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 19 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 82 59 71
Rank change year-on-year -23 +12 -8
Contract jobs citing User Experience 1,405 1,103 1,260
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.04% 3.75% 2.88%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.58% 4.13% 3.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 962 760 839
10th Percentile £313 £305 £304
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 £674 £694 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £425 £475
% change year-on-year +11.76% -10.53% +2.98%
Number of hourly rates quoted 45 22 49
10th Percentile £17.11 £26.78 £16.25
25th Percentile £21.33 £41.42 £25.00
Median hourly rate £50.00 £51.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -2.91% +58.46% -7.14%
75th Percentile £63.50 £80.35 £64.53
90th Percentile £78.90 £94.50 £73.89
UK excluding London median hourly rate £50.00 £70.00 £25.00
% change year-on-year -28.57% +180.00% -3.85%

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 39,218 26,699 37,767
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.91% 90.74% 86.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,782 17,291 24,442
10th Percentile £316 £306 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £523 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.31% -0.48% -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £630 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £485 £483 £500
% change year-on-year +0.41% -3.40% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,336 1,037 2,416
10th Percentile £14.93 £14.84 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.74 £18.51 £15.91
Median hourly rate £37.50 £30.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +25.00% -14.29% -2.78%
75th Percentile £65.33 £62.50 £58.69
90th Percentile £78.13 £75.00 £71.81
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £28.88 £35.00
% change year-on-year +38.53% -17.50% -

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 19 April 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 19 April 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 19 April 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 -20 1,216 £486 -2.75% 716
London -17 629 £505 -1.70% 306
UK excluding London -10 606 £475 +11.76% 488
Work from Home -29 356 £475 -1.30% 381
North of England -4 199 £450 - 144
Midlands -12 134 £500 +25.00% 92
North West +3 124 £423 -6.11% 75
South East -11 117 £488 +5.41% 122
West Midlands -25 91 £475 +2.70% 67
South West -9 66 £475 +26.67% 42
Scotland -12 51 £533 +20.00% 22
Yorkshire -26 51 £500 +24.84% 44
East Midlands -2 43 £550 +53.63% 25
East of England -21 27 £410 -13.68% 57
North East -5 22 £405 -10.50% 27
Wales -4 15 £375 +22.55% 11
Northern Ireland -4 3 - - 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 54 (3.84%) SharePoint
2 48 (3.42%) Confluence
3 37 (2.63%) CMS
4 19 (1.35%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 18 (1.28%) Microsoft Exchange
6 8 (0.57%) Apache
7 6 (0.43%) Headless CMS
7 6 (0.43%) Sitecore CMS
7 6 (0.43%) Umbraco
8 5 (0.36%) Camunda
9 4 (0.28%) Ethereum
9 4 (0.28%) Hyperledger
9 4 (0.28%) Mendix
10 3 (0.21%) Anypoint
10 3 (0.21%) Apache Spark
10 3 (0.21%) nginx
11 2 (0.14%) Appian
11 2 (0.14%) Drupal
11 2 (0.14%) IIS
12 1 (0.071%) Strapi
Applications
1 47 (3.35%) Sketch
2 34 (2.42%) Adobe XD
3 25 (1.78%) Microsoft Excel
4 22 (1.57%) MS Visio
5 19 (1.35%) Chatbot
6 14 (1.00%) InVision
6 14 (1.00%) Microsoft Office
7 12 (0.85%) Photoshop
8 8 (0.57%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 8 (0.57%) Adobe Illustrator
9 7 (0.50%) Adobe After Effects
10 6 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
11 5 (0.36%) Spreadsheet
11 5 (0.36%) Trello
12 4 (0.28%) UserZoom
13 3 (0.21%) Adobe Captivate
13 3 (0.21%) Microsoft Project
13 3 (0.21%) UXPin
14 2 (0.14%) Autodesk Smoke
14 2 (0.14%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 16 (1.14%) Dynamics CRM
2 12 (0.85%) SAP S/4HANA
3 9 (0.64%) Shopify
4 8 (0.57%) Workday HCM
5 6 (0.43%) Sage X3
6 2 (0.14%) NEC Housing
6 2 (0.14%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.14%) Payment Gateway
6 2 (0.14%) ResourceLink
6 2 (0.14%) SAP CO
6 2 (0.14%) SAP ERP
6 2 (0.14%) SAP FI
6 2 (0.14%) SAP FI/CO
6 2 (0.14%) Sprinklr
7 1 (0.071%) assyst
7 1 (0.071%) Oracle ERP
7 1 (0.071%) Oracle Payroll
7 1 (0.071%) SAP CRM
7 1 (0.071%) SAP PP
7 1 (0.071%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 225 (16.01%) Azure
2 202 (14.38%) Figma
3 123 (8.75%) AWS
4 101 (7.19%) Power Platform
5 92 (6.55%) Microsoft 365
6 64 (4.56%) Azure DevOps
7 55 (3.91%) Entra ID
7 55 (3.91%) GitHub
8 54 (3.84%) GCP
9 39 (2.78%) SaaS
10 37 (2.63%) Power Automate
10 37 (2.63%) PowerApps
11 36 (2.56%) Serverless
12 33 (2.35%) Microsoft Copilot
13 32 (2.28%) GitHub Actions
14 24 (1.71%) Dynamics 365
15 23 (1.64%) Google Workspace
15 23 (1.64%) Miro
16 20 (1.42%) Copilot Studio
16 20 (1.42%) Google Sheets
Communications & Networking
1 17 (1.21%) DNS
2 14 (1.00%) LAN
2 14 (1.00%) Wireless
3 11 (0.78%) DHCP
3 11 (0.78%) Internet
3 11 (0.78%) SD-WAN
3 11 (0.78%) Wi-Fi
4 10 (0.71%) HTTP
4 10 (0.71%) Intranet
4 10 (0.71%) WAN
5 9 (0.64%) VPN
6 8 (0.57%) Firewall
6 8 (0.57%) Network Security
6 8 (0.57%) SSL
7 7 (0.50%) Cisco Wireless
7 7 (0.50%) TCP/IP
8 6 (0.43%) Cisco ISE
8 6 (0.43%) WLAN
9 5 (0.36%) 5G
9 5 (0.36%) SMS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 70 (4.98%) Power BI
2 29 (2.06%) NoSQL
2 29 (2.06%) Relational Database
3 27 (1.92%) PostgreSQL
4 24 (1.71%) SQL Server
5 23 (1.64%) Data Warehouse
6 19 (1.35%) MySQL
7 18 (1.28%) Metadata
7 18 (1.28%) Tableau
8 16 (1.14%) MongoDB
9 11 (0.78%) BigQuery
10 10 (0.71%) Power Query
11 8 (0.57%) Looker
12 7 (0.50%) Pinecone
13 6 (0.43%) Big Data
13 6 (0.43%) DynamoDB
13 6 (0.43%) Oracle BI Publisher
13 6 (0.43%) ZAP BI
14 5 (0.36%) Hadoop
14 5 (0.36%) Redis
Development Applications
1 107 (7.62%) JIRA
2 79 (5.62%) Git
3 39 (2.78%) GitLab
4 28 (1.99%) Cypress.io
5 27 (1.92%) Jenkins
6 26 (1.85%) JUnit
7 20 (1.42%) Axure RP
8 14 (1.00%) Gradle
9 13 (0.93%) Selenium
10 12 (0.85%) CircleCI
11 11 (0.78%) Android Studio
11 11 (0.78%) Browser DevTools
12 9 (0.64%) Xcode
13 8 (0.57%) Mockito
13 8 (0.57%) Postman
13 8 (0.57%) Visual Studio
13 8 (0.57%) Vite
14 7 (0.50%) Jasmine
15 6 (0.43%) Artifactory
15 6 (0.43%) Mocha
General
1 448 (31.89%) Social Skills
2 269 (19.15%) Finance
3 197 (14.02%) Public Sector
4 160 (11.39%) Analytical Skills
5 115 (8.19%) Banking
6 54 (3.84%) Marketing
7 51 (3.63%) Retail
8 32 (2.28%) Legal
9 31 (2.21%) Presentation Skills
10 28 (1.99%) Influencing Skills
11 24 (1.71%) Manufacturing
12 22 (1.57%) Documentation Skills
13 20 (1.42%) Pharmaceutical
14 17 (1.21%) Games
15 15 (1.07%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 14 (1.00%) Investment Banking
16 14 (1.00%) Organisational Skills
16 14 (1.00%) Publishing
17 13 (0.93%) Front Office
18 11 (0.78%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 286 (20.36%) Designer
2 211 (15.02%) Senior
3 202 (14.38%) Developer
4 139 (9.89%) UX Designer
5 130 (9.25%) Analyst
6 67 (4.77%) Lead
7 66 (4.70%) Business Analyst
7 66 (4.70%) Consultant
8 62 (4.41%) Product Designer
9 59 (4.20%) Architect
10 57 (4.06%) Senior Designer
11 51 (3.63%) User Researcher
12 48 (3.42%) UI Designer
13 43 (3.06%) Service Designer
14 37 (2.63%) Content Designer
14 37 (2.63%) UI/UX Designer
15 36 (2.56%) Full-Stack Developer
15 36 (2.56%) IT Support
15 36 (2.56%) Senior Developer
15 36 (2.56%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 158 (11.25%) React
2 143 (10.18%) CSS
3 133 (9.47%) HTML
4 113 (8.04%) REST
5 82 (5.84%) RESTful
6 80 (5.69%) AngularJS
7 64 (4.56%) Spring
8 63 (4.48%) Spring Boot
9 59 (4.20%) .NET
10 39 (2.78%) HTML5
11 37 (2.63%) Node.js
12 35 (2.49%) GraphQL
12 35 (2.49%) Redux
13 34 (2.42%) CSS3
14 32 (2.28%) JSON
15 31 (2.21%) Jest
16 27 (1.92%) Next.js
17 25 (1.78%) Vue
18 23 (1.64%) Kafka
19 20 (1.42%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 135 (9.61%) Product Ownership
2 75 (5.34%) Mobile App
3 50 (3.56%) Onboarding
4 33 (2.35%) Enterprise Software
5 30 (2.14%) AI Agents
6 28 (1.99%) Data Structures
7 24 (1.71%) Analytical Mindset
8 18 (1.28%) Cloud Native
8 18 (1.28%) Distributed Systems
8 18 (1.28%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 17 (1.21%) Data Protection Act
10 15 (1.07%) NHS
11 14 (1.00%) Virtual Reality
12 13 (0.93%) Augmented Reality
12 13 (0.93%) Legacy Systems
12 13 (0.93%) Self-Motivation
13 12 (0.85%) Algorithms
13 12 (0.85%) Management Information System
14 11 (0.78%) Graphic Design
15 10 (0.71%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 103 (7.33%) Windows
2 42 (2.99%) Android
3 39 (2.78%) Windows 10
4 33 (2.35%) Apple iOS
5 23 (1.64%) Mac OS
6 13 (0.93%) Linux
7 8 (0.57%) Windows Server
8 6 (0.43%) Unix
9 4 (0.28%) Windows Server 2016
10 3 (0.21%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.14%) Windows Server 2012
12 1 (0.071%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 1 (0.071%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.071%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 461 (32.81%) Agile
2 458 (32.60%) UX Design
3 217 (15.44%) Problem-Solving
4 212 (15.09%) User Research
5 207 (14.73%) AI
6 199 (14.16%) Analytics
7 176 (12.53%) CI/CD
8 168 (11.96%) DevOps
8 168 (11.96%) Stakeholder Management
9 164 (11.67%) Continuous Improvement
9 164 (11.67%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 143 (10.18%) Prototyping
11 142 (10.11%) Roadmaps
12 136 (9.68%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
13 131 (9.32%) Wireframes
14 128 (9.11%) Service Design
15 122 (8.68%) UX Research
16 118 (8.40%) Decision-Making
17 106 (7.54%) Usability Testing
18 98 (6.98%) Workshop Facilitation
Programming Languages
1 178 (12.67%) JavaScript
2 133 (9.47%) SQL
3 125 (8.90%) Java
4 116 (8.26%) Python
5 108 (7.69%) TypeScript
6 64 (4.56%) C#
7 47 (3.35%) PowerShell
8 28 (1.99%) Kotlin
9 16 (1.14%) Bash
10 15 (1.07%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 11 (0.78%) C++
12 9 (0.64%) Lua
13 8 (0.57%) Swift
14 7 (0.50%) Korn
14 7 (0.50%) Perl
14 7 (0.50%) PHP
14 7 (0.50%) PL/SQL
15 6 (0.43%) Go
15 6 (0.43%) Scala
15 6 (0.43%) VBA
Qualifications
1 180 (12.81%) Security Cleared
2 131 (9.32%) SC Cleared
3 118 (8.40%) Degree
4 35 (2.49%) BPSS Clearance
5 28 (1.99%) Computer Science Degree
6 20 (1.42%) Microsoft Certification
7 18 (1.28%) DV Cleared
8 14 (1.00%) Master's Degree
9 13 (0.93%) Azure Certification
9 13 (0.93%) Cisco Certification
10 11 (0.78%) CCNP
11 8 (0.57%) PMI Certification
12 6 (0.43%) CCA
12 6 (0.43%) CCIE
12 6 (0.43%) Citrix Certification
12 6 (0.43%) OCA
12 6 (0.43%) Oracle Certification
13 4 (0.28%) ISTQB
13 4 (0.28%) MOS
13 4 (0.28%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 248 (17.65%) Accessibility
2 126 (8.97%) QA
3 75 (5.34%) WCAG
4 46 (3.27%) Data Quality
5 39 (2.78%) GDPR
6 23 (1.64%) Actionable Recommendations
7 16 (1.14%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 11 (0.78%) SLA
9 8 (0.57%) PMO
10 6 (0.43%) GMP
10 6 (0.43%) GxP
11 5 (0.36%) Cyber Essentials
11 5 (0.36%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 4 (0.28%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 4 (0.28%) GRC
13 3 (0.21%) Disclosure Scotland
13 3 (0.21%) HIPAA
13 3 (0.21%) ISO/IEC 42001
13 3 (0.21%) NCSC
13 3 (0.21%) NIST
System Software
1 75 (5.34%) Active Directory
2 57 (4.06%) Docker
3 19 (1.35%) VMware Infrastructure
4 18 (1.28%) Virtual Desktop
5 5 (0.36%) Firmware
6 4 (0.28%) Hyper-V
7 3 (0.21%) XenApp
7 3 (0.21%) XenDesktop
8 2 (0.14%) ProxySG
9 1 (0.071%) ISA Server
9 1 (0.071%) Microsoft App-V
9 1 (0.071%) Varnish
9 1 (0.071%) Virtual Machines
9 1 (0.071%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 60 (4.27%) Kubernetes
2 43 (3.06%) Terraform
3 36 (2.56%) Microsoft Intune
4 27 (1.92%) SCCM
5 25 (1.78%) Grafana
6 15 (1.07%) Single Sign-On
7 13 (0.93%) Ansible
8 7 (0.50%) Jamf Pro
9 6 (0.43%) Prometheus
10 3 (0.21%) Argo
10 3 (0.21%) FortiGate
10 3 (0.21%) HP ALM
10 3 (0.21%) Nagios
10 3 (0.21%) Podman
10 3 (0.21%) Rancher
10 3 (0.21%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
11 2 (0.14%) Failover Clustering
11 2 (0.14%) SysTrack
11 2 (0.14%) WSUS
12 1 (0.071%) HAProxy
Vendors
1 211 (15.02%) Microsoft
2 92 (6.55%) Adobe
3 68 (4.84%) Google
4 57 (4.06%) ServiceNow
5 46 (3.27%) SAP
6 44 (3.13%) Oracle
7 37 (2.63%) Salesforce
8 25 (1.78%) Citrix
9 19 (1.35%) VMware
10 16 (1.14%) Cisco
10 16 (1.14%) Workday
11 15 (1.07%) Apple
11 15 (1.07%) Splunk
12 11 (0.78%) Zscaler
13 10 (0.71%) Databricks
13 10 (0.71%) Sitecore
14 9 (0.64%) Foundry
14 9 (0.64%) MuleSoft
14 9 (0.64%) OpenAI
15 8 (0.57%) Ekahau