Designer Contract Job Trends

Designer
UK

The median Designer daily rate in the UK is £475, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 19 November 2025.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 191 167 189
Rank change year-on-year -24 +22 -54
Contract jobs requiring a Designer 552 554 622
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.55% 1.53% 1.34%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.70% 1.65% 1.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 394 345 445
10th Percentile £325 £306 £305
25th Percentile £406 £375 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year - -5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £581
90th Percentile £638 £638 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £497 £500
% change year-on-year -9.46% -0.60% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 7 15
10th Percentile £20.48 £31.08 £32.05
25th Percentile £33.36 £31.63 £45.11
Median hourly rate £42.00 £33.54 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +25.22% -32.92% +6.16%
75th Percentile £66.27 £61.88 £64.12
90th Percentile £69.65 £75.00 £68.84
UK excluding London median hourly rate £57.81 £33.54 £50.00
% change year-on-year +72.37% -32.92% +21.95%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 32,472 33,653 43,373
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.95% 92.85% 93.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,595 20,286 29,396
10th Percentile £279 £300 £290
25th Percentile £402 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £648
90th Percentile £725 £738 £740
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -3.06% -2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,912 1,252 1,544
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.22 £15.16
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.50 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £36.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -30.14% -20.00% +55.71%
75th Percentile £55.12 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.14 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £45.00
% change year-on-year -28.14% -22.22% +86.55%

Designer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Designer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Designer job vacancy trend in the UK

Designer
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Designer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Designer job vacancies in the UK

Designer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Designer over the 6 months to 19 November 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Designer in the UK

Designer
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Designer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Designer job vacancies in the UK

Designer
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Designer over the 6 months to 19 November 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Designer in the UK

Designer
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Designer within the UK over the 6 months to 19 November 2025. 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
England -18 466 £475 -1.04% 334
London +28 278 £500 +5.26% 192
UK excluding London -61 194 £450 -9.46% 173
Work from Home -52 166 £463 +5.23% 162
North of England -15 77 £438 -5.41% 74
North West +1 44 £438 +8.02% 50
South East -41 35 £538 +4.12% 57
Midlands -46 28 £425 -8.24% 18
South West +5 26 £600 +4.35% 15
West Midlands -30 25 £425 -19.14% 13
Yorkshire -38 24 £435 -13.00% 10
Scotland -17 16 £456 +3.81% 3
North East -9 10 £450 - 14
East of England -15 10 £425 -12.82% 7
East Midlands -27 3 £386 -3.44% 5
Wales - 3 £588 - 1
Northern Ireland -8 2 £625 +12.61%

Designer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 19 November 2025, Designer contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Designer in the job title.

1 208 (37.68%) User Experience
2 176 (31.88%) Figma
3 167 (30.25%) Service Design
3 167 (30.25%) UX Design
4 154 (27.90%) Agile
5 143 (25.91%) Accessibility
6 134 (24.28%) User Research
7 106 (19.20%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
8 94 (17.03%) Security Cleared
9 91 (16.49%) Prototyping
10 84 (15.22%) SC Cleared
11 79 (14.31%) Interaction Design
12 75 (13.59%) Wireframes
13 74 (13.41%) Workshop Facilitation
14 70 (12.68%) Journey Map
15 69 (12.50%) Adobe
16 54 (9.78%) Usability Testing
17 52 (9.42%) Sketch
18 51 (9.24%) Design Thinking
19 49 (8.88%) Problem-Solving
20 47 (8.51%) Inclusive Design
21 43 (7.79%) Stakeholder Engagement
22 40 (7.25%) Microsoft
23 39 (7.07%) Analytics
23 39 (7.07%) HTML
23 39 (7.07%) Stakeholder Management
24 38 (6.88%) AI
25 37 (6.70%) Collaborative Working
25 37 (6.70%) Degree
25 37 (6.70%) Storytelling

Designer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 22 (3.99%) CMS
2 13 (2.36%) Confluence
3 11 (1.99%) OpenStack
4 5 (0.91%) Headless CMS
5 4 (0.72%) Appian
5 4 (0.72%) Camunda
6 3 (0.54%) Tomcat
7 2 (0.36%) SharePoint
8 1 (0.18%) Drupal
8 1 (0.18%) Joomla!
8 1 (0.18%) LiveCycle
8 1 (0.18%) Umbraco
8 1 (0.18%) WordPress
Applications
1 52 (9.42%) Sketch
2 28 (5.07%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 25 (4.53%) Adobe XD
4 20 (3.62%) Adobe Illustrator
5 18 (3.26%) Photoshop
6 17 (3.08%) InVision
7 12 (2.17%) InDesign
8 10 (1.81%) Zeplin
9 9 (1.63%) Adobe After Effects
9 9 (1.63%) Microsoft Office
9 9 (1.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
10 6 (1.09%) Adobe Captivate
10 6 (1.09%) Chatbot
10 6 (1.09%) Microsoft Excel
11 4 (0.72%) Acrobat
11 4 (0.72%) Adobe Premiere
11 4 (0.72%) MS Visio
11 4 (0.72%) OmniGraffle
11 4 (0.72%) UXPin
12 3 (0.54%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (1.09%) SAP ERP
2 4 (0.72%) Dynamics GP
2 4 (0.72%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (0.54%) Oracle BRM
4 2 (0.36%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.18%) Oracle CRM
5 1 (0.18%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.18%) Workfront
Cloud Services
1 176 (31.88%) Figma
2 32 (5.80%) AWS
3 26 (4.71%) Miro
4 18 (3.26%) SaaS
5 10 (1.81%) Azure
6 9 (1.63%) Power Platform
7 7 (1.27%) Adobe Creative Cloud
7 7 (1.27%) Lucidchart
8 6 (1.09%) OpenShift
9 5 (0.91%) Amazon Cognito
9 5 (0.91%) Amazon ECS
9 5 (0.91%) Amazon EKS
9 5 (0.91%) Amazon S3
9 5 (0.91%) AWS Lambda
9 5 (0.91%) Google Analytics
9 5 (0.91%) Serverless
10 4 (0.72%) ChatGPT
10 4 (0.72%) Copilot Studio
10 4 (0.72%) GitHub
10 4 (0.72%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 15 (2.72%) BGP
1 15 (2.72%) Firewall
1 15 (2.72%) OSPF
2 13 (2.36%) MPLS
3 12 (2.17%) LAN
4 9 (1.63%) Wireless
5 8 (1.45%) DHCP
5 8 (1.45%) DNS
5 8 (1.45%) IPsec
5 8 (1.45%) SNMP
6 7 (1.27%) VLAN
6 7 (1.27%) Wireshark
7 6 (1.09%) 4G
7 6 (1.09%) 5G
7 6 (1.09%) Radio Access Network
7 6 (1.09%) SMS
7 6 (1.09%) TACACS
7 6 (1.09%) WAN
7 6 (1.09%) Wi-Fi
8 5 (0.91%) 3GPP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (0.91%) DynamoDB
2 4 (0.72%) Power BI
3 3 (0.54%) Metadata
4 1 (0.18%) BigQuery
4 1 (0.18%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 26 (4.71%) Axure RP
2 20 (3.62%) JIRA
3 7 (1.27%) Balsamiq
4 2 (0.36%) Git
4 2 (0.36%) Postman
5 1 (0.18%) Cypress.io
5 1 (0.18%) Dreamweaver
5 1 (0.18%) GitLab
5 1 (0.18%) Visual Studio
5 1 (0.18%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 130 (23.55%) Social Skills
2 96 (17.39%) Finance
3 83 (15.04%) Public Sector
4 62 (11.23%) Banking
5 28 (5.07%) Marketing
6 19 (3.44%) Publishing
7 16 (2.90%) Legal
8 15 (2.72%) Analytical Skills
9 13 (2.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 12 (2.17%) Retail
11 8 (1.45%) Influencing Skills
12 7 (1.27%) Billing
13 6 (1.09%) Advertising
13 6 (1.09%) Documentation Skills
13 6 (1.09%) Manufacturing
13 6 (1.09%) Organisational Skills
13 6 (1.09%) Presentation Skills
13 6 (1.09%) Telecoms
14 5 (0.91%) Financial Institution
14 5 (0.91%) Retail Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (7.07%) HTML
2 36 (6.52%) CSS
3 10 (1.81%) Framer.js
4 5 (0.91%) Lightning Web Components
4 5 (0.91%) OAuth
4 5 (0.91%) OAuth2
4 5 (0.91%) OpenID
4 5 (0.91%) SAML
4 5 (0.91%) Swagger
5 4 (0.72%) React
6 3 (0.54%) AngularJS
7 2 (0.36%) .NET
7 2 (0.36%) EDI
7 2 (0.36%) HTML5
7 2 (0.36%) Middleware
7 2 (0.36%) OpenAPI
7 2 (0.36%) REST
7 2 (0.36%) Sass
7 2 (0.36%) Web Services
8 1 (0.18%) OpenGL
Miscellaneous
1 50 (9.06%) Mobile App
2 31 (5.62%) Product Ownership
3 25 (4.53%) Onboarding
4 10 (1.81%) Social Media
5 9 (1.63%) Data Centre
5 9 (1.63%) Graphic Design
6 8 (1.45%) Data Protection Act
6 8 (1.45%) Hybrid Cloud
7 7 (1.27%) Operational Technology
8 6 (1.09%) e-Learning
8 6 (1.09%) Enterprise Software
8 6 (1.09%) Greenfield Project
8 6 (1.09%) Self-Motivation
9 5 (0.91%) Blog
9 5 (0.91%) Digital Media
9 5 (0.91%) FPGA
9 5 (0.91%) Learning Management System
10 4 (0.72%) IoT
10 4 (0.72%) Management Information System
10 4 (0.72%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 17 (3.08%) Apple iOS
2 16 (2.90%) Android
3 3 (0.54%) Unix
4 1 (0.18%) Mac OS
4 1 (0.18%) VMS
4 1 (0.18%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 208 (37.68%) User Experience
2 167 (30.25%) Service Design
2 167 (30.25%) UX Design
3 154 (27.90%) Agile
4 134 (24.28%) User Research
5 106 (19.20%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
6 91 (16.49%) Prototyping
7 79 (14.31%) Interaction Design
8 75 (13.59%) Wireframes
9 74 (13.41%) Workshop Facilitation
10 70 (12.68%) Journey Map
11 54 (9.78%) Usability Testing
12 51 (9.24%) Design Thinking
13 49 (8.88%) Problem-Solving
14 47 (8.51%) Inclusive Design
15 43 (7.79%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 39 (7.07%) Analytics
16 39 (7.07%) Stakeholder Management
17 38 (6.88%) AI
18 37 (6.70%) Storytelling
Programming Languages
1 12 (2.17%) JavaScript
1 12 (2.17%) Python
2 7 (1.27%) SQL
3 3 (0.54%) Java
3 3 (0.54%) PL/SQL
4 2 (0.36%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 94 (17.03%) Security Cleared
2 84 (15.22%) SC Cleared
3 37 (6.70%) Degree
4 22 (3.99%) BPSS Clearance
5 13 (2.36%) Cisco Certification
6 12 (2.17%) AWS Certification
7 8 (1.45%) CCIE
7 8 (1.45%) JNCIE
8 5 (0.91%) HND
9 4 (0.72%) CCNP
9 4 (0.72%) Computer Science Degree
9 4 (0.72%) DV Cleared
9 4 (0.72%) Master's Degree
9 4 (0.72%) SAP Certification
10 3 (0.54%) CCNA
11 2 (0.36%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 1 (0.18%) Azure Certification
12 1 (0.18%) DBS Check
12 1 (0.18%) MCP
12 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 143 (25.91%) Accessibility
2 34 (6.16%) WCAG
3 5 (0.91%) GDPR
3 5 (0.91%) ISO 9001
4 4 (0.72%) Data Quality
4 4 (0.72%) QA
5 1 (0.18%) Actionable Recommendations
5 1 (0.18%) SLA
System Software
1 6 (1.09%) VMware Infrastructure
1 6 (1.09%) VMware NSX
2 5 (0.91%) Docker
Systems Management
1 6 (1.09%) Ansible
1 6 (1.09%) Terraform
2 2 (0.36%) FortiGate
3 1 (0.18%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 69 (12.50%) Adobe
2 40 (7.25%) Microsoft
3 20 (3.62%) Cisco
4 13 (2.36%) F5
4 13 (2.36%) Fortinet
4 13 (2.36%) Salesforce
5 11 (1.99%) Juniper
6 10 (1.81%) Google
7 9 (1.63%) SAP
8 7 (1.27%) ServiceNow
9 6 (1.09%) Cadence
9 6 (1.09%) Pega
9 6 (1.09%) VMware
10 5 (0.91%) Dell
10 5 (0.91%) Hopewiser
10 5 (0.91%) Oracle
10 5 (0.91%) Sage
11 4 (0.72%) Genesys
11 4 (0.72%) Hotjar
11 4 (0.72%) Mercator