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

6 months to
21 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 77 64 70
Rank change year-on-year -13 +6 -5
Contract jobs citing User Experience 1,405 1,040 1,262
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.21% 3.55% 2.85%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.73% 3.92% 3.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 975 702 835
10th Percentile £313 £312 £302
25th Percentile £400 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £480 £500
Median % change year-on-year +1.56% -4.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £579 £594
90th Percentile £650 £688 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £465
% change year-on-year +5.56% -3.23% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 45 26 47
10th Percentile £15.70 £25.26 £16.25
25th Percentile £17.69 £40.50 £24.38
Median hourly rate £40.50 £48.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -16.49% +49.23% -19.75%
75th Percentile £61.25 £68.19 £64.77
90th Percentile £78.90 £90.50 £75.66
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.09 £53.50 £25.00
% change year-on-year -47.50% +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 37,710 26,528 38,308
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.02% 90.44% 86.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,926 17,086 24,905
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 £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -1.28% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,216 926 2,329
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.25 £12.98
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.00 £16.00
Median hourly rate £30.32 £32.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -6.71% - -7.14%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.51 £57.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £76.72 £71.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.50 £31.76 £31.25
% change year-on-year -10.26% +1.63% -10.71%

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 21 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 21 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 21 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 -11 1,211 £488 -2.50% 817
London -18 627 £500 -2.44% 342
UK excluding London -7 605 £475 +5.56% 587
Work from Home -24 364 £489 +0.21% 474
North of England +11 207 £450 - 182
North West +13 131 £405 -10.00% 99
South East -14 127 £488 -3.47% 160
Midlands -15 111 £505 +26.25% 98
West Midlands -35 69 £475 +17.28% 67
South West -14 67 £450 +20.00% 64
Scotland -3 54 £484 +10.57% 25
Yorkshire -20 54 £513 +28.13% 46
East Midlands -5 42 £550 +54.49% 31
East of England -10 31 £413 -13.16% 47
North East -1 21 £388 -19.27% 38
Wales +3 15 £375 -9.09% 19
Northern Ireland -9 3 - - 5

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 60 (4.27%) SharePoint
2 52 (3.70%) Confluence
3 41 (2.92%) CMS
4 24 (1.71%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 18 (1.28%) Microsoft Exchange
6 12 (0.85%) Headless CMS
7 10 (0.71%) Apache
8 8 (0.57%) Sitecore CMS
8 8 (0.57%) Umbraco
9 5 (0.36%) Camunda
10 4 (0.28%) Ethereum
10 4 (0.28%) Hyperledger
10 4 (0.28%) Mendix
11 3 (0.21%) Anypoint
11 3 (0.21%) Apache Spark
11 3 (0.21%) Drupal
11 3 (0.21%) Jupyter
12 2 (0.14%) Appian
12 2 (0.14%) SugarCRM
13 1 (0.071%) WordPress
Applications
1 43 (3.06%) Sketch
2 35 (2.49%) Adobe XD
3 27 (1.92%) Microsoft Excel
4 25 (1.78%) MS Visio
5 21 (1.49%) Chatbot
6 15 (1.07%) Microsoft Office
7 14 (1.00%) InVision
8 12 (0.85%) 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
11 5 (0.36%) Adobe Creative Suite
12 4 (0.28%) Microsoft Project
12 4 (0.28%) UXPin
13 3 (0.21%) Adobe Captivate
13 3 (0.21%) UserZoom
14 2 (0.14%) Autodesk Smoke
14 2 (0.14%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 15 (1.07%) Dynamics CRM
2 12 (0.85%) SAP S/4HANA
3 7 (0.50%) Workday HCM
4 6 (0.43%) Sage X3
4 6 (0.43%) Shopify
5 3 (0.21%) SAP CO
5 3 (0.21%) SAP FI
5 3 (0.21%) SAP FI/CO
6 2 (0.14%) iTrent
6 2 (0.14%) Magento
6 2 (0.14%) NEC Housing
6 2 (0.14%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.14%) ResourceLink
6 2 (0.14%) SAP ERP
7 1 (0.071%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.071%) Integrated Workplace Management System
7 1 (0.071%) Oracle ERP
7 1 (0.071%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.071%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.071%) SAP CRM
Cloud Services
1 231 (16.44%) Azure
2 191 (13.59%) Figma
3 140 (9.96%) AWS
4 102 (7.26%) Power Platform
5 85 (6.05%) Microsoft 365
6 67 (4.77%) Azure DevOps
7 56 (3.99%) GCP
7 56 (3.99%) SaaS
8 54 (3.84%) GitHub
9 51 (3.63%) Entra ID
10 39 (2.78%) PowerApps
11 38 (2.70%) Power Automate
12 37 (2.63%) Serverless
13 33 (2.35%) GitHub Actions
14 26 (1.85%) Miro
15 25 (1.78%) Microsoft Copilot
16 24 (1.71%) Google Workspace
17 23 (1.64%) Dynamics 365
18 22 (1.57%) Azure Logic Apps
18 22 (1.57%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 21 (1.49%) DNS
2 18 (1.28%) Wireless
3 17 (1.21%) Internet
4 13 (0.93%) HTTP
4 13 (0.93%) Wi-Fi
5 12 (0.85%) Intranet
6 11 (0.78%) VPN
7 10 (0.71%) DHCP
7 10 (0.71%) LAN
7 10 (0.71%) TCP/IP
8 9 (0.64%) Firewall
8 9 (0.64%) WAN
9 8 (0.57%) BGP
9 8 (0.57%) Cisco ISE
9 8 (0.57%) SD-WAN
10 7 (0.50%) Cisco Wireless
11 6 (0.43%) Network Security
11 6 (0.43%) NX-OS
11 6 (0.43%) SSL
11 6 (0.43%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 68 (4.84%) Power BI
2 36 (2.56%) Relational Database
3 34 (2.42%) NoSQL
4 29 (2.06%) PostgreSQL
5 26 (1.85%) MySQL
6 24 (1.71%) Data Warehouse
7 21 (1.49%) SQL Server
8 17 (1.21%) MongoDB
8 17 (1.21%) Tableau
9 15 (1.07%) Metadata
10 12 (0.85%) BigQuery
11 9 (0.64%) Looker
12 8 (0.57%) Power Query
13 7 (0.50%) DynamoDB
13 7 (0.50%) Pinecone
14 6 (0.43%) Redis
14 6 (0.43%) ZAP BI
15 5 (0.36%) Hadoop
16 4 (0.28%) Oracle BI Publisher
16 4 (0.28%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 117 (8.33%) JIRA
2 89 (6.33%) Git
3 46 (3.27%) GitLab
4 32 (2.28%) Jenkins
5 31 (2.21%) Cypress.io
6 27 (1.92%) JUnit
7 23 (1.64%) Axure RP
8 17 (1.21%) Android Studio
8 17 (1.21%) Gradle
9 16 (1.14%) Xcode
10 13 (0.93%) Selenium
11 12 (0.85%) CircleCI
11 12 (0.85%) Eclipse
12 11 (0.78%) Browser DevTools
13 10 (0.71%) Postman
14 9 (0.64%) Artifactory
15 8 (0.57%) Mocha
15 8 (0.57%) Mockito
15 8 (0.57%) Visual Studio
16 7 (0.50%) Jasmine
General
1 453 (32.24%) Social Skills
2 262 (18.65%) Finance
3 203 (14.45%) Public Sector
4 163 (11.60%) Analytical Skills
5 113 (8.04%) Banking
6 64 (4.56%) Marketing
7 42 (2.99%) Retail
8 30 (2.14%) Presentation Skills
9 27 (1.92%) Legal
10 24 (1.71%) Influencing Skills
11 21 (1.49%) Manufacturing
12 19 (1.35%) Pharmaceutical
13 18 (1.28%) Documentation Skills
14 17 (1.21%) Games
15 16 (1.14%) Financial Institution
15 16 (1.14%) Investment Banking
16 13 (0.93%) Front Office
16 13 (0.93%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 13 (0.93%) Publishing
17 12 (0.85%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 256 (18.22%) Designer
2 233 (16.58%) Developer
3 212 (15.09%) Senior
4 139 (9.89%) Analyst
5 134 (9.54%) UX Designer
6 68 (4.84%) Business Analyst
7 64 (4.56%) Lead
8 62 (4.41%) Consultant
9 59 (4.20%) Product Designer
10 57 (4.06%) Senior Designer
11 54 (3.84%) Architect
12 49 (3.49%) User Researcher
13 45 (3.20%) Senior Developer
14 43 (3.06%) UI Designer
15 42 (2.99%) Full-Stack Developer
16 41 (2.92%) Service Designer
16 41 (2.92%) Software Engineer
17 39 (2.78%) Support Engineer
18 38 (2.70%) Front-End Developer (Client-Side Developer)
19 35 (2.49%) IT Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 181 (12.88%) React
2 163 (11.60%) CSS
3 149 (10.60%) HTML
4 118 (8.40%) REST
5 97 (6.90%) RESTful
6 94 (6.69%) AngularJS
7 65 (4.63%) Spring
7 65 (4.63%) Spring Boot
8 59 (4.20%) .NET
9 54 (3.84%) Node.js
10 42 (2.99%) HTML5
11 37 (2.63%) CSS3
12 36 (2.56%) GraphQL
12 36 (2.56%) Jest
13 35 (2.49%) JSON
14 32 (2.28%) Redux
15 28 (1.99%) Next.js
16 25 (1.78%) Playwright
16 25 (1.78%) Vue
17 21 (1.49%) ASP.NET
Miscellaneous
1 141 (10.04%) Product Ownership
2 91 (6.48%) Mobile App
3 53 (3.77%) Onboarding
4 28 (1.99%) AI Agents
4 28 (1.99%) Enterprise Software
5 27 (1.92%) Data Structures
6 25 (1.78%) Analytical Mindset
7 17 (1.21%) Data Protection Act
7 17 (1.21%) Distributed Systems
8 16 (1.14%) Cloud Native
9 15 (1.07%) Algorithms
9 15 (1.07%) Legacy Systems
9 15 (1.07%) Virtual Team
10 14 (1.00%) Data Centre
10 14 (1.00%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 14 (1.00%) NHS
11 13 (0.93%) CMDB
11 13 (0.93%) Low-Code
12 12 (0.85%) Management Information System
13 11 (0.78%) Graphic Design
Operating Systems
1 122 (8.68%) Windows
2 47 (3.35%) Android
3 41 (2.92%) Windows 10
4 35 (2.49%) Apple iOS
5 27 (1.92%) Linux
6 19 (1.35%) Mac OS
7 13 (0.93%) Unix
8 6 (0.43%) Windows Server
9 2 (0.14%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.071%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.071%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.071%) Windows Server 2008
10 1 (0.071%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 468 (33.31%) Agile
2 466 (33.17%) UX Design
3 229 (16.30%) Problem-Solving
4 215 (15.30%) Analytics
5 206 (14.66%) User Research
6 189 (13.45%) CI/CD
7 184 (13.10%) AI
8 179 (12.74%) DevOps
9 166 (11.81%) Stakeholder Management
10 160 (11.39%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 159 (11.32%) Continuous Improvement
12 138 (9.82%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
13 136 (9.68%) Prototyping
13 136 (9.68%) Roadmaps
14 125 (8.90%) Decision-Making
15 123 (8.75%) Service Design
16 122 (8.68%) Wireframes
17 114 (8.11%) UX Research
18 108 (7.69%) Usability Testing
19 98 (6.98%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 200 (14.23%) JavaScript
2 144 (10.25%) SQL
3 129 (9.18%) Python
4 126 (8.97%) Java
5 113 (8.04%) TypeScript
6 65 (4.63%) C#
7 63 (4.48%) PowerShell
8 31 (2.21%) Kotlin
9 17 (1.21%) Bash
10 14 (1.00%) Perl
11 13 (0.93%) C++
11 13 (0.93%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 12 (0.85%) Swift
13 9 (0.64%) Lua
13 9 (0.64%) PHP
14 7 (0.50%) PL/SQL
15 6 (0.43%) Korn
15 6 (0.43%) Lisp
15 6 (0.43%) Scala
15 6 (0.43%) VBA
Qualifications
1 183 (13.02%) Security Cleared
2 129 (9.18%) Degree
3 128 (9.11%) SC Cleared
4 37 (2.63%) BPSS Clearance
5 28 (1.99%) Computer Science Degree
6 18 (1.28%) DV Cleared
7 17 (1.21%) Microsoft Certification
8 16 (1.14%) Master's Degree
9 11 (0.78%) CCNP
9 11 (0.78%) 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 (0.28%) ISTQB
13 4 (0.28%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
13 4 (0.28%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 249 (17.72%) Accessibility
2 136 (9.68%) QA
3 79 (5.62%) WCAG
4 45 (3.20%) Data Quality
5 39 (2.78%) GDPR
6 20 (1.42%) Actionable Recommendations
7 19 (1.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 16 (1.14%) SLA
9 8 (0.57%) PMO
10 6 (0.43%) NCSC
11 5 (0.36%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 4 (0.28%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 4 (0.28%) GMP
12 4 (0.28%) GxP
13 3 (0.21%) Cyber Essentials
13 3 (0.21%) Disclosure Scotland
13 3 (0.21%) Government Security Classifications
13 3 (0.21%) GRC
13 3 (0.21%) HIPAA
13 3 (0.21%) NIST
System Software
1 73 (5.20%) Active Directory
2 69 (4.91%) Docker
3 18 (1.28%) VMware Infrastructure
4 16 (1.14%) Virtual Desktop
5 5 (0.36%) Firmware
6 3 (0.21%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.14%) ProxySG
8 1 (0.071%) ISA Server
8 1 (0.071%) Microsoft App-V
8 1 (0.071%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.071%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.071%) XenApp
8 1 (0.071%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 63 (4.48%) Kubernetes
2 44 (3.13%) Terraform
3 41 (2.92%) Microsoft Intune
4 29 (2.06%) SCCM
5 25 (1.78%) Grafana
6 16 (1.14%) Ansible
7 11 (0.78%) Single Sign-On
8 7 (0.50%) Jamf Pro
9 6 (0.43%) FortiGate
9 6 (0.43%) Prometheus
10 4 (0.28%) Argo
11 3 (0.21%) HP ALM
11 3 (0.21%) Nagios
11 3 (0.21%) Rancher
12 2 (0.14%) SysTrack
13 1 (0.071%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 1 (0.071%) Consul
13 1 (0.071%) Podman
13 1 (0.071%) SCOM
13 1 (0.071%) WMI
Vendors
1 224 (15.94%) Microsoft
2 90 (6.41%) Adobe
3 79 (5.62%) Google
4 74 (5.27%) ServiceNow
5 44 (3.13%) Oracle
6 42 (2.99%) SAP
7 35 (2.49%) Salesforce
8 21 (1.49%) Citrix
8 21 (1.49%) Splunk
9 19 (1.35%) VMware
10 17 (1.21%) Cisco
11 16 (1.14%) Apple
12 13 (0.93%) Workday
12 13 (0.93%) Zscaler
13 12 (0.85%) Red Hat
14 10 (0.71%) MuleSoft
15 9 (0.64%) Ekahau
15 9 (0.64%) Sitecore
16 8 (0.57%) OpenAI
17 7 (0.50%) Databricks