DNS Contract Job Trends in England

Domain Name System (DNS)
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring DNS skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 15 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 140 125 150
Rank change year-on-year -15 +25 -18
Contract jobs citing DNS 912 626 540
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.97% 2.29% 1.66%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 21.15% 19.31% 13.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 565 394 345
10th Percentile £289 £243 £256
25th Percentile £408 £380 £380
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
75th Percentile £588 £600 £608
90th Percentile £650 £652 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £500
Number of hourly rates quoted 54 30 10
10th Percentile £26.20 £27.72 £19.85
25th Percentile £31.25 £29.00 £23.28
Median hourly rate £63.48 £45.00 £23.99
Median % change year-on-year +41.07% +87.58% -49.49%
75th Percentile £75.88 £79.76 £28.83
90th Percentile £97.67 £89.63 £48.88
UK median hourly rate £63.48 £45.00 £23.99
% change year-on-year +41.07% +87.58% -49.49%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
England

DNS falls under the Communications and Computer Networking category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring communications or computer networking skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 4,312 3,242 3,927
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.33% 11.85% 12.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,565 2,020 2,310
10th Percentile £253 £235 £248
25th Percentile £400 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £490 £511
Median % change year-on-year +2.04% -4.03% +2.12%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £614
90th Percentile £675 £688 £700
UK median daily rate £500 £478 £505
% change year-on-year +4.69% -5.43% +1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 368 163 223
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.02 £14.33
25th Percentile £20.00 £25.08 £22.58
Median hourly rate £32.50 £41.50 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year -21.69% -27.64% +1.52%
75th Percentile £67.75 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £85.00 £79.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £27.11 £43.00 £51.00
% change year-on-year -36.95% -15.69% -9.72%

DNS
Job Vacancy Trend in England

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

DNS job vacancy trend in England

DNS
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing DNS.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing DNS

DNS
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing DNS in England over the 6 months to 15 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for DNS in England

DNS
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing DNS.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing DNS

DNS
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing DNS in England over the 6 months to 15 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for DNS in England

DNS
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing DNS within the England region over the 6 months to 15 September 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
London -40 314 £500 - 460
North of England +25 211 £500 +11.48% 103
South East -1 175 £538 +2.38% 181
North West +23 130 £483 +7.33% 66
Midlands -33 114 £450 -2.70% 95
South West -3 96 £567 +3.14% 82
West Midlands -43 93 £450 -5.26% 56
Yorkshire +4 67 £500 - 28
East of England -44 41 £475 -13.64% 49
East Midlands +3 20 £413 -8.33% 39
North East -33 14 £419 +23.16% 12
DNS
UK

DNS
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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
1 102 (11.18%) Microsoft Exchange
2 83 (9.10%) SharePoint
3 22 (2.41%) Confluence
4 14 (1.54%) Apache
4 14 (1.54%) nginx
5 10 (1.10%) IIS
6 8 (0.88%) Skype for Business
7 6 (0.66%) Tomcat
8 4 (0.44%) OpenStack
9 3 (0.33%) Exchange Server 2013
10 1 (0.11%) Apache Spark
10 1 (0.11%) IBM HTTP Server
10 1 (0.11%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 1 (0.11%) SharePoint Server
10 1 (0.11%) Traefik
10 1 (0.11%) WebSphere
10 1 (0.11%) WebSphere Application Server
10 1 (0.11%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 24 (2.63%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (1.21%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (0.88%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.33%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.22%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.22%) Houdini
5 2 (0.22%) NUKE
6 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.11%) Mozilla Thunderbird
Business Applications
1 12 (1.32%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.11%) Oracle Retail
Cloud Services
1 374 (41.01%) Azure
2 185 (20.29%) AWS
3 181 (19.85%) Microsoft 365
4 165 (18.09%) Entra ID
5 78 (8.55%) GCP
6 70 (7.68%) GitHub
7 52 (5.70%) IaaS
8 49 (5.37%) OneDrive
9 39 (4.28%) SaaS
10 38 (4.17%) Azure DevOps
11 37 (4.06%) GitHub Actions
12 34 (3.73%) Azure Monitor
13 31 (3.40%) PaaS
14 28 (3.07%) OpenShift
15 27 (2.96%) Virtual Private Cloud
16 26 (2.85%) Azure ExpressRoute
17 25 (2.74%) AWS CloudFormation
18 21 (2.30%) Serverless
19 20 (2.19%) Azure Sentinel
20 19 (2.08%) Azure AKS
Communications & Networking
1 449 (49.23%) DHCP
2 339 (37.17%) Firewall
3 282 (30.92%) TCP/IP
4 269 (29.50%) VPN
5 127 (13.93%) Network Security
6 119 (13.05%) VLAN
7 111 (12.17%) WAN
8 91 (9.98%) SSL
9 87 (9.54%) LAN
10 84 (9.21%) BGP
11 75 (8.22%) Wireless
12 64 (7.02%) Wi-Fi
13 63 (6.91%) BIG-IP
14 60 (6.58%) HTTP
15 56 (6.14%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
16 54 (5.92%) SAN
17 49 (5.37%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
18 46 (5.04%) OSPF
19 43 (4.71%) DMZ
20 39 (4.28%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 48 (5.26%) SQL Server
2 14 (1.54%) PostgreSQL
3 12 (1.32%) Amazon RDS
4 11 (1.21%) MySQL
5 8 (0.88%) Data Lake
5 8 (0.88%) Elasticsearch
5 8 (0.88%) Power BI
6 7 (0.77%) MongoDB
6 7 (0.77%) NoSQL
7 5 (0.55%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (0.55%) Big Data
7 5 (0.55%) Redis
8 4 (0.44%) Db2
9 3 (0.33%) Metadata
10 2 (0.22%) Amazon Aurora
10 2 (0.22%) Flink
10 2 (0.22%) KDB
11 1 (0.11%) BigQuery
11 1 (0.11%) Cloud Spanner
11 1 (0.11%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 71 (7.79%) JIRA
2 54 (5.92%) Jenkins
3 38 (4.17%) Git
4 33 (3.62%) GitLab
5 14 (1.54%) Fiddler
6 7 (0.77%) Bitbucket
6 7 (0.77%) Sonatype Nexus
7 5 (0.55%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 5 (0.55%) Chocolatey
8 4 (0.44%) Browser DevTools
8 4 (0.44%) Selenium
9 3 (0.33%) MSI
10 2 (0.22%) Artifactory
10 2 (0.22%) Spinnaker
10 2 (0.22%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
10 2 (0.22%) Vagrant
11 1 (0.11%) Locust
11 1 (0.11%) Newman
11 1 (0.11%) Robot Framework
11 1 (0.11%) TestCafe
General
1 246 (26.97%) Social Skills
2 109 (11.95%) Analytical Skills
3 78 (8.55%) Finance
4 64 (7.02%) Public Sector
5 58 (6.36%) Banking
6 40 (4.39%) Documentation Skills
7 33 (3.62%) Telecoms
8 27 (2.96%) Investment Banking
9 15 (1.64%) Legal
10 12 (1.32%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 11 (1.21%) Aerospace
11 11 (1.21%) Police
12 10 (1.10%) Local Government
12 10 (1.10%) Military
13 8 (0.88%) Front Office
13 8 (0.88%) Manufacturing
13 8 (0.88%) Organisational Skills
14 7 (0.77%) Law
14 7 (0.77%) Pharmaceutical
15 6 (0.66%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 164 (17.98%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 159 (17.43%) Network Engineer
3 104 (11.40%) Senior
4 95 (10.42%) Support Engineer
5 78 (8.55%) Cloud Engineer
6 73 (8.00%) Architect
7 49 (5.37%) IT Support
8 47 (5.15%) IT Engineer
9 46 (5.04%) Security Engineer
10 43 (4.71%) Analyst
11 40 (4.39%) Platform Engineer
12 39 (4.28%) Azure Engineer
13 38 (4.17%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 36 (3.95%) Administrator
15 35 (3.84%) DevOps Engineer
15 35 (3.84%) Network Security Engineer
16 33 (3.62%) Cisco Engineer
16 33 (3.62%) IT Support Engineer
17 32 (3.51%) Senior Network Engineer
18 31 (3.40%) Cisco Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 200 (21.93%) Terraform
2 33 (3.62%) 802.1X
3 27 (2.96%) SAML
4 26 (2.85%) LDAP
5 25 (2.74%) ARM Templates
6 20 (2.19%) OAuth
7 19 (2.08%) REST
8 16 (1.75%) OpenID
9 13 (1.43%) JSON
10 12 (1.32%) Kafka
10 12 (1.32%) YAML
11 10 (1.10%) OpenTelemetry
12 9 (0.99%) CSS
12 9 (0.99%) Elastic Stack
13 7 (0.77%) .NET
14 6 (0.66%) Middleware
15 5 (0.55%) HTML
15 5 (0.55%) Jinja
15 5 (0.55%) OAuth2
15 5 (0.55%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 120 (13.16%) Data Centre
2 91 (9.98%) PKI
3 72 (7.89%) Hybrid Cloud
4 71 (7.79%) Onboarding
5 54 (5.92%) Management Information System
6 39 (4.28%) Cloud Native
7 30 (3.29%) Public Cloud
8 27 (2.96%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 27 (2.96%) Replication
9 23 (2.52%) Clustering
10 20 (2.19%) Linux Command Line
10 20 (2.19%) Self-Motivation
11 15 (1.64%) Cyber Threat
12 14 (1.54%) Enterprise Cloud
13 13 (1.43%) Driving Licence
13 13 (1.43%) Enterprise Software
13 13 (1.43%) Security Posture
14 11 (1.21%) Video Conferencing
15 10 (1.10%) Distributed Systems
16 9 (0.99%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 443 (48.57%) Windows
2 248 (27.19%) Windows Server
3 197 (21.60%) Linux
4 64 (7.02%) Windows 10
5 40 (4.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 39 (4.28%) Windows Server 2019
7 32 (3.51%) Mac OS
8 28 (3.07%) Unix
9 25 (2.74%) Ubuntu
10 23 (2.52%) Windows Server 2012
11 20 (2.19%) Apple iOS
11 20 (2.19%) CentOS
12 18 (1.97%) Android
13 12 (1.32%) VMS
13 12 (1.32%) Windows 7
13 12 (1.32%) Windows Server 2016
14 7 (0.77%) Rocky
14 7 (0.77%) Windows Server 2008
15 4 (0.44%) AIX
15 4 (0.44%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 229 (25.11%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 209 (22.92%) Problem-Solving
3 178 (19.52%) ITIL
4 174 (19.08%) Infrastructure as Code
5 161 (17.65%) Load Balancing
6 145 (15.90%) DevOps
7 141 (15.46%) Migration
8 139 (15.24%) CI/CD
9 113 (12.39%) ITSM
10 112 (12.28%) High Availability
11 103 (11.29%) Continuous Improvement
12 94 (10.31%) Agile
13 93 (10.20%) Cybersecurity
14 89 (9.76%) Technical Leadership
15 82 (8.99%) Observability
16 77 (8.44%) Disaster Recovery
17 75 (8.22%) Root Cause Analysis
18 74 (8.11%) Project Delivery
19 70 (7.68%) Platform Engineering
20 69 (7.57%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 231 (25.33%) PowerShell
2 183 (20.07%) Python
3 124 (13.60%) Bash
4 58 (6.36%) SQL
5 44 (4.82%) Bicep
6 16 (1.75%) Shell Script
7 14 (1.54%) ActionScript
8 13 (1.43%) Go
8 13 (1.43%) JavaScript
9 10 (1.10%) VBScript
10 9 (0.99%) Java
10 9 (0.99%) Perl
11 7 (0.77%) Groovy
11 7 (0.77%) VBA
12 6 (0.66%) VB
13 4 (0.44%) Kusto Query Language
13 4 (0.44%) Ruby
14 3 (0.33%) C
14 3 (0.33%) Lisp
15 2 (0.22%) C#
Qualifications
1 340 (37.28%) Security Cleared
2 190 (20.83%) SC Cleared
3 151 (16.56%) DV Cleared
4 84 (9.21%) Cisco Certification
5 73 (8.00%) Degree
6 69 (7.57%) CCNP
7 52 (5.70%) Azure Certification
8 48 (5.26%) Microsoft Certification
9 45 (4.93%) CCNA
10 26 (2.85%) Network+ Certification
11 23 (2.52%) AWS Certification
12 20 (2.19%) Computer Science Degree
13 19 (2.08%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 16 (1.75%) CCIE
15 15 (1.64%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 15 (1.64%) VCAP
16 12 (1.32%) BPSS Clearance
17 11 (1.21%) A+ Certification
17 11 (1.21%) Server+ Certification
18 10 (1.10%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (4.17%) SLA
2 22 (2.41%) NIST
3 16 (1.75%) NCSC
4 15 (1.64%) QA
5 12 (1.32%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 5 (0.55%) GDPR
6 5 (0.55%) NIST 800
7 4 (0.44%) Cyber Essentials
7 4 (0.44%) HMG Security Policy Framework
7 4 (0.44%) JSP 440
8 3 (0.33%) SOC 2
9 2 (0.22%) Data Quality
9 2 (0.22%) Government Security Classifications
9 2 (0.22%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.22%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.22%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 405 (44.41%) Active Directory
2 257 (28.18%) VMware Infrastructure
3 108 (11.84%) Hyper-V
4 81 (8.88%) VMware ESXi
5 74 (8.11%) vSphere
6 68 (7.46%) VMware NSX
7 60 (6.58%) Docker
8 44 (4.82%) Virtual Machines
9 36 (3.95%) Virtual Desktop
10 21 (2.30%) Firmware
11 17 (1.86%) NFS
12 16 (1.75%) vCloud
13 11 (1.21%) BitLocker
14 9 (0.99%) Postfix
15 8 (0.88%) Virtual Servers
16 6 (0.66%) Microsoft App-V
16 6 (0.66%) Squid
16 6 (0.66%) VMware Workstation
17 5 (0.55%) Dovecot
17 5 (0.55%) UAG
Systems Management
1 139 (15.24%) Ansible
2 116 (12.72%) Kubernetes
3 109 (11.95%) Microsoft Intune
4 78 (8.55%) SCCM
5 66 (7.24%) vCenter Server
6 60 (6.58%) Grafana
7 49 (5.37%) Single Sign-On
8 47 (5.15%) Prometheus
9 35 (3.84%) SCOM
10 33 (3.62%) WSUS
11 23 (2.52%) FortiGate
12 17 (1.86%) Jamf Pro
13 16 (1.75%) VxRail
14 15 (1.64%) Packer
14 15 (1.64%) Puppet
15 13 (1.43%) NetBackup
16 12 (1.32%) Istio
17 10 (1.10%) Nessus
17 10 (1.10%) systemd
17 10 (1.10%) vMotion
Vendors
1 363 (39.80%) Microsoft
2 311 (34.10%) VMware
3 175 (19.19%) Cisco
4 125 (13.71%) F5
5 87 (9.54%) ServiceNow
6 56 (6.14%) Infoblox
7 50 (5.48%) Google
8 48 (5.26%) Palo Alto
9 46 (5.04%) Citrix
9 46 (5.04%) SolarWinds
10 42 (4.61%) Juniper
11 38 (4.17%) Splunk
12 37 (4.06%) Red Hat
13 31 (3.40%) CheckPoint
13 31 (3.40%) Dynatrace
13 31 (3.40%) NetApp
14 27 (2.96%) Fortinet
15 23 (2.52%) Blue Coat
15 23 (2.52%) Zscaler
16 22 (2.41%) McAfee