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

6 months to
1 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 15 5 6
Rank change year-on-year -10 +1 +6
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 360 351 298
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 9.16% 16.13% 12.55%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.10% 18.21% 15.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 198 206 172
10th Percentile £250 £260 £239
25th Percentile £335 £358 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £469 £475
Median % change year-on-year -4.05% -1.26% -4.04%
75th Percentile £539 £550 £552
90th Percentile £638 £671 £600
England median daily rate £500 £490 £500
% change year-on-year +2.04% -2.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 45 38 7
10th Percentile £14.99 £12.21 £20.55
25th Percentile £17.25 £17.30 £26.25
Median hourly rate £35.82 £20.26 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +76.85% -66.24% +130.77%
75th Percentile £75.00 £56.26 £70.84
90th Percentile £88.25 £65.63 £84.70
England median hourly rate £19.48 £18.87 £16.23
% change year-on-year +3.23% +16.27% -69.42%

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 3,244 1,927 1,980
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 82.52% 88.56% 83.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,842 1,282 1,095
10th Percentile £295 £270 £294
25th Percentile £402 £368 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £452 £488
Median % change year-on-year +10.74% -7.38% -2.50%
75th Percentile £599 £575 £576
90th Percentile £675 £680 £675
England median daily rate £525 £512 £525
% change year-on-year +2.64% -2.57% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 348 135 109
10th Percentile £14.68 £13.64 £16.45
25th Percentile £21.14 £17.30 £28.50
Median hourly rate £46.62 £25.15 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +85.38% -40.84% +21.43%
75th Percentile £71.60 £47.12 £62.50
90th Percentile £80.98 £66.35 £73.75
England median hourly rate £41.00 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +63.02% -41.51% -3.37%

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 1 October 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 1 October 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 1 October 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 -11 166 £480 +1.05% 616
Cheshire -2 118 £443 -2.69% 126
Lancashire -9 36 £300 -33.33% 112
Cumbria -10 20 £420 +110.00% 21
Merseyside -23 10 £408 -18.50% 108
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 11 (3.06%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.83%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (0.56%) CMS
5 1 (0.28%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 1 (0.28%) Apache
5 1 (0.28%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.28%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.28%) Camunda
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 9 (2.50%) MS Visio
4 5 (1.39%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.83%) Acrobat
6 2 (0.56%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.56%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 10 (2.78%) Remedy ITSM
2 8 (2.22%) 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 58 (16.11%) Azure
2 57 (15.83%) Microsoft 365
3 43 (11.94%) AWS
4 23 (6.39%) Power Platform
5 17 (4.72%) Entra ID
6 15 (4.17%) GCP
7 10 (2.78%) GitHub
7 10 (2.78%) Power Automate
8 5 (1.39%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (1.39%) IaaS
8 5 (1.39%) OpenShift
8 5 (1.39%) PowerApps
9 4 (1.11%) AWS Lambda
9 4 (1.11%) Serverless
10 3 (0.83%) Anthropic Claude
10 3 (0.83%) AWS CloudFormation
10 3 (0.83%) ChatGPT
10 3 (0.83%) Google Sheets
10 3 (0.83%) n8n
10 3 (0.83%) Zapier
Communications & Networking
1 37 (10.28%) VPN
2 19 (5.28%) Firewall
3 15 (4.17%) DNS
3 15 (4.17%) WAN
4 12 (3.33%) Network Security
5 11 (3.06%) LAN
6 10 (2.78%) Wireless
7 7 (1.94%) BIG-IP
7 7 (1.94%) DHCP
7 7 (1.94%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
7 7 (1.94%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
7 7 (1.94%) Wi-Fi
8 6 (1.67%) SD-WAN
9 5 (1.39%) NetScaler
9 5 (1.39%) TCP/IP
10 4 (1.11%) SSL
10 4 (1.11%) VLAN
11 3 (0.83%) Cisco Nexus
11 3 (0.83%) DMZ
11 3 (0.83%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (5.00%) Power BI
2 14 (3.89%) SQL Server
3 11 (3.06%) Data Warehouse
4 10 (2.78%) Relational Database
5 7 (1.94%) DataStage
6 6 (1.67%) Db2
7 4 (1.11%) MongoDB
7 4 (1.11%) PostgreSQL
8 3 (0.83%) Metadata
8 3 (0.83%) MySQL
8 3 (0.83%) NoSQL
8 3 (0.83%) Snowflake Schema
9 2 (0.56%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
9 2 (0.56%) Big Data
9 2 (0.56%) DynamoDB
9 2 (0.56%) Power Query
9 2 (0.56%) SAP HANA
9 2 (0.56%) Tableau
10 1 (0.28%) Amazon RDS
10 1 (0.28%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 25 (6.94%) JIRA
2 12 (3.33%) Jenkins
3 11 (3.06%) Git
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%) SonarQube
8 2 (0.56%) Burp Suite
8 2 (0.56%) Claude Code
8 2 (0.56%) Gradle
8 2 (0.56%) JUnit
8 2 (0.56%) LoadRunner
8 2 (0.56%) Maven
8 2 (0.56%) Serenity BDD
8 2 (0.56%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 1 (0.28%) Eclipse
General
1 197 (54.72%) Social Skills
2 147 (40.83%) Analytical Skills
3 72 (20.00%) Finance
4 37 (10.28%) Banking
5 35 (9.72%) Manufacturing
6 19 (5.28%) Organisational Skills
7 18 (5.00%) Legal
8 10 (2.78%) Automotive
9 9 (2.50%) Aerospace
9 9 (2.50%) Documentation Skills
9 9 (2.50%) Law
10 7 (1.94%) Telecoms
11 6 (1.67%) Public Sector
11 6 (1.67%) Retail
12 5 (1.39%) Influencing Skills
13 3 (0.83%) Games
13 3 (0.83%) Investment Banking
13 3 (0.83%) Marketing
13 3 (0.83%) Presentation Skills
14 2 (0.56%) Military
Job Titles
1 48 (13.33%) Analyst
2 33 (9.17%) IT Support
3 26 (7.22%) Developer
4 25 (6.94%) Support Engineer
5 23 (6.39%) Senior
6 21 (5.83%) Lead
7 20 (5.56%) Administrator
8 17 (4.72%) Architect
8 17 (4.72%) IT Engineer
9 16 (4.44%) Consultant
10 14 (3.89%) IT Analyst
10 14 (3.89%) IT Support Engineer
10 14 (3.89%) Service Analyst
11 13 (3.61%) Support Analyst
12 12 (3.33%) Network Engineer
12 12 (3.33%) Service Desk Analyst
13 11 (3.06%) Data Engineer
14 10 (2.78%) Desktop Engineer
14 10 (2.78%) IT Support Analyst
15 9 (2.50%) Desktop Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (4.72%) REST
2 15 (4.17%) Terraform
3 12 (3.33%) Spring
4 11 (3.06%) Spring Boot
5 9 (2.50%) Kafka
5 9 (2.50%) React
6 6 (1.67%) JSON
6 6 (1.67%) Playwright
7 5 (1.39%) HTML
7 5 (1.39%) Node.js
7 5 (1.39%) XML
8 4 (1.11%) Lightning Web Components
8 4 (1.11%) OAuth
8 4 (1.11%) SOAP
9 3 (0.83%) CSS
9 3 (0.83%) Middleware
9 3 (0.83%) Next.js
9 3 (0.83%) PySpark
9 3 (0.83%) RESTful
9 3 (0.83%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 30 (8.33%) Onboarding
2 17 (4.72%) Driving Licence
3 16 (4.44%) Product Ownership
4 15 (4.17%) Cloud Native
4 15 (4.17%) Data Centre
4 15 (4.17%) Distributed Systems
4 15 (4.17%) Enterprise Software
5 14 (3.89%) Data Protection Act
6 11 (3.06%) Analytical Mindset
7 10 (2.78%) Self-Motivation
8 9 (2.50%) Legacy Systems
8 9 (2.50%) Management Information System
9 8 (2.22%) CMDB
9 8 (2.22%) Data Structures
9 8 (2.22%) Public Cloud
10 6 (1.67%) PKI
11 5 (1.39%) Virtual Team
12 4 (1.11%) Security Posture
12 4 (1.11%) Smartphone
13 3 (0.83%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 93 (25.83%) Windows
2 29 (8.06%) Windows 10
3 19 (5.28%) Linux
4 17 (4.72%) Windows Server
5 13 (3.61%) Unix
6 10 (2.78%) Apple iOS
7 8 (2.22%) Mac OS
8 6 (1.67%) Solaris
9 3 (0.83%) Android
10 2 (0.56%) AIX
10 2 (0.56%) HPUX
10 2 (0.56%) Oracle Linux
10 2 (0.56%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (0.56%) SUSE
11 1 (0.28%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (22.22%) Continuous Improvement
2 75 (20.83%) Stakeholder Management
3 59 (16.39%) ITIL
4 55 (15.28%) Customer Service
5 54 (15.00%) Agile
6 51 (14.17%) CI/CD
7 39 (10.83%) AI
8 35 (9.72%) Migration
9 34 (9.44%) Root Cause Analysis
10 32 (8.89%) DevOps
11 31 (8.61%) Change Management
12 29 (8.06%) Software Engineering
13 28 (7.78%) Analytics
13 28 (7.78%) Service Management
14 27 (7.50%) Data Protection
15 26 (7.22%) Process Improvement
15 26 (7.22%) Validation
16 25 (6.94%) Decision-Making
16 25 (6.94%) Incident Management
17 24 (6.67%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 49 (13.61%) Python
2 46 (12.78%) SQL
3 34 (9.44%) PowerShell
4 26 (7.22%) 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%) ActionScript
9 4 (1.11%) Apex Code
9 4 (1.11%) C#
9 4 (1.11%) 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%) Kotlin
12 1 (0.28%) Perl
12 1 (0.28%) Rust
Qualifications
1 57 (15.83%) Security Cleared
2 41 (11.39%) Degree
2 41 (11.39%) SC Cleared
3 20 (5.56%) BPSS Clearance
4 17 (4.72%) Computer Science Degree
5 13 (3.61%) CISSP
6 12 (3.33%) Microsoft Certification
7 11 (3.06%) Cisco Certification
8 9 (2.50%) A+ Certification
9 8 (2.22%) HNC
9 8 (2.22%) Network+ Certification
10 6 (1.67%) AWS Certification
10 6 (1.67%) CompTIA Security+
10 6 (1.67%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 5 (1.39%) CCNA
11 5 (1.39%) CCNP
11 5 (1.39%) HND
12 4 (1.11%) CEH
12 4 (1.11%) CISM
13 3 (0.83%) CIMA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (9.17%) Data Quality
2 17 (4.72%) SLA
3 9 (2.50%) NIST
4 8 (2.22%) GRC
5 7 (1.94%) QA
6 6 (1.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 5 (1.39%) Accessibility
8 3 (0.83%) GDPR
8 3 (0.83%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.56%) Cyber Essentials
9 2 (0.56%) IEC 61508
10 1 (0.28%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 1 (0.28%) NCSC
10 1 (0.28%) PMO
10 1 (0.28%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 55 (15.28%) Active Directory
2 15 (4.17%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (3.06%) Docker
3 11 (3.06%) Virtual Desktop
4 7 (1.94%) Hyper-V
5 6 (1.67%) Firmware
6 5 (1.39%) Citrix Hypervisor
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 18 (5.00%) Microsoft Intune
3 17 (4.72%) Kubernetes
4 7 (1.94%) Ansible
5 6 (1.67%) Grafana
6 5 (1.39%) Prometheus
7 4 (1.11%) FortiGate
7 4 (1.11%) Single Sign-On
8 3 (0.83%) Functional Safety
8 3 (0.83%) McAfee ePO
9 2 (0.56%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.56%) Istio
9 2 (0.56%) WMI
10 1 (0.28%) Data Guard
10 1 (0.28%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.28%) Puppet
10 1 (0.28%) SCOM
10 1 (0.28%) WSUS
Vendors
1 104 (28.89%) Microsoft
2 47 (13.06%) ServiceNow
3 26 (7.22%) SAP
4 19 (5.28%) Oracle
5 16 (4.44%) VMware
6 15 (4.17%) Cisco
7 14 (3.89%) Splunk
8 12 (3.33%) F5
8 12 (3.33%) Workday
9 10 (2.78%) Remedy
10 9 (2.50%) Google
10 9 (2.50%) Salesforce
11 8 (2.22%) Palo Alto
12 7 (1.94%) Citrix
12 7 (1.94%) IBM
13 6 (1.67%) BeyondTrust
13 6 (1.67%) Bomgar
13 6 (1.67%) Fortinet
13 6 (1.67%) Teradata
14 5 (1.39%) Zscaler