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

 6 months to
13 May 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 2 11
Rank change year-on-year -9 +9 -2
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 343 259 195
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 10.96% 18.92% 10.25%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.17% 21.33% 12.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 247 163 139
10th Percentile £271 £152 £224
25th Percentile £397 £325 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £463 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.70% -7.50% -
75th Percentile £550 £538 £608
90th Percentile £650 £638 £655
England median daily rate £495 £500 £513
% change year-on-year -1.00% -2.44% -2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 6 9
10th Percentile £13.20 £14.45 £14.29
25th Percentile £15.25 £15.41 £15.13
Median hourly rate £32.64 £16.75 £42.00
Median % change year-on-year +94.84% -60.12% +127.09%
75th Percentile £67.84 £23.18 £56.25
90th Percentile - £42.81 £72.50
England median hourly rate £22.21 £22.07 £17.50
% change year-on-year +0.63% +26.11% -65.00%

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 2,604 1,214 1,595
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 83.22% 88.68% 83.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,687 793 1,057
10th Percentile £306 £193 £275
25th Percentile £404 £375 £373
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -2.44%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £625
90th Percentile £675 £660 £750
England median daily rate £513 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -2.38% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 111 55 114
10th Percentile £14.82 £12.62 £11.08
25th Percentile £22.50 £13.20 £14.00
Median hourly rate £34.38 £18.00 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year +90.97% -20.00% +18.42%
75th Percentile £67.84 £22.91 £40.38
90th Percentile £72.54 £40.08 £58.00
England median hourly rate £47.00 £29.02 £36.50
% change year-on-year +61.96% -20.49% -2.25%

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 May 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 May 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 May 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 93 £525 -2.23% 54
Shropshire -13 91 £455 -1.36% 18
Birmingham -11 83 £468 +2.86% 78
Coventry -12 22 £410 +9.33% 16
Worcestershire -7 12 £563 +7.14% 27
Staffordshire -4 11 £313 +95.31% 35
Solihull -13 5 £493 +123.86% 8
Herefordshire -10 3 - - 3
Wolverhampton - 2 - - 5
Brierley Hill - 1 £390 - 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 31 (9.04%) SAS
2 28 (8.16%) Confluence
3 13 (3.79%) SharePoint
4 8 (2.33%) Oracle Workflow
4 8 (2.33%) WebLogic
5 6 (1.75%) Microsoft Exchange
5 6 (1.75%) Oracle Self-Service HR
6 2 (0.58%) OpenStack
7 1 (0.29%) Appian
7 1 (0.29%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 1 (0.29%) Tuxedo
Applications
1 24 (7.00%) Microsoft Excel
2 19 (5.54%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (3.21%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (1.46%) Microsoft Project
4 5 (1.46%) MS Visio
5 4 (1.17%) Adobe XD
5 4 (1.17%) Sketch
5 4 (1.17%) Spreadsheet
6 3 (0.87%) Navisworks
6 3 (0.87%) Revit
7 1 (0.29%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 1 (0.29%) CATIA
7 1 (0.29%) Fusion 360
7 1 (0.29%) InDesign
7 1 (0.29%) Trello
Business Applications
1 8 (2.33%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (1.75%) Oracle HRMS
3 3 (0.87%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.58%) NEC Housing
4 2 (0.58%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.29%) Aareon QL
5 1 (0.29%) MIS ActiveH
5 1 (0.29%) OPENHousing
5 1 (0.29%) Orchard Housing
5 1 (0.29%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.29%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.29%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.29%) SAP QM
5 1 (0.29%) SAP Travel Management
Cloud Services
1 57 (16.62%) Azure
2 37 (10.79%) AWS
3 30 (8.75%) Power Platform
4 21 (6.12%) Microsoft 365
5 18 (5.25%) Entra ID
6 16 (4.66%) GitHub
7 15 (4.37%) Azure DevOps
8 14 (4.08%) GCP
9 9 (2.62%) GitHub Actions
10 6 (1.75%) Azure Data Factory
10 6 (1.75%) Figma
10 6 (1.75%) Power Automate
11 5 (1.46%) Amazon S3
11 5 (1.46%) OneDrive
11 5 (1.46%) OpenShift
11 5 (1.46%) Serverless
11 5 (1.46%) Snowflake
12 4 (1.17%) dbt
12 4 (1.17%) Dynamics 365
12 4 (1.17%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 10 (2.92%) DNS
1 10 (2.92%) VPN
2 6 (1.75%) Firewall
3 5 (1.46%) Intrusion Detection
4 4 (1.17%) BIG-IP
4 4 (1.17%) DHCP
4 4 (1.17%) SD-WAN
4 4 (1.17%) TCP/IP
4 4 (1.17%) WAN
5 3 (0.87%) Internet
5 3 (0.87%) Network Security
5 3 (0.87%) VLAN
5 3 (0.87%) Wi-Fi
6 2 (0.58%) LAN
6 2 (0.58%) Remote Desktop
6 2 (0.58%) SAN
6 2 (0.58%) SMTP
6 2 (0.58%) SSL
6 2 (0.58%) VSAN
6 2 (0.58%) WAAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (7.29%) Pentaho
2 23 (6.71%) Power BI
3 21 (6.12%) Data Warehouse
4 12 (3.50%) PostgreSQL
5 10 (2.92%) Metadata
5 10 (2.92%) SQL Server
6 8 (2.33%) Elasticsearch
7 6 (1.75%) Oracle Reports
8 5 (1.46%) MongoDB
9 4 (1.17%) MySQL
9 4 (1.17%) Power Query
9 4 (1.17%) Relational Database
10 3 (0.87%) Amazon RDS
10 3 (0.87%) Amazon Redshift
10 3 (0.87%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 3 (0.87%) Tableau
10 3 (0.87%) WebFOCUS
11 2 (0.58%) Azure SQL Database
11 2 (0.58%) Big Data
11 2 (0.58%) NoSQL
Development Applications
1 66 (19.24%) JIRA
2 52 (15.16%) Git
3 36 (10.50%) Jenkins
4 10 (2.92%) Selenium
5 7 (2.04%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 6 (1.75%) GitLab
6 6 (1.75%) Postman
7 5 (1.46%) Zephyr
8 4 (1.17%) JUnit
8 4 (1.17%) REST Assured
9 3 (0.87%) Cucumber
9 3 (0.87%) JMeter
9 3 (0.87%) WebDriver
10 2 (0.58%) Browser DevTools
10 2 (0.58%) CircleCI
11 1 (0.29%) CA Gen
11 1 (0.29%) Storybook
11 1 (0.29%) TestRail
11 1 (0.29%) Visual Studio Code
11 1 (0.29%) webpack
General
1 181 (52.77%) Social Skills
2 142 (41.40%) Analytical Skills
3 44 (12.83%) Finance
4 23 (6.71%) Public Sector
5 18 (5.25%) Organisational Skills
6 10 (2.92%) Banking
7 9 (2.62%) Legal
7 9 (2.62%) Presentation Skills
8 8 (2.33%) Influencing Skills
9 7 (2.04%) Local Government
10 6 (1.75%) Military
11 5 (1.46%) Electronics
11 5 (1.46%) Manufacturing
12 4 (1.17%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 4 (1.17%) Marketing
13 3 (0.87%) Automotive
13 3 (0.87%) Documentation Skills
13 3 (0.87%) Law
13 3 (0.87%) Retail
13 3 (0.87%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 57 (16.62%) Analyst
2 36 (10.50%) Data Engineer
3 30 (8.75%) Developer
4 27 (7.87%) Lead
5 22 (6.41%) Senior
6 19 (5.54%) Business Analyst
7 17 (4.96%) Consultant
8 16 (4.66%) Architect
9 13 (3.79%) Data Analyst
10 12 (3.50%) Delivery Manager
11 11 (3.21%) Administrator
12 9 (2.62%) Project Manager
12 9 (2.62%) SAP Consultant
12 9 (2.62%) Splunk Engineer
13 8 (2.33%) Business Intelligence Developer
13 8 (2.33%) Site Engineer
13 8 (2.33%) Site Reliability Engineer
14 7 (2.04%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 7 (2.04%) Network Engineer
14 7 (2.04%) Scrum Master
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (3.79%) Spring
2 12 (3.50%) REST
3 10 (2.92%) Elastic Stack
4 9 (2.62%) Spring Boot
5 7 (2.04%) OpenTelemetry
5 7 (2.04%) RESTful
6 6 (1.75%) AngularJS
6 6 (1.75%) CSS
6 6 (1.75%) HTML
6 6 (1.75%) Middleware
7 5 (1.46%) CSS3
7 5 (1.46%) HTML5
7 5 (1.46%) React
7 5 (1.46%) SAML
8 4 (1.17%) SailPoint
9 3 (0.87%) FastAPI
9 3 (0.87%) LDAP
9 3 (0.87%) Node.js
9 3 (0.87%) TensorFlow
9 3 (0.87%) WireMock
Miscellaneous
1 17 (4.96%) Cloud Native
1 17 (4.96%) Management Information System
2 14 (4.08%) Product Ownership
3 11 (3.21%) Operational Technology
4 10 (2.92%) Data Centre
4 10 (2.92%) Onboarding
4 10 (2.92%) SCADA
5 8 (2.33%) Self-Motivation
6 7 (2.04%) Analytical Mindset
7 6 (1.75%) Distributed Systems
7 6 (1.75%) Driving Licence
7 6 (1.75%) Enterprise Software
7 6 (1.75%) Legacy Systems
8 5 (1.46%) Data Protection Act
8 5 (1.46%) Data Structures
9 4 (1.17%) CSOC
9 4 (1.17%) Cyber Threat
9 4 (1.17%) Hybrid Cloud
9 4 (1.17%) Security Operations Centre
10 3 (0.87%) Distributed Applications
Operating Systems
1 28 (8.16%) Windows
2 26 (7.58%) Linux
3 10 (2.92%) Unix
3 10 (2.92%) Windows 10
4 8 (2.33%) Mac OS
5 6 (1.75%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 6 (1.75%) Windows Server
6 3 (0.87%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.29%) CentOS
7 1 (0.29%) Embedded Linux
7 1 (0.29%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.29%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 116 (33.82%) Agile
2 100 (29.15%) Continuous Improvement
3 75 (21.87%) CI/CD
4 65 (18.95%) DevOps
5 58 (16.91%) Data Modelling
6 56 (16.33%) Analytics
6 56 (16.33%) Migration
7 55 (16.03%) Business Intelligence
8 54 (15.74%) Scrum
9 53 (15.45%) ETL
10 51 (14.87%) Stakeholder Management
11 49 (14.29%) AI
11 49 (14.29%) Test Automation
12 41 (11.95%) Validation
13 39 (11.37%) Generative AI
14 37 (10.79%) Decision-Making
15 36 (10.50%) Data Pipeline
16 35 (10.20%) Change Management
17 34 (9.91%) Data Integration
18 31 (9.04%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 80 (23.32%) SQL
2 47 (13.70%) Python
3 23 (6.71%) Java
4 18 (5.25%) Bash
5 14 (4.08%) PowerShell
6 11 (3.21%) PL/SQL
7 10 (2.92%) JavaScript
8 5 (1.46%) Perl
8 5 (1.46%) Shell Script
8 5 (1.46%) TypeScript
9 4 (1.17%) C#
9 4 (1.17%) C++
9 4 (1.17%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 4 (1.17%) Kusto Query Language
10 3 (0.87%) C
10 3 (0.87%) Go
10 3 (0.87%) MATLAB
11 2 (0.58%) Bicep
12 1 (0.29%) SystemVerilog
12 1 (0.29%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 104 (30.32%) Security Cleared
2 86 (25.07%) SC Cleared
3 50 (14.58%) Degree
4 16 (4.66%) Computer Science Degree
5 12 (3.50%) Microsoft Certification
6 10 (2.92%) DV Cleared
7 9 (2.62%) BPSS Clearance
8 8 (2.33%) Cisco Certification
9 7 (2.04%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 6 (1.75%) Azure Certification
11 5 (1.46%) MCSE
12 4 (1.17%) CCNA
12 4 (1.17%) CCNP
12 4 (1.17%) Master's Degree
12 4 (1.17%) OCP
12 4 (1.17%) Oracle Certification
12 4 (1.17%) PMI Certification
12 4 (1.17%) PMP
13 3 (0.87%) RHCA
13 3 (0.87%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 50 (14.58%) Data Quality
2 21 (6.12%) QA
3 10 (2.92%) Accessibility
4 7 (2.04%) PMO
5 5 (1.46%) GDPR
5 5 (1.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 5 (1.46%) SLA
6 4 (1.17%) ISO 19650
6 4 (1.17%) WCAG
7 3 (0.87%) Cyber Essentials
7 3 (0.87%) GRC
7 3 (0.87%) ISO 9001
7 3 (0.87%) ISO/IEC 12207
7 3 (0.87%) ISO/IEC 15288
8 2 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 1 (0.29%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.29%) HIPAA
9 1 (0.29%) ISO 14001
9 1 (0.29%) NIST
9 1 (0.29%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 59 (17.20%) Docker
2 21 (6.12%) Active Directory
3 14 (4.08%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (2.62%) vSphere
5 5 (1.46%) Hyper-V
6 4 (1.17%) Snort
6 4 (1.17%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.87%) VMware NSX
8 2 (0.58%) BitLocker
8 2 (0.58%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.29%) Microsoft App-V
9 1 (0.29%) Oracle RAC
9 1 (0.29%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 61 (17.78%) Kubernetes
2 20 (5.83%) Ansible
3 14 (4.08%) Grafana
3 14 (4.08%) Terraform
4 9 (2.62%) Prometheus
5 8 (2.33%) Kibana
5 8 (2.33%) Puppet
5 8 (2.33%) SCCM
6 6 (1.75%) Argo
6 6 (1.75%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (1.17%) CSIRT
7 4 (1.17%) PowerCLI
7 4 (1.17%) vMotion
8 3 (0.87%) Control-M
8 3 (0.87%) IBM Guardium
8 3 (0.87%) Nessus
8 3 (0.87%) Podman
8 3 (0.87%) vCenter Server
9 2 (0.58%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.58%) VxRail
Vendors
1 69 (20.12%) Microsoft
2 42 (12.24%) Oracle
3 28 (8.16%) ServiceNow
4 25 (7.29%) Talend
5 24 (7.00%) Denodo
6 20 (5.83%) SAP
7 19 (5.54%) VMware
8 17 (4.96%) Splunk
9 14 (4.08%) Cisco
10 8 (2.33%) Atlassian
10 8 (2.33%) Red Hat
11 6 (1.75%) Adobe
11 6 (1.75%) Google
12 4 (1.17%) 3PAR
12 4 (1.17%) Autodesk
12 4 (1.17%) Citrix
12 4 (1.17%) Dell
12 4 (1.17%) F5
12 4 (1.17%) Siemens
12 4 (1.17%) SolarWinds
254 Problem-Solving jobs in the West Midlands