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 28 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 246 244 195
Rank change year-on-year -2 -49 +8
Contract jobs citing XML 424 375 592
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.17% 1.02% 1.30%
As % of the Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards category 5.15% 4.71% 5.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 282 231 372
10th Percentile £342 £203 £351
25th Percentile £400 £400 £469
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% -9.09% -2.87%
75th Percentile £586 £575 £625
90th Percentile £700 £638 £736
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £449 £519
% change year-on-year +0.22% -13.45% +3.75%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 1 37
10th Percentile £31.25 - £45.88
25th Percentile £40.75 £91.25 -
Median hourly rate £43.00 £92.50 £48.72
Median % change year-on-year -53.51% +89.86% -2.56%
75th Percentile £43.75 £93.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £92.50 - £78.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.75 - £48.72
% change year-on-year - - +3.68%

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 8,234 7,964 10,109
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 22.81% 21.76% 22.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,461 5,008 7,214
10th Percentile £350 £350 £363
25th Percentile £413 £425 £440
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% - -4.35%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £720 £775 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -3.75% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 192 122 186
10th Percentile £30.80 £22.00 £35.00
25th Percentile £43.00 £37.13 £46.18
Median hourly rate £55.00 £65.00 £54.78
Median % change year-on-year -15.38% +18.66% -12.82%
75th Percentile £65.00 £70.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £74.00 £78.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £63.75 £65.00 £52.50
% change year-on-year -1.92% +23.81% -19.23%

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 28 November 2025.

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 28 November 2025.

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 28 November 2025. 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 +4 361 £475 -5.00% 117
UK excluding London +15 186 £450 +0.22% 98
London -16 172 £523 -1.42% 41
Work from Home +22 166 £475 -4.04% 57
North of England -23 47 £450 -18.18% 20
South East -16 41 £475 +61.02% 34
North West +1 38 £434 -2.47% 8
East of England +17 36 £550 - 9
Midlands -22 30 £429 -19.17% 21
West Midlands -34 27 £429 -23.97% 13
South West +11 16 £375 -30.23% 10
Wales 0 10 £375 +84.05%
Scotland -1 10 £500 +27.88% 2
Yorkshire -41 9 £650 +14.64% 7
East Midlands -11 3 - - 7

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 29 (6.84%) WebLogic
2 18 (4.25%) Apache
2 18 (4.25%) Oracle SOA Suite
3 14 (3.30%) Anypoint
4 12 (2.83%) Confluence
4 12 (2.83%) MQSeries
4 12 (2.83%) Mule
5 11 (2.59%) JBoss
6 10 (2.36%) Oracle Service Bus
7 9 (2.12%) WebSphere
8 8 (1.89%) IIS
9 7 (1.65%) Appian
9 7 (1.65%) nginx
10 4 (0.94%) Microsoft Exchange
10 4 (0.94%) Tomcat
11 3 (0.71%) Apache Spark
11 3 (0.71%) Documentum
11 3 (0.71%) Mule ESB
11 3 (0.71%) Oracle Workflow
12 2 (0.47%) Alfresco
Applications
1 18 (4.25%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (2.59%) FrameMaker
3 10 (2.36%) Microsoft Excel
4 4 (0.94%) Siemens NX
5 2 (0.47%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.47%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.24%) SPSS
Business Applications
1 11 (2.59%) Oracle BPM
2 8 (1.89%) Maximo
3 7 (1.65%) SAP HCM
3 7 (1.65%) SAP Payroll
4 5 (1.18%) BusinessWorks
5 4 (0.94%) Dynamics CRM
5 4 (0.94%) Salesforce CRM
5 4 (0.94%) SAP S/4HANA
5 4 (0.94%) Teamcenter
6 3 (0.71%) Oracle 11i
6 3 (0.71%) SAP ERP
7 2 (0.47%) SAP FI
7 2 (0.47%) Workday HCM
8 1 (0.24%) Oracle Assets
8 1 (0.24%) Oracle Cash Management
8 1 (0.24%) Oracle FAH
8 1 (0.24%) Oracle Payables
8 1 (0.24%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
8 1 (0.24%) Oracle Receivables
8 1 (0.24%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
Cloud Services
1 100 (23.58%) Azure
2 71 (16.75%) AWS
3 32 (7.55%) GitHub
4 31 (7.31%) Azure DevOps
5 20 (4.72%) GCP
5 20 (4.72%) Serverless
6 19 (4.48%) Power Platform
7 17 (4.01%) SaaS
8 14 (3.30%) Power Automate
8 14 (3.30%) Tricentis Tosca
9 13 (3.07%) Azure Logic Apps
10 12 (2.83%) SuccessFactors
11 11 (2.59%) Amazon S3
11 11 (2.59%) Cloud Computing
12 10 (2.36%) AWS Lambda
13 9 (2.12%) Boomi
13 9 (2.12%) Dynamics 365
13 9 (2.12%) Nutanix
14 8 (1.89%) Apigee
15 7 (1.65%) AtomSphere
Communications & Networking
1 34 (8.02%) HTTPS
2 30 (7.08%) HTTP
3 11 (2.59%) Firewall
4 10 (2.36%) SSL
5 8 (1.89%) NFC
5 8 (1.89%) PPP
6 7 (1.65%) AMQP
6 7 (1.65%) DSL
7 4 (0.94%) VPN
8 3 (0.71%) BGP
8 3 (0.71%) MPLS
9 2 (0.47%) DNS
9 2 (0.47%) Ethernet VPN
9 2 (0.47%) FTP
10 1 (0.24%) 5G
10 1 (0.24%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
10 1 (0.24%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
10 1 (0.24%) NAS
10 1 (0.24%) Radio Access Network
10 1 (0.24%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 56 (13.21%) Relational Database
2 49 (11.56%) SQL Server
3 23 (5.42%) MongoDB
4 21 (4.95%) PostgreSQL
5 17 (4.01%) Oracle Database
6 16 (3.77%) Data Warehouse
6 16 (3.77%) MySQL
7 13 (3.07%) DataStage
8 11 (2.59%) Big Data
8 11 (2.59%) RDBMS
9 10 (2.36%) NoSQL
9 10 (2.36%) Oracle Reports
9 10 (2.36%) Power BI
10 9 (2.12%) Amazon Redshift
10 9 (2.12%) DB2
11 8 (1.89%) Amazon QuickSight
11 8 (1.89%) Apache Cassandra
11 8 (1.89%) Metadata
12 7 (1.65%) Elasticsearch
12 7 (1.65%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 66 (15.57%) Git
2 59 (13.92%) JIRA
3 40 (9.43%) Jenkins
4 29 (6.84%) Postman
5 27 (6.37%) Selenium
6 25 (5.90%) JUnit
7 22 (5.19%) Cucumber
8 21 (4.95%) GitLab
9 19 (4.48%) Eclipse
10 11 (2.59%) IntelliJ
11 10 (2.36%) Maven
11 10 (2.36%) SoapUI
12 9 (2.12%) Browser DevTools
12 9 (2.12%) Firebug
12 9 (2.12%) PVCS
13 8 (1.89%) SonarQube
13 8 (1.89%) Valgrind
14 7 (1.65%) SpecFlow
14 7 (1.65%) TestRail
14 7 (1.65%) Toad
General
1 144 (33.96%) Social Skills
2 79 (18.63%) Analytical Skills
3 78 (18.40%) Finance
4 42 (9.91%) Public Sector
5 36 (8.49%) Banking
6 14 (3.30%) Publishing
7 13 (3.07%) Influencing Skills
8 12 (2.83%) Documentation Skills
9 11 (2.59%) Telecoms
10 10 (2.36%) Aerospace
10 10 (2.36%) Back Office
11 9 (2.12%) Manufacturing
12 8 (1.89%) Investment Banking
12 8 (1.89%) Private Banking
13 6 (1.42%) Digital Healthcare
13 6 (1.42%) Financial Institution
13 6 (1.42%) Retail
14 5 (1.18%) Automotive
14 5 (1.18%) Front Office
15 4 (0.94%) Legal
Job Titles
1 141 (33.25%) Developer
2 59 (13.92%) Analyst
3 48 (11.32%) Consultant
4 42 (9.91%) Senior
5 25 (5.90%) Software Engineer
6 23 (5.42%) Business Analyst
7 19 (4.48%) Architect
8 18 (4.25%) Data Engineer
8 18 (4.25%) Integration Developer
9 16 (3.77%) Java Developer
9 16 (3.77%) Lead
9 16 (3.77%) Support Engineer
9 16 (3.77%) webMethods Developer
10 14 (3.30%) Author
10 14 (3.30%) Technical Author
11 13 (3.07%) Applications Engineer
11 13 (3.07%) Senior Developer
12 12 (2.83%) Oracle Consultant
12 12 (2.83%) Tester
13 11 (2.59%) SAP Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 225 (53.07%) JSON
2 151 (35.61%) SOAP
3 143 (33.73%) REST
4 52 (12.26%) OAuth
4 52 (12.26%) Web Services
5 46 (10.85%) HTML
6 38 (8.96%) RESTful
7 35 (8.25%) XSLT
8 33 (7.78%) JMS
8 33 (7.78%) Spring
9 32 (7.55%) OAuth2
10 28 (6.60%) XSD
11 27 (6.37%) Kafka
12 24 (5.66%) .NET
12 24 (5.66%) Swagger
13 22 (5.19%) Hibernate
14 21 (4.95%) CSS
15 20 (4.72%) J2EE
16 18 (4.25%) JWT
17 17 (4.01%) AngularJS
Miscellaneous
1 23 (5.42%) Cloud Native
2 19 (4.48%) Virtual Team
3 16 (3.77%) Data Structures
4 15 (3.54%) Replication
5 14 (3.30%) Distributed Systems
6 10 (2.36%) Data Protection Act
6 10 (2.36%) Self-Motivation
7 9 (2.12%) Legacy Systems
7 9 (2.12%) Onboarding
7 9 (2.12%) SWIFT Messaging Network
8 8 (1.89%) AS400
8 8 (1.89%) Enterprise Software
8 8 (1.89%) Smartcard
9 7 (1.65%) Algorithms
9 7 (1.65%) Hybrid Cloud
10 6 (1.42%) Low-Code
10 6 (1.42%) Management Information System
10 6 (1.42%) Mobile App
10 6 (1.42%) Product Ownership
11 5 (1.18%) Derivative
Operating Systems
1 42 (9.91%) Linux
2 32 (7.55%) Windows
3 29 (6.84%) Unix
4 8 (1.89%) Ubuntu
5 6 (1.42%) Windows Server
6 4 (0.94%) AIX
7 3 (0.71%) Android
8 2 (0.47%) CentOS
9 1 (0.24%) Apple iOS
9 1 (0.24%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 167 (39.39%) Agile
2 144 (33.96%) DevOps
3 98 (23.11%) CI/CD
4 97 (22.88%) Problem-Solving
5 74 (17.45%) Test Automation
6 54 (12.74%) Scrum
7 53 (12.50%) Validation
8 51 (12.03%) Microservices
9 50 (11.79%) Migration
10 47 (11.08%) Deployment Automation
11 43 (10.14%) ETL
12 40 (9.43%) API Management
12 40 (9.43%) Data Modelling
13 37 (8.73%) Data Migration
13 37 (8.73%) SDLC
13 37 (8.73%) Software Engineering
14 35 (8.25%) Computer Science
15 33 (7.78%) Continuous Improvement
16 32 (7.55%) Mentoring
17 30 (7.08%) Workflow
Programming Languages
1 168 (39.62%) SQL
2 144 (33.96%) Java
3 75 (17.69%) Python
4 74 (17.45%) JavaScript
5 58 (13.68%) C#
6 26 (6.13%) PL/SQL
7 22 (5.19%) PowerShell
8 16 (3.77%) C++
9 14 (3.30%) T-SQL
9 14 (3.30%) XPath
10 9 (2.12%) ABAP
10 9 (2.12%) DataWeave
10 9 (2.12%) RPG
10 9 (2.12%) Scala
11 8 (1.89%) VBA
12 7 (1.65%) C
12 7 (1.65%) Groovy
13 6 (1.42%) Shell Script
14 4 (0.94%) BeanShell
14 4 (0.94%) Korn
Qualifications
1 111 (26.18%) Security Cleared
2 91 (21.46%) SC Cleared
3 54 (12.74%) Degree
4 30 (7.08%) Computer Science Degree
5 12 (2.83%) BPSS Clearance
5 12 (2.83%) HNC
5 12 (2.83%) HND
5 12 (2.83%) ISTQB
6 10 (2.36%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
7 8 (1.89%) DV Cleared
7 8 (1.89%) ISEB
8 7 (1.65%) AWS Certification
9 4 (0.94%) PMI Certification
10 3 (0.71%) CEH
10 3 (0.71%) GIAC
10 3 (0.71%) GWAPT
10 3 (0.71%) Master's Degree
10 3 (0.71%) PMP
11 2 (0.47%) Cisco Certification
11 2 (0.47%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (7.55%) Data Quality
2 31 (7.31%) QA
3 7 (1.65%) SEPA
4 3 (0.71%) HL7
4 3 (0.71%) ISO 20022
4 3 (0.71%) SLA
5 2 (0.47%) EMIR
5 2 (0.47%) GDPR
5 2 (0.47%) GxP
6 1 (0.24%) 21 CFR Part 11
6 1 (0.24%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.24%) AIFMD
6 1 (0.24%) DICOM
6 1 (0.24%) GAAP
6 1 (0.24%) GMP
6 1 (0.24%) IFRS
6 1 (0.24%) ISO 9001
6 1 (0.24%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.24%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 1 (0.24%) WCAG
System Software
1 54 (12.74%) Docker
2 3 (0.71%) Active Directory
3 1 (0.24%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 26 (6.13%) Kubernetes
2 18 (4.25%) Ansible
3 10 (2.36%) Control-M
4 9 (2.12%) Puppet
5 8 (1.89%) logstash
5 8 (1.89%) Terraform
6 7 (1.65%) Kibana
7 5 (1.18%) ITRS Geneos
7 5 (1.18%) TIBCO Hawk
8 4 (0.94%) vCenter Server
9 2 (0.47%) CloudHub
9 2 (0.47%) Fluentd
9 2 (0.47%) QRadar
9 2 (0.47%) Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.24%) CEMLI
10 1 (0.24%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.24%) HP ALM
10 1 (0.24%) Podman
Vendors
1 88 (20.75%) Oracle
2 56 (13.21%) Microsoft
3 52 (12.26%) SAP
4 40 (9.43%) IBM
5 31 (7.31%) webMethods
6 19 (4.48%) MuleSoft
7 17 (4.01%) ServiceNow
8 12 (2.83%) Software AG
8 12 (2.83%) Splunk
8 12 (2.83%) Workday
9 11 (2.59%) Cisco
10 10 (2.36%) Axway
10 10 (2.36%) Salesforce
10 10 (2.36%) TIBCO
11 9 (2.12%) Blue Prism
12 7 (1.65%) Pega
12 7 (1.65%) Veracode
13 5 (1.18%) Databricks
13 5 (1.18%) EMC
13 5 (1.18%) Solace