DBA Contract Job Trends

Database Administrator
UK

The median Database Administrator daily rate in the UK is £525, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 15 October 2026.

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

6 months to
15 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 387 423 305
Rank change year-on-year +36 -118 +69
Contract jobs requiring a DBA 335 138 279
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.61% 0.42% 0.74%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.66% 0.46% 0.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 241 87 161
10th Percentile £400 £364 £350
25th Percentile £418 £425 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £488
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% +2.56% +2.09%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £625
90th Percentile £638 £675 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £450 £450
% change year-on-year +11.11% - -5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 5 1
10th Percentile - £27.20 -
25th Percentile £36.75 £29.00 £72.50
Median hourly rate £38.50 £30.00 £75.00
Median % change year-on-year +28.33% -60.00% +30.95%
75th Percentile £40.25 £31.00 £77.50
90th Percentile - £58.90 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £38.50 £51.00 £75.00
% change year-on-year -24.51% -32.00% +20.87%

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 50,841 30,184 35,017
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.94% 90.90% 93.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,834 19,073 21,148
10th Percentile £325 £275 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -
75th Percentile £638 £623 £638
90th Percentile £738 £725 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4,158 1,652 1,437
10th Percentile £14.31 £13.80 £15.09
25th Percentile £19.33 £17.30 £20.50
Median hourly rate £41.56 £25.15 £41.27
Median % change year-on-year +65.23% -39.05% -8.30%
75th Percentile £67.50 £50.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £79.30 £68.52 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.06 £25.00 £42.50
% change year-on-year +64.24% -41.18% -4.49%

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 15 October 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 15 October 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 +21 272 £525 +5.00% 88
UK excluding London +52 219 £500 +11.11% 47
North of England -2 87 £478 +6.22% 14
London -51 82 £533 +1.43% 45
North West +11 70 £480 +6.67% 9
Work from Home -60 68 £507 +6.63% 45
South East -35 44 £550 +10.00% 15
Scotland +5 32 £400 - 5
Midlands -34 22 £450 +35.34% 9
South West -29 19 £750 +22.45% 1
Yorkshire -33 16 £454 +24.38% 4
West Midlands -37 14 £448 +34.59% 2
East of England -22 8 £425 -10.53%
East Midlands -5 7 £463 - 7
Wales -9 4 £544 - 1
Northern Ireland - 3 £675 - 2
North East - 1 £501 - 1

DBA Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 15 October 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.

1 207 (61.79%) SQL
2 198 (59.10%) Security Cleared
3 174 (51.94%) Oracle
4 166 (49.55%) SQL Server
5 147 (43.88%) Performance Tuning
6 145 (43.28%) SC Cleared
7 105 (31.34%) PostgreSQL
8 103 (30.75%) Microsoft
9 102 (30.45%) Oracle Database
10 96 (28.66%) High Availability
11 90 (26.87%) Disaster Recovery
12 82 (24.48%) AWS
13 76 (22.69%) Azure
14 67 (20.00%) MySQL
15 54 (16.12%) DV Cleared
16 52 (15.52%) Linux
16 52 (15.52%) Migration
17 51 (15.22%) Database Security
18 50 (14.93%) PowerShell
19 47 (14.03%) DevOps
20 44 (13.13%) Data Guard
21 42 (12.54%) ITIL
21 42 (12.54%) Oracle RMAN
22 40 (11.94%) Microsoft Certification
22 40 (11.94%) Unix
23 39 (11.64%) Windows
24 38 (11.34%) Amazon RDS
24 38 (11.34%) CI/CD
24 38 (11.34%) Root Cause Analysis
25 37 (11.04%) Oracle RAC

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 14 (4.18%) WebLogic
2 11 (3.28%) Oracle SOA Suite
3 10 (2.99%) Confluence
4 6 (1.79%) WebLogic Portal
5 2 (0.60%) Oracle Service Bus
5 2 (0.60%) SharePoint
5 2 (0.60%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.30%) Mendix
Applications
1 4 (1.19%) Microsoft Excel
1 4 (1.19%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.60%) MS Visio
3 1 (0.30%) Adobe XD
Business Applications
1 14 (4.18%) Oracle EBS
2 10 (2.99%) Remedy ITSM
3 8 (2.39%) Oracle EBS R12
4 7 (2.09%) Oracle Applications
5 6 (1.79%) Oracle Payables
5 6 (1.79%) Teamcenter
6 2 (0.60%) Dynamics AX
7 1 (0.30%) FLEXCUBE
7 1 (0.30%) Maximo
7 1 (0.30%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 82 (24.48%) AWS
2 76 (22.69%) Azure
3 21 (6.27%) AWS CloudFormation
4 18 (5.37%) Amazon CloudWatch
5 17 (5.07%) Power Platform
6 16 (4.78%) AWS KMS
6 16 (4.78%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 14 (4.18%) GCP
8 12 (3.58%) Azure Monitor
9 11 (3.28%) Amazon EC2
9 11 (3.28%) Azure DevOps
10 10 (2.99%) Amazon S3
11 6 (1.79%) AWS Lambda
11 6 (1.79%) Serverless
12 5 (1.49%) Snowflake
13 4 (1.19%) Cloud Computing
13 4 (1.19%) OCI
14 3 (0.90%) Azure Cosmos DB
14 3 (0.90%) Azure Data Factory
14 3 (0.90%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 13 (3.88%) SSL
2 4 (1.19%) Firewall
3 1 (0.30%) DNS
3 1 (0.30%) HTTP
3 1 (0.30%) HTTPS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 166 (49.55%) SQL Server
2 105 (31.34%) PostgreSQL
3 102 (30.45%) Oracle Database
4 67 (20.00%) MySQL
5 38 (11.34%) Amazon RDS
6 32 (9.55%) Amazon Aurora
7 30 (8.96%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 23 (6.87%) Oracle Database 11g
9 19 (5.67%) MongoDB
10 18 (5.37%) Oracle Database 12c
11 17 (5.07%) Power BI
11 17 (5.07%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 14 (4.18%) Oracle Database 10g
12 14 (4.18%) SQL Server Analysis Services
13 10 (2.99%) Redis
14 9 (2.69%) Data Warehouse
14 9 (2.69%) RDBMS
14 9 (2.69%) Relational Database
15 8 (2.39%) Db2
16 7 (2.09%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 13 (3.88%) Git
2 11 (3.28%) JIRA
3 7 (2.09%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
4 6 (1.79%) Flyway
4 6 (1.79%) GitLab
5 5 (1.49%) Jenkins
5 5 (1.49%) Oracle APEX
6 4 (1.19%) Oracle Forms
7 3 (0.90%) Toad
8 1 (0.30%) Liquibase
8 1 (0.30%) Oracle Developer 2000
8 1 (0.30%) Visual Studio
General
1 83 (24.78%) Social Skills
2 44 (13.13%) Public Sector
3 39 (11.64%) Finance
4 18 (5.37%) Analytical Skills
5 17 (5.07%) Banking
6 8 (2.39%) Legal
7 3 (0.90%) Police
8 2 (0.60%) Financial Institution
8 2 (0.60%) Organisational Skills
9 1 (0.30%) Billing
9 1 (0.30%) Documentation Skills
9 1 (0.30%) International Banking
9 1 (0.30%) Investment Banking
9 1 (0.30%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (9.55%) Terraform
2 7 (2.09%) Oracle GoldenGate
3 6 (1.79%) JSON
3 6 (1.79%) Middleware
3 6 (1.79%) XML
4 4 (1.19%) Oracle Streams
5 3 (0.90%) .NET
5 3 (0.90%) Kafka
6 2 (0.60%) REST
7 1 (0.30%) AWS CDK
7 1 (0.30%) Elastic Stack
7 1 (0.30%) Oracle Fusion
7 1 (0.30%) PySpark
7 1 (0.30%) Spring
7 1 (0.30%) Spring Boot
7 1 (0.30%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 68 (20.30%) Replication
2 39 (11.64%) Clustering
3 15 (4.48%) Data Centre
4 11 (3.28%) Data Structures
5 6 (1.79%) Legacy Systems
6 5 (1.49%) Onboarding
7 4 (1.19%) Cloud Native
7 4 (1.19%) NHS
8 3 (0.90%) Enterprise Software
8 3 (0.90%) Mainframe
9 2 (0.60%) Data Protection Act
9 2 (0.60%) Legacy Applications
10 1 (0.30%) Analytical Mindset
10 1 (0.30%) Cyber Threat
10 1 (0.30%) Enterprise Storage
10 1 (0.30%) Hybrid Cloud
10 1 (0.30%) Product Ownership
10 1 (0.30%) Public Cloud
10 1 (0.30%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 52 (15.52%) Linux
2 40 (11.94%) Unix
3 39 (11.64%) Windows
4 22 (6.57%) Windows Server
5 20 (5.97%) Solaris
6 6 (1.79%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (1.19%) Amazon Linux
8 3 (0.90%) AIX
9 2 (0.60%) Windows Server 2008
10 1 (0.30%) Data ONTAP
10 1 (0.30%) HPUX
10 1 (0.30%) Oracle Linux
10 1 (0.30%) VMS
10 1 (0.30%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2012
10 1 (0.30%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 147 (43.88%) Performance Tuning
2 96 (28.66%) High Availability
3 90 (26.87%) Disaster Recovery
4 52 (15.52%) Migration
5 51 (15.22%) Database Security
6 47 (14.03%) DevOps
7 42 (12.54%) ITIL
8 38 (11.34%) CI/CD
8 38 (11.34%) Root Cause Analysis
9 36 (10.75%) Data Modelling
9 36 (10.75%) Problem-Solving
10 35 (10.45%) Stakeholder Management
11 30 (8.96%) Database Tuning
11 30 (8.96%) Performance Optimisation
12 28 (8.36%) Capacity Planning
13 25 (7.46%) Infrastructure as Code
14 24 (7.16%) Continuous Improvement
15 21 (6.27%) Change Management
15 21 (6.27%) Validation
16 19 (5.67%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 207 (61.79%) SQL
2 50 (14.93%) PowerShell
3 33 (9.85%) T-SQL
4 31 (9.25%) PL/SQL
5 30 (8.96%) Python
6 7 (2.09%) Perl
7 6 (1.79%) Bash
7 6 (1.79%) Java
8 4 (1.19%) Groovy
8 4 (1.19%) Shell Script
9 2 (0.60%) Bicep
10 1 (0.30%) COBOL
10 1 (0.30%) Cypher
10 1 (0.30%) Korn
10 1 (0.30%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 198 (59.10%) Security Cleared
2 145 (43.28%) SC Cleared
3 54 (16.12%) DV Cleared
4 40 (11.94%) Microsoft Certification
5 19 (5.67%) Oracle Certification
6 17 (5.07%) AWS Certification
6 17 (5.07%) Azure Certification
6 17 (5.07%) BPSS Clearance
6 17 (5.07%) Degree
7 14 (4.18%) OCP
8 10 (2.99%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 10 (2.99%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 5 (1.49%) DBS Check
10 4 (1.19%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (3.28%) Data Quality
2 9 (2.69%) QA
3 8 (2.39%) SLA
4 6 (1.79%) GDPR
5 5 (1.49%) ISO 9000
6 1 (0.30%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.30%) Disclosure Scotland
6 1 (0.30%) ISO 20022
System Software
1 37 (11.04%) Oracle RAC
2 12 (3.58%) Virtual Machines
3 10 (2.99%) Active Directory
4 9 (2.69%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (1.49%) Docker
6 3 (0.90%) ACF2
6 3 (0.90%) RACF
Systems Management
1 44 (13.13%) Data Guard
2 42 (12.54%) Oracle RMAN
3 17 (5.07%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
4 16 (4.78%) SCOM
5 15 (4.48%) Ansible
6 9 (2.69%) Microsoft Clustering
7 6 (1.79%) Failover Clustering
7 6 (1.79%) Prometheus
8 4 (1.19%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
8 4 (1.19%) Grafana
8 4 (1.19%) Nagios
9 2 (0.60%) Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.30%) Kubernetes
10 1 (0.30%) SQL Sentry
Vendors
1 174 (51.94%) Oracle
2 103 (30.75%) Microsoft
3 23 (6.87%) ServiceNow
4 12 (3.58%) Remedy
5 10 (2.99%) BMC
6 9 (2.69%) VMware
7 8 (2.39%) SolarWinds
8 6 (1.79%) Google
8 6 (1.79%) RedGate
8 6 (1.79%) Sybase
9 5 (1.49%) Greenplum
9 5 (1.49%) Informatica
9 5 (1.49%) Talend
10 4 (1.19%) Cerner
10 4 (1.19%) Commvault
10 4 (1.19%) Dynatrace
10 4 (1.19%) Red Hat
11 3 (0.90%) IBM
12 2 (0.60%) NetApp
12 2 (0.60%) Splunk