Mainframe Systems Programmer Contract Job Trends

Mainframe Systems Programmer
UK

The median Mainframe Systems Programmer daily rate in the UK is £500, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 13 December 2025.

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

6 months to
13 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 575 541 607
Rank change year-on-year -34 +66 +200
Contract jobs requiring a Mainframe Systems Programmer 7 2 1
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.019% 0.006% 0.002%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.021% 0.006% 0.002%
Number of daily rates quoted 4 2 1
10th Percentile £458 £465 -
25th Percentile £469 £468 £575
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £480 £600
Median % change year-on-year +4.17% -20.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £487 £625
90th Percentile £655 £487 -
UK excluding London median daily rate - - £600

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 32,988 33,120 42,501
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.93% 92.74% 93.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,924 20,243 28,641
10th Percentile £285 £300 £294
25th Percentile £403 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £645
90th Percentile £725 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £495 £500
% change year-on-year -4.04% -1.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,924 1,136 1,517
10th Percentile £14.22 £15.36 £15.16
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.75 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £34.75 £44.00
Median % change year-on-year -27.63% -21.02% +40.98%
75th Percentile £56.81 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.75 £73.66 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -22.62% -26.97% +78.00%

Mainframe Systems Programmer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Mainframe Systems Programmer job vacancy trend in the UK

Mainframe Systems Programmer
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

Mainframe Systems Programmer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Mainframe Systems Programmer over the 6 months to 13 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Mainframe Systems Programmer in the UK

Mainframe Systems Programmer
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

Mainframe Systems Programmer
Top 3 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 Systems Programmer within the UK over the 6 months to 13 December 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
London 0 5 £500 +3.09%
England -34 5 £500 +4.17%
Work from Home - 4 £500 - 1

Mainframe Systems Programmer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 13 December 2025, Mainframe Systems Programmer 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 Systems Programmer in the job title.

1 5 (71.43%) Data Sharing
1 5 (71.43%) High Availability
1 5 (71.43%) RACF
1 5 (71.43%) zOS
2 4 (57.14%) CICS
2 4 (57.14%) DB2
2 4 (57.14%) Runbook
3 3 (42.86%) Cost Reduction
3 3 (42.86%) Disaster Recovery
3 3 (42.86%) ITIL
3 3 (42.86%) OMEGAMON
3 3 (42.86%) Performance Tuning
4 2 (28.57%) Change Data Capture
4 2 (28.57%) IBM
4 2 (28.57%) JCL
4 2 (28.57%) Job Entry Subsystem
4 2 (28.57%) Performance Optimisation
4 2 (28.57%) Problem Management
4 2 (28.57%) REXX
5 1 (14.29%) Assembly Language
5 1 (14.29%) BMC
5 1 (14.29%) Broadcom
5 1 (14.29%) Capacity Planning
5 1 (14.29%) Change Management
5 1 (14.29%) CLIST
5 1 (14.29%) COBOL
5 1 (14.29%) Data Collection
5 1 (14.29%) ISPF
5 1 (14.29%) Middleware
5 1 (14.29%) Migration

Mainframe Systems Programmer 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 (57.14%) CICS
2 1 (14.29%) MQSeries
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (57.14%) DB2
General
1 2 (28.57%) Banking
2 1 (14.29%) Finance
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (14.29%) ISPF
1 1 (14.29%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 7 (100.00%) Mainframe
2 2 (28.57%) Onboarding
2 2 (28.57%) Replication
3 1 (14.29%) IBM Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 5 (71.43%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 5 (71.43%) Data Sharing
1 5 (71.43%) High Availability
2 4 (57.14%) Runbook
3 3 (42.86%) Cost Reduction
3 3 (42.86%) Disaster Recovery
3 3 (42.86%) ITIL
3 3 (42.86%) Performance Tuning
4 2 (28.57%) Change Data Capture
4 2 (28.57%) Performance Optimisation
4 2 (28.57%) Problem Management
5 1 (14.29%) Capacity Planning
5 1 (14.29%) Change Management
5 1 (14.29%) Data Collection
5 1 (14.29%) Migration
5 1 (14.29%) Problem-Solving
5 1 (14.29%) Regulatory Compliance
5 1 (14.29%) Root Cause Analysis
5 1 (14.29%) Storage Management
5 1 (14.29%) Technical Analysis
Programming Languages
1 2 (28.57%) JCL
1 2 (28.57%) REXX
2 1 (14.29%) Assembly Language
2 1 (14.29%) CLIST
2 1 (14.29%) COBOL
2 1 (14.29%) PL/1
System Software
1 5 (71.43%) RACF
2 2 (28.57%) Job Entry Subsystem
3 1 (14.29%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 3 (42.86%) OMEGAMON
Vendors
1 2 (28.57%) IBM
2 1 (14.29%) BMC
2 1 (14.29%) Broadcom