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

 6 months to
16 Jan 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 136 81 65
Rank change year-on-year -55 -16 -18
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 656 776 1,166
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.06% 2.88% 3.23%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 12.32% 15.65% 19.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 455 552 850
10th Percentile £352 £313 £362
25th Percentile £404 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £506 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.11% -8.03% -
75th Percentile £600 £625 £650
90th Percentile £700 £700 £730
UK median daily rate £480 £500 £536
% change year-on-year -4.00% -6.76% -0.37%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 6 18
10th Percentile - £61.06 £18.21
25th Percentile £12.95 £61.87 £21.30
Median hourly rate £20.75 £64.37 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year -67.77% +22.61% +25.75%
75th Percentile £52.58 £65.62 £61.63
90th Percentile £63.03 £82.81 £63.42
UK median hourly rate £20.75 £63.75 £52.50
% change year-on-year -67.45% +21.42% +20.51%

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 5,324 4,957 5,949
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 16.72% 18.39% 16.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,722 3,293 4,253
10th Percentile £328 £350 £357
25th Percentile £413 £425 £438
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £545 £550
Median % change year-on-year -8.26% -0.91% -
75th Percentile £613 £663 £656
90th Percentile £710 £775 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £533
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.50% -3.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 79 71 139
10th Percentile £18.25 £21.25 £18.18
25th Percentile £29.00 £24.25 £23.00
Median hourly rate £43.50 £39.50 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year +10.13% -14.47% -16.04%
75th Percentile £69.63 £64.73 £64.45
90th Percentile £84.00 £73.75 £78.00
UK median hourly rate £43.50 £35.00 £46.18
% change year-on-year +24.29% -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 16 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 16 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 16 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 -28 403 £500 -9.09% 93
North of England -21 82 £450 -5.26% 95
South East -34 79 £480 -3.08% 149
Yorkshire -27 42 £425 -19.92% 25
North West -15 38 £450 +9.09% 59
South West -34 25 £550 - 46
Midlands -98 21 £411 -13.42% 53
East of England -21 19 £494 +23.44% 51
West Midlands -70 14 £414 -27.03% 24
East Midlands -50 6 £373 -2.74% 29
North East -12 2 £475 +28.38% 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 32 (4.88%) SharePoint
2 23 (3.51%) IIS
3 19 (2.90%) Confluence
3 19 (2.90%) Microsoft Exchange
4 14 (2.13%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 14 (2.13%) WebSphere
5 10 (1.52%) Apache Spark
6 9 (1.37%) WebLogic
7 8 (1.22%) Apache
8 7 (1.07%) Apache Airflow
9 4 (0.61%) Appian
9 4 (0.61%) CMS
9 4 (0.61%) SharePoint Server
9 4 (0.61%) Tomcat
10 2 (0.30%) HCL Notes
10 2 (0.30%) JBoss
10 2 (0.30%) Oracle Workflow
10 2 (0.30%) WildFly
11 1 (0.15%) Skype for Business
11 1 (0.15%) Umbraco
Applications
1 46 (7.01%) Microsoft Excel
2 12 (1.83%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (1.52%) MS Visio
4 6 (0.91%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (0.61%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 2 (0.30%) Trello
6 2 (0.30%) Windchill
7 1 (0.15%) ProjectWise
Business Applications
1 9 (1.37%) Advent Geneva
2 8 (1.22%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (1.07%) BusinessWorks
4 6 (0.91%) Salesforce CRM
5 4 (0.61%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
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 (0.30%) Dynamics AX
7 2 (0.30%) Dynamics NAV
7 2 (0.30%) Endur
7 2 (0.30%) Fidessa
7 2 (0.30%) Loan IQ
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle FAH
7 2 (0.30%) Teamcenter
7 2 (0.30%) Veritas eDiscovery
8 1 (0.15%) Aladdin
8 1 (0.15%) Orchestrade
8 1 (0.15%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 286 (43.60%) Azure
2 130 (19.82%) AWS
3 125 (19.05%) Power Platform
4 76 (11.59%) Azure DevOps
5 53 (8.08%) Azure Data Factory
6 52 (7.93%) GCP
7 51 (7.77%) GitHub
8 34 (5.18%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 32 (4.88%) Microsoft 365
10 29 (4.42%) SaaS
11 22 (3.35%) GitHub Actions
12 21 (3.20%) Snowflake
13 18 (2.74%) Amazon S3
13 18 (2.74%) Power Automate
14 17 (2.59%) Dynamics 365
14 17 (2.59%) IaaS
15 16 (2.44%) Azure Service Bus
15 16 (2.44%) Serverless
16 15 (2.29%) PowerApps
17 14 (2.13%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 29 (4.42%) Firewall
2 21 (3.20%) DNS
3 17 (2.59%) TCP/IP
4 12 (1.83%) Internet
5 11 (1.68%) DHCP
6 10 (1.52%) HTTP
7 8 (1.22%) LAN
8 7 (1.07%) NetScaler
9 6 (0.91%) VPN
10 5 (0.76%) Skype
11 4 (0.61%) NAS
11 4 (0.61%) SAN
11 4 (0.61%) SSL
11 4 (0.61%) VoIP
12 3 (0.46%) WAN
13 2 (0.30%) FTP
13 2 (0.30%) SMTP
13 2 (0.30%) Wi-Fi
13 2 (0.30%) Wireshark
13 2 (0.30%) X.400
Database & Business Intelligence
1 107 (16.31%) Power BI
2 84 (12.80%) PostgreSQL
3 82 (12.50%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 80 (12.20%) Relational Database
5 69 (10.52%) Data Warehouse
6 59 (8.99%) Oracle Database
7 53 (8.08%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 46 (7.01%) Azure SQL Database
9 45 (6.86%) MySQL
10 41 (6.25%) MongoDB
11 40 (6.10%) Data Lake
12 35 (5.34%) NoSQL
13 24 (3.66%) DB2
14 22 (3.35%) RDBMS
15 21 (3.20%) Amazon RDS
15 21 (3.20%) Big Data
16 19 (2.90%) Tableau
17 18 (2.74%) Delta Lake
17 18 (2.74%) SQL Server Analysis Services
18 14 (2.13%) Redis
Development Applications
1 63 (9.60%) Git
2 43 (6.55%) JIRA
3 32 (4.88%) Jenkins
4 20 (3.05%) Visual Studio
5 18 (2.74%) GitLab
6 13 (1.98%) Postman
7 12 (1.83%) SpecFlow
8 11 (1.68%) Selenium
8 11 (1.68%) TeamCity
9 10 (1.52%) Octopus Deploy
9 10 (1.52%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
10 9 (1.37%) Cucumber
10 9 (1.37%) Maven
11 8 (1.22%) JUnit
12 7 (1.07%) Bitbucket
13 6 (0.91%) ERwin
13 6 (0.91%) REST Assured
13 6 (0.91%) TestRail
14 5 (0.76%) Mockito
15 4 (0.61%) Zephyr
General
1 211 (32.16%) Social Skills
2 178 (27.13%) Finance
3 90 (13.72%) Banking
4 86 (13.11%) Analytical Skills
5 38 (5.79%) Public Sector
6 35 (5.34%) Documentation Skills
7 24 (3.66%) Investment Banking
8 18 (2.74%) Front Office
9 16 (2.44%) Financial Institution
10 14 (2.13%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 13 (1.98%) Retail
12 8 (1.22%) Local Government
12 8 (1.22%) Presentation Skills
13 7 (1.07%) Legal
14 6 (0.91%) Manufacturing
14 6 (0.91%) Organisational Skills
15 5 (0.76%) Back Office
15 5 (0.76%) Influencing Skills
15 5 (0.76%) Law
16 4 (0.61%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 232 (35.37%) Developer
2 91 (13.87%) Senior
3 84 (12.80%) Data Engineer
4 68 (10.37%) C# Developer
5 50 (7.62%) .NET Developer
6 48 (7.32%) Analyst
7 45 (6.86%) Architect
8 37 (5.64%) Senior Developer
9 32 (4.88%) DBA
10 30 (4.57%) Senior Data Engineer
11 26 (3.96%) Lead
12 25 (3.81%) Consultant
12 25 (3.81%) Full-Stack Developer
13 23 (3.51%) C# .NET Developer
14 21 (3.20%) Software Engineer
15 18 (2.74%) Angular Developer
15 18 (2.74%) Azure Engineer
15 18 (2.74%) SQL DBA
15 18 (2.74%) SQL Developer
16 16 (2.44%) Data Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 185 (28.20%) .NET
2 73 (11.13%) .NET Framework
3 56 (8.54%) REST
4 44 (6.71%) HTML
5 42 (6.40%) AngularJS
6 38 (5.79%) React
7 37 (5.64%) Kafka
7 37 (5.64%) RESTful
8 36 (5.49%) XML
9 35 (5.34%) .NET Core
10 33 (5.03%) CSS
11 29 (4.42%) Entity Framework
12 28 (4.27%) ASP.NET
13 27 (4.12%) Web Services
14 26 (3.96%) SOAP
15 23 (3.51%) Middleware
15 23 (3.51%) WPF
16 17 (2.59%) Playwright
16 17 (2.59%) WinForms
17 16 (2.44%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 33 (5.03%) Legacy Systems
2 28 (4.27%) Cloud Native
3 19 (2.90%) Enterprise Software
4 17 (2.59%) Derivative
5 16 (2.44%) Management Information System
6 15 (2.29%) Data Structures
6 15 (2.29%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
6 15 (2.29%) Onboarding
6 15 (2.29%) Product Ownership
7 14 (2.13%) Credit Risk
7 14 (2.13%) Data Protection Act
8 11 (1.68%) PKI
8 11 (1.68%) Replication
9 10 (1.52%) Distributed Systems
9 10 (1.52%) NHS
10 9 (1.37%) Reinsurance
10 9 (1.37%) Virtual Team
11 8 (1.22%) Clustering
11 8 (1.22%) Low-Code
11 8 (1.22%) Market Risk
Operating Systems
1 113 (17.23%) Windows
2 83 (12.65%) Linux
3 58 (8.84%) Windows Server
4 13 (1.98%) Windows 10
4 13 (1.98%) Windows Server 2016
5 10 (1.52%) Unix
6 8 (1.22%) Windows Server 2019
7 6 (0.91%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 3 (0.46%) Android
8 3 (0.46%) VMS
8 3 (0.46%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.15%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.15%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.15%) MVS
9 1 (0.15%) Solaris
9 1 (0.15%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.15%) Windows Server 2003
9 1 (0.15%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 157 (23.93%) Agile
2 149 (22.71%) CI/CD
3 143 (21.80%) DevOps
4 142 (21.65%) Problem-Solving
5 124 (18.90%) Business Intelligence
6 120 (18.29%) ETL
7 98 (14.94%) Data Modelling
8 92 (14.02%) Migration
9 76 (11.59%) Analytics
10 63 (9.60%) Microservices
11 55 (8.38%) Performance Tuning
11 55 (8.38%) Test Automation
12 54 (8.23%) Containerisation
12 54 (8.23%) Full-Stack Development
13 52 (7.93%) Data Analysis
14 51 (7.77%) Data Engineering
15 50 (7.62%) Data Pipeline
15 50 (7.62%) Software Engineering
16 48 (7.32%) Data Governance
17 47 (7.16%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 373 (56.86%) SQL
2 164 (25.00%) C#
3 147 (22.41%) Python
4 74 (11.28%) T-SQL
5 68 (10.37%) Java
6 67 (10.21%) JavaScript
7 56 (8.54%) PL/SQL
8 50 (7.62%) PowerShell
9 34 (5.18%) Bash
10 18 (2.74%) TypeScript
11 17 (2.59%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 17 (2.59%) VB
12 16 (2.44%) VBA
13 14 (2.13%) PHP
13 14 (2.13%) Shell Script
14 12 (1.83%) Bicep
15 7 (1.07%) XPath
16 5 (0.76%) R
16 5 (0.76%) Scala
16 5 (0.76%) X++
Qualifications
1 83 (12.65%) Security Cleared
2 75 (11.43%) Degree
3 57 (8.69%) SC Cleared
4 28 (4.27%) Computer Science Degree
5 22 (3.35%) Microsoft Certification
6 16 (2.44%) Azure Certification
7 14 (2.13%) DV Cleared
8 10 (1.52%) BPSS Clearance
9 9 (1.37%) Master's Degree
10 5 (0.76%) ITIL Certification
11 4 (0.61%) AWS Certification
11 4 (0.61%) CCA
11 4 (0.61%) Cisco Certification
11 4 (0.61%) Citrix Certification
11 4 (0.61%) HNC
11 4 (0.61%) HND
11 4 (0.61%) MCP
11 4 (0.61%) MCSE
12 3 (0.46%) CCNP
12 3 (0.46%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 69 (10.52%) Data Quality
2 61 (9.30%) QA
3 15 (2.29%) GDPR
4 10 (1.52%) Accessibility
5 8 (1.22%) SLA
6 6 (0.91%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 5 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 5 (0.76%) MiFID
7 5 (0.76%) WCAG
8 4 (0.61%) EMIR
9 3 (0.46%) IFRS
9 3 (0.46%) IFRS 17
10 2 (0.30%) Basel III
10 2 (0.30%) GAAP
10 2 (0.30%) IFRS 9
10 2 (0.30%) Solvency II
11 1 (0.15%) Cyber Essentials
11 1 (0.15%) HIPAA
11 1 (0.15%) JSP 440
11 1 (0.15%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 81 (12.35%) Docker
2 48 (7.32%) Active Directory
3 27 (4.12%) VMware Infrastructure
4 14 (2.13%) Hyper-V
5 12 (1.83%) Oracle RAC
6 8 (1.22%) Virtual Machines
7 7 (1.07%) VMware NSX
7 7 (1.07%) zsh
8 6 (0.91%) Virtual Desktop
9 4 (0.61%) vSphere
9 4 (0.61%) XenApp
9 4 (0.61%) XenDesktop
10 3 (0.46%) VMware ESXi
11 2 (0.30%) GridGain
11 2 (0.30%) NDS
11 2 (0.30%) 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 61 (9.30%) Kubernetes
2 41 (6.25%) Terraform
3 28 (4.27%) Ansible
4 14 (2.13%) Grafana
5 12 (1.83%) Puppet
5 12 (1.83%) SCCM
6 11 (1.68%) Data Guard
7 10 (1.52%) yum
8 9 (1.37%) Microsoft Intune
9 8 (1.22%) NetBackup
9 8 (1.22%) vCenter Server
10 7 (1.07%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 7 (1.07%) Oracle RMAN
10 7 (1.07%) TIBCO Hawk
11 5 (0.76%) Progress Chef
11 5 (0.76%) SCOM
11 5 (0.76%) Single Sign-On
12 4 (0.61%) Control-M
12 4 (0.61%) SCVMM
12 4 (0.61%) WSUS
Vendors
1 206 (31.40%) Microsoft
2 205 (31.25%) Oracle
3 53 (8.08%) Databricks
4 43 (6.55%) Citrix
5 38 (5.79%) VMware
6 23 (3.51%) Google
6 23 (3.51%) Informatica
7 22 (3.35%) ServiceNow
8 18 (2.74%) SAP
9 17 (2.59%) IBM
10 13 (1.98%) Salesforce
11 11 (1.68%) Cisco
11 11 (1.68%) CyberArk
12 10 (1.52%) Veritas
13 9 (1.37%) Advent
13 9 (1.37%) UiPath
14 8 (1.22%) Atlassian
14 8 (1.22%) PagerDuty
14 8 (1.22%) Splunk
15 7 (1.07%) BEA
457 SQL Server jobs in England