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

6 months to
25 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 13 2 10
Rank change year-on-year -11 +8 +7
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 351 389 323
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 9.97% 19.44% 11.51%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.94% 21.73% 13.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 200 233 183
10th Percentile £272 £230 £300
25th Percentile £362 £384 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £441 £475 £488
Median % change year-on-year -7.11% -2.56% +1.35%
75th Percentile £525 £584 £550
90th Percentile £618 £703 £638
England median daily rate £495 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.00% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 37 49
10th Percentile £13.95 £12.21 -
25th Percentile £17.35 £17.44 £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 £54.72
England median hourly rate £21.35 £21.27 £16.23
% change year-on-year +0.40% +31.02% -68.49%

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 2,940 1,790 2,355
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 83.48% 89.46% 83.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,727 1,197 1,435
10th Percentile £300 £303 £306
25th Percentile £400 £384 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £460 £495
Median % change year-on-year +3.26% -7.07% -1.00%
75th Percentile £588 £563 £585
90th Percentile £675 £664 £675
England median daily rate £520 £515 £525
% change year-on-year +0.97% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 270 102 266
10th Percentile £17.25 £12.82 £11.00
25th Percentile £25.38 £19.06 £14.15
Median hourly rate £50.00 £32.00 £29.00
Median % change year-on-year +56.25% +10.34% -4.20%
75th Percentile £75.75 £63.40 £46.18
90th Percentile £85.00 £83.17 £66.61
England median hourly rate £47.00 £26.45 £37.50
% change year-on-year +77.69% -29.47% +6.72%

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 25 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 25 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 25 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 -11 177 £440 -4.86% 174
Cheshire -7 97 £425 -13.71% 58
Lancashire -6 35 £500 +11.11% 64
Cumbria -2 24 £491 +145.63% 17
Merseyside -25 12 £188 -60.53% 20
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 26 (7.41%) Confluence
2 5 (1.42%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (1.14%) SharePoint
4 3 (0.85%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.57%) Camunda
5 2 (0.57%) CMS
6 1 (0.28%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 1 (0.28%) JBoss
6 1 (0.28%) Mule
6 1 (0.28%) Mule ESB
6 1 (0.28%) NetWeaver
6 1 (0.28%) nginx
6 1 (0.28%) WebLogic
Applications
1 17 (4.84%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (3.70%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (1.71%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.85%) CATIA
4 3 (0.85%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.57%) Chatbot
5 2 (0.57%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.57%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 31 (8.83%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (1.71%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (0.85%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (0.85%) Payment Gateway
4 1 (0.28%) Elite 3E
4 1 (0.28%) FIS Private Capital Suite
4 1 (0.28%) ResourceLink
4 1 (0.28%) SAP BPC
4 1 (0.28%) SAP ERP
4 1 (0.28%) SAP HCM
4 1 (0.28%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 72 (20.51%) Azure
2 56 (15.95%) AWS
3 27 (7.69%) Microsoft 365
4 25 (7.12%) Power Platform
5 18 (5.13%) GCP
6 16 (4.56%) Entra ID
7 11 (3.13%) GitHub
8 7 (1.99%) Azure DevOps
9 6 (1.71%) OpenShift
9 6 (1.71%) Power Automate
10 5 (1.42%) Apigee
11 4 (1.14%) Azure AKS
11 4 (1.14%) Azure Monitor
11 4 (1.14%) dbt
11 4 (1.14%) GitHub Actions
11 4 (1.14%) Google Sheets
11 4 (1.14%) Google Workspace
11 4 (1.14%) Kong
11 4 (1.14%) SaaS
12 3 (0.85%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 18 (5.13%) Firewall
2 15 (4.27%) DNS
3 10 (2.85%) VPN
4 8 (2.28%) WAN
5 7 (1.99%) DHCP
5 7 (1.99%) Kerberos
5 7 (1.99%) Wi-Fi
5 7 (1.99%) Wireless
6 6 (1.71%) LAN
6 6 (1.71%) Network Security
6 6 (1.71%) TCP/IP
6 6 (1.71%) VLAN
7 4 (1.14%) SAN
8 3 (0.85%) BGP
8 3 (0.85%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
8 3 (0.85%) SSL
8 3 (0.85%) WebEx
9 2 (0.57%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
9 2 (0.57%) SD-WAN
9 2 (0.57%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (6.27%) Power BI
2 18 (5.13%) SQL Server
3 13 (3.70%) MongoDB
4 12 (3.42%) Data Warehouse
5 11 (3.13%) Relational Database
6 6 (1.71%) MySQL
6 6 (1.71%) NoSQL
6 6 (1.71%) PostgreSQL
7 4 (1.14%) Big Data
7 4 (1.14%) DataStage
7 4 (1.14%) Snowflake Schema
7 4 (1.14%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 3 (0.85%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
8 3 (0.85%) Data Vault
8 3 (0.85%) Db2
8 3 (0.85%) Hadoop
8 3 (0.85%) Metadata
8 3 (0.85%) Power Query
8 3 (0.85%) Tableau
9 2 (0.57%) BusinessObjects
Development Applications
1 49 (13.96%) JIRA
2 21 (5.98%) Git
3 13 (3.70%) GitLab
4 10 (2.85%) Mockito
5 8 (2.28%) Jenkins
5 8 (2.28%) Postman
6 6 (1.71%) JUnit
6 6 (1.71%) Selenium
7 5 (1.42%) Cucumber
8 4 (1.14%) Gatling
8 4 (1.14%) REST Assured
9 3 (0.85%) MSI
9 3 (0.85%) Sonatype Nexus
10 2 (0.57%) Burp Suite
10 2 (0.57%) Gradle
10 2 (0.57%) JMeter
10 2 (0.57%) Serenity BDD
10 2 (0.57%) SoapUI
10 2 (0.57%) SonarQube
10 2 (0.57%) Zephyr
General
1 162 (46.15%) Social Skills
2 157 (44.73%) Analytical Skills
3 114 (32.48%) Finance
4 42 (11.97%) Banking
5 24 (6.84%) Public Sector
6 15 (4.27%) Manufacturing
7 13 (3.70%) Legal
7 13 (3.70%) Organisational Skills
8 9 (2.56%) Documentation Skills
8 9 (2.56%) Influencing Skills
8 9 (2.56%) Law
8 9 (2.56%) Telecoms
9 6 (1.71%) Automotive
9 6 (1.71%) Retail
10 5 (1.42%) Retail Banking
11 4 (1.14%) Aerospace
12 3 (0.85%) Investment Banking
12 3 (0.85%) Presentation Skills
13 2 (0.57%) Billing
13 2 (0.57%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 69 (19.66%) Analyst
2 41 (11.68%) Developer
3 25 (7.12%) Business Analyst
4 23 (6.55%) Administrator
4 23 (6.55%) Lead
5 21 (5.98%) Consultant
5 21 (5.98%) Senior
6 20 (5.70%) Java Developer
7 19 (5.41%) Architect
7 19 (5.41%) IT Support
8 17 (4.84%) IT Analyst
8 17 (4.84%) Project Manager
9 16 (4.56%) Support Analyst
10 14 (3.99%) Data Engineer
10 14 (3.99%) IT Support Analyst
10 14 (3.99%) SAP Consultant
11 13 (3.70%) Finance Manager
11 13 (3.70%) Finance Project Manager
11 13 (3.70%) Transformation Consultant
12 9 (2.56%) Senior Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (6.55%) REST
2 20 (5.70%) Spring
3 18 (5.13%) Kafka
3 18 (5.13%) Spring Boot
4 16 (4.56%) React
5 15 (4.27%) RESTful
6 14 (3.99%) JSON
7 13 (3.70%) XML
8 12 (3.42%) HTML
8 12 (3.42%) OAuth
9 11 (3.13%) SOAP
10 10 (2.85%) CSS
11 9 (2.56%) Swagger
12 7 (1.99%) ActiveMQ
12 7 (1.99%) JAX-RS
12 7 (1.99%) LDAP
13 6 (1.71%) AngularJS
13 6 (1.71%) OpenAPI
13 6 (1.71%) Playwright
14 5 (1.42%) ARM Templates
Miscellaneous
1 26 (7.41%) Product Ownership
2 22 (6.27%) Onboarding
3 15 (4.27%) Management Information System
4 14 (3.99%) Cloud Native
5 12 (3.42%) Data Protection Act
6 11 (3.13%) Analytical Mindset
7 9 (2.56%) Data Centre
7 9 (2.56%) Driving Licence
8 8 (2.28%) Legacy Systems
9 7 (1.99%) Data Structures
10 6 (1.71%) AI Agents
10 6 (1.71%) Distributed Systems
10 6 (1.71%) PKI
10 6 (1.71%) Security Posture
11 5 (1.42%) Mobile App
11 5 (1.42%) Private Cloud
11 5 (1.42%) Public Cloud
11 5 (1.42%) Self-Motivation
12 4 (1.14%) Cyber Threat
12 4 (1.14%) SWIFT Messaging Network
Operating Systems
1 44 (12.54%) Windows
2 22 (6.27%) Linux
3 15 (4.27%) Windows 10
4 13 (3.70%) Unix
5 8 (2.28%) Mac OS
5 8 (2.28%) Windows Server
6 7 (1.99%) Apple iOS
7 5 (1.42%) Mac OS X
7 5 (1.42%) Windows Server 2019
8 4 (1.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 2 (0.57%) AIX
9 2 (0.57%) Android
9 2 (0.57%) HPUX
9 2 (0.57%) Oracle Linux
9 2 (0.57%) Solaris
9 2 (0.57%) SUSE
9 2 (0.57%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (22.79%) Agile
2 65 (18.52%) Stakeholder Management
3 60 (17.09%) Change Management
3 60 (17.09%) Continuous Improvement
4 58 (16.52%) Migration
5 54 (15.38%) CI/CD
6 47 (13.39%) Validation
7 46 (13.11%) Project Management
8 43 (12.25%) Workshop Facilitation
9 42 (11.97%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 41 (11.68%) ERP
11 40 (11.40%) ITIL
12 38 (10.83%) Data Migration
12 38 (10.83%) DevOps
13 33 (9.40%) Test Automation
14 32 (9.12%) Microservices
15 31 (8.83%) Decision-Making
16 30 (8.55%) Customer Service
17 29 (8.26%) Analytics
18 27 (7.69%) Business Transformation
Programming Languages
1 48 (13.68%) SQL
2 41 (11.68%) Java
3 37 (10.54%) PowerShell
4 36 (10.26%) Python
5 18 (5.13%) JavaScript
6 11 (3.13%) TypeScript
7 7 (1.99%) Bash
8 5 (1.42%) Shell Script
9 4 (1.14%) Go
9 4 (1.14%) PL/SQL
10 3 (0.85%) Apex Code
10 3 (0.85%) Bicep
10 3 (0.85%) C#
10 3 (0.85%) CLIST
10 3 (0.85%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 3 (0.85%) JCL
10 3 (0.85%) Kotlin
10 3 (0.85%) REXX
10 3 (0.85%) T-SQL
10 3 (0.85%) VBA
Qualifications
1 50 (14.25%) Security Cleared
2 48 (13.68%) Degree
3 35 (9.97%) SC Cleared
4 31 (8.83%) BPSS Clearance
5 24 (6.84%) Computer Science Degree
6 17 (4.84%) Microsoft Certification
7 15 (4.27%) CISSP
8 14 (3.99%) A+ Certification
9 13 (3.70%) Cisco Certification
9 13 (3.70%) Network+ Certification
10 9 (2.56%) CCNA
11 7 (1.99%) AWS Certification
11 7 (1.99%) CompTIA Security+
12 6 (1.71%) CISM
13 5 (1.42%) Azure Certification
13 5 (1.42%) CCNP
13 5 (1.42%) CEH
14 4 (1.14%) MCSE
14 4 (1.14%) PMI Certification
14 4 (1.14%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (8.26%) Data Quality
2 10 (2.85%) QA
3 9 (2.56%) GRC
3 9 (2.56%) NIST
4 7 (1.99%) PSD2
5 6 (1.71%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 5 (1.42%) Accessibility
6 5 (1.42%) PMO
6 5 (1.42%) SLA
7 4 (1.14%) GDPR
7 4 (1.14%) ISO 20022
7 4 (1.14%) PCI DSS
7 4 (1.14%) SEPA
8 2 (0.57%) ISO 8583
8 2 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 27005
9 1 (0.28%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 1 (0.28%) WCAG
System Software
1 40 (11.40%) Active Directory
2 23 (6.55%) Docker
3 7 (1.99%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (1.14%) Firmware
5 3 (0.85%) ACF2
5 3 (0.85%) Hyper-V
5 3 (0.85%) RACF
5 3 (0.85%) Time Sharing Option
5 3 (0.85%) Virtual Desktop
5 3 (0.85%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.85%) VMware NSX
5 3 (0.85%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 26 (7.41%) Kubernetes
2 16 (4.56%) Terraform
3 9 (2.56%) Grafana
3 9 (2.56%) SCCM
4 8 (2.28%) Ansible
5 6 (1.71%) Microsoft Intune
6 5 (1.42%) Prometheus
7 3 (0.85%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 3 (0.85%) CA Endevor
7 3 (0.85%) Tivoli
7 3 (0.85%) Tivoli Storage Manager
8 2 (0.57%) Argo
8 2 (0.57%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.57%) HP ALM
8 2 (0.57%) Istio
8 2 (0.57%) McAfee ePO
8 2 (0.57%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.57%) WMI
9 1 (0.28%) Functional Safety
9 1 (0.28%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 62 (17.66%) Microsoft
2 49 (13.96%) SAP
3 29 (8.26%) ServiceNow
4 18 (5.13%) Oracle
5 15 (4.27%) Sage
6 14 (3.99%) Splunk
7 9 (2.56%) Cisco
7 9 (2.56%) Google
7 9 (2.56%) VMware
8 8 (2.28%) Workday
9 7 (1.99%) F5
10 6 (1.71%) BeyondTrust
10 6 (1.71%) CrowdStrike
10 6 (1.71%) HP
10 6 (1.71%) Remedy
11 5 (1.42%) Dell
11 5 (1.42%) DocuSign
11 5 (1.42%) Palo Alto
11 5 (1.42%) Red Hat
11 5 (1.42%) Salesforce