User Research Contract Job Trends in the City of London

User Research
Central London > City of London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the City of London requiring User Research skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 26 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 109 103 113
Rank change year-on-year -6 +10 +17
Contract jobs citing User Research 26 18 13
As % of all contract jobs in the City of London 1.08% 0.96% 0.62%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.25% 1.02% 0.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 22 11 5
10th Percentile £353 £450 £504
25th Percentile £408 £451 £525
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £485 £600
Median % change year-on-year -12.37% -19.17% +11.63%
75th Percentile £547 £638 £630
90th Percentile £585 £725 £635
Central London median daily rate £425 £485 £600
% change year-on-year -12.37% -19.17% +14.29%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 1 0
Median hourly rate - £54.50 -
Central London median hourly rate - £54.50 -

All Process & Methodology Skills
City of London

User Research falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the City of London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 2,085 1,772 1,906
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London 86.88% 94.06% 91.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,409 1,146 1,294
10th Percentile £368 £338 £363
25th Percentile £456 £425 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £575
Median % change year-on-year - -4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £675 £679 £688
90th Percentile £775 £774 £800
Central London median daily rate £550 £550 £575
% change year-on-year - -4.35% -4.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 22 17
10th Percentile £17.60 £17.57 £19.53
25th Percentile £18.75 £24.66 £20.50
Median hourly rate £19.50 £29.75 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year -34.45% +10.19% -27.84%
75th Percentile £41.25 £54.75 £78.75
90th Percentile £60.78 £63.75 £137.50
Central London median hourly rate £23.16 £31.00 £30.00
% change year-on-year -25.29% +3.33% -14.29%

User Research
Job Vacancy Trend in the City of London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing User Research relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London.

User Research job vacancy trend in the City of London

User Research
Daily Rate Trend in the City of London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing User Research.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing User Research

User Research
Daily Rate Histogram in the City of London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing User Research in the City of London over the 6 months to 26 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for User Research in the City of London

User Research
Hourly Rate Trend in the City of London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing User Research.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing User Research

User Research
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the City of London 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 1 (3.85%) CMS
Applications
1 1 (3.85%) Adobe XD
1 1 (3.85%) Sketch
Cloud Services
1 4 (15.38%) SaaS
2 2 (7.69%) Azure
2 2 (7.69%) Figma
3 1 (3.85%) AWS
3 1 (3.85%) GCP
General
1 10 (38.46%) Social Skills
2 6 (23.08%) Finance
2 6 (23.08%) Public Sector
3 4 (15.38%) Banking
3 4 (15.38%) Influencing Skills
4 2 (7.69%) Military
4 2 (7.69%) Publishing
5 1 (3.85%) Local Government
5 1 (3.85%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 12 (46.15%) User Researcher
2 9 (34.62%) Designer
3 4 (15.38%) Product Designer
3 4 (15.38%) UX Designer
4 3 (11.54%) Lead
4 3 (11.54%) Senior
5 2 (7.69%) Content Designer
5 2 (7.69%) Product Manager
6 1 (3.85%) Analyst
6 1 (3.85%) Business Analyst
6 1 (3.85%) Developer
6 1 (3.85%) Full-Stack Developer
6 1 (3.85%) Operations Manager
6 1 (3.85%) Product Owner
6 1 (3.85%) SC Cleared Business Analyst
6 1 (3.85%) Senior Designer
6 1 (3.85%) Senior Manager
6 1 (3.85%) Senior Product Manager
6 1 (3.85%) Senior User Researcher
6 1 (3.85%) UI/UX Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (3.85%) .NET
Miscellaneous
1 3 (11.54%) Product Ownership
2 1 (3.85%) Clustering
2 1 (3.85%) Greenfield Project
2 1 (3.85%) Mobile App
2 1 (3.85%) Taxonomies
Processes & Methodologies
1 14 (53.85%) Agile
2 10 (38.46%) User Experience
3 8 (30.77%) UX Design
4 7 (26.92%) AI
4 7 (26.92%) Prototyping
4 7 (26.92%) Usability Testing
5 6 (23.08%) Analytics
5 6 (23.08%) Interaction Design
5 6 (23.08%) Journey Map
5 6 (23.08%) Wireframes
6 4 (15.38%) Actionable Insight
6 4 (15.38%) Decision-Making
6 4 (15.38%) Storytelling
7 3 (11.54%) Design Thinking
7 3 (11.54%) Stakeholder Management
7 3 (11.54%) User Journey Map
7 3 (11.54%) User Stories
7 3 (11.54%) Validation
8 2 (7.69%) Continuous Improvement
8 2 (7.69%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 1 (3.85%) C#
Qualifications
1 9 (34.62%) Security Cleared
2 8 (30.77%) SC Cleared
3 2 (7.69%) BPSS Clearance
4 1 (3.85%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (15.38%) Accessibility
2 2 (7.69%) WCAG
3 1 (3.85%) GDPR
3 1 (3.85%) QA
Vendors
1 3 (11.54%) Salesforce
2 1 (3.85%) Adobe