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

6 months to
7 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 102 95 76
Rank change year-on-year -7 -19 +19
Contract jobs citing Service Management 997 802 1,220
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.55% 2.58% 2.70%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.93% 2.89% 3.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 691 476 840
10th Percentile £200 £215 £275
25th Percentile £322 £402 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £529 £531
Median % change year-on-year -5.44% -0.33% +6.10%
75th Percentile £588 £623 £611
90th Percentile £706 £700 £715
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £525 £528
% change year-on-year -4.76% -0.47% +11.58%
Number of hourly rates quoted 75 22 17
10th Percentile £14.25 £21.05 £12.53
25th Percentile £17.30 £24.57 £15.46
Median hourly rate £27.50 £30.20 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year -8.94% +70.43% -29.12%
75th Percentile £60.00 £36.19 £48.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £68.63 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.60 £30.40 £17.29
% change year-on-year -2.63% +75.88% -43.20%

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 33,986 27,793 39,321
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 87.08% 89.38% 87.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,549 16,924 25,862
10th Percentile £306 £306 £300
25th Percentile £406 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £716 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £477 £496 £500
% change year-on-year -3.88% -0.80% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,070 859 2,130
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.62 £13.29
25th Percentile £17.69 £21.00 £16.35
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -7.14% +7.69%
75th Percentile £58.75 £63.50 £61.13
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £31.51 £35.00
% change year-on-year -20.20% -9.97% +11.43%

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 7 February 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 7 February 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 7 February 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 -5 905 £500 -6.37% 326
UK excluding London 0 673 £500 -4.76% 280
London -39 245 £500 -4.76% 82
Work from Home -6 232 £450 -14.29% 149
South East +28 176 £463 +2.78% 91
North of England -8 168 £500 +17.65% 70
South West -2 152 £575 - 28
Midlands -5 105 £438 -24.24% 44
North West -1 91 £550 +25.71% 43
West Midlands -17 78 £475 -18.10% 23
Yorkshire -16 62 £472 +105.00% 21
East of England -8 44 £210 -61.82% 42
East Midlands -4 27 £413 -11.29% 21
Scotland -14 27 £488 -1.61% 10
North East -7 18 £280 -53.04% 6
Northern Ireland - 4 £325 - 2
Wales -1 3 £160 -58.71% 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 78 (7.82%) Confluence
2 70 (7.02%) Microsoft Exchange
3 61 (6.12%) SharePoint
4 14 (1.40%) Skype for Business
5 5 (0.50%) Apache
5 5 (0.50%) SharePoint Server
5 5 (0.50%) WebLogic
6 3 (0.30%) nginx
7 2 (0.20%) JBoss
8 1 (0.10%) CMS
8 1 (0.10%) HCL Notes
8 1 (0.10%) LiveCycle
8 1 (0.10%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 1 (0.10%) WebSphere
Applications
1 95 (9.53%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (3.61%) Microsoft Project
3 31 (3.11%) Microsoft Excel
4 11 (1.10%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.50%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.40%) Autodesk Inventor
6 4 (0.40%) PTC Creo
7 3 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 26 (2.61%) Remedy ITSM
2 14 (1.40%) SAP S/4HANA
3 13 (1.30%) Oracle EBS
4 5 (0.50%) Teamcenter
5 4 (0.40%) Dynamics CRM
6 3 (0.30%) assyst
7 2 (0.20%) Salesforce CRM
8 1 (0.10%) Dynamics NAV
8 1 (0.10%) NetSuite
8 1 (0.10%) Oracle Payables
8 1 (0.10%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
8 1 (0.10%) Oracle Receivables
8 1 (0.10%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
8 1 (0.10%) SAP ERP
8 1 (0.10%) SAP PM
8 1 (0.10%) SAP SM
8 1 (0.10%) SystmOne
8 1 (0.10%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 167 (16.75%) Azure
2 113 (11.33%) Microsoft 365
3 99 (9.93%) AWS
4 44 (4.41%) Entra ID
4 44 (4.41%) GCP
5 33 (3.31%) Power Platform
6 30 (3.01%) OneDrive
7 29 (2.91%) SaaS
8 24 (2.41%) Azure DevOps
9 11 (1.10%) IaaS
10 10 (1.00%) GitHub
10 10 (1.00%) PowerApps
11 9 (0.90%) Azure Monitor
11 9 (0.90%) Dynamics 365
11 9 (0.90%) PaaS
11 9 (0.90%) Serverless
12 8 (0.80%) AWS Lambda
13 7 (0.70%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 7 (0.70%) OpenShift
13 7 (0.70%) Salesforce Service Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 65 (6.52%) DNS
2 49 (4.91%) Firewall
3 39 (3.91%) DHCP
4 32 (3.21%) VPN
5 27 (2.71%) TCP/IP
5 27 (2.71%) VLAN
6 23 (2.31%) LAN
7 22 (2.21%) Skype
7 22 (2.21%) WAN
8 19 (1.91%) Network Security
9 18 (1.81%) Cisco IOS
9 18 (1.81%) Wi-Fi
10 17 (1.71%) Cisco Firepower
10 17 (1.71%) Cisco ISE
10 17 (1.71%) Junos
11 10 (1.00%) HTTP
12 9 (0.90%) SSH
13 8 (0.80%) WebEx
14 7 (0.70%) BGP
14 7 (0.70%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (2.21%) Power BI
2 14 (1.40%) Relational Database
3 13 (1.30%) SQL Server
4 7 (0.70%) PostgreSQL
5 5 (0.50%) Amazon RDS
5 5 (0.50%) Metadata
6 4 (0.40%) InfluxDB
6 4 (0.40%) Tableau
7 3 (0.30%) Elasticsearch
8 2 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
8 2 (0.20%) Big Data
8 2 (0.20%) Data Mining
8 2 (0.20%) GIS
8 2 (0.20%) MongoDB
8 2 (0.20%) Oracle Reports
9 1 (0.10%) BusinessObjects
9 1 (0.10%) Oracle Discoverer
9 1 (0.10%) RDBMS
9 1 (0.10%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 1 (0.10%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 126 (12.64%) JIRA
2 14 (1.40%) Jenkins
3 12 (1.20%) Git
4 10 (1.00%) GitLab
5 7 (0.70%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.30%) ScriptRunner
6 3 (0.30%) TestRail
7 2 (0.20%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.20%) Selenium
8 1 (0.10%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.10%) MLflow
8 1 (0.10%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 399 (40.02%) Social Skills
2 173 (17.35%) Analytical Skills
3 144 (14.44%) Finance
4 138 (13.84%) Public Sector
5 48 (4.81%) Legal
6 44 (4.41%) Military
7 35 (3.51%) Documentation Skills
7 35 (3.51%) Organisational Skills
8 33 (3.31%) Banking
9 32 (3.21%) Influencing Skills
10 30 (3.01%) Telecoms
11 25 (2.51%) Retail
12 20 (2.01%) Manufacturing
13 11 (1.10%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 10 (1.00%) Investment Banking
15 9 (0.90%) Presentation Skills
16 8 (0.80%) Law
17 7 (0.70%) Electronics
17 7 (0.70%) Marketing
17 7 (0.70%) Police
Job Titles
1 141 (14.14%) Analyst
2 116 (11.63%) Lead
3 108 (10.83%) Architect
4 80 (8.02%) Service Manager
5 63 (6.32%) Support Engineer
6 53 (5.32%) Consultant
7 48 (4.81%) Service Architect
8 47 (4.71%) Service Analyst
9 42 (4.21%) IT Support
10 37 (3.71%) Senior
11 34 (3.41%) Support Analyst
12 32 (3.21%) 2nd Line Support
12 32 (3.21%) Desktop Support
13 31 (3.11%) IT Manager
14 30 (3.01%) Hardware Engineer
15 29 (2.91%) IT Analyst
16 28 (2.81%) Business Analyst
17 24 (2.41%) Infrastructure Engineer
17 24 (2.41%) Network Engineer
17 24 (2.41%) Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (3.71%) REST
2 17 (1.71%) SOAP
3 10 (1.00%) LDAP
4 8 (0.80%) Elastic Stack
4 8 (0.80%) Web Services
4 8 (0.80%) XMPP
5 6 (0.60%) .NET
6 5 (0.50%) RFC 2544
7 4 (0.40%) ARM Templates
7 4 (0.40%) RabbitMQ
8 3 (0.30%) CSS
8 3 (0.30%) EDI
8 3 (0.30%) JSON
8 3 (0.30%) Microsoft Graph
8 3 (0.30%) Middleware
9 2 (0.20%) AngularJS
9 2 (0.20%) HTML
9 2 (0.20%) Lightning Web Components
9 2 (0.20%) Oracle Fusion
9 2 (0.20%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 75 (7.52%) Product Ownership
2 61 (6.12%) CMDB
3 46 (4.61%) Onboarding
4 37 (3.71%) Management Information System
5 33 (3.31%) Data Centre
6 24 (2.41%) Analytical Mindset
7 23 (2.31%) Virtual Team
8 22 (2.21%) PKI
9 20 (2.01%) Self-Motivation
10 18 (1.81%) Driving Licence
11 13 (1.30%) PMI
12 10 (1.00%) Enterprise Software
12 10 (1.00%) NHS
13 9 (0.90%) Data Protection Act
14 8 (0.80%) Smartphone
15 7 (0.70%) Hybrid Cloud
15 7 (0.70%) Mainframe
16 6 (0.60%) Data Structures
17 5 (0.50%) Algorithms
17 5 (0.50%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 235 (23.57%) Windows
2 72 (7.22%) Linux
3 66 (6.62%) Windows 10
4 65 (6.52%) Windows Server
5 15 (1.50%) Mac OS
6 14 (1.40%) Android
6 14 (1.40%) Apple iOS
6 14 (1.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 11 (1.10%) Windows 7
8 10 (1.00%) Unix
9 8 (0.80%) Windows Server 2012
10 5 (0.50%) Windows Server 2016
10 5 (0.50%) Windows Server 2019
11 4 (0.40%) Ubuntu
11 4 (0.40%) Windows Server 2003
12 3 (0.30%) CentOS
13 2 (0.20%) Windows Server 2008
14 1 (0.10%) Data ONTAP
14 1 (0.10%) VMS
14 1 (0.10%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 553 (55.47%) ITIL
2 444 (44.53%) ITSM
3 216 (21.66%) Problem-Solving
4 189 (18.96%) Continuous Improvement
5 186 (18.66%) Agile
6 168 (16.85%) Stakeholder Management
7 160 (16.05%) Change Management
8 146 (14.64%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 139 (13.94%) Service Delivery
10 124 (12.44%) Customer Service
11 100 (10.03%) Service Design
12 89 (8.93%) Project Management
13 88 (8.83%) DevOps
13 88 (8.83%) Incident Management
14 82 (8.22%) Problem Management
15 73 (7.32%) Knowledge Transfer
16 65 (6.52%) Configuration Management
17 61 (6.12%) Performance Metrics
18 60 (6.02%) Acceptance Criteria
19 59 (5.92%) Critical Thinking
Programming Languages
1 93 (9.33%) PowerShell
2 62 (6.22%) Python
3 48 (4.81%) SQL
4 19 (1.91%) Java
4 19 (1.91%) JavaScript
5 16 (1.60%) Perl
6 15 (1.50%) Shell Script
7 14 (1.40%) Bash
8 9 (0.90%) VB
8 9 (0.90%) VBScript
9 5 (0.50%) Kotlin
10 4 (0.40%) Go
11 2 (0.20%) ActionScript
11 2 (0.20%) ActionScript 2.0
11 2 (0.20%) Bicep
11 2 (0.20%) C#
11 2 (0.20%) PHP
11 2 (0.20%) VBA
12 1 (0.10%) C
12 1 (0.10%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 388 (38.92%) Security Cleared
2 300 (30.09%) SC Cleared
3 124 (12.44%) Degree
4 95 (9.53%) DV Cleared
5 48 (4.81%) ITIL Certification
6 37 (3.71%) Microsoft Certification
7 30 (3.01%) TOGAF Certification
8 26 (2.61%) BPSS Clearance
9 21 (2.11%) PMI Certification
10 17 (1.71%) A+ Certification
10 17 (1.71%) Azure Certification
10 17 (1.71%) Computer Science Degree
10 17 (1.71%) PMP
11 16 (1.60%) MCSE
12 15 (1.50%) Cisco Certification
13 14 (1.40%) CCNP
13 14 (1.40%) Network+ Certification
14 13 (1.30%) CCNA
15 11 (1.10%) Server+ Certification
16 9 (0.90%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 50 (5.02%) SLA
2 24 (2.41%) Data Quality
3 23 (2.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 22 (2.21%) QA
5 20 (2.01%) GDPR
6 12 (1.20%) PMO
7 9 (0.90%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 8 (0.80%) Accessibility
8 8 (0.80%) COBIT
8 8 (0.80%) NIST
9 7 (0.70%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 6 (0.60%) GRC
11 5 (0.50%) Cyber Essentials
12 4 (0.40%) Disclosure Scotland
12 4 (0.40%) HIPAA
12 4 (0.40%) ISO 9001
13 3 (0.30%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 3 (0.30%) NCSC
13 3 (0.30%) PCI DSS
14 2 (0.20%) GxP
System Software
1 138 (13.84%) Active Directory
2 45 (4.51%) VMware Infrastructure
3 21 (2.11%) VMware NSX
4 16 (1.60%) Docker
5 15 (1.50%) Hyper-V
6 12 (1.20%) Virtual Desktop
7 9 (0.90%) BitLocker
8 7 (0.70%) Virtual Servers
9 6 (0.60%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 4 (0.40%) NDS
10 4 (0.40%) NetIQ eDirectory
11 3 (0.30%) Virtual Machines
12 1 (0.10%) NFS
12 1 (0.10%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 42 (4.21%) SCCM
2 30 (3.01%) OPNET
3 28 (2.81%) Microsoft Intune
4 27 (2.71%) Ansible
5 25 (2.51%) Terraform
6 24 (2.41%) Kubernetes
7 22 (2.21%) vCenter Server
8 17 (1.71%) WSUS
9 10 (1.00%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 9 (0.90%) Jamf Pro
10 9 (0.90%) Single Sign-On
11 7 (0.70%) Grafana
12 6 (0.60%) Prometheus
12 6 (0.60%) SCOM
13 4 (0.40%) FortiGate
13 4 (0.40%) Nessus
13 4 (0.40%) Packer
13 4 (0.40%) Progress Chef
14 3 (0.30%) HP ALM
15 2 (0.20%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 257 (25.78%) ServiceNow
2 181 (18.15%) Microsoft
3 63 (6.32%) Remedy
4 61 (6.12%) Atlassian
5 59 (5.92%) Cisco
6 58 (5.82%) VMware
7 39 (3.91%) Oracle
8 37 (3.71%) Google
9 34 (3.41%) HP
10 33 (3.31%) SolarWinds
11 32 (3.21%) SAP
12 26 (2.61%) Splunk
13 19 (1.91%) Juniper
14 18 (1.81%) Salesforce
15 16 (1.60%) Citrix
16 15 (1.50%) Red Hat
17 13 (1.30%) Dynatrace
17 13 (1.30%) Veeam
18 12 (1.20%) Dell
19 11 (1.10%) AppDynamics