Mainframe Specialist Contract Job Trends

Mainframe Specialist
UK

The median Mainframe Specialist daily rate in the UK is £550, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 30 April 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 639 514 598
Rank change year-on-year -125 +84 -
Contract jobs requiring a Mainframe Specialist 6 2 2
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.013% 0.007% 0.005%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.014% 0.007% 0.005%
Number of daily rates quoted 4 2 0
10th Percentile £368 - -
25th Percentile £469 £506 -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £513 -
Median % change year-on-year +7.32% - -
75th Percentile £575 £519 -
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median daily rate - £513 -

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 43,571 27,048 40,454
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.35% 92.55% 92.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,878 17,685 26,353
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.91% -1.90% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £489 £475 £493
% change year-on-year +2.87% -3.55% -1.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,816 1,030 2,658
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.20 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.38 £18.51 £16.30
Median hourly rate £44.00 £29.07 £36.00
Median % change year-on-year +51.36% -19.25% -20.00%
75th Percentile £66.00 £62.50 £60.75
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.46 £28.75 £38.50
% change year-on-year +58.12% -25.32% -9.41%

Mainframe Specialist
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Mainframe Specialist' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Mainframe Specialist job vacancy trend in the UK

Mainframe Specialist
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Mainframe Specialist job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Mainframe Specialist job vacancies in the UK

Mainframe Specialist
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Mainframe Specialist over the 6 months to 30 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Mainframe Specialist in the UK

Mainframe Specialist
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Mainframe Specialist job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Mainframe Specialist job vacancies in the UK

Mainframe Specialist
Top 6 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Mainframe Specialist within the UK over the 6 months to 30 April 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
Work from Home -35 5 £550 +7.32% 1
England - 5 £550 - 1
London - 4 £550 - 1
UK excluding London -102 1 - -
North of England - 1 - -
Yorkshire - 1 - -

Mainframe Specialist Skill Set
Top 29 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 30 April 2026, Mainframe Specialist contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Mainframe Specialist in the job title.

1 5 (83.33%) COBOL
1 5 (83.33%) JCL
2 4 (66.67%) AWS
2 4 (66.67%) CICS
2 4 (66.67%) DB2
2 4 (66.67%) Migration
3 2 (33.33%) CI/CD
3 2 (33.33%) Jenkins
4 1 (16.67%) APPN
4 1 (16.67%) CA Endevor
4 1 (16.67%) Change Management
4 1 (16.67%) DevOps
4 1 (16.67%) IBM
4 1 (16.67%) Linux
4 1 (16.67%) Micro Focus
4 1 (16.67%) Micro Focus COBOL
4 1 (16.67%) Network Management
4 1 (16.67%) Perl
4 1 (16.67%) PowerShell
4 1 (16.67%) Problem-Solving
4 1 (16.67%) Python
4 1 (16.67%) Regression Testing
4 1 (16.67%) SDLC
4 1 (16.67%) SNA
4 1 (16.67%) SQL
4 1 (16.67%) TCP/IP
4 1 (16.67%) Tivoli NetView
4 1 (16.67%) Validation
4 1 (16.67%) zOS

Mainframe Specialist Skill Set
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 4 (66.67%) CICS
Cloud Services
1 4 (66.67%) AWS
Communications & Networking
1 1 (16.67%) APPN
1 1 (16.67%) SNA
1 1 (16.67%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (66.67%) DB2
Development Applications
1 2 (33.33%) Jenkins
General
1 1 (16.67%) Banking
1 1 (16.67%) Social Skills
Miscellaneous
1 6 (100.00%) Mainframe
2 4 (66.67%) VSAM
Operating Systems
1 1 (16.67%) Linux
1 1 (16.67%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 4 (66.67%) Migration
2 2 (33.33%) CI/CD
3 1 (16.67%) Change Management
3 1 (16.67%) DevOps
3 1 (16.67%) Network Management
3 1 (16.67%) Problem-Solving
3 1 (16.67%) Regression Testing
3 1 (16.67%) SDLC
3 1 (16.67%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 5 (83.33%) COBOL
1 5 (83.33%) JCL
2 1 (16.67%) Micro Focus COBOL
2 1 (16.67%) Perl
2 1 (16.67%) PowerShell
2 1 (16.67%) Python
2 1 (16.67%) SQL
Systems Management
1 1 (16.67%) CA Endevor
1 1 (16.67%) Tivoli NetView
Vendors
1 1 (16.67%) IBM
1 1 (16.67%) Micro Focus