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 10 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
10 Mar 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 127 84 67
Rank change year-on-year -43 -17 -18
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 753 733 1,186
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.08% 2.96% 3.11%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 12.96% 15.48% 19.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 520 543 841
10th Percentile £356 £356 £325
25th Percentile £406 £417 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -6.71% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £588 £638 £650
90th Percentile £675 £725 £725
UK median daily rate £488 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -4.88% -2.38% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 7 28
10th Percentile £12.95 £25.79 £20.65
25th Percentile £20.75 £43.29 £39.41
Median hourly rate £27.00 £63.75 £40.25
Median % change year-on-year -57.64% +58.37% -7.47%
75th Percentile £55.00 £65.31 £59.88
90th Percentile £69.66 £65.62 £65.10
UK median hourly rate £29.48 £43.93 £40.25
% change year-on-year -32.89% +9.13% -9.17%

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 5,809 4,736 6,167
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 16.05% 19.13% 16.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,039 3,304 4,410
10th Percentile £344 £356 £350
25th Percentile £413 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £538 £525
Median % change year-on-year -6.98% +2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £600 £663 £663
90th Percentile £700 £775 £751
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 110 87 161
10th Percentile £18.25 £20.21 £14.36
25th Percentile £26.69 £24.25 £20.82
Median hourly rate £49.36 £35.00 £40.50
Median % change year-on-year +41.03% -13.58% -32.50%
75th Percentile £74.68 £64.86 £60.00
90th Percentile £85.03 £70.00 £76.53
UK median hourly rate £50.00 £30.00 £40.50
% change year-on-year +66.67% -25.93% -29.57%

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 10 March 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 10 March 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 10 March 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 -31 461 £500 -9.09% 110
South East -37 98 £482 -3.60% 138
North of England -42 92 £450 -5.26% 106
North West -28 56 £456 - 65
Yorkshire -42 34 £400 -20.00% 35
Midlands -89 32 £450 -10.00% 57
South West -41 26 £550 - 62
West Midlands -77 23 £450 -21.47% 28
East of England -16 22 £600 +14.83% 31
East Midlands -39 7 £425 +11.70% 28
North East -12 3 £475 +14.11% 10
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 34 (4.52%) SharePoint
2 27 (3.59%) IIS
3 24 (3.19%) Microsoft Exchange
4 21 (2.79%) Confluence
5 14 (1.86%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 12 (1.59%) Apache Spark
7 11 (1.46%) Apache
7 11 (1.46%) WebSphere
8 10 (1.33%) Appian
9 9 (1.20%) Apache Airflow
9 9 (1.20%) CMS
10 7 (0.93%) WebLogic
11 6 (0.80%) Sitecore CMS
12 3 (0.40%) Camunda
12 3 (0.40%) Oracle Workflow
12 3 (0.40%) SharePoint Server
13 2 (0.27%) NetWeaver
14 1 (0.13%) ArcGIS
14 1 (0.13%) BizTalk Server
14 1 (0.13%) JBoss
Applications
1 37 (4.91%) Microsoft Excel
2 14 (1.86%) MS Visio
3 13 (1.73%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (0.66%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 1 (0.13%) InDesign
6 1 (0.13%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 9 (1.20%) Advent Geneva
2 8 (1.06%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (0.93%) BusinessWorks
4 6 (0.80%) Salesforce CRM
4 6 (0.80%) SAP S/4HANA
5 4 (0.53%) Dynamics AX
5 4 (0.53%) Remedy ITSM
6 3 (0.40%) Loan IQ
6 3 (0.40%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 3 (0.40%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 2 (0.27%) Dynamics NAV
7 2 (0.27%) Oracle General Ledger
7 2 (0.27%) Oracle Payables
7 2 (0.27%) Oracle Receivables
7 2 (0.27%) SystmOne
7 2 (0.27%) Veritas eDiscovery
8 1 (0.13%) Elite 3E
8 1 (0.13%) Orchestrade
8 1 (0.13%) RMDS
8 1 (0.13%) SAP R/3
Cloud Services
1 325 (43.16%) Azure
2 162 (21.51%) AWS
3 125 (16.60%) Power Platform
4 97 (12.88%) Azure DevOps
5 67 (8.90%) Azure Data Factory
6 59 (7.84%) GitHub
7 50 (6.64%) GCP
8 37 (4.91%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 34 (4.52%) Microsoft 365
10 31 (4.12%) SaaS
11 28 (3.72%) Snowflake
12 26 (3.45%) Amazon S3
13 25 (3.32%) GitHub Actions
14 22 (2.92%) Power Automate
15 21 (2.79%) Amazon EC2
15 21 (2.79%) Dynamics 365
15 21 (2.79%) IaaS
16 18 (2.39%) AWS CloudFormation
16 18 (2.39%) Serverless
17 17 (2.26%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 24 (3.19%) Firewall
2 21 (2.79%) DNS
3 14 (1.86%) DHCP
3 14 (1.86%) TCP/IP
4 12 (1.59%) Internet
5 11 (1.46%) HTTP
5 11 (1.46%) VPN
6 7 (0.93%) LAN
6 7 (0.93%) SAN
7 6 (0.80%) NetScaler
7 6 (0.80%) VLAN
7 6 (0.80%) Wi-Fi
8 4 (0.53%) FTP
8 4 (0.53%) RS-232
8 4 (0.53%) X.400
9 3 (0.40%) Skype
9 3 (0.40%) SSH
9 3 (0.40%) SSL
9 3 (0.40%) VoIP
9 3 (0.40%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 110 (14.61%) SQL Server Integration Services
2 107 (14.21%) PostgreSQL
3 104 (13.81%) Power BI
4 90 (11.95%) Data Warehouse
5 89 (11.82%) Relational Database
6 64 (8.50%) Oracle Database
7 63 (8.37%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 55 (7.30%) MySQL
9 51 (6.77%) Azure SQL Database
10 49 (6.51%) Data Lake
11 41 (5.44%) NoSQL
12 39 (5.18%) MongoDB
13 29 (3.85%) SQL Server Analysis Services
14 27 (3.59%) DB2
15 26 (3.45%) RDBMS
16 22 (2.92%) Amazon RDS
16 22 (2.92%) Big Data
17 21 (2.79%) Metadata
18 18 (2.39%) Delta Lake
19 15 (1.99%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 63 (8.37%) Git
2 51 (6.77%) JIRA
3 32 (4.25%) Jenkins
4 27 (3.59%) Visual Studio
5 21 (2.79%) GitLab
6 14 (1.86%) Postman
7 12 (1.59%) TeamCity
8 11 (1.46%) Cucumber
8 11 (1.46%) Team Foundation Server
9 10 (1.33%) Octopus Deploy
10 9 (1.20%) ERwin
10 9 (1.20%) JUnit
10 9 (1.20%) SpecFlow
10 9 (1.20%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
11 8 (1.06%) MLflow
12 7 (0.93%) Mockito
12 7 (0.93%) Selenium
13 6 (0.80%) Maven
13 6 (0.80%) REST Assured
13 6 (0.80%) TestRail
General
1 222 (29.48%) Social Skills
2 186 (24.70%) Finance
3 117 (15.54%) Analytical Skills
4 99 (13.15%) Banking
5 60 (7.97%) Public Sector
6 36 (4.78%) Documentation Skills
7 22 (2.92%) Investment Banking
8 21 (2.79%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 17 (2.26%) Front Office
10 13 (1.73%) Financial Institution
10 13 (1.73%) Retail
11 11 (1.46%) Legal
12 7 (0.93%) Local Government
13 6 (0.80%) Law
13 6 (0.80%) Organisational Skills
13 6 (0.80%) Telecoms
14 5 (0.66%) Advertising
14 5 (0.66%) Presentation Skills
15 4 (0.53%) Manufacturing
15 4 (0.53%) Military
Job Titles
1 241 (32.01%) Developer
2 110 (14.61%) Senior
3 97 (12.88%) Data Engineer
4 75 (9.96%) C# Developer
5 71 (9.43%) DBA
6 70 (9.30%) Architect
7 52 (6.91%) .NET Developer
8 43 (5.71%) SQL DBA
9 38 (5.05%) Analyst
10 36 (4.78%) Lead
11 35 (4.65%) Senior Developer
12 30 (3.98%) Senior Data Engineer
13 29 (3.85%) Software Engineer
14 27 (3.59%) Full-Stack Developer
15 24 (3.19%) Azure Engineer
16 23 (3.05%) SQL Developer
17 22 (2.92%) C# .NET Developer
17 22 (2.92%) Data Architect
18 21 (2.79%) Consultant
19 20 (2.66%) Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 207 (27.49%) .NET
2 89 (11.82%) .NET Framework
3 82 (10.89%) REST
4 60 (7.97%) React
5 56 (7.44%) AngularJS
6 50 (6.64%) HTML
7 46 (6.11%) RESTful
8 45 (5.98%) CSS
9 39 (5.18%) .NET Core
10 36 (4.78%) XML
11 35 (4.65%) ASP.NET
12 34 (4.52%) Kafka
13 29 (3.85%) Entity Framework
13 29 (3.85%) Web Services
14 22 (2.92%) OAuth
14 22 (2.92%) WPF
15 21 (2.79%) Node.js
15 21 (2.79%) Spring
16 19 (2.52%) JSON
16 19 (2.52%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 48 (6.37%) Legacy Systems
2 32 (4.25%) Cloud Native
3 27 (3.59%) Replication
4 23 (3.05%) Enterprise Software
5 22 (2.92%) Management Information System
6 21 (2.79%) Data Structures
6 21 (2.79%) Onboarding
7 18 (2.39%) Clustering
8 12 (1.59%) Product Ownership
9 11 (1.46%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 11 (1.46%) Low-Code
9 11 (1.46%) NHS
9 11 (1.46%) Reinsurance
9 11 (1.46%) Self-Motivation
10 10 (1.33%) Credit Risk
10 10 (1.33%) Data Protection Act
10 10 (1.33%) Derivative
10 10 (1.33%) Greenfield Project
11 9 (1.20%) Distributed Systems
11 9 (1.20%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 143 (18.99%) Windows
2 75 (9.96%) Linux
3 73 (9.69%) Windows Server
4 31 (4.12%) Unix
5 12 (1.59%) Windows Server 2016
6 10 (1.33%) Windows 10
7 8 (1.06%) AIX
7 8 (1.06%) Windows Server 2019
8 5 (0.66%) Windows Server 2012
9 4 (0.53%) Android
9 4 (0.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 3 (0.40%) Windows Server 2003
11 2 (0.27%) OpenVMS
11 2 (0.27%) VMS
11 2 (0.27%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.13%) Mac OS X
12 1 (0.13%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 176 (23.37%) CI/CD
2 169 (22.44%) Agile
3 168 (22.31%) DevOps
4 164 (21.78%) Problem-Solving
5 160 (21.25%) ETL
6 141 (18.73%) Business Intelligence
7 128 (17.00%) Data Modelling
8 116 (15.41%) Migration
9 88 (11.69%) Analytics
10 87 (11.55%) Performance Tuning
11 79 (10.49%) Disaster Recovery
12 73 (9.69%) Data Engineering
13 72 (9.56%) Data Pipeline
14 68 (9.03%) Microservices
15 67 (8.90%) Test Automation
16 65 (8.63%) Data Governance
17 64 (8.50%) Data Analysis
18 58 (7.70%) Containerisation
19 57 (7.57%) AI
19 57 (7.57%) Data Integration
Programming Languages
1 445 (59.10%) SQL
2 191 (25.37%) C#
3 175 (23.24%) Python
4 102 (13.55%) T-SQL
5 85 (11.29%) PowerShell
6 68 (9.03%) JavaScript
7 62 (8.23%) Java
8 60 (7.97%) PL/SQL
9 47 (6.24%) TypeScript
10 36 (4.78%) Bash
11 22 (2.92%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 17 (2.26%) VB
13 16 (2.12%) Shell Script
14 15 (1.99%) Bicep
14 15 (1.99%) Korn
15 13 (1.73%) PHP
15 13 (1.73%) VBA
16 7 (0.93%) Scala
16 7 (0.93%) XPath
17 4 (0.53%) C++
Qualifications
1 138 (18.33%) Security Cleared
2 101 (13.41%) SC Cleared
3 79 (10.49%) Degree
4 29 (3.85%) Microsoft Certification
5 26 (3.45%) Computer Science Degree
6 22 (2.92%) Azure Certification
7 17 (2.26%) DV Cleared
8 15 (1.99%) BPSS Clearance
9 8 (1.06%) Master's Degree
10 7 (0.93%) OCP
10 7 (0.93%) Oracle Certification
11 5 (0.66%) AWS Certification
11 5 (0.66%) CCA
11 5 (0.66%) Citrix Certification
11 5 (0.66%) ITIL Certification
12 4 (0.53%) Cisco Certification
12 4 (0.53%) CISSP
12 4 (0.53%) MCITP
12 4 (0.53%) MCTS
12 4 (0.53%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 83 (11.02%) QA
2 79 (10.49%) Data Quality
3 21 (2.79%) GDPR
4 13 (1.73%) SLA
5 8 (1.06%) NIST
6 7 (0.93%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 6 (0.80%) Accessibility
8 5 (0.66%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 4 (0.53%) IFRS
9 4 (0.53%) WCAG
10 3 (0.40%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.40%) HIPAA
10 3 (0.40%) IFRS 17
10 3 (0.40%) IFRS 9
11 2 (0.27%) Basel III
11 2 (0.27%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.27%) EMIR
11 2 (0.27%) GAAP
11 2 (0.27%) MiFID
11 2 (0.27%) NIST 800
System Software
1 85 (11.29%) Docker
2 57 (7.57%) Active Directory
3 19 (2.52%) VMware Infrastructure
4 15 (1.99%) Hyper-V
5 14 (1.86%) Oracle RAC
6 12 (1.59%) Virtual Machines
7 10 (1.33%) Virtual Desktop
8 6 (0.80%) KVM
9 5 (0.66%) VMware NSX
9 5 (0.66%) XenApp
9 5 (0.66%) XenDesktop
10 2 (0.27%) NDS
10 2 (0.27%) NetIQ eDirectory
10 2 (0.27%) VMware ESXi
10 2 (0.27%) zsh
11 1 (0.13%) Citrix Hypervisor
Systems Management
1 80 (10.62%) Kubernetes
2 49 (6.51%) Terraform
3 17 (2.26%) Ansible
3 17 (2.26%) Oracle RMAN
4 15 (1.99%) Grafana
5 13 (1.73%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
5 13 (1.73%) SCCM
6 11 (1.46%) vCenter Server
7 10 (1.33%) Puppet
8 9 (1.20%) Microsoft Intune
9 7 (0.93%) Single Sign-On
9 7 (0.93%) TIBCO Hawk
10 6 (0.80%) IBM BigFix
11 5 (0.66%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 5 (0.66%) SCVMM
12 4 (0.53%) NetBackup
12 4 (0.53%) Progress Chef
12 4 (0.53%) WSUS
13 3 (0.40%) Control-M
13 3 (0.40%) Microsoft Clustering
Vendors
1 230 (30.54%) Oracle
2 220 (29.22%) Microsoft
3 59 (7.84%) Databricks
4 49 (6.51%) Citrix
5 33 (4.38%) VMware
6 30 (3.98%) Informatica
7 29 (3.85%) ServiceNow
8 21 (2.79%) Google
9 20 (2.66%) IBM
10 19 (2.52%) SAP
11 13 (1.73%) CyberArk
11 13 (1.73%) UiPath
12 10 (1.33%) Dynatrace
12 10 (1.33%) OpenAI
13 9 (1.20%) Advent
13 9 (1.20%) Salesforce
13 9 (1.20%) SolarWinds
13 9 (1.20%) Sybase
14 8 (1.06%) Cisco
14 8 (1.06%) Sitecore
490 SQL Server jobs in England