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

6 months to
30 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 173 277 213
Rank change year-on-year +104 -64 -26
Contract jobs citing Service Design 621 212 401
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.54% 0.87% 1.08%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.81% 0.96% 1.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 470 155 272
10th Percentile £363 £397 £400
25th Percentile £419 £463 £460
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £518 £549 £543
Median % change year-on-year -5.74% +1.20% -3.56%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £625
90th Percentile £738 £720 £706
UK median daily rate £513 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -2.38% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 1 11
10th Percentile £75.13 - -
25th Percentile £86.38 - £17.80
Median hourly rate £95.50 £31.52 £33.07
Median % change year-on-year +202.98% -4.67% -42.50%
75th Percentile £104.63 - £34.53
90th Percentile £106.90 - £72.90
UK median hourly rate £95.25 £31.52 £33.07
% change year-on-year +202.19% -4.67% -42.50%

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 34,270 22,183 32,209
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.00% 91.18% 86.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,910 14,537 21,121
10th Percentile £318 £310 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £508 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.33% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £617 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £521 £525
% change year-on-year -4.03% -0.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,134 920 2,242
10th Percentile £15.38 £14.75 £12.92
25th Percentile £20.38 £18.50 £16.00
Median hourly rate £45.00 £30.00 £35.68
Median % change year-on-year +50.00% -15.92% -4.85%
75th Percentile £67.50 £63.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £79.35 £75.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £41.56 £29.07 £35.00
% change year-on-year +42.95% -16.94% -6.17%

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 30 April 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 30 April 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 30 April 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 +62 250 £523 -4.09% 44
North of England +11 121 £485 -0.51% 11
South East +13 90 £525 +5.00% 21
South West +9 71 £725 +28.89% 10
Midlands -12 65 £484 -15.91% 8
West Midlands -5 62 £475 -17.39% 8
North West -5 51 £463 -2.63% 5
Yorkshire -17 45 £538 -15.69% 3
North East +5 25 £423 -17.56% 3
East of England -38 4 £400 -50.00% 7
East Midlands - 3 £525 -
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 54 (8.70%) Confluence
2 10 (1.61%) SharePoint
3 6 (0.97%) LiveCycle
4 3 (0.48%) CMS
5 2 (0.32%) Appian
5 2 (0.32%) Drupal
5 2 (0.32%) Microsoft Exchange
6 1 (0.16%) Anypoint
6 1 (0.16%) Apache Solr
6 1 (0.16%) Mule
6 1 (0.16%) Oracle Application Server
6 1 (0.16%) Tomcat
Applications
1 40 (6.44%) Microsoft Office
2 31 (4.99%) Microsoft Project
3 12 (1.93%) Microsoft Excel
4 9 (1.45%) Sketch
5 7 (1.13%) Adobe XD
5 7 (1.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 6 (0.97%) InVision
6 6 (0.97%) MS Visio
7 4 (0.64%) Chatbot
7 4 (0.64%) Trello
8 3 (0.48%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 3 (0.48%) Spreadsheet
8 3 (0.48%) Zeplin
9 2 (0.32%) Adobe After Effects
Business Applications
1 4 (0.64%) Dynamics CRM
1 4 (0.64%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.32%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.16%) Adobe Campaign
3 1 (0.16%) NetSuite
3 1 (0.16%) Oracle Payroll
3 1 (0.16%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.16%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 37 (5.96%) Figma
2 33 (5.31%) Azure
3 32 (5.15%) AWS
4 20 (3.22%) Power Platform
5 16 (2.58%) SaaS
6 8 (1.29%) Miro
7 6 (0.97%) GCP
7 6 (0.97%) Microsoft 365
8 5 (0.81%) Google Analytics
8 5 (0.81%) Google Tag Manager
8 5 (0.81%) IaaS
8 5 (0.81%) PaaS
8 5 (0.81%) Power Automate
9 4 (0.64%) Microsoft Copilot
9 4 (0.64%) OpenShift
9 4 (0.64%) Serverless
10 3 (0.48%) Amazon S3
10 3 (0.48%) AWS CloudFormation
10 3 (0.48%) AWS Lambda
10 3 (0.48%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 4 (0.64%) Cisco Nexus
1 4 (0.64%) Firewall
1 4 (0.64%) VPN
2 3 (0.48%) 3GPP
2 3 (0.48%) WAN
3 2 (0.32%) 2G
3 2 (0.32%) 3G
3 2 (0.32%) 4G
3 2 (0.32%) 5G
3 2 (0.32%) BGP
3 2 (0.32%) Diameter Protocol
3 2 (0.32%) LAN
3 2 (0.32%) NX-OS
3 2 (0.32%) OSPF
3 2 (0.32%) SIGTRAN
3 2 (0.32%) SS7
3 2 (0.32%) TETRA
3 2 (0.32%) VLAN
3 2 (0.32%) VXLAN
4 1 (0.16%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (2.90%) Power BI
2 5 (0.81%) BigQuery
2 5 (0.81%) Looker
3 4 (0.64%) Electronic Patient Records
3 4 (0.64%) SQL Server
4 3 (0.48%) Tableau
5 2 (0.32%) Oracle Reports
5 2 (0.32%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 1 (0.16%) EDRMS
6 1 (0.16%) Metadata
6 1 (0.16%) Oracle Exadata
6 1 (0.16%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 65 (10.47%) JIRA
2 8 (1.29%) Jenkins
3 5 (0.81%) Axure RP
3 5 (0.81%) GitLab
4 3 (0.48%) Git
5 2 (0.32%) Appium
5 2 (0.32%) Cucumber
5 2 (0.32%) Postman
5 2 (0.32%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.16%) Artifactory
6 1 (0.16%) JUnit
6 1 (0.16%) Maven
6 1 (0.16%) Mocha
6 1 (0.16%) Mockito
6 1 (0.16%) NUnit
6 1 (0.16%) REST Assured
6 1 (0.16%) Selenium
6 1 (0.16%) Subversion
6 1 (0.16%) Team Foundation Server
6 1 (0.16%) VersionOne
General
1 200 (32.21%) Social Skills
2 186 (29.95%) Public Sector
3 75 (12.08%) Analytical Skills
4 72 (11.59%) Finance
5 40 (6.44%) Military
6 25 (4.03%) Influencing Skills
7 20 (3.22%) Legal
8 19 (3.06%) Presentation Skills
9 16 (2.58%) Banking
10 15 (2.42%) Local Government
11 12 (1.93%) Retail
12 10 (1.61%) Telecoms
13 8 (1.29%) Organisational Skills
14 7 (1.13%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 6 (0.97%) Documentation Skills
15 6 (0.97%) Law
15 6 (0.97%) Marketing
16 5 (0.81%) Financial Institution
17 3 (0.48%) Back Office
17 3 (0.48%) Police
Job Titles
1 240 (38.65%) Designer
2 189 (30.43%) Service Designer
3 97 (15.62%) Architect
4 77 (12.40%) Senior
5 70 (11.27%) Analyst
6 66 (10.63%) Lead
7 59 (9.50%) User Researcher
8 57 (9.18%) Service Architect
9 47 (7.57%) Business Analyst
10 37 (5.96%) Senior Designer
11 32 (5.15%) Lead Designer
12 31 (4.99%) Lead Service Designer
12 31 (4.99%) Senior Service Designer
13 17 (2.74%) Interaction Designer
13 17 (2.74%) Senior Analyst
13 17 (2.74%) Service Manager
14 14 (2.25%) Consultant
14 14 (2.25%) Senior Business Analyst
14 14 (2.25%) Service Analyst
14 14 (2.25%) UX Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (2.42%) REST
2 12 (1.93%) HTML
3 10 (1.61%) SOAP
4 7 (1.13%) CSS
4 7 (1.13%) RESTful
5 5 (0.81%) Spring
5 5 (0.81%) Spring Boot
5 5 (0.81%) Web Services
6 4 (0.64%) .NET
6 4 (0.64%) Microsoft Graph
7 3 (0.48%) AngularJS
7 3 (0.48%) Django
7 3 (0.48%) Flask
7 3 (0.48%) Middleware
7 3 (0.48%) NestJS
7 3 (0.48%) Node.js
7 3 (0.48%) OAuth
7 3 (0.48%) Oracle Fusion
7 3 (0.48%) STL
7 3 (0.48%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 67 (10.79%) Product Ownership
2 32 (5.15%) Onboarding
3 19 (3.06%) NHS
4 16 (2.58%) Legacy Systems
5 14 (2.25%) Cloud Native
6 13 (2.09%) CMDB
7 11 (1.77%) Data Centre
8 9 (1.45%) Hybrid Cloud
9 7 (1.13%) AI Agents
9 7 (1.13%) Data Protection Act
9 7 (1.13%) Management Information System
10 5 (0.81%) Mobile App
10 5 (0.81%) Security Posture
11 4 (0.64%) Analytical Mindset
11 4 (0.64%) IVR
11 4 (0.64%) Self-Motivation
12 3 (0.48%) Hackathon
12 3 (0.48%) Operational Technology
12 3 (0.48%) PMI
12 3 (0.48%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 4 (0.64%) Windows
2 1 (0.16%) Linux
2 1 (0.16%) MVS
2 1 (0.16%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 276 (44.44%) Agile
2 186 (29.95%) User Research
3 140 (22.54%) ITIL
4 124 (19.97%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
5 99 (15.94%) User Experience
6 98 (15.78%) Service Management
7 97 (15.62%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 94 (15.14%) Journey Map
8 94 (15.14%) Workshop Facilitation
9 90 (14.49%) Continuous Improvement
10 89 (14.33%) Roadmaps
11 88 (14.17%) Stakeholder Management
12 75 (12.08%) Decision-Making
13 67 (10.79%) UX Design
14 62 (9.98%) Acceptance Criteria
15 60 (9.66%) Service Delivery
16 58 (9.34%) Interaction Design
16 58 (9.34%) Problem-Solving
17 55 (8.86%) Collaborative Working
17 55 (8.86%) Prototyping
Programming Languages
1 12 (1.93%) SQL
2 9 (1.45%) JavaScript
3 8 (1.29%) Java
3 8 (1.29%) PowerShell
3 8 (1.29%) Python
4 4 (0.64%) Bash
4 4 (0.64%) C#
4 4 (0.64%) T-SQL
5 3 (0.48%) Kusto Query Language
6 1 (0.16%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 1 (0.16%) DataWeave
6 1 (0.16%) Groovy
6 1 (0.16%) PL/SQL
6 1 (0.16%) R
6 1 (0.16%) Scala
6 1 (0.16%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 219 (35.27%) Security Cleared
2 172 (27.70%) SC Cleared
3 62 (9.98%) Degree
4 49 (7.89%) DV Cleared
5 39 (6.28%) TOGAF Certification
6 30 (4.83%) BPSS Clearance
7 15 (2.42%) ITIL Certification
8 9 (1.45%) AWS Certification
9 7 (1.13%) Azure Certification
10 4 (0.64%) CISM
10 4 (0.64%) CISSP
10 4 (0.64%) PMI Certification
11 3 (0.48%) CRISC
12 2 (0.32%) APMG
12 2 (0.32%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
12 2 (0.32%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 2 (0.32%) Computer Science Degree
12 2 (0.32%) IIBA
13 1 (0.16%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 1 (0.16%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 116 (18.68%) Accessibility
2 25 (4.03%) WCAG
3 14 (2.25%) Actionable Recommendations
3 14 (2.25%) QA
4 13 (2.09%) ISO/IEC 20000
5 12 (1.93%) SLA
6 11 (1.77%) Data Quality
7 10 (1.61%) NCSC
8 9 (1.45%) GDPR
9 7 (1.13%) Government Security Classifications
10 4 (0.64%) COBIT
10 4 (0.64%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 4 (0.64%) PMO
11 3 (0.48%) NIST
12 2 (0.32%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.32%) Cyber Essentials
12 2 (0.32%) GRC
13 1 (0.16%) FINRA
13 1 (0.16%) ISO 31000
13 1 (0.16%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 6 (0.97%) Docker
2 4 (0.64%) VMware NSX
3 3 (0.48%) IAG
4 2 (0.32%) EMC RecoverPoint
4 2 (0.32%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.16%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 30 (4.83%) OPNET
2 10 (1.61%) Kubernetes
3 8 (1.29%) Ansible
4 6 (0.97%) Single Sign-On
4 6 (0.97%) Terraform
5 3 (0.48%) vRealize
6 2 (0.32%) Avamar
6 2 (0.32%) EMC VPLEX
7 1 (0.16%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.16%) SysTrack
7 1 (0.16%) VxRail
Vendors
1 65 (10.47%) ServiceNow
2 35 (5.64%) Microsoft
3 31 (4.99%) Remedy
4 30 (4.83%) Atlassian
5 13 (2.09%) VMware
6 12 (1.93%) Adobe
7 10 (1.61%) Cisco
8 8 (1.29%) Oracle
8 8 (1.29%) SAP
9 6 (0.97%) Google
10 5 (0.81%) Salesforce
11 4 (0.64%) Foundry
11 4 (0.64%) Palo Alto
11 4 (0.64%) Workday
11 4 (0.64%) Zscaler
12 3 (0.48%) Genesys
12 3 (0.48%) UiPath
13 2 (0.32%) EMC
13 2 (0.32%) IBM
13 2 (0.32%) NetApp