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 4 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 107 87 79
Rank change year-on-year -20 -8 +6
Contract jobs citing Service Management 1,077 846 1,173
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.38% 2.89% 2.66%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.79% 3.20% 3.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 739 535 787
10th Percentile £213 £225 £268
25th Percentile £386 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% - +5.00%
75th Percentile £613 £606 £608
90th Percentile £725 £695 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £510 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -2.86% - +10.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 66 34 21
10th Percentile £14.50 £12.62 £12.53
25th Percentile £16.17 £13.42 £15.46
Median hourly rate £27.00 £22.14 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +21.95% +24.94% -57.58%
75th Percentile £74.26 £30.68 £26.50
90th Percentile £91.50 £68.38 £55.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.00 £22.14 £17.72
% change year-on-year +21.95% +24.94% -57.58%

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 38,631 26,466 38,100
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 85.54% 90.55% 86.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,504 17,183 24,720
10th Percentile £313 £308 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £744 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £485 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -0.51% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,266 983 2,350
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.00 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.00 £20.00 £16.00
Median hourly rate £35.96 £31.52 £33.00
Median % change year-on-year +14.07% -4.48% -11.53%
75th Percentile £65.00 £63.75 £57.83
90th Percentile £77.50 £76.10 £70.40
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.55 £30.00 £32.50
% change year-on-year +18.50% -7.69% -12.87%

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 4 April 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 4 April 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 4 April 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 -14 987 £520 -0.95% 367
UK excluding London -8 735 £510 -2.86% 317
London -47 264 £520 - 89
Work from Home -27 252 £500 -2.06% 157
South East +27 212 £519 +11.56% 109
South West -10 174 £578 +3.73% 34
North of England -7 173 £500 +5.26% 73
North West +1 101 £550 +9.78% 39
Midlands -31 101 £411 -25.36% 50
West Midlands -32 75 £406 -27.29% 35
Yorkshire -21 60 £468 +10.12% 28
East of England -21 49 £465 -15.55% 45
East Midlands -10 26 £419 +9.48% 15
Scotland -37 26 £500 - 13
North East -6 15 £420 +115.38% 7
Wales -15 3 £340 -25.48% 6
Northern Ireland - 1 £500 -

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 96 (8.91%) Confluence
2 49 (4.55%) Microsoft Exchange
3 40 (3.71%) SharePoint
4 9 (0.84%) Skype for Business
5 5 (0.46%) Mattermost
6 3 (0.28%) IIS
6 3 (0.28%) nginx
7 2 (0.19%) Apache
7 2 (0.19%) JBoss
7 2 (0.19%) SharePoint Server
8 1 (0.093%) HCL Notes
8 1 (0.093%) LiveCycle
8 1 (0.093%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.093%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 1 (0.093%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.093%) WebSphere
Applications
1 86 (7.99%) Microsoft Office
2 40 (3.71%) Microsoft Project
3 28 (2.60%) Microsoft Excel
4 11 (1.02%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (0.56%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.37%) PTC Creo
7 3 (0.28%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.19%) Chatbot
9 1 (0.093%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 40 (3.71%) Remedy ITSM
2 13 (1.21%) Oracle EBS
3 12 (1.11%) SAP S/4HANA
4 7 (0.65%) Teamcenter
5 2 (0.19%) Oracle Applications
5 2 (0.19%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.093%) assyst
6 1 (0.093%) Dynamics NAV
6 1 (0.093%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.093%) Oracle Payables
6 1 (0.093%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.093%) Oracle Receivables
6 1 (0.093%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
6 1 (0.093%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.093%) SAP HR
6 1 (0.093%) SAP Payroll
6 1 (0.093%) SAP PM
6 1 (0.093%) SAP SM
6 1 (0.093%) SystmOne
6 1 (0.093%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 156 (14.48%) Azure
2 103 (9.56%) Microsoft 365
3 79 (7.34%) AWS
4 47 (4.36%) Power Platform
5 44 (4.09%) SaaS
6 42 (3.90%) Entra ID
7 41 (3.81%) GCP
8 28 (2.60%) Azure DevOps
9 19 (1.76%) OneDrive
10 18 (1.67%) GitHub
10 18 (1.67%) PaaS
11 15 (1.39%) IaaS
12 12 (1.11%) AWS Lambda
12 12 (1.11%) Serverless
13 10 (0.93%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 10 (0.93%) OCI
14 8 (0.74%) Dynamics 365
14 8 (0.74%) OpenShift
15 7 (0.65%) Amazon S3
15 7 (0.65%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 70 (6.50%) Firewall
2 58 (5.39%) DNS
3 39 (3.62%) VPN
4 37 (3.44%) WAN
5 36 (3.34%) LAN
6 32 (2.97%) DHCP
7 31 (2.88%) Network Security
8 23 (2.14%) TCP/IP
9 19 (1.76%) BGP
9 19 (1.76%) VLAN
10 16 (1.49%) Wi-Fi
11 15 (1.39%) Cisco ISE
12 13 (1.21%) OSPF
12 13 (1.21%) Skype
13 12 (1.11%) BIG-IP
13 12 (1.11%) Junos
13 12 (1.11%) SD-WAN
14 11 (1.02%) WebEx
15 10 (0.93%) Wireless
16 8 (0.74%) Ethernet VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 37 (3.44%) Power BI
2 16 (1.49%) SQL Server
3 8 (0.74%) Relational Database
4 7 (0.65%) PostgreSQL
5 5 (0.46%) Metadata
6 4 (0.37%) Amazon RDS
6 4 (0.37%) Elasticsearch
6 4 (0.37%) InfluxDB
7 3 (0.28%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.28%) Oracle Database
7 3 (0.28%) Oracle Database 11g
7 3 (0.28%) Oracle Reports
7 3 (0.28%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 3 (0.28%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 3 (0.28%) Tableau
8 2 (0.19%) Amazon Redshift
8 2 (0.19%) Big Data
8 2 (0.19%) GIS
8 2 (0.19%) SQL Server Analysis Services
9 1 (0.093%) OpenStack Swift
Development Applications
1 155 (14.39%) JIRA
2 17 (1.58%) Jenkins
3 16 (1.49%) GitLab
4 15 (1.39%) Bitbucket
5 13 (1.21%) Git
6 7 (0.65%) ScriptRunner
7 6 (0.56%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 4 (0.37%) MLflow
9 3 (0.28%) Selenium
9 3 (0.28%) TestRail
10 2 (0.19%) Cypress.io
10 2 (0.19%) Hudson
10 2 (0.19%) IntelliJ
11 1 (0.093%) Artifactory
11 1 (0.093%) Cucumber
11 1 (0.093%) Fiddler
11 1 (0.093%) JMeter
11 1 (0.093%) JUnit
11 1 (0.093%) MSI
11 1 (0.093%) Rational DOORS
General
1 381 (35.38%) Social Skills
2 161 (14.95%) Analytical Skills
3 153 (14.21%) Finance
4 119 (11.05%) Public Sector
5 62 (5.76%) Legal
6 49 (4.55%) Military
7 36 (3.34%) Banking
8 33 (3.06%) Documentation Skills
9 32 (2.97%) Organisational Skills
10 28 (2.60%) Influencing Skills
11 21 (1.95%) Retail
11 21 (1.95%) Telecoms
12 12 (1.11%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 11 (1.02%) Aerospace
13 11 (1.02%) Manufacturing
14 9 (0.84%) Investment Banking
15 8 (0.74%) Local Government
16 7 (0.65%) Front Office
16 7 (0.65%) Law
17 6 (0.56%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 128 (11.88%) Analyst
2 119 (11.05%) Architect
3 113 (10.49%) Service Manager
4 111 (10.31%) Lead
5 78 (7.24%) Senior
6 68 (6.31%) Consultant
7 58 (5.39%) Service Architect
8 53 (4.92%) IT Manager
9 51 (4.74%) Service Analyst
10 36 (3.34%) Hardware Engineer
11 35 (3.25%) Delivery Manager
11 35 (3.25%) IT Support
12 34 (3.16%) IT Analyst
12 34 (3.16%) Support Engineer
13 32 (2.97%) Administrator
13 32 (2.97%) Project Manager
14 29 (2.69%) Service Delivery Manager
15 27 (2.51%) IT Services Manager
16 26 (2.41%) Developer
16 26 (2.41%) Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (4.64%) REST
2 19 (1.76%) SOAP
3 11 (1.02%) XMPP
4 9 (0.84%) 802.1X
5 8 (0.74%) Middleware
6 6 (0.56%) Elastic Stack
6 6 (0.56%) JSON
7 5 (0.46%) .NET
7 5 (0.46%) CSS
7 5 (0.46%) HTML
7 5 (0.46%) Oracle Fusion
8 4 (0.37%) AngularJS
8 4 (0.37%) ARM Templates
8 4 (0.37%) LDAP
8 4 (0.37%) Lightning Web Components
8 4 (0.37%) Microsoft Graph
8 4 (0.37%) OAuth
8 4 (0.37%) RabbitMQ
8 4 (0.37%) Web Services
9 2 (0.19%) Bootstrap
Miscellaneous
1 95 (8.82%) Product Ownership
2 67 (6.22%) CMDB
3 62 (5.76%) Onboarding
4 42 (3.90%) Data Centre
5 36 (3.34%) Management Information System
6 31 (2.88%) Virtual Team
7 26 (2.41%) PKI
8 20 (1.86%) Driving Licence
9 16 (1.49%) Clustering
10 15 (1.39%) Analytical Mindset
11 14 (1.30%) Data Protection Act
11 14 (1.30%) PMI
11 14 (1.30%) Self-Motivation
12 12 (1.11%) Enterprise Software
13 9 (0.84%) Replication
14 8 (0.74%) Hybrid Cloud
14 8 (0.74%) NHS
15 7 (0.65%) Algorithms
15 7 (0.65%) Cloud Native
16 6 (0.56%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 199 (18.48%) Windows
2 67 (6.22%) Linux
3 60 (5.57%) Windows Server
4 48 (4.46%) Windows 10
5 17 (1.58%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 12 (1.11%) Mac OS
7 11 (1.02%) Windows 7
8 10 (0.93%) Android
9 9 (0.84%) Apple iOS
9 9 (0.84%) Unix
9 9 (0.84%) Windows Server 2012
10 7 (0.65%) Ubuntu
11 5 (0.46%) VMS
12 4 (0.37%) Windows Server 2003
13 3 (0.28%) CentOS
13 3 (0.28%) Windows Server 2016
13 3 (0.28%) Windows Server 2019
14 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2008
15 1 (0.093%) Data ONTAP
15 1 (0.093%) Rocky
Processes & Methodologies
1 609 (56.55%) ITIL
2 471 (43.73%) ITSM
3 243 (22.56%) Agile
4 218 (20.24%) Continuous Improvement
5 213 (19.78%) Problem-Solving
6 206 (19.13%) Stakeholder Management
7 179 (16.62%) Service Delivery
8 160 (14.86%) Change Management
9 146 (13.56%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 125 (11.61%) DevOps
11 108 (10.03%) Customer Service
12 100 (9.29%) Service Design
13 99 (9.19%) Problem Management
14 89 (8.26%) Incident Management
15 81 (7.52%) Configuration Management
16 76 (7.06%) Project Management
17 75 (6.96%) Acceptance Criteria
18 71 (6.59%) Knowledge Transfer
19 67 (6.22%) Migration
20 64 (5.94%) CI/CD
Programming Languages
1 97 (9.01%) PowerShell
2 58 (5.39%) Python
3 53 (4.92%) SQL
4 29 (2.69%) JavaScript
5 19 (1.76%) Bash
6 18 (1.67%) Java
7 9 (0.84%) Perl
7 9 (0.84%) VB
7 9 (0.84%) VBScript
8 8 (0.74%) PL/SQL
9 6 (0.56%) Kotlin
9 6 (0.56%) Shell Script
10 5 (0.46%) Apex Code
10 5 (0.46%) C#
11 4 (0.37%) Go
11 4 (0.37%) Groovy
12 3 (0.28%) T-SQL
13 2 (0.19%) Bicep
13 2 (0.19%) PHP
14 1 (0.093%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 461 (42.80%) Security Cleared
2 354 (32.87%) SC Cleared
3 136 (12.63%) Degree
4 129 (11.98%) DV Cleared
5 54 (5.01%) ITIL Certification
6 30 (2.79%) PMI Certification
6 30 (2.79%) TOGAF Certification
7 28 (2.60%) PMP
8 25 (2.32%) Cisco Certification
9 24 (2.23%) BPSS Clearance
10 23 (2.14%) Microsoft Certification
11 17 (1.58%) Computer Science Degree
12 16 (1.49%) CCNP
13 15 (1.39%) A+ Certification
14 14 (1.30%) CCNA
15 10 (0.93%) MCSE
16 9 (0.84%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 9 (0.84%) JNCIA
16 9 (0.84%) JNCIP
16 9 (0.84%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 55 (5.11%) SLA
2 35 (3.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 32 (2.97%) Data Quality
4 22 (2.04%) GDPR
5 20 (1.86%) PMO
5 20 (1.86%) QA
6 17 (1.58%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 14 (1.30%) GRC
8 12 (1.11%) COBIT
9 11 (1.02%) Accessibility
9 11 (1.02%) NCSC
10 9 (0.84%) NIST
11 8 (0.74%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 7 (0.65%) Cyber Essentials
12 7 (0.65%) Government Security Classifications
13 6 (0.56%) PCI DSS
14 4 (0.37%) Disclosure Scotland
14 4 (0.37%) ISO 9001
15 3 (0.28%) HMG Security Policy Framework
15 3 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 117 (10.86%) Active Directory
2 33 (3.06%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (1.67%) Docker
4 9 (0.84%) BitLocker
5 7 (0.65%) VMware NSX
6 5 (0.46%) Hyper-V
6 5 (0.46%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (0.28%) Virtual Desktop
7 3 (0.28%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.19%) NDS
8 2 (0.19%) NetIQ eDirectory
8 2 (0.19%) NFS
8 2 (0.19%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 1 (0.093%) IAG
9 1 (0.093%) iptables
9 1 (0.093%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 1 (0.093%) Oracle RAC
9 1 (0.093%) Samba
9 1 (0.093%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 38 (3.53%) SCCM
2 30 (2.79%) Microsoft Intune
2 30 (2.79%) OPNET
3 27 (2.51%) Ansible
3 27 (2.51%) Terraform
4 26 (2.41%) Kubernetes
5 12 (1.11%) FortiGate
5 12 (1.11%) WSUS
6 10 (0.93%) Grafana
7 8 (0.74%) Jamf Pro
8 7 (0.65%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 7 (0.65%) Progress Chef
8 7 (0.65%) Prometheus
8 7 (0.65%) vCenter Server
9 5 (0.46%) Puppet
9 5 (0.46%) SCOM
10 4 (0.37%) Nessus
10 4 (0.37%) Packer
10 4 (0.37%) Single Sign-On
11 3 (0.28%) Data Guard
Vendors
1 278 (25.81%) ServiceNow
2 173 (16.06%) Microsoft
3 76 (7.06%) Remedy
4 75 (6.96%) Atlassian
5 54 (5.01%) Cisco
6 53 (4.92%) VMware
7 44 (4.09%) Oracle
8 39 (3.62%) HP
9 29 (2.69%) Google
10 26 (2.41%) SAP
10 26 (2.41%) Splunk
11 21 (1.95%) Citrix
12 20 (1.86%) Salesforce
13 19 (1.76%) Red Hat
14 18 (1.67%) Dell
14 18 (1.67%) SolarWinds
15 16 (1.49%) BMC
15 16 (1.49%) IFS
16 15 (1.39%) Canon
16 15 (1.39%) Juniper