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

6 months to
25 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 74 61 77
Rank change year-on-year -13 +16 -16
Contract jobs citing User Experience 1,492 1,074 1,188
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.08% 3.73% 2.79%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.65% 4.10% 3.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 982 723 795
10th Percentile £313 £305 £302
25th Percentile £400 £400 £402
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £491 £480 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.29% -4.00% -1.77%
75th Percentile £575 £578 £600
90th Percentile £688 £699 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £425 £475
% change year-on-year +11.76% -10.53% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 25 46
10th Percentile £16.00 £22.25 £16.25
25th Percentile £23.16 £46.25 £23.75
Median hourly rate £33.99 £53.50 £29.14
Median % change year-on-year -36.47% +83.63% -10.87%
75th Percentile £61.25 £72.50 £63.71
90th Percentile £70.00 £91.50 £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 40,852 26,213 36,586
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.38% 91.03% 85.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,586 16,831 23,574
10th Percentile £325 £303 £300
25th Percentile £413 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.49% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £498 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +4.74% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,418 1,066 2,483
10th Percentile £14.68 £14.20 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.85 £18.13 £16.00
Median hourly rate £42.13 £27.59 £36.05
Median % change year-on-year +52.71% -23.47% -0.22%
75th Percentile £67.50 £58.73 £60.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.69 £25.15 £38.00
% change year-on-year +73.72% -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 25 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 25 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 25 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 -6 1,288 £490 -1.80% 768
UK excluding London +1 678 £475 +11.76% 465
London -20 655 £513 -0.49% 416
Work from Home -18 399 £500 +3.36% 401
North of England 0 200 £450 +3.21% 133
Midlands +10 162 £475 +18.16% 55
South East -10 124 £490 +12.00% 130
North West +1 122 £420 -6.04% 86
West Midlands -7 111 £475 -7.32% 34
Scotland +13 74 £500 +11.11% 27
South West -13 70 £475 +26.67% 44
Yorkshire -28 54 £513 +28.13% 26
East Midlands +11 51 £550 +53.63% 19
East of England -17 32 £410 -13.68% 52
North East -14 24 £450 -0.55% 22
Wales -8 14 £450 +47.06% 16
Northern Ireland -3 3 - - 13

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 51 (3.42%) Confluence
3 41 (2.75%) 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
9 3 (0.20%) Anypoint
9 3 (0.20%) Headless CMS
9 3 (0.20%) nginx
9 3 (0.20%) Skype for Business
9 3 (0.20%) Umbraco
10 2 (0.13%) HCL Notes
10 2 (0.13%) IIS
Applications
1 41 (2.75%) Sketch
2 25 (1.68%) Adobe XD
3 24 (1.61%) Microsoft Excel
4 22 (1.47%) Photoshop
5 19 (1.27%) Chatbot
6 17 (1.14%) Adobe After Effects
6 17 (1.14%) Adobe Illustrator
7 15 (1.01%) MS Visio
8 14 (0.94%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 13 (0.87%) Microsoft Office
10 10 (0.67%) InVision
11 7 (0.47%) Microsoft PowerPoint
12 4 (0.27%) Trello
13 3 (0.20%) Adobe Captivate
13 3 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
13 3 (0.20%) UXPin
14 2 (0.13%) Final Cut Pro
14 2 (0.13%) Microsoft Project
14 2 (0.13%) Oracle Smart View
14 2 (0.13%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 12 (0.80%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (0.60%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (0.60%) Shopify
3 8 (0.54%) Workday HCM
4 6 (0.40%) Sage X3
5 5 (0.34%) NetSuite
6 2 (0.13%) NEC Housing
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 (0.067%) Adobe Campaign
7 1 (0.067%) Eloqua
7 1 (0.067%) Integrated Workplace Management System
7 1 (0.067%) iTrent
7 1 (0.067%) Oracle EBS R12
7 1 (0.067%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.067%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 228 (15.28%) Azure
2 212 (14.21%) Figma
3 124 (8.31%) AWS
4 110 (7.37%) Power Platform
5 104 (6.97%) Microsoft 365
6 56 (3.75%) Entra ID
7 54 (3.62%) Azure DevOps
8 48 (3.22%) GCP
8 48 (3.22%) GitHub
8 48 (3.22%) SaaS
9 39 (2.61%) Microsoft Copilot
10 34 (2.28%) Power Automate
11 33 (2.21%) PowerApps
12 31 (2.08%) Serverless
13 30 (2.01%) GitHub Actions
14 26 (1.74%) OneDrive
15 24 (1.61%) Copilot Studio
15 24 (1.61%) Google Workspace
16 21 (1.41%) Google Sheets
17 19 (1.27%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 18 (1.21%) DNS
2 17 (1.14%) Wi-Fi
3 15 (1.01%) DHCP
4 13 (0.87%) Wireless
5 12 (0.80%) Internet
5 12 (0.80%) LAN
6 11 (0.74%) Intranet
7 10 (0.67%) HTTP
7 10 (0.67%) SD-WAN
7 10 (0.67%) TCP/IP
8 8 (0.54%) VPN
9 7 (0.47%) Cisco Wireless
9 7 (0.47%) WAN
10 6 (0.40%) 5G
10 6 (0.40%) SNMP
10 6 (0.40%) WLAN
11 5 (0.34%) Network Security
11 5 (0.34%) Skype
11 5 (0.34%) SMS
12 4 (0.27%) Firewall
Database & Business Intelligence
1 75 (5.03%) Power BI
2 27 (1.81%) Relational Database
3 26 (1.74%) NoSQL
4 25 (1.68%) PostgreSQL
5 21 (1.41%) SQL Server
6 20 (1.34%) Metadata
7 19 (1.27%) Data Warehouse
8 15 (1.01%) MongoDB
8 15 (1.01%) MySQL
8 15 (1.01%) Power Query
9 12 (0.80%) Tableau
10 11 (0.74%) Big Data
11 8 (0.54%) BigQuery
12 7 (0.47%) DynamoDB
13 6 (0.40%) Oracle BI Publisher
13 6 (0.40%) Oracle Database
13 6 (0.40%) Pinecone
13 6 (0.40%) Redis
13 6 (0.40%) ZAP BI
14 5 (0.34%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 101 (6.77%) JIRA
2 90 (6.03%) Git
3 32 (2.14%) GitLab
4 28 (1.88%) Cypress.io
5 23 (1.54%) Jenkins
6 17 (1.14%) JUnit
7 15 (1.01%) Gradle
8 14 (0.94%) Axure RP
8 14 (0.94%) Vite
9 12 (0.80%) Android Studio
9 12 (0.80%) Browser DevTools
10 11 (0.74%) Xcode
11 10 (0.67%) CircleCI
11 10 (0.67%) Selenium
12 8 (0.54%) fastlane
12 8 (0.54%) Visual Studio
13 7 (0.47%) Postman
14 6 (0.40%) Eclipse
14 6 (0.40%) Mocha
14 6 (0.40%) Mockito
General
1 441 (29.56%) Social Skills
2 257 (17.23%) Finance
3 195 (13.07%) Public Sector
4 145 (9.72%) Analytical Skills
5 113 (7.57%) Banking
6 64 (4.29%) Marketing
7 62 (4.16%) Retail
8 35 (2.35%) Legal
9 34 (2.28%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 33 (2.21%) Influencing Skills
11 31 (2.08%) Presentation Skills
12 27 (1.81%) Manufacturing
13 25 (1.68%) Automotive
14 19 (1.27%) Publishing
15 17 (1.14%) Organisational Skills
15 17 (1.14%) Pharmaceutical
16 16 (1.07%) Documentation Skills
16 16 (1.07%) Games
16 16 (1.07%) Investment Banking
17 12 (0.80%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 318 (21.31%) Designer
2 229 (15.35%) Senior
3 199 (13.34%) Developer
4 147 (9.85%) UX Designer
5 124 (8.31%) Analyst
6 89 (5.97%) Lead
7 72 (4.83%) Consultant
8 70 (4.69%) UI Designer
9 68 (4.56%) Senior Designer
10 64 (4.29%) Architect
10 64 (4.29%) Product Designer
11 63 (4.22%) Business Analyst
12 48 (3.22%) User Researcher
13 47 (3.15%) Content Designer
14 45 (3.02%) User Experience Researcher
15 44 (2.95%) UI/UX Designer
16 42 (2.82%) Service Designer
17 41 (2.75%) IT Support
17 41 (2.75%) Product Manager
18 35 (2.35%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 160 (10.72%) React
2 132 (8.85%) CSS
3 120 (8.04%) HTML
4 104 (6.97%) REST
5 75 (5.03%) RESTful
6 71 (4.76%) AngularJS
7 54 (3.62%) Spring
8 53 (3.55%) Spring Boot
9 51 (3.42%) .NET
10 41 (2.75%) GraphQL
11 38 (2.55%) Node.js
12 33 (2.21%) HTML5
13 32 (2.14%) JSON
13 32 (2.14%) Redux
14 31 (2.08%) CSS3
15 29 (1.94%) Jest
16 27 (1.81%) Kafka
17 25 (1.68%) Next.js
18 23 (1.54%) OAuth
19 22 (1.47%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 147 (9.85%) Product Ownership
2 70 (4.69%) Mobile App
3 56 (3.75%) Onboarding
4 35 (2.35%) AI Agents
5 32 (2.14%) Data Structures
6 28 (1.88%) Cloud Native
6 28 (1.88%) Enterprise Software
7 20 (1.34%) Data Protection Act
8 19 (1.27%) Animation
8 19 (1.27%) Legacy Systems
9 18 (1.21%) Analytical Mindset
10 17 (1.14%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 15 (1.01%) Self-Motivation
11 15 (1.01%) Virtual Reality
12 14 (0.94%) NHS
12 14 (0.94%) Social Media
13 13 (0.87%) Algorithms
13 13 (0.87%) Augmented Reality
13 13 (0.87%) Distributed Systems
13 13 (0.87%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 105 (7.04%) Windows
2 47 (3.15%) Android
3 43 (2.88%) Apple iOS
4 34 (2.28%) Windows 10
5 26 (1.74%) Mac OS
6 16 (1.07%) Linux
7 8 (0.54%) 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
1 499 (33.45%) UX Design
2 456 (30.56%) Agile
3 239 (16.02%) AI
4 214 (14.34%) Problem-Solving
5 203 (13.61%) User Research
6 202 (13.54%) Analytics
7 188 (12.60%) Continuous Improvement
8 178 (11.93%) Stakeholder Management
9 169 (11.33%) CI/CD
10 165 (11.06%) Roadmaps
11 160 (10.72%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 145 (9.72%) DevOps
13 142 (9.52%) Prototyping
14 138 (9.25%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
15 129 (8.65%) UX Research
16 125 (8.38%) Decision-Making
16 125 (8.38%) Wireframes
17 124 (8.31%) Service Design
18 111 (7.44%) Workshop Facilitation
19 101 (6.77%) Usability Testing
Programming Languages
1 159 (10.66%) JavaScript
2 128 (8.58%) Python
3 123 (8.24%) SQL
4 115 (7.71%) Java
5 110 (7.37%) TypeScript
6 52 (3.49%) C#
7 47 (3.15%) PowerShell
8 33 (2.21%) Kotlin
9 21 (1.41%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 19 (1.27%) Bash
11 14 (0.94%) Swift
12 11 (0.74%) C++
13 9 (0.60%) Lua
14 8 (0.54%) Korn
15 6 (0.40%) Perl
15 6 (0.40%) VBA
16 5 (0.34%) Apex Code
16 5 (0.34%) R
16 5 (0.34%) Scala
17 4 (0.27%) PHP
Qualifications
1 196 (13.14%) Security Cleared
2 145 (9.72%) SC Cleared
3 136 (9.12%) Degree
4 29 (1.94%) BPSS Clearance
4 29 (1.94%) Computer Science Degree
5 25 (1.68%) DV Cleared
6 20 (1.34%) Microsoft Certification
7 13 (0.87%) Azure Certification
7 13 (0.87%) Master's Degree
8 10 (0.67%) Cisco Certification
9 7 (0.47%) CCNP
9 7 (0.47%) ITIL Certification
10 6 (0.40%) CCA
10 6 (0.40%) CCIE
11 5 (0.34%) Citrix Certification
11 5 (0.34%) PMI Certification
11 5 (0.34%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 4 (0.27%) DBS Check
12 4 (0.27%) ISTQB
12 4 (0.27%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 258 (17.29%) Accessibility
2 110 (7.37%) QA
3 86 (5.76%) WCAG
4 49 (3.28%) Data Quality
5 32 (2.14%) GDPR
6 20 (1.34%) Actionable Recommendations
7 18 (1.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 7 (0.47%) Cyber Essentials
8 7 (0.47%) PMO
8 7 (0.47%) SLA
9 6 (0.40%) GMP
9 6 (0.40%) GxP
10 4 (0.27%) GRC
10 4 (0.27%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 4 (0.27%) PCI DSS
11 3 (0.20%) Disclosure Scotland
11 3 (0.20%) HIPAA
11 3 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 3 (0.20%) NCSC
11 3 (0.20%) NIST
System Software
1 68 (4.56%) Active Directory
2 53 (3.55%) Docker
3 20 (1.34%) Virtual Desktop
4 16 (1.07%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (0.40%) Firmware
6 4 (0.27%) Microsoft App-V
7 3 (0.20%) BitLocker
7 3 (0.20%) Hyper-V
8 2 (0.13%) VMware Workstation
8 2 (0.13%) XenApp
8 2 (0.13%) XenDesktop
9 1 (0.067%) ISA Server
9 1 (0.067%) Varnish
9 1 (0.067%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 56 (3.75%) Kubernetes
2 48 (3.22%) Terraform
3 39 (2.61%) Microsoft Intune
4 35 (2.35%) Grafana
5 32 (2.14%) SCCM
6 17 (1.14%) Ansible
6 17 (1.14%) Single Sign-On
7 10 (0.67%) Prometheus
8 9 (0.60%) 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%) Clonezilla
11 2 (0.13%) Failover Clustering
11 2 (0.13%) Packer
11 2 (0.13%) SysTrack
11 2 (0.13%) WSUS
12 1 (0.067%) AirWatch
12 1 (0.067%) HAProxy
12 1 (0.067%) Rancher
Vendors
1 218 (14.61%) Microsoft
2 93 (6.23%) Adobe
3 64 (4.29%) Google
4 63 (4.22%) ServiceNow
5 42 (2.82%) Salesforce
6 41 (2.75%) Oracle
7 38 (2.55%) SAP
8 21 (1.41%) Citrix
9 20 (1.34%) Splunk
10 19 (1.27%) Databricks
11 17 (1.14%) Workday
12 16 (1.07%) Apple
12 16 (1.07%) Cisco
12 16 (1.07%) Dynatrace
12 16 (1.07%) VMware
13 11 (0.74%) Aruba
14 9 (0.60%) Foundry
14 9 (0.60%) MuleSoft
14 9 (0.60%) OpenAI
15 7 (0.47%) Zscaler