Degree Contract Job Trends in Cheshire

Academic Degree
North West > Cheshire

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in Cheshire with a requirement for Degree qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 29 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 18 15 10
Rank change year-on-year -3 -5 +1
Contract jobs citing Degree 71 66 58
As % of all contract jobs in Cheshire 9.21% 11.07% 12.11%
As % of the Qualifications category 28.51% 40.99% 51.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 51 54 41
10th Percentile £313 £283 £158
25th Percentile £416 £338 £365
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £452 £533
Median % change year-on-year +5.20% -15.29% +18.44%
75th Percentile £608 £566 £569
90th Percentile £627 £638 £615
North West median daily rate £449 £475 £535
% change year-on-year -5.47% -11.26% +12.68%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 5 0
10th Percentile - £30.50 -
25th Percentile £17.25 £31.25 -
Median hourly rate £17.50 £32.50 -
Median % change year-on-year -46.15% - -
75th Percentile £17.75 £34.00 -
90th Percentile - £35.65 -
North West median hourly rate £39.50 £32.50 £48.56
% change year-on-year +21.54% -33.07% +19.90%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
Cheshire

Degree falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in Cheshire.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 249 161 112
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire 32.30% 27.01% 23.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 143 126 76
10th Percentile £320 £268 £158
25th Percentile £419 £350 £390
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £515
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -12.62% +3.00%
75th Percentile £613 £534 £570
90th Percentile £649 £630 £638
North West median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -4.58%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 7 2
10th Percentile £17.25 £28.06 -
25th Percentile £23.44 £30.63 -
Median hourly rate £36.26 £32.50 £14.00
Median % change year-on-year +11.57% +132.14% -73.46%
75th Percentile £83.75 £35.38 -
90th Percentile £98.86 £56.15 -
North West median hourly rate £43.96 £29.27 £16.93
% change year-on-year +50.19% +72.94% -59.29%

Degree
Job Vacancy Trend in Cheshire

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Degree relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire.

Degree job vacancy trend in Cheshire

Degree
Daily Rate Trend in Cheshire

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Degree.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Degree

Degree
Daily Rate Histogram in Cheshire

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Degree in Cheshire over the 6 months to 29 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Degree in Cheshire

Degree
Hourly Rate Trend in Cheshire

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Degree.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Degree

Degree
Contract Job Locations in Cheshire

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Degree within the Cheshire region over the 6 months to 29 July 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
Knutsford +14 41 £459 +5.64% 4
Chester -8 12 £575 +76.92% 6
Warrington -4 8 £475 +185.71% 10
Northwich - 2 - -
Degree
North West

Degree
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Cheshire 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 (18.31%) Confluence
2 6 (8.45%) SharePoint
3 2 (2.82%) Camunda
4 1 (1.41%) JBoss
4 1 (1.41%) Mule
4 1 (1.41%) Mule ESB
4 1 (1.41%) WebLogic
Applications
1 27 (38.03%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (4.23%) Microsoft Project
2 3 (4.23%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 3 (4.23%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 19 (26.76%) AWS
2 16 (22.54%) Azure
3 12 (16.90%) Microsoft 365
4 10 (14.08%) GCP
5 6 (8.45%) Entra ID
5 6 (8.45%) Google Kubernetes Engine
6 5 (7.04%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 4 (5.63%) AWS CloudFormation
7 4 (5.63%) Azure Sentinel
8 3 (4.23%) OpenShift
8 3 (4.23%) Power Platform
8 3 (4.23%) SaaS
9 2 (2.82%) AWS Lambda
9 2 (2.82%) Azure AI
9 2 (2.82%) Azure DevOps
9 2 (2.82%) Azure Monitor
9 2 (2.82%) IBM Watson
9 2 (2.82%) Vertex AI
10 1 (1.41%) Amazon ECS
10 1 (1.41%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 17 (23.94%) Firewall
2 15 (21.13%) VPN
3 8 (11.27%) Network Security
3 8 (11.27%) Wireless
4 6 (8.45%) DNS
5 4 (5.63%) BGP
5 4 (5.63%) Internet
5 4 (5.63%) MPLS
5 4 (5.63%) OSPF
5 4 (5.63%) SSL
5 4 (5.63%) WAN
5 4 (5.63%) Wi-Fi
6 3 (4.23%) Cisco ISE
6 3 (4.23%) FTP
6 3 (4.23%) Skype
6 3 (4.23%) SSH
7 2 (2.82%) Cisco IOS
7 2 (2.82%) Cisco Nexus
7 2 (2.82%) Multicast
7 2 (2.82%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (4.23%) Power BI
1 3 (4.23%) Relational Database
1 3 (4.23%) SQL Server
2 2 (2.82%) Apache Cassandra
2 2 (2.82%) MongoDB
2 2 (2.82%) NoSQL
2 2 (2.82%) PostgreSQL
2 2 (2.82%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 20 (28.17%) JIRA
2 2 (2.82%) Cucumber
2 2 (2.82%) GitLab
2 2 (2.82%) JUnit
3 1 (1.41%) Bitbucket
3 1 (1.41%) Eclipse
3 1 (1.41%) Git
3 1 (1.41%) IntelliJ
3 1 (1.41%) Postman
3 1 (1.41%) Selenium
3 1 (1.41%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 33 (46.48%) Finance
2 20 (28.17%) Social Skills
3 12 (16.90%) Banking
4 10 (14.08%) Analytical Skills
5 4 (5.63%) Legal
5 4 (5.63%) Organisational Skills
5 4 (5.63%) Public Sector
6 2 (2.82%) Influencing Skills
6 2 (2.82%) Presentation Skills
6 2 (2.82%) Publishing
7 1 (1.41%) Corporate Banking
7 1 (1.41%) Documentation Skills
7 1 (1.41%) Financial Institution
7 1 (1.41%) Investment Banking
7 1 (1.41%) Local Government
7 1 (1.41%) Military
7 1 (1.41%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 13 (18.31%) Analyst
2 12 (16.90%) Security Engineer
3 7 (9.86%) Cloud Engineer
4 6 (8.45%) Consultant
4 6 (8.45%) IT Analyst
4 6 (8.45%) IT Operations Analyst
4 6 (8.45%) Operations Analyst
5 5 (7.04%) Business Analyst
5 5 (7.04%) Cloud Security Engineer
5 5 (7.04%) IT Support
5 5 (7.04%) IT Support Analyst
5 5 (7.04%) Network Engineer
5 5 (7.04%) Operational Support Analyst
5 5 (7.04%) Operations Support Analyst
5 5 (7.04%) Project Manager
5 5 (7.04%) Security Consultant
5 5 (7.04%) Support Analyst
6 3 (4.23%) Incident and Problem Analyst
6 3 (4.23%) Senior
6 3 (4.23%) Service Transition Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (5.63%) 802.1X
2 2 (2.82%) JSON
2 2 (2.82%) LangChain
2 2 (2.82%) Microsoft Graph
2 2 (2.82%) Middleware
2 2 (2.82%) PyTorch
2 2 (2.82%) scikit-learn
3 1 (1.41%) .NET
3 1 (1.41%) ARM Templates
3 1 (1.41%) Azure Blueprints
3 1 (1.41%) HTML
3 1 (1.41%) HTML5
3 1 (1.41%) Jakarta EE
3 1 (1.41%) JPA
3 1 (1.41%) Kafka
3 1 (1.41%) Playwright
3 1 (1.41%) REST
3 1 (1.41%) Spring
3 1 (1.41%) Web Services
3 1 (1.41%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 16 (22.54%) Management Information System
2 10 (14.08%) Cloud Native
2 10 (14.08%) Security Posture
3 7 (9.86%) PKI
4 4 (5.63%) Distributed Systems
4 4 (5.63%) Product Ownership
5 3 (4.23%) Enterprise Cloud
5 3 (4.23%) Legacy Systems
5 3 (4.23%) Onboarding
5 3 (4.23%) Tandem
6 2 (2.82%) Cloud Security Posture
6 2 (2.82%) Data Structures
6 2 (2.82%) Linux Command Line
7 1 (1.41%) Client/Server
7 1 (1.41%) Cyber Threat
7 1 (1.41%) Freedom of Information
7 1 (1.41%) Operational Technology
7 1 (1.41%) PMI
7 1 (1.41%) SWIFT Messaging Network
7 1 (1.41%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 24 (33.80%) Windows
2 19 (26.76%) Linux
3 9 (12.68%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 6 (8.45%) Unix
5 3 (4.23%) AIX
5 3 (4.23%) Windows 10
6 1 (1.41%) Android
6 1 (1.41%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 31 (43.66%) Agile
2 27 (38.03%) Change Management
3 23 (32.39%) ITIL
4 20 (28.17%) DevOps
5 18 (25.35%) Problem-Solving
6 17 (23.94%) Computer Science
6 17 (23.94%) Roadmaps
6 17 (23.94%) Scrum
7 14 (19.72%) SIEM
8 12 (16.90%) AI
8 12 (16.90%) CI/CD
8 12 (16.90%) Incident Management
8 12 (16.90%) ITSM
8 12 (16.90%) Stakeholder Management
9 11 (15.49%) Cloud Security
9 11 (15.49%) Cryptography
9 11 (15.49%) Project Delivery
10 10 (14.08%) Generative AI
10 10 (14.08%) Service Management
11 9 (12.68%) Product Roadmap
Programming Languages
1 20 (28.17%) Python
2 17 (23.94%) PowerShell
3 12 (16.90%) Bash
4 10 (14.08%) Java
5 5 (7.04%) SQL
6 4 (5.63%) Bicep
7 2 (2.82%) Perl
7 2 (2.82%) Shell Script
8 1 (1.41%) JavaScript
8 1 (1.41%) Kusto Query Language
8 1 (1.41%) PL/SQL
8 1 (1.41%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 15 (21.13%) CISSP
2 11 (15.49%) Computer Science Degree
3 8 (11.27%) AWS Certification
4 7 (9.86%) Azure Certification
4 7 (9.86%) CCNP
4 7 (9.86%) Cisco Certification
5 6 (8.45%) ITIL Certification
5 6 (8.45%) Security Cleared
6 4 (5.63%) SC Cleared
7 3 (4.23%) CCNA
7 3 (4.23%) CEH
7 3 (4.23%) CompTIA Security+
7 3 (4.23%) PMI Certification
7 3 (4.23%) PMP
8 2 (2.82%) CCIE
8 2 (2.82%) CISM
8 2 (2.82%) OSCP
8 2 (2.82%) SAFe Agilist
9 1 (1.41%) CRISC
9 1 (1.41%) GSEC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (12.68%) NIST
2 4 (5.63%) GDPR
2 4 (5.63%) SLA
3 3 (4.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 2 (2.82%) California Consumer Privacy Act
4 2 (2.82%) GRC
4 2 (2.82%) HIPAA
4 2 (2.82%) PCI DSS
4 2 (2.82%) QA
5 1 (1.41%) Basel III
5 1 (1.41%) ISO 20022
5 1 (1.41%) PSD2
5 1 (1.41%) SEPA
System Software
1 9 (12.68%) Docker
2 3 (4.23%) NFS
2 3 (4.23%) Veritas Volume Manager
3 2 (2.82%) Active Directory
3 2 (2.82%) Firmware
3 2 (2.82%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 12 (16.90%) Kubernetes
2 9 (12.68%) Progress Chef
2 9 (12.68%) Terraform
3 5 (7.04%) Ansible
4 3 (4.23%) Cisco Prime
4 3 (4.23%) PowerBroker
4 3 (4.23%) Tivoli
4 3 (4.23%) Tivoli Storage Manager
5 1 (1.41%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 1 (1.41%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 16 (22.54%) Cisco
2 14 (19.72%) Microsoft
3 11 (15.49%) ServiceNow
4 9 (12.68%) Red Hat
4 9 (12.68%) Splunk
5 8 (11.27%) Google
6 6 (8.45%) Bomgar
6 6 (8.45%) ForeScout
6 6 (8.45%) Fortinet
7 5 (7.04%) CyberArk
7 5 (7.04%) IBM
7 5 (7.04%) Oracle
7 5 (7.04%) Remedy
8 3 (4.23%) Broadcom
8 3 (4.23%) Citrix
8 3 (4.23%) Gemalto
8 3 (4.23%) Thales
8 3 (4.23%) Veritas
9 2 (2.82%) Arista
9 2 (2.82%) Zscaler