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

6 months to
19 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 75 65 70
Rank change year-on-year -10 +5 -4
Contract jobs citing User Experience 1,392 1,023 1,256
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.21% 3.49% 2.83%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.74% 3.86% 3.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 967 689 836
10th Percentile £313 £312 £303
25th Percentile £400 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year - -2.50% -
75th Percentile £575 £580 £588
90th Percentile £650 £688 £691
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £466
% change year-on-year +5.56% -3.33% +0.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 44 26 47
10th Percentile £15.65 £25.26 £16.25
25th Percentile £17.69 £40.50 £24.38
Median hourly rate £42.50 £48.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -12.37% +49.23% -14.47%
75th Percentile £61.25 £68.19 £64.77
90th Percentile £79.68 £90.50 £75.66
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.05 £53.50 £25.00
% change year-on-year -41.97% +114.00% -44.44%

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 37,265 26,485 38,452
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 85.97% 90.43% 86.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,631 17,037 25,025
10th Percentile £313 £308 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £610 £638 £638
90th Percentile £723 £744 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -2.04% -2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,203 922 2,327
10th Percentile £14.97 £15.25 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.00 £16.00
Median hourly rate £30.00 £32.50 £32.12
Median % change year-on-year -7.69% +1.20% -8.24%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.52 £57.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £77.50 £70.20
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £31.76 £30.91
% change year-on-year -13.41% +2.74% -11.68%

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 March 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 March 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 March 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 -9 1,198 £488 -2.50% 784
London -12 624 £500 -2.91% 340
UK excluding London -6 595 £475 +5.56% 562
Work from Home -26 363 £485 -1.82% 463
North of England +3 205 £450 - 176
North West +14 131 £404 -10.25% 95
South East -17 123 £495 -1.98% 153
Midlands -18 110 £500 +25.00% 97
West Midlands -33 68 £475 +17.28% 67
South West -12 65 £450 +20.00% 56
Scotland -3 54 £484 +10.57% 24
Yorkshire -22 53 £513 +33.99% 38
East Midlands -7 42 £550 +54.49% 30
East of England -9 31 £413 -13.16% 47
North East +5 20 £388 -19.27% 44
Wales 0 15 £375 -9.09% 20
Northern Ireland -11 3 - - 2

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 61 (4.38%) SharePoint
2 52 (3.74%) Confluence
3 39 (2.80%) CMS
4 24 (1.72%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 18 (1.29%) Microsoft Exchange
6 12 (0.86%) Headless CMS
7 10 (0.72%) Apache
8 8 (0.57%) Sitecore CMS
8 8 (0.57%) Umbraco
9 5 (0.36%) Camunda
10 4 (0.29%) Ethereum
10 4 (0.29%) Hyperledger
10 4 (0.29%) Mendix
11 3 (0.22%) Anypoint
11 3 (0.22%) Apache Spark
11 3 (0.22%) Drupal
11 3 (0.22%) Jupyter
12 2 (0.14%) Appian
12 2 (0.14%) SugarCRM
13 1 (0.072%) Apache Airflow
Applications
1 43 (3.09%) Sketch
2 35 (2.51%) Adobe XD
3 25 (1.80%) Microsoft Excel
4 24 (1.72%) MS Visio
5 21 (1.51%) Chatbot
6 14 (1.01%) InVision
7 13 (0.93%) Microsoft Office
8 11 (0.79%) Photoshop
9 8 (0.57%) Adobe Illustrator
10 6 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
10 6 (0.43%) Spreadsheet
10 6 (0.43%) Trello
11 5 (0.36%) Adobe After Effects
12 4 (0.29%) Adobe Creative Suite
12 4 (0.29%) Microsoft Project
12 4 (0.29%) UXPin
13 3 (0.22%) Adobe Captivate
13 3 (0.22%) UserZoom
14 2 (0.14%) Autodesk Smoke
14 2 (0.14%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 15 (1.08%) Dynamics CRM
2 12 (0.86%) SAP S/4HANA
3 7 (0.50%) Workday HCM
4 6 (0.43%) Sage X3
5 5 (0.36%) Shopify
6 3 (0.22%) SAP CO
6 3 (0.22%) SAP FI
6 3 (0.22%) SAP FI/CO
7 2 (0.14%) iTrent
7 2 (0.14%) Magento
7 2 (0.14%) NEC Housing
7 2 (0.14%) Oracle EBS
7 2 (0.14%) ResourceLink
7 2 (0.14%) SAP ERP
8 1 (0.072%) Elite 3E
8 1 (0.072%) Integrated Workplace Management System
8 1 (0.072%) Oracle Payables
8 1 (0.072%) Oracle Receivables
8 1 (0.072%) Salesforce CRM
8 1 (0.072%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 224 (16.09%) Azure
2 188 (13.51%) Figma
3 139 (9.99%) AWS
4 104 (7.47%) Power Platform
5 84 (6.03%) Microsoft 365
6 62 (4.45%) Azure DevOps
7 56 (4.02%) GCP
7 56 (4.02%) SaaS
8 53 (3.81%) GitHub
9 51 (3.66%) Entra ID
10 39 (2.80%) PowerApps
11 38 (2.73%) Power Automate
12 37 (2.66%) Serverless
13 32 (2.30%) GitHub Actions
14 26 (1.87%) Miro
15 25 (1.80%) Microsoft Copilot
16 24 (1.72%) Google Workspace
17 23 (1.65%) Dynamics 365
18 22 (1.58%) Azure Logic Apps
18 22 (1.58%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 22 (1.58%) DNS
2 19 (1.36%) Wireless
3 17 (1.22%) Internet
4 13 (0.93%) HTTP
4 13 (0.93%) Wi-Fi
5 12 (0.86%) Intranet
6 11 (0.79%) DHCP
6 11 (0.79%) VPN
7 10 (0.72%) LAN
7 10 (0.72%) TCP/IP
8 9 (0.65%) BGP
8 9 (0.65%) Cisco ISE
8 9 (0.65%) Firewall
8 9 (0.65%) WAN
9 8 (0.57%) Cisco Wireless
9 8 (0.57%) SD-WAN
10 7 (0.50%) NX-OS
10 7 (0.50%) VXLAN
11 6 (0.43%) Network Security
11 6 (0.43%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 70 (5.03%) Power BI
2 35 (2.51%) Relational Database
3 33 (2.37%) NoSQL
4 29 (2.08%) PostgreSQL
5 26 (1.87%) MySQL
6 24 (1.72%) Data Warehouse
7 21 (1.51%) SQL Server
8 17 (1.22%) Tableau
9 16 (1.15%) MongoDB
10 15 (1.08%) Metadata
11 12 (0.86%) BigQuery
12 9 (0.65%) Looker
13 8 (0.57%) Power Query
14 7 (0.50%) DynamoDB
14 7 (0.50%) Pinecone
15 6 (0.43%) Redis
15 6 (0.43%) ZAP BI
16 5 (0.36%) Hadoop
17 4 (0.29%) Azure SQL Database
17 4 (0.29%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 115 (8.26%) JIRA
2 88 (6.32%) Git
3 46 (3.30%) GitLab
4 30 (2.16%) Cypress.io
4 30 (2.16%) Jenkins
5 27 (1.94%) JUnit
6 23 (1.65%) Axure RP
7 16 (1.15%) Android Studio
7 16 (1.15%) Gradle
8 15 (1.08%) Xcode
9 13 (0.93%) Selenium
10 12 (0.86%) CircleCI
10 12 (0.86%) Eclipse
11 11 (0.79%) Browser DevTools
12 9 (0.65%) Artifactory
12 9 (0.65%) Postman
13 8 (0.57%) Mocha
13 8 (0.57%) Mockito
13 8 (0.57%) Visual Studio
14 7 (0.50%) Jasmine
General
1 453 (32.54%) Social Skills
2 258 (18.53%) Finance
3 199 (14.30%) Public Sector
4 158 (11.35%) Analytical Skills
5 110 (7.90%) Banking
6 66 (4.74%) Marketing
7 41 (2.95%) Retail
8 30 (2.16%) Presentation Skills
9 27 (1.94%) Legal
10 25 (1.80%) Influencing Skills
11 21 (1.51%) Manufacturing
12 19 (1.36%) Pharmaceutical
13 18 (1.29%) Documentation Skills
14 17 (1.22%) Games
14 17 (1.22%) Investment Banking
15 16 (1.15%) Financial Institution
16 13 (0.93%) Front Office
17 12 (0.86%) Publishing
18 11 (0.79%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 11 (0.79%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 252 (18.10%) Designer
2 229 (16.45%) Developer
3 206 (14.80%) Senior
4 135 (9.70%) Analyst
5 132 (9.48%) UX Designer
6 67 (4.81%) Lead
7 64 (4.60%) Business Analyst
8 63 (4.53%) Consultant
9 60 (4.31%) Product Designer
10 57 (4.09%) Senior Designer
11 54 (3.88%) Architect
12 49 (3.52%) User Researcher
13 41 (2.95%) Full-Stack Developer
13 41 (2.95%) Senior Developer
13 41 (2.95%) Service Designer
13 41 (2.95%) UI Designer
14 40 (2.87%) Software Engineer
15 39 (2.80%) Front-End Developer (Client-Side Developer)
16 38 (2.73%) Support Engineer
17 34 (2.44%) IT Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 177 (12.72%) React
2 161 (11.57%) CSS
3 147 (10.56%) HTML
4 117 (8.41%) REST
5 96 (6.90%) RESTful
6 93 (6.68%) AngularJS
7 64 (4.60%) Spring
7 64 (4.60%) Spring Boot
8 57 (4.09%) .NET
9 54 (3.88%) Node.js
10 41 (2.95%) HTML5
11 36 (2.59%) CSS3
11 36 (2.59%) Jest
12 35 (2.51%) GraphQL
13 34 (2.44%) JSON
14 32 (2.30%) Redux
15 28 (2.01%) Next.js
16 24 (1.72%) Playwright
17 23 (1.65%) Vue
18 19 (1.36%) ASP.NET
Miscellaneous
1 140 (10.06%) Product Ownership
2 89 (6.39%) Mobile App
3 55 (3.95%) Onboarding
4 28 (2.01%) AI Agents
5 26 (1.87%) Data Structures
5 26 (1.87%) Enterprise Software
6 25 (1.80%) Analytical Mindset
7 17 (1.22%) Data Protection Act
7 17 (1.22%) Distributed Systems
8 16 (1.15%) Cloud Native
9 15 (1.08%) Data Centre
9 15 (1.08%) Legacy Systems
9 15 (1.08%) Virtual Team
10 14 (1.01%) Algorithms
10 14 (1.01%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 14 (1.01%) NHS
11 13 (0.93%) CMDB
11 13 (0.93%) Low-Code
12 12 (0.86%) Management Information System
13 11 (0.79%) Graphic Design
Operating Systems
1 122 (8.76%) Windows
2 46 (3.30%) Android
3 41 (2.95%) Windows 10
4 34 (2.44%) Apple iOS
5 27 (1.94%) Linux
6 19 (1.36%) Mac OS
7 13 (0.93%) Unix
8 6 (0.43%) Windows Server
9 2 (0.14%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.072%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.072%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.072%) Windows Server 2008
10 1 (0.072%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 461 (33.12%) Agile
2 458 (32.90%) UX Design
3 224 (16.09%) Problem-Solving
4 206 (14.80%) Analytics
4 206 (14.80%) User Research
5 185 (13.29%) CI/CD
6 180 (12.93%) AI
7 173 (12.43%) DevOps
8 163 (11.71%) Stakeholder Management
9 159 (11.42%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 157 (11.28%) Continuous Improvement
11 138 (9.91%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
12 136 (9.77%) Roadmaps
13 135 (9.70%) Prototyping
14 123 (8.84%) Service Design
15 122 (8.76%) Decision-Making
16 121 (8.69%) Wireframes
17 114 (8.19%) UX Research
18 108 (7.76%) Usability Testing
19 99 (7.11%) Front End Development
Programming Languages
1 198 (14.22%) JavaScript
2 143 (10.27%) SQL
3 126 (9.05%) Python
4 124 (8.91%) Java
5 113 (8.12%) TypeScript
6 63 (4.53%) PowerShell
7 62 (4.45%) C#
8 30 (2.16%) Kotlin
9 17 (1.22%) Bash
10 14 (1.01%) Perl
11 13 (0.93%) C++
11 13 (0.93%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 11 (0.79%) Swift
13 9 (0.65%) Lua
13 9 (0.65%) PHP
14 7 (0.50%) Lisp
14 7 (0.50%) PL/SQL
15 6 (0.43%) Go
15 6 (0.43%) Korn
15 6 (0.43%) Scala
Qualifications
1 182 (13.07%) Security Cleared
2 128 (9.20%) Degree
3 127 (9.12%) SC Cleared
4 37 (2.66%) BPSS Clearance
5 28 (2.01%) Computer Science Degree
6 18 (1.29%) DV Cleared
7 17 (1.22%) Microsoft Certification
8 16 (1.15%) Master's Degree
9 12 (0.86%) CCNP
9 12 (0.86%) Cisco Certification
10 8 (0.57%) Azure Certification
10 8 (0.57%) MOS
10 8 (0.57%) PMI Certification
11 6 (0.43%) Citrix Certification
11 6 (0.43%) OCA
11 6 (0.43%) Oracle Certification
12 5 (0.36%) CCA
13 4 (0.29%) ISTQB
13 4 (0.29%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
13 4 (0.29%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 247 (17.74%) Accessibility
2 133 (9.55%) QA
3 75 (5.39%) WCAG
4 46 (3.30%) Data Quality
5 39 (2.80%) GDPR
6 20 (1.44%) Actionable Recommendations
7 19 (1.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 16 (1.15%) SLA
9 8 (0.57%) PMO
10 6 (0.43%) NCSC
11 5 (0.36%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 4 (0.29%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 4 (0.29%) GMP
12 4 (0.29%) GxP
13 3 (0.22%) Cyber Essentials
13 3 (0.22%) Disclosure Scotland
13 3 (0.22%) Government Security Classifications
13 3 (0.22%) GRC
13 3 (0.22%) HIPAA
13 3 (0.22%) NIST
System Software
1 73 (5.24%) Active Directory
2 69 (4.96%) Docker
3 18 (1.29%) VMware Infrastructure
4 16 (1.15%) Virtual Desktop
5 5 (0.36%) Firmware
6 3 (0.22%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.14%) ProxySG
8 1 (0.072%) ISA Server
8 1 (0.072%) Microsoft App-V
8 1 (0.072%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.072%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.072%) XenApp
8 1 (0.072%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 63 (4.53%) Kubernetes
2 43 (3.09%) Terraform
3 41 (2.95%) Microsoft Intune
4 29 (2.08%) SCCM
5 25 (1.80%) Grafana
6 16 (1.15%) Ansible
7 11 (0.79%) Single Sign-On
8 7 (0.50%) FortiGate
8 7 (0.50%) Jamf Pro
9 6 (0.43%) Prometheus
10 4 (0.29%) Argo
11 3 (0.22%) HP ALM
11 3 (0.22%) Nagios
11 3 (0.22%) Rancher
12 2 (0.14%) SysTrack
13 1 (0.072%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 1 (0.072%) Kibana
13 1 (0.072%) Podman
13 1 (0.072%) SCOM
13 1 (0.072%) WMI
Vendors
1 222 (15.95%) Microsoft
2 87 (6.25%) Adobe
3 78 (5.60%) Google
4 75 (5.39%) ServiceNow
5 41 (2.95%) Oracle
6 40 (2.87%) SAP
7 34 (2.44%) Salesforce
8 21 (1.51%) Citrix
8 21 (1.51%) Splunk
9 19 (1.36%) VMware
10 18 (1.29%) Cisco
11 15 (1.08%) Apple
12 13 (0.93%) Zscaler
13 12 (0.86%) Red Hat
13 12 (0.86%) Workday
14 10 (0.72%) Ekahau
14 10 (0.72%) MuleSoft
15 8 (0.57%) OpenAI
15 8 (0.57%) Sitecore
16 7 (0.50%) Remedy