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

6 months to
27 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 116 82 82
Rank change year-on-year -34 0 +3
Contract jobs citing Service Management 1,049 846 1,099
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.15% 2.96% 2.58%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.55% 3.25% 3.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 681 508 745
10th Percentile £225 £225 £268
25th Percentile £401 £400 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £504 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.12% -3.95% +4.63%
75th Percentile £604 £600 £600
90th Percentile £688 £700 £708
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £521 £525
% change year-on-year -4.08% -0.71% +10.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 64 39 19
10th Percentile £16.11 - £12.53
25th Percentile £19.98 £12.62 £15.32
Median hourly rate £57.50 £22.14 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +159.71% +24.94% -65.76%
75th Percentile £83.75 £31.45 £20.37
90th Percentile £104.85 £36.50 £27.35
UK excluding London median hourly rate £60.00 £21.28 £17.72
% change year-on-year +181.95% +20.09% -63.46%

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 41,181 26,010 36,599
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.50% 91.03% 85.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,765 16,696 23,578
10th Percentile £325 £303 £300
25th Percentile £413 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £512 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.14% -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 2,462 1,066 2,486
10th Percentile £14.68 £14.20 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.73 £17.92 £16.00
Median hourly rate £41.94 £27.45 £36.02
Median % change year-on-year +52.79% -23.80% -2.64%
75th Percentile £67.50 £57.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £80.05 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.69 £25.15 £37.75
% change year-on-year +69.72% -33.38% +7.86%

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 27 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 27 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 27 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 -30 927 £520 - 397
UK excluding London -24 663 £500 -4.08% 301
London -44 289 £525 +4.90% 123
Work from Home -19 265 £500 +5.26% 173
South East +29 189 £525 +16.67% 109
North of England -19 182 £500 +5.26% 75
South West -27 124 £513 -6.90% 29
North West 0 100 £550 +6.40% 32
Yorkshire -26 76 £475 +11.76% 37
Midlands -51 75 £420 -23.64% 50
West Midlands -52 56 £420 -23.77% 41
East of England -18 44 £475 -13.64% 32
Scotland -28 38 £500 -2.44% 10
East Midlands -20 19 £418 -4.24% 9
Wales -13 7 £340 -4.56% 3
North East -21 6 £440 +125.64% 7
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 58 (5.53%) Confluence
2 38 (3.62%) SharePoint
3 34 (3.24%) Microsoft Exchange
4 11 (1.05%) Skype for Business
5 6 (0.57%) Mattermost
6 3 (0.29%) IIS
7 2 (0.19%) nginx
7 2 (0.19%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.095%) Apache
8 1 (0.095%) CICS
8 1 (0.095%) CMS
8 1 (0.095%) JBoss
8 1 (0.095%) LiveCycle
8 1 (0.095%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 1 (0.095%) Palantir Foundry
8 1 (0.095%) WebSphere
Applications
1 67 (6.39%) Microsoft Office
2 28 (2.67%) Microsoft Excel
3 19 (1.81%) Microsoft Project
4 12 (1.14%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 8 (0.76%) MS Visio
6 7 (0.67%) Chatbot
7 4 (0.38%) PTC Creo
8 2 (0.19%) Spreadsheet
9 1 (0.095%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 45 (4.29%) Remedy ITSM
2 13 (1.24%) SAP S/4HANA
3 9 (0.86%) Teamcenter
4 4 (0.38%) Oracle EBS
5 3 (0.29%) Primavera
6 2 (0.19%) Oracle Applications
6 2 (0.19%) Oracle ERP
6 2 (0.19%) SAP PS
7 1 (0.095%) Dynamics NAV
7 1 (0.095%) NetSuite
7 1 (0.095%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.095%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 1 (0.095%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.095%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 1 (0.095%) SAP HR
7 1 (0.095%) SAP Payroll
7 1 (0.095%) SAP PM
7 1 (0.095%) SAP SM
Cloud Services
1 158 (15.06%) Azure
2 94 (8.96%) Microsoft 365
3 64 (6.10%) AWS
4 51 (4.86%) Power Platform
5 40 (3.81%) Entra ID
6 38 (3.62%) SaaS
7 29 (2.76%) Azure DevOps
8 27 (2.57%) GCP
9 22 (2.10%) OneDrive
10 19 (1.81%) GitHub
11 18 (1.72%) PaaS
12 13 (1.24%) OCI
13 11 (1.05%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 11 (1.05%) IaaS
14 10 (0.95%) AWS Lambda
14 10 (0.95%) Microsoft Copilot
14 10 (0.95%) Serverless
15 6 (0.57%) Google Workspace
15 6 (0.57%) PowerApps
16 5 (0.48%) Google App Engine
Communications & Networking
1 57 (5.43%) Firewall
2 44 (4.19%) DNS
3 36 (3.43%) WAN
4 32 (3.05%) LAN
5 30 (2.86%) VPN
6 27 (2.57%) Network Security
7 21 (2.00%) DHCP
8 18 (1.72%) TCP/IP
9 15 (1.43%) BGP
10 13 (1.24%) OSPF
10 13 (1.24%) SD-WAN
11 12 (1.14%) BIG-IP
11 12 (1.14%) VLAN
12 11 (1.05%) Cisco ISE
12 11 (1.05%) Skype
12 11 (1.05%) Wi-Fi
13 10 (0.95%) Wireless
14 9 (0.86%) VXLAN
15 8 (0.76%) Ethernet VPN
15 8 (0.76%) Junos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 40 (3.81%) Power BI
2 15 (1.43%) SQL Server
3 7 (0.67%) PostgreSQL
4 6 (0.57%) Oracle Database
4 6 (0.57%) Oracle Reports
5 5 (0.48%) Oracle Database 11g
5 5 (0.48%) Relational Database
6 4 (0.38%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 4 (0.38%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 3 (0.29%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.29%) Elasticsearch
7 3 (0.29%) MySQL
7 3 (0.29%) SQL Server Analysis Services
8 2 (0.19%) Amazon Redshift
8 2 (0.19%) MariaDB
8 2 (0.19%) Microsoft Analysis Services
8 2 (0.19%) Tableau
9 1 (0.095%) Amazon RDS
9 1 (0.095%) InfluxDB
9 1 (0.095%) OpenStack Swift
Development Applications
1 121 (11.53%) JIRA
2 19 (1.81%) Git
3 16 (1.53%) GitLab
3 16 (1.53%) Jenkins
4 13 (1.24%) Bitbucket
5 7 (0.67%) ScriptRunner
6 6 (0.57%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 5 (0.48%) Browser DevTools
8 4 (0.38%) MLflow
9 3 (0.29%) Fiddler
9 3 (0.29%) Hudson
9 3 (0.29%) IntelliJ
10 2 (0.19%) Firebug
10 2 (0.19%) Selenium
10 2 (0.19%) TestRail
10 2 (0.19%) Visual Studio Code
11 1 (0.095%) Gemini Tracker
11 1 (0.095%) IBM UrbanCode
11 1 (0.095%) Postman
11 1 (0.095%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 348 (33.17%) Social Skills
2 178 (16.97%) Finance
3 138 (13.16%) Analytical Skills
4 110 (10.49%) Public Sector
5 56 (5.34%) Legal
6 40 (3.81%) Banking
7 34 (3.24%) Telecoms
8 27 (2.57%) Military
9 26 (2.48%) Documentation Skills
9 26 (2.48%) Organisational Skills
10 23 (2.19%) Influencing Skills
11 17 (1.62%) Retail
12 12 (1.14%) Aerospace
12 12 (1.14%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 10 (0.95%) Local Government
14 9 (0.86%) Financial Institution
15 8 (0.76%) Presentation Skills
16 7 (0.67%) Police
17 6 (0.57%) Investment Banking
17 6 (0.57%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 120 (11.44%) Analyst
2 109 (10.39%) Service Manager
3 108 (10.30%) Architect
4 99 (9.44%) Lead
5 84 (8.01%) Senior
6 66 (6.29%) IT Manager
7 61 (5.82%) Consultant
8 46 (4.39%) Service Analyst
9 44 (4.19%) Project Manager
10 35 (3.34%) Service Architect
11 33 (3.15%) Delivery Manager
11 33 (3.15%) Developer
12 29 (2.76%) Hardware Engineer
12 29 (2.76%) IT Analyst
12 29 (2.76%) Support Engineer
13 28 (2.67%) IT Services Manager
14 26 (2.48%) Network Engineer
14 26 (2.48%) ServiceNow Architect
15 25 (2.38%) Transition Manager
16 23 (2.19%) Service Delivery Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 47 (4.48%) REST
2 30 (2.86%) SOAP
3 9 (0.86%) 802.1X
3 9 (0.86%) HTML
3 9 (0.86%) Middleware
3 9 (0.86%) OAuth
4 8 (0.76%) CSS
5 7 (0.67%) Oracle Fusion
6 6 (0.57%) XML
7 5 (0.48%) Elastic Stack
7 5 (0.48%) JSON
7 5 (0.48%) Lightning Web Components
7 5 (0.48%) OpenID
7 5 (0.48%) SAML
7 5 (0.48%) Web Services
8 4 (0.38%) .NET
8 4 (0.38%) LDAP
8 4 (0.38%) Microsoft Graph
8 4 (0.38%) OAuth2
8 4 (0.38%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 73 (6.96%) CMDB
2 72 (6.86%) Onboarding
3 66 (6.29%) Product Ownership
4 47 (4.48%) Data Centre
5 29 (2.76%) Management Information System
6 28 (2.67%) Virtual Team
7 25 (2.38%) PKI
8 21 (2.00%) Clustering
9 20 (1.91%) Enterprise Software
10 17 (1.62%) Driving Licence
11 15 (1.43%) Data Protection Act
12 13 (1.24%) Operational Technology
13 11 (1.05%) PMI
14 10 (0.95%) Algorithms
14 10 (0.95%) Analytical Mindset
15 9 (0.86%) Cloud Native
16 8 (0.76%) Replication
17 7 (0.67%) Legacy Systems
17 7 (0.67%) Self-Motivation
18 5 (0.48%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 180 (17.16%) Windows
2 53 (5.05%) Linux
3 42 (4.00%) Windows 10
4 41 (3.91%) Windows Server
5 15 (1.43%) Unix
6 13 (1.24%) Mac OS
6 13 (1.24%) Windows 7
7 9 (0.86%) Android
8 8 (0.76%) Apple iOS
8 8 (0.76%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 4 (0.38%) Ubuntu
9 4 (0.38%) VMS
9 4 (0.38%) Windows Server 2019
10 2 (0.19%) Solaris
10 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
10 2 (0.19%) zOS
11 1 (0.095%) Data ONTAP
11 1 (0.095%) Rocky
11 1 (0.095%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 556 (53.00%) ITIL
2 447 (42.61%) ITSM
3 232 (22.12%) Stakeholder Management
4 222 (21.16%) Continuous Improvement
5 219 (20.88%) Agile
6 202 (19.26%) Problem-Solving
7 176 (16.78%) Service Delivery
8 142 (13.54%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 138 (13.16%) Change Management
10 118 (11.25%) DevOps
11 111 (10.58%) Customer Service
12 88 (8.39%) Roadmaps
13 85 (8.10%) Problem Management
14 81 (7.72%) Service Design
15 79 (7.53%) Incident Management
16 76 (7.24%) Configuration Management
17 71 (6.77%) Project Management
18 66 (6.29%) Decision-Making
19 64 (6.10%) CI/CD
20 63 (6.01%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 66 (6.29%) PowerShell
2 52 (4.96%) SQL
3 43 (4.10%) JavaScript
4 38 (3.62%) Python
5 16 (1.53%) Bash
6 14 (1.33%) Java
7 11 (1.05%) VB
7 11 (1.05%) VBScript
8 10 (0.95%) PL/SQL
9 7 (0.67%) Apex Code
10 6 (0.57%) Kotlin
11 5 (0.48%) C#
11 5 (0.48%) Groovy
12 4 (0.38%) C
13 3 (0.29%) SOQL
13 3 (0.29%) T-SQL
14 2 (0.19%) ActionScript
14 2 (0.19%) PHP
14 2 (0.19%) Search Processing Language
14 2 (0.19%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 396 (37.75%) Security Cleared
2 276 (26.31%) SC Cleared
3 125 (11.92%) DV Cleared
4 99 (9.44%) Degree
5 51 (4.86%) ITIL Certification
6 31 (2.96%) PMI Certification
7 28 (2.67%) Cisco Certification
7 28 (2.67%) PMP
8 21 (2.00%) Computer Science Degree
9 19 (1.81%) BPSS Clearance
10 16 (1.53%) Microsoft Certification
11 15 (1.43%) CCNA
12 13 (1.24%) Master's Degree
13 12 (1.14%) A+ Certification
14 11 (1.05%) CISM
14 11 (1.05%) CISSP
15 10 (0.95%) CCNP
15 10 (0.95%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 9 (0.86%) JNCIA
16 9 (0.86%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 67 (6.39%) SLA
2 35 (3.34%) Data Quality
2 35 (3.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 25 (2.38%) GDPR
4 24 (2.29%) PMO
5 23 (2.19%) QA
6 17 (1.62%) COBIT
7 16 (1.53%) GRC
7 16 (1.53%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 15 (1.43%) NCSC
9 11 (1.05%) Cyber Essentials
9 11 (1.05%) NIST
10 10 (0.95%) Accessibility
11 9 (0.86%) PCI DSS
12 7 (0.67%) Government Security Classifications
13 6 (0.57%) ISO 31000
13 6 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 27005
13 6 (0.57%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 5 (0.48%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 5 (0.48%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 103 (9.82%) Active Directory
2 38 (3.62%) VMware Infrastructure
3 14 (1.33%) Docker
3 14 (1.33%) VMware ESXi
4 11 (1.05%) BitLocker
5 7 (0.67%) VMware NSX
6 6 (0.57%) vSphere
7 5 (0.48%) Hyper-V
7 5 (0.48%) NFS
7 5 (0.48%) vCloud
8 4 (0.38%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
9 2 (0.19%) Firmware
9 2 (0.19%) GPFS
9 2 (0.19%) IAG
9 2 (0.19%) KVM
9 2 (0.19%) Oracle RAC
10 1 (0.095%) iptables
10 1 (0.095%) Samba
10 1 (0.095%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 30 (2.86%) SCCM
2 26 (2.48%) Ansible
3 25 (2.38%) Microsoft Intune
4 19 (1.81%) Terraform
5 16 (1.53%) Kubernetes
6 10 (0.95%) FortiGate
6 10 (0.95%) Jamf Pro
7 9 (0.86%) OPNET
7 9 (0.86%) Single Sign-On
8 8 (0.76%) Grafana
8 8 (0.76%) vCenter Server
9 6 (0.57%) SCOM
9 6 (0.57%) WSUS
10 5 (0.48%) Data Guard
10 5 (0.48%) Oracle RMAN
10 5 (0.48%) Prometheus
10 5 (0.48%) Puppet
10 5 (0.48%) vMotion
11 4 (0.38%) PowerCLI
11 4 (0.38%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 274 (26.12%) ServiceNow
2 164 (15.63%) Microsoft
3 60 (5.72%) Remedy
4 56 (5.34%) VMware
5 45 (4.29%) Cisco
6 38 (3.62%) Atlassian
6 38 (3.62%) Oracle
7 31 (2.96%) HP
8 28 (2.67%) SAP
9 23 (2.19%) BMC
9 23 (2.19%) IFS
10 20 (1.91%) Dell
10 20 (1.91%) Splunk
11 15 (1.43%) Canon
11 15 (1.43%) Salesforce
12 13 (1.24%) F5
12 13 (1.24%) Google
13 12 (1.14%) SolarWinds
14 11 (1.05%) Zscaler
15 10 (0.95%) Workday