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

6 months to
16 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 192 208 279
Rank change year-on-year +16 +71 -87
Contract jobs citing Service Design 723 380 280
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.54% 1.35% 0.87%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.82% 1.48% 1.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 515 292 165
10th Percentile £405 £376 £413
25th Percentile £460 £450 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -5.17%
75th Percentile £600 £595 £638
90th Percentile £725 £678 £725
UK median daily rate £515 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -1.90% -4.55% -2.87%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 12 3
10th Percentile £15.89 £33.47 £27.88
25th Percentile £61.25 £57.83 £30.08
Median hourly rate £62.00 £60.00 £33.75
Median % change year-on-year +3.33% +77.78% -
75th Percentile £64.50 - £35.38
90th Percentile £85.65 £70.31 £36.35
UK median hourly rate £62.00 £60.00 £33.75
% change year-on-year +3.33% +77.78% -

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 39,797 25,656 27,726
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.00% 90.96% 86.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,013 16,263 16,907
10th Percentile £325 £296 £313
25th Percentile £425 £405 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £638
90th Percentile £738 £725 £750
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.42%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,100 1,620 1,099
10th Percentile £13.54 £14.64 £15.00
25th Percentile £17.25 £17.87 £20.30
Median hourly rate £38.13 £25.15 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +51.59% -40.82% -5.56%
75th Percentile £67.25 £45.00 £66.80
90th Percentile £79.00 £67.55 £74.09
UK median hourly rate £37.24 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +48.07% -37.13% -10.11%

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 16 October 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 16 October 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 16 October 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 +31 333 £525 - 192
North of England -10 139 £475 - 88
South East -11 117 £572 +6.42% 60
North West -33 60 £488 +5.41% 52
Yorkshire +8 58 £475 -6.17% 24
Midlands -13 58 £487 +8.11% 28
West Midlands -14 51 £500 +11.86% 24
South West -15 43 £575 +5.75% 33
North East -28 21 £420 -16.00% 12
East Midlands -1 7 £402 -49.75% 4
East of England -36 5 £563 +2.27% 14
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 34 (4.70%) Confluence
2 10 (1.38%) SharePoint
3 9 (1.24%) CMS
4 1 (0.14%) Apache Superset
4 1 (0.14%) Drupal
4 1 (0.14%) IIS
4 1 (0.14%) nginx
4 1 (0.14%) Oracle Coherence
4 1 (0.14%) Umbraco
4 1 (0.14%) WebLogic
Applications
1 14 (1.94%) Microsoft Excel
2 13 (1.80%) MS Visio
3 12 (1.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (0.69%) Adobe XD
5 4 (0.55%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 4 (0.55%) Sketch
6 3 (0.41%) Microsoft Project
7 2 (0.28%) Microsoft Office
8 1 (0.14%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.14%) Gliffy
8 1 (0.14%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 5 (0.69%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 3 (0.41%) Exchequer
3 2 (0.28%) Remedy ITSM
3 2 (0.28%) Salesforce CRM
3 2 (0.28%) SAP CX
4 1 (0.14%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 51 (7.05%) Azure
2 48 (6.64%) Figma
3 43 (5.95%) AWS
4 24 (3.32%) Miro
4 24 (3.32%) SaaS
5 18 (2.49%) GitHub
5 18 (2.49%) Power Platform
6 16 (2.21%) Datadog
7 15 (2.07%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 15 (2.07%) Microsoft 365
8 12 (1.66%) Azure Monitor
9 8 (1.11%) Azure DevOps
9 8 (1.11%) Microsoft Copilot
9 8 (1.11%) Serverless
10 7 (0.97%) Amazon S3
10 7 (0.97%) AWS Lambda
10 7 (0.97%) GCP
11 6 (0.83%) Entra ID
12 5 (0.69%) Azure AI
13 4 (0.55%) Copilot Studio
Communications & Networking
1 8 (1.11%) Firewall
2 6 (0.83%) Network Security
3 4 (0.55%) WAN
4 3 (0.41%) 2G
4 3 (0.41%) 3G
4 3 (0.41%) 4G
4 3 (0.41%) Cisco Nexus
4 3 (0.41%) Diameter Protocol
4 3 (0.41%) SIGTRAN
4 3 (0.41%) SS7
4 3 (0.41%) Unified Communications
4 3 (0.41%) VPN
5 2 (0.28%) BGP
5 2 (0.28%) Broadband
5 2 (0.28%) LAN
5 2 (0.28%) OSPF
5 2 (0.28%) Radio Access Network
5 2 (0.28%) TCP/IP
5 2 (0.28%) VXLAN
5 2 (0.28%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (1.66%) Power BI
2 6 (0.83%) Metadata
3 4 (0.55%) Amazon RDS
4 3 (0.41%) DynamoDB
5 2 (0.28%) Azure SQL Database
5 2 (0.28%) Geospatial Data
5 2 (0.28%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.14%) Data Lake
6 1 (0.14%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.14%) MongoDB
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%) SQL Server
6 1 (0.14%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 35 (4.84%) JIRA
2 8 (1.11%) Git
2 8 (1.11%) Jenkins
3 4 (0.55%) GitLab
3 4 (0.55%) Maven
3 4 (0.55%) Sonatype Nexus
4 3 (0.41%) SonarQube
5 2 (0.28%) Team Foundation Server
6 1 (0.14%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.14%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.14%) Claude Code
6 1 (0.14%) Gradle
6 1 (0.14%) JUnit
6 1 (0.14%) Terragrunt
6 1 (0.14%) Vite
General
1 254 (35.13%) Social Skills
2 220 (30.43%) Public Sector
3 101 (13.97%) Finance
4 73 (10.10%) Analytical Skills
5 61 (8.44%) Influencing Skills
6 26 (3.60%) Documentation Skills
7 22 (3.04%) Banking
7 22 (3.04%) Military
8 21 (2.90%) Local Government
9 20 (2.77%) Organisational Skills
9 20 (2.77%) Retail
10 18 (2.49%) Legal
10 18 (2.49%) Presentation Skills
10 18 (2.49%) Telecoms
11 8 (1.11%) Publishing
12 6 (0.83%) Back Office
13 5 (0.69%) Automotive
13 5 (0.69%) Financial Institution
13 5 (0.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 5 (0.69%) Law
Job Titles
1 239 (33.06%) Designer
2 181 (25.03%) Service Designer
3 97 (13.42%) Architect
4 88 (12.17%) Lead
5 82 (11.34%) User Researcher
6 77 (10.65%) Senior
7 50 (6.92%) Analyst
8 48 (6.64%) Service Architect
9 39 (5.39%) Business Analyst
10 31 (4.29%) Service Manager
11 30 (4.15%) Senior Designer
12 28 (3.87%) Product Manager
13 24 (3.32%) Solutions Architect
14 23 (3.18%) Service Transition Manager
14 23 (3.18%) Transition Manager
15 20 (2.77%) Senior Service Designer
16 19 (2.63%) Consultant
16 19 (2.63%) Service Design Manager
17 18 (2.49%) Service Transition Leader
18 17 (2.35%) UX Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (1.80%) Terraform
2 7 (0.97%) REST
2 7 (0.97%) RESTful
3 4 (0.55%) Swagger
3 4 (0.55%) VML
3 4 (0.55%) Web Services
4 3 (0.41%) .NET
4 3 (0.41%) Kafka
4 3 (0.41%) OpenAPI
4 3 (0.41%) Spring Boot
4 3 (0.41%) STL
5 2 (0.28%) CSS
5 2 (0.28%) GeoJSON
5 2 (0.28%) GraphQL
5 2 (0.28%) gRPC
5 2 (0.28%) JSON
5 2 (0.28%) React
5 2 (0.28%) SOAP
5 2 (0.28%) Spring
6 1 (0.14%) .NET Core
Miscellaneous
1 51 (7.05%) Product Ownership
2 50 (6.92%) Onboarding
3 26 (3.60%) Cloud Native
4 24 (3.32%) CMDB
5 21 (2.90%) NHS
6 14 (1.94%) AI Agents
7 8 (1.11%) Data Centre
7 8 (1.11%) Data Protection Act
7 8 (1.11%) Distributed Systems
7 8 (1.11%) Legacy Systems
7 8 (1.11%) Taxonomies
8 7 (0.97%) Analytical Mindset
8 7 (0.97%) Management Information System
8 7 (0.97%) Mobile App
8 7 (0.97%) Virtual Team
9 5 (0.69%) Greenfield Project
9 5 (0.69%) Self-Motivation
10 4 (0.55%) Hybrid Cloud
10 4 (0.55%) PKI
10 4 (0.55%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 11 (1.52%) Windows
2 10 (1.38%) Linux
2 10 (1.38%) Unix
3 4 (0.55%) Android
3 4 (0.55%) Apple iOS
4 3 (0.41%) VMS
5 1 (0.14%) AIX
5 1 (0.14%) macOS
5 1 (0.14%) Solaris
5 1 (0.14%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 287 (39.70%) Agile
2 218 (30.15%) Stakeholder Management
3 192 (26.56%) User Research
4 168 (23.24%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
5 156 (21.58%) Workshop Facilitation
6 152 (21.02%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 151 (20.89%) ITIL
8 138 (19.09%) Continuous Improvement
9 122 (16.87%) Decision-Making
10 118 (16.32%) User Experience
11 113 (15.63%) Service Management
12 108 (14.94%) Journey Map
13 95 (13.14%) Roadmaps
14 83 (11.48%) AI
15 79 (10.93%) Service Delivery
16 76 (10.51%) Actionable Insight
17 75 (10.37%) Problem-Solving
18 70 (9.68%) Digital Transformation Programme
18 70 (9.68%) Interaction Design
19 69 (9.54%) UX Design
Programming Languages
1 14 (1.94%) SQL
2 10 (1.38%) Java
3 8 (1.11%) Python
4 7 (0.97%) Bash
5 4 (0.55%) PowerShell
5 4 (0.55%) Shell Script
6 3 (0.41%) Groovy
6 3 (0.41%) JavaScript
7 2 (0.28%) Bicep
7 2 (0.28%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 2 (0.28%) TypeScript
8 1 (0.14%) C#
8 1 (0.14%) COBOL
8 1 (0.14%) Go
8 1 (0.14%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 267 (36.93%) Security Cleared
2 175 (24.20%) SC Cleared
3 62 (8.58%) DV Cleared
4 45 (6.22%) BPSS Clearance
5 24 (3.32%) ITIL Certification
6 17 (2.35%) Degree
7 3 (0.41%) Master's Degree
7 3 (0.41%) TOGAF Certification
8 2 (0.28%) AWS Certification
8 2 (0.28%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 2 (0.28%) Azure Certification
8 2 (0.28%) Cisco Certification
8 2 (0.28%) CTC Cleared
8 2 (0.28%) DBS Check
8 2 (0.28%) IIBA
8 2 (0.28%) PMI Certification
8 2 (0.28%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
8 2 (0.28%) SANS
9 1 (0.14%) APMG
9 1 (0.14%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 124 (17.15%) Accessibility
2 29 (4.01%) Actionable Recommendations
3 27 (3.73%) WCAG
4 25 (3.46%) ISO/IEC 20000
5 19 (2.63%) QA
6 17 (2.35%) SLA
7 11 (1.52%) Data Quality
8 9 (1.24%) PMO
9 5 (0.69%) GDPR
10 4 (0.55%) NCSC
11 3 (0.41%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 3 (0.41%) NIST
12 2 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 42001
13 1 (0.14%) COBIT
13 1 (0.14%) Cyber Essentials
13 1 (0.14%) GRC
13 1 (0.14%) GxP
13 1 (0.14%) ISO 31000
13 1 (0.14%) ISO 9001
13 1 (0.14%) PERC
System Software
1 14 (1.94%) IAG
2 10 (1.38%) Docker
3 6 (0.83%) Active Directory
4 5 (0.69%) VMware Infrastructure
5 4 (0.55%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.28%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.14%) EMC RecoverPoint
7 1 (0.14%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 20 (2.77%) Kubernetes
2 18 (2.49%) Ansible
3 8 (1.11%) Grafana
4 4 (0.55%) BMC PATROL
4 4 (0.55%) BMC Performance Manager
4 4 (0.55%) Perfmon
4 4 (0.55%) Prometheus
5 3 (0.41%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.28%) Istio
7 1 (0.14%) Argo
7 1 (0.14%) Avamar
7 1 (0.14%) EMC VPLEX
7 1 (0.14%) Kibana
7 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (0.14%) Network Intrusion Detection System
7 1 (0.14%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.14%) Puppet
Vendors
1 58 (8.02%) ServiceNow
2 37 (5.12%) Microsoft
3 11 (1.52%) Adobe
3 11 (1.52%) Salesforce
4 10 (1.38%) Dynatrace
4 10 (1.38%) Google
4 10 (1.38%) Nexthink
4 10 (1.38%) Oracle
5 7 (0.97%) AppDynamics
5 7 (0.97%) BMC
5 7 (0.97%) SAP
6 5 (0.69%) Cisco
6 5 (0.69%) Sparx
6 5 (0.69%) VMware
7 4 (0.55%) Atlassian
7 4 (0.55%) Foundry
7 4 (0.55%) Splunk
8 3 (0.41%) Checkmarx
8 3 (0.41%) F5
8 3 (0.41%) Virgin Media