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 16 June 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 17 11 6
Rank change year-on-year -6 -5 +10
Contract jobs citing Degree 77 65 79
As % of all contract jobs in Cheshire 10.62% 12.62% 14.29%
As % of the Qualifications category 30.56% 47.45% 58.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 61 53 57
10th Percentile £331 £314 £158
25th Percentile £363 £348 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £447 £469 £533
Median % change year-on-year -4.69% -12.01% +18.44%
75th Percentile £588 £550 £575
90th Percentile £621 £630 £689
North West median daily rate £418 £469 £525
% change year-on-year -10.87% -10.67% +8.02%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 3 2
Median hourly rate - £32.50 £26.66
Median % change year-on-year - +21.91% -49.46%
North West median hourly rate £44.25 £32.50 £26.66
% change year-on-year +36.15% +21.91% -34.32%

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 252 137 135
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire 34.76% 26.60% 24.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 157 104 91
10th Percentile £338 £250 £158
25th Percentile £400 £349 £397
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £431 £507
Median % change year-on-year +10.14% -14.94% -6.11%
75th Percentile £600 £537 £572
90th Percentile £650 £583 £680
North West median daily rate £482 £480 £500
% change year-on-year +0.44% -4.00% -3.66%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 5 4
10th Percentile £30.44 £27.59 -
25th Percentile £36.15 £31.25 £14.00
Median hourly rate £82.50 £32.50 £20.33
Median % change year-on-year +153.85% +59.86% -49.18%
75th Percentile £83.75 £33.75 £26.66
90th Percentile £108.41 £64.65 -
North West median hourly rate £43.96 £29.64 £16.06
% change year-on-year +48.34% +84.53% -60.43%

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 16 June 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 16 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
Knutsford +9 51 £443 -5.49% 4
Chester -4 12 £613 +88.46% 13
Warrington -1 10 £425 +126.67% 22
Macclesfield +3 1 £600 +3.45% 3
Northwich - 1 - - 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 22 (28.57%) Confluence
2 11 (14.29%) SharePoint
3 2 (2.60%) Camunda
4 1 (1.30%) JBoss
4 1 (1.30%) Mule
4 1 (1.30%) Mule ESB
4 1 (1.30%) WebLogic
Applications
1 25 (32.47%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (6.49%) MS Visio
3 3 (3.90%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (3.90%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (1.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 6 (7.79%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (3.90%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (1.30%) SAP PM
3 1 (1.30%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 18 (23.38%) AWS
2 14 (18.18%) Azure
3 9 (11.69%) Microsoft 365
4 8 (10.39%) GCP
5 5 (6.49%) Entra ID
5 5 (6.49%) Google Kubernetes Engine
5 5 (6.49%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 4 (5.19%) Power Platform
6 4 (5.19%) SaaS
7 3 (3.90%) Apigee
7 3 (3.90%) Azure DevOps
7 3 (3.90%) Kong
7 3 (3.90%) OpenShift
8 1 (1.30%) AWS CloudFormation
8 1 (1.30%) AWS Lambda
8 1 (1.30%) AWS Step Functions
8 1 (1.30%) Azure Logic Apps
8 1 (1.30%) Azure Monitor
8 1 (1.30%) Azure Sentinel
8 1 (1.30%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 13 (16.88%) Firewall
2 12 (15.58%) VPN
3 7 (9.09%) Wireless
4 6 (7.79%) DNS
4 6 (7.79%) Network Security
4 6 (7.79%) Skype
5 3 (3.90%) BGP
5 3 (3.90%) Cisco ISE
5 3 (3.90%) FTP
5 3 (3.90%) Internet
5 3 (3.90%) MPLS
5 3 (3.90%) OSPF
5 3 (3.90%) SSH
5 3 (3.90%) SSL
5 3 (3.90%) WAN
5 3 (3.90%) Wi-Fi
6 2 (2.60%) Cisco Nexus
6 2 (2.60%) LAN
6 2 (2.60%) VLAN
6 2 (2.60%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (5.19%) Power BI
2 3 (3.90%) Relational Database
2 3 (3.90%) SQL Server
3 2 (2.60%) Apache Cassandra
3 2 (2.60%) MongoDB
3 2 (2.60%) NoSQL
3 2 (2.60%) PostgreSQL
3 2 (2.60%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 30 (38.96%) JIRA
2 4 (5.19%) Postman
3 3 (3.90%) Git
4 2 (2.60%) Cucumber
4 2 (2.60%) GitLab
4 2 (2.60%) JUnit
5 1 (1.30%) Bitbucket
5 1 (1.30%) Eclipse
5 1 (1.30%) IntelliJ
5 1 (1.30%) MLflow
5 1 (1.30%) Selenium
5 1 (1.30%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 44 (57.14%) Finance
2 36 (46.75%) Social Skills
3 24 (31.17%) Banking
4 16 (20.78%) Analytical Skills
5 7 (9.09%) Public Sector
6 6 (7.79%) Documentation Skills
6 6 (7.79%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (5.19%) Retail
8 3 (3.90%) Corporate Banking
8 3 (3.90%) Legal
9 2 (2.60%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (2.60%) Presentation Skills
9 2 (2.60%) Publishing
10 1 (1.30%) Financial Institution
10 1 (1.30%) Investment Banking
10 1 (1.30%) Manufacturing
10 1 (1.30%) Military
10 1 (1.30%) Pharmaceutical
10 1 (1.30%) Retail Banking
10 1 (1.30%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 18 (23.38%) Analyst
2 15 (19.48%) Business Analyst
3 8 (10.39%) Security Engineer
4 6 (7.79%) 1st Line Support
4 6 (7.79%) Consultant
5 5 (6.49%) Architect
5 5 (6.49%) Banking Analyst
5 5 (6.49%) Banking Business Analyst
5 5 (6.49%) Security Consultant
6 4 (5.19%) Cloud Engineer
6 4 (5.19%) Network Engineer
6 4 (5.19%) Project Manager
6 4 (5.19%) Solutions Architect
7 3 (3.90%) Incident Analyst
7 3 (3.90%) Incident and Problem Analyst
7 3 (3.90%) Linux Engineer
7 3 (3.90%) Payments Analyst
7 3 (3.90%) Problem Management Analyst
7 3 (3.90%) Service Manager
7 3 (3.90%) Service Transition Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (10.39%) JSON
2 7 (9.09%) REST
2 7 (9.09%) XML
3 6 (7.79%) SOAP
3 6 (7.79%) Swagger
4 3 (3.90%) 802.1X
4 3 (3.90%) JWT
4 3 (3.90%) Middleware
4 3 (3.90%) OAuth
4 3 (3.90%) OpenAPI
5 2 (2.60%) .NET
5 2 (2.60%) AngularJS
5 2 (2.60%) React
6 1 (1.30%) ARM Templates
6 1 (1.30%) Jest
6 1 (1.30%) Kafka
6 1 (1.30%) Microsoft Graph
6 1 (1.30%) Playwright
6 1 (1.30%) PyTorch
6 1 (1.30%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 16 (20.78%) Management Information System
2 8 (10.39%) Cloud Native
3 7 (9.09%) PKI
3 7 (9.09%) Security Posture
4 4 (5.19%) Onboarding
5 3 (3.90%) Digital Wallet
5 3 (3.90%) Distributed Systems
5 3 (3.90%) Legacy Systems
5 3 (3.90%) Product Ownership
5 3 (3.90%) Tandem
6 2 (2.60%) Cloud Security Posture
6 2 (2.60%) Data Structures
6 2 (2.60%) Linux Command Line
7 1 (1.30%) AI Agents
7 1 (1.30%) Distributed Computing
7 1 (1.30%) Enterprise Software
7 1 (1.30%) Operational Technology
7 1 (1.30%) Private Cloud
7 1 (1.30%) Self-Motivation
7 1 (1.30%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 22 (28.57%) Windows
2 16 (20.78%) Linux
3 8 (10.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 7 (9.09%) Unix
5 6 (7.79%) Windows 10
6 3 (3.90%) AIX
7 1 (1.30%) Android
7 1 (1.30%) Apple iOS
7 1 (1.30%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 40 (51.95%) Agile
2 23 (29.87%) DevOps
3 22 (28.57%) Change Management
3 22 (28.57%) ITIL
4 21 (27.27%) Stakeholder Management
5 19 (24.68%) Computer Science
5 19 (24.68%) Problem-Solving
6 16 (20.78%) ITSM
7 15 (19.48%) CI/CD
7 15 (19.48%) Roadmaps
8 13 (16.88%) Project Management
9 12 (15.58%) AI
10 11 (14.29%) Scrum
10 11 (14.29%) SIEM
11 10 (12.99%) Continuous Improvement
11 10 (12.99%) Service Management
12 9 (11.69%) Cryptography
12 9 (11.69%) Generative AI
13 8 (10.39%) Microservices
13 8 (10.39%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 15 (19.48%) Python
2 12 (15.58%) PowerShell
2 12 (15.58%) SQL
3 10 (12.99%) Java
4 8 (10.39%) Bash
5 2 (2.60%) JavaScript
5 2 (2.60%) Shell Script
5 2 (2.60%) TypeScript
6 1 (1.30%) C#
6 1 (1.30%) Kusto Query Language
6 1 (1.30%) Perl
6 1 (1.30%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 15 (19.48%) Computer Science Degree
2 12 (15.58%) CISSP
3 9 (11.69%) Master's Degree
3 9 (11.69%) Security Cleared
4 8 (10.39%) Azure Certification
5 7 (9.09%) AWS Certification
5 7 (9.09%) ITIL Certification
5 7 (9.09%) MBA
6 6 (7.79%) BPSS Clearance
6 6 (7.79%) CCNP
6 6 (7.79%) Cisco Certification
7 5 (6.49%) PMI Certification
7 5 (6.49%) PMP
8 4 (5.19%) SC Cleared
9 3 (3.90%) CCNA
9 3 (3.90%) CEH
9 3 (3.90%) CompTIA Security+
10 2 (2.60%) CISM
10 2 (2.60%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 2 (2.60%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (11.69%) NIST
2 7 (9.09%) GDPR
3 6 (7.79%) GRC
4 5 (6.49%) PCI DSS
4 5 (6.49%) PSD2
4 5 (6.49%) SLA
5 3 (3.90%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 2 (2.60%) California Consumer Privacy Act
6 2 (2.60%) HIPAA
6 2 (2.60%) ISO 20022
6 2 (2.60%) ISO 8583
6 2 (2.60%) P3O
6 2 (2.60%) PMO
6 2 (2.60%) QA
7 1 (1.30%) Basel III
7 1 (1.30%) NEBOSH
7 1 (1.30%) SEPA
System Software
1 10 (12.99%) Docker
2 3 (3.90%) NFS
2 3 (3.90%) Veritas Volume Manager
3 2 (2.60%) Active Directory
3 2 (2.60%) Firmware
3 2 (2.60%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 10 (12.99%) Kubernetes
2 8 (10.39%) Progress Chef
3 7 (9.09%) Terraform
4 6 (7.79%) Ansible
5 3 (3.90%) Cisco Prime
5 3 (3.90%) PowerBroker
5 3 (3.90%) Tivoli
5 3 (3.90%) Tivoli Storage Manager
6 2 (2.60%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 1 (1.30%) CA Single Sign-On
7 1 (1.30%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (1.30%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 18 (23.38%) Microsoft
2 17 (22.08%) Cisco
3 12 (15.58%) ServiceNow
4 8 (10.39%) Red Hat
5 7 (9.09%) Remedy
5 7 (9.09%) Splunk
6 6 (7.79%) Citrix
6 6 (7.79%) ForeScout
6 6 (7.79%) Google
7 5 (6.49%) CyberArk
7 5 (6.49%) Fortinet
7 5 (6.49%) Oracle
8 4 (5.19%) IBM
9 3 (3.90%) Broadcom
9 3 (3.90%) Gemalto
9 3 (3.90%) MuleSoft
9 3 (3.90%) Thales
9 3 (3.90%) Veritas
10 2 (2.60%) Databricks
10 2 (2.60%) Zscaler