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 18 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 318 246 168
Rank change year-on-year -72 -78 +22
Contract jobs citing XML 360 323 631
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.71% 1.09% 1.44%
As % of the Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards category 3.66% 4.76% 6.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 222 219 332
10th Percentile £350 £384 £401
25th Percentile £409 £438 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £485 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.14% -7.62% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £586 £619
90th Percentile £699 £632 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £427 £466 £513
% change year-on-year -8.37% -9.07% +2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 6 70
10th Percentile £29.22 £23.93 -
25th Percentile £30.00 £27.00 -
Median hourly rate £41.50 £27.38 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +51.57% -36.33% -38.57%
75th Percentile £48.75 £73.67 £51.25
90th Percentile £57.35 £91.25 £85.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.50 £24.83 £43.00
% change year-on-year +63.11% -42.26% -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 9,826 6,783 9,249
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 19.50% 22.79% 21.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,451 4,628 6,345
10th Percentile £363 £356 £350
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £515 £535
Median % change year-on-year +1.94% -3.74% -2.73%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 280 127 275
10th Percentile £30.45 £29.18 £22.50
25th Percentile £52.19 £40.42 £43.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £57.50 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +13.04% +15.00% -23.08%
75th Percentile £74.26 £68.00 £68.38
90th Percentile £85.00 £81.15 £74.44
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £55.00
% change year-on-year +4.00% +13.64% -15.38%

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 18 June 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 18 June 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 18 June 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 -66 315 £525 +7.69% 80
UK excluding London -79 164 £427 -8.37% 70
London -45 148 £550 +0.92% 30
Work from Home -55 100 £488 +2.63% 40
South East -42 55 £525 +10.53% 23
North of England -68 48 £390 -13.33% 10
North West -35 40 £390 -13.33% 6
Midlands -38 28 £425 -15.00% 9
West Midlands -40 20 £425 -22.73% 3
South West -18 13 £575 +21.05% 10
East of England -23 10 £450 -18.18% 5
Scotland -14 8 £425 -23.90% 4
East Midlands -17 8 £471 +50.08% 6
Yorkshire -58 8 £431 -15.85% 2
Northern Ireland -6 2 £650 +59.51% 7

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 17 (4.72%) Confluence
2 12 (3.33%) Anypoint
3 11 (3.06%) SharePoint
4 9 (2.50%) WebSphere
5 8 (2.22%) IIS
5 8 (2.22%) Mule
5 8 (2.22%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 8 (2.22%) Oracle Workflow
6 7 (1.94%) WebLogic
7 5 (1.39%) CMS
8 3 (0.83%) Oracle Self-Service HR
9 2 (0.56%) Apache Airflow
9 2 (0.56%) Appian
9 2 (0.56%) CICS
9 2 (0.56%) MQSeries
9 2 (0.56%) Mule ESB
9 2 (0.56%) Tomcat
10 1 (0.28%) Apache
10 1 (0.28%) BizTalk Server
10 1 (0.28%) JBoss
Applications
1 31 (8.61%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (1.67%) MS Visio
3 4 (1.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.83%) Microsoft Office
5 2 (0.56%) EngageOne
5 2 (0.56%) FrameMaker
6 1 (0.28%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.28%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 9 (2.50%) Oracle Payables
2 8 (2.22%) SAP S/4HANA
3 7 (1.94%) Oracle Receivables
3 7 (1.94%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
4 6 (1.67%) Maximo
4 6 (1.67%) Oracle ERP
4 6 (1.67%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 6 (1.67%) Summit
5 5 (1.39%) Dynamics CRM
5 5 (1.39%) Oracle Cash Management
5 5 (1.39%) Oracle EBS
5 5 (1.39%) Oracle General Ledger
6 4 (1.11%) Elite 3E
6 4 (1.11%) Payment Gateway
6 4 (1.11%) Workday HCM
7 3 (0.83%) Findur
7 3 (0.83%) NetSuite
7 3 (0.83%) Oracle Assets
8 2 (0.56%) BusinessWorks
8 2 (0.56%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 73 (20.28%) Azure
2 42 (11.67%) AWS
3 23 (6.39%) Azure DevOps
4 22 (6.11%) Boomi
5 19 (5.28%) Power Platform
6 16 (4.44%) GitHub
7 15 (4.17%) GCP
8 14 (3.89%) OCI
8 14 (3.89%) SaaS
9 13 (3.61%) Azure Data Factory
9 13 (3.61%) Serverless
10 9 (2.50%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 9 (2.50%) IaaS
10 9 (2.50%) PaaS
11 8 (2.22%) Azure Functions
11 8 (2.22%) Azure Logic Apps
11 8 (2.22%) Dynamics 365
11 8 (2.22%) GitHub Actions
12 7 (1.94%) Azure Service Bus
12 7 (1.94%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 15 (4.17%) HTTP
2 8 (2.22%) FTP
3 6 (1.67%) 3GPP
4 4 (1.11%) RTCP
4 4 (1.11%) RTP
4 4 (1.11%) TCP/IP
4 4 (1.11%) XCAP
5 2 (0.56%) DNS
5 2 (0.56%) FIX Connectivity
5 2 (0.56%) HTTPS
5 2 (0.56%) SSL
6 1 (0.28%) AMQP
6 1 (0.28%) Firewall
6 1 (0.28%) Internet
6 1 (0.28%) Intranet
6 1 (0.28%) NAS
6 1 (0.28%) Network Security
6 1 (0.28%) SAN
6 1 (0.28%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 41 (11.39%) SQL Server
2 31 (8.61%) Relational Database
3 21 (5.83%) Data Warehouse
4 19 (5.28%) PostgreSQL
5 18 (5.00%) RDBMS
6 17 (4.72%) Oracle Database
7 15 (4.17%) NoSQL
7 15 (4.17%) Power BI
8 14 (3.89%) MongoDB
8 14 (3.89%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 13 (3.61%) Data Lake
10 12 (3.33%) Metadata
11 11 (3.06%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 10 (2.78%) MySQL
12 10 (2.78%) Oracle Reports
13 5 (1.39%) Azure SQL Database
13 5 (1.39%) Oracle BI Publisher
14 4 (1.11%) DataStage
14 4 (1.11%) SQL Server Analysis Services
15 3 (0.83%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 33 (9.17%) Git
2 28 (7.78%) JIRA
3 26 (7.22%) Postman
4 10 (2.78%) GitLab
5 9 (2.50%) Maven
6 8 (2.22%) SoapUI
6 8 (2.22%) Team Foundation Server
6 8 (2.22%) Visual Studio
7 7 (1.94%) Jenkins
8 5 (1.39%) Eclipse
8 5 (1.39%) Subversion
9 4 (1.11%) Gradle
9 4 (1.11%) JMeter
9 4 (1.11%) JUnit
9 4 (1.11%) Selenium
10 3 (0.83%) ClearCase
10 3 (0.83%) MSTest
10 3 (0.83%) Newman
10 3 (0.83%) REST Assured
11 2 (0.56%) Cucumber
General
1 117 (32.50%) Social Skills
2 78 (21.67%) Finance
3 71 (19.72%) Analytical Skills
4 39 (10.83%) Banking
5 25 (6.94%) Public Sector
6 13 (3.61%) Investment Banking
7 11 (3.06%) Legal
7 11 (3.06%) Organisational Skills
8 10 (2.78%) Documentation Skills
9 9 (2.50%) Publishing
10 8 (2.22%) Telecoms
11 7 (1.94%) General Ledger
11 7 (1.94%) Manufacturing
11 7 (1.94%) Military
12 5 (1.39%) Financial Institution
12 5 (1.39%) Front Office
12 5 (1.39%) Marketing
13 4 (1.11%) Advertising
13 4 (1.11%) Billing
13 4 (1.11%) Retail
Job Titles
1 97 (26.94%) Developer
2 59 (16.39%) Consultant
3 44 (12.22%) Analyst
4 30 (8.33%) Implementation Consultant
5 26 (7.22%) Business Analyst
5 26 (7.22%) Senior
6 23 (6.39%) Architect
7 22 (6.11%) Data Engineer
8 15 (4.17%) Lead
9 14 (3.89%) C# Developer
10 13 (3.61%) Payroll Consultant
11 12 (3.33%) Software Engineer
12 11 (3.06%) DBA
13 10 (2.78%) Integration Specialist
13 10 (2.78%) Senior Developer
14 9 (2.50%) Integration Engineer
14 9 (2.50%) Technical Consultant
15 8 (2.22%) Applications Developer
15 8 (2.22%) Technical Analyst
15 8 (2.22%) Technical Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 164 (45.56%) JSON
2 110 (30.56%) REST
3 101 (28.06%) SOAP
4 49 (13.61%) Middleware
4 49 (13.61%) Web Services
5 43 (11.94%) .NET
6 36 (10.00%) XSLT
7 25 (6.94%) HTML
8 24 (6.67%) OAuth
9 20 (5.56%) JWT
9 20 (5.56%) Oracle Fusion
10 19 (5.28%) EDI
10 19 (5.28%) Swagger
11 18 (5.00%) Kafka
11 18 (5.00%) RESTful
12 17 (4.72%) CSS
13 15 (4.17%) XSD
14 14 (3.89%) .NET Framework
14 14 (3.89%) OpenAPI
15 12 (3.33%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 14 (3.89%) Product Ownership
2 12 (3.33%) Data Structures
3 9 (2.50%) Data Protection Act
3 9 (2.50%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
4 8 (2.22%) Fixed Income
4 8 (2.22%) Legacy Systems
5 7 (1.94%) Credit Risk
5 7 (1.94%) Derivative
5 7 (1.94%) Management Information System
5 7 (1.94%) Market Risk
5 7 (1.94%) Replication
6 6 (1.67%) Analytical Mindset
6 6 (1.67%) CMDB
6 6 (1.67%) Onboarding
6 6 (1.67%) Public Cloud
6 6 (1.67%) SWIFT Messaging Network
7 5 (1.39%) Data Centre
7 5 (1.39%) Enterprise Software
8 4 (1.11%) Cloud Native
8 4 (1.11%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 23 (6.39%) Linux
2 19 (5.28%) Unix
3 9 (2.50%) Windows
4 2 (0.56%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 2 (0.56%) VMS
4 2 (0.56%) Windows Server
4 2 (0.56%) zOS
5 1 (0.28%) Android
5 1 (0.28%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 94 (26.11%) Agile
2 93 (25.83%) Problem-Solving
3 67 (18.61%) DevOps
4 66 (18.33%) CI/CD
5 51 (14.17%) Integration Patterns
6 50 (13.89%) Validation
7 48 (13.33%) Workflow
8 42 (11.67%) ERP
8 42 (11.67%) ETL
8 42 (11.67%) Migration
9 40 (11.11%) Data Modelling
10 35 (9.72%) Stakeholder Management
11 32 (8.89%) Data Mapping
12 30 (8.33%) Scrum
13 29 (8.06%) User Acceptance Testing
14 27 (7.50%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 26 (7.22%) SDLC
15 26 (7.22%) Software Engineering
16 25 (6.94%) AI
16 25 (6.94%) Data Integration
Programming Languages
1 155 (43.06%) SQL
2 57 (15.83%) Java
3 50 (13.89%) C#
4 48 (13.33%) Python
5 47 (13.06%) JavaScript
6 40 (11.11%) T-SQL
7 21 (5.83%) PL/SQL
8 13 (3.61%) PowerShell
9 10 (2.78%) C++
9 10 (2.78%) VB
10 9 (2.50%) VB6
11 8 (2.22%) Groovy
11 8 (2.22%) VB.NET
11 8 (2.22%) VBA
11 8 (2.22%) XPath
12 5 (1.39%) Bicep
12 5 (1.39%) DataWeave
13 3 (0.83%) ABAP
13 3 (0.83%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 3 (0.83%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 81 (22.50%) Security Cleared
2 59 (16.39%) SC Cleared
3 30 (8.33%) Degree
4 12 (3.33%) BPSS Clearance
5 11 (3.06%) Computer Science Degree
6 9 (2.50%) DV Cleared
7 5 (1.39%) AWS Certification
7 5 (1.39%) DBS Check
7 5 (1.39%) Master's Degree
8 4 (1.11%) Azure Certification
8 4 (1.11%) TOGAF Certification
9 3 (0.83%) ISTQB
9 3 (0.83%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 2 (0.56%) CCNP
10 2 (0.56%) Cisco Certification
10 2 (0.56%) HNC
10 2 (0.56%) HND
10 2 (0.56%) Microsoft Certification
10 2 (0.56%) PMI Certification
10 2 (0.56%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (5.56%) QA
2 18 (5.00%) Data Quality
3 11 (3.06%) GDPR
4 6 (1.67%) Accessibility
4 6 (1.67%) HL7
5 5 (1.39%) ISO 20022
6 4 (1.11%) GAAP
7 3 (0.83%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 3 (0.83%) FATCA
7 3 (0.83%) GRC
7 3 (0.83%) PCI DSS
7 3 (0.83%) PSD2
7 3 (0.83%) WCAG
8 2 (0.56%) Basel III
8 2 (0.56%) IFRS
8 2 (0.56%) IFRS 17
8 2 (0.56%) IFRS 9
8 2 (0.56%) ISO 8583
8 2 (0.56%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 2 (0.56%) SLA
System Software
1 12 (3.33%) Docker
2 4 (1.11%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (0.83%) Oracle RAC
4 2 (0.56%) Active Directory
4 2 (0.56%) RACF
4 2 (0.56%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.28%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 11 (3.06%) Kubernetes
2 10 (2.78%) Ansible
3 6 (1.67%) Terraform
4 5 (1.39%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (0.83%) Control-M
5 3 (0.83%) vRealize Orchestrator
6 2 (0.56%) Grafana
6 2 (0.56%) TIBCO Hawk
7 1 (0.28%) QRadar
7 1 (0.28%) vRealize
7 1 (0.28%) WMI
Vendors
1 92 (25.56%) Oracle
2 60 (16.67%) Microsoft
3 32 (8.89%) SAP
4 27 (7.50%) MuleSoft
5 26 (7.22%) ServiceNow
5 26 (7.22%) Workday
6 14 (3.89%) IBM
7 13 (3.61%) Salesforce
8 12 (3.33%) Google
9 9 (2.50%) Informatica
9 9 (2.50%) Pega
10 8 (2.22%) Databricks
11 7 (1.94%) Dell
12 6 (1.67%) Talend
12 6 (1.67%) webMethods
13 5 (1.39%) InterSystems
13 5 (1.39%) Kronos
13 5 (1.39%) Red Hat
14 4 (1.11%) Bloomberg
14 4 (1.11%) VMware