diff --git a/roles/service/defaults/main.yaml b/roles/service/defaults/main.yaml
index 88d10ab..32db134 100644
--- a/roles/service/defaults/main.yaml
+++ b/roles/service/defaults/main.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 ---
 service_domains: []
 
+service_container_user: ""
 service_container_publish_ports: []
 service_container_mounts: []
 service_container_env: {}
diff --git a/roles/service/meta/argument_specs.yaml b/roles/service/meta/argument_specs.yaml
index cd08d65..1f610e7 100644
--- a/roles/service/meta/argument_specs.yaml
+++ b/roles/service/meta/argument_specs.yaml
@@ -25,6 +25,11 @@ argument_specs:
         description: "The image to run in the service container(s), in FQIN format (registry/imagename:tag)."
         type: str
         required: true
+      service_container_user:
+        description: The UID to run as inside the container
+        type: str
+        required: false
+        default: ""
       service_container_publish_ports:
         description: "A list of published ports in docker format (<host listen address>:<host port>:<container port>)"
         type: list
diff --git a/roles/service/tasks/main.yaml b/roles/service/tasks/main.yaml
index 8324a23..cc91ac2 100644
--- a/roles/service/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/roles/service/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
   vars:
     container_name: "{{ service_name }}"
     container_image: "{{ service_container_image }}"
+    container_user: "{{ service_container_user }}"
     container_mounts: "{{ _service_container_mounts }}"
     container_publish_ports: "{{ service_container_publish_ports }}"
     container_networks:
diff --git a/roles/service/tasks/validation.yaml b/roles/service/tasks/validation.yaml
index da9eb22..ecdedb5 100644
--- a/roles/service/tasks/validation.yaml
+++ b/roles/service/tasks/validation.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
 ---
+- name: Fail if service_container_user is not string
+  ansible.builtin.fail:
+    msg: "service_container_user must be a string, not int."
+  when: service_container_user is not string
+
 - name: Fail if service_database_type is postgres but service_postgres_tag is not set
   ansible.builtin.fail:
     msg: "service_postgres_tag needs to be set when database type is postgres"