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 9 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 107 87 78
Rank change year-on-year -20 -9 +13
Contract jobs citing Service Management 1,011 853 1,195
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.39% 2.87% 2.67%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.78% 3.18% 3.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 685 542 815
10th Percentile £200 £221 £285
25th Percentile £358 £402 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +7.50%
75th Percentile £601 £613 £608
90th Percentile £720 £700 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £525 £535
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.87% +12.63%
Number of hourly rates quoted 78 33 17
10th Percentile £15.97 £12.62 £12.53
25th Percentile £16.86 £22.14 £15.46
Median hourly rate £31.05 £26.50 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +17.17% +49.55% -39.22%
75th Percentile £74.13 £33.37 £20.00
90th Percentile £84.38 £68.50 £59.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £38.98 £24.18 £17.50
% change year-on-year +61.21% +38.15% -50.07%

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 36,399 26,862 38,734
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.19% 90.27% 86.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,113 17,118 25,178
10th Percentile £313 £306 £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 £612 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £743 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £491 £500
% change year-on-year -2.04% -1.80% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,154 913 2,346
10th Percentile £14.64 £15.52 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.00 £16.06
Median hourly rate £29.00 £32.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -10.77% - -7.14%
75th Percentile £63.75 £64.52 £57.50
90th Percentile £74.26 £76.25 £71.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.77 £31.76 £31.50
% change year-on-year -18.86% +0.83% -10.00%

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 9 March 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 9 March 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 9 March 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 -17 922 £510 -2.95% 307
UK excluding London -9 691 £500 -4.76% 287
Work from Home -23 243 £469 -10.71% 125
London -54 241 £500 -4.76% 55
South East +28 197 £500 +8.11% 95
North of England -6 166 £500 +17.65% 69
South West -13 161 £575 +2.22% 35
Midlands -21 99 £425 -23.94% 55
North West +3 92 £550 +15.79% 46
West Midlands -30 75 £431 -23.88% 31
Yorkshire -23 63 £465 +102.28% 15
East of England -17 47 £452 -17.82% 32
East Midlands -13 24 £419 -9.95% 22
Scotland -32 24 £500 - 8
North East -6 14 £280 -27.27% 8
Wales -10 2 £245 -36.77% 7
Northern Ireland - 1 £500 - 1

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 91 (9.00%) Confluence
2 53 (5.24%) Microsoft Exchange
3 49 (4.85%) SharePoint
4 11 (1.09%) Skype for Business
5 5 (0.49%) Mattermost
6 4 (0.40%) SharePoint Server
7 3 (0.30%) IIS
7 3 (0.30%) nginx
8 2 (0.20%) Apache
8 2 (0.20%) JBoss
9 1 (0.099%) HCL Notes
9 1 (0.099%) LiveCycle
9 1 (0.099%) OpenStack
9 1 (0.099%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 1 (0.099%) WebLogic
9 1 (0.099%) WebSphere
Applications
1 86 (8.51%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (3.56%) Microsoft Project
3 27 (2.67%) Microsoft Excel
4 9 (0.89%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.49%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.40%) Autodesk Inventor
6 4 (0.40%) PTC Creo
7 3 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.099%) Camtasia
8 1 (0.099%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 30 (2.97%) Remedy ITSM
2 14 (1.38%) SAP S/4HANA
3 13 (1.29%) Oracle EBS
4 7 (0.69%) Teamcenter
5 2 (0.20%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.099%) assyst
6 1 (0.099%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.099%) Dynamics NAV
6 1 (0.099%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.099%) Oracle Payables
6 1 (0.099%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.099%) Oracle Receivables
6 1 (0.099%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
6 1 (0.099%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.099%) SAP PM
6 1 (0.099%) SAP SM
6 1 (0.099%) SystmOne
6 1 (0.099%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 159 (15.73%) Azure
2 96 (9.50%) Microsoft 365
3 88 (8.70%) AWS
4 49 (4.85%) GCP
5 46 (4.55%) Entra ID
6 36 (3.56%) Power Platform
6 36 (3.56%) SaaS
7 27 (2.67%) Azure DevOps
8 22 (2.18%) OneDrive
9 14 (1.38%) IaaS
9 14 (1.38%) PaaS
10 11 (1.09%) GitHub
10 11 (1.09%) Serverless
11 10 (0.99%) AWS Lambda
12 8 (0.79%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 8 (0.79%) Dynamics 365
12 8 (0.79%) OpenShift
12 8 (0.79%) PowerApps
13 7 (0.69%) Salesforce Service Cloud
14 6 (0.59%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 64 (6.33%) DNS
2 62 (6.13%) Firewall
3 34 (3.36%) DHCP
4 33 (3.26%) VPN
5 32 (3.17%) LAN
6 31 (3.07%) WAN
7 24 (2.37%) Network Security
8 21 (2.08%) VLAN
9 19 (1.88%) TCP/IP
10 18 (1.78%) Skype
11 15 (1.48%) BGP
11 15 (1.48%) Junos
11 15 (1.48%) Wi-Fi
12 14 (1.38%) Cisco ISE
13 11 (1.09%) WebEx
14 9 (0.89%) Cisco IOS
14 9 (0.89%) OSPF
15 8 (0.79%) BIG-IP
15 8 (0.79%) Cisco Firepower
15 8 (0.79%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (2.57%) Power BI
2 14 (1.38%) SQL Server
3 11 (1.09%) Relational Database
4 7 (0.69%) PostgreSQL
5 5 (0.49%) Metadata
6 4 (0.40%) Amazon RDS
6 4 (0.40%) Elasticsearch
6 4 (0.40%) InfluxDB
7 3 (0.30%) Tableau
8 2 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
8 2 (0.20%) Big Data
8 2 (0.20%) GIS
8 2 (0.20%) MongoDB
9 1 (0.099%) Data Mining
9 1 (0.099%) Electronic Patient Records
9 1 (0.099%) KNIME
9 1 (0.099%) OpenStack Swift
9 1 (0.099%) Oracle Reports
9 1 (0.099%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 1 (0.099%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 142 (14.05%) JIRA
2 17 (1.68%) Git
3 16 (1.58%) Jenkins
4 13 (1.29%) Bitbucket
4 13 (1.29%) GitLab
5 6 (0.59%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 3 (0.30%) ScriptRunner
6 3 (0.30%) Selenium
6 3 (0.30%) TestRail
7 2 (0.20%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.20%) MLflow
8 1 (0.099%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.099%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.099%) IntelliJ
8 1 (0.099%) JUnit
8 1 (0.099%) Postman
8 1 (0.099%) Protractor
8 1 (0.099%) Rational DOORS
8 1 (0.099%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.099%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 386 (38.18%) Social Skills
2 159 (15.73%) Analytical Skills
3 132 (13.06%) Finance
4 124 (12.27%) Public Sector
5 56 (5.54%) Legal
6 46 (4.55%) Military
7 35 (3.46%) Influencing Skills
8 34 (3.36%) Organisational Skills
9 32 (3.17%) Banking
10 31 (3.07%) Documentation Skills
11 22 (2.18%) Retail
12 18 (1.78%) Telecoms
13 12 (1.19%) Manufacturing
14 11 (1.09%) Aerospace
15 10 (0.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 9 (0.89%) Presentation Skills
17 8 (0.79%) Law
18 7 (0.69%) Investment Banking
18 7 (0.69%) Local Government
19 6 (0.59%) Police
Job Titles
1 133 (13.16%) Analyst
2 123 (12.17%) Lead
3 115 (11.37%) Architect
4 93 (9.20%) Service Manager
5 55 (5.44%) Consultant
6 53 (5.24%) Senior
6 53 (5.24%) Service Analyst
6 53 (5.24%) Service Architect
7 40 (3.96%) IT Manager
8 38 (3.76%) IT Support
8 38 (3.76%) Support Engineer
9 34 (3.36%) Hardware Engineer
10 28 (2.77%) Delivery Manager
11 27 (2.67%) Business Analyst
12 26 (2.57%) IT Analyst
12 26 (2.57%) Network Engineer
12 26 (2.57%) Platform Engineer
13 25 (2.47%) Administrator
14 24 (2.37%) 2nd Line Support
14 24 (2.37%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (4.35%) REST
2 20 (1.98%) SOAP
3 11 (1.09%) XMPP
4 9 (0.89%) Web Services
5 8 (0.79%) 802.1X
6 7 (0.69%) Elastic Stack
6 7 (0.69%) LDAP
7 4 (0.40%) .NET
7 4 (0.40%) ARM Templates
7 4 (0.40%) JSON
7 4 (0.40%) Middleware
7 4 (0.40%) RabbitMQ
7 4 (0.40%) RFC 2544
8 3 (0.30%) CSS
8 3 (0.30%) EDI
8 3 (0.30%) Lightning Web Components
8 3 (0.30%) Microsoft Graph
8 3 (0.30%) OAuth
8 3 (0.30%) Oracle Fusion
9 2 (0.20%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 90 (8.90%) Product Ownership
2 60 (5.93%) CMDB
3 45 (4.45%) Onboarding
4 42 (4.15%) Data Centre
5 37 (3.66%) Management Information System
6 28 (2.77%) Virtual Team
7 25 (2.47%) PKI
8 18 (1.78%) Driving Licence
9 17 (1.68%) Analytical Mindset
10 16 (1.58%) Self-Motivation
11 14 (1.38%) PMI
12 11 (1.09%) Data Protection Act
12 11 (1.09%) Enterprise Software
13 10 (0.99%) Clustering
14 8 (0.79%) Hybrid Cloud
15 7 (0.69%) Algorithms
15 7 (0.69%) NHS
16 6 (0.59%) Smartphone
17 5 (0.49%) Replication
17 5 (0.49%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 200 (19.78%) Windows
2 62 (6.13%) Linux
3 54 (5.34%) Windows Server
4 50 (4.95%) Windows 10
5 15 (1.48%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 12 (1.19%) Android
6 12 (1.19%) Mac OS
7 11 (1.09%) Windows 7
8 10 (0.99%) Apple iOS
9 8 (0.79%) Windows Server 2012
10 6 (0.59%) Ubuntu
10 6 (0.59%) Unix
11 4 (0.40%) VMS
11 4 (0.40%) Windows Server 2003
11 4 (0.40%) Windows Server 2016
12 3 (0.30%) CentOS
12 3 (0.30%) Windows Server 2019
13 1 (0.099%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.099%) Rocky
13 1 (0.099%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 582 (57.57%) ITIL
2 449 (44.41%) ITSM
3 225 (22.26%) Agile
4 210 (20.77%) Problem-Solving
5 204 (20.18%) Continuous Improvement
6 190 (18.79%) Stakeholder Management
7 151 (14.94%) Change Management
7 151 (14.94%) Service Delivery
8 140 (13.85%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 113 (11.18%) DevOps
10 111 (10.98%) Customer Service
11 108 (10.68%) Service Design
12 84 (8.31%) Incident Management
12 84 (8.31%) Problem Management
13 76 (7.52%) Configuration Management
13 76 (7.52%) Project Management
14 72 (7.12%) Acceptance Criteria
15 71 (7.02%) Knowledge Transfer
16 65 (6.43%) Performance Metrics
17 63 (6.23%) CI/CD
Programming Languages
1 90 (8.90%) PowerShell
2 60 (5.93%) Python
3 43 (4.25%) SQL
4 24 (2.37%) JavaScript
5 20 (1.98%) Java
6 18 (1.78%) Bash
7 12 (1.19%) Perl
8 10 (0.99%) Shell Script
9 9 (0.89%) VB
9 9 (0.89%) VBScript
10 6 (0.59%) Kotlin
11 4 (0.40%) C#
11 4 (0.40%) Go
12 2 (0.20%) ActionScript
12 2 (0.20%) ActionScript 2.0
12 2 (0.20%) Apex Code
12 2 (0.20%) Bicep
12 2 (0.20%) PHP
12 2 (0.20%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.099%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 419 (41.44%) Security Cleared
2 311 (30.76%) SC Cleared
3 124 (12.27%) Degree
4 116 (11.47%) DV Cleared
5 53 (5.24%) ITIL Certification
6 30 (2.97%) BPSS Clearance
6 30 (2.97%) TOGAF Certification
7 27 (2.67%) PMI Certification
8 25 (2.47%) Microsoft Certification
9 24 (2.37%) PMP
10 23 (2.27%) Cisco Certification
11 15 (1.48%) CCNP
11 15 (1.48%) Computer Science Degree
12 13 (1.29%) A+ Certification
12 13 (1.29%) CCNA
12 13 (1.29%) MCSE
13 9 (0.89%) Azure Certification
14 8 (0.79%) JNCIA
14 8 (0.79%) JNCIP
14 8 (0.79%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 41 (4.06%) SLA
2 28 (2.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 25 (2.47%) Data Quality
4 23 (2.27%) GDPR
4 23 (2.27%) QA
5 14 (1.38%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 13 (1.29%) PMO
7 11 (1.09%) Accessibility
8 10 (0.99%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 9 (0.89%) COBIT
9 9 (0.89%) NCSC
9 9 (0.89%) NIST
10 7 (0.69%) GRC
11 6 (0.59%) PCI DSS
12 5 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials
12 5 (0.49%) Government Security Classifications
13 4 (0.40%) HIPAA
14 3 (0.30%) Disclosure Scotland
14 3 (0.30%) HMG Security Policy Framework
14 3 (0.30%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 121 (11.97%) Active Directory
2 33 (3.26%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (1.78%) Docker
4 12 (1.19%) VMware NSX
5 9 (0.89%) BitLocker
6 7 (0.69%) Hyper-V
7 5 (0.49%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (0.40%) NDS
8 4 (0.40%) NetIQ eDirectory
8 4 (0.40%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.30%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 3 (0.30%) Virtual Servers
10 2 (0.20%) NFS
10 2 (0.20%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.099%) iptables
11 1 (0.099%) Samba
11 1 (0.099%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 37 (3.66%) SCCM
2 31 (3.07%) Microsoft Intune
3 30 (2.97%) OPNET
4 27 (2.67%) Ansible
5 25 (2.47%) Kubernetes
5 25 (2.47%) Terraform
6 14 (1.38%) WSUS
7 13 (1.29%) vCenter Server
8 11 (1.09%) FortiGate
9 9 (0.89%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 9 (0.89%) Grafana
10 8 (0.79%) Jamf Pro
11 7 (0.69%) Progress Chef
12 6 (0.59%) Prometheus
12 6 (0.59%) Single Sign-On
13 5 (0.49%) Puppet
13 5 (0.49%) SCOM
14 4 (0.40%) Nessus
14 4 (0.40%) Packer
15 3 (0.30%) HP ALM
Vendors
1 265 (26.21%) ServiceNow
2 161 (15.92%) Microsoft
3 69 (6.82%) Atlassian
4 64 (6.33%) Remedy
5 57 (5.64%) Cisco
6 50 (4.95%) VMware
7 37 (3.66%) Google
7 37 (3.66%) HP
8 34 (3.36%) Oracle
9 28 (2.77%) SAP
10 27 (2.67%) Splunk
11 26 (2.57%) SolarWinds
12 18 (1.78%) Citrix
13 17 (1.68%) Juniper
13 17 (1.68%) Salesforce
14 16 (1.58%) Dell
14 16 (1.58%) Red Hat
15 13 (1.29%) Canon
16 12 (1.19%) BMC
16 12 (1.19%) IFS