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

 6 months to
7 Apr 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 126 91 62
Rank change year-on-year -35 -29 -12
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 814 681 1,216
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.09% 2.79% 3.25%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 13.05% 14.67% 19.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 571 505 851
10th Percentile £356 £341 £331
25th Percentile £406 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £523 £525
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% -0.48% -4.55%
75th Percentile £588 £638 £650
90th Percentile £675 £733 £725
UK median daily rate £475 £511 £525
% change year-on-year -7.00% -2.71% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 6 26
10th Percentile £14.84 £25.66 £21.79
25th Percentile £22.25 £34.80 £38.22
Median hourly rate £39.10 £62.12 £40.13
Median % change year-on-year -37.06% +54.82% +11.46%
75th Percentile £71.00 £65.62 £56.84
90th Percentile £75.75 £77.18 £62.98
UK median hourly rate £53.00 £60.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year -12.40% +51.25% -8.05%

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 6,237 4,641 6,134
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 16.00% 19.03% 16.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,357 3,266 4,400
10th Percentile £350 £357 £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 £663 £670
90th Percentile £700 £775 £775
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 140 93 139
10th Percentile £18.23 £21.13 £14.00
25th Percentile £29.55 £24.25 £20.80
Median hourly rate £49.36 £34.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +43.07% -13.75% -27.27%
75th Percentile £74.68 £65.62 £51.75
90th Percentile £83.78 £75.00 £67.50
UK median hourly rate £51.00 £33.11 £40.00
% change year-on-year +54.03% -17.23% -29.76%

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 7 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 7 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 7 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 -26 464 £500 -9.09% 115
North of England -31 122 £450 +8.70% 114
South East -37 100 £486 -2.75% 129
North West -22 66 £456 +7.35% 64
Yorkshire -13 54 £450 +12.50% 44
Midlands -62 48 £450 -14.29% 64
South West -31 35 £438 -20.45% 39
East of England -14 28 £544 +4.07% 45
West Midlands -67 24 £450 -24.27% 36
East Midlands -19 22 £450 +21.62% 28
North East -18 3 £475 +5.56% 13
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 38 (4.67%) SharePoint
2 37 (4.55%) IIS
3 23 (2.83%) Microsoft Exchange
4 17 (2.09%) Confluence
5 13 (1.60%) Apache
5 13 (1.60%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 12 (1.47%) Apache Spark
7 11 (1.35%) Appian
7 11 (1.35%) WebSphere
8 10 (1.23%) Apache Airflow
9 8 (0.98%) CMS
9 8 (0.98%) WebLogic
10 6 (0.74%) Camunda
10 6 (0.74%) Sitecore CMS
11 3 (0.37%) Apache Superset
11 3 (0.37%) OpenEdge
11 3 (0.37%) Oracle Workflow
12 2 (0.25%) Tomcat
13 1 (0.12%) ColdFusion
13 1 (0.12%) JBoss
Applications
1 45 (5.53%) Microsoft Excel
2 14 (1.72%) MS Visio
3 13 (1.60%) Microsoft Office
4 7 (0.86%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.25%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.12%) InDesign
Business Applications
1 12 (1.47%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (1.11%) Remedy ITSM
3 8 (0.98%) Advent Geneva
4 7 (0.86%) BusinessWorks
4 7 (0.86%) SAP S/4HANA
5 6 (0.74%) Salesforce CRM
6 4 (0.49%) Oracle Payables
7 3 (0.37%) Dynamics AX
7 3 (0.37%) Oracle General Ledger
7 3 (0.37%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 3 (0.37%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 3 (0.37%) SystmOne
8 2 (0.25%) Endur
8 2 (0.25%) Loan IQ
8 2 (0.25%) Oracle Receivables
8 2 (0.25%) Veritas eDiscovery
9 1 (0.12%) Elite 3E
9 1 (0.12%) Oracle FAH
9 1 (0.12%) Orchestrade
9 1 (0.12%) TIBCO BusinessEvents
Cloud Services
1 350 (43.00%) Azure
2 167 (20.52%) AWS
3 137 (16.83%) Power Platform
4 104 (12.78%) Azure DevOps
5 81 (9.95%) Azure Data Factory
6 63 (7.74%) GitHub
7 43 (5.28%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 41 (5.04%) GCP
9 36 (4.42%) Microsoft 365
10 30 (3.69%) SaaS
11 28 (3.44%) GitHub Actions
12 27 (3.32%) Amazon S3
13 26 (3.19%) Power Automate
14 24 (2.95%) Dynamics 365
15 23 (2.83%) Serverless
15 23 (2.83%) Snowflake
16 22 (2.70%) IaaS
17 19 (2.33%) Amazon EC2
17 19 (2.33%) Azure Monitor
18 17 (2.09%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 27 (3.32%) DNS
2 20 (2.46%) DHCP
2 20 (2.46%) Firewall
3 12 (1.47%) Internet
3 12 (1.47%) TCP/IP
3 12 (1.47%) VPN
4 11 (1.35%) VLAN
5 10 (1.23%) SAN
6 7 (0.86%) LAN
6 7 (0.86%) Wi-Fi
7 6 (0.74%) HTTP
7 6 (0.74%) NetScaler
8 4 (0.49%) FTP
8 4 (0.49%) IPv4
8 4 (0.49%) IPv6
8 4 (0.49%) RS-232
8 4 (0.49%) X.400
9 3 (0.37%) Network Security
9 3 (0.37%) SSH
9 3 (0.37%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 114 (14.00%) SQL Server Integration Services
2 113 (13.88%) Power BI
3 112 (13.76%) PostgreSQL
4 94 (11.55%) Data Warehouse
5 87 (10.69%) Relational Database
6 65 (7.99%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 63 (7.74%) Oracle Database
8 60 (7.37%) Azure SQL Database
9 52 (6.39%) MySQL
10 51 (6.27%) Data Lake
11 36 (4.42%) NoSQL
12 35 (4.30%) SQL Server Analysis Services
13 33 (4.05%) MongoDB
14 25 (3.07%) DB2
15 23 (2.83%) Metadata
16 20 (2.46%) Amazon RDS
17 18 (2.21%) Tableau
18 17 (2.09%) Delta Lake
18 17 (2.09%) RDBMS
19 14 (1.72%) Redis
Development Applications
1 69 (8.48%) Git
2 51 (6.27%) JIRA
3 38 (4.67%) Jenkins
4 25 (3.07%) Visual Studio
5 21 (2.58%) GitLab
6 15 (1.84%) TeamCity
7 11 (1.35%) Cucumber
7 11 (1.35%) Maven
7 11 (1.35%) Team Foundation Server
8 10 (1.23%) Postman
9 9 (1.11%) ERwin
9 9 (1.11%) Octopus Deploy
9 9 (1.11%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
10 8 (0.98%) JUnit
10 8 (0.98%) MLflow
11 7 (0.86%) Chocolatey
11 7 (0.86%) Selenium
12 6 (0.74%) Mockito
12 6 (0.74%) REST Assured
12 6 (0.74%) TestRail
General
1 230 (28.26%) Social Skills
2 193 (23.71%) Finance
3 131 (16.09%) Analytical Skills
4 101 (12.41%) Banking
5 64 (7.86%) Public Sector
6 30 (3.69%) Documentation Skills
7 26 (3.19%) Investment Banking
8 24 (2.95%) Front Office
9 22 (2.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 16 (1.97%) Legal
11 14 (1.72%) Organisational Skills
12 13 (1.60%) Retail
13 11 (1.35%) Financial Institution
14 9 (1.11%) Advertising
14 9 (1.11%) Local Government
15 6 (0.74%) Telecoms
16 5 (0.61%) Law
17 4 (0.49%) Back Office
17 4 (0.49%) General Ledger
17 4 (0.49%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 258 (31.70%) Developer
2 122 (14.99%) Senior
3 104 (12.78%) Data Engineer
4 87 (10.69%) DBA
5 75 (9.21%) C# Developer
6 71 (8.72%) Architect
7 61 (7.49%) .NET Developer
8 49 (6.02%) SQL DBA
9 40 (4.91%) Lead
10 37 (4.55%) Senior Developer
11 36 (4.42%) Analyst
12 32 (3.93%) Senior Data Engineer
13 30 (3.69%) Full-Stack Developer
14 29 (3.56%) Azure Engineer
14 29 (3.56%) SQL Developer
15 28 (3.44%) Software Engineer
16 27 (3.32%) Administrator
17 22 (2.70%) Oracle DBA
18 20 (2.46%) Data Architect
18 20 (2.46%) Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 225 (27.64%) .NET
2 92 (11.30%) .NET Framework
2 92 (11.30%) REST
3 69 (8.48%) React
4 58 (7.13%) AngularJS
5 54 (6.63%) RESTful
6 50 (6.14%) HTML
7 46 (5.65%) CSS
8 39 (4.79%) .NET Core
8 39 (4.79%) ASP.NET
8 39 (4.79%) XML
9 36 (4.42%) Kafka
10 29 (3.56%) Web Services
11 23 (2.83%) Entity Framework
12 22 (2.70%) Spring
13 21 (2.58%) WPF
14 20 (2.46%) JSON
14 20 (2.46%) Node.js
14 20 (2.46%) SOAP
14 20 (2.46%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 56 (6.88%) Legacy Systems
2 36 (4.42%) Cloud Native
3 32 (3.93%) Replication
4 31 (3.81%) Data Structures
5 26 (3.19%) Onboarding
6 23 (2.83%) Enterprise Software
7 19 (2.33%) Clustering
8 18 (2.21%) Management Information System
9 16 (1.97%) Self-Motivation
10 15 (1.84%) NHS
11 13 (1.60%) Product Ownership
12 12 (1.47%) Legacy Code
13 11 (1.35%) Virtual Team
14 10 (1.23%) Data Protection Act
14 10 (1.23%) Greenfield Project
14 10 (1.23%) Low-Code
15 9 (1.11%) Credit Risk
15 9 (1.11%) Derivative
15 9 (1.11%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
15 9 (1.11%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 159 (19.53%) Windows
2 88 (10.81%) Windows Server
3 74 (9.09%) Linux
4 37 (4.55%) Unix
5 12 (1.47%) Windows 10
6 11 (1.35%) Windows Server 2016
7 8 (0.98%) AIX
8 7 (0.86%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (0.74%) Windows Server 2012
10 5 (0.61%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 3 (0.37%) Android
11 3 (0.37%) Windows Server 2003
12 2 (0.25%) OpenVMS
12 2 (0.25%) VMS
12 2 (0.25%) Windows 7
13 1 (0.12%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.12%) Ubuntu
13 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 195 (23.96%) CI/CD
1 195 (23.96%) DevOps
2 176 (21.62%) ETL
3 172 (21.13%) Problem-Solving
4 169 (20.76%) Agile
5 152 (18.67%) Business Intelligence
6 138 (16.95%) Data Modelling
7 121 (14.86%) Migration
8 100 (12.29%) Analytics
9 91 (11.18%) Disaster Recovery
10 88 (10.81%) Performance Tuning
11 81 (9.95%) Data Pipeline
12 78 (9.58%) Data Engineering
13 73 (8.97%) AI
13 73 (8.97%) Test Automation
14 72 (8.85%) Data Analysis
15 67 (8.23%) Data Integration
15 67 (8.23%) Microservices
16 63 (7.74%) High Availability
17 58 (7.13%) Data Governance
Programming Languages
1 479 (58.85%) SQL
2 206 (25.31%) C#
3 179 (21.99%) Python
4 120 (14.74%) T-SQL
5 96 (11.79%) PowerShell
6 74 (9.09%) JavaScript
7 72 (8.85%) Java
8 62 (7.62%) PL/SQL
9 50 (6.14%) TypeScript
10 31 (3.81%) Bash
11 24 (2.95%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 22 (2.70%) Shell Script
13 18 (2.21%) VB
14 16 (1.97%) Korn
15 15 (1.84%) Bicep
16 14 (1.72%) VBA
17 12 (1.47%) Scala
18 11 (1.35%) PHP
19 7 (0.86%) XPath
20 4 (0.49%) Delphi
Qualifications
1 167 (20.52%) Security Cleared
2 128 (15.72%) SC Cleared
3 80 (9.83%) Degree
4 30 (3.69%) Microsoft Certification
5 28 (3.44%) Computer Science Degree
6 21 (2.58%) DV Cleared
7 19 (2.33%) Azure Certification
8 16 (1.97%) BPSS Clearance
9 8 (0.98%) Master's Degree
10 5 (0.61%) CCA
10 5 (0.61%) Citrix Certification
10 5 (0.61%) DBS Check
10 5 (0.61%) OCP
10 5 (0.61%) Oracle Certification
11 4 (0.49%) CISSP
11 4 (0.49%) ITIL Certification
11 4 (0.49%) MCITP
11 4 (0.49%) MCTS
11 4 (0.49%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 3 (0.37%) HNC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 92 (11.30%) Data Quality
2 88 (10.81%) QA
3 21 (2.58%) GDPR
4 15 (1.84%) SLA
5 7 (0.86%) NIST
6 6 (0.74%) Accessibility
6 6 (0.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 6 (0.74%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 4 (0.49%) IFRS
7 4 (0.49%) WCAG
8 3 (0.37%) Actionable Recommendations
8 3 (0.37%) IFRS 17
8 3 (0.37%) IFRS 9
9 2 (0.25%) Basel III
9 2 (0.25%) California Consumer Privacy Act
9 2 (0.25%) EMIR
9 2 (0.25%) GAAP
9 2 (0.25%) GRC
9 2 (0.25%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.25%) MiFID
System Software
1 85 (10.44%) Docker
2 56 (6.88%) Active Directory
3 20 (2.46%) VMware Infrastructure
4 16 (1.97%) Hyper-V
5 15 (1.84%) Oracle RAC
6 11 (1.35%) Virtual Desktop
6 11 (1.35%) Virtual Machines
7 6 (0.74%) KVM
8 5 (0.61%) XenApp
8 5 (0.61%) XenDesktop
9 3 (0.37%) GridGain
10 2 (0.25%) VMware ESXi
10 2 (0.25%) VMware NSX
11 1 (0.12%) Citrix Hypervisor
11 1 (0.12%) NFS
11 1 (0.12%) RACF
Systems Management
1 85 (10.44%) Kubernetes
2 57 (7.00%) Terraform
3 17 (2.09%) Ansible
4 16 (1.97%) Oracle RMAN
5 14 (1.72%) Grafana
5 14 (1.72%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
5 14 (1.72%) SCCM
6 10 (1.23%) Microsoft Intune
7 9 (1.11%) vCenter Server
8 8 (0.98%) Puppet
9 7 (0.86%) TIBCO Hawk
10 6 (0.74%) IBM BigFix
10 6 (0.74%) Single Sign-On
10 6 (0.74%) WSUS
11 5 (0.61%) HAProxy
11 5 (0.61%) SCVMM
12 3 (0.37%) Control-M
12 3 (0.37%) Foglight
12 3 (0.37%) Microsoft Clustering
12 3 (0.37%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 252 (30.96%) Microsoft
2 231 (28.38%) Oracle
3 69 (8.48%) Databricks
4 54 (6.63%) Citrix
5 39 (4.79%) ServiceNow
6 33 (4.05%) VMware
7 31 (3.81%) Informatica
8 21 (2.58%) Google
8 21 (2.58%) SAP
9 20 (2.46%) IBM
10 14 (1.72%) Sybase
11 12 (1.47%) CyberArk
11 12 (1.47%) UiPath
12 11 (1.35%) Dynatrace
13 10 (1.23%) OpenAI
14 9 (1.11%) Remedy
14 9 (1.11%) Tenable
15 8 (0.98%) BMC
15 8 (0.98%) PagerDuty
15 8 (0.98%) TIBCO
479 SQL Server jobs in England