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 19 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 279 239 185
Rank change year-on-year -40 -54 +15
Contract jobs citing XML 396 328 555
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.91% 1.12% 1.25%
As % of the Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards category 4.27% 4.93% 6.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 243 221 334
10th Percentile £350 £350 £375
25th Percentile £391 £404 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £480 £540
Median % change year-on-year -1.04% -11.11% -1.82%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £613
90th Percentile £688 £656 £744
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £510
% change year-on-year - -11.76% +2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 4 48
10th Percentile £40.75 £22.73 -
25th Percentile £46.25 £25.54 £43.75
Median hourly rate £47.50 £60.13 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -21.00% +26.59% -34.48%
75th Percentile £54.13 £93.75 £51.25
90th Percentile £59.50 - £60.38
UK excluding London median hourly rate £47.50 £24.83 £47.50
% change year-on-year +91.30% -47.73% -32.14%

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 9,284 6,648 8,986
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 21.42% 22.70% 20.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,205 4,469 6,272
10th Percentile £358 £363 £338
25th Percentile £413 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% - -6.67%
75th Percentile £619 £650 £650
90th Percentile £725 £775 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £495
% change year-on-year - +1.01% -2.94%
Number of hourly rates quoted 236 95 205
10th Percentile £35.00 £26.25 £20.77
25th Percentile £52.50 £38.88 £39.92
Median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £48.72
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% +28.28% -25.05%
75th Percentile £73.46 £68.75 £63.75
90th Percentile £81.00 £83.58 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £48.72
% change year-on-year - +33.42% -25.05%

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 19 March 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 19 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for XML in the UK

XML
Top 14 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 19 March 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 -12 361 £475 -5.00% 124
UK excluding London -42 177 £450 - 129
London -30 173 £525 - 34
Work from Home -33 111 £456 +1.22% 60
North of England -40 66 £400 -10.71% 27
South East -28 62 £500 +8.11% 23
North West -7 55 £394 -11.96% 18
Midlands -44 30 £450 -18.18% 20
West Midlands -41 23 £450 -20.00% 10
East of England -11 13 £675 - 11
Yorkshire -50 11 £456 -29.81% 4
East Midlands -29 7 £525 +46.65% 10
Scotland -11 5 £500 +6.38% 24
South West -20 5 £438 +16.67% 21

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 18 (4.55%) Confluence
1 18 (4.55%) Oracle SOA Suite
1 18 (4.55%) WebLogic
2 10 (2.53%) WebSphere
3 7 (1.77%) Apache
3 7 (1.77%) Oracle Workflow
4 6 (1.52%) Anypoint
5 5 (1.26%) Appian
5 5 (1.26%) Mule
6 4 (1.01%) JBoss
6 4 (1.01%) Oracle Service Bus
7 3 (0.76%) Apache Spark
7 3 (0.76%) CMS
7 3 (0.76%) MQSeries
7 3 (0.76%) Oracle Self-Service HR
8 2 (0.51%) Documentum
8 2 (0.51%) Mule ESB
8 2 (0.51%) SharePoint
9 1 (0.25%) BizTalk Server
9 1 (0.25%) SAS
Applications
1 33 (8.33%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (1.26%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.01%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.76%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.51%) Chatbot
5 2 (0.51%) EngageOne
6 1 (0.25%) FrameMaker
6 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.25%) SPSS
Business Applications
1 12 (3.03%) Oracle ERP
2 9 (2.27%) SAP Payroll
3 8 (2.02%) Oracle Payables
3 8 (2.02%) Oracle Receivables
3 8 (2.02%) SAP S/4HANA
4 7 (1.77%) BusinessWorks
4 7 (1.77%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 7 (1.77%) SAP HCM
5 5 (1.26%) Dynamics CRM
5 5 (1.26%) Oracle General Ledger
5 5 (1.26%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 5 (1.26%) Payment Gateway
5 5 (1.26%) Summit
6 4 (1.01%) Maximo
6 4 (1.01%) Oracle 11i
6 4 (1.01%) Oracle Assets
6 4 (1.01%) Oracle Cash Management
7 3 (0.76%) Findur
7 3 (0.76%) Workday HCM
8 2 (0.51%) Fidessa
Cloud Services
1 82 (20.71%) Azure
2 57 (14.39%) AWS
3 29 (7.32%) OCI
4 26 (6.57%) Azure DevOps
5 23 (5.81%) Power Platform
5 23 (5.81%) SaaS
6 22 (5.56%) GCP
7 21 (5.30%) GitHub
8 17 (4.29%) PaaS
9 16 (4.04%) Serverless
10 15 (3.79%) Boomi
10 15 (3.79%) IaaS
11 13 (3.28%) Cloud Computing
11 13 (3.28%) GitHub Actions
12 12 (3.03%) Apigee
12 12 (3.03%) Azure Data Factory
13 10 (2.53%) Dynamics 365
13 10 (2.53%) Tricentis Tosca
14 8 (2.02%) Kong
14 8 (2.02%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 27 (6.82%) HTTP
2 15 (3.79%) HTTPS
3 8 (2.02%) Firewall
4 6 (1.52%) 3GPP
4 6 (1.52%) FTP
5 4 (1.01%) RTCP
5 4 (1.01%) RTP
5 4 (1.01%) XCAP
6 2 (0.51%) 5G
6 2 (0.51%) BGP
6 2 (0.51%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
6 2 (0.51%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
6 2 (0.51%) FIX Connectivity
6 2 (0.51%) MPLS
6 2 (0.51%) NFC
6 2 (0.51%) PPP
6 2 (0.51%) SSL
6 2 (0.51%) VPN
7 1 (0.25%) SMS
7 1 (0.25%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 46 (11.62%) Relational Database
2 43 (10.86%) SQL Server
3 25 (6.31%) Data Warehouse
4 24 (6.06%) PostgreSQL
5 22 (5.56%) RDBMS
6 21 (5.30%) MongoDB
7 18 (4.55%) NoSQL
7 18 (4.55%) Power BI
8 17 (4.29%) Oracle Reports
9 14 (3.54%) Metadata
9 14 (3.54%) Oracle Database
10 11 (2.78%) Data Lake
11 10 (2.53%) MySQL
11 10 (2.53%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 9 (2.27%) DataStage
13 7 (1.77%) DB2
14 6 (1.52%) SQL Server Reporting Services
14 6 (1.52%) Tableau
15 5 (1.26%) Big Data
15 5 (1.26%) Oracle BI Publisher
Development Applications
1 50 (12.63%) JIRA
2 48 (12.12%) Postman
3 44 (11.11%) Git
4 27 (6.82%) Jenkins
5 19 (4.80%) Selenium
6 17 (4.29%) JUnit
7 16 (4.04%) Cucumber
8 15 (3.79%) SoapUI
9 12 (3.03%) Maven
10 10 (2.53%) Eclipse
11 9 (2.27%) SpecFlow
11 9 (2.27%) TestRail
11 9 (2.27%) Zephyr
12 8 (2.02%) GitLab
13 7 (1.77%) Toad
14 6 (1.52%) Subversion
15 5 (1.26%) MSTest
16 4 (1.01%) IntelliJ
17 3 (0.76%) Ant
17 3 (0.76%) Mockito
General
1 120 (30.30%) Social Skills
2 84 (21.21%) Finance
3 78 (19.70%) Analytical Skills
4 38 (9.60%) Banking
4 38 (9.60%) Public Sector
5 20 (5.05%) Documentation Skills
6 13 (3.28%) Investment Banking
6 13 (3.28%) Legal
7 11 (2.78%) Organisational Skills
8 6 (1.52%) Military
8 6 (1.52%) Retail
9 5 (1.26%) Financial Institution
9 5 (1.26%) General Ledger
9 5 (1.26%) Telecoms
10 4 (1.01%) Advertising
10 4 (1.01%) Aerospace
10 4 (1.01%) Influencing Skills
10 4 (1.01%) Publishing
11 3 (0.76%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 3 (0.76%) Private Banking
Job Titles
1 103 (26.01%) Developer
2 61 (15.40%) Consultant
3 59 (14.90%) Analyst
4 33 (8.33%) Implementation Consultant
5 30 (7.58%) Business Analyst
6 24 (6.06%) Senior
7 22 (5.56%) Lead
8 20 (5.05%) Architect
9 17 (4.29%) Data Engineer
9 17 (4.29%) Software Engineer
10 15 (3.79%) DBA
11 13 (3.28%) Integration Developer
11 13 (3.28%) Payroll Consultant
12 11 (2.78%) Tester
13 10 (2.53%) Integration Specialist
13 10 (2.53%) Technical Analyst
14 9 (2.27%) Java Developer
14 9 (2.27%) Oracle Specialist
14 9 (2.27%) PostgreSQL DBA
14 9 (2.27%) SAP Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 198 (50.00%) JSON
2 122 (30.81%) REST
3 121 (30.56%) SOAP
4 53 (13.38%) Web Services
5 41 (10.35%) XSLT
6 39 (9.85%) OAuth
7 31 (7.83%) Oracle Fusion
8 30 (7.58%) JWT
9 29 (7.32%) HTML
10 28 (7.07%) .NET
11 25 (6.31%) Middleware
12 24 (6.06%) RESTful
13 21 (5.30%) JMS
13 21 (5.30%) XSD
14 20 (5.05%) Kafka
14 20 (5.05%) Swagger
15 19 (4.80%) CSS
16 14 (3.54%) EDI
16 14 (3.54%) J2EE
16 14 (3.54%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 17 (4.29%) Data Structures
2 13 (3.28%) Public Cloud
3 12 (3.03%) Management Information System
4 11 (2.78%) Product Ownership
4 11 (2.78%) Replication
5 10 (2.53%) Enterprise Software
5 10 (2.53%) Fixed Income
6 9 (2.27%) Legacy Systems
7 8 (2.02%) Onboarding
8 7 (1.77%) Data Protection Act
8 7 (1.77%) Derivative
9 6 (1.52%) Cloud Native
9 6 (1.52%) CMDB
9 6 (1.52%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 6 (1.52%) SWIFT Messaging Network
10 5 (1.26%) Credit Risk
10 5 (1.26%) Digital Wallet
10 5 (1.26%) Market Risk
11 4 (1.01%) Data Centre
11 4 (1.01%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 40 (10.10%) Linux
2 27 (6.82%) Unix
3 16 (4.04%) Windows
4 5 (1.26%) AIX
5 4 (1.01%) Ubuntu
6 3 (0.76%) Android
7 1 (0.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.25%) VMS
7 1 (0.25%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 133 (33.59%) Agile
2 108 (27.27%) DevOps
3 99 (25.00%) Problem-Solving
4 71 (17.93%) CI/CD
5 60 (15.15%) Validation
6 49 (12.37%) Data Modelling
6 49 (12.37%) ERP
7 45 (11.36%) Migration
8 42 (10.61%) ETL
9 41 (10.35%) Integration Patterns
9 41 (10.35%) Requirements Gathering
10 37 (9.34%) Scrum
11 36 (9.09%) SDLC
11 36 (9.09%) Workflow
12 35 (8.84%) Test Automation
13 32 (8.08%) Stakeholder Management
14 31 (7.83%) Computer Science
14 31 (7.83%) Microservices
14 31 (7.83%) Software Engineering
15 30 (7.58%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 160 (40.40%) SQL
2 90 (22.73%) Java
3 57 (14.39%) Python
4 56 (14.14%) C#
5 43 (10.86%) JavaScript
6 39 (9.85%) T-SQL
7 18 (4.55%) PL/SQL
8 17 (4.29%) PowerShell
9 16 (4.04%) XPath
10 9 (2.27%) Shell Script
11 8 (2.02%) ABAP
11 8 (2.02%) Groovy
12 7 (1.77%) Korn
13 6 (1.52%) C++
14 5 (1.26%) Kotlin
14 5 (1.26%) Perl
15 4 (1.01%) Bicep
15 4 (1.01%) Scala
16 3 (0.76%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 3 (0.76%) RPG
Qualifications
1 98 (24.75%) Security Cleared
2 71 (17.93%) SC Cleared
3 39 (9.85%) Degree
4 22 (5.56%) Computer Science Degree
5 13 (3.28%) BPSS Clearance
6 11 (2.78%) ISTQB
7 9 (2.27%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 7 (1.77%) AWS Certification
9 6 (1.52%) ISEB
10 5 (1.26%) CCNP
10 5 (1.26%) Cisco Certification
10 5 (1.26%) DBS Check
10 5 (1.26%) DV Cleared
10 5 (1.26%) PMI Certification
10 5 (1.26%) PMP
11 4 (1.01%) Azure Certification
11 4 (1.01%) Master's Degree
12 2 (0.51%) CCNA
12 2 (0.51%) OCP
12 2 (0.51%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (6.57%) QA
2 15 (3.79%) Data Quality
3 9 (2.27%) GDPR
4 6 (1.52%) PCI DSS
5 5 (1.26%) PSD2
6 4 (1.01%) GAAP
7 3 (0.76%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 3 (0.76%) FATCA
7 3 (0.76%) ISO 8583
7 3 (0.76%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 2 (0.51%) Basel III
8 2 (0.51%) HL7
8 2 (0.51%) IFRS
8 2 (0.51%) IFRS 17
8 2 (0.51%) IFRS 9
8 2 (0.51%) SEPA
9 1 (0.25%) 21 CFR Part 11
9 1 (0.25%) GxP
9 1 (0.25%) ISO 20022
9 1 (0.25%) SLA
System Software
1 22 (5.56%) Docker
2 3 (0.76%) Oracle RAC
3 2 (0.51%) Virtual Desktop
4 1 (0.25%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 12 (3.03%) Kubernetes
2 9 (2.27%) Ansible
3 7 (1.77%) TIBCO Hawk
4 6 (1.52%) Control-M
5 5 (1.26%) logstash
5 5 (1.26%) Puppet
6 4 (1.01%) Kibana
7 3 (0.76%) Grafana
8 2 (0.51%) CloudHub
8 2 (0.51%) Fluentd
8 2 (0.51%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.51%) ITRS Geneos
8 2 (0.51%) QRadar
8 2 (0.51%) Terraform
9 1 (0.25%) Docker Swarm
9 1 (0.25%) HP ALM
9 1 (0.25%) Podman
9 1 (0.25%) Progress Chef
9 1 (0.25%) Prometheus
9 1 (0.25%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 110 (27.78%) Oracle
2 41 (10.35%) Microsoft
3 38 (9.60%) SAP
4 31 (7.83%) IBM
5 18 (4.55%) MuleSoft
6 17 (4.29%) webMethods
7 15 (3.79%) Workday
8 13 (3.28%) ServiceNow
9 11 (2.78%) Informatica
9 11 (2.78%) Splunk
10 9 (2.27%) Google
10 9 (2.27%) Pega
10 9 (2.27%) TIBCO
11 8 (2.02%) Talend
12 7 (1.77%) BEA
12 7 (1.77%) Red Hat
12 7 (1.77%) Software AG
13 6 (1.52%) Bloomberg
14 5 (1.26%) Cisco
14 5 (1.26%) Dell