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

6 months to
18 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 107 82 79
Rank change year-on-year -25 -3 +12
Contract jobs citing Service Management 1,032 861 1,183
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.39% 2.94% 2.66%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.77% 3.25% 3.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 703 546 799
10th Percentile £210 £220 £280
25th Percentile £363 £401 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £507 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year -3.52% -1.87% +7.00%
75th Percentile £605 £613 £608
90th Percentile £725 £700 £731
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £525 £535
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.87% +12.63%
Number of hourly rates quoted 71 36 20
10th Percentile £15.75 £12.62 £12.53
25th Percentile £16.17 £21.05 £16.27
Median hourly rate £27.50 £25.34 £18.36
Median % change year-on-year +8.52% +38.02% -43.51%
75th Percentile £74.26 £32.72 £26.63
90th Percentile £85.25 £68.13 £56.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.00 £24.18 £17.72
% change year-on-year +11.66% +36.46% -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 37,207 26,505 38,501
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 85.99% 90.41% 86.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,564 17,019 25,049
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 £610 £638 £638
90th Percentile £721 £744 £744
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -2.04% -2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,206 924 2,336
10th Percentile £14.93 £15.25 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.50 £20.99 £16.05
Median hourly rate £30.00 £32.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -7.69% - -7.14%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.52 £57.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £77.41 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £31.64 £31.50
% change year-on-year -13.08% +0.44% -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 18 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 18 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 18 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 -20 945 £510 -2.95% 352
UK excluding London -10 704 £500 -4.76% 311
London -54 251 £520 -0.95% 75
Work from Home -26 244 £490 -6.67% 135
South East +29 208 £507 +9.38% 112
North of England -4 167 £500 +17.65% 76
South West -12 163 £575 +2.22% 33
Midlands -19 99 £420 -26.41% 44
North West -1 94 £550 +10.66% 45
West Midlands -34 75 £420 -26.96% 32
Yorkshire -23 64 £468 +102.82% 27
East of England -10 45 £450 -18.18% 43
East Midlands -18 24 £419 -9.95% 12
Scotland -36 23 £500 - 12
North East -8 12 £280 +43.59% 5
Wales -10 2 £245 -36.77% 3
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 93 (9.01%) Confluence
2 48 (4.65%) Microsoft Exchange
3 43 (4.17%) SharePoint
4 10 (0.97%) Skype for Business
5 5 (0.48%) Mattermost
6 3 (0.29%) IIS
6 3 (0.29%) nginx
6 3 (0.29%) SharePoint Server
7 2 (0.19%) Apache
7 2 (0.19%) JBoss
8 1 (0.097%) HCL Notes
8 1 (0.097%) LiveCycle
8 1 (0.097%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.097%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 1 (0.097%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.097%) WebSphere
Applications
1 85 (8.24%) Microsoft Office
2 38 (3.68%) Microsoft Project
3 31 (3.00%) Microsoft Excel
4 12 (1.16%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.48%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.39%) PTC Creo
7 3 (0.29%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.19%) Autodesk Inventor
8 2 (0.19%) Chatbot
9 1 (0.097%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 34 (3.29%) Remedy ITSM
2 13 (1.26%) Oracle EBS
2 13 (1.26%) SAP S/4HANA
3 7 (0.68%) Teamcenter
4 2 (0.19%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.097%) assyst
5 1 (0.097%) Dynamics CRM
5 1 (0.097%) Dynamics NAV
5 1 (0.097%) NetSuite
5 1 (0.097%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.097%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.097%) Oracle Receivables
5 1 (0.097%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 1 (0.097%) SAP ERP
5 1 (0.097%) SAP HR
5 1 (0.097%) SAP Payroll
5 1 (0.097%) SAP PM
5 1 (0.097%) SAP SM
5 1 (0.097%) SystmOne
5 1 (0.097%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 163 (15.79%) Azure
2 93 (9.01%) Microsoft 365
3 90 (8.72%) AWS
4 50 (4.84%) GCP
5 45 (4.36%) Power Platform
6 44 (4.26%) Entra ID
7 36 (3.49%) SaaS
8 29 (2.81%) Azure DevOps
9 18 (1.74%) OneDrive
10 17 (1.65%) GitHub
11 15 (1.45%) IaaS
11 15 (1.45%) PaaS
12 12 (1.16%) Serverless
13 11 (1.07%) AWS Lambda
14 9 (0.87%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 8 (0.78%) Dynamics 365
15 8 (0.78%) OpenShift
15 8 (0.78%) PowerApps
16 7 (0.68%) Salesforce Service Cloud
17 6 (0.58%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 65 (6.30%) Firewall
2 62 (6.01%) DNS
3 38 (3.68%) WAN
4 37 (3.59%) LAN
5 34 (3.29%) VPN
6 33 (3.20%) DHCP
7 28 (2.71%) Network Security
8 20 (1.94%) VLAN
9 19 (1.84%) BGP
9 19 (1.84%) TCP/IP
10 18 (1.74%) Cisco ISE
11 16 (1.55%) Junos
11 16 (1.55%) Skype
12 15 (1.45%) Wi-Fi
13 13 (1.26%) OSPF
14 12 (1.16%) BIG-IP
14 12 (1.16%) SD-WAN
15 11 (1.07%) Cisco Firepower
15 11 (1.07%) WebEx
16 9 (0.87%) Cisco IOS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 35 (3.39%) Power BI
2 13 (1.26%) SQL Server
3 10 (0.97%) Relational Database
4 6 (0.58%) PostgreSQL
5 5 (0.48%) Metadata
6 4 (0.39%) Amazon RDS
6 4 (0.39%) Elasticsearch
6 4 (0.39%) InfluxDB
7 3 (0.29%) Tableau
8 2 (0.19%) Azure SQL Database
8 2 (0.19%) Big Data
8 2 (0.19%) GIS
8 2 (0.19%) MongoDB
9 1 (0.097%) Amazon Redshift
9 1 (0.097%) Electronic Patient Records
9 1 (0.097%) KNIME
9 1 (0.097%) OpenStack Swift
9 1 (0.097%) Oracle Reports
9 1 (0.097%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 1 (0.097%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 144 (13.95%) JIRA
2 19 (1.84%) Jenkins
3 16 (1.55%) Bitbucket
3 16 (1.55%) Git
3 16 (1.55%) GitLab
4 6 (0.58%) Atlassian Bamboo
5 4 (0.39%) MLflow
5 4 (0.39%) ScriptRunner
6 3 (0.29%) Selenium
6 3 (0.29%) TestRail
7 2 (0.19%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.19%) IntelliJ
8 1 (0.097%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.097%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.097%) Hudson
8 1 (0.097%) JMeter
8 1 (0.097%) JUnit
8 1 (0.097%) Protractor
8 1 (0.097%) Rational DOORS
8 1 (0.097%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 378 (36.63%) Social Skills
2 161 (15.60%) Analytical Skills
3 139 (13.47%) Finance
4 124 (12.02%) Public Sector
5 57 (5.52%) Legal
6 46 (4.46%) Military
7 32 (3.10%) Banking
7 32 (3.10%) Documentation Skills
7 32 (3.10%) Organisational Skills
8 31 (3.00%) Influencing Skills
9 22 (2.13%) Retail
10 17 (1.65%) Telecoms
11 12 (1.16%) Manufacturing
12 11 (1.07%) Aerospace
13 10 (0.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 8 (0.78%) Law
14 8 (0.78%) Local Government
14 8 (0.78%) Presentation Skills
15 6 (0.58%) Investment Banking
15 6 (0.58%) Police
Job Titles
1 134 (12.98%) Analyst
2 119 (11.53%) Lead
3 117 (11.34%) Architect
4 99 (9.59%) Service Manager
5 67 (6.49%) Senior
6 63 (6.10%) Consultant
7 56 (5.43%) Service Architect
8 52 (5.04%) Service Analyst
9 41 (3.97%) IT Manager
10 36 (3.49%) Hardware Engineer
10 36 (3.49%) Support Engineer
11 35 (3.39%) IT Support
12 33 (3.20%) Delivery Manager
13 29 (2.81%) Network Engineer
14 28 (2.71%) IT Analyst
14 28 (2.71%) Project Manager
14 28 (2.71%) Service Delivery Manager
15 26 (2.52%) Administrator
16 25 (2.42%) Platform Engineer
17 24 (2.33%) Field Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (4.17%) REST
2 16 (1.55%) SOAP
3 11 (1.07%) XMPP
4 9 (0.87%) 802.1X
5 8 (0.78%) Elastic Stack
6 7 (0.68%) Middleware
6 7 (0.68%) Web Services
7 6 (0.58%) LDAP
8 4 (0.39%) .NET
8 4 (0.39%) ARM Templates
8 4 (0.39%) JSON
8 4 (0.39%) RabbitMQ
9 3 (0.29%) CSS
9 3 (0.29%) Lightning Web Components
9 3 (0.29%) Microsoft Graph
9 3 (0.29%) OAuth
9 3 (0.29%) Oracle Fusion
9 3 (0.29%) RFC 2544
10 2 (0.19%) EDI
10 2 (0.19%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 98 (9.50%) Product Ownership
2 65 (6.30%) CMDB
3 52 (5.04%) Onboarding
4 42 (4.07%) Data Centre
5 35 (3.39%) Management Information System
6 31 (3.00%) Virtual Team
7 25 (2.42%) PKI
8 20 (1.94%) Driving Licence
9 15 (1.45%) Analytical Mindset
9 15 (1.45%) Self-Motivation
10 14 (1.36%) PMI
11 13 (1.26%) Data Protection Act
12 11 (1.07%) Clustering
12 11 (1.07%) Enterprise Software
13 8 (0.78%) Hybrid Cloud
14 7 (0.68%) Algorithms
14 7 (0.68%) Cloud Native
14 7 (0.68%) NHS
14 7 (0.68%) Replication
15 6 (0.58%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 196 (18.99%) Windows
2 62 (6.01%) Linux
3 58 (5.62%) Windows Server
4 46 (4.46%) Windows 10
5 16 (1.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 11 (1.07%) Android
6 11 (1.07%) Mac OS
6 11 (1.07%) Windows 7
7 9 (0.87%) Apple iOS
8 8 (0.78%) Windows Server 2012
9 7 (0.68%) Ubuntu
9 7 (0.68%) Unix
10 5 (0.48%) VMS
11 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2003
12 3 (0.29%) CentOS
12 3 (0.29%) Windows Server 2016
12 3 (0.29%) Windows Server 2019
13 1 (0.097%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.097%) Rocky
13 1 (0.097%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 583 (56.49%) ITIL
2 452 (43.80%) ITSM
3 230 (22.29%) Agile
4 211 (20.45%) Continuous Improvement
5 208 (20.16%) Problem-Solving
6 190 (18.41%) Stakeholder Management
7 160 (15.50%) Service Delivery
8 157 (15.21%) Change Management
9 141 (13.66%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 119 (11.53%) DevOps
11 105 (10.17%) Customer Service
12 103 (9.98%) Service Design
13 88 (8.53%) Problem Management
14 85 (8.24%) Incident Management
15 78 (7.56%) Configuration Management
16 77 (7.46%) Project Management
17 75 (7.27%) Acceptance Criteria
18 69 (6.69%) Knowledge Transfer
19 65 (6.30%) Roadmaps
20 64 (6.20%) CI/CD
Programming Languages
1 89 (8.62%) PowerShell
2 58 (5.62%) Python
3 48 (4.65%) SQL
4 23 (2.23%) JavaScript
5 19 (1.84%) Bash
6 18 (1.74%) Java
7 10 (0.97%) Perl
8 9 (0.87%) VB
8 9 (0.87%) VBScript
9 8 (0.78%) Shell Script
10 6 (0.58%) Kotlin
11 5 (0.48%) C#
11 5 (0.48%) PL/SQL
12 4 (0.39%) Go
13 2 (0.19%) Apex Code
13 2 (0.19%) Bicep
13 2 (0.19%) PHP
14 1 (0.097%) ActionScript 2.0
14 1 (0.097%) Groovy
14 1 (0.097%) Scala
Qualifications
1 434 (42.05%) Security Cleared
2 323 (31.30%) SC Cleared
3 129 (12.50%) Degree
4 126 (12.21%) DV Cleared
5 51 (4.94%) ITIL Certification
6 30 (2.91%) TOGAF Certification
7 28 (2.71%) PMI Certification
8 25 (2.42%) BPSS Clearance
8 25 (2.42%) PMP
9 23 (2.23%) Cisco Certification
9 23 (2.23%) Microsoft Certification
10 16 (1.55%) Computer Science Degree
11 14 (1.36%) CCNP
12 13 (1.26%) A+ Certification
13 12 (1.16%) CCNA
13 12 (1.16%) MCSE
14 9 (0.87%) JNCIA
14 9 (0.87%) JNCIP
14 9 (0.87%) JNCIS
14 9 (0.87%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 47 (4.55%) SLA
2 30 (2.91%) Data Quality
2 30 (2.91%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 22 (2.13%) QA
4 21 (2.03%) GDPR
5 17 (1.65%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 15 (1.45%) PMO
7 11 (1.07%) Accessibility
7 11 (1.07%) NCSC
8 10 (0.97%) COBIT
9 9 (0.87%) NIST
10 8 (0.78%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 7 (0.68%) Government Security Classifications
11 7 (0.68%) GRC
12 6 (0.58%) Cyber Essentials
12 6 (0.58%) PCI DSS
13 3 (0.29%) Disclosure Scotland
13 3 (0.29%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 3 (0.29%) ISO 9001
14 2 (0.19%) GxP
System Software
1 119 (11.53%) Active Directory
2 37 (3.59%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (1.74%) Docker
4 12 (1.16%) VMware NSX
5 9 (0.87%) BitLocker
6 7 (0.68%) Hyper-V
7 5 (0.48%) Virtual Machines
8 3 (0.29%) Virtual Desktop
8 3 (0.29%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.19%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 2 (0.19%) NDS
9 2 (0.19%) NetIQ eDirectory
9 2 (0.19%) NFS
9 2 (0.19%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.097%) iptables
10 1 (0.097%) Samba
10 1 (0.097%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 36 (3.49%) SCCM
2 30 (2.91%) OPNET
3 29 (2.81%) Microsoft Intune
4 27 (2.62%) Ansible
5 26 (2.52%) Terraform
6 25 (2.42%) Kubernetes
7 12 (1.16%) FortiGate
7 12 (1.16%) vCenter Server
7 12 (1.16%) WSUS
8 10 (0.97%) Grafana
9 8 (0.78%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 8 (0.78%) Jamf Pro
10 7 (0.68%) Progress Chef
10 7 (0.68%) Prometheus
11 5 (0.48%) Puppet
11 5 (0.48%) SCOM
11 5 (0.48%) Single Sign-On
12 4 (0.39%) Nessus
12 4 (0.39%) Packer
13 3 (0.29%) HP ALM
Vendors
1 259 (25.10%) ServiceNow
2 160 (15.50%) Microsoft
3 72 (6.98%) Atlassian
4 68 (6.59%) Remedy
5 58 (5.62%) Cisco
6 56 (5.43%) VMware
7 39 (3.78%) HP
8 37 (3.59%) Google
8 37 (3.59%) Oracle
9 28 (2.71%) SAP
10 25 (2.42%) SolarWinds
10 25 (2.42%) Splunk
11 18 (1.74%) Citrix
11 18 (1.74%) Dell
11 18 (1.74%) Juniper
12 17 (1.65%) Salesforce
13 16 (1.55%) Red Hat
14 15 (1.45%) Canon
15 14 (1.36%) IFS
16 13 (1.26%) F5