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 2 July 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
2 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 276 227 235
Rank change year-on-year -49 +8 +33
Contract jobs citing IBM 457 364 441
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.89% 1.18% 1.02%
As % of the Vendors category 2.17% 2.48% 2.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 258 236 236
10th Percentile £313 £358 £360
25th Percentile £400 £408 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £506 £500
Median % change year-on-year -3.21% +1.25% -4.76%
75th Percentile £600 £649 £641
90th Percentile £674 £688 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £474 £482
% change year-on-year +5.60% -1.76% -3.60%
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 21,090 14,680 18,591
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 40.98% 47.41% 42.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,140 9,003 11,556
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 £713 £733
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £481 £500
% change year-on-year +3.95% -3.80% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,092 694 1,154
10th Percentile £15.75 £14.84 £12.28
25th Percentile £19.03 £17.30 £14.84
Median hourly rate £33.99 £25.15 £24.50
Median % change year-on-year +35.15% +2.65% -39.64%
75th Percentile £62.81 £53.69 £59.95
90th Percentile £80.09 £68.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £22.63 £24.00
% change year-on-year +43.61% -5.71% -25.70%

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 2 July 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 2 July 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 2 July 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 -53 387 £475 -6.17% 121
UK excluding London -69 248 £500 +5.60% 83
London -52 151 £475 -20.83% 49
Work from Home -70 124 £514 -5.69% 53
North of England -50 92 £514 +20.94% 18
North West -42 48 £459 +10.60% 11
South East -44 44 £400 -20.00% 23
Yorkshire -26 43 £550 +10.00% 3
South West -7 40 £426 -29.00% 14
Midlands -52 29 £401 -8.76% 16
Scotland -17 24 £550 +10.94% 6
West Midlands -51 24 £400 -13.04% 10
East of England -13 16 £425 -22.73% 5
East Midlands -29 4 £837 +101.57% 6
Wales -13 3 £635 +0.40% 3
North East -32 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 (7.22%) WebSphere
2 27 (5.91%) Confluence
3 25 (5.47%) CICS
4 18 (3.94%) Tomcat
5 16 (3.50%) nginx
6 14 (3.06%) SharePoint
7 8 (1.75%) WebLogic
8 7 (1.53%) JBoss
9 5 (1.09%) Apache
9 5 (1.09%) SAS
9 5 (1.09%) WebSphere Application Server
10 4 (0.88%) IIS
11 3 (0.66%) Apache Airflow
11 3 (0.66%) Apache Spark
11 3 (0.66%) Camunda
11 3 (0.66%) CMS
12 2 (0.44%) IBM HTTP Server
12 2 (0.44%) Oracle HTTP Server
12 2 (0.44%) Oracle SOA Suite
12 2 (0.44%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 3 (0.66%) Microsoft Excel
1 3 (0.66%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.44%) PlantUML
3 1 (0.22%) MS Visio
3 1 (0.22%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 20 (4.38%) Maximo
2 10 (2.19%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 9 (1.97%) Temenos T24
4 5 (1.09%) Cognos Controller
4 5 (1.09%) SAP S/4HANA
5 3 (0.66%) SAP R/3
6 2 (0.44%) 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 (14.66%) AWS
2 50 (10.94%) Azure
3 24 (5.25%) GitHub
4 15 (3.28%) OpenShift
5 13 (2.84%) GitHub Copilot
6 11 (2.41%) ChatGPT
7 10 (2.19%) Azure DevOps
7 10 (2.19%) IBM Watson
8 9 (1.97%) Anthropic Claude
9 8 (1.75%) Amazon S3
9 8 (1.75%) GCP
10 7 (1.53%) Amazon EKS
10 7 (1.53%) Vertex AI
11 6 (1.31%) Azure AI
12 5 (1.09%) Amazon EC2
13 4 (0.88%) IBM Blueworks
13 4 (0.88%) IBM Cloud
13 4 (0.88%) MinIO
13 4 (0.88%) SaaS
14 3 (0.66%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 23 (5.03%) Firewall
2 20 (4.38%) SSL
3 17 (3.72%) SNMP
4 15 (3.28%) HTTP
5 9 (1.97%) SAN
5 9 (1.97%) TCP/IP
6 8 (1.75%) DNS
7 7 (1.53%) VSAN
8 6 (1.31%) Network Security
9 5 (1.09%) Fibre Channel
10 4 (0.88%) APPN
10 4 (0.88%) Cisco Nexus
10 4 (0.88%) LAN
10 4 (0.88%) NAS
10 4 (0.88%) SNA
10 4 (0.88%) VPN
10 4 (0.88%) WAN
11 3 (0.66%) MPLS
11 3 (0.66%) SSH
11 3 (0.66%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 44 (9.63%) Db2
2 27 (5.91%) Relational Database
3 26 (5.69%) DataStage
4 20 (4.38%) SQL Server
5 14 (3.06%) Metadata
5 14 (3.06%) MongoDB
6 13 (2.84%) Oracle Database
7 11 (2.41%) Data Warehouse
7 11 (2.41%) Elasticsearch
8 10 (2.19%) PostgreSQL
9 9 (1.97%) NoSQL
10 8 (1.75%) Big Data
11 7 (1.53%) GIS
12 5 (1.09%) Oracle Reports
13 3 (0.66%) Apache Hive
14 2 (0.44%) Amazon Redshift
14 2 (0.44%) Azure SQL Database
14 2 (0.44%) BusinessObjects
14 2 (0.44%) IBM InfoSphere
14 2 (0.44%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 38 (8.32%) Rational DOORS
2 35 (7.66%) JIRA
3 21 (4.60%) Jenkins
4 14 (3.06%) Git
5 13 (2.84%) GitLab
6 8 (1.75%) Rational Rhapsody
7 5 (1.09%) Ant
7 5 (1.09%) Liquibase
7 5 (1.09%) PowerDesigner
8 4 (0.88%) Eclipse
8 4 (0.88%) IBM UrbanCode
8 4 (0.88%) JMeter
9 3 (0.66%) Cucumber
9 3 (0.66%) Gradle
9 3 (0.66%) JUnit
9 3 (0.66%) Maven
9 3 (0.66%) REST Assured
9 3 (0.66%) Sonatype Nexus
9 3 (0.66%) Visual Studio
10 2 (0.44%) Introscope
General
1 133 (29.10%) Finance
2 101 (22.10%) Social Skills
3 92 (20.13%) Banking
4 46 (10.07%) Analytical Skills
5 36 (7.88%) Public Sector
6 29 (6.35%) Aerospace
6 29 (6.35%) Legal
7 16 (3.50%) Retail
8 12 (2.63%) Influencing Skills
9 8 (1.75%) Front Office
9 8 (1.75%) Investment Banking
10 7 (1.53%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 7 (1.53%) Military
11 6 (1.31%) Law
12 5 (1.09%) Documentation Skills
13 4 (0.88%) Aviation
13 4 (0.88%) Financial Institution
14 3 (0.66%) Telecoms
15 2 (0.44%) Advertising
15 2 (0.44%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 49 (10.72%) Architect
1 49 (10.72%) Developer
2 47 (10.28%) Analyst
3 29 (6.35%) Senior
4 28 (6.13%) Administrator
5 26 (5.69%) Delivery Manager
5 26 (5.69%) Product Delivery Manager
5 26 (5.69%) Product Manager
6 24 (5.25%) Consultant
7 21 (4.60%) Systems Delivery Manager
7 21 (4.60%) Systems Manager
8 17 (3.72%) Lead
9 16 (3.50%) Software Engineer
9 16 (3.50%) Solutions Architect
10 15 (3.28%) Data Engineer
11 14 (3.06%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 13 (2.84%) Designer
12 13 (2.84%) Management Consultant
12 13 (2.84%) Middleware Engineer
12 13 (2.84%) Storage Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 64 (14.00%) Middleware
2 37 (8.10%) REST
3 24 (5.25%) ISPF
4 19 (4.16%) JSON
5 17 (3.72%) Flash
5 17 (3.72%) Kafka
5 17 (3.72%) Spring Boot
5 17 (3.72%) XML
6 16 (3.50%) Spring
7 12 (2.63%) RabbitMQ
8 9 (1.97%) WebSphere MQ
9 8 (1.75%) PyTorch
9 8 (1.75%) SOAP
10 7 (1.53%) EJB
10 7 (1.53%) JDBC
10 7 (1.53%) JMS
10 7 (1.53%) LangChain
10 7 (1.53%) scikit-learn
10 7 (1.53%) ZeroMQ
11 6 (1.31%) JSP
Miscellaneous
1 96 (21.01%) Mainframe
2 36 (7.88%) Data Centre
3 33 (7.22%) Clustering
4 31 (6.78%) Data Structures
5 29 (6.35%) Product Ownership
6 22 (4.81%) Linux Command Line
6 22 (4.81%) Replication
7 17 (3.72%) Legacy Systems
8 15 (3.28%) SWIFT Messaging Network
8 15 (3.28%) VSAM
9 14 (3.06%) Cloud Native
10 12 (2.63%) IBM Mainframe
10 12 (2.63%) Legacy Applications
11 11 (2.41%) Algorithms
11 11 (2.41%) Hybrid Cloud
12 10 (2.19%) BYOD
12 10 (2.19%) Management Information System
13 9 (1.97%) Enterprise Software
13 9 (1.97%) Equity Derivative
14 8 (1.75%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 106 (23.19%) Linux
2 66 (14.44%) zOS
3 54 (11.82%) Windows
4 48 (10.50%) Unix
5 42 (9.19%) AIX
6 24 (5.25%) Solaris
7 23 (5.03%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 20 (4.38%) Windows Server
9 13 (2.84%) Windows Server 2008
10 11 (2.41%) Windows Server 2019
11 8 (1.75%) SUSE
11 8 (1.75%) Windows Server 2016
12 5 (1.09%) MVS
13 2 (0.44%) Oracle Linux
13 2 (0.44%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
14 1 (0.22%) Android
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 94 (20.57%) Agile
2 66 (14.44%) CI/CD
3 57 (12.47%) DevOps
4 55 (12.04%) Migration
5 53 (11.60%) Continuous Improvement
6 51 (11.16%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 48 (10.50%) Problem-Solving
8 47 (10.28%) ITIL
8 47 (10.28%) Roadmaps
9 39 (8.53%) ETL
10 38 (8.32%) Test Automation
11 37 (8.10%) Stakeholder Management
12 36 (7.88%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
13 35 (7.66%) Computer Science
13 35 (7.66%) Configuration Management
14 34 (7.44%) AI
14 34 (7.44%) Systems Engineering
15 33 (7.22%) UML
16 32 (7.00%) Change Management
17 31 (6.78%) Workflow
Programming Languages
1 89 (19.47%) SQL
2 78 (17.07%) Python
3 66 (14.44%) Java
4 36 (7.88%) PowerShell
5 24 (5.25%) Bash
6 20 (4.38%) COBOL
6 20 (4.38%) JCL
6 20 (4.38%) PL/SQL
7 15 (3.28%) REXX
8 14 (3.06%) Search Processing Language
9 13 (2.84%) C++
10 10 (2.19%) Ada
10 10 (2.19%) C
10 10 (2.19%) Shell Script
11 9 (1.97%) MATLAB
12 8 (1.75%) JavaScript
13 7 (1.53%) Assembly Language
13 7 (1.53%) C#
13 7 (1.53%) Perl
14 6 (1.31%) CLIST
Qualifications
1 126 (27.57%) Security Cleared
2 81 (17.72%) SC Cleared
3 43 (9.41%) Degree
4 13 (2.84%) BPSS Clearance
5 9 (1.97%) Computer Science Degree
6 8 (1.75%) CISSP
6 8 (1.75%) DV Cleared
7 6 (1.31%) AWS Certification
8 5 (1.09%) Azure Certification
8 5 (1.09%) CISM
8 5 (1.09%) IBM Certification
9 4 (0.88%) Master's Degree
10 3 (0.66%) CEH
10 3 (0.66%) ITIL Certification
10 3 (0.66%) PMI Certification
10 3 (0.66%) PMP
11 2 (0.44%) CISA
11 2 (0.44%) CISMP
11 2 (0.44%) GCIH
11 2 (0.44%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (6.78%) Data Quality
2 11 (2.41%) QA
3 9 (1.97%) SLA
4 6 (1.31%) GDPR
4 6 (1.31%) ISO 20022
5 5 (1.09%) SEPA
6 4 (0.88%) ISO 15022
6 4 (0.88%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 4 (0.88%) NIST
7 2 (0.44%) Accessibility
7 2 (0.44%) GAAP
7 2 (0.44%) GRC
7 2 (0.44%) IFRS
7 2 (0.44%) NCSC
7 2 (0.44%) NIST 800
8 1 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 15288
8 1 (0.22%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.22%) PMO
8 1 (0.22%) TARGET2
8 1 (0.22%) WCAG
System Software
1 29 (6.35%) Docker
2 27 (5.91%) VMware Infrastructure
3 23 (5.03%) RACF
3 23 (5.03%) VMware ESXi
4 22 (4.81%) NFS
5 17 (3.72%) GPFS
6 16 (3.50%) Virtual Machines
7 14 (3.06%) vSphere
8 12 (2.63%) Time Sharing Option
9 9 (1.97%) Oracle RAC
10 8 (1.75%) Firmware
11 7 (1.53%) Hyper-V
12 6 (1.31%) KVM
13 3 (0.66%) ACF2
13 3 (0.66%) EMC RecoverPoint
13 3 (0.66%) PowerHA
14 2 (0.44%) Job Entry Subsystem
14 2 (0.44%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
14 2 (0.44%) VMware NSX
15 1 (0.22%) SRDF
Systems Management
1 29 (6.35%) Ansible
2 23 (5.03%) OMEGAMON
3 21 (4.60%) Tivoli
4 20 (4.38%) Terraform
5 17 (3.72%) Kubernetes
5 17 (3.72%) Nagios
5 17 (3.72%) ZABBIX
6 16 (3.50%) Netcool
7 14 (3.06%) OpenView
7 14 (3.06%) Tivoli Monitoring
8 13 (2.84%) vRealize
9 11 (2.41%) Tivoli Storage Manager
10 8 (1.75%) IBM BigFix
10 8 (1.75%) Oracle RMAN
11 7 (1.53%) VxRail
12 6 (1.31%) Tivoli NetView
12 6 (1.31%) vCenter Server
13 4 (0.88%) CA Endevor
13 4 (0.88%) Grafana
14 3 (0.66%) EMC VPLEX
Vendors
1 91 (19.91%) Oracle
2 45 (9.85%) VMware
3 32 (7.00%) Microsoft
4 30 (6.56%) Cisco
5 29 (6.35%) Splunk
6 27 (5.91%) Red Hat
7 26 (5.69%) SAP
8 25 (5.47%) HP
9 24 (5.25%) ServiceNow
10 20 (4.38%) BMC
11 19 (4.16%) Dell
12 17 (3.72%) MathWorks
13 16 (3.50%) SolarWinds
14 13 (2.84%) Broadcom
14 13 (2.84%) Brocade
15 12 (2.63%) Google
16 11 (2.41%) Sybase
17 10 (2.19%) Cognos
18 9 (1.97%) Temenos
19 8 (1.75%) Siemens