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

6 months to
27 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 103 84 79
Rank change year-on-year -19 -5 +9
Contract jobs citing Service Management 1,044 863 1,171
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.37% 2.97% 2.64%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.76% 3.28% 3.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 711 551 782
10th Percentile £213 £220 £275
25th Percentile £386 £404 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £528
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% -0.47% +5.50%
75th Percentile £610 £606 £608
90th Percentile £725 £700 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £510 £525 £528
% change year-on-year -2.95% -0.47% +11.05%
Number of hourly rates quoted 68 36 20
10th Percentile £15.00 £12.62 £12.53
25th Percentile £16.17 £20.94 £16.27
Median hourly rate £26.31 £24.18 £18.36
Median % change year-on-year +8.79% +31.70% -47.58%
75th Percentile £74.26 £32.72 £26.63
90th Percentile £90.10 £68.13 £56.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £23.16 £17.72
% change year-on-year -2.85% +30.70% -57.58%

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 37,825 26,281 38,283
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 85.77% 90.55% 86.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,952 17,099 24,858
10th Percentile £313 £308 £300
25th Percentile £413 £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 £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £485 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -0.51% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,225 950 2,347
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.20 £12.83
25th Percentile £18.75 £20.49 £16.00
Median hourly rate £35.00 £32.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +9.38% -1.54% -9.72%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.50 £57.91
90th Percentile £76.40 £77.22 £71.45
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.50 £31.64 £31.50
% change year-on-year -3.60% +0.44% -13.10%

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 March 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 March 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 March 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 -19 960 £520 -0.95% 367
UK excluding London -11 708 £510 -2.95% 317
London -51 263 £520 -0.95% 89
Work from Home -41 242 £500 -2.06% 157
South East +28 206 £520 +11.83% 109
North of England -6 171 £500 +7.07% 73
South West -13 162 £575 +2.22% 34
Midlands -26 99 £413 -25.14% 50
North West +4 98 £550 +10.00% 39
West Midlands -36 74 £408 -28.07% 35
Yorkshire -18 62 £468 +42.57% 28
East of England -17 47 £475 -13.64% 45
East Midlands -10 25 £419 +9.48% 15
Scotland -45 23 £475 -5.00% 13
North East -7 14 £440 +125.64% 7
Wales -11 3 £340 -25.48% 6
Northern Ireland - 1 £500 -

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 96 (9.20%) Confluence
2 46 (4.41%) Microsoft Exchange
3 38 (3.64%) SharePoint
4 9 (0.86%) Skype for Business
5 5 (0.48%) Mattermost
6 3 (0.29%) IIS
6 3 (0.29%) nginx
7 2 (0.19%) Apache
7 2 (0.19%) JBoss
7 2 (0.19%) SharePoint Server
8 1 (0.096%) HCL Notes
8 1 (0.096%) LiveCycle
8 1 (0.096%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.096%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 1 (0.096%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.096%) WebSphere
Applications
1 85 (8.14%) Microsoft Office
2 41 (3.93%) Microsoft Project
3 28 (2.68%) Microsoft Excel
4 11 (1.05%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (0.57%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.38%) PTC Creo
7 3 (0.29%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.19%) Chatbot
9 1 (0.096%) Autodesk Inventor
9 1 (0.096%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 37 (3.54%) Remedy ITSM
2 13 (1.25%) Oracle EBS
3 12 (1.15%) SAP S/4HANA
4 7 (0.67%) Teamcenter
5 2 (0.19%) Oracle Applications
5 2 (0.19%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.096%) assyst
6 1 (0.096%) Dynamics CRM
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%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.096%) SAP HR
6 1 (0.096%) SAP Payroll
6 1 (0.096%) SAP PM
6 1 (0.096%) SAP SM
6 1 (0.096%) SystmOne
6 1 (0.096%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 155 (14.85%) Azure
2 98 (9.39%) Microsoft 365
3 80 (7.66%) AWS
4 44 (4.21%) Power Platform
5 42 (4.02%) Entra ID
5 42 (4.02%) GCP
6 40 (3.83%) SaaS
7 30 (2.87%) Azure DevOps
8 18 (1.72%) GitHub
9 17 (1.63%) OneDrive
9 17 (1.63%) PaaS
10 15 (1.44%) IaaS
11 12 (1.15%) Serverless
12 11 (1.05%) AWS Lambda
13 10 (0.96%) OCI
14 9 (0.86%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 8 (0.77%) Dynamics 365
15 8 (0.77%) OpenShift
16 7 (0.67%) Google Workspace
16 7 (0.67%) Salesforce Service Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 71 (6.80%) Firewall
2 57 (5.46%) DNS
3 37 (3.54%) VPN
3 37 (3.54%) WAN
4 36 (3.45%) LAN
5 31 (2.97%) Network Security
6 30 (2.87%) DHCP
7 20 (1.92%) TCP/IP
8 19 (1.82%) BGP
8 19 (1.82%) Cisco ISE
9 18 (1.72%) VLAN
10 16 (1.53%) Junos
11 15 (1.44%) Wi-Fi
12 13 (1.25%) OSPF
12 13 (1.25%) Skype
13 12 (1.15%) BIG-IP
13 12 (1.15%) SD-WAN
14 11 (1.05%) Cisco Firepower
14 11 (1.05%) WebEx
15 9 (0.86%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (3.26%) Power BI
2 14 (1.34%) SQL Server
3 9 (0.86%) Relational Database
4 6 (0.57%) PostgreSQL
5 5 (0.48%) Metadata
6 4 (0.38%) Amazon RDS
6 4 (0.38%) Elasticsearch
6 4 (0.38%) InfluxDB
7 3 (0.29%) Oracle Reports
7 3 (0.29%) Tableau
8 2 (0.19%) Azure SQL Database
8 2 (0.19%) Big Data
8 2 (0.19%) GIS
8 2 (0.19%) MongoDB
8 2 (0.19%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 2 (0.19%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 1 (0.096%) Amazon Redshift
9 1 (0.096%) KNIME
9 1 (0.096%) OpenStack Swift
9 1 (0.096%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 151 (14.46%) JIRA
2 19 (1.82%) Jenkins
3 16 (1.53%) Bitbucket
3 16 (1.53%) GitLab
4 15 (1.44%) Git
5 7 (0.67%) ScriptRunner
6 6 (0.57%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 4 (0.38%) MLflow
8 3 (0.29%) Selenium
8 3 (0.29%) TestRail
9 2 (0.19%) Cypress.io
9 2 (0.19%) IntelliJ
10 1 (0.096%) Artifactory
10 1 (0.096%) Cucumber
10 1 (0.096%) Hudson
10 1 (0.096%) Postman
10 1 (0.096%) Protractor
10 1 (0.096%) Rational DOORS
10 1 (0.096%) Sonatype Nexus
10 1 (0.096%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 376 (36.02%) Social Skills
2 160 (15.33%) Analytical Skills
3 148 (14.18%) Finance
4 119 (11.40%) Public Sector
5 59 (5.65%) Legal
6 47 (4.50%) Military
7 36 (3.45%) Banking
8 32 (3.07%) Documentation Skills
8 32 (3.07%) Organisational Skills
9 30 (2.87%) Influencing Skills
10 21 (2.01%) Retail
10 21 (2.01%) Telecoms
11 11 (1.05%) Aerospace
11 11 (1.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 11 (1.05%) Manufacturing
12 9 (0.86%) Investment Banking
13 8 (0.77%) Law
13 8 (0.77%) Local Government
14 7 (0.67%) Front Office
15 6 (0.57%) Police
Job Titles
1 128 (12.26%) Analyst
2 120 (11.49%) Architect
3 114 (10.92%) Lead
4 98 (9.39%) Service Manager
5 68 (6.51%) Senior
6 65 (6.23%) Consultant
7 58 (5.56%) Service Architect
8 52 (4.98%) Service Analyst
9 42 (4.02%) IT Manager
10 36 (3.45%) Hardware Engineer
10 36 (3.45%) Support Engineer
11 35 (3.35%) IT Support
12 33 (3.16%) IT Analyst
13 32 (3.07%) Delivery Manager
13 32 (3.07%) Project Manager
14 30 (2.87%) Network Engineer
15 29 (2.78%) Administrator
16 27 (2.59%) Service Delivery Manager
17 24 (2.30%) Developer
17 24 (2.30%) Field Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (4.60%) REST
2 17 (1.63%) SOAP
3 11 (1.05%) XMPP
4 9 (0.86%) 802.1X
5 8 (0.77%) Elastic Stack
6 7 (0.67%) Middleware
7 6 (0.57%) Web Services
8 5 (0.48%) .NET
8 5 (0.48%) LDAP
8 5 (0.48%) Oracle Fusion
9 4 (0.38%) ARM Templates
9 4 (0.38%) JSON
9 4 (0.38%) RabbitMQ
10 3 (0.29%) CSS
10 3 (0.29%) Lightning Web Components
10 3 (0.29%) Microsoft Graph
10 3 (0.29%) OAuth
11 2 (0.19%) RFC 2544
11 2 (0.19%) Spring Boot
11 2 (0.19%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 97 (9.29%) Product Ownership
2 68 (6.51%) CMDB
3 58 (5.56%) Onboarding
4 41 (3.93%) Data Centre
5 35 (3.35%) Management Information System
6 32 (3.07%) Virtual Team
7 24 (2.30%) PKI
8 20 (1.92%) Driving Licence
9 15 (1.44%) Self-Motivation
10 14 (1.34%) Analytical Mindset
10 14 (1.34%) Clustering
11 13 (1.25%) Data Protection Act
11 13 (1.25%) PMI
12 11 (1.05%) Enterprise Software
13 8 (0.77%) Hybrid Cloud
13 8 (0.77%) Replication
14 7 (0.67%) Algorithms
14 7 (0.67%) Cloud Native
14 7 (0.67%) NHS
15 6 (0.57%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 197 (18.87%) Windows
2 64 (6.13%) Linux
3 61 (5.84%) Windows Server
4 46 (4.41%) Windows 10
5 17 (1.63%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 11 (1.05%) Mac OS
6 11 (1.05%) Windows 7
7 10 (0.96%) Android
8 8 (0.77%) Apple iOS
8 8 (0.77%) Windows Server 2012
9 7 (0.67%) Ubuntu
10 6 (0.57%) Unix
11 5 (0.48%) VMS
12 4 (0.38%) Windows Server 2003
13 3 (0.29%) CentOS
13 3 (0.29%) Windows Server 2019
14 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
15 1 (0.096%) Rocky
15 1 (0.096%) Solaris
15 1 (0.096%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 584 (55.94%) ITIL
2 454 (43.49%) ITSM
3 240 (22.99%) Agile
4 209 (20.02%) Problem-Solving
5 204 (19.54%) Continuous Improvement
6 196 (18.77%) Stakeholder Management
7 166 (15.90%) Service Delivery
8 157 (15.04%) Change Management
9 145 (13.89%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 125 (11.97%) DevOps
11 103 (9.87%) Customer Service
12 100 (9.58%) Service Design
13 94 (9.00%) Problem Management
14 84 (8.05%) Incident Management
15 79 (7.57%) Configuration Management
15 79 (7.57%) Project Management
16 76 (7.28%) Acceptance Criteria
17 70 (6.70%) Knowledge Transfer
18 64 (6.13%) CI/CD
18 64 (6.13%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 93 (8.91%) PowerShell
2 58 (5.56%) Python
3 48 (4.60%) SQL
4 27 (2.59%) JavaScript
5 19 (1.82%) Bash
6 18 (1.72%) Java
7 9 (0.86%) Perl
7 9 (0.86%) VB
7 9 (0.86%) VBScript
8 7 (0.67%) Shell Script
9 6 (0.57%) Kotlin
9 6 (0.57%) PL/SQL
10 5 (0.48%) C#
11 4 (0.38%) Apex Code
11 4 (0.38%) Go
11 4 (0.38%) Groovy
12 2 (0.19%) Bicep
12 2 (0.19%) PHP
12 2 (0.19%) T-SQL
13 1 (0.096%) VBA
Qualifications
1 443 (42.43%) Security Cleared
2 333 (31.90%) SC Cleared
3 134 (12.84%) Degree
4 131 (12.55%) DV Cleared
5 49 (4.69%) ITIL Certification
6 30 (2.87%) PMI Certification
6 30 (2.87%) TOGAF Certification
7 28 (2.68%) PMP
8 25 (2.39%) Cisco Certification
9 24 (2.30%) BPSS Clearance
10 23 (2.20%) Microsoft Certification
11 16 (1.53%) CCNP
11 16 (1.53%) Computer Science Degree
12 14 (1.34%) A+ Certification
12 14 (1.34%) CCNA
13 11 (1.05%) MCSE
14 9 (0.86%) JNCIA
14 9 (0.86%) JNCIP
14 9 (0.86%) JNCIS
15 8 (0.77%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 50 (4.79%) SLA
2 32 (3.07%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 30 (2.87%) Data Quality
4 23 (2.20%) GDPR
5 21 (2.01%) QA
6 19 (1.82%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 19 (1.82%) PMO
7 11 (1.05%) Accessibility
7 11 (1.05%) NCSC
8 10 (0.96%) COBIT
9 9 (0.86%) GRC
9 9 (0.86%) NIST
10 8 (0.77%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 7 (0.67%) Government Security Classifications
12 6 (0.57%) Cyber Essentials
12 6 (0.57%) PCI DSS
13 4 (0.38%) Disclosure Scotland
13 4 (0.38%) ISO 9001
14 3 (0.29%) HMG Security Policy Framework
15 2 (0.19%) Actionable Recommendations
System Software
1 118 (11.30%) Active Directory
2 32 (3.07%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (1.72%) Docker
4 11 (1.05%) VMware NSX
5 9 (0.86%) BitLocker
6 5 (0.48%) Virtual Machines
7 4 (0.38%) Hyper-V
8 3 (0.29%) Virtual Desktop
8 3 (0.29%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.19%) NDS
9 2 (0.19%) NetIQ eDirectory
9 2 (0.19%) NFS
9 2 (0.19%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 1 (0.096%) IAG
10 1 (0.096%) iptables
10 1 (0.096%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 1 (0.096%) Samba
10 1 (0.096%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 38 (3.64%) SCCM
2 30 (2.87%) Ansible
2 30 (2.87%) OPNET
3 28 (2.68%) Microsoft Intune
4 27 (2.59%) Terraform
5 25 (2.39%) Kubernetes
6 12 (1.15%) FortiGate
6 12 (1.15%) WSUS
7 11 (1.05%) vCenter Server
8 10 (0.96%) Grafana
9 8 (0.77%) Jamf Pro
10 7 (0.67%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 7 (0.67%) Progress Chef
10 7 (0.67%) Prometheus
11 5 (0.48%) Puppet
11 5 (0.48%) SCOM
12 4 (0.38%) Nessus
12 4 (0.38%) Packer
12 4 (0.38%) Single Sign-On
13 3 (0.29%) Cisco Prime
Vendors
1 268 (25.67%) ServiceNow
2 164 (15.71%) Microsoft
3 76 (7.28%) Atlassian
4 73 (6.99%) Remedy
5 58 (5.56%) Cisco
6 52 (4.98%) VMware
7 43 (4.12%) Oracle
8 39 (3.74%) HP
9 30 (2.87%) Google
10 27 (2.59%) SAP
11 26 (2.49%) Splunk
12 23 (2.20%) SolarWinds
13 21 (2.01%) Citrix
14 20 (1.92%) Salesforce
15 19 (1.82%) Red Hat
16 18 (1.72%) Dell
16 18 (1.72%) Juniper
17 15 (1.44%) BMC
17 15 (1.44%) Canon
17 15 (1.44%) IFS