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 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 87 102 80
Rank change year-on-year +15 -22 +18
Contract jobs citing Service Management 1,049 844 1,237
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.90% 2.36% 2.75%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.25% 2.70% 3.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 708 515 878
10th Percentile £200 £213 £262
25th Percentile £325 £375 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £530
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -0.94% +6.00%
75th Percentile £575 £615 £615
90th Percentile £697 £688 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £501 £525
% change year-on-year -0.10% -4.67% +10.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 89 27 18
10th Percentile £12.62 £20.03 £17.72
25th Percentile £16.72 £24.97 £20.50
Median hourly rate £20.83 £32.25 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -35.40% -7.87% +62.79%
75th Percentile £60.00 £48.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.41 £60.00 £76.40
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.79 £34.25 £21.31
% change year-on-year -39.30% +60.72% -0.88%

All Process and 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 32,257 31,288 39,893
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 89.04% 87.36% 88.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,268 18,944 26,694
10th Percentile £300 £309 £310
25th Percentile £404 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £533
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -1.50% -3.09%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £744 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,091 1,103 1,539
10th Percentile £14.61 £15.23 £14.36
25th Percentile £17.50 £20.19 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £43.75
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -25.71% +25.00%
75th Percentile £45.61 £63.42 £65.00
90th Percentile £67.50 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.85 £32.39 £43.95
% change year-on-year -29.45% -26.30% +40.82%

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 December 2025.

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 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Service Management in the UK

Service Management
Top 18 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 December 2025. 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 +14 941 £500 -4.76% 310
UK excluding London +15 741 £500 -0.10% 311
Work from Home +10 277 £500 -9.09% 131
London -43 232 £500 -2.44% 72
South East +28 194 £500 -4.76% 93
North of England 0 187 £445 +4.71% 67
South West +22 145 £564 -1.96% 37
Midlands +22 129 £463 -18.36% 57
North West +13 114 £475 +18.75% 38
West Midlands +13 104 £500 -11.74% 36
Yorkshire -11 58 £355 -26.42% 18
Scotland +7 41 £470 +5.62% 21
East of England -10 38 £454 -17.45% 23
East Midlands 0 25 £419 -24.72% 20
North East +1 18 £260 -56.39% 12
Wales -17 5 £175 -21.76% 15
Northern Ireland - 5 £325 - 5
Channel Islands - 3 £725 -

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 82 (7.82%) Confluence
2 75 (7.15%) Microsoft Exchange
3 65 (6.20%) SharePoint
4 19 (1.81%) Apache
5 15 (1.43%) WebLogic
6 10 (0.95%) Skype for Business
7 5 (0.48%) SharePoint Server
8 4 (0.38%) IIS
8 4 (0.38%) WebSphere
9 2 (0.19%) JBoss
10 1 (0.095%) CMS
10 1 (0.095%) Exchange Server 2010
10 1 (0.095%) Exchange Server 2013
10 1 (0.095%) HCL Notes
10 1 (0.095%) nginx
10 1 (0.095%) Oracle Self-Service HR
10 1 (0.095%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 98 (9.34%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (3.43%) Microsoft Project
3 32 (3.05%) Microsoft Excel
4 14 (1.33%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 11 (1.05%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.38%) Autodesk Inventor
7 1 (0.095%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.095%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.095%) Trello
Business Applications
1 24 (2.29%) Remedy ITSM
2 12 (1.14%) Oracle EBS
3 11 (1.05%) SAP S/4HANA
4 6 (0.57%) Salesforce CRM
5 5 (0.48%) Dynamics CRM
5 5 (0.48%) Oracle ERP
5 5 (0.48%) Workday HCM
6 4 (0.38%) Maximo
7 3 (0.29%) assyst
8 2 (0.19%) ResourceLink
8 2 (0.19%) SAP ERP
9 1 (0.095%) Cloudability
9 1 (0.095%) Integrated Workplace Management System
9 1 (0.095%) SAP HR
9 1 (0.095%) SAP LE
9 1 (0.095%) SAP PM
9 1 (0.095%) SAP WM
9 1 (0.095%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 166 (15.82%) Azure
2 108 (10.30%) AWS
3 107 (10.20%) Microsoft 365
4 39 (3.72%) Entra ID
5 34 (3.24%) GCP
6 30 (2.86%) Power Platform
7 27 (2.57%) Azure DevOps
7 27 (2.57%) OneDrive
7 27 (2.57%) SaaS
8 18 (1.72%) Azure Monitor
9 11 (1.05%) PowerApps
10 10 (0.95%) IaaS
11 8 (0.76%) Nutanix
11 8 (0.76%) PaaS
11 8 (0.76%) Salesforce Service Cloud
11 8 (0.76%) Serverless
12 7 (0.67%) Dynamics 365
12 7 (0.67%) Power Automate
13 6 (0.57%) Amazon S3
13 6 (0.57%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 62 (5.91%) Firewall
2 60 (5.72%) DNS
3 37 (3.53%) DHCP
4 31 (2.96%) WAN
5 30 (2.86%) LAN
6 28 (2.67%) TCP/IP
7 26 (2.48%) VPN
8 22 (2.10%) VLAN
9 20 (1.91%) Skype
10 18 (1.72%) Cisco IOS
11 17 (1.62%) Cisco Firepower
11 17 (1.62%) Cisco ISE
11 17 (1.62%) Junos
12 15 (1.43%) Network Security
13 14 (1.33%) SSH
14 12 (1.14%) Wi-Fi
15 11 (1.05%) HTTP
16 8 (0.76%) SAN
16 8 (0.76%) WebEx
16 8 (0.76%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (2.00%) Power BI
2 17 (1.62%) Relational Database
2 17 (1.62%) SQL Server
3 9 (0.86%) Amazon RDS
4 6 (0.57%) PostgreSQL
5 5 (0.48%) Metadata
5 5 (0.48%) Tableau
6 4 (0.38%) Data Mining
6 4 (0.38%) DB2
6 4 (0.38%) Oracle Reports
7 3 (0.29%) InfluxDB
7 3 (0.29%) MySQL
8 2 (0.19%) Amazon Aurora
8 2 (0.19%) Azure SQL Database
8 2 (0.19%) Big Data
8 2 (0.19%) MariaDB
9 1 (0.095%) Amazon Athena
9 1 (0.095%) Elasticsearch
9 1 (0.095%) Electronic Patient Records
9 1 (0.095%) KNIME
Development Applications
1 145 (13.82%) JIRA
2 15 (1.43%) Jenkins
3 12 (1.14%) Git
4 6 (0.57%) Bitbucket
5 5 (0.48%) webpack
6 4 (0.38%) GitLab
7 2 (0.19%) ScriptRunner
7 2 (0.19%) Selenium
8 1 (0.095%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.095%) Cypress.io
8 1 (0.095%) MLflow
8 1 (0.095%) SoapUI
8 1 (0.095%) TestRail
8 1 (0.095%) Visual Studio Code
8 1 (0.095%) WebDriver
8 1 (0.095%) Zephyr
General
1 423 (40.32%) Social Skills
2 183 (17.45%) Analytical Skills
3 146 (13.92%) Finance
4 134 (12.77%) Public Sector
5 52 (4.96%) Military
6 39 (3.72%) Telecoms
7 36 (3.43%) Influencing Skills
8 34 (3.24%) Legal
9 32 (3.05%) Manufacturing
10 30 (2.86%) Organisational Skills
11 29 (2.76%) Banking
12 25 (2.38%) Documentation Skills
13 23 (2.19%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 22 (2.10%) Presentation Skills
15 19 (1.81%) Retail
16 16 (1.53%) Marketing
17 13 (1.24%) Electronics
18 11 (1.05%) Investment Banking
18 11 (1.05%) Police
19 7 (0.67%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 155 (14.78%) Analyst
2 125 (11.92%) Architect
3 111 (10.58%) Lead
4 77 (7.34%) Service Manager
5 73 (6.96%) Support Engineer
6 64 (6.10%) Service Architect
7 49 (4.67%) Consultant
8 45 (4.29%) IT Support
8 45 (4.29%) Service Analyst
9 44 (4.19%) Support Analyst
10 41 (3.91%) Senior
11 40 (3.81%) 2nd Line Support
12 34 (3.24%) Desktop Support
13 33 (3.15%) Delivery Manager
13 33 (3.15%) Network Engineer
14 32 (3.05%) IT Analyst
15 31 (2.96%) Business Analyst
15 31 (2.96%) Service Delivery Manager
16 29 (2.76%) IT Manager
16 29 (2.76%) Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (3.53%) REST
2 23 (2.19%) SOAP
3 22 (2.10%) Web Services
4 17 (1.62%) RFC 2544
5 15 (1.43%) .NET
6 14 (1.33%) CSS
6 14 (1.33%) HTML
7 10 (0.95%) LDAP
7 10 (0.95%) RESTful
8 9 (0.86%) Lightning Web Components
9 8 (0.76%) React
9 8 (0.76%) XMPP
10 7 (0.67%) AngularJS
11 6 (0.57%) Elastic Stack
11 6 (0.57%) XML
12 5 (0.48%) CSS3
12 5 (0.48%) HTML5
12 5 (0.48%) Middleware
12 5 (0.48%) Node.js
12 5 (0.48%) Redux
Miscellaneous
1 66 (6.29%) Product Ownership
2 50 (4.77%) Data Centre
3 44 (4.19%) CMDB
4 43 (4.10%) Management Information System
5 38 (3.62%) Onboarding
6 26 (2.48%) PKI
7 25 (2.38%) Self-Motivation
8 21 (2.00%) Analytical Mindset
9 20 (1.91%) Virtual Team
10 14 (1.33%) Driving Licence
10 14 (1.33%) NHS
11 13 (1.24%) Mainframe
12 12 (1.14%) Fibre Optics
13 10 (0.95%) Video Conferencing
14 9 (0.86%) Data Protection Act
15 8 (0.76%) Tandem
16 7 (0.67%) PMI
16 7 (0.67%) Public Cloud
17 6 (0.57%) Enterprise Software
17 6 (0.57%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 221 (21.07%) Windows
2 71 (6.77%) Linux
3 64 (6.10%) Windows Server
4 53 (5.05%) Windows 10
5 27 (2.57%) Unix
6 14 (1.33%) Mac OS
7 13 (1.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 10 (0.95%) Apple iOS
9 9 (0.86%) Android
10 7 (0.67%) Windows Server 2012
11 6 (0.57%) Windows 7
11 6 (0.57%) Windows Server 2019
12 5 (0.48%) Windows Server 2003
13 4 (0.38%) Ubuntu
13 4 (0.38%) Windows Server 2008
13 4 (0.38%) Windows Server 2016
14 3 (0.29%) CentOS
14 3 (0.29%) VMS
15 1 (0.095%) Mac OS X
15 1 (0.095%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 603 (57.48%) ITIL
2 454 (43.28%) ITSM
3 219 (20.88%) Problem-Solving
4 204 (19.45%) Agile
5 174 (16.59%) Change Management
6 164 (15.63%) Continuous Improvement
7 163 (15.54%) Stakeholder Management
8 143 (13.63%) Service Delivery
9 132 (12.58%) Customer Service
9 132 (12.58%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 125 (11.92%) Service Design
11 100 (9.53%) Project Management
12 98 (9.34%) Incident Management
13 93 (8.87%) Project Delivery
14 91 (8.67%) DevOps
15 71 (6.77%) Problem Management
16 64 (6.10%) Knowledge Transfer
17 61 (5.82%) Analytics
17 61 (5.82%) Configuration Management
18 59 (5.62%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 80 (7.63%) PowerShell
2 72 (6.86%) SQL
3 65 (6.20%) Python
4 33 (3.15%) JavaScript
5 19 (1.81%) Java
6 15 (1.43%) Perl
7 14 (1.33%) Shell Script
8 13 (1.24%) Bash
9 7 (0.67%) TypeScript
10 5 (0.48%) VB
10 5 (0.48%) VBScript
11 3 (0.29%) Apex Code
11 3 (0.29%) Bicep
11 3 (0.29%) C#
11 3 (0.29%) Go
12 2 (0.19%) ActionScript
12 2 (0.19%) ActionScript 2.0
13 1 (0.095%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.095%) T-SQL
13 1 (0.095%) VBA
Qualifications
1 414 (39.47%) Security Cleared
2 342 (32.60%) SC Cleared
3 140 (13.35%) Degree
4 64 (6.10%) DV Cleared
5 63 (6.01%) ITIL Certification
6 44 (4.19%) Microsoft Certification
7 28 (2.67%) TOGAF Certification
8 26 (2.48%) BPSS Clearance
9 21 (2.00%) A+ Certification
9 21 (2.00%) Cisco Certification
9 21 (2.00%) Computer Science Degree
10 18 (1.72%) Azure Certification
10 18 (1.72%) PMP
11 17 (1.62%) PMI Certification
12 16 (1.53%) CCNP
12 16 (1.53%) MCSE
13 14 (1.33%) CCNA
13 14 (1.33%) Server+ Certification
14 13 (1.24%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 11 (1.05%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 58 (5.53%) SLA
2 34 (3.24%) ISO/IEC 20000
3 24 (2.29%) GDPR
4 23 (2.19%) QA
5 17 (1.62%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 13 (1.24%) PMO
7 11 (1.05%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 10 (0.95%) COBIT
8 10 (0.95%) Data Quality
9 8 (0.76%) Accessibility
9 8 (0.76%) NCSC
10 6 (0.57%) Disclosure Scotland
10 6 (0.57%) GxP
10 6 (0.57%) ISO 9001
11 5 (0.48%) GRC
12 4 (0.38%) HIPAA
13 3 (0.29%) NIST
14 2 (0.19%) Cyber Essentials
15 1 (0.095%) HMG Security Policy Framework
15 1 (0.095%) NIST 800
System Software
1 130 (12.39%) Active Directory
2 42 (4.00%) VMware Infrastructure
3 21 (2.00%) VMware NSX
4 16 (1.53%) Hyper-V
5 12 (1.14%) Docker
5 12 (1.14%) Virtual Desktop
6 6 (0.57%) Virtual Servers
7 5 (0.48%) BitLocker
7 5 (0.48%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 5 (0.48%) VMware ESXi
8 4 (0.38%) NDS
8 4 (0.38%) NetIQ eDirectory
9 3 (0.29%) Virtual Machines
10 2 (0.19%) vSphere
11 1 (0.095%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 1 (0.095%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 30 (2.86%) OPNET
2 29 (2.76%) SCCM
3 28 (2.67%) Terraform
4 26 (2.48%) Ansible
4 26 (2.48%) vCenter Server
5 24 (2.29%) Microsoft Intune
6 22 (2.10%) Kubernetes
7 14 (1.33%) WSUS
8 11 (1.05%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 11 (1.05%) Single Sign-On
9 6 (0.57%) SCOM
10 5 (0.48%) Jamf Pro
11 4 (0.38%) Grafana
11 4 (0.38%) Nessus
11 4 (0.38%) Packer
11 4 (0.38%) Prometheus
12 3 (0.29%) Check_MK
12 3 (0.29%) FortiGate
12 3 (0.29%) Progress Chef
13 2 (0.19%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 263 (25.07%) ServiceNow
2 203 (19.35%) Microsoft
3 93 (8.87%) Cisco
4 59 (5.62%) Atlassian
4 59 (5.62%) Remedy
5 56 (5.34%) Oracle
6 55 (5.24%) VMware
7 40 (3.81%) SAP
8 38 (3.62%) Splunk
9 31 (2.96%) Google
9 31 (2.96%) SolarWinds
10 24 (2.29%) Salesforce
11 22 (2.10%) Juniper
12 20 (1.91%) AppDynamics
12 20 (1.91%) Dynatrace
13 15 (1.43%) IBM
14 14 (1.33%) Citrix
14 14 (1.33%) Red Hat
14 14 (1.33%) Veeam
15 11 (1.05%) IFS