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 3 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
3 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 275 253 218
Rank change year-on-year -22 -35 +16
Contract jobs citing IBM 496 353 426
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.93% 1.09% 1.11%
As % of the Vendors category 2.21% 2.30% 2.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 296 228 202
10th Percentile £347 £354 £342
25th Percentile £413 £410 £411
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £550 £475
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +15.79% -9.52%
75th Percentile £600 £650 £600
90th Percentile £675 £701 £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 27 7 29
10th Percentile £34.87 £25.04 £27.00
25th Percentile £63.13 £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 22,429 15,339 16,876
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 41.83% 47.19% 44.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,832 9,388 10,318
10th Percentile £313 £275 £288
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 £728
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,168 783 734
10th Percentile £14.28 £14.69 £13.69
25th Percentile £17.20 £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 £62.38
90th Percentile £81.25 £68.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.00 £21.26 £28.00
% change year-on-year +31.70% -24.07% -29.29%

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 3 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 3 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 3 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 -39 421 £500 -9.09% 303
UK excluding London -64 237 £500 +5.26% 173
London -4 191 £488 -22.00% 163
Work from Home -44 122 £550 -13.04% 159
North of England -47 82 £514 +14.22% 37
Yorkshire -13 50 £520 +9.93% 14
South East -54 41 £460 -18.22% 39
South West -19 35 £550 -8.33% 27
North West -62 31 £455 +1.00% 19
Scotland -21 29 £600 +27.12% 21
Midlands -60 27 £475 +9.26% 18
West Midlands -46 25 £500 -13.04% 9
East of England -13 20 £625 +13.64% 26
Wales -15 3 £600 -5.14% 2
East Midlands -34 1 - - 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 39 (7.86%) Confluence
2 33 (6.65%) WebSphere
3 23 (4.64%) CICS
3 23 (4.64%) SharePoint
4 14 (2.82%) Tomcat
5 11 (2.22%) nginx
6 10 (2.02%) Camunda
7 8 (1.61%) JBoss
8 7 (1.41%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 6 (1.21%) WebLogic
10 5 (1.01%) Apache
10 5 (1.01%) SAS
10 5 (1.01%) WebSphere Application Server
11 4 (0.81%) 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 (1.21%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (0.60%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.40%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.20%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 23 (4.64%) Maximo
2 17 (3.43%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 9 (1.81%) Temenos T24
4 5 (1.01%) 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 74 (14.92%) AWS
1 74 (14.92%) Azure
2 32 (6.45%) GitHub
3 28 (5.65%) GCP
4 23 (4.64%) OpenShift
5 15 (3.02%) GitHub Copilot
6 14 (2.82%) Anthropic Claude
7 12 (2.42%) ChatGPT
8 9 (1.81%) GitHub Actions
9 8 (1.61%) Amazon S3
9 8 (1.61%) Azure DevOps
10 7 (1.41%) Azure Service Bus
10 7 (1.41%) Boomi
10 7 (1.41%) IBM Blueworks
10 7 (1.41%) iPaaS
10 7 (1.41%) Microsoft Copilot
11 6 (1.21%) Azure Data Factory
11 6 (1.21%) IBM Watson
11 6 (1.21%) Power Platform
12 5 (1.01%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 23 (4.64%) SSL
2 20 (4.03%) HTTP
3 15 (3.02%) SNMP
4 10 (2.02%) Firewall
4 10 (2.02%) SAN
4 10 (2.02%) TCP/IP
5 9 (1.81%) Network Security
6 7 (1.41%) DNS
7 5 (1.01%) Cisco Nexus
7 5 (1.01%) Wireshark
8 4 (0.81%) Fibre Channel
8 4 (0.81%) SSH
8 4 (0.81%) 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 46 (9.27%) Db2
2 33 (6.65%) Relational Database
3 31 (6.25%) DataStage
4 24 (4.84%) SQL Server
5 18 (3.63%) Oracle Database
6 17 (3.43%) Data Warehouse
7 16 (3.23%) Metadata
7 16 (3.23%) MongoDB
8 9 (1.81%) Elasticsearch
9 8 (1.61%) Tableau
10 7 (1.41%) NoSQL
11 6 (1.21%) GIS
11 6 (1.21%) PostgreSQL
12 5 (1.01%) Big Data
12 5 (1.01%) Data Lake
12 5 (1.01%) Power BI
13 2 (0.40%) Amazon Redshift
13 2 (0.40%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
13 2 (0.40%) IBM InfoSphere
13 2 (0.40%) Redis
Development Applications
1 60 (12.10%) JIRA
2 36 (7.26%) Jenkins
3 25 (5.04%) Rational DOORS
4 23 (4.64%) GitLab
5 21 (4.23%) Git
6 16 (3.23%) JMeter
7 14 (2.82%) SonarQube
8 12 (2.42%) LoadRunner
9 11 (2.22%) Gradle
9 11 (2.22%) Sonatype Nexus
10 10 (2.02%) Postman
10 10 (2.02%) Rational Rhapsody
10 10 (2.02%) SoapUI
11 9 (1.81%) JUnit
11 9 (1.81%) Maven
11 9 (1.81%) REST Assured
12 8 (1.61%) Bitbucket Server
12 8 (1.61%) Mockito
12 8 (1.61%) Selenium
13 7 (1.41%) eggPlant
General
1 174 (35.08%) Finance
2 127 (25.60%) Banking
3 121 (24.40%) Social Skills
4 65 (13.10%) Analytical Skills
5 29 (5.85%) Legal
6 23 (4.64%) Public Sector
7 14 (2.82%) Aerospace
8 13 (2.62%) Retail
9 10 (2.02%) Military
10 8 (1.61%) Front Office
10 8 (1.61%) Investment Banking
11 7 (1.41%) Presentation Skills
12 6 (1.21%) Documentation Skills
12 6 (1.21%) Influencing Skills
12 6 (1.21%) 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 81 (16.33%) Developer
2 61 (12.30%) Architect
3 46 (9.27%) Analyst
4 44 (8.87%) Senior
5 29 (5.85%) Lead
6 28 (5.65%) Administrator
7 25 (5.04%) Consultant
7 25 (5.04%) Solutions Architect
8 20 (4.03%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 18 (3.63%) Middleware Engineer
10 16 (3.23%) Java Developer
11 14 (2.82%) CICS Engineer
11 14 (2.82%) DataStage Developer
12 12 (2.42%) Business Analyst
12 12 (2.42%) Delivery Manager
12 12 (2.42%) Oracle Developer
12 12 (2.42%) Product Delivery Manager
12 12 (2.42%) Product Manager
12 12 (2.42%) Test Engineer
13 11 (2.22%) Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 71 (14.31%) Middleware
2 53 (10.69%) Kafka
3 44 (8.87%) REST
4 40 (8.06%) XML
5 35 (7.06%) JSON
6 30 (6.05%) Spring Boot
7 23 (4.64%) ISPF
7 23 (4.64%) SOAP
8 22 (4.44%) Spring
9 17 (3.43%) HTML
9 17 (3.43%) RabbitMQ
10 14 (2.82%) .NET
11 13 (2.62%) OAuth
11 13 (2.62%) Terraform
12 12 (2.42%) SAML
12 12 (2.42%) Web Services
13 11 (2.22%) Flash
14 10 (2.02%) CSS
14 10 (2.02%) Swagger
15 9 (1.81%) React
Miscellaneous
1 97 (19.56%) Mainframe
2 31 (6.25%) Clustering
3 25 (5.04%) Data Centre
3 25 (5.04%) Data Structures
4 21 (4.23%) Product Ownership
5 19 (3.83%) Cloud Native
6 18 (3.63%) Replication
7 17 (3.43%) SWIFT Messaging Network
8 15 (3.02%) AS400
8 15 (3.02%) Enterprise Software
9 14 (2.82%) Distributed Systems
9 14 (2.82%) Hybrid Cloud
10 13 (2.62%) Legacy Applications
10 13 (2.62%) Legacy Systems
11 12 (2.42%) IBM Mainframe
12 11 (2.22%) Data Protection Act
12 11 (2.22%) iSeries
13 10 (2.02%) Equity Derivative
13 10 (2.02%) Management Information System
13 10 (2.02%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 94 (18.95%) Linux
2 79 (15.93%) zOS
3 54 (10.89%) Unix
4 37 (7.46%) Windows
5 27 (5.44%) AIX
6 20 (4.03%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 11 (2.22%) Solaris
8 8 (1.61%) SUSE
8 8 (1.61%) Windows Server
9 7 (1.41%) MVS
9 7 (1.41%) Windows Server 2008
10 5 (1.01%) 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 97 (19.56%) Agile
2 85 (17.14%) CI/CD
3 76 (15.32%) Migration
4 65 (13.10%) DevOps
5 60 (12.10%) Stakeholder Management
6 59 (11.90%) Test Automation
7 56 (11.29%) ITIL
7 56 (11.29%) Problem-Solving
8 52 (10.48%) Continuous Improvement
9 49 (9.88%) ETL
10 46 (9.27%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 43 (8.67%) Scrum
12 40 (8.06%) Computer Science
13 39 (7.86%) Change Management
13 39 (7.86%) Validation
14 38 (7.66%) Performance Tuning
15 37 (7.46%) Roadmaps
16 36 (7.26%) AI
16 36 (7.26%) Root Cause Analysis
17 33 (6.65%) Performance Optimisation
Programming Languages
1 103 (20.77%) SQL
2 94 (18.95%) Python
3 85 (17.14%) Java
4 33 (6.65%) JavaScript
5 28 (5.65%) PowerShell
6 22 (4.44%) JCL
7 21 (4.23%) PL/SQL
8 17 (3.43%) C++
8 17 (3.43%) Shell Script
9 16 (3.23%) Bash
10 15 (3.02%) REXX
11 13 (2.62%) C
12 12 (2.42%) COBOL
12 12 (2.42%) Search Processing Language
13 11 (2.22%) C#
14 10 (2.02%) Perl
15 7 (1.41%) Ada
16 6 (1.21%) Assembly Language
16 6 (1.21%) CLIST
17 5 (1.01%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 114 (22.98%) Security Cleared
2 81 (16.33%) SC Cleared
3 49 (9.88%) Degree
4 20 (4.03%) Computer Science Degree
5 8 (1.61%) DV Cleared
6 7 (1.41%) AWS Certification
6 7 (1.41%) BPSS Clearance
7 6 (1.21%) CISSP
7 6 (1.21%) ISTQB
8 4 (0.81%) Azure Certification
8 4 (0.81%) CISM
8 4 (0.81%) 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 34 (6.85%) Data Quality
2 16 (3.23%) QA
3 10 (2.02%) ISO 20022
4 8 (1.61%) ISO 15022
5 7 (1.41%) GDPR
6 4 (0.81%) Actionable Recommendations
6 4 (0.81%) NIST
6 4 (0.81%) SEPA
6 4 (0.81%) 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 (7.86%) Docker
2 26 (5.24%) RACF
3 23 (4.64%) VMware Infrastructure
4 16 (3.23%) NFS
5 13 (2.62%) VMware ESXi
6 11 (2.22%) GPFS
6 11 (2.22%) Time Sharing Option
6 11 (2.22%) Virtual Machines
7 9 (1.81%) vSphere
8 7 (1.41%) ACF2
8 7 (1.41%) Firmware
9 6 (1.21%) Oracle RAC
10 5 (1.01%) 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 30 (6.05%) Kubernetes
2 24 (4.84%) OMEGAMON
3 23 (4.64%) Ansible
4 19 (3.83%) Tivoli
5 15 (3.02%) Nagios
5 15 (3.02%) ZABBIX
6 14 (2.82%) Netcool
7 13 (2.62%) Tivoli Storage Manager
8 12 (2.42%) OpenView
8 12 (2.42%) Tivoli Monitoring
9 9 (1.81%) Grafana
10 7 (1.41%) vRealize
11 6 (1.21%) Tivoli NetView
12 5 (1.01%) Control-M
12 5 (1.01%) HP Fortify
12 5 (1.01%) Oracle RMAN
13 4 (0.81%) CA Endevor
13 4 (0.81%) QRadar
13 4 (0.81%) VxRail
14 3 (0.60%) Avamar
Vendors
1 112 (22.58%) Oracle
2 48 (9.68%) Microsoft
3 34 (6.85%) Splunk
4 33 (6.65%) VMware
5 32 (6.45%) SAP
6 23 (4.64%) Google
7 22 (4.44%) Red Hat
7 22 (4.44%) ServiceNow
8 19 (3.83%) HP
9 18 (3.63%) Broadcom
10 17 (3.43%) Cisco
11 16 (3.23%) BMC
12 14 (2.82%) Cognos
12 14 (2.82%) Dynatrace
12 14 (2.82%) SolarWinds
13 13 (2.62%) MathWorks
13 13 (2.62%) Sybase
14 12 (2.42%) Brocade
15 11 (2.22%) Databricks
16 10 (2.02%) Informatica