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 22 October 2025, 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
22 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 258 216 223
Rank change year-on-year -42 +7 +62
Contract jobs citing IBM 351 431 531
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.05% 1.16% 1.12%
As % of the Vendors category 2.20% 2.58% 2.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 236 203 322
10th Percentile £325 £303 £400
25th Percentile £413 £400 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £506 £475 £530
Median % change year-on-year +6.58% -10.38% -6.61%
75th Percentile £649 £600 £650
90th Percentile £694 £738 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £525
% change year-on-year +5.56% -14.29% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 27 14
10th Percentile £25.04 £38.51 -
25th Percentile £25.12 £61.25 £65.00
Median hourly rate £41.33 £67.50 £67.50
Median % change year-on-year -38.78% - +22.73%
75th Percentile £71.75 £70.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £73.25 - £77.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £63.75 £67.50 £70.00
% change year-on-year -5.56% -3.57% +27.27%

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 15,949 16,695 21,414
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 47.62% 44.80% 45.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,866 9,833 13,801
10th Percentile £278 £290 £263
25th Percentile £404 £413 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -1.41%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £700 £725 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -2.00% - +2.36%
Number of hourly rates quoted 814 555 673
10th Percentile £14.99 £15.00 £15.00
25th Percentile £17.87 £16.85 £19.25
Median hourly rate £24.00 £32.50 £43.84
Median % change year-on-year -26.15% -25.86% +82.65%
75th Percentile £37.88 £63.75 £63.75
90th Percentile £68.00 £70.00 £76.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.30 £30.00 £42.15
% change year-on-year -29.00% -28.83% +98.49%

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 22 October 2025.

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 22 October 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for IBM in the UK

IBM
Top 16 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 22 October 2025. 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 -34 308 £525 +9.38% 187
UK excluding London -28 216 £475 +5.56% 154
Work from Home +22 116 £588 +25.33% 103
London -35 100 £621 +24.25% 69
North of England -10 75 £450 -25.00% 25
North West +19 57 £450 -8.63% 15
Midlands -6 45 £430 - 23
South East -21 41 £550 +29.41% 55
West Midlands -7 29 £569 +32.27% 21
East of England -2 21 £500 - 22
Scotland +2 18 £430 -4.44% 8
Yorkshire -37 18 £461 -23.12% 9
East Midlands -5 16 £415 - 2
South West -24 14 £550 -8.33% 20
Northern Ireland - 5 £350 - 2
Wales +4 2 £633 +201.19% 4

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 36 (10.26%) WebSphere
2 26 (7.41%) Confluence
3 23 (6.55%) Apache
4 19 (5.41%) IIS
5 18 (5.13%) WebSphere Application Server
6 15 (4.27%) CICS
7 14 (3.99%) JBoss
8 13 (3.70%) SharePoint
9 10 (2.85%) iPlanet
9 10 (2.85%) MQSeries
10 8 (2.28%) ArcGIS
11 6 (1.71%) SAS
12 4 (1.14%) FileNet
13 3 (0.85%) Oracle SOA Suite
13 3 (0.85%) Tomcat
14 2 (0.57%) nginx
14 2 (0.57%) WebLogic
15 1 (0.28%) BizTalk Server
15 1 (0.28%) HCL Domino
15 1 (0.28%) IBM HTTP Server
Applications
1 13 (3.70%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (1.99%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (1.42%) Chatbot
3 5 (1.42%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (1.14%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.85%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.85%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 36 (10.26%) Maximo
2 4 (1.14%) Oracle 11i
3 2 (0.57%) Cloudability
3 2 (0.57%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 2 (0.57%) Oracle EBS
3 2 (0.57%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 2 (0.57%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 2 (0.57%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
3 2 (0.57%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.28%) Oracle Applications
4 1 (0.28%) TRIRIGA
Cloud Services
1 84 (23.93%) AWS
2 48 (13.68%) Azure
3 34 (9.69%) GCP
4 23 (6.55%) OpenShift
5 11 (3.13%) AWS CloudFormation
5 11 (3.13%) IBM Cloud
6 10 (2.85%) Amazon S3
6 10 (2.85%) GitHub
7 9 (2.56%) Amazon ECS
7 9 (2.56%) Serverless
8 8 (2.28%) AWS Lambda
8 8 (2.28%) OCI
8 8 (2.28%) PaaS
8 8 (2.28%) SaaS
9 6 (1.71%) Azure API Management
9 6 (1.71%) IaaS
9 6 (1.71%) Power Platform
10 5 (1.42%) Microsoft 365
11 4 (1.14%) Figma
11 4 (1.14%) IBM Watson
Communications & Networking
1 13 (3.70%) SSH
2 10 (2.85%) Kerberos
3 8 (2.28%) HTTPS
3 8 (2.28%) SSL
4 6 (1.71%) Firewall
4 6 (1.71%) SAN
4 6 (1.71%) VPN
5 5 (1.42%) HTTP
5 5 (1.42%) LAN
6 4 (1.14%) SMS
7 3 (0.85%) Network Security
7 3 (0.85%) VSAN
7 3 (0.85%) WAN
8 2 (0.57%) Calico
8 2 (0.57%) DNS
8 2 (0.57%) DWDM
8 2 (0.57%) Internet
8 2 (0.57%) SDH
8 2 (0.57%) TCP/IP
8 2 (0.57%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (8.55%) DB2
2 28 (7.98%) SQL Server
3 23 (6.55%) Oracle Database
4 21 (5.98%) Amazon RDS
5 16 (4.56%) Relational Database
6 14 (3.99%) PostgreSQL
7 10 (2.85%) Data Warehouse
8 8 (2.28%) Amazon Athena
8 8 (2.28%) NoSQL
9 6 (1.71%) Amazon Redshift
9 6 (1.71%) Couchbase
9 6 (1.71%) GIS
9 6 (1.71%) IBM InfoSphere
10 5 (1.42%) DataStage
11 4 (1.14%) Oracle Database 10g
12 3 (0.85%) Metadata
12 3 (0.85%) MongoDB
12 3 (0.85%) Oracle Reports
12 3 (0.85%) Power BI
13 2 (0.57%) OLAP
Development Applications
1 42 (11.97%) JIRA
2 25 (7.12%) Jenkins
3 22 (6.27%) Git
4 16 (4.56%) GitLab
5 12 (3.42%) Rational DOORS
6 10 (2.85%) Bitbucket Server
6 10 (2.85%) CA Release Automation
7 9 (2.56%) Sonatype Nexus
8 5 (1.42%) Ant
8 5 (1.42%) Bitbucket
8 5 (1.42%) ERwin
9 4 (1.14%) IBM UrbanCode
9 4 (1.14%) JUnit
9 4 (1.14%) Rational Rhapsody
9 4 (1.14%) SoapUI
9 4 (1.14%) Toad
9 4 (1.14%) Visual Studio
10 3 (0.85%) Artifactory
10 3 (0.85%) Log4j
10 3 (0.85%) Maven
General
1 88 (25.07%) Social Skills
2 73 (20.80%) Finance
3 51 (14.53%) Banking
4 39 (11.11%) Analytical Skills
5 18 (5.13%) Public Sector
6 11 (3.13%) Aerospace
7 10 (2.85%) Financial Institution
7 10 (2.85%) Presentation Skills
8 8 (2.28%) Documentation Skills
9 7 (1.99%) Private Banking
10 5 (1.42%) Telecoms
11 3 (0.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 3 (0.85%) International Banking
11 3 (0.85%) Investment Banking
11 3 (0.85%) Legal
11 3 (0.85%) Retail
12 2 (0.57%) Billing
12 2 (0.57%) General Ledger
12 2 (0.57%) German Language
12 2 (0.57%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 58 (16.52%) Consultant
2 53 (15.10%) Developer
3 41 (11.68%) Analyst
4 34 (9.69%) Architect
5 29 (8.26%) Senior
6 21 (5.98%) Solutions Architect
7 19 (5.41%) Platform Engineer
8 15 (4.27%) Management Consultant
9 12 (3.42%) Maximo Consultant
9 12 (3.42%) Senior Consultant
10 11 (3.13%) Infrastructure Consultant
10 11 (3.13%) Lead
10 11 (3.13%) Senior Infrastructure Consultant
10 11 (3.13%) Software Consultant
11 10 (2.85%) Programmer
12 9 (2.56%) Data Engineer
12 9 (2.56%) DevOps Engineer
12 9 (2.56%) Maximo Architect
13 8 (2.28%) Software Engineer
13 8 (2.28%) webMethods Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (9.40%) XML
2 30 (8.55%) OAuth
3 29 (8.26%) Kafka
4 27 (7.69%) LDAP
5 26 (7.41%) EntireX
5 26 (7.41%) SAML
6 24 (6.84%) OpenID
7 23 (6.55%) SOAP
8 22 (6.27%) Spring
9 21 (5.98%) Middleware
10 18 (5.13%) JSON
11 14 (3.99%) Hibernate
12 12 (3.42%) Web Services
13 11 (3.13%) ISPF
13 11 (3.13%) JMS
14 7 (1.99%) HTML
14 7 (1.99%) REST
14 7 (1.99%) Spring Boot
15 6 (1.71%) EDI
15 6 (1.71%) Flash
Miscellaneous
1 35 (9.97%) Mainframe
2 22 (6.27%) Replication
3 17 (4.84%) Legacy Systems
4 16 (4.56%) IBM Mainframe
5 14 (3.99%) Data Centre
5 14 (3.99%) Tandem
6 13 (3.70%) AS400
7 12 (3.42%) Cloud Native
8 11 (3.13%) Enterprise Software
9 10 (2.85%) SWIFT Messaging Network
10 9 (2.56%) Data Protection Act
11 7 (1.99%) Linux Command Line
11 7 (1.99%) PKI
12 6 (1.71%) Management Information System
12 6 (1.71%) Onboarding
12 6 (1.71%) Public Cloud
12 6 (1.71%) Virtual Team
12 6 (1.71%) VSAM
13 5 (1.42%) Legacy Applications
14 4 (1.14%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 66 (18.80%) Linux
2 63 (17.95%) Windows
3 43 (12.25%) Unix
4 21 (5.98%) zOS
5 20 (5.70%) Windows Server
6 9 (2.56%) AIX
7 8 (2.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 3 (0.85%) MVS
8 3 (0.85%) Windows 10
8 3 (0.85%) Windows 7
8 3 (0.85%) Windows Server 2003
8 3 (0.85%) Windows Server 2016
9 2 (0.57%) Android
9 2 (0.57%) Apple iOS
9 2 (0.57%) CentOS
9 2 (0.57%) OS/2
9 2 (0.57%) Solaris
9 2 (0.57%) VMS
10 1 (0.28%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
10 1 (0.28%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 63 (17.95%) Problem-Solving
2 55 (15.67%) Agile
2 55 (15.67%) CI/CD
2 55 (15.67%) DevOps
3 52 (14.81%) Migration
4 39 (11.11%) Stakeholder Management
5 34 (9.69%) Incident Response
6 33 (9.40%) Containerisation
7 32 (9.12%) Computer Science
8 26 (7.41%) Project Delivery
9 25 (7.12%) Asset Management
9 25 (7.12%) ITIL
10 24 (6.84%) Continuous Improvement
10 24 (6.84%) Roadmaps
11 23 (6.55%) Performance Tuning
12 22 (6.27%) High Availability
13 21 (5.98%) Identity Access Management
13 21 (5.98%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 20 (5.70%) Change Management
14 20 (5.70%) Data Protection
Programming Languages
1 55 (15.67%) SQL
2 47 (13.39%) Java
3 46 (13.11%) Python
4 23 (6.55%) Shell Script
5 20 (5.70%) JavaScript
6 16 (4.56%) JCL
7 15 (4.27%) REXX
8 14 (3.99%) CLIST
9 12 (3.42%) RPG
10 10 (2.85%) Bash
10 10 (2.85%) COBOL
10 10 (2.85%) Groovy
10 10 (2.85%) Perl
10 10 (2.85%) PL/SQL
11 8 (2.28%) PowerShell
12 7 (1.99%) Korn
13 6 (1.71%) C++
14 5 (1.42%) Assembly Language
15 4 (1.14%) C
15 4 (1.14%) PL/1
Qualifications
1 92 (26.21%) Security Cleared
2 82 (23.36%) SC Cleared
3 40 (11.40%) Degree
4 28 (7.98%) Computer Science Degree
5 19 (5.41%) AWS Certification
6 10 (2.85%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
7 7 (1.99%) CISSP
8 5 (1.42%) BPSS Clearance
8 5 (1.42%) DV Cleared
8 5 (1.42%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 5 (1.42%) Master's Degree
9 4 (1.14%) Azure Certification
9 4 (1.14%) GCIH
10 3 (0.85%) CISM
10 3 (0.85%) IBM Certification
11 2 (0.57%) CEH
11 2 (0.57%) GCFA
11 2 (0.57%) GCIA
11 2 (0.57%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 2 (0.57%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (5.13%) QA
2 14 (3.99%) GDPR
3 11 (3.13%) HIPAA
4 9 (2.56%) ISO 20022
4 9 (2.56%) SEPA
5 6 (1.71%) Data Quality
6 4 (1.14%) SLA
7 3 (0.85%) Basel III
7 3 (0.85%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.57%) GAAP
8 2 (0.57%) ISO 15022
8 2 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 19770
8 2 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 2 (0.57%) MISRA
8 2 (0.57%) MISRA C
8 2 (0.57%) NIST
8 2 (0.57%) NIST 800
9 1 (0.28%) IFRS
9 1 (0.28%) ISO 19650
9 1 (0.28%) MiFID
System Software
1 29 (8.26%) Docker
2 15 (4.27%) Active Directory
3 13 (3.70%) Time Sharing Option
4 10 (2.85%) VMware Infrastructure
5 9 (2.56%) RACF
5 9 (2.56%) vSphere
6 8 (2.28%) Tivoli Directory Server
6 8 (2.28%) VMware ESXi
7 6 (1.71%) GPFS
7 6 (1.71%) NFS
8 5 (1.42%) Job Entry Subsystem
8 5 (1.42%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
9 3 (0.85%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.28%) Hyper-V
10 1 (0.28%) KVM
10 1 (0.28%) SRDF
10 1 (0.28%) Veritas Cluster Server
10 1 (0.28%) Xen
Systems Management
1 32 (9.12%) Kubernetes
2 23 (6.55%) Terraform
3 13 (3.70%) OMEGAMON
3 13 (3.70%) Tivoli
3 13 (3.70%) Tivoli Identity Manager
4 12 (3.42%) Ansible
5 11 (3.13%) Progress Chef
6 10 (2.85%) CA Endevor
6 10 (2.85%) CA Single Sign-On
6 10 (2.85%) CA Wily
7 9 (2.56%) Single Sign-On
8 8 (2.28%) Control-M
9 7 (1.99%) vRealize
10 6 (1.71%) Tivoli NetView
11 5 (1.42%) QRadar
12 4 (1.14%) NetBackup
13 3 (0.85%) Prometheus
13 3 (0.85%) SCOM
13 3 (0.85%) Tivoli Storage Manager
14 2 (0.57%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 66 (18.80%) Microsoft
2 61 (17.38%) Oracle
3 34 (9.69%) Software AG
4 23 (6.55%) Splunk
5 19 (5.41%) webMethods
6 16 (4.56%) ServiceNow
6 16 (4.56%) VMware
7 15 (4.27%) Red Hat
8 13 (3.70%) AppDynamics
9 12 (3.42%) Broadcom
9 12 (3.42%) Cisco
9 12 (3.42%) HP
9 12 (3.42%) Ping Identity
10 11 (3.13%) Google
11 10 (2.85%) Citrix
12 9 (2.56%) Cognos
12 9 (2.56%) Dell
12 9 (2.56%) SAP
13 7 (1.99%) F5
14 6 (1.71%) ESRI