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 17 October 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 17 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 273 | 257 | 217 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -16 | -40 | +11 |
| Contract jobs citing IBM | 551 | 354 | 436 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 1.00% | 1.06% | 1.16% |
| As % of the Vendors category | 2.39% | 2.23% | 2.60% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 344 | 235 | 206 |
| 10th Percentile | £350 | £340 | £306 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £413 | £400 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £500 | £525 | £475 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -4.76% | +10.53% | -10.38% |
| 75th Percentile | £600 | £649 | £600 |
| 90th Percentile | £700 | £700 | £738 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £475 | £450 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.26% | +5.56% | -14.29% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 19 | 8 | 28 |
| 10th Percentile | £19.75 | £25.04 | £46.18 |
| 25th Percentile | £34.87 | £25.12 | £61.25 |
| Median hourly rate | £62.50 | £41.33 | £67.50 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +51.24% | -38.78% | +3.85% |
| 75th Percentile | £70.00 | £71.75 | £70.00 |
| 90th Percentile | - | £73.25 | - |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £61.66 | £63.75 | £67.50 |
| % change year-on-year | -3.29% | -5.56% | +3.85% |
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.
| 6 months to 17 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for knowledge or experience of vendor products and services | 23,091 | 15,888 | 16,773 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK | 41.78% | 47.72% | 44.76% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 13,923 | 9,801 | 9,879 |
| 10th Percentile | £309 | £280 | £290 |
| 25th Percentile | £413 | £405 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £513 | £500 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +2.50% | -4.76% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £623 | £613 | £625 |
| 90th Percentile | £713 | £700 | £725 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £488 | £500 |
| % change year-on-year | +2.56% | -2.50% | - |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 1,467 | 813 | 570 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.59 | £14.87 | £15.00 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.01 | £17.79 | £16.44 |
| Median hourly rate | £24.19 | £24.00 | £33.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +0.79% | -27.27% | -24.79% |
| 75th Percentile | £56.00 | £36.00 | £64.40 |
| 90th Percentile | £77.00 | £68.00 | £70.00 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £23.18 | £21.28 | £30.71 |
| % change year-on-year | +8.93% | -30.70% | -28.59% |
IBM Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing IBM relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.
IBM Daily Rate Trend
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 17 October 2026.
IBM Hourly Rate Trend
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 17 October 2026.
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 17 October 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 | -21 | 474 | £500 | -4.76% | 305 |
| UK excluding London | -71 | 257 | £500 | +5.26% | 191 |
| London | +10 | 220 | £525 | -15.49% | 118 |
| Work from Home | -56 | 128 | £532 | -11.42% | 163 |
| North of England | -43 | 107 | £514 | +14.11% | 62 |
| Yorkshire | +17 | 67 | £514 | +11.43% | 34 |
| North West | -64 | 38 | £537 | +19.33% | 25 |
| South East | -70 | 33 | £460 | -16.36% | 32 |
| Scotland | -12 | 30 | £575 | +33.41% | 24 |
| South West | -20 | 30 | £550 | - | 25 |
| Midlands | -53 | 30 | £500 | +13.77% | 23 |
| West Midlands | -41 | 27 | £500 | -13.04% | 11 |
| East of England | -19 | 25 | £625 | +19.05% | 17 |
| Wales | -9 | 3 | £600 | -5.14% | 2 |
| East Midlands | -25 | 2 | - | - | 12 |
| North East | - | 1 | £475 | - | 3 |
IBM Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Vendors
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oracle | 21.2% | 117 |
| 2 | Microsoft | 11.8% | 65 |
| 3 | SAP | 7.3% | 40 |
| 4 | 6.2% | 34 | |
| 5 | ServiceNow | 5.1% | 28 |
| 5 | Splunk | 5.1% | 28 |
| 7 | VMware | 4.9% | 27 |
| 8 | Dynatrace | 3.4% | 19 |
| 8 | Red Hat | 3.4% | 19 |
| 10 | Cisco | 3.3% | 18 |
| 11 | Broadcom | 2.9% | 16 |
| 12 | Siemens | 2.7% | 15 |
| 13 | Cognos | 2.5% | 14 |
| 13 | EMC | 2.5% | 14 |
| 15 | Dell | 2.4% | 13 |
| 16 | Databricks | 2.2% | 12 |
| 16 | Informatica | 2.2% | 12 |
| 16 | NetApp | 2.2% | 12 |
| 16 | TIBCO | 2.2% | 12 |
| 20 | New Relic | 2.0% | 11 |