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 14 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 240 232 197
Rank change year-on-year -8 -35 +17
Contract jobs citing XML 415 331 515
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.12% 1.05% 1.21%
As % of the Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards category 5.02% 4.75% 5.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 268 209 331
10th Percentile £350 £245 £363
25th Percentile £400 £400 £470
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% -9.09% -
75th Percentile £638 £588 £613
90th Percentile £713 £651 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £448 £533
% change year-on-year +0.45% -15.95% +7.68%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 1 31
10th Percentile £40.75 - £40.00
25th Percentile £41.25 £91.25 £47.30
Median hourly rate £43.00 £92.50 £48.72
Median % change year-on-year -53.51% +89.86% -35.04%
75th Percentile £48.75 £93.75 £52.49
90th Percentile £89.60 - £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.00 - £48.72
% change year-on-year - - -11.42%

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 8,260 6,962 9,144
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 22.34% 22.03% 21.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,479 4,427 6,488
10th Percentile £356 £353 £357
25th Percentile £413 £425 £431
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £538 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.12% -2.27% -4.35%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £725 £775 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 195 83 168
10th Percentile £33.00 £21.40 £28.28
25th Percentile £45.50 £34.13 £46.18
Median hourly rate £60.00 £62.50 £54.53
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% +14.62% -16.11%
75th Percentile £67.50 £65.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £81.00 £76.75 £78.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £62.50 £62.50 £54.53
% change year-on-year - +14.62% -16.11%

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 14 January 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 14 January 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 14 January 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 +6 364 £475 -5.94% 73
London -22 192 £520 -2.80% 27
UK excluding London -12 163 £450 +0.45% 66
Work from Home +28 158 £475 +6.74% 53
North of England -30 52 £425 -19.05% 12
North West 0 42 £402 -9.66% 8
South East -31 37 £425 +21.43% 23
East of England +11 29 £581 - 9
Midlands -31 25 £429 -24.34% 9
West Midlands -26 22 £429 -24.34% 6
Scotland -3 10 £500 +11.11% 5
South West -14 10 £400 -9.86% 8
Yorkshire -46 10 £600 +5.82% 4
Wales -8 4 - - 2
East Midlands -22 3 - - 3

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 26 (6.27%) WebLogic
2 24 (5.78%) Oracle SOA Suite
3 13 (3.13%) Apache
3 13 (3.13%) Confluence
4 10 (2.41%) JBoss
4 10 (2.41%) WebSphere
5 9 (2.17%) Oracle Service Bus
6 8 (1.93%) Anypoint
6 8 (1.93%) Appian
6 8 (1.93%) Mule
7 7 (1.69%) MQSeries
7 7 (1.69%) nginx
7 7 (1.69%) Oracle Workflow
8 5 (1.20%) Tomcat
9 4 (0.96%) Mule ESB
10 3 (0.72%) Apache Spark
10 3 (0.72%) Documentum
11 2 (0.48%) IIS
11 2 (0.48%) Microsoft Exchange
12 1 (0.24%) Alfresco
Applications
1 11 (2.65%) FrameMaker
1 11 (2.65%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.45%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.48%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.24%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.24%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.24%) Siemens NX
4 1 (0.24%) SPSS
Business Applications
1 8 (1.93%) SAP Payroll
2 7 (1.69%) BusinessWorks
2 7 (1.69%) SAP HCM
3 6 (1.45%) Oracle BPM
3 6 (1.45%) Oracle ERP
3 6 (1.45%) Oracle Payables
3 6 (1.45%) Oracle Receivables
3 6 (1.45%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
4 5 (1.20%) Oracle General Ledger
4 5 (1.20%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 4 (0.96%) Dynamics CRM
5 4 (0.96%) Maximo
5 4 (0.96%) Oracle 11i
5 4 (0.96%) SAP S/4HANA
6 3 (0.72%) Salesforce CRM
7 2 (0.48%) NetSuite
7 2 (0.48%) Payment Gateway
7 2 (0.48%) SAP ERP
7 2 (0.48%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
7 2 (0.48%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 90 (21.69%) Azure
2 74 (17.83%) AWS
3 27 (6.51%) GitHub
4 24 (5.78%) Azure DevOps
4 24 (5.78%) OCI
5 21 (5.06%) GCP
5 21 (5.06%) Power Platform
6 20 (4.82%) Cloud Computing
6 20 (4.82%) SaaS
7 18 (4.34%) Serverless
8 14 (3.37%) Tricentis Tosca
9 13 (3.13%) Apigee
9 13 (3.13%) PaaS
10 12 (2.89%) Azure Logic Apps
10 12 (2.89%) Dynamics 365
11 11 (2.65%) IaaS
12 10 (2.41%) Amazon S3
12 10 (2.41%) Boomi
12 10 (2.41%) Power Automate
13 9 (2.17%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 35 (8.43%) HTTPS
2 27 (6.51%) HTTP
3 10 (2.41%) Firewall
3 10 (2.41%) SSL
4 4 (0.96%) NFC
4 4 (0.96%) PPP
5 3 (0.72%) VPN
6 2 (0.48%) 5G
6 2 (0.48%) AMQP
6 2 (0.48%) BGP
6 2 (0.48%) DNS
6 2 (0.48%) DSL
6 2 (0.48%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
6 2 (0.48%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
6 2 (0.48%) FIX Connectivity
6 2 (0.48%) FTP
6 2 (0.48%) MPLS
6 2 (0.48%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.24%) Radio Access Network
7 1 (0.24%) SMS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 57 (13.73%) Relational Database
2 42 (10.12%) SQL Server
3 24 (5.78%) Data Warehouse
4 21 (5.06%) MongoDB
5 20 (4.82%) PostgreSQL
6 14 (3.37%) Oracle Database
6 14 (3.37%) Oracle Reports
6 14 (3.37%) RDBMS
7 13 (3.13%) DataStage
8 12 (2.89%) Power BI
9 11 (2.65%) NoSQL
10 10 (2.41%) MySQL
11 9 (2.17%) Amazon Redshift
11 9 (2.17%) Metadata
11 9 (2.17%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 8 (1.93%) Amazon QuickSight
12 8 (1.93%) Apache Cassandra
13 7 (1.69%) Big Data
13 7 (1.69%) DB2
13 7 (1.69%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 54 (13.01%) JIRA
2 51 (12.29%) Git
3 40 (9.64%) Postman
4 33 (7.95%) Jenkins
5 28 (6.75%) Selenium
6 22 (5.30%) Cucumber
6 22 (5.30%) JUnit
7 13 (3.13%) Eclipse
8 11 (2.65%) GitLab
9 9 (2.17%) IntelliJ
9 9 (2.17%) SoapUI
9 9 (2.17%) SpecFlow
9 9 (2.17%) TestRail
9 9 (2.17%) Zephyr
10 8 (1.93%) SonarQube
11 7 (1.69%) Browser DevTools
11 7 (1.69%) Firebug
11 7 (1.69%) Robot Framework
11 7 (1.69%) Toad
12 6 (1.45%) Maven
General
1 141 (33.98%) Social Skills
2 92 (22.17%) Finance
3 67 (16.14%) Analytical Skills
4 50 (12.05%) Public Sector
5 48 (11.57%) Banking
6 15 (3.61%) Documentation Skills
6 15 (3.61%) Publishing
7 13 (3.13%) Influencing Skills
8 11 (2.65%) Telecoms
9 10 (2.41%) Aerospace
9 10 (2.41%) Investment Banking
10 9 (2.17%) Back Office
11 8 (1.93%) Financial Institution
11 8 (1.93%) Legal
11 8 (1.93%) Private Banking
12 7 (1.69%) Manufacturing
13 6 (1.45%) Digital Healthcare
13 6 (1.45%) Retail
14 5 (1.20%) Automotive
14 5 (1.20%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 134 (32.29%) Developer
2 59 (14.22%) Analyst
3 39 (9.40%) Consultant
4 29 (6.99%) Senior
5 27 (6.51%) Business Analyst
5 27 (6.51%) Lead
6 20 (4.82%) Architect
6 20 (4.82%) Software Engineer
7 17 (4.10%) Integration Developer
8 16 (3.86%) Data Engineer
8 16 (3.86%) webMethods Developer
9 14 (3.37%) Author
9 14 (3.37%) Technical Author
10 12 (2.89%) Java Developer
11 11 (2.65%) DBA
11 11 (2.65%) Senior Developer
11 11 (2.65%) Support Engineer
11 11 (2.65%) Tester
12 10 (2.41%) Administrator
12 10 (2.41%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 222 (53.49%) JSON
2 142 (34.22%) REST
3 141 (33.98%) SOAP
4 58 (13.98%) OAuth
5 48 (11.57%) Web Services
6 44 (10.60%) XSLT
7 42 (10.12%) HTML
8 33 (7.95%) JMS
9 30 (7.23%) RESTful
10 27 (6.51%) OAuth2
11 25 (6.02%) JWT
11 25 (6.02%) Middleware
11 25 (6.02%) Oracle Fusion
12 24 (5.78%) Spring
13 23 (5.54%) .NET
14 22 (5.30%) J2EE
14 22 (5.30%) XSD
15 21 (5.06%) Swagger
16 19 (4.58%) CSS
17 17 (4.10%) Hibernate
Miscellaneous
1 18 (4.34%) Data Structures
2 16 (3.86%) Cloud Native
3 14 (3.37%) Replication
4 13 (3.13%) Virtual Team
5 11 (2.65%) Data Protection Act
6 9 (2.17%) Distributed Systems
6 9 (2.17%) Enterprise Software
6 9 (2.17%) Legacy Systems
6 9 (2.17%) Onboarding
7 8 (1.93%) Algorithms
7 8 (1.93%) AS400
7 8 (1.93%) Management Information System
7 8 (1.93%) Public Cloud
7 8 (1.93%) SWIFT Messaging Network
8 7 (1.69%) Product Ownership
8 7 (1.69%) Self-Motivation
9 5 (1.20%) CMDB
9 5 (1.20%) Low-Code
9 5 (1.20%) Mobile App
10 4 (0.96%) Derivative
Operating Systems
1 46 (11.08%) Linux
2 24 (5.78%) Unix
3 20 (4.82%) Windows
4 5 (1.20%) AIX
4 5 (1.20%) Ubuntu
5 3 (0.72%) Android
6 2 (0.48%) Windows Server
7 1 (0.24%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.24%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 148 (35.66%) Agile
2 139 (33.49%) DevOps
3 96 (23.13%) Problem-Solving
4 85 (20.48%) CI/CD
5 60 (14.46%) Validation
6 58 (13.98%) Test Automation
7 54 (13.01%) Migration
8 50 (12.05%) ETL
9 49 (11.81%) Microservices
9 49 (11.81%) Scrum
10 48 (11.57%) Deployment Automation
10 48 (11.57%) ERP
11 44 (10.60%) Data Modelling
12 41 (9.88%) Data Migration
13 40 (9.64%) Computer Science
14 38 (9.16%) API Management
14 38 (9.16%) SDLC
15 32 (7.71%) Integration Patterns
15 32 (7.71%) Software Engineering
16 31 (7.47%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 154 (37.11%) SQL
2 124 (29.88%) Java
3 68 (16.39%) Python
4 60 (14.46%) C#
4 60 (14.46%) JavaScript
5 26 (6.27%) PL/SQL
6 20 (4.82%) PowerShell
7 18 (4.34%) XPath
8 10 (2.41%) C++
8 10 (2.41%) T-SQL
9 9 (2.17%) Scala
10 8 (1.93%) RPG
10 8 (1.93%) Shell Script
11 7 (1.69%) ABAP
11 7 (1.69%) Korn
12 6 (1.45%) Groovy
13 5 (1.20%) Perl
14 4 (0.96%) BeanShell
14 4 (0.96%) Kotlin
14 4 (0.96%) VBA
Qualifications
1 105 (25.30%) Security Cleared
2 83 (20.00%) SC Cleared
3 58 (13.98%) Degree
4 33 (7.95%) Computer Science Degree
5 15 (3.61%) BPSS Clearance
6 12 (2.89%) HNC
6 12 (2.89%) HND
7 11 (2.65%) ISTQB
8 9 (2.17%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 7 (1.69%) AWS Certification
10 6 (1.45%) PMI Certification
11 5 (1.20%) CCNP
11 5 (1.20%) Cisco Certification
11 5 (1.20%) ISEB
11 5 (1.20%) Master's Degree
11 5 (1.20%) PMP
12 4 (0.96%) DV Cleared
13 3 (0.72%) CEH
13 3 (0.72%) GIAC
13 3 (0.72%) GWAPT
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (6.27%) Data Quality
2 25 (6.02%) QA
3 5 (1.20%) GAAP
4 4 (0.96%) SEPA
5 3 (0.72%) GDPR
5 3 (0.72%) IFRS
5 3 (0.72%) ISO 20022
5 3 (0.72%) PCI DSS
5 3 (0.72%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 2 (0.48%) Basel III
6 2 (0.48%) EMIR
6 2 (0.48%) HL7
6 2 (0.48%) IFRS 17
6 2 (0.48%) IFRS 9
6 2 (0.48%) PSD2
6 2 (0.48%) SLA
7 1 (0.24%) Accessibility
7 1 (0.24%) AIFMD
7 1 (0.24%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 1 (0.24%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 44 (10.60%) Docker
2 3 (0.72%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 16 (3.86%) Kubernetes
2 15 (3.61%) Ansible
3 11 (2.65%) Control-M
4 10 (2.41%) Puppet
5 8 (1.93%) logstash
6 7 (1.69%) Kibana
6 7 (1.69%) TIBCO Hawk
7 5 (1.20%) ITRS Geneos
8 4 (0.96%) Terraform
9 3 (0.72%) CloudHub
10 2 (0.48%) Fluentd
10 2 (0.48%) FortiGate
10 2 (0.48%) QRadar
11 1 (0.24%) Docker Swarm
11 1 (0.24%) HP ALM
11 1 (0.24%) Podman
11 1 (0.24%) Progress Chef
11 1 (0.24%) Prometheus
11 1 (0.24%) Single Sign-On
11 1 (0.24%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 102 (24.58%) Oracle
2 52 (12.53%) SAP
3 43 (10.36%) Microsoft
4 40 (9.64%) IBM
5 31 (7.47%) webMethods
6 19 (4.58%) Workday
7 17 (4.10%) MuleSoft
8 13 (3.13%) Splunk
9 12 (2.89%) Pega
9 12 (2.89%) ServiceNow
9 12 (2.89%) Software AG
9 12 (2.89%) TIBCO
10 11 (2.65%) Informatica
11 10 (2.41%) Axway
12 9 (2.17%) Cisco
13 8 (1.93%) Red Hat
14 7 (1.69%) BEA
14 7 (1.69%) Google
14 7 (1.69%) Veracode
15 6 (1.45%) Talend