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 August 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 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 266 254 229
Rank change year-on-year -12 -25 +10
Contract jobs citing IBM 515 353 428
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.96% 1.08% 1.10%
As % of the Vendors category 2.30% 2.29% 2.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 306 229 204
10th Percentile £325 £358 £350
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £550 £483
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +13.99% -8.10%
75th Percentile £600 £650 £625
90th Percentile £675 £703 £747
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £487 £450
% change year-on-year +2.62% +8.28% -12.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 37 8 29
10th Percentile £50.70 £25.04 £27.00
25th Percentile £70.00 £25.12 £61.25
Median hourly rate £88.00 £41.33 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +112.95% -40.96% +7.69%
75th Percentile - £73.13 -
90th Percentile - £107.61 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £88.00 £63.75 £70.00
% change year-on-year +38.04% -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 22,375 15,442 16,970
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 41.71% 47.20% 43.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,812 9,439 10,467
10th Percentile £313 £275 £285
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.00% -4.76% -
75th Percentile £610 £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 1,157 809 781
10th Percentile £14.36 £14.68 £13.25
25th Percentile £17.25 £17.30 £15.62
Median hourly rate £29.07 £25.15 £28.00
Median % change year-on-year +15.59% -10.18% -36.00%
75th Percentile £65.00 £46.30 £61.60
90th Percentile £83.40 £67.60 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.00 £21.24 £27.00
% change year-on-year +31.83% -21.33% -32.16%

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 August 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 August 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 August 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 -15 440 £500 -9.09% 90
UK excluding London -40 260 £500 +2.62% 76
London -10 186 £488 -21.05% 28
Work from Home -60 123 £550 -13.04% 49
North of England -53 89 £514 +12.29% 23
South East -45 54 £460 -19.12% 10
Yorkshire -9 53 £520 +6.83% 10
South West -20 38 £426 -29.00% 18
North West -60 35 £455 +1.00% 9
Midlands -58 32 £450 +2.39% 11
West Midlands -51 29 £450 -21.74% 8
Scotland -18 27 £600 +26.72% 12
East of England -19 17 £625 +13.64% 5
Wales -14 3 £600 -5.14%
East Midlands -29 2 - - 3

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 36 (6.99%) Confluence
2 35 (6.80%) WebSphere
3 24 (4.66%) CICS
4 23 (4.47%) SharePoint
5 14 (2.72%) Tomcat
6 11 (2.14%) nginx
7 8 (1.55%) JBoss
8 7 (1.36%) Camunda
9 6 (1.17%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 6 (1.17%) WebLogic
10 5 (0.97%) Apache
10 5 (0.97%) SAS
10 5 (0.97%) WebSphere Application Server
11 4 (0.78%) IIS
12 2 (0.39%) ArcGIS
12 2 (0.39%) IBM HTTP Server
12 2 (0.39%) MQSeries
12 2 (0.39%) Oracle HTTP Server
12 2 (0.39%) WebSphere Portal
13 1 (0.19%) Oracle Coherence
Applications
1 7 (1.36%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (0.58%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.39%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.19%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.19%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 23 (4.47%) Maximo
2 17 (3.30%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 9 (1.75%) Temenos T24
4 5 (0.97%) Cognos Controller
5 3 (0.58%) IBM Operational Decision Manager
6 2 (0.39%) SAP S/4HANA
6 2 (0.39%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
7 1 (0.19%) Actimize
7 1 (0.19%) Dynamics CRM
7 1 (0.19%) HFM
7 1 (0.19%) MetaTrader
7 1 (0.19%) Misys Equation
7 1 (0.19%) Misys Midas
7 1 (0.19%) Remedy ITSM
7 1 (0.19%) SAP QM
7 1 (0.19%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 77 (14.95%) Azure
2 76 (14.76%) AWS
3 32 (6.21%) GitHub
4 26 (5.05%) GCP
5 19 (3.69%) OpenShift
6 15 (2.91%) GitHub Copilot
7 14 (2.72%) Anthropic Claude
8 12 (2.33%) ChatGPT
9 10 (1.94%) Azure DevOps
10 9 (1.75%) GitHub Actions
11 8 (1.55%) Amazon S3
12 7 (1.36%) IBM Blueworks
13 6 (1.17%) Azure Data Factory
13 6 (1.17%) Azure Service Bus
13 6 (1.17%) Boomi
13 6 (1.17%) iPaaS
13 6 (1.17%) Microsoft Copilot
14 5 (0.97%) Amazon EKS
14 5 (0.97%) IBM Watson
14 5 (0.97%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 23 (4.47%) SSL
2 19 (3.69%) HTTP
3 17 (3.30%) SNMP
4 13 (2.52%) SAN
5 12 (2.33%) Firewall
6 10 (1.94%) TCP/IP
7 9 (1.75%) Network Security
8 7 (1.36%) DNS
9 6 (1.17%) VSAN
10 5 (0.97%) Cisco Nexus
10 5 (0.97%) Wireshark
11 4 (0.78%) Fibre Channel
11 4 (0.78%) SSH
12 3 (0.58%) APPN
12 3 (0.58%) Internet
12 3 (0.58%) NAS
12 3 (0.58%) SNA
13 2 (0.39%) DMZ
13 2 (0.39%) LAN
13 2 (0.39%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 44 (8.54%) Db2
2 34 (6.60%) Relational Database
3 33 (6.41%) DataStage
4 22 (4.27%) SQL Server
5 18 (3.50%) Oracle Database
6 17 (3.30%) Data Warehouse
7 16 (3.11%) Metadata
8 15 (2.91%) MongoDB
9 9 (1.75%) Elasticsearch
10 8 (1.55%) Tableau
11 7 (1.36%) NoSQL
12 6 (1.17%) Big Data
12 6 (1.17%) GIS
12 6 (1.17%) PostgreSQL
13 5 (0.97%) Data Lake
13 5 (0.97%) Power BI
14 2 (0.39%) Amazon Redshift
14 2 (0.39%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
14 2 (0.39%) IBM InfoSphere
14 2 (0.39%) Redis
Development Applications
1 53 (10.29%) JIRA
2 39 (7.57%) Rational DOORS
3 33 (6.41%) Jenkins
4 20 (3.88%) Git
4 20 (3.88%) GitLab
5 15 (2.91%) JMeter
6 11 (2.14%) LoadRunner
6 11 (2.14%) SonarQube
7 10 (1.94%) Rational Rhapsody
8 9 (1.75%) Postman
8 9 (1.75%) SoapUI
9 8 (1.55%) IBM UrbanCode
9 8 (1.55%) Selenium
9 8 (1.55%) Sonatype Nexus
10 7 (1.36%) eggPlant
10 7 (1.36%) Gradle
11 6 (1.17%) JUnit
11 6 (1.17%) Maven
11 6 (1.17%) REST Assured
12 5 (0.97%) Bitbucket Server
General
1 175 (33.98%) Finance
2 123 (23.88%) Banking
3 122 (23.69%) Social Skills
4 67 (13.01%) Analytical Skills
5 30 (5.83%) Legal
6 28 (5.44%) Aerospace
7 25 (4.85%) Public Sector
8 14 (2.72%) Retail
9 9 (1.75%) Military
10 8 (1.55%) Front Office
10 8 (1.55%) Investment Banking
11 7 (1.36%) Influencing Skills
12 6 (1.17%) Documentation Skills
12 6 (1.17%) Presentation Skills
13 5 (0.97%) Law
14 4 (0.78%) Manufacturing
15 3 (0.58%) Financial Institution
15 3 (0.58%) Retail Banking
15 3 (0.58%) Telecoms
16 2 (0.39%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 76 (14.76%) Developer
2 64 (12.43%) Architect
3 49 (9.51%) Analyst
4 44 (8.54%) Senior
5 29 (5.63%) Administrator
5 29 (5.63%) Consultant
6 27 (5.24%) Lead
7 26 (5.05%) Delivery Manager
7 26 (5.05%) Product Delivery Manager
7 26 (5.05%) Product Manager
8 25 (4.85%) Solutions Architect
9 21 (4.08%) Systems Delivery Manager
9 21 (4.08%) Systems Manager
10 20 (3.88%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 18 (3.50%) Middleware Engineer
12 14 (2.72%) CICS Engineer
12 14 (2.72%) DataStage Developer
13 13 (2.52%) Management Consultant
14 12 (2.33%) Business Analyst
14 12 (2.33%) Programmer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 71 (13.79%) Middleware
2 47 (9.13%) REST
3 46 (8.93%) Kafka
4 39 (7.57%) XML
5 33 (6.41%) JSON
6 25 (4.85%) Spring Boot
7 24 (4.66%) ISPF
8 21 (4.08%) SOAP
9 17 (3.30%) Spring
10 16 (3.11%) RabbitMQ
11 15 (2.91%) Terraform
12 14 (2.72%) HTML
13 13 (2.52%) .NET
13 13 (2.52%) Flash
14 12 (2.33%) OAuth
14 12 (2.33%) Web Services
15 11 (2.14%) SAML
16 9 (1.75%) Swagger
17 8 (1.55%) JWT
17 8 (1.55%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 98 (19.03%) Mainframe
2 35 (6.80%) Product Ownership
3 34 (6.60%) Clustering
3 34 (6.60%) Data Structures
4 30 (5.83%) Data Centre
5 20 (3.88%) Replication
6 19 (3.69%) Cloud Native
7 17 (3.30%) SWIFT Messaging Network
8 15 (2.91%) AS400
9 14 (2.72%) Hybrid Cloud
9 14 (2.72%) Legacy Systems
10 13 (2.52%) Distributed Systems
10 13 (2.52%) Enterprise Software
10 13 (2.52%) IBM Mainframe
11 12 (2.33%) Data Protection Act
11 12 (2.33%) Legacy Applications
11 12 (2.33%) Management Information System
12 11 (2.14%) iSeries
12 11 (2.14%) Linux Command Line
13 10 (1.94%) Equity Derivative
Operating Systems
1 96 (18.64%) Linux
2 77 (14.95%) zOS
3 56 (10.87%) Unix
4 39 (7.57%) Windows
5 33 (6.41%) AIX
6 19 (3.69%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 12 (2.33%) Solaris
8 8 (1.55%) SUSE
9 7 (1.36%) Windows Server
9 7 (1.36%) Windows Server 2008
10 6 (1.17%) MVS
11 5 (0.97%) Windows Server 2019
12 3 (0.58%) Windows Server 2016
13 2 (0.39%) Oracle Linux
13 2 (0.39%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
14 1 (0.19%) Mac OS
14 1 (0.19%) OpenVMS
14 1 (0.19%) VMS
14 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 108 (20.97%) Agile
2 78 (15.15%) CI/CD
3 76 (14.76%) Migration
4 68 (13.20%) Continuous Improvement
5 65 (12.62%) DevOps
6 63 (12.23%) Stakeholder Management
7 60 (11.65%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 58 (11.26%) ITIL
9 57 (11.07%) Problem-Solving
10 55 (10.68%) Test Automation
11 51 (9.90%) Computer Science
12 50 (9.71%) ETL
13 41 (7.96%) Roadmaps
14 40 (7.77%) Systems Engineering
15 39 (7.57%) Configuration Management
16 38 (7.38%) Change Management
17 37 (7.18%) Performance Tuning
17 37 (7.18%) Root Cause Analysis
17 37 (7.18%) Scrum
18 36 (6.99%) AI
Programming Languages
1 103 (20.00%) SQL
2 93 (18.06%) Python
3 82 (15.92%) Java
4 31 (6.02%) PowerShell
5 28 (5.44%) JavaScript
6 23 (4.47%) PL/SQL
7 19 (3.69%) JCL
8 17 (3.30%) Bash
8 17 (3.30%) C++
9 16 (3.11%) Shell Script
10 14 (2.72%) REXX
10 14 (2.72%) Search Processing Language
11 13 (2.52%) C
11 13 (2.52%) COBOL
12 11 (2.14%) Perl
13 10 (1.94%) C#
14 7 (1.36%) Ada
15 6 (1.17%) Assembly Language
15 6 (1.17%) CLIST
16 5 (0.97%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 127 (24.66%) Security Cleared
2 84 (16.31%) SC Cleared
3 58 (11.26%) Degree
4 17 (3.30%) Computer Science Degree
5 8 (1.55%) DV Cleared
6 7 (1.36%) AWS Certification
6 7 (1.36%) BPSS Clearance
6 7 (1.36%) CISSP
7 5 (0.97%) CISM
8 4 (0.78%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 4 (0.78%) Azure Certification
8 4 (0.78%) CCSP
8 4 (0.78%) Cisco Certification
8 4 (0.78%) ISTQB
8 4 (0.78%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 3 (0.58%) CEH
9 3 (0.58%) CIMA
9 3 (0.58%) ISEB
9 3 (0.58%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 3 (0.58%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (6.99%) Data Quality
2 17 (3.30%) QA
3 9 (1.75%) ISO 20022
4 7 (1.36%) GDPR
4 7 (1.36%) ISO 15022
5 5 (0.97%) NIST
6 4 (0.78%) Actionable Recommendations
6 4 (0.78%) GRC
6 4 (0.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 4 (0.78%) SEPA
6 4 (0.78%) SLA
7 3 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 19770
8 2 (0.39%) GAAP
8 2 (0.39%) IFRS
9 1 (0.19%) DO-254
9 1 (0.19%) IEC 61508
9 1 (0.19%) ISO 26262
9 1 (0.19%) PCI DSS
9 1 (0.19%) PMO
9 1 (0.19%) TARGET2
System Software
1 37 (7.18%) Docker
2 26 (5.05%) RACF
3 25 (4.85%) VMware Infrastructure
4 17 (3.30%) NFS
5 15 (2.91%) VMware ESXi
6 12 (2.33%) GPFS
6 12 (2.33%) Time Sharing Option
7 11 (2.14%) Firmware
7 11 (2.14%) Virtual Machines
7 11 (2.14%) vSphere
8 7 (1.36%) ACF2
8 7 (1.36%) PowerHA
9 6 (1.17%) Oracle RAC
10 3 (0.58%) Active Directory
10 3 (0.58%) EMC RecoverPoint
11 1 (0.19%) Hyper-V
11 1 (0.19%) oVirt
11 1 (0.19%) RHEV
11 1 (0.19%) SRDF
11 1 (0.19%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 27 (5.24%) Kubernetes
2 24 (4.66%) OMEGAMON
3 23 (4.47%) Ansible
4 20 (3.88%) Tivoli
5 17 (3.30%) Nagios
5 17 (3.30%) ZABBIX
6 16 (3.11%) Netcool
7 14 (2.72%) OpenView
7 14 (2.72%) Tivoli Monitoring
7 14 (2.72%) Tivoli Storage Manager
8 9 (1.75%) Grafana
8 9 (1.75%) vRealize
9 6 (1.17%) Tivoli NetView
9 6 (1.17%) VxRail
10 5 (0.97%) Control-M
10 5 (0.97%) HP Fortify
10 5 (0.97%) Oracle RMAN
11 4 (0.78%) CA Endevor
11 4 (0.78%) QRadar
12 3 (0.58%) Avamar
Vendors
1 114 (22.14%) Oracle
2 49 (9.51%) Microsoft
3 37 (7.18%) VMware
4 35 (6.80%) Splunk
5 33 (6.41%) SAP
6 26 (5.05%) ServiceNow
7 22 (4.27%) Red Hat
8 20 (3.88%) Cisco
8 20 (3.88%) Google
9 18 (3.50%) BMC
9 18 (3.50%) HP
10 16 (3.11%) SolarWinds
11 15 (2.91%) Cognos
12 14 (2.72%) Broadcom
12 14 (2.72%) Dynatrace
13 13 (2.52%) MathWorks
14 12 (2.33%) Brocade
14 12 (2.33%) Sybase
15 11 (2.14%) Databricks
16 10 (1.94%) Dell