Product Backlog Contract Job Trends

Product Backlogs
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Product Backlog skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 7 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 405 342 372
Rank change year-on-year -63 +30 +16
Contract jobs citing Product Backlog 233 192 237
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.55% 0.63% 0.53%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.63% 0.69% 0.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 172 127 175
10th Percentile £376 £400 £404
25th Percentile £425 £464 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £511 £565 £575
Median % change year-on-year -9.51% -1.74% +4.55%
75th Percentile £588 £638 £638
90th Percentile £675 £710 £708
UK excluding London median daily rate £476 £530 £575
% change year-on-year -10.14% -7.83% +9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 0 10
10th Percentile £42.51 - £31.71
25th Percentile £48.86 - £51.25
Median hourly rate £52.78 - £65.50
75th Percentile £60.61 - £65.75
90th Percentile £60.90 - £65.98
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.78 - £65.50
% change year-on-year - - -6.43%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Product Backlog 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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 36,884 27,639 38,956
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.36% 90.19% 86.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,378 17,377 25,379
10th Percentile £313 £306 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £494 £500
% change year-on-year -2.58% -1.20% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,184 915 2,310
10th Percentile £14.72 £15.62 £13.16
25th Percentile £18.32 £21.03 £16.06
Median hourly rate £28.00 £32.81 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -14.66% +0.95% -7.14%
75th Percentile £63.75 £64.50 £58.64
90th Percentile £74.00 £75.95 £71.87
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.38 £32.25 £32.50
% change year-on-year -21.30% -0.77% -7.14%

Product Backlog
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Product Backlog relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Product Backlog job vacancy trend in the UK

Product Backlog
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Product Backlog.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Product Backlog

Product Backlog
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Product Backlog over the 6 months to 7 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Product Backlog in the UK

Product Backlog
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Product Backlog.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Product Backlog

Product Backlog
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Product Backlog over the 6 months to 7 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Product Backlog in the UK

Product Backlog
Top 14 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Product Backlog within the UK over the 6 months to 7 March 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
England -46 216 £513 -12.05% 237
London -16 116 £528 -13.28% 98
UK excluding London -40 99 £476 -10.14% 195
Work from Home -26 62 £505 +1.00% 173
North of England -20 51 £479 -5.43% 39
Yorkshire -41 24 £483 -5.85% 14
North West -13 23 £496 +46.89% 16
South East -40 21 £425 -27.35% 62
Midlands -54 19 £490 -4.85% 23
West Midlands -48 13 £513 -0.49% 5
East Midlands -26 6 £479 - 17
Scotland +6 5 £583 +32.73% 10
North East - 5 £475 - 9
South West -30 3 £563 -6.25% 24

Product Backlog
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 18 (7.73%) Confluence
2 8 (3.43%) SharePoint
3 5 (2.15%) CMS
4 2 (0.86%) Mendix
4 2 (0.86%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (0.86%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.43%) Mule
5 1 (0.43%) Mule ESB
5 1 (0.43%) nginx
5 1 (0.43%) WebSphere
Applications
1 5 (2.15%) Chatbot
2 2 (0.86%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.86%) MS Visio
3 1 (0.43%) Adobe Illustrator
3 1 (0.43%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.43%) Photoshop
3 1 (0.43%) Trello
Business Applications
1 7 (3.00%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (2.15%) Adobe Campaign
3 4 (1.72%) Eloqua
4 2 (0.86%) Endur
4 2 (0.86%) Exchequer
4 2 (0.86%) Finacle
5 1 (0.43%) Aladdin
5 1 (0.43%) Markit EDM
5 1 (0.43%) Maximo
5 1 (0.43%) Oracle ERP
5 1 (0.43%) SAP HR
5 1 (0.43%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 35 (15.02%) Azure
2 19 (8.15%) AWS
3 18 (7.73%) Power Platform
4 13 (5.58%) GCP
5 11 (4.72%) Microsoft 365
6 10 (4.29%) Azure DevOps
7 8 (3.43%) Power Automate
8 7 (3.00%) Dynamics 365
8 7 (3.00%) PowerApps
9 4 (1.72%) GitHub
9 4 (1.72%) OpenShift
9 4 (1.72%) Snowflake
10 3 (1.29%) Azure Data Factory
10 3 (1.29%) Fivetran
10 3 (1.29%) SuccessFactors
11 2 (0.86%) Apigee
11 2 (0.86%) GitHub Actions
11 2 (0.86%) SaaS
12 1 (0.43%) Adobe Analytics
12 1 (0.43%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 2 (0.86%) Firewall
1 2 (0.86%) FTP
1 2 (0.86%) Network Security
1 2 (0.86%) NGFW
2 1 (0.43%) Intrusion Detection
2 1 (0.43%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (6.01%) Power BI
2 10 (4.29%) Data Warehouse
3 6 (2.58%) Metadata
4 4 (1.72%) Relational Database
5 3 (1.29%) BigQuery
5 3 (1.29%) Data Lake
5 3 (1.29%) Data Mining
5 3 (1.29%) NoSQL
5 3 (1.29%) OLAP
6 2 (0.86%) GIS
6 2 (0.86%) Oracle OLAP
6 2 (0.86%) SAP HANA
6 2 (0.86%) SQL Server
7 1 (0.43%) Amazon QuickSight
7 1 (0.43%) Amazon Redshift
7 1 (0.43%) Data Mart
7 1 (0.43%) Delta Lake
7 1 (0.43%) Geospatial Data
7 1 (0.43%) Semantic Layer
7 1 (0.43%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 38 (16.31%) JIRA
2 3 (1.29%) Postman
3 2 (0.86%) CircleCI
3 2 (0.86%) GitLab
3 2 (0.86%) Jenkins
3 2 (0.86%) REST Assured
3 2 (0.86%) Team Foundation Server
4 1 (0.43%) Cucumber
4 1 (0.43%) Git
4 1 (0.43%) JUnit
4 1 (0.43%) Vite
4 1 (0.43%) Zephyr
General
1 89 (38.20%) Social Skills
2 81 (34.76%) Finance
3 37 (15.88%) Analytical Skills
4 32 (13.73%) Public Sector
5 28 (12.02%) Banking
6 13 (5.58%) Legal
7 11 (4.72%) Presentation Skills
8 10 (4.29%) Influencing Skills
8 10 (4.29%) Marketing
9 6 (2.58%) Retail
9 6 (2.58%) Telecoms
10 5 (2.15%) Front Office
11 4 (1.72%) Digital Health
11 4 (1.72%) Financial Institution
12 3 (1.29%) Aerospace
12 3 (1.29%) Corporate Banking
12 3 (1.29%) Investment Banking
12 3 (1.29%) Military
13 2 (0.86%) Back Office
13 2 (0.86%) Billing
Job Titles
1 84 (36.05%) Product Owner
2 49 (21.03%) Product Manager
3 39 (16.74%) Analyst
4 31 (13.30%) Business Analyst
5 26 (11.16%) Senior
6 25 (10.73%) Lead
7 13 (5.58%) Senior Manager
8 11 (4.72%) Data Analyst
8 11 (4.72%) Product Analyst
9 10 (4.29%) Data Business Analyst
9 10 (4.29%) Scrum Master
9 10 (4.29%) Senior Product Manager
10 9 (3.86%) Delivery Manager
11 8 (3.43%) Digital Product Manager
12 5 (2.15%) Consultant
12 5 (2.15%) Insurance Business Analyst
12 5 (2.15%) Technical Analyst
13 4 (1.72%) Financial Analyst
13 4 (1.72%) Senior Security Engineer
13 4 (1.72%) Technical Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (2.58%) XML
2 4 (1.72%) YAML
3 3 (1.29%) ADO
3 3 (1.29%) JSON
3 3 (1.29%) Kafka
4 2 (0.86%) .NET
4 2 (0.86%) 802.1X
4 2 (0.86%) Elastic Stack
4 2 (0.86%) RabbitMQ
5 1 (0.43%) CSS
5 1 (0.43%) ebXML
5 1 (0.43%) HTML
5 1 (0.43%) J2EE
5 1 (0.43%) LEMP Stack
5 1 (0.43%) OAuth
5 1 (0.43%) Oracle Fusion
5 1 (0.43%) RESTful
5 1 (0.43%) SOAP
5 1 (0.43%) Tailwind CSS
5 1 (0.43%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 142 (60.94%) Product Ownership
2 13 (5.58%) Onboarding
3 9 (3.86%) Analytical Mindset
4 8 (3.43%) Data Protection Act
5 5 (2.15%) Mobile App
6 4 (1.72%) Cloud Native
6 4 (1.72%) Hybrid Cloud
6 4 (1.72%) Legacy Systems
6 4 (1.72%) Renewable Energy
6 4 (1.72%) Virtual Team
7 3 (1.29%) Data Structures
7 3 (1.29%) Greenfield Project
7 3 (1.29%) Management Information System
7 3 (1.29%) Marketing Technology
8 2 (0.86%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
8 2 (0.86%) IoT
8 2 (0.86%) Reference Data
8 2 (0.86%) Reinsurance
8 2 (0.86%) Security Posture
8 2 (0.86%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 5 (2.15%) Windows
2 4 (1.72%) Linux
3 2 (0.86%) Windows Server
4 1 (0.43%) Unix
4 1 (0.43%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 166 (71.24%) Agile
2 115 (49.36%) Roadmaps
3 104 (44.64%) Backlog Management
4 94 (40.34%) User Stories
5 91 (39.06%) Backlog Prioritisation
6 84 (36.05%) Stakeholder Management
7 72 (30.90%) Product Vision
8 64 (27.47%) Scrum
9 59 (25.32%) Continuous Improvement
9 59 (25.32%) Product Roadmap
10 54 (23.18%) Acceptance Criteria
11 41 (17.60%) Product Management
12 40 (17.17%) Problem-Solving
12 40 (17.17%) Sprint Planning
13 38 (16.31%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 37 (15.88%) Decision-Making
15 34 (14.59%) Business Case
16 32 (13.73%) DevOps
16 32 (13.73%) Product Strategy
17 27 (11.59%) Scaled Agile Framework
Programming Languages
1 18 (7.73%) SQL
2 6 (2.58%) Python
3 5 (2.15%) Java
4 4 (1.72%) JavaScript
5 3 (1.29%) Go
6 1 (0.43%) Bash
6 1 (0.43%) Korn
6 1 (0.43%) PHP
6 1 (0.43%) PL/SQL
6 1 (0.43%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 35 (15.02%) Security Cleared
2 23 (9.87%) SC Cleared
3 19 (8.15%) BPSS Clearance
4 18 (7.73%) Degree
5 11 (4.72%) CSPO
6 4 (1.72%) CBAP
6 4 (1.72%) Computer Science Degree
6 4 (1.72%) DV Cleared
6 4 (1.72%) ISEB
7 3 (1.29%) Master's Degree
8 2 (0.86%) MBA
9 1 (0.43%) AWS Certification
9 1 (0.43%) Azure Certification
9 1 (0.43%) IIBA
9 1 (0.43%) ISTQB
9 1 (0.43%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 1 (0.43%) OCP
9 1 (0.43%) Oracle Certification
9 1 (0.43%) PMI Certification
9 1 (0.43%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (9.44%) QA
2 15 (6.44%) Data Quality
3 11 (4.72%) SLA
4 7 (3.00%) Accessibility
5 5 (2.15%) GDPR
6 3 (1.29%) California Consumer Privacy Act
6 3 (1.29%) NIST
7 2 (0.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 2 (0.86%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
7 2 (0.86%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.86%) SOC 2
8 1 (0.43%) WCAG
System Software
1 5 (2.15%) Docker
2 3 (1.29%) Active Directory
3 1 (0.43%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 9 (3.86%) Kubernetes
2 3 (1.29%) CASB
3 2 (0.86%) Ansible
3 2 (0.86%) Argo
3 2 (0.86%) Grafana
3 2 (0.86%) Terraform
Vendors
1 34 (14.59%) Microsoft
2 12 (5.15%) SAP
3 11 (4.72%) Salesforce
4 9 (3.86%) Databricks
4 9 (3.86%) Oracle
5 6 (2.58%) Adobe
6 5 (2.15%) ServiceNow
7 4 (1.72%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud
8 2 (0.86%) Atlassian
8 2 (0.86%) ESRI
8 2 (0.86%) OpenLink
8 2 (0.86%) Zscaler
9 1 (0.43%) Citrix
9 1 (0.43%) Fortinet
9 1 (0.43%) GoldenSource
9 1 (0.43%) Intapp
9 1 (0.43%) MuleSoft
9 1 (0.43%) Netskope
9 1 (0.43%) Refinitiv
9 1 (0.43%) Splunk