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 30 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 136 78 64
Rank change year-on-year -58 -14 -17
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 662 829 1,223
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.09% 2.94% 3.35%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 12.24% 16.08% 20.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 460 586 891
10th Percentile £343 £313 £358
25th Percentile £404 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £485 £508 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.69% -7.57% -
75th Percentile £600 £625 £650
90th Percentile £700 £700 £731
UK median daily rate £488 £500 £535
% change year-on-year -2.50% -6.54% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 7 18
10th Percentile £25.57 £48.65 £20.01
25th Percentile £32.81 £61.06 £46.05
Median hourly rate £48.72 £63.75 £53.75
Median % change year-on-year -23.57% +18.60% +49.31%
75th Percentile £61.29 £65.62 £61.63
90th Percentile £66.52 £79.37 £63.42
UK median hourly rate £48.72 £60.50 £52.50
% change year-on-year -19.47% +15.24% +38.16%

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 5,410 5,154 6,052
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 17.11% 18.27% 16.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,775 3,429 4,333
10th Percentile £325 £350 £358
25th Percentile £409 £425 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% - -
75th Percentile £614 £663 £662
90th Percentile £720 £775 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £535
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.87% -2.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 75 74 131
10th Percentile £20.70 £18.74 £18.57
25th Percentile £29.13 £23.10 £25.32
Median hourly rate £54.70 £39.00 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +40.26% -17.89% -13.64%
75th Percentile £70.00 £64.73 £64.77
90th Percentile £84.60 £72.55 £78.00
UK median hourly rate £52.00 £30.59 £46.84
% change year-on-year +69.99% -34.69% -14.84%

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 30 December 2025.

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 30 December 2025.

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 30 December 2025. 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 -36 399 £516 -6.14% 249
South East -28 83 £480 -1.49% 466
North of England -34 82 £450 -7.69% 409
Yorkshire -21 42 £425 -23.53% 179
North West -28 39 £450 +5.88% 183
South West -25 24 £550 - 202
East of England -17 22 £500 +25.00% 242
Midlands -93 22 £420 -11.58% 346
West Midlands -57 17 £425 -25.04% 169
East Midlands -46 4 £373 -1.06% 160
North East -6 1 £475 +28.38% 49
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 28 (4.23%) SharePoint
2 25 (3.78%) IIS
3 24 (3.63%) Confluence
4 14 (2.11%) Microsoft Exchange
4 14 (2.11%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 14 (2.11%) WebSphere
5 11 (1.66%) WebLogic
6 8 (1.21%) Apache Spark
7 7 (1.06%) Apache
8 5 (0.76%) Apache Airflow
9 4 (0.60%) SharePoint Server
9 4 (0.60%) Tomcat
10 3 (0.45%) CMS
11 2 (0.30%) Appian
11 2 (0.30%) CICS
11 2 (0.30%) HCL Notes
11 2 (0.30%) JBoss
11 2 (0.30%) SAS
11 2 (0.30%) WildFly
12 1 (0.15%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 49 (7.40%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (1.21%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (1.21%) MS Visio
3 7 (1.06%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.60%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.30%) Trello
5 2 (0.30%) Windchill
6 1 (0.15%) ProjectWise
Business Applications
1 9 (1.36%) Advent Geneva
2 8 (1.21%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (1.06%) BusinessWorks
4 6 (0.91%) Fidessa
4 6 (0.91%) Salesforce CRM
5 4 (0.60%) Aladdin
5 4 (0.60%) thinkFolio
6 3 (0.45%) Oracle BPM
6 3 (0.45%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 3 (0.45%) SAP S/4HANA
7 2 (0.30%) Dynamics AX
7 2 (0.30%) Dynamics NAV
7 2 (0.30%) Loan IQ
7 2 (0.30%) Maximo
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle FAH
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle General Ledger
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle Payables
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle Receivables
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 2 (0.30%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 278 (41.99%) Azure
2 127 (19.18%) AWS
3 109 (16.47%) Power Platform
4 73 (11.03%) Azure DevOps
5 50 (7.55%) GitHub
6 47 (7.10%) GCP
7 42 (6.34%) Azure Data Factory
8 30 (4.53%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 29 (4.38%) SaaS
10 28 (4.23%) Microsoft 365
11 24 (3.63%) GitHub Actions
12 22 (3.32%) Serverless
13 21 (3.17%) Snowflake
14 19 (2.87%) Amazon S3
14 19 (2.87%) Azure Service Bus
15 18 (2.72%) IaaS
16 17 (2.57%) Azure Logic Apps
16 17 (2.57%) Dynamics 365
17 16 (2.42%) Azure Cosmos DB
17 16 (2.42%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 28 (4.23%) Firewall
2 21 (3.17%) DNS
3 19 (2.87%) TCP/IP
4 12 (1.81%) Internet
5 11 (1.66%) DHCP
6 10 (1.51%) HTTP
6 10 (1.51%) LAN
7 6 (0.91%) VPN
8 5 (0.76%) NAS
8 5 (0.76%) NetScaler
8 5 (0.76%) Skype
9 4 (0.60%) SAN
9 4 (0.60%) SSL
9 4 (0.60%) VoIP
10 3 (0.45%) WAN
11 2 (0.30%) FTP
11 2 (0.30%) SMTP
11 2 (0.30%) VLAN
11 2 (0.30%) Wireshark
11 2 (0.30%) X.400
Database & Business Intelligence
1 93 (14.05%) Power BI
2 91 (13.75%) PostgreSQL
3 82 (12.39%) Relational Database
4 76 (11.48%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 66 (9.97%) Oracle Database
6 62 (9.37%) Data Warehouse
7 54 (8.16%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 47 (7.10%) Azure SQL Database
8 47 (7.10%) MySQL
9 43 (6.50%) MongoDB
10 33 (4.98%) NoSQL
11 32 (4.83%) Data Lake
12 25 (3.78%) DB2
13 23 (3.47%) Amazon RDS
14 19 (2.87%) Big Data
14 19 (2.87%) RDBMS
15 18 (2.72%) SQL Server Analysis Services
16 17 (2.57%) Redis
16 17 (2.57%) Tableau
17 13 (1.96%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 65 (9.82%) Git
2 43 (6.50%) JIRA
3 34 (5.14%) Jenkins
4 21 (3.17%) GitLab
5 15 (2.27%) Visual Studio
6 14 (2.11%) Postman
6 14 (2.11%) Selenium
7 13 (1.96%) Cucumber
8 12 (1.81%) Maven
8 12 (1.81%) SpecFlow
8 12 (1.81%) TeamCity
9 11 (1.66%) Bitbucket
10 10 (1.51%) JUnit
10 10 (1.51%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
11 9 (1.36%) Octopus Deploy
12 7 (1.06%) Mockito
12 7 (1.06%) webpack
13 6 (0.91%) REST Assured
13 6 (0.91%) Sonatype Nexus
13 6 (0.91%) TestRail
General
1 228 (34.44%) Social Skills
2 185 (27.95%) Finance
3 93 (14.05%) Analytical Skills
4 91 (13.75%) Banking
5 38 (5.74%) Public Sector
6 33 (4.98%) Documentation Skills
7 28 (4.23%) Investment Banking
8 22 (3.32%) Front Office
9 17 (2.57%) Financial Institution
10 12 (1.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 11 (1.66%) Presentation Skills
12 10 (1.51%) Retail
13 7 (1.06%) Local Government
13 7 (1.06%) Organisational Skills
14 6 (0.91%) Back Office
14 6 (0.91%) Legal
14 6 (0.91%) Manufacturing
15 5 (0.76%) Influencing Skills
15 5 (0.76%) Law
16 4 (0.60%) Military
Job Titles
1 239 (36.10%) Developer
2 82 (12.39%) Senior
3 67 (10.12%) Data Engineer
4 62 (9.37%) C# Developer
5 50 (7.55%) .NET Developer
6 49 (7.40%) Architect
7 47 (7.10%) Analyst
8 38 (5.74%) Senior Developer
9 33 (4.98%) DBA
10 31 (4.68%) Consultant
11 27 (4.08%) Lead
12 24 (3.63%) Full-Stack Developer
13 22 (3.32%) Software Engineer
14 20 (3.02%) C# .NET Developer
14 20 (3.02%) Senior Data Engineer
15 19 (2.87%) Angular Developer
15 19 (2.87%) SQL DBA
15 19 (2.87%) SQL Developer
16 18 (2.72%) Applications Support
17 17 (2.57%) Java Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 182 (27.49%) .NET
2 69 (10.42%) .NET Framework
3 57 (8.61%) REST
4 51 (7.70%) HTML
5 44 (6.65%) React
6 43 (6.50%) AngularJS
7 42 (6.34%) XML
8 41 (6.19%) CSS
9 37 (5.59%) .NET Core
9 37 (5.59%) RESTful
10 36 (5.44%) Kafka
11 28 (4.23%) SOAP
12 27 (4.08%) Entity Framework
12 27 (4.08%) Web Services
13 24 (3.63%) ASP.NET
14 22 (3.32%) WPF
15 21 (3.17%) Middleware
16 20 (3.02%) JSON
17 17 (2.57%) Playwright
18 16 (2.42%) NHibernate
Miscellaneous
1 33 (4.98%) Legacy Systems
2 28 (4.23%) Cloud Native
3 21 (3.17%) Derivative
4 20 (3.02%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 19 (2.87%) Enterprise Software
5 19 (2.87%) Product Ownership
6 18 (2.72%) Management Information System
7 16 (2.42%) Data Protection Act
8 15 (2.27%) Onboarding
9 14 (2.11%) Credit Risk
10 13 (1.96%) Data Structures
10 13 (1.96%) Distributed Systems
10 13 (1.96%) NHS
11 12 (1.81%) Hedge funds
12 11 (1.66%) Fixed Income
12 11 (1.66%) PKI
12 11 (1.66%) Replication
13 10 (1.51%) Reinsurance
14 9 (1.36%) Virtual Team
15 8 (1.21%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 111 (16.77%) Windows
2 84 (12.69%) Linux
3 58 (8.76%) Windows Server
4 11 (1.66%) Unix
4 11 (1.66%) Windows 10
5 10 (1.51%) Windows Server 2016
6 6 (0.91%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (0.91%) Windows Server 2019
7 4 (0.60%) VMS
8 3 (0.45%) Windows Server 2012
9 2 (0.30%) Solaris
9 2 (0.30%) Windows Server 2003
10 1 (0.15%) AIX
10 1 (0.15%) Android
10 1 (0.15%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.15%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.15%) MVS
10 1 (0.15%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.15%) Windows Server 2008
10 1 (0.15%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 163 (24.62%) Agile
2 152 (22.96%) Problem-Solving
3 146 (22.05%) DevOps
4 144 (21.75%) CI/CD
5 109 (16.47%) Business Intelligence
5 109 (16.47%) ETL
6 102 (15.41%) Migration
7 84 (12.69%) Data Modelling
8 70 (10.57%) Microservices
9 63 (9.52%) Test Automation
10 62 (9.37%) Analytics
11 55 (8.31%) Performance Tuning
12 54 (8.16%) Software Engineering
13 53 (8.01%) Full-Stack Development
14 51 (7.70%) Data Migration
15 50 (7.55%) Data Governance
16 48 (7.25%) Containerisation
16 48 (7.25%) Data Analysis
17 45 (6.80%) Clean Code
18 43 (6.50%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 374 (56.50%) SQL
2 165 (24.92%) C#
3 137 (20.69%) Python
4 76 (11.48%) T-SQL
5 74 (11.18%) JavaScript
6 72 (10.88%) Java
7 52 (7.85%) PL/SQL
8 46 (6.95%) PowerShell
9 33 (4.98%) Bash
10 20 (3.02%) TypeScript
10 20 (3.02%) VBA
11 18 (2.72%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 17 (2.57%) VB
13 15 (2.27%) PHP
14 14 (2.11%) Shell Script
15 10 (1.51%) Bicep
16 7 (1.06%) XPath
17 5 (0.76%) COBOL
17 5 (0.76%) X++
18 4 (0.60%) Delphi
Qualifications
1 83 (12.54%) Security Cleared
2 74 (11.18%) Degree
3 58 (8.76%) SC Cleared
4 30 (4.53%) Computer Science Degree
5 20 (3.02%) Microsoft Certification
6 14 (2.11%) DV Cleared
7 13 (1.96%) Azure Certification
7 13 (1.96%) BPSS Clearance
8 9 (1.36%) Master's Degree
9 6 (0.91%) HNC
9 6 (0.91%) HND
9 6 (0.91%) MCP
9 6 (0.91%) MCSE
10 5 (0.76%) ITIL Certification
11 4 (0.60%) AWS Certification
11 4 (0.60%) Cisco Certification
12 3 (0.45%) CCNP
13 2 (0.30%) CCIE
13 2 (0.30%) OCP
13 2 (0.30%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 59 (8.91%) Data Quality
1 59 (8.91%) QA
2 14 (2.11%) GDPR
3 13 (1.96%) Accessibility
4 10 (1.51%) SLA
5 9 (1.36%) MiFID
6 5 (0.76%) EMIR
6 5 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 5 (0.76%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 3 (0.45%) WCAG
8 2 (0.30%) IFRS
8 2 (0.30%) IFRS 17
8 2 (0.30%) Solvency II
9 1 (0.15%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.15%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.15%) IFRS 9
9 1 (0.15%) NCSC
9 1 (0.15%) NIST
9 1 (0.15%) NIST 800
9 1 (0.15%) PMO
System Software
1 73 (11.03%) Docker
2 48 (7.25%) Active Directory
3 27 (4.08%) VMware Infrastructure
4 13 (1.96%) Oracle RAC
5 12 (1.81%) Hyper-V
6 8 (1.21%) Virtual Machines
6 8 (1.21%) zsh
7 7 (1.06%) VMware NSX
8 5 (0.76%) Virtual Desktop
9 4 (0.60%) vSphere
10 3 (0.45%) VMware ESXi
11 2 (0.30%) GridGain
11 2 (0.30%) NDS
11 2 (0.30%) NetIQ eDirectory
11 2 (0.30%) XenApp
11 2 (0.30%) XenDesktop
12 1 (0.15%) NFS
12 1 (0.15%) SRDF
12 1 (0.15%) Veritas Cluster Server
12 1 (0.15%) Xen
Systems Management
1 55 (8.31%) Kubernetes
2 37 (5.59%) Terraform
3 26 (3.93%) Ansible
4 16 (2.42%) Grafana
5 14 (2.11%) Puppet
6 12 (1.81%) Data Guard
7 10 (1.51%) SCCM
7 10 (1.51%) vCenter Server
7 10 (1.51%) yum
8 9 (1.36%) Microsoft Intune
9 8 (1.21%) NetBackup
9 8 (1.21%) Oracle RMAN
10 7 (1.06%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 7 (1.06%) TIBCO Hawk
11 5 (0.76%) Control-M
11 5 (0.76%) Prometheus
11 5 (0.76%) SCOM
11 5 (0.76%) Single Sign-On
12 4 (0.60%) WSUS
12 4 (0.60%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 212 (32.02%) Oracle
2 207 (31.27%) Microsoft
3 42 (6.34%) Databricks
4 40 (6.04%) VMware
5 39 (5.89%) Citrix
6 20 (3.02%) Google
7 19 (2.87%) SAP
8 18 (2.72%) IBM
9 17 (2.57%) ServiceNow
10 15 (2.27%) Informatica
11 13 (1.96%) Salesforce
12 11 (1.66%) Cisco
12 11 (1.66%) CyberArk
13 9 (1.36%) Advent
13 9 (1.36%) Veritas
14 8 (1.21%) Atlassian
14 8 (1.21%) PagerDuty
14 8 (1.21%) Sybase
15 7 (1.06%) BEA
15 7 (1.06%) UiPath