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 27 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
27 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 84 67 79
Rank change year-on-year -17 +12 -20
Contract jobs citing User Experience 1,566 1,214 1,062
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.97% 3.68% 2.64%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.49% 4.07% 3.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 959 786 688
10th Percentile £313 £304 £306
25th Percentile £400 £381 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year - -5.00% -0.05%
75th Percentile £583 £586 £600
90th Percentile £688 £688 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £447 £475
% change year-on-year +0.67% -5.89% +2.15%
Number of hourly rates quoted 73 39 33
10th Percentile £16.15 £19.30 £16.25
25th Percentile £25.00 £34.87 £26.56
Median hourly rate £33.99 £49.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -31.33% +23.75% +45.45%
75th Percentile £67.84 £64.38 £68.00
90th Percentile £73.50 £74.59 £74.44
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.99 £63.25 £62.00
% change year-on-year -46.26% +2.02% +249.89%

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 44,856 29,798 34,328
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.96% 90.42% 85.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,798 18,719 22,071
10th Percentile £325 £300 £308
25th Percentile £419 £404 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% -4.76% -3.67%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,670 1,616 2,026
10th Percentile £14.82 £14.20 £13.56
25th Percentile £20.02 £17.33 £17.55
Median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +74.79% -37.13% -5.88%
75th Percentile £68.38 £50.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £82.38 £68.75 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £23.82 £40.00
% change year-on-year +84.59% -40.46% -

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 27 July 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 27 July 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 27 July 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 -14 1,356 £475 - 756
UK excluding London -10 733 £450 +0.67% 449
London -22 686 £525 +2.94% 397
Work from Home -30 391 £500 +4.17% 359
North of England -14 220 £439 -2.12% 130
Midlands -2 144 £475 +11.76% 58
South East -30 130 £490 +3.16% 125
West Midlands -4 116 £475 -5.00% 46
North West -32 114 £425 -5.56% 60
Scotland +22 96 £518 +12.20% 24
South West -13 81 £475 +26.67% 57
Yorkshire -32 59 £500 +25.00% 41
East of England +11 49 £410 -14.14% 55
North East -8 47 £381 -20.57% 29
East Midlands -7 28 £468 +31.32% 12
Wales -9 16 £579 +89.22% 5
Northern Ireland +2 2 - - 11

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 65 (4.15%) SharePoint
2 57 (3.64%) CMS
3 42 (2.68%) Confluence
4 27 (1.72%) Microsoft Exchange
5 15 (0.96%) WordPress
6 8 (0.51%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 8 (0.51%) Apache
7 6 (0.38%) Drupal
7 6 (0.38%) Mendix
7 6 (0.38%) Skype for Business
8 4 (0.26%) Apache Airflow
8 4 (0.26%) Headless CMS
8 4 (0.26%) Kentico
9 3 (0.19%) Moodle
9 3 (0.19%) Umbraco
10 2 (0.13%) HCL Notes
10 2 (0.13%) IIS
10 2 (0.13%) nginx
10 2 (0.13%) Palantir Foundry
11 1 (0.064%) Traefik
Applications
1 38 (2.43%) Sketch
2 35 (2.23%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 31 (1.98%) Microsoft Excel
4 22 (1.40%) Chatbot
5 20 (1.28%) Photoshop
6 19 (1.21%) Adobe After Effects
7 18 (1.15%) Microsoft Office
8 17 (1.09%) Adobe XD
9 15 (0.96%) Adobe Illustrator
10 10 (0.64%) Microsoft PowerPoint
10 10 (0.64%) MS Visio
11 6 (0.38%) Final Cut Pro
12 4 (0.26%) Adobe Captivate
13 2 (0.13%) InVision
13 2 (0.13%) Microsoft Project
13 2 (0.13%) Oracle Smart View
13 2 (0.13%) Spreadsheet
13 2 (0.13%) UserZoom
14 1 (0.064%) Camtasia
14 1 (0.064%) Trello
Business Applications
1 13 (0.83%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (0.70%) Workday HCM
3 10 (0.64%) Dynamics CRM
4 7 (0.45%) Shopify
5 6 (0.38%) Sage X3
6 4 (0.26%) NetSuite
6 4 (0.26%) Oracle iProcurement
7 3 (0.19%) iTrent
7 3 (0.19%) Payment Gateway
7 3 (0.19%) Salesforce CRM
8 2 (0.13%) Oracle EBS
8 2 (0.13%) Oracle Payables
8 2 (0.13%) Oracle Receivables
8 2 (0.13%) Remedy ITSM
8 2 (0.13%) ResourceLink
9 1 (0.064%) Magento
9 1 (0.064%) Oracle EBS R12
9 1 (0.064%) SAP ERP
9 1 (0.064%) SAP HR
9 1 (0.064%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 247 (15.77%) Azure
2 221 (14.11%) Figma
3 133 (8.49%) AWS
4 129 (8.24%) Microsoft 365
5 115 (7.34%) Power Platform
6 63 (4.02%) Entra ID
7 58 (3.70%) Azure DevOps
8 56 (3.58%) GitHub
9 55 (3.51%) SaaS
10 49 (3.13%) GCP
10 49 (3.13%) Microsoft Copilot
11 37 (2.36%) PowerApps
12 31 (1.98%) OneDrive
12 31 (1.98%) Serverless
13 29 (1.85%) Power Automate
14 26 (1.66%) Copilot Studio
15 24 (1.53%) Azure AI
16 22 (1.40%) GitHub Actions
17 17 (1.09%) Snowflake
18 14 (0.89%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 41 (2.62%) DNS
2 33 (2.11%) DHCP
3 28 (1.79%) TCP/IP
4 25 (1.60%) Wi-Fi
5 20 (1.28%) Wireless
6 19 (1.21%) LAN
7 13 (0.83%) Firewall
7 13 (0.83%) VPN
7 13 (0.83%) WAN
8 12 (0.77%) Internet
9 10 (0.64%) Intranet
9 10 (0.64%) SD-WAN
10 8 (0.51%) Cisco Wireless
10 8 (0.51%) Network Security
10 8 (0.51%) Skype
11 7 (0.45%) SNMP
12 6 (0.38%) 5G
12 6 (0.38%) WLAN
13 5 (0.32%) SMS
13 5 (0.32%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 71 (4.53%) Power BI
2 25 (1.60%) Metadata
3 22 (1.40%) PostgreSQL
4 20 (1.28%) NoSQL
5 19 (1.21%) Relational Database
6 18 (1.15%) Power Query
7 15 (0.96%) SQL Server
8 14 (0.89%) Data Warehouse
9 12 (0.77%) Tableau
10 11 (0.70%) Big Data
11 10 (0.64%) MySQL
12 9 (0.57%) MongoDB
13 7 (0.45%) Redis
13 7 (0.45%) Snowflake Schema
14 6 (0.38%) Azure SQL Database
14 6 (0.38%) DynamoDB
14 6 (0.38%) Elasticsearch
14 6 (0.38%) Looker
14 6 (0.38%) Star Schema
14 6 (0.38%) ZAP BI
Development Applications
1 89 (5.68%) JIRA
2 79 (5.04%) Git
3 27 (1.72%) Cypress.io
4 25 (1.60%) Vite
5 24 (1.53%) Jenkins
6 17 (1.09%) GitLab
7 12 (0.77%) Claude Code
8 10 (0.64%) Android Studio
8 10 (0.64%) Browser DevTools
8 10 (0.64%) fastlane
8 10 (0.64%) Selenium
8 10 (0.64%) Storybook
9 9 (0.57%) webpack
9 9 (0.57%) Xcode
10 8 (0.51%) Gradle
11 7 (0.45%) JUnit
12 6 (0.38%) JMeter
12 6 (0.38%) Postman
12 6 (0.38%) Visual Studio
13 5 (0.32%) REST Assured
General
1 497 (31.74%) Social Skills
2 278 (17.75%) Finance
3 208 (13.28%) Public Sector
4 156 (9.96%) Analytical Skills
5 119 (7.60%) Banking
6 83 (5.30%) Retail
7 73 (4.66%) Marketing
8 49 (3.13%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 40 (2.55%) Legal
10 38 (2.43%) Influencing Skills
11 30 (1.92%) Presentation Skills
11 30 (1.92%) Publishing
12 27 (1.72%) Automotive
13 26 (1.66%) Manufacturing
14 25 (1.60%) Organisational Skills
15 22 (1.40%) Documentation Skills
16 18 (1.15%) Investment Banking
17 17 (1.09%) Military
18 12 (0.77%) Front Office
19 11 (0.70%) Games
Job Titles
1 343 (21.90%) Designer
2 224 (14.30%) Senior
3 196 (12.52%) Developer
4 145 (9.26%) UX Designer
5 119 (7.60%) Lead
6 113 (7.22%) Analyst
7 89 (5.68%) UI Designer
8 79 (5.04%) Consultant
9 67 (4.28%) Senior Designer
10 65 (4.15%) Architect
11 62 (3.96%) User Researcher
12 60 (3.83%) Product Designer
13 59 (3.77%) Business Analyst
14 52 (3.32%) Content Designer
15 50 (3.19%) UI/UX Designer
16 47 (3.00%) Product Manager
17 46 (2.94%) User Experience Researcher
18 45 (2.87%) IT Support
19 43 (2.75%) Support Engineer
20 40 (2.55%) Full-Stack Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 146 (9.32%) React
2 114 (7.28%) CSS
3 101 (6.45%) HTML
4 100 (6.39%) REST
5 67 (4.28%) RESTful
6 51 (3.26%) AngularJS
7 43 (2.75%) .NET
8 42 (2.68%) GraphQL
9 40 (2.55%) HTML5
10 37 (2.36%) CSS3
11 34 (2.17%) Node.js
11 34 (2.17%) Spring
12 33 (2.11%) Jest
12 33 (2.11%) Spring Boot
13 31 (1.98%) Redux
14 29 (1.85%) Kafka
15 25 (1.60%) Next.js
15 25 (1.60%) Playwright
16 24 (1.53%) JSON
16 24 (1.53%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 157 (10.03%) Product Ownership
2 95 (6.07%) Mobile App
3 80 (5.11%) Onboarding
4 47 (3.00%) Cloud Native
5 45 (2.87%) AI Agents
6 33 (2.11%) Enterprise Software
6 33 (2.11%) Self-Motivation
7 32 (2.04%) Data Structures
8 29 (1.85%) Data Protection Act
9 25 (1.60%) Legacy Systems
10 23 (1.47%) Animation
11 21 (1.34%) Data Centre
11 21 (1.34%) Social Media
12 19 (1.21%) Analytical Mindset
13 17 (1.09%) Graphic Design
14 16 (1.02%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
15 15 (0.96%) Algorithms
15 15 (0.96%) Educational Technology
16 14 (0.89%) Management Information System
16 14 (0.89%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 130 (8.30%) Windows
2 57 (3.64%) Android
2 57 (3.64%) Apple iOS
3 43 (2.75%) Windows 10
4 27 (1.72%) Mac OS
5 19 (1.21%) Windows Server
6 18 (1.15%) Linux
7 9 (0.57%) Unix
7 9 (0.57%) Windows 7
8 5 (0.32%) Windows Server 2016
9 4 (0.26%) Windows Server 2019
10 3 (0.19%) Windows Server 2008
11 2 (0.13%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 511 (32.63%) UX Design
2 459 (29.31%) Agile
3 308 (19.67%) AI
4 246 (15.71%) Problem-Solving
5 236 (15.07%) Stakeholder Management
6 226 (14.43%) Continuous Improvement
7 216 (13.79%) User Research
8 209 (13.35%) Analytics
9 183 (11.69%) CI/CD
10 176 (11.24%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 167 (10.66%) Roadmaps
12 149 (9.51%) Decision-Making
13 147 (9.39%) Prototyping
14 145 (9.26%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
15 143 (9.13%) DevOps
16 136 (8.68%) Wireframes
17 126 (8.05%) Service Design
18 123 (7.85%) UX Research
19 117 (7.47%) Workshop Facilitation
20 114 (7.28%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 135 (8.62%) JavaScript
2 131 (8.37%) Python
3 117 (7.47%) TypeScript
4 110 (7.02%) SQL
5 105 (6.70%) Java
6 51 (3.26%) PowerShell
7 45 (2.87%) C#
8 35 (2.23%) Kotlin
9 25 (1.60%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 18 (1.15%) Bash
11 17 (1.09%) Swift
12 12 (0.77%) C++
13 9 (0.57%) Lua
14 8 (0.51%) Go
14 8 (0.51%) Korn
15 7 (0.45%) Apex Code
15 7 (0.45%) PHP
15 7 (0.45%) R
15 7 (0.45%) VBScript
16 6 (0.38%) VB
Qualifications
1 246 (15.71%) Security Cleared
2 185 (11.81%) SC Cleared
3 144 (9.20%) Degree
4 37 (2.36%) Computer Science Degree
5 33 (2.11%) BPSS Clearance
6 29 (1.85%) DV Cleared
7 23 (1.47%) Azure Certification
8 21 (1.34%) Microsoft Certification
9 12 (0.77%) PMP
10 11 (0.70%) Cisco Certification
11 9 (0.57%) ITIL Certification
11 9 (0.57%) Master's Degree
12 8 (0.51%) AWS Certification
12 8 (0.51%) CCA
12 8 (0.51%) Citrix Certification
12 8 (0.51%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 7 (0.45%) CCNP
14 6 (0.38%) CCIE
14 6 (0.38%) DBS Check
14 6 (0.38%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 280 (17.88%) Accessibility
2 95 (6.07%) WCAG
3 94 (6.00%) QA
4 47 (3.00%) Data Quality
5 22 (1.40%) GDPR
6 16 (1.02%) Actionable Recommendations
7 12 (0.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 9 (0.57%) PMO
8 9 (0.57%) SLA
9 7 (0.45%) Cyber Essentials
9 7 (0.45%) ISO/IEC 42001
10 4 (0.26%) GRC
10 4 (0.26%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 3 (0.19%) GMP
11 3 (0.19%) GxP
12 2 (0.13%) NIST
12 2 (0.13%) PCI DSS
12 2 (0.13%) PSD2
13 1 (0.064%) HIPAA
13 1 (0.064%) ISO 20022
System Software
1 85 (5.43%) Active Directory
2 48 (3.07%) Docker
3 30 (1.92%) Virtual Desktop
4 19 (1.21%) VMware Infrastructure
5 7 (0.45%) vSphere
6 6 (0.38%) BitLocker
6 6 (0.38%) Firmware
7 5 (0.32%) VMware ESXi
8 4 (0.26%) Hyper-V
8 4 (0.26%) Microsoft App-V
9 3 (0.19%) UAG
9 3 (0.19%) Virtual Machines
10 2 (0.13%) VMware NSX
10 2 (0.13%) VMware Workstation
10 2 (0.13%) XenApp
10 2 (0.13%) XenDesktop
11 1 (0.064%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 51 (3.26%) Terraform
2 48 (3.07%) Kubernetes
3 46 (2.94%) Microsoft Intune
4 38 (2.43%) Grafana
5 35 (2.23%) SCCM
6 17 (1.09%) Ansible
6 17 (1.09%) Single Sign-On
7 14 (0.89%) Jamf Pro
7 14 (0.89%) Prometheus
8 5 (0.32%) vCenter Server
9 4 (0.26%) Clonezilla
9 4 (0.26%) Podman
10 3 (0.19%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
10 3 (0.19%) WSUS
11 2 (0.13%) Argo
11 2 (0.13%) Failover Clustering
11 2 (0.13%) Kibana
11 2 (0.13%) Packer
11 2 (0.13%) SCOM
11 2 (0.13%) vMotion
Vendors
1 271 (17.31%) Microsoft
2 95 (6.07%) Adobe
3 79 (5.04%) ServiceNow
4 56 (3.58%) Google
5 43 (2.75%) SAP
6 38 (2.43%) Oracle
7 33 (2.11%) Salesforce
8 26 (1.66%) Citrix
9 24 (1.53%) Splunk
10 23 (1.47%) Databricks
10 23 (1.47%) Dynatrace
11 22 (1.40%) VMware
12 21 (1.34%) Workday
13 18 (1.15%) Cisco
14 17 (1.09%) OpenAI
15 16 (1.02%) Apple
15 16 (1.02%) Foundry
16 14 (0.89%) Zscaler
17 11 (0.70%) Aruba
18 8 (0.51%) Okta