2025 median annual pay
$78,760
Median for the whole occupation, across all experience levels. It is not specific to a level or to Brazil.
Career in 2026 and 2027
UX Researcher
A UX Researcher produces the evidence a team needs to decide what to build and whether it works, using interviews, observation, surveys and experiments. The role grows from running well-designed individual studies, to planning research programs with solid statistics, to making research a shared capability across the company.
Content reviewed on October 20, 2026
- Levels
- 4
- Skills mapped at Mid-level
- 7
What each level must prove
Mid-level
Accountable for owning a study from the research question to findings, choosing the method that fits and judging the evidence.
You take a vague request from a product team, turn it into a testable question and pick among interviews, field visits, surveys, usability tests and analytics. You report findings with severity and confidence. The step up from junior is that you decide the study design, not only run it.
Average score required: 71%
Research Questions & Hypotheses
Why: You can turn a request like make onboarding better into a hypothesis with a metric, so the study can show it was right or wrong.
User Interviews
Why: You can analyze a set of interviews across participants and separate a recurring pattern from one vivid anecdote before it reaches the roadmap.
Contextual Inquiry
Why: You can observe a nurse or a warehouse worker in their real environment and spot workarounds that no interview would have revealed.
Surveys & Questionnaires
Why: You can write a survey without leading questions and choose between SUS, NPS and CSAT according to what the team needs to decide.
Analytics & UX Metrics
Why: You can use funnel and task-success data to find where to point qualitative research, instead of studying whatever the loudest stakeholder suggests.
Usability Testing Methods
Why: You can design realistic tasks, moderate without hinting, and rate issues by severity so the team fixes the blocking ones first.
Heuristic Evaluation
Why: You can run a quick expert review of a competitor or a legacy screen to prepare hypotheses, while stating that it does not replace user testing.
Study for UX Researcher: trails and practice exams
Each level of this career maps to a study trail. Read the full topic map for free, then measure your level.
Market snapshot (United States)
Projected job growth, 2025–2035
+7%
Much faster than average
Closest US occupation: Market Research Analysts. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, updated August 27, 2026
Two ways to move up one level
12 weeks · intensive
For whoever has a deadline
About 8 hours a week, in 1 cycle focused on the gaps that weigh most.
40 weeks · regular
Alongside work
About 4 hours a week, in 3 cycles. Each cycle carries what was left from the previous one.
Frequently asked questions
What is UX Researcher?
A UX Researcher produces the evidence a team needs to decide what to build and whether it works, using interviews, observation, surveys and experiments. The role grows from running well-designed individual studies, to planning research programs with solid statistics, to making research a shared capability across the company.
What must each level of UX Researcher prove?
UX Researcher is mapped in 4 levels: Junior, Mid-level, Senior, and Expert. Open each level above to see the skills it must prove.
How long does the UX Researcher plan take?
The plan has 2 paces: 12 weeks per level at about 8 hours a week (intensive) and 40 weeks per level at about 4 hours a week (regular).
How the plan works
AI tutor
A study session on each new topic, at your level.
AI school
Hands-on lessons on using AI in your career's daily work.
Assessments
Each requirement is proven by measurement, not by a checkbox.
Stage review
At the end of each cycle you see what moved and what carries over.
Find out which level you are at
A short diagnostic measures the skills you already have. The journey starts from there.