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 17 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 17 15 7
Rank change year-on-year -2 -8 +8
Contract jobs citing Degree 76 63 72
As % of all contract jobs in Cheshire 9.83% 10.81% 13.38%
As % of the Qualifications category 29.57% 44.06% 57.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 57 51 51
10th Percentile £358 £317 £158
25th Percentile £415 £352 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £456 £533
Median % change year-on-year +4.17% -14.45% +12.21%
75th Percentile £600 £544 £572
90th Percentile £623 £600 £630
North West median daily rate £447 £463 £525
% change year-on-year -3.35% -11.90% +8.02%
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 £40.33
% change year-on-year +21.54% -19.40% +19.13%

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 257 143 126
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire 33.25% 24.53% 23.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 153 110 87
10th Percentile £350 £304 £198
25th Percentile £415 £356 £391
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £459 £510
Median % change year-on-year +8.87% -9.95% -2.86%
75th Percentile £613 £537 £568
90th Percentile £650 £616 £638
North West median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -3.85%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 7 2
10th Percentile £17.25 £28.06 -
25th Percentile £21.38 £30.63 -
Median hourly rate £36.70 £32.50 £14.00
Median % change year-on-year +12.92% +132.14% -73.46%
75th Percentile £83.75 £35.38 -
90th Percentile £100.23 £56.15 -
North West median hourly rate £43.96 £30.00 £17.25
% change year-on-year +46.53% +73.91% -57.50%

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 17 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 17 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 +15 44 £453 +0.33% 4
Chester -9 12 £575 +76.92% 2
Warrington -5 10 £500 +200.75% 9
Northwich - 2 - - 1
Macclesfield +1 1 £600 +3.45% 1
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 17 (22.37%) Confluence
2 8 (10.53%) SharePoint
3 2 (2.63%) Camunda
4 1 (1.32%) JBoss
4 1 (1.32%) Mule
4 1 (1.32%) Mule ESB
4 1 (1.32%) WebLogic
Applications
1 29 (38.16%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (3.95%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (2.63%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 4 (5.26%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (3.95%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (1.32%) SAP PM
3 1 (1.32%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 18 (23.68%) AWS
2 16 (21.05%) Azure
3 13 (17.11%) Microsoft 365
4 9 (11.84%) GCP
5 6 (7.89%) Entra ID
6 5 (6.58%) Google Kubernetes Engine
6 5 (6.58%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 4 (5.26%) SaaS
8 3 (3.95%) AWS CloudFormation
8 3 (3.95%) Azure Sentinel
8 3 (3.95%) OpenShift
8 3 (3.95%) Power Platform
9 2 (2.63%) Azure AI
9 2 (2.63%) Azure DevOps
9 2 (2.63%) IBM Watson
9 2 (2.63%) Vertex AI
10 1 (1.32%) AWS Step Functions
10 1 (1.32%) Azure Logic Apps
10 1 (1.32%) Azure Monitor
10 1 (1.32%) LangSmith
Communications & Networking
1 16 (21.05%) Firewall
1 16 (21.05%) VPN
2 8 (10.53%) Wireless
3 7 (9.21%) DNS
3 7 (9.21%) Network Security
4 4 (5.26%) BGP
4 4 (5.26%) Internet
4 4 (5.26%) MPLS
4 4 (5.26%) OSPF
4 4 (5.26%) Skype
4 4 (5.26%) SSL
4 4 (5.26%) WAN
4 4 (5.26%) Wi-Fi
5 3 (3.95%) Cisco ISE
5 3 (3.95%) FTP
5 3 (3.95%) SSH
6 2 (2.63%) Cisco IOS
6 2 (2.63%) LAN
6 2 (2.63%) VLAN
6 2 (2.63%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (3.95%) Power BI
1 3 (3.95%) Relational Database
1 3 (3.95%) SQL Server
2 2 (2.63%) Apache Cassandra
2 2 (2.63%) MongoDB
2 2 (2.63%) NoSQL
2 2 (2.63%) PostgreSQL
2 2 (2.63%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 26 (34.21%) JIRA
2 4 (5.26%) Postman
3 3 (3.95%) Git
4 2 (2.63%) Cucumber
4 2 (2.63%) GitLab
4 2 (2.63%) JUnit
5 1 (1.32%) Bitbucket
5 1 (1.32%) Eclipse
5 1 (1.32%) IntelliJ
5 1 (1.32%) MLflow
5 1 (1.32%) Selenium
5 1 (1.32%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 35 (46.05%) Finance
2 25 (32.89%) Social Skills
3 14 (18.42%) Banking
4 13 (17.11%) Analytical Skills
5 6 (7.89%) Documentation Skills
5 6 (7.89%) Public Sector
6 5 (6.58%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (5.26%) Legal
8 2 (2.63%) Influencing Skills
8 2 (2.63%) Presentation Skills
8 2 (2.63%) Publishing
9 1 (1.32%) Corporate Banking
9 1 (1.32%) Financial Institution
9 1 (1.32%) Investment Banking
9 1 (1.32%) Manufacturing
9 1 (1.32%) Military
9 1 (1.32%) Pharmaceutical
9 1 (1.32%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 16 (21.05%) Analyst
2 10 (13.16%) Security Engineer
3 8 (10.53%) Business Analyst
4 6 (7.89%) Consultant
4 6 (7.89%) IT Analyst
4 6 (7.89%) IT Operations Analyst
4 6 (7.89%) Operations Analyst
4 6 (7.89%) Support Analyst
5 5 (6.58%) Cloud Engineer
5 5 (6.58%) IT Support
5 5 (6.58%) IT Support Analyst
5 5 (6.58%) Network Engineer
5 5 (6.58%) Operational Support Analyst
5 5 (6.58%) Operations Support Analyst
5 5 (6.58%) Project Manager
5 5 (6.58%) Security Consultant
6 4 (5.26%) 1st Line Support
6 4 (5.26%) Architect
7 3 (3.95%) Problem Management Analyst
7 3 (3.95%) Service Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (6.58%) JSON
2 4 (5.26%) 802.1X
2 4 (5.26%) REST
2 4 (5.26%) XML
3 3 (3.95%) LangChain
3 3 (3.95%) PyTorch
3 3 (3.95%) SOAP
3 3 (3.95%) Swagger
4 2 (2.63%) Microsoft Graph
4 2 (2.63%) Middleware
4 2 (2.63%) scikit-learn
5 1 (1.32%) AngularJS
5 1 (1.32%) ARM Templates
5 1 (1.32%) HTML
5 1 (1.32%) Jest
5 1 (1.32%) Kafka
5 1 (1.32%) Playwright
5 1 (1.32%) React
5 1 (1.32%) Spring Boot
5 1 (1.32%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 18 (23.68%) Management Information System
2 10 (13.16%) Cloud Native
3 9 (11.84%) Security Posture
4 7 (9.21%) PKI
5 4 (5.26%) Distributed Systems
5 4 (5.26%) Product Ownership
6 3 (3.95%) Digital Wallet
6 3 (3.95%) Legacy Systems
6 3 (3.95%) Onboarding
6 3 (3.95%) Tandem
7 2 (2.63%) Cloud Security Posture
7 2 (2.63%) Data Structures
7 2 (2.63%) Enterprise Cloud
7 2 (2.63%) Linux Command Line
7 2 (2.63%) Virtual Team
8 1 (1.32%) AI Agents
8 1 (1.32%) Distributed Computing
8 1 (1.32%) Enterprise Software
8 1 (1.32%) Operational Technology
8 1 (1.32%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 25 (32.89%) Windows
2 18 (23.68%) Linux
3 8 (10.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 7 (9.21%) Unix
5 4 (5.26%) Windows 10
6 3 (3.95%) AIX
7 1 (1.32%) Android
7 1 (1.32%) Apple iOS
7 1 (1.32%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 35 (46.05%) Agile
2 27 (35.53%) ITIL
3 26 (34.21%) Change Management
4 22 (28.95%) Problem-Solving
5 21 (27.63%) Computer Science
5 21 (27.63%) DevOps
6 18 (23.68%) Roadmaps
7 17 (22.37%) Stakeholder Management
8 16 (21.05%) Scrum
9 14 (18.42%) AI
9 14 (18.42%) CI/CD
9 14 (18.42%) ITSM
10 13 (17.11%) Incident Management
10 13 (17.11%) SIEM
11 11 (14.47%) Cryptography
11 11 (14.47%) Generative AI
11 11 (14.47%) Project Delivery
12 10 (13.16%) Customer Service
12 10 (13.16%) Project Management
12 10 (13.16%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 19 (25.00%) Python
2 16 (21.05%) PowerShell
3 10 (13.16%) Bash
4 9 (11.84%) Java
5 5 (6.58%) SQL
6 2 (2.63%) Bicep
6 2 (2.63%) Perl
6 2 (2.63%) Shell Script
7 1 (1.32%) JavaScript
7 1 (1.32%) Kusto Query Language
7 1 (1.32%) PL/SQL
7 1 (1.32%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 16 (21.05%) Computer Science Degree
2 14 (18.42%) CISSP
3 8 (10.53%) AWS Certification
3 8 (10.53%) Security Cleared
4 7 (9.21%) Azure Certification
4 7 (9.21%) CCNP
4 7 (9.21%) Cisco Certification
4 7 (9.21%) ITIL Certification
5 4 (5.26%) PMI Certification
5 4 (5.26%) PMP
5 4 (5.26%) SC Cleared
6 3 (3.95%) CCNA
6 3 (3.95%) CEH
6 3 (3.95%) CompTIA Security+
6 3 (3.95%) Master's Degree
7 2 (2.63%) CCIE
7 2 (2.63%) CISM
7 2 (2.63%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 2 (2.63%) OSCP
7 2 (2.63%) SAFe Agilist
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (11.84%) NIST
2 6 (7.89%) GDPR
3 5 (6.58%) PCI DSS
3 5 (6.58%) SLA
4 4 (5.26%) GRC
4 4 (5.26%) PSD2
5 3 (3.95%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 2 (2.63%) California Consumer Privacy Act
6 2 (2.63%) HIPAA
6 2 (2.63%) ISO 8583
6 2 (2.63%) QA
7 1 (1.32%) Basel III
7 1 (1.32%) ISO 20022
7 1 (1.32%) SEPA
System Software
1 9 (11.84%) Docker
2 3 (3.95%) NFS
2 3 (3.95%) Veritas Volume Manager
3 2 (2.63%) Active Directory
3 2 (2.63%) Firmware
3 2 (2.63%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 11 (14.47%) Kubernetes
2 9 (11.84%) Terraform
3 8 (10.53%) Progress Chef
4 7 (9.21%) Ansible
5 3 (3.95%) Cisco Prime
5 3 (3.95%) PowerBroker
5 3 (3.95%) Tivoli
5 3 (3.95%) Tivoli Storage Manager
6 2 (2.63%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 1 (1.32%) CA Single Sign-On
7 1 (1.32%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (1.32%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 17 (22.37%) Cisco
2 15 (19.74%) Microsoft
3 13 (17.11%) ServiceNow
4 9 (11.84%) Splunk
5 8 (10.53%) Google
5 8 (10.53%) Red Hat
6 6 (7.89%) Bomgar
6 6 (7.89%) ForeScout
6 6 (7.89%) Fortinet
6 6 (7.89%) IBM
6 6 (7.89%) Remedy
7 5 (6.58%) CyberArk
7 5 (6.58%) Oracle
8 4 (5.26%) Citrix
9 3 (3.95%) Broadcom
9 3 (3.95%) Gemalto
9 3 (3.95%) Thales
9 3 (3.95%) Veritas
10 2 (2.63%) Arista
10 2 (2.63%) Databricks