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 16 September 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
16 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 269 245 214
Rank change year-on-year -24 -31 +15
Contract jobs citing IBM 507 365 440
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.93% 1.11% 1.15%
As % of the Vendors category 2.23% 2.34% 2.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 315 235 206
10th Percentile £350 £357 £340
25th Percentile £423 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £545 £475
Median % change year-on-year -8.26% +14.74% -9.52%
75th Percentile £600 £649 £600
90th Percentile £675 £695 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £450
% change year-on-year +5.26% +5.56% -14.29%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 8 32
10th Percentile £34.87 £25.04 £28.92
25th Percentile £60.81 £25.12 £61.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £41.33 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +57.29% -40.96% +7.69%
75th Percentile £70.00 £71.75 -
90th Percentile - £73.25 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £63.75 £70.00
% change year-on-year +1.96% -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 22,712 15,566 16,911
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 41.85% 47.26% 44.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,926 9,545 10,148
10th Percentile £313 £275 £285
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.50% -4.76% -
75th Percentile £613 £613 £625
90th Percentile £700 £700 £731
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £480 £500
% change year-on-year +4.17% -4.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,251 789 677
10th Percentile £14.00 £14.69 £14.26
25th Percentile £16.72 £17.44 £15.62
Median hourly rate £27.00 £25.15 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +7.36% -16.17% -31.56%
75th Percentile £63.00 £43.25 £63.75
90th Percentile £78.75 £68.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.14 £21.19 £30.00
% change year-on-year +23.36% -29.37% -27.71%

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 16 September 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 16 September 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 16 September 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 -51 428 £500 -9.09% 494
UK excluding London -63 241 £500 +5.26% 271
London -17 194 £500 -16.67% 228
Work from Home -47 124 £550 -12.52% 251
North of England -57 90 £514 +13.47% 75
Yorkshire -8 58 £514 +8.77% 32
South East -67 35 £460 -16.36% 47
South West -29 32 £550 -8.33% 38
Scotland -19 31 £600 +32.74% 25
North West -63 31 £455 +0.33% 38
Midlands -56 27 £475 +8.08% 40
West Midlands -50 25 £500 -13.04% 18
East of England -14 24 £625 +13.64% 35
Wales -11 3 £600 -5.14% 3
East Midlands -25 1 - - 22

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 37 (7.30%) Confluence
2 31 (6.11%) WebSphere
3 25 (4.93%) CICS
4 20 (3.94%) SharePoint
5 13 (2.56%) Tomcat
6 11 (2.17%) nginx
7 10 (1.97%) Camunda
8 7 (1.38%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 7 (1.38%) SAS
9 6 (1.18%) JBoss
9 6 (1.18%) WebLogic
10 4 (0.79%) Apache
10 4 (0.79%) IBM Transformation Extender
10 4 (0.79%) WebSphere Application Server
11 3 (0.59%) ArcGIS
11 3 (0.59%) IIS
11 3 (0.59%) MQSeries
12 1 (0.20%) HCL Domino
12 1 (0.20%) HCL Notes
12 1 (0.20%) Oracle HTTP Server
Applications
1 8 (1.58%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (0.99%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.39%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.20%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.20%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 26 (5.13%) Maximo
2 18 (3.55%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 6 (1.18%) Temenos T24
4 5 (0.99%) Cognos Controller
5 3 (0.59%) IBM Operational Decision Manager
6 2 (0.39%) SAP S/4HANA
6 2 (0.39%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
7 1 (0.20%) Actimize
7 1 (0.20%) Dynamics CRM
7 1 (0.20%) HFM
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 80 (15.78%) Azure
2 77 (15.19%) AWS
3 33 (6.51%) GCP
4 32 (6.31%) GitHub
5 25 (4.93%) OpenShift
6 15 (2.96%) GitHub Copilot
7 14 (2.76%) Anthropic Claude
8 12 (2.37%) ChatGPT
9 10 (1.97%) GitHub Actions
10 8 (1.58%) Azure DevOps
10 8 (1.58%) Azure Service Bus
10 8 (1.58%) Boomi
10 8 (1.58%) iPaaS
10 8 (1.58%) Power Platform
11 7 (1.38%) Amazon S3
11 7 (1.38%) IBM Blueworks
11 7 (1.38%) IBM Watson
11 7 (1.38%) Microsoft Copilot
12 6 (1.18%) Azure Data Factory
13 5 (0.99%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 22 (4.34%) SSL
2 20 (3.94%) HTTP
3 12 (2.37%) SNMP
4 10 (1.97%) Firewall
4 10 (1.97%) SAN
5 8 (1.58%) Network Security
5 8 (1.58%) TCP/IP
6 6 (1.18%) Wireshark
7 5 (0.99%) Cisco Nexus
7 5 (0.99%) DNS
7 5 (0.99%) SSH
8 4 (0.79%) Fibre Channel
8 4 (0.79%) Internet
8 4 (0.79%) VSAN
9 3 (0.59%) NAS
9 3 (0.59%) WAN
10 2 (0.39%) DMZ
10 2 (0.39%) Ethernet
10 2 (0.39%) IPv4
10 2 (0.39%) LAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 47 (9.27%) Db2
2 34 (6.71%) Relational Database
3 31 (6.11%) DataStage
4 24 (4.73%) SQL Server
5 17 (3.35%) Data Warehouse
5 17 (3.35%) Oracle Database
6 16 (3.16%) Metadata
6 16 (3.16%) MongoDB
7 9 (1.78%) Elasticsearch
7 9 (1.78%) Tableau
8 7 (1.38%) GIS
8 7 (1.38%) NoSQL
8 7 (1.38%) Power BI
9 6 (1.18%) PostgreSQL
10 5 (0.99%) Big Data
10 5 (0.99%) Data Lake
11 3 (0.59%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
11 3 (0.59%) IBM InfoSphere
12 2 (0.39%) RDBMS
12 2 (0.39%) Redis
Development Applications
1 60 (11.83%) JIRA
2 40 (7.89%) Jenkins
3 26 (5.13%) Git
4 23 (4.54%) GitLab
5 16 (3.16%) JMeter
6 15 (2.96%) Rational DOORS
7 14 (2.76%) SonarQube
8 13 (2.56%) LoadRunner
9 11 (2.17%) Gradle
9 11 (2.17%) Sonatype Nexus
10 10 (1.97%) IBM UrbanCode
10 10 (1.97%) Postman
10 10 (1.97%) Rational Rhapsody
10 10 (1.97%) SoapUI
11 9 (1.78%) JUnit
11 9 (1.78%) Maven
11 9 (1.78%) REST Assured
12 8 (1.58%) Bitbucket Server
12 8 (1.58%) Mockito
12 8 (1.58%) Selenium
General
1 189 (37.28%) Finance
2 132 (26.04%) Banking
3 128 (25.25%) Social Skills
4 67 (13.21%) Analytical Skills
5 29 (5.72%) Legal
6 22 (4.34%) Public Sector
7 16 (3.16%) Retail
8 10 (1.97%) Military
9 9 (1.78%) Documentation Skills
10 8 (1.58%) Front Office
10 8 (1.58%) Investment Banking
11 7 (1.38%) Presentation Skills
12 6 (1.18%) Influencing Skills
12 6 (1.18%) Spanish Language
13 5 (0.99%) Aerospace
13 5 (0.99%) Law
13 5 (0.99%) Manufacturing
14 3 (0.59%) Financial Institution
14 3 (0.59%) Retail Banking
14 3 (0.59%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 81 (15.98%) Developer
2 62 (12.23%) Architect
3 48 (9.47%) Analyst
4 44 (8.68%) Senior
5 32 (6.31%) Lead
6 27 (5.33%) Administrator
7 26 (5.13%) Solutions Architect
8 24 (4.73%) Consultant
9 20 (3.94%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 17 (3.35%) Java Developer
10 17 (3.35%) Middleware Engineer
11 14 (2.76%) Business Analyst
11 14 (2.76%) CICS Engineer
11 14 (2.76%) DataStage Developer
12 12 (2.37%) Oracle Developer
12 12 (2.37%) Test Engineer
13 11 (2.17%) Applications Support
13 11 (2.17%) Programmer
13 11 (2.17%) Senior Developer
14 10 (1.97%) Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 79 (15.58%) Middleware
2 55 (10.85%) Kafka
3 45 (8.88%) REST
4 41 (8.09%) XML
5 35 (6.90%) JSON
6 30 (5.92%) Spring Boot
7 26 (5.13%) ISPF
8 24 (4.73%) SOAP
9 23 (4.54%) Spring
10 17 (3.35%) HTML
10 17 (3.35%) RabbitMQ
11 15 (2.96%) .NET
12 13 (2.56%) OAuth
12 13 (2.56%) Terraform
12 13 (2.56%) Web Services
13 12 (2.37%) SAML
14 11 (2.17%) Swagger
15 10 (1.97%) ActiveMQ
15 10 (1.97%) JWT
15 10 (1.97%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 109 (21.50%) Mainframe
2 29 (5.72%) Clustering
3 25 (4.93%) Data Centre
4 22 (4.34%) Replication
5 21 (4.14%) Cloud Native
6 17 (3.35%) Enterprise Software
6 17 (3.35%) Hybrid Cloud
7 16 (3.16%) Distributed Systems
8 15 (2.96%) AS400
8 15 (2.96%) Data Structures
9 14 (2.76%) Legacy Applications
10 13 (2.56%) Data Protection Act
10 13 (2.56%) Legacy Systems
10 13 (2.56%) Onboarding
10 13 (2.56%) SWIFT Messaging Network
11 12 (2.37%) iSeries
12 11 (2.17%) IBM Mainframe
12 11 (2.17%) Product Ownership
13 10 (1.97%) Equity Derivative
13 10 (1.97%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 95 (18.74%) Linux
2 83 (16.37%) zOS
3 53 (10.45%) Unix
4 38 (7.50%) Windows
5 23 (4.54%) AIX
6 20 (3.94%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 11 (2.17%) Solaris
8 8 (1.58%) SUSE
8 8 (1.58%) Windows Server
9 7 (1.38%) MVS
9 7 (1.38%) Windows Server 2008
10 5 (0.99%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.59%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.20%) Mac OS
12 1 (0.20%) OpenVMS
12 1 (0.20%) Oracle Linux
12 1 (0.20%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
12 1 (0.20%) VMS
12 1 (0.20%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 93 (18.34%) CI/CD
2 86 (16.96%) Agile
3 80 (15.78%) Migration
4 74 (14.60%) Stakeholder Management
5 66 (13.02%) DevOps
6 63 (12.43%) Test Automation
7 58 (11.44%) Problem-Solving
8 56 (11.05%) ITIL
9 48 (9.47%) ETL
10 47 (9.27%) Continuous Improvement
11 44 (8.68%) Performance Tuning
11 44 (8.68%) Validation
12 43 (8.48%) Roadmaps
13 42 (8.28%) Change Management
14 40 (7.89%) Scrum
14 40 (7.89%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 37 (7.30%) AI
15 37 (7.30%) Root Cause Analysis
16 35 (6.90%) Performance Optimisation
17 32 (6.31%) Computer Science
Programming Languages
1 104 (20.51%) SQL
2 91 (17.95%) Python
3 87 (17.16%) Java
4 33 (6.51%) JavaScript
5 24 (4.73%) JCL
6 23 (4.54%) PowerShell
7 21 (4.14%) PL/SQL
8 17 (3.35%) C++
8 17 (3.35%) Shell Script
9 16 (3.16%) REXX
10 15 (2.96%) Bash
10 15 (2.96%) COBOL
11 13 (2.56%) C
12 12 (2.37%) C#
13 9 (1.78%) Perl
13 9 (1.78%) Search Processing Language
14 6 (1.18%) Ada
14 6 (1.18%) Assembly Language
14 6 (1.18%) CLIST
15 5 (0.99%) RPG
Qualifications
1 102 (20.12%) Security Cleared
2 81 (15.98%) SC Cleared
3 41 (8.09%) Degree
4 23 (4.54%) Computer Science Degree
5 8 (1.58%) BPSS Clearance
5 8 (1.58%) DV Cleared
6 6 (1.18%) AWS Certification
6 6 (1.18%) ISTQB
7 5 (0.99%) CISSP
8 4 (0.79%) Azure Certification
8 4 (0.79%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 4 (0.79%) PMI Certification
8 4 (0.79%) PMP
9 3 (0.59%) ACCA
9 3 (0.59%) CIMA
9 3 (0.59%) CISM
9 3 (0.59%) ISEB
9 3 (0.59%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 2 (0.39%) CISA
10 2 (0.39%) IBM Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (6.90%) Data Quality
2 16 (3.16%) QA
3 10 (1.97%) ISO 20022
4 8 (1.58%) ISO 15022
5 7 (1.38%) GDPR
6 4 (0.79%) Actionable Recommendations
6 4 (0.79%) NIST
6 4 (0.79%) SLA
7 3 (0.59%) ISO/IEC 19770
7 3 (0.59%) SEPA
8 2 (0.39%) GAAP
8 2 (0.39%) GRC
8 2 (0.39%) IFRS
8 2 (0.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 2 (0.39%) PMO
9 1 (0.20%) Accessibility
9 1 (0.20%) DO-254
9 1 (0.20%) IEC 61508
9 1 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 15288
9 1 (0.20%) TARGET2
System Software
1 42 (8.28%) Docker
2 29 (5.72%) RACF
3 23 (4.54%) VMware Infrastructure
4 15 (2.96%) NFS
5 13 (2.56%) Time Sharing Option
6 12 (2.37%) Virtual Machines
6 12 (2.37%) VMware ESXi
7 11 (2.17%) GPFS
8 8 (1.58%) vSphere
9 7 (1.38%) ACF2
9 7 (1.38%) Firmware
10 6 (1.18%) Oracle RAC
11 4 (0.79%) Active Directory
11 4 (0.79%) PowerHA
12 3 (0.59%) EMC RecoverPoint
13 2 (0.39%) Hyper-V
14 1 (0.20%) oVirt
14 1 (0.20%) RHEV
14 1 (0.20%) SRDF
14 1 (0.20%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 36 (7.10%) Kubernetes
2 27 (5.33%) Ansible
3 24 (4.73%) OMEGAMON
4 20 (3.94%) Tivoli
5 13 (2.56%) Tivoli Monitoring
6 12 (2.37%) Nagios
6 12 (2.37%) Tivoli Storage Manager
6 12 (2.37%) ZABBIX
7 11 (2.17%) Netcool
8 10 (1.97%) Grafana
9 9 (1.78%) OpenView
10 7 (1.38%) Control-M
11 6 (1.18%) vRealize
12 5 (0.99%) HP Fortify
12 5 (0.99%) Oracle RMAN
12 5 (0.99%) QRadar
13 4 (0.79%) Tivoli NetView
13 4 (0.79%) VxRail
14 3 (0.59%) HP ALM
14 3 (0.59%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 112 (22.09%) Oracle
2 53 (10.45%) Microsoft
3 33 (6.51%) Splunk
3 33 (6.51%) VMware
4 32 (6.31%) SAP
5 26 (5.13%) Google
6 22 (4.34%) Red Hat
7 21 (4.14%) ServiceNow
8 20 (3.94%) Cisco
9 19 (3.75%) Broadcom
10 16 (3.16%) HP
11 15 (2.96%) Dynatrace
12 14 (2.76%) Cognos
13 13 (2.56%) BMC
13 13 (2.56%) Sybase
14 12 (2.37%) Brocade
14 12 (2.37%) Databricks
14 12 (2.37%) Dell
14 12 (2.37%) MathWorks
15 11 (2.17%) SolarWinds