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 12 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 74 62 54
Rank change year-on-year -12 -8 +14
Contract jobs citing Service Management 711 477 704
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 2.94% 3.73% 3.44%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.62% 4.12% 4.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 482 287 508
10th Percentile £210 £220 £280
25th Percentile £363 £383 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - +10.53%
75th Percentile £610 £601 £600
90th Percentile £738 £688 £715
UK median daily rate £513 £523 £525
% change year-on-year -1.91% -0.48% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 57 27 16
10th Percentile £16.09 - £12.53
25th Percentile £16.17 £12.62 £14.91
Median hourly rate £60.00 £12.82 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year +368.02% -26.75% -70.83%
75th Percentile £85.00 £22.14 £19.00
90th Percentile £136.30 £31.74 £23.62
UK median hourly rate £57.50 £15.80 £17.72
% change year-on-year +263.92% -10.84% -67.78%

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 19,643 11,572 17,299
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 81.11% 90.46% 84.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,827 7,241 10,314
10th Percentile £300 £235 £250
25th Percentile £400 £375 £380
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £478 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.93% -4.40% -
75th Percentile £588 £581 £600
90th Percentile £680 £658 £688
UK median daily rate £505 £519 £525
% change year-on-year -2.69% -1.24% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,076 834 2,058
10th Percentile £14.50 £14.20 £12.33
25th Percentile £19.00 £17.33 £15.26
Median hourly rate £45.00 £26.50 £38.00
Median % change year-on-year +69.81% -30.26% +8.57%
75th Percentile £67.50 £64.31 £61.25
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £72.90
UK median hourly rate £42.40 £28.75 £36.50
% change year-on-year +47.48% -21.23% +0.29%

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 12 May 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 12 May 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 12 May 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 +33 210 £520 +15.56% 91
North of England -17 179 £491 +3.32% 70
South West -23 146 £564 +2.41% 29
North West +4 96 £550 +6.40% 33
Midlands -23 90 £413 -25.00% 43
Yorkshire -32 72 £475 +11.76% 35
West Midlands -42 69 £420 -23.77% 33
East of England -13 45 £475 -13.64% 38
Scotland -27 34 £500 -3.94% 8
East Midlands -17 21 £405 -7.11% 10
North East -13 11 £280 +43.59% 2
Wales -7 7 £340 -12.26% 6
Northern Ireland - 4 - - 3
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 51 (7.17%) Confluence
2 26 (3.66%) Microsoft Exchange
3 23 (3.23%) SharePoint
4 8 (1.13%) Skype for Business
5 6 (0.84%) Mattermost
6 2 (0.28%) IIS
7 1 (0.14%) Apache
7 1 (0.14%) CMS
7 1 (0.14%) JBoss
7 1 (0.14%) LiveCycle
7 1 (0.14%) OpenStack
Applications
1 76 (10.69%) Microsoft Office
2 33 (4.64%) Microsoft Project
3 16 (2.25%) Microsoft Excel
4 9 (1.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 4 (0.56%) Chatbot
5 4 (0.56%) PTC Creo
6 2 (0.28%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.14%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 39 (5.49%) Remedy ITSM
2 10 (1.41%) SAP S/4HANA
3 8 (1.13%) Oracle EBS
4 7 (0.98%) Teamcenter
5 2 (0.28%) Oracle Applications
6 1 (0.14%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.14%) SAP HR
6 1 (0.14%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 95 (13.36%) Azure
2 53 (7.45%) Microsoft 365
3 48 (6.75%) AWS
4 42 (5.91%) Power Platform
5 28 (3.94%) GCP
6 23 (3.23%) SaaS
7 19 (2.67%) Entra ID
8 11 (1.55%) Azure DevOps
8 11 (1.55%) OneDrive
9 9 (1.27%) PaaS
10 8 (1.13%) GitHub
11 7 (0.98%) IaaS
11 7 (0.98%) OCI
12 6 (0.84%) Microsoft Copilot
12 6 (0.84%) OpenShift
12 6 (0.84%) PowerApps
13 5 (0.70%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 5 (0.70%) Dynamics 365
13 5 (0.70%) Power Automate
13 5 (0.70%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 34 (4.78%) Firewall
2 27 (3.80%) DNS
3 25 (3.52%) LAN
4 23 (3.23%) Network Security
5 22 (3.09%) WAN
6 17 (2.39%) DHCP
6 17 (2.39%) VPN
7 14 (1.97%) BGP
8 13 (1.83%) OSPF
9 12 (1.69%) BIG-IP
10 11 (1.55%) Cisco ISE
11 10 (1.41%) VLAN
12 9 (1.27%) TCP/IP
12 9 (1.27%) Wi-Fi
12 9 (1.27%) Wireless
13 8 (1.13%) Ethernet VPN
13 8 (1.13%) Junos
13 8 (1.13%) Skype
13 8 (1.13%) VXLAN
14 4 (0.56%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (4.36%) Power BI
2 13 (1.83%) SQL Server
3 8 (1.13%) Relational Database
4 6 (0.84%) PostgreSQL
5 5 (0.70%) Oracle Reports
6 4 (0.56%) Amazon RDS
6 4 (0.56%) InfluxDB
7 3 (0.42%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.42%) SQL Server Analysis Services
7 3 (0.42%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 3 (0.42%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 2 (0.28%) GIS
8 2 (0.28%) MariaDB
8 2 (0.28%) Microsoft Analysis Services
8 2 (0.28%) MySQL
8 2 (0.28%) Oracle Database
9 1 (0.14%) DTS
9 1 (0.14%) MongoDB
9 1 (0.14%) OpenStack Swift
9 1 (0.14%) Oracle Database 11g
Development Applications
1 97 (13.64%) JIRA
2 12 (1.69%) Git
3 10 (1.41%) Jenkins
4 9 (1.27%) Bitbucket
5 8 (1.13%) GitLab
6 6 (0.84%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 5 (0.70%) Browser DevTools
8 4 (0.56%) MLflow
9 3 (0.42%) Fiddler
10 2 (0.28%) Firebug
10 2 (0.28%) IntelliJ
10 2 (0.28%) ScriptRunner
10 2 (0.28%) Visual Studio Code
11 1 (0.14%) Claude Code
11 1 (0.14%) Gemini Tracker
11 1 (0.14%) Hudson
11 1 (0.14%) IBM UrbanCode
11 1 (0.14%) MSI
11 1 (0.14%) Rational DOORS
General
1 273 (38.40%) Social Skills
2 105 (14.77%) Analytical Skills
3 91 (12.80%) Finance
4 65 (9.14%) Public Sector
5 47 (6.61%) Legal
6 42 (5.91%) Military
7 27 (3.80%) Organisational Skills
8 18 (2.53%) Telecoms
9 14 (1.97%) Documentation Skills
10 13 (1.83%) Influencing Skills
10 13 (1.83%) Retail
11 11 (1.55%) Aerospace
11 11 (1.55%) Banking
12 8 (1.13%) Presentation Skills
13 5 (0.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 3 (0.42%) Financial Institution
15 2 (0.28%) Local Government
15 2 (0.28%) Pharmaceutical
15 2 (0.28%) Publishing
16 1 (0.14%) German Language
Job Titles
1 87 (12.24%) Service Manager
2 78 (10.97%) Architect
3 76 (10.69%) Lead
4 73 (10.27%) Analyst
5 46 (6.47%) Senior
6 45 (6.33%) Service Architect
7 40 (5.63%) IT Manager
8 35 (4.92%) Hardware Engineer
9 30 (4.22%) Service Analyst
10 28 (3.94%) Delivery Manager
11 26 (3.66%) Project Manager
12 24 (3.38%) Consultant
12 24 (3.38%) Network Engineer
13 22 (3.09%) Service Delivery Manager
14 21 (2.95%) Field Engineer
14 21 (2.95%) Field Hardware Engineer
14 21 (2.95%) IT Analyst
14 21 (2.95%) IT Services Manager
15 19 (2.67%) Break Fix Engineer
15 19 (2.67%) Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (3.23%) REST
2 12 (1.69%) SOAP
3 8 (1.13%) 802.1X
4 7 (0.98%) OAuth
5 5 (0.70%) .NET
5 5 (0.70%) Oracle Fusion
6 4 (0.56%) OAuth2
6 4 (0.56%) OpenID
6 4 (0.56%) RabbitMQ
6 4 (0.56%) SAML
6 4 (0.56%) Web Services
6 4 (0.56%) XML
6 4 (0.56%) XMPP
7 3 (0.42%) CSS
7 3 (0.42%) FIDO
7 3 (0.42%) Flash
7 3 (0.42%) HTML
7 3 (0.42%) Microsoft Graph
7 3 (0.42%) Middleware
8 2 (0.28%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 61 (8.58%) Product Ownership
2 41 (5.77%) Onboarding
3 35 (4.92%) CMDB
4 28 (3.94%) Data Centre
5 24 (3.38%) PKI
6 21 (2.95%) Virtual Team
7 20 (2.81%) Clustering
8 18 (2.53%) Management Information System
9 17 (2.39%) Driving Licence
10 15 (2.11%) Enterprise Software
11 13 (1.83%) PMI
12 10 (1.41%) Data Protection Act
12 10 (1.41%) Operational Technology
13 7 (0.98%) Replication
14 6 (0.84%) Analytical Mindset
14 6 (0.84%) Cloud Native
14 6 (0.84%) Self-Motivation
15 5 (0.70%) Legacy Systems
16 4 (0.56%) Hybrid Cloud
16 4 (0.56%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 135 (18.99%) Windows
2 38 (5.34%) Linux
3 32 (4.50%) Windows 10
4 31 (4.36%) Windows Server
5 10 (1.41%) Unix
5 10 (1.41%) Windows 7
6 5 (0.70%) Mac OS
6 5 (0.70%) Ubuntu
7 4 (0.56%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 2 (0.28%) Solaris
8 2 (0.28%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.14%) Android
9 1 (0.14%) Apple iOS
9 1 (0.14%) Data ONTAP
9 1 (0.14%) Rocky
9 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2008
9 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.14%) Windows XP
9 1 (0.14%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 414 (58.23%) ITIL
2 303 (42.62%) ITSM
3 163 (22.93%) Continuous Improvement
4 154 (21.66%) Agile
5 140 (19.69%) Stakeholder Management
6 128 (18.00%) Problem-Solving
7 117 (16.46%) Service Delivery
8 103 (14.49%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 88 (12.38%) Change Management
10 86 (12.10%) Customer Service
11 74 (10.41%) Service Design
12 70 (9.85%) DevOps
13 58 (8.16%) Configuration Management
14 54 (7.59%) Knowledge Transfer
15 52 (7.31%) Acceptance Criteria
16 51 (7.17%) Problem Management
16 51 (7.17%) Project Delivery
17 48 (6.75%) Incident Management
18 46 (6.47%) Roadmaps
19 43 (6.05%) Business Continuity
Programming Languages
1 44 (6.19%) PowerShell
2 39 (5.49%) SQL
3 26 (3.66%) Python
4 19 (2.67%) JavaScript
5 8 (1.13%) VB
5 8 (1.13%) VBScript
6 6 (0.84%) Bash
6 6 (0.84%) Java
7 5 (0.70%) C#
7 5 (0.70%) Shell Script
8 4 (0.56%) Go
8 4 (0.56%) PL/SQL
8 4 (0.56%) T-SQL
9 3 (0.42%) Apex Code
10 2 (0.28%) PHP
10 2 (0.28%) Search Processing Language
11 1 (0.14%) Bicep
11 1 (0.14%) C
11 1 (0.14%) Perl
11 1 (0.14%) VBA
Qualifications
1 360 (50.63%) Security Cleared
2 256 (36.01%) SC Cleared
3 108 (15.19%) DV Cleared
4 96 (13.50%) Degree
5 36 (5.06%) ITIL Certification
6 29 (4.08%) TOGAF Certification
7 26 (3.66%) Cisco Certification
8 23 (3.23%) PMI Certification
9 22 (3.09%) PMP
10 18 (2.53%) Computer Science Degree
11 15 (2.11%) BPSS Clearance
12 14 (1.97%) CCNA
13 13 (1.83%) Microsoft Certification
14 11 (1.55%) CCNP
15 10 (1.41%) A+ Certification
16 9 (1.27%) JNCIA
16 9 (1.27%) JNCIP
16 9 (1.27%) JNCIS
16 9 (1.27%) MAPM
16 9 (1.27%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (5.20%) SLA
2 23 (3.23%) Data Quality
3 18 (2.53%) PMO
4 15 (2.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 14 (1.97%) ISO/IEC 20000
5 14 (1.97%) QA
6 11 (1.55%) GDPR
7 10 (1.41%) NCSC
8 9 (1.27%) GRC
9 8 (1.13%) Cyber Essentials
10 7 (0.98%) COBIT
10 7 (0.98%) Government Security Classifications
11 6 (0.84%) Accessibility
11 6 (0.84%) ISO 31000
11 6 (0.84%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 5 (0.70%) Disclosure Scotland
13 4 (0.56%) GMP
13 4 (0.56%) ISO 9001
14 3 (0.42%) JSP 440
15 2 (0.28%) GxP
System Software
1 64 (9.00%) Active Directory
2 30 (4.22%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (1.55%) VMware ESXi
4 8 (1.13%) BitLocker
4 8 (1.13%) Docker
5 6 (0.84%) vSphere
6 4 (0.56%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (0.42%) Hyper-V
7 3 (0.42%) NFS
7 3 (0.42%) VMware NSX
8 2 (0.28%) GPFS
8 2 (0.28%) vCloud
9 1 (0.14%) iptables
9 1 (0.14%) Oracle RAC
9 1 (0.14%) Samba
9 1 (0.14%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 1 (0.14%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 29 (4.08%) OPNET
2 26 (3.66%) Ansible
3 18 (2.53%) SCCM
4 17 (2.39%) Terraform
5 15 (2.11%) Kubernetes
6 12 (1.69%) Microsoft Intune
7 8 (1.13%) FortiGate
8 7 (0.98%) Grafana
8 7 (0.98%) Progress Chef
8 7 (0.98%) Single Sign-On
9 5 (0.70%) Puppet
9 5 (0.70%) vCenter Server
10 4 (0.56%) Jamf Pro
10 4 (0.56%) PowerCLI
10 4 (0.56%) Prometheus
10 4 (0.56%) vMotion
11 3 (0.42%) Nessus
11 3 (0.42%) Packer
11 3 (0.42%) SCOM
11 3 (0.42%) vRealize
Vendors
1 168 (23.63%) ServiceNow
2 111 (15.61%) Microsoft
3 72 (10.13%) Remedy
4 46 (6.47%) VMware
5 43 (6.05%) Atlassian
6 39 (5.49%) Cisco
7 34 (4.78%) HP
8 30 (4.22%) Oracle
9 17 (2.39%) BMC
9 17 (2.39%) Dell
9 17 (2.39%) Google
9 17 (2.39%) SAP
9 17 (2.39%) Splunk
10 15 (2.11%) Canon
11 12 (1.69%) F5
11 12 (1.69%) SolarWinds
12 11 (1.55%) Juniper
13 10 (1.41%) Palo Alto
14 9 (1.27%) IFS
15 8 (1.13%) Extreme Networks