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 2 January 2026.

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

6 months to
2 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 177 160 187
Rank change year-on-year -17 +27 -41
Contract jobs requiring a Designer 589 543 599
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.59% 1.65% 1.39%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.74% 1.78% 1.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 431 350 412
10th Percentile £325 £306 £313
25th Percentile £400 £381 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £498
Median % change year-on-year - -4.52% -5.24%
75th Percentile £575 £581 £575
90th Percentile £638 £650 £612
UK excluding London median daily rate £452 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -4.84% - -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 9 16
10th Percentile £27.60 £30.32 £21.43
25th Percentile £30.00 £30.44 £45.16
Median hourly rate £56.00 £33.50 £50.95
Median % change year-on-year +67.16% -34.25% +8.98%
75th Percentile £69.65 £48.75 £66.44
90th Percentile - £75.00 £70.04
UK excluding London median hourly rate £56.00 £33.50 £51.90
% change year-on-year +67.16% -35.45% +26.59%

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 33,832 30,446 40,336
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.22% 92.70% 93.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,457 18,648 27,012
10th Percentile £300 £291 £281
25th Percentile £405 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £618 £638 £638
90th Percentile £719 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £480 £500
% change year-on-year -1.04% -4.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,952 945 1,577
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.51 £14.25
25th Percentile £18.22 £21.05 £19.06
Median hourly rate £26.11 £32.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -19.66% -27.78% +41.02%
75th Percentile £58.75 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.50 £73.75 £77.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £31.76 £46.09
% change year-on-year -20.81% -31.09% +78.99%

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 2 January 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 2 January 2026.

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 2 January 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 -33 479 £475 - 224
London -1 271 £480 +1.05% 112
UK excluding London -48 223 £452 -4.84% 158
Work from Home -46 181 £463 +5.23% 130
North of England -16 76 £413 -10.81% 43
South East -40 45 £500 -0.74% 44
North West -16 38 £400 -2.20% 28
South West -7 29 £600 - 29
Midlands -42 29 £425 -0.18% 8
Scotland +7 27 £469 +10.29% 11
West Midlands -38 27 £425 -26.17% 6
Yorkshire -46 27 £513 +2.50% 11
North East -2 11 £452 +0.44% 4
East of England -15 11 £425 -12.82% 25
Wales - 6 £400 - 2
Northern Ireland -8 2 £625 +12.61% 1
East Midlands -24 2 £386 -3.44% 2

Designer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 2 January 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.

1 233 (39.56%) User Experience
2 213 (36.16%) Service Design
3 185 (31.41%) Figma
4 180 (30.56%) UX Design
5 177 (30.05%) Agile
6 163 (27.67%) Accessibility
7 157 (26.66%) User Research
8 126 (21.39%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
9 117 (19.86%) Prototyping
10 108 (18.34%) Security Cleared
11 93 (15.79%) Workshop Facilitation
12 90 (15.28%) Interaction Design
13 88 (14.94%) SC Cleared
14 85 (14.43%) Journey Map
15 84 (14.26%) Adobe
15 84 (14.26%) Usability Testing
16 82 (13.92%) Wireframes
17 62 (10.53%) Problem-Solving
18 58 (9.85%) Design Thinking
19 55 (9.34%) Stakeholder Engagement
20 53 (9.00%) Sketch
21 47 (7.98%) Inclusive Design
21 47 (7.98%) Storytelling
22 45 (7.64%) HTML
22 45 (7.64%) Stakeholder Management
23 44 (7.47%) Microsoft
24 43 (7.30%) AI
24 43 (7.30%) Analytics
24 43 (7.30%) Continuous Improvement
25 42 (7.13%) WCAG

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 20 (3.40%) CMS
2 13 (2.21%) Confluence
3 8 (1.36%) Appian
4 6 (1.02%) Camunda
4 6 (1.02%) OpenStack
5 3 (0.51%) SharePoint
5 3 (0.51%) Tomcat
6 2 (0.34%) Umbraco
7 1 (0.17%) LiveCycle
Applications
1 53 (9.00%) Sketch
2 35 (5.94%) Adobe XD
3 30 (5.09%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 23 (3.90%) InVision
5 22 (3.74%) Adobe Illustrator
5 22 (3.74%) Photoshop
6 15 (2.55%) InDesign
7 12 (2.04%) Adobe After Effects
8 11 (1.87%) Microsoft PowerPoint
9 10 (1.70%) Zeplin
10 8 (1.36%) Microsoft Office
11 7 (1.19%) Microsoft Excel
12 6 (1.02%) Adobe Captivate
13 4 (0.68%) Adobe Premiere
14 3 (0.51%) MS Visio
14 3 (0.51%) OmniGraffle
14 3 (0.51%) Spreadsheet
14 3 (0.51%) Trello
15 2 (0.34%) Blender
15 2 (0.34%) UXPin
Business Applications
1 7 (1.19%) SAP ERP
2 5 (0.85%) Dynamics GP
2 5 (0.85%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (0.51%) Oracle BRM
4 2 (0.34%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.17%) Oracle CRM
5 1 (0.17%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.17%) Workfront
Cloud Services
1 185 (31.41%) Figma
2 26 (4.41%) Miro
3 23 (3.90%) AWS
4 13 (2.21%) SaaS
5 11 (1.87%) Power Platform
6 9 (1.53%) Adobe Creative Cloud
6 9 (1.53%) Azure
7 6 (1.02%) OpenShift
8 5 (0.85%) PowerApps
9 4 (0.68%) Canva
9 4 (0.68%) Copilot Studio
9 4 (0.68%) Google Analytics
9 4 (0.68%) Microsoft Copilot
10 3 (0.51%) Lucidchart
11 2 (0.34%) Akamai
11 2 (0.34%) Asana
11 2 (0.34%) Dynamics 365
11 2 (0.34%) GitHub
11 2 (0.34%) Heroku
11 2 (0.34%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 9 (1.53%) LAN
2 8 (1.36%) BGP
2 8 (1.36%) OSPF
2 8 (1.36%) SNMP
3 6 (1.02%) Firewall
3 6 (1.02%) MPLS
3 6 (1.02%) SMS
3 6 (1.02%) TACACS
3 6 (1.02%) WAN
3 6 (1.02%) Wireless
4 4 (0.68%) Cisco Nexus
5 3 (0.51%) Broadband
5 3 (0.51%) GPRS
5 3 (0.51%) GSM
5 3 (0.51%) Network Security
5 3 (0.51%) VPN
6 2 (0.34%) IPv4
6 2 (0.34%) TCP/IP
6 2 (0.34%) VLAN
6 2 (0.34%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.68%) Power BI
2 3 (0.51%) Metadata
3 1 (0.17%) BigQuery
3 1 (0.17%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 29 (4.92%) Axure RP
2 27 (4.58%) JIRA
3 4 (0.68%) Git
4 3 (0.51%) Balsamiq
5 2 (0.34%) GitLab
6 1 (0.17%) Cypress.io
6 1 (0.17%) Dreamweaver
6 1 (0.17%) Postman
6 1 (0.17%) SoapUI
6 1 (0.17%) Visual Studio
6 1 (0.17%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 153 (25.98%) Social Skills
2 115 (19.52%) Public Sector
3 105 (17.83%) Finance
4 70 (11.88%) Banking
5 27 (4.58%) Marketing
6 18 (3.06%) Analytical Skills
7 14 (2.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 13 (2.21%) Publishing
9 12 (2.04%) Legal
10 10 (1.70%) Influencing Skills
10 10 (1.70%) Pharmaceutical
11 9 (1.53%) Billing
11 9 (1.53%) Manufacturing
11 9 (1.53%) Presentation Skills
12 7 (1.19%) Advertising
12 7 (1.19%) Documentation Skills
12 7 (1.19%) Retail
12 7 (1.19%) Telecoms
13 6 (1.02%) Organisational Skills
14 4 (0.68%) Local Government
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (7.64%) HTML
2 40 (6.79%) CSS
3 7 (1.19%) Framer.js
4 6 (1.02%) .NET
4 6 (1.02%) React
5 5 (0.85%) AngularJS
6 4 (0.68%) HTML5
7 3 (0.51%) CSS3
7 3 (0.51%) Lightning Web Components
7 3 (0.51%) RESTful
8 2 (0.34%) Sass
9 1 (0.17%) HTML5 Canvas
9 1 (0.17%) Razor View Engine
9 1 (0.17%) REST
9 1 (0.17%) SAP Fiori
9 1 (0.17%) Svelte
9 1 (0.17%) Unity (Game Engine)
9 1 (0.17%) Unity DI Container
9 1 (0.17%) Unreal Engine
9 1 (0.17%) WebGL
Miscellaneous
1 50 (8.49%) Mobile App
2 34 (5.77%) Product Ownership
3 21 (3.57%) Onboarding
4 14 (2.38%) NHS
5 11 (1.87%) Social Media
6 10 (1.70%) Graphic Design
7 9 (1.53%) Data Centre
7 9 (1.53%) e-Learning
8 8 (1.36%) Data Protection Act
9 6 (1.02%) Animation
9 6 (1.02%) Data Structures
9 6 (1.02%) Hybrid Cloud
10 5 (0.85%) Blog
10 5 (0.85%) Mainframe
10 5 (0.85%) Management Information System
10 5 (0.85%) Motion Graphics
10 5 (0.85%) Taxonomies
11 4 (0.68%) Digital Media
11 4 (0.68%) FPGA
11 4 (0.68%) Learning Management System
Operating Systems
1 8 (1.36%) Apple iOS
2 7 (1.19%) Android
3 3 (0.51%) Unix
4 1 (0.17%) Mac OS
4 1 (0.17%) VMS
4 1 (0.17%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 233 (39.56%) User Experience
2 213 (36.16%) Service Design
3 180 (30.56%) UX Design
4 177 (30.05%) Agile
5 157 (26.66%) User Research
6 126 (21.39%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
7 117 (19.86%) Prototyping
8 93 (15.79%) Workshop Facilitation
9 90 (15.28%) Interaction Design
10 85 (14.43%) Journey Map
11 84 (14.26%) Usability Testing
12 82 (13.92%) Wireframes
13 62 (10.53%) Problem-Solving
14 58 (9.85%) Design Thinking
15 55 (9.34%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 47 (7.98%) Inclusive Design
16 47 (7.98%) Storytelling
17 45 (7.64%) Stakeholder Management
18 43 (7.30%) AI
18 43 (7.30%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 14 (2.38%) Python
2 11 (1.87%) JavaScript
3 7 (1.19%) SQL
4 3 (0.51%) Java
4 3 (0.51%) PL/SQL
5 2 (0.34%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 108 (18.34%) Security Cleared
2 88 (14.94%) SC Cleared
3 39 (6.62%) Degree
4 20 (3.40%) BPSS Clearance
5 15 (2.55%) Cisco Certification
6 10 (1.70%) DV Cleared
7 9 (1.53%) CCNP
8 6 (1.02%) AWS Certification
8 6 (1.02%) CCIE
8 6 (1.02%) JNCIE
9 5 (0.85%) SAP Certification
10 4 (0.68%) HND
11 3 (0.51%) Master's Degree
12 2 (0.34%) CCNA
12 2 (0.34%) JNCIS
13 1 (0.17%) DBS Check
13 1 (0.17%) MCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 163 (27.67%) Accessibility
2 42 (7.13%) WCAG
3 8 (1.36%) GDPR
4 5 (0.85%) QA
5 4 (0.68%) Data Quality
5 4 (0.68%) ISO 9001
6 3 (0.51%) GMP
6 3 (0.51%) GxP
7 1 (0.17%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.17%) SLA
System Software
1 6 (1.02%) VMware Infrastructure
1 6 (1.02%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 6 (1.02%) Ansible
1 6 (1.02%) Terraform
2 2 (0.34%) FortiGate
2 2 (0.34%) Nagios
3 1 (0.17%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 84 (14.26%) Adobe
2 44 (7.47%) Microsoft
3 15 (2.55%) Cisco
4 13 (2.21%) Juniper
5 11 (1.87%) ServiceNow
6 10 (1.70%) F5
6 10 (1.70%) Fortinet
6 10 (1.70%) Oracle
6 10 (1.70%) SAP
7 9 (1.53%) Google
7 9 (1.53%) Salesforce
8 7 (1.19%) Pega
9 6 (1.02%) Sage
9 6 (1.02%) VMware
10 5 (0.85%) Cadence
10 5 (0.85%) Hopewiser
11 4 (0.68%) Hotjar
11 4 (0.68%) SolarWinds
12 3 (0.51%) Amdocs
12 3 (0.51%) OneLogin