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 30 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 314 237 164
Rank change year-on-year -77 -73 +34
Contract jobs citing XML 363 318 637
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.74% 1.10% 1.48%
As % of the Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards category 3.76% 4.82% 7.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 216 219 341
10th Percentile £358 £360 £400
25th Percentile £413 £419 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £534
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -11.05% -2.91%
75th Percentile £621 £575 £619
90th Percentile £681 £638 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £513
% change year-on-year - -12.20% -1.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 5 71
10th Percentile £29.45 £23.31 -
25th Percentile £35.44 - -
Median hourly rate £47.15 £27.00 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +74.63% -37.21% -40.69%
75th Percentile £48.75 £28.42 £51.25
90th Percentile £54.13 £67.62 £85.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £47.15 £24.83 £43.00
% change year-on-year +89.89% -42.26% -40.69%

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 9,652 6,603 9,025
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 19.64% 22.87% 21.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,335 4,534 6,269
10th Percentile £363 £361 £350
25th Percentile £420 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £520 £535
Median % change year-on-year +0.96% -2.80% -2.73%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £775 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 283 110 254
10th Percentile £31.33 £28.91 £21.96
25th Percentile £51.63 £38.16 £43.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £48.43
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% +29.05% -25.49%
75th Percentile £73.00 £68.75 £66.25
90th Percentile £81.00 £81.05 £74.48
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £50.47
% change year-on-year - +28.80% -22.36%

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 30 May 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 30 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for XML in the UK

XML
Top 15 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 30 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 -50 321 £523 +10.00% 57
UK excluding London -68 169 £450 - 41
London -50 149 £550 +4.76% 26
Work from Home -80 91 £465 -1.59% 24
South East -45 60 £513 +7.89% 18
North of England -66 53 £400 -11.11% 5
North West -37 45 £394 -12.50% 2
Midlands -43 27 £436 -12.80% 5
West Midlands -56 19 £436 -20.73% 3
South West -28 13 £600 +60.00% 8
East of England -28 9 £450 -18.18% 3
East Midlands -18 8 £471 +50.08% 2
Yorkshire -61 8 £463 -9.76% 2
Scotland -14 6 £500 +1.21% 1
Northern Ireland -6 1 - -

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 19 (5.23%) Confluence
2 12 (3.31%) Oracle SOA Suite
3 10 (2.75%) SharePoint
4 9 (2.48%) WebSphere
5 8 (2.20%) Anypoint
5 8 (2.20%) Oracle Workflow
6 7 (1.93%) IIS
6 7 (1.93%) WebLogic
7 5 (1.38%) CMS
8 4 (1.10%) Mule
8 4 (1.10%) Oracle Service Bus
9 3 (0.83%) Mule ESB
9 3 (0.83%) Oracle Self-Service HR
10 2 (0.55%) Apache Airflow
10 2 (0.55%) Appian
10 2 (0.55%) CICS
10 2 (0.55%) MQSeries
10 2 (0.55%) Tomcat
11 1 (0.28%) BizTalk Server
11 1 (0.28%) JBoss
Applications
1 31 (8.54%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (1.65%) MS Visio
3 4 (1.10%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.55%) Chatbot
4 2 (0.55%) EngageOne
4 2 (0.55%) FrameMaker
4 2 (0.55%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 12 (3.31%) Oracle ERP
2 9 (2.48%) Oracle Payables
2 9 (2.48%) SAP S/4HANA
3 7 (1.93%) Oracle Receivables
3 7 (1.93%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
4 6 (1.65%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 6 (1.65%) Summit
5 5 (1.38%) Oracle Cash Management
5 5 (1.38%) Oracle General Ledger
5 5 (1.38%) Payment Gateway
6 4 (1.10%) Dynamics CRM
6 4 (1.10%) Maximo
6 4 (1.10%) Oracle EBS
6 4 (1.10%) Workday HCM
7 3 (0.83%) Findur
7 3 (0.83%) NEC Housing
7 3 (0.83%) Oracle Assets
8 2 (0.55%) BusinessWorks
8 2 (0.55%) Elite 3E
8 2 (0.55%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 73 (20.11%) Azure
2 41 (11.29%) AWS
3 24 (6.61%) OCI
4 23 (6.34%) Azure DevOps
5 18 (4.96%) Boomi
5 18 (4.96%) GitHub
6 17 (4.68%) Power Platform
7 16 (4.41%) PaaS
8 14 (3.86%) GCP
8 14 (3.86%) IaaS
9 13 (3.58%) SaaS
9 13 (3.58%) Serverless
10 12 (3.31%) Azure Data Factory
11 10 (2.75%) Dynamics 365
11 10 (2.75%) GitHub Actions
12 9 (2.48%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 9 (2.48%) Cloud Computing
13 8 (2.20%) Azure Functions
14 7 (1.93%) Azure Cosmos DB
14 7 (1.93%) Azure Service Bus
Communications & Networking
1 17 (4.68%) HTTP
2 7 (1.93%) FTP
3 6 (1.65%) 3GPP
4 5 (1.38%) TCP/IP
5 4 (1.10%) RTCP
5 4 (1.10%) RTP
5 4 (1.10%) XCAP
6 3 (0.83%) DNS
6 3 (0.83%) Firewall
7 2 (0.55%) FIX Connectivity
7 2 (0.55%) HTTPS
7 2 (0.55%) Network Security
7 2 (0.55%) SSL
7 2 (0.55%) VPN
8 1 (0.28%) 5G
8 1 (0.28%) AMQP
8 1 (0.28%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
8 1 (0.28%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
8 1 (0.28%) NAS
8 1 (0.28%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 35 (9.64%) Relational Database
1 35 (9.64%) SQL Server
2 22 (6.06%) Data Warehouse
3 20 (5.51%) PostgreSQL
4 19 (5.23%) RDBMS
5 17 (4.68%) Oracle Database
6 16 (4.41%) NoSQL
7 13 (3.58%) MongoDB
7 13 (3.58%) Power BI
8 12 (3.31%) Data Lake
8 12 (3.31%) MySQL
8 12 (3.31%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 11 (3.03%) Oracle Reports
10 9 (2.48%) Metadata
10 9 (2.48%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 5 (1.38%) Azure SQL Database
11 5 (1.38%) Oracle BI Publisher
12 4 (1.10%) SQL Server Analysis Services
13 3 (0.83%) DB2
13 3 (0.83%) MS Access
Development Applications
1 39 (10.74%) Postman
2 34 (9.37%) Git
3 29 (7.99%) JIRA
4 12 (3.31%) SoapUI
5 11 (3.03%) GitLab
6 8 (2.20%) Jenkins
6 8 (2.20%) Maven
6 8 (2.20%) Team Foundation Server
6 8 (2.20%) Visual Studio
7 5 (1.38%) Eclipse
8 4 (1.10%) Cucumber
8 4 (1.10%) JMeter
8 4 (1.10%) JUnit
8 4 (1.10%) Selenium
8 4 (1.10%) Subversion
9 3 (0.83%) Browser DevTools
9 3 (0.83%) Firebug
9 3 (0.83%) Hudson
9 3 (0.83%) MSTest
9 3 (0.83%) Zephyr
General
1 116 (31.96%) Social Skills
2 73 (20.11%) Finance
3 66 (18.18%) Analytical Skills
4 39 (10.74%) Banking
5 27 (7.44%) Public Sector
6 13 (3.58%) Investment Banking
7 11 (3.03%) Documentation Skills
7 11 (3.03%) Legal
7 11 (3.03%) Organisational Skills
8 8 (2.20%) Military
8 8 (2.20%) Publishing
8 8 (2.20%) Telecoms
9 7 (1.93%) General Ledger
10 5 (1.38%) Manufacturing
11 4 (1.10%) Advertising
11 4 (1.10%) Billing
11 4 (1.10%) Financial Institution
11 4 (1.10%) Front Office
11 4 (1.10%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 4 (1.10%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 84 (23.14%) Developer
2 59 (16.25%) Consultant
3 45 (12.40%) Analyst
4 30 (8.26%) Implementation Consultant
5 27 (7.44%) Business Analyst
6 23 (6.34%) Senior
7 21 (5.79%) Architect
8 19 (5.23%) Lead
9 18 (4.96%) Data Engineer
10 16 (4.41%) Software Engineer
11 14 (3.86%) Integration Specialist
12 13 (3.58%) C# Developer
12 13 (3.58%) Payroll Consultant
13 10 (2.75%) DBA
13 10 (2.75%) Integration Engineer
13 10 (2.75%) Technical Consultant
14 9 (2.48%) Applications Developer
14 9 (2.48%) Cloud Specialist
14 9 (2.48%) Oracle Specialist
15 8 (2.20%) Workflow Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 168 (46.28%) JSON
2 103 (28.37%) REST
3 100 (27.55%) SOAP
4 50 (13.77%) Web Services
5 42 (11.57%) Middleware
6 39 (10.74%) .NET
7 36 (9.92%) XSLT
8 31 (8.54%) OAuth
8 31 (8.54%) Oracle Fusion
9 28 (7.71%) HTML
10 24 (6.61%) JWT
11 21 (5.79%) RESTful
11 21 (5.79%) Swagger
12 19 (5.23%) CSS
13 18 (4.96%) Kafka
13 18 (4.96%) XSD
14 15 (4.13%) YAML
15 14 (3.86%) EDI
15 14 (3.86%) OpenAPI
16 13 (3.58%) .NET Framework
Miscellaneous
1 15 (4.13%) Product Ownership
2 11 (3.03%) Public Cloud
3 10 (2.75%) Data Structures
4 9 (2.48%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 8 (2.20%) Data Protection Act
5 8 (2.20%) Fixed Income
6 7 (1.93%) Derivative
7 6 (1.65%) Credit Risk
7 6 (1.65%) Legacy Systems
7 6 (1.65%) Management Information System
7 6 (1.65%) Market Risk
7 6 (1.65%) Onboarding
7 6 (1.65%) Replication
7 6 (1.65%) SWIFT Messaging Network
8 5 (1.38%) Analytical Mindset
8 5 (1.38%) Data Centre
8 5 (1.38%) Digital Wallet
9 4 (1.10%) Algorithms
9 4 (1.10%) Cloud Native
9 4 (1.10%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 26 (7.16%) Linux
2 16 (4.41%) Unix
3 8 (2.20%) Windows
4 2 (0.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 2 (0.55%) Ubuntu
4 2 (0.55%) VMS
4 2 (0.55%) zOS
5 1 (0.28%) Android
5 1 (0.28%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 94 (25.90%) Agile
2 87 (23.97%) Problem-Solving
3 74 (20.39%) DevOps
4 55 (15.15%) CI/CD
5 51 (14.05%) Validation
6 49 (13.50%) ERP
7 47 (12.95%) Integration Patterns
8 42 (11.57%) Workflow
9 40 (11.02%) Migration
10 38 (10.47%) Data Modelling
11 35 (9.64%) ETL
12 33 (9.09%) Stakeholder Management
13 30 (8.26%) Unit Testing
14 29 (7.99%) User Acceptance Testing
15 28 (7.71%) Software Engineering
16 27 (7.44%) Scrum
16 27 (7.44%) SDLC
17 26 (7.16%) Requirements Gathering
18 25 (6.89%) Data Mapping
19 23 (6.34%) AI
Programming Languages
1 148 (40.77%) SQL
2 57 (15.70%) Java
3 53 (14.60%) C#
3 53 (14.60%) Python
4 43 (11.85%) JavaScript
5 36 (9.92%) T-SQL
6 20 (5.51%) PL/SQL
7 11 (3.03%) PowerShell
8 10 (2.75%) C++
8 10 (2.75%) VB
9 9 (2.48%) VB6
10 8 (2.20%) VBA
10 8 (2.20%) XPath
11 6 (1.65%) Groovy
12 5 (1.38%) DataWeave
12 5 (1.38%) VB.NET
13 4 (1.10%) Bicep
13 4 (1.10%) Shell Script
14 3 (0.83%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 3 (0.83%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 88 (24.24%) Security Cleared
2 64 (17.63%) SC Cleared
3 32 (8.82%) Degree
4 13 (3.58%) BPSS Clearance
4 13 (3.58%) Computer Science Degree
5 7 (1.93%) DV Cleared
6 5 (1.38%) AWS Certification
6 5 (1.38%) Master's Degree
7 4 (1.10%) Azure Certification
7 4 (1.10%) CCNP
7 4 (1.10%) Cisco Certification
7 4 (1.10%) DBS Check
7 4 (1.10%) TOGAF Certification
8 2 (0.55%) HNC
8 2 (0.55%) HND
8 2 (0.55%) ISTQB
8 2 (0.55%) Microsoft Certification
8 2 (0.55%) PMI Certification
8 2 (0.55%) PMP
9 1 (0.28%) CTC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (5.79%) QA
2 12 (3.31%) Data Quality
3 10 (2.75%) GDPR
4 6 (1.65%) HL7
5 5 (1.38%) ISO 20022
5 5 (1.38%) PCI DSS
5 5 (1.38%) PSD2
6 4 (1.10%) GAAP
7 3 (0.83%) Accessibility
7 3 (0.83%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 3 (0.83%) FATCA
7 3 (0.83%) ISO 8583
8 2 (0.55%) Basel III
8 2 (0.55%) IFRS
8 2 (0.55%) IFRS 17
8 2 (0.55%) IFRS 9
8 2 (0.55%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 2 (0.55%) SLA
8 2 (0.55%) WCAG
9 1 (0.28%) 21 CFR Part 11
System Software
1 14 (3.86%) Docker
2 4 (1.10%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (0.83%) Oracle RAC
4 2 (0.55%) RACF
4 2 (0.55%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.28%) Active Directory
5 1 (0.28%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 12 (3.31%) Kubernetes
2 7 (1.93%) Ansible
2 7 (1.93%) Terraform
3 5 (1.38%) Single Sign-On
4 4 (1.10%) Control-M
5 3 (0.83%) Grafana
5 3 (0.83%) vRealize Orchestrator
6 2 (0.55%) TIBCO Hawk
7 1 (0.28%) CloudHub
7 1 (0.28%) Docker Swarm
7 1 (0.28%) FortiGate
7 1 (0.28%) Kibana
7 1 (0.28%) logstash
7 1 (0.28%) Podman
7 1 (0.28%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.28%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.28%) Puppet
7 1 (0.28%) QRadar
7 1 (0.28%) vRealize
Vendors
1 101 (27.82%) Oracle
2 55 (15.15%) Microsoft
3 30 (8.26%) SAP
4 25 (6.89%) Workday
5 22 (6.06%) MuleSoft
6 21 (5.79%) ServiceNow
7 12 (3.31%) IBM
8 9 (2.48%) Databricks
8 9 (2.48%) Informatica
8 9 (2.48%) Red Hat
9 8 (2.20%) Google
9 8 (2.20%) Pega
10 7 (1.93%) Dell
10 7 (1.93%) Salesforce
11 6 (1.65%) webMethods
12 5 (1.38%) InterSystems
12 5 (1.38%) Talend
13 4 (1.10%) Atlassian
13 4 (1.10%) Kronos
13 4 (1.10%) VMware