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

6 months to
7 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 90 65 81
Rank change year-on-year -25 +16 -20
Contract jobs citing User Experience 1,545 1,229 1,008
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.89% 3.74% 2.58%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.41% 4.14% 3.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 943 788 636
10th Percentile £313 £304 £303
25th Percentile £400 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £476 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +0.21% -5.00% -1.96%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £612
90th Percentile £688 £688 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £475
% change year-on-year - -5.26% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 74 45 33
10th Percentile £16.88 £22.15 £16.25
25th Percentile £26.06 £33.00 £30.00
Median hourly rate £33.99 £47.50 £41.68
Median % change year-on-year -28.44% +13.98% +54.35%
75th Percentile £67.84 £63.75 £70.39
90th Percentile £73.38 £72.30 £74.44
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.99 £49.00 £66.00
% change year-on-year -30.63% -25.76% +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 45,370 29,720 33,385
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.93% 90.44% 85.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,958 18,627 21,372
10th Percentile £325 £300 £310
25th Percentile £420 £404 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.11%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £729 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,804 1,656 1,869
10th Percentile £14.25 £14.20 £14.00
25th Percentile £19.25 £17.33 £18.13
Median hourly rate £42.68 £25.15 £40.33
Median % change year-on-year +69.69% -37.63% -5.12%
75th Percentile £68.00 £50.00 £64.25
90th Percentile £82.25 £68.00 £74.51
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £23.30 £40.94
% change year-on-year +88.67% -43.09% +2.35%

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 7 August 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 7 August 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 7 August 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 -21 1,341 £475 - 1,148
UK excluding London -12 723 £450 - 576
London -25 679 £525 +5.00% 687
Work from Home -36 389 £495 +1.54% 513
North of England -14 226 £440 -2.22% 162
Midlands -12 144 £475 +11.24% 85
South East -44 120 £450 -5.26% 147
West Midlands -17 114 £475 -7.32% 69
North West -24 109 £425 -5.56% 86
Scotland +20 96 £525 +13.51% 35
South West -11 77 £475 +18.75% 69
Yorkshire -23 65 £500 +25.00% 48
North East -3 51 £363 -24.48% 28
East of England +7 50 £410 -16.33% 53
East Midlands -8 30 £468 +31.32% 16
Wales -7 14 £640 +108.99% 18
Northern Ireland +4 1 - - 17

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 (4.14%) SharePoint
2 58 (3.75%) CMS
3 38 (2.46%) Confluence
4 28 (1.81%) Microsoft Exchange
5 16 (1.04%) WordPress
6 8 (0.52%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 8 (0.52%) Apache
7 6 (0.39%) Drupal
7 6 (0.39%) Mendix
7 6 (0.39%) Skype for Business
8 5 (0.32%) Apache Airflow
8 5 (0.32%) Headless CMS
9 4 (0.26%) Kentico
10 3 (0.19%) Moodle
10 3 (0.19%) Oracle Workflow
10 3 (0.19%) Umbraco
11 2 (0.13%) Camunda
11 2 (0.13%) HCL Notes
11 2 (0.13%) IIS
11 2 (0.13%) nginx
Applications
1 36 (2.33%) Sketch
2 35 (2.27%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 29 (1.88%) Microsoft Excel
4 21 (1.36%) Chatbot
5 19 (1.23%) Photoshop
6 18 (1.17%) Adobe After Effects
7 17 (1.10%) Microsoft Office
8 16 (1.04%) Adobe XD
9 15 (0.97%) Adobe Illustrator
10 9 (0.58%) Microsoft PowerPoint
11 7 (0.45%) MS Visio
12 6 (0.39%) Final Cut Pro
13 3 (0.19%) Adobe Captivate
14 2 (0.13%) InVision
14 2 (0.13%) Microsoft Project
14 2 (0.13%) Oracle Smart View
14 2 (0.13%) UserZoom
15 1 (0.065%) Camtasia
15 1 (0.065%) Spreadsheet
15 1 (0.065%) Trello
Business Applications
1 11 (0.71%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (0.58%) Workday HCM
3 7 (0.45%) Dynamics CRM
4 6 (0.39%) Sage X3
4 6 (0.39%) Shopify
5 4 (0.26%) NetSuite
5 4 (0.26%) Oracle iProcurement
5 4 (0.26%) Remedy ITSM
6 3 (0.19%) iTrent
6 3 (0.19%) Payment Gateway
6 3 (0.19%) Salesforce CRM
7 2 (0.13%) Oracle EBS
7 2 (0.13%) Oracle Payables
7 2 (0.13%) Oracle Receivables
7 2 (0.13%) ResourceLink
8 1 (0.065%) Magento
8 1 (0.065%) Oracle EBS R12
8 1 (0.065%) SAP ERP
8 1 (0.065%) SAP HR
8 1 (0.065%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 240 (15.53%) Azure
2 207 (13.40%) Figma
3 138 (8.93%) Microsoft 365
4 136 (8.80%) AWS
5 115 (7.44%) Power Platform
6 69 (4.47%) Entra ID
7 58 (3.75%) GitHub
8 55 (3.56%) Azure DevOps
9 51 (3.30%) SaaS
10 50 (3.24%) GCP
10 50 (3.24%) Microsoft Copilot
11 33 (2.14%) PowerApps
12 31 (2.01%) OneDrive
13 30 (1.94%) Serverless
14 27 (1.75%) Power Automate
15 24 (1.55%) Azure AI
16 23 (1.49%) Copilot Studio
17 22 (1.42%) GitHub Actions
18 17 (1.10%) Snowflake
19 14 (0.91%) GitHub Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 43 (2.78%) DNS
2 35 (2.27%) DHCP
3 30 (1.94%) Wi-Fi
4 29 (1.88%) TCP/IP
5 21 (1.36%) Wireless
6 20 (1.29%) LAN
7 16 (1.04%) Firewall
7 16 (1.04%) WAN
8 15 (0.97%) VPN
9 12 (0.78%) Internet
9 12 (0.78%) SD-WAN
10 10 (0.65%) Intranet
11 9 (0.58%) Network Security
12 8 (0.52%) Cisco Wireless
12 8 (0.52%) Skype
13 7 (0.45%) 5G
13 7 (0.45%) SNMP
14 6 (0.39%) WLAN
15 5 (0.32%) SMS
15 5 (0.32%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 72 (4.66%) Power BI
2 27 (1.75%) Metadata
3 20 (1.29%) NoSQL
4 19 (1.23%) PostgreSQL
5 18 (1.17%) Power Query
6 16 (1.04%) Relational Database
7 13 (0.84%) Data Warehouse
8 12 (0.78%) SQL Server
8 12 (0.78%) Tableau
9 11 (0.71%) Big Data
9 11 (0.71%) MongoDB
10 9 (0.58%) MySQL
11 8 (0.52%) Looker
12 7 (0.45%) BigQuery
12 7 (0.45%) Elasticsearch
12 7 (0.45%) Snowflake Schema
12 7 (0.45%) Star Schema
13 6 (0.39%) Azure SQL Database
13 6 (0.39%) Qlik Sense
13 6 (0.39%) Redis
Development Applications
1 85 (5.50%) JIRA
2 78 (5.05%) Git
3 26 (1.68%) Cypress.io
3 26 (1.68%) Jenkins
4 24 (1.55%) Vite
5 18 (1.17%) GitLab
6 12 (0.78%) Claude Code
7 10 (0.65%) Android Studio
7 10 (0.65%) Browser DevTools
7 10 (0.65%) fastlane
7 10 (0.65%) Storybook
8 9 (0.58%) Xcode
9 8 (0.52%) Gradle
9 8 (0.52%) JUnit
9 8 (0.52%) Selenium
10 7 (0.45%) JMeter
10 7 (0.45%) webpack
11 6 (0.39%) Postman
12 5 (0.32%) Crashlytics
12 5 (0.32%) Jasmine
General
1 485 (31.39%) Social Skills
2 273 (17.67%) Finance
3 208 (13.46%) Public Sector
4 154 (9.97%) Analytical Skills
5 115 (7.44%) Banking
6 84 (5.44%) Retail
7 75 (4.85%) Marketing
8 51 (3.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 39 (2.52%) Legal
10 36 (2.33%) Influencing Skills
11 29 (1.88%) Publishing
12 28 (1.81%) Manufacturing
13 27 (1.75%) Automotive
13 27 (1.75%) Organisational Skills
13 27 (1.75%) Presentation Skills
14 21 (1.36%) Documentation Skills
15 18 (1.17%) Investment Banking
16 16 (1.04%) Military
17 12 (0.78%) Front Office
18 11 (0.71%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 338 (21.88%) Designer
2 220 (14.24%) Senior
3 198 (12.82%) Developer
4 141 (9.13%) UX Designer
5 117 (7.57%) Lead
6 105 (6.80%) Analyst
7 85 (5.50%) UI Designer
8 82 (5.31%) Consultant
9 69 (4.47%) User Researcher
10 65 (4.21%) Senior Designer
11 61 (3.95%) Architect
12 56 (3.62%) Business Analyst
13 52 (3.37%) Content Designer
14 49 (3.17%) IT Support
14 49 (3.17%) UI/UX Designer
15 48 (3.11%) Support Engineer
16 47 (3.04%) Product Designer
17 45 (2.91%) Product Manager
18 44 (2.85%) User Experience Researcher
19 34 (2.20%) Service Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 137 (8.87%) React
2 111 (7.18%) CSS
3 100 (6.47%) REST
4 98 (6.34%) HTML
5 62 (4.01%) RESTful
6 50 (3.24%) AngularJS
7 42 (2.72%) GraphQL
8 41 (2.65%) HTML5
9 40 (2.59%) .NET
10 38 (2.46%) CSS3
11 34 (2.20%) Jest
12 32 (2.07%) Node.js
13 30 (1.94%) Spring
14 29 (1.88%) Kafka
14 29 (1.88%) Spring Boot
15 28 (1.81%) Redux
16 25 (1.62%) Playwright
17 24 (1.55%) Next.js
17 24 (1.55%) OAuth
18 22 (1.42%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 143 (9.26%) Product Ownership
2 98 (6.34%) Mobile App
3 87 (5.63%) Onboarding
4 48 (3.11%) Cloud Native
5 42 (2.72%) AI Agents
6 33 (2.14%) Self-Motivation
7 32 (2.07%) Enterprise Software
8 28 (1.81%) Data Protection Act
9 27 (1.75%) Data Structures
10 25 (1.62%) Legacy Systems
11 22 (1.42%) Animation
11 22 (1.42%) Data Centre
11 22 (1.42%) Social Media
12 19 (1.23%) Management Information System
13 18 (1.17%) Analytical Mindset
14 17 (1.10%) Educational Technology
14 17 (1.10%) Graphic Design
14 17 (1.10%) NHS
15 14 (0.91%) Taxonomies
16 13 (0.84%) Virtual Reality
Operating Systems
1 136 (8.80%) Windows
2 60 (3.88%) Android
3 55 (3.56%) Apple iOS
4 47 (3.04%) Windows 10
5 27 (1.75%) Mac OS
6 21 (1.36%) Windows Server
7 17 (1.10%) Linux
8 10 (0.65%) Unix
9 9 (0.58%) Windows 7
10 4 (0.26%) Windows Server 2016
10 4 (0.26%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.19%) Windows Server 2008
12 2 (0.13%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 499 (32.30%) UX Design
2 444 (28.74%) Agile
3 302 (19.55%) AI
4 244 (15.79%) Problem-Solving
5 237 (15.34%) Stakeholder Management
6 220 (14.24%) Continuous Improvement
7 218 (14.11%) User Research
8 204 (13.20%) Analytics
9 183 (11.84%) CI/CD
10 176 (11.39%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 155 (10.03%) Roadmaps
12 142 (9.19%) Decision-Making
12 142 (9.19%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
13 139 (9.00%) Prototyping
14 138 (8.93%) DevOps
15 128 (8.28%) Service Design
16 125 (8.09%) Wireframes
17 116 (7.51%) Scrum
18 114 (7.38%) Workshop Facilitation
19 110 (7.12%) UX Research
Programming Languages
1 129 (8.35%) JavaScript
2 124 (8.03%) Python
3 108 (6.99%) TypeScript
4 105 (6.80%) SQL
5 99 (6.41%) Java
6 54 (3.50%) PowerShell
7 41 (2.65%) C#
8 38 (2.46%) Kotlin
9 24 (1.55%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 20 (1.29%) Bash
11 17 (1.10%) Swift
12 11 (0.71%) C++
13 8 (0.52%) Go
13 8 (0.52%) Lua
13 8 (0.52%) PHP
14 7 (0.45%) Apex Code
14 7 (0.45%) VBScript
15 6 (0.39%) Scala
15 6 (0.39%) VB
15 6 (0.39%) VBA
Qualifications
1 242 (15.66%) Security Cleared
2 183 (11.84%) SC Cleared
3 141 (9.13%) Degree
4 38 (2.46%) Computer Science Degree
5 33 (2.14%) BPSS Clearance
6 29 (1.88%) DV Cleared
7 23 (1.49%) Azure Certification
8 21 (1.36%) Microsoft Certification
9 12 (0.78%) PMP
10 11 (0.71%) Cisco Certification
11 8 (0.52%) AWS Certification
11 8 (0.52%) CCA
11 8 (0.52%) Citrix Certification
11 8 (0.52%) ITIL Certification
11 8 (0.52%) Master's Degree
11 8 (0.52%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 7 (0.45%) CCNP
13 6 (0.39%) CCIE
13 6 (0.39%) DBS Check
13 6 (0.39%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 267 (17.28%) Accessibility
2 96 (6.21%) WCAG
3 91 (5.89%) QA
4 48 (3.11%) Data Quality
5 19 (1.23%) GDPR
6 14 (0.91%) Actionable Recommendations
7 12 (0.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 9 (0.58%) PMO
9 8 (0.52%) SLA
10 7 (0.45%) Cyber Essentials
10 7 (0.45%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 4 (0.26%) GRC
11 4 (0.26%) 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 (0.065%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 1 (0.065%) EU AI Act
System Software
1 93 (6.02%) Active Directory
2 49 (3.17%) Docker
3 28 (1.81%) Virtual Desktop
4 16 (1.04%) VMware Infrastructure
5 7 (0.45%) vSphere
6 6 (0.39%) BitLocker
6 6 (0.39%) Firmware
6 6 (0.39%) Hyper-V
7 5 (0.32%) VMware ESXi
8 4 (0.26%) 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 (0.065%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 53 (3.43%) Terraform
2 48 (3.11%) Microsoft Intune
3 47 (3.04%) Kubernetes
4 40 (2.59%) Grafana
5 31 (2.01%) SCCM
6 20 (1.29%) Single Sign-On
7 17 (1.10%) Ansible
8 16 (1.04%) Jamf Pro
9 15 (0.97%) Prometheus
10 5 (0.32%) vCenter Server
11 4 (0.26%) Clonezilla
11 4 (0.26%) Podman
12 3 (0.19%) Kibana
12 3 (0.19%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
12 3 (0.19%) WSUS
13 2 (0.13%) Argo
13 2 (0.13%) Failover Clustering
13 2 (0.13%) Packer
13 2 (0.13%) SCOM
13 2 (0.13%) vMotion
Vendors
1 265 (17.15%) Microsoft
2 93 (6.02%) Adobe
3 83 (5.37%) ServiceNow
4 59 (3.82%) Google
5 41 (2.65%) Oracle
6 38 (2.46%) SAP
7 34 (2.20%) Salesforce
8 28 (1.81%) Splunk
9 25 (1.62%) Dynatrace
10 24 (1.55%) Citrix
11 22 (1.42%) Databricks
12 19 (1.23%) Cisco
12 19 (1.23%) VMware
12 19 (1.23%) Workday
13 18 (1.17%) Apple
14 16 (1.04%) OpenAI
15 15 (0.97%) Foundry
15 15 (0.97%) Zscaler
16 12 (0.78%) Aruba
17 11 (0.71%) Okta