Problem-Solving Contracts in the Thames Valley

Problem Solving
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the Thames Valley requiring Problem-Solving skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Problem-Solving over the 6 months leading up to 1 June 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Jun 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 2 8 10
Rank change year-on-year +6 +2 +12
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 331 334 329
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 22.40% 12.67% 11.53%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 24.11% 14.73% 12.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 199 182 222
10th Percentile £227 £205 £300
25th Percentile £363 £270 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £470 £524
Median % change year-on-year +6.39% -10.35% +16.50%
75th Percentile £600 £615 £625
90th Percentile £650 £674 £675
South East median daily rate £500 £475 £510
% change year-on-year +5.26% -6.86% +7.37%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 32 11
10th Percentile £13.25 £13.00 £18.50
25th Percentile - £14.50 £37.24
Median hourly rate £14.20 £45.00 £54.56
Median % change year-on-year -68.44% -17.52% +327.08%
75th Percentile £20.50 £61.60 £66.00
90th Percentile £41.72 - £76.99
South East median hourly rate £18.82 £20.24 £57.50
% change year-on-year -6.99% -64.81% +21.05%

All Process and Methodology Skills
Thames Valley

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 Thames Valley.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 1,373 2,268 2,590
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 92.90% 86.01% 90.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 858 1,245 1,758
10th Percentile £300 £213 £318
25th Percentile £409 £375 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £510
Median % change year-on-year - -1.96% +5.15%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £613
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
South East median daily rate £500 £510 £504
% change year-on-year -1.96% +1.29% +0.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 66 166 69
10th Percentile £14.20 £14.09 £16.25
25th Percentile £14.51 £19.25 £24.50
Median hourly rate £25.23 £46.25 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year -45.46% -11.90% +201.38%
75th Percentile £62.44 £64.42 £73.59
90th Percentile £78.75 £85.65 £79.19
South East median hourly rate £26.53 £47.50 £52.50
% change year-on-year -44.15% -9.52% +141.77%

Problem-Solving
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Job postings citing Problem-Solving as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

Job vacancy trend for Problem-Solving in the Thames Valley

Problem-Solving
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Problem-Solving in the Thames Valley.

Daily rate trend for Problem-Solving in the Thames Valley

Problem-Solving
Daily Rate Histogram in the Thames Valley

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Problem-Solving in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 1 June 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Problem-Solving in the Thames Valley

Problem-Solving
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Problem-Solving in the Thames Valley.

Hourly rate trend for Problem-Solving in the Thames Valley

Problem-Solving
Hourly Rate Histogram in the Thames Valley

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Problem-Solving in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 1 June 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Problem-Solving in the Thames Valley

Problem-Solving
Contract Job Locations in the Thames Valley

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 Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 1 June 2025. 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
Berkshire +4 240 £510 -2.86% 2,008
Buckinghamshire +10 56 £375 -11.76% 1,144
Oxfordshire +4 37 £360 +29.00% 681
Problem-Solving
South East

Problem-Solving
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the Thames Valley by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 9 (2.72%) SharePoint
2 5 (1.51%) BizTalk Server
3 4 (1.21%) CMS
3 4 (1.21%) Confluence
3 4 (1.21%) Microsoft Exchange
4 3 (0.91%) Apache
4 3 (0.91%) IIS
5 2 (0.60%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.60%) Oracle Service Bus
5 2 (0.60%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 1 (0.30%) Headless CMS
6 1 (0.30%) Smallworld
6 1 (0.30%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.30%) Umbraco
Applications
1 21 (6.34%) Microsoft Excel
2 17 (5.14%) Microsoft Office
3 7 (2.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.60%) AutoCAD
4 2 (0.60%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.60%) Photoshop
4 2 (0.60%) Revit
5 1 (0.30%) Adobe Premiere
5 1 (0.30%) CATIA
5 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 26 (7.85%) Oracle EBS
2 17 (5.14%) Oracle EBS R12
3 12 (3.63%) SAP S/4HANA
4 11 (3.32%) SAP Oil and Gas
5 10 (3.02%) Maximo
5 10 (3.02%) Oracle ASCP
6 4 (1.21%) Oracle ERP
6 4 (1.21%) Oracle Financials
7 3 (0.91%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
8 2 (0.60%) Oracle Payables
8 2 (0.60%) Remedy ITSM
9 1 (0.30%) BPCS
9 1 (0.30%) Oracle Cash Management
9 1 (0.30%) Oracle iProcurement
9 1 (0.30%) Oracle Receivables
9 1 (0.30%) Oracle SCM
9 1 (0.30%) Primavera
9 1 (0.30%) Remedy AR System
9 1 (0.30%) SAP GTS
9 1 (0.30%) SAP Travel Management
Cloud Services
1 72 (21.75%) Azure
2 40 (12.08%) AWS
3 22 (6.65%) Azure DevOps
4 16 (4.83%) Microsoft 365
5 15 (4.53%) GCP
6 10 (3.02%) Entra ID
7 8 (2.42%) OCI
7 8 (2.42%) Power Platform
8 7 (2.11%) Azure Monitor
8 7 (2.11%) GitHub
8 7 (2.11%) SaaS
9 6 (1.81%) Cloud Computing
10 5 (1.51%) Azure AKS
10 5 (1.51%) Azure API Management
10 5 (1.51%) IaaS
10 5 (1.51%) PaaS
10 5 (1.51%) Snowflake
11 4 (1.21%) Azure Service Bus
11 4 (1.21%) Figma
12 3 (0.91%) SonarCloud
Communications & Networking
1 19 (5.74%) MPLS
1 19 (5.74%) VPN
2 18 (5.44%) WAN
2 18 (5.44%) Wireshark
3 17 (5.14%) Ethernet
3 17 (5.14%) LAN
3 17 (5.14%) SAN
4 16 (4.83%) ATM
4 16 (4.83%) Frame Relay
4 16 (4.83%) GPRS
4 16 (4.83%) GSM
4 16 (4.83%) LTE
4 16 (4.83%) SDH
4 16 (4.83%) UMTS
5 14 (4.23%) Firewall
6 9 (2.72%) DHCP
6 9 (2.72%) DNS
7 7 (2.11%) Internet
7 7 (2.11%) TCP/IP
7 7 (2.11%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (3.93%) SQL Server
2 9 (2.72%) Data Warehouse
3 8 (2.42%) Data Lake
4 7 (2.11%) Azure SQL Database
5 5 (1.51%) MySQL
6 4 (1.21%) Big Data
6 4 (1.21%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
6 4 (1.21%) MongoDB
6 4 (1.21%) MS Access
6 4 (1.21%) NoSQL
6 4 (1.21%) PostgreSQL
6 4 (1.21%) Power BI
6 4 (1.21%) Relational Database
7 3 (0.91%) Oracle Reports
7 3 (0.91%) SSDT
8 2 (0.60%) BigQuery
8 2 (0.60%) Hadoop
8 2 (0.60%) Metadata
9 1 (0.30%) Oracle Database
9 1 (0.30%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 28 (8.46%) JIRA
2 11 (3.32%) Selenium
3 9 (2.72%) Git
3 9 (2.72%) GitLab
4 7 (2.11%) Cucumber
5 5 (1.51%) Jenkins
5 5 (1.51%) REST Assured
5 5 (1.51%) SonarQube
6 3 (0.91%) Snyk
7 2 (0.60%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.60%) QARun
7 2 (0.60%) SpecFlow
7 2 (0.60%) WinRunner
8 1 (0.30%) CMake
8 1 (0.30%) Eclipse
8 1 (0.30%) Metasploit
8 1 (0.30%) Oracle Forms
8 1 (0.30%) Robot Framework
8 1 (0.30%) Subversion
8 1 (0.30%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 199 (60.12%) Social Skills
2 124 (37.46%) Analytical Skills
3 40 (12.08%) Finance
4 34 (10.27%) Telecoms
5 23 (6.95%) Organisational Skills
6 18 (5.44%) Manufacturing
7 12 (3.63%) Public Sector
8 9 (2.72%) Marketing
8 9 (2.72%) Retail
9 7 (2.11%) Legal
10 5 (1.51%) Electronics
11 4 (1.21%) Agriculture
11 4 (1.21%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 4 (1.21%) Law
12 3 (0.91%) Aerospace
12 3 (0.91%) Automotive
12 3 (0.91%) Billing
12 3 (0.91%) Influencing Skills
12 3 (0.91%) Presentation Skills
13 2 (0.60%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 45 (13.60%) Analyst
2 27 (8.16%) Consultant
3 26 (7.85%) Developer
4 25 (7.55%) Lead
5 20 (6.04%) Architect
6 16 (4.83%) Oracle Consultant
6 16 (4.83%) Project Manager
7 15 (4.53%) IP Engineer
8 14 (4.23%) Senior
8 14 (4.23%) Test Engineer
9 13 (3.93%) Functional Consultant
9 13 (3.93%) Oracle Functional Consultant
10 12 (3.63%) Administrator
10 12 (3.63%) DevOps Engineer
11 11 (3.32%) Data Analyst
11 11 (3.32%) Help Desk Support
11 11 (3.32%) Support Engineer
12 10 (3.02%) IT Analyst
13 9 (2.72%) Network Engineer
14 8 (2.42%) Test Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (5.14%) REST
2 10 (3.02%) Web Services
3 9 (2.72%) JSON
3 9 (2.72%) OAuth
4 8 (2.42%) HTML
5 7 (2.11%) .NET
5 7 (2.11%) React
5 7 (2.11%) RESTful
6 6 (1.81%) ARM Templates
6 6 (1.81%) CSS
7 5 (1.51%) Java EE
7 5 (1.51%) SOAP
8 4 (1.21%) GraphQL
8 4 (1.21%) Middleware
8 4 (1.21%) Playwright
9 3 (0.91%) .NET Core
9 3 (0.91%) Apollo GraphQL
9 3 (0.91%) FastAPI
9 3 (0.91%) Flask
9 3 (0.91%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 25 (7.55%) Self-Motivation
2 15 (4.53%) Life Science
3 12 (3.63%) Management Information System
3 12 (3.63%) Onboarding
3 12 (3.63%) Renewable Energy
4 11 (3.32%) Algorithms
4 11 (3.32%) Cloud Native
5 8 (2.42%) Data Centre
5 8 (2.42%) Legacy Systems
5 8 (2.42%) Product Ownership
6 7 (2.11%) CMDB
7 6 (1.81%) CSOC
7 6 (1.81%) Cyber Threat
7 6 (1.81%) SCADA
8 5 (1.51%) EPoS
9 4 (1.21%) Cyberattack
9 4 (1.21%) Data Protection Act
9 4 (1.21%) Enterprise Storage
9 4 (1.21%) Hybrid Cloud
9 4 (1.21%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 47 (14.20%) Windows
2 29 (8.76%) Linux
3 20 (6.04%) Unix
4 16 (4.83%) Windows Server
5 5 (1.51%) Windows Server 2019
6 4 (1.21%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (0.91%) Android
7 3 (0.91%) Mac OS
7 3 (0.91%) Windows 10
8 2 (0.60%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.60%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.30%) Embedded Linux
9 1 (0.30%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 56 (16.92%) Agile
2 50 (15.11%) Migration
3 47 (14.20%) Stakeholder Management
4 46 (13.90%) Project Management
5 43 (12.99%) DevOps
6 29 (8.76%) Time Management
7 26 (7.85%) Data Migration
8 25 (7.55%) CI/CD
8 25 (7.55%) Test Automation
9 24 (7.25%) Test Strategy
10 23 (6.95%) Collaborative Working
11 22 (6.65%) Validation
12 20 (6.04%) Cybersecurity
13 19 (5.74%) Project Delivery
14 18 (5.44%) Continuous Improvement
14 18 (5.44%) Process Improvement
15 17 (5.14%) Change Management
15 17 (5.14%) Configuration Management
15 17 (5.14%) Customer Service
15 17 (5.14%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 43 (12.99%) SQL
2 42 (12.69%) Python
3 35 (10.57%) Java
4 21 (6.34%) PowerShell
5 14 (4.23%) C#
6 11 (3.32%) JavaScript
7 9 (2.72%) PL/SQL
8 8 (2.42%) Bash
9 6 (1.81%) Bicep
10 4 (1.21%) C++
10 4 (1.21%) Perl
11 3 (0.91%) Ruby
11 3 (0.91%) VB
12 1 (0.30%) ABAP
12 1 (0.30%) ActionScript
12 1 (0.30%) ActionScript 2.0
12 1 (0.30%) C
12 1 (0.30%) R
12 1 (0.30%) Scala
12 1 (0.30%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 44 (13.29%) Security Cleared
2 31 (9.37%) Degree
3 27 (8.16%) SC Cleared
4 20 (6.04%) CCNP
4 20 (6.04%) Cisco Certification
5 17 (5.14%) ISTQB
6 16 (4.83%) ISEB
6 16 (4.83%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
7 14 (4.23%) Master's Degree
8 11 (3.32%) CISSP
9 9 (2.72%) PMI Certification
9 9 (2.72%) PMP
10 8 (2.42%) DV Cleared
10 8 (2.42%) Microsoft Certification
11 7 (2.11%) CISM
11 7 (2.11%) Computer Science Degree
11 7 (2.11%) GIAC
12 4 (1.21%) A+ Certification
12 4 (1.21%) AWS Certification
12 4 (1.21%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (6.65%) QA
2 15 (4.53%) GDPR
3 14 (4.23%) Data Quality
4 8 (2.42%) NIST
5 7 (2.11%) HIPAA
5 7 (2.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 6 (1.81%) Accessibility
7 4 (1.21%) PMBOK
8 3 (0.91%) NCSC
8 3 (0.91%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.60%) ARP4754
9 2 (0.60%) SLA
9 2 (0.60%) WCAG
10 1 (0.30%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.30%) COBIT
10 1 (0.30%) EU AI Act
10 1 (0.30%) GRC
System Software
1 21 (6.34%) Active Directory
2 9 (2.72%) Docker
3 6 (1.81%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (0.91%) Hyper-V
4 3 (0.91%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.60%) NFS
5 2 (0.60%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.60%) VMware NSX
5 2 (0.60%) vSphere
6 1 (0.30%) Citrix Hypervisor
6 1 (0.30%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 15 (4.53%) Terraform
2 10 (3.02%) Kubernetes
3 9 (2.72%) Ansible
4 8 (2.42%) Single Sign-On
5 5 (1.51%) Docker Swarm
5 5 (1.51%) Podman
6 4 (1.21%) Microsoft Intune
6 4 (1.21%) NetBackup
7 3 (0.91%) Puppet
7 3 (0.91%) SCOM
8 2 (0.60%) Prometheus
9 1 (0.30%) CASB
9 1 (0.30%) CSIRT
9 1 (0.30%) Grafana
9 1 (0.30%) SCCM
Vendors
1 78 (23.56%) Microsoft
2 34 (10.27%) Oracle
3 26 (7.85%) SAP
4 20 (6.04%) Juniper
5 18 (5.44%) Cisco
6 12 (3.63%) ServiceNow
7 11 (3.32%) VMware
8 8 (2.42%) Citrix
9 7 (2.11%) Google
10 5 (1.51%) CyberArk
10 5 (1.51%) Liquidlogic
10 5 (1.51%) Red Hat
10 5 (1.51%) Salesforce
11 4 (1.21%) 3PAR
11 4 (1.21%) Dell
11 4 (1.21%) HP
11 4 (1.21%) IBM
11 4 (1.21%) Veritas
12 3 (0.91%) Adobe
12 3 (0.91%) UiPath