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

6 months to
24 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 123 114 57
Rank change year-on-year -9 -57 -3
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 1,005 680 1,196
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.20% 2.45% 3.60%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 14.46% 13.56% 19.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 704 499 852
10th Percentile £363 £313 £338
25th Percentile £413 £400 £411
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.00% - -4.76%
75th Percentile £600 £650 £625
90th Percentile £713 £750 £725
UK median daily rate £488 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -2.50% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 44 6 8
10th Percentile £13.51 £20.89 £28.60
25th Percentile £19.25 £21.02 £35.38
Median hourly rate £50.02 £23.80 £48.03
Median % change year-on-year +110.21% -50.46% +6.73%
75th Percentile £62.44 £64.71 £62.96
90th Percentile £75.40 £83.13 £74.07
UK median hourly rate £47.54 £70.00 £47.50
% change year-on-year -32.09% +47.37% +10.47%

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 6,952 5,015 6,120
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 15.22% 18.08% 18.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,648 3,453 4,323
10th Percentile £358 £338 £350
25th Percentile £423 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £513 £545
Median % change year-on-year -2.44% -5.96% -0.91%
75th Percentile £615 £638 £675
90th Percentile £707 £750 £825
UK median daily rate £500 £505 £525
% change year-on-year -0.99% -3.81% -2.95%
Number of hourly rates quoted 228 82 91
10th Percentile £14.85 £20.87 £14.25
25th Percentile £23.16 £25.34 £20.00
Median hourly rate £38.25 £34.99 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +9.32% -0.03% -36.36%
75th Percentile £60.94 £63.31 £55.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £78.58 £69.75
UK median hourly rate £38.25 £35.50 £33.22
% change year-on-year +7.75% +6.88% -39.61%

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 24 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 24 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 24 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 -27 494 £525 -5.23% 109
North of England +4 191 £475 +6.15% 67
South East -15 117 £475 +44.82% 96
Midlands +4 104 £475 +11.11% 67
North West -5 102 £478 +6.82% 39
Yorkshire +15 89 £450 +5.88% 18
West Midlands -16 60 £474 -11.81% 37
South West -15 49 £513 +20.59% 29
East Midlands +13 43 £525 +60.80% 29
East of England -25 26 £450 -10.00% 24
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 67 (6.67%) SharePoint
2 49 (4.88%) IIS
3 35 (3.48%) Confluence
4 23 (2.29%) Microsoft Exchange
5 19 (1.89%) Apache
5 19 (1.89%) Apache Airflow
6 18 (1.79%) Apache Spark
7 15 (1.49%) Camunda
8 11 (1.09%) Oracle Workflow
9 6 (0.60%) Appian
9 6 (0.60%) CMS
9 6 (0.60%) NetWeaver
10 5 (0.50%) Apache Solr
10 5 (0.50%) Tuxedo
11 4 (0.40%) OpenEdge
11 4 (0.40%) Tomcat
11 4 (0.40%) Umbraco
12 3 (0.30%) Apache Superset
12 3 (0.30%) nginx
13 2 (0.20%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 53 (5.27%) Microsoft Excel
2 29 (2.89%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (1.09%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.100%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.100%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.100%) InDesign
6 1 (0.100%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 24 (2.39%) Remedy ITSM
2 20 (1.99%) Dynamics CRM
3 17 (1.69%) SAP S/4HANA
4 7 (0.70%) OpenText MBPM
4 7 (0.70%) Oracle BPM
5 6 (0.60%) Dynamics AX
5 6 (0.60%) Oracle Payables
6 4 (0.40%) Aladdin
6 4 (0.40%) Elite 3E
7 2 (0.20%) Dynamics NAV
7 2 (0.20%) Endur
7 2 (0.20%) Infor LN
7 2 (0.20%) Siebel CRM
7 2 (0.20%) Teamcenter
8 1 (0.100%) Findur
8 1 (0.100%) Loan IQ
8 1 (0.100%) Payment Gateway
8 1 (0.100%) SAP Business One
8 1 (0.100%) SAP CRM
8 1 (0.100%) SDL Web 8
Cloud Services
1 417 (41.49%) Azure
2 216 (21.49%) AWS
3 151 (15.02%) Power Platform
4 107 (10.65%) Azure DevOps
5 91 (9.05%) GitHub
6 60 (5.97%) Azure Data Factory
7 48 (4.78%) Entra ID
8 44 (4.38%) Serverless
9 41 (4.08%) Azure Monitor
10 40 (3.98%) GitHub Actions
10 40 (3.98%) Microsoft 365
11 38 (3.78%) Power Automate
12 37 (3.68%) Snowflake
13 33 (3.28%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 33 (3.28%) Dynamics 365
14 29 (2.89%) GCP
15 26 (2.59%) dbt
16 25 (2.49%) SaaS
17 21 (2.09%) PaaS
17 21 (2.09%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 48 (4.78%) DNS
2 40 (3.98%) DHCP
3 30 (2.99%) Firewall
4 19 (1.89%) VLAN
5 18 (1.79%) SAN
6 16 (1.59%) VPN
7 14 (1.39%) Internet
8 13 (1.29%) Network Security
9 12 (1.19%) TCP/IP
10 11 (1.09%) Wi-Fi
11 10 (1.00%) SSL
12 9 (0.90%) SSH
13 6 (0.60%) HTTPS
13 6 (0.60%) IPv4
13 6 (0.60%) IPv6
13 6 (0.60%) LAN
14 5 (0.50%) Kerberos
14 5 (0.50%) VoIP
14 5 (0.50%) WAN
15 3 (0.30%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 148 (14.73%) PostgreSQL
2 130 (12.94%) Power BI
3 107 (10.65%) Relational Database
4 98 (9.75%) Data Warehouse
5 91 (9.05%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 70 (6.97%) MySQL
7 62 (6.17%) Oracle Database
8 58 (5.77%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 57 (5.67%) Azure SQL Database
10 53 (5.27%) MongoDB
11 36 (3.58%) Data Lake
12 29 (2.89%) NoSQL
13 27 (2.69%) SQL Server Analysis Services
14 26 (2.59%) Redis
15 22 (2.19%) Amazon RDS
16 21 (2.09%) RDBMS
17 20 (1.99%) Tableau
18 19 (1.89%) Metadata
19 16 (1.59%) Star Schema
20 12 (1.19%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 97 (9.65%) Git
2 58 (5.77%) Jenkins
3 51 (5.07%) JIRA
4 29 (2.89%) GitLab
5 27 (2.69%) Visual Studio
6 18 (1.79%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 17 (1.69%) TeamCity
8 16 (1.59%) Maven
9 15 (1.49%) Team Foundation Server
10 14 (1.39%) Selenium
10 14 (1.39%) Sonatype Nexus
11 13 (1.29%) Octopus Deploy
12 12 (1.19%) Postman
13 11 (1.09%) Artifactory
13 11 (1.09%) Cucumber
14 10 (1.00%) Cypress.io
15 9 (0.90%) Bitbucket
15 9 (0.90%) Gatling
15 9 (0.90%) REST Assured
15 9 (0.90%) WebDriver
General
1 307 (30.55%) Social Skills
2 259 (25.77%) Finance
3 189 (18.81%) Analytical Skills
4 126 (12.54%) Banking
5 76 (7.56%) Public Sector
6 45 (4.48%) Front Office
7 39 (3.88%) Documentation Skills
8 27 (2.69%) Investment Banking
9 19 (1.89%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 18 (1.79%) Legal
11 17 (1.69%) Retail
12 15 (1.49%) Financial Institution
12 15 (1.49%) Organisational Skills
13 8 (0.80%) Back Office
13 8 (0.80%) Manufacturing
14 6 (0.60%) Advertising
15 5 (0.50%) Billing
15 5 (0.50%) Law
15 5 (0.50%) Military
15 5 (0.50%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 307 (30.55%) Developer
2 157 (15.62%) Senior
3 137 (13.63%) DBA
4 84 (8.36%) .NET Developer
4 84 (8.36%) C# Developer
4 84 (8.36%) SQL DBA
5 78 (7.76%) Data Engineer
6 68 (6.77%) Lead
7 62 (6.17%) Administrator
8 55 (5.47%) Architect
9 48 (4.78%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 48 (4.78%) Senior Developer
10 47 (4.68%) SQL Developer
11 46 (4.58%) Analyst
11 46 (4.58%) Full-Stack Developer
12 38 (3.78%) Software Engineer
13 35 (3.48%) Oracle DBA
14 33 (3.28%) Azure Engineer
14 33 (3.28%) C# .NET Developer
14 33 (3.28%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 280 (27.86%) .NET
2 128 (12.74%) REST
3 103 (10.25%) .NET Framework
4 79 (7.86%) Terraform
5 75 (7.46%) React
6 62 (6.17%) ASP.NET
7 59 (5.87%) AngularJS
8 55 (5.47%) CSS
8 55 (5.47%) RESTful
9 53 (5.27%) .NET Core
10 52 (5.17%) Kafka
11 44 (4.38%) HTML
12 39 (3.88%) Web Services
13 36 (3.58%) JSON
14 31 (3.08%) XML
15 29 (2.89%) SOAP
16 28 (2.79%) Spring Boot
17 26 (2.59%) Spring
18 25 (2.49%) Entity Framework
19 24 (2.39%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 61 (6.07%) Onboarding
2 58 (5.77%) Cloud Native
3 48 (4.78%) Data Structures
4 44 (4.38%) Clustering
5 43 (4.28%) Enterprise Software
5 43 (4.28%) Self-Motivation
6 40 (3.98%) Replication
7 38 (3.78%) Legacy Systems
8 29 (2.89%) Product Ownership
9 25 (2.49%) Management Information System
10 23 (2.29%) Data Centre
11 21 (2.09%) PKI
12 17 (1.69%) Derivative
13 16 (1.59%) Distributed Systems
14 14 (1.39%) Low-Code
15 13 (1.29%) NHS
16 11 (1.09%) Algorithms
16 11 (1.09%) Fixed Income
16 11 (1.09%) Legacy Code
17 10 (1.00%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 260 (25.87%) Windows
2 146 (14.53%) Windows Server
3 93 (9.25%) Linux
4 41 (4.08%) Unix
5 14 (1.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 10 (1.00%) Ubuntu
7 8 (0.80%) VMS
8 7 (0.70%) Solaris
8 7 (0.70%) Windows 10
9 6 (0.60%) Android
9 6 (0.60%) Windows Server 2012
9 6 (0.60%) Windows Server 2019
10 5 (0.50%) CentOS
11 4 (0.40%) Windows Server 2008
11 4 (0.40%) Windows Server 2016
12 2 (0.20%) AIX
12 2 (0.20%) OpenVMS
13 1 (0.100%) Data ONTAP
Processes & Methodologies
1 256 (25.47%) DevOps
2 241 (23.98%) CI/CD
3 227 (22.59%) Agile
4 196 (19.50%) Problem-Solving
5 187 (18.61%) Migration
6 157 (15.62%) ETL
7 145 (14.43%) Business Intelligence
8 135 (13.43%) Data Modelling
9 130 (12.94%) Performance Tuning
10 120 (11.94%) Disaster Recovery
11 118 (11.74%) AI
12 96 (9.55%) Analytics
12 96 (9.55%) Stakeholder Management
13 91 (9.05%) High Availability
14 88 (8.76%) Continuous Improvement
15 87 (8.66%) Microservices
16 84 (8.36%) Software Engineering
17 83 (8.26%) Test Automation
18 81 (8.06%) Validation
19 79 (7.86%) Data Pipeline
Programming Languages
1 574 (57.11%) SQL
2 275 (27.36%) C#
3 195 (19.40%) Python
4 174 (17.31%) PowerShell
5 157 (15.62%) T-SQL
6 117 (11.64%) JavaScript
7 84 (8.36%) Java
8 66 (6.57%) PL/SQL
9 52 (5.17%) TypeScript
10 32 (3.18%) Bash
11 20 (1.99%) Shell Script
12 19 (1.89%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 17 (1.69%) VB
14 15 (1.49%) Scala
14 15 (1.49%) VBA
15 12 (1.19%) Korn
16 8 (0.80%) VB.NET
17 7 (0.70%) Bicep
18 6 (0.60%) XPath
19 5 (0.50%) VB6
Qualifications
1 255 (25.37%) Security Cleared
2 192 (19.10%) SC Cleared
3 95 (9.45%) Degree
4 49 (4.88%) DV Cleared
5 39 (3.88%) Microsoft Certification
6 26 (2.59%) Computer Science Degree
7 23 (2.29%) BPSS Clearance
8 19 (1.89%) Azure Certification
9 12 (1.19%) AWS Certification
9 12 (1.19%) ISTQB
10 9 (0.90%) DBS Check
11 8 (0.80%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 8 (0.80%) Oracle Certification
12 7 (0.70%) Master's Degree
12 7 (0.70%) OCP
13 5 (0.50%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 4 (0.40%) CISSP
14 4 (0.40%) MCITP
14 4 (0.40%) MCTS
14 4 (0.40%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 97 (9.65%) Data Quality
2 95 (9.45%) QA
3 27 (2.69%) GDPR
4 24 (2.39%) Accessibility
5 21 (2.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 20 (1.99%) NIST
7 17 (1.69%) SLA
8 16 (1.59%) WCAG
9 6 (0.60%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 5 (0.50%) Actionable Recommendations
10 5 (0.50%) ISO 9000
11 3 (0.30%) Basel III
12 2 (0.20%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.20%) COREP
12 2 (0.20%) FINREP
12 2 (0.20%) Government Security Classifications
12 2 (0.20%) GRC
12 2 (0.20%) SOC 2
13 1 (0.100%) IFRS
13 1 (0.100%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 131 (13.03%) Active Directory
2 77 (7.66%) Docker
3 40 (3.98%) VMware Infrastructure
4 30 (2.99%) Virtual Machines
5 25 (2.49%) Oracle RAC
6 9 (0.90%) Virtual Desktop
7 6 (0.60%) Hyper-V
7 6 (0.60%) vSphere
8 4 (0.40%) Virtual Servers
8 4 (0.40%) VMware ESXi
9 3 (0.30%) Dovecot
9 3 (0.30%) GridGain
9 3 (0.30%) Postfix
10 1 (0.100%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.100%) NFS
10 1 (0.100%) RACF
10 1 (0.100%) SRDF
10 1 (0.100%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 100 (9.95%) Kubernetes
2 44 (4.38%) Ansible
3 18 (1.79%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
4 16 (1.59%) Microsoft Intune
5 14 (1.39%) Data Guard
5 14 (1.39%) Oracle RMAN
6 13 (1.29%) HAProxy
6 13 (1.29%) SCCM
6 13 (1.29%) SCOM
7 11 (1.09%) Microsoft Clustering
8 10 (1.00%) WSUS
9 9 (0.90%) Grafana
9 9 (0.90%) Single Sign-On
10 6 (0.60%) Failover Clustering
11 5 (0.50%) ITRS Geneos
11 5 (0.50%) Prometheus
12 3 (0.30%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 3 (0.30%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
12 3 (0.30%) Istio
13 2 (0.20%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 335 (33.33%) Microsoft
2 262 (26.07%) Oracle
3 67 (6.67%) Databricks
4 64 (6.37%) VMware
5 49 (4.88%) ServiceNow
6 46 (4.58%) CyberArk
7 43 (4.28%) Citrix
8 37 (3.68%) SAP
9 29 (2.89%) BeyondTrust
10 24 (2.39%) BMC
10 24 (2.39%) Remedy
11 21 (2.09%) Cisco
11 21 (2.09%) Informatica
12 19 (1.89%) Dynatrace
12 19 (1.89%) Sybase
13 16 (1.59%) Red Hat
14 15 (1.49%) Google
14 15 (1.49%) IBM
15 13 (1.29%) Alteryx
16 11 (1.09%) Splunk