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

6 months to
29 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 3 11
Rank change year-on-year -7 +8 -3
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 391 300 178
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 11.43% 18.23% 9.40%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.31% 20.63% 11.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 275 183 124
10th Percentile £306 £168 £190
25th Percentile £363 £325 £357
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year - -5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £538 £537 £591
90th Percentile £629 £643 £650
England median daily rate £495 £492 £500
% change year-on-year +0.61% -1.60% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 9 7
10th Percentile £12.90 £14.86 £13.45
25th Percentile £14.60 £25.00 £15.13
Median hourly rate £27.30 £33.88 £17.00
Median % change year-on-year -19.42% +99.29% -18.93%
75th Percentile £46.95 £44.00 £37.61
90th Percentile £67.84 £54.13 £56.25
England median hourly rate £21.35 £21.10 £16.23
% change year-on-year +1.18% +30.01% -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 2,938 1,454 1,549
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 85.88% 88.34% 81.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,890 915 1,055
10th Percentile £313 £216 £287
25th Percentile £406 £363 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year - -5.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £625
90th Percentile £675 £663 £738
England median daily rate £525 £512 £525
% change year-on-year +2.54% -2.48% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 160 104 68
10th Percentile £14.82 £12.62 £12.35
25th Percentile £21.02 £13.76 £14.09
Median hourly rate £33.99 £22.28 £18.50
Median % change year-on-year +52.59% +20.41% -32.11%
75th Percentile £55.19 £34.16 £37.81
90th Percentile £72.54 £50.00 £56.25
England median hourly rate £46.62 £25.15 £41.50
% change year-on-year +85.35% -39.40% -2.35%

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 29 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 29 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 29 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 -2 116 £500 +5.26% 53
Shropshire -16 105 £450 -1.50% 32
Birmingham -14 74 £450 +4.65% 110
Coventry -15 30 £363 -12.12% 14
Worcestershire +9 16 £506 -1.70% 22
Staffordshire -4 11 £313 -10.71% 28
Solihull -17 8 £447 -42.73% 6
Wolverhampton - 5 £200 - 7
Herefordshire -3 4 - - 9
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 40 (10.23%) Confluence
2 25 (6.39%) SAS
3 19 (4.86%) SharePoint
4 15 (3.84%) Oracle Workflow
5 9 (2.30%) WebLogic
6 6 (1.53%) Oracle Self-Service HR
7 4 (1.02%) Microsoft Exchange
8 1 (0.26%) Apache
8 1 (0.26%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.26%) Appian
8 1 (0.26%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 1 (0.26%) Tuxedo
Applications
1 25 (6.39%) Microsoft Excel
2 18 (4.60%) Microsoft Office
3 7 (1.79%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (1.28%) Microsoft Project
4 5 (1.28%) MS Visio
5 4 (1.02%) Spreadsheet
6 3 (0.77%) Navisworks
6 3 (0.77%) Revit
7 2 (0.51%) Adobe XD
7 2 (0.51%) CATIA
7 2 (0.51%) Sketch
8 1 (0.26%) Adobe Captivate
8 1 (0.26%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.26%) Adobe Illustrator
8 1 (0.26%) Fusion 360
8 1 (0.26%) InDesign
8 1 (0.26%) Photoshop
8 1 (0.26%) Trello
Business Applications
1 12 (3.07%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (2.81%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (1.53%) Oracle HRMS
4 5 (1.28%) SAP PSCD
5 3 (0.77%) ContrOCC
5 3 (0.77%) Remedy ITSM
5 3 (0.77%) Teamcenter
6 1 (0.26%) Aladdin
6 1 (0.26%) Maximo
6 1 (0.26%) NEC Housing
6 1 (0.26%) Oracle Receivables
6 1 (0.26%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.26%) SAP CX
6 1 (0.26%) SAP GRC
6 1 (0.26%) SAP QM
6 1 (0.26%) SAP Travel Management
Cloud Services
1 73 (18.67%) Azure
2 39 (9.97%) AWS
3 34 (8.70%) Power Platform
4 29 (7.42%) Microsoft 365
5 28 (7.16%) Azure DevOps
6 16 (4.09%) Entra ID
6 16 (4.09%) GitHub
7 13 (3.32%) Dynamics 365
7 13 (3.32%) GCP
8 12 (3.07%) Serverless
9 11 (2.81%) Azure Data Factory
9 11 (2.81%) Power Automate
10 9 (2.30%) Azure Functions
11 8 (2.05%) Microsoft Purview
12 6 (1.53%) GitHub Actions
13 5 (1.28%) Figma
13 5 (1.28%) Google Analytics
13 5 (1.28%) OneDrive
13 5 (1.28%) OpenShift
13 5 (1.28%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 13 (3.32%) DNS
2 10 (2.56%) Firewall
3 9 (2.30%) VPN
4 8 (2.05%) DHCP
5 7 (1.79%) LAN
5 7 (1.79%) WAN
6 6 (1.53%) Intrusion Detection
6 6 (1.53%) Network Security
6 6 (1.53%) SD-WAN
7 5 (1.28%) Internet
7 5 (1.28%) TCP/IP
7 5 (1.28%) Wi-Fi
8 3 (0.77%) BIG-IP
8 3 (0.77%) SSL
8 3 (0.77%) Unified Communications
8 3 (0.77%) VoIP
9 2 (0.51%) Cisco Wireless
9 2 (0.51%) PBX
9 2 (0.51%) Remote Desktop
9 2 (0.51%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (7.42%) Power BI
2 21 (5.37%) Pentaho
3 20 (5.12%) Data Warehouse
4 17 (4.35%) SQL Server
5 15 (3.84%) PostgreSQL
6 10 (2.56%) Metadata
7 7 (1.79%) Ingres
7 7 (1.79%) MySQL
7 7 (1.79%) Oracle Reports
8 6 (1.53%) MongoDB
8 6 (1.53%) Relational Database
9 5 (1.28%) Big Data
9 5 (1.28%) Data Lake
9 5 (1.28%) Oracle Database
10 4 (1.02%) NoSQL
10 4 (1.02%) Power Query
11 3 (0.77%) Amazon RDS
11 3 (0.77%) Azure SQL Database
11 3 (0.77%) SAP BW
12 2 (0.51%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 69 (17.65%) JIRA
2 42 (10.74%) Git
3 30 (7.67%) Jenkins
4 21 (5.37%) Selenium
5 15 (3.84%) Postman
6 11 (2.81%) WebDriver
7 10 (2.56%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 10 (2.56%) Cypress.io
8 8 (2.05%) Cucumber
9 7 (1.79%) GitLab
9 7 (1.79%) JUnit
10 6 (1.53%) REST Assured
11 5 (1.28%) Bitbucket
11 5 (1.28%) Zephyr
12 4 (1.02%) JMeter
12 4 (1.02%) Maven
13 3 (0.77%) Browser DevTools
13 3 (0.77%) Protractor
13 3 (0.77%) SonarQube
14 2 (0.51%) Serenity BDD
General
1 192 (49.10%) Social Skills
2 153 (39.13%) Analytical Skills
3 62 (15.86%) Finance
4 48 (12.28%) Public Sector
5 20 (5.12%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 15 (3.84%) Local Government
6 15 (3.84%) Manufacturing
7 12 (3.07%) Influencing Skills
7 12 (3.07%) Organisational Skills
8 9 (2.30%) Automotive
8 9 (2.30%) Banking
8 9 (2.30%) Legal
8 9 (2.30%) Presentation Skills
9 7 (1.79%) Electronics
10 6 (1.53%) Marketing
11 5 (1.28%) Billing
11 5 (1.28%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (1.28%) Retail
12 4 (1.02%) Military
13 3 (0.77%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 59 (15.09%) Analyst
2 46 (11.76%) Lead
3 38 (9.72%) Data Engineer
4 33 (8.44%) Senior
5 27 (6.91%) Developer
6 26 (6.65%) Consultant
7 20 (5.12%) Administrator
7 20 (5.12%) Architect
8 19 (4.86%) Business Analyst
9 17 (4.35%) SAP Consultant
10 14 (3.58%) Test Analyst
11 11 (2.81%) Data Analyst
12 8 (2.05%) Business Intelligence Developer
12 8 (2.05%) Delivery Manager
12 8 (2.05%) Java Developer
12 8 (2.05%) Network Engineer
12 8 (2.05%) Project Manager
12 8 (2.05%) Software Engineer
12 8 (2.05%) Test Engineer
13 7 (1.79%) Scrum Master
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (4.09%) REST
2 15 (3.84%) Spring
3 12 (3.07%) Spring Boot
4 9 (2.30%) Oracle Fusion
4 9 (2.30%) SOAP
5 8 (2.05%) Gherkin
6 6 (1.53%) Middleware
7 5 (1.28%) AngularJS
7 5 (1.28%) JDBC
7 5 (1.28%) OpenTelemetry
7 5 (1.28%) SAP PI
8 4 (1.02%) IDoc
8 4 (1.02%) Playwright
8 4 (1.02%) Spring Cloud
8 4 (1.02%) XML
9 3 (0.77%) ADO
9 3 (0.77%) CSS
9 3 (0.77%) HTML
9 3 (0.77%) SAML
9 3 (0.77%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 18 (4.60%) Cloud Native
2 13 (3.32%) Data Centre
2 13 (3.32%) Enterprise Software
2 13 (3.32%) Management Information System
2 13 (3.32%) Product Ownership
3 11 (2.81%) Operational Technology
4 10 (2.56%) Onboarding
4 10 (2.56%) SCADA
4 10 (2.56%) Self-Motivation
5 9 (2.30%) Virtual Team
6 8 (2.05%) Analytical Mindset
6 8 (2.05%) Data Protection Act
6 8 (2.05%) Legacy Systems
7 6 (1.53%) Distributed Systems
7 6 (1.53%) Hybrid Cloud
8 5 (1.28%) Cyber Threat
9 4 (1.02%) Autonomous Agent
9 4 (1.02%) Driving Licence
10 3 (0.77%) Algorithms
10 3 (0.77%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 43 (11.00%) Windows
2 17 (4.35%) Linux
3 12 (3.07%) Mac OS
4 10 (2.56%) Windows Server
5 9 (2.30%) Unix
5 9 (2.30%) Windows 10
6 5 (1.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (0.77%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.26%) Embedded Linux
8 1 (0.26%) HPUX
Processes & Methodologies
1 132 (33.76%) Agile
2 118 (30.18%) Continuous Improvement
3 78 (19.95%) CI/CD
4 73 (18.67%) DevOps
5 69 (17.65%) Stakeholder Management
6 63 (16.11%) Test Automation
7 57 (14.58%) Scrum
8 55 (14.07%) Analytics
8 55 (14.07%) Migration
9 54 (13.81%) Business Intelligence
10 52 (13.30%) AI
10 52 (13.30%) ETL
11 51 (13.04%) Data Modelling
12 45 (11.51%) Decision-Making
13 43 (11.00%) Validation
14 42 (10.74%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 37 (9.46%) Generative AI
16 36 (9.21%) Data Pipeline
17 35 (8.95%) ITIL
18 29 (7.42%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 89 (22.76%) SQL
2 42 (10.74%) Python
3 34 (8.70%) Java
4 19 (4.86%) PL/SQL
5 13 (3.32%) PowerShell
6 11 (2.81%) C
7 10 (2.56%) JavaScript
8 9 (2.30%) Bash
9 8 (2.05%) ProC
10 7 (1.79%) C#
10 7 (1.79%) TypeScript
11 6 (1.53%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 5 (1.28%) ABAP
12 5 (1.28%) MATLAB
12 5 (1.28%) Shell Script
13 4 (1.02%) C++
13 4 (1.02%) Perl
14 3 (0.77%) Bicep
14 3 (0.77%) Kusto Query Language
15 1 (0.26%) SystemVerilog
Qualifications
1 135 (34.53%) Security Cleared
2 115 (29.41%) SC Cleared
3 42 (10.74%) Degree
4 18 (4.60%) Microsoft Certification
5 17 (4.35%) BPSS Clearance
6 10 (2.56%) Cisco Certification
6 10 (2.56%) Computer Science Degree
7 9 (2.30%) DV Cleared
8 8 (2.05%) Azure Certification
8 8 (2.05%) ISTQB
8 8 (2.05%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 7 (1.79%) CCNA
9 7 (1.79%) OCP
9 7 (1.79%) Oracle Certification
10 6 (1.53%) MCSE
11 5 (1.28%) AWS Certification
11 5 (1.28%) CISSP
12 4 (1.02%) CCNP
12 4 (1.02%) RHCA
12 4 (1.02%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 49 (12.53%) Data Quality
2 26 (6.65%) QA
3 18 (4.60%) Accessibility
4 14 (3.58%) SLA
5 13 (3.32%) GDPR
6 10 (2.56%) WCAG
7 9 (2.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 6 (1.53%) PMO
9 4 (1.02%) Cyber Essentials
10 3 (0.77%) GRC
10 3 (0.77%) HIPAA
10 3 (0.77%) ISO/IEC 12207
10 3 (0.77%) ISO/IEC 15288
11 2 (0.51%) ISO 19650
11 2 (0.51%) NIST
12 1 (0.26%) Actionable Recommendations
12 1 (0.26%) ISO 14001
12 1 (0.26%) ISO 9001
12 1 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 41 (10.49%) Docker
2 19 (4.86%) Active Directory
3 13 (3.32%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (2.56%) vSphere
5 7 (1.79%) Hyper-V
5 7 (1.79%) VMware ESXi
6 3 (0.77%) Snort
6 3 (0.77%) VMware NSX
7 2 (0.51%) Virtual Desktop
8 1 (0.26%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.26%) FreeRADIUS
8 1 (0.26%) Microsoft App-V
8 1 (0.26%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 42 (10.74%) Kubernetes
2 15 (3.84%) SCCM
3 14 (3.58%) Grafana
4 13 (3.32%) Terraform
5 11 (2.81%) Ansible
6 10 (2.56%) Prometheus
7 8 (2.05%) Microsoft Intune
8 4 (1.02%) Argo
8 4 (1.02%) Jamf Pro
8 4 (1.02%) Podman
8 4 (1.02%) PowerCLI
8 4 (1.02%) vMotion
9 3 (0.77%) CSIRT
9 3 (0.77%) Single Sign-On
9 3 (0.77%) vCenter Server
10 1 (0.26%) AirWatch
10 1 (0.26%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.26%) HP ALM
10 1 (0.26%) IBM Guardium
10 1 (0.26%) QRadar
Vendors
1 79 (20.20%) Microsoft
2 57 (14.58%) Oracle
3 31 (7.93%) SAP
4 25 (6.39%) ServiceNow
5 21 (5.37%) Talend
6 20 (5.12%) Denodo
6 20 (5.12%) VMware
7 16 (4.09%) Cisco
8 14 (3.58%) Atlassian
8 14 (3.58%) Splunk
9 10 (2.56%) Google
9 10 (2.56%) Red Hat
10 8 (2.05%) Databricks
11 7 (1.79%) Qualys
12 6 (1.53%) Apple
12 6 (1.53%) Siemens
13 5 (1.28%) Adobe
13 5 (1.28%) Citrix
13 5 (1.28%) webMethods
14 4 (1.02%) Informatica