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 8 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 327 238 176
Rank change year-on-year -89 -62 +10
Contract jobs citing XML 378 360 611
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.72% 1.13% 1.42%
As % of the Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards category 3.72% 4.96% 6.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 231 247 321
10th Percentile £335 £375 £375
25th Percentile £401 £433 £438
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £485 £513
Median % change year-on-year +8.25% -5.37% -6.82%
75th Percentile £625 £575 £619
90th Percentile £688 £627 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £429 £455 £500
% change year-on-year -5.71% -9.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 10 69
10th Percentile £29.07 £26.39 -
25th Percentile £29.92 £27.03 -
Median hourly rate £39.50 £34.75 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +13.67% -19.19% -38.57%
75th Percentile £44.90 £58.75 £51.25
90th Percentile £59.50 £89.25 £85.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £39.50 £32.00 £43.00
% change year-on-year +23.44% -25.58% -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 10,152 7,261 9,292
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 19.46% 22.73% 21.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,656 4,905 6,368
10th Percentile £363 £350 £350
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £538
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -4.74% -2.18%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £653
90th Percentile £738 £763 £788
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 277 149 283
10th Percentile £30.00 £28.76 £22.55
25th Percentile £50.75 £35.00 £43.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +18.18% - -15.38%
75th Percentile £75.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £85.00 £80.20 £74.35
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £58.30
% change year-on-year +4.00% +7.20% -6.72%

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 8 July 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 8 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for XML in the UK

XML
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 XML within the UK over the 6 months to 8 July 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 -74 319 £525 +7.69% 105
UK excluding London -98 167 £429 -5.71% 84
London -70 151 £550 +1.85% 41
Work from Home -41 120 £523 +10.00% 68
South East -56 54 £513 +7.89% 27
North of England -81 47 £391 -13.06% 14
North West -52 38 £390 -13.33% 9
Midlands -46 30 £425 -1.16% 13
West Midlands -50 22 £425 -15.00% 6
South West -32 14 £550 +46.67% 10
East of England -24 11 £450 -18.18% 5
Yorkshire -38 9 £463 -11.90% 1
East Midlands -8 8 £471 +50.08% 7
Scotland -18 7 £413 -26.14% 12
Northern Ireland 0 2 £650 +36.84% 4
Wales -26 2 £635 +61.27% 2

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 24 (6.35%) Confluence
2 14 (3.70%) Anypoint
2 14 (3.70%) SharePoint
3 11 (2.91%) IIS
4 10 (2.65%) Mule
5 8 (2.12%) Oracle Workflow
6 5 (1.32%) CMS
6 5 (1.32%) WebLogic
6 5 (1.32%) WebSphere
7 3 (0.79%) Oracle Self-Service HR
8 2 (0.53%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.53%) Appian
8 2 (0.53%) CICS
8 2 (0.53%) MQSeries
8 2 (0.53%) Mule ESB
9 1 (0.26%) Apache
9 1 (0.26%) BizTalk Server
9 1 (0.26%) JBoss
9 1 (0.26%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 1 (0.26%) Tomcat
Applications
1 32 (8.47%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (1.85%) MS Visio
3 6 (1.59%) Microsoft Office
4 4 (1.06%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.53%) EngageOne
5 2 (0.53%) FrameMaker
5 2 (0.53%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 9 (2.38%) Oracle EBS
1 9 (2.38%) SAP S/4HANA
2 7 (1.85%) NetSuite
3 6 (1.59%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (1.59%) Maximo
3 6 (1.59%) Oracle ERP
3 6 (1.59%) Summit
4 5 (1.32%) Elite 3E
4 5 (1.32%) Oracle Cash Management
4 5 (1.32%) Oracle Payables
4 5 (1.32%) Payment Gateway
5 4 (1.06%) Workday HCM
6 3 (0.79%) Findur
6 3 (0.79%) Oracle Assets
6 3 (0.79%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 3 (0.79%) Oracle Receivables
7 2 (0.53%) FLEXCUBE
7 2 (0.53%) Oracle Retail
7 2 (0.53%) SAP FI
7 2 (0.53%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 83 (21.96%) Azure
2 47 (12.43%) AWS
3 31 (8.20%) Azure DevOps
4 29 (7.67%) Boomi
5 18 (4.76%) GitHub
6 16 (4.23%) GCP
6 16 (4.23%) Power Platform
7 14 (3.70%) Serverless
8 12 (3.17%) AtomSphere
8 12 (3.17%) Azure Data Factory
8 12 (3.17%) SaaS
9 9 (2.38%) Azure Functions
9 9 (2.38%) Azure Logic Apps
9 9 (2.38%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 9 (2.38%) Dynamics 365
9 9 (2.38%) GitHub Actions
10 8 (2.12%) Amazon S3
10 8 (2.12%) Azure Service Bus
10 8 (2.12%) OCI
11 7 (1.85%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 20 (5.29%) HTTP
2 8 (2.12%) FTP
3 6 (1.59%) 3GPP
3 6 (1.59%) TCP/IP
4 4 (1.06%) Network Security
4 4 (1.06%) RTCP
4 4 (1.06%) RTP
4 4 (1.06%) SSL
4 4 (1.06%) XCAP
5 2 (0.53%) DNS
5 2 (0.53%) HTTPS
5 2 (0.53%) Internet
5 2 (0.53%) Intranet
5 2 (0.53%) SD-WAN
5 2 (0.53%) WAN
5 2 (0.53%) Wireless
6 1 (0.26%) Bluetooth
6 1 (0.26%) NFC
6 1 (0.26%) SAN
6 1 (0.26%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 41 (10.85%) SQL Server
2 39 (10.32%) Relational Database
3 20 (5.29%) RDBMS
4 19 (5.03%) PostgreSQL
5 15 (3.97%) MongoDB
5 15 (3.97%) NoSQL
5 15 (3.97%) Oracle Database
6 14 (3.70%) Data Warehouse
6 14 (3.70%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 12 (3.17%) Metadata
7 12 (3.17%) Power BI
7 12 (3.17%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 11 (2.91%) Data Lake
9 10 (2.65%) MySQL
9 10 (2.65%) Oracle Reports
10 5 (1.32%) Azure SQL Database
10 5 (1.32%) MS Access
10 5 (1.32%) Oracle BI Publisher
11 4 (1.06%) DataStage
11 4 (1.06%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 40 (10.58%) Git
2 33 (8.73%) JIRA
3 30 (7.94%) Postman
4 13 (3.44%) Jenkins
5 10 (2.65%) GitLab
5 10 (2.65%) Team Foundation Server
6 9 (2.38%) Maven
6 9 (2.38%) SoapUI
6 9 (2.38%) Visual Studio
7 6 (1.59%) JMeter
7 6 (1.59%) Oracle Forms
7 6 (1.59%) Selenium
8 5 (1.32%) Eclipse
8 5 (1.32%) Gradle
8 5 (1.32%) JUnit
8 5 (1.32%) Subversion
9 4 (1.06%) Bitbucket
9 4 (1.06%) Cypress.io
9 4 (1.06%) REST Assured
9 4 (1.06%) TeamCity
General
1 126 (33.33%) Social Skills
2 81 (21.43%) Analytical Skills
3 71 (18.78%) Finance
4 33 (8.73%) Public Sector
5 32 (8.47%) Banking
6 12 (3.17%) Documentation Skills
6 12 (3.17%) Organisational Skills
7 9 (2.38%) Investment Banking
7 9 (2.38%) Legal
7 9 (2.38%) Manufacturing
7 9 (2.38%) Publishing
7 9 (2.38%) Retail
7 9 (2.38%) Telecoms
8 7 (1.85%) Military
9 5 (1.32%) General Ledger
9 5 (1.32%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 5 (1.32%) Marketing
10 4 (1.06%) Advertising
10 4 (1.06%) Billing
10 4 (1.06%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 108 (28.57%) Developer
2 58 (15.34%) Consultant
3 44 (11.64%) Analyst
4 31 (8.20%) Senior
5 30 (7.94%) Implementation Consultant
6 25 (6.61%) Business Analyst
7 24 (6.35%) Architect
8 22 (5.82%) Data Engineer
9 14 (3.70%) C# Developer
10 13 (3.44%) Lead
10 13 (3.44%) Payroll Consultant
10 13 (3.44%) Software Engineer
11 12 (3.17%) Senior Developer
12 11 (2.91%) Software Developer
13 10 (2.65%) DBA
13 10 (2.65%) Integration Specialist
13 10 (2.65%) Technical Consultant
14 9 (2.38%) Applications Developer
14 9 (2.38%) Integration Developer
14 9 (2.38%) Integration Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 188 (49.74%) JSON
2 128 (33.86%) REST
3 113 (29.89%) SOAP
4 56 (14.81%) Web Services
5 52 (13.76%) .NET
5 52 (13.76%) Middleware
6 39 (10.32%) XSLT
7 25 (6.61%) HTML
7 25 (6.61%) OAuth
8 23 (6.08%) Kafka
9 20 (5.29%) RESTful
10 19 (5.03%) Swagger
11 18 (4.76%) .NET Framework
11 18 (4.76%) CSS
11 18 (4.76%) EDI
12 17 (4.50%) JWT
13 15 (3.97%) ASP.NET
13 15 (3.97%) OAuth2
14 14 (3.70%) XSD
15 13 (3.44%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 15 (3.97%) Data Structures
1 15 (3.97%) Product Ownership
2 12 (3.17%) Legacy Systems
3 8 (2.12%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
3 8 (2.12%) Management Information System
3 8 (2.12%) Onboarding
3 8 (2.12%) SWIFT Messaging Network
4 7 (1.85%) Credit Risk
4 7 (1.85%) Derivative
4 7 (1.85%) Enterprise Software
4 7 (1.85%) Fixed Income
4 7 (1.85%) Market Risk
4 7 (1.85%) Replication
5 6 (1.59%) Analytical Mindset
5 6 (1.59%) CMDB
5 6 (1.59%) Data Protection Act
5 6 (1.59%) Hybrid Cloud
5 6 (1.59%) Public Cloud
6 5 (1.32%) Distributed Systems
6 5 (1.32%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 23 (6.08%) Linux
2 22 (5.82%) Unix
3 14 (3.70%) Windows
4 5 (1.32%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.79%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (0.53%) Android
6 2 (0.53%) VMS
6 2 (0.53%) zOS
7 1 (0.26%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 102 (26.98%) Problem-Solving
2 95 (25.13%) Agile
3 75 (19.84%) DevOps
4 74 (19.58%) CI/CD
5 58 (15.34%) Workflow
6 56 (14.81%) Validation
7 49 (12.96%) Integration Patterns
8 43 (11.38%) Migration
9 42 (11.11%) Data Modelling
10 41 (10.85%) ERP
11 35 (9.26%) Stakeholder Management
11 35 (9.26%) User Acceptance Testing
12 34 (8.99%) Data Mapping
13 33 (8.73%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 32 (8.47%) Scrum
14 32 (8.47%) Software Engineering
15 31 (8.20%) ETL
16 28 (7.41%) Event-Driven
17 27 (7.14%) Performance Tuning
17 27 (7.14%) Unit Testing
Programming Languages
1 168 (44.44%) SQL
2 62 (16.40%) Java
3 57 (15.08%) Python
4 55 (14.55%) C#
5 54 (14.29%) JavaScript
6 44 (11.64%) T-SQL
7 25 (6.61%) PL/SQL
8 17 (4.50%) PowerShell
9 15 (3.97%) C++
10 14 (3.70%) Groovy
11 13 (3.44%) VB.NET
12 10 (2.65%) VB
12 10 (2.65%) VBA
13 9 (2.38%) VB6
13 9 (2.38%) XPath
14 7 (1.85%) DataWeave
15 6 (1.59%) Bicep
16 4 (1.06%) ABAP
16 4 (1.06%) R
16 4 (1.06%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 90 (23.81%) Security Cleared
2 68 (17.99%) SC Cleared
3 30 (7.94%) Degree
4 11 (2.91%) BPSS Clearance
5 9 (2.38%) Computer Science Degree
5 9 (2.38%) DV Cleared
6 5 (1.32%) AWS Certification
6 5 (1.32%) DBS Check
7 4 (1.06%) Azure Certification
7 4 (1.06%) ISTQB
7 4 (1.06%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
7 4 (1.06%) TOGAF Certification
8 3 (0.79%) Master's Degree
9 2 (0.53%) CISSP
9 2 (0.53%) GIAC
9 2 (0.53%) HNC
9 2 (0.53%) HND
9 2 (0.53%) Microsoft Certification
9 2 (0.53%) SSCP
10 1 (0.26%) ISEB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (7.14%) QA
2 20 (5.29%) Data Quality
3 11 (2.91%) GDPR
4 8 (2.12%) ISO 20022
5 7 (1.85%) Accessibility
6 6 (1.59%) HL7
7 4 (1.06%) 21 CFR Part 11
7 4 (1.06%) GMP
7 4 (1.06%) GxP
7 4 (1.06%) SLA
7 4 (1.06%) WCAG
8 3 (0.79%) FATCA
8 3 (0.79%) GRC
8 3 (0.79%) ISO/IEC 17025
8 3 (0.79%) PCI DSS
8 3 (0.79%) PSD2
9 2 (0.53%) California Consumer Privacy Act
9 2 (0.53%) ISO 15022
9 2 (0.53%) ISO 8583
10 1 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 12 (3.17%) Docker
2 4 (1.06%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (0.79%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.79%) Oracle RAC
4 2 (0.53%) RACF
4 2 (0.53%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.26%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 13 (3.44%) Ansible
2 12 (3.17%) Kubernetes
3 7 (1.85%) Terraform
4 5 (1.32%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (0.79%) QRadar
5 3 (0.79%) vRealize Orchestrator
6 2 (0.53%) CloudHub
6 2 (0.53%) Grafana
6 2 (0.53%) WMI
7 1 (0.26%) HP Quality Center
7 1 (0.26%) vRealize
Vendors
1 97 (25.66%) Oracle
2 71 (18.78%) Microsoft
3 28 (7.41%) ServiceNow
4 27 (7.14%) MuleSoft
4 27 (7.14%) SAP
5 18 (4.76%) IBM
5 18 (4.76%) Workday
6 17 (4.50%) Salesforce
7 13 (3.44%) Google
8 8 (2.12%) Databricks
9 7 (1.85%) Dell
10 6 (1.59%) webMethods
11 5 (1.32%) Intapp
11 5 (1.32%) InterSystems
11 5 (1.32%) Kronos
11 5 (1.32%) Talend
12 4 (1.06%) Atlassian
12 4 (1.06%) Pega
12 4 (1.06%) Splunk
12 4 (1.06%) VMware