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

6 months to
10 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 108 88 77
Rank change year-on-year -20 -11 +13
Contract jobs citing Service Management 1,017 849 1,195
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.40% 2.87% 2.67%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.78% 3.18% 3.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 687 540 815
10th Percentile £200 £220 £285
25th Percentile £358 £402 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +7.50%
75th Percentile £602 £613 £608
90th Percentile £720 £696 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £525 £535
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.87% +12.63%
Number of hourly rates quoted 78 33 17
10th Percentile £15.97 £12.62 £12.53
25th Percentile £16.86 £22.14 £15.46
Median hourly rate £31.05 £26.50 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +17.17% +49.55% -39.22%
75th Percentile £74.13 £33.37 £20.00
90th Percentile £84.38 £68.50 £59.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £38.98 £24.18 £17.50
% change year-on-year +61.21% +38.15% -50.07%

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 36,537 26,694 38,745
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.12% 90.29% 86.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,174 17,018 25,183
10th Percentile £313 £306 £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 £743 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £493 £500
% change year-on-year -2.28% -1.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,160 902 2,347
10th Percentile £14.64 £15.51 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.00 £16.06
Median hourly rate £29.61 £32.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -8.89% - -7.14%
75th Percentile £63.75 £65.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £74.26 £77.10 £71.80
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.55 £31.76 £31.80
% change year-on-year -16.40% -0.13% -9.14%

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 10 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 10 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 10 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 -13 930 £508 -3.33% 314
UK excluding London -9 694 £500 -4.76% 279
Work from Home -23 247 £475 -9.52% 120
London -57 246 £500 -4.76% 50
South East +32 198 £500 +8.11% 89
North of England -7 166 £500 +17.65% 67
South West -12 162 £575 +2.22% 34
Midlands -23 100 £425 -24.98% 52
North West -2 92 £550 +15.79% 45
West Midlands -36 77 £438 -23.35% 29
Yorkshire -21 63 £465 +102.28% 15
East of England -16 47 £452 -17.82% 32
Scotland -34 24 £500 - 9
East Midlands -12 23 £419 -9.95% 21
North East -8 14 £280 -27.27% 7
Wales -6 2 £245 -36.77% 7
Northern Ireland - 1 £500 - 2

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 92 (9.05%) Confluence
2 53 (5.21%) Microsoft Exchange
3 49 (4.82%) SharePoint
4 11 (1.08%) Skype for Business
5 5 (0.49%) Mattermost
6 4 (0.39%) SharePoint Server
7 3 (0.29%) IIS
7 3 (0.29%) nginx
8 2 (0.20%) Apache
8 2 (0.20%) JBoss
9 1 (0.098%) HCL Notes
9 1 (0.098%) LiveCycle
9 1 (0.098%) OpenStack
9 1 (0.098%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 1 (0.098%) WebLogic
9 1 (0.098%) WebSphere
Applications
1 86 (8.46%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (3.54%) Microsoft Project
3 27 (2.65%) Microsoft Excel
4 9 (0.88%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.49%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.39%) Autodesk Inventor
6 4 (0.39%) PTC Creo
7 3 (0.29%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.098%) Camtasia
8 1 (0.098%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 30 (2.95%) Remedy ITSM
2 14 (1.38%) SAP S/4HANA
3 13 (1.28%) Oracle EBS
4 7 (0.69%) Teamcenter
5 2 (0.20%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.098%) assyst
6 1 (0.098%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.098%) Dynamics NAV
6 1 (0.098%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.098%) Oracle Payables
6 1 (0.098%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.098%) Oracle Receivables
6 1 (0.098%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
6 1 (0.098%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.098%) SAP PM
6 1 (0.098%) SAP SM
6 1 (0.098%) SystmOne
6 1 (0.098%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 161 (15.83%) Azure
2 96 (9.44%) Microsoft 365
3 90 (8.85%) AWS
4 50 (4.92%) GCP
5 47 (4.62%) Entra ID
6 37 (3.64%) Power Platform
7 36 (3.54%) SaaS
8 28 (2.75%) Azure DevOps
9 22 (2.16%) OneDrive
10 15 (1.47%) IaaS
10 15 (1.47%) PaaS
11 12 (1.18%) GitHub
12 11 (1.08%) Serverless
13 10 (0.98%) AWS Lambda
14 8 (0.79%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 8 (0.79%) Dynamics 365
14 8 (0.79%) OpenShift
14 8 (0.79%) PowerApps
15 7 (0.69%) Salesforce Service Cloud
16 6 (0.59%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 65 (6.39%) DNS
1 65 (6.39%) Firewall
2 34 (3.34%) DHCP
2 34 (3.34%) LAN
2 34 (3.34%) VPN
3 33 (3.24%) WAN
4 25 (2.46%) Network Security
5 21 (2.06%) VLAN
6 20 (1.97%) TCP/IP
7 18 (1.77%) Skype
8 16 (1.57%) BGP
9 15 (1.47%) Cisco ISE
9 15 (1.47%) Junos
9 15 (1.47%) Wi-Fi
10 11 (1.08%) WebEx
11 10 (0.98%) OSPF
12 9 (0.88%) BIG-IP
12 9 (0.88%) Cisco Firepower
12 9 (0.88%) Cisco IOS
12 9 (0.88%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (2.65%) Power BI
2 14 (1.38%) SQL Server
3 11 (1.08%) Relational Database
4 6 (0.59%) PostgreSQL
5 5 (0.49%) Metadata
6 4 (0.39%) Amazon RDS
6 4 (0.39%) Elasticsearch
6 4 (0.39%) InfluxDB
7 3 (0.29%) Tableau
8 2 (0.20%) Big Data
8 2 (0.20%) GIS
8 2 (0.20%) MongoDB
9 1 (0.098%) Azure SQL Database
9 1 (0.098%) Data Mining
9 1 (0.098%) Electronic Patient Records
9 1 (0.098%) KNIME
9 1 (0.098%) OpenStack Swift
9 1 (0.098%) Oracle Reports
9 1 (0.098%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 1 (0.098%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 143 (14.06%) JIRA
2 17 (1.67%) Git
2 17 (1.67%) Jenkins
3 13 (1.28%) Bitbucket
3 13 (1.28%) GitLab
4 6 (0.59%) Atlassian Bamboo
5 4 (0.39%) ScriptRunner
6 3 (0.29%) MLflow
6 3 (0.29%) Selenium
6 3 (0.29%) TestRail
7 2 (0.20%) Cypress.io
8 1 (0.098%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.098%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.098%) IntelliJ
8 1 (0.098%) JUnit
8 1 (0.098%) Postman
8 1 (0.098%) Protractor
8 1 (0.098%) Rational DOORS
8 1 (0.098%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.098%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 383 (37.66%) Social Skills
2 162 (15.93%) Analytical Skills
3 132 (12.98%) Finance
4 124 (12.19%) Public Sector
5 56 (5.51%) Legal
6 46 (4.52%) Military
7 35 (3.44%) Influencing Skills
8 34 (3.34%) Organisational Skills
9 32 (3.15%) Banking
10 31 (3.05%) Documentation Skills
11 22 (2.16%) Retail
12 21 (2.06%) Telecoms
13 12 (1.18%) Manufacturing
14 11 (1.08%) Aerospace
15 9 (0.88%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 9 (0.88%) Presentation Skills
16 8 (0.79%) Law
17 7 (0.69%) Investment Banking
17 7 (0.69%) Local Government
18 6 (0.59%) Police
Job Titles
1 134 (13.18%) Analyst
2 120 (11.80%) Lead
3 115 (11.31%) Architect
4 93 (9.14%) Service Manager
5 59 (5.80%) Consultant
6 57 (5.60%) Senior
7 53 (5.21%) Service Analyst
7 53 (5.21%) Service Architect
8 40 (3.93%) IT Manager
9 38 (3.74%) IT Support
9 38 (3.74%) Support Engineer
10 34 (3.34%) Hardware Engineer
11 28 (2.75%) Delivery Manager
12 27 (2.65%) Business Analyst
12 27 (2.65%) Network Engineer
13 26 (2.56%) IT Analyst
13 26 (2.56%) Platform Engineer
14 25 (2.46%) Administrator
15 24 (2.36%) 2nd Line Support
15 24 (2.36%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (4.42%) REST
2 20 (1.97%) SOAP
3 11 (1.08%) XMPP
4 9 (0.88%) Web Services
5 8 (0.79%) 802.1X
5 8 (0.79%) Elastic Stack
6 7 (0.69%) LDAP
7 4 (0.39%) .NET
7 4 (0.39%) ARM Templates
7 4 (0.39%) JSON
7 4 (0.39%) Middleware
7 4 (0.39%) RabbitMQ
7 4 (0.39%) RFC 2544
8 3 (0.29%) CSS
8 3 (0.29%) EDI
8 3 (0.29%) Lightning Web Components
8 3 (0.29%) Microsoft Graph
8 3 (0.29%) OAuth
8 3 (0.29%) Oracle Fusion
9 2 (0.20%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 93 (9.14%) Product Ownership
2 62 (6.10%) CMDB
3 48 (4.72%) Onboarding
4 42 (4.13%) Data Centre
5 37 (3.64%) Management Information System
6 28 (2.75%) Virtual Team
7 25 (2.46%) PKI
8 18 (1.77%) Driving Licence
9 17 (1.67%) Analytical Mindset
10 16 (1.57%) Self-Motivation
11 14 (1.38%) PMI
12 12 (1.18%) Data Protection Act
13 11 (1.08%) Enterprise Software
14 10 (0.98%) Clustering
15 8 (0.79%) Hybrid Cloud
16 7 (0.69%) Algorithms
16 7 (0.69%) NHS
17 6 (0.59%) Cloud Native
17 6 (0.59%) Replication
17 6 (0.59%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 201 (19.76%) Windows
2 63 (6.19%) Linux
3 55 (5.41%) Windows Server
4 50 (4.92%) Windows 10
5 16 (1.57%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 12 (1.18%) Android
6 12 (1.18%) Mac OS
7 11 (1.08%) Windows 7
8 10 (0.98%) Apple iOS
9 8 (0.79%) Windows Server 2012
10 7 (0.69%) Ubuntu
11 6 (0.59%) Unix
12 5 (0.49%) VMS
13 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2003
13 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2016
14 3 (0.29%) CentOS
14 3 (0.29%) Windows Server 2019
15 1 (0.098%) Data ONTAP
15 1 (0.098%) Rocky
15 1 (0.098%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 584 (57.42%) ITIL
2 452 (44.44%) ITSM
3 228 (22.42%) Agile
4 209 (20.55%) Problem-Solving
5 203 (19.96%) Continuous Improvement
6 189 (18.58%) Stakeholder Management
7 152 (14.95%) Change Management
7 152 (14.95%) Service Delivery
8 141 (13.86%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 112 (11.01%) Customer Service
9 112 (11.01%) DevOps
10 108 (10.62%) Service Design
11 86 (8.46%) Problem Management
12 82 (8.06%) Incident Management
13 78 (7.67%) Configuration Management
14 76 (7.47%) Project Management
15 75 (7.37%) Acceptance Criteria
16 71 (6.98%) Knowledge Transfer
17 63 (6.19%) Performance Metrics
18 62 (6.10%) CI/CD
Programming Languages
1 91 (8.95%) PowerShell
2 60 (5.90%) Python
3 43 (4.23%) SQL
4 24 (2.36%) JavaScript
5 20 (1.97%) Java
6 19 (1.87%) Bash
7 12 (1.18%) Perl
8 10 (0.98%) Shell Script
9 9 (0.88%) VB
9 9 (0.88%) VBScript
10 6 (0.59%) Kotlin
11 4 (0.39%) C#
11 4 (0.39%) Go
12 2 (0.20%) ActionScript
12 2 (0.20%) ActionScript 2.0
12 2 (0.20%) Apex Code
12 2 (0.20%) Bicep
12 2 (0.20%) PHP
12 2 (0.20%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.098%) Scala
Qualifications
1 419 (41.20%) Security Cleared
2 313 (30.78%) SC Cleared
3 125 (12.29%) Degree
4 118 (11.60%) DV Cleared
5 53 (5.21%) ITIL Certification
6 30 (2.95%) TOGAF Certification
7 28 (2.75%) BPSS Clearance
8 27 (2.65%) PMI Certification
9 25 (2.46%) Microsoft Certification
10 24 (2.36%) PMP
11 23 (2.26%) Cisco Certification
12 15 (1.47%) CCNP
12 15 (1.47%) Computer Science Degree
13 13 (1.28%) A+ Certification
13 13 (1.28%) CCNA
13 13 (1.28%) MCSE
14 9 (0.88%) Azure Certification
15 8 (0.79%) JNCIA
15 8 (0.79%) JNCIP
15 8 (0.79%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 44 (4.33%) SLA
2 28 (2.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 26 (2.56%) Data Quality
4 23 (2.26%) GDPR
4 23 (2.26%) QA
5 14 (1.38%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 13 (1.28%) PMO
7 11 (1.08%) Accessibility
8 10 (0.98%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 9 (0.88%) COBIT
9 9 (0.88%) NCSC
9 9 (0.88%) NIST
10 7 (0.69%) GRC
11 6 (0.59%) PCI DSS
12 5 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials
12 5 (0.49%) Government Security Classifications
13 4 (0.39%) HIPAA
14 3 (0.29%) Disclosure Scotland
14 3 (0.29%) HMG Security Policy Framework
14 3 (0.29%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 122 (12.00%) Active Directory
2 36 (3.54%) VMware Infrastructure
3 19 (1.87%) Docker
4 12 (1.18%) VMware NSX
5 9 (0.88%) BitLocker
6 8 (0.79%) Hyper-V
7 5 (0.49%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (0.39%) NDS
8 4 (0.39%) NetIQ eDirectory
8 4 (0.39%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.29%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 3 (0.29%) Virtual Servers
9 3 (0.29%) VMware ESXi
10 2 (0.20%) NFS
11 1 (0.098%) iptables
11 1 (0.098%) Samba
11 1 (0.098%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 37 (3.64%) SCCM
2 31 (3.05%) Microsoft Intune
3 30 (2.95%) OPNET
4 28 (2.75%) Ansible
5 26 (2.56%) Kubernetes
6 25 (2.46%) Terraform
7 14 (1.38%) WSUS
8 13 (1.28%) vCenter Server
9 11 (1.08%) FortiGate
10 10 (0.98%) Grafana
11 9 (0.88%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 8 (0.79%) Jamf Pro
13 7 (0.69%) Progress Chef
13 7 (0.69%) Prometheus
14 6 (0.59%) Single Sign-On
15 5 (0.49%) Puppet
15 5 (0.49%) SCOM
16 4 (0.39%) Nessus
16 4 (0.39%) Packer
17 3 (0.29%) HP ALM
Vendors
1 266 (26.16%) ServiceNow
2 162 (15.93%) Microsoft
3 70 (6.88%) Atlassian
4 64 (6.29%) Remedy
5 58 (5.70%) Cisco
6 53 (5.21%) VMware
7 37 (3.64%) Google
7 37 (3.64%) HP
8 34 (3.34%) Oracle
9 29 (2.85%) SAP
10 27 (2.65%) Splunk
11 26 (2.56%) SolarWinds
12 18 (1.77%) Citrix
13 17 (1.67%) Juniper
13 17 (1.67%) Salesforce
14 16 (1.57%) Dell
14 16 (1.57%) Red Hat
15 13 (1.28%) Canon
16 12 (1.18%) BMC
16 12 (1.18%) IFS