XML Contract Job Trends

XML
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring XML skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 26 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 302 233 180
Rank change year-on-year -69 -53 +15
Contract jobs citing XML 455 379 525
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.83% 1.15% 1.37%
As % of the Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards category 3.82% 4.40% 5.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 316 250 282
10th Percentile £325 £335 £324
25th Percentile £405 £415 £430
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £504
Median % change year-on-year - -0.74% -8.41%
75th Percentile £605 £586 £589
90th Percentile £700 £688 £656
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £475 £500
% change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 26 44
10th Percentile - £30.63 -
25th Percentile £29.07 £31.25 -
Median hourly rate £30.00 £42.75 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year -29.82% -0.58% -36.30%
75th Percentile £42.38 £43.75 -
90th Percentile £46.80 £91.88 £85.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.00 £42.50 £43.00
% change year-on-year -29.41% -1.16% -11.74%

All Software Libraries and Frameworks
UK

XML 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 11,903 8,611 9,486
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 21.69% 26.03% 24.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,828 5,738 6,200
10th Percentile £375 £353 £356
25th Percentile £438 £413 £434
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £550
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -6.82% -
75th Percentile £638 £625 £650
90th Percentile £738 £725 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -3.75%
Number of hourly rates quoted 286 191 190
10th Percentile £29.07 £31.25 £25.60
25th Percentile £47.35 £41.25 £43.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £61.60
Median % change year-on-year +18.18% -10.71% +2.67%
75th Percentile £77.00 £65.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £90.00 £72.50 £74.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.47 £58.75 £65.00
% change year-on-year +14.84% -9.62% +10.11%

XML
Job Vacancy Trend

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

XML job vacancy trend in the UK

XML
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

XML
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing XML over the 6 months to 26 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for XML in the UK

XML
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

XML
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing XML over the 6 months to 26 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for XML in the UK

XML
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing XML within the UK over the 6 months to 26 September 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 -81 358 £485 -3.00% 350
London -46 194 £538 +2.38% 193
UK excluding London -92 174 £450 -5.26% 185
Work from Home -43 152 £525 +7.69% 141
South East -63 48 £460 -3.16% 52
Midlands -25 42 £418 -2.79% 26
West Midlands -28 35 £415 -3.49% 19
North of England -77 29 £381 -23.80% 36
Scotland -12 20 £450 -5.26% 20
South West -35 18 £575 +53.33% 23
North West -55 18 £416 -12.46% 19
East of England -53 12 £509 +4.41% 18
Yorkshire -35 11 £380 -41.54% 14
East Midlands -13 6 £494 +82.96% 7
Wales -23 3 £600 +60.00% 7
Northern Ireland - 3 £650 - 6
Channel Islands - 1 £450 -

XML
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 34 (7.47%) SharePoint
2 20 (4.40%) Confluence
3 16 (3.52%) Anypoint
3 16 (3.52%) IIS
3 16 (3.52%) Oracle Workflow
4 13 (2.86%) Mule
5 10 (2.20%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 7 (1.54%) WebSphere
7 6 (1.32%) Apache
8 5 (1.10%) WebLogic
9 3 (0.66%) Apache Airflow
9 3 (0.66%) MQSeries
9 3 (0.66%) Oracle Service Bus
10 2 (0.44%) CICS
10 2 (0.44%) CMS
11 1 (0.22%) Apache Spark
11 1 (0.22%) JBoss
11 1 (0.22%) Jupyter
11 1 (0.22%) Mule ESB
11 1 (0.22%) Tomcat
Applications
1 13 (2.86%) Microsoft Excel
2 12 (2.64%) Microsoft Office
3 8 (1.76%) MS Visio
3 8 (1.76%) Windchill
4 7 (1.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.66%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.22%) FrameMaker
6 1 (0.22%) LaTeX
Business Applications
1 23 (5.05%) Oracle EBS
2 18 (3.96%) Dynamics CRM
3 17 (3.74%) NetSuite
4 15 (3.30%) Oracle Payables
5 12 (2.64%) Oracle Receivables
6 11 (2.42%) SAP S/4HANA
7 8 (1.76%) Oracle General Ledger
8 7 (1.54%) Oracle FAH
8 7 (1.54%) Workday HCM
9 6 (1.32%) Maximo
9 6 (1.32%) Oracle Assets
9 6 (1.32%) Oracle Financials
9 6 (1.32%) SAP FI
10 5 (1.10%) Elite 3E
10 5 (1.10%) FLEXCUBE
11 4 (0.88%) Oracle E-Business Tax
11 4 (0.88%) Oracle Internet Expenses
11 4 (0.88%) Oracle iProcurement
11 4 (0.88%) SAP CO
11 4 (0.88%) SAP FI/CO
Cloud Services
1 130 (28.57%) Azure
2 68 (14.95%) AWS
3 56 (12.31%) Azure DevOps
4 47 (10.33%) Boomi
5 35 (7.69%) GCP
6 26 (5.71%) Power Platform
7 22 (4.84%) AtomSphere
7 22 (4.84%) Azure Service Bus
8 21 (4.62%) Dynamics 365
9 19 (4.18%) Azure Functions
9 19 (4.18%) Entra ID
9 19 (4.18%) GitHub
9 19 (4.18%) Power Automate
9 19 (4.18%) Serverless
10 18 (3.96%) Azure Logic Apps
11 17 (3.74%) SaaS
12 15 (3.30%) iPaaS
13 12 (2.64%) PowerApps
14 8 (1.76%) Azure Data Factory
14 8 (1.76%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 35 (7.69%) HTTP
2 10 (2.20%) FTP
3 7 (1.54%) SSL
4 6 (1.32%) TCP/IP
5 5 (1.10%) Network Security
6 3 (0.66%) Wireless
7 2 (0.44%) DNS
7 2 (0.44%) HTTPS
7 2 (0.44%) Internet
7 2 (0.44%) Intranet
7 2 (0.44%) SD-WAN
7 2 (0.44%) WAN
7 2 (0.44%) X.509
8 1 (0.22%) Bluetooth
8 1 (0.22%) Firewall
8 1 (0.22%) MQTT
8 1 (0.22%) NAS
8 1 (0.22%) NFC
8 1 (0.22%) SAN
8 1 (0.22%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 64 (14.07%) SQL Server
2 38 (8.35%) Relational Database
3 26 (5.71%) Oracle Database
4 25 (5.49%) PostgreSQL
5 17 (3.74%) Oracle Reports
6 16 (3.52%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 13 (2.86%) MySQL
8 12 (2.64%) MS Access
8 12 (2.64%) Oracle BI Publisher
9 11 (2.42%) Metadata
9 11 (2.42%) RDBMS
9 11 (2.42%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 10 (2.20%) MongoDB
11 8 (1.76%) NoSQL
12 7 (1.54%) Data Lake
12 7 (1.54%) Power BI
12 7 (1.54%) Tableau
13 6 (1.32%) Data Warehouse
13 6 (1.32%) Parquet
14 5 (1.10%) DataStage
Development Applications
1 71 (15.60%) Git
2 46 (10.11%) JIRA
3 28 (6.15%) Jenkins
4 25 (5.49%) Team Foundation Server
5 24 (5.27%) Postman
6 23 (5.05%) Visual Studio
7 18 (3.96%) Oracle Forms
7 18 (3.96%) Selenium
8 12 (2.64%) Gradle
9 11 (2.42%) Maven
10 10 (2.20%) JMeter
10 10 (2.20%) SonarQube
11 9 (1.98%) eggPlant
12 8 (1.76%) GitLab
12 8 (1.76%) SoapUI
12 8 (1.76%) WebDriver
13 7 (1.54%) Cucumber
14 6 (1.32%) JDeveloper
14 6 (1.32%) JUnit
14 6 (1.32%) LoadRunner
General
1 151 (33.19%) Social Skills
2 109 (23.96%) Finance
3 101 (22.20%) Analytical Skills
4 55 (12.09%) Public Sector
5 44 (9.67%) Banking
6 16 (3.52%) Manufacturing
7 15 (3.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 12 (2.64%) Telecoms
9 11 (2.42%) Law
10 9 (1.98%) Documentation Skills
10 9 (1.98%) Publishing
11 8 (1.76%) General Ledger
11 8 (1.76%) Legal
11 8 (1.76%) Retail
12 6 (1.32%) Aerospace
12 6 (1.32%) Financial Institution
12 6 (1.32%) Investment Banking
12 6 (1.32%) Organisational Skills
12 6 (1.32%) Police
13 5 (1.10%) Front Office
Job Titles
1 161 (35.38%) Developer
2 58 (12.75%) Senior
3 46 (10.11%) Architect
4 39 (8.57%) Consultant
5 37 (8.13%) Analyst
6 35 (7.69%) Lead
7 27 (5.93%) Senior Developer
8 23 (5.05%) Data Engineer
8 23 (5.05%) Software Developer
9 17 (3.74%) Solutions Architect
10 16 (3.52%) Integration Developer
10 16 (3.52%) Lead Developer
11 15 (3.30%) Business Analyst
12 13 (2.86%) C# Developer
12 13 (2.86%) Dynamics 365 Developer
12 13 (2.86%) Software Engineer
12 13 (2.86%) Technical Consultant
13 12 (2.64%) Test Analyst
14 11 (2.42%) .NET Developer
14 11 (2.42%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 240 (52.75%) JSON
2 186 (40.88%) REST
3 163 (35.82%) SOAP
4 89 (19.56%) .NET
5 85 (18.68%) Web Services
6 83 (18.24%) Middleware
7 61 (13.41%) XSLT
8 47 (10.33%) HTML
9 44 (9.67%) Kafka
9 44 (9.67%) OAuth
10 31 (6.81%) RESTful
11 28 (6.15%) .NET Framework
11 28 (6.15%) OAuth2
12 26 (5.71%) CSS
13 24 (5.27%) EDI
13 24 (5.27%) JWT
14 23 (5.05%) Swagger
15 19 (4.18%) OpenAPI
16 18 (3.96%) XSD
17 17 (3.74%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 25 (5.49%) Enterprise Software
2 20 (4.40%) Legacy Systems
3 19 (4.18%) Product Ownership
4 18 (3.96%) SWIFT Messaging Network
5 17 (3.74%) Cloud Native
6 16 (3.52%) Data Structures
6 16 (3.52%) Distributed Systems
6 16 (3.52%) Management Information System
6 16 (3.52%) Onboarding
7 13 (2.86%) Taxonomies
8 11 (2.42%) Replication
9 10 (2.20%) CMDB
9 10 (2.20%) Legacy Applications
10 9 (1.98%) LIMS
11 8 (1.76%) PKI
11 8 (1.76%) Self-Motivation
12 7 (1.54%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
12 7 (1.54%) Hybrid Cloud
12 7 (1.54%) Virtual Team
13 6 (1.32%) AI Agents
Operating Systems
1 40 (8.79%) Linux
2 32 (7.03%) Windows
3 26 (5.71%) Unix
4 10 (2.20%) Windows Server
5 4 (0.88%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (0.66%) zOS
7 2 (0.44%) Mac OS X
8 1 (0.22%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 141 (30.99%) Problem-Solving
2 113 (24.84%) Agile
3 108 (23.74%) DevOps
4 102 (22.42%) CI/CD
5 82 (18.02%) Validation
6 64 (14.07%) Integration Patterns
7 62 (13.63%) Test Automation
8 61 (13.41%) Stakeholder Management
8 61 (13.41%) Workflow
9 59 (12.97%) Data Modelling
10 54 (11.87%) Continuous Improvement
11 52 (11.43%) Event-Driven
11 52 (11.43%) Migration
12 50 (10.99%) ERP
13 47 (10.33%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 43 (9.45%) Scrum
15 41 (9.01%) Data Mapping
15 41 (9.01%) Technical Leadership
16 40 (8.79%) Software Engineering
16 40 (8.79%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 181 (39.78%) SQL
2 106 (23.30%) Java
3 101 (22.20%) JavaScript
4 86 (18.90%) C#
5 83 (18.24%) Python
6 37 (8.13%) PL/SQL
7 28 (6.15%) PowerShell
8 24 (5.27%) VB.NET
9 23 (5.05%) VBA
10 22 (4.84%) Groovy
11 20 (4.40%) C++
12 19 (4.18%) T-SQL
12 19 (4.18%) VB
13 18 (3.96%) VB6
14 16 (3.52%) XPath
15 13 (2.86%) TypeScript
16 10 (2.20%) Shell Script
17 7 (1.54%) ABAP
17 7 (1.54%) Bicep
17 7 (1.54%) C
Qualifications
1 135 (29.67%) Security Cleared
2 111 (24.40%) SC Cleared
3 49 (10.77%) Degree
4 24 (5.27%) BPSS Clearance
5 17 (3.74%) DV Cleared
6 16 (3.52%) ISTQB
7 14 (3.08%) Computer Science Degree
8 11 (2.42%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 11 (2.42%) Microsoft Certification
9 8 (1.76%) ISEB
10 6 (1.32%) Azure Certification
11 5 (1.10%) TOGAF Certification
12 4 (0.88%) Master's Degree
13 3 (0.66%) AWS Certification
14 2 (0.44%) CISSP
14 2 (0.44%) DBS Check
14 2 (0.44%) GIAC
14 2 (0.44%) SSCP
15 1 (0.22%) CEH
15 1 (0.22%) GCIA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (8.35%) QA
2 27 (5.93%) Data Quality
3 20 (4.40%) ISO 20022
4 17 (3.74%) Accessibility
5 14 (3.08%) GDPR
5 14 (3.08%) WCAG
6 9 (1.98%) GMP
7 8 (1.76%) 21 CFR Part 11
7 8 (1.76%) GxP
7 8 (1.76%) ISO/IEC 17025
8 6 (1.32%) SLA
9 5 (1.10%) GRC
9 5 (1.10%) HL7
10 4 (0.88%) ISO 15022
11 3 (0.66%) SEPA
12 2 (0.44%) NCSC
13 1 (0.22%) IFRS
13 1 (0.22%) NIST
13 1 (0.22%) NIST 800
13 1 (0.22%) PSD2
System Software
1 17 (3.74%) Active Directory
1 17 (3.74%) Docker
2 5 (1.10%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (0.44%) RACF
4 1 (0.22%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.22%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 18 (3.96%) Kubernetes
2 16 (3.52%) Ansible
2 16 (3.52%) Single Sign-On
3 5 (1.10%) Control-M
3 5 (1.10%) HP Fortify
4 3 (0.66%) QRadar
4 3 (0.66%) vRealize Orchestrator
4 3 (0.66%) WMI
5 2 (0.44%) CloudHub
5 2 (0.44%) Netcool
5 2 (0.44%) Netcool/OMNIbus
5 2 (0.44%) Tivoli
5 2 (0.44%) Tivoli Monitoring
6 1 (0.22%) Apache Ranger
6 1 (0.22%) Grafana
6 1 (0.22%) HP Quality Center
6 1 (0.22%) Kibana
6 1 (0.22%) Prometheus
6 1 (0.22%) vRealize
Vendors
1 135 (29.67%) Oracle
2 116 (25.49%) Microsoft
3 49 (10.77%) SAP
4 47 (10.33%) IBM
5 39 (8.57%) MuleSoft
6 38 (8.35%) ServiceNow
7 31 (6.81%) Salesforce
8 28 (6.15%) Google
9 25 (5.49%) Workday
10 13 (2.86%) Okta
11 12 (2.64%) Databricks
11 12 (2.64%) Informatica
12 10 (2.20%) TIBCO
12 10 (2.20%) webMethods
13 9 (1.98%) WSO2
14 8 (1.76%) BeyondTrust
14 8 (1.76%) PTC
15 5 (1.10%) Intapp
15 5 (1.10%) Kronos
15 5 (1.10%) VMware