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 October 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 272 380 347
Rank change year-on-year +108 -33 +33
Contract jobs citing Metadata 322 179 303
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.96% 0.48% 0.63%
As % of the Database & Business Intelligence category 5.29% 2.73% 3.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 214 110 209
10th Percentile £404 £356 £365
25th Percentile £463 £450 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £537 £506 £550
Median % change year-on-year +6.12% -7.95% -5.98%
75th Percentile £626 £685 £700
90th Percentile £725 £794 £755
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +4.21% -5.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 4 17
10th Percentile - £24.99 £14.04
25th Percentile £13.25 £33.51 £20.50
Median hourly rate £30.50 £43.84 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year -30.43% -5.07% +128.16%
75th Percentile £64.50 £48.18 £51.58
90th Percentile £78.30 - £72.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £13.50 £48.18 £46.09
% change year-on-year -71.98% +4.53% +241.41%

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 6,088 6,568 8,042
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 18.20% 17.73% 16.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,103 4,416 5,618
10th Percentile £338 £350 £358
25th Percentile £413 £425 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £732 £778 £744
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £485 £500
% change year-on-year -2.06% -3.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 83 89 160
10th Percentile £20.80 £17.50 £16.96
25th Percentile £29.00 £21.25 £25.13
Median hourly rate £40.49 £30.21 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +34.03% -39.58% +8.70%
75th Percentile £65.00 £53.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £82.60 £70.10 £78.08
UK excluding London median hourly rate £37.48 £30.00 £49.00
% change year-on-year +24.93% -38.78% +20.30%

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 October 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 October 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Metadata in the UK

Metadata
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 Metadata within the UK over the 6 months to 21 October 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 +104 275 £538 +4.88% 225
London +83 178 £550 - 116
UK excluding London +41 115 £495 +4.21% 165
Work from Home +64 98 £570 +17.22% 112
Midlands +4 30 £548 +51.03% 19
West Midlands 0 24 £560 +54.48% 15
South East +9 22 £463 -19.57% 79
North of England -17 19 £488 +16.42% 33
Scotland +5 18 £475 -30.66% 12
North West -13 12 £386 -3.44% 20
East of England +6 10 £500 +57.23% 10
Wales - 9 £700 - 3
South West +1 8 £568 +16.41% 13
Yorkshire -23 7 £525 +5.00% 9
East Midlands - 6 £415 - 3
Northern Ireland - 1 - -
Channel Islands - 1 £760 -

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 32 (9.94%) SharePoint
2 18 (5.59%) Apache
2 18 (5.59%) Apache Spark
3 13 (4.04%) CMS
3 13 (4.04%) Confluence
4 12 (3.73%) Apache Airflow
5 9 (2.80%) SAS
6 5 (1.55%) Microsoft Exchange
7 3 (0.93%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 3 (0.93%) ArcGIS
7 3 (0.93%) GeoServer
7 3 (0.93%) Smallworld
7 3 (0.93%) Umbraco
8 2 (0.62%) Oracle Workflow
9 1 (0.31%) Alfresco
9 1 (0.31%) Documentum
9 1 (0.31%) Drupal
9 1 (0.31%) Hyperledger
9 1 (0.31%) Sitecore CMS
Applications
1 14 (4.35%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (3.11%) MS Visio
3 7 (2.17%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.93%) Microsoft Office
5 2 (0.62%) Photoshop
5 2 (0.62%) ProjectWise
6 1 (0.31%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.31%) FrameMaker
6 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.31%) Oracle Smart View
6 1 (0.31%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 5 (1.55%) Salesforce CRM
2 4 (1.24%) SAP S/4HANA
3 2 (0.62%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
4 1 (0.31%) Actimize
4 1 (0.31%) Hyperion Planning
4 1 (0.31%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.31%) Primavera
4 1 (0.31%) SAP MDG
Cloud Services
1 87 (27.02%) Azure
2 65 (20.19%) AWS
3 48 (14.91%) Power Platform
4 33 (10.25%) Collibra
5 31 (9.63%) Microsoft Purview
6 29 (9.01%) GCP
7 22 (6.83%) Microsoft 365
7 22 (6.83%) Snowflake
8 21 (6.52%) dbt
9 19 (5.90%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 16 (4.97%) Azure Data Factory
10 16 (4.97%) Azure DevOps
11 15 (4.66%) Amazon S3
12 14 (4.35%) GitHub
13 9 (2.80%) PowerApps
13 9 (2.80%) Serverless
14 8 (2.48%) AWS Lambda
15 7 (2.17%) Alation
16 6 (1.86%) Entra ID
16 6 (1.86%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 3 (0.93%) Kerberos
2 1 (0.31%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 65 (20.19%) Data Warehouse
2 39 (12.11%) Data Lake
3 37 (11.49%) Power BI
4 20 (6.21%) NoSQL
5 17 (5.28%) Big Data
6 16 (4.97%) SQL Server
7 15 (4.66%) Data Vault
7 15 (4.66%) Metadata Repository
8 14 (4.35%) PostgreSQL
9 13 (4.04%) Delta Lake
9 13 (4.04%) Relational Database
10 12 (3.73%) BigQuery
11 11 (3.42%) Tableau
12 10 (3.11%) Amazon Athena
12 10 (3.11%) Amazon Redshift
13 9 (2.80%) Snowflake Schema
13 9 (2.80%) Spark SQL
14 7 (2.17%) GIS
14 7 (2.17%) Star Schema
15 6 (1.86%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 25 (7.76%) ERwin
2 19 (5.90%) JIRA
3 17 (5.28%) ER Studio
4 11 (3.42%) Git
5 10 (3.11%) PowerDesigner
6 3 (0.93%) Visual Studio
7 2 (0.62%) GitLab
8 1 (0.31%) MLflow
8 1 (0.31%) Poetry
8 1 (0.31%) Postman
8 1 (0.31%) Pylint
8 1 (0.31%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.31%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 123 (38.20%) Social Skills
2 66 (20.50%) Finance
3 58 (18.01%) Analytical Skills
4 41 (12.73%) Public Sector
5 33 (10.25%) Banking
6 21 (6.52%) Documentation Skills
7 17 (5.28%) Legal
7 17 (5.28%) Publishing
8 15 (4.66%) Retail
9 11 (3.42%) Presentation Skills
10 9 (2.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 8 (2.48%) Investment Banking
11 8 (2.48%) Pharmaceutical
12 5 (1.55%) Corporate Banking
12 5 (1.55%) Marketing
12 5 (1.55%) Organisational Skills
12 5 (1.55%) Welsh Language
13 4 (1.24%) Billing
13 4 (1.24%) Financial Institution
13 4 (1.24%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 70 (21.74%) Architect
2 52 (16.15%) Analyst
3 49 (15.22%) Data Architect
4 33 (10.25%) Data Modeller
5 31 (9.63%) Data Analyst
6 29 (9.01%) Data Engineer
7 25 (7.76%) Developer
8 22 (6.83%) Lead
9 18 (5.59%) Senior
10 15 (4.66%) Consultant
10 15 (4.66%) Governance Analyst
11 12 (3.73%) Business Analyst
12 10 (3.11%) Data Manager
12 10 (3.11%) Technical Architect
13 9 (2.80%) Azure Data Engineer
13 9 (2.80%) Azure Engineer
14 7 (2.17%) Solutions Architect
15 6 (1.86%) Quality Analyst
15 6 (1.86%) Senior Analyst
15 6 (1.86%) Technical Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (7.76%) PySpark
2 20 (6.21%) Kafka
3 10 (3.11%) REST
4 7 (2.17%) RESTful
5 6 (1.86%) Lightning Web Components
6 5 (1.55%) .NET
6 5 (1.55%) React
6 5 (1.55%) Visualforce
7 4 (1.24%) HTML
7 4 (1.24%) LDAP
7 4 (1.24%) Regular Expression
7 4 (1.24%) SAML
7 4 (1.24%) SpaCy
8 3 (0.93%) Apache NiFi
8 3 (0.93%) Hugging Face
8 3 (0.93%) OAuth
8 3 (0.93%) OpenCV
8 3 (0.93%) OpenID
8 3 (0.93%) PyTorch
8 3 (0.93%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 31 (9.63%) Data Structures
2 16 (4.97%) Onboarding
3 15 (4.66%) Legacy Systems
3 15 (4.66%) Taxonomies
4 13 (4.04%) Cloud Native
5 12 (3.73%) Reference Data
6 8 (2.48%) Management Information System
6 8 (2.48%) Product Ownership
7 7 (2.17%) Low-Code
8 6 (1.86%) Distributed Computing
9 5 (1.55%) Distributed Systems
9 5 (1.55%) Greenfield Project
10 4 (1.24%) Analytical Mindset
10 4 (1.24%) Data Fabric
10 4 (1.24%) Digital Media
10 4 (1.24%) Genomics
10 4 (1.24%) Hybrid Cloud
10 4 (1.24%) Omics
10 4 (1.24%) Replication
10 4 (1.24%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 2 (0.62%) Linux
1 2 (0.62%) Unix
2 1 (0.31%) Android
2 1 (0.31%) Apple iOS
2 1 (0.31%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 181 (56.21%) Data Governance
2 159 (49.38%) Data Modelling
3 157 (48.76%) Metadata Management
4 97 (30.12%) Analytics
5 75 (23.29%) Data Architecture
6 69 (21.43%) Agile
6 69 (21.43%) Business Intelligence
7 67 (20.81%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 64 (19.88%) Data Lineage
8 64 (19.88%) ETL
9 56 (17.39%) Problem-Solving
10 51 (15.84%) Data Management
11 50 (15.53%) Data Engineering
12 49 (15.22%) Data Pipeline
13 45 (13.98%) Migration
14 42 (13.04%) Decision-Making
15 40 (12.42%) Data Analysis
15 40 (12.42%) DevOps
15 40 (12.42%) Stakeholder Management
16 38 (11.80%) AI
Programming Languages
1 98 (30.43%) SQL
2 72 (22.36%) Python
3 14 (4.35%) Java
4 11 (3.42%) PowerShell
5 9 (2.80%) T-SQL
6 8 (2.48%) Scala
7 6 (1.86%) Apex Code
7 6 (1.86%) C++
7 6 (1.86%) Shell Script
8 5 (1.55%) C#
8 5 (1.55%) SOQL
9 4 (1.24%) R
9 4 (1.24%) SOSL
10 2 (0.62%) Bash
10 2 (0.62%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 2 (0.62%) JavaScript
10 2 (0.62%) Korn
10 2 (0.62%) PL/SQL
11 1 (0.31%) Groovy
11 1 (0.31%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 50 (15.53%) Security Cleared
2 33 (10.25%) SC Cleared
3 22 (6.83%) Degree
4 8 (2.48%) Computer Science Degree
5 7 (2.17%) AWS Certification
5 7 (2.17%) Master's Degree
6 6 (1.86%) Azure Certification
7 4 (1.24%) BPSS Clearance
7 4 (1.24%) DV Cleared
8 2 (0.62%) AWS Certified Developer
8 2 (0.62%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 2 (0.62%) Microsoft Certification
8 2 (0.62%) PMI Certification
8 2 (0.62%) PMP
8 2 (0.62%) TOGAF Certification
9 1 (0.31%) MCP
9 1 (0.31%) SnowPro
9 1 (0.31%) Tableau Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 108 (33.54%) Data Quality
2 41 (12.73%) GDPR
3 21 (6.52%) QA
4 11 (3.42%) Accessibility
5 5 (1.55%) California Consumer Privacy Act
5 5 (1.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 3 (0.93%) HIPAA
6 3 (0.93%) MiFID
6 3 (0.93%) Solvency II
7 2 (0.62%) ISO 9001
8 1 (0.31%) Basel III
8 1 (0.31%) Cyber Essentials
8 1 (0.31%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 1 (0.31%) Disclosure Scotland
8 1 (0.31%) GMP
8 1 (0.31%) IFRS
8 1 (0.31%) IFRS 9
8 1 (0.31%) ISO 20022
8 1 (0.31%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 1 (0.31%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 7 (2.17%) Docker
2 5 (1.55%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.93%) HDFS
Systems Management
1 14 (4.35%) Kubernetes
2 10 (3.11%) Terraform
3 4 (1.24%) Microsoft Intune
4 3 (0.93%) Hadoop YARN
4 3 (0.93%) Oozie
4 3 (0.93%) SCCM
5 1 (0.31%) Kubeflow
5 1 (0.31%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 70 (21.74%) Microsoft
2 36 (11.18%) Databricks
3 26 (8.07%) Oracle
4 20 (6.21%) Informatica
5 18 (5.59%) Google
6 9 (2.80%) Salesforce
7 7 (2.17%) SAP
8 6 (1.86%) Adobe
8 6 (1.86%) Sparx
9 5 (1.55%) OpenText
9 5 (1.55%) Talend
10 4 (1.24%) Alteryx
10 4 (1.24%) ESRI
10 4 (1.24%) Remedy
10 4 (1.24%) ServiceNow
11 3 (0.93%) Duck Creek
11 3 (0.93%) Guidewire
11 3 (0.93%) Intergraph
11 3 (0.93%) OpenAI
11 3 (0.93%) Teradata