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 13 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 3 6
Rank change year-on-year -8 +3 +1
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 419 323 222
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 11.97% 17.73% 11.60%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 14.10% 20.06% 14.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 272 211 138
10th Percentile £306 £200 £155
25th Percentile £363 £391 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £469 £464
Median % change year-on-year -4.05% +1.13% -12.91%
75th Percentile £532 £538 £575
90th Percentile £646 £625 £641
England median daily rate £500 £490 £500
% change year-on-year +2.04% -2.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 34 11 5
10th Percentile £12.90 £14.25 -
25th Percentile £13.58 £20.06 £15.13
Median hourly rate £20.75 £33.88 £17.00
Median % change year-on-year -38.75% +99.29% -18.93%
75th Percentile £36.62 £42.01 £18.97
90th Percentile £67.84 £52.50 £20.49
England median hourly rate £19.79 £18.85 £16.23
% change year-on-year +4.96% +16.14% -69.42%

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 2,971 1,610 1,561
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 84.91% 88.36% 81.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,824 1,039 1,015
10th Percentile £313 £235 £252
25th Percentile £413 £396 £396
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £519
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% -3.66% +3.80%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £625
90th Percentile £672 £663 £725
England median daily rate £525 £508 £525
% change year-on-year +3.45% -3.33% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 208 103 41
10th Percentile £13.45 £12.62 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.57 £16.07 £15.13
Median hourly rate £29.60 £24.34 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year +21.61% +8.18% -18.18%
75th Percentile £53.75 £35.30 £35.00
90th Percentile £68.49 £50.00 £55.25
England median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% -

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 13 September 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 13 September 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 13 September 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 -1 117 £475 -4.14% 65
Shropshire -8 117 £450 -13.21% 46
Birmingham -13 75 £450 +3.45% 217
Coventry -8 37 £363 -14.71% 34
Staffordshire -8 16 £316 -29.72% 52
Solihull -14 15 £493 -17.92% 19
Worcestershire +10 12 £425 -22.73% 27
Herefordshire +1 5 - - 11
Wolverhampton 0 5 £275 +46.67% 23
Dudley - 3 £375 - 10
Wednesbury - 1 - - 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 44 (10.50%) Confluence
2 22 (5.25%) SharePoint
3 17 (4.06%) SAS
4 16 (3.82%) Oracle Workflow
5 9 (2.15%) Microsoft Exchange
6 6 (1.43%) Oracle Self-Service HR
7 1 (0.24%) Apache
7 1 (0.24%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.24%) Appian
7 1 (0.24%) IIS
7 1 (0.24%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 1 (0.24%) Skype for Business
7 1 (0.24%) WebLogic
Applications
1 27 (6.44%) Microsoft Excel
2 18 (4.30%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (1.43%) Microsoft Project
3 6 (1.43%) Spreadsheet
4 5 (1.19%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 4 (0.95%) MS Visio
6 3 (0.72%) Navisworks
6 3 (0.72%) Revit
7 2 (0.48%) Adobe XD
7 2 (0.48%) CATIA
7 2 (0.48%) Sketch
8 1 (0.24%) Adobe Captivate
8 1 (0.24%) Adobe Illustrator
8 1 (0.24%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.24%) Fusion 360
8 1 (0.24%) Photoshop
8 1 (0.24%) Trello
Business Applications
1 16 (3.82%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (2.86%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (1.43%) Oracle HRMS
4 5 (1.19%) SAP PSCD
5 3 (0.72%) ContrOCC
5 3 (0.72%) Remedy ITSM
5 3 (0.72%) Teamcenter
6 2 (0.48%) NetSuite
6 2 (0.48%) SAP MDG
7 1 (0.24%) Maximo
7 1 (0.24%) NEC Housing
7 1 (0.24%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.24%) Primavera
7 1 (0.24%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.24%) SAP GRC
7 1 (0.24%) SAP MM
7 1 (0.24%) SAP PP
7 1 (0.24%) SAP QM
7 1 (0.24%) SAP SD
7 1 (0.24%) SAP Travel Management
Cloud Services
1 73 (17.42%) Azure
2 45 (10.74%) Microsoft 365
3 41 (9.79%) AWS
3 41 (9.79%) Power Platform
4 30 (7.16%) Azure DevOps
5 22 (5.25%) Entra ID
6 17 (4.06%) Power Automate
7 14 (3.34%) Dynamics 365
7 14 (3.34%) Serverless
8 11 (2.63%) Azure Data Factory
8 11 (2.63%) Azure Functions
9 10 (2.39%) GitHub
10 8 (1.91%) OneDrive
11 7 (1.67%) Microsoft Purview
12 6 (1.43%) GCP
12 6 (1.43%) Snowflake
13 5 (1.19%) Google Analytics
14 4 (0.95%) SuccessFactors
15 3 (0.72%) Azure Storage
15 3 (0.72%) Figma
Communications & Networking
1 19 (4.53%) DNS
2 17 (4.06%) DHCP
3 16 (3.82%) Firewall
4 13 (3.10%) VPN
5 12 (2.86%) TCP/IP
6 11 (2.63%) LAN
6 11 (2.63%) Network Security
6 11 (2.63%) WAN
7 8 (1.91%) SD-WAN
8 6 (1.43%) Internet
8 6 (1.43%) Unified Communications
9 5 (1.19%) VoIP
10 4 (0.95%) SSL
10 4 (0.95%) Wi-Fi
11 3 (0.72%) Intrusion Detection
11 3 (0.72%) SAN
11 3 (0.72%) Softphone
11 3 (0.72%) VLAN
11 3 (0.72%) Wireless
12 2 (0.48%) PBX
Database & Business Intelligence
1 37 (8.83%) Power BI
2 22 (5.25%) Pentaho
2 22 (5.25%) SQL Server
3 20 (4.77%) Data Warehouse
4 19 (4.53%) PostgreSQL
5 16 (3.82%) Relational Database
6 13 (3.10%) Metadata
7 9 (2.15%) Data Lake
8 8 (1.91%) Oracle Reports
9 7 (1.67%) NoSQL
10 6 (1.43%) Ingres
10 6 (1.43%) MySQL
10 6 (1.43%) Oracle Database
11 4 (0.95%) SAP BW
12 3 (0.72%) Amazon RDS
12 3 (0.72%) Big Data
12 3 (0.72%) MongoDB
12 3 (0.72%) Power Query
12 3 (0.72%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 3 (0.72%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 61 (14.56%) JIRA
2 28 (6.68%) Git
3 23 (5.49%) Jenkins
4 18 (4.30%) Selenium
5 16 (3.82%) Postman
6 13 (3.10%) Maven
7 12 (2.86%) JUnit
8 11 (2.63%) Cypress.io
8 11 (2.63%) SonarQube
9 10 (2.39%) GitLab
9 10 (2.39%) Mockito
9 10 (2.39%) WebDriver
10 7 (1.67%) Cucumber
11 5 (1.19%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 5 (1.19%) Zephyr
12 4 (0.95%) Bitbucket
12 4 (0.95%) REST Assured
13 3 (0.72%) Browser DevTools
13 3 (0.72%) Protractor
13 3 (0.72%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 233 (55.61%) Social Skills
2 174 (41.53%) Analytical Skills
3 77 (18.38%) Public Sector
4 64 (15.27%) Finance
5 23 (5.49%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 22 (5.25%) Manufacturing
7 21 (5.01%) Organisational Skills
8 17 (4.06%) Local Government
9 16 (3.82%) Influencing Skills
10 14 (3.34%) Legal
11 11 (2.63%) Presentation Skills
12 10 (2.39%) Automotive
13 8 (1.91%) Banking
13 8 (1.91%) Marketing
13 8 (1.91%) Retail
14 7 (1.67%) Billing
15 6 (1.43%) Documentation Skills
16 5 (1.19%) Electronics
16 5 (1.19%) Telecoms
17 2 (0.48%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 67 (15.99%) Analyst
2 46 (10.98%) Lead
3 45 (10.74%) Senior
4 36 (8.59%) Developer
5 32 (7.64%) Data Engineer
6 25 (5.97%) Consultant
7 24 (5.73%) Architect
8 20 (4.77%) Administrator
9 18 (4.30%) Business Analyst
9 18 (4.30%) SAP Consultant
10 17 (4.06%) Test Analyst
11 13 (3.10%) Support Engineer
12 12 (2.86%) Data Analyst
12 12 (2.86%) Java Developer
13 11 (2.63%) Delivery Manager
13 11 (2.63%) Technical Engineer
14 10 (2.39%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 10 (2.39%) Senior Developer
15 9 (2.15%) Network Engineer
15 9 (2.15%) Scrum Master
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (7.88%) REST
2 26 (6.21%) SOAP
3 14 (3.34%) AngularJS
3 14 (3.34%) RESTful
3 14 (3.34%) Spring
3 14 (3.34%) Spring Boot
3 14 (3.34%) Web Services
4 12 (2.86%) Spring Cloud
4 12 (2.86%) Terraform
5 11 (2.63%) Hibernate
5 11 (2.63%) JPA
6 10 (2.39%) ActiveMQ
6 10 (2.39%) Gherkin
6 10 (2.39%) Oracle Fusion
7 7 (1.67%) Middleware
7 7 (1.67%) Play Framework
8 6 (1.43%) XML
9 5 (1.19%) JDBC
9 5 (1.19%) JSON
9 5 (1.19%) SAP PI
Miscellaneous
1 28 (6.68%) Cloud Native
2 27 (6.44%) Self-Motivation
3 25 (5.97%) Management Information System
4 20 (4.77%) Enterprise Software
5 17 (4.06%) Product Ownership
6 11 (2.63%) Onboarding
7 10 (2.39%) Legacy Systems
8 9 (2.15%) Analytical Mindset
8 9 (2.15%) Data Centre
8 9 (2.15%) Virtual Team
9 8 (1.91%) Operational Technology
10 7 (1.67%) Autonomous Agent
11 6 (1.43%) Cyber Threat
11 6 (1.43%) Data Protection Act
11 6 (1.43%) SCADA
12 5 (1.19%) Hybrid Cloud
12 5 (1.19%) Life Science
13 4 (0.95%) iPhone
13 4 (0.95%) Mobile App
13 4 (0.95%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 47 (11.22%) Windows
2 14 (3.34%) Windows 10
2 14 (3.34%) Windows Server
3 13 (3.10%) Mac OS
4 12 (2.86%) Linux
5 11 (2.63%) Unix
6 3 (0.72%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.48%) CentOS
7 2 (0.48%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (0.48%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.24%) Embedded Linux
8 1 (0.24%) HPUX
8 1 (0.24%) Windows Server 2003
8 1 (0.24%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.24%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 146 (34.84%) Agile
2 132 (31.50%) Continuous Improvement
3 90 (21.48%) Stakeholder Management
4 71 (16.95%) CI/CD
4 71 (16.95%) DevOps
5 64 (15.27%) Test Automation
6 58 (13.84%) AI
7 57 (13.60%) Scrum
8 55 (13.13%) Migration
9 52 (12.41%) Business Intelligence
10 50 (11.93%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 49 (11.69%) Analytics
11 49 (11.69%) Data Modelling
12 48 (11.46%) Decision-Making
13 47 (11.22%) ETL
14 44 (10.50%) Generative AI
15 40 (9.55%) User Acceptance Testing
16 39 (9.31%) Technical Leadership
17 37 (8.83%) Validation
18 36 (8.59%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 68 (16.23%) SQL
2 34 (8.11%) Java
3 31 (7.40%) Python
4 19 (4.53%) JavaScript
5 16 (3.82%) PowerShell
6 13 (3.10%) TypeScript
7 12 (2.86%) C#
8 11 (2.63%) C
9 10 (2.39%) Bash
10 9 (2.15%) PL/SQL
11 8 (1.91%) ProC
12 7 (1.67%) ABAP
12 7 (1.67%) Scala
13 5 (1.19%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 4 (0.95%) Bicep
14 4 (0.95%) C++
15 3 (0.72%) MATLAB
16 2 (0.48%) VB
16 2 (0.48%) VB6
16 2 (0.48%) VBA
Qualifications
1 122 (29.12%) Security Cleared
2 103 (24.58%) SC Cleared
3 45 (10.74%) Degree
4 27 (6.44%) BPSS Clearance
5 23 (5.49%) Microsoft Certification
6 12 (2.86%) Azure Certification
7 11 (2.63%) Cisco Certification
8 10 (2.39%) ISTQB
9 8 (1.91%) Computer Science Degree
9 8 (1.91%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 7 (1.67%) CCNA
10 7 (1.67%) CISSP
11 6 (1.43%) DV Cleared
11 6 (1.43%) OCP
11 6 (1.43%) Oracle Certification
12 5 (1.19%) A+ Certification
12 5 (1.19%) AWS Certification
12 5 (1.19%) MCSE
12 5 (1.19%) Network+ Certification
13 4 (0.95%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 51 (12.17%) Data Quality
2 42 (10.02%) QA
3 19 (4.53%) Accessibility
4 17 (4.06%) GDPR
5 13 (3.10%) SLA
6 11 (2.63%) WCAG
7 10 (2.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 4 (0.95%) Cyber Essentials
8 4 (0.95%) NIST
8 4 (0.95%) PMO
9 3 (0.72%) GRC
9 3 (0.72%) HIPAA
9 3 (0.72%) ISO 19650
10 2 (0.48%) PCI DSS
11 1 (0.24%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 1 (0.24%) GMP
11 1 (0.24%) GxP
11 1 (0.24%) HL7
11 1 (0.24%) ISO 9001
11 1 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 30 (7.16%) Docker
2 23 (5.49%) Active Directory
3 13 (3.10%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (2.39%) vSphere
5 9 (2.15%) VMware ESXi
6 8 (1.91%) Hyper-V
7 3 (0.72%) FreeRADIUS
8 2 (0.48%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.24%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.24%) Oracle RAC
9 1 (0.24%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 19 (4.53%) Kubernetes
2 17 (4.06%) SCCM
3 16 (3.82%) Grafana
4 15 (3.58%) Microsoft Intune
5 14 (3.34%) Prometheus
6 10 (2.39%) Ansible
7 5 (1.19%) Jamf Pro
7 5 (1.19%) Single Sign-On
8 4 (0.95%) Podman
8 4 (0.95%) PowerCLI
8 4 (0.95%) vMotion
9 3 (0.72%) FortiGate
10 2 (0.48%) Argo
11 1 (0.24%) AirWatch
11 1 (0.24%) HP ALM
11 1 (0.24%) QRadar
11 1 (0.24%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 98 (23.39%) Microsoft
2 52 (12.41%) Oracle
3 34 (8.11%) SAP
4 22 (5.25%) ServiceNow
5 20 (4.77%) VMware
6 18 (4.30%) Cisco
7 17 (4.06%) Denodo
8 16 (3.82%) Talend
9 11 (2.63%) Atlassian
10 9 (2.15%) Google
10 9 (2.15%) Splunk
11 7 (1.67%) Databricks
11 7 (1.67%) Qualys
12 6 (1.43%) Apple
13 5 (1.19%) Fortinet
13 5 (1.19%) Informatica
13 5 (1.19%) webMethods
14 4 (0.95%) Adobe
14 4 (0.95%) Red Hat
14 4 (0.95%) Siemens