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 3 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 128 136 173
Rank change year-on-year +8 +37 -34
Contract jobs citing User Stories 1,008 570 473
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.17% 2.03% 1.46%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.56% 2.24% 1.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 654 393 304
10th Percentile £363 £354 £363
25th Percentile £420 £413 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £530
Median % change year-on-year - -5.66% +0.95%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £605
90th Percentile £650 £725 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 4 1
10th Percentile £36.50 £30.45 -
25th Percentile £52.50 £31.12 -
Median hourly rate £71.25 £31.49 £33.07
Median % change year-on-year +126.26% -4.78% -37.60%
75th Percentile £85.00 £34.37 -
90th Percentile £99.56 £39.55 -
UK median hourly rate £70.00 £31.49 £33.07
% change year-on-year +122.29% -4.78% -37.60%

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 39,417 25,490 28,010
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 84.73% 90.96% 86.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,890 16,169 17,141
10th Percentile £325 £300 £313
25th Percentile £425 £405 £420
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £645
90th Percentile £738 £738 £750
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,936 1,564 1,197
10th Percentile £13.85 £14.44 £15.00
25th Percentile £17.59 £17.87 £20.25
Median hourly rate £40.08 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +59.36% -41.51% -3.37%
75th Percentile £67.50 £47.00 £67.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £67.43 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £38.72 £25.15 £42.27
% change year-on-year +53.96% -40.49% -0.55%

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 3 October 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 3 October 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 3 October 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 +15 597 £525 - 570
Midlands +10 128 £453 +6.47% 163
North of England -38 125 £481 -3.75% 242
West Midlands +23 98 £450 - 107
South East -53 64 £450 -6.25% 183
North West -32 58 £500 +8.70% 128
Yorkshire -24 53 £475 -7.32% 78
South West -13 43 £475 -5.00% 84
East of England +1 32 £498 +10.56% 78
East Midlands -14 30 £461 +28.13% 56
North East -37 15 £420 -14.94% 36
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
1 183 (18.15%) Confluence
2 24 (2.38%) CMS
3 14 (1.39%) SharePoint
4 10 (0.99%) Camunda
5 5 (0.50%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 5 (0.50%) Jupyter
6 3 (0.30%) Cloud Foundry
6 3 (0.30%) Headless CMS
6 3 (0.30%) Kentico
7 2 (0.20%) Smallworld
7 2 (0.20%) Traefik
8 1 (0.099%) Apache
8 1 (0.099%) Apache Airflow
8 1 (0.099%) Apache Superset
8 1 (0.099%) Drupal
8 1 (0.099%) Moodle
8 1 (0.099%) SAS
8 1 (0.099%) Totara
Applications
1 40 (3.97%) MS Visio
2 28 (2.78%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (1.19%) Microsoft Office
4 10 (0.99%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.69%) Notion
6 4 (0.40%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.20%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 2 (0.20%) Productboard
8 1 (0.099%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.099%) Gliffy
8 1 (0.099%) Microsoft Project
8 1 (0.099%) Trello
Business Applications
1 25 (2.48%) Dynamics CRM
2 16 (1.59%) SAP S/4HANA
3 5 (0.50%) ProductWriter
3 5 (0.50%) Teamcenter
4 3 (0.30%) Aladdin
4 3 (0.30%) NetSuite
4 3 (0.30%) SAP SD
5 2 (0.20%) Dynamics AX
5 2 (0.20%) Dynamics GP
5 2 (0.20%) Dynamics NAV
5 2 (0.20%) Dynamics SL
5 2 (0.20%) Infor CloudSuite
5 2 (0.20%) Oracle EBS
5 2 (0.20%) Oracle Payables
5 2 (0.20%) Oracle Receivables
5 2 (0.20%) Payment Gateway
5 2 (0.20%) Sage X3
5 2 (0.20%) SAP ERP
5 2 (0.20%) SAP MDG
5 2 (0.20%) Workfront
Cloud Services
1 210 (20.83%) Azure
2 119 (11.81%) Power Platform
3 102 (10.12%) Azure DevOps
4 101 (10.02%) AWS
5 41 (4.07%) Dynamics 365
6 38 (3.77%) SaaS
7 30 (2.98%) GCP
7 30 (2.98%) GitHub
8 29 (2.88%) Power Automate
9 28 (2.78%) PowerApps
10 25 (2.48%) Microsoft 365
11 21 (2.08%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
12 18 (1.79%) Salesforce Service Cloud
12 18 (1.79%) Snowflake
13 17 (1.69%) Entra ID
13 17 (1.69%) Lucidchart
14 13 (1.29%) Figma
15 12 (1.19%) Serverless
16 11 (1.09%) Azure Data Factory
16 11 (1.09%) Miro
Communications & Networking
1 4 (0.40%) Wi-Fi
2 3 (0.30%) Broadband
2 3 (0.30%) HTTP
2 3 (0.30%) Intranet
3 2 (0.20%) SD-WAN
3 2 (0.20%) WAN
3 2 (0.20%) Wireless
4 1 (0.099%) 5G
4 1 (0.099%) CTI
4 1 (0.099%) Internet
4 1 (0.099%) Network Security
4 1 (0.099%) NFC
4 1 (0.099%) PBX
4 1 (0.099%) SSH
4 1 (0.099%) SSL
4 1 (0.099%) Unified Communications
4 1 (0.099%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 78 (7.74%) Power BI
2 40 (3.97%) Metadata
3 35 (3.47%) Data Warehouse
4 27 (2.68%) Relational Database
5 22 (2.18%) SQL Server
6 20 (1.98%) PostgreSQL
7 9 (0.89%) Data Lake
8 7 (0.69%) Big Data
8 7 (0.69%) Parquet
9 6 (0.60%) Amazon RDS
9 6 (0.60%) Delta Lake
9 6 (0.60%) Tableau
10 5 (0.50%) BigQuery
10 5 (0.50%) ClickHouse
10 5 (0.50%) Data Hub
10 5 (0.50%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 5 (0.50%) Star Schema
11 3 (0.30%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.30%) Oracle Database
11 3 (0.30%) SAP BW
Development Applications
1 248 (24.60%) JIRA
2 39 (3.87%) Git
3 27 (2.68%) Jenkins
4 26 (2.58%) GitLab
5 24 (2.38%) Maven
6 23 (2.28%) Gradle
7 19 (1.88%) JUnit
8 17 (1.69%) Mockito
8 17 (1.69%) SonarQube
9 15 (1.49%) Postman
10 12 (1.19%) REST Assured
11 11 (1.09%) Selenium
12 10 (0.99%) Sonatype Nexus
13 9 (0.89%) Bitbucket Server
13 9 (0.89%) Cucumber
14 6 (0.60%) Bitbucket
14 6 (0.60%) Team Foundation Server
15 5 (0.50%) Atlassian Bamboo
16 3 (0.30%) Balsamiq
17 2 (0.20%) SoapUI
General
1 414 (41.07%) Social Skills
2 293 (29.07%) Finance
3 261 (25.89%) Analytical Skills
4 149 (14.78%) Banking
5 139 (13.79%) Public Sector
6 72 (7.14%) Documentation Skills
7 65 (6.45%) Retail
8 44 (4.37%) Influencing Skills
9 36 (3.57%) Investment Banking
10 35 (3.47%) Legal
11 30 (2.98%) Marketing
12 26 (2.58%) Organisational Skills
13 25 (2.48%) Manufacturing
14 24 (2.38%) Presentation Skills
15 21 (2.08%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 20 (1.98%) Telecoms
17 19 (1.88%) Front Office
18 17 (1.69%) Retail Banking
19 16 (1.59%) Military
19 16 (1.59%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 513 (50.89%) Analyst
2 462 (45.83%) Business Analyst
3 158 (15.67%) Senior
4 115 (11.41%) Developer
4 115 (11.41%) Product Owner
5 89 (8.83%) Senior Analyst
6 88 (8.73%) Senior Business Analyst
7 79 (7.84%) Product Manager
8 76 (7.54%) Technical Analyst
9 61 (6.05%) Lead
10 59 (5.85%) Technical Business Analyst
11 33 (3.27%) Consultant
12 31 (3.08%) Salesforce Analyst
13 30 (2.98%) Salesforce Business Analyst
14 29 (2.88%) Senior Developer
15 25 (2.48%) Data Analyst
15 25 (2.48%) Data Business Analyst
16 23 (2.28%) Java Developer
17 22 (2.18%) Financial Analyst
18 20 (1.98%) Systems Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 47 (4.66%) REST
2 39 (3.87%) JSON
3 34 (3.37%) Spring Boot
4 25 (2.48%) Spring
5 24 (2.38%) RESTful
6 23 (2.28%) Terraform
7 22 (2.18%) Kafka
7 22 (2.18%) React
7 22 (2.18%) SOAP
8 21 (2.08%) HTML
9 20 (1.98%) AngularJS
9 20 (1.98%) Hibernate
9 20 (1.98%) JPA
10 16 (1.59%) CSS
11 14 (1.39%) Lightning Web Components
12 13 (1.29%) .NET
13 12 (1.19%) Middleware
13 12 (1.19%) OAuth
13 12 (1.19%) Web Services
14 11 (1.09%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 352 (34.92%) Product Ownership
2 46 (4.56%) Onboarding
3 31 (3.08%) Analytical Mindset
3 31 (3.08%) Cloud Native
4 29 (2.88%) Data Protection Act
5 28 (2.78%) Data Structures
6 25 (2.48%) Management Information System
7 22 (2.18%) CMDB
8 21 (2.08%) Self-Motivation
9 20 (1.98%) AI Agents
10 18 (1.79%) Enterprise Software
11 17 (1.69%) Virtual Team
12 16 (1.59%) Legacy Systems
13 12 (1.19%) Greenfield Project
13 12 (1.19%) Mobile App
14 11 (1.09%) FMCG
14 11 (1.09%) Life Science
14 11 (1.09%) NHS
15 9 (0.89%) IoT
15 9 (0.89%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 17 (1.69%) Linux
2 9 (0.89%) Unix
3 6 (0.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 6 (0.60%) Windows
4 4 (0.40%) Android
4 4 (0.40%) Apple iOS
5 3 (0.30%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 703 (69.74%) Agile
2 448 (44.44%) Stakeholder Management
3 430 (42.66%) Acceptance Criteria
4 339 (33.63%) Requirements Gathering
5 288 (28.57%) Workshop Facilitation
6 266 (26.39%) Scrum
7 260 (25.79%) Business Analysis
8 249 (24.70%) User Acceptance Testing
9 215 (21.33%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 211 (20.93%) Continuous Improvement
11 205 (20.34%) DevOps
12 194 (19.25%) Problem-Solving
13 184 (18.25%) Roadmaps
14 182 (18.06%) Product Backlog
14 182 (18.06%) Sprint Planning
15 169 (16.77%) Backlog Management
16 166 (16.47%) Backlog Prioritisation
17 159 (15.77%) Validation
18 152 (15.08%) Backlog Refinement
19 151 (14.98%) AI
Programming Languages
1 165 (16.37%) SQL
2 68 (6.75%) Python
3 66 (6.55%) Java
4 57 (5.65%) JavaScript
5 23 (2.28%) C#
6 15 (1.49%) TypeScript
7 12 (1.19%) Apex Code
8 10 (0.99%) Scala
9 8 (0.79%) Kotlin
10 7 (0.69%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 5 (0.50%) Korn
12 3 (0.30%) R
12 3 (0.30%) SOQL
12 3 (0.30%) T-SQL
13 2 (0.20%) Bash
13 2 (0.20%) Magik
13 2 (0.20%) PowerShell
13 2 (0.20%) Ruby
13 2 (0.20%) SOSL
14 1 (0.099%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 165 (16.37%) Security Cleared
2 132 (13.10%) SC Cleared
3 85 (8.43%) Degree
4 36 (3.57%) BPSS Clearance
5 22 (2.18%) Computer Science Degree
6 19 (1.88%) Microsoft Certification
7 16 (1.59%) IIBA
7 16 (1.59%) PMI Certification
8 14 (1.39%) CBAP
8 14 (1.39%) PMP
9 13 (1.29%) CSPO
10 11 (1.09%) DV Cleared
11 8 (0.79%) CISSP
12 5 (0.50%) AWS Certification
12 5 (0.50%) ISEB
12 5 (0.50%) ISTQB
13 3 (0.30%) Azure Certification
13 3 (0.30%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
13 3 (0.30%) Master's Degree
14 2 (0.20%) SAFe Agilist
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 109 (10.81%) QA
2 74 (7.34%) Data Quality
3 39 (3.87%) Accessibility
4 16 (1.59%) GDPR
5 14 (1.39%) GRC
6 9 (0.89%) ISO 20022
7 7 (0.69%) GxP
8 6 (0.60%) 21 CFR Part 11
8 6 (0.60%) WCAG
9 5 (0.50%) NIST
9 5 (0.50%) SEPA
10 4 (0.40%) ISO 15022
10 4 (0.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 3 (0.30%) Actionable Recommendations
11 3 (0.30%) PCI DSS
11 3 (0.30%) PMO
11 3 (0.30%) Solvency II
12 2 (0.20%) Basel III
12 2 (0.20%) SLA
13 1 (0.099%) HL7
System Software
1 46 (4.56%) Docker
2 14 (1.39%) Active Directory
3 7 (0.69%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (0.50%) IAG
5 1 (0.099%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 27 (2.68%) Kubernetes
2 14 (1.39%) Ansible
3 9 (0.89%) Grafana
4 8 (0.79%) Prometheus
5 7 (0.69%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (0.30%) HP ALM
7 2 (0.20%) Argo
7 2 (0.20%) Istio
8 1 (0.099%) Check_MK
8 1 (0.099%) Kibana
8 1 (0.099%) Podman
Vendors
1 157 (15.58%) Microsoft
2 79 (7.84%) Salesforce
3 42 (4.17%) SAP
4 41 (4.07%) ServiceNow
5 21 (2.08%) Databricks
6 20 (1.98%) Google
7 17 (1.69%) Oracle
8 11 (1.09%) IBM
9 10 (0.99%) Veracode
10 9 (0.89%) CyberArk
10 9 (0.89%) Pega
11 7 (0.69%) Adobe
11 7 (0.69%) Zscaler
12 6 (0.60%) Guidewire
12 6 (0.60%) Okta
12 6 (0.60%) Splunk
13 5 (0.50%) Alteryx
13 5 (0.50%) Atlassian
13 5 (0.50%) ION Trading
13 5 (0.50%) MuleSoft