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

6 months to
20 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 2 11
Rank change year-on-year -10 +9 -3
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 368 273 195
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 11.16% 18.41% 9.44%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 13.16% 20.70% 11.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 260 169 135
10th Percentile £306 £158 £212
25th Percentile £384 £282 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £468 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +3.98% -5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £538 £537 £575
90th Percentile £638 £618 £642
England median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 8 11
10th Percentile £12.90 £14.72 £15.13
25th Percentile £13.85 £22.53 £15.32
Median hourly rate £27.30 £31.61 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year -13.62% +40.47% +21.65%
75th Percentile £47.81 £46.13 £56.25
90th Percentile £67.84 £54.94 £72.50
England median hourly rate £21.35 £21.28 £16.23
% change year-on-year +0.33% +31.12% -68.73%

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 2,796 1,319 1,677
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 84.80% 88.94% 81.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,837 832 1,106
10th Percentile £313 £204 £273
25th Percentile £405 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £483 £500
Median % change year-on-year -0.62% -3.40% -2.10%
75th Percentile £575 £577 £625
90th Percentile £675 £663 £734
England median daily rate £520 £515 £525
% change year-on-year +0.97% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 137 76 121
10th Percentile £14.82 £12.62 £11.13
25th Percentile £22.50 £14.32 £14.25
Median hourly rate £33.99 £22.28 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year +52.59% -1.00% -4.70%
75th Percentile £61.00 £34.16 £40.00
90th Percentile £72.54 £50.00 £58.75
England median hourly rate £47.50 £27.40 £37.63
% change year-on-year +73.36% -27.18% +4.81%

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 June 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 June 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 June 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 0 119 £525 +10.53% 43
Shropshire -16 89 £450 -2.17% 24
Birmingham -16 79 £450 +4.41% 71
Coventry -12 20 £481 +24.19% 13
Worcestershire +2 15 £563 +7.14% 21
Staffordshire -4 10 £313 +101.61% 30
Solihull -16 7 £493 +123.86% 4
Wolverhampton - 4 - - 5
Herefordshire -5 3 - - 4
Brierley Hill - 1 £390 -
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 27 (7.34%) SAS
2 26 (7.07%) Confluence
3 15 (4.08%) SharePoint
4 14 (3.80%) Oracle Workflow
5 8 (2.17%) WebLogic
6 6 (1.63%) Oracle Self-Service HR
7 5 (1.36%) Microsoft Exchange
8 1 (0.27%) Appian
8 1 (0.27%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 1 (0.27%) Tuxedo
Applications
1 26 (7.07%) Microsoft Excel
2 16 (4.35%) Microsoft Office
3 8 (2.17%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (1.09%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (1.09%) Spreadsheet
5 3 (0.82%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.82%) Navisworks
5 3 (0.82%) Revit
6 2 (0.54%) CATIA
7 1 (0.27%) Adobe Captivate
7 1 (0.27%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 1 (0.27%) Adobe Illustrator
7 1 (0.27%) Adobe XD
7 1 (0.27%) Fusion 360
7 1 (0.27%) InDesign
7 1 (0.27%) Photoshop
7 1 (0.27%) Sketch
7 1 (0.27%) Trello
Business Applications
1 8 (2.17%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (1.63%) Oracle HRMS
3 5 (1.36%) Dynamics CRM
4 3 (0.82%) Remedy ITSM
4 3 (0.82%) Teamcenter
5 2 (0.54%) ContrOCC
6 1 (0.27%) NEC Housing
6 1 (0.27%) Oracle Receivables
6 1 (0.27%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.27%) SAP GRC
6 1 (0.27%) SAP QM
6 1 (0.27%) SAP Travel Management
Cloud Services
1 65 (17.66%) Azure
2 41 (11.14%) AWS
3 33 (8.97%) Power Platform
4 23 (6.25%) Microsoft 365
5 18 (4.89%) Azure DevOps
6 15 (4.08%) Entra ID
6 15 (4.08%) GitHub
7 13 (3.53%) GCP
8 8 (2.17%) Azure Data Factory
8 8 (2.17%) Serverless
9 6 (1.63%) Dynamics 365
9 6 (1.63%) GitHub Actions
9 6 (1.63%) Microsoft Purview
10 5 (1.36%) Amazon S3
10 5 (1.36%) Azure Functions
10 5 (1.36%) OneDrive
10 5 (1.36%) Snowflake
11 4 (1.09%) Azure Storage
11 4 (1.09%) dbt
11 4 (1.09%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 11 (2.99%) DNS
2 9 (2.45%) VPN
3 7 (1.90%) Firewall
4 6 (1.63%) DHCP
4 6 (1.63%) Intrusion Detection
4 6 (1.63%) SD-WAN
4 6 (1.63%) WAN
5 5 (1.36%) LAN
5 5 (1.36%) Wi-Fi
6 4 (1.09%) BIG-IP
6 4 (1.09%) TCP/IP
7 3 (0.82%) Internet
7 3 (0.82%) Network Security
7 3 (0.82%) VLAN
8 2 (0.54%) PBX
8 2 (0.54%) SAN
8 2 (0.54%) SSL
8 2 (0.54%) Unified Communications
8 2 (0.54%) VoIP
8 2 (0.54%) WAAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (7.34%) Power BI
2 23 (6.25%) Pentaho
3 19 (5.16%) Data Warehouse
4 12 (3.26%) PostgreSQL
5 10 (2.72%) Metadata
6 9 (2.45%) SQL Server
7 8 (2.17%) Ingres
8 7 (1.90%) MongoDB
8 7 (1.90%) Relational Database
9 6 (1.63%) Oracle Reports
10 4 (1.09%) Elasticsearch
10 4 (1.09%) MySQL
10 4 (1.09%) Oracle Database
10 4 (1.09%) Power Query
10 4 (1.09%) Tableau
11 3 (0.82%) Amazon RDS
11 3 (0.82%) Amazon Redshift
11 3 (0.82%) Azure SQL Database
11 3 (0.82%) WebFOCUS
12 2 (0.54%) NoSQL
Development Applications
1 58 (15.76%) JIRA
2 45 (12.23%) Git
3 32 (8.70%) Jenkins
4 15 (4.08%) Selenium
5 9 (2.45%) Postman
6 8 (2.17%) GitLab
7 7 (1.90%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 7 (1.90%) REST Assured
8 5 (1.36%) JUnit
8 5 (1.36%) WebDriver
8 5 (1.36%) Zephyr
9 4 (1.09%) Cucumber
9 4 (1.09%) Cypress.io
9 4 (1.09%) JMeter
10 2 (0.54%) Browser DevTools
10 2 (0.54%) Gatling
10 2 (0.54%) Serenity BDD
10 2 (0.54%) TestRail
11 1 (0.27%) PetaLinux
11 1 (0.27%) Storybook
General
1 178 (48.37%) Social Skills
2 146 (39.67%) Analytical Skills
3 58 (15.76%) Finance
4 27 (7.34%) Public Sector
5 15 (4.08%) Local Government
6 12 (3.26%) Manufacturing
6 12 (3.26%) Organisational Skills
7 10 (2.72%) Banking
8 9 (2.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 8 (2.17%) Automotive
9 8 (2.17%) Influencing Skills
9 8 (2.17%) Legal
9 8 (2.17%) Presentation Skills
10 6 (1.63%) Electronics
11 5 (1.36%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (1.36%) Military
12 4 (1.09%) Marketing
12 4 (1.09%) Telecoms
13 3 (0.82%) Billing
13 3 (0.82%) Retail
Job Titles
1 57 (15.49%) Analyst
2 36 (9.78%) Data Engineer
3 33 (8.97%) Lead
4 27 (7.34%) Developer
4 27 (7.34%) Senior
5 20 (5.43%) Business Analyst
6 19 (5.16%) Architect
7 18 (4.89%) Consultant
8 16 (4.35%) Administrator
9 15 (4.08%) Data Analyst
10 11 (2.99%) Delivery Manager
11 9 (2.45%) SAP Consultant
11 9 (2.45%) Software Engineer
12 8 (2.17%) Business Intelligence Developer
12 8 (2.17%) Test Analyst
13 7 (1.90%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 7 (1.90%) Network Engineer
13 7 (1.90%) Project Manager
13 7 (1.90%) Scrum Master
13 7 (1.90%) Test Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (4.08%) Spring
2 11 (2.99%) REST
2 11 (2.99%) Spring Boot
3 8 (2.17%) Oracle Fusion
4 7 (1.90%) OpenTelemetry
5 5 (1.36%) Middleware
5 5 (1.36%) Playwright
6 4 (1.09%) Elastic Stack
7 3 (0.82%) FastAPI
7 3 (0.82%) Hugging Face
7 3 (0.82%) Node.js
7 3 (0.82%) PyTorch
7 3 (0.82%) RESTful
7 3 (0.82%) SAML
7 3 (0.82%) TensorFlow
7 3 (0.82%) WireMock
8 2 (0.54%) ADO
8 2 (0.54%) Gherkin
8 2 (0.54%) Kafka
8 2 (0.54%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 17 (4.62%) Cloud Native
2 14 (3.80%) Management Information System
3 13 (3.53%) Product Ownership
4 11 (2.99%) Data Centre
4 11 (2.99%) Onboarding
5 10 (2.72%) Operational Technology
6 9 (2.45%) Legacy Systems
6 9 (2.45%) SCADA
7 8 (2.17%) Analytical Mindset
7 8 (2.17%) Enterprise Software
7 8 (2.17%) Self-Motivation
8 6 (1.63%) Cyber Threat
8 6 (1.63%) Data Protection Act
8 6 (1.63%) Distributed Systems
9 4 (1.09%) CSOC
9 4 (1.09%) Driving Licence
9 4 (1.09%) Hybrid Cloud
9 4 (1.09%) Security Operations Centre
9 4 (1.09%) Virtual Team
10 3 (0.82%) Algorithms
Operating Systems
1 38 (10.33%) Windows
2 20 (5.43%) Linux
3 10 (2.72%) Windows 10
4 9 (2.45%) Mac OS
5 8 (2.17%) Unix
5 8 (2.17%) Windows Server
6 5 (1.36%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (1.09%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.27%) Embedded Linux
8 1 (0.27%) HPUX
8 1 (0.27%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 117 (31.79%) Agile
2 114 (30.98%) Continuous Improvement
3 74 (20.11%) CI/CD
4 62 (16.85%) DevOps
5 58 (15.76%) Migration
5 58 (15.76%) Test Automation
6 57 (15.49%) Stakeholder Management
7 56 (15.22%) Business Intelligence
8 55 (14.95%) Analytics
9 54 (14.67%) ETL
10 52 (14.13%) Data Modelling
11 51 (13.86%) Scrum
12 49 (13.32%) AI
13 44 (11.96%) Validation
14 42 (11.41%) Decision-Making
15 39 (10.60%) Generative AI
16 35 (9.51%) Data Pipeline
17 32 (8.70%) Stakeholder Engagement
18 31 (8.42%) Data Integration
19 29 (7.88%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 95 (25.82%) SQL
2 45 (12.23%) Python
3 26 (7.07%) Java
4 20 (5.43%) PL/SQL
5 15 (4.08%) PowerShell
6 12 (3.26%) Bash
7 11 (2.99%) C
8 8 (2.17%) ProC
9 5 (1.36%) C#
9 5 (1.36%) JavaScript
9 5 (1.36%) Perl
9 5 (1.36%) Shell Script
9 5 (1.36%) TypeScript
10 4 (1.09%) C++
10 4 (1.09%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 4 (1.09%) Kusto Query Language
10 4 (1.09%) MATLAB
11 3 (0.82%) Bicep
12 1 (0.27%) SystemVerilog
12 1 (0.27%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 119 (32.34%) Security Cleared
2 99 (26.90%) SC Cleared
3 42 (11.41%) Degree
4 11 (2.99%) BPSS Clearance
4 11 (2.99%) Computer Science Degree
4 11 (2.99%) Microsoft Certification
5 10 (2.72%) DV Cleared
6 8 (2.17%) Cisco Certification
7 7 (1.90%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 6 (1.63%) Azure Certification
9 5 (1.36%) MCSE
10 4 (1.09%) AWS Certification
10 4 (1.09%) CCNA
10 4 (1.09%) CCNP
10 4 (1.09%) CISSP
10 4 (1.09%) OCP
10 4 (1.09%) Oracle Certification
11 3 (0.82%) RHCA
11 3 (0.82%) TOGAF Certification
12 2 (0.54%) CEH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 54 (14.67%) Data Quality
2 20 (5.43%) QA
3 12 (3.26%) SLA
4 11 (2.99%) Accessibility
5 7 (1.90%) GDPR
6 6 (1.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 6 (1.63%) PMO
7 4 (1.09%) WCAG
8 3 (0.82%) Cyber Essentials
8 3 (0.82%) GRC
8 3 (0.82%) ISO 19650
8 3 (0.82%) ISO/IEC 12207
8 3 (0.82%) ISO/IEC 15288
9 2 (0.54%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 1 (0.27%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.27%) ISO 14001
10 1 (0.27%) ISO 9001
10 1 (0.27%) NIST
10 1 (0.27%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 49 (13.32%) Docker
2 19 (5.16%) Active Directory
3 11 (2.99%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (2.45%) vSphere
5 6 (1.63%) Hyper-V
5 6 (1.63%) VMware ESXi
6 4 (1.09%) Snort
7 3 (0.82%) VMware NSX
8 2 (0.54%) BitLocker
8 2 (0.54%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.27%) Microsoft App-V
9 1 (0.27%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 50 (13.59%) Kubernetes
2 15 (4.08%) SCCM
3 14 (3.80%) Ansible
4 13 (3.53%) Grafana
4 13 (3.53%) Terraform
5 11 (2.99%) Prometheus
6 6 (1.63%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (1.09%) Argo
7 4 (1.09%) CSIRT
7 4 (1.09%) Kibana
7 4 (1.09%) PowerCLI
7 4 (1.09%) Puppet
7 4 (1.09%) vMotion
8 3 (0.82%) Control-M
8 3 (0.82%) IBM Guardium
8 3 (0.82%) Nessus
8 3 (0.82%) Podman
8 3 (0.82%) vCenter Server
9 2 (0.54%) AirWatch
9 2 (0.54%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 71 (19.29%) Microsoft
2 55 (14.95%) Oracle
3 27 (7.34%) ServiceNow
4 24 (6.52%) Talend
5 21 (5.71%) Denodo
6 20 (5.43%) SAP
7 18 (4.89%) VMware
8 16 (4.35%) Splunk
9 14 (3.80%) Cisco
10 10 (2.72%) Red Hat
11 8 (2.17%) Atlassian
12 7 (1.90%) Google
13 6 (1.63%) Qualys
13 6 (1.63%) Siemens
14 5 (1.36%) Databricks
15 4 (1.09%) Adobe
15 4 (1.09%) Informatica
15 4 (1.09%) Nimble Storage
15 4 (1.09%) Palo Alto
15 4 (1.09%) Zscaler