jobfacts

Business and related research professionals

SOC 2020 2434

Business and related research professionals carry out a variety of research activities for the broadcast and print media, for the police and armed forces intelligence services, for national security agencies and in other non-scientific areas.

Also calledMarket research executiveUser researcherIntelligence analystCriminal intelligence analystIntelligence officerMarketing analystand 57 more titles
Typical full-time pay£41,1002025 Provisional
People in the job63,000across the UK
Demand for workersElevated
New adverts a month1,400↓ 10%on last year · 137th of 412

Pay

ONS · ASHE 2025

Half of full-time business and related research professionals earn between £35,000 and £50,000 a year.

What full-time business and related research professionals earn, 2025
£41,100 typical£28,900lowest 10%£35,00025%£53,600top 20%n/ptop 10%
Middle half (£35,000–£50,000)n/p: top 10% not published by ONS
Show as table
Lowest 10% earn less than£28,900
Lowest 20% earn less than£33,700
25%£35,000
Median£41,100
75%£50,000
Top 20% earn more than£53,600
Top 10% earn more thanNot published
Typical pay by regionUK median £41,100
London£46,900
South East£44,100
South West!£43,400
Wales!£40,800
Yorkshire and The Humber!£40,400
East of England£40,200
East Midlands!£39,200
Scotland!£39,200
North West!£38,500
North East!£37,400
West Midlands£36,700
!Small sample: treat with caution
Show as table
UK median, £41,100
London£46,900
South East£44,100
South West£43,400 (small sample)
Wales£40,800 (small sample)
Yorkshire and The Humber£40,400 (small sample)
East of England£40,200
East Midlands£39,200 (small sample)
Scotland£39,200 (small sample)
North West£38,500 (small sample)
North East£37,400 (small sample)
West Midlands£36,700
Typical pay over 3 years
  • 2023 £36,800
  • 2024 £38,800
  • 2025 Provisional£41,100
↑ 12% since 2023Provisional figures are revised when ONS publishes the next year’s survey.

Jobs and demand

ONS · Textkernel adverts · DfE

About 1,400 jobs for business and related research professionals are advertised each month. The Department for Education rates demand for workers as elevated.

New job adverts a month, Jan 2017 to Aug 2026
New advertsMonth not published by ONS (1 in all)
Show as table
Aug 20261,826
Jul 20261,467
Jun 20261,399
May 20261,699
Apr 20261,167
Mar 2026Not published
Feb 20261,231
Jan 20261,523
Dec 2025960
Nov 20251,593
Oct 20251,591
Sept 20251,477
Aug 20251,461
Jul 20252,557
Jun 20252,351
May 20251,806
Apr 20251,386
Mar 20251,659
Feb 20251,613
Jan 20251,322
Dec 2024949
Nov 20241,420
Oct 20241,514
Sept 20241,390
Aug 20241,527
Jul 20241,458
Jun 20241,647
May 20241,753
Apr 20241,704
Mar 20241,658
Feb 20241,887
Jan 20242,159
Dec 20231,636
Nov 20231,983
Oct 20231,708
Sept 20231,677
Aug 20232,254
Jul 20232,099
Jun 20233,697
May 20234,293
Apr 20232,294
Mar 20232,640
Feb 20232,932
Jan 20233,164
Dec 20222,859
Nov 20223,229
Oct 20223,328
Sept 20223,123
Aug 20223,253
Jul 20223,588
Jun 20223,543
May 20224,194
Apr 20223,073
Mar 20223,916
Feb 20223,661
Jan 20223,846
Dec 20213,284
Nov 20213,577
Oct 20213,639
Sept 20213,220
Aug 20213,139
Jul 20213,419
Jun 20213,052
May 20212,904
Apr 20212,489
Mar 20213,566
Feb 20212,222
Jan 20212,257
Dec 20202,150
Nov 20202,302
Oct 20202,329
Sept 20202,075
Aug 20202,018
Jul 20201,785
Jun 20201,536
May 20201,471
Apr 20202,040
Mar 20203,528
Feb 20203,869
Jan 20203,374
Dec 20192,680
Nov 20193,334
Oct 20193,758
Sept 20192,947
Aug 20193,209
Jul 20193,571
Jun 20193,507
May 20193,496
Apr 20192,378
Mar 20192,718
Feb 20192,545
Jan 20192,778
Dec 20182,157
Nov 20182,788
Oct 20182,776
Sept 20182,678
Aug 20182,558
Jul 20182,818
Jun 20183,000
May 20183,007
Apr 20182,669
Mar 20183,283
Feb 20182,894
Jan 20183,184
Dec 20172,093
Nov 20172,772
Oct 20172,759
Sept 20172,589
Aug 20172,723
Jul 20172,670
Jun 20173,003
May 20172,981
Apr 20172,735
Mar 20173,166
Feb 20172,668
Jan 20173,234
Is there a shortage of business and related research professionals?
Elevated

The Department for Education rates demand as not high, elevated or critical, using five indicators. This is its 2025 assessment.

  • Visas grantedAbove usual
  • Online job advertsAbove usual
  • Wage growthAbove usual
  • Pay against similar jobsUsual
  • Hours workedAbove usual
Vacancies hard to fill because of skills
6.1%against 27% for all jobs
Broader groupFigure for business, research and administrative professionals, which includes business and related research professionals. DfE Employer Skills Survey 2024.
Where the most jobs are advertisedadverts a quarter
London1,493
Manchester216
Cambridge138
Birmingham109
Leeds109
Bristol, City of102
Sheffield92
Oxford92
Newcastle upon Tyne83
Glasgow City81
London is published as one area. Averages leave out quarters ONS withheld.
Where business and related research professionals are most concentratedShare of local job adverts, compared with the UK.

Recruitment from abroad. 260 sponsored work visas were granted for this job from July 2025 to June 2026, most to people from United States, India, China, ranking it 60th of 313. Home Office

Who does it

ONS · Annual Population Survey · April 2025 to March 2026
Age of business and related research professionals
9.2%!
38%!
21%!
18%!
8%!
6.3%!
!Small sample: treat with caution
Show as table
16–249.2% (small sample)
25–3438% (small sample)
35–4421% (small sample)
45–5418% (small sample)
55–648% (small sample)
65+6.3% (small sample)
Highest qualification
Degree or equivalent79%
Higher education below degree!4.1%
A levels or equivalent!9.6%
GCSEs or equivalent!6.6%
Other qualifications–
Not published
!Small sample: treat with caution
Show as table
Degree or equivalent79%
Higher education below degree4.1% (small sample)
A levels or equivalent9.6% (small sample)
GCSEs or equivalent6.6% (small sample)
Other qualificationsNot published

Main employers: public order and safety activities (15%), market research and public opinion polling (7.7%), regulation of the activities of providing health care, education, cultural services and other social services, excluding social security (7.1%), defence activities (6.2%).

How to get in

Hold a degree
79%
as their highest qualification
Apprenticeships
1
from level 4
Apprenticeships take
18 months
typically

Routes in

Market research executive

You can get into this job through:

University

The type of subjects you can study depends on whether you're interested in quantitative or qualitative research. Quantitative research involves collecting numbers and facts. Qualitative research is about gathering impressions, opinions and views.

For quantitative market research work, you may find it useful to get a degree in:

  • maths
  • statistics
  • business
  • management
  • economics

For qualitative jobs, you may find it helpful to have a degree in:

  • psychology
  • sociology
  • geography
  • social sciences
  • anthropology

Degrees in English or marketing are usually useful. A science or engineering subject may help for some specialist industrial jobs.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree

College

You could do a college course which would teach you some of the skills you need in this job. Relevant courses include:

  • Level 3 Diploma in Marketing
  • Level 4 Diploma in Professional Marketing
Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, for a level 3 course
  • 1 or 2 A levels, a level 3 diploma or relevant experience for a level 4 or level 5 course

Apprenticeship

You could do a Market Research Executive Level 4 Higher Apprenticeship, or a Social Researcher Level 6 Degree Apprenticeship.

These can take from 1 year and 6 months to 3 years and 6 months to complete.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) and A levels, or equivalent, for a higher or degree apprenticeship

Other ways in

Work your way up

You could work as a market research assistant or interviewer without a degree. You’ll still need to be very good at:

  • communicating
  • numbers
  • IT programmes

You could also start as a research assistant in an agency and get promoted to executive or account manager as your experience grows. You’ll usually be expected to take further qualifications.

Other routes

You could get your first job as a market research executive through a graduate training scheme. Some larger employers run training schemes for new recruits.

You could also do specialist courses through professional bodies, like The Market Research Society.

You may be able to get a paid internship with a company where you're given a project to complete. This will allow you to develop your skills and show an employer what you’re able to do.

Registration and professional bodies

Career tips

Being able to speak different languages could be an advantage for international work.

Whatever your qualifications, you’ll find it useful to have experience in:

  • marketing
  • sales or advertising
  • interviewing for market research
Further information

You can find out more about market research careers from The Market Research Society.

Routes in are from the National Careers Service job profile for market research executive. Contains public sector information from the National Careers Service licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

User researcher

You can get into this job through:

University

You can do a foundation degree, higher national diploma or degree in:

  • psychology
  • human computer interaction (HCI)
  • digital marketing
  • product design
  • graphic design
Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • 1 or 2 A levels, or equivalent, for a foundation degree or higher national diploma
  • 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree

Apprenticeship

You could apply to do a Digital User Experience (UX) Professional Level 6 Degree Apprenticeship.

This will take around 4 years to complete.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) and A levels, or equivalent, for a degree apprenticeship

Other ways in

Volunteering

If you're working in an organisation that conducts user research, you could get work experience by volunteering to help in research sessions and user interviews. This would be useful, especially if you do not have a degree.

You can also get involved in the online user experience (UX) community for advice and tips, and to find a mentor to help you.

Apply directly

You can apply directly to user research or digital design companies, or go through a specialist agency.

To apply, you'll need experience in:

  • user-centred design practices
  • running user research sessions in person and online
  • different user research methods
  • presenting user research findings in different formats
Other routes

You could apply for a place on a user research or marketing company's graduate training scheme if you have a degree, for example in digital marketing or product design.

Registration and professional bodies

Career tips

It will be useful if you have experience of working in agile project development.

You can find further information on what a user researcher does at the Government Digital Service.

It will also help if you have a portfolio to show examples of your work to employers.

Further information

You can find out more about working as a user researcher from techskills.

Routes in are from the National Careers Service job profile for user researcher. Contains public sector information from the National Careers Service licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Intelligence analyst

You can get into this job through:

University

You can become an intelligence analyst with a degree in a wide range of subjects. However, you could gain useful skills from a degree that includes data analysis, for example:

  • computing
  • maths and statistics
  • social science
  • psychology
  • criminology
Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree

Apprenticeship

You could do an apprenticeship such as:

  • Intelligence Analyst Level 4 Higher Apprenticeship
  • Cyber Security Technologist Level 4 Higher Apprenticeship
  • Digital Forensic Technician Level 4 Higher Apprenticeship
  • Serious and Complex Crime Investigator Level 6 Degree Apprenticeship
  • Advanced Digital Forensic Professional Level 7 Degree Apprenticeship
Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) and A levels, or equivalent, for a higher or degree apprenticeship
  • a degree in a relevant subject

Other ways in

Work your way up

You might be able to start in a related job in the security services like researcher or language specialist. You could then apply to join an intelligence officer training programme.

If you work for the police, you could apply to become a police intelligence officer. Each police force sets its own entry requirements.

Other routes

You could apply for MI5's Intelligence and Data Analyst Development Programme if you have a degree or relevant work experience.

You might also be able to apply through the Civil Service Fast Stream or to the National Crime Agency.

Applications can take up to 9 months. As part of the process, you'll need to be ready to answer questions about your personal life, relationships, family and finances.

What you’ll need

  • be over 18 years of age
  • be a British citizen
  • have lived in the UK for the last 3 years
  • pass enhanced background checks
  • have a good level of fitness
  • pass a medical check

Registration and professional bodies

Career tips

Summer internship schemes and student placements are a useful way to find out more about the role and the recruitment process.

In more specialist roles, you might find it useful to be able to speak a different language.

Further information

You can find out more about a career in intelligence from:

  • Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)
  • Secret Intelligence Service, often known as MI6
  • Security Service, often known as MI5
  • National Crime Agency
  • UK Cyber Security Council

Routes in are from the National Careers Service job profile for intelligence analyst. Contains public sector information from the National Careers Service licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Apprenticeships

1 for this job

© Skills England 2025. This information is licensed under the Open Government Licence https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

The work

ONS · ESCO · O*NET

Typical tasks

  • liaises with production team to generate and develop ideas for film, television and radio programmes
  • research sources for accurate factual material, finds suitable contributors to programmes or print features and deals with any copyright issues
  • briefs presenters, scriptwriters or journalists as required via verbal or written reports
  • provides administrative support for programme development such as booking facilities
  • provides support to criminal intelligence or to military or other security operations by gathering and verifying intelligence data and sources
  • presents findings in the required format, via written reports or presentations
  • researches images for clients in a wide range of media using specialist picture libraries and archives, museums, galleries etc., or commissions new images
  • liaises with client on the appropriate image/s to be used
  • deals with copyright issues and negotiates fees
  • liaises with client to understand their market research needs, establishes an appropriate quantitative and qualitative market research methodology and prepares proposals outlining programmes of work and details of costs
  • manages and directs research, collates and interprets findings and presents results to clients
  • discusses possible changes that need to be made in terms of design, price, packaging, marketing and promotion etc. in light of market research with appropriate departments

Skills

  • maintain relationships with government agencies
  • liaise with local authorities
  • maintain relations with local representatives
  • manage government policy implementation
  • develop professional network
  • perform project management
  • advise on legislative acts
  • advise on government policy compliance
  • analyse community needs
  • analyse goal progress
  • carry out strategic research
  • ensure information transparency
  • establish collaborative relations
  • present reports

Knowledge

  • government policy implementation
  • project management principles
  • budgetary principles
  • scientific research methodology
  • international law
  • foreign affairs

Suits people who like

  • Organising and following procedures
  • Leading and persuading

Outlook

DfE · Skills Imperative 2035
Broader groupThese projections are for business, media and public service professionals, a group of 32 jobs that includes business and related research professionals.
Change in jobs, 2020 to 2035↑ 26%about 670,000 more jobs
Workers needed by 20352.1 millionincluding people replacing those who retire or leave

Sources

Pay
ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2025 provisional
People in the job, who does it
ONS, Annual Population Survey, April 2025 to March 2026
Job adverts
ONS, online job adverts (Textkernel), to Aug 2026
Demand, skill shortages
Department for Education and Skills England, Occupations in demand and the Employer Skills Survey
Outlook
The Skills Imperative 2035 (2024), NFER/Nuffield/DfE/IER/CE
Routes in
National Careers Service job profiles
Apprenticeships, qualifications
Skills England occupational maps
Skills, interests
ESCO classification of the European Commission; O*NET data, U.S. Department of Labor (CC BY 4.0, modified)
Visas
Home Office, immigration system statistics

Figures as of 10 October 2026.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Occupations in demand and the Employer Skills Survey: Department for Education and Skills England. Immigration system statistics: Home Office. Contains public sector information from the National Careers Service licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

© Skills England 2025. This information is licensed under the Open Government Licence https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Source: The Skills Imperative 2035 (2024), NFER/Nuffield/DfE/IER/CE.

This service uses the ESCO classification of the European Commission.

This service includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. This service has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. CC BY 4.0 licence.

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