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 18 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
18 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 272 236 221
Rank change year-on-year -36 -15 +26
Contract jobs citing IBM 509 371 420
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.95% 1.13% 1.08%
As % of the Vendors category 2.28% 2.39% 2.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 299 244 205
10th Percentile £323 £357 £353
25th Percentile £413 £408 £418
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £519 £489
Median % change year-on-year -3.61% +6.08% -6.86%
75th Percentile £600 £650 £625
90th Percentile £675 £720 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £477 £450
% change year-on-year +4.82% +6.00% -12.83%
Number of hourly rates quoted 37 8 28
10th Percentile £34.87 £25.04 £27.00
25th Percentile £70.00 £25.12 £63.13
Median hourly rate £88.00 £41.33 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +112.95% -40.96% +5.66%
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 22,363 15,539 16,952
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 41.75% 47.27% 43.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,844 9,486 10,594
10th Percentile £313 £275 £290
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 £731
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £479 £500
% change year-on-year +4.41% -4.23% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,149 808 821
10th Percentile £14.56 £14.61 £13.50
25th Percentile £18.00 £17.30 £15.62
Median hourly rate £32.50 £25.15 £28.00
Median % change year-on-year +29.22% -10.18% -30.86%
75th Percentile £65.00 £47.12 £61.60
90th Percentile £85.00 £67.50 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.27 £21.35 £27.50
% change year-on-year +41.81% -22.38% -17.76%

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 18 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 18 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 18 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 -37 436 £500 -8.26% 179
UK excluding London -45 262 £500 +4.82% 123
London -21 179 £494 -17.02% 80
Work from Home -57 120 £550 -6.78% 95
North of England -56 89 £514 +10.78% 29
South East -46 59 £460 -18.22% 28
Yorkshire -18 53 £525 +5.00% 11
South West -20 36 £426 -29.00% 32
North West -52 35 £477 +10.29% 18
Midlands -59 33 £450 +1.18% 14
West Midlands -41 29 £450 -10.00% 11
Scotland -15 25 £600 +26.32% 14
East of England -18 17 £625 +13.64% 4
Wales -18 3 £600 -5.14% 1
East Midlands -31 3 - - 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 (7.07%) WebSphere
2 32 (6.29%) Confluence
3 25 (4.91%) CICS
4 23 (4.52%) SharePoint
5 15 (2.95%) Tomcat
6 12 (2.36%) nginx
7 8 (1.57%) JBoss
7 8 (1.57%) WebLogic
8 6 (1.18%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 5 (0.98%) Apache
9 5 (0.98%) SAS
9 5 (0.98%) WebSphere Application Server
10 4 (0.79%) Camunda
10 4 (0.79%) IIS
11 2 (0.39%) CMS
11 2 (0.39%) IBM HTTP Server
11 2 (0.39%) MQSeries
11 2 (0.39%) Oracle HTTP Server
11 2 (0.39%) WebSphere Portal
12 1 (0.20%) HCL Notes
Applications
1 6 (1.18%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (0.59%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.39%) PlantUML
3 2 (0.39%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.20%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.20%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 22 (4.32%) Maximo
2 16 (3.14%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 9 (1.77%) Temenos T24
4 5 (0.98%) Cognos Controller
5 4 (0.79%) SAP S/4HANA
6 3 (0.59%) IBM Operational Decision Manager
7 2 (0.39%) SAP R/3
7 2 (0.39%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
7 2 (0.39%) Teamcenter
8 1 (0.20%) Actimize
8 1 (0.20%) Dynamics CRM
8 1 (0.20%) HFM
8 1 (0.20%) MetaTrader
8 1 (0.20%) Misys Equation
8 1 (0.20%) Misys Midas
8 1 (0.20%) Remedy ITSM
8 1 (0.20%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 79 (15.52%) AWS
2 78 (15.32%) Azure
3 32 (6.29%) GitHub
4 25 (4.91%) GCP
5 16 (3.14%) OpenShift
6 13 (2.55%) GitHub Copilot
7 12 (2.36%) Anthropic Claude
7 12 (2.36%) ChatGPT
8 11 (2.16%) GitHub Actions
9 10 (1.96%) Azure DevOps
10 9 (1.77%) IBM Watson
11 7 (1.38%) Amazon S3
11 7 (1.38%) IBM Blueworks
12 6 (1.18%) Amazon EKS
12 6 (1.18%) Azure AI
12 6 (1.18%) Azure Data Factory
12 6 (1.18%) Azure Service Bus
12 6 (1.18%) Boomi
12 6 (1.18%) iPaaS
12 6 (1.18%) Vertex AI
Communications & Networking
1 23 (4.52%) SSL
2 19 (3.73%) HTTP
3 17 (3.34%) Firewall
3 17 (3.34%) SNMP
4 13 (2.55%) SAN
5 9 (1.77%) Network Security
5 9 (1.77%) TCP/IP
6 7 (1.38%) DNS
7 6 (1.18%) VSAN
8 5 (0.98%) Cisco Nexus
8 5 (0.98%) Fibre Channel
8 5 (0.98%) Wireshark
9 4 (0.79%) NAS
9 4 (0.79%) SSH
10 3 (0.59%) APPN
10 3 (0.59%) Internet
10 3 (0.59%) SNA
11 2 (0.39%) DMZ
11 2 (0.39%) LAN
11 2 (0.39%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 41 (8.06%) Db2
2 31 (6.09%) DataStage
3 30 (5.89%) Relational Database
4 19 (3.73%) Oracle Database
5 16 (3.14%) Metadata
6 15 (2.95%) SQL Server
7 14 (2.75%) Data Warehouse
8 13 (2.55%) MongoDB
9 9 (1.77%) Elasticsearch
10 8 (1.57%) Big Data
10 8 (1.57%) Tableau
11 7 (1.38%) NoSQL
11 7 (1.38%) PostgreSQL
12 6 (1.18%) GIS
13 5 (0.98%) Data Lake
14 3 (0.59%) Power BI
15 2 (0.39%) Amazon Redshift
15 2 (0.39%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
15 2 (0.39%) IBM InfoSphere
16 1 (0.20%) Neo4j
Development Applications
1 47 (9.23%) JIRA
2 41 (8.06%) Rational DOORS
3 28 (5.50%) Jenkins
4 18 (3.54%) Git
5 17 (3.34%) GitLab
6 15 (2.95%) JMeter
7 11 (2.16%) LoadRunner
8 9 (1.77%) Postman
8 9 (1.77%) SoapUI
9 8 (1.57%) IBM UrbanCode
9 8 (1.57%) Rational Rhapsody
9 8 (1.57%) SonarQube
10 7 (1.38%) eggPlant
10 7 (1.38%) Selenium
11 6 (1.18%) PowerDesigner
12 5 (0.98%) Cucumber
12 5 (0.98%) Sonatype Nexus
13 4 (0.79%) Gatling
13 4 (0.79%) Gradle
13 4 (0.79%) Zephyr
General
1 166 (32.61%) Finance
2 117 (22.99%) Social Skills
3 115 (22.59%) Banking
4 62 (12.18%) Analytical Skills
5 31 (6.09%) Aerospace
6 30 (5.89%) Legal
7 27 (5.30%) Public Sector
8 11 (2.16%) Retail
9 9 (1.77%) Military
10 8 (1.57%) Front Office
10 8 (1.57%) Influencing Skills
10 8 (1.57%) Investment Banking
11 7 (1.38%) Documentation Skills
12 5 (0.98%) Law
12 5 (0.98%) Presentation Skills
13 3 (0.59%) Manufacturing
13 3 (0.59%) Retail Banking
13 3 (0.59%) Telecoms
14 2 (0.39%) Back Office
14 2 (0.39%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 68 (13.36%) Developer
2 62 (12.18%) Architect
3 49 (9.63%) Analyst
4 42 (8.25%) Senior
5 31 (6.09%) Administrator
6 28 (5.50%) Consultant
7 27 (5.30%) Delivery Manager
7 27 (5.30%) Product Delivery Manager
7 27 (5.30%) Product Manager
8 26 (5.11%) Lead
9 25 (4.91%) Solutions Architect
10 21 (4.13%) Systems Delivery Manager
10 21 (4.13%) Systems Manager
11 20 (3.93%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 18 (3.54%) Middleware Engineer
13 14 (2.75%) CICS Engineer
14 13 (2.55%) DataStage Developer
14 13 (2.55%) Management Consultant
15 12 (2.36%) Designer
15 12 (2.36%) Programmer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 71 (13.95%) Middleware
2 47 (9.23%) REST
3 40 (7.86%) Kafka
4 36 (7.07%) XML
5 30 (5.89%) JSON
6 24 (4.72%) ISPF
7 21 (4.13%) SOAP
8 17 (3.34%) RabbitMQ
8 17 (3.34%) Spring Boot
9 13 (2.55%) Flash
9 13 (2.55%) Spring
10 12 (2.36%) .NET
10 12 (2.36%) OAuth
10 12 (2.36%) Web Services
11 11 (2.16%) SAML
12 10 (1.96%) OpenAPI
12 10 (1.96%) Swagger
13 8 (1.57%) ActiveMQ
13 8 (1.57%) Jakarta EE
13 8 (1.57%) JWT
Miscellaneous
1 98 (19.25%) Mainframe
2 34 (6.68%) Clustering
2 34 (6.68%) Data Centre
2 34 (6.68%) Product Ownership
3 32 (6.29%) Data Structures
4 22 (4.32%) Cloud Native
5 20 (3.93%) Replication
6 15 (2.95%) AS400
6 15 (2.95%) SWIFT Messaging Network
7 14 (2.75%) Legacy Systems
8 13 (2.55%) Distributed Systems
8 13 (2.55%) Hybrid Cloud
8 13 (2.55%) IBM Mainframe
8 13 (2.55%) Legacy Applications
9 12 (2.36%) Enterprise Software
9 12 (2.36%) Management Information System
10 11 (2.16%) iSeries
10 11 (2.16%) Linux Command Line
11 10 (1.96%) Data Protection Act
11 10 (1.96%) Equity Derivative
Operating Systems
1 97 (19.06%) Linux
2 75 (14.73%) zOS
3 54 (10.61%) Unix
4 41 (8.06%) Windows
5 35 (6.88%) AIX
6 20 (3.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 15 (2.95%) Solaris
8 9 (1.77%) Windows Server
8 9 (1.77%) Windows Server 2008
9 8 (1.57%) SUSE
10 7 (1.38%) MVS
10 7 (1.38%) Windows Server 2019
11 4 (0.79%) Windows Server 2016
12 2 (0.39%) Oracle Linux
12 2 (0.39%) 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
1 104 (20.43%) Agile
2 78 (15.32%) Migration
3 77 (15.13%) CI/CD
4 66 (12.97%) Continuous Improvement
5 63 (12.38%) DevOps
5 63 (12.38%) Stakeholder Management
6 60 (11.79%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 57 (11.20%) ITIL
8 56 (11.00%) Test Automation
9 52 (10.22%) Problem-Solving
10 48 (9.43%) ETL
10 48 (9.43%) Roadmaps
11 46 (9.04%) Computer Science
12 39 (7.66%) Configuration Management
13 38 (7.47%) Systems Engineering
14 36 (7.07%) AI
14 36 (7.07%) Change Management
14 36 (7.07%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
15 35 (6.88%) Root Cause Analysis
16 34 (6.68%) Performance Tuning
Programming Languages
1 96 (18.86%) Python
1 96 (18.86%) SQL
2 74 (14.54%) Java
3 32 (6.29%) PowerShell
4 23 (4.52%) JavaScript
5 20 (3.93%) PL/SQL
6 19 (3.73%) JCL
7 18 (3.54%) Bash
8 15 (2.95%) REXX
9 14 (2.75%) C++
9 14 (2.75%) COBOL
9 14 (2.75%) Search Processing Language
10 13 (2.55%) Shell Script
11 11 (2.16%) Perl
12 10 (1.96%) C
13 9 (1.77%) C#
14 7 (1.38%) Ada
15 6 (1.18%) Assembly Language
15 6 (1.18%) CLIST
16 5 (0.98%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 130 (25.54%) Security Cleared
2 88 (17.29%) SC Cleared
3 53 (10.41%) Degree
4 12 (2.36%) Computer Science Degree
5 8 (1.57%) AWS Certification
5 8 (1.57%) CISSP
5 8 (1.57%) DV Cleared
6 7 (1.38%) BPSS Clearance
7 5 (0.98%) Azure Certification
7 5 (0.98%) CISM
7 5 (0.98%) ISTQB
8 4 (0.79%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 4 (0.79%) CCSP
8 4 (0.79%) Cisco Certification
8 4 (0.79%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 3 (0.59%) CEH
9 3 (0.59%) ISEB
9 3 (0.59%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 3 (0.59%) PMI Certification
9 3 (0.59%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (6.48%) Data Quality
2 15 (2.95%) QA
3 7 (1.38%) GDPR
3 7 (1.38%) ISO 20022
4 6 (1.18%) ISO 15022
5 5 (0.98%) NIST
6 4 (0.79%) Actionable Recommendations
6 4 (0.79%) GRC
6 4 (0.79%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 4 (0.79%) SEPA
6 4 (0.79%) SLA
7 2 (0.39%) GAAP
7 2 (0.39%) IFRS
7 2 (0.39%) ISO/IEC 19770
7 2 (0.39%) NCSC
8 1 (0.20%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 15288
8 1 (0.20%) MIL-STD-1553
8 1 (0.20%) PMO
8 1 (0.20%) TARGET2
System Software
1 37 (7.27%) Docker
2 26 (5.11%) VMware Infrastructure
3 25 (4.91%) RACF
4 17 (3.34%) NFS
5 16 (3.14%) VMware ESXi
6 12 (2.36%) Firmware
6 12 (2.36%) GPFS
6 12 (2.36%) Time Sharing Option
7 11 (2.16%) vSphere
8 10 (1.96%) Virtual Machines
9 7 (1.38%) Oracle RAC
9 7 (1.38%) PowerHA
10 6 (1.18%) ACF2
11 3 (0.59%) Active Directory
11 3 (0.59%) 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 24 (4.72%) Kubernetes
1 24 (4.72%) OMEGAMON
2 22 (4.32%) Ansible
3 20 (3.93%) Tivoli
4 17 (3.34%) Nagios
4 17 (3.34%) ZABBIX
5 16 (3.14%) Netcool
6 15 (2.95%) Tivoli Storage Manager
7 14 (2.75%) OpenView
7 14 (2.75%) Terraform
7 14 (2.75%) Tivoli Monitoring
8 9 (1.77%) Grafana
8 9 (1.77%) vRealize
9 6 (1.18%) Oracle RMAN
9 6 (1.18%) Tivoli NetView
9 6 (1.18%) VxRail
10 5 (0.98%) Control-M
10 5 (0.98%) HP Fortify
11 4 (0.79%) CA Endevor
11 4 (0.79%) QRadar
Vendors
1 107 (21.02%) Oracle
2 45 (8.84%) Microsoft
3 39 (7.66%) VMware
4 35 (6.88%) Splunk
5 33 (6.48%) SAP
6 25 (4.91%) ServiceNow
7 24 (4.72%) Red Hat
8 23 (4.52%) Google
9 21 (4.13%) Cisco
10 19 (3.73%) HP
11 18 (3.54%) BMC
12 16 (3.14%) SolarWinds
13 15 (2.95%) Cognos
14 14 (2.75%) Broadcom
15 13 (2.55%) Brocade
15 13 (2.55%) Dynatrace
15 13 (2.55%) MathWorks
16 12 (2.36%) Sybase
17 11 (2.16%) Databricks
18 10 (1.96%) Dell