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

6 months to
25 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 103 79 83
Rank change year-on-year -24 +4 0
Contract jobs citing Service Management 1,187 891 1,096
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.33% 2.96% 2.52%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.75% 3.25% 2.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 773 540 756
10th Percentile £226 £220 £263
25th Percentile £403 £354 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% -4.76% +0.96%
75th Percentile £600 £594 £608
90th Percentile £688 £689 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% +10.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 73 53 18
10th Percentile £16.09 - £12.53
25th Percentile £20.31 £12.62 £15.58
Median hourly rate £60.00 £21.28 £19.87
Median % change year-on-year +181.95% +7.10% -52.55%
75th Percentile £85.00 £28.00 £28.75
90th Percentile £97.00 £33.75 £51.13
UK excluding London median hourly rate £60.00 £21.28 £19.00
% change year-on-year +181.95% +12.00% -13.24%

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 43,238 27,425 37,092
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.97% 91.06% 85.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,959 17,371 23,647
10th Percentile £325 £300 £300
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £514 £505 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.78% -3.81% -4.55%
75th Percentile £620 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,600 1,291 2,584
10th Percentile £14.82 £14.20 £12.65
25th Percentile £20.09 £17.70 £16.06
Median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +74.79% -32.93% +7.14%
75th Percentile £68.00 £54.88 £61.30
90th Percentile £81.25 £71.25 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.04 £38.12
% change year-on-year +79.73% -34.32% +17.29%

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 25 June 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 25 June 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 25 June 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 1,031 £520 +4.00% 331
UK excluding London -26 718 £500 - 297
London -11 349 £550 +10.00% 70
Work from Home +4 347 £510 +7.37% 104
South East +26 208 £525 +33.76% 98
North of England -25 204 £491 +5.54% 88
South West -33 121 £500 -11.50% 33
North West -17 114 £513 +3.64% 44
Yorkshire -24 83 £456 +1.39% 33
Midlands -49 79 £475 -5.10% 48
West Midlands -46 68 £476 -8.46% 32
Scotland -20 54 £500 - 5
East of England -24 42 £475 -13.64% 27
Wales -5 13 £800 +188.29% 6
East Midlands -17 11 £200 -54.13% 16
North East -32 7 £440 +125.64% 13
Northern Ireland +4 4 - - 5

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 (5.22%) SharePoint
2 54 (4.55%) Confluence
3 34 (2.86%) Microsoft Exchange
4 11 (0.93%) Skype for Business
5 6 (0.51%) Mattermost
6 3 (0.25%) IIS
6 3 (0.25%) OpenStack
7 1 (0.084%) Apache
7 1 (0.084%) CICS
7 1 (0.084%) CMS
7 1 (0.084%) JBoss
7 1 (0.084%) LiveCycle
7 1 (0.084%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
7 1 (0.084%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 1 (0.084%) Palantir Foundry
7 1 (0.084%) WebSphere
Applications
1 56 (4.72%) Microsoft Office
2 26 (2.19%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (1.10%) MS Visio
4 11 (0.93%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 10 (0.84%) Microsoft Project
6 7 (0.59%) Chatbot
7 4 (0.34%) PTC Creo
8 2 (0.17%) Spreadsheet
9 1 (0.084%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 53 (4.47%) Remedy ITSM
2 17 (1.43%) SAP S/4HANA
3 9 (0.76%) Teamcenter
4 7 (0.59%) Primavera
5 4 (0.34%) SAP SM
6 3 (0.25%) ContrOCC
6 3 (0.25%) Oracle ERP
6 3 (0.25%) SAP CO
6 3 (0.25%) SAP FI
6 3 (0.25%) SAP FI/CO
7 2 (0.17%) Oracle Applications
7 2 (0.17%) SAP PS
8 1 (0.084%) Dynamics NAV
8 1 (0.084%) Misys Equation
8 1 (0.084%) Misys Midas
8 1 (0.084%) NetSuite
8 1 (0.084%) Oracle Payables
8 1 (0.084%) SAP HR
8 1 (0.084%) SAP Payroll
8 1 (0.084%) SAP PM
Cloud Services
1 177 (14.91%) Azure
2 123 (10.36%) Microsoft 365
3 69 (5.81%) AWS
4 53 (4.47%) Entra ID
4 53 (4.47%) Power Platform
5 43 (3.62%) SaaS
6 32 (2.70%) Azure DevOps
7 29 (2.44%) OneDrive
8 23 (1.94%) GCP
9 19 (1.60%) PaaS
10 15 (1.26%) GitHub
11 14 (1.18%) OCI
12 12 (1.01%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 12 (1.01%) Microsoft Copilot
13 11 (0.93%) AWS Lambda
13 11 (0.93%) IaaS
13 11 (0.93%) Serverless
14 9 (0.76%) Amazon S3
14 9 (0.76%) Google Workspace
15 8 (0.67%) Amazon EC2
Communications & Networking
1 62 (5.22%) Firewall
2 44 (3.71%) DNS
3 38 (3.20%) WAN
4 35 (2.95%) LAN
5 33 (2.78%) VPN
6 24 (2.02%) Network Security
7 22 (1.85%) DHCP
7 22 (1.85%) TCP/IP
8 16 (1.35%) BGP
9 14 (1.18%) Wi-Fi
9 14 (1.18%) Wireless
10 13 (1.10%) OSPF
10 13 (1.10%) VLAN
11 12 (1.01%) BIG-IP
11 12 (1.01%) Cisco ISE
11 12 (1.01%) SD-WAN
12 11 (0.93%) Skype
12 11 (0.93%) VXLAN
13 10 (0.84%) Junos
14 8 (0.67%) Ethernet VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 45 (3.79%) Power BI
2 15 (1.26%) SQL Server
3 8 (0.67%) Oracle Database
4 7 (0.59%) Oracle Reports
5 6 (0.51%) Oracle Database 11g
5 6 (0.51%) PostgreSQL
5 6 (0.51%) Relational Database
6 4 (0.34%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 4 (0.34%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 3 (0.25%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.25%) MySQL
7 3 (0.25%) SQL Server Analysis Services
8 2 (0.17%) Amazon RDS
8 2 (0.17%) Amazon Redshift
8 2 (0.17%) GIS
8 2 (0.17%) MariaDB
8 2 (0.17%) Microsoft Analysis Services
9 1 (0.084%) Elasticsearch
9 1 (0.084%) InfluxDB
9 1 (0.084%) OpenStack Swift
Development Applications
1 139 (11.71%) JIRA
2 20 (1.68%) Jenkins
3 18 (1.52%) Git
4 13 (1.10%) Bitbucket
5 12 (1.01%) GitLab
6 5 (0.42%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 5 (0.42%) Browser DevTools
6 5 (0.42%) ScriptRunner
7 4 (0.34%) MLflow
8 3 (0.25%) Fiddler
8 3 (0.25%) Hudson
8 3 (0.25%) IntelliJ
9 2 (0.17%) Firebug
9 2 (0.17%) Selenium
9 2 (0.17%) TestRail
10 1 (0.084%) Artifactory
10 1 (0.084%) IBM UrbanCode
10 1 (0.084%) Protractor
10 1 (0.084%) Visual Studio Code
10 1 (0.084%) webpack
General
1 397 (33.45%) Social Skills
2 195 (16.43%) Finance
3 162 (13.65%) Analytical Skills
4 122 (10.28%) Public Sector
5 50 (4.21%) Legal
5 50 (4.21%) Telecoms
6 45 (3.79%) Banking
7 33 (2.78%) Influencing Skills
7 33 (2.78%) Organisational Skills
8 30 (2.53%) Documentation Skills
9 22 (1.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 20 (1.68%) Military
11 16 (1.35%) Retail
12 15 (1.26%) Aerospace
12 15 (1.26%) Local Government
13 13 (1.10%) Financial Institution
13 13 (1.10%) Presentation Skills
14 11 (0.93%) Police
15 8 (0.67%) Investment Banking
15 8 (0.67%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 144 (12.13%) Analyst
2 116 (9.77%) Service Manager
3 114 (9.60%) Lead
4 105 (8.85%) Architect
5 96 (8.09%) Senior
6 85 (7.16%) Consultant
7 74 (6.23%) IT Manager
8 55 (4.63%) Project Manager
9 53 (4.47%) Service Analyst
10 45 (3.79%) Developer
11 44 (3.71%) Delivery Manager
12 34 (2.86%) IT Analyst
13 33 (2.78%) Support Engineer
14 30 (2.53%) IT Services Manager
14 30 (2.53%) Network Engineer
14 30 (2.53%) ServiceNow Architect
15 29 (2.44%) Administrator
16 28 (2.36%) Service Delivery Manager
17 27 (2.27%) Transition Manager
18 26 (2.19%) IT Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 53 (4.47%) REST
2 29 (2.44%) SOAP
3 13 (1.10%) HTML
4 12 (1.01%) CSS
4 12 (1.01%) Middleware
5 9 (0.76%) 802.1X
5 9 (0.76%) JSON
5 9 (0.76%) OAuth
6 8 (0.67%) XML
7 7 (0.59%) Elastic Stack
7 7 (0.59%) Oracle Fusion
8 6 (0.51%) Web Services
9 5 (0.42%) AngularJS
9 5 (0.42%) Lightning Web Components
9 5 (0.42%) Microsoft Graph
9 5 (0.42%) OpenID
9 5 (0.42%) SAML
10 4 (0.34%) Bootstrap
10 4 (0.34%) OAuth2
10 4 (0.34%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 100 (8.42%) CMDB
2 92 (7.75%) Onboarding
3 63 (5.31%) Product Ownership
4 47 (3.96%) Data Centre
5 37 (3.12%) Management Information System
6 32 (2.70%) Virtual Team
7 31 (2.61%) Enterprise Software
8 27 (2.27%) PKI
9 21 (1.77%) Clustering
10 20 (1.68%) Data Protection Act
11 18 (1.52%) Operational Technology
12 14 (1.18%) Driving Licence
13 12 (1.01%) Analytical Mindset
13 12 (1.01%) Self-Motivation
14 10 (0.84%) Algorithms
14 10 (0.84%) Cloud Native
14 10 (0.84%) Security Posture
15 9 (0.76%) Cyber Threat
15 9 (0.76%) PMI
16 8 (0.67%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 207 (17.44%) Windows
2 54 (4.55%) Linux
3 43 (3.62%) Windows 10
4 37 (3.12%) Windows Server
5 17 (1.43%) Unix
6 15 (1.26%) Windows 7
7 14 (1.18%) Mac OS
8 13 (1.10%) Apple iOS
9 12 (1.01%) Android
10 10 (0.84%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 5 (0.42%) Windows Server 2019
12 4 (0.34%) VMS
13 3 (0.25%) Ubuntu
13 3 (0.25%) Windows XP
14 2 (0.17%) Solaris
14 2 (0.17%) Windows Server 2012
14 2 (0.17%) Windows Server 2016
14 2 (0.17%) zOS
15 1 (0.084%) Rocky
15 1 (0.084%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 612 (51.56%) ITIL
2 509 (42.88%) ITSM
3 297 (25.02%) Stakeholder Management
4 279 (23.50%) Continuous Improvement
5 249 (20.98%) Agile
6 230 (19.38%) Problem-Solving
7 222 (18.70%) Service Delivery
8 171 (14.41%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 160 (13.48%) Change Management
10 132 (11.12%) DevOps
11 122 (10.28%) Customer Service
12 111 (9.35%) Roadmaps
13 103 (8.68%) Incident Management
14 92 (7.75%) Problem Management
15 87 (7.33%) Decision-Making
16 85 (7.16%) Migration
17 83 (6.99%) Configuration Management
17 83 (6.99%) Project Delivery
18 79 (6.66%) Cybersecurity
19 77 (6.49%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 85 (7.16%) PowerShell
2 61 (5.14%) Python
3 55 (4.63%) SQL
4 49 (4.13%) JavaScript
5 21 (1.77%) Bash
6 16 (1.35%) Java
7 11 (0.93%) PL/SQL
7 11 (0.93%) VB
7 11 (0.93%) VBScript
8 6 (0.51%) Apex Code
8 6 (0.51%) Groovy
9 5 (0.42%) Kotlin
10 4 (0.34%) C
10 4 (0.34%) C#
10 4 (0.34%) Perl
10 4 (0.34%) Shell Script
11 3 (0.25%) SOQL
11 3 (0.25%) T-SQL
12 2 (0.17%) Bicep
12 2 (0.17%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 419 (35.30%) Security Cleared
2 287 (24.18%) SC Cleared
3 135 (11.37%) DV Cleared
4 100 (8.42%) Degree
5 61 (5.14%) ITIL Certification
6 33 (2.78%) PMI Certification
7 32 (2.70%) PMP
8 28 (2.36%) Cisco Certification
9 24 (2.02%) BPSS Clearance
9 24 (2.02%) Computer Science Degree
10 18 (1.52%) Microsoft Certification
11 15 (1.26%) CCNA
12 14 (1.18%) CISM
13 13 (1.10%) A+ Certification
13 13 (1.10%) CISSP
13 13 (1.10%) Master's Degree
14 12 (1.01%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 10 (0.84%) CCNP
16 9 (0.76%) JNCIA
16 9 (0.76%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 77 (6.49%) SLA
2 42 (3.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 36 (3.03%) Data Quality
4 35 (2.95%) QA
5 29 (2.44%) PMO
6 25 (2.11%) GDPR
7 23 (1.94%) NCSC
8 21 (1.77%) COBIT
9 20 (1.68%) GRC
10 17 (1.43%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 13 (1.10%) NIST
12 9 (0.76%) PCI DSS
13 8 (0.67%) Accessibility
13 8 (0.67%) Cyber Essentials
13 8 (0.67%) ISO 9001
14 7 (0.59%) Government Security Classifications
15 6 (0.51%) ISO 31000
15 6 (0.51%) ISO/IEC 27005
16 5 (0.42%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
16 5 (0.42%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 113 (9.52%) Active Directory
2 39 (3.29%) VMware Infrastructure
3 16 (1.35%) VMware ESXi
4 12 (1.01%) BitLocker
4 12 (1.01%) Docker
5 8 (0.67%) VMware NSX
6 7 (0.59%) Virtual Desktop
6 7 (0.59%) vSphere
7 6 (0.51%) Hyper-V
7 6 (0.51%) vCloud
8 5 (0.42%) NFS
9 4 (0.34%) Oracle RAC
9 4 (0.34%) Virtual Machines
10 3 (0.25%) Firmware
11 2 (0.17%) GPFS
11 2 (0.17%) IAG
11 2 (0.17%) KVM
12 1 (0.084%) iptables
12 1 (0.084%) Slurm Workload Manager
12 1 (0.084%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 49 (4.13%) SCCM
2 42 (3.54%) Microsoft Intune
3 28 (2.36%) Ansible
4 22 (1.85%) Terraform
5 15 (1.26%) Kubernetes
6 13 (1.10%) Jamf Pro
6 13 (1.10%) Single Sign-On
7 9 (0.76%) FortiGate
8 8 (0.67%) vCenter Server
9 7 (0.59%) Data Guard
9 7 (0.59%) Grafana
9 7 (0.59%) Oracle RMAN
9 7 (0.59%) WSUS
10 6 (0.51%) Puppet
10 6 (0.51%) SCOM
11 5 (0.42%) Prometheus
11 5 (0.42%) vMotion
12 4 (0.34%) PowerCLI
12 4 (0.34%) Progress Chef
13 3 (0.25%) Packer
Vendors
1 337 (28.39%) ServiceNow
2 199 (16.76%) Microsoft
3 59 (4.97%) Remedy
4 55 (4.63%) VMware
5 44 (3.71%) Cisco
6 38 (3.20%) Oracle
7 32 (2.70%) SAP
8 29 (2.44%) BMC
9 26 (2.19%) Atlassian
10 24 (2.02%) IFS
11 21 (1.77%) HP
11 21 (1.77%) Splunk
12 18 (1.52%) SolarWinds
13 17 (1.43%) Salesforce
14 15 (1.26%) Dell
15 13 (1.10%) Citrix
15 13 (1.10%) Dynatrace
15 13 (1.10%) F5
15 13 (1.10%) IBM
15 13 (1.10%) Zscaler