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 21 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 100 76 46
Rank change year-on-year -24 -30 -3
Contract jobs citing SQL Server 464 422 782
As % of all contract jobs in London 2.79% 3.31% 4.31%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 14.62% 15.03% 21.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 325 304 559
10th Percentile £363 £367 £375
25th Percentile £413 £442 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% - -4.35%
75th Percentile £601 £663 £668
90th Percentile £700 £738 £750
England median daily rate £488 £511 £525
% change year-on-year -4.65% -2.62% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 2 0
10th Percentile - £29.71 -
25th Percentile £66.00 £34.80 -
Median hourly rate £68.00 £43.41 -
Median % change year-on-year +56.65% - -
75th Percentile £70.00 £52.14 -
90th Percentile - £57.31 -
England median hourly rate £27.44 £62.12 £40.25
% change year-on-year -55.83% +54.34% +0.63%

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 3,173 2,808 3,683
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 19.07% 22.04% 20.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,170 1,998 2,727
10th Percentile £361 £375 £380
25th Percentile £425 £450 £456
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £554 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.15% +0.64% -4.35%
75th Percentile £638 £700 £688
90th Percentile £749 £834 £800
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 30 39
10th Percentile £18.25 £22.27 £20.98
25th Percentile £23.22 £28.60 £26.02
Median hourly rate £46.50 £42.75 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year +8.77% -5.00% -6.38%
75th Percentile £66.88 £60.25 £53.13
90th Percentile £89.50 £77.63 £65.03
England median hourly rate £50.00 £33.81 £40.25
% change year-on-year +47.91% -16.01% -26.82%

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 21 March 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 21 March 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 -43 50 £555 -4.31% 44
South London -10 7 £530 -26.90% 2
West London -17 3 £463 -7.50% 8
East London -11 1 £630 +57.50% 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 23 (4.96%) SharePoint
2 19 (4.09%) IIS
3 13 (2.80%) Microsoft Exchange
3 13 (2.80%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 11 (2.37%) WebSphere
5 9 (1.94%) Confluence
6 8 (1.72%) Appian
7 7 (1.51%) Apache
7 7 (1.51%) Apache Spark
7 7 (1.51%) WebLogic
8 6 (1.29%) Apache Airflow
9 4 (0.86%) Camunda
10 2 (0.43%) CMS
11 1 (0.22%) ArcGIS
11 1 (0.22%) ColdFusion
11 1 (0.22%) JBoss
11 1 (0.22%) OpenEdge
11 1 (0.22%) Oracle Application Server
11 1 (0.22%) Oracle Workflow
11 1 (0.22%) Tomcat
Applications
1 29 (6.25%) Microsoft Excel
2 12 (2.59%) MS Visio
3 6 (1.29%) Microsoft Office
4 2 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 7 (1.51%) BusinessWorks
1 7 (1.51%) Dynamics CRM
2 6 (1.29%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (0.65%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 3 (0.65%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
4 2 (0.43%) Dynamics AX
4 2 (0.43%) Loan IQ
4 2 (0.43%) Oracle General Ledger
4 2 (0.43%) Oracle Payables
4 2 (0.43%) Oracle Receivables
4 2 (0.43%) Veritas eDiscovery
5 1 (0.22%) Endur
5 1 (0.22%) Oracle FAH
5 1 (0.22%) Orchestrade
5 1 (0.22%) RMDS
5 1 (0.22%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.22%) SAP R/3
5 1 (0.22%) TIBCO BusinessEvents
Cloud Services
1 223 (48.06%) Azure
2 101 (21.77%) AWS
3 86 (18.53%) Power Platform
4 78 (16.81%) Azure DevOps
5 58 (12.50%) Azure Data Factory
6 47 (10.13%) GitHub
7 35 (7.54%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 31 (6.68%) GCP
9 21 (4.53%) Microsoft 365
9 21 (4.53%) SaaS
10 20 (4.31%) Amazon S3
10 20 (4.31%) GitHub Actions
11 19 (4.09%) Snowflake
12 18 (3.88%) Amazon EC2
13 17 (3.66%) Power Automate
14 15 (3.23%) AWS CloudFormation
14 15 (3.23%) Dynamics 365
14 15 (3.23%) IaaS
14 15 (3.23%) Serverless
15 12 (2.59%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 11 (2.37%) DNS
1 11 (2.37%) Internet
2 10 (2.16%) Firewall
3 7 (1.51%) DHCP
3 7 (1.51%) VPN
4 6 (1.29%) NetScaler
4 6 (1.29%) SAN
5 5 (1.08%) VLAN
5 5 (1.08%) Wi-Fi
6 4 (0.86%) FTP
6 4 (0.86%) TCP/IP
7 2 (0.43%) HTTP
7 2 (0.43%) Software-Defined Networking
7 2 (0.43%) VSAN
8 1 (0.22%) DMZ
8 1 (0.22%) Ethernet VPN
8 1 (0.22%) Multicast
8 1 (0.22%) Remote Desktop
8 1 (0.22%) SSL
8 1 (0.22%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 71 (15.30%) SQL Server Integration Services
2 67 (14.44%) Power BI
3 64 (13.79%) PostgreSQL
4 59 (12.72%) Data Warehouse
5 57 (12.28%) Relational Database
6 39 (8.41%) Oracle Database
7 37 (7.97%) Data Lake
8 34 (7.33%) Azure SQL Database
9 26 (5.60%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 25 (5.39%) MongoDB
11 24 (5.17%) NoSQL
12 19 (4.09%) SQL Server Analysis Services
13 17 (3.66%) Delta Lake
14 16 (3.45%) Big Data
15 14 (3.02%) Metadata
16 13 (2.80%) RDBMS
17 12 (2.59%) Amazon RDS
17 12 (2.59%) BigQuery
17 12 (2.59%) MySQL
17 12 (2.59%) Redis
Development Applications
1 41 (8.84%) Git
2 29 (6.25%) JIRA
3 21 (4.53%) Jenkins
4 18 (3.88%) Visual Studio
5 12 (2.59%) TeamCity
6 9 (1.94%) ERwin
7 8 (1.72%) GitLab
7 8 (1.72%) JUnit
7 8 (1.72%) MLflow
7 8 (1.72%) Octopus Deploy
8 7 (1.51%) Maven
8 7 (1.51%) Mockito
8 7 (1.51%) SpecFlow
8 7 (1.51%) Team Foundation Server
9 6 (1.29%) Chocolatey
10 5 (1.08%) Cucumber
10 5 (1.08%) MSTest
11 4 (0.86%) Sonatype Nexus
11 4 (0.86%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
12 3 (0.65%) tSQLt
General
1 160 (34.48%) Finance
2 131 (28.23%) Social Skills
3 90 (19.40%) Banking
4 66 (14.22%) Analytical Skills
5 27 (5.82%) Public Sector
6 21 (4.53%) Investment Banking
7 19 (4.09%) Front Office
8 16 (3.45%) Documentation Skills
9 14 (3.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 13 (2.80%) Financial Institution
11 9 (1.94%) Retail
12 6 (1.29%) Local Government
12 6 (1.29%) Organisational Skills
13 4 (0.86%) Telecoms
14 3 (0.65%) General Ledger
14 3 (0.65%) Legal
14 3 (0.65%) Presentation Skills
15 2 (0.43%) Corporate Banking
15 2 (0.43%) Influencing Skills
15 2 (0.43%) Japanese Language
Job Titles
1 168 (36.21%) Developer
2 81 (17.46%) Senior
3 76 (16.38%) Data Engineer
4 69 (14.87%) C# Developer
5 40 (8.62%) .NET Developer
6 34 (7.33%) Architect
7 31 (6.68%) DBA
8 27 (5.82%) Senior Data Engineer
8 27 (5.82%) Senior Developer
9 25 (5.39%) SQL DBA
10 22 (4.74%) Lead
11 20 (4.31%) Azure Engineer
12 19 (4.09%) Analyst
13 18 (3.88%) C# .NET Developer
14 16 (3.45%) Full-Stack Developer
15 15 (3.23%) Solutions Architect
16 14 (3.02%) Java Developer
16 14 (3.02%) Software Engineer
17 13 (2.80%) SQL Developer
18 11 (2.37%) Automation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 132 (28.45%) .NET
2 66 (14.22%) .NET Framework
3 51 (10.99%) REST
4 37 (7.97%) React
4 37 (7.97%) RESTful
5 36 (7.76%) AngularJS
6 34 (7.33%) HTML
7 28 (6.03%) .NET Core
7 28 (6.03%) XML
8 27 (5.82%) Kafka
9 26 (5.60%) CSS
10 24 (5.17%) Web Services
11 21 (4.53%) ASP.NET
12 19 (4.09%) OAuth
12 19 (4.09%) WPF
13 18 (3.88%) WinForms
14 16 (3.45%) Spring
15 15 (3.23%) Spring Boot
16 14 (3.02%) SOAP
17 12 (2.59%) Pandas
Miscellaneous
1 39 (8.41%) Legacy Systems
2 26 (5.60%) Cloud Native
3 17 (3.66%) Replication
4 15 (3.23%) Enterprise Software
5 14 (3.02%) Data Structures
6 13 (2.80%) Onboarding
7 12 (2.59%) Self-Motivation
8 10 (2.16%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
8 10 (2.16%) Greenfield Project
8 10 (2.16%) Reinsurance
9 9 (1.94%) Credit Risk
9 9 (1.94%) Data Protection Act
9 9 (1.94%) Distributed Systems
9 9 (1.94%) Management Information System
10 8 (1.72%) Derivative
10 8 (1.72%) Low-Code
11 7 (1.51%) Market Risk
12 6 (1.29%) Clustering
12 6 (1.29%) Cyber Threat
12 6 (1.29%) Fixed Income
Operating Systems
1 85 (18.32%) Windows
2 39 (8.41%) Linux
3 33 (7.11%) Windows Server
4 8 (1.72%) Unix
5 7 (1.51%) Windows Server 2016
6 5 (1.08%) Windows 10
6 5 (1.08%) Windows Server 2019
7 2 (0.43%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.22%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 129 (27.80%) DevOps
2 128 (27.59%) CI/CD
3 113 (24.35%) ETL
4 101 (21.77%) Agile
5 95 (20.47%) Business Intelligence
6 94 (20.26%) Data Modelling
7 93 (20.04%) Problem-Solving
8 78 (16.81%) Migration
9 68 (14.66%) Analytics
10 65 (14.01%) Data Engineering
11 58 (12.50%) Data Analysis
12 56 (12.07%) Data Pipeline
13 53 (11.42%) Disaster Recovery
14 52 (11.21%) AI
14 52 (11.21%) Performance Tuning
15 47 (10.13%) Test Automation
16 44 (9.48%) Containerisation
17 40 (8.62%) Data Migration
17 40 (8.62%) Microservices
18 39 (8.41%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 300 (64.66%) SQL
2 141 (30.39%) C#
3 127 (27.37%) Python
4 75 (16.16%) T-SQL
5 52 (11.21%) PL/SQL
6 46 (9.91%) Java
7 39 (8.41%) JavaScript
8 31 (6.68%) PowerShell
9 27 (5.82%) TypeScript
10 16 (3.45%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 13 (2.80%) VB
12 12 (2.59%) VBA
13 11 (2.37%) Bash
14 9 (1.94%) Bicep
15 7 (1.51%) XPath
16 5 (1.08%) Scala
16 5 (1.08%) Shell Script
17 4 (0.86%) R
18 2 (0.43%) C
19 1 (0.22%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 63 (13.58%) Security Cleared
2 47 (10.13%) Degree
2 47 (10.13%) SC Cleared
3 21 (4.53%) Computer Science Degree
4 16 (3.45%) Microsoft Certification
5 12 (2.59%) Azure Certification
6 8 (1.72%) BPSS Clearance
6 8 (1.72%) DV Cleared
7 5 (1.08%) CCA
7 5 (1.08%) Citrix Certification
7 5 (1.08%) Master's Degree
8 4 (0.86%) MCITP
8 4 (0.86%) MCTS
9 3 (0.65%) Cisco Certification
10 2 (0.43%) CCNP
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%) Tableau Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 69 (14.87%) Data Quality
2 61 (13.15%) QA
3 9 (1.94%) GDPR
3 9 (1.94%) SLA
4 4 (0.86%) IFRS
5 3 (0.65%) Accessibility
5 3 (0.65%) IFRS 17
5 3 (0.65%) IFRS 9
6 2 (0.43%) Actionable Recommendations
6 2 (0.43%) Basel III
6 2 (0.43%) EMIR
6 2 (0.43%) GAAP
6 2 (0.43%) MiFID
6 2 (0.43%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 1 (0.22%) NCSC
7 1 (0.22%) NIST
7 1 (0.22%) NIST 800
7 1 (0.22%) Solvency II
7 1 (0.22%) WCAG
System Software
1 65 (14.01%) Docker
2 22 (4.74%) Active Directory
3 6 (1.29%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (1.08%) Hyper-V
4 5 (1.08%) XenApp
4 5 (1.08%) XenDesktop
5 3 (0.65%) GridGain
5 3 (0.65%) VMware Infrastructure
6 2 (0.43%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.43%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.43%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.22%) Oracle RAC
7 1 (0.22%) zsh
Systems Management
1 68 (14.66%) Kubernetes
2 37 (7.97%) Terraform
3 13 (2.80%) Ansible
4 11 (2.37%) SCCM
5 9 (1.94%) Grafana
6 7 (1.51%) Puppet
6 7 (1.51%) TIBCO Hawk
7 6 (1.29%) Microsoft Intune
8 5 (1.08%) SCVMM
9 4 (0.86%) Progress Chef
10 3 (0.65%) Control-M
10 3 (0.65%) Microsoft Clustering
11 2 (0.43%) Prometheus
12 1 (0.22%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 1 (0.22%) BladeLogic
12 1 (0.22%) Failover Clustering
12 1 (0.22%) FortiGate
12 1 (0.22%) Packer
12 1 (0.22%) Single Sign-On
12 1 (0.22%) VxRail
Vendors
1 154 (33.19%) Oracle
2 120 (25.86%) Microsoft
3 48 (10.34%) Databricks
4 41 (8.84%) Citrix
5 28 (6.03%) Informatica
6 16 (3.45%) VMware
7 14 (3.02%) IBM
8 13 (2.80%) SAP
9 12 (2.59%) UiPath
10 10 (2.16%) Google
10 10 (2.16%) Sybase
11 9 (1.94%) OpenAI
11 9 (1.94%) ServiceNow
12 8 (1.72%) Automation Anywhere
12 8 (1.72%) TIBCO
13 7 (1.51%) BEA
13 7 (1.51%) Dynatrace
14 6 (1.29%) AppDynamics
14 6 (1.29%) PagerDuty
14 6 (1.29%) Tenable