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

6 months to
17 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 14 5 7
Rank change year-on-year -9 +2 +7
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 365 365 284
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 9.32% 16.65% 11.98%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.25% 18.75% 14.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 202 213 170
10th Percentile £250 £266 £213
25th Percentile £335 £368 £358
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £448 £475 £463
Median % change year-on-year -5.79% +2.70% -3.85%
75th Percentile £538 £550 £550
90th Percentile £638 £671 £600
England median daily rate £500 £488 £500
% change year-on-year +2.46% -2.40% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 46 37 9
10th Percentile £15.02 £12.21 £23.40
25th Percentile £17.25 £17.30 £26.25
Median hourly rate £36.66 £20.26 £48.56
Median % change year-on-year +80.99% -58.29% +76.58%
75th Percentile £77.00 £47.12 £62.50
90th Percentile £178.75 £66.04 £81.94
England median hourly rate £19.57 £18.85 £16.23
% change year-on-year +3.82% +16.14% -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 3,244 1,947 1,977
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 82.80% 88.82% 83.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,873 1,284 1,148
10th Percentile £295 £300 £300
25th Percentile £400 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £493
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -8.72% -1.40%
75th Percentile £595 £575 £588
90th Percentile £675 £675 £677
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 335 131 107
10th Percentile £16.00 £13.51 £16.40
25th Percentile £24.72 £17.34 £27.38
Median hourly rate £47.50 £25.15 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +88.90% -40.84% +21.43%
75th Percentile £73.25 £51.63 £57.75
90th Percentile £85.00 £71.45 £70.90
England median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% -1.91%

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 17 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 17 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 17 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 -13 172 £470 -1.05% 575
Cheshire -2 123 £444 -5.28% 122
Lancashire -12 33 £300 -33.33% 110
Cumbria -10 17 £420 +34.40% 19
Merseyside -27 11 £408 -18.50% 88
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 13 (3.56%) Confluence
2 11 (3.01%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.82%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (0.55%) Camunda
4 2 (0.55%) CMS
5 1 (0.27%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 1 (0.27%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.27%) JBoss
5 1 (0.27%) Mule
5 1 (0.27%) Mule ESB
5 1 (0.27%) NetWeaver
5 1 (0.27%) WebLogic
Applications
1 30 (8.22%) Microsoft Office
2 18 (4.93%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (2.19%) MS Visio
4 7 (1.92%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 4 (1.10%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.82%) Acrobat
7 2 (0.55%) CATIA
8 1 (0.27%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.27%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 11 (3.01%) Remedy ITSM
2 9 (2.47%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (0.82%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (0.82%) SAP ERP
3 3 (0.82%) Teamcenter
3 3 (0.82%) Workday HCM
4 2 (0.55%) Oracle Payables
4 2 (0.55%) SAP HCM
4 2 (0.55%) SAP Payroll
5 1 (0.27%) ENOVIA
5 1 (0.27%) FIS Private Capital Suite
5 1 (0.27%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.27%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 63 (17.26%) Azure
2 58 (15.89%) Microsoft 365
3 51 (13.97%) AWS
4 24 (6.58%) Power Platform
5 17 (4.66%) GCP
6 15 (4.11%) Entra ID
7 10 (2.74%) Power Automate
8 9 (2.47%) GitHub
9 6 (1.64%) OpenShift
10 5 (1.37%) Azure DevOps
11 4 (1.10%) AWS Lambda
11 4 (1.10%) PowerApps
12 3 (0.82%) Anthropic Claude
12 3 (0.82%) ChatGPT
12 3 (0.82%) Google Sheets
12 3 (0.82%) Google Workspace
12 3 (0.82%) IaaS
12 3 (0.82%) n8n
12 3 (0.82%) Serverless
12 3 (0.82%) Zapier
Communications & Networking
1 36 (9.86%) VPN
2 17 (4.66%) Firewall
3 14 (3.84%) DNS
3 14 (3.84%) WAN
4 11 (3.01%) LAN
5 10 (2.74%) Network Security
5 10 (2.74%) Wireless
6 7 (1.92%) DHCP
6 7 (1.92%) Wi-Fi
7 5 (1.37%) BIG-IP
7 5 (1.37%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
7 5 (1.37%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
7 5 (1.37%) SD-WAN
7 5 (1.37%) TCP/IP
8 4 (1.10%) NetScaler
8 4 (1.10%) SSL
8 4 (1.10%) VLAN
9 3 (0.82%) DMZ
9 3 (0.82%) MPLS
9 3 (0.82%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (5.48%) Power BI
2 17 (4.66%) SQL Server
3 12 (3.29%) Data Warehouse
3 12 (3.29%) Relational Database
4 7 (1.92%) DataStage
4 7 (1.92%) PostgreSQL
5 6 (1.64%) Db2
6 5 (1.37%) MongoDB
6 5 (1.37%) MySQL
6 5 (1.37%) NoSQL
7 3 (0.82%) Snowflake Schema
8 2 (0.55%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
8 2 (0.55%) DynamoDB
8 2 (0.55%) Metadata
8 2 (0.55%) Power Query
8 2 (0.55%) SAP HANA
8 2 (0.55%) Tableau
9 1 (0.27%) Data Vault
9 1 (0.27%) Looker
9 1 (0.27%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 31 (8.49%) JIRA
2 13 (3.56%) Git
3 11 (3.01%) Jenkins
4 7 (1.92%) GitLab
5 5 (1.37%) Cucumber
6 4 (1.10%) Gatling
6 4 (1.10%) MSI
6 4 (1.10%) REST Assured
6 4 (1.10%) Selenium
6 4 (1.10%) Sonatype Nexus
7 3 (0.82%) JUnit
7 3 (0.82%) SonarQube
8 2 (0.55%) Burp Suite
8 2 (0.55%) Claude Code
8 2 (0.55%) Gradle
8 2 (0.55%) LoadRunner
8 2 (0.55%) Maven
8 2 (0.55%) Mockito
8 2 (0.55%) Serenity BDD
8 2 (0.55%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 201 (55.07%) Social Skills
2 154 (42.19%) Analytical Skills
3 79 (21.64%) Finance
4 42 (11.51%) Banking
5 35 (9.59%) Manufacturing
6 19 (5.21%) Organisational Skills
7 17 (4.66%) Legal
8 10 (2.74%) Automotive
8 10 (2.74%) Law
9 9 (2.47%) Aerospace
9 9 (2.47%) Documentation Skills
10 8 (2.19%) Public Sector
10 8 (2.19%) Telecoms
11 6 (1.64%) Retail
12 5 (1.37%) Influencing Skills
13 4 (1.10%) Investment Banking
14 3 (0.82%) Games
14 3 (0.82%) Marketing
14 3 (0.82%) Presentation Skills
15 2 (0.55%) French Language
Job Titles
1 56 (15.34%) Analyst
2 35 (9.59%) IT Support
3 31 (8.49%) Developer
4 25 (6.85%) Support Engineer
5 23 (6.30%) Lead
5 23 (6.30%) Senior
6 20 (5.48%) Administrator
7 19 (5.21%) Architect
8 17 (4.66%) IT Engineer
9 16 (4.38%) Consultant
9 16 (4.38%) IT Analyst
10 15 (4.11%) Support Analyst
11 14 (3.84%) IT Support Engineer
11 14 (3.84%) Service Analyst
12 12 (3.29%) IT Support Analyst
12 12 (3.29%) Service Desk Analyst
13 11 (3.01%) Java Developer
13 11 (3.01%) Network Engineer
14 10 (2.74%) Desktop Engineer
14 10 (2.74%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (4.38%) REST
1 16 (4.38%) Spring
2 14 (3.84%) Spring Boot
3 13 (3.56%) Terraform
4 12 (3.29%) React
5 11 (3.01%) Kafka
6 8 (2.19%) HTML
7 7 (1.92%) XML
8 6 (1.64%) JSON
8 6 (1.64%) OAuth
8 6 (1.64%) Playwright
9 5 (1.37%) AngularJS
9 5 (1.37%) CSS
9 5 (1.37%) Node.js
9 5 (1.37%) RESTful
10 4 (1.10%) Lightning Web Components
10 4 (1.10%) Middleware
10 4 (1.10%) OpenID
10 4 (1.10%) SailPoint
10 4 (1.10%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 30 (8.22%) Onboarding
2 16 (4.38%) Driving Licence
2 16 (4.38%) Product Ownership
3 14 (3.84%) Cloud Native
3 14 (3.84%) Data Protection Act
3 14 (3.84%) Distributed Systems
3 14 (3.84%) Enterprise Software
4 12 (3.29%) Data Centre
5 11 (3.01%) Analytical Mindset
6 10 (2.74%) Management Information System
7 9 (2.47%) Data Structures
8 8 (2.19%) CMDB
8 8 (2.19%) Legacy Systems
8 8 (2.19%) Self-Motivation
9 6 (1.64%) PKI
9 6 (1.64%) Public Cloud
10 5 (1.37%) Security Posture
10 5 (1.37%) Virtual Team
11 4 (1.10%) Cyber Threat
11 4 (1.10%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 91 (24.93%) Windows
2 27 (7.40%) Windows 10
3 20 (5.48%) Linux
4 16 (4.38%) Windows Server
5 14 (3.84%) Unix
6 10 (2.74%) Mac OS
7 8 (2.19%) Apple iOS
8 5 (1.37%) Solaris
9 2 (0.55%) AIX
9 2 (0.55%) Android
9 2 (0.55%) HPUX
9 2 (0.55%) Oracle Linux
9 2 (0.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 2 (0.55%) SUSE
10 1 (0.27%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 82 (22.47%) Continuous Improvement
2 78 (21.37%) Stakeholder Management
3 60 (16.44%) ITIL
4 57 (15.62%) Agile
5 56 (15.34%) Customer Service
6 52 (14.25%) CI/CD
7 38 (10.41%) AI
8 35 (9.59%) Migration
9 33 (9.04%) Change Management
9 33 (9.04%) DevOps
10 32 (8.77%) Root Cause Analysis
11 30 (8.22%) Analytics
12 29 (7.95%) Service Management
13 28 (7.67%) Computer Science
13 28 (7.67%) Data Protection
13 28 (7.67%) Software Engineering
14 26 (7.12%) Decision-Making
14 26 (7.12%) Process Improvement
15 25 (6.85%) Incident Management
15 25 (6.85%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 49 (13.42%) SQL
2 48 (13.15%) Python
3 32 (8.77%) PowerShell
4 31 (8.49%) Java
5 9 (2.47%) JavaScript
6 8 (2.19%) Shell Script
7 7 (1.92%) Bash
7 7 (1.92%) PL/SQL
8 5 (1.37%) T-SQL
9 4 (1.10%) Apex Code
10 3 (0.82%) C#
10 3 (0.82%) Go
10 3 (0.82%) TypeScript
11 2 (0.55%) ABAP
11 2 (0.55%) ActionScript
11 2 (0.55%) Bicep
11 2 (0.55%) VBScript
12 1 (0.27%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 1 (0.27%) Kotlin
12 1 (0.27%) Rust
Qualifications
1 53 (14.52%) Security Cleared
2 42 (11.51%) Degree
3 36 (9.86%) SC Cleared
4 20 (5.48%) BPSS Clearance
4 20 (5.48%) Computer Science Degree
5 16 (4.38%) CISSP
6 14 (3.84%) Microsoft Certification
7 12 (3.29%) Cisco Certification
8 11 (3.01%) A+ Certification
9 10 (2.74%) Network+ Certification
10 8 (2.19%) AWS Certification
10 8 (2.19%) HNC
11 7 (1.92%) CompTIA Security+
12 6 (1.64%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 5 (1.37%) CCNA
13 5 (1.37%) CCNP
13 5 (1.37%) CEH
13 5 (1.37%) CISM
13 5 (1.37%) PMI Certification
13 5 (1.37%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (9.04%) Data Quality
2 18 (4.93%) SLA
3 12 (3.29%) GRC
3 12 (3.29%) NIST
4 9 (2.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 8 (2.19%) QA
6 5 (1.37%) Accessibility
7 4 (1.10%) PMO
8 3 (0.82%) GDPR
8 3 (0.82%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.55%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 1 (0.27%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials
10 1 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 1 (0.27%) IEC 61508
10 1 (0.27%) ISO 20022
10 1 (0.27%) NCSC
10 1 (0.27%) PSD2
10 1 (0.27%) SEPA
10 1 (0.27%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 54 (14.79%) Active Directory
2 15 (4.11%) Docker
2 15 (4.11%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (2.19%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (1.64%) Hyper-V
5 5 (1.37%) Firmware
5 5 (1.37%) VMware NSX
6 4 (1.10%) Citrix Hypervisor
6 4 (1.10%) XenApp
6 4 (1.10%) XenDesktop
7 2 (0.55%) vSphere
8 1 (0.27%) Microsoft App-V
8 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Virtual Server
8 1 (0.27%) Oracle RAC
8 1 (0.27%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.27%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 23 (6.30%) SCCM
2 20 (5.48%) Kubernetes
3 16 (4.38%) Microsoft Intune
4 8 (2.19%) Ansible
5 7 (1.92%) Grafana
6 5 (1.37%) Prometheus
7 4 (1.10%) Single Sign-On
8 3 (0.82%) FortiGate
8 3 (0.82%) McAfee ePO
9 2 (0.55%) Functional Safety
9 2 (0.55%) Istio
9 2 (0.55%) WMI
10 1 (0.27%) Argo
10 1 (0.27%) Data Guard
10 1 (0.27%) Failover Clustering
10 1 (0.27%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.27%) Puppet
10 1 (0.27%) SCOM
10 1 (0.27%) vCenter Server
10 1 (0.27%) WSUS
Vendors
1 104 (28.49%) Microsoft
2 49 (13.42%) ServiceNow
3 30 (8.22%) SAP
4 19 (5.21%) Oracle
5 16 (4.38%) Splunk
5 16 (4.38%) VMware
6 14 (3.84%) Cisco
7 12 (3.29%) Workday
8 11 (3.01%) Remedy
9 10 (2.74%) F5
10 9 (2.47%) Google
10 9 (2.47%) Salesforce
11 7 (1.92%) BeyondTrust
11 7 (1.92%) IBM
11 7 (1.92%) Palo Alto
12 6 (1.64%) Atlassian
12 6 (1.64%) Bomgar
12 6 (1.64%) Citrix
12 6 (1.64%) CrowdStrike
12 6 (1.64%) Teradata