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 10 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
10 Jan 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 136 80 65
Rank change year-on-year -56 -15 -19
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 649 790 1,177
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.07% 2.92% 3.24%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 12.26% 15.94% 19.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 445 562 859
10th Percentile £350 £313 £357
25th Percentile £406 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £485 £506 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.12% -8.03% -
75th Percentile £600 £624 £650
90th Percentile £700 £700 £730
UK median daily rate £488 £500 £530
% change year-on-year -2.50% -5.66% -1.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 6 17
10th Percentile £19.33 £61.06 £19.93
25th Percentile £28.90 £61.87 £46.00
Median hourly rate £48.72 £64.37 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year -24.32% +22.61% +38.16%
75th Percentile £61.29 £65.62 £62.50
90th Percentile £66.52 £82.81 £63.56
UK median hourly rate £48.72 £63.75 £52.50
% change year-on-year -23.57% +21.42% +31.25%

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 5,292 4,956 5,960
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 16.90% 18.32% 16.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,683 3,285 4,267
10th Percentile £325 £350 £356
25th Percentile £412 £425 £440
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% - -
75th Percentile £613 £663 £660
90th Percentile £710 £775 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £534
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.69% -2.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 74 68 134
10th Percentile £18.93 £20.82 £18.77
25th Percentile £29.06 £24.25 £25.05
Median hourly rate £51.36 £42.00 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year +22.29% -9.05% -16.04%
75th Percentile £70.00 £64.79 £64.48
90th Percentile £84.70 £74.50 £78.00
UK median hourly rate £48.72 £35.00 £46.18
% change year-on-year +39.20% -24.21% -16.04%

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 10 January 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 10 January 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 10 January 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 -32 399 £523 -5.00% 91
North of England -16 80 £450 -6.49% 98
South East -42 78 £480 -3.08% 139
Yorkshire -24 41 £425 -24.31% 39
North West -26 37 £450 +5.88% 49
South West -39 24 £550 - 35
Midlands -93 22 £411 -13.42% 56
East of England -25 19 £494 +23.44% 39
West Midlands -65 16 £414 -27.03% 26
East Midlands -45 5 £373 -2.74% 29
North East -5 2 £475 +28.38% 11
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 30 (4.62%) SharePoint
2 23 (3.54%) IIS
3 20 (3.08%) Confluence
4 16 (2.47%) Microsoft Exchange
4 16 (2.47%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 14 (2.16%) WebSphere
6 11 (1.69%) WebLogic
7 7 (1.08%) Apache Spark
8 6 (0.92%) Apache
9 5 (0.77%) Apache Airflow
10 4 (0.62%) Appian
10 4 (0.62%) SharePoint Server
10 4 (0.62%) Tomcat
11 3 (0.46%) CMS
12 2 (0.31%) CICS
12 2 (0.31%) HCL Notes
12 2 (0.31%) JBoss
12 2 (0.31%) Oracle Workflow
12 2 (0.31%) WildFly
13 1 (0.15%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 45 (6.93%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (1.69%) Microsoft Office
3 9 (1.39%) MS Visio
4 6 (0.92%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (0.62%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 2 (0.31%) Trello
6 2 (0.31%) Windchill
7 1 (0.15%) ProjectWise
Business Applications
1 9 (1.39%) Advent Geneva
2 8 (1.23%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (1.08%) BusinessWorks
4 6 (0.92%) Salesforce CRM
5 4 (0.62%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 3 (0.46%) Oracle BPM
6 3 (0.46%) Oracle General Ledger
6 3 (0.46%) Oracle Payables
6 3 (0.46%) Oracle Receivables
6 3 (0.46%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 2 (0.31%) Dynamics AX
7 2 (0.31%) Dynamics NAV
7 2 (0.31%) Endur
7 2 (0.31%) Fidessa
7 2 (0.31%) Loan IQ
7 2 (0.31%) Oracle FAH
7 2 (0.31%) SAP S/4HANA
7 2 (0.31%) Teamcenter
7 2 (0.31%) Veritas eDiscovery
8 1 (0.15%) Orchestrade
Cloud Services
1 278 (42.84%) Azure
2 126 (19.41%) AWS
3 118 (18.18%) Power Platform
4 73 (11.25%) Azure DevOps
5 53 (8.17%) GitHub
6 52 (8.01%) Azure Data Factory
7 49 (7.55%) GCP
8 34 (5.24%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 31 (4.78%) Microsoft 365
10 30 (4.62%) SaaS
11 25 (3.85%) GitHub Actions
12 21 (3.24%) Snowflake
13 19 (2.93%) Amazon S3
13 19 (2.93%) IaaS
14 18 (2.77%) Power Automate
14 18 (2.77%) Serverless
15 17 (2.62%) Dynamics 365
16 16 (2.47%) Azure Service Bus
17 15 (2.31%) PaaS
17 15 (2.31%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 29 (4.47%) Firewall
2 21 (3.24%) DNS
3 17 (2.62%) TCP/IP
4 12 (1.85%) Internet
5 11 (1.69%) DHCP
6 10 (1.54%) HTTP
7 8 (1.23%) LAN
8 7 (1.08%) NetScaler
9 6 (0.92%) VPN
10 5 (0.77%) NAS
10 5 (0.77%) Skype
11 4 (0.62%) SAN
11 4 (0.62%) SSL
11 4 (0.62%) VoIP
12 3 (0.46%) WAN
13 2 (0.31%) FTP
13 2 (0.31%) SMTP
13 2 (0.31%) VLAN
13 2 (0.31%) Wi-Fi
13 2 (0.31%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 101 (15.56%) Power BI
2 85 (13.10%) PostgreSQL
3 81 (12.48%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 80 (12.33%) Relational Database
5 64 (9.86%) Oracle Database
6 63 (9.71%) Data Warehouse
7 52 (8.01%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 47 (7.24%) Azure SQL Database
9 43 (6.63%) MySQL
10 42 (6.47%) MongoDB
11 38 (5.86%) Data Lake
12 33 (5.08%) NoSQL
13 24 (3.70%) DB2
14 22 (3.39%) Amazon RDS
15 19 (2.93%) Big Data
15 19 (2.93%) RDBMS
16 18 (2.77%) SQL Server Analysis Services
17 17 (2.62%) Tableau
18 16 (2.47%) Delta Lake
18 16 (2.47%) Redis
Development Applications
1 64 (9.86%) Git
2 41 (6.32%) JIRA
3 33 (5.08%) Jenkins
4 19 (2.93%) GitLab
5 17 (2.62%) Visual Studio
6 13 (2.00%) Postman
7 12 (1.85%) SpecFlow
7 12 (1.85%) TeamCity
8 11 (1.69%) Selenium
8 11 (1.69%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 10 (1.54%) Cucumber
10 9 (1.39%) Bitbucket
10 9 (1.39%) Maven
10 9 (1.39%) Octopus Deploy
11 8 (1.23%) JUnit
12 6 (0.92%) REST Assured
12 6 (0.92%) TestRail
12 6 (0.92%) webpack
13 5 (0.77%) ERwin
13 5 (0.77%) Mockito
General
1 212 (32.67%) Social Skills
2 177 (27.27%) Finance
3 88 (13.56%) Banking
4 87 (13.41%) Analytical Skills
5 38 (5.86%) Public Sector
6 35 (5.39%) Documentation Skills
7 24 (3.70%) Investment Banking
8 19 (2.93%) Front Office
9 16 (2.47%) Financial Institution
10 13 (2.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 11 (1.69%) Presentation Skills
11 11 (1.69%) Retail
12 7 (1.08%) Local Government
13 6 (0.92%) Legal
13 6 (0.92%) Manufacturing
13 6 (0.92%) Organisational Skills
14 5 (0.77%) Back Office
14 5 (0.77%) Influencing Skills
14 5 (0.77%) Law
15 4 (0.62%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 230 (35.44%) Developer
2 88 (13.56%) Senior
3 77 (11.86%) Data Engineer
4 64 (9.86%) C# Developer
5 48 (7.40%) Architect
6 46 (7.09%) .NET Developer
7 45 (6.93%) Analyst
8 37 (5.70%) Senior Developer
9 32 (4.93%) DBA
10 27 (4.16%) Lead
10 27 (4.16%) Senior Data Engineer
11 26 (4.01%) Consultant
12 24 (3.70%) Full-Stack Developer
13 21 (3.24%) Software Engineer
14 20 (3.08%) C# .NET Developer
15 19 (2.93%) Angular Developer
15 19 (2.93%) SQL DBA
16 18 (2.77%) SQL Developer
17 17 (2.62%) Azure Engineer
18 16 (2.47%) Data Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 180 (27.73%) .NET
2 68 (10.48%) .NET Framework
3 57 (8.78%) REST
4 46 (7.09%) HTML
5 43 (6.63%) AngularJS
6 41 (6.32%) React
7 38 (5.86%) RESTful
7 38 (5.86%) XML
8 36 (5.55%) Kafka
9 35 (5.39%) CSS
10 33 (5.08%) .NET Core
11 27 (4.16%) Entity Framework
11 27 (4.16%) Web Services
12 26 (4.01%) SOAP
13 24 (3.70%) ASP.NET
14 23 (3.54%) Middleware
15 22 (3.39%) WPF
16 17 (2.62%) JSON
16 17 (2.62%) Playwright
17 16 (2.47%) NHibernate
Miscellaneous
1 33 (5.08%) Legacy Systems
2 27 (4.16%) Cloud Native
3 18 (2.77%) Enterprise Software
3 18 (2.77%) Management Information System
4 17 (2.62%) Derivative
5 16 (2.47%) Onboarding
6 14 (2.16%) Credit Risk
6 14 (2.16%) Data Protection Act
6 14 (2.16%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
6 14 (2.16%) Product Ownership
7 12 (1.85%) Data Structures
7 12 (1.85%) NHS
8 11 (1.69%) Distributed Systems
8 11 (1.69%) PKI
8 11 (1.69%) Replication
9 9 (1.39%) Reinsurance
9 9 (1.39%) Virtual Team
10 8 (1.23%) Clustering
10 8 (1.23%) Data Centre
10 8 (1.23%) Hedge funds
Operating Systems
1 112 (17.26%) Windows
2 84 (12.94%) Linux
3 58 (8.94%) Windows Server
4 13 (2.00%) Windows 10
4 13 (2.00%) Windows Server 2016
5 10 (1.54%) Unix
6 8 (1.23%) Windows Server 2019
7 6 (0.92%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 4 (0.62%) VMS
9 3 (0.46%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.31%) Android
10 2 (0.31%) Solaris
11 1 (0.15%) AIX
11 1 (0.15%) Mac OS
11 1 (0.15%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.15%) MVS
11 1 (0.15%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.15%) Windows Server 2003
11 1 (0.15%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 157 (24.19%) Agile
2 142 (21.88%) CI/CD
3 140 (21.57%) DevOps
4 139 (21.42%) Problem-Solving
5 117 (18.03%) Business Intelligence
6 114 (17.57%) ETL
7 93 (14.33%) Migration
8 91 (14.02%) Data Modelling
9 68 (10.48%) Analytics
10 63 (9.71%) Microservices
11 58 (8.94%) Test Automation
12 54 (8.32%) Full-Stack Development
13 52 (8.01%) Performance Tuning
13 52 (8.01%) Software Engineering
14 50 (7.70%) Containerisation
15 47 (7.24%) Data Engineering
16 46 (7.09%) Data Governance
17 45 (6.93%) Data Analysis
17 45 (6.93%) Data Migration
18 44 (6.78%) Disaster Recovery
Programming Languages
1 365 (56.24%) SQL
2 159 (24.50%) C#
3 139 (21.42%) Python
4 75 (11.56%) T-SQL
5 68 (10.48%) JavaScript
6 67 (10.32%) Java
7 53 (8.17%) PL/SQL
8 49 (7.55%) PowerShell
9 33 (5.08%) Bash
10 19 (2.93%) TypeScript
11 16 (2.47%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 16 (2.47%) VB
11 16 (2.47%) VBA
12 14 (2.16%) PHP
12 14 (2.16%) Shell Script
13 12 (1.85%) Bicep
14 7 (1.08%) XPath
15 5 (0.77%) COBOL
15 5 (0.77%) X++
16 4 (0.62%) Delphi
Qualifications
1 83 (12.79%) Security Cleared
2 75 (11.56%) Degree
3 58 (8.94%) SC Cleared
4 28 (4.31%) Computer Science Degree
5 22 (3.39%) Microsoft Certification
6 16 (2.47%) Azure Certification
7 14 (2.16%) DV Cleared
8 11 (1.69%) BPSS Clearance
9 10 (1.54%) Master's Degree
10 5 (0.77%) HNC
10 5 (0.77%) HND
10 5 (0.77%) ITIL Certification
10 5 (0.77%) MCP
10 5 (0.77%) MCSE
11 4 (0.62%) AWS Certification
11 4 (0.62%) CCA
11 4 (0.62%) Cisco Certification
11 4 (0.62%) Citrix Certification
12 3 (0.46%) CCNP
12 3 (0.46%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 63 (9.71%) Data Quality
2 58 (8.94%) QA
3 14 (2.16%) GDPR
4 13 (2.00%) Accessibility
5 9 (1.39%) SLA
6 6 (0.92%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 5 (0.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 5 (0.77%) MiFID
8 4 (0.62%) EMIR
8 4 (0.62%) WCAG
9 3 (0.46%) IFRS
9 3 (0.46%) IFRS 17
10 2 (0.31%) Basel III
10 2 (0.31%) GAAP
10 2 (0.31%) IFRS 9
10 2 (0.31%) Solvency II
11 1 (0.15%) HIPAA
11 1 (0.15%) HL7
11 1 (0.15%) JSP 440
11 1 (0.15%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 76 (11.71%) Docker
2 48 (7.40%) Active Directory
3 27 (4.16%) VMware Infrastructure
4 14 (2.16%) Hyper-V
5 12 (1.85%) Oracle RAC
6 8 (1.23%) Virtual Machines
6 8 (1.23%) zsh
7 7 (1.08%) VMware NSX
8 6 (0.92%) Virtual Desktop
9 4 (0.62%) vSphere
9 4 (0.62%) XenApp
9 4 (0.62%) XenDesktop
10 3 (0.46%) VMware ESXi
11 2 (0.31%) GridGain
11 2 (0.31%) NDS
11 2 (0.31%) NetIQ eDirectory
12 1 (0.15%) KVM
12 1 (0.15%) NFS
12 1 (0.15%) Veritas Cluster Server
12 1 (0.15%) Xen
Systems Management
1 58 (8.94%) Kubernetes
2 40 (6.16%) Terraform
3 26 (4.01%) Ansible
4 16 (2.47%) Grafana
5 14 (2.16%) Puppet
6 12 (1.85%) SCCM
7 11 (1.69%) Data Guard
8 10 (1.54%) yum
9 9 (1.39%) Microsoft Intune
9 9 (1.39%) vCenter Server
10 8 (1.23%) NetBackup
11 7 (1.08%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 7 (1.08%) Oracle RMAN
11 7 (1.08%) TIBCO Hawk
12 5 (0.77%) Control-M
12 5 (0.77%) Prometheus
12 5 (0.77%) SCOM
12 5 (0.77%) Single Sign-On
13 4 (0.62%) SCVMM
13 4 (0.62%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 206 (31.74%) Oracle
2 202 (31.12%) Microsoft
3 47 (7.24%) Databricks
4 42 (6.47%) Citrix
5 39 (6.01%) VMware
6 22 (3.39%) Google
7 21 (3.24%) ServiceNow
8 19 (2.93%) SAP
9 17 (2.62%) IBM
10 16 (2.47%) Informatica
11 13 (2.00%) Salesforce
12 11 (1.69%) Cisco
12 11 (1.69%) CyberArk
13 10 (1.54%) Veritas
14 9 (1.39%) Advent
14 9 (1.39%) UiPath
15 8 (1.23%) Atlassian
15 8 (1.23%) PagerDuty
16 7 (1.08%) BEA
16 7 (1.08%) TIBCO
429 SQL Server jobs in England