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 12 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 125 155 148
Rank change year-on-year +30 -7 -26
Contract jobs citing User Stories 878 457 588
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.06% 1.86% 1.57%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.42% 2.04% 1.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 600 295 402
10th Percentile £356 £358 £350
25th Percentile £413 £413 £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 £700 £650
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% +0.96%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 2 6
10th Percentile £41.38 £54.90 £31.71
25th Percentile £61.09 £57.00 £32.03
Median hourly rate £71.25 £61.75 £33.04
Median % change year-on-year +15.38% +86.92% -48.38%
75th Percentile £79.50 £67.75 £57.77
90th Percentile £96.98 £70.60 £69.25
UK median hourly rate £72.50 £53.50 £33.04
% change year-on-year +35.51% +61.95% -48.38%

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 36,315 22,393 32,018
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.15% 91.34% 85.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,987 14,479 20,805
10th Percentile £325 £303 £300
25th Percentile £414 £407 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.96% -0.95% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £513 £508 £525
% change year-on-year +0.99% -3.33% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,273 1,020 2,369
10th Percentile £15.25 £14.20 £12.80
25th Percentile £20.82 £18.10 £16.00
Median hourly rate £47.50 £28.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +69.64% -25.33% +5.63%
75th Percentile £68.00 £58.75 £61.30
90th Percentile £82.25 £75.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £27.21 £36.50
% change year-on-year +61.56% -25.45% +4.20%

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 12 June 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 12 June 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 12 June 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 +36 513 £513 -2.38% 112
North of England -29 123 £469 +4.22% 52
Midlands -14 95 £475 +2.98% 29
West Midlands -6 73 £475 +2.70% 19
South East -54 65 £450 -7.69% 57
North West -4 64 £402 -21.56% 30
South West -2 41 £485 -3.00% 22
Yorkshire -40 39 £525 +16.67% 19
East of England -5 30 £525 +31.25% 9
East Midlands -21 22 £459 +6.07% 10
North East -24 21 £425 -2.02% 7
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 (18.22%) Confluence
2 23 (2.62%) CMS
3 16 (1.82%) SharePoint
4 10 (1.14%) SAS
5 5 (0.57%) Camunda
5 5 (0.57%) Jupyter
6 3 (0.34%) Cloud Foundry
6 3 (0.34%) Drupal
6 3 (0.34%) Kentico
6 3 (0.34%) Microsoft Exchange
7 2 (0.23%) JBoss
7 2 (0.23%) Sitecore CMS
7 2 (0.23%) WordPress
8 1 (0.11%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 1 (0.11%) Apache Solr
8 1 (0.11%) Tomcat
Applications
1 41 (4.67%) MS Visio
2 40 (4.56%) Microsoft Excel
3 27 (3.08%) Microsoft Office
4 18 (2.05%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (0.68%) Notion
6 3 (0.34%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.23%) Adobe XD
7 2 (0.23%) InVision
7 2 (0.23%) Sketch
7 2 (0.23%) Zeplin
8 1 (0.11%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.11%) Trello
Business Applications
1 14 (1.59%) Dynamics CRM
2 13 (1.48%) SAP S/4HANA
3 6 (0.68%) Adobe Campaign
3 6 (0.68%) ProductWriter
4 5 (0.57%) Teamcenter
5 4 (0.46%) Dynamics AX
5 4 (0.46%) Eloqua
5 4 (0.46%) NetSuite
5 4 (0.46%) Oracle Payables
5 4 (0.46%) Oracle Receivables
6 3 (0.34%) Actimize
6 3 (0.34%) Dynamics GP
6 3 (0.34%) Dynamics SL
6 3 (0.34%) Infor CloudSuite
6 3 (0.34%) Oracle EBS
6 3 (0.34%) Oracle Financials
6 3 (0.34%) Sage X3
6 3 (0.34%) Salesforce CRM
7 2 (0.23%) Exchequer
7 2 (0.23%) SAP SD
Cloud Services
1 175 (19.93%) Azure
2 76 (8.66%) AWS
3 67 (7.63%) Power Platform
4 63 (7.18%) Azure DevOps
5 24 (2.73%) GitHub
6 22 (2.51%) SaaS
7 21 (2.39%) Dynamics 365
7 21 (2.39%) Salesforce Service Cloud
8 18 (2.05%) GCP
9 16 (1.82%) PowerApps
10 15 (1.71%) Microsoft 365
11 14 (1.59%) Entra ID
11 14 (1.59%) Power Automate
12 13 (1.48%) Figma
12 13 (1.48%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
13 12 (1.37%) Lucidchart
14 11 (1.25%) Azure Data Factory
15 10 (1.14%) Miro
16 8 (0.91%) Snowflake
17 6 (0.68%) Fivetran
Communications & Networking
1 8 (0.91%) Network Security
2 6 (0.68%) Firewall
3 3 (0.34%) DNS
3 3 (0.34%) WebEx
3 3 (0.34%) Wi-Fi
4 2 (0.23%) FTP
4 2 (0.23%) HTTP
4 2 (0.23%) Wireless
5 1 (0.11%) 5G
5 1 (0.11%) BGP
5 1 (0.11%) NFC
5 1 (0.11%) NGFW
5 1 (0.11%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 45 (5.13%) Power BI
2 29 (3.30%) Metadata
3 23 (2.62%) Data Warehouse
4 12 (1.37%) Tableau
5 11 (1.25%) Relational Database
6 10 (1.14%) NoSQL
6 10 (1.14%) SQL Server
7 9 (1.03%) Data Lake
8 8 (0.91%) BigQuery
9 7 (0.80%) Delta Lake
10 6 (0.68%) Amazon RDS
10 6 (0.68%) PostgreSQL
11 5 (0.57%) Big Data
11 5 (0.57%) Parquet
11 5 (0.57%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 4 (0.46%) Data Mining
13 3 (0.34%) OLAP
13 3 (0.34%) Redis
14 2 (0.23%) DynamoDB
14 2 (0.23%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 223 (25.40%) JIRA
2 28 (3.19%) Postman
3 22 (2.51%) Git
4 19 (2.16%) GitLab
5 11 (1.25%) Jenkins
6 10 (1.14%) Selenium
7 9 (1.03%) Gradle
8 7 (0.80%) Team Foundation Server
9 6 (0.68%) SonarQube
9 6 (0.68%) Zephyr
10 5 (0.57%) Atlassian Bamboo
10 5 (0.57%) Balsamiq
10 5 (0.57%) REST Assured
11 4 (0.46%) Cucumber
11 4 (0.46%) JUnit
12 3 (0.34%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
13 2 (0.23%) Artifactory
13 2 (0.23%) Maven
13 2 (0.23%) Sonatype Nexus
13 2 (0.23%) Terragrunt
General
1 331 (37.70%) Social Skills
2 234 (26.65%) Finance
3 227 (25.85%) Analytical Skills
4 112 (12.76%) Banking
5 107 (12.19%) Public Sector
6 74 (8.43%) Documentation Skills
7 58 (6.61%) Retail
8 39 (4.44%) Presentation Skills
9 31 (3.53%) Marketing
10 24 (2.73%) Legal
11 22 (2.51%) Influencing Skills
12 20 (2.28%) Investment Banking
13 19 (2.16%) Organisational Skills
14 18 (2.05%) Retail Banking
15 15 (1.71%) Military
16 14 (1.59%) Manufacturing
17 13 (1.48%) Financial Institution
17 13 (1.48%) Front Office
18 10 (1.14%) Aerospace
18 10 (1.14%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 467 (53.19%) Analyst
2 432 (49.20%) Business Analyst
3 139 (15.83%) Senior
4 108 (12.30%) Product Owner
5 86 (9.79%) Senior Analyst
6 78 (8.88%) Senior Business Analyst
7 74 (8.43%) Developer
8 58 (6.61%) Technical Analyst
9 56 (6.38%) Product Manager
10 54 (6.15%) Technical Business Analyst
11 41 (4.67%) Salesforce Business Analyst
12 40 (4.56%) Salesforce Analyst
13 37 (4.21%) Lead
14 32 (3.64%) Implementation Analyst
15 27 (3.08%) Data Analyst
16 25 (2.85%) Banking Analyst
16 25 (2.85%) Data Business Analyst
17 23 (2.62%) SC Cleared Business Analyst
18 22 (2.51%) Digital Business Analyst
18 22 (2.51%) Senior Salesforce Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (4.10%) REST
2 20 (2.28%) JSON
3 18 (2.05%) React
3 18 (2.05%) RESTful
4 16 (1.82%) ADO
5 14 (1.59%) XML
6 12 (1.37%) AngularJS
7 11 (1.25%) Spring Boot
8 8 (0.91%) .NET
8 8 (0.91%) Lightning Web Components
8 8 (0.91%) Node.js
8 8 (0.91%) VML
9 7 (0.80%) CSS
9 7 (0.80%) HTML
9 7 (0.80%) Oracle Fusion
9 7 (0.80%) Spring
10 6 (0.68%) Kafka
10 6 (0.68%) Middleware
10 6 (0.68%) OAuth
10 6 (0.68%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 289 (32.92%) Product Ownership
2 31 (3.53%) Onboarding
3 26 (2.96%) Analytical Mindset
4 25 (2.85%) Data Protection Act
5 24 (2.73%) CMDB
6 23 (2.62%) Self-Motivation
7 22 (2.51%) Legacy Systems
8 16 (1.82%) Data Structures
8 16 (1.82%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 15 (1.71%) Cloud Native
10 14 (1.59%) Management Information System
10 14 (1.59%) Virtual Team
11 10 (1.14%) Reinsurance
12 9 (1.03%) AI Agents
12 9 (1.03%) Greenfield Project
12 9 (1.03%) PMI
13 7 (0.80%) FMCG
13 7 (0.80%) Life Science
13 7 (0.80%) Marketing Technology
13 7 (0.80%) SWIFT Messaging Network
Operating Systems
1 9 (1.03%) Windows
2 8 (0.91%) Linux
3 4 (0.46%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 3 (0.34%) CentOS
4 3 (0.34%) Unix
5 2 (0.23%) Android
5 2 (0.23%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.11%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 554 (63.10%) Agile
2 361 (41.12%) Acceptance Criteria
3 304 (34.62%) Stakeholder Management
4 211 (24.03%) Requirements Gathering
5 204 (23.23%) Scrum
6 200 (22.78%) Workshop Facilitation
7 187 (21.30%) User Acceptance Testing
8 176 (20.05%) Business Analysis
9 175 (19.93%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 174 (19.82%) DevOps
11 153 (17.43%) Problem-Solving
12 150 (17.08%) Roadmaps
13 147 (16.74%) Sprint Planning
14 128 (14.58%) Product Backlog
15 123 (14.01%) Continuous Improvement
16 120 (13.67%) Data Modelling
17 114 (12.98%) Backlog Management
18 112 (12.76%) Analytics
19 109 (12.41%) Migration
20 106 (12.07%) Backlog Prioritisation
Programming Languages
1 111 (12.64%) SQL
2 61 (6.95%) Python
3 40 (4.56%) Java
4 29 (3.30%) JavaScript
5 12 (1.37%) C#
6 9 (1.03%) TypeScript
7 7 (0.80%) PowerShell
8 6 (0.68%) Apex Code
9 5 (0.57%) Korn
9 5 (0.57%) Kotlin
10 3 (0.34%) R
10 3 (0.34%) Ruby
10 3 (0.34%) T-SQL
11 2 (0.23%) Bash
11 2 (0.23%) Google Apps Script
11 2 (0.23%) PHP
11 2 (0.23%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.23%) VBA
12 1 (0.11%) SOQL
12 1 (0.11%) SOSL
Qualifications
1 167 (19.02%) Security Cleared
2 133 (15.15%) SC Cleared
3 79 (9.00%) Degree
4 31 (3.53%) BPSS Clearance
5 29 (3.30%) CBAP
5 29 (3.30%) IIBA
6 15 (1.71%) CSPO
7 13 (1.48%) PMI Certification
8 10 (1.14%) Computer Science Degree
8 10 (1.14%) Master's Degree
9 9 (1.03%) ISTQB
10 7 (0.80%) ISEB
11 5 (0.57%) CISSP
11 5 (0.57%) DV Cleared
12 4 (0.46%) MBA
12 4 (0.46%) Microsoft Certification
12 4 (0.46%) PMP
13 3 (0.34%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
14 2 (0.23%) CompTIA Security+
14 2 (0.23%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 113 (12.87%) QA
2 50 (5.69%) Data Quality
3 43 (4.90%) Accessibility
4 25 (2.85%) GDPR
5 10 (1.14%) GRC
5 10 (1.14%) NIST
6 7 (0.80%) GxP
6 7 (0.80%) SLA
7 6 (0.68%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 6 (0.68%) WCAG
8 5 (0.57%) ISO 20022
8 5 (0.57%) Solvency II
9 4 (0.46%) 21 CFR Part 11
9 4 (0.46%) PCI DSS
10 3 (0.34%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 3 (0.34%) GMP
10 3 (0.34%) HL7
10 3 (0.34%) PSD2
11 2 (0.23%) ISO 15022
11 2 (0.23%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 23 (2.62%) Docker
2 11 (1.25%) Active Directory
3 4 (0.46%) Virtual Desktop
4 2 (0.23%) IAG
4 2 (0.23%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.11%) Ceph
5 1 (0.11%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 21 (2.39%) Kubernetes
2 16 (1.82%) Ansible
3 13 (1.48%) Terraform
4 7 (0.80%) SCCM
5 6 (0.68%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (0.57%) HP Quality Center
7 2 (0.23%) Jamf Pro
8 1 (0.11%) Argo
8 1 (0.11%) CASB
8 1 (0.11%) Grafana
8 1 (0.11%) HP ALM
8 1 (0.11%) Kibana
Vendors
1 127 (14.46%) Microsoft
2 84 (9.57%) Salesforce
3 54 (6.15%) ServiceNow
4 49 (5.58%) SAP
5 21 (2.39%) Oracle
6 20 (2.28%) Databricks
7 12 (1.37%) Adobe
7 12 (1.37%) Google
8 10 (1.14%) Cisco
8 10 (1.14%) Splunk
8 10 (1.14%) Zscaler
9 9 (1.03%) Workday
10 8 (0.91%) Pega
11 6 (0.68%) Fortinet
11 6 (0.68%) Guidewire
11 6 (0.68%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud
12 5 (0.57%) Citrix
12 5 (0.57%) Cognizant
13 4 (0.46%) IBM
13 4 (0.46%) Sage