Head of Design Jobs

Head of Design
UK

The median Head of Design salary in the UK is £62,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 28 May 2025.

The table below provides salary benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 692 875 927
Rank change year-on-year +183 +52 +257
Permanent jobs requiring a Head of Design 19 35 37
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 0.035% 0.034% 0.038%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.038% 0.036% 0.041%
Number of salaries quoted 13 35 24
10th Percentile - £57,250 £53,750
25th Percentile £58,750 £58,750 £57,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £62,500 £63,277 £63,750
Median % change year-on-year -1.23% -0.74% -29.17%
75th Percentile £66,250 £68,750 £78,750
90th Percentile £106,050 £86,043 £98,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £68,500 £67,500 £69,378
% change year-on-year +1.48% -2.71% -9.01%

All Permanent IT Job Vacancies
UK

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

Permanent vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 49,435 96,820 89,564
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.41% 94.78% 91.46%
Number of salaries quoted 25,727 69,155 56,824
10th Percentile £28,822 £28,500 £32,500
25th Percentile £41,000 £38,500 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £52,500 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% -12.50% -
75th Percentile £73,750 £70,000 £80,000
90th Percentile £96,250 £90,000 £100,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £51,399 £50,000 £53,500
% change year-on-year +2.80% -6.54% +6.63%

Head of Design
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings that featured Head of Design in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Head of Design in the UK

Head of Design
Salary Trend

3-month moving average salary quoted in jobs citing Head of Design.

Salary trend for Head of Design in the UK

Head of Design
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Head of Design over the 6 months to 28 May 2025.

Salary histogram for Head of Design in the UK

Head of Design
Top 7 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Head of Design within the UK over the 6 months to 28 May 2025. 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
England +141 17 £62,500 -1.23% 15
Work from Home +122 16 £62,500 - 11
London +118 14 £62,500 - 13
UK excluding London +179 4 £68,500 +1.48% 5
West Midlands +66 3 - -
Midlands +62 3 - -
Wales - 1 £68,500 -

Head of Design Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities

For the 6 months to 28 May 2025, Head of Design job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads featuring Head of Design in the job title.

1 10 (52.63%) Animation
1 10 (52.63%) Organisational Skills
2 6 (31.58%) Accessibility
3 4 (21.05%) Social Skills
3 4 (21.05%) Strategic Thinking
3 4 (21.05%) Agile
4 3 (15.79%) Social Media
4 3 (15.79%) Facebook
4 3 (15.79%) Twitter
4 3 (15.79%) Analytics
4 3 (15.79%) Coaching
4 3 (15.79%) Retail
4 3 (15.79%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (15.79%) Google
4 3 (15.79%) Google Analytics
4 3 (15.79%) WordPress
4 3 (15.79%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (15.79%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (15.79%) Microsoft
4 3 (15.79%) CMS
4 3 (15.79%) Social Media Analytics
4 3 (15.79%) Instagram
4 3 (15.79%) YouTube
5 2 (10.53%) Fintech
5 2 (10.53%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
5 2 (10.53%) Design Thinking
5 2 (10.53%) Tech for Good
5 2 (10.53%) Human-Centred Design
5 2 (10.53%) UX Design
5 2 (10.53%) Marketing

Head of Design Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 3 (15.79%) CMS
1 3 (15.79%) WordPress
2 1 (5.26%) Apache
2 1 (5.26%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 3 (15.79%) Microsoft Excel
1 3 (15.79%) Microsoft Office
1 3 (15.79%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (5.26%) Adobe Creative Suite
Cloud Services
1 3 (15.79%) Google Analytics
2 1 (5.26%) Azure
2 1 (5.26%) Figma
General
1 10 (52.63%) Organisational Skills
2 4 (21.05%) Social Skills
3 3 (15.79%) Retail
4 2 (10.53%) Marketing
4 2 (10.53%) Tech for Good
5 1 (5.26%) Finance
5 1 (5.26%) Influencing Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (5.26%) Touch ID
Miscellaneous
1 10 (52.63%) Animation
2 3 (15.79%) Social Media
3 2 (10.53%) Virtual Team
Processes & Methodologies
1 4 (21.05%) Agile
1 4 (21.05%) Strategic Thinking
2 3 (15.79%) Analytics
2 3 (15.79%) Coaching
2 3 (15.79%) Social Media Analytics
3 2 (10.53%) Artificial Intelligence
3 2 (10.53%) Design Thinking
3 2 (10.53%) Fintech
3 2 (10.53%) Human-Centred Design
3 2 (10.53%) Machine Learning
3 2 (10.53%) Natural Language Processing
3 2 (10.53%) Prototyping
3 2 (10.53%) User Experience
3 2 (10.53%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
3 2 (10.53%) UX Design
4 1 (5.26%) Collaborative Culture
4 1 (5.26%) Customer Experience
4 1 (5.26%) Rapid Prototyping
4 1 (5.26%) Storyboarding
4 1 (5.26%) UX Research
Programming Languages
1 1 (5.26%) Python
1 1 (5.26%) SQL
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (31.58%) Accessibility
Systems Management
1 1 (5.26%) Terraform
Vendors
1 3 (15.79%) Facebook
1 3 (15.79%) Google
1 3 (15.79%) Instagram
1 3 (15.79%) Microsoft
1 3 (15.79%) Twitter
1 3 (15.79%) YouTube
2 1 (5.26%) Adobe
2 1 (5.26%) Databricks