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 14 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
14 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 271 247 219
Rank change year-on-year -24 -28 +17
Contract jobs citing IBM 498 362 437
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.92% 1.11% 1.14%
As % of the Vendors category 2.20% 2.35% 2.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 308 234 203
10th Percentile £343 £357 £340
25th Percentile £413 £413 £411
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £545 £475
Median % change year-on-year -8.26% +14.74% -9.52%
75th Percentile £600 £649 £600
90th Percentile £675 £696 £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 18 7 33
10th Percentile £34.87 £25.04 £30.84
25th Percentile £60.81 £25.09 £61.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £25.15 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +158.45% -64.07% +7.69%
75th Percentile £70.00 £66.88 -
90th Percentile - £73.50 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £57.50 £70.00
% change year-on-year +13.04% -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 22,611 15,412 16,967
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 41.77% 47.15% 44.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,874 9,444 10,224
10th Percentile £313 £275 £290
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.50% -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 1,249 781 690
10th Percentile £14.00 £14.54 £14.25
25th Percentile £16.72 £17.30 £15.62
Median hourly rate £27.00 £25.15 £30.80
Median % change year-on-year +7.36% -18.33% -28.38%
75th Percentile £62.50 £43.21 £63.75
90th Percentile £80.01 £67.50 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.14 £21.00 £30.00
% change year-on-year +24.48% -30.00% -25.00%

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 14 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 14 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 14 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 -36 421 £500 -9.09% 476
UK excluding London -70 235 £500 +5.26% 293
London -6 192 £488 -19.92% 207
Work from Home -62 118 £550 -12.00% 238
North of England -60 86 £514 +13.36% 77
Yorkshire -1 54 £514 +8.77% 33
South East -55 33 £460 -16.36% 53
South West -29 32 £550 -8.33% 40
North West -70 31 £455 +0.66% 38
Scotland -19 30 £600 +32.74% 32
Midlands -60 27 £475 +8.08% 42
West Midlands -45 25 £500 -13.04% 16
East of England -21 24 £625 +13.64% 35
Wales -12 3 £600 -5.14% 7
East Midlands -31 1 - - 26

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 37 (7.43%) Confluence
2 31 (6.22%) WebSphere
3 24 (4.82%) CICS
4 20 (4.02%) SharePoint
5 13 (2.61%) Tomcat
6 11 (2.21%) nginx
7 10 (2.01%) Camunda
8 7 (1.41%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 6 (1.20%) JBoss
9 6 (1.20%) WebLogic
10 5 (1.00%) SAS
11 4 (0.80%) Apache
11 4 (0.80%) WebSphere Application Server
12 3 (0.60%) ArcGIS
12 3 (0.60%) IIS
12 3 (0.60%) MQSeries
13 1 (0.20%) Documentum
13 1 (0.20%) FileNet
13 1 (0.20%) IBM HTTP Server
13 1 (0.20%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 8 (1.61%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (1.00%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.40%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.20%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 26 (5.22%) Maximo
2 18 (3.61%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 6 (1.20%) 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%) Misys Equation
7 1 (0.20%) Misys Midas
7 1 (0.20%) Remedy ITSM
7 1 (0.20%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 78 (15.66%) Azure
2 75 (15.06%) AWS
3 32 (6.43%) GCP
4 31 (6.22%) GitHub
5 25 (5.02%) OpenShift
6 15 (3.01%) GitHub Copilot
7 14 (2.81%) Anthropic Claude
8 12 (2.41%) ChatGPT
9 9 (1.81%) GitHub Actions
10 8 (1.61%) Azure DevOps
10 8 (1.61%) Azure Service Bus
10 8 (1.61%) Boomi
10 8 (1.61%) iPaaS
11 7 (1.41%) Amazon S3
11 7 (1.41%) IBM Blueworks
11 7 (1.41%) IBM Watson
11 7 (1.41%) Microsoft Copilot
11 7 (1.41%) Power Platform
12 6 (1.20%) Azure Data Factory
13 5 (1.00%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 22 (4.42%) SSL
2 20 (4.02%) HTTP
3 13 (2.61%) SNMP
4 10 (2.01%) SAN
5 9 (1.81%) Firewall
5 9 (1.81%) Network Security
5 9 (1.81%) TCP/IP
6 6 (1.20%) Wireshark
7 5 (1.00%) Cisco Nexus
7 5 (1.00%) DNS
8 4 (0.80%) Fibre Channel
8 4 (0.80%) SSH
8 4 (0.80%) VSAN
9 3 (0.60%) Internet
9 3 (0.60%) NAS
9 3 (0.60%) WAN
10 2 (0.40%) iSCSI
10 2 (0.40%) LAN
10 2 (0.40%) Multicast
10 2 (0.40%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 47 (9.44%) Db2
2 33 (6.63%) Relational Database
3 30 (6.02%) DataStage
4 24 (4.82%) SQL Server
5 17 (3.41%) Oracle Database
6 16 (3.21%) Data Warehouse
6 16 (3.21%) Metadata
6 16 (3.21%) MongoDB
7 9 (1.81%) Elasticsearch
8 8 (1.61%) Tableau
9 7 (1.41%) GIS
9 7 (1.41%) NoSQL
10 6 (1.20%) PostgreSQL
10 6 (1.20%) Power BI
11 5 (1.00%) Big Data
11 5 (1.00%) Data Lake
12 2 (0.40%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
12 2 (0.40%) IBM InfoSphere
12 2 (0.40%) RDBMS
12 2 (0.40%) Redis
Development Applications
1 60 (12.05%) JIRA
2 36 (7.23%) Jenkins
3 23 (4.62%) GitLab
4 22 (4.42%) Git
5 15 (3.01%) JMeter
5 15 (3.01%) Rational DOORS
6 14 (2.81%) SonarQube
7 12 (2.41%) LoadRunner
8 11 (2.21%) Gradle
8 11 (2.21%) Sonatype Nexus
9 10 (2.01%) Postman
9 10 (2.01%) Rational Rhapsody
9 10 (2.01%) SoapUI
10 9 (1.81%) JUnit
10 9 (1.81%) Maven
10 9 (1.81%) REST Assured
11 8 (1.61%) Bitbucket Server
11 8 (1.61%) IBM UrbanCode
11 8 (1.61%) Mockito
11 8 (1.61%) Selenium
General
1 182 (36.55%) Finance
2 131 (26.31%) Banking
3 124 (24.90%) Social Skills
4 66 (13.25%) Analytical Skills
5 29 (5.82%) Legal
6 22 (4.42%) Public Sector
7 16 (3.21%) Retail
8 10 (2.01%) Military
9 8 (1.61%) Front Office
9 8 (1.61%) Investment Banking
10 7 (1.41%) Documentation Skills
10 7 (1.41%) Presentation Skills
11 6 (1.20%) Influencing Skills
12 5 (1.00%) Aerospace
12 5 (1.00%) Law
13 4 (0.80%) Spanish Language
14 3 (0.60%) Manufacturing
14 3 (0.60%) Organisational Skills
14 3 (0.60%) Retail Banking
14 3 (0.60%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 82 (16.47%) Developer
2 61 (12.25%) Architect
3 48 (9.64%) Analyst
4 44 (8.84%) Senior
5 31 (6.22%) Lead
6 27 (5.42%) Administrator
7 26 (5.22%) Solutions Architect
8 25 (5.02%) Consultant
9 20 (4.02%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 17 (3.41%) Java Developer
10 17 (3.41%) Middleware Engineer
11 14 (2.81%) Business Analyst
11 14 (2.81%) CICS Engineer
11 14 (2.81%) DataStage Developer
12 12 (2.41%) Oracle Developer
12 12 (2.41%) Test Engineer
13 11 (2.21%) Applications Support
13 11 (2.21%) Programmer
13 11 (2.21%) Senior Developer
14 10 (2.01%) Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 75 (15.06%) Middleware
2 54 (10.84%) Kafka
3 46 (9.24%) REST
4 41 (8.23%) XML
5 35 (7.03%) JSON
6 30 (6.02%) Spring Boot
7 24 (4.82%) ISPF
7 24 (4.82%) SOAP
8 23 (4.62%) Spring
9 17 (3.41%) HTML
9 17 (3.41%) RabbitMQ
10 15 (3.01%) .NET
11 13 (2.61%) OAuth
11 13 (2.61%) Terraform
11 13 (2.61%) Web Services
12 12 (2.41%) SAML
13 11 (2.21%) Swagger
14 10 (2.01%) Flash
14 10 (2.01%) JWT
14 10 (2.01%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 105 (21.08%) Mainframe
2 29 (5.82%) Clustering
3 24 (4.82%) Data Centre
4 21 (4.22%) Cloud Native
4 21 (4.22%) Replication
5 17 (3.41%) Enterprise Software
6 16 (3.21%) Distributed Systems
7 15 (3.01%) AS400
7 15 (3.01%) Data Structures
8 14 (2.81%) Hybrid Cloud
8 14 (2.81%) Legacy Applications
8 14 (2.81%) SWIFT Messaging Network
9 13 (2.61%) Data Protection Act
9 13 (2.61%) Legacy Systems
10 12 (2.41%) Product Ownership
11 11 (2.21%) IBM Mainframe
11 11 (2.21%) iSeries
12 10 (2.01%) Equity Derivative
12 10 (2.01%) Management Information System
12 10 (2.01%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 93 (18.67%) Linux
2 83 (16.67%) zOS
3 53 (10.64%) Unix
4 37 (7.43%) Windows
5 24 (4.82%) AIX
6 20 (4.02%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 11 (2.21%) 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 (1.00%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.60%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.20%) Mac OS
12 1 (0.20%) OpenVMS
12 1 (0.20%) Oracle Linux
12 1 (0.20%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
12 1 (0.20%) VMS
12 1 (0.20%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 88 (17.67%) CI/CD
2 86 (17.27%) Agile
3 79 (15.86%) Migration
4 66 (13.25%) Stakeholder Management
5 65 (13.05%) DevOps
6 63 (12.65%) Test Automation
7 56 (11.24%) ITIL
7 56 (11.24%) Problem-Solving
8 48 (9.64%) ETL
9 47 (9.44%) Continuous Improvement
10 45 (9.04%) Validation
11 40 (8.03%) Change Management
11 40 (8.03%) Scrum
11 40 (8.03%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 39 (7.83%) Performance Tuning
13 38 (7.63%) Roadmaps
14 37 (7.43%) AI
14 37 (7.43%) Root Cause Analysis
15 34 (6.83%) Performance Optimisation
16 32 (6.43%) Computer Science
Programming Languages
1 104 (20.88%) SQL
2 91 (18.27%) Python
3 86 (17.27%) Java
4 32 (6.43%) JavaScript
5 24 (4.82%) PowerShell
6 23 (4.62%) JCL
7 21 (4.22%) PL/SQL
8 17 (3.41%) C++
8 17 (3.41%) Shell Script
9 16 (3.21%) REXX
10 15 (3.01%) Bash
11 14 (2.81%) COBOL
12 13 (2.61%) C
13 12 (2.41%) C#
14 10 (2.01%) Search Processing Language
15 9 (1.81%) Perl
16 6 (1.20%) Ada
16 6 (1.20%) Assembly Language
16 6 (1.20%) CLIST
17 5 (1.00%) RPG
Qualifications
1 103 (20.68%) Security Cleared
2 80 (16.06%) SC Cleared
3 41 (8.23%) Degree
4 22 (4.42%) Computer Science Degree
5 8 (1.61%) BPSS Clearance
5 8 (1.61%) DV Cleared
6 6 (1.20%) AWS Certification
6 6 (1.20%) ISTQB
7 5 (1.00%) CISSP
8 4 (0.80%) Azure Certification
8 4 (0.80%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 4 (0.80%) PMI Certification
8 4 (0.80%) PMP
9 3 (0.60%) ACCA
9 3 (0.60%) CIMA
9 3 (0.60%) CISM
9 3 (0.60%) ISEB
9 3 (0.60%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 2 (0.40%) CISA
10 2 (0.40%) IBM Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (7.23%) Data Quality
2 17 (3.41%) QA
3 10 (2.01%) ISO 20022
4 8 (1.61%) ISO 15022
5 7 (1.41%) 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%) ISO/IEC 19770
8 2 (0.40%) GAAP
8 2 (0.40%) GRC
8 2 (0.40%) IFRS
8 2 (0.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 2 (0.40%) PMO
9 1 (0.20%) Accessibility
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
System Software
1 41 (8.23%) Docker
2 27 (5.42%) RACF
3 22 (4.42%) VMware Infrastructure
4 15 (3.01%) NFS
5 12 (2.41%) Virtual Machines
5 12 (2.41%) VMware ESXi
6 11 (2.21%) GPFS
6 11 (2.21%) Time Sharing Option
7 8 (1.61%) vSphere
8 7 (1.41%) ACF2
9 6 (1.20%) Firmware
9 6 (1.20%) Oracle RAC
10 4 (0.80%) Active Directory
10 4 (0.80%) PowerHA
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 34 (6.83%) Kubernetes
2 24 (4.82%) Ansible
2 24 (4.82%) OMEGAMON
3 17 (3.41%) Tivoli
4 13 (2.61%) Nagios
4 13 (2.61%) ZABBIX
5 12 (2.41%) Netcool
5 12 (2.41%) Tivoli Storage Manager
6 11 (2.21%) Tivoli Monitoring
7 10 (2.01%) OpenView
8 9 (1.81%) Grafana
9 7 (1.41%) Control-M
10 6 (1.20%) vRealize
11 5 (1.00%) HP Fortify
11 5 (1.00%) Oracle RMAN
11 5 (1.00%) QRadar
11 5 (1.00%) Tivoli NetView
12 4 (0.80%) CA Endevor
12 4 (0.80%) VxRail
13 3 (0.60%) Avamar
Vendors
1 111 (22.29%) Oracle
2 52 (10.44%) Microsoft
3 33 (6.63%) Splunk
4 32 (6.43%) VMware
5 31 (6.22%) SAP
6 26 (5.22%) Google
7 22 (4.42%) Red Hat
8 21 (4.22%) ServiceNow
9 20 (4.02%) Cisco
10 18 (3.61%) Broadcom
11 16 (3.21%) HP
12 14 (2.81%) BMC
12 14 (2.81%) Cognos
12 14 (2.81%) Dynatrace
13 13 (2.61%) Sybase
14 12 (2.41%) Brocade
14 12 (2.41%) Dell
14 12 (2.41%) MathWorks
14 12 (2.41%) SolarWinds
15 11 (2.21%) Informatica