SOAP Contract Job Trends

Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring SOAP skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 21 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 278 241 323
Rank change year-on-year -37 +82 -51
Contract jobs citing SOAP 424 319 269
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.88% 1.10% 0.63%
As % of the Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards category 4.48% 4.84% 3.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 272 219 185
10th Percentile £400 £400 £422
25th Percentile £450 £451 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% -4.55% +4.76%
75th Percentile £650 £600 £625
90th Percentile £750 £688 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -

All Software Libraries and Frameworks
UK

SOAP falls under the Software Libraries and Frameworks category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring technical specification, industry standards, software libraries and framework skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for technical specification, industry standards, software libraries and framework skills 9,462 6,589 8,907
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 19.61% 22.64% 20.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,236 4,514 6,186
10th Percentile £363 £363 £350
25th Percentile £419 £419 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year - -1.87% -2.73%
75th Percentile £623 £645 £650
90th Percentile £725 £775 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 271 110 247
10th Percentile £32.50 £30.15 £21.25
25th Percentile £51.25 £50.00 £43.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year - +36.84% -26.92%
75th Percentile £71.75 £68.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £82.19 £74.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £47.50
% change year-on-year - +36.84% -26.92%

SOAP
Job Vacancy Trend

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

SOAP job vacancy trend in the UK

SOAP
Daily Rate Trend

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing SOAP

SOAP
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SOAP over the 6 months to 21 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for SOAP in the UK

SOAP
Hourly Rate Trend

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing SOAP

SOAP
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing SOAP within the UK over the 6 months to 21 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
England -11 373 £550 +4.76% 71
London +22 209 £620 +18.10% 33
Work from Home +11 175 £550 +5.57% 37
UK excluding London -81 167 £500 - 44
South East -37 61 £525 +5.00% 20
Midlands -38 39 £475 +6.26% 11
North of England -67 34 £400 -18.70% 7
West Midlands -41 33 £475 +7.95% 7
South West -25 22 £550 -4.35% 2
North West -47 18 £394 -19.97% 4
Yorkshire -46 11 £460 -8.00% 2
Scotland -18 5 £625 +19.05% 1
North East - 5 £375 - 1
Wales -8 4 £500 +10.38%
East of England -25 4 £550 - 3
East Midlands -26 4 £478 +6.82% 4

SOAP
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 17 (4.01%) Confluence
2 14 (3.30%) SharePoint
3 12 (2.83%) Microsoft Exchange
4 10 (2.36%) Apache
4 10 (2.36%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 10 (2.36%) WebLogic
5 5 (1.18%) CICS
5 5 (1.18%) JBoss
5 5 (1.18%) Tomcat
6 4 (0.94%) Appian
6 4 (0.94%) IIS
7 3 (0.71%) Anypoint
7 3 (0.71%) CMS
7 3 (0.71%) Mule
7 3 (0.71%) Oracle Service Bus
8 2 (0.47%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.47%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.24%) Apache Solr
9 1 (0.24%) Mule ESB
9 1 (0.24%) nginx
Applications
1 6 (1.42%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (0.71%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.47%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.24%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.24%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.24%) Oracle Smart View
Business Applications
1 17 (4.01%) Oracle ERP
2 9 (2.12%) Payment Gateway
3 6 (1.42%) SAP S/4HANA
4 4 (0.94%) Maximo
4 4 (0.94%) SAP SD
5 3 (0.71%) SAP MDG
6 2 (0.47%) BusinessWorks
6 2 (0.47%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.47%) ProductWriter
6 2 (0.47%) SAP Hybris
6 2 (0.47%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
7 1 (0.24%) Oracle 11i
7 1 (0.24%) Oracle Assets
7 1 (0.24%) Oracle Cash Management
7 1 (0.24%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.24%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 1 (0.24%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.24%) SAP HR
7 1 (0.24%) SAP MM
7 1 (0.24%) SDL Web 8
Cloud Services
1 137 (32.31%) Azure
2 124 (29.25%) AWS
3 59 (13.92%) GCP
4 37 (8.73%) OCI
4 37 (8.73%) PaaS
5 36 (8.49%) Azure DevOps
6 27 (6.37%) Amazon S3
7 26 (6.13%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 25 (5.90%) Entra ID
9 22 (5.19%) Amazon EC2
10 20 (4.72%) Serverless
11 19 (4.48%) Amazon SQS
12 18 (4.25%) AWS KMS
12 18 (4.25%) GitHub
12 18 (4.25%) Route 53
13 17 (4.01%) Azure Service Bus
13 17 (4.01%) SaaS
14 15 (3.54%) Azure Key Vault
14 15 (3.54%) GitHub Actions
14 15 (3.54%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 8 (1.89%) FTP
1 8 (1.89%) HTTP
2 2 (0.47%) 5G
2 2 (0.47%) Wireshark
3 1 (0.24%) CTI
3 1 (0.24%) HTTPS
3 1 (0.24%) Modbus
3 1 (0.24%) PSTN
3 1 (0.24%) Reverse Proxy
3 1 (0.24%) RTP
3 1 (0.24%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (6.84%) DynamoDB
2 23 (5.42%) PostgreSQL
2 23 (5.42%) Relational Database
2 23 (5.42%) SQL Server
3 22 (5.19%) Amazon RDS
4 18 (4.25%) Amazon Aurora
5 10 (2.36%) Metadata
6 9 (2.12%) Oracle BI Publisher
7 7 (1.65%) DB2
7 7 (1.65%) Oracle Database
7 7 (1.65%) Oracle Reports
8 5 (1.18%) Azure SQL Database
8 5 (1.18%) Data Warehouse
8 5 (1.18%) NoSQL
8 5 (1.18%) Power BI
8 5 (1.18%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 3 (0.71%) Amazon Athena
10 2 (0.47%) BigQuery
11 1 (0.24%) Data Hub
11 1 (0.24%) Data Lake
Development Applications
1 61 (14.39%) Git
2 40 (9.43%) Jenkins
3 37 (8.73%) Postman
4 36 (8.49%) JIRA
5 30 (7.08%) JUnit
6 25 (5.90%) Mockito
7 23 (5.42%) Maven
8 22 (5.19%) SoapUI
9 19 (4.48%) GitLab
9 19 (4.48%) SonarQube
10 14 (3.30%) DbUnit
11 13 (3.07%) jMock
12 11 (2.59%) Bitbucket Server
13 9 (2.12%) Cucumber
14 8 (1.89%) Selenium
15 6 (1.42%) REST Assured
16 5 (1.18%) Ant
17 4 (0.94%) Eclipse
17 4 (0.94%) Visual Studio Code
18 3 (0.71%) Hudson
General
1 153 (36.08%) Social Skills
2 70 (16.51%) Public Sector
3 69 (16.27%) Analytical Skills
4 45 (10.61%) Finance
5 23 (5.42%) Banking
6 21 (4.95%) Telecoms
7 14 (3.30%) Documentation Skills
8 8 (1.89%) Billing
9 7 (1.65%) Retail
10 4 (0.94%) Law
10 4 (0.94%) Legal
10 4 (0.94%) Marketing
10 4 (0.94%) Military
10 4 (0.94%) Presentation Skills
11 3 (0.71%) Automotive
11 3 (0.71%) Games
12 2 (0.47%) Aerospace
12 2 (0.47%) Dutch Language
12 2 (0.47%) Financial Institution
12 2 (0.47%) French Language
Job Titles
1 146 (34.43%) Developer
2 133 (31.37%) Architect
3 42 (9.91%) ServiceNow Architect
4 35 (8.25%) CyberArk Architect
5 34 (8.02%) Lead
6 33 (7.78%) Senior
7 25 (5.90%) Consultant
8 24 (5.66%) Salesforce Developer
8 24 (5.66%) ServiceNow Developer
9 23 (5.42%) Java Developer
10 22 (5.19%) Analyst
11 19 (4.48%) Senior Developer
12 18 (4.25%) Solutions Architect
12 18 (4.25%) Technical Architect
13 16 (3.77%) Integration Specialist
14 15 (3.54%) Azure Developer
15 13 (3.07%) Business Analyst
15 13 (3.07%) Cloud Specialist
15 13 (3.07%) Oracle Specialist
16 11 (2.59%) Technical Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 381 (89.86%) REST
2 108 (25.47%) Web Services
3 96 (22.64%) XML
4 88 (20.75%) JSON
5 53 (12.50%) OAuth
6 51 (12.03%) Middleware
7 43 (10.14%) LDAP
8 35 (8.25%) AngularJS
9 33 (7.78%) Oracle Fusion
10 31 (7.31%) RESTful
10 31 (7.31%) Spring
10 31 (7.31%) Spring Boot
11 30 (7.08%) .NET
11 30 (7.08%) HTML
12 29 (6.84%) CSS
13 26 (6.13%) Lightning Web Components
14 24 (5.66%) JWT
15 23 (5.42%) XSLT
16 21 (4.95%) Hibernate
16 21 (4.95%) JPA
Miscellaneous
1 53 (12.50%) CMDB
2 45 (10.61%) Enterprise Software
3 39 (9.20%) Security Posture
4 36 (8.49%) Product Ownership
5 20 (4.72%) Distributed Systems
6 15 (3.54%) Management Information System
7 14 (3.30%) Public Cloud
8 11 (2.59%) Low-Code
9 10 (2.36%) Cloud Native
10 9 (2.12%) Onboarding
11 7 (1.65%) Client/Server
11 7 (1.65%) Data Structures
11 7 (1.65%) Legacy Systems
12 6 (1.42%) N-Tier
13 5 (1.18%) AI Agents
13 5 (1.18%) DataPower
13 5 (1.18%) Digital Wallet
13 5 (1.18%) Mainframe
13 5 (1.18%) Self-Motivation
14 4 (0.94%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 26 (6.13%) Linux
2 7 (1.65%) Unix
2 7 (1.65%) Windows
3 5 (1.18%) zOS
4 2 (0.47%) AIX
4 2 (0.47%) Ubuntu
5 1 (0.24%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 156 (36.79%) Agile
2 138 (32.55%) Problem-Solving
3 115 (27.12%) DevOps
4 111 (26.18%) ITSM
5 100 (23.58%) Integration Patterns
6 90 (21.23%) CI/CD
7 84 (19.81%) Technical Leadership
8 83 (19.58%) Data Modelling
9 68 (16.04%) Scrum
10 65 (15.33%) Stakeholder Management
11 60 (14.15%) ERP
11 60 (14.15%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 55 (12.97%) ITIL
13 49 (11.56%) Migration
14 47 (11.08%) Task Automation
14 47 (11.08%) User Acceptance Testing
15 46 (10.85%) Microservices
16 45 (10.61%) Translating Business Requirements
16 45 (10.61%) Workflow
17 43 (10.14%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 101 (23.82%) SQL
2 92 (21.70%) JavaScript
3 82 (19.34%) Java
4 63 (14.86%) Python
5 61 (14.39%) PowerShell
6 29 (6.84%) C#
7 27 (6.37%) Apex Code
8 16 (3.77%) SOQL
9 13 (3.07%) Kusto Query Language
10 10 (2.36%) PL/SQL
11 9 (2.12%) SOSL
12 7 (1.65%) Bash
13 6 (1.42%) PHP
13 6 (1.42%) Shell Script
14 5 (1.18%) Groovy
14 5 (1.18%) XPath
15 4 (0.94%) JCL
16 3 (0.71%) Korn
16 3 (0.71%) Perl
16 3 (0.71%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 153 (36.08%) Security Cleared
2 133 (31.37%) SC Cleared
3 32 (7.55%) Degree
4 20 (4.72%) Computer Science Degree
5 15 (3.54%) DV Cleared
6 10 (2.36%) AWS Certification
7 8 (1.89%) Azure Certification
7 8 (1.89%) BPSS Clearance
7 8 (1.89%) CISM
7 8 (1.89%) CISSP
7 8 (1.89%) Master's Degree
8 4 (0.94%) CCNP
8 4 (0.94%) Cisco Certification
8 4 (0.94%) TOGAF Certification
9 2 (0.47%) ISTQB
9 2 (0.47%) PMI Certification
9 2 (0.47%) PMP
10 1 (0.24%) CSPO
10 1 (0.24%) RHCA
10 1 (0.24%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (4.72%) QA
2 18 (4.25%) GDPR
3 14 (3.30%) GRC
4 13 (3.07%) Data Quality
5 7 (1.65%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 6 (1.42%) HIPAA
7 5 (1.18%) ISO 8583
7 5 (1.18%) PCI DSS
7 5 (1.18%) PSD2
8 4 (0.94%) HL7
8 4 (0.94%) ISO 20022
9 3 (0.71%) Accessibility
9 3 (0.71%) SEPA
10 2 (0.47%) NCSC
10 2 (0.47%) NIST
10 2 (0.47%) PMO
10 2 (0.47%) SLA
11 1 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 1 (0.24%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.24%) WCAG
System Software
1 44 (10.38%) Active Directory
2 29 (6.84%) Docker
3 11 (2.59%) Postfix
4 3 (0.71%) Oracle RAC
5 2 (0.47%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.24%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 18 (4.25%) Grafana
2 8 (1.89%) Kubernetes
3 7 (1.65%) Ansible
3 7 (1.65%) Single Sign-On
4 5 (1.18%) Prometheus
5 3 (0.71%) Terraform
6 2 (0.47%) TIBCO Hawk
7 1 (0.24%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 1 (0.24%) CA Endevor
7 1 (0.24%) CloudHub
7 1 (0.24%) Control-M
7 1 (0.24%) HP Fortify
7 1 (0.24%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.24%) Puppet
7 1 (0.24%) SELinux
7 1 (0.24%) systemd
Vendors
1 115 (27.12%) ServiceNow
2 84 (19.81%) Oracle
3 41 (9.67%) Salesforce
4 37 (8.73%) Microsoft
5 35 (8.25%) BeyondTrust
5 35 (8.25%) CyberArk
6 34 (8.02%) Centrify
7 31 (7.31%) SAP
8 20 (4.72%) MuleSoft
9 18 (4.25%) Workday
10 17 (4.01%) Jaspersoft
11 14 (3.30%) Atlassian
12 10 (2.36%) Pega
13 9 (2.12%) Guidewire
13 9 (2.12%) IBM
13 9 (2.12%) OutSystems
14 7 (1.65%) Dell
15 6 (1.42%) webMethods
16 4 (0.94%) InterSystems
17 3 (0.71%) Informatica