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 30 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 77 59 75
Rank change year-on-year -18 +16 -16
Contract jobs citing User Experience 1,517 1,092 1,186
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.09% 3.78% 2.76%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.65% 4.15% 3.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 986 724 794
10th Percentile £314 £305 £305
25th Percentile £400 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £480 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.08% -4.00% -1.96%
75th Percentile £575 £580 £600
90th Percentile £678 £692 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £425 £475
% change year-on-year +11.76% -10.53% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 65 27 46
10th Percentile £16.00 £25.84 £16.25
25th Percentile £23.00 £40.38 £23.75
Median hourly rate £33.99 £53.50 £29.14
Median % change year-on-year -36.47% +83.63% -1.55%
75th Percentile £61.25 £68.75 £59.69
90th Percentile £77.20 £89.50 £74.44
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.99 £70.00 £25.00
% change year-on-year -51.44% +180.00% +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 41,610 26,282 36,757
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.67% 91.03% 85.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,026 16,812 23,631
10th Percentile £325 £300 £300
25th Percentile £413 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £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 2,481 1,100 2,513
10th Percentile £14.68 £14.20 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.91 £17.87 £16.00
Median hourly rate £42.30 £27.97 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +51.26% -23.38% -1.35%
75th Percentile £67.84 £57.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £81.00 £73.88 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £38.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -33.82% +8.57%

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 30 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 30 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 30 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 -10 1,302 £485 -2.02% 426
UK excluding London +3 694 £475 +11.76% 358
London -19 657 £513 -0.49% 161
Work from Home -22 407 £500 +3.36% 219
North of England -10 203 £450 +0.67% 93
Midlands +6 167 £475 +17.72% 55
North West -3 129 £420 -6.67% 60
South East -17 128 £490 +8.41% 117
West Midlands -12 116 £475 -7.32% 38
Scotland +10 77 £505 +9.78% 10
South West -11 71 £475 +26.67% 35
Yorkshire -31 54 £525 +31.25% 14
East Midlands +9 51 £550 +54.49% 16
East of England -14 32 £410 -14.14% 40
North East -18 20 £450 -6.25% 21
Wales -10 15 £450 +47.06% 13
Northern Ireland 0 3 - - 1

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 58 (3.82%) SharePoint
2 49 (3.23%) Confluence
3 43 (2.83%) CMS
4 23 (1.52%) Microsoft Exchange
5 14 (0.92%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 8 (0.53%) Apache
7 7 (0.46%) WordPress
8 5 (0.33%) Camunda
8 5 (0.33%) Drupal
8 5 (0.33%) Mendix
8 5 (0.33%) Skype for Business
9 4 (0.26%) Ethereum
9 4 (0.26%) Hyperledger
9 4 (0.26%) Kentico
9 4 (0.26%) Umbraco
10 3 (0.20%) Anypoint
10 3 (0.20%) Headless CMS
10 3 (0.20%) nginx
11 2 (0.13%) Appian
11 2 (0.13%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 44 (2.90%) Sketch
2 26 (1.71%) Adobe XD
3 25 (1.65%) Microsoft Excel
4 23 (1.52%) Photoshop
5 19 (1.25%) Chatbot
6 18 (1.19%) Adobe After Effects
6 18 (1.19%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 18 (1.19%) Adobe Illustrator
7 15 (0.99%) Microsoft Office
7 15 (0.99%) MS Visio
8 10 (0.66%) InVision
9 9 (0.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
10 4 (0.26%) Adobe Captivate
10 4 (0.26%) Trello
11 3 (0.20%) Final Cut Pro
11 3 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
11 3 (0.20%) UserZoom
11 3 (0.20%) UXPin
12 2 (0.13%) Microsoft Project
12 2 (0.13%) Oracle Smart View
Business Applications
1 12 (0.79%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (0.59%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (0.59%) Shopify
3 8 (0.53%) Workday HCM
4 6 (0.40%) Sage X3
5 4 (0.26%) NetSuite
6 2 (0.13%) Oracle iProcurement
6 2 (0.13%) Oracle Payables
6 2 (0.13%) Oracle Receivables
6 2 (0.13%) Payment Gateway
6 2 (0.13%) ResourceLink
6 2 (0.13%) SAP ERP
7 1 (0.066%) Adobe Campaign
7 1 (0.066%) Eloqua
7 1 (0.066%) Integrated Workplace Management System
7 1 (0.066%) Magento
7 1 (0.066%) NEC Housing
7 1 (0.066%) Oracle EBS R12
7 1 (0.066%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.066%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 228 (15.03%) Azure
2 216 (14.24%) Figma
3 132 (8.70%) AWS
4 111 (7.32%) Microsoft 365
5 109 (7.19%) Power Platform
6 60 (3.96%) Entra ID
7 54 (3.56%) Azure DevOps
8 51 (3.36%) SaaS
9 50 (3.30%) GitHub
10 48 (3.16%) GCP
11 42 (2.77%) Microsoft Copilot
12 34 (2.24%) PowerApps
13 33 (2.18%) GitHub Actions
13 33 (2.18%) Power Automate
13 33 (2.18%) Serverless
14 27 (1.78%) OneDrive
15 24 (1.58%) Google Workspace
16 22 (1.45%) Copilot Studio
17 21 (1.38%) Google Sheets
18 19 (1.25%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 20 (1.32%) Wi-Fi
2 19 (1.25%) DNS
3 16 (1.05%) DHCP
3 16 (1.05%) Wireless
4 15 (0.99%) LAN
5 13 (0.86%) Internet
6 12 (0.79%) Intranet
7 11 (0.73%) SD-WAN
8 10 (0.66%) HTTP
8 10 (0.66%) TCP/IP
9 9 (0.59%) VPN
9 9 (0.59%) WAN
10 8 (0.53%) Cisco Wireless
11 7 (0.46%) 5G
11 7 (0.46%) Skype
11 7 (0.46%) WLAN
12 6 (0.40%) Firewall
12 6 (0.40%) SNMP
13 5 (0.33%) 802.11
13 5 (0.33%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 73 (4.81%) Power BI
2 27 (1.78%) Relational Database
3 26 (1.71%) NoSQL
3 26 (1.71%) PostgreSQL
4 22 (1.45%) Metadata
4 22 (1.45%) SQL Server
5 18 (1.19%) Data Warehouse
6 15 (0.99%) MongoDB
6 15 (0.99%) MySQL
6 15 (0.99%) Power Query
7 12 (0.79%) Tableau
8 11 (0.73%) Big Data
9 8 (0.53%) DynamoDB
10 7 (0.46%) BigQuery
11 6 (0.40%) Elasticsearch
11 6 (0.40%) Oracle BI Publisher
11 6 (0.40%) Oracle Database
11 6 (0.40%) Pinecone
11 6 (0.40%) Redis
11 6 (0.40%) ZAP BI
Development Applications
1 101 (6.66%) JIRA
2 91 (6.00%) Git
3 33 (2.18%) GitLab
4 26 (1.71%) Cypress.io
5 24 (1.58%) Jenkins
6 17 (1.12%) JUnit
7 15 (0.99%) Gradle
7 15 (0.99%) Vite
8 13 (0.86%) Android Studio
8 13 (0.86%) Axure RP
9 12 (0.79%) Browser DevTools
10 11 (0.73%) Xcode
11 10 (0.66%) CircleCI
12 9 (0.59%) fastlane
12 9 (0.59%) Selenium
13 8 (0.53%) Visual Studio
14 7 (0.46%) Postman
15 6 (0.40%) Claude Code
15 6 (0.40%) Mocha
15 6 (0.40%) Mockito
General
1 456 (30.06%) Social Skills
2 258 (17.01%) Finance
3 194 (12.79%) Public Sector
4 147 (9.69%) Analytical Skills
5 114 (7.51%) Banking
6 68 (4.48%) Retail
7 65 (4.28%) Marketing
8 38 (2.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 34 (2.24%) Influencing Skills
9 34 (2.24%) Legal
10 32 (2.11%) Presentation Skills
11 28 (1.85%) Manufacturing
12 27 (1.78%) Automotive
13 21 (1.38%) Publishing
14 17 (1.12%) Investment Banking
14 17 (1.12%) Organisational Skills
15 16 (1.05%) Documentation Skills
15 16 (1.05%) Pharmaceutical
16 15 (0.99%) Games
17 13 (0.86%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 323 (21.29%) Designer
2 234 (15.43%) Senior
3 206 (13.58%) Developer
4 144 (9.49%) UX Designer
5 121 (7.98%) Analyst
6 97 (6.39%) Lead
7 75 (4.94%) UI Designer
8 70 (4.61%) Consultant
9 68 (4.48%) Senior Designer
10 64 (4.22%) Architect
11 63 (4.15%) Product Designer
12 62 (4.09%) Business Analyst
13 49 (3.23%) Content Designer
13 49 (3.23%) User Experience Researcher
14 47 (3.10%) User Researcher
15 46 (3.03%) UI/UX Designer
16 44 (2.90%) IT Support
17 42 (2.77%) Product Manager
18 40 (2.64%) Service Designer
19 38 (2.50%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 167 (11.01%) React
2 137 (9.03%) CSS
3 125 (8.24%) HTML
4 108 (7.12%) REST
5 77 (5.08%) AngularJS
6 76 (5.01%) RESTful
7 56 (3.69%) Spring
8 55 (3.63%) Spring Boot
9 53 (3.49%) .NET
10 40 (2.64%) GraphQL
11 39 (2.57%) Node.js
12 34 (2.24%) HTML5
13 33 (2.18%) JSON
13 33 (2.18%) Redux
14 32 (2.11%) CSS3
15 30 (1.98%) Jest
16 28 (1.85%) Kafka
17 25 (1.65%) Next.js
18 24 (1.58%) OAuth
19 23 (1.52%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 154 (10.15%) Product Ownership
2 73 (4.81%) Mobile App
3 59 (3.89%) Onboarding
4 34 (2.24%) AI Agents
5 31 (2.04%) Cloud Native
6 30 (1.98%) Data Structures
7 28 (1.85%) Enterprise Software
8 23 (1.52%) Legacy Systems
9 20 (1.32%) Animation
10 19 (1.25%) Data Protection Act
10 19 (1.25%) Self-Motivation
11 18 (1.19%) Analytical Mindset
12 17 (1.12%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
13 15 (0.99%) Graphic Design
13 15 (0.99%) Social Media
13 15 (0.99%) Virtual Reality
14 14 (0.92%) Data Centre
14 14 (0.92%) Distributed Systems
14 14 (0.92%) NHS
15 13 (0.86%) Algorithms
Operating Systems
1 107 (7.05%) Windows
2 48 (3.16%) Android
3 45 (2.97%) Apple iOS
4 36 (2.37%) Windows 10
5 23 (1.52%) Mac OS
6 16 (1.05%) Linux
7 8 (0.53%) Windows Server
8 6 (0.40%) Unix
8 6 (0.40%) Windows 7
9 5 (0.33%) Windows Server 2016
10 4 (0.26%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.13%) Windows Server 2012
12 1 (0.066%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 516 (34.01%) UX Design
2 465 (30.65%) Agile
3 241 (15.89%) AI
4 222 (14.63%) Problem-Solving
5 205 (13.51%) Analytics
5 205 (13.51%) User Research
6 191 (12.59%) Continuous Improvement
7 186 (12.26%) Stakeholder Management
8 177 (11.67%) CI/CD
9 166 (10.94%) Roadmaps
9 166 (10.94%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 149 (9.82%) DevOps
11 145 (9.56%) Prototyping
12 142 (9.36%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
13 129 (8.50%) Decision-Making
14 128 (8.44%) Wireframes
15 127 (8.37%) UX Research
16 126 (8.31%) Service Design
17 108 (7.12%) Workshop Facilitation
18 106 (6.99%) Usability Testing
Programming Languages
1 164 (10.81%) JavaScript
2 124 (8.17%) Python
3 121 (7.98%) SQL
4 118 (7.78%) Java
4 118 (7.78%) TypeScript
5 56 (3.69%) C#
6 49 (3.23%) PowerShell
7 34 (2.24%) Kotlin
8 21 (1.38%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 19 (1.25%) Bash
10 14 (0.92%) Swift
11 11 (0.73%) C++
12 9 (0.59%) Lua
13 8 (0.53%) Korn
14 6 (0.40%) Perl
14 6 (0.40%) VBA
14 6 (0.40%) VBScript
15 5 (0.33%) Apex Code
15 5 (0.33%) Scala
15 5 (0.33%) VB
Qualifications
1 193 (12.72%) Security Cleared
2 142 (9.36%) Degree
3 141 (9.29%) SC Cleared
4 30 (1.98%) Computer Science Degree
5 29 (1.91%) BPSS Clearance
6 25 (1.65%) DV Cleared
7 19 (1.25%) Microsoft Certification
8 14 (0.92%) Master's Degree
9 13 (0.86%) Azure Certification
10 11 (0.73%) Cisco Certification
11 8 (0.53%) CCNP
11 8 (0.53%) ITIL Certification
12 7 (0.46%) CCIE
13 6 (0.40%) CCA
13 6 (0.40%) DBS Check
14 5 (0.33%) Citrix Certification
14 5 (0.33%) PMI Certification
14 5 (0.33%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 4 (0.26%) CWNA
15 4 (0.26%) CWSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 269 (17.73%) Accessibility
2 109 (7.19%) QA
3 94 (6.20%) WCAG
4 46 (3.03%) Data Quality
5 30 (1.98%) GDPR
6 19 (1.25%) Actionable Recommendations
7 17 (1.12%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 7 (0.46%) Cyber Essentials
8 7 (0.46%) PMO
8 7 (0.46%) SLA
9 6 (0.40%) GMP
9 6 (0.40%) GxP
10 4 (0.26%) GRC
10 4 (0.26%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 3 (0.20%) Disclosure Scotland
11 3 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 3 (0.20%) PCI DSS
12 2 (0.13%) HIPAA
12 2 (0.13%) NCSC
12 2 (0.13%) NIST
System Software
1 68 (4.48%) Active Directory
2 54 (3.56%) Docker
3 21 (1.38%) Virtual Desktop
4 16 (1.05%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (0.40%) Firmware
6 5 (0.33%) BitLocker
7 4 (0.26%) Microsoft App-V
8 3 (0.20%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.13%) VMware Workstation
9 2 (0.13%) XenApp
9 2 (0.13%) XenDesktop
10 1 (0.066%) ISA Server
10 1 (0.066%) Varnish
10 1 (0.066%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 57 (3.76%) Kubernetes
2 50 (3.30%) Terraform
3 41 (2.70%) Microsoft Intune
4 35 (2.31%) Grafana
5 33 (2.18%) SCCM
6 17 (1.12%) Ansible
6 17 (1.12%) Single Sign-On
7 10 (0.66%) Prometheus
8 9 (0.59%) Jamf Pro
9 4 (0.26%) Podman
10 3 (0.20%) Clonezilla
10 3 (0.20%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
11 2 (0.13%) Failover Clustering
11 2 (0.13%) HP ALM
11 2 (0.13%) Packer
11 2 (0.13%) WSUS
12 1 (0.066%) AirWatch
12 1 (0.066%) Argo
12 1 (0.066%) HAProxy
12 1 (0.066%) Rancher
Vendors
1 229 (15.10%) Microsoft
2 98 (6.46%) Adobe
3 66 (4.35%) Google
4 64 (4.22%) ServiceNow
5 42 (2.77%) Oracle
5 42 (2.77%) Salesforce
6 38 (2.50%) SAP
7 21 (1.38%) Citrix
8 20 (1.32%) Databricks
8 20 (1.32%) Splunk
9 17 (1.12%) Cisco
9 17 (1.12%) Dynatrace
9 17 (1.12%) Workday
10 16 (1.05%) Apple
10 16 (1.05%) VMware
11 12 (0.79%) Aruba
12 9 (0.59%) MuleSoft
12 9 (0.59%) OpenAI
13 8 (0.53%) Foundry
13 8 (0.53%) Zscaler