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 13 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 308 242 185
Rank change year-on-year -66 -57 +6
Contract jobs citing XML 459 379 491
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.84% 1.15% 1.31%
As % of the Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards category 3.85% 4.43% 5.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 323 250 273
10th Percentile £325 £335 £318
25th Percentile £404 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% -9.09%
75th Percentile £600 £586 £575
90th Percentile £688 £695 £636
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -5.26% - -9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 26 26
10th Percentile - £30.63 -
25th Percentile - £31.25 -
Median hourly rate £29.07 £42.75 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year -32.00% -0.58% -11.74%
75th Percentile £41.75 £43.75 -
90th Percentile £46.04 £91.88 £64.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.07 £42.50 £43.00
% change year-on-year -31.60% -1.16% -11.74%

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 11,916 8,548 9,262
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 21.70% 25.96% 24.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,822 5,680 5,977
10th Percentile £380 £356 £355
25th Percentile £440 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £550
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -6.82% -
75th Percentile £638 £625 £650
90th Percentile £738 £725 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -2.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 295 188 171
10th Percentile £29.07 £30.18 £25.40
25th Percentile £50.25 £40.75 £43.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £50.72 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +28.15% -21.97% +10.11%
75th Percentile £77.00 £65.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £90.00 £72.90 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.47 £55.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +22.67% -15.38% +13.04%

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 13 October 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 13 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for XML in the UK

XML
Top 17 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 13 October 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 -88 359 £485 -3.00% 268
London -53 189 £538 +2.38% 156
UK excluding London -72 179 £450 -5.26% 122
Work from Home -53 155 £523 +8.85% 102
South East -59 49 £460 -3.16% 43
Midlands -16 46 £415 -3.26% 16
West Midlands -24 40 £410 -4.43% 13
North of England -66 26 £380 -30.91% 26
South West -26 22 £550 +46.67% 8
Scotland -15 20 £450 -5.26% 12
North West -60 16 £349 -28.43% 15
East of England -43 12 £525 +7.69% 6
Yorkshire -30 10 £380 -43.70% 8
East Midlands -10 5 £494 +82.96% 3
Wales -27 3 £600 +60.00% 8
Northern Ireland - 3 £650 - 3
Channel Islands - 1 £450 -

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 34 (7.41%) SharePoint
2 21 (4.58%) Confluence
3 16 (3.49%) Anypoint
3 16 (3.49%) IIS
3 16 (3.49%) Oracle Workflow
4 12 (2.61%) Mule
5 10 (2.18%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 6 (1.31%) Apache
6 6 (1.31%) WebLogic
6 6 (1.31%) WebSphere
7 3 (0.65%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.65%) Oracle Service Bus
8 2 (0.44%) CICS
8 2 (0.44%) MQSeries
9 1 (0.22%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.22%) CMS
9 1 (0.22%) Jupyter
9 1 (0.22%) ThingWorx
Applications
1 13 (2.83%) Microsoft Excel
2 12 (2.61%) Microsoft Office
3 9 (1.96%) MS Visio
4 8 (1.74%) Windchill
5 7 (1.53%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 3 (0.65%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.22%) LaTeX
Business Applications
1 24 (5.23%) Oracle EBS
2 19 (4.14%) Dynamics CRM
2 19 (4.14%) NetSuite
3 15 (3.27%) Oracle Payables
4 12 (2.61%) Oracle Receivables
5 11 (2.40%) SAP S/4HANA
6 8 (1.74%) Oracle General Ledger
7 7 (1.53%) Oracle FAH
7 7 (1.53%) SAP FI
7 7 (1.53%) Workday HCM
8 6 (1.31%) Oracle Assets
8 6 (1.31%) Oracle Financials
9 5 (1.09%) Elite 3E
9 5 (1.09%) FLEXCUBE
10 4 (0.87%) Maximo
10 4 (0.87%) Oracle E-Business Tax
10 4 (0.87%) Oracle Internet Expenses
10 4 (0.87%) Oracle iProcurement
10 4 (0.87%) SAP CO
10 4 (0.87%) SAP FI/CO
Cloud Services
1 131 (28.54%) Azure
2 72 (15.69%) AWS
3 54 (11.76%) Azure DevOps
4 47 (10.24%) Boomi
5 36 (7.84%) GCP
6 25 (5.45%) Power Platform
7 24 (5.23%) AtomSphere
8 21 (4.58%) Azure Service Bus
8 21 (4.58%) Dynamics 365
9 20 (4.36%) Azure Logic Apps
9 20 (4.36%) GitHub
10 19 (4.14%) Azure Functions
10 19 (4.14%) Power Automate
10 19 (4.14%) Serverless
11 18 (3.92%) Entra ID
11 18 (3.92%) SaaS
12 14 (3.05%) iPaaS
13 11 (2.40%) Azure Data Factory
13 11 (2.40%) PowerApps
14 8 (1.74%) Tricentis Tosca
Communications & Networking
1 36 (7.84%) HTTP
2 10 (2.18%) FTP
3 7 (1.53%) SSL
4 5 (1.09%) Network Security
4 5 (1.09%) TCP/IP
5 3 (0.65%) Wireless
6 2 (0.44%) HTTPS
6 2 (0.44%) Internet
6 2 (0.44%) Intranet
6 2 (0.44%) SD-WAN
6 2 (0.44%) WAN
6 2 (0.44%) X.509
7 1 (0.22%) Bluetooth
7 1 (0.22%) DNS
7 1 (0.22%) Firewall
7 1 (0.22%) MQTT
7 1 (0.22%) NAS
7 1 (0.22%) NFC
7 1 (0.22%) SAN
7 1 (0.22%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 66 (14.38%) SQL Server
2 40 (8.71%) Relational Database
3 28 (6.10%) PostgreSQL
4 27 (5.88%) Oracle Database
5 19 (4.14%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 17 (3.70%) Oracle Reports
7 16 (3.49%) MySQL
8 15 (3.27%) MS Access
9 13 (2.83%) MongoDB
10 12 (2.61%) Oracle BI Publisher
11 11 (2.40%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 10 (2.18%) Metadata
12 10 (2.18%) RDBMS
13 8 (1.74%) Data Warehouse
13 8 (1.74%) NoSQL
14 7 (1.53%) Data Lake
14 7 (1.53%) Tableau
15 6 (1.31%) Power BI
16 5 (1.09%) DataStage
16 5 (1.09%) Parquet
Development Applications
1 72 (15.69%) Git
2 53 (11.55%) JIRA
3 30 (6.54%) Jenkins
4 27 (5.88%) Team Foundation Server
5 26 (5.66%) Postman
6 24 (5.23%) Visual Studio
7 18 (3.92%) Oracle Forms
7 18 (3.92%) Selenium
8 16 (3.49%) Gradle
9 15 (3.27%) Maven
10 12 (2.61%) SonarQube
11 11 (2.40%) JMeter
12 9 (1.96%) eggPlant
12 9 (1.96%) GitLab
13 8 (1.74%) Cucumber
13 8 (1.74%) JUnit
13 8 (1.74%) SoapUI
13 8 (1.74%) Toad
13 8 (1.74%) WebDriver
14 6 (1.31%) JDeveloper
General
1 148 (32.24%) Social Skills
2 114 (24.84%) Finance
3 102 (22.22%) Analytical Skills
4 60 (13.07%) Public Sector
5 43 (9.37%) Banking
6 16 (3.49%) Manufacturing
7 15 (3.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 13 (2.83%) Telecoms
9 11 (2.40%) Law
10 10 (2.18%) Documentation Skills
10 10 (2.18%) Legal
11 9 (1.96%) Aerospace
11 9 (1.96%) Organisational Skills
11 9 (1.96%) Publishing
12 8 (1.74%) General Ledger
12 8 (1.74%) Retail
13 7 (1.53%) Aviation
14 6 (1.31%) Financial Institution
14 6 (1.31%) Police
15 5 (1.09%) Front Office
Job Titles
1 171 (37.25%) Developer
2 60 (13.07%) Senior
3 44 (9.59%) Architect
4 42 (9.15%) Analyst
5 35 (7.63%) Lead
6 33 (7.19%) Consultant
7 28 (6.10%) Senior Developer
8 23 (5.01%) Data Engineer
8 23 (5.01%) Software Developer
9 21 (4.58%) Integration Developer
10 16 (3.49%) Lead Developer
10 16 (3.49%) Solutions Architect
10 16 (3.49%) Test Analyst
11 15 (3.27%) Business Analyst
12 14 (3.05%) C# Developer
13 13 (2.83%) Dynamics 365 Developer
13 13 (2.83%) Support Engineer
14 12 (2.61%) .NET Developer
14 12 (2.61%) Software Engineer
14 12 (2.61%) Technical Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 241 (52.51%) JSON
2 186 (40.52%) REST
3 164 (35.73%) SOAP
4 91 (19.83%) Web Services
5 89 (19.39%) .NET
6 82 (17.86%) Middleware
7 63 (13.73%) XSLT
8 49 (10.68%) HTML
9 46 (10.02%) Kafka
10 43 (9.37%) OAuth
11 35 (7.63%) RESTful
12 28 (6.10%) .NET Framework
12 28 (6.10%) Swagger
13 27 (5.88%) CSS
13 27 (5.88%) OAuth2
14 24 (5.23%) EDI
15 22 (4.79%) JWT
16 21 (4.58%) OpenAPI
17 18 (3.92%) Spring
17 18 (3.92%) XSD
Miscellaneous
1 29 (6.32%) Enterprise Software
2 20 (4.36%) Legacy Systems
3 18 (3.92%) Cloud Native
3 18 (3.92%) Distributed Systems
3 18 (3.92%) SWIFT Messaging Network
4 17 (3.70%) Data Structures
4 17 (3.70%) Onboarding
4 17 (3.70%) Product Ownership
5 16 (3.49%) Management Information System
6 13 (2.83%) Taxonomies
7 10 (2.18%) CMDB
7 10 (2.18%) Legacy Applications
7 10 (2.18%) Replication
8 9 (1.96%) LIMS
9 8 (1.74%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 8 (1.74%) PKI
10 7 (1.53%) Hybrid Cloud
10 7 (1.53%) Self-Motivation
10 7 (1.53%) Virtual Team
11 6 (1.31%) AI Agents
Operating Systems
1 41 (8.93%) Linux
2 36 (7.84%) Windows
3 27 (5.88%) Unix
4 10 (2.18%) Windows Server
5 4 (0.87%) macOS
5 4 (0.87%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (0.65%) zOS
7 1 (0.22%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 140 (30.50%) Problem-Solving
2 113 (24.62%) Agile
3 110 (23.97%) DevOps
4 106 (23.09%) CI/CD
5 89 (19.39%) Validation
6 69 (15.03%) Test Automation
7 63 (13.73%) Integration Patterns
8 59 (12.85%) Stakeholder Management
9 58 (12.64%) Continuous Improvement
9 58 (12.64%) Data Modelling
10 56 (12.20%) Event-Driven
10 56 (12.20%) Workflow
11 52 (11.33%) Migration
12 51 (11.11%) ERP
13 44 (9.59%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 41 (8.93%) Scrum
15 40 (8.71%) Data Transformation
15 40 (8.71%) Software Engineering
15 40 (8.71%) User Acceptance Testing
16 39 (8.50%) Data Mapping
Programming Languages
1 185 (40.31%) SQL
2 114 (24.84%) Java
3 102 (22.22%) JavaScript
4 87 (18.95%) C#
5 85 (18.52%) Python
6 37 (8.06%) PL/SQL
7 29 (6.32%) PowerShell
8 24 (5.23%) VB.NET
8 24 (5.23%) VBA
9 23 (5.01%) Groovy
10 20 (4.36%) C++
10 20 (4.36%) T-SQL
10 20 (4.36%) VB
11 19 (4.14%) VB6
12 16 (3.49%) XPath
13 14 (3.05%) TypeScript
14 13 (2.83%) Shell Script
15 7 (1.53%) ABAP
15 7 (1.53%) Bicep
15 7 (1.53%) C
Qualifications
1 142 (30.94%) Security Cleared
2 118 (25.71%) SC Cleared
3 49 (10.68%) Degree
4 27 (5.88%) BPSS Clearance
5 21 (4.58%) DV Cleared
6 19 (4.14%) ISTQB
7 16 (3.49%) Computer Science Degree
8 14 (3.05%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 11 (2.40%) ISEB
9 11 (2.40%) Microsoft Certification
10 6 (1.31%) Azure Certification
11 5 (1.09%) TOGAF Certification
12 4 (0.87%) Master's Degree
13 3 (0.65%) AWS Certification
14 2 (0.44%) CISSP
14 2 (0.44%) DBS Check
14 2 (0.44%) GIAC
14 2 (0.44%) SSCP
15 1 (0.22%) CISM
15 1 (0.22%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 41 (8.93%) QA
2 27 (5.88%) Data Quality
3 20 (4.36%) ISO 20022
4 18 (3.92%) Accessibility
5 14 (3.05%) GDPR
5 14 (3.05%) WCAG
6 9 (1.96%) GMP
7 8 (1.74%) 21 CFR Part 11
7 8 (1.74%) GxP
7 8 (1.74%) ISO/IEC 17025
8 6 (1.31%) SLA
9 5 (1.09%) GRC
9 5 (1.09%) HL7
10 4 (0.87%) ISO 15022
11 3 (0.65%) SEPA
12 2 (0.44%) NCSC
13 1 (0.22%) COREP
13 1 (0.22%) IFRS
13 1 (0.22%) PMO
13 1 (0.22%) PSD2
System Software
1 17 (3.70%) Active Directory
2 16 (3.49%) Docker
3 3 (0.65%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.44%) RACF
5 1 (0.22%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.22%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 20 (4.36%) Kubernetes
2 18 (3.92%) Single Sign-On
3 16 (3.49%) Ansible
4 5 (1.09%) Control-M
4 5 (1.09%) HP Fortify
5 3 (0.65%) QRadar
5 3 (0.65%) WMI
6 2 (0.44%) CloudHub
6 2 (0.44%) Netcool
6 2 (0.44%) Netcool/OMNIbus
6 2 (0.44%) Tivoli
6 2 (0.44%) Tivoli Monitoring
7 1 (0.22%) Apache Ranger
7 1 (0.22%) Grafana
7 1 (0.22%) HP Quality Center
7 1 (0.22%) Kibana
7 1 (0.22%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.22%) vRealize
7 1 (0.22%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 139 (30.28%) Oracle
2 118 (25.71%) Microsoft
3 49 (10.68%) SAP
4 46 (10.02%) IBM
5 39 (8.50%) MuleSoft
6 34 (7.41%) Salesforce
7 33 (7.19%) Google
7 33 (7.19%) ServiceNow
8 24 (5.23%) Workday
9 13 (2.83%) Informatica
9 13 (2.83%) Okta
10 11 (2.40%) webMethods
11 10 (2.18%) Databricks
12 9 (1.96%) BeyondTrust
12 9 (1.96%) TIBCO
12 9 (1.96%) WSO2
13 8 (1.74%) PTC
14 5 (1.09%) CyberArk
14 5 (1.09%) Intapp
14 5 (1.09%) Kronos