Designer Contract Job Trends

Designer
UK

The median Designer daily rate in the UK is £480, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 26 April 2026.

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

6 months to
26 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 125 167 166
Rank change year-on-year +42 -1 -26
Contract jobs requiring a Designer 952 486 639
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.04% 1.66% 1.46%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.21% 1.79% 1.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 709 358 386
10th Percentile £350 £300 £325
25th Percentile £401 £360 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £459 £475
Median % change year-on-year +4.59% -3.38% -9.52%
75th Percentile £550 £550 £561
90th Percentile £615 £613 £624
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £420 £463
% change year-on-year +13.23% -9.30% -5.37%
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 8 51
10th Percentile £24.20 £22.75 £32.50
25th Percentile £27.51 £28.19 £46.25
Median hourly rate £35.00 £38.95 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year -10.14% -32.08% +16.45%
75th Percentile £54.08 £55.31 £61.30
90th Percentile £69.40 £75.00 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.00 £52.70 £57.35
% change year-on-year -33.59% -8.11% -11.77%

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 43,137 27,188 40,489
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.31% 92.59% 92.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,662 17,796 26,412
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £407 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £517 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.29% -1.52% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +2.63% -3.13% -1.93%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,772 1,030 2,642
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.20 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.48 £18.51 £16.30
Median hourly rate £42.85 £29.24 £35.68
Median % change year-on-year +46.55% -18.05% -20.71%
75th Percentile £65.67 £62.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £78.52 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £28.75 £37.50
% change year-on-year +56.52% -23.33% -11.76%

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 26 April 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 26 April 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 26 April 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 +38 795 £475 +3.94% 196
UK excluding London +58 407 £475 +13.23% 164
London +12 404 £475 +3.94% 67
Work from Home +45 282 £463 +2.78% 72
North of England -2 127 £454 +13.50% 48
South East -9 77 £525 +7.69% 31
Midlands -8 71 £405 - 26
West Midlands -14 64 £418 -9.73% 20
South West +2 51 £425 -10.53% 22
North West -7 51 £405 +1.25% 30
East of England +2 41 £488 +2.63% 26
Scotland +9 38 £550 +17.33% 6
North East +5 38 £450 +2.86% 10
Yorkshire -39 38 £500 +25.00% 9
Wales -9 8 £513 +67.77% 9
East Midlands -32 7 £401 +26.30% 6

Designer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 26 April 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.

1 310 (32.56%) Service Design
2 299 (31.41%) User Experience
3 259 (27.21%) Agile
4 235 (24.68%) UX Design
5 232 (24.37%) User Research
6 214 (22.48%) Accessibility
7 208 (21.85%) Figma
8 204 (21.43%) Security Cleared
9 172 (18.07%) Interaction Design
10 171 (17.96%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
11 162 (17.02%) SC Cleared
12 147 (15.44%) Prototyping
13 131 (13.76%) Workshop Facilitation
14 125 (13.13%) Journey Map
15 101 (10.61%) Wireframes
16 88 (9.24%) AI
17 81 (8.51%) Adobe
17 81 (8.51%) Usability Testing
18 78 (8.19%) Stakeholder Management
19 76 (7.98%) WCAG
20 75 (7.88%) Problem-Solving
21 68 (7.14%) Analytics
22 65 (6.83%) Stakeholder Engagement
23 61 (6.41%) Design Thinking
23 61 (6.41%) Storytelling
24 59 (6.20%) Roadmaps
25 57 (5.99%) Collaborative Working
25 57 (5.99%) Continuous Improvement
26 53 (5.57%) Degree
26 53 (5.57%) Inclusive Design

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 21 (2.21%) CMS
2 10 (1.05%) CICS
2 10 (1.05%) Confluence
3 6 (0.63%) Appian
4 5 (0.53%) LiveCycle
4 5 (0.53%) SharePoint
5 4 (0.42%) Camunda
5 4 (0.42%) Moodle
6 3 (0.32%) Drupal
6 3 (0.32%) OpenStack
7 2 (0.21%) Tomcat
7 2 (0.21%) Umbraco
7 2 (0.21%) WordPress
8 1 (0.11%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
Applications
1 49 (5.15%) Sketch
2 33 (3.47%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 29 (3.05%) Adobe XD
4 23 (2.42%) Photoshop
5 20 (2.10%) Adobe Illustrator
6 19 (2.00%) InVision
7 16 (1.68%) Adobe After Effects
8 12 (1.26%) Chatbot
8 12 (1.26%) Microsoft PowerPoint
9 10 (1.05%) Microsoft Excel
10 8 (0.84%) InDesign
11 7 (0.74%) CINEMA 4D
12 6 (0.63%) Zeplin
13 5 (0.53%) Adobe Premiere
14 4 (0.42%) AutoCAD
14 4 (0.42%) MS Visio
14 4 (0.42%) SOLIDWORKS
14 4 (0.42%) Trello
15 3 (0.32%) Blender
15 3 (0.32%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 7 (0.74%) SAP ERP
2 5 (0.53%) Dynamics GP
2 5 (0.53%) SAP S/4HANA
3 4 (0.42%) Oracle ERP
4 2 (0.21%) Oracle BRM
4 2 (0.21%) Shopify
5 1 (0.11%) Oracle CRM
5 1 (0.11%) SmartPlant
Cloud Services
1 208 (21.85%) Figma
2 27 (2.84%) AWS
3 23 (2.42%) SaaS
4 18 (1.89%) Azure
5 11 (1.16%) Miro
6 9 (0.95%) Power Platform
7 8 (0.84%) Adobe Creative Cloud
8 4 (0.42%) Copilot Studio
8 4 (0.42%) GCP
8 4 (0.42%) Microsoft Copilot
8 4 (0.42%) PowerApps
9 3 (0.32%) ChatGPT
9 3 (0.32%) dbt
9 3 (0.32%) Google Workspace
10 2 (0.21%) Asana
10 2 (0.21%) AWS CloudFormation
10 2 (0.21%) GitHub
10 2 (0.21%) Microsoft 365
10 2 (0.21%) Power Automate
10 2 (0.21%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 24 (2.52%) Firewall
2 19 (2.00%) Wi-Fi
3 13 (1.37%) Network Security
4 11 (1.16%) IPsec
5 10 (1.05%) Broadband
6 6 (0.63%) 5G
6 6 (0.63%) Diameter Protocol
7 5 (0.53%) VLAN
7 5 (0.53%) VPN
8 3 (0.32%) 3G
8 3 (0.32%) 4G
8 3 (0.32%) BGP
8 3 (0.32%) DNS
8 3 (0.32%) HTTP
8 3 (0.32%) Internet
8 3 (0.32%) Intranet
8 3 (0.32%) IPv4
8 3 (0.32%) IPv6
8 3 (0.32%) LTE
8 3 (0.32%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (1.05%) DataStage
2 8 (0.84%) Metadata
3 4 (0.42%) Oracle ODI
3 4 (0.42%) Power BI
4 3 (0.32%) Electronic Patient Records
5 2 (0.21%) Amazon Aurora
5 2 (0.21%) Amazon RDS
5 2 (0.21%) Amazon Redshift
5 2 (0.21%) Data Vault
5 2 (0.21%) MySQL
5 2 (0.21%) NoSQL
5 2 (0.21%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (0.21%) Tableau
6 1 (0.11%) BigQuery
6 1 (0.11%) Data Lake
6 1 (0.11%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.11%) Pinecone
Development Applications
1 26 (2.73%) JIRA
2 23 (2.42%) Axure RP
3 3 (0.32%) Git
4 1 (0.11%) Balsamiq
4 1 (0.11%) GitLab
4 1 (0.11%) Postman
4 1 (0.11%) SoapUI
General
1 217 (22.79%) Public Sector
2 195 (20.48%) Social Skills
3 128 (13.45%) Finance
4 62 (6.51%) Banking
5 38 (3.99%) Marketing
6 31 (3.26%) Retail
7 26 (2.73%) Analytical Skills
8 25 (2.63%) Influencing Skills
9 23 (2.42%) Legal
10 22 (2.31%) Publishing
11 21 (2.21%) Telecoms
12 15 (1.58%) Presentation Skills
13 14 (1.47%) Manufacturing
13 14 (1.47%) Pharmaceutical
14 10 (1.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 9 (0.95%) Organisational Skills
16 8 (0.84%) Local Government
17 7 (0.74%) Automotive
17 7 (0.74%) Billing
17 7 (0.74%) Retail Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (4.52%) HTML
2 31 (3.26%) CSS
3 13 (1.37%) Middleware
4 8 (0.84%) REST
5 6 (0.63%) SOAP
6 5 (0.53%) .NET
6 5 (0.53%) Framer.js
6 5 (0.53%) Web Services
7 4 (0.42%) Lightning Web Components
7 4 (0.42%) React
8 3 (0.32%) AngularJS
8 3 (0.32%) JSON
8 3 (0.32%) OAuth
8 3 (0.32%) Semantic HTML
8 3 (0.32%) Visualforce
9 2 (0.21%) CSS3
9 2 (0.21%) HTML5
9 2 (0.21%) Kafka
9 2 (0.21%) OpenID
9 2 (0.21%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 53 (5.57%) Product Ownership
2 42 (4.41%) Mobile App
3 27 (2.84%) Onboarding
4 21 (2.21%) NHS
5 16 (1.68%) Data Centre
6 15 (1.58%) IoT
6 15 (1.58%) Mainframe
7 13 (1.37%) AI Agents
7 13 (1.37%) Animation
7 13 (1.37%) Cloud Native
8 12 (1.26%) Graphic Design
9 11 (1.16%) BYOD
10 10 (1.05%) Management Information System
10 10 (1.05%) VSAM
11 8 (0.84%) CMDB
11 8 (0.84%) Data Protection Act
11 8 (0.84%) Motion Graphics
11 8 (0.84%) Taxonomies
12 7 (0.74%) e-Learning
13 6 (0.63%) Data Structures
Operating Systems
1 12 (1.26%) Unix
2 10 (1.05%) AIX
2 10 (1.05%) Linux
2 10 (1.05%) Solaris
3 7 (0.74%) Android
4 6 (0.63%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.11%) MVS
Processes & Methodologies
1 310 (32.56%) Service Design
2 299 (31.41%) User Experience
3 259 (27.21%) Agile
4 235 (24.68%) UX Design
5 232 (24.37%) User Research
6 172 (18.07%) Interaction Design
7 171 (17.96%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
8 147 (15.44%) Prototyping
9 131 (13.76%) Workshop Facilitation
10 125 (13.13%) Journey Map
11 101 (10.61%) Wireframes
12 88 (9.24%) AI
13 81 (8.51%) Usability Testing
14 78 (8.19%) Stakeholder Management
15 75 (7.88%) Problem-Solving
16 68 (7.14%) Analytics
17 65 (6.83%) Stakeholder Engagement
18 61 (6.41%) Design Thinking
18 61 (6.41%) Storytelling
19 59 (6.20%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 13 (1.37%) Python
2 10 (1.05%) COBOL
2 10 (1.05%) JavaScript
3 8 (0.84%) SQL
4 4 (0.42%) Java
5 3 (0.32%) Apex Code
5 3 (0.32%) Korn
5 3 (0.32%) SOQL
6 2 (0.21%) Bash
6 2 (0.21%) PL/SQL
6 2 (0.21%) PowerShell
6 2 (0.21%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 204 (21.43%) Security Cleared
2 162 (17.02%) SC Cleared
3 53 (5.57%) Degree
4 38 (3.99%) BPSS Clearance
4 38 (3.99%) DV Cleared
5 10 (1.05%) Cisco Certification
6 8 (0.84%) CCNP
7 5 (0.53%) CISSP
7 5 (0.53%) Master's Degree
7 5 (0.53%) SAP Certification
8 4 (0.42%) CISM
8 4 (0.42%) Computer Science Degree
8 4 (0.42%) TOGAF Certification
9 3 (0.32%) CCNA
9 3 (0.32%) JNCIS
10 2 (0.21%) ITIL Certification
11 1 (0.11%) CCIE
11 1 (0.11%) JNCIP
11 1 (0.11%) PMI Certification
11 1 (0.11%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 214 (22.48%) Accessibility
2 76 (7.98%) WCAG
3 8 (0.84%) GDPR
3 8 (0.84%) ISO/IEC 20000
3 8 (0.84%) NCSC
4 7 (0.74%) Government Security Classifications
5 6 (0.63%) NIST
6 5 (0.53%) Data Quality
6 5 (0.53%) GMP
6 5 (0.53%) GxP
6 5 (0.53%) QA
7 4 (0.42%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 3 (0.32%) Actionable Recommendations
8 3 (0.32%) PCI DSS
9 1 (0.11%) California Consumer Privacy Act
9 1 (0.11%) HL7
9 1 (0.11%) SLA
System Software
1 4 (0.42%) VMware Infrastructure
2 3 (0.32%) Virtual Machines
3 2 (0.21%) Firmware
3 2 (0.21%) IAG
4 1 (0.11%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 4 (0.42%) Terraform
2 3 (0.32%) Kubernetes
2 3 (0.32%) Nagios
3 2 (0.21%) Ansible
3 2 (0.21%) FortiGate
4 1 (0.11%) Network Intrusion Detection System
Vendors
1 81 (8.51%) Adobe
2 27 (2.84%) Microsoft
3 16 (1.68%) ServiceNow
4 15 (1.58%) Oracle
5 11 (1.16%) Cisco
5 11 (1.16%) SAP
6 10 (1.05%) IBM
6 10 (1.05%) Salesforce
6 10 (1.05%) VMware
7 8 (0.84%) Juniper
8 7 (0.74%) Google
9 6 (0.63%) Sage
10 5 (0.53%) BiZZdesign
10 5 (0.53%) Ericsson
10 5 (0.53%) F5
10 5 (0.53%) Nokia
11 4 (0.42%) Pega
12 3 (0.32%) Huawei
12 3 (0.32%) MuleSoft
12 3 (0.32%) SolarWinds