UX Designer Contract Job Trends
User Experience Designer
UK
The median User Experience Designer daily rate in the UK is £450, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 20 October 2026.
The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.
| 6 months to 20 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 551 | 459 | 425 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -92 | -34 | +59 |
| Contract jobs requiring a UX Designer | 129 | 102 | 130 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 0.23% | 0.31% | 0.35% |
| As % of the Job Titles category | 0.26% | 0.34% | 0.38% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 79 | 68 | 79 |
| 10th Percentile | £360 | £313 | £350 |
| 25th Percentile | £405 | £363 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £450 | £468 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -3.79% | -10.90% | -1.50% |
| 75th Percentile | £538 | £532 | £581 |
| 90th Percentile | £588 | £596 | £634 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £413 | £463 | £425 |
| % change year-on-year | -10.81% | +8.82% | -5.56% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 10th Percentile | - | £34.45 | £30.65 |
| 25th Percentile | £49.75 | £41.13 | £30.97 |
| Median hourly rate | £51.50 | £54.50 | £33.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -5.50% | +65.15% | -45.03% |
| 75th Percentile | £53.25 | £60.25 | £34.02 |
| 90th Percentile | - | £62.35 | £34.31 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | - | £30.00 | £32.21 |
| % change year-on-year | - | -6.85% | -54.04% |
All Contract IT Job Roles
UK
For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.
| 6 months to 20 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title | 50,586 | 30,151 | 34,455 |
| % of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title | 91.87% | 90.87% | 92.95% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 29,721 | 19,031 | 20,767 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £278 | £300 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £402 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £638 | £623 | £638 |
| 90th Percentile | £738 | £725 | £738 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £475 | £490 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.26% | -3.06% | -2.00% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 4,170 | 1,674 | 1,386 |
| 10th Percentile | £14.25 | £13.80 | £15.04 |
| 25th Percentile | £19.33 | £17.30 | £20.30 |
| Median hourly rate | £41.09 | £25.15 | £40.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +63.39% | -37.13% | -10.11% |
| 75th Percentile | £67.50 | £50.00 | £65.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £80.00 | £68.75 | £73.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £40.32 | £24.62 | £40.33 |
| % change year-on-year | +63.77% | -38.95% | -7.99% |
UX Designer Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'UX Designer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.
UX Designer Daily Rate Trend
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for UX Designer job vacancies in the UK.
UX Designer Daily Rate Histogram
Daily rate distribution for jobs citing UX Designer over the 6 months to 20 October 2026.
UX Designer Hourly Rate Trend
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for UX Designer job vacancies in the UK.
UX Designer Top 14 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 Designer within the UK over the 6 months to 20 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 | -88 | 115 | £445 | -4.86% | 264 |
| UK excluding London | -78 | 65 | £413 | -10.81% | 110 |
| London | -87 | 59 | £475 | +1.60% | 173 |
| Work from Home | -77 | 28 | £425 | -5.56% | 144 |
| North of England | -61 | 23 | £425 | +8.28% | 23 |
| Yorkshire | -27 | 15 | £500 | - | 11 |
| South West | -29 | 14 | £450 | -25.00% | 13 |
| Scotland | -23 | 10 | £650 | +51.69% | 15 |
| East of England | -20 | 8 | £410 | -14.81% | 9 |
| Midlands | -39 | 8 | £378 | -6.79% | 9 |
| West Midlands | -46 | 8 | £378 | +16.15% | 8 |
| North West | -51 | 6 | £375 | +4.17% | 8 |
| North East | -42 | 2 | £338 | -25.00% | 4 |
| South East | -56 | 2 | - | - | 31 |
UX Designer Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities
For the 6 months to 20 October 2026, UX Designer contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring UX Designer in the job title.
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | User Experience | 100.0% | 129 |
| 2 | UX Design | 98.4% | 127 |
| 3 | Wireframes | 38.8% | 50 |
| 4 | Figma | 36.4% | 47 |
| 5 | User Research | 31.0% | 40 |
| 6 | Prototyping | 29.5% | 38 |
| 7 | Agile | 27.1% | 35 |
| 8 | Accessibility | 26.4% | 34 |
| 9 | User-Centered Design (UCD) | 24.8% | 32 |
| 10 | Interaction Design | 23.3% | 30 |
| 11 | Usability Testing | 20.9% | 27 |
| 12 | Service Design | 15.5% | 20 |
| 13 | AI | 14.7% | 19 |
| 13 | Workshop Facilitation | 14.7% | 19 |
| 15 | Journey Map | 14.0% | 18 |
| 15 | Security Cleared | 14.0% | 18 |
| 17 | Stakeholder Management | 13.2% | 17 |
| 18 | Design Thinking | 12.4% | 16 |
| 18 | High-Fidelity Prototypes | 12.4% | 16 |
| 20 | Stakeholder Engagement | 10.1% | 13 |
| 21 | Digital Transformation Programme | 9.3% | 12 |
| 22 | Customer Experience | 8.5% | 11 |
| 22 | Storytelling | 8.5% | 11 |
| 24 | Design Patterns | 7.8% | 10 |
| 24 | SaaS | 7.8% | 10 |
| 26 | E-Commerce | 7.0% | 9 |
| 26 | Inclusive Design | 7.0% | 9 |
| 26 | Information Architecture | 7.0% | 9 |
| 26 | Problem-Solving | 7.0% | 9 |
| 26 | Workflow | 7.0% | 9 |
UX Designer Skill Set 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.
Job Titles
| Rank | Job Title | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UI/UX Designer | 31.0% | 40 |
| 2 | Senior UX Designer | 22.5% | 29 |
| 3 | Product Designer | 9.3% | 12 |
| 4 | Content Designer | 3.9% | 5 |
| 4 | Mobile UI/UX Designer | 3.9% | 5 |
| 6 | Interaction Designer | 3.1% | 4 |
| 6 | Senior UI/UX Designer | 3.1% | 4 |
| 8 | Content Strategist | 2.3% | 3 |
| 8 | Senior Content Designer | 2.3% | 3 |
| 8 | Senior Product Designer | 2.3% | 3 |
| 8 | UX Strategist | 2.3% | 3 |
| 12 | Graphic Designer | 1.6% | 2 |
| 12 | Senior Interaction Designer | 1.6% | 2 |
| 14 | Digital UX Designer | 0.8% | 1 |
| 14 | Drupal Designer | 0.8% | 1 |
| 14 | Interface Designer | 0.8% | 1 |
| 14 | Junior UI/UX Designer | 0.8% | 1 |
| 14 | Lead UX Designer | 0.8% | 1 |
| 14 | Principal Product Designer | 0.8% | 1 |
| 14 | Research Consultant | 0.8% | 1 |