An aspect of the present disclosure facilitates selection of leader nodes in distributed data services. In one embodiment, a distributed data service is provided operative based on multiple nodes. Upon receiving from a user a selection of a set of nodes that are preferred as leader nodes, a node contained in the set of nodes is set as a leader node in the distributed data service in view of the selection by the user. Accordingly, a user is provided control over the selection of leader nodes in the distributed data service.