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 7 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
7 Feb 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 140 81 69
Rank change year-on-year -59 -12 -20
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 667 770 1,186
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.00% 2.94% 3.09%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 12.32% 15.86% 19.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 458 542 874
10th Percentile £350 £341 £325
25th Percentile £404 £406 £402
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £506 £540
Median % change year-on-year -5.11% -6.32% -1.82%
75th Percentile £588 £625 £650
90th Percentile £700 £700 £725
UK median daily rate £480 £500 £525
% change year-on-year -4.00% -4.76% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 6 30
10th Percentile £12.95 £42.63 £20.17
25th Percentile £14.90 £60.66 £38.22
Median hourly rate £25.25 £63.75 £40.25
Median % change year-on-year -60.39% +58.37% -3.59%
75th Percentile £47.00 £65.46 £55.94
90th Percentile £69.50 £65.62 £62.55
UK median hourly rate £29.48 £60.50 £40.25
% change year-on-year -51.27% +50.31% -7.61%

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 5,413 4,856 6,183
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 16.25% 18.54% 16.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,769 3,226 4,459
10th Percentile £330 £356 £350
25th Percentile £413 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £538 £538
Median % change year-on-year -6.98% - -2.27%
75th Percentile £600 £663 £650
90th Percentile £700 £775 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 102 81 169
10th Percentile £18.25 £22.27 £15.58
25th Percentile £27.62 £25.26 £21.64
Median hourly rate £51.36 £41.50 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +23.76% -2.35% -25.26%
75th Percentile £74.68 £65.00 £61.50
90th Percentile £85.90 £73.75 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £54.00 £38.50 £42.50
% change year-on-year +40.26% -9.41% -25.26%

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 7 February 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 7 February 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 7 February 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 -34 417 £500 -9.09% 111
North of England -46 74 £425 -10.53% 102
South East -50 73 £494 -1.25% 121
North West -31 39 £450 +9.09% 67
Yorkshire -38 33 £394 -21.25% 23
South West -32 28 £550 - 36
Midlands -84 26 £455 -9.00% 62
East of England -17 24 £519 +15.28% 41
West Midlands -68 18 £455 -19.75% 30
East Midlands -43 7 £425 +16.44% 32
North East -12 3 £475 +28.38% 13
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 29 (4.35%) SharePoint
2 24 (3.60%) IIS
3 20 (3.00%) Microsoft Exchange
4 18 (2.70%) Confluence
5 14 (2.10%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 11 (1.65%) Apache
6 11 (1.65%) WebSphere
7 10 (1.50%) Apache Spark
8 9 (1.35%) Apache Airflow
9 8 (1.20%) Appian
9 8 (1.20%) CMS
10 7 (1.05%) WebLogic
11 5 (0.75%) Sitecore CMS
12 4 (0.60%) SharePoint Server
13 2 (0.30%) JBoss
14 1 (0.15%) ArcGIS
14 1 (0.15%) ColdFusion
14 1 (0.15%) Oracle Workflow
14 1 (0.15%) SAS
14 1 (0.15%) Tomcat
Applications
1 43 (6.45%) Microsoft Excel
2 13 (1.95%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (1.95%) MS Visio
3 6 (0.90%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.60%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.30%) Trello
5 2 (0.30%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 9 (1.35%) Advent Geneva
2 8 (1.20%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (1.05%) BusinessWorks
4 6 (0.90%) Salesforce CRM
5 4 (0.60%) SAP S/4HANA
6 3 (0.45%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 3 (0.45%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 2 (0.30%) Dynamics AX
7 2 (0.30%) Dynamics NAV
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle General Ledger
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle Payables
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle Receivables
7 2 (0.30%) SystmOne
7 2 (0.30%) Teamcenter
7 2 (0.30%) Veritas eDiscovery
8 1 (0.15%) Loan IQ
8 1 (0.15%) Maximo
8 1 (0.15%) RMDS
8 1 (0.15%) thinkFolio
8 1 (0.15%) TIBCO BusinessEvents
Cloud Services
1 297 (44.53%) Azure
2 140 (20.99%) AWS
3 118 (17.69%) Power Platform
4 84 (12.59%) Azure DevOps
5 58 (8.70%) Azure Data Factory
6 53 (7.95%) GCP
7 52 (7.80%) GitHub
8 34 (5.10%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 32 (4.80%) Microsoft 365
10 31 (4.65%) SaaS
11 21 (3.15%) Amazon S3
12 20 (3.00%) GitHub Actions
13 18 (2.70%) Power Automate
13 18 (2.70%) Snowflake
14 17 (2.55%) Dynamics 365
14 17 (2.55%) IaaS
15 16 (2.40%) Azure Service Bus
16 14 (2.10%) AWS CloudFormation
16 14 (2.10%) Serverless
17 13 (1.95%) Amazon EC2
Communications & Networking
1 28 (4.20%) Firewall
2 21 (3.15%) DNS
3 14 (2.10%) TCP/IP
4 12 (1.80%) DHCP
4 12 (1.80%) Internet
5 10 (1.50%) HTTP
6 7 (1.05%) VPN
7 6 (0.90%) LAN
8 5 (0.75%) NetScaler
8 5 (0.75%) SAN
8 5 (0.75%) Skype
9 4 (0.60%) SSL
9 4 (0.60%) VLAN
9 4 (0.60%) VoIP
9 4 (0.60%) Wi-Fi
10 3 (0.45%) NAS
10 3 (0.45%) RS-232
10 3 (0.45%) WAN
10 3 (0.45%) X.400
11 2 (0.30%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 100 (14.99%) Power BI
2 93 (13.94%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 89 (13.34%) PostgreSQL
4 82 (12.29%) Relational Database
5 79 (11.84%) Data Warehouse
6 59 (8.85%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 48 (7.20%) Oracle Database
8 46 (6.90%) Azure SQL Database
8 46 (6.90%) MySQL
9 45 (6.75%) Data Lake
10 37 (5.55%) MongoDB
11 34 (5.10%) NoSQL
12 26 (3.90%) DB2
13 24 (3.60%) RDBMS
14 23 (3.45%) SQL Server Analysis Services
15 20 (3.00%) Amazon RDS
15 20 (3.00%) Big Data
15 20 (3.00%) Delta Lake
16 19 (2.85%) Tableau
17 16 (2.40%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 59 (8.85%) Git
2 47 (7.05%) JIRA
3 32 (4.80%) Jenkins
4 24 (3.60%) Visual Studio
5 18 (2.70%) GitLab
6 14 (2.10%) Postman
7 11 (1.65%) Cucumber
7 11 (1.65%) Selenium
7 11 (1.65%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 10 (1.50%) SpecFlow
8 10 (1.50%) TeamCity
9 9 (1.35%) Maven
9 9 (1.35%) Team Foundation Server
10 8 (1.20%) ERwin
10 8 (1.20%) Octopus Deploy
11 7 (1.05%) Bitbucket
11 7 (1.05%) JUnit
11 7 (1.05%) MLflow
12 6 (0.90%) REST Assured
12 6 (0.90%) TestRail
General
1 201 (30.13%) Social Skills
2 173 (25.94%) Finance
3 97 (14.54%) Analytical Skills
4 91 (13.64%) Banking
5 41 (6.15%) Public Sector
6 34 (5.10%) Documentation Skills
7 25 (3.75%) Investment Banking
8 18 (2.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 15 (2.25%) Front Office
10 14 (2.10%) Retail
11 12 (1.80%) Financial Institution
12 8 (1.20%) Legal
13 6 (0.90%) Law
13 6 (0.90%) Local Government
13 6 (0.90%) Manufacturing
14 5 (0.75%) Influencing Skills
14 5 (0.75%) Organisational Skills
15 4 (0.60%) Military
15 4 (0.60%) Presentation Skills
15 4 (0.60%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 237 (35.53%) Developer
2 97 (14.54%) Senior
3 92 (13.79%) Data Engineer
4 68 (10.19%) C# Developer
5 55 (8.25%) Architect
6 47 (7.05%) .NET Developer
7 43 (6.45%) Analyst
8 38 (5.70%) Senior Developer
9 31 (4.65%) Senior Data Engineer
10 29 (4.35%) DBA
10 29 (4.35%) Lead
11 26 (3.90%) Full-Stack Developer
12 23 (3.45%) Software Engineer
13 22 (3.30%) Consultant
14 21 (3.15%) SQL DBA
14 21 (3.15%) SQL Developer
15 20 (3.00%) C# .NET Developer
16 19 (2.85%) Data Architect
17 18 (2.70%) Azure Engineer
18 16 (2.40%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 191 (28.64%) .NET
2 81 (12.14%) .NET Framework
3 73 (10.94%) REST
4 49 (7.35%) React
5 48 (7.20%) HTML
6 47 (7.05%) AngularJS
7 41 (6.15%) RESTful
8 40 (6.00%) .NET Core
9 39 (5.85%) CSS
10 36 (5.40%) XML
11 34 (5.10%) Kafka
12 33 (4.95%) Web Services
13 31 (4.65%) ASP.NET
14 29 (4.35%) SOAP
15 26 (3.90%) Entity Framework
16 23 (3.45%) WPF
17 20 (3.00%) Middleware
17 20 (3.00%) OAuth
18 19 (2.85%) Node.js
19 18 (2.70%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 37 (5.55%) Legacy Systems
2 30 (4.50%) Cloud Native
3 23 (3.45%) Enterprise Software
4 17 (2.55%) Management Information System
5 16 (2.40%) Onboarding
6 15 (2.25%) Data Structures
6 15 (2.25%) Derivative
7 14 (2.10%) Replication
8 13 (1.95%) Distributed Systems
8 13 (1.95%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
8 13 (1.95%) Product Ownership
9 12 (1.80%) Credit Risk
10 11 (1.65%) PKI
11 10 (1.50%) Greenfield Project
11 10 (1.50%) Low-Code
11 10 (1.50%) Reinsurance
12 9 (1.35%) Clustering
12 9 (1.35%) Linux Command Line
12 9 (1.35%) NHS
13 8 (1.20%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 117 (17.54%) Windows
2 76 (11.39%) Linux
3 59 (8.85%) Windows Server
4 14 (2.10%) Windows 10
5 12 (1.80%) Unix
5 12 (1.80%) Windows Server 2016
6 8 (1.20%) Windows Server 2019
7 5 (0.75%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 4 (0.60%) AIX
8 4 (0.60%) Android
8 4 (0.60%) Windows Server 2012
9 2 (0.30%) VMS
9 2 (0.30%) Windows Server 2003
10 1 (0.15%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.15%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.15%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 157 (23.54%) CI/CD
2 149 (22.34%) Agile
3 141 (21.14%) DevOps
4 138 (20.69%) Problem-Solving
5 132 (19.79%) ETL
6 126 (18.89%) Business Intelligence
7 108 (16.19%) Data Modelling
8 102 (15.29%) Migration
9 75 (11.24%) Analytics
10 67 (10.04%) Microservices
11 61 (9.15%) Data Engineering
12 60 (9.00%) Test Automation
13 56 (8.40%) Containerisation
13 56 (8.40%) Data Analysis
13 56 (8.40%) Data Pipeline
14 54 (8.10%) Data Governance
14 54 (8.10%) Performance Tuning
15 53 (7.95%) Disaster Recovery
15 53 (7.95%) Full-Stack Development
16 52 (7.80%) Data Migration
Programming Languages
1 390 (58.47%) SQL
2 171 (25.64%) C#
3 154 (23.09%) Python
4 81 (12.14%) T-SQL
5 68 (10.19%) Java
5 68 (10.19%) JavaScript
6 60 (9.00%) PowerShell
7 59 (8.85%) PL/SQL
8 34 (5.10%) Bash
9 30 (4.50%) TypeScript
10 20 (3.00%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 18 (2.70%) VB
12 14 (2.10%) PHP
12 14 (2.10%) VBA
13 11 (1.65%) Bicep
14 7 (1.05%) XPath
15 5 (0.75%) R
15 5 (0.75%) X++
16 4 (0.60%) COBOL
16 4 (0.60%) Scala
Qualifications
1 91 (13.64%) Security Cleared
2 71 (10.64%) Degree
3 63 (9.45%) SC Cleared
4 26 (3.90%) Computer Science Degree
5 19 (2.85%) Azure Certification
5 19 (2.85%) Microsoft Certification
6 18 (2.70%) DV Cleared
7 12 (1.80%) BPSS Clearance
8 10 (1.50%) Master's Degree
9 6 (0.90%) AWS Certification
10 4 (0.60%) CCA
10 4 (0.60%) Cisco Certification
10 4 (0.60%) Citrix Certification
11 3 (0.45%) CCNP
11 3 (0.45%) ITIL Certification
11 3 (0.45%) PMI Certification
11 3 (0.45%) PMP
12 2 (0.30%) CCIE
12 2 (0.30%) OCP
12 2 (0.30%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 74 (11.09%) Data Quality
2 70 (10.49%) QA
3 16 (2.40%) GDPR
4 8 (1.20%) SLA
5 6 (0.90%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 5 (0.75%) Accessibility
7 4 (0.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 4 (0.60%) WCAG
8 3 (0.45%) IFRS
8 3 (0.45%) IFRS 17
8 3 (0.45%) MiFID
9 2 (0.30%) Basel III
9 2 (0.30%) EMIR
9 2 (0.30%) GAAP
9 2 (0.30%) IFRS 9
9 2 (0.30%) Solvency II
10 1 (0.15%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.15%) HIPAA
10 1 (0.15%) JSP 440
10 1 (0.15%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 83 (12.44%) Docker
2 47 (7.05%) Active Directory
3 26 (3.90%) VMware Infrastructure
4 16 (2.40%) Hyper-V
5 9 (1.35%) Virtual Machines
6 7 (1.05%) VMware NSX
7 6 (0.90%) Virtual Desktop
7 6 (0.90%) zsh
8 4 (0.60%) XenApp
8 4 (0.60%) XenDesktop
9 3 (0.45%) KVM
9 3 (0.45%) VMware ESXi
9 3 (0.45%) vSphere
10 2 (0.30%) GridGain
10 2 (0.30%) NDS
10 2 (0.30%) NetIQ eDirectory
11 1 (0.15%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 62 (9.30%) Kubernetes
2 38 (5.70%) Terraform
3 17 (2.55%) Ansible
4 13 (1.95%) Grafana
4 13 (1.95%) SCCM
5 10 (1.50%) Microsoft Intune
5 10 (1.50%) Puppet
5 10 (1.50%) vCenter Server
6 8 (1.20%) NetBackup
7 7 (1.05%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 7 (1.05%) TIBCO Hawk
8 6 (0.90%) Oracle RMAN
8 6 (0.90%) Single Sign-On
9 5 (0.75%) Progress Chef
10 4 (0.60%) Microsoft Clustering
10 4 (0.60%) SCOM
10 4 (0.60%) SCVMM
10 4 (0.60%) WSUS
11 3 (0.45%) Control-M
11 3 (0.45%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 205 (30.73%) Microsoft
2 199 (29.84%) Oracle
3 56 (8.40%) Databricks
4 42 (6.30%) Citrix
5 41 (6.15%) VMware
6 27 (4.05%) Informatica
7 24 (3.60%) Google
8 23 (3.45%) ServiceNow
9 20 (3.00%) SAP
10 19 (2.85%) IBM
11 12 (1.80%) Salesforce
11 12 (1.80%) UiPath
12 11 (1.65%) CyberArk
13 10 (1.50%) Cisco
13 10 (1.50%) Veritas
14 9 (1.35%) Advent
14 9 (1.35%) SolarWinds
14 9 (1.35%) Sybase
15 8 (1.20%) PagerDuty
16 7 (1.05%) Sitecore
428 SQL Server jobs in England