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 13 March 2026.

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

6 months to
13 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 158 168 170
Rank change year-on-year +10 +2 -28
Contract jobs requiring a Designer 754 494 628
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.76% 1.68% 1.41%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.92% 1.80% 1.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 575 343 404
10th Percentile £350 £300 £325
25th Percentile £400 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year +2.63% - -9.52%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £556
90th Percentile £638 £650 £606
UK excluding London median daily rate £463 £463 £450
% change year-on-year - +2.78% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 8 16
10th Percentile £22.45 £30.28 £14.25
25th Percentile £27.03 £31.23 £31.44
Median hourly rate £50.00 £40.50 £45.21
Median % change year-on-year +23.46% -10.42% +0.47%
75th Percentile £56.00 £55.31 £53.00
90th Percentile £66.00 £75.00 £65.65
UK excluding London median hourly rate £50.00 £33.50 £45.11
% change year-on-year +49.25% -25.73% -14.09%

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 39,357 27,378 41,374
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.90% 92.92% 92.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,580 17,687 27,135
10th Percentile £313 £296 £270
25th Percentile £410 £406 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +1.05% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,451 863 2,500
10th Percentile £14.96 £15.47 £13.00
25th Percentile £19.00 £21.24 £16.25
Median hourly rate £35.00 £33.40 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +4.79% +2.77% -23.53%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £59.44
90th Percentile £75.79 £77.44 £71.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.00 £32.50 £32.50
% change year-on-year +7.69% - -19.90%

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 13 March 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 13 March 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 13 March 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 +8 603 £475 - 290
London +11 337 £475 - 157
UK excluding London -18 283 £463 - 167
Work from Home +6 237 £475 +3.54% 199
North of England -15 101 £425 +6.25% 41
South East -31 58 £531 -7.63% 63
North West -6 49 £401 +0.25% 29
Midlands -53 41 £401 -0.50% 22
Scotland +7 36 £450 -7.41% 3
West Midlands -48 36 £400 -14.67% 16
Yorkshire -41 33 £513 +28.13% 5
South West -18 29 £460 -3.66% 17
North East -2 19 £388 -13.89% 7
East of England -21 14 £441 -8.23% 19
Wales 0 8 £513 +117.16% 3
East Midlands -34 5 £401 +6.08% 6

Designer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 13 March 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.

1 268 (35.54%) Service Design
2 242 (32.10%) User Experience
3 216 (28.65%) Agile
4 203 (26.92%) User Research
5 193 (25.60%) Accessibility
6 192 (25.46%) UX Design
7 185 (24.54%) Figma
8 180 (23.87%) Security Cleared
9 150 (19.89%) Prototyping
10 145 (19.23%) SC Cleared
10 145 (19.23%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
11 137 (18.17%) Interaction Design
12 113 (14.99%) Workshop Facilitation
13 109 (14.46%) Journey Map
14 90 (11.94%) Wireframes
15 81 (10.74%) Usability Testing
16 75 (9.95%) Adobe
17 69 (9.15%) Problem-Solving
18 65 (8.62%) Analytics
19 64 (8.49%) WCAG
20 62 (8.22%) Inclusive Design
21 61 (8.09%) AI
22 59 (7.82%) Design Thinking
22 59 (7.82%) Stakeholder Management
23 54 (7.16%) Storytelling
24 52 (6.90%) Roadmaps
24 52 (6.90%) Stakeholder Engagement
25 47 (6.23%) Sketch
26 46 (6.10%) Degree
27 45 (5.97%) HTML

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 17 (2.25%) CMS
2 14 (1.86%) Confluence
3 8 (1.06%) Appian
3 8 (1.06%) CICS
4 6 (0.80%) Camunda
5 3 (0.40%) Moodle
5 3 (0.40%) Tomcat
6 2 (0.27%) SharePoint
6 2 (0.27%) Umbraco
7 1 (0.13%) OpenStack
7 1 (0.13%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
Applications
1 47 (6.23%) Sketch
2 33 (4.38%) Adobe XD
3 24 (3.18%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 22 (2.92%) Photoshop
5 20 (2.65%) InVision
6 19 (2.52%) Adobe Illustrator
7 14 (1.86%) Adobe After Effects
8 11 (1.46%) InDesign
9 9 (1.19%) Chatbot
10 8 (1.06%) Microsoft PowerPoint
11 6 (0.80%) CINEMA 4D
11 6 (0.80%) Microsoft Excel
11 6 (0.80%) Zeplin
12 5 (0.66%) Adobe Premiere
13 4 (0.53%) Adobe Captivate
13 4 (0.53%) Microsoft Office
13 4 (0.53%) MS Visio
14 3 (0.40%) Spreadsheet
14 3 (0.40%) Trello
15 2 (0.27%) Blender
Business Applications
1 7 (0.93%) SAP ERP
2 5 (0.66%) Dynamics GP
2 5 (0.66%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (0.40%) Oracle BRM
4 2 (0.27%) Oracle ERP
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle CRM
5 1 (0.13%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.13%) Shopify
5 1 (0.13%) SmartPlant
5 1 (0.13%) Workfront
Cloud Services
1 185 (24.54%) Figma
2 17 (2.25%) AWS
2 17 (2.25%) SaaS
3 14 (1.86%) Miro
4 11 (1.46%) Power Platform
5 10 (1.33%) Adobe Creative Cloud
6 8 (1.06%) Azure
7 5 (0.66%) PowerApps
8 4 (0.53%) ChatGPT
8 4 (0.53%) Copilot Studio
8 4 (0.53%) Microsoft Copilot
9 3 (0.40%) Google Analytics
9 3 (0.40%) Google Workspace
9 3 (0.40%) Microsoft 365
10 2 (0.27%) Asana
10 2 (0.27%) Contentful
10 2 (0.27%) Dynamics 365
10 2 (0.27%) Google Gemini
10 2 (0.27%) Power Automate
11 1 (0.13%) Canva
Communications & Networking
1 15 (1.99%) Firewall
2 9 (1.19%) Network Security
3 6 (0.80%) Broadband
3 6 (0.80%) SMS
4 4 (0.53%) IPsec
4 4 (0.53%) Wi-Fi
5 3 (0.40%) 5G
5 3 (0.40%) GPRS
5 3 (0.40%) GSM
5 3 (0.40%) IPv4
5 3 (0.40%) IPv6
5 3 (0.40%) TCP/IP
5 3 (0.40%) VLAN
5 3 (0.40%) VPN
6 2 (0.27%) 4G
6 2 (0.27%) Internet
7 1 (0.13%) 2G
7 1 (0.13%) 3G
7 1 (0.13%) Reverse Proxy
7 1 (0.13%) TETRA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (1.06%) DataStage
2 4 (0.53%) Power BI
3 3 (0.40%) Electronic Patient Records
3 3 (0.40%) Metadata
4 2 (0.27%) Oracle ODI
5 1 (0.13%) BigQuery
5 1 (0.13%) Pinecone
5 1 (0.13%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 28 (3.71%) Axure RP
1 28 (3.71%) JIRA
2 3 (0.40%) Git
3 2 (0.27%) Balsamiq
4 1 (0.13%) Dreamweaver
4 1 (0.13%) GitLab
4 1 (0.13%) Postman
4 1 (0.13%) SoapUI
General
1 191 (25.33%) Public Sector
2 169 (22.41%) Social Skills
3 117 (15.52%) Finance
4 59 (7.82%) Banking
5 28 (3.71%) Marketing
6 22 (2.92%) Influencing Skills
7 21 (2.79%) Analytical Skills
8 15 (1.99%) Publishing
9 14 (1.86%) Presentation Skills
9 14 (1.86%) Retail
10 12 (1.59%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 12 (1.59%) Telecoms
11 10 (1.33%) Billing
11 10 (1.33%) Legal
11 10 (1.33%) Pharmaceutical
12 7 (0.93%) Advertising
13 6 (0.80%) Local Government
13 6 (0.80%) Retail Banking
14 5 (0.66%) Organisational Skills
14 5 (0.66%) Wearables
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (5.97%) HTML
2 38 (5.04%) CSS
3 11 (1.46%) Middleware
4 6 (0.80%) Framer.js
5 5 (0.66%) .NET
6 4 (0.53%) AngularJS
6 4 (0.53%) Lightning Web Components
6 4 (0.53%) REST
6 4 (0.53%) SOAP
7 3 (0.40%) HTML5
7 3 (0.40%) React
7 3 (0.40%) Visualforce
7 3 (0.40%) Web Services
8 2 (0.27%) CSS3
8 2 (0.27%) RESTful
8 2 (0.27%) Sass
8 2 (0.27%) Semantic HTML
9 1 (0.13%) HTML5 Canvas
9 1 (0.13%) Unity (Game Engine)
9 1 (0.13%) Unity DI Container
Miscellaneous
1 41 (5.44%) Product Ownership
2 36 (4.77%) Mobile App
3 18 (2.39%) Onboarding
4 14 (1.86%) NHS
5 13 (1.72%) Mainframe
6 11 (1.46%) AI Agents
6 11 (1.46%) Data Centre
7 9 (1.19%) Animation
7 9 (1.19%) Graphic Design
7 9 (1.19%) Management Information System
7 9 (1.19%) Taxonomies
8 8 (1.06%) BYOD
8 8 (1.06%) Data Protection Act
8 8 (1.06%) e-Learning
8 8 (1.06%) IoT
8 8 (1.06%) VSAM
9 7 (0.93%) Social Media
10 6 (0.80%) Team-Oriented Environment
11 5 (0.66%) Digital Media
11 5 (0.66%) Motion Graphics
Operating Systems
1 11 (1.46%) Unix
2 8 (1.06%) AIX
2 8 (1.06%) Linux
2 8 (1.06%) Solaris
3 4 (0.53%) Android
4 3 (0.40%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.13%) Mac OS
5 1 (0.13%) MVS
5 1 (0.13%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 268 (35.54%) Service Design
2 242 (32.10%) User Experience
3 216 (28.65%) Agile
4 203 (26.92%) User Research
5 192 (25.46%) UX Design
6 150 (19.89%) Prototyping
7 145 (19.23%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
8 137 (18.17%) Interaction Design
9 113 (14.99%) Workshop Facilitation
10 109 (14.46%) Journey Map
11 90 (11.94%) Wireframes
12 81 (10.74%) Usability Testing
13 69 (9.15%) Problem-Solving
14 65 (8.62%) Analytics
15 62 (8.22%) Inclusive Design
16 61 (8.09%) AI
17 59 (7.82%) Design Thinking
17 59 (7.82%) Stakeholder Management
18 54 (7.16%) Storytelling
19 52 (6.90%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 10 (1.33%) JavaScript
2 9 (1.19%) Python
3 8 (1.06%) COBOL
4 7 (0.93%) SQL
5 3 (0.40%) Apex Code
5 3 (0.40%) Java
5 3 (0.40%) Korn
5 3 (0.40%) PL/SQL
5 3 (0.40%) SOQL
Qualifications
1 180 (23.87%) Security Cleared
2 145 (19.23%) SC Cleared
3 46 (6.10%) Degree
4 29 (3.85%) BPSS Clearance
5 27 (3.58%) DV Cleared
6 8 (1.06%) CCNP
6 8 (1.06%) Cisco Certification
7 5 (0.66%) Master's Degree
7 5 (0.66%) SAP Certification
8 4 (0.53%) CISM
8 4 (0.53%) CISSP
8 4 (0.53%) TOGAF Certification
9 3 (0.40%) CCNA
9 3 (0.40%) Computer Science Degree
9 3 (0.40%) JNCIS
10 1 (0.13%) ITIL Certification
10 1 (0.13%) PMI Certification
10 1 (0.13%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 193 (25.60%) Accessibility
2 64 (8.49%) WCAG
3 8 (1.06%) GDPR
4 5 (0.66%) Government Security Classifications
4 5 (0.66%) ISO/IEC 20000
4 5 (0.66%) NCSC
4 5 (0.66%) QA
5 4 (0.53%) Actionable Recommendations
5 4 (0.53%) NIST
6 3 (0.40%) GMP
6 3 (0.40%) GxP
7 1 (0.13%) Data Quality
7 1 (0.13%) HL7
7 1 (0.13%) SLA
System Software
1 2 (0.27%) VMware Infrastructure
2 1 (0.13%) Firmware
2 1 (0.13%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 3 (0.40%) Nagios
2 1 (0.13%) Kubernetes
2 1 (0.13%) Network Intrusion Detection System
Vendors
1 75 (9.95%) Adobe
2 32 (4.24%) Microsoft
3 13 (1.72%) ServiceNow
4 12 (1.59%) Oracle
5 10 (1.33%) Salesforce
6 9 (1.19%) Google
7 8 (1.06%) IBM
7 8 (1.06%) SAP
7 8 (1.06%) VMware
8 7 (0.93%) Pega
9 6 (0.80%) Cisco
9 6 (0.80%) Sage
10 5 (0.66%) BiZZdesign
10 5 (0.66%) Juniper
11 3 (0.40%) Amdocs
11 3 (0.40%) F5
11 3 (0.40%) SolarWinds
12 2 (0.27%) Foundry
12 2 (0.27%) MuleSoft
12 2 (0.27%) Palo Alto