UX Design Contract Job Trends

User Experience Design (UXD)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring UX Design skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 5 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 278 204 230
Rank change year-on-year -74 +26 -44
Contract jobs citing UX Design 496 433 413
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.92% 1.33% 1.09%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.09% 1.47% 1.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 282 278 273
10th Percentile £363 £311 £341
25th Percentile £406 £365 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £485 £454 £500
Median % change year-on-year +6.72% -9.11% -9.09%
75th Percentile £588 £530 £588
90th Percentile £668 £588 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £470 £425 £450
% change year-on-year +10.59% -5.56% -10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 20 7
10th Percentile £22.02 £34.03 £28.89
25th Percentile £27.45 £35.25 £31.75
Median hourly rate £46.91 £36.50 £33.07
Median % change year-on-year +28.51% +10.37% -47.09%
75th Percentile £73.44 £60.10 £37.69
90th Percentile £90.75 £70.34 £46.60
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.04 £48.25 £32.21
% change year-on-year -35.67% +49.81% -54.07%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

UX Design 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 45,646 29,409 32,455
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.59% 90.41% 85.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,910 18,256 20,327
10th Percentile £325 £300 £310
25th Percentile £425 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -3.67%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,932 1,750 1,541
10th Percentile £14.00 £14.20 £14.41
25th Percentile £17.72 £17.30 £20.00
Median hourly rate £41.00 £25.15 £42.88
Median % change year-on-year +63.02% -41.35% +3.33%
75th Percentile £67.85 £45.79 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £67.03 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £22.63 £43.00
% change year-on-year +87.80% -47.37% +12.13%

UX Design
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing UX Design relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

UX Design job vacancy trend in the UK

UX Design
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing UX Design.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing UX Design

UX Design
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing UX Design over the 6 months to 5 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for UX Design in the UK

UX Design
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing UX Design.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing UX Design

UX Design
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing UX Design over the 6 months to 5 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for UX Design in the UK

UX Design
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing UX Design within the UK over the 6 months to 5 September 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 -60 430 £475 +5.56% 546
UK excluding London -35 227 £470 +10.59% 249
London -68 221 £516 +10.43% 363
Work from Home -58 128 £470 +10.59% 266
North of England -46 75 £450 +20.00% 77
Midlands -36 47 £550 +36.82% 23
South West -6 41 £475 -5.00% 47
West Midlands -27 41 £475 -5.00% 17
Yorkshire -28 34 £500 +11.11% 21
Scotland -32 31 £531 +14.86% 21
North West -63 27 £375 - 45
South East -74 21 £580 +36.47% 46
North East -28 14 £450 -4.00% 12
East of England -17 13 £410 -6.02% 13
East Midlands -20 6 £575 +61.97% 6
Wales -15 2 - - 5

UX Design
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 28 (5.65%) CMS
2 23 (4.64%) Confluence
3 8 (1.61%) WordPress
4 4 (0.81%) Kentico
5 3 (0.60%) ColdFusion
5 3 (0.60%) Headless CMS
5 3 (0.60%) Umbraco
6 2 (0.40%) Camunda
7 1 (0.20%) Apache
7 1 (0.20%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.20%) Drupal
7 1 (0.20%) Mendix
7 1 (0.20%) Moodle
7 1 (0.20%) nginx
7 1 (0.20%) Strapi
7 1 (0.20%) Traefik
Applications
1 22 (4.44%) Sketch
2 15 (3.02%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 12 (2.42%) Adobe XD
4 10 (2.02%) Adobe After Effects
5 9 (1.81%) Photoshop
6 8 (1.61%) Adobe Illustrator
7 7 (1.41%) Chatbot
8 6 (1.21%) Final Cut Pro
9 4 (0.81%) MS Visio
10 3 (0.60%) Microsoft Excel
11 2 (0.40%) InVision
11 2 (0.40%) Microsoft Office
12 1 (0.20%) Adobe Captivate
12 1 (0.20%) Trello
12 1 (0.20%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 4 (0.81%) Dynamics CRM
1 4 (0.81%) Shopify
2 2 (0.40%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.20%) Eloqua
3 1 (0.20%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (0.20%) SAP HR
3 1 (0.20%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 122 (24.60%) Figma
2 55 (11.09%) Azure
3 29 (5.85%) AWS
4 27 (5.44%) Azure DevOps
5 21 (4.23%) Power Platform
6 18 (3.63%) GitHub
7 15 (3.02%) SaaS
8 11 (2.22%) Firebase
8 11 (2.22%) GitHub Actions
9 10 (2.02%) GCP
9 10 (2.02%) Microsoft Copilot
10 7 (1.41%) Slack
11 6 (1.21%) Google Play
11 6 (1.21%) Serverless
12 5 (1.01%) Azure AI
12 5 (1.01%) Copilot Studio
12 5 (1.01%) Miro
12 5 (1.01%) PowerApps
13 4 (0.81%) BigCommerce
13 4 (0.81%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 1 (0.20%) Bluetooth
1 1 (0.20%) NFC
1 1 (0.20%) Reverse Proxy
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (2.82%) Power BI
2 9 (1.81%) PostgreSQL
3 8 (1.61%) Elasticsearch
4 7 (1.41%) Metadata
4 7 (1.41%) SQL Server
5 6 (1.21%) Power Query
6 5 (1.01%) NoSQL
6 5 (1.01%) Redis
7 4 (0.81%) Data Warehouse
7 4 (0.81%) MongoDB
8 3 (0.60%) Azure SQL Database
8 3 (0.60%) Star Schema
9 2 (0.40%) DynamoDB
9 2 (0.40%) MySQL
9 2 (0.40%) Relational Database
9 2 (0.40%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 2 (0.40%) SQLite
10 1 (0.20%) Db2
10 1 (0.20%) Flink
10 1 (0.20%) Qlik Sense
Development Applications
1 33 (6.65%) Git
2 32 (6.45%) JIRA
3 16 (3.23%) Jenkins
4 14 (2.82%) Cypress.io
5 10 (2.02%) fastlane
6 8 (1.61%) Storybook
7 6 (1.21%) Android Studio
7 6 (1.21%) GitLab
7 6 (1.21%) Gradle
7 6 (1.21%) Vite
7 6 (1.21%) webpack
8 5 (1.01%) Crashlytics
8 5 (1.01%) Xcode
9 4 (0.81%) Claude Code
9 4 (0.81%) Jasmine
10 3 (0.60%) Babel
10 3 (0.60%) JUnit
10 3 (0.60%) Karma Test Runner
11 2 (0.40%) REST Assured
11 2 (0.40%) rollup.js
General
1 148 (29.84%) Social Skills
2 94 (18.95%) Public Sector
3 85 (17.14%) Finance
4 42 (8.47%) Banking
5 30 (6.05%) Retail
6 26 (5.24%) Analytical Skills
7 21 (4.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 19 (3.83%) Publishing
9 16 (3.23%) Automotive
10 15 (3.02%) Presentation Skills
11 13 (2.62%) Marketing
12 12 (2.42%) Influencing Skills
12 12 (2.42%) Military
13 8 (1.61%) Legal
14 5 (1.01%) Advertising
14 5 (1.01%) Investment Banking
14 5 (1.01%) Law
15 4 (0.81%) Aerospace
15 4 (0.81%) Electronics
15 4 (0.81%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 241 (48.59%) Designer
2 130 (26.21%) UX Designer
3 97 (19.56%) Senior
4 86 (17.34%) Developer
5 59 (11.90%) UI Designer
6 45 (9.07%) Lead
6 45 (9.07%) Senior Designer
7 42 (8.47%) UI/UX Designer
8 39 (7.86%) Content Designer
9 28 (5.65%) Front-End Developer (Client-Side Developer)
9 28 (5.65%) Senior UX Designer
10 24 (4.84%) Product Designer
11 18 (3.63%) Senior Developer
11 18 (3.63%) User Experience Researcher
12 17 (3.43%) Service Designer
12 17 (3.43%) User Researcher
13 15 (3.02%) React Developer
14 14 (2.82%) Analyst
14 14 (2.82%) Consultant
15 13 (2.62%) Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 73 (14.72%) React
2 70 (14.11%) CSS
3 65 (13.10%) HTML
4 29 (5.85%) RESTful
5 28 (5.65%) AngularJS
6 27 (5.44%) HTML5
7 25 (5.04%) CSS3
8 23 (4.64%) REST
9 16 (3.23%) .NET
10 14 (2.82%) Jest
10 14 (2.82%) Next.js
10 14 (2.82%) Redux
11 12 (2.42%) Android SDK
12 11 (2.22%) GraphQL
12 11 (2.22%) Vue
13 9 (1.81%) Sass
13 9 (1.81%) Spring
14 8 (1.61%) .NET Framework
14 8 (1.61%) jQuery
14 8 (1.61%) VML
Miscellaneous
1 64 (12.90%) Product Ownership
2 46 (9.27%) Mobile App
3 15 (3.02%) Self-Motivation
4 14 (2.82%) Cloud Native
5 13 (2.62%) AI Agents
6 11 (2.22%) Onboarding
7 10 (2.02%) Animation
8 8 (1.61%) Data Protection Act
8 8 (1.61%) Taxonomies
9 7 (1.41%) Graphic Design
9 7 (1.41%) Greenfield Project
9 7 (1.41%) Legacy Systems
9 7 (1.41%) NHS
9 7 (1.41%) Virtual Reality
10 6 (1.21%) Algorithms
10 6 (1.21%) Enterprise Software
10 6 (1.21%) Social Media
11 5 (1.01%) IoT
11 5 (1.01%) Management Information System
11 5 (1.01%) Team-Oriented Environment
Operating Systems
1 16 (3.23%) Android
2 9 (1.81%) Apple iOS
3 3 (0.60%) Windows
4 1 (0.20%) Linux
4 1 (0.20%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 496 (100.00%) User Experience
2 208 (41.94%) Agile
3 104 (20.97%) User Research
4 96 (19.35%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
5 91 (18.35%) AI
5 91 (18.35%) Prototyping
6 89 (17.94%) Wireframes
7 74 (14.92%) Service Design
8 73 (14.72%) CI/CD
9 69 (13.91%) Stakeholder Management
10 65 (13.10%) Analytics
11 64 (12.90%) Problem-Solving
12 63 (12.70%) Usability Testing
13 54 (10.89%) Interaction Design
14 53 (10.69%) Customer Experience
14 53 (10.69%) Scrum
14 53 (10.69%) UX Research
15 50 (10.08%) Front End Development
15 50 (10.08%) Workshop Facilitation
16 49 (9.88%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 71 (14.31%) JavaScript
2 56 (11.29%) TypeScript
3 31 (6.25%) Java
4 24 (4.84%) SQL
5 20 (4.03%) Python
6 14 (2.82%) Kotlin
7 10 (2.02%) C#
7 10 (2.02%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 5 (1.01%) Swift
9 3 (0.60%) Apex Code
9 3 (0.60%) CFML
9 3 (0.60%) PHP
10 2 (0.40%) Bicep
10 2 (0.40%) Ruby
11 1 (0.20%) C
11 1 (0.20%) JSX
11 1 (0.20%) Korn
11 1 (0.20%) PowerShell
11 1 (0.20%) Shell Script
11 1 (0.20%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 82 (16.53%) Security Cleared
2 56 (11.29%) SC Cleared
3 44 (8.87%) Degree
4 18 (3.63%) BPSS Clearance
5 13 (2.62%) DV Cleared
6 12 (2.42%) Computer Science Degree
7 5 (1.01%) Master's Degree
8 3 (0.60%) DBS Check
9 2 (0.40%) Azure Certification
9 2 (0.40%) CCA
10 1 (0.20%) CTC Cleared
10 1 (0.20%) IIBA
10 1 (0.20%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 1 (0.20%) MBA
10 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Certified Professional
10 1 (0.20%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 164 (33.06%) Accessibility
2 66 (13.31%) WCAG
3 27 (5.44%) QA
4 11 (2.22%) Data Quality
5 3 (0.60%) Actionable Recommendations
5 3 (0.60%) ISO/IEC 42001
6 2 (0.40%) GDPR
7 1 (0.20%) GMP
7 1 (0.20%) GRC
7 1 (0.20%) GxP
7 1 (0.20%) PMO
7 1 (0.20%) WAI
7 1 (0.20%) WAI-ARIA
System Software
1 16 (3.23%) Docker
Systems Management
1 15 (3.02%) Kubernetes
2 2 (0.40%) Grafana
3 1 (0.20%) Istio
3 1 (0.20%) Kibana
3 1 (0.20%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 41 (8.27%) Adobe
2 36 (7.26%) Microsoft
3 12 (2.42%) Salesforce
4 11 (2.22%) Dynatrace
5 10 (2.02%) ServiceNow
6 9 (1.81%) Google
7 8 (1.61%) SAP
8 6 (1.21%) Apple
8 6 (1.21%) Oracle
9 5 (1.01%) Foundry
9 5 (1.01%) OpenAI
10 4 (0.81%) Anaplan
10 4 (0.81%) Databricks
10 4 (0.81%) Sitecore
11 3 (0.60%) Progress
12 2 (0.40%) Blue Prism
12 2 (0.40%) IBM
12 2 (0.40%) Optimizely
13 1 (0.20%) Automation Anywhere
13 1 (0.20%) Qualtrics