Designer Contract Job Trends

Designer
UK

The median Designer daily rate in the UK is £488, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 4 April 2026.

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

6 months to
4 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 145 175 171
Rank change year-on-year +30 -4 -29
Contract jobs requiring a Designer 855 476 632
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.89% 1.63% 1.43%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.05% 1.76% 1.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 642 350 381
10th Percentile £350 £300 £325
25th Percentile £400 £360 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £463 £475
Median % change year-on-year +5.41% -2.63% -9.52%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £560
90th Percentile £638 £638 £622
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £447 £450
% change year-on-year +6.26% -0.67% -7.93%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 7 47
10th Percentile £25.70 £30.24 £26.00
25th Percentile £27.74 £31.08 £45.00
Median hourly rate £42.50 £47.50 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year -10.53% -17.18% +27.44%
75th Percentile £55.04 £61.88 £61.30
90th Percentile £77.00 £75.00 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £33.50 £57.35
% change year-on-year +26.87% -41.59% +0.17%

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 41,646 27,118 40,940
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.22% 92.78% 92.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,966 17,841 26,815
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -3.31%
75th Percentile £613 £630 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £487 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +2.53% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,596 956 2,534
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.99 £12.86
25th Percentile £19.91 £20.26 £16.25
Median hourly rate £40.00 £32.00 £33.78
Median % change year-on-year +25.00% -5.26% -24.15%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £76.25 £71.60
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.50 £31.29 £34.61
% change year-on-year +32.63% -9.58% -18.32%

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 4 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 4 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 4 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 +26 700 £475 +3.32% 293
London +16 370 £475 +3.32% 114
UK excluding London +14 345 £475 +6.26% 199
Work from Home +17 265 £475 +5.56% 133
North of England -14 119 £450 +12.50% 67
South East -2 74 £525 - 41
North West -12 53 £402 +0.50% 38
Midlands -49 48 £401 -7.55% 24
West Midlands -39 41 £401 -14.45% 14
South West -2 40 £454 -4.53% 26
Yorkshire -40 35 £513 +28.13% 15
Scotland +1 34 £455 - 10
North East +4 31 £452 +6.35% 14
East of England -14 27 £475 -1.04% 28
Wales -6 8 £513 +117.16% 3
East Midlands -26 7 £401 +22.71% 10

Designer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 4 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.

1 286 (33.45%) Service Design
2 269 (31.46%) User Experience
3 225 (26.32%) Agile
4 215 (25.15%) UX Design
5 209 (24.44%) User Research
6 204 (23.86%) Accessibility
7 199 (23.27%) Security Cleared
8 195 (22.81%) Figma
9 161 (18.83%) SC Cleared
10 153 (17.89%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
11 151 (17.66%) Interaction Design
12 146 (17.08%) Prototyping
13 119 (13.92%) Workshop Facilitation
14 117 (13.68%) Journey Map
15 94 (10.99%) Wireframes
16 77 (9.01%) Adobe
16 77 (9.01%) Usability Testing
17 71 (8.30%) AI
17 71 (8.30%) Stakeholder Management
18 70 (8.19%) Problem-Solving
19 69 (8.07%) Analytics
20 67 (7.84%) WCAG
21 60 (7.02%) Inclusive Design
22 59 (6.90%) Design Thinking
22 59 (6.90%) Roadmaps
23 57 (6.67%) Storytelling
24 55 (6.43%) Stakeholder Engagement
25 49 (5.73%) Continuous Improvement
26 48 (5.61%) Degree
27 47 (5.50%) 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 19 (2.22%) CMS
2 11 (1.29%) Confluence
3 10 (1.17%) CICS
4 8 (0.94%) Appian
5 6 (0.70%) Camunda
6 4 (0.47%) Moodle
7 3 (0.35%) Tomcat
8 2 (0.23%) OpenStack
8 2 (0.23%) SharePoint
8 2 (0.23%) Umbraco
9 1 (0.12%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
Applications
1 47 (5.50%) Sketch
2 32 (3.74%) Adobe XD
3 26 (3.04%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 22 (2.57%) Photoshop
5 21 (2.46%) InVision
6 19 (2.22%) Adobe Illustrator
7 14 (1.64%) Adobe After Effects
8 12 (1.40%) Chatbot
9 11 (1.29%) InDesign
10 10 (1.17%) Microsoft PowerPoint
11 7 (0.82%) CINEMA 4D
11 7 (0.82%) Microsoft Excel
12 6 (0.70%) Zeplin
13 5 (0.58%) Adobe Premiere
14 4 (0.47%) MS Visio
15 3 (0.35%) Spreadsheet
15 3 (0.35%) Trello
16 2 (0.23%) Blender
16 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Office
16 2 (0.23%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 7 (0.82%) SAP ERP
2 5 (0.58%) Dynamics GP
2 5 (0.58%) SAP S/4HANA
3 4 (0.47%) Oracle ERP
4 3 (0.35%) Oracle BRM
5 1 (0.12%) Oracle CRM
5 1 (0.12%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.12%) Shopify
5 1 (0.12%) SmartPlant
5 1 (0.12%) Workfront
Cloud Services
1 195 (22.81%) Figma
2 23 (2.69%) AWS
3 21 (2.46%) SaaS
4 15 (1.75%) Azure
5 13 (1.52%) Miro
6 12 (1.40%) Power Platform
7 10 (1.17%) Adobe Creative Cloud
8 4 (0.47%) Copilot Studio
8 4 (0.47%) GCP
8 4 (0.47%) Microsoft Copilot
8 4 (0.47%) PowerApps
9 3 (0.35%) ChatGPT
9 3 (0.35%) dbt
9 3 (0.35%) Google Workspace
10 2 (0.23%) Asana
10 2 (0.23%) AWS KMS
10 2 (0.23%) Azure Key Vault
10 2 (0.23%) Dynamics 365
10 2 (0.23%) Microsoft 365
10 2 (0.23%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 22 (2.57%) Firewall
2 12 (1.40%) Network Security
3 11 (1.29%) Wi-Fi
4 9 (1.05%) Broadband
4 9 (1.05%) IPsec
5 6 (0.70%) 5G
5 6 (0.70%) SMS
6 5 (0.58%) Diameter Protocol
7 4 (0.47%) 4G
7 4 (0.47%) VLAN
7 4 (0.47%) VPN
8 3 (0.35%) 2G
8 3 (0.35%) 3G
8 3 (0.35%) GPRS
8 3 (0.35%) GSM
8 3 (0.35%) IPv4
8 3 (0.35%) IPv6
8 3 (0.35%) TCP/IP
9 2 (0.23%) SIGTRAN
9 2 (0.23%) SS7
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (1.17%) DataStage
2 8 (0.94%) Metadata
3 5 (0.58%) Power BI
4 4 (0.47%) Oracle ODI
5 3 (0.35%) Electronic Patient Records
6 2 (0.23%) Amazon Aurora
6 2 (0.23%) Amazon RDS
6 2 (0.23%) Amazon Redshift
6 2 (0.23%) Data Vault
6 2 (0.23%) MySQL
6 2 (0.23%) NoSQL
6 2 (0.23%) PostgreSQL
6 2 (0.23%) Tableau
7 1 (0.12%) BigQuery
7 1 (0.12%) Data Lake
7 1 (0.12%) Data Warehouse
7 1 (0.12%) Pinecone
Development Applications
1 27 (3.16%) Axure RP
2 26 (3.04%) JIRA
3 3 (0.35%) Git
4 2 (0.23%) Balsamiq
5 1 (0.12%) Dreamweaver
5 1 (0.12%) GitLab
5 1 (0.12%) Postman
5 1 (0.12%) SoapUI
General
1 207 (24.21%) Public Sector
2 181 (21.17%) Social Skills
3 127 (14.85%) Finance
4 63 (7.37%) Banking
5 31 (3.63%) Marketing
6 25 (2.92%) Influencing Skills
7 24 (2.81%) Analytical Skills
8 18 (2.11%) Telecoms
9 16 (1.87%) Retail
10 15 (1.75%) Publishing
11 13 (1.52%) Legal
12 12 (1.40%) Pharmaceutical
12 12 (1.40%) Presentation Skills
13 10 (1.17%) Billing
13 10 (1.17%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 8 (0.94%) Organisational Skills
15 7 (0.82%) Advertising
16 6 (0.70%) Local Government
16 6 (0.70%) Retail Banking
17 5 (0.58%) Wearables
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (5.26%) HTML
2 37 (4.33%) CSS
3 13 (1.52%) Middleware
4 8 (0.94%) REST
5 6 (0.70%) Framer.js
5 6 (0.70%) SOAP
6 5 (0.58%) .NET
6 5 (0.58%) Web Services
7 4 (0.47%) Lightning Web Components
8 3 (0.35%) AngularJS
8 3 (0.35%) HTML5
8 3 (0.35%) JSON
8 3 (0.35%) OAuth
8 3 (0.35%) React
8 3 (0.35%) Semantic HTML
8 3 (0.35%) Visualforce
9 2 (0.23%) CSS3
9 2 (0.23%) Kafka
9 2 (0.23%) RESTful
9 2 (0.23%) Sass
Miscellaneous
1 51 (5.96%) Product Ownership
2 36 (4.21%) Mobile App
3 25 (2.92%) Onboarding
4 18 (2.11%) NHS
5 15 (1.75%) Mainframe
6 14 (1.64%) Data Centre
7 12 (1.40%) AI Agents
7 12 (1.40%) IoT
8 11 (1.29%) Graphic Design
9 10 (1.17%) BYOD
9 10 (1.17%) Data Protection Act
9 10 (1.17%) VSAM
10 9 (1.05%) Animation
10 9 (1.05%) Management Information System
10 9 (1.05%) Taxonomies
11 8 (0.94%) Cloud Native
11 8 (0.94%) e-Learning
12 7 (0.82%) CMDB
12 7 (0.82%) Motion Graphics
13 6 (0.70%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 13 (1.52%) Unix
2 10 (1.17%) AIX
2 10 (1.17%) Linux
2 10 (1.17%) Solaris
3 4 (0.47%) Android
4 3 (0.35%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.12%) MVS
Processes & Methodologies
1 286 (33.45%) Service Design
2 269 (31.46%) User Experience
3 225 (26.32%) Agile
4 215 (25.15%) UX Design
5 209 (24.44%) User Research
6 153 (17.89%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
7 151 (17.66%) Interaction Design
8 146 (17.08%) Prototyping
9 119 (13.92%) Workshop Facilitation
10 117 (13.68%) Journey Map
11 94 (10.99%) Wireframes
12 77 (9.01%) Usability Testing
13 71 (8.30%) AI
13 71 (8.30%) Stakeholder Management
14 70 (8.19%) Problem-Solving
15 69 (8.07%) Analytics
16 60 (7.02%) Inclusive Design
17 59 (6.90%) Design Thinking
17 59 (6.90%) Roadmaps
18 57 (6.67%) Storytelling
Programming Languages
1 15 (1.75%) Python
2 11 (1.29%) JavaScript
3 10 (1.17%) COBOL
3 10 (1.17%) SQL
4 4 (0.47%) Java
5 3 (0.35%) Apex Code
5 3 (0.35%) Korn
5 3 (0.35%) PL/SQL
5 3 (0.35%) SOQL
6 2 (0.23%) Bash
6 2 (0.23%) PowerShell
6 2 (0.23%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 199 (23.27%) Security Cleared
2 161 (18.83%) SC Cleared
3 48 (5.61%) Degree
4 33 (3.86%) DV Cleared
5 29 (3.39%) BPSS Clearance
6 9 (1.05%) Cisco Certification
7 8 (0.94%) CCNP
8 5 (0.58%) CISSP
8 5 (0.58%) Master's Degree
8 5 (0.58%) SAP Certification
9 4 (0.47%) CISM
9 4 (0.47%) Computer Science Degree
9 4 (0.47%) TOGAF Certification
10 3 (0.35%) CCNA
10 3 (0.35%) JNCIS
11 2 (0.23%) ITIL Certification
12 1 (0.12%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 1 (0.12%) CEH
12 1 (0.12%) PMI Certification
12 1 (0.12%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 204 (23.86%) Accessibility
2 67 (7.84%) WCAG
3 11 (1.29%) GDPR
4 8 (0.94%) ISO/IEC 20000
4 8 (0.94%) NCSC
5 7 (0.82%) Government Security Classifications
6 6 (0.70%) NIST
7 5 (0.58%) QA
8 4 (0.47%) Actionable Recommendations
8 4 (0.47%) Data Quality
8 4 (0.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 3 (0.35%) GMP
9 3 (0.35%) GxP
9 3 (0.35%) PCI DSS
10 2 (0.23%) SLA
11 1 (0.12%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 1 (0.12%) HL7
System Software
1 4 (0.47%) VMware Infrastructure
2 1 (0.12%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.12%) Firmware
2 1 (0.12%) IAG
2 1 (0.12%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 3 (0.35%) Nagios
1 3 (0.35%) Terraform
2 2 (0.23%) Kubernetes
3 1 (0.12%) Ansible
3 1 (0.12%) FortiGate
3 1 (0.12%) Network Intrusion Detection System
Vendors
1 77 (9.01%) Adobe
2 28 (3.27%) Microsoft
3 16 (1.87%) Oracle
3 16 (1.87%) ServiceNow
4 10 (1.17%) IBM
4 10 (1.17%) Salesforce
4 10 (1.17%) VMware
5 9 (1.05%) Cisco
5 9 (1.05%) SAP
6 7 (0.82%) Google
6 7 (0.82%) Juniper
6 7 (0.82%) Pega
7 6 (0.70%) Sage
8 5 (0.58%) BiZZdesign
9 4 (0.47%) Ericsson
9 4 (0.47%) F5
9 4 (0.47%) Nokia
10 3 (0.35%) Databricks
10 3 (0.35%) MuleSoft
10 3 (0.35%) SolarWinds