User Stories Contract Job Trends in England

User Story
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring User Stories skills. It covers vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 18 September 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 133 162 135
Rank change year-on-year +29 -27 -34
Contract jobs citing User Stories 585 504 821
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 2.11% 1.53% 1.96%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.32% 1.78% 2.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 397 324 582
10th Percentile £353 £357 £385
25th Percentile £413 £425 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £535 £525
Median % change year-on-year -6.54% +1.90% -
75th Percentile £613 £603 £600
90th Percentile £725 £673 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 1 3
10th Percentile £30.45 - £45.70
25th Percentile £31.12 - £47.88
Median hourly rate £31.49 £33.07 £53.00
Median % change year-on-year -4.78% -37.60% -3.64%
75th Percentile £34.37 - £61.63
90th Percentile £39.55 - £65.90
UK median hourly rate £31.49 £33.07 £53.00
% change year-on-year -4.78% -37.60% -3.64%

All Process and Methodology Skills
England

User Stories falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 25,260 28,349 37,379
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 90.90% 86.08% 89.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 16,060 17,666 25,846
10th Percentile £300 £313 £319
25th Percentile £405 £420 £430
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £645 £656
90th Percentile £738 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £540
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,499 1,306 1,419
10th Percentile £14.38 £14.92 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.00 £19.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £43.00 £43.90
Median % change year-on-year -41.51% -2.05% +51.38%
75th Percentile £50.00 £66.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.00 £75.00 £77.60
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £43.00 £43.00
% change year-on-year -41.51% - +48.28%

User Stories
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings citing User Stories as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for User Stories in England

User Stories
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing User Stories.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing User Stories

User Stories
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing User Stories in England over the 6 months to 18 September 2025.

Daily rate histogram for User Stories in England

User Stories
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing User Stories.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing User Stories

User Stories
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing User Stories within the England region over the 6 months to 18 September 2025. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
London +28 343 £525 -4.55% 255
North of England +10 83 £483 -3.50% 67
South East +18 60 £463 -2.63% 164
Midlands +11 58 £425 -7.61% 33
Yorkshire +1 40 £506 -5.15% 19
North West -6 39 £455 +1.11% 40
East Midlands +18 30 £368 -8.70% 16
West Midlands -1 28 £450 -7.69% 15
South West +26 19 £500 -16.67% 19
East of England 0 8 £450 +2.86% 15
North East -2 4 £438 +4.17% 9
User Stories
UK

User Stories
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 95 (16.24%) Confluence
2 11 (1.88%) CMS
3 7 (1.20%) Apache Airflow
3 7 (1.20%) WordPress
4 5 (0.85%) nginx
5 4 (0.68%) Drupal
5 4 (0.68%) JBoss
5 4 (0.68%) Oracle Workflow
5 4 (0.68%) WebSphere
6 3 (0.51%) Jupyter
6 3 (0.51%) SharePoint
7 2 (0.34%) Anypoint
7 2 (0.34%) CICS
7 2 (0.34%) Traefik
8 1 (0.17%) Appian
8 1 (0.17%) Microsoft Exchange
8 1 (0.17%) SAS
8 1 (0.17%) Sitecore CMS
Applications
1 30 (5.13%) Microsoft Excel
2 27 (4.62%) MS Visio
3 20 (3.42%) Microsoft Office
4 12 (2.05%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 8 (1.37%) Siemens NX
6 4 (0.68%) Fusion 360
7 3 (0.51%) Microsoft Project
7 3 (0.51%) Sketch
8 2 (0.34%) Chatbot
8 2 (0.34%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.34%) Trello
9 1 (0.17%) Adobe XD
9 1 (0.17%) InVision
Business Applications
1 22 (3.76%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (1.71%) Teamcenter
3 8 (1.37%) Temenos T24
4 7 (1.20%) SAP S/4HANA
5 5 (0.85%) Salesforce CRM
6 4 (0.68%) Endur
6 4 (0.68%) Oracle EBS R12
6 4 (0.68%) SAP HR
6 4 (0.68%) SAP PM
7 3 (0.51%) Payment Gateway
7 3 (0.51%) Shopify
8 2 (0.34%) HFM
8 2 (0.34%) Oracle Receivables
8 2 (0.34%) ProductWriter
8 2 (0.34%) Sage CRM
9 1 (0.17%) FLEXCUBE
9 1 (0.17%) Oracle ERP
9 1 (0.17%) Primavera
9 1 (0.17%) SAP CRM
9 1 (0.17%) Summit
Cloud Services
1 82 (14.02%) Azure
2 50 (8.55%) AWS
3 38 (6.50%) Azure DevOps
4 31 (5.30%) Power Platform
5 25 (4.27%) Dynamics 365
6 22 (3.76%) Figma
7 21 (3.59%) GitHub
8 19 (3.25%) GCP
9 16 (2.74%) SaaS
9 16 (2.74%) Serverless
10 14 (2.39%) Miro
11 11 (1.88%) AWS Lambda
11 11 (1.88%) GitHub Actions
12 10 (1.71%) Salesforce Service Cloud
12 10 (1.71%) Snowflake
13 8 (1.37%) Amazon SQS
13 8 (1.37%) CloudBees
13 8 (1.37%) Lucidchart
13 8 (1.37%) PowerApps
13 8 (1.37%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 4 (0.68%) Firewall
2 3 (0.51%) DNS
3 2 (0.34%) Internet
3 2 (0.34%) VPN
3 2 (0.34%) WebEx
4 1 (0.17%) Calico
4 1 (0.17%) Cisco Nexus
4 1 (0.17%) Intranet
4 1 (0.17%) LAN
4 1 (0.17%) Modbus
4 1 (0.17%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (4.44%) Power BI
2 21 (3.59%) Data Warehouse
3 15 (2.56%) Tableau
4 14 (2.39%) PostgreSQL
5 10 (1.71%) Relational Database
6 8 (1.37%) BigQuery
6 8 (1.37%) SQL Server
6 8 (1.37%) Star Schema
7 5 (0.85%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 4 (0.68%) Oracle Database
8 4 (0.68%) Redis
9 3 (0.51%) Big Data
9 3 (0.51%) Data Vault
9 3 (0.51%) DocumentDB
9 3 (0.51%) Snowflake Schema
9 3 (0.51%) Tableau Desktop
10 2 (0.34%) Data Hub
10 2 (0.34%) DB2
10 2 (0.34%) Metadata
10 2 (0.34%) Tableau Server
Development Applications
1 155 (26.50%) JIRA
2 19 (3.25%) Git
2 19 (3.25%) Jenkins
3 15 (2.56%) GitLab
4 11 (1.88%) Cucumber
5 10 (1.71%) Postman
5 10 (1.71%) Selenium
6 9 (1.54%) MLflow
7 7 (1.20%) JUnit
8 6 (1.03%) Cypress.io
9 5 (0.85%) SonarQube
10 4 (0.68%) Artifactory
10 4 (0.68%) JMeter
11 3 (0.51%) Axure RP
11 3 (0.51%) Maven
11 3 (0.51%) SoapUI
11 3 (0.51%) Sonatype Nexus
11 3 (0.51%) Zephyr
12 2 (0.34%) Gatling
12 2 (0.34%) TestRail
General
1 240 (41.03%) Social Skills
2 163 (27.86%) Finance
3 111 (18.97%) Analytical Skills
4 63 (10.77%) Public Sector
5 58 (9.91%) Banking
6 33 (5.64%) Marketing
7 27 (4.62%) Retail
8 23 (3.93%) Presentation Skills
9 18 (3.08%) Documentation Skills
9 18 (3.08%) Influencing Skills
10 16 (2.74%) Back Office
10 16 (2.74%) Organisational Skills
11 14 (2.39%) Front Office
12 12 (2.05%) Investment Banking
13 11 (1.88%) Manufacturing
14 9 (1.54%) Advertising
14 9 (1.54%) Law
14 9 (1.54%) Telecoms
15 8 (1.37%) Billing
15 8 (1.37%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 269 (45.98%) Analyst
2 259 (44.27%) Business Analyst
3 93 (15.90%) Product Owner
4 60 (10.26%) Senior
5 37 (6.32%) Developer
6 32 (5.47%) Technical Analyst
7 31 (5.30%) Senior Business Analyst
8 29 (4.96%) Senior Analyst
8 29 (4.96%) Technical Business Analyst
9 25 (4.27%) Architect
10 20 (3.42%) Lead
11 19 (3.25%) Consultant
11 19 (3.25%) Data Business Analyst
11 19 (3.25%) Product Manager
12 15 (2.56%) Salesforce Business Analyst
13 12 (2.05%) Data Analyst
13 12 (2.05%) Digital Analyst
13 12 (2.05%) Digital Business Analyst
13 12 (2.05%) Salesforce Analyst
13 12 (2.05%) Scrum Master
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (3.08%) SOAP
2 17 (2.91%) RESTful
3 13 (2.22%) ADO
3 13 (2.22%) HTML
4 12 (2.05%) JSON
4 12 (2.05%) XML
5 11 (1.88%) OAuth
6 10 (1.71%) OAuth2
7 9 (1.54%) Kafka
7 9 (1.54%) REST
7 9 (1.54%) Spring
7 9 (1.54%) Spring Boot
8 8 (1.37%) AngularJS
8 8 (1.37%) Lightning Web Components
9 7 (1.20%) CSS
9 7 (1.20%) Middleware
9 7 (1.20%) Playwright
9 7 (1.20%) React
9 7 (1.20%) Web Services
10 6 (1.03%) SQLAlchemy
Miscellaneous
1 186 (31.79%) Product Ownership
2 26 (4.44%) Onboarding
3 18 (3.08%) Reinsurance
4 17 (2.91%) Cloud Native
5 14 (2.39%) Data Structures
5 14 (2.39%) Management Information System
6 13 (2.22%) Data Protection Act
7 12 (2.05%) Mobile App
8 11 (1.88%) Greenfield Project
9 10 (1.71%) Algorithms
9 10 (1.71%) Legacy Systems
9 10 (1.71%) SWIFT Messaging Network
10 9 (1.54%) Analytical Mindset
10 9 (1.54%) Marketing Technology
10 9 (1.54%) SCADA
11 7 (1.20%) PMI
12 6 (1.03%) Derivative
12 6 (1.03%) Digital Media
12 6 (1.03%) Virtual Team
13 5 (0.85%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 11 (1.88%) Linux
2 6 (1.03%) Windows
3 5 (0.85%) VMS
4 2 (0.34%) Unix
5 1 (0.17%) Android
5 1 (0.17%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 444 (75.90%) Agile
2 169 (28.89%) Scrum
3 138 (23.59%) Stakeholder Management
4 131 (22.39%) Acceptance Criteria
5 112 (19.15%) Problem-Solving
6 105 (17.95%) Roadmaps
7 102 (17.44%) Requirements Gathering
8 100 (17.09%) Business Analysis
8 100 (17.09%) Product Backlog
9 90 (15.38%) Workshop Facilitation
10 89 (15.21%) User Acceptance Testing
11 84 (14.36%) Backlog Management
11 84 (14.36%) DevOps
11 84 (14.36%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 79 (13.50%) Sprint Planning
13 72 (12.31%) Continuous Improvement
14 71 (12.14%) Analytics
14 71 (12.14%) Epics
15 70 (11.97%) Backlog Prioritisation
16 66 (11.28%) Use Case
Programming Languages
1 63 (10.77%) SQL
2 45 (7.69%) Python
3 35 (5.98%) Java
4 16 (2.74%) JavaScript
5 11 (1.88%) Bash
6 8 (1.37%) Apex Code
7 7 (1.20%) C#
7 7 (1.20%) TypeScript
8 6 (1.03%) PowerShell
9 5 (0.85%) Go
9 5 (0.85%) Ruby
9 5 (0.85%) VBA
10 3 (0.51%) Groovy
11 2 (0.34%) COBOL
11 2 (0.34%) JCL
11 2 (0.34%) REXX
12 1 (0.17%) Korn
12 1 (0.17%) PHP
12 1 (0.17%) Scala
12 1 (0.17%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 75 (12.82%) Degree
2 73 (12.48%) Security Cleared
3 49 (8.38%) SC Cleared
4 13 (2.22%) BPSS Clearance
5 12 (2.05%) Computer Science Degree
6 11 (1.88%) CBAP
6 11 (1.88%) CSPO
7 8 (1.37%) PMI Certification
8 5 (0.85%) DV Cleared
8 5 (0.85%) ISTQB
9 4 (0.68%) Azure Certification
10 3 (0.51%) AWS Certification
10 3 (0.51%) CFA
10 3 (0.51%) IIBA
10 3 (0.51%) Six Sigma Black Belt
10 3 (0.51%) Six Sigma Green Belt
11 2 (0.34%) ISEB
11 2 (0.34%) Master's Degree
11 2 (0.34%) Microsoft Certification
11 2 (0.34%) OCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 75 (12.82%) QA
2 23 (3.93%) GDPR
3 22 (3.76%) Accessibility
4 12 (2.05%) Data Quality
5 11 (1.88%) WCAG
6 9 (1.54%) PSD2
7 6 (1.03%) PCI DSS
8 4 (0.68%) Basel III
8 4 (0.68%) FIPS 140-2
8 4 (0.68%) MiFID
8 4 (0.68%) SEPA
9 3 (0.51%) COBIT
9 3 (0.51%) GRC
9 3 (0.51%) ISO 20022
9 3 (0.51%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 2 (0.34%) COREP
10 2 (0.34%) EMIR
10 2 (0.34%) HIPAA
10 2 (0.34%) HL7
10 2 (0.34%) SLA
System Software
1 20 (3.42%) Docker
2 3 (0.51%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (0.34%) Active Directory
4 1 (0.17%) etcd
4 1 (0.17%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 17 (2.91%) Ansible
2 15 (2.56%) Terraform
3 13 (2.22%) Kubernetes
4 10 (1.71%) NetBackup
5 6 (1.03%) Kubeflow
5 6 (1.03%) Puppet
5 6 (1.03%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (0.85%) Progress Chef
7 4 (0.68%) Grafana
8 3 (0.51%) Prometheus
9 2 (0.34%) HP Data Protector
9 2 (0.34%) Istio
9 2 (0.34%) Microsoft Intune
9 2 (0.34%) SCCM
10 1 (0.17%) Argo
10 1 (0.17%) CloudHub
10 1 (0.17%) HP ALM
10 1 (0.17%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 72 (12.31%) Microsoft
2 62 (10.60%) Salesforce
3 30 (5.13%) Oracle
4 26 (4.44%) SAP
5 12 (2.05%) ServiceNow
6 10 (1.71%) Veritas
7 9 (1.54%) Siemens
8 8 (1.37%) Adobe
8 8 (1.37%) Commvault
8 8 (1.37%) MuleSoft
8 8 (1.37%) Red Hat
8 8 (1.37%) Temenos
9 6 (1.03%) Databricks
9 6 (1.03%) Workday
10 5 (0.85%) Citrix
10 5 (0.85%) Google
10 5 (0.85%) Pega
11 4 (0.68%) Charles River
11 4 (0.68%) Murex
11 4 (0.68%) Sitecore