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 10 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 223 217 210
Rank change year-on-year -6 -7 -35
Contract jobs citing UX Design 471 374 506
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.20% 1.22% 1.13%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.38% 1.36% 1.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 350 238 342
10th Percentile £351 £311 £326
25th Percentile £400 £382 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £496 £500
Median % change year-on-year -6.16% -0.90% -9.09%
75th Percentile £538 £575 £600
90th Percentile £606 £638 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £425 £464
% change year-on-year +5.88% -8.36% -7.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 5 11
10th Percentile £26.22 £32.32 £31.71
25th Percentile £35.60 £33.54 £60.63
Median hourly rate £47.50 £47.50 £77.50
Median % change year-on-year - -38.71% +52.71%
75th Percentile £55.00 £53.75 £81.88
90th Percentile £65.00 £79.39 £82.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £47.50 £33.54 £77.50
% change year-on-year +41.62% -56.72% +58.16%

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 34,251 27,445 39,124
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 87.02% 89.42% 87.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,718 16,700 25,680
10th Percentile £306 £306 £300
25th Percentile £406 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £716 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £478 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -4.50% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,071 843 2,128
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.62 £13.29
25th Percentile £17.69 £21.05 £16.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £33.07
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -1.71% +1.74%
75th Percentile £60.00 £63.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £73.12
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £31.08 £35.00
% change year-on-year -19.08% -11.20% +10.55%

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 10 February 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 10 February 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 10 February 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 -17 385 £460 -8.00% 206
London -18 228 £473 -5.50% 93
UK excluding London -16 175 £450 +5.88% 166
Work from Home -24 130 £468 +3.89% 152
North of England -24 72 £401 +0.25% 36
North West +1 49 £388 -1.90% 20
Midlands -42 29 £450 +26.40% 21
Scotland +11 28 £488 +9.86% 7
West Midlands -33 23 £435 -8.90% 13
South East -33 17 £513 +7.44% 63
Yorkshire -48 16 £513 +2.50% 9
South West -9 15 £450 +63.64% 22
East of England -17 8 £460 +2.22% 12
Wales +1 7 £450 - 4
North East -7 7 £367 -5.42% 7
East Midlands -32 6 £515 +44.66% 8
Northern Ireland -4 2 £625 +16.28% 1

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 (4.25%) Confluence
2 19 (4.03%) CMS
3 8 (1.70%) SharePoint
4 6 (1.27%) SugarCRM
5 3 (0.64%) Jupyter
6 2 (0.42%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 2 (0.42%) Appian
6 2 (0.42%) Headless CMS
6 2 (0.42%) Sitecore CMS
6 2 (0.42%) Umbraco
7 1 (0.21%) Cloud Foundry
7 1 (0.21%) Drupal
Applications
1 50 (10.62%) Sketch
2 33 (7.01%) Adobe XD
3 13 (2.76%) InVision
4 11 (2.34%) Chatbot
5 5 (1.06%) Adobe Illustrator
5 5 (1.06%) Photoshop
6 4 (0.85%) Adobe After Effects
6 4 (0.85%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 3 (0.64%) Microsoft Excel
7 3 (0.64%) Microsoft Office
7 3 (0.64%) MS Visio
8 2 (0.42%) InDesign
8 2 (0.42%) OmniGraffle
8 2 (0.42%) Trello
8 2 (0.42%) Zeplin
9 1 (0.21%) Camtasia
9 1 (0.21%) Marvel
9 1 (0.21%) Microsoft Project
9 1 (0.21%) UserZoom
9 1 (0.21%) UXPin
Business Applications
1 4 (0.85%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.21%) Maximo
2 1 (0.21%) SAP CO
2 1 (0.21%) SAP FI
2 1 (0.21%) SAP FI/CO
2 1 (0.21%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 147 (31.21%) Figma
2 63 (13.38%) Azure
3 54 (11.46%) AWS
4 30 (6.37%) SaaS
5 20 (4.25%) Miro
6 17 (3.61%) Power Platform
7 16 (3.40%) GCP
7 16 (3.40%) GitHub
8 13 (2.76%) Azure DevOps
8 13 (2.76%) GitHub Actions
9 6 (1.27%) Microsoft 365
10 5 (1.06%) Firebase
10 5 (1.06%) IaaS
10 5 (1.06%) PaaS
10 5 (1.06%) PowerApps
10 5 (1.06%) Serverless
11 4 (0.85%) AWS Lambda
11 4 (0.85%) Contentful
11 4 (0.85%) Entra ID
11 4 (0.85%) Lucidchart
Communications & Networking
1 6 (1.27%) Internet
2 2 (0.42%) HTTP
2 2 (0.42%) Intranet
3 1 (0.21%) HTTPS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (2.34%) NoSQL
2 9 (1.91%) MySQL
2 9 (1.91%) Power BI
2 9 (1.91%) SQL Server
3 7 (1.49%) MongoDB
4 6 (1.27%) PostgreSQL
4 6 (1.27%) Relational Database
5 5 (1.06%) Mixpanel
6 4 (0.85%) DynamoDB
7 2 (0.42%) CockroachDB
7 2 (0.42%) Metadata
7 2 (0.42%) Pinecone
8 1 (0.21%) Amazon RDS
8 1 (0.21%) Data Warehouse
8 1 (0.21%) Elasticsearch
8 1 (0.21%) Oracle Reports
8 1 (0.21%) SAP BW
8 1 (0.21%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.21%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 46 (9.77%) Git
2 37 (7.86%) JIRA
3 23 (4.88%) Axure RP
4 20 (4.25%) Cypress.io
5 18 (3.82%) GitLab
6 14 (2.97%) Jenkins
7 12 (2.55%) JUnit
8 9 (1.91%) CircleCI
9 7 (1.49%) Gradle
10 6 (1.27%) Mocha
10 6 (1.27%) Xcode
11 5 (1.06%) Visual Studio
11 5 (1.06%) Visual Website Optimizer
12 4 (0.85%) Android Studio
12 4 (0.85%) Eclipse
13 3 (0.64%) Balsamiq
13 3 (0.64%) Lerna
13 3 (0.64%) Selenium
14 2 (0.42%) TestRail
14 2 (0.42%) Vite
General
1 154 (32.70%) Social Skills
2 100 (21.23%) Finance
3 72 (15.29%) Public Sector
4 57 (12.10%) Banking
5 40 (8.49%) Analytical Skills
6 32 (6.79%) Marketing
7 15 (3.18%) Presentation Skills
8 12 (2.55%) Financial Institution
8 12 (2.55%) Retail
9 10 (2.12%) Pharmaceutical
10 9 (1.91%) Legal
11 7 (1.49%) Influencing Skills
12 6 (1.27%) Local Government
13 5 (1.06%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 4 (0.85%) Telecoms
15 3 (0.64%) Documentation Skills
15 3 (0.64%) Front Office
15 3 (0.64%) Investment Banking
15 3 (0.64%) Wearables
16 2 (0.42%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 193 (40.98%) Designer
2 130 (27.60%) UX Designer
3 87 (18.47%) Developer
4 86 (18.26%) Senior
5 45 (9.55%) Senior Designer
6 33 (7.01%) Senior UX Designer
6 33 (7.01%) Service Designer
7 30 (6.37%) Product Designer
7 30 (6.37%) UI Designer
8 28 (5.94%) Lead
9 24 (5.10%) UI/UX Designer
10 23 (4.88%) User Researcher
11 20 (4.25%) Front-End Developer (Client-Side Developer)
12 15 (3.18%) Content Designer
13 14 (2.97%) Analyst
13 14 (2.97%) Business Analyst
13 14 (2.97%) Full-Stack Developer
14 13 (2.76%) Architect
14 13 (2.76%) React Developer
15 12 (2.55%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 85 (18.05%) HTML
2 84 (17.83%) CSS
3 76 (16.14%) React
4 48 (10.19%) RESTful
5 34 (7.22%) REST
6 33 (7.01%) HTML5
7 29 (6.16%) AngularJS
8 27 (5.73%) CSS3
9 25 (5.31%) Node.js
10 23 (4.88%) Spring
11 22 (4.67%) .NET
12 21 (4.46%) Jest
12 21 (4.46%) Spring Boot
13 19 (4.03%) Playwright
14 14 (2.97%) Next.js
14 14 (2.97%) Redux
15 11 (2.34%) GraphQL
16 10 (2.12%) OAuth
17 9 (1.91%) SOAP
17 9 (1.91%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 51 (10.83%) Product Ownership
2 42 (8.92%) Mobile App
3 21 (4.46%) Onboarding
4 12 (2.55%) Virtual Team
5 10 (2.12%) NHS
6 9 (1.91%) Distributed Systems
6 9 (1.91%) Low-Code
7 8 (1.70%) Cloud Native
8 6 (1.27%) Enterprise Software
8 6 (1.27%) Greenfield Project
8 6 (1.27%) Mobile Banking
8 6 (1.27%) W3C
9 5 (1.06%) Data Protection Act
9 5 (1.06%) Digital Media
9 5 (1.06%) Digital Wallet
9 5 (1.06%) RIA
10 4 (0.85%) Analytical Mindset
10 4 (0.85%) Data Structures
10 4 (0.85%) Graphic Design
10 4 (0.85%) Life Science
Operating Systems
1 16 (3.40%) Android
2 13 (2.76%) Apple iOS
3 5 (1.06%) Windows
4 4 (0.85%) Linux
5 3 (0.64%) Windows 10
6 2 (0.42%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.21%) VMS
7 1 (0.21%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 471 (100.00%) User Experience
2 221 (46.92%) Agile
3 130 (27.60%) User Research
4 102 (21.66%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
5 93 (19.75%) Prototyping
6 92 (19.53%) Usability Testing
7 85 (18.05%) Wireframes
8 81 (17.20%) Problem-Solving
8 81 (17.20%) Service Design
9 73 (15.50%) CI/CD
10 67 (14.23%) Front End Development
11 66 (14.01%) Analytics
11 66 (14.01%) UX Research
12 60 (12.74%) Interaction Design
13 52 (11.04%) DevOps
14 51 (10.83%) Workshop Facilitation
15 49 (10.40%) Continuous Improvement
16 46 (9.77%) Journey Map
17 43 (9.13%) AI
18 42 (8.92%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 87 (18.47%) JavaScript
2 55 (11.68%) TypeScript
3 43 (9.13%) Java
4 21 (4.46%) SQL
5 19 (4.03%) C#
5 19 (4.03%) Python
6 9 (1.91%) Kotlin
7 7 (1.49%) PHP
8 6 (1.27%) Swift
9 5 (1.06%) Objective-C
10 4 (0.85%) C++
10 4 (0.85%) Ruby
10 4 (0.85%) Scala
11 3 (0.64%) C
11 3 (0.64%) Korn
12 2 (0.42%) COBOL
12 2 (0.42%) Groovy
12 2 (0.42%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.21%) Bash
13 1 (0.21%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 51 (10.83%) Degree
2 33 (7.01%) Security Cleared
3 19 (4.03%) SC Cleared
4 16 (3.40%) BPSS Clearance
5 7 (1.49%) Master's Degree
6 6 (1.27%) Computer Science Degree
7 2 (0.42%) Microsoft Certification
7 2 (0.42%) PMI Certification
8 1 (0.21%) AWS Certification
8 1 (0.21%) Azure Certification
8 1 (0.21%) CCA
8 1 (0.21%) DBS Check
8 1 (0.21%) DV Cleared
8 1 (0.21%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 146 (31.00%) Accessibility
2 50 (10.62%) WCAG
3 43 (9.13%) QA
4 11 (2.34%) GDPR
5 9 (1.91%) Actionable Recommendations
6 4 (0.85%) California Consumer Privacy Act
6 4 (0.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 3 (0.64%) Data Quality
8 1 (0.21%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 33 (7.01%) Docker
2 3 (0.64%) Active Directory
3 1 (0.21%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 22 (4.67%) Kubernetes
2 15 (3.18%) Terraform
3 6 (1.27%) Grafana
4 5 (1.06%) Ansible
5 3 (0.64%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.42%) HP ALM
6 2 (0.42%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
7 1 (0.21%) Consul
7 1 (0.21%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (0.21%) Podman
7 1 (0.21%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.21%) SCCM
Vendors
1 47 (9.98%) Adobe
2 35 (7.43%) Microsoft
3 18 (3.82%) Google
4 12 (2.55%) Salesforce
5 9 (1.91%) ServiceNow
6 7 (1.49%) Optimizely
6 7 (1.49%) SAP
7 6 (1.27%) Hopewiser
7 6 (1.27%) Hotjar
7 6 (1.27%) Oracle
8 5 (1.06%) Amplitude
8 5 (1.06%) MuleSoft
9 4 (0.85%) OutSystems
9 4 (0.85%) Xamarin
10 3 (0.64%) Dataiku
10 3 (0.64%) HP
10 3 (0.64%) OpenAI
11 2 (0.42%) Apple
11 2 (0.42%) Progress
11 2 (0.42%) Sitecore