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 30 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 113 104 55
Rank change year-on-year -9 -49 -2
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 1,015 690 1,254
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.25% 2.51% 3.68%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 14.62% 13.77% 20.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 708 515 893
10th Percentile £361 £313 £332
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £513 £505
Median % change year-on-year -4.88% +1.49% -3.81%
75th Percentile £600 £647 £625
90th Percentile £712 £750 £725
UK median daily rate £481 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -3.80% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 6 10
10th Percentile £13.51 £20.89 £30.37
25th Percentile £19.25 £21.02 £37.56
Median hourly rate £47.54 £23.80 £48.03
Median % change year-on-year +99.79% -50.46% +5.56%
75th Percentile £65.17 £64.71 £62.96
90th Percentile £76.15 £83.13 £82.00
UK median hourly rate £47.54 £70.00 £47.50
% change year-on-year -32.09% +47.37% +5.56%

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 6,941 5,011 6,185
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 15.36% 18.22% 18.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,644 3,470 4,436
10th Percentile £356 £344 £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 £505 £525
% change year-on-year -0.99% -3.81% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 223 78 93
10th Percentile £16.00 £18.67 £13.80
25th Percentile £25.15 £23.50 £20.00
Median hourly rate £39.50 £34.58 £38.50
Median % change year-on-year +14.24% -10.19% -30.00%
75th Percentile £62.88 £63.75 £59.95
90th Percentile £76.90 £77.86 £71.50
UK median hourly rate £39.50 £35.00 £37.50
% change year-on-year +12.86% -6.67% -31.82%

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 30 July 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 30 July 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 30 July 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 -29 488 £525 -4.55% 129
North of England +11 200 £455 +2.25% 98
South East -12 125 £468 +12.77% 95
North West -6 108 £477 +12.12% 52
Midlands -10 100 £473 +10.64% 55
Yorkshire +16 91 £450 -8.86% 33
West Midlands -37 56 £450 -14.29% 33
South West -7 50 £450 - 24
East Midlands +12 42 £525 +54.41% 22
East of England -5 31 £475 -5.00% 23
North East -49 1 - - 17
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 (6.80%) SharePoint
2 47 (4.63%) IIS
3 41 (4.04%) Confluence
4 23 (2.27%) Microsoft Exchange
5 22 (2.17%) Apache Spark
6 20 (1.97%) Apache
7 18 (1.77%) Apache Airflow
8 13 (1.28%) Camunda
9 11 (1.08%) Oracle Workflow
10 9 (0.89%) Appian
11 8 (0.79%) CMS
12 6 (0.59%) NetWeaver
13 5 (0.49%) OpenEdge
13 5 (0.49%) Tuxedo
14 4 (0.39%) Tomcat
14 4 (0.39%) Umbraco
15 3 (0.30%) Apache Solr
15 3 (0.30%) Apache Superset
15 3 (0.30%) nginx
15 3 (0.30%) Sitecore CMS
Applications
1 50 (4.93%) Microsoft Excel
2 24 (2.36%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (1.18%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.099%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.099%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.099%) InDesign
Business Applications
1 23 (2.27%) Remedy ITSM
2 17 (1.67%) Dynamics CRM
2 17 (1.67%) SAP S/4HANA
3 7 (0.69%) OpenText MBPM
3 7 (0.69%) Oracle BPM
4 6 (0.59%) Dynamics AX
5 5 (0.49%) Oracle Payables
6 4 (0.39%) Aladdin
6 4 (0.39%) Elite 3E
7 2 (0.20%) Dynamics NAV
7 2 (0.20%) Endur
7 2 (0.20%) Infor LN
7 2 (0.20%) Loan IQ
7 2 (0.20%) Siebel CRM
7 2 (0.20%) SystmOne
7 2 (0.20%) Teamcenter
8 1 (0.099%) Findur
8 1 (0.099%) SAP Business One
8 1 (0.099%) SAP CRM
8 1 (0.099%) SDL Web 8
Cloud Services
1 420 (41.38%) Azure
2 214 (21.08%) AWS
3 149 (14.68%) Power Platform
4 110 (10.84%) Azure DevOps
5 90 (8.87%) GitHub
6 65 (6.40%) Azure Data Factory
7 47 (4.63%) Entra ID
8 43 (4.24%) Serverless
9 41 (4.04%) Microsoft 365
10 39 (3.84%) Azure Monitor
10 39 (3.84%) Power Automate
11 38 (3.74%) GitHub Actions
11 38 (3.74%) Snowflake
12 35 (3.45%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 33 (3.25%) GCP
14 32 (3.15%) Dynamics 365
15 27 (2.66%) SaaS
16 26 (2.56%) dbt
17 24 (2.36%) Amazon S3
18 23 (2.27%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 49 (4.83%) DNS
2 40 (3.94%) DHCP
3 31 (3.05%) Firewall
4 21 (2.07%) SAN
5 20 (1.97%) VLAN
6 17 (1.67%) VPN
7 14 (1.38%) Internet
8 13 (1.28%) Network Security
8 13 (1.28%) Wi-Fi
9 12 (1.18%) SSH
9 12 (1.18%) TCP/IP
10 9 (0.89%) SSL
11 8 (0.79%) LAN
12 6 (0.59%) HTTPS
12 6 (0.59%) IPv4
12 6 (0.59%) IPv6
12 6 (0.59%) WAN
13 5 (0.49%) VoIP
14 4 (0.39%) Kerberos
15 3 (0.30%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 148 (14.58%) PostgreSQL
2 125 (12.32%) Power BI
3 106 (10.44%) Relational Database
4 104 (10.25%) Data Warehouse
5 101 (9.95%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 74 (7.29%) Oracle Database
7 65 (6.40%) MySQL
8 60 (5.91%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 56 (5.52%) Azure SQL Database
10 44 (4.33%) MongoDB
11 41 (4.04%) Data Lake
12 33 (3.25%) SQL Server Analysis Services
13 29 (2.86%) NoSQL
14 24 (2.36%) RDBMS
15 20 (1.97%) Tableau
16 16 (1.58%) Metadata
16 16 (1.58%) Redis
16 16 (1.58%) Star Schema
17 15 (1.48%) Big Data
18 14 (1.38%) Db2
Development Applications
1 94 (9.26%) Git
2 55 (5.42%) Jenkins
3 53 (5.22%) JIRA
4 28 (2.76%) GitLab
5 25 (2.46%) Visual Studio
6 20 (1.97%) TeamCity
7 18 (1.77%) Team Foundation Server
8 17 (1.67%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 15 (1.48%) Maven
10 13 (1.28%) Cucumber
10 13 (1.28%) Octopus Deploy
10 13 (1.28%) Sonatype Nexus
11 12 (1.18%) Postman
12 11 (1.08%) Selenium
13 10 (0.99%) Artifactory
13 10 (0.99%) Chocolatey
14 9 (0.89%) Gatling
15 8 (0.79%) Cypress.io
15 8 (0.79%) MSTest
15 8 (0.79%) REST Assured
General
1 296 (29.16%) Social Skills
2 258 (25.42%) Finance
3 186 (18.33%) Analytical Skills
4 128 (12.61%) Banking
5 79 (7.78%) Public Sector
6 46 (4.53%) Documentation Skills
7 38 (3.74%) Front Office
8 26 (2.56%) Investment Banking
9 21 (2.07%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 16 (1.58%) Legal
10 16 (1.58%) Organisational Skills
11 14 (1.38%) Financial Institution
11 14 (1.38%) Retail
12 9 (0.89%) 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
1 300 (29.56%) Developer
2 156 (15.37%) Senior
3 144 (14.19%) DBA
4 91 (8.97%) SQL DBA
5 87 (8.57%) C# Developer
6 85 (8.37%) Data Engineer
7 77 (7.59%) .NET Developer
8 70 (6.90%) Lead
9 58 (5.71%) Administrator
10 53 (5.22%) Architect
11 50 (4.93%) SQL Developer
12 48 (4.73%) Senior Developer
13 44 (4.33%) Analyst
13 44 (4.33%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 42 (4.14%) Oracle DBA
15 40 (3.94%) Software Engineer
16 38 (3.74%) Full-Stack Developer
17 35 (3.45%) Azure Engineer
18 33 (3.25%) C# .NET Developer
18 33 (3.25%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 256 (25.22%) .NET
2 127 (12.51%) REST
3 102 (10.05%) .NET Framework
4 79 (7.78%) React
5 59 (5.81%) ASP.NET
6 58 (5.71%) RESTful
7 57 (5.62%) AngularJS
7 57 (5.62%) CSS
8 52 (5.12%) Kafka
9 48 (4.73%) HTML
10 47 (4.63%) .NET Core
11 38 (3.74%) Web Services
12 37 (3.65%) JSON
13 36 (3.55%) XML
14 30 (2.96%) SOAP
15 28 (2.76%) Entity Framework
16 24 (2.36%) OAuth
16 24 (2.36%) Spring Boot
17 21 (2.07%) Spring
17 21 (2.07%) WinForms
Miscellaneous
1 58 (5.71%) Onboarding
2 51 (5.02%) Cloud Native
3 49 (4.83%) Data Structures
4 46 (4.53%) Clustering
4 46 (4.53%) Legacy Systems
5 43 (4.24%) Replication
6 40 (3.94%) Self-Motivation
7 37 (3.65%) Enterprise Software
8 27 (2.66%) Management Information System
9 21 (2.07%) PKI
9 21 (2.07%) Product Ownership
10 20 (1.97%) Data Centre
11 17 (1.67%) Low-Code
12 16 (1.58%) Derivative
13 14 (1.38%) Distributed Systems
13 14 (1.38%) NHS
14 13 (1.28%) Algorithms
14 13 (1.28%) Fixed Income
15 11 (1.08%) Legacy Code
16 10 (0.99%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 263 (25.91%) Windows
2 151 (14.88%) Windows Server
3 99 (9.75%) Linux
4 56 (5.52%) 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 7 (0.69%) AIX
8 6 (0.59%) Android
8 6 (0.59%) VMS
9 5 (0.49%) Solaris
9 5 (0.49%) Windows Server 2012
9 5 (0.49%) Windows Server 2016
10 3 (0.30%) CentOS
10 3 (0.30%) Windows Server 2008
11 2 (0.20%) OpenVMS
12 1 (0.099%) Data ONTAP
12 1 (0.099%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.099%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 255 (25.12%) DevOps
2 228 (22.46%) Agile
3 223 (21.97%) CI/CD
4 210 (20.69%) Problem-Solving
5 182 (17.93%) Migration
6 158 (15.57%) ETL
7 148 (14.58%) Business Intelligence
8 136 (13.40%) Performance Tuning
9 135 (13.30%) Data Modelling
10 118 (11.63%) Disaster Recovery
11 115 (11.33%) AI
12 100 (9.85%) Analytics
13 94 (9.26%) Data Pipeline
14 89 (8.77%) High Availability
15 86 (8.47%) Microservices
16 85 (8.37%) Continuous Improvement
17 80 (7.88%) Test Automation
18 78 (7.68%) Software Engineering
19 77 (7.59%) Data Analysis
20 75 (7.39%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 569 (56.06%) SQL
2 264 (26.01%) C#
3 206 (20.30%) Python
4 185 (18.23%) PowerShell
5 168 (16.55%) T-SQL
6 115 (11.33%) JavaScript
7 78 (7.68%) Java
8 64 (6.31%) PL/SQL
9 52 (5.12%) TypeScript
10 36 (3.55%) Bash
11 25 (2.46%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 25 (2.46%) Shell Script
12 18 (1.77%) Scala
12 18 (1.77%) VB
13 17 (1.67%) Korn
14 15 (1.48%) VBA
15 11 (1.08%) Bicep
16 8 (0.79%) VB.NET
17 6 (0.59%) VB6
17 6 (0.59%) XPath
Qualifications
1 249 (24.53%) Security Cleared
2 189 (18.62%) SC Cleared
3 103 (10.15%) Degree
4 42 (4.14%) DV Cleared
5 39 (3.84%) Microsoft Certification
6 26 (2.56%) Computer Science Degree
7 19 (1.87%) BPSS Clearance
8 18 (1.77%) Azure Certification
9 12 (1.18%) Oracle Certification
10 11 (1.08%) ISTQB
10 11 (1.08%) OCP
11 9 (0.89%) DBS Check
12 8 (0.79%) Master's Degree
13 5 (0.49%) CISSP
14 4 (0.39%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
14 4 (0.39%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 4 (0.39%) MCITP
14 4 (0.39%) MCTS
14 4 (0.39%) PhD
15 3 (0.30%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 97 (9.56%) QA
2 91 (8.97%) Data Quality
3 28 (2.76%) GDPR
4 27 (2.66%) NIST
5 25 (2.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 23 (2.27%) Accessibility
7 22 (2.17%) SLA
8 15 (1.48%) WCAG
9 6 (0.59%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 5 (0.49%) ISO 9000
11 4 (0.39%) Actionable Recommendations
12 3 (0.30%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 3 (0.30%) 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 (0.099%) IFRS
System Software
1 126 (12.41%) Active Directory
2 75 (7.39%) Docker
3 32 (3.15%) VMware Infrastructure
4 30 (2.96%) Oracle RAC
4 30 (2.96%) Virtual Machines
5 11 (1.08%) Hyper-V
6 7 (0.69%) Virtual Desktop
7 4 (0.39%) KVM
8 3 (0.30%) Dovecot
8 3 (0.30%) GridGain
8 3 (0.30%) Postfix
8 3 (0.30%) Virtual Servers
9 2 (0.20%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.20%) vSphere
10 1 (0.099%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.099%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 1 (0.099%) NFS
10 1 (0.099%) SRDF
10 1 (0.099%) XenApp
10 1 (0.099%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 101 (9.95%) Kubernetes
2 72 (7.09%) Terraform
3 38 (3.74%) Ansible
4 23 (2.27%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
5 21 (2.07%) Oracle RMAN
6 17 (1.67%) Microsoft Intune
7 16 (1.58%) SCCM
8 15 (1.48%) Data Guard
9 13 (1.28%) HAProxy
10 11 (1.08%) SCOM
11 10 (0.99%) WSUS
12 9 (0.89%) Grafana
13 7 (0.69%) Failover Clustering
13 7 (0.69%) Microsoft Clustering
13 7 (0.69%) Single Sign-On
14 5 (0.49%) vCenter Server
15 4 (0.39%) IBM BigFix
15 4 (0.39%) ITRS Geneos
15 4 (0.39%) Prometheus
16 3 (0.30%) Foglight
Vendors
1 321 (31.63%) Microsoft
2 282 (27.78%) Oracle
3 59 (5.81%) Databricks
4 58 (5.71%) VMware
5 51 (5.02%) ServiceNow
6 49 (4.83%) Citrix
7 48 (4.73%) CyberArk
8 37 (3.65%) SAP
9 31 (3.05%) BeyondTrust
10 23 (2.27%) Remedy
11 22 (2.17%) BMC
11 22 (2.17%) Sybase
12 21 (2.07%) Dynatrace
12 21 (2.07%) Informatica
13 20 (1.97%) Cisco
14 17 (1.67%) IBM
14 17 (1.67%) Red Hat
15 15 (1.48%) Google
16 13 (1.28%) Alteryx
17 12 (1.18%) AppDynamics