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 4 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 300 265 183
Rank change year-on-year -35 -82 +27
Contract jobs citing XML 387 292 570
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.86% 1.00% 1.29%
As % of the Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards category 4.08% 4.41% 6.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 237 203 352
10th Percentile £350 £350 £393
25th Percentile £394 £406 £468
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -13.64% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £625
90th Percentile £688 £650 £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 35
10th Percentile £40.75 £22.73 £43.30
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% -32.14%
75th Percentile £54.13 £93.75 £51.25
90th Percentile £59.50 - £52.30
UK excluding London median hourly rate £47.50 £24.83 £45.00
% change year-on-year +91.30% -44.82% -36.84%

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 9,495 6,620 8,959
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 21.03% 22.65% 20.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,329 4,527 6,271
10th Percentile £358 £363 £331
25th Percentile £414 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £514 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.10% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £650 £650
90th Percentile £725 £775 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £496 £500
% change year-on-year +0.81% -0.80% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 263 98 171
10th Percentile £35.05 £26.25 £20.47
25th Percentile £52.50 £43.13 £31.63
Median hourly rate £65.00 £64.50 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +0.78% +35.79% -26.92%
75th Percentile £71.75 £68.75 £62.96
90th Percentile £81.00 £85.43 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £47.50
% change year-on-year - +36.84% -26.92%

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 4 April 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 4 April 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 4 April 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 0 355 £475 - 111
UK excluding London -48 177 £450 - 104
London -19 168 £525 +2.44% 32
Work from Home -43 102 £453 -0.55% 58
North of England -44 67 £393 -12.25% 24
South East -27 60 £500 +8.99% 27
North West -19 56 £390 -12.85% 15
Midlands -49 30 £450 -20.00% 17
West Midlands -40 23 £450 -21.74% 6
East of England -22 13 £675 - 10
Yorkshire -52 11 £450 -23.40% 7
East Midlands -25 7 £525 +46.65% 11
South West -22 6 £548 +46.00% 11
Scotland -9 4 £500 +1.21% 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 18 (4.65%) Oracle SOA Suite
1 18 (4.65%) WebLogic
2 15 (3.88%) Confluence
3 11 (2.84%) WebSphere
4 7 (1.81%) Apache
4 7 (1.81%) Oracle Workflow
5 6 (1.55%) Anypoint
6 4 (1.03%) JBoss
6 4 (1.03%) Mule
6 4 (1.03%) Oracle Service Bus
7 3 (0.78%) Apache Spark
7 3 (0.78%) CMS
7 3 (0.78%) Oracle Self-Service HR
8 2 (0.52%) Appian
8 2 (0.52%) Documentum
8 2 (0.52%) MQSeries
8 2 (0.52%) Mule ESB
8 2 (0.52%) SharePoint
8 2 (0.52%) Tomcat
9 1 (0.26%) SAS
Applications
1 33 (8.53%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (1.29%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.03%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.78%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.52%) Chatbot
5 2 (0.52%) EngageOne
6 1 (0.26%) FrameMaker
6 1 (0.26%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.26%) SPSS
Business Applications
1 12 (3.10%) Oracle ERP
2 9 (2.33%) SAP Payroll
3 8 (2.07%) Oracle Payables
3 8 (2.07%) Oracle Receivables
3 8 (2.07%) SAP S/4HANA
4 7 (1.81%) BusinessWorks
4 7 (1.81%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 7 (1.81%) SAP HCM
5 6 (1.55%) Maximo
6 5 (1.29%) Dynamics CRM
6 5 (1.29%) Oracle General Ledger
6 5 (1.29%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
6 5 (1.29%) Payment Gateway
6 5 (1.29%) Summit
7 4 (1.03%) Oracle 11i
7 4 (1.03%) Oracle Assets
7 4 (1.03%) Oracle Cash Management
8 3 (0.78%) Findur
8 3 (0.78%) Workday HCM
9 2 (0.52%) NEC Housing
Cloud Services
1 80 (20.67%) Azure
2 51 (13.18%) AWS
3 29 (7.49%) OCI
4 24 (6.20%) Azure DevOps
5 23 (5.94%) Power Platform
5 23 (5.94%) SaaS
6 22 (5.68%) GCP
7 21 (5.43%) GitHub
8 17 (4.39%) PaaS
9 16 (4.13%) Serverless
10 15 (3.88%) Boomi
10 15 (3.88%) IaaS
11 13 (3.36%) Apigee
11 13 (3.36%) Azure Data Factory
11 13 (3.36%) Cloud Computing
11 13 (3.36%) GitHub Actions
12 10 (2.58%) Dynamics 365
13 9 (2.33%) Kong
14 8 (2.07%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 8 (2.07%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 26 (6.72%) HTTP
2 11 (2.84%) HTTPS
3 7 (1.81%) Firewall
4 6 (1.55%) 3GPP
4 6 (1.55%) FTP
5 4 (1.03%) RTCP
5 4 (1.03%) RTP
5 4 (1.03%) XCAP
6 2 (0.52%) 5G
6 2 (0.52%) BGP
6 2 (0.52%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
6 2 (0.52%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
6 2 (0.52%) FIX Connectivity
6 2 (0.52%) MPLS
6 2 (0.52%) VPN
7 1 (0.26%) DNS
7 1 (0.26%) PPP
7 1 (0.26%) SMS
7 1 (0.26%) SSL
7 1 (0.26%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 45 (11.63%) Relational Database
2 42 (10.85%) SQL Server
3 24 (6.20%) Data Warehouse
4 22 (5.68%) MongoDB
4 22 (5.68%) PostgreSQL
5 21 (5.43%) RDBMS
6 20 (5.17%) NoSQL
7 18 (4.65%) Power BI
8 17 (4.39%) Oracle Reports
9 14 (3.62%) Metadata
10 13 (3.36%) Oracle Database
11 11 (2.84%) Data Lake
12 10 (2.58%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 9 (2.33%) DataStage
13 9 (2.33%) MySQL
14 8 (2.07%) DB2
15 6 (1.55%) SQL Server Reporting Services
15 6 (1.55%) Tableau
16 5 (1.29%) Big Data
16 5 (1.29%) Oracle BI Publisher
Development Applications
1 48 (12.40%) Postman
2 43 (11.11%) JIRA
3 40 (10.34%) Git
4 19 (4.91%) Jenkins
5 15 (3.88%) JUnit
5 15 (3.88%) SoapUI
6 14 (3.62%) Selenium
7 12 (3.10%) Maven
8 11 (2.84%) Cucumber
9 9 (2.33%) Eclipse
9 9 (2.33%) SpecFlow
9 9 (2.33%) TestRail
9 9 (2.33%) Zephyr
10 7 (1.81%) Toad
11 6 (1.55%) GitLab
11 6 (1.55%) Subversion
12 5 (1.29%) MSTest
13 4 (1.03%) IntelliJ
14 3 (0.78%) JMeter
14 3 (0.78%) Mockito
General
1 118 (30.49%) Social Skills
2 82 (21.19%) Finance
3 75 (19.38%) Analytical Skills
4 37 (9.56%) Banking
4 37 (9.56%) Public Sector
5 19 (4.91%) Documentation Skills
6 13 (3.36%) Investment Banking
6 13 (3.36%) Legal
7 11 (2.84%) Organisational Skills
8 6 (1.55%) Military
9 5 (1.29%) General Ledger
9 5 (1.29%) Retail
10 4 (1.03%) Advertising
10 4 (1.03%) Aerospace
10 4 (1.03%) Financial Institution
10 4 (1.03%) Influencing Skills
10 4 (1.03%) Publishing
11 3 (0.78%) Back Office
11 3 (0.78%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 3 (0.78%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 97 (25.06%) Developer
2 62 (16.02%) Consultant
3 56 (14.47%) Analyst
4 33 (8.53%) Implementation Consultant
5 28 (7.24%) Business Analyst
6 23 (5.94%) Architect
6 23 (5.94%) Lead
6 23 (5.94%) Senior
7 17 (4.39%) Data Engineer
8 16 (4.13%) Software Engineer
9 15 (3.88%) DBA
10 13 (3.36%) Payroll Consultant
11 12 (3.10%) Integration Developer
12 10 (2.58%) Integration Specialist
12 10 (2.58%) Solutions Architect
12 10 (2.58%) Technical Analyst
12 10 (2.58%) Tester
13 9 (2.33%) Java Developer
13 9 (2.33%) PostgreSQL DBA
13 9 (2.33%) SAP Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 188 (48.58%) JSON
2 115 (29.72%) REST
2 115 (29.72%) SOAP
3 54 (13.95%) Web Services
4 41 (10.59%) OAuth
5 40 (10.34%) XSLT
6 33 (8.53%) JWT
7 31 (8.01%) Oracle Fusion
8 30 (7.75%) .NET
9 27 (6.98%) Middleware
10 25 (6.46%) HTML
10 25 (6.46%) RESTful
11 22 (5.68%) Kafka
11 22 (5.68%) Swagger
12 21 (5.43%) XSD
13 19 (4.91%) JMS
14 17 (4.39%) EDI
15 16 (4.13%) OAuth2
16 15 (3.88%) CSS
16 15 (3.88%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 17 (4.39%) Data Structures
2 13 (3.36%) Public Cloud
3 12 (3.10%) Management Information System
4 11 (2.84%) Product Ownership
5 10 (2.58%) Replication
6 9 (2.33%) Enterprise Software
6 9 (2.33%) Legacy Systems
7 8 (2.07%) Fixed Income
7 8 (2.07%) Onboarding
8 7 (1.81%) Data Protection Act
8 7 (1.81%) Derivative
9 6 (1.55%) SWIFT Messaging Network
10 5 (1.29%) Algorithms
10 5 (1.29%) Credit Risk
10 5 (1.29%) Digital Wallet
10 5 (1.29%) Market Risk
11 4 (1.03%) Analytical Mindset
11 4 (1.03%) Cloud Native
11 4 (1.03%) Data Centre
11 4 (1.03%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 34 (8.79%) Linux
2 26 (6.72%) Unix
3 16 (4.13%) Windows
4 5 (1.29%) AIX
5 3 (0.78%) Android
5 3 (0.78%) Ubuntu
6 2 (0.52%) VMS
7 1 (0.26%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.26%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 123 (31.78%) Agile
2 98 (25.32%) DevOps
2 98 (25.32%) Problem-Solving
3 63 (16.28%) CI/CD
4 58 (14.99%) Validation
5 49 (12.66%) Data Modelling
5 49 (12.66%) ERP
6 45 (11.63%) Migration
7 44 (11.37%) Integration Patterns
8 41 (10.59%) ETL
9 40 (10.34%) Requirements Gathering
10 36 (9.30%) SDLC
11 32 (8.27%) Workflow
12 31 (8.01%) Computer Science
12 31 (8.01%) Microservices
12 31 (8.01%) Scrum
12 31 (8.01%) Test Automation
13 30 (7.75%) Mentoring
14 29 (7.49%) Stakeholder Management
14 29 (7.49%) Unit Testing
Programming Languages
1 158 (40.83%) SQL
2 87 (22.48%) Java
3 56 (14.47%) C#
4 50 (12.92%) Python
5 39 (10.08%) T-SQL
6 36 (9.30%) JavaScript
7 18 (4.65%) PL/SQL
8 16 (4.13%) XPath
9 12 (3.10%) PowerShell
10 9 (2.33%) Shell Script
11 8 (2.07%) ABAP
11 8 (2.07%) Groovy
12 7 (1.81%) Korn
13 5 (1.29%) C++
13 5 (1.29%) Kotlin
13 5 (1.29%) Perl
14 4 (1.03%) Bicep
14 4 (1.03%) Scala
15 3 (0.78%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 2 (0.52%) RPG
Qualifications
1 96 (24.81%) Security Cleared
2 69 (17.83%) SC Cleared
3 39 (10.08%) Degree
4 22 (5.68%) Computer Science Degree
5 13 (3.36%) BPSS Clearance
6 9 (2.33%) ISTQB
7 7 (1.81%) AWS Certification
7 7 (1.81%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 6 (1.55%) ISEB
9 5 (1.29%) CCNP
9 5 (1.29%) Cisco Certification
9 5 (1.29%) DBS Check
9 5 (1.29%) DV Cleared
9 5 (1.29%) PMI Certification
9 5 (1.29%) PMP
10 4 (1.03%) Azure Certification
10 4 (1.03%) Master's Degree
11 2 (0.52%) CCNA
11 2 (0.52%) OCP
11 2 (0.52%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (5.94%) QA
2 15 (3.88%) Data Quality
3 9 (2.33%) GDPR
4 6 (1.55%) PCI DSS
5 5 (1.29%) PSD2
6 4 (1.03%) GAAP
7 3 (0.78%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 3 (0.78%) FATCA
7 3 (0.78%) HL7
7 3 (0.78%) ISO 8583
7 3 (0.78%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 2 (0.52%) Basel III
8 2 (0.52%) IFRS
8 2 (0.52%) IFRS 17
8 2 (0.52%) IFRS 9
8 2 (0.52%) SEPA
9 1 (0.26%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 1 (0.26%) NIST 800
9 1 (0.26%) PMO
System Software
1 21 (5.43%) Docker
2 3 (0.78%) Oracle RAC
3 2 (0.52%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.52%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 13 (3.36%) Kubernetes
2 7 (1.81%) TIBCO Hawk
3 6 (1.55%) Ansible
4 5 (1.29%) Control-M
4 5 (1.29%) Puppet
5 3 (0.78%) Grafana
5 3 (0.78%) logstash
6 2 (0.52%) CloudHub
6 2 (0.52%) Fluentd
6 2 (0.52%) FortiGate
6 2 (0.52%) Kibana
6 2 (0.52%) QRadar
6 2 (0.52%) Terraform
7 1 (0.26%) CEMLI
7 1 (0.26%) Docker Swarm
7 1 (0.26%) HP ALM
7 1 (0.26%) Podman
7 1 (0.26%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.26%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.26%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 111 (28.68%) Oracle
2 40 (10.34%) Microsoft
3 38 (9.82%) SAP
4 29 (7.49%) IBM
5 18 (4.65%) MuleSoft
6 16 (4.13%) webMethods
7 14 (3.62%) Workday
8 11 (2.84%) Informatica
8 11 (2.84%) ServiceNow
8 11 (2.84%) Splunk
9 9 (2.33%) Google
9 9 (2.33%) Pega
10 8 (2.07%) TIBCO
11 7 (1.81%) BEA
11 7 (1.81%) Talend
12 6 (1.55%) Bloomberg
12 6 (1.55%) Databricks
12 6 (1.55%) Red Hat
13 5 (1.29%) Dell
13 5 (1.29%) Software AG