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 30 June 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
30 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 285 226 235
Rank change year-on-year -59 +9 +37
Contract jobs citing IBM 447 358 438
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.87% 1.17% 1.01%
As % of the Vendors category 2.13% 2.47% 2.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 251 233 234
10th Percentile £313 £358 £360
25th Percentile £400 £408 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% - -4.76%
75th Percentile £593 £649 £650
90th Percentile £673 £688 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £484 £467 £475
% change year-on-year +3.48% -1.63% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 5 39
10th Percentile £25.77 £24.81 £51.40
25th Percentile £54.06 £25.04 £65.00
Median hourly rate £76.50 £25.08 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +205.08% -64.18% +3.70%
75th Percentile £88.00 £72.50 -
90th Percentile - £139.23 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £88.00 £25.08 £70.00
% change year-on-year +250.95% -64.18% +1.82%

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 21,000 14,497 18,478
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 40.92% 47.38% 42.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,095 8,886 11,472
10th Percentile £313 £281 £270
25th Percentile £413 £402 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £515
Median % change year-on-year - -2.91% -1.90%
75th Percentile £600 £613 £625
90th Percentile £700 £715 £734
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £480 £500
% change year-on-year +4.17% -4.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,085 687 1,156
10th Percentile £15.75 £14.84 £12.28
25th Percentile £19.03 £17.30 £14.72
Median hourly rate £33.99 £25.15 £24.19
Median % change year-on-year +35.15% +3.99% -40.35%
75th Percentile £62.00 £53.63 £59.95
90th Percentile £80.79 £68.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £22.82 £23.50
% change year-on-year +42.45% -2.91% -27.24%

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 30 June 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 30 June 2026.

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 30 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
England -50 379 £475 -5.00% 79
UK excluding London -53 244 £484 +3.48% 59
London -69 147 £488 -18.75% 26
Work from Home -62 123 £514 -5.69% 32
North of England -51 89 £513 +20.59% 16
North West -37 47 £459 +14.18% 9
South East -53 43 £400 -20.00% 18
Yorkshire -35 41 £533 +6.50% 3
South West -2 40 £426 -29.00% 8
Midlands -62 30 £402 -8.53% 7
West Midlands -47 25 £400 -13.04% 4
Scotland -22 23 £550 +10.94% 4
East of England -19 16 £425 -22.73% 6
East Midlands -27 4 £837 +101.57% 3
Wales -13 3 £635 +0.40% 1
North East -36 1 £375 -10.45% 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 33 (7.38%) WebSphere
2 25 (5.59%) CICS
2 25 (5.59%) Confluence
3 18 (4.03%) Tomcat
4 16 (3.58%) nginx
5 12 (2.68%) SharePoint
6 8 (1.79%) WebLogic
7 5 (1.12%) Apache
7 5 (1.12%) JBoss
7 5 (1.12%) SAS
7 5 (1.12%) WebSphere Application Server
8 4 (0.89%) IIS
9 3 (0.67%) Apache Airflow
9 3 (0.67%) Apache Spark
9 3 (0.67%) Camunda
9 3 (0.67%) CMS
10 2 (0.45%) IBM HTTP Server
10 2 (0.45%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 2 (0.45%) Oracle SOA Suite
10 2 (0.45%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 3 (0.67%) Microsoft Excel
1 3 (0.67%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.45%) PlantUML
3 1 (0.22%) MS Visio
3 1 (0.22%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 20 (4.47%) Maximo
2 10 (2.24%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 7 (1.57%) Temenos T24
4 5 (1.12%) Cognos Controller
4 5 (1.12%) SAP S/4HANA
5 3 (0.67%) SAP R/3
6 2 (0.45%) Teamcenter
7 1 (0.22%) Dynamics CRM
7 1 (0.22%) HFM
7 1 (0.22%) IBM Operational Decision Manager
7 1 (0.22%) MetaTrader
7 1 (0.22%) Misys Equation
7 1 (0.22%) Misys Midas
7 1 (0.22%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.22%) Remedy ITSM
7 1 (0.22%) SAP AFS
7 1 (0.22%) SAP QM
7 1 (0.22%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 67 (14.99%) AWS
2 50 (11.19%) Azure
3 24 (5.37%) GitHub
4 15 (3.36%) OpenShift
5 13 (2.91%) GitHub Copilot
6 11 (2.46%) ChatGPT
7 10 (2.24%) Azure DevOps
7 10 (2.24%) IBM Watson
8 9 (2.01%) Anthropic Claude
9 8 (1.79%) Amazon S3
9 8 (1.79%) GCP
10 7 (1.57%) Amazon EKS
10 7 (1.57%) Vertex AI
11 6 (1.34%) Azure AI
12 5 (1.12%) Amazon EC2
13 4 (0.89%) IBM Cloud
13 4 (0.89%) MinIO
13 4 (0.89%) SaaS
14 3 (0.67%) IBM Blueworks
14 3 (0.67%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 23 (5.15%) Firewall
2 17 (3.80%) SNMP
3 16 (3.58%) SSL
4 15 (3.36%) HTTP
5 9 (2.01%) SAN
5 9 (2.01%) TCP/IP
6 8 (1.79%) DNS
7 7 (1.57%) VSAN
8 6 (1.34%) Network Security
9 5 (1.12%) Fibre Channel
10 4 (0.89%) APPN
10 4 (0.89%) Cisco Nexus
10 4 (0.89%) LAN
10 4 (0.89%) NAS
10 4 (0.89%) SNA
10 4 (0.89%) VPN
10 4 (0.89%) WAN
11 3 (0.67%) MPLS
11 3 (0.67%) SSH
11 3 (0.67%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 44 (9.84%) Db2
2 26 (5.82%) Relational Database
3 25 (5.59%) DataStage
4 19 (4.25%) SQL Server
5 14 (3.13%) Metadata
5 14 (3.13%) MongoDB
6 11 (2.46%) Data Warehouse
6 11 (2.46%) Elasticsearch
6 11 (2.46%) Oracle Database
7 9 (2.01%) NoSQL
7 9 (2.01%) PostgreSQL
8 8 (1.79%) Big Data
9 7 (1.57%) GIS
10 5 (1.12%) Oracle Reports
11 3 (0.67%) Apache Hive
12 2 (0.45%) Amazon Redshift
12 2 (0.45%) Azure SQL Database
12 2 (0.45%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
12 2 (0.45%) IBM InfoSphere
12 2 (0.45%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 38 (8.50%) Rational DOORS
2 34 (7.61%) JIRA
3 21 (4.70%) Jenkins
4 14 (3.13%) Git
5 12 (2.68%) GitLab
6 8 (1.79%) Rational Rhapsody
7 5 (1.12%) Ant
7 5 (1.12%) Liquibase
7 5 (1.12%) PowerDesigner
8 4 (0.89%) Eclipse
8 4 (0.89%) JMeter
9 3 (0.67%) Cucumber
9 3 (0.67%) Gradle
9 3 (0.67%) IBM UrbanCode
9 3 (0.67%) JUnit
9 3 (0.67%) Maven
9 3 (0.67%) REST Assured
9 3 (0.67%) Sonatype Nexus
9 3 (0.67%) Visual Studio
10 2 (0.45%) SonarQube
General
1 126 (28.19%) Finance
2 101 (22.60%) Social Skills
3 86 (19.24%) Banking
4 44 (9.84%) Analytical Skills
5 36 (8.05%) Public Sector
6 29 (6.49%) Aerospace
7 25 (5.59%) Legal
8 16 (3.58%) Retail
9 12 (2.68%) Influencing Skills
10 8 (1.79%) Front Office
10 8 (1.79%) Investment Banking
11 7 (1.57%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 7 (1.57%) Military
12 6 (1.34%) Law
13 5 (1.12%) Documentation Skills
14 4 (0.89%) Aviation
14 4 (0.89%) Financial Institution
15 3 (0.67%) Telecoms
16 2 (0.45%) Back Office
16 2 (0.45%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 49 (10.96%) Architect
2 46 (10.29%) Analyst
3 45 (10.07%) Developer
4 28 (6.26%) Senior
5 26 (5.82%) Delivery Manager
5 26 (5.82%) Product Delivery Manager
5 26 (5.82%) Product Manager
6 24 (5.37%) Administrator
6 24 (5.37%) Consultant
7 21 (4.70%) Systems Delivery Manager
7 21 (4.70%) Systems Manager
8 17 (3.80%) Lead
9 16 (3.58%) Software Engineer
9 16 (3.58%) Solutions Architect
10 15 (3.36%) Data Engineer
11 14 (3.13%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 14 (3.13%) Storage Analyst
12 13 (2.91%) Designer
12 13 (2.91%) Management Consultant
12 13 (2.91%) Middleware Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 58 (12.98%) Middleware
2 37 (8.28%) REST
3 20 (4.47%) ISPF
4 19 (4.25%) JSON
5 18 (4.03%) Flash
6 17 (3.80%) Kafka
6 17 (3.80%) Spring Boot
6 17 (3.80%) XML
7 16 (3.58%) Spring
8 12 (2.68%) RabbitMQ
9 9 (2.01%) WebSphere MQ
10 8 (1.79%) PyTorch
10 8 (1.79%) SOAP
11 7 (1.57%) EJB
11 7 (1.57%) JMS
11 7 (1.57%) LangChain
11 7 (1.57%) scikit-learn
11 7 (1.57%) ZeroMQ
12 6 (1.34%) J2EE
12 6 (1.34%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 91 (20.36%) Mainframe
2 36 (8.05%) Data Centre
3 30 (6.71%) Data Structures
4 29 (6.49%) Clustering
4 29 (6.49%) Product Ownership
5 23 (5.15%) Linux Command Line
5 23 (5.15%) Replication
6 17 (3.80%) Legacy Systems
7 15 (3.36%) VSAM
8 14 (3.13%) Cloud Native
8 14 (3.13%) SWIFT Messaging Network
9 12 (2.68%) IBM Mainframe
9 12 (2.68%) Legacy Applications
10 11 (2.46%) Algorithms
10 11 (2.46%) Hybrid Cloud
11 10 (2.24%) BYOD
11 10 (2.24%) Management Information System
12 9 (2.01%) Enterprise Software
12 9 (2.01%) Equity Derivative
13 8 (1.79%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 106 (23.71%) Linux
2 61 (13.65%) zOS
3 53 (11.86%) Windows
4 47 (10.51%) Unix
5 41 (9.17%) AIX
6 24 (5.37%) Solaris
7 23 (5.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 19 (4.25%) Windows Server
9 13 (2.91%) Windows Server 2008
10 11 (2.46%) Windows Server 2019
11 8 (1.79%) SUSE
11 8 (1.79%) Windows Server 2016
12 5 (1.12%) MVS
13 2 (0.45%) Oracle Linux
13 2 (0.45%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
14 1 (0.22%) Apple iOS
14 1 (0.22%) Mac OS
14 1 (0.22%) Windows 10
14 1 (0.22%) Windows 7
14 1 (0.22%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 92 (20.58%) Agile
2 64 (14.32%) CI/CD
3 55 (12.30%) DevOps
4 53 (11.86%) Continuous Improvement
4 53 (11.86%) Migration
5 50 (11.19%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 48 (10.74%) Problem-Solving
7 47 (10.51%) Roadmaps
8 43 (9.62%) ITIL
9 38 (8.50%) ETL
9 38 (8.50%) Test Automation
10 37 (8.28%) Stakeholder Management
11 36 (8.05%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
12 35 (7.83%) Computer Science
12 35 (7.83%) Configuration Management
13 34 (7.61%) AI
13 34 (7.61%) Systems Engineering
14 33 (7.38%) UML
15 32 (7.16%) Change Management
16 31 (6.94%) Workflow
Programming Languages
1 88 (19.69%) SQL
2 78 (17.45%) Python
3 62 (13.87%) Java
4 36 (8.05%) PowerShell
5 24 (5.37%) Bash
6 20 (4.47%) COBOL
6 20 (4.47%) JCL
6 20 (4.47%) PL/SQL
7 15 (3.36%) REXX
8 14 (3.13%) Search Processing Language
9 13 (2.91%) C++
10 10 (2.24%) Ada
10 10 (2.24%) C
10 10 (2.24%) Shell Script
11 9 (2.01%) MATLAB
12 8 (1.79%) JavaScript
13 7 (1.57%) Assembly Language
13 7 (1.57%) Perl
14 6 (1.34%) C#
14 6 (1.34%) CLIST
Qualifications
1 124 (27.74%) Security Cleared
2 79 (17.67%) SC Cleared
3 43 (9.62%) Degree
4 13 (2.91%) BPSS Clearance
5 9 (2.01%) Computer Science Degree
6 8 (1.79%) CISSP
6 8 (1.79%) DV Cleared
7 6 (1.34%) AWS Certification
8 5 (1.12%) Azure Certification
8 5 (1.12%) CISM
8 5 (1.12%) IBM Certification
9 4 (0.89%) Master's Degree
10 3 (0.67%) CEH
10 3 (0.67%) ITIL Certification
10 3 (0.67%) PMI Certification
10 3 (0.67%) PMP
11 2 (0.45%) Cisco Certification
11 2 (0.45%) CISMP
11 2 (0.45%) ISTQB
11 2 (0.45%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (6.94%) Data Quality
2 11 (2.46%) QA
3 9 (2.01%) SLA
4 6 (1.34%) ISO 20022
5 5 (1.12%) GDPR
5 5 (1.12%) SEPA
6 4 (0.89%) ISO 15022
6 4 (0.89%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 4 (0.89%) NIST
7 2 (0.45%) Accessibility
7 2 (0.45%) GAAP
7 2 (0.45%) GRC
7 2 (0.45%) IFRS
7 2 (0.45%) NCSC
7 2 (0.45%) NIST 800
8 1 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 15288
8 1 (0.22%) MIL-STD-1553
8 1 (0.22%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.22%) PMO
8 1 (0.22%) TARGET2
System Software
1 29 (6.49%) Docker
2 26 (5.82%) VMware Infrastructure
3 23 (5.15%) NFS
3 23 (5.15%) VMware ESXi
4 19 (4.25%) RACF
5 18 (4.03%) GPFS
6 16 (3.58%) Virtual Machines
7 14 (3.13%) vSphere
8 12 (2.68%) Time Sharing Option
9 9 (2.01%) Oracle RAC
10 8 (1.79%) Firmware
11 7 (1.57%) Hyper-V
12 6 (1.34%) KVM
13 3 (0.67%) ACF2
13 3 (0.67%) EMC RecoverPoint
13 3 (0.67%) PowerHA
14 2 (0.45%) Job Entry Subsystem
14 2 (0.45%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
14 2 (0.45%) VMware NSX
15 1 (0.22%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 29 (6.49%) Ansible
2 21 (4.70%) Tivoli
3 20 (4.47%) Terraform
4 19 (4.25%) OMEGAMON
5 17 (3.80%) Kubernetes
5 17 (3.80%) Nagios
5 17 (3.80%) ZABBIX
6 16 (3.58%) Netcool
7 14 (3.13%) OpenView
7 14 (3.13%) Tivoli Monitoring
8 13 (2.91%) vRealize
9 11 (2.46%) Tivoli Storage Manager
10 8 (1.79%) IBM BigFix
10 8 (1.79%) Oracle RMAN
11 7 (1.57%) VxRail
12 6 (1.34%) Tivoli NetView
12 6 (1.34%) vCenter Server
13 4 (0.89%) CA Endevor
13 4 (0.89%) Grafana
14 3 (0.67%) Avamar
Vendors
1 89 (19.91%) Oracle
2 44 (9.84%) VMware
3 32 (7.16%) Microsoft
4 30 (6.71%) Cisco
5 29 (6.49%) Splunk
6 27 (6.04%) Red Hat
7 26 (5.82%) SAP
8 25 (5.59%) HP
8 25 (5.59%) ServiceNow
9 20 (4.47%) BMC
10 19 (4.25%) Dell
11 17 (3.80%) MathWorks
12 16 (3.58%) SolarWinds
13 13 (2.91%) Broadcom
13 13 (2.91%) Brocade
14 12 (2.68%) Google
15 11 (2.46%) Sybase
16 10 (2.24%) Cognos
17 8 (1.79%) Siemens
18 7 (1.57%) NetApp