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 23 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 68 66 69
Rank change year-on-year -2 +3 -1
Contract jobs citing User Experience 1,327 1,061 1,275
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.50% 3.35% 2.93%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.00% 3.76% 3.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 908 650 872
10th Percentile £300 £313 £325
25th Percentile £378 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -6.10%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £650 £704 £693
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £455 £475
% change year-on-year -1.10% -4.21% -4.04%
Number of hourly rates quoted 52 26 33
10th Percentile £15.50 £25.26 £20.78
25th Percentile £17.69 £30.48 £25.00
Median hourly rate £35.60 £41.46 £50.50
Median % change year-on-year -14.12% -17.91% -19.20%
75th Percentile £61.25 £53.00 £72.90
90th Percentile £71.82 £74.22 £81.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.05 £30.88 £60.00
% change year-on-year -5.93% -48.54% -7.69%

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 33,213 28,195 38,072
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 87.59% 88.98% 87.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,058 17,139 25,095
10th Percentile £305 £306 £300
25th Percentile £406 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £644
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £478 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -4.50% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,026 893 1,862
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.62 £14.00
25th Percentile £17.50 £20.94 £17.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £37.01
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -12.19% +15.66%
75th Percentile £57.50 £62.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £69.65 £75.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.00 £30.62 £39.55
% change year-on-year -21.61% -22.59% +52.12%

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 23 January 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 23 January 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 23 January 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 +2 1,152 £475 -5.00% 1,210
London -11 602 £480 -8.57% 262
UK excluding London 0 581 £450 -1.10% 1,146
Work from Home -20 348 £475 -5.00% 576
North of England +20 204 £425 -5.56% 228
North West +17 133 £400 -11.11% 96
Midlands -6 112 £495 +4.76% 148
South East -10 107 £425 -15.00% 362
West Midlands -23 69 £463 -11.90% 60
South West +12 64 £500 -9.09% 145
Scotland -12 56 £456 +1.39% 46
Yorkshire -15 55 £500 +11.11% 90
East Midlands -1 43 £525 +47.47% 85
East of England -11 33 £468 +3.43% 166
North East 0 15 £410 +17.14% 42
Wales +7 14 £300 -29.41% 57
Northern Ireland -14 1 £625 +47.06% 25

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 (4.52%) Confluence
2 57 (4.30%) SharePoint
3 48 (3.62%) CMS
4 24 (1.81%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 13 (0.98%) Microsoft Exchange
6 12 (0.90%) Headless CMS
7 11 (0.83%) SugarCRM
8 8 (0.60%) Sitecore CMS
8 8 (0.60%) Umbraco
9 7 (0.53%) Apache
10 4 (0.30%) Camunda
11 3 (0.23%) Anypoint
11 3 (0.23%) Apache Spark
11 3 (0.23%) Ethereum
11 3 (0.23%) Hyperledger
11 3 (0.23%) Jupyter
12 2 (0.15%) Appian
12 2 (0.15%) Drupal
12 2 (0.15%) WordPress
13 1 (0.075%) Cloud Foundry
Applications
1 49 (3.69%) Sketch
2 34 (2.56%) Adobe XD
3 24 (1.81%) MS Visio
4 22 (1.66%) Microsoft Office
5 18 (1.36%) Chatbot
6 14 (1.06%) InVision
6 14 (1.06%) Microsoft Excel
7 11 (0.83%) Adobe Illustrator
7 11 (0.83%) Photoshop
8 9 (0.68%) Microsoft PowerPoint
9 7 (0.53%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 6 (0.45%) Microsoft Project
10 6 (0.45%) Trello
11 5 (0.38%) Adobe After Effects
11 5 (0.38%) Camtasia
12 4 (0.30%) UXPin
13 3 (0.23%) Snagit
13 3 (0.23%) Spreadsheet
14 2 (0.15%) Blender
14 2 (0.15%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 21 (1.58%) SAP S/4HANA
2 17 (1.28%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.30%) Shopify
4 3 (0.23%) SAP CO
4 3 (0.23%) SAP FI
4 3 (0.23%) SAP FI/CO
4 3 (0.23%) Teamcenter
5 2 (0.15%) Adobe Campaign
5 2 (0.15%) iTrent
5 2 (0.15%) Magento
5 2 (0.15%) Oracle EBS
5 2 (0.15%) Salesforce CRM
5 2 (0.15%) SAP SD
5 2 (0.15%) SAP Travel Management
6 1 (0.075%) Elite 3E
6 1 (0.075%) NEC Housing
6 1 (0.075%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.075%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.075%) Sprinklr
6 1 (0.075%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 229 (17.26%) Azure
2 167 (12.58%) Figma
3 152 (11.45%) AWS
4 87 (6.56%) Power Platform
5 79 (5.95%) SaaS
6 76 (5.73%) Microsoft 365
7 61 (4.60%) GCP
8 51 (3.84%) Entra ID
9 50 (3.77%) Azure DevOps
10 47 (3.54%) GitHub
11 33 (2.49%) Miro
12 28 (2.11%) Serverless
13 27 (2.03%) GitHub Actions
14 24 (1.81%) Google Analytics
14 24 (1.81%) Power Automate
15 23 (1.73%) PowerApps
16 20 (1.51%) Google Workspace
17 19 (1.43%) Dynamics 365
18 17 (1.28%) Sauce Labs
19 16 (1.21%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 27 (2.03%) DNS
2 25 (1.88%) Wireless
3 16 (1.21%) Internet
4 15 (1.13%) HTTP
5 10 (0.75%) VPN
5 10 (0.75%) Wi-Fi
6 9 (0.68%) DHCP
6 9 (0.68%) Intranet
6 9 (0.68%) TCP/IP
7 8 (0.60%) BGP
7 8 (0.60%) Cisco ISE
8 7 (0.53%) Cisco Wireless
8 7 (0.53%) Firewall
8 7 (0.53%) NX-OS
8 7 (0.53%) VXLAN
9 6 (0.45%) Unified Communications
9 6 (0.45%) WAN
10 5 (0.38%) SSL
11 4 (0.30%) HTTPS
11 4 (0.30%) LAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 54 (4.07%) Power BI
2 43 (3.24%) MySQL
3 38 (2.86%) Relational Database
4 31 (2.34%) PostgreSQL
5 27 (2.03%) SQL Server
6 26 (1.96%) NoSQL
7 19 (1.43%) Data Warehouse
8 16 (1.21%) Tableau
9 15 (1.13%) MongoDB
10 14 (1.06%) BigQuery
11 12 (0.90%) Looker
12 11 (0.83%) Metadata
13 8 (0.60%) SAP HANA
14 7 (0.53%) Mixpanel
15 6 (0.45%) Redis
16 5 (0.38%) DynamoDB
17 4 (0.30%) Big Data
17 4 (0.30%) Pinecone
17 4 (0.30%) Power Query
18 3 (0.23%) Qlik Sense
Development Applications
1 128 (9.65%) JIRA
2 92 (6.93%) Git
3 46 (3.47%) GitLab
4 41 (3.09%) Jenkins
5 32 (2.41%) Cypress.io
6 28 (2.11%) Xcode
7 25 (1.88%) Android Studio
8 24 (1.81%) Eclipse
9 23 (1.73%) Axure RP
9 23 (1.73%) JUnit
10 19 (1.43%) Browser DevTools
11 18 (1.36%) Gradle
12 13 (0.98%) Postman
13 10 (0.75%) CircleCI
14 9 (0.68%) Selenium
14 9 (0.68%) Visual Website Optimizer
15 8 (0.60%) Artifactory
15 8 (0.60%) Cucumber
15 8 (0.60%) IntelliJ
15 8 (0.60%) webpack
General
1 452 (34.06%) Social Skills
2 248 (18.69%) Finance
3 188 (14.17%) Public Sector
4 163 (12.28%) Analytical Skills
5 99 (7.46%) Banking
6 87 (6.56%) Marketing
7 38 (2.86%) Influencing Skills
8 28 (2.11%) Legal
9 26 (1.96%) Retail
10 25 (1.88%) Presentation Skills
11 22 (1.66%) Pharmaceutical
12 21 (1.58%) Manufacturing
13 16 (1.21%) Telecoms
14 15 (1.13%) Documentation Skills
14 15 (1.13%) Financial Institution
14 15 (1.13%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 12 (0.90%) Automotive
15 12 (0.90%) Investment Banking
16 9 (0.68%) Front Office
16 9 (0.68%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 242 (18.24%) Developer
2 229 (17.26%) Designer
3 179 (13.49%) Senior
4 128 (9.65%) UX Designer
5 113 (8.52%) Analyst
6 95 (7.16%) Lead
7 63 (4.75%) Business Analyst
8 51 (3.84%) Consultant
9 49 (3.69%) Senior Designer
10 48 (3.62%) Front-End Developer (Client-Side Developer)
11 47 (3.54%) Architect
12 45 (3.39%) Product Designer
13 40 (3.01%) User Researcher
14 38 (2.86%) Full-Stack Developer
15 37 (2.79%) Service Designer
16 36 (2.71%) Support Engineer
17 35 (2.64%) Senior Developer
17 35 (2.64%) UI Designer
18 33 (2.49%) Front-End Engineer (Client-Side Engineer)
19 29 (2.19%) Product Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 186 (14.02%) CSS
2 181 (13.64%) React
3 171 (12.89%) HTML
4 109 (8.21%) REST
5 98 (7.39%) AngularJS
6 92 (6.93%) RESTful
7 53 (3.99%) Node.js
8 52 (3.92%) .NET
9 49 (3.69%) HTML5
10 47 (3.54%) GraphQL
11 46 (3.47%) Spring
12 44 (3.32%) Spring Boot
13 39 (2.94%) Jest
14 38 (2.86%) CSS3
15 27 (2.03%) Playwright
15 27 (2.03%) Redux
15 27 (2.03%) SOAP
16 26 (1.96%) Next.js
17 25 (1.88%) JSON
18 23 (1.73%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 130 (9.80%) Product Ownership
2 97 (7.31%) Mobile App
3 65 (4.90%) Onboarding
4 27 (2.03%) Analytical Mindset
4 27 (2.03%) Enterprise Software
5 20 (1.51%) AI Agents
6 19 (1.43%) Data Structures
6 19 (1.43%) Management Information System
7 18 (1.36%) Low-Code
7 18 (1.36%) NHS
8 17 (1.28%) e-Learning
9 15 (1.13%) Data Centre
10 14 (1.06%) Distributed Systems
10 14 (1.06%) Greenfield Project
10 14 (1.06%) Learning Management System
10 14 (1.06%) Legacy Systems
11 13 (0.98%) CMDB
11 13 (0.98%) Data Protection Act
11 13 (0.98%) Virtual Team
12 12 (0.90%) Cloud Native
Operating Systems
1 121 (9.12%) Windows
2 71 (5.35%) Android
3 54 (4.07%) Apple iOS
4 36 (2.71%) Windows 10
5 35 (2.64%) Linux
6 22 (1.66%) Unix
7 21 (1.58%) Mac OS
8 7 (0.53%) Windows Server
9 3 (0.23%) Ubuntu
10 2 (0.15%) VMS
11 1 (0.075%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 495 (37.30%) Agile
2 459 (34.59%) UX Design
3 220 (16.58%) Problem-Solving
4 217 (16.35%) Analytics
5 184 (13.87%) User Research
6 181 (13.64%) CI/CD
7 164 (12.36%) Stakeholder Management
8 156 (11.76%) DevOps
9 142 (10.70%) AI
9 142 (10.70%) Roadmaps
10 140 (10.55%) Continuous Improvement
11 138 (10.40%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
12 136 (10.25%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 117 (8.82%) Service Design
14 116 (8.74%) Front End Development
15 115 (8.67%) Wireframes
16 111 (8.36%) Decision-Making
17 109 (8.21%) Usability Testing
18 105 (7.91%) Prototyping
19 99 (7.46%) UX Research
Programming Languages
1 214 (16.13%) JavaScript
2 123 (9.27%) SQL
3 121 (9.12%) Java
4 112 (8.44%) Python
5 111 (8.36%) TypeScript
6 58 (4.37%) PowerShell
7 51 (3.84%) C#
8 33 (2.49%) Kotlin
9 24 (1.81%) Bash
10 22 (1.66%) Perl
10 22 (1.66%) Swift
11 20 (1.51%) PHP
12 11 (0.83%) C++
12 11 (0.83%) PL/SQL
13 10 (0.75%) Go
13 10 (0.75%) Objective-C
14 9 (0.68%) Scala
15 7 (0.53%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 7 (0.53%) Lisp
16 5 (0.38%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 160 (12.06%) Security Cleared
2 119 (8.97%) Degree
3 118 (8.89%) SC Cleared
4 38 (2.86%) BPSS Clearance
5 25 (1.88%) Computer Science Degree
6 17 (1.28%) Master's Degree
7 13 (0.98%) DV Cleared
8 12 (0.90%) PMI Certification
9 11 (0.83%) Microsoft Certification
9 11 (0.83%) MOS
10 9 (0.68%) CCNP
10 9 (0.68%) Cisco Certification
10 9 (0.68%) OCA
10 9 (0.68%) Oracle Certification
11 6 (0.45%) MCP
11 6 (0.45%) PMP
12 3 (0.23%) Azure Certification
12 3 (0.23%) ITIL Certification
13 2 (0.15%) CSPO
13 2 (0.15%) Tableau Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 243 (18.31%) Accessibility
2 136 (10.25%) QA
3 69 (5.20%) WCAG
4 65 (4.90%) GDPR
5 36 (2.71%) Data Quality
6 25 (1.88%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 19 (1.43%) Actionable Recommendations
8 17 (1.28%) SLA
9 8 (0.60%) GxP
10 6 (0.45%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 6 (0.45%) NCSC
10 6 (0.45%) PMO
11 5 (0.38%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 3 (0.23%) Disclosure Scotland
12 3 (0.23%) GMP
12 3 (0.23%) Government Security Classifications
12 3 (0.23%) NIST
12 3 (0.23%) SOC 2
13 2 (0.15%) ISO 20022
13 2 (0.15%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 69 (5.20%) Active Directory
2 67 (5.05%) Docker
3 20 (1.51%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (0.45%) Virtual Desktop
5 3 (0.23%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.15%) ProxySG
7 1 (0.075%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.075%) ISA Server
7 1 (0.075%) Microsoft App-V
7 1 (0.075%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.075%) XenApp
7 1 (0.075%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 51 (3.84%) Kubernetes
2 42 (3.17%) Microsoft Intune
3 34 (2.56%) Terraform
4 33 (2.49%) SCCM
5 17 (1.28%) Ansible
6 16 (1.21%) Grafana
7 15 (1.13%) Single Sign-On
8 7 (0.53%) FortiGate
9 6 (0.45%) Prometheus
10 5 (0.38%) Jamf Pro
11 4 (0.30%) Argo
12 3 (0.23%) HP ALM
12 3 (0.23%) Nagios
12 3 (0.23%) Rancher
13 2 (0.15%) PingFederate
13 2 (0.15%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
13 2 (0.15%) SysTrack
14 1 (0.075%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 1 (0.075%) Istio
14 1 (0.075%) Podman
Vendors
1 212 (15.98%) Microsoft
2 94 (7.08%) Adobe
3 81 (6.10%) Google
4 73 (5.50%) ServiceNow
5 49 (3.69%) Oracle
6 46 (3.47%) Salesforce
6 46 (3.47%) SAP
7 27 (2.03%) Splunk
8 21 (1.58%) VMware
9 18 (1.36%) Apple
10 16 (1.21%) Citrix
11 13 (0.98%) Cisco
11 13 (0.98%) Zscaler
12 12 (0.90%) Optimizely
13 11 (0.83%) Hotjar
13 11 (0.83%) Red Hat
14 10 (0.75%) Amplitude
14 10 (0.75%) MuleSoft
15 9 (0.68%) OpenAI
16 8 (0.60%) Ekahau