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 11 July 2026.

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

6 months to
11 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 131 173 170
Rank change year-on-year +42 -3 -31
Contract jobs requiring a Designer 1,057 521 622
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.00% 1.61% 1.45%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.16% 1.75% 1.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 742 392 364
10th Percentile £358 £304 £325
25th Percentile £405 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £459 £498
Median % change year-on-year +3.50% -7.75% -5.24%
75th Percentile £538 £550 £575
90th Percentile £588 £600 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £441 £475
% change year-on-year +7.71% -7.16% -1.30%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 17 46
10th Percentile £22.73 £21.85 £37.50
25th Percentile £29.19 £34.48 £49.00
Median hourly rate £33.99 £36.50 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year -6.88% -36.36% +32.60%
75th Percentile £49.38 £52.50 £61.30
90th Percentile £62.40 £58.05 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.99 £49.00 £57.35
% change year-on-year -30.63% -14.56% -7.87%

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 48,916 29,817 39,992
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.49% 91.88% 93.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,647 19,017 25,745
10th Percentile £325 £288 £288
25th Percentile £418 £401 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £523 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.50% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £494
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.85% -1.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,278 1,379 2,732
10th Percentile £15.92 £13.75 £13.00
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.31 £16.86
Median hourly rate £43.25 £26.50 £39.53
Median % change year-on-year +63.21% -32.95% -8.08%
75th Percentile £67.50 £56.25 £62.97
90th Percentile £80.00 £73.75 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -37.13% +1.07%

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 11 July 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 11 July 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 11 July 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 +49 900 £470 +2.74% 242
UK excluding London +50 467 £475 +7.71% 111
London +15 454 £464 -2.42% 155
Work from Home +29 284 £471 +4.61% 111
North of England +3 156 £469 +7.20% 31
Midlands +8 96 £425 +1.19% 12
West Midlands +3 90 £425 +0.12% 5
South East -25 62 £525 +19.32% 38
South West +7 59 £425 -12.82% 14
Yorkshire -7 59 £475 +3.26% 6
North West -33 55 £448 +2.29% 15
Scotland +3 47 £550 +15.79% 11
East of England +12 43 £500 +5.26% 3
North East -6 42 £420 -9.19% 10
Wales -16 8 £600 +96.25% 1
East Midlands -18 6 £402 +24.69% 7

Designer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 11 July 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.

1 344 (32.54%) User Experience
2 332 (31.41%) Service Design
3 268 (25.35%) Agile
3 268 (25.35%) UX Design
4 232 (21.95%) Accessibility
5 220 (20.81%) Figma
5 220 (20.81%) User Research
6 218 (20.62%) Security Cleared
7 186 (17.60%) Interaction Design
8 179 (16.93%) SC Cleared
9 174 (16.46%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
10 152 (14.38%) Prototyping
11 124 (11.73%) Journey Map
12 120 (11.35%) Workshop Facilitation
13 104 (9.84%) Wireframes
14 103 (9.74%) AI
15 96 (9.08%) Stakeholder Management
16 88 (8.33%) Adobe
17 79 (7.47%) WCAG
18 76 (7.19%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 67 (6.34%) Analytics
19 67 (6.34%) Degree
20 66 (6.24%) Problem-Solving
21 61 (5.77%) Inclusive Design
22 60 (5.68%) Continuous Improvement
23 57 (5.39%) Customer Experience
23 57 (5.39%) Roadmaps
23 57 (5.39%) Usability Testing
24 56 (5.30%) BPSS Clearance
24 56 (5.30%) Design Patterns

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 (2.08%) CMS
2 10 (0.95%) CICS
3 9 (0.85%) Confluence
4 6 (0.57%) Moodle
5 5 (0.47%) LiveCycle
5 5 (0.47%) SharePoint
6 4 (0.38%) Drupal
6 4 (0.38%) WordPress
7 3 (0.28%) OpenStack
8 2 (0.19%) Headless CMS
8 2 (0.19%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
8 2 (0.19%) Umbraco
9 1 (0.095%) Kentico
Applications
1 43 (4.07%) Adobe Creative Suite
2 38 (3.60%) Sketch
3 35 (3.31%) Photoshop
4 33 (3.12%) Adobe Illustrator
5 28 (2.65%) Adobe After Effects
6 12 (1.14%) Adobe XD
6 12 (1.14%) Chatbot
7 10 (0.95%) Microsoft PowerPoint
8 9 (0.85%) InDesign
9 8 (0.76%) Microsoft Excel
10 6 (0.57%) Final Cut Pro
11 5 (0.47%) AutoCAD
11 5 (0.47%) CINEMA 4D
11 5 (0.47%) SOLIDWORKS
12 4 (0.38%) Adobe Premiere
12 4 (0.38%) InVision
12 4 (0.38%) Revit
13 3 (0.28%) Microsoft Office
14 2 (0.19%) MS Visio
14 2 (0.19%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 4 (0.38%) Oracle ERP
2 2 (0.19%) Shopify
3 1 (0.095%) Eloqua
3 1 (0.095%) SmartPlant
Cloud Services
1 220 (20.81%) Figma
2 30 (2.84%) SaaS
3 24 (2.27%) Azure
4 23 (2.18%) AWS
5 19 (1.80%) Microsoft 365
6 17 (1.61%) Microsoft Copilot
7 12 (1.14%) Miro
8 9 (0.85%) Power Platform
9 8 (0.76%) Adobe Creative Cloud
10 4 (0.38%) Azure AI
10 4 (0.38%) Canva
10 4 (0.38%) Copilot Studio
10 4 (0.38%) GCP
10 4 (0.38%) PowerApps
11 3 (0.28%) ChatGPT
11 3 (0.28%) Dynamics 365
11 3 (0.28%) Google Analytics
12 2 (0.19%) AWS CloudFormation
12 2 (0.19%) Google Workspace
12 2 (0.19%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 22 (2.08%) Firewall
1 22 (2.08%) Wi-Fi
2 11 (1.04%) Broadband
2 11 (1.04%) IPsec
2 11 (1.04%) Network Security
3 9 (0.85%) 5G
4 8 (0.76%) Diameter Protocol
5 7 (0.66%) 4G
6 6 (0.57%) 3G
7 5 (0.47%) BGP
8 4 (0.38%) 2G
8 4 (0.38%) Ethernet
8 4 (0.38%) HTTP
8 4 (0.38%) OSPF
8 4 (0.38%) SIGTRAN
8 4 (0.38%) SS7
9 3 (0.28%) 3GPP
9 3 (0.28%) DNS
9 3 (0.28%) Internet
9 3 (0.28%) LTE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (1.04%) Metadata
2 10 (0.95%) DataStage
3 4 (0.38%) Oracle ODI
3 4 (0.38%) Power BI
4 3 (0.28%) Electronic Patient Records
5 2 (0.19%) Amazon Aurora
5 2 (0.19%) Amazon RDS
5 2 (0.19%) Amazon Redshift
5 2 (0.19%) Data Vault
5 2 (0.19%) MySQL
5 2 (0.19%) NoSQL
5 2 (0.19%) PostgreSQL
6 1 (0.095%) Data Lake
6 1 (0.095%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.095%) Pinecone
6 1 (0.095%) Qlik Sense
6 1 (0.095%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 14 (1.32%) JIRA
2 4 (0.38%) Axure RP
2 4 (0.38%) Claude Code
3 2 (0.19%) Git
4 1 (0.095%) Cypress.io
4 1 (0.095%) Dreamweaver
4 1 (0.095%) Subversion
General
1 227 (21.48%) Public Sector
2 210 (19.87%) Social Skills
3 128 (12.11%) Finance
4 50 (4.73%) Banking
5 47 (4.45%) Retail
6 46 (4.35%) Marketing
7 30 (2.84%) Telecoms
8 29 (2.74%) Influencing Skills
9 26 (2.46%) Automotive
10 24 (2.27%) Legal
11 23 (2.18%) Publishing
12 21 (1.99%) Analytical Skills
13 19 (1.80%) Manufacturing
14 12 (1.14%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 11 (1.04%) Presentation Skills
16 9 (0.85%) Organisational Skills
17 8 (0.76%) Local Government
18 7 (0.66%) Games
18 7 (0.66%) Military
19 6 (0.57%) Aerospace
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (3.03%) HTML
2 23 (2.18%) CSS
3 13 (1.23%) Middleware
4 9 (0.85%) REST
5 6 (0.57%) SOAP
5 6 (0.57%) Web Services
6 5 (0.47%) React
7 3 (0.28%) AngularJS
7 3 (0.28%) Lightning Web Components
7 3 (0.28%) React Native
7 3 (0.28%) Semantic HTML
7 3 (0.28%) Visualforce
8 2 (0.19%) AWS CDK
8 2 (0.19%) CSS3
8 2 (0.19%) Framer.js
8 2 (0.19%) HTML5
8 2 (0.19%) Kafka
8 2 (0.19%) OAuth
8 2 (0.19%) OpenID
8 2 (0.19%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 45 (4.26%) Product Ownership
2 43 (4.07%) Mobile App
3 32 (3.03%) Onboarding
4 28 (2.65%) Animation
5 25 (2.37%) Graphic Design
5 25 (2.37%) NHS
6 20 (1.89%) Self-Motivation
7 17 (1.61%) AI Agents
8 16 (1.51%) Cloud Native
9 15 (1.42%) Data Centre
9 15 (1.42%) IoT
10 12 (1.14%) BYOD
11 11 (1.04%) Taxonomies
12 10 (0.95%) CMDB
12 10 (0.95%) Data Protection Act
12 10 (0.95%) Greenfield Project
12 10 (0.95%) Mainframe
12 10 (0.95%) VSAM
13 7 (0.66%) Management Information System
13 7 (0.66%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 14 (1.32%) Android
2 13 (1.23%) Apple iOS
3 10 (0.95%) AIX
3 10 (0.95%) Linux
3 10 (0.95%) Solaris
3 10 (0.95%) Unix
4 1 (0.095%) MVS
4 1 (0.095%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 344 (32.54%) User Experience
2 332 (31.41%) Service Design
3 268 (25.35%) Agile
3 268 (25.35%) UX Design
4 220 (20.81%) User Research
5 186 (17.60%) Interaction Design
6 174 (16.46%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
7 152 (14.38%) Prototyping
8 124 (11.73%) Journey Map
9 120 (11.35%) Workshop Facilitation
10 104 (9.84%) Wireframes
11 103 (9.74%) AI
12 96 (9.08%) Stakeholder Management
13 76 (7.19%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 67 (6.34%) Analytics
15 66 (6.24%) Problem-Solving
16 61 (5.77%) Inclusive Design
17 60 (5.68%) Continuous Improvement
18 57 (5.39%) Customer Experience
18 57 (5.39%) Usability Testing
Programming Languages
1 10 (0.95%) COBOL
2 8 (0.76%) Python
3 7 (0.66%) JavaScript
4 4 (0.38%) Korn
5 3 (0.28%) Apex Code
5 3 (0.28%) Java
5 3 (0.28%) PowerShell
5 3 (0.28%) SOQL
5 3 (0.28%) SQL
6 2 (0.19%) Bash
6 2 (0.19%) Ruby
6 2 (0.19%) TypeScript
7 1 (0.095%) Data Analysis Expressions
Qualifications
1 218 (20.62%) Security Cleared
2 179 (16.93%) SC Cleared
3 67 (6.34%) Degree
4 56 (5.30%) BPSS Clearance
5 28 (2.65%) DV Cleared
6 5 (0.47%) CISSP
7 4 (0.38%) CISM
7 4 (0.38%) Computer Science Degree
7 4 (0.38%) TOGAF Certification
8 3 (0.28%) Cisco Certification
8 3 (0.28%) ITIL Certification
8 3 (0.28%) Master's Degree
9 2 (0.19%) Azure Certification
10 1 (0.095%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 1 (0.095%) AWS Certification
10 1 (0.095%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 1 (0.095%) CEH
10 1 (0.095%) JNCIE
10 1 (0.095%) JNCIP
10 1 (0.095%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 232 (21.95%) Accessibility
2 79 (7.47%) WCAG
3 9 (0.85%) Data Quality
4 8 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 20000
4 8 (0.76%) NCSC
5 7 (0.66%) Government Security Classifications
6 6 (0.57%) NIST
7 5 (0.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 5 (0.47%) QA
8 4 (0.38%) GDPR
9 3 (0.28%) Actionable Recommendations
9 3 (0.28%) PCI DSS
10 2 (0.19%) GMP
10 2 (0.19%) GxP
10 2 (0.19%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 1 (0.095%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 1 (0.095%) HL7
11 1 (0.095%) SLA
11 1 (0.095%) WAI
11 1 (0.095%) WAI-ARIA
System Software
1 5 (0.47%) Virtual Machines
2 4 (0.38%) IAG
2 4 (0.38%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (0.28%) Firmware
4 2 (0.19%) Active Directory
5 1 (0.095%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 4 (0.38%) Terraform
2 3 (0.28%) Kubernetes
3 2 (0.19%) Ansible
3 2 (0.19%) FortiGate
4 1 (0.095%) Kibana
4 1 (0.095%) Microsoft Intune
4 1 (0.095%) Network Intrusion Detection System
Vendors
1 88 (8.33%) Adobe
2 39 (3.69%) Microsoft
3 15 (1.42%) ServiceNow
4 14 (1.32%) IBM
5 12 (1.14%) Cisco
6 10 (0.95%) Google
6 10 (0.95%) VMware
7 8 (0.76%) Oracle
7 8 (0.76%) Salesforce
8 5 (0.47%) BiZZdesign
8 5 (0.47%) EMC
8 5 (0.47%) Ericsson
8 5 (0.47%) Juniper
8 5 (0.47%) Nokia
8 5 (0.47%) SAP
9 4 (0.38%) Foundry
9 4 (0.38%) Virgin Media
10 3 (0.28%) BT
10 3 (0.28%) Fortinet
10 3 (0.28%) Huawei