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

6 months to
18 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 13 2 9
Rank change year-on-year -11 +7 +8
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 346 388 325
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 9.92% 19.63% 11.45%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.91% 21.93% 13.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 199 229 186
10th Percentile £268 £230 £300
25th Percentile £357 £375 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £440 £475 £488
Median % change year-on-year -7.37% -2.56% +2.63%
75th Percentile £524 £575 £550
90th Percentile £613 £703 £638
England median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 37 50
10th Percentile £13.95 £12.54 -
25th Percentile £20.77 £22.50 £10.95
Median hourly rate £37.50 £28.75 £11.20
Median % change year-on-year +30.43% +156.81% -59.29%
75th Percentile £75.00 £63.00 £43.75
90th Percentile £178.75 £70.06 £53.75
England median hourly rate £21.35 £21.39 £16.23
% change year-on-year -0.19% +31.79% -68.02%

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 2,906 1,769 2,381
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 83.29% 89.48% 83.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,722 1,174 1,454
10th Percentile £300 £305 £308
25th Percentile £400 £381 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £460 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.26% -8.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £560 £585
90th Percentile £675 £665 £675
England median daily rate £519 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -0.23% -1.00% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 256 102 272
10th Percentile £17.24 £12.89 £11.00
25th Percentile £25.67 £19.39 £14.20
Median hourly rate £53.00 £32.00 £30.75
Median % change year-on-year +65.63% +4.07% +0.69%
75th Percentile £76.00 £63.40 £46.18
90th Percentile £85.00 £83.17 £66.61
England median hourly rate £47.00 £27.40 £37.50
% change year-on-year +71.53% -26.93% +5.19%

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 18 June 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 18 June 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 18 June 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 -12 174 £440 -4.09% 224
Cheshire -6 95 £421 -16.27% 59
Lancashire -5 34 £500 +11.11% 66
Cumbria -1 23 £495 +147.50% 18
Merseyside -22 14 £200 -58.97% 25
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 28 (8.09%) Confluence
2 5 (1.45%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.87%) Apache Spark
3 3 (0.87%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.58%) Camunda
4 2 (0.58%) CMS
5 1 (0.29%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 1 (0.29%) JBoss
5 1 (0.29%) Mule
5 1 (0.29%) Mule ESB
5 1 (0.29%) NetWeaver
5 1 (0.29%) nginx
5 1 (0.29%) WebLogic
Applications
1 15 (4.34%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (3.47%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (1.73%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.87%) CATIA
4 3 (0.87%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.58%) Chatbot
5 2 (0.58%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.58%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 31 (8.96%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (1.73%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.87%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (0.87%) Payment Gateway
4 1 (0.29%) Elite 3E
4 1 (0.29%) FIS Private Capital Suite
4 1 (0.29%) ResourceLink
4 1 (0.29%) SAP BPC
4 1 (0.29%) SAP ERP
4 1 (0.29%) SAP HCM
4 1 (0.29%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 74 (21.39%) Azure
2 58 (16.76%) AWS
3 24 (6.94%) Microsoft 365
3 24 (6.94%) Power Platform
4 18 (5.20%) GCP
5 15 (4.34%) Entra ID
6 12 (3.47%) GitHub
7 7 (2.02%) Azure DevOps
8 6 (1.73%) Power Automate
9 5 (1.45%) Apigee
9 5 (1.45%) dbt
9 5 (1.45%) GitHub Actions
9 5 (1.45%) OpenShift
9 5 (1.45%) SaaS
10 4 (1.16%) Azure AKS
10 4 (1.16%) Azure Monitor
10 4 (1.16%) Google Sheets
10 4 (1.16%) Google Workspace
10 4 (1.16%) Kong
11 3 (0.87%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 19 (5.49%) Firewall
2 16 (4.62%) DNS
3 8 (2.31%) WAN
4 7 (2.02%) DHCP
4 7 (2.02%) Kerberos
4 7 (2.02%) Network Security
4 7 (2.02%) VPN
4 7 (2.02%) Wi-Fi
4 7 (2.02%) Wireless
5 6 (1.73%) LAN
5 6 (1.73%) TCP/IP
5 6 (1.73%) VLAN
6 4 (1.16%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
6 4 (1.16%) SAN
7 3 (0.87%) BGP
7 3 (0.87%) DMZ
7 3 (0.87%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
7 3 (0.87%) NetScaler
7 3 (0.87%) SSL
7 3 (0.87%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (6.07%) Power BI
2 17 (4.91%) SQL Server
3 12 (3.47%) Data Warehouse
3 12 (3.47%) MongoDB
4 10 (2.89%) Relational Database
5 6 (1.73%) MySQL
5 6 (1.73%) NoSQL
5 6 (1.73%) PostgreSQL
6 4 (1.16%) Big Data
6 4 (1.16%) DataStage
6 4 (1.16%) Snowflake Schema
6 4 (1.16%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 3 (0.87%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
7 3 (0.87%) Data Vault
7 3 (0.87%) Db2
7 3 (0.87%) Hadoop
7 3 (0.87%) Metadata
7 3 (0.87%) Power Query
7 3 (0.87%) Tableau
8 2 (0.58%) BusinessObjects
Development Applications
1 50 (14.45%) JIRA
2 21 (6.07%) Git
3 12 (3.47%) GitLab
4 10 (2.89%) Mockito
5 8 (2.31%) Jenkins
5 8 (2.31%) Postman
6 6 (1.73%) JUnit
6 6 (1.73%) Selenium
7 5 (1.45%) Cucumber
8 4 (1.16%) Gatling
8 4 (1.16%) REST Assured
9 3 (0.87%) MSI
9 3 (0.87%) Sonatype Nexus
10 2 (0.58%) Burp Suite
10 2 (0.58%) Gradle
10 2 (0.58%) JMeter
10 2 (0.58%) LoadRunner
10 2 (0.58%) SoapUI
10 2 (0.58%) SonarQube
10 2 (0.58%) Zephyr
General
1 159 (45.95%) Social Skills
2 150 (43.35%) Analytical Skills
3 114 (32.95%) Finance
4 43 (12.43%) Banking
5 25 (7.23%) Public Sector
6 15 (4.34%) Manufacturing
7 14 (4.05%) Organisational Skills
8 12 (3.47%) Legal
9 9 (2.60%) Documentation Skills
9 9 (2.60%) Influencing Skills
9 9 (2.60%) Law
9 9 (2.60%) Telecoms
10 7 (2.02%) Retail Banking
11 6 (1.73%) Retail
12 5 (1.45%) Automotive
13 4 (1.16%) Aerospace
14 3 (0.87%) Investment Banking
14 3 (0.87%) Presentation Skills
15 2 (0.58%) Billing
15 2 (0.58%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 70 (20.23%) Analyst
2 41 (11.85%) Developer
3 28 (8.09%) Business Analyst
4 22 (6.36%) Administrator
4 22 (6.36%) Lead
4 22 (6.36%) Senior
5 21 (6.07%) Consultant
6 20 (5.78%) Java Developer
7 17 (4.91%) Architect
7 17 (4.91%) Project Manager
8 16 (4.62%) IT Support
9 15 (4.34%) IT Analyst
9 15 (4.34%) Support Analyst
10 14 (4.05%) Data Engineer
10 14 (4.05%) SAP Consultant
11 13 (3.76%) Finance Manager
11 13 (3.76%) Finance Project Manager
11 13 (3.76%) Transformation Consultant
12 12 (3.47%) IT Support Analyst
13 9 (2.60%) Senior Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (6.36%) REST
2 20 (5.78%) Spring
3 18 (5.20%) Spring Boot
4 17 (4.91%) Kafka
4 17 (4.91%) React
5 16 (4.62%) RESTful
6 13 (3.76%) HTML
6 13 (3.76%) JSON
7 12 (3.47%) XML
8 11 (3.18%) CSS
8 11 (3.18%) OAuth
8 11 (3.18%) SOAP
9 9 (2.60%) Swagger
10 7 (2.02%) ActiveMQ
10 7 (2.02%) JAX-RS
10 7 (2.02%) LDAP
11 6 (1.73%) AngularJS
11 6 (1.73%) HTML5
11 6 (1.73%) OpenAPI
11 6 (1.73%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 28 (8.09%) Product Ownership
2 20 (5.78%) Onboarding
3 15 (4.34%) Management Information System
4 13 (3.76%) Cloud Native
5 12 (3.47%) Data Protection Act
6 11 (3.18%) Analytical Mindset
7 9 (2.60%) Data Centre
8 8 (2.31%) Driving Licence
8 8 (2.31%) Legacy Systems
9 6 (1.73%) AI Agents
9 6 (1.73%) Data Structures
9 6 (1.73%) Distributed Systems
9 6 (1.73%) PKI
9 6 (1.73%) Private Cloud
9 6 (1.73%) Public Cloud
10 5 (1.45%) Mobile App
10 5 (1.45%) Security Posture
10 5 (1.45%) Self-Motivation
11 4 (1.16%) Cyber Threat
11 4 (1.16%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 40 (11.56%) Windows
2 22 (6.36%) Linux
3 13 (3.76%) Unix
3 13 (3.76%) Windows 10
4 8 (2.31%) Mac OS
4 8 (2.31%) Windows Server
5 7 (2.02%) Apple iOS
6 6 (1.73%) Windows Server 2019
7 5 (1.45%) Mac OS X
8 4 (1.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (0.87%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.58%) AIX
10 2 (0.58%) Android
10 2 (0.58%) HPUX
10 2 (0.58%) Oracle Linux
10 2 (0.58%) Solaris
10 2 (0.58%) SUSE
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (23.12%) Agile
2 64 (18.50%) Stakeholder Management
3 62 (17.92%) Change Management
4 58 (16.76%) Migration
5 55 (15.90%) Continuous Improvement
6 54 (15.61%) CI/CD
7 47 (13.58%) Project Management
7 47 (13.58%) Validation
8 43 (12.43%) Workshop Facilitation
9 40 (11.56%) ERP
9 40 (11.56%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 38 (10.98%) Data Migration
10 38 (10.98%) DevOps
10 38 (10.98%) ITIL
11 33 (9.54%) Test Automation
12 32 (9.25%) Microservices
13 29 (8.38%) Customer Service
13 29 (8.38%) Decision-Making
14 28 (8.09%) Analytics
15 27 (7.80%) Business Transformation
Programming Languages
1 48 (13.87%) SQL
2 41 (11.85%) Java
3 36 (10.40%) Python
4 35 (10.12%) PowerShell
5 20 (5.78%) JavaScript
6 12 (3.47%) TypeScript
7 7 (2.02%) Bash
8 5 (1.45%) Go
8 5 (1.45%) Shell Script
9 4 (1.16%) PL/SQL
10 3 (0.87%) Apex Code
10 3 (0.87%) Bicep
10 3 (0.87%) CLIST
10 3 (0.87%) COBOL
10 3 (0.87%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 3 (0.87%) JCL
10 3 (0.87%) Kotlin
10 3 (0.87%) REXX
10 3 (0.87%) T-SQL
10 3 (0.87%) VBA
Qualifications
1 48 (13.87%) Security Cleared
2 45 (13.01%) Degree
3 32 (9.25%) SC Cleared
4 31 (8.96%) BPSS Clearance
5 22 (6.36%) Computer Science Degree
6 16 (4.62%) Microsoft Certification
7 15 (4.34%) CISSP
8 14 (4.05%) A+ Certification
9 13 (3.76%) Cisco Certification
9 13 (3.76%) Network+ Certification
10 9 (2.60%) CCNA
11 7 (2.02%) AWS Certification
11 7 (2.02%) CompTIA Security+
12 6 (1.73%) CISM
13 5 (1.45%) Azure Certification
13 5 (1.45%) CCNP
13 5 (1.45%) CEH
14 4 (1.16%) MCSE
14 4 (1.16%) PMI Certification
14 4 (1.16%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (7.80%) Data Quality
2 10 (2.89%) QA
3 9 (2.60%) NIST
4 8 (2.31%) GRC
5 7 (2.02%) PSD2
6 6 (1.73%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 5 (1.45%) Accessibility
7 5 (1.45%) PMO
7 5 (1.45%) SLA
8 4 (1.16%) GDPR
8 4 (1.16%) ISO 20022
8 4 (1.16%) PCI DSS
8 4 (1.16%) SEPA
9 2 (0.58%) ISO 8583
9 2 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 1 (0.29%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.29%) WCAG
System Software
1 38 (10.98%) Active Directory
2 24 (6.94%) Docker
3 8 (2.31%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (1.16%) Firmware
4 4 (1.16%) Virtual Desktop
4 4 (1.16%) VMware NSX
4 4 (1.16%) vSphere
5 3 (0.87%) ACF2
5 3 (0.87%) Hyper-V
5 3 (0.87%) RACF
5 3 (0.87%) Time Sharing Option
5 3 (0.87%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 27 (7.80%) Kubernetes
2 16 (4.62%) Terraform
3 9 (2.60%) SCCM
4 8 (2.31%) Grafana
5 7 (2.02%) Microsoft Intune
6 6 (1.73%) Ansible
7 5 (1.45%) Prometheus
8 4 (1.16%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 3 (0.87%) CA Endevor
9 3 (0.87%) Tivoli
9 3 (0.87%) Tivoli Storage Manager
10 2 (0.58%) Argo
10 2 (0.58%) FortiGate
10 2 (0.58%) HP ALM
10 2 (0.58%) Istio
11 1 (0.29%) CA Single Sign-On
11 1 (0.29%) Functional Safety
11 1 (0.29%) Norton AntiVirus
11 1 (0.29%) Single Sign-On
11 1 (0.29%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 59 (17.05%) Microsoft
2 48 (13.87%) SAP
3 25 (7.23%) ServiceNow
4 18 (5.20%) Oracle
5 14 (4.05%) Sage
6 13 (3.76%) Splunk
7 11 (3.18%) VMware
8 9 (2.60%) Cisco
8 9 (2.60%) F5
8 9 (2.60%) Google
9 6 (1.73%) BeyondTrust
9 6 (1.73%) CrowdStrike
9 6 (1.73%) HP
9 6 (1.73%) Remedy
9 6 (1.73%) Workday
10 5 (1.45%) Dell
10 5 (1.45%) DocuSign
10 5 (1.45%) Palo Alto
10 5 (1.45%) Red Hat
10 5 (1.45%) Salesforce