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

 6 months to
1 Sep 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 3 8
Rank change year-on-year -8 +5 -1
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 390 323 211
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 11.31% 18.42% 11.08%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.34% 20.87% 13.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 258 205 130
10th Percentile £306 £213 £157
25th Percentile £363 £400 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £469 £475
Median % change year-on-year -4.05% -1.26% -12.04%
75th Percentile £534 £538 £575
90th Percentile £652 £638 £650
England median daily rate £500 £490 £500
% change year-on-year +2.04% -2.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 10 5
10th Percentile £12.90 £14.20 -
25th Percentile £13.38 £17.59 £15.13
Median hourly rate £23.00 £31.61 £17.00
Median % change year-on-year -27.23% +85.91% -18.93%
75th Percentile £42.65 £43.00 £18.97
90th Percentile £67.84 £53.31 £20.49
England median hourly rate £20.44 £19.00 £16.23
% change year-on-year +7.58% +17.07% -70.37%

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 2,923 1,548 1,552
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 84.77% 88.26% 81.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,795 987 1,014
10th Percentile £313 £250 £250
25th Percentile £413 £400 £380
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £477 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year -4.60% -2.44% +2.50%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £625
90th Percentile £674 £650 £725
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 195 102 50
10th Percentile £13.45 £12.62 £13.14
25th Percentile £17.74 £15.34 £14.78
Median hourly rate £30.27 £24.34 £22.05
Median % change year-on-year +24.36% +10.41% -19.84%
75th Percentile £53.75 £35.45 £35.00
90th Percentile £70.14 £50.00 £55.03
England median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +74.79% -41.51% +1.18%

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 1 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 1 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 1 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 -2 109 £477 -4.60% 67
Shropshire -9 109 £450 -11.33% 39
Birmingham -16 74 £450 - 293
Coventry -11 32 £363 -23.68% 43
Worcestershire +13 13 £425 +152.98% 38
Staffordshire -6 12 £313 -30.56% 68
Solihull -16 9 £443 -24.68% 23
Herefordshire +1 5 - - 14
Wolverhampton - 5 £275 - 16
Dudley - 3 £375 - 7
Wednesbury - 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 33 (8.46%) Confluence
2 21 (5.38%) SharePoint
3 16 (4.10%) Oracle Workflow
3 16 (4.10%) SAS
4 10 (2.56%) Microsoft Exchange
5 6 (1.54%) Oracle Self-Service HR
6 1 (0.26%) Apache
6 1 (0.26%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.26%) Appian
6 1 (0.26%) IIS
6 1 (0.26%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 1 (0.26%) Skype for Business
6 1 (0.26%) WebLogic
Applications
1 27 (6.92%) Microsoft Excel
2 17 (4.36%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (1.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (1.54%) Spreadsheet
4 5 (1.28%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (1.03%) MS Visio
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 Illustrator
8 1 (0.26%) Fusion 360
8 1 (0.26%) Photoshop
8 1 (0.26%) Trello
Business Applications
1 15 (3.85%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (2.82%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (1.54%) 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 2 (0.51%) NetSuite
6 2 (0.51%) SAP MDG
7 1 (0.26%) Aladdin
7 1 (0.26%) Maximo
7 1 (0.26%) NEC Housing
7 1 (0.26%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.26%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.26%) SAP GRC
7 1 (0.26%) SAP MM
7 1 (0.26%) SAP PP
7 1 (0.26%) SAP QM
7 1 (0.26%) SAP SD
7 1 (0.26%) SAP Travel Management
Cloud Services
1 74 (18.97%) Azure
2 42 (10.77%) Microsoft 365
3 39 (10.00%) Power Platform
4 35 (8.97%) AWS
5 29 (7.44%) Azure DevOps
6 23 (5.90%) Entra ID
7 14 (3.59%) Power Automate
8 13 (3.33%) Dynamics 365
9 12 (3.08%) Serverless
10 11 (2.82%) Azure Data Factory
11 10 (2.56%) GitHub
11 10 (2.56%) OneDrive
12 9 (2.31%) Azure Functions
13 8 (2.05%) Microsoft Purview
14 7 (1.79%) Snowflake
15 6 (1.54%) GCP
16 5 (1.28%) Google Analytics
17 4 (1.03%) SuccessFactors
18 3 (0.77%) Azure Storage
18 3 (0.77%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 18 (4.62%) DNS
2 16 (4.10%) DHCP
3 14 (3.59%) VPN
4 13 (3.33%) Firewall
5 11 (2.82%) TCP/IP
6 10 (2.56%) LAN
6 10 (2.56%) WAN
7 8 (2.05%) Network Security
7 8 (2.05%) SD-WAN
8 5 (1.28%) Internet
8 5 (1.28%) Wi-Fi
9 4 (1.03%) Unified Communications
9 4 (1.03%) VoIP
10 3 (0.77%) Intrusion Detection
10 3 (0.77%) SAN
10 3 (0.77%) SSL
10 3 (0.77%) VLAN
11 2 (0.51%) PBX
11 2 (0.51%) Softphone
11 2 (0.51%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (8.72%) Power BI
2 21 (5.38%) Pentaho
2 21 (5.38%) SQL Server
3 20 (5.13%) Data Warehouse
4 12 (3.08%) Metadata
4 12 (3.08%) PostgreSQL
5 9 (2.31%) Relational Database
6 8 (2.05%) Data Lake
6 8 (2.05%) Oracle Reports
7 6 (1.54%) Ingres
7 6 (1.54%) MySQL
7 6 (1.54%) NoSQL
7 6 (1.54%) Oracle Database
8 4 (1.03%) Big Data
8 4 (1.03%) Power Query
8 4 (1.03%) SAP BW
9 3 (0.77%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (0.77%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 3 (0.77%) Tableau
10 2 (0.51%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 52 (13.33%) JIRA
2 21 (5.38%) Git
3 18 (4.62%) Selenium
4 16 (4.10%) Jenkins
4 16 (4.10%) Postman
5 11 (2.82%) Cypress.io
6 10 (2.56%) GitLab
7 9 (2.31%) WebDriver
8 6 (1.54%) Cucumber
8 6 (1.54%) Maven
9 5 (1.28%) Atlassian Bamboo
9 5 (1.28%) JUnit
9 5 (1.28%) SonarQube
9 5 (1.28%) Zephyr
10 4 (1.03%) Bitbucket
10 4 (1.03%) Mockito
10 4 (1.03%) REST Assured
11 3 (0.77%) Browser DevTools
11 3 (0.77%) Protractor
11 3 (0.77%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 212 (54.36%) Social Skills
2 163 (41.79%) Analytical Skills
3 68 (17.44%) Public Sector
4 63 (16.15%) Finance
5 22 (5.64%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 19 (4.87%) Manufacturing
7 18 (4.62%) Local Government
8 13 (3.33%) Influencing Skills
8 13 (3.33%) Legal
9 12 (3.08%) Organisational Skills
10 10 (2.56%) Automotive
11 9 (2.31%) Presentation Skills
12 7 (1.79%) Banking
12 7 (1.79%) Marketing
13 6 (1.54%) Documentation Skills
13 6 (1.54%) Retail
14 5 (1.28%) Billing
15 4 (1.03%) Electronics
15 4 (1.03%) Telecoms
16 2 (0.51%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 61 (15.64%) Analyst
2 43 (11.03%) Lead
3 38 (9.74%) Senior
4 33 (8.46%) Data Engineer
5 29 (7.44%) Developer
6 28 (7.18%) Consultant
7 21 (5.38%) SAP Consultant
8 20 (5.13%) Architect
9 19 (4.87%) Administrator
10 18 (4.62%) Business Analyst
11 16 (4.10%) Test Analyst
12 12 (3.08%) Data Analyst
13 10 (2.56%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 10 (2.56%) Support Engineer
14 8 (2.05%) 1st Line Support
14 8 (2.05%) Delivery Manager
14 8 (2.05%) Network Engineer
14 8 (2.05%) Technical Engineer
14 8 (2.05%) Test Engineer
15 7 (1.79%) Support Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (6.15%) REST
2 19 (4.87%) SOAP
3 13 (3.33%) Terraform
4 10 (2.56%) Oracle Fusion
5 9 (2.31%) Gherkin
6 8 (2.05%) Web Services
7 7 (1.79%) AngularJS
7 7 (1.79%) Middleware
7 7 (1.79%) Play Framework
7 7 (1.79%) RESTful
7 7 (1.79%) Spring
7 7 (1.79%) Spring Boot
8 6 (1.54%) Spring Cloud
8 6 (1.54%) XML
9 5 (1.28%) IDoc
9 5 (1.28%) JDBC
9 5 (1.28%) SAP Fiori
9 5 (1.28%) SAP PI
10 4 (1.03%) Playwright
10 4 (1.03%) React
Miscellaneous
1 22 (5.64%) Management Information System
2 21 (5.38%) Cloud Native
3 17 (4.36%) Enterprise Software
3 17 (4.36%) Self-Motivation
4 15 (3.85%) Product Ownership
5 11 (2.82%) Legacy Systems
6 9 (2.31%) Data Centre
6 9 (2.31%) Onboarding
7 8 (2.05%) Analytical Mindset
7 8 (2.05%) SCADA
7 8 (2.05%) Virtual Team
8 7 (1.79%) Data Protection Act
8 7 (1.79%) Operational Technology
9 6 (1.54%) Autonomous Agent
10 5 (1.28%) Cyber Threat
10 5 (1.28%) Hybrid Cloud
11 4 (1.03%) iPhone
11 4 (1.03%) Mobile App
12 3 (0.77%) Life Science
12 3 (0.77%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 48 (12.31%) Windows
2 14 (3.59%) Windows 10
2 14 (3.59%) Windows Server
3 13 (3.33%) Mac OS
4 12 (3.08%) Linux
5 11 (2.82%) Unix
6 3 (0.77%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.51%) CentOS
7 2 (0.51%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (0.51%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.26%) Embedded Linux
8 1 (0.26%) HPUX
8 1 (0.26%) Windows Server 2003
8 1 (0.26%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.26%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 133 (34.10%) Agile
2 118 (30.26%) Continuous Improvement
3 78 (20.00%) Stakeholder Management
4 69 (17.69%) DevOps
5 64 (16.41%) CI/CD
6 56 (14.36%) Test Automation
7 54 (13.85%) Migration
8 52 (13.33%) AI
9 50 (12.82%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 49 (12.56%) Business Intelligence
11 48 (12.31%) Analytics
11 48 (12.31%) Data Modelling
12 47 (12.05%) Decision-Making
13 46 (11.79%) ETL
14 44 (11.28%) Scrum
15 39 (10.00%) Generative AI
16 38 (9.74%) ITIL
16 38 (9.74%) Validation
17 37 (9.49%) Technical Leadership
17 37 (9.49%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 70 (17.95%) SQL
2 33 (8.46%) Python
3 24 (6.15%) Java
4 17 (4.36%) JavaScript
5 16 (4.10%) PowerShell
6 11 (2.82%) C
6 11 (2.82%) C#
7 10 (2.56%) Bash
8 9 (2.31%) PL/SQL
9 8 (2.05%) ProC
10 7 (1.79%) ABAP
10 7 (1.79%) Scala
10 7 (1.79%) TypeScript
11 5 (1.28%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 4 (1.03%) Bicep
12 4 (1.03%) C++
13 3 (0.77%) MATLAB
14 2 (0.51%) VB
14 2 (0.51%) VB6
14 2 (0.51%) VBA
Qualifications
1 117 (30.00%) Security Cleared
2 98 (25.13%) SC Cleared
3 42 (10.77%) Degree
4 22 (5.64%) BPSS Clearance
4 22 (5.64%) Microsoft Certification
5 11 (2.82%) Azure Certification
6 9 (2.31%) Cisco Certification
6 9 (2.31%) Computer Science Degree
6 9 (2.31%) ISTQB
7 8 (2.05%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 7 (1.79%) CCNA
8 7 (1.79%) DV Cleared
9 6 (1.54%) MCSE
9 6 (1.54%) OCP
9 6 (1.54%) Oracle Certification
10 5 (1.28%) A+ Certification
10 5 (1.28%) AWS Certification
10 5 (1.28%) CISSP
10 5 (1.28%) Network+ Certification
11 4 (1.03%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 47 (12.05%) Data Quality
2 42 (10.77%) QA
3 18 (4.62%) Accessibility
4 16 (4.10%) GDPR
5 12 (3.08%) SLA
6 10 (2.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 10 (2.56%) WCAG
7 4 (1.03%) Cyber Essentials
7 4 (1.03%) NIST
8 3 (0.77%) GRC
8 3 (0.77%) HIPAA
8 3 (0.77%) PMO
9 2 (0.51%) ISO 19650
9 2 (0.51%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.26%) 21 CFR Part 11
10 1 (0.26%) GMP
10 1 (0.26%) GxP
10 1 (0.26%) HL7
10 1 (0.26%) ISO 9001
10 1 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 25 (6.41%) Active Directory
2 24 (6.15%) Docker
3 14 (3.59%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (2.56%) vSphere
5 9 (2.31%) VMware ESXi
6 8 (2.05%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.51%) FreeRADIUS
7 2 (0.51%) Virtual Desktop
8 1 (0.26%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.26%) Microsoft App-V
8 1 (0.26%) Oracle RAC
8 1 (0.26%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 19 (4.87%) Kubernetes
1 19 (4.87%) SCCM
2 15 (3.85%) Microsoft Intune
3 10 (2.56%) Ansible
3 10 (2.56%) Grafana
4 8 (2.05%) Prometheus
5 5 (1.28%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (1.03%) Podman
6 4 (1.03%) PowerCLI
6 4 (1.03%) Single Sign-On
6 4 (1.03%) vMotion
7 2 (0.51%) Argo
7 2 (0.51%) FortiGate
8 1 (0.26%) AirWatch
8 1 (0.26%) HP ALM
8 1 (0.26%) QRadar
8 1 (0.26%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 91 (23.33%) Microsoft
2 50 (12.82%) Oracle
3 34 (8.72%) SAP
4 23 (5.90%) ServiceNow
5 21 (5.38%) VMware
6 17 (4.36%) Cisco
7 16 (4.10%) Denodo
7 16 (4.10%) Talend
8 11 (2.82%) Atlassian
9 9 (2.31%) Google
9 9 (2.31%) Splunk
10 8 (2.05%) Databricks
11 7 (1.79%) Apple
11 7 (1.79%) Qualys
12 5 (1.28%) Informatica
12 5 (1.28%) webMethods
13 4 (1.03%) Adobe
13 4 (1.03%) Citrix
13 4 (1.03%) Red Hat
13 4 (1.03%) Siemens
621 Problem-Solving jobs in the West Midlands