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 13 October 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 146 166 136
Rank change year-on-year +20 -30 -34
Contract jobs citing User Stories 571 475 760
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.05% 1.49% 1.86%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.25% 1.72% 2.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 401 307 533
10th Percentile £355 £353 £389
25th Percentile £413 £447 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -
75th Percentile £600 £607 £600
90th Percentile £725 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 1 5
10th Percentile £30.45 - £46.55
25th Percentile £31.12 - £50.00
Median hourly rate £31.49 £33.07 £53.00
Median % change year-on-year -4.78% -37.60% -3.64%
75th Percentile £34.37 - £67.56
90th Percentile £39.55 - £68.27
UK median hourly rate £31.49 £33.07 £53.00
% change year-on-year -4.78% -37.60% -3.64%

All Process and 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 25,364 27,652 36,238
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 90.87% 86.48% 88.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 16,096 16,848 25,041
10th Percentile £293 £313 £313
25th Percentile £405 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £540
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,590 1,111 1,468
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.00 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.27 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £42.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -40.82% -5.56% +36.36%
75th Percentile £44.80 £66.80 £65.00
90th Percentile £67.28 £74.44 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £40.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -37.13% -10.11% +36.92%

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 13 October 2025.

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
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 13 October 2025. 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 +36 326 £525 -4.55% 160
North of England +11 91 £500 - 45
South East +4 57 £475 -3.06% 104
Midlands +15 55 £425 -3.95% 37
Yorkshire +4 45 £520 -3.26% 15
North West -2 39 £455 +12.00% 23
East Midlands +12 28 £360 -6.49% 13
West Midlands -5 27 £450 -5.26% 24
South West +20 22 £500 -16.67% 19
North East -2 7 £494 +9.72% 8
East of England -17 7 £450 +9.09% 23
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
1 101 (17.69%) Confluence
2 10 (1.75%) CMS
3 8 (1.40%) Apache Airflow
4 7 (1.23%) WordPress
5 5 (0.88%) nginx
6 4 (0.70%) Drupal
6 4 (0.70%) JBoss
6 4 (0.70%) Oracle Workflow
6 4 (0.70%) SharePoint
6 4 (0.70%) WebSphere
7 2 (0.35%) Anypoint
7 2 (0.35%) CICS
7 2 (0.35%) Traefik
8 1 (0.18%) Apache
8 1 (0.18%) Appian
8 1 (0.18%) Jupyter
8 1 (0.18%) Kentico
8 1 (0.18%) SAS
8 1 (0.18%) Sitecore CMS
Applications
1 29 (5.08%) Microsoft Excel
2 26 (4.55%) MS Visio
3 21 (3.68%) Microsoft Office
4 15 (2.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (1.23%) Siemens NX
6 4 (0.70%) Trello
7 3 (0.53%) Chatbot
7 3 (0.53%) Fusion 360
7 3 (0.53%) Microsoft Project
8 2 (0.35%) Spreadsheet
9 1 (0.18%) Adobe XD
9 1 (0.18%) InVision
9 1 (0.18%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 22 (3.85%) Dynamics CRM
2 8 (1.40%) Teamcenter
2 8 (1.40%) Temenos T24
3 6 (1.05%) SAP S/4HANA
4 4 (0.70%) Endur
4 4 (0.70%) Salesforce CRM
4 4 (0.70%) SAP HR
4 4 (0.70%) SAP PM
5 3 (0.53%) Payment Gateway
5 3 (0.53%) Shopify
6 2 (0.35%) HFM
6 2 (0.35%) Oracle EBS R12
6 2 (0.35%) Oracle Receivables
6 2 (0.35%) ProductWriter
6 2 (0.35%) Sage CRM
7 1 (0.18%) Dynamics AX
7 1 (0.18%) Infor M3
7 1 (0.18%) NetSuite
7 1 (0.18%) OpenLink RightAngle
7 1 (0.18%) Summit
Cloud Services
1 78 (13.66%) Azure
2 54 (9.46%) AWS
3 42 (7.36%) Azure DevOps
4 26 (4.55%) Power Platform
5 22 (3.85%) Dynamics 365
5 22 (3.85%) GitHub
6 19 (3.33%) Figma
6 19 (3.33%) GCP
7 16 (2.80%) SaaS
8 15 (2.63%) Miro
9 14 (2.45%) Serverless
10 12 (2.10%) AWS Lambda
10 12 (2.10%) Snowflake
11 10 (1.75%) GitHub Actions
11 10 (1.75%) Salesforce Service Cloud
12 9 (1.58%) CloudBees
12 9 (1.58%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
13 8 (1.40%) Amazon SQS
14 7 (1.23%) PowerApps
15 6 (1.05%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 4 (0.70%) Firewall
2 3 (0.53%) DNS
3 2 (0.35%) Internet
3 2 (0.35%) LAN
3 2 (0.35%) VPN
3 2 (0.35%) WAN
4 1 (0.18%) Calico
4 1 (0.18%) Cisco Nexus
4 1 (0.18%) Modbus
4 1 (0.18%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (3.85%) Power BI
2 21 (3.68%) Data Warehouse
3 13 (2.28%) Tableau
4 12 (2.10%) PostgreSQL
5 11 (1.93%) Star Schema
6 9 (1.58%) Relational Database
7 8 (1.40%) BigQuery
8 6 (1.05%) SQL Server
9 5 (0.88%) Data Vault
9 5 (0.88%) Oracle Database
9 5 (0.88%) Snowflake Schema
10 4 (0.70%) Metadata
10 4 (0.70%) Redis
10 4 (0.70%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 3 (0.53%) Big Data
11 3 (0.53%) DocumentDB
11 3 (0.53%) Tableau Desktop
12 2 (0.35%) Amazon RDS
12 2 (0.35%) Data Lake
12 2 (0.35%) Tableau Server
Development Applications
1 166 (29.07%) JIRA
2 22 (3.85%) Jenkins
3 19 (3.33%) GitLab
4 15 (2.63%) Git
5 13 (2.28%) Cucumber
6 10 (1.75%) Selenium
7 7 (1.23%) MLflow
7 7 (1.23%) Postman
8 6 (1.05%) Cypress.io
8 6 (1.05%) JUnit
9 5 (0.88%) SonarQube
10 4 (0.70%) Artifactory
10 4 (0.70%) ER Studio
10 4 (0.70%) ERwin
10 4 (0.70%) JMeter
10 4 (0.70%) PowerDesigner
11 3 (0.53%) Maven
11 3 (0.53%) REST Assured
11 3 (0.53%) Sonatype Nexus
11 3 (0.53%) Zephyr
General
1 228 (39.93%) Social Skills
2 161 (28.20%) Finance
3 110 (19.26%) Analytical Skills
4 62 (10.86%) Public Sector
5 53 (9.28%) Banking
6 35 (6.13%) Marketing
7 24 (4.20%) Presentation Skills
7 24 (4.20%) Retail
8 21 (3.68%) Influencing Skills
9 18 (3.15%) Documentation Skills
10 16 (2.80%) Back Office
11 15 (2.63%) Front Office
11 15 (2.63%) Organisational Skills
12 11 (1.93%) Investment Banking
12 11 (1.93%) Manufacturing
13 10 (1.75%) Billing
13 10 (1.75%) Law
14 9 (1.58%) Advertising
14 9 (1.58%) Telecoms
15 7 (1.23%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 263 (46.06%) Analyst
2 249 (43.61%) Business Analyst
3 92 (16.11%) Product Owner
4 53 (9.28%) Senior
5 38 (6.65%) Technical Analyst
6 35 (6.13%) Developer
6 35 (6.13%) Technical Business Analyst
7 31 (5.43%) Senior Business Analyst
8 29 (5.08%) Senior Analyst
9 22 (3.85%) Architect
9 22 (3.85%) Product Manager
10 19 (3.33%) Lead
11 14 (2.45%) Consultant
12 13 (2.28%) Automation Engineer
12 13 (2.28%) Data Business Analyst
12 13 (2.28%) Digital Analyst
12 13 (2.28%) Digital Business Analyst
12 13 (2.28%) Salesforce Business Analyst
12 13 (2.28%) Test Analyst
13 12 (2.10%) Scrum Master
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (3.15%) RESTful
2 16 (2.80%) SOAP
3 14 (2.45%) JSON
4 12 (2.10%) Spring
4 12 (2.10%) Spring Boot
4 12 (2.10%) XML
5 11 (1.93%) ADO
6 10 (1.75%) HTML
6 10 (1.75%) OAuth
6 10 (1.75%) OAuth2
7 9 (1.58%) Lightning Web Components
7 9 (1.58%) REST
8 8 (1.40%) AngularJS
8 8 (1.40%) Kafka
8 8 (1.40%) React
8 8 (1.40%) Web Services
9 7 (1.23%) Middleware
9 7 (1.23%) Node.js
10 6 (1.05%) Gherkin
10 6 (1.05%) Visualforce
Miscellaneous
1 186 (32.57%) Product Ownership
2 29 (5.08%) Onboarding
3 18 (3.15%) Cloud Native
4 17 (2.98%) Reinsurance
5 16 (2.80%) Data Structures
6 14 (2.45%) Greenfield Project
7 13 (2.28%) Analytical Mindset
8 12 (2.10%) Data Protection Act
8 12 (2.10%) Management Information System
9 11 (1.93%) Mobile App
9 11 (1.93%) SWIFT Messaging Network
10 10 (1.75%) Algorithms
10 10 (1.75%) Legacy Systems
10 10 (1.75%) SCADA
11 9 (1.58%) Marketing Technology
12 8 (1.40%) PMI
13 6 (1.05%) Derivative
13 6 (1.05%) Digital Media
13 6 (1.05%) Virtual Team
14 5 (0.88%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 10 (1.75%) Linux
2 5 (0.88%) VMS
3 4 (0.70%) Windows
4 2 (0.35%) Unix
5 1 (0.18%) Android
5 1 (0.18%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 431 (75.48%) Agile
2 170 (29.77%) Scrum
3 142 (24.87%) Stakeholder Management
4 128 (22.42%) Acceptance Criteria
5 108 (18.91%) Roadmaps
6 102 (17.86%) Problem-Solving
7 101 (17.69%) Product Backlog
8 99 (17.34%) Requirements Gathering
9 93 (16.29%) Business Analysis
10 90 (15.76%) Backlog Management
10 90 (15.76%) DevOps
11 87 (15.24%) Workshop Facilitation
12 86 (15.06%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 85 (14.89%) User Acceptance Testing
14 72 (12.61%) Sprint Planning
15 71 (12.43%) Epics
16 69 (12.08%) Analytics
16 69 (12.08%) Backlog Prioritisation
17 68 (11.91%) Use Case
18 67 (11.73%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 57 (9.98%) SQL
2 45 (7.88%) Python
3 37 (6.48%) Java
4 14 (2.45%) JavaScript
5 12 (2.10%) Bash
6 9 (1.58%) Apex Code
7 7 (1.23%) TypeScript
8 6 (1.05%) Go
9 5 (0.88%) PowerShell
9 5 (0.88%) VBA
10 4 (0.70%) C#
10 4 (0.70%) Groovy
11 2 (0.35%) COBOL
11 2 (0.35%) JCL
11 2 (0.35%) Korn
11 2 (0.35%) REXX
11 2 (0.35%) Ruby
11 2 (0.35%) Scala
12 1 (0.18%) PHP
12 1 (0.18%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 72 (12.61%) Degree
2 70 (12.26%) Security Cleared
3 48 (8.41%) SC Cleared
4 14 (2.45%) BPSS Clearance
5 12 (2.10%) CBAP
5 12 (2.10%) CSPO
6 11 (1.93%) Computer Science Degree
7 9 (1.58%) PMI Certification
8 6 (1.05%) DV Cleared
9 4 (0.70%) Azure Certification
9 4 (0.70%) ISTQB
10 3 (0.53%) CFA
10 3 (0.53%) IIBA
10 3 (0.53%) Six Sigma Black Belt
10 3 (0.53%) Six Sigma Green Belt
11 2 (0.35%) ISEB
11 2 (0.35%) Master's Degree
11 2 (0.35%) Microsoft Certification
11 2 (0.35%) OCP
11 2 (0.35%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 67 (11.73%) QA
2 24 (4.20%) Accessibility
2 24 (4.20%) GDPR
3 14 (2.45%) Data Quality
4 12 (2.10%) WCAG
5 8 (1.40%) PSD2
6 6 (1.05%) PCI DSS
6 6 (1.05%) SEPA
7 4 (0.70%) Basel III
7 4 (0.70%) FIPS 140-2
7 4 (0.70%) MiFID
8 3 (0.53%) COBIT
8 3 (0.53%) ISO 20022
8 3 (0.53%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 2 (0.35%) COREP
9 2 (0.35%) EMIR
9 2 (0.35%) FINREP
9 2 (0.35%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.35%) PMO
9 2 (0.35%) SLA
System Software
1 17 (2.98%) Docker
2 4 (0.70%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (0.18%) Active Directory
3 1 (0.18%) etcd
3 1 (0.18%) Hyper-V
3 1 (0.18%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 19 (3.33%) Ansible
2 14 (2.45%) Terraform
3 13 (2.28%) NetBackup
4 10 (1.75%) Kubernetes
5 7 (1.23%) Puppet
6 6 (1.05%) Kubeflow
6 6 (1.05%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.35%) Grafana
7 2 (0.35%) Istio
7 2 (0.35%) Progress Chef
8 1 (0.18%) Argo
8 1 (0.18%) CloudHub
8 1 (0.18%) HP ALM
8 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 70 (12.26%) Microsoft
2 66 (11.56%) Salesforce
3 29 (5.08%) Oracle
4 24 (4.20%) SAP
5 20 (3.50%) ServiceNow
6 13 (2.28%) Commvault
6 13 (2.28%) Red Hat
7 10 (1.75%) MuleSoft
8 9 (1.58%) Veritas
9 8 (1.40%) Databricks
9 8 (1.40%) Temenos
10 7 (1.23%) Adobe
10 7 (1.23%) Siemens
11 6 (1.05%) Workday
12 5 (0.88%) Atlassian
12 5 (0.88%) Pega
13 4 (0.70%) Charles River
13 4 (0.70%) Murex
13 4 (0.70%) Sitecore
13 4 (0.70%) VMware