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

6 months to
23 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 4 14
Rank change year-on-year -3 +10 +4
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 364 332 269
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 14.07% 15.75% 9.77%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 16.05% 17.84% 11.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 234 213 159
10th Percentile £190 £203 £349
25th Percentile £315 £325 £403
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £463 £500
Median % change year-on-year -8.11% -7.50% +13.96%
75th Percentile £500 £550 £583
90th Percentile £575 £638 £700
England median daily rate £493 £500 £519
% change year-on-year -1.50% -3.61% -3.94%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 15 23
10th Percentile £15.18 £14.58 £14.48
25th Percentile £15.51 £22.72 £22.86
Median hourly rate £20.15 £27.13 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -25.72% -36.18% +6.25%
75th Percentile £62.12 £33.00 £46.18
90th Percentile £74.26 £48.35 £52.78
England median hourly rate £18.50 £21.75 £25.25
% change year-on-year -14.94% -13.86% -23.48%

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 2,268 1,861 2,403
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 87.67% 88.28% 87.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,486 1,071 1,612
10th Percentile £213 £275 £306
25th Percentile £358 £389 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% +1.01%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £594
90th Percentile £650 £656 £685
England median daily rate £500 £525 £534
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.69% -2.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 189 97 192
10th Percentile £16.47 £16.04 £12.86
25th Percentile £21.75 £21.25 £17.72
Median hourly rate £41.94 £30.40 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +37.96% -16.71% -2.14%
75th Percentile £57.50 £51.00 £46.18
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.85 £61.13
England median hourly rate £25.15 £34.00 £37.75
% change year-on-year -26.03% -9.93% +8.51%

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 23 January 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 23 January 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 23 January 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 -4 146 £448 -0.56% 215
Cheshire -1 136 £402 -18.47% 105
Merseyside -7 40 £225 -10.00% 49
Lancashire +1 36 £550 +4.76% 92
Cumbria -9 3 £475 +15.15% 7
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 22 (6.04%) SharePoint
2 21 (5.77%) Confluence
3 20 (5.49%) Microsoft Exchange
4 8 (2.20%) Apache
5 7 (1.92%) Exchange Server 2013
5 7 (1.92%) Skype for Business
6 4 (1.10%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.82%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 2 (0.55%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.55%) JBoss
8 2 (0.55%) Tomcat
9 1 (0.27%) CMS
9 1 (0.27%) Moodle
9 1 (0.27%) Mule
9 1 (0.27%) Mule ESB
9 1 (0.27%) SAS
9 1 (0.27%) WebLogic
Applications
1 30 (8.24%) Microsoft Office
2 24 (6.59%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (4.40%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 13 (3.57%) MS Visio
5 4 (1.10%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.55%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.27%) Siemens NX
7 1 (0.27%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 34 (9.34%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (1.10%) SAP EHS
3 3 (0.82%) iTrent
3 3 (0.82%) Kondor
3 3 (0.82%) Payment Gateway
3 3 (0.82%) SAP EWM
3 3 (0.82%) SAP SCM
4 2 (0.55%) Advent Geneva
4 2 (0.55%) Dynamics AX
4 2 (0.55%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.55%) SAP Payroll
5 1 (0.27%) ContrOCC
5 1 (0.27%) Elite 3E
5 1 (0.27%) Finacle
5 1 (0.27%) NetSuite
5 1 (0.27%) SAP BPC
5 1 (0.27%) SAP HCM
5 1 (0.27%) SAP HR
5 1 (0.27%) SAP PSCD
5 1 (0.27%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 71 (19.51%) Azure
2 68 (18.68%) AWS
3 41 (11.26%) Microsoft 365
4 25 (6.87%) GCP
5 21 (5.77%) Power Platform
6 19 (5.22%) GitHub
7 15 (4.12%) Serverless
8 11 (3.02%) Amazon ECS
8 11 (3.02%) Apigee
9 10 (2.75%) AWS Lambda
9 10 (2.75%) Datadog
9 10 (2.75%) OneDrive
9 10 (2.75%) SaaS
10 9 (2.47%) Amazon SQS
10 9 (2.47%) GitHub Actions
11 8 (2.20%) Entra ID
12 7 (1.92%) Amazon EventBridge
12 7 (1.92%) AWS Step Functions
12 7 (1.92%) Azure DevOps
13 6 (1.65%) AWS Fargate
Communications & Networking
1 15 (4.12%) Firewall
2 14 (3.85%) Network Security
3 13 (3.57%) DNS
4 8 (2.20%) BGP
4 8 (2.20%) LAN
4 8 (2.20%) WAN
5 7 (1.92%) Skype
5 7 (1.92%) VLAN
6 6 (1.65%) DHCP
6 6 (1.65%) Software-Defined Networking
6 6 (1.65%) WebEx
7 4 (1.10%) DMZ
7 4 (1.10%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
7 4 (1.10%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
7 4 (1.10%) HTTP
7 4 (1.10%) TCP/IP
8 2 (0.55%) NetScaler
8 2 (0.55%) SAN
8 2 (0.55%) VoIP
8 2 (0.55%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (4.40%) Relational Database
2 14 (3.85%) Power BI
3 13 (3.57%) DynamoDB
3 13 (3.57%) NoSQL
4 12 (3.30%) MySQL
4 12 (3.30%) PostgreSQL
5 9 (2.47%) BigQuery
6 8 (2.20%) Amazon Aurora
6 8 (2.20%) SQL Server
7 7 (1.92%) Data Warehouse
8 6 (1.65%) Amazon RDS
8 6 (1.65%) RDBMS
8 6 (1.65%) Redis
9 4 (1.10%) MS Access
9 4 (1.10%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 3 (0.82%) MongoDB
10 3 (0.82%) Oracle Database
10 3 (0.82%) Power Query
10 3 (0.82%) Snowflake Schema
11 2 (0.55%) DocumentDB
Development Applications
1 41 (11.26%) JIRA
2 31 (8.52%) Git
3 16 (4.40%) Jenkins
4 12 (3.30%) GitLab
5 6 (1.65%) Gradle
5 6 (1.65%) Maven
5 6 (1.65%) SonarQube
6 5 (1.37%) SonarLint
7 4 (1.10%) JUnit
8 3 (0.82%) Jasmine
8 3 (0.82%) Postman
8 3 (0.82%) Selenium
9 2 (0.55%) Cypress.io
9 2 (0.55%) Mockito
10 1 (0.27%) Appium
10 1 (0.27%) Cucumber
10 1 (0.27%) Grunt
10 1 (0.27%) LSMW
10 1 (0.27%) Rational DOORS
10 1 (0.27%) Zephyr
General
1 175 (48.08%) Social Skills
2 136 (37.36%) Analytical Skills
3 112 (30.77%) Finance
4 50 (13.74%) Banking
5 33 (9.07%) Public Sector
6 17 (4.67%) Legal
7 12 (3.30%) Influencing Skills
8 10 (2.75%) Manufacturing
9 7 (1.92%) Telecoms
10 6 (1.65%) Law
10 6 (1.65%) Local Government
10 6 (1.65%) Organisational Skills
10 6 (1.65%) Presentation Skills
11 5 (1.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 5 (1.37%) Retail Banking
12 4 (1.10%) Automotive
12 4 (1.10%) Documentation Skills
12 4 (1.10%) Games
12 4 (1.10%) Pharmaceutical
13 3 (0.82%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 66 (18.13%) Analyst
2 64 (17.58%) Developer
3 30 (8.24%) Business Analyst
4 28 (7.69%) Consultant
5 22 (6.04%) Administrator
6 18 (4.95%) Architect
6 18 (4.95%) Senior
7 17 (4.67%) Platform Engineer
8 15 (4.12%) IT Support
8 15 (4.12%) Java Developer
8 15 (4.12%) Support Analyst
9 14 (3.85%) SAP Consultant
10 13 (3.57%) Project Manager
11 12 (3.30%) Lead
12 11 (3.02%) Full-Stack Developer
12 11 (3.02%) Service Analyst
13 10 (2.75%) Data Engineer
14 9 (2.47%) IT Analyst
15 8 (2.20%) Service Desk Analyst
16 7 (1.92%) Technical Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (9.89%) Spring Boot
2 33 (9.07%) REST
3 31 (8.52%) Spring
4 21 (5.77%) RESTful
5 17 (4.67%) JSON
6 15 (4.12%) SOAP
7 14 (3.85%) OAuth
7 14 (3.85%) XML
8 13 (3.57%) JWT
9 12 (3.30%) HTML
9 12 (3.30%) React
10 11 (3.02%) JMS
10 11 (3.02%) Kafka
10 11 (3.02%) Swagger
11 10 (2.75%) CSS
12 9 (2.47%) AngularJS
12 9 (2.47%) ISPF
13 8 (2.20%) .NET
13 8 (2.20%) OAuth2
13 8 (2.20%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 32 (8.79%) Product Ownership
2 21 (5.77%) Cloud Native
3 16 (4.40%) Onboarding
4 15 (4.12%) SWIFT Messaging Network
5 10 (2.75%) Mainframe
6 8 (2.20%) Management Information System
7 7 (1.92%) Mobile App
8 6 (1.65%) Analytical Mindset
8 6 (1.65%) Data Structures
8 6 (1.65%) Distributed Systems
8 6 (1.65%) Greenfield Project
8 6 (1.65%) N-Tier
9 5 (1.37%) CMDB
9 5 (1.37%) Data Protection Act
9 5 (1.37%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (1.10%) Data Centre
10 4 (1.10%) Public Cloud
10 4 (1.10%) Self-Motivation
11 3 (0.82%) Digital Wallet
11 3 (0.82%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 48 (13.19%) Windows
2 22 (6.04%) Linux
3 19 (5.22%) Windows 10
4 17 (4.67%) Windows Server
5 12 (3.30%) Android
6 11 (3.02%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 10 (2.75%) Apple iOS
8 9 (2.47%) Unix
9 5 (1.37%) Windows Server 2019
10 2 (0.55%) Mac OS
10 2 (0.55%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.27%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 94 (25.82%) Agile
2 62 (17.03%) Stakeholder Management
3 60 (16.48%) CI/CD
4 57 (15.66%) Continuous Improvement
5 55 (15.11%) Change Management
6 49 (13.46%) DevOps
7 42 (11.54%) Microservices
8 40 (10.99%) Containerisation
9 39 (10.71%) Project Management
9 39 (10.71%) Validation
10 38 (10.44%) Migration
10 38 (10.44%) Requirements Gathering
11 33 (9.07%) Test Automation
12 31 (8.52%) Customer Service
12 31 (8.52%) Workshop Facilitation
13 30 (8.24%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 29 (7.97%) Computer Science
14 29 (7.97%) ERP
14 29 (7.97%) SDLC
15 28 (7.69%) Analytics
Programming Languages
1 54 (14.84%) Java
1 54 (14.84%) SQL
2 43 (11.81%) Python
3 20 (5.49%) PowerShell
4 17 (4.67%) Bash
4 17 (4.67%) JavaScript
5 12 (3.30%) TypeScript
6 9 (2.47%) C#
6 9 (2.47%) CLIST
6 9 (2.47%) COBOL
6 9 (2.47%) JCL
6 9 (2.47%) REXX
7 8 (2.20%) Perl
8 5 (1.37%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 5 (1.37%) Go
8 5 (1.37%) Kotlin
8 5 (1.37%) T-SQL
9 2 (0.55%) ABAP
9 2 (0.55%) PL/SQL
9 2 (0.55%) VBA
Qualifications
1 63 (17.31%) Security Cleared
2 54 (14.84%) Degree
3 42 (11.54%) SC Cleared
4 24 (6.59%) BPSS Clearance
5 23 (6.32%) Computer Science Degree
6 11 (3.02%) Cisco Certification
7 9 (2.47%) CCNA
7 9 (2.47%) CCNP
8 8 (2.20%) CCDP
8 8 (2.20%) Six Sigma Green Belt
9 6 (1.65%) A+ Certification
9 6 (1.65%) Microsoft Certification
10 4 (1.10%) AWS Certification
10 4 (1.10%) Azure Certification
10 4 (1.10%) CISSP
10 4 (1.10%) Network+ Certification
11 3 (0.82%) DBS Check
11 3 (0.82%) PMI Certification
11 3 (0.82%) PMP
12 2 (0.55%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (6.32%) QA
2 15 (4.12%) Data Quality
2 15 (4.12%) PSD2
3 14 (3.85%) ISO 20022
4 12 (3.30%) SEPA
5 9 (2.47%) GDPR
6 7 (1.92%) PCI DSS
7 5 (1.37%) Accessibility
8 3 (0.82%) ISO 8583
9 2 (0.55%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 2 (0.55%) NIST
10 1 (0.27%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 1 (0.27%) GRC
10 1 (0.27%) HL7
10 1 (0.27%) IEC 61508
10 1 (0.27%) ISO 26262
10 1 (0.27%) PMBOK
10 1 (0.27%) SLA
10 1 (0.27%) WCAG
System Software
1 41 (11.26%) Docker
2 32 (8.79%) Active Directory
3 9 (2.47%) ACF2
3 9 (2.47%) RACF
3 9 (2.47%) Time Sharing Option
3 9 (2.47%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (1.65%) VMware NSX
5 4 (1.10%) vSphere
6 3 (0.82%) Hyper-V
6 3 (0.82%) ISA Server
6 3 (0.82%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 44 (12.09%) Kubernetes
2 23 (6.32%) SCCM
3 19 (5.22%) Terraform
4 14 (3.85%) Microsoft Intune
5 9 (2.47%) CA Endevor
5 9 (2.47%) Tivoli
5 9 (2.47%) Tivoli Storage Manager
6 6 (1.65%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 6 (1.65%) Norton AntiVirus
7 5 (1.37%) Grafana
7 5 (1.37%) Prometheus
8 2 (0.55%) HP ALM
8 2 (0.55%) QRadar
9 1 (0.27%) Ansible
9 1 (0.27%) Argo
9 1 (0.27%) Autotask
9 1 (0.27%) Jamf Pro
9 1 (0.27%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 85 (23.35%) Microsoft
2 49 (13.46%) SAP
3 25 (6.87%) Oracle
4 19 (5.22%) VMware
5 12 (3.30%) ServiceNow
6 10 (2.75%) Cisco
6 10 (2.75%) Red Hat
7 9 (2.47%) Citrix
8 8 (2.20%) Splunk
9 7 (1.92%) F5
9 7 (1.92%) Google
9 7 (1.92%) MuleSoft
9 7 (1.92%) Symantec
9 7 (1.92%) Workday
10 6 (1.65%) McAfee
10 6 (1.65%) Sage
11 5 (1.37%) Databricks
11 5 (1.37%) Gigya
12 4 (1.10%) Adobe
12 4 (1.10%) IFS