Service Design Contract Job Trends in England

Service Design
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring Service Design skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 1 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 180 212 258
Rank change year-on-year +32 +46 -82
Contract jobs citing Service Design 700 336 310
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.54% 1.22% 0.92%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.80% 1.34% 1.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 498 250 206
10th Percentile £406 £403 £413
25th Percentile £456 £456 £482
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £538 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.65% -2.27% -3.93%
75th Percentile £588 £636 £638
90th Percentile £725 £689 £750
UK median daily rate £510 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -2.86% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 2 8
10th Percentile £24.43 £53.35 -
25th Percentile £52.27 £56.36 £17.80
Median hourly rate £80.45 £62.06 £22.74
Median % change year-on-year +29.63% +172.97% -60.46%
75th Percentile £102.69 £67.09 £33.95
90th Percentile £104.75 £69.71 £34.53
UK median hourly rate £80.45 £62.06 £22.74
% change year-on-year +29.63% +172.97% -60.46%

All Process & Methodology Skills
England

Service Design 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 England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 38,823 25,045 28,976
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.31% 90.74% 85.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,257 16,045 18,963
10th Percentile £325 £300 £313
25th Percentile £425 £405 £419
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £630 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £756
UK median daily rate £523 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +4.60% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,475 1,380 1,752
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.20 £14.00
25th Percentile £20.75 £17.87 £17.80
Median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £42.03
Median % change year-on-year +78.93% -40.16% -1.11%
75th Percentile £68.75 £51.65 £65.00
90th Percentile £83.00 £70.16 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +74.79% -37.13% -5.88%

Service Design
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Service Design relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Service Design job vacancy trend in England

Service Design
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Service Design.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Service Design

Service Design
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Service Design in England over the 6 months to 1 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Service Design in England

Service Design
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Service Design.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Service Design

Service Design
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Service Design in England over the 6 months to 1 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Service Design in England

Service Design
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Service Design within the England region over the 6 months to 1 August 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
London +38 307 £523 -4.91% 107
North of England +24 143 £475 - 43
South East -18 122 £531 -1.19% 31
Yorkshire +18 68 £492 -0.35% 18
Midlands -3 63 £481 +6.89% 5
West Midlands -15 61 £481 +6.89% 4
North West -33 49 £475 - 15
South West -39 33 £575 +4.55% 18
North East -17 27 £420 -18.05% 10
East of England -21 7 £525 -4.55% 8
East Midlands - 2 £516 - 1
Service Design
UK

Service Design
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 28 (4.00%) Confluence
2 15 (2.14%) SharePoint
3 8 (1.14%) CMS
4 6 (0.86%) LiveCycle
5 2 (0.29%) Drupal
5 2 (0.29%) Microsoft Exchange
6 1 (0.14%) Anypoint
6 1 (0.14%) Apache Solr
6 1 (0.14%) Mule
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Application Server
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Coherence
6 1 (0.14%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.14%) Umbraco
Applications
1 12 (1.71%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (1.57%) MS Visio
3 10 (1.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (1.00%) Sketch
5 5 (0.71%) Microsoft Office
6 4 (0.57%) Adobe XD
7 3 (0.43%) Microsoft Project
8 2 (0.29%) Chatbot
8 2 (0.29%) Trello
9 1 (0.14%) InVision
Business Applications
1 4 (0.57%) SAP S/4HANA
1 4 (0.57%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 2 (0.29%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.14%) Adobe Campaign
3 1 (0.14%) Exchequer
Cloud Services
1 54 (7.71%) Azure
2 42 (6.00%) AWS
3 36 (5.14%) Figma
4 27 (3.86%) SaaS
5 17 (2.43%) Microsoft 365
6 14 (2.00%) Miro
6 14 (2.00%) Power Platform
7 12 (1.71%) GitHub
8 10 (1.43%) Datadog
8 10 (1.43%) Microsoft Copilot
9 9 (1.29%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 9 (1.29%) Azure Monitor
10 7 (1.00%) Azure AI
11 6 (0.86%) Entra ID
12 5 (0.71%) Azure DevOps
12 5 (0.71%) OCI
12 5 (0.71%) PowerApps
13 4 (0.57%) Copilot Studio
14 3 (0.43%) GitHub Actions
14 3 (0.43%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 7 (1.00%) Cisco Nexus
1 7 (1.00%) Firewall
2 4 (0.57%) 2G
2 4 (0.57%) 3G
2 4 (0.57%) 4G
2 4 (0.57%) BGP
2 4 (0.57%) Diameter Protocol
2 4 (0.57%) Network Security
2 4 (0.57%) OSPF
2 4 (0.57%) SIGTRAN
2 4 (0.57%) SS7
2 4 (0.57%) VPN
2 4 (0.57%) VXLAN
3 3 (0.43%) 3GPP
3 3 (0.43%) NX-OS
3 3 (0.43%) VLAN
3 3 (0.43%) WAN
4 2 (0.29%) Broadband
4 2 (0.29%) TETRA
4 2 (0.29%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (1.00%) Power BI
2 5 (0.71%) Metadata
2 5 (0.71%) SQL Server
3 4 (0.57%) Electronic Patient Records
4 2 (0.29%) Amazon RDS
4 2 (0.29%) Azure SQL Database
4 2 (0.29%) Geospatial Data
4 2 (0.29%) Oracle Reports
4 2 (0.29%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 1 (0.14%) BigQuery
5 1 (0.14%) Data Lake
5 1 (0.14%) Data Warehouse
5 1 (0.14%) Looker
5 1 (0.14%) MongoDB
5 1 (0.14%) Oracle Database
5 1 (0.14%) Oracle Exadata
5 1 (0.14%) Power Query
5 1 (0.14%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.14%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 29 (4.14%) JIRA
2 8 (1.14%) Jenkins
3 7 (1.00%) Git
4 4 (0.57%) GitLab
5 3 (0.43%) Sonatype Nexus
5 3 (0.43%) Team Foundation Server
6 2 (0.29%) Appium
6 2 (0.29%) Postman
7 1 (0.14%) Artifactory
7 1 (0.14%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 1 (0.14%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.14%) JUnit
7 1 (0.14%) Maven
7 1 (0.14%) Mockito
7 1 (0.14%) NUnit
7 1 (0.14%) REST Assured
7 1 (0.14%) Selenium
7 1 (0.14%) Subversion
7 1 (0.14%) VersionOne
7 1 (0.14%) Vite
General
1 226 (32.29%) Social Skills
2 198 (28.29%) Public Sector
3 104 (14.86%) Finance
4 62 (8.86%) Analytical Skills
5 55 (7.86%) Influencing Skills
6 22 (3.14%) Documentation Skills
7 20 (2.86%) Banking
7 20 (2.86%) Presentation Skills
8 18 (2.57%) Retail
9 16 (2.29%) Military
9 16 (2.29%) Telecoms
10 15 (2.14%) Organisational Skills
11 14 (2.00%) Legal
11 14 (2.00%) Local Government
12 9 (1.29%) Financial Institution
13 8 (1.14%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 5 (0.71%) Back Office
14 5 (0.71%) Law
14 5 (0.71%) Police
15 4 (0.57%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 271 (38.71%) Designer
2 207 (29.57%) Service Designer
3 86 (12.29%) Architect
4 84 (12.00%) Lead
5 67 (9.57%) Senior
6 62 (8.86%) User Researcher
7 54 (7.71%) Analyst
8 38 (5.43%) Service Architect
9 36 (5.14%) Business Analyst
10 33 (4.71%) Senior Designer
10 33 (4.71%) Service Manager
11 26 (3.71%) Lead Designer
12 25 (3.57%) Lead Service Designer
13 23 (3.29%) Consultant
13 23 (3.29%) Senior Service Designer
14 21 (3.00%) Service Design Manager
14 21 (3.00%) Service Transition Manager
14 21 (3.00%) Transition Manager
15 19 (2.71%) Interaction Designer
16 17 (2.43%) Product Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (2.14%) REST
2 12 (1.71%) SOAP
3 8 (1.14%) RESTful
4 7 (1.00%) .NET
4 7 (1.00%) HTML
5 6 (0.86%) Web Services
6 5 (0.71%) CSS
6 5 (0.71%) Microsoft Graph
6 5 (0.71%) STL
7 4 (0.57%) VML
8 3 (0.43%) Node.js
8 3 (0.43%) Playwright
8 3 (0.43%) Spring Boot
8 3 (0.43%) Swagger
9 2 (0.29%) GeoJSON
9 2 (0.29%) NestJS
9 2 (0.29%) OpenAPI
9 2 (0.29%) React
9 2 (0.29%) React Native
9 2 (0.29%) TanStack
Miscellaneous
1 53 (7.57%) Onboarding
2 48 (6.86%) Product Ownership
3 28 (4.00%) CMDB
4 26 (3.71%) NHS
5 14 (2.00%) Cloud Native
5 14 (2.00%) Data Centre
5 14 (2.00%) Legacy Systems
6 13 (1.86%) AI Agents
7 11 (1.57%) Data Protection Act
8 9 (1.29%) Management Information System
9 7 (1.00%) Greenfield Project
9 7 (1.00%) Virtual Team
10 6 (0.86%) Self-Motivation
10 6 (0.86%) Taxonomies
11 5 (0.71%) Analytical Mindset
11 5 (0.71%) Security Posture
12 3 (0.43%) EMC VMAX
12 3 (0.43%) EMC VNX
12 3 (0.43%) Hybrid Cloud
12 3 (0.43%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 7 (1.00%) Windows
2 2 (0.29%) Android
2 2 (0.29%) Apple iOS
2 2 (0.29%) Linux
2 2 (0.29%) Unix
3 1 (0.14%) MVS
3 1 (0.14%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 257 (36.71%) Agile
2 184 (26.29%) User Research
3 156 (22.29%) Stakeholder Management
4 144 (20.57%) ITIL
5 126 (18.00%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
6 125 (17.86%) Continuous Improvement
7 119 (17.00%) Workshop Facilitation
8 115 (16.43%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 106 (15.14%) Journey Map
10 104 (14.86%) User Experience
11 96 (13.71%) Decision-Making
12 95 (13.57%) Service Management
13 94 (13.43%) Roadmaps
14 65 (9.29%) AI
15 64 (9.14%) UX Design
16 63 (9.00%) Service Delivery
17 62 (8.86%) Problem-Solving
18 61 (8.71%) ITSM
19 56 (8.00%) Interaction Design
20 55 (7.86%) Collaborative Working
Programming Languages
1 16 (2.29%) SQL
2 10 (1.43%) PowerShell
3 8 (1.14%) JavaScript
4 7 (1.00%) Bash
4 7 (1.00%) Python
5 6 (0.86%) Java
6 5 (0.71%) C#
7 4 (0.57%) T-SQL
8 3 (0.43%) Kusto Query Language
9 2 (0.29%) Bicep
10 1 (0.14%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 1 (0.14%) DataWeave
10 1 (0.14%) Go
10 1 (0.14%) Groovy
10 1 (0.14%) PL/SQL
10 1 (0.14%) Scala
10 1 (0.14%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 245 (35.00%) Security Cleared
2 173 (24.71%) SC Cleared
3 67 (9.57%) DV Cleared
4 45 (6.43%) BPSS Clearance
5 27 (3.86%) Degree
6 15 (2.14%) ITIL Certification
7 5 (0.71%) AWS Certification
8 4 (0.57%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 4 (0.57%) TOGAF Certification
9 3 (0.43%) Azure Certification
9 3 (0.43%) CISM
9 3 (0.43%) CISSP
9 3 (0.43%) CRISC
9 3 (0.43%) IIBA
10 2 (0.29%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
10 2 (0.29%) Cisco Certification
10 2 (0.29%) CTC Cleared
10 2 (0.29%) PMI Certification
11 1 (0.14%) CSPO
11 1 (0.14%) SAFe Agilist
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 112 (16.00%) Accessibility
2 25 (3.57%) WCAG
3 23 (3.29%) ISO/IEC 20000
4 18 (2.57%) QA
5 16 (2.29%) SLA
6 12 (1.71%) Actionable Recommendations
6 12 (1.71%) NCSC
7 11 (1.57%) Data Quality
8 8 (1.14%) GDPR
9 7 (1.00%) Government Security Classifications
10 6 (0.86%) PMO
11 4 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
12 3 (0.43%) COBIT
12 3 (0.43%) GRC
12 3 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 3 (0.43%) NIST
13 2 (0.29%) Cyber Essentials
14 1 (0.14%) FINRA
14 1 (0.14%) ISO 31000
14 1 (0.14%) MiFID
System Software
1 13 (1.86%) IAG
2 6 (0.86%) Docker
3 4 (0.57%) Active Directory
4 3 (0.43%) EMC RecoverPoint
4 3 (0.43%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.29%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.29%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.14%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 17 (2.43%) Ansible
2 13 (1.86%) Kubernetes
3 9 (1.29%) Terraform
4 3 (0.43%) Avamar
4 3 (0.43%) EMC VPLEX
5 2 (0.29%) Grafana
5 2 (0.29%) Prometheus
5 2 (0.29%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.14%) Argo
6 1 (0.14%) Istio
6 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Intune
6 1 (0.14%) Progress Chef
6 1 (0.14%) Puppet
6 1 (0.14%) SysTrack
Vendors
1 57 (8.14%) ServiceNow
2 36 (5.14%) Microsoft
3 12 (1.71%) SAP
4 8 (1.14%) Adobe
4 8 (1.14%) Cisco
4 8 (1.14%) Nexthink
4 8 (1.14%) Oracle
5 6 (0.86%) Dynatrace
5 6 (0.86%) Foundry
6 5 (0.71%) Google
6 5 (0.71%) Salesforce
7 4 (0.57%) F5
7 4 (0.57%) IBM
7 4 (0.57%) Sparx
7 4 (0.57%) Virgin Media
8 3 (0.43%) 3PAR
8 3 (0.43%) EMC
8 3 (0.43%) NetApp
8 3 (0.43%) Palo Alto
8 3 (0.43%) Veeam