User Experience Contract Job Trends

UX
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring User Experience skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 17 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 73 60 74
Rank change year-on-year -13 +14 -13
Contract jobs citing User Experience 1,491 1,105 1,208
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.10% 3.76% 2.84%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.67% 4.14% 3.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 987 744 810
10th Percentile £313 £304 £305
25th Percentile £400 £400 £402
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £480 £500
Median % change year-on-year +1.56% -4.00% -0.99%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £600
90th Percentile £688 £700 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £425 £475
% change year-on-year +11.76% -10.53% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 59 26 45
10th Percentile £16.58 £22.01 £16.25
25th Percentile £23.08 £45.69 £23.75
Median hourly rate £33.99 £53.50 £26.56
Median % change year-on-year -36.47% +101.43% -10.26%
75th Percentile £61.25 £70.63 £61.25
90th Percentile £72.40 £90.50 £73.82
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.99 £61.75 £25.00
% change year-on-year -44.96% +147.00% +42.86%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

User Experience falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 40,590 26,723 36,687
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.35% 90.97% 86.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,485 17,182 23,610
10th Percentile £325 £305 £300
25th Percentile £413 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.94% -1.90% -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.58% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,403 1,090 2,438
10th Percentile £14.82 £14.39 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.72 £18.21 £15.96
Median hourly rate £42.30 £28.30 £36.05
Median % change year-on-year +49.50% -21.50% +1.11%
75th Percentile £67.25 £60.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.43 £37.50
% change year-on-year +76.96% -32.19% +7.14%

User Experience
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing User Experience relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

User Experience job vacancy trend in the UK

User Experience
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing User Experience.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing User Experience

User Experience
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing User Experience over the 6 months to 17 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for User Experience in the UK

User Experience
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing User Experience.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing User Experience

User Experience
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing User Experience over the 6 months to 17 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for User Experience in the UK

User Experience
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 User Experience within the UK over the 6 months to 17 May 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 1,291 £490 -1.80% 754
UK excluding London +5 669 £475 +11.76% 516
London -19 660 £513 -0.49% 350
Work from Home -22 398 £489 +1.77% 476
North of England +2 203 £450 +0.33% 140
Midlands -1 158 £488 +21.88% 65
North West +6 125 £420 -6.67% 91
South East -16 123 £488 +14.71% 137
West Midlands -10 107 £475 - 44
Scotland +1 71 £496 +10.28% 41
South West -14 68 £475 +26.67% 58
Yorkshire -23 53 £513 +28.04% 30
East Midlands +8 51 £550 +54.06% 19
East of England -15 31 £410 -13.68% 62
North East -10 23 £450 -0.55% 19
Wales -11 13 £450 +47.06% 11
Northern Ireland -4 3 - - 10

User Experience
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 54 (3.62%) SharePoint
2 52 (3.49%) Confluence
3 40 (2.68%) CMS
4 20 (1.34%) Microsoft Exchange
5 14 (0.94%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 7 (0.47%) Apache
6 7 (0.47%) WordPress
7 5 (0.34%) Camunda
7 5 (0.34%) Drupal
7 5 (0.34%) Mendix
8 4 (0.27%) Ethereum
8 4 (0.27%) Hyperledger
8 4 (0.27%) Kentico
8 4 (0.27%) Umbraco
9 3 (0.20%) Anypoint
9 3 (0.20%) Headless CMS
9 3 (0.20%) nginx
9 3 (0.20%) Skype for Business
10 2 (0.13%) Apache Spark
10 2 (0.13%) Appian
Applications
1 42 (2.82%) Sketch
2 27 (1.81%) Adobe XD
3 25 (1.68%) Microsoft Excel
4 21 (1.41%) Photoshop
5 19 (1.27%) Chatbot
6 17 (1.14%) MS Visio
7 16 (1.07%) Adobe Illustrator
8 15 (1.01%) Microsoft Office
9 14 (0.94%) Adobe After Effects
10 13 (0.87%) Adobe Creative Suite
11 10 (0.67%) InVision
12 7 (0.47%) Microsoft PowerPoint
13 4 (0.27%) Trello
14 3 (0.20%) Adobe Captivate
14 3 (0.20%) Microsoft Project
14 3 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
14 3 (0.20%) UXPin
15 2 (0.13%) Oracle Smart View
15 2 (0.13%) UserZoom
16 1 (0.067%) Blender
Business Applications
1 13 (0.87%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (0.67%) Dynamics CRM
3 9 (0.60%) Shopify
4 8 (0.54%) Workday HCM
5 6 (0.40%) Sage X3
6 4 (0.27%) NetSuite
7 3 (0.20%) Oracle EBS
8 2 (0.13%) NEC Housing
8 2 (0.13%) Oracle iProcurement
8 2 (0.13%) Oracle Payables
8 2 (0.13%) Oracle Receivables
8 2 (0.13%) Payment Gateway
8 2 (0.13%) ResourceLink
8 2 (0.13%) SAP ERP
9 1 (0.067%) Adobe Campaign
9 1 (0.067%) Eloqua
9 1 (0.067%) Integrated Workplace Management System
9 1 (0.067%) iTrent
9 1 (0.067%) Salesforce CRM
9 1 (0.067%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 236 (15.83%) Azure
2 214 (14.35%) Figma
3 123 (8.25%) AWS
4 116 (7.78%) Power Platform
5 104 (6.98%) Microsoft 365
6 60 (4.02%) Azure DevOps
7 58 (3.89%) Entra ID
8 50 (3.35%) GCP
9 48 (3.22%) GitHub
10 45 (3.02%) SaaS
11 38 (2.55%) Microsoft Copilot
11 38 (2.55%) Power Automate
12 37 (2.48%) PowerApps
13 33 (2.21%) Serverless
14 29 (1.95%) GitHub Actions
15 25 (1.68%) OneDrive
16 24 (1.61%) Copilot Studio
16 24 (1.61%) Google Workspace
17 21 (1.41%) Google Sheets
18 20 (1.34%) Miro
Communications & Networking
1 18 (1.21%) DNS
2 16 (1.07%) Wi-Fi
3 14 (0.94%) DHCP
4 12 (0.80%) Internet
4 12 (0.80%) LAN
5 11 (0.74%) Intranet
5 11 (0.74%) SD-WAN
5 11 (0.74%) TCP/IP
5 11 (0.74%) Wireless
6 10 (0.67%) HTTP
6 10 (0.67%) VPN
7 8 (0.54%) WAN
8 6 (0.40%) 5G
8 6 (0.40%) Cisco Wireless
8 6 (0.40%) Firewall
8 6 (0.40%) Network Security
8 6 (0.40%) SNMP
8 6 (0.40%) WLAN
9 5 (0.34%) Skype
9 5 (0.34%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 81 (5.43%) Power BI
2 27 (1.81%) Relational Database
3 26 (1.74%) NoSQL
4 25 (1.68%) PostgreSQL
5 22 (1.48%) SQL Server
6 19 (1.27%) Data Warehouse
6 19 (1.27%) Metadata
7 15 (1.01%) MongoDB
7 15 (1.01%) MySQL
8 14 (0.94%) Power Query
9 12 (0.80%) Big Data
9 12 (0.80%) Tableau
10 10 (0.67%) BigQuery
11 7 (0.47%) DynamoDB
11 7 (0.47%) Oracle BI Publisher
11 7 (0.47%) Pinecone
12 6 (0.40%) Looker
12 6 (0.40%) Oracle Database
12 6 (0.40%) Redis
12 6 (0.40%) ZAP BI
Development Applications
1 105 (7.04%) JIRA
2 89 (5.97%) Git
3 34 (2.28%) GitLab
4 28 (1.88%) Cypress.io
5 23 (1.54%) Jenkins
6 18 (1.21%) JUnit
7 16 (1.07%) Axure RP
8 15 (1.01%) Gradle
9 13 (0.87%) Vite
10 12 (0.80%) Android Studio
10 12 (0.80%) Browser DevTools
11 11 (0.74%) Xcode
12 10 (0.67%) CircleCI
12 10 (0.67%) Selenium
13 8 (0.54%) fastlane
13 8 (0.54%) Visual Studio
14 7 (0.47%) Postman
15 6 (0.40%) Eclipse
15 6 (0.40%) Mocha
15 6 (0.40%) Mockito
General
1 446 (29.91%) Social Skills
2 261 (17.51%) Finance
3 205 (13.75%) Public Sector
4 150 (10.06%) Analytical Skills
5 115 (7.71%) Banking
6 62 (4.16%) Marketing
7 57 (3.82%) Retail
8 35 (2.35%) Legal
9 33 (2.21%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 33 (2.21%) Influencing Skills
10 30 (2.01%) Presentation Skills
11 24 (1.61%) Manufacturing
12 22 (1.48%) Automotive
13 19 (1.27%) Publishing
14 18 (1.21%) Organisational Skills
15 17 (1.14%) Games
15 17 (1.14%) Investment Banking
15 17 (1.14%) Pharmaceutical
16 16 (1.07%) Documentation Skills
17 12 (0.80%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 315 (21.13%) Designer
2 224 (15.02%) Senior
3 198 (13.28%) Developer
4 145 (9.73%) UX Designer
5 130 (8.72%) Analyst
6 83 (5.57%) Lead
7 78 (5.23%) Consultant
8 66 (4.43%) Business Analyst
9 65 (4.36%) Product Designer
10 64 (4.29%) UI Designer
11 63 (4.23%) Architect
11 63 (4.23%) Senior Designer
12 49 (3.29%) User Researcher
13 47 (3.15%) Content Designer
14 44 (2.95%) Service Designer
14 44 (2.95%) User Experience Researcher
15 42 (2.82%) UI/UX Designer
16 40 (2.68%) IT Support
17 36 (2.41%) Product Manager
18 35 (2.35%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 157 (10.53%) React
2 130 (8.72%) CSS
3 118 (7.91%) HTML
4 106 (7.11%) REST
5 74 (4.96%) RESTful
6 71 (4.76%) AngularJS
7 54 (3.62%) .NET
7 54 (3.62%) Spring
8 53 (3.55%) Spring Boot
9 40 (2.68%) GraphQL
10 36 (2.41%) Node.js
11 34 (2.28%) JSON
12 32 (2.15%) HTML5
13 31 (2.08%) Redux
14 30 (2.01%) CSS3
15 28 (1.88%) Jest
15 28 (1.88%) Next.js
16 27 (1.81%) Kafka
17 23 (1.54%) OAuth
18 22 (1.48%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 150 (10.06%) Product Ownership
2 73 (4.90%) Mobile App
3 54 (3.62%) Onboarding
4 35 (2.35%) AI Agents
5 34 (2.28%) Data Structures
6 29 (1.95%) Enterprise Software
7 26 (1.74%) Cloud Native
8 20 (1.34%) Data Protection Act
9 19 (1.27%) Analytical Mindset
10 17 (1.14%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 17 (1.14%) Legacy Systems
11 16 (1.07%) Animation
12 15 (1.01%) Virtual Reality
13 14 (0.94%) Self-Motivation
14 13 (0.87%) Algorithms
14 13 (0.87%) Augmented Reality
14 13 (0.87%) Distributed Systems
14 13 (0.87%) Management Information System
14 13 (0.87%) NHS
14 13 (0.87%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 106 (7.11%) Windows
2 50 (3.35%) Android
3 45 (3.02%) Apple iOS
4 35 (2.35%) Windows 10
5 25 (1.68%) Mac OS
6 16 (1.07%) Linux
7 9 (0.60%) Windows Server
8 6 (0.40%) Unix
9 5 (0.34%) Windows Server 2016
10 4 (0.27%) Windows 7
10 4 (0.27%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.13%) Windows Server 2012
12 1 (0.067%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 489 (32.80%) UX Design
2 462 (30.99%) Agile
3 234 (15.69%) AI
4 217 (14.55%) Problem-Solving
5 211 (14.15%) User Research
6 210 (14.08%) Analytics
7 184 (12.34%) Continuous Improvement
8 179 (12.01%) Stakeholder Management
9 173 (11.60%) CI/CD
10 165 (11.07%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 162 (10.87%) Roadmaps
12 155 (10.40%) DevOps
13 147 (9.86%) Prototyping
14 135 (9.05%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
15 129 (8.65%) UX Research
16 128 (8.58%) Decision-Making
17 127 (8.52%) Service Design
17 127 (8.52%) Wireframes
18 114 (7.65%) Workshop Facilitation
19 106 (7.11%) Usability Testing
Programming Languages
1 161 (10.80%) JavaScript
2 129 (8.65%) Python
3 127 (8.52%) SQL
4 116 (7.78%) Java
5 112 (7.51%) TypeScript
6 55 (3.69%) C#
7 48 (3.22%) PowerShell
8 34 (2.28%) Kotlin
9 20 (1.34%) Bash
9 20 (1.34%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 14 (0.94%) Swift
11 12 (0.80%) C++
12 9 (0.60%) Lua
13 7 (0.47%) Korn
14 6 (0.40%) Perl
14 6 (0.40%) VBA
15 5 (0.34%) Apex Code
15 5 (0.34%) Go
15 5 (0.34%) R
15 5 (0.34%) Scala
Qualifications
1 200 (13.41%) Security Cleared
2 148 (9.93%) SC Cleared
3 135 (9.05%) Degree
4 31 (2.08%) BPSS Clearance
5 30 (2.01%) Computer Science Degree
6 27 (1.81%) DV Cleared
7 22 (1.48%) Microsoft Certification
8 14 (0.94%) Master's Degree
9 13 (0.87%) Azure Certification
10 11 (0.74%) Cisco Certification
11 8 (0.54%) CCNP
12 7 (0.47%) CCA
13 6 (0.40%) CCIE
13 6 (0.40%) Citrix Certification
13 6 (0.40%) ITIL Certification
13 6 (0.40%) PMI Certification
14 5 (0.34%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 4 (0.27%) CCNA
15 4 (0.27%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
15 4 (0.27%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 263 (17.64%) Accessibility
2 119 (7.98%) QA
3 86 (5.77%) WCAG
4 50 (3.35%) Data Quality
5 34 (2.28%) GDPR
6 20 (1.34%) Actionable Recommendations
7 18 (1.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 8 (0.54%) SLA
9 7 (0.47%) Cyber Essentials
9 7 (0.47%) PMO
10 6 (0.40%) GMP
10 6 (0.40%) GxP
11 4 (0.27%) GRC
11 4 (0.27%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 3 (0.20%) Disclosure Scotland
12 3 (0.20%) HIPAA
12 3 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 3 (0.20%) NCSC
12 3 (0.20%) NIST
12 3 (0.20%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 69 (4.63%) Active Directory
2 54 (3.62%) Docker
3 20 (1.34%) Virtual Desktop
4 18 (1.21%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (0.40%) Firmware
6 4 (0.27%) Hyper-V
6 4 (0.27%) Microsoft App-V
7 3 (0.20%) BitLocker
7 3 (0.20%) XenApp
7 3 (0.20%) XenDesktop
8 2 (0.13%) VMware Workstation
9 1 (0.067%) ISA Server
9 1 (0.067%) Varnish
9 1 (0.067%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 57 (3.82%) Kubernetes
2 48 (3.22%) Terraform
3 39 (2.62%) Microsoft Intune
4 36 (2.41%) Grafana
5 33 (2.21%) SCCM
6 18 (1.21%) Ansible
6 18 (1.21%) Single Sign-On
7 11 (0.74%) Prometheus
8 8 (0.54%) Jamf Pro
9 4 (0.27%) Podman
10 3 (0.20%) HP ALM
10 3 (0.20%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
11 2 (0.13%) Argo
11 2 (0.13%) Failover Clustering
11 2 (0.13%) Nagios
11 2 (0.13%) Packer
11 2 (0.13%) Rancher
11 2 (0.13%) SysTrack
11 2 (0.13%) WSUS
12 1 (0.067%) AirWatch
Vendors
1 220 (14.76%) Microsoft
2 92 (6.17%) Adobe
3 68 (4.56%) Google
4 61 (4.09%) ServiceNow
5 45 (3.02%) Oracle
6 42 (2.82%) Salesforce
7 41 (2.75%) SAP
8 23 (1.54%) Citrix
9 20 (1.34%) Splunk
10 18 (1.21%) Databricks
10 18 (1.21%) VMware
11 17 (1.14%) Dynatrace
11 17 (1.14%) Workday
12 16 (1.07%) Apple
12 16 (1.07%) Cisco
13 11 (0.74%) Aruba
14 9 (0.60%) Foundry
14 9 (0.60%) MuleSoft
14 9 (0.60%) OpenAI
15 8 (0.54%) Zscaler