IBM Contracts

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 1 July 2025, 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
1 Jul 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 228 239 267
Rank change year-on-year +11 +28 -28
Contract jobs citing IBM 361 437 536
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 1.17% 1.01% 0.96%
As % of the Vendors category 2.47% 2.37% 2.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 234 233 318
10th Percentile £358 £360 £375
25th Percentile £408 £410 £443
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -8.70%
75th Percentile £649 £650 £626
90th Percentile £688 £750 £713
UK excluding London median daily rate £467 £475 £500
% change year-on-year -1.63% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 39 16
10th Percentile £24.81 £51.40 £47.50
25th Percentile £25.04 £65.00 £54.06
Median hourly rate £25.08 £70.00 £67.50
Median % change year-on-year -64.18% +3.70% +22.73%
75th Percentile £72.50 - £72.50
90th Percentile £139.23 - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.08 £70.00 £68.75
% change year-on-year -64.18% +1.82% +25.00%

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 14,621 18,467 24,377
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 47.46% 42.78% 43.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,943 11,456 16,143
10th Percentile £280 £270 £270
25th Percentile £400 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.91% -1.90% -
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £713 £734 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £479 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -4.20% - +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 701 1,167 649
10th Percentile £14.75 £12.28 £15.00
25th Percentile £17.30 £14.84 £18.75
Median hourly rate £25.15 £24.18 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.01% -39.55% +81.82%
75th Percentile £53.50 £59.76 £63.00
90th Percentile £68.00 £70.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.63 £22.53 £29.30
% change year-on-year +0.44% -23.11% +49.55%

IBM
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing IBM as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for IBM in the UK

IBM
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing IBM.

Daily rate trend for IBM in the UK

IBM
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing IBM over the 6 months to 1 July 2025.

Daily rate histogram for IBM in the UK

IBM
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing IBM.

Hourly rate trend for IBM in the UK

IBM
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing IBM over the 6 months to 1 July 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for IBM in the UK

IBM
Top 17 Contract 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 1 July 2025. 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 +9 303 £500 -0.99% 1,020
UK excluding London +10 188 £467 -1.63% 695
Work from Home +44 141 £545 +9.00% 461
London +29 131 £600 +4.35% 393
North of England +28 66 £425 -9.96% 142
North West +36 38 £402 -21.37% 88
Scotland +17 33 £496 +7.19% 53
Midlands +22 32 £440 +16.27% 111
South East +14 30 £500 +11.11% 188
Yorkshire -8 25 £500 +16.28% 47
West Midlands +2 17 £460 +21.69% 45
East Midlands +17 15 £415 - 66
South West +1 14 £600 -7.69% 100
East of England +8 9 £550 +7.32% 91
North East +2 3 £419 +4.69% 7
Wales - 3 £633 - 13
Northern Ireland - 2 £633 - 8

IBM
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 34 (9.42%) WebSphere
2 21 (5.82%) CICS
3 20 (5.54%) Confluence
4 14 (3.88%) WebSphere Application Server
5 13 (3.60%) Apache
6 12 (3.32%) JBoss
7 11 (3.05%) IIS
7 11 (3.05%) MQSeries
7 11 (3.05%) SAS
8 8 (2.22%) WebLogic
9 5 (1.39%) SharePoint
10 4 (1.11%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 3 (0.83%) BizTalk Server
11 3 (0.83%) Documentum
11 3 (0.83%) Oracle SOA Suite
11 3 (0.83%) Tomcat
12 2 (0.55%) Apache Spark
12 2 (0.55%) CMS
12 2 (0.55%) Microsoft Exchange
13 1 (0.28%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 9 (2.49%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (1.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 6 (1.66%) MS Visio
3 4 (1.11%) Chatbot
4 3 (0.83%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (0.83%) Microsoft Project
4 3 (0.83%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 10 (2.77%) Maximo
2 3 (0.83%) IBM Planning Analytics
2 3 (0.83%) Oracle 11i
2 3 (0.83%) Oracle BPM
3 2 (0.55%) Misys Midas
3 2 (0.55%) Oracle EBS
3 2 (0.55%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 2 (0.55%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 2 (0.55%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.28%) Cloudability
4 1 (0.28%) Cognos Business Intelligence
4 1 (0.28%) IBM Operational Decision Manager
Cloud Services
1 89 (24.65%) AWS
2 71 (19.67%) Azure
3 49 (13.57%) GCP
4 13 (3.60%) GitHub
5 12 (3.32%) SaaS
6 11 (3.05%) Amazon S3
7 10 (2.77%) IBM Cloud
8 9 (2.49%) IaaS
9 8 (2.22%) Nutanix
9 8 (2.22%) PaaS
10 7 (1.94%) OpenShift
11 6 (1.66%) Azure API Management
11 6 (1.66%) OCI
11 6 (1.66%) Snowflake
12 5 (1.39%) IBM Watson
12 5 (1.39%) npm
13 4 (1.11%) Amazon ECS
13 4 (1.11%) Azure Monitor
13 4 (1.11%) Power Platform
13 4 (1.11%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 13 (3.60%) SAN
1 13 (3.60%) SSL
2 12 (3.32%) HTTPS
3 10 (2.77%) TCP/IP
4 8 (2.22%) DNS
5 7 (1.94%) SSH
6 6 (1.66%) HTTP
7 5 (1.39%) Firewall
8 4 (1.11%) Calico
8 4 (1.11%) SMS
8 4 (1.11%) SNA
9 3 (0.83%) DHCP
9 3 (0.83%) Kerberos
9 3 (0.83%) Network Security
10 2 (0.55%) Internet
10 2 (0.55%) LAN
10 2 (0.55%) VLAN
11 1 (0.28%) DWDM
11 1 (0.28%) FTP
11 1 (0.28%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 43 (11.91%) DB2
2 33 (9.14%) SQL Server
3 22 (6.09%) Relational Database
4 18 (4.99%) Oracle Database
5 15 (4.16%) Data Warehouse
6 11 (3.05%) Amazon RDS
6 11 (3.05%) RDBMS
7 10 (2.77%) PostgreSQL
8 8 (2.22%) MongoDB
9 7 (1.94%) IBM InfoSphere
10 5 (1.39%) Amazon Athena
10 5 (1.39%) Elasticsearch
10 5 (1.39%) Hadoop
11 4 (1.11%) MySQL
11 4 (1.11%) OLAP
11 4 (1.11%) Power BI
12 3 (0.83%) Big Data
12 3 (0.83%) DataStage
12 3 (0.83%) Oracle Database 10g
12 3 (0.83%) Oracle Exadata
Development Applications
1 33 (9.14%) JIRA
2 20 (5.54%) Jenkins
3 15 (4.16%) GitLab
4 13 (3.60%) Git
5 7 (1.94%) Bitbucket
5 7 (1.94%) JUnit
6 6 (1.66%) IBM UrbanCode
6 6 (1.66%) Maven
6 6 (1.66%) TeamCity
7 5 (1.39%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 5 (1.39%) Rational Rhapsody
7 5 (1.39%) Subversion
8 4 (1.11%) Ant
8 4 (1.11%) Rational DOORS
8 4 (1.11%) Toad
9 3 (0.83%) Artifactory
9 3 (0.83%) Log4j
9 3 (0.83%) Selenium
9 3 (0.83%) SoapUI
9 3 (0.83%) Visual Studio
General
1 99 (27.42%) Social Skills
2 96 (26.59%) Finance
3 73 (20.22%) Banking
4 61 (16.90%) Analytical Skills
5 11 (3.05%) Organisational Skills
5 11 (3.05%) Public Sector
6 9 (2.49%) Presentation Skills
7 8 (2.22%) Financial Institution
8 7 (1.94%) Front Office
9 6 (1.66%) Investment Banking
10 5 (1.39%) Aerospace
10 5 (1.39%) Retail
11 4 (1.11%) Documentation Skills
11 4 (1.11%) Private Banking
11 4 (1.11%) Telecoms
12 3 (0.83%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 3 (0.83%) Law
13 2 (0.55%) General Ledger
13 2 (0.55%) Marketing
13 2 (0.55%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 62 (17.17%) Consultant
2 52 (14.40%) Architect
3 44 (12.19%) Developer
4 36 (9.97%) Senior
5 21 (5.82%) Administrator
6 18 (4.99%) Solutions Architect
7 15 (4.16%) Analyst
7 15 (4.16%) Management Consultant
8 14 (3.88%) Senior Consultant
8 14 (3.88%) Software Consultant
9 13 (3.60%) Infrastructure Architect
9 13 (3.60%) Programmer
10 12 (3.32%) Infrastructure Consultant
10 12 (3.32%) Senior Infrastructure Consultant
10 12 (3.32%) Support Engineer
11 9 (2.49%) Platform Engineer
11 9 (2.49%) Systems Programmer
11 9 (2.49%) z/OS Systems Programmer
12 8 (2.22%) RPG Developer
12 8 (2.22%) Server Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (10.25%) Middleware
2 31 (8.59%) XML
3 28 (7.76%) EntireX
4 24 (6.65%) Kafka
5 23 (6.37%) OAuth
6 21 (5.82%) Spring
7 20 (5.54%) ISPF
8 19 (5.26%) LDAP
8 19 (5.26%) SOAP
9 18 (4.99%) SAML
10 15 (4.16%) OpenID
11 13 (3.60%) Hibernate
11 13 (3.60%) Web Services
12 10 (2.77%) REST
12 10 (2.77%) Spring Boot
13 9 (2.49%) .NET
13 9 (2.49%) IBM Integration Bus
13 9 (2.49%) RESTful
14 8 (2.22%) JSON
14 8 (2.22%) WebSphere MQ
Miscellaneous
1 64 (17.73%) Mainframe
2 23 (6.37%) Data Centre
3 20 (5.54%) IBM Mainframe
4 17 (4.71%) Replication
5 15 (4.16%) Clustering
6 14 (3.88%) Data Protection Act
7 13 (3.60%) Management Information System
8 12 (3.32%) AS400
9 11 (3.05%) Enterprise Software
9 11 (3.05%) Onboarding
10 9 (2.49%) iSeries
10 9 (2.49%) Product Ownership
11 8 (2.22%) Legacy Systems
11 8 (2.22%) Public Cloud
11 8 (2.22%) SWIFT Messaging Network
12 6 (1.66%) Cloud Native
12 6 (1.66%) Virtual Team
12 6 (1.66%) VSAM
13 5 (1.39%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
13 5 (1.39%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 86 (23.82%) Linux
2 65 (18.01%) Windows
3 48 (13.30%) Unix
4 41 (11.36%) zOS
5 23 (6.37%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 23 (6.37%) Windows Server
6 19 (5.26%) AIX
7 17 (4.71%) Solaris
8 9 (2.49%) HPUX
9 6 (1.66%) Oracle Linux
10 4 (1.11%) Android
10 4 (1.11%) Apple iOS
10 4 (1.11%) CentOS
10 4 (1.11%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.55%) OS/2
11 2 (0.55%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.28%) Data ONTAP
12 1 (0.28%) MVS
12 1 (0.28%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.28%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 77 (21.33%) Problem-Solving
2 66 (18.28%) Agile
3 52 (14.40%) Migration
4 49 (13.57%) DevOps
5 45 (12.47%) CI/CD
6 35 (9.70%) High Availability
7 34 (9.42%) Disaster Recovery
8 31 (8.59%) Containerisation
9 30 (8.31%) Project Delivery
10 28 (7.76%) Performance Tuning
11 26 (7.20%) ITIL
12 25 (6.93%) Service Management
13 24 (6.65%) Microservices
14 23 (6.37%) Continuous Improvement
14 23 (6.37%) Incident Response
15 22 (6.09%) Problem Management
16 21 (5.82%) Mentoring
17 20 (5.54%) Roadmaps
17 20 (5.54%) SDLC
18 19 (5.26%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 71 (19.67%) SQL
2 65 (18.01%) Python
3 55 (15.24%) Java
4 33 (9.14%) JCL
5 31 (8.59%) REXX
6 19 (5.26%) CLIST
6 19 (5.26%) Perl
7 16 (4.43%) Bash
8 15 (4.16%) Assembly Language
8 15 (4.16%) PowerShell
8 15 (4.16%) Shell Script
9 12 (3.32%) PL/SQL
9 12 (3.32%) RPG
10 11 (3.05%) ActionScript
10 11 (3.05%) ActionScript 2.0
10 11 (3.05%) C++
10 11 (3.05%) JavaScript
11 10 (2.77%) COBOL
12 9 (2.49%) C
12 9 (2.49%) C#
Qualifications
1 77 (21.33%) Security Cleared
2 73 (20.22%) SC Cleared
3 20 (5.54%) Degree
4 14 (3.88%) IBM Certification
5 13 (3.60%) Computer Science Degree
6 7 (1.94%) AWS Certification
7 6 (1.66%) CISSP
8 5 (1.39%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 4 (1.11%) DV Cleared
9 4 (1.11%) Master's Degree
10 2 (0.55%) Azure Certification
10 2 (0.55%) BPSS Clearance
10 2 (0.55%) CEH
10 2 (0.55%) ECSA
10 2 (0.55%) GCFA
10 2 (0.55%) GCIA
10 2 (0.55%) GCIH
10 2 (0.55%) ISTQB
10 2 (0.55%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
11 1 (0.28%) CFA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (5.26%) QA
2 17 (4.71%) GDPR
2 17 (4.71%) SLA
3 10 (2.77%) HIPAA
4 9 (2.49%) Data Quality
5 7 (1.94%) SEPA
6 6 (1.66%) ISO 20022
6 6 (1.66%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 5 (1.39%) GRC
8 4 (1.11%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.55%) GAAP
9 2 (0.55%) ISO 15022
10 1 (0.28%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.28%) MISRA
10 1 (0.28%) MISRA C
System Software
1 32 (8.86%) Docker
2 22 (6.09%) Time Sharing Option
3 12 (3.32%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (2.77%) RACF
4 10 (2.77%) Virtual Machines
4 10 (2.77%) VMware ESXi
5 8 (2.22%) Active Directory
6 7 (1.94%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
7 6 (1.66%) NFS
8 4 (1.11%) Job Entry Subsystem
8 4 (1.11%) Platform Symphony
9 3 (0.83%) GPFS
10 2 (0.55%) Microcode
10 2 (0.55%) Veritas File System
10 2 (0.55%) Veritas Volume Manager
10 2 (0.55%) VMware NSX
11 1 (0.28%) Hyper-V
11 1 (0.28%) Microsoft App-V
11 1 (0.28%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.28%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 34 (9.42%) Kubernetes
2 29 (8.03%) Ansible
3 17 (4.71%) Tivoli
4 16 (4.43%) OMEGAMON
5 14 (3.88%) Terraform
6 12 (3.32%) Tivoli Identity Manager
7 10 (2.77%) QRadar
7 10 (2.77%) Tivoli Storage Manager
8 9 (2.49%) Tivoli NetView
9 8 (2.22%) Control-M
10 7 (1.94%) CA Endevor
11 6 (1.66%) Progress Chef
11 6 (1.66%) Single Sign-On
12 5 (1.39%) Grafana
12 5 (1.39%) Kibana
12 5 (1.39%) Prometheus
12 5 (1.39%) Red Hat Satellite
12 5 (1.39%) SCOM
13 4 (1.11%) EMC NetWorker
13 4 (1.11%) Istio
Vendors
1 59 (16.34%) Oracle
2 45 (12.47%) Microsoft
3 28 (7.76%) Software AG
4 25 (6.93%) HP
5 21 (5.82%) Splunk
5 21 (5.82%) VMware
6 19 (5.26%) Red Hat
7 18 (4.99%) ServiceNow
8 17 (4.71%) Dell
9 16 (4.43%) Dynatrace
10 14 (3.88%) webMethods
11 13 (3.60%) Ping Identity
12 12 (3.32%) Google
13 11 (3.05%) IBM Sterling
14 9 (2.49%) Sun
14 9 (2.49%) TIBCO
15 8 (2.22%) CyberArk
15 8 (2.22%) EMC
15 8 (2.22%) Sybase
16 7 (1.94%) Cognos