Problem-Solving Contracts in the West Midlands

Problem Solving
England > West Midlands

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the West Midlands requiring Problem-Solving skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Problem-Solving over the 6 months leading up to 1 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 3 10 9
Rank change year-on-year +7 -1 +6
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 243 200 323
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the West Midlands 18.07% 10.27% 13.55%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 20.45% 12.22% 15.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 156 144 203
10th Percentile £155 £275 £283
25th Percentile £279 £395 £423
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £504 £525
Median % change year-on-year -10.63% -4.10% +6.06%
75th Percentile £540 £611 £575
90th Percentile £647 £650 £688
England median daily rate £500 £512 £525
% change year-on-year -2.41% -2.41% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 9 8
10th Percentile - £14.29 £10.96
25th Percentile £13.78 £15.13 £13.03
Median hourly rate £16.26 £42.00 £18.50
Median % change year-on-year -61.29% +127.09% +19.32%
75th Percentile £17.73 £56.25 £22.56
90th Percentile £43.47 £72.50 £47.36
England median hourly rate £21.90 £17.50 £45.68
% change year-on-year +25.14% -61.69% +128.40%

All Process and 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 1,188 1,636 2,114
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 88.33% 84.03% 88.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 786 1,083 1,452
10th Percentile £195 £275 £263
25th Percentile £381 £375 £401
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £512
Median % change year-on-year - -2.34% +5.03%
75th Percentile £588 £625 £600
90th Percentile £675 £750 £694
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% +2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 59 115 45
10th Percentile £12.62 £11.09 £12.20
25th Percentile £14.14 £14.00 £13.31
Median hourly rate £18.00 £22.50 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year -20.00% +26.98% +4.24%
75th Percentile £23.99 £41.13 £23.75
90th Percentile £38.19 £57.75 £51.25
England median hourly rate £29.07 £36.00 £37.50
% change year-on-year -19.25% -4.00% +53.06%

Problem-Solving
Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

Job postings citing Problem-Solving as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands.

Job vacancy trend for Problem-Solving in the West Midlands

Problem-Solving
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the West Midlands

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Problem-Solving in the West Midlands.

Daily rate trend for Problem-Solving in the West Midlands

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 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Problem-Solving in the West Midlands

Problem-Solving
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the West Midlands

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Problem-Solving in the West Midlands.

Hourly rate trend for Problem-Solving in the West Midlands

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 May 2025.

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 May 2025. 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
Birmingham +8 102 £438 -2.78% 200
Warwickshire +3 51 £539 -6.35% 132
Shropshire +13 35 £460 +293.16% 34
Staffordshire +4 17 £150 -66.67% 213
Worcestershire +3 13 £520 -5.45% 32
Coventry +7 10 £394 -25.00% 64
Herefordshire +16 6 £450 -5.26% 13
Solihull - 2 - - 18
Halesowen - 1 - - 1
Problem-Solving
England

Problem-Solving
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the West Midlands by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 10 (4.12%) SharePoint
2 6 (2.47%) IIS
3 5 (2.06%) Confluence
3 5 (2.06%) Microsoft Exchange
4 4 (1.65%) Oracle Self-Service HR
4 4 (1.65%) Oracle Workflow
5 3 (1.23%) IBM Notes
6 2 (0.82%) WebLogic
Applications
1 9 (3.70%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (3.29%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (1.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.82%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.41%) Final Cut Pro
5 1 (0.41%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.41%) QuarkXPress
Business Applications
1 4 (1.65%) Oracle HRMS
2 2 (0.82%) Magento
2 2 (0.82%) Maximo
3 1 (0.41%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.41%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.41%) Oracle Receivables
3 1 (0.41%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.41%) SAP HCM
3 1 (0.41%) SAP HR
3 1 (0.41%) SAP Payroll
3 1 (0.41%) SAP PM
3 1 (0.41%) SAP PSCD
3 1 (0.41%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.41%) Summit
Cloud Services
1 53 (21.81%) Azure
2 40 (16.46%) Power Platform
3 33 (13.58%) Microsoft 365
4 22 (9.05%) PowerApps
5 19 (7.82%) Entra ID
6 18 (7.41%) AWS
7 9 (3.70%) GCP
8 8 (3.29%) Power Automate
8 8 (3.29%) SuccessFactors
9 7 (2.88%) OneDrive
10 6 (2.47%) Dynamics 365
10 6 (2.47%) Snowflake
11 3 (1.23%) Azure DevOps
11 3 (1.23%) GitHub
11 3 (1.23%) SaaS
12 2 (0.82%) Azure Data Factory
12 2 (0.82%) Cloud Computing
12 2 (0.82%) Copilot Studio
12 2 (0.82%) OCI
13 1 (0.41%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 11 (4.53%) VPN
2 10 (4.12%) Firewall
3 9 (3.70%) Network Security
4 6 (2.47%) BGP
4 6 (2.47%) OSPF
5 5 (2.06%) VLAN
6 4 (1.65%) IPsec
6 4 (1.65%) SSL
6 4 (1.65%) TCP/IP
7 3 (1.23%) SD-WAN
7 3 (1.23%) WAN
7 3 (1.23%) Wi-Fi
8 2 (0.82%) Broadband
8 2 (0.82%) EIGRP
8 2 (0.82%) Internet
8 2 (0.82%) Intrusion Detection
8 2 (0.82%) SAN
9 1 (0.41%) LAN
9 1 (0.41%) MPLS
9 1 (0.41%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (6.17%) Power BI
2 14 (5.76%) Data Warehouse
3 13 (5.35%) SQL Server
4 8 (3.29%) NoSQL
5 6 (2.47%) Data Lake
5 6 (2.47%) Elasticsearch
5 6 (2.47%) Oracle Database
6 4 (1.65%) PostgreSQL
6 4 (1.65%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 3 (1.23%) MySQL
8 2 (0.82%) Azure SQL Database
8 2 (0.82%) Big Data
8 2 (0.82%) Metadata
8 2 (0.82%) Power Query
8 2 (0.82%) Relational Database
8 2 (0.82%) Tableau
9 1 (0.41%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
9 1 (0.41%) BigQuery
9 1 (0.41%) Looker
9 1 (0.41%) Spark SQL
Development Applications
1 14 (5.76%) JIRA
2 13 (5.35%) Git
3 9 (3.70%) Jenkins
4 8 (3.29%) GitLab
5 4 (1.65%) JMeter
6 3 (1.23%) Oracle Forms
6 3 (1.23%) Postman
6 3 (1.23%) REST Assured
6 3 (1.23%) Selenium
6 3 (1.23%) TestNG
6 3 (1.23%) Travis CI
7 2 (0.82%) Maven
8 1 (0.41%) ERwin
8 1 (0.41%) LabVIEW
8 1 (0.41%) LoadRunner
8 1 (0.41%) Zephyr
General
1 160 (65.84%) Social Skills
2 103 (42.39%) Analytical Skills
3 32 (13.17%) Finance
4 14 (5.76%) Legal
5 13 (5.35%) Public Sector
6 11 (4.53%) Presentation Skills
7 9 (3.70%) Organisational Skills
8 8 (3.29%) Banking
8 8 (3.29%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 7 (2.88%) Telecoms
10 6 (2.47%) Advertising
11 4 (1.65%) Manufacturing
12 3 (1.23%) Documentation Skills
12 3 (1.23%) Games
12 3 (1.23%) General Ledger
13 2 (0.82%) Electronics
13 2 (0.82%) Financial Institution
13 2 (0.82%) Influencing Skills
13 2 (0.82%) Law
13 2 (0.82%) Retail
Job Titles
1 32 (13.17%) Analyst
2 28 (11.52%) Developer
3 23 (9.47%) Lead
4 22 (9.05%) Architect
5 18 (7.41%) Support Engineer
6 16 (6.58%) Senior
7 13 (5.35%) Data Engineer
8 10 (4.12%) Junior
9 9 (3.70%) Technical Leader
10 8 (3.29%) Consultant
11 7 (2.88%) Business Analyst
11 7 (2.88%) Desktop Engineer
11 7 (2.88%) IT Analyst
11 7 (2.88%) IT Support
11 7 (2.88%) Solutions Architect
12 6 (2.47%) 1st Line Support
12 6 (2.47%) Service Analyst
12 6 (2.47%) Service Desk Analyst
12 6 (2.47%) Support Officer
12 6 (2.47%) Windows Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (5.35%) HTML
2 12 (4.94%) React
3 10 (4.12%) Middleware
4 7 (2.88%) CSS
4 7 (2.88%) RESTful
5 6 (2.47%) .NET
5 6 (2.47%) SailPoint
6 4 (1.65%) LDAP
6 4 (1.65%) Node.js
6 4 (1.65%) REST
7 3 (1.23%) Apache Axis
8 2 (0.82%) Ajax
8 2 (0.82%) Apache Camel
8 2 (0.82%) ASP.NET
8 2 (0.82%) CSS3
8 2 (0.82%) HTML5
8 2 (0.82%) KnockoutJS
8 2 (0.82%) Oracle Fusion
8 2 (0.82%) Ruby on Rails
8 2 (0.82%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 12 (4.94%) Onboarding
2 11 (4.53%) Data Protection Act
3 9 (3.70%) Self-Motivation
4 8 (3.29%) Driving Licence
4 8 (3.29%) Security Posture
5 7 (2.88%) Management Information System
6 6 (2.47%) Data Centre
6 6 (2.47%) Product Ownership
7 4 (1.65%) Data Structures
8 3 (1.23%) Analytical Mindset
8 3 (1.23%) Enterprise Software
9 2 (0.82%) CMDB
9 2 (0.82%) Cyber Threat
9 2 (0.82%) Distributed Systems
9 2 (0.82%) Fibre Optics
9 2 (0.82%) Hybrid Cloud
9 2 (0.82%) IoT
9 2 (0.82%) NHS
9 2 (0.82%) Operational Technology
9 2 (0.82%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 32 (13.17%) Windows
2 16 (6.58%) Windows 10
3 9 (3.70%) Linux
4 5 (2.06%) Windows Server
5 4 (1.65%) Android
5 4 (1.65%) Check Point GAiA
5 4 (1.65%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (1.23%) Mac OS X
6 3 (1.23%) Windows Server 2016
7 2 (0.82%) AIX
7 2 (0.82%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.82%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 58 (23.87%) Agile
2 34 (13.99%) DevOps
3 29 (11.93%) Project Management
3 29 (11.93%) Stakeholder Management
4 27 (11.11%) Data Modelling
5 26 (10.70%) Computer Science
6 25 (10.29%) Process Improvement
7 24 (9.88%) Customer Service
8 22 (9.05%) ITIL
9 21 (8.64%) Business Intelligence
9 21 (8.64%) CI/CD
10 20 (8.23%) Continuous Improvement
10 20 (8.23%) Migration
11 16 (6.58%) Problem Management
11 16 (6.58%) Test Strategy
12 15 (6.17%) Configuration Management
12 15 (6.17%) ITSM
12 15 (6.17%) OO
13 14 (5.76%) Cybersecurity
13 14 (5.76%) Data Integration
Programming Languages
1 52 (21.40%) SQL
2 31 (12.76%) Python
3 23 (9.47%) JavaScript
4 19 (7.82%) PowerShell
5 9 (3.70%) C#
5 9 (3.70%) Java
6 6 (2.47%) Bash
6 6 (2.47%) PHP
7 5 (2.06%) Ruby
8 4 (1.65%) TypeScript
9 2 (0.82%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 2 (0.82%) Go
10 1 (0.41%) ABAP
10 1 (0.41%) C++
10 1 (0.41%) Perl
10 1 (0.41%) PL/SQL
10 1 (0.41%) R
10 1 (0.41%) Scala
10 1 (0.41%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 44 (18.11%) Degree
2 40 (16.46%) Security Cleared
3 25 (10.29%) SC Cleared
4 16 (6.58%) Computer Science Degree
5 12 (4.94%) CISSP
6 9 (3.70%) DV Cleared
7 7 (2.88%) CEH
8 6 (2.47%) Microsoft Certification
9 5 (2.06%) Azure Certification
10 4 (1.65%) CCSE
10 4 (1.65%) CISM
10 4 (1.65%) PMI Certification
10 4 (1.65%) TOGAF Certification
11 3 (1.23%) BPSS Clearance
11 3 (1.23%) Cisco Certification
11 3 (1.23%) ISTQB
11 3 (1.23%) MCP
11 3 (1.23%) OCP
11 3 (1.23%) Oracle Certification
11 3 (1.23%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (7.82%) QA
2 11 (4.53%) SLA
3 9 (3.70%) Data Quality
4 7 (2.88%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 6 (2.47%) GDPR
6 4 (1.65%) NIST
7 3 (1.23%) PMO
8 2 (0.82%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.82%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 1 (0.41%) Accessibility
9 1 (0.41%) HIPAA
9 1 (0.41%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 1 (0.41%) NCSC
9 1 (0.41%) PERC
9 1 (0.41%) Software Quality Assurance
9 1 (0.41%) WCAG
System Software
1 37 (15.23%) Active Directory
2 12 (4.94%) Docker
3 5 (2.06%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.82%) BitLocker
4 2 (0.82%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.41%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.41%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.41%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 13 (5.35%) Kubernetes
2 10 (4.12%) SCCM
3 7 (2.88%) Microsoft Intune
3 7 (2.88%) Single Sign-On
3 7 (2.88%) Terraform
4 6 (2.47%) Ansible
5 4 (1.65%) FortiGate
6 3 (1.23%) Grafana
6 3 (1.23%) Kibana
6 3 (1.23%) Opsview
7 2 (0.82%) Tivoli
7 2 (0.82%) Tivoli Storage Manager
8 1 (0.41%) Rancher
8 1 (0.41%) SELinux
8 1 (0.41%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 52 (21.40%) Microsoft
2 20 (8.23%) ServiceNow
3 19 (7.82%) Oracle
4 17 (7.00%) SAP
5 10 (4.12%) CyberArk
6 9 (3.70%) Cisco
7 5 (2.06%) Adobe
7 5 (2.06%) VMware
8 4 (1.65%) Apple
8 4 (1.65%) CheckPoint
8 4 (1.65%) Fortinet
9 3 (1.23%) BT
9 3 (1.23%) Citrix
9 3 (1.23%) Databricks
9 3 (1.23%) Denodo
9 3 (1.23%) Lotus
9 3 (1.23%) Nexthink
9 3 (1.23%) PagerDuty
10 2 (0.82%) Epicor
10 2 (0.82%) Juniper