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

6 months to
7 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 180 215 261
Rank change year-on-year +35 +46 -76
Contract jobs citing Service Design 695 329 299
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.52% 1.19% 0.90%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.79% 1.31% 1.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 495 243 194
10th Percentile £406 £403 £425
25th Percentile £457 £450 £489
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £538 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.65% -2.27% -2.65%
75th Percentile £588 £634 £650
90th Percentile £725 £688 £750
UK median daily rate £508 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -3.33% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 2 8
10th Percentile £15.89 £53.35 -
25th Percentile £28.09 £56.36 £17.80
Median hourly rate £65.40 £62.06 £22.74
Median % change year-on-year +5.38% +172.97% -60.46%
75th Percentile £102.50 £67.09 £33.95
90th Percentile £104.25 £69.71 £34.53
UK median hourly rate £65.40 £62.06 £22.74
% change year-on-year +5.38% +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 38,882 25,041 28,684
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.21% 90.76% 85.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,206 16,026 18,694
10th Percentile £325 £300 £313
25th Percentile £425 £405 £420
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £626 £630 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £756
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,519 1,388 1,683
10th Percentile £14.82 £14.20 £14.05
25th Percentile £20.01 £17.88 £18.15
Median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +74.79% -40.82% -
75th Percentile £68.75 £50.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £82.27 £70.16 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £42.68 £25.15 £40.33
% change year-on-year +69.69% -37.63% -5.12%

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 7 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 7 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 7 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 +38 305 £525 -4.55% 112
North of England +12 138 £475 - 35
South East -15 124 £531 -1.19% 33
Yorkshire +13 64 £486 -1.57% 16
Midlands -13 57 £481 +6.89% 8
West Midlands -20 56 £478 +6.22% 7
North West -24 47 £475 - 10
South West -28 38 £575 +4.55% 13
North East -20 27 £420 -18.05% 9
East of England -25 7 £525 -4.55% 9
East Midlands - 1 £581 - 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 29 (4.17%) Confluence
2 12 (1.73%) SharePoint
3 8 (1.15%) CMS
4 5 (0.72%) LiveCycle
5 1 (0.14%) Apache Solr
5 1 (0.14%) Drupal
5 1 (0.14%) Oracle Coherence
5 1 (0.14%) Tomcat
5 1 (0.14%) Umbraco
Applications
1 11 (1.58%) Microsoft Excel
1 11 (1.58%) MS Visio
2 9 (1.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 7 (1.01%) Sketch
4 4 (0.58%) Adobe XD
5 3 (0.43%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.29%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.29%) Microsoft Office
6 2 (0.29%) Trello
7 1 (0.14%) Gliffy
7 1 (0.14%) InVision
Business Applications
1 5 (0.72%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 2 (0.29%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.14%) Adobe Campaign
3 1 (0.14%) Exchequer
3 1 (0.14%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.14%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 53 (7.63%) Azure
2 42 (6.04%) AWS
3 35 (5.04%) Figma
4 28 (4.03%) SaaS
5 15 (2.16%) Miro
6 14 (2.01%) Microsoft 365
6 14 (2.01%) Power Platform
7 12 (1.73%) GitHub
8 11 (1.58%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 11 (1.58%) Datadog
9 10 (1.44%) Azure Monitor
10 9 (1.29%) Microsoft Copilot
11 7 (1.01%) Azure AI
12 5 (0.72%) Azure DevOps
12 5 (0.72%) Entra ID
12 5 (0.72%) OCI
12 5 (0.72%) PowerApps
13 4 (0.58%) Copilot Studio
14 3 (0.43%) Amazon EKS
14 3 (0.43%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 7 (1.01%) Cisco Nexus
1 7 (1.01%) Firewall
2 4 (0.58%) 2G
2 4 (0.58%) 3G
2 4 (0.58%) 4G
2 4 (0.58%) BGP
2 4 (0.58%) Diameter Protocol
2 4 (0.58%) Network Security
2 4 (0.58%) OSPF
2 4 (0.58%) SIGTRAN
2 4 (0.58%) SS7
2 4 (0.58%) VPN
2 4 (0.58%) 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%) LAN
4 2 (0.29%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (1.01%) Power BI
2 6 (0.86%) Metadata
3 4 (0.58%) Electronic Patient Records
3 4 (0.58%) SQL Server
4 3 (0.43%) Amazon RDS
5 2 (0.29%) Azure SQL Database
5 2 (0.29%) Geospatial Data
5 2 (0.29%) Oracle Reports
5 2 (0.29%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 1 (0.14%) Data Lake
6 1 (0.14%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.14%) Looker
6 1 (0.14%) MongoDB
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Exadata
6 1 (0.14%) PostgreSQL
6 1 (0.14%) Power Query
6 1 (0.14%) Redis
6 1 (0.14%) Relational Database
6 1 (0.14%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 30 (4.32%) JIRA
2 7 (1.01%) Git
2 7 (1.01%) Jenkins
3 3 (0.43%) GitLab
3 3 (0.43%) Sonatype Nexus
3 3 (0.43%) Team Foundation Server
4 2 (0.29%) Appium
4 2 (0.29%) Postman
5 1 (0.14%) Artifactory
5 1 (0.14%) Atlassian Bamboo
5 1 (0.14%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.14%) Maven
5 1 (0.14%) NUnit
5 1 (0.14%) REST Assured
5 1 (0.14%) Selenium
5 1 (0.14%) Subversion
5 1 (0.14%) Terragrunt
5 1 (0.14%) VersionOne
5 1 (0.14%) Vite
General
1 226 (32.52%) Social Skills
2 202 (29.06%) Public Sector
3 102 (14.68%) Finance
4 63 (9.06%) Analytical Skills
5 53 (7.63%) Influencing Skills
6 22 (3.17%) Documentation Skills
7 21 (3.02%) Banking
8 18 (2.59%) Presentation Skills
8 18 (2.59%) Retail
9 17 (2.45%) Military
10 16 (2.30%) Telecoms
11 15 (2.16%) Local Government
11 15 (2.16%) Organisational Skills
12 13 (1.87%) Legal
13 9 (1.29%) Financial Institution
14 8 (1.15%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 6 (0.86%) Back Office
16 5 (0.72%) Law
16 5 (0.72%) Police
17 4 (0.58%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 270 (38.85%) Designer
2 208 (29.93%) Service Designer
3 85 (12.23%) Architect
4 76 (10.94%) Lead
5 64 (9.21%) Senior
6 62 (8.92%) User Researcher
7 53 (7.63%) Analyst
8 35 (5.04%) Business Analyst
8 35 (5.04%) Service Architect
9 31 (4.46%) Senior Designer
10 29 (4.17%) Service Manager
11 23 (3.31%) Consultant
11 23 (3.31%) Senior Service Designer
12 22 (3.17%) Lead Designer
13 21 (3.02%) Lead Service Designer
13 21 (3.02%) Service Transition Manager
13 21 (3.02%) Transition Manager
14 18 (2.59%) Service Design Manager
14 18 (2.59%) Solutions Architect
15 17 (2.45%) Product Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (2.01%) REST
2 11 (1.58%) SOAP
3 7 (1.01%) .NET
3 7 (1.01%) RESTful
4 6 (0.86%) HTML
4 6 (0.86%) Web Services
5 5 (0.72%) STL
6 4 (0.58%) CSS
6 4 (0.58%) VML
7 3 (0.43%) Node.js
7 3 (0.43%) Playwright
7 3 (0.43%) Swagger
8 2 (0.29%) .NET Core
8 2 (0.29%) GeoJSON
8 2 (0.29%) NestJS
8 2 (0.29%) OpenAPI
8 2 (0.29%) React
8 2 (0.29%) React Native
8 2 (0.29%) Spring Boot
8 2 (0.29%) TanStack
Miscellaneous
1 54 (7.77%) Onboarding
2 50 (7.19%) Product Ownership
3 29 (4.17%) CMDB
4 27 (3.88%) NHS
5 15 (2.16%) Cloud Native
6 14 (2.01%) Data Centre
6 14 (2.01%) Legacy Systems
7 13 (1.87%) AI Agents
8 9 (1.29%) Management Information System
9 8 (1.15%) Data Protection Act
10 7 (1.01%) Analytical Mindset
10 7 (1.01%) Greenfield Project
10 7 (1.01%) Virtual Team
11 6 (0.86%) Self-Motivation
11 6 (0.86%) Taxonomies
12 5 (0.72%) Security Posture
13 3 (0.43%) EMC VMAX
13 3 (0.43%) EMC VNX
13 3 (0.43%) Hybrid Cloud
13 3 (0.43%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 6 (0.86%) 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
1 254 (36.55%) Agile
2 182 (26.19%) User Research
3 157 (22.59%) Stakeholder Management
4 146 (21.01%) ITIL
5 132 (18.99%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
6 129 (18.56%) Continuous Improvement
7 122 (17.55%) Workshop Facilitation
8 118 (16.98%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 108 (15.54%) Journey Map
10 106 (15.25%) User Experience
11 98 (14.10%) Service Management
12 97 (13.96%) Decision-Making
12 97 (13.96%) Roadmaps
13 69 (9.93%) AI
14 64 (9.21%) Service Delivery
15 63 (9.06%) ITSM
16 62 (8.92%) Problem-Solving
17 61 (8.78%) UX Design
18 56 (8.06%) Collaborative Working
18 56 (8.06%) Interaction Design
Programming Languages
1 15 (2.16%) SQL
2 7 (1.01%) Bash
2 7 (1.01%) JavaScript
2 7 (1.01%) PowerShell
2 7 (1.01%) Python
3 5 (0.72%) C#
4 4 (0.58%) Java
5 3 (0.43%) T-SQL
6 2 (0.29%) Bicep
7 1 (0.14%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 1 (0.14%) Go
7 1 (0.14%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 248 (35.68%) Security Cleared
2 174 (25.04%) SC Cleared
3 67 (9.64%) DV Cleared
4 45 (6.47%) BPSS Clearance
5 26 (3.74%) Degree
6 16 (2.30%) ITIL Certification
7 5 (0.72%) AWS Certification
8 4 (0.58%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 4 (0.58%) 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
1 106 (15.25%) Accessibility
2 23 (3.31%) ISO/IEC 20000
2 23 (3.31%) WCAG
3 19 (2.73%) QA
4 15 (2.16%) SLA
5 13 (1.87%) Actionable Recommendations
6 12 (1.73%) Data Quality
6 12 (1.73%) NCSC
7 7 (1.01%) Government Security Classifications
8 6 (0.86%) GDPR
8 6 (0.86%) PMO
9 4 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 3 (0.43%) COBIT
10 3 (0.43%) GRC
10 3 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 42001
10 3 (0.43%) NIST
11 2 (0.29%) Cyber Essentials
12 1 (0.14%) ISO 31000
12 1 (0.14%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 14 (2.01%) IAG
2 5 (0.72%) Docker
3 4 (0.58%) 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 18 (2.59%) Ansible
2 13 (1.87%) 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 58 (8.35%) ServiceNow
2 32 (4.60%) Microsoft
3 9 (1.29%) Nexthink
3 9 (1.29%) SAP
4 8 (1.15%) Cisco
5 7 (1.01%) Adobe
5 7 (1.01%) Dynatrace
5 7 (1.01%) Oracle
6 6 (0.86%) Foundry
7 5 (0.72%) Google
7 5 (0.72%) Sparx
8 4 (0.58%) F5
8 4 (0.58%) IBM
8 4 (0.58%) Salesforce
8 4 (0.58%) Virgin Media
9 3 (0.43%) 3PAR
9 3 (0.43%) BMC
9 3 (0.43%) EMC
9 3 (0.43%) NetApp
9 3 (0.43%) Veeam