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

6 months to
23 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 113 106 55
Rank change year-on-year -7 -51 -3
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 1,009 693 1,299
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.25% 2.53% 3.69%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 14.67% 13.84% 20.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 699 516 924
10th Percentile £358 £314 £325
25th Percentile £413 £400 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £513 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.88% +2.50% -4.76%
75th Percentile £600 £650 £637
90th Percentile £712 £750 £725
UK median daily rate £481 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -3.80% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 47 6 14
10th Percentile £13.51 £20.89 £32.90
25th Percentile £19.25 £21.02 £40.00
Median hourly rate £29.48 £23.80 £43.09
Median % change year-on-year +23.89% -44.78% -5.30%
75th Percentile £62.88 £64.71 £60.20
90th Percentile £74.80 £83.13 £71.39
UK median hourly rate £42.52 £70.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year -39.26% +75.00% -11.11%

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 6,879 5,006 6,345
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 15.33% 18.31% 18.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,595 3,459 4,565
10th Percentile £355 £350 £350
25th Percentile £415 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £530
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -1.89% -3.64%
75th Percentile £601 £638 £675
90th Percentile £700 £765 £825
UK median daily rate £500 £510 £525
% change year-on-year -1.96% -2.86% -2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 220 84 102
10th Percentile £15.99 £18.89 £14.00
25th Percentile £25.20 £23.50 £20.00
Median hourly rate £39.50 £34.99 £39.25
Median % change year-on-year +12.89% -10.85% -28.64%
75th Percentile £70.00 £64.63 £55.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £77.50 £71.33
UK median hourly rate £41.36 £38.48 £38.00
% change year-on-year +7.48% +1.26% -30.91%

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 July 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 July 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 July 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 -36 477 £525 -4.89% 139
North of England +17 201 £473 +11.18% 88
South East -16 123 £468 +10.12% 99
North West -1 111 £478 +12.47% 46
Midlands -10 102 £475 +9.20% 49
Yorkshire +20 90 £450 +12.43% 29
West Midlands -34 57 £472 -18.00% 30
South West -9 52 £481 +4.05% 24
East Midlands +13 43 £525 +54.41% 19
East of England -10 34 £450 -10.00% 21
North East -42 1 - - 17
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 64 (6.34%) SharePoint
2 46 (4.56%) IIS
3 36 (3.57%) Confluence
4 23 (2.28%) Microsoft Exchange
5 22 (2.18%) Apache Spark
6 21 (2.08%) Apache
7 19 (1.88%) Apache Airflow
8 14 (1.39%) Camunda
9 11 (1.09%) Oracle Workflow
10 10 (0.99%) Appian
11 8 (0.79%) CMS
12 6 (0.59%) NetWeaver
13 5 (0.50%) OpenEdge
13 5 (0.50%) Tuxedo
14 4 (0.40%) Tomcat
14 4 (0.40%) Umbraco
15 3 (0.30%) Apache Superset
15 3 (0.30%) nginx
15 3 (0.30%) Sitecore CMS
16 2 (0.20%) Anypoint
Applications
1 46 (4.56%) Microsoft Excel
2 23 (2.28%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (1.19%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.099%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.099%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.099%) InDesign
Business Applications
1 19 (1.88%) Remedy ITSM
2 17 (1.68%) SAP S/4HANA
3 16 (1.59%) Dynamics CRM
4 6 (0.59%) Dynamics AX
4 6 (0.59%) OpenText MBPM
4 6 (0.59%) Oracle BPM
5 5 (0.50%) Oracle Payables
6 4 (0.40%) Elite 3E
7 3 (0.30%) Aladdin
7 3 (0.30%) SystmOne
8 2 (0.20%) Dynamics NAV
8 2 (0.20%) Infor LN
8 2 (0.20%) Loan IQ
8 2 (0.20%) Siebel CRM
8 2 (0.20%) Teamcenter
9 1 (0.099%) Endur
9 1 (0.099%) Findur
9 1 (0.099%) SAP Business One
9 1 (0.099%) SAP CRM
9 1 (0.099%) SDL Web 8
Cloud Services
1 414 (41.03%) Azure
2 217 (21.51%) AWS
3 140 (13.88%) Power Platform
4 106 (10.51%) Azure DevOps
5 90 (8.92%) GitHub
6 61 (6.05%) Azure Data Factory
7 43 (4.26%) Entra ID
8 40 (3.96%) Serverless
9 39 (3.87%) Azure Monitor
10 37 (3.67%) GitHub Actions
10 37 (3.67%) Microsoft 365
10 37 (3.67%) Snowflake
11 35 (3.47%) Power Automate
12 33 (3.27%) GCP
13 31 (3.07%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 31 (3.07%) Dynamics 365
14 29 (2.87%) SaaS
15 25 (2.48%) Amazon S3
15 25 (2.48%) dbt
16 24 (2.38%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 46 (4.56%) DNS
2 37 (3.67%) DHCP
3 28 (2.78%) Firewall
4 20 (1.98%) SAN
5 18 (1.78%) VLAN
6 15 (1.49%) VPN
7 14 (1.39%) Internet
8 12 (1.19%) Network Security
9 11 (1.09%) SSH
9 11 (1.09%) TCP/IP
9 11 (1.09%) Wi-Fi
10 8 (0.79%) SSL
11 6 (0.59%) HTTPS
11 6 (0.59%) IPv4
11 6 (0.59%) IPv6
11 6 (0.59%) LAN
12 5 (0.50%) WAN
13 4 (0.40%) Kerberos
13 4 (0.40%) VoIP
14 3 (0.30%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 151 (14.97%) PostgreSQL
2 116 (11.50%) Power BI
3 106 (10.51%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 104 (10.31%) Relational Database
5 102 (10.11%) Data Warehouse
6 77 (7.63%) Oracle Database
7 63 (6.24%) MySQL
8 61 (6.05%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 51 (5.05%) Azure SQL Database
10 42 (4.16%) MongoDB
11 41 (4.06%) Data Lake
12 33 (3.27%) SQL Server Analysis Services
13 30 (2.97%) NoSQL
14 24 (2.38%) RDBMS
15 22 (2.18%) Tableau
16 16 (1.59%) Metadata
16 16 (1.59%) Redis
17 15 (1.49%) Big Data
17 15 (1.49%) Db2
18 14 (1.39%) Amazon RDS
Development Applications
1 90 (8.92%) Git
2 55 (5.45%) Jenkins
3 51 (5.05%) JIRA
4 29 (2.87%) Visual Studio
5 26 (2.58%) GitLab
6 20 (1.98%) Team Foundation Server
7 18 (1.78%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 18 (1.78%) TeamCity
8 15 (1.49%) Maven
9 13 (1.29%) Sonatype Nexus
10 12 (1.19%) Cucumber
11 11 (1.09%) Octopus Deploy
11 11 (1.09%) Postman
12 10 (0.99%) Selenium
13 9 (0.89%) Artifactory
13 9 (0.89%) Chocolatey
13 9 (0.89%) Gatling
14 8 (0.79%) JUnit
14 8 (0.79%) MSTest
15 7 (0.69%) Oracle Forms
General
1 288 (28.54%) Social Skills
2 251 (24.88%) Finance
3 184 (18.24%) Analytical Skills
4 124 (12.29%) Banking
5 81 (8.03%) Public Sector
6 47 (4.66%) Documentation Skills
7 36 (3.57%) Front Office
8 23 (2.28%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 23 (2.28%) Investment Banking
9 16 (1.59%) Legal
10 15 (1.49%) Organisational Skills
11 13 (1.29%) Financial Institution
12 11 (1.09%) Retail
13 9 (0.89%) Advertising
14 8 (0.79%) Manufacturing
15 6 (0.59%) Back Office
15 6 (0.59%) Local Government
16 5 (0.50%) Law
16 5 (0.50%) Publishing
16 5 (0.50%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 301 (29.83%) Developer
2 149 (14.77%) Senior
3 143 (14.17%) DBA
4 91 (9.02%) SQL DBA
5 87 (8.62%) Data Engineer
6 86 (8.52%) C# Developer
7 75 (7.43%) .NET Developer
8 69 (6.84%) Lead
9 56 (5.55%) Architect
10 54 (5.35%) Administrator
11 53 (5.25%) SQL Developer
12 44 (4.36%) Senior Developer
13 43 (4.26%) Analyst
14 42 (4.16%) Oracle DBA
15 40 (3.96%) Infrastructure Engineer
16 39 (3.87%) Software Engineer
17 35 (3.47%) Full-Stack Developer
18 34 (3.37%) Azure Engineer
19 30 (2.97%) C# .NET Developer
19 30 (2.97%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 252 (24.98%) .NET
2 129 (12.78%) REST
3 103 (10.21%) .NET Framework
4 82 (8.13%) React
5 59 (5.85%) AngularJS
5 59 (5.85%) CSS
6 58 (5.75%) RESTful
7 55 (5.45%) ASP.NET
8 49 (4.86%) HTML
8 49 (4.86%) Kafka
9 47 (4.66%) .NET Core
10 39 (3.87%) Web Services
11 38 (3.77%) XML
12 37 (3.67%) JSON
13 31 (3.07%) SOAP
14 28 (2.78%) Entity Framework
15 25 (2.48%) Spring Boot
16 24 (2.38%) OAuth
17 23 (2.28%) Spring
18 20 (1.98%) WinForms
Miscellaneous
1 55 (5.45%) Onboarding
2 51 (5.05%) Legacy Systems
3 50 (4.96%) Cloud Native
4 46 (4.56%) Data Structures
4 46 (4.56%) Replication
5 43 (4.26%) Clustering
6 39 (3.87%) Self-Motivation
7 36 (3.57%) Enterprise Software
8 25 (2.48%) Management Information System
9 23 (2.28%) Product Ownership
10 20 (1.98%) PKI
11 18 (1.78%) Low-Code
12 16 (1.59%) Derivative
12 16 (1.59%) NHS
13 14 (1.39%) Data Centre
14 13 (1.29%) Distributed Systems
14 13 (1.29%) Fixed Income
15 12 (1.19%) Algorithms
15 12 (1.19%) Linux Command Line
16 10 (0.99%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 250 (24.78%) Windows
2 146 (14.47%) Windows Server
3 98 (9.71%) Linux
4 57 (5.65%) Unix
5 13 (1.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 9 (0.89%) AIX
7 8 (0.79%) Ubuntu
7 8 (0.79%) Windows 10
7 8 (0.79%) Windows Server 2019
8 7 (0.69%) Android
9 6 (0.59%) VMS
10 5 (0.50%) Solaris
10 5 (0.50%) Windows Server 2012
10 5 (0.50%) Windows Server 2016
11 3 (0.30%) CentOS
12 2 (0.20%) OpenVMS
13 1 (0.099%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.099%) Windows 7
13 1 (0.099%) Windows Server 2003
13 1 (0.099%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 246 (24.38%) DevOps
2 228 (22.60%) Agile
3 218 (21.61%) CI/CD
4 211 (20.91%) Problem-Solving
5 175 (17.34%) Migration
6 157 (15.56%) ETL
7 144 (14.27%) Business Intelligence
8 139 (13.78%) Performance Tuning
9 132 (13.08%) Data Modelling
10 117 (11.60%) Disaster Recovery
11 113 (11.20%) AI
12 95 (9.42%) Analytics
13 90 (8.92%) Data Pipeline
13 90 (8.92%) High Availability
14 85 (8.42%) Microservices
15 80 (7.93%) Continuous Improvement
16 78 (7.73%) Test Automation
17 77 (7.63%) Data Analysis
17 77 (7.63%) Validation
18 76 (7.53%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 575 (56.99%) SQL
2 259 (25.67%) C#
3 208 (20.61%) Python
4 181 (17.94%) PowerShell
5 168 (16.65%) T-SQL
6 109 (10.80%) JavaScript
7 79 (7.83%) Java
8 65 (6.44%) PL/SQL
9 55 (5.45%) TypeScript
10 36 (3.57%) Bash
11 26 (2.58%) Shell Script
12 22 (2.18%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 18 (1.78%) Scala
13 18 (1.78%) VB
14 16 (1.59%) Korn
15 15 (1.49%) VBA
16 11 (1.09%) Bicep
17 8 (0.79%) VB.NET
18 6 (0.59%) VB6
18 6 (0.59%) XPath
Qualifications
1 245 (24.28%) Security Cleared
2 183 (18.14%) SC Cleared
3 105 (10.41%) Degree
4 45 (4.46%) DV Cleared
5 36 (3.57%) Microsoft Certification
6 26 (2.58%) Computer Science Degree
7 19 (1.88%) BPSS Clearance
8 18 (1.78%) Azure Certification
9 10 (0.99%) ISTQB
9 10 (0.99%) Oracle Certification
10 9 (0.89%) DBS Check
10 9 (0.89%) Master's Degree
10 9 (0.89%) OCP
11 5 (0.50%) CISSP
12 4 (0.40%) AWS Certification
12 4 (0.40%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 4 (0.40%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 4 (0.40%) MCITP
12 4 (0.40%) MCTS
12 4 (0.40%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 95 (9.42%) QA
2 89 (8.82%) Data Quality
3 28 (2.78%) GDPR
4 26 (2.58%) NIST
5 24 (2.38%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 22 (2.18%) Accessibility
7 20 (1.98%) SLA
8 14 (1.39%) WCAG
9 6 (0.59%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 5 (0.50%) ISO 9000
11 4 (0.40%) Actionable Recommendations
12 3 (0.30%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 3 (0.30%) HIPAA
13 2 (0.20%) Basel III
13 2 (0.20%) COREP
13 2 (0.20%) FINREP
13 2 (0.20%) Government Security Classifications
13 2 (0.20%) GRC
13 2 (0.20%) SOC 2
14 1 (0.099%) NIST 800
System Software
1 117 (11.60%) Active Directory
2 73 (7.23%) Docker
3 32 (3.17%) Virtual Machines
4 30 (2.97%) Oracle RAC
5 26 (2.58%) VMware Infrastructure
6 13 (1.29%) Hyper-V
7 7 (0.69%) Virtual Desktop
8 6 (0.59%) KVM
9 3 (0.30%) Dovecot
9 3 (0.30%) GridGain
9 3 (0.30%) Postfix
9 3 (0.30%) Virtual Servers
10 2 (0.20%) VMware ESXi
10 2 (0.20%) vSphere
11 1 (0.099%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.099%) Citrix Hypervisor
11 1 (0.099%) SRDF
11 1 (0.099%) Terminal Services
11 1 (0.099%) XenApp
11 1 (0.099%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 98 (9.71%) Kubernetes
2 70 (6.94%) Terraform
3 36 (3.57%) Ansible
4 23 (2.28%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
5 21 (2.08%) Oracle RMAN
6 15 (1.49%) Data Guard
6 15 (1.49%) Microsoft Intune
6 15 (1.49%) SCCM
7 13 (1.29%) HAProxy
8 10 (0.99%) WSUS
9 9 (0.89%) Grafana
10 8 (0.79%) SCOM
11 7 (0.69%) Single Sign-On
11 7 (0.69%) vCenter Server
12 6 (0.59%) Failover Clustering
12 6 (0.59%) IBM BigFix
13 4 (0.40%) ITRS Geneos
13 4 (0.40%) Microsoft Clustering
13 4 (0.40%) Prometheus
14 3 (0.30%) Foglight
Vendors
1 314 (31.12%) Microsoft
2 283 (28.05%) Oracle
3 54 (5.35%) Databricks
4 51 (5.05%) ServiceNow
5 50 (4.96%) Citrix
6 49 (4.86%) VMware
7 44 (4.36%) CyberArk
8 37 (3.67%) SAP
9 28 (2.78%) BeyondTrust
10 23 (2.28%) Sybase
11 21 (2.08%) Informatica
12 20 (1.98%) Dynatrace
13 19 (1.88%) Cisco
13 19 (1.88%) Remedy
14 18 (1.78%) BMC
14 18 (1.78%) IBM
15 17 (1.68%) Google
15 17 (1.68%) Red Hat
16 13 (1.29%) Alteryx
17 11 (1.09%) AppDynamics