Designer Job Trends in Manchester

Designer
North West > Manchester

The median Designer salary in Manchester is £55,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 31 January 2026.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 125 120 123
Rank change year-on-year -5 +3 +57
Permanent jobs requiring a Designer 20 36 47
As % of all permanent jobs in Manchester 0.63% 1.40% 1.42%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.70% 1.49% 1.49%
Number of salaries quoted 19 11 35
10th Percentile £44,500 £31,250 £40,000
25th Percentile £45,000 £37,375 £40,988
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £45,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +22.22% -10.00% -12.28%
75th Percentile £61,250 £58,125 £69,900
90th Percentile £80,000 £75,000 £73,250
North West median annual salary £55,000 £50,000 £45,000
% change year-on-year +10.00% +11.11% -5.26%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
Manchester

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in Manchester. 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 permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in Manchester with a recognized job title 2,841 2,424 3,146
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 89.48% 94.10% 94.76%
Number of salaries quoted 1,880 1,177 2,623
10th Percentile £30,000 £35,000 £29,800
25th Percentile £40,000 £41,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -1.79%
75th Percentile £72,500 £72,500 £70,000
90th Percentile £87,500 £87,500 £82,500
North West median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -4.76%

Designer
Job Vacancy Trend in Manchester

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Designer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in Manchester.

Designer job vacancy trend in Manchester

Designer
Salary Trend in Manchester

Salary distribution trend for Designer job vacancies in Manchester.

Salary distribution trend for Designer job vacancies in Manchester

Designer
Salary Histogram in Manchester

Salary distribution for jobs citing Designer in Manchester over the 6 months to 31 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Designer in Manchester

Designer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Manchester

For the 6 months to 31 January 2026, Designer 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 permanent job ads across the Manchester region featuring Designer in the job title.

1 7 (35.00%) Agile
2 6 (30.00%) Accessibility
2 6 (30.00%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
3 5 (25.00%) Figma
3 5 (25.00%) Interaction Design
3 5 (25.00%) Prototyping
3 5 (25.00%) Software Engineering
3 5 (25.00%) User Experience
3 5 (25.00%) UX Design
3 5 (25.00%) Wireframes
4 4 (20.00%) Storytelling
5 3 (15.00%) Service Design
6 2 (10.00%) Continuous Improvement
6 2 (10.00%) Network Architecture
6 2 (10.00%) Product Strategy
6 2 (10.00%) Security Cleared
6 2 (10.00%) User Research
6 2 (10.00%) User Stories
6 2 (10.00%) UX Research
6 2 (10.00%) Workshop Facilitation
7 1 (5.00%) AI
7 1 (5.00%) Analytics
7 1 (5.00%) AWS
7 1 (5.00%) Azure
7 1 (5.00%) CISM
7 1 (5.00%) CISSP
7 1 (5.00%) Critical Thinking
7 1 (5.00%) Cybersecurity
7 1 (5.00%) Data Analytics
7 1 (5.00%) Design Patterns

Designer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Manchester 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:

Cloud Services
1 5 (25.00%) Figma
2 1 (5.00%) AWS
2 1 (5.00%) Azure
Communications & Networking
1 1 (5.00%) LAN
1 1 (5.00%) SD-WAN
1 1 (5.00%) WAN
1 1 (5.00%) Wi-Fi
General
1 6 (30.00%) Social Skills
2 2 (10.00%) Finance
2 2 (10.00%) Law
3 1 (5.00%) Banking
3 1 (5.00%) Documentation Skills
3 1 (5.00%) Legal
3 1 (5.00%) Retail
Miscellaneous
1 2 (10.00%) Mobile App
1 2 (10.00%) Product Ownership
Processes & Methodologies
1 7 (35.00%) Agile
2 6 (30.00%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
3 5 (25.00%) Interaction Design
3 5 (25.00%) Prototyping
3 5 (25.00%) Software Engineering
3 5 (25.00%) User Experience
3 5 (25.00%) UX Design
3 5 (25.00%) Wireframes
4 4 (20.00%) Storytelling
5 3 (15.00%) Service Design
6 2 (10.00%) Continuous Improvement
6 2 (10.00%) Network Architecture
6 2 (10.00%) Product Strategy
6 2 (10.00%) User Research
6 2 (10.00%) User Stories
6 2 (10.00%) UX Research
6 2 (10.00%) Workshop Facilitation
7 1 (5.00%) Digital Forensics
7 1 (5.00%) Enterprise Architecture
7 1 (5.00%) Network Design
Qualifications
1 2 (10.00%) Security Cleared
2 1 (5.00%) CISM
2 1 (5.00%) CISSP
2 1 (5.00%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (30.00%) Accessibility
2 1 (5.00%) WCAG
Vendors
1 1 (5.00%) Fortinet