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

6 months to
20 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 232 205 208
Rank change year-on-year -27 +3 -26
Contract jobs citing UX Design 475 394 500
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.16% 1.28% 1.13%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.34% 1.42% 1.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 360 254 337
10th Percentile £353 £313 £325
25th Percentile £400 £382 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £495 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.04% -1.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £600
90th Percentile £638 £675 £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 7 5 12
10th Percentile £25.42 £32.32 £32.69
25th Percentile £35.64 £33.54 £47.88
Median hourly rate £51.44 £47.50 £75.00
Median % change year-on-year +8.29% -36.67% +53.06%
75th Percentile £64.38 £53.75 £81.56
90th Percentile £67.00 £79.39 £82.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £33.54 £77.50
% change year-on-year +93.80% -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 35,472 27,688 38,644
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.86% 89.76% 87.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,461 17,051 25,269
10th Percentile £313 £306 £300
25th Percentile £410 £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 £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -1.84% -2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,140 862 2,156
10th Percentile £14.61 £15.62 £13.29
25th Percentile £17.87 £21.00 £16.25
Median hourly rate £25.64 £32.50 £34.77
Median % change year-on-year -21.12% -6.52% -0.67%
75th Percentile £60.25 £63.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £72.00 £75.00 £72.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £30.45 £35.00
% change year-on-year -17.41% -13.00% -

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 20 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 20 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 20 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 -46 384 £468 -6.40% 379
London -23 239 £475 -5.94% 156
UK excluding London -37 168 £450 +5.88% 282
Work from Home -39 129 £475 +5.56% 157
North of England -31 68 £402 +0.50% 60
North West -4 44 £401 +0.25% 30
Scotland +11 33 £509 +14.65% 13
Midlands -46 23 £435 +22.19% 37
South East -41 19 £513 +2.50% 101
West Midlands -38 18 £425 -10.53% 20
Yorkshire -56 16 £513 +2.50% 21
South West -12 14 £450 +20.00% 36
North East -10 8 £364 -6.06% 9
Wales +5 7 £450 - 11
East Midlands -28 5 £545 +53.09% 16
East of England -28 5 £425 -25.44% 25
Northern Ireland -1 2 £625 +28.21% 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 19 (4.00%) Confluence
2 15 (3.16%) CMS
3 8 (1.68%) SharePoint
4 6 (1.26%) SugarCRM
5 3 (0.63%) 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 (10.53%) Sketch
2 35 (7.37%) Adobe XD
3 13 (2.74%) InVision
4 10 (2.11%) Chatbot
5 5 (1.05%) Adobe Illustrator
5 5 (1.05%) Photoshop
6 4 (0.84%) Adobe After Effects
6 4 (0.84%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 3 (0.63%) Microsoft Excel
7 3 (0.63%) MS Visio
8 2 (0.42%) InDesign
8 2 (0.42%) Microsoft Office
8 2 (0.42%) OmniGraffle
8 2 (0.42%) Trello
8 2 (0.42%) Zeplin
9 1 (0.21%) Camtasia
9 1 (0.21%) Microsoft PowerPoint
9 1 (0.21%) Microsoft Project
9 1 (0.21%) UserZoom
9 1 (0.21%) UXPin
Business Applications
1 1 (0.21%) Dynamics CRM
1 1 (0.21%) Maximo
1 1 (0.21%) SAP CO
1 1 (0.21%) SAP FI
1 1 (0.21%) SAP FI/CO
1 1 (0.21%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 155 (32.63%) Figma
2 62 (13.05%) Azure
3 52 (10.95%) AWS
4 34 (7.16%) SaaS
5 20 (4.21%) Miro
6 17 (3.58%) Power Platform
7 16 (3.37%) GCP
8 15 (3.16%) GitHub
9 13 (2.74%) Azure DevOps
9 13 (2.74%) GitHub Actions
10 7 (1.47%) Serverless
11 6 (1.26%) AWS Lambda
11 6 (1.26%) Microsoft 365
12 5 (1.05%) Firebase
12 5 (1.05%) Google Gemini
12 5 (1.05%) IaaS
12 5 (1.05%) PaaS
12 5 (1.05%) PowerApps
13 4 (0.84%) AWS CloudFormation
13 4 (0.84%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 6 (1.26%) Internet
2 2 (0.42%) HTTP
2 2 (0.42%) Intranet
3 1 (0.21%) HTTPS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (2.53%) NoSQL
2 9 (1.89%) MySQL
2 9 (1.89%) Power BI
2 9 (1.89%) SQL Server
3 7 (1.47%) MongoDB
4 6 (1.26%) PostgreSQL
4 6 (1.26%) Relational Database
5 5 (1.05%) Mixpanel
6 4 (0.84%) DynamoDB
7 2 (0.42%) CockroachDB
7 2 (0.42%) Elasticsearch
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%) 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 43 (9.05%) Git
2 38 (8.00%) JIRA
3 22 (4.63%) Axure RP
4 20 (4.21%) Cypress.io
5 18 (3.79%) GitLab
6 12 (2.53%) JUnit
7 11 (2.32%) Jenkins
8 9 (1.89%) CircleCI
9 6 (1.26%) Mocha
10 5 (1.05%) Visual Studio
10 5 (1.05%) Visual Website Optimizer
11 4 (0.84%) Android Studio
11 4 (0.84%) Eclipse
11 4 (0.84%) Gradle
12 3 (0.63%) Balsamiq
12 3 (0.63%) Lerna
12 3 (0.63%) Selenium
12 3 (0.63%) Xcode
13 2 (0.42%) Maven
13 2 (0.42%) Vite
General
1 163 (34.32%) Social Skills
2 99 (20.84%) Finance
3 80 (16.84%) Public Sector
4 57 (12.00%) Banking
5 38 (8.00%) Analytical Skills
6 31 (6.53%) Marketing
7 15 (3.16%) Presentation Skills
8 12 (2.53%) Retail
9 10 (2.11%) Financial Institution
10 9 (1.89%) Legal
11 8 (1.68%) Pharmaceutical
12 6 (1.26%) Local Government
13 5 (1.05%) Influencing Skills
14 4 (0.84%) Documentation Skills
14 4 (0.84%) Games
14 4 (0.84%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 4 (0.84%) Telecoms
15 3 (0.63%) Front Office
15 3 (0.63%) Investment Banking
15 3 (0.63%) Wearables
Job Titles
1 204 (42.95%) Designer
2 141 (29.68%) UX Designer
3 88 (18.53%) Senior
4 81 (17.05%) Developer
5 45 (9.47%) Senior Designer
6 35 (7.37%) Senior UX Designer
6 35 (7.37%) UI Designer
7 34 (7.16%) Service Designer
8 31 (6.53%) Product Designer
9 29 (6.11%) UI/UX Designer
10 26 (5.47%) User Researcher
11 23 (4.84%) Lead
12 16 (3.37%) Front-End Developer (Client-Side Developer)
13 14 (2.95%) Content Designer
13 14 (2.95%) Full-Stack Developer
14 12 (2.53%) Senior Developer
15 11 (2.32%) Analyst
15 11 (2.32%) Architect
15 11 (2.32%) Product Manager
15 11 (2.32%) React Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 84 (17.68%) HTML
2 83 (17.47%) CSS
3 74 (15.58%) React
4 48 (10.11%) RESTful
5 35 (7.37%) REST
6 33 (6.95%) HTML5
7 29 (6.11%) AngularJS
8 27 (5.68%) CSS3
9 26 (5.47%) Node.js
10 23 (4.84%) Spring
11 22 (4.63%) .NET
12 21 (4.42%) Jest
12 21 (4.42%) Spring Boot
13 15 (3.16%) Next.js
13 15 (3.16%) Redux
14 14 (2.95%) Playwright
15 13 (2.74%) GraphQL
16 10 (2.11%) JSON
16 10 (2.11%) OAuth
17 9 (1.89%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 52 (10.95%) Product Ownership
2 38 (8.00%) Mobile App
3 22 (4.63%) Onboarding
4 12 (2.53%) Virtual Team
5 10 (2.11%) NHS
6 9 (1.89%) Distributed Systems
7 8 (1.68%) Low-Code
8 7 (1.47%) Cloud Native
8 7 (1.47%) Enterprise Software
9 6 (1.26%) Data Protection Act
9 6 (1.26%) W3C
10 5 (1.05%) Digital Media
10 5 (1.05%) Digital Wallet
10 5 (1.05%) RIA
11 4 (0.84%) Analytical Mindset
11 4 (0.84%) Data Structures
11 4 (0.84%) Graphic Design
11 4 (0.84%) Greenfield Project
11 4 (0.84%) Legacy Systems
11 4 (0.84%) Life Science
Operating Systems
1 11 (2.32%) Android
2 8 (1.68%) Apple iOS
3 5 (1.05%) Windows
4 4 (0.84%) Linux
5 3 (0.63%) Windows 10
6 2 (0.42%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.21%) VMS
7 1 (0.21%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 475 (100.00%) User Experience
2 220 (46.32%) Agile
3 144 (30.32%) User Research
4 105 (22.11%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
5 100 (21.05%) Prototyping
6 99 (20.84%) Usability Testing
7 93 (19.58%) Wireframes
8 85 (17.89%) Service Design
9 80 (16.84%) Problem-Solving
10 75 (15.79%) CI/CD
11 67 (14.11%) Analytics
12 66 (13.89%) UX Research
13 62 (13.05%) Interaction Design
14 61 (12.84%) Front End Development
15 54 (11.37%) DevOps
16 49 (10.32%) Journey Map
16 49 (10.32%) Workshop Facilitation
17 48 (10.11%) AI
18 46 (9.68%) Continuous Improvement
19 44 (9.26%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 86 (18.11%) JavaScript
2 52 (10.95%) TypeScript
3 35 (7.37%) Java
4 21 (4.42%) SQL
5 19 (4.00%) C#
5 19 (4.00%) Python
6 7 (1.47%) Kotlin
6 7 (1.47%) PHP
7 4 (0.84%) Korn
8 3 (0.63%) C++
8 3 (0.63%) Lua
8 3 (0.63%) Swift
9 2 (0.42%) COBOL
9 2 (0.42%) Groovy
9 2 (0.42%) Objective-C
9 2 (0.42%) PL/SQL
9 2 (0.42%) PowerShell
10 1 (0.21%) Apex Code
10 1 (0.21%) Scala
10 1 (0.21%) SPARQL
Qualifications
1 56 (11.79%) Degree
2 41 (8.63%) Security Cleared
3 25 (5.26%) SC Cleared
4 16 (3.37%) BPSS Clearance
5 9 (1.89%) Master's Degree
6 7 (1.47%) Computer Science Degree
7 3 (0.63%) Microsoft Certification
8 2 (0.42%) Azure Certification
8 2 (0.42%) DV Cleared
8 2 (0.42%) PMI Certification
9 1 (0.21%) AWS Certification
9 1 (0.21%) CCA
9 1 (0.21%) Citrix Certification
9 1 (0.21%) DBS Check
9 1 (0.21%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 154 (32.42%) Accessibility
2 53 (11.16%) WCAG
3 44 (9.26%) QA
4 10 (2.11%) Actionable Recommendations
5 9 (1.89%) GDPR
6 4 (0.84%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 3 (0.63%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 3 (0.63%) Data Quality
8 1 (0.21%) EU AI Act
8 1 (0.21%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 33 (6.95%) Docker
2 3 (0.63%) Active Directory
3 1 (0.21%) Virtual Desktop
3 1 (0.21%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 22 (4.63%) Kubernetes
2 18 (3.79%) Terraform
3 6 (1.26%) Grafana
4 5 (1.05%) Ansible
5 3 (0.63%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.42%) HP ALM
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
7 1 (0.21%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 49 (10.32%) Adobe
2 32 (6.74%) Microsoft
3 18 (3.79%) Google
4 14 (2.95%) Salesforce
5 9 (1.89%) ServiceNow
6 6 (1.26%) Hotjar
6 6 (1.26%) Optimizely
6 6 (1.26%) Oracle
6 6 (1.26%) SAP
7 5 (1.05%) Amplitude
7 5 (1.05%) MuleSoft
8 4 (0.84%) Hopewiser
8 4 (0.84%) OpenAI
8 4 (0.84%) OutSystems
8 4 (0.84%) Xamarin
9 3 (0.63%) Dataiku
9 3 (0.63%) HP
10 2 (0.42%) Apple
10 2 (0.42%) Citrix
10 2 (0.42%) Sitecore