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 25 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 113 104 55
Rank change year-on-year -9 -49 -4
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 1,016 701 1,288
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.25% 2.56% 3.71%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 14.60% 14.00% 20.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 707 524 918
10th Percentile £358 £317 £329
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £517 £503
Median % change year-on-year -5.75% +2.78% -4.14%
75th Percentile £600 £650 £625
90th Percentile £705 £750 £725
UK median daily rate £481 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -3.80% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 46 6 11
10th Percentile £13.51 £20.89 £31.25
25th Percentile £19.25 £21.02 £38.38
Median hourly rate £38.51 £23.80 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +61.84% -49.91% +4.40%
75th Percentile £63.31 £64.71 £62.96
90th Percentile £75.00 £83.13 £80.00
UK median hourly rate £47.54 £70.00 £43.75
% change year-on-year -32.09% +60.00% -2.78%

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 6,961 5,006 6,285
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 15.42% 18.27% 18.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,662 3,466 4,522
10th Percentile £355 £350 £350
25th Percentile £418 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £516 £535
Median % change year-on-year -3.10% -3.55% -2.73%
75th Percentile £610 £638 £675
90th Percentile £700 £763 £825
UK median daily rate £500 £507 £525
% change year-on-year -1.28% -3.52% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 223 80 97
10th Percentile £16.70 £18.72 £14.03
25th Percentile £25.49 £23.50 £20.75
Median hourly rate £41.00 £34.82 £38.50
Median % change year-on-year +17.77% -9.57% -30.00%
75th Percentile £70.00 £64.06 £57.50
90th Percentile £77.40 £77.62 £71.50
UK median hourly rate £42.50 £36.25 £37.50
% change year-on-year +17.24% -3.33% -31.82%

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 25 July 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 25 July 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 25 July 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 -30 484 £525 -8.10% 123
North of England +11 201 £473 +11.18% 76
South East -19 124 £465 +9.41% 99
North West -9 111 £478 +12.47% 35
Midlands -5 102 £475 +10.47% 48
Yorkshire +14 90 £450 -6.25% 30
West Midlands -25 58 £470 -14.55% 29
South West -5 50 £450 -2.70% 22
East Midlands +10 42 £525 +54.41% 19
East of England -4 34 £450 -10.00% 20
North East -46 1 - - 15
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 64 (6.30%) SharePoint
2 47 (4.63%) IIS
3 37 (3.64%) Confluence
4 23 (2.26%) Microsoft Exchange
5 22 (2.17%) Apache Spark
6 20 (1.97%) Apache
7 18 (1.77%) Apache Airflow
8 13 (1.28%) Camunda
9 11 (1.08%) Oracle Workflow
10 10 (0.98%) Appian
11 8 (0.79%) CMS
12 6 (0.59%) NetWeaver
13 5 (0.49%) OpenEdge
13 5 (0.49%) Tuxedo
14 4 (0.39%) Tomcat
14 4 (0.39%) Umbraco
15 3 (0.30%) Apache Superset
15 3 (0.30%) nginx
15 3 (0.30%) Sitecore CMS
16 2 (0.20%) Anypoint
Applications
1 47 (4.63%) Microsoft Excel
2 22 (2.17%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (1.18%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.098%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.098%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.098%) InDesign
Business Applications
1 21 (2.07%) Remedy ITSM
2 18 (1.77%) SAP S/4HANA
3 17 (1.67%) Dynamics CRM
4 6 (0.59%) Dynamics AX
4 6 (0.59%) OpenText MBPM
4 6 (0.59%) Oracle BPM
5 5 (0.49%) Oracle Payables
6 4 (0.39%) Aladdin
6 4 (0.39%) Elite 3E
7 3 (0.30%) SystmOne
8 2 (0.20%) Dynamics NAV
8 2 (0.20%) Infor LN
8 2 (0.20%) Loan IQ
8 2 (0.20%) Siebel CRM
8 2 (0.20%) Teamcenter
9 1 (0.098%) Endur
9 1 (0.098%) Findur
9 1 (0.098%) Payment Gateway
9 1 (0.098%) SAP CRM
9 1 (0.098%) SDL Web 8
Cloud Services
1 420 (41.34%) Azure
2 215 (21.16%) AWS
3 143 (14.07%) Power Platform
4 110 (10.83%) Azure DevOps
5 90 (8.86%) GitHub
6 62 (6.10%) Azure Data Factory
7 44 (4.33%) Entra ID
8 41 (4.04%) Serverless
9 39 (3.84%) Azure Monitor
10 38 (3.74%) Microsoft 365
10 38 (3.74%) Snowflake
11 37 (3.64%) GitHub Actions
12 36 (3.54%) Power Automate
13 32 (3.15%) Dynamics 365
13 32 (3.15%) GCP
14 31 (3.05%) Azure Synapse Analytics
15 29 (2.85%) SaaS
16 26 (2.56%) dbt
17 25 (2.46%) Amazon S3
18 24 (2.36%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 46 (4.53%) DNS
2 37 (3.64%) DHCP
3 28 (2.76%) Firewall
4 20 (1.97%) SAN
5 18 (1.77%) VLAN
6 15 (1.48%) VPN
7 14 (1.38%) Internet
8 12 (1.18%) Network Security
9 11 (1.08%) SSH
9 11 (1.08%) TCP/IP
9 11 (1.08%) Wi-Fi
10 8 (0.79%) SSL
11 6 (0.59%) HTTPS
11 6 (0.59%) IPv4
11 6 (0.59%) IPv6
11 6 (0.59%) LAN
12 5 (0.49%) WAN
13 4 (0.39%) Kerberos
13 4 (0.39%) VoIP
14 3 (0.30%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 149 (14.67%) PostgreSQL
2 119 (11.71%) Power BI
3 109 (10.73%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 104 (10.24%) Relational Database
5 103 (10.14%) Data Warehouse
6 77 (7.58%) Oracle Database
7 64 (6.30%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 62 (6.10%) MySQL
9 52 (5.12%) Azure SQL Database
10 42 (4.13%) MongoDB
11 41 (4.04%) Data Lake
12 35 (3.44%) SQL Server Analysis Services
13 30 (2.95%) NoSQL
14 24 (2.36%) RDBMS
15 22 (2.17%) Tableau
16 16 (1.57%) Metadata
16 16 (1.57%) Redis
17 15 (1.48%) Big Data
17 15 (1.48%) Db2
18 14 (1.38%) Amazon RDS
Development Applications
1 92 (9.06%) Git
2 55 (5.41%) Jenkins
3 52 (5.12%) JIRA
4 29 (2.85%) Visual Studio
5 26 (2.56%) GitLab
6 20 (1.97%) Team Foundation Server
7 19 (1.87%) TeamCity
8 18 (1.77%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 15 (1.48%) Maven
10 13 (1.28%) Cucumber
10 13 (1.28%) Sonatype Nexus
11 12 (1.18%) Octopus Deploy
11 12 (1.18%) Postman
12 11 (1.08%) Selenium
13 10 (0.98%) Artifactory
14 9 (0.89%) Chocolatey
14 9 (0.89%) Gatling
15 8 (0.79%) Cypress.io
15 8 (0.79%) MSTest
15 8 (0.79%) WebDriver
General
1 290 (28.54%) Social Skills
2 253 (24.90%) Finance
3 185 (18.21%) Analytical Skills
4 123 (12.11%) Banking
5 81 (7.97%) Public Sector
6 47 (4.63%) Documentation Skills
7 37 (3.64%) Front Office
8 23 (2.26%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 23 (2.26%) Investment Banking
9 16 (1.57%) Legal
10 15 (1.48%) Organisational Skills
11 13 (1.28%) Financial Institution
12 10 (0.98%) Retail
13 9 (0.89%) Advertising
14 8 (0.79%) Manufacturing
15 6 (0.59%) Back Office
15 6 (0.59%) Local Government
16 5 (0.49%) Law
16 5 (0.49%) Publishing
16 5 (0.49%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 302 (29.72%) Developer
2 152 (14.96%) Senior
3 145 (14.27%) DBA
4 93 (9.15%) SQL DBA
5 87 (8.56%) C# Developer
5 87 (8.56%) Data Engineer
6 76 (7.48%) .NET Developer
7 71 (6.99%) Lead
8 55 (5.41%) Administrator
8 55 (5.41%) Architect
9 53 (5.22%) SQL Developer
10 45 (4.43%) Senior Developer
11 44 (4.33%) Analyst
12 42 (4.13%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 42 (4.13%) Oracle DBA
13 39 (3.84%) Software Engineer
14 36 (3.54%) Full-Stack Developer
15 34 (3.35%) Azure Engineer
16 31 (3.05%) C# .NET Developer
17 30 (2.95%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 255 (25.10%) .NET
2 129 (12.70%) REST
3 105 (10.33%) .NET Framework
4 83 (8.17%) React
5 60 (5.91%) CSS
5 60 (5.91%) RESTful
6 57 (5.61%) AngularJS
7 56 (5.51%) ASP.NET
8 50 (4.92%) HTML
9 49 (4.82%) Kafka
10 48 (4.72%) .NET Core
11 39 (3.84%) Web Services
12 38 (3.74%) XML
13 37 (3.64%) JSON
14 31 (3.05%) SOAP
15 29 (2.85%) Entity Framework
16 25 (2.46%) Spring Boot
17 24 (2.36%) OAuth
18 23 (2.26%) Spring
19 20 (1.97%) WinForms
Miscellaneous
1 56 (5.51%) Onboarding
2 50 (4.92%) Legacy Systems
3 49 (4.82%) Cloud Native
4 46 (4.53%) Clustering
4 46 (4.53%) Data Structures
4 46 (4.53%) Replication
5 39 (3.84%) Self-Motivation
6 37 (3.64%) Enterprise Software
7 26 (2.56%) Management Information System
8 22 (2.17%) Product Ownership
9 20 (1.97%) PKI
10 18 (1.77%) Low-Code
11 17 (1.67%) Data Centre
12 16 (1.57%) Derivative
12 16 (1.57%) NHS
13 13 (1.28%) Distributed Systems
13 13 (1.28%) Fixed Income
14 12 (1.18%) Algorithms
14 12 (1.18%) Linux Command Line
15 11 (1.08%) Legacy Code
Operating Systems
1 256 (25.20%) Windows
2 149 (14.67%) Windows Server
3 100 (9.84%) Linux
4 57 (5.61%) Unix
5 13 (1.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 9 (0.89%) AIX
7 8 (0.79%) Ubuntu
7 8 (0.79%) Windows 10
7 8 (0.79%) Windows Server 2019
8 6 (0.59%) Android
8 6 (0.59%) VMS
9 5 (0.49%) Solaris
9 5 (0.49%) Windows Server 2012
9 5 (0.49%) Windows Server 2016
10 3 (0.30%) CentOS
11 2 (0.20%) OpenVMS
12 1 (0.098%) Data ONTAP
12 1 (0.098%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.098%) Windows Server 2003
12 1 (0.098%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 251 (24.70%) DevOps
2 228 (22.44%) Agile
3 220 (21.65%) CI/CD
4 212 (20.87%) Problem-Solving
5 180 (17.72%) Migration
6 159 (15.65%) ETL
7 147 (14.47%) Business Intelligence
8 139 (13.68%) Performance Tuning
9 133 (13.09%) Data Modelling
10 121 (11.91%) Disaster Recovery
11 113 (11.12%) AI
12 96 (9.45%) Analytics
13 93 (9.15%) High Availability
14 92 (9.06%) Data Pipeline
15 87 (8.56%) Microservices
16 83 (8.17%) Continuous Improvement
17 79 (7.78%) Test Automation
18 78 (7.68%) Data Analysis
19 76 (7.48%) Software Engineering
19 76 (7.48%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 580 (57.09%) SQL
2 262 (25.79%) C#
3 208 (20.47%) Python
4 185 (18.21%) PowerShell
5 168 (16.54%) T-SQL
6 110 (10.83%) JavaScript
7 78 (7.68%) Java
8 65 (6.40%) PL/SQL
9 55 (5.41%) TypeScript
10 37 (3.64%) Bash
11 26 (2.56%) Shell Script
12 22 (2.17%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 18 (1.77%) Scala
13 18 (1.77%) VB
14 16 (1.57%) Korn
15 15 (1.48%) VBA
16 11 (1.08%) Bicep
17 8 (0.79%) VB.NET
18 6 (0.59%) VB6
18 6 (0.59%) XPath
Qualifications
1 249 (24.51%) Security Cleared
2 187 (18.41%) SC Cleared
3 104 (10.24%) Degree
4 45 (4.43%) DV Cleared
5 37 (3.64%) Microsoft Certification
6 25 (2.46%) Computer Science Degree
7 19 (1.87%) BPSS Clearance
8 18 (1.77%) Azure Certification
9 11 (1.08%) ISTQB
10 10 (0.98%) Oracle Certification
11 9 (0.89%) DBS Check
11 9 (0.89%) Master's Degree
11 9 (0.89%) OCP
12 5 (0.49%) CISSP
13 4 (0.39%) AWS Certification
13 4 (0.39%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
13 4 (0.39%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 4 (0.39%) MCITP
13 4 (0.39%) MCTS
13 4 (0.39%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 98 (9.65%) QA
2 91 (8.96%) Data Quality
3 29 (2.85%) GDPR
4 26 (2.56%) NIST
5 24 (2.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 23 (2.26%) Accessibility
7 20 (1.97%) SLA
8 15 (1.48%) WCAG
9 6 (0.59%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 5 (0.49%) ISO 9000
11 4 (0.39%) Actionable Recommendations
12 3 (0.30%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 3 (0.30%) HIPAA
13 2 (0.20%) Basel III
13 2 (0.20%) COREP
13 2 (0.20%) FINREP
13 2 (0.20%) Government Security Classifications
13 2 (0.20%) GRC
13 2 (0.20%) SOC 2
14 1 (0.098%) IFRS
System Software
1 119 (11.71%) Active Directory
2 75 (7.38%) Docker
3 32 (3.15%) Virtual Machines
4 30 (2.95%) Oracle RAC
5 29 (2.85%) VMware Infrastructure
6 13 (1.28%) Hyper-V
7 7 (0.69%) Virtual Desktop
8 6 (0.59%) KVM
9 3 (0.30%) Dovecot
9 3 (0.30%) GridGain
9 3 (0.30%) Postfix
9 3 (0.30%) Virtual Servers
10 2 (0.20%) VMware ESXi
10 2 (0.20%) vSphere
11 1 (0.098%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.098%) Citrix Hypervisor
11 1 (0.098%) SRDF
11 1 (0.098%) Terminal Services
11 1 (0.098%) XenApp
11 1 (0.098%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 100 (9.84%) Kubernetes
2 71 (6.99%) Terraform
3 36 (3.54%) Ansible
4 23 (2.26%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
5 21 (2.07%) Oracle RMAN
6 15 (1.48%) Data Guard
6 15 (1.48%) Microsoft Intune
6 15 (1.48%) SCCM
7 13 (1.28%) HAProxy
8 10 (0.98%) WSUS
9 9 (0.89%) Grafana
9 9 (0.89%) SCOM
10 7 (0.69%) Failover Clustering
10 7 (0.69%) Microsoft Clustering
10 7 (0.69%) Single Sign-On
10 7 (0.69%) vCenter Server
11 6 (0.59%) IBM BigFix
12 4 (0.39%) ITRS Geneos
12 4 (0.39%) Prometheus
13 3 (0.30%) Foglight
Vendors
1 318 (31.30%) Microsoft
2 283 (27.85%) Oracle
3 55 (5.41%) Databricks
4 54 (5.31%) VMware
5 52 (5.12%) ServiceNow
6 50 (4.92%) Citrix
7 46 (4.53%) CyberArk
8 38 (3.74%) SAP
9 29 (2.85%) BeyondTrust
10 23 (2.26%) Sybase
11 22 (2.17%) Informatica
12 21 (2.07%) Remedy
13 20 (1.97%) BMC
13 20 (1.97%) Dynatrace
14 19 (1.87%) Cisco
15 18 (1.77%) IBM
16 17 (1.67%) Red Hat
17 16 (1.57%) Google
18 12 (1.18%) Alteryx
19 11 (1.08%) AppDynamics