Service Management Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Service Management
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring Service Management skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 20 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 68 59 55
Rank change year-on-year -9 -4 +11
Contract jobs citing Service Management 741 492 718
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 3.17% 3.85% 3.45%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.88% 4.26% 4.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 501 312 521
10th Percentile £204 £215 £282
25th Percentile £375 £399 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% - +10.53%
75th Percentile £610 £606 £600
90th Percentile £738 £688 £715
UK median daily rate £518 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -1.43% - +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 58 31 19
10th Percentile £15.61 - £12.53
25th Percentile £16.17 £12.62 £15.32
Median hourly rate £60.00 £22.14 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +171.00% +24.94% -65.76%
75th Percentile £82.81 £30.54 £19.87
90th Percentile £98.25 £68.75 £31.35
UK median hourly rate £60.00 £22.14 £17.72
% change year-on-year +171.00% +24.94% -65.76%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK excluding London

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 in the UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 19,105 11,560 17,673
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 81.65% 90.50% 85.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,616 7,315 10,665
10th Percentile £281 £238 £246
25th Percentile £400 £380 £381
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £487 £485 £500
Median % change year-on-year +0.41% -3.00% -
75th Percentile £585 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £663 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £523 £525
% change year-on-year -4.31% -0.48% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,000 798 2,012
10th Percentile £14.50 £14.69 £12.30
25th Percentile £18.57 £18.13 £15.13
Median hourly rate £40.00 £28.88 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +38.53% -17.50% -2.78%
75th Percentile £66.00 £65.00 £59.96
90th Percentile £78.75 £76.25 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £37.50 £30.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year +25.00% -14.29% -3.59%

Service Management
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Service Management relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Service Management job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Service Management
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Service Management.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Service Management

Service Management
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Service Management in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 20 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Service Management in the UK excluding London

Service Management
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Service Management.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Service Management

Service Management
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Service Management in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 20 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Service Management in the UK excluding London

Service Management
Contract Job Locations in the UK excluding London

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 excluding London region over the 6 months to 20 April 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
South East +28 211 £510 +9.68% 89
North of England -5 178 £500 +5.26% 81
South West -14 175 £588 +6.82% 32
North West +7 104 £550 +5.26% 33
Midlands -28 96 £406 -24.42% 55
West Midlands -38 74 £406 -26.20% 38
Yorkshire -33 62 £472 +10.94% 39
East of England -17 48 £475 -13.64% 54
Scotland -36 31 £500 -1.04% 19
East Midlands -13 22 £405 +5.88% 17
North East -10 15 £420 +115.38% 9
Wales -9 3 £340 -25.48% 14
Northern Ireland - 3 £500 - 4
Service Management
UK

Service Management
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 66 (8.91%) Confluence
2 40 (5.40%) Microsoft Exchange
3 26 (3.51%) SharePoint
4 9 (1.21%) Skype for Business
5 5 (0.67%) Mattermost
6 2 (0.27%) Apache
6 2 (0.27%) IIS
7 1 (0.13%) HCL Notes
7 1 (0.13%) JBoss
7 1 (0.13%) LiveCycle
7 1 (0.13%) OpenStack
7 1 (0.13%) SharePoint Server
7 1 (0.13%) WebLogic
Applications
1 79 (10.66%) Microsoft Office
2 35 (4.72%) Microsoft Project
3 17 (2.29%) Microsoft Excel
4 9 (1.21%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 4 (0.54%) PTC Creo
6 3 (0.40%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.13%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 33 (4.45%) Remedy ITSM
2 11 (1.48%) Oracle EBS
3 9 (1.21%) SAP S/4HANA
4 6 (0.81%) Teamcenter
5 2 (0.27%) Oracle Applications
6 1 (0.13%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.13%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.13%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.13%) SAP HR
6 1 (0.13%) SAP Payroll
6 1 (0.13%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 92 (12.42%) Azure
2 58 (7.83%) Microsoft 365
3 54 (7.29%) AWS
4 38 (5.13%) Power Platform
5 34 (4.59%) GCP
6 25 (3.37%) SaaS
7 20 (2.70%) Entra ID
8 10 (1.35%) Azure DevOps
9 8 (1.08%) OneDrive
9 8 (1.08%) PaaS
10 7 (0.94%) GitHub
10 7 (0.94%) IaaS
10 7 (0.94%) OCI
11 6 (0.81%) OpenShift
11 6 (0.81%) PowerApps
12 5 (0.67%) AWS Lambda
12 5 (0.67%) Dynamics 365
12 5 (0.67%) Power Automate
12 5 (0.67%) Salesforce Service Cloud
12 5 (0.67%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 40 (5.40%) Firewall
2 37 (4.99%) DNS
3 29 (3.91%) LAN
4 26 (3.51%) Network Security
4 26 (3.51%) WAN
5 24 (3.24%) DHCP
5 24 (3.24%) VPN
6 20 (2.70%) VLAN
7 19 (2.56%) BGP
8 14 (1.89%) Wi-Fi
9 13 (1.75%) Cisco ISE
9 13 (1.75%) OSPF
10 12 (1.62%) BIG-IP
10 12 (1.62%) TCP/IP
11 11 (1.48%) Skype
11 11 (1.48%) WebEx
12 10 (1.35%) Junos
12 10 (1.35%) Wireless
13 8 (1.08%) Ethernet VPN
13 8 (1.08%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (3.91%) Power BI
2 10 (1.35%) SQL Server
3 8 (1.08%) Relational Database
4 5 (0.67%) Oracle Reports
5 4 (0.54%) Amazon RDS
5 4 (0.54%) InfluxDB
5 4 (0.54%) Metadata
5 4 (0.54%) PostgreSQL
6 3 (0.40%) Azure SQL Database
7 2 (0.27%) Big Data
7 2 (0.27%) GIS
7 2 (0.27%) SQL Server Analysis Services
7 2 (0.27%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 2 (0.27%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 1 (0.13%) DTS
8 1 (0.13%) Electronic Patient Records
8 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Analysis Services
8 1 (0.13%) MongoDB
8 1 (0.13%) OpenStack Swift
Development Applications
1 112 (15.11%) JIRA
2 11 (1.48%) Bitbucket
2 11 (1.48%) Git
3 10 (1.35%) Jenkins
4 8 (1.08%) GitLab
5 6 (0.81%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 4 (0.54%) MLflow
7 2 (0.27%) Browser DevTools
7 2 (0.27%) Fiddler
7 2 (0.27%) IntelliJ
7 2 (0.27%) ScriptRunner
8 1 (0.13%) Hudson
8 1 (0.13%) MSI
8 1 (0.13%) Rational DOORS
8 1 (0.13%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 277 (37.38%) Social Skills
2 110 (14.84%) Analytical Skills
3 88 (11.88%) Finance
4 73 (9.85%) Public Sector
5 55 (7.42%) Legal
6 46 (6.21%) Military
7 26 (3.51%) Organisational Skills
8 16 (2.16%) Telecoms
9 15 (2.02%) Retail
10 14 (1.89%) Documentation Skills
10 14 (1.89%) Influencing Skills
11 12 (1.62%) Banking
12 11 (1.48%) Aerospace
13 6 (0.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 6 (0.81%) Manufacturing
14 5 (0.67%) Presentation Skills
15 3 (0.40%) Financial Institution
15 3 (0.40%) Investment Banking
16 2 (0.27%) Pharmaceutical
16 2 (0.27%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 90 (12.15%) Service Manager
2 84 (11.34%) Architect
3 77 (10.39%) Analyst
4 74 (9.99%) Lead
5 47 (6.34%) Service Architect
6 43 (5.80%) Senior
7 42 (5.67%) IT Manager
8 35 (4.72%) Hardware Engineer
9 30 (4.05%) Consultant
10 27 (3.64%) Delivery Manager
10 27 (3.64%) Service Analyst
11 25 (3.37%) IT Analyst
11 25 (3.37%) Network Engineer
11 25 (3.37%) Project Manager
12 24 (3.24%) IT Support
13 23 (3.10%) Field Engineer
13 23 (3.10%) IT Services Manager
14 22 (2.97%) Service Delivery Manager
15 21 (2.83%) Field Hardware Engineer
15 21 (2.83%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (4.59%) REST
2 11 (1.48%) SOAP
2 11 (1.48%) XMPP
3 8 (1.08%) 802.1X
4 6 (0.81%) OAuth
5 5 (0.67%) .NET
5 5 (0.67%) Oracle Fusion
6 4 (0.54%) RabbitMQ
6 4 (0.54%) Web Services
7 3 (0.40%) Microsoft Graph
7 3 (0.40%) OAuth2
7 3 (0.40%) OpenID
7 3 (0.40%) SAML
8 2 (0.27%) FIDO
8 2 (0.27%) JSON
8 2 (0.27%) Lightning Web Components
8 2 (0.27%) Middleware
8 2 (0.27%) RFC 2544
8 2 (0.27%) XML
9 1 (0.13%) ARM Templates
Miscellaneous
1 73 (9.85%) Product Ownership
2 41 (5.53%) Onboarding
3 39 (5.26%) CMDB
4 26 (3.51%) Data Centre
5 24 (3.24%) Virtual Team
6 20 (2.70%) Management Information System
7 19 (2.56%) Driving Licence
7 19 (2.56%) PKI
8 16 (2.16%) Clustering
9 13 (1.75%) Enterprise Software
9 13 (1.75%) PMI
10 11 (1.48%) Self-Motivation
11 10 (1.35%) Data Protection Act
12 9 (1.21%) Analytical Mindset
13 8 (1.08%) Operational Technology
14 6 (0.81%) Cloud Native
14 6 (0.81%) NHS
15 5 (0.67%) Fat Client
15 5 (0.67%) Hybrid Cloud
15 5 (0.67%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 143 (19.30%) Windows
2 50 (6.75%) Linux
3 45 (6.07%) Windows Server
4 35 (4.72%) Windows 10
5 14 (1.89%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 11 (1.48%) Windows 7
7 7 (0.94%) Unix
8 6 (0.81%) Ubuntu
9 5 (0.67%) Mac OS
9 5 (0.67%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.27%) CentOS
10 2 (0.27%) Solaris
10 2 (0.27%) Windows Server 2003
10 2 (0.27%) Windows Server 2019
11 1 (0.13%) Android
11 1 (0.13%) Apple iOS
11 1 (0.13%) Data ONTAP
11 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2008
11 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.13%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 435 (58.70%) ITIL
2 336 (45.34%) ITSM
3 168 (22.67%) Continuous Improvement
4 166 (22.40%) Agile
5 140 (18.89%) Stakeholder Management
6 138 (18.62%) Problem-Solving
7 126 (17.00%) Service Delivery
8 109 (14.71%) Change Management
9 101 (13.63%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 79 (10.66%) DevOps
11 78 (10.53%) Customer Service
12 75 (10.12%) Service Design
13 66 (8.91%) Acceptance Criteria
14 62 (8.37%) Configuration Management
15 59 (7.96%) Problem Management
16 56 (7.56%) Incident Management
17 51 (6.88%) Knowledge Transfer
18 50 (6.75%) Performance Metrics
19 47 (6.34%) Business Continuity
19 47 (6.34%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 73 (9.85%) PowerShell
2 45 (6.07%) Python
3 36 (4.86%) SQL
4 16 (2.16%) Bash
5 14 (1.89%) JavaScript
6 9 (1.21%) Perl
6 9 (1.21%) VB
6 9 (1.21%) VBScript
7 5 (0.67%) C#
7 5 (0.67%) Java
7 5 (0.67%) Shell Script
8 4 (0.54%) Go
9 3 (0.40%) Apex Code
9 3 (0.40%) PL/SQL
9 3 (0.40%) T-SQL
10 2 (0.27%) PHP
11 1 (0.13%) C
11 1 (0.13%) Scala
11 1 (0.13%) Search Processing Language
11 1 (0.13%) VBA
Qualifications
1 391 (52.77%) Security Cleared
2 295 (39.81%) SC Cleared
3 114 (15.38%) DV Cleared
4 102 (13.77%) Degree
5 40 (5.40%) ITIL Certification
6 30 (4.05%) TOGAF Certification
7 26 (3.51%) Cisco Certification
7 26 (3.51%) PMI Certification
8 25 (3.37%) PMP
9 21 (2.83%) BPSS Clearance
10 17 (2.29%) Microsoft Certification
11 16 (2.16%) CCNP
11 16 (2.16%) Computer Science Degree
12 15 (2.02%) CCNA
13 11 (1.48%) A+ Certification
14 9 (1.21%) JNCIA
14 9 (1.21%) JNCIP
14 9 (1.21%) JNCIS
14 9 (1.21%) MAPM
15 7 (0.94%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (4.05%) SLA
2 22 (2.97%) Data Quality
3 16 (2.16%) PMO
4 15 (2.02%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 14 (1.89%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 11 (1.48%) QA
7 10 (1.35%) GDPR
7 10 (1.35%) NCSC
8 8 (1.08%) GRC
9 7 (0.94%) Cyber Essentials
9 7 (0.94%) Government Security Classifications
10 6 (0.81%) Accessibility
10 6 (0.81%) COBIT
11 5 (0.67%) Disclosure Scotland
11 5 (0.67%) ISO 31000
11 5 (0.67%) ISO 9001
11 5 (0.67%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 4 (0.54%) GMP
13 2 (0.27%) GxP
13 2 (0.27%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 70 (9.45%) Active Directory
2 31 (4.18%) VMware Infrastructure
3 10 (1.35%) Docker
4 9 (1.21%) BitLocker
5 4 (0.54%) Hyper-V
5 4 (0.54%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.40%) VMware ESXi
6 3 (0.40%) VMware NSX
7 2 (0.27%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.13%) iptables
8 1 (0.13%) NFS
8 1 (0.13%) Samba
8 1 (0.13%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 30 (4.05%) OPNET
2 24 (3.24%) Ansible
2 24 (3.24%) SCCM
3 19 (2.56%) Terraform
4 18 (2.43%) Kubernetes
5 14 (1.89%) Microsoft Intune
6 10 (1.35%) FortiGate
7 7 (0.94%) Grafana
7 7 (0.94%) Progress Chef
8 6 (0.81%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 5 (0.67%) Puppet
9 5 (0.67%) vCenter Server
10 4 (0.54%) Jamf Pro
10 4 (0.54%) Nessus
10 4 (0.54%) Packer
10 4 (0.54%) Prometheus
10 4 (0.54%) Single Sign-On
11 3 (0.40%) Cisco Prime
12 2 (0.27%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
12 2 (0.27%) WSUS
Vendors
1 170 (22.94%) ServiceNow
2 129 (17.41%) Microsoft
3 67 (9.04%) Remedy
4 63 (8.50%) Atlassian
5 50 (6.75%) Cisco
6 47 (6.34%) VMware
7 34 (4.59%) HP
8 31 (4.18%) Oracle
9 24 (3.24%) Google
10 20 (2.70%) Splunk
11 18 (2.43%) Red Hat
12 17 (2.29%) Dell
13 16 (2.16%) SAP
13 16 (2.16%) SolarWinds
14 15 (2.02%) Canon
14 15 (2.02%) Citrix
15 13 (1.75%) BMC
15 13 (1.75%) Juniper
16 12 (1.62%) F5
16 12 (1.62%) Palo Alto