Problem-Solving Contract Job Trends in the City of London

Problem Solving
Central London > City of London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the City of London requiring Problem-Solving skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 26 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 20 5 9
Rank change year-on-year -15 +4 +13
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 231 320 296
As % of all contract jobs in the City of London 10.35% 18.35% 13.96%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.59% 19.48% 15.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 153 213 185
10th Percentile £283 £315 £348
25th Percentile £419 £406 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £575
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% -4.35% +2.68%
75th Percentile £650 £675 £688
90th Percentile £725 £823 £772
Central London median daily rate £516 £550 £575
% change year-on-year -6.14% -4.35% +4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 3 3
10th Percentile £14.78 £15.15 £33.60
25th Percentile £17.41 £18.38 £63.00
Median hourly rate £17.60 £24.50 £112.00
Median % change year-on-year -28.16% -78.13% +198.67%
75th Percentile - £27.00 -
90th Percentile £20.16 £28.05 -
Central London median hourly rate £17.60 £30.99 £69.28
% change year-on-year -43.21% -55.27% +84.75%

All Process & Methodology Skills
City of London

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 City of London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 1,993 1,643 1,947
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London 89.33% 94.21% 91.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,373 1,101 1,216
10th Percentile £368 £325 £371
25th Percentile £456 £423 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £575
Median % change year-on-year - -4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £675 £675 £690
90th Percentile £775 £773 £792
Central London median daily rate £550 £550 £575
% change year-on-year - -4.35% -3.36%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 19 19
10th Percentile £16.98 £16.96 £15.60
25th Percentile £17.60 £22.88 £21.25
Median hourly rate £21.00 £28.15 £38.50
Median % change year-on-year -25.40% -26.88% +40.00%
75th Percentile £32.05 £50.25 £102.25
90th Percentile £50.59 £68.75 £137.50
Central London median hourly rate £25.57 £28.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year -10.30% -18.57% +30.84%

Problem-Solving
Job Vacancy Trend in the City of London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Problem-Solving relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London.

Problem-Solving job vacancy trend in the City of London

Problem-Solving
Daily Rate Trend in the City of London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing Problem-Solving.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Daily Rate Histogram in the City of London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Problem-Solving in the City of London over the 6 months to 26 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Problem-Solving in the City of London

Problem-Solving
Hourly Rate Trend in the City of London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing Problem-Solving.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Hourly Rate Histogram in the City of London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Problem-Solving in the City of London over the 6 months to 26 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Problem-Solving in the City of London

Problem-Solving
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the City of London 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 14 (6.06%) Microsoft Exchange
2 12 (5.19%) Confluence
3 10 (4.33%) SharePoint
4 6 (2.60%) Apache Airflow
5 4 (1.73%) Apache Spark
6 3 (1.30%) Apache
7 2 (0.87%) SAS
8 1 (0.43%) CICS
8 1 (0.43%) CMS
8 1 (0.43%) Exchange Server 2013
8 1 (0.43%) IIS
8 1 (0.43%) MQSeries
8 1 (0.43%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 9 (3.90%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (3.46%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.73%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (1.30%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.43%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.43%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 5 (2.16%) Remedy ITSM
2 4 (1.73%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (1.30%) Aladdin
3 3 (1.30%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.87%) SAP GRC
4 2 (0.87%) SAP MDG
5 1 (0.43%) NetSuite
5 1 (0.43%) Oracle Assets
5 1 (0.43%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.43%) Oracle E-Business Tax
5 1 (0.43%) Oracle FAH
5 1 (0.43%) Oracle Financials
5 1 (0.43%) Oracle General Ledger
5 1 (0.43%) Oracle Internet Expenses
5 1 (0.43%) Oracle iProcurement
5 1 (0.43%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.43%) Oracle Receivables
5 1 (0.43%) SAP BRIM
5 1 (0.43%) SAP CRM
5 1 (0.43%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 56 (24.24%) Azure
2 29 (12.55%) AWS
3 26 (11.26%) Microsoft 365
4 23 (9.96%) Power Platform
5 17 (7.36%) Entra ID
6 16 (6.93%) Azure DevOps
7 13 (5.63%) GitHub
8 11 (4.76%) GCP
8 11 (4.76%) Serverless
9 10 (4.33%) SaaS
10 7 (3.03%) Amazon S3
10 7 (3.03%) Azure Data Factory
10 7 (3.03%) dbt
11 6 (2.60%) AWS Lambda
11 6 (2.60%) Microsoft Copilot
11 6 (2.60%) PowerApps
12 5 (2.16%) GitHub Actions
12 5 (2.16%) GitHub Copilot
12 5 (2.16%) OneDrive
12 5 (2.16%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 15 (6.49%) DNS
2 14 (6.06%) VPN
3 10 (4.33%) TCP/IP
4 9 (3.90%) DHCP
5 7 (3.03%) Firewall
6 5 (2.16%) VLAN
7 4 (1.73%) Network Security
8 3 (1.30%) LAN
8 3 (1.30%) Unified Communications
8 3 (1.30%) WAN
8 3 (1.30%) Wi-Fi
9 2 (0.87%) BGP
9 2 (0.87%) SSL
9 2 (0.87%) Structured Cabling
10 1 (0.43%) DKIM
10 1 (0.43%) DMARC
10 1 (0.43%) Ethernet VPN
10 1 (0.43%) Multicast
10 1 (0.43%) NX-OS
10 1 (0.43%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (6.93%) Power BI
2 12 (5.19%) Data Warehouse
3 8 (3.46%) Metadata
4 7 (3.03%) NoSQL
5 6 (2.60%) SQL Server
6 5 (2.16%) MongoDB
7 4 (1.73%) Data Lake
7 4 (1.73%) Delta Lake
7 4 (1.73%) SAP BW
7 4 (1.73%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 3 (1.30%) Hadoop
8 3 (1.30%) Power Query
8 3 (1.30%) Relational Database
8 3 (1.30%) Tableau
9 2 (0.87%) Amazon Redshift
9 2 (0.87%) Azure SQL Database
9 2 (0.87%) BigQuery
9 2 (0.87%) Data Vault
9 2 (0.87%) Db2
9 2 (0.87%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 35 (15.15%) JIRA
2 10 (4.33%) Git
3 9 (3.90%) Jenkins
4 5 (2.16%) GitLab
5 4 (1.73%) Bitbucket
5 4 (1.73%) JUnit
5 4 (1.73%) Selenium
6 3 (1.30%) Artifactory
6 3 (1.30%) Mockito
6 3 (1.30%) SonarQube
7 2 (0.87%) Appium
7 2 (0.87%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.87%) Cucumber
7 2 (0.87%) JDeveloper
7 2 (0.87%) JMeter
7 2 (0.87%) Maven
7 2 (0.87%) Visual Studio
7 2 (0.87%) Visual Studio Code
8 1 (0.43%) HP UFT
8 1 (0.43%) LoadRunner
General
1 120 (51.95%) Social Skills
2 99 (42.86%) Analytical Skills
3 81 (35.06%) Finance
4 31 (13.42%) Banking
5 19 (8.23%) Public Sector
6 13 (5.63%) Front Office
7 11 (4.76%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 11 (4.76%) Influencing Skills
8 10 (4.33%) Marketing
9 9 (3.90%) Financial Institution
9 9 (3.90%) Organisational Skills
10 8 (3.46%) Documentation Skills
11 7 (3.03%) Retail
12 6 (2.60%) Presentation Skills
12 6 (2.60%) Telecoms
13 5 (2.16%) Investment Banking
13 5 (2.16%) Pharmaceutical
14 4 (1.73%) Retail Banking
15 3 (1.30%) Law
16 2 (0.87%) Legal
Job Titles
1 41 (17.75%) Analyst
2 23 (9.96%) Developer
3 21 (9.09%) Business Analyst
3 21 (9.09%) Senior
4 19 (8.23%) Architect
5 15 (6.49%) Lead
5 15 (6.49%) Support Engineer
6 11 (4.76%) IT Support
6 11 (4.76%) Project Manager
7 10 (4.33%) Consultant
7 10 (4.33%) Data Engineer
8 8 (3.46%) Applications Support
8 8 (3.46%) IT Engineer
8 8 (3.46%) IT Support Engineer
8 8 (3.46%) Support Analyst
9 7 (3.03%) Solutions Architect
10 6 (2.60%) Applications Engineer
10 6 (2.60%) Technical Analyst
11 5 (2.16%) Data Analyst
11 5 (2.16%) Technical Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (8.66%) REST
2 17 (7.36%) .NET
3 14 (6.06%) React
4 13 (5.63%) SOAP
5 10 (4.33%) Terraform
6 9 (3.90%) Web Services
7 8 (3.46%) JSON
8 7 (3.03%) AngularJS
8 7 (3.03%) Kafka
8 7 (3.03%) PySpark
8 7 (3.03%) Spring
8 7 (3.03%) Spring Boot
9 6 (2.60%) RESTful
9 6 (2.60%) XML
10 4 (1.73%) CSS
10 4 (1.73%) HTML
10 4 (1.73%) Middleware
10 4 (1.73%) Node.js
10 4 (1.73%) OAuth
11 3 (1.30%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 22 (9.52%) Onboarding
2 15 (6.49%) Cloud Native
2 15 (6.49%) Product Ownership
3 9 (3.90%) Enterprise Software
3 9 (3.90%) Self-Motivation
3 9 (3.90%) Video Conferencing
4 6 (2.60%) Data Centre
4 6 (2.60%) Data Structures
4 6 (2.60%) Distributed Systems
4 6 (2.60%) Fixed Income
4 6 (2.60%) Hybrid Cloud
5 5 (2.16%) Analytical Mindset
5 5 (2.16%) Legacy Systems
6 4 (1.73%) AI Agents
6 4 (1.73%) CMDB
6 4 (1.73%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
6 4 (1.73%) Life Science
7 3 (1.30%) Management Information System
7 3 (1.30%) NHS
7 3 (1.30%) Reference Data
Operating Systems
1 35 (15.15%) Windows
2 12 (5.19%) Linux
3 11 (4.76%) Mac OS
4 8 (3.46%) Unix
4 8 (3.46%) Windows 10
5 6 (2.60%) Windows Server
6 3 (1.30%) Android
6 3 (1.30%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.87%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.43%) OpenVMS
8 1 (0.43%) VMS
8 1 (0.43%) Windows 7
8 1 (0.43%) Windows Server 2008
8 1 (0.43%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.43%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 78 (33.77%) Agile
2 74 (32.03%) Stakeholder Management
3 47 (20.35%) CI/CD
4 46 (19.91%) Continuous Improvement
5 42 (18.18%) AI
6 38 (16.45%) DevOps
7 34 (14.72%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 30 (12.99%) Migration
9 28 (12.12%) Decision-Making
10 27 (11.69%) Analytics
11 23 (9.96%) Translating Business Requirements
12 22 (9.52%) Data Engineering
12 22 (9.52%) ITIL
13 21 (9.09%) Data Governance
13 21 (9.09%) Validation
14 20 (8.66%) Scrum
14 20 (8.66%) Service Delivery
15 19 (8.23%) User Stories
16 18 (7.79%) Customer Service
16 18 (7.79%) Microservices
Programming Languages
1 47 (20.35%) SQL
2 44 (19.05%) Python
3 20 (8.66%) Java
4 15 (6.49%) C#
4 15 (6.49%) PowerShell
5 14 (6.06%) JavaScript
5 14 (6.06%) TypeScript
6 5 (2.16%) Korn
6 5 (2.16%) PL/SQL
7 4 (1.73%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 3 (1.30%) Shell Script
9 2 (0.87%) Bash
9 2 (0.87%) Perl
10 1 (0.43%) Apex Code
10 1 (0.43%) BeanShell
10 1 (0.43%) C++
10 1 (0.43%) COBOL
10 1 (0.43%) RPG
10 1 (0.43%) Scala
10 1 (0.43%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 30 (12.99%) Security Cleared
2 22 (9.52%) SC Cleared
3 15 (6.49%) Degree
4 7 (3.03%) PMI Certification
5 6 (2.60%) PMP
6 5 (2.16%) Computer Science Degree
6 5 (2.16%) ITIL Certification
7 4 (1.73%) DV Cleared
7 4 (1.73%) Microsoft Certification
8 3 (1.30%) Azure Certification
8 3 (1.30%) BPSS Clearance
8 3 (1.30%) CISA
8 3 (1.30%) CISSP
8 3 (1.30%) TOGAF Certification
9 2 (0.87%) AWS Certification
9 2 (0.87%) CRISC
9 2 (0.87%) CSPO
9 2 (0.87%) DBS Check
10 1 (0.43%) IIBA
10 1 (0.43%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (8.23%) Data Quality
2 16 (6.93%) QA
3 6 (2.60%) GDPR
4 5 (2.16%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 5 (2.16%) PMO
4 5 (2.16%) SLA
5 4 (1.73%) GRC
6 3 (1.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 2 (0.87%) 21 CFR Part 11
7 2 (0.87%) COBIT
7 2 (0.87%) GxP
7 2 (0.87%) ITGC
7 2 (0.87%) NIST
7 2 (0.87%) PSD2
8 1 (0.43%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.43%) IFRS
8 1 (0.43%) NCSC
8 1 (0.43%) PERC
8 1 (0.43%) SEPA
8 1 (0.43%) SOC 2
System Software
1 27 (11.69%) Active Directory
2 11 (4.76%) Docker
3 4 (1.73%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (1.30%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.87%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.87%) IAG
6 1 (0.43%) Firmware
6 1 (0.43%) Microsoft App-V
6 1 (0.43%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.43%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.43%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 14 (6.06%) Microsoft Intune
2 12 (5.19%) Kubernetes
3 8 (3.46%) SCCM
4 5 (2.16%) Grafana
5 4 (1.73%) Ansible
5 4 (1.73%) ITRS Geneos
6 3 (1.30%) Jamf Pro
6 3 (1.30%) Prometheus
7 2 (0.87%) WSUS
8 1 (0.43%) HP Fortify
8 1 (0.43%) NetBackup
8 1 (0.43%) PingFederate
8 1 (0.43%) PowerCLI
8 1 (0.43%) SCOM
8 1 (0.43%) SCOrch
8 1 (0.43%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 75 (32.47%) Microsoft
2 20 (8.66%) ServiceNow
3 16 (6.93%) Oracle
4 15 (6.49%) Databricks
5 12 (5.19%) SAP
6 11 (4.76%) Google
7 7 (3.03%) Bloomberg
8 6 (2.60%) Apple
8 6 (2.60%) Splunk
9 5 (2.16%) Cisco
9 5 (2.16%) Dynatrace
9 5 (2.16%) Remedy
9 5 (2.16%) Salesforce
9 5 (2.16%) VMware
10 4 (1.73%) IBM
10 4 (1.73%) ION Trading
10 4 (1.73%) Refinitiv
11 3 (1.30%) BMC
11 3 (1.30%) Citrix
11 3 (1.30%) MuleSoft