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 17 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 96 80 91
Rank change year-on-year -16 +11 -7
Contract jobs citing Service Management 1,450 976 948
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.71% 2.95% 2.45%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.20% 3.26% 2.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 950 592 657
10th Percentile £262 £213 £233
25th Percentile £413 £350 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £486 £525
Median % change year-on-year +7.97% -7.38% +0.96%
75th Percentile £619 £575 £608
90th Percentile £725 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £520 £493 £525
% change year-on-year +5.48% -6.10% +6.06%
Number of hourly rates quoted 83 75 18
10th Percentile £14.50 - £17.50
25th Percentile £19.82 £12.62 £19.44
Median hourly rate £55.00 £18.73 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +193.65% -31.89% -34.33%
75th Percentile £85.13 £22.14 £48.75
90th Percentile £92.52 £42.00 £54.13
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.00 £18.00 £27.50
% change year-on-year +205.56% -34.55% +29.05%

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 45,350 29,954 33,125
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.75% 90.50% 85.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,857 18,668 21,203
10th Percentile £325 £300 £310
25th Percentile £424 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -3.31%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,845 1,726 1,796
10th Percentile £14.22 £14.20 £14.03
25th Percentile £18.50 £17.31 £18.23
Median hourly rate £42.00 £25.15 £40.97
Median % change year-on-year +67.00% -38.61% -1.28%
75th Percentile £68.00 £48.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £81.25 £68.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £23.00 £42.50
% change year-on-year +91.13% -45.88% +13.33%

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 17 August 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 17 August 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 17 August 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 -15 1,262 £525 +5.00% 862
UK excluding London -16 848 £520 +5.48% 687
London +28 461 £525 +5.00% 297
Work from Home +8 415 £516 +3.20% 408
South East +20 284 £565 +13.00% 200
North of England -30 223 £453 +1.00% 167
North West -24 131 £481 +2.29% 95
South West -28 123 £550 +4.76% 76
Midlands -39 100 £500 - 100
West Midlands -34 94 £500 -2.91% 60
Yorkshire -16 87 £436 +23.76% 55
Scotland -5 66 £505 +7.45% 54
East of England -23 40 £525 -4.55% 60
Wales -9 12 £800 +247.83% 14
Northern Ireland +10 8 - - 25
East Midlands -28 6 £250 -16.67% 40
North East -43 5 £440 +125.64% 18

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 99 (6.83%) SharePoint
2 58 (4.00%) Confluence
3 55 (3.79%) Microsoft Exchange
4 15 (1.03%) Skype for Business
5 6 (0.41%) Mattermost
5 6 (0.41%) OpenStack
6 3 (0.21%) CMS
6 3 (0.21%) IIS
7 2 (0.14%) Apache
8 1 (0.069%) CICS
8 1 (0.069%) Exchange Server 2010
8 1 (0.069%) HCL Notes
8 1 (0.069%) JBoss
8 1 (0.069%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
8 1 (0.069%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 82 (5.66%) Microsoft Office
2 32 (2.21%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (1.10%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 15 (1.03%) MS Visio
5 9 (0.62%) Chatbot
5 9 (0.62%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.069%) Camtasia
7 1 (0.069%) Maple
Business Applications
1 62 (4.28%) Remedy ITSM
2 12 (0.83%) SAP S/4HANA
3 7 (0.48%) Primavera
4 5 (0.34%) ContrOCC
4 5 (0.34%) NEC Housing
5 3 (0.21%) Oracle ERP
5 3 (0.21%) SAP CO
5 3 (0.21%) SAP FI
5 3 (0.21%) SAP FI/CO
5 3 (0.21%) SAP SM
5 3 (0.21%) Teamcenter
6 2 (0.14%) Oracle Applications
6 2 (0.14%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.14%) Remedy AR System
6 2 (0.14%) SAP PS
7 1 (0.069%) Dynamics CRM
7 1 (0.069%) iTrent
7 1 (0.069%) Misys Equation
7 1 (0.069%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.069%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 258 (17.79%) Azure
2 185 (12.76%) Microsoft 365
3 116 (8.00%) AWS
4 104 (7.17%) Entra ID
5 66 (4.55%) Power Platform
6 60 (4.14%) SaaS
7 51 (3.52%) OneDrive
8 34 (2.34%) GCP
9 32 (2.21%) Azure DevOps
10 21 (1.45%) GitHub
11 20 (1.38%) Microsoft Copilot
12 17 (1.17%) OCI
13 14 (0.97%) Azure Monitor
14 12 (0.83%) PaaS
15 10 (0.69%) Google Workspace
15 10 (0.69%) IaaS
16 9 (0.62%) Amazon S3
17 8 (0.55%) Amazon EC2
17 8 (0.55%) Azure AKS
18 7 (0.48%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 81 (5.59%) Firewall
2 67 (4.62%) DNS
3 48 (3.31%) VPN
4 45 (3.10%) TCP/IP
5 44 (3.03%) DHCP
6 42 (2.90%) WAN
7 40 (2.76%) Network Security
8 36 (2.48%) LAN
9 19 (1.31%) Wireless
10 18 (1.24%) Wi-Fi
11 16 (1.10%) SD-WAN
12 15 (1.03%) Skype
13 14 (0.97%) BGP
13 14 (0.97%) VLAN
14 11 (0.76%) Intrusion Detection
15 10 (0.69%) OSPF
15 10 (0.69%) SSH
16 8 (0.55%) Cisco ISE
16 8 (0.55%) HTTP
16 8 (0.55%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 48 (3.31%) Power BI
2 26 (1.79%) SQL Server
3 8 (0.55%) Oracle Database
3 8 (0.55%) PostgreSQL
4 7 (0.48%) MySQL
4 7 (0.48%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 6 (0.41%) Oracle Database 11g
5 6 (0.41%) Oracle Reports
5 6 (0.41%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 5 (0.34%) Amazon RDS
6 5 (0.34%) MariaDB
6 5 (0.34%) Relational Database
6 5 (0.34%) SQL Server Analysis Services
7 3 (0.21%) Amazon Aurora
7 3 (0.21%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.21%) Metadata
8 2 (0.14%) Amazon Redshift
8 2 (0.14%) Looker
8 2 (0.14%) Microsoft Analysis Services
8 2 (0.14%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 145 (10.00%) JIRA
2 26 (1.79%) Git
3 25 (1.72%) Jenkins
4 23 (1.59%) Bitbucket
5 15 (1.03%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 12 (0.83%) GitLab
7 5 (0.34%) Browser DevTools
8 4 (0.28%) Maven
8 4 (0.28%) MLflow
8 4 (0.28%) Rational DOORS
8 4 (0.28%) ScriptRunner
8 4 (0.28%) webpack
9 3 (0.21%) Fiddler
9 3 (0.21%) Gradle
9 3 (0.21%) Hudson
9 3 (0.21%) IntelliJ
9 3 (0.21%) Sonatype Nexus
10 2 (0.14%) Firebug
11 1 (0.069%) MSI
11 1 (0.069%) Selenium
General
1 561 (38.69%) Social Skills
2 237 (16.34%) Finance
3 226 (15.59%) Analytical Skills
4 169 (11.66%) Public Sector
5 68 (4.69%) Telecoms
6 54 (3.72%) Documentation Skills
7 51 (3.52%) Influencing Skills
8 50 (3.45%) Banking
9 47 (3.24%) Organisational Skills
10 46 (3.17%) Legal
11 30 (2.07%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 28 (1.93%) Military
13 24 (1.66%) Local Government
14 21 (1.45%) Presentation Skills
15 18 (1.24%) Aerospace
16 14 (0.97%) Retail
17 12 (0.83%) Police
18 11 (0.76%) Financial Institution
19 10 (0.69%) Manufacturing
20 8 (0.55%) Law
Job Titles
1 157 (10.83%) Analyst
2 140 (9.66%) Architect
3 135 (9.31%) Lead
4 113 (7.79%) Senior
5 107 (7.38%) Service Manager
6 100 (6.90%) Consultant
7 75 (5.17%) IT Manager
8 66 (4.55%) Project Manager
9 62 (4.28%) Support Engineer
10 60 (4.14%) Developer
11 56 (3.86%) Service Analyst
12 46 (3.17%) Delivery Manager
12 46 (3.17%) IT Support
13 44 (3.03%) Solutions Architect
14 42 (2.90%) ServiceNow Developer
15 38 (2.62%) Transition Manager
16 37 (2.55%) Service Architect
17 36 (2.48%) Business Analyst
17 36 (2.48%) Infrastructure Engineer
18 34 (2.34%) IT Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 80 (5.52%) REST
2 36 (2.48%) SOAP
3 18 (1.24%) HTML
4 17 (1.17%) CSS
5 15 (1.03%) Middleware
5 15 (1.03%) Web Services
6 12 (0.83%) XML
7 10 (0.69%) JSON
7 10 (0.69%) SAML
8 9 (0.62%) AngularJS
8 9 (0.62%) OAuth
9 8 (0.55%) Elastic Stack
10 6 (0.41%) ARM Templates
10 6 (0.41%) Node.js
11 5 (0.34%) .NET
11 5 (0.34%) OpenID
11 5 (0.34%) Oracle Fusion
11 5 (0.34%) RESTful
12 4 (0.28%) Ajax
12 4 (0.28%) Bootstrap
Miscellaneous
1 153 (10.55%) Onboarding
2 114 (7.86%) CMDB
3 65 (4.48%) Management Information System
4 63 (4.34%) Product Ownership
5 44 (3.03%) Enterprise Software
6 43 (2.97%) Data Centre
7 32 (2.21%) PKI
8 27 (1.86%) Operational Technology
9 25 (1.72%) Virtual Team
10 23 (1.59%) Data Protection Act
10 23 (1.59%) Hybrid Cloud
11 21 (1.45%) Cloud Native
11 21 (1.45%) Clustering
12 19 (1.31%) Security Operations Centre
13 16 (1.10%) AI Agents
13 16 (1.10%) Analytical Mindset
14 15 (1.03%) Self-Motivation
15 13 (0.90%) Video Conferencing
16 12 (0.83%) Cyber Threat
17 11 (0.76%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 284 (19.59%) Windows
2 77 (5.31%) Linux
2 77 (5.31%) Windows Server
3 59 (4.07%) Windows 10
4 28 (1.93%) Apple iOS
5 27 (1.86%) Mac OS
6 20 (1.38%) Unix
6 20 (1.38%) Windows 7
7 16 (1.10%) Android
8 13 (0.90%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 6 (0.41%) Windows Server 2019
10 3 (0.21%) Ubuntu
10 3 (0.21%) VMS
10 3 (0.21%) Windows Server 2012
10 3 (0.21%) Windows Server 2016
11 2 (0.14%) Solaris
11 2 (0.14%) Windows XP
11 2 (0.14%) zOS
12 1 (0.069%) Rocky
12 1 (0.069%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 771 (53.17%) ITIL
2 664 (45.79%) ITSM
3 413 (28.48%) Stakeholder Management
4 375 (25.86%) Continuous Improvement
5 328 (22.62%) Service Delivery
6 307 (21.17%) Agile
7 294 (20.28%) Problem-Solving
8 226 (15.59%) Change Management
9 222 (15.31%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 164 (11.31%) Customer Service
11 160 (11.03%) DevOps
12 149 (10.28%) Roadmaps
13 146 (10.07%) Incident Management
14 133 (9.17%) Cybersecurity
15 127 (8.76%) Project Delivery
16 122 (8.41%) Migration
17 116 (8.00%) AI
18 114 (7.86%) Decision-Making
19 109 (7.52%) Service Design
20 108 (7.45%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 129 (8.90%) PowerShell
2 88 (6.07%) Python
3 70 (4.83%) SQL
4 56 (3.86%) JavaScript
5 46 (3.17%) Bash
6 17 (1.17%) VBScript
7 15 (1.03%) Java
7 15 (1.03%) VB
8 11 (0.76%) PL/SQL
9 9 (0.62%) Groovy
10 8 (0.55%) Bicep
11 6 (0.41%) C
11 6 (0.41%) Shell Script
12 5 (0.34%) Apex Code
12 5 (0.34%) Perl
12 5 (0.34%) T-SQL
13 4 (0.28%) C#
13 4 (0.28%) TypeScript
14 3 (0.21%) Lua
15 2 (0.14%) Korn
Qualifications
1 527 (36.34%) Security Cleared
2 352 (24.28%) SC Cleared
3 148 (10.21%) DV Cleared
4 141 (9.72%) Degree
5 62 (4.28%) ITIL Certification
6 53 (3.66%) PMP
7 48 (3.31%) PMI Certification
8 42 (2.90%) BPSS Clearance
9 32 (2.21%) CISSP
10 31 (2.14%) CISM
11 30 (2.07%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 29 (2.00%) Computer Science Degree
13 28 (1.93%) Cisco Certification
13 28 (1.93%) Microsoft Certification
14 25 (1.72%) A+ Certification
15 14 (0.97%) Azure Certification
15 14 (0.97%) CCNA
15 14 (0.97%) DBS Check
16 13 (0.90%) Master's Degree
17 10 (0.69%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 109 (7.52%) SLA
2 47 (3.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 47 (3.24%) QA
3 40 (2.76%) Data Quality
4 31 (2.14%) ISO/IEC 20000
4 31 (2.14%) NCSC
5 30 (2.07%) PMO
6 28 (1.93%) GRC
7 27 (1.86%) GDPR
8 17 (1.17%) COBIT
8 17 (1.17%) NIST
9 16 (1.10%) ISO 9001
10 13 (0.90%) Cyber Essentials
11 9 (0.62%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 9 (0.62%) Disclosure Scotland
12 8 (0.55%) Accessibility
12 8 (0.55%) PCI DSS
13 7 (0.48%) Government Security Classifications
14 6 (0.41%) ISO 31000
14 6 (0.41%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 170 (11.72%) Active Directory
2 69 (4.76%) VMware Infrastructure
3 25 (1.72%) Hyper-V
4 24 (1.66%) VMware ESXi
5 18 (1.24%) Docker
6 17 (1.17%) VMware NSX
7 16 (1.10%) BitLocker
8 15 (1.03%) Virtual Desktop
8 15 (1.03%) vSphere
9 11 (0.76%) vCloud
10 6 (0.41%) IAG
10 6 (0.41%) Virtual Servers
11 5 (0.34%) Virtual Machines
12 4 (0.28%) NFS
12 4 (0.28%) Oracle RAC
13 3 (0.21%) Firmware
13 3 (0.21%) Microsoft Virtual Server
14 2 (0.14%) GPFS
14 2 (0.14%) KVM
15 1 (0.069%) iptables
Systems Management
1 84 (5.79%) Microsoft Intune
2 69 (4.76%) SCCM
3 48 (3.31%) Terraform
4 45 (3.10%) Ansible
5 20 (1.38%) Kubernetes
6 19 (1.31%) Single Sign-On
7 18 (1.24%) SCOM
8 15 (1.03%) vCenter Server
9 13 (0.90%) Jamf Pro
10 9 (0.62%) WSUS
11 7 (0.48%) Data Guard
11 7 (0.48%) Grafana
11 7 (0.48%) Oracle RMAN
11 7 (0.48%) Puppet
12 6 (0.41%) Progress Chef
13 5 (0.34%) NetBackup
14 4 (0.28%) PowerCLI
14 4 (0.28%) Prometheus
14 4 (0.28%) vMotion
15 3 (0.21%) Packer
Vendors
1 424 (29.24%) ServiceNow
2 335 (23.10%) Microsoft
3 100 (6.90%) VMware
4 65 (4.48%) Remedy
5 55 (3.79%) Cisco
6 49 (3.38%) BMC
7 44 (3.03%) Oracle
8 35 (2.41%) SAP
9 34 (2.34%) Atlassian
10 27 (1.86%) Splunk
11 24 (1.66%) Dynatrace
12 20 (1.38%) IFS
12 20 (1.38%) Salesforce
12 20 (1.38%) Zscaler
13 19 (1.31%) Apple
13 19 (1.31%) CyberArk
13 19 (1.31%) IBM
14 17 (1.17%) Citrix
14 17 (1.17%) SolarWinds
15 16 (1.10%) Google