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

 6 months to
3 Sep 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 126 110 58
Rank change year-on-year -16 -52 -4
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 989 686 1,172
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.17% 2.51% 3.58%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 14.22% 13.94% 19.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 694 504 840
10th Percentile £363 £313 £330
25th Percentile £413 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% - -6.54%
75th Percentile £600 £650 £625
90th Percentile £713 £750 £725
UK median daily rate £488 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -2.50% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 42 6 7
10th Percentile £13.51 £20.89 £27.71
25th Percentile £19.25 £21.02 £34.00
Median hourly rate £50.02 £23.80 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +110.21% -49.91% +2.86%
75th Percentile £63.31 £64.71 £57.43
90th Percentile £75.80 £83.13 £77.78
UK median hourly rate £47.54 £70.00 £43.00
% change year-on-year -32.09% +62.79% -5.49%

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 6,953 4,920 6,033
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 15.24% 17.97% 18.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,645 3,387 4,243
10th Percentile £358 £335 £350
25th Percentile £423 £410 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £503 £510 £550
Median % change year-on-year -1.37% -7.27% -
75th Percentile £619 £638 £675
90th Percentile £706 £750 £825
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -3.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 234 82 89
10th Percentile £15.17 £21.04 £14.85
25th Percentile £23.35 £29.12 £20.00
Median hourly rate £38.38 £38.23 £33.93
Median % change year-on-year +0.38% +12.67% -38.31%
75th Percentile £62.00 £65.00 £59.95
90th Percentile £75.00 £79.88 £71.50
UK median hourly rate £39.00 £38.85 £32.50
% change year-on-year +0.40% +19.52% -40.91%

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 3 September 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 3 September 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 3 September 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 -30 473 £525 -4.55% 489
North of England +15 201 £475 +11.76% 113
North West +3 112 £479 +11.40% 70
Midlands +2 110 £473 +11.29% 93
South East -32 103 £475 +35.71% 140
Yorkshire +9 88 £450 +9.02% 31
West Midlands -13 66 £460 -12.38% 51
South West -14 50 £519 +15.28% 59
East Midlands +6 43 £525 +60.80% 41
East of England -25 26 £425 -15.00% 35
North East -45 1 - - 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 69 (6.98%) SharePoint
2 46 (4.65%) IIS
3 42 (4.25%) Confluence
4 23 (2.33%) Apache Airflow
4 23 (2.33%) Microsoft Exchange
5 22 (2.22%) Apache
6 20 (2.02%) Apache Spark
6 20 (2.02%) Camunda
7 9 (0.91%) Oracle Workflow
8 6 (0.61%) Appian
8 6 (0.61%) CMS
9 5 (0.51%) Apache Solr
9 5 (0.51%) NetWeaver
9 5 (0.51%) Tuxedo
10 4 (0.40%) OpenEdge
10 4 (0.40%) Tomcat
10 4 (0.40%) Umbraco
11 3 (0.30%) Apache Superset
11 3 (0.30%) nginx
12 2 (0.20%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 54 (5.46%) Microsoft Excel
2 28 (2.83%) Microsoft Office
3 9 (0.91%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
5 2 (0.20%) Windchill
6 1 (0.10%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.10%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 27 (2.73%) Dynamics CRM
2 23 (2.33%) Remedy ITSM
3 17 (1.72%) SAP S/4HANA
4 7 (0.71%) OpenText MBPM
4 7 (0.71%) Oracle BPM
4 7 (0.71%) Oracle Payables
5 4 (0.40%) Aladdin
5 4 (0.40%) Dynamics AX
5 4 (0.40%) Elite 3E
6 2 (0.20%) Dynamics NAV
6 2 (0.20%) Endur
6 2 (0.20%) Infor LN
6 2 (0.20%) Siebel CRM
6 2 (0.20%) Teamcenter
7 1 (0.10%) Findur
7 1 (0.10%) Payment Gateway
7 1 (0.10%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.10%) SAP Business One
7 1 (0.10%) SAP CRM
7 1 (0.10%) SDL Web 8
Cloud Services
1 417 (42.16%) Azure
2 211 (21.33%) AWS
3 160 (16.18%) Power Platform
4 114 (11.53%) Azure DevOps
5 85 (8.59%) GitHub
6 61 (6.17%) Azure Data Factory
7 50 (5.06%) Entra ID
8 48 (4.85%) Serverless
9 42 (4.25%) Power Automate
10 40 (4.04%) Azure Monitor
10 40 (4.04%) Microsoft 365
11 38 (3.84%) Snowflake
12 37 (3.74%) Dynamics 365
13 36 (3.64%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 35 (3.54%) GitHub Actions
15 31 (3.13%) GCP
16 24 (2.43%) dbt
16 24 (2.43%) PowerApps
16 24 (2.43%) SaaS
17 19 (1.92%) Azure Functions
Communications & Networking
1 47 (4.75%) DNS
2 40 (4.04%) DHCP
3 32 (3.24%) Firewall
4 18 (1.82%) VLAN
5 17 (1.72%) SAN
6 15 (1.52%) VPN
7 14 (1.42%) Internet
7 14 (1.42%) SSL
8 13 (1.31%) Network Security
8 13 (1.31%) TCP/IP
9 10 (1.01%) Wi-Fi
10 9 (0.91%) SSH
11 6 (0.61%) HTTPS
11 6 (0.61%) IPv4
11 6 (0.61%) IPv6
11 6 (0.61%) LAN
12 5 (0.51%) Kerberos
12 5 (0.51%) VoIP
12 5 (0.51%) WAN
13 3 (0.30%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 152 (15.37%) PostgreSQL
2 133 (13.45%) Power BI
3 100 (10.11%) Data Warehouse
3 100 (10.11%) Relational Database
4 94 (9.50%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 81 (8.19%) MySQL
6 57 (5.76%) Azure SQL Database
6 57 (5.76%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 56 (5.66%) Oracle Database
8 51 (5.16%) MongoDB
9 35 (3.54%) Data Lake
10 24 (2.43%) NoSQL
10 24 (2.43%) SQL Server Analysis Services
11 23 (2.33%) Amazon RDS
12 22 (2.22%) Redis
13 21 (2.12%) RDBMS
13 21 (2.12%) Tableau
14 17 (1.72%) Star Schema
15 16 (1.62%) Metadata
16 12 (1.21%) Amazon Aurora
Development Applications
1 100 (10.11%) Git
2 62 (6.27%) JIRA
3 60 (6.07%) Jenkins
4 31 (3.13%) GitLab
5 24 (2.43%) Visual Studio
6 22 (2.22%) Maven
7 21 (2.12%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 20 (2.02%) Sonatype Nexus
9 15 (1.52%) REST Assured
9 15 (1.52%) Team Foundation Server
10 14 (1.42%) Selenium
11 12 (1.21%) Gradle
11 12 (1.21%) JUnit
11 12 (1.21%) TeamCity
12 11 (1.11%) Artifactory
12 11 (1.11%) Mockito
12 11 (1.11%) Postman
12 11 (1.11%) SonarQube
13 10 (1.01%) Cucumber
13 10 (1.01%) Cypress.io
General
1 307 (31.04%) Social Skills
2 254 (25.68%) Finance
3 185 (18.71%) Analytical Skills
4 123 (12.44%) Banking
5 72 (7.28%) Public Sector
6 42 (4.25%) Front Office
7 39 (3.94%) Documentation Skills
8 25 (2.53%) Investment Banking
9 22 (2.22%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 20 (2.02%) Retail
11 18 (1.82%) Legal
12 13 (1.31%) Organisational Skills
13 12 (1.21%) Financial Institution
14 8 (0.81%) Back Office
14 8 (0.81%) Manufacturing
15 7 (0.71%) Billing
16 5 (0.51%) Advertising
16 5 (0.51%) Law
16 5 (0.51%) Military
16 5 (0.51%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 310 (31.34%) Developer
2 156 (15.77%) Senior
3 131 (13.25%) DBA
4 81 (8.19%) SQL DBA
5 80 (8.09%) Data Engineer
6 79 (7.99%) .NET Developer
7 72 (7.28%) C# Developer
7 72 (7.28%) Lead
8 68 (6.88%) Administrator
9 52 (5.26%) Full-Stack Developer
10 51 (5.16%) Senior Developer
11 49 (4.95%) Architect
11 49 (4.95%) SQL Developer
12 48 (4.85%) Analyst
13 46 (4.65%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 36 (3.64%) Software Engineer
15 31 (3.13%) Azure Engineer
16 29 (2.93%) C# .NET Developer
16 29 (2.93%) Consultant
16 29 (2.93%) Software Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 278 (28.11%) .NET
2 123 (12.44%) REST
3 96 (9.71%) .NET Framework
4 79 (7.99%) React
5 71 (7.18%) Terraform
6 65 (6.57%) CSS
7 59 (5.97%) ASP.NET
8 57 (5.76%) HTML
9 56 (5.66%) AngularJS
9 56 (5.66%) Kafka
10 54 (5.46%) .NET Core
11 50 (5.06%) RESTful
12 43 (4.35%) JSON
13 38 (3.84%) XML
14 37 (3.74%) Web Services
15 34 (3.44%) Spring Boot
16 29 (2.93%) OAuth
16 29 (2.93%) SOAP
16 29 (2.93%) Spring
17 25 (2.53%) WinForms
Miscellaneous
1 62 (6.27%) Onboarding
2 58 (5.86%) Cloud Native
3 54 (5.46%) Data Structures
4 45 (4.55%) Replication
5 44 (4.45%) Enterprise Software
6 43 (4.35%) Clustering
7 39 (3.94%) Self-Motivation
8 36 (3.64%) Legacy Systems
9 33 (3.34%) Product Ownership
10 28 (2.83%) Management Information System
11 27 (2.73%) Data Centre
12 20 (2.02%) PKI
13 16 (1.62%) Distributed Systems
14 14 (1.42%) Derivative
14 14 (1.42%) Low-Code
15 12 (1.21%) Algorithms
15 12 (1.21%) NHS
15 12 (1.21%) Virtual Team
16 11 (1.11%) Data Protection Act
16 11 (1.11%) Fixed Income
Operating Systems
1 255 (25.78%) Windows
2 148 (14.96%) Windows Server
3 90 (9.10%) Linux
4 36 (3.64%) Unix
5 13 (1.31%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 11 (1.11%) Ubuntu
7 10 (1.01%) Solaris
8 8 (0.81%) VMS
9 7 (0.71%) Windows 10
9 7 (0.71%) Windows Server 2019
10 6 (0.61%) Android
10 6 (0.61%) CentOS
10 6 (0.61%) Windows Server 2012
11 4 (0.40%) Windows Server 2008
11 4 (0.40%) Windows Server 2016
12 2 (0.20%) AIX
13 1 (0.10%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.10%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 259 (26.19%) DevOps
2 241 (24.37%) CI/CD
3 233 (23.56%) Agile
4 195 (19.72%) Problem-Solving
5 185 (18.71%) Migration
6 155 (15.67%) ETL
7 146 (14.76%) Business Intelligence
8 140 (14.16%) Data Modelling
9 129 (13.04%) Performance Tuning
10 118 (11.93%) AI
11 107 (10.82%) Disaster Recovery
12 105 (10.62%) Stakeholder Management
13 93 (9.40%) Analytics
14 91 (9.20%) Continuous Improvement
15 88 (8.90%) Microservices
16 83 (8.39%) Software Engineering
17 81 (8.19%) Test Automation
18 80 (8.09%) Data Pipeline
19 79 (7.99%) Validation
20 77 (7.79%) Data Integration
Programming Languages
1 575 (58.14%) SQL
2 270 (27.30%) C#
3 196 (19.82%) Python
4 173 (17.49%) PowerShell
5 160 (16.18%) T-SQL
6 133 (13.45%) JavaScript
7 90 (9.10%) Java
8 61 (6.17%) PL/SQL
9 53 (5.36%) TypeScript
10 32 (3.24%) Bash
11 19 (1.92%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 17 (1.72%) VB
13 15 (1.52%) VBA
14 14 (1.42%) Shell Script
15 13 (1.31%) Scala
16 7 (0.71%) VB.NET
17 6 (0.61%) Bicep
17 6 (0.61%) Korn
17 6 (0.61%) XPath
18 5 (0.51%) VB6
Qualifications
1 251 (25.38%) Security Cleared
2 190 (19.21%) SC Cleared
3 105 (10.62%) Degree
4 51 (5.16%) DV Cleared
5 46 (4.65%) Microsoft Certification
6 31 (3.13%) Computer Science Degree
7 26 (2.63%) BPSS Clearance
8 24 (2.43%) Azure Certification
9 12 (1.21%) AWS Certification
9 12 (1.21%) ISTQB
10 10 (1.01%) Oracle Certification
11 9 (0.91%) DBS Check
11 9 (0.91%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 9 (0.91%) OCP
12 8 (0.81%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 8 (0.81%) Master's Degree
13 4 (0.40%) CISSP
13 4 (0.40%) PhD
14 3 (0.30%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
14 3 (0.30%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 97 (9.81%) Data Quality
2 89 (9.00%) QA
3 33 (3.34%) GDPR
4 27 (2.73%) Accessibility
5 22 (2.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 20 (2.02%) NIST
6 20 (2.02%) WCAG
7 18 (1.82%) SLA
8 6 (0.61%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 5 (0.51%) ISO 9000
10 3 (0.30%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.30%) Basel III
10 3 (0.30%) GRC
11 2 (0.20%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.20%) COREP
11 2 (0.20%) FINREP
11 2 (0.20%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.20%) SOC 2
12 1 (0.10%) Disclosure Scotland
12 1 (0.10%) ISO 20022
System Software
1 124 (12.54%) Active Directory
2 74 (7.48%) Docker
3 41 (4.15%) VMware Infrastructure
4 33 (3.34%) Virtual Machines
5 19 (1.92%) Oracle RAC
6 9 (0.91%) Hyper-V
7 8 (0.81%) Virtual Desktop
8 6 (0.61%) vSphere
9 4 (0.40%) Virtual Servers
9 4 (0.40%) VMware ESXi
10 3 (0.30%) Dovecot
10 3 (0.30%) GridGain
10 3 (0.30%) Postfix
11 1 (0.10%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.10%) NFS
11 1 (0.10%) RACF
11 1 (0.10%) SRDF
11 1 (0.10%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 91 (9.20%) Kubernetes
2 44 (4.45%) Ansible
3 20 (2.02%) SCOM
4 14 (1.42%) Data Guard
4 14 (1.42%) Microsoft Intune
5 13 (1.31%) HAProxy
6 12 (1.21%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
6 12 (1.21%) SCCM
7 11 (1.11%) Microsoft Clustering
8 10 (1.01%) WSUS
9 8 (0.81%) Grafana
9 8 (0.81%) Oracle RMAN
10 6 (0.61%) Failover Clustering
10 6 (0.61%) Single Sign-On
11 5 (0.51%) ITRS Geneos
11 5 (0.51%) Prometheus
12 3 (0.30%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 3 (0.30%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
12 3 (0.30%) Istio
12 3 (0.30%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 354 (35.79%) Microsoft
2 251 (25.38%) Oracle
3 74 (7.48%) Databricks
4 64 (6.47%) VMware
5 53 (5.36%) ServiceNow
6 44 (4.45%) CyberArk
7 39 (3.94%) Citrix
8 36 (3.64%) SAP
9 29 (2.93%) BeyondTrust
10 23 (2.33%) BMC
10 23 (2.33%) Remedy
11 22 (2.22%) IBM
12 21 (2.12%) Cisco
12 21 (2.12%) Informatica
13 17 (1.72%) Google
14 16 (1.62%) Dynatrace
14 16 (1.62%) Sybase
15 15 (1.52%) Red Hat
16 13 (1.31%) Alteryx
16 13 (1.31%) Splunk
883 SQL Server jobs in England