SQL Contract Job Trends in the North of England

SQL (Structured Query Language)
England > North of England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North of England requiring SQL skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 22 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 21 20 15
Rank change year-on-year -1 -5 +1
Contract jobs citing SQL 586 338 360
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 7.76% 8.45% 8.61%
As % of the Programming Languages category 31.61% 30.07% 35.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 347 246 249
10th Percentile £319 £313 £344
25th Percentile £406 £387 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £474 £465 £475
Median % change year-on-year +1.94% -2.11% -3.06%
75th Percentile £547 £538 £550
90th Percentile £608 £606 £610
England median daily rate £500 £500 £538
% change year-on-year - -6.98% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 4 4
10th Percentile £23.53 £25.50 £32.68
25th Percentile £29.60 £29.52 £34.81
Median hourly rate £43.15 £34.56 £38.00
Median % change year-on-year +24.87% -9.07% -5.00%
75th Percentile £70.38 £45.13 £42.50
90th Percentile £76.30 £61.55 -
England median hourly rate £42.50 £43.50 £42.00
% change year-on-year -2.30% +3.57% -8.46%

All Programming Languages
North of England

SQL falls under the Programming Languages category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring coding skills in the North of England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for coding skills 1,854 1,124 1,028
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 24.55% 28.11% 24.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,186 804 719
10th Percentile £350 £315 £344
25th Percentile £413 £375 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £465 £489
Median % change year-on-year +5.38% -4.91% -2.20%
75th Percentile £575 £538 £575
90th Percentile £650 £600 £644
England median daily rate £525 £515 £550
% change year-on-year +1.94% -6.36% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 83 13 30
10th Percentile £28.79 £30.35 £37.35
25th Percentile £47.15 £36.00 £39.71
Median hourly rate £69.00 £66.50 £51.88
Median % change year-on-year +3.76% +28.19% +12.33%
75th Percentile £70.75 £84.50 £67.50
90th Percentile £77.00 £93.75 £84.45
England median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +18.18% -15.38% +4.00%

SQL
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

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

SQL job vacancy trend in the North of England

SQL
Daily Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing SQL.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing SQL

SQL
Daily Rate Histogram in the North of England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SQL in the North of England over the 6 months to 22 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for SQL in the North of England

SQL
Hourly Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing SQL.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing SQL

SQL
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North of England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing SQL in the North of England over the 6 months to 22 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for SQL in the North of England

SQL
Contract Job Locations in the North of England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing SQL within the North of England region over the 6 months to 22 August 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
North West -2 296 £478 +2.36% 196
Yorkshire +2 251 £475 +1.23% 108
North East -19 51 £406 -12.63% 68
SQL
England

SQL
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North of 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 43 (7.34%) Confluence
2 22 (3.75%) Apache
2 22 (3.75%) Apache Spark
3 19 (3.24%) Apache Airflow
4 10 (1.71%) SAS
4 10 (1.71%) SharePoint
5 9 (1.54%) Jupyter
6 6 (1.02%) WebSphere
7 5 (0.85%) Oracle Workflow
8 4 (0.68%) Apache Geronimo
8 4 (0.68%) Apache ServiceMix
8 4 (0.68%) Palantir Foundry
8 4 (0.68%) Red Hat Fuse
8 4 (0.68%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.34%) CMS
9 2 (0.34%) IIS
9 2 (0.34%) WordPress
10 1 (0.17%) Mule
10 1 (0.17%) nginx
10 1 (0.17%) WebLogic
Applications
1 36 (6.14%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (0.68%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.68%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.34%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 11 (1.88%) Oracle EBS
2 8 (1.37%) SAP S/4HANA
3 5 (0.85%) Infor LN
3 5 (0.85%) Oracle Payables
4 3 (0.51%) Elite 3E
4 3 (0.51%) NetSuite
4 3 (0.51%) Remedy ITSM
5 2 (0.34%) Dynamics CRM
5 2 (0.34%) Oracle Cash Management
5 2 (0.34%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 2 (0.34%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 2 (0.34%) Payment Gateway
6 1 (0.17%) FIS Private Capital Suite
6 1 (0.17%) Oracle Applications
6 1 (0.17%) Sage 200
6 1 (0.17%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.17%) SAP CRM
Cloud Services
1 164 (27.99%) Azure
2 126 (21.50%) AWS
3 112 (19.11%) Power Platform
4 49 (8.36%) GitHub
5 47 (8.02%) GCP
6 36 (6.14%) Azure DevOps
6 36 (6.14%) Serverless
7 31 (5.29%) Azure Data Factory
8 24 (4.10%) Snowflake
9 22 (3.75%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 20 (3.41%) AWS Lambda
11 18 (3.07%) Amazon S3
12 17 (2.90%) dbt
12 17 (2.90%) SaaS
13 16 (2.73%) GitHub Actions
13 16 (2.73%) Google Analytics
14 15 (2.56%) Google Kubernetes Engine
14 15 (2.56%) Power Automate
15 14 (2.39%) PowerApps
16 13 (2.22%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 13 (2.22%) DNS
2 11 (1.88%) Network Security
2 11 (1.88%) SSL
3 9 (1.54%) Firewall
4 6 (1.02%) 3GPP
4 6 (1.02%) RTP
4 6 (1.02%) Wireshark
5 5 (0.85%) DHCP
6 4 (0.68%) BGP
6 4 (0.68%) HTTP
6 4 (0.68%) LAN
6 4 (0.68%) Reverse Proxy
7 3 (0.51%) Internet
7 3 (0.51%) Kerberos
7 3 (0.51%) VPN
8 2 (0.34%) TCP/IP
8 2 (0.34%) VLAN
8 2 (0.34%) VoIP
8 2 (0.34%) WAN
8 2 (0.34%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 131 (22.35%) SQL Server
2 103 (17.58%) Power BI
3 86 (14.68%) Data Warehouse
4 44 (7.51%) PostgreSQL
5 36 (6.14%) NoSQL
6 35 (5.97%) Relational Database
7 34 (5.80%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 31 (5.29%) Metadata
8 31 (5.29%) Tableau
9 29 (4.95%) Oracle Database
10 26 (4.44%) Data Lake
10 26 (4.44%) MySQL
11 22 (3.75%) MongoDB
11 22 (3.75%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 19 (3.24%) Azure SQL Database
12 19 (3.24%) Looker
13 18 (3.07%) Amazon Redshift
14 17 (2.90%) BigQuery
15 13 (2.22%) Amazon Athena
15 13 (2.22%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 71 (12.12%) Git
2 52 (8.87%) Jenkins
3 42 (7.17%) JIRA
4 35 (5.97%) GitLab
5 12 (2.05%) Gradle
6 11 (1.88%) Bitbucket
7 8 (1.37%) JUnit
7 8 (1.37%) Sonatype Nexus
8 7 (1.19%) Flyway
8 7 (1.19%) Maven
8 7 (1.19%) Postman
8 7 (1.19%) Selenium
8 7 (1.19%) Team Foundation Server
9 6 (1.02%) Claude Code
9 6 (1.02%) Mockito
9 6 (1.02%) Oracle Forms
9 6 (1.02%) TeamCity
10 5 (0.85%) Cucumber
10 5 (0.85%) Toad
11 4 (0.68%) Liquibase
General
1 173 (29.52%) Social Skills
2 109 (18.60%) Analytical Skills
3 107 (18.26%) Finance
4 70 (11.95%) Public Sector
5 43 (7.34%) Banking
6 20 (3.41%) Manufacturing
7 15 (2.56%) Retail
8 14 (2.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 9 (1.54%) Legal
9 9 (1.54%) Marketing
10 8 (1.37%) Organisational Skills
11 7 (1.19%) Games
11 7 (1.19%) Law
12 6 (1.02%) Documentation Skills
12 6 (1.02%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (0.85%) Aviation
13 5 (0.85%) Fire and Rescue
13 5 (0.85%) Investment Banking
13 5 (0.85%) Police
13 5 (0.85%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 129 (22.01%) Developer
2 86 (14.68%) Analyst
3 73 (12.46%) Data Engineer
4 67 (11.43%) Senior
5 64 (10.92%) DBA
6 53 (9.04%) Lead
7 38 (6.48%) SQL DBA
8 32 (5.46%) Consultant
9 31 (5.29%) Data Analyst
10 25 (4.27%) Java Developer
10 25 (4.27%) Oracle DBA
11 24 (4.10%) Senior Developer
12 23 (3.92%) Administrator
12 23 (3.92%) Senior Data Engineer
12 23 (3.92%) Software Engineer
12 23 (3.92%) SQL Developer
13 21 (3.58%) Architect
14 18 (3.07%) Software Developer
15 17 (2.90%) Performance Analyst
16 14 (2.39%) Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 56 (9.56%) Terraform
2 48 (8.19%) REST
3 47 (8.02%) Kafka
4 39 (6.66%) PySpark
4 39 (6.66%) Spring
4 39 (6.66%) Spring Boot
5 38 (6.48%) .NET
6 25 (4.27%) HTML
7 24 (4.10%) RESTful
7 24 (4.10%) XML
8 21 (3.58%) JSON
9 19 (3.24%) React
10 17 (2.90%) CSS
10 17 (2.90%) Web Services
11 15 (2.56%) AngularJS
12 14 (2.39%) .NET Core
13 11 (1.88%) Middleware
14 10 (1.71%) Hibernate
14 10 (1.71%) OAuth
14 10 (1.71%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 42 (7.17%) Data Structures
2 36 (6.14%) Cloud Native
3 28 (4.78%) Product Ownership
4 23 (3.92%) Data Protection Act
5 22 (3.75%) Replication
6 17 (2.90%) Enterprise Software
6 17 (2.90%) NHS
7 16 (2.73%) Distributed Systems
8 15 (2.56%) Legacy Systems
9 14 (2.39%) Clustering
9 14 (2.39%) Self-Motivation
10 12 (2.05%) AI Agents
11 11 (1.88%) Onboarding
12 8 (1.37%) Algorithms
13 7 (1.19%) Low-Code
13 7 (1.19%) Robotics
14 6 (1.02%) Virtual Team
15 5 (0.85%) Distributed Computing
15 5 (0.85%) Linux Command Line
16 4 (0.68%) Sports Betting
Operating Systems
1 42 (7.17%) Linux
2 25 (4.27%) Windows
3 17 (2.90%) Unix
3 17 (2.90%) Windows Server
4 8 (1.37%) Solaris
5 6 (1.02%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (0.51%) Oracle Linux
6 3 (0.51%) Windows Server 2012
7 2 (0.34%) AIX
7 2 (0.34%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.34%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.17%) VMS
8 1 (0.17%) Windows Server 2008
8 1 (0.17%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 153 (26.11%) CI/CD
2 151 (25.77%) Agile
3 149 (25.43%) Analytics
4 134 (22.87%) Business Intelligence
4 134 (22.87%) Data Modelling
5 122 (20.82%) ETL
6 107 (18.26%) Data Pipeline
6 107 (18.26%) DevOps
7 106 (18.09%) Problem-Solving
8 92 (15.70%) Migration
9 83 (14.16%) Validation
10 77 (13.14%) AI
11 75 (12.80%) Data Engineering
12 73 (12.46%) Performance Tuning
13 67 (11.43%) Data Analysis
14 66 (11.26%) Stakeholder Management
15 62 (10.58%) Infrastructure as Code
16 60 (10.24%) Microservices
16 60 (10.24%) Test Automation
17 55 (9.39%) Data Governance
Programming Languages
1 172 (29.35%) Python
2 85 (14.51%) Java
3 49 (8.36%) PowerShell
3 49 (8.36%) T-SQL
4 41 (7.00%) C#
5 32 (5.46%) JavaScript
6 31 (5.29%) PL/SQL
7 19 (3.24%) Bash
8 16 (2.73%) TypeScript
9 15 (2.56%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 13 (2.22%) Shell Script
11 12 (2.05%) Kotlin
12 9 (1.54%) R
12 9 (1.54%) Scala
13 8 (1.37%) Kusto Query Language
14 5 (0.85%) Search Processing Language
15 4 (0.68%) Bicep
15 4 (0.68%) VB
16 3 (0.51%) VB6
17 2 (0.34%) Perl
Qualifications
1 94 (16.04%) Security Cleared
2 82 (13.99%) SC Cleared
3 44 (7.51%) Degree
4 20 (3.41%) BPSS Clearance
5 16 (2.73%) Computer Science Degree
6 14 (2.39%) Microsoft Certification
7 8 (1.37%) Azure Certification
8 7 (1.19%) CISSP
8 7 (1.19%) DV Cleared
9 5 (0.85%) GCFA
9 5 (0.85%) GCIH
9 5 (0.85%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 4 (0.68%) Oracle Certification
11 3 (0.51%) OCP
12 2 (0.34%) AWS Certification
12 2 (0.34%) ITIL Certification
13 1 (0.17%) CISM
13 1 (0.17%) DBS Check
13 1 (0.17%) Master's Degree
13 1 (0.17%) Numerate Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 123 (20.99%) Data Quality
2 33 (5.63%) QA
3 26 (4.44%) GDPR
4 10 (1.71%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 6 (1.02%) GRC
6 5 (0.85%) PCI DSS
7 4 (0.68%) SLA
8 3 (0.51%) Accessibility
8 3 (0.51%) California Consumer Privacy Act
8 3 (0.51%) HIPAA
8 3 (0.51%) NIST
8 3 (0.51%) PMO
9 2 (0.34%) Actionable Recommendations
9 2 (0.34%) ISO 20022
9 2 (0.34%) MiFID
9 2 (0.34%) Solvency II
9 2 (0.34%) WCAG
10 1 (0.17%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 76 (12.97%) Docker
2 22 (3.75%) Active Directory
3 16 (2.73%) Oracle RAC
4 7 (1.19%) Virtual Machines
5 4 (0.68%) Hyper-V
5 4 (0.68%) KVM
5 4 (0.68%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 52 (8.87%) Kubernetes
2 36 (6.14%) Ansible
3 16 (2.73%) Data Guard
3 16 (2.73%) Oracle RMAN
4 14 (2.39%) Grafana
5 13 (2.22%) Prometheus
6 11 (1.88%) Control-M
7 7 (1.19%) SCOM
8 5 (0.85%) Argo
8 5 (0.85%) CASB
8 5 (0.85%) Progress Chef
9 2 (0.34%) AirWatch
9 2 (0.34%) Consul
9 2 (0.34%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
9 2 (0.34%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.34%) Foglight
9 2 (0.34%) Nagios
9 2 (0.34%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
9 2 (0.34%) SCCM
9 2 (0.34%) Zipkin
Vendors
1 127 (21.67%) Microsoft
2 90 (15.36%) Oracle
3 56 (9.56%) Databricks
4 31 (5.29%) Google
5 25 (4.27%) SAP
6 23 (3.92%) Splunk
7 22 (3.75%) ServiceNow
8 12 (2.05%) Alteryx
9 10 (1.71%) Teradata
10 8 (1.37%) CyberArk
10 8 (1.37%) UiPath
11 7 (1.19%) IBM
11 7 (1.19%) Informatica
11 7 (1.19%) OpenAI
12 6 (1.02%) Centrify
12 6 (1.02%) Sybase
13 5 (0.85%) Adobe
13 5 (0.85%) Remedy
13 5 (0.85%) Salesforce
13 5 (0.85%) SYSPRO