User Stories Contracts

User Story
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies requiring User Stories skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited User Stories over the 6 months leading up to 2 August 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Aug 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 137 150 120
Rank change year-on-year +13 -30 -24
Contract jobs citing User Stories 671 626 1,138
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 2.02% 1.60% 2.13%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.24% 1.87% 2.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 439 415 799
10th Percentile £350 £350 £400
25th Percentile £410 £420 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - +0.96%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £600
90th Percentile £695 £646 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £482 £500
% change year-on-year -6.54% -3.70% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 4 8
10th Percentile £23.75 - £38.70
25th Percentile £30.00 £31.71 £49.69
Median hourly rate £53.50 £32.36 £64.00
Median % change year-on-year +65.35% -49.45% +25.49%
75th Percentile - £33.02 £69.06
90th Percentile £64.90 £33.05 £73.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.75 - £37.50
% change year-on-year - - -10.71%

All Process and Methodology Skills
UK

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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 29,972 33,531 47,751
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 90.41% 85.45% 89.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,760 21,562 32,735
10th Percentile £300 £310 £320
25th Percentile £404 £413 £430
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £734 £750 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,662 1,890 1,565
10th Percentile £14.20 £14.00 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.30 £18.15 £18.57
Median hourly rate £25.15 £40.50 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -37.90% -4.71% +62.40%
75th Percentile £50.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.00 £74.59 £77.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.00 £41.25 £40.00
% change year-on-year -44.24% +3.13% +86.05%

User Stories
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing User Stories as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for User Stories in the UK

User Stories
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing User Stories.

Daily rate trend for User Stories in the UK

User Stories
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing User Stories over the 6 months to 2 August 2025.

Daily rate histogram for User Stories in the UK

User Stories
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing User Stories.

Hourly rate trend for User Stories in the UK

User Stories
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing User Stories over the 6 months to 2 August 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for User Stories in the UK

User Stories
Top 17 Contract Locations

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 UK over the 6 months to 2 August 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
England +21 553 £500 -7.41% 517
London +16 334 £525 -4.55% 316
UK excluding London +3 256 £450 -6.54% 263
Work from Home -3 222 £484 -3.20% 249
North of England +5 70 £450 -14.29% 74
Midlands +9 54 £441 -7.11% 40
South East -1 51 £488 +2.63% 83
Scotland +1 50 £429 -1.94% 12
North West +1 32 £500 -2.82% 44
Yorkshire +2 31 £450 -18.18% 25
West Midlands -3 28 £460 -5.64% 29
East Midlands +15 26 £415 +3.11% 11
South West +23 16 £475 -20.13% 25
East of England +5 13 £438 +6.06% 16
North East -2 7 £444 +5.65% 5
Wales +3 2 £465 +16.25% 5
Northern Ireland -14 2 £325 - 8

User Stories
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 103 (15.35%) Confluence
2 10 (1.49%) CMS
2 10 (1.49%) Oracle Workflow
3 8 (1.19%) WordPress
4 7 (1.04%) Apache Airflow
5 5 (0.75%) Drupal
5 5 (0.75%) nginx
6 4 (0.60%) JBoss
7 3 (0.45%) Jupyter
8 2 (0.30%) Anypoint
8 2 (0.30%) CICS
8 2 (0.30%) Microsoft Exchange
8 2 (0.30%) Oracle Self-Service HR
8 2 (0.30%) SAS
8 2 (0.30%) SharePoint
8 2 (0.30%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.15%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.15%) Appian
9 1 (0.15%) Sitecore CMS
Applications
1 40 (5.96%) MS Visio
2 37 (5.51%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (2.38%) Microsoft Office
3 16 (2.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 14 (2.09%) Trello
5 8 (1.19%) Siemens NX
6 6 (0.89%) Sketch
7 4 (0.60%) Fusion 360
8 3 (0.45%) InVision
8 3 (0.45%) Spreadsheet
9 2 (0.30%) UserZoom
10 1 (0.15%) Adobe Illustrator
10 1 (0.15%) Adobe XD
10 1 (0.15%) Microsoft Project
10 1 (0.15%) OmniGraffle
10 1 (0.15%) ProjectWise
10 1 (0.15%) Zeplin
Business Applications
1 20 (2.98%) Dynamics CRM
2 16 (2.38%) SAP S/4HANA
3 10 (1.49%) Teamcenter
4 8 (1.19%) Temenos T24
5 5 (0.75%) Oracle ERP
6 4 (0.60%) Oracle Payables
6 4 (0.60%) Primavera
6 4 (0.60%) Salesforce CRM
6 4 (0.60%) SAP HR
6 4 (0.60%) SAP PM
7 3 (0.45%) Oracle Cash Management
7 3 (0.45%) Oracle Receivables
7 3 (0.45%) Shopify
8 2 (0.30%) FLEXCUBE
8 2 (0.30%) Oracle EBS R12
8 2 (0.30%) Sage CRM
8 2 (0.30%) SAP CRM
8 2 (0.30%) Workday HCM
9 1 (0.15%) Dynamics AX
9 1 (0.15%) HFM
Cloud Services
1 98 (14.61%) Azure
2 50 (7.45%) AWS
3 46 (6.86%) Azure DevOps
4 44 (6.56%) Power Platform
5 22 (3.28%) Dynamics 365
5 22 (3.28%) GitHub
6 21 (3.13%) Figma
6 21 (3.13%) GCP
7 20 (2.98%) SaaS
8 17 (2.53%) Miro
9 14 (2.09%) Serverless
10 11 (1.64%) Salesforce Service Cloud
10 11 (1.64%) Snowflake
11 9 (1.34%) AWS Lambda
11 9 (1.34%) PowerApps
12 8 (1.19%) dbt
12 8 (1.19%) GitHub Actions
13 7 (1.04%) Amazon SQS
13 7 (1.04%) OCI
13 7 (1.04%) Vertex AI
Communications & Networking
1 4 (0.60%) DNS
2 3 (0.45%) Firewall
2 3 (0.45%) Internet
3 2 (0.30%) Cisco Nexus
3 2 (0.30%) HTTP
3 2 (0.30%) TCP/IP
3 2 (0.30%) WebEx
4 1 (0.15%) Converged Networks
4 1 (0.15%) CTI
4 1 (0.15%) Intranet
4 1 (0.15%) LAN
4 1 (0.15%) Modbus
4 1 (0.15%) MQTT
4 1 (0.15%) VPN
4 1 (0.15%) WAN
4 1 (0.15%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 36 (5.37%) Power BI
2 26 (3.87%) Data Warehouse
3 15 (2.24%) Tableau
4 12 (1.79%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (1.79%) Relational Database
5 7 (1.04%) BigQuery
6 5 (0.75%) Oracle Database
6 5 (0.75%) Oracle Reports
6 5 (0.75%) SQL Server
6 5 (0.75%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 4 (0.60%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (0.60%) Data Lake
7 4 (0.60%) GIS
7 4 (0.60%) Star Schema
8 3 (0.45%) Azure SQL Database
8 3 (0.45%) NoSQL
8 3 (0.45%) Tableau Desktop
9 2 (0.30%) Data Hub
9 2 (0.30%) DocumentDB
9 2 (0.30%) Tableau Server
Development Applications
1 182 (27.12%) JIRA
2 25 (3.73%) Git
3 14 (2.09%) Jenkins
3 14 (2.09%) Selenium
4 13 (1.94%) Postman
5 11 (1.64%) MLflow
6 10 (1.49%) GitLab
7 7 (1.04%) Cucumber
8 6 (0.89%) Axure RP
8 6 (0.89%) Cypress.io
9 5 (0.75%) JUnit
9 5 (0.75%) REST Assured
9 5 (0.75%) SonarQube
10 4 (0.60%) Gatling
10 4 (0.60%) JMeter
11 3 (0.45%) Artifactory
11 3 (0.45%) Bitbucket
11 3 (0.45%) SpecFlow
11 3 (0.45%) Zephyr
12 2 (0.30%) SoapUI
General
1 277 (41.28%) Social Skills
2 173 (25.78%) Finance
3 127 (18.93%) Analytical Skills
4 81 (12.07%) Public Sector
5 60 (8.94%) Banking
6 33 (4.92%) Marketing
7 27 (4.02%) Retail
8 24 (3.58%) Presentation Skills
9 20 (2.98%) Documentation Skills
10 16 (2.38%) Organisational Skills
11 15 (2.24%) Influencing Skills
11 15 (2.24%) Manufacturing
12 13 (1.94%) Back Office
13 12 (1.79%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 10 (1.49%) Advertising
14 10 (1.49%) Front Office
14 10 (1.49%) Investment Banking
15 9 (1.34%) Legal
15 9 (1.34%) Pharmaceutical
16 8 (1.19%) Law
Job Titles
1 341 (50.82%) Analyst
2 312 (46.50%) Business Analyst
3 86 (12.82%) Product Owner
4 63 (9.39%) Senior
5 41 (6.11%) Developer
5 41 (6.11%) Technical Analyst
6 38 (5.66%) Technical Business Analyst
7 32 (4.77%) Senior Analyst
8 31 (4.62%) Data Business Analyst
9 30 (4.47%) Product Manager
9 30 (4.47%) Senior Business Analyst
10 25 (3.73%) Architect
11 23 (3.43%) Data Analyst
12 22 (3.28%) Consultant
13 19 (2.83%) Tester
14 18 (2.68%) Agile Business Analyst
15 15 (2.24%) Designer
16 14 (2.09%) Lead
17 13 (1.94%) Salesforce Business Analyst
18 12 (1.79%) Salesforce Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (3.13%) HTML
2 19 (2.83%) SOAP
3 17 (2.53%) REST
4 16 (2.38%) ADO
5 15 (2.24%) CSS
5 15 (2.24%) RESTful
6 14 (2.09%) XML
7 12 (1.79%) AngularJS
7 12 (1.79%) OAuth
8 10 (1.49%) JSON
8 10 (1.49%) OAuth2
8 10 (1.49%) Web Services
9 8 (1.19%) .NET
9 8 (1.19%) Lightning Web Components
9 8 (1.19%) Middleware
9 8 (1.19%) React
9 8 (1.19%) Spring Boot
10 7 (1.04%) Gherkin
10 7 (1.04%) Swagger
11 6 (0.89%) Visualforce
Miscellaneous
1 198 (29.51%) Product Ownership
2 27 (4.02%) Onboarding
3 23 (3.43%) Management Information System
4 19 (2.83%) Reinsurance
5 16 (2.38%) Cloud Native
5 16 (2.38%) Data Protection Act
6 11 (1.64%) Analytical Mindset
6 11 (1.64%) Mobile App
6 11 (1.64%) SCADA
7 10 (1.49%) CMDB
7 10 (1.49%) Data Structures
7 10 (1.49%) Greenfield Project
8 9 (1.34%) Legacy Systems
8 9 (1.34%) Marketing Technology
8 9 (1.34%) PMI
9 8 (1.19%) Algorithms
9 8 (1.19%) Virtual Team
10 7 (1.04%) Digital Media
10 7 (1.04%) Public Cloud
10 7 (1.04%) SWIFT Messaging Network
Operating Systems
1 10 (1.49%) Linux
2 6 (0.89%) Windows
3 4 (0.60%) Android
3 4 (0.60%) Apple iOS
4 2 (0.30%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 480 (71.54%) Agile
2 168 (25.04%) Scrum
3 161 (23.99%) Acceptance Criteria
4 142 (21.16%) Stakeholder Management
5 127 (18.93%) Business Analysis
6 126 (18.78%) Problem-Solving
7 124 (18.48%) Roadmaps
8 118 (17.59%) Requirements Gathering
9 109 (16.24%) Workshop Facilitation
10 97 (14.46%) User Acceptance Testing
11 95 (14.16%) DevOps
12 93 (13.86%) Product Backlog
13 91 (13.56%) User Experience
14 89 (13.26%) Backlog Management
15 84 (12.52%) Sprint Planning
16 79 (11.77%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 77 (11.48%) Use Case
18 76 (11.33%) Continuous Improvement
19 70 (10.43%) Analytics
20 68 (10.13%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 66 (9.84%) SQL
2 39 (5.81%) Python
3 38 (5.66%) Java
4 27 (4.02%) JavaScript
5 12 (1.79%) C#
6 9 (1.34%) Apex Code
7 7 (1.04%) TypeScript
7 7 (1.04%) VBA
8 6 (0.89%) PowerShell
9 5 (0.75%) Bash
9 5 (0.75%) Ruby
10 4 (0.60%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 4 (0.60%) R
11 3 (0.45%) Go
11 3 (0.45%) Groovy
11 3 (0.45%) ProC
12 2 (0.30%) COBOL
12 2 (0.30%) JCL
12 2 (0.30%) PHP
12 2 (0.30%) REXX
Qualifications
1 85 (12.67%) Security Cleared
2 81 (12.07%) Degree
3 55 (8.20%) SC Cleared
4 18 (2.68%) Computer Science Degree
5 15 (2.24%) CBAP
6 14 (2.09%) BPSS Clearance
7 11 (1.64%) PMI Certification
8 9 (1.34%) CSPO
9 8 (1.19%) DV Cleared
9 8 (1.19%) IIBA
10 6 (0.89%) Master's Degree
11 5 (0.75%) ISTQB
12 3 (0.45%) AWS Certification
12 3 (0.45%) PMP
13 2 (0.30%) SAFe Agilist
13 2 (0.30%) Six Sigma Black Belt
13 2 (0.30%) Six Sigma Green Belt
14 1 (0.15%) APMP
14 1 (0.15%) Cisco Certification
14 1 (0.15%) ISEB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 85 (12.67%) QA
2 24 (3.58%) Accessibility
3 20 (2.98%) Data Quality
4 17 (2.53%) GDPR
5 9 (1.34%) GRC
6 6 (0.89%) MiFID
7 5 (0.75%) Basel III
7 5 (0.75%) WCAG
8 4 (0.60%) FIPS 140-2
8 4 (0.60%) PCI DSS
8 4 (0.60%) PMO
9 3 (0.45%) COBIT
9 3 (0.45%) COREP
9 3 (0.45%) FINREP
9 3 (0.45%) IFRS
9 3 (0.45%) IFRS 9
9 3 (0.45%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 2 (0.30%) EMIR
10 2 (0.30%) HL7
10 2 (0.30%) SLA
System Software
1 23 (3.43%) Docker
2 3 (0.45%) Active Directory
3 1 (0.15%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 18 (2.68%) Terraform
2 17 (2.53%) Kubernetes
3 11 (1.64%) Ansible
4 8 (1.19%) Puppet
5 7 (1.04%) Kubeflow
6 5 (0.75%) Grafana
6 5 (0.75%) Progress Chef
6 5 (0.75%) Prometheus
7 4 (0.60%) HP ALM
7 4 (0.60%) NetBackup
7 4 (0.60%) Single Sign-On
8 3 (0.45%) Microsoft Intune
9 2 (0.30%) HP Data Protector
9 2 (0.30%) SCCM
10 1 (0.15%) Argo
10 1 (0.15%) CloudHub
10 1 (0.15%) HP Quality Center
10 1 (0.15%) MIIS
10 1 (0.15%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 68 (10.13%) Microsoft
2 55 (8.20%) Salesforce
3 41 (6.11%) Oracle
4 40 (5.96%) SAP
5 15 (2.24%) ServiceNow
6 9 (1.34%) Adobe
6 9 (1.34%) MuleSoft
6 9 (1.34%) Siemens
7 8 (1.19%) Temenos
8 7 (1.04%) Pega
8 7 (1.04%) Workday
9 5 (0.75%) Alteryx
9 5 (0.75%) Ariba
9 5 (0.75%) Atlassian
9 5 (0.75%) Citrix
9 5 (0.75%) FIS
9 5 (0.75%) Guidewire
9 5 (0.75%) Palantir
10 4 (0.60%) Informatica
10 4 (0.60%) Murex