DBA Contract Job Trends

Database Administrator
UK

The median Database Administrator daily rate in the UK is £494, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 28 May 2026.

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

6 months to
28 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 352 387 325
Rank change year-on-year +35 -62 +41
Contract jobs requiring a DBA 299 134 275
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.61% 0.47% 0.64%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.66% 0.51% 0.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 234 84 189
10th Percentile £363 £344 £363
25th Percentile £402 £412 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £494 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +9.72% -10.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £538 £613
90th Percentile £650 £596 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £448 £490
% change year-on-year +0.56% -8.67% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 2 2
10th Percentile - - £32.45
25th Percentile - £61.87 £39.13
Median hourly rate £27.50 £63.75 £51.50
Median % change year-on-year -56.86% +23.78% +48.01%
75th Percentile - £65.62 £65.13
90th Percentile - - £72.55
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £63.75 £51.50
% change year-on-year -56.86% +23.78% +186.11%

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 45,082 26,443 39,660
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.31% 92.30% 92.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,504 17,178 25,818
10th Percentile £325 £290 £280
25th Percentile £413 £405 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £508 £525
Median % change year-on-year +0.99% -3.33% -2.78%
75th Percentile £619 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,000 1,028 2,760
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.00 £12.80
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.09 £16.30
Median hourly rate £42.50 £27.97 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +51.98% -23.38% -18.89%
75th Percentile £66.63 £60.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £72.54
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.61 £25.30 £40.00
% change year-on-year +72.35% -36.75% -5.88%

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 28 May 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 28 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 +12 261 £475 +5.56% 43
UK excluding London +40 193 £450 +0.56% 42
London -41 84 £500 - 6
North of England -20 68 £439 -1.46% 9
South East -10 65 £417 -12.16% 12
Work from Home -54 54 £500 +11.11% 17
North West -11 40 £450 +4.20% 5
Midlands -34 31 £463 - 6
Yorkshire -32 28 £400 -30.43% 3
West Midlands -39 25 £481 - 3
Scotland +2 14 £500 +3.90% 4
South West - 8 £606 - 9
East Midlands - 5 £463 - 3
Wales -13 3 £588 +113.64%
Northern Ireland +4 2 £675 -
East of England -34 2 £388 -8.82% 4
North East - 1 £501 - 1

DBA Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 28 May 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.

1 165 (55.18%) Oracle
2 153 (51.17%) SQL
3 120 (40.13%) Oracle Database
3 120 (40.13%) Security Cleared
4 108 (36.12%) SQL Server
5 97 (32.44%) Performance Tuning
6 89 (29.77%) SC Cleared
7 77 (25.75%) High Availability
8 67 (22.41%) PostgreSQL
9 54 (18.06%) Oracle RMAN
10 53 (17.73%) Azure
10 53 (17.73%) Microsoft
10 53 (17.73%) Migration
11 48 (16.05%) AWS
11 48 (16.05%) Disaster Recovery
12 43 (14.38%) Linux
13 42 (14.05%) Database Security
14 38 (12.71%) MySQL
15 36 (12.04%) DevOps
16 35 (11.71%) Oracle RAC
17 33 (11.04%) Data Guard
17 33 (11.04%) DV Cleared
18 32 (10.70%) Problem-Solving
19 31 (10.37%) Unix
20 29 (9.70%) PL/SQL
21 28 (9.36%) Python
22 27 (9.03%) ITIL
23 26 (8.70%) PowerShell
23 26 (8.70%) SQL Server Integration Services
24 25 (8.36%) Amazon RDS

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 8 (2.68%) WebLogic
2 5 (1.67%) Confluence
2 5 (1.67%) Oracle SOA Suite
3 3 (1.00%) Oracle Workflow
4 2 (0.67%) Liferay
5 1 (0.33%) OpenEdge
5 1 (0.33%) Oracle Application Server
5 1 (0.33%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.33%) Tomcat
Applications
1 3 (1.00%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 15 (5.02%) Oracle EBS
2 11 (3.68%) Oracle Applications
3 8 (2.68%) Oracle EBS R12
4 3 (1.00%) Oracle ERP
4 3 (1.00%) Oracle Payables
4 3 (1.00%) Remedy ITSM
4 3 (1.00%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.33%) FLEXCUBE
Cloud Services
1 53 (17.73%) Azure
2 48 (16.05%) AWS
3 13 (4.35%) Azure Cosmos DB
4 10 (3.34%) OCI
5 8 (2.68%) Azure Data Factory
6 7 (2.34%) Amazon S3
6 7 (2.34%) Serverless
7 5 (1.67%) Amazon EC2
7 5 (1.67%) Azure DevOps
7 5 (1.67%) GCP
7 5 (1.67%) PaaS
7 5 (1.67%) SaaS
7 5 (1.67%) Snowflake
8 3 (1.00%) Azure AKS
8 3 (1.00%) Azure Functions
8 3 (1.00%) Azure Logic Apps
8 3 (1.00%) Azure Monitor
8 3 (1.00%) Azure Storage
8 3 (1.00%) Cloud Computing
8 3 (1.00%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 1 (0.33%) Firewall
1 1 (0.33%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 120 (40.13%) Oracle Database
2 108 (36.12%) SQL Server
3 67 (22.41%) PostgreSQL
4 38 (12.71%) MySQL
5 26 (8.70%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 25 (8.36%) Amazon RDS
6 25 (8.36%) MongoDB
7 20 (6.69%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 19 (6.35%) Oracle Database 12c
9 18 (6.02%) Oracle Database 11g
9 18 (6.02%) Oracle Reports
10 17 (5.69%) Azure SQL Database
11 15 (5.02%) Relational Database
12 12 (4.01%) NoSQL
12 12 (4.01%) RDBMS
13 9 (3.01%) Oracle Exadata
13 9 (3.01%) SQL Server Analysis Services
14 8 (2.68%) Amazon Aurora
15 6 (2.01%) Big Data
15 6 (2.01%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 12 (4.01%) Git
2 11 (3.68%) GitLab
3 8 (2.68%) Oracle APEX
4 6 (2.01%) Jenkins
5 5 (1.67%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 4 (1.34%) Flyway
6 4 (1.34%) Oracle Forms
7 2 (0.67%) JIRA
8 1 (0.33%) Oracle Developer 2000
8 1 (0.33%) TeamCity
General
1 40 (13.38%) Social Skills
2 34 (11.37%) Public Sector
3 27 (9.03%) Finance
4 20 (6.69%) Analytical Skills
5 13 (4.35%) Banking
6 8 (2.68%) Legal
7 5 (1.67%) Military
8 4 (1.34%) Investment Banking
8 4 (1.34%) Organisational Skills
9 3 (1.00%) Documentation Skills
9 3 (1.00%) Publishing
10 2 (0.67%) Aviation
10 2 (0.67%) Telecoms
11 1 (0.33%) Advertising
11 1 (0.33%) Billing
11 1 (0.33%) International Banking
11 1 (0.33%) Local Government
11 1 (0.33%) Manufacturing
11 1 (0.33%) Pharmaceutical
11 1 (0.33%) Police
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (5.69%) Oracle GoldenGate
2 12 (4.01%) JSON
3 10 (3.34%) XML
4 7 (2.34%) Kafka
5 6 (2.01%) OLE
6 4 (1.34%) AWS CDK
7 3 (1.00%) .NET
7 3 (1.00%) GeoJSON
7 3 (1.00%) Matplotlib
7 3 (1.00%) Middleware
7 3 (1.00%) Node.js
7 3 (1.00%) Pandas
7 3 (1.00%) Polars
7 3 (1.00%) scikit-learn
8 2 (0.67%) .NET Core
8 2 (0.67%) ASP.NET
8 2 (0.67%) Elastic Stack
8 2 (0.67%) Oracle ADF
8 2 (0.67%) Oracle Fusion
8 2 (0.67%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 28 (9.36%) Replication
2 18 (6.02%) Clustering
3 11 (3.68%) Legacy Systems
4 7 (2.34%) Cloud Native
5 6 (2.01%) Enterprise Cloud
6 4 (1.34%) Legacy Applications
7 3 (1.00%) Data Structures
7 3 (1.00%) Distributed Systems
7 3 (1.00%) Onboarding
8 2 (0.67%) Driving Licence
8 2 (0.67%) Mainframe
8 2 (0.67%) NHS
8 2 (0.67%) Public Cloud
9 1 (0.33%) Data Centre
9 1 (0.33%) Enterprise Storage
9 1 (0.33%) Life Science
9 1 (0.33%) Operational Technology
9 1 (0.33%) SCADA
9 1 (0.33%) Security Posture
9 1 (0.33%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 43 (14.38%) Linux
2 31 (10.37%) Unix
3 19 (6.35%) Windows
4 12 (4.01%) Windows Server
5 8 (2.68%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (1.34%) AIX
6 4 (1.34%) Oracle Linux
7 2 (0.67%) Solaris
8 1 (0.33%) Amazon Linux
8 1 (0.33%) Data ONTAP
8 1 (0.33%) HPUX
8 1 (0.33%) OpenVMS
8 1 (0.33%) Windows Server 2008
8 1 (0.33%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.33%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 97 (32.44%) Performance Tuning
2 77 (25.75%) High Availability
3 53 (17.73%) Migration
4 48 (16.05%) Disaster Recovery
5 42 (14.05%) Database Security
6 36 (12.04%) DevOps
7 32 (10.70%) Problem-Solving
8 27 (9.03%) ITIL
9 25 (8.36%) Capacity Planning
10 24 (8.03%) Task Automation
11 21 (7.02%) CI/CD
12 20 (6.69%) Agile
13 18 (6.02%) Database Tuning
14 17 (5.69%) Data Migration
14 17 (5.69%) Data Modelling
14 17 (5.69%) Performance Optimisation
15 16 (5.35%) Data Protection
16 14 (4.68%) Statistics
17 13 (4.35%) ETL
17 13 (4.35%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 153 (51.17%) SQL
2 29 (9.70%) PL/SQL
3 28 (9.36%) Python
4 26 (8.70%) PowerShell
5 19 (6.35%) Shell Script
6 17 (5.69%) T-SQL
7 10 (3.34%) Korn
8 6 (2.01%) Bash
9 4 (1.34%) TypeScript
10 3 (1.00%) Bicep
10 3 (1.00%) C#
10 3 (1.00%) Perl
11 2 (0.67%) Java
12 1 (0.33%) Groovy
12 1 (0.33%) JCL
12 1 (0.33%) RPG
12 1 (0.33%) Ruby
12 1 (0.33%) VB
Qualifications
1 120 (40.13%) Security Cleared
2 89 (29.77%) SC Cleared
3 33 (11.04%) DV Cleared
4 13 (4.35%) Microsoft Certification
5 10 (3.34%) Oracle Certification
6 8 (2.68%) OCP
7 6 (2.01%) Degree
8 5 (1.67%) Azure Certification
9 4 (1.34%) Computer Science Degree
9 4 (1.34%) MCITP
9 4 (1.34%) MCTS
10 1 (0.33%) AWS Certification
10 1 (0.33%) BPSS Clearance
10 1 (0.33%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (3.01%) GDPR
2 8 (2.68%) Data Quality
2 8 (2.68%) QA
3 6 (2.01%) SLA
4 4 (1.34%) Disclosure Scotland
5 1 (0.33%) ISO 22301
5 1 (0.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 1 (0.33%) NIST
5 1 (0.33%) NIST 800
5 1 (0.33%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 35 (11.71%) Oracle RAC
2 6 (2.01%) Active Directory
2 6 (2.01%) Virtual Machines
3 3 (1.00%) Oracle Clusterware
4 1 (0.33%) Docker
Systems Management
1 54 (18.06%) Oracle RMAN
2 33 (11.04%) Data Guard
3 19 (6.35%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
4 15 (5.02%) Terraform
5 13 (4.35%) Ansible
6 5 (1.67%) Foglight
7 3 (1.00%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
7 3 (1.00%) Grafana
7 3 (1.00%) Microsoft Clustering
7 3 (1.00%) Prometheus
8 2 (0.67%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.67%) systemd
9 1 (0.33%) EMC NetWorker
9 1 (0.33%) Failover Clustering
9 1 (0.33%) SCCM
Vendors
1 165 (55.18%) Oracle
2 53 (17.73%) Microsoft
3 8 (2.68%) RedGate
3 8 (2.68%) SolarWinds
4 7 (2.34%) ServiceNow
5 5 (1.67%) Databricks
6 4 (1.34%) Google
6 4 (1.34%) Greenplum
6 4 (1.34%) Informatica
6 4 (1.34%) Red Hat
6 4 (1.34%) Sybase
6 4 (1.34%) Talend
7 3 (1.00%) BMC
7 3 (1.00%) Remedy
8 2 (0.67%) IBM
9 1 (0.33%) Commvault
9 1 (0.33%) EMC
9 1 (0.33%) NetCracker
9 1 (0.33%) Teradata
9 1 (0.33%) Wonderware