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

6 months to
23 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 13 3 8
Rank change year-on-year -10 +5 0
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 384 325 203
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 11.10% 18.73% 10.72%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.08% 21.21% 13.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 262 203 129
10th Percentile £306 £201 £156
25th Percentile £363 £391 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £463 £470
Median % change year-on-year -2.70% -1.60% -12.96%
75th Percentile £529 £538 £575
90th Percentile £615 £631 £640
England median daily rate £500 £495 £500
% change year-on-year +1.01% -1.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 9 7
10th Percentile £12.90 £14.86 £15.13
25th Percentile £13.31 £25.00 £15.32
Median hourly rate £25.15 £33.88 £18.97
Median % change year-on-year -25.77% +78.60% -17.91%
75th Percentile £44.80 £44.00 £38.88
90th Percentile £67.84 £54.13 £56.25
England median hourly rate £20.44 £19.96 £16.23
% change year-on-year +2.43% +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 2,935 1,532 1,544
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 84.80% 88.30% 81.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,823 976 1,037
10th Percentile £313 £235 £250
25th Percentile £406 £387 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £494 £500
Median % change year-on-year -3.75% -1.30% -
75th Percentile £575 £584 £625
90th Percentile £670 £650 £725
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 190 104 56
10th Percentile £13.44 £12.62 £13.09
25th Percentile £17.74 £15.02 £14.93
Median hourly rate £30.50 £24.34 £21.75
Median % change year-on-year +25.31% +11.91% -20.91%
75th Percentile £53.75 £35.14 £37.50
90th Percentile £70.26 £50.00 £53.75
England median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £42.50
% change year-on-year +74.79% -40.82% -

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 23 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 23 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 23 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 -2 113 £485 -1.02% 53
Shropshire -15 107 £450 -12.62% 34
Birmingham -15 69 £450 +1.69% 121
Coventry -10 34 £363 -12.12% 24
Staffordshire -9 12 £316 -29.72% 50
Worcestershire +7 11 £425 +24.45% 29
Solihull -16 7 £402 -31.57% 13
Wolverhampton - 5 £200 - 14
Herefordshire -2 4 - - 13
Dudley - 3 £375 - 4
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 (8.85%) Confluence
2 22 (5.73%) SharePoint
3 20 (5.21%) SAS
4 15 (3.91%) Oracle Workflow
5 8 (2.08%) Microsoft Exchange
6 6 (1.56%) Oracle Self-Service HR
7 1 (0.26%) Apache
7 1 (0.26%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.26%) Appian
7 1 (0.26%) IIS
7 1 (0.26%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 1 (0.26%) Tuxedo
7 1 (0.26%) WebLogic
Applications
1 29 (7.55%) Microsoft Excel
2 19 (4.95%) Microsoft Office
3 7 (1.82%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 6 (1.56%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (1.30%) Microsoft Project
6 4 (1.04%) MS Visio
7 3 (0.78%) Navisworks
7 3 (0.78%) Revit
8 2 (0.52%) Adobe XD
8 2 (0.52%) CATIA
8 2 (0.52%) Sketch
9 1 (0.26%) Adobe Captivate
9 1 (0.26%) Adobe Illustrator
9 1 (0.26%) Fusion 360
9 1 (0.26%) Photoshop
9 1 (0.26%) Trello
Business Applications
1 14 (3.65%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (2.86%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (1.56%) Oracle HRMS
4 5 (1.30%) 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 78 (20.31%) Azure
2 38 (9.90%) Microsoft 365
2 38 (9.90%) Power Platform
3 37 (9.64%) AWS
4 29 (7.55%) Azure DevOps
5 21 (5.47%) Entra ID
6 14 (3.65%) Power Automate
7 13 (3.39%) Azure Data Factory
7 13 (3.39%) Dynamics 365
7 13 (3.39%) Serverless
8 11 (2.86%) GitHub
9 10 (2.60%) Azure Functions
9 10 (2.60%) GCP
10 9 (2.34%) OneDrive
11 8 (2.08%) Microsoft Purview
12 7 (1.82%) Snowflake
13 5 (1.30%) Google Analytics
14 4 (1.04%) Azure Storage
14 4 (1.04%) SuccessFactors
15 3 (0.78%) Azure Synapse Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 16 (4.17%) DNS
2 14 (3.65%) DHCP
3 13 (3.39%) VPN
4 12 (3.13%) Firewall
5 10 (2.60%) LAN
5 10 (2.60%) WAN
6 9 (2.34%) TCP/IP
7 8 (2.08%) Network Security
7 8 (2.08%) SD-WAN
8 5 (1.30%) Internet
8 5 (1.30%) 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 (8.59%) Power BI
2 23 (5.99%) Pentaho
3 22 (5.73%) Data Warehouse
4 19 (4.95%) SQL Server
5 12 (3.13%) Metadata
6 10 (2.60%) PostgreSQL
7 8 (2.08%) Data Lake
7 8 (2.08%) Oracle Reports
8 7 (1.82%) Relational Database
9 6 (1.56%) Ingres
9 6 (1.56%) NoSQL
10 5 (1.30%) MySQL
10 5 (1.30%) Oracle Database
11 4 (1.04%) Big Data
11 4 (1.04%) Power Query
11 4 (1.04%) SAP BW
12 3 (0.78%) Amazon RDS
12 3 (0.78%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 3 (0.78%) Tableau
13 2 (0.52%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 58 (15.10%) JIRA
2 28 (7.29%) Git
3 19 (4.95%) Jenkins
3 19 (4.95%) Selenium
4 16 (4.17%) Postman
5 11 (2.86%) Cypress.io
6 10 (2.60%) WebDriver
7 9 (2.34%) GitLab
8 7 (1.82%) Cucumber
9 6 (1.56%) Atlassian Bamboo
10 5 (1.30%) Bitbucket
10 5 (1.30%) Zephyr
11 4 (1.04%) JUnit
11 4 (1.04%) Maven
11 4 (1.04%) REST Assured
12 3 (0.78%) Browser DevTools
12 3 (0.78%) Protractor
12 3 (0.78%) SonarQube
13 2 (0.52%) Mockito
13 2 (0.52%) Serenity BDD
General
1 204 (53.13%) Social Skills
2 155 (40.36%) Analytical Skills
3 63 (16.41%) Public Sector
4 59 (15.36%) Finance
5 22 (5.73%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 18 (4.69%) Local Government
6 18 (4.69%) Manufacturing
7 14 (3.65%) Influencing Skills
8 13 (3.39%) Organisational Skills
9 12 (3.13%) Legal
10 11 (2.86%) Automotive
11 9 (2.34%) Presentation Skills
12 7 (1.82%) Banking
12 7 (1.82%) Marketing
13 6 (1.56%) Documentation Skills
13 6 (1.56%) Retail
14 5 (1.30%) Billing
14 5 (1.30%) Electronics
15 4 (1.04%) Telecoms
16 2 (0.52%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 58 (15.10%) Analyst
2 43 (11.20%) Lead
3 37 (9.64%) Data Engineer
3 37 (9.64%) Senior
4 27 (7.03%) Consultant
5 25 (6.51%) Developer
6 19 (4.95%) Architect
6 19 (4.95%) SAP Consultant
7 18 (4.69%) Business Analyst
8 17 (4.43%) Administrator
9 16 (4.17%) Test Analyst
10 10 (2.60%) Data Analyst
11 9 (2.34%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 9 (2.34%) Network Engineer
11 9 (2.34%) Project Manager
12 8 (2.08%) Delivery Manager
12 8 (2.08%) Senior Data Engineer
12 8 (2.08%) Support Engineer
12 8 (2.08%) Test Engineer
13 7 (1.82%) Oracle Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (4.17%) REST
2 13 (3.39%) Terraform
3 10 (2.60%) Oracle Fusion
3 10 (2.60%) SOAP
4 9 (2.34%) Gherkin
5 7 (1.82%) Play Framework
6 6 (1.56%) Middleware
7 5 (1.30%) AngularJS
7 5 (1.30%) IDoc
7 5 (1.30%) JDBC
7 5 (1.30%) RESTful
7 5 (1.30%) SAP PI
7 5 (1.30%) 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 (4.95%) Cloud Native
1 19 (4.95%) Management Information System
2 16 (4.17%) Enterprise Software
2 16 (4.17%) Self-Motivation
3 15 (3.91%) Product Ownership
4 11 (2.86%) Legacy Systems
5 9 (2.34%) Data Centre
5 9 (2.34%) Onboarding
6 8 (2.08%) Analytical Mindset
6 8 (2.08%) SCADA
6 8 (2.08%) Virtual Team
7 7 (1.82%) Data Protection Act
7 7 (1.82%) Operational Technology
8 6 (1.56%) Autonomous Agent
9 5 (1.30%) Cyber Threat
9 5 (1.30%) 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 (11.72%) 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 (2.86%) 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
1 134 (34.90%) Agile
2 119 (30.99%) Continuous Improvement
3 77 (20.05%) Stakeholder Management
4 74 (19.27%) DevOps
5 71 (18.49%) CI/CD
6 59 (15.36%) Test Automation
7 56 (14.58%) Migration
8 53 (13.80%) AI
9 52 (13.54%) Business Intelligence
10 51 (13.28%) Analytics
10 51 (13.28%) ETL
11 49 (12.76%) Data Modelling
11 49 (12.76%) Scrum
12 47 (12.24%) Decision-Making
13 44 (11.46%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 41 (10.68%) Validation
15 39 (10.16%) ITIL
16 35 (9.11%) Generative AI
17 34 (8.85%) Data Pipeline
17 34 (8.85%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 73 (19.01%) SQL
2 38 (9.90%) Python
3 21 (5.47%) Java
4 14 (3.65%) PowerShell
5 12 (3.13%) JavaScript
6 11 (2.86%) C
7 10 (2.60%) Bash
7 10 (2.60%) C#
7 10 (2.60%) PL/SQL
8 8 (2.08%) ProC
9 7 (1.82%) Scala
10 5 (1.30%) ABAP
10 5 (1.30%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 5 (1.30%) 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
1 118 (30.73%) Security Cleared
2 97 (25.26%) SC Cleared
3 44 (11.46%) Degree
4 22 (5.73%) BPSS Clearance
5 20 (5.21%) Microsoft Certification
6 11 (2.86%) Azure Certification
6 11 (2.86%) Computer Science Degree
7 10 (2.60%) Cisco Certification
8 9 (2.34%) ISTQB
9 8 (2.08%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 7 (1.82%) CCNA
11 6 (1.56%) DV Cleared
11 6 (1.56%) MCSE
12 5 (1.30%) AWS Certification
12 5 (1.30%) CISSP
12 5 (1.30%) OCP
12 5 (1.30%) Oracle Certification
13 4 (1.04%) A+ Certification
13 4 (1.04%) CCNP
13 4 (1.04%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 49 (12.76%) Data Quality
2 38 (9.90%) QA
3 18 (4.69%) Accessibility
4 15 (3.91%) GDPR
5 14 (3.65%) SLA
6 10 (2.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 10 (2.60%) WCAG
7 5 (1.30%) PMO
8 4 (1.04%) Cyber Essentials
9 3 (0.78%) GRC
9 3 (0.78%) HIPAA
9 3 (0.78%) NIST
10 2 (0.52%) ISO 19650
10 2 (0.52%) ISO/IEC 12207
10 2 (0.52%) ISO/IEC 15288
11 1 (0.26%) HL7
11 1 (0.26%) ISO 14001
11 1 (0.26%) ISO 9001
11 1 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 1 (0.26%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 30 (7.81%) Docker
2 23 (5.99%) Active Directory
3 13 (3.39%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (2.60%) vSphere
5 9 (2.34%) VMware ESXi
6 7 (1.82%) 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 23 (5.99%) Kubernetes
2 18 (4.69%) SCCM
3 13 (3.39%) Microsoft Intune
4 10 (2.60%) Ansible
5 9 (2.34%) Grafana
6 7 (1.82%) Prometheus
7 5 (1.30%) 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 87 (22.66%) Microsoft
2 47 (12.24%) Oracle
3 33 (8.59%) SAP
4 20 (5.21%) VMware
5 19 (4.95%) Denodo
5 19 (4.95%) ServiceNow
6 18 (4.69%) Cisco
6 18 (4.69%) Talend
7 14 (3.65%) Atlassian
8 9 (2.34%) Databricks
8 9 (2.34%) Google
8 9 (2.34%) Splunk
9 7 (1.82%) Apple
9 7 (1.82%) Qualys
10 6 (1.56%) Siemens
11 5 (1.30%) webMethods
12 4 (1.04%) Adobe
12 4 (1.04%) Citrix
12 4 (1.04%) Informatica
12 4 (1.04%) Red Hat