SQL Server Contract Job Trends in London

Microsoft SQL Server (MS SQL)
England > London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in London requiring SQL Server skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 25 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 106 76 53
Rank change year-on-year -30 -23 -11
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 404 448 720
As % of all contract jobs in London 2.77% 3.22% 3.89%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 13.83% 14.89% 20.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 281 317 533
10th Percentile £363 £363 £385
25th Percentile £406 £425 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £550 £580
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% -5.17% -3.33%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £675
90th Percentile £738 £730 £750
England median daily rate £475 £510 £550
% change year-on-year -6.86% -7.27% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 1 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £66.00 £60.25 -
Median hourly rate £68.00 £60.50 -
Median % change year-on-year +12.40% - -
75th Percentile £70.00 £60.75 -
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £20.75 £63.75 £46.18
% change year-on-year -67.45% +38.04% +10.61%

All Database & BI Skills
London

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 London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for database or business intelligence skills 2,922 3,009 3,556
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 20.03% 21.63% 19.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,016 2,058 2,617
10th Percentile £352 £363 £385
25th Percentile £415 £458 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £566 £560
Median % change year-on-year -7.28% +1.12% -6.67%
75th Percentile £644 £699 £680
90th Percentile £750 £828 £779
England median daily rate £500 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -9.09% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 28 42
10th Percentile £18.25 £22.27 £21.26
25th Percentile £29.56 £27.64 £28.43
Median hourly rate £46.50 £40.50 £43.75
Median % change year-on-year +14.81% -7.43% -1.27%
75th Percentile £73.50 £57.00 £54.03
90th Percentile £89.00 £79.13 £64.43
England median hourly rate £44.25 £36.56 £42.50
% change year-on-year +21.05% -13.99% -25.26%

SQL Server
Job Vacancy Trend in London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing SQL Server relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in London.

SQL Server job vacancy trend in London

SQL Server
Daily Rate Trend in London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in London citing SQL Server.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in London citing SQL Server

SQL Server
Daily Rate Histogram in London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SQL Server in London over the 6 months to 25 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for SQL Server in London

SQL Server
Hourly Rate Trend in London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in London citing SQL Server.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in London citing SQL Server

SQL Server
Contract Job Locations in London

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 London region over the 6 months to 25 January 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
Central London -40 41 £498 -14.91% 34
South London +2 7 £530 -26.90% 5
East London -7 2 £585 +46.25% 3
SQL Server
England

SQL Server
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in London 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 17 (4.21%) IIS
2 14 (3.47%) Oracle SOA Suite
3 13 (3.22%) Confluence
3 13 (3.22%) WebSphere
4 12 (2.97%) SharePoint
5 9 (2.23%) WebLogic
6 8 (1.98%) Microsoft Exchange
7 7 (1.73%) Apache Airflow
7 7 (1.73%) Apache Spark
8 6 (1.49%) Apache
9 5 (1.24%) Appian
10 2 (0.50%) CMS
10 2 (0.50%) WildFly
11 1 (0.25%) ArcGIS
11 1 (0.25%) ColdFusion
11 1 (0.25%) GeoServer
11 1 (0.25%) JBoss
11 1 (0.25%) Oracle Workflow
11 1 (0.25%) SAS
11 1 (0.25%) Tomcat
Applications
1 33 (8.17%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (2.72%) MS Visio
3 6 (1.49%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (0.74%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.50%) Trello
6 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 7 (1.73%) BusinessWorks
1 7 (1.73%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (0.74%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 3 (0.74%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 2 (0.50%) Oracle General Ledger
3 2 (0.50%) Oracle Payables
3 2 (0.50%) Oracle Receivables
3 2 (0.50%) Veritas eDiscovery
4 1 (0.25%) Endur
4 1 (0.25%) Fidessa
4 1 (0.25%) Loan IQ
4 1 (0.25%) Oracle BPM
4 1 (0.25%) Oracle FAH
4 1 (0.25%) RMDS
4 1 (0.25%) Salesforce CRM
4 1 (0.25%) SAP ERP
4 1 (0.25%) SAP R/3
4 1 (0.25%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.25%) thinkFolio
4 1 (0.25%) TIBCO BusinessEvents
Cloud Services
1 183 (45.30%) Azure
2 87 (21.53%) AWS
3 83 (20.54%) Power Platform
4 60 (14.85%) Azure DevOps
5 44 (10.89%) GitHub
6 41 (10.15%) Azure Data Factory
7 30 (7.43%) GCP
8 25 (6.19%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 19 (4.70%) SaaS
10 17 (4.21%) GitHub Actions
11 16 (3.96%) Snowflake
12 14 (3.47%) Amazon S3
12 14 (3.47%) Microsoft 365
13 12 (2.97%) IaaS
14 11 (2.72%) AWS CloudFormation
15 10 (2.48%) Power Automate
16 9 (2.23%) Azure Key Vault
16 9 (2.23%) Dynamics 365
17 8 (1.98%) Azure Cosmos DB
17 8 (1.98%) Azure Service Bus
Communications & Networking
1 10 (2.48%) Internet
2 7 (1.73%) Firewall
2 7 (1.73%) NetScaler
3 4 (0.99%) DNS
4 3 (0.74%) HTTP
4 3 (0.74%) TCP/IP
5 2 (0.50%) DHCP
5 2 (0.50%) FTP
5 2 (0.50%) Software-Defined Networking
5 2 (0.50%) VSAN
6 1 (0.25%) BGP
6 1 (0.25%) DMZ
6 1 (0.25%) Ethernet VPN
6 1 (0.25%) Network Security
6 1 (0.25%) SSL
6 1 (0.25%) VPN
6 1 (0.25%) VXLAN
6 1 (0.25%) WebEx
6 1 (0.25%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 71 (17.57%) Power BI
2 70 (17.33%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 61 (15.10%) PostgreSQL
4 52 (12.87%) Relational Database
5 47 (11.63%) Data Warehouse
6 33 (8.17%) Data Lake
7 29 (7.18%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 28 (6.93%) MongoDB
9 27 (6.68%) Oracle Database
10 26 (6.44%) NoSQL
11 24 (5.94%) Azure SQL Database
12 20 (4.95%) Delta Lake
13 16 (3.96%) Big Data
14 14 (3.47%) MySQL
14 14 (3.47%) RDBMS
14 14 (3.47%) SQL Server Analysis Services
15 13 (3.22%) Amazon RDS
16 12 (2.97%) Redis
16 12 (2.97%) Tableau
17 11 (2.72%) DB2
Development Applications
1 36 (8.91%) Git
2 30 (7.43%) JIRA
3 20 (4.95%) Jenkins
4 16 (3.96%) Visual Studio
5 12 (2.97%) SpecFlow
6 8 (1.98%) ERwin
6 8 (1.98%) GitLab
6 8 (1.98%) JUnit
6 8 (1.98%) Maven
6 8 (1.98%) Octopus Deploy
7 7 (1.73%) TeamCity
8 5 (1.24%) MLflow
8 5 (1.24%) Mockito
9 3 (0.74%) Bitbucket
9 3 (0.74%) Cucumber
9 3 (0.74%) Gradle
9 3 (0.74%) Sonatype Nexus
9 3 (0.74%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 3 (0.74%) Team Foundation Server
9 3 (0.74%) Zephyr
General
1 150 (37.13%) Finance
2 124 (30.69%) Social Skills
3 80 (19.80%) Banking
4 45 (11.14%) Analytical Skills
5 23 (5.69%) Investment Banking
6 18 (4.46%) Public Sector
7 17 (4.21%) Documentation Skills
8 16 (3.96%) Financial Institution
9 14 (3.47%) Front Office
10 13 (3.22%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 9 (2.23%) Retail
12 6 (1.49%) Presentation Skills
13 5 (1.24%) Local Government
14 4 (0.99%) Organisational Skills
15 3 (0.74%) General Ledger
15 3 (0.74%) Influencing Skills
15 3 (0.74%) Law
15 3 (0.74%) Legal
15 3 (0.74%) Telecoms
16 2 (0.50%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 164 (40.59%) Developer
2 76 (18.81%) Data Engineer
3 71 (17.57%) Senior
4 65 (16.09%) C# Developer
5 40 (9.90%) .NET Developer
6 31 (7.67%) Senior Developer
7 27 (6.68%) Analyst
7 27 (6.68%) Senior Data Engineer
8 22 (5.45%) Architect
9 21 (5.20%) C# .NET Developer
9 21 (5.20%) Lead
10 17 (4.21%) Angular Developer
10 17 (4.21%) Full-Stack Developer
11 13 (3.22%) SQL Developer
12 12 (2.97%) Azure Engineer
12 12 (2.97%) DBA
12 12 (2.97%) Java Developer
13 11 (2.72%) Business Analyst
13 11 (2.72%) SQL DBA
14 10 (2.48%) Senior Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 122 (30.20%) .NET
2 61 (15.10%) .NET Framework
3 37 (9.16%) REST
4 32 (7.92%) Kafka
5 31 (7.67%) AngularJS
6 30 (7.43%) RESTful
7 26 (6.44%) XML
8 25 (6.19%) .NET Core
8 25 (6.19%) HTML
9 24 (5.94%) React
10 23 (5.69%) Web Services
11 20 (4.95%) WPF
12 19 (4.70%) Entity Framework
13 17 (4.21%) SOAP
13 17 (4.21%) WinForms
14 16 (3.96%) Middleware
15 15 (3.71%) ASP.NET
15 15 (3.71%) CSS
15 15 (3.71%) NHibernate
16 14 (3.47%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 27 (6.68%) Legacy Systems
2 21 (5.20%) Cloud Native
3 16 (3.96%) Derivative
3 16 (3.96%) Enterprise Software
4 15 (3.71%) Onboarding
5 14 (3.47%) Credit Risk
5 14 (3.47%) Management Information System
6 13 (3.22%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
7 12 (2.97%) Distributed Systems
8 10 (2.48%) Reinsurance
9 9 (2.23%) Data Protection Act
9 9 (2.23%) Data Structures
10 8 (1.98%) Market Risk
11 7 (1.73%) Fixed Income
11 7 (1.73%) Product Ownership
12 6 (1.49%) Greenfield Project
12 6 (1.49%) Hedge funds
12 6 (1.49%) Linux Command Line
12 6 (1.49%) Low-Code
13 5 (1.24%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 64 (15.84%) Windows
2 39 (9.65%) Linux
3 27 (6.68%) Windows Server
4 8 (1.98%) Unix
5 6 (1.49%) Windows 10
5 6 (1.49%) Windows Server 2016
6 4 (0.99%) Windows Server 2019
7 2 (0.50%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.25%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 114 (28.22%) CI/CD
2 97 (24.01%) Agile
3 93 (23.02%) DevOps
4 92 (22.77%) ETL
5 86 (21.29%) Business Intelligence
6 80 (19.80%) Problem-Solving
7 76 (18.81%) Data Modelling
8 66 (16.34%) Migration
9 59 (14.60%) Analytics
10 52 (12.87%) Microservices
11 47 (11.63%) Data Engineering
12 46 (11.39%) Data Analysis
13 42 (10.40%) Data Migration
14 41 (10.15%) Data Pipeline
15 38 (9.41%) Test Automation
16 37 (9.16%) Containerisation
16 37 (9.16%) Scrum
17 36 (8.91%) Full-Stack Development
18 33 (8.17%) Decision-Making
19 32 (7.92%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 247 (61.14%) SQL
2 127 (31.44%) C#
3 101 (25.00%) Python
4 56 (13.86%) T-SQL
5 46 (11.39%) PL/SQL
6 44 (10.89%) Java
7 35 (8.66%) JavaScript
8 24 (5.94%) PowerShell
9 17 (4.21%) Bash
10 14 (3.47%) TypeScript
10 14 (3.47%) VB
11 13 (3.22%) VBA
12 11 (2.72%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 7 (1.73%) XPath
14 6 (1.49%) Bicep
15 3 (0.74%) COBOL
15 3 (0.74%) R
15 3 (0.74%) Scala
15 3 (0.74%) Shell Script
16 2 (0.50%) C++
Qualifications
1 49 (12.13%) Degree
2 42 (10.40%) Security Cleared
3 32 (7.92%) SC Cleared
4 22 (5.45%) Computer Science Degree
5 12 (2.97%) Microsoft Certification
6 8 (1.98%) BPSS Clearance
7 7 (1.73%) Azure Certification
8 6 (1.49%) Master's Degree
9 5 (1.24%) DV Cleared
10 4 (0.99%) CCA
10 4 (0.99%) Citrix Certification
11 3 (0.74%) Cisco Certification
11 3 (0.74%) PMI Certification
11 3 (0.74%) PMP
12 2 (0.50%) AWS Certification
12 2 (0.50%) CCNP
12 2 (0.50%) CISSP
12 2 (0.50%) ITIL Certification
12 2 (0.50%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 2 (0.50%) MCITP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 64 (15.84%) Data Quality
2 46 (11.39%) QA
3 8 (1.98%) GDPR
4 6 (1.49%) SLA
5 5 (1.24%) Accessibility
6 4 (0.99%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 3 (0.74%) IFRS
7 3 (0.74%) IFRS 17
7 3 (0.74%) MiFID
8 2 (0.50%) Basel III
8 2 (0.50%) EMIR
8 2 (0.50%) GAAP
8 2 (0.50%) IFRS 9
8 2 (0.50%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 2 (0.50%) Solvency II
9 1 (0.25%) NCSC
9 1 (0.25%) NIST
9 1 (0.25%) NIST 800
9 1 (0.25%) WCAG
System Software
1 57 (14.11%) Docker
2 14 (3.47%) Active Directory
3 6 (1.49%) zsh
4 4 (0.99%) Hyper-V
4 4 (0.99%) XenApp
4 4 (0.99%) XenDesktop
5 2 (0.50%) GridGain
5 2 (0.50%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.50%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.50%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.50%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.25%) Oracle RAC
6 1 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 48 (11.88%) Kubernetes
2 26 (6.44%) Terraform
3 11 (2.72%) Ansible
4 10 (2.48%) Grafana
5 9 (2.23%) Puppet
6 7 (1.73%) TIBCO Hawk
7 6 (1.49%) SCCM
8 4 (0.99%) Microsoft Intune
8 4 (0.99%) Progress Chef
8 4 (0.99%) SCVMM
9 3 (0.74%) Control-M
9 3 (0.74%) Prometheus
10 2 (0.50%) SCOM
11 1 (0.25%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 1 (0.25%) Ambari
11 1 (0.25%) BladeLogic
11 1 (0.25%) FortiGate
11 1 (0.25%) Oracle Identity Management
11 1 (0.25%) VxRail
11 1 (0.25%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 139 (34.41%) Oracle
2 93 (23.02%) Microsoft
3 47 (11.63%) Databricks
4 33 (8.17%) Citrix
5 21 (5.20%) Informatica
6 14 (3.47%) SAP
7 13 (3.22%) IBM
8 10 (2.48%) UiPath
9 9 (2.23%) Google
9 9 (2.23%) ServiceNow
10 8 (1.98%) VMware
11 7 (1.73%) BEA
11 7 (1.73%) TIBCO
12 6 (1.49%) PagerDuty
13 5 (1.24%) Atlassian
13 5 (1.24%) Automation Anywhere
13 5 (1.24%) OpenAI
13 5 (1.24%) Salesforce
13 5 (1.24%) Splunk
14 4 (0.99%) HP