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 3 August 2026.

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

6 months to
3 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 138 183 171
Rank change year-on-year +45 -12 -18
Contract jobs requiring a Designer 1,062 515 550
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.00% 1.56% 1.41%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.16% 1.70% 1.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 732 378 323
10th Percentile £358 £302 £313
25th Percentile £406 £366 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £469 £475
Median % change year-on-year +1.33% -1.32% -9.52%
75th Percentile £538 £550 £575
90th Percentile £588 £604 £645
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £438 £500
% change year-on-year +8.57% -12.50% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 31 18 45
10th Percentile £23.00 £22.08 £37.35
25th Percentile £30.30 £31.12 £49.00
Median hourly rate £33.99 £36.50 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year -6.88% -36.36% -1.10%
75th Percentile £46.19 £51.56 £61.30
90th Percentile £61.00 £57.73 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.99 £47.00 £57.35
% change year-on-year -27.68% -18.05% -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 49,223 30,273 36,284
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.63% 91.43% 92.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,638 19,224 23,532
10th Percentile £331 £281 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £625 £623 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,407 1,497 2,061
10th Percentile £15.25 £13.63 £14.16
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.30 £20.12
Median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% +0.58%
75th Percentile £67.84 £53.99 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £72.95 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £44.50 £25.15 £43.90
% change year-on-year +76.94% -42.71% +11.00%

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 3 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 3 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 3 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 +44 910 £470 - 285
UK excluding London +60 464 £475 +8.57% 147
London +24 463 £464 -6.36% 157
Work from Home +24 283 £475 +5.44% 140
North of England +2 153 £470 +7.31% 53
Midlands +13 89 £425 +0.12% 13
West Midlands +3 86 £425 -0.93% 4
South East -28 69 £510 +17.92% 37
South West +1 60 £425 -15.00% 29
Yorkshire -7 56 £475 +23.38% 19
North East -8 48 £420 -9.19% 9
North West -39 48 £464 +4.92% 25
Scotland +14 46 £550 +17.33% 4
East of England +22 44 £500 +19.40% 3
Wales -17 8 £425 +38.89% 5
East Midlands -16 3 £581 +80.43% 9

Designer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 3 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.

1 344 (32.39%) User Experience
2 336 (31.64%) Service Design
3 275 (25.89%) Agile
4 262 (24.67%) UX Design
5 229 (21.56%) Accessibility
6 222 (20.90%) Security Cleared
7 215 (20.24%) Figma
8 210 (19.77%) User Research
9 192 (18.08%) Interaction Design
10 184 (17.33%) SC Cleared
11 183 (17.23%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
12 151 (14.22%) Prototyping
13 128 (12.05%) Workshop Facilitation
14 123 (11.58%) Journey Map
15 122 (11.49%) Stakeholder Management
16 105 (9.89%) AI
17 104 (9.79%) Wireframes
18 92 (8.66%) Adobe
19 82 (7.72%) WCAG
20 77 (7.25%) Problem-Solving
21 75 (7.06%) Stakeholder Engagement
22 65 (6.12%) BPSS Clearance
22 65 (6.12%) Inclusive Design
23 61 (5.74%) Degree
24 59 (5.56%) Roadmaps
25 58 (5.46%) Continuous Improvement
25 58 (5.46%) Design Thinking
26 57 (5.37%) Analytics
27 56 (5.27%) Customer Experience
28 55 (5.18%) Usability Testing

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 (1.98%) CMS
2 7 (0.66%) CICS
3 6 (0.56%) Moodle
4 5 (0.47%) Confluence
4 5 (0.47%) Drupal
4 5 (0.47%) LiveCycle
4 5 (0.47%) SharePoint
5 4 (0.38%) WordPress
6 3 (0.28%) OpenStack
7 2 (0.19%) Headless CMS
7 2 (0.19%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
7 2 (0.19%) Umbraco
8 1 (0.094%) Kentico
Applications
1 49 (4.61%) Adobe Creative Suite
2 42 (3.95%) Sketch
3 36 (3.39%) Photoshop
4 34 (3.20%) Adobe Illustrator
5 29 (2.73%) Adobe After Effects
6 14 (1.32%) Adobe XD
7 10 (0.94%) Chatbot
7 10 (0.94%) InDesign
7 10 (0.94%) Microsoft PowerPoint
8 7 (0.66%) AutoCAD
8 7 (0.66%) Microsoft Excel
9 6 (0.56%) Final Cut Pro
9 6 (0.56%) Revit
10 5 (0.47%) Adobe Premiere
10 5 (0.47%) CINEMA 4D
10 5 (0.47%) SOLIDWORKS
11 3 (0.28%) InVision
11 3 (0.28%) Microsoft Office
12 2 (0.19%) MS Visio
13 1 (0.094%) Maya
Business Applications
1 4 (0.38%) Oracle ERP
2 2 (0.19%) Shopify
3 1 (0.094%) Dynamics NAV
3 1 (0.094%) Eloqua
3 1 (0.094%) SmartPlant
Cloud Services
1 215 (20.24%) Figma
2 30 (2.82%) Azure
3 29 (2.73%) SaaS
4 26 (2.45%) AWS
5 19 (1.79%) Microsoft 365
6 17 (1.60%) Microsoft Copilot
7 13 (1.22%) Miro
8 12 (1.13%) Power Platform
9 5 (0.47%) GCP
10 4 (0.38%) Adobe Creative Cloud
10 4 (0.38%) Azure AI
10 4 (0.38%) Canva
10 4 (0.38%) Copilot Studio
10 4 (0.38%) Dynamics 365
10 4 (0.38%) Google Analytics
10 4 (0.38%) PowerApps
11 3 (0.28%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 3 (0.28%) ChatGPT
11 3 (0.28%) Entra ID
11 3 (0.28%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 22 (2.07%) Firewall
1 22 (2.07%) Wi-Fi
2 15 (1.41%) 5G
3 14 (1.32%) 4G
3 14 (1.32%) Diameter Protocol
4 13 (1.22%) Broadband
5 12 (1.13%) 3G
5 12 (1.13%) IPsec
6 10 (0.94%) 2G
6 10 (0.94%) SIGTRAN
6 10 (0.94%) SS7
7 8 (0.75%) Network Security
8 7 (0.66%) HTTP
9 6 (0.56%) BGP
10 5 (0.47%) OSPF
11 4 (0.38%) Ethernet
12 3 (0.28%) DNS
12 3 (0.28%) LTE
12 3 (0.28%) VPN
12 3 (0.28%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (1.22%) Metadata
2 7 (0.66%) DataStage
2 7 (0.66%) Power BI
3 4 (0.38%) Oracle ODI
4 3 (0.28%) Electronic Patient Records
4 3 (0.28%) Qlik Sense
4 3 (0.28%) Tableau
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%) Delta Lake
5 2 (0.19%) MySQL
5 2 (0.19%) NoSQL
5 2 (0.19%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (0.19%) QlikView
6 1 (0.094%) Data Lake
6 1 (0.094%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.094%) Pinecone
Development Applications
1 10 (0.94%) JIRA
2 6 (0.56%) Claude Code
3 3 (0.28%) Axure RP
3 3 (0.28%) Git
4 2 (0.19%) ER Studio
4 2 (0.19%) ERwin
5 1 (0.094%) Cypress.io
5 1 (0.094%) Dreamweaver
5 1 (0.094%) Subversion
General
1 219 (20.62%) Social Skills
2 214 (20.15%) Public Sector
3 134 (12.62%) Finance
4 58 (5.46%) Banking
5 49 (4.61%) Retail
6 43 (4.05%) Marketing
7 38 (3.58%) Analytical Skills
8 37 (3.48%) Telecoms
9 26 (2.45%) Automotive
9 26 (2.45%) Influencing Skills
10 23 (2.17%) Legal
10 23 (2.17%) Publishing
11 20 (1.88%) Manufacturing
12 14 (1.32%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 11 (1.04%) Presentation Skills
14 9 (0.85%) Organisational Skills
15 8 (0.75%) Games
16 7 (0.66%) Local Government
16 7 (0.66%) Military
16 7 (0.66%) Retail Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (3.11%) HTML
2 25 (2.35%) CSS
3 13 (1.22%) REST
4 9 (0.85%) SOAP
4 9 (0.85%) Web Services
5 7 (0.66%) Middleware
6 6 (0.56%) React
7 4 (0.38%) Ajax
7 4 (0.38%) AngularJS
7 4 (0.38%) React Native
7 4 (0.38%) XML
8 3 (0.28%) CSS3
8 3 (0.28%) HTML5
8 3 (0.28%) PySpark
9 2 (0.19%) AWS CDK
9 2 (0.19%) JSON
9 2 (0.19%) Kafka
9 2 (0.19%) OAuth
9 2 (0.19%) OpenID
9 2 (0.19%) Semantic HTML
Miscellaneous
1 50 (4.71%) Mobile App
2 47 (4.43%) Product Ownership
3 34 (3.20%) Onboarding
4 30 (2.82%) Animation
5 28 (2.64%) Graphic Design
6 27 (2.54%) NHS
7 24 (2.26%) Self-Motivation
8 15 (1.41%) Cloud Native
8 15 (1.41%) CMDB
8 15 (1.41%) IoT
9 14 (1.32%) AI Agents
10 13 (1.22%) Greenfield Project
11 12 (1.13%) Data Centre
12 11 (1.04%) Social Media
13 10 (0.94%) Data Protection Act
14 9 (0.85%) BYOD
15 7 (0.66%) Mainframe
15 7 (0.66%) Management Information System
15 7 (0.66%) Taxonomies
15 7 (0.66%) VSAM
Operating Systems
1 16 (1.51%) Android
2 15 (1.41%) Apple iOS
3 7 (0.66%) AIX
3 7 (0.66%) Linux
3 7 (0.66%) Solaris
3 7 (0.66%) Unix
4 1 (0.094%) MVS
4 1 (0.094%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 344 (32.39%) User Experience
2 336 (31.64%) Service Design
3 275 (25.89%) Agile
4 262 (24.67%) UX Design
5 210 (19.77%) User Research
6 192 (18.08%) Interaction Design
7 183 (17.23%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
8 151 (14.22%) Prototyping
9 128 (12.05%) Workshop Facilitation
10 123 (11.58%) Journey Map
11 122 (11.49%) Stakeholder Management
12 105 (9.89%) AI
13 104 (9.79%) Wireframes
14 77 (7.25%) Problem-Solving
15 75 (7.06%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 65 (6.12%) Inclusive Design
17 59 (5.56%) Roadmaps
18 58 (5.46%) Continuous Improvement
18 58 (5.46%) Design Thinking
19 57 (5.37%) Analytics
Programming Languages
1 9 (0.85%) JavaScript
1 9 (0.85%) Python
2 8 (0.75%) SQL
3 7 (0.66%) COBOL
4 4 (0.38%) Korn
5 3 (0.28%) Java
5 3 (0.28%) PowerShell
6 2 (0.19%) Bash
6 2 (0.19%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 2 (0.19%) Ruby
6 2 (0.19%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 222 (20.90%) Security Cleared
2 184 (17.33%) SC Cleared
3 65 (6.12%) BPSS Clearance
4 61 (5.74%) Degree
5 27 (2.54%) DV Cleared
6 4 (0.38%) ITIL Certification
7 3 (0.28%) Cisco Certification
8 2 (0.19%) Azure Certification
9 1 (0.094%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 1 (0.094%) AWS Certification
9 1 (0.094%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 1 (0.094%) CCIE
9 1 (0.094%) CCNA
9 1 (0.094%) CCNP
9 1 (0.094%) CEH
9 1 (0.094%) CISSP
9 1 (0.094%) Computer Science Degree
9 1 (0.094%) JNCIE
9 1 (0.094%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 229 (21.56%) Accessibility
2 82 (7.72%) WCAG
3 13 (1.22%) Data Quality
4 8 (0.75%) ISO/IEC 20000
4 8 (0.75%) NCSC
5 7 (0.66%) Government Security Classifications
6 5 (0.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 4 (0.38%) GDPR
7 4 (0.38%) QA
8 3 (0.28%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.19%) GMP
9 2 (0.19%) GRC
9 2 (0.19%) GxP
9 2 (0.19%) ISO/IEC 42001
9 2 (0.19%) NIST
10 1 (0.094%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.094%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 1 (0.094%) SLA
10 1 (0.094%) WAI
10 1 (0.094%) WAI-ARIA
System Software
1 6 (0.56%) IAG
2 5 (0.47%) Virtual Machines
3 3 (0.28%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.28%) Firmware
3 3 (0.28%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.094%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 5 (0.47%) Terraform
2 3 (0.28%) Kubernetes
3 2 (0.19%) Ansible
3 2 (0.19%) FortiGate
4 1 (0.094%) Kibana
4 1 (0.094%) Microsoft Intune
4 1 (0.094%) SCCM
Vendors
1 92 (8.66%) Adobe
2 39 (3.67%) Microsoft
3 22 (2.07%) ServiceNow
4 15 (1.41%) IBM
5 13 (1.22%) Cisco
6 11 (1.04%) Google
7 8 (0.75%) Oracle
8 7 (0.66%) SAP
8 7 (0.66%) VMware
9 6 (0.56%) Databricks
9 6 (0.56%) Ericsson
9 6 (0.56%) Juniper
10 5 (0.47%) EMC
10 5 (0.47%) Nokia
10 5 (0.47%) Salesforce
11 4 (0.38%) Foundry
11 4 (0.38%) Virgin Media
12 3 (0.28%) F5
12 3 (0.28%) Openreach
12 3 (0.28%) Zscaler