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 30 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 3 10
Rank change year-on-year -4 +7 +12
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 387 370 306
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 12.49% 18.71% 10.85%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 14.74% 20.62% 12.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 233 231 177
10th Percentile £213 £208 £313
25th Percentile £350 £363 £385
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £420 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -11.58% -5.00% +11.11%
75th Percentile £507 £573 £575
90th Percentile £575 £675 £659
England median daily rate £490 £500 £513
% change year-on-year -2.00% -2.44% -4.65%
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 28 51
10th Percentile £15.18 £16.98 -
25th Percentile £17.29 £22.72 £10.95
Median hourly rate £43.66 £28.13 £11.20
Median % change year-on-year +55.23% +151.23% -72.94%
75th Percentile £74.26 £34.83 £43.75
90th Percentile £76.10 £59.13 £51.91
England median hourly rate £20.71 £23.99 £18.00
% change year-on-year -13.67% +33.28% -57.72%

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 2,626 1,794 2,453
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 84.76% 90.70% 86.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,644 1,150 1,590
10th Percentile £230 £275 £313
25th Percentile £374 £390 £411
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £455 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.21% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £572 £575 £588
90th Percentile £650 £656 £685
England median daily rate £505 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 240 114 258
10th Percentile £18.89 £16.61 £10.99
25th Percentile £25.15 £22.78 £13.50
Median hourly rate £45.46 £31.64 £23.56
Median % change year-on-year +43.68% +34.32% -36.85%
75th Percentile £71.50 £59.98 £45.00
90th Percentile £83.88 £80.04 £51.91
England median hourly rate £36.71 £32.50 £32.50
% change year-on-year +12.95% - -13.33%

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 30 March 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 30 March 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 30 March 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 -6 175 £450 -1.64% 221
Cheshire -9 99 £400 -19.45% 56
Lancashire -3 56 £550 +6.28% 89
Merseyside -12 39 £225 -35.71% 37
Cumbria +2 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 (7.24%) Confluence
2 15 (3.88%) SharePoint
3 14 (3.62%) Microsoft Exchange
4 6 (1.55%) Apache
5 4 (1.03%) Apache Spark
6 3 (0.78%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 2 (0.52%) 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 22 (5.68%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (2.84%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (2.33%) MS Visio
4 6 (1.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (1.29%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.78%) CATIA
6 3 (0.78%) Chatbot
7 2 (0.52%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.26%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 33 (8.53%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (1.03%) Payment Gateway
3 3 (0.78%) iTrent
3 3 (0.78%) SAP Payroll
3 3 (0.78%) SAP SCM
4 2 (0.52%) Advent Geneva
4 2 (0.52%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.52%) SAP HCM
5 1 (0.26%) Elite 3E
5 1 (0.26%) Kondor
5 1 (0.26%) ResourceLink
5 1 (0.26%) SAP BPC
5 1 (0.26%) SAP HR
5 1 (0.26%) SAP PSCD
5 1 (0.26%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 78 (20.16%) Azure
2 66 (17.05%) AWS
3 33 (8.53%) Microsoft 365
4 27 (6.98%) Power Platform
5 20 (5.17%) Entra ID
5 20 (5.17%) GCP
6 16 (4.13%) GitHub
7 11 (2.84%) Azure DevOps
8 8 (2.07%) GitHub Actions
8 8 (2.07%) Power Automate
9 7 (1.81%) Apigee
9 7 (1.81%) Kong
9 7 (1.81%) SaaS
9 7 (1.81%) Serverless
10 6 (1.55%) dbt
11 5 (1.29%) Azure Data Factory
12 4 (1.03%) AWS Step Functions
12 4 (1.03%) Azure Monitor
12 4 (1.03%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 4 (1.03%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 26 (6.72%) Firewall
2 22 (5.68%) DNS
3 14 (3.62%) Network Security
4 10 (2.58%) VLAN
5 9 (2.33%) DHCP
5 9 (2.33%) WebEx
6 8 (2.07%) BGP
7 7 (1.81%) Kerberos
7 7 (1.81%) LAN
7 7 (1.81%) TCP/IP
7 7 (1.81%) WAN
8 6 (1.55%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
8 6 (1.55%) Software-Defined Networking
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
10 4 (1.03%) Wireless
11 2 (0.52%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (4.65%) Power BI
2 17 (4.39%) SQL Server
3 15 (3.88%) Relational Database
4 12 (3.10%) Data Warehouse
5 11 (2.84%) MongoDB
5 11 (2.84%) MySQL
6 9 (2.33%) NoSQL
6 9 (2.33%) PostgreSQL
7 5 (1.29%) Power Query
8 4 (1.03%) Big Data
8 4 (1.03%) DynamoDB
8 4 (1.03%) Metadata
8 4 (1.03%) Snowflake Schema
8 4 (1.03%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 3 (0.78%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
9 3 (0.78%) BigQuery
9 3 (0.78%) Data Vault
9 3 (0.78%) Hadoop
9 3 (0.78%) Oracle Database
9 3 (0.78%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 50 (12.92%) JIRA
2 29 (7.49%) Git
3 16 (4.13%) GitLab
4 10 (2.58%) Mockito
5 8 (2.07%) Jenkins
5 8 (2.07%) Postman
6 5 (1.29%) JUnit
7 4 (1.03%) Selenium
8 3 (0.78%) Jasmine
9 2 (0.52%) JMeter
9 2 (0.52%) SoapUI
9 2 (0.52%) Zephyr
10 1 (0.26%) CircleCI
10 1 (0.26%) Gradle
10 1 (0.26%) IntelliJ
10 1 (0.26%) Maven
10 1 (0.26%) ScriptRunner
10 1 (0.26%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 169 (43.67%) Social Skills
2 148 (38.24%) Analytical Skills
3 128 (33.07%) Finance
4 45 (11.63%) Banking
5 40 (10.34%) Public Sector
6 19 (4.91%) Legal
7 11 (2.84%) Influencing Skills
7 11 (2.84%) Organisational Skills
8 10 (2.58%) Manufacturing
9 9 (2.33%) Documentation Skills
10 7 (1.81%) Law
10 7 (1.81%) Retail Banking
11 5 (1.29%) Presentation Skills
11 5 (1.29%) Retail
11 5 (1.29%) Telecoms
12 4 (1.03%) Aerospace
12 4 (1.03%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 4 (1.03%) Local Government
13 3 (0.78%) Automotive
14 2 (0.52%) Games
Job Titles
1 71 (18.35%) Developer
2 67 (17.31%) Analyst
3 32 (8.27%) Business Analyst
4 27 (6.98%) Senior
5 25 (6.46%) Administrator
6 24 (6.20%) Java Developer
7 22 (5.68%) Consultant
8 21 (5.43%) Lead
9 18 (4.65%) Platform Engineer
9 18 (4.65%) Project Manager
9 18 (4.65%) SAP Consultant
10 16 (4.13%) Architect
10 16 (4.13%) IT Support
11 14 (3.62%) Data Engineer
12 13 (3.36%) Finance Manager
12 13 (3.36%) Finance Project Manager
12 13 (3.36%) Transformation Consultant
13 11 (2.84%) Full-Stack Developer
14 10 (2.58%) IT Analyst
14 10 (2.58%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (8.01%) Spring
2 30 (7.75%) REST
2 30 (7.75%) Spring Boot
3 23 (5.94%) RESTful
4 19 (4.91%) SOAP
5 18 (4.65%) JSON
5 18 (4.65%) Kafka
5 18 (4.65%) OAuth
5 18 (4.65%) XML
6 16 (4.13%) HTML
7 14 (3.62%) CSS
8 13 (3.36%) React
8 13 (3.36%) Swagger
9 11 (2.84%) AngularJS
9 11 (2.84%) OAuth2
10 10 (2.58%) .NET
11 9 (2.33%) HTML5
11 9 (2.33%) ISPF
11 9 (2.33%) OpenAPI
11 9 (2.33%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 38 (9.82%) Product Ownership
2 17 (4.39%) Onboarding
3 15 (3.88%) Management Information System
4 13 (3.36%) Cloud Native
5 9 (2.33%) Mainframe
5 9 (2.33%) Mobile App
5 9 (2.33%) SWIFT Messaging Network
6 8 (2.07%) Analytical Mindset
6 8 (2.07%) Data Structures
7 7 (1.81%) Self-Motivation
8 6 (1.55%) Data Centre
8 6 (1.55%) Distributed Systems
9 5 (1.29%) CMDB
9 5 (1.29%) Data Protection Act
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%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 44 (11.37%) Windows
2 30 (7.75%) Linux
3 19 (4.91%) Windows Server
4 16 (4.13%) Windows 10
5 14 (3.62%) Unix
6 12 (3.10%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 10 (2.58%) Android
8 7 (1.81%) Apple iOS
8 7 (1.81%) Windows Server 2019
9 5 (1.29%) Mac OS X
10 4 (1.03%) Mac OS
10 4 (1.03%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 111 (28.68%) Agile
2 72 (18.60%) Change Management
3 70 (18.09%) Continuous Improvement
4 63 (16.28%) CI/CD
5 61 (15.76%) Stakeholder Management
6 53 (13.70%) Project Management
7 51 (13.18%) Migration
8 50 (12.92%) DevOps
8 50 (12.92%) Validation
9 47 (12.14%) Workshop Facilitation
10 45 (11.63%) Microservices
10 45 (11.63%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 42 (10.85%) Requirements Gathering
12 41 (10.59%) Test Automation
13 37 (9.56%) Data Migration
13 37 (9.56%) ERP
14 34 (8.79%) Computer Science
14 34 (8.79%) Customer Service
15 32 (8.27%) Containerisation
15 32 (8.27%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 63 (16.28%) SQL
2 53 (13.70%) Java
3 38 (9.82%) PowerShell
4 37 (9.56%) Python
5 22 (5.68%) JavaScript
6 17 (4.39%) Bash
7 16 (4.13%) TypeScript
8 9 (2.33%) C#
8 9 (2.33%) CLIST
8 9 (2.33%) COBOL
8 9 (2.33%) JCL
8 9 (2.33%) REXX
9 8 (2.07%) Kotlin
9 8 (2.07%) Perl
10 7 (1.81%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 6 (1.55%) T-SQL
12 5 (1.29%) Go
13 3 (0.78%) ABAP
13 3 (0.78%) Bicep
13 3 (0.78%) VBA
Qualifications
1 64 (16.54%) Security Cleared
2 50 (12.92%) Degree
3 42 (10.85%) SC Cleared
4 33 (8.53%) BPSS Clearance
5 28 (7.24%) Computer Science Degree
6 15 (3.88%) Cisco Certification
7 14 (3.62%) CCNA
8 11 (2.84%) CCNP
9 8 (2.07%) CCDP
9 8 (2.07%) Microsoft Certification
10 7 (1.81%) A+ Certification
10 7 (1.81%) Network+ Certification
11 5 (1.29%) Azure Certification
11 5 (1.29%) CISSP
11 5 (1.29%) DBS Check
11 5 (1.29%) PMI Certification
11 5 (1.29%) PMP
12 4 (1.03%) CISM
13 3 (0.78%) CISA
13 3 (0.78%) HNC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (6.46%) Data Quality
2 19 (4.91%) QA
3 13 (3.36%) PSD2
4 9 (2.33%) ISO 20022
5 8 (2.07%) SEPA
6 6 (1.55%) GDPR
6 6 (1.55%) GRC
6 6 (1.55%) NIST
7 5 (1.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 5 (1.29%) PMO
8 4 (1.03%) PCI DSS
9 3 (0.78%) ISO 8583
10 2 (0.52%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 2 (0.52%) 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 (11.37%) Active Directory
2 36 (9.30%) Docker
3 12 (3.10%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (2.33%) ACF2
4 9 (2.33%) RACF
4 9 (2.33%) Time Sharing Option
5 8 (2.07%) VMware NSX
6 7 (1.81%) vSphere
7 5 (1.29%) Virtual Desktop
8 3 (0.78%) Hyper-V
8 3 (0.78%) ISA Server
8 3 (0.78%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 37 (9.56%) Kubernetes
2 16 (4.13%) Terraform
3 12 (3.10%) SCCM
4 9 (2.33%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 9 (2.33%) CA Endevor
4 9 (2.33%) Microsoft Intune
4 9 (2.33%) Tivoli
4 9 (2.33%) Tivoli Storage Manager
5 8 (2.07%) Grafana
6 6 (1.55%) Prometheus
7 4 (1.03%) Ansible
8 3 (0.78%) Norton AntiVirus
9 2 (0.52%) Argo
9 2 (0.52%) HP ALM
10 1 (0.26%) CA Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.26%) Jamf Pro
10 1 (0.26%) Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.26%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 73 (18.86%) Microsoft
2 49 (12.66%) SAP
3 25 (6.46%) Oracle
4 23 (5.94%) VMware
5 16 (4.13%) ServiceNow
6 14 (3.62%) Sage
7 13 (3.36%) Citrix
8 12 (3.10%) Red Hat
9 10 (2.58%) Cisco
9 10 (2.58%) F5
10 8 (2.07%) Workday
11 7 (1.81%) Databricks
11 7 (1.81%) Google
11 7 (1.81%) MuleSoft
11 7 (1.81%) Splunk
12 5 (1.29%) Computacenter
13 4 (1.03%) Aruba
13 4 (1.03%) Atlassian
13 4 (1.03%) CheckPoint
13 4 (1.03%) Veeam