SQL Server Contract Job Trends in England

Microsoft SQL Server (MS SQL)
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring SQL Server skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 23 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 126 99 62
Rank change year-on-year -27 -37 -11
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 844 676 1,233
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.13% 2.75% 3.31%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 13.52% 14.41% 19.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 593 500 854
10th Percentile £356 £350 £350
25th Percentile £406 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -8.65% -0.95% -2.33%
75th Percentile £588 £650 £638
90th Percentile £675 £738 £725
UK median daily rate £475 £510 £518
% change year-on-year -6.86% -1.45% -1.43%
Number of hourly rates quoted 33 6 25
10th Percentile £16.60 £25.66 £21.59
25th Percentile £25.72 £34.80 £37.63
Median hourly rate £52.50 £62.12 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -15.49% +55.31% -4.19%
75th Percentile £70.00 £65.62 £51.91
90th Percentile £74.00 £77.18 £62.96
UK median hourly rate £53.00 £62.12 £40.00
% change year-on-year -14.68% +55.31% -9.74%

All Database & BI Skills
England

SQL Server falls under the Databases and Business Intelligence category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring database or business intelligence skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for database or business intelligence skills 6,244 4,691 6,185
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 15.73% 19.09% 16.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,317 3,293 4,442
10th Percentile £350 £358 £350
25th Percentile £413 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £600 £656 £675
90th Percentile £700 £775 £775
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.07%
Number of hourly rates quoted 164 94 133
10th Percentile £16.85 £19.73 £14.00
25th Percentile £28.67 £23.69 £20.98
Median hourly rate £50.50 £32.96 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +53.22% -17.60% -32.54%
75th Percentile £74.37 £65.46 £54.13
90th Percentile £82.25 £70.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £51.00 £34.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year +47.83% -13.75% -33.33%

SQL Server
Job Vacancy Trend in England

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

SQL Server job vacancy trend in England

SQL Server
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing SQL Server.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing SQL Server

SQL Server
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SQL Server in England over the 6 months to 23 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for SQL Server in England

SQL Server
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing SQL Server.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing SQL Server

SQL Server
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing SQL Server in England over the 6 months to 23 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for SQL Server in England

SQL Server
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing SQL Server within the England region over the 6 months to 23 April 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
London -25 473 £500 -9.75% 95
North of England -17 134 £464 +9.12% 69
South East -24 109 £475 -5.00% 104
North West -25 69 £492 +7.84% 45
Yorkshire -3 63 £450 +12.43% 18
Midlands -44 53 £450 -10.00% 53
South West -35 33 £438 -20.45% 36
East of England -6 27 £544 +8.48% 19
West Midlands -59 26 £449 -22.97% 26
East Midlands -18 25 £494 +38.69% 27
North East -22 3 £475 +5.56% 6
SQL Server
UK

SQL Server
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 37 (4.38%) IIS
2 36 (4.27%) SharePoint
3 23 (2.73%) Microsoft Exchange
4 18 (2.13%) Confluence
5 14 (1.66%) Apache
5 14 (1.66%) Apache Spark
6 13 (1.54%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 12 (1.42%) Apache Airflow
8 11 (1.30%) Appian
8 11 (1.30%) WebSphere
9 9 (1.07%) CMS
10 8 (0.95%) WebLogic
11 6 (0.71%) Camunda
11 6 (0.71%) Sitecore CMS
12 4 (0.47%) Oracle Workflow
13 3 (0.36%) Apache Superset
13 3 (0.36%) OpenEdge
13 3 (0.36%) Umbraco
14 2 (0.24%) Tomcat
15 1 (0.12%) ColdFusion
Applications
1 34 (4.03%) Microsoft Excel
2 14 (1.66%) MS Visio
3 13 (1.54%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (0.36%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.24%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.12%) InDesign
Business Applications
1 13 (1.54%) Dynamics CRM
2 10 (1.18%) Remedy ITSM
3 7 (0.83%) BusinessWorks
3 7 (0.83%) SAP S/4HANA
4 6 (0.71%) Advent Geneva
5 4 (0.47%) Dynamics AX
5 4 (0.47%) Oracle Payables
6 3 (0.36%) Oracle General Ledger
6 3 (0.36%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 3 (0.36%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
6 3 (0.36%) SystmOne
7 2 (0.24%) Loan IQ
7 2 (0.24%) Oracle Receivables
7 2 (0.24%) Salesforce CRM
7 2 (0.24%) Veritas eDiscovery
8 1 (0.12%) Dynamics NAV
8 1 (0.12%) Elite 3E
8 1 (0.12%) SAP Business One
8 1 (0.12%) SAP R/3
8 1 (0.12%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 370 (43.84%) Azure
2 174 (20.62%) AWS
3 138 (16.35%) Power Platform
4 112 (13.27%) Azure DevOps
5 85 (10.07%) Azure Data Factory
6 69 (8.18%) GitHub
7 51 (6.04%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 39 (4.62%) GCP
9 32 (3.79%) GitHub Actions
9 32 (3.79%) Microsoft 365
10 30 (3.55%) Amazon S3
11 29 (3.44%) Power Automate
11 29 (3.44%) SaaS
12 26 (3.08%) Serverless
12 26 (3.08%) Snowflake
13 24 (2.84%) Azure Monitor
13 24 (2.84%) Dynamics 365
14 22 (2.61%) IaaS
15 21 (2.49%) Amazon EC2
16 18 (2.13%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 27 (3.20%) DNS
2 22 (2.61%) Firewall
3 21 (2.49%) DHCP
4 13 (1.54%) Internet
4 13 (1.54%) VLAN
5 12 (1.42%) VPN
6 10 (1.18%) SAN
6 10 (1.18%) TCP/IP
7 7 (0.83%) Wi-Fi
8 6 (0.71%) IPv4
8 6 (0.71%) IPv6
8 6 (0.71%) LAN
8 6 (0.71%) NetScaler
9 5 (0.59%) Network Security
10 4 (0.47%) FTP
10 4 (0.47%) SSH
10 4 (0.47%) WAN
11 3 (0.36%) RS-232
11 3 (0.36%) X.400
12 2 (0.24%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 124 (14.69%) PostgreSQL
2 114 (13.51%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 112 (13.27%) Power BI
4 102 (12.09%) Data Warehouse
5 92 (10.90%) Relational Database
6 65 (7.70%) Oracle Database
7 62 (7.35%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 57 (6.75%) Azure SQL Database
8 57 (6.75%) Data Lake
9 51 (6.04%) MySQL
10 37 (4.38%) NoSQL
11 35 (4.15%) MongoDB
12 34 (4.03%) SQL Server Analysis Services
13 23 (2.73%) DB2
13 23 (2.73%) Metadata
14 22 (2.61%) Amazon RDS
15 19 (2.25%) RDBMS
16 18 (2.13%) Delta Lake
16 18 (2.13%) Tableau
17 14 (1.66%) Big Data
Development Applications
1 71 (8.41%) Git
2 53 (6.28%) JIRA
3 40 (4.74%) Jenkins
4 25 (2.96%) Visual Studio
5 20 (2.37%) GitLab
6 16 (1.90%) TeamCity
7 13 (1.54%) Team Foundation Server
8 11 (1.30%) Cucumber
8 11 (1.30%) Maven
8 11 (1.30%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 10 (1.18%) Postman
10 9 (1.07%) ERwin
10 9 (1.07%) Gatling
10 9 (1.07%) Octopus Deploy
11 8 (0.95%) MLflow
12 7 (0.83%) Chocolatey
12 7 (0.83%) Selenium
13 6 (0.71%) Artifactory
13 6 (0.71%) JUnit
13 6 (0.71%) TestRail
General
1 242 (28.67%) Social Skills
2 198 (23.46%) Finance
3 135 (16.00%) Analytical Skills
4 96 (11.37%) Banking
5 71 (8.41%) Public Sector
6 34 (4.03%) Documentation Skills
7 25 (2.96%) Front Office
8 24 (2.84%) Investment Banking
9 22 (2.61%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 16 (1.90%) Legal
10 16 (1.90%) Retail
11 14 (1.66%) Organisational Skills
12 12 (1.42%) Financial Institution
13 9 (1.07%) Advertising
14 8 (0.95%) Local Government
15 6 (0.71%) Telecoms
16 4 (0.47%) General Ledger
16 4 (0.47%) Law
16 4 (0.47%) Manufacturing
16 4 (0.47%) Military
Job Titles
1 258 (30.57%) Developer
2 128 (15.17%) Senior
3 111 (13.15%) Data Engineer
4 90 (10.66%) DBA
5 78 (9.24%) C# Developer
6 71 (8.41%) Architect
7 64 (7.58%) .NET Developer
8 52 (6.16%) SQL DBA
9 41 (4.86%) Lead
10 35 (4.15%) Senior Developer
11 34 (4.03%) Analyst
11 34 (4.03%) Senior Data Engineer
12 31 (3.67%) Azure Engineer
12 31 (3.67%) Software Engineer
13 30 (3.55%) Full-Stack Developer
14 29 (3.44%) SQL Developer
15 27 (3.20%) Administrator
16 24 (2.84%) C# .NET Developer
16 24 (2.84%) Infrastructure Engineer
17 22 (2.61%) Oracle DBA
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 227 (26.90%) .NET
2 97 (11.49%) REST
3 95 (11.26%) .NET Framework
4 68 (8.06%) React
5 55 (6.52%) RESTful
6 51 (6.04%) AngularJS
7 49 (5.81%) CSS
8 48 (5.69%) HTML
9 39 (4.62%) .NET Core
9 39 (4.62%) ASP.NET
10 38 (4.50%) Kafka
10 38 (4.50%) XML
11 28 (3.32%) Web Services
12 25 (2.96%) OAuth
13 22 (2.61%) Entity Framework
13 22 (2.61%) SOAP
14 19 (2.25%) Spring
14 19 (2.25%) WinForms
14 19 (2.25%) WPF
14 19 (2.25%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 59 (6.99%) Legacy Systems
2 37 (4.38%) Cloud Native
3 34 (4.03%) Onboarding
4 32 (3.79%) Data Structures
5 31 (3.67%) Replication
6 22 (2.61%) Enterprise Software
6 22 (2.61%) Self-Motivation
7 21 (2.49%) Clustering
7 21 (2.49%) Management Information System
8 17 (2.01%) NHS
9 15 (1.78%) Low-Code
9 15 (1.78%) Product Ownership
10 13 (1.54%) Legacy Code
11 11 (1.30%) Virtual Team
12 9 (1.07%) Data Protection Act
12 9 (1.07%) Derivative
12 9 (1.07%) Distributed Systems
12 9 (1.07%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
12 9 (1.07%) Greenfield Project
12 9 (1.07%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 171 (20.26%) Windows
2 96 (11.37%) Windows Server
3 81 (9.60%) Linux
4 47 (5.57%) Unix
5 13 (1.54%) Windows 10
6 10 (1.18%) Windows Server 2016
7 8 (0.95%) AIX
8 7 (0.83%) Windows Server 2019
9 5 (0.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 5 (0.59%) Windows Server 2012
10 3 (0.36%) Android
11 2 (0.24%) OpenVMS
11 2 (0.24%) VMS
11 2 (0.24%) Windows 7
11 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2003
12 1 (0.12%) Data ONTAP
12 1 (0.12%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 208 (24.64%) DevOps
2 207 (24.53%) CI/CD
3 182 (21.56%) Agile
4 177 (20.97%) ETL
4 177 (20.97%) Problem-Solving
5 154 (18.25%) Business Intelligence
6 145 (17.18%) Data Modelling
7 130 (15.40%) Migration
8 103 (12.20%) Analytics
9 95 (11.26%) Disaster Recovery
10 89 (10.55%) Performance Tuning
11 85 (10.07%) Data Pipeline
12 82 (9.72%) Data Engineering
13 79 (9.36%) AI
14 76 (9.00%) Test Automation
15 71 (8.41%) Data Integration
16 69 (8.18%) Data Analysis
17 65 (7.70%) High Availability
17 65 (7.70%) Microservices
18 63 (7.46%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 497 (58.89%) SQL
2 218 (25.83%) C#
3 210 (24.88%) Python
4 133 (15.76%) T-SQL
5 112 (13.27%) PowerShell
6 78 (9.24%) JavaScript
7 74 (8.77%) Java
8 67 (7.94%) PL/SQL
9 45 (5.33%) TypeScript
10 34 (4.03%) Bash
11 24 (2.84%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 23 (2.73%) Shell Script
13 17 (2.01%) Scala
13 17 (2.01%) VB
14 16 (1.90%) Korn
15 15 (1.78%) Bicep
16 14 (1.66%) VBA
17 11 (1.30%) PHP
18 7 (0.83%) XPath
19 5 (0.59%) Rust
Qualifications
1 179 (21.21%) Security Cleared
2 138 (16.35%) SC Cleared
3 87 (10.31%) Degree
4 30 (3.55%) Microsoft Certification
5 28 (3.32%) Computer Science Degree
6 24 (2.84%) DV Cleared
7 21 (2.49%) BPSS Clearance
8 19 (2.25%) Azure Certification
9 8 (0.95%) Master's Degree
10 6 (0.71%) DBS Check
11 5 (0.59%) CCA
11 5 (0.59%) CISSP
11 5 (0.59%) Citrix Certification
11 5 (0.59%) OCP
11 5 (0.59%) Oracle Certification
12 4 (0.47%) MCITP
12 4 (0.47%) MCTS
13 3 (0.36%) ITIL Certification
13 3 (0.36%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 2 (0.24%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 99 (11.73%) Data Quality
2 90 (10.66%) QA
3 24 (2.84%) GDPR
4 18 (2.13%) NIST
5 16 (1.90%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 14 (1.66%) SLA
7 7 (0.83%) Accessibility
8 6 (0.71%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 4 (0.47%) IFRS
9 4 (0.47%) WCAG
10 3 (0.36%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.36%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 3 (0.36%) HIPAA
10 3 (0.36%) IFRS 17
10 3 (0.36%) IFRS 9
11 2 (0.24%) Basel III
11 2 (0.24%) EMIR
11 2 (0.24%) GAAP
11 2 (0.24%) GRC
11 2 (0.24%) MiFID
System Software
1 92 (10.90%) Docker
2 63 (7.46%) Active Directory
3 20 (2.37%) VMware Infrastructure
4 16 (1.90%) Hyper-V
4 16 (1.90%) Oracle RAC
5 15 (1.78%) Virtual Machines
6 11 (1.30%) Virtual Desktop
7 6 (0.71%) KVM
8 5 (0.59%) XenApp
8 5 (0.59%) XenDesktop
9 3 (0.36%) GridGain
10 1 (0.12%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 1 (0.12%) NFS
10 1 (0.12%) RACF
10 1 (0.12%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.12%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 98 (11.61%) Kubernetes
2 65 (7.70%) Terraform
3 16 (1.90%) Ansible
3 16 (1.90%) Oracle RMAN
4 14 (1.66%) Grafana
4 14 (1.66%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
4 14 (1.66%) SCCM
5 10 (1.18%) HAProxy
5 10 (1.18%) Microsoft Intune
6 8 (0.95%) Puppet
6 8 (0.95%) vCenter Server
7 7 (0.83%) TIBCO Hawk
7 7 (0.83%) WSUS
8 6 (0.71%) IBM BigFix
8 6 (0.71%) Single Sign-On
9 5 (0.59%) SCVMM
10 3 (0.36%) Control-M
10 3 (0.36%) Foglight
10 3 (0.36%) Microsoft Clustering
10 3 (0.36%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 255 (30.21%) Microsoft
2 241 (28.55%) Oracle
3 75 (8.89%) Databricks
4 57 (6.75%) Citrix
5 37 (4.38%) ServiceNow
6 33 (3.91%) VMware
7 29 (3.44%) Informatica
8 23 (2.73%) SAP
9 21 (2.49%) CyberArk
10 20 (2.37%) Google
10 20 (2.37%) IBM
11 15 (1.78%) BeyondTrust
12 14 (1.66%) Sybase
13 12 (1.42%) Dynatrace
14 11 (1.30%) UiPath
15 10 (1.18%) OpenAI
15 10 (1.18%) Remedy
16 9 (1.07%) BMC
16 9 (1.07%) Tenable
17 8 (0.95%) Automation Anywhere