UX Designer Jobs in Kansas City, MO

Observed local pay is mixed. The Kansas City arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media group averaged about $72,740 a year ($34.97/hour) in May 2025, while the broader SOC 27 family showed a $55,680 median, $41,390 at the 25th percentile, $77,580 at the 75th percentile, and $103,430 at the 90th percentile. Estimated proxy data for Kansas City graphic designers points to a $59,990 median, with roughly $48,656 to $78,640 between the 25th and 75th percentiles.

Full September 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 44 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $73,375 at the 25th percentile, $90,000 at the median and $148,608 at the 75th. These are advertised ranges, not earned pay.

Active openings as of November 10, 2026

Senior roles | Entry level | Remote | Posted this week

Live from the Callings.ai index of over 13 million postings, refreshed hourly and re-checked here nightly. Roles that close are dropped at the next refresh.

Showing 30 of 113 openings.

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What our analysts see this month

Competitive market | next 3-6 months

Kansas City is competitive rather than shrinking for Design, Creative & UX over the next 3-6 months. Metro unemployment was 3.9% in August 2026, metro nonfarm employment was up 0.7266% year over year, and Kansas City's professional and business services base was up 0.8170%, so the broader local economy is still supportive. But Missouri design, creative & UX employment was essentially flat year over year while active postings were down 3.2%, and the local sample showed only more than 30 openings across more than 20 companies over the last 90 days. The result is a market with real opportunities for good-fit candidates, but not a market where generalist portfolios get easy traction.

Best positioned: Mid-career designers who can show Figma, prototyping, wireframing, and interaction-design depth, and who are open to on-site or hybrid work, have the best odds right now.

Main caution: Do not mistake a healthy metro economy for a wide-open design market: this category accounted for 1.2% of Kansas City employment in May 2025, and only about 5% of sampled openings were remote.

From the September 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 113 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. Garmin: 9 open roles
2. Hy-Vee: 5 open roles
3. Jacobs Engineering Group: 5 open roles
4. Garmin: 4 open roles
5. Egis Group: 3 open roles
6. Enercon: 3 open roles
7. HNTB Corporation: 3 open roles
8. Kiewit Corporation: 3 open roles
9. Williams-Sonoma: 3 open roles
10. Bordner Home Improvement, Inc.: 2 open roles

Where the openings are

• Kansas City: 44
• Overland Park: 24
• Olathe: 13
• Lenexa: 10
• Leawood: 7
• Mission: 3
• Gladstone: 2
• Raytown: 2

Work arrangement

on-site 87 (77%), hybrid 26 (23%)

Where the demand is

Opportunity is real but narrow. Design-related work made up 1.2% of Kansas City employment in May 2025, and the broader arts/media family counted 13,470 workers locally. In the local posting sample, we saw more than 30 openings across more than 20 companies over the last 90 days, with the most consistently active names including Garmin, Global Prairie, VML, Inc., and Helzberg Diamonds. The best concentration appears in in-house brand/product teams and agencies tied to the metro's professional-business-services base, which was up 0.8170% year over year in August 2026. By contrast, the local Information sector was down 5.4545% year over year, which is a caution for pure software- or media-heavy UX searches. Local design work is also not especially remote-friendly—about 60% of sampled openings were on-site and about 35% hybrid—so candidates who can commute across the metro will see meaningfully more options. There is also a smaller but distinctive experiential-design pocket. Kansas City is hosting SEGD's Conference Experience on October 22-24, 2026, with programming on inclusive airport wayfinding, museum exhibition design, environmental graphics, and public art; that is not a hiring report, but it does signal a local niche worth targeting if your portfolio fits place-based or systems-heavy design.

• In-house product and brand teams (high): Openings cluster around a small set of local employers such as Garmin and Helzberg Diamonds, and the broader professional and business services base in Kansas City was up 0.8170% year over year in August 2026.
• Agencies and consultancies (moderate): Global Prairie and VML, Inc. show up among the more consistently active local names, which fits a market where mid-career designers who can move between brand, digital, and client work have an edge.
• Experiential and environmental design (limited): Kansas City's October 2026 SEGD event spotlights inclusive wayfinding, museum exhibition design, environmental graphics, and public art, suggesting a local niche for portfolios that combine research, typography, systems, and place-based navigation.

Where to focus: Focus first on mid-level in-house and agency roles that combine Figma-based execution with research, prototyping, and systems thinking; treat experiential design as a targeted niche rather than your only lane.

Roles worth searching next

• Front-end web developer: The national outlook for web developers and digital designers is stronger than general graphic design, at 7% projected growth from 2024 to 2034, and Figma's 2026 toolset pushes further into code handoff and functional prototypes.
• Web producer / CMS specialist: This is a practical bridge if you already design interfaces or marketing pages, because the work sits between visual design and site delivery and benefits from the same tooling shift toward fuller handoff in Figma.
• Creative operations / design program coordinator: As AI absorbs more manual production, creative work is shifting toward strategy, quality control, and creative direction, which makes workflow ownership more valuable.
• Design technologist / no-code product builder: AI-powered design tools now span UI drafting, full-site creation, and functional prototyping, and prompt engineering is emerging as a critical technical skill for AI-powered design.

What postings ask for

• Figma (table_stakes | immediate): It is the clearest local baseline skill: about 60% of sampled Kansas City postings mention it, and Figma's 2026 feature set now stretches from UI drafting to code handoff and functional prototyping. Who: Everyone, especially entry-level and switchers who need immediate screening credibility.
• Prototyping and wireframing (differentiator | immediate): Local postings mention prototyping in about 30% of cases and wireframing in about 25%, which means employers want process evidence, not just polished mockups. Who: Entry-level and mid-career candidates competing for UI, UX, or product-adjacent roles.
• Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop (table_stakes | immediate): Each appears in about 30% of sampled local postings, so Kansas City still rewards designers who can cover brand, layout, image work, and production inside one toolkit. Who: Brand, print, retail, agency, and in-house creative candidates.
• Interaction design and systems thinking (premium | near-term): Interaction design appears in about 20% of local postings, and half of design leaders say hiring emphasis has shifted toward AI fluency, systems thinking, and strategy. Who: Mid-career designers aiming above production work.
• AI fluency, prompting, and AI QA (differentiator | immediate): Adobe found the share of U.S. creative postings explicitly requiring AI skills rose from 10% in September 2025 to 15% in April 2026, and 91% of designers report using AI in design work at least weekly. Who: Everyone, but especially entry-level applicants who need to show they can produce more without becoming a template-only designer.
• Adobe Certified Professional (differentiator | near-term): It is the only certification that appears with any regularity in the local sample, showing up in about 10% of postings. Who: Production, brand, and agency candidates who need a low-cost credibility boost.

Questions about this market

What do Design, Creative & UX roles pay in Kansas City, MO-KS?

Observed local pay is mixed. The Kansas City arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media group averaged about $72,740 a year ($34.97/hour) in May 2025, while the broader SOC 27 family showed a $55,680 median, $41,390 at the 25th percentile, $77,580 at the 75th percentile, and $103,430 at the 90th percentile. Estimated proxy data for Kansas City graphic designers points to a $59,990 median, with roughly $48,656 to $78,640 between the 25th and 75th percentiles. That reads as decent local pay, but not universal premium pay. Missouri's offered-salary proxy for new design, creative & UX openings was about $64,594 in September 2026, only slightly above the Missouri all-occupation offered-salary proxy of about $63,857.

Where is demand for Design, Creative & UX roles in Kansas City, MO-KS concentrated?

Opportunity is real but narrow. Design-related work made up 1.2% of Kansas City employment in May 2025, and the broader arts/media family counted 13,470 workers locally. In the local posting sample, we saw more than 30 openings across more than 20 companies over the last 90 days, with the most consistently active names including Garmin, Global Prairie, VML, Inc., and Helzberg Diamonds. The best concentration appears in in-house brand/product teams and agencies tied to the metro's professional-business-services base, which was up 0.8170% year over year in August 2026. By contrast, the local Information sector was down 5.4545% year over year, which is a caution for pure software- or media-heavy UX searches. Local design work is also not especially remote-friendly—about 60% of sampled openings were on-site and about 35% hybrid—so candidates who can commute across the metro will see meaningfully more options. There is also a smaller but distinctive experiential-design pocket. Kansas City is hosting SEGD's Conference Experience on October 22-24, 2026, with programming on inclusive airport wayfinding, museum exhibition design, environmental graphics, and public art; that is not a hiring report, but it does signal a local niche worth targeting if your portfolio fits place-based or systems-heavy design.

Which employers are hiring the most Design, Creative & UX talent in Kansas City, MO-KS?

Recent postings show the most activity from Garmin (5 postings), Global Prairie (5 postings), VML, Inc. (5 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

Can Design, Creative & UX roles in Kansas City, MO-KS be done remotely?

Of recent postings, 5% are remote and 35% hybrid, with 60% on-site. Use the Remote filter above to see only remote openings.

How current are these listings?

Openings come from the Callings.ai live index of over 13 million jobs, refreshed hourly. This page searches postings from the last 30 days; run the search yourself to filter by anything else in plain language.

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Other roles in Kansas City, MO-KS

• Human Resources, Recruiting & People Operations
• Engineering & Scientific
• Software, IT & Cybersecurity
• Finance & Accounting
• Manufacturing, Construction & Field Services
• Marketing, Communications & Content
• Transportation & Delivery
• Education & Training

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