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 28 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
28 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 273 221 220
Rank change year-on-year -52 -1 +79
Contract jobs citing IBM 369 409 508
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.02% 1.12% 1.11%
As % of the Vendors category 2.15% 2.48% 2.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 238 190 304
10th Percentile £313 £266 £400
25th Percentile £404 £400 £460
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £484 £480 £550
Median % change year-on-year +0.78% -12.73% -
75th Percentile £626 £600 £650
90th Percentile £720 £676 £770
UK excluding London median daily rate £474 £450 £525
% change year-on-year +5.29% -14.29% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 25 16
10th Percentile £25.04 £24.18 -
25th Percentile £25.15 £46.18 £65.00
Median hourly rate £70.00 £62.50 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +12.00% -10.71% +30.82%
75th Percentile £72.00 £68.75 -
90th Percentile £75.00 £70.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £62.50 £70.00
% change year-on-year +12.00% -10.71% +34.58%

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 17,140 16,485 20,689
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 47.48% 45.03% 45.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,833 9,701 13,240
10th Percentile £288 £295 £256
25th Percentile £405 £413 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -1.59%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £700 £723 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.60% - +1.01%
Number of hourly rates quoted 867 524 675
10th Percentile £15.32 £15.49 £15.25
25th Percentile £18.22 £19.54 £20.00
Median hourly rate £25.08 £30.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -16.42% -32.58% +73.08%
75th Percentile £42.63 £63.75 £63.75
90th Percentile £73.75 £75.00 £76.66
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.08 £27.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -19.73% -38.20% +96.97%

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 28 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 28 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 28 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 -33 322 £485 +1.04% 137
UK excluding London -25 217 £474 +5.29% 115
Work from Home +14 120 £545 +9.27% 60
London -30 106 £519 +3.75% 42
North of England -27 69 £452 -24.75% 13
North West +10 54 £450 +25.00% 5
Midlands +7 54 £420 -4.55% 12
West Midlands -7 44 £445 +3.49% 7
South East -28 37 £550 +23.60% 50
East of England -9 23 £450 +5.88% 28
Scotland 0 19 £450 - 8
Yorkshire -58 15 £473 -21.24% 8
South West -31 14 £650 +8.33% 20
East Midlands -10 10 £415 -13.54% 5
Northern Ireland - 4 £350 -
Wales -3 1 £633 +201.19% 1

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 (8.94%) WebSphere
2 27 (7.32%) Confluence
3 21 (5.69%) Apache
4 18 (4.88%) CICS
5 15 (4.07%) IIS
5 15 (4.07%) JBoss
5 15 (4.07%) WebSphere Application Server
6 13 (3.52%) SharePoint
7 11 (2.98%) ArcGIS
7 11 (2.98%) MQSeries
8 10 (2.71%) iPlanet
9 7 (1.90%) WebLogic
10 6 (1.63%) SAS
11 5 (1.36%) Oracle SOA Suite
12 4 (1.08%) FileNet
13 3 (0.81%) Tomcat
14 2 (0.54%) nginx
15 1 (0.27%) Anypoint
15 1 (0.27%) IBM Transformation Extender
Applications
1 12 (3.25%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (2.17%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (2.17%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.81%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.27%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 42 (11.38%) Maximo
2 5 (1.36%) BusinessWorks
3 4 (1.08%) IBM Planning Analytics
4 3 (0.81%) Oracle 11i
4 3 (0.81%) SAP EWM
4 3 (0.81%) SAP PM
4 3 (0.81%) SAP PP
4 3 (0.81%) SAP QM
4 3 (0.81%) SAP S/4HANA
4 3 (0.81%) SAP WM
5 2 (0.54%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
6 1 (0.27%) Algo Collateral
6 1 (0.27%) Cloudability
6 1 (0.27%) Cognos Controller
6 1 (0.27%) Oracle Applications
6 1 (0.27%) SAP GRC
6 1 (0.27%) TIBCO BusinessEvents
6 1 (0.27%) TRIRIGA
Cloud Services
1 95 (25.75%) AWS
2 54 (14.63%) Azure
3 24 (6.50%) GCP
4 22 (5.96%) OpenShift
5 12 (3.25%) AWS CloudFormation
5 12 (3.25%) AWS Lambda
5 12 (3.25%) Serverless
6 11 (2.98%) Datadog
7 10 (2.71%) Amazon S3
8 9 (2.44%) Amazon ECS
8 9 (2.44%) GitHub
9 8 (2.17%) Azure API Management
9 8 (2.17%) IBM Cloud
9 8 (2.17%) OCI
10 7 (1.90%) Power Platform
11 6 (1.63%) PaaS
11 6 (1.63%) SaaS
12 5 (1.36%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 5 (1.36%) Azure Sentinel
13 4 (1.08%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 13 (3.52%) SSH
2 12 (3.25%) HTTPS
2 12 (3.25%) VSAN
3 10 (2.71%) Kerberos
4 8 (2.17%) SAN
4 8 (2.17%) SSL
5 7 (1.90%) Firewall
5 7 (1.90%) VPN
6 5 (1.36%) HTTP
7 4 (1.08%) Network Security
7 4 (1.08%) TCP/IP
8 3 (0.81%) LAN
8 3 (0.81%) SNA
8 3 (0.81%) WAN
9 2 (0.54%) APPN
9 2 (0.54%) DNS
9 2 (0.54%) DWDM
9 2 (0.54%) SDH
10 1 (0.27%) VLAN
10 1 (0.27%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (8.94%) DB2
2 25 (6.78%) SQL Server
3 23 (6.23%) Oracle Database
4 19 (5.15%) Amazon RDS
4 19 (5.15%) Relational Database
5 16 (4.34%) PostgreSQL
6 11 (2.98%) DataStage
7 10 (2.71%) Data Warehouse
8 9 (2.44%) GIS
9 8 (2.17%) Amazon Athena
9 8 (2.17%) NoSQL
10 6 (1.63%) Amazon Redshift
10 6 (1.63%) Couchbase
10 6 (1.63%) Metadata
10 6 (1.63%) Oracle Reports
11 5 (1.36%) DynamoDB
11 5 (1.36%) IBM InfoSphere
12 4 (1.08%) Power BI
13 3 (0.81%) Cognos Report Studio
13 3 (0.81%) Oracle Database 10g
Development Applications
1 41 (11.11%) JIRA
2 24 (6.50%) Jenkins
3 23 (6.23%) Git
4 18 (4.88%) GitLab
5 16 (4.34%) Rational DOORS
6 10 (2.71%) Bitbucket Server
6 10 (2.71%) CA Release Automation
7 9 (2.44%) Sonatype Nexus
8 6 (1.63%) SoapUI
9 5 (1.36%) Bitbucket
9 5 (1.36%) ERwin
9 5 (1.36%) JUnit
10 4 (1.08%) Rational Rhapsody
10 4 (1.08%) Selenium
11 3 (0.81%) Ant
11 3 (0.81%) IBM UrbanCode
11 3 (0.81%) Log4j
11 3 (0.81%) PVCS
12 2 (0.54%) GCC
12 2 (0.54%) Toad
General
1 109 (29.54%) Social Skills
2 82 (22.22%) Finance
3 56 (15.18%) Banking
4 38 (10.30%) Analytical Skills
5 23 (6.23%) Public Sector
6 16 (4.34%) Documentation Skills
7 14 (3.79%) Presentation Skills
8 11 (2.98%) Aerospace
9 8 (2.17%) Financial Institution
9 8 (2.17%) Private Banking
10 5 (1.36%) Electronics
11 4 (1.08%) International Banking
11 4 (1.08%) Investment Banking
11 4 (1.08%) Law
11 4 (1.08%) Telecoms
12 3 (0.81%) Legal
12 3 (0.81%) Manufacturing
12 3 (0.81%) Pharmaceutical
12 3 (0.81%) Police
13 2 (0.54%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 68 (18.43%) Developer
2 58 (15.72%) Analyst
3 42 (11.38%) Architect
4 31 (8.40%) Consultant
5 28 (7.59%) Solutions Architect
6 21 (5.69%) Senior
7 17 (4.61%) Infrastructure Analyst
7 17 (4.61%) Platform Engineer
8 15 (4.07%) Lead
8 15 (4.07%) Management Consultant
9 13 (3.52%) Data Engineer
10 12 (3.25%) webMethods Developer
11 11 (2.98%) Programmer
12 10 (2.71%) Software Engineer
12 10 (2.71%) Storage Analyst
13 9 (2.44%) DevOps Engineer
13 9 (2.44%) Maximo Architect
13 9 (2.44%) Maximo Consultant
14 8 (2.17%) Administrator
15 7 (1.90%) Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (10.84%) XML
2 30 (8.13%) Kafka
3 28 (7.59%) OAuth
4 25 (6.78%) SOAP
5 22 (5.96%) LDAP
6 21 (5.69%) JSON
6 21 (5.69%) SAML
7 20 (5.42%) JMS
7 20 (5.42%) OpenID
8 18 (4.88%) Middleware
9 15 (4.07%) Spring
10 14 (3.79%) Web Services
11 12 (3.25%) ISPF
11 12 (3.25%) XSLT
12 11 (2.98%) Flash
13 10 (2.71%) REST
14 9 (2.44%) Hibernate
15 8 (2.17%) EDI
16 6 (1.63%) J2EE
16 6 (1.63%) XSD
Miscellaneous
1 46 (12.47%) Mainframe
2 27 (7.32%) Replication
3 26 (7.05%) Legacy Systems
4 22 (5.96%) Linux Command Line
5 16 (4.34%) IBM Mainframe
6 15 (4.07%) AS400
6 15 (4.07%) Data Centre
7 13 (3.52%) Tandem
8 12 (3.25%) Cloud Native
9 10 (2.71%) Data Protection Act
9 10 (2.71%) Enterprise Software
9 10 (2.71%) VSAM
10 9 (2.44%) DataPower
11 7 (1.90%) Management Information System
12 6 (1.63%) CMDB
12 6 (1.63%) iSeries
12 6 (1.63%) Onboarding
12 6 (1.63%) PKI
12 6 (1.63%) SWIFT Messaging Network
13 5 (1.36%) Legacy Applications
Operating Systems
1 74 (20.05%) Linux
2 65 (17.62%) Windows
3 41 (11.11%) Unix
4 27 (7.32%) zOS
5 16 (4.34%) Windows Server
6 11 (2.98%) AIX
7 7 (1.90%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 6 (1.63%) Windows 10
8 6 (1.63%) Windows 7
8 6 (1.63%) Windows Server 2003
8 6 (1.63%) Windows Server 2016
9 3 (0.81%) MVS
10 2 (0.54%) CentOS
10 2 (0.54%) OS/2
10 2 (0.54%) Solaris
10 2 (0.54%) VMS
11 1 (0.27%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
11 1 (0.27%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.27%) VME
11 1 (0.27%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 70 (18.97%) Problem-Solving
2 69 (18.70%) Agile
3 61 (16.53%) Migration
4 53 (14.36%) DevOps
5 52 (14.09%) CI/CD
6 48 (13.01%) Stakeholder Management
7 35 (9.49%) Asset Management
7 35 (9.49%) Incident Response
8 32 (8.67%) Computer Science
9 30 (8.13%) Containerisation
9 30 (8.13%) ITIL
10 27 (7.32%) High Availability
11 26 (7.05%) Data Protection
11 26 (7.05%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 25 (6.78%) Performance Tuning
13 24 (6.50%) Continuous Improvement
14 22 (5.96%) Roadmaps
15 21 (5.69%) Test Automation
16 20 (5.42%) Change Management
16 20 (5.42%) ETL
Programming Languages
1 56 (15.18%) SQL
2 45 (12.20%) Python
3 42 (11.38%) Java
4 22 (5.96%) Shell Script
5 21 (5.69%) JCL
6 19 (5.15%) REXX
7 17 (4.61%) JavaScript
8 15 (4.07%) CLIST
9 11 (2.98%) COBOL
9 11 (2.98%) Groovy
10 10 (2.71%) RPG
11 9 (2.44%) PowerShell
12 8 (2.17%) Assembly Language
12 8 (2.17%) Perl
12 8 (2.17%) PL/SQL
13 7 (1.90%) C++
13 7 (1.90%) Korn
14 6 (1.63%) Bash
14 6 (1.63%) XPath
15 5 (1.36%) C
Qualifications
1 78 (21.14%) Security Cleared
2 57 (15.45%) SC Cleared
3 39 (10.57%) Degree
4 30 (8.13%) Computer Science Degree
5 18 (4.88%) AWS Certification
6 9 (2.44%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
6 9 (2.44%) BPSS Clearance
7 8 (2.17%) CISSP
7 8 (2.17%) DV Cleared
8 6 (1.63%) Azure Certification
8 6 (1.63%) CISM
8 6 (1.63%) Master's Degree
9 5 (1.36%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 4 (1.08%) Microsoft Certification
11 3 (0.81%) Cisco Certification
11 3 (0.81%) GCIH
11 3 (0.81%) ISTQB
11 3 (0.81%) PMI Certification
11 3 (0.81%) PMP
11 3 (0.81%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (4.61%) QA
2 12 (3.25%) GDPR
3 9 (2.44%) HIPAA
4 7 (1.90%) Data Quality
5 5 (1.36%) ISO 20022
5 5 (1.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 5 (1.36%) SEPA
6 4 (1.08%) NIST
6 4 (1.08%) PCI DSS
6 4 (1.08%) SLA
7 3 (0.81%) Basel III
7 3 (0.81%) NIST 800
8 2 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 19770
8 2 (0.54%) MISRA
8 2 (0.54%) MISRA C
8 2 (0.54%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 1 (0.27%) GRC
9 1 (0.27%) IFRS
9 1 (0.27%) IFRS 9
9 1 (0.27%) MiFID
System Software
1 28 (7.59%) VMware Infrastructure
2 24 (6.50%) Docker
3 23 (6.23%) vSphere
4 15 (4.07%) Active Directory
5 13 (3.52%) GPFS
5 13 (3.52%) Time Sharing Option
5 13 (3.52%) VMware ESXi
6 12 (3.25%) NFS
7 9 (2.44%) RACF
8 8 (2.17%) Tivoli Directory Server
9 6 (1.63%) Job Entry Subsystem
9 6 (1.63%) Virtual Machines
10 2 (0.54%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
11 1 (0.27%) Hyper-V
11 1 (0.27%) KVM
11 1 (0.27%) SRDF
11 1 (0.27%) Veritas Cluster Server
11 1 (0.27%) VMware NSX
11 1 (0.27%) Xen
Systems Management
1 28 (7.59%) Kubernetes
2 23 (6.23%) Terraform
3 21 (5.69%) vRealize
4 14 (3.79%) OMEGAMON
5 13 (3.52%) Ansible
6 11 (2.98%) Progress Chef
7 10 (2.71%) CA Single Sign-On
7 10 (2.71%) CA Wily
7 10 (2.71%) Tivoli
7 10 (2.71%) VxRail
8 9 (2.44%) CA Endevor
8 9 (2.44%) Single Sign-On
9 8 (2.17%) Tivoli Identity Manager
9 8 (2.17%) Tivoli NetView
10 6 (1.63%) Control-M
10 6 (1.63%) QRadar
11 5 (1.36%) TIBCO Hawk
11 5 (1.36%) Tivoli Storage Manager
12 3 (0.81%) NetBackup
12 3 (0.81%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 71 (19.24%) Oracle
2 61 (16.53%) Microsoft
3 34 (9.21%) VMware
4 30 (8.13%) Cisco
5 25 (6.78%) ServiceNow
6 21 (5.69%) AppDynamics
7 19 (5.15%) HP
8 18 (4.88%) SAP
8 18 (4.88%) Splunk
9 17 (4.61%) Dell
10 13 (3.52%) Broadcom
11 12 (3.25%) Citrix
11 12 (3.25%) Red Hat
11 12 (3.25%) Software AG
11 12 (3.25%) webMethods
12 11 (2.98%) Cognos
12 11 (2.98%) Commvault
12 11 (2.98%) SolarWinds
13 10 (2.71%) Google
14 8 (2.17%) TIBCO