A first role manager of a distributed service determines that a leadership assignment decision is to be made with respect to a particular node of the service. The first role manager identifies a particular role indicator value from a first subset of a set of role indicator values according to a value selection order of a role assignment policy of the service. The first role manager is not permitted to assign values from a different subset of the first set of role indicator values. The particular role indicator value is transmitted to the particular node, enabling the particular node to fulfill at least a first category of service requirements corresponding to the role of leader node.