User Researcher Contracts

User Researcher
UK

The median User Researcher daily rate in the UK is £486, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 1 May 2025.

The table below provides contractor rate benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 463 500 440
Rank change year-on-year +37 -60 -34
Contract jobs requiring a User Researcher 57 82 288
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.19% 0.19% 0.48%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.21% 0.20% 0.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 45 55 235
10th Percentile £378 £325 £400
25th Percentile £413 £400 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £486 £475 £544
Median % change year-on-year +2.32% -12.60% +5.02%
75th Percentile £550 £519 £588
90th Percentile £640 £625 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £400 £525
% change year-on-year +6.25% -23.81% +5.00%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 27,084 40,415 56,464
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.52% 92.78% 94.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,692 26,309 39,470
10th Percentile £300 £275 £313
25th Percentile £406 £410 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -1.90% -2.78% +2.86%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £492 £500
% change year-on-year -3.46% -1.60% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,035 2,664 1,570
10th Percentile £14.07 £12.86 £14.29
25th Percentile £18.50 £16.30 £19.50
Median hourly rate £29.00 £36.42 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -20.37% -19.07% +91.49%
75th Percentile £62.50 £60.75 £65.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £72.50 £75.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.00 £39.55 £42.50
% change year-on-year -29.20% -6.94% +117.95%

User Researcher
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings that featured User Researcher in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for User Researcher in the UK

User Researcher
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing User Researcher.

Daily rate trend for User Researcher in the UK

User Researcher
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing User Researcher over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for User Researcher in the UK

User Researcher
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing User Researcher.

Hourly rate trend for User Researcher in the UK

User Researcher
Top 12 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing User Researcher within the UK over the 6 months to 1 May 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
England +49 41 £486 +2.32% 15
London +45 28 £493 +3.79% 11
Work from Home +24 17 £464 -2.37% 10
UK excluding London +41 14 £425 +6.25% 5
North of England +2 7 £424 +5.94% 3
Scotland +10 3 £463 +36.10% 1
North West +8 3 £419 +19.64% 1
Yorkshire +5 3 £525 +10.53% 2
South West +45 2 £475 - 1
Midlands +23 2 - -
West Midlands +15 2 - -
North East -5 1 £425 -29.90%

User Researcher Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities

For the 6 months to 1 May 2025, User Researcher contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring User Researcher in the job title.

1 55 (96.49%) User Research
2 33 (57.89%) Public Sector
3 28 (49.12%) Agile
4 26 (45.61%) Usability Testing
5 19 (33.33%) Qualitative Research
5 19 (33.33%) User Experience
6 18 (31.58%) Actionable Insight
6 18 (31.58%) Accessibility
6 18 (31.58%) Quantitative Research
7 17 (29.82%) Security Cleared
8 16 (28.07%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
9 15 (26.32%) SC Cleared
10 10 (17.54%) UX Design
10 10 (17.54%) Service Design
10 10 (17.54%) Social Skills
10 10 (17.54%) Inclusive Design
11 9 (15.79%) Decision-Making
11 9 (15.79%) Ethnography
12 8 (14.04%) Ethnographic Research
12 8 (14.04%) Contextual Inquiry
12 8 (14.04%) Focus Group
13 7 (12.28%) Prototyping
13 7 (12.28%) Stakeholder Management
14 6 (10.53%) Data Analysis
14 6 (10.53%) Actionable Recommendations
15 5 (8.77%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 5 (8.77%) UX Research
15 5 (8.77%) Journey Map
15 5 (8.77%) Figma
16 4 (7.02%) Data-Driven Decision Making

User Researcher Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 1 (1.75%) Confluence
Applications
1 3 (5.26%) InVision
2 2 (3.51%) Autodesk Smoke
3 1 (1.75%) Adobe XD
3 1 (1.75%) UserZoom
Cloud Services
1 5 (8.77%) Figma
2 3 (5.26%) Miro
Communications & Networking
1 1 (1.75%) Intranet
Development Applications
1 2 (3.51%) Axure RP
2 1 (1.75%) Balsamiq
2 1 (1.75%) JIRA
General
1 33 (57.89%) Public Sector
2 10 (17.54%) Social Skills
3 4 (7.02%) Finance
3 4 (7.02%) Presentation Skills
4 2 (3.51%) Analytical Skills
4 2 (3.51%) Banking
4 2 (3.51%) Digital Health
5 1 (1.75%) Influencing Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (3.51%) CSS
1 2 (3.51%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 4 (7.02%) Product Ownership
2 1 (1.75%) Legacy Systems
2 1 (1.75%) Management Information System
2 1 (1.75%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 1 (1.75%) Android
1 1 (1.75%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 55 (96.49%) User Research
2 28 (49.12%) Agile
3 26 (45.61%) Usability Testing
4 19 (33.33%) Qualitative Research
4 19 (33.33%) User Experience
5 18 (31.58%) Actionable Insight
5 18 (31.58%) Quantitative Research
6 16 (28.07%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
7 10 (17.54%) Inclusive Design
7 10 (17.54%) Service Design
7 10 (17.54%) UX Design
8 9 (15.79%) Decision-Making
8 9 (15.79%) Ethnography
9 8 (14.04%) Contextual Inquiry
9 8 (14.04%) Ethnographic Research
9 8 (14.04%) Focus Group
10 7 (12.28%) Prototyping
10 7 (12.28%) Stakeholder Management
11 6 (10.53%) Data Analysis
12 5 (8.77%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 2 (3.51%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 17 (29.82%) Security Cleared
2 15 (26.32%) SC Cleared
3 2 (3.51%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (31.58%) Accessibility
2 6 (10.53%) Actionable Recommendations
3 1 (1.75%) Disclosure Scotland
3 1 (1.75%) WCAG
Vendors
1 1 (1.75%) Adobe
1 1 (1.75%) CA Agile Central
1 1 (1.75%) IBM
1 1 (1.75%) Microsoft
1 1 (1.75%) ServiceNow