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Hire a Research Assistant.

Markets, suppliers and contact lists, researched.

Also called: Research Virtual Assistant, Online Researcher, Desk Research Assistant

From £3.50 an hour£3.50-17/hr

  • Professional services
  • Startups
  • Financial services
Book a demoTalk now on Teams

A free 15-minute call on Teams.

  • Works your hours
  • Nigeria hub, on London time or an hour ahead
  • Month to month
What your Research Assistant gets doneSample day
  • Clarifies the research question, decision to be madeScoping
  • Builds competitor matrices covering pricing, featuresMarket and competitor research
  • Shortlists suppliers with MOQ, unit pricing, lead timesSupplier and vendor research
  • Builds targeted prospect or partners lists to an ideal-customer profileContact and list researchDoing
In your tools
  • Google Search
  • Google Scholar
  • PubMed
  • Scopus
  • Zotero
  • Mendeley

Pick the level. See the price.

£7an hourFull time, 38 hours a week, all-in

Level 2 of 4, also called mid-level.Recommended
A local mid-level admin£16/hr
A tested Intermediate Research Assistant£7/hr
At least 56% lessBasis: a Seat's hourly price against the hourly wage of a comparable local hire at the same level. Employer National Insurance, pension and on-costs would add to the local cost.Local pay at the same level, before on-costs and leave.

Owns a research brief end to end: scopes it, chooses sources and delivers a summary.

  • Competitor matrix with summary
  • Supplier shortlist
  • 3-5 page market brief

1-3 years in research, analysis or content roles.

How the Intermediate level works

Per hour, all-in: recruiting, testing and management. Prices exclude VAT.

What you hand to your Research Assistant

Tasks

  • Scoping

    • Clarifies the research question, decision to be made
    • Agrees a confidence standard and what counts as a credible source

  • Market and competitor research

    • Builds competitor matrices covering pricing, features
    • Runs an ongoing competitor watch on pricing pages, product releases

  • Supplier and vendor research

    • Shortlists suppliers with MOQ, unit pricing, lead times
    • Prepares quote-request emails for client approval

  • Contact and list research

    • Builds targeted prospect or partners lists to an ideal-customer profile
    • Verifies emails and removes duplicates, respecting privacy law

  • Academic and due-diligence research

    • Runs literature searches in Google Scholar, PubMed or Scopus
    • Checks companies and directors in registries

  • Synthesis and quality

    • Writes decision-ready briefs with an executive summary
    • Fact-checks claims
    • Files all research and sources in the shared knowledge base

Tested before you meet them

  1. Written synthesis testAll levels45 min
  2. Search and verification sprintAll levels60 min
  3. List-building tool testIntern to Expert45 min
  4. Competitor scan take-homeIntermediate and up3 hrs
  5. Due-diligence exerciseExpert and Specialist60 min
  6. Portfolio reviewExpert and Specialist30 min

One score on every profileSample shown

88%

Three checks before your shortlist

  • Skills tested: A skills test for the role, marked by a senior
  • English and comms: written English tested, spoken English checked on a call
  • ID, work history and references: photo ID, past roles and two referees

From booked call to day one

  1. Step 1: Book a demo

    Tell us the role, your hours and your tools.

  2. Step 2: Meet your shortlist

    Their level and hourly price, tested before you meet.

  3. Step 3: Pick your person

    Month to month. We handle the contract, the equipment and the onboarding, and make sure it all runs.

  4. Step 4: They start work

    In your tools, within 12 to 48 hours of a successful interview.

Questions answered

An Intern Research Assistant is £3.50 an hour, Intermediate £7, Expert £10.50 and Specialist £17, full time (38 hours a week). That is all-in: recruiting, testing and management, month to month. Prices exclude VAT.

Scoping, market and competitor research, supplier and vendor research and contact and list research, run to your priorities. You choose what they own first.

Six practical tests, marked by a senior, including written synthesis test, search and verification sprint and list-building tool test. You see the score before you meet.

Tell us and we replace them free, with a new shortlist of tested people to meet. Seats are month to month with 30 days' notice.

More questions

Within 12 to 48 hours of a successful interview. First you meet your shortlist, interview the people you like and pick your person.

Yes. Your Research Assistant works your business hours in your time zone and joins your Teams or Slack like anyone else. The hub matched to United Kingdom clients is in Nigeria, on London time or an hour ahead.

Yes, where it helps. Your Research Assistant works in the AI tools you already use. They use AI for first drafts and routine work, check every output, and follow your AI policy. You can ask for no AI on any task.

An Intermediate Research Assistant owns a research brief end to end: scopes it, chooses sources and delivers a summary. An Expert Research Assistant leads multi-source projects and handles ambiguity and stakeholder questions. We usually recommend Intermediate.

It stays under your rules: your admin settings and AI policy apply. Our talent rules ban client data in personal or free AI accounts, and passwords, card numbers, health details and ID numbers never go into any AI tool.

You direct the work day to day. We handle recruiting, equipment and quality checks.

Yes. Every Research Assistant is tested live in the tools on your job description, such as Google Search and Google Scholar, before you meet them.

In week one: sets up the research request intake with the fields; agrees deliverable templates; and creates the shared knowledge base structure in Notion or Google Drive. You agree the first priorities with them on day one.

Yes. It's also called Research Virtual Assistant, Online Researcher and Desk Research Assistant. Same tasks, tests and prices, whatever the name.

Their written English, with a scored test, and their spoken English, on a call with us. We also check their ID, work history and references.

Yes. You meet your shortlist on a short call and pick the person you want. Nobody joins without your yes.

In our talent hubs in the Philippines, Vietnam, Kenya, Nigeria, Brazil and Colombia, and we hire from 60+ countries. Wherever they are, they work your hours.

Pay only for the hours they work. All your Seats are on one bill, and Studio plans are billed monthly.

It can, at most once a year. Your person's hourly rate may rise by up to 5% a year, from the first anniversary of the Seat's start, with 60 days' notice and the right to end the Seat before it applies.

Only when you and your person both agree to it in advance. Otherwise they work the hours you set, and you pay for the hours they log.

You aren't charged for hours your person doesn't work, apart from paid leave. After their third month, your person earns 8 hours of paid leave a month. Paid leave hours are charged at their usual rate.

Your person logs their hours each day in the Get Hands client app, where you can see them. Your next invoice is adjusted to those hours.

Yes, with no minimum hours. From 20 to 37 hours a week, the hourly rate is 10% higher than full-time. Under 20 hours, it's 20% higher.

Yes. Tell us the roles on a call and we shortlist tested people for each.

Yes. You give them access in your own systems, and you can change or remove it at any time.

They get their own login in each of your systems, never a shared one. Any password that has to be shared goes through your own password manager, never email, chat, code or prompts.

A tested shortlist within 72 hours of your call, or your first week is free. That's part of The Right Hands Guarantee.

Yes. Call us on +61 3 4421 6491, or choose Talk now on the booking form for a Microsoft Teams link straight away, any time.

Book a 15-minute demo on Microsoft Teams, any time, day or night. We show you the people, levels and prices that fit. No obligation.

Meet the people who fit your work.

A 15‑minute call on Teams. You leave knowing the level you need and its hourly price.

Book a demoTalk now on Teams

Talk now is live on Teams, any time.