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 2 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
2 Sep 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 124 110 57
Rank change year-on-year -14 -53 -2
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 991 683 1,180
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.17% 2.49% 3.57%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 14.27% 13.91% 19.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 697 502 845
10th Percentile £363 £313 £330
25th Percentile £413 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.00% - -6.54%
75th Percentile £600 £648 £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 42 6 7
10th Percentile £13.51 £20.89 £27.71
25th Percentile £19.25 £21.02 £34.00
Median hourly rate £50.02 £23.80 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +110.21% -49.91% +2.86%
75th Percentile £63.31 £64.71 £57.43
90th Percentile £75.80 £83.13 £77.78
UK median hourly rate £47.54 £70.00 £43.00
% change year-on-year -32.09% +62.79% -5.49%

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 6,947 4,909 6,097
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 15.23% 17.93% 18.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,639 3,375 4,287
10th Percentile £358 £335 £350
25th Percentile £423 £410 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £501 £510 £550
Median % change year-on-year -1.86% -7.27% -
75th Percentile £619 £638 £675
90th Percentile £705 £750 £825
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -3.23%
Number of hourly rates quoted 232 80 91
10th Percentile £14.96 £21.02 £14.25
25th Percentile £23.62 £29.05 £19.92
Median hourly rate £38.38 £38.23 £33.93
Median % change year-on-year +0.38% +12.67% -38.31%
75th Percentile £62.44 £65.00 £58.73
90th Percentile £75.00 £78.88 £71.50
UK median hourly rate £38.38 £38.85 £32.50
% change year-on-year -1.21% +19.52% -40.91%

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 2 September 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 2 September 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 2 September 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 -29 475 £525 -4.55% 486
North of England +6 201 £475 +11.76% 114
North West +1 112 £479 +11.40% 69
Midlands +2 108 £474 +11.53% 90
South East -32 105 £475 +35.71% 134
Yorkshire +11 88 £450 +9.02% 32
West Midlands -12 64 £467 -11.14% 47
South West -15 50 £519 +15.28% 53
East Midlands +11 43 £525 +60.80% 42
East of England -27 26 £425 -15.00% 39
North East -48 1 - - 14
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 66 (6.66%) SharePoint
2 46 (4.64%) IIS
3 40 (4.04%) Confluence
4 23 (2.32%) Apache Airflow
4 23 (2.32%) Microsoft Exchange
5 22 (2.22%) Apache
6 20 (2.02%) Apache Spark
7 19 (1.92%) Camunda
8 9 (0.91%) Oracle Workflow
9 6 (0.61%) Appian
9 6 (0.61%) CMS
10 5 (0.50%) Apache Solr
10 5 (0.50%) NetWeaver
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 52 (5.25%) Microsoft Excel
2 28 (2.83%) Microsoft Office
3 9 (0.91%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
5 2 (0.20%) Windchill
6 1 (0.10%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.10%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 25 (2.52%) Dynamics CRM
2 23 (2.32%) Remedy ITSM
3 16 (1.61%) SAP S/4HANA
4 7 (0.71%) OpenText MBPM
4 7 (0.71%) Oracle BPM
4 7 (0.71%) Oracle Payables
5 5 (0.50%) Dynamics AX
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 (0.10%) Findur
8 1 (0.10%) Payment Gateway
8 1 (0.10%) Salesforce CRM
8 1 (0.10%) SAP Business One
8 1 (0.10%) SAP CRM
8 1 (0.10%) SDL Web 8
Cloud Services
1 417 (42.08%) Azure
2 213 (21.49%) AWS
3 155 (15.64%) Power Platform
4 115 (11.60%) Azure DevOps
5 87 (8.78%) GitHub
6 59 (5.95%) Azure Data Factory
7 49 (4.94%) Entra ID
8 47 (4.74%) Serverless
9 41 (4.14%) Azure Monitor
9 41 (4.14%) Power Automate
10 40 (4.04%) Microsoft 365
11 37 (3.73%) Snowflake
12 36 (3.63%) Dynamics 365
12 36 (3.63%) GitHub Actions
13 34 (3.43%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 31 (3.13%) GCP
15 24 (2.42%) dbt
15 24 (2.42%) PowerApps
15 24 (2.42%) SaaS
16 19 (1.92%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 47 (4.74%) DNS
2 40 (4.04%) DHCP
3 32 (3.23%) Firewall
4 18 (1.82%) SAN
4 18 (1.82%) VLAN
5 15 (1.51%) VPN
6 14 (1.41%) Internet
6 14 (1.41%) SSL
7 13 (1.31%) Network Security
7 13 (1.31%) TCP/IP
8 10 (1.01%) Wi-Fi
9 9 (0.91%) SSH
10 6 (0.61%) HTTPS
10 6 (0.61%) IPv4
10 6 (0.61%) IPv6
10 6 (0.61%) LAN
11 5 (0.50%) Kerberos
11 5 (0.50%) VoIP
11 5 (0.50%) WAN
12 3 (0.30%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 153 (15.44%) PostgreSQL
2 130 (13.12%) Power BI
3 103 (10.39%) Relational Database
4 99 (9.99%) Data Warehouse
5 94 (9.49%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 80 (8.07%) MySQL
7 58 (5.85%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 57 (5.75%) Oracle Database
9 55 (5.55%) Azure SQL Database
10 52 (5.25%) MongoDB
11 35 (3.53%) Data Lake
12 25 (2.52%) NoSQL
13 24 (2.42%) Amazon RDS
13 24 (2.42%) Redis
13 24 (2.42%) SQL Server Analysis Services
14 21 (2.12%) RDBMS
14 21 (2.12%) Tableau
15 16 (1.61%) Metadata
16 15 (1.51%) Star Schema
17 13 (1.31%) Amazon Redshift
Development Applications
1 98 (9.89%) Git
2 62 (6.26%) Jenkins
3 57 (5.75%) JIRA
4 32 (3.23%) GitLab
5 25 (2.52%) Visual Studio
6 21 (2.12%) Maven
7 20 (2.02%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 19 (1.92%) Sonatype Nexus
9 15 (1.51%) Team Foundation Server
10 14 (1.41%) REST Assured
10 14 (1.41%) Selenium
11 13 (1.31%) TeamCity
12 12 (1.21%) Postman
13 11 (1.11%) Artifactory
13 11 (1.11%) Gradle
13 11 (1.11%) JUnit
13 11 (1.11%) Octopus Deploy
14 10 (1.01%) Cypress.io
14 10 (1.01%) Mockito
14 10 (1.01%) SonarQube
General
1 305 (30.78%) Social Skills
2 252 (25.43%) Finance
3 187 (18.87%) Analytical Skills
4 122 (12.31%) Banking
5 71 (7.16%) Public Sector
6 43 (4.34%) Front Office
7 38 (3.83%) Documentation Skills
8 25 (2.52%) Investment Banking
9 20 (2.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 18 (1.82%) Legal
11 17 (1.72%) Retail
12 14 (1.41%) Financial Institution
13 13 (1.31%) Organisational Skills
14 8 (0.81%) Back Office
14 8 (0.81%) Manufacturing
15 7 (0.71%) Billing
16 5 (0.50%) Advertising
16 5 (0.50%) Law
16 5 (0.50%) Local Government
16 5 (0.50%) Military
Job Titles
1 306 (30.88%) Developer
2 155 (15.64%) Senior
3 134 (13.52%) DBA
4 83 (8.38%) SQL DBA
5 80 (8.07%) .NET Developer
5 80 (8.07%) Data Engineer
6 73 (7.37%) C# Developer
7 71 (7.16%) Lead
8 68 (6.86%) Administrator
9 52 (5.25%) Full-Stack Developer
10 49 (4.94%) Architect
11 48 (4.84%) Senior Developer
12 47 (4.74%) Analyst
12 47 (4.74%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 47 (4.74%) SQL Developer
13 37 (3.73%) Software Engineer
14 32 (3.23%) Azure Engineer
15 31 (3.13%) Consultant
16 29 (2.93%) Oracle DBA
16 29 (2.93%) Software Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 279 (28.15%) .NET
2 125 (12.61%) REST
3 97 (9.79%) .NET Framework
4 81 (8.17%) React
5 72 (7.27%) Terraform
6 66 (6.66%) CSS
7 59 (5.95%) ASP.NET
8 58 (5.85%) AngularJS
9 56 (5.65%) HTML
9 56 (5.65%) Kafka
10 54 (5.45%) .NET Core
11 51 (5.15%) RESTful
12 42 (4.24%) JSON
13 37 (3.73%) Web Services
14 36 (3.63%) XML
15 33 (3.33%) Spring Boot
16 29 (2.93%) OAuth
16 29 (2.93%) SOAP
17 28 (2.83%) Spring
18 25 (2.52%) WinForms
Miscellaneous
1 62 (6.26%) Onboarding
2 59 (5.95%) Cloud Native
3 53 (5.35%) Data Structures
4 45 (4.54%) Replication
5 44 (4.44%) Enterprise Software
6 43 (4.34%) Clustering
7 39 (3.94%) Self-Motivation
8 36 (3.63%) Legacy Systems
9 33 (3.33%) Product Ownership
10 27 (2.72%) Management Information System
11 26 (2.62%) Data Centre
12 20 (2.02%) PKI
13 17 (1.72%) Distributed Systems
14 15 (1.51%) Derivative
15 14 (1.41%) Low-Code
16 13 (1.31%) Algorithms
17 12 (1.21%) NHS
18 11 (1.11%) Fixed Income
18 11 (1.11%) Virtual Team
19 10 (1.01%) Legacy Code
Operating Systems
1 255 (25.73%) Windows
2 147 (14.83%) Windows Server
3 88 (8.88%) Linux
4 36 (3.63%) Unix
5 13 (1.31%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 11 (1.11%) Ubuntu
7 10 (1.01%) Solaris
8 8 (0.81%) VMS
9 7 (0.71%) Windows 10
9 7 (0.71%) Windows Server 2019
10 6 (0.61%) Android
10 6 (0.61%) CentOS
10 6 (0.61%) Windows Server 2012
11 4 (0.40%) Windows Server 2008
11 4 (0.40%) Windows Server 2016
12 2 (0.20%) AIX
13 1 (0.10%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.10%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 260 (26.24%) DevOps
2 240 (24.22%) CI/CD
3 231 (23.31%) Agile
4 194 (19.58%) Problem-Solving
5 185 (18.67%) Migration
6 154 (15.54%) ETL
7 143 (14.43%) Business Intelligence
8 138 (13.93%) Data Modelling
9 128 (12.92%) Performance Tuning
10 118 (11.91%) AI
11 110 (11.10%) Disaster Recovery
12 101 (10.19%) Stakeholder Management
13 92 (9.28%) Analytics
14 91 (9.18%) Continuous Improvement
15 90 (9.08%) Microservices
16 85 (8.58%) Software Engineering
17 81 (8.17%) Test Automation
18 80 (8.07%) Data Pipeline
18 80 (8.07%) Validation
19 79 (7.97%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 573 (57.82%) SQL
2 270 (27.25%) C#
3 197 (19.88%) Python
4 175 (17.66%) PowerShell
5 157 (15.84%) T-SQL
6 131 (13.22%) JavaScript
7 90 (9.08%) Java
8 61 (6.16%) PL/SQL
9 56 (5.65%) TypeScript
10 32 (3.23%) Bash
11 17 (1.72%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 17 (1.72%) VB
12 15 (1.51%) VBA
13 14 (1.41%) Scala
13 14 (1.41%) Shell Script
14 7 (0.71%) VB.NET
15 6 (0.61%) Bicep
15 6 (0.61%) Korn
15 6 (0.61%) XPath
16 5 (0.50%) VB6
Qualifications
1 253 (25.53%) Security Cleared
2 192 (19.37%) SC Cleared
3 105 (10.60%) Degree
4 51 (5.15%) DV Cleared
5 45 (4.54%) Microsoft Certification
6 33 (3.33%) Computer Science Degree
7 26 (2.62%) BPSS Clearance
8 24 (2.42%) Azure Certification
9 12 (1.21%) AWS Certification
9 12 (1.21%) ISTQB
10 10 (1.01%) Oracle Certification
11 9 (0.91%) DBS Check
11 9 (0.91%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 9 (0.91%) OCP
12 8 (0.81%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 8 (0.81%) Master's Degree
13 4 (0.40%) CISSP
13 4 (0.40%) PhD
14 3 (0.30%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
14 3 (0.30%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 96 (9.69%) Data Quality
2 88 (8.88%) QA
3 30 (3.03%) GDPR
4 26 (2.62%) Accessibility
5 21 (2.12%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 20 (2.02%) NIST
7 18 (1.82%) SLA
7 18 (1.82%) WCAG
8 6 (0.61%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 5 (0.50%) ISO 9000
10 4 (0.40%) Actionable Recommendations
11 3 (0.30%) Basel III
11 3 (0.30%) GRC
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%) SOC 2
13 1 (0.10%) ISO 20022
13 1 (0.10%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 124 (12.51%) Active Directory
2 75 (7.57%) Docker
3 41 (4.14%) VMware Infrastructure
4 33 (3.33%) Virtual Machines
5 19 (1.92%) Oracle RAC
6 9 (0.91%) Hyper-V
7 8 (0.81%) Virtual Desktop
8 6 (0.61%) vSphere
9 4 (0.40%) Virtual Servers
9 4 (0.40%) VMware ESXi
10 3 (0.30%) Dovecot
10 3 (0.30%) GridGain
10 3 (0.30%) Postfix
11 1 (0.10%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.10%) NFS
11 1 (0.10%) RACF
11 1 (0.10%) SRDF
11 1 (0.10%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 93 (9.38%) Kubernetes
2 44 (4.44%) Ansible
3 20 (2.02%) SCOM
4 15 (1.51%) Microsoft Intune
5 14 (1.41%) Data Guard
6 13 (1.31%) HAProxy
6 13 (1.31%) SCCM
7 12 (1.21%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
8 11 (1.11%) Microsoft Clustering
9 10 (1.01%) WSUS
10 8 (0.81%) Grafana
10 8 (0.81%) Oracle RMAN
11 7 (0.71%) Single Sign-On
12 6 (0.61%) Failover Clustering
13 5 (0.50%) ITRS Geneos
13 5 (0.50%) Prometheus
14 3 (0.30%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 3 (0.30%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
14 3 (0.30%) Istio
14 3 (0.30%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 348 (35.12%) Microsoft
2 253 (25.53%) Oracle
3 74 (7.47%) Databricks
4 65 (6.56%) VMware
5 54 (5.45%) ServiceNow
6 44 (4.44%) CyberArk
7 39 (3.94%) Citrix
8 35 (3.53%) SAP
9 29 (2.93%) BeyondTrust
10 23 (2.32%) BMC
10 23 (2.32%) Remedy
11 21 (2.12%) Cisco
11 21 (2.12%) IBM
11 21 (2.12%) Informatica
12 17 (1.72%) Dynatrace
12 17 (1.72%) Google
13 16 (1.61%) Sybase
14 15 (1.51%) Red Hat
15 13 (1.31%) Alteryx
15 13 (1.31%) Splunk
871 SQL Server jobs in England