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

6 months to
24 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 114 80 81
Rank change year-on-year -34 +1 +4
Contract jobs citing Service Management 1,046 857 1,094
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.15% 2.97% 2.57%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.55% 3.27% 2.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 687 511 739
10th Percentile £220 £220 £265
25th Percentile £400 £400 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £508 £525
Median % change year-on-year +0.99% -3.33% +5.00%
75th Percentile £602 £600 £601
90th Percentile £688 £700 £703
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £516 £525
% change year-on-year -3.15% -1.67% +10.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 38 19
10th Percentile £16.09 - £12.53
25th Percentile £16.17 £12.62 £15.32
Median hourly rate £55.00 £22.14 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +148.42% +24.94% -63.46%
75th Percentile £83.75 £31.98 £20.37
90th Percentile £108.00 £37.88 £27.35
UK excluding London median hourly rate £60.00 £21.71 £17.72
% change year-on-year +176.37% +22.52% -52.31%

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 41,043 26,226 36,546
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.43% 91.02% 85.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,708 16,839 23,557
10th Percentile £325 £303 £300
25th Percentile £413 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.49% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £498 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +4.74% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,422 1,067 2,473
10th Percentile £14.68 £14.26 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.87 £18.13 £16.00
Median hourly rate £42.28 £27.94 £36.00
Median % change year-on-year +51.31% -22.39% -
75th Percentile £67.50 £58.09 £60.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £74.25 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.85 £25.15 £37.50
% change year-on-year +74.33% -32.93% +7.14%

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 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 24 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 24 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 -29 925 £513 -1.44% 420
UK excluding London -19 669 £500 -3.15% 321
London -32 281 £523 +2.96% 140
Work from Home -14 263 £500 +5.26% 183
South East +22 192 £520 +15.56% 109
North of England -25 179 £500 +5.26% 80
South West -26 130 £525 -4.55% 32
North West -3 98 £550 +7.57% 29
Midlands -44 81 £410 -25.45% 54
Yorkshire -35 75 £475 +11.76% 44
West Midlands -47 61 £411 -25.36% 42
East of England -22 44 £475 -13.64% 34
Scotland -30 36 £500 -2.44% 9
East Midlands -16 20 £410 -5.96% 12
Wales -7 7 £340 -4.56% 6
North East -27 6 £440 +125.64% 8
Northern Ireland - 4 - - 11

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 62 (5.93%) Confluence
2 35 (3.35%) SharePoint
3 32 (3.06%) Microsoft Exchange
4 9 (0.86%) Skype for Business
5 6 (0.57%) Mattermost
6 3 (0.29%) IIS
6 3 (0.29%) nginx
7 1 (0.096%) Apache
7 1 (0.096%) CICS
7 1 (0.096%) CMS
7 1 (0.096%) JBoss
7 1 (0.096%) LiveCycle
7 1 (0.096%) OpenStack
7 1 (0.096%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 1 (0.096%) WebSphere
Applications
1 67 (6.41%) Microsoft Office
2 28 (2.68%) Microsoft Excel
3 22 (2.10%) Microsoft Project
4 12 (1.15%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.67%) Chatbot
5 7 (0.67%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.38%) PTC Creo
7 2 (0.19%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.096%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 44 (4.21%) Remedy ITSM
2 13 (1.24%) SAP S/4HANA
3 9 (0.86%) Teamcenter
4 4 (0.38%) Oracle EBS
5 2 (0.19%) Oracle Applications
5 2 (0.19%) Oracle ERP
5 2 (0.19%) SAP PS
6 1 (0.096%) Dynamics NAV
6 1 (0.096%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.096%) Oracle Payables
6 1 (0.096%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.096%) Oracle Receivables
6 1 (0.096%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
6 1 (0.096%) SAP HR
6 1 (0.096%) SAP Payroll
6 1 (0.096%) SAP PM
6 1 (0.096%) SAP SM
Cloud Services
1 150 (14.34%) Azure
2 88 (8.41%) Microsoft 365
3 62 (5.93%) AWS
4 49 (4.68%) Power Platform
5 37 (3.54%) SaaS
6 36 (3.44%) Entra ID
7 29 (2.77%) Azure DevOps
8 27 (2.58%) GCP
9 20 (1.91%) OneDrive
10 19 (1.82%) GitHub
11 18 (1.72%) PaaS
12 13 (1.24%) IaaS
12 13 (1.24%) OCI
13 10 (0.96%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 10 (0.96%) Microsoft Copilot
14 9 (0.86%) AWS Lambda
14 9 (0.86%) Serverless
15 6 (0.57%) Dynamics 365
15 6 (0.57%) Google Workspace
15 6 (0.57%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 56 (5.35%) Firewall
2 44 (4.21%) DNS
3 35 (3.35%) WAN
4 33 (3.15%) LAN
5 31 (2.96%) VPN
6 28 (2.68%) Network Security
7 21 (2.01%) DHCP
8 17 (1.63%) TCP/IP
9 14 (1.34%) BGP
10 13 (1.24%) OSPF
10 13 (1.24%) SD-WAN
11 12 (1.15%) BIG-IP
12 11 (1.05%) Cisco ISE
12 11 (1.05%) VLAN
12 11 (1.05%) Wi-Fi
13 10 (0.96%) Wireless
14 9 (0.86%) Skype
15 8 (0.76%) Ethernet VPN
15 8 (0.76%) Junos
15 8 (0.76%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 38 (3.63%) Power BI
2 14 (1.34%) 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%) Elasticsearch
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%) 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 (0.096%) Amazon RDS
9 1 (0.096%) InfluxDB
9 1 (0.096%) OpenStack Swift
Development Applications
1 122 (11.66%) JIRA
2 18 (1.72%) Git
3 17 (1.63%) GitLab
4 15 (1.43%) Jenkins
5 13 (1.24%) Bitbucket
6 7 (0.67%) ScriptRunner
7 6 (0.57%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 5 (0.48%) Browser DevTools
9 4 (0.38%) MLflow
10 3 (0.29%) Fiddler
10 3 (0.29%) Hudson
10 3 (0.29%) IntelliJ
10 3 (0.29%) Selenium
10 3 (0.29%) TestRail
11 2 (0.19%) Cypress.io
11 2 (0.19%) Firebug
11 2 (0.19%) Visual Studio Code
12 1 (0.096%) JMeter
12 1 (0.096%) JUnit
12 1 (0.096%) MSI
General
1 349 (33.37%) Social Skills
2 176 (16.83%) Finance
3 137 (13.10%) Analytical Skills
4 111 (10.61%) Public Sector
5 55 (5.26%) Legal
6 39 (3.73%) Banking
7 34 (3.25%) Organisational Skills
8 33 (3.15%) Telecoms
9 29 (2.77%) Military
10 25 (2.39%) Documentation Skills
11 23 (2.20%) Influencing Skills
12 16 (1.53%) Retail
13 12 (1.15%) Aerospace
14 10 (0.96%) Local Government
15 9 (0.86%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 8 (0.76%) Presentation Skills
17 7 (0.67%) Police
18 6 (0.57%) Financial Institution
18 6 (0.57%) Investment Banking
18 6 (0.57%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 120 (11.47%) Analyst
2 112 (10.71%) Service Manager
3 109 (10.42%) Architect
4 97 (9.27%) Lead
5 85 (8.13%) Senior
6 65 (6.21%) IT Manager
7 61 (5.83%) Consultant
8 47 (4.49%) Service Analyst
9 41 (3.92%) Project Manager
10 38 (3.63%) Service Architect
11 36 (3.44%) Hardware Engineer
12 35 (3.35%) Delivery Manager
13 33 (3.15%) Developer
14 31 (2.96%) IT Analyst
14 31 (2.96%) Support Engineer
15 29 (2.77%) IT Services Manager
16 25 (2.39%) Network Engineer
16 25 (2.39%) Service Delivery Manager
16 25 (2.39%) Transition Manager
17 23 (2.20%) Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (4.02%) REST
2 27 (2.58%) SOAP
3 9 (0.86%) 802.1X
3 9 (0.86%) HTML
3 9 (0.86%) Middleware
4 8 (0.76%) CSS
4 8 (0.76%) OAuth
5 7 (0.67%) Oracle Fusion
6 6 (0.57%) Elastic Stack
6 6 (0.57%) XML
7 5 (0.48%) JSON
7 5 (0.48%) LDAP
7 5 (0.48%) Lightning Web Components
7 5 (0.48%) Web Services
8 4 (0.38%) Microsoft Graph
8 4 (0.38%) OAuth2
8 4 (0.38%) OpenID
8 4 (0.38%) SAML
8 4 (0.38%) XMPP
9 3 (0.29%) Visualforce
Miscellaneous
1 72 (6.88%) Onboarding
2 69 (6.60%) CMDB
3 68 (6.50%) Product Ownership
4 46 (4.40%) Data Centre
5 28 (2.68%) Management Information System
6 27 (2.58%) Virtual Team
7 24 (2.29%) PKI
8 20 (1.91%) Clustering
9 17 (1.63%) Driving Licence
9 17 (1.63%) Enterprise Software
10 15 (1.43%) Data Protection Act
11 12 (1.15%) Operational Technology
12 10 (0.96%) Algorithms
12 10 (0.96%) Analytical Mindset
13 9 (0.86%) Cloud Native
13 9 (0.86%) PMI
14 8 (0.76%) Replication
15 7 (0.67%) Legacy Systems
16 6 (0.57%) Self-Motivation
17 5 (0.48%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 174 (16.63%) Windows
2 52 (4.97%) Linux
3 40 (3.82%) Windows 10
3 40 (3.82%) Windows Server
4 15 (1.43%) Unix
5 13 (1.24%) Mac OS
6 11 (1.05%) Windows 7
7 9 (0.86%) Android
8 8 (0.76%) Apple iOS
9 7 (0.67%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 5 (0.48%) Ubuntu
11 4 (0.38%) VMS
12 3 (0.29%) Windows Server 2019
13 2 (0.19%) Solaris
13 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2012
13 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
13 2 (0.19%) zOS
14 1 (0.096%) Data ONTAP
14 1 (0.096%) Windows Server 2008
14 1 (0.096%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 550 (52.58%) ITIL
2 437 (41.78%) ITSM
3 229 (21.89%) Stakeholder Management
4 217 (20.75%) Agile
5 215 (20.55%) Continuous Improvement
6 201 (19.22%) Problem-Solving
7 180 (17.21%) Service Delivery
8 142 (13.58%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 132 (12.62%) Change Management
10 119 (11.38%) DevOps
11 115 (10.99%) Customer Service
12 84 (8.03%) Service Design
13 83 (7.93%) Problem Management
13 83 (7.93%) Roadmaps
14 77 (7.36%) Incident Management
15 73 (6.98%) Configuration Management
16 67 (6.41%) Project Management
17 64 (6.12%) Decision-Making
18 63 (6.02%) CI/CD
19 61 (5.83%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 61 (5.83%) PowerShell
2 52 (4.97%) SQL
3 40 (3.82%) JavaScript
4 35 (3.35%) Python
5 14 (1.34%) Java
6 13 (1.24%) Bash
7 10 (0.96%) PL/SQL
8 9 (0.86%) VB
8 9 (0.86%) VBScript
9 7 (0.67%) Apex Code
10 6 (0.57%) Kotlin
11 5 (0.48%) C#
12 4 (0.38%) Groovy
13 3 (0.29%) C
13 3 (0.29%) SOQL
13 3 (0.29%) T-SQL
14 2 (0.19%) ActionScript
14 2 (0.19%) Bicep
14 2 (0.19%) PHP
14 2 (0.19%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 397 (37.95%) Security Cleared
2 278 (26.58%) SC Cleared
3 124 (11.85%) DV Cleared
4 99 (9.46%) Degree
5 51 (4.88%) ITIL Certification
6 28 (2.68%) Cisco Certification
6 28 (2.68%) PMI Certification
7 25 (2.39%) PMP
8 21 (2.01%) BPSS Clearance
8 21 (2.01%) Computer Science Degree
9 16 (1.53%) Microsoft Certification
10 14 (1.34%) CCNA
11 12 (1.15%) A+ Certification
11 12 (1.15%) Master's Degree
11 12 (1.15%) TOGAF Certification
12 11 (1.05%) CCNP
13 10 (0.96%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 9 (0.86%) JNCIA
14 9 (0.86%) JNCIP
14 9 (0.86%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 65 (6.21%) SLA
2 33 (3.15%) Data Quality
3 31 (2.96%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 25 (2.39%) GDPR
5 24 (2.29%) QA
6 22 (2.10%) PMO
7 16 (1.53%) COBIT
7 16 (1.53%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 15 (1.43%) GRC
8 15 (1.43%) NCSC
9 10 (0.96%) Accessibility
10 9 (0.86%) Cyber Essentials
10 9 (0.86%) NIST
11 7 (0.67%) Government Security Classifications
11 7 (0.67%) PCI DSS
12 6 (0.57%) ISO 31000
12 6 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 6 (0.57%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 5 (0.48%) ISO 9001
14 4 (0.38%) GMP
System Software
1 97 (9.27%) Active Directory
2 36 (3.44%) VMware Infrastructure
3 14 (1.34%) Docker
3 14 (1.34%) VMware ESXi
4 9 (0.86%) BitLocker
5 7 (0.67%) VMware NSX
6 6 (0.57%) vSphere
7 5 (0.48%) NFS
7 5 (0.48%) vCloud
8 4 (0.38%) Hyper-V
8 4 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.29%) Virtual Desktop
10 2 (0.19%) GPFS
10 2 (0.19%) IAG
10 2 (0.19%) Oracle RAC
11 1 (0.096%) Firmware
11 1 (0.096%) iptables
11 1 (0.096%) KVM
11 1 (0.096%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 1 (0.096%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 27 (2.58%) SCCM
2 25 (2.39%) Ansible
3 22 (2.10%) Microsoft Intune
4 20 (1.91%) Terraform
5 16 (1.53%) Kubernetes
6 12 (1.15%) OPNET
7 10 (0.96%) FortiGate
7 10 (0.96%) Jamf Pro
8 8 (0.76%) Grafana
8 8 (0.76%) Single Sign-On
8 8 (0.76%) vCenter Server
9 7 (0.67%) WSUS
10 6 (0.57%) SCOM
11 5 (0.48%) Data Guard
11 5 (0.48%) Oracle RMAN
11 5 (0.48%) Prometheus
11 5 (0.48%) vMotion
12 4 (0.38%) PowerCLI
12 4 (0.38%) Progress Chef
12 4 (0.38%) Puppet
Vendors
1 271 (25.91%) ServiceNow
2 158 (15.11%) Microsoft
3 62 (5.93%) Remedy
4 54 (5.16%) VMware
5 44 (4.21%) Cisco
6 41 (3.92%) Atlassian
7 39 (3.73%) HP
8 38 (3.63%) Oracle
9 29 (2.77%) SAP
10 23 (2.20%) IFS
11 22 (2.10%) BMC
12 20 (1.91%) Splunk
13 19 (1.82%) Dell
14 15 (1.43%) Canon
14 15 (1.43%) Salesforce
15 13 (1.24%) F5
15 13 (1.24%) Google
16 12 (1.15%) SolarWinds
17 11 (1.05%) Juniper
17 11 (1.05%) Palo Alto