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

6 months to
14 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 96 81 91
Rank change year-on-year -15 +10 -4
Contract jobs citing Service Management 1,432 973 945
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.68% 2.96% 2.43%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.16% 3.27% 2.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 937 593 658
10th Percentile £263 £210 £244
25th Percentile £413 £350 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £488 £525
Median % change year-on-year +7.69% -7.14% +2.44%
75th Percentile £613 £575 £603
90th Percentile £725 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £520 £492 £525
% change year-on-year +5.59% -6.29% +10.53%
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 45,278 29,786 33,285
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.80% 90.49% 85.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,840 18,586 21,275
10th Percentile £325 £300 £310
25th Percentile £423 £404 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -3.67%
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 2,823 1,710 1,832
10th Percentile £14.22 £14.20 £14.05
25th Percentile £18.50 £17.31 £18.46
Median hourly rate £42.30 £25.15 £41.50
Median % change year-on-year +68.19% -39.40% -2.35%
75th Percentile £68.00 £48.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £81.25 £68.00 £74.83
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 14 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 14 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 14 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 1,246 £525 +5.00% 855
UK excluding London -20 842 £520 +5.59% 583
London +29 451 £525 +5.00% 337
Work from Home +2 407 £518 +3.60% 319
South East +21 288 £565 +13.00% 217
North of England -26 216 £456 +1.67% 144
North West -28 128 £480 +3.11% 87
South West -32 123 £544 +3.57% 52
Midlands -37 99 £500 +3.09% 76
West Midlands -34 93 £500 -1.96% 46
Yorkshire -21 83 £443 +24.79% 38
Scotland -2 65 £500 +6.38% 25
East of England -23 39 £525 -4.55% 54
Wales -10 12 £800 +247.83% 11
Northern Ireland +11 8 - - 14
East Midlands -31 6 £250 -16.67% 30
North East -44 5 £440 +125.64% 20

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 97 (6.77%) SharePoint
2 58 (4.05%) Confluence
3 53 (3.70%) Microsoft Exchange
4 15 (1.05%) Skype for Business
5 6 (0.42%) Mattermost
5 6 (0.42%) OpenStack
6 3 (0.21%) CMS
6 3 (0.21%) IIS
7 2 (0.14%) Apache
8 1 (0.070%) CICS
8 1 (0.070%) Exchange Server 2010
8 1 (0.070%) HCL Notes
8 1 (0.070%) JBoss
8 1 (0.070%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
8 1 (0.070%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 79 (5.52%) Microsoft Office
2 29 (2.03%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (1.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 15 (1.05%) MS Visio
5 9 (0.63%) Microsoft Project
6 8 (0.56%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.070%) Camtasia
7 1 (0.070%) Maple
Business Applications
1 61 (4.26%) Remedy ITSM
2 12 (0.84%) SAP S/4HANA
3 7 (0.49%) Primavera
4 5 (0.35%) ContrOCC
4 5 (0.35%) 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 (0.070%) Dynamics CRM
7 1 (0.070%) Misys Equation
7 1 (0.070%) Misys Midas
7 1 (0.070%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.070%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 251 (17.53%) Azure
2 180 (12.57%) Microsoft 365
3 110 (7.68%) AWS
4 101 (7.05%) Entra ID
5 65 (4.54%) Power Platform
6 59 (4.12%) SaaS
7 50 (3.49%) OneDrive
8 33 (2.30%) GCP
9 32 (2.23%) Azure DevOps
10 21 (1.47%) GitHub
11 19 (1.33%) Microsoft Copilot
12 17 (1.19%) OCI
13 14 (0.98%) Azure Monitor
14 13 (0.91%) PaaS
15 10 (0.70%) Google Workspace
15 10 (0.70%) IaaS
16 9 (0.63%) Amazon S3
17 8 (0.56%) Amazon EC2
17 8 (0.56%) Azure AKS
18 7 (0.49%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 84 (5.87%) Firewall
2 71 (4.96%) DNS
3 48 (3.35%) DHCP
3 48 (3.35%) VPN
4 45 (3.14%) WAN
5 44 (3.07%) TCP/IP
6 40 (2.79%) Network Security
7 39 (2.72%) LAN
8 19 (1.33%) BGP
8 19 (1.33%) Wireless
9 16 (1.12%) Wi-Fi
10 15 (1.05%) OSPF
10 15 (1.05%) Skype
11 14 (0.98%) SD-WAN
11 14 (0.98%) VLAN
12 13 (0.91%) VXLAN
13 12 (0.84%) Cisco ISE
14 11 (0.77%) BIG-IP
15 10 (0.70%) Junos
15 10 (0.70%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 48 (3.35%) Power BI
2 26 (1.82%) SQL Server
3 8 (0.56%) Oracle Database
3 8 (0.56%) PostgreSQL
4 7 (0.49%) MySQL
4 7 (0.49%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 6 (0.42%) Oracle Database 11g
5 6 (0.42%) Oracle Reports
5 6 (0.42%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 5 (0.35%) Amazon RDS
6 5 (0.35%) MariaDB
6 5 (0.35%) Relational Database
6 5 (0.35%) 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
1 144 (10.06%) JIRA
2 26 (1.82%) Git
3 25 (1.75%) Jenkins
4 23 (1.61%) Bitbucket
5 15 (1.05%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 12 (0.84%) GitLab
7 5 (0.35%) 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 (0.070%) MSI
11 1 (0.070%) Selenium
General
1 549 (38.34%) Social Skills
2 233 (16.27%) Finance
3 222 (15.50%) Analytical Skills
4 165 (11.52%) Public Sector
5 66 (4.61%) Telecoms
6 50 (3.49%) Banking
7 49 (3.42%) Documentation Skills
7 49 (3.42%) Influencing Skills
8 47 (3.28%) Legal
9 43 (3.00%) Organisational Skills
10 30 (2.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 29 (2.03%) Military
12 24 (1.68%) Local Government
13 21 (1.47%) Presentation Skills
14 19 (1.33%) Aerospace
15 14 (0.98%) Retail
16 12 (0.84%) Police
17 11 (0.77%) Financial Institution
18 10 (0.70%) Manufacturing
19 8 (0.56%) Law
Job Titles
1 152 (10.61%) Analyst
2 138 (9.64%) Architect
3 136 (9.50%) Lead
4 118 (8.24%) Senior
5 106 (7.40%) Service Manager
6 99 (6.91%) Consultant
7 75 (5.24%) IT Manager
8 66 (4.61%) Project Manager
9 60 (4.19%) Support Engineer
10 56 (3.91%) Developer
11 54 (3.77%) Service Analyst
12 46 (3.21%) Delivery Manager
13 44 (3.07%) IT Support
14 43 (3.00%) Solutions Architect
15 41 (2.86%) ServiceNow Developer
16 37 (2.58%) Infrastructure Engineer
16 37 (2.58%) Service Architect
16 37 (2.58%) Transition Manager
17 36 (2.51%) Network Engineer
18 35 (2.44%) Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 78 (5.45%) REST
2 35 (2.44%) SOAP
3 18 (1.26%) HTML
4 17 (1.19%) CSS
5 15 (1.05%) Web Services
6 14 (0.98%) Middleware
7 11 (0.77%) XML
8 9 (0.63%) 802.1X
8 9 (0.63%) AngularJS
8 9 (0.63%) JSON
8 9 (0.63%) OAuth
8 9 (0.63%) SAML
9 8 (0.56%) Elastic Stack
10 6 (0.42%) ARM Templates
10 6 (0.42%) Node.js
11 5 (0.35%) .NET
11 5 (0.35%) OpenID
11 5 (0.35%) Oracle Fusion
11 5 (0.35%) RESTful
12 4 (0.28%) Ajax
Miscellaneous
1 149 (10.41%) Onboarding
2 112 (7.82%) CMDB
3 65 (4.54%) Management Information System
4 63 (4.40%) Product Ownership
5 45 (3.14%) Data Centre
6 42 (2.93%) Enterprise Software
7 36 (2.51%) PKI
8 27 (1.89%) Operational Technology
9 26 (1.82%) Clustering
9 26 (1.82%) Virtual Team
10 23 (1.61%) Hybrid Cloud
11 22 (1.54%) Data Protection Act
12 19 (1.33%) Cloud Native
13 16 (1.12%) AI Agents
14 15 (1.05%) Analytical Mindset
14 15 (1.05%) Security Operations Centre
14 15 (1.05%) Self-Motivation
15 13 (0.91%) Video Conferencing
16 11 (0.77%) Greenfield Project
17 10 (0.70%) Cyber Threat
Operating Systems
1 283 (19.76%) Windows
2 77 (5.38%) Linux
2 77 (5.38%) Windows Server
3 57 (3.98%) Windows 10
4 26 (1.82%) Apple iOS
4 26 (1.82%) Mac OS
5 20 (1.40%) Unix
5 20 (1.40%) Windows 7
6 15 (1.05%) Android
7 13 (0.91%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 6 (0.42%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (0.21%) Ubuntu
9 3 (0.21%) VMS
9 3 (0.21%) Windows Server 2012
9 3 (0.21%) Windows Server 2016
10 2 (0.14%) Solaris
10 2 (0.14%) Windows XP
10 2 (0.14%) zOS
11 1 (0.070%) Rocky
11 1 (0.070%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 768 (53.63%) ITIL
2 659 (46.02%) ITSM
3 403 (28.14%) Stakeholder Management
4 370 (25.84%) Continuous Improvement
5 322 (22.49%) Service Delivery
6 301 (21.02%) Agile
7 292 (20.39%) Problem-Solving
8 225 (15.71%) Change Management
9 215 (15.01%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 160 (11.17%) Customer Service
11 159 (11.10%) DevOps
12 149 (10.41%) Roadmaps
13 140 (9.78%) Incident Management
14 127 (8.87%) Project Delivery
15 126 (8.80%) Cybersecurity
16 119 (8.31%) Migration
17 110 (7.68%) AI
18 109 (7.61%) Decision-Making
18 109 (7.61%) Service Design
19 107 (7.47%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 129 (9.01%) PowerShell
2 86 (6.01%) Python
3 70 (4.89%) SQL
4 55 (3.84%) JavaScript
5 46 (3.21%) Bash
6 15 (1.05%) Java
6 15 (1.05%) VB
6 15 (1.05%) VBScript
7 11 (0.77%) PL/SQL
8 9 (0.63%) Groovy
9 8 (0.56%) Bicep
10 6 (0.42%) C
10 6 (0.42%) Shell Script
11 5 (0.35%) Apex Code
11 5 (0.35%) Perl
11 5 (0.35%) T-SQL
12 4 (0.28%) C#
12 4 (0.28%) TypeScript
13 3 (0.21%) Lua
14 2 (0.14%) ActionScript 2.0
Qualifications
1 527 (36.80%) Security Cleared
2 349 (24.37%) SC Cleared
3 154 (10.75%) DV Cleared
4 141 (9.85%) Degree
5 62 (4.33%) ITIL Certification
6 52 (3.63%) PMP
7 47 (3.28%) PMI Certification
8 39 (2.72%) BPSS Clearance
9 31 (2.16%) Cisco Certification
10 29 (2.03%) Computer Science Degree
10 29 (2.03%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 28 (1.96%) CISSP
11 28 (1.96%) Microsoft Certification
12 27 (1.89%) CISM
13 25 (1.75%) A+ Certification
14 14 (0.98%) Azure Certification
14 14 (0.98%) DBS Check
15 13 (0.91%) CCNA
15 13 (0.91%) Master's Degree
16 10 (0.70%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 109 (7.61%) SLA
2 46 (3.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 46 (3.21%) QA
3 39 (2.72%) Data Quality
4 31 (2.16%) ISO/IEC 20000
4 31 (2.16%) NCSC
5 29 (2.03%) PMO
6 28 (1.96%) GRC
7 27 (1.89%) GDPR
8 17 (1.19%) COBIT
8 17 (1.19%) NIST
9 16 (1.12%) ISO 9001
10 12 (0.84%) Cyber Essentials
11 9 (0.63%) Disclosure Scotland
12 8 (0.56%) Accessibility
12 8 (0.56%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 8 (0.56%) PCI DSS
13 7 (0.49%) Government Security Classifications
14 6 (0.42%) ISO 31000
14 6 (0.42%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 166 (11.59%) Active Directory
2 69 (4.82%) VMware Infrastructure
3 25 (1.75%) Hyper-V
4 24 (1.68%) VMware ESXi
5 18 (1.26%) Docker
6 17 (1.19%) VMware NSX
7 16 (1.12%) BitLocker
8 15 (1.05%) Virtual Desktop
8 15 (1.05%) vSphere
9 11 (0.77%) vCloud
10 6 (0.42%) IAG
10 6 (0.42%) Virtual Servers
11 5 (0.35%) 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 (0.070%) iptables
Systems Management
1 83 (5.80%) Microsoft Intune
2 67 (4.68%) SCCM
3 48 (3.35%) Terraform
4 45 (3.14%) Ansible
5 20 (1.40%) Kubernetes
6 18 (1.26%) SCOM
6 18 (1.26%) Single Sign-On
7 15 (1.05%) vCenter Server
8 13 (0.91%) Jamf Pro
9 8 (0.56%) FortiGate
9 8 (0.56%) WSUS
10 7 (0.49%) Data Guard
10 7 (0.49%) Grafana
10 7 (0.49%) Oracle RMAN
10 7 (0.49%) Puppet
11 6 (0.42%) Progress Chef
12 5 (0.35%) NetBackup
13 4 (0.28%) PowerCLI
13 4 (0.28%) Prometheus
13 4 (0.28%) vMotion
Vendors
1 417 (29.12%) ServiceNow
2 324 (22.63%) Microsoft
3 100 (6.98%) VMware
4 65 (4.54%) Remedy
5 58 (4.05%) Cisco
6 47 (3.28%) BMC
7 44 (3.07%) Oracle
8 35 (2.44%) SAP
9 34 (2.37%) Atlassian
10 32 (2.23%) Splunk
11 24 (1.68%) Dynatrace
12 22 (1.54%) SolarWinds
13 20 (1.40%) IFS
13 20 (1.40%) Salesforce
13 20 (1.40%) Zscaler
14 19 (1.33%) CyberArk
14 19 (1.33%) IBM
15 18 (1.26%) Apple
16 17 (1.19%) Citrix
16 17 (1.19%) Juniper