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 contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 25 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 124 151 162
Rank change year-on-year +27 +11 -43
Contract jobs citing User Stories 969 527 536
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.15% 1.92% 1.54%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.51% 2.12% 1.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 645 346 358
10th Percentile £358 £358 £356
25th Percentile £413 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £540
Median % change year-on-year - -7.41% +2.86%
75th Percentile £580 £625 £600
90th Percentile £650 £725 £650
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% +0.96%
Number of hourly rates quoted 31 2 4
10th Percentile £35.00 £54.90 -
25th Percentile £58.75 £57.00 £31.71
Median hourly rate £72.50 £61.75 £32.36
Median % change year-on-year +17.41% +90.85% -49.45%
75th Percentile £82.68 £67.75 £33.02
90th Percentile £88.00 £70.60 £33.05
UK median hourly rate £72.50 £53.50 £32.36
% change year-on-year +35.51% +65.35% -49.45%

All Process & 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 38,549 24,860 29,801
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.39% 90.73% 85.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,182 15,935 19,502
10th Percentile £325 £300 £311
25th Percentile £420 £405 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £630 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £756
UK median daily rate £520 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +4.00% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,381 1,342 1,889
10th Percentile £15.38 £14.26 £13.67
25th Percentile £21.00 £17.90 £17.50
Median hourly rate £47.00 £25.15 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +86.88% -37.13% -6.98%
75th Percentile £69.50 £52.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £83.00 £70.16 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +74.79% -37.13% -5.88%

User Stories
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing User Stories relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

User Stories job vacancy trend 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 25 July 2026.

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
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing User Stories in England over the 6 months to 25 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for User Stories in England

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 25 July 2026. 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 +20 552 £525 - 134
North of England -14 142 £475 +2.70% 48
Midlands -3 108 £460 - 33
West Midlands -2 83 £475 +2.70% 25
South East -41 77 £450 -7.69% 65
North West -17 72 £457 -8.60% 22
Yorkshire -27 49 £500 +14.29% 12
South West -4 44 £486 +2.37% 18
East of England -1 31 £495 +13.14% 11
East Midlands -12 25 £425 +0.29% 8
North East -28 22 £425 -2.86% 16
User Stories
UK

User Stories
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 160 (16.51%) Confluence
2 23 (2.37%) CMS
3 21 (2.17%) SharePoint
4 6 (0.62%) Camunda
5 5 (0.52%) Jupyter
6 3 (0.31%) Cloud Foundry
6 3 (0.31%) Drupal
6 3 (0.31%) Kentico
6 3 (0.31%) Microsoft Exchange
6 3 (0.31%) SAS
7 2 (0.21%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 2 (0.21%) JBoss
7 2 (0.21%) WordPress
8 1 (0.10%) Apache
8 1 (0.10%) Apache Airflow
8 1 (0.10%) Apache Solr
8 1 (0.10%) Headless CMS
8 1 (0.10%) Tomcat
Applications
1 41 (4.23%) MS Visio
2 31 (3.20%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (1.44%) Microsoft Office
4 11 (1.14%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (0.62%) Notion
6 3 (0.31%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.21%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 2 (0.21%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.10%) Trello
Business Applications
1 19 (1.96%) Dynamics CRM
2 18 (1.86%) SAP S/4HANA
3 6 (0.62%) Adobe Campaign
3 6 (0.62%) ProductWriter
4 5 (0.52%) Teamcenter
5 4 (0.41%) Dynamics AX
5 4 (0.41%) Eloqua
5 4 (0.41%) Oracle Payables
5 4 (0.41%) Oracle Receivables
5 4 (0.41%) Salesforce CRM
6 3 (0.31%) Actimize
6 3 (0.31%) Dynamics GP
6 3 (0.31%) Dynamics SL
6 3 (0.31%) Infor CloudSuite
6 3 (0.31%) NetSuite
6 3 (0.31%) Oracle EBS
6 3 (0.31%) Oracle Financials
6 3 (0.31%) Sage X3
6 3 (0.31%) SAP SD
7 2 (0.21%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 208 (21.47%) Azure
2 92 (9.49%) Power Platform
3 86 (8.88%) AWS
4 84 (8.67%) Azure DevOps
5 33 (3.41%) Dynamics 365
5 33 (3.41%) GCP
6 29 (2.99%) GitHub
7 27 (2.79%) PowerApps
8 24 (2.48%) Power Automate
8 24 (2.48%) SaaS
9 21 (2.17%) Microsoft 365
9 21 (2.17%) Salesforce Service Cloud
10 18 (1.86%) Entra ID
11 16 (1.65%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
12 14 (1.44%) Figma
12 14 (1.44%) Lucidchart
13 13 (1.34%) Snowflake
14 12 (1.24%) Azure Data Factory
15 9 (0.93%) Miro
16 8 (0.83%) Google Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 8 (0.83%) Network Security
2 6 (0.62%) Firewall
3 4 (0.41%) Wi-Fi
4 3 (0.31%) Broadband
4 3 (0.31%) DNS
4 3 (0.31%) HTTP
4 3 (0.31%) WebEx
5 2 (0.21%) Intranet
5 2 (0.21%) SD-WAN
5 2 (0.21%) WAN
5 2 (0.21%) Wireless
6 1 (0.10%) 5G
6 1 (0.10%) BGP
6 1 (0.10%) FTP
6 1 (0.10%) NFC
6 1 (0.10%) NGFW
6 1 (0.10%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 56 (5.78%) Power BI
2 42 (4.33%) Metadata
3 36 (3.72%) Data Warehouse
4 19 (1.96%) Relational Database
5 11 (1.14%) Data Lake
5 11 (1.14%) SQL Server
6 10 (1.03%) Tableau
7 9 (0.93%) Delta Lake
7 9 (0.93%) Parquet
7 9 (0.93%) PostgreSQL
8 8 (0.83%) Big Data
9 7 (0.72%) BigQuery
10 5 (0.52%) Amazon RDS
10 5 (0.52%) Data Hub
10 5 (0.52%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 4 (0.41%) Data Mining
11 4 (0.41%) NoSQL
12 3 (0.31%) OLAP
12 3 (0.31%) SAP BW
12 3 (0.31%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 232 (23.94%) JIRA
2 27 (2.79%) Postman
3 24 (2.48%) Git
4 19 (1.96%) GitLab
5 11 (1.14%) Gradle
5 11 (1.14%) Jenkins
5 11 (1.14%) Selenium
6 8 (0.83%) Cucumber
7 7 (0.72%) Balsamiq
7 7 (0.72%) Team Foundation Server
8 5 (0.52%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 5 (0.52%) JUnit
8 5 (0.52%) REST Assured
9 4 (0.41%) Bitbucket
9 4 (0.41%) Maven
9 4 (0.41%) Zephyr
10 3 (0.31%) Sonatype Nexus
11 2 (0.21%) Artifactory
11 2 (0.21%) SonarQube
11 2 (0.21%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 377 (38.91%) Social Skills
2 265 (27.35%) Finance
3 258 (26.63%) Analytical Skills
4 126 (13.00%) Banking
5 122 (12.59%) Public Sector
6 74 (7.64%) Documentation Skills
7 59 (6.09%) Retail
8 40 (4.13%) Marketing
9 37 (3.82%) Legal
10 31 (3.20%) Presentation Skills
11 26 (2.68%) Investment Banking
12 24 (2.48%) Influencing Skills
13 21 (2.17%) Manufacturing
14 19 (1.96%) Organisational Skills
15 18 (1.86%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 18 (1.86%) Military
16 17 (1.75%) Front Office
16 17 (1.75%) Retail Banking
17 15 (1.55%) Aerospace
17 15 (1.55%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 498 (51.39%) Analyst
2 452 (46.65%) Business Analyst
3 132 (13.62%) Senior
4 123 (12.69%) Product Owner
5 92 (9.49%) Developer
6 76 (7.84%) Technical Analyst
7 75 (7.74%) Senior Analyst
8 72 (7.43%) Product Manager
9 70 (7.22%) Senior Business Analyst
10 66 (6.81%) Technical Business Analyst
11 46 (4.75%) Lead
12 41 (4.23%) Salesforce Business Analyst
13 40 (4.13%) Salesforce Analyst
14 34 (3.51%) Data Analyst
15 29 (2.99%) Data Business Analyst
16 24 (2.48%) Financial Analyst
16 24 (2.48%) Implementation Analyst
17 23 (2.37%) Consultant
18 22 (2.27%) Banking Analyst
18 22 (2.27%) Systems Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (3.51%) JSON
2 33 (3.41%) REST
3 18 (1.86%) RESTful
4 16 (1.65%) ADO
4 16 (1.65%) React
5 14 (1.44%) AngularJS
5 14 (1.44%) Kafka
5 14 (1.44%) Spring Boot
6 12 (1.24%) XML
7 10 (1.03%) HTML
7 10 (1.03%) Lightning Web Components
7 10 (1.03%) OAuth
8 9 (0.93%) .NET
8 9 (0.93%) Middleware
8 9 (0.93%) OpenID
8 9 (0.93%) Oracle Fusion
8 9 (0.93%) Spring
9 8 (0.83%) SailPoint
9 8 (0.83%) Vue
10 7 (0.72%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 339 (34.98%) Product Ownership
2 40 (4.13%) Onboarding
3 37 (3.82%) Analytical Mindset
4 29 (2.99%) Data Protection Act
5 26 (2.68%) CMDB
5 26 (2.68%) Self-Motivation
6 22 (2.27%) Cloud Native
6 22 (2.27%) Data Structures
6 22 (2.27%) Legacy Systems
7 19 (1.96%) Management Information System
8 18 (1.86%) Virtual Team
9 17 (1.75%) AI Agents
10 13 (1.34%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 13 (1.34%) Greenfield Project
10 13 (1.34%) Life Science
11 12 (1.24%) Mobile App
12 11 (1.14%) Enterprise Software
12 11 (1.14%) FMCG
13 10 (1.03%) Operational Technology
13 10 (1.03%) Reinsurance
Operating Systems
1 12 (1.24%) Linux
2 6 (0.62%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
2 6 (0.62%) Windows
3 5 (0.52%) Unix
4 4 (0.41%) Android
4 4 (0.41%) Apple iOS
5 3 (0.31%) CentOS
6 1 (0.10%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 635 (65.53%) Agile
2 393 (40.56%) Acceptance Criteria
3 367 (37.87%) Stakeholder Management
4 267 (27.55%) Requirements Gathering
5 235 (24.25%) Scrum
6 229 (23.63%) User Acceptance Testing
7 216 (22.29%) Workshop Facilitation
8 199 (20.54%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 193 (19.92%) Business Analysis
10 189 (19.50%) DevOps
11 183 (18.89%) Problem-Solving
12 175 (18.06%) Sprint Planning
13 172 (17.75%) Roadmaps
14 165 (17.03%) Product Backlog
15 164 (16.92%) Continuous Improvement
16 146 (15.07%) Backlog Management
17 137 (14.14%) Decision-Making
18 132 (13.62%) Backlog Prioritisation
19 131 (13.52%) Validation
20 125 (12.90%) Analytics
Programming Languages
1 137 (14.14%) SQL
2 79 (8.15%) Python
3 54 (5.57%) Java
4 47 (4.85%) JavaScript
5 19 (1.96%) C#
6 10 (1.03%) Apex Code
7 7 (0.72%) Kotlin
8 6 (0.62%) Korn
8 6 (0.62%) PowerShell
8 6 (0.62%) TypeScript
9 5 (0.52%) Scala
10 4 (0.41%) T-SQL
11 3 (0.31%) Bash
11 3 (0.31%) R
11 3 (0.31%) Ruby
12 2 (0.21%) Google Apps Script
12 2 (0.21%) PHP
12 2 (0.21%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.21%) SOQL
12 2 (0.21%) VBA
Qualifications
1 168 (17.34%) Security Cleared
2 135 (13.93%) SC Cleared
3 73 (7.53%) Degree
4 36 (3.72%) BPSS Clearance
5 15 (1.55%) CSPO
6 14 (1.44%) Microsoft Certification
7 13 (1.34%) Computer Science Degree
8 12 (1.24%) DV Cleared
8 12 (1.24%) IIBA
9 11 (1.14%) CBAP
9 11 (1.14%) PMI Certification
10 9 (0.93%) ISTQB
10 9 (0.93%) PMP
11 8 (0.83%) CISSP
12 6 (0.62%) ISEB
13 5 (0.52%) AWS Certification
14 4 (0.41%) Azure Certification
14 4 (0.41%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
14 4 (0.41%) Master's Degree
15 3 (0.31%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 111 (11.46%) QA
2 65 (6.71%) Data Quality
3 41 (4.23%) Accessibility
4 18 (1.86%) GDPR
5 11 (1.14%) GRC
6 10 (1.03%) NIST
7 9 (0.93%) GxP
8 8 (0.83%) 21 CFR Part 11
9 7 (0.72%) ISO 20022
10 6 (0.62%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 6 (0.62%) SLA
10 6 (0.62%) WCAG
11 5 (0.52%) Solvency II
12 4 (0.41%) PCI DSS
12 4 (0.41%) SEPA
13 2 (0.21%) COBIT
13 2 (0.21%) HL7
13 2 (0.21%) ISO 15022
13 2 (0.21%) SNOMED CT
13 2 (0.21%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 29 (2.99%) Docker
2 16 (1.65%) Active Directory
3 8 (0.83%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (0.62%) IAG
5 3 (0.31%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.10%) Ceph
6 1 (0.10%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 30 (3.10%) Kubernetes
2 22 (2.27%) Terraform
3 16 (1.65%) Ansible
4 7 (0.72%) SCCM
5 6 (0.62%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (0.31%) HP ALM
6 3 (0.31%) HP Quality Center
7 2 (0.21%) Argo
7 2 (0.21%) Jamf Pro
8 1 (0.10%) CASB
8 1 (0.10%) Check_MK
8 1 (0.10%) Grafana
8 1 (0.10%) Kibana
8 1 (0.10%) Podman
Vendors
1 141 (14.55%) Microsoft
2 85 (8.77%) Salesforce
3 54 (5.57%) ServiceNow
4 50 (5.16%) SAP
5 28 (2.89%) Google
6 25 (2.58%) Databricks
7 19 (1.96%) Oracle
8 14 (1.44%) Splunk
8 14 (1.44%) Zscaler
9 12 (1.24%) Adobe
10 10 (1.03%) Cisco
10 10 (1.03%) Pega
11 8 (0.83%) CyberArk
11 8 (0.83%) Workday
12 6 (0.62%) Fortinet
12 6 (0.62%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud
13 5 (0.52%) Citrix
13 5 (0.52%) ION Trading
13 5 (0.52%) Kronos
13 5 (0.52%) MuleSoft