SLA Job Trends

Service Level Agreement (SLA)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring SLA skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 14 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 201 186 137
Rank change year-on-year -15 -49 +8
Permanent jobs citing SLA 824 754 1,823
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.11% 1.73% 2.16%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 9.64% 10.65% 15.08%
Number of salaries quoted 518 513 1,384
10th Percentile £26,250 £25,000 £23,500
25th Percentile £28,750 £28,822 £25,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,500 £37,500 £32,500
Median % change year-on-year - +15.38% -17.67%
75th Percentile £58,750 £56,250 £50,000
90th Percentile £74,500 £75,000 £67,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £31,500 £32,500 £30,000
% change year-on-year -3.08% +8.33% -19.37%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK

SLA falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 8,544 7,081 12,085
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 11.53% 16.24% 14.35%
Number of salaries quoted 4,839 3,730 8,709
10th Percentile £30,580 £31,250 £27,400
25th Percentile £42,500 £42,500 £36,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £60,000 £54,000
Median % change year-on-year - +11.11% -6.09%
75th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £71,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £54,228 £47,500
% change year-on-year -7.80% +14.16% -5.00%

SLA
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing SLA relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

SLA job vacancy trend in the UK

SLA
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing SLA.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing SLA

SLA
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing SLA over the 6 months to 14 March 2026.

Salary histogram for SLA in the UK

SLA
Top 17 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing SLA within the UK over the 6 months to 14 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -32 693 £38,500 +2.67% 257
UK excluding London -21 578 £31,500 -3.08% 212
Work from Home +49 223 £45,000 -1.37% 78
London +51 216 £60,000 +14.29% 63
South East -12 146 £32,500 -24.42% 84
Midlands -24 139 £30,580 +6.10% 29
North of England -85 84 £35,000 +20.69% 53
Scotland +57 73 £27,500 -56.86% 7
East Midlands 0 73 £28,000 -2.61% 16
West Midlands -38 61 £31,290 +8.56% 13
South West -45 55 £31,000 -22.50% 16
East of England -3 50 £32,500 -23.53% 31
North West -31 49 £40,000 +33.33% 34
Yorkshire -63 24 £30,000 +3.45% 18
Northern Ireland -13 17 £37,500 -
Wales -1 15 £29,000 -32.56% 3
North East -21 11 - - 1

SLA
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 61 (7.40%) Microsoft Exchange
2 53 (6.43%) SharePoint
3 22 (2.67%) Exchange Server 2003
4 16 (1.94%) Confluence
5 8 (0.97%) Palantir Foundry
5 8 (0.97%) Tomcat
5 8 (0.97%) WebSphere
5 8 (0.97%) WebSphere Application Server
6 6 (0.73%) Appian
7 4 (0.49%) Apache Airflow
7 4 (0.49%) IIS
8 2 (0.24%) Apache
9 1 (0.12%) CMS
9 1 (0.12%) WordPress
Applications
1 136 (16.50%) Microsoft Office
2 29 (3.52%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (1.46%) MS Visio
4 9 (1.09%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.24%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 13 (1.58%) Salesforce CRM
2 11 (1.33%) Dynamics AX
3 10 (1.21%) Sage 200
4 5 (0.61%) Dynamics CRM
4 5 (0.61%) Sage X3
4 5 (0.61%) SAP S/4HANA
4 5 (0.61%) Workday HCM
5 4 (0.49%) IBM Planning Analytics
5 4 (0.49%) Shopify
6 3 (0.36%) SAP CO
6 3 (0.36%) SAP FI
6 3 (0.36%) SAP FI/CO
6 3 (0.36%) SAP FSCM
6 3 (0.36%) SAP HR
6 3 (0.36%) SAP Payroll
7 2 (0.24%) NetSuite
7 2 (0.24%) Q-Pulse
7 2 (0.24%) Remedy ITSM
8 1 (0.12%) Magento
8 1 (0.12%) SAP Oil and Gas
Cloud Services
1 284 (34.47%) Microsoft 365
2 178 (21.60%) Azure
3 111 (13.47%) Entra ID
4 68 (8.25%) AWS
5 64 (7.77%) Power Platform
6 36 (4.37%) SaaS
7 26 (3.16%) Nutanix
8 23 (2.79%) Datadog
9 22 (2.67%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 17 (2.06%) PaaS
11 16 (1.94%) IaaS
11 16 (1.94%) OneDrive
12 14 (1.70%) PowerApps
13 12 (1.46%) Azure DevOps
14 10 (1.21%) Power Automate
15 9 (1.09%) Azure Monitor
15 9 (1.09%) GCP
16 6 (0.73%) Dynamics 365
16 6 (0.73%) Serverless
17 5 (0.61%) Intacct
Communications & Networking
1 113 (13.71%) DNS
2 108 (13.11%) DHCP
3 67 (8.13%) Firewall
4 52 (6.31%) VPN
5 48 (5.83%) WAN
6 46 (5.58%) LAN
7 38 (4.61%) Wi-Fi
8 29 (3.52%) Remote Desktop
9 25 (3.03%) TCP/IP
10 21 (2.55%) Wireless
11 20 (2.43%) SD-WAN
12 18 (2.18%) VLAN
13 16 (1.94%) Structured Cabling
14 15 (1.82%) SAN
14 15 (1.82%) VoIP
15 10 (1.21%) Cisco IOS
15 10 (1.21%) SSL
16 9 (1.09%) WAAS
17 8 (0.97%) ADSL
18 7 (0.85%) ATM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 55 (6.67%) Power BI
2 43 (5.22%) SQL Server
3 25 (3.03%) Oracle Database
4 23 (2.79%) Oracle Database 10g
5 21 (2.55%) Big Data
6 11 (1.33%) MySQL
7 10 (1.21%) Data Warehouse
7 10 (1.21%) PostgreSQL
8 8 (0.97%) DB2
9 4 (0.49%) Pinecone
9 4 (0.49%) Relational Database
9 4 (0.49%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 4 (0.49%) Weaviate
10 3 (0.36%) Azure SQL Database
10 3 (0.36%) Crystal Reports
10 3 (0.36%) MariaDB
10 3 (0.36%) SAP HANA
11 2 (0.24%) Amazon RDS
12 1 (0.12%) Metadata
12 1 (0.12%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 33 (4.00%) JIRA
2 13 (1.58%) Chocolatey
3 9 (1.09%) Git
4 4 (0.49%) Jenkins
5 2 (0.24%) Postman
5 2 (0.24%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 325 (39.44%) Social Skills
2 103 (12.50%) Finance
3 73 (8.86%) Back Office
4 69 (8.37%) Law
5 63 (7.65%) Analytical Skills
6 45 (5.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 44 (5.34%) Marketing
8 38 (4.61%) Organisational Skills
8 38 (4.61%) Retail
9 35 (4.25%) Manufacturing
10 33 (4.00%) Banking
11 28 (3.40%) Telecoms
12 19 (2.31%) Documentation Skills
13 18 (2.18%) Public Sector
14 13 (1.58%) Billing
14 13 (1.58%) Military
15 12 (1.46%) Advertising
15 12 (1.46%) Legal
16 11 (1.33%) Games
17 7 (0.85%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 232 (28.16%) Support Engineer
2 122 (14.81%) IT Support
3 103 (12.50%) Analyst
4 88 (10.68%) 2nd Line Support
5 81 (9.83%) Desktop Engineer
5 81 (9.83%) IT Engineer
6 77 (9.34%) Desktop Support
6 77 (9.34%) Desktop Support Engineer
7 71 (8.62%) Support Analyst
8 70 (8.50%) IT Support Engineer
9 69 (8.37%) Lead
10 56 (6.80%) Site Engineer
11 46 (5.58%) Support Technician
12 45 (5.46%) 2nd Line Engineer
12 45 (5.46%) Applications Support
13 43 (5.22%) 1st Line Support
14 39 (4.73%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
14 39 (4.73%) Senior
15 38 (4.61%) Cloud Engineer
16 36 (4.37%) Service Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (1.70%) REST
2 8 (0.97%) LAPP Stack
2 8 (0.97%) LDAP
2 8 (0.97%) OpenID
2 8 (0.97%) SAML
2 8 (0.97%) WebSphere MQ
3 7 (0.85%) .NET
4 6 (0.73%) CSS
4 6 (0.73%) HTML
5 5 (0.61%) EDI
5 5 (0.61%) React
6 4 (0.49%) Django
6 4 (0.49%) FastAPI
6 4 (0.49%) GraphQL
6 4 (0.49%) Node.js
6 4 (0.49%) PyTorch
6 4 (0.49%) scikit-learn
6 4 (0.49%) TensorFlow
7 3 (0.36%) JSON
8 2 (0.24%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 63 (7.65%) Driving Licence
2 59 (7.16%) Onboarding
3 40 (4.85%) Management Information System
4 36 (4.37%) Data Centre
5 33 (4.00%) Public Cloud
6 30 (3.64%) Hybrid Cloud
7 25 (3.03%) CMDB
8 23 (2.79%) Self-Motivation
9 20 (2.43%) Product Ownership
10 15 (1.82%) Cyber Threat
11 12 (1.46%) Low-Code
11 12 (1.46%) Video Conferencing
12 11 (1.33%) NHS
13 9 (1.09%) Enterprise Software
13 9 (1.09%) Fat Client
13 9 (1.09%) Thin Client
14 8 (0.97%) Cloud Native
14 8 (0.97%) EPoS
14 8 (0.97%) Linux Command Line
14 8 (0.97%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 320 (38.83%) Windows
2 131 (15.90%) Windows 10
3 94 (11.41%) Windows Server
4 45 (5.46%) Android
5 37 (4.49%) Unix
6 35 (4.25%) Apple iOS
7 24 (2.91%) Windows 7
7 24 (2.91%) Windows Server 2008
8 23 (2.79%) HPUX
8 23 (2.79%) Solaris
9 22 (2.67%) Windows Server 2003
10 19 (2.31%) Linux
11 15 (1.82%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 5 (0.61%) Mac OS X
13 3 (0.36%) Mac OS
14 2 (0.24%) CentOS
14 2 (0.24%) VMS
14 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2012
15 1 (0.12%) OpenBSD
15 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 288 (34.95%) ITIL
2 221 (26.82%) Customer Service
3 191 (23.18%) Continuous Improvement
4 143 (17.35%) Problem-Solving
5 139 (16.87%) ITSM
6 123 (14.93%) Incident Management
7 95 (11.53%) Customer Experience
8 88 (10.68%) Cybersecurity
9 87 (10.56%) Service Delivery
10 80 (9.71%) Analytics
10 80 (9.71%) Root Cause Analysis
11 79 (9.59%) Change Management
12 74 (8.98%) Mentoring
13 73 (8.86%) Service Management
14 71 (8.62%) Ticket Management
15 68 (8.25%) Process Improvement
16 65 (7.89%) Business Intelligence
17 64 (7.77%) Patch Management
17 64 (7.77%) Stakeholder Management
18 62 (7.52%) Customer Acquisition
Programming Languages
1 63 (7.65%) PowerShell
2 51 (6.19%) SQL
3 31 (3.76%) Python
4 22 (2.67%) Perl
5 17 (2.06%) JavaScript
6 12 (1.46%) Java
7 8 (0.97%) C#
8 6 (0.73%) Bash
8 6 (0.73%) PHP
9 4 (0.49%) Go
9 4 (0.49%) Kusto Query Language
9 4 (0.49%) TypeScript
10 2 (0.24%) C
11 1 (0.12%) ABAP
11 1 (0.12%) Bicep
11 1 (0.12%) Shell Script
11 1 (0.12%) T-SQL
11 1 (0.12%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 170 (20.63%) Security Cleared
2 157 (19.05%) Degree
3 132 (16.02%) SC Cleared
4 63 (7.65%) CTC Cleared
5 37 (4.49%) Microsoft Certification
6 25 (3.03%) ITIL Certification
7 22 (2.67%) DV Cleared
8 19 (2.31%) Cisco Certification
9 18 (2.18%) CCNA
10 16 (1.94%) AWS Certification
11 15 (1.82%) HND
12 14 (1.70%) Azure Certification
13 13 (1.58%) Computer Science Degree
14 12 (1.46%) Microsoft Certified Professional
15 10 (1.21%) A+ Certification
16 9 (1.09%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
17 7 (0.85%) CCA
17 7 (0.85%) MCSA
17 7 (0.85%) MCSE
17 7 (0.85%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (3.03%) QA
2 20 (2.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 18 (2.18%) Accessibility
4 17 (2.06%) Data Quality
5 7 (0.85%) Cyber Essentials
6 6 (0.73%) GDPR
6 6 (0.73%) ISO 14001
6 6 (0.73%) NIST
7 5 (0.61%) GRC
7 5 (0.61%) NEBOSH
8 3 (0.36%) ISO 20022
8 3 (0.36%) PCI DSS
8 3 (0.36%) SOC 2
9 2 (0.24%) NCSC
10 1 (0.12%) ITGC
10 1 (0.12%) NIST 800
System Software
1 215 (26.09%) Active Directory
2 67 (8.13%) VMware Infrastructure
3 48 (5.83%) Hyper-V
4 7 (0.85%) Docker
4 7 (0.85%) Virtual Machines
5 5 (0.61%) Firmware
5 5 (0.61%) Veritas Cluster Server
5 5 (0.61%) Virtual Desktop
6 4 (0.49%) Terminal Services
6 4 (0.49%) vSphere
7 3 (0.36%) IAG
8 2 (0.24%) Citrix Hypervisor
8 2 (0.24%) Samba
9 1 (0.12%) KVM
9 1 (0.12%) VMware ESXi
9 1 (0.12%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 56 (6.80%) SCCM
2 49 (5.95%) Microsoft Intune
3 23 (2.79%) Jamf Pro
4 14 (1.70%) Terraform
5 13 (1.58%) Ansible
6 9 (1.09%) Kubernetes
6 9 (1.09%) Single Sign-On
7 5 (0.61%) Autotask
7 5 (0.61%) Cisco CUCM
8 4 (0.49%) WSUS
9 2 (0.24%) Control-M
10 1 (0.12%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 1 (0.12%) Failover Clustering
10 1 (0.12%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 346 (41.99%) Microsoft
2 114 (13.83%) Cisco
3 106 (12.86%) VMware
4 42 (5.10%) Dell
5 41 (4.98%) ServiceNow
6 38 (4.61%) Apple
7 36 (4.37%) HP
8 29 (3.52%) Oracle
9 28 (3.40%) SAP
10 25 (3.03%) Dell Compellent
10 25 (3.03%) Nimble Storage
11 22 (2.67%) Databricks
12 20 (2.43%) Salesforce
13 19 (2.31%) Samsung
14 17 (2.06%) Freshdesk
14 17 (2.06%) Juniper
15 15 (1.82%) Red Hat
15 15 (1.82%) Workday
16 14 (1.70%) McAfee
17 13 (1.58%) Dynatrace