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

6 months to
27 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 256 192 222
Rank change year-on-year -64 +30 -53
Contract jobs citing UX Design 503 428 474
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.99% 1.41% 1.09%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.16% 1.55% 1.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 326 284 323
10th Percentile £363 £302 £350
25th Percentile £405 £360 £404
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -10.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £575 £546 £611
90th Percentile £663 £624 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £425 £425
% change year-on-year +11.76% - -10.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 13 8
10th Percentile £20.85 £34.63 £30.17
25th Percentile £26.00 £35.25 £32.73
Median hourly rate £33.99 £47.50 £37.37
Median % change year-on-year -28.44% +27.10% -27.08%
75th Percentile £65.00 £70.16 £52.00
90th Percentile £92.75 £91.22 £88.61
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.67 £70.16 £91.44
% change year-on-year -60.57% -23.27% +37.83%

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 43,335 27,616 36,962
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 85.01% 91.08% 85.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,981 17,460 23,548
10th Percentile £325 £300 £300
25th Percentile £414 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £505 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.98% -3.81% -4.55%
75th Percentile £623 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,593 1,327 2,546
10th Percentile £14.68 £14.20 £12.72
25th Percentile £20.00 £17.44 £16.06
Median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +74.79% -32.93% +4.17%
75th Percentile £68.00 £53.95 £61.30
90th Percentile £81.77 £70.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £44.50 £24.83 £38.12
% change year-on-year +79.22% -34.86% +8.91%

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 27 June 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 27 June 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for UX Design in the UK

UX Design
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 UX Design within the UK over the 6 months to 27 June 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 -55 416 £475 +5.56% 155
London -41 238 £500 +7.53% 95
UK excluding London -54 202 £475 +11.76% 94
Work from Home -78 118 £475 +11.76% 72
North of England -48 63 £450 +12.50% 25
Scotland +3 37 £518 +11.17% 5
North West -38 36 £375 -6.25% 12
Midlands -43 33 £550 +54.49% 7
South West -17 32 £475 +11.76% 7
West Midlands -43 26 £500 +25.00% 5
South East -62 26 £550 +21.15% 38
Yorkshire -39 14 £500 +24.84% 8
North East -27 13 £450 +5.88% 5
East of England -24 11 £410 -14.14% 7
East Midlands -14 7 £588 +65.03% 2
Wales -14 1 £450 +2.86% 2
Northern Ireland - 1 - - 3

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 25 (4.97%) CMS
2 17 (3.38%) Confluence
3 5 (0.99%) WordPress
4 4 (0.80%) Kentico
4 4 (0.80%) SharePoint
4 4 (0.80%) Umbraco
5 3 (0.60%) Headless CMS
6 2 (0.40%) Mendix
7 1 (0.20%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 1 (0.20%) Apache
7 1 (0.20%) Camunda
7 1 (0.20%) Drupal
7 1 (0.20%) Moodle
7 1 (0.20%) nginx
7 1 (0.20%) Strapi
7 1 (0.20%) Traefik
Applications
1 28 (5.57%) Sketch
2 14 (2.78%) Adobe XD
3 11 (2.19%) Adobe After Effects
3 11 (2.19%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 10 (1.99%) Photoshop
5 9 (1.79%) Chatbot
6 8 (1.59%) Adobe Illustrator
7 6 (1.19%) Final Cut Pro
8 4 (0.80%) InVision
9 3 (0.60%) Microsoft Excel
9 3 (0.60%) MS Visio
10 2 (0.40%) Microsoft Office
10 2 (0.40%) UserZoom
11 1 (0.20%) Adobe Captivate
11 1 (0.20%) Microsoft PowerPoint
11 1 (0.20%) Trello
Business Applications
1 5 (0.99%) Shopify
2 2 (0.40%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.40%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.20%) Eloqua
3 1 (0.20%) SAP HR
3 1 (0.20%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 148 (29.42%) Figma
2 60 (11.93%) Azure
3 28 (5.57%) Azure DevOps
4 27 (5.37%) AWS
5 19 (3.78%) Power Platform
6 14 (2.78%) GitHub
7 13 (2.58%) GitHub Actions
7 13 (2.58%) SaaS
8 10 (1.99%) Firebase
9 8 (1.59%) GCP
10 7 (1.39%) Microsoft Copilot
10 7 (1.39%) Serverless
11 5 (0.99%) AWS Lambda
11 5 (0.99%) Google Play
11 5 (0.99%) Slack
12 4 (0.80%) Amazon S3
12 4 (0.80%) AWS CloudFormation
12 4 (0.80%) BigCommerce
12 4 (0.80%) Microsoft 365
12 4 (0.80%) Miro
Communications & Networking
1 1 (0.20%) Internet
1 1 (0.20%) Reverse Proxy
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (2.19%) Power BI
2 10 (1.99%) SQL Server
3 9 (1.79%) PostgreSQL
4 6 (1.19%) Metadata
4 6 (1.19%) Power Query
5 5 (0.99%) NoSQL
6 4 (0.80%) Elasticsearch
6 4 (0.80%) MongoDB
7 3 (0.60%) Redis
7 3 (0.60%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 3 (0.60%) Star Schema
8 2 (0.40%) Azure SQL Database
8 2 (0.40%) DynamoDB
8 2 (0.40%) MySQL
8 2 (0.40%) Pinecone
8 2 (0.40%) Relational Database
9 1 (0.20%) Amazon QuickSight
9 1 (0.20%) CockroachDB
9 1 (0.20%) Flink
9 1 (0.20%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 29 (5.77%) JIRA
2 26 (5.17%) Git
3 16 (3.18%) Cypress.io
3 16 (3.18%) Jenkins
4 13 (2.58%) GitLab
5 10 (1.99%) fastlane
6 5 (0.99%) Android Studio
6 5 (0.99%) Crashlytics
6 5 (0.99%) Gradle
6 5 (0.99%) Vite
6 5 (0.99%) Xcode
7 4 (0.80%) Axure RP
7 4 (0.80%) CircleCI
7 4 (0.80%) JUnit
7 4 (0.80%) Storybook
7 4 (0.80%) Visual Studio
7 4 (0.80%) webpack
8 3 (0.60%) Mocha
9 2 (0.40%) REST Assured
9 2 (0.40%) Selenium
General
1 147 (29.22%) Social Skills
2 95 (18.89%) Public Sector
3 84 (16.70%) Finance
4 56 (11.13%) Banking
5 26 (5.17%) Retail
6 24 (4.77%) Analytical Skills
7 20 (3.98%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 19 (3.78%) Presentation Skills
9 15 (2.98%) Automotive
10 14 (2.78%) Publishing
11 12 (2.39%) Marketing
12 8 (1.59%) Influencing Skills
12 8 (1.59%) Legal
13 6 (1.19%) Documentation Skills
13 6 (1.19%) Pharmaceutical
14 5 (0.99%) Games
15 4 (0.80%) Investment Banking
15 4 (0.80%) Law
15 4 (0.80%) Local Government
15 4 (0.80%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 251 (49.90%) Designer
2 136 (27.04%) UX Designer
3 83 (16.50%) Senior
4 72 (14.31%) Developer
5 62 (12.33%) UI Designer
6 45 (8.95%) Content Designer
6 45 (8.95%) Senior Designer
6 45 (8.95%) UI/UX Designer
7 43 (8.55%) Lead
8 36 (7.16%) Product Designer
9 29 (5.77%) Senior UX Designer
10 22 (4.37%) User Researcher
11 19 (3.78%) Analyst
12 18 (3.58%) User Experience Researcher
13 17 (3.38%) Front-End Developer (Client-Side Developer)
13 17 (3.38%) Service Designer
14 16 (3.18%) Architect
15 15 (2.98%) Business Analyst
16 14 (2.78%) Consultant
17 13 (2.58%) Junior
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 65 (12.92%) React
2 59 (11.73%) CSS
3 55 (10.93%) HTML
4 39 (7.75%) RESTful
5 27 (5.37%) AngularJS
6 25 (4.97%) .NET
7 24 (4.77%) HTML5
8 23 (4.57%) CSS3
9 19 (3.78%) REST
10 14 (2.78%) Jest
10 14 (2.78%) Redux
11 13 (2.58%) Spring
12 12 (2.39%) Node.js
12 12 (2.39%) OAuth
12 12 (2.39%) Spring Boot
13 10 (1.99%) Playwright
13 10 (1.99%) Vue
14 9 (1.79%) .NET Framework
14 9 (1.79%) GraphQL
14 9 (1.79%) Next.js
Miscellaneous
1 66 (13.12%) Product Ownership
2 46 (9.15%) Mobile App
3 15 (2.98%) Animation
4 14 (2.78%) Onboarding
5 13 (2.58%) Self-Motivation
6 12 (2.39%) Cloud Native
7 9 (1.79%) Data Protection Act
7 9 (1.79%) Graphic Design
8 8 (1.59%) Enterprise Software
8 8 (1.59%) Greenfield Project
8 8 (1.59%) Taxonomies
9 5 (0.99%) AI Agents
9 5 (0.99%) Legacy Systems
9 5 (0.99%) Virtual Reality
10 4 (0.80%) Algorithms
10 4 (0.80%) Data Structures
10 4 (0.80%) Team-Oriented Environment
10 4 (0.80%) Virtual Team
11 3 (0.60%) IoT
11 3 (0.60%) Mobile Banking
Operating Systems
1 13 (2.58%) Android
2 10 (1.99%) Apple iOS
3 1 (0.20%) Linux
3 1 (0.20%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 503 (100.00%) User Experience
2 204 (40.56%) Agile
3 126 (25.05%) User Research
4 101 (20.08%) Prototyping
5 95 (18.89%) Wireframes
6 88 (17.50%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
7 84 (16.70%) AI
8 79 (15.71%) Service Design
9 72 (14.31%) Usability Testing
10 68 (13.52%) UX Research
11 66 (13.12%) CI/CD
12 63 (12.52%) Interaction Design
13 62 (12.33%) Analytics
14 57 (11.33%) Problem-Solving
15 56 (11.13%) Stakeholder Management
16 55 (10.93%) DevOps
17 49 (9.74%) Customer Experience
18 47 (9.34%) Workshop Facilitation
19 45 (8.95%) Journey Map
20 41 (8.15%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 58 (11.53%) JavaScript
2 50 (9.94%) TypeScript
3 31 (6.16%) Java
4 27 (5.37%) Python
5 20 (3.98%) C#
6 18 (3.58%) SQL
7 9 (1.79%) Kotlin
8 8 (1.59%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 5 (0.99%) C++
9 5 (0.99%) Korn
9 5 (0.99%) Lua
9 5 (0.99%) Swift
10 4 (0.80%) Apex Code
11 2 (0.40%) Bicep
11 2 (0.40%) PowerShell
12 1 (0.20%) Gremlin
12 1 (0.20%) Objective-C
12 1 (0.20%) Shell Script
12 1 (0.20%) SPARQL
12 1 (0.20%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 73 (14.51%) Security Cleared
2 58 (11.53%) SC Cleared
3 50 (9.94%) Degree
4 10 (1.99%) BPSS Clearance
4 10 (1.99%) DV Cleared
4 10 (1.99%) Master's Degree
5 5 (0.99%) Computer Science Degree
6 3 (0.60%) DBS Check
7 2 (0.40%) CCA
8 1 (0.20%) Azure Certification
8 1 (0.20%) Citrix Certification
8 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 174 (34.59%) Accessibility
2 65 (12.92%) WCAG
3 25 (4.97%) QA
4 9 (1.79%) Data Quality
5 5 (0.99%) Actionable Recommendations
6 3 (0.60%) ISO/IEC 42001
7 2 (0.40%) GDPR
8 1 (0.20%) EU AI Act
8 1 (0.20%) GMP
8 1 (0.20%) GRC
8 1 (0.20%) GxP
8 1 (0.20%) PMO
8 1 (0.20%) WAI
8 1 (0.20%) WAI-ARIA
System Software
1 20 (3.98%) Docker
2 1 (0.20%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 17 (3.38%) Kubernetes
2 14 (2.78%) Terraform
3 1 (0.20%) Grafana
3 1 (0.20%) HP ALM
3 1 (0.20%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 41 (8.15%) Adobe
2 26 (5.17%) Microsoft
3 19 (3.78%) Salesforce
4 10 (1.99%) Dynatrace
5 9 (1.79%) Google
6 8 (1.59%) SAP
7 6 (1.19%) ServiceNow
8 5 (0.99%) Apple
9 4 (0.80%) Sitecore
10 3 (0.60%) Foundry
10 3 (0.60%) Oracle
10 3 (0.60%) Progress
10 3 (0.60%) Xamarin
11 2 (0.40%) Blue Prism
11 2 (0.40%) Databricks
11 2 (0.40%) OpenAI
12 1 (0.20%) Automation Anywhere
12 1 (0.20%) MuleSoft
12 1 (0.20%) Pardot
12 1 (0.20%) Qualtrics