Problem-Solving Contract Job Trends in the West Midlands

Problem Solving
England > West Midlands

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the West Midlands requiring Problem-Solving skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 23 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
23 Jul 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 2 11
Rank change year-on-year -9 +9 -4
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 396 294 187
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 11.50% 18.19% 9.55%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.40% 20.69% 11.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 279 178 131
10th Percentile £306 £167 £190
25th Percentile £363 £350 £359
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year - -5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £538 £537 £588
90th Percentile £620 £665 £650
England median daily rate £495 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.00% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 9 9
10th Percentile £12.90 £14.86 £14.29
25th Percentile £14.60 £25.00 £15.13
Median hourly rate £27.30 £33.88 £18.97
Median % change year-on-year -19.42% +78.60% -8.96%
75th Percentile £46.95 £44.00 £56.25
90th Percentile £67.84 £54.13 £59.50
England median hourly rate £21.35 £21.25 £16.23
% change year-on-year +0.49% +30.90% -69.09%

All Process & Methodology Skills
West Midlands

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 West Midlands.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 2,955 1,421 1,597
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 85.85% 87.93% 81.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,921 892 1,078
10th Percentile £313 £210 £275
25th Percentile £405 £363 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year - -5.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £625
90th Percentile £671 £675 £725
England median daily rate £525 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 156 100 80
10th Percentile £14.82 £12.62 £11.33
25th Percentile £21.02 £13.76 £14.09
Median hourly rate £33.99 £23.42 £18.74
Median % change year-on-year +45.13% +25.01% -25.80%
75th Percentile £59.50 £34.16 £37.81
90th Percentile £72.54 £50.00 £58.75
England median hourly rate £47.50 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +88.87% -37.13% -6.43%

Problem-Solving
Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

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

Problem-Solving job vacancy trend in the West Midlands

Problem-Solving
Daily Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Problem-Solving.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Daily Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Problem-Solving in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 23 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Problem-Solving in the West Midlands

Problem-Solving
Hourly Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Problem-Solving.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Hourly Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Problem-Solving in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 23 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Problem-Solving in the West Midlands

Problem-Solving
Contract Job Locations in the West Midlands

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 West Midlands region over the 6 months to 23 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
Warwickshire -2 123 £525 +10.53% 54
Shropshire -17 96 £450 -2.17% 24
Birmingham -14 81 £450 +4.41% 92
Coventry -14 31 £369 -7.81% 11
Worcestershire +9 18 £563 +9.22% 17
Staffordshire -4 11 £313 +25.00% 24
Solihull -19 6 £447 -42.73% 5
Herefordshire -3 4 - - 5
Wolverhampton - 4 - - 6
Brierley Hill - 1 £390 -
Wednesbury - 1 - -
Problem-Solving
England

Problem-Solving
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the West Midlands 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 33 (8.33%) Confluence
2 22 (5.56%) SAS
3 19 (4.80%) SharePoint
4 15 (3.79%) Oracle Workflow
5 9 (2.27%) WebLogic
6 6 (1.52%) Oracle Self-Service HR
7 5 (1.26%) Microsoft Exchange
8 1 (0.25%) Apache
8 1 (0.25%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.25%) Appian
8 1 (0.25%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 1 (0.25%) Tuxedo
Applications
1 26 (6.57%) Microsoft Excel
2 18 (4.55%) Microsoft Office
3 7 (1.77%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (1.26%) MS Visio
5 4 (1.01%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (1.01%) Spreadsheet
6 3 (0.76%) Navisworks
6 3 (0.76%) Revit
7 2 (0.51%) Adobe XD
7 2 (0.51%) CATIA
7 2 (0.51%) Sketch
8 1 (0.25%) Adobe Captivate
8 1 (0.25%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.25%) Adobe Illustrator
8 1 (0.25%) Fusion 360
8 1 (0.25%) InDesign
8 1 (0.25%) Photoshop
8 1 (0.25%) Trello
Business Applications
1 12 (3.03%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (2.53%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (1.52%) Oracle HRMS
4 5 (1.26%) SAP PSCD
5 3 (0.76%) ContrOCC
5 3 (0.76%) Remedy ITSM
5 3 (0.76%) Teamcenter
6 1 (0.25%) Aladdin
6 1 (0.25%) Maximo
6 1 (0.25%) NEC Housing
6 1 (0.25%) Oracle Receivables
6 1 (0.25%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.25%) SAP CX
6 1 (0.25%) SAP GRC
6 1 (0.25%) SAP QM
6 1 (0.25%) SAP Travel Management
Cloud Services
1 75 (18.94%) Azure
2 41 (10.35%) AWS
3 32 (8.08%) Power Platform
4 30 (7.58%) Microsoft 365
5 27 (6.82%) Azure DevOps
6 18 (4.55%) Entra ID
7 17 (4.29%) GitHub
8 13 (3.28%) GCP
9 12 (3.03%) Dynamics 365
9 12 (3.03%) Serverless
10 11 (2.78%) Azure Data Factory
11 10 (2.53%) Power Automate
12 8 (2.02%) Azure Functions
12 8 (2.02%) Microsoft Purview
13 7 (1.77%) GitHub Actions
14 6 (1.52%) Amazon S3
15 5 (1.26%) Figma
15 5 (1.26%) Google Analytics
15 5 (1.26%) OpenShift
15 5 (1.26%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 13 (3.28%) DNS
2 10 (2.53%) Firewall
3 9 (2.27%) VPN
4 8 (2.02%) DHCP
4 8 (2.02%) Intrusion Detection
5 6 (1.52%) LAN
5 6 (1.52%) SD-WAN
5 6 (1.52%) WAN
6 5 (1.26%) Internet
6 5 (1.26%) Network Security
6 5 (1.26%) TCP/IP
6 5 (1.26%) Wi-Fi
7 3 (0.76%) BIG-IP
7 3 (0.76%) SSL
8 2 (0.51%) PBX
8 2 (0.51%) SAN
8 2 (0.51%) Unified Communications
8 2 (0.51%) VLAN
8 2 (0.51%) VoIP
8 2 (0.51%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (6.82%) Power BI
2 18 (4.55%) Data Warehouse
2 18 (4.55%) Pentaho
3 17 (4.29%) SQL Server
4 14 (3.54%) PostgreSQL
5 9 (2.27%) Metadata
6 8 (2.02%) Ingres
7 7 (1.77%) Relational Database
8 6 (1.52%) MongoDB
8 6 (1.52%) MySQL
8 6 (1.52%) Oracle Reports
9 5 (1.26%) Big Data
9 5 (1.26%) Oracle Database
10 4 (1.01%) Amazon RDS
10 4 (1.01%) Power Query
11 3 (0.76%) Amazon Redshift
11 3 (0.76%) Azure SQL Database
11 3 (0.76%) Data Lake
11 3 (0.76%) Tableau
11 3 (0.76%) WebFOCUS
Development Applications
1 65 (16.41%) JIRA
2 40 (10.10%) Git
3 28 (7.07%) Jenkins
4 20 (5.05%) Selenium
5 14 (3.54%) Postman
6 10 (2.53%) WebDriver
7 9 (2.27%) Cypress.io
8 7 (1.77%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 7 (1.77%) Cucumber
8 7 (1.77%) GitLab
8 7 (1.77%) REST Assured
9 5 (1.26%) JUnit
9 5 (1.26%) Zephyr
10 4 (1.01%) JMeter
11 3 (0.76%) Browser DevTools
11 3 (0.76%) Protractor
11 3 (0.76%) Team Foundation Server
12 2 (0.51%) Gatling
12 2 (0.51%) Serenity BDD
12 2 (0.51%) TestRail
General
1 192 (48.48%) Social Skills
2 160 (40.40%) Analytical Skills
3 67 (16.92%) Finance
4 40 (10.10%) Public Sector
5 19 (4.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 16 (4.04%) Local Government
7 15 (3.79%) Manufacturing
8 13 (3.28%) Organisational Skills
9 10 (2.53%) Banking
9 10 (2.53%) Influencing Skills
10 9 (2.27%) Automotive
10 9 (2.27%) Legal
11 8 (2.02%) Presentation Skills
12 7 (1.77%) Electronics
13 6 (1.52%) Marketing
13 6 (1.52%) Military
14 5 (1.26%) Billing
14 5 (1.26%) Documentation Skills
14 5 (1.26%) Retail
15 4 (1.01%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 63 (15.91%) Analyst
2 46 (11.62%) Lead
3 37 (9.34%) Data Engineer
4 30 (7.58%) Senior
5 28 (7.07%) Developer
6 26 (6.57%) Consultant
7 20 (5.05%) Business Analyst
8 18 (4.55%) Administrator
8 18 (4.55%) Architect
9 17 (4.29%) SAP Consultant
10 15 (3.79%) Data Analyst
11 13 (3.28%) Test Analyst
12 9 (2.27%) Software Engineer
13 8 (2.02%) Business Intelligence Developer
13 8 (2.02%) Delivery Manager
13 8 (2.02%) Scrum Master
13 8 (2.02%) Test Engineer
14 7 (1.77%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 7 (1.77%) Network Engineer
14 7 (1.77%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (4.04%) REST
2 14 (3.54%) Spring
3 10 (2.53%) Spring Boot
4 9 (2.27%) Oracle Fusion
5 7 (1.77%) Gherkin
5 7 (1.77%) OpenTelemetry
5 7 (1.77%) SOAP
6 6 (1.52%) JDBC
7 5 (1.26%) Middleware
7 5 (1.26%) Playwright
7 5 (1.26%) SAP PI
8 4 (1.01%) IDoc
8 4 (1.01%) SAML
8 4 (1.01%) XML
9 3 (0.76%) ADO
9 3 (0.76%) CSS
9 3 (0.76%) HTML
9 3 (0.76%) JSON
9 3 (0.76%) Node.js
9 3 (0.76%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 17 (4.29%) Cloud Native
2 14 (3.54%) Management Information System
3 13 (3.28%) Operational Technology
3 13 (3.28%) Product Ownership
4 12 (3.03%) Data Centre
5 11 (2.78%) Enterprise Software
5 11 (2.78%) Onboarding
6 10 (2.53%) SCADA
7 9 (2.27%) Analytical Mindset
7 9 (2.27%) Data Protection Act
7 9 (2.27%) Legacy Systems
7 9 (2.27%) Self-Motivation
7 9 (2.27%) Virtual Team
8 6 (1.52%) Cyber Threat
8 6 (1.52%) Distributed Systems
8 6 (1.52%) Hybrid Cloud
9 4 (1.01%) CSOC
9 4 (1.01%) Driving Licence
9 4 (1.01%) Security Operations Centre
10 3 (0.76%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 44 (11.11%) Windows
2 17 (4.29%) Linux
3 12 (3.03%) Mac OS
4 10 (2.53%) Windows Server
5 9 (2.27%) Windows 10
6 8 (2.02%) Unix
7 4 (1.01%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 3 (0.76%) Apple iOS
9 1 (0.25%) Embedded Linux
9 1 (0.25%) HPUX
Processes & Methodologies
1 126 (31.82%) Agile
2 116 (29.29%) Continuous Improvement
3 74 (18.69%) CI/CD
4 67 (16.92%) DevOps
4 67 (16.92%) Stakeholder Management
5 59 (14.90%) Test Automation
6 56 (14.14%) Analytics
6 56 (14.14%) Migration
7 54 (13.64%) AI
7 54 (13.64%) Business Intelligence
8 53 (13.38%) ETL
9 52 (13.13%) Scrum
10 50 (12.63%) Data Modelling
11 47 (11.87%) Validation
12 43 (10.86%) Decision-Making
13 42 (10.61%) Generative AI
14 41 (10.35%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 33 (8.33%) Data Pipeline
16 31 (7.83%) ITIL
17 29 (7.32%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 92 (23.23%) SQL
2 47 (11.87%) Python
3 31 (7.83%) Java
4 19 (4.80%) PL/SQL
5 15 (3.79%) PowerShell
6 11 (2.78%) C
7 9 (2.27%) Bash
7 9 (2.27%) JavaScript
8 8 (2.02%) ProC
9 7 (1.77%) C#
10 6 (1.52%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 5 (1.26%) ABAP
11 5 (1.26%) MATLAB
11 5 (1.26%) Shell Script
11 5 (1.26%) TypeScript
12 4 (1.01%) C++
12 4 (1.01%) Kusto Query Language
12 4 (1.01%) Perl
13 3 (0.76%) Bicep
14 1 (0.25%) SystemVerilog
Qualifications
1 129 (32.58%) Security Cleared
2 107 (27.02%) SC Cleared
3 42 (10.61%) Degree
4 16 (4.04%) Microsoft Certification
5 15 (3.79%) BPSS Clearance
6 11 (2.78%) DV Cleared
7 10 (2.53%) Cisco Certification
8 8 (2.02%) Azure Certification
8 8 (2.02%) Computer Science Degree
8 8 (2.02%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 7 (1.77%) CCNA
9 7 (1.77%) ISTQB
10 6 (1.52%) CISSP
10 6 (1.52%) MCSE
10 6 (1.52%) OCP
10 6 (1.52%) Oracle Certification
11 5 (1.26%) AWS Certification
12 4 (1.01%) CCNP
12 4 (1.01%) CISM
12 4 (1.01%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 50 (12.63%) Data Quality
2 25 (6.31%) QA
3 17 (4.29%) Accessibility
4 14 (3.54%) SLA
5 13 (3.28%) GDPR
6 9 (2.27%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 9 (2.27%) WCAG
7 6 (1.52%) PMO
8 4 (1.01%) Cyber Essentials
9 3 (0.76%) GRC
9 3 (0.76%) HIPAA
9 3 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 12207
9 3 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 15288
10 2 (0.51%) ISO 19650
10 2 (0.51%) NIST
11 1 (0.25%) Actionable Recommendations
11 1 (0.25%) ISO 14001
11 1 (0.25%) ISO 9001
11 1 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 42 (10.61%) Docker
2 20 (5.05%) Active Directory
3 13 (3.28%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (2.53%) vSphere
5 7 (1.77%) Hyper-V
5 7 (1.77%) VMware ESXi
6 4 (1.01%) Snort
7 3 (0.76%) VMware NSX
8 2 (0.51%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.25%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.25%) Microsoft App-V
9 1 (0.25%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 44 (11.11%) Kubernetes
2 15 (3.79%) SCCM
2 15 (3.79%) Terraform
3 14 (3.54%) Grafana
4 11 (2.78%) Ansible
4 11 (2.78%) Prometheus
5 8 (2.02%) Microsoft Intune
6 4 (1.01%) Argo
6 4 (1.01%) CSIRT
6 4 (1.01%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (1.01%) Podman
6 4 (1.01%) PowerCLI
6 4 (1.01%) vMotion
7 3 (0.76%) Control-M
7 3 (0.76%) IBM Guardium
7 3 (0.76%) Nessus
7 3 (0.76%) Single Sign-On
7 3 (0.76%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.25%) HP ALM
8 1 (0.25%) QRadar
Vendors
1 84 (21.21%) Microsoft
2 57 (14.39%) Oracle
3 31 (7.83%) SAP
4 26 (6.57%) ServiceNow
5 20 (5.05%) Talend
5 20 (5.05%) VMware
6 17 (4.29%) Denodo
7 15 (3.79%) Cisco
7 15 (3.79%) Splunk
8 11 (2.78%) Atlassian
9 10 (2.53%) Google
9 10 (2.53%) Red Hat
10 8 (2.02%) Databricks
11 7 (1.77%) Qualys
12 6 (1.52%) Apple
12 6 (1.52%) Siemens
13 5 (1.26%) Adobe
13 5 (1.26%) Citrix
13 5 (1.26%) webMethods
14 4 (1.01%) Informatica
242 Problem-Solving jobs in the West Midlands