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 14 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 6 7 13
Rank change year-on-year +1 +6 +6
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 375 296 286
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 15.41% 12.45% 10.45%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 17.52% 14.83% 11.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 231 165 161
10th Percentile £258 £243 £315
25th Percentile £349 £356 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £463 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.70% -7.50% +11.11%
75th Percentile £543 £550 £588
90th Percentile £627 £600 £700
England median daily rate £484 £500 £515
% change year-on-year -3.30% -2.91% -5.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 47 7 18
10th Percentile £13.19 £14.34 £16.85
25th Percentile £17.30 £20.58 £19.51
Median hourly rate £20.26 £27.50 £35.94
Median % change year-on-year -26.35% -23.48% +16.92%
75th Percentile £55.26 £52.59 £46.18
90th Percentile £74.26 £78.11 £61.15
England median hourly rate £19.00 £17.00 £46.18
% change year-on-year +11.76% -63.19% +56.54%

All Process and 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 2,141 1,996 2,425
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 88.00% 83.94% 88.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,405 1,082 1,669
10th Percentile £213 £294 £270
25th Percentile £360 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% +1.01%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £593
90th Percentile £678 £656 £675
England median daily rate £507 £525 £545
% change year-on-year -3.43% -3.67% -0.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 192 115 163
10th Percentile £15.18 £16.35 £15.80
25th Percentile £19.07 £24.19 £17.88
Median hourly rate £29.60 £35.36 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -16.29% +1.03% +59.09%
75th Percentile £45.88 £52.20 £46.18
90th Percentile £71.32 £70.90 £63.75
England median hourly rate £25.15 £36.17 £44.50
% change year-on-year -30.46% -18.73% +27.14%

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 14 November 2025.

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 14 November 2025.

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 14 November 2025. 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 -1 157 £450 - 330
Cheshire 0 144 £450 -10.00% 102
Lancashire +6 37 £550 +22.22% 184
Merseyside +3 30 £400 +60.00% 43
Cumbria +2 4 £323 -27.45% 17
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 19 (5.07%) Microsoft Exchange
1 19 (5.07%) SharePoint
2 15 (4.00%) Confluence
3 9 (2.40%) Skype for Business
4 7 (1.87%) Exchange Server 2013
5 5 (1.33%) Apache
5 5 (1.33%) JBoss
5 5 (1.33%) Tomcat
6 2 (0.53%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.53%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.53%) Mattermost
6 2 (0.53%) WebSphere
6 2 (0.53%) WebSphere Application Server
7 1 (0.27%) CMS
7 1 (0.27%) EPiServer
7 1 (0.27%) Moodle
7 1 (0.27%) Mule
7 1 (0.27%) Mule ESB
7 1 (0.27%) WebLogic
Applications
1 35 (9.33%) Microsoft Excel
2 26 (6.93%) Microsoft Office
3 19 (5.07%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 17 (4.53%) MS Visio
5 5 (1.33%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.53%) Simulink
7 1 (0.27%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.27%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 28 (7.47%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (1.07%) ContrOCC
2 4 (1.07%) SAP EHS
2 4 (1.07%) SAP EWM
3 3 (0.80%) iTrent
3 3 (0.80%) Kondor
3 3 (0.80%) Maximo
4 2 (0.53%) Advent Geneva
4 2 (0.53%) Dynamics AX
4 2 (0.53%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.53%) SAP Payroll
5 1 (0.27%) Finacle
5 1 (0.27%) IBM Planning Analytics
5 1 (0.27%) NetSuite
5 1 (0.27%) SAP HCM
5 1 (0.27%) SAP HR
5 1 (0.27%) SAP PSCD
Cloud Services
1 57 (15.20%) Azure
2 48 (12.80%) AWS
3 37 (9.87%) Microsoft 365
4 28 (7.47%) Power Platform
5 21 (5.60%) GitHub
6 18 (4.80%) GCP
7 12 (3.20%) Serverless
8 11 (2.93%) Amazon ECS
8 11 (2.93%) SaaS
9 10 (2.67%) AWS Lambda
9 10 (2.67%) Datadog
10 9 (2.40%) Amazon SQS
10 9 (2.40%) OneDrive
11 8 (2.13%) GitHub Actions
12 7 (1.87%) Amazon EventBridge
12 7 (1.87%) Entra ID
13 6 (1.60%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 6 (1.60%) Apigee
13 6 (1.60%) AWS Fargate
13 6 (1.60%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 13 (3.47%) Network Security
2 11 (2.93%) Firewall
3 9 (2.40%) Skype
4 8 (2.13%) LAN
4 8 (2.13%) WAN
4 8 (2.13%) WebEx
5 7 (1.87%) BGP
5 7 (1.87%) VLAN
6 6 (1.60%) DNS
6 6 (1.60%) Software-Defined Networking
7 3 (0.80%) DMZ
7 3 (0.80%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
7 3 (0.80%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
7 3 (0.80%) HTTP
8 2 (0.53%) Calico
8 2 (0.53%) Softphone
8 2 (0.53%) TCP/IP
8 2 (0.53%) Unified Communications
8 2 (0.53%) VSAN
9 1 (0.27%) NX-OS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (5.60%) Power BI
2 11 (2.93%) MySQL
2 11 (2.93%) NoSQL
3 10 (2.67%) DynamoDB
3 10 (2.67%) PostgreSQL
3 10 (2.67%) Relational Database
4 9 (2.40%) SQL Server
5 8 (2.13%) Amazon Aurora
5 8 (2.13%) Tableau
6 7 (1.87%) Amazon RDS
6 7 (1.87%) BigQuery
7 6 (1.60%) RDBMS
7 6 (1.60%) Redis
8 5 (1.33%) Data Warehouse
8 5 (1.33%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 4 (1.07%) MS Access
10 3 (0.80%) MongoDB
10 3 (0.80%) Oracle Database
10 3 (0.80%) Power Query
11 2 (0.53%) Big Data
Development Applications
1 43 (11.47%) JIRA
2 32 (8.53%) Git
3 26 (6.93%) Jenkins
4 17 (4.53%) GitLab
5 12 (3.20%) JUnit
5 12 (3.20%) Maven
6 10 (2.67%) Gradle
7 8 (2.13%) SonarQube
8 7 (1.87%) Selenium
9 6 (1.60%) Cucumber
10 5 (1.33%) SonarLint
11 4 (1.07%) Sonatype Nexus
12 3 (0.80%) Cypress.io
12 3 (0.80%) TestRail
13 2 (0.53%) Grunt
13 2 (0.53%) gulp
13 2 (0.53%) Rational DOORS
14 1 (0.27%) Appium
14 1 (0.27%) Artifactory
14 1 (0.27%) Zephyr
General
1 204 (54.40%) Social Skills
2 156 (41.60%) Analytical Skills
3 95 (25.33%) Finance
4 42 (11.20%) Banking
5 27 (7.20%) Public Sector
6 15 (4.00%) Legal
7 11 (2.93%) Local Government
8 10 (2.67%) Influencing Skills
8 10 (2.67%) Pharmaceutical
9 9 (2.40%) Law
9 9 (2.40%) Manufacturing
10 6 (1.60%) Retail
11 5 (1.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 5 (1.33%) Organisational Skills
11 5 (1.33%) Police
11 5 (1.33%) Presentation Skills
12 4 (1.07%) Aerospace
12 4 (1.07%) Automotive
12 4 (1.07%) Games
12 4 (1.07%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 58 (15.47%) Analyst
2 52 (13.87%) Developer
3 30 (8.00%) Consultant
4 25 (6.67%) Architect
5 22 (5.87%) Administrator
6 20 (5.33%) Senior
7 17 (4.53%) Business Analyst
7 17 (4.53%) Java Developer
7 17 (4.53%) Lead
7 17 (4.53%) Platform Engineer
8 13 (3.47%) SAP Consultant
9 10 (2.67%) Support Analyst
10 9 (2.40%) Operational Support Analyst
10 9 (2.40%) Operations Analyst
10 9 (2.40%) Operations Support Analyst
10 9 (2.40%) Service Analyst
11 8 (2.13%) IT Support
11 8 (2.13%) Project Manager
11 8 (2.13%) Software Engineer
11 8 (2.13%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (8.00%) REST
2 26 (6.93%) Spring Boot
3 23 (6.13%) Spring
4 15 (4.00%) React
4 15 (4.00%) RESTful
5 13 (3.47%) HTML
6 12 (3.20%) Kafka
7 11 (2.93%) AngularJS
7 11 (2.93%) CSS
7 11 (2.93%) SOAP
8 10 (2.67%) JSON
9 9 (2.40%) .NET
10 8 (2.13%) J2EE
10 8 (2.13%) JWT
10 8 (2.13%) XML
10 8 (2.13%) XMPP
11 7 (1.87%) JMS
12 6 (1.60%) Dropwizard
12 6 (1.60%) Micronaut
13 5 (1.33%) Elastic Stack
Miscellaneous
1 30 (8.00%) Product Ownership
2 15 (4.00%) Cloud Native
3 13 (3.47%) Onboarding
4 10 (2.67%) SWIFT Messaging Network
5 9 (2.40%) Management Information System
6 8 (2.13%) Self-Motivation
6 8 (2.13%) Virtual Team
7 7 (1.87%) Analytical Mindset
7 7 (1.87%) Data Protection Act
8 6 (1.60%) Data Structures
8 6 (1.60%) Mainframe
8 6 (1.60%) N-Tier
9 5 (1.33%) Data Centre
10 4 (1.07%) Cyberattack
10 4 (1.07%) Distributed Systems
10 4 (1.07%) Mobile App
11 3 (0.80%) Enterprise Software
11 3 (0.80%) FMCG
11 3 (0.80%) Greenfield Project
11 3 (0.80%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 37 (9.87%) Windows
2 28 (7.47%) Linux
3 12 (3.20%) Android
3 12 (3.20%) Windows Server
4 11 (2.93%) Apple iOS
4 11 (2.93%) Unix
4 11 (2.93%) Windows 10
5 10 (2.67%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.27%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 81 (21.60%) Agile
2 57 (15.20%) CI/CD
3 56 (14.93%) Continuous Improvement
4 50 (13.33%) Stakeholder Management
5 47 (12.53%) Change Management
6 44 (11.73%) Analytics
7 43 (11.47%) Project Management
8 39 (10.40%) Migration
9 36 (9.60%) DevOps
10 32 (8.53%) ITIL
11 30 (8.00%) Containerisation
12 29 (7.73%) Microservices
13 28 (7.47%) Requirements Gathering
13 28 (7.47%) Test Automation
14 27 (7.20%) Business Intelligence
14 27 (7.20%) Roadmaps
15 26 (6.93%) ITSM
16 25 (6.67%) AI
16 25 (6.67%) Process Improvement
17 24 (6.40%) Cybersecurity
Programming Languages
1 47 (12.53%) Java
2 46 (12.27%) SQL
3 43 (11.47%) Python
4 22 (5.87%) JavaScript
4 22 (5.87%) PowerShell
5 17 (4.53%) Bash
6 8 (2.13%) C#
6 8 (2.13%) Perl
6 8 (2.13%) TypeScript
7 6 (1.60%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 6 (1.60%) Shell Script
8 5 (1.33%) CLIST
8 5 (1.33%) COBOL
8 5 (1.33%) JCL
8 5 (1.33%) REXX
9 4 (1.07%) Go
9 4 (1.07%) T-SQL
10 2 (0.53%) ABAP
10 2 (0.53%) Groovy
10 2 (0.53%) VBA
Qualifications
1 65 (17.33%) Security Cleared
2 54 (14.40%) Degree
3 51 (13.60%) SC Cleared
4 21 (5.60%) BPSS Clearance
5 16 (4.27%) Computer Science Degree
6 11 (2.93%) Six Sigma Green Belt
7 9 (2.40%) Cisco Certification
8 8 (2.13%) CCDP
8 8 (2.13%) CCNP
9 7 (1.87%) CCNA
9 7 (1.87%) DBS Check
10 5 (1.33%) PMI Certification
10 5 (1.33%) PMP
11 4 (1.07%) AWS Certification
11 4 (1.07%) Azure Certification
11 4 (1.07%) CBAP
11 4 (1.07%) CISSP
12 3 (0.80%) ITIL Certification
12 3 (0.80%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 3 (0.80%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (5.87%) QA
2 11 (2.93%) Data Quality
2 11 (2.93%) SEPA
3 10 (2.67%) Accessibility
4 9 (2.40%) GDPR
5 8 (2.13%) ISO 20022
6 6 (1.60%) PSD2
7 4 (1.07%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.53%) Actionable Recommendations
8 2 (0.53%) California Consumer Privacy Act
8 2 (0.53%) COBIT
8 2 (0.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 2 (0.53%) NIST
8 2 (0.53%) PMO
8 2 (0.53%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 1 (0.27%) GRC
9 1 (0.27%) IEC 61508
9 1 (0.27%) ISO 26262
9 1 (0.27%) PMBOK
9 1 (0.27%) SLA
System Software
1 31 (8.27%) Docker
2 24 (6.40%) Active Directory
3 5 (1.33%) ACF2
3 5 (1.33%) RACF
3 5 (1.33%) Time Sharing Option
3 5 (1.33%) VMware NSX
4 4 (1.07%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.53%) vSphere
6 1 (0.27%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 31 (8.27%) Kubernetes
2 18 (4.80%) Terraform
3 17 (4.53%) SCCM
4 11 (2.93%) Microsoft Intune
5 5 (1.33%) CA Endevor
5 5 (1.33%) Grafana
5 5 (1.33%) Norton AntiVirus
5 5 (1.33%) Prometheus
5 5 (1.33%) Tivoli
5 5 (1.33%) Tivoli Storage Manager
6 4 (1.07%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 3 (0.80%) HP ALM
7 3 (0.80%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.53%) Istio
8 2 (0.53%) Microsoft Clustering
8 2 (0.53%) QRadar
8 2 (0.53%) SCOM
9 1 (0.27%) Argo
9 1 (0.27%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
9 1 (0.27%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 102 (27.20%) Microsoft
2 50 (13.33%) SAP
3 22 (5.87%) Oracle
4 18 (4.80%) ServiceNow
5 13 (3.47%) VMware
6 12 (3.20%) Red Hat
7 11 (2.93%) Cisco
8 9 (2.40%) Citrix
9 8 (2.13%) Google
10 7 (1.87%) IBM
11 6 (1.60%) Workday
12 5 (1.33%) Gigya
12 5 (1.33%) McAfee
12 5 (1.33%) Splunk
12 5 (1.33%) Symantec
13 4 (1.07%) F5
13 4 (1.07%) Liquidlogic
14 3 (0.80%) Bloomberg
14 3 (0.80%) HP
14 3 (0.80%) Snow