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 7 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 53 72 60
Rank change year-on-year +19 -12 +4
Contract jobs citing Service Management 733 466 689
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 4.10% 2.94% 3.40%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.73% 3.42% 3.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 494 300 515
10th Percentile £185 £200 £225
25th Percentile £313 £355 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% +10.53%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £600
90th Percentile £719 £675 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £528
% change year-on-year -4.76% -0.57% +5.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 83 24 12
10th Percentile £12.62 £21.05 £16.66
25th Percentile £16.48 £27.80 £17.72
Median hourly rate £20.79 £34.25 £21.16
Median % change year-on-year -39.30% +61.90% -6.17%
75th Percentile £60.00 £49.06 £30.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £63.75 £54.38
UK median hourly rate £20.79 £32.25 £22.50
% change year-on-year -35.52% +43.31% +0.78%

All Process and 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 15,488 13,615 17,925
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 86.73% 85.92% 88.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,453 7,914 11,623
10th Percentile £215 £241 £250
25th Percentile £373 £381 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £575 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £688 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £533
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.50% -3.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,748 854 1,266
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.20 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.30 £19.59 £17.72
Median hourly rate £22.63 £32.50 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -30.37% -23.53% +30.77%
75th Percentile £44.95 £64.93 £65.00
90th Percentile £67.33 £73.75 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.13 £33.00 £42.50
% change year-on-year -23.86% -22.35% +21.43%

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 7 December 2025.

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 7 December 2025.

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 7 December 2025. 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 +24 189 £500 -0.99% 114
North of England 0 181 £456 +7.35% 78
South West +20 146 £568 -1.30% 44
Midlands +14 131 £463 -18.36% 63
North West +17 109 £492 +23.00% 43
West Midlands +10 106 £500 -11.74% 38
Yorkshire -21 57 £355 -21.11% 18
Scotland +5 41 £470 +4.44% 20
East of England -8 38 £452 -16.34% 24
East Midlands -1 25 £419 -24.72% 25
North East +4 18 £260 -56.39% 18
Wales -10 5 £175 -52.85% 12
Northern Ireland - 5 £325 - 8
Channel Islands - 3 £725 -
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 63 (8.59%) Confluence
2 53 (7.23%) Microsoft Exchange
3 45 (6.14%) SharePoint
4 18 (2.46%) Apache
5 14 (1.91%) WebLogic
6 10 (1.36%) Skype for Business
7 5 (0.68%) SharePoint Server
8 4 (0.55%) IIS
8 4 (0.55%) WebSphere
9 2 (0.27%) JBoss
10 1 (0.14%) CMS
10 1 (0.14%) HCL Notes
10 1 (0.14%) Oracle Self-Service HR
10 1 (0.14%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 87 (11.87%) Microsoft Office
2 38 (5.18%) Microsoft Project
3 25 (3.41%) Microsoft Excel
4 11 (1.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 10 (1.36%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.14%) Trello
Business Applications
1 15 (2.05%) Remedy ITSM
2 12 (1.64%) Oracle EBS
3 6 (0.82%) SAP S/4HANA
4 4 (0.55%) Maximo
5 3 (0.41%) assyst
5 3 (0.41%) Dynamics CRM
6 2 (0.27%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.14%) Oracle ERP
7 1 (0.14%) SAP ERP
7 1 (0.14%) SAP HR
7 1 (0.14%) SAP PM
7 1 (0.14%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 108 (14.73%) Azure
2 77 (10.50%) AWS
3 68 (9.28%) Microsoft 365
4 32 (4.37%) GCP
5 23 (3.14%) Entra ID
6 21 (2.86%) Power Platform
7 16 (2.18%) OneDrive
7 16 (2.18%) SaaS
8 14 (1.91%) Azure Monitor
9 11 (1.50%) Azure DevOps
10 8 (1.09%) PowerApps
11 7 (0.95%) Salesforce Service Cloud
12 6 (0.82%) IaaS
13 5 (0.68%) Power Automate
13 5 (0.68%) Serverless
14 4 (0.55%) Amazon S3
15 3 (0.41%) Amazon EC2
15 3 (0.41%) Asana
15 3 (0.41%) Dynamics 365
15 3 (0.41%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 43 (5.87%) DNS
2 29 (3.96%) DHCP
3 28 (3.82%) Firewall
4 23 (3.14%) LAN
5 22 (3.00%) VLAN
5 22 (3.00%) WAN
6 20 (2.73%) Skype
6 20 (2.73%) TCP/IP
7 17 (2.32%) Cisco Firepower
7 17 (2.32%) Cisco IOS
7 17 (2.32%) Cisco ISE
7 17 (2.32%) Junos
7 17 (2.32%) VPN
8 10 (1.36%) Network Security
8 10 (1.36%) Wi-Fi
9 8 (1.09%) WebEx
10 6 (0.82%) SSH
10 6 (0.82%) Wireless
11 5 (0.68%) BGP
11 5 (0.68%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (2.18%) Relational Database
2 15 (2.05%) Power BI
3 12 (1.64%) SQL Server
4 8 (1.09%) Amazon RDS
5 4 (0.55%) Data Mining
5 4 (0.55%) DB2
5 4 (0.55%) Metadata
5 4 (0.55%) Oracle Reports
6 3 (0.41%) InfluxDB
7 2 (0.27%) Amazon Aurora
7 2 (0.27%) Azure SQL Database
7 2 (0.27%) Big Data
7 2 (0.27%) MariaDB
7 2 (0.27%) MySQL
7 2 (0.27%) PostgreSQL
8 1 (0.14%) BusinessObjects
8 1 (0.14%) GIS
8 1 (0.14%) OLTP
8 1 (0.14%) Oracle Discoverer
8 1 (0.14%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 100 (13.64%) JIRA
2 14 (1.91%) Jenkins
3 5 (0.68%) Git
3 5 (0.68%) webpack
4 4 (0.55%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.14%) Cucumber
5 1 (0.14%) GitLab
5 1 (0.14%) MLflow
5 1 (0.14%) Selenium
5 1 (0.14%) SoapUI
5 1 (0.14%) Visual Studio Code
5 1 (0.14%) WebDriver
General
1 292 (39.84%) Social Skills
2 151 (20.60%) Analytical Skills
3 89 (12.14%) Finance
3 89 (12.14%) Public Sector
4 50 (6.82%) Military
5 31 (4.23%) Legal
6 29 (3.96%) Manufacturing
7 25 (3.41%) Telecoms
8 24 (3.27%) Organisational Skills
9 20 (2.73%) Banking
10 16 (2.18%) Documentation Skills
10 16 (2.18%) Influencing Skills
11 14 (1.91%) Marketing
12 13 (1.77%) Presentation Skills
13 12 (1.64%) Electronics
13 12 (1.64%) Retail
14 11 (1.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 8 (1.09%) Investment Banking
16 7 (0.95%) Police
17 5 (0.68%) Billing
Job Titles
1 102 (13.92%) Analyst
2 94 (12.82%) Architect
3 64 (8.73%) Lead
4 63 (8.59%) Service Architect
5 58 (7.91%) Support Engineer
6 52 (7.09%) Service Manager
7 38 (5.18%) IT Support
8 35 (4.77%) Support Analyst
9 34 (4.64%) 2nd Line Support
10 26 (3.55%) Desktop Support
11 25 (3.41%) Delivery Manager
11 25 (3.41%) IT Analyst
11 25 (3.41%) Network Engineer
12 23 (3.14%) Consultant
12 23 (3.14%) Platform Engineer
12 23 (3.14%) Project Manager
12 23 (3.14%) Service Delivery Manager
13 22 (3.00%) Senior
13 22 (3.00%) Service Analyst
14 21 (2.86%) Data Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (3.00%) REST
2 12 (1.64%) CSS
2 12 (1.64%) HTML
2 12 (1.64%) SOAP
3 11 (1.50%) Web Services
4 9 (1.23%) RFC 2544
5 8 (1.09%) XMPP
6 6 (0.82%) RESTful
7 5 (0.68%) .NET
7 5 (0.68%) CSS3
7 5 (0.68%) Elastic Stack
7 5 (0.68%) HTML5
7 5 (0.68%) Node.js
7 5 (0.68%) React
7 5 (0.68%) Redux
7 5 (0.68%) XML
8 4 (0.55%) AngularJS
9 3 (0.41%) LDAP
9 3 (0.41%) Lightning Web Components
9 3 (0.41%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 57 (7.78%) Product Ownership
2 33 (4.50%) Data Centre
3 31 (4.23%) Management Information System
4 24 (3.27%) CMDB
5 21 (2.86%) PKI
6 20 (2.73%) Onboarding
6 20 (2.73%) Self-Motivation
7 18 (2.46%) Virtual Team
8 15 (2.05%) Analytical Mindset
8 15 (2.05%) Driving Licence
9 13 (1.77%) Mainframe
10 12 (1.64%) NHS
11 6 (0.82%) Fibre Optics
11 6 (0.82%) Public Cloud
11 6 (0.82%) Tandem
11 6 (0.82%) Video Conferencing
12 5 (0.68%) Distributed Systems
12 5 (0.68%) PMI
13 4 (0.55%) Hybrid Cloud
13 4 (0.55%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 173 (23.60%) Windows
2 62 (8.46%) Linux
3 54 (7.37%) Windows Server
4 38 (5.18%) Windows 10
5 24 (3.27%) Unix
6 12 (1.64%) Mac OS
6 12 (1.64%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 7 (0.95%) Apple iOS
7 7 (0.95%) Windows Server 2012
8 6 (0.82%) Android
9 5 (0.68%) Windows 7
10 4 (0.55%) Ubuntu
10 4 (0.55%) Windows Server 2003
10 4 (0.55%) Windows Server 2016
10 4 (0.55%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.41%) CentOS
11 3 (0.41%) Windows Server 2008
12 1 (0.14%) AIX
12 1 (0.14%) Data ONTAP
12 1 (0.14%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 444 (60.57%) ITIL
2 324 (44.20%) ITSM
3 154 (21.01%) Problem-Solving
4 123 (16.78%) Agile
5 122 (16.64%) Change Management
6 103 (14.05%) Stakeholder Management
7 102 (13.92%) Continuous Improvement
7 102 (13.92%) Service Design
8 95 (12.96%) Customer Service
9 91 (12.41%) Service Delivery
10 82 (11.19%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 72 (9.82%) Incident Management
12 69 (9.41%) Project Management
13 67 (9.14%) Project Delivery
14 55 (7.50%) DevOps
15 54 (7.37%) Acceptance Criteria
15 54 (7.37%) Knowledge Transfer
16 49 (6.68%) Problem Management
17 47 (6.41%) Business Continuity
18 46 (6.28%) Critical Thinking
Programming Languages
1 64 (8.73%) SQL
2 59 (8.05%) PowerShell
3 51 (6.96%) Python
4 19 (2.59%) JavaScript
5 15 (2.05%) Perl
6 14 (1.91%) Shell Script
7 12 (1.64%) Bash
7 12 (1.64%) Java
8 5 (0.68%) TypeScript
8 5 (0.68%) VB
8 5 (0.68%) VBScript
9 3 (0.41%) Apex Code
9 3 (0.41%) Go
10 1 (0.14%) C#
10 1 (0.14%) PL/SQL
10 1 (0.14%) T-SQL
10 1 (0.14%) VBA
Qualifications
1 328 (44.75%) Security Cleared
2 265 (36.15%) SC Cleared
3 108 (14.73%) Degree
4 65 (8.87%) DV Cleared
5 46 (6.28%) ITIL Certification
6 40 (5.46%) Microsoft Certification
7 30 (4.09%) TOGAF Certification
8 19 (2.59%) A+ Certification
9 17 (2.32%) Cisco Certification
9 17 (2.32%) Computer Science Degree
10 15 (2.05%) Azure Certification
10 15 (2.05%) MCSE
11 14 (1.91%) CCNP
11 14 (1.91%) Server+ Certification
12 13 (1.77%) BPSS Clearance
12 13 (1.77%) PMP
13 11 (1.50%) CCNA
13 11 (1.50%) Network+ Certification
13 11 (1.50%) PMI Certification
14 10 (1.36%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 44 (6.00%) SLA
2 32 (4.37%) ISO/IEC 20000
3 14 (1.91%) GDPR
4 11 (1.50%) PMO
5 10 (1.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 10 (1.36%) QA
6 8 (1.09%) Data Quality
6 8 (1.09%) NCSC
7 6 (0.82%) Disclosure Scotland
8 5 (0.68%) GxP
8 5 (0.68%) ISO 9001
8 5 (0.68%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 3 (0.41%) COBIT
10 2 (0.27%) Accessibility
10 2 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials
11 1 (0.14%) Actionable Recommendations
11 1 (0.14%) GRC
11 1 (0.14%) NIST
11 1 (0.14%) WCAG
System Software
1 90 (12.28%) Active Directory
2 29 (3.96%) VMware Infrastructure
3 21 (2.86%) VMware NSX
4 14 (1.91%) Hyper-V
5 6 (0.82%) Docker
5 6 (0.82%) Virtual Desktop
5 6 (0.82%) Virtual Servers
6 5 (0.68%) BitLocker
6 5 (0.68%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 4 (0.55%) VMware ESXi
8 3 (0.41%) Virtual Machines
9 1 (0.14%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 32 (4.37%) OPNET
2 26 (3.55%) vCenter Server
3 19 (2.59%) SCCM
4 17 (2.32%) Ansible
4 17 (2.32%) Terraform
5 14 (1.91%) Microsoft Intune
6 13 (1.77%) Kubernetes
7 11 (1.50%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 11 (1.50%) WSUS
8 4 (0.55%) Nessus
8 4 (0.55%) Packer
9 3 (0.41%) Check_MK
9 3 (0.41%) Grafana
9 3 (0.41%) Jamf Pro
9 3 (0.41%) Progress Chef
9 3 (0.41%) Prometheus
9 3 (0.41%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.27%) FortiGate
10 2 (0.27%) PowerCLI
10 2 (0.27%) SCOM
Vendors
1 179 (24.42%) ServiceNow
2 150 (20.46%) Microsoft
3 80 (10.91%) Cisco
4 53 (7.23%) Atlassian
5 51 (6.96%) Remedy
6 46 (6.28%) Oracle
7 42 (5.73%) VMware
8 35 (4.77%) Splunk
9 31 (4.23%) SolarWinds
10 30 (4.09%) SAP
11 29 (3.96%) Google
12 22 (3.00%) Juniper
13 19 (2.59%) AppDynamics
13 19 (2.59%) Dynatrace
14 14 (1.91%) Salesforce
15 13 (1.77%) Red Hat
15 13 (1.77%) Veeam
16 12 (1.64%) IBM
17 10 (1.36%) Citrix
17 10 (1.36%) HP