Data Lake Contract Job Trends

Data Lakes
UK

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

6 months to
25 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 233 175 213
Rank change year-on-year -58 +38 -7
Contract jobs citing Data Lake 508 436 482
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.09% 1.48% 1.10%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 7.02% 7.78% 6.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 368 356 350
10th Percentile £400 £400 £406
25th Percentile £450 £464 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £600 £550
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -4.35%
75th Percentile £650 £763 £763
90th Percentile £750 £938 £888
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 2 3
10th Percentile £51.25 - £30.30
25th Percentile £57.25 - £34.13
Median hourly rate £64.00 £65.00 £40.50
Median % change year-on-year -1.54% +60.49% +15.71%
75th Percentile £67.75 - £51.00
90th Percentile £69.22 - £57.30
UK excluding London median hourly rate £64.00 - £40.50
% change year-on-year - - +15.71%

All Database & BI Skills
UK

Data Lake 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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for database or business intelligence skills 7,239 5,604 7,291
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 15.53% 18.99% 16.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,938 3,866 5,183
10th Percentile £349 £356 £350
25th Percentile £413 £420 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -3.67%
75th Percentile £595 £640 £650
90th Percentile £700 £763 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £490 £480
% change year-on-year -3.06% +2.08% -4.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 193 108 144
10th Percentile £16.81 £20.47 £14.00
25th Percentile £28.72 £24.25 £20.98
Median hourly rate £50.00 £34.58 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +44.61% -13.56% -33.33%
75th Percentile £74.00 £65.62 £55.00
90th Percentile £82.25 £73.63 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £50.00 £31.64 £40.00
% change year-on-year +58.03% -20.90% -31.73%

Data Lake
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Data Lake relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Data Lake job vacancy trend in the UK

Data Lake
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Data Lake.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Data Lake

Data Lake
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Data Lake over the 6 months to 25 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Data Lake in the UK

Data Lake
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Data Lake.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Data Lake

Data Lake
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Data Lake over the 6 months to 25 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Data Lake in the UK

Data Lake
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Data Lake within the UK over the 6 months to 25 April 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
England -81 414 £550 -8.33% 125
London -41 293 £600 -11.11% 44
Work from Home -70 164 £525 -22.22% 82
UK excluding London -57 122 £500 +5.26% 101
North of England -59 39 £500 +8.11% 23
Midlands -42 33 £472 +6.37% 21
Scotland +19 21 £475 -17.68% 3
North West -39 18 £500 +0.53% 10
West Midlands -54 18 £513 +15.49% 10
South East -75 17 £425 -15.00% 23
East Midlands -20 15 £450 - 11
Yorkshire -49 14 £550 +25.71% 9
North East -18 7 £463 +29.19% 5
East of England -40 7 £575 -0.86% 12
South West -41 4 £500 -11.11% 19
Northern Ireland - 1 £430 - 1

Data Lake
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 85 (16.73%) Apache Spark
2 50 (9.84%) Apache
3 41 (8.07%) Apache Airflow
4 8 (1.57%) Confluence
4 8 (1.57%) SAS
5 4 (0.79%) SharePoint
6 3 (0.59%) Apache Synapse
7 2 (0.39%) Microsoft Exchange
7 2 (0.39%) nginx
8 1 (0.20%) Jupyter
Applications
1 3 (0.59%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.39%) MS Visio
3 1 (0.20%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.20%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 10 (1.97%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.20%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.20%) Infor M3
2 1 (0.20%) Loan IQ
2 1 (0.20%) SAP MDG
Cloud Services
1 360 (70.87%) Azure
2 186 (36.61%) Power Platform
3 172 (33.86%) AWS
4 170 (33.46%) Azure Synapse Analytics
5 162 (31.89%) Azure Data Factory
6 88 (17.32%) Azure DevOps
7 83 (16.34%) GitHub
8 73 (14.37%) GCP
9 63 (12.40%) Serverless
10 56 (11.02%) Amazon S3
11 41 (8.07%) Snowflake
12 40 (7.87%) AWS CloudFormation
12 40 (7.87%) GitHub Actions
13 38 (7.48%) Microsoft Purview
14 32 (6.30%) Azure Functions
15 28 (5.51%) Azure Key Vault
16 25 (4.92%) AWS Lambda
16 25 (4.92%) Collibra
17 24 (4.72%) Azure Cosmos DB
18 19 (3.74%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 8 (1.57%) Firewall
1 8 (1.57%) HTTP
2 3 (0.59%) Kerberos
2 3 (0.59%) Network Security
2 3 (0.59%) VPN
3 2 (0.39%) Hyperconnected
4 1 (0.20%) 4G
4 1 (0.20%) 5G
4 1 (0.20%) Ethernet
4 1 (0.20%) InfiniBand
4 1 (0.20%) Modbus
4 1 (0.20%) SMS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 160 (31.50%) Power BI
2 153 (30.12%) Data Warehouse
3 75 (14.76%) Metadata
4 66 (12.99%) Delta Lake
4 66 (12.99%) SQL Server
5 63 (12.40%) Azure SQL Database
6 40 (7.87%) Amazon Redshift
7 37 (7.28%) Amazon Athena
8 33 (6.50%) Big Data
9 31 (6.10%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 27 (5.31%) PostgreSQL
11 23 (4.53%) BigQuery
11 23 (4.53%) NoSQL
11 23 (4.53%) Spark SQL
12 22 (4.33%) Hadoop
13 21 (4.13%) Mixpanel
14 19 (3.74%) OLAP
14 19 (3.74%) Relational Database
14 19 (3.74%) Snowflake Schema
15 17 (3.35%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 54 (10.63%) Git
2 30 (5.91%) GitLab
3 13 (2.56%) Jenkins
4 11 (2.17%) JIRA
5 10 (1.97%) MLflow
6 3 (0.59%) ER Studio
6 3 (0.59%) ERwin
6 3 (0.59%) JMeter
7 2 (0.39%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.20%) Hudson
8 1 (0.20%) PowerDesigner
8 1 (0.20%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
8 1 (0.20%) Terragrunt
8 1 (0.20%) Visual Studio
General
1 122 (24.02%) Finance
2 110 (21.65%) Social Skills
3 57 (11.22%) Analytical Skills
4 44 (8.66%) Public Sector
5 15 (2.95%) Banking
6 12 (2.36%) Influencing Skills
7 11 (2.17%) Documentation Skills
8 8 (1.57%) Retail
9 7 (1.38%) Pharmaceutical
10 6 (1.18%) Manufacturing
10 6 (1.18%) Marketing
11 3 (0.59%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 3 (0.59%) Military
12 2 (0.39%) Back Office
12 2 (0.39%) Billing
12 2 (0.39%) Financial Institution
12 2 (0.39%) Front Office
12 2 (0.39%) Legal
12 2 (0.39%) Local Government
12 2 (0.39%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 175 (34.45%) Data Engineer
2 127 (25.00%) Architect
3 75 (14.76%) Data Architect
4 69 (13.58%) Senior
5 44 (8.66%) Azure Engineer
6 42 (8.27%) Lead
7 41 (8.07%) Senior Data Engineer
8 40 (7.87%) Solutions Architect
9 38 (7.48%) Developer
10 31 (6.10%) Principal Engineer
11 27 (5.31%) Azure Data Engineer
12 24 (4.72%) Software Engineer
13 22 (4.33%) Cloud Architect
14 21 (4.13%) AWS Engineer
14 21 (4.13%) Cloud Solutions Architect
14 21 (4.13%) Principal Software Engineer
15 18 (3.54%) Principal Data Engineer
16 17 (3.35%) Analyst
16 17 (3.35%) Azure Architect
17 15 (2.95%) Lead Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 105 (20.67%) PySpark
2 60 (11.81%) Kafka
3 27 (5.31%) REST
4 19 (3.74%) Great Expectations
5 15 (2.95%) JSON
5 15 (2.95%) Model Context Protocol
6 13 (2.56%) LangChain
7 12 (2.36%) LangGraph
7 12 (2.36%) Microsoft Graph
8 11 (2.17%) Spark Streaming
8 11 (2.17%) XML
9 10 (1.97%) Pandas
9 10 (1.97%) YAML
10 9 (1.77%) A2A Protocol
11 8 (1.57%) PyTorch
11 8 (1.57%) scikit-learn
12 7 (1.38%) TensorFlow
13 5 (0.98%) FastAPI
13 5 (0.98%) Node.js
13 5 (0.98%) React
Miscellaneous
1 71 (13.98%) Cloud Native
2 22 (4.33%) Data Structures
3 20 (3.94%) Legacy Systems
4 17 (3.35%) Distributed Systems
5 16 (3.15%) IoT
6 15 (2.95%) Distributed Computing
7 14 (2.76%) Product Ownership
8 10 (1.97%) Low-Code
8 10 (1.97%) Management Information System
9 9 (1.77%) Data Fabric
9 9 (1.77%) Data Protection Act
10 8 (1.57%) Analytical Mindset
10 8 (1.57%) Digital Media
11 5 (0.98%) AI Agents
11 5 (0.98%) Algorithms
11 5 (0.98%) Replication
11 5 (0.98%) Self-Motivation
12 4 (0.79%) Onboarding
12 4 (0.79%) Security Posture
13 3 (0.59%) Autonomous Agent
Operating Systems
1 15 (2.95%) Linux
2 11 (2.17%) Unix
3 5 (0.98%) Windows
4 2 (0.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 284 (55.91%) Analytics
2 251 (49.41%) ETL
3 229 (45.08%) Data Modelling
4 215 (42.32%) Data Pipeline
5 207 (40.75%) CI/CD
6 196 (38.58%) Data Engineering
7 184 (36.22%) Business Intelligence
8 171 (33.66%) DevOps
9 168 (33.07%) Data Governance
10 134 (26.38%) Data Architecture
11 128 (25.20%) AI
12 102 (20.08%) Agile
13 99 (19.49%) Migration
14 91 (17.91%) Machine Learning
15 84 (16.54%) Infrastructure as Code
16 80 (15.75%) Problem-Solving
17 64 (12.60%) Data Integration
18 63 (12.40%) Data Transformation
19 59 (11.61%) Data Science
20 50 (9.84%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 297 (58.46%) SQL
2 240 (47.24%) Python
3 34 (6.69%) Java
4 31 (6.10%) C#
5 23 (4.53%) T-SQL
6 22 (4.33%) Scala
7 20 (3.94%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 19 (3.74%) Bicep
9 18 (3.54%) PowerShell
10 7 (1.38%) Bash
10 7 (1.38%) JavaScript
11 6 (1.18%) PL/SQL
11 6 (1.18%) R
12 5 (0.98%) Shell Script
13 2 (0.39%) Ada
13 2 (0.39%) C++
14 1 (0.20%) ANSI SQL
14 1 (0.20%) C
14 1 (0.20%) Perl
14 1 (0.20%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 97 (19.09%) Security Cleared
2 75 (14.76%) SC Cleared
3 25 (4.92%) Degree
4 23 (4.53%) Azure Certification
5 15 (2.95%) Microsoft Certification
6 13 (2.56%) Master's Degree
7 11 (2.17%) BPSS Clearance
8 10 (1.97%) AWS Certification
9 9 (1.77%) Microsoft Certified Professional
10 7 (1.38%) TOGAF Certification
11 5 (0.98%) CISM
11 5 (0.98%) CISSP
12 4 (0.79%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 4 (0.79%) DV Cleared
13 3 (0.59%) Computer Science Degree
13 3 (0.59%) ISTQB
13 3 (0.59%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
14 2 (0.39%) PMP
14 2 (0.39%) Postgraduate
14 2 (0.39%) SAP Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 160 (31.50%) Data Quality
2 66 (12.99%) GDPR
3 26 (5.12%) QA
4 7 (1.38%) PCI DSS
4 7 (1.38%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 5 (0.98%) Accessibility
6 4 (0.79%) NIST
7 3 (0.59%) Actionable Recommendations
7 3 (0.59%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 3 (0.59%) HIPAA
8 2 (0.39%) PMO
9 1 (0.20%) Basel II
9 1 (0.20%) GRC
9 1 (0.20%) IFRS
9 1 (0.20%) IFRS 9
9 1 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 1 (0.20%) SOC 2
9 1 (0.20%) Solvency II
System Software
1 35 (6.89%) Docker
2 5 (0.98%) HDFS
3 3 (0.59%) Active Directory
4 2 (0.39%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.20%) Lustre
5 1 (0.20%) NFS
Systems Management
1 102 (20.08%) Terraform
2 35 (6.89%) Kubernetes
3 7 (1.38%) Grafana
4 6 (1.18%) Ansible
5 4 (0.79%) Prometheus
6 2 (0.39%) Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.20%) Fluentd
7 1 (0.20%) Hadoop YARN
7 1 (0.20%) IBM Guardium
7 1 (0.20%) Oozie
7 1 (0.20%) Oracle ZFS
7 1 (0.20%) Packer
7 1 (0.20%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.20%) Puppet
7 1 (0.20%) Salt
7 1 (0.20%) SELinux
Vendors
1 212 (41.73%) Databricks
2 155 (30.51%) Microsoft
3 35 (6.89%) Informatica
4 27 (5.31%) Google
5 24 (4.72%) Oracle
6 20 (3.94%) SAP
7 19 (3.74%) OpenAI
8 11 (2.17%) Talend
9 8 (1.57%) Cloudera
10 6 (1.18%) Salesforce
11 5 (0.98%) Denodo
11 5 (0.98%) ServiceNow
12 4 (0.79%) BiZZdesign
12 4 (0.79%) CheckPoint
12 4 (0.79%) Fortinet
12 4 (0.79%) Greenplum
12 4 (0.79%) Hortonworks
12 4 (0.79%) Infor
13 3 (0.59%) Ab Initio
13 3 (0.59%) Red Hat