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

6 months to
5 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 76 64 71
Rank change year-on-year -12 +7 -5
Contract jobs citing User Experience 1,398 1,062 1,265
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.28% 3.51% 2.87%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.80% 3.89% 3.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 967 695 852
10th Percentile £313 £313 £313
25th Percentile £400 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% - -1.53%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £650 £688 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% +1.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 49 24 45
10th Percentile £15.50 £25.26 £19.25
25th Percentile £17.69 £34.88 £25.00
Median hourly rate £38.94 £45.00 £41.68
Median % change year-on-year -13.47% +7.98% -7.39%
75th Percentile £61.25 £53.56 £72.90
90th Percentile £70.85 £73.86 £80.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £41.00 £32.50
% change year-on-year -20.73% +26.15% -30.85%

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 36,798 27,287 38,212
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.45% 90.16% 86.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,332 17,120 24,896
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 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £482 £492 £500
% change year-on-year -2.03% -1.60% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,175 894 2,252
10th Percentile £14.64 £15.62 £13.25
25th Percentile £18.25 £21.05 £16.11
Median hourly rate £28.00 £32.50 £32.85
Median % change year-on-year -13.85% -1.05% -6.16%
75th Percentile £63.75 £63.75 £58.75
90th Percentile £73.63 £75.00 £71.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £31.76 £33.28
% change year-on-year -20.81% -4.57% -4.91%

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 5 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 5 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 5 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 -3 1,201 £488 -2.50% 933
London -18 626 £500 -4.76% 383
UK excluding London -9 603 £475 +5.56% 677
Work from Home -29 360 £496 +0.20% 607
North of England +12 206 £465 +3.33% 188
North West +16 133 £420 -6.67% 106
South East -10 123 £485 -5.83% 188
Midlands -14 108 £520 +30.00% 112
South West -13 67 £450 +16.13% 77
Scotland -4 61 £473 +5.00% 26
West Midlands -38 60 £475 +1.33% 59
Yorkshire -30 52 £513 +28.04% 54
East Midlands +5 48 £550 +54.49% 51
East of England -21 30 £425 -10.99% 76
North East +3 20 £388 -8.82% 29
Wales +7 15 £300 -29.41% 16
Northern Ireland -7 4 £625 +92.31% 7

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 (4.29%) SharePoint
2 54 (3.86%) Confluence
3 39 (2.79%) CMS
4 24 (1.72%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 18 (1.29%) Microsoft Exchange
6 12 (0.86%) Headless CMS
7 10 (0.72%) Apache
8 9 (0.64%) SugarCRM
9 8 (0.57%) Sitecore CMS
9 8 (0.57%) Umbraco
10 4 (0.29%) Camunda
10 4 (0.29%) Ethereum
10 4 (0.29%) Hyperledger
10 4 (0.29%) 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%) Apache Airflow
12 2 (0.14%) WordPress
Applications
1 47 (3.36%) Sketch
2 38 (2.72%) Adobe XD
3 24 (1.72%) MS Visio
4 23 (1.65%) Microsoft Excel
5 17 (1.22%) Chatbot
5 17 (1.22%) Microsoft Office
6 14 (1.00%) InVision
7 12 (0.86%) Photoshop
8 10 (0.72%) Adobe Illustrator
9 6 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
9 6 (0.43%) Spreadsheet
9 6 (0.43%) Trello
10 5 (0.36%) Adobe After Effects
10 5 (0.36%) Adobe Creative Suite
11 4 (0.29%) Microsoft Project
11 4 (0.29%) UXPin
12 3 (0.21%) Adobe Captivate
12 3 (0.21%) UserZoom
13 2 (0.14%) Camtasia
13 2 (0.14%) InDesign
Business Applications
1 22 (1.57%) SAP S/4HANA
2 15 (1.07%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (0.43%) Sage X3
3 6 (0.43%) Workday HCM
4 5 (0.36%) 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%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.14%) SAP ERP
6 2 (0.14%) SAP SD
6 2 (0.14%) SAP Travel Management
7 1 (0.072%) Adobe Campaign
7 1 (0.072%) Elite 3E
7 1 (0.072%) Eloqua
7 1 (0.072%) Integrated Workplace Management System
7 1 (0.072%) NEC Housing
7 1 (0.072%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 230 (16.45%) Azure
2 187 (13.38%) Figma
3 154 (11.02%) AWS
4 102 (7.30%) Power Platform
5 83 (5.94%) Microsoft 365
6 69 (4.94%) GCP
6 69 (4.94%) SaaS
7 57 (4.08%) Entra ID
8 55 (3.93%) Azure DevOps
9 52 (3.72%) GitHub
10 36 (2.58%) Power Automate
11 34 (2.43%) PowerApps
12 32 (2.29%) GitHub Actions
12 32 (2.29%) Serverless
13 29 (2.07%) Miro
14 23 (1.65%) Google Workspace
15 22 (1.57%) Cloud Computing
15 22 (1.57%) Dynamics 365
15 22 (1.57%) Microsoft Copilot
16 20 (1.43%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 23 (1.65%) DNS
2 20 (1.43%) Wireless
3 17 (1.22%) Internet
4 15 (1.07%) HTTP
5 13 (0.93%) Wi-Fi
6 11 (0.79%) VPN
7 10 (0.72%) DHCP
7 10 (0.72%) Intranet
8 9 (0.64%) TCP/IP
9 8 (0.57%) BGP
9 8 (0.57%) Cisco ISE
9 8 (0.57%) Cisco Wireless
9 8 (0.57%) Firewall
10 7 (0.50%) NX-OS
10 7 (0.50%) VXLAN
10 7 (0.50%) WAN
11 6 (0.43%) SD-WAN
11 6 (0.43%) Unified Communications
12 5 (0.36%) Network Security
12 5 (0.36%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 67 (4.79%) Power BI
2 38 (2.72%) Relational Database
3 36 (2.58%) MySQL
4 32 (2.29%) NoSQL
5 28 (2.00%) PostgreSQL
6 23 (1.65%) Data Warehouse
7 21 (1.50%) SQL Server
8 17 (1.22%) Tableau
9 16 (1.14%) MongoDB
10 15 (1.07%) Metadata
11 14 (1.00%) BigQuery
12 11 (0.79%) Looker
13 8 (0.57%) Power Query
14 7 (0.50%) DynamoDB
14 7 (0.50%) Mixpanel
14 7 (0.50%) Pinecone
15 6 (0.43%) Redis
15 6 (0.43%) ZAP BI
16 5 (0.36%) Hadoop
16 5 (0.36%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 119 (8.51%) JIRA
2 93 (6.65%) Git
3 47 (3.36%) GitLab
4 32 (2.29%) Jenkins
5 31 (2.22%) Cypress.io
6 26 (1.86%) JUnit
7 24 (1.72%) Axure RP
8 20 (1.43%) Android Studio
9 19 (1.36%) Xcode
10 16 (1.14%) Eclipse
10 16 (1.14%) Gradle
11 14 (1.00%) Browser DevTools
12 12 (0.86%) CircleCI
13 10 (0.72%) Postman
14 9 (0.64%) Artifactory
15 8 (0.57%) Mocha
15 8 (0.57%) Mockito
15 8 (0.57%) Selenium
16 7 (0.50%) Jasmine
17 6 (0.43%) Cucumber
General
1 469 (33.55%) Social Skills
2 260 (18.60%) Finance
3 206 (14.74%) Public Sector
4 158 (11.30%) Analytical Skills
5 105 (7.51%) Banking
6 76 (5.44%) Marketing
7 40 (2.86%) Retail
8 30 (2.15%) Influencing Skills
8 30 (2.15%) Presentation Skills
9 27 (1.93%) Legal
10 24 (1.72%) Manufacturing
11 21 (1.50%) Pharmaceutical
12 17 (1.22%) Financial Institution
12 17 (1.22%) Investment Banking
13 16 (1.14%) Documentation Skills
14 14 (1.00%) Games
14 14 (1.00%) Telecoms
15 13 (0.93%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 11 (0.79%) Front Office
16 11 (0.79%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 246 (17.60%) Designer
2 233 (16.67%) Developer
3 207 (14.81%) Senior
4 137 (9.80%) UX Designer
5 128 (9.16%) Analyst
6 75 (5.36%) Lead
7 62 (4.43%) Business Analyst
8 60 (4.29%) Consultant
9 57 (4.08%) Product Designer
9 57 (4.08%) Senior Designer
10 51 (3.65%) Architect
11 49 (3.51%) User Researcher
12 41 (2.93%) Front-End Developer (Client-Side Developer)
13 40 (2.86%) Senior Developer
13 40 (2.86%) Service Designer
13 40 (2.86%) Software Engineer
14 38 (2.72%) Full-Stack Developer
14 38 (2.72%) UI Designer
15 37 (2.65%) Support Engineer
16 35 (2.50%) Senior UX Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 176 (12.59%) React
2 171 (12.23%) CSS
3 156 (11.16%) HTML
4 120 (8.58%) REST
5 94 (6.72%) RESTful
6 93 (6.65%) AngularJS
7 60 (4.29%) Spring
7 60 (4.29%) Spring Boot
8 55 (3.93%) .NET
9 52 (3.72%) Node.js
10 43 (3.08%) HTML5
11 40 (2.86%) GraphQL
12 37 (2.65%) Jest
13 35 (2.50%) CSS3
14 34 (2.43%) JSON
15 31 (2.22%) Redux
16 26 (1.86%) Next.js
17 24 (1.72%) SOAP
18 22 (1.57%) OAuth
18 22 (1.57%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 142 (10.16%) Product Ownership
2 94 (6.72%) Mobile App
3 58 (4.15%) Onboarding
4 29 (2.07%) Analytical Mindset
5 28 (2.00%) Enterprise Software
6 27 (1.93%) AI Agents
7 26 (1.86%) Data Structures
8 18 (1.29%) Data Protection Act
9 17 (1.22%) Distributed Systems
10 16 (1.14%) Low-Code
11 15 (1.07%) Data Centre
11 15 (1.07%) Legacy Systems
11 15 (1.07%) Virtual Team
12 14 (1.00%) Cloud Native
12 14 (1.00%) NHS
13 13 (0.93%) CMDB
14 12 (0.86%) Algorithms
14 12 (0.86%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
15 10 (0.72%) e-Learning
15 10 (0.72%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 133 (9.51%) Windows
2 51 (3.65%) Android
3 42 (3.00%) Windows 10
4 38 (2.72%) Apple iOS
5 30 (2.15%) Linux
6 24 (1.72%) Mac OS
7 17 (1.22%) Unix
8 6 (0.43%) Windows Server
9 3 (0.21%) Ubuntu
10 2 (0.14%) VMS
11 1 (0.072%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 1 (0.072%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.072%) Windows Server 2008
11 1 (0.072%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 476 (34.05%) Agile
2 465 (33.26%) UX Design
3 223 (15.95%) Problem-Solving
4 221 (15.81%) User Research
5 220 (15.74%) Analytics
6 186 (13.30%) CI/CD
7 168 (12.02%) DevOps
7 168 (12.02%) Stakeholder Management
8 166 (11.87%) AI
9 162 (11.59%) Continuous Improvement
10 155 (11.09%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 145 (10.37%) Roadmaps
12 143 (10.23%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
13 134 (9.59%) Prototyping
14 129 (9.23%) Wireframes
15 125 (8.94%) Service Design
16 121 (8.66%) Decision-Making
17 118 (8.44%) Usability Testing
18 117 (8.37%) UX Research
19 102 (7.30%) Front End Development
Programming Languages
1 202 (14.45%) JavaScript
2 141 (10.09%) SQL
3 123 (8.80%) Python
4 118 (8.44%) Java
5 113 (8.08%) TypeScript
6 67 (4.79%) PowerShell
7 58 (4.15%) C#
8 33 (2.36%) Kotlin
9 23 (1.65%) Bash
10 17 (1.22%) Perl
10 17 (1.22%) PHP
11 15 (1.07%) Swift
12 13 (0.93%) C++
12 13 (0.93%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 8 (0.57%) PL/SQL
14 7 (0.50%) Go
14 7 (0.50%) Lisp
14 7 (0.50%) Lua
15 6 (0.43%) Scala
15 6 (0.43%) VBA
Qualifications
1 190 (13.59%) Security Cleared
2 137 (9.80%) SC Cleared
3 134 (9.59%) Degree
4 40 (2.86%) BPSS Clearance
5 24 (1.72%) Computer Science Degree
6 18 (1.29%) DV Cleared
6 18 (1.29%) Master's Degree
7 15 (1.07%) Microsoft Certification
8 11 (0.79%) CCNP
8 11 (0.79%) Cisco Certification
8 11 (0.79%) MOS
9 8 (0.57%) PMI Certification
10 7 (0.50%) OCA
10 7 (0.50%) Oracle Certification
11 5 (0.36%) CCA
11 5 (0.36%) Citrix Certification
12 4 (0.29%) Azure Certification
13 3 (0.21%) CESG Certified Professional
13 3 (0.21%) ITIL Certification
14 2 (0.14%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 249 (17.81%) Accessibility
2 139 (9.94%) QA
3 75 (5.36%) WCAG
4 47 (3.36%) Data Quality
5 44 (3.15%) GDPR
6 25 (1.79%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 23 (1.65%) Actionable Recommendations
8 20 (1.43%) SLA
9 8 (0.57%) PMO
10 6 (0.43%) NCSC
11 5 (0.36%) GxP
12 4 (0.29%) California Consumer Privacy Act
13 3 (0.21%) Cyber Essentials
13 3 (0.21%) Disclosure Scotland
13 3 (0.21%) GMP
13 3 (0.21%) Government Security Classifications
13 3 (0.21%) HIPAA
13 3 (0.21%) NIST
13 3 (0.21%) SOC 2
14 2 (0.14%) GRC
System Software
1 80 (5.72%) Active Directory
2 67 (4.79%) Docker
3 23 (1.65%) VMware Infrastructure
4 13 (0.93%) Virtual Desktop
5 4 (0.29%) Firmware
6 3 (0.21%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.14%) ProxySG
8 1 (0.072%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.072%) ISA Server
8 1 (0.072%) Microsoft App-V
8 1 (0.072%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.072%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.072%) XenApp
8 1 (0.072%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 61 (4.36%) Kubernetes
2 52 (3.72%) Microsoft Intune
3 40 (2.86%) SCCM
3 40 (2.86%) Terraform
4 25 (1.79%) Grafana
5 16 (1.14%) Ansible
6 12 (0.86%) Single Sign-On
7 7 (0.50%) FortiGate
7 7 (0.50%) Prometheus
8 6 (0.43%) Jamf Pro
9 4 (0.29%) Argo
9 4 (0.29%) HP ALM
10 3 (0.21%) Nagios
10 3 (0.21%) Rancher
11 2 (0.14%) PingFederate
11 2 (0.14%) SysTrack
12 1 (0.072%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 1 (0.072%) Consul
12 1 (0.072%) Istio
12 1 (0.072%) Podman
Vendors
1 232 (16.60%) Microsoft
2 93 (6.65%) Adobe
3 84 (6.01%) Google
4 80 (5.72%) ServiceNow
5 51 (3.65%) SAP
6 40 (2.86%) Oracle
7 36 (2.58%) Salesforce
8 27 (1.93%) Splunk
9 24 (1.72%) VMware
10 23 (1.65%) Citrix
11 16 (1.14%) Cisco
12 14 (1.00%) Apple
13 12 (0.86%) Red Hat
13 12 (0.86%) Zscaler
14 10 (0.72%) Amplitude
14 10 (0.72%) Hotjar
14 10 (0.72%) Workday
15 9 (0.64%) Ekahau
15 9 (0.64%) OpenAI
15 9 (0.64%) Optimizely