IBM Contract Job Trends

IBM
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies requiring knowledge or experience of IBM products and/or services. It includes a benchmarking guide to contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited IBM over the 6 months leading up to 21 August 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

The figures below represent the IT contractor job market in general and are not representative of contractor rates within the International Business Machines Corporation.

6 months to
21 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 269 244 222
Rank change year-on-year -25 -22 +23
Contract jobs citing IBM 504 359 426
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.94% 1.10% 1.09%
As % of the Vendors category 2.25% 2.31% 2.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 295 234 206
10th Percentile £333 £358 £351
25th Percentile £413 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £548 £480
Median % change year-on-year -8.68% +14.06% -8.57%
75th Percentile £600 £650 £625
90th Percentile £675 £704 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £487 £450
% change year-on-year +2.62% +8.28% -12.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 37 8 28
10th Percentile £50.70 £25.04 £27.00
25th Percentile £70.00 £25.12 £63.13
Median hourly rate £88.00 £41.33 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +112.95% -40.96% +7.69%
75th Percentile - £73.13 -
90th Percentile - £107.61 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £88.00 £63.75 £70.00
% change year-on-year +38.04% -8.93% +7.69%

All Vendors
UK

IBM falls under the Vendor Products and Services category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring knowledge or experience of all vendor products and services.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services 22,372 15,511 17,004
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 41.77% 47.32% 43.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,838 9,480 10,542
10th Percentile £313 £275 £290
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £500 £523
Median % change year-on-year +2.00% -4.31% -0.48%
75th Percentile £610 £612 £625
90th Percentile £700 £700 £730
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,143 812 808
10th Percentile £14.51 £14.69 £13.50
25th Percentile £17.72 £17.30 £15.62
Median hourly rate £31.50 £25.15 £27.86
Median % change year-on-year +25.25% -9.73% -31.21%
75th Percentile £65.00 £47.00 £61.60
90th Percentile £83.00 £67.50 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.00 £21.24 £26.56
% change year-on-year +41.24% -20.04% -24.11%

IBM
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing IBM relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

IBM job vacancy trend in the UK

IBM
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing IBM.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing IBM

IBM
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing IBM over the 6 months to 21 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for IBM in the UK

IBM
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing IBM.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing IBM

IBM
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing IBM over the 6 months to 21 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for IBM in the UK

IBM
Top 15 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing IBM within the UK over the 6 months to 21 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
England -31 431 £500 -9.09% 109
UK excluding London -48 258 £500 +2.62% 87
London -26 179 £488 -18.75% 40
Work from Home -67 121 £550 -8.33% 52
North of England -55 86 £514 +12.29% 20
South East -39 55 £460 -18.22% 19
Yorkshire -11 53 £525 +7.96% 8
South West -24 39 £426 -29.00% 20
Midlands -54 33 £450 +2.39% 13
North West -52 32 £455 +1.00% 11
West Midlands -44 29 £450 -21.74% 10
Scotland -21 25 £600 +26.32% 11
East of England -9 17 £625 +13.64% 6
Wales -16 3 £600 -5.14%
East Midlands -31 3 - - 3

IBM
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 (6.75%) WebSphere
2 32 (6.35%) Confluence
3 25 (4.96%) CICS
4 23 (4.56%) SharePoint
5 13 (2.58%) Tomcat
6 10 (1.98%) nginx
7 8 (1.59%) JBoss
8 5 (0.99%) Apache
8 5 (0.99%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 5 (0.99%) SAS
8 5 (0.99%) WebLogic
8 5 (0.99%) WebSphere Application Server
9 4 (0.79%) Camunda
9 4 (0.79%) IIS
10 2 (0.40%) ArcGIS
10 2 (0.40%) IBM HTTP Server
10 2 (0.40%) MQSeries
10 2 (0.40%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 2 (0.40%) WebSphere Portal
11 1 (0.20%) FileNet
Applications
1 7 (1.39%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (0.60%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.40%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.20%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.20%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 23 (4.56%) Maximo
2 17 (3.37%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 9 (1.79%) Temenos T24
4 5 (0.99%) Cognos Controller
5 3 (0.60%) IBM Operational Decision Manager
6 2 (0.40%) SAP S/4HANA
6 2 (0.40%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
7 1 (0.20%) Actimize
7 1 (0.20%) Dynamics CRM
7 1 (0.20%) HFM
7 1 (0.20%) MetaTrader
7 1 (0.20%) Misys Equation
7 1 (0.20%) Misys Midas
7 1 (0.20%) Remedy ITSM
7 1 (0.20%) SAP QM
7 1 (0.20%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 78 (15.48%) Azure
2 74 (14.68%) AWS
3 30 (5.95%) GitHub
4 25 (4.96%) GCP
5 16 (3.17%) OpenShift
6 13 (2.58%) GitHub Copilot
7 12 (2.38%) Anthropic Claude
7 12 (2.38%) ChatGPT
8 11 (2.18%) Azure DevOps
9 9 (1.79%) GitHub Actions
10 7 (1.39%) Amazon S3
10 7 (1.39%) IBM Blueworks
11 6 (1.19%) Azure Data Factory
11 6 (1.19%) Azure Service Bus
11 6 (1.19%) Boomi
11 6 (1.19%) IBM Watson
11 6 (1.19%) iPaaS
11 6 (1.19%) Microsoft Copilot
12 5 (0.99%) Microsoft 365
12 5 (0.99%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 23 (4.56%) SSL
2 18 (3.57%) HTTP
3 17 (3.37%) SNMP
4 14 (2.78%) Firewall
5 13 (2.58%) SAN
6 9 (1.79%) Network Security
6 9 (1.79%) TCP/IP
7 7 (1.39%) DNS
8 6 (1.19%) VSAN
9 5 (0.99%) Cisco Nexus
9 5 (0.99%) Fibre Channel
9 5 (0.99%) Wireshark
10 4 (0.79%) NAS
10 4 (0.79%) SSH
11 3 (0.60%) APPN
11 3 (0.60%) Internet
11 3 (0.60%) SNA
12 2 (0.40%) DMZ
12 2 (0.40%) LAN
12 2 (0.40%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 41 (8.13%) Db2
2 32 (6.35%) DataStage
3 30 (5.95%) Relational Database
4 18 (3.57%) Oracle Database
5 17 (3.37%) SQL Server
6 16 (3.17%) Metadata
7 15 (2.98%) Data Warehouse
7 15 (2.98%) MongoDB
8 8 (1.59%) Elasticsearch
8 8 (1.59%) Tableau
9 7 (1.39%) NoSQL
10 6 (1.19%) Big Data
10 6 (1.19%) GIS
10 6 (1.19%) PostgreSQL
11 5 (0.99%) Data Lake
11 5 (0.99%) Power BI
12 2 (0.40%) Amazon Redshift
12 2 (0.40%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
12 2 (0.40%) IBM InfoSphere
12 2 (0.40%) Redis
Development Applications
1 49 (9.72%) JIRA
2 39 (7.74%) Rational DOORS
3 29 (5.75%) Jenkins
4 19 (3.77%) Git
5 17 (3.37%) GitLab
6 15 (2.98%) JMeter
7 11 (2.18%) LoadRunner
8 10 (1.98%) Rational Rhapsody
9 9 (1.79%) Postman
9 9 (1.79%) SoapUI
10 8 (1.59%) IBM UrbanCode
10 8 (1.59%) Selenium
10 8 (1.59%) SonarQube
11 7 (1.39%) eggPlant
12 5 (0.99%) Cucumber
12 5 (0.99%) Sonatype Nexus
13 4 (0.79%) Gatling
13 4 (0.79%) Gradle
13 4 (0.79%) WebDriver
13 4 (0.79%) Zephyr
General
1 167 (33.13%) Finance
2 118 (23.41%) Social Skills
3 117 (23.21%) Banking
4 63 (12.50%) Analytical Skills
5 30 (5.95%) Legal
6 28 (5.56%) Aerospace
7 25 (4.96%) Public Sector
8 14 (2.78%) Retail
9 9 (1.79%) Military
10 8 (1.59%) Front Office
10 8 (1.59%) Influencing Skills
10 8 (1.59%) Investment Banking
11 6 (1.19%) Documentation Skills
12 5 (0.99%) Law
12 5 (0.99%) Presentation Skills
13 4 (0.79%) Manufacturing
14 3 (0.60%) Retail Banking
14 3 (0.60%) Telecoms
15 2 (0.40%) Financial Institution
15 2 (0.40%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 69 (13.69%) Developer
2 62 (12.30%) Architect
3 48 (9.52%) Analyst
4 41 (8.13%) Senior
5 31 (6.15%) Administrator
6 29 (5.75%) Consultant
7 28 (5.56%) Lead
8 26 (5.16%) Delivery Manager
8 26 (5.16%) Product Delivery Manager
8 26 (5.16%) Product Manager
9 24 (4.76%) Solutions Architect
10 21 (4.17%) Systems Delivery Manager
10 21 (4.17%) Systems Manager
11 20 (3.97%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 18 (3.57%) Middleware Engineer
13 14 (2.78%) CICS Engineer
14 13 (2.58%) DataStage Developer
14 13 (2.58%) Management Consultant
15 12 (2.38%) Business Analyst
15 12 (2.38%) Programmer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 70 (13.89%) Middleware
2 47 (9.33%) REST
3 40 (7.94%) Kafka
4 37 (7.34%) XML
5 30 (5.95%) JSON
6 24 (4.76%) ISPF
7 21 (4.17%) SOAP
8 18 (3.57%) Spring Boot
9 15 (2.98%) RabbitMQ
10 14 (2.78%) Spring
10 14 (2.78%) Terraform
11 13 (2.58%) Flash
12 12 (2.38%) .NET
12 12 (2.38%) OAuth
12 12 (2.38%) Web Services
13 11 (2.18%) SAML
14 9 (1.79%) HTML
14 9 (1.79%) Swagger
15 8 (1.59%) ActiveMQ
15 8 (1.59%) EDI
Miscellaneous
1 98 (19.44%) Mainframe
2 35 (6.94%) Product Ownership
3 34 (6.75%) Clustering
4 32 (6.35%) Data Centre
5 31 (6.15%) Data Structures
6 20 (3.97%) Replication
7 18 (3.57%) Cloud Native
8 16 (3.17%) SWIFT Messaging Network
9 15 (2.98%) AS400
10 13 (2.58%) Distributed Systems
10 13 (2.58%) Hybrid Cloud
10 13 (2.58%) IBM Mainframe
10 13 (2.58%) Legacy Systems
11 12 (2.38%) Enterprise Software
11 12 (2.38%) Management Information System
12 11 (2.18%) iSeries
12 11 (2.18%) Legacy Applications
12 11 (2.18%) Linux Command Line
13 10 (1.98%) Data Protection Act
13 10 (1.98%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 94 (18.65%) Linux
2 75 (14.88%) zOS
3 53 (10.52%) Unix
4 39 (7.74%) Windows
5 35 (6.94%) AIX
6 18 (3.57%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 13 (2.58%) Solaris
8 8 (1.59%) SUSE
9 7 (1.39%) MVS
9 7 (1.39%) Windows Server
9 7 (1.39%) Windows Server 2008
10 5 (0.99%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.60%) Windows Server 2016
12 2 (0.40%) Oracle Linux
12 2 (0.40%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
13 1 (0.20%) Mac OS
13 1 (0.20%) OpenVMS
13 1 (0.20%) VMS
13 1 (0.20%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 102 (20.24%) Agile
2 74 (14.68%) CI/CD
2 74 (14.68%) Migration
3 66 (13.10%) Continuous Improvement
4 62 (12.30%) DevOps
4 62 (12.30%) Stakeholder Management
5 59 (11.71%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 57 (11.31%) ITIL
7 53 (10.52%) Test Automation
8 52 (10.32%) Problem-Solving
9 47 (9.33%) ETL
10 46 (9.13%) Computer Science
11 41 (8.13%) Roadmaps
12 40 (7.94%) Systems Engineering
13 38 (7.54%) Configuration Management
14 36 (7.14%) Change Management
14 36 (7.14%) Root Cause Analysis
15 35 (6.94%) Performance Optimisation
16 34 (6.75%) AI
16 34 (6.75%) Performance Tuning
Programming Languages
1 97 (19.25%) SQL
2 94 (18.65%) Python
3 73 (14.48%) Java
4 32 (6.35%) PowerShell
5 23 (4.56%) JavaScript
6 19 (3.77%) JCL
6 19 (3.77%) PL/SQL
7 18 (3.57%) Bash
8 16 (3.17%) C++
9 15 (2.98%) REXX
10 14 (2.78%) COBOL
10 14 (2.78%) Search Processing Language
11 13 (2.58%) Shell Script
12 12 (2.38%) C
13 11 (2.18%) Perl
14 9 (1.79%) C#
15 7 (1.39%) Ada
16 6 (1.19%) Assembly Language
16 6 (1.19%) CLIST
17 5 (0.99%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 126 (25.00%) Security Cleared
2 84 (16.67%) SC Cleared
3 53 (10.52%) Degree
4 12 (2.38%) Computer Science Degree
5 8 (1.59%) AWS Certification
5 8 (1.59%) CISSP
5 8 (1.59%) DV Cleared
6 6 (1.19%) BPSS Clearance
7 5 (0.99%) Azure Certification
7 5 (0.99%) CISM
7 5 (0.99%) ISTQB
8 4 (0.79%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 4 (0.79%) CCSP
8 4 (0.79%) Cisco Certification
8 4 (0.79%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 3 (0.60%) ACCA
9 3 (0.60%) CIMA
9 3 (0.60%) ISEB
9 3 (0.60%) PMI Certification
9 3 (0.60%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (6.75%) Data Quality
2 17 (3.37%) QA
3 7 (1.39%) GDPR
3 7 (1.39%) ISO 20022
4 5 (0.99%) ISO 15022
4 5 (0.99%) NIST
5 4 (0.79%) Actionable Recommendations
5 4 (0.79%) GRC
5 4 (0.79%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 4 (0.79%) SEPA
6 3 (0.60%) SLA
7 2 (0.40%) GAAP
7 2 (0.40%) IFRS
7 2 (0.40%) ISO/IEC 19770
8 1 (0.20%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.20%) ISO 26262
8 1 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 15288
8 1 (0.20%) MIL-STD-1553
8 1 (0.20%) PMO
8 1 (0.20%) TARGET2
System Software
1 35 (6.94%) Docker
2 25 (4.96%) RACF
2 25 (4.96%) VMware Infrastructure
3 17 (3.37%) NFS
4 15 (2.98%) VMware ESXi
5 12 (2.38%) Firmware
5 12 (2.38%) GPFS
5 12 (2.38%) Time Sharing Option
6 11 (2.18%) vSphere
7 10 (1.98%) Virtual Machines
8 7 (1.39%) PowerHA
9 6 (1.19%) ACF2
9 6 (1.19%) Oracle RAC
10 3 (0.60%) Active Directory
10 3 (0.60%) EMC RecoverPoint
11 1 (0.20%) Hyper-V
11 1 (0.20%) oVirt
11 1 (0.20%) RHEV
11 1 (0.20%) SRDF
11 1 (0.20%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 25 (4.96%) Kubernetes
2 24 (4.76%) OMEGAMON
3 22 (4.37%) Ansible
4 20 (3.97%) Tivoli
5 17 (3.37%) Nagios
5 17 (3.37%) ZABBIX
6 16 (3.17%) Netcool
7 15 (2.98%) Tivoli Storage Manager
8 14 (2.78%) OpenView
8 14 (2.78%) Tivoli Monitoring
9 9 (1.79%) Grafana
9 9 (1.79%) vRealize
10 6 (1.19%) Tivoli NetView
10 6 (1.19%) VxRail
11 5 (0.99%) Control-M
11 5 (0.99%) HP Fortify
11 5 (0.99%) Oracle RMAN
12 4 (0.79%) CA Endevor
12 4 (0.79%) QRadar
13 3 (0.60%) EMC VPLEX
Vendors
1 106 (21.03%) Oracle
2 46 (9.13%) Microsoft
3 38 (7.54%) VMware
4 34 (6.75%) Splunk
5 32 (6.35%) SAP
6 25 (4.96%) ServiceNow
7 22 (4.37%) Red Hat
8 21 (4.17%) Cisco
9 20 (3.97%) Google
10 18 (3.57%) BMC
10 18 (3.57%) HP
11 16 (3.17%) Cognos
11 16 (3.17%) SolarWinds
12 14 (2.78%) Broadcom
12 14 (2.78%) Dynatrace
13 13 (2.58%) Brocade
13 13 (2.58%) MathWorks
14 12 (2.38%) Sybase
15 11 (2.18%) Databricks
16 9 (1.79%) Dell