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

6 months to
11 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 78 59 72
Rank change year-on-year -19 +13 -11
Contract jobs citing User Experience 1,466 1,106 1,225
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.08% 3.76% 2.85%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.65% 4.14% 3.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 982 749 816
10th Percentile £313 £302 £306
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 £575 £594
90th Percentile £688 £719 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £425 £475
% change year-on-year +11.76% -10.53% +2.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 52 24 47
10th Percentile £16.78 £27.58 £16.25
25th Percentile £22.58 £46.06 £23.75
Median hourly rate £41.00 £53.50 £31.71
Median % change year-on-year -23.36% +68.72% +7.15%
75th Percentile £61.81 £75.12 £61.50
90th Percentile £80.80 £92.50 £73.51
UK excluding London median hourly rate £34.00 £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 40,197 26,741 37,098
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.41% 90.94% 86.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,242 17,210 23,886
10th Percentile £320 £306 £300
25th Percentile £413 £411 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £501 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.75% -0.95% -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £630 £638
90th Percentile £725 £745 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £479 £500
% change year-on-year +2.30% -4.20% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,406 1,094 2,440
10th Percentile £14.96 £14.44 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.87 £18.50 £16.00
Median hourly rate £42.13 £28.75 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +46.52% -21.23% +0.69%
75th Percentile £67.25 £60.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £27.00 £38.00
% change year-on-year +66.67% -28.95% +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 11 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 11 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 11 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 -11 1,276 £490 -2.00% 784
London -19 656 £513 -0.49% 359
UK excluding London +1 646 £475 +11.76% 521
Work from Home -24 393 £475 -1.04% 434
North of England +3 200 £450 +0.33% 133
Midlands -1 155 £475 +18.75% 83
North West +2 124 £413 -8.33% 87
South East -22 116 £475 +4.63% 145
West Midlands -9 102 £475 +2.70% 61
South West -16 69 £475 +26.67% 57
Scotland +2 61 £470 +7.43% 33
East Midlands +4 53 £550 +54.06% 21
Yorkshire -18 53 £513 +28.04% 26
East of England -18 30 £410 -13.68% 64
North East -8 21 £445 -1.66% 20
Wales -11 13 £450 +47.06% 9
Northern Ireland -4 3 - - 9

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 51 (3.48%) Confluence
2 49 (3.34%) SharePoint
3 37 (2.52%) CMS
4 18 (1.23%) Microsoft Exchange
5 14 (0.95%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 7 (0.48%) Apache
6 7 (0.48%) 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
10 2 (0.14%) Apache Spark
10 2 (0.14%) Appian
10 2 (0.14%) Skype for Business
10 2 (0.14%) Umbraco
Applications
1 42 (2.86%) Sketch
2 29 (1.98%) Adobe XD
3 24 (1.64%) Microsoft Excel
4 19 (1.30%) Chatbot
5 18 (1.23%) Photoshop
6 17 (1.16%) MS Visio
7 14 (0.95%) Microsoft Office
8 13 (0.89%) Adobe Illustrator
9 12 (0.82%) Adobe After Effects
10 11 (0.75%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 11 (0.75%) InVision
11 6 (0.41%) Microsoft PowerPoint
12 5 (0.34%) Trello
13 3 (0.20%) Adobe Captivate
13 3 (0.20%) Microsoft Project
13 3 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
13 3 (0.20%) UserZoom
13 3 (0.20%) UXPin
14 2 (0.14%) Oracle Smart View
15 1 (0.068%) Blender
Business Applications
1 13 (0.89%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (0.61%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (0.61%) Shopify
3 8 (0.55%) Workday HCM
4 6 (0.41%) Sage X3
5 3 (0.20%) NetSuite
5 3 (0.20%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.14%) NEC Housing
6 2 (0.14%) Oracle iProcurement
6 2 (0.14%) Oracle Payables
6 2 (0.14%) Oracle Receivables
6 2 (0.14%) Payment Gateway
6 2 (0.14%) ResourceLink
6 2 (0.14%) SAP ERP
7 1 (0.068%) Adobe Campaign
7 1 (0.068%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.068%) Integrated Workplace Management System
7 1 (0.068%) iTrent
7 1 (0.068%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.068%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 227 (15.48%) Azure
2 209 (14.26%) Figma
3 119 (8.12%) AWS
4 113 (7.71%) Power Platform
5 97 (6.62%) Microsoft 365
6 56 (3.82%) Azure DevOps
7 55 (3.75%) Entra ID
8 48 (3.27%) GCP
9 46 (3.14%) GitHub
10 43 (2.93%) SaaS
11 38 (2.59%) Power Automate
12 37 (2.52%) Microsoft Copilot
12 37 (2.52%) PowerApps
13 32 (2.18%) Serverless
14 27 (1.84%) GitHub Actions
15 24 (1.64%) Google Workspace
16 23 (1.57%) Copilot Studio
17 21 (1.43%) Google Sheets
18 20 (1.36%) Miro
18 20 (1.36%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 16 (1.09%) Wi-Fi
2 15 (1.02%) DNS
3 12 (0.82%) Internet
3 12 (0.82%) LAN
4 11 (0.75%) Intranet
4 11 (0.75%) SD-WAN
4 11 (0.75%) Wireless
5 10 (0.68%) DHCP
5 10 (0.68%) HTTP
5 10 (0.68%) VPN
6 8 (0.55%) WAN
7 7 (0.48%) TCP/IP
8 6 (0.41%) 5G
8 6 (0.41%) Cisco Wireless
8 6 (0.41%) Firewall
8 6 (0.41%) Network Security
8 6 (0.41%) SNMP
8 6 (0.41%) WLAN
9 5 (0.34%) SMS
9 5 (0.34%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 79 (5.39%) Power BI
2 27 (1.84%) Relational Database
3 25 (1.71%) NoSQL
4 24 (1.64%) PostgreSQL
5 21 (1.43%) SQL Server
6 19 (1.30%) Data Warehouse
6 19 (1.30%) Metadata
7 15 (1.02%) MongoDB
7 15 (1.02%) MySQL
8 13 (0.89%) Power Query
9 12 (0.82%) Tableau
10 11 (0.75%) Big Data
11 10 (0.68%) BigQuery
12 7 (0.48%) Looker
12 7 (0.48%) Oracle BI Publisher
12 7 (0.48%) Pinecone
13 6 (0.41%) DynamoDB
13 6 (0.41%) Oracle Database
13 6 (0.41%) Redis
13 6 (0.41%) ZAP BI
Development Applications
1 107 (7.30%) JIRA
2 84 (5.73%) Git
3 33 (2.25%) GitLab
4 27 (1.84%) Cypress.io
5 20 (1.36%) Jenkins
6 18 (1.23%) JUnit
7 17 (1.16%) Axure RP
8 14 (0.95%) Gradle
9 13 (0.89%) Vite
10 12 (0.82%) Browser DevTools
11 11 (0.75%) Android Studio
11 11 (0.75%) CircleCI
12 10 (0.68%) Selenium
12 10 (0.68%) Xcode
13 7 (0.48%) Postman
13 7 (0.48%) Visual Studio
14 6 (0.41%) Eclipse
14 6 (0.41%) fastlane
14 6 (0.41%) Mocha
14 6 (0.41%) Mockito
General
1 440 (30.01%) Social Skills
2 263 (17.94%) Finance
3 206 (14.05%) Public Sector
4 152 (10.37%) Analytical Skills
5 115 (7.84%) Banking
6 58 (3.96%) Marketing
7 55 (3.75%) Retail
8 35 (2.39%) Legal
9 31 (2.11%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 31 (2.11%) Presentation Skills
10 30 (2.05%) Influencing Skills
11 22 (1.50%) Manufacturing
12 19 (1.30%) Automotive
12 19 (1.30%) Publishing
13 18 (1.23%) Organisational Skills
14 17 (1.16%) Documentation Skills
14 17 (1.16%) Games
14 17 (1.16%) Pharmaceutical
15 15 (1.02%) Investment Banking
16 12 (0.82%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 307 (20.94%) Designer
2 222 (15.14%) Senior
3 192 (13.10%) Developer
4 142 (9.69%) UX Designer
5 131 (8.94%) Analyst
6 79 (5.39%) Consultant
6 79 (5.39%) Lead
7 67 (4.57%) Business Analyst
8 65 (4.43%) Product Designer
9 63 (4.30%) Architect
10 59 (4.02%) Senior Designer
10 59 (4.02%) UI Designer
11 49 (3.34%) User Researcher
12 47 (3.21%) Content Designer
13 44 (3.00%) Service Designer
13 44 (3.00%) User Experience Researcher
14 41 (2.80%) UI/UX Designer
15 36 (2.46%) IT Support
15 36 (2.46%) Product Manager
16 35 (2.39%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 156 (10.64%) React
2 133 (9.07%) CSS
3 121 (8.25%) HTML
4 102 (6.96%) REST
5 70 (4.77%) AngularJS
6 69 (4.71%) RESTful
7 55 (3.75%) Spring
8 54 (3.68%) Spring Boot
9 51 (3.48%) .NET
10 39 (2.66%) GraphQL
11 36 (2.46%) Node.js
12 33 (2.25%) HTML5
12 33 (2.25%) JSON
12 33 (2.25%) Redux
13 30 (2.05%) CSS3
14 29 (1.98%) Next.js
15 28 (1.91%) Jest
16 26 (1.77%) Kafka
17 22 (1.50%) OAuth
18 21 (1.43%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 144 (9.82%) Product Ownership
2 72 (4.91%) Mobile App
3 56 (3.82%) Onboarding
4 35 (2.39%) AI Agents
5 33 (2.25%) Data Structures
6 30 (2.05%) Enterprise Software
7 26 (1.77%) Cloud Native
8 19 (1.30%) Analytical Mindset
9 18 (1.23%) Data Protection Act
10 17 (1.16%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 17 (1.16%) Legacy Systems
11 16 (1.09%) Virtual Reality
12 15 (1.02%) Distributed Systems
13 14 (0.95%) Augmented Reality
14 13 (0.89%) Animation
14 13 (0.89%) Management Information System
14 13 (0.89%) NHS
14 13 (0.89%) Self-Motivation
15 12 (0.82%) Low-Code
15 12 (0.82%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 100 (6.82%) Windows
2 47 (3.21%) Android
3 40 (2.73%) Apple iOS
4 35 (2.39%) Windows 10
5 21 (1.43%) Mac OS
6 16 (1.09%) Linux
7 9 (0.61%) Windows Server
8 6 (0.41%) Unix
9 5 (0.34%) Windows Server 2016
10 4 (0.27%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.20%) Windows 7
12 2 (0.14%) Windows Server 2012
13 1 (0.068%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 474 (32.33%) UX Design
2 456 (31.11%) Agile
3 227 (15.48%) AI
4 216 (14.73%) Problem-Solving
5 211 (14.39%) User Research
6 209 (14.26%) Analytics
7 182 (12.41%) Continuous Improvement
8 174 (11.87%) Stakeholder Management
9 168 (11.46%) CI/CD
10 164 (11.19%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 160 (10.91%) Roadmaps
12 152 (10.37%) DevOps
13 146 (9.96%) Prototyping
14 134 (9.14%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
15 129 (8.80%) UX Research
15 129 (8.80%) Wireframes
16 125 (8.53%) Decision-Making
16 125 (8.53%) Service Design
17 112 (7.64%) Workshop Facilitation
18 108 (7.37%) Usability Testing
Programming Languages
1 160 (10.91%) JavaScript
2 127 (8.66%) SQL
3 126 (8.59%) Python
4 115 (7.84%) Java
5 111 (7.57%) TypeScript
6 53 (3.62%) C#
7 45 (3.07%) PowerShell
8 30 (2.05%) Kotlin
9 20 (1.36%) Bash
10 19 (1.30%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 12 (0.82%) Swift
12 11 (0.75%) C++
13 9 (0.61%) Lua
14 7 (0.48%) Korn
15 6 (0.41%) Perl
15 6 (0.41%) VBA
16 5 (0.34%) Go
16 5 (0.34%) PL/SQL
16 5 (0.34%) R
16 5 (0.34%) Scala
Qualifications
1 198 (13.51%) Security Cleared
2 147 (10.03%) SC Cleared
3 127 (8.66%) Degree
4 32 (2.18%) BPSS Clearance
5 30 (2.05%) Computer Science Degree
6 25 (1.71%) DV Cleared
7 22 (1.50%) Microsoft Certification
8 14 (0.95%) Master's Degree
9 13 (0.89%) Azure Certification
10 11 (0.75%) Cisco Certification
11 8 (0.55%) CCNP
12 7 (0.48%) CCA
13 6 (0.41%) CCIE
13 6 (0.41%) Citrix Certification
13 6 (0.41%) ITIL Certification
13 6 (0.41%) PMI Certification
14 5 (0.34%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 4 (0.27%) ISTQB
15 4 (0.27%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
15 4 (0.27%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 260 (17.74%) Accessibility
2 121 (8.25%) QA
3 83 (5.66%) WCAG
4 48 (3.27%) Data Quality
5 36 (2.46%) GDPR
6 20 (1.36%) Actionable Recommendations
7 18 (1.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 9 (0.61%) SLA
9 7 (0.48%) Cyber Essentials
10 6 (0.41%) GMP
10 6 (0.41%) GxP
10 6 (0.41%) PMO
11 4 (0.27%) GRC
11 4 (0.27%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 3 (0.20%) Disclosure Scotland
12 3 (0.20%) HIPAA
12 3 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 3 (0.20%) NCSC
12 3 (0.20%) NIST
12 3 (0.20%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 70 (4.77%) Active Directory
2 53 (3.62%) Docker
3 21 (1.43%) Virtual Desktop
4 19 (1.30%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (0.41%) Firmware
6 4 (0.27%) Hyper-V
6 4 (0.27%) Microsoft App-V
7 3 (0.20%) XenApp
7 3 (0.20%) XenDesktop
8 2 (0.14%) BitLocker
8 2 (0.14%) VMware Workstation
9 1 (0.068%) ISA Server
9 1 (0.068%) Varnish
9 1 (0.068%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 56 (3.82%) Kubernetes
2 48 (3.27%) Terraform
3 35 (2.39%) Grafana
4 31 (2.11%) Microsoft Intune
4 31 (2.11%) SCCM
5 18 (1.23%) Ansible
5 18 (1.23%) Single Sign-On
6 11 (0.75%) Prometheus
7 4 (0.27%) Jamf Pro
7 4 (0.27%) Podman
8 3 (0.20%) HP ALM
8 3 (0.20%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
9 2 (0.14%) Argo
9 2 (0.14%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.14%) Nagios
9 2 (0.14%) Packer
9 2 (0.14%) Rancher
9 2 (0.14%) SysTrack
9 2 (0.14%) WSUS
10 1 (0.068%) HAProxy
Vendors
1 210 (14.32%) Microsoft
2 90 (6.14%) Adobe
3 68 (4.64%) Google
4 53 (3.62%) ServiceNow
5 47 (3.21%) Oracle
6 43 (2.93%) Salesforce
6 43 (2.93%) SAP
7 23 (1.57%) Citrix
8 20 (1.36%) Splunk
9 19 (1.30%) VMware
10 17 (1.16%) Databricks
10 17 (1.16%) Workday
11 16 (1.09%) Cisco
12 15 (1.02%) Dynatrace
13 14 (0.95%) Apple
14 11 (0.75%) Aruba
15 9 (0.61%) Foundry
15 9 (0.61%) MuleSoft
15 9 (0.61%) OpenAI
15 9 (0.61%) Zscaler