Service Manager Contract Job Trends in the South East

Services Manager
England > South East

The median Services Manager daily rate in the South East is £525, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 18 September 2026.

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

6 months to
18 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 172 144 158
Rank change year-on-year -28 +14 -7
Contract jobs requiring a Service Manager 52 18 23
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 0.78% 0.52% 0.50%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.86% 0.57% 0.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 42 13 20
10th Percentile £369 £333 £459
25th Percentile £407 £363 £515
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £415 £570
Median % change year-on-year +26.51% -27.19% +3.64%
75th Percentile £577 £538 £591
90th Percentile £600 £569 £703
England median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 2 0
Median hourly rate £25.00 £89.63 -
Median % change year-on-year -72.11% - -
England median hourly rate £48.84 £48.46 £37.00
% change year-on-year +0.78% +30.97% -35.65%

All Contract IT Job Roles
South East

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the South East. 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 South East with a recognized job title 6,065 3,146 4,253
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.52% 90.14% 92.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,498 2,032 2,533
10th Percentile £303 £204 £245
25th Percentile £431 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £510
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -1.96% +2.00%
75th Percentile £625 £598 £625
90th Percentile £722 £650 £688
England median daily rate £525 £508 £525
% change year-on-year +3.35% -3.24% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 785 278 312
10th Percentile £15.05 £13.43 £16.03
25th Percentile £21.30 £15.50 £30.41
Median hourly rate £50.00 £25.15 £57.43
Median % change year-on-year +98.81% -56.20% +13.24%
75th Percentile £70.00 £57.50 £75.00
90th Percentile £86.37 £71.95 £80.00
England median hourly rate £44.46 £25.15 £46.71
% change year-on-year +76.76% -46.16% +3.81%

Service Manager
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Service Manager' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Service Manager job vacancy trend in the South East

Service Manager
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Service Manager job vacancies in the South East.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Service Manager job vacancies in the South East

Service Manager
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Service Manager in the South East over the 6 months to 18 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Service Manager in the South East

Service Manager
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Service Manager job vacancies in the South East.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Service Manager job vacancies in the South East

Service Manager
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Service Manager within the South East region over the 6 months to 18 September 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
Thames Valley -25 30 £420 +3.70% 12
Buckinghamshire -12 22 £433 +6.79% 3
Hampshire -16 17 £550 - 15
Berkshire -13 8 £413 - 6
West Sussex - 4 £550 -
Surrey -21 1 £550 +57.14% 7
Service Manager
England

Service Manager Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East

For the 6 months to 18 September 2026, Service Manager 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 across the South East region featuring Service Manager in the job title.

1 29 (55.77%) Service Delivery
2 26 (50.00%) ITIL
3 24 (46.15%) Service Management
4 23 (44.23%) Stakeholder Management
5 22 (42.31%) Security Cleared
6 16 (30.77%) Continuous Improvement
7 15 (28.85%) ITSM
7 15 (28.85%) Problem-Solving
8 13 (25.00%) ServiceNow
9 11 (21.15%) SC Cleared
10 10 (19.23%) Change Management
10 10 (19.23%) DV Cleared
11 9 (17.31%) Performance Metrics
12 8 (15.38%) JIRA
12 8 (15.38%) Project Delivery
13 7 (13.46%) Service Design
14 6 (11.54%) Acceptance Criteria
14 6 (11.54%) Decision-Making
15 5 (9.62%) ATM
15 5 (9.62%) Configuration Management
15 5 (9.62%) Conflict Resolution
15 5 (9.62%) Customer Engagement
15 5 (9.62%) Service Asset and Configuration Management
16 4 (7.69%) Coaching
16 4 (7.69%) Customer Experience
16 4 (7.69%) Customer Service
16 4 (7.69%) Incident Management
16 4 (7.69%) Problem Management
16 4 (7.69%) Risk Management
16 4 (7.69%) Root Cause Analysis

Service Manager Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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:

Cloud Services
1 1 (1.92%) Microsoft 365
1 1 (1.92%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 5 (9.62%) ATM
2 1 (1.92%) VoIP
Development Applications
1 8 (15.38%) JIRA
General
1 15 (28.85%) Analytical Skills
1 15 (28.85%) Social Skills
2 9 (17.31%) Public Sector
3 4 (7.69%) Military
4 3 (5.77%) Finance
5 2 (3.85%) Influencing Skills
5 2 (3.85%) Legal
5 2 (3.85%) Organisational Skills
6 1 (1.92%) Automotive
6 1 (1.92%) Manufacturing
6 1 (1.92%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (1.92%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 2 (3.85%) Analytical Mindset
2 1 (1.92%) CMDB
2 1 (1.92%) Cyberattack
2 1 (1.92%) Data Protection Act
2 1 (1.92%) Onboarding
2 1 (1.92%) Product Ownership
2 1 (1.92%) Virtual Team
Processes & Methodologies
1 29 (55.77%) Service Delivery
2 26 (50.00%) ITIL
3 24 (46.15%) Service Management
4 23 (44.23%) Stakeholder Management
5 16 (30.77%) Continuous Improvement
6 15 (28.85%) ITSM
6 15 (28.85%) Problem-Solving
7 10 (19.23%) Change Management
8 9 (17.31%) Performance Metrics
9 8 (15.38%) Project Delivery
10 7 (13.46%) Service Design
11 6 (11.54%) Acceptance Criteria
11 6 (11.54%) Decision-Making
12 5 (9.62%) Configuration Management
12 5 (9.62%) Conflict Resolution
12 5 (9.62%) Customer Engagement
12 5 (9.62%) Service Asset and Configuration Management
13 4 (7.69%) Incident Management
13 4 (7.69%) Problem Management
13 4 (7.69%) Stakeholder Engagement
Qualifications
1 22 (42.31%) Security Cleared
2 11 (21.15%) SC Cleared
3 10 (19.23%) DV Cleared
4 3 (5.77%) HNC
4 3 (5.77%) ITIL Certification
5 2 (3.85%) Degree
5 2 (3.85%) Master's Degree
5 2 (3.85%) PhD
6 1 (1.92%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (5.77%) QA
2 1 (1.92%) SLA
System Software
1 2 (3.85%) VMware Infrastructure
Vendors
1 13 (25.00%) ServiceNow
2 2 (3.85%) VMware
3 1 (1.92%) Microsoft
3 1 (1.92%) Oracle
3 1 (1.92%) Workday