Metadata Contract Job Trends

Metadata
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Metadata skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 21 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 255 351 307
Rank change year-on-year +96 -44 +47
Contract jobs citing Metadata 388 187 320
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.06% 0.55% 0.73%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 6.11% 3.06% 4.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 270 126 228
10th Percentile £400 £335 £391
25th Percentile £440 £463 £461
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £556
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -10.11% -3.26%
75th Percentile £623 £643 £688
90th Percentile £700 £781 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £483 £488 £575
% change year-on-year -0.97% -15.22% +9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 4 21
10th Percentile £38.93 £20.32 £14.00
25th Percentile £53.44 £21.86 £20.50
Median hourly rate £73.50 £25.43 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year +189.03% -44.93% +119.90%
75th Percentile £84.25 £31.30 £49.08
90th Percentile £84.70 £36.97 £72.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £84.00 £25.43 £46.18
% change year-on-year +230.32% -44.93% +21.53%

All Database and Business Intelligence Skills
UK

Metadata falls under the Databases and Business Intelligence category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring database or business intelligence skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for database or business intelligence skills 6,347 6,120 7,395
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.28% 18.02% 16.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,373 4,043 5,209
10th Percentile £325 £341 £350
25th Percentile £409 £425 £435
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £534
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -1.69% -2.91%
75th Percentile £600 £650 £650
90th Percentile £700 £768 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £493 £500
% change year-on-year -3.65% -1.40% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 88 84 139
10th Percentile £20.72 £18.74 £16.51
25th Percentile £29.00 £22.43 £22.44
Median hourly rate £47.61 £30.40 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year +56.61% -34.17% -8.60%
75th Percentile £69.44 £64.50 £64.77
90th Percentile £85.00 £66.00 £77.60
UK excluding London median hourly rate £56.10 £27.24 £46.18
% change year-on-year +105.97% -41.02% +0.39%

Metadata
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Metadata relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Metadata job vacancy trend in the UK

Metadata
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Metadata.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Metadata

Metadata
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Metadata over the 6 months to 21 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Metadata in the UK

Metadata
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Metadata.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Metadata

Metadata
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Metadata over the 6 months to 21 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Metadata in the UK

Metadata
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Metadata within the UK over the 6 months to 21 December 2025. 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 +103 335 £525 +5.00% 135
London +97 207 £538 -0.46% 61
UK excluding London +26 137 £483 -0.97% 123
Work from Home +37 106 £550 +6.28% 84
Midlands -8 33 £480 +28.00% 12
South East -3 29 £475 -11.63% 55
North of England -29 25 £475 -5.00% 34
West Midlands -12 23 £558 +48.67% 10
Scotland +7 19 £465 -32.12% 9
East of England -11 16 £496 +56.01% 11
North West -25 15 £448 -14.35% 11
South West -17 12 £568 +16.41% 7
East Midlands - 10 £425 - 1
Wales +4 9 £700 +239.29% 2
Yorkshire -37 9 £525 +16.67% 16
North East -7 1 £475 -23.91% 7

Metadata
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 31 (7.99%) SharePoint
2 28 (7.22%) Apache Spark
3 17 (4.38%) Confluence
4 16 (4.12%) Apache
4 16 (4.12%) CMS
5 15 (3.87%) SAS
6 9 (2.32%) Apache Airflow
7 7 (1.80%) Microsoft Exchange
7 7 (1.80%) Sitecore CMS
8 6 (1.55%) Drupal
9 4 (1.03%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 3 (0.77%) GeoServer
10 3 (0.77%) Smallworld
11 2 (0.52%) ArcGIS
11 2 (0.52%) Oracle Workflow
11 2 (0.52%) Umbraco
12 1 (0.26%) Alfresco
12 1 (0.26%) Documentum
12 1 (0.26%) Headless CMS
12 1 (0.26%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 21 (5.41%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (2.58%) MS Visio
3 8 (2.06%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (1.29%) Microsoft Office
5 2 (0.52%) ProjectWise
6 1 (0.26%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.26%) FrameMaker
6 1 (0.26%) Oracle Smart View
6 1 (0.26%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 14 (3.61%) SAP S/4HANA
1 14 (3.61%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 6 (1.55%) OpenText VIM for SAP
2 6 (1.55%) SAP FI
2 6 (1.55%) SAP MM
3 3 (0.77%) Actimize
3 3 (0.77%) Maximo
3 3 (0.77%) Salesforce CRM
4 2 (0.52%) FIS Private Capital Suite
5 1 (0.26%) Hyperion Planning
5 1 (0.26%) Misys Midas
5 1 (0.26%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.26%) Primavera
5 1 (0.26%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 119 (30.67%) Azure
2 87 (22.42%) AWS
3 72 (18.56%) Power Platform
4 45 (11.60%) GCP
5 40 (10.31%) Collibra
6 34 (8.76%) Microsoft Purview
7 32 (8.25%) Azure Data Factory
8 31 (7.99%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 28 (7.22%) Snowflake
10 21 (5.41%) Microsoft 365
11 14 (3.61%) Amazon S3
11 14 (3.61%) Azure DevOps
11 14 (3.61%) Serverless
12 13 (3.35%) dbt
13 10 (2.58%) PowerApps
14 9 (2.32%) AWS Lambda
14 9 (2.32%) GitHub
15 7 (1.80%) Contentful
15 7 (1.80%) Entra ID
15 7 (1.80%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 3 (0.77%) Kerberos
2 2 (0.52%) Hyperconnected
2 2 (0.52%) Intranet
3 1 (0.26%) Firewall
3 1 (0.26%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 71 (18.30%) Data Warehouse
2 60 (15.46%) Power BI
3 40 (10.31%) Data Lake
4 21 (5.41%) Metadata Repository
4 21 (5.41%) NoSQL
5 20 (5.15%) Big Data
5 20 (5.15%) Relational Database
6 18 (4.64%) Data Vault
7 17 (4.38%) Snowflake Schema
8 16 (4.12%) Tableau
9 15 (3.87%) PostgreSQL
9 15 (3.87%) SQL Server
10 13 (3.35%) BigQuery
10 13 (3.35%) Spark SQL
11 12 (3.09%) Amazon Redshift
11 12 (3.09%) Azure SQL Database
11 12 (3.09%) Delta Lake
11 12 (3.09%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 10 (2.58%) Star Schema
13 9 (2.32%) DataStage
Development Applications
1 23 (5.93%) ERwin
1 23 (5.93%) JIRA
2 22 (5.67%) Git
3 11 (2.84%) ER Studio
3 11 (2.84%) PowerDesigner
4 3 (0.77%) Jenkins
5 2 (0.52%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
5 2 (0.52%) Subversion
5 2 (0.52%) Visual Studio
6 1 (0.26%) GitLab
6 1 (0.26%) gulp
6 1 (0.26%) Poetry
6 1 (0.26%) Postman
6 1 (0.26%) Pylint
6 1 (0.26%) SonarQube
6 1 (0.26%) Yeoman
General
1 162 (41.75%) Social Skills
2 103 (26.55%) Finance
3 76 (19.59%) Analytical Skills
4 50 (12.89%) Public Sector
5 35 (9.02%) Banking
6 30 (7.73%) Documentation Skills
7 15 (3.87%) Publishing
8 14 (3.61%) Retail
9 10 (2.58%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 8 (2.06%) Investment Banking
10 8 (2.06%) Legal
11 7 (1.80%) Financial Institution
11 7 (1.80%) Influencing Skills
11 7 (1.80%) Presentation Skills
12 6 (1.55%) Aviation
12 6 (1.55%) Military
12 6 (1.55%) Organisational Skills
12 6 (1.55%) Retail Banking
13 5 (1.29%) Corporate Banking
13 5 (1.29%) Welsh Language
Job Titles
1 84 (21.65%) Architect
2 67 (17.27%) Analyst
3 62 (15.98%) Data Architect
4 45 (11.60%) Data Analyst
5 38 (9.79%) Data Engineer
6 33 (8.51%) Data Modeller
7 28 (7.22%) Lead
8 24 (6.19%) Consultant
8 24 (6.19%) Developer
9 20 (5.15%) Senior
10 19 (4.90%) Business Analyst
11 15 (3.87%) Azure Engineer
12 13 (3.35%) Governance Analyst
13 11 (2.84%) Azure Data Engineer
14 10 (2.58%) Data Manager
15 9 (2.32%) Data Quality Analyst
15 9 (2.32%) Quality Analyst
15 9 (2.32%) SAP Consultant
16 8 (2.06%) Software Engineer
16 8 (2.06%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (9.28%) PySpark
2 25 (6.44%) Kafka
3 19 (4.90%) REST
4 12 (3.09%) JSON
5 10 (2.58%) XML
6 6 (1.55%) SAP Basis
6 6 (1.55%) SAP Business Workflow
6 6 (1.55%) SAP Fiori
6 6 (1.55%) SOAP
6 6 (1.55%) VML
7 5 (1.29%) React
7 5 (1.29%) YAML
8 4 (1.03%) .NET
8 4 (1.03%) HTML
8 4 (1.03%) LDAP
8 4 (1.03%) OAuth
8 4 (1.03%) PyTorch
8 4 (1.03%) RESTful
8 4 (1.03%) SAML
8 4 (1.03%) SpaCy
Miscellaneous
1 28 (7.22%) Data Structures
2 22 (5.67%) Cloud Native
2 22 (5.67%) Taxonomies
3 16 (4.12%) Reference Data
4 15 (3.87%) Legacy Systems
4 15 (3.87%) Management Information System
4 15 (3.87%) Onboarding
5 14 (3.61%) Product Ownership
6 11 (2.84%) Distributed Computing
7 8 (2.06%) Analytical Mindset
8 7 (1.80%) Data Fabric
8 7 (1.80%) Low-Code
9 5 (1.29%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (1.03%) Genomics
10 4 (1.03%) Greenfield Project
10 4 (1.03%) Hybrid Cloud
10 4 (1.03%) NHS
10 4 (1.03%) Omics
10 4 (1.03%) Replication
11 3 (0.77%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 5 (1.29%) Unix
2 4 (1.03%) Linux
3 1 (0.26%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 210 (54.12%) Data Governance
2 196 (50.52%) Data Modelling
3 192 (49.48%) Metadata Management
4 136 (35.05%) Analytics
5 98 (25.26%) Data Architecture
6 94 (24.23%) Business Intelligence
7 91 (23.45%) ETL
8 83 (21.39%) Data Lineage
9 75 (19.33%) Agile
10 73 (18.81%) Problem-Solving
10 73 (18.81%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 67 (17.27%) Data Engineering
11 67 (17.27%) Data Pipeline
12 61 (15.72%) Validation
13 56 (14.43%) Data Management
14 55 (14.18%) Migration
15 54 (13.92%) Stakeholder Management
16 50 (12.89%) AI
17 49 (12.63%) Data Integration
18 48 (12.37%) Data Transformation
Programming Languages
1 128 (32.99%) SQL
2 91 (23.45%) Python
3 18 (4.64%) Java
4 17 (4.38%) PowerShell
5 8 (2.06%) T-SQL
6 7 (1.80%) Scala
7 6 (1.55%) ABAP
7 6 (1.55%) C#
7 6 (1.55%) JavaScript
7 6 (1.55%) PL/SQL
7 6 (1.55%) R
8 5 (1.29%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 4 (1.03%) C++
9 4 (1.03%) Shell Script
10 3 (0.77%) Apex Code
10 3 (0.77%) Bicep
10 3 (0.77%) SOQL
10 3 (0.77%) SOSL
11 2 (0.52%) Groovy
11 2 (0.52%) Korn
Qualifications
1 81 (20.88%) Security Cleared
2 54 (13.92%) SC Cleared
3 25 (6.44%) Degree
4 11 (2.84%) BPSS Clearance
5 9 (2.32%) Computer Science Degree
6 7 (1.80%) Azure Certification
6 7 (1.80%) Master's Degree
7 5 (1.29%) AWS Certification
7 5 (1.29%) DV Cleared
8 4 (1.03%) Microsoft Certification
9 2 (0.52%) AWS Certified Developer
9 2 (0.52%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 2 (0.52%) PMI Certification
9 2 (0.52%) PMP
9 2 (0.52%) TOGAF Certification
10 1 (0.26%) CSPO
10 1 (0.26%) DBS Check
10 1 (0.26%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
10 1 (0.26%) MySQL Certification
10 1 (0.26%) Tableau Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 161 (41.49%) Data Quality
2 45 (11.60%) GDPR
3 17 (4.38%) QA
4 15 (3.87%) Accessibility
5 6 (1.55%) IFRS
5 6 (1.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 5 (1.29%) MiFID
6 5 (1.29%) Solvency II
7 4 (1.03%) HIPAA
8 3 (0.77%) California Consumer Privacy Act
8 3 (0.77%) GRC
9 2 (0.52%) Basel III
9 2 (0.52%) CRD IV
9 2 (0.52%) FINREP
9 2 (0.52%) IFRS 17
9 2 (0.52%) IFRS 9
9 2 (0.52%) ISO 9001
9 2 (0.52%) NIST
10 1 (0.26%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.26%) SLA
System Software
1 9 (2.32%) Docker
2 5 (1.29%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.77%) HDFS
Systems Management
1 17 (4.38%) Terraform
2 15 (3.87%) Kubernetes
3 4 (1.03%) Microsoft Intune
4 3 (0.77%) Hadoop YARN
4 3 (0.77%) Oozie
4 3 (0.77%) SCCM
5 1 (0.26%) Active Directory Federation Services
Vendors
1 78 (20.10%) Microsoft
2 61 (15.72%) Databricks
3 36 (9.28%) Oracle
4 34 (8.76%) Informatica
5 17 (4.38%) SAP
6 15 (3.87%) ServiceNow
6 15 (3.87%) Sparx
7 11 (2.84%) Google
8 10 (2.58%) Salesforce
8 10 (2.58%) Talend
9 9 (2.32%) OpenText
10 8 (2.06%) Teradata
11 7 (1.80%) Sitecore
12 6 (1.55%) IBM
12 6 (1.55%) Optimizely
13 5 (1.29%) Adobe
13 5 (1.29%) Alteryx
13 5 (1.29%) Palantir
14 4 (1.03%) Atlassian
14 4 (1.03%) Cognos