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 30 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 117 79 80
Rank change year-on-year -38 +1 +4
Contract jobs citing Service Management 1,061 874 1,113
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.16% 3.03% 2.59%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.55% 3.33% 3.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 690 527 752
10th Percentile £220 £223 £265
25th Percentile £400 £386 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £501 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.40% -4.67% +3.96%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £608
90th Percentile £688 £700 £713
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -2.44% -2.38% +10.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 64 42 20
10th Percentile £16.11 - £12.53
25th Percentile £19.98 £12.62 £15.39
Median hourly rate £57.50 £21.71 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +164.85% +22.52% -65.76%
75th Percentile £83.75 £29.80 £22.18
90th Percentile £104.85 £33.75 £28.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £60.00 £21.28 £17.72
% change year-on-year +181.95% +20.09% -65.76%

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 41,610 26,282 36,757
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.67% 91.03% 85.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,026 16,812 23,631
10th Percentile £325 £300 £300
25th Percentile £413 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,481 1,100 2,513
10th Percentile £14.68 £14.20 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.91 £17.87 £16.00
Median hourly rate £42.30 £27.97 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +51.26% -23.38% -1.35%
75th Percentile £67.84 £57.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £81.00 £73.88 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £38.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -33.82% +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 30 May 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 30 May 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 30 May 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 -32 934 £513 -0.73% 361
UK excluding London -26 661 £500 -2.44% 288
London -30 297 £540 +7.89% 100
Work from Home -21 279 £500 +1.57% 150
North of England -21 187 £495 +4.11% 71
South East +11 181 £520 +19.20% 110
South West -32 119 £500 -11.11% 28
North West -12 103 £536 +4.78% 36
Midlands -37 79 £450 -18.18% 43
Yorkshire -36 78 £468 +10.12% 30
West Midlands -51 62 £462 -16.15% 35
East of England -19 45 £475 -13.64% 31
Scotland -28 39 £500 -2.44% 9
East Midlands -15 17 £313 -28.33% 8
Wales -11 7 £340 +22.52% 3
North East -21 6 £440 +125.64% 6
Northern Ireland - 4 - - 5

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 56 (5.28%) Confluence
2 41 (3.86%) SharePoint
3 34 (3.20%) Microsoft Exchange
4 11 (1.04%) Skype for Business
5 6 (0.57%) Mattermost
6 3 (0.28%) IIS
7 2 (0.19%) nginx
7 2 (0.19%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.094%) Apache
8 1 (0.094%) CICS
8 1 (0.094%) CMS
8 1 (0.094%) JBoss
8 1 (0.094%) LiveCycle
8 1 (0.094%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 1 (0.094%) Palantir Foundry
8 1 (0.094%) WebSphere
Applications
1 65 (6.13%) Microsoft Office
2 28 (2.64%) Microsoft Excel
3 15 (1.41%) Microsoft Project
4 12 (1.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 8 (0.75%) MS Visio
6 7 (0.66%) Chatbot
7 4 (0.38%) PTC Creo
8 2 (0.19%) Spreadsheet
9 1 (0.094%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 48 (4.52%) Remedy ITSM
2 13 (1.23%) SAP S/4HANA
3 9 (0.85%) Teamcenter
4 3 (0.28%) Primavera
5 2 (0.19%) Oracle Applications
5 2 (0.19%) Oracle EBS
5 2 (0.19%) Oracle ERP
5 2 (0.19%) SAP PS
6 1 (0.094%) Dynamics NAV
6 1 (0.094%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.094%) Oracle Payables
6 1 (0.094%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.094%) Oracle Receivables
6 1 (0.094%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
6 1 (0.094%) SAP HR
6 1 (0.094%) SAP Payroll
6 1 (0.094%) SAP PM
6 1 (0.094%) SAP SM
Cloud Services
1 157 (14.80%) Azure
2 101 (9.52%) Microsoft 365
3 59 (5.56%) AWS
4 50 (4.71%) Power Platform
5 43 (4.05%) Entra ID
6 37 (3.49%) SaaS
7 29 (2.73%) Azure DevOps
8 24 (2.26%) OneDrive
9 23 (2.17%) GCP
10 19 (1.79%) GitHub
11 18 (1.70%) PaaS
12 13 (1.23%) OCI
13 11 (1.04%) IaaS
14 10 (0.94%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 10 (0.94%) AWS Lambda
14 10 (0.94%) Microsoft Copilot
14 10 (0.94%) Serverless
15 6 (0.57%) Amazon S3
15 6 (0.57%) Google Workspace
15 6 (0.57%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 58 (5.47%) Firewall
2 45 (4.24%) DNS
3 37 (3.49%) WAN
4 34 (3.20%) LAN
5 31 (2.92%) VPN
6 28 (2.64%) Network Security
7 22 (2.07%) DHCP
8 17 (1.60%) TCP/IP
9 15 (1.41%) BGP
10 13 (1.23%) OSPF
10 13 (1.23%) SD-WAN
10 13 (1.23%) Wi-Fi
11 12 (1.13%) BIG-IP
11 12 (1.13%) VLAN
12 11 (1.04%) Cisco ISE
12 11 (1.04%) Skype
13 10 (0.94%) Wireless
14 9 (0.85%) VXLAN
15 8 (0.75%) Ethernet VPN
15 8 (0.75%) Junos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 40 (3.77%) Power BI
2 15 (1.41%) SQL Server
3 7 (0.66%) PostgreSQL
4 6 (0.57%) Oracle Database
4 6 (0.57%) Oracle Reports
4 6 (0.57%) Relational Database
5 5 (0.47%) Oracle Database 11g
6 4 (0.38%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 4 (0.38%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 3 (0.28%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.28%) Elasticsearch
7 3 (0.28%) MySQL
7 3 (0.28%) SQL Server Analysis Services
8 2 (0.19%) Amazon RDS
8 2 (0.19%) Amazon Redshift
8 2 (0.19%) InfluxDB
8 2 (0.19%) MariaDB
8 2 (0.19%) Microsoft Analysis Services
9 1 (0.094%) DTS
9 1 (0.094%) GIS
Development Applications
1 124 (11.69%) JIRA
2 19 (1.79%) Git
3 17 (1.60%) Jenkins
4 16 (1.51%) GitLab
5 13 (1.23%) Bitbucket
6 7 (0.66%) ScriptRunner
7 6 (0.57%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 5 (0.47%) Browser DevTools
9 4 (0.38%) MLflow
10 3 (0.28%) Fiddler
10 3 (0.28%) Hudson
10 3 (0.28%) IntelliJ
11 2 (0.19%) Firebug
11 2 (0.19%) Selenium
11 2 (0.19%) TestRail
11 2 (0.19%) Visual Studio Code
12 1 (0.094%) Gemini Tracker
12 1 (0.094%) IBM UrbanCode
12 1 (0.094%) Postman
12 1 (0.094%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 356 (33.55%) Social Skills
2 174 (16.40%) Finance
3 141 (13.29%) Analytical Skills
4 108 (10.18%) Public Sector
5 57 (5.37%) Legal
6 38 (3.58%) Banking
7 37 (3.49%) Telecoms
8 29 (2.73%) Documentation Skills
9 27 (2.54%) Organisational Skills
10 23 (2.17%) Military
11 22 (2.07%) Influencing Skills
12 16 (1.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 16 (1.51%) Retail
13 12 (1.13%) Aerospace
14 10 (0.94%) Local Government
15 9 (0.85%) Police
16 8 (0.75%) Financial Institution
16 8 (0.75%) Presentation Skills
17 7 (0.66%) Manufacturing
18 6 (0.57%) Law
Job Titles
1 120 (11.31%) Analyst
2 108 (10.18%) Architect
3 107 (10.08%) Service Manager
4 93 (8.77%) Lead
5 84 (7.92%) Senior
6 69 (6.50%) IT Manager
7 63 (5.94%) Consultant
8 48 (4.52%) Project Manager
9 44 (4.15%) Service Analyst
10 34 (3.20%) Delivery Manager
11 32 (3.02%) Developer
12 31 (2.92%) Service Architect
13 30 (2.83%) Support Engineer
14 29 (2.73%) Hardware Engineer
14 29 (2.73%) IT Analyst
14 29 (2.73%) ServiceNow Architect
15 28 (2.64%) IT Services Manager
16 26 (2.45%) Network Engineer
17 25 (2.36%) IT Support
17 25 (2.36%) Transition Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 47 (4.43%) REST
2 29 (2.73%) SOAP
3 11 (1.04%) HTML
4 10 (0.94%) CSS
5 9 (0.85%) 802.1X
5 9 (0.85%) Middleware
5 9 (0.85%) OAuth
6 7 (0.66%) Oracle Fusion
7 6 (0.57%) Web Services
7 6 (0.57%) XML
8 5 (0.47%) Elastic Stack
8 5 (0.47%) JSON
8 5 (0.47%) Lightning Web Components
8 5 (0.47%) OpenID
8 5 (0.47%) SAML
9 4 (0.38%) LDAP
9 4 (0.38%) Microsoft Graph
9 4 (0.38%) OAuth2
9 4 (0.38%) XMPP
10 3 (0.28%) Flash
Miscellaneous
1 74 (6.97%) Onboarding
2 72 (6.79%) CMDB
3 64 (6.03%) Product Ownership
4 47 (4.43%) Data Centre
5 28 (2.64%) Management Information System
5 28 (2.64%) Virtual Team
6 26 (2.45%) PKI
7 23 (2.17%) Enterprise Software
8 21 (1.98%) Clustering
9 17 (1.60%) Driving Licence
10 15 (1.41%) Data Protection Act
11 14 (1.32%) Operational Technology
12 12 (1.13%) PMI
13 10 (0.94%) Algorithms
14 9 (0.85%) Analytical Mindset
14 9 (0.85%) Cloud Native
15 8 (0.75%) Legacy Systems
15 8 (0.75%) Replication
16 6 (0.57%) Security Posture
16 6 (0.57%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 189 (17.81%) Windows
2 54 (5.09%) Linux
3 43 (4.05%) Windows 10
4 41 (3.86%) Windows Server
5 16 (1.51%) Unix
6 13 (1.23%) Mac OS
6 13 (1.23%) Windows 7
7 9 (0.85%) Android
8 8 (0.75%) Apple iOS
8 8 (0.75%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 4 (0.38%) Ubuntu
9 4 (0.38%) VMS
10 3 (0.28%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.19%) Solaris
11 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2012
11 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
11 2 (0.19%) zOS
12 1 (0.094%) Rocky
12 1 (0.094%) Windows Server 2008
12 1 (0.094%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 547 (51.56%) ITIL
2 452 (42.60%) ITSM
3 234 (22.05%) Stakeholder Management
4 228 (21.49%) Continuous Improvement
5 212 (19.98%) Agile
6 207 (19.51%) Problem-Solving
7 177 (16.68%) Service Delivery
8 142 (13.38%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 134 (12.63%) Change Management
10 117 (11.03%) DevOps
11 109 (10.27%) Customer Service
12 89 (8.39%) Roadmaps
13 87 (8.20%) Incident Management
14 85 (8.01%) Problem Management
15 79 (7.45%) Service Design
16 74 (6.97%) Project Management
17 73 (6.88%) Configuration Management
18 69 (6.50%) Decision-Making
19 67 (6.31%) Migration
19 67 (6.31%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 67 (6.31%) PowerShell
2 54 (5.09%) SQL
3 46 (4.34%) JavaScript
4 41 (3.86%) Python
5 16 (1.51%) Bash
6 14 (1.32%) Java
7 11 (1.04%) VB
7 11 (1.04%) VBScript
8 10 (0.94%) PL/SQL
9 7 (0.66%) Apex Code
10 5 (0.47%) C#
10 5 (0.47%) Groovy
10 5 (0.47%) Kotlin
11 4 (0.38%) C
12 3 (0.28%) Shell Script
12 3 (0.28%) SOQL
12 3 (0.28%) T-SQL
13 2 (0.19%) ActionScript 2.0
13 2 (0.19%) Go
13 2 (0.19%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 395 (37.23%) Security Cleared
2 276 (26.01%) SC Cleared
3 123 (11.59%) DV Cleared
4 97 (9.14%) Degree
5 51 (4.81%) ITIL Certification
6 30 (2.83%) PMI Certification
7 28 (2.64%) Cisco Certification
8 26 (2.45%) PMP
9 21 (1.98%) Computer Science Degree
10 20 (1.89%) BPSS Clearance
11 16 (1.51%) Microsoft Certification
12 15 (1.41%) CCNA
13 13 (1.23%) Master's Degree
14 12 (1.13%) A+ Certification
15 11 (1.04%) CISM
15 11 (1.04%) CISSP
16 10 (0.94%) CCNP
16 10 (0.94%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
17 9 (0.85%) JNCIA
17 9 (0.85%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 67 (6.31%) SLA
2 35 (3.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 34 (3.20%) Data Quality
4 25 (2.36%) GDPR
5 24 (2.26%) PMO
6 23 (2.17%) QA
7 18 (1.70%) COBIT
8 16 (1.51%) GRC
9 15 (1.41%) NCSC
10 14 (1.32%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 11 (1.04%) Cyber Essentials
11 11 (1.04%) NIST
12 10 (0.94%) Accessibility
13 9 (0.85%) PCI DSS
14 7 (0.66%) Government Security Classifications
15 6 (0.57%) ISO 31000
15 6 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 27005
15 6 (0.57%) Sarbanes-Oxley
16 5 (0.47%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
16 5 (0.47%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 105 (9.90%) Active Directory
2 38 (3.58%) VMware Infrastructure
3 15 (1.41%) Docker
3 15 (1.41%) VMware ESXi
4 12 (1.13%) BitLocker
5 8 (0.75%) VMware NSX
6 6 (0.57%) vCloud
6 6 (0.57%) vSphere
7 5 (0.47%) Hyper-V
7 5 (0.47%) NFS
8 4 (0.38%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.28%) Firmware
10 2 (0.19%) GPFS
10 2 (0.19%) IAG
10 2 (0.19%) KVM
10 2 (0.19%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.094%) iptables
11 1 (0.094%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 1 (0.094%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 30 (2.83%) SCCM
2 27 (2.54%) Ansible
2 27 (2.54%) Microsoft Intune
3 20 (1.89%) Terraform
4 17 (1.60%) Kubernetes
5 11 (1.04%) Jamf Pro
6 10 (0.94%) FortiGate
7 9 (0.85%) Grafana
7 9 (0.85%) Single Sign-On
8 8 (0.75%) vCenter Server
9 6 (0.57%) OPNET
9 6 (0.57%) Prometheus
9 6 (0.57%) SCOM
9 6 (0.57%) WSUS
10 5 (0.47%) Data Guard
10 5 (0.47%) Oracle RMAN
10 5 (0.47%) Progress Chef
10 5 (0.47%) Puppet
10 5 (0.47%) vMotion
11 4 (0.38%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 272 (25.64%) ServiceNow
2 169 (15.93%) Microsoft
3 60 (5.66%) Remedy
4 56 (5.28%) VMware
5 46 (4.34%) Cisco
6 36 (3.39%) Atlassian
7 35 (3.30%) Oracle
8 32 (3.02%) HP
9 28 (2.64%) SAP
10 24 (2.26%) IFS
11 23 (2.17%) BMC
12 21 (1.98%) Splunk
13 20 (1.89%) Dell
14 15 (1.41%) Canon
15 14 (1.32%) Salesforce
16 13 (1.23%) F5
16 13 (1.23%) SolarWinds
17 12 (1.13%) Zscaler
18 11 (1.04%) Dynatrace
18 11 (1.04%) Google