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 11 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 302 243 182
Rank change year-on-year -59 -61 +14
Contract jobs citing XML 442 378 532
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.81% 1.14% 1.38%
As % of the Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards category 3.73% 4.48% 5.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 311 251 290
10th Percentile £325 £350 £325
25th Percentile £407 £413 £430
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% -9.09%
75th Percentile £601 £575 £619
90th Percentile £700 £688 £689
UK excluding London median daily rate £437 £465 £500
% change year-on-year -5.97% -7.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 26 44
10th Percentile £28.60 £30.63 -
25th Percentile £29.07 £31.25 -
Median hourly rate £29.54 £42.75 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year -30.91% -0.58% -38.57%
75th Percentile £41.75 £43.75 -
90th Percentile £43.38 £91.88 £85.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.54 £42.50 £43.00
% change year-on-year -30.51% -1.16% -38.57%

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 11,843 8,430 9,520
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 21.69% 25.53% 24.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,765 5,674 6,372
10th Percentile £375 £355 £359
25th Percentile £435 £413 £438
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £550
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -6.82% -
75th Percentile £634 £629 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £507 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +6.63% -5.00% -2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 290 182 187
10th Percentile £29.07 £31.25 £25.60
25th Percentile £45.31 £40.88 £43.00
Median hourly rate £66.83 £52.50 £61.60
Median % change year-on-year +27.30% -14.77% -1.44%
75th Percentile £76.00 £65.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £90.00 £74.75 £74.65
UK excluding London median hourly rate £68.00 £55.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +23.64% -15.38% +8.33%

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 11 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 11 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 11 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 -84 349 £488 -2.50% 132
London -36 193 £538 +2.38% 61
UK excluding London -95 171 £437 -5.97% 93
Work from Home -73 146 £525 +9.38% 66
South East -53 47 £460 -3.16% 33
Midlands -26 41 £415 -3.49% 19
West Midlands -29 33 £410 -11.83% 13
North of England -85 30 £375 -16.94% 4
North West -56 22 £375 -16.67% 2
Scotland -3 20 £450 -10.00% 12
South West -43 18 £550 +46.67% 13
East of England -52 10 £480 -1.64% 7
Yorkshire -37 8 £378 -31.36% 2
East Midlands -10 7 £494 +82.96% 6
Northern Ireland +4 3 £650 +59.51% 2
Wales -27 3 £600 +60.00% 3
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 32 (7.24%) SharePoint
2 20 (4.52%) Confluence
3 17 (3.85%) Anypoint
3 17 (3.85%) Oracle Workflow
4 16 (3.62%) IIS
5 13 (2.94%) Mule
6 10 (2.26%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 7 (1.58%) WebSphere
8 6 (1.36%) Apache
9 5 (1.13%) WebLogic
10 3 (0.68%) Apache Airflow
10 3 (0.68%) CMS
10 3 (0.68%) MQSeries
10 3 (0.68%) Oracle Service Bus
11 2 (0.45%) CICS
12 1 (0.23%) JBoss
12 1 (0.23%) Jupyter
12 1 (0.23%) Mule ESB
12 1 (0.23%) Oracle Self-Service HR
12 1 (0.23%) Tomcat
Applications
1 14 (3.17%) Microsoft Excel
2 12 (2.71%) Microsoft Office
3 7 (1.58%) MS Visio
4 6 (1.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.68%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.45%) Windchill
7 1 (0.23%) FrameMaker
7 1 (0.23%) LaTeX
Business Applications
1 22 (4.98%) Oracle EBS
2 16 (3.62%) Dynamics CRM
2 16 (3.62%) NetSuite
2 16 (3.62%) Oracle Payables
3 13 (2.94%) Oracle Receivables
4 10 (2.26%) SAP S/4HANA
5 9 (2.04%) Oracle General Ledger
6 7 (1.58%) Oracle Assets
6 7 (1.58%) Oracle FAH
7 6 (1.36%) Maximo
7 6 (1.36%) Oracle Financials
8 5 (1.13%) Elite 3E
8 5 (1.13%) FLEXCUBE
8 5 (1.13%) SAP FI
8 5 (1.13%) Workday HCM
9 4 (0.90%) Oracle E-Business Tax
9 4 (0.90%) Oracle Internet Expenses
9 4 (0.90%) Oracle iProcurement
10 3 (0.68%) Infor LN
10 3 (0.68%) Oracle Cash Management
Cloud Services
1 117 (26.47%) Azure
2 61 (13.80%) AWS
3 54 (12.22%) Azure DevOps
4 44 (9.95%) Boomi
5 30 (6.79%) GCP
6 21 (4.75%) AtomSphere
6 21 (4.75%) Power Platform
7 20 (4.52%) Azure Service Bus
7 20 (4.52%) GitHub
8 18 (4.07%) Azure Logic Apps
8 18 (4.07%) Entra ID
9 17 (3.85%) Dynamics 365
10 16 (3.62%) Azure Functions
10 16 (3.62%) SaaS
10 16 (3.62%) Serverless
11 15 (3.39%) Power Automate
12 12 (2.71%) iPaaS
13 10 (2.26%) GitHub Actions
14 9 (2.04%) Azure Data Factory
14 9 (2.04%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 31 (7.01%) HTTP
2 9 (2.04%) FTP
3 7 (1.58%) SSL
4 6 (1.36%) TCP/IP
5 5 (1.13%) Network Security
6 3 (0.68%) Wireless
7 2 (0.45%) DNS
7 2 (0.45%) HTTPS
7 2 (0.45%) Internet
7 2 (0.45%) Intranet
7 2 (0.45%) SD-WAN
7 2 (0.45%) WAN
8 1 (0.23%) Bluetooth
8 1 (0.23%) Firewall
8 1 (0.23%) NAS
8 1 (0.23%) NFC
8 1 (0.23%) SAN
8 1 (0.23%) VPN
8 1 (0.23%) X.509
Database & Business Intelligence
1 58 (13.12%) SQL Server
2 40 (9.05%) Relational Database
3 25 (5.66%) Oracle Database
4 22 (4.98%) PostgreSQL
5 17 (3.85%) Oracle Reports
6 14 (3.17%) RDBMS
6 14 (3.17%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 13 (2.94%) Metadata
7 13 (2.94%) Oracle BI Publisher
8 12 (2.71%) MS Access
9 11 (2.49%) MySQL
9 11 (2.49%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 10 (2.26%) MongoDB
11 8 (1.81%) Data Warehouse
11 8 (1.81%) NoSQL
12 7 (1.58%) DataStage
12 7 (1.58%) Power BI
12 7 (1.58%) Tableau
13 6 (1.36%) Data Lake
14 5 (1.13%) Parquet
Development Applications
1 61 (13.80%) Git
2 45 (10.18%) JIRA
3 25 (5.66%) Jenkins
3 25 (5.66%) Postman
4 22 (4.98%) Team Foundation Server
4 22 (4.98%) Visual Studio
5 19 (4.30%) Oracle Forms
5 19 (4.30%) Selenium
6 11 (2.49%) Gradle
6 11 (2.49%) JMeter
7 10 (2.26%) GitLab
7 10 (2.26%) Maven
8 9 (2.04%) SonarQube
9 8 (1.81%) eggPlant
9 8 (1.81%) SoapUI
9 8 (1.81%) WebDriver
10 6 (1.36%) Cucumber
10 6 (1.36%) JDeveloper
10 6 (1.36%) LoadRunner
11 5 (1.13%) JUnit
General
1 147 (33.26%) Social Skills
2 104 (23.53%) Finance
3 100 (22.62%) Analytical Skills
4 51 (11.54%) Public Sector
5 43 (9.73%) Banking
6 12 (2.71%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 12 (2.71%) Manufacturing
6 12 (2.71%) Telecoms
7 9 (2.04%) General Ledger
7 9 (2.04%) Law
7 9 (2.04%) Legal
8 8 (1.81%) Documentation Skills
8 8 (1.81%) Organisational Skills
8 8 (1.81%) Publishing
8 8 (1.81%) Retail
9 7 (1.58%) Investment Banking
10 6 (1.36%) Police
11 5 (1.13%) Aerospace
12 4 (0.90%) Financial Institution
12 4 (0.90%) Front Office
Job Titles
1 148 (33.48%) Developer
2 57 (12.90%) Senior
3 46 (10.41%) Architect
4 42 (9.50%) Analyst
5 36 (8.14%) Consultant
6 31 (7.01%) Lead
7 27 (6.11%) Senior Developer
8 23 (5.20%) Data Engineer
9 22 (4.98%) Software Developer
10 17 (3.85%) Business Analyst
11 16 (3.62%) Solutions Architect
12 14 (3.17%) Integration Developer
13 13 (2.94%) C# Developer
13 13 (2.94%) Lead Developer
13 13 (2.94%) Software Engineer
14 12 (2.71%) Technical Consultant
14 12 (2.71%) Test Analyst
15 11 (2.49%) Oracle Developer
16 10 (2.26%) .NET Developer
16 10 (2.26%) Integration Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 227 (51.36%) JSON
2 171 (38.69%) REST
3 151 (34.16%) SOAP
4 87 (19.68%) .NET
5 77 (17.42%) Middleware
5 77 (17.42%) Web Services
6 56 (12.67%) XSLT
7 43 (9.73%) HTML
8 42 (9.50%) OAuth
9 41 (9.28%) Kafka
10 28 (6.33%) OAuth2
11 27 (6.11%) .NET Framework
11 27 (6.11%) RESTful
12 26 (5.88%) EDI
13 25 (5.66%) CSS
14 24 (5.43%) JWT
15 22 (4.98%) Swagger
16 18 (4.07%) OpenAPI
17 17 (3.85%) XSD
18 16 (3.62%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 21 (4.75%) Enterprise Software
2 20 (4.52%) Legacy Systems
3 19 (4.30%) Product Ownership
4 18 (4.07%) SWIFT Messaging Network
5 17 (3.85%) Data Structures
6 16 (3.62%) Cloud Native
7 15 (3.39%) Distributed Systems
8 13 (2.94%) Management Information System
9 11 (2.49%) Onboarding
9 11 (2.49%) Replication
9 11 (2.49%) Taxonomies
10 9 (2.04%) Legacy Applications
10 9 (2.04%) LIMS
11 8 (1.81%) CMDB
11 8 (1.81%) PKI
12 7 (1.58%) Hybrid Cloud
13 6 (1.36%) Algorithms
13 6 (1.36%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
13 6 (1.36%) Self-Motivation
13 6 (1.36%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 35 (7.92%) Linux
2 32 (7.24%) Windows
3 26 (5.88%) Unix
4 10 (2.26%) Windows Server
5 4 (0.90%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (0.68%) zOS
7 1 (0.23%) Android
7 1 (0.23%) Mac OS X
7 1 (0.23%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 134 (30.32%) Problem-Solving
2 108 (24.43%) Agile
3 100 (22.62%) CI/CD
3 100 (22.62%) DevOps
4 84 (19.00%) Validation
5 64 (14.48%) Integration Patterns
6 62 (14.03%) Workflow
7 61 (13.80%) Test Automation
8 59 (13.35%) Stakeholder Management
9 56 (12.67%) Data Modelling
10 50 (11.31%) Event-Driven
10 50 (11.31%) Migration
11 49 (11.09%) Continuous Improvement
12 46 (10.41%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 44 (9.95%) ERP
14 42 (9.50%) Scrum
15 40 (9.05%) User Acceptance Testing
16 39 (8.82%) API Management
17 38 (8.60%) Data Mapping
17 38 (8.60%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 181 (40.95%) SQL
2 102 (23.08%) Java
3 89 (20.14%) JavaScript
4 81 (18.33%) C#
5 79 (17.87%) Python
6 38 (8.60%) PL/SQL
7 24 (5.43%) VB.NET
8 23 (5.20%) PowerShell
8 23 (5.20%) VBA
9 21 (4.75%) Groovy
10 20 (4.52%) C++
11 18 (4.07%) T-SQL
11 18 (4.07%) VB
12 17 (3.85%) VB6
13 15 (3.39%) XPath
14 9 (2.04%) TypeScript
15 7 (1.58%) ABAP
15 7 (1.58%) Bicep
15 7 (1.58%) Shell Script
16 6 (1.36%) DataWeave
Qualifications
1 130 (29.41%) Security Cleared
2 107 (24.21%) SC Cleared
3 43 (9.73%) Degree
4 23 (5.20%) BPSS Clearance
5 16 (3.62%) ISTQB
6 15 (3.39%) DV Cleared
7 12 (2.71%) Computer Science Degree
8 11 (2.49%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 9 (2.04%) Microsoft Certification
10 8 (1.81%) ISEB
11 5 (1.13%) AWS Certification
11 5 (1.13%) Azure Certification
11 5 (1.13%) TOGAF Certification
12 4 (0.90%) Master's Degree
13 3 (0.68%) DBS Check
14 2 (0.45%) CISSP
14 2 (0.45%) GIAC
14 2 (0.45%) SSCP
15 1 (0.23%) CISM
15 1 (0.23%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (8.37%) QA
2 25 (5.66%) Data Quality
3 20 (4.52%) ISO 20022
4 15 (3.39%) Accessibility
5 13 (2.94%) GDPR
6 12 (2.71%) WCAG
7 9 (2.04%) GMP
8 8 (1.81%) 21 CFR Part 11
8 8 (1.81%) GxP
8 8 (1.81%) ISO/IEC 17025
9 6 (1.36%) HL7
9 6 (1.36%) SLA
10 5 (1.13%) GRC
11 4 (0.90%) ISO 15022
12 3 (0.68%) SEPA
13 2 (0.45%) NCSC
14 1 (0.23%) Cyber Essentials
14 1 (0.23%) NIST
14 1 (0.23%) NIST 800
14 1 (0.23%) PSD2
System Software
1 16 (3.62%) Active Directory
2 12 (2.71%) Docker
3 5 (1.13%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.45%) RACF
5 1 (0.23%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.23%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 15 (3.39%) Ansible
1 15 (3.39%) Single Sign-On
2 13 (2.94%) Kubernetes
3 5 (1.13%) Control-M
3 5 (1.13%) HP Fortify
4 3 (0.68%) QRadar
4 3 (0.68%) vRealize Orchestrator
4 3 (0.68%) WMI
5 2 (0.45%) CloudHub
6 1 (0.23%) Apache Ranger
6 1 (0.23%) Grafana
6 1 (0.23%) HP Quality Center
6 1 (0.23%) Kibana
6 1 (0.23%) vRealize
Vendors
1 137 (31.00%) Oracle
2 108 (24.43%) Microsoft
3 47 (10.63%) SAP
4 42 (9.50%) IBM
5 38 (8.60%) MuleSoft
6 32 (7.24%) ServiceNow
7 30 (6.79%) Salesforce
8 26 (5.88%) Google
9 23 (5.20%) Workday
10 13 (2.94%) Okta
11 11 (2.49%) Informatica
12 10 (2.26%) Databricks
12 10 (2.26%) webMethods
13 9 (2.04%) TIBCO
14 8 (1.81%) BeyondTrust
14 8 (1.81%) WSO2
15 5 (1.13%) Intapp
15 5 (1.13%) Kronos
15 5 (1.13%) VMware
16 4 (0.90%) InterSystems