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 20 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 128 102 113
Rank change year-on-year -26 +11 +2
Contract jobs citing User Research 16 17 16
As % of all contract jobs in the City of London 0.71% 0.97% 0.76%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.80% 1.03% 0.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 13 13 7
10th Percentile £353 £366 £533
25th Percentile £400 £450 £556
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £458 £468 £600
Median % change year-on-year -2.03% -22.08% +6.67%
75th Percentile £569 £503 £634
90th Percentile £648 £708 £653
Central London median daily rate £458 £468 £600
% change year-on-year -2.03% -22.08% +11.63%
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 1,994 1,647 1,942
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London 88.98% 94.17% 91.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,375 1,095 1,226
10th Percentile £368 £321 £375
25th Percentile £458 £415 £471
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £575
Median % change year-on-year - -4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £675 £675 £688
90th Percentile £775 £764 £788
Central London median daily rate £550 £550 £575
% change year-on-year - -4.35% -4.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 21 16
10th Percentile £16.98 £17.08 £15.00
25th Percentile £17.60 £23.75 £20.00
Median hourly rate £21.00 £28.15 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year -25.40% +4.26% +8.00%
75th Percentile £32.05 £56.75 £82.19
90th Percentile £50.59 £63.75 £137.50
Central London median hourly rate £25.00 £28.33 £35.00
% change year-on-year -11.74% -19.07% +34.62%

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 20 September 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 (6.25%) CMS
General
1 5 (31.25%) Finance
1 5 (31.25%) Public Sector
2 3 (18.75%) Banking
2 3 (18.75%) Influencing Skills
2 3 (18.75%) Social Skills
3 2 (12.50%) Military
3 2 (12.50%) Publishing
4 1 (6.25%) Local Government
4 1 (6.25%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 7 (43.75%) User Researcher
2 6 (37.50%) Designer
3 4 (25.00%) Senior
4 3 (18.75%) Senior User Researcher
5 2 (12.50%) Content Designer
5 2 (12.50%) Lead
5 2 (12.50%) Product Designer
5 2 (12.50%) UX Designer
6 1 (6.25%) Analyst
6 1 (6.25%) Business Analyst
6 1 (6.25%) Digital Product Manager
6 1 (6.25%) Operations Manager
6 1 (6.25%) Product Manager
6 1 (6.25%) Research Manager
6 1 (6.25%) SC Cleared Business Analyst
6 1 (6.25%) Senior Digital Product Manager
6 1 (6.25%) Senior Manager
6 1 (6.25%) Senior Product Manager
Miscellaneous
1 1 (6.25%) Clustering
1 1 (6.25%) Greenfield Project
1 1 (6.25%) Product Ownership
1 1 (6.25%) Taxonomies
Processes & Methodologies
1 10 (62.50%) Agile
2 7 (43.75%) User Experience
3 5 (31.25%) AI
3 5 (31.25%) Decision-Making
3 5 (31.25%) Prototyping
3 5 (31.25%) UX Design
4 4 (25.00%) Analytics
4 4 (25.00%) Interaction Design
5 3 (18.75%) Design Thinking
5 3 (18.75%) Usability Testing
5 3 (18.75%) User Stories
6 2 (12.50%) Digital Transformation Programme
6 2 (12.50%) Roadmaps
6 2 (12.50%) Stakeholder Management
6 2 (12.50%) Validation
6 2 (12.50%) Wireframes
6 2 (12.50%) Workflow
7 1 (6.25%) Design Patterns
7 1 (6.25%) Inclusive Design
7 1 (6.25%) Problem-Solving
Qualifications
1 7 (43.75%) Security Cleared
2 5 (31.25%) SC Cleared
3 1 (6.25%) BPSS Clearance
3 1 (6.25%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (6.25%) Accessibility
1 1 (6.25%) GDPR
1 1 (6.25%) QA
1 1 (6.25%) WCAG
Vendors
1 1 (6.25%) Microsoft