A technology company with a history stretching back more than a century, now focused on hybrid cloud, AI, consulting and quantum computing. Its purpose is to be a catalyst that makes the world work better.
IBM is one of the oldest and best-known technology companies in the world. Today it combines software, consulting and infrastructure to help organisations use AI and hybrid cloud, which means running systems across both private computers and the public cloud. It also does major research, including work to bring quantum computing into business use. In the UK, IBM's work ranges from building core software to advising public-sector and business clients.
IBM's roots go back to the 1890s, and the company was formed in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company before being renamed International Business Machines in 1924. Its headquarters are in Armonk, New York. Over the decades its inventions and products have shaped computing: the System/360 mainframe in 1964, the IBM Personal Computer in 1981, the Deep Blue computer that beat chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, and the Watson system that won the quiz show Jeopardy! in 2011. Its inventors have also created technologies including the hard disk drive, the relational database and the ATM, and researchers working at IBM have won Nobel Prizes.
IBM's stated mission is "to be a catalyst that makes the world work better". It emphasises ethical AI, transparent systems, sustainability and community impact. Through IBM SkillsBuild, it has a goal of reaching 30 million people with skills training by 2030.
In the UK, IBM's Hursley House near Winchester is a well-known site. A 2025 IBM apprenticeship advert placed a team there working on CICS Transaction Server, software that handles large volumes of transactions, and on products linking IBM Z mainframes to other systems. A graduate advert for IBM FlashSystem, a data storage product, was also based at Hursley. Other IBM apprenticeship adverts name London, Manchester and Warwick. Our sources give no staff numbers or full office list, so we have not stated them.
IBM UK has run apprenticeships and graduate roles, though the adverts we read were closed when we checked on 20 Oct 2026. The Level 6 Digital and Technology Solutions Degree Apprenticeship (2025 intake, as advertised) asked for at least 120 UCAS points (BBB at A level), Maths and English GCSE at grade 4 or above, the right to work in England without sponsorship and eligibility for security clearance. Coding experience was desirable but not essential, and the subject studied did not have to be STEM. It advertised a starting salary of £26,000, 25 days' holiday and flexible benefits including healthcare. Apprentices work at least three days a week in an IBM office while studying for a degree, and the work areas listed included AI, data, business automation and technical sales. IBM also advertised a Junior Management Consultant apprenticeship at level 4. The graduate software engineer advert asked for a bachelor's degree and described a squad of six to eight engineers using C, Java, Python, Git and Docker. Intakes vary by year, so check IBM's careers site. IBM SkillsBuild is free and open to learners.
Website: www.ibm.com
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