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

6 months to
31 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 87 67 81
Rank change year-on-year -20 +14 -22
Contract jobs citing User Experience 1,574 1,223 1,060
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.96% 3.73% 2.67%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.49% 4.12% 3.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 960 793 682
10th Percentile £313 £303 £305
25th Percentile £400 £380 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £476 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +0.11% -5.00% -1.96%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £600
90th Percentile £688 £688 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £465
% change year-on-year - -3.23% -2.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 74 40 33
10th Percentile £16.22 £19.78 £16.25
25th Percentile £25.13 £35.06 £26.56
Median hourly rate £33.99 £51.00 £41.68
Median % change year-on-year -33.35% +22.38% +51.55%
75th Percentile £67.75 £66.29 £70.39
90th Percentile £73.38 £73.55 £74.44
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.99 £63.25 £66.00
% change year-on-year -46.26% -4.17% +272.46%

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 45,107 29,668 33,959
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.95% 90.46% 85.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,893 18,635 21,816
10th Percentile £325 £300 £308
25th Percentile £420 £404 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £736 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,744 1,629 1,969
10th Percentile £14.50 £14.20 £13.69
25th Percentile £19.66 £17.35 £17.72
Median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +74.79% -37.13% -5.88%
75th Percentile £68.00 £50.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £82.25 £68.75 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £24.00 £40.33
% change year-on-year +83.17% -40.48% +0.81%

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 31 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 31 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 31 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 -15 1,367 £475 - 772
UK excluding London -8 728 £450 - 460
London -21 698 £525 +5.00% 418
Work from Home -29 398 £500 +2.56% 361
North of England -12 222 £439 -2.44% 112
Midlands -5 144 £475 +12.43% 71
South East -31 128 £483 +1.58% 131
West Midlands -11 115 £475 -5.00% 54
North West -33 111 £425 -5.56% 57
Scotland +16 95 £525 +13.51% 21
South West -16 78 £475 +18.75% 65
Yorkshire -37 60 £500 +25.00% 36
North East -4 51 £375 -21.88% 19
East of England +9 49 £410 -16.33% 53
East Midlands -8 29 £468 +31.32% 17
Wales -12 15 £579 +89.22% 9
Northern Ireland 0 2 - - 12

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 64 (4.07%) SharePoint
2 59 (3.75%) CMS
3 41 (2.60%) Confluence
4 27 (1.72%) Microsoft Exchange
5 15 (0.95%) WordPress
6 9 (0.57%) Apache
7 8 (0.51%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 6 (0.38%) Drupal
8 6 (0.38%) Mendix
8 6 (0.38%) Skype for Business
9 5 (0.32%) Apache Airflow
9 5 (0.32%) Headless CMS
10 4 (0.25%) Kentico
11 3 (0.19%) Moodle
11 3 (0.19%) Umbraco
12 2 (0.13%) Camunda
12 2 (0.13%) HCL Notes
12 2 (0.13%) IIS
12 2 (0.13%) nginx
12 2 (0.13%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 39 (2.48%) Sketch
2 35 (2.22%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 31 (1.97%) Microsoft Excel
4 22 (1.40%) Chatbot
5 20 (1.27%) Photoshop
6 19 (1.21%) Adobe After Effects
7 17 (1.08%) Adobe XD
7 17 (1.08%) Microsoft Office
8 15 (0.95%) Adobe Illustrator
9 10 (0.64%) Microsoft PowerPoint
10 9 (0.57%) MS Visio
11 6 (0.38%) Final Cut Pro
12 4 (0.25%) Adobe Captivate
13 2 (0.13%) InVision
13 2 (0.13%) Microsoft Project
13 2 (0.13%) Oracle Smart View
13 2 (0.13%) UserZoom
14 1 (0.064%) Camtasia
14 1 (0.064%) Spreadsheet
14 1 (0.064%) Trello
Business Applications
1 13 (0.83%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (0.70%) Workday HCM
3 8 (0.51%) Dynamics CRM
4 7 (0.44%) Shopify
5 6 (0.38%) Sage X3
6 4 (0.25%) NetSuite
6 4 (0.25%) 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%) Eloqua
9 1 (0.064%) Magento
9 1 (0.064%) NEC Housing
9 1 (0.064%) Oracle EBS R12
9 1 (0.064%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 245 (15.57%) Azure
2 221 (14.04%) Figma
3 134 (8.51%) AWS
4 129 (8.20%) Microsoft 365
5 115 (7.31%) Power Platform
6 64 (4.07%) Entra ID
7 58 (3.68%) Azure DevOps
8 55 (3.49%) GitHub
9 51 (3.24%) GCP
9 51 (3.24%) SaaS
10 50 (3.18%) Microsoft Copilot
11 35 (2.22%) PowerApps
12 31 (1.97%) OneDrive
13 28 (1.78%) Power Automate
13 28 (1.78%) Serverless
14 26 (1.65%) Copilot Studio
15 24 (1.52%) Azure AI
16 21 (1.33%) GitHub Actions
17 17 (1.08%) Snowflake
18 13 (0.83%) GitHub Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 41 (2.60%) DNS
2 33 (2.10%) DHCP
3 29 (1.84%) TCP/IP
4 26 (1.65%) Wi-Fi
5 21 (1.33%) Wireless
6 20 (1.27%) LAN
7 14 (0.89%) Firewall
7 14 (0.89%) WAN
8 13 (0.83%) VPN
9 12 (0.76%) Internet
10 10 (0.64%) Intranet
10 10 (0.64%) SD-WAN
11 8 (0.51%) Cisco Wireless
11 8 (0.51%) Network Security
11 8 (0.51%) Skype
12 7 (0.44%) 5G
12 7 (0.44%) SNMP
13 6 (0.38%) WLAN
14 5 (0.32%) SMS
14 5 (0.32%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 72 (4.57%) Power BI
2 25 (1.59%) Metadata
3 21 (1.33%) NoSQL
3 21 (1.33%) PostgreSQL
4 18 (1.14%) Power Query
4 18 (1.14%) Relational Database
5 15 (0.95%) SQL Server
6 14 (0.89%) Data Warehouse
7 13 (0.83%) Tableau
8 11 (0.70%) Big Data
9 10 (0.64%) MongoDB
9 10 (0.64%) MySQL
10 8 (0.51%) Looker
11 7 (0.44%) BigQuery
11 7 (0.44%) Elasticsearch
11 7 (0.44%) Snowflake Schema
12 6 (0.38%) Azure SQL Database
12 6 (0.38%) DynamoDB
12 6 (0.38%) Redis
12 6 (0.38%) ZAP BI
Development Applications
1 88 (5.59%) JIRA
2 79 (5.02%) Git
3 27 (1.72%) Jenkins
4 25 (1.59%) Cypress.io
4 25 (1.59%) Vite
5 19 (1.21%) GitLab
6 12 (0.76%) Claude Code
7 10 (0.64%) Android Studio
7 10 (0.64%) Browser DevTools
7 10 (0.64%) fastlane
7 10 (0.64%) Selenium
7 10 (0.64%) Storybook
8 9 (0.57%) Xcode
9 8 (0.51%) Gradle
9 8 (0.51%) webpack
10 7 (0.44%) JMeter
10 7 (0.44%) JUnit
11 6 (0.38%) Postman
11 6 (0.38%) Visual Studio
12 5 (0.32%) REST Assured
General
1 499 (31.70%) Social Skills
2 275 (17.47%) Finance
3 213 (13.53%) Public Sector
4 157 (9.97%) Analytical Skills
5 122 (7.75%) Banking
6 83 (5.27%) Retail
7 75 (4.76%) Marketing
8 49 (3.11%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 39 (2.48%) Legal
10 38 (2.41%) Influencing Skills
11 30 (1.91%) Publishing
12 29 (1.84%) Presentation Skills
13 27 (1.72%) Automotive
14 26 (1.65%) Manufacturing
14 26 (1.65%) Organisational Skills
15 22 (1.40%) Documentation Skills
16 18 (1.14%) Investment Banking
17 16 (1.02%) Military
18 12 (0.76%) Front Office
19 11 (0.70%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 346 (21.98%) Designer
2 225 (14.29%) Senior
3 202 (12.83%) Developer
4 146 (9.28%) UX Designer
5 121 (7.69%) Lead
6 114 (7.24%) Analyst
7 89 (5.65%) UI Designer
8 81 (5.15%) Consultant
9 67 (4.26%) Senior Designer
10 66 (4.19%) User Researcher
11 63 (4.00%) Architect
12 58 (3.68%) Business Analyst
13 56 (3.56%) Product Designer
14 53 (3.37%) Content Designer
15 51 (3.24%) UI/UX Designer
16 46 (2.92%) Product Manager
17 44 (2.80%) IT Support
17 44 (2.80%) User Experience Researcher
18 43 (2.73%) Support Engineer
19 35 (2.22%) Product Owner
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 145 (9.21%) React
2 115 (7.31%) CSS
3 103 (6.54%) HTML
4 98 (6.23%) REST
5 65 (4.13%) RESTful
6 54 (3.43%) AngularJS
7 42 (2.67%) .NET
7 42 (2.67%) GraphQL
8 41 (2.60%) HTML5
9 38 (2.41%) CSS3
10 34 (2.16%) Node.js
11 32 (2.03%) Jest
12 30 (1.91%) Kafka
12 30 (1.91%) Spring
13 29 (1.84%) Redux
13 29 (1.84%) Spring Boot
14 24 (1.52%) Next.js
15 23 (1.46%) JSON
15 23 (1.46%) OAuth
15 23 (1.46%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 151 (9.59%) Product Ownership
2 100 (6.35%) Mobile App
3 84 (5.34%) Onboarding
4 46 (2.92%) Cloud Native
5 45 (2.86%) AI Agents
6 33 (2.10%) Self-Motivation
7 32 (2.03%) Enterprise Software
8 31 (1.97%) Data Structures
9 29 (1.84%) Data Protection Act
10 25 (1.59%) Legacy Systems
11 22 (1.40%) Animation
11 22 (1.40%) Data Centre
12 21 (1.33%) Social Media
13 19 (1.21%) Analytical Mindset
14 17 (1.08%) Graphic Design
15 16 (1.02%) Educational Technology
15 16 (1.02%) NHS
16 15 (0.95%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
16 15 (0.95%) Management Information System
17 14 (0.89%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 132 (8.39%) Windows
2 59 (3.75%) Android
3 56 (3.56%) Apple iOS
4 43 (2.73%) Windows 10
5 28 (1.78%) Mac OS
6 20 (1.27%) Windows Server
7 18 (1.14%) Linux
8 10 (0.64%) Unix
9 9 (0.57%) Windows 7
10 5 (0.32%) Windows Server 2016
11 4 (0.25%) Windows Server 2019
12 3 (0.19%) Windows Server 2008
13 2 (0.13%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 510 (32.40%) UX Design
2 456 (28.97%) Agile
3 308 (19.57%) AI
4 247 (15.69%) Problem-Solving
5 239 (15.18%) Stakeholder Management
6 223 (14.17%) Continuous Improvement
7 217 (13.79%) User Research
8 212 (13.47%) Analytics
9 188 (11.94%) CI/CD
10 178 (11.31%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 161 (10.23%) Roadmaps
12 148 (9.40%) Prototyping
13 147 (9.34%) Decision-Making
13 147 (9.34%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
14 144 (9.15%) DevOps
15 135 (8.58%) Wireframes
16 126 (8.01%) Service Design
17 119 (7.56%) UX Research
18 116 (7.37%) Workshop Facilitation
19 114 (7.24%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 136 (8.64%) JavaScript
2 129 (8.20%) Python
3 114 (7.24%) TypeScript
4 112 (7.12%) SQL
5 102 (6.48%) Java
6 50 (3.18%) PowerShell
7 42 (2.67%) C#
8 37 (2.35%) Kotlin
9 24 (1.52%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 18 (1.14%) Bash
11 17 (1.08%) Swift
12 11 (0.70%) C++
13 8 (0.51%) Go
13 8 (0.51%) Korn
13 8 (0.51%) Lua
14 7 (0.44%) Apex Code
14 7 (0.44%) PHP
14 7 (0.44%) R
14 7 (0.44%) Scala
14 7 (0.44%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 247 (15.69%) Security Cleared
2 188 (11.94%) SC Cleared
3 142 (9.02%) Degree
4 37 (2.35%) Computer Science Degree
5 35 (2.22%) BPSS Clearance
6 29 (1.84%) DV Cleared
7 23 (1.46%) Azure Certification
8 21 (1.33%) Microsoft Certification
9 12 (0.76%) PMP
10 11 (0.70%) Cisco Certification
11 9 (0.57%) ITIL Certification
12 8 (0.51%) AWS Certification
12 8 (0.51%) CCA
12 8 (0.51%) Citrix Certification
12 8 (0.51%) Master's Degree
12 8 (0.51%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 7 (0.44%) CCNP
14 6 (0.38%) CCIE
14 6 (0.38%) DBS Check
14 6 (0.38%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 280 (17.79%) Accessibility
2 98 (6.23%) QA
3 97 (6.16%) WCAG
4 51 (3.24%) Data Quality
5 20 (1.27%) GDPR
6 16 (1.02%) Actionable Recommendations
7 12 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 10 (0.64%) SLA
9 9 (0.57%) PMO
10 7 (0.44%) Cyber Essentials
10 7 (0.44%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 4 (0.25%) GRC
11 4 (0.25%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 3 (0.19%) GMP
12 3 (0.19%) GxP
13 2 (0.13%) NIST
13 2 (0.13%) PCI DSS
13 2 (0.13%) PSD2
14 1 (0.064%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 1 (0.064%) EU AI Act
System Software
1 87 (5.53%) Active Directory
2 51 (3.24%) Docker
3 30 (1.91%) Virtual Desktop
4 19 (1.21%) VMware Infrastructure
5 7 (0.44%) vSphere
6 6 (0.38%) BitLocker
6 6 (0.38%) Firmware
7 5 (0.32%) VMware ESXi
8 4 (0.25%) Hyper-V
8 4 (0.25%) 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 52 (3.30%) Terraform
2 49 (3.11%) Kubernetes
3 47 (2.99%) Microsoft Intune
4 38 (2.41%) Grafana
5 35 (2.22%) SCCM
6 18 (1.14%) Single Sign-On
7 17 (1.08%) Ansible
8 14 (0.89%) Jamf Pro
8 14 (0.89%) Prometheus
9 5 (0.32%) vCenter Server
10 4 (0.25%) Clonezilla
10 4 (0.25%) Podman
11 3 (0.19%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
11 3 (0.19%) WSUS
12 2 (0.13%) Argo
12 2 (0.13%) Failover Clustering
12 2 (0.13%) Kibana
12 2 (0.13%) Packer
12 2 (0.13%) SCOM
12 2 (0.13%) vMotion
Vendors
1 269 (17.09%) Microsoft
2 95 (6.04%) Adobe
3 81 (5.15%) ServiceNow
4 59 (3.75%) Google
5 42 (2.67%) SAP
6 38 (2.41%) Oracle
7 34 (2.16%) Salesforce
8 28 (1.78%) Splunk
9 26 (1.65%) Citrix
10 25 (1.59%) Dynatrace
11 23 (1.46%) Databricks
12 22 (1.40%) VMware
13 21 (1.33%) Workday
14 19 (1.21%) Cisco
15 16 (1.02%) Apple
15 16 (1.02%) Foundry
15 16 (1.02%) OpenAI
16 15 (0.95%) Zscaler
17 12 (0.76%) Aruba
18 10 (0.64%) Okta