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 February 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
22 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 286 248 216
Rank change year-on-year -38 -32 +81
Contract jobs citing IBM 367 327 491
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.90% 1.06% 1.10%
As % of the Vendors category 2.02% 2.28% 2.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 229 172 311
10th Percentile £313 £311 £403
25th Percentile £400 £400 £440
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £473 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.50% -9.09% +4.76%
75th Percentile £555 £600 £650
90th Percentile £688 £706 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £437 £450 £500
% change year-on-year -2.94% -10.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 21 27
10th Percentile - - £62.50
25th Percentile £25.77 £24.18 £65.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £46.18 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +40.75% -34.03% +37.23%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.75 -
90th Percentile £78.50 - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £46.18 £70.00
% change year-on-year +51.58% -34.03% +68.16%

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 18,176 14,311 19,397
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 44.58% 46.55% 43.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,650 8,642 12,143
10th Percentile £303 £280 £256
25th Percentile £413 £406 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £523 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.31% -0.48% -0.94%
75th Percentile £606 £625 £630
90th Percentile £700 £711 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 901 419 946
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.62 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.00 £21.25 £15.50
Median hourly rate £24.00 £29.07 £26.97
Median % change year-on-year -17.44% +7.78% -22.47%
75th Percentile £58.75 £63.75 £57.50
90th Percentile £74.26 £80.75 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £27.13 £26.00
% change year-on-year -17.05% +4.33% -16.13%

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 February 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 22 February 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 22 February 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 -48 322 £475 -1.81% 82
UK excluding London -51 199 £437 -2.94% 59
London -32 126 £500 - 33
Work from Home -17 116 £481 -3.27% 42
North of England -59 60 £464 +12.48% 14
North West -10 47 £456 +19.69% 13
Midlands -27 45 £400 -15.79% 5
West Midlands -35 44 £397 -15.11% 4
South East -39 31 £500 +19.05% 31
East of England -6 28 £318 -31.14% 5
South West -29 21 £700 +16.67% 4
Scotland +6 17 £450 -12.20% 2
Yorkshire -70 12 £487 +8.22% 1
Wales -5 1 - -
East Midlands -29 1 £837 +74.27% 1
North East -29 1 £375 -10.45%

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 24 (6.54%) WebSphere
2 23 (6.27%) Confluence
3 14 (3.81%) CICS
4 12 (3.27%) WebLogic
5 11 (3.00%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 10 (2.72%) Apache
7 9 (2.45%) MQSeries
8 8 (2.18%) JBoss
8 8 (2.18%) nginx
8 8 (2.18%) SharePoint
9 7 (1.91%) Tomcat
9 7 (1.91%) WebSphere Application Server
10 6 (1.63%) IIS
10 6 (1.63%) iPlanet
11 5 (1.36%) ArcGIS
12 4 (1.09%) Anypoint
13 3 (0.82%) Apache Airflow
13 3 (0.82%) Apache Spark
13 3 (0.82%) CMS
13 3 (0.82%) SAS
Applications
1 10 (2.72%) MS Visio
2 7 (1.91%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (1.63%) Microsoft Excel
4 2 (0.54%) PlantUML
5 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 28 (7.63%) Maximo
2 9 (2.45%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 7 (1.91%) BusinessWorks
3 7 (1.91%) SAP S/4HANA
4 4 (1.09%) Oracle 11i
5 3 (0.82%) SAP EWM
5 3 (0.82%) SAP PM
5 3 (0.82%) SAP PP
5 3 (0.82%) SAP QM
5 3 (0.82%) SAP R/3
5 3 (0.82%) SAP WM
6 2 (0.54%) Oracle Payables
6 2 (0.54%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 2 (0.54%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 1 (0.27%) Cognos Controller
7 1 (0.27%) Oracle FAH
7 1 (0.27%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.27%) SAP AFS
7 1 (0.27%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
7 1 (0.27%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 98 (26.70%) AWS
2 64 (17.44%) Azure
3 23 (6.27%) OpenShift
4 15 (4.09%) AWS Lambda
4 15 (4.09%) Serverless
5 14 (3.81%) Datadog
5 14 (3.81%) GCP
6 13 (3.54%) AWS CloudFormation
7 11 (3.00%) Azure Sentinel
8 10 (2.72%) IBM Watson
9 9 (2.45%) Azure AKS
9 9 (2.45%) Azure API Management
9 9 (2.45%) Azure Monitor
9 9 (2.45%) SaaS
10 8 (2.18%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 8 (2.18%) OCI
11 7 (1.91%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 7 (1.91%) Power Platform
12 6 (1.63%) Amazon S3
12 6 (1.63%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 15 (4.09%) VSAN
2 13 (3.54%) HTTPS
3 11 (3.00%) Firewall
3 11 (3.00%) SAN
3 11 (3.00%) VPN
4 10 (2.72%) HTTP
5 8 (2.18%) SSH
6 6 (1.63%) Fibre Channel
6 6 (1.63%) Kerberos
7 5 (1.36%) iSCSI
7 5 (1.36%) NAS
7 5 (1.36%) SNA
7 5 (1.36%) TCP/IP
8 4 (1.09%) APPN
8 4 (1.09%) DWDM
9 2 (0.54%) MPLS
9 2 (0.54%) Multicast
9 2 (0.54%) Network Security
9 2 (0.54%) SSL
9 2 (0.54%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (7.63%) DB2
2 24 (6.54%) SQL Server
3 22 (5.99%) Oracle Database
4 16 (4.36%) DataStage
5 13 (3.54%) Oracle Reports
6 12 (3.27%) Data Warehouse
6 12 (3.27%) PostgreSQL
7 11 (3.00%) NoSQL
7 11 (3.00%) Relational Database
8 10 (2.72%) GIS
9 8 (2.18%) Amazon Redshift
10 7 (1.91%) Amazon RDS
10 7 (1.91%) Big Data
11 6 (1.63%) Couchbase
11 6 (1.63%) IBM InfoSphere
11 6 (1.63%) Power BI
12 5 (1.36%) DynamoDB
12 5 (1.36%) Elasticsearch
13 4 (1.09%) Apache Hive
13 4 (1.09%) Oracle Database 10g
Development Applications
1 44 (11.99%) JIRA
2 23 (6.27%) Rational DOORS
3 22 (5.99%) Git
4 18 (4.90%) Jenkins
5 11 (3.00%) GitLab
6 8 (2.18%) Ant
6 8 (2.18%) PVCS
7 7 (1.91%) SoapUI
8 6 (1.63%) Bitbucket Server
8 6 (1.63%) CA Release Automation
9 5 (1.36%) JUnit
9 5 (1.36%) Sonatype Nexus
10 4 (1.09%) ERwin
10 4 (1.09%) IBM UrbanCode
11 3 (0.82%) Bitbucket
11 3 (0.82%) Liquibase
11 3 (0.82%) PowerDesigner
12 2 (0.54%) Selenium
13 1 (0.27%) Maven
13 1 (0.27%) XPEDITER
General
1 100 (27.25%) Finance
2 89 (24.25%) Social Skills
3 49 (13.35%) Banking
4 37 (10.08%) Analytical Skills
5 31 (8.45%) Public Sector
6 17 (4.63%) Documentation Skills
7 9 (2.45%) Electronics
7 9 (2.45%) Financial Institution
7 9 (2.45%) Presentation Skills
8 8 (2.18%) Influencing Skills
8 8 (2.18%) Private Banking
8 8 (2.18%) Retail
9 6 (1.63%) Aviation
9 6 (1.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 6 (1.63%) Legal
10 5 (1.36%) Aerospace
10 5 (1.36%) Law
10 5 (1.36%) Telecoms
11 4 (1.09%) Investment Banking
12 3 (0.82%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 67 (18.26%) Analyst
2 56 (15.26%) Developer
3 39 (10.63%) Architect
4 24 (6.54%) Infrastructure Analyst
5 22 (5.99%) Senior
5 22 (5.99%) Solutions Architect
6 20 (5.45%) Storage Analyst
7 19 (5.18%) Data Engineer
8 17 (4.63%) Software Engineer
9 13 (3.54%) DevOps Engineer
9 13 (3.54%) Lead
10 11 (3.00%) Platform Engineer
11 10 (2.72%) Azure Engineer
12 9 (2.45%) Consultant
12 9 (2.45%) webMethods Developer
13 8 (2.18%) Systems Engineer
14 7 (1.91%) C Software Engineer
14 7 (1.91%) Embedded C Engineer
14 7 (1.91%) Storage Engineer
14 7 (1.91%) Systems Programmer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (10.08%) XML
2 32 (8.72%) Kafka
3 28 (7.63%) Middleware
4 21 (5.72%) SOAP
5 19 (5.18%) Flash
6 18 (4.90%) JMS
7 17 (4.63%) JSON
8 14 (3.81%) XSLT
9 11 (3.00%) OAuth
10 10 (2.72%) REST
10 10 (2.72%) Web Services
11 9 (2.45%) ARM Templates
12 8 (2.18%) J2EE
12 8 (2.18%) WSDL
12 8 (2.18%) XSD
13 7 (1.91%) OC4J
13 7 (1.91%) OpenID
13 7 (1.91%) TIBCO EMS
14 6 (1.63%) RabbitMQ
14 6 (1.63%) scikit-learn
Miscellaneous
1 47 (12.81%) Mainframe
2 38 (10.35%) Linux Command Line
3 29 (7.90%) Replication
4 21 (5.72%) Legacy Systems
5 18 (4.90%) Data Centre
6 13 (3.54%) VSAM
7 11 (3.00%) AS400
8 10 (2.72%) Enterprise Software
8 10 (2.72%) Hybrid Cloud
9 9 (2.45%) Algorithms
9 9 (2.45%) DataPower
10 8 (2.18%) Cloud Native
10 8 (2.18%) Tandem
11 7 (1.91%) Legacy Applications
12 6 (1.63%) BYOD
12 6 (1.63%) Data Structures
12 6 (1.63%) Enterprise Storage
12 6 (1.63%) iSeries
12 6 (1.63%) Onboarding
12 6 (1.63%) SWIFT Messaging Network
Operating Systems
1 88 (23.98%) Linux
2 53 (14.44%) Windows
3 46 (12.53%) Unix
4 33 (8.99%) zOS
5 24 (6.54%) AIX
6 20 (5.45%) Windows Server
7 13 (3.54%) Solaris
8 12 (3.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 12 (3.27%) Windows Server 2016
9 7 (1.91%) Windows 10
9 7 (1.91%) Windows 7
9 7 (1.91%) Windows Server 2003
9 7 (1.91%) Windows Server 2008
9 7 (1.91%) Windows Server 2019
10 1 (0.27%) Android
10 1 (0.27%) Apple iOS
10 1 (0.27%) MVS
10 1 (0.27%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
10 1 (0.27%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 79 (21.53%) Agile
2 56 (15.26%) Problem-Solving
3 52 (14.17%) CI/CD
4 50 (13.62%) Migration
5 49 (13.35%) Stakeholder Management
6 48 (13.08%) DevOps
7 34 (9.26%) Roadmaps
8 33 (8.99%) ITIL
9 30 (8.17%) Asset Management
10 29 (7.90%) Analytics
10 29 (7.90%) ETL
11 28 (7.63%) Performance Tuning
12 25 (6.81%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 24 (6.54%) Data Modelling
14 23 (6.27%) Test Automation
14 23 (6.27%) Validation
15 22 (5.99%) Continuous Improvement
15 22 (5.99%) Workflow
16 21 (5.72%) Containerisation
16 21 (5.72%) Infrastructure Engineering
Programming Languages
1 66 (17.98%) SQL
2 46 (12.53%) Python
3 39 (10.63%) Java
4 18 (4.90%) Shell Script
5 16 (4.36%) PL/SQL
6 15 (4.09%) JCL
6 15 (4.09%) REXX
7 13 (3.54%) COBOL
8 12 (3.27%) C
9 10 (2.72%) PowerShell
10 9 (2.45%) Bash
10 9 (2.45%) Bicep
10 9 (2.45%) C++
10 9 (2.45%) CLIST
10 9 (2.45%) JavaScript
11 8 (2.18%) RPG
11 8 (2.18%) XPath
12 7 (1.91%) Embedded C
12 7 (1.91%) Embedded C++
12 7 (1.91%) Groovy
Qualifications
1 81 (22.07%) Security Cleared
2 53 (14.44%) SC Cleared
3 27 (7.36%) Degree
4 16 (4.36%) BPSS Clearance
5 15 (4.09%) Azure Certification
5 15 (4.09%) Computer Science Degree
6 13 (3.54%) DV Cleared
7 11 (3.00%) CISM
8 10 (2.72%) CISSP
9 9 (2.45%) AWS Certification
9 9 (2.45%) Microsoft Certification
10 8 (2.18%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 7 (1.91%) IBM Certification
11 7 (1.91%) Master's Degree
12 5 (1.36%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 4 (1.09%) ITIL Certification
13 4 (1.09%) PMI Certification
13 4 (1.09%) PMP
14 3 (0.82%) ISTQB
14 3 (0.82%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (4.63%) QA
2 15 (4.09%) Data Quality
3 11 (3.00%) SLA
4 10 (2.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 9 (2.45%) NIST
6 8 (2.18%) NIST 800
7 6 (1.63%) ISO 20022
8 5 (1.36%) SEPA
9 4 (1.09%) GDPR
9 4 (1.09%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 3 (0.82%) PCI DSS
11 2 (0.54%) Basel III
11 2 (0.54%) ISO 15022
11 2 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 19770
11 2 (0.54%) NCSC
12 1 (0.27%) Def Stans
12 1 (0.27%) GRC
12 1 (0.27%) IFRS
12 1 (0.27%) IFRS 9
12 1 (0.27%) WCAG
System Software
1 43 (11.72%) VMware Infrastructure
2 28 (7.63%) vSphere
3 23 (6.27%) NFS
4 21 (5.72%) VMware ESXi
5 20 (5.45%) GPFS
6 19 (5.18%) Docker
7 16 (4.36%) Virtual Machines
8 10 (2.72%) RACF
9 6 (1.63%) Active Directory
9 6 (1.63%) Hyper-V
9 6 (1.63%) Job Entry Subsystem
9 6 (1.63%) KVM
10 5 (1.36%) Tivoli Directory Server
11 4 (1.09%) Oracle RAC
12 3 (0.82%) Time Sharing Option
12 3 (0.82%) VMware NSX
13 1 (0.27%) Ceph
13 1 (0.27%) Firmware
13 1 (0.27%) Lustre
13 1 (0.27%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 32 (8.72%) Terraform
2 28 (7.63%) vRealize
3 24 (6.54%) Kubernetes
4 20 (5.45%) Ansible
5 14 (3.81%) VxRail
6 8 (2.18%) Control-M
6 8 (2.18%) IBM BigFix
7 7 (1.91%) TIBCO Hawk
8 6 (1.63%) CA Single Sign-On
8 6 (1.63%) CA Wily
8 6 (1.63%) OMEGAMON
8 6 (1.63%) Progress Chef
8 6 (1.63%) Tivoli
8 6 (1.63%) vCenter Server
9 5 (1.36%) Single Sign-On
9 5 (1.36%) Tivoli NetView
10 4 (1.09%) Oracle RMAN
10 4 (1.09%) Tivoli Storage Manager
11 3 (0.82%) Grafana
11 3 (0.82%) zSecure
Vendors
1 78 (21.25%) Oracle
2 51 (13.90%) VMware
3 43 (11.72%) Cisco
4 40 (10.90%) Microsoft
5 36 (9.81%) ServiceNow
6 24 (6.54%) SAP
7 23 (6.27%) Dell
8 20 (5.45%) AppDynamics
8 20 (5.45%) HP
9 17 (4.63%) Red Hat
10 16 (4.36%) Google
11 14 (3.81%) Commvault
11 14 (3.81%) SolarWinds
12 12 (3.27%) Broadcom
13 11 (3.00%) Splunk
14 10 (2.72%) EMC
14 10 (2.72%) Software AG
14 10 (2.72%) webMethods
15 8 (2.18%) Citrix
15 8 (2.18%) Cognos