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 8 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 139 116 65
Rank change year-on-year -23 -51 -9
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 955 686 1,083
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.06% 2.45% 3.35%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 14.10% 13.51% 18.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 665 503 767
10th Percentile £357 £313 £328
25th Percentile £413 £394 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £496 £500
Median % change year-on-year -0.10% -0.90% -6.98%
75th Percentile £600 £626 £625
90th Percentile £713 £748 £725
UK median daily rate £490 £496 £500
% change year-on-year -1.16% -0.85% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 4 6
10th Percentile £13.51 £20.83 £26.83
25th Percentile £17.97 £20.95 £35.00
Median hourly rate £47.54 £21.27 £56.25
Median % change year-on-year +123.51% -62.19% +7.14%
75th Percentile £56.50 £35.52 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £60.71 £82.50
UK median hourly rate £24.25 £21.27 £47.50
% change year-on-year +14.01% -55.22% -9.52%

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 6,774 5,077 5,882
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 14.64% 18.14% 18.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,498 3,470 4,005
10th Percentile £352 £337 £350
25th Percentile £419 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £511 £511 £550
Median % change year-on-year -0.10% -7.09% -
75th Percentile £625 £638 £663
90th Percentile £719 £750 £825
UK median daily rate £505 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +1.00% -4.76% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 260 71 84
10th Percentile £16.63 £20.75 £17.50
25th Percentile £22.19 £29.00 £22.30
Median hourly rate £41.71 £43.50 £36.25
Median % change year-on-year -4.11% +20.00% -30.95%
75th Percentile £60.94 £65.00 £61.60
90th Percentile £74.68 £80.00 £71.50
UK median hourly rate £41.36 £39.48 £35.00
% change year-on-year +4.75% +12.80% -33.33%

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 8 October 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 8 October 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 8 October 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 -29 483 £500 -9.09% 532
North of England +8 184 £475 +7.95% 172
North West +8 106 £493 +10.06% 83
Midlands +3 102 £468 +26.42% 123
South East -42 93 £488 +39.29% 186
West Midlands +3 74 £460 -1.60% 75
Yorkshire -5 71 £450 +5.88% 71
South West -34 36 £715 +54.59% 46
East Midlands -1 28 £525 +60.80% 48
East of England -46 19 £425 -15.00% 58
North East - 7 £425 - 20
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 (7.23%) SharePoint
2 46 (4.82%) Confluence
3 38 (3.98%) IIS
4 23 (2.41%) Apache Airflow
5 22 (2.30%) Microsoft Exchange
6 19 (1.99%) Apache
7 18 (1.88%) Camunda
8 17 (1.78%) Apache Spark
9 10 (1.05%) Oracle Workflow
10 7 (0.73%) CMS
11 5 (0.52%) Apache Solr
11 5 (0.52%) Appian
11 5 (0.52%) NetWeaver
11 5 (0.52%) Tomcat
11 5 (0.52%) Tuxedo
12 4 (0.42%) Traefik
12 4 (0.42%) Umbraco
13 3 (0.31%) nginx
13 3 (0.31%) Oracle SOA Suite
14 2 (0.21%) Jupyter
Applications
1 48 (5.03%) Microsoft Excel
2 30 (3.14%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (1.05%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.31%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.31%) Windchill
5 1 (0.10%) Adobe XD
5 1 (0.10%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 32 (3.35%) Dynamics CRM
2 19 (1.99%) Remedy ITSM
3 15 (1.57%) SAP S/4HANA
4 7 (0.73%) Aladdin
4 7 (0.73%) OpenText MBPM
4 7 (0.73%) Oracle BPM
5 6 (0.63%) Oracle Payables
6 5 (0.52%) Dynamics AX
7 4 (0.42%) Elite 3E
8 3 (0.31%) Dynamics NAV
8 3 (0.31%) Teamcenter
9 2 (0.21%) Infor LN
9 2 (0.21%) Siebel CRM
10 1 (0.10%) FIS Private Capital Suite
10 1 (0.10%) Payment Gateway
10 1 (0.10%) Salesforce CRM
10 1 (0.10%) SAP Hybris
10 1 (0.10%) SAP MDG
10 1 (0.10%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
10 1 (0.10%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 411 (43.04%) Azure
2 200 (20.94%) AWS
3 158 (16.54%) Power Platform
4 120 (12.57%) Azure DevOps
5 95 (9.95%) GitHub
6 60 (6.28%) Entra ID
7 53 (5.55%) Serverless
8 48 (5.03%) Azure Data Factory
9 43 (4.50%) Power Automate
10 42 (4.40%) Dynamics 365
10 42 (4.40%) Microsoft 365
11 41 (4.29%) GCP
12 38 (3.98%) Azure Monitor
13 37 (3.87%) Snowflake
14 33 (3.46%) Azure Synapse Analytics
15 32 (3.35%) GitHub Actions
16 25 (2.62%) Azure Functions
17 24 (2.51%) GitHub Copilot
18 23 (2.41%) PaaS
19 22 (2.30%) Amazon S3
Communications & Networking
1 44 (4.61%) DNS
2 36 (3.77%) DHCP
3 33 (3.46%) Firewall
4 16 (1.68%) SAN
4 16 (1.68%) SSL
5 14 (1.47%) VLAN
6 13 (1.36%) Internet
6 13 (1.36%) TCP/IP
6 13 (1.36%) VPN
7 11 (1.15%) Network Security
8 9 (0.94%) SSH
8 9 (0.94%) Wi-Fi
9 6 (0.63%) HTTPS
9 6 (0.63%) LAN
10 5 (0.52%) Kerberos
10 5 (0.52%) VoIP
10 5 (0.52%) WAN
11 3 (0.31%) Reverse Proxy
11 3 (0.31%) Wireless
12 2 (0.21%) BIG-IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 158 (16.54%) PostgreSQL
2 130 (13.61%) Power BI
3 98 (10.26%) MySQL
3 98 (10.26%) Relational Database
4 89 (9.32%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 85 (8.90%) Data Warehouse
6 61 (6.39%) Oracle Database
7 58 (6.07%) Azure SQL Database
8 56 (5.86%) MongoDB
9 55 (5.76%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 31 (3.25%) Data Lake
11 29 (3.04%) Amazon RDS
12 24 (2.51%) NoSQL
13 23 (2.41%) Redis
14 21 (2.20%) Metadata
15 20 (2.09%) RDBMS
16 19 (1.99%) SQL Server Analysis Services
16 19 (1.99%) Tableau
17 15 (1.57%) Amazon Aurora
18 12 (1.26%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 116 (12.15%) Git
2 71 (7.43%) JIRA
3 54 (5.65%) Jenkins
4 32 (3.35%) GitLab
5 25 (2.62%) Visual Studio
6 21 (2.20%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 19 (1.99%) Maven
8 18 (1.88%) REST Assured
8 18 (1.88%) Selenium
8 18 (1.88%) Sonatype Nexus
8 18 (1.88%) Team Foundation Server
9 15 (1.57%) Gradle
10 14 (1.47%) Claude Code
10 14 (1.47%) JUnit
10 14 (1.47%) Mockito
10 14 (1.47%) Postman
11 13 (1.36%) Cypress.io
11 13 (1.36%) SonarQube
12 12 (1.26%) Cucumber
13 11 (1.15%) WebDriver
General
1 307 (32.15%) Social Skills
2 256 (26.81%) Finance
3 172 (18.01%) Analytical Skills
4 127 (13.30%) Banking
5 71 (7.43%) Public Sector
6 40 (4.19%) Documentation Skills
7 38 (3.98%) Front Office
8 32 (3.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 23 (2.41%) Retail
10 22 (2.30%) Investment Banking
11 13 (1.36%) Legal
12 11 (1.15%) Back Office
12 11 (1.15%) Financial Institution
13 9 (0.94%) Manufacturing
14 7 (0.73%) Billing
14 7 (0.73%) Law
15 6 (0.63%) Presentation Skills
15 6 (0.63%) Publishing
16 5 (0.52%) Military
16 5 (0.52%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 304 (31.83%) Developer
2 157 (16.44%) Senior
3 131 (13.72%) DBA
4 77 (8.06%) SQL DBA
5 71 (7.43%) Administrator
6 68 (7.12%) C# Developer
7 67 (7.02%) .NET Developer
8 64 (6.70%) Data Engineer
9 63 (6.60%) Lead
10 55 (5.76%) Full-Stack Developer
11 54 (5.65%) Senior Developer
12 52 (5.45%) Analyst
13 47 (4.92%) Architect
13 47 (4.92%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 41 (4.29%) SQL Developer
15 35 (3.66%) Software Engineer
16 28 (2.93%) Cloud Engineer
17 27 (2.83%) Azure Engineer
17 27 (2.83%) C# .NET Developer
17 27 (2.83%) Oracle DBA
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 278 (29.11%) .NET
2 137 (14.35%) REST
3 86 (9.01%) .NET Framework
4 84 (8.80%) React
5 80 (8.38%) Terraform
6 68 (7.12%) CSS
7 62 (6.49%) ASP.NET
7 62 (6.49%) HTML
8 59 (6.18%) .NET Core
8 59 (6.18%) AngularJS
9 56 (5.86%) Kafka
10 52 (5.45%) RESTful
11 51 (5.34%) JSON
12 43 (4.50%) Web Services
12 43 (4.50%) XML
13 39 (4.08%) Spring Boot
14 38 (3.98%) SOAP
15 33 (3.46%) OAuth
15 33 (3.46%) Spring
16 25 (2.62%) WinForms
Miscellaneous
1 60 (6.28%) Cloud Native
1 60 (6.28%) Enterprise Software
2 58 (6.07%) Onboarding
3 48 (5.03%) Data Structures
4 45 (4.71%) Replication
5 43 (4.50%) Product Ownership
6 42 (4.40%) Clustering
7 39 (4.08%) Self-Motivation
8 38 (3.98%) Data Centre
9 37 (3.87%) Management Information System
10 29 (3.04%) Legacy Systems
11 20 (2.09%) Distributed Systems
12 19 (1.99%) PKI
13 14 (1.47%) Derivative
13 14 (1.47%) Low-Code
14 13 (1.36%) Virtual Team
15 12 (1.26%) Algorithms
16 11 (1.15%) Legacy Applications
16 11 (1.15%) Taxonomies
17 10 (1.05%) Equities
Operating Systems
1 252 (26.39%) Windows
2 150 (15.71%) Windows Server
3 96 (10.05%) Linux
4 36 (3.77%) Unix
5 17 (1.78%) Solaris
6 14 (1.47%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 11 (1.15%) Ubuntu
8 8 (0.84%) VMS
9 7 (0.73%) CentOS
9 7 (0.73%) Windows Server 2019
10 6 (0.63%) Android
10 6 (0.63%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.31%) Windows 10
11 3 (0.31%) Windows Server 2008
12 2 (0.21%) AIX
12 2 (0.21%) Windows Server 2003
12 2 (0.21%) Windows Server 2016
13 1 (0.10%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.10%) SUSE
13 1 (0.10%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 256 (26.81%) DevOps
2 245 (25.65%) CI/CD
3 244 (25.55%) Agile
4 188 (19.69%) Problem-Solving
5 181 (18.95%) Migration
6 141 (14.76%) Business Intelligence
7 135 (14.14%) Performance Tuning
8 129 (13.51%) Data Modelling
9 128 (13.40%) ETL
10 127 (13.30%) AI
11 119 (12.46%) Stakeholder Management
12 118 (12.36%) Continuous Improvement
13 108 (11.31%) Disaster Recovery
14 93 (9.74%) Microservices
14 93 (9.74%) Test Automation
15 88 (9.21%) Software Engineering
16 85 (8.90%) Analytics
17 84 (8.80%) Validation
18 75 (7.85%) Mentoring
19 73 (7.64%) Full-Stack Development
Programming Languages
1 578 (60.52%) SQL
2 277 (29.01%) C#
3 173 (18.12%) PowerShell
4 172 (18.01%) Python
5 159 (16.65%) T-SQL
6 150 (15.71%) JavaScript
7 84 (8.80%) Java
8 64 (6.70%) TypeScript
9 57 (5.97%) PL/SQL
10 34 (3.56%) Bash
11 16 (1.68%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 16 (1.68%) VB
12 14 (1.47%) VBA
13 12 (1.26%) Shell Script
14 10 (1.05%) Bicep
15 8 (0.84%) PHP
15 8 (0.84%) Scala
16 7 (0.73%) Go
16 7 (0.73%) VB.NET
17 6 (0.63%) XPath
Qualifications
1 238 (24.92%) Security Cleared
2 174 (18.22%) SC Cleared
3 107 (11.20%) Degree
4 58 (6.07%) Microsoft Certification
5 52 (5.45%) DV Cleared
6 33 (3.46%) Computer Science Degree
7 30 (3.14%) Azure Certification
8 25 (2.62%) BPSS Clearance
9 15 (1.57%) AWS Certification
10 13 (1.36%) ISTQB
11 12 (1.26%) Oracle Certification
12 11 (1.15%) OCP
13 9 (0.94%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 9 (0.94%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 9 (0.94%) Master's Degree
14 5 (0.52%) DBS Check
14 5 (0.52%) TOGAF Certification
15 4 (0.42%) CISSP
15 4 (0.42%) PhD
16 3 (0.31%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 97 (10.16%) QA
2 86 (9.01%) Data Quality
3 35 (3.66%) Accessibility
3 35 (3.66%) GDPR
4 25 (2.62%) WCAG
5 21 (2.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 20 (2.09%) NIST
7 16 (1.68%) SLA
8 5 (0.52%) ISO 9000
9 3 (0.31%) Actionable Recommendations
9 3 (0.31%) Basel III
9 3 (0.31%) Software Quality Assurance
10 2 (0.21%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 2 (0.21%) COREP
10 2 (0.21%) FINREP
10 2 (0.21%) Government Security Classifications
10 2 (0.21%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 2 (0.21%) SOC 2
11 1 (0.10%) GMP
11 1 (0.10%) ISO 20022
System Software
1 127 (13.30%) Active Directory
2 70 (7.33%) Docker
3 37 (3.87%) VMware Infrastructure
4 33 (3.46%) Virtual Machines
5 17 (1.78%) Oracle RAC
6 9 (0.94%) Hyper-V
7 7 (0.73%) Virtual Desktop
8 6 (0.63%) vSphere
9 5 (0.52%) VMware ESXi
10 4 (0.42%) Virtual Servers
11 3 (0.31%) Dovecot
11 3 (0.31%) Postfix
12 1 (0.10%) BitLocker
12 1 (0.10%) HDFS
12 1 (0.10%) SRDF
12 1 (0.10%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 81 (8.48%) Kubernetes
2 45 (4.71%) Ansible
3 20 (2.09%) SCOM
4 15 (1.57%) Data Guard
5 14 (1.47%) Microsoft Intune
6 11 (1.15%) Microsoft Clustering
6 11 (1.15%) SCCM
7 9 (0.94%) Grafana
7 9 (0.94%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
8 8 (0.84%) HAProxy
8 8 (0.84%) Single Sign-On
9 7 (0.73%) Istio
10 6 (0.63%) Failover Clustering
10 6 (0.63%) Prometheus
10 6 (0.63%) WSUS
11 5 (0.52%) ITRS Geneos
11 5 (0.52%) Oracle RMAN
12 3 (0.31%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
12 3 (0.31%) PowerCLI
12 3 (0.31%) Puppet
Vendors
1 351 (36.75%) Microsoft
2 264 (27.64%) Oracle
3 73 (7.64%) Databricks
4 63 (6.60%) VMware
5 45 (4.71%) CyberArk
5 45 (4.71%) ServiceNow
6 34 (3.56%) Citrix
6 34 (3.56%) SAP
7 29 (3.04%) BeyondTrust
8 27 (2.83%) IBM
9 21 (2.20%) Cisco
10 20 (2.09%) Informatica
11 19 (1.99%) BMC
11 19 (1.99%) Remedy
12 17 (1.78%) Dynatrace
12 17 (1.78%) Google
13 16 (1.68%) Red Hat
14 14 (1.47%) Splunk
15 11 (1.15%) Alteryx
15 11 (1.15%) SolarWinds