Designer Job Trends in the South East

Designer
England > South East

The median Designer salary in the South East is £45,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 1 January 2026.

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

6 months to
1 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 236 254 228
Rank change year-on-year +18 -26 +73
Permanent jobs requiring a Designer 39 48 41
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 0.38% 0.52% 0.53%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.41% 0.57% 0.56%
Number of salaries quoted 31 29 28
10th Percentile £27,500 £52,250 £31,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £55,000 £36,596
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £60,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year -25.00% +4.35% -17.86%
75th Percentile £54,260 £62,000 £67,750
90th Percentile £60,000 £65,500 £81,800
England median annual salary £50,000 £58,465 £53,500
% change year-on-year -14.48% +9.28% -10.83%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
South East

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in the South East. 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 the South East with a recognized job title 9,501 8,467 7,340
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 91.69% 91.58% 94.58%
Number of salaries quoted 5,887 4,565 5,336
10th Percentile £28,000 £32,500 £29,618
25th Percentile £35,000 £43,750 £38,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £56,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -10.71% +6.67% -4.55%
75th Percentile £65,000 £72,500 £66,250
90th Percentile £80,000 £85,000 £80,000
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -1.64%

Designer
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

Designer job vacancy trend in the South East

Designer
Salary Trend in the South East

Salary distribution trend for Designer job vacancies in the South East.

Salary distribution trend for Designer job vacancies in the South East

Designer
Salary Histogram in the South East

Salary distribution for jobs citing Designer in the South East over the 6 months to 1 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Designer in the South East

Designer
Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Designer within the South East region over the 6 months to 1 January 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Thames Valley +8 13 £35,000 -41.67% 5
Berkshire +1 8 £35,000 -41.67% 4
Hampshire +23 7 £60,000 - 2
Surrey 0 7 £28,000 -56.92% 1
West Sussex - 6 £30,000 - 1
Buckinghamshire +8 5 £52,500 - 1
Kent - 4 £47,500 - 1
Middlesex - 1 - -
Isle of Wight - 1 £54,770 -
Designer
England

Designer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East

For the 6 months to 1 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 South East region featuring Designer in the job title.

1 22 (56.41%) Figma
2 21 (53.85%) Adobe
3 17 (43.59%) User Experience
4 15 (38.46%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 10 (25.64%) Accessibility
5 10 (25.64%) Agile
5 10 (25.64%) Photoshop
6 9 (23.08%) Adobe Illustrator
6 9 (23.08%) Adobe XD
6 9 (23.08%) InDesign
6 9 (23.08%) Prototyping
6 9 (23.08%) User Research
6 9 (23.08%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
6 9 (23.08%) UX Design
7 8 (20.51%) Service Design
7 8 (20.51%) Typography
8 7 (17.95%) Analytics
8 7 (17.95%) Wireframes
9 6 (15.38%) Problem-Solving
9 6 (15.38%) Usability Testing
9 6 (15.38%) WCAG
10 5 (12.82%) Community of Practice
10 5 (12.82%) CSS
10 5 (12.82%) Degree
10 5 (12.82%) HTML
10 5 (12.82%) Responsive Web Design
10 5 (12.82%) SC Cleared
10 5 (12.82%) Security Cleared
11 4 (10.26%) Axure RP
11 4 (10.26%) Balsamiq

Designer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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 4 (10.26%) CMS
2 3 (7.69%) WordPress
3 2 (5.13%) Confluence
4 1 (2.56%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 15 (38.46%) Adobe Creative Suite
2 10 (25.64%) Photoshop
3 9 (23.08%) Adobe Illustrator
3 9 (23.08%) Adobe XD
3 9 (23.08%) InDesign
4 1 (2.56%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (2.56%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Cloud Services
1 22 (56.41%) Figma
2 4 (10.26%) Miro
3 2 (5.13%) Adobe Analytics
4 1 (2.56%) Boomi
4 1 (2.56%) Canva
4 1 (2.56%) Google Analytics
4 1 (2.56%) MailChimp
Communications & Networking
1 2 (5.13%) Broadband
Development Applications
1 4 (10.26%) Axure RP
1 4 (10.26%) Balsamiq
2 1 (2.56%) JIRA
General
1 13 (33.33%) Marketing
2 6 (15.38%) Social Skills
3 5 (12.82%) Law
3 5 (12.82%) Public Sector
4 4 (10.26%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 3 (7.69%) Manufacturing
6 2 (5.13%) Advertising
6 2 (5.13%) Digital Health
6 2 (5.13%) Games
6 2 (5.13%) Presentation Skills
7 1 (2.56%) Analytical Skills
7 1 (2.56%) Retail
7 1 (2.56%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (12.82%) CSS
1 5 (12.82%) HTML
2 3 (7.69%) Bootstrap
2 3 (7.69%) Tailwind CSS
3 1 (2.56%) Oracle Fusion
3 1 (2.56%) Sass
3 1 (2.56%) Semantic HTML
Miscellaneous
1 9 (23.08%) Social Media
2 4 (10.26%) Product Ownership
3 3 (7.69%) FPGA
3 3 (7.69%) Graphic Design
4 2 (5.13%) Animation
4 2 (5.13%) Video Editing
5 1 (2.56%) 3D Graphics
5 1 (2.56%) Mobile App
Processes & Methodologies
1 17 (43.59%) User Experience
2 10 (25.64%) Agile
3 9 (23.08%) Prototyping
3 9 (23.08%) User Research
3 9 (23.08%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
3 9 (23.08%) UX Design
4 8 (20.51%) Service Design
4 8 (20.51%) Typography
5 7 (17.95%) Analytics
5 7 (17.95%) Wireframes
6 6 (15.38%) Problem-Solving
6 6 (15.38%) Usability Testing
7 5 (12.82%) Community of Practice
7 5 (12.82%) Responsive Web Design
8 4 (10.26%) Technology Strategy
9 3 (7.69%) Clean Code
9 3 (7.69%) FPGA Design
9 3 (7.69%) High-Fidelity Prototypes
9 3 (7.69%) Journey Map
9 3 (7.69%) Low-Fidelity Prototypes
Programming Languages
1 4 (10.26%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 5 (12.82%) Degree
1 5 (12.82%) SC Cleared
1 5 (12.82%) Security Cleared
2 3 (7.69%) BPSS Clearance
2 3 (7.69%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (25.64%) Accessibility
2 6 (15.38%) WCAG
3 3 (7.69%) ISO 9001
4 1 (2.56%) QA
Vendors
1 21 (53.85%) Adobe
2 2 (5.13%) Microsoft
3 1 (2.56%) Google
3 1 (2.56%) Informatica
3 1 (2.56%) MuleSoft
3 1 (2.56%) Oracle