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

6 months to
28 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 111 105 54
Rank change year-on-year -6 -51 -2
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 1,019 694 1,273
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.26% 2.53% 3.71%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 14.68% 13.86% 20.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 711 520 911
10th Percentile £358 £320 £331
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £519 £505
Median % change year-on-year -6.02% +2.72% -3.81%
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 48 6 10
10th Percentile £13.51 £20.89 £30.37
25th Percentile £19.25 £21.02 £37.56
Median hourly rate £47.54 £23.80 £48.03
Median % change year-on-year +99.79% -50.46% +5.56%
75th Percentile £65.17 £64.71 £62.96
90th Percentile £76.15 £83.13 £82.00
UK median hourly rate £47.54 £70.00 £47.50
% change year-on-year -32.09% +47.37% +5.56%

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 6,941 5,009 6,230
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 15.40% 18.26% 18.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,649 3,470 4,478
10th Percentile £356 £350 £350
25th Percentile £419 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £515 £538
Median % change year-on-year -2.91% -4.19% -2.27%
75th Percentile £610 £638 £675
90th Percentile £700 £763 £825
UK median daily rate £500 £507 £525
% change year-on-year -1.28% -3.52% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 223 80 95
10th Percentile £16.70 £18.72 £13.91
25th Percentile £25.25 £23.50 £20.00
Median hourly rate £39.50 £34.82 £38.50
Median % change year-on-year +13.46% -9.57% -30.00%
75th Percentile £65.63 £64.06 £58.73
90th Percentile £76.90 £77.62 £71.50
UK median hourly rate £41.36 £36.25 £37.50
% change year-on-year +14.08% -3.33% -31.82%

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 28 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 28 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 28 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 -34 483 £525 -8.50% 118
North of England +11 200 £473 +11.18% 81
South East -12 126 £468 +10.12% 88
North West -5 109 £478 +12.47% 42
Midlands +1 104 £474 +10.23% 52
Yorkshire +21 91 £450 -6.25% 28
West Midlands -22 59 £460 -16.36% 31
South West -9 50 £450 -2.70% 21
East Midlands +11 43 £525 +54.41% 21
East of England -7 34 £450 -10.00% 18
North East -45 1 - - 15
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 65 (6.38%) SharePoint
2 47 (4.61%) IIS
3 39 (3.83%) Confluence
4 23 (2.26%) Microsoft Exchange
5 22 (2.16%) Apache Spark
6 20 (1.96%) Apache
7 18 (1.77%) Apache Airflow
8 13 (1.28%) Camunda
9 11 (1.08%) Oracle Workflow
10 9 (0.88%) Appian
10 9 (0.88%) CMS
11 6 (0.59%) NetWeaver
12 5 (0.49%) OpenEdge
12 5 (0.49%) Tuxedo
13 4 (0.39%) Sitecore CMS
13 4 (0.39%) Tomcat
13 4 (0.39%) Umbraco
14 3 (0.29%) Apache Superset
14 3 (0.29%) nginx
15 2 (0.20%) Apache Solr
Applications
1 46 (4.51%) Microsoft Excel
2 23 (2.26%) Microsoft Office
3 13 (1.28%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.098%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.098%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.098%) InDesign
Business Applications
1 22 (2.16%) Remedy ITSM
2 17 (1.67%) Dynamics CRM
2 17 (1.67%) SAP S/4HANA
3 6 (0.59%) Dynamics AX
3 6 (0.59%) OpenText MBPM
3 6 (0.59%) Oracle BPM
4 5 (0.49%) Oracle Payables
5 4 (0.39%) Aladdin
5 4 (0.39%) Elite 3E
6 3 (0.29%) SystmOne
7 2 (0.20%) Dynamics NAV
7 2 (0.20%) Infor LN
7 2 (0.20%) Loan IQ
7 2 (0.20%) Siebel CRM
7 2 (0.20%) Teamcenter
8 1 (0.098%) Oracle General Ledger
8 1 (0.098%) Payment Gateway
8 1 (0.098%) SAP Business One
8 1 (0.098%) SAP MDG
8 1 (0.098%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 422 (41.41%) Azure
2 216 (21.20%) AWS
3 144 (14.13%) Power Platform
4 110 (10.79%) Azure DevOps
5 91 (8.93%) GitHub
6 61 (5.99%) Azure Data Factory
7 45 (4.42%) Entra ID
8 42 (4.12%) Serverless
9 39 (3.83%) Azure Monitor
9 39 (3.83%) Microsoft 365
10 38 (3.73%) Snowflake
11 37 (3.63%) GitHub Actions
12 35 (3.43%) Power Automate
13 33 (3.24%) GCP
14 32 (3.14%) Dynamics 365
15 31 (3.04%) Azure Synapse Analytics
16 28 (2.75%) SaaS
17 26 (2.55%) dbt
18 24 (2.36%) Amazon S3
18 24 (2.36%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 47 (4.61%) DNS
2 38 (3.73%) DHCP
3 29 (2.85%) Firewall
4 20 (1.96%) SAN
5 18 (1.77%) VLAN
6 15 (1.47%) VPN
7 14 (1.37%) Internet
8 13 (1.28%) Network Security
9 12 (1.18%) SSH
9 12 (1.18%) TCP/IP
9 12 (1.18%) Wi-Fi
10 9 (0.88%) SSL
11 7 (0.69%) LAN
12 6 (0.59%) HTTPS
12 6 (0.59%) IPv4
12 6 (0.59%) IPv6
12 6 (0.59%) WAN
13 4 (0.39%) Kerberos
13 4 (0.39%) VoIP
14 3 (0.29%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 148 (14.52%) PostgreSQL
2 120 (11.78%) Power BI
3 107 (10.50%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 104 (10.21%) Data Warehouse
4 104 (10.21%) Relational Database
5 74 (7.26%) Oracle Database
6 65 (6.38%) MySQL
7 63 (6.18%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 53 (5.20%) Azure SQL Database
9 44 (4.32%) MongoDB
10 41 (4.02%) Data Lake
11 34 (3.34%) SQL Server Analysis Services
12 30 (2.94%) NoSQL
13 24 (2.36%) RDBMS
14 22 (2.16%) Tableau
15 17 (1.67%) Metadata
16 16 (1.57%) Redis
17 15 (1.47%) Big Data
17 15 (1.47%) Db2
18 14 (1.37%) Amazon RDS
Development Applications
1 93 (9.13%) Git
2 57 (5.59%) Jenkins
3 53 (5.20%) JIRA
4 28 (2.75%) GitLab
4 28 (2.75%) Visual Studio
5 20 (1.96%) Team Foundation Server
5 20 (1.96%) TeamCity
6 16 (1.57%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 15 (1.47%) Maven
8 13 (1.28%) Cucumber
8 13 (1.28%) Octopus Deploy
8 13 (1.28%) Sonatype Nexus
9 12 (1.18%) Postman
10 11 (1.08%) Selenium
11 10 (0.98%) Artifactory
12 9 (0.88%) Chocolatey
12 9 (0.88%) Gatling
13 8 (0.79%) Cypress.io
13 8 (0.79%) MSTest
13 8 (0.79%) WebDriver
General
1 294 (28.85%) Social Skills
2 252 (24.73%) Finance
3 184 (18.06%) Analytical Skills
4 123 (12.07%) Banking
5 81 (7.95%) Public Sector
6 48 (4.71%) Documentation Skills
7 37 (3.63%) Front Office
8 23 (2.26%) Investment Banking
9 22 (2.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 16 (1.57%) Legal
11 15 (1.47%) Organisational Skills
12 13 (1.28%) Financial Institution
13 10 (0.98%) Retail
14 9 (0.88%) Advertising
15 8 (0.79%) Manufacturing
16 6 (0.59%) Back Office
16 6 (0.59%) Local Government
16 6 (0.59%) Telecoms
17 5 (0.49%) Law
17 5 (0.49%) Military
Job Titles
1 303 (29.74%) Developer
2 156 (15.31%) Senior
3 145 (14.23%) DBA
4 92 (9.03%) SQL DBA
5 87 (8.54%) Data Engineer
6 85 (8.34%) C# Developer
7 76 (7.46%) .NET Developer
8 71 (6.97%) Lead
9 57 (5.59%) Administrator
10 56 (5.50%) Architect
11 54 (5.30%) SQL Developer
12 45 (4.42%) Senior Developer
13 43 (4.22%) Analyst
13 43 (4.22%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 41 (4.02%) Oracle DBA
15 38 (3.73%) Software Engineer
16 37 (3.63%) Full-Stack Developer
17 34 (3.34%) Azure Engineer
18 33 (3.24%) Consultant
19 31 (3.04%) C# .NET Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 255 (25.02%) .NET
2 129 (12.66%) REST
3 105 (10.30%) .NET Framework
4 82 (8.05%) React
5 60 (5.89%) CSS
6 58 (5.69%) AngularJS
7 57 (5.59%) ASP.NET
7 57 (5.59%) RESTful
8 52 (5.10%) Kafka
9 50 (4.91%) HTML
10 48 (4.71%) .NET Core
11 38 (3.73%) JSON
11 38 (3.73%) Web Services
11 38 (3.73%) XML
12 32 (3.14%) SOAP
13 30 (2.94%) Entity Framework
14 25 (2.45%) Spring Boot
15 24 (2.36%) OAuth
16 22 (2.16%) Spring
17 20 (1.96%) WinForms
Miscellaneous
1 57 (5.59%) Onboarding
2 50 (4.91%) Cloud Native
3 49 (4.81%) Data Structures
4 47 (4.61%) Legacy Systems
5 46 (4.51%) Clustering
5 46 (4.51%) Replication
6 39 (3.83%) Self-Motivation
7 38 (3.73%) Enterprise Software
8 29 (2.85%) Management Information System
9 22 (2.16%) Product Ownership
10 21 (2.06%) PKI
11 18 (1.77%) Data Centre
12 17 (1.67%) Low-Code
13 16 (1.57%) Derivative
13 16 (1.57%) NHS
14 13 (1.28%) Algorithms
14 13 (1.28%) Distributed Systems
14 13 (1.28%) Fixed Income
15 11 (1.08%) Legacy Code
15 11 (1.08%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 259 (25.42%) Windows
2 149 (14.62%) Windows Server
3 99 (9.72%) Linux
4 57 (5.59%) Unix
5 13 (1.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 8 (0.79%) AIX
6 8 (0.79%) Ubuntu
6 8 (0.79%) Windows 10
6 8 (0.79%) Windows Server 2019
7 6 (0.59%) Android
7 6 (0.59%) VMS
8 5 (0.49%) Solaris
8 5 (0.49%) Windows Server 2012
8 5 (0.49%) Windows Server 2016
9 3 (0.29%) CentOS
10 2 (0.20%) OpenVMS
10 2 (0.20%) Windows Server 2008
11 1 (0.098%) Data ONTAP
11 1 (0.098%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.098%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 254 (24.93%) DevOps
2 229 (22.47%) Agile
3 223 (21.88%) CI/CD
4 210 (20.61%) Problem-Solving
5 183 (17.96%) Migration
6 157 (15.41%) ETL
7 147 (14.43%) Business Intelligence
8 141 (13.84%) Performance Tuning
9 134 (13.15%) Data Modelling
10 120 (11.78%) Disaster Recovery
11 112 (10.99%) AI
12 97 (9.52%) Analytics
13 92 (9.03%) Data Pipeline
14 91 (8.93%) High Availability
15 88 (8.64%) Microservices
16 86 (8.44%) Continuous Improvement
17 80 (7.85%) Test Automation
18 76 (7.46%) Data Analysis
18 76 (7.46%) Software Engineering
19 74 (7.26%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 576 (56.53%) SQL
2 263 (25.81%) C#
3 206 (20.22%) Python
4 185 (18.16%) PowerShell
5 168 (16.49%) T-SQL
6 113 (11.09%) JavaScript
7 78 (7.65%) Java
8 64 (6.28%) PL/SQL
9 53 (5.20%) TypeScript
10 36 (3.53%) Bash
11 26 (2.55%) Shell Script
12 22 (2.16%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 18 (1.77%) Scala
13 18 (1.77%) VB
14 17 (1.67%) Korn
15 15 (1.47%) VBA
16 11 (1.08%) Bicep
17 8 (0.79%) VB.NET
18 6 (0.59%) VB6
18 6 (0.59%) XPath
Qualifications
1 251 (24.63%) Security Cleared
2 190 (18.65%) SC Cleared
3 104 (10.21%) Degree
4 43 (4.22%) DV Cleared
5 39 (3.83%) Microsoft Certification
6 25 (2.45%) Computer Science Degree
7 19 (1.86%) BPSS Clearance
8 18 (1.77%) Azure Certification
9 12 (1.18%) Oracle Certification
10 11 (1.08%) ISTQB
10 11 (1.08%) OCP
11 9 (0.88%) DBS Check
11 9 (0.88%) Master's Degree
12 5 (0.49%) CISSP
13 4 (0.39%) AWS Certification
13 4 (0.39%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
13 4 (0.39%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 4 (0.39%) MCITP
13 4 (0.39%) MCTS
13 4 (0.39%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 97 (9.52%) QA
2 91 (8.93%) Data Quality
3 29 (2.85%) GDPR
4 27 (2.65%) NIST
5 25 (2.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 23 (2.26%) Accessibility
7 21 (2.06%) SLA
8 15 (1.47%) WCAG
9 6 (0.59%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 5 (0.49%) ISO 9000
11 4 (0.39%) Actionable Recommendations
12 3 (0.29%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 3 (0.29%) 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 (0.098%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 121 (11.87%) Active Directory
2 75 (7.36%) Docker
3 31 (3.04%) Virtual Machines
4 30 (2.94%) Oracle RAC
4 30 (2.94%) VMware Infrastructure
5 12 (1.18%) Hyper-V
6 7 (0.69%) Virtual Desktop
7 5 (0.49%) KVM
8 3 (0.29%) Dovecot
8 3 (0.29%) GridGain
8 3 (0.29%) Postfix
8 3 (0.29%) Virtual Servers
9 2 (0.20%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.20%) vSphere
10 1 (0.098%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 1 (0.098%) NFS
10 1 (0.098%) RACF
10 1 (0.098%) Terminal Services
10 1 (0.098%) XenApp
10 1 (0.098%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 101 (9.91%) Kubernetes
2 73 (7.16%) Terraform
3 38 (3.73%) Ansible
4 23 (2.26%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
5 21 (2.06%) Oracle RMAN
6 16 (1.57%) Microsoft Intune
7 15 (1.47%) Data Guard
7 15 (1.47%) SCCM
8 13 (1.28%) HAProxy
9 10 (0.98%) SCOM
9 10 (0.98%) WSUS
10 9 (0.88%) Grafana
11 7 (0.69%) Failover Clustering
11 7 (0.69%) Single Sign-On
12 6 (0.59%) Microsoft Clustering
12 6 (0.59%) vCenter Server
13 5 (0.49%) IBM BigFix
14 4 (0.39%) ITRS Geneos
14 4 (0.39%) Prometheus
15 3 (0.29%) Foglight
Vendors
1 320 (31.40%) Microsoft
2 280 (27.48%) Oracle
3 57 (5.59%) Databricks
3 57 (5.59%) VMware
4 51 (5.00%) ServiceNow
5 49 (4.81%) Citrix
6 47 (4.61%) CyberArk
7 37 (3.63%) SAP
8 30 (2.94%) BeyondTrust
9 23 (2.26%) Sybase
10 22 (2.16%) Remedy
11 21 (2.06%) BMC
11 21 (2.06%) Informatica
12 20 (1.96%) Cisco
12 20 (1.96%) Dynatrace
13 18 (1.77%) IBM
14 17 (1.67%) Red Hat
15 15 (1.47%) Google
16 13 (1.28%) Alteryx
17 11 (1.08%) AppDynamics