Head of Design Contracts

Head of Design
UK

The median Head of Design daily rate in the UK is £675, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 1 May 2025.

The table below provides contractor rate benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 514 577 714
Rank change year-on-year +63 +137 +133
Contract jobs requiring a Head of Design 6 5 4
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.020% 0.011% 0.007%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.022% 0.012% 0.007%
Number of daily rates quoted 4 5 2
10th Percentile - £495 £855
25th Percentile £650 - £863
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £675 £600 £950
Median % change year-on-year +12.50% -36.84% +28.90%
75th Percentile £700 £750 £1,063
90th Percentile - £840 £1,085
UK excluding London median daily rate £675 £800 £900
% change year-on-year -15.63% -11.11% -

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 27,084 40,415 56,464
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.52% 92.78% 94.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,692 26,309 39,470
10th Percentile £300 £275 £313
25th Percentile £406 £410 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -1.90% -2.78% +2.86%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £492 £500
% change year-on-year -3.46% -1.60% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,035 2,664 1,570
10th Percentile £14.07 £12.86 £14.29
25th Percentile £18.50 £16.30 £19.50
Median hourly rate £29.00 £36.42 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -20.37% -19.07% +91.49%
75th Percentile £62.50 £60.75 £65.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £72.50 £75.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.00 £39.55 £42.50
% change year-on-year -29.20% -6.94% +117.95%

Head of Design
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings that featured Head of Design in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Head of Design in the UK

Head of Design
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Head of Design.

Daily rate trend for Head of Design in the UK

Head of Design
Top 6 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Head of Design within the UK over the 6 months to 1 May 2025. 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 +58 6 £675 +12.50% 36
UK excluding London +67 5 £675 -15.63% 9
North of England +22 4 £675 -15.63% 5
North West +20 4 £675 -15.63% 1
Work from Home +41 2 - - 18
South East - 1 - - 1

Head of Design Skill Set
Top 23 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities

For the 6 months to 1 May 2025, Head of Design contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Head of Design in the job title.

1 4 (66.67%) Incident Management
1 4 (66.67%) Service Design
1 4 (66.67%) People Management
1 4 (66.67%) ITIL
2 1 (16.67%) CISSP
2 1 (16.67%) SDLC
2 1 (16.67%) Threat Modelling
2 1 (16.67%) Matrix Organization
2 1 (16.67%) Data Encryption
2 1 (16.67%) Decision-Making
2 1 (16.67%) Technical Leadership
2 1 (16.67%) DevSecOps
2 1 (16.67%) Public Sector
2 1 (16.67%) Situational Awareness
2 1 (16.67%) Security Posture
2 1 (16.67%) SC Cleared
2 1 (16.67%) Security Cleared
2 1 (16.67%) Vulnerability Management
2 1 (16.67%) Management Information System
2 1 (16.67%) Risk Management
2 1 (16.67%) Stakeholder Management
2 1 (16.67%) Information Security
2 1 (16.67%) Intrusion Detection

Head of Design Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Communications & Networking
1 1 (16.67%) Intrusion Detection
General
1 1 (16.67%) Public Sector
Miscellaneous
1 1 (16.67%) Management Information System
1 1 (16.67%) Security Posture
Processes & Methodologies
1 4 (66.67%) Incident Management
1 4 (66.67%) ITIL
1 4 (66.67%) People Management
1 4 (66.67%) Service Design
2 1 (16.67%) Data Encryption
2 1 (16.67%) Decision-Making
2 1 (16.67%) DevSecOps
2 1 (16.67%) Information Security
2 1 (16.67%) Matrix Organization
2 1 (16.67%) Risk Management
2 1 (16.67%) SDLC
2 1 (16.67%) Situational Awareness
2 1 (16.67%) Stakeholder Management
2 1 (16.67%) Technical Leadership
2 1 (16.67%) Threat Modelling
2 1 (16.67%) Vulnerability Management
Qualifications
1 1 (16.67%) CISSP
1 1 (16.67%) SC Cleared
1 1 (16.67%) Security Cleared