UX Designer CV Examples & UK Templates

In a world where technology is king, landing a job as a UX designer is a savvy move. From creating optimal user experiences to making products easily accessible, it’s clear to see why the demand for talented UX designers is so high.

As a UX designer, you likely have a lot of design skills and technical expertise to showcase in your CV and it can be easy to get lost in the details or even wonder where to start.

So, what does a great UX designer CV look like? What information is vital to include? And how long should your CV be? In this CV guide, we’ll answer these questions and more, helping you to create a UX designer CV that positions you for future career success.

Downloadable guide for a UX designer CV

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This CV guide and corresponding UX designer CV example will cover the following:

• How to write a UX designer CV
• Choosing the right CV format for a UX designer
• How to add your contact information
• Using a CV summary
• Adding your UX designer experience
• Listing education and relevant certifications
• Picking the right CV design and layout

How to write a UX designer CV

Before you begin crafting your UX designer CV, it's important to know what to include. Modern CVs include the following sections as standard:

• The CV header
• The CV summary (aka profile or personal statement)
• The employment history section
• The CV skills section
• The education section

Securing a UX designer position can be extremely competitive and hiring managers are often time-pressed. For those reasons, you need to make sure that your CV is on point. Consider what your most valuable attributes are and how you can best showcase them, with focus on design skills, project wins, and technical expertise.

Here are some of the ways that you can highlight your innate value to the hiring manager:

• Focus on your achievements. Instead of merely listing the projects that you’ve worked on, emphasise the outcomes you achieved. That way, the hiring manager will have a clear sense of the value you can bring.
• Adapt your CV to meet the needs of the employer. Avoid using a generic approach when applying for UX designer jobs. Take the time to research the business and then tailor your application to align with its needs and values.
• Keep the style professional and simple. Take all of the hassle out of designing your document by using one of our field-tested CV templates.
• Always optimise your CV with keywords and phrases from the job description. This approach helps you to rank highly with CV scanning software and ensure that your application secures a human review.

Choosing the right UX designer CV format

As a UX designer, you already know that first impressions matter. You need to make things easy for the user—in this case, the reader—or they may quickly lose interest. Most of the time, the best format for your UX designer CV is reverse chronological order. This showcases your work experience in a straightforward way, and is the approach that recruiters most often expect to see.

However, it’s not your only option. If you're changing careers or just starting out, you can opt for a different CV format. For instance, a skills-based CV focuses on your skills and talents over your work history. So, if you happen to lack the industry experience that people may expect, you can use this CV format.

Whichever format you choose, using one of our many CV templates in our CV builder can help you to get started. We also have many CV examples using different formats.

When it comes to the overall look of your UX designer CV, don’t overcomplicate it. Using a simple layout shows that you understand the fundamentals of creating a seamless user experience.

Include your contact information

Next up, you need to include your contact information. You can share these details in your CV header—which is basically your business card. Make sure you include the right information in this section. 

Here’s a breakdown of everything that you need to list in the CV header:

• Full name and title. Begin with your first and last name, plus “UX designer.”
• Location. Avoid including your full address for security reasons. Instead, just state your general location, such as your city and country.
• Professional email address. Make sure that you use a clean and simple email address. For example, you might choose one with only your first and last name in it.
• Phone number. Include your phone number, ensuring your voicemail greeting is professional and appropriate for the hiring manager to hear.
• LinkedIn. Your LinkedIn profile should be active and up to date. You can add a hyperlink to your profile in your header here.
• Portfolio. It’s important to showcase your previous UX design work, so share a link to your main portfolio within the header of your CV.

You don’t need to include:

• Date of birth: The hiring manager should not know how old you are as this can lead to age discrimination.
• Personal details: Don’t include any personal details, such as your NI number, marital status, whether you have kids, your religious beliefs, etc.

Make use of a CV summary

To be an outstanding UX designer, you need to stay one step ahead of the user. What are they searching for? What information do they need to begin? If you can get into their mindset and understand their needs, you’ll be on the path to success.

Similarly, you need to understand what a hiring manager reviewing your professional summary is looking for. Ideally, they want to see a clear snapshot of your skills, experience, and what you can bring to their team, wrapped up in a few sentences.

Emphasise your passion for UX design and your specific expertise and skill set, making sure this aligns with the job opening. The job description is a great resource that you can use to present your strengths and achievements in alignment with the role and company.

Using action verbs throughout your CV summary will also inject some impact. You can use these in the simple past or present tense, but make sure that your tense is consistent throughout. Examples include “delivered,” “oversaw,” “excelled,” “produced,” and “developed.”

You can find adaptable UX designer example summaries below:

Outline your UX designer work experience

Now is the time to provide the hiring manager with concrete examples of your experience. If you’re writing your CV in reverse chronological order, you’ll want to detail your work experience starting with your most recent role and working backwards.

Begin with the essentials—job title, company name, location, and employment dates (including both month and year). Below that, use bullet points to highlight your key responsibilities and contributions. Since space is limited, avoid using first-person language or pronouns like "I." Focus on concise, direct statements that communicate your role clearly.

This section should strike a balance between bullet points and brief paragraphs, offering employers an easy-to-scan overview of your responsibilities while showcasing UX design wins. Your accomplishments will catch the hiring manager's eye during the initial resume review, enticing them to dive deeper to assess your fit for the role. Focus on how you deliver user-centered, data-driven solutions and keep projects on track with energetic action verbs at the beginning of each point to strengthen your impact.

Avoid simply listing daily tasks. For example, the following points don’t add much value to your application:

• “Determined user requirements..”
• “Contributed to product development…”
• “Collaborated with project teams…”

The above statements state what you did, but they don’t add much value to your overall CV. Instead, you should focus on the results that you achieved. 

Let’s take a look at how you might improve each of these statements with more specifics:

• “Researched and analysed user requirements to develop next-generation product lines.”
• “Advocated for the customer experience by working in close liaison with the product development team.”
• “Delivered improved AI and accessibility, and overhauled content to achieve a 30% rise in user satisfaction levels.”

Take a look at the sample UX designer CV employment history below:

How to write a UX designer CV with no experience

If you’ve recently graduated or moved industries, you might lack direct experience in the field of UX design. Don’t panic. There are plenty of ways you can prove your worth to the hiring manager. 

Let’s take a look at some of the options you can utilise:

• Use a functional format. If you haven’t secured any specific work experience, you should use a functional (skills-based) format that focuses on relevant skills.
• Share your portfolio. Have you been working on projects on the side? If you’ve completed any freelance UX design work, make sure to include that in your linked portfolio.
• Highlight transferable skills. Your transferable skills are any talents you’ve picked up in other roles that may apply to this one. For example, you might accentuate your creativity, communication, and technical skills.
• Add in training or certifications. Where did you learn to be a UX designer? If you don’t have work experience, you might have completed related training or certifications. Include these details to show the hiring manager that you’re serious about the position.
• Weave a narrative. Why have you decided to become a UX designer? What motivated this decision for you? Take the time to weave a compelling narrative for the reader.

Include the relevant key skills that make you a great UX designer

Every UX designer needs a selection of both hard and soft skills to excel. For that reason, it’s important to display both of these talent sets on your UX designer CV.

Hard skills are those that apply directly to the job and are often technical. These may include user experience (UX) and visual design, illustration, information architecture, and coding. Whenever you’re listing your hard skills, be specific about the tools you use.

Soft skills, on the other hand, allow you to work well as part of a team. These may include your communication, collaboration, time management, and prioritisation skills. While you can list these in your skills section, you should also weave them throughout your CV.

Our CV builder provides a wide selection of pre-selected skills to choose from. You can also include your own skills based on your specific experience level.

Here’s what the skills box looks like in our UX designer CV template:

Many of the skills you outline will be hard skills. However, you shouldn’t overlook the power of your soft skills, too. Here’s how you can highlight them on your CV:

• Demonstrate your communication skills. You can do this by writing a stellar application that clearly conveys your value to the employer.
• Show how you used Agile skills while working to complete tasks and deliver on deadline.
• Talk about your collaboration skills when outlining the projects you’ve worked on.

Looking for some more inspiration? The job advert is a great place to start if you need help identifying which skills to include on your CV.

Detail your education & relevant certifications

There are various paths to becoming a UX designer. Whether you completed an online course, earned a degree from a college or university, or received training through a company, be sure to highlight this in your education section. 

Include the name of the institution or training provider, the date, title of the qualification, and any standout results. In most cases, you won’t need to provide additional details beyond this.

• Degrees. First up, you should list the degrees that you have under your belt, especially if they relate directly to the sector. You may have a bachelor’s degree in graphic design or computer programming, and/or a master’s in a similar field.
• Projects. Ensure you highlight any relevant projects you have completed as part of your academic studies. Just include the project name under the relevant qualification.
• Professional certificates. Certifications backup your experience, so include any relevant details, such as Interaction Design Foundation (IDF) UX certifications.
• Workshops. If you have attended any UX workshops or bootcamps make sure to include the details.

Pick the right UX designer CV layout and design

You already know what content to include on your UX designer CV, but what about the design? First impressions matter. With that in mind, you need to make sure that you get the layout and overall look of your CV right from the start.

Here are some tips you can use:

• Choose the right font for your CV. Make sure that it’s legible and professional. You want to convey the right message to the hiring manager.
• Make use of white space. Ensure that there’s an appropriate amount of space around the CV sections and in the margins. This makes it easier to read overall.
• Select one or two CV colours to use. You don’t want to overwhelm the reader by confronting them with too many different colours.
• Choose a professional look. While you might work in a creative field, the top priority here is sharing the content of your CV with the reader.

We recommend keeping things simple and straightforward. The best way to do that is by using one of our many CV templates in our CV builder. Get started now and create a stunning CV in minutes.

UX designer job market and outlook

The beauty of becoming a UX designer is that you have plenty of job options. UX design candidates are in high demand across diverse industries and business stages, from tech start-ups to media companies, government organisations, and much more. There is also the option to work for yourself on a freelance or consulting basis, as well as lots of opportunities overseas.

The average salary for a UX designer in the UK can range between £25,000 to £50,000 per year, depending on your level of experience, training, or location.

Key takeaways for building a UX designer CV

If you’re hoping to land a job as a UX designer, your CV has to do a lot of the heavy lifting. Make sure that you read our guide and follow our advice before getting started. Stick to a clean and simple design that shows off your professionalism. 

Use our online CV builder to make your stellar UX designer CV in a matter of minutes.