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 4 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 14 8 8
Rank change year-on-year -6 0 -1
Contract jobs citing SQL 284 287 303
As % of all contract jobs in the City of London 12.50% 16.27% 14.72%
As % of the Programming Languages category 43.23% 43.62% 41.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 208 192 212
10th Percentile £399 £381 £400
25th Percentile £454 £444 £487
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £585 £600
Median % change year-on-year -5.98% -2.50% +4.35%
75th Percentile £668 £703 £701
90th Percentile £738 £823 £774
Central London median daily rate £550 £575 £598
% change year-on-year -4.35% -3.77% +3.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 6 0
10th Percentile £35.62 £21.13 -
25th Percentile £38.44 £27.44 -
Median hourly rate £45.00 £48.25 -
Median % change year-on-year -6.75% - -
75th Percentile £49.68 £63.75 -
90th Percentile £51.37 £76.25 -
Central London median hourly rate £45.00 £48.25 £41.50
% change year-on-year -6.75% +16.27% +232.00%

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 657 658 729
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London 28.92% 37.30% 35.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 464 456 499
10th Percentile £401 £393 £400
25th Percentile £462 £463 £483
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £600 £593
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +1.27% -1.25%
75th Percentile £669 £688 £709
90th Percentile £775 £775 £825
Central London median daily rate £550 £580 £575
% change year-on-year -5.17% +0.87% -4.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 7 0
10th Percentile £25.14 £22.05 -
25th Percentile £31.71 £26.00 -
Median hourly rate £37.50 £34.00 -
Median % change year-on-year +10.29% - -
75th Percentile £49.68 £63.75 -
90th Percentile £63.75 £73.75 -
Central London median hourly rate £45.00 £42.72 £41.50
% change year-on-year +5.33% +2.94% +232.00%

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 4 September 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 4 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for SQL in the City of London

SQL
Contract Job Locations in the City of London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing SQL within the City of London region over the 6 months to 4 September 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
Moorgate - 1 £475 -
SQL
Central 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 21 (7.39%) Apache Airflow
2 16 (5.63%) Apache Spark
3 12 (4.23%) Apache
4 11 (3.87%) Confluence
5 7 (2.46%) SharePoint
6 3 (1.06%) Microsoft Exchange
7 2 (0.70%) CICS
7 2 (0.70%) Exchange Server 2013
7 2 (0.70%) IIS
7 2 (0.70%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 1 (0.35%) MQSeries
8 1 (0.35%) nginx
8 1 (0.35%) Oracle Workflow
8 1 (0.35%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 13 (4.58%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.06%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.70%) Chatbot
3 2 (0.70%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.35%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (0.35%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.35%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 5 (1.76%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (1.06%) Oracle EBS
2 3 (1.06%) Oracle Payables
2 3 (1.06%) Oracle Receivables
2 3 (1.06%) Remedy ITSM
3 2 (0.70%) Aladdin
3 2 (0.70%) BambooHR
3 2 (0.70%) Oracle EBS R12
3 2 (0.70%) Oracle ERP
3 2 (0.70%) Oracle Financials
3 2 (0.70%) Oracle General Ledger
3 2 (0.70%) SAP MDG
3 2 (0.70%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.35%) Magento
4 1 (0.35%) Oracle Assets
4 1 (0.35%) Oracle E-Business Tax
4 1 (0.35%) Oracle Internet Expenses
4 1 (0.35%) Oracle iProcurement
4 1 (0.35%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
4 1 (0.35%) Summit
Cloud Services
1 97 (34.15%) Azure
2 66 (23.24%) Power Platform
3 56 (19.72%) AWS
4 37 (13.03%) Azure Data Factory
5 32 (11.27%) Snowflake
6 29 (10.21%) Azure DevOps
7 24 (8.45%) dbt
8 21 (7.39%) GCP
9 19 (6.69%) GitHub
9 19 (6.69%) Serverless
10 16 (5.63%) Azure Synapse Analytics
11 15 (5.28%) Amazon S3
12 14 (4.93%) AWS Lambda
13 9 (3.17%) GitHub Actions
14 8 (2.82%) PowerApps
14 8 (2.82%) SaaS
15 7 (2.46%) Azure Databricks
15 7 (2.46%) Dynamics 365
15 7 (2.46%) Prefect
16 6 (2.11%) Amazon CloudWatch
Communications & Networking
1 5 (1.76%) Multicast
1 5 (1.76%) VPN
2 4 (1.41%) Firewall
3 2 (0.70%) DNS
3 2 (0.70%) Internet
3 2 (0.70%) Intranet
3 2 (0.70%) Network Security
3 2 (0.70%) SSH
3 2 (0.70%) SSL
4 1 (0.35%) WinSCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 55 (19.37%) Power BI
2 46 (16.20%) Data Warehouse
3 45 (15.85%) SQL Server
4 20 (7.04%) Metadata
4 20 (7.04%) Relational Database
5 16 (5.63%) Data Lake
5 16 (5.63%) Tableau
6 15 (5.28%) Azure SQL Database
7 13 (4.58%) Oracle Database
8 11 (3.87%) Amazon Athena
9 10 (3.52%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 10 (3.52%) Star Schema
10 9 (3.17%) Amazon Redshift
10 9 (3.17%) BigQuery
11 8 (2.82%) Looker
11 8 (2.82%) PostgreSQL
12 7 (2.46%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
12 7 (2.46%) MongoDB
12 7 (2.46%) Snowflake Schema
13 6 (2.11%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 20 (7.04%) Git
2 18 (6.34%) JIRA
3 12 (4.23%) Jenkins
4 9 (3.17%) GitLab
5 7 (2.46%) Bitbucket
6 6 (2.11%) Visual Studio
7 5 (1.76%) JUnit
7 5 (1.76%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 3 (1.06%) Artifactory
8 3 (1.06%) Eclipse
8 3 (1.06%) eggPlant
8 3 (1.06%) Gradle
8 3 (1.06%) Selenium
8 3 (1.06%) Visual Studio Code
9 2 (0.70%) Atlassian Bamboo
9 2 (0.70%) HP UFT
9 2 (0.70%) LoadRunner
9 2 (0.70%) Mockito
9 2 (0.70%) SoapUI
9 2 (0.70%) TeamCity
General
1 123 (43.31%) Finance
2 84 (29.58%) Social Skills
3 65 (22.89%) Analytical Skills
4 64 (22.54%) Banking
5 14 (4.93%) Front Office
5 14 (4.93%) Marketing
6 12 (4.23%) Investment Banking
7 9 (3.17%) Retail
8 7 (2.46%) Back Office
9 6 (2.11%) Public Sector
10 5 (1.76%) Legal
11 4 (1.41%) Documentation Skills
11 4 (1.41%) Law
12 3 (1.06%) Corporate Banking
12 3 (1.06%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 3 (1.06%) Pharmaceutical
12 3 (1.06%) Retail Banking
13 2 (0.70%) Advertising
13 2 (0.70%) General Ledger
13 2 (0.70%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 61 (21.48%) Analyst
2 54 (19.01%) Data Engineer
3 49 (17.25%) Developer
4 48 (16.90%) Senior
5 33 (11.62%) Data Analyst
6 17 (5.99%) Business Analyst
7 16 (5.63%) Architect
7 16 (5.63%) Lead
8 15 (5.28%) Senior Data Engineer
9 14 (4.93%) Consultant
9 14 (4.93%) Senior Developer
10 11 (3.87%) C# Developer
11 9 (3.17%) AWS Engineer
11 9 (3.17%) DBA
11 9 (3.17%) Snowflake Engineer
12 8 (2.82%) Applications Support
12 8 (2.82%) Data Architect
12 8 (2.82%) Java Developer
13 7 (2.46%) Snowflake Data Engineer
13 7 (2.46%) SQL DBA
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (13.03%) .NET
2 27 (9.51%) PySpark
3 25 (8.80%) Terraform
4 19 (6.69%) Kafka
5 18 (6.34%) REST
6 15 (5.28%) XML
7 12 (4.23%) JSON
7 12 (4.23%) Middleware
7 12 (4.23%) Web Services
8 11 (3.87%) HTML
9 10 (3.52%) .NET Framework
9 10 (3.52%) SOAP
10 9 (3.17%) Spring
10 9 (3.17%) Spring Boot
11 7 (2.46%) AngularJS
11 7 (2.46%) RESTful
12 6 (2.11%) CSS
13 5 (1.76%) .NET Core
13 5 (1.76%) ASP.NET
13 5 (1.76%) ASP.NET Web API
Miscellaneous
1 29 (10.21%) Cloud Native
2 15 (5.28%) Data Structures
3 13 (4.58%) Product Ownership
4 12 (4.23%) Onboarding
5 11 (3.87%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
6 10 (3.52%) Fixed Income
7 8 (2.82%) Derivative
8 7 (2.46%) Clustering
8 7 (2.46%) Data Centre
8 7 (2.46%) Distributed Systems
8 7 (2.46%) Legacy Systems
8 7 (2.46%) Self-Motivation
9 6 (2.11%) AI Agents
9 6 (2.11%) Management Information System
10 5 (1.76%) Enterprise Software
10 5 (1.76%) Equities
10 5 (1.76%) Market Risk
10 5 (1.76%) Replication
11 4 (1.41%) Credit Risk
11 4 (1.41%) Reference Data
Operating Systems
1 24 (8.45%) Unix
2 23 (8.10%) Linux
3 18 (6.34%) Windows
4 8 (2.82%) Windows Server
5 3 (1.06%) VMS
5 3 (1.06%) Windows Server 2008
6 2 (0.70%) OpenVMS
6 2 (0.70%) Windows 7
6 2 (0.70%) Windows Server 2012
6 2 (0.70%) Windows Server 2019
6 2 (0.70%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 97 (34.15%) Analytics
2 85 (29.93%) Data Modelling
3 81 (28.52%) CI/CD
4 72 (25.35%) DevOps
5 67 (23.59%) Business Intelligence
6 64 (22.54%) Agile
6 64 (22.54%) AI
7 62 (21.83%) Data Engineering
8 58 (20.42%) ETL
9 52 (18.31%) Data Pipeline
10 49 (17.25%) Data Governance
11 46 (16.20%) Problem-Solving
12 45 (15.85%) Stakeholder Management
13 40 (14.08%) Migration
14 37 (13.03%) Validation
15 34 (11.97%) Decision-Making
16 32 (11.27%) Data Analysis
17 30 (10.56%) Machine Learning
17 30 (10.56%) Software Engineering
17 30 (10.56%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 126 (44.37%) Python
2 41 (14.44%) C#
3 28 (9.86%) Java
4 18 (6.34%) Data Analysis Expressions
5 17 (5.99%) JavaScript
5 17 (5.99%) PL/SQL
6 13 (4.58%) PowerShell
7 11 (3.87%) TypeScript
8 10 (3.52%) Shell Script
8 10 (3.52%) T-SQL
9 8 (2.82%) R
10 4 (1.41%) LookML
11 3 (1.06%) C++
11 3 (1.06%) Korn
11 3 (1.06%) Scala
12 2 (0.70%) Bicep
12 2 (0.70%) C
12 2 (0.70%) JCL
12 2 (0.70%) ProC
12 2 (0.70%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 33 (11.62%) Security Cleared
2 24 (8.45%) SC Cleared
3 18 (6.34%) Degree
4 5 (1.76%) DBS Check
5 4 (1.41%) Computer Science Degree
5 4 (1.41%) Microsoft Certification
6 3 (1.06%) SnowPro
7 2 (0.70%) AWS Certification
7 2 (0.70%) CISM
7 2 (0.70%) CISSP
7 2 (0.70%) DV Cleared
7 2 (0.70%) ISTQB
7 2 (0.70%) PMI Certification
8 1 (0.35%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
8 1 (0.35%) CBAP
8 1 (0.35%) ISEB
8 1 (0.35%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 1 (0.35%) PMP
8 1 (0.35%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 67 (23.59%) Data Quality
2 34 (11.97%) QA
3 10 (3.52%) GDPR
4 5 (1.76%) Accessibility
4 5 (1.76%) SLA
5 2 (0.70%) EMIR
5 2 (0.70%) MiFID
5 2 (0.70%) PSD2
5 2 (0.70%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 1 (0.35%) Actionable Recommendations
6 1 (0.35%) Basel III
6 1 (0.35%) GAAP
6 1 (0.35%) HIPAA
6 1 (0.35%) IFRS
6 1 (0.35%) PERC
System Software
1 15 (5.28%) Docker
2 8 (2.82%) Active Directory
3 6 (2.11%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.70%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.35%) GridGain
5 1 (0.35%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.35%) Oracle RAC
5 1 (0.35%) Varnish
5 1 (0.35%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 15 (5.28%) Kubernetes
2 5 (1.76%) ITRS Geneos
3 4 (1.41%) SCOM
4 3 (1.06%) Ansible
4 3 (1.06%) Microsoft Clustering
5 2 (0.70%) Control-M
5 2 (0.70%) HP Fortify
5 2 (0.70%) NetBackup
5 2 (0.70%) WSUS
6 1 (0.35%) Data Guard
6 1 (0.35%) Packer
6 1 (0.35%) PowerCLI
6 1 (0.35%) SCOrch
6 1 (0.35%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.35%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 62 (21.83%) Microsoft
2 39 (13.73%) Oracle
3 37 (13.03%) Databricks
4 11 (3.87%) SAP
5 9 (3.17%) Google
6 8 (2.82%) IBM
6 8 (2.82%) Informatica
7 6 (2.11%) Murex
7 6 (2.11%) VMware
8 5 (1.76%) Salesforce
8 5 (1.76%) ServiceNow
9 4 (1.41%) Citrix
9 4 (1.41%) Sitecore
9 4 (1.41%) Solace
10 3 (1.06%) Adobe
10 3 (1.06%) BMC
10 3 (1.06%) Commvault
10 3 (1.06%) Guidewire
10 3 (1.06%) Remedy
10 3 (1.06%) Workday