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

6 months to
7 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 97 82 89
Rank change year-on-year -15 +7 -4
Contract jobs citing Service Management 1,391 975 967
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.60% 2.97% 2.48%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.07% 3.28% 2.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 903 593 672
10th Percentile £263 £213 £250
25th Percentile £413 £350 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £492 £525
Median % change year-on-year +6.71% -6.29% +1.41%
75th Percentile £613 £575 £608
90th Percentile £725 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £517 £497 £525
% change year-on-year +3.97% -5.33% +9.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 86 73 18
10th Percentile £14.50 - £17.50
25th Percentile £19.57 £12.62 £19.44
Median hourly rate £57.50 £18.73 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +206.99% -31.89% -43.30%
75th Percentile £85.00 £22.14 £48.75
90th Percentile £92.52 £52.70 £54.13
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.00 £18.73 £27.50
% change year-on-year +193.65% -31.89% +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 45,370 29,720 33,385
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.93% 90.44% 85.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,958 18,627 21,372
10th Percentile £325 £300 £310
25th Percentile £420 £404 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.11%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £729 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,804 1,656 1,869
10th Percentile £14.25 £14.20 £14.00
25th Percentile £19.25 £17.33 £18.13
Median hourly rate £42.68 £25.15 £40.33
Median % change year-on-year +69.69% -37.63% -5.12%
75th Percentile £68.00 £50.00 £64.25
90th Percentile £82.25 £68.00 £74.51
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £23.30 £40.94
% change year-on-year +88.67% -43.09% +2.35%

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 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 7 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 7 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 -17 1,209 £525 +5.00% 602
UK excluding London -19 821 £517 +3.97% 425
London +20 437 £525 +5.00% 222
Work from Home +9 401 £513 +2.50% 231
South East +20 277 £550 +10.00% 152
North of England -37 202 £447 +0.68% 99
South West -29 123 £536 -2.50% 44
North West -34 114 £480 +3.23% 55
Midlands -47 98 £495 +0.51% 62
West Midlands -42 91 £495 -3.88% 38
Yorkshire -25 83 £443 +26.57% 31
Scotland -7 65 £500 +1.42% 21
East of England -18 43 £563 +2.27% 40
Wales -4 12 £800 +247.83% 11
Northern Ireland +12 8 - - 7
East Midlands -22 7 £450 +50.00% 25
North East -43 5 £440 +125.64% 14

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 94 (6.76%) SharePoint
2 59 (4.24%) Confluence
3 44 (3.16%) Microsoft Exchange
4 8 (0.58%) Skype for Business
5 6 (0.43%) Mattermost
5 6 (0.43%) OpenStack
6 3 (0.22%) CMS
6 3 (0.22%) IIS
7 2 (0.14%) Apache
8 1 (0.072%) CICS
8 1 (0.072%) Exchange Server 2010
8 1 (0.072%) HCL Notes
8 1 (0.072%) JBoss
8 1 (0.072%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
8 1 (0.072%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 69 (4.96%) Microsoft Office
2 29 (2.08%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (1.15%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 14 (1.01%) MS Visio
5 9 (0.65%) Microsoft Project
6 7 (0.50%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.072%) Camtasia
7 1 (0.072%) Maple
Business Applications
1 59 (4.24%) Remedy ITSM
2 11 (0.79%) SAP S/4HANA
3 7 (0.50%) Primavera
4 5 (0.36%) ContrOCC
4 5 (0.36%) NEC Housing
5 4 (0.29%) Teamcenter
6 3 (0.22%) Oracle ERP
6 3 (0.22%) SAP CO
6 3 (0.22%) SAP FI
6 3 (0.22%) SAP FI/CO
6 3 (0.22%) SAP SM
7 2 (0.14%) Oracle Applications
7 2 (0.14%) SAP PS
8 1 (0.072%) Dynamics CRM
8 1 (0.072%) iTrent
8 1 (0.072%) Misys Equation
8 1 (0.072%) Misys Midas
8 1 (0.072%) Remedy AR System
8 1 (0.072%) SAP HR
8 1 (0.072%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 232 (16.68%) Azure
2 170 (12.22%) Microsoft 365
3 95 (6.83%) Entra ID
4 92 (6.61%) AWS
5 62 (4.46%) Power Platform
6 55 (3.95%) SaaS
7 46 (3.31%) OneDrive
8 34 (2.44%) Azure DevOps
9 29 (2.08%) GCP
10 21 (1.51%) GitHub
11 17 (1.22%) Microsoft Copilot
11 17 (1.22%) OCI
12 14 (1.01%) Azure Monitor
12 14 (1.01%) PaaS
13 10 (0.72%) Google Workspace
14 9 (0.65%) Amazon S3
14 9 (0.65%) IaaS
15 8 (0.58%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 8 (0.58%) AWS Lambda
15 8 (0.58%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 82 (5.90%) Firewall
2 67 (4.82%) DNS
3 43 (3.09%) TCP/IP
3 43 (3.09%) VPN
4 41 (2.95%) DHCP
5 39 (2.80%) WAN
6 38 (2.73%) Network Security
7 33 (2.37%) LAN
8 19 (1.37%) BGP
8 19 (1.37%) Wireless
9 15 (1.08%) OSPF
10 14 (1.01%) SD-WAN
11 12 (0.86%) Cisco ISE
11 12 (0.86%) VXLAN
12 11 (0.79%) BIG-IP
12 11 (0.79%) Wi-Fi
13 10 (0.72%) Junos
14 9 (0.65%) Ethernet VPN
14 9 (0.65%) SSH
14 9 (0.65%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 47 (3.38%) Power BI
2 27 (1.94%) SQL Server
3 8 (0.58%) Oracle Database
3 8 (0.58%) PostgreSQL
4 7 (0.50%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 6 (0.43%) Oracle Database 11g
5 6 (0.43%) Oracle Reports
5 6 (0.43%) Relational Database
5 6 (0.43%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 5 (0.36%) MySQL
6 5 (0.36%) SQL Server Analysis Services
7 3 (0.22%) Amazon RDS
7 3 (0.22%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.22%) MariaDB
7 3 (0.22%) Metadata
8 2 (0.14%) Amazon Redshift
8 2 (0.14%) Elasticsearch
8 2 (0.14%) Microsoft Analysis Services
8 2 (0.14%) SQLite
9 1 (0.072%) Data Warehouse
Development Applications
1 147 (10.57%) JIRA
2 26 (1.87%) Git
3 24 (1.73%) Jenkins
4 23 (1.65%) Bitbucket
5 15 (1.08%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 12 (0.86%) GitLab
7 5 (0.36%) Browser DevTools
8 4 (0.29%) MLflow
8 4 (0.29%) Rational DOORS
8 4 (0.29%) ScriptRunner
9 3 (0.22%) Fiddler
9 3 (0.22%) Hudson
9 3 (0.22%) IntelliJ
9 3 (0.22%) Sonatype Nexus
10 2 (0.14%) Firebug
10 2 (0.14%) Maven
10 2 (0.14%) webpack
11 1 (0.072%) JMeter
11 1 (0.072%) MSI
11 1 (0.072%) Selenium
General
1 526 (37.81%) Social Skills
2 221 (15.89%) Finance
3 213 (15.31%) Analytical Skills
4 160 (11.50%) Public Sector
5 64 (4.60%) Telecoms
6 49 (3.52%) Banking
7 48 (3.45%) Legal
8 47 (3.38%) Influencing Skills
9 43 (3.09%) Documentation Skills
9 43 (3.09%) Organisational Skills
10 31 (2.23%) Military
11 30 (2.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 24 (1.73%) Local Government
13 21 (1.51%) Presentation Skills
14 19 (1.37%) Aerospace
15 14 (1.01%) Retail
16 12 (0.86%) Financial Institution
16 12 (0.86%) Police
17 9 (0.65%) Manufacturing
18 7 (0.50%) Law
Job Titles
1 150 (10.78%) Analyst
2 134 (9.63%) Lead
3 124 (8.91%) Architect
4 120 (8.63%) Senior
5 110 (7.91%) Service Manager
6 95 (6.83%) Consultant
7 78 (5.61%) IT Manager
8 64 (4.60%) Project Manager
9 57 (4.10%) Developer
10 56 (4.03%) Service Analyst
11 54 (3.88%) Support Engineer
12 47 (3.38%) Delivery Manager
13 41 (2.95%) ServiceNow Developer
14 39 (2.80%) IT Support
14 39 (2.80%) Solutions Architect
15 35 (2.52%) Infrastructure Engineer
15 35 (2.52%) Network Engineer
15 35 (2.52%) Transition Manager
16 33 (2.37%) Business Analyst
16 33 (2.37%) Service Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 77 (5.54%) REST
2 35 (2.52%) SOAP
3 18 (1.29%) HTML
4 17 (1.22%) CSS
5 14 (1.01%) Web Services
6 12 (0.86%) Middleware
7 11 (0.79%) XML
8 9 (0.65%) 802.1X
8 9 (0.65%) JSON
8 9 (0.65%) OAuth
9 8 (0.58%) SAML
10 7 (0.50%) AngularJS
10 7 (0.50%) Elastic Stack
11 6 (0.43%) ARM Templates
12 5 (0.36%) .NET
12 5 (0.36%) Lightning Web Components
12 5 (0.36%) OpenID
12 5 (0.36%) Oracle Fusion
13 4 (0.29%) Ajax
13 4 (0.29%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 143 (10.28%) Onboarding
2 105 (7.55%) CMDB
3 64 (4.60%) Product Ownership
4 57 (4.10%) Management Information System
5 42 (3.02%) Data Centre
6 41 (2.95%) Enterprise Software
7 34 (2.44%) PKI
8 28 (2.01%) Virtual Team
9 25 (1.80%) Clustering
9 25 (1.80%) Operational Technology
10 21 (1.51%) Hybrid Cloud
11 20 (1.44%) Data Protection Act
12 17 (1.22%) Cloud Native
12 17 (1.22%) Self-Motivation
13 15 (1.08%) AI Agents
13 15 (1.08%) Analytical Mindset
14 12 (0.86%) Video Conferencing
15 11 (0.79%) Greenfield Project
15 11 (0.79%) Security Operations Centre
16 10 (0.72%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 262 (18.84%) Windows
2 73 (5.25%) Linux
3 70 (5.03%) Windows Server
4 46 (3.31%) Windows 10
5 25 (1.80%) Mac OS
6 23 (1.65%) Apple iOS
7 19 (1.37%) Unix
8 13 (0.93%) Android
8 13 (0.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 13 (0.93%) Windows 7
9 6 (0.43%) Windows Server 2019
10 4 (0.29%) VMS
11 3 (0.22%) Ubuntu
11 3 (0.22%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.22%) Windows Server 2016
12 2 (0.14%) Solaris
12 2 (0.14%) Windows XP
12 2 (0.14%) zOS
13 1 (0.072%) Rocky
13 1 (0.072%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 746 (53.63%) ITIL
2 640 (46.01%) ITSM
3 377 (27.10%) Stakeholder Management
4 364 (26.17%) Continuous Improvement
5 316 (22.72%) Service Delivery
6 295 (21.21%) Agile
7 284 (20.42%) Problem-Solving
8 220 (15.82%) Change Management
9 199 (14.31%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 163 (11.72%) DevOps
11 159 (11.43%) Customer Service
12 136 (9.78%) Incident Management
12 136 (9.78%) Roadmaps
13 121 (8.70%) Project Delivery
14 114 (8.20%) Cybersecurity
14 114 (8.20%) Migration
15 107 (7.69%) Project Management
16 106 (7.62%) AI
17 104 (7.48%) Decision-Making
17 104 (7.48%) Service Design
Programming Languages
1 115 (8.27%) PowerShell
2 80 (5.75%) Python
3 70 (5.03%) SQL
4 55 (3.95%) JavaScript
5 42 (3.02%) Bash
6 15 (1.08%) Java
7 11 (0.79%) PL/SQL
8 8 (0.58%) Bicep
8 8 (0.58%) VB
8 8 (0.58%) VBScript
9 7 (0.50%) Groovy
10 6 (0.43%) Apex Code
10 6 (0.43%) C
11 5 (0.36%) C#
11 5 (0.36%) Perl
11 5 (0.36%) T-SQL
12 4 (0.29%) Shell Script
13 3 (0.22%) Lua
13 3 (0.22%) SOQL
14 2 (0.14%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 508 (36.52%) Security Cleared
2 333 (23.94%) SC Cleared
3 153 (11.00%) DV Cleared
4 133 (9.56%) Degree
5 64 (4.60%) ITIL Certification
6 49 (3.52%) PMP
7 45 (3.24%) PMI Certification
8 39 (2.80%) BPSS Clearance
9 30 (2.16%) Cisco Certification
10 26 (1.87%) Computer Science Degree
10 26 (1.87%) Microsoft Certification
11 23 (1.65%) A+ Certification
11 23 (1.65%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 21 (1.51%) CISM
12 21 (1.51%) CISSP
13 14 (1.01%) CCNA
13 14 (1.01%) DBS Check
14 13 (0.93%) Master's Degree
15 10 (0.72%) Azure Certification
16 9 (0.65%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 107 (7.69%) SLA
2 44 (3.16%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 44 (3.16%) QA
3 33 (2.37%) Data Quality
4 31 (2.23%) ISO/IEC 20000
5 30 (2.16%) PMO
6 28 (2.01%) GRC
7 25 (1.80%) NCSC
8 24 (1.73%) GDPR
9 18 (1.29%) COBIT
10 16 (1.15%) ISO 9001
11 15 (1.08%) NIST
12 12 (0.86%) Cyber Essentials
13 8 (0.58%) Accessibility
13 8 (0.58%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 8 (0.58%) Disclosure Scotland
14 7 (0.50%) Government Security Classifications
14 7 (0.50%) PCI DSS
15 6 (0.43%) ISO 31000
15 6 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 27005
System Software
1 160 (11.50%) Active Directory
2 60 (4.31%) VMware Infrastructure
3 22 (1.58%) VMware ESXi
4 21 (1.51%) Hyper-V
5 17 (1.22%) Docker
6 16 (1.15%) VMware NSX
7 13 (0.93%) vSphere
8 12 (0.86%) Virtual Desktop
9 10 (0.72%) vCloud
10 9 (0.65%) BitLocker
11 6 (0.43%) IAG
12 5 (0.36%) Virtual Machines
13 4 (0.29%) NFS
13 4 (0.29%) Oracle RAC
14 3 (0.22%) Firmware
14 3 (0.22%) Virtual Servers
15 2 (0.14%) GPFS
15 2 (0.14%) KVM
16 1 (0.072%) iptables
16 1 (0.072%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 76 (5.46%) Microsoft Intune
2 57 (4.10%) SCCM
3 46 (3.31%) Terraform
4 42 (3.02%) Ansible
5 21 (1.51%) Kubernetes
6 17 (1.22%) SCOM
6 17 (1.22%) Single Sign-On
7 14 (1.01%) vCenter Server
8 13 (0.93%) Jamf Pro
9 8 (0.58%) FortiGate
9 8 (0.58%) WSUS
10 7 (0.50%) Data Guard
10 7 (0.50%) Grafana
10 7 (0.50%) Oracle RMAN
10 7 (0.50%) Puppet
11 5 (0.36%) NetBackup
11 5 (0.36%) Progress Chef
11 5 (0.36%) Prometheus
12 4 (0.29%) PowerCLI
12 4 (0.29%) vMotion
Vendors
1 405 (29.12%) ServiceNow
2 292 (20.99%) Microsoft
3 86 (6.18%) VMware
4 63 (4.53%) Remedy
5 56 (4.03%) Cisco
6 42 (3.02%) BMC
7 39 (2.80%) Oracle
8 35 (2.52%) Atlassian
9 30 (2.16%) SAP
9 30 (2.16%) Splunk
10 23 (1.65%) Dynatrace
11 22 (1.58%) IFS
12 21 (1.51%) SolarWinds
13 20 (1.44%) Salesforce
14 19 (1.37%) Zscaler
15 18 (1.29%) Apple
15 18 (1.29%) Citrix
16 17 (1.22%) Juniper
17 15 (1.08%) IBM
18 13 (0.93%) CyberArk