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

 6 months to
19 Nov 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 129 73 60
Rank change year-on-year -56 -13 -13
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 674 913 1,420
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.22% 2.96% 3.61%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 12.59% 16.70% 21.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 489 649 1,029
10th Percentile £319 £318 £363
25th Percentile £400 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £485 £500 £540
Median % change year-on-year -3.00% -7.41% -1.82%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £650
90th Percentile £700 £713 £750
UK median daily rate £488 £500 £525
% change year-on-year -2.50% -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 7 19
10th Percentile £20.86 £27.71 £20.09
25th Percentile £21.02 £38.75 £44.25
Median hourly rate £21.27 £60.50 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year -64.84% +15.24% +20.69%
75th Percentile £70.00 £65.00 £62.50
90th Percentile £74.50 £79.00 £65.52
UK median hourly rate £21.27 £40.00 £52.50
% change year-on-year -46.83% -23.81% +25.75%

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 5,355 5,468 6,523
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 17.62% 17.73% 16.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,714 3,660 4,638
10th Percentile £328 £345 £355
25th Percentile £413 £425 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% - -
75th Percentile £625 £663 £650
90th Percentile £725 £788 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £530 £531
% change year-on-year -5.66% -0.19% -3.45%
Number of hourly rates quoted 81 75 137
10th Percentile £20.75 £17.70 £18.98
25th Percentile £29.25 £22.20 £24.75
Median hourly rate £45.00 £33.93 £47.90
Median % change year-on-year +32.63% -29.16% +5.26%
75th Percentile £65.00 £52.38 £68.75
90th Percentile £85.00 £65.00 £78.00
UK median hourly rate £44.25 £30.00 £47.50
% change year-on-year +47.50% -36.84% +5.56%

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 19 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 19 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 19 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 -39 389 £525 -4.55% 289
North of England -7 91 £448 -5.79% 158
South East -36 71 £441 -11.75% 168
North West -10 52 £450 +1.24% 97
Yorkshire -21 39 £425 -24.31% 49
East of England -11 31 £500 +33.33% 35
Midlands -88 30 £370 -17.23% 112
South West -19 29 £485 -3.00% 43
West Midlands -54 17 £425 -25.04% 73
East Midlands -43 12 £325 -12.16% 39
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 (4.75%) IIS
2 28 (4.15%) Confluence
3 25 (3.71%) SharePoint
4 16 (2.37%) Apache
4 16 (2.37%) WebSphere
5 13 (1.93%) Microsoft Exchange
6 11 (1.63%) Apache Spark
7 10 (1.48%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 9 (1.34%) WebLogic
9 5 (0.74%) JBoss
10 4 (0.59%) SharePoint Server
11 3 (0.45%) Apache Airflow
11 3 (0.45%) CICS
11 3 (0.45%) CMS
11 3 (0.45%) Oracle Workflow
11 3 (0.45%) Skype for Business
11 3 (0.45%) Tomcat
12 2 (0.30%) HCL Notes
12 2 (0.30%) SAS
12 2 (0.30%) WildFly
Applications
1 61 (9.05%) 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 (1.34%) Advent Geneva
1 9 (1.34%) Maximo
2 8 (1.19%) Dynamics CRM
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%) thinkFolio
6 3 (0.45%) SAP S/4HANA
7 2 (0.30%) Dynamics AX
7 2 (0.30%) Dynamics NAV
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%) Teamcenter
7 2 (0.30%) Temenos T24
Cloud Services
1 261 (38.72%) Azure
2 116 (17.21%) AWS
3 99 (14.69%) Power Platform
4 55 (8.16%) Azure DevOps
5 40 (5.93%) GCP
6 39 (5.79%) GitHub
7 29 (4.30%) Azure Data Factory
8 24 (3.56%) Serverless
9 23 (3.41%) Microsoft 365
9 23 (3.41%) SaaS
10 22 (3.26%) Azure Synapse Analytics
11 20 (2.97%) Dynamics 365
12 19 (2.82%) Azure Service Bus
12 19 (2.82%) GitHub Actions
13 18 (2.67%) Amazon S3
13 18 (2.67%) Azure Logic Apps
13 18 (2.67%) Snowflake
14 17 (2.52%) Power Automate
15 16 (2.37%) PowerApps
16 15 (2.23%) Azure Cosmos DB
Communications & Networking
1 29 (4.30%) Firewall
2 16 (2.37%) DNS
2 16 (2.37%) TCP/IP
3 13 (1.93%) Internet
4 10 (1.48%) HTTP
5 9 (1.34%) 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%) NetScaler
9 4 (0.59%) SAN
10 3 (0.45%) VSAN
10 3 (0.45%) Wireshark
11 2 (0.30%) iSCSI
11 2 (0.30%) RS-232
11 2 (0.30%) Software-Defined Networking
11 2 (0.30%) VLAN
11 2 (0.30%) WebEx
11 2 (0.30%) X.400
Database & Business Intelligence
1 86 (12.76%) Power BI
2 84 (12.46%) Relational Database
3 82 (12.17%) PostgreSQL
4 69 (10.24%) Oracle Database
5 61 (9.05%) Data Warehouse
6 58 (8.61%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 55 (8.16%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 44 (6.53%) Azure SQL Database
8 44 (6.53%) MySQL
9 41 (6.08%) MongoDB
10 33 (4.90%) NoSQL
11 32 (4.75%) DB2
12 28 (4.15%) Amazon RDS
13 21 (3.12%) Big Data
14 19 (2.82%) RDBMS
15 18 (2.67%) Data Lake
15 18 (2.67%) Redis
16 15 (2.23%) Power Query
17 14 (2.08%) Tableau
18 12 (1.78%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 66 (9.79%) Git
2 44 (6.53%) JIRA
3 24 (3.56%) Jenkins
4 20 (2.97%) GitLab
5 17 (2.52%) Bitbucket
5 17 (2.52%) Maven
6 15 (2.23%) SpecFlow
6 15 (2.23%) Visual Studio
7 13 (1.93%) Selenium
8 12 (1.78%) Cucumber
8 12 (1.78%) JUnit
9 10 (1.48%) Octopus Deploy
9 10 (1.48%) Sonatype Nexus
10 9 (1.34%) Mockito
10 9 (1.34%) TeamCity
11 8 (1.19%) Postman
12 7 (1.04%) SonarQube
12 7 (1.04%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
12 7 (1.04%) webpack
13 6 (0.89%) ERwin
General
1 233 (34.57%) Social Skills
2 213 (31.60%) Finance
3 100 (14.84%) Analytical Skills
4 94 (13.95%) Banking
5 36 (5.34%) Public Sector
6 34 (5.04%) Documentation Skills
7 30 (4.45%) Investment Banking
8 21 (3.12%) Front Office
9 17 (2.52%) Financial Institution
10 15 (2.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 11 (1.63%) Retail
12 10 (1.48%) Back Office
12 10 (1.48%) Presentation Skills
13 8 (1.19%) Legal
14 7 (1.04%) Local Government
14 7 (1.04%) Manufacturing
15 6 (0.89%) Influencing Skills
16 5 (0.74%) Organisational Skills
17 4 (0.59%) Law
18 3 (0.45%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 261 (38.72%) Developer
2 74 (10.98%) Senior
3 64 (9.50%) C# Developer
4 58 (8.61%) Analyst
5 52 (7.72%) Data Engineer
6 51 (7.57%) .NET Developer
7 44 (6.53%) Architect
8 41 (6.08%) Senior Developer
9 40 (5.93%) DBA
10 36 (5.34%) Consultant
11 26 (3.86%) Angular Developer
12 24 (3.56%) SQL Developer
13 23 (3.41%) Full-Stack Developer
13 23 (3.41%) Lead
14 22 (3.26%) C# .NET Developer
15 21 (3.12%) Applications Support
15 21 (3.12%) Data Analyst
15 21 (3.12%) SQL DBA
16 19 (2.82%) Java Developer
17 17 (2.52%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 185 (27.45%) .NET
2 86 (12.76%) .NET Framework
3 65 (9.64%) HTML
4 60 (8.90%) CSS
5 53 (7.86%) REST
6 51 (7.57%) AngularJS
7 48 (7.12%) XML
8 44 (6.53%) React
9 43 (6.38%) Entity Framework
10 40 (5.93%) RESTful
11 38 (5.64%) .NET Core
12 35 (5.19%) Kafka
13 34 (5.04%) SOAP
14 33 (4.90%) Web Services
15 28 (4.15%) ASP.NET
16 25 (3.71%) WPF
17 24 (3.56%) JSON
18 23 (3.41%) NHibernate
19 18 (2.67%) Middleware
19 18 (2.67%) Node.js
Miscellaneous
1 28 (4.15%) Legacy Systems
2 27 (4.01%) Cloud Native
3 24 (3.56%) Derivative
4 22 (3.26%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 20 (2.97%) Data Protection Act
5 20 (2.97%) Product Ownership
6 18 (2.67%) Management Information System
7 16 (2.37%) Replication
8 15 (2.23%) Enterprise Software
8 15 (2.23%) PKI
9 14 (2.08%) Credit Risk
9 14 (2.08%) Onboarding
10 13 (1.93%) Reinsurance
11 12 (1.78%) Clustering
11 12 (1.78%) Fixed Income
12 11 (1.63%) Data Structures
12 11 (1.63%) Distributed Systems
12 11 (1.63%) Hedge funds
12 11 (1.63%) Linux Command Line
12 11 (1.63%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 114 (16.91%) Windows
2 84 (12.46%) Linux
3 54 (8.01%) Windows Server
4 12 (1.78%) Unix
5 10 (1.48%) Windows 10
6 7 (1.04%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 7 (1.04%) Windows Server 2016
7 5 (0.74%) Windows Server 2019
8 4 (0.59%) VMS
9 2 (0.30%) Solaris
9 2 (0.30%) Ubuntu
9 2 (0.30%) Windows Server 2003
9 2 (0.30%) Windows Server 2012
10 1 (0.15%) Android
10 1 (0.15%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.15%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.15%) SUSE
10 1 (0.15%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.15%) Windows Server 2008
10 1 (0.15%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 176 (26.11%) Agile
2 163 (24.18%) Problem-Solving
3 143 (21.22%) DevOps
4 133 (19.73%) CI/CD
5 107 (15.88%) Migration
6 103 (15.28%) Business Intelligence
7 98 (14.54%) ETL
8 82 (12.17%) Microservices
9 71 (10.53%) Data Modelling
10 61 (9.05%) Data Analysis
11 59 (8.75%) Test Automation
12 57 (8.46%) Data Migration
13 56 (8.31%) Performance Tuning
14 55 (8.16%) Analytics
14 55 (8.16%) Full-Stack Development
15 47 (6.97%) Clean Code
15 47 (6.97%) Data Governance
15 47 (6.97%) Scrum
16 46 (6.82%) Software Engineering
17 44 (6.53%) Disaster Recovery
Programming Languages
1 379 (56.23%) SQL
2 188 (27.89%) C#
3 128 (18.99%) Python
4 91 (13.50%) JavaScript
5 78 (11.57%) T-SQL
6 61 (9.05%) Java
7 50 (7.42%) PowerShell
8 41 (6.08%) PL/SQL
9 34 (5.04%) Bash
10 29 (4.30%) VBA
11 21 (3.12%) VB
12 19 (2.82%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 18 (2.67%) TypeScript
14 15 (2.23%) Shell Script
15 7 (1.04%) 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 79 (11.72%) Security Cleared
2 66 (9.79%) Degree
3 60 (8.90%) SC Cleared
4 27 (4.01%) Computer Science Degree
5 20 (2.97%) Microsoft Certification
6 12 (1.78%) DV Cleared
7 11 (1.63%) Azure Certification
8 9 (1.34%) 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 3 (0.45%) CCNP
12 3 (0.45%) Cisco Certification
13 2 (0.30%) CCIE
13 2 (0.30%) ISEB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 60 (8.90%) QA
2 53 (7.86%) Data Quality
3 15 (2.23%) GDPR
4 14 (2.08%) Accessibility
5 11 (1.63%) MiFID
6 10 (1.48%) SLA
7 5 (0.74%) EMIR
8 4 (0.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 4 (0.59%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 3 (0.45%) WCAG
10 2 (0.30%) Basel III
10 2 (0.30%) HIPAA
10 2 (0.30%) HL7
10 2 (0.30%) PCI DSS
10 2 (0.30%) PMO
10 2 (0.30%) Solvency II
11 1 (0.15%) Actionable Recommendations
11 1 (0.15%) ISO 15022
11 1 (0.15%) ISO 20022
11 1 (0.15%) NIST 800
System Software
1 54 (8.01%) Docker
2 42 (6.23%) Active Directory
3 27 (4.01%) VMware Infrastructure
4 12 (1.78%) Oracle RAC
5 11 (1.63%) Virtual Machines
6 10 (1.48%) zsh
7 8 (1.19%) Hyper-V
7 8 (1.19%) VMware NSX
8 4 (0.59%) vSphere
9 3 (0.45%) 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%) Veritas Cluster Server
11 1 (0.15%) XenApp
11 1 (0.15%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 40 (5.93%) Kubernetes
2 27 (4.01%) Ansible
3 24 (3.56%) Terraform
4 14 (2.08%) Data Guard
5 13 (1.93%) Grafana
5 13 (1.93%) Oracle RMAN
5 13 (1.93%) vCenter Server
6 12 (1.78%) Puppet
7 11 (1.63%) NetBackup
8 10 (1.48%) yum
9 9 (1.34%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 8 (1.19%) Microsoft Intune
11 7 (1.04%) SCCM
12 6 (0.89%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
12 6 (0.89%) SCOM
12 6 (0.89%) Single Sign-On
13 5 (0.74%) Control-M
13 5 (0.74%) Prometheus
13 5 (0.74%) TIBCO Hawk
14 4 (0.59%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 216 (32.05%) Microsoft
2 215 (31.90%) Oracle
3 40 (5.93%) VMware
4 32 (4.75%) Citrix
5 28 (4.15%) Databricks
6 27 (4.01%) IBM
7 22 (3.26%) Google
8 18 (2.67%) SAP
9 14 (2.08%) Salesforce
10 13 (1.93%) CyberArk
11 11 (1.63%) Cisco
11 11 (1.63%) Informatica
11 11 (1.63%) Veritas
12 10 (1.48%) Sybase
13 9 (1.34%) Advent
14 7 (1.04%) Atlassian
14 7 (1.04%) Cognos
14 7 (1.04%) UiPath
14 7 (1.04%) Veeam
15 6 (0.89%) Veracode
790 SQL Server jobs in England