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 23 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 23 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 303 | 218 | 236 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -85 | +18 | -13 |
| Contract jobs citing UX Design | 491 | 435 | 397 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 0.89% | 1.30% | 1.07% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 1.04% | 1.44% | 1.24% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 286 | 275 | 242 |
| 10th Percentile | £363 | £313 | £332 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £375 | £400 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £500 | £468 | £500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +6.84% | -6.40% | -4.76% |
| 75th Percentile | £580 | £539 | £575 |
| 90th Percentile | £671 | £626 | £637 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £464 | £450 | £438 |
| % change year-on-year | +3.06% | +2.86% | -12.50% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 16 | 20 | 6 |
| 10th Percentile | £24.20 | £34.03 | £30.97 |
| 25th Percentile | £40.23 | £35.25 | £31.89 |
| Median hourly rate | £70.00 | £36.50 | £33.07 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +91.78% | +10.37% | -54.39% |
| 75th Percentile | £75.00 | £58.50 | £34.26 |
| 90th Percentile | £93.75 | £70.16 | £44.13 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £70.00 | £47.50 | £32.21 |
| % change year-on-year | +47.37% | +47.48% | -58.44% |
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.
| 6 months to 23 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills | 47,025 | 30,309 | 32,016 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK | 85.24% | 90.44% | 86.16% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 28,250 | 18,893 | 19,250 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £300 | £310 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £405 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | -2.33% |
| 75th Percentile | £638 | £623 | £638 |
| 90th Percentile | £738 | £725 | £745 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £475 | £500 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.26% | -5.00% | - |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 3,553 | 1,929 | 1,190 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.50 | £14.38 | £15.00 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.72 | £17.30 | £20.12 |
| Median hourly rate | £35.82 | £25.08 | £38.75 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +42.85% | -35.29% | -10.23% |
| 75th Percentile | £65.00 | £42.50 | £65.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £79.00 | £65.25 | £73.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £35.11 | £22.27 | £39.68 |
| % change year-on-year | +57.67% | -43.89% | -6.64% |
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 Daily Rate Trend
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 23 October 2026.
UX Design Hourly Rate Trend
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 23 October 2026.
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 23 October 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 | -63 | 425 | £475 | +1.60% | 755 |
| London | -83 | 224 | £513 | +9.04% | 469 |
| UK excluding London | -39 | 222 | £464 | +3.06% | 330 |
| Work from Home | -71 | 124 | £495 | +4.21% | 390 |
| North of England | -38 | 88 | £450 | +12.50% | 101 |
| Midlands | -30 | 43 | £498 | +17.06% | 28 |
| West Midlands | -29 | 41 | £485 | +7.78% | 22 |
| Yorkshire | -17 | 39 | £500 | +1.27% | 37 |
| North West | -52 | 35 | £446 | +18.93% | 44 |
| Scotland | -26 | 33 | £531 | +14.86% | 34 |
| South West | -19 | 29 | £447 | -0.67% | 35 |
| South East | -58 | 18 | £508 | -11.74% | 73 |
| North East | -27 | 14 | £450 | -4.00% | 20 |
| East of England | -24 | 12 | £410 | -10.87% | 32 |
| Wales | -10 | 2 | - | - | 7 |
| East Midlands | -19 | 2 | £558 | +38.17% | 6 |
| Northern Ireland | +2 | 1 | - | - | 20 |
UX Design Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Processes & Methodologies
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | User Experience | 100.0% | 491 |
| 2 | Agile | 43.0% | 211 |
| 3 | User Research | 24.2% | 119 |
| 4 | User-Centered Design (UCD) | 22.2% | 109 |
| 5 | Prototyping | 20.6% | 101 |
| 6 | Wireframes | 20.2% | 99 |
| 7 | AI | 19.8% | 97 |
| 8 | Service Design | 19.6% | 96 |
| 9 | Stakeholder Management | 17.5% | 86 |
| 10 | CI/CD | 15.5% | 76 |
| 10 | Usability Testing | 15.5% | 76 |
| 12 | Interaction Design | 13.0% | 64 |
| 13 | Front End Development | 12.6% | 62 |
| 14 | Analytics | 12.0% | 59 |
| 15 | Problem-Solving | 11.6% | 57 |
| 15 | Workshop Facilitation | 11.6% | 57 |
| 17 | UX Research | 11.4% | 56 |
| 18 | Continuous Improvement | 11.2% | 55 |
| 19 | Scrum | 11.0% | 54 |
| 20 | Journey Map | 10.6% | 52 |