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 9 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 2 12
Rank change year-on-year -10 +10 -4
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 354 275 196
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 10.97% 19.08% 9.80%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 12.99% 21.57% 11.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 246 171 139
10th Percentile £300 £150 £224
25th Percentile £390 £316 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £471 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +4.56% -5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £538 £538 £575
90th Percentile £645 £638 £646
England median daily rate £500 £500 £506
% change year-on-year - -1.15% -3.66%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 8 11
10th Percentile £12.90 £14.72 £15.13
25th Percentile £15.34 £22.53 £15.32
Median hourly rate £28.79 £31.61 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year -8.92% +40.47% +21.65%
75th Percentile £51.25 £46.13 £56.25
90th Percentile £67.84 £54.94 £72.50
England median hourly rate £21.18 £21.39 £16.23
% change year-on-year -1.01% +31.79% -68.73%

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 2,726 1,275 1,649
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 84.47% 88.48% 82.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,781 811 1,096
10th Percentile £313 £200 £263
25th Percentile £405 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £483 £500
Median % change year-on-year -0.62% -3.40% -4.31%
75th Percentile £575 £585 £625
90th Percentile £675 £663 £734
England median daily rate £515 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -0.96% -0.95% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 136 69 118
10th Percentile £14.82 £12.62 £11.11
25th Percentile £22.50 £13.78 £14.31
Median hourly rate £34.18 £22.05 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year +55.02% -2.00% -
75th Percentile £67.84 £31.76 £40.38
90th Percentile £72.54 £50.00 £58.75
England median hourly rate £47.25 £28.50 £37.50
% change year-on-year +65.79% -24.00% +4.17%

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 9 June 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 9 June 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 9 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
Warwickshire -1 109 £525 +0.96% 57
Shropshire -16 88 £460 -0.11% 27
Birmingham -13 81 £450 +3.45% 60
Coventry -14 19 £516 +33.23% 18
Worcestershire 0 13 £563 +7.14% 20
Staffordshire -4 9 £313 +101.61% 28
Solihull -14 7 £493 +123.86% 3
Herefordshire -7 3 - - 2
Wolverhampton - 3 - - 4
Wednesbury - 1 - -
Brierley Hill - 1 £390 -
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 27 (7.63%) Confluence
1 27 (7.63%) SAS
2 13 (3.67%) Oracle Workflow
3 10 (2.82%) SharePoint
4 8 (2.26%) WebLogic
5 6 (1.69%) Oracle Self-Service HR
6 5 (1.41%) Microsoft Exchange
7 1 (0.28%) Appian
7 1 (0.28%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 1 (0.28%) Tuxedo
Applications
1 26 (7.34%) Microsoft Excel
2 16 (4.52%) Microsoft Office
3 8 (2.26%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (1.41%) Adobe XD
4 5 (1.41%) Microsoft Project
4 5 (1.41%) Sketch
5 4 (1.13%) Spreadsheet
6 3 (0.85%) MS Visio
6 3 (0.85%) Navisworks
6 3 (0.85%) Revit
7 2 (0.56%) CATIA
8 1 (0.28%) Adobe Captivate
8 1 (0.28%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.28%) Adobe Illustrator
8 1 (0.28%) Fusion 360
8 1 (0.28%) InDesign
8 1 (0.28%) Photoshop
8 1 (0.28%) Trello
Business Applications
1 8 (2.26%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (1.69%) Oracle HRMS
3 3 (0.85%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (0.85%) Teamcenter
4 2 (0.56%) NEC Housing
4 2 (0.56%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.28%) Aareon QL
5 1 (0.28%) ContrOCC
5 1 (0.28%) MIS ActiveH
5 1 (0.28%) OPENHousing
5 1 (0.28%) Oracle Receivables
5 1 (0.28%) Orchard Housing
5 1 (0.28%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.28%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.28%) SAP QM
5 1 (0.28%) SAP Travel Management
Cloud Services
1 56 (15.82%) Azure
2 38 (10.73%) AWS
3 31 (8.76%) Power Platform
4 19 (5.37%) Microsoft 365
5 15 (4.24%) Azure DevOps
5 15 (4.24%) Entra ID
5 15 (4.24%) GitHub
6 11 (3.11%) GCP
7 8 (2.26%) Figma
8 7 (1.98%) Azure Data Factory
9 6 (1.69%) GitHub Actions
9 6 (1.69%) Serverless
10 5 (1.41%) Amazon S3
10 5 (1.41%) OneDrive
10 5 (1.41%) OpenShift
10 5 (1.41%) Snowflake
11 4 (1.13%) dbt
11 4 (1.13%) Dynamics 365
12 3 (0.85%) Azure Storage
12 3 (0.85%) Azure Synapse Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 11 (3.11%) DNS
2 9 (2.54%) VPN
3 6 (1.69%) DHCP
3 6 (1.69%) Firewall
4 5 (1.41%) Intrusion Detection
5 4 (1.13%) BIG-IP
5 4 (1.13%) SD-WAN
5 4 (1.13%) TCP/IP
5 4 (1.13%) WAN
6 3 (0.85%) Internet
6 3 (0.85%) LAN
6 3 (0.85%) Network Security
6 3 (0.85%) VLAN
6 3 (0.85%) Wi-Fi
7 2 (0.56%) Remote Desktop
7 2 (0.56%) SAN
7 2 (0.56%) SSL
7 2 (0.56%) WAAS
8 1 (0.28%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (7.06%) Power BI
2 22 (6.21%) Pentaho
3 19 (5.37%) Data Warehouse
4 12 (3.39%) PostgreSQL
5 10 (2.82%) Metadata
6 7 (1.98%) MongoDB
6 7 (1.98%) SQL Server
7 6 (1.69%) Elasticsearch
7 6 (1.69%) Oracle Reports
7 6 (1.69%) Relational Database
8 4 (1.13%) Ingres
8 4 (1.13%) MySQL
8 4 (1.13%) Power Query
8 4 (1.13%) Tableau
9 3 (0.85%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (0.85%) Amazon Redshift
9 3 (0.85%) Oracle Database
9 3 (0.85%) WebFOCUS
10 2 (0.56%) Azure SQL Database
10 2 (0.56%) NoSQL
Development Applications
1 59 (16.67%) JIRA
2 49 (13.84%) Git
3 32 (9.04%) Jenkins
4 13 (3.67%) Selenium
5 7 (1.98%) Atlassian Bamboo
5 7 (1.98%) GitLab
5 7 (1.98%) Postman
5 7 (1.98%) REST Assured
6 5 (1.41%) JUnit
6 5 (1.41%) Zephyr
7 4 (1.13%) JMeter
8 3 (0.85%) Cucumber
8 3 (0.85%) WebDriver
9 2 (0.56%) Browser DevTools
9 2 (0.56%) Cypress.io
9 2 (0.56%) Gatling
9 2 (0.56%) Serenity BDD
9 2 (0.56%) TestRail
10 1 (0.28%) PetaLinux
10 1 (0.28%) Vite
General
1 178 (50.28%) Social Skills
2 146 (41.24%) Analytical Skills
3 56 (15.82%) Finance
4 21 (5.93%) Public Sector
5 13 (3.67%) Local Government
5 13 (3.67%) Organisational Skills
6 11 (3.11%) Banking
6 11 (3.11%) Manufacturing
7 9 (2.54%) Legal
7 9 (2.54%) Presentation Skills
8 8 (2.26%) Automotive
8 8 (2.26%) Influencing Skills
9 5 (1.41%) Electronics
9 5 (1.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 5 (1.41%) Military
10 4 (1.13%) Documentation Skills
10 4 (1.13%) Marketing
10 4 (1.13%) Retail
11 3 (0.85%) Billing
11 3 (0.85%) Law
Job Titles
1 55 (15.54%) Analyst
2 34 (9.60%) Data Engineer
3 32 (9.04%) Lead
4 25 (7.06%) Developer
5 23 (6.50%) Senior
6 20 (5.65%) Business Analyst
7 18 (5.08%) Consultant
8 17 (4.80%) Architect
9 15 (4.24%) Data Analyst
10 14 (3.95%) Administrator
11 13 (3.67%) Delivery Manager
12 9 (2.54%) SAP Consultant
13 8 (2.26%) Project Manager
13 8 (2.26%) Splunk Engineer
14 7 (1.98%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 7 (1.98%) Network Engineer
14 7 (1.98%) Oracle Specialist
14 7 (1.98%) Scrum Master
15 6 (1.69%) Senior Manager
15 6 (1.69%) Support Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (4.24%) Spring
2 12 (3.39%) REST
3 11 (3.11%) Spring Boot
4 7 (1.98%) AngularJS
4 7 (1.98%) CSS
4 7 (1.98%) HTML
4 7 (1.98%) OpenTelemetry
4 7 (1.98%) Oracle Fusion
4 7 (1.98%) RESTful
5 6 (1.69%) CSS3
5 6 (1.69%) Elastic Stack
5 6 (1.69%) HTML5
5 6 (1.69%) React
6 5 (1.41%) Middleware
6 5 (1.41%) Playwright
7 3 (0.85%) FastAPI
7 3 (0.85%) Hugging Face
7 3 (0.85%) PyTorch
7 3 (0.85%) TensorFlow
7 3 (0.85%) WireMock
Miscellaneous
1 17 (4.80%) Cloud Native
2 15 (4.24%) Management Information System
3 13 (3.67%) Product Ownership
4 11 (3.11%) Onboarding
5 10 (2.82%) Operational Technology
6 9 (2.54%) Data Centre
6 9 (2.54%) SCADA
7 8 (2.26%) Self-Motivation
8 7 (1.98%) Analytical Mindset
8 7 (1.98%) Enterprise Software
8 7 (1.98%) Legacy Systems
9 6 (1.69%) Cyber Threat
9 6 (1.69%) Data Protection Act
9 6 (1.69%) Distributed Systems
10 5 (1.41%) Driving Licence
11 4 (1.13%) CSOC
11 4 (1.13%) Data Structures
11 4 (1.13%) Hybrid Cloud
11 4 (1.13%) Security Operations Centre
12 3 (0.85%) Distributed Applications
Operating Systems
1 36 (10.17%) Windows
2 22 (6.21%) Linux
3 10 (2.82%) Unix
3 10 (2.82%) Windows 10
4 9 (2.54%) Mac OS
5 8 (2.26%) Windows Server
6 5 (1.41%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (1.13%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.28%) Embedded Linux
8 1 (0.28%) HPUX
8 1 (0.28%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 114 (32.20%) Agile
2 111 (31.36%) Continuous Improvement
3 75 (21.19%) CI/CD
4 60 (16.95%) DevOps
5 58 (16.38%) Migration
6 54 (15.25%) Business Intelligence
7 53 (14.97%) Analytics
7 53 (14.97%) Stakeholder Management
7 53 (14.97%) Test Automation
8 51 (14.41%) Data Modelling
8 51 (14.41%) ETL
9 50 (14.12%) Scrum
10 49 (13.84%) AI
11 45 (12.71%) Validation
12 40 (11.30%) Decision-Making
12 40 (11.30%) Generative AI
13 34 (9.60%) Data Pipeline
14 32 (9.04%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 31 (8.76%) Change Management
16 30 (8.47%) Data Integration
Programming Languages
1 86 (24.29%) SQL
2 44 (12.43%) Python
3 26 (7.34%) Java
4 14 (3.95%) Bash
4 14 (3.95%) PL/SQL
4 14 (3.95%) PowerShell
5 9 (2.54%) JavaScript
6 6 (1.69%) TypeScript
7 5 (1.41%) C
7 5 (1.41%) Perl
7 5 (1.41%) Shell Script
8 4 (1.13%) C#
8 4 (1.13%) C++
8 4 (1.13%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 4 (1.13%) Kusto Query Language
9 3 (0.85%) MATLAB
10 2 (0.56%) Bicep
10 2 (0.56%) ProC
11 1 (0.28%) Tcl
11 1 (0.28%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 108 (30.51%) Security Cleared
2 89 (25.14%) SC Cleared
3 47 (13.28%) Degree
4 13 (3.67%) Computer Science Degree
5 10 (2.82%) BPSS Clearance
5 10 (2.82%) DV Cleared
5 10 (2.82%) Microsoft Certification
6 8 (2.26%) Cisco Certification
7 7 (1.98%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 5 (1.41%) MCSE
9 4 (1.13%) Azure Certification
9 4 (1.13%) CCNA
9 4 (1.13%) CCNP
9 4 (1.13%) Master's Degree
9 4 (1.13%) OCP
9 4 (1.13%) Oracle Certification
10 3 (0.85%) PMI Certification
10 3 (0.85%) PMP
10 3 (0.85%) RHCA
10 3 (0.85%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 51 (14.41%) Data Quality
2 20 (5.65%) QA
3 14 (3.95%) Accessibility
4 10 (2.82%) SLA
5 6 (1.69%) PMO
6 5 (1.41%) GDPR
6 5 (1.41%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 5 (1.41%) WCAG
7 3 (0.85%) Cyber Essentials
7 3 (0.85%) GRC
7 3 (0.85%) ISO 19650
7 3 (0.85%) ISO/IEC 12207
7 3 (0.85%) ISO/IEC 15288
8 2 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 1 (0.28%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.28%) HIPAA
9 1 (0.28%) ISO 14001
9 1 (0.28%) ISO 9001
9 1 (0.28%) NIST
9 1 (0.28%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 51 (14.41%) Docker
2 19 (5.37%) Active Directory
3 11 (3.11%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (2.54%) vSphere
5 6 (1.69%) Hyper-V
5 6 (1.69%) VMware ESXi
6 4 (1.13%) Snort
7 3 (0.85%) VMware NSX
8 2 (0.56%) BitLocker
8 2 (0.56%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.28%) Microsoft App-V
9 1 (0.28%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 51 (14.41%) Kubernetes
2 16 (4.52%) Ansible
3 13 (3.67%) Grafana
4 12 (3.39%) SCCM
4 12 (3.39%) Terraform
5 11 (3.11%) Prometheus
6 6 (1.69%) Kibana
6 6 (1.69%) Microsoft Intune
6 6 (1.69%) Puppet
7 4 (1.13%) Argo
7 4 (1.13%) CSIRT
7 4 (1.13%) PowerCLI
7 4 (1.13%) vMotion
8 3 (0.85%) Control-M
8 3 (0.85%) IBM Guardium
8 3 (0.85%) Nessus
8 3 (0.85%) Podman
8 3 (0.85%) vCenter Server
9 2 (0.56%) Jamf Pro
9 2 (0.56%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 64 (18.08%) Microsoft
2 47 (13.28%) Oracle
3 27 (7.63%) ServiceNow
4 23 (6.50%) Talend
5 21 (5.93%) Denodo
6 20 (5.65%) SAP
7 18 (5.08%) Splunk
8 16 (4.52%) VMware
9 12 (3.39%) Cisco
10 8 (2.26%) Adobe
10 8 (2.26%) Atlassian
10 8 (2.26%) Google
10 8 (2.26%) Red Hat
11 6 (1.69%) Siemens
12 4 (1.13%) 3PAR
12 4 (1.13%) Autodesk
12 4 (1.13%) F5
12 4 (1.13%) MuleSoft
12 4 (1.13%) Nimble Storage
12 4 (1.13%) Qualys