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 5 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
5 Aug 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 116 105 54
Rank change year-on-year -11 -51 -1
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 1,017 693 1,232
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.24% 2.51% 3.68%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 14.57% 13.80% 20.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 718 513 876
10th Percentile £361 £313 £333
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £513 £510
Median % change year-on-year -4.88% +0.49% -2.86%
75th Percentile £600 £644 £625
90th Percentile £712 £750 £725
UK median daily rate £480 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -4.00% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 46 6 9
10th Percentile £13.51 £20.89 £29.48
25th Percentile £19.25 £21.02 £36.75
Median hourly rate £47.54 £23.80 £48.56
Median % change year-on-year +99.79% -51.00% +5.57%
75th Percentile £63.31 £64.71 £62.96
90th Percentile £76.25 £83.13 £84.00
UK median hourly rate £42.52 £70.00 £48.03
% change year-on-year -39.26% +45.74% +6.73%

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 6,978 5,021 6,136
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 15.36% 18.19% 18.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,674 3,482 4,380
10th Percentile £358 £345 £350
25th Percentile £419 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £515 £538
Median % change year-on-year -2.91% -4.19% -2.27%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £675
90th Percentile £700 £763 £825
UK median daily rate £500 £509 £525
% change year-on-year -1.72% -3.10% -2.95%
Number of hourly rates quoted 225 77 91
10th Percentile £16.00 £18.64 £14.25
25th Percentile £25.25 £23.50 £20.38
Median hourly rate £38.50 £34.50 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +11.59% -8.00% -31.82%
75th Percentile £62.00 £63.75 £60.78
90th Percentile £76.80 £77.98 £71.50
UK median hourly rate £39.00 £35.00 £35.50
% change year-on-year +11.43% -1.41% -35.45%

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 5 August 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 5 August 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 5 August 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 -26 485 £525 -7.89% 210
North of England +17 202 £450 - 91
South East -10 128 £468 +17.00% 105
North West -4 111 £475 +11.76% 54
Midlands -8 103 £473 +10.64% 69
Yorkshire +15 91 £450 -6.25% 26
West Midlands -27 59 £450 -14.29% 47
South West -18 49 £450 - 26
East Midlands +13 42 £525 +54.41% 22
East of England -11 28 £450 -10.00% 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 70 (6.88%) SharePoint
2 47 (4.62%) IIS
3 41 (4.03%) Confluence
4 23 (2.26%) Microsoft Exchange
5 19 (1.87%) Apache
5 19 (1.87%) Apache Spark
6 17 (1.67%) Apache Airflow
7 13 (1.28%) Camunda
8 11 (1.08%) Oracle Workflow
9 8 (0.79%) Appian
10 7 (0.69%) CMS
11 6 (0.59%) NetWeaver
12 5 (0.49%) OpenEdge
12 5 (0.49%) Tuxedo
13 4 (0.39%) Apache Solr
13 4 (0.39%) Tomcat
13 4 (0.39%) Umbraco
14 3 (0.29%) Apache Superset
14 3 (0.29%) nginx
15 2 (0.20%) Anypoint
Applications
1 50 (4.92%) Microsoft Excel
2 24 (2.36%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (1.08%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.20%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.098%) Adobe XD
5 1 (0.098%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.098%) InDesign
Business Applications
1 25 (2.46%) Remedy ITSM
2 19 (1.87%) Dynamics CRM
3 16 (1.57%) SAP S/4HANA
4 7 (0.69%) OpenText MBPM
4 7 (0.69%) Oracle BPM
5 6 (0.59%) Dynamics AX
6 5 (0.49%) Oracle Payables
7 4 (0.39%) Aladdin
7 4 (0.39%) Elite 3E
8 2 (0.20%) Dynamics NAV
8 2 (0.20%) Endur
8 2 (0.20%) Infor LN
8 2 (0.20%) Loan IQ
8 2 (0.20%) Siebel CRM
8 2 (0.20%) Teamcenter
9 1 (0.098%) Findur
9 1 (0.098%) Payment Gateway
9 1 (0.098%) SAP Business One
9 1 (0.098%) SAP CRM
9 1 (0.098%) SDL Web 8
Cloud Services
1 423 (41.59%) Azure
2 212 (20.85%) AWS
3 155 (15.24%) Power Platform
4 111 (10.91%) Azure DevOps
5 91 (8.95%) GitHub
6 66 (6.49%) Azure Data Factory
7 48 (4.72%) Entra ID
8 43 (4.23%) Serverless
9 41 (4.03%) Power Automate
10 40 (3.93%) Azure Monitor
10 40 (3.93%) Microsoft 365
11 38 (3.74%) GitHub Actions
11 38 (3.74%) Snowflake
12 36 (3.54%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 34 (3.34%) Dynamics 365
14 31 (3.05%) GCP
15 26 (2.56%) dbt
15 26 (2.56%) SaaS
16 23 (2.26%) Amazon S3
16 23 (2.26%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 48 (4.72%) DNS
2 39 (3.83%) DHCP
3 30 (2.95%) Firewall
4 20 (1.97%) SAN
5 19 (1.87%) VLAN
6 16 (1.57%) VPN
7 14 (1.38%) Internet
8 13 (1.28%) Network Security
9 12 (1.18%) SSH
9 12 (1.18%) TCP/IP
9 12 (1.18%) Wi-Fi
10 10 (0.98%) SSL
11 7 (0.69%) LAN
12 6 (0.59%) HTTPS
12 6 (0.59%) IPv4
12 6 (0.59%) IPv6
13 5 (0.49%) VoIP
13 5 (0.49%) WAN
14 4 (0.39%) Kerberos
15 3 (0.29%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 141 (13.86%) PostgreSQL
2 132 (12.98%) Power BI
3 104 (10.23%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 103 (10.13%) Data Warehouse
4 103 (10.13%) Relational Database
5 73 (7.18%) Oracle Database
6 64 (6.29%) MySQL
6 64 (6.29%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 58 (5.70%) Azure SQL Database
8 42 (4.13%) MongoDB
9 41 (4.03%) Data Lake
10 34 (3.34%) SQL Server Analysis Services
11 29 (2.85%) NoSQL
12 24 (2.36%) RDBMS
13 20 (1.97%) Tableau
14 16 (1.57%) Star Schema
15 15 (1.47%) Redis
16 14 (1.38%) Metadata
17 13 (1.28%) Amazon RDS
18 12 (1.18%) Oracle Database 12c
Development Applications
1 94 (9.24%) Git
2 54 (5.31%) Jenkins
3 52 (5.11%) JIRA
4 28 (2.75%) GitLab
5 24 (2.36%) Visual Studio
6 19 (1.87%) TeamCity
7 18 (1.77%) Team Foundation Server
8 17 (1.67%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 15 (1.47%) Maven
10 14 (1.38%) Sonatype Nexus
11 13 (1.28%) Octopus Deploy
11 13 (1.28%) Postman
12 12 (1.18%) Cucumber
13 11 (1.08%) Selenium
14 10 (0.98%) Artifactory
15 9 (0.88%) Chocolatey
15 9 (0.88%) Cypress.io
15 9 (0.88%) Gatling
15 9 (0.88%) WebDriver
16 8 (0.79%) REST Assured
General
1 295 (29.01%) Social Skills
2 258 (25.37%) Finance
3 189 (18.58%) Analytical Skills
4 125 (12.29%) Banking
5 79 (7.77%) Public Sector
6 45 (4.42%) Documentation Skills
7 40 (3.93%) Front Office
8 25 (2.46%) Investment Banking
9 20 (1.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 16 (1.57%) Legal
10 16 (1.57%) Organisational Skills
11 14 (1.38%) Financial Institution
11 14 (1.38%) Retail
12 9 (0.88%) Advertising
13 8 (0.79%) Manufacturing
14 7 (0.69%) Back Office
15 6 (0.59%) Local Government
15 6 (0.59%) Telecoms
16 5 (0.49%) Law
16 5 (0.49%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 299 (29.40%) Developer
2 157 (15.44%) Senior
3 147 (14.45%) DBA
4 94 (9.24%) SQL DBA
5 89 (8.75%) Data Engineer
6 87 (8.55%) C# Developer
7 78 (7.67%) .NET Developer
8 73 (7.18%) Lead
9 61 (6.00%) Administrator
10 50 (4.92%) Architect
11 49 (4.82%) SQL Developer
12 48 (4.72%) Senior Developer
13 46 (4.52%) Analyst
14 44 (4.33%) Infrastructure Engineer
15 43 (4.23%) Oracle DBA
16 38 (3.74%) Full-Stack Developer
16 38 (3.74%) Software Engineer
17 35 (3.44%) Azure Engineer
18 34 (3.34%) Consultant
19 33 (3.24%) C# .NET Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 258 (25.37%) .NET
2 125 (12.29%) REST
3 102 (10.03%) .NET Framework
4 75 (7.37%) React
5 59 (5.80%) ASP.NET
6 54 (5.31%) AngularJS
6 54 (5.31%) RESTful
7 53 (5.21%) CSS
8 52 (5.11%) Kafka
9 46 (4.52%) .NET Core
10 43 (4.23%) HTML
11 37 (3.64%) JSON
11 37 (3.64%) Web Services
12 36 (3.54%) XML
13 30 (2.95%) SOAP
14 28 (2.75%) Entity Framework
15 22 (2.16%) OAuth
15 22 (2.16%) Spring Boot
15 22 (2.16%) WinForms
16 21 (2.06%) PySpark
Miscellaneous
1 60 (5.90%) Onboarding
2 49 (4.82%) Cloud Native
3 48 (4.72%) Clustering
3 48 (4.72%) Data Structures
4 44 (4.33%) Legacy Systems
5 43 (4.23%) Replication
6 39 (3.83%) Self-Motivation
7 37 (3.64%) Enterprise Software
8 27 (2.65%) Management Information System
9 22 (2.16%) Product Ownership
10 21 (2.06%) Data Centre
10 21 (2.06%) PKI
11 17 (1.67%) Derivative
12 16 (1.57%) Low-Code
13 14 (1.38%) Distributed Systems
13 14 (1.38%) NHS
14 12 (1.18%) Algorithms
15 11 (1.08%) Data Protection Act
15 11 (1.08%) Fixed Income
15 11 (1.08%) Legacy Code
Operating Systems
1 266 (26.16%) Windows
2 152 (14.95%) Windows Server
3 99 (9.73%) Linux
4 54 (5.31%) Unix
5 13 (1.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 8 (0.79%) Ubuntu
6 8 (0.79%) Windows 10
6 8 (0.79%) Windows Server 2019
7 6 (0.59%) AIX
7 6 (0.59%) Android
7 6 (0.59%) VMS
8 5 (0.49%) Solaris
8 5 (0.49%) Windows Server 2012
8 5 (0.49%) Windows Server 2016
9 3 (0.29%) CentOS
9 3 (0.29%) Windows Server 2008
10 2 (0.20%) OpenVMS
11 1 (0.098%) Data ONTAP
11 1 (0.098%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.098%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 254 (24.98%) DevOps
2 229 (22.52%) Agile
3 220 (21.63%) CI/CD
4 208 (20.45%) Problem-Solving
5 189 (18.58%) Migration
6 161 (15.83%) ETL
7 155 (15.24%) Business Intelligence
8 136 (13.37%) Performance Tuning
9 134 (13.18%) Data Modelling
10 118 (11.60%) Disaster Recovery
11 114 (11.21%) AI
12 100 (9.83%) Analytics
13 92 (9.05%) Data Pipeline
14 90 (8.85%) High Availability
15 85 (8.36%) Continuous Improvement
16 81 (7.96%) Microservices
17 79 (7.77%) Test Automation
18 78 (7.67%) Data Analysis
19 77 (7.57%) Software Engineering
20 76 (7.47%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 574 (56.44%) SQL
2 266 (26.16%) C#
3 203 (19.96%) Python
4 188 (18.49%) PowerShell
5 170 (16.72%) T-SQL
6 114 (11.21%) JavaScript
7 74 (7.28%) Java
8 65 (6.39%) PL/SQL
9 49 (4.82%) TypeScript
10 36 (3.54%) Bash
11 26 (2.56%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 26 (2.56%) Shell Script
12 18 (1.77%) VB
13 17 (1.67%) Korn
13 17 (1.67%) Scala
14 15 (1.47%) VBA
15 11 (1.08%) Bicep
16 8 (0.79%) VB.NET
17 6 (0.59%) VB6
17 6 (0.59%) XPath
Qualifications
1 253 (24.88%) Security Cleared
2 191 (18.78%) SC Cleared
3 102 (10.03%) Degree
4 43 (4.23%) DV Cleared
5 42 (4.13%) Microsoft Certification
6 26 (2.56%) Computer Science Degree
7 20 (1.97%) Azure Certification
7 20 (1.97%) BPSS Clearance
8 12 (1.18%) ISTQB
8 12 (1.18%) Oracle Certification
9 11 (1.08%) OCP
10 9 (0.88%) DBS Check
11 6 (0.59%) CISSP
11 6 (0.59%) Master's Degree
12 5 (0.49%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 4 (0.39%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
13 4 (0.39%) MCITP
13 4 (0.39%) MCTS
13 4 (0.39%) PhD
14 3 (0.29%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 99 (9.73%) QA
2 88 (8.65%) Data Quality
3 29 (2.85%) GDPR
4 27 (2.65%) NIST
5 25 (2.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 24 (2.36%) Accessibility
7 21 (2.06%) SLA
8 16 (1.57%) WCAG
9 6 (0.59%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 5 (0.49%) ISO 9000
11 4 (0.39%) Actionable Recommendations
12 3 (0.29%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 3 (0.29%) HIPAA
13 2 (0.20%) Basel III
13 2 (0.20%) COREP
13 2 (0.20%) FINREP
13 2 (0.20%) Government Security Classifications
13 2 (0.20%) GRC
13 2 (0.20%) SOC 2
14 1 (0.098%) IFRS
System Software
1 127 (12.49%) Active Directory
2 74 (7.28%) Docker
3 33 (3.24%) VMware Infrastructure
4 30 (2.95%) Oracle RAC
4 30 (2.95%) Virtual Machines
5 10 (0.98%) Hyper-V
6 7 (0.69%) Virtual Desktop
7 3 (0.29%) Dovecot
7 3 (0.29%) GridGain
7 3 (0.29%) KVM
7 3 (0.29%) Postfix
7 3 (0.29%) Virtual Servers
8 2 (0.20%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.20%) vSphere
9 1 (0.098%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.098%) Citrix Hypervisor
9 1 (0.098%) NFS
9 1 (0.098%) SRDF
9 1 (0.098%) XenApp
9 1 (0.098%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 99 (9.73%) Kubernetes
2 71 (6.98%) Terraform
3 40 (3.93%) Ansible
4 23 (2.26%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
5 21 (2.06%) Oracle RMAN
6 16 (1.57%) Microsoft Intune
7 15 (1.47%) Data Guard
7 15 (1.47%) SCCM
8 13 (1.28%) HAProxy
9 12 (1.18%) SCOM
10 10 (0.98%) WSUS
11 9 (0.88%) Grafana
11 9 (0.88%) Microsoft Clustering
12 7 (0.69%) Failover Clustering
12 7 (0.69%) Single Sign-On
13 4 (0.39%) ITRS Geneos
13 4 (0.39%) Prometheus
13 4 (0.39%) vCenter Server
14 3 (0.29%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
14 3 (0.29%) Foglight
Vendors
1 330 (32.45%) Microsoft
2 280 (27.53%) Oracle
3 62 (6.10%) Databricks
4 59 (5.80%) VMware
5 52 (5.11%) ServiceNow
6 50 (4.92%) CyberArk
7 48 (4.72%) Citrix
8 36 (3.54%) SAP
9 32 (3.15%) BeyondTrust
10 25 (2.46%) Remedy
11 24 (2.36%) BMC
12 20 (1.97%) Cisco
12 20 (1.97%) Sybase
13 19 (1.87%) Dynatrace
13 19 (1.87%) Informatica
14 17 (1.67%) Red Hat
15 16 (1.57%) IBM
16 14 (1.38%) Google
17 13 (1.28%) Alteryx
18 11 (1.08%) AppDynamics
496 SQL Server jobs in England