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 31 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 5 10
Rank change year-on-year -2 +5 0
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 375 220 207
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 12.94% 16.65% 10.48%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 15.41% 18.66% 12.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 258 149 149
10th Percentile £295 £160 £263
25th Percentile £400 £300 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £476 £463 £510
Median % change year-on-year +2.86% -9.31% -2.86%
75th Percentile £538 £588 £625
90th Percentile £600 £700 £688
England median daily rate £492 £500 £513
% change year-on-year -1.60% -2.44% -4.30%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 4 9
10th Percentile £13.71 £16.41 £14.29
25th Percentile £14.87 £16.63 £15.13
Median hourly rate £16.71 £19.62 £42.00
Median % change year-on-year -14.86% -53.29% +102.85%
75th Percentile £45.71 £31.66 £56.25
90th Percentile £71.70 £49.04 £72.50
England median hourly rate £20.75 £23.80 £18.00
% change year-on-year -12.82% +32.22% -58.14%

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 2,434 1,179 1,657
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 84.02% 89.25% 83.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,610 797 1,101
10th Percentile £305 £200 £275
25th Percentile £402 £388 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £488
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% +2.56% -2.50%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £606
90th Percentile £650 £682 £706
England median daily rate £505 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 85 54 118
10th Percentile £14.00 £12.36 £11.11
25th Percentile £16.25 £14.70 £14.03
Median hourly rate £25.00 £18.07 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year +38.39% -19.71% +26.98%
75th Percentile £30.75 £28.18 £39.69
90th Percentile £71.52 £35.00 £57.00
England median hourly rate £37.00 £32.50 £32.50
% change year-on-year +13.85% - -13.33%

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 31 March 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 31 March 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 31 March 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
Shropshire -5 116 £477 +5.03% 20
Warwickshire +8 86 £550 -4.35% 40
Birmingham -11 83 £468 -0.21% 97
Coventry -8 28 £313 -20.51% 12
Staffordshire 0 16 £306 +104.17% 39
Worcestershire -10 13 £563 +8.17% 25
Solihull -6 6 £484 +16.57% 7
Wolverhampton - 3 £267 - 4
Herefordshire -20 2 £700 +27.27% 7
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 51 (13.60%) SAS
2 23 (6.13%) Confluence
3 13 (3.47%) WebLogic
4 7 (1.87%) SharePoint
5 4 (1.07%) Apache
5 4 (1.07%) JBoss
5 4 (1.07%) Microsoft Exchange
5 4 (1.07%) Oracle Self-Service HR
5 4 (1.07%) Oracle Workflow
6 2 (0.53%) Drupal
6 2 (0.53%) HCL Notes
6 2 (0.53%) OpenStack
7 1 (0.27%) nginx
7 1 (0.27%) Tuxedo
Applications
1 22 (5.87%) Microsoft Excel
2 21 (5.60%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (2.67%) MS Visio
4 8 (2.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 4 (1.07%) Adobe XD
5 4 (1.07%) Sketch
6 3 (0.80%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.27%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 1 (0.27%) InDesign
7 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 4 (1.07%) Oracle HRMS
2 3 (0.80%) SAP S/4HANA
3 2 (0.53%) NEC Housing
3 2 (0.53%) Remedy ITSM
3 2 (0.53%) Workday HCM
4 1 (0.27%) Aareon QL
4 1 (0.27%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.27%) Elite 3E
4 1 (0.27%) iTrent
4 1 (0.27%) MIS ActiveH
4 1 (0.27%) OPENHousing
4 1 (0.27%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.27%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 1 (0.27%) Orchard Housing
4 1 (0.27%) SAP HR
4 1 (0.27%) SAP PSCD
Cloud Services
1 61 (16.27%) Azure
2 53 (14.13%) AWS
3 22 (5.87%) Power Platform
4 19 (5.07%) OpenShift
5 18 (4.80%) GCP
6 17 (4.53%) Microsoft 365
7 15 (4.00%) Entra ID
7 15 (4.00%) GitHub
8 10 (2.67%) GitHub Actions
9 7 (1.87%) Azure DevOps
9 7 (1.87%) Datadog
9 7 (1.87%) Power Automate
10 6 (1.60%) Amazon S3
10 6 (1.60%) Azure Data Factory
10 6 (1.60%) Figma
10 6 (1.60%) Serverless
11 5 (1.33%) PowerApps
11 5 (1.33%) Salesforce Service Cloud
12 4 (1.07%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 4 (1.07%) dbt
Communications & Networking
1 10 (2.67%) DNS
1 10 (2.67%) VPN
2 7 (1.87%) VSAN
3 6 (1.60%) Firewall
4 5 (1.33%) Intrusion Detection
5 4 (1.07%) BIG-IP
6 3 (0.80%) Network Security
7 2 (0.53%) DHCP
7 2 (0.53%) SD-WAN
7 2 (0.53%) SMTP
7 2 (0.53%) TCP/IP
7 2 (0.53%) VoIP
7 2 (0.53%) WAN
7 2 (0.53%) Wi-Fi
7 2 (0.53%) Wireless
8 1 (0.27%) Broadband
8 1 (0.27%) Kerberos
8 1 (0.27%) LAN
8 1 (0.27%) MPLS
8 1 (0.27%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (8.27%) Pentaho
2 18 (4.80%) Power BI
3 14 (3.73%) Data Warehouse
3 14 (3.73%) PostgreSQL
4 13 (3.47%) MongoDB
5 12 (3.20%) Oracle Database
6 10 (2.67%) Elasticsearch
6 10 (2.67%) SQL Server
7 9 (2.40%) SAS Enterprise Guide
8 6 (1.60%) MySQL
9 5 (1.33%) Relational Database
10 4 (1.07%) Amazon Redshift
10 4 (1.07%) Metadata
10 4 (1.07%) Power Query
10 4 (1.07%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 3 (0.80%) SAS Visual Analytics
11 3 (0.80%) Tableau
11 3 (0.80%) WebFOCUS
12 2 (0.53%) Amazon RDS
12 2 (0.53%) Big Data
Development Applications
1 84 (22.40%) Git
2 76 (20.27%) JIRA
3 61 (16.27%) Jenkins
4 23 (6.13%) Selenium
5 22 (5.87%) JUnit
6 21 (5.60%) GitLab
7 8 (2.13%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 5 (1.33%) REST Assured
9 4 (1.07%) Cucumber
9 4 (1.07%) Eclipse
9 4 (1.07%) IntelliJ
10 3 (0.80%) JMeter
10 3 (0.80%) Postman
10 3 (0.80%) WebDriver
11 2 (0.53%) CircleCI
12 1 (0.27%) CA Gen
12 1 (0.27%) Mockito
12 1 (0.27%) PetaLinux
12 1 (0.27%) Storybook
12 1 (0.27%) Vite
General
1 198 (52.80%) Social Skills
2 124 (33.07%) Analytical Skills
3 40 (10.67%) Finance
4 34 (9.07%) Public Sector
5 19 (5.07%) Organisational Skills
6 14 (3.73%) Presentation Skills
7 13 (3.47%) Legal
8 12 (3.20%) Banking
9 9 (2.40%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 9 (2.40%) Influencing Skills
9 9 (2.40%) Military
10 6 (1.60%) Local Government
11 5 (1.33%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (1.33%) Electronics
12 4 (1.07%) Law
12 4 (1.07%) Telecoms
13 3 (0.80%) Retail
14 2 (0.53%) Advertising
14 2 (0.53%) Manufacturing
14 2 (0.53%) Police
Job Titles
1 65 (17.33%) Analyst
2 35 (9.33%) Data Engineer
2 35 (9.33%) Developer
3 26 (6.93%) Lead
4 18 (4.80%) Business Analyst
5 15 (4.00%) Test Specialist
6 14 (3.73%) Senior
7 12 (3.20%) Architect
7 12 (3.20%) Consultant
8 11 (2.93%) Administrator
8 11 (2.93%) Splunk Engineer
9 10 (2.67%) Infrastructure Analyst
9 10 (2.67%) Site Engineer
9 10 (2.67%) Site Reliability Engineer
10 9 (2.40%) Business Intelligence Developer
10 9 (2.40%) Data Analyst
10 9 (2.40%) Delivery Manager
11 8 (2.13%) Project Manager
11 8 (2.13%) SAS Engineer
12 7 (1.87%) Java Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (8.27%) REST
2 20 (5.33%) Spring
3 14 (3.73%) pytest
4 13 (3.47%) Elastic Stack
5 12 (3.20%) RESTful
5 12 (3.20%) Spring Boot
6 10 (2.67%) HTML
7 9 (2.40%) HTML5
8 7 (1.87%) AngularJS
8 7 (1.87%) Play Framework
8 7 (1.87%) SOAP
9 6 (1.60%) CSS
9 6 (1.60%) Node.js
9 6 (1.60%) OpenTelemetry
9 6 (1.60%) React
9 6 (1.60%) SailPoint
10 5 (1.33%) CSS3
10 5 (1.33%) J2EE
10 5 (1.33%) SAML
10 5 (1.33%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 14 (3.73%) Management Information System
2 13 (3.47%) Onboarding
2 13 (3.47%) Product Ownership
3 12 (3.20%) Cloud Native
4 11 (2.93%) Operational Technology
5 10 (2.67%) Data Centre
5 10 (2.67%) SCADA
5 10 (2.67%) Self-Motivation
6 9 (2.40%) Linux Command Line
7 6 (1.60%) Analytical Mindset
7 6 (1.60%) Data Structures
7 6 (1.60%) Distributed Systems
7 6 (1.60%) Legacy Systems
8 5 (1.33%) Driving Licence
9 4 (1.07%) CSOC
9 4 (1.07%) Enterprise Software
9 4 (1.07%) Hybrid Cloud
9 4 (1.07%) Security Operations Centre
10 3 (0.80%) Algorithms
10 3 (0.80%) Distributed Applications
Operating Systems
1 35 (9.33%) Linux
2 25 (6.67%) Windows
3 16 (4.27%) Unix
4 7 (1.87%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 7 (1.87%) Windows 10
5 6 (1.60%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.53%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.27%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.27%) CentOS
7 1 (0.27%) Embedded Linux
7 1 (0.27%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.27%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 145 (38.67%) Agile
2 112 (29.87%) Continuous Improvement
3 104 (27.73%) CI/CD
4 90 (24.00%) DevOps
5 74 (19.73%) Analytics
5 74 (19.73%) Scrum
6 72 (19.20%) Stakeholder Management
7 67 (17.87%) Data Modelling
8 65 (17.33%) Test Automation
9 56 (14.93%) Business Intelligence
10 53 (14.13%) Data Pipeline
11 50 (13.33%) ETL
12 48 (12.80%) Containerisation
13 47 (12.53%) Migration
14 44 (11.73%) Change Management
14 44 (11.73%) Validation
15 43 (11.47%) AI
16 40 (10.67%) Data Integration
16 40 (10.67%) Decision-Making
17 36 (9.60%) Deployment Automation
Programming Languages
1 91 (24.27%) SQL
2 64 (17.07%) Python
3 32 (8.53%) Java
4 20 (5.33%) Bash
5 16 (4.27%) PL/SQL
6 13 (3.47%) JavaScript
7 12 (3.20%) PowerShell
8 9 (2.40%) Shell Script
9 7 (1.87%) Scala
10 6 (1.60%) Perl
10 6 (1.60%) TypeScript
11 4 (1.07%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 4 (1.07%) Go
11 4 (1.07%) Kusto Query Language
12 3 (0.80%) MATLAB
12 3 (0.80%) Ruby
13 2 (0.53%) C
13 2 (0.53%) C#
13 2 (0.53%) C++
13 2 (0.53%) PHP
Qualifications
1 122 (32.53%) Security Cleared
2 98 (26.13%) SC Cleared
3 50 (13.33%) Degree
4 15 (4.00%) Computer Science Degree
5 13 (3.47%) BPSS Clearance
6 10 (2.67%) DV Cleared
7 9 (2.40%) Microsoft Certification
8 6 (1.60%) Cisco Certification
9 5 (1.33%) Azure Certification
9 5 (1.33%) CCNP
9 5 (1.33%) Master's Degree
10 4 (1.07%) OCP
10 4 (1.07%) Oracle Certification
10 4 (1.07%) PMI Certification
10 4 (1.07%) PMP
11 2 (0.53%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 2 (0.53%) CCNA
11 2 (0.53%) ITIL Certification
11 2 (0.53%) MCSE
11 2 (0.53%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 49 (13.07%) Data Quality
2 25 (6.67%) QA
3 12 (3.20%) PMO
4 8 (2.13%) Accessibility
5 6 (1.60%) GDPR
6 4 (1.07%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 4 (1.07%) SLA
6 4 (1.07%) WCAG
7 3 (0.80%) ISO 19650
7 3 (0.80%) ISO 9001
7 3 (0.80%) ISO/IEC 12207
7 3 (0.80%) ISO/IEC 15288
8 2 (0.53%) GRC
8 2 (0.53%) NIST
9 1 (0.27%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.27%) HIPAA
9 1 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 1 (0.27%) NCSC
9 1 (0.27%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 90 (24.00%) Docker
2 19 (5.07%) Active Directory
2 19 (5.07%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (2.93%) vSphere
4 4 (1.07%) Hyper-V
4 4 (1.07%) Snort
5 3 (0.80%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.27%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.27%) Microsoft App-V
6 1 (0.27%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 90 (24.00%) Kubernetes
2 16 (4.27%) Ansible
3 14 (3.73%) Puppet
3 14 (3.73%) Terraform
4 13 (3.47%) Grafana
5 10 (2.67%) Kibana
6 9 (2.40%) Prometheus
7 8 (2.13%) vRealize
7 8 (2.13%) VxRail
8 5 (1.33%) Argo
8 5 (1.33%) SCCM
9 4 (1.07%) CSIRT
10 3 (0.80%) Control-M
10 3 (0.80%) IBM Guardium
10 3 (0.80%) Microsoft Intune
10 3 (0.80%) Nessus
10 3 (0.80%) vCenter Server
11 2 (0.53%) BMC PATROL
11 2 (0.53%) HP ALM
12 1 (0.27%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 64 (17.07%) Microsoft
2 50 (13.33%) Oracle
3 40 (10.67%) ServiceNow
4 30 (8.00%) Denodo
4 30 (8.00%) Talend
5 19 (5.07%) Splunk
5 19 (5.07%) VMware
6 18 (4.80%) Cisco
7 14 (3.73%) SAP
8 10 (2.67%) HP
9 9 (2.40%) Red Hat
10 8 (2.13%) AppDynamics
10 8 (2.13%) Dell
10 8 (2.13%) SolarWinds
11 7 (1.87%) Atlassian
11 7 (1.87%) Commvault
11 7 (1.87%) IBM
12 6 (1.60%) Adobe
12 6 (1.60%) Google
12 6 (1.60%) Salesforce