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 25 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 101 93 80
Rank change year-on-year -8 -13 +12
Contract jobs citing Service Management 1,040 833 1,156
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.52% 2.73% 2.62%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.90% 3.04% 3.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 708 510 789
10th Percentile £200 £220 £285
25th Percentile £350 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -1.87% +7.00%
75th Percentile £600 £618 £615
90th Percentile £720 £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 80 26 15
10th Percentile £15.50 £16.83 £12.53
25th Percentile £17.15 £22.65 £15.46
Median hourly rate £29.60 £30.00 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year -1.33% +69.30% -39.22%
75th Percentile £64.87 £36.19 £34.38
90th Percentile £84.13 £69.38 £61.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.60 £30.00 £17.11
% change year-on-year -1.33% +75.34% -73.68%

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 35,855 27,377 38,366
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.81% 89.88% 87.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,757 16,975 25,075
10th Percentile £313 £306 £300
25th Percentile £410 £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 £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £493 £500
% change year-on-year -2.28% -1.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,138 862 2,184
10th Percentile £14.61 £15.62 £13.29
25th Percentile £17.96 £21.25 £16.25
Median hourly rate £25.94 £33.00 £33.07
Median % change year-on-year -21.39% -0.20% -5.53%
75th Percentile £61.18 £63.75 £59.93
90th Percentile £72.50 £75.23 £71.97
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £32.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -21.41% -8.57% -

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 25 February 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 25 February 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 25 February 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 -7 940 £500 -4.76% 321
UK excluding London -8 699 £500 -4.76% 289
London -60 254 £500 -4.76% 71
Work from Home -16 246 £454 -13.52% 138
South East +31 195 £500 +11.11% 101
North of England -14 165 £500 +17.65% 70
South West -8 160 £564 -0.22% 37
Midlands -13 104 £425 -24.98% 49
North West -12 90 £550 +22.22% 47
West Midlands -30 77 £431 -24.44% 31
Yorkshire -24 61 £475 +111.11% 21
East of England -8 47 £452 -17.82% 31
Scotland -16 30 £488 -2.50% 5
East Midlands -5 27 £419 -9.95% 16
North East -8 17 £280 -53.04% 2
Wales -6 2 £160 -58.71% 7
Northern Ireland - 2 £325 - 2

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 85 (8.17%) Confluence
2 66 (6.35%) Microsoft Exchange
3 62 (5.96%) SharePoint
4 14 (1.35%) Skype for Business
5 5 (0.48%) Mattermost
5 5 (0.48%) SharePoint Server
6 4 (0.38%) Apache
6 4 (0.38%) WebLogic
7 3 (0.29%) nginx
8 1 (0.096%) CMS
8 1 (0.096%) HCL Notes
8 1 (0.096%) JBoss
8 1 (0.096%) LiveCycle
8 1 (0.096%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 1 (0.096%) WebSphere
Applications
1 99 (9.52%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (3.46%) Microsoft Project
3 33 (3.17%) Microsoft Excel
4 13 (1.25%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 4 (0.38%) Autodesk Inventor
5 4 (0.38%) PTC Creo
6 3 (0.29%) MS Visio
6 3 (0.29%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.096%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 31 (2.98%) Remedy ITSM
2 15 (1.44%) SAP S/4HANA
3 13 (1.25%) Oracle EBS
4 7 (0.67%) Teamcenter
5 3 (0.29%) Dynamics CRM
6 2 (0.19%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.096%) assyst
7 1 (0.096%) Dynamics NAV
7 1 (0.096%) NetSuite
7 1 (0.096%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.096%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 1 (0.096%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.096%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 1 (0.096%) SAP ERP
7 1 (0.096%) SAP PM
7 1 (0.096%) SAP SM
7 1 (0.096%) SystmOne
7 1 (0.096%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 177 (17.02%) Azure
2 109 (10.48%) Microsoft 365
3 102 (9.81%) AWS
4 48 (4.62%) Entra ID
5 47 (4.52%) GCP
6 35 (3.37%) Power Platform
7 34 (3.27%) SaaS
8 29 (2.79%) OneDrive
9 28 (2.69%) Azure DevOps
10 13 (1.25%) IaaS
11 12 (1.15%) GitHub
11 12 (1.15%) PaaS
12 11 (1.06%) Serverless
13 10 (0.96%) AWS Lambda
14 9 (0.87%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 9 (0.87%) Dynamics 365
14 9 (0.87%) PowerApps
15 8 (0.77%) Azure Monitor
16 7 (0.67%) Nutanix
16 7 (0.67%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 77 (7.40%) DNS
2 58 (5.58%) Firewall
3 45 (4.33%) DHCP
4 34 (3.27%) VPN
5 31 (2.98%) LAN
6 30 (2.88%) WAN
7 28 (2.69%) VLAN
8 27 (2.60%) TCP/IP
9 22 (2.12%) Skype
10 20 (1.92%) Network Security
11 19 (1.83%) Junos
12 18 (1.73%) Cisco ISE
12 18 (1.73%) Wi-Fi
13 14 (1.35%) BGP
13 14 (1.35%) Cisco IOS
14 13 (1.25%) Cisco Firepower
15 10 (0.96%) HTTP
15 10 (0.96%) WebEx
16 9 (0.87%) SSH
17 8 (0.77%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (2.31%) Power BI
2 15 (1.44%) SQL Server
3 14 (1.35%) Relational Database
4 8 (0.77%) PostgreSQL
5 5 (0.48%) Amazon RDS
5 5 (0.48%) Metadata
6 4 (0.38%) Elasticsearch
6 4 (0.38%) InfluxDB
6 4 (0.38%) Tableau
7 3 (0.29%) Azure SQL Database
8 2 (0.19%) Big Data
8 2 (0.19%) GIS
8 2 (0.19%) MongoDB
9 1 (0.096%) Data Mining
9 1 (0.096%) Electronic Patient Records
9 1 (0.096%) KNIME
9 1 (0.096%) Oracle Reports
9 1 (0.096%) RDBMS
9 1 (0.096%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 1 (0.096%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 140 (13.46%) JIRA
2 17 (1.63%) Git
3 16 (1.54%) Jenkins
4 12 (1.15%) GitLab
5 9 (0.87%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.29%) ScriptRunner
6 3 (0.29%) TestRail
7 2 (0.19%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.19%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.19%) Selenium
8 1 (0.096%) MLflow
8 1 (0.096%) Rational DOORS
8 1 (0.096%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 406 (39.04%) Social Skills
2 175 (16.83%) Analytical Skills
3 149 (14.33%) Finance
4 137 (13.17%) Public Sector
5 55 (5.29%) Legal
6 46 (4.42%) Military
7 36 (3.46%) Banking
8 34 (3.27%) Influencing Skills
8 34 (3.27%) Organisational Skills
9 32 (3.08%) Documentation Skills
10 24 (2.31%) Retail
11 23 (2.21%) Telecoms
12 16 (1.54%) Manufacturing
13 12 (1.15%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 11 (1.06%) Aerospace
15 10 (0.96%) Investment Banking
16 8 (0.77%) Law
16 8 (0.77%) Presentation Skills
17 6 (0.58%) Financial Institution
17 6 (0.58%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 139 (13.37%) Analyst
2 123 (11.83%) Lead
3 116 (11.15%) Architect
4 89 (8.56%) Service Manager
5 58 (5.58%) Support Engineer
6 52 (5.00%) Senior
7 51 (4.90%) Consultant
8 50 (4.81%) Service Analyst
8 50 (4.81%) Service Architect
9 40 (3.85%) IT Support
10 38 (3.65%) IT Manager
11 33 (3.17%) Hardware Engineer
12 29 (2.79%) Business Analyst
13 28 (2.69%) Desktop Support
13 28 (2.69%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 28 (2.69%) Network Engineer
13 28 (2.69%) Support Analyst
14 27 (2.60%) 2nd Line Support
14 27 (2.60%) Delivery Manager
14 27 (2.60%) IT Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (4.13%) REST
2 20 (1.92%) SOAP
3 10 (0.96%) LDAP
3 10 (0.96%) XMPP
4 8 (0.77%) Web Services
5 7 (0.67%) Elastic Stack
6 6 (0.58%) .NET
6 6 (0.58%) 802.1X
7 4 (0.38%) ARM Templates
7 4 (0.38%) JSON
7 4 (0.38%) RabbitMQ
7 4 (0.38%) RFC 2544
8 3 (0.29%) CSS
8 3 (0.29%) EDI
8 3 (0.29%) Lightning Web Components
8 3 (0.29%) Microsoft Graph
8 3 (0.29%) Middleware
8 3 (0.29%) Oracle Fusion
8 3 (0.29%) XML
9 2 (0.19%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 80 (7.69%) Product Ownership
2 63 (6.06%) CMDB
3 45 (4.33%) Onboarding
4 41 (3.94%) Management Information System
5 40 (3.85%) Data Centre
6 29 (2.79%) PKI
7 28 (2.69%) Virtual Team
8 26 (2.50%) Analytical Mindset
9 19 (1.83%) Driving Licence
9 19 (1.83%) Self-Motivation
10 14 (1.35%) PMI
11 12 (1.15%) Data Protection Act
12 11 (1.06%) Enterprise Software
13 9 (0.87%) NHS
14 8 (0.77%) Clustering
14 8 (0.77%) Smartphone
15 7 (0.67%) Algorithms
15 7 (0.67%) Hybrid Cloud
16 6 (0.58%) Data Structures
17 5 (0.48%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 237 (22.79%) Windows
2 74 (7.12%) Linux
3 62 (5.96%) Windows Server
4 61 (5.87%) Windows 10
5 15 (1.44%) Android
5 15 (1.44%) Mac OS
6 14 (1.35%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 13 (1.25%) Apple iOS
8 11 (1.06%) Windows 7
9 10 (0.96%) Unix
10 8 (0.77%) Windows Server 2012
11 5 (0.48%) Ubuntu
11 5 (0.48%) Windows Server 2016
11 5 (0.48%) Windows Server 2019
12 4 (0.38%) Windows Server 2003
13 3 (0.29%) CentOS
13 3 (0.29%) VMS
14 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2008
15 1 (0.096%) Data ONTAP
15 1 (0.096%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 585 (56.25%) ITIL
2 461 (44.33%) ITSM
3 221 (21.25%) Problem-Solving
4 214 (20.58%) Agile
5 207 (19.90%) Continuous Improvement
6 182 (17.50%) Stakeholder Management
7 162 (15.58%) Change Management
8 150 (14.42%) Service Delivery
9 145 (13.94%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 120 (11.54%) Customer Service
11 109 (10.48%) DevOps
12 97 (9.33%) Service Design
13 91 (8.75%) Incident Management
14 85 (8.17%) Problem Management
15 84 (8.08%) Project Management
16 80 (7.69%) Configuration Management
17 69 (6.63%) Knowledge Transfer
18 63 (6.06%) Acceptance Criteria
18 63 (6.06%) Performance Metrics
19 61 (5.87%) Business Continuity
Programming Languages
1 100 (9.62%) PowerShell
2 64 (6.15%) Python
3 50 (4.81%) SQL
4 23 (2.21%) JavaScript
5 20 (1.92%) Java
6 18 (1.73%) Bash
7 13 (1.25%) Perl
8 11 (1.06%) Shell Script
9 9 (0.87%) VB
9 9 (0.87%) VBScript
10 6 (0.58%) Kotlin
11 4 (0.38%) C#
11 4 (0.38%) Go
12 2 (0.19%) ActionScript
12 2 (0.19%) ActionScript 2.0
12 2 (0.19%) Apex Code
12 2 (0.19%) Bicep
12 2 (0.19%) PHP
13 1 (0.096%) Scala
13 1 (0.096%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 424 (40.77%) Security Cleared
2 317 (30.48%) SC Cleared
3 125 (12.02%) Degree
4 117 (11.25%) DV Cleared
5 55 (5.29%) ITIL Certification
6 37 (3.56%) Microsoft Certification
7 30 (2.88%) TOGAF Certification
8 27 (2.60%) BPSS Clearance
9 26 (2.50%) PMI Certification
10 25 (2.40%) Cisco Certification
11 22 (2.12%) PMP
12 18 (1.73%) CCNP
13 17 (1.63%) Azure Certification
14 16 (1.54%) CCNA
14 16 (1.54%) Computer Science Degree
14 16 (1.54%) MCSE
15 15 (1.44%) A+ Certification
16 14 (1.35%) Network+ Certification
17 11 (1.06%) Server+ Certification
18 7 (0.67%) JNCIA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 48 (4.62%) SLA
2 26 (2.50%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 25 (2.40%) Data Quality
4 22 (2.12%) GDPR
4 22 (2.12%) QA
5 12 (1.15%) PMO
6 11 (1.06%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 9 (0.87%) COBIT
7 9 (0.87%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 8 (0.77%) Accessibility
8 8 (0.77%) NIST
9 6 (0.58%) GRC
10 5 (0.48%) Cyber Essentials
10 5 (0.48%) PCI DSS
11 4 (0.38%) Disclosure Scotland
11 4 (0.38%) HIPAA
11 4 (0.38%) ISO 9001
11 4 (0.38%) NCSC
12 3 (0.29%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 2 (0.19%) GxP
System Software
1 142 (13.65%) Active Directory
2 47 (4.52%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (1.73%) VMware NSX
4 17 (1.63%) Docker
5 15 (1.44%) Hyper-V
6 11 (1.06%) Virtual Desktop
7 9 (0.87%) BitLocker
8 7 (0.67%) Virtual Servers
9 6 (0.58%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 4 (0.38%) NDS
10 4 (0.38%) NetIQ eDirectory
11 3 (0.29%) Virtual Machines
12 1 (0.096%) NFS
12 1 (0.096%) Slurm Workload Manager
12 1 (0.096%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 41 (3.94%) SCCM
2 30 (2.88%) Ansible
2 30 (2.88%) Microsoft Intune
2 30 (2.88%) OPNET
3 29 (2.79%) Terraform
4 25 (2.40%) Kubernetes
5 19 (1.83%) vCenter Server
6 17 (1.63%) WSUS
7 11 (1.06%) Jamf Pro
8 10 (0.96%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 10 (0.96%) FortiGate
9 9 (0.87%) Single Sign-On
10 8 (0.77%) Grafana
11 7 (0.67%) Progress Chef
11 7 (0.67%) Prometheus
12 5 (0.48%) Puppet
12 5 (0.48%) SCOM
13 4 (0.38%) Nessus
13 4 (0.38%) Packer
14 3 (0.29%) HP ALM
Vendors
1 267 (25.67%) ServiceNow
2 181 (17.40%) Microsoft
3 67 (6.44%) Remedy
4 64 (6.15%) Atlassian
4 64 (6.15%) VMware
5 63 (6.06%) Cisco
6 38 (3.65%) Google
6 38 (3.65%) Oracle
7 36 (3.46%) HP
8 34 (3.27%) SolarWinds
9 30 (2.88%) SAP
10 29 (2.79%) Splunk
11 21 (2.02%) Juniper
12 18 (1.73%) Citrix
13 17 (1.63%) Salesforce
14 16 (1.54%) Red Hat
15 15 (1.44%) Dell
16 13 (1.25%) Veeam
17 12 (1.15%) Canon
17 12 (1.15%) Dynatrace