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 5 November 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
5 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 254 219 223
Rank change year-on-year -35 +4 +63
Contract jobs citing IBM 363 419 520
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.05% 1.15% 1.12%
As % of the Vendors category 2.21% 2.55% 2.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 251 200 313
10th Percentile £316 £317 £400
25th Percentile £408 £400 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £475 £535
Median % change year-on-year +7.89% -11.21% -2.73%
75th Percentile £649 £600 £650
90th Percentile £700 £725 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £466 £450 £525
% change year-on-year +3.44% -14.29% +3.45%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 24 16
10th Percentile £25.04 £32.75 -
25th Percentile £25.15 £57.48 £65.00
Median hourly rate £57.50 £65.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year -11.54% -7.14% +27.27%
75th Percentile £72.50 £70.00 -
90th Percentile £76.30 - £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £65.00 £70.00
% change year-on-year +7.69% -7.14% +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 16,461 16,408 21,009
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 47.61% 44.93% 45.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,296 9,661 13,519
10th Percentile £281 £293 £260
25th Percentile £404 £413 £406
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 £720 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £491 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.80% - +2.04%
Number of hourly rates quoted 838 511 665
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.22 £14.57
25th Percentile £17.91 £17.00 £19.76
Median hourly rate £25.04 £31.50 £43.90
Median % change year-on-year -20.52% -28.25% +75.60%
75th Percentile £39.88 £63.75 £63.75
90th Percentile £69.75 £71.25 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.32 £28.50 £42.75
% change year-on-year -21.70% -33.33% +94.32%

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 5 November 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 5 November 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 5 November 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 -26 318 £513 +6.77% 627
UK excluding London -38 215 £466 +3.44% 617
Work from Home +7 122 £568 +22.70% 504
London -30 108 £618 +23.50% 318
North of England -26 71 £452 -24.75% 53
North West +1 55 £452 -8.32% 35
Midlands +8 52 £415 -5.68% 65
South East -29 40 £550 +23.60% 337
West Midlands +6 38 £445 +3.49% 34
Scotland +4 20 £450 - 19
East of England -11 20 £479 -6.59% 94
Yorkshire -46 16 £461 -23.12% 10
East Midlands -9 14 £410 -14.58% 24
South West -28 12 £513 -14.58% 40
Northern Ireland - 4 £350 - 2
Wales +1 1 £633 +201.19% 24

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 39 (10.74%) WebSphere
2 25 (6.89%) Confluence
3 23 (6.34%) Apache
4 19 (5.23%) IIS
5 18 (4.96%) WebSphere Application Server
6 14 (3.86%) CICS
6 14 (3.86%) JBoss
7 13 (3.58%) SharePoint
8 11 (3.03%) MQSeries
9 10 (2.75%) iPlanet
10 8 (2.20%) ArcGIS
11 6 (1.65%) Oracle SOA Suite
12 5 (1.38%) SAS
12 5 (1.38%) WebLogic
13 4 (1.10%) FileNet
14 3 (0.83%) Tomcat
15 2 (0.55%) nginx
16 1 (0.28%) Apache Spark
16 1 (0.28%) BizTalk Server
16 1 (0.28%) IBM Transformation Extender
Applications
1 11 (3.03%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (2.20%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (1.38%) Chatbot
4 4 (1.10%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (1.10%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.83%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 40 (11.02%) Maximo
2 4 (1.10%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 3 (0.83%) BusinessWorks
4 2 (0.55%) Oracle EBS
4 2 (0.55%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 2 (0.55%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
4 2 (0.55%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
4 2 (0.55%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.28%) Cloudability
5 1 (0.28%) Cognos Controller
5 1 (0.28%) Oracle 11i
5 1 (0.28%) Oracle Applications
5 1 (0.28%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.28%) TRIRIGA
Cloud Services
1 94 (25.90%) AWS
2 52 (14.33%) Azure
3 31 (8.54%) GCP
4 23 (6.34%) OpenShift
5 11 (3.03%) Amazon S3
5 11 (3.03%) AWS CloudFormation
5 11 (3.03%) IBM Cloud
6 10 (2.75%) GitHub
6 10 (2.75%) Serverless
7 9 (2.48%) Amazon ECS
7 9 (2.48%) AWS Lambda
8 8 (2.20%) Datadog
8 8 (2.20%) OCI
8 8 (2.20%) PaaS
8 8 (2.20%) SaaS
9 6 (1.65%) IaaS
9 6 (1.65%) Power Platform
10 4 (1.10%) Figma
10 4 (1.10%) IBM Watson
10 4 (1.10%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 13 (3.58%) SSH
2 11 (3.03%) HTTPS
3 10 (2.75%) Kerberos
4 8 (2.20%) SAN
4 8 (2.20%) SSL
4 8 (2.20%) VSAN
5 6 (1.65%) Firewall
5 6 (1.65%) VPN
6 4 (1.10%) LAN
6 4 (1.10%) Network Security
7 3 (0.83%) SMS
7 3 (0.83%) WAN
8 2 (0.55%) Calico
8 2 (0.55%) DNS
8 2 (0.55%) DWDM
8 2 (0.55%) SDH
8 2 (0.55%) TCP/IP
8 2 (0.55%) VLAN
9 1 (0.28%) iSCSI
9 1 (0.28%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 32 (8.82%) DB2
2 31 (8.54%) SQL Server
3 21 (5.79%) Amazon RDS
3 21 (5.79%) Oracle Database
4 18 (4.96%) Relational Database
5 14 (3.86%) PostgreSQL
6 10 (2.75%) Data Warehouse
7 8 (2.20%) Amazon Athena
7 8 (2.20%) NoSQL
8 7 (1.93%) DataStage
9 6 (1.65%) Amazon Redshift
9 6 (1.65%) Couchbase
9 6 (1.65%) GIS
9 6 (1.65%) IBM InfoSphere
10 5 (1.38%) Metadata
10 5 (1.38%) Oracle Reports
11 4 (1.10%) MongoDB
12 3 (0.83%) Power BI
13 2 (0.55%) Cognos Framework Manager
13 2 (0.55%) Cognos Report Studio
Development Applications
1 41 (11.29%) JIRA
2 25 (6.89%) Jenkins
3 22 (6.06%) Git
4 17 (4.68%) GitLab
5 15 (4.13%) Rational DOORS
6 10 (2.75%) Bitbucket Server
6 10 (2.75%) CA Release Automation
7 9 (2.48%) Sonatype Nexus
8 6 (1.65%) Bitbucket
9 5 (1.38%) ERwin
10 4 (1.10%) IBM UrbanCode
10 4 (1.10%) Rational Rhapsody
11 3 (0.83%) Log4j
11 3 (0.83%) Maven
11 3 (0.83%) Visual Studio
12 2 (0.55%) GCC
12 2 (0.55%) JUnit
12 2 (0.55%) PowerDesigner
12 2 (0.55%) Selenium
13 1 (0.28%) SonarQube
General
1 92 (25.34%) Social Skills
2 82 (22.59%) Finance
3 56 (15.43%) Banking
4 39 (10.74%) Analytical Skills
5 18 (4.96%) Public Sector
6 11 (3.03%) Aerospace
6 11 (3.03%) Presentation Skills
7 9 (2.48%) Documentation Skills
8 8 (2.20%) Private Banking
9 7 (1.93%) Financial Institution
10 5 (1.38%) Telecoms
11 4 (1.10%) International Banking
11 4 (1.10%) Investment Banking
12 3 (0.83%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 3 (0.83%) Legal
12 3 (0.83%) Retail
13 2 (0.55%) General Ledger
13 2 (0.55%) German Language
13 2 (0.55%) Influencing Skills
13 2 (0.55%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 56 (15.43%) Developer
2 53 (14.60%) Analyst
3 48 (13.22%) Consultant
4 38 (10.47%) Architect
5 25 (6.89%) Solutions Architect
6 20 (5.51%) Senior
7 19 (5.23%) Platform Engineer
8 15 (4.13%) Management Consultant
9 14 (3.86%) Lead
10 13 (3.58%) Data Engineer
11 12 (3.31%) Infrastructure Analyst
11 12 (3.31%) Maximo Consultant
12 11 (3.03%) webMethods Developer
13 9 (2.48%) DevOps Engineer
13 9 (2.48%) Maximo Architect
13 9 (2.48%) Programmer
13 9 (2.48%) Technical Analyst
14 7 (1.93%) AWS Engineer
14 7 (1.93%) Identity and Access Management Engineer
14 7 (1.93%) Identity Management Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (10.47%) XML
2 29 (7.99%) OAuth
3 28 (7.71%) Kafka
4 25 (6.89%) LDAP
5 24 (6.61%) SAML
6 23 (6.34%) OpenID
7 22 (6.06%) SOAP
8 21 (5.79%) JSON
9 18 (4.96%) Middleware
9 18 (4.96%) Spring
10 17 (4.68%) JMS
11 14 (3.86%) EntireX
11 14 (3.86%) Web Services
12 12 (3.31%) Hibernate
13 10 (2.75%) Flash
13 10 (2.75%) ISPF
13 10 (2.75%) REST
14 6 (1.65%) HTML
14 6 (1.65%) XSLT
15 5 (1.38%) EDI
Miscellaneous
1 33 (9.09%) Mainframe
2 26 (7.16%) Replication
3 20 (5.51%) Legacy Systems
4 17 (4.68%) Linux Command Line
5 15 (4.13%) IBM Mainframe
6 14 (3.86%) AS400
6 14 (3.86%) Data Centre
6 14 (3.86%) Tandem
7 12 (3.31%) Cloud Native
8 9 (2.48%) Data Protection Act
8 9 (2.48%) Enterprise Software
9 7 (1.93%) PKI
9 7 (1.93%) SWIFT Messaging Network
10 6 (1.65%) CMDB
10 6 (1.65%) Onboarding
10 6 (1.65%) VSAM
11 5 (1.38%) iSeries
11 5 (1.38%) Legacy Applications
11 5 (1.38%) Management Information System
12 4 (1.10%) Clustering
Operating Systems
1 70 (19.28%) Linux
2 62 (17.08%) Windows
3 38 (10.47%) Unix
4 20 (5.51%) Windows Server
5 18 (4.96%) zOS
6 7 (1.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 6 (1.65%) AIX
8 5 (1.38%) Windows 10
8 5 (1.38%) Windows 7
8 5 (1.38%) Windows Server 2003
8 5 (1.38%) Windows Server 2016
9 3 (0.83%) MVS
10 2 (0.55%) Android
10 2 (0.55%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.55%) CentOS
10 2 (0.55%) OS/2
10 2 (0.55%) Solaris
10 2 (0.55%) VMS
11 1 (0.28%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
11 1 (0.28%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 67 (18.46%) Problem-Solving
2 64 (17.63%) Agile
3 60 (16.53%) DevOps
4 57 (15.70%) Migration
5 56 (15.43%) CI/CD
6 45 (12.40%) Stakeholder Management
7 35 (9.64%) Incident Response
8 30 (8.26%) Asset Management
8 30 (8.26%) Containerisation
9 28 (7.71%) Computer Science
10 27 (7.44%) ITIL
11 25 (6.89%) Roadmaps
12 24 (6.61%) Continuous Improvement
12 24 (6.61%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 23 (6.34%) High Availability
14 22 (6.06%) Change Management
15 21 (5.79%) Data Protection
15 21 (5.79%) ETL
15 21 (5.79%) Performance Tuning
16 20 (5.51%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 55 (15.15%) SQL
2 45 (12.40%) Python
3 42 (11.57%) Java
4 21 (5.79%) JavaScript
4 21 (5.79%) Shell Script
5 15 (4.13%) JCL
6 14 (3.86%) REXX
7 13 (3.58%) CLIST
7 13 (3.58%) RPG
8 10 (2.75%) COBOL
8 10 (2.75%) Groovy
9 9 (2.48%) PowerShell
10 6 (1.65%) Bash
10 6 (1.65%) PL/SQL
11 5 (1.38%) C++
12 4 (1.10%) Assembly Language
12 4 (1.10%) PL/1
12 4 (1.10%) XPath
13 3 (0.83%) Jython
13 3 (0.83%) Korn
Qualifications
1 87 (23.97%) Security Cleared
2 76 (20.94%) SC Cleared
3 37 (10.19%) Degree
4 26 (7.16%) Computer Science Degree
5 18 (4.96%) AWS Certification
6 9 (2.48%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
7 6 (1.65%) CISSP
7 6 (1.65%) DV Cleared
8 5 (1.38%) Azure Certification
8 5 (1.38%) BPSS Clearance
8 5 (1.38%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 5 (1.38%) Master's Degree
9 4 (1.10%) CISM
9 4 (1.10%) GCIH
10 3 (0.83%) CEH
10 3 (0.83%) Microsoft Certification
10 3 (0.83%) PMI Certification
10 3 (0.83%) PMP
10 3 (0.83%) PRINCE2 Certification
11 2 (0.55%) IBM Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (4.96%) QA
2 12 (3.31%) GDPR
3 10 (2.75%) HIPAA
4 9 (2.48%) ISO 20022
5 8 (2.20%) Data Quality
6 6 (1.65%) SEPA
7 4 (1.10%) SLA
8 3 (0.83%) Basel III
8 3 (0.83%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 3 (0.83%) NIST
8 3 (0.83%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.55%) GAAP
9 2 (0.55%) ISO 15022
9 2 (0.55%) ISO/IEC 19770
9 2 (0.55%) MISRA
9 2 (0.55%) MISRA C
9 2 (0.55%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.28%) GRC
10 1 (0.28%) MiFID
10 1 (0.28%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 26 (7.16%) Docker
2 19 (5.23%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (4.96%) vSphere
4 15 (4.13%) Active Directory
5 12 (3.31%) Time Sharing Option
5 12 (3.31%) VMware ESXi
6 10 (2.75%) GPFS
6 10 (2.75%) NFS
7 8 (2.20%) Tivoli Directory Server
8 7 (1.93%) RACF
9 5 (1.38%) Job Entry Subsystem
9 5 (1.38%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
10 3 (0.83%) Virtual Machines
11 1 (0.28%) Hyper-V
11 1 (0.28%) KVM
11 1 (0.28%) SRDF
11 1 (0.28%) Veritas Cluster Server
11 1 (0.28%) Xen
Systems Management
1 28 (7.71%) Kubernetes
2 21 (5.79%) Terraform
3 16 (4.41%) vRealize
4 13 (3.58%) Tivoli
5 12 (3.31%) OMEGAMON
6 11 (3.03%) Progress Chef
6 11 (3.03%) Tivoli Identity Manager
7 10 (2.75%) CA Single Sign-On
7 10 (2.75%) CA Wily
8 9 (2.48%) Ansible
8 9 (2.48%) CA Endevor
8 9 (2.48%) Single Sign-On
9 8 (2.20%) Control-M
10 7 (1.93%) VxRail
11 6 (1.65%) Tivoli NetView
12 5 (1.38%) QRadar
12 5 (1.38%) Tivoli Storage Manager
13 4 (1.10%) NetBackup
14 3 (0.83%) SCOM
14 3 (0.83%) TIBCO Hawk
Vendors
1 68 (18.73%) Oracle
2 66 (18.18%) Microsoft
3 25 (6.89%) Cisco
3 25 (6.89%) Software AG
3 25 (6.89%) VMware
4 24 (6.61%) ServiceNow
5 21 (5.79%) Splunk
6 19 (5.23%) AppDynamics
7 17 (4.68%) HP
8 14 (3.86%) Dell
8 14 (3.86%) SAP
9 12 (3.31%) Broadcom
9 12 (3.31%) Citrix
10 11 (3.03%) Red Hat
10 11 (3.03%) webMethods
11 10 (2.75%) Cognos
11 10 (2.75%) Ping Identity
12 8 (2.20%) Commvault
12 8 (2.20%) Google
12 8 (2.20%) SolarWinds