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 21 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
21 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 274 254 211
Rank change year-on-year -20 -43 +16
Contract jobs citing IBM 518 356 443
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.95% 1.09% 1.15%
As % of the Vendors category 2.29% 2.30% 2.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 325 233 210
10th Percentile £350 £351 £339
25th Percentile £420 £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 £601
90th Percentile £683 £688 £741
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 8 32
10th Percentile £34.87 £25.04 £28.92
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 22,669 15,501 17,034
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 41.71% 47.46% 44.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,851 9,502 10,192
10th Percentile £310 £275 £286
25th Percentile £413 £403 £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 £731
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £480 £500
% change year-on-year +4.17% -4.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,287 795 671
10th Percentile £14.00 £14.69 £14.25
25th Percentile £16.62 £17.44 £15.62
Median hourly rate £26.13 £25.15 £30.41
Median % change year-on-year +3.90% -17.30% -30.63%
75th Percentile £60.78 £43.50 £63.75
90th Percentile £78.75 £68.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.75 £21.00 £30.00
% change year-on-year +22.62% -30.00% -29.12%

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 21 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 21 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 21 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 -22 441 £500 -9.09% 425
UK excluding London -67 240 £500 +5.26% 237
London -1 206 £515 -14.17% 191
Work from Home -53 127 £549 -12.16% 213
North of England -47 89 £514 +13.36% 60
Yorkshire -2 57 £514 +8.77% 27
South East -59 36 £460 -17.30% 46
South West -22 32 £550 -8.33% 33
Scotland -21 31 £600 +38.89% 21
North West -66 31 £455 +0.66% 27
Midlands -61 26 £500 +13.77% 34
East of England -19 24 £625 +13.64% 31
West Midlands -47 24 £500 -13.04% 15
Wales -11 3 £600 -5.14% 3
East Midlands -29 1 - - 19

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 (6.95%) Confluence
2 32 (6.18%) WebSphere
3 26 (5.02%) CICS
4 19 (3.67%) SharePoint
5 14 (2.70%) Tomcat
6 12 (2.32%) nginx
7 11 (2.12%) Camunda
8 8 (1.54%) SAS
9 7 (1.35%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 7 (1.35%) WebLogic
10 6 (1.16%) JBoss
11 5 (0.97%) Apache
12 4 (0.77%) IBM Transformation Extender
12 4 (0.77%) WebSphere Application Server
13 3 (0.58%) ArcGIS
13 3 (0.58%) IIS
13 3 (0.58%) MQSeries
14 1 (0.19%) FileNet
14 1 (0.19%) IBM HTTP Server
14 1 (0.19%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 9 (1.74%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (1.16%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (0.97%) Windchill
4 2 (0.39%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.19%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 27 (5.21%) Maximo
2 18 (3.47%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 5 (0.97%) Cognos Controller
3 5 (0.97%) Teamcenter
3 5 (0.97%) Temenos T24
4 3 (0.58%) IBM Operational Decision Manager
5 2 (0.39%) SAP S/4HANA
5 2 (0.39%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
6 1 (0.19%) Actimize
6 1 (0.19%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.19%) HFM
6 1 (0.19%) Misys Equation
6 1 (0.19%) Misys Midas
6 1 (0.19%) Remedy ITSM
6 1 (0.19%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 85 (16.41%) Azure
2 80 (15.44%) AWS
3 37 (7.14%) GCP
4 35 (6.76%) GitHub
5 25 (4.83%) OpenShift
6 14 (2.70%) GitHub Copilot
7 13 (2.51%) Anthropic Claude
8 11 (2.12%) Azure DevOps
8 11 (2.12%) ChatGPT
8 11 (2.12%) GitHub Actions
9 10 (1.93%) IBM Watson
10 9 (1.74%) Azure Service Bus
10 9 (1.74%) Boomi
10 9 (1.74%) iPaaS
10 9 (1.74%) Power Platform
11 8 (1.54%) Entra ID
11 8 (1.54%) IBM Blueworks
11 8 (1.54%) Microsoft Copilot
12 7 (1.35%) Amazon S3
13 6 (1.16%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 23 (4.44%) HTTP
2 22 (4.25%) SSL
3 11 (2.12%) Firewall
4 10 (1.93%) SAN
4 10 (1.93%) SNMP
5 9 (1.74%) Network Security
5 9 (1.74%) TCP/IP
6 6 (1.16%) DNS
6 6 (1.16%) SSH
6 6 (1.16%) Wireshark
7 5 (0.97%) Cisco Nexus
8 4 (0.77%) Fibre Channel
8 4 (0.77%) Internet
8 4 (0.77%) VSAN
9 3 (0.58%) NAS
9 3 (0.58%) WAN
10 2 (0.39%) DMZ
10 2 (0.39%) Ethernet
10 2 (0.39%) IPv4
10 2 (0.39%) Multicast
Database & Business Intelligence
1 46 (8.88%) Db2
2 34 (6.56%) Relational Database
3 31 (5.98%) DataStage
4 24 (4.63%) SQL Server
5 19 (3.67%) Data Warehouse
6 17 (3.28%) Oracle Database
7 15 (2.90%) Metadata
7 15 (2.90%) MongoDB
8 9 (1.74%) Elasticsearch
8 9 (1.74%) Tableau
9 7 (1.35%) GIS
9 7 (1.35%) NoSQL
9 7 (1.35%) Power BI
10 6 (1.16%) PostgreSQL
11 5 (0.97%) Data Lake
12 4 (0.77%) Big Data
12 4 (0.77%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
13 3 (0.58%) IBM InfoSphere
14 2 (0.39%) Redis
14 2 (0.39%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 61 (11.78%) JIRA
2 42 (8.11%) Jenkins
3 29 (5.60%) Git
4 23 (4.44%) GitLab
5 19 (3.67%) Rational DOORS
6 16 (3.09%) JMeter
7 14 (2.70%) SonarQube
8 13 (2.51%) LoadRunner
9 11 (2.12%) Gradle
9 11 (2.12%) IBM UrbanCode
9 11 (2.12%) Postman
9 11 (2.12%) SoapUI
9 11 (2.12%) Sonatype Nexus
10 10 (1.93%) Rational Rhapsody
11 9 (1.74%) JUnit
11 9 (1.74%) Maven
11 9 (1.74%) REST Assured
11 9 (1.74%) Selenium
12 8 (1.54%) Bitbucket Server
12 8 (1.54%) Mockito
General
1 194 (37.45%) Finance
2 135 (26.06%) Banking
2 135 (26.06%) Social Skills
3 69 (13.32%) Analytical Skills
4 29 (5.60%) Legal
5 19 (3.67%) Public Sector
6 18 (3.47%) Retail
7 13 (2.51%) Manufacturing
8 11 (2.12%) Military
9 10 (1.93%) Documentation Skills
10 7 (1.35%) Front Office
10 7 (1.35%) Investment Banking
10 7 (1.35%) Presentation Skills
10 7 (1.35%) Spanish Language
11 6 (1.16%) Influencing Skills
12 5 (0.97%) Aerospace
12 5 (0.97%) Law
13 4 (0.77%) Organisational Skills
14 3 (0.58%) Financial Institution
14 3 (0.58%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 82 (15.83%) Developer
2 59 (11.39%) Architect
3 49 (9.46%) Analyst
4 44 (8.49%) Senior
5 32 (6.18%) Lead
6 27 (5.21%) Administrator
6 27 (5.21%) Solutions Architect
7 26 (5.02%) Consultant
8 20 (3.86%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 17 (3.28%) Middleware Engineer
10 16 (3.09%) Java Developer
11 15 (2.90%) Business Analyst
12 14 (2.70%) Automation Engineer
12 14 (2.70%) CICS Engineer
12 14 (2.70%) DataStage Developer
13 12 (2.32%) Applications Support
13 12 (2.32%) Oracle Developer
13 12 (2.32%) Programmer
13 12 (2.32%) Test Engineer
14 11 (2.12%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 86 (16.60%) Middleware
2 57 (11.00%) Kafka
3 49 (9.46%) REST
4 44 (8.49%) XML
5 37 (7.14%) JSON
6 30 (5.79%) Spring Boot
7 28 (5.41%) ISPF
8 27 (5.21%) SOAP
9 23 (4.44%) Spring
10 18 (3.47%) HTML
10 18 (3.47%) RabbitMQ
11 17 (3.28%) .NET
12 14 (2.70%) OAuth
13 13 (2.51%) SAML
13 13 (2.51%) Terraform
13 13 (2.51%) Web Services
14 12 (2.32%) GraphQL
14 12 (2.32%) Swagger
15 11 (2.12%) ActiveMQ
15 11 (2.12%) EDI
Miscellaneous
1 110 (21.24%) Mainframe
2 29 (5.60%) Clustering
3 24 (4.63%) Cloud Native
4 23 (4.44%) Data Centre
5 22 (4.25%) Replication
6 18 (3.47%) Enterprise Software
6 18 (3.47%) Hybrid Cloud
7 17 (3.28%) AS400
7 17 (3.28%) Distributed Systems
8 15 (2.90%) Data Structures
9 14 (2.70%) Legacy Applications
9 14 (2.70%) Legacy Systems
9 14 (2.70%) Onboarding
10 12 (2.32%) Data Protection Act
10 12 (2.32%) iSeries
10 12 (2.32%) SWIFT Messaging Network
11 11 (2.12%) IBM Mainframe
11 11 (2.12%) Product Ownership
12 10 (1.93%) Management Information System
13 9 (1.74%) Equity Derivative
Operating Systems
1 93 (17.95%) Linux
2 83 (16.02%) zOS
3 54 (10.42%) Unix
4 38 (7.34%) Windows
5 21 (4.05%) AIX
6 20 (3.86%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 11 (2.12%) Solaris
8 8 (1.54%) SUSE
8 8 (1.54%) Windows Server
9 7 (1.35%) MVS
9 7 (1.35%) Windows Server 2008
10 5 (0.97%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.58%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.19%) Mac OS
12 1 (0.19%) OpenVMS
12 1 (0.19%) Oracle Linux
12 1 (0.19%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
12 1 (0.19%) VMS
12 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 95 (18.34%) CI/CD
2 88 (16.99%) Agile
3 82 (15.83%) Migration
4 78 (15.06%) Stakeholder Management
5 70 (13.51%) DevOps
6 65 (12.55%) Test Automation
7 62 (11.97%) Problem-Solving
8 60 (11.58%) ITIL
9 53 (10.23%) Continuous Improvement
10 49 (9.46%) ETL
11 47 (9.07%) Validation
12 46 (8.88%) Performance Tuning
13 45 (8.69%) Change Management
14 44 (8.49%) Roadmaps
15 41 (7.92%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 39 (7.53%) AI
16 39 (7.53%) Root Cause Analysis
16 39 (7.53%) Scrum
17 35 (6.76%) Performance Optimisation
18 33 (6.37%) Computer Science
Programming Languages
1 109 (21.04%) SQL
2 93 (17.95%) Python
3 89 (17.18%) Java
4 35 (6.76%) JavaScript
5 25 (4.83%) JCL
6 22 (4.25%) PL/SQL
6 22 (4.25%) PowerShell
7 17 (3.28%) REXX
7 17 (3.28%) Shell Script
8 16 (3.09%) C++
8 16 (3.09%) COBOL
9 15 (2.90%) Bash
10 14 (2.70%) C#
11 13 (2.51%) C
12 10 (1.93%) Perl
13 8 (1.54%) Search Processing Language
14 7 (1.35%) Assembly Language
14 7 (1.35%) CLIST
14 7 (1.35%) TypeScript
15 6 (1.16%) Ada
Qualifications
1 102 (19.69%) Security Cleared
2 81 (15.64%) SC Cleared
3 43 (8.30%) Degree
4 24 (4.63%) Computer Science Degree
5 10 (1.93%) BPSS Clearance
6 8 (1.54%) DV Cleared
7 6 (1.16%) AWS Certification
7 6 (1.16%) CISSP
7 6 (1.16%) ISTQB
8 4 (0.77%) Azure Certification
8 4 (0.77%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 4 (0.77%) PMI Certification
8 4 (0.77%) PMP
9 3 (0.58%) ACCA
9 3 (0.58%) CIMA
9 3 (0.58%) CISM
9 3 (0.58%) ISEB
9 3 (0.58%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 2 (0.39%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
10 2 (0.39%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (6.56%) Data Quality
2 16 (3.09%) QA
3 10 (1.93%) ISO 20022
4 8 (1.54%) ISO 15022
5 7 (1.35%) GDPR
6 6 (1.16%) NIST
7 4 (0.77%) Actionable Recommendations
7 4 (0.77%) SLA
8 3 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 19770
8 3 (0.58%) SEPA
9 2 (0.39%) GAAP
9 2 (0.39%) GRC
9 2 (0.39%) IFRS
9 2 (0.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 2 (0.39%) PMO
10 1 (0.19%) Accessibility
10 1 (0.19%) ISO 26262
10 1 (0.19%) ISO/IEC 15288
10 1 (0.19%) MIL-STD-1553
10 1 (0.19%) TARGET2
System Software
1 45 (8.69%) Docker
2 30 (5.79%) RACF
3 23 (4.44%) VMware Infrastructure
4 14 (2.70%) NFS
4 14 (2.70%) Time Sharing Option
5 12 (2.32%) Virtual Machines
5 12 (2.32%) VMware ESXi
6 11 (2.12%) GPFS
7 8 (1.54%) vSphere
8 7 (1.35%) ACF2
8 7 (1.35%) Firmware
9 6 (1.16%) Oracle RAC
10 4 (0.77%) Active Directory
10 4 (0.77%) PowerHA
11 3 (0.58%) EMC RecoverPoint
12 2 (0.39%) Hyper-V
13 1 (0.19%) oVirt
13 1 (0.19%) RHEV
13 1 (0.19%) SRDF
13 1 (0.19%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 39 (7.53%) Kubernetes
2 28 (5.41%) Ansible
3 25 (4.83%) OMEGAMON
4 19 (3.67%) Tivoli
5 11 (2.12%) Tivoli Monitoring
5 11 (2.12%) Tivoli Storage Manager
6 10 (1.93%) Grafana
6 10 (1.93%) Nagios
6 10 (1.93%) Netcool
6 10 (1.93%) ZABBIX
7 7 (1.35%) Control-M
7 7 (1.35%) OpenView
8 6 (1.16%) vRealize
9 5 (0.97%) HP Fortify
9 5 (0.97%) Oracle RMAN
9 5 (0.97%) QRadar
10 4 (0.77%) Tivoli NetView
10 4 (0.77%) VxRail
11 3 (0.58%) Avamar
11 3 (0.58%) HP ALM
Vendors
1 113 (21.81%) Oracle
2 57 (11.00%) Microsoft
3 34 (6.56%) SAP
4 33 (6.37%) VMware
5 31 (5.98%) Splunk
6 30 (5.79%) Google
7 23 (4.44%) ServiceNow
8 22 (4.25%) Red Hat
9 21 (4.05%) Cisco
10 19 (3.67%) Broadcom
11 15 (2.90%) Dynatrace
12 14 (2.70%) Cognos
13 13 (2.51%) EMC
13 13 (2.51%) HP
13 13 (2.51%) Siemens
14 12 (2.32%) Databricks
14 12 (2.32%) Dell
14 12 (2.32%) Informatica
14 12 (2.32%) MathWorks
14 12 (2.32%) Sybase