Strategic Thinking Contract Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Strategic Thinking
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the Thames Valley requiring Strategic Thinking skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 13 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 143 96 117
Rank change year-on-year -47 +21 +12
Contract jobs citing Strategic Thinking 17 19 17
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 0.53% 1.15% 0.64%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.65% 1.24% 0.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 3 6 4
10th Percentile £480 £456 £648
25th Percentile £563 £566 £794
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £700 £638 £950
Median % change year-on-year +9.80% -32.89% +105.41%
75th Percentile £700 £730 £1,025
90th Percentile £701 £758 -
South East median daily rate £588 £623 £675
% change year-on-year -5.62% -7.78% +12.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 1 0
10th Percentile £81.80 - -
25th Percentile £83.00 - -
Median hourly rate £97.23 £48.00 -
Median % change year-on-year +102.56% - -
75th Percentile £102.50 - -
90th Percentile £103.25 - -
South East median hourly rate £90.12 £48.00 -
% change year-on-year +87.74% - -

All Process & Methodology Skills
Thames Valley

Strategic Thinking 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 2,611 1,529 2,253
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 81.19% 92.50% 84.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,679 921 1,224
10th Percentile £308 £294 £245
25th Percentile £412 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.00% - -2.44%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £608
90th Percentile £695 £675 £688
South East median daily rate £525 £500 £513
% change year-on-year +5.00% -2.44% -0.49%
Number of hourly rates quoted 242 101 166
10th Percentile £16.35 £14.20 £14.50
25th Percentile £31.25 £15.12 £19.25
Median hourly rate £81.50 £25.15 £48.25
Median % change year-on-year +224.06% -47.88% -2.53%
75th Percentile £88.00 £55.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £104.00 £80.00 £85.65
South East median hourly rate £55.00 £24.00 £50.00
% change year-on-year +129.17% -52.00% -

Strategic Thinking
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Strategic Thinking relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

Strategic Thinking job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

Strategic Thinking
Daily Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Strategic Thinking.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Strategic Thinking

Strategic Thinking
Daily Rate Histogram in the Thames Valley

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Strategic Thinking in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 13 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Strategic Thinking in the Thames Valley

Strategic Thinking
Hourly Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Strategic Thinking.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Strategic Thinking

Strategic Thinking
Hourly Rate Histogram in the Thames Valley

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Strategic Thinking in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 13 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Strategic Thinking in the Thames Valley

Strategic Thinking
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 Strategic Thinking within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 13 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
Berkshire -19 16 £700 +19.15% 10
Buckinghamshire -35 1 - - 4
Strategic Thinking
South East

Strategic Thinking
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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 7 (41.18%) OpenStack
Business Applications
1 2 (11.76%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (5.88%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (5.88%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 11 (64.71%) Azure
2 9 (52.94%) AWS
3 2 (11.76%) Azure DevOps
3 2 (11.76%) Power Platform
4 1 (5.88%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 7 (41.18%) BGP
1 7 (41.18%) LAN
1 7 (41.18%) MPLS
1 7 (41.18%) WAN
Development Applications
1 1 (5.88%) Rational DOORS
General
1 10 (58.82%) Social Skills
2 5 (29.41%) Aerospace
2 5 (29.41%) Influencing Skills
3 4 (23.53%) Analytical Skills
4 2 (11.76%) Finance
4 2 (11.76%) Legal
5 1 (5.88%) Presentation Skills
5 1 (5.88%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 11 (64.71%) Architect
2 6 (35.29%) IP Architect
2 6 (35.29%) Network Architect
3 4 (23.53%) Lead
4 2 (11.76%) Enterprise Architect
4 2 (11.76%) Lead Architect
4 2 (11.76%) Lead Enterprise Architect
5 1 (5.88%) Analyst
5 1 (5.88%) Business Analyst
5 1 (5.88%) Business Architect
5 1 (5.88%) Head of Delivery
5 1 (5.88%) Head of Digital
5 1 (5.88%) IP Specialist
5 1 (5.88%) Lead Business Analyst
5 1 (5.88%) Product Owner
5 1 (5.88%) Security Specialist
5 1 (5.88%) Solutions Architect
5 1 (5.88%) Systems Engineer
5 1 (5.88%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (41.18%) NETCONF
1 7 (41.18%) REST
1 7 (41.18%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 7 (41.18%) Cloud Native
1 7 (41.18%) Hybrid Cloud
2 1 (5.88%) CMDB
2 1 (5.88%) Operational Technology
2 1 (5.88%) Product Ownership
Processes & Methodologies
1 12 (70.59%) Enterprise Architecture
1 12 (70.59%) Roadmaps
2 10 (58.82%) TOGAF
3 9 (52.94%) DevOps
4 7 (41.18%) Microservices
4 7 (41.18%) Network Architecture
4 7 (41.18%) Network Design
4 7 (41.18%) Network Segmentation
4 7 (41.18%) Network Virtualisation
5 6 (35.29%) Stakeholder Management
6 5 (29.41%) Agile
6 5 (29.41%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 4 (23.53%) Continuous Improvement
7 4 (23.53%) ITIL
7 4 (23.53%) Problem-Solving
8 3 (17.65%) Business Strategy
8 3 (17.65%) ITSM
8 3 (17.65%) Requirements Gathering
8 3 (17.65%) User Stories
9 2 (11.76%) AI
Programming Languages
1 8 (47.06%) Python
2 1 (5.88%) SQL
Qualifications
1 7 (41.18%) CCIE
1 7 (41.18%) Cisco Certification
1 7 (41.18%) JNCIE
2 6 (35.29%) SC Cleared
2 6 (35.29%) Security Cleared
3 2 (11.76%) CISSP
3 2 (11.76%) TOGAF Certification
4 1 (5.88%) AWS Certification
4 1 (5.88%) Azure Certification
4 1 (5.88%) Chartered Engineer
4 1 (5.88%) Computer Science Degree
4 1 (5.88%) Degree
Systems Management
1 7 (41.18%) Ansible
Vendors
1 2 (11.76%) Microsoft
1 2 (11.76%) SAP
2 1 (5.88%) Google
2 1 (5.88%) IBM
2 1 (5.88%) Remedy
2 1 (5.88%) ServiceNow