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 25 January 2026.

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

6 months to
25 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 169 165 179
Rank change year-on-year -4 +14 -28
Contract jobs requiring a Designer 622 517 612
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.64% 1.64% 1.38%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.80% 1.77% 1.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 463 335 411
10th Percentile £316 £300 £325
25th Percentile £400 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £480
Median % change year-on-year - -1.04% -8.57%
75th Percentile £566 £585 £575
90th Percentile £625 £650 £600
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £465 £475
% change year-on-year -3.23% -2.11% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 9 13
10th Percentile £27.88 £30.32 £17.65
25th Percentile £33.56 £30.44 £45.00
Median hourly rate £55.50 £33.50 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +65.67% -33.00% +17.65%
75th Percentile £68.52 £48.75 £61.99
90th Percentile £69.65 £75.00 £69.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £56.00 £33.50 £50.00
% change year-on-year +67.16% -33.00% +23.46%

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 34,647 29,282 41,206
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.46% 92.85% 93.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,895 17,892 27,296
10th Percentile £300 £291 £275
25th Percentile £406 £408 £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 £721 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £478 £480 £498
% change year-on-year -0.42% -3.62% -0.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,062 868 2,070
10th Percentile £14.38 £15.92 £13.40
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.24 £17.54
Median hourly rate £28.50 £32.50 £37.88
Median % change year-on-year -12.31% -14.19% +11.40%
75th Percentile £61.18 £62.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £70.00 £74.13 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.21 £31.08 £40.00
% change year-on-year -12.45% -22.30% +35.59%

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 25 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 25 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 25 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 -22 495 £465 -2.11% 209
London +2 272 £475 - 108
UK excluding London -37 245 £450 -3.23% 153
Work from Home -15 192 £454 +4.43% 145
North of England -22 88 £425 -2.86% 30
South East -31 50 £500 -4.76% 69
North West -2 45 £400 - 18
Yorkshire -42 32 £500 +2.56% 5
Scotland +7 30 £450 +2.39% 3
South West -10 30 £600 +4.35% 18
Midlands -49 26 £400 -0.62% 13
West Midlands -49 21 £388 -33.07% 11
East of England -12 12 £425 -12.82% 19
North East -7 11 £454 +0.89% 7
Wales - 9 £425 - 4
East Midlands -27 5 £401 +0.25% 2
Northern Ireland -3 2 £625 +12.61%

Designer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 25 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.

1 232 (37.30%) User Experience
2 207 (33.28%) Service Design
3 189 (30.39%) Agile
4 188 (30.23%) UX Design
5 187 (30.06%) Figma
6 173 (27.81%) Accessibility
7 160 (25.72%) User Research
8 132 (21.22%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
9 124 (19.94%) Prototyping
10 118 (18.97%) Security Cleared
11 96 (15.43%) Workshop Facilitation
12 93 (14.95%) SC Cleared
13 91 (14.63%) Usability Testing
14 90 (14.47%) Journey Map
14 90 (14.47%) Wireframes
15 89 (14.31%) Interaction Design
16 79 (12.70%) Adobe
17 69 (11.09%) Problem-Solving
18 55 (8.84%) Design Thinking
19 54 (8.68%) Stakeholder Engagement
20 53 (8.52%) Analytics
21 50 (8.04%) Continuous Improvement
21 50 (8.04%) Inclusive Design
21 50 (8.04%) Sketch
22 49 (7.88%) Stakeholder Management
23 47 (7.56%) WCAG
24 46 (7.40%) High-Fidelity Prototypes
25 45 (7.23%) HTML
25 45 (7.23%) Storytelling
26 44 (7.07%) AI

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 (3.22%) CMS
2 18 (2.89%) Confluence
3 8 (1.29%) Appian
4 6 (0.96%) Camunda
4 6 (0.96%) OpenStack
5 3 (0.48%) SharePoint
5 3 (0.48%) Tomcat
6 2 (0.32%) Umbraco
7 1 (0.16%) LiveCycle
Applications
1 50 (8.04%) Sketch
2 34 (5.47%) Adobe XD
3 27 (4.34%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 20 (3.22%) InVision
4 20 (3.22%) Photoshop
5 19 (3.05%) Adobe Illustrator
6 14 (2.25%) InDesign
7 12 (1.93%) Adobe After Effects
8 10 (1.61%) Microsoft PowerPoint
9 9 (1.45%) Zeplin
10 7 (1.13%) Microsoft Office
11 6 (0.96%) Microsoft Excel
12 5 (0.80%) Adobe Captivate
13 4 (0.64%) Chatbot
13 4 (0.64%) MS Visio
14 3 (0.48%) Adobe Premiere
14 3 (0.48%) Spreadsheet
14 3 (0.48%) Trello
15 2 (0.32%) Blender
15 2 (0.32%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 7 (1.13%) SAP ERP
2 5 (0.80%) Dynamics GP
2 5 (0.80%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (0.48%) Oracle BRM
4 1 (0.16%) Oracle CRM
4 1 (0.16%) Remedy ITSM
4 1 (0.16%) Salesforce CRM
4 1 (0.16%) Workfront
Cloud Services
1 187 (30.06%) Figma
2 23 (3.70%) AWS
3 19 (3.05%) Miro
4 13 (2.09%) SaaS
5 11 (1.77%) Adobe Creative Cloud
5 11 (1.77%) Power Platform
6 9 (1.45%) Azure
7 6 (0.96%) OpenShift
8 5 (0.80%) PowerApps
9 4 (0.64%) Copilot Studio
9 4 (0.64%) Microsoft Copilot
10 3 (0.48%) Canva
10 3 (0.48%) Google Analytics
11 2 (0.32%) Asana
11 2 (0.32%) ChatGPT
11 2 (0.32%) Contentful
11 2 (0.32%) Dynamics 365
11 2 (0.32%) Google Gemini
11 2 (0.32%) Lucidchart
11 2 (0.32%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 7 (1.13%) LAN
2 6 (0.96%) BGP
2 6 (0.96%) MPLS
2 6 (0.96%) Network Security
2 6 (0.96%) OSPF
2 6 (0.96%) SMS
2 6 (0.96%) SNMP
2 6 (0.96%) TACACS
2 6 (0.96%) WAN
2 6 (0.96%) Wireless
3 3 (0.48%) Broadband
3 3 (0.48%) Firewall
3 3 (0.48%) GPRS
3 3 (0.48%) GSM
3 3 (0.48%) IPv4
3 3 (0.48%) IPv6
3 3 (0.48%) TCP/IP
3 3 (0.48%) VLAN
3 3 (0.48%) VPN
4 2 (0.32%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.64%) Power BI
2 3 (0.48%) Metadata
3 1 (0.16%) BigQuery
3 1 (0.16%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 31 (4.98%) JIRA
2 27 (4.34%) Axure RP
3 4 (0.64%) Git
4 2 (0.32%) Balsamiq
4 2 (0.32%) GitLab
5 1 (0.16%) Cypress.io
5 1 (0.16%) Dreamweaver
5 1 (0.16%) Postman
5 1 (0.16%) SoapUI
5 1 (0.16%) Visual Studio
5 1 (0.16%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 162 (26.05%) Social Skills
2 130 (20.90%) Public Sector
3 102 (16.40%) Finance
4 63 (10.13%) Banking
5 32 (5.14%) Marketing
6 20 (3.22%) Analytical Skills
7 16 (2.57%) Publishing
8 13 (2.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 10 (1.61%) Billing
9 10 (1.61%) Pharmaceutical
9 10 (1.61%) Presentation Skills
10 9 (1.45%) Influencing Skills
10 9 (1.45%) Legal
10 9 (1.45%) Manufacturing
10 9 (1.45%) Telecoms
11 8 (1.29%) Documentation Skills
11 8 (1.29%) Retail
12 7 (1.13%) Advertising
13 5 (0.80%) Local Government
13 5 (0.80%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (7.23%) HTML
2 39 (6.27%) CSS
3 6 (0.96%) .NET
3 6 (0.96%) Framer.js
3 6 (0.96%) React
4 5 (0.80%) AngularJS
4 5 (0.80%) Lightning Web Components
5 4 (0.64%) HTML5
6 3 (0.48%) CSS3
6 3 (0.48%) Middleware
6 3 (0.48%) RESTful
6 3 (0.48%) Visualforce
7 2 (0.32%) Sass
8 1 (0.16%) HTML5 Canvas
8 1 (0.16%) Razor View Engine
8 1 (0.16%) SAP Fiori
8 1 (0.16%) Semantic HTML
8 1 (0.16%) Unity (Game Engine)
8 1 (0.16%) Unity DI Container
8 1 (0.16%) Unreal Engine
Miscellaneous
1 42 (6.75%) Mobile App
2 41 (6.59%) Product Ownership
3 20 (3.22%) Onboarding
4 15 (2.41%) NHS
5 11 (1.77%) Graphic Design
6 9 (1.45%) Data Centre
6 9 (1.45%) e-Learning
6 9 (1.45%) Social Media
7 8 (1.29%) AI Agents
7 8 (1.29%) Data Protection Act
7 8 (1.29%) Taxonomies
8 6 (0.96%) Data Structures
8 6 (0.96%) Digital Media
8 6 (0.96%) Hybrid Cloud
8 6 (0.96%) Management Information System
9 5 (0.80%) Animation
9 5 (0.80%) Blog
9 5 (0.80%) Mainframe
9 5 (0.80%) Motion Graphics
9 5 (0.80%) Team-Oriented Environment
Operating Systems
1 7 (1.13%) Android
2 6 (0.96%) Apple iOS
3 3 (0.48%) Unix
4 1 (0.16%) Mac OS
4 1 (0.16%) VMS
4 1 (0.16%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 232 (37.30%) User Experience
2 207 (33.28%) Service Design
3 189 (30.39%) Agile
4 188 (30.23%) UX Design
5 160 (25.72%) User Research
6 132 (21.22%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
7 124 (19.94%) Prototyping
8 96 (15.43%) Workshop Facilitation
9 91 (14.63%) Usability Testing
10 90 (14.47%) Journey Map
10 90 (14.47%) Wireframes
11 89 (14.31%) Interaction Design
12 69 (11.09%) Problem-Solving
13 55 (8.84%) Design Thinking
14 54 (8.68%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 53 (8.52%) Analytics
16 50 (8.04%) Continuous Improvement
16 50 (8.04%) Inclusive Design
17 49 (7.88%) Stakeholder Management
18 46 (7.40%) High-Fidelity Prototypes
Programming Languages
1 14 (2.25%) Python
2 10 (1.61%) JavaScript
3 7 (1.13%) SQL
4 3 (0.48%) Apex Code
4 3 (0.48%) Java
4 3 (0.48%) PL/SQL
4 3 (0.48%) SOQL
5 2 (0.32%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 118 (18.97%) Security Cleared
2 93 (14.95%) SC Cleared
3 42 (6.75%) Degree
4 22 (3.54%) BPSS Clearance
5 16 (2.57%) Cisco Certification
6 13 (2.09%) DV Cleared
7 10 (1.61%) CCNP
8 6 (0.96%) AWS Certification
8 6 (0.96%) CCIE
8 6 (0.96%) JNCIE
8 6 (0.96%) Master's Degree
9 5 (0.80%) SAP Certification
10 4 (0.64%) HND
11 3 (0.48%) CCNA
11 3 (0.48%) CISM
11 3 (0.48%) CISSP
11 3 (0.48%) JNCIS
12 2 (0.32%) Computer Science Degree
12 2 (0.32%) TOGAF Certification
13 1 (0.16%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 173 (27.81%) Accessibility
2 47 (7.56%) WCAG
3 8 (1.29%) GDPR
4 6 (0.96%) QA
5 4 (0.64%) Actionable Recommendations
5 4 (0.64%) ISO 9001
6 3 (0.48%) GMP
6 3 (0.48%) GxP
6 3 (0.48%) NIST
7 1 (0.16%) Data Quality
7 1 (0.16%) SLA
System Software
1 6 (0.96%) VMware Infrastructure
1 6 (0.96%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 6 (0.96%) Ansible
1 6 (0.96%) Terraform
2 3 (0.48%) Nagios
3 1 (0.16%) Network Intrusion Detection System
Vendors
1 79 (12.70%) Adobe
2 38 (6.11%) Microsoft
3 12 (1.93%) Cisco
3 12 (1.93%) Juniper
4 10 (1.61%) Salesforce
5 9 (1.45%) F5
5 9 (1.45%) Oracle
5 9 (1.45%) SAP
5 9 (1.45%) ServiceNow
6 7 (1.13%) Google
6 7 (1.13%) Pega
7 6 (0.96%) Fortinet
7 6 (0.96%) Sage
7 6 (0.96%) VMware
8 5 (0.80%) Cadence
8 5 (0.80%) Hopewiser
9 4 (0.64%) BiZZdesign
10 3 (0.48%) Amdocs
10 3 (0.48%) Hotjar
10 3 (0.48%) SolarWinds