User Research Contract Job Trends in the South East

User Research
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South East requiring User Research skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 19 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 178 159 197
Rank change year-on-year -19 +38 +44
Contract jobs citing User Research 14 10 13
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 0.32% 0.27% 0.26%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.38% 0.30% 0.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 13 5 9
10th Percentile £380 £428 £396
25th Percentile £454 £450 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £496 £500 £425
Median % change year-on-year -0.90% +17.65% -8.11%
75th Percentile £650 £550 £638
90th Percentile £660 £564 £645
England median daily rate £475 £520 £550
% change year-on-year -8.65% -5.45% -

All Process and Methodology Skills
South East

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 South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 3,726 3,307 4,517
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 85.28% 88.12% 89.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,436 2,059 2,912
10th Percentile £221 £250 £213
25th Percentile £400 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £513 £523
Median % change year-on-year -2.44% -1.91% +1.95%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £615
90th Percentile £675 £688 £688
England median daily rate £505 £525 £544
% change year-on-year -3.81% -3.49% -1.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 371 125 234
10th Percentile £14.75 £19.33 £16.60
25th Percentile £17.00 £26.00 £25.43
Median hourly rate £22.50 £47.78 £53.50
Median % change year-on-year -52.91% -10.69% +42.67%
75th Percentile £48.75 £63.43 £65.71
90th Percentile £75.00 £74.95 £76.53
England median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +19.70%

User Research
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

User Research job vacancy trend in the South East

User Research
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing User Research.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing User Research

User Research
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing User Research in the South East over the 6 months to 19 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for User Research in the South East

User Research
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing User Research.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing User Research

User Research
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing User Research within the South East region over the 6 months to 19 December 2025. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Hampshire -15 6 £454 +0.89% 3
West Sussex - 4 £548 -
Surrey - 3 £640 - 1
Berkshire -17 1 - -
Thames Valley -18 1 - - 1
User Research
England

User Research
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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 (21.43%) IIS
Applications
1 1 (7.14%) Adobe XD
1 1 (7.14%) InVision
1 1 (7.14%) Sketch
Cloud Services
1 1 (7.14%) Figma
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (21.43%) Relational Database
1 3 (21.43%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 1 (7.14%) Axure RP
General
1 4 (28.57%) Public Sector
2 2 (14.29%) Social Skills
3 1 (7.14%) Analytical Skills
3 1 (7.14%) Finance
Job Titles
1 5 (35.71%) User Researcher
2 4 (28.57%) Designer
3 3 (21.43%) Software Engineer
4 2 (14.29%) SC Cleared Software Engineer
4 2 (14.29%) Service Designer
5 1 (7.14%) DevOps Engineer
5 1 (7.14%) Digital Product Owner
5 1 (7.14%) Lead
5 1 (7.14%) Product Designer
5 1 (7.14%) Product Owner
5 1 (7.14%) Scala Engineer
5 1 (7.14%) Senior
5 1 (7.14%) Senior Designer
5 1 (7.14%) Senior Product Designer
5 1 (7.14%) UX Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (21.43%) AngularJS
1 3 (21.43%) React
1 3 (21.43%) REST
1 3 (21.43%) Vue
2 1 (7.14%) Play Framework
Miscellaneous
1 1 (7.14%) BYOD
1 1 (7.14%) Mobile App
1 1 (7.14%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 3 (21.43%) Windows
1 3 (21.43%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 11 (78.57%) Agile
2 6 (42.86%) Prototyping
2 6 (42.86%) User Stories
3 5 (35.71%) Ethnography
3 5 (35.71%) Service Design
3 5 (35.71%) Usability Testing
3 5 (35.71%) User Experience
3 5 (35.71%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
4 4 (28.57%) Ergonomics
4 4 (28.57%) Human Factors
4 4 (28.57%) Qualitative Research
4 4 (28.57%) Quantitative Research
4 4 (28.57%) UX Design
4 4 (28.57%) Workshop Facilitation
5 3 (21.43%) Acceptance Criteria
5 3 (21.43%) Actionable Insight
5 3 (21.43%) Clean Code
5 3 (21.43%) Problem-Solving
5 3 (21.43%) Requirements Gathering
5 3 (21.43%) Storytelling
Programming Languages
1 3 (21.43%) Bash
1 3 (21.43%) C#
1 3 (21.43%) Java
1 3 (21.43%) JavaScript
1 3 (21.43%) PowerShell
1 3 (21.43%) Python
2 1 (7.14%) Scala
Qualifications
1 3 (21.43%) SC Cleared
1 3 (21.43%) Security Cleared
2 2 (14.29%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (28.57%) Accessibility
2 3 (21.43%) WCAG
3 2 (14.29%) Actionable Recommendations
4 1 (7.14%) QA
System Software
1 3 (21.43%) Docker
Systems Management
1 3 (21.43%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 1 (7.14%) Adobe