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 15 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
15 Nov 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 129 71 61
Rank change year-on-year -58 -10 -15
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 675 932 1,450
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.23% 2.99% 3.64%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 12.58% 16.84% 21.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 490 667 1,051
10th Percentile £315 £312 £363
25th Percentile £400 £400 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% -9.09% -
75th Percentile £607 £625 £650
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK median daily rate £489 £500 £525
% change year-on-year -2.25% -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 7 20
10th Percentile £20.86 £27.71 £20.17
25th Percentile £21.02 £38.75 £42.13
Median hourly rate £21.27 £60.50 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year -64.84% +15.24% +16.67%
75th Percentile £70.00 £65.00 £62.50
90th Percentile £74.50 £79.00 £64.96
UK median hourly rate £21.27 £40.00 £52.50
% change year-on-year -46.83% -23.81% +50.00%

All Database and Business Intelligence 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 5,364 5,535 6,633
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 17.75% 17.75% 16.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,722 3,725 4,711
10th Percentile £328 £350 £358
25th Percentile £413 £425 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £501 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -9.00% - -
75th Percentile £625 £663 £650
90th Percentile £726 £788 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £527 £534
% change year-on-year -5.08% -1.27% -3.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 82 79 141
10th Percentile £20.67 £17.50 £19.25
25th Percentile £29.06 £22.20 £25.18
Median hourly rate £44.25 £33.93 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +30.42% -28.57% -4.90%
75th Percentile £65.00 £53.38 £67.00
90th Percentile £84.65 £65.00 £78.00
UK median hourly rate £43.50 £30.00 £46.84
% change year-on-year +45.00% -35.95% +4.09%

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 15 November 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 15 November 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 15 November 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 -44 386 £525 -4.55% 282
North of England -9 90 £448 -5.79% 152
South East -32 73 £431 -13.75% 169
North West -8 51 £450 +1.24% 92
Yorkshire -11 39 £425 -24.31% 48
East of England -13 31 £500 +33.33% 42
South West -22 31 £485 -3.00% 47
Midlands -87 29 £365 -16.12% 125
West Midlands -57 16 £400 -29.45% 72
East Midlands -41 12 £325 -12.16% 52
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 (4.74%) IIS
2 27 (4.00%) Confluence
3 24 (3.56%) SharePoint
4 16 (2.37%) Apache
5 15 (2.22%) WebSphere
6 13 (1.93%) Microsoft Exchange
7 11 (1.63%) Apache Spark
7 11 (1.63%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 9 (1.33%) WebLogic
9 4 (0.59%) JBoss
9 4 (0.59%) SharePoint Server
10 3 (0.44%) Apache Airflow
10 3 (0.44%) CICS
10 3 (0.44%) CMS
10 3 (0.44%) Oracle Workflow
10 3 (0.44%) Skype for Business
10 3 (0.44%) Tomcat
11 2 (0.30%) HCL Notes
11 2 (0.30%) SAS
11 2 (0.30%) WildFly
Applications
1 61 (9.04%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (1.04%) Microsoft Project
3 6 (0.89%) MS Visio
4 5 (0.74%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (0.74%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.30%) Trello
5 2 (0.30%) Windchill
6 1 (0.15%) ProjectWise
Business Applications
1 9 (1.33%) Advent Geneva
1 9 (1.33%) Dynamics CRM
1 9 (1.33%) Maximo
2 8 (1.19%) Oracle BPM
3 7 (1.04%) Fidessa
4 5 (0.74%) BusinessWorks
4 5 (0.74%) OpenText MBPM
4 5 (0.74%) Salesforce CRM
5 4 (0.59%) Aladdin
5 4 (0.59%) Endur
5 4 (0.59%) SAP S/4HANA
5 4 (0.59%) thinkFolio
6 3 (0.44%) Dynamics AX
7 2 (0.30%) Kondor
7 2 (0.30%) Loan IQ
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle EBS
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 2 (0.30%) RMDS
7 2 (0.30%) Teamcenter
7 2 (0.30%) Temenos T24
Cloud Services
1 260 (38.52%) Azure
2 117 (17.33%) AWS
3 96 (14.22%) Power Platform
4 55 (8.15%) Azure DevOps
5 40 (5.93%) GitHub
6 38 (5.63%) GCP
7 28 (4.15%) Azure Data Factory
8 25 (3.70%) Serverless
9 23 (3.41%) Microsoft 365
9 23 (3.41%) SaaS
10 21 (3.11%) Azure Service Bus
11 20 (2.96%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 19 (2.81%) Azure Logic Apps
12 19 (2.81%) Dynamics 365
12 19 (2.81%) GitHub Actions
13 18 (2.67%) Power Automate
13 18 (2.67%) Snowflake
14 17 (2.52%) Amazon S3
15 16 (2.37%) PowerApps
16 15 (2.22%) Azure Functions
Communications & Networking
1 28 (4.15%) Firewall
2 16 (2.37%) DNS
2 16 (2.37%) TCP/IP
3 13 (1.93%) Internet
4 10 (1.48%) HTTP
5 9 (1.33%) LAN
6 7 (1.04%) SSL
7 6 (0.89%) DHCP
8 5 (0.74%) NAS
8 5 (0.74%) Skype
9 4 (0.59%) SAN
10 3 (0.44%) NetScaler
10 3 (0.44%) Wireshark
11 2 (0.30%) iSCSI
11 2 (0.30%) RS-232
11 2 (0.30%) VLAN
11 2 (0.30%) VPN
11 2 (0.30%) VSAN
11 2 (0.30%) WebEx
11 2 (0.30%) X.400
Database & Business Intelligence
1 84 (12.44%) Relational Database
2 83 (12.30%) Power BI
3 80 (11.85%) PostgreSQL
4 71 (10.52%) Oracle Database
5 60 (8.89%) Data Warehouse
6 59 (8.74%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 57 (8.44%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 46 (6.81%) MySQL
9 43 (6.37%) Azure SQL Database
10 42 (6.22%) MongoDB
11 33 (4.89%) NoSQL
12 32 (4.74%) DB2
13 27 (4.00%) Amazon RDS
14 21 (3.11%) Big Data
15 19 (2.81%) RDBMS
15 19 (2.81%) Redis
16 15 (2.22%) Data Lake
17 14 (2.07%) Tableau
18 13 (1.93%) Power Query
19 12 (1.78%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 65 (9.63%) Git
2 44 (6.52%) JIRA
3 24 (3.56%) Jenkins
4 21 (3.11%) GitLab
5 17 (2.52%) Bitbucket
5 17 (2.52%) Maven
6 16 (2.37%) SpecFlow
7 15 (2.22%) Visual Studio
8 13 (1.93%) Selenium
9 12 (1.78%) Cucumber
9 12 (1.78%) JUnit
10 10 (1.48%) Octopus Deploy
10 10 (1.48%) Sonatype Nexus
11 9 (1.33%) Mockito
11 9 (1.33%) TeamCity
12 8 (1.19%) Postman
13 7 (1.04%) SonarQube
13 7 (1.04%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
13 7 (1.04%) webpack
14 6 (0.89%) ERwin
General
1 233 (34.52%) Social Skills
2 215 (31.85%) Finance
3 99 (14.67%) Analytical Skills
4 95 (14.07%) Banking
5 37 (5.48%) Public Sector
6 34 (5.04%) Documentation Skills
7 30 (4.44%) Investment Banking
8 21 (3.11%) Front Office
9 17 (2.52%) Financial Institution
10 15 (2.22%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 11 (1.63%) Presentation Skills
11 11 (1.63%) Retail
12 10 (1.48%) Back Office
13 8 (1.19%) Legal
14 7 (1.04%) Local Government
15 6 (0.89%) Influencing Skills
15 6 (0.89%) Manufacturing
16 5 (0.74%) Organisational Skills
17 4 (0.59%) Law
17 4 (0.59%) Military
Job Titles
1 261 (38.67%) Developer
2 75 (11.11%) Senior
3 64 (9.48%) C# Developer
4 57 (8.44%) Analyst
5 55 (8.15%) Data Engineer
6 52 (7.70%) .NET Developer
7 44 (6.52%) Architect
8 42 (6.22%) Senior Developer
9 39 (5.78%) DBA
10 36 (5.33%) Consultant
11 27 (4.00%) Angular Developer
12 25 (3.70%) SQL Developer
13 24 (3.56%) Lead
14 23 (3.41%) C# .NET Developer
14 23 (3.41%) Full-Stack Developer
15 22 (3.26%) Applications Support
16 21 (3.11%) Data Analyst
17 20 (2.96%) SQL DBA
18 19 (2.81%) Java Developer
19 17 (2.52%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 187 (27.70%) .NET
2 86 (12.74%) .NET Framework
3 66 (9.78%) HTML
4 61 (9.04%) CSS
5 53 (7.85%) AngularJS
5 53 (7.85%) REST
6 49 (7.26%) XML
7 45 (6.67%) React
8 44 (6.52%) Entity Framework
9 41 (6.07%) RESTful
10 38 (5.63%) .NET Core
11 35 (5.19%) Kafka
12 34 (5.04%) SOAP
13 33 (4.89%) Web Services
14 29 (4.30%) ASP.NET
15 25 (3.70%) JSON
15 25 (3.70%) WPF
16 24 (3.56%) NHibernate
17 19 (2.81%) Playwright
18 18 (2.67%) Node.js
Miscellaneous
1 28 (4.15%) Legacy Systems
2 25 (3.70%) Cloud Native
3 24 (3.56%) Derivative
4 22 (3.26%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 20 (2.96%) Product Ownership
6 19 (2.81%) Data Protection Act
7 18 (2.67%) Management Information System
8 16 (2.37%) Enterprise Software
8 16 (2.37%) PKI
8 16 (2.37%) Replication
9 14 (2.07%) Credit Risk
9 14 (2.07%) Onboarding
10 13 (1.93%) Reinsurance
11 12 (1.78%) Clustering
11 12 (1.78%) Fixed Income
12 11 (1.63%) Distributed Systems
12 11 (1.63%) Hedge funds
12 11 (1.63%) Linux Command Line
12 11 (1.63%) NHS
13 10 (1.48%) Market Risk
Operating Systems
1 113 (16.74%) Windows
2 85 (12.59%) Linux
3 54 (8.00%) Windows Server
4 12 (1.78%) Unix
5 10 (1.48%) Windows 10
6 8 (1.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 7 (1.04%) Windows Server 2016
8 5 (0.74%) Windows Server 2019
9 4 (0.59%) VMS
10 2 (0.30%) Android
10 2 (0.30%) Solaris
10 2 (0.30%) Ubuntu
10 2 (0.30%) Windows Server 2003
10 2 (0.30%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.15%) Apple iOS
11 1 (0.15%) Mac OS
11 1 (0.15%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.15%) SUSE
11 1 (0.15%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.15%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 177 (26.22%) Agile
2 162 (24.00%) Problem-Solving
3 144 (21.33%) DevOps
4 133 (19.70%) CI/CD
5 107 (15.85%) Migration
6 100 (14.81%) Business Intelligence
7 98 (14.52%) ETL
8 86 (12.74%) Microservices
9 69 (10.22%) Data Modelling
10 63 (9.33%) Data Analysis
11 59 (8.74%) Test Automation
12 55 (8.15%) Data Migration
12 55 (8.15%) Full-Stack Development
13 54 (8.00%) Analytics
14 53 (7.85%) Performance Tuning
15 48 (7.11%) Clean Code
15 48 (7.11%) Scrum
16 46 (6.81%) Data Governance
16 46 (6.81%) Software Engineering
17 44 (6.52%) Disaster Recovery
Programming Languages
1 379 (56.15%) SQL
2 191 (28.30%) C#
3 131 (19.41%) Python
4 93 (13.78%) JavaScript
5 77 (11.41%) T-SQL
6 63 (9.33%) Java
7 52 (7.70%) PowerShell
8 40 (5.93%) PL/SQL
9 34 (5.04%) Bash
10 29 (4.30%) VBA
11 21 (3.11%) VB
12 19 (2.81%) TypeScript
13 18 (2.67%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 15 (2.22%) Shell Script
15 8 (1.19%) COBOL
16 6 (0.89%) Scala
16 6 (0.89%) VB.NET
16 6 (0.89%) X++
17 5 (0.74%) PHP
17 5 (0.74%) XPath
Qualifications
1 80 (11.85%) Security Cleared
2 67 (9.93%) Degree
3 61 (9.04%) SC Cleared
4 27 (4.00%) Computer Science Degree
5 20 (2.96%) Microsoft Certification
6 12 (1.78%) DV Cleared
7 11 (1.63%) Azure Certification
8 9 (1.33%) MCSE
9 6 (0.89%) BPSS Clearance
9 6 (0.89%) HNC
9 6 (0.89%) HND
9 6 (0.89%) Master's Degree
9 6 (0.89%) MCP
10 5 (0.74%) AWS Certification
10 5 (0.74%) ITIL Certification
11 4 (0.59%) PMP
12 2 (0.30%) CTC Cleared
12 2 (0.30%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 2 (0.30%) OCP
12 2 (0.30%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 59 (8.74%) QA
2 54 (8.00%) Data Quality
3 14 (2.07%) Accessibility
3 14 (2.07%) GDPR
4 11 (1.63%) MiFID
5 10 (1.48%) SLA
6 5 (0.74%) EMIR
7 4 (0.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 4 (0.59%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 3 (0.44%) WCAG
9 2 (0.30%) Basel III
9 2 (0.30%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.30%) HL7
9 2 (0.30%) ISO 15022
9 2 (0.30%) ISO 20022
9 2 (0.30%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.30%) PMO
9 2 (0.30%) Solvency II
10 1 (0.15%) NCSC
10 1 (0.15%) NIST 800
System Software
1 53 (7.85%) Docker
2 43 (6.37%) Active Directory
3 26 (3.85%) VMware Infrastructure
4 12 (1.78%) Oracle RAC
4 12 (1.78%) Virtual Machines
5 10 (1.48%) zsh
6 8 (1.19%) Hyper-V
7 7 (1.04%) VMware NSX
8 4 (0.59%) vSphere
9 3 (0.44%) NFS
10 2 (0.30%) GPFS
10 2 (0.30%) GridGain
10 2 (0.30%) NDS
10 2 (0.30%) NetIQ eDirectory
10 2 (0.30%) Virtual Desktop
10 2 (0.30%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.15%) KVM
11 1 (0.15%) Xen
11 1 (0.15%) XenApp
11 1 (0.15%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 41 (6.07%) Kubernetes
2 26 (3.85%) Ansible
3 24 (3.56%) Terraform
4 14 (2.07%) Data Guard
5 13 (1.93%) Grafana
5 13 (1.93%) Oracle RMAN
5 13 (1.93%) vCenter Server
6 11 (1.63%) NetBackup
6 11 (1.63%) Puppet
7 10 (1.48%) yum
8 9 (1.33%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 8 (1.19%) Microsoft Intune
10 7 (1.04%) SCCM
11 6 (0.89%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
11 6 (0.89%) Prometheus
11 6 (0.89%) SCOM
11 6 (0.89%) Single Sign-On
12 5 (0.74%) Control-M
12 5 (0.74%) TIBCO Hawk
13 4 (0.59%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 217 (32.15%) Microsoft
1 217 (32.15%) Oracle
2 39 (5.78%) VMware
3 31 (4.59%) Citrix
4 27 (4.00%) Databricks
4 27 (4.00%) IBM
5 21 (3.11%) Google
6 16 (2.37%) SAP
7 14 (2.07%) Salesforce
8 13 (1.93%) CyberArk
9 11 (1.63%) Informatica
9 11 (1.63%) Veritas
10 10 (1.48%) Cisco
10 10 (1.48%) Sybase
11 9 (1.33%) Advent
12 8 (1.19%) Talend
13 7 (1.04%) Atlassian
13 7 (1.04%) Cognos
13 7 (1.04%) HP
13 7 (1.04%) Veeam
801 SQL Server jobs in England