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

6 months to
25 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 250 186 219
Rank change year-on-year -64 +33 -47
Contract jobs citing UX Design 498 430 474
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.98% 1.43% 1.09%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.15% 1.57% 1.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 327 286 323
10th Percentile £363 £300 £350
25th Percentile £405 £359 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -10.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £578 £544 £611
90th Percentile £663 £623 £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 43,238 27,425 37,092
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.97% 91.06% 85.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,959 17,371 23,647
10th Percentile £325 £300 £300
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £514 £505 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.78% -3.81% -4.55%
75th Percentile £620 £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 2,600 1,291 2,584
10th Percentile £14.82 £14.20 £12.65
25th Percentile £20.09 £17.70 £16.06
Median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +74.79% -32.93% +7.14%
75th Percentile £68.00 £54.88 £61.30
90th Percentile £81.25 £71.25 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.04 £38.12
% change year-on-year +79.73% -34.32% +17.29%

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 25 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 25 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 25 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 -47 411 £475 +5.56% 99
London -44 232 £500 +7.53% 55
UK excluding London -51 203 £475 +11.76% 75
Work from Home -66 118 £488 +14.71% 55
North of England -52 64 £450 +12.50% 22
North West -27 37 £384 -4.00% 10
Scotland -4 36 £525 +14.13% 3
Midlands -41 33 £550 +54.49% 6
South West -26 32 £475 +11.76% 4
West Midlands -38 26 £500 +25.00% 4
South East -65 26 £550 +21.15% 29
Yorkshire -53 14 £500 +24.84% 7
North East -26 13 £450 +5.88% 5
East of England -23 11 £410 -14.14% 6
East Midlands -18 7 £588 +65.03% 2
Wales -10 2 £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 (5.02%) CMS
2 17 (3.41%) Confluence
3 5 (1.00%) 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 (5.62%) Sketch
2 14 (2.81%) Adobe XD
3 11 (2.21%) Adobe After Effects
3 11 (2.21%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 10 (2.01%) Photoshop
5 9 (1.81%) Chatbot
6 8 (1.61%) Adobe Illustrator
7 6 (1.20%) 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 (1.00%) 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
1 146 (29.32%) Figma
2 60 (12.05%) Azure
3 28 (5.62%) AWS
4 27 (5.42%) Azure DevOps
5 18 (3.61%) Power Platform
6 13 (2.61%) GitHub
6 13 (2.61%) GitHub Actions
7 12 (2.41%) SaaS
8 10 (2.01%) Firebase
9 8 (1.61%) GCP
10 7 (1.41%) Microsoft Copilot
11 6 (1.20%) Serverless
12 5 (1.00%) AWS Lambda
12 5 (1.00%) Google Play
12 5 (1.00%) Slack
13 4 (0.80%) Amazon S3
13 4 (0.80%) AWS CloudFormation
13 4 (0.80%) BigCommerce
13 4 (0.80%) Microsoft 365
13 4 (0.80%) Miro
Communications & Networking
1 1 (0.20%) Internet
1 1 (0.20%) Reverse Proxy
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (2.01%) Power BI
1 10 (2.01%) SQL Server
2 8 (1.61%) PostgreSQL
3 6 (1.20%) Metadata
3 6 (1.20%) Power Query
4 4 (0.80%) Elasticsearch
4 4 (0.80%) NoSQL
5 3 (0.60%) MongoDB
5 3 (0.60%) Redis
5 3 (0.60%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 3 (0.60%) Star Schema
6 2 (0.40%) DynamoDB
6 2 (0.40%) Pinecone
6 2 (0.40%) Relational Database
7 1 (0.20%) Amazon QuickSight
7 1 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
7 1 (0.20%) CockroachDB
7 1 (0.20%) Flink
7 1 (0.20%) MySQL
7 1 (0.20%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 29 (5.82%) JIRA
2 25 (5.02%) Git
3 16 (3.21%) Cypress.io
3 16 (3.21%) Jenkins
4 13 (2.61%) GitLab
5 10 (2.01%) fastlane
6 5 (1.00%) Android Studio
6 5 (1.00%) Crashlytics
6 5 (1.00%) Gradle
6 5 (1.00%) Vite
6 5 (1.00%) Xcode
7 4 (0.80%) Axure RP
7 4 (0.80%) CircleCI
7 4 (0.80%) JUnit
7 4 (0.80%) Visual Studio
7 4 (0.80%) webpack
8 3 (0.60%) Mocha
8 3 (0.60%) Storybook
9 2 (0.40%) REST Assured
9 2 (0.40%) Selenium
General
1 145 (29.12%) Social Skills
2 96 (19.28%) Public Sector
3 82 (16.47%) Finance
4 56 (11.24%) Banking
5 26 (5.22%) Retail
6 25 (5.02%) Analytical Skills
7 20 (4.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 19 (3.82%) Presentation Skills
9 15 (3.01%) Automotive
10 14 (2.81%) Publishing
11 12 (2.41%) Marketing
12 8 (1.61%) Influencing Skills
12 8 (1.61%) Legal
13 6 (1.20%) Pharmaceutical
14 5 (1.00%) Documentation Skills
14 5 (1.00%) Games
15 4 (0.80%) Corporate Banking
15 4 (0.80%) Investment Banking
15 4 (0.80%) Local Government
15 4 (0.80%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 249 (50.00%) Designer
2 134 (26.91%) UX Designer
3 83 (16.67%) Senior
4 71 (14.26%) Developer
5 61 (12.25%) UI Designer
6 45 (9.04%) Content Designer
6 45 (9.04%) Senior Designer
7 43 (8.63%) UI/UX Designer
8 41 (8.23%) Lead
9 35 (7.03%) Product Designer
10 29 (5.82%) Senior UX Designer
11 22 (4.42%) User Researcher
12 19 (3.82%) Analyst
13 18 (3.61%) User Experience Researcher
14 17 (3.41%) Service Designer
15 15 (3.01%) Architect
15 15 (3.01%) Business Analyst
15 15 (3.01%) Front-End Developer (Client-Side Developer)
16 14 (2.81%) Consultant
17 13 (2.61%) Junior
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 65 (13.05%) React
2 58 (11.65%) CSS
3 56 (11.24%) HTML
4 38 (7.63%) RESTful
5 27 (5.42%) AngularJS
6 26 (5.22%) .NET
7 24 (4.82%) HTML5
8 23 (4.62%) CSS3
9 18 (3.61%) REST
10 14 (2.81%) Jest
11 13 (2.61%) Redux
11 13 (2.61%) Spring
12 12 (2.41%) Node.js
12 12 (2.41%) OAuth
12 12 (2.41%) Spring Boot
13 10 (2.01%) ASP.NET
13 10 (2.01%) Vue
14 9 (1.81%) .NET Framework
15 8 (1.61%) Next.js
15 8 (1.61%) VML
Miscellaneous
1 66 (13.25%) Product Ownership
2 43 (8.63%) Mobile App
3 15 (3.01%) Animation
4 14 (2.81%) Onboarding
5 13 (2.61%) Self-Motivation
6 11 (2.21%) Cloud Native
7 9 (1.81%) Data Protection Act
7 9 (1.81%) Graphic Design
8 8 (1.61%) Greenfield Project
8 8 (1.61%) Taxonomies
9 7 (1.41%) Enterprise Software
10 5 (1.00%) AI Agents
10 5 (1.00%) Legacy Systems
10 5 (1.00%) Virtual Reality
11 4 (0.80%) Algorithms
11 4 (0.80%) Data Structures
11 4 (0.80%) Team-Oriented Environment
11 4 (0.80%) Virtual Team
12 3 (0.60%) IoT
12 3 (0.60%) Mobile Banking
Operating Systems
1 12 (2.41%) Android
2 10 (2.01%) Apple iOS
3 1 (0.20%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 498 (100.00%) User Experience
2 203 (40.76%) Agile
3 124 (24.90%) User Research
4 100 (20.08%) Prototyping
5 93 (18.67%) Wireframes
6 87 (17.47%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
7 82 (16.47%) AI
8 78 (15.66%) Service Design
9 71 (14.26%) Usability Testing
10 69 (13.86%) UX Research
11 62 (12.45%) CI/CD
12 61 (12.25%) Analytics
12 61 (12.25%) Interaction Design
13 59 (11.85%) Problem-Solving
14 55 (11.04%) Stakeholder Management
15 53 (10.64%) DevOps
16 49 (9.84%) Customer Experience
17 48 (9.64%) Workshop Facilitation
18 45 (9.04%) Journey Map
19 41 (8.23%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 59 (11.85%) JavaScript
2 49 (9.84%) TypeScript
3 31 (6.22%) Java
4 27 (5.42%) Python
5 21 (4.22%) C#
6 18 (3.61%) SQL
7 8 (1.61%) Kotlin
8 7 (1.41%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 5 (1.00%) C++
9 5 (1.00%) Korn
9 5 (1.00%) Lua
9 5 (1.00%) Swift
10 3 (0.60%) 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 74 (14.86%) Security Cleared
2 58 (11.65%) SC Cleared
3 49 (9.84%) Degree
4 10 (2.01%) BPSS Clearance
4 10 (2.01%) DV Cleared
4 10 (2.01%) Master's Degree
5 4 (0.80%) Computer Science Degree
6 3 (0.60%) CCA
6 3 (0.60%) DBS Check
7 1 (0.20%) Azure Certification
7 1 (0.20%) Citrix Certification
7 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 171 (34.34%) Accessibility
2 64 (12.85%) WCAG
3 25 (5.02%) QA
4 9 (1.81%) Data Quality
5 5 (1.00%) 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 (4.02%) Docker
2 1 (0.20%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 16 (3.21%) Kubernetes
2 13 (2.61%) Terraform
3 1 (0.20%) Ansible
3 1 (0.20%) Grafana
3 1 (0.20%) HP ALM
3 1 (0.20%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 41 (8.23%) Adobe
2 25 (5.02%) Microsoft
3 18 (3.61%) Salesforce
4 10 (2.01%) Dynatrace
5 9 (1.81%) Google
6 8 (1.61%) SAP
7 6 (1.20%) ServiceNow
8 5 (1.00%) 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