DBA Contract Job Trends

Database Administrator
UK

The median Database Administrator daily rate in the UK is £475, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 8 August 2026.

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

6 months to
8 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 337 419 294
Rank change year-on-year +82 -125 +75
Contract jobs requiring a DBA 366 138 297
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.68% 0.42% 0.76%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.74% 0.46% 0.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 276 98 200
10th Percentile £363 £375 £350
25th Percentile £403 £425 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £463 £488
Median % change year-on-year +2.70% -5.13% -2.50%
75th Percentile £575 £547 £606
90th Percentile £675 £672 £673
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £450
% change year-on-year - - -5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 3 2
10th Percentile - £26.60 £32.45
25th Percentile - £27.50 £39.13
Median hourly rate - £30.00 £51.50
Median % change year-on-year - -41.75% +17.99%
75th Percentile - £54.25 £65.13
90th Percentile - £68.20 £72.55
UK excluding London median hourly rate - £51.00 £51.50
% change year-on-year - -0.97% +48.01%

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. 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 with a recognized job title 49,634 30,076 36,192
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.60% 91.43% 92.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,863 19,075 23,380
10th Percentile £328 £281 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.87%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,458 1,498 2,043
10th Percentile £15.00 £13.64 £14.16
25th Percentile £20.69 £17.30 £20.24
Median hourly rate £42.00 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +67.00% -41.51% +0.58%
75th Percentile £67.84 £53.83 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £73.25 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £45.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -44.11% +20.00%

DBA
Job Vacancy Trend

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

DBA job vacancy trend in the UK

DBA
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for DBA job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for DBA job vacancies in the UK

DBA
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing DBA over the 6 months to 8 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for DBA in the UK

DBA
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for DBA job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for DBA job vacancies in the UK

DBA
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing DBA within the UK over the 6 months to 8 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
England +69 316 £463 - 33
UK excluding London +67 248 £450 - 31
North of England +6 107 £435 -2.68% 10
London -33 87 £500 -4.76% 10
North West +16 77 £435 -2.25% 8
South East -8 66 £417 -7.28% 8
Work from Home -60 66 £500 +11.11% 14
Yorkshire -15 29 £400 -20.00% 2
Midlands -29 26 £449 - 7
West Midlands -37 20 £448 - 5
South West -36 19 £750 +22.45% 1
Scotland -1 18 £463 - 2
East Midlands -6 5 £463 - 2
East of England -16 5 £387 -11.66% 2
Wales - 5 £544 -
Northern Ireland +6 2 £675 - 2
North East - 1 £501 -

DBA Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 8 August 2026, 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 featuring DBA in the job title.

1 212 (57.92%) SQL
2 203 (55.46%) Oracle
3 182 (49.73%) Security Cleared
4 170 (46.45%) SQL Server
5 139 (37.98%) Performance Tuning
6 137 (37.43%) SC Cleared
7 123 (33.61%) Oracle Database
8 102 (27.87%) High Availability
9 97 (26.50%) Microsoft
9 97 (26.50%) PostgreSQL
10 78 (21.31%) Disaster Recovery
11 77 (21.04%) Azure
12 65 (17.76%) AWS
13 64 (17.49%) Migration
14 60 (16.39%) Oracle RMAN
15 57 (15.57%) MySQL
16 56 (15.30%) Database Security
17 51 (13.93%) ITIL
18 50 (13.66%) Linux
19 49 (13.39%) DV Cleared
20 48 (13.11%) Oracle RAC
21 47 (12.84%) Data Guard
22 43 (11.75%) DevOps
23 41 (11.20%) Unix
24 38 (10.38%) PowerShell
24 38 (10.38%) Problem-Solving
24 38 (10.38%) Windows
25 35 (9.56%) Python
26 34 (9.29%) SQL Server Integration Services
27 33 (9.02%) Microsoft Certification

DBA Skill Set
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 10 (2.73%) Confluence
2 6 (1.64%) WebLogic
3 3 (0.82%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 2 (0.55%) Oracle Service Bus
4 2 (0.55%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.27%) Mendix
5 1 (0.27%) OpenEdge
5 1 (0.27%) Oracle Application Server
5 1 (0.27%) Oracle Workflow
5 1 (0.27%) Tomcat
Applications
1 4 (1.09%) Microsoft Excel
1 4 (1.09%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.55%) MS Visio
3 1 (0.27%) Adobe XD
Business Applications
1 10 (2.73%) Oracle Applications
1 10 (2.73%) Oracle EBS
1 10 (2.73%) Remedy ITSM
2 6 (1.64%) Teamcenter
3 5 (1.37%) Oracle Payables
4 3 (0.82%) Oracle EBS R12
5 1 (0.27%) FLEXCUBE
5 1 (0.27%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 77 (21.04%) Azure
2 65 (17.76%) AWS
3 13 (3.55%) Power Platform
4 10 (2.73%) Azure DevOps
4 10 (2.73%) GCP
5 9 (2.46%) Azure Monitor
6 8 (2.19%) Azure Data Factory
7 7 (1.91%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 7 (1.91%) OCI
8 6 (1.64%) AWS KMS
8 6 (1.64%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 5 (1.37%) Azure Cosmos DB
9 5 (1.37%) SaaS
9 5 (1.37%) Serverless
10 4 (1.09%) AWS CloudFormation
10 4 (1.09%) Snowflake
11 3 (0.82%) Amazon EC2
11 3 (0.82%) Cloud Computing
11 3 (0.82%) GitHub
11 3 (0.82%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 8 (2.19%) SSL
2 2 (0.55%) Firewall
3 1 (0.27%) HTTP
3 1 (0.27%) HTTPS
3 1 (0.27%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 170 (46.45%) SQL Server
2 123 (33.61%) Oracle Database
3 97 (26.50%) PostgreSQL
4 57 (15.57%) MySQL
5 34 (9.29%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 24 (6.56%) Oracle Database 11g
6 24 (6.56%) Oracle Database 12c
6 24 (6.56%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 22 (6.01%) MongoDB
8 21 (5.74%) Amazon RDS
9 18 (4.92%) Relational Database
10 16 (4.37%) Azure SQL Database
11 15 (4.10%) RDBMS
12 13 (3.55%) Oracle Reports
12 13 (3.55%) Power BI
12 13 (3.55%) SQL Server Analysis Services
13 12 (3.28%) Amazon Aurora
14 10 (2.73%) Oracle Database 10g
15 9 (2.46%) NoSQL
16 7 (1.91%) Oracle Exadata
Development Applications
1 11 (3.01%) Git
2 10 (2.73%) GitLab
3 8 (2.19%) JIRA
4 6 (1.64%) Jenkins
5 5 (1.37%) Flyway
6 4 (1.09%) Oracle Forms
6 4 (1.09%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 3 (0.82%) Toad
8 2 (0.55%) Oracle APEX
9 1 (0.27%) Liquibase
9 1 (0.27%) Oracle Developer 2000
General
1 69 (18.85%) Social Skills
2 44 (12.02%) Finance
3 30 (8.20%) Analytical Skills
4 29 (7.92%) Public Sector
5 15 (4.10%) Banking
6 8 (2.19%) Legal
7 5 (1.37%) Organisational Skills
8 4 (1.09%) Investment Banking
9 3 (0.82%) Documentation Skills
9 3 (0.82%) Police
9 3 (0.82%) Publishing
10 2 (0.55%) Financial Institution
10 2 (0.55%) Military
10 2 (0.55%) Telecoms
11 1 (0.27%) Advertising
11 1 (0.27%) Billing
11 1 (0.27%) International Banking
11 1 (0.27%) Local Government
11 1 (0.27%) Manufacturing
11 1 (0.27%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (5.19%) Oracle GoldenGate
2 12 (3.28%) JSON
3 10 (2.73%) XML
4 7 (1.91%) Kafka
5 6 (1.64%) OLE
6 4 (1.09%) AWS CDK
7 3 (0.82%) GeoJSON
7 3 (0.82%) Matplotlib
7 3 (0.82%) Middleware
7 3 (0.82%) Oracle Streams
7 3 (0.82%) Pandas
7 3 (0.82%) Polars
7 3 (0.82%) scikit-learn
8 2 (0.55%) Oracle Fusion
8 2 (0.55%) REST
9 1 (0.27%) .NET
9 1 (0.27%) Node.js
9 1 (0.27%) PostGIS
9 1 (0.27%) Spring
9 1 (0.27%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 53 (14.48%) Replication
2 34 (9.29%) Clustering
3 12 (3.28%) Data Centre
4 10 (2.73%) Legacy Systems
5 6 (1.64%) Data Structures
5 6 (1.64%) Enterprise Cloud
6 5 (1.37%) Onboarding
7 4 (1.09%) Mainframe
8 3 (0.82%) Cloud Native
8 3 (0.82%) Legacy Applications
9 2 (0.55%) Data Protection Act
9 2 (0.55%) NHS
9 2 (0.55%) Public Cloud
10 1 (0.27%) Distributed Systems
10 1 (0.27%) Enterprise Software
10 1 (0.27%) Enterprise Storage
10 1 (0.27%) Life Science
10 1 (0.27%) Product Ownership
10 1 (0.27%) SCADA
10 1 (0.27%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 50 (13.66%) Linux
2 41 (11.20%) Unix
3 38 (10.38%) Windows
4 23 (6.28%) Windows Server
5 8 (2.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 8 (2.19%) Solaris
6 4 (1.09%) AIX
6 4 (1.09%) Oracle Linux
7 3 (0.82%) Windows Server 2008
8 2 (0.55%) Amazon Linux
9 1 (0.27%) Data ONTAP
9 1 (0.27%) HPUX
9 1 (0.27%) OpenVMS
9 1 (0.27%) VMS
9 1 (0.27%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.27%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 139 (37.98%) Performance Tuning
2 102 (27.87%) High Availability
3 78 (21.31%) Disaster Recovery
4 64 (17.49%) Migration
5 56 (15.30%) Database Security
6 51 (13.93%) ITIL
7 43 (11.75%) DevOps
8 38 (10.38%) Problem-Solving
9 32 (8.74%) Capacity Planning
10 30 (8.20%) Database Tuning
11 26 (7.10%) Data Modelling
11 26 (7.10%) Performance Optimisation
12 25 (6.83%) CI/CD
12 25 (6.83%) Root Cause Analysis
13 24 (6.56%) Stakeholder Management
14 21 (5.74%) Task Automation
15 19 (5.19%) Agile
15 19 (5.19%) Continuous Improvement
15 19 (5.19%) Database Migration
16 18 (4.92%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 212 (57.92%) SQL
2 38 (10.38%) PowerShell
3 35 (9.56%) Python
4 31 (8.47%) T-SQL
5 25 (6.83%) PL/SQL
6 16 (4.37%) Shell Script
7 11 (3.01%) Korn
8 9 (2.46%) Bash
9 4 (1.09%) Java
9 4 (1.09%) TypeScript
10 3 (0.82%) Perl
11 2 (0.55%) Bicep
11 2 (0.55%) Groovy
12 1 (0.27%) C#
12 1 (0.27%) Cypher
12 1 (0.27%) JCL
12 1 (0.27%) RPG
12 1 (0.27%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 182 (49.73%) Security Cleared
2 137 (37.43%) SC Cleared
3 49 (13.39%) DV Cleared
4 33 (9.02%) Microsoft Certification
5 20 (5.46%) Oracle Certification
6 16 (4.37%) Degree
7 14 (3.83%) OCP
8 10 (2.73%) Azure Certification
9 9 (2.46%) BPSS Clearance
10 6 (1.64%) AWS Certification
10 6 (1.64%) Computer Science Degree
10 6 (1.64%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 4 (1.09%) MCITP
11 4 (1.09%) MCTS
12 3 (0.82%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 1 (0.27%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (3.55%) QA
2 12 (3.28%) Data Quality
3 8 (2.19%) GDPR
3 8 (2.19%) SLA
4 5 (1.37%) ISO 9000
5 2 (0.55%) Disclosure Scotland
6 1 (0.27%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.27%) ISO 20022
6 1 (0.27%) ISO 22301
6 1 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 1 (0.27%) NIST
6 1 (0.27%) NIST 800
System Software
1 48 (13.11%) Oracle RAC
2 11 (3.01%) Active Directory
3 9 (2.46%) Virtual Machines
4 8 (2.19%) VMware Infrastructure
5 3 (0.82%) Docker
6 1 (0.27%) ACF2
6 1 (0.27%) RACF
Systems Management
1 60 (16.39%) Oracle RMAN
2 47 (12.84%) Data Guard
3 22 (6.01%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
4 20 (5.46%) Terraform
5 15 (4.10%) Ansible
6 11 (3.01%) SCOM
7 8 (2.19%) Microsoft Clustering
8 5 (1.37%) Prometheus
9 4 (1.09%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
9 4 (1.09%) Failover Clustering
9 4 (1.09%) Grafana
10 3 (0.82%) Foglight
10 3 (0.82%) Nagios
11 2 (0.55%) Single Sign-On
12 1 (0.27%) EMC NetWorker
12 1 (0.27%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 203 (55.46%) Oracle
2 97 (26.50%) Microsoft
3 15 (4.10%) ServiceNow
4 12 (3.28%) Remedy
5 10 (2.73%) BMC
6 9 (2.46%) SolarWinds
7 8 (2.19%) RedGate
7 8 (2.19%) VMware
8 7 (1.91%) Sybase
9 5 (1.37%) Commvault
10 4 (1.09%) Databricks
10 4 (1.09%) Google
10 4 (1.09%) Red Hat
11 3 (0.82%) Dynatrace
11 3 (0.82%) Greenplum
11 3 (0.82%) Informatica
11 3 (0.82%) Talend
12 2 (0.55%) IBM
13 1 (0.27%) NetApp
13 1 (0.27%) Wonderware