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

6 months to
20 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 13 3 9
Rank change year-on-year -10 +6 -2
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 383 316 204
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 11.15% 18.56% 10.78%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.15% 21.04% 13.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 266 195 131
10th Percentile £306 £186 £160
25th Percentile £363 £378 £352
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £463 £470
Median % change year-on-year -2.70% -1.60% -12.31%
75th Percentile £525 £538 £581
90th Percentile £605 £630 £650
England median daily rate £500 £493 £500
% change year-on-year +1.52% -1.50% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 9 7
10th Percentile £12.90 £14.86 £15.13
25th Percentile £13.24 £25.00 £15.32
Median hourly rate £27.30 £33.88 £18.97
Median % change year-on-year -19.42% +78.60% -9.54%
75th Percentile £46.95 £44.00 £38.88
90th Percentile £67.84 £54.13 £56.25
England median hourly rate £20.52 £19.96 £16.23
% change year-on-year +2.83% +22.95% -70.49%

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 2,913 1,502 1,551
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 84.80% 88.20% 81.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,818 953 1,044
10th Percentile £313 £235 £263
25th Percentile £406 £385 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.56% -2.50% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £625
90th Percentile £671 £650 £725
England median daily rate £525 £510 £530
% change year-on-year +2.94% -3.77% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 185 103 58
10th Percentile £13.41 £12.62 £13.13
25th Percentile £18.00 £14.91 £14.78
Median hourly rate £30.73 £24.34 £21.75
Median % change year-on-year +26.25% +11.91% -19.44%
75th Percentile £53.75 £35.29 £37.50
90th Percentile £70.44 £50.00 £55.38
England median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +74.79% -41.51% +4.83%

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 20 August 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 20 August 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 20 August 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 -2 112 £485 -1.02% 52
Shropshire -11 109 £450 -12.62% 36
Birmingham -14 68 £450 +3.45% 158
Coventry -10 33 £363 -12.12% 26
Worcestershire +6 12 £425 +24.45% 29
Staffordshire -5 11 £316 -20.94% 48
Solihull -17 7 £402 -31.57% 16
Wolverhampton - 5 £200 - 12
Herefordshire -2 4 - - 13
Dudley - 3 £375 - 3
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 34 (8.88%) Confluence
2 21 (5.48%) SAS
2 21 (5.48%) SharePoint
3 15 (3.92%) Oracle Workflow
4 8 (2.09%) Microsoft Exchange
5 6 (1.57%) 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%) Tuxedo
6 1 (0.26%) WebLogic
Applications
1 27 (7.05%) Microsoft Excel
2 18 (4.70%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (1.57%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (1.57%) Spreadsheet
4 5 (1.31%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (1.04%) MS Visio
6 3 (0.78%) Navisworks
6 3 (0.78%) Revit
7 2 (0.52%) Adobe XD
7 2 (0.52%) CATIA
7 2 (0.52%) Sketch
8 1 (0.26%) Adobe Captivate
8 1 (0.26%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.26%) Adobe Illustrator
8 1 (0.26%) Fusion 360
8 1 (0.26%) InDesign
8 1 (0.26%) Photoshop
8 1 (0.26%) Trello
Business Applications
1 14 (3.66%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (2.87%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (1.57%) Oracle HRMS
4 5 (1.31%) SAP PSCD
5 3 (0.78%) ContrOCC
5 3 (0.78%) Remedy ITSM
5 3 (0.78%) Teamcenter
6 1 (0.26%) Aladdin
6 1 (0.26%) Maximo
6 1 (0.26%) NEC Housing
6 1 (0.26%) Oracle Receivables
6 1 (0.26%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.26%) SAP CX
6 1 (0.26%) SAP GRC
6 1 (0.26%) SAP MM
6 1 (0.26%) SAP PP
6 1 (0.26%) SAP QM
6 1 (0.26%) SAP SD
6 1 (0.26%) SAP Travel Management
Cloud Services
1 77 (20.10%) Azure
2 38 (9.92%) Power Platform
3 37 (9.66%) AWS
4 36 (9.40%) Microsoft 365
5 29 (7.57%) Azure DevOps
6 21 (5.48%) Entra ID
7 14 (3.66%) Power Automate
8 13 (3.39%) Azure Data Factory
8 13 (3.39%) Dynamics 365
8 13 (3.39%) Serverless
9 11 (2.87%) GitHub
10 10 (2.61%) Azure Functions
10 10 (2.61%) GCP
11 9 (2.35%) OneDrive
12 8 (2.09%) Microsoft Purview
13 7 (1.83%) Snowflake
14 5 (1.31%) Google Analytics
15 4 (1.04%) Azure Storage
15 4 (1.04%) Figma
15 4 (1.04%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 16 (4.18%) DNS
2 14 (3.66%) DHCP
3 13 (3.39%) VPN
4 12 (3.13%) Firewall
5 10 (2.61%) LAN
5 10 (2.61%) WAN
6 9 (2.35%) TCP/IP
7 8 (2.09%) Network Security
7 8 (2.09%) SD-WAN
8 5 (1.31%) Internet
8 5 (1.31%) Wi-Fi
9 4 (1.04%) Unified Communications
9 4 (1.04%) VoIP
10 3 (0.78%) Intrusion Detection
10 3 (0.78%) SSL
10 3 (0.78%) VLAN
11 2 (0.52%) BIG-IP
11 2 (0.52%) PBX
11 2 (0.52%) SAN
11 2 (0.52%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (8.62%) Power BI
2 24 (6.27%) Pentaho
3 22 (5.74%) Data Warehouse
4 21 (5.48%) SQL Server
5 12 (3.13%) Metadata
5 12 (3.13%) PostgreSQL
6 8 (2.09%) Data Lake
6 8 (2.09%) Oracle Reports
7 7 (1.83%) MySQL
7 7 (1.83%) Relational Database
8 6 (1.57%) Ingres
8 6 (1.57%) NoSQL
9 5 (1.31%) Oracle Database
10 4 (1.04%) Big Data
10 4 (1.04%) Power Query
10 4 (1.04%) SAP BW
11 3 (0.78%) Amazon RDS
11 3 (0.78%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 2 (0.52%) Azure SQL Database
12 2 (0.52%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 56 (14.62%) JIRA
2 29 (7.57%) Git
3 20 (5.22%) Jenkins
4 19 (4.96%) Selenium
5 16 (4.18%) Postman
6 11 (2.87%) Cypress.io
7 10 (2.61%) WebDriver
8 9 (2.35%) GitLab
9 7 (1.83%) Cucumber
10 6 (1.57%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 5 (1.31%) Bitbucket
11 5 (1.31%) Zephyr
12 4 (1.04%) JUnit
12 4 (1.04%) Maven
12 4 (1.04%) REST Assured
13 3 (0.78%) Browser DevTools
13 3 (0.78%) Protractor
13 3 (0.78%) SonarQube
14 2 (0.52%) Mockito
14 2 (0.52%) Serenity BDD
General
1 201 (52.48%) Social Skills
2 153 (39.95%) Analytical Skills
3 62 (16.19%) Public Sector
4 58 (15.14%) Finance
5 22 (5.74%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 18 (4.70%) Local Government
7 17 (4.44%) Manufacturing
8 13 (3.39%) Influencing Skills
9 12 (3.13%) Organisational Skills
10 11 (2.87%) Legal
11 10 (2.61%) Automotive
12 9 (2.35%) Presentation Skills
13 7 (1.83%) Banking
13 7 (1.83%) Marketing
14 6 (1.57%) Documentation Skills
15 5 (1.31%) Billing
15 5 (1.31%) Electronics
15 5 (1.31%) Retail
16 4 (1.04%) Telecoms
17 3 (0.78%) Military
Job Titles
1 58 (15.14%) Analyst
2 43 (11.23%) Lead
3 38 (9.92%) Data Engineer
4 37 (9.66%) Senior
5 27 (7.05%) Consultant
6 25 (6.53%) Developer
7 19 (4.96%) Administrator
7 19 (4.96%) Architect
7 19 (4.96%) SAP Consultant
8 18 (4.70%) Business Analyst
9 16 (4.18%) Test Analyst
10 10 (2.61%) Data Analyst
11 9 (2.35%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 9 (2.35%) Network Engineer
11 9 (2.35%) Project Manager
12 8 (2.09%) Delivery Manager
12 8 (2.09%) Senior Data Engineer
12 8 (2.09%) Test Engineer
13 7 (1.83%) Business Intelligence Developer
13 7 (1.83%) Oracle Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (4.18%) REST
2 13 (3.39%) Terraform
3 10 (2.61%) Oracle Fusion
3 10 (2.61%) SOAP
4 9 (2.35%) Gherkin
5 7 (1.83%) Play Framework
6 6 (1.57%) Middleware
7 5 (1.31%) AngularJS
7 5 (1.31%) IDoc
7 5 (1.31%) JDBC
7 5 (1.31%) RESTful
7 5 (1.31%) SAP PI
7 5 (1.31%) Spring
8 4 (1.04%) JSON
8 4 (1.04%) Playwright
8 4 (1.04%) Spring Boot
8 4 (1.04%) Spring Cloud
8 4 (1.04%) Web Services
8 4 (1.04%) XML
9 3 (0.78%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 19 (4.96%) Cloud Native
1 19 (4.96%) Management Information System
2 15 (3.92%) Enterprise Software
2 15 (3.92%) Self-Motivation
3 14 (3.66%) Product Ownership
4 11 (2.87%) Legacy Systems
5 9 (2.35%) Data Centre
5 9 (2.35%) Onboarding
6 8 (2.09%) Analytical Mindset
6 8 (2.09%) SCADA
6 8 (2.09%) Virtual Team
7 7 (1.83%) Data Protection Act
7 7 (1.83%) Operational Technology
8 6 (1.57%) Autonomous Agent
9 5 (1.31%) Cyber Threat
9 5 (1.31%) Hybrid Cloud
10 4 (1.04%) Distributed Systems
10 4 (1.04%) iPhone
10 4 (1.04%) Mobile App
11 3 (0.78%) Team-Oriented Environment
Operating Systems
1 45 (11.75%) Windows
2 13 (3.39%) Mac OS
2 13 (3.39%) Windows 10
3 12 (3.13%) Unix
3 12 (3.13%) Windows Server
4 11 (2.87%) Linux
5 3 (0.78%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.26%) CentOS
7 1 (0.26%) Embedded Linux
7 1 (0.26%) HPUX
7 1 (0.26%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.26%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 133 (34.73%) Agile
2 115 (30.03%) Continuous Improvement
3 75 (19.58%) DevOps
3 75 (19.58%) Stakeholder Management
4 72 (18.80%) CI/CD
5 59 (15.40%) Test Automation
6 56 (14.62%) Migration
7 53 (13.84%) AI
7 53 (13.84%) Business Intelligence
8 52 (13.58%) Analytics
8 52 (13.58%) ETL
9 50 (13.05%) Data Modelling
9 50 (13.05%) Scrum
10 47 (12.27%) Decision-Making
11 42 (10.97%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 41 (10.70%) Validation
13 39 (10.18%) ITIL
14 35 (9.14%) Data Pipeline
14 35 (9.14%) Generative AI
15 33 (8.62%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 74 (19.32%) SQL
2 38 (9.92%) Python
3 21 (5.48%) Java
4 14 (3.66%) PowerShell
5 12 (3.13%) JavaScript
6 11 (2.87%) C
7 10 (2.61%) Bash
7 10 (2.61%) C#
7 10 (2.61%) PL/SQL
8 8 (2.09%) ProC
9 7 (1.83%) Scala
10 5 (1.31%) ABAP
10 5 (1.31%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 5 (1.31%) TypeScript
11 4 (1.04%) Bicep
11 4 (1.04%) C++
11 4 (1.04%) MATLAB
12 1 (0.26%) T-SQL
12 1 (0.26%) VB
12 1 (0.26%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 121 (31.59%) Security Cleared
2 99 (25.85%) SC Cleared
3 42 (10.97%) Degree
4 22 (5.74%) Microsoft Certification
5 21 (5.48%) BPSS Clearance
6 11 (2.87%) Azure Certification
6 11 (2.87%) Computer Science Degree
7 10 (2.61%) Cisco Certification
8 9 (2.35%) ISTQB
9 8 (2.09%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 7 (1.83%) CCNA
10 7 (1.83%) DV Cleared
10 7 (1.83%) OCP
10 7 (1.83%) Oracle Certification
11 6 (1.57%) MCSE
12 5 (1.31%) AWS Certification
12 5 (1.31%) CISSP
13 4 (1.04%) A+ Certification
13 4 (1.04%) CCNP
13 4 (1.04%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 49 (12.79%) Data Quality
2 37 (9.66%) QA
3 19 (4.96%) Accessibility
4 15 (3.92%) GDPR
5 14 (3.66%) SLA
6 10 (2.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 10 (2.61%) WCAG
7 4 (1.04%) Cyber Essentials
7 4 (1.04%) PMO
8 3 (0.78%) GRC
8 3 (0.78%) HIPAA
8 3 (0.78%) NIST
9 2 (0.52%) ISO 19650
9 2 (0.52%) ISO/IEC 12207
9 2 (0.52%) ISO/IEC 15288
10 1 (0.26%) HL7
10 1 (0.26%) ISO 14001
10 1 (0.26%) ISO 9001
10 1 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 1 (0.26%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 31 (8.09%) Docker
2 23 (6.01%) Active Directory
3 13 (3.39%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (2.61%) vSphere
5 9 (2.35%) VMware ESXi
6 7 (1.83%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.52%) FreeRADIUS
7 2 (0.52%) 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 24 (6.27%) Kubernetes
2 18 (4.70%) SCCM
3 13 (3.39%) Microsoft Intune
4 10 (2.61%) Ansible
5 9 (2.35%) Grafana
6 7 (1.83%) Prometheus
7 5 (1.31%) Jamf Pro
8 4 (1.04%) Podman
8 4 (1.04%) PowerCLI
8 4 (1.04%) vMotion
9 3 (0.78%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.52%) Argo
10 2 (0.52%) FortiGate
11 1 (0.26%) AirWatch
11 1 (0.26%) HP ALM
11 1 (0.26%) QRadar
11 1 (0.26%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 86 (22.45%) Microsoft
2 48 (12.53%) Oracle
3 34 (8.88%) SAP
4 20 (5.22%) Denodo
4 20 (5.22%) VMware
5 19 (4.96%) ServiceNow
5 19 (4.96%) Talend
6 18 (4.70%) Cisco
7 14 (3.66%) Atlassian
8 9 (2.35%) Databricks
8 9 (2.35%) Google
8 9 (2.35%) Splunk
9 7 (1.83%) Apple
9 7 (1.83%) Qualys
10 6 (1.57%) Siemens
11 5 (1.31%) Adobe
11 5 (1.31%) webMethods
12 4 (1.04%) Citrix
12 4 (1.04%) Informatica
12 4 (1.04%) Red Hat