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

6 months to
17 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 133 113 61
Rank change year-on-year -20 -52 -4
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 982 689 1,159
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.12% 2.48% 3.54%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 14.11% 13.76% 19.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 696 503 833
10th Percentile £363 £313 £331
25th Percentile £413 £384 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% -2.44% -4.21%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £625
90th Percentile £719 £750 £725
UK median daily rate £488 £498 £500
% change year-on-year -2.11% -0.40% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 5 6
10th Percentile £13.51 £20.86 £26.83
25th Percentile £18.61 £21.02 £32.63
Median hourly rate £47.54 £21.27 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +123.51% -50.53% -18.10%
75th Percentile £60.63 £77.50 £60.94
90th Percentile £74.40 £84.25 £82.50
UK median hourly rate £47.54 £72.50 £38.50
% change year-on-year -34.43% +88.31% -16.63%

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 6,958 5,007 5,962
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 14.99% 18.03% 18.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,651 3,442 4,132
10th Percentile £358 £335 £350
25th Percentile £421 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £504 £512 £550
Median % change year-on-year -1.56% -6.91% -
75th Percentile £623 £638 £675
90th Percentile £713 £750 £825
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £535
% change year-on-year - -6.54% -1.47%
Number of hourly rates quoted 239 80 80
10th Percentile £15.72 £21.25 £17.50
25th Percentile £24.40 £30.55 £21.25
Median hourly rate £39.50 £42.00 £36.25
Median % change year-on-year -5.94% +15.85% -34.09%
75th Percentile £60.75 £65.00 £61.60
90th Percentile £75.00 £80.00 £71.85
UK median hourly rate £40.18 £40.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year +0.45% +14.29% -36.36%

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 17 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 17 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 17 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 -31 479 £516 -6.14% 550
North of England 0 196 £475 +11.76% 162
Midlands +8 116 £463 +20.13% 130
North West +9 110 £481 +11.86% 97
South East -45 94 £475 +44.82% 152
Yorkshire -1 82 £450 +9.09% 53
West Midlands -11 72 £460 -10.24% 75
East Midlands +18 43 £525 +60.80% 55
South West -29 42 £572 +20.47% 36
East of England -34 25 £425 -15.00% 36
North East -41 4 £425 -5.56% 14
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 77 (7.84%) SharePoint
2 43 (4.38%) Confluence
3 42 (4.28%) IIS
4 25 (2.55%) Apache Airflow
5 24 (2.44%) Microsoft Exchange
6 21 (2.14%) Apache
7 19 (1.93%) Camunda
8 18 (1.83%) Apache Spark
9 9 (0.92%) Oracle Workflow
10 6 (0.61%) Appian
10 6 (0.61%) CMS
11 5 (0.51%) Apache Solr
11 5 (0.51%) NetWeaver
11 5 (0.51%) Tuxedo
12 4 (0.41%) OpenEdge
12 4 (0.41%) Tomcat
12 4 (0.41%) Umbraco
13 3 (0.31%) Apache Superset
13 3 (0.31%) nginx
14 2 (0.20%) Jupyter
Applications
1 51 (5.19%) Microsoft Excel
2 30 (3.05%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (1.02%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.31%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.20%) Windchill
6 1 (0.10%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.10%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.10%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.10%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 33 (3.36%) Dynamics CRM
2 22 (2.24%) Remedy ITSM
3 15 (1.53%) SAP S/4HANA
4 7 (0.71%) OpenText MBPM
4 7 (0.71%) Oracle BPM
5 6 (0.61%) Dynamics AX
5 6 (0.61%) Oracle Payables
6 5 (0.51%) Aladdin
7 4 (0.41%) Elite 3E
8 3 (0.31%) Dynamics NAV
9 2 (0.20%) Endur
9 2 (0.20%) Infor LN
9 2 (0.20%) Siebel CRM
9 2 (0.20%) Teamcenter
10 1 (0.10%) Findur
10 1 (0.10%) NetSuite
10 1 (0.10%) Oracle General Ledger
10 1 (0.10%) SAP Business One
10 1 (0.10%) SAP CRM
10 1 (0.10%) SDL Web 8
Cloud Services
1 420 (42.77%) Azure
2 210 (21.38%) AWS
3 159 (16.19%) Power Platform
4 119 (12.12%) Azure DevOps
5 90 (9.16%) GitHub
6 54 (5.50%) Azure Data Factory
7 53 (5.40%) Entra ID
8 50 (5.09%) Serverless
9 46 (4.68%) Power Automate
10 44 (4.48%) Microsoft 365
11 43 (4.38%) Dynamics 365
12 39 (3.97%) Snowflake
13 37 (3.77%) Azure Monitor
14 36 (3.67%) GCP
15 35 (3.56%) GitHub Actions
16 34 (3.46%) Azure Synapse Analytics
17 23 (2.34%) dbt
17 23 (2.34%) PowerApps
18 22 (2.24%) GitHub Copilot
18 22 (2.24%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 48 (4.89%) DNS
2 42 (4.28%) DHCP
3 34 (3.46%) Firewall
4 19 (1.93%) VLAN
5 17 (1.73%) SAN
6 15 (1.53%) Internet
6 15 (1.53%) VPN
7 14 (1.43%) SSL
7 14 (1.43%) TCP/IP
8 13 (1.32%) Network Security
9 10 (1.02%) Wi-Fi
10 9 (0.92%) SSH
11 6 (0.61%) HTTPS
11 6 (0.61%) IPv4
11 6 (0.61%) IPv6
11 6 (0.61%) Kerberos
11 6 (0.61%) LAN
12 5 (0.51%) VoIP
12 5 (0.51%) WAN
13 3 (0.31%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 164 (16.70%) PostgreSQL
2 128 (13.03%) Power BI
3 100 (10.18%) Relational Database
4 94 (9.57%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 92 (9.37%) Data Warehouse
6 90 (9.16%) MySQL
7 59 (6.01%) Oracle Database
8 56 (5.70%) Azure SQL Database
9 55 (5.60%) MongoDB
9 55 (5.60%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 33 (3.36%) Data Lake
11 25 (2.55%) Amazon RDS
12 24 (2.44%) NoSQL
13 22 (2.24%) Redis
13 22 (2.24%) SQL Server Analysis Services
14 21 (2.14%) RDBMS
15 20 (2.04%) Tableau
16 19 (1.93%) Metadata
17 14 (1.43%) Star Schema
18 13 (1.32%) Amazon Redshift
Development Applications
1 105 (10.69%) Git
2 67 (6.82%) JIRA
3 60 (6.11%) Jenkins
4 32 (3.26%) GitLab
5 23 (2.34%) Maven
5 23 (2.34%) Visual Studio
6 21 (2.14%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 20 (2.04%) Sonatype Nexus
8 16 (1.63%) Selenium
9 15 (1.53%) REST Assured
9 15 (1.53%) Team Foundation Server
10 13 (1.32%) Postman
11 12 (1.22%) Claude Code
11 12 (1.22%) Gradle
11 12 (1.22%) JUnit
11 12 (1.22%) SonarQube
11 12 (1.22%) TeamCity
12 11 (1.12%) Artifactory
12 11 (1.12%) Cucumber
12 11 (1.12%) Cypress.io
General
1 314 (31.98%) Social Skills
2 262 (26.68%) Finance
3 179 (18.23%) Analytical Skills
4 131 (13.34%) Banking
5 73 (7.43%) Public Sector
6 44 (4.48%) Front Office
7 39 (3.97%) Documentation Skills
8 28 (2.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 27 (2.75%) Investment Banking
10 21 (2.14%) Retail
11 12 (1.22%) Legal
12 11 (1.12%) Financial Institution
13 10 (1.02%) Back Office
14 9 (0.92%) Organisational Skills
15 8 (0.81%) Billing
15 8 (0.81%) Manufacturing
16 6 (0.61%) Presentation Skills
17 5 (0.51%) Law
17 5 (0.51%) Local Government
17 5 (0.51%) Military
Job Titles
1 318 (32.38%) Developer
2 160 (16.29%) Senior
3 130 (13.24%) DBA
4 79 (8.04%) SQL DBA
5 75 (7.64%) .NET Developer
5 75 (7.64%) Data Engineer
6 73 (7.43%) C# Developer
7 72 (7.33%) Administrator
8 68 (6.92%) Lead
9 55 (5.60%) Full-Stack Developer
10 54 (5.50%) Senior Developer
11 50 (5.09%) Analyst
12 49 (4.99%) Architect
13 47 (4.79%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 44 (4.48%) SQL Developer
15 35 (3.56%) Software Engineer
16 29 (2.95%) Software Developer
17 28 (2.85%) Azure Engineer
17 28 (2.85%) C# .NET Developer
17 28 (2.85%) Oracle DBA
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 276 (28.11%) .NET
2 125 (12.73%) REST
3 87 (8.86%) .NET Framework
4 85 (8.66%) React
5 73 (7.43%) Terraform
6 66 (6.72%) CSS
7 60 (6.11%) ASP.NET
8 59 (6.01%) HTML
9 57 (5.80%) Kafka
10 56 (5.70%) AngularJS
11 53 (5.40%) .NET Core
12 51 (5.19%) RESTful
13 47 (4.79%) JSON
14 38 (3.87%) Web Services
15 36 (3.67%) XML
16 34 (3.46%) Spring Boot
17 30 (3.05%) SOAP
18 29 (2.95%) OAuth
18 29 (2.95%) Spring
19 26 (2.65%) WinForms
Miscellaneous
1 61 (6.21%) Cloud Native
1 61 (6.21%) Onboarding
2 51 (5.19%) Data Structures
3 48 (4.89%) Enterprise Software
4 43 (4.38%) Clustering
4 43 (4.38%) Replication
5 41 (4.18%) Self-Motivation
6 36 (3.67%) Product Ownership
7 35 (3.56%) Legacy Systems
8 33 (3.36%) Management Information System
9 30 (3.05%) Data Centre
10 19 (1.93%) Distributed Systems
10 19 (1.93%) PKI
11 17 (1.73%) Virtual Team
12 14 (1.43%) Derivative
12 14 (1.43%) Low-Code
13 12 (1.22%) Algorithms
13 12 (1.22%) Fixed Income
14 11 (1.12%) NHS
14 11 (1.12%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 254 (25.87%) Windows
2 146 (14.87%) Windows Server
3 92 (9.37%) Linux
4 39 (3.97%) Unix
5 16 (1.63%) Solaris
6 13 (1.32%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 12 (1.22%) Ubuntu
8 8 (0.81%) VMS
9 7 (0.71%) CentOS
9 7 (0.71%) Windows 10
9 7 (0.71%) Windows Server 2012
9 7 (0.71%) Windows Server 2019
10 6 (0.61%) Android
11 4 (0.41%) Windows Server 2008
11 4 (0.41%) Windows Server 2016
12 2 (0.20%) AIX
12 2 (0.20%) Windows Server 2003
13 1 (0.10%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.10%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 264 (26.88%) DevOps
2 242 (24.64%) CI/CD
3 240 (24.44%) Agile
4 199 (20.26%) Problem-Solving
5 178 (18.13%) Migration
6 148 (15.07%) ETL
7 141 (14.36%) Data Modelling
8 140 (14.26%) Business Intelligence
9 130 (13.24%) Performance Tuning
10 126 (12.83%) AI
11 114 (11.61%) Stakeholder Management
12 103 (10.49%) Disaster Recovery
13 98 (9.98%) Continuous Improvement
14 93 (9.47%) Microservices
15 91 (9.27%) Analytics
16 88 (8.96%) Test Automation
17 87 (8.86%) Software Engineering
18 79 (8.04%) Validation
19 74 (7.54%) Data Pipeline
19 74 (7.54%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 579 (58.96%) SQL
2 277 (28.21%) C#
3 191 (19.45%) Python
4 172 (17.52%) PowerShell
5 156 (15.89%) T-SQL
6 145 (14.77%) JavaScript
7 90 (9.16%) Java
8 62 (6.31%) PL/SQL
9 59 (6.01%) TypeScript
10 30 (3.05%) Bash
11 18 (1.83%) VB
12 17 (1.73%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 16 (1.63%) VBA
14 13 (1.32%) Shell Script
15 12 (1.22%) Scala
16 7 (0.71%) VB.NET
17 6 (0.61%) Bicep
17 6 (0.61%) PHP
17 6 (0.61%) XPath
18 5 (0.51%) Go
Qualifications
1 248 (25.25%) Security Cleared
2 186 (18.94%) SC Cleared
3 108 (11.00%) Degree
4 55 (5.60%) Microsoft Certification
5 51 (5.19%) DV Cleared
6 32 (3.26%) Computer Science Degree
7 27 (2.75%) BPSS Clearance
8 26 (2.65%) Azure Certification
9 13 (1.32%) AWS Certification
9 13 (1.32%) ISTQB
10 12 (1.22%) Oracle Certification
11 11 (1.12%) OCP
12 9 (0.92%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 9 (0.92%) Master's Degree
13 8 (0.81%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
14 5 (0.51%) CISSP
14 5 (0.51%) DBS Check
15 4 (0.41%) PhD
16 3 (0.31%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
16 3 (0.31%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 94 (9.57%) Data Quality
1 94 (9.57%) QA
2 36 (3.67%) GDPR
3 33 (3.36%) Accessibility
4 25 (2.55%) WCAG
5 22 (2.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 20 (2.04%) NIST
7 17 (1.73%) SLA
8 5 (0.51%) ISO 9000
9 4 (0.41%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 3 (0.31%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.31%) Basel III
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%) GRC
11 2 (0.20%) SOC 2
11 2 (0.20%) Software Quality Assurance
12 1 (0.10%) ISO 20022
System Software
1 127 (12.93%) Active Directory
2 76 (7.74%) Docker
3 42 (4.28%) VMware Infrastructure
4 33 (3.36%) Virtual Machines
5 17 (1.73%) Oracle RAC
6 10 (1.02%) Hyper-V
7 8 (0.81%) Virtual Desktop
8 6 (0.61%) vSphere
9 4 (0.41%) Virtual Servers
9 4 (0.41%) VMware ESXi
10 3 (0.31%) Dovecot
10 3 (0.31%) GridGain
10 3 (0.31%) Postfix
11 1 (0.10%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.10%) HDFS
11 1 (0.10%) NFS
11 1 (0.10%) RACF
11 1 (0.10%) SRDF
11 1 (0.10%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 94 (9.57%) Kubernetes
2 44 (4.48%) Ansible
3 20 (2.04%) SCOM
4 14 (1.43%) Data Guard
4 14 (1.43%) Microsoft Intune
5 13 (1.32%) HAProxy
6 12 (1.22%) SCCM
7 11 (1.12%) Microsoft Clustering
8 10 (1.02%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
8 10 (1.02%) WSUS
9 7 (0.71%) Grafana
10 6 (0.61%) Failover Clustering
10 6 (0.61%) Oracle RMAN
10 6 (0.61%) Single Sign-On
11 5 (0.51%) ITRS Geneos
11 5 (0.51%) Prometheus
12 4 (0.41%) Istio
13 3 (0.31%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 3 (0.31%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
13 3 (0.31%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 353 (35.95%) Microsoft
2 257 (26.17%) Oracle
3 74 (7.54%) Databricks
4 65 (6.62%) VMware
5 50 (5.09%) ServiceNow
6 45 (4.58%) CyberArk
7 40 (4.07%) Citrix
8 33 (3.36%) SAP
9 30 (3.05%) BeyondTrust
10 22 (2.24%) BMC
10 22 (2.24%) IBM
10 22 (2.24%) Informatica
10 22 (2.24%) Remedy
11 21 (2.14%) Cisco
12 17 (1.73%) Google
13 16 (1.63%) Dynatrace
13 16 (1.63%) Sybase
14 15 (1.53%) Red Hat
15 13 (1.32%) Alteryx
15 13 (1.32%) Splunk