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 1 September 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
1 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 267 252 233
Rank change year-on-year -15 -19 -1
Contract jobs citing IBM 501 355 431
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.93% 1.08% 1.12%
As % of the Vendors category 2.23% 2.30% 2.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 297 229 204
10th Percentile £337 £355 £350
25th Percentile £413 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £550 £475
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +15.79% -9.52%
75th Percentile £600 £663 £616
90th Percentile £675 £703 £747
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £479 £450
% change year-on-year +4.44% +6.39% -14.29%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 7 29
10th Percentile £34.87 £25.04 £27.00
25th Percentile £65.00 £25.09 £61.25
Median hourly rate £70.00 £25.15 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +178.33% -64.07% +7.69%
75th Percentile £88.00 £66.88 -
90th Percentile - £73.50 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £57.50 £70.00
% change year-on-year +21.74% -17.86% +7.69%

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 22,420 15,451 16,993
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 41.79% 47.18% 44.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,807 9,462 10,397
10th Percentile £313 £275 £287
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.00% -4.76% -
75th Percentile £613 £613 £625
90th Percentile £700 £700 £730
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,170 786 740
10th Percentile £14.35 £14.67 £13.69
25th Percentile £17.25 £17.30 £15.62
Median hourly rate £29.07 £25.15 £29.00
Median % change year-on-year +15.59% -13.28% -31.76%
75th Percentile £65.00 £43.75 £62.51
90th Percentile £81.36 £68.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.00 £21.28 £27.50
% change year-on-year +31.58% -22.62% -30.90%

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 1 September 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 1 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for IBM in the UK

IBM
Top 15 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 1 September 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 -28 426 £500 -9.09% 297
UK excluding London -50 244 £500 +4.44% 176
London -11 189 £488 -22.00% 151
Work from Home -50 121 £550 -13.04% 155
North of England -54 83 £514 +14.22% 46
Yorkshire -7 51 £520 +9.93% 18
South East -45 45 £460 -18.22% 41
South West -17 36 £550 -8.33% 29
North West -72 31 £455 +4.48% 23
Scotland -18 29 £600 +27.12% 22
Midlands -64 28 £475 +9.26% 18
West Midlands -46 25 £500 -13.04% 9
East of England -14 20 £625 +13.64% 17
Wales -14 3 £600 -5.14%
East Midlands -28 2 - - 9

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 38 (7.58%) Confluence
2 34 (6.79%) WebSphere
3 23 (4.59%) CICS
3 23 (4.59%) SharePoint
4 14 (2.79%) Tomcat
5 11 (2.20%) nginx
6 9 (1.80%) Camunda
7 8 (1.60%) JBoss
8 7 (1.40%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 6 (1.20%) WebLogic
10 5 (1.00%) Apache
10 5 (1.00%) SAS
10 5 (1.00%) WebSphere Application Server
11 4 (0.80%) IIS
12 2 (0.40%) ArcGIS
12 2 (0.40%) IBM HTTP Server
12 2 (0.40%) MQSeries
12 2 (0.40%) Oracle HTTP Server
12 2 (0.40%) WebSphere Portal
13 1 (0.20%) Oracle Coherence
Applications
1 6 (1.20%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (0.60%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.40%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.20%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 22 (4.39%) Maximo
2 17 (3.39%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 9 (1.80%) Temenos T24
4 5 (1.00%) Cognos Controller
5 3 (0.60%) IBM Operational Decision Manager
6 2 (0.40%) SAP S/4HANA
6 2 (0.40%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
7 1 (0.20%) Actimize
7 1 (0.20%) Dynamics CRM
7 1 (0.20%) HFM
7 1 (0.20%) MetaTrader
7 1 (0.20%) Misys Equation
7 1 (0.20%) Misys Midas
7 1 (0.20%) Remedy ITSM
7 1 (0.20%) SAP QM
7 1 (0.20%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 76 (15.17%) AWS
2 75 (14.97%) Azure
3 32 (6.39%) GitHub
4 28 (5.59%) GCP
5 22 (4.39%) OpenShift
6 15 (2.99%) GitHub Copilot
7 14 (2.79%) Anthropic Claude
8 12 (2.40%) ChatGPT
9 9 (1.80%) GitHub Actions
10 8 (1.60%) Amazon S3
10 8 (1.60%) Azure DevOps
11 7 (1.40%) Azure Service Bus
11 7 (1.40%) Boomi
11 7 (1.40%) IBM Blueworks
11 7 (1.40%) iPaaS
11 7 (1.40%) Microsoft Copilot
12 6 (1.20%) Azure Data Factory
12 6 (1.20%) IBM Watson
12 6 (1.20%) Power Platform
13 5 (1.00%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 23 (4.59%) SSL
2 20 (3.99%) HTTP
3 16 (3.19%) SNMP
4 10 (2.00%) Firewall
4 10 (2.00%) SAN
4 10 (2.00%) TCP/IP
5 9 (1.80%) Network Security
6 7 (1.40%) DNS
7 5 (1.00%) Cisco Nexus
7 5 (1.00%) Wireshark
8 4 (0.80%) Fibre Channel
8 4 (0.80%) SSH
8 4 (0.80%) VSAN
9 3 (0.60%) APPN
9 3 (0.60%) Internet
9 3 (0.60%) SNA
10 2 (0.40%) DMZ
10 2 (0.40%) LAN
10 2 (0.40%) SD-WAN
10 2 (0.40%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 45 (8.98%) Db2
2 33 (6.59%) Relational Database
3 31 (6.19%) DataStage
4 23 (4.59%) SQL Server
5 18 (3.59%) Oracle Database
6 17 (3.39%) Data Warehouse
7 16 (3.19%) Metadata
8 15 (2.99%) MongoDB
9 9 (1.80%) Elasticsearch
10 8 (1.60%) Tableau
11 7 (1.40%) NoSQL
12 6 (1.20%) GIS
12 6 (1.20%) PostgreSQL
13 5 (1.00%) Big Data
13 5 (1.00%) Data Lake
13 5 (1.00%) Power BI
14 2 (0.40%) Amazon Redshift
14 2 (0.40%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
14 2 (0.40%) IBM InfoSphere
14 2 (0.40%) Redis
Development Applications
1 58 (11.58%) JIRA
2 35 (6.99%) Jenkins
3 29 (5.79%) Rational DOORS
4 22 (4.39%) GitLab
5 21 (4.19%) Git
6 16 (3.19%) JMeter
7 13 (2.59%) SonarQube
8 12 (2.40%) LoadRunner
9 10 (2.00%) Postman
9 10 (2.00%) Rational Rhapsody
9 10 (2.00%) SoapUI
9 10 (2.00%) Sonatype Nexus
10 9 (1.80%) Gradle
11 8 (1.60%) JUnit
11 8 (1.60%) Maven
11 8 (1.60%) REST Assured
11 8 (1.60%) Selenium
12 7 (1.40%) Bitbucket Server
12 7 (1.40%) IBM UrbanCode
12 7 (1.40%) Mockito
General
1 172 (34.33%) Finance
2 126 (25.15%) Banking
3 121 (24.15%) Social Skills
4 64 (12.77%) Analytical Skills
5 29 (5.79%) Legal
6 24 (4.79%) Public Sector
7 18 (3.59%) Aerospace
8 13 (2.59%) Retail
9 10 (2.00%) Military
10 8 (1.60%) Front Office
10 8 (1.60%) Investment Banking
11 7 (1.40%) Presentation Skills
12 6 (1.20%) Documentation Skills
12 6 (1.20%) Influencing Skills
12 6 (1.20%) Law
13 3 (0.60%) Financial Institution
13 3 (0.60%) Manufacturing
13 3 (0.60%) Retail Banking
13 3 (0.60%) Telecoms
14 2 (0.40%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 79 (15.77%) Developer
2 62 (12.38%) Architect
3 46 (9.18%) Analyst
4 43 (8.58%) Senior
5 28 (5.59%) Administrator
5 28 (5.59%) Consultant
5 28 (5.59%) Lead
6 25 (4.99%) Solutions Architect
7 20 (3.99%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 18 (3.59%) Middleware Engineer
9 16 (3.19%) Delivery Manager
9 16 (3.19%) Product Delivery Manager
9 16 (3.19%) Product Manager
10 14 (2.79%) CICS Engineer
10 14 (2.79%) DataStage Developer
10 14 (2.79%) Java Developer
11 12 (2.40%) Oracle Developer
11 12 (2.40%) Systems Delivery Manager
11 12 (2.40%) Systems Manager
11 12 (2.40%) Test Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 71 (14.17%) Middleware
2 51 (10.18%) Kafka
3 46 (9.18%) REST
4 40 (7.98%) XML
5 35 (6.99%) JSON
6 28 (5.59%) Spring Boot
7 23 (4.59%) ISPF
7 23 (4.59%) SOAP
8 20 (3.99%) Spring
9 17 (3.39%) RabbitMQ
10 16 (3.19%) HTML
11 14 (2.79%) .NET
12 13 (2.59%) OAuth
12 13 (2.59%) Terraform
13 12 (2.40%) SAML
13 12 (2.40%) Web Services
14 11 (2.20%) Flash
15 10 (2.00%) Swagger
16 9 (1.80%) JWT
16 9 (1.80%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 97 (19.36%) Mainframe
2 31 (6.19%) Clustering
3 27 (5.39%) Data Structures
4 25 (4.99%) Data Centre
4 25 (4.99%) Product Ownership
5 19 (3.79%) Cloud Native
6 18 (3.59%) Replication
7 17 (3.39%) SWIFT Messaging Network
8 15 (2.99%) AS400
8 15 (2.99%) Enterprise Software
9 14 (2.79%) Distributed Systems
9 14 (2.79%) Hybrid Cloud
10 13 (2.59%) Legacy Applications
10 13 (2.59%) Legacy Systems
11 12 (2.40%) IBM Mainframe
12 11 (2.20%) Data Protection Act
12 11 (2.20%) iSeries
12 11 (2.20%) Management Information System
13 10 (2.00%) Equity Derivative
13 10 (2.00%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 94 (18.76%) Linux
2 79 (15.77%) zOS
3 53 (10.58%) Unix
4 38 (7.58%) Windows
5 28 (5.59%) AIX
6 20 (3.99%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 11 (2.20%) Solaris
8 8 (1.60%) SUSE
8 8 (1.60%) Windows Server
9 7 (1.40%) MVS
9 7 (1.40%) Windows Server 2008
10 5 (1.00%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.60%) Windows Server 2016
12 2 (0.40%) Oracle Linux
12 2 (0.40%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
13 1 (0.20%) Mac OS
13 1 (0.20%) OpenVMS
13 1 (0.20%) VMS
13 1 (0.20%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 100 (19.96%) Agile
2 83 (16.57%) CI/CD
3 77 (15.37%) Migration
4 64 (12.77%) DevOps
5 60 (11.98%) Stakeholder Management
6 58 (11.58%) Test Automation
7 56 (11.18%) Continuous Improvement
7 56 (11.18%) ITIL
8 55 (10.98%) Problem-Solving
9 50 (9.98%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 49 (9.78%) ETL
11 43 (8.58%) Computer Science
12 42 (8.38%) Scrum
13 39 (7.78%) Change Management
14 38 (7.58%) Performance Tuning
14 38 (7.58%) Validation
15 37 (7.39%) Roadmaps
15 37 (7.39%) Root Cause Analysis
16 36 (7.19%) AI
17 34 (6.79%) Performance Optimisation
Programming Languages
1 103 (20.56%) SQL
2 94 (18.76%) Python
3 84 (16.77%) Java
4 32 (6.39%) JavaScript
5 29 (5.79%) PowerShell
6 22 (4.39%) JCL
7 21 (4.19%) PL/SQL
8 17 (3.39%) C++
9 16 (3.19%) Bash
9 16 (3.19%) Shell Script
10 15 (2.99%) REXX
11 13 (2.59%) C
11 13 (2.59%) Search Processing Language
12 12 (2.40%) COBOL
13 11 (2.20%) C#
14 10 (2.00%) Perl
15 7 (1.40%) Ada
16 6 (1.20%) Assembly Language
16 6 (1.20%) CLIST
17 5 (1.00%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 119 (23.75%) Security Cleared
2 82 (16.37%) SC Cleared
3 52 (10.38%) Degree
4 19 (3.79%) Computer Science Degree
5 8 (1.60%) DV Cleared
6 7 (1.40%) AWS Certification
6 7 (1.40%) BPSS Clearance
7 6 (1.20%) CISSP
7 6 (1.20%) ISTQB
8 4 (0.80%) Azure Certification
8 4 (0.80%) CISM
8 4 (0.80%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 3 (0.60%) ACCA
9 3 (0.60%) CCSP
9 3 (0.60%) CIMA
9 3 (0.60%) Cisco Certification
9 3 (0.60%) ISEB
9 3 (0.60%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 3 (0.60%) PMI Certification
9 3 (0.60%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (6.99%) Data Quality
2 16 (3.19%) QA
3 10 (2.00%) ISO 20022
4 8 (1.60%) ISO 15022
5 7 (1.40%) GDPR
6 4 (0.80%) Actionable Recommendations
6 4 (0.80%) NIST
6 4 (0.80%) SEPA
6 4 (0.80%) SLA
7 3 (0.60%) GRC
7 3 (0.60%) ISO/IEC 19770
7 3 (0.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 2 (0.40%) GAAP
8 2 (0.40%) IFRS
9 1 (0.20%) DO-254
9 1 (0.20%) IEC 61508
9 1 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 15288
9 1 (0.20%) MIL-STD-1553
9 1 (0.20%) PMO
9 1 (0.20%) TARGET2
System Software
1 39 (7.78%) Docker
2 26 (5.19%) RACF
3 23 (4.59%) VMware Infrastructure
4 16 (3.19%) NFS
5 13 (2.59%) VMware ESXi
6 11 (2.20%) GPFS
6 11 (2.20%) Time Sharing Option
6 11 (2.20%) Virtual Machines
7 9 (1.80%) vSphere
8 7 (1.40%) ACF2
8 7 (1.40%) Firmware
9 6 (1.20%) Oracle RAC
10 5 (1.00%) PowerHA
11 3 (0.60%) Active Directory
11 3 (0.60%) EMC RecoverPoint
12 1 (0.20%) Hyper-V
12 1 (0.20%) oVirt
12 1 (0.20%) RHEV
12 1 (0.20%) SRDF
12 1 (0.20%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 29 (5.79%) Kubernetes
2 24 (4.79%) OMEGAMON
3 23 (4.59%) Ansible
4 20 (3.99%) Tivoli
5 16 (3.19%) Nagios
5 16 (3.19%) ZABBIX
6 15 (2.99%) Netcool
7 13 (2.59%) OpenView
7 13 (2.59%) Tivoli Monitoring
7 13 (2.59%) Tivoli Storage Manager
8 9 (1.80%) Grafana
9 7 (1.40%) vRealize
10 6 (1.20%) Tivoli NetView
11 5 (1.00%) Control-M
11 5 (1.00%) HP Fortify
11 5 (1.00%) Oracle RMAN
12 4 (0.80%) CA Endevor
12 4 (0.80%) QRadar
12 4 (0.80%) VxRail
13 3 (0.60%) EMC VPLEX
Vendors
1 112 (22.36%) Oracle
2 48 (9.58%) Microsoft
3 35 (6.99%) Splunk
4 33 (6.59%) VMware
5 32 (6.39%) SAP
6 23 (4.59%) Google
7 22 (4.39%) Red Hat
7 22 (4.39%) ServiceNow
8 20 (3.99%) HP
9 18 (3.59%) Broadcom
10 17 (3.39%) BMC
10 17 (3.39%) Cisco
11 15 (2.99%) Cognos
11 15 (2.99%) SolarWinds
12 14 (2.79%) Dynatrace
13 13 (2.59%) MathWorks
14 12 (2.40%) Brocade
14 12 (2.40%) Sybase
15 11 (2.20%) Databricks
16 10 (2.00%) Dell