Figuring out what people really think, want, and do, through surveys, experiments, taste tests, and watching real life.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Consumer Insights Director: Leads research that explains what customers want, why they buy, and what a company should do next. Typical pay $150k.
Behavioral Scientist: Uses psychology research to understand and nudge how people make choices. Typical pay $130k.
Competitive Intelligence Manager: Legally gathers and analyzes information about competitors so a company isn't surprised. Typical pay $120k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Neuromarketing Researcher: Measures brain activity, eye movements, and heart rate to see how people really react to ads and products. Typical pay $100k.
Market Research Analyst: Studies markets, competitors, and consumers to help companies decide what to sell and how to sell it. Typical pay $79k.
Survey Researcher: Designs surveys and polls and analyzes the results. Typical pay $65k.
Political Pollster: Measures what voters think and predicts election results for campaigns and news outlets. Typical pay $80k.
Sensory Scientist: Studies how people taste, smell, and feel products to make them better. Typical pay $88k.
Consumer Ethnographer: Studies people in their real lives, homes, and routines to discover hidden needs. Typical pay $95k.
Audience Measurement Analyst: Measures how many people watch, listen, and stream shows, podcasts, and ads. Typical pay $80k.
Shopper Insights Manager: Studies how people behave inside stores and online shops to decide product placement and packaging. Typical pay $98k.
Pricing Research Analyst: Runs special surveys that reveal how much people would really pay for a product and which features matter. Typical pay $85k.
Voice of Customer Analyst: Reads and analyzes thousands of customer reviews, surveys and support chats to find what people love and hate. Typical pay $78k.
Market Research Project Manager: Runs research studies from start to finish: budgets, survey vendors, timelines and the final report. Typical pay $82k.
Research Panel Manager: Builds and looks after big groups of people who regularly take surveys for market research. Typical pay $72k.
Linguistic Brand Name Screener: Checks new product and company names in dozens of languages to make sure they do not mean something rude, silly or unlucky somewhere in the world. Typical pay $72k.
Starter: fastest way in
Survey Interviewer: Asks people survey questions by phone, online, or by knocking on doors for research firms and government. Typical pay $40k.
Mystery Shopper: Poses as a regular customer to check service, cleanliness, and rules at stores and restaurants. Typical pay $10k.
TV Ratings Field Representative: Visits homes chosen for TV ratings panels to sign families up, install the meters that track what they watch and keep them in the study. Typical pay $48k.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.