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 17 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 109 74 41
Rank change year-on-year -35 -33 +5
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 463 425 823
As % of all contract jobs in London 2.57% 3.40% 4.71%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 14.09% 15.12% 21.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 328 304 570
10th Percentile £363 £379 £363
25th Percentile £413 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £575 £538
Median % change year-on-year -13.04% +6.98% -6.52%
75th Percentile £638 £688 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
England median daily rate £485 £525 £513
% change year-on-year -7.62% +2.44% -2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 1 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £19.25 - -
Median hourly rate £19.50 £26.32 -
Median % change year-on-year -25.91% - -
75th Percentile £19.75 - -
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £47.54 £63.75 £40.13
% change year-on-year -25.42% +58.87% -18.11%

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 3,287 2,810 3,837
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 18.23% 22.46% 21.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,235 1,979 2,839
10th Percentile £363 £380 £375
25th Percentile £425 £450 £457
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £563
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% -2.22% -2.17%
75th Percentile £638 £713 £700
90th Percentile £750 £838 £838
England median daily rate £500 £525 £530
% change year-on-year -4.76% -0.94% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 29 35
10th Percentile £18.19 £22.27 £20.98
25th Percentile £26.52 £26.32 £25.62
Median hourly rate £44.50 £35.00 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +27.14% -30.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £60.88 £58.75 £55.00
90th Percentile £81.00 £80.75 £70.30
England median hourly rate £45.00 £32.05 £40.13
% change year-on-year +40.41% -20.12% -31.52%

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 17 May 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 17 May 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 56 £560 -2.61% 38
East London -8 3 £630 +44.00% 2
South London -10 3 £565 -22.07%
West London -25 3 £463 -29.06% 5
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 36 (7.78%) SharePoint
2 22 (4.75%) IIS
3 13 (2.81%) Microsoft Exchange
4 11 (2.38%) Apache
4 11 (2.38%) Apache Airflow
5 9 (1.94%) Apache Spark
5 9 (1.94%) Appian
5 9 (1.94%) Confluence
6 7 (1.51%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 6 (1.30%) Camunda
7 6 (1.30%) WebSphere
8 2 (0.43%) Oracle Workflow
8 2 (0.43%) WebLogic
9 1 (0.22%) ArcGIS
9 1 (0.22%) CMS
9 1 (0.22%) ColdFusion
9 1 (0.22%) JBoss
9 1 (0.22%) OpenEdge
9 1 (0.22%) Oracle Application Server
9 1 (0.22%) Tomcat
Applications
1 26 (5.62%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (2.38%) MS Visio
3 5 (1.08%) Microsoft Office
4 2 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 6 (1.30%) Dynamics AX
1 6 (1.30%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (0.65%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (0.65%) Oracle General Ledger
2 3 (0.65%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 3 (0.65%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 2 (0.43%) BusinessWorks
3 2 (0.43%) Loan IQ
3 2 (0.43%) Oracle Payables
3 2 (0.43%) Oracle Receivables
3 2 (0.43%) Veritas eDiscovery
4 1 (0.22%) Endur
4 1 (0.22%) Findur
4 1 (0.22%) Oracle FAH
4 1 (0.22%) Salesforce CRM
4 1 (0.22%) SAP R/3
4 1 (0.22%) SDL Web 8
Cloud Services
1 227 (49.03%) Azure
2 95 (20.52%) AWS
3 91 (19.65%) Power Platform
4 78 (16.85%) Azure DevOps
5 66 (14.25%) Azure Data Factory
6 50 (10.80%) GitHub
7 44 (9.50%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 27 (5.83%) Power Automate
9 25 (5.40%) GCP
9 25 (5.40%) Microsoft 365
10 22 (4.75%) GitHub Actions
10 22 (4.75%) Serverless
11 21 (4.54%) Amazon S3
12 17 (3.67%) SaaS
13 16 (3.46%) Amazon EC2
14 15 (3.24%) Dynamics 365
14 15 (3.24%) Snowflake
15 14 (3.02%) AWS Lambda
16 13 (2.81%) PaaS
16 13 (2.81%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 14 (3.02%) DNS
2 12 (2.59%) Internet
3 11 (2.38%) Firewall
4 9 (1.94%) DHCP
5 8 (1.73%) VPN
6 7 (1.51%) SAN
7 6 (1.30%) VLAN
7 6 (1.30%) Wi-Fi
8 5 (1.08%) NetScaler
9 4 (0.86%) FTP
10 3 (0.65%) TCP/IP
11 1 (0.22%) Kerberos
11 1 (0.22%) MQTT
11 1 (0.22%) Multicast
11 1 (0.22%) Remote Desktop
11 1 (0.22%) Software-Defined Networking
11 1 (0.22%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 70 (15.12%) Power BI
2 66 (14.25%) Data Warehouse
2 66 (14.25%) PostgreSQL
3 64 (13.82%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 48 (10.37%) Relational Database
5 44 (9.50%) Oracle Database
6 43 (9.29%) Data Lake
7 33 (7.13%) Azure SQL Database
8 30 (6.48%) MongoDB
9 23 (4.97%) NoSQL
10 19 (4.10%) SQL Server Analysis Services
10 19 (4.10%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 17 (3.67%) Delta Lake
12 15 (3.24%) Metadata
13 13 (2.81%) BigQuery
13 13 (2.81%) Redis
14 11 (2.38%) MySQL
15 10 (2.16%) DataStage
15 10 (2.16%) Tableau
16 9 (1.94%) Big Data
Development Applications
1 37 (7.99%) Git
2 29 (6.26%) JIRA
3 17 (3.67%) TeamCity
4 16 (3.46%) Jenkins
4 16 (3.46%) Visual Studio
5 9 (1.94%) GitLab
5 9 (1.94%) Octopus Deploy
6 8 (1.73%) ERwin
6 8 (1.73%) MLflow
7 7 (1.51%) Chocolatey
7 7 (1.51%) Cucumber
7 7 (1.51%) MSTest
7 7 (1.51%) Team Foundation Server
8 6 (1.30%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 5 (1.08%) JUnit
9 5 (1.08%) Mocha
9 5 (1.08%) Mockito
9 5 (1.08%) tSQLt
10 4 (0.86%) NUnit
10 4 (0.86%) SpecFlow
General
1 163 (35.21%) Finance
2 123 (26.57%) Social Skills
3 89 (19.22%) Banking
4 75 (16.20%) Analytical Skills
5 27 (5.83%) Front Office
6 23 (4.97%) Public Sector
7 20 (4.32%) Investment Banking
8 12 (2.59%) Documentation Skills
8 12 (2.59%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 9 (1.94%) Financial Institution
10 8 (1.73%) Organisational Skills
11 5 (1.08%) Retail
12 4 (0.86%) Back Office
12 4 (0.86%) Legal
12 4 (0.86%) Telecoms
13 3 (0.65%) General Ledger
13 3 (0.65%) Local Government
13 3 (0.65%) Publishing
14 2 (0.43%) Corporate Banking
14 2 (0.43%) Japanese Language
Job Titles
1 156 (33.69%) Developer
2 87 (18.79%) Senior
3 86 (18.57%) Data Engineer
4 71 (15.33%) C# Developer
5 36 (7.78%) .NET Developer
6 32 (6.91%) Architect
7 31 (6.70%) DBA
7 31 (6.70%) Senior Data Engineer
8 26 (5.62%) Senior Developer
9 25 (5.40%) Lead
10 24 (5.18%) SQL DBA
11 20 (4.32%) Azure Engineer
11 20 (4.32%) C# .NET Developer
12 18 (3.89%) Software Engineer
13 17 (3.67%) Full-Stack Developer
13 17 (3.67%) Integration Engineer
14 16 (3.46%) Consultant
15 14 (3.02%) SQL Developer
16 13 (2.81%) Analyst
17 11 (2.38%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 127 (27.43%) .NET
2 59 (12.74%) .NET Framework
3 54 (11.66%) REST
4 45 (9.72%) React
5 41 (8.86%) HTML
6 39 (8.42%) CSS
7 36 (7.78%) RESTful
8 35 (7.56%) AngularJS
9 31 (6.70%) Kafka
10 27 (5.83%) .NET Core
11 25 (5.40%) OAuth
12 21 (4.54%) ASP.NET
13 19 (4.10%) XML
14 17 (3.67%) Web Services
15 15 (3.24%) WinForms
16 14 (3.02%) Spring Boot
16 14 (3.02%) WPF
17 13 (2.81%) Middleware
17 13 (2.81%) SOAP
17 13 (2.81%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 35 (7.56%) Legacy Systems
2 28 (6.05%) Cloud Native
3 16 (3.46%) Data Structures
3 16 (3.46%) Replication
4 15 (3.24%) Self-Motivation
5 13 (2.81%) Low-Code
6 11 (2.38%) Derivative
6 11 (2.38%) Fixed Income
7 10 (2.16%) Distributed Systems
7 10 (2.16%) Greenfield Project
8 9 (1.94%) Enterprise Software
8 9 (1.94%) Onboarding
8 9 (1.94%) Reinsurance
9 7 (1.51%) Clustering
9 7 (1.51%) Cyber Threat
9 7 (1.51%) Management Information System
10 6 (1.30%) Algorithms
10 6 (1.30%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 5 (1.08%) Data Fabric
11 5 (1.08%) Legacy Code
Operating Systems
1 89 (19.22%) Windows
2 37 (7.99%) Windows Server
3 33 (7.13%) Linux
4 9 (1.94%) Unix
5 6 (1.30%) Windows Server 2016
6 4 (0.86%) Windows 10
6 4 (0.86%) Windows Server 2019
7 2 (0.43%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.22%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.22%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 130 (28.08%) DevOps
2 125 (27.00%) CI/CD
3 107 (23.11%) ETL
4 99 (21.38%) Business Intelligence
5 95 (20.52%) Agile
6 94 (20.30%) Data Modelling
7 92 (19.87%) Problem-Solving
8 73 (15.77%) Analytics
9 65 (14.04%) Disaster Recovery
9 65 (14.04%) Migration
10 64 (13.82%) AI
11 62 (13.39%) Data Pipeline
12 61 (13.17%) Data Engineering
13 59 (12.74%) Performance Tuning
14 58 (12.53%) Test Automation
15 57 (12.31%) Data Analysis
16 46 (9.94%) Data Integration
17 42 (9.07%) Microservices
18 41 (8.86%) Change Management
18 41 (8.86%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 303 (65.44%) SQL
2 148 (31.97%) C#
3 129 (27.86%) Python
4 95 (20.52%) T-SQL
5 61 (13.17%) PL/SQL
6 54 (11.66%) JavaScript
7 46 (9.94%) Java
8 38 (8.21%) PowerShell
9 30 (6.48%) TypeScript
10 14 (3.02%) VB
11 13 (2.81%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 12 (2.59%) VBA
13 9 (1.94%) Bicep
14 7 (1.51%) Bash
15 6 (1.30%) Scala
16 5 (1.08%) Shell Script
17 4 (0.86%) R
18 3 (0.65%) XPath
19 2 (0.43%) C
20 1 (0.22%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 64 (13.82%) Security Cleared
2 48 (10.37%) SC Cleared
3 46 (9.94%) Degree
4 19 (4.10%) Computer Science Degree
5 17 (3.67%) Microsoft Certification
6 12 (2.59%) Azure Certification
7 8 (1.73%) BPSS Clearance
8 6 (1.30%) DV Cleared
8 6 (1.30%) Master's Degree
9 4 (0.86%) CCA
9 4 (0.86%) Citrix Certification
9 4 (0.86%) MCITP
9 4 (0.86%) MCTS
10 2 (0.43%) Cisco Certification
10 2 (0.43%) CISSP
10 2 (0.43%) ISTQB
10 2 (0.43%) PMI Certification
10 2 (0.43%) PMP
10 2 (0.43%) Postgraduate
10 2 (0.43%) Tableau Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 71 (15.33%) Data Quality
2 63 (13.61%) QA
3 10 (2.16%) SLA
4 9 (1.94%) GDPR
5 6 (1.30%) Accessibility
6 3 (0.65%) Basel III
6 3 (0.65%) IFRS
6 3 (0.65%) IFRS 9
7 2 (0.43%) Actionable Recommendations
7 2 (0.43%) EMIR
7 2 (0.43%) GAAP
7 2 (0.43%) IFRS 17
7 2 (0.43%) MiFID
7 2 (0.43%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 2 (0.43%) WCAG
8 1 (0.22%) SOC 2
System Software
1 56 (12.10%) Docker
2 24 (5.18%) Active Directory
3 7 (1.51%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (1.08%) Virtual Machines
5 4 (0.86%) Hyper-V
5 4 (0.86%) VMware Infrastructure
5 4 (0.86%) XenApp
5 4 (0.86%) XenDesktop
6 3 (0.65%) GridGain
7 2 (0.43%) Virtual Servers
8 1 (0.22%) NFS
8 1 (0.22%) Oracle RAC
8 1 (0.22%) RACF
8 1 (0.22%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.22%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 67 (14.47%) Kubernetes
2 39 (8.42%) Terraform
3 11 (2.38%) SCCM
4 8 (1.73%) Ansible
5 7 (1.51%) Microsoft Intune
6 4 (0.86%) SCVMM
7 3 (0.65%) Control-M
7 3 (0.65%) Grafana
7 3 (0.65%) Microsoft Clustering
7 3 (0.65%) Progress Chef
8 2 (0.43%) Puppet
8 2 (0.43%) TIBCO Hawk
9 1 (0.22%) Failover Clustering
9 1 (0.22%) Packer
9 1 (0.22%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 153 (33.05%) Oracle
2 114 (24.62%) Microsoft
3 55 (11.88%) Databricks
4 41 (8.86%) Citrix
5 24 (5.18%) Informatica
6 17 (3.67%) VMware
7 15 (3.24%) SAP
8 11 (2.38%) Dynatrace
9 10 (2.16%) OpenAI
9 10 (2.16%) ServiceNow
10 9 (1.94%) IBM
10 9 (1.94%) Sybase
10 9 (1.94%) UiPath
11 8 (1.73%) Automation Anywhere
12 7 (1.51%) AppDynamics
12 7 (1.51%) Google
12 7 (1.51%) Tenable
13 6 (1.30%) Alteryx
14 5 (1.08%) OutSystems
15 4 (0.86%) Workday