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 20 December 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
20 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 267 220 197
Rank change year-on-year -47 -23 +119
Contract jobs citing IBM 368 391 540
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.00% 1.15% 1.23%
As % of the Vendors category 2.11% 2.51% 2.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 235 189 322
10th Percentile £313 £315 £406
25th Percentile £400 £413 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% -9.09% -
75th Percentile £600 £600 £650
90th Percentile £713 £686 £769
UK excluding London median daily rate £473 £450 £500
% change year-on-year +5.02% -10.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 24 17
10th Percentile £28.01 - £63.50
25th Percentile £59.38 £24.18 £65.00
Median hourly rate £70.00 £62.50 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +12.00% -10.71% +64.01%
75th Percentile £70.38 £68.75 -
90th Percentile £74.65 £69.63 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £62.50 £70.00
% change year-on-year +12.00% -10.71% +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 17,425 15,570 19,882
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 47.27% 45.69% 45.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,076 9,288 12,626
10th Percentile £294 £283 £252
25th Percentile £408 £410 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -2.42%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £700 £720 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - +1.01%
Number of hourly rates quoted 866 465 664
10th Percentile £15.23 £15.62 £14.52
25th Percentile £18.01 £19.59 £20.00
Median hourly rate £23.83 £29.00 £45.11
Median % change year-on-year -17.84% -35.71% +76.74%
75th Percentile £44.40 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.01 £75.00 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.00 £26.81 £45.21
% change year-on-year -17.95% -40.69% +104.02%

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 20 December 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 20 December 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 20 December 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 -39 322 £475 -5.00% 80
UK excluding London -21 213 £473 +5.02% 71
Work from Home -8 121 £525 +5.00% 50
London -35 110 £505 +1.00% 21
North of England -38 68 £466 -3.02% 8
Midlands -7 55 £400 -8.05% 8
West Midlands +7 51 £400 -4.76% 8
North West -5 46 £453 +20.80% 5
South East -42 34 £550 +29.41% 26
East of England -6 25 £288 -32.18% 22
Yorkshire -61 22 £475 -20.83% 2
Scotland +6 16 £440 -2.28% 3
South West -29 14 £666 +11.04% 15
East Midlands -24 4 £400 -16.67%
Northern Ireland - 4 £350 -
Wales +1 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 27 (7.34%) Confluence
1 27 (7.34%) WebSphere
2 17 (4.62%) CICS
3 15 (4.08%) Apache
4 13 (3.53%) IIS
4 13 (3.53%) SharePoint
4 13 (3.53%) WebSphere Application Server
5 12 (3.26%) JBoss
6 11 (2.99%) ArcGIS
7 10 (2.72%) iPlanet
7 10 (2.72%) MQSeries
8 7 (1.90%) WebLogic
9 6 (1.63%) Oracle SOA Suite
10 5 (1.36%) SAS
11 4 (1.09%) Anypoint
11 4 (1.09%) FileNet
12 2 (0.54%) nginx
12 2 (0.54%) Tomcat
Applications
1 12 (3.26%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (2.45%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (2.45%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.82%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.27%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 41 (11.14%) Maximo
2 5 (1.36%) BusinessWorks
2 5 (1.36%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 4 (1.09%) Oracle 11i
4 3 (0.82%) SAP EWM
4 3 (0.82%) SAP PM
4 3 (0.82%) SAP PP
4 3 (0.82%) SAP QM
4 3 (0.82%) SAP S/4HANA
4 3 (0.82%) 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%) Temenos T24
6 1 (0.27%) TIBCO BusinessEvents
6 1 (0.27%) TRIRIGA
Cloud Services
1 94 (25.54%) AWS
2 61 (16.58%) Azure
3 27 (7.34%) OpenShift
4 18 (4.89%) GCP
5 14 (3.80%) Datadog
6 13 (3.53%) AWS CloudFormation
7 12 (3.26%) AWS Lambda
7 12 (3.26%) Serverless
8 9 (2.45%) Azure API Management
9 8 (2.17%) Power Platform
10 7 (1.90%) Amazon S3
11 6 (1.63%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 6 (1.63%) OCI
11 6 (1.63%) PaaS
11 6 (1.63%) SaaS
12 5 (1.36%) Amazon ECS
12 5 (1.36%) Azure Sentinel
12 5 (1.36%) GitHub
13 4 (1.09%) IaaS
13 4 (1.09%) IBM Watson
Communications & Networking
1 16 (4.35%) HTTPS
2 15 (4.08%) SAN
3 14 (3.80%) VSAN
4 13 (3.53%) SSH
5 10 (2.72%) Kerberos
6 6 (1.63%) Fibre Channel
6 6 (1.63%) iSCSI
6 6 (1.63%) NAS
6 6 (1.63%) VPN
7 5 (1.36%) HTTP
8 4 (1.09%) Network Security
8 4 (1.09%) TCP/IP
9 3 (0.82%) Firewall
9 3 (0.82%) LAN
9 3 (0.82%) SNA
9 3 (0.82%) WAN
10 2 (0.54%) APPN
10 2 (0.54%) DNS
10 2 (0.54%) DWDM
10 2 (0.54%) SDH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (8.15%) DB2
2 23 (6.25%) Oracle Database
3 17 (4.62%) SQL Server
4 13 (3.53%) Amazon RDS
4 13 (3.53%) PostgreSQL
4 13 (3.53%) Relational Database
5 12 (3.26%) DataStage
6 9 (2.45%) GIS
7 8 (2.17%) Data Warehouse
7 8 (2.17%) NoSQL
8 7 (1.90%) Amazon Redshift
9 6 (1.63%) Couchbase
9 6 (1.63%) IBM InfoSphere
9 6 (1.63%) Metadata
9 6 (1.63%) Oracle Reports
10 5 (1.36%) Amazon Athena
10 5 (1.36%) DynamoDB
10 5 (1.36%) Power BI
11 4 (1.09%) Oracle Database 10g
12 3 (0.82%) Cognos Report Studio
Development Applications
1 43 (11.68%) JIRA
2 26 (7.07%) Git
3 20 (5.43%) Jenkins
4 19 (5.16%) Rational DOORS
5 15 (4.08%) GitLab
6 10 (2.72%) Bitbucket Server
6 10 (2.72%) CA Release Automation
7 9 (2.45%) Sonatype Nexus
8 6 (1.63%) PVCS
8 6 (1.63%) SoapUI
9 5 (1.36%) ERwin
10 4 (1.09%) Ant
10 4 (1.09%) Bitbucket
10 4 (1.09%) JUnit
10 4 (1.09%) Rational Rhapsody
10 4 (1.09%) Selenium
11 3 (0.82%) IBM UrbanCode
12 2 (0.54%) GCC
12 2 (0.54%) PowerDesigner
13 1 (0.27%) Cypress.io
General
1 102 (27.72%) Social Skills
2 84 (22.83%) Finance
3 56 (15.22%) Banking
4 35 (9.51%) Analytical Skills
5 23 (6.25%) Public Sector
6 17 (4.62%) Documentation Skills
7 15 (4.08%) Presentation Skills
8 9 (2.45%) Aerospace
9 8 (2.17%) Electronics
9 8 (2.17%) Private Banking
10 7 (1.90%) Financial Institution
11 4 (1.09%) International Banking
11 4 (1.09%) Telecoms
12 3 (0.82%) Investment Banking
12 3 (0.82%) Law
12 3 (0.82%) Legal
12 3 (0.82%) Manufacturing
12 3 (0.82%) Pharmaceutical
12 3 (0.82%) Police
13 2 (0.54%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 66 (17.93%) Developer
2 63 (17.12%) Analyst
3 44 (11.96%) Architect
4 28 (7.61%) Solutions Architect
5 25 (6.79%) Consultant
6 21 (5.71%) Infrastructure Analyst
7 20 (5.43%) Senior
8 14 (3.80%) Data Engineer
9 13 (3.53%) Management Consultant
9 13 (3.53%) Platform Engineer
9 13 (3.53%) Software Engineer
10 12 (3.26%) Lead
10 12 (3.26%) Storage Analyst
10 12 (3.26%) webMethods Developer
11 11 (2.99%) Programmer
12 9 (2.45%) Maximo Architect
13 8 (2.17%) DevOps Engineer
13 8 (2.17%) Storage Engineer
13 8 (2.17%) Systems Programmer
13 8 (2.17%) z/OS Systems Programmer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (10.33%) XML
2 27 (7.34%) Kafka
3 24 (6.52%) SOAP
4 21 (5.71%) JSON
5 20 (5.43%) OAuth
6 19 (5.16%) Middleware
7 17 (4.62%) JMS
8 15 (4.08%) LDAP
8 15 (4.08%) OpenID
9 14 (3.80%) SAML
10 13 (3.53%) Flash
11 12 (3.26%) Web Services
11 12 (3.26%) XSLT
12 11 (2.99%) ISPF
13 10 (2.72%) Spring
14 9 (2.45%) REST
15 8 (2.17%) EDI
16 6 (1.63%) IBM Integration Bus
16 6 (1.63%) WSDL
16 6 (1.63%) XSD
Miscellaneous
1 51 (13.86%) Mainframe
2 33 (8.97%) Replication
3 26 (7.07%) Legacy Systems
3 26 (7.07%) Linux Command Line
4 15 (4.08%) AS400
5 14 (3.80%) Data Centre
5 14 (3.80%) IBM Mainframe
6 13 (3.53%) Tandem
7 9 (2.45%) Cloud Native
7 9 (2.45%) DataPower
7 9 (2.45%) VSAM
8 8 (2.17%) Data Protection Act
9 7 (1.90%) Enterprise Storage
9 7 (1.90%) Management Information System
9 7 (1.90%) Onboarding
10 6 (1.63%) CMDB
10 6 (1.63%) Enterprise Software
10 6 (1.63%) iSeries
10 6 (1.63%) Legacy Applications
11 5 (1.36%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 69 (18.75%) Linux
2 60 (16.30%) Windows
3 43 (11.68%) Unix
4 33 (8.97%) zOS
5 15 (4.08%) Windows Server
6 12 (3.26%) AIX
7 6 (1.63%) Windows 10
7 6 (1.63%) Windows 7
7 6 (1.63%) Windows Server 2003
7 6 (1.63%) Windows Server 2016
8 4 (1.09%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (0.82%) MVS
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%) VME
11 1 (0.27%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 71 (19.29%) Agile
2 63 (17.12%) Migration
2 63 (17.12%) Problem-Solving
3 51 (13.86%) Stakeholder Management
4 50 (13.59%) DevOps
5 48 (13.04%) CI/CD
6 37 (10.05%) Asset Management
7 33 (8.97%) Performance Tuning
8 31 (8.42%) Incident Response
9 30 (8.15%) ITIL
10 29 (7.88%) Data Protection
11 27 (7.34%) Computer Science
12 26 (7.07%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 25 (6.79%) Containerisation
13 25 (6.79%) High Availability
13 25 (6.79%) Roadmaps
14 21 (5.71%) Change Management
14 21 (5.71%) Project Delivery
15 20 (5.43%) Data Modelling
15 20 (5.43%) ETL
Programming Languages
1 53 (14.40%) SQL
2 43 (11.68%) Python
3 39 (10.60%) Java
4 23 (6.25%) JCL
5 22 (5.98%) Shell Script
6 20 (5.43%) REXX
7 16 (4.35%) CLIST
8 13 (3.53%) JavaScript
9 12 (3.26%) COBOL
10 11 (2.99%) Groovy
11 10 (2.72%) C++
12 9 (2.45%) PL/SQL
12 9 (2.45%) RPG
13 8 (2.17%) Assembly Language
13 8 (2.17%) C
13 8 (2.17%) Korn
13 8 (2.17%) Perl
13 8 (2.17%) PowerShell
14 6 (1.63%) XPath
15 5 (1.36%) Embedded C
Qualifications
1 76 (20.65%) Security Cleared
2 55 (14.95%) SC Cleared
3 35 (9.51%) Degree
4 25 (6.79%) Computer Science Degree
5 14 (3.80%) AWS Certification
6 11 (2.99%) BPSS Clearance
7 8 (2.17%) CISSP
7 8 (2.17%) DV Cleared
8 6 (1.63%) Azure Certification
8 6 (1.63%) CISM
9 5 (1.36%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 5 (1.36%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 4 (1.09%) Microsoft Certification
11 3 (0.82%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 3 (0.82%) ISTQB
11 3 (0.82%) PMI Certification
11 3 (0.82%) PMP
11 3 (0.82%) PRINCE2 Certification
12 2 (0.54%) CompTIA CySA+
12 2 (0.54%) CSPO
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (4.08%) QA
2 8 (2.17%) Data Quality
2 8 (2.17%) GDPR
3 5 (1.36%) HIPAA
3 5 (1.36%) ISO 20022
3 5 (1.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 5 (1.36%) SLA
4 4 (1.09%) NIST
4 4 (1.09%) PCI DSS
4 4 (1.09%) SEPA
5 3 (0.82%) Basel III
5 3 (0.82%) NIST 800
5 3 (0.82%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 2 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 19770
7 1 (0.27%) Def Stans
7 1 (0.27%) IFRS
7 1 (0.27%) IFRS 9
7 1 (0.27%) ISO 15022
7 1 (0.27%) MISRA
7 1 (0.27%) MISRA C
System Software
1 34 (9.24%) VMware Infrastructure
2 26 (7.07%) vSphere
3 18 (4.89%) Docker
3 18 (4.89%) NFS
4 14 (3.80%) Active Directory
4 14 (3.80%) GPFS
5 13 (3.53%) VMware ESXi
6 12 (3.26%) RACF
7 11 (2.99%) Time Sharing Option
8 8 (2.17%) Tivoli Directory Server
8 8 (2.17%) Virtual Machines
9 7 (1.90%) Job Entry Subsystem
10 1 (0.27%) Ceph
10 1 (0.27%) Hyper-V
10 1 (0.27%) KVM
10 1 (0.27%) Lustre
10 1 (0.27%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
10 1 (0.27%) Veritas Cluster Server
10 1 (0.27%) VMware NSX
10 1 (0.27%) Xen
Systems Management
1 26 (7.07%) Kubernetes
2 25 (6.79%) vRealize
3 24 (6.52%) Terraform
4 13 (3.53%) OMEGAMON
4 13 (3.53%) VxRail
5 10 (2.72%) Ansible
5 10 (2.72%) CA Single Sign-On
5 10 (2.72%) CA Wily
6 9 (2.45%) Progress Chef
6 9 (2.45%) Tivoli
7 8 (2.17%) Tivoli NetView
8 7 (1.90%) Tivoli Storage Manager
9 6 (1.63%) CA Endevor
9 6 (1.63%) Control-M
10 5 (1.36%) Single Sign-On
10 5 (1.36%) TIBCO Hawk
11 4 (1.09%) QRadar
11 4 (1.09%) Tivoli Identity Manager
12 3 (0.82%) NetBackup
12 3 (0.82%) zSecure
Vendors
1 66 (17.93%) Oracle
2 56 (15.22%) Microsoft
3 40 (10.87%) VMware
4 35 (9.51%) Cisco
5 29 (7.88%) ServiceNow
6 24 (6.52%) AppDynamics
7 19 (5.16%) HP
7 19 (5.16%) SAP
8 16 (4.35%) Dell
9 14 (3.80%) Broadcom
9 14 (3.80%) Commvault
9 14 (3.80%) SolarWinds
9 14 (3.80%) Splunk
10 12 (3.26%) Citrix
10 12 (3.26%) Software AG
10 12 (3.26%) webMethods
11 11 (2.99%) Google
12 10 (2.72%) Cognos
12 10 (2.72%) IBM Sterling
13 8 (2.17%) EMC