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 19 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 67 64 71
Rank change year-on-year -3 +7 -3
Contract jobs citing User Experience 1,297 1,052 1,271
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.51% 3.34% 2.94%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.00% 3.76% 3.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 881 644 866
10th Percentile £300 £313 £325
25th Percentile £375 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -6.98%
75th Percentile £568 £588 £588
90th Percentile £650 £702 £692
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £454 £475
% change year-on-year -0.88% -4.42% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 50 26 30
10th Percentile £15.50 £25.26 £23.75
25th Percentile £17.69 £30.48 £31.37
Median hourly rate £35.55 £41.46 £60.25
Median % change year-on-year -14.24% -31.20% -3.60%
75th Percentile £58.06 £53.00 £73.54
90th Percentile £70.02 £74.22 £81.38
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.00 £30.88 £71.93
% change year-on-year -2.83% -57.08% +10.66%

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 32,398 27,994 37,832
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 87.63% 88.92% 87.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,495 16,988 25,007
10th Percentile £305 £307 £300
25th Percentile £406 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £645
90th Percentile £723 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,977 897 1,738
10th Percentile £14.52 £15.62 £14.02
25th Percentile £17.69 £20.94 £17.50
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £38.85
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -16.34% +19.54%
75th Percentile £57.00 £62.50 £63.75
90th Percentile £69.25 £74.92 £75.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.00 £30.83 £40.28
% change year-on-year -22.15% -23.46% +54.90%

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 19 January 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 19 January 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 19 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 +1 1,121 £475 -5.00% 1,135
London -12 581 £475 -9.52% 290
UK excluding London 0 571 £450 -0.88% 1,034
Work from Home -22 336 £470 -6.00% 611
North of England +16 201 £410 -8.89% 206
North West +14 131 £400 -11.11% 88
Midlands +4 106 £488 +20.37% 128
South East -5 105 £436 -12.80% 335
West Midlands -12 66 £443 -11.50% 58
South West +10 65 £450 -20.70% 132
Scotland -16 57 £463 +2.78% 42
Yorkshire -10 54 £500 +11.11% 79
East Midlands +1 40 £523 +46.77% 67
East of England -3 33 £468 +3.43% 153
North East -1 15 £410 +17.14% 39
Wales +4 13 £316 -25.74% 48
Northern Ireland -13 1 £625 +66.67% 20

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 (4.47%) Confluence
2 55 (4.24%) SharePoint
3 46 (3.55%) CMS
4 23 (1.77%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 12 (0.93%) Headless CMS
5 12 (0.93%) Microsoft Exchange
6 11 (0.85%) SugarCRM
7 10 (0.77%) Apache
8 8 (0.62%) Sitecore CMS
8 8 (0.62%) Umbraco
9 3 (0.23%) Anypoint
9 3 (0.23%) Apache Spark
9 3 (0.23%) Jupyter
9 3 (0.23%) WordPress
10 2 (0.15%) Apache Airflow
10 2 (0.15%) Appian
10 2 (0.15%) Camunda
10 2 (0.15%) Drupal
11 1 (0.077%) nginx
11 1 (0.077%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 47 (3.62%) Sketch
2 34 (2.62%) Adobe XD
3 22 (1.70%) Microsoft Office
3 22 (1.70%) MS Visio
4 19 (1.46%) Chatbot
5 14 (1.08%) InVision
5 14 (1.08%) Microsoft Excel
6 11 (0.85%) Adobe Illustrator
6 11 (0.85%) Photoshop
7 8 (0.62%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 8 (0.62%) Trello
8 7 (0.54%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 7 (0.54%) Microsoft Project
9 5 (0.39%) Adobe After Effects
9 5 (0.39%) Camtasia
10 4 (0.31%) UXPin
11 3 (0.23%) Snagit
11 3 (0.23%) Spreadsheet
12 2 (0.15%) Blender
12 2 (0.15%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 21 (1.62%) SAP S/4HANA
2 16 (1.23%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.31%) Shopify
4 3 (0.23%) SAP CO
4 3 (0.23%) SAP FI
4 3 (0.23%) SAP FI/CO
4 3 (0.23%) Teamcenter
5 2 (0.15%) Adobe Campaign
5 2 (0.15%) iTrent
5 2 (0.15%) Magento
5 2 (0.15%) Oracle EBS
5 2 (0.15%) Salesforce CRM
5 2 (0.15%) SAP SD
5 2 (0.15%) SAP Travel Management
6 1 (0.077%) Elite 3E
6 1 (0.077%) Eloqua
6 1 (0.077%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.077%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.077%) Sprinklr
6 1 (0.077%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 222 (17.12%) Azure
2 161 (12.41%) Figma
3 154 (11.87%) AWS
4 83 (6.40%) Power Platform
5 77 (5.94%) SaaS
6 74 (5.71%) Microsoft 365
7 60 (4.63%) GCP
8 50 (3.86%) Entra ID
9 49 (3.78%) Azure DevOps
10 44 (3.39%) GitHub
11 33 (2.54%) Miro
12 30 (2.31%) Serverless
13 24 (1.85%) GitHub Actions
13 24 (1.85%) Google Analytics
14 22 (1.70%) Power Automate
14 22 (1.70%) PowerApps
15 19 (1.46%) Dynamics 365
16 18 (1.39%) Google Workspace
16 18 (1.39%) Sauce Labs
17 16 (1.23%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 28 (2.16%) DNS
2 26 (2.00%) Wireless
3 16 (1.23%) Internet
4 13 (1.00%) HTTP
5 10 (0.77%) VPN
5 10 (0.77%) Wi-Fi
6 9 (0.69%) DHCP
6 9 (0.69%) Intranet
6 9 (0.69%) TCP/IP
7 8 (0.62%) BGP
7 8 (0.62%) Cisco ISE
8 7 (0.54%) Cisco Wireless
8 7 (0.54%) Firewall
8 7 (0.54%) NX-OS
8 7 (0.54%) VXLAN
9 6 (0.46%) Unified Communications
9 6 (0.46%) WAN
10 5 (0.39%) SSL
11 4 (0.31%) HTTPS
11 4 (0.31%) PPP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 51 (3.93%) Power BI
2 44 (3.39%) MySQL
3 39 (3.01%) Relational Database
4 32 (2.47%) PostgreSQL
5 27 (2.08%) SQL Server
6 24 (1.85%) NoSQL
7 18 (1.39%) Data Warehouse
8 16 (1.23%) Tableau
9 14 (1.08%) BigQuery
10 13 (1.00%) MongoDB
11 12 (0.93%) Looker
11 12 (0.93%) Metadata
12 8 (0.62%) SAP HANA
13 7 (0.54%) Mixpanel
13 7 (0.54%) Redis
14 5 (0.39%) DynamoDB
15 4 (0.31%) Big Data
15 4 (0.31%) Pinecone
16 3 (0.23%) Power Query
16 3 (0.23%) Qlik Sense
Development Applications
1 125 (9.64%) JIRA
2 90 (6.94%) Git
3 47 (3.62%) GitLab
4 42 (3.24%) Jenkins
5 31 (2.39%) Cypress.io
6 29 (2.24%) Xcode
7 26 (2.00%) Android Studio
7 26 (2.00%) Eclipse
8 23 (1.77%) Axure RP
9 20 (1.54%) Browser DevTools
10 19 (1.46%) JUnit
11 18 (1.39%) Gradle
12 13 (1.00%) Postman
13 10 (0.77%) Artifactory
13 10 (0.77%) webpack
14 9 (0.69%) CircleCI
14 9 (0.69%) Selenium
14 9 (0.69%) Visual Website Optimizer
15 8 (0.62%) Cucumber
15 8 (0.62%) IntelliJ
General
1 447 (34.46%) Social Skills
2 244 (18.81%) Finance
3 182 (14.03%) Public Sector
4 155 (11.95%) Analytical Skills
5 97 (7.48%) Banking
6 86 (6.63%) Marketing
7 37 (2.85%) Influencing Skills
8 29 (2.24%) Legal
9 26 (2.00%) Retail
10 25 (1.93%) Presentation Skills
11 22 (1.70%) Pharmaceutical
12 21 (1.62%) Manufacturing
13 18 (1.39%) Documentation Skills
14 16 (1.23%) Telecoms
15 15 (1.16%) Financial Institution
15 15 (1.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 13 (1.00%) Investment Banking
17 12 (0.93%) Automotive
18 9 (0.69%) Front Office
19 8 (0.62%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 229 (17.66%) Developer
2 225 (17.35%) Designer
3 173 (13.34%) Senior
4 126 (9.71%) UX Designer
5 109 (8.40%) Analyst
6 95 (7.32%) Lead
7 61 (4.70%) Business Analyst
8 52 (4.01%) Consultant
9 47 (3.62%) Senior Designer
10 45 (3.47%) Front-End Developer (Client-Side Developer)
11 43 (3.32%) Architect
12 41 (3.16%) Product Designer
13 40 (3.08%) Service Designer
14 37 (2.85%) Support Engineer
15 36 (2.78%) User Researcher
16 35 (2.70%) Full-Stack Developer
17 32 (2.47%) Front-End Engineer (Client-Side Engineer)
17 32 (2.47%) Senior Developer
17 32 (2.47%) UI Designer
18 31 (2.39%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 184 (14.19%) CSS
2 174 (13.42%) React
3 168 (12.95%) HTML
4 107 (8.25%) REST
5 94 (7.25%) AngularJS
6 88 (6.78%) RESTful
7 53 (4.09%) Node.js
8 49 (3.78%) .NET
9 48 (3.70%) GraphQL
9 48 (3.70%) HTML5
10 41 (3.16%) Spring
11 38 (2.93%) Spring Boot
12 37 (2.85%) Jest
13 36 (2.78%) CSS3
14 27 (2.08%) SOAP
15 26 (2.00%) Redux
16 25 (1.93%) JSON
16 25 (1.93%) Playwright
17 24 (1.85%) Next.js
17 24 (1.85%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 123 (9.48%) Product Ownership
2 99 (7.63%) Mobile App
3 65 (5.01%) Onboarding
4 27 (2.08%) Analytical Mindset
5 26 (2.00%) Enterprise Software
6 21 (1.62%) Data Structures
7 20 (1.54%) Management Information System
8 18 (1.39%) Low-Code
8 18 (1.39%) NHS
9 17 (1.31%) e-Learning
10 16 (1.23%) AI Agents
11 15 (1.16%) Data Centre
12 14 (1.08%) Distributed Systems
12 14 (1.08%) Learning Management System
12 14 (1.08%) Legacy Systems
13 13 (1.00%) CMDB
13 13 (1.00%) Data Protection Act
14 12 (0.93%) Greenfield Project
14 12 (0.93%) Virtual Team
15 11 (0.85%) Cloud Native
Operating Systems
1 124 (9.56%) Windows
2 72 (5.55%) Android
3 55 (4.24%) Apple iOS
4 37 (2.85%) Linux
5 36 (2.78%) Windows 10
6 23 (1.77%) Unix
7 21 (1.62%) Mac OS
8 7 (0.54%) Windows Server
9 4 (0.31%) Ubuntu
10 2 (0.15%) VMS
11 1 (0.077%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 482 (37.16%) Agile
2 446 (34.39%) UX Design
3 214 (16.50%) Analytics
4 212 (16.35%) Problem-Solving
5 176 (13.57%) User Research
6 174 (13.42%) CI/CD
7 161 (12.41%) Stakeholder Management
8 154 (11.87%) DevOps
9 138 (10.64%) AI
9 138 (10.64%) Roadmaps
10 136 (10.49%) Continuous Improvement
11 133 (10.25%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 132 (10.18%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
13 119 (9.18%) Service Design
14 114 (8.79%) Front End Development
15 112 (8.64%) Wireframes
16 108 (8.33%) Usability Testing
17 106 (8.17%) Decision-Making
18 98 (7.56%) Prototyping
19 97 (7.48%) Workshop Facilitation
Programming Languages
1 209 (16.11%) JavaScript
2 121 (9.33%) Java
3 118 (9.10%) Python
4 117 (9.02%) SQL
5 100 (7.71%) TypeScript
6 59 (4.55%) PowerShell
7 48 (3.70%) C#
8 34 (2.62%) Kotlin
9 24 (1.85%) Bash
10 23 (1.77%) Perl
10 23 (1.77%) Swift
11 20 (1.54%) PHP
12 12 (0.93%) C++
13 11 (0.85%) Objective-C
13 11 (0.85%) PL/SQL
14 10 (0.77%) Go
15 9 (0.69%) Scala
16 7 (0.54%) Lisp
17 6 (0.46%) Data Analysis Expressions
18 5 (0.39%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 164 (12.64%) Security Cleared
2 119 (9.18%) Degree
3 118 (9.10%) SC Cleared
4 37 (2.85%) BPSS Clearance
5 27 (2.08%) Computer Science Degree
6 16 (1.23%) DV Cleared
6 16 (1.23%) Master's Degree
7 12 (0.93%) PMI Certification
8 11 (0.85%) MOS
9 9 (0.69%) CCNP
9 9 (0.69%) Cisco Certification
9 9 (0.69%) Microsoft Certification
9 9 (0.69%) OCA
9 9 (0.69%) Oracle Certification
10 6 (0.46%) MCP
10 6 (0.46%) PMP
11 3 (0.23%) ITIL Certification
12 2 (0.15%) A+ Certification
12 2 (0.15%) CISM
12 2 (0.15%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 242 (18.66%) Accessibility
2 137 (10.56%) QA
3 67 (5.17%) WCAG
4 63 (4.86%) GDPR
5 34 (2.62%) Data Quality
6 25 (1.93%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 18 (1.39%) Actionable Recommendations
8 17 (1.31%) SLA
9 8 (0.62%) GxP
10 6 (0.46%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 6 (0.46%) NCSC
10 6 (0.46%) PMO
11 5 (0.39%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 3 (0.23%) Disclosure Scotland
12 3 (0.23%) GMP
12 3 (0.23%) Government Security Classifications
12 3 (0.23%) NIST
12 3 (0.23%) SOC 2
13 2 (0.15%) GRC
13 2 (0.15%) PSD2
System Software
1 68 (5.24%) Active Directory
2 64 (4.93%) Docker
3 20 (1.54%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (0.46%) Virtual Desktop
5 3 (0.23%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.15%) ProxySG
7 1 (0.077%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.077%) Firmware
7 1 (0.077%) ISA Server
7 1 (0.077%) Microsoft App-V
7 1 (0.077%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.077%) XenApp
7 1 (0.077%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 51 (3.93%) Kubernetes
2 42 (3.24%) Microsoft Intune
3 35 (2.70%) Terraform
4 33 (2.54%) SCCM
5 19 (1.46%) Ansible
6 17 (1.31%) Grafana
7 16 (1.23%) Single Sign-On
8 7 (0.54%) FortiGate
9 6 (0.46%) Prometheus
10 5 (0.39%) Jamf Pro
11 4 (0.31%) Argo
12 3 (0.23%) HP ALM
12 3 (0.23%) Nagios
12 3 (0.23%) Rancher
13 2 (0.15%) PingFederate
13 2 (0.15%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
13 2 (0.15%) SysTrack
14 1 (0.077%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 1 (0.077%) Istio
14 1 (0.077%) SCOM
Vendors
1 207 (15.96%) Microsoft
2 92 (7.09%) Adobe
3 79 (6.09%) Google
4 74 (5.71%) ServiceNow
5 50 (3.86%) Oracle
6 45 (3.47%) Salesforce
6 45 (3.47%) SAP
7 28 (2.16%) Splunk
8 21 (1.62%) VMware
9 17 (1.31%) Apple
10 16 (1.23%) Citrix
11 13 (1.00%) Cisco
11 13 (1.00%) Red Hat
11 13 (1.00%) Zscaler
12 12 (0.93%) Optimizely
13 11 (0.85%) Hotjar
14 10 (0.77%) Amplitude
14 10 (0.77%) MuleSoft
15 8 (0.62%) Ekahau
15 8 (0.62%) OpenAI