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 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 233 238 183
Rank change year-on-year +5 -55 +15
Contract jobs citing XML 423 375 647
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.21% 1.04% 1.38%
As % of the Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards category 5.29% 4.80% 6.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 285 229 406
10th Percentile £341 £203 £362
25th Percentile £404 £400 £470
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% -9.09% -3.34%
75th Percentile £586 £575 £625
90th Percentile £695 £630 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £530
% change year-on-year +5.56% -15.09% +6.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 0 36
10th Percentile £31.25 - £45.88
25th Percentile £40.75 - -
Median hourly rate £43.00 - £48.72
75th Percentile £43.75 - £70.00
90th Percentile £92.50 - £78.13
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.75 - £48.72
% change year-on-year - - +10.78%

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 7,994 7,813 10,483
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 22.90% 21.69% 22.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,322 4,936 7,499
10th Percentile £350 £350 £363
25th Percentile £413 £425 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -8.27% - -4.35%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £658
90th Percentile £725 £775 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 189 109 190
10th Percentile £29.00 £21.85 £36.19
25th Percentile £41.25 £36.25 £46.18
Median hourly rate £54.00 £62.50 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.60% +13.64% -12.47%
75th Percentile £65.00 £70.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £74.00 £78.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £62.50 £65.00 £54.56
% change year-on-year -3.85% +19.13% -16.06%

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 November 2025.

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 November 2025.

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 11 November 2025. 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 -7 356 £500 - 177
UK excluding London +2 184 £475 +5.56% 98
London -31 173 £525 - 89
Work from Home +31 169 £478 -3.54% 133
South East -7 42 £475 +95.88% 26
North of England -18 40 £550 - 25
East of England +18 37 £550 - 17
North West -4 30 £550 +23.60% 18
Midlands -28 27 £427 -14.60% 18
West Midlands -31 24 £429 -23.60% 7
South West +9 18 £375 -6.25% 6
Wales +3 15 £375 +84.05%
Yorkshire -40 10 £575 +1.41% 7
Scotland -4 9 £475 +21.48% 7
East Midlands -11 3 £270 -40.00% 10

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 30 (7.09%) WebLogic
2 20 (4.73%) Apache
3 19 (4.49%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 14 (3.31%) Anypoint
4 14 (3.31%) Confluence
4 14 (3.31%) MQSeries
5 12 (2.84%) Mule
5 12 (2.84%) WebSphere
6 11 (2.60%) IIS
6 11 (2.60%) JBoss
7 10 (2.36%) Oracle Service Bus
8 7 (1.65%) Appian
8 7 (1.65%) nginx
9 4 (0.95%) Microsoft Exchange
9 4 (0.95%) Tomcat
10 3 (0.71%) Alfresco
10 3 (0.71%) Apache Spark
10 3 (0.71%) Documentum
10 3 (0.71%) Mule ESB
11 2 (0.47%) Camunda
Applications
1 16 (3.78%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (2.60%) FrameMaker
3 8 (1.89%) Microsoft Excel
4 6 (1.42%) Siemens NX
5 2 (0.47%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.24%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.24%) SPSS
Business Applications
1 11 (2.60%) Maximo
1 11 (2.60%) Oracle BPM
2 6 (1.42%) SAP HCM
2 6 (1.42%) SAP Payroll
2 6 (1.42%) Teamcenter
3 5 (1.18%) BusinessWorks
3 5 (1.18%) SAP S/4HANA
4 4 (0.95%) Dynamics CRM
4 4 (0.95%) Salesforce CRM
5 3 (0.71%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 3 (0.71%) SAP ERP
6 2 (0.47%) NetSuite
6 2 (0.47%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.47%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 2 (0.47%) SAP FI
6 2 (0.47%) Workday HCM
7 1 (0.24%) Endur
7 1 (0.24%) Exchequer
7 1 (0.24%) SAP PM
7 1 (0.24%) SAP Travel Management
Cloud Services
1 101 (23.88%) Azure
2 68 (16.08%) AWS
3 37 (8.75%) Azure DevOps
4 35 (8.27%) GitHub
5 19 (4.49%) Power Platform
6 17 (4.02%) GCP
6 17 (4.02%) Serverless
7 15 (3.55%) SaaS
8 14 (3.31%) Azure Logic Apps
8 14 (3.31%) Power Automate
8 14 (3.31%) Tricentis Tosca
9 11 (2.60%) Amazon S3
9 11 (2.60%) Cloud Computing
9 11 (2.60%) SuccessFactors
10 10 (2.36%) AWS Lambda
10 10 (2.36%) Boomi
11 9 (2.13%) Dynamics 365
11 9 (2.13%) Nutanix
12 7 (1.65%) Amazon EventBridge
12 7 (1.65%) Azure Service Bus
Communications & Networking
1 33 (7.80%) HTTPS
2 24 (5.67%) HTTP
3 10 (2.36%) SSL
4 9 (2.13%) Firewall
4 9 (2.13%) NFC
4 9 (2.13%) PPP
5 7 (1.65%) AMQP
5 7 (1.65%) DSL
6 4 (0.95%) VPN
7 3 (0.71%) BGP
7 3 (0.71%) MPLS
8 2 (0.47%) DNS
8 2 (0.47%) Ethernet VPN
8 2 (0.47%) LAN
9 1 (0.24%) DHCP
9 1 (0.24%) FTP
9 1 (0.24%) Internet
9 1 (0.24%) SMS
9 1 (0.24%) TCP/IP
9 1 (0.24%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 58 (13.71%) SQL Server
2 52 (12.29%) Relational Database
3 18 (4.26%) MongoDB
4 17 (4.02%) MySQL
5 16 (3.78%) Data Warehouse
6 15 (3.55%) PostgreSQL
7 14 (3.31%) Oracle Database
8 13 (3.07%) DB2
9 11 (2.60%) DataStage
10 9 (2.13%) Amazon RDS
10 9 (2.13%) Amazon Redshift
10 9 (2.13%) Big Data
10 9 (2.13%) Power BI
10 9 (2.13%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 8 (1.89%) Amazon QuickSight
11 8 (1.89%) Apache Cassandra
11 8 (1.89%) Metadata
12 7 (1.65%) Elasticsearch
13 6 (1.42%) MariaDB
14 5 (1.18%) Redis
Development Applications
1 69 (16.31%) Git
2 63 (14.89%) JIRA
3 41 (9.69%) Jenkins
4 31 (7.33%) Postman
5 27 (6.38%) Selenium
6 22 (5.20%) Cucumber
6 22 (5.20%) GitLab
6 22 (5.20%) JUnit
7 20 (4.73%) Eclipse
8 11 (2.60%) IntelliJ
9 10 (2.36%) SoapUI
10 9 (2.13%) Browser DevTools
10 9 (2.13%) Firebug
10 9 (2.13%) Maven
10 9 (2.13%) Valgrind
11 8 (1.89%) PVCS
11 8 (1.89%) SonarQube
11 8 (1.89%) Zephyr
12 7 (1.65%) Robot Framework
12 7 (1.65%) SpecFlow
General
1 132 (31.21%) Social Skills
2 75 (17.73%) Analytical Skills
3 74 (17.49%) Finance
4 42 (9.93%) Public Sector
5 39 (9.22%) Banking
6 14 (3.31%) Publishing
7 13 (3.07%) Influencing Skills
8 11 (2.60%) Telecoms
9 10 (2.36%) Aerospace
10 9 (2.13%) Back Office
10 9 (2.13%) Documentation Skills
11 8 (1.89%) Investment Banking
11 8 (1.89%) Manufacturing
11 8 (1.89%) Private Banking
12 6 (1.42%) Digital Healthcare
12 6 (1.42%) Financial Institution
12 6 (1.42%) Retail
13 5 (1.18%) Automotive
13 5 (1.18%) Front Office
14 4 (0.95%) Legal
Job Titles
1 143 (33.81%) Developer
2 60 (14.18%) Analyst
3 45 (10.64%) Senior
4 43 (10.17%) Consultant
5 25 (5.91%) Software Engineer
6 22 (5.20%) Architect
6 22 (5.20%) Business Analyst
7 18 (4.26%) Data Engineer
8 17 (4.02%) Integration Developer
8 17 (4.02%) Lead
9 16 (3.78%) Java Developer
9 16 (3.78%) Support Engineer
9 16 (3.78%) webMethods Developer
10 15 (3.55%) Applications Engineer
10 15 (3.55%) Tester
11 14 (3.31%) Author
11 14 (3.31%) Technical Author
12 13 (3.07%) Senior Developer
13 12 (2.84%) Test Analyst
14 11 (2.60%) Development Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 224 (52.96%) JSON
2 151 (35.70%) SOAP
3 144 (34.04%) REST
4 58 (13.71%) Web Services
5 50 (11.82%) HTML
6 47 (11.11%) OAuth
7 36 (8.51%) RESTful
8 34 (8.04%) Spring
9 33 (7.80%) JMS
10 31 (7.33%) XSLT
11 30 (7.09%) OAuth2
12 27 (6.38%) XSD
13 26 (6.15%) .NET
14 22 (5.20%) Hibernate
14 22 (5.20%) Swagger
15 21 (4.96%) CSS
15 21 (4.96%) J2EE
16 19 (4.49%) Kafka
17 18 (4.26%) AngularJS
18 17 (4.02%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 23 (5.44%) Cloud Native
2 21 (4.96%) Virtual Team
3 15 (3.55%) Replication
4 14 (3.31%) Distributed Systems
5 13 (3.07%) Data Protection Act
6 12 (2.84%) Self-Motivation
7 10 (2.36%) Data Structures
7 10 (2.36%) Onboarding
8 9 (2.13%) Enterprise Software
8 9 (2.13%) Smartcard
8 9 (2.13%) SWIFT Messaging Network
9 8 (1.89%) AS400
9 8 (1.89%) Legacy Systems
9 8 (1.89%) Product Ownership
10 7 (1.65%) Low-Code
11 6 (1.42%) Algorithms
12 5 (1.18%) Clustering
12 5 (1.18%) Derivative
12 5 (1.18%) Hybrid Cloud
12 5 (1.18%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 41 (9.69%) Linux
2 33 (7.80%) Windows
3 26 (6.15%) Unix
4 9 (2.13%) Ubuntu
4 9 (2.13%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.71%) Android
6 2 (0.47%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.47%) CentOS
7 1 (0.24%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 163 (38.53%) Agile
2 148 (34.99%) DevOps
3 104 (24.59%) CI/CD
4 94 (22.22%) Problem-Solving
5 83 (19.62%) Test Automation
6 56 (13.24%) Scrum
7 51 (12.06%) Validation
8 50 (11.82%) Microservices
9 49 (11.58%) Migration
10 47 (11.11%) Deployment Automation
11 46 (10.87%) ETL
12 37 (8.75%) SDLC
12 37 (8.75%) Software Engineering
13 35 (8.27%) API Management
13 35 (8.27%) Data Modelling
14 34 (8.04%) Continuous Improvement
14 34 (8.04%) Data Migration
15 32 (7.57%) Workflow
16 31 (7.33%) Computer Science
17 30 (7.09%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 167 (39.48%) SQL
2 142 (33.57%) Java
3 82 (19.39%) JavaScript
3 82 (19.39%) Python
4 61 (14.42%) C#
5 23 (5.44%) PL/SQL
5 23 (5.44%) PowerShell
6 18 (4.26%) C++
7 16 (3.78%) T-SQL
8 14 (3.31%) XPath
9 11 (2.60%) RPG
10 9 (2.13%) ABAP
10 9 (2.13%) DataWeave
10 9 (2.13%) Scala
11 8 (1.89%) C
12 7 (1.65%) Groovy
12 7 (1.65%) VBA
13 5 (1.18%) Shell Script
14 4 (0.95%) BeanShell
15 3 (0.71%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 116 (27.42%) Security Cleared
2 98 (23.17%) SC Cleared
3 50 (11.82%) Degree
4 27 (6.38%) Computer Science Degree
5 16 (3.78%) ISTQB
6 12 (2.84%) HNC
6 12 (2.84%) HND
7 11 (2.60%) ISEB
7 11 (2.60%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 10 (2.36%) BPSS Clearance
9 9 (2.13%) DV Cleared
10 7 (1.65%) AWS Certification
11 4 (0.95%) PMI Certification
12 3 (0.71%) CEH
12 3 (0.71%) GIAC
12 3 (0.71%) GWAPT
12 3 (0.71%) PMP
13 2 (0.47%) Cisco Certification
13 2 (0.47%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 2 (0.47%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (8.27%) QA
2 33 (7.80%) Data Quality
3 8 (1.89%) SEPA
4 4 (0.95%) EMIR
4 4 (0.95%) HL7
5 3 (0.71%) GAAP
5 3 (0.71%) ISO 20022
5 3 (0.71%) SLA
6 2 (0.47%) GxP
6 2 (0.47%) MiFID
7 1 (0.24%) 21 CFR Part 11
7 1 (0.24%) Accessibility
7 1 (0.24%) AIFMD
7 1 (0.24%) DICOM
7 1 (0.24%) GDPR
7 1 (0.24%) GMP
7 1 (0.24%) IFRS
7 1 (0.24%) ISO 9001
7 1 (0.24%) PCI DSS
7 1 (0.24%) WCAG
System Software
1 54 (12.77%) Docker
2 4 (0.95%) Active Directory
3 1 (0.24%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 26 (6.15%) Kubernetes
2 20 (4.73%) Ansible
3 12 (2.84%) Control-M
4 9 (2.13%) Puppet
5 8 (1.89%) Terraform
6 7 (1.65%) Kibana
7 6 (1.42%) logstash
8 5 (1.18%) ITRS Geneos
8 5 (1.18%) TIBCO Hawk
9 4 (0.95%) vCenter Server
10 2 (0.47%) CloudHub
10 2 (0.47%) Single Sign-On
11 1 (0.24%) FortiGate
11 1 (0.24%) HP ALM
11 1 (0.24%) Podman
Vendors
1 75 (17.73%) Oracle
2 61 (14.42%) Microsoft
3 52 (12.29%) SAP
4 42 (9.93%) IBM
5 31 (7.33%) webMethods
6 19 (4.49%) ServiceNow
7 17 (4.02%) MuleSoft
8 13 (3.07%) Salesforce
9 12 (2.84%) Software AG
9 12 (2.84%) Workday
10 11 (2.60%) Cisco
11 10 (2.36%) Axway
11 10 (2.36%) TIBCO
12 9 (2.13%) Blue Prism
13 8 (1.89%) Dynatrace
13 8 (1.89%) Splunk
14 7 (1.65%) Pega
14 7 (1.65%) Veracode
15 6 (1.42%) Solace
16 5 (1.18%) VMware