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

6 months to
5 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 78 58 72
Rank change year-on-year -20 +14 -11
Contract jobs citing User Experience 1,456 1,100 1,231
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.06% 3.76% 2.85%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.63% 4.13% 3.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 986 743 822
10th Percentile £313 £305 £305
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 £588
90th Percentile £684 £702 £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 47 24 48
10th Percentile £16.44 £29.83 £16.25
25th Percentile £22.17 £45.00 £23.75
Median hourly rate £50.00 £53.50 £31.71
Median % change year-on-year -6.54% +68.72% -3.00%
75th Percentile £62.38 £75.12 £61.38
90th Percentile £74.80 £92.50 £73.36
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.75 £70.00 £25.00
% change year-on-year -37.50% +180.00% +25.00%

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 40,158 26,632 37,270
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.47% 90.92% 86.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,255 17,168 24,015
10th Percentile £320 £306 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £630 £638
90th Percentile £725 £745 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £481 £500
% change year-on-year +1.46% -3.90% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,399 1,080 2,442
10th Percentile £14.95 £14.63 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.91 £18.50 £16.00
Median hourly rate £41.94 £29.00 £35.83
Median % change year-on-year +44.62% -19.06% -0.47%
75th Percentile £67.25 £61.69 £60.00
90th Percentile £79.88 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £44.00 £27.57 £37.50
% change year-on-year +59.59% -26.48% +7.14%

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 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 5 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 5 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 -13 1,255 £488 -2.30% 1,659
London -20 647 £513 -0.49% 678
UK excluding London 0 635 £475 +11.76% 1,088
Work from Home -25 383 £475 -1.81% 404
North of England +8 200 £440 -2.22% 380
Midlands -6 149 £500 +25.00% 131
North West +8 125 £413 -8.33% 287
South East -21 112 £475 +2.70% 281
West Midlands -17 97 £475 +1.33% 74
South West -20 69 £475 +26.67% 88
Scotland -14 60 £493 +9.44% 37
East Midlands +2 52 £550 +53.63% 57
Yorkshire -17 51 £513 +28.04% 64
East of England -31 31 £410 -13.68% 164
North East -8 22 £418 -7.73% 30
Wales -8 15 £375 +22.55% 15
Northern Ireland -7 3 - - 12

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 (3.50%) Confluence
2 50 (3.43%) SharePoint
3 40 (2.75%) CMS
4 18 (1.24%) Microsoft Exchange
5 16 (1.10%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 7 (0.48%) Apache
7 6 (0.41%) Mendix
7 6 (0.41%) WordPress
8 5 (0.34%) Camunda
8 5 (0.34%) Drupal
8 5 (0.34%) Headless CMS
9 4 (0.27%) Ethereum
9 4 (0.27%) Hyperledger
9 4 (0.27%) Sitecore CMS
9 4 (0.27%) Umbraco
10 3 (0.21%) Anypoint
10 3 (0.21%) nginx
11 2 (0.14%) Apache Spark
11 2 (0.14%) Appian
11 2 (0.14%) Kentico
Applications
1 42 (2.88%) Sketch
2 29 (1.99%) Adobe XD
3 24 (1.65%) Microsoft Excel
4 20 (1.37%) Chatbot
5 18 (1.24%) MS Visio
6 15 (1.03%) Microsoft Office
6 15 (1.03%) Photoshop
7 11 (0.76%) Adobe After Effects
7 11 (0.76%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 11 (0.76%) InVision
8 10 (0.69%) Adobe Illustrator
9 6 (0.41%) Microsoft PowerPoint
10 5 (0.34%) Trello
11 4 (0.27%) Spreadsheet
12 3 (0.21%) Adobe Captivate
12 3 (0.21%) Microsoft Project
12 3 (0.21%) UserZoom
12 3 (0.21%) UXPin
13 2 (0.14%) Autodesk Smoke
13 2 (0.14%) Oracle Smart View
Business Applications
1 13 (0.89%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (0.69%) Shopify
3 9 (0.62%) Dynamics CRM
4 8 (0.55%) Workday HCM
5 6 (0.41%) Sage X3
6 2 (0.14%) NEC Housing
6 2 (0.14%) Oracle EBS
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 (0.069%) assyst
7 1 (0.069%) Magento
7 1 (0.069%) Oracle ERP
7 1 (0.069%) Oracle Payroll
7 1 (0.069%) SAP CO
7 1 (0.069%) SAP FI/CO
7 1 (0.069%) SAP QM
7 1 (0.069%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 225 (15.45%) Azure
2 211 (14.49%) Figma
3 122 (8.38%) AWS
4 111 (7.62%) Power Platform
5 95 (6.52%) Microsoft 365
6 55 (3.78%) Azure DevOps
7 51 (3.50%) Entra ID
8 48 (3.30%) GCP
9 44 (3.02%) GitHub
10 40 (2.75%) SaaS
11 39 (2.68%) Microsoft Copilot
11 39 (2.68%) Power Automate
12 38 (2.61%) PowerApps
13 33 (2.27%) Serverless
14 24 (1.65%) Copilot Studio
14 24 (1.65%) GitHub Actions
15 23 (1.58%) Google Workspace
16 21 (1.44%) Miro
17 20 (1.37%) Google Analytics
17 20 (1.37%) Google Sheets
Communications & Networking
1 14 (0.96%) DNS
2 12 (0.82%) Internet
2 12 (0.82%) Intranet
2 12 (0.82%) LAN
2 12 (0.82%) Wi-Fi
3 11 (0.76%) HTTP
3 11 (0.76%) SD-WAN
4 10 (0.69%) Wireless
5 9 (0.62%) DHCP
5 9 (0.62%) VPN
6 8 (0.55%) WAN
7 7 (0.48%) TCP/IP
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%) 5G
9 5 (0.34%) SMS
9 5 (0.34%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 76 (5.22%) Power BI
2 27 (1.85%) Relational Database
3 26 (1.79%) NoSQL
4 23 (1.58%) PostgreSQL
5 21 (1.44%) SQL Server
6 19 (1.30%) Data Warehouse
7 17 (1.17%) Metadata
8 16 (1.10%) MongoDB
9 15 (1.03%) MySQL
10 12 (0.82%) Tableau
11 11 (0.76%) Power Query
12 10 (0.69%) Big Data
12 10 (0.69%) BigQuery
13 7 (0.48%) Looker
13 7 (0.48%) Oracle BI Publisher
13 7 (0.48%) Pinecone
14 6 (0.41%) DynamoDB
14 6 (0.41%) Oracle Database
14 6 (0.41%) Redis
14 6 (0.41%) ZAP BI
Development Applications
1 107 (7.35%) JIRA
2 89 (6.11%) Git
3 33 (2.27%) GitLab
4 29 (1.99%) Cypress.io
5 18 (1.24%) Jenkins
5 18 (1.24%) JUnit
6 17 (1.17%) Axure RP
7 13 (0.89%) Gradle
8 12 (0.82%) Selenium
9 11 (0.76%) Browser DevTools
9 11 (0.76%) CircleCI
10 10 (0.69%) Android Studio
10 10 (0.69%) Vite
11 9 (0.62%) Xcode
12 8 (0.55%) Visual Studio
13 7 (0.48%) Mockito
13 7 (0.48%) Postman
14 6 (0.41%) Eclipse
14 6 (0.41%) Mocha
15 5 (0.34%) Cucumber
General
1 447 (30.70%) Social Skills
2 263 (18.06%) Finance
3 205 (14.08%) Public Sector
4 152 (10.44%) Analytical Skills
5 113 (7.76%) Banking
6 55 (3.78%) Marketing
7 52 (3.57%) Retail
8 34 (2.34%) Legal
9 32 (2.20%) Presentation Skills
10 30 (2.06%) Influencing Skills
11 21 (1.44%) Manufacturing
12 20 (1.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 19 (1.30%) Documentation Skills
13 19 (1.30%) Pharmaceutical
13 19 (1.30%) Publishing
14 17 (1.17%) Games
15 16 (1.10%) Automotive
15 16 (1.10%) Organisational Skills
16 14 (0.96%) Investment Banking
17 11 (0.76%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 308 (21.15%) Designer
2 221 (15.18%) Senior
3 196 (13.46%) Developer
4 145 (9.96%) UX Designer
5 129 (8.86%) Analyst
6 77 (5.29%) Consultant
7 73 (5.01%) Lead
8 66 (4.53%) Business Analyst
8 66 (4.53%) Product Designer
9 63 (4.33%) Architect
10 60 (4.12%) Senior Designer
11 59 (4.05%) UI Designer
12 57 (3.91%) User Researcher
13 46 (3.16%) Content Designer
14 44 (3.02%) Service Designer
14 44 (3.02%) User Experience Researcher
15 43 (2.95%) UI/UX Designer
16 37 (2.54%) Senior Developer
17 36 (2.47%) IT Support
18 34 (2.34%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 159 (10.92%) React
2 141 (9.68%) CSS
3 128 (8.79%) HTML
4 104 (7.14%) REST
5 71 (4.88%) AngularJS
5 71 (4.88%) RESTful
6 55 (3.78%) Spring
7 54 (3.71%) Spring Boot
8 51 (3.50%) .NET
9 39 (2.68%) Node.js
10 36 (2.47%) HTML5
11 35 (2.40%) GraphQL
11 35 (2.40%) Redux
12 34 (2.34%) JSON
13 32 (2.20%) CSS3
14 29 (1.99%) Jest
15 28 (1.92%) Next.js
16 26 (1.79%) Kafka
17 22 (1.51%) Playwright
18 21 (1.44%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 141 (9.68%) Product Ownership
2 72 (4.95%) Mobile App
3 53 (3.64%) Onboarding
4 37 (2.54%) AI Agents
5 32 (2.20%) Data Structures
6 29 (1.99%) Enterprise Software
7 26 (1.79%) Cloud Native
8 22 (1.51%) Analytical Mindset
9 18 (1.24%) Data Protection Act
10 17 (1.17%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 16 (1.10%) Distributed Systems
11 16 (1.10%) Virtual Reality
12 14 (0.96%) Augmented Reality
12 14 (0.96%) Legacy Systems
12 14 (0.96%) NHS
13 13 (0.89%) Low-Code
13 13 (0.89%) Management Information System
13 13 (0.89%) Self-Motivation
14 12 (0.82%) Animation
14 12 (0.82%) Graphic Design
Operating Systems
1 96 (6.59%) Windows
2 43 (2.95%) Android
3 36 (2.47%) Apple iOS
3 36 (2.47%) Windows 10
4 21 (1.44%) Mac OS
5 14 (0.96%) Linux
6 9 (0.62%) Windows Server
7 6 (0.41%) Unix
8 5 (0.34%) Windows Server 2016
9 4 (0.27%) Windows Server 2019
10 3 (0.21%) Windows 7
11 2 (0.14%) Windows Server 2012
12 1 (0.069%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 483 (33.17%) UX Design
2 462 (31.73%) Agile
3 227 (15.59%) AI
4 220 (15.11%) User Research
5 215 (14.77%) Problem-Solving
6 210 (14.42%) Analytics
7 177 (12.16%) Continuous Improvement
8 173 (11.88%) Stakeholder Management
9 170 (11.68%) CI/CD
10 164 (11.26%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 161 (11.06%) Roadmaps
12 155 (10.65%) DevOps
13 149 (10.23%) Prototyping
14 137 (9.41%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
15 133 (9.13%) UX Research
16 132 (9.07%) Service Design
17 131 (9.00%) Wireframes
18 122 (8.38%) Decision-Making
19 115 (7.90%) Usability Testing
20 113 (7.76%) Workshop Facilitation
Programming Languages
1 167 (11.47%) JavaScript
2 128 (8.79%) SQL
3 122 (8.38%) Python
4 117 (8.04%) Java
5 113 (7.76%) TypeScript
6 56 (3.85%) C#
7 44 (3.02%) PowerShell
8 27 (1.85%) Kotlin
9 18 (1.24%) Bash
10 17 (1.17%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 11 (0.76%) C++
12 9 (0.62%) Lua
12 9 (0.62%) Swift
13 7 (0.48%) Korn
14 6 (0.41%) Go
14 6 (0.41%) Perl
14 6 (0.41%) Scala
14 6 (0.41%) VBA
15 5 (0.34%) PL/SQL
15 5 (0.34%) R
Qualifications
1 197 (13.53%) Security Cleared
2 146 (10.03%) SC Cleared
3 126 (8.65%) Degree
4 36 (2.47%) BPSS Clearance
5 30 (2.06%) Computer Science Degree
6 25 (1.72%) DV Cleared
7 21 (1.44%) Microsoft Certification
8 14 (0.96%) Master's Degree
9 12 (0.82%) Azure Certification
9 12 (0.82%) Cisco Certification
10 9 (0.62%) CCNP
11 8 (0.55%) PMI Certification
12 7 (0.48%) CCA
13 6 (0.41%) CCIE
13 6 (0.41%) Citrix Certification
14 4 (0.27%) ISTQB
14 4 (0.27%) ITIL Certification
14 4 (0.27%) OCA
14 4 (0.27%) Oracle Certification
14 4 (0.27%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 263 (18.06%) Accessibility
2 124 (8.52%) QA
3 83 (5.70%) WCAG
4 46 (3.16%) Data Quality
5 38 (2.61%) GDPR
6 25 (1.72%) Actionable Recommendations
7 18 (1.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 9 (0.62%) SLA
9 7 (0.48%) Cyber Essentials
10 6 (0.41%) GMP
10 6 (0.41%) GxP
10 6 (0.41%) PMO
11 5 (0.34%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 4 (0.27%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 4 (0.27%) GRC
13 3 (0.21%) Disclosure Scotland
13 3 (0.21%) ISO/IEC 42001
13 3 (0.21%) NCSC
13 3 (0.21%) NIST
13 3 (0.21%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 68 (4.67%) Active Directory
2 53 (3.64%) Docker
3 19 (1.30%) Virtual Desktop
4 18 (1.24%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (0.41%) Firmware
6 5 (0.34%) Hyper-V
7 3 (0.21%) XenApp
7 3 (0.21%) XenDesktop
8 2 (0.14%) BitLocker
8 2 (0.14%) Microsoft App-V
9 1 (0.069%) ISA Server
9 1 (0.069%) Varnish
9 1 (0.069%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 57 (3.91%) Kubernetes
2 46 (3.16%) Terraform
3 35 (2.40%) Grafana
4 33 (2.27%) Microsoft Intune
5 29 (1.99%) SCCM
6 17 (1.17%) Single Sign-On
7 16 (1.10%) Ansible
8 11 (0.76%) Prometheus
9 5 (0.34%) Jamf Pro
10 4 (0.27%) Podman
11 3 (0.21%) HP ALM
11 3 (0.21%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
12 2 (0.14%) Argo
12 2 (0.14%) Failover Clustering
12 2 (0.14%) Nagios
12 2 (0.14%) Rancher
12 2 (0.14%) SysTrack
12 2 (0.14%) WSUS
13 1 (0.069%) FortiGate
13 1 (0.069%) HAProxy
Vendors
1 207 (14.22%) Microsoft
2 90 (6.18%) Adobe
3 69 (4.74%) Google
4 55 (3.78%) ServiceNow
5 47 (3.23%) Oracle
5 47 (3.23%) SAP
6 45 (3.09%) Salesforce
7 23 (1.58%) Citrix
8 20 (1.37%) Splunk
9 18 (1.24%) VMware
10 17 (1.17%) Workday
11 15 (1.03%) Cisco
11 15 (1.03%) Databricks
12 14 (0.96%) Apple
13 10 (0.69%) Foundry
14 9 (0.62%) Aruba
14 9 (0.62%) Dynatrace
14 9 (0.62%) MuleSoft
14 9 (0.62%) OpenAI
14 9 (0.62%) Zscaler