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 26 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
26 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 263 244 217
Rank change year-on-year -19 -27 +19
Contract jobs citing IBM 530 358 446
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.97% 1.08% 1.16%
As % of the Vendors category 2.32% 2.28% 2.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 336 238 213
10th Percentile £350 £354 £340
25th Percentile £425 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £545 £475
Median % change year-on-year -8.26% +14.74% -9.52%
75th Percentile £600 £649 £611
90th Percentile £691 £688 £740
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £450
% change year-on-year +5.26% +5.56% -14.29%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 8 31
10th Percentile £34.87 £25.04 £27.00
25th Percentile £60.81 £25.12 £61.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £41.33 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +57.29% -40.96% +7.69%
75th Percentile £70.00 £71.75 -
90th Percentile - £73.25 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £63.75 £70.00
% change year-on-year +1.96% -8.93% +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 22,863 15,724 17,051
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 41.67% 47.54% 44.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,925 9,673 10,099
10th Percentile £310 £275 £285
25th Percentile £413 £404 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.50% -4.76% -
75th Percentile £618 £613 £625
90th Percentile £705 £700 £731
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £480 £500
% change year-on-year +4.17% -4.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,314 807 652
10th Percentile £13.97 £14.75 £14.50
25th Percentile £16.41 £17.79 £15.70
Median hourly rate £25.75 £25.15 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +2.39% -22.62% -25.87%
75th Percentile £57.88 £43.21 £64.25
90th Percentile £78.69 £68.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.30 £21.30 £30.00
% change year-on-year +18.76% -29.00% -29.41%

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 26 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 26 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 26 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 -20 453 £500 -9.09% 346
UK excluding London -60 247 £500 +5.26% 225
London +6 209 £525 -12.50% 134
Work from Home -44 127 £549 -8.50% 191
North of England -48 96 £513 +13.62% 56
Yorkshire +3 63 £514 +8.77% 26
South East -67 35 £460 -17.30% 42
North West -64 32 £459 +2.00% 24
Scotland -18 31 £600 +38.89% 23
South West -24 30 £550 -8.33% 33
Midlands -58 28 £500 +13.77% 31
West Midlands -44 26 £500 -13.04% 13
East of England -25 25 £625 +13.64% 25
Wales -9 3 £600 -5.14% 7
East Midlands -30 1 - - 18

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 (7.17%) Confluence
2 36 (6.79%) WebSphere
3 26 (4.91%) CICS
4 18 (3.40%) SharePoint
5 17 (3.21%) Tomcat
6 15 (2.83%) nginx
7 11 (2.08%) Camunda
8 10 (1.89%) WebLogic
9 8 (1.51%) Apache
9 8 (1.51%) SAS
10 7 (1.32%) Oracle SOA Suite
11 6 (1.13%) JBoss
11 6 (1.13%) WebSphere Application Server
12 5 (0.94%) IBM Transformation Extender
13 3 (0.57%) ArcGIS
13 3 (0.57%) IBM HTTP Server
13 3 (0.57%) MQSeries
13 3 (0.57%) Oracle HTTP Server
13 3 (0.57%) WebLogic Portal
13 3 (0.57%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 11 (2.08%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (1.32%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (1.32%) Windchill
3 2 (0.38%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.19%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 26 (4.91%) Maximo
2 19 (3.58%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 7 (1.32%) Teamcenter
4 5 (0.94%) Cognos Controller
5 4 (0.75%) Temenos T24
6 3 (0.57%) IBM Operational Decision Manager
7 2 (0.38%) SAP S/4HANA
7 2 (0.38%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
8 1 (0.19%) Actimize
8 1 (0.19%) Dynamics CRM
8 1 (0.19%) HFM
8 1 (0.19%) Misys Equation
8 1 (0.19%) Misys Midas
8 1 (0.19%) Remedy ITSM
8 1 (0.19%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 88 (16.60%) Azure
2 81 (15.28%) AWS
3 38 (7.17%) GCP
4 36 (6.79%) GitHub
5 26 (4.91%) OpenShift
6 14 (2.64%) GitHub Copilot
7 13 (2.45%) Anthropic Claude
8 12 (2.26%) Azure DevOps
8 12 (2.26%) GitHub Actions
9 11 (2.08%) ChatGPT
10 10 (1.89%) IBM Watson
10 10 (1.89%) Power Platform
11 9 (1.70%) Azure Service Bus
11 9 (1.70%) Boomi
11 9 (1.70%) Entra ID
11 9 (1.70%) iPaaS
12 8 (1.51%) IBM Blueworks
12 8 (1.51%) Microsoft Copilot
13 7 (1.32%) Amazon S3
14 6 (1.13%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 26 (4.91%) HTTP
2 21 (3.96%) SSL
3 10 (1.89%) SAN
4 9 (1.70%) Network Security
4 9 (1.70%) SNMP
5 8 (1.51%) Firewall
5 8 (1.51%) TCP/IP
6 6 (1.13%) Internet
6 6 (1.13%) SSH
6 6 (1.13%) Wireshark
7 5 (0.94%) DNS
8 4 (0.75%) Fibre Channel
8 4 (0.75%) VSAN
9 3 (0.57%) Cisco Nexus
9 3 (0.57%) NAS
9 3 (0.57%) WAN
10 2 (0.38%) BGP
10 2 (0.38%) DMZ
10 2 (0.38%) Ethernet
10 2 (0.38%) IPv4
Database & Business Intelligence
1 47 (8.87%) Db2
2 35 (6.60%) Relational Database
3 33 (6.23%) DataStage
4 26 (4.91%) SQL Server
5 21 (3.96%) Data Warehouse
6 17 (3.21%) Oracle Database
7 15 (2.83%) Metadata
7 15 (2.83%) MongoDB
8 10 (1.89%) Tableau
9 9 (1.70%) Elasticsearch
10 8 (1.51%) Power BI
11 7 (1.32%) GIS
11 7 (1.32%) NoSQL
11 7 (1.32%) PostgreSQL
12 5 (0.94%) Big Data
12 5 (0.94%) Data Lake
12 5 (0.94%) IBM InfoSphere
13 4 (0.75%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
14 3 (0.57%) RDBMS
15 2 (0.38%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 63 (11.89%) JIRA
2 45 (8.49%) Jenkins
3 33 (6.23%) Git
4 24 (4.53%) GitLab
5 21 (3.96%) Rational DOORS
6 19 (3.58%) JMeter
7 16 (3.02%) LoadRunner
7 16 (3.02%) SonarQube
8 14 (2.64%) Postman
8 14 (2.64%) SoapUI
9 12 (2.26%) Gradle
10 11 (2.08%) IBM UrbanCode
11 10 (1.89%) eggPlant
11 10 (1.89%) JUnit
11 10 (1.89%) Maven
11 10 (1.89%) REST Assured
11 10 (1.89%) Sonatype Nexus
12 9 (1.70%) Mockito
12 9 (1.70%) Rational Rhapsody
12 9 (1.70%) Selenium
General
1 202 (38.11%) Finance
2 140 (26.42%) Banking
2 140 (26.42%) Social Skills
3 71 (13.40%) Analytical Skills
4 28 (5.28%) Legal
5 19 (3.58%) Public Sector
6 18 (3.40%) Retail
7 15 (2.83%) Manufacturing
8 11 (2.08%) Military
9 10 (1.89%) Documentation Skills
10 8 (1.51%) Presentation Skills
11 7 (1.32%) Front Office
11 7 (1.32%) Investment Banking
11 7 (1.32%) Spanish Language
12 6 (1.13%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (0.94%) Aerospace
13 5 (0.94%) Law
14 4 (0.75%) Financial Institution
14 4 (0.75%) Organisational Skills
15 3 (0.57%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 84 (15.85%) Developer
2 57 (10.75%) Architect
3 49 (9.25%) Analyst
4 44 (8.30%) Senior
5 37 (6.98%) Lead
6 27 (5.09%) Solutions Architect
7 26 (4.91%) Administrator
8 25 (4.72%) Consultant
9 20 (3.77%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 17 (3.21%) Automation Engineer
11 16 (3.02%) DataStage Developer
11 16 (3.02%) Java Developer
11 16 (3.02%) Middleware Engineer
12 15 (2.83%) Business Analyst
13 14 (2.64%) Applications Support
13 14 (2.64%) CICS Engineer
14 12 (2.26%) Applications Manager
14 12 (2.26%) Applications Support Manager
14 12 (2.26%) Programmer
14 12 (2.26%) Support Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 94 (17.74%) Middleware
2 60 (11.32%) Kafka
3 48 (9.06%) REST
4 47 (8.87%) XML
5 40 (7.55%) JSON
6 31 (5.85%) SOAP
7 30 (5.66%) Spring Boot
8 28 (5.28%) ISPF
9 22 (4.15%) Spring
10 20 (3.77%) HTML
11 17 (3.21%) .NET
12 16 (3.02%) RabbitMQ
13 15 (2.83%) Terraform
14 14 (2.64%) OAuth
15 13 (2.45%) SAML
15 13 (2.45%) Web Services
16 12 (2.26%) GraphQL
16 12 (2.26%) Swagger
17 11 (2.08%) JWT
17 11 (2.08%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 111 (20.94%) Mainframe
2 28 (5.28%) Clustering
3 23 (4.34%) Data Centre
4 22 (4.15%) Cloud Native
4 22 (4.15%) Replication
5 20 (3.77%) Enterprise Software
6 19 (3.58%) Hybrid Cloud
7 17 (3.21%) AS400
8 16 (3.02%) Data Structures
8 16 (3.02%) Distributed Systems
8 16 (3.02%) Onboarding
9 14 (2.64%) Legacy Applications
9 14 (2.64%) Legacy Systems
10 12 (2.26%) Data Protection Act
10 12 (2.26%) iSeries
10 12 (2.26%) Product Ownership
11 11 (2.08%) IBM Mainframe
11 11 (2.08%) SWIFT Messaging Network
12 10 (1.89%) Management Information System
13 9 (1.70%) VSAM
Operating Systems
1 96 (18.11%) Linux
2 83 (15.66%) zOS
3 57 (10.75%) Unix
4 35 (6.60%) Windows
5 21 (3.96%) AIX
6 19 (3.58%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 11 (2.08%) Solaris
8 8 (1.51%) SUSE
8 8 (1.51%) Windows Server
9 7 (1.32%) MVS
9 7 (1.32%) Windows Server 2008
10 5 (0.94%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.57%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.19%) Mac OS
12 1 (0.19%) OpenVMS
12 1 (0.19%) VMS
12 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 99 (18.68%) CI/CD
2 91 (17.17%) Agile
3 86 (16.23%) Stakeholder Management
4 80 (15.09%) Migration
5 74 (13.96%) DevOps
6 71 (13.40%) Test Automation
7 65 (12.26%) ITIL
7 65 (12.26%) Problem-Solving
8 58 (10.94%) Continuous Improvement
9 50 (9.43%) ETL
10 49 (9.25%) Validation
11 48 (9.06%) Performance Tuning
11 48 (9.06%) Roadmaps
12 45 (8.49%) Change Management
13 44 (8.30%) Root Cause Analysis
14 43 (8.11%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 42 (7.92%) Scrum
16 41 (7.74%) AI
17 37 (6.98%) Performance Optimisation
18 35 (6.60%) Computer Science
Programming Languages
1 115 (21.70%) SQL
2 95 (17.92%) Python
3 88 (16.60%) Java
4 45 (8.49%) JavaScript
5 25 (4.72%) JCL
6 23 (4.34%) PL/SQL
7 22 (4.15%) PowerShell
8 20 (3.77%) Shell Script
9 18 (3.40%) Bash
10 17 (3.21%) COBOL
10 17 (3.21%) REXX
11 16 (3.02%) C++
12 14 (2.64%) C#
13 12 (2.26%) C
14 9 (1.70%) Perl
15 7 (1.32%) Assembly Language
15 7 (1.32%) CLIST
15 7 (1.32%) Search Processing Language
15 7 (1.32%) TypeScript
16 6 (1.13%) RPG
Qualifications
1 104 (19.62%) Security Cleared
2 84 (15.85%) SC Cleared
3 46 (8.68%) Degree
4 26 (4.91%) Computer Science Degree
5 12 (2.26%) BPSS Clearance
6 7 (1.32%) CISSP
6 7 (1.32%) DV Cleared
7 6 (1.13%) AWS Certification
7 6 (1.13%) ISTQB
8 5 (0.94%) PMI Certification
8 5 (0.94%) PMP
9 4 (0.75%) Azure Certification
9 4 (0.75%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 3 (0.57%) ACCA
10 3 (0.57%) CIMA
10 3 (0.57%) ISEB
10 3 (0.57%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
11 2 (0.38%) CISA
11 2 (0.38%) CISM
11 2 (0.38%) IBM Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (6.60%) Data Quality
2 16 (3.02%) QA
3 10 (1.89%) ISO 20022
4 8 (1.51%) ISO 15022
5 7 (1.32%) GDPR
5 7 (1.32%) NIST
6 5 (0.94%) Actionable Recommendations
6 5 (0.94%) SLA
7 3 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 19770
7 3 (0.57%) SEPA
8 2 (0.38%) GAAP
8 2 (0.38%) GRC
8 2 (0.38%) IFRS
8 2 (0.38%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 2 (0.38%) PMO
9 1 (0.19%) Accessibility
9 1 (0.19%) DO-254
9 1 (0.19%) IEC 61508
9 1 (0.19%) MIL-STD-1553
9 1 (0.19%) TARGET2
System Software
1 46 (8.68%) Docker
2 30 (5.66%) RACF
3 23 (4.34%) VMware Infrastructure
4 14 (2.64%) NFS
4 14 (2.64%) Time Sharing Option
5 12 (2.26%) VMware ESXi
6 11 (2.08%) GPFS
7 10 (1.89%) Virtual Machines
8 8 (1.51%) vSphere
9 7 (1.32%) ACF2
9 7 (1.32%) Firmware
10 6 (1.13%) Oracle RAC
11 5 (0.94%) Active Directory
12 4 (0.75%) PowerHA
13 2 (0.38%) Hyper-V
14 1 (0.19%) EMC RecoverPoint
14 1 (0.19%) oVirt
14 1 (0.19%) RHEV
14 1 (0.19%) SRDF
Systems Management
1 40 (7.55%) Kubernetes
2 27 (5.09%) Ansible
3 25 (4.72%) OMEGAMON
4 20 (3.77%) Tivoli
5 13 (2.45%) Tivoli Monitoring
6 11 (2.08%) Grafana
6 11 (2.08%) Netcool
6 11 (2.08%) Tivoli Storage Manager
7 9 (1.70%) Nagios
7 9 (1.70%) ZABBIX
8 8 (1.51%) Control-M
9 6 (1.13%) HP Fortify
9 6 (1.13%) OpenView
9 6 (1.13%) vRealize
10 5 (0.94%) Oracle RMAN
10 5 (0.94%) QRadar
11 4 (0.75%) Tivoli NetView
11 4 (0.75%) VxRail
12 3 (0.57%) HP ALM
12 3 (0.57%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 117 (22.08%) Oracle
2 61 (11.51%) Microsoft
3 36 (6.79%) SAP
4 33 (6.23%) VMware
5 30 (5.66%) Google
5 30 (5.66%) Splunk
6 26 (4.91%) ServiceNow
7 21 (3.96%) Red Hat
8 19 (3.58%) Broadcom
8 19 (3.58%) Cisco
9 18 (3.40%) Dynatrace
10 15 (2.83%) Siemens
11 14 (2.64%) Cognos
12 13 (2.45%) Databricks
13 12 (2.26%) Dell
13 12 (2.26%) Informatica
13 12 (2.26%) Sybase
14 11 (2.08%) EMC
14 11 (2.08%) MathWorks
14 11 (2.08%) TIBCO