UX Researcher Resume Examples by Level (2026)

UX Researcher Resume Examples & Writing Guide

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 16% growth in UX research roles through 2035, with roughly 21,800 openings each year — yet 21% of UX researchers experienced layoffs in 2025 alone, according to a User Interviews industry survey. That paradox tells the full story: demand for skilled researchers is climbing, but organizations are simultaneously consolidating headcount and raising the bar for who they hire. Your resume is no longer competing against a shallow applicant pool. It is competing against researchers who can demonstrate measurable business impact — conversion lifts, reduced development rework, validated feature launches. This guide provides three complete resume examples (entry-level through senior), 30 ATS keywords, professional summary templates, and the specific mistakes that get UX research resumes filtered out before a human ever reads them.

Table of Contents

1. Why the UX Researcher Role Matters
2. Entry-Level UX Researcher Resume Example
3. Mid-Level UX Researcher Resume Example
4. Senior UX Researcher Resume Example
5. Key Skills & ATS Keywords
6. Professional Summary Examples
7. Common Resume Mistakes
8. ATS Optimization Tips
9. Frequently Asked Questions
10. Citations & Sources

Why the UX Researcher Role Matters

UX Researchers sit at the intersection of user behavior, product strategy, and business outcomes. Unlike designers who focus on visual solutions or product managers who prioritize roadmap sequencing, researchers generate the evidence base that informs both. When a company launches a feature without research, it gambles development resources — typically 4 to 8 engineering sprints — on assumptions. When it launches with research, it validates those assumptions against real user data before a single line of production code is written. The financial argument is well documented. Glassdoor reports a median total compensation of $118,655 for UX Researchers in the United States, with the 75th percentile reaching $159,080 annually. Senior UX Researchers command a median of $197,916, and directors pursuing the management track reach approximately $216,000 according to the 2026 User Interviews Salary Report. These numbers place UX research among the highest-compensated roles in the creative and design industry, outpacing visual designers and content strategists at equivalent experience levels. The role also carries significant organizational influence. A 2025 MeasuringU survey found that 70% of organizations plan to hire at least one UX position in 2025, with 20% aiming to fill multiple UX roles. Nielsen Norman Group's "State of UX in 2026" report notes that research-informed contextual understanding, critical thinking, and careful judgment are the competencies hardest to automate and therefore most valuable as AI tools mature. The researchers who can demonstrate these capabilities on their resumes — with concrete evidence, not vague claims — are the ones who make it through screening.

Entry-Level UX Researcher Resume Example

**MAYA CHEN** Chicago, IL | [email protected] | (312) 555-0147 | linkedin.com/in/mayachen-uxr

Professional Summary

UX Researcher with 2 years of experience conducting qualitative and quantitative studies across e-commerce and SaaS products. Completed 40+ usability studies using UserTesting and Maze, uncovering insights that informed 12 product feature launches. Hold a Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction from DePaul University with coursework in experimental design, inferential statistics, and ethnographic methods.

Experience

**Junior UX Researcher** Prism Digital Products — Chicago, IL | June 2024 – Present - Conducted 28 moderated usability tests over 14 months using UserTesting and Lookback, identifying 47 usability issues across 3 product verticals with an average severity rating of 3.2 out of 5 - Designed and deployed a 22-question Qualtrics survey to 1,200 users measuring onboarding satisfaction, achieving a 34% response rate and surfacing 5 friction points that reduced onboarding drop-off by 18% - Led 6 competitive benchmarking studies analyzing 4 competitors each, producing 24-page reports that influenced the Q3 2025 product roadmap for a team of 8 designers and 14 engineers - Synthesized qualitative data from 16 contextual inquiry sessions using Dovetail, tagging 320 observations into 9 thematic categories and presenting findings to 3 cross-functional stakeholder groups - Increased System Usability Scale (SUS) score for the checkout flow from 62 to 78 across 2 iterative testing cycles spanning 8 weeks, contributing to a 12% lift in completed transactions **UX Research Intern** Clearview Analytics — Chicago, IL | January 2024 – May 2024 - Recruited and screened 45 participants for 3 separate usability studies using UserInterviews.com, maintaining a 91% show rate across all sessions - Conducted 12 unmoderated tree testing sessions in Optimal Workshop, achieving a task success rate of 74% that informed a navigation restructure reducing average task completion time by 22 seconds - Created a research repository in Dovetail cataloging 85 insights from 9 prior studies, enabling the design team of 6 to reference findings 3 times faster than the previous Confluence-based system - Assisted in 8 stakeholder interviews capturing product requirements, producing affinity maps with 140 data points that shaped 2 feature specifications

Education

**Master of Science, Human-Computer Interaction** DePaul University — Chicago, IL | 2024 Capstone: "Reducing Cognitive Load in Mobile Banking Interfaces" — 32-participant study with eye-tracking and think-aloud protocol **Bachelor of Arts, Psychology** University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | 2022 Minor: Statistics | GPA: 3.7

Tools & Methods

UserTesting | Dovetail | Qualtrics | Optimal Workshop | Lookback | Maze | Figma | SPSS | R | Miro Usability Testing | Contextual Inquiry | Card Sorting | Tree Testing | Survey Design | Affinity Mapping

Mid-Level UX Researcher Resume Example

**DAVID OKONKWO** Austin, TX | [email protected] | (512) 555-0293 | linkedin.com/in/davidokonkwo-uxr | portfolio.davidokonkwo.com

Professional Summary

UX Researcher with 6 years of experience leading mixed-methods research programs for B2B SaaS platforms and consumer mobile products. Managed a portfolio of 75+ studies generating insights that influenced $14M in product investment decisions. Specialize in combining behavioral analytics with qualitative fieldwork to reduce feature failure rates and accelerate product-market fit.

Experience

**Senior UX Researcher** Canopy Software — Austin, TX | March 2023 – Present - Designed and executed a 14-week longitudinal diary study with 36 enterprise users via dscout, capturing 1,080 diary entries that revealed 4 previously unknown workflow pain points and informed a $2.1M feature investment - Built a continuous discovery program conducting 8 user interviews per week (416 annually) using Dovetail for synthesis, reducing the average time from research question to actionable insight from 6 weeks to 11 days - Led a multi-method study combining 200-participant unmoderated tests in Maze with 18 in-depth interviews, producing a segmentation model of 5 user archetypes that the product team adopted across all 3 product lines - Partnered with the data science team to correlate qualitative findings with behavioral telemetry from Amplitude, identifying that users who completed onboarding within 4 minutes had a 67% higher 30-day retention rate - Established a quarterly UX metrics dashboard tracking Net Promoter Score (NPS), SUS, Customer Effort Score (CES), and task success rate across 12 product areas, reviewed by a steering committee of 8 directors and VPs - Mentored 2 junior researchers through 48 weekly coaching sessions, improving their study design quality scores from an average of 3.1 to 4.4 on a 5-point internal peer review rubric **UX Researcher** Ridgepoint Health — Dallas, TX | August 2020 – February 2023 - Conducted 52 usability studies across a patient portal and clinician dashboard, testing with 380 total participants and identifying 156 usability issues, of which 112 were resolved within the same development quarter - Designed an accessibility research program testing with 24 participants using assistive technology (screen readers, switch devices), producing 18 WCAG 2.1 AA remediation recommendations that reduced critical accessibility defects by 73% - Created and validated a 35-item survey instrument measuring clinician satisfaction (Cronbach's alpha: 0.89), deployed quarterly to 600 clinicians with a consistent 42% response rate - Ran 4 concept testing rounds using InVision prototypes with 8 participants each, achieving a concept validation rate of 75% and preventing 2 features projected at $340K development cost from advancing past discovery - Delivered 22 research readout presentations to audiences of 15-40 stakeholders, with post-presentation surveys showing a 4.6 out of 5 average usefulness rating **Associate UX Researcher** Mercer & Hall Digital Agency — Dallas, TX | June 2019 – July 2020 - Executed 18 client-facing usability studies across 6 agency accounts, testing with 144 total participants and maintaining a 95% client satisfaction score on project delivery - Built card sorting studies in Optimal Workshop for 3 information architecture projects, each with 30+ participants, resulting in navigation structures that improved first-click success rates by an average of 31% - Produced competitive UX audits for 4 clients analyzing 5 competitor products each, documenting 80 competitive insights that directly informed 12 design recommendations per engagement

Education

**Master of Science, Human Factors and Ergonomics** Georgia Institute of Technology | 2019 **Bachelor of Science, Cognitive Science** University of Texas at Austin | 2017

Certifications

• UXPA Certified Usability Analyst (CUA), 2021
• Google UX Design Professional Certificate, 2020

Tools & Methods

Dovetail | dscout | Maze | UserTesting | Optimal Workshop | Qualtrics | Lookback | Amplitude | Figma | SPSS | R | Python Usability Testing | Diary Studies | Contextual Inquiry | Card Sorting | Survey Design | A/B Test Analysis | Heuristic Evaluation | Jobs-to-Be-Done | Participatory Design

Senior UX Researcher Resume Example

**SARAH LINDGREN** San Francisco, CA | [email protected] | (415) 555-0381 | linkedin.com/in/sarahlindgren-uxr

Professional Summary

Principal UX Researcher with 11 years of experience building and leading research practices at growth-stage and enterprise companies. Directed a team of 7 researchers and 3 research operations specialists executing 200+ studies annually across 5 product verticals. Research programs have directly influenced $48M in product investment decisions, reduced feature failure rates by 35%, and established research as a strategic function reporting to the VP of Product.

Experience

**Principal UX Researcher** Meridian Technologies — San Francisco, CA | January 2022 – Present - Built and leads a research team of 7 researchers and 3 ResearchOps specialists, growing the function from 2 headcount to 10 over 24 months while maintaining a research output of 200+ studies annually across 5 product verticals - Designed a company-wide research democratization program training 45 product managers and 28 designers on self-serve research methods, resulting in 160 self-serve studies in 2025 while reducing the research team's backlog by 62% - Established the Research Impact Framework linking research findings to product outcomes, demonstrating that research-informed features achieved 2.3x higher adoption rates and 41% lower churn than features launched without research (measured across 34 feature launches over 18 months) - Led a 6-month generative research program involving 120 interviews, 8 field visits, and a 3,000-respondent survey to define a new market segment, resulting in a product line projected at $12M annual revenue that launched in Q1 2026 - Partnered with the Chief Product Officer to create a quarterly research investment review, presenting ROI analyses to the executive team that secured a 40% increase in research budget from $1.2M to $1.68M annually - Implemented Dovetail as the enterprise research repository, migrating 4 years of legacy findings (680 studies) and achieving 89% monthly active usage among 73 product team members within 6 months of launch - Directed a strategic evaluative study combining 500-participant unmoderated benchmarking in UserTesting with 40 in-depth interviews, producing a 92-page competitive intelligence report that reshaped the 2025 product strategy for a $180M business unit **Senior UX Researcher** Forefront Commerce — San Francisco, CA | April 2018 – December 2021 - Led research for the core commerce platform serving 14,000 merchants, conducting 120+ studies across 3.5 years with a cumulative participant count of 2,400 - Designed and managed a panel of 350 merchant participants recruited through UserInterviews.com, achieving 85% retention over 24 months and a median response time of 3.2 hours for research invitations - Conducted a 12-week ethnographic study visiting 16 merchant locations across 4 states, producing a 64-page findings report with 8 strategic recommendations that the product team adopted for the 2020 platform redesign - Measured the business impact of a checkout optimization initiative through a mixed-methods approach (24 usability tests + A/B testing with 50,000 users), contributing to a 19% increase in cart conversion rate valued at $4.2M in incremental annual GMV - Built the company's first UX metrics program tracking task success rate, time-on-task, error rate, and SUS across 8 key user flows, with quarterly reporting to a cross-functional leadership team of 12 - Mentored and managed 3 researchers, developing individual growth plans that led to 2 promotions within 18 months **UX Researcher** Nexus Financial Group — New York, NY | September 2015 – March 2018 - Conducted 65 usability studies for retail banking and wealth management platforms, testing with 520 total participants across desktop, mobile, and tablet interfaces - Designed an unmoderated testing protocol in UserTesting that reduced per-study turnaround from 3 weeks to 5 business days while maintaining a finding accuracy rate of 94% (validated by follow-up moderated sessions) - Led accessibility research with 18 visually impaired participants using JAWS and VoiceOver, producing 32 remediation items that brought the mobile banking app into WCAG 2.0 AA compliance - Created 4 persona documents based on 48 interviews and cluster analysis of 1,800 survey responses, adopted by 6 product teams across the consumer banking division **Junior UX Researcher** Kinetic Design Studio — New York, NY | June 2014 – August 2015 - Executed 22 usability tests and 14 card sorting studies across 8 client engagements, testing with 180 total participants - Reduced average study recruitment time from 12 days to 4 days by establishing relationships with 3 participant recruitment vendors and building a 200-person internal panel - Produced research deliverables for a financial services client that achieved a first-click task success rate improvement from 58% to 81% after implementing recommended navigation changes

Education

**Master of Science, Human-Computer Interaction** Carnegie Mellon University | 2014 Thesis: "Evaluating Trust Signals in Mobile Financial Interfaces" — 60-participant experimental study **Bachelor of Arts, Psychology** University of Michigan | 2012 Summa Cum Laude | Phi Beta Kappa

Certifications & Professional Development

• UXPA Certified Usability Analyst (CUA), 2016
• Human Factors International Certified Usability Professional (CUP), 2019
• Nielsen Norman Group UX Research Certificate, 2020
• CITI Program Human Subjects Research Certification, 2021

Tools & Methods

Dovetail | UserTesting | dscout | Maze | Optimal Workshop | Qualtrics | Lookback | Amplitude | Mixpanel | Figma | SPSS | R | Python | Tableau Usability Testing | Ethnographic Field Research | Diary Studies | Longitudinal Studies | Survey Design & Validation | A/B Test Analysis | Conjoint Analysis | Card Sorting | Tree Testing | Heuristic Evaluation | Jobs-to-Be-Done | Participatory Design | Research Democratization | ResearchOps

Key Skills & ATS Keywords

The following 30 keywords appear most frequently in UX Researcher job postings across LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Indeed. Incorporate them naturally throughout your resume — particularly in your professional summary, skills section, and experience bullet points.

Research Methods (Core)

1. Usability testing
2. User interviews
3. Contextual inquiry
4. Ethnographic research
5. Diary studies
6. Card sorting
7. Tree testing
8. Survey design
9. A/B testing
10. Heuristic evaluation

Analysis & Frameworks

1. Qualitative analysis
2. Quantitative analysis
3. Mixed-methods research
4. Thematic analysis
5. Affinity mapping
6. Statistical analysis
7. Data synthesis
8. User personas
9. Journey mapping
10. Jobs-to-Be-Done (JTBD)

Tools & Platforms

1. UserTesting
2. Dovetail
3. Maze
4. Optimal Workshop
5. Qualtrics
6. Figma
7. SPSS / R / Python

Competencies

1. Cross-functional collaboration
2. Stakeholder management
3. Research democratization **Tip:** Do not list these as a raw keyword dump. Weave them into accomplishment statements. "Conducted 18 moderated usability tests in UserTesting" is ATS-optimized. "Usability testing, UserTesting" in a skills list is table stakes — necessary but not sufficient.

Professional Summary Examples

Entry-Level (0–2 years)

UX Researcher with 1.5 years of experience conducting qualitative and quantitative studies for consumer and B2B products. Completed 30+ usability studies using Maze and UserTesting, identifying insights that informed 8 feature releases. Skilled in survey design with Qualtrics, card sorting with Optimal Workshop, and research synthesis in Dovetail. Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction with published thesis research on mobile interface trust.

Mid-Level (3–7 years)

UX Researcher with 5 years of experience leading mixed-methods research programs for enterprise SaaS and healthcare platforms. Managed a portfolio of 60+ studies with cumulative participation of 1,800 users, generating findings that directly influenced $8M in product investment decisions. Specialize in combining behavioral analytics (Amplitude, Mixpanel) with qualitative fieldwork to reduce feature failure rates by 28%. UXPA Certified Usability Analyst.

Senior / Principal (8+ years)

> Principal UX Researcher with 10 years of experience building research organizations from founding member to 8-person teams. Directed 150+ studies annually across multiple product verticals, demonstrating that research-informed features achieve 2x higher adoption and 35% lower churn. Established research democratization programs training 40+ non-researchers on self-serve methods. Track record of presenting research ROI to C-suite executives and securing year-over-year budget increases of 30–40%.

Common Resume Mistakes

1. Listing Methods Without Outcomes

Writing "Conducted usability testing and user interviews" tells a hiring manager nothing about your impact. Every bullet should answer: what did you study, how many participants were involved, and what changed as a result? A recruiter screening 200 applications will skip bullets that lack numbers.

2. Omitting Participant Counts and Study Scale

Participant count is the single most important metric on a UX research resume. "Conducted user interviews" could mean 3 interviews or 300. The difference matters enormously when evaluating whether a candidate can manage recruitment, scheduling, and synthesis at scale. Always include the number.

3. Describing Process Instead of Decisions Influenced

The purpose of research is to inform decisions. If your bullet describes the method (ran a diary study) but never mentions what the organization did with the findings (redesigned the onboarding flow, killed a feature, redirected $500K in development resources), you have written a process description, not an impact statement.

4. Using a Generic Skills Section Without Context

A skills section that reads "Usability Testing, User Interviews, Card Sorting, Surveys, Data Analysis" is identical to every other UX researcher's resume. Differentiate by pairing tools with specifics: "Survey Design (Qualtrics, 35-item validated instrument, Cronbach's alpha 0.89)" demonstrates expertise that a bare keyword cannot.

5. Ignoring Accessibility Research Experience

WCAG compliance is a legal requirement for many industries — healthcare, finance, government, and education. If you have conducted research with participants using assistive technology, this belongs prominently on your resume. Hiring managers at enterprises specifically search for this experience and many ATS systems index accessibility-related terms.

6. Burying Quantitative Skills

Many UX researchers position themselves as purely qualitative. In the current market, researchers who can work with behavioral analytics (Amplitude, Mixpanel), run statistical tests (t-tests, chi-square, regression), or analyze A/B test results have a measurable advantage. If you have quantitative skills, surface them in your summary and first two experience bullets — not buried in a skills list at the bottom.

7. Failing to Show Stakeholder Communication

Research that never reaches decision-makers has zero impact. Include bullets about presentations delivered, audience size, stakeholder satisfaction scores, or research readouts that changed a product direction. Hiring managers want researchers who can translate findings into action, not researchers who produce reports that collect dust.

ATS Optimization Tips

1. Match Job Posting Language Exactly

If a posting says "user research" rather than "UX research," use their exact phrasing in your summary and experience sections. ATS systems often perform literal string matching. Scan the top 5 job postings for your target role and note whether they use "usability testing" or "usability studies," "user interviews" or "in-depth interviews," "qualitative research" or "qualitative methods." Use the dominant phrasing.

2. Spell Out Acronyms on First Use

Write "System Usability Scale (SUS)" the first time, then use "SUS" afterward. Do the same for NPS (Net Promoter Score), CES (Customer Effort Score), JTBD (Jobs-to-Be-Done), and WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). ATS systems may search for either the full term or the acronym — covering both maximizes match probability.

3. Use Standard Section Headers

Label your sections "Professional Summary," "Experience," "Education," "Skills," and "Certifications." Avoid creative headers like "My Research Journey" or "What I Bring." ATS parsers are trained on standard headers and may misclassify or skip non-standard ones entirely, causing your experience bullets to be indexed under the wrong category.

4. Include Tools by Brand Name

Write "Dovetail" not "research repository tool." Write "Optimal Workshop" not "card sorting platform." Write "Qualtrics" not "survey software." Brand names are the keywords that recruiters and ATS filters actually search for. A recruiter looking for Dovetail experience will search "Dovetail" — not "qualitative analysis platform."

5. Quantify in Digits, Not Words

Write "28 usability studies" not "twenty-eight usability studies." Write "1,200 survey respondents" not "over a thousand respondents." ATS systems parse digits more reliably than written numbers, and digits are visually scannable for human reviewers who spend an average of 7.4 seconds on initial resume review.

6. Keep Formatting Simple

Use a single-column layout with standard fonts (Arial, Calibri, Garamond). Avoid tables, text boxes, columns, headers/footers, and images. ATS parsers from Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, and iCIMS handle single-column layouts most reliably. If you must use a two-column layout, place critical content (summary, experience) in the left/main column.

7. Submit in .docx Unless PDF Is Specified

Despite the common advice to "always submit PDF," many ATS systems parse .docx files more accurately. Greenhouse and Lever handle both well. Workday and Taleo historically prefer .docx. If the posting does not specify a format, .docx is the safer default. If it explicitly requests PDF, submit PDF.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a Master's degree to become a UX Researcher?

A Master's degree is preferred but not required for all positions. Glassdoor and LinkedIn job postings show that approximately 60% of UX Researcher roles list a Master's in HCI, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Anthropology, or a related field as "preferred" rather than "required." However, candidates with a Bachelor's degree and strong portfolio evidence — published usability studies, case studies demonstrating mixed-methods competency, and relevant tool proficiency — regularly secure mid-level positions. The degree matters most for entry-level roles at large technology companies (Google, Meta, Microsoft) where it functions as a screening filter.

What salary should I expect as a UX Researcher?

According to Glassdoor (December 2025), the median total compensation for a UX Researcher in the United States is $118,655 per year, with the 25th percentile at $89,522 and the 75th percentile at $159,080. The 2026 User Interviews Salary Report breaks this down further: entry-level U.S. researchers (0–3 years) earn a median of $85,000, mid-level (4–9 years) earn $130,000, and senior/staff (10+ years) earn $160,000. Information technology is the highest-paying industry sector at a median of $165,724. Approximately two-thirds of all U.S.-based researchers earn more than $100,000.

How important are research tools on my resume?

Critical for ATS screening, secondary for interviews. A 2025 Optimal Workshop analysis of top research platforms found that Dovetail is the most-used repository tool (20% of researchers list it as core), UserTesting is the most-used active testing tool (19%), and Maze has rapidly gained adoption for unmoderated testing. List the tools you have genuinely used with specifics: "Designed 12 unmoderated prototype tests in Maze with 240 total participants" is far more credible than "Proficient in Maze." Hiring managers know the difference between listing a tool and demonstrating competency with it.

Should I include a portfolio link on my UX research resume?

Yes, if it contains case studies that demonstrate your research process and impact — not just final deliverables. The most effective research portfolios show the problem framing, methodology selection rationale, participant recruitment approach, analysis process, and measurable outcome. A portfolio with 3 well-documented case studies outperforms one with 10 surface-level summaries. Include the link in your header, and reference specific case studies in your cover letter to drive reviewers to your strongest work.

How is AI changing what hiring managers look for in UX Researchers?

Nielsen Norman Group's "State of UX in 2026" report notes that 80% of researchers now employ AI tools to enhance efficiency, but that organizations increasingly value "research-informed contextual understanding, critical thinking, and careful judgment" — the skills hardest to automate. Hiring managers are looking for researchers who can use AI tools (synthetic data analysis, automated transcription, AI-assisted thematic coding) while maintaining the rigor and critical thinking that AI cannot replicate. On your resume, demonstrating that you used AI to accelerate research velocity while maintaining methodological rigor is a differentiator. Stating that you "used AI for research" without specifics is not.

Citations & Sources

1. **Glassdoor.** "UX Researcher Salary Data, December 2025." Median total compensation $118,655; Senior UX Researcher median $197,916. https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/ux-researcher-salary-SRCH_KO0,13.htm
2. **User Interviews.** "The 2026 UX Salary Report." Entry-level U.S. median $85,000; mid-level $130,000; senior $160,000. Two-thirds of U.S. researchers earn above $100K. https://www.userinterviews.com/ux-salary-report
3. **Bureau of Labor Statistics.** UX Researcher employment projected to grow 16% from 2025 to 2035, with approximately 21,800 annual openings. Referenced via Hakia career guide and Research.com. https://hakia.com/careers/ux-researcher/
4. **Nielsen Norman Group.** "State of UX in 2026." Research-informed contextual understanding, critical thinking, and careful judgment identified as competencies hardest to automate. 80% of researchers employing AI tools. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/state-of-ux-2026/
5. **Nielsen Norman Group.** "The UX Reckoning: Prepare for 2025 and Beyond." AI can help finish tasks 66% faster; most AI UX tools rated "marginally better" as of May 2025. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-reset-2025/
6. **MeasuringU.** 2025 UX Hiring Survey. 70% of organizations plan to hire at least one UX position; 20% aiming to fill multiple roles. Referenced via Academy UX market analysis. https://www.academyux.com/ux-job-market-hot-or-not
7. **Optimal Workshop.** "Top User Research Platforms 2025." Dovetail used by 20% of researchers as core repository tool; UserTesting used by 19% as primary testing platform. https://www.optimalworkshop.com/blog/top-user-research-platforms-2025
8. **Kathryn Brookshier.** "The UX Job Market: Reversion to the Mean." Medium, January 2026. Approximately 21% of UX researchers experienced layoffs in 2025; job postings stabilized since second half of 2023. https://medium.com/@kbrookshier/the-ux-job-market-reversion-to-the-mean-cf3c07fbe424
9. **Coursera.** "UX Researcher Salary: What You'll Make and Why." Overview of salary ranges by experience level and geographic market. https://www.coursera.org/articles/ux-researcher-salary-what-youll-make-and-why
10. **Maze.** "19 Best UX Research Tools & Software." Comprehensive comparison of research platforms including UserTesting, Dovetail, Optimal Workshop, Lookback, and dscout. https://maze.co/guides/ux-research/ux-research-tools/