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 27 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
27 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 327 244 171
Rank change year-on-year -83 -73 +16
Contract jobs citing XML 368 332 622
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.72% 1.09% 1.43%
As % of the Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards category 3.70% 4.79% 6.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 230 222 329
10th Percentile £349 £386 £400
25th Percentile £413 £438 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £486 £525
Median % change year-on-year +7.97% -7.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £575 £619
90th Percentile £700 £630 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £433 £468 £510
% change year-on-year -7.43% -8.24% -0.97%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 8 69
10th Percentile £29.07 £25.16 -
25th Percentile £29.92 £27.00 -
Median hourly rate £39.50 £29.88 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +32.20% -30.51% -38.57%
75th Percentile £44.90 £55.00 £51.25
90th Percentile £59.50 £90.25 £85.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £39.50 £29.88 £43.00
% change year-on-year +32.20% -30.51% -39.65%

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 9,952 6,930 9,264
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 19.52% 22.85% 21.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,529 4,704 6,345
10th Percentile £363 £355 £350
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £514 £538
Median % change year-on-year +2.14% -4.37% -2.27%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
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 277 138 279
10th Percentile £30.00 £29.20 £22.50
25th Percentile £51.25 £38.16 £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 £85.86 £81.01 £74.44
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 27 June 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 27 June 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 27 June 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 -75 318 £525 +5.53% 79
UK excluding London -90 166 £433 -7.43% 68
London -64 151 £550 +0.92% 27
Work from Home -56 113 £520 +9.47% 37
South East -48 54 £513 +7.89% 25
North of England -69 47 £391 -13.06% 7
North West -52 38 £390 -13.33% 5
Midlands -43 30 £425 -15.00% 13
West Midlands -49 22 £425 -22.73% 4
South West -30 13 £575 +21.05% 10
East of England -23 11 £450 -18.18% 6
Yorkshire -36 9 £463 -9.76% 2
East Midlands -8 8 £471 +50.08% 9
Scotland -10 7 £425 -23.90% 5
Northern Ireland -4 2 £650 +36.84% 2
Wales -23 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 23 (6.25%) Confluence
2 13 (3.53%) SharePoint
3 12 (3.26%) Anypoint
4 10 (2.72%) IIS
5 8 (2.17%) Mule
5 8 (2.17%) Oracle Workflow
6 7 (1.90%) WebSphere
7 5 (1.36%) CMS
7 5 (1.36%) WebLogic
8 4 (1.09%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 3 (0.82%) Oracle Self-Service HR
10 2 (0.54%) Apache Airflow
10 2 (0.54%) Appian
10 2 (0.54%) CICS
10 2 (0.54%) MQSeries
10 2 (0.54%) Mule ESB
11 1 (0.27%) Apache
11 1 (0.27%) BizTalk Server
11 1 (0.27%) JBoss
11 1 (0.27%) Tomcat
Applications
1 31 (8.42%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (1.90%) MS Visio
3 5 (1.36%) Microsoft Office
4 4 (1.09%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.54%) EngageOne
5 2 (0.54%) FrameMaker
6 1 (0.27%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 9 (2.45%) Oracle Payables
1 9 (2.45%) SAP S/4HANA
2 7 (1.90%) Oracle EBS
2 7 (1.90%) Oracle Receivables
3 6 (1.63%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (1.63%) Maximo
3 6 (1.63%) Oracle ERP
3 6 (1.63%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 6 (1.63%) Summit
4 5 (1.36%) Elite 3E
4 5 (1.36%) NetSuite
4 5 (1.36%) Oracle Cash Management
4 5 (1.36%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 4 (1.09%) Oracle General Ledger
5 4 (1.09%) Payment Gateway
5 4 (1.09%) Workday HCM
6 3 (0.82%) Findur
6 3 (0.82%) Oracle Assets
7 2 (0.54%) NEC Housing
7 2 (0.54%) Oracle Retail
Cloud Services
1 75 (20.38%) Azure
2 43 (11.68%) AWS
3 26 (7.07%) Azure DevOps
4 25 (6.79%) Boomi
5 17 (4.62%) GitHub
5 17 (4.62%) Power Platform
6 15 (4.08%) GCP
7 14 (3.80%) OCI
7 14 (3.80%) Serverless
8 13 (3.53%) Azure Data Factory
8 13 (3.53%) SaaS
9 9 (2.45%) Azure Functions
9 9 (2.45%) Azure Logic Apps
9 9 (2.45%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 9 (2.45%) Dynamics 365
10 8 (2.17%) AtomSphere
10 8 (2.17%) Azure Service Bus
10 8 (2.17%) GitHub Actions
10 8 (2.17%) IaaS
10 8 (2.17%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 15 (4.08%) HTTP
2 8 (2.17%) FTP
3 6 (1.63%) 3GPP
4 4 (1.09%) RTCP
4 4 (1.09%) RTP
4 4 (1.09%) TCP/IP
4 4 (1.09%) XCAP
5 3 (0.82%) SSL
6 2 (0.54%) DNS
6 2 (0.54%) HTTPS
6 2 (0.54%) Internet
6 2 (0.54%) Intranet
7 1 (0.27%) AMQP
7 1 (0.27%) FIX Connectivity
7 1 (0.27%) NAS
7 1 (0.27%) Network Security
7 1 (0.27%) SAN
7 1 (0.27%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 42 (11.41%) SQL Server
2 35 (9.51%) Relational Database
3 20 (5.43%) RDBMS
4 18 (4.89%) Data Warehouse
4 18 (4.89%) PostgreSQL
5 16 (4.35%) NoSQL
5 16 (4.35%) Oracle Database
6 15 (4.08%) MongoDB
6 15 (4.08%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 13 (3.53%) Power BI
8 12 (3.26%) Data Lake
8 12 (3.26%) Metadata
8 12 (3.26%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 10 (2.72%) MySQL
9 10 (2.72%) Oracle Reports
10 5 (1.36%) Azure SQL Database
10 5 (1.36%) Oracle BI Publisher
11 4 (1.09%) DataStage
11 4 (1.09%) MS Access
11 4 (1.09%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 36 (9.78%) Git
2 33 (8.97%) JIRA
3 30 (8.15%) Postman
4 10 (2.72%) GitLab
4 10 (2.72%) Jenkins
5 9 (2.45%) Maven
5 9 (2.45%) SoapUI
5 9 (2.45%) Team Foundation Server
6 8 (2.17%) Visual Studio
7 6 (1.63%) JMeter
7 6 (1.63%) Selenium
8 5 (1.36%) Eclipse
8 5 (1.36%) Subversion
9 4 (1.09%) Bitbucket
9 4 (1.09%) Cypress.io
9 4 (1.09%) Gradle
9 4 (1.09%) JUnit
9 4 (1.09%) REST Assured
9 4 (1.09%) TeamCity
10 3 (0.82%) Newman
General
1 124 (33.70%) Social Skills
2 78 (21.20%) Finance
3 75 (20.38%) Analytical Skills
4 38 (10.33%) Banking
5 31 (8.42%) Public Sector
6 12 (3.26%) Organisational Skills
7 11 (2.99%) Investment Banking
7 11 (2.99%) Legal
8 9 (2.45%) Documentation Skills
9 8 (2.17%) Manufacturing
9 8 (2.17%) Publishing
9 8 (2.17%) Telecoms
10 7 (1.90%) Military
11 6 (1.63%) General Ledger
12 5 (1.36%) Financial Institution
12 5 (1.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 5 (1.36%) Marketing
12 5 (1.36%) Retail
13 4 (1.09%) Advertising
13 4 (1.09%) Front Office
Job Titles
1 101 (27.45%) Developer
2 58 (15.76%) Consultant
3 46 (12.50%) Analyst
4 30 (8.15%) Implementation Consultant
5 28 (7.61%) Senior
6 27 (7.34%) Business Analyst
7 26 (7.07%) Architect
8 22 (5.98%) Data Engineer
9 16 (4.35%) Lead
10 15 (4.08%) C# Developer
11 13 (3.53%) Payroll Consultant
12 11 (2.99%) Senior Developer
13 10 (2.72%) DBA
13 10 (2.72%) Integration Specialist
13 10 (2.72%) Software Engineer
13 10 (2.72%) Technical Consultant
14 9 (2.45%) Integration Developer
14 9 (2.45%) Integration Engineer
15 8 (2.17%) Applications Developer
15 8 (2.17%) Integration Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 175 (47.55%) JSON
2 117 (31.79%) REST
3 104 (28.26%) SOAP
4 51 (13.86%) Middleware
4 51 (13.86%) Web Services
5 47 (12.77%) .NET
6 38 (10.33%) XSLT
7 25 (6.79%) HTML
7 25 (6.79%) OAuth
8 20 (5.43%) EDI
9 19 (5.16%) Kafka
9 19 (5.16%) Oracle Fusion
10 18 (4.89%) CSS
10 18 (4.89%) JWT
10 18 (4.89%) RESTful
11 17 (4.62%) Swagger
12 15 (4.08%) .NET Framework
13 14 (3.80%) ASP.NET
13 14 (3.80%) OAuth2
13 14 (3.80%) XSD
Miscellaneous
1 14 (3.80%) Product Ownership
2 13 (3.53%) Data Structures
3 11 (2.99%) Legacy Systems
4 8 (2.17%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
4 8 (2.17%) Onboarding
5 7 (1.90%) Analytical Mindset
5 7 (1.90%) Credit Risk
5 7 (1.90%) Data Protection Act
5 7 (1.90%) Derivative
5 7 (1.90%) Enterprise Software
5 7 (1.90%) Fixed Income
5 7 (1.90%) Management Information System
5 7 (1.90%) Market Risk
5 7 (1.90%) SWIFT Messaging Network
6 6 (1.63%) CMDB
6 6 (1.63%) Hybrid Cloud
6 6 (1.63%) Public Cloud
6 6 (1.63%) Replication
7 5 (1.36%) Data Centre
7 5 (1.36%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 20 (5.43%) Linux
1 20 (5.43%) Unix
2 10 (2.72%) Windows
3 3 (0.82%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 2 (0.54%) VMS
4 2 (0.54%) Windows Server
4 2 (0.54%) zOS
5 1 (0.27%) Android
5 1 (0.27%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 95 (25.82%) Problem-Solving
2 94 (25.54%) Agile
3 70 (19.02%) CI/CD
4 69 (18.75%) DevOps
5 51 (13.86%) Integration Patterns
6 50 (13.59%) Workflow
7 49 (13.32%) Validation
8 43 (11.68%) Migration
9 42 (11.41%) ERP
10 41 (11.14%) Data Modelling
11 39 (10.60%) ETL
11 39 (10.60%) Stakeholder Management
12 34 (9.24%) Data Mapping
12 34 (9.24%) User Acceptance Testing
13 32 (8.70%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 31 (8.42%) Scrum
15 26 (7.07%) SDLC
16 25 (6.79%) Data Integration
16 25 (6.79%) Software Engineering
16 25 (6.79%) Unit Testing
Programming Languages
1 162 (44.02%) SQL
2 61 (16.58%) Java
3 52 (14.13%) JavaScript
4 51 (13.86%) C#
5 49 (13.32%) Python
6 42 (11.41%) T-SQL
7 24 (6.52%) PL/SQL
8 15 (4.08%) PowerShell
9 12 (3.26%) C++
10 11 (2.99%) Groovy
11 10 (2.72%) VB
11 10 (2.72%) VB.NET
12 9 (2.45%) VB6
12 9 (2.45%) VBA
13 8 (2.17%) XPath
14 6 (1.63%) Bicep
15 5 (1.36%) DataWeave
16 4 (1.09%) ABAP
16 4 (1.09%) C
17 3 (0.82%) Data Analysis Expressions
Qualifications
1 85 (23.10%) Security Cleared
2 62 (16.85%) SC Cleared
3 27 (7.34%) Degree
4 10 (2.72%) BPSS Clearance
5 9 (2.45%) DV Cleared
6 8 (2.17%) Computer Science Degree
7 5 (1.36%) AWS Certification
7 5 (1.36%) DBS Check
8 4 (1.09%) Azure Certification
8 4 (1.09%) ISTQB
8 4 (1.09%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 4 (1.09%) Master's Degree
8 4 (1.09%) TOGAF Certification
9 2 (0.54%) CISSP
9 2 (0.54%) GIAC
9 2 (0.54%) HNC
9 2 (0.54%) HND
9 2 (0.54%) Microsoft Certification
9 2 (0.54%) SSCP
10 1 (0.27%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (6.52%) QA
2 19 (5.16%) Data Quality
3 12 (3.26%) GDPR
4 7 (1.90%) Accessibility
4 7 (1.90%) ISO 20022
5 6 (1.63%) HL7
6 4 (1.09%) WCAG
7 3 (0.82%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 3 (0.82%) FATCA
7 3 (0.82%) GAAP
7 3 (0.82%) GRC
7 3 (0.82%) PCI DSS
7 3 (0.82%) PSD2
8 2 (0.54%) ISO 15022
8 2 (0.54%) ISO 8583
8 2 (0.54%) SLA
9 1 (0.27%) 21 CFR Part 11
9 1 (0.27%) GMP
9 1 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 1 (0.27%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 12 (3.26%) Docker
2 4 (1.09%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (0.82%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.82%) Oracle RAC
4 2 (0.54%) RACF
4 2 (0.54%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.27%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 12 (3.26%) Kubernetes
2 10 (2.72%) Ansible
3 7 (1.90%) Terraform
4 5 (1.36%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (0.82%) vRealize Orchestrator
6 2 (0.54%) Control-M
6 2 (0.54%) Grafana
6 2 (0.54%) QRadar
6 2 (0.54%) WMI
7 1 (0.27%) HP Quality Center
7 1 (0.27%) vRealize
Vendors
1 95 (25.82%) Oracle
2 64 (17.39%) Microsoft
3 33 (8.97%) SAP
4 27 (7.34%) ServiceNow
5 25 (6.79%) MuleSoft
6 24 (6.52%) Workday
7 17 (4.62%) IBM
8 15 (4.08%) Salesforce
9 11 (2.99%) Google
10 8 (2.17%) Databricks
11 7 (1.90%) Dell
12 6 (1.63%) Informatica
12 6 (1.63%) Pega
12 6 (1.63%) webMethods
13 5 (1.36%) Intapp
13 5 (1.36%) InterSystems
13 5 (1.36%) Kronos
13 5 (1.36%) Talend
14 4 (1.09%) Atlassian
14 4 (1.09%) Okta