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

6 months to
12 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 76 66 71
Rank change year-on-year -10 +5 -7
Contract jobs citing User Experience 1,374 1,010 1,262
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.22% 3.43% 2.83%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.74% 3.80% 3.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 950 673 845
10th Percentile £313 £308 £306
25th Percentile £400 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £489 £494 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.06% -1.20% -
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £650 £702 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% +2.15%
Number of hourly rates quoted 46 25 47
10th Percentile £15.50 £25.26 £16.25
25th Percentile £17.69 £36.00 £24.38
Median hourly rate £39.72 £47.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -16.38% +46.15% -27.78%
75th Percentile £61.25 £53.75 £64.77
90th Percentile £72.13 £81.08 £78.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.05 £46.75 £25.00
% change year-on-year -33.59% +87.00% -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 36,752 26,590 38,671
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.07% 90.35% 86.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,283 16,983 25,150
10th Percentile £313 £306 £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 £744 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -2.04% -2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,192 900 2,342
10th Percentile £14.82 £15.49 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.00 £16.06
Median hourly rate £29.61 £32.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -8.89% - -7.14%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.79 £57.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £76.34 £70.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.21 £32.00 £31.50
% change year-on-year -14.97% +1.59% -10.00%

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 12 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 12 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 12 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 -6 1,181 £490 -2.00% 864
London -15 610 £500 -4.76% 377
UK excluding London -4 596 £475 +5.56% 613
Work from Home -23 352 £494 -0.30% 479
North of England +11 207 £465 +9.41% 181
North West +15 134 £405 -9.70% 97
South East -10 123 £488 -3.47% 187
Midlands -10 110 £510 +27.50% 91
West Midlands -37 63 £475 +18.01% 58
South West -13 61 £450 +20.00% 63
Scotland -2 57 £484 +10.57% 18
Yorkshire -28 52 £513 +28.13% 48
East Midlands 0 47 £550 +54.49% 33
East of England -14 31 £413 -13.16% 61
North East +2 20 £388 -8.82% 37
Wales +2 14 £300 -27.27% 18
Northern Ireland -9 4 £625 +92.31% 4

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 61 (4.44%) SharePoint
2 51 (3.71%) Confluence
3 39 (2.84%) CMS
4 24 (1.75%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 17 (1.24%) Microsoft Exchange
6 12 (0.87%) Headless CMS
7 10 (0.73%) Apache
8 8 (0.58%) Sitecore CMS
8 8 (0.58%) Umbraco
9 4 (0.29%) Camunda
9 4 (0.29%) Ethereum
9 4 (0.29%) Hyperledger
9 4 (0.29%) Mendix
10 3 (0.22%) Anypoint
10 3 (0.22%) Apache Spark
10 3 (0.22%) Drupal
10 3 (0.22%) Jupyter
10 3 (0.22%) SugarCRM
11 2 (0.15%) Appian
12 1 (0.073%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 45 (3.28%) Sketch
2 35 (2.55%) Adobe XD
3 24 (1.75%) Microsoft Excel
4 23 (1.67%) MS Visio
5 19 (1.38%) Chatbot
6 16 (1.16%) Microsoft Office
7 15 (1.09%) InVision
8 12 (0.87%) Photoshop
9 10 (0.73%) Adobe Illustrator
10 6 (0.44%) Microsoft PowerPoint
10 6 (0.44%) Spreadsheet
10 6 (0.44%) Trello
11 5 (0.36%) Adobe After Effects
12 4 (0.29%) Adobe Creative Suite
12 4 (0.29%) Microsoft Project
12 4 (0.29%) UXPin
13 3 (0.22%) Adobe Captivate
13 3 (0.22%) UserZoom
14 2 (0.15%) Autodesk Smoke
14 2 (0.15%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 20 (1.46%) SAP S/4HANA
2 15 (1.09%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (0.44%) Sage X3
3 6 (0.44%) Workday HCM
4 5 (0.36%) Shopify
5 3 (0.22%) SAP CO
5 3 (0.22%) SAP FI
5 3 (0.22%) SAP FI/CO
6 2 (0.15%) iTrent
6 2 (0.15%) Magento
6 2 (0.15%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.15%) SAP ERP
6 2 (0.15%) SAP SD
6 2 (0.15%) SAP Travel Management
7 1 (0.073%) Adobe Campaign
7 1 (0.073%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.073%) Integrated Workplace Management System
7 1 (0.073%) NetSuite
7 1 (0.073%) ResourceLink
7 1 (0.073%) SAP PP
Cloud Services
1 220 (16.01%) Azure
2 186 (13.54%) Figma
3 140 (10.19%) AWS
4 101 (7.35%) Power Platform
5 82 (5.97%) Microsoft 365
6 61 (4.44%) GCP
7 58 (4.22%) Azure DevOps
7 58 (4.22%) SaaS
8 56 (4.08%) Entra ID
9 53 (3.86%) GitHub
10 37 (2.69%) PowerApps
11 36 (2.62%) Power Automate
12 33 (2.40%) Serverless
13 32 (2.33%) GitHub Actions
14 27 (1.97%) Miro
15 24 (1.75%) Google Workspace
16 22 (1.60%) Cloud Computing
16 22 (1.60%) Dynamics 365
16 22 (1.60%) Microsoft Copilot
17 20 (1.46%) Google Sheets
Communications & Networking
1 23 (1.67%) DNS
2 18 (1.31%) Wireless
3 17 (1.24%) Internet
4 13 (0.95%) HTTP
5 12 (0.87%) Intranet
5 12 (0.87%) Wi-Fi
6 11 (0.80%) DHCP
6 11 (0.80%) VPN
7 10 (0.73%) TCP/IP
8 9 (0.66%) Firewall
9 8 (0.58%) BGP
9 8 (0.58%) Cisco ISE
9 8 (0.58%) Cisco Wireless
9 8 (0.58%) LAN
9 8 (0.58%) WAN
10 7 (0.51%) NX-OS
10 7 (0.51%) SD-WAN
10 7 (0.51%) VXLAN
11 6 (0.44%) Network Security
11 6 (0.44%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 67 (4.88%) Power BI
2 36 (2.62%) Relational Database
3 32 (2.33%) NoSQL
4 28 (2.04%) PostgreSQL
5 27 (1.97%) MySQL
6 24 (1.75%) Data Warehouse
7 20 (1.46%) SQL Server
8 17 (1.24%) Tableau
9 15 (1.09%) Metadata
9 15 (1.09%) MongoDB
10 13 (0.95%) BigQuery
11 10 (0.73%) Looker
12 8 (0.58%) Power Query
13 7 (0.51%) DynamoDB
13 7 (0.51%) Pinecone
14 6 (0.44%) Redis
14 6 (0.44%) ZAP BI
15 5 (0.36%) Hadoop
16 4 (0.29%) Oracle Database
16 4 (0.29%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 114 (8.30%) JIRA
2 89 (6.48%) Git
3 47 (3.42%) GitLab
4 31 (2.26%) Cypress.io
4 31 (2.26%) Jenkins
5 27 (1.97%) JUnit
6 24 (1.75%) Axure RP
7 18 (1.31%) Android Studio
8 17 (1.24%) Xcode
9 16 (1.16%) Gradle
10 14 (1.02%) Eclipse
11 13 (0.95%) Browser DevTools
12 12 (0.87%) CircleCI
12 12 (0.87%) Selenium
13 9 (0.66%) Artifactory
13 9 (0.66%) Postman
14 8 (0.58%) Mocha
14 8 (0.58%) Mockito
15 7 (0.51%) Jasmine
15 7 (0.51%) Visual Studio
General
1 457 (33.26%) Social Skills
2 253 (18.41%) Finance
3 196 (14.26%) Public Sector
4 154 (11.21%) Analytical Skills
5 107 (7.79%) Banking
6 66 (4.80%) Marketing
7 40 (2.91%) Retail
8 32 (2.33%) Presentation Skills
9 27 (1.97%) Influencing Skills
9 27 (1.97%) Legal
10 21 (1.53%) Manufacturing
11 19 (1.38%) Pharmaceutical
12 17 (1.24%) Documentation Skills
12 17 (1.24%) Investment Banking
13 16 (1.16%) Games
14 15 (1.09%) Financial Institution
15 12 (0.87%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 12 (0.87%) Telecoms
16 11 (0.80%) Front Office
16 11 (0.80%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 244 (17.76%) Designer
2 226 (16.45%) Developer
3 205 (14.92%) Senior
4 132 (9.61%) UX Designer
5 130 (9.46%) Analyst
6 66 (4.80%) Lead
7 63 (4.59%) Business Analyst
8 62 (4.51%) Consultant
9 58 (4.22%) Product Designer
10 57 (4.15%) Senior Designer
11 53 (3.86%) Architect
12 49 (3.57%) User Researcher
13 41 (2.98%) Software Engineer
14 40 (2.91%) Front-End Developer (Client-Side Developer)
14 40 (2.91%) Senior Developer
15 39 (2.84%) Full-Stack Developer
15 39 (2.84%) Service Designer
16 38 (2.77%) UI Designer
17 37 (2.69%) Support Engineer
18 35 (2.55%) Senior UX Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 171 (12.45%) React
2 161 (11.72%) CSS
3 147 (10.70%) HTML
4 115 (8.37%) REST
5 94 (6.84%) RESTful
6 91 (6.62%) AngularJS
7 61 (4.44%) Spring
7 61 (4.44%) Spring Boot
8 56 (4.08%) .NET
9 51 (3.71%) Node.js
10 43 (3.13%) HTML5
11 36 (2.62%) GraphQL
11 36 (2.62%) Jest
12 35 (2.55%) CSS3
13 34 (2.47%) JSON
14 31 (2.26%) Redux
15 26 (1.89%) Next.js
16 22 (1.60%) Playwright
16 22 (1.60%) Vue
17 20 (1.46%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 139 (10.12%) Product Ownership
2 90 (6.55%) Mobile App
3 52 (3.78%) Onboarding
4 27 (1.97%) Enterprise Software
5 26 (1.89%) AI Agents
6 25 (1.82%) Analytical Mindset
7 24 (1.75%) Data Structures
8 17 (1.24%) Data Protection Act
9 16 (1.16%) Distributed Systems
10 15 (1.09%) Data Centre
10 15 (1.09%) Legacy Systems
10 15 (1.09%) Virtual Team
11 14 (1.02%) Cloud Native
11 14 (1.02%) Low-Code
11 14 (1.02%) NHS
12 13 (0.95%) CMDB
13 11 (0.80%) Algorithms
13 11 (0.80%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
13 11 (0.80%) Graphic Design
13 11 (0.80%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 128 (9.32%) Windows
2 47 (3.42%) Android
3 43 (3.13%) Windows 10
4 36 (2.62%) Apple iOS
5 28 (2.04%) Linux
6 23 (1.67%) Mac OS
7 15 (1.09%) Unix
8 6 (0.44%) Windows Server
9 3 (0.22%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.073%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.073%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.073%) Windows Server 2008
10 1 (0.073%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 462 (33.62%) Agile
2 451 (32.82%) UX Design
3 223 (16.23%) Problem-Solving
4 210 (15.28%) User Research
5 206 (14.99%) Analytics
6 183 (13.32%) CI/CD
7 169 (12.30%) DevOps
8 164 (11.94%) Stakeholder Management
9 162 (11.79%) AI
10 159 (11.57%) Continuous Improvement
11 158 (11.50%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 141 (10.26%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
13 137 (9.97%) Roadmaps
14 133 (9.68%) Prototyping
15 124 (9.02%) Wireframes
16 123 (8.95%) Decision-Making
16 123 (8.95%) Service Design
17 115 (8.37%) UX Research
18 111 (8.08%) Usability Testing
19 103 (7.50%) Workshop Facilitation
Programming Languages
1 194 (14.12%) JavaScript
2 139 (10.12%) SQL
3 122 (8.88%) Python
4 118 (8.59%) Java
5 112 (8.15%) TypeScript
6 66 (4.80%) PowerShell
7 59 (4.29%) C#
8 31 (2.26%) Kotlin
9 20 (1.46%) Bash
10 15 (1.09%) C++
10 15 (1.09%) Perl
11 13 (0.95%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 13 (0.95%) Swift
12 10 (0.73%) PHP
13 9 (0.66%) Lua
14 8 (0.58%) PL/SQL
15 7 (0.51%) Lisp
16 6 (0.44%) Go
16 6 (0.44%) Scala
16 6 (0.44%) VBA
Qualifications
1 187 (13.61%) Security Cleared
2 133 (9.68%) SC Cleared
3 129 (9.39%) Degree
4 38 (2.77%) BPSS Clearance
5 23 (1.67%) Computer Science Degree
6 18 (1.31%) DV Cleared
7 16 (1.16%) Master's Degree
8 15 (1.09%) Microsoft Certification
9 11 (0.80%) CCNP
9 11 (0.80%) Cisco Certification
10 8 (0.58%) MOS
10 8 (0.58%) PMI Certification
11 7 (0.51%) OCA
11 7 (0.51%) Oracle Certification
12 5 (0.36%) Azure Certification
12 5 (0.36%) CCA
12 5 (0.36%) Citrix Certification
13 3 (0.22%) CESG Certified Professional
13 3 (0.22%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
13 3 (0.22%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 245 (17.83%) Accessibility
2 133 (9.68%) QA
3 73 (5.31%) WCAG
4 47 (3.42%) Data Quality
5 43 (3.13%) GDPR
6 23 (1.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 21 (1.53%) Actionable Recommendations
8 16 (1.16%) SLA
9 8 (0.58%) PMO
10 6 (0.44%) NCSC
11 4 (0.29%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 4 (0.29%) GMP
11 4 (0.29%) GxP
12 3 (0.22%) Cyber Essentials
12 3 (0.22%) Disclosure Scotland
12 3 (0.22%) Government Security Classifications
12 3 (0.22%) GRC
12 3 (0.22%) HIPAA
12 3 (0.22%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 3 (0.22%) NIST
System Software
1 76 (5.53%) Active Directory
2 67 (4.88%) Docker
3 21 (1.53%) VMware Infrastructure
4 14 (1.02%) Virtual Desktop
5 4 (0.29%) Firmware
6 3 (0.22%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.15%) ProxySG
8 1 (0.073%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.073%) ISA Server
8 1 (0.073%) Microsoft App-V
8 1 (0.073%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.073%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.073%) XenApp
8 1 (0.073%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 60 (4.37%) Kubernetes
2 47 (3.42%) Microsoft Intune
3 40 (2.91%) Terraform
4 35 (2.55%) SCCM
5 24 (1.75%) Grafana
6 16 (1.16%) Ansible
7 11 (0.80%) Single Sign-On
8 7 (0.51%) FortiGate
9 6 (0.44%) Jamf Pro
9 6 (0.44%) Prometheus
10 4 (0.29%) Argo
11 3 (0.22%) HP ALM
11 3 (0.22%) Nagios
11 3 (0.22%) Rancher
12 2 (0.15%) SysTrack
13 1 (0.073%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 1 (0.073%) Consul
13 1 (0.073%) Kibana
13 1 (0.073%) Podman
13 1 (0.073%) WMI
Vendors
1 223 (16.23%) Microsoft
2 89 (6.48%) Adobe
3 78 (5.68%) Google
4 77 (5.60%) ServiceNow
5 48 (3.49%) SAP
6 39 (2.84%) Oracle
7 34 (2.47%) Salesforce
8 23 (1.67%) Citrix
9 22 (1.60%) Splunk
9 22 (1.60%) VMware
10 16 (1.16%) Cisco
11 14 (1.02%) Apple
12 13 (0.95%) Zscaler
13 12 (0.87%) Red Hat
14 10 (0.73%) Workday
15 9 (0.66%) Ekahau
15 9 (0.66%) MuleSoft
15 9 (0.66%) OpenAI
16 8 (0.58%) Sitecore
17 7 (0.51%) Remedy