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

6 months to
20 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 69 62 56
Rank change year-on-year -7 -6 +11
Contract jobs citing Service Management 690 461 678
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 3.39% 3.42% 3.26%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.04% 3.82% 3.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 455 290 502
10th Percentile £185 £207 £282
25th Percentile £310 £382 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £535
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -2.80% +12.63%
75th Percentile £597 £606 £607
90th Percentile £738 £688 £715
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £535
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.87% +7.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 74 23 12
10th Percentile £14.00 £14.31 £12.53
25th Percentile £16.31 £22.14 £14.73
Median hourly rate £29.60 £30.00 £17.11
Median % change year-on-year -1.33% +75.34% -73.68%
75th Percentile £69.62 £37.00 £17.73
90th Percentile £82.80 £69.75 £45.65
UK median hourly rate £29.60 £30.00 £17.72
% change year-on-year -1.33% +69.30% -39.22%

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 17,094 12,056 17,945
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 84.10% 89.54% 86.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,379 7,201 11,110
10th Percentile £250 £230 £250
25th Percentile £388 £375 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £481 £490 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.84% -2.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,849 657 1,764
10th Percentile £14.32 £15.25 £13.00
25th Percentile £17.30 £20.12 £15.50
Median hourly rate £25.15 £30.45 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -17.41% -13.00% -
75th Percentile £60.61 £64.73 £60.75
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £72.85
UK median hourly rate £25.64 £32.50 £34.77
% change year-on-year -21.12% -6.52% -0.67%

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 February 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 February 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 February 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 +30 187 £488 +8.33% 105
North of England -10 165 £500 +17.65% 99
South West -4 157 £575 +1.77% 58
Midlands -6 106 £425 -23.94% 56
North West +1 89 £550 +25.71% 69
West Midlands -24 79 £431 -23.88% 38
Yorkshire -29 61 £468 +108.00% 28
East of England -12 47 £452 -17.82% 30
Scotland -19 30 £488 -2.11% 13
East Midlands -3 27 £419 -9.95% 17
North East -8 18 £280 -53.04% 2
Wales -4 2 £160 -58.71% 6
Northern Ireland - 2 £325 - 1
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 64 (9.28%) Confluence
2 55 (7.97%) Microsoft Exchange
3 48 (6.96%) SharePoint
4 14 (2.03%) Skype for Business
5 5 (0.72%) Mattermost
5 5 (0.72%) SharePoint Server
6 4 (0.58%) Apache
6 4 (0.58%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.29%) JBoss
8 1 (0.14%) CMS
8 1 (0.14%) HCL Notes
8 1 (0.14%) LiveCycle
Applications
1 87 (12.61%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (5.22%) Microsoft Project
3 19 (2.75%) Microsoft Excel
4 7 (1.01%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 4 (0.58%) PTC Creo
6 2 (0.29%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.14%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 20 (2.90%) Remedy ITSM
2 13 (1.88%) Oracle EBS
3 9 (1.30%) SAP S/4HANA
4 6 (0.87%) Teamcenter
5 2 (0.29%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.14%) assyst
6 1 (0.14%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.14%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.14%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.14%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 107 (15.51%) Azure
2 72 (10.43%) AWS
2 72 (10.43%) Microsoft 365
3 39 (5.65%) GCP
4 26 (3.77%) Entra ID
5 24 (3.48%) Power Platform
6 18 (2.61%) OneDrive
7 17 (2.46%) SaaS
8 8 (1.16%) Azure DevOps
9 7 (1.01%) PowerApps
9 7 (1.01%) Salesforce Service Cloud
10 6 (0.87%) IaaS
11 5 (0.72%) Amazon EC2
11 5 (0.72%) AWS Lambda
11 5 (0.72%) Dynamics 365
11 5 (0.72%) GitHub
11 5 (0.72%) OpenShift
11 5 (0.72%) PaaS
11 5 (0.72%) Power Automate
11 5 (0.72%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 51 (7.39%) DNS
2 36 (5.22%) DHCP
3 28 (4.06%) Firewall
3 28 (4.06%) VLAN
4 24 (3.48%) LAN
5 22 (3.19%) Skype
6 21 (3.04%) VPN
6 21 (3.04%) WAN
7 19 (2.75%) Junos
8 18 (2.61%) Cisco ISE
8 18 (2.61%) Network Security
9 17 (2.46%) TCP/IP
10 15 (2.17%) Wi-Fi
11 14 (2.03%) BGP
12 13 (1.88%) Cisco Firepower
12 13 (1.88%) Cisco IOS
13 10 (1.45%) WebEx
14 8 (1.16%) OSPF
15 7 (1.01%) BIG-IP
16 6 (0.87%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (2.17%) Power BI
2 14 (2.03%) Relational Database
3 8 (1.16%) SQL Server
4 4 (0.58%) Amazon RDS
4 4 (0.58%) InfluxDB
4 4 (0.58%) Metadata
5 3 (0.43%) PostgreSQL
6 2 (0.29%) Azure SQL Database
6 2 (0.29%) Big Data
6 2 (0.29%) GIS
6 2 (0.29%) MongoDB
7 1 (0.14%) Data Mining
7 1 (0.14%) Electronic Patient Records
7 1 (0.14%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 97 (14.06%) JIRA
2 12 (1.74%) Jenkins
3 6 (0.87%) Bitbucket
3 6 (0.87%) Git
4 4 (0.58%) GitLab
5 2 (0.29%) ScriptRunner
6 1 (0.14%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.14%) MLflow
6 1 (0.14%) Rational DOORS
6 1 (0.14%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 282 (40.87%) Social Skills
2 129 (18.70%) Analytical Skills
3 89 (12.90%) Public Sector
4 74 (10.72%) Finance
5 46 (6.67%) Legal
6 45 (6.52%) Military
7 29 (4.20%) Organisational Skills
8 18 (2.61%) Retail
9 16 (2.32%) Documentation Skills
10 15 (2.17%) Telecoms
11 14 (2.03%) Influencing Skills
11 14 (2.03%) Manufacturing
12 13 (1.88%) Banking
13 10 (1.45%) Aerospace
14 6 (0.87%) Investment Banking
15 5 (0.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 4 (0.58%) Presentation Skills
17 3 (0.43%) Electronics
17 3 (0.43%) Marketing
18 2 (0.29%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 86 (12.46%) Analyst
2 76 (11.01%) Architect
2 76 (11.01%) Lead
3 66 (9.57%) Service Manager
4 48 (6.96%) Support Engineer
5 42 (6.09%) Service Architect
6 35 (5.07%) IT Support
7 32 (4.64%) Hardware Engineer
8 26 (3.77%) Network Engineer
9 24 (3.48%) Consultant
9 24 (3.48%) IT Manager
9 24 (3.48%) Support Analyst
10 23 (3.33%) Senior
10 23 (3.33%) Service Analyst
11 22 (3.19%) 2nd Line Support
11 22 (3.19%) IT Analyst
12 20 (2.90%) Delivery Manager
12 20 (2.90%) Desktop Support
12 20 (2.90%) Field Engineer
12 20 (2.90%) Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (3.62%) REST
2 10 (1.45%) XMPP
3 7 (1.01%) SOAP
4 6 (0.87%) 802.1X
5 5 (0.72%) RFC 2544
6 4 (0.58%) .NET
6 4 (0.58%) Elastic Stack
6 4 (0.58%) RabbitMQ
6 4 (0.58%) Web Services
7 2 (0.29%) CSS
7 2 (0.29%) JSON
7 2 (0.29%) Middleware
7 2 (0.29%) Spring Boot
8 1 (0.14%) ARM Templates
8 1 (0.14%) HTML
8 1 (0.14%) LDAP
8 1 (0.14%) Lightning Web Components
8 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Graph
8 1 (0.14%) Oracle GoldenGate
8 1 (0.14%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 59 (8.55%) Product Ownership
2 34 (4.93%) CMDB
3 28 (4.06%) Data Centre
3 28 (4.06%) Management Information System
3 28 (4.06%) Onboarding
4 25 (3.62%) Virtual Team
5 22 (3.19%) PKI
6 19 (2.75%) Driving Licence
7 18 (2.61%) Self-Motivation
8 16 (2.32%) Analytical Mindset
9 11 (1.59%) PMI
10 8 (1.16%) Enterprise Software
10 8 (1.16%) NHS
11 7 (1.01%) Clustering
11 7 (1.01%) Data Protection Act
12 6 (0.87%) Smartphone
13 5 (0.72%) Data Structures
13 5 (0.72%) Fibre Optics
13 5 (0.72%) Mainframe
14 4 (0.58%) Distributed Systems
Operating Systems
1 178 (25.80%) Windows
2 58 (8.41%) Linux
3 49 (7.10%) Windows Server
4 47 (6.81%) Windows 10
5 14 (2.03%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 11 (1.59%) Windows 7
7 9 (1.30%) Mac OS
7 9 (1.30%) Unix
8 7 (1.01%) Android
8 7 (1.01%) Apple iOS
8 7 (1.01%) Windows Server 2012
9 5 (0.72%) Ubuntu
10 4 (0.58%) Windows Server 2003
10 4 (0.58%) Windows Server 2016
11 3 (0.43%) CentOS
12 2 (0.29%) Windows Server 2019
13 1 (0.14%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2008
13 1 (0.14%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 421 (61.01%) ITIL
2 308 (44.64%) ITSM
3 147 (21.30%) Problem-Solving
4 137 (19.86%) Continuous Improvement
5 129 (18.70%) Agile
6 113 (16.38%) Change Management
7 99 (14.35%) Stakeholder Management
8 94 (13.62%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 88 (12.75%) Service Delivery
10 85 (12.32%) Customer Service
11 69 (10.00%) Service Design
12 56 (8.12%) DevOps
12 56 (8.12%) Problem Management
13 55 (7.97%) Incident Management
14 54 (7.83%) Acceptance Criteria
14 54 (7.83%) Configuration Management
15 52 (7.54%) Knowledge Transfer
15 52 (7.54%) Performance Metrics
16 50 (7.25%) Project Management
17 43 (6.23%) Critical Thinking
Programming Languages
1 73 (10.58%) PowerShell
2 49 (7.10%) Python
3 39 (5.65%) SQL
4 13 (1.88%) Perl
5 12 (1.74%) Bash
5 12 (1.74%) Shell Script
6 9 (1.30%) VB
6 9 (1.30%) VBScript
7 8 (1.16%) Java
8 7 (1.01%) JavaScript
9 4 (0.58%) Go
10 2 (0.29%) C#
10 2 (0.29%) PHP
11 1 (0.14%) Apex Code
11 1 (0.14%) PL/SQL
11 1 (0.14%) Scala
11 1 (0.14%) Search Processing Language
11 1 (0.14%) T-SQL
11 1 (0.14%) VBA
Qualifications
1 346 (50.14%) Security Cleared
2 258 (37.39%) SC Cleared
3 103 (14.93%) DV Cleared
4 94 (13.62%) Degree
5 40 (5.80%) ITIL Certification
6 34 (4.93%) Microsoft Certification
7 30 (4.35%) TOGAF Certification
8 22 (3.19%) Cisco Certification
9 20 (2.90%) PMI Certification
10 19 (2.75%) PMP
11 16 (2.32%) BPSS Clearance
11 16 (2.32%) CCNP
11 16 (2.32%) MCSE
12 15 (2.17%) CCNA
13 14 (2.03%) Azure Certification
13 14 (2.03%) Computer Science Degree
13 14 (2.03%) Network+ Certification
14 13 (1.88%) A+ Certification
15 11 (1.59%) Server+ Certification
16 7 (1.01%) MAPM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (4.20%) SLA
2 16 (2.32%) Data Quality
3 12 (1.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 10 (1.45%) GDPR
4 10 (1.45%) PMO
4 10 (1.45%) QA
5 6 (0.87%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 5 (0.72%) Cyber Essentials
7 4 (0.58%) Disclosure Scotland
8 3 (0.43%) ISO 9001
8 3 (0.43%) NCSC
9 2 (0.29%) Accessibility
9 2 (0.29%) GxP
9 2 (0.29%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 2 (0.29%) NIST
10 1 (0.14%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.14%) COBIT
10 1 (0.14%) GRC
10 1 (0.14%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 95 (13.77%) Active Directory
2 34 (4.93%) VMware Infrastructure
3 17 (2.46%) VMware NSX
4 13 (1.88%) Hyper-V
5 9 (1.30%) BitLocker
6 7 (1.01%) Docker
7 6 (0.87%) Virtual Desktop
7 6 (0.87%) Virtual Servers
8 5 (0.72%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 3 (0.43%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.14%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 30 (4.35%) OPNET
1 30 (4.35%) SCCM
2 20 (2.90%) Ansible
3 18 (2.61%) vCenter Server
4 17 (2.46%) Microsoft Intune
4 17 (2.46%) Terraform
5 15 (2.17%) Kubernetes
6 11 (1.59%) WSUS
7 10 (1.45%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 8 (1.16%) FortiGate
9 6 (0.87%) Grafana
9 6 (0.87%) Jamf Pro
10 4 (0.58%) Nessus
10 4 (0.58%) Packer
10 4 (0.58%) Progress Chef
10 4 (0.58%) Prometheus
11 2 (0.29%) Docker Swarm
11 2 (0.29%) PowerCLI
11 2 (0.29%) Puppet
11 2 (0.29%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 150 (21.74%) ServiceNow
2 135 (19.57%) Microsoft
3 63 (9.13%) Cisco
4 58 (8.41%) Atlassian
5 55 (7.97%) Remedy
6 47 (6.81%) VMware
7 34 (4.93%) SolarWinds
8 32 (4.64%) Google
9 31 (4.49%) HP
9 31 (4.49%) Oracle
10 26 (3.77%) Splunk
11 21 (3.04%) Juniper
12 20 (2.90%) SAP
13 14 (2.03%) Red Hat
14 13 (1.88%) Citrix
14 13 (1.88%) Dell
14 13 (1.88%) Salesforce
14 13 (1.88%) Veeam
15 12 (1.74%) Canon
16 11 (1.59%) Dynatrace