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

6 months to
1 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 104 102 80
Rank change year-on-year -2 -22 +14
Contract jobs citing Service Management 977 790 1,203
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.54% 2.52% 2.68%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.91% 2.82% 3.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 676 469 834
10th Percentile £199 £219 £272
25th Percentile £324 £412 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £530
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -0.94% +6.00%
75th Percentile £594 £623 £608
90th Percentile £713 £700 £715
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £512 £525
% change year-on-year -2.25% -2.57% +11.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 71 22 15
10th Percentile £13.25 £21.05 £12.53
25th Percentile £17.01 £24.57 £15.46
Median hourly rate £26.30 £30.20 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year -12.91% +70.43% -29.12%
75th Percentile £60.00 £36.19 £51.88
90th Percentile £74.26 £68.63 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.40 £30.40 £16.94
% change year-on-year -13.16% +79.51% -44.35%

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 33,610 27,994 39,212
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 87.22% 89.12% 87.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,285 16,989 25,814
10th Percentile £305 £307 £300
25th Percentile £406 £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 £719 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £478 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -4.35% -0.05% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,025 871 2,057
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.62 £13.41
25th Percentile £17.69 £21.00 £16.70
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -7.14% +7.69%
75th Percentile £58.65 £62.50 £61.75
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £73.85
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.71 £30.78 £36.00
% change year-on-year -19.72% -14.50% +24.57%

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 1 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 1 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 1 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 +1 887 £500 -4.76% 326
UK excluding London +7 665 £500 -2.25% 279
London -47 236 £500 -4.76% 87
Work from Home -8 228 £452 -13.90% 147
South East +32 166 £438 -2.78% 101
North of England -6 163 £500 +17.65% 73
South West -3 155 £575 +1.77% 24
Midlands -5 107 £425 -26.72% 42
North West -1 90 £550 +25.71% 41
West Midlands -11 79 £475 -18.10% 25
Yorkshire -19 58 £476 +105.72% 24
East of England -6 45 £330 -40.00% 28
East Midlands 0 28 £411 -14.77% 17
Scotland -10 28 £488 -1.52% 9
North East -8 18 £280 -53.04% 8
Northern Ireland - 4 £325 - 2
Wales -4 3 £160 -58.71% 10

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 74 (7.57%) Confluence
2 71 (7.27%) Microsoft Exchange
3 58 (5.94%) SharePoint
4 14 (1.43%) Skype for Business
5 7 (0.72%) Apache
5 7 (0.72%) WebLogic
6 5 (0.51%) SharePoint Server
7 3 (0.31%) nginx
8 2 (0.20%) JBoss
9 1 (0.10%) CMS
9 1 (0.10%) HCL Notes
9 1 (0.10%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 1 (0.10%) WebSphere
Applications
1 95 (9.72%) Microsoft Office
2 35 (3.58%) Microsoft Project
3 28 (2.87%) Microsoft Excel
4 12 (1.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (0.61%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.41%) Autodesk Inventor
7 3 (0.31%) PTC Creo
7 3 (0.31%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 24 (2.46%) Remedy ITSM
2 13 (1.33%) Oracle EBS
3 11 (1.13%) SAP S/4HANA
4 4 (0.41%) Dynamics CRM
4 4 (0.41%) Teamcenter
5 3 (0.31%) assyst
6 2 (0.20%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.10%) Dynamics NAV
7 1 (0.10%) NetSuite
7 1 (0.10%) Oracle ERP
7 1 (0.10%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.10%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 1 (0.10%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.10%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 1 (0.10%) SAP ERP
7 1 (0.10%) SAP PM
7 1 (0.10%) SAP SM
7 1 (0.10%) SystmOne
7 1 (0.10%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 167 (17.09%) Azure
2 111 (11.36%) Microsoft 365
3 97 (9.93%) AWS
4 43 (4.40%) Entra ID
4 43 (4.40%) GCP
5 29 (2.97%) Power Platform
6 28 (2.87%) SaaS
7 27 (2.76%) OneDrive
8 24 (2.46%) Azure DevOps
9 11 (1.13%) Azure Monitor
9 11 (1.13%) IaaS
10 10 (1.02%) GitHub
10 10 (1.02%) PowerApps
11 9 (0.92%) Dynamics 365
11 9 (0.92%) PaaS
12 7 (0.72%) Nutanix
12 7 (0.72%) OpenShift
12 7 (0.72%) Salesforce Service Cloud
13 6 (0.61%) Power Automate
13 6 (0.61%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 65 (6.65%) DNS
2 50 (5.12%) Firewall
3 39 (3.99%) DHCP
4 29 (2.97%) VPN
5 26 (2.66%) TCP/IP
6 25 (2.56%) VLAN
7 24 (2.46%) Skype
8 21 (2.15%) LAN
8 21 (2.15%) WAN
9 18 (1.84%) Cisco IOS
9 18 (1.84%) Network Security
10 17 (1.74%) Cisco Firepower
10 17 (1.74%) Cisco ISE
10 17 (1.74%) Junos
10 17 (1.74%) Wi-Fi
11 10 (1.02%) HTTP
12 9 (0.92%) SSH
13 8 (0.82%) WebEx
14 6 (0.61%) BGP
14 6 (0.61%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (1.84%) Power BI
2 14 (1.43%) Relational Database
3 13 (1.33%) SQL Server
4 7 (0.72%) PostgreSQL
5 5 (0.51%) Amazon RDS
5 5 (0.51%) Metadata
6 4 (0.41%) InfluxDB
6 4 (0.41%) Tableau
7 3 (0.31%) Elasticsearch
8 2 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
8 2 (0.20%) Big Data
8 2 (0.20%) Data Mining
8 2 (0.20%) GIS
8 2 (0.20%) MongoDB
8 2 (0.20%) Oracle Reports
9 1 (0.10%) BusinessObjects
9 1 (0.10%) Oracle Discoverer
9 1 (0.10%) RDBMS
9 1 (0.10%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 1 (0.10%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 121 (12.38%) JIRA
2 14 (1.43%) Jenkins
3 12 (1.23%) Git
4 10 (1.02%) GitLab
5 7 (0.72%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.31%) ScriptRunner
7 2 (0.20%) TestRail
8 1 (0.10%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.10%) Cypress.io
8 1 (0.10%) MLflow
8 1 (0.10%) Selenium
8 1 (0.10%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 395 (40.43%) Social Skills
2 171 (17.50%) Analytical Skills
3 144 (14.74%) Finance
4 133 (13.61%) Public Sector
5 46 (4.71%) Legal
6 44 (4.50%) Military
7 34 (3.48%) Documentation Skills
7 34 (3.48%) Organisational Skills
7 34 (3.48%) Telecoms
8 33 (3.38%) Banking
9 32 (3.28%) Influencing Skills
10 26 (2.66%) Manufacturing
11 25 (2.56%) Retail
12 11 (1.13%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 10 (1.02%) Electronics
13 10 (1.02%) Investment Banking
13 10 (1.02%) Marketing
13 10 (1.02%) Presentation Skills
14 7 (0.72%) Law
15 5 (0.51%) International Banking
Job Titles
1 136 (13.92%) Analyst
2 114 (11.67%) Lead
3 108 (11.05%) Architect
4 77 (7.88%) Service Manager
5 63 (6.45%) Support Engineer
6 51 (5.22%) Consultant
7 46 (4.71%) Service Architect
8 45 (4.61%) IT Support
9 44 (4.50%) Service Analyst
10 35 (3.58%) Support Analyst
11 32 (3.28%) 2nd Line Support
11 32 (3.28%) Senior
12 30 (3.07%) Desktop Support
12 30 (3.07%) Hardware Engineer
13 27 (2.76%) Business Analyst
13 27 (2.76%) IT Analyst
13 27 (2.76%) IT Manager
14 23 (2.35%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 23 (2.35%) Network Engineer
14 23 (2.35%) Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 35 (3.58%) REST
2 16 (1.64%) SOAP
3 10 (1.02%) LDAP
4 8 (0.82%) Elastic Stack
4 8 (0.82%) Web Services
4 8 (0.82%) XMPP
5 6 (0.61%) .NET
6 5 (0.51%) RFC 2544
7 4 (0.41%) ARM Templates
7 4 (0.41%) RabbitMQ
8 3 (0.31%) CSS
8 3 (0.31%) EDI
8 3 (0.31%) Middleware
9 2 (0.20%) HTML
9 2 (0.20%) JSON
9 2 (0.20%) Lightning Web Components
9 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Graph
9 2 (0.20%) ModSecurity
9 2 (0.20%) Oracle Fusion
9 2 (0.20%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 70 (7.16%) Product Ownership
2 56 (5.73%) CMDB
3 42 (4.30%) Onboarding
4 37 (3.79%) Management Information System
5 34 (3.48%) Data Centre
6 24 (2.46%) Analytical Mindset
6 24 (2.46%) PKI
7 21 (2.15%) Virtual Team
8 20 (2.05%) Self-Motivation
9 18 (1.84%) Driving Licence
10 13 (1.33%) PMI
11 10 (1.02%) Enterprise Software
11 10 (1.02%) NHS
12 9 (0.92%) Data Protection Act
13 8 (0.82%) Mainframe
14 7 (0.72%) Hybrid Cloud
14 7 (0.72%) Smartphone
15 5 (0.51%) Fibre Optics
15 5 (0.51%) Legacy Systems
15 5 (0.51%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 235 (24.05%) Windows
2 75 (7.68%) Linux
3 67 (6.86%) Windows 10
4 64 (6.55%) Windows Server
5 15 (1.54%) Mac OS
6 14 (1.43%) Android
6 14 (1.43%) Apple iOS
7 13 (1.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 12 (1.23%) Unix
9 11 (1.13%) Windows 7
10 8 (0.82%) Windows Server 2012
11 7 (0.72%) Windows Server 2019
12 5 (0.51%) Windows Server 2016
13 4 (0.41%) Ubuntu
13 4 (0.41%) Windows Server 2003
13 4 (0.41%) Windows Server 2008
14 3 (0.31%) CentOS
15 1 (0.10%) AIX
15 1 (0.10%) VMS
15 1 (0.10%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 545 (55.78%) ITIL
2 428 (43.81%) ITSM
3 208 (21.29%) Problem-Solving
4 178 (18.22%) Agile
4 178 (18.22%) Continuous Improvement
5 162 (16.58%) Stakeholder Management
6 156 (15.97%) Change Management
7 141 (14.43%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 132 (13.51%) Service Delivery
9 125 (12.79%) Customer Service
10 99 (10.13%) Service Design
11 95 (9.72%) Project Management
12 87 (8.90%) DevOps
13 80 (8.19%) Incident Management
13 80 (8.19%) Problem Management
14 72 (7.37%) Knowledge Transfer
15 61 (6.24%) Configuration Management
16 59 (6.04%) Critical Thinking
17 58 (5.94%) Business Continuity
18 57 (5.83%) Performance Metrics
Programming Languages
1 91 (9.31%) PowerShell
2 59 (6.04%) Python
3 53 (5.42%) SQL
4 17 (1.74%) JavaScript
5 15 (1.54%) Java
5 15 (1.54%) Perl
6 14 (1.43%) Shell Script
7 13 (1.33%) Bash
8 9 (0.92%) VB
8 9 (0.92%) VBScript
9 4 (0.41%) Go
10 2 (0.20%) ActionScript
10 2 (0.20%) ActionScript 2.0
10 2 (0.20%) Bicep
10 2 (0.20%) C#
10 2 (0.20%) PHP
11 1 (0.10%) C
11 1 (0.10%) PL/SQL
11 1 (0.10%) T-SQL
11 1 (0.10%) VBA
Qualifications
1 387 (39.61%) Security Cleared
2 302 (30.91%) SC Cleared
3 123 (12.59%) Degree
4 93 (9.52%) DV Cleared
5 47 (4.81%) ITIL Certification
6 37 (3.79%) Microsoft Certification
7 30 (3.07%) TOGAF Certification
8 25 (2.56%) BPSS Clearance
9 20 (2.05%) PMI Certification
10 18 (1.84%) A+ Certification
11 17 (1.74%) Azure Certification
12 16 (1.64%) Computer Science Degree
12 16 (1.64%) MCSE
12 16 (1.64%) PMP
13 14 (1.43%) Network+ Certification
14 13 (1.33%) Cisco Certification
15 12 (1.23%) CCNP
16 11 (1.13%) CCNA
16 11 (1.13%) Server+ Certification
17 9 (0.92%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (4.71%) SLA
2 22 (2.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 20 (2.05%) Data Quality
4 19 (1.94%) QA
5 18 (1.84%) GDPR
6 12 (1.23%) PMO
7 9 (0.92%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 8 (0.82%) Accessibility
8 8 (0.82%) COBIT
8 8 (0.82%) NIST
9 7 (0.72%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 6 (0.61%) GRC
11 5 (0.51%) Cyber Essentials
12 4 (0.41%) Disclosure Scotland
12 4 (0.41%) HIPAA
12 4 (0.41%) ISO 9001
12 4 (0.41%) NCSC
13 3 (0.31%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 3 (0.31%) PCI DSS
14 2 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 135 (13.82%) Active Directory
2 45 (4.61%) VMware Infrastructure
3 21 (2.15%) VMware NSX
4 16 (1.64%) Docker
5 15 (1.54%) Hyper-V
6 12 (1.23%) Virtual Desktop
7 9 (0.92%) BitLocker
8 7 (0.72%) Virtual Servers
9 6 (0.61%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 4 (0.41%) NDS
10 4 (0.41%) NetIQ eDirectory
11 3 (0.31%) Virtual Machines
12 2 (0.20%) VMware ESXi
13 1 (0.10%) NFS
13 1 (0.10%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 38 (3.89%) SCCM
2 32 (3.28%) OPNET
3 27 (2.76%) Microsoft Intune
4 26 (2.66%) Ansible
5 25 (2.56%) Terraform
6 24 (2.46%) Kubernetes
6 24 (2.46%) vCenter Server
7 17 (1.74%) WSUS
8 12 (1.23%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 9 (0.92%) Jamf Pro
10 8 (0.82%) Single Sign-On
11 7 (0.72%) Grafana
12 6 (0.61%) Prometheus
12 6 (0.61%) SCOM
13 4 (0.41%) FortiGate
13 4 (0.41%) Nessus
13 4 (0.41%) Packer
13 4 (0.41%) Progress Chef
14 2 (0.20%) Docker Swarm
14 2 (0.20%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 250 (25.59%) ServiceNow
2 179 (18.32%) Microsoft
3 62 (6.35%) Remedy
4 61 (6.24%) Cisco
5 60 (6.14%) Atlassian
6 58 (5.94%) VMware
7 43 (4.40%) Oracle
8 37 (3.79%) Google
9 33 (3.38%) HP
9 33 (3.38%) SolarWinds
10 32 (3.28%) SAP
11 28 (2.87%) Splunk
12 19 (1.94%) Juniper
13 18 (1.84%) Salesforce
14 15 (1.54%) Citrix
14 15 (1.54%) Dynatrace
15 14 (1.43%) Red Hat
16 13 (1.33%) AppDynamics
16 13 (1.33%) Veeam
17 12 (1.23%) Dell