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 2 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 102 81 82
Rank change year-on-year -21 +1 +3
Contract jobs citing Service Management 1,221 912 1,078
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.37% 2.95% 2.48%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.79% 3.24% 2.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 793 555 740
10th Percentile £231 £213 £263
25th Percentile £408 £350 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% -4.76% +0.96%
75th Percentile £600 £588 £608
90th Percentile £688 £688 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £510 £499 £525
% change year-on-year +2.21% -5.05% +10.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 75 55 19
10th Percentile £15.00 - £13.81
25th Percentile £19.82 £12.62 £17.26
Median hourly rate £60.00 £20.75 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year +189.16% -20.19% -26.24%
75th Percentile £84.50 £22.35 £48.13
90th Percentile £96.50 £33.75 £50.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £60.00 £20.75 £23.37
% change year-on-year +189.16% -11.21% +9.67%

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 43,739 28,136 37,017
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.99% 90.86% 85.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,189 17,763 23,600
10th Percentile £325 £300 £300
25th Percentile £415 £405 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £505 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.08% -3.90% -4.55%
75th Percentile £621 £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 2,627 1,381 2,550
10th Percentile £14.82 £14.20 £12.75
25th Percentile £20.00 £17.61 £16.06
Median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +74.79% -32.93% +3.45%
75th Percentile £68.00 £53.95 £61.30
90th Percentile £81.25 £70.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £25.00 £38.12
% change year-on-year +75.84% -34.42% +8.91%

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 2 July 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 2 July 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 2 July 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 -22 1,059 £520 +4.00% 460
UK excluding London -26 737 £510 +2.21% 374
Work from Home +7 361 £511 +7.63% 174
London -13 361 £550 +10.00% 129
South East +24 220 £538 +43.33% 117
North of England -25 205 £475 +1.06% 104
South West -29 120 £513 -8.89% 49
North West -26 115 £513 +4.17% 57
Midlands -37 84 £475 -5.00% 53
Yorkshire -18 83 £450 -5.26% 38
West Midlands -42 73 £477 -8.27% 35
Scotland -16 55 £500 - 17
East of England -19 42 £488 -11.36% 30
Wales -7 13 £800 +188.29% 9
East Midlands -18 11 £200 -54.13% 18
North East -29 7 £440 +125.64% 11
Northern Ireland +5 5 - - 7

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 70 (5.73%) SharePoint
2 53 (4.34%) Confluence
3 34 (2.78%) Microsoft Exchange
4 11 (0.90%) Skype for Business
5 6 (0.49%) Mattermost
6 4 (0.33%) OpenStack
7 3 (0.25%) IIS
8 1 (0.082%) Apache
8 1 (0.082%) CICS
8 1 (0.082%) CMS
8 1 (0.082%) JBoss
8 1 (0.082%) LiveCycle
8 1 (0.082%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
8 1 (0.082%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 56 (4.59%) Microsoft Office
2 25 (2.05%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (1.15%) MS Visio
4 10 (0.82%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (0.82%) Microsoft Project
5 7 (0.57%) Chatbot
6 4 (0.33%) PTC Creo
7 2 (0.16%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.082%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 52 (4.26%) Remedy ITSM
2 17 (1.39%) SAP S/4HANA
3 9 (0.74%) Teamcenter
4 7 (0.57%) Primavera
5 4 (0.33%) ContrOCC
5 4 (0.33%) SAP SM
6 3 (0.25%) Oracle ERP
6 3 (0.25%) SAP CO
6 3 (0.25%) SAP FI
6 3 (0.25%) SAP FI/CO
7 2 (0.16%) Oracle Applications
7 2 (0.16%) SAP PS
8 1 (0.082%) Dynamics NAV
8 1 (0.082%) Misys Equation
8 1 (0.082%) Misys Midas
8 1 (0.082%) NetSuite
8 1 (0.082%) SAP HR
8 1 (0.082%) SAP Payroll
8 1 (0.082%) SAP PM
Cloud Services
1 188 (15.40%) Azure
2 131 (10.73%) Microsoft 365
3 73 (5.98%) AWS
4 59 (4.83%) Entra ID
4 59 (4.83%) Power Platform
5 43 (3.52%) SaaS
6 33 (2.70%) Azure DevOps
7 31 (2.54%) OneDrive
8 25 (2.05%) GCP
9 18 (1.47%) PaaS
10 14 (1.15%) GitHub
11 13 (1.06%) OCI
12 12 (0.98%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 12 (0.98%) Microsoft Copilot
13 11 (0.90%) AWS Lambda
13 11 (0.90%) Serverless
14 10 (0.82%) IaaS
15 9 (0.74%) Amazon S3
15 9 (0.74%) Google Workspace
16 8 (0.66%) Amazon EC2
Communications & Networking
1 63 (5.16%) Firewall
2 49 (4.01%) DNS
3 41 (3.36%) WAN
4 38 (3.11%) LAN
5 33 (2.70%) VPN
6 26 (2.13%) DHCP
6 26 (2.13%) Network Security
7 24 (1.97%) TCP/IP
8 17 (1.39%) Wireless
9 16 (1.31%) BGP
10 14 (1.15%) Wi-Fi
11 13 (1.06%) OSPF
11 13 (1.06%) VLAN
12 12 (0.98%) BIG-IP
12 12 (0.98%) Cisco ISE
12 12 (0.98%) SD-WAN
13 11 (0.90%) Skype
13 11 (0.90%) VXLAN
14 10 (0.82%) Junos
15 8 (0.66%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 48 (3.93%) Power BI
2 17 (1.39%) SQL Server
3 8 (0.66%) Oracle Database
4 6 (0.49%) Oracle Database 11g
4 6 (0.49%) Oracle Reports
4 6 (0.49%) PostgreSQL
4 6 (0.49%) Relational Database
5 5 (0.41%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 4 (0.33%) MySQL
6 4 (0.33%) SQL Server Analysis Services
6 4 (0.33%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 3 (0.25%) Azure SQL Database
8 2 (0.16%) Amazon RDS
8 2 (0.16%) Amazon Redshift
8 2 (0.16%) GIS
8 2 (0.16%) MariaDB
8 2 (0.16%) Microsoft Analysis Services
9 1 (0.082%) Db2
9 1 (0.082%) DTS
9 1 (0.082%) InfluxDB
Development Applications
1 139 (11.38%) JIRA
2 21 (1.72%) Jenkins
3 19 (1.56%) Git
4 13 (1.06%) Bitbucket
5 12 (0.98%) GitLab
6 5 (0.41%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 5 (0.41%) Browser DevTools
7 4 (0.33%) MLflow
7 4 (0.33%) ScriptRunner
8 3 (0.25%) Fiddler
8 3 (0.25%) Hudson
8 3 (0.25%) IntelliJ
9 2 (0.16%) Firebug
9 2 (0.16%) Selenium
10 1 (0.082%) Cucumber
10 1 (0.082%) Cypress.io
10 1 (0.082%) JMeter
10 1 (0.082%) Maven
10 1 (0.082%) MSI
10 1 (0.082%) Rational DOORS
General
1 417 (34.15%) Social Skills
2 203 (16.63%) Finance
3 174 (14.25%) Analytical Skills
4 130 (10.65%) Public Sector
5 51 (4.18%) Telecoms
6 49 (4.01%) Legal
7 45 (3.69%) Banking
8 34 (2.78%) Influencing Skills
9 33 (2.70%) Documentation Skills
9 33 (2.70%) Organisational Skills
10 22 (1.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 21 (1.72%) Military
12 17 (1.39%) Local Government
13 16 (1.31%) Aerospace
13 16 (1.31%) Retail
14 13 (1.06%) Financial Institution
14 13 (1.06%) Presentation Skills
15 11 (0.90%) Police
16 9 (0.74%) Manufacturing
17 8 (0.66%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 143 (11.71%) Analyst
2 118 (9.66%) Lead
3 117 (9.58%) Service Manager
4 106 (8.68%) Architect
5 98 (8.03%) Senior
6 88 (7.21%) Consultant
7 75 (6.14%) IT Manager
8 58 (4.75%) Project Manager
9 53 (4.34%) Service Analyst
10 47 (3.85%) Developer
11 44 (3.60%) Delivery Manager
12 34 (2.78%) IT Analyst
12 34 (2.78%) Support Engineer
13 31 (2.54%) Network Engineer
14 30 (2.46%) IT Services Manager
14 30 (2.46%) ServiceNow Architect
15 29 (2.38%) Administrator
16 28 (2.29%) Service Delivery Manager
17 27 (2.21%) Business Analyst
17 27 (2.21%) Transition Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 54 (4.42%) REST
2 29 (2.38%) SOAP
3 13 (1.06%) HTML
4 12 (0.98%) CSS
4 12 (0.98%) Middleware
5 9 (0.74%) 802.1X
5 9 (0.74%) JSON
5 9 (0.74%) OAuth
6 7 (0.57%) Elastic Stack
6 7 (0.57%) Web Services
6 7 (0.57%) XML
7 6 (0.49%) Oracle Fusion
8 5 (0.41%) AngularJS
8 5 (0.41%) Lightning Web Components
8 5 (0.41%) Microsoft Graph
8 5 (0.41%) OpenID
8 5 (0.41%) SAML
9 4 (0.33%) .NET
9 4 (0.33%) Bootstrap
9 4 (0.33%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 104 (8.52%) CMDB
2 101 (8.27%) Onboarding
3 64 (5.24%) Product Ownership
4 47 (3.85%) Data Centre
5 43 (3.52%) Management Information System
6 32 (2.62%) Virtual Team
7 29 (2.38%) Enterprise Software
8 28 (2.29%) PKI
9 22 (1.80%) Clustering
10 19 (1.56%) Data Protection Act
10 19 (1.56%) Operational Technology
11 15 (1.23%) Analytical Mindset
12 14 (1.15%) Driving Licence
13 12 (0.98%) Self-Motivation
14 10 (0.82%) Algorithms
14 10 (0.82%) Cloud Native
14 10 (0.82%) PMI
14 10 (0.82%) Security Posture
15 9 (0.74%) Cyber Threat
15 9 (0.74%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 219 (17.94%) Windows
2 57 (4.67%) Linux
3 43 (3.52%) Windows 10
4 37 (3.03%) Windows Server
5 18 (1.47%) Unix
6 16 (1.31%) Mac OS
7 15 (1.23%) Windows 7
8 12 (0.98%) Apple iOS
9 11 (0.90%) Android
10 10 (0.82%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 5 (0.41%) Windows Server 2019
12 4 (0.33%) VMS
13 3 (0.25%) Ubuntu
13 3 (0.25%) Windows XP
14 2 (0.16%) Solaris
14 2 (0.16%) Windows Server 2012
14 2 (0.16%) Windows Server 2016
14 2 (0.16%) zOS
15 1 (0.082%) Rocky
15 1 (0.082%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 639 (52.33%) ITIL
2 535 (43.82%) ITSM
3 313 (25.63%) Stakeholder Management
4 302 (24.73%) Continuous Improvement
5 256 (20.97%) Agile
6 241 (19.74%) Problem-Solving
7 237 (19.41%) Service Delivery
8 185 (15.15%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 170 (13.92%) Change Management
10 135 (11.06%) DevOps
11 127 (10.40%) Customer Service
12 119 (9.75%) Roadmaps
13 107 (8.76%) Incident Management
14 95 (7.78%) Problem Management
15 92 (7.53%) Project Delivery
16 90 (7.37%) Decision-Making
17 87 (7.13%) Migration
18 85 (6.96%) Configuration Management
19 84 (6.88%) Cybersecurity
20 79 (6.47%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 91 (7.45%) PowerShell
2 67 (5.49%) Python
3 60 (4.91%) SQL
4 49 (4.01%) JavaScript
5 24 (1.97%) Bash
6 16 (1.31%) Java
7 11 (0.90%) PL/SQL
7 11 (0.90%) VB
7 11 (0.90%) VBScript
8 6 (0.49%) Apex Code
8 6 (0.49%) Groovy
9 5 (0.41%) C#
9 5 (0.41%) Kotlin
9 5 (0.41%) T-SQL
10 4 (0.33%) C
10 4 (0.33%) Perl
10 4 (0.33%) Shell Script
11 3 (0.25%) SOQL
12 2 (0.16%) ActionScript
12 2 (0.16%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 434 (35.54%) Security Cleared
2 294 (24.08%) SC Cleared
3 139 (11.38%) DV Cleared
4 104 (8.52%) Degree
5 63 (5.16%) ITIL Certification
6 36 (2.95%) PMI Certification
7 34 (2.78%) PMP
8 28 (2.29%) Cisco Certification
9 26 (2.13%) BPSS Clearance
10 24 (1.97%) Computer Science Degree
11 20 (1.64%) Microsoft Certification
12 15 (1.23%) A+ Certification
12 15 (1.23%) CCNA
12 15 (1.23%) CISM
13 14 (1.15%) CISSP
13 14 (1.15%) Master's Degree
14 12 (0.98%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 10 (0.82%) CCNP
15 10 (0.82%) Network+ Certification
16 9 (0.74%) JNCIA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 82 (6.72%) SLA
2 47 (3.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 37 (3.03%) Data Quality
3 37 (3.03%) QA
4 29 (2.38%) PMO
5 27 (2.21%) GDPR
6 23 (1.88%) NCSC
7 21 (1.72%) COBIT
7 21 (1.72%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 20 (1.64%) GRC
9 14 (1.15%) NIST
10 12 (0.98%) ISO 9001
11 9 (0.74%) Cyber Essentials
11 9 (0.74%) PCI DSS
12 8 (0.66%) Accessibility
13 7 (0.57%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 7 (0.57%) Government Security Classifications
14 6 (0.49%) ISO 31000
14 6 (0.49%) ISO/IEC 27005
15 5 (0.41%) Disclosure Scotland
System Software
1 121 (9.91%) Active Directory
2 42 (3.44%) VMware Infrastructure
3 16 (1.31%) VMware ESXi
4 12 (0.98%) BitLocker
4 12 (0.98%) Docker
5 9 (0.74%) Hyper-V
6 8 (0.66%) VMware NSX
7 7 (0.57%) Virtual Desktop
7 7 (0.57%) vSphere
8 6 (0.49%) vCloud
9 5 (0.41%) NFS
9 5 (0.41%) Virtual Machines
10 4 (0.33%) Oracle RAC
11 3 (0.25%) Firmware
11 3 (0.25%) IAG
12 2 (0.16%) GPFS
12 2 (0.16%) KVM
13 1 (0.082%) iptables
13 1 (0.082%) Slurm Workload Manager
13 1 (0.082%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 53 (4.34%) SCCM
2 47 (3.85%) Microsoft Intune
3 29 (2.38%) Ansible
4 23 (1.88%) Terraform
5 15 (1.23%) Kubernetes
6 14 (1.15%) Jamf Pro
7 13 (1.06%) Single Sign-On
8 10 (0.82%) SCOM
9 9 (0.74%) FortiGate
10 8 (0.66%) vCenter Server
11 7 (0.57%) Data Guard
11 7 (0.57%) Grafana
11 7 (0.57%) Oracle RMAN
11 7 (0.57%) WSUS
12 6 (0.49%) Puppet
13 5 (0.41%) Prometheus
13 5 (0.41%) vMotion
14 4 (0.33%) PowerCLI
14 4 (0.33%) Progress Chef
15 3 (0.25%) Packer
Vendors
1 347 (28.42%) ServiceNow
2 218 (17.85%) Microsoft
3 58 (4.75%) VMware
4 57 (4.67%) Remedy
5 44 (3.60%) Cisco
6 37 (3.03%) Oracle
7 32 (2.62%) SAP
8 31 (2.54%) BMC
9 25 (2.05%) Atlassian
10 24 (1.97%) Splunk
11 23 (1.88%) IFS
12 21 (1.72%) SolarWinds
13 17 (1.39%) HP
13 17 (1.39%) Salesforce
14 16 (1.31%) Citrix
15 15 (1.23%) Dynatrace
16 14 (1.15%) Dell
16 14 (1.15%) Juniper
17 13 (1.06%) F5
17 13 (1.06%) Zscaler