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 18 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 125 136 162
Rank change year-on-year +11 +26 -29
Contract jobs citing User Stories 1,001 581 499
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.17% 2.09% 1.51%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.56% 2.30% 1.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 653 398 323
10th Percentile £363 £353 £357
25th Percentile £420 £413 £434
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £534
Median % change year-on-year - -6.37% +1.71%
75th Percentile £588 £610 £602
90th Percentile £650 £725 £674
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 4 1
10th Percentile £35.00 £30.45 -
25th Percentile £52.50 £31.12 -
Median hourly rate £70.00 £31.49 £33.07
Median % change year-on-year +122.29% -4.78% -37.60%
75th Percentile £83.00 £34.37 -
90th Percentile £90.57 £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 39,123 25,281 28,365
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 84.74% 90.90% 86.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,918 16,062 17,635
10th Percentile £325 £300 £313
25th Percentile £425 £405 £420
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -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 2,776 1,509 1,303
10th Percentile £14.00 £14.38 £15.00
25th Percentile £17.75 £17.79 £20.00
Median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% -3.37%
75th Percentile £68.00 £50.00 £66.55
90th Percentile £80.00 £68.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £40.00 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +59.05% -41.51% -1.91%

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 18 September 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 18 September 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 18 September 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 +13 590 £525 - 518
North of England -22 137 £490 +1.03% 172
Midlands +5 124 £450 +5.88% 78
West Midlands +16 94 £450 - 56
South East -54 68 £450 -2.70% 147
North West -28 60 £494 +8.52% 104
Yorkshire -20 57 £500 -1.23% 44
South West -15 39 £481 -3.75% 62
East Midlands -16 30 £455 +23.81% 22
East of England -8 29 £498 +10.56% 49
North East -30 21 £420 -9.19% 24
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
1 175 (17.48%) Confluence
2 24 (2.40%) CMS
3 17 (1.70%) SharePoint
4 9 (0.90%) Camunda
5 6 (0.60%) Jupyter
6 4 (0.40%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 3 (0.30%) Cloud Foundry
7 3 (0.30%) Headless CMS
7 3 (0.30%) Kentico
8 2 (0.20%) Smallworld
9 1 (0.100%) Apache
9 1 (0.100%) Apache Airflow
9 1 (0.100%) Apache Superset
9 1 (0.100%) Drupal
9 1 (0.100%) Moodle
9 1 (0.100%) SAS
9 1 (0.100%) Totara
9 1 (0.100%) Traefik
Applications
1 41 (4.10%) MS Visio
2 30 (3.00%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (1.20%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (1.20%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (0.70%) Notion
5 5 (0.50%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.20%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 2 (0.20%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.100%) Gliffy
7 1 (0.100%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.100%) Trello
Business Applications
1 23 (2.30%) Dynamics CRM
2 16 (1.60%) SAP S/4HANA
3 5 (0.50%) ProductWriter
3 5 (0.50%) Teamcenter
4 3 (0.30%) NetSuite
4 3 (0.30%) Salesforce CRM
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
1 200 (19.98%) Azure
2 113 (11.29%) Power Platform
3 102 (10.19%) AWS
4 93 (9.29%) Azure DevOps
5 42 (4.20%) Dynamics 365
6 37 (3.70%) SaaS
7 30 (3.00%) GitHub
8 29 (2.90%) Power Automate
8 29 (2.90%) PowerApps
9 28 (2.80%) GCP
10 26 (2.60%) Microsoft 365
11 21 (2.10%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
11 21 (2.10%) Salesforce Service Cloud
12 16 (1.60%) Snowflake
13 15 (1.50%) Entra ID
14 14 (1.40%) Lucidchart
15 13 (1.30%) Figma
16 11 (1.10%) Azure Data Factory
17 10 (1.00%) OpenShift
17 10 (1.00%) Serverless
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 (0.100%) 5G
4 1 (0.100%) Internet
4 1 (0.100%) NFC
4 1 (0.100%) SSH
4 1 (0.100%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 70 (6.99%) Power BI
2 37 (3.70%) Metadata
3 30 (3.00%) Data Warehouse
4 26 (2.60%) Relational Database
5 19 (1.90%) PostgreSQL
5 19 (1.90%) SQL Server
6 9 (0.90%) Data Lake
6 9 (0.90%) Parquet
7 7 (0.70%) Big Data
7 7 (0.70%) Delta Lake
8 6 (0.60%) Tableau
9 5 (0.50%) Amazon RDS
9 5 (0.50%) ClickHouse
9 5 (0.50%) Data Hub
9 5 (0.50%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 5 (0.50%) Star Schema
10 4 (0.40%) BigQuery
11 3 (0.30%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.30%) NoSQL
11 3 (0.30%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 244 (24.38%) JIRA
2 36 (3.60%) Git
3 26 (2.60%) Jenkins
4 24 (2.40%) GitLab
5 22 (2.20%) Maven
6 21 (2.10%) Gradle
6 21 (2.10%) Postman
7 17 (1.70%) JUnit
8 16 (1.60%) Mockito
8 16 (1.60%) SonarQube
9 10 (1.00%) REST Assured
9 10 (1.00%) Selenium
10 9 (0.90%) Sonatype Nexus
11 8 (0.80%) Bitbucket Server
11 8 (0.80%) Cucumber
12 6 (0.60%) Bitbucket
12 6 (0.60%) Team Foundation Server
13 5 (0.50%) Atlassian Bamboo
14 2 (0.20%) Cypress.io
14 2 (0.20%) JMeter
General
1 404 (40.36%) Social Skills
2 290 (28.97%) Finance
3 267 (26.67%) Analytical Skills
4 144 (14.39%) Banking
5 131 (13.09%) Public Sector
6 72 (7.19%) Documentation Skills
7 66 (6.59%) Retail
8 40 (4.00%) Influencing Skills
9 34 (3.40%) Legal
10 31 (3.10%) Investment Banking
10 31 (3.10%) Marketing
11 26 (2.60%) Organisational Skills
12 25 (2.50%) Presentation Skills
13 24 (2.40%) Manufacturing
14 20 (2.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 18 (1.80%) Front Office
16 17 (1.70%) Retail Banking
16 17 (1.70%) Telecoms
17 14 (1.40%) Aerospace
17 14 (1.40%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 508 (50.75%) Analyst
2 461 (46.05%) Business Analyst
3 157 (15.68%) Senior
4 112 (11.19%) Developer
5 110 (10.99%) Product Owner
6 88 (8.79%) Senior Analyst
7 87 (8.69%) Senior Business Analyst
8 75 (7.49%) Technical Analyst
9 74 (7.39%) Product Manager
10 61 (6.09%) Lead
10 61 (6.09%) Technical Business Analyst
11 37 (3.70%) Salesforce Analyst
11 37 (3.70%) Salesforce Business Analyst
12 32 (3.20%) Consultant
13 28 (2.80%) Senior Developer
14 24 (2.40%) Data Analyst
14 24 (2.40%) Financial Analyst
15 23 (2.30%) Digital Business Analyst
15 23 (2.30%) Java Developer
16 21 (2.10%) Digital Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 49 (4.90%) REST
2 36 (3.60%) JSON
3 31 (3.10%) Spring Boot
4 28 (2.80%) RESTful
5 23 (2.30%) Spring
5 23 (2.30%) Terraform
6 21 (2.10%) Kafka
7 20 (2.00%) HTML
7 20 (2.00%) React
8 19 (1.90%) AngularJS
8 19 (1.90%) SOAP
9 17 (1.70%) Hibernate
9 17 (1.70%) JPA
10 15 (1.50%) CSS
11 13 (1.30%) Lightning Web Components
12 12 (1.20%) .NET
12 12 (1.20%) OAuth
13 11 (1.10%) OpenID
13 11 (1.10%) Web Services
14 10 (1.00%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 353 (35.26%) Product Ownership
2 47 (4.70%) Onboarding
3 32 (3.20%) Analytical Mindset
4 30 (3.00%) Cloud Native
4 30 (3.00%) Data Protection Act
5 27 (2.70%) Self-Motivation
6 25 (2.50%) Data Structures
7 24 (2.40%) CMDB
8 21 (2.10%) Management Information System
9 20 (2.00%) AI Agents
10 19 (1.90%) Enterprise Software
11 18 (1.80%) Virtual Team
12 16 (1.60%) Legacy Systems
13 13 (1.30%) Mobile App
14 12 (1.20%) Greenfield Project
15 11 (1.10%) FMCG
15 11 (1.10%) Operational Technology
16 10 (1.00%) NHS
17 9 (0.90%) Life Science
18 8 (0.80%) Derivative
Operating Systems
1 17 (1.70%) Linux
2 9 (0.90%) 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
1 691 (69.03%) Agile
2 426 (42.56%) Stakeholder Management
3 415 (41.46%) Acceptance Criteria
4 322 (32.17%) Requirements Gathering
5 274 (27.37%) Workshop Facilitation
6 260 (25.97%) Scrum
7 245 (24.48%) Business Analysis
8 242 (24.18%) User Acceptance Testing
9 203 (20.28%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 202 (20.18%) Continuous Improvement
11 199 (19.88%) Problem-Solving
12 198 (19.78%) DevOps
13 185 (18.48%) Sprint Planning
14 173 (17.28%) Roadmaps
15 168 (16.78%) Product Backlog
16 164 (16.38%) Backlog Management
17 151 (15.08%) Backlog Refinement
17 151 (15.08%) Validation
18 150 (14.99%) Backlog Prioritisation
19 147 (14.69%) AI
Programming Languages
1 154 (15.38%) SQL
2 72 (7.19%) Python
3 64 (6.39%) Java
4 55 (5.49%) JavaScript
5 23 (2.30%) C#
6 15 (1.50%) TypeScript
7 12 (1.20%) Apex Code
8 10 (1.00%) Scala
9 8 (0.80%) Kotlin
10 5 (0.50%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 5 (0.50%) Korn
11 3 (0.30%) R
11 3 (0.30%) SOQL
11 3 (0.30%) T-SQL
12 2 (0.20%) Bash
12 2 (0.20%) Magik
12 2 (0.20%) PowerShell
12 2 (0.20%) Ruby
12 2 (0.20%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.20%) SOSL
Qualifications
1 165 (16.48%) Security Cleared
2 133 (13.29%) SC Cleared
3 77 (7.69%) Degree
4 34 (3.40%) BPSS Clearance
5 19 (1.90%) Computer Science Degree
5 19 (1.90%) Microsoft Certification
6 15 (1.50%) IIBA
7 14 (1.40%) CSPO
7 14 (1.40%) PMI Certification
8 13 (1.30%) PMP
9 11 (1.10%) DV Cleared
10 10 (1.00%) CBAP
11 8 (0.80%) 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%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 112 (11.19%) QA
2 71 (7.09%) Data Quality
3 35 (3.50%) Accessibility
4 15 (1.50%) GDPR
4 15 (1.50%) GRC
5 8 (0.80%) ISO 20022
6 6 (0.60%) 21 CFR Part 11
6 6 (0.60%) GxP
6 6 (0.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 6 (0.60%) NIST
7 5 (0.50%) WCAG
8 4 (0.40%) ISO 15022
8 4 (0.40%) SEPA
9 3 (0.30%) PCI DSS
9 3 (0.30%) Solvency II
10 2 (0.20%) COBIT
10 2 (0.20%) PMO
10 2 (0.20%) SLA
11 1 (0.100%) Actionable Recommendations
11 1 (0.100%) Basel III
System Software
1 43 (4.30%) Docker
2 13 (1.30%) Active Directory
3 7 (0.70%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (0.60%) IAG
5 2 (0.20%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.100%) Ceph
6 1 (0.100%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 27 (2.70%) Kubernetes
2 17 (1.70%) Ansible
3 9 (0.90%) Grafana
4 8 (0.80%) Prometheus
4 8 (0.80%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (0.30%) Argo
5 3 (0.30%) HP ALM
6 1 (0.100%) Check_MK
6 1 (0.100%) Istio
6 1 (0.100%) Kibana
6 1 (0.100%) Podman
Vendors
1 150 (14.99%) Microsoft
2 81 (8.09%) Salesforce
3 44 (4.40%) SAP
4 42 (4.20%) ServiceNow
5 21 (2.10%) Google
6 17 (1.70%) Databricks
7 15 (1.50%) Oracle
8 10 (1.00%) IBM
9 9 (0.90%) Veracode
10 8 (0.80%) CyberArk
11 7 (0.70%) Adobe
11 7 (0.70%) Pega
11 7 (0.70%) Splunk
11 7 (0.70%) Zscaler
12 5 (0.50%) Alteryx
12 5 (0.50%) Guidewire
12 5 (0.50%) ION Trading
12 5 (0.50%) Kronos
12 5 (0.50%) Okta
12 5 (0.50%) Ping Identity