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 17 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 89 100 113
Rank change year-on-year +11 +13 +11
Contract jobs citing User Research 40 16 11
As % of all contract jobs in the City of London 1.73% 0.92% 0.51%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.04% 0.98% 0.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 33 11 4
10th Percentile £387 £450 £497
25th Percentile £413 £451 £507
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £458 £485 £573
Median % change year-on-year -5.57% -15.28% +11.71%
75th Percentile £538 £526 £632
90th Percentile £583 £638 £635
Central London median daily rate £448 £485 £573
% change year-on-year -7.68% -15.28% +11.71%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 0 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £50.72 - -
Median hourly rate £51.44 - -
75th Percentile £52.16 - -
90th Percentile - - -
Central London median hourly rate £51.44 - -

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 1,957 1,635 1,957
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London 84.72% 93.59% 90.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,332 1,027 1,378
10th Percentile £363 £353 £350
25th Percentile £450 £463 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £575 £565
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% +1.77% -5.83%
75th Percentile £675 £688 £688
90th Percentile £775 £775 £813
Central London median daily rate £550 £564 £550
% change year-on-year -2.44% +2.50% -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 13 12
10th Percentile £17.99 £22.00 £19.95
25th Percentile £18.75 £23.75 £20.22
Median hourly rate £29.78 £28.15 £25.63
Median % change year-on-year +5.80% +9.85% -26.79%
75th Percentile £49.78 £43.75 £40.00
90th Percentile £59.72 £60.75 £41.65
Central London median hourly rate £27.00 £29.07 £27.81
% change year-on-year -7.12% +4.53% -20.54%

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 17 May 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 3 (7.50%) CMS
Applications
1 1 (2.50%) Adobe XD
1 1 (2.50%) Sketch
Cloud Services
1 6 (15.00%) SaaS
2 4 (10.00%) Figma
3 2 (5.00%) Azure
4 1 (2.50%) AWS
4 1 (2.50%) ChatGPT
4 1 (2.50%) GCP
4 1 (2.50%) Microsoft Copilot
4 1 (2.50%) Power Platform
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (2.50%) Power BI
General
1 14 (35.00%) Social Skills
2 10 (25.00%) Public Sector
3 5 (12.50%) Finance
3 5 (12.50%) Publishing
4 3 (7.50%) Banking
5 2 (5.00%) Analytical Skills
5 2 (5.00%) Marketing
5 2 (5.00%) Presentation Skills
6 1 (2.50%) Influencing Skills
6 1 (2.50%) Local Government
6 1 (2.50%) Military
Job Titles
1 20 (50.00%) User Researcher
2 14 (35.00%) Designer
3 8 (20.00%) Senior
4 6 (15.00%) UX Designer
5 5 (12.50%) Content Designer
6 4 (10.00%) Senior User Researcher
7 3 (7.50%) Product Designer
7 3 (7.50%) Senior Designer
8 2 (5.00%) Data Scientist
8 2 (5.00%) Product Owner
8 2 (5.00%) Senior Content Designer
9 1 (2.50%) Business Manager
9 1 (2.50%) Full-Stack Developer
9 1 (2.50%) Lead
9 1 (2.50%) Procurement Analyst
9 1 (2.50%) Procurement Project Manager
9 1 (2.50%) Senior Business Manager
9 1 (2.50%) Senior Procurement Manager
9 1 (2.50%) UI Designer
9 1 (2.50%) UI/UX Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (2.50%) .NET
Miscellaneous
1 4 (10.00%) Product Ownership
2 2 (5.00%) Greenfield Project
2 2 (5.00%) Management Information System
2 2 (5.00%) Marketing Technology
2 2 (5.00%) NHS
3 1 (2.50%) Analytical Mindset
3 1 (2.50%) Clustering
3 1 (2.50%) Mobile App
3 1 (2.50%) Security Posture
3 1 (2.50%) Taxonomies
Processes & Methodologies
1 16 (40.00%) Agile
2 12 (30.00%) Analytics
2 12 (30.00%) Usability Testing
3 10 (25.00%) AI
4 9 (22.50%) Prototyping
4 9 (22.50%) User Experience
4 9 (22.50%) UX Design
5 8 (20.00%) Actionable Insight
5 8 (20.00%) Journey Map
6 6 (15.00%) Interaction Design
6 6 (15.00%) Wireframes
7 5 (12.50%) Decision-Making
7 5 (12.50%) Qualitative Research
7 5 (12.50%) Quantitative Research
7 5 (12.50%) Strategic Thinking
7 5 (12.50%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
8 4 (10.00%) Content Strategy
8 4 (10.00%) Stakeholder Management
8 4 (10.00%) User Stories
8 4 (10.00%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 1 (2.50%) C#
Qualifications
1 12 (30.00%) SC Cleared
1 12 (30.00%) Security Cleared
2 2 (5.00%) BPSS Clearance
3 1 (2.50%) Degree
3 1 (2.50%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (27.50%) Accessibility
2 3 (7.50%) WCAG
Vendors
1 3 (7.50%) Salesforce
2 1 (2.50%) Adobe
2 1 (2.50%) Microsoft