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

 6 months to
20 Jul 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 3 10
Rank change year-on-year -8 +7 -2
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 393 293 190
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 11.50% 18.01% 9.52%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.37% 20.38% 11.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 277 178 132
10th Percentile £306 £165 £191
25th Percentile £363 £331 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year - -5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £538 £537 £591
90th Percentile £615 £665 £650
England median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 9 10
10th Percentile £12.90 £14.86 £14.71
25th Percentile £13.85 £25.00 £15.22
Median hourly rate £25.15 £33.88 £20.74
Median % change year-on-year -25.77% +63.40% -0.49%
75th Percentile £41.36 £44.00 £56.25
90th Percentile £67.84 £54.13 £72.50
England median hourly rate £21.49 £21.25 £16.23
% change year-on-year +1.13% +30.93% -69.09%

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 2,939 1,438 1,624
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 86.01% 88.38% 81.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,910 903 1,088
10th Percentile £313 £209 £275
25th Percentile £405 £363 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £481 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +1.16% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £625
90th Percentile £671 £681 £725
England median daily rate £525 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 151 99 90
10th Percentile £14.82 £12.62 £11.05
25th Percentile £20.78 £13.74 £14.03
Median hourly rate £33.99 £22.05 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year +54.15% +16.05% -24.38%
75th Percentile £59.50 £32.82 £38.44
90th Percentile £72.54 £50.00 £58.75
England median hourly rate £47.50 £25.15 £39.50
% change year-on-year +88.87% -36.33% -7.06%

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 July 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 July 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 July 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 -2 125 £525 +10.53% 38
Shropshire -17 91 £450 -2.17% 24
Birmingham -12 82 £450 +4.65% 73
Coventry -14 31 £363 -9.38% 10
Worcestershire +8 18 £563 +9.22% 20
Staffordshire -2 11 £313 +25.00% 21
Solihull -18 6 £447 -42.73% 3
Wolverhampton - 4 - - 2
Herefordshire -5 3 - - 5
Wednesbury - 1 - -
Brierley Hill - 1 £390 -
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 (7.89%) Confluence
2 22 (5.60%) SAS
3 19 (4.83%) SharePoint
4 15 (3.82%) Oracle Workflow
5 8 (2.04%) WebLogic
6 6 (1.53%) Oracle Self-Service HR
7 5 (1.27%) Microsoft Exchange
8 1 (0.25%) Appian
8 1 (0.25%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 1 (0.25%) Tuxedo
Applications
1 26 (6.62%) Microsoft Excel
2 18 (4.58%) Microsoft Office
3 7 (1.78%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (1.27%) MS Visio
5 4 (1.02%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (1.02%) Spreadsheet
6 3 (0.76%) Navisworks
6 3 (0.76%) Revit
7 2 (0.51%) Adobe XD
7 2 (0.51%) CATIA
7 2 (0.51%) Sketch
8 1 (0.25%) Adobe Captivate
8 1 (0.25%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.25%) Adobe Illustrator
8 1 (0.25%) Fusion 360
8 1 (0.25%) InDesign
8 1 (0.25%) Photoshop
8 1 (0.25%) Trello
Business Applications
1 10 (2.54%) Dynamics CRM
1 10 (2.54%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (1.53%) Oracle HRMS
3 5 (1.27%) SAP PSCD
4 3 (0.76%) ContrOCC
4 3 (0.76%) Remedy ITSM
4 3 (0.76%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.25%) Aladdin
5 1 (0.25%) Maximo
5 1 (0.25%) NEC Housing
5 1 (0.25%) Oracle Receivables
5 1 (0.25%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.25%) SAP CX
5 1 (0.25%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.25%) SAP QM
5 1 (0.25%) SAP Travel Management
Cloud Services
1 76 (19.34%) Azure
2 42 (10.69%) AWS
3 33 (8.40%) Power Platform
4 30 (7.63%) Microsoft 365
5 27 (6.87%) Azure DevOps
6 18 (4.58%) Entra ID
7 16 (4.07%) GitHub
8 15 (3.82%) GCP
9 12 (3.05%) Dynamics 365
9 12 (3.05%) Serverless
10 11 (2.80%) Azure Data Factory
11 10 (2.54%) Power Automate
12 8 (2.04%) Azure Functions
12 8 (2.04%) Microsoft Purview
13 7 (1.78%) GitHub Actions
14 6 (1.53%) Amazon S3
14 6 (1.53%) Snowflake
15 5 (1.27%) Figma
15 5 (1.27%) OneDrive
15 5 (1.27%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 12 (3.05%) DNS
2 10 (2.54%) Firewall
3 9 (2.29%) VPN
4 8 (2.04%) Intrusion Detection
5 7 (1.78%) DHCP
6 6 (1.53%) LAN
6 6 (1.53%) SD-WAN
6 6 (1.53%) WAN
7 5 (1.27%) Internet
7 5 (1.27%) Network Security
7 5 (1.27%) TCP/IP
7 5 (1.27%) Wi-Fi
8 3 (0.76%) BIG-IP
8 3 (0.76%) SSL
9 2 (0.51%) PBX
9 2 (0.51%) SAN
9 2 (0.51%) VLAN
9 2 (0.51%) VoIP
9 2 (0.51%) WAAS
9 2 (0.51%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (6.87%) Power BI
2 19 (4.83%) Data Warehouse
3 18 (4.58%) Pentaho
4 16 (4.07%) SQL Server
5 14 (3.56%) PostgreSQL
6 10 (2.54%) Metadata
7 8 (2.04%) Ingres
8 7 (1.78%) MongoDB
8 7 (1.78%) Relational Database
9 6 (1.53%) MySQL
9 6 (1.53%) Oracle Reports
10 4 (1.02%) Amazon RDS
10 4 (1.02%) Big Data
10 4 (1.02%) Oracle Database
10 4 (1.02%) Power Query
11 3 (0.76%) Amazon Redshift
11 3 (0.76%) Azure SQL Database
11 3 (0.76%) Tableau
11 3 (0.76%) WebFOCUS
12 2 (0.51%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 63 (16.03%) JIRA
2 40 (10.18%) Git
3 28 (7.12%) Jenkins
4 20 (5.09%) Selenium
5 14 (3.56%) Postman
6 10 (2.54%) WebDriver
7 9 (2.29%) Cypress.io
8 7 (1.78%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 7 (1.78%) Cucumber
8 7 (1.78%) GitLab
8 7 (1.78%) REST Assured
9 5 (1.27%) JUnit
9 5 (1.27%) Zephyr
10 4 (1.02%) JMeter
11 3 (0.76%) Browser DevTools
11 3 (0.76%) Protractor
12 2 (0.51%) Gatling
12 2 (0.51%) Serenity BDD
12 2 (0.51%) Team Foundation Server
12 2 (0.51%) TestRail
General
1 196 (49.87%) Social Skills
2 157 (39.95%) Analytical Skills
3 70 (17.81%) Finance
4 37 (9.41%) Public Sector
5 18 (4.58%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 17 (4.33%) Local Government
7 15 (3.82%) Manufacturing
8 12 (3.05%) Organisational Skills
9 10 (2.54%) Banking
9 10 (2.54%) Influencing Skills
10 9 (2.29%) Automotive
10 9 (2.29%) Legal
11 8 (2.04%) Presentation Skills
12 7 (1.78%) Electronics
13 6 (1.53%) Marketing
14 5 (1.27%) Billing
14 5 (1.27%) Documentation Skills
14 5 (1.27%) Military
14 5 (1.27%) Retail
15 4 (1.02%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 62 (15.78%) Analyst
2 45 (11.45%) Lead
3 37 (9.41%) Data Engineer
4 33 (8.40%) Senior
5 26 (6.62%) Developer
6 24 (6.11%) Consultant
7 20 (5.09%) Business Analyst
8 19 (4.83%) Administrator
8 19 (4.83%) Architect
9 15 (3.82%) Data Analyst
9 15 (3.82%) SAP Consultant
10 13 (3.31%) Test Analyst
11 10 (2.54%) Delivery Manager
12 9 (2.29%) Software Engineer
13 8 (2.04%) Business Intelligence Developer
13 8 (2.04%) Project Manager
13 8 (2.04%) Scrum Master
13 8 (2.04%) Test Engineer
14 7 (1.78%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 7 (1.78%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (3.82%) REST
1 15 (3.82%) Spring
2 11 (2.80%) Spring Boot
3 9 (2.29%) Oracle Fusion
4 7 (1.78%) Gherkin
4 7 (1.78%) OpenTelemetry
5 6 (1.53%) JDBC
5 6 (1.53%) SOAP
6 5 (1.27%) Middleware
6 5 (1.27%) Playwright
6 5 (1.27%) SAP PI
7 4 (1.02%) IDoc
7 4 (1.02%) SAML
8 3 (0.76%) ADO
8 3 (0.76%) CSS
8 3 (0.76%) HTML
8 3 (0.76%) JSON
8 3 (0.76%) Node.js
8 3 (0.76%) XML
8 3 (0.76%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 17 (4.33%) Cloud Native
2 14 (3.56%) Management Information System
3 13 (3.31%) Operational Technology
3 13 (3.31%) Product Ownership
4 11 (2.80%) Data Centre
5 10 (2.54%) Enterprise Software
5 10 (2.54%) Onboarding
5 10 (2.54%) SCADA
6 9 (2.29%) Data Protection Act
6 9 (2.29%) Self-Motivation
7 8 (2.04%) Analytical Mindset
7 8 (2.04%) Legacy Systems
7 8 (2.04%) Virtual Team
8 6 (1.53%) Cyber Threat
8 6 (1.53%) Distributed Systems
9 5 (1.27%) Hybrid Cloud
10 4 (1.02%) CSOC
10 4 (1.02%) Driving Licence
10 4 (1.02%) Security Operations Centre
11 3 (0.76%) Distributed Applications
Operating Systems
1 43 (10.94%) Windows
2 16 (4.07%) Linux
3 13 (3.31%) Mac OS
4 10 (2.54%) Windows 10
5 8 (2.04%) Unix
5 8 (2.04%) Windows Server
6 5 (1.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (1.02%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.25%) Embedded Linux
8 1 (0.25%) HPUX
8 1 (0.25%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 127 (32.32%) Agile
2 115 (29.26%) Continuous Improvement
3 75 (19.08%) CI/CD
4 66 (16.79%) DevOps
5 65 (16.54%) Stakeholder Management
6 59 (15.01%) Test Automation
7 56 (14.25%) AI
8 55 (13.99%) Migration
9 54 (13.74%) Analytics
9 54 (13.74%) Business Intelligence
10 53 (13.49%) ETL
10 53 (13.49%) Scrum
11 51 (12.98%) Data Modelling
12 46 (11.70%) Validation
13 44 (11.20%) Decision-Making
14 43 (10.94%) Generative AI
15 40 (10.18%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 33 (8.40%) Data Pipeline
17 31 (7.89%) ITIL
18 30 (7.63%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 91 (23.16%) SQL
2 46 (11.70%) Python
3 31 (7.89%) Java
4 19 (4.83%) PL/SQL
5 15 (3.82%) PowerShell
6 11 (2.80%) C
7 9 (2.29%) JavaScript
8 8 (2.04%) Bash
8 8 (2.04%) ProC
9 7 (1.78%) C#
10 6 (1.53%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 5 (1.27%) ABAP
11 5 (1.27%) MATLAB
11 5 (1.27%) Perl
11 5 (1.27%) Shell Script
11 5 (1.27%) TypeScript
12 4 (1.02%) C++
12 4 (1.02%) Kusto Query Language
13 3 (0.76%) Bicep
14 1 (0.25%) SystemVerilog
Qualifications
1 126 (32.06%) Security Cleared
2 105 (26.72%) SC Cleared
3 43 (10.94%) Degree
4 15 (3.82%) Microsoft Certification
5 12 (3.05%) BPSS Clearance
6 10 (2.54%) DV Cleared
7 9 (2.29%) Cisco Certification
8 8 (2.04%) Computer Science Degree
9 7 (1.78%) Azure Certification
9 7 (1.78%) ISTQB
9 7 (1.78%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 6 (1.53%) CCNA
10 6 (1.53%) CISSP
10 6 (1.53%) OCP
10 6 (1.53%) Oracle Certification
11 5 (1.27%) AWS Certification
11 5 (1.27%) MCSE
12 4 (1.02%) CCNP
12 4 (1.02%) CISM
12 4 (1.02%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 51 (12.98%) Data Quality
2 25 (6.36%) QA
3 17 (4.33%) Accessibility
4 14 (3.56%) GDPR
4 14 (3.56%) SLA
5 9 (2.29%) WCAG
6 8 (2.04%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 6 (1.53%) PMO
8 4 (1.02%) HIPAA
9 3 (0.76%) Cyber Essentials
9 3 (0.76%) GRC
9 3 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 12207
9 3 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 15288
10 2 (0.51%) ISO 19650
10 2 (0.51%) NIST
11 1 (0.25%) Actionable Recommendations
11 1 (0.25%) ISO 14001
11 1 (0.25%) ISO 9001
11 1 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 1 (0.25%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 41 (10.43%) Docker
2 19 (4.83%) Active Directory
3 12 (3.05%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (2.29%) vSphere
5 6 (1.53%) Hyper-V
5 6 (1.53%) VMware ESXi
6 4 (1.02%) Snort
7 3 (0.76%) VMware NSX
8 2 (0.51%) BitLocker
8 2 (0.51%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.25%) Microsoft App-V
9 1 (0.25%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 43 (10.94%) Kubernetes
2 16 (4.07%) SCCM
3 14 (3.56%) Grafana
4 13 (3.31%) Terraform
5 12 (3.05%) Prometheus
6 10 (2.54%) Ansible
7 9 (2.29%) Microsoft Intune
8 5 (1.27%) Jamf Pro
9 4 (1.02%) Argo
9 4 (1.02%) CSIRT
9 4 (1.02%) PowerCLI
9 4 (1.02%) vMotion
10 3 (0.76%) Control-M
10 3 (0.76%) IBM Guardium
10 3 (0.76%) Nessus
10 3 (0.76%) Podman
10 3 (0.76%) Single Sign-On
10 3 (0.76%) vCenter Server
11 2 (0.51%) AirWatch
12 1 (0.25%) QRadar
Vendors
1 85 (21.63%) Microsoft
2 57 (14.50%) Oracle
3 29 (7.38%) SAP
4 26 (6.62%) ServiceNow
5 20 (5.09%) Talend
6 19 (4.83%) VMware
7 17 (4.33%) Denodo
8 14 (3.56%) Cisco
8 14 (3.56%) Splunk
9 11 (2.80%) Google
9 11 (2.80%) Red Hat
10 9 (2.29%) Atlassian
11 7 (1.78%) Databricks
11 7 (1.78%) Qualys
12 6 (1.53%) Apple
12 6 (1.53%) Siemens
13 5 (1.27%) Adobe
13 5 (1.27%) Citrix
13 5 (1.27%) webMethods
14 4 (1.02%) Informatica
206 Problem-Solving jobs in the West Midlands