Professional development is vital for professional service staff but there is little research evidence on how this group engages with development programmes. A cross-sectional study of professional service staff was carried out in two universities who are engaged in the Association of University Administrators Mark of Excellence. The study examined the perceived barriers and motivations for staff to engage in development and the degree of support from line managers for staff development. A web-based questionnaire was sent to 90 staff in Uni A and 459 staff in Uni B. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the similarities and differences between the universities. Key findings indicated the barriers that prevented staff from engaging in professional development included the lack of a supportive line manager, time, opportunities and workload. Staff felt motivated to engage in professional development when opportunities were linked to future roles and career progression within a defined career pathway.