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 20 August 2026.

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

6 months to
20 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 147 181 182
Rank change year-on-year +34 +1 -28
Contract jobs requiring a Designer 1,022 514 516
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.91% 1.57% 1.33%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.07% 1.72% 1.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 691 369 301
10th Percentile £363 £304 £303
25th Percentile £410 £375 £390
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £470 £475
Median % change year-on-year +1.06% -1.05% -7.09%
75th Percentile £538 £550 £575
90th Percentile £588 £613 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £438 £500
% change year-on-year +8.57% -12.50% +4.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 34 21 45
10th Percentile £25.65 £22.75 £37.35
25th Percentile £32.50 £34.48 £49.00
Median hourly rate £35.00 £45.00 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year -22.22% -21.53% -0.68%
75th Percentile £51.81 £55.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £64.40 £69.65 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.00 £50.84 £57.35
% change year-on-year -31.15% -11.36% -8.24%

All Contract IT Job Roles
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 49,489 29,958 36,053
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.49% 91.24% 92.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,683 18,934 23,125
10th Percentile £325 £280 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.87%
75th Percentile £625 £620 £638
90th Percentile £730 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,498 1,546 1,979
10th Percentile £15.00 £13.63 £14.16
25th Percentile £20.62 £17.30 £20.00
Median hourly rate £41.74 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +65.94% -41.51% +2.38%
75th Percentile £67.84 £53.99 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £72.50 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.90
% change year-on-year +68.99% -42.71% +17.07%

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 20 August 2026.

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 20 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Designer in the UK

Designer
Top 16 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 20 August 2026. 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 +35 889 £475 - 259
UK excluding London +41 457 £475 +8.57% 138
London +15 445 £475 -5.00% 147
Work from Home +12 255 £465 +3.33% 117
North of England +7 149 £475 +7.65% 32
Midlands -2 84 £425 +0.12% 20
West Midlands +2 82 £425 -0.93% 16
South West +6 67 £430 -14.00% 31
South East -18 67 £518 +23.21% 37
Yorkshire -3 59 £475 +20.25% 14
North East -8 47 £420 -6.67% 5
East of England +18 45 £500 +5.26% 5
Scotland +7 42 £550 +37.50% 10
North West -34 42 £442 +1.03% 13
Wales -17 8 £425 +38.89% 1
East Midlands -19 2 - - 4

Designer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 20 August 2026, 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.

1 326 (31.90%) User Experience
2 321 (31.41%) Service Design
3 261 (25.54%) Agile
4 244 (23.87%) UX Design
5 217 (21.23%) Accessibility
6 208 (20.35%) Security Cleared
7 196 (19.18%) Figma
8 194 (18.98%) User Research
9 180 (17.61%) Interaction Design
10 175 (17.12%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
11 166 (16.24%) SC Cleared
12 135 (13.21%) Prototyping
13 131 (12.82%) Workshop Facilitation
14 126 (12.33%) Stakeholder Management
15 113 (11.06%) Journey Map
16 104 (10.18%) AI
17 91 (8.90%) Wireframes
18 88 (8.61%) Adobe
19 79 (7.73%) Problem-Solving
20 78 (7.63%) Stakeholder Engagement
21 71 (6.95%) WCAG
22 63 (6.16%) BPSS Clearance
23 58 (5.68%) Continuous Improvement
24 57 (5.58%) Degree
25 56 (5.48%) Customer Experience
25 56 (5.48%) Inclusive Design
26 53 (5.19%) Collaborative Working
27 52 (5.09%) Roadmaps
28 51 (4.99%) Adobe Creative Suite
28 51 (4.99%) Analytics

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 19 (1.86%) CMS
2 7 (0.68%) Moodle
3 6 (0.59%) Confluence
4 5 (0.49%) Drupal
4 5 (0.49%) LiveCycle
4 5 (0.49%) SharePoint
5 4 (0.39%) CICS
5 4 (0.39%) WordPress
6 3 (0.29%) OpenStack
7 2 (0.20%) Headless CMS
7 2 (0.20%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
7 2 (0.20%) Umbraco
8 1 (0.098%) Kentico
Applications
1 51 (4.99%) Adobe Creative Suite
2 35 (3.42%) Sketch
3 31 (3.03%) Photoshop
4 30 (2.94%) Adobe Illustrator
5 25 (2.45%) Adobe After Effects
6 12 (1.17%) Adobe XD
7 10 (0.98%) InDesign
7 10 (0.98%) Microsoft PowerPoint
8 8 (0.78%) AutoCAD
8 8 (0.78%) Chatbot
9 7 (0.68%) Microsoft Excel
9 7 (0.68%) Revit
10 6 (0.59%) Final Cut Pro
11 4 (0.39%) SOLIDWORKS
12 3 (0.29%) InVision
12 3 (0.29%) Microsoft Office
13 2 (0.20%) Adobe Premiere
13 2 (0.20%) CINEMA 4D
13 2 (0.20%) Navisworks
14 1 (0.098%) Adobe Captivate
Business Applications
1 4 (0.39%) Oracle ERP
2 1 (0.098%) Dynamics NAV
2 1 (0.098%) Eloqua
2 1 (0.098%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.098%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 196 (19.18%) Figma
2 31 (3.03%) Azure
3 27 (2.64%) AWS
4 26 (2.54%) SaaS
5 19 (1.86%) Microsoft 365
6 17 (1.66%) Microsoft Copilot
7 13 (1.27%) Miro
7 13 (1.27%) Power Platform
8 6 (0.59%) GCP
9 4 (0.39%) Adobe Creative Cloud
9 4 (0.39%) Azure AI
9 4 (0.39%) Canva
9 4 (0.39%) Copilot Studio
9 4 (0.39%) Dynamics 365
9 4 (0.39%) Google Analytics
9 4 (0.39%) PowerApps
10 3 (0.29%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 3 (0.29%) Entra ID
10 3 (0.29%) GitHub
11 2 (0.20%) Lucidchart
Communications & Networking
1 23 (2.25%) Wi-Fi
2 20 (1.96%) Firewall
3 17 (1.66%) 5G
4 16 (1.57%) 4G
4 16 (1.57%) Diameter Protocol
5 14 (1.37%) 3G
6 13 (1.27%) Broadband
7 12 (1.17%) 2G
7 12 (1.17%) IPsec
7 12 (1.17%) SIGTRAN
7 12 (1.17%) SS7
8 8 (0.78%) Network Security
9 7 (0.68%) BGP
9 7 (0.68%) HTTP
10 6 (0.59%) OSPF
11 4 (0.39%) Ethernet
12 3 (0.29%) EIGRP
12 3 (0.29%) LTE
12 3 (0.29%) VLAN
12 3 (0.29%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (1.27%) Metadata
2 8 (0.78%) Power BI
3 4 (0.39%) DataStage
3 4 (0.39%) Oracle ODI
3 4 (0.39%) Qlik Sense
3 4 (0.39%) Tableau
4 3 (0.29%) QlikView
5 2 (0.20%) Amazon Aurora
5 2 (0.20%) Amazon RDS
5 2 (0.20%) Amazon Redshift
5 2 (0.20%) Data Vault
5 2 (0.20%) Delta Lake
5 2 (0.20%) Electronic Patient Records
5 2 (0.20%) MySQL
5 2 (0.20%) NoSQL
5 2 (0.20%) PostgreSQL
6 1 (0.098%) Data Lake
6 1 (0.098%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.098%) Pinecone
Development Applications
1 8 (0.78%) JIRA
2 6 (0.59%) Claude Code
3 3 (0.29%) Git
4 2 (0.20%) ER Studio
4 2 (0.20%) ERwin
5 1 (0.098%) Axure RP
5 1 (0.098%) Cypress.io
5 1 (0.098%) Dreamweaver
5 1 (0.098%) Subversion
General
1 201 (19.67%) Social Skills
2 193 (18.88%) Public Sector
3 128 (12.52%) Finance
4 60 (5.87%) Banking
5 46 (4.50%) Retail
6 43 (4.21%) Marketing
7 41 (4.01%) Analytical Skills
8 39 (3.82%) Telecoms
9 26 (2.54%) Automotive
10 23 (2.25%) Publishing
11 22 (2.15%) Influencing Skills
11 22 (2.15%) Legal
12 21 (2.05%) Manufacturing
13 13 (1.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 11 (1.08%) Presentation Skills
15 10 (0.98%) Military
16 9 (0.88%) Games
16 9 (0.88%) Organisational Skills
16 9 (0.88%) Retail Banking
17 8 (0.78%) Local Government
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (2.94%) HTML
2 21 (2.05%) CSS
3 13 (1.27%) REST
4 9 (0.88%) SOAP
4 9 (0.88%) Web Services
5 6 (0.59%) React
6 5 (0.49%) Terraform
7 4 (0.39%) Ajax
7 4 (0.39%) AngularJS
7 4 (0.39%) Middleware
7 4 (0.39%) React Native
7 4 (0.39%) XML
8 3 (0.29%) CSS3
8 3 (0.29%) HTML5
8 3 (0.29%) PySpark
9 2 (0.20%) AWS CDK
9 2 (0.20%) Framer.js
9 2 (0.20%) Kafka
9 2 (0.20%) Semantic HTML
9 2 (0.20%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 48 (4.70%) Mobile App
2 46 (4.50%) Product Ownership
3 34 (3.33%) Onboarding
4 29 (2.84%) Animation
5 28 (2.74%) Graphic Design
6 27 (2.64%) NHS
7 25 (2.45%) Self-Motivation
8 16 (1.57%) Cloud Native
9 15 (1.47%) CMDB
10 12 (1.17%) AI Agents
10 12 (1.17%) IoT
11 11 (1.08%) Greenfield Project
11 11 (1.08%) Social Media
12 10 (0.98%) Data Centre
12 10 (0.98%) Data Protection Act
13 9 (0.88%) Management Information System
14 7 (0.68%) Taxonomies
15 6 (0.59%) BYOD
15 6 (0.59%) e-Learning
16 5 (0.49%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 16 (1.57%) Android
2 15 (1.47%) Apple iOS
3 4 (0.39%) AIX
3 4 (0.39%) Linux
3 4 (0.39%) Solaris
3 4 (0.39%) Unix
4 1 (0.098%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 326 (31.90%) User Experience
2 321 (31.41%) Service Design
3 261 (25.54%) Agile
4 244 (23.87%) UX Design
5 194 (18.98%) User Research
6 180 (17.61%) Interaction Design
7 175 (17.12%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
8 135 (13.21%) Prototyping
9 131 (12.82%) Workshop Facilitation
10 126 (12.33%) Stakeholder Management
11 113 (11.06%) Journey Map
12 104 (10.18%) AI
13 91 (8.90%) Wireframes
14 79 (7.73%) Problem-Solving
15 78 (7.63%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 58 (5.68%) Continuous Improvement
17 56 (5.48%) Customer Experience
17 56 (5.48%) Inclusive Design
18 53 (5.19%) Collaborative Working
19 52 (5.09%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 10 (0.98%) Python
2 9 (0.88%) SQL
3 8 (0.78%) JavaScript
4 4 (0.39%) COBOL
4 4 (0.39%) Java
5 3 (0.29%) PowerShell
6 2 (0.20%) Bash
6 2 (0.20%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 2 (0.20%) Ruby
6 2 (0.20%) TypeScript
7 1 (0.098%) Korn
Qualifications
1 208 (20.35%) Security Cleared
2 166 (16.24%) SC Cleared
3 63 (6.16%) BPSS Clearance
4 57 (5.58%) Degree
5 27 (2.64%) DV Cleared
6 4 (0.39%) ITIL Certification
7 3 (0.29%) Cisco Certification
8 2 (0.20%) Azure Certification
8 2 (0.20%) CISSP
9 1 (0.098%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 1 (0.098%) AWS Certification
9 1 (0.098%) CCIE
9 1 (0.098%) CCNA
9 1 (0.098%) CCNP
9 1 (0.098%) CEH
9 1 (0.098%) CISM
9 1 (0.098%) Computer Science Degree
9 1 (0.098%) JNCIE
9 1 (0.098%) JNCIP
9 1 (0.098%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 217 (21.23%) Accessibility
2 71 (6.95%) WCAG
3 14 (1.37%) Data Quality
4 8 (0.78%) ISO/IEC 20000
4 8 (0.78%) NCSC
5 7 (0.68%) Government Security Classifications
6 5 (0.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 4 (0.39%) GDPR
7 4 (0.39%) QA
8 3 (0.29%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.20%) GMP
9 2 (0.20%) GRC
9 2 (0.20%) GxP
9 2 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 42001
9 2 (0.20%) NIST
10 1 (0.098%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.098%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 1 (0.098%) SLA
10 1 (0.098%) WAI
10 1 (0.098%) WAI-ARIA
System Software
1 6 (0.59%) IAG
2 4 (0.39%) Virtual Machines
3 3 (0.29%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.29%) Firmware
4 2 (0.20%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.098%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 4 (0.39%) Kubernetes
2 2 (0.20%) Ansible
2 2 (0.20%) FortiGate
3 1 (0.098%) Kibana
3 1 (0.098%) Microsoft Intune
3 1 (0.098%) SCCM
Vendors
1 88 (8.61%) Adobe
2 39 (3.82%) Microsoft
3 28 (2.74%) ServiceNow
4 15 (1.47%) Cisco
5 12 (1.17%) IBM
6 9 (0.88%) Google
7 8 (0.78%) Oracle
8 7 (0.68%) SAP
9 6 (0.59%) Databricks
9 6 (0.59%) Ericsson
9 6 (0.59%) Juniper
10 5 (0.49%) EMC
10 5 (0.49%) Nokia
11 4 (0.39%) Foundry
11 4 (0.39%) Virgin Media
11 4 (0.39%) VMware
12 3 (0.29%) F5
12 3 (0.29%) Openreach
12 3 (0.29%) SolarWinds
12 3 (0.29%) Zscaler