DBA Contract Job Trends

Database Administrator
UK

The median Database Administrator daily rate in the UK is £488, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 25 May 2026.

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

6 months to
25 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 346 390 314
Rank change year-on-year +44 -76 +41
Contract jobs requiring a DBA 304 133 272
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.63% 0.46% 0.64%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.68% 0.50% 0.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 240 83 186
10th Percentile £363 £344 £363
25th Percentile £401 £409 £418
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +8.33% -10.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £538 £612
90th Percentile £650 £575 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £447 £483
% change year-on-year +0.61% -7.31% -3.50%
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 44,687 26,578 39,544
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.30% 92.29% 92.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,302 17,300 25,745
10th Percentile £325 £289 £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 £618 £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 2,943 1,012 2,737
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.00 £12.82
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.13 £16.30
Median hourly rate £42.50 £27.97 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +51.98% -23.38% -18.89%
75th Percentile £66.13 £60.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.69 £26.34 £40.00
% change year-on-year +65.90% -34.16% -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 25 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 25 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 +29 267 £463 +2.78% 40
UK excluding London +21 195 £450 +0.61% 40
London -43 87 £500 +2.56% 7
North of England -23 72 £432 -2.92% 12
South East -14 64 £417 -12.16% 18
Work from Home -37 55 £500 +11.11% 15
North West -11 44 £447 +3.50% 8
Midlands -34 32 £463 - 4
Yorkshire -35 28 £400 -30.43% 3
West Midlands -41 26 £481 - 1
Scotland +4 13 £500 +3.90% 4
South West - 8 £606 - 2
East Midlands - 5 £463 - 3
Northern Ireland +3 2 £675 -
Wales -9 2 - - 1
East of England -36 2 £388 -8.82%
North East - 1 £501 - 1

DBA Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 25 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 (54.28%) Oracle
2 151 (49.67%) SQL
3 122 (40.13%) Security Cleared
4 115 (37.83%) Oracle Database
5 106 (34.87%) SQL Server
6 96 (31.58%) Performance Tuning
7 91 (29.93%) SC Cleared
8 77 (25.33%) High Availability
9 76 (25.00%) PostgreSQL
10 55 (18.09%) Azure
11 54 (17.76%) Disaster Recovery
12 51 (16.78%) Microsoft
12 51 (16.78%) Migration
12 51 (16.78%) Oracle RMAN
13 50 (16.45%) AWS
14 47 (15.46%) Database Security
15 40 (13.16%) DevOps
15 40 (13.16%) Linux
16 38 (12.50%) MySQL
17 33 (10.86%) DV Cleared
18 32 (10.53%) Oracle RAC
18 32 (10.53%) Problem-Solving
19 31 (10.20%) MongoDB
20 30 (9.87%) Data Guard
20 30 (9.87%) Unix
21 28 (9.21%) Python
22 27 (8.88%) PL/SQL
23 26 (8.55%) ITIL
23 26 (8.55%) PowerShell
23 26 (8.55%) SQL Server Integration Services

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 (2.63%) WebLogic
2 5 (1.64%) Confluence
3 4 (1.32%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 3 (0.99%) Oracle Workflow
5 2 (0.66%) Liferay
6 1 (0.33%) OpenEdge
6 1 (0.33%) Oracle Application Server
6 1 (0.33%) Tomcat
Applications
1 2 (0.66%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 14 (4.61%) Oracle EBS
2 11 (3.62%) Oracle Applications
3 8 (2.63%) Oracle EBS R12
4 3 (0.99%) Oracle Payables
4 3 (0.99%) Remedy ITSM
4 3 (0.99%) Teamcenter
5 2 (0.66%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 55 (18.09%) Azure
2 50 (16.45%) AWS
3 15 (4.93%) Azure Cosmos DB
4 12 (3.95%) Serverless
5 8 (2.63%) Azure Data Factory
6 7 (2.30%) Amazon S3
6 7 (2.30%) OCI
7 6 (1.97%) Azure DevOps
7 6 (1.97%) PaaS
8 5 (1.64%) Amazon EC2
8 5 (1.64%) GCP
8 5 (1.64%) SaaS
8 5 (1.64%) Snowflake
9 4 (1.32%) Azure AKS
9 4 (1.32%) Azure Functions
9 4 (1.32%) Azure Logic Apps
9 4 (1.32%) Azure Monitor
10 3 (0.99%) Azure Storage
10 3 (0.99%) Cloud Computing
10 3 (0.99%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 1 (0.33%) Firewall
1 1 (0.33%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 115 (37.83%) Oracle Database
2 106 (34.87%) SQL Server
3 76 (25.00%) PostgreSQL
4 38 (12.50%) MySQL
5 31 (10.20%) MongoDB
6 26 (8.55%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 25 (8.22%) Amazon RDS
8 22 (7.24%) Oracle Reports
9 19 (6.25%) Oracle Database 12c
9 19 (6.25%) Relational Database
9 19 (6.25%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 18 (5.92%) NoSQL
10 18 (5.92%) Oracle Database 11g
11 16 (5.26%) Azure SQL Database
11 16 (5.26%) RDBMS
12 9 (2.96%) SQL Server Analysis Services
13 8 (2.63%) Amazon Aurora
14 7 (2.30%) Oracle Exadata
15 6 (1.97%) Big Data
15 6 (1.97%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 13 (4.28%) Git
2 10 (3.29%) GitLab
3 7 (2.30%) Oracle APEX
4 6 (1.97%) Jenkins
5 4 (1.32%) Flyway
5 4 (1.32%) Oracle Forms
5 4 (1.32%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 2 (0.66%) JIRA
7 1 (0.33%) Oracle Developer 2000
7 1 (0.33%) TeamCity
General
1 38 (12.50%) Social Skills
2 34 (11.18%) Public Sector
3 27 (8.88%) Finance
4 20 (6.58%) Analytical Skills
5 14 (4.61%) Banking
6 9 (2.96%) Legal
7 4 (1.32%) Investment Banking
7 4 (1.32%) Military
8 3 (0.99%) Documentation Skills
8 3 (0.99%) Organisational Skills
8 3 (0.99%) Publishing
9 2 (0.66%) Aviation
9 2 (0.66%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.33%) Advertising
10 1 (0.33%) Billing
10 1 (0.33%) Local Government
10 1 (0.33%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.33%) Pharmaceutical
10 1 (0.33%) Police
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (5.59%) JSON
2 15 (4.93%) Oracle GoldenGate
2 15 (4.93%) XML
3 11 (3.62%) Kafka
4 6 (1.97%) OLE
5 4 (1.32%) .NET
5 4 (1.32%) AWS CDK
5 4 (1.32%) Node.js
6 3 (0.99%) .NET Core
6 3 (0.99%) ASP.NET
6 3 (0.99%) GeoJSON
6 3 (0.99%) Matplotlib
6 3 (0.99%) Middleware
6 3 (0.99%) Pandas
6 3 (0.99%) Polars
6 3 (0.99%) scikit-learn
7 2 (0.66%) Elastic Stack
7 2 (0.66%) Oracle Fusion
7 2 (0.66%) PostGIS
7 2 (0.66%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 28 (9.21%) Replication
2 18 (5.92%) Clustering
3 11 (3.62%) Legacy Systems
4 8 (2.63%) Cloud Native
4 8 (2.63%) Data Structures
5 6 (1.97%) Enterprise Cloud
6 4 (1.32%) Distributed Systems
6 4 (1.32%) Legacy Applications
6 4 (1.32%) Onboarding
7 2 (0.66%) Driving Licence
7 2 (0.66%) Mainframe
7 2 (0.66%) NHS
8 1 (0.33%) Data Centre
8 1 (0.33%) Enterprise Storage
8 1 (0.33%) Life Science
8 1 (0.33%) Operational Technology
8 1 (0.33%) Public Cloud
8 1 (0.33%) SCADA
8 1 (0.33%) Security Posture
8 1 (0.33%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 40 (13.16%) Linux
2 30 (9.87%) Unix
3 19 (6.25%) Windows
4 12 (3.95%) Windows Server
5 7 (2.30%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (0.99%) Oracle Linux
7 2 (0.66%) AIX
7 2 (0.66%) 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 96 (31.58%) Performance Tuning
2 77 (25.33%) High Availability
3 54 (17.76%) Disaster Recovery
4 51 (16.78%) Migration
5 47 (15.46%) Database Security
6 40 (13.16%) DevOps
7 32 (10.53%) Problem-Solving
8 26 (8.55%) ITIL
9 25 (8.22%) Capacity Planning
10 24 (7.89%) Agile
11 23 (7.57%) Task Automation
12 20 (6.58%) CI/CD
13 18 (5.92%) Data Modelling
13 18 (5.92%) Database Tuning
14 17 (5.59%) Data Protection
14 17 (5.59%) Performance Optimisation
15 16 (5.26%) Data Migration
16 15 (4.93%) Mentoring
17 14 (4.61%) Statistics
18 13 (4.28%) ETL
Programming Languages
1 151 (49.67%) SQL
2 28 (9.21%) Python
3 27 (8.88%) PL/SQL
4 26 (8.55%) PowerShell
5 18 (5.92%) Shell Script
6 17 (5.59%) T-SQL
7 10 (3.29%) Korn
8 6 (1.97%) Bash
9 4 (1.32%) C#
9 4 (1.32%) TypeScript
10 3 (0.99%) Bicep
10 3 (0.99%) Perl
11 2 (0.66%) 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
1 122 (40.13%) Security Cleared
2 91 (29.93%) SC Cleared
3 33 (10.86%) DV Cleared
4 13 (4.28%) Microsoft Certification
5 10 (3.29%) Oracle Certification
6 8 (2.63%) OCP
7 6 (1.97%) Degree
8 5 (1.64%) Azure Certification
9 4 (1.32%) Computer Science Degree
9 4 (1.32%) MCITP
9 4 (1.32%) MCTS
10 1 (0.33%) AWS Certification
10 1 (0.33%) BPSS Clearance
10 1 (0.33%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (2.96%) GDPR
2 8 (2.63%) Data Quality
2 8 (2.63%) QA
3 7 (2.30%) SLA
4 4 (1.32%) 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 32 (10.53%) Oracle RAC
2 6 (1.97%) Active Directory
2 6 (1.97%) Virtual Machines
3 3 (0.99%) Oracle Clusterware
4 1 (0.33%) Docker
Systems Management
1 51 (16.78%) Oracle RMAN
2 30 (9.87%) Data Guard
3 19 (6.25%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
4 14 (4.61%) Terraform
5 12 (3.95%) Ansible
6 5 (1.64%) Foglight
7 3 (0.99%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
7 3 (0.99%) Grafana
7 3 (0.99%) Microsoft Clustering
7 3 (0.99%) Prometheus
8 2 (0.66%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.66%) systemd
9 1 (0.33%) EMC NetWorker
9 1 (0.33%) Failover Clustering
9 1 (0.33%) SCCM
Vendors
1 165 (54.28%) Oracle
2 51 (16.78%) Microsoft
3 8 (2.63%) RedGate
3 8 (2.63%) SolarWinds
4 7 (2.30%) ServiceNow
5 5 (1.64%) Databricks
6 4 (1.32%) Google
6 4 (1.32%) Greenplum
6 4 (1.32%) Informatica
6 4 (1.32%) Red Hat
6 4 (1.32%) Sybase
6 4 (1.32%) Talend
7 3 (0.99%) BMC
7 3 (0.99%) Remedy
8 2 (0.66%) 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