Alto
13 6 (1.69%) Bomgar
13 6 (1.69%) CrowdStrike
13 6 (1.69%) Teradata
14 5 (1.40%) Adobe
14 5 (1.40%) CyberArk