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 7 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 125 164 150
Rank change year-on-year +39 -14 -30
Contract jobs citing User Stories 837 411 597
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.06% 1.69% 1.61%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.42% 1.85% 1.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 583 267 419
10th Percentile £356 £357 £350
25th Percentile £413 £416 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -6.98% +2.38%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £600
90th Percentile £650 £674 £650
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% +2.19%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 2 6
10th Percentile £41.93 £54.90 £31.71
25th Percentile £51.80 £57.00 £32.03
Median hourly rate £70.00 £61.75 £42.75
Median % change year-on-year +13.36% +44.44% -33.72%
75th Percentile £74.26 £67.75 £62.94
90th Percentile £97.30 £70.60 £69.25
UK median hourly rate £70.00 £53.50 £42.75
% change year-on-year +30.84% +25.15% -33.72%

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 34,525 22,234 32,111
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 84.79% 91.21% 86.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,016 14,552 21,077
10th Percentile £319 £308 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £615 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,153 931 2,253
10th Percentile £15.35 £14.66 £12.94
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.50 £16.00
Median hourly rate £45.00 £30.00 £36.34
Median % change year-on-year +50.00% -17.43% -2.19%
75th Percentile £67.50 £63.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £41.56 £29.00 £35.96
% change year-on-year +43.29% -19.35% -0.11%

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 7 May 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 7 May 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 7 May 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 +48 472 £513 -2.24% 111
North of England +13 134 £454 +0.89% 57
Midlands -11 98 £475 +3.26% 36
West Midlands -11 72 £484 +1.79% 21
North West -2 64 £390 -22.00% 24
South East -37 64 £450 -13.63% 72
Yorkshire -19 49 £510 +20.00% 21
South West -18 33 £485 -15.65% 22
East Midlands -15 26 £463 +29.19% 15
East of England -22 26 £525 +35.48% 23
North East -4 22 £454 +13.50% 12
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
1 163 (19.47%) Confluence
2 17 (2.03%) CMS
3 16 (1.91%) SharePoint
4 9 (1.08%) SAS
5 4 (0.48%) Jupyter
5 4 (0.48%) Microsoft Exchange
6 3 (0.36%) Anypoint
6 3 (0.36%) Camunda
7 2 (0.24%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 2 (0.24%) Drupal
7 2 (0.24%) JBoss
7 2 (0.24%) Sitecore CMS
7 2 (0.24%) WordPress
8 1 (0.12%) Apache
8 1 (0.12%) Apache Airflow
8 1 (0.12%) Apache Solr
8 1 (0.12%) Tomcat
Applications
1 50 (5.97%) Microsoft Excel
2 43 (5.14%) MS Visio
3 26 (3.11%) Microsoft Office
4 21 (2.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.60%) Notion
6 3 (0.36%) Adobe XD
6 3 (0.36%) InVision
6 3 (0.36%) Sketch
6 3 (0.36%) Zeplin
7 2 (0.24%) Chatbot
7 2 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Project
8 1 (0.12%) Trello
Business Applications
1 17 (2.03%) Dynamics CRM
2 11 (1.31%) SAP S/4HANA
3 8 (0.96%) NetSuite
4 6 (0.72%) Adobe Campaign
5 5 (0.60%) ProductWriter
5 5 (0.60%) Teamcenter
6 4 (0.48%) Dynamics AX
6 4 (0.48%) Eloqua
6 4 (0.48%) Oracle Payables
6 4 (0.48%) Oracle Receivables
7 3 (0.36%) Dynamics GP
7 3 (0.36%) Dynamics SL
7 3 (0.36%) Infor CloudSuite
7 3 (0.36%) Oracle EBS
7 3 (0.36%) Oracle Financials
7 3 (0.36%) Sage X3
7 3 (0.36%) Salesforce CRM
7 3 (0.36%) Temenos T24
8 2 (0.24%) Exchequer
8 2 (0.24%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 143 (17.08%) Azure
2 70 (8.36%) AWS
2 70 (8.36%) Power Platform
3 51 (6.09%) Azure DevOps
4 24 (2.87%) Dynamics 365
4 24 (2.87%) Salesforce Service Cloud
5 23 (2.75%) GitHub
5 23 (2.75%) SaaS
6 22 (2.63%) Microsoft 365
7 20 (2.39%) GCP
8 14 (1.67%) Power Automate
8 14 (1.67%) PowerApps
9 13 (1.55%) Azure Data Factory
9 13 (1.55%) Figma
9 13 (1.55%) Lucidchart
10 12 (1.43%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
11 10 (1.19%) Miro
12 8 (0.96%) Entra ID
12 8 (0.96%) GitHub Actions
12 8 (0.96%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 8 (0.96%) Network Security
2 7 (0.84%) Firewall
3 5 (0.60%) HTTP
4 4 (0.48%) DNS
4 4 (0.48%) WebEx
5 3 (0.36%) FTP
6 1 (0.12%) BGP
6 1 (0.12%) Cisco IPT
6 1 (0.12%) NFC
6 1 (0.12%) NGFW
6 1 (0.12%) VLAN
6 1 (0.12%) VPN
6 1 (0.12%) Wi-Fi
6 1 (0.12%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 54 (6.45%) Power BI
2 23 (2.75%) Metadata
3 22 (2.63%) Data Warehouse
4 16 (1.91%) Tableau
5 13 (1.55%) SQL Server
6 10 (1.19%) Relational Database
7 9 (1.08%) BigQuery
7 9 (1.08%) NoSQL
7 9 (1.08%) PostgreSQL
8 8 (0.96%) Delta Lake
9 7 (0.84%) Data Lake
10 5 (0.60%) Parquet
11 3 (0.36%) Amazon RDS
11 3 (0.36%) Big Data
11 3 (0.36%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.36%) Data Vault
11 3 (0.36%) OLAP
12 2 (0.24%) Metadata Repository
12 2 (0.24%) Oracle OLAP
12 2 (0.24%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 216 (25.81%) JIRA
2 23 (2.75%) Postman
3 18 (2.15%) Jenkins
4 17 (2.03%) Git
5 14 (1.67%) GitLab
6 10 (1.19%) Selenium
7 8 (0.96%) Cucumber
7 8 (0.96%) Zephyr
8 7 (0.84%) JUnit
9 6 (0.72%) SonarQube
10 5 (0.60%) Balsamiq
11 4 (0.48%) Gradle
11 4 (0.48%) JMeter
11 4 (0.48%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
11 4 (0.48%) TestRail
12 3 (0.36%) Axure RP
12 3 (0.36%) REST Assured
12 3 (0.36%) Sonatype Nexus
12 3 (0.36%) TeamCity
13 2 (0.24%) Tricentis qTest
General
1 330 (39.43%) Social Skills
2 235 (28.08%) Finance
3 219 (26.16%) Analytical Skills
4 112 (13.38%) Public Sector
5 105 (12.54%) Banking
6 64 (7.65%) Documentation Skills
7 53 (6.33%) Retail
8 45 (5.38%) Presentation Skills
9 32 (3.82%) Marketing
10 24 (2.87%) Influencing Skills
11 23 (2.75%) Legal
12 18 (2.15%) Organisational Skills
13 16 (1.91%) Financial Institution
14 15 (1.79%) Investment Banking
14 15 (1.79%) Military
14 15 (1.79%) Retail Banking
15 13 (1.55%) Front Office
16 10 (1.19%) Manufacturing
17 8 (0.96%) General Ledger
17 8 (0.96%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 460 (54.96%) Analyst
2 433 (51.73%) Business Analyst
3 144 (17.20%) Senior
4 95 (11.35%) Product Owner
4 95 (11.35%) Senior Analyst
5 88 (10.51%) Senior Business Analyst
6 59 (7.05%) Developer
7 55 (6.57%) Technical Analyst
8 54 (6.45%) Product Manager
9 52 (6.21%) Technical Business Analyst
10 43 (5.14%) Salesforce Business Analyst
11 42 (5.02%) Salesforce Analyst
12 31 (3.70%) Lead
13 27 (3.23%) Data Analyst
13 27 (3.23%) Implementation Analyst
14 25 (2.99%) Data Business Analyst
15 23 (2.75%) Banking Analyst
15 23 (2.75%) Designer
16 22 (2.63%) Senior Salesforce Analyst
16 22 (2.63%) Senior Salesforce Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (3.70%) REST
2 16 (1.91%) ADO
3 15 (1.79%) React
3 15 (1.79%) RESTful
4 12 (1.43%) VML
4 12 (1.43%) XML
5 10 (1.19%) JSON
6 9 (1.08%) HTML
6 9 (1.08%) Kafka
6 9 (1.08%) Node.js
7 8 (0.96%) Lightning Web Components
7 8 (0.96%) Spring
8 7 (0.84%) AngularJS
8 7 (0.84%) CSS
8 7 (0.84%) Spring Boot
9 6 (0.72%) .NET
9 6 (0.72%) SOAP
10 5 (0.60%) ASP.NET
10 5 (0.60%) Oracle Fusion
10 5 (0.60%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 276 (32.97%) Product Ownership
2 26 (3.11%) Data Protection Act
3 25 (2.99%) Onboarding
4 23 (2.75%) Analytical Mindset
5 22 (2.63%) Legacy Systems
6 20 (2.39%) Self-Motivation
7 16 (1.91%) CMDB
7 16 (1.91%) Data Structures
7 16 (1.91%) Management Information System
8 14 (1.67%) Cloud Native
9 12 (1.43%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 12 (1.43%) PMI
9 12 (1.43%) Virtual Team
10 10 (1.19%) AI Agents
11 9 (1.08%) NHS
12 8 (0.96%) Marketing Technology
12 8 (0.96%) SWIFT Messaging Network
13 7 (0.84%) Low-Code
13 7 (0.84%) Mobile App
13 7 (0.84%) Reinsurance
Operating Systems
1 14 (1.67%) Linux
2 11 (1.31%) Windows
3 5 (0.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 3 (0.36%) CentOS
4 3 (0.36%) Unix
5 2 (0.24%) Android
5 2 (0.24%) Apple iOS
5 2 (0.24%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 552 (65.95%) Agile
2 333 (39.78%) Acceptance Criteria
3 272 (32.50%) Stakeholder Management
4 208 (24.85%) Workshop Facilitation
5 199 (23.78%) Requirements Gathering
6 186 (22.22%) Scrum
7 185 (22.10%) Business Analysis
8 167 (19.95%) User Acceptance Testing
9 156 (18.64%) DevOps
10 154 (18.40%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 153 (18.28%) Problem-Solving
12 149 (17.80%) Roadmaps
13 123 (14.70%) Sprint Planning
14 122 (14.58%) Data Modelling
15 114 (13.62%) Migration
16 111 (13.26%) Product Backlog
17 105 (12.54%) Backlog Management
18 101 (12.07%) Analytics
19 99 (11.83%) Continuous Improvement
20 93 (11.11%) Use Case
Programming Languages
1 104 (12.43%) SQL
2 55 (6.57%) Python
3 35 (4.18%) Java
4 23 (2.75%) JavaScript
5 14 (1.67%) C#
6 9 (1.08%) TypeScript
7 8 (0.96%) PowerShell
8 6 (0.72%) Apex Code
8 6 (0.72%) Korn
9 5 (0.60%) Kotlin
10 4 (0.48%) R
10 4 (0.48%) T-SQL
10 4 (0.48%) VBA
11 2 (0.24%) Google Apps Script
11 2 (0.24%) PHP
11 2 (0.24%) PL/SQL
11 2 (0.24%) Ruby
11 2 (0.24%) Scala
11 2 (0.24%) XPath
12 1 (0.12%) SOQL
Qualifications
1 155 (18.52%) Security Cleared
2 122 (14.58%) SC Cleared
3 88 (10.51%) Degree
4 39 (4.66%) CBAP
5 33 (3.94%) BPSS Clearance
5 33 (3.94%) IIBA
6 20 (2.39%) CSPO
7 16 (1.91%) PMI Certification
8 11 (1.31%) Master's Degree
9 8 (0.96%) ISTQB
10 7 (0.84%) ISEB
11 6 (0.72%) Computer Science Degree
11 6 (0.72%) MBA
12 5 (0.60%) DV Cleared
13 4 (0.48%) PMP
14 3 (0.36%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
15 2 (0.24%) AWS Certification
15 2 (0.24%) CompTIA Security+
15 2 (0.24%) DBS Check
15 2 (0.24%) SAFe Agilist
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 113 (13.50%) QA
2 52 (6.21%) Data Quality
3 42 (5.02%) Accessibility
4 26 (3.11%) GDPR
5 14 (1.67%) SLA
6 10 (1.19%) WCAG
7 9 (1.08%) NIST
8 6 (0.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 5 (0.60%) GxP
9 5 (0.60%) ISO 20022
9 5 (0.60%) PSD2
10 4 (0.48%) HL7
10 4 (0.48%) PCI DSS
11 3 (0.36%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 3 (0.36%) GMP
11 3 (0.36%) GRC
11 3 (0.36%) Solvency II
12 2 (0.24%) EU AI Act
12 2 (0.24%) ISO 15022
12 2 (0.24%) NCSC
System Software
1 20 (2.39%) Docker
2 7 (0.84%) Active Directory
3 5 (0.60%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.24%) IAG
5 1 (0.12%) Ceph
5 1 (0.12%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.12%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 22 (2.63%) Kubernetes
2 15 (1.79%) Ansible
3 11 (1.31%) Terraform
4 7 (0.84%) SCCM
5 5 (0.60%) HP Quality Center
5 5 (0.60%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (0.36%) Progress Chef
7 2 (0.24%) CASB
7 2 (0.24%) HP ALM
7 2 (0.24%) Jamf Pro
8 1 (0.12%) Argo
8 1 (0.12%) CloudHub
8 1 (0.12%) Grafana
8 1 (0.12%) Kibana
Vendors
1 118 (14.10%) Microsoft
2 87 (10.39%) Salesforce
3 51 (6.09%) SAP
4 44 (5.26%) ServiceNow
5 22 (2.63%) Oracle
6 20 (2.39%) Databricks
7 16 (1.91%) Google
8 15 (1.79%) Adobe
9 12 (1.43%) Cisco
10 10 (1.19%) Splunk
10 10 (1.19%) Workday
11 9 (1.08%) Pega
12 8 (0.96%) Zscaler
12 8 (0.96%) Zuora
13 7 (0.84%) MuleSoft
13 7 (0.84%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud
14 6 (0.72%) Citrix
14 6 (0.72%) Fortinet
14 6 (0.72%) Guidewire
14 6 (0.72%) VMware