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 20 July 2026.

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

6 months to
20 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 179 135 167
Rank change year-on-year -44 +32 -31
Contract jobs requiring a Service Manager 53 28 29
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 0.81% 0.82% 0.53%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.88% 0.90% 0.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 46 17 24
10th Percentile £369 £363 £403
25th Percentile £408 £400 £455
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £415 £580
Median % change year-on-year +26.51% -28.45% +23.54%
75th Percentile £584 £538 £708
90th Percentile £600 £608 £1,000
England median daily rate £525 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -3.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 2 1
Median hourly rate - £89.63 £17.60
Median % change year-on-year - +409.26% -
England median hourly rate £42.19 £89.63 £30.00
% change year-on-year -52.93% +198.77% +131.66%

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 6,041 3,105 5,045
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.13% 90.52% 92.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,600 2,008 3,019
10th Percentile £304 £213 £255
25th Percentile £425 £375 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £514
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -2.72% +2.80%
75th Percentile £624 £600 £625
90th Percentile £713 £663 £697
England median daily rate £525 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 665 243 466
10th Percentile £16.35 £14.20 £13.25
25th Percentile £26.25 £15.50 £19.25
Median hourly rate £52.43 £27.50 £54.94
Median % change year-on-year +90.64% -49.94% +9.88%
75th Percentile £77.50 £62.24 £70.00
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £80.00
England median hourly rate £45.56 £27.39 £41.27
% change year-on-year +66.34% -33.63% -6.22%

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 20 July 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 20 July 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
Hampshire -22 29 £550 -8.33% 9
Thames Valley -36 20 £414 +2.10% 8
Buckinghamshire -30 13 £414 +2.10% 3
Berkshire -22 7 £650 - 5
Kent 0 2 £469 +17.19%
West Sussex - 2 £450 -
Service Manager
England

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

For the 6 months to 20 July 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 30 (56.60%) Service Delivery
2 25 (47.17%) Security Cleared
3 24 (45.28%) ITIL
4 22 (41.51%) Service Management
5 21 (39.62%) Stakeholder Management
6 17 (32.08%) Problem-Solving
7 16 (30.19%) DV Cleared
8 15 (28.30%) Continuous Improvement
9 11 (20.75%) Performance Metrics
10 10 (18.87%) ITSM
11 9 (16.98%) VMware
12 8 (15.09%) ATM
12 8 (15.09%) Change Management
12 8 (15.09%) JIRA
12 8 (15.09%) ServiceNow
13 7 (13.21%) Conflict Resolution
13 7 (13.21%) SC Cleared
14 6 (11.32%) Acceptance Criteria
14 6 (11.32%) Capacity Management
14 6 (11.32%) Project Delivery
15 5 (9.43%) Configuration Management
15 5 (9.43%) Decision-Making
15 5 (9.43%) QA
15 5 (9.43%) Service Asset and Configuration Management
15 5 (9.43%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 5 (9.43%) VMware Infrastructure
16 4 (7.55%) Capacity Planning
16 4 (7.55%) Cost Control
16 4 (7.55%) HNC
16 4 (7.55%) Matrix Organization

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:

Application Platforms
1 1 (1.89%) CMS
1 1 (1.89%) Confluence
1 1 (1.89%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (1.89%) Microsoft Excel
Communications & Networking
1 8 (15.09%) ATM
2 1 (1.89%) LAN
2 1 (1.89%) Wireless
Development Applications
1 8 (15.09%) JIRA
General
1 18 (33.96%) Analytical Skills
2 16 (30.19%) Social Skills
3 8 (15.09%) Public Sector
4 4 (7.55%) Finance
4 4 (7.55%) Military
5 2 (3.77%) Influencing Skills
6 1 (1.89%) Legal
6 1 (1.89%) Retail
6 1 (1.89%) Telecoms
Miscellaneous
1 4 (7.55%) Analytical Mindset
2 1 (1.89%) Cyberattack
2 1 (1.89%) Mainframe
2 1 (1.89%) Management Information System
2 1 (1.89%) Mobile App
2 1 (1.89%) Product Ownership
2 1 (1.89%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 1 (1.89%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (56.60%) Service Delivery
2 24 (45.28%) ITIL
3 22 (41.51%) Service Management
4 21 (39.62%) Stakeholder Management
5 17 (32.08%) Problem-Solving
6 15 (28.30%) Continuous Improvement
7 11 (20.75%) Performance Metrics
8 10 (18.87%) ITSM
9 8 (15.09%) Change Management
10 7 (13.21%) Conflict Resolution
11 6 (11.32%) Acceptance Criteria
11 6 (11.32%) Capacity Management
11 6 (11.32%) Project Delivery
12 5 (9.43%) Configuration Management
12 5 (9.43%) Decision-Making
12 5 (9.43%) Service Asset and Configuration Management
12 5 (9.43%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 4 (7.55%) Capacity Planning
13 4 (7.55%) Cost Control
13 4 (7.55%) Service Design
Qualifications
1 25 (47.17%) Security Cleared
2 16 (30.19%) DV Cleared
3 7 (13.21%) SC Cleared
4 4 (7.55%) HNC
5 1 (1.89%) ITIL Certification
5 1 (1.89%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
5 1 (1.89%) PMI Certification
5 1 (1.89%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (9.43%) QA
2 1 (1.89%) SLA
System Software
1 5 (9.43%) VMware Infrastructure
Vendors
1 9 (16.98%) VMware
2 8 (15.09%) ServiceNow
3 1 (1.89%) Salesforce
3 1 (1.89%) SAP
3 1 (1.89%) Workday