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

6 months to
18 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 99 97 77
Rank change year-on-year -2 -20 +20
Contract jobs citing Service Management 988 812 1,184
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.66% 2.56% 2.74%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.03% 2.88% 3.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 690 484 828
10th Percentile £200 £220 £269
25th Percentile £350 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £531
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -1.04% +6.10%
75th Percentile £588 £623 £615
90th Percentile £723 £700 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £511 £525
% change year-on-year -2.06% -2.76% +10.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 70 23 16
10th Percentile £13.25 £21.05 £12.53
25th Percentile £17.30 £24.97 £15.46
Median hourly rate £26.11 £30.40 £18.86
Median % change year-on-year -14.11% +61.19% -24.56%
75th Percentile £60.00 £37.00 £50.31
90th Percentile £74.26 £68.50 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.79 £30.43 £17.33
% change year-on-year -31.67% +75.59% -43.06%

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 32,565 28,230 37,893
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 87.70% 88.92% 87.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,598 17,153 25,051
10th Percentile £304 £308 £304
25th Percentile £406 £413 £415
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £650
90th Percentile £723 £743 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,982 906 1,726
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.62 £14.15
25th Percentile £17.69 £20.80 £17.54
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -18.75% +17.96%
75th Percentile £56.69 £62.50 £63.75
90th Percentile £68.75 £74.81 £75.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.00 £30.78 £40.28
% change year-on-year -22.03% -23.58% +46.45%

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 18 January 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 18 January 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 18 January 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 0 895 £503 -4.96% 292
UK excluding London +11 682 £500 -2.06% 280
Work from Home -4 248 £484 -8.99% 109
London -49 227 £500 -4.76% 52
South East +31 181 £500 +5.26% 80
North of England -1 165 £475 +18.75% 61
South West -2 149 £571 +2.37% 39
Midlands +6 116 £475 -13.79% 49
North West +4 93 £550 +37.50% 28
West Midlands -3 89 £503 -10.07% 21
Yorkshire -16 58 £465 +100.97% 25
East of England -6 40 £452 -16.87% 33
Scotland -4 30 £484 +0.05% 11
East Midlands +2 27 £425 -15.00% 27
North East -7 17 £280 -53.04% 9
Northern Ireland - 4 £325 - 6
Wales -3 3 £170 -46.44% 10

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 73 (7.39%) Confluence
2 66 (6.68%) Microsoft Exchange
3 55 (5.57%) SharePoint
4 15 (1.52%) Apache
4 15 (1.52%) WebLogic
5 13 (1.32%) Skype for Business
6 5 (0.51%) SharePoint Server
7 3 (0.30%) nginx
8 2 (0.20%) JBoss
9 1 (0.10%) CMS
9 1 (0.10%) Exchange Server 2010
9 1 (0.10%) Exchange Server 2013
9 1 (0.10%) HCL Notes
9 1 (0.10%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 1 (0.10%) WebSphere
Applications
1 96 (9.72%) Microsoft Office
2 35 (3.54%) Microsoft Excel
2 35 (3.54%) Microsoft Project
3 16 (1.62%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (0.81%) MS Visio
5 4 (0.40%) Autodesk Inventor
6 1 (0.10%) PTC Creo
6 1 (0.10%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 26 (2.63%) Remedy ITSM
2 13 (1.32%) Oracle EBS
3 7 (0.71%) SAP S/4HANA
4 4 (0.40%) Dynamics CRM
5 3 (0.30%) assyst
5 3 (0.30%) Oracle ERP
6 2 (0.20%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.10%) Integrated Workplace Management System
7 1 (0.10%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.10%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 1 (0.10%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.10%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 1 (0.10%) SAP ERP
7 1 (0.10%) SAP HR
7 1 (0.10%) SAP PM
7 1 (0.10%) SystmOne
7 1 (0.10%) Teamcenter
7 1 (0.10%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 166 (16.80%) Azure
2 105 (10.63%) AWS
3 99 (10.02%) Microsoft 365
4 43 (4.35%) GCP
5 34 (3.44%) Entra ID
6 29 (2.94%) Power Platform
7 25 (2.53%) OneDrive
7 25 (2.53%) SaaS
8 24 (2.43%) Azure DevOps
9 19 (1.92%) Azure Monitor
10 11 (1.11%) GitHub
11 9 (0.91%) IaaS
11 9 (0.91%) PowerApps
12 8 (0.81%) Dynamics 365
13 7 (0.71%) Nutanix
13 7 (0.71%) OpenShift
13 7 (0.71%) Salesforce Service Cloud
14 6 (0.61%) PaaS
14 6 (0.61%) Serverless
15 5 (0.51%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 62 (6.28%) DNS
2 52 (5.26%) Firewall
3 35 (3.54%) DHCP
4 31 (3.14%) VPN
5 26 (2.63%) TCP/IP
6 24 (2.43%) VLAN
7 23 (2.33%) Skype
7 23 (2.33%) WAN
8 20 (2.02%) LAN
9 19 (1.92%) Network Security
10 18 (1.82%) Cisco IOS
11 17 (1.72%) Cisco Firepower
11 17 (1.72%) Cisco ISE
11 17 (1.72%) Junos
12 13 (1.32%) Wi-Fi
13 12 (1.21%) SSH
14 10 (1.01%) HTTP
15 8 (0.81%) WebEx
16 7 (0.71%) BGP
16 7 (0.71%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (2.13%) Power BI
2 16 (1.62%) Relational Database
3 13 (1.32%) SQL Server
4 7 (0.71%) PostgreSQL
5 6 (0.61%) Amazon RDS
6 5 (0.51%) Metadata
7 4 (0.40%) Data Mining
7 4 (0.40%) InfluxDB
7 4 (0.40%) Tableau
8 3 (0.30%) Elasticsearch
9 2 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
9 2 (0.20%) Big Data
9 2 (0.20%) GIS
9 2 (0.20%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.20%) Oracle Reports
9 2 (0.20%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 1 (0.10%) BusinessObjects
10 1 (0.10%) MySQL
10 1 (0.10%) Oracle Discoverer
10 1 (0.10%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 125 (12.65%) JIRA
2 16 (1.62%) Jenkins
3 11 (1.11%) Git
4 10 (1.01%) GitLab
5 8 (0.81%) Bitbucket
6 4 (0.40%) ScriptRunner
7 2 (0.20%) TestRail
7 2 (0.20%) webpack
8 1 (0.10%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.10%) Cypress.io
8 1 (0.10%) MLflow
8 1 (0.10%) Selenium
8 1 (0.10%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 406 (41.09%) Social Skills
2 170 (17.21%) Analytical Skills
3 148 (14.98%) Finance
4 135 (13.66%) Public Sector
5 44 (4.45%) Military
6 39 (3.95%) Legal
7 36 (3.64%) Banking
8 35 (3.54%) Organisational Skills
8 35 (3.54%) Telecoms
9 33 (3.34%) Influencing Skills
10 31 (3.14%) Documentation Skills
11 28 (2.83%) Manufacturing
12 22 (2.23%) Retail
13 14 (1.42%) Presentation Skills
14 13 (1.32%) Marketing
15 12 (1.21%) Electronics
15 12 (1.21%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 10 (1.01%) Investment Banking
17 7 (0.71%) Front Office
17 7 (0.71%) Law
Job Titles
1 138 (13.97%) Analyst
2 122 (12.35%) Architect
3 119 (12.04%) Lead
4 65 (6.58%) Service Manager
5 63 (6.38%) Service Architect
6 61 (6.17%) Support Engineer
7 47 (4.76%) Consultant
8 46 (4.66%) IT Support
9 41 (4.15%) Service Analyst
10 36 (3.64%) Support Analyst
11 33 (3.34%) 2nd Line Support
11 33 (3.34%) Senior
12 30 (3.04%) Desktop Support
12 30 (3.04%) Platform Engineer
13 28 (2.83%) IT Analyst
14 26 (2.63%) Business Analyst
14 26 (2.63%) Hardware Engineer
14 26 (2.63%) Network Engineer
15 24 (2.43%) Infrastructure Engineer
16 23 (2.33%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (3.64%) REST
2 17 (1.72%) SOAP
3 9 (0.91%) .NET
3 9 (0.91%) LDAP
4 8 (0.81%) Web Services
4 8 (0.81%) XMPP
5 7 (0.71%) CSS
5 7 (0.71%) Elastic Stack
5 7 (0.71%) RFC 2544
6 6 (0.61%) HTML
7 4 (0.40%) RabbitMQ
7 4 (0.40%) React
8 3 (0.30%) AngularJS
8 3 (0.30%) ARM Templates
8 3 (0.30%) EDI
8 3 (0.30%) Lightning Web Components
8 3 (0.30%) Middleware
9 2 (0.20%) HTML5
9 2 (0.20%) JSON
9 2 (0.20%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 71 (7.19%) Product Ownership
2 48 (4.86%) CMDB
3 43 (4.35%) Data Centre
4 40 (4.05%) Management Information System
5 37 (3.74%) Onboarding
6 24 (2.43%) PKI
7 23 (2.33%) Analytical Mindset
8 20 (2.02%) Self-Motivation
8 20 (2.02%) Virtual Team
9 18 (1.82%) Driving Licence
10 13 (1.32%) Mainframe
10 13 (1.32%) PMI
11 10 (1.01%) NHS
12 9 (0.91%) Enterprise Software
13 8 (0.81%) Data Protection Act
14 7 (0.71%) Fibre Optics
14 7 (0.71%) Hybrid Cloud
15 6 (0.61%) Distributed Systems
15 6 (0.61%) Public Cloud
15 6 (0.61%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 231 (23.38%) Windows
2 81 (8.20%) Linux
3 66 (6.68%) Windows Server
4 62 (6.28%) Windows 10
5 26 (2.63%) Unix
6 13 (1.32%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 12 (1.21%) Android
7 12 (1.21%) Apple iOS
8 10 (1.01%) Mac OS
9 9 (0.91%) Windows 7
10 7 (0.71%) Windows Server 2012
11 6 (0.61%) Windows Server 2019
12 5 (0.51%) Windows Server 2003
13 4 (0.40%) Ubuntu
13 4 (0.40%) Windows Server 2008
13 4 (0.40%) Windows Server 2016
14 3 (0.30%) CentOS
15 2 (0.20%) VMS
15 2 (0.20%) Windows XP
16 1 (0.10%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 557 (56.38%) ITIL
2 427 (43.22%) ITSM
3 206 (20.85%) Problem-Solving
4 179 (18.12%) Agile
5 174 (17.61%) Continuous Improvement
6 157 (15.89%) Change Management
6 157 (15.89%) Stakeholder Management
7 138 (13.97%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 137 (13.87%) Service Delivery
9 122 (12.35%) Customer Service
10 120 (12.15%) Service Design
11 101 (10.22%) Project Management
12 91 (9.21%) Incident Management
13 86 (8.70%) DevOps
14 77 (7.79%) Project Delivery
15 72 (7.29%) Problem Management
16 68 (6.88%) Knowledge Transfer
17 61 (6.17%) Business Continuity
18 59 (5.97%) Configuration Management
19 58 (5.87%) Critical Thinking
Programming Languages
1 85 (8.60%) PowerShell
2 64 (6.48%) SQL
3 59 (5.97%) Python
4 21 (2.13%) JavaScript
5 16 (1.62%) Java
6 15 (1.52%) Perl
6 15 (1.52%) Shell Script
7 13 (1.32%) Bash
8 8 (0.81%) VB
8 8 (0.81%) VBScript
9 4 (0.40%) Go
10 3 (0.30%) Apex Code
10 3 (0.30%) Bicep
10 3 (0.30%) TypeScript
11 2 (0.20%) ActionScript
11 2 (0.20%) ActionScript 2.0
11 2 (0.20%) C#
11 2 (0.20%) PHP
12 1 (0.10%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.10%) VBA
Qualifications
1 404 (40.89%) Security Cleared
2 324 (32.79%) SC Cleared
3 124 (12.55%) Degree
4 76 (7.69%) DV Cleared
5 51 (5.16%) ITIL Certification
6 37 (3.74%) Microsoft Certification
7 30 (3.04%) TOGAF Certification
8 23 (2.33%) BPSS Clearance
9 21 (2.13%) PMI Certification
10 18 (1.82%) Computer Science Degree
11 17 (1.72%) A+ Certification
11 17 (1.72%) Azure Certification
11 17 (1.72%) MCSE
11 17 (1.72%) PMP
12 15 (1.52%) Cisco Certification
13 14 (1.42%) Server+ Certification
14 13 (1.32%) CCNP
14 13 (1.32%) Network+ Certification
15 12 (1.21%) CCNA
16 10 (1.01%) APMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 47 (4.76%) SLA
2 24 (2.43%) ISO/IEC 20000
3 21 (2.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 19 (1.92%) Data Quality
5 17 (1.72%) GDPR
6 15 (1.52%) QA
7 12 (1.21%) PMO
8 9 (0.91%) Accessibility
8 9 (0.91%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 7 (0.71%) NIST
10 6 (0.61%) COBIT
10 6 (0.61%) GRC
11 5 (0.51%) Cyber Essentials
12 4 (0.40%) Disclosure Scotland
12 4 (0.40%) HIPAA
12 4 (0.40%) ISO 9001
12 4 (0.40%) NCSC
13 3 (0.30%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 3 (0.30%) PCI DSS
14 2 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 122 (12.35%) Active Directory
2 44 (4.45%) VMware Infrastructure
3 21 (2.13%) VMware NSX
4 17 (1.72%) Docker
5 16 (1.62%) Hyper-V
6 11 (1.11%) Virtual Desktop
7 8 (0.81%) BitLocker
8 6 (0.61%) Virtual Servers
9 5 (0.51%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 4 (0.40%) NDS
10 4 (0.40%) NetIQ eDirectory
11 3 (0.30%) Virtual Machines
12 2 (0.20%) VMware ESXi
13 1 (0.10%) Slurm Workload Manager
13 1 (0.10%) Terminal Services
13 1 (0.10%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 35 (3.54%) SCCM
2 32 (3.24%) OPNET
3 27 (2.73%) Ansible
3 27 (2.73%) Terraform
4 24 (2.43%) Kubernetes
4 24 (2.43%) Microsoft Intune
4 24 (2.43%) vCenter Server
5 17 (1.72%) WSUS
6 11 (1.11%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 7 (0.71%) Grafana
7 7 (0.71%) Single Sign-On
8 6 (0.61%) Prometheus
8 6 (0.61%) SCOM
9 5 (0.51%) FortiGate
9 5 (0.51%) Jamf Pro
10 4 (0.40%) Nessus
10 4 (0.40%) Packer
10 4 (0.40%) Progress Chef
11 2 (0.20%) PowerCLI
11 2 (0.20%) Puppet
Vendors
1 243 (24.60%) ServiceNow
2 176 (17.81%) Microsoft
3 74 (7.49%) Cisco
4 65 (6.58%) Remedy
5 61 (6.17%) Atlassian
6 57 (5.77%) VMware
7 54 (5.47%) Oracle
8 35 (3.54%) Splunk
9 34 (3.44%) Google
10 33 (3.34%) SolarWinds
11 31 (3.14%) HP
11 31 (3.14%) SAP
12 22 (2.23%) Dynatrace
13 21 (2.13%) AppDynamics
14 20 (2.02%) Salesforce
15 19 (1.92%) Juniper
16 15 (1.52%) Citrix
17 14 (1.42%) Red Hat
17 14 (1.42%) Veeam
18 10 (1.01%) Palo Alto