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 24 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 88 82 99
Rank change year-on-year -6 +17 -14
Contract jobs citing Service Management 1,642 972 882
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.99% 2.95% 2.31%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.54% 3.26% 2.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,079 585 567
10th Percentile £263 £200 £209
25th Percentile £425 £350 £370
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £488 £501
Median % change year-on-year +7.69% -2.60% -4.67%
75th Percentile £625 £575 £600
90th Percentile £725 £651 £680
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £490 £500
% change year-on-year +7.20% -2.05% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 81 83 13
10th Percentile £14.50 £12.62 £15.84
25th Percentile £18.40 £13.04 £26.25
Median hourly rate £55.00 £20.83 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +164.04% -56.15% -13.64%
75th Percentile £85.00 £33.75 £50.00
90th Percentile £92.53 £60.00 £54.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.00 £20.79 £47.50
% change year-on-year +164.55% -56.23% +116.85%

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 46,342 29,835 32,681
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.41% 90.50% 85.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 28,074 18,533 19,873
10th Percentile £325 £300 £309
25th Percentile £425 £404 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.78%
75th Percentile £626 £625 £638
90th Percentile £730 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,192 1,836 1,405
10th Percentile £13.74 £14.31 £15.00
25th Percentile £17.25 £17.32 £20.00
Median hourly rate £40.00 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +59.05% -41.51% -
75th Percentile £67.25 £43.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £65.25 £74.65
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £22.32 £43.00
% change year-on-year +79.25% -48.10% +1.18%

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 24 September 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 24 September 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 24 September 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 -6 1,414 £525 +5.00% 1,319
UK excluding London -8 958 £525 +7.20% 922
London +32 502 £525 +5.00% 521
Work from Home 0 443 £525 +6.60% 598
South East +13 309 £575 +27.78% 260
North of England -19 268 £475 +5.56% 224
North West -11 157 £480 +3.45% 127
Midlands -37 123 £525 +4.48% 124
West Midlands -13 117 £525 +1.94% 77
Yorkshire -6 103 £450 +26.76% 77
South West -30 103 £600 +9.09% 103
Scotland +14 96 £535 +15.68% 71
East of England -7 59 £525 -4.55% 99
Wales -6 13 £800 +247.83% 21
Northern Ireland +8 8 - - 36
North East -46 8 £535 +174.36% 22
East Midlands -35 6 £163 -45.83% 46

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
1 124 (7.55%) SharePoint
2 64 (3.90%) Microsoft Exchange
3 63 (3.84%) Confluence
4 15 (0.91%) Skype for Business
5 5 (0.30%) OpenStack
6 4 (0.24%) IBM Transformation Extender
7 3 (0.18%) CMS
8 2 (0.12%) CICS
9 1 (0.061%) Apache
9 1 (0.061%) Exchange Server 2010
9 1 (0.061%) HCL Notes
9 1 (0.061%) IIS
9 1 (0.061%) Mattermost
9 1 (0.061%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
9 1 (0.061%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 90 (5.48%) Microsoft Office
2 38 (2.31%) Microsoft Excel
3 15 (0.91%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (0.67%) MS Visio
5 9 (0.55%) Microsoft Project
6 8 (0.49%) Chatbot
7 2 (0.12%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.061%) Maple
Business Applications
1 51 (3.11%) Remedy ITSM
2 11 (0.67%) SAP S/4HANA
3 9 (0.55%) Dynamics CRM
4 7 (0.43%) Primavera
5 5 (0.30%) ContrOCC
5 5 (0.30%) NEC Housing
5 5 (0.30%) Workday HCM
6 3 (0.18%) Oracle ERP
6 3 (0.18%) SAP CO
6 3 (0.18%) SAP FI
6 3 (0.18%) SAP FI/CO
6 3 (0.18%) SAP SM
7 2 (0.12%) Exchequer
7 2 (0.12%) Oracle EBS
7 2 (0.12%) Remedy AR System
7 2 (0.12%) Salesforce CRM
7 2 (0.12%) SAP CX
7 2 (0.12%) SAP PS
7 2 (0.12%) Teamcenter
8 1 (0.061%) Cloudability
Cloud Services
1 284 (17.30%) Azure
2 212 (12.91%) Microsoft 365
3 138 (8.40%) AWS
4 131 (7.98%) Entra ID
5 73 (4.45%) Power Platform
6 71 (4.32%) SaaS
7 58 (3.53%) OneDrive
8 40 (2.44%) GCP
9 35 (2.13%) Azure DevOps
10 21 (1.28%) Azure Monitor
11 19 (1.16%) Microsoft Copilot
12 15 (0.91%) GitHub
12 15 (0.91%) Google Workspace
13 14 (0.85%) Dynamics 365
13 14 (0.85%) Power Automate
14 13 (0.79%) Serverless
15 9 (0.55%) Azure Sentinel
15 9 (0.55%) IaaS
15 9 (0.55%) OCI
16 8 (0.49%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 76 (4.63%) Firewall
2 73 (4.45%) DNS
3 56 (3.41%) VPN
4 55 (3.35%) DHCP
5 45 (2.74%) Network Security
5 45 (2.74%) TCP/IP
6 38 (2.31%) WAN
7 34 (2.07%) LAN
8 24 (1.46%) Wi-Fi
9 18 (1.10%) Wireless
10 16 (0.97%) Skype
11 15 (0.91%) VLAN
12 13 (0.79%) SD-WAN
13 11 (0.67%) BGP
13 11 (0.67%) Intrusion Detection
13 11 (0.67%) SAN
14 10 (0.61%) 5G
14 10 (0.61%) Internet
14 10 (0.61%) SSH
15 8 (0.49%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 43 (2.62%) Power BI
2 32 (1.95%) SQL Server
3 24 (1.46%) Metadata
4 9 (0.55%) Oracle Database
5 7 (0.43%) Oracle Database 11g
5 7 (0.43%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 6 (0.37%) MySQL
7 5 (0.30%) Amazon RDS
7 5 (0.30%) Looker
7 5 (0.30%) MariaDB
7 5 (0.30%) Oracle Reports
7 5 (0.30%) PostgreSQL
7 5 (0.30%) Relational Database
7 5 (0.30%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 4 (0.24%) SQL Server Analysis Services
9 3 (0.18%) Amazon Aurora
9 3 (0.18%) BigQuery
10 2 (0.12%) Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.12%) EDRMS
10 2 (0.12%) Microsoft Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 157 (9.56%) JIRA
2 30 (1.83%) Git
3 20 (1.22%) Jenkins
4 16 (0.97%) Bitbucket
5 12 (0.73%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 5 (0.30%) Browser DevTools
6 5 (0.30%) GitLab
7 4 (0.24%) Maven
7 4 (0.24%) webpack
8 3 (0.18%) Fiddler
8 3 (0.18%) Gradle
8 3 (0.18%) Rational DOORS
8 3 (0.18%) ScriptRunner
9 2 (0.12%) Firebug
9 2 (0.12%) Hudson
9 2 (0.12%) Sonatype Nexus
10 1 (0.061%) IBM UrbanCode
10 1 (0.061%) IntelliJ
10 1 (0.061%) MSI
10 1 (0.061%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 658 (40.07%) Social Skills
2 271 (16.50%) Analytical Skills
3 268 (16.32%) Finance
4 202 (12.30%) Public Sector
5 74 (4.51%) Telecoms
6 67 (4.08%) Organisational Skills
7 66 (4.02%) Documentation Skills
8 61 (3.71%) Banking
9 58 (3.53%) Influencing Skills
10 46 (2.80%) Legal
11 41 (2.50%) Aerospace
11 41 (2.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 30 (1.83%) Military
13 28 (1.71%) Presentation Skills
14 22 (1.34%) Local Government
15 21 (1.28%) Manufacturing
16 17 (1.04%) Retail
17 16 (0.97%) Police
18 11 (0.67%) Law
19 10 (0.61%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 179 (10.90%) Architect
2 153 (9.32%) Lead
3 150 (9.14%) Analyst
4 119 (7.25%) Senior
4 119 (7.25%) Service Manager
5 116 (7.06%) Consultant
6 78 (4.75%) IT Manager
7 76 (4.63%) Support Engineer
8 72 (4.38%) Delivery Manager
9 71 (4.32%) Developer
10 70 (4.26%) Project Manager
11 57 (3.47%) Solutions Architect
12 52 (3.17%) IT Support
13 49 (2.98%) Service Analyst
14 42 (2.56%) ServiceNow Architect
15 41 (2.50%) Service Architect
15 41 (2.50%) ServiceNow Developer
16 39 (2.38%) Transition Manager
17 36 (2.19%) IT Engineer
18 35 (2.13%) Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 83 (5.05%) REST
2 52 (3.17%) Terraform
3 34 (2.07%) SOAP
4 25 (1.52%) XML
5 21 (1.28%) HTML
6 20 (1.22%) CSS
6 20 (1.22%) Web Services
7 19 (1.16%) JSON
7 19 (1.16%) Middleware
8 10 (0.61%) SAML
9 9 (0.55%) AngularJS
9 9 (0.55%) Elastic Stack
10 8 (0.49%) XSLT
11 7 (0.43%) .NET
11 7 (0.43%) ARM Templates
11 7 (0.43%) OAuth
12 6 (0.37%) Ajax
12 6 (0.37%) LDAP
13 5 (0.30%) Node.js
13 5 (0.30%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 180 (10.96%) Onboarding
2 132 (8.04%) CMDB
3 92 (5.60%) Management Information System
4 58 (3.53%) Enterprise Software
5 56 (3.41%) Data Centre
6 53 (3.23%) Product Ownership
7 37 (2.25%) PKI
8 29 (1.77%) Data Protection Act
8 29 (1.77%) Virtual Team
9 28 (1.71%) Hybrid Cloud
9 28 (1.71%) Operational Technology
10 23 (1.40%) Security Operations Centre
11 20 (1.22%) Cloud Native
12 17 (1.04%) Cyber Threat
12 17 (1.04%) Self-Motivation
13 16 (0.97%) Analytical Mindset
14 15 (0.91%) AI Agents
14 15 (0.91%) Clustering
14 15 (0.91%) NHS
14 15 (0.91%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 327 (19.91%) Windows
2 92 (5.60%) Windows Server
3 90 (5.48%) Linux
4 75 (4.57%) Windows 10
5 36 (2.19%) Apple iOS
6 35 (2.13%) Mac OS
7 23 (1.40%) Unix
8 21 (1.28%) Android
9 20 (1.22%) Windows 7
10 14 (0.85%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 6 (0.37%) Windows Server 2019
12 5 (0.30%) Solaris
13 4 (0.24%) AIX
13 4 (0.24%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
14 3 (0.18%) Windows Server 2012
14 3 (0.18%) Windows Server 2016
14 3 (0.18%) zOS
15 2 (0.12%) Windows XP
16 1 (0.061%) SUSE
16 1 (0.061%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 876 (53.35%) ITIL
2 726 (44.21%) ITSM
3 531 (32.34%) Stakeholder Management
4 461 (28.08%) Continuous Improvement
5 351 (21.38%) Service Delivery
6 334 (20.34%) Problem-Solving
7 329 (20.04%) Agile
8 251 (15.29%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 249 (15.16%) Change Management
10 230 (14.01%) Roadmaps
11 191 (11.63%) Customer Service
12 180 (10.96%) Incident Management
13 177 (10.78%) Cybersecurity
14 162 (9.87%) DevOps
15 151 (9.20%) Project Delivery
16 147 (8.95%) Decision-Making
17 137 (8.34%) AI
18 134 (8.16%) Risk Management
19 130 (7.92%) Migration
20 121 (7.37%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 144 (8.77%) PowerShell
2 91 (5.54%) Python
3 63 (3.84%) SQL
4 61 (3.71%) JavaScript
5 48 (2.92%) Bash
6 19 (1.16%) VBScript
7 16 (0.97%) Java
8 15 (0.91%) VB
9 12 (0.73%) C#
10 10 (0.61%) Bicep
11 9 (0.55%) Shell Script
12 8 (0.49%) Groovy
12 8 (0.49%) PL/SQL
13 6 (0.37%) C
14 5 (0.30%) Apex Code
14 5 (0.30%) Perl
15 4 (0.24%) T-SQL
15 4 (0.24%) TypeScript
16 3 (0.18%) COBOL
16 3 (0.18%) RPG
Qualifications
1 623 (37.94%) Security Cleared
2 431 (26.25%) SC Cleared
3 163 (9.93%) Degree
4 147 (8.95%) DV Cleared
5 64 (3.90%) PMP
6 61 (3.71%) ITIL Certification
7 59 (3.59%) PMI Certification
8 58 (3.53%) BPSS Clearance
9 41 (2.50%) Microsoft Certification
10 36 (2.19%) CISSP
10 36 (2.19%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 31 (1.89%) Cisco Certification
11 31 (1.89%) CISM
12 29 (1.77%) Computer Science Degree
13 27 (1.64%) A+ Certification
14 21 (1.28%) Azure Certification
15 16 (0.97%) DBS Check
16 15 (0.91%) AWS Certification
17 14 (0.85%) CCNA
18 12 (0.73%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 130 (7.92%) SLA
2 62 (3.78%) QA
3 55 (3.35%) Data Quality
4 50 (3.05%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 43 (2.62%) GRC
6 35 (2.13%) NCSC
7 33 (2.01%) GDPR
8 31 (1.89%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 31 (1.89%) NIST
9 25 (1.52%) PMO
10 17 (1.04%) ISO 9001
11 16 (0.97%) COBIT
12 14 (0.85%) Accessibility
13 13 (0.79%) Cyber Essentials
14 9 (0.55%) Disclosure Scotland
14 9 (0.55%) PCI DSS
15 8 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
15 8 (0.49%) WCAG
16 7 (0.43%) ISO 31000
16 7 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 187 (11.39%) Active Directory
2 88 (5.36%) VMware Infrastructure
3 38 (2.31%) Hyper-V
4 28 (1.71%) VMware ESXi
5 22 (1.34%) vSphere
6 21 (1.28%) Virtual Desktop
7 18 (1.10%) Docker
8 17 (1.04%) VMware NSX
9 16 (0.97%) BitLocker
10 13 (0.79%) vCloud
11 7 (0.43%) Citrix Hypervisor
11 7 (0.43%) Firmware
11 7 (0.43%) XenApp
11 7 (0.43%) XenDesktop
12 6 (0.37%) IAG
12 6 (0.37%) Virtual Servers
13 5 (0.30%) Oracle RAC
14 4 (0.24%) Virtual Machines
15 3 (0.18%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 3 (0.18%) NFS
Systems Management
1 101 (6.15%) Microsoft Intune
2 82 (4.99%) SCCM
3 52 (3.17%) Ansible
4 24 (1.46%) SCOM
4 24 (1.46%) Single Sign-On
5 22 (1.34%) Kubernetes
6 18 (1.10%) vCenter Server
7 14 (0.85%) Jamf Pro
8 11 (0.67%) WSUS
9 8 (0.49%) Data Guard
9 8 (0.49%) NetBackup
9 8 (0.49%) Oracle RMAN
10 6 (0.37%) Grafana
10 6 (0.37%) Progress Chef
11 4 (0.24%) PowerCLI
11 4 (0.24%) Puppet
11 4 (0.24%) Tivoli
11 4 (0.24%) Tivoli Monitoring
11 4 (0.24%) vMotion
12 3 (0.18%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 473 (28.81%) ServiceNow
2 403 (24.54%) Microsoft
3 116 (7.06%) VMware
4 54 (3.29%) Remedy
5 52 (3.17%) Cisco
6 50 (3.05%) BMC
7 40 (2.44%) Atlassian
7 40 (2.44%) Oracle
8 35 (2.13%) SAP
9 31 (1.89%) Dynatrace
10 27 (1.64%) Apple
10 27 (1.64%) Splunk
11 26 (1.58%) Google
11 26 (1.58%) IBM
12 23 (1.40%) CyberArk
13 22 (1.34%) Salesforce
14 20 (1.22%) Citrix
14 20 (1.22%) SolarWinds
15 15 (0.91%) Zscaler
16 14 (0.85%) IFS