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

6 months to
21 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 244 207 202
Rank change year-on-year -37 -5 -31
Contract jobs citing UX Design 496 386 488
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.03% 1.33% 1.15%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.22% 1.46% 1.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 347 270 347
10th Percentile £363 £321 £355
25th Percentile £400 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year - -5.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £575 £550 £623
90th Percentile £650 £650 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £425 £450
% change year-on-year +11.76% -5.56% -5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 5 6
10th Percentile £20.31 £39.35 £29.14
25th Percentile £24.50 £45.50 £34.16
Median hourly rate £28.09 £49.00 £41.68
Median % change year-on-year -42.67% +17.58% -14.95%
75th Percentile £58.58 £96.49 £72.33
90th Percentile £70.00 £97.73 £92.69
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.24 £70.35 £91.44
% change year-on-year -61.28% -23.07% +46.30%

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 40,694 26,498 36,630
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.34% 91.04% 86.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,533 17,004 23,615
10th Percentile £325 £303 £300
25th Percentile £413 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.49% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +4.21% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,389 1,106 2,441
10th Percentile £14.82 £14.35 £12.75
25th Percentile £19.91 £18.13 £16.00
Median hourly rate £42.50 £28.00 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +51.79% -23.29% +1.39%
75th Percentile £67.50 £59.98 £60.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £38.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -33.82% +8.57%

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 21 May 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 21 May 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 21 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 -27 414 £475 - 161
London -28 230 £493 -1.50% 82
UK excluding London -20 202 £475 +11.76% 114
Work from Home -52 127 £473 +7.39% 97
North of England -20 69 £426 +6.50% 29
North West -2 45 £397 -0.88% 21
Midlands -30 37 £523 +46.77% 17
South West -16 31 £475 +11.76% 12
West Midlands -33 29 £475 +17.28% 13
Scotland -5 28 £500 +7.41% 8
South East -59 24 £538 +22.86% 26
Yorkshire -45 15 £506 +9.40% 3
North East -17 9 £410 +5.68% 5
East of England -21 9 £410 -14.14% 6
East Midlands -24 8 £575 +61.52% 4
Wales - 4 £450 - 4
Northern Ireland -1 1 - - 14

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 20 (4.03%) Confluence
2 17 (3.43%) CMS
3 5 (1.01%) SharePoint
4 4 (0.81%) Kentico
4 4 (0.81%) WordPress
5 3 (0.60%) Headless CMS
5 3 (0.60%) Umbraco
6 2 (0.40%) Appian
7 1 (0.20%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 1 (0.20%) Camunda
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 34 (6.85%) Sketch
2 24 (4.84%) Adobe XD
3 11 (2.22%) Chatbot
4 10 (2.02%) InVision
4 10 (2.02%) Photoshop
5 8 (1.61%) Adobe After Effects
5 8 (1.61%) Adobe Illustrator
6 4 (0.81%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 3 (0.60%) Microsoft Excel
7 3 (0.60%) MS Visio
8 2 (0.40%) Final Cut Pro
8 2 (0.40%) Microsoft Office
8 2 (0.40%) Trello
8 2 (0.40%) UserZoom
9 1 (0.20%) Microsoft PowerPoint
9 1 (0.20%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 5 (1.01%) Shopify
2 2 (0.40%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.20%) Eloqua
3 1 (0.20%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.20%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 153 (30.85%) Figma
2 55 (11.09%) Azure
3 27 (5.44%) AWS
4 22 (4.44%) Azure DevOps
5 17 (3.43%) Power Platform
6 14 (2.82%) SaaS
7 13 (2.62%) GitHub
7 13 (2.62%) GitHub Actions
8 9 (1.81%) GCP
9 7 (1.41%) Firebase
9 7 (1.41%) Serverless
10 6 (1.21%) AWS CloudFormation
10 6 (1.21%) AWS Lambda
10 6 (1.21%) Miro
11 5 (1.01%) Amazon S3
11 5 (1.01%) Slack
12 4 (0.81%) BigCommerce
12 4 (0.81%) Google Play
13 3 (0.60%) Amazon Bedrock
13 3 (0.60%) Anthropic Claude
Communications & Networking
1 1 (0.20%) HTTP
1 1 (0.20%) Internet
1 1 (0.20%) Intranet
1 1 (0.20%) Reverse Proxy
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (1.81%) Power BI
2 8 (1.61%) SQL Server
3 7 (1.41%) NoSQL
4 5 (1.01%) PostgreSQL
4 5 (1.01%) Power Query
5 4 (0.81%) MongoDB
6 3 (0.60%) Elasticsearch
6 3 (0.60%) Metadata
6 3 (0.60%) Pinecone
6 3 (0.60%) Relational Database
7 2 (0.40%) CockroachDB
7 2 (0.40%) DynamoDB
7 2 (0.40%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 2 (0.40%) Star Schema
8 1 (0.20%) Amazon RDS
8 1 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
8 1 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
8 1 (0.20%) MySQL
8 1 (0.20%) Redis
8 1 (0.20%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 34 (6.85%) Git
2 32 (6.45%) JIRA
3 21 (4.23%) Cypress.io
4 15 (3.02%) GitLab
5 12 (2.42%) Axure RP
6 11 (2.22%) Jenkins
7 8 (1.61%) CircleCI
8 7 (1.41%) JUnit
9 6 (1.21%) fastlane
9 6 (1.21%) Mocha
10 5 (1.01%) Gradle
11 4 (0.81%) Android Studio
11 4 (0.81%) Crashlytics
11 4 (0.81%) Visual Studio
12 3 (0.60%) Selenium
12 3 (0.60%) Vite
12 3 (0.60%) Xcode
13 2 (0.40%) REST Assured
13 2 (0.40%) Storybook
13 2 (0.40%) TestRail
General
1 140 (28.23%) Social Skills
2 91 (18.35%) Public Sector
3 85 (17.14%) Finance
4 60 (12.10%) Banking
5 30 (6.05%) Analytical Skills
6 20 (4.03%) Presentation Skills
7 19 (3.83%) Retail
8 17 (3.43%) Marketing
9 16 (3.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 10 (2.02%) Automotive
11 9 (1.81%) Pharmaceutical
11 9 (1.81%) Publishing
12 8 (1.61%) Legal
13 7 (1.41%) Influencing Skills
14 6 (1.21%) Games
14 6 (1.21%) Local Government
15 5 (1.01%) Documentation Skills
15 5 (1.01%) Retail Banking
16 4 (0.81%) Advertising
16 4 (0.81%) Corporate Banking
Job Titles
1 251 (50.60%) Designer
2 142 (28.63%) UX Designer
3 84 (16.94%) Senior
4 67 (13.51%) Developer
5 54 (10.89%) UI Designer
6 44 (8.87%) Senior Designer
7 41 (8.27%) UI/UX Designer
8 40 (8.06%) Content Designer
9 37 (7.46%) Product Designer
10 34 (6.85%) Lead
11 32 (6.45%) Service Designer
12 30 (6.05%) Senior UX Designer
13 20 (4.03%) Analyst
13 20 (4.03%) User Researcher
14 16 (3.23%) Architect
14 16 (3.23%) User Experience Researcher
15 15 (3.02%) Business Analyst
15 15 (3.02%) Full-Stack Developer
16 13 (2.62%) Consultant
16 13 (2.62%) Front-End Developer (Client-Side Developer)
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 69 (13.91%) React
2 59 (11.90%) CSS
3 58 (11.69%) HTML
4 42 (8.47%) RESTful
5 27 (5.44%) AngularJS
5 27 (5.44%) HTML5
6 26 (5.24%) .NET
6 26 (5.24%) CSS3
7 21 (4.23%) REST
8 16 (3.23%) Jest
8 16 (3.23%) Node.js
9 14 (2.82%) Spring
10 13 (2.62%) Spring Boot
11 12 (2.42%) OAuth
11 12 (2.42%) Redux
12 10 (2.02%) Playwright
12 10 (2.02%) Vue
13 9 (1.81%) JSON
14 8 (1.61%) GraphQL
15 7 (1.41%) Next.js
Miscellaneous
1 60 (12.10%) Product Ownership
2 36 (7.26%) Mobile App
3 11 (2.22%) Animation
3 11 (2.22%) Onboarding
4 9 (1.81%) Cloud Native
4 9 (1.81%) Data Protection Act
5 8 (1.61%) Graphic Design
5 8 (1.61%) NHS
5 8 (1.61%) Self-Motivation
6 7 (1.41%) Enterprise Software
6 7 (1.41%) Greenfield Project
6 7 (1.41%) Virtual Team
7 6 (1.21%) Virtual Reality
8 5 (1.01%) Digital Wallet
8 5 (1.01%) Taxonomies
9 4 (0.81%) AI Agents
9 4 (0.81%) Augmented Reality
9 4 (0.81%) Data Structures
10 3 (0.60%) Low-Code
10 3 (0.60%) Team-Oriented Environment
Operating Systems
1 10 (2.02%) Android
2 7 (1.41%) Apple iOS
3 1 (0.20%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 496 (100.00%) User Experience
2 213 (42.94%) Agile
3 135 (27.22%) User Research
4 101 (20.36%) Prototyping
5 92 (18.55%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
6 90 (18.15%) Wireframes
7 82 (16.53%) Service Design
8 78 (15.73%) Usability Testing
9 74 (14.92%) UX Research
10 73 (14.72%) AI
11 63 (12.70%) CI/CD
12 61 (12.30%) Interaction Design
13 60 (12.10%) Problem-Solving
14 53 (10.69%) Workshop Facilitation
15 52 (10.48%) Stakeholder Management
16 51 (10.28%) Analytics
17 49 (9.88%) DevOps
18 46 (9.27%) Journey Map
19 43 (8.67%) Continuous Improvement
20 40 (8.06%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 62 (12.50%) JavaScript
2 47 (9.48%) TypeScript
3 27 (5.44%) Java
3 27 (5.44%) Python
4 18 (3.63%) C#
5 15 (3.02%) SQL
6 7 (1.41%) Kotlin
7 6 (1.21%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 5 (1.01%) C++
8 5 (1.01%) Korn
8 5 (1.01%) Lua
9 3 (0.60%) Swift
10 2 (0.40%) Apex Code
10 2 (0.40%) Bicep
10 2 (0.40%) PowerShell
11 1 (0.20%) Gremlin
11 1 (0.20%) Objective-C
11 1 (0.20%) Shell Script
11 1 (0.20%) SPARQL
11 1 (0.20%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 71 (14.31%) Security Cleared
2 53 (10.69%) SC Cleared
3 46 (9.27%) Degree
4 11 (2.22%) Master's Degree
5 10 (2.02%) BPSS Clearance
5 10 (2.02%) DV Cleared
6 5 (1.01%) Computer Science Degree
7 3 (0.60%) CCA
7 3 (0.60%) DBS Check
7 3 (0.60%) Microsoft Certification
8 1 (0.20%) Azure Certification
8 1 (0.20%) Citrix Certification
8 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Certified Professional
8 1 (0.20%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 166 (33.47%) Accessibility
2 66 (13.31%) WCAG
3 31 (6.25%) QA
4 6 (1.21%) Actionable Recommendations
5 5 (1.01%) Data Quality
6 2 (0.40%) GDPR
7 1 (0.20%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 1 (0.20%) EU AI Act
7 1 (0.20%) GMP
7 1 (0.20%) GxP
7 1 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 42001
7 1 (0.20%) PCI DSS
7 1 (0.20%) PMO
7 1 (0.20%) WAI
7 1 (0.20%) WAI-ARIA
System Software
1 19 (3.83%) Docker
2 1 (0.20%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 16 (3.23%) Kubernetes
2 14 (2.82%) Terraform
3 2 (0.40%) HP ALM
3 2 (0.40%) Single Sign-On
4 1 (0.20%) Ansible
4 1 (0.20%) Grafana
4 1 (0.20%) Podman
Vendors
1 44 (8.87%) Adobe
2 20 (4.03%) Salesforce
3 19 (3.83%) Microsoft
4 8 (1.61%) Google
5 7 (1.41%) SAP
6 6 (1.21%) Dynatrace
6 6 (1.21%) MuleSoft
6 6 (1.21%) ServiceNow
7 4 (0.81%) Sitecore
8 3 (0.60%) Apple
8 3 (0.60%) Progress
8 3 (0.60%) Xamarin
9 2 (0.40%) Blue Prism
9 2 (0.40%) Databricks
9 2 (0.40%) HP
9 2 (0.40%) OpenAI
10 1 (0.20%) Automation Anywhere
10 1 (0.20%) Citrix
10 1 (0.20%) Qualtrics
10 1 (0.20%) UiPath