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

6 months to
24 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 9 3 10
Rank change year-on-year -6 +7 +10
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 363 371 309
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 11.45% 19.03% 11.13%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.71% 21.07% 12.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 216 216 193
10th Percentile £199 £208 £311
25th Percentile £350 £386 £385
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £402 £488 £495
Median % change year-on-year -17.54% -1.52% +10.00%
75th Percentile £500 £584 £575
90th Percentile £588 £694 £655
England median daily rate £489 £500 £510
% change year-on-year -2.25% -1.96% -2.86%
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 29 46
10th Percentile £15.36 £17.13 -
25th Percentile £29.99 £22.50 £10.95
Median hourly rate £70.00 £27.13 £11.10
Median % change year-on-year +158.06% +144.42% -59.65%
75th Percentile £75.00 £30.63 £26.39
90th Percentile £178.75 £56.06 £51.91
England median hourly rate £22.81 £22.14 £17.50
% change year-on-year +3.03% +26.51% -63.84%

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 2,647 1,761 2,403
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 83.48% 90.31% 86.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,643 1,134 1,555
10th Percentile £263 £300 £306
25th Percentile £375 £396 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £464 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.37% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £588
90th Percentile £653 £665 £688
England median daily rate £505 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 233 109 245
10th Percentile £19.96 £16.21 £10.95
25th Percentile £25.38 £22.72 £13.25
Median hourly rate £46.43 £32.00 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year +45.09% +52.38% -40.00%
75th Percentile £71.91 £60.00 £45.00
90th Percentile £85.00 £83.78 £54.00
England median hourly rate £42.50 £30.62 £35.00
% change year-on-year +38.82% -12.53% -6.67%

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 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 24 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 24 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 -6 176 £450 -2.70% 157
Cheshire -9 93 £402 -19.76% 58
Lancashire -7 39 £370 -28.85% 86
Merseyside -15 31 £200 -56.76% 32
Cumbria +4 19 £488 +16.42% 9
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 26 (7.16%) Confluence
2 8 (2.20%) SharePoint
3 7 (1.93%) Microsoft Exchange
4 6 (1.65%) Apache
5 4 (1.10%) Apache Spark
6 3 (0.83%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 2 (0.55%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.55%) CMS
7 2 (0.55%) JBoss
8 1 (0.28%) Camunda
8 1 (0.28%) Mule
8 1 (0.28%) Mule ESB
8 1 (0.28%) nginx
8 1 (0.28%) SAS
8 1 (0.28%) Tomcat
8 1 (0.28%) WebLogic
Applications
1 23 (6.34%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (2.75%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (1.65%) MS Visio
4 4 (1.10%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.83%) CATIA
5 3 (0.83%) Chatbot
5 3 (0.83%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 2 (0.55%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.28%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 32 (8.82%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (1.10%) Payment Gateway
3 3 (0.83%) SAP SCM
4 2 (0.55%) iTrent
4 2 (0.55%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.28%) Advent Geneva
5 1 (0.28%) Elite 3E
5 1 (0.28%) ResourceLink
5 1 (0.28%) SAP BPC
5 1 (0.28%) SAP HCM
5 1 (0.28%) SAP HR
5 1 (0.28%) SAP Payroll
5 1 (0.28%) SAP PSCD
5 1 (0.28%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 70 (19.28%) Azure
2 69 (19.01%) AWS
3 28 (7.71%) Microsoft 365
4 22 (6.06%) Power Platform
5 21 (5.79%) GCP
6 14 (3.86%) Entra ID
6 14 (3.86%) GitHub
7 7 (1.93%) Apigee
7 7 (1.93%) Kong
8 6 (1.65%) Azure DevOps
8 6 (1.65%) dbt
8 6 (1.65%) GitHub Actions
8 6 (1.65%) Power Automate
8 6 (1.65%) Serverless
9 5 (1.38%) Azure Data Factory
9 5 (1.38%) SaaS
10 4 (1.10%) AWS Step Functions
10 4 (1.10%) Azure Monitor
10 4 (1.10%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 4 (1.10%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 21 (5.79%) DNS
2 20 (5.51%) Firewall
3 10 (2.75%) Network Security
4 9 (2.48%) DHCP
5 7 (1.93%) Kerberos
5 7 (1.93%) TCP/IP
6 5 (1.38%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
6 5 (1.38%) HTTP
6 5 (1.38%) WebEx
7 4 (1.10%) DMZ
7 4 (1.10%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
7 4 (1.10%) LAN
7 4 (1.10%) NetScaler
7 4 (1.10%) VLAN
7 4 (1.10%) WAN
7 4 (1.10%) Wi-Fi
8 3 (0.83%) SAN
8 3 (0.83%) Wireless
9 2 (0.55%) BGP
9 2 (0.55%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (4.68%) Power BI
2 15 (4.13%) SQL Server
3 14 (3.86%) Relational Database
4 12 (3.31%) Data Warehouse
5 11 (3.03%) MongoDB
5 11 (3.03%) MySQL
6 10 (2.75%) PostgreSQL
7 9 (2.48%) NoSQL
8 4 (1.10%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
8 4 (1.10%) Big Data
8 4 (1.10%) BigQuery
8 4 (1.10%) DynamoDB
8 4 (1.10%) Power Query
8 4 (1.10%) Snowflake Schema
8 4 (1.10%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 3 (0.83%) Data Vault
9 3 (0.83%) Hadoop
9 3 (0.83%) Metadata
10 2 (0.55%) BusinessObjects
10 2 (0.55%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 50 (13.77%) JIRA
2 26 (7.16%) Git
3 13 (3.58%) GitLab
4 10 (2.75%) Mockito
5 8 (2.20%) Postman
6 6 (1.65%) JUnit
7 4 (1.10%) Jenkins
8 3 (0.83%) Jasmine
8 3 (0.83%) MSI
8 3 (0.83%) Selenium
9 2 (0.55%) JMeter
9 2 (0.55%) SoapUI
9 2 (0.55%) Zephyr
10 1 (0.28%) CANoe
10 1 (0.28%) Eclipse
10 1 (0.28%) Gradle
10 1 (0.28%) IntelliJ
10 1 (0.28%) Maven
10 1 (0.28%) ScriptRunner
10 1 (0.28%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 162 (44.63%) Social Skills
2 140 (38.57%) Analytical Skills
3 128 (35.26%) Finance
4 43 (11.85%) Banking
5 36 (9.92%) Public Sector
6 14 (3.86%) Legal
6 14 (3.86%) Manufacturing
7 12 (3.31%) Organisational Skills
8 11 (3.03%) Law
9 10 (2.75%) Influencing Skills
10 9 (2.48%) Telecoms
11 8 (2.20%) Documentation Skills
12 7 (1.93%) Retail Banking
13 5 (1.38%) Retail
14 4 (1.10%) Presentation Skills
15 3 (0.83%) Aerospace
15 3 (0.83%) Automotive
16 2 (0.55%) Billing
16 2 (0.55%) Local Government
17 1 (0.28%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 68 (18.73%) Analyst
2 65 (17.91%) Developer
3 33 (9.09%) Business Analyst
4 28 (7.71%) Administrator
5 26 (7.16%) Java Developer
5 26 (7.16%) Senior
6 19 (5.23%) IT Support
7 18 (4.96%) Consultant
7 18 (4.96%) Lead
8 17 (4.68%) Architect
9 16 (4.41%) Project Manager
9 16 (4.41%) SAP Consultant
10 14 (3.86%) IT Analyst
11 13 (3.58%) Data Engineer
11 13 (3.58%) Finance Manager
11 13 (3.58%) Finance Project Manager
11 13 (3.58%) Support Analyst
11 13 (3.58%) Transformation Consultant
12 12 (3.31%) IT Support Analyst
13 11 (3.03%) Full-Stack Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (8.54%) Spring
2 30 (8.26%) Spring Boot
3 27 (7.44%) REST
4 23 (6.34%) RESTful
5 19 (5.23%) OAuth
6 18 (4.96%) Kafka
7 17 (4.68%) HTML
8 16 (4.41%) JSON
8 16 (4.41%) SOAP
8 16 (4.41%) XML
9 14 (3.86%) CSS
9 14 (3.86%) React
10 13 (3.58%) Swagger
11 11 (3.03%) AngularJS
12 10 (2.75%) OAuth2
13 9 (2.48%) HTML5
13 9 (2.48%) ISPF
13 9 (2.48%) OpenAPI
14 8 (2.20%) CSS3
15 7 (1.93%) Spring MVC
Miscellaneous
1 29 (7.99%) Product Ownership
2 20 (5.51%) Onboarding
3 14 (3.86%) Management Information System
4 13 (3.58%) Cloud Native
5 9 (2.48%) Mainframe
5 9 (2.48%) Mobile App
6 8 (2.20%) Analytical Mindset
7 7 (1.93%) Data Protection Act
7 7 (1.93%) Distributed Systems
7 7 (1.93%) SWIFT Messaging Network
8 6 (1.65%) Data Centre
8 6 (1.65%) Data Structures
8 6 (1.65%) Self-Motivation
9 5 (1.38%) AI Agents
9 5 (1.38%) Driving Licence
9 5 (1.38%) Fat Client
9 5 (1.38%) Legacy Systems
9 5 (1.38%) Public Cloud
9 5 (1.38%) Thin Client
10 4 (1.10%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 40 (11.02%) Windows
2 21 (5.79%) Linux
3 18 (4.96%) Windows 10
4 16 (4.41%) Unix
5 10 (2.75%) Android
6 9 (2.48%) Apple iOS
7 8 (2.20%) Windows Server
8 7 (1.93%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (1.65%) Mac OS
10 5 (1.38%) Mac OS X
11 4 (1.10%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 4 (1.10%) Windows Server 2012
12 2 (0.55%) AIX
12 2 (0.55%) HPUX
12 2 (0.55%) Oracle Linux
12 2 (0.55%) Solaris
12 2 (0.55%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 98 (27.00%) Agile
2 66 (18.18%) Change Management
3 59 (16.25%) Continuous Improvement
4 54 (14.88%) CI/CD
5 53 (14.60%) Stakeholder Management
6 52 (14.33%) Migration
7 47 (12.95%) Workshop Facilitation
8 46 (12.67%) Microservices
8 46 (12.67%) Validation
9 43 (11.85%) Project Management
10 41 (11.29%) ERP
11 40 (11.02%) DevOps
12 39 (10.74%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 38 (10.47%) Requirements Gathering
13 38 (10.47%) Test Automation
14 35 (9.64%) Data Migration
15 34 (9.37%) Computer Science
15 34 (9.37%) Customer Service
16 30 (8.26%) ITIL
17 28 (7.71%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 60 (16.53%) SQL
2 52 (14.33%) Java
3 31 (8.54%) PowerShell
4 29 (7.99%) Python
5 19 (5.23%) JavaScript
6 15 (4.13%) TypeScript
7 9 (2.48%) CLIST
7 9 (2.48%) COBOL
7 9 (2.48%) JCL
7 9 (2.48%) REXX
8 8 (2.20%) Kotlin
9 5 (1.38%) Go
9 5 (1.38%) T-SQL
10 4 (1.10%) Bash
10 4 (1.10%) C#
10 4 (1.10%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 4 (1.10%) Shell Script
11 3 (0.83%) Apex Code
11 3 (0.83%) Bicep
11 3 (0.83%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 52 (14.33%) Security Cleared
2 50 (13.77%) Degree
3 32 (8.82%) Computer Science Degree
4 30 (8.26%) BPSS Clearance
4 30 (8.26%) SC Cleared
5 13 (3.58%) A+ Certification
5 13 (3.58%) Microsoft Certification
6 12 (3.31%) Network+ Certification
7 10 (2.75%) Cisco Certification
8 9 (2.48%) CISSP
9 8 (2.20%) CCNA
10 5 (1.38%) AWS Certification
10 5 (1.38%) Azure Certification
11 4 (1.10%) CCNP
11 4 (1.10%) CompTIA Security+
12 3 (0.83%) CISA
12 3 (0.83%) HNC
12 3 (0.83%) MCSE
12 3 (0.83%) PMI Certification
12 3 (0.83%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (6.89%) Data Quality
2 17 (4.68%) QA
3 12 (3.31%) PSD2
4 8 (2.20%) GRC
4 8 (2.20%) ISO 20022
5 7 (1.93%) NIST
5 7 (1.93%) SEPA
6 6 (1.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 5 (1.38%) GDPR
7 5 (1.38%) PCI DSS
7 5 (1.38%) PMO
8 3 (0.83%) ISO 8583
9 2 (0.55%) ISO/IEC 27005
9 2 (0.55%) SLA
10 1 (0.28%) Accessibility
10 1 (0.28%) HIPAA
10 1 (0.28%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.28%) WCAG
System Software
1 38 (10.47%) Active Directory
2 29 (7.99%) Docker
3 9 (2.48%) ACF2
3 9 (2.48%) RACF
3 9 (2.48%) Time Sharing Option
3 9 (2.48%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (1.38%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (1.38%) VMware NSX
4 5 (1.38%) vSphere
5 3 (0.83%) Hyper-V
5 3 (0.83%) ISA Server
5 3 (0.83%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 32 (8.82%) Kubernetes
2 13 (3.58%) SCCM
2 13 (3.58%) Terraform
3 9 (2.48%) CA Endevor
3 9 (2.48%) Tivoli
3 9 (2.48%) Tivoli Storage Manager
4 7 (1.93%) Microsoft Intune
5 5 (1.38%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 5 (1.38%) Grafana
6 3 (0.83%) Ansible
6 3 (0.83%) Prometheus
7 2 (0.55%) Argo
7 2 (0.55%) HP ALM
7 2 (0.55%) Norton AntiVirus
8 1 (0.28%) CA Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.28%) Functional Safety
8 1 (0.28%) Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.28%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 67 (18.46%) Microsoft
2 50 (13.77%) SAP
3 25 (6.89%) Oracle
4 14 (3.86%) Sage
4 14 (3.86%) ServiceNow
5 13 (3.58%) VMware
6 9 (2.48%) F5
6 9 (2.48%) Splunk
7 7 (1.93%) Cisco
7 7 (1.93%) MuleSoft
8 6 (1.65%) Citrix
8 6 (1.65%) Databricks
8 6 (1.65%) Google
9 5 (1.38%) Adobe
9 5 (1.38%) Red Hat
10 4 (1.10%) Atlassian
10 4 (1.10%) CheckPoint
10 4 (1.10%) Computacenter
10 4 (1.10%) Dell
10 4 (1.10%) HP