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 24 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 5 9
Rank change year-on-year 0 +4 0
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 383 213 198
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 14.26% 15.26% 10.45%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 16.71% 16.95% 12.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 260 134 154
10th Percentile £262 £160 £200
25th Percentile £400 £300 £380
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £482 £449 £510
Median % change year-on-year +7.38% -11.96% -2.86%
75th Percentile £545 £594 £625
90th Percentile £600 £700 £688
England median daily rate £492 £500 £509
% change year-on-year -1.60% -1.67% -5.83%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 3 7
10th Percentile £14.21 £16.36 £13.10
25th Percentile £15.28 £16.51 £17.90
Median hourly rate £16.60 £17.24 £42.00
Median % change year-on-year -3.70% -58.95% +131.50%
75th Percentile £19.96 £19.87 £60.00
90th Percentile £27.01 £21.15 £72.50
England median hourly rate £19.00 £26.75 £21.01
% change year-on-year -28.97% +27.32% -41.64%

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 2,292 1,257 1,595
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 85.33% 90.04% 84.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,501 797 1,049
10th Percentile £300 £210 £275
25th Percentile £402 £400 £378
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year - +5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £581 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £700 £688
England median daily rate £501 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.67% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 80 52 108
10th Percentile £14.00 £14.52 £11.81
25th Percentile £16.10 £15.22 £15.83
Median hourly rate £21.46 £20.12 £23.00
Median % change year-on-year +6.66% -12.52% +29.94%
75th Percentile £27.21 £30.95 £47.81
90th Percentile £37.45 £41.50 £67.50
England median hourly rate £27.50 £35.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -21.43% - -

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 24 February 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 24 February 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 24 February 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 -4 110 £490 +12.74% 22
Birmingham -8 98 £474 -0.21% 79
Warwickshire +2 85 £525 -10.64% 47
Coventry -2 28 £413 +4.76% 12
Worcestershire -8 18 £563 +7.14% 22
Staffordshire 0 13 £220 +37.50% 25
Solihull -4 5 £543 +43.71% 6
Herefordshire -19 4 £600 +9.09% 9
Wolverhampton - 2 £227 - 5
Walsall - 1 £338 - 2
Brierley Hill - 1 £390 - 2
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 50 (13.05%) SAS
2 17 (4.44%) Confluence
2 17 (4.44%) WebLogic
3 9 (2.35%) Apache
4 8 (2.09%) JBoss
5 4 (1.04%) SharePoint
6 3 (0.78%) HCL Notes
6 3 (0.78%) SugarCRM
7 2 (0.52%) Drupal
7 2 (0.52%) Microsoft Exchange
7 2 (0.52%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.26%) Apache Airflow
8 1 (0.26%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.26%) CMS
8 1 (0.26%) nginx
8 1 (0.26%) Tuxedo
Applications
1 19 (4.96%) Microsoft Office
2 18 (4.70%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (2.09%) MS Visio
4 6 (1.57%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 4 (1.04%) Adobe XD
5 4 (1.04%) Sketch
6 2 (0.52%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.26%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 1 (0.26%) InDesign
7 1 (0.26%) Revit
7 1 (0.26%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.26%) Trello
Business Applications
1 2 (0.52%) Dynamics CRM
1 2 (0.52%) Oracle Payables
1 2 (0.52%) Oracle Receivables
1 2 (0.52%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
1 2 (0.52%) Remedy ITSM
1 2 (0.52%) SAP S/4HANA
1 2 (0.52%) Workday HCM
2 1 (0.26%) Aareon QL
2 1 (0.26%) Elite 3E
2 1 (0.26%) iTrent
2 1 (0.26%) Maximo
2 1 (0.26%) MIS ActiveH
2 1 (0.26%) NEC Housing
2 1 (0.26%) NetSuite
2 1 (0.26%) OPENHousing
2 1 (0.26%) Oracle EBS
2 1 (0.26%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 1 (0.26%) Orchard Housing
2 1 (0.26%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.26%) SAP PSCD
Cloud Services
1 57 (14.88%) Azure
2 55 (14.36%) AWS
3 21 (5.48%) GCP
4 18 (4.70%) Microsoft 365
4 18 (4.70%) OpenShift
4 18 (4.70%) Power Platform
5 12 (3.13%) Entra ID
6 10 (2.61%) GitHub
7 9 (2.35%) Azure DevOps
7 9 (2.35%) Cloud Computing
8 8 (2.09%) GitHub Actions
8 8 (2.09%) Serverless
9 7 (1.83%) Datadog
10 6 (1.57%) Figma
10 6 (1.57%) Power Automate
10 6 (1.57%) PowerApps
11 5 (1.31%) Amazon S3
11 5 (1.31%) SaaS
11 5 (1.31%) Salesforce Service Cloud
12 4 (1.04%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 17 (4.44%) VPN
2 14 (3.66%) DNS
3 8 (2.09%) DHCP
3 8 (2.09%) Firewall
3 8 (2.09%) TCP/IP
4 7 (1.83%) VSAN
5 5 (1.31%) Intrusion Detection
6 3 (0.78%) BIG-IP
6 3 (0.78%) Network Security
6 3 (0.78%) WAN
6 3 (0.78%) Wireless
7 2 (0.52%) MPLS
7 2 (0.52%) SD-WAN
7 2 (0.52%) VoIP
8 1 (0.26%) DKIM
8 1 (0.26%) IPsec
8 1 (0.26%) Junos
8 1 (0.26%) Telepresence
8 1 (0.26%) Unified Communications
8 1 (0.26%) WAAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (8.09%) Pentaho
2 17 (4.44%) MongoDB
3 15 (3.92%) Oracle Database
3 15 (3.92%) Power BI
4 14 (3.66%) Elasticsearch
4 14 (3.66%) PostgreSQL
5 12 (3.13%) Data Warehouse
5 12 (3.13%) MySQL
5 12 (3.13%) SAS Enterprise Guide
6 9 (2.35%) SQL Server
7 8 (2.09%) Relational Database
8 4 (1.04%) Amazon Redshift
8 4 (1.04%) Metadata
8 4 (1.04%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 3 (0.78%) NoSQL
9 3 (0.78%) SAS Visual Analytics
9 3 (0.78%) WebFOCUS
10 2 (0.52%) Azure SQL Database
10 2 (0.52%) Big Data
10 2 (0.52%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 87 (22.72%) Git
2 65 (16.97%) JIRA
3 59 (15.40%) Jenkins
4 26 (6.79%) Selenium
5 25 (6.53%) JUnit
6 21 (5.48%) GitLab
7 8 (2.09%) Eclipse
7 8 (2.09%) IntelliJ
8 6 (1.57%) Atlassian Bamboo
9 4 (1.04%) REST Assured
10 3 (0.78%) Cucumber
11 2 (0.52%) CircleCI
11 2 (0.52%) JMeter
11 2 (0.52%) Liquibase
11 2 (0.52%) Postman
11 2 (0.52%) WebDriver
12 1 (0.26%) Mockito
12 1 (0.26%) Team Foundation Server
12 1 (0.26%) Visual Studio Code
12 1 (0.26%) webpack
General
1 210 (54.83%) Social Skills
2 132 (34.46%) Analytical Skills
3 43 (11.23%) Finance
4 32 (8.36%) Public Sector
5 18 (4.70%) Organisational Skills
6 15 (3.92%) Presentation Skills
7 13 (3.39%) Legal
8 12 (3.13%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 12 (3.13%) Influencing Skills
9 11 (2.87%) Banking
9 11 (2.87%) Military
10 9 (2.35%) Telecoms
11 6 (1.57%) Marketing
12 5 (1.31%) Documentation Skills
12 5 (1.31%) Manufacturing
13 4 (1.04%) Law
13 4 (1.04%) Local Government
14 3 (0.78%) Electronics
14 3 (0.78%) Retail
15 2 (0.52%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 66 (17.23%) Analyst
2 42 (10.97%) Developer
3 27 (7.05%) Data Engineer
4 23 (6.01%) Lead
5 17 (4.44%) Senior
6 16 (4.18%) Business Analyst
7 15 (3.92%) Splunk Engineer
7 15 (3.92%) Test Specialist
8 14 (3.66%) Consultant
8 14 (3.66%) Site Engineer
8 14 (3.66%) Site Reliability Engineer
9 13 (3.39%) Architect
9 13 (3.39%) Support Analyst
10 12 (3.13%) IT Analyst
10 12 (3.13%) IT Support
11 11 (2.87%) Administrator
12 10 (2.61%) 1st Line Support
12 10 (2.61%) Infrastructure Analyst
12 10 (2.61%) Project Manager
12 10 (2.61%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (10.44%) REST
2 23 (6.01%) Spring
3 19 (4.96%) Elastic Stack
4 18 (4.70%) HTML
5 16 (4.18%) SOAP
6 14 (3.66%) pytest
6 14 (3.66%) RESTful
7 13 (3.39%) HTML5
8 12 (3.13%) Spring Boot
9 11 (2.87%) Node.js
9 11 (2.87%) Play Framework
10 9 (2.35%) CSS
10 9 (2.35%) J2EE
10 9 (2.35%) XML
11 8 (2.09%) EJB
11 8 (2.09%) Hibernate
11 8 (2.09%) J2SE
11 8 (2.09%) JSON
11 8 (2.09%) React
12 7 (1.83%) AngularJS
Miscellaneous
1 18 (4.70%) Management Information System
2 16 (4.18%) Cloud Native
3 14 (3.66%) Onboarding
4 13 (3.39%) Data Centre
4 13 (3.39%) Self-Motivation
5 12 (3.13%) Product Ownership
6 9 (2.35%) Linux Command Line
6 9 (2.35%) Operational Technology
7 8 (2.09%) SCADA
8 7 (1.83%) Data Structures
9 5 (1.31%) Analytical Mindset
9 5 (1.31%) Driving Licence
9 5 (1.31%) Team-Oriented Environment
10 4 (1.04%) CSOC
10 4 (1.04%) Legacy Systems
10 4 (1.04%) Security Operations Centre
11 3 (0.78%) Data Protection Act
11 3 (0.78%) Distributed Systems
11 3 (0.78%) Security Posture
11 3 (0.78%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 39 (10.18%) Linux
2 27 (7.05%) Windows
3 24 (6.27%) Unix
4 10 (2.61%) Windows 10
5 7 (1.83%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 5 (1.31%) Windows Server
7 4 (1.04%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.52%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.26%) Apple iOS
9 1 (0.26%) CentOS
9 1 (0.26%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 144 (37.60%) Agile
2 107 (27.94%) CI/CD
3 104 (27.15%) Continuous Improvement
4 102 (26.63%) DevOps
5 70 (18.28%) Analytics
5 70 (18.28%) Scrum
6 67 (17.49%) Data Modelling
6 67 (17.49%) Stakeholder Management
7 59 (15.40%) Test Automation
8 53 (13.84%) Data Pipeline
9 51 (13.32%) Change Management
10 50 (13.05%) Containerisation
11 49 (12.79%) Business Intelligence
11 49 (12.79%) ETL
12 44 (11.49%) Migration
13 43 (11.23%) Data Integration
14 39 (10.18%) Deployment Automation
15 38 (9.92%) Validation
16 37 (9.66%) AI
16 37 (9.66%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 91 (23.76%) SQL
2 66 (17.23%) Python
3 37 (9.66%) Java
4 21 (5.48%) Bash
5 20 (5.22%) JavaScript
6 16 (4.18%) PL/SQL
7 13 (3.39%) Scala
8 12 (3.13%) Shell Script
9 9 (2.35%) Perl
9 9 (2.35%) PowerShell
10 7 (1.83%) TypeScript
11 6 (1.57%) Go
12 5 (1.31%) PHP
13 4 (1.04%) C#
13 4 (1.04%) Kusto Query Language
13 4 (1.04%) VBA
14 3 (0.78%) Ruby
15 2 (0.52%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 1 (0.26%) Apex Code
16 1 (0.26%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 117 (30.55%) Security Cleared
2 97 (25.33%) SC Cleared
3 51 (13.32%) Degree
4 21 (5.48%) Computer Science Degree
5 12 (3.13%) BPSS Clearance
6 11 (2.87%) Microsoft Certification
7 10 (2.61%) DV Cleared
8 7 (1.83%) Azure Certification
8 7 (1.83%) Master's Degree
9 6 (1.57%) Microsoft Certified Professional
10 5 (1.31%) MCDST
11 4 (1.04%) CCNP
11 4 (1.04%) Cisco Certification
11 4 (1.04%) PRINCE2 Certification
12 3 (0.78%) AWS Certification
12 3 (0.78%) OCP
12 3 (0.78%) Oracle Certification
12 3 (0.78%) PMI Certification
12 3 (0.78%) PMP
13 2 (0.52%) A+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (12.01%) Data Quality
2 27 (7.05%) QA
3 9 (2.35%) PMO
4 8 (2.09%) Accessibility
5 6 (1.57%) GDPR
6 5 (1.31%) ISO 19650
7 4 (1.04%) WCAG
8 3 (0.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 2 (0.52%) ISO 9001
9 2 (0.52%) SLA
10 1 (0.26%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.26%) HIPAA
10 1 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 12207
10 1 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 15288
10 1 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 1 (0.26%) NCSC
10 1 (0.26%) NIST
10 1 (0.26%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.26%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 90 (23.50%) Docker
2 22 (5.74%) Active Directory
3 16 (4.18%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (2.61%) vSphere
5 4 (1.04%) Snort
6 3 (0.78%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.52%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.26%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.26%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 91 (23.76%) Kubernetes
2 22 (5.74%) Puppet
3 20 (5.22%) Ansible
4 14 (3.66%) Kibana
5 13 (3.39%) Terraform
6 12 (3.13%) Grafana
7 10 (2.61%) Prometheus
7 10 (2.61%) SCCM
8 8 (2.09%) vRealize
8 8 (2.09%) VxRail
9 5 (1.31%) CSIRT
10 4 (1.04%) Argo
11 3 (0.78%) Control-M
11 3 (0.78%) IBM Guardium
11 3 (0.78%) Nessus
12 2 (0.52%) BMC PATROL
12 2 (0.52%) HP ALM
12 2 (0.52%) Single Sign-On
12 2 (0.52%) vCenter Server
13 1 (0.26%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 66 (17.23%) Microsoft
2 48 (12.53%) Oracle
3 40 (10.44%) ServiceNow
4 30 (7.83%) Denodo
4 30 (7.83%) Talend
5 29 (7.57%) Splunk
6 19 (4.96%) Cisco
7 16 (4.18%) VMware
8 13 (3.39%) SAP
9 12 (3.13%) Google
10 10 (2.61%) HP
11 9 (2.35%) AppDynamics
11 9 (2.35%) Dell
12 8 (2.09%) IBM
12 8 (2.09%) Red Hat
12 8 (2.09%) SolarWinds
12 8 (2.09%) webMethods
13 7 (1.83%) Commvault
13 7 (1.83%) Workday
14 6 (1.57%) Okta