SQL Contract Job Trends in the City of London

SQL (Structured Query Language)
Central London > City of London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the City of London requiring SQL skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 10 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 9 9 8
Rank change year-on-year 0 -1 -2
Contract jobs citing SQL 270 256 315
As % of all contract jobs in the City of London 13.31% 14.18% 13.38%
As % of the Programming Languages category 43.90% 36.21% 40.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 186 171 213
10th Percentile £344 £406 £413
25th Percentile £429 £463 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £570 £595
Median % change year-on-year -7.89% -4.20% +3.48%
75th Percentile £638 £693 £688
90th Percentile £749 £788 £775
Central London median daily rate £531 £550 £585
% change year-on-year -3.41% -5.98% +1.74%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 0 1
10th Percentile £29.70 - -
25th Percentile £34.50 - £46.75
Median hourly rate £45.00 - £48.50
75th Percentile £53.61 - £50.25
90th Percentile £57.28 - -
Central London median hourly rate £45.00 £35.29 £48.50
% change year-on-year +27.53% -27.25% +136.59%

All Programming Languages
City of London

SQL falls under the Programming Languages category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring coding skills in the City of London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for coding skills 615 707 775
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London 30.33% 39.17% 32.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 443 453 551
10th Percentile £350 £413 £413
25th Percentile £425 £465 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £575 £575
Median % change year-on-year -8.70% - -6.35%
75th Percentile £638 £694 £700
90th Percentile £775 £796 £800
Central London median daily rate £525 £575 £575
% change year-on-year -8.70% - -4.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 3 2
10th Percentile £29.70 £51.80 £46.30
25th Percentile £34.50 £74.38 £46.38
Median hourly rate £45.00 £112.00 £48.00
Median % change year-on-year -59.82% +133.33% -16.52%
75th Percentile £53.61 - £49.88
90th Percentile £57.28 - £50.10
Central London median hourly rate £45.00 £41.50 £48.00
% change year-on-year +8.43% -13.54% -16.52%

SQL
Job Vacancy Trend in the City of London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing SQL relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London.

SQL job vacancy trend in the City of London

SQL
Daily Rate Trend in the City of London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing SQL.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing SQL

SQL
Daily Rate Histogram in the City of London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SQL in the City of London over the 6 months to 10 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for SQL in the City of London

SQL
Hourly Rate Trend in the City of London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing SQL.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing SQL

SQL
Hourly Rate Histogram in the City of London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing SQL in the City of London over the 6 months to 10 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for SQL in the City of London

SQL
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the City of London 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 (6.67%) Apache Airflow
2 15 (5.56%) Apache Spark
3 7 (2.59%) Apache
4 6 (2.22%) Confluence
5 5 (1.85%) SharePoint
6 3 (1.11%) Palantir Foundry
7 2 (0.74%) CICS
8 1 (0.37%) Anypoint
8 1 (0.37%) Mule
8 1 (0.37%) SAS
Applications
1 15 (5.56%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (2.22%) MS Visio
3 5 (1.85%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (1.85%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.37%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 5 (1.85%) Oracle EBS
2 4 (1.48%) Aladdin
2 4 (1.48%) Endur
2 4 (1.48%) Oracle General Ledger
2 4 (1.48%) Oracle Payables
3 3 (1.11%) BambooHR
3 3 (1.11%) Bloomberg AIM
3 3 (1.11%) Fidessa
3 3 (1.11%) Oracle EBS R12
3 3 (1.11%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
4 2 (0.74%) Algo Collateral
4 2 (0.74%) BASE24
4 2 (0.74%) Oracle Assets
4 2 (0.74%) Oracle E-Business Tax
4 2 (0.74%) Oracle Financials
4 2 (0.74%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 2 (0.74%) Oracle Receivables
4 2 (0.74%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
5 1 (0.37%) Oracle FAH
5 1 (0.37%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 88 (32.59%) Azure
2 77 (28.52%) AWS
3 59 (21.85%) Power Platform
4 34 (12.59%) GCP
5 28 (10.37%) Snowflake
6 25 (9.26%) GitHub
7 23 (8.52%) Serverless
8 21 (7.78%) dbt
9 20 (7.41%) Azure Data Factory
10 19 (7.04%) Azure DevOps
11 18 (6.67%) Amazon S3
12 16 (5.93%) AWS Lambda
13 13 (4.81%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 10 (3.70%) SaaS
15 8 (2.96%) GitHub Actions
16 7 (2.59%) Amazon EKS
16 7 (2.59%) Amazon SageMaker
16 7 (2.59%) Azure Cosmos DB
16 7 (2.59%) Azure Functions
17 6 (2.22%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 1 (0.37%) 2G
1 1 (0.37%) 4G
1 1 (0.37%) 5G
1 1 (0.37%) DNS
1 1 (0.37%) HTTP
1 1 (0.37%) LAN
1 1 (0.37%) NetScaler
1 1 (0.37%) Radio Access Network
1 1 (0.37%) SD-WAN
1 1 (0.37%) WAN
1 1 (0.37%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 54 (20.00%) Power BI
2 39 (14.44%) Data Warehouse
3 34 (12.59%) Tableau
4 28 (10.37%) SQL Server
5 19 (7.04%) Metadata
6 17 (6.30%) PostgreSQL
6 17 (6.30%) Relational Database
7 14 (5.19%) NoSQL
8 12 (4.44%) Amazon Redshift
8 12 (4.44%) Data Lake
9 10 (3.70%) Big Data
9 10 (3.70%) Looker
10 8 (2.96%) BigQuery
10 8 (2.96%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 7 (2.59%) DB2
12 6 (2.22%) Mixpanel
12 6 (2.22%) MongoDB
12 6 (2.22%) MySQL
12 6 (2.22%) Oracle Reports
13 5 (1.85%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 28 (10.37%) Git
2 15 (5.56%) Jenkins
3 13 (4.81%) JIRA
4 8 (2.96%) GitLab
5 4 (1.48%) Cucumber
6 3 (1.11%) ERwin
6 3 (1.11%) Postman
6 3 (1.11%) Visual Website Optimizer
7 2 (0.74%) ER Studio
7 2 (0.74%) Gatling
7 2 (0.74%) JUnit
7 2 (0.74%) Oracle Forms
7 2 (0.74%) Selenium
7 2 (0.74%) SonarQube
7 2 (0.74%) Team Foundation Server
7 2 (0.74%) Toad
8 1 (0.37%) Cypress.io
8 1 (0.37%) Mockito
8 1 (0.37%) MSTest
8 1 (0.37%) TeamCity
General
1 101 (37.41%) Finance
2 72 (26.67%) Social Skills
3 56 (20.74%) Analytical Skills
4 48 (17.78%) Banking
5 13 (4.81%) Front Office
5 13 (4.81%) Legal
6 11 (4.07%) Investment Banking
7 8 (2.96%) Public Sector
8 7 (2.59%) Documentation Skills
9 6 (2.22%) Financial Institution
9 6 (2.22%) Marketing
10 5 (1.85%) General Ledger
10 5 (1.85%) Law
10 5 (1.85%) Pharmaceutical
10 5 (1.85%) Retail
10 5 (1.85%) Telecoms
11 4 (1.48%) Back Office
11 4 (1.48%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 4 (1.48%) Influencing Skills
12 3 (1.11%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 55 (20.37%) Developer
2 51 (18.89%) Data Engineer
3 44 (16.30%) Analyst
4 32 (11.85%) Senior
5 20 (7.41%) Lead
6 18 (6.67%) Data Analyst
7 15 (5.56%) Consultant
8 13 (4.81%) Business Analyst
9 12 (4.44%) Architect
10 10 (3.70%) Snowflake Data Engineer
10 10 (3.70%) Snowflake Engineer
11 9 (3.33%) Data Scientist
11 9 (3.33%) DBA
11 9 (3.33%) Senior Analyst
12 8 (2.96%) Java Developer
12 8 (2.96%) Senior Data Engineer
13 7 (2.59%) Senior Developer
14 6 (2.22%) Python Developer
14 6 (2.22%) Software Engineer
14 6 (2.22%) SQL DBA
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (8.52%) .NET
2 22 (8.15%) Kafka
3 15 (5.56%) PySpark
4 14 (5.19%) REST
4 14 (5.19%) XML
5 13 (4.81%) JSON
5 13 (4.81%) React
6 12 (4.44%) AngularJS
6 12 (4.44%) HTML
7 11 (4.07%) scikit-learn
8 10 (3.70%) Pandas
8 10 (3.70%) PyTorch
9 9 (3.33%) RESTful
9 9 (3.33%) TensorFlow
9 9 (3.33%) Web Services
10 8 (2.96%) Middleware
11 7 (2.59%) CSS
11 7 (2.59%) Spring
12 6 (2.22%) Matplotlib
12 6 (2.22%) NumPy
Miscellaneous
1 23 (8.52%) Cloud Native
2 15 (5.56%) Derivative
3 11 (4.07%) Algorithms
3 11 (4.07%) Equities
4 10 (3.70%) Data Structures
4 10 (3.70%) Fixed Income
4 10 (3.70%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 7 (2.59%) Legacy Systems
6 6 (2.22%) Onboarding
7 5 (1.85%) Analytical Mindset
7 5 (1.85%) Distributed Systems
7 5 (1.85%) Enterprise Software
8 4 (1.48%) AI Agents
8 4 (1.48%) Greenfield Project
8 4 (1.48%) Management Information System
8 4 (1.48%) Product Ownership
8 4 (1.48%) Reference Data
9 3 (1.11%) Clustering
9 3 (1.11%) Life Science
9 3 (1.11%) Market Risk
Operating Systems
1 16 (5.93%) Linux
2 13 (4.81%) Windows
3 9 (3.33%) Unix
4 3 (1.11%) Android
4 3 (1.11%) Apple iOS
5 2 (0.74%) Windows Server
5 2 (0.74%) zOS
6 1 (0.37%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.37%) Windows Server 2016
6 1 (0.37%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 75 (27.78%) Analytics
2 63 (23.33%) Data Modelling
3 62 (22.96%) ETL
4 59 (21.85%) Business Intelligence
5 53 (19.63%) Problem-Solving
6 49 (18.15%) Agile
7 48 (17.78%) Data Pipeline
8 46 (17.04%) Data Engineering
9 44 (16.30%) AI
9 44 (16.30%) CI/CD
10 41 (15.19%) DevOps
11 38 (14.07%) Migration
11 38 (14.07%) Performance Tuning
12 35 (12.96%) Visualisation
13 33 (12.22%) Machine Learning
14 32 (11.85%) Validation
15 31 (11.48%) Data Analysis
16 30 (11.11%) Data Governance
16 30 (11.11%) Test Automation
17 29 (10.74%) Data Science
Programming Languages
1 131 (48.52%) Python
2 38 (14.07%) Java
3 22 (8.15%) C#
4 21 (7.78%) JavaScript
5 14 (5.19%) PL/SQL
6 9 (3.33%) TypeScript
7 7 (2.59%) Scala
7 7 (2.59%) Shell Script
8 6 (2.22%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 5 (1.85%) C++
9 5 (1.85%) PowerShell
9 5 (1.85%) R
10 4 (1.48%) Perl
10 4 (1.48%) PHP
10 4 (1.48%) T-SQL
11 3 (1.11%) Bicep
11 3 (1.11%) C
11 3 (1.11%) ProC
12 2 (0.74%) Go
12 2 (0.74%) JCL
Qualifications
1 24 (8.89%) Degree
2 22 (8.15%) Security Cleared
3 17 (6.30%) SC Cleared
4 10 (3.70%) Computer Science Degree
5 7 (2.59%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (1.48%) AWS Certification
7 3 (1.11%) ISTQB
7 3 (1.11%) PhD
7 3 (1.11%) PMP
8 2 (0.74%) CBAP
8 2 (0.74%) CFA
8 2 (0.74%) ISEB
8 2 (0.74%) Master's Degree
8 2 (0.74%) PMI Certification
9 1 (0.37%) AWS Certified Developer
9 1 (0.37%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 1 (0.37%) DBS Check
9 1 (0.37%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
9 1 (0.37%) SnowPro
9 1 (0.37%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 53 (19.63%) Data Quality
2 19 (7.04%) QA
3 11 (4.07%) GDPR
4 4 (1.48%) ISO 8583
5 3 (1.11%) Basel III
5 3 (1.11%) GAAP
5 3 (1.11%) IFRS
5 3 (1.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 3 (1.11%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 2 (0.74%) ISO 20022
6 2 (0.74%) NIST
6 2 (0.74%) PSD2
6 2 (0.74%) SEPA
7 1 (0.37%) Accessibility
7 1 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials
7 1 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 1 (0.37%) Dodd-Frank
7 1 (0.37%) EMIR
7 1 (0.37%) IFRS 9
7 1 (0.37%) PMO
System Software
1 20 (7.41%) Docker
2 3 (1.11%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.74%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.37%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.37%) XenApp
4 1 (0.37%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 19 (7.04%) Kubernetes
2 17 (6.30%) Terraform
3 10 (3.70%) Ansible
4 6 (2.22%) Grafana
5 4 (1.48%) Prometheus
6 3 (1.11%) ITRS Geneos
7 2 (0.74%) Argo
8 1 (0.37%) Control-M
8 1 (0.37%) Istio
8 1 (0.37%) Kibana
8 1 (0.37%) logstash
8 1 (0.37%) SCCM
8 1 (0.37%) SCVMM
Vendors
1 49 (18.15%) Microsoft
2 38 (14.07%) Oracle
3 35 (12.96%) Databricks
4 18 (6.67%) Google
5 10 (3.70%) SAP
6 8 (2.96%) Informatica
7 7 (2.59%) Amplitude
7 7 (2.59%) Workday
8 6 (2.22%) IBM
8 6 (2.22%) Splunk
9 5 (1.85%) AppDynamics
9 5 (1.85%) Bloomberg
10 4 (1.48%) Charles River
10 4 (1.48%) ServiceNow
11 3 (1.11%) Cognos
11 3 (1.11%) Foundry
11 3 (1.11%) Hotjar
11 3 (1.11%) Optimizely
11 3 (1.11%) Palantir
11 3 (1.11%) Sage