SQL Server DBA Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

SQL Server Database Administrator
UK > UK excluding London

The median SQL Server Database Administrator daily rate in the UK excluding London is £525, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 21 February 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 416 327 384
Rank change year-on-year -89 +57 +83
Contract jobs requiring a SQL Server DBA 2 12 23
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.010% 0.090% 0.11%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.011% 0.097% 0.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 2 6 10
10th Percentile £503 £298 £409
25th Percentile £506 £334 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £400 £575
Median % change year-on-year +31.25% -30.43% +43.75%
75th Percentile £556 £424 £600
90th Percentile £568 £425 -
UK median daily rate £500 £400 £575
% change year-on-year +25.00% -30.43% +15.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 1 0
Median hourly rate - £22.48 -
UK median hourly rate - £22.48 -

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK excluding London

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the UK excluding London. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK excluding London with a recognized job title 18,595 12,382 19,513
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.15% 92.41% 93.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,161 7,563 12,221
10th Percentile £230 £210 £213
25th Percentile £381 £363 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £475 £488
Median % change year-on-year +1.05% -2.56% -2.50%
75th Percentile £578 £588 £595
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,982 639 1,945
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.36 £12.86
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.00 £16.00
Median hourly rate £30.00 £32.50 £35.95
Median % change year-on-year -7.69% -9.60% +0.42%
75th Percentile £63.75 £65.00 £61.60
90th Percentile £73.46 £75.00 £72.65
UK median hourly rate £31.49 £34.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -7.38% -2.86% -10.26%

SQL Server DBA
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'SQL Server DBA' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

SQL Server DBA job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

SQL Server DBA
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for SQL Server DBA job vacancies in the UK excluding London.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for SQL Server DBA job vacancies in the UK excluding London

SQL Server DBA
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for SQL Server DBA job vacancies in the UK excluding London.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for SQL Server DBA job vacancies in the UK excluding London

SQL Server DBA
Contract Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing SQL Server DBA within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 21 February 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 -34 1 £500 +68.07%
North of England -62 1 £500 +68.07%
Scotland - 1 £550 -
SQL Server DBA
UK

SQL Server DBA Skill Set
Top 16 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London

For the 6 months to 21 February 2026, SQL Server DBA contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the UK excluding London region featuring SQL Server DBA in the job title.

1 2 (100.00%) Azure
1 2 (100.00%) Performance Tuning
1 2 (100.00%) SQL Server
2 1 (50.00%) Azure Cosmos DB
2 1 (50.00%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (50.00%) Change Control
2 1 (50.00%) Database Migration
2 1 (50.00%) High Availability
2 1 (50.00%) Migration
2 1 (50.00%) Oracle
2 1 (50.00%) Oracle Database
2 1 (50.00%) SQL
2 1 (50.00%) SQL Server Analysis Services
2 1 (50.00%) SQL Server Integration Services
2 1 (50.00%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (50.00%) Virtual Machines

SQL Server DBA Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding 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:

Cloud Services
1 2 (100.00%) Azure
2 1 (50.00%) Azure Cosmos DB
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (100.00%) SQL Server
2 1 (50.00%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (50.00%) Oracle Database
2 1 (50.00%) SQL Server Analysis Services
2 1 (50.00%) SQL Server Integration Services
2 1 (50.00%) SQL Server Reporting Services
General
1 1 (50.00%) Public Sector
1 1 (50.00%) Social Skills
Miscellaneous
1 1 (50.00%) Data Centre
Processes & Methodologies
1 2 (100.00%) Performance Tuning
2 1 (50.00%) Change Control
2 1 (50.00%) Database Migration
2 1 (50.00%) High Availability
2 1 (50.00%) Migration
Programming Languages
1 1 (50.00%) SQL
System Software
1 1 (50.00%) Virtual Machines
Vendors
1 1 (50.00%) Oracle