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 26 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 3 11
Rank change year-on-year -8 +8 -3
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 405 297 183
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 11.65% 18.09% 9.47%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.56% 20.51% 11.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 284 181 126
10th Percentile £306 £168 £190
25th Percentile £362 £325 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year - -5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £538 £537 £588
90th Percentile £643 £644 £650
England median daily rate £495 £495 £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% -9.54%
75th Percentile £46.95 £44.00 £56.25
90th Percentile £67.84 £54.13 £59.50
England median hourly rate £21.35 £21.24 £16.23
% change year-on-year +0.52% +30.87% -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 2,986 1,448 1,580
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 85.93% 88.19% 81.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,935 911 1,072
10th Percentile £313 £220 £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 £663 £725
England median daily rate £525 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 158 104 73
10th Percentile £14.82 £12.62 £11.70
25th Percentile £21.25 £13.76 £14.13
Median hourly rate £33.99 £22.28 £18.50
Median % change year-on-year +52.59% +20.41% -31.48%
75th Percentile £58.06 £34.16 £40.00
90th Percentile £72.54 £50.00 £58.75
England median hourly rate £47.00 £25.15 £40.33
% change year-on-year +86.88% -37.63% -5.12%

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 26 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 26 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 26 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% 47
Shropshire -15 102 £450 -1.50% 28
Birmingham -13 81 £450 +4.90% 92
Coventry -12 32 £363 -12.12% 12
Worcestershire +9 18 £563 +9.22% 19
Staffordshire -6 11 £313 -10.71% 23
Solihull -19 7 £447 -42.73% 6
Herefordshire -3 4 - - 8
Wolverhampton - 4 - - 8
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 38 (9.38%) Confluence
2 24 (5.93%) SAS
3 19 (4.69%) SharePoint
4 15 (3.70%) Oracle Workflow
5 9 (2.22%) WebLogic
6 6 (1.48%) Oracle Self-Service HR
7 5 (1.23%) 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 (6.42%) Microsoft Excel
2 18 (4.44%) Microsoft Office
3 7 (1.73%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (1.23%) Microsoft Project
4 5 (1.23%) MS Visio
5 4 (0.99%) Spreadsheet
6 3 (0.74%) Navisworks
6 3 (0.74%) Revit
7 2 (0.49%) Adobe XD
7 2 (0.49%) CATIA
7 2 (0.49%) 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 (2.96%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (2.72%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (1.48%) Oracle HRMS
4 5 (1.23%) SAP PSCD
5 3 (0.74%) ContrOCC
5 3 (0.74%) Remedy ITSM
5 3 (0.74%) 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 76 (18.77%) Azure
2 42 (10.37%) AWS
3 34 (8.40%) Power Platform
4 30 (7.41%) Microsoft 365
5 28 (6.91%) Azure DevOps
6 18 (4.44%) Entra ID
7 17 (4.20%) GitHub
8 13 (3.21%) Dynamics 365
8 13 (3.21%) GCP
8 13 (3.21%) Serverless
9 11 (2.72%) Azure Data Factory
9 11 (2.72%) Power Automate
10 9 (2.22%) Azure Functions
11 8 (1.98%) Microsoft Purview
12 7 (1.73%) GitHub Actions
13 6 (1.48%) Amazon S3
14 5 (1.23%) Figma
14 5 (1.23%) Google Analytics
14 5 (1.23%) OneDrive
14 5 (1.23%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 13 (3.21%) DNS
2 11 (2.72%) Firewall
3 9 (2.22%) VPN
4 8 (1.98%) DHCP
4 8 (1.98%) Intrusion Detection
5 7 (1.73%) LAN
5 7 (1.73%) WAN
6 6 (1.48%) Network Security
6 6 (1.48%) SD-WAN
7 5 (1.23%) Internet
7 5 (1.23%) TCP/IP
7 5 (1.23%) Wi-Fi
8 3 (0.74%) BIG-IP
8 3 (0.74%) SSL
8 3 (0.74%) Unified Communications
8 3 (0.74%) VoIP
9 2 (0.49%) Cisco Wireless
9 2 (0.49%) PBX
9 2 (0.49%) Remote Desktop
9 2 (0.49%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (7.16%) Power BI
2 20 (4.94%) Data Warehouse
2 20 (4.94%) Pentaho
3 18 (4.44%) SQL Server
4 15 (3.70%) PostgreSQL
5 11 (2.72%) Metadata
6 8 (1.98%) Ingres
7 7 (1.73%) Relational Database
8 6 (1.48%) MongoDB
8 6 (1.48%) MySQL
8 6 (1.48%) Oracle Reports
9 5 (1.23%) Big Data
9 5 (1.23%) Data Lake
9 5 (1.23%) Oracle Database
10 4 (0.99%) Amazon RDS
10 4 (0.99%) NoSQL
10 4 (0.99%) Power Query
11 3 (0.74%) Amazon Redshift
11 3 (0.74%) SAP BW
11 3 (0.74%) WebFOCUS
Development Applications
1 70 (17.28%) JIRA
2 41 (10.12%) Git
3 29 (7.16%) Jenkins
4 21 (5.19%) Selenium
5 15 (3.70%) Postman
6 11 (2.72%) WebDriver
7 10 (2.47%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 10 (2.47%) Cypress.io
8 8 (1.98%) Cucumber
9 7 (1.73%) GitLab
9 7 (1.73%) REST Assured
10 6 (1.48%) JUnit
11 5 (1.23%) Bitbucket
11 5 (1.23%) Zephyr
12 4 (0.99%) JMeter
13 3 (0.74%) Browser DevTools
13 3 (0.74%) Maven
13 3 (0.74%) Protractor
13 3 (0.74%) Team Foundation Server
14 2 (0.49%) Serenity BDD
General
1 200 (49.38%) Social Skills
2 162 (40.00%) Analytical Skills
3 68 (16.79%) Finance
4 45 (11.11%) Public Sector
5 20 (4.94%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 16 (3.95%) Local Government
7 15 (3.70%) Manufacturing
8 13 (3.21%) Organisational Skills
9 12 (2.96%) Influencing Skills
10 10 (2.47%) Banking
11 9 (2.22%) Automotive
11 9 (2.22%) Legal
11 9 (2.22%) Presentation Skills
12 7 (1.73%) Electronics
13 6 (1.48%) Marketing
13 6 (1.48%) Military
14 5 (1.23%) Billing
14 5 (1.23%) Documentation Skills
14 5 (1.23%) Retail
15 3 (0.74%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 63 (15.56%) Analyst
2 47 (11.60%) Lead
3 37 (9.14%) Data Engineer
4 33 (8.15%) Senior
5 29 (7.16%) Developer
6 26 (6.42%) Consultant
7 20 (4.94%) Architect
8 19 (4.69%) Administrator
8 19 (4.69%) Business Analyst
9 17 (4.20%) SAP Consultant
10 15 (3.70%) Data Analyst
11 14 (3.46%) Test Analyst
12 9 (2.22%) Software Engineer
13 8 (1.98%) Business Intelligence Developer
13 8 (1.98%) Delivery Manager
13 8 (1.98%) Network Engineer
13 8 (1.98%) Project Manager
13 8 (1.98%) Scrum Master
13 8 (1.98%) Test Engineer
14 7 (1.73%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (4.20%) REST
2 15 (3.70%) Spring
3 11 (2.72%) Spring Boot
4 9 (2.22%) Oracle Fusion
5 8 (1.98%) Gherkin
5 8 (1.98%) SOAP
6 7 (1.73%) OpenTelemetry
7 6 (1.48%) JDBC
8 5 (1.23%) Middleware
8 5 (1.23%) Playwright
8 5 (1.23%) SAP PI
9 4 (0.99%) AngularJS
9 4 (0.99%) IDoc
9 4 (0.99%) SAML
9 4 (0.99%) XML
10 3 (0.74%) ADO
10 3 (0.74%) CSS
10 3 (0.74%) HTML
10 3 (0.74%) JSON
10 3 (0.74%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 19 (4.69%) Cloud Native
2 15 (3.70%) Management Information System
3 13 (3.21%) Operational Technology
3 13 (3.21%) Product Ownership
4 12 (2.96%) Data Centre
4 12 (2.96%) Enterprise Software
5 11 (2.72%) Onboarding
6 10 (2.47%) SCADA
6 10 (2.47%) Self-Motivation
7 9 (2.22%) Analytical Mindset
7 9 (2.22%) Data Protection Act
7 9 (2.22%) Legacy Systems
7 9 (2.22%) Virtual Team
8 6 (1.48%) Cyber Threat
8 6 (1.48%) Distributed Systems
8 6 (1.48%) Hybrid Cloud
9 4 (0.99%) Autonomous Agent
9 4 (0.99%) CSOC
9 4 (0.99%) Driving Licence
9 4 (0.99%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 44 (10.86%) Windows
2 17 (4.20%) Linux
3 12 (2.96%) Mac OS
4 10 (2.47%) Windows Server
5 9 (2.22%) Windows 10
6 8 (1.98%) Unix
7 4 (0.99%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 3 (0.74%) Apple iOS
9 1 (0.25%) Embedded Linux
9 1 (0.25%) HPUX
Processes & Methodologies
1 134 (33.09%) Agile
2 119 (29.38%) Continuous Improvement
3 80 (19.75%) CI/CD
4 73 (18.02%) DevOps
5 69 (17.04%) Stakeholder Management
6 62 (15.31%) Test Automation
7 61 (15.06%) Migration
8 58 (14.32%) Analytics
9 57 (14.07%) AI
10 56 (13.83%) Business Intelligence
10 56 (13.83%) Scrum
11 55 (13.58%) ETL
12 52 (12.84%) Data Modelling
13 48 (11.85%) Validation
14 45 (11.11%) Decision-Making
15 44 (10.86%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 42 (10.37%) Generative AI
17 35 (8.64%) Data Pipeline
18 34 (8.40%) ITIL
19 30 (7.41%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 92 (22.72%) SQL
2 47 (11.60%) Python
3 34 (8.40%) Java
4 19 (4.69%) PL/SQL
5 15 (3.70%) PowerShell
6 11 (2.72%) C
7 10 (2.47%) JavaScript
8 9 (2.22%) Bash
9 8 (1.98%) C#
9 8 (1.98%) ProC
10 6 (1.48%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 6 (1.48%) TypeScript
11 5 (1.23%) ABAP
11 5 (1.23%) MATLAB
11 5 (1.23%) Shell Script
12 4 (0.99%) C++
12 4 (0.99%) Kusto Query Language
12 4 (0.99%) Perl
13 3 (0.74%) Bicep
14 1 (0.25%) SystemVerilog
Qualifications
1 135 (33.33%) Security Cleared
2 113 (27.90%) SC Cleared
3 42 (10.37%) Degree
4 17 (4.20%) Microsoft Certification
5 16 (3.95%) BPSS Clearance
6 11 (2.72%) DV Cleared
7 10 (2.47%) Cisco Certification
8 8 (1.98%) Azure Certification
8 8 (1.98%) Computer Science Degree
8 8 (1.98%) ISTQB
8 8 (1.98%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 7 (1.73%) CCNA
10 6 (1.48%) CISSP
10 6 (1.48%) MCSE
10 6 (1.48%) OCP
10 6 (1.48%) Oracle Certification
11 5 (1.23%) AWS Certification
12 4 (0.99%) CCNP
12 4 (0.99%) CISM
12 4 (0.99%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 52 (12.84%) Data Quality
2 27 (6.67%) QA
3 18 (4.44%) Accessibility
4 14 (3.46%) SLA
5 13 (3.21%) GDPR
6 10 (2.47%) WCAG
7 9 (2.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 6 (1.48%) PMO
9 4 (0.99%) Cyber Essentials
10 3 (0.74%) GRC
10 3 (0.74%) HIPAA
10 3 (0.74%) ISO/IEC 12207
10 3 (0.74%) ISO/IEC 15288
11 2 (0.49%) ISO 19650
11 2 (0.49%) NIST
12 1 (0.25%) Actionable Recommendations
12 1 (0.25%) ISO 14001
12 1 (0.25%) ISO 9001
12 1 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 43 (10.62%) Docker
2 20 (4.94%) Active Directory
3 13 (3.21%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (2.47%) vSphere
5 7 (1.73%) Hyper-V
5 7 (1.73%) VMware ESXi
6 4 (0.99%) Snort
7 3 (0.74%) VMware NSX
8 2 (0.49%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.25%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.25%) FreeRADIUS
9 1 (0.25%) Microsoft App-V
9 1 (0.25%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 44 (10.86%) Kubernetes
2 15 (3.70%) Grafana
2 15 (3.70%) SCCM
2 15 (3.70%) Terraform
3 12 (2.96%) Prometheus
4 11 (2.72%) Ansible
5 8 (1.98%) Microsoft Intune
6 4 (0.99%) Argo
6 4 (0.99%) CSIRT
6 4 (0.99%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (0.99%) Podman
6 4 (0.99%) PowerCLI
6 4 (0.99%) vMotion
7 3 (0.74%) Control-M
7 3 (0.74%) IBM Guardium
7 3 (0.74%) Nessus
7 3 (0.74%) Single Sign-On
7 3 (0.74%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.25%) AirWatch
8 1 (0.25%) HP ALM
Vendors
1 85 (20.99%) Microsoft
2 57 (14.07%) Oracle
3 32 (7.90%) SAP
4 27 (6.67%) ServiceNow
5 20 (4.94%) Talend
5 20 (4.94%) VMware
6 19 (4.69%) Denodo
7 16 (3.95%) Cisco
8 15 (3.70%) Splunk
9 14 (3.46%) Atlassian
10 10 (2.47%) Google
10 10 (2.47%) Red Hat
11 8 (1.98%) Databricks
12 7 (1.73%) Qualys
13 6 (1.48%) Apple
13 6 (1.48%) Siemens
14 5 (1.23%) Adobe
14 5 (1.23%) Citrix
14 5 (1.23%) webMethods
15 4 (0.99%) Informatica