diff --git a/qiskit_ibm_provider/job/ibm_circuit_job.py b/qiskit_ibm_provider/job/ibm_circuit_job.py
index e5845db77..3e2984f17 100644
--- a/qiskit_ibm_provider/job/ibm_circuit_job.py
+++ b/qiskit_ibm_provider/job/ibm_circuit_job.py
@@ -698,7 +698,7 @@ def _download_external_result(self, response: Any) -> Any:
             if "url" in result_url_json:
                 url = result_url_json["url"]
                 result_response = requests.get(url, timeout=10)
-                return result_response.content
+                return result_response.text
             return response
         except json.JSONDecodeError:
             return response
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/byob-job-result-typing-c66729881f9311e2.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/byob-job-result-typing-c66729881f9311e2.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..66e9d3c31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/byob-job-result-typing-c66729881f9311e2.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Fixed an issue where canceled and failed jobs would return an invalid result that
+    resulted in a type error, preventing the actual error from being returned
+    to the user.
\ No newline at end of file