Service Management Contract Job Trends

Service Management
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Service Management skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 3 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 88 85 99
Rank change year-on-year -3 +14 -15
Contract jobs citing Service Management 1,647 978 902
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.00% 2.95% 2.37%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.55% 3.26% 2.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,075 592 575
10th Percentile £263 £200 £213
25th Percentile £428 £341 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £490 £513
Median % change year-on-year +7.20% -4.44% -2.38%
75th Percentile £625 £575 £606
90th Percentile £725 £649 £686
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £485 £500
% change year-on-year +8.25% -3.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 79 87 18
10th Percentile £14.50 £12.62 £17.50
25th Percentile £17.80 £14.35 £24.57
Median hourly rate £55.00 £21.28 £36.00
Median % change year-on-year +158.46% -40.89% -33.94%
75th Percentile £85.00 £33.75 £48.75
90th Percentile £92.10 £60.00 £54.13
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.53 £20.83 £36.00
% change year-on-year +70.57% -42.14% +60.00%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Service Management falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 46,356 30,019 32,670
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.50% 90.58% 85.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,940 18,640 19,751
10th Percentile £325 £300 £308
25th Percentile £425 £404 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.78%
75th Percentile £632 £625 £638
90th Percentile £736 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,287 1,869 1,348
10th Percentile £13.69 £14.32 £15.00
25th Percentile £17.17 £17.30 £20.12
Median hourly rate £38.72 £25.15 £42.27
Median % change year-on-year +53.96% -40.49% -0.55%
75th Percentile £65.60 £43.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £65.00 £74.44
UK excluding London median hourly rate £39.02 £22.32 £43.00
% change year-on-year +74.86% -48.10% +1.18%

Service Management
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Service Management relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Service Management job vacancy trend in the UK

Service Management
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Service Management.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Service Management

Service Management
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Service Management over the 6 months to 3 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Service Management in the UK

Service Management
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Service Management.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Service Management

Service Management
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Service Management over the 6 months to 3 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Service Management in the UK

Service Management
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Service Management within the UK over the 6 months to 3 October 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
England -3 1,416 £525 +5.00% 1,373
UK excluding London -9 957 £525 +8.25% 1,012
London +40 503 £525 +5.00% 489
Work from Home +4 441 £525 +8.58% 693
South East +15 303 £575 +30.02% 280
North of England -13 275 £480 +5.96% 245
North West -15 162 £483 +5.17% 134
Midlands -31 127 £525 +3.96% 144
West Midlands -9 120 £525 +1.94% 93
Yorkshire -10 108 £463 +23.33% 94
Scotland +18 100 £581 +24.61% 91
South West -36 97 £565 +2.73% 114
East of England +3 63 £550 - 114
Wales -7 13 £800 +247.83% 22
Northern Ireland +8 8 - - 17
East Midlands -31 7 £206 -34.83% 50
North East -49 5 £600 +207.69% 21

Service Management
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
1 126 (7.65%) SharePoint
2 64 (3.89%) Confluence
2 64 (3.89%) Microsoft Exchange
3 15 (0.91%) Skype for Business
4 5 (0.30%) OpenStack
5 4 (0.24%) Apache
5 4 (0.24%) CMS
5 4 (0.24%) IBM Transformation Extender
5 4 (0.24%) IIS
6 3 (0.18%) Tomcat
7 2 (0.12%) CICS
8 1 (0.061%) Exchange Server 2010
8 1 (0.061%) HCL Notes
8 1 (0.061%) Mattermost
8 1 (0.061%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
8 1 (0.061%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 84 (5.10%) Microsoft Office
2 40 (2.43%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (0.97%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 13 (0.79%) MS Visio
5 8 (0.49%) Chatbot
5 8 (0.49%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.12%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.061%) Maple
Business Applications
1 52 (3.16%) Remedy ITSM
2 12 (0.73%) SAP S/4HANA
3 9 (0.55%) Dynamics CRM
4 7 (0.43%) Primavera
5 5 (0.30%) ContrOCC
5 5 (0.30%) NEC Housing
5 5 (0.30%) Workday HCM
6 3 (0.18%) Oracle ERP
6 3 (0.18%) SAP CO
6 3 (0.18%) SAP FI
6 3 (0.18%) SAP FI/CO
6 3 (0.18%) SAP SM
7 2 (0.12%) Exchequer
7 2 (0.12%) Oracle EBS
7 2 (0.12%) Remedy AR System
7 2 (0.12%) Salesforce CRM
7 2 (0.12%) SAP CX
7 2 (0.12%) SAP PS
7 2 (0.12%) SystmOne
7 2 (0.12%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 285 (17.30%) Azure
2 214 (12.99%) Microsoft 365
3 140 (8.50%) AWS
4 135 (8.20%) Entra ID
5 73 (4.43%) Power Platform
6 72 (4.37%) SaaS
7 58 (3.52%) OneDrive
8 43 (2.61%) GCP
9 37 (2.25%) Azure DevOps
10 21 (1.28%) Azure Monitor
11 19 (1.15%) Microsoft Copilot
12 17 (1.03%) GitHub
13 16 (0.97%) Google Workspace
14 14 (0.85%) Dynamics 365
14 14 (0.85%) Power Automate
15 13 (0.79%) Serverless
16 10 (0.61%) IaaS
17 9 (0.55%) Amazon EC2
17 9 (0.55%) Amazon S3
17 9 (0.55%) Azure Functions
Communications & Networking
1 72 (4.37%) DNS
1 72 (4.37%) Firewall
2 57 (3.46%) VPN
3 54 (3.28%) DHCP
4 46 (2.79%) TCP/IP
5 43 (2.61%) Network Security
6 38 (2.31%) WAN
7 34 (2.06%) LAN
8 27 (1.64%) Wi-Fi
9 16 (0.97%) Skype
10 15 (0.91%) VLAN
10 15 (0.91%) Wireless
11 13 (0.79%) SD-WAN
12 11 (0.67%) BGP
12 11 (0.67%) Intrusion Detection
13 10 (0.61%) SAN
13 10 (0.61%) SSH
14 8 (0.49%) 5G
14 8 (0.49%) Internet
15 7 (0.43%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 43 (2.61%) Power BI
2 31 (1.88%) SQL Server
3 24 (1.46%) Metadata
4 8 (0.49%) MySQL
5 7 (0.43%) Amazon RDS
5 7 (0.43%) Looker
6 6 (0.36%) Oracle Database
6 6 (0.36%) PostgreSQL
6 6 (0.36%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 5 (0.30%) BigQuery
7 5 (0.30%) MariaDB
7 5 (0.30%) Relational Database
8 4 (0.24%) Oracle Database 11g
8 4 (0.24%) Oracle Reports
8 4 (0.24%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 3 (0.18%) Amazon Aurora
9 3 (0.18%) SQL Server Analysis Services
10 2 (0.12%) Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.12%) MongoDB
10 2 (0.12%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 153 (9.29%) JIRA
2 33 (2.00%) Git
3 20 (1.21%) Jenkins
4 17 (1.03%) Bitbucket
5 13 (0.79%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 7 (0.43%) GitLab
7 4 (0.24%) Browser DevTools
7 4 (0.24%) Maven
7 4 (0.24%) webpack
8 3 (0.18%) Gradle
8 3 (0.18%) Rational DOORS
9 2 (0.12%) Fiddler
9 2 (0.12%) Firebug
9 2 (0.12%) Sonatype Nexus
10 1 (0.061%) Claude Code
10 1 (0.061%) Gemini Tracker
10 1 (0.061%) IBM UrbanCode
10 1 (0.061%) MLflow
10 1 (0.061%) Snyk
10 1 (0.061%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 667 (40.50%) Social Skills
2 275 (16.70%) Analytical Skills
3 268 (16.27%) Finance
4 199 (12.08%) Public Sector
5 77 (4.68%) Organisational Skills
6 70 (4.25%) Telecoms
7 69 (4.19%) Documentation Skills
8 62 (3.76%) Banking
9 60 (3.64%) Influencing Skills
10 43 (2.61%) Aerospace
10 43 (2.61%) Legal
11 40 (2.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 29 (1.76%) Presentation Skills
13 28 (1.70%) Military
14 23 (1.40%) Local Government
14 23 (1.40%) Manufacturing
15 16 (0.97%) Police
15 16 (0.97%) Retail
16 12 (0.73%) Law
17 10 (0.61%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 180 (10.93%) Architect
2 159 (9.65%) Analyst
3 153 (9.29%) Lead
4 121 (7.35%) Consultant
5 117 (7.10%) Senior
6 114 (6.92%) Service Manager
7 76 (4.61%) Delivery Manager
7 76 (4.61%) Developer
8 75 (4.55%) Support Engineer
9 66 (4.01%) IT Manager
9 66 (4.01%) Project Manager
10 57 (3.46%) Solutions Architect
11 51 (3.10%) IT Support
12 49 (2.98%) Service Analyst
13 42 (2.55%) Service Architect
13 42 (2.55%) ServiceNow Architect
14 41 (2.49%) ServiceNow Developer
15 39 (2.37%) IT Engineer
16 37 (2.25%) Transition Manager
17 35 (2.13%) Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 78 (4.74%) REST
2 55 (3.34%) Terraform
3 31 (1.88%) SOAP
4 26 (1.58%) XML
5 23 (1.40%) Middleware
5 23 (1.40%) Web Services
6 20 (1.21%) HTML
7 19 (1.15%) CSS
7 19 (1.15%) JSON
8 10 (0.61%) LDAP
9 9 (0.55%) Elastic Stack
9 9 (0.55%) SAML
10 8 (0.49%) AngularJS
10 8 (0.49%) XSLT
11 7 (0.43%) .NET
11 7 (0.43%) ARM Templates
12 6 (0.36%) Ajax
12 6 (0.36%) Node.js
12 6 (0.36%) OAuth
13 5 (0.30%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 178 (10.81%) Onboarding
2 136 (8.26%) CMDB
3 96 (5.83%) Management Information System
4 63 (3.83%) Enterprise Software
5 56 (3.40%) Product Ownership
6 55 (3.34%) Data Centre
7 39 (2.37%) PKI
8 31 (1.88%) Data Protection Act
9 29 (1.76%) Hybrid Cloud
10 27 (1.64%) Security Operations Centre
10 27 (1.64%) Virtual Team
11 25 (1.52%) Operational Technology
12 23 (1.40%) Cloud Native
13 18 (1.09%) Cyber Threat
14 17 (1.03%) Self-Motivation
15 16 (0.97%) Security Posture
16 15 (0.91%) AI Agents
16 15 (0.91%) Analytical Mindset
16 15 (0.91%) Video Conferencing
17 14 (0.85%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 333 (20.22%) Windows
2 92 (5.59%) Linux
3 90 (5.46%) Windows Server
4 75 (4.55%) Windows 10
5 37 (2.25%) Apple iOS
6 35 (2.13%) Mac OS
7 22 (1.34%) Android
8 21 (1.28%) Unix
9 20 (1.21%) Windows 7
10 17 (1.03%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 6 (0.36%) Windows Server 2019
12 4 (0.24%) AIX
12 4 (0.24%) Solaris
12 4 (0.24%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
13 3 (0.18%) zOS
14 2 (0.12%) Ubuntu
14 2 (0.12%) Windows Server 2012
14 2 (0.12%) Windows Server 2016
14 2 (0.12%) Windows XP
15 1 (0.061%) Rocky
Processes & Methodologies
1 876 (53.19%) ITIL
2 716 (43.47%) ITSM
3 540 (32.79%) Stakeholder Management
4 469 (28.48%) Continuous Improvement
5 356 (21.62%) Service Delivery
6 331 (20.10%) Agile
6 331 (20.10%) Problem-Solving
7 247 (15.00%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 241 (14.63%) Roadmaps
9 238 (14.45%) Change Management
10 194 (11.78%) Customer Service
10 194 (11.78%) Cybersecurity
11 190 (11.54%) Incident Management
12 166 (10.08%) DevOps
13 154 (9.35%) Project Delivery
14 148 (8.99%) Decision-Making
15 140 (8.50%) AI
16 131 (7.95%) Migration
17 130 (7.89%) Risk Management
18 124 (7.53%) Service Design
Programming Languages
1 147 (8.93%) PowerShell
2 93 (5.65%) Python
3 59 (3.58%) JavaScript
3 59 (3.58%) SQL
4 56 (3.40%) Bash
5 19 (1.15%) VBScript
6 16 (0.97%) Java
7 15 (0.91%) VB
8 12 (0.73%) C#
9 9 (0.55%) Bicep
9 9 (0.55%) Shell Script
10 6 (0.36%) C
11 5 (0.30%) Groovy
11 5 (0.30%) Perl
12 4 (0.24%) PL/SQL
12 4 (0.24%) T-SQL
12 4 (0.24%) TypeScript
13 3 (0.18%) COBOL
13 3 (0.18%) Google Apps Script
13 3 (0.18%) RPG
Qualifications
1 631 (38.31%) Security Cleared
2 437 (26.53%) SC Cleared
3 156 (9.47%) Degree
4 150 (9.11%) DV Cleared
5 63 (3.83%) PMP
6 60 (3.64%) BPSS Clearance
7 59 (3.58%) PMI Certification
8 57 (3.46%) ITIL Certification
9 40 (2.43%) Microsoft Certification
10 36 (2.19%) CISSP
11 35 (2.13%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 31 (1.88%) CISM
13 28 (1.70%) Cisco Certification
14 27 (1.64%) Computer Science Degree
15 26 (1.58%) A+ Certification
16 24 (1.46%) DBS Check
17 20 (1.21%) Azure Certification
18 15 (0.91%) AWS Certification
19 11 (0.67%) CCNA
20 9 (0.55%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 145 (8.80%) SLA
2 63 (3.83%) QA
3 55 (3.34%) Data Quality
4 49 (2.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 40 (2.43%) GRC
6 37 (2.25%) NCSC
7 35 (2.13%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 34 (2.06%) GDPR
9 33 (2.00%) NIST
10 23 (1.40%) PMO
11 18 (1.09%) ISO 9001
12 16 (0.97%) Accessibility
13 13 (0.79%) COBIT
13 13 (0.79%) Cyber Essentials
14 10 (0.61%) PCI DSS
15 8 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
15 8 (0.49%) Disclosure Scotland
15 8 (0.49%) WCAG
16 7 (0.43%) ISO 22301
17 5 (0.30%) JSP 440
System Software
1 189 (11.48%) Active Directory
2 85 (5.16%) VMware Infrastructure
3 37 (2.25%) Hyper-V
4 28 (1.70%) VMware ESXi
5 22 (1.34%) Virtual Desktop
5 22 (1.34%) vSphere
6 21 (1.28%) Docker
7 17 (1.03%) VMware NSX
8 16 (0.97%) BitLocker
9 13 (0.79%) vCloud
10 9 (0.55%) Firmware
11 7 (0.43%) Citrix Hypervisor
11 7 (0.43%) XenApp
11 7 (0.43%) XenDesktop
12 6 (0.36%) Virtual Servers
13 5 (0.30%) IAG
14 4 (0.24%) Oracle RAC
15 3 (0.18%) KVM
15 3 (0.18%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 3 (0.18%) NFS
Systems Management
1 100 (6.07%) Microsoft Intune
2 84 (5.10%) SCCM
3 52 (3.16%) Ansible
4 26 (1.58%) Kubernetes
5 24 (1.46%) SCOM
5 24 (1.46%) Single Sign-On
6 18 (1.09%) vCenter Server
7 15 (0.91%) Jamf Pro
8 11 (0.67%) WSUS
9 8 (0.49%) Grafana
9 8 (0.49%) NetBackup
10 7 (0.43%) Progress Chef
10 7 (0.43%) Puppet
11 5 (0.30%) Data Guard
11 5 (0.30%) Oracle RMAN
11 5 (0.30%) Prometheus
11 5 (0.30%) Tivoli
11 5 (0.30%) Tivoli Monitoring
12 4 (0.24%) PowerCLI
12 4 (0.24%) vMotion
Vendors
1 465 (28.23%) ServiceNow
2 410 (24.89%) Microsoft
3 112 (6.80%) VMware
4 56 (3.40%) Remedy
5 50 (3.04%) Cisco
6 48 (2.91%) BMC
7 38 (2.31%) Atlassian
8 37 (2.25%) SAP
9 34 (2.06%) Oracle
10 32 (1.94%) Dynatrace
11 30 (1.82%) Google
12 27 (1.64%) IBM
13 26 (1.58%) Apple
14 24 (1.46%) Splunk
15 21 (1.28%) Citrix
16 20 (1.21%) CyberArk
16 20 (1.21%) Salesforce
16 20 (1.21%) SolarWinds
17 16 (0.97%) Zscaler
18 13 (0.79%) Qualys