Hybrid/Remote IBM Mainframe Contract Job Trends

IBM Mainframe
UK > Work from Home

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term IBM Mainframe in remote or hybrid contract work. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited IBM Mainframe over the 6 months leading up to 22 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 326 306 354
Rank change year-on-year -20 +48 +139
Contract jobs citing IBM Mainframe 1 4 7
As % of all contract jobs with remote/hybrid work options 0.009% 0.037% 0.043%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 0.026% 0.12% 0.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 4 6
10th Percentile - £405 £360
25th Percentile - £546 £411
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £358 £650 £575
Median % change year-on-year -44.92% +13.04% +28.85%
75th Percentile - £675 £588
90th Percentile - - £644
UK median daily rate £442 £600 £575
% change year-on-year -26.42% +4.35% +43.75%

All Generic Skills
Work from Home

IBM Mainframe falls under the General and Transferable Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with remote or hybrid options requiring generic IT skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 3,811 3,441 4,735
As % of all contract jobs with a WFH option 34.44% 32.13% 28.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,372 2,252 3,183
10th Percentile £331 £330 £325
25th Percentile £421 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £517 £550 £538
Median % change year-on-year -6.05% +2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £638 £675 £650
90th Percentile £750 £800 £763
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £533
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.41% -3.18%
Number of hourly rates quoted 148 59 192
10th Percentile £18.25 £18.90 £15.43
25th Percentile £21.25 £24.34 £23.31
Median hourly rate £45.46 £39.04 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +16.44% -8.14% -32.54%
75th Percentile £67.00 £64.88 £60.00
90th Percentile £82.25 £75.50 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £30.50 £33.27 £32.50
% change year-on-year -8.33% +2.37% +44.54%

IBM Mainframe
Job Vacancy Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing IBM Mainframe and offering remote or hybrid work options relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

IBM Mainframe job vacancy trend for remote/hybrid jobs

IBM Mainframe
Daily Rate Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing IBM Mainframe.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing IBM Mainframe

IBM Mainframe
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Remote/Hybrid Jobs 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 1 (100.00%) CICS
Job Titles
1 1 (100.00%) Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (100.00%) ISPF
Miscellaneous
1 1 (100.00%) Mainframe
1 1 (100.00%) VSAM
Operating Systems
1 1 (100.00%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 1 (100.00%) Configuration Management
1 1 (100.00%) Continuous Improvement
1 1 (100.00%) DevOps
1 1 (100.00%) Knowledge Transfer
1 1 (100.00%) Platform Engineering
1 1 (100.00%) Problem Management
1 1 (100.00%) Release Management
1 1 (100.00%) SDLC
Programming Languages
1 1 (100.00%) CLIST
1 1 (100.00%) JCL
1 1 (100.00%) REXX
System Software
1 1 (100.00%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 1 (100.00%) CA Endevor
1 1 (100.00%) OMEGAMON
Vendors
1 1 (100.00%) IBM