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 23 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 178 222 262
Rank change year-on-year +44 +40 -87
Contract jobs citing Service Design 695 326 325
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.55% 1.19% 0.92%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.81% 1.32% 1.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 499 243 219
10th Percentile £402 £401 £400
25th Percentile £455 £450 £462
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £538 £550
Median % change year-on-year -6.98% -2.27% -4.35%
75th Percentile £586 £638 £638
90th Percentile £713 £700 £740
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 2 10
10th Percentile £47.44 £53.35 -
25th Percentile £61.58 £56.36 £17.80
Median hourly rate £95.50 £62.06 £30.37
Median % change year-on-year +53.88% +104.36% -47.19%
75th Percentile £102.88 £67.09 £34.53
90th Percentile £105.25 £69.71 -
UK median hourly rate £95.50 £62.06 £30.37
% change year-on-year +53.88% +104.36% -47.19%

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 38,297 24,783 30,176
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.34% 90.63% 85.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,016 15,884 19,726
10th Percentile £325 £300 £310
25th Percentile £420 £405 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £634 £645
90th Percentile £737 £738 £753
UK median daily rate £520 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +4.00% -4.76% -4.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,362 1,330 1,950
10th Percentile £15.38 £14.29 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.00 £17.99 £17.25
Median hourly rate £47.50 £25.15 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +88.87% -37.13% -6.43%
75th Percentile £69.75 £53.75 £63.75
90th Percentile £83.23 £71.46 £74.50
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £39.50
% change year-on-year +74.79% -36.33% -7.06%

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 23 July 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 23 July 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 23 July 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 +39 301 £520 -5.45% 85
North of England +18 140 £475 -3.46% 25
South East -16 116 £525 -2.33% 31
Midlands +1 71 £487 +8.11% 8
West Midlands -7 69 £487 +8.11% 7
Yorkshire +9 65 £496 -11.82% 12
North West -28 49 £475 - 9
South West -35 34 £575 +5.75% 8
North East -16 27 £420 -18.05% 6
East of England -30 6 £500 -9.09% 6
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 (4.03%) Confluence
2 15 (2.16%) SharePoint
3 8 (1.15%) 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 13 (1.87%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (1.58%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 11 (1.58%) MS Visio
3 7 (1.01%) Sketch
4 5 (0.72%) Chatbot
4 5 (0.72%) Microsoft Office
5 4 (0.58%) Adobe XD
6 3 (0.43%) Microsoft Project
7 2 (0.29%) Trello
8 1 (0.14%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.14%) InVision
Business Applications
1 4 (0.58%) SAP S/4HANA
1 4 (0.58%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 2 (0.29%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.14%) Adobe Campaign
Cloud Services
1 54 (7.77%) Azure
2 42 (6.04%) AWS
3 35 (5.04%) Figma
4 27 (3.88%) SaaS
5 17 (2.45%) Microsoft 365
6 14 (2.01%) Miro
6 14 (2.01%) Power Platform
7 12 (1.73%) GitHub
8 10 (1.44%) Datadog
8 10 (1.44%) Microsoft Copilot
9 9 (1.29%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 9 (1.29%) Azure Monitor
10 7 (1.01%) Azure AI
11 5 (0.72%) Azure DevOps
11 5 (0.72%) Entra ID
11 5 (0.72%) OCI
11 5 (0.72%) PowerApps
12 4 (0.58%) Copilot Studio
13 3 (0.43%) GitHub Actions
13 3 (0.43%) Microsoft Purview
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 5 (0.72%) Metadata
3 4 (0.58%) Electronic Patient Records
3 4 (0.58%) SQL Server
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%) Looker
5 1 (0.14%) Oracle Database
5 1 (0.14%) Oracle Exadata
5 1 (0.14%) Power Query
5 1 (0.14%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 31 (4.46%) JIRA
2 8 (1.15%) Jenkins
3 6 (0.86%) Git
4 4 (0.58%) 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%) 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
1 220 (31.65%) Social Skills
2 196 (28.20%) Public Sector
3 99 (14.24%) Finance
4 58 (8.35%) Analytical Skills
5 50 (7.19%) Influencing Skills
6 20 (2.88%) Banking
6 20 (2.88%) Presentation Skills
7 19 (2.73%) Documentation Skills
8 18 (2.59%) Retail
9 16 (2.30%) Telecoms
10 15 (2.16%) Legal
10 15 (2.16%) Organisational Skills
11 14 (2.01%) Military
12 13 (1.87%) Local Government
13 9 (1.29%) Financial Institution
14 8 (1.15%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 5 (0.72%) Back Office
15 5 (0.72%) Law
15 5 (0.72%) Police
16 4 (0.58%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 271 (38.99%) Designer
2 206 (29.64%) Service Designer
3 84 (12.09%) Lead
4 81 (11.65%) Architect
5 68 (9.78%) User Researcher
6 65 (9.35%) Senior
7 52 (7.48%) Analyst
8 35 (5.04%) Business Analyst
9 33 (4.75%) Senior Designer
10 31 (4.46%) Service Architect
10 31 (4.46%) Service Manager
11 27 (3.88%) Lead Designer
12 26 (3.74%) Lead Service Designer
13 22 (3.17%) Consultant
13 22 (3.17%) Senior Service Designer
14 20 (2.88%) Interaction Designer
14 20 (2.88%) Service Design Manager
14 20 (2.88%) Service Transition Manager
14 20 (2.88%) Transition Manager
15 17 (2.45%) Product Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (2.01%) REST
2 12 (1.73%) SOAP
3 8 (1.15%) HTML
3 8 (1.15%) RESTful
4 6 (0.86%) .NET
4 6 (0.86%) CSS
4 6 (0.86%) Web Services
5 5 (0.72%) Microsoft Graph
5 5 (0.72%) STL
6 4 (0.58%) VML
7 3 (0.43%) Node.js
7 3 (0.43%) Playwright
7 3 (0.43%) Spring Boot
7 3 (0.43%) Swagger
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%) TanStack
Miscellaneous
1 54 (7.77%) Onboarding
2 47 (6.76%) Product Ownership
3 28 (4.03%) CMDB
4 24 (3.45%) NHS
5 16 (2.30%) Cloud Native
6 14 (2.01%) Data Centre
6 14 (2.01%) Legacy Systems
7 13 (1.87%) AI Agents
8 11 (1.58%) Data Protection Act
9 7 (1.01%) Greenfield Project
9 7 (1.01%) Management Information System
9 7 (1.01%) Virtual Team
10 6 (0.86%) Self-Motivation
11 5 (0.72%) Analytical Mindset
11 5 (0.72%) Security Posture
11 5 (0.72%) Taxonomies
12 3 (0.43%) Celerra
12 3 (0.43%) EMC Centera
12 3 (0.43%) Replication
12 3 (0.43%) Symmetrix
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
1 267 (38.42%) Agile
2 192 (27.63%) User Research
3 144 (20.72%) Stakeholder Management
4 140 (20.14%) ITIL
5 138 (19.86%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
6 120 (17.27%) Continuous Improvement
7 115 (16.55%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 111 (15.97%) Workshop Facilitation
9 107 (15.40%) User Experience
10 103 (14.82%) Journey Map
11 93 (13.38%) Decision-Making
11 93 (13.38%) Roadmaps
12 87 (12.52%) Service Management
13 68 (9.78%) UX Design
14 66 (9.50%) AI
15 62 (8.92%) Problem-Solving
16 60 (8.63%) Interaction Design
16 60 (8.63%) ITSM
17 59 (8.49%) Collaborative Working
18 56 (8.06%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 15 (2.16%) SQL
2 10 (1.44%) PowerShell
3 8 (1.15%) JavaScript
4 7 (1.01%) Bash
4 7 (1.01%) Python
5 6 (0.86%) Java
6 4 (0.58%) C#
6 4 (0.58%) T-SQL
7 3 (0.43%) Kusto Query Language
8 2 (0.29%) Bicep
9 1 (0.14%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 1 (0.14%) DataWeave
9 1 (0.14%) Go
9 1 (0.14%) Groovy
9 1 (0.14%) PL/SQL
9 1 (0.14%) Scala
9 1 (0.14%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 232 (33.38%) Security Cleared
2 168 (24.17%) SC Cleared
3 61 (8.78%) DV Cleared
4 43 (6.19%) BPSS Clearance
5 29 (4.17%) Degree
6 15 (2.16%) 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
1 117 (16.83%) Accessibility
2 27 (3.88%) WCAG
3 20 (2.88%) ISO/IEC 20000
4 18 (2.59%) QA
5 13 (1.87%) Actionable Recommendations
5 13 (1.87%) SLA
6 12 (1.73%) NCSC
7 10 (1.44%) Data Quality
8 8 (1.15%) GDPR
9 7 (1.01%) Government Security Classifications
10 6 (0.86%) PMO
11 4 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 27001
12 3 (0.43%) COBIT
12 3 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 3 (0.43%) NIST
13 2 (0.29%) Cyber Essentials
13 2 (0.29%) GRC
14 1 (0.14%) FINRA
14 1 (0.14%) ISO 31000
14 1 (0.14%) MiFID
System Software
1 13 (1.87%) IAG
2 6 (0.86%) Docker
3 3 (0.43%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.43%) EMC RecoverPoint
3 3 (0.43%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (0.29%) Virtual Desktop
4 2 (0.29%) VMware NSX
5 1 (0.14%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 17 (2.45%) Ansible
2 12 (1.73%) 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
6 1 (0.14%) Argo
6 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Intune
6 1 (0.14%) Progress Chef
6 1 (0.14%) Puppet
6 1 (0.14%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.14%) SysTrack
Vendors
1 55 (7.91%) ServiceNow
2 38 (5.47%) Microsoft
3 12 (1.73%) SAP
4 9 (1.29%) Adobe
5 8 (1.15%) Cisco
5 8 (1.15%) Nexthink
5 8 (1.15%) Oracle
6 6 (0.86%) Dynatrace
6 6 (0.86%) Foundry
6 6 (0.86%) Google
7 5 (0.72%) Salesforce
8 4 (0.58%) F5
8 4 (0.58%) IBM
8 4 (0.58%) Sparx
8 4 (0.58%) Virgin Media
9 3 (0.43%) 3PAR
9 3 (0.43%) EMC
9 3 (0.43%) NetApp
9 3 (0.43%) Palo Alto
9 3 (0.43%) Veeam