DBA Contract Job Trends

Database Administrator
UK

The median Database Administrator daily rate in the UK is £486, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 18 June 2026.

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

6 months to
18 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 349 405 321
Rank change year-on-year +56 -84 +49
Contract jobs requiring a DBA 316 128 289
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.63% 0.43% 0.66%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.68% 0.47% 0.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 248 89 195
10th Percentile £361 £371 £363
25th Percentile £401 £413 £420
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £486 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.37% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £550 £611
90th Percentile £675 £636 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% -1.86%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 1 2
10th Percentile - - £32.45
25th Percentile - £72.50 £39.13
Median hourly rate £27.50 £75.00 £51.50
Median % change year-on-year -63.33% +45.63% +48.01%
75th Percentile - £77.50 £65.13
90th Percentile - - £72.55
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £75.00 £51.50
% change year-on-year -63.33% +45.63% +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 46,545 27,461 40,758
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.35% 92.26% 92.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 28,281 17,668 26,127
10th Percentile £325 £289 £280
25th Percentile £413 £402 £407
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.00% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £625 £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 3,104 1,179 2,967
10th Percentile £15.24 £13.97 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.79 £17.79 £16.37
Median hourly rate £43.61 £27.50 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +58.56% -26.67% -16.67%
75th Percentile £67.50 £57.50 £62.01
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -37.13% -1.45%

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 18 June 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 18 June 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 +40 274 £475 +1.33% 24
UK excluding London +45 217 £475 +5.56% 23
North of England -5 80 £450 +1.12% 4
London -25 76 £500 -3.38% 8
South East -8 62 £417 -7.28% 2
Work from Home -46 55 £500 +11.11% 5
North West +2 50 £463 +3.93% 4
Yorkshire -33 30 £400 -30.43%
Midlands -32 28 £463 - 3
West Midlands -35 22 £475 - 2
South West -12 20 £750 +11.11% 4
Scotland -2 18 £475 +2.70% 7
East Midlands - 5 £463 - 1
East of England -29 4 £388 -8.82% 4
Wales - 3 £588 -
Northern Ireland +2 2 £675 -
North East - 1 £501 -

DBA Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 18 June 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.

1 180 (56.96%) Oracle
2 168 (53.16%) SQL
3 142 (44.94%) Security Cleared
4 128 (40.51%) SQL Server
5 121 (38.29%) Oracle Database
6 104 (32.91%) Performance Tuning
7 96 (30.38%) SC Cleared
8 85 (26.90%) High Availability
9 82 (25.95%) PostgreSQL
10 72 (22.78%) Microsoft
11 62 (19.62%) Azure
12 61 (19.30%) AWS
13 55 (17.41%) Migration
14 54 (17.09%) Disaster Recovery
15 48 (15.19%) Oracle RMAN
16 47 (14.87%) DV Cleared
17 46 (14.56%) Database Security
18 45 (14.24%) MySQL
19 43 (13.61%) Linux
20 36 (11.39%) DevOps
21 35 (11.08%) Problem-Solving
22 34 (10.76%) Python
23 33 (10.44%) Unix
24 32 (10.13%) Oracle RAC
25 30 (9.49%) PowerShell
26 29 (9.18%) Data Guard
26 29 (9.18%) ITIL
27 28 (8.86%) Capacity Planning
28 25 (7.91%) Amazon RDS
28 25 (7.91%) PL/SQL

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 5 (1.58%) Confluence
2 4 (1.27%) WebLogic
3 3 (0.95%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 2 (0.63%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.32%) Mendix
5 1 (0.32%) OpenEdge
5 1 (0.32%) Oracle Application Server
5 1 (0.32%) Oracle Workflow
5 1 (0.32%) Tomcat
Applications
1 4 (1.27%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.63%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.32%) Adobe XD
Business Applications
1 11 (3.48%) Oracle Applications
2 10 (3.16%) Oracle EBS
3 5 (1.58%) Oracle Payables
3 5 (1.58%) Teamcenter
4 3 (0.95%) Oracle EBS R12
4 3 (0.95%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.32%) FLEXCUBE
5 1 (0.32%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 62 (19.62%) Azure
2 61 (19.30%) AWS
3 9 (2.85%) Azure Data Factory
4 8 (2.53%) GCP
5 7 (2.22%) OCI
6 6 (1.90%) Azure Cosmos DB
7 5 (1.58%) SaaS
7 5 (1.58%) Serverless
7 5 (1.58%) Snowflake
8 4 (1.27%) Amazon S3
8 4 (1.27%) Azure DevOps
8 4 (1.27%) Cloud Computing
9 3 (0.95%) GitHub
9 3 (0.95%) PaaS
10 2 (0.63%) Amazon EC2
10 2 (0.63%) Azure AKS
10 2 (0.63%) Azure Monitor
10 2 (0.63%) IBM Cloud
10 2 (0.63%) Power Platform
11 1 (0.32%) AWS KMS
Communications & Networking
1 1 (0.32%) Firewall
1 1 (0.32%) HTTP
1 1 (0.32%) HTTPS
1 1 (0.32%) IPsec
1 1 (0.32%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 128 (40.51%) SQL Server
2 121 (38.29%) Oracle Database
3 82 (25.95%) PostgreSQL
4 45 (14.24%) MySQL
5 25 (7.91%) Amazon RDS
6 24 (7.59%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 23 (7.28%) MongoDB
8 19 (6.01%) Oracle Database 11g
8 19 (6.01%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 17 (5.38%) Oracle Database 12c
9 17 (5.38%) Relational Database
10 16 (5.06%) Azure SQL Database
11 15 (4.75%) Oracle Reports
12 14 (4.43%) RDBMS
13 12 (3.80%) Amazon Aurora
14 10 (3.16%) NoSQL
15 7 (2.22%) Oracle Exadata
15 7 (2.22%) SQL Server Analysis Services
16 6 (1.90%) Big Data
16 6 (1.90%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 11 (3.48%) GitLab
2 10 (3.16%) Git
3 6 (1.90%) Jenkins
3 6 (1.90%) Oracle APEX
4 5 (1.58%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
5 4 (1.27%) Flyway
5 4 (1.27%) Oracle Forms
6 3 (0.95%) JIRA
7 1 (0.32%) Oracle Developer 2000
7 1 (0.32%) TeamCity
General
1 50 (15.82%) Social Skills
2 34 (10.76%) Public Sector
3 33 (10.44%) Finance
4 23 (7.28%) Analytical Skills
5 10 (3.16%) Banking
6 8 (2.53%) Legal
7 5 (1.58%) Military
7 5 (1.58%) Organisational Skills
8 4 (1.27%) Investment Banking
9 3 (0.95%) Documentation Skills
9 3 (0.95%) Publishing
10 2 (0.63%) Aviation
10 2 (0.63%) Telecoms
11 1 (0.32%) Billing
11 1 (0.32%) Financial Institution
11 1 (0.32%) International Banking
11 1 (0.32%) Local Government
11 1 (0.32%) Manufacturing
11 1 (0.32%) Pharmaceutical
11 1 (0.32%) Police
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (5.06%) Oracle GoldenGate
2 13 (4.11%) JSON
3 11 (3.48%) XML
4 7 (2.22%) Kafka
5 6 (1.90%) OLE
6 4 (1.27%) AWS CDK
7 3 (0.95%) GeoJSON
7 3 (0.95%) Matplotlib
7 3 (0.95%) Middleware
7 3 (0.95%) Pandas
7 3 (0.95%) Polars
7 3 (0.95%) scikit-learn
8 2 (0.63%) Elastic Stack
8 2 (0.63%) Oracle Fusion
8 2 (0.63%) REST
9 1 (0.32%) .NET Core
9 1 (0.32%) Node.js
9 1 (0.32%) PostGIS
9 1 (0.32%) PySpark
9 1 (0.32%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 32 (10.13%) Replication
2 21 (6.65%) Clustering
3 12 (3.80%) Legacy Systems
4 6 (1.90%) Enterprise Cloud
5 5 (1.58%) Data Structures
6 4 (1.27%) Legacy Applications
7 3 (0.95%) Onboarding
8 2 (0.63%) Cloud Native
8 2 (0.63%) Driving Licence
8 2 (0.63%) Mainframe
8 2 (0.63%) NHS
8 2 (0.63%) Public Cloud
9 1 (0.32%) Analytical Mindset
9 1 (0.32%) Data Protection Act
9 1 (0.32%) Enterprise Software
9 1 (0.32%) Enterprise Storage
9 1 (0.32%) Life Science
9 1 (0.32%) SCADA
9 1 (0.32%) Security Posture
9 1 (0.32%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 43 (13.61%) Linux
2 33 (10.44%) Unix
3 25 (7.91%) Windows
4 17 (5.38%) Windows Server
5 6 (1.90%) Solaris
6 5 (1.58%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (1.27%) AIX
7 4 (1.27%) Oracle Linux
8 1 (0.32%) Amazon Linux
8 1 (0.32%) Data ONTAP
8 1 (0.32%) HPUX
8 1 (0.32%) OpenVMS
8 1 (0.32%) VMS
8 1 (0.32%) Windows Server 2008
8 1 (0.32%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.32%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 104 (32.91%) Performance Tuning
2 85 (26.90%) High Availability
3 55 (17.41%) Migration
4 54 (17.09%) Disaster Recovery
5 46 (14.56%) Database Security
6 36 (11.39%) DevOps
7 35 (11.08%) Problem-Solving
8 29 (9.18%) ITIL
9 28 (8.86%) Capacity Planning
10 22 (6.96%) Performance Optimisation
11 21 (6.65%) Task Automation
12 20 (6.33%) CI/CD
12 20 (6.33%) Data Migration
13 19 (6.01%) Agile
13 19 (6.01%) Database Tuning
14 17 (5.38%) Continuous Improvement
14 17 (5.38%) Data Protection
15 16 (5.06%) Database Migration
16 15 (4.75%) Data Modelling
17 14 (4.43%) ETL
Programming Languages
1 168 (53.16%) SQL
2 34 (10.76%) Python
3 30 (9.49%) PowerShell
4 25 (7.91%) PL/SQL
5 22 (6.96%) T-SQL
6 16 (5.06%) Shell Script
7 10 (3.16%) Korn
8 8 (2.53%) Bash
9 4 (1.27%) TypeScript
10 3 (0.95%) Bicep
11 2 (0.63%) Java
12 1 (0.32%) C#
12 1 (0.32%) Cypher
12 1 (0.32%) Groovy
12 1 (0.32%) JCL
12 1 (0.32%) Perl
12 1 (0.32%) RPG
12 1 (0.32%) Ruby
12 1 (0.32%) VB
Qualifications
1 142 (44.94%) Security Cleared
2 96 (30.38%) SC Cleared
3 47 (14.87%) DV Cleared
4 19 (6.01%) Microsoft Certification
5 8 (2.53%) Oracle Certification
6 6 (1.90%) Degree
7 5 (1.58%) OCP
8 4 (1.27%) Computer Science Degree
8 4 (1.27%) MCITP
8 4 (1.27%) MCTS
9 3 (0.95%) Azure Certification
10 2 (0.63%) AWS Certification
11 1 (0.32%) BPSS Clearance
11 1 (0.32%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (3.16%) GDPR
2 9 (2.85%) Data Quality
3 8 (2.53%) QA
4 7 (2.22%) SLA
5 4 (1.27%) Disclosure Scotland
6 3 (0.95%) ISO 9000
7 1 (0.32%) Accessibility
7 1 (0.32%) ISO 22301
7 1 (0.32%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 1 (0.32%) NIST
7 1 (0.32%) NIST 800
System Software
1 32 (10.13%) Oracle RAC
2 6 (1.90%) Active Directory
3 4 (1.27%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (0.63%) Docker
5 1 (0.32%) Oracle Clusterware
Systems Management
1 48 (15.19%) Oracle RMAN
2 29 (9.18%) Data Guard
3 17 (5.38%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
3 17 (5.38%) Terraform
4 16 (5.06%) Ansible
5 4 (1.27%) Foglight
5 4 (1.27%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.95%) Failover Clustering
6 3 (0.95%) Grafana
7 2 (0.63%) Microsoft Clustering
7 2 (0.63%) Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.32%) EMC NetWorker
8 1 (0.32%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
8 1 (0.32%) Kubernetes
8 1 (0.32%) SCCM
Vendors
1 180 (56.96%) Oracle
2 72 (22.78%) Microsoft
3 10 (3.16%) SolarWinds
4 9 (2.85%) RedGate
5 8 (2.53%) ServiceNow
6 6 (1.90%) Sybase
7 5 (1.58%) Databricks
7 5 (1.58%) Google
8 4 (1.27%) Greenplum
8 4 (1.27%) Informatica
8 4 (1.27%) Talend
9 3 (0.95%) BMC
9 3 (0.95%) Dynatrace
9 3 (0.95%) Remedy
10 2 (0.63%) IBM
10 2 (0.63%) Splunk
11 1 (0.32%) NetApp
11 1 (0.32%) NetCracker
11 1 (0.32%) Teradata
11 1 (0.32%) Wonderware