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

6 months to
21 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 232 190 185
Rank change year-on-year -42 -5 +19
Contract jobs citing Data Lake 514 423 539
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.07% 1.45% 1.27%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 7.07% 7.65% 7.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 364 338 408
10th Percentile £400 £400 £413
25th Percentile £450 £463 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £600 £575
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -
75th Percentile £650 £784 £850
90th Percentile £750 £938 £888
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £470 £485
% change year-on-year +6.38% -3.09% -11.82%
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 7,274 5,530 7,287
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 15.08% 19.00% 17.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,902 3,794 5,225
10th Percentile £350 £358 £350
25th Percentile £413 £419 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £521 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.03% -0.76% -3.67%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £650
90th Percentile £700 £763 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £482 £475
% change year-on-year -1.45% +1.47% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 217 98 148
10th Percentile £15.50 £21.10 £14.00
25th Percentile £24.25 £24.25 £20.93
Median hourly rate £47.00 £34.83 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +34.96% -12.94% -30.43%
75th Percentile £73.00 £65.90 £61.53
90th Percentile £82.25 £77.86 £73.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £31.85 £39.25
% change year-on-year +41.31% -18.87% -28.64%

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 21 May 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 21 May 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 21 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
England -72 424 £550 -10.20% 94
London -33 298 £600 -11.11% 55
Work from Home -81 166 £525 -25.00% 112
UK excluding London -67 124 £500 +6.38% 66
Midlands -34 39 £513 +17.14% 8
North of England -60 38 £500 +6.67% 15
West Midlands -43 26 £531 +21.43% 7
Scotland +13 19 £500 -13.34% 9
South East -66 18 £442 -5.76% 23
North West -39 17 £500 +5.26% 8
Yorkshire -42 14 £550 +25.71% 4
East Midlands -17 13 £475 +18.75% 1
East of England -26 8 £575 -0.86% 2
North East -23 7 £463 +29.19% 3
South West -34 3 £500 -11.11% 5
Northern Ireland - 1 £430 -

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 81 (15.76%) Apache Spark
2 43 (8.37%) Apache
3 33 (6.42%) Apache Airflow
4 13 (2.53%) SAS
5 12 (2.33%) Confluence
6 2 (0.39%) Apache Synapse
6 2 (0.39%) Microsoft Exchange
6 2 (0.39%) nginx
6 2 (0.39%) SharePoint
7 1 (0.19%) Jupyter
Applications
1 3 (0.58%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.19%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (0.19%) MS Visio
2 1 (0.19%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 4 (0.78%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (0.58%) Infor M3
3 2 (0.39%) Loan IQ
4 1 (0.19%) Aladdin
4 1 (0.19%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.19%) Endur
4 1 (0.19%) Salesforce CRM
4 1 (0.19%) SAP MDG
Cloud Services
1 361 (70.23%) Azure
2 184 (35.80%) Power Platform
3 180 (35.02%) AWS
4 161 (31.32%) Azure Data Factory
4 161 (31.32%) Azure Synapse Analytics
5 91 (17.70%) Azure DevOps
6 82 (15.95%) GCP
7 81 (15.76%) GitHub
8 58 (11.28%) Serverless
9 49 (9.53%) Amazon S3
10 37 (7.20%) Microsoft Purview
11 36 (7.00%) GitHub Actions
11 36 (7.00%) Snowflake
12 31 (6.03%) Azure Functions
13 28 (5.45%) AWS CloudFormation
14 27 (5.25%) Azure Cosmos DB
14 27 (5.25%) Azure Key Vault
15 22 (4.28%) Collibra
16 21 (4.09%) AWS Lambda
17 18 (3.50%) Amazon SQS
Communications & Networking
1 9 (1.75%) HTTP
2 7 (1.36%) Firewall
3 2 (0.39%) Network Security
4 1 (0.19%) 4G
4 1 (0.19%) 5G
4 1 (0.19%) Ethernet
4 1 (0.19%) Kerberos
4 1 (0.19%) Modbus
4 1 (0.19%) Radio Access Network
4 1 (0.19%) SMS
4 1 (0.19%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 160 (31.13%) Data Warehouse
2 157 (30.54%) Power BI
3 77 (14.98%) Metadata
4 67 (13.04%) SQL Server
5 66 (12.84%) Azure SQL Database
6 64 (12.45%) Delta Lake
7 39 (7.59%) Amazon Redshift
8 38 (7.39%) Amazon Athena
9 34 (6.61%) Big Data
10 31 (6.03%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 28 (5.45%) BigQuery
12 27 (5.25%) NoSQL
13 25 (4.86%) PostgreSQL
13 25 (4.86%) Spark SQL
14 22 (4.28%) Hadoop
14 22 (4.28%) Relational Database
15 20 (3.89%) Mixpanel
16 18 (3.50%) OLAP
16 18 (3.50%) Snowflake Schema
17 16 (3.11%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 61 (11.87%) Git
2 27 (5.25%) GitLab
3 17 (3.31%) JIRA
4 11 (2.14%) Jenkins
5 8 (1.56%) MLflow
6 7 (1.36%) ER Studio
6 7 (1.36%) ERwin
7 5 (0.97%) PowerDesigner
8 3 (0.58%) JMeter
9 2 (0.39%) Bitbucket
10 1 (0.19%) Hudson
10 1 (0.19%) Postman
10 1 (0.19%) Robot Framework
10 1 (0.19%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 123 (23.93%) Finance
2 103 (20.04%) Social Skills
3 60 (11.67%) Analytical Skills
4 43 (8.37%) Public Sector
5 18 (3.50%) Banking
6 12 (2.33%) Documentation Skills
7 10 (1.95%) Retail
8 9 (1.75%) Marketing
9 8 (1.56%) Influencing Skills
10 5 (0.97%) Manufacturing
10 5 (0.97%) Military
11 4 (0.78%) Investment Banking
12 3 (0.58%) Financial Institution
12 3 (0.58%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 3 (0.58%) Telecoms
13 2 (0.39%) Back Office
13 2 (0.39%) Billing
13 2 (0.39%) Front Office
13 2 (0.39%) Pharmaceutical
13 2 (0.39%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 184 (35.80%) Data Engineer
2 134 (26.07%) Architect
3 82 (15.95%) Data Architect
4 74 (14.40%) Senior
5 47 (9.14%) Senior Data Engineer
6 44 (8.56%) Azure Engineer
7 42 (8.17%) Lead
8 40 (7.78%) Solutions Architect
9 31 (6.03%) Developer
10 30 (5.84%) Azure Data Engineer
11 29 (5.64%) Principal Engineer
12 24 (4.67%) Cloud Architect
13 22 (4.28%) Software Engineer
14 21 (4.09%) Analyst
14 21 (4.09%) Cloud Solutions Architect
15 19 (3.70%) Principal Software Engineer
16 18 (3.50%) AWS Engineer
17 17 (3.31%) Principal Data Engineer
18 16 (3.11%) Azure Architect
19 14 (2.72%) Lead Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 107 (20.82%) PySpark
2 58 (11.28%) Kafka
3 28 (5.45%) REST
4 19 (3.70%) Great Expectations
5 15 (2.92%) Model Context Protocol
6 12 (2.33%) LangChain
6 12 (2.33%) LangGraph
7 11 (2.14%) JSON
7 11 (2.14%) XML
8 10 (1.95%) Microsoft Graph
9 9 (1.75%) A2A Protocol
9 9 (1.75%) Pandas
10 8 (1.56%) Spark Streaming
10 8 (1.56%) YAML
11 7 (1.36%) PyTorch
11 7 (1.36%) scikit-learn
12 5 (0.97%) FastAPI
12 5 (0.97%) Node.js
12 5 (0.97%) React
12 5 (0.97%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 77 (14.98%) Cloud Native
2 21 (4.09%) Data Structures
3 20 (3.89%) Legacy Systems
4 19 (3.70%) Distributed Systems
5 15 (2.92%) IoT
6 14 (2.72%) Distributed Computing
6 14 (2.72%) Product Ownership
7 11 (2.14%) Data Protection Act
7 11 (2.14%) Low-Code
8 10 (1.95%) Management Information System
9 8 (1.56%) Data Fabric
9 8 (1.56%) Digital Media
9 8 (1.56%) Reference Data
10 7 (1.36%) AI Agents
10 7 (1.36%) Analytical Mindset
11 5 (0.97%) Fixed Income
11 5 (0.97%) Replication
11 5 (0.97%) Self-Motivation
12 4 (0.78%) Derivative
12 4 (0.78%) Equities
Operating Systems
1 11 (2.14%) Linux
2 9 (1.75%) Unix
3 4 (0.78%) Windows
4 2 (0.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 283 (55.06%) Analytics
2 264 (51.36%) ETL
3 235 (45.72%) Data Modelling
4 219 (42.61%) Data Pipeline
5 207 (40.27%) CI/CD
6 199 (38.72%) Data Engineering
7 187 (36.38%) Business Intelligence
8 175 (34.05%) DevOps
9 165 (32.10%) Data Governance
10 134 (26.07%) Data Architecture
11 133 (25.88%) AI
12 109 (21.21%) Agile
13 103 (20.04%) Migration
14 90 (17.51%) Machine Learning
15 78 (15.18%) Problem-Solving
16 77 (14.98%) Infrastructure as Code
17 71 (13.81%) Data Integration
18 67 (13.04%) Data Transformation
19 60 (11.67%) Validation
20 53 (10.31%) Data Science
Programming Languages
1 312 (60.70%) SQL
2 232 (45.14%) Python
3 38 (7.39%) Java
4 28 (5.45%) C#
5 22 (4.28%) Scala
5 22 (4.28%) T-SQL
6 16 (3.11%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 15 (2.92%) Bicep
7 15 (2.92%) PowerShell
8 7 (1.36%) Bash
9 6 (1.17%) PL/SQL
10 5 (0.97%) JavaScript
10 5 (0.97%) R
10 5 (0.97%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.39%) Ada
11 2 (0.39%) C++
12 1 (0.19%) ANSI SQL
12 1 (0.19%) C
12 1 (0.19%) SOQL
12 1 (0.19%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 109 (21.21%) Security Cleared
2 87 (16.93%) SC Cleared
3 25 (4.86%) Azure Certification
4 22 (4.28%) Degree
5 14 (2.72%) Microsoft Certification
6 9 (1.75%) BPSS Clearance
6 9 (1.75%) Master's Degree
6 9 (1.75%) Microsoft Certified Professional
7 7 (1.36%) TOGAF Certification
8 6 (1.17%) AWS Certification
8 6 (1.17%) DV Cleared
9 5 (0.97%) CISM
9 5 (0.97%) CISSP
10 3 (0.58%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 3 (0.58%) ISTQB
10 3 (0.58%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
11 2 (0.39%) Computer Science Degree
11 2 (0.39%) PMI Certification
11 2 (0.39%) PMP
11 2 (0.39%) SAP Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 164 (31.91%) Data Quality
2 57 (11.09%) GDPR
3 30 (5.84%) QA
4 7 (1.36%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 6 (1.17%) Accessibility
6 5 (0.97%) PCI DSS
7 4 (0.78%) MiFID
7 4 (0.78%) NIST
8 3 (0.58%) Actionable Recommendations
8 3 (0.58%) California Consumer Privacy Act
8 3 (0.58%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.39%) IFRS
9 2 (0.39%) IFRS 9
9 2 (0.39%) PMO
10 1 (0.19%) Basel II
10 1 (0.19%) GRC
10 1 (0.19%) IFRS 17
10 1 (0.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 1 (0.19%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.19%) Solvency II
System Software
1 30 (5.84%) Docker
2 4 (0.78%) HDFS
Systems Management
1 94 (18.29%) Terraform
2 33 (6.42%) Kubernetes
3 9 (1.75%) Grafana
4 5 (0.97%) Ansible
5 2 (0.39%) Prometheus
5 2 (0.39%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.19%) Hadoop YARN
6 1 (0.19%) IBM Guardium
6 1 (0.19%) Oozie
Vendors
1 210 (40.86%) Databricks
2 151 (29.38%) Microsoft
3 41 (7.98%) Informatica
4 28 (5.45%) Google
4 28 (5.45%) Oracle
5 19 (3.70%) OpenAI
6 16 (3.11%) Talend
7 13 (2.53%) SAP
8 9 (1.75%) Denodo
9 7 (1.36%) Infor
10 6 (1.17%) Cloudera
10 6 (1.17%) Dynatrace
10 6 (1.17%) Salesforce
10 6 (1.17%) ServiceNow
11 4 (0.78%) BiZZdesign
11 4 (0.78%) CheckPoint
11 4 (0.78%) Fortinet
11 4 (0.78%) Greenplum
11 4 (0.78%) Hortonworks
12 3 (0.58%) Splunk