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 6 December 2025.

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

6 months to
6 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 191 155 191
Rank change year-on-year -36 +36 -47
Contract jobs requiring a Designer 556 579 602
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.53% 1.61% 1.33%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.68% 1.73% 1.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 399 365 427
10th Percentile £325 £309 £306
25th Percentile £403 £381 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £485 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.06% -3.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £575
90th Percentile £638 £650 £625
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £500 £481
% change year-on-year -10.00% +3.90% -3.75%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 7 15
10th Percentile £24.99 £31.08 £32.05
25th Percentile £31.12 £31.63 £45.11
Median hourly rate £51.00 £33.54 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +52.06% -32.92% +6.16%
75th Percentile £64.79 £61.88 £64.12
90th Percentile £69.65 £75.00 £68.84
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.50 £33.54 £50.00
% change year-on-year +65.47% -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 33,145 33,385 42,274
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.93% 92.77% 93.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,040 20,359 28,495
10th Percentile £285 £300 £294
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 £645
90th Percentile £725 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £495 £500
% change year-on-year -4.04% -1.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,927 1,147 1,515
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.36 £15.16
25th Percentile £17.88 £20.75 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £43.90
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -20.27% +39.88%
75th Percentile £57.25 £63.93 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.50 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -22.62% -26.97% +78.00%

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 6 December 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 6 December 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 6 December 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 -28 468 £475 -3.31% 895
London +5 273 £500 +5.26% 99
UK excluding London -66 201 £450 -10.00% 907
Work from Home -61 163 £455 +1.00% 731
North of England -28 74 £435 -8.42% 192
South East -41 40 £575 +11.38% 235
North West -10 38 £425 +3.91% 89
South West -1 29 £600 - 98
Midlands -48 27 £429 -18.29% 159
West Midlands -31 24 £429 -25.39% 83
Yorkshire -34 23 £474 -5.25% 86
Scotland -11 18 £456 +3.81% 44
North East +3 14 £450 - 18
East of England -7 11 £425 -12.82% 147
East Midlands -22 3 £386 -3.44% 67
Wales - 3 £588 - 27
Northern Ireland -4 2 £625 +12.61% 16

Designer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 6 December 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.

1 215 (38.67%) User Experience
2 179 (32.19%) Service Design
3 176 (31.65%) Figma
4 166 (29.86%) UX Design
5 153 (27.52%) Agile
6 150 (26.98%) Accessibility
7 137 (24.64%) User Research
8 111 (19.96%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
9 100 (17.99%) Security Cleared
10 96 (17.27%) Prototyping
11 91 (16.37%) SC Cleared
12 80 (14.39%) Interaction Design
13 79 (14.21%) Adobe
14 77 (13.85%) Workshop Facilitation
15 75 (13.49%) Journey Map
16 73 (13.13%) Wireframes
17 59 (10.61%) Usability Testing
18 56 (10.07%) Problem-Solving
19 54 (9.71%) Design Thinking
20 52 (9.35%) Sketch
21 49 (8.81%) Inclusive Design
22 45 (8.09%) Analytics
23 44 (7.91%) Stakeholder Management
24 43 (7.73%) Stakeholder Engagement
25 42 (7.55%) HTML
26 40 (7.19%) Storytelling
27 38 (6.83%) CSS
27 38 (6.83%) Degree
28 37 (6.65%) Continuous Improvement
28 37 (6.65%) Microsoft

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 18 (3.24%) CMS
2 15 (2.70%) Confluence
3 11 (1.98%) OpenStack
4 6 (1.08%) Appian
5 5 (0.90%) Camunda
6 3 (0.54%) Tomcat
7 2 (0.36%) SharePoint
7 2 (0.36%) Umbraco
8 1 (0.18%) LiveCycle
Applications
1 52 (9.35%) Sketch
2 30 (5.40%) Adobe Creative Suite
2 30 (5.40%) Adobe XD
3 23 (4.14%) Adobe Illustrator
4 22 (3.96%) Photoshop
5 18 (3.24%) InVision
6 15 (2.70%) InDesign
7 12 (2.16%) Adobe After Effects
8 10 (1.80%) Zeplin
9 9 (1.62%) Microsoft Office
9 9 (1.62%) Microsoft PowerPoint
10 6 (1.08%) Adobe Captivate
11 5 (0.90%) Adobe Premiere
11 5 (0.90%) Microsoft Excel
12 3 (0.54%) OmniGraffle
12 3 (0.54%) Spreadsheet
12 3 (0.54%) UXPin
13 2 (0.36%) Blender
13 2 (0.36%) CINEMA 4D
13 2 (0.36%) Trello
Business Applications
1 7 (1.26%) SAP ERP
2 5 (0.90%) Dynamics GP
2 5 (0.90%) 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 (31.65%) Figma
2 27 (4.86%) Miro
3 26 (4.68%) AWS
4 19 (3.42%) SaaS
5 9 (1.62%) Adobe Creative Cloud
5 9 (1.62%) Azure
5 9 (1.62%) Power Platform
6 6 (1.08%) OpenShift
7 5 (0.90%) Google Analytics
7 5 (0.90%) Lucidchart
8 4 (0.72%) Canva
8 4 (0.72%) Copilot Studio
8 4 (0.72%) GitHub
8 4 (0.72%) Microsoft Copilot
9 3 (0.54%) PowerApps
10 2 (0.36%) Asana
10 2 (0.36%) GCP
10 2 (0.36%) Power Automate
10 2 (0.36%) Salesforce Service Cloud
10 2 (0.36%) Vyond
Communications & Networking
1 13 (2.34%) BGP
1 13 (2.34%) Firewall
1 13 (2.34%) OSPF
2 12 (2.16%) LAN
3 11 (1.98%) MPLS
4 8 (1.44%) DHCP
4 8 (1.44%) DNS
4 8 (1.44%) IPsec
4 8 (1.44%) SNMP
4 8 (1.44%) Wireless
5 7 (1.26%) Wireshark
6 6 (1.08%) 4G
6 6 (1.08%) 5G
6 6 (1.08%) Radio Access Network
6 6 (1.08%) SMS
6 6 (1.08%) TACACS
6 6 (1.08%) WAN
6 6 (1.08%) Wi-Fi
7 5 (0.90%) 3GPP
7 5 (0.90%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.72%) Power BI
2 3 (0.54%) Metadata
3 1 (0.18%) BigQuery
3 1 (0.18%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 28 (5.04%) Axure RP
2 25 (4.50%) JIRA
3 5 (0.90%) 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
1 133 (23.92%) Social Skills
2 98 (17.63%) Finance
3 94 (16.91%) Public Sector
4 65 (11.69%) Banking
5 27 (4.86%) Marketing
6 18 (3.24%) Publishing
7 16 (2.88%) Analytical Skills
8 15 (2.70%) Legal
9 13 (2.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 8 (1.44%) Billing
10 8 (1.44%) Influencing Skills
11 7 (1.26%) Documentation Skills
11 7 (1.26%) Organisational Skills
11 7 (1.26%) Retail
12 6 (1.08%) Advertising
12 6 (1.08%) Manufacturing
12 6 (1.08%) Telecoms
13 5 (0.90%) Financial Institution
13 5 (0.90%) Local Government
14 4 (0.72%) Retail Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (7.55%) HTML
2 38 (6.83%) CSS
3 10 (1.80%) Framer.js
4 6 (1.08%) .NET
5 5 (0.90%) Lightning Web Components
6 4 (0.72%) React
7 3 (0.54%) AngularJS
7 3 (0.54%) Swagger
8 2 (0.36%) EDI
8 2 (0.36%) HTML5
8 2 (0.36%) Middleware
8 2 (0.36%) OpenAPI
8 2 (0.36%) REST
8 2 (0.36%) Sass
8 2 (0.36%) Web Services
9 1 (0.18%) CSS3
9 1 (0.18%) OpenGL
9 1 (0.18%) Razor View Engine
9 1 (0.18%) SAP Fiori
9 1 (0.18%) Svelte
Miscellaneous
1 52 (9.35%) Mobile App
2 30 (5.40%) Product Ownership
3 26 (4.68%) Onboarding
4 11 (1.98%) Graphic Design
5 10 (1.80%) Data Protection Act
5 10 (1.80%) Social Media
6 9 (1.62%) Data Centre
7 8 (1.44%) e-Learning
7 8 (1.44%) Enterprise Software
7 8 (1.44%) NHS
8 6 (1.08%) Animation
8 6 (1.08%) Hybrid Cloud
8 6 (1.08%) Management Information System
8 6 (1.08%) Operational Technology
9 5 (0.90%) Digital Media
9 5 (0.90%) Learning Management System
9 5 (0.90%) Mainframe
9 5 (0.90%) Self-Motivation
10 4 (0.72%) Blog
10 4 (0.72%) FPGA
Operating Systems
1 14 (2.52%) Apple iOS
2 13 (2.34%) Android
3 3 (0.54%) Unix
4 1 (0.18%) Mac OS
4 1 (0.18%) VMS
4 1 (0.18%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 215 (38.67%) User Experience
2 179 (32.19%) Service Design
3 166 (29.86%) UX Design
4 153 (27.52%) Agile
5 137 (24.64%) User Research
6 111 (19.96%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
7 96 (17.27%) Prototyping
8 80 (14.39%) Interaction Design
9 77 (13.85%) Workshop Facilitation
10 75 (13.49%) Journey Map
11 73 (13.13%) Wireframes
12 59 (10.61%) Usability Testing
13 56 (10.07%) Problem-Solving
14 54 (9.71%) Design Thinking
15 49 (8.81%) Inclusive Design
16 45 (8.09%) Analytics
17 44 (7.91%) Stakeholder Management
18 43 (7.73%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 40 (7.19%) Storytelling
20 37 (6.65%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 13 (2.34%) JavaScript
1 13 (2.34%) Python
2 7 (1.26%) SQL
3 3 (0.54%) Java
3 3 (0.54%) PL/SQL
4 2 (0.36%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 100 (17.99%) Security Cleared
2 91 (16.37%) SC Cleared
3 38 (6.83%) Degree
4 21 (3.78%) BPSS Clearance
5 11 (1.98%) Cisco Certification
6 7 (1.26%) AWS Certification
7 6 (1.08%) CCIE
7 6 (1.08%) JNCIE
8 5 (0.90%) DV Cleared
8 5 (0.90%) SAP Certification
9 4 (0.72%) HND
10 3 (0.54%) CCNA
10 3 (0.54%) Master's Degree
11 2 (0.36%) CCNP
11 2 (0.36%) Computer Science Degree
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
1 150 (26.98%) Accessibility
2 36 (6.47%) WCAG
3 7 (1.26%) GDPR
4 5 (0.90%) QA
5 4 (0.72%) Data Quality
5 4 (0.72%) ISO 9001
6 1 (0.18%) Actionable Recommendations
6 1 (0.18%) SLA
System Software
1 6 (1.08%) VMware Infrastructure
1 6 (1.08%) VMware NSX
2 5 (0.90%) Docker
Systems Management
1 6 (1.08%) Ansible
1 6 (1.08%) Terraform
2 2 (0.36%) FortiGate
3 1 (0.18%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 79 (14.21%) Adobe
2 37 (6.65%) Microsoft
3 17 (3.06%) Cisco
4 13 (2.34%) Salesforce
5 11 (1.98%) F5
5 11 (1.98%) Fortinet
5 11 (1.98%) Juniper
6 10 (1.80%) Google
6 10 (1.80%) SAP
7 9 (1.62%) Oracle
8 8 (1.44%) ServiceNow
9 7 (1.26%) Pega
10 6 (1.08%) Sage
10 6 (1.08%) VMware
11 5 (0.90%) Cadence
11 5 (0.90%) Dell
11 5 (0.90%) Hopewiser
12 4 (0.72%) Hotjar
12 4 (0.72%) Mercator
13 3 (0.54%) Virgin Media