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 4 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 135 116 114
Rank change year-on-year -19 -2 +8
Contract jobs citing DNS 684 570 769
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.05% 2.18% 2.02%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 19.65% 16.84% 14.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 435 361 508
10th Percentile £219 £225 £200
25th Percentile £400 £350 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £488 £475
Median % change year-on-year +7.69% +2.63% -9.52%
75th Percentile £601 £608 £582
90th Percentile £688 £713 £650
UK median daily rate £513 £500 £475
% change year-on-year +2.50% +5.26% -9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 4 24
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.16 £23.55
25th Percentile £19.19 £16.95 £31.25
Median hourly rate £26.33 £21.30 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +23.62% -46.76% -
75th Percentile £72.51 £30.19 £55.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £42.08 £65.25
UK median hourly rate £26.33 £23.59 £40.00
% change year-on-year +11.59% -41.03% -

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 3,481 3,385 5,390
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.44% 12.96% 14.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,277 1,955 3,263
10th Percentile £204 £213 £205
25th Percentile £356 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £486
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% +2.88% -7.43%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £677 £680 £700
UK median daily rate £475 £500 £493
% change year-on-year -5.00% +1.52% -4.83%
Number of hourly rates quoted 156 105 385
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.22 £15.40
25th Percentile £18.97 £20.75 £21.25
Median hourly rate £32.00 £35.00 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -8.57% -30.00% +141.49%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £70.00 £76.02
UK median hourly rate £32.00 £35.00 £50.00
% change year-on-year -8.57% -30.00% +143.90%

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 4 February 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 4 February 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 4 February 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 -11 227 £538 +2.38% 80
North of England -21 163 £449 +5.53% 64
South East -8 124 £515 +9.87% 94
Midlands +11 110 £390 -13.33% 37
West Midlands +27 106 £395 +2.60% 22
North West -5 105 £575 +21.05% 27
South West -25 65 £575 +5.12% 43
Yorkshire -24 61 £447 +49.00% 32
East of England -24 38 £475 +72.73% 53
North East -21 8 £411 +26.38% 8
East Midlands -37 4 £275 -45.54% 15
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 90 (13.16%) Microsoft Exchange
2 62 (9.06%) SharePoint
3 31 (4.53%) Skype for Business
4 21 (3.07%) Confluence
5 13 (1.90%) nginx
6 7 (1.02%) IIS
7 6 (0.88%) SharePoint Server
8 5 (0.73%) Apache
9 4 (0.58%) Exchange Server 2010
9 4 (0.58%) Exchange Server 2013
10 3 (0.44%) OpenStack
11 2 (0.29%) Cloud Foundry
11 2 (0.29%) Exchange Server 2003
11 2 (0.29%) Exchange Server 2007
11 2 (0.29%) Office Communications Server
11 2 (0.29%) Oracle HTTP Server
11 2 (0.29%) Tomcat
11 2 (0.29%) WebLogic
11 2 (0.29%) WordPress
Applications
1 42 (6.14%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (2.19%) MS Visio
3 7 (1.02%) Mozilla Thunderbird
4 2 (0.29%) Microsoft Excel
4 2 (0.29%) Spreadsheet
4 2 (0.29%) Windchill
5 1 (0.15%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.29%) Remedy ITSM
1 2 (0.29%) SystmOne
1 2 (0.29%) Teamcenter
2 1 (0.15%) Cloudability
Cloud Services
1 244 (35.67%) Azure
2 153 (22.37%) AWS
3 137 (20.03%) Microsoft 365
4 117 (17.11%) Entra ID
5 54 (7.89%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 46 (6.73%) GCP
7 44 (6.43%) Amazon S3
7 44 (6.43%) GitHub
8 41 (5.99%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 38 (5.56%) Amazon EC2
10 31 (4.53%) AWS CloudFormation
10 31 (4.53%) IaaS
11 28 (4.09%) Amazon ECS
12 27 (3.95%) Amazon ELB
12 27 (3.95%) Route 53
12 27 (3.95%) Serverless
13 25 (3.65%) AWS Lambda
14 24 (3.51%) SaaS
15 19 (2.78%) Amazon EKS
15 19 (2.78%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 315 (46.05%) DHCP
2 210 (30.70%) TCP/IP
3 202 (29.53%) Firewall
4 165 (24.12%) VPN
5 84 (12.28%) Network Security
6 80 (11.70%) WAN
7 78 (11.40%) SSL
8 71 (10.38%) LAN
9 65 (9.50%) HTTP
10 60 (8.77%) VLAN
11 52 (7.60%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
12 44 (6.43%) BIG-IP
13 43 (6.29%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
14 41 (5.99%) BGP
14 41 (5.99%) Wi-Fi
14 41 (5.99%) Wireshark
15 37 (5.41%) DMZ
16 33 (4.82%) Kerberos
16 33 (4.82%) Skype
17 30 (4.39%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (3.51%) Amazon RDS
2 21 (3.07%) SQL Server
3 20 (2.92%) PostgreSQL
4 13 (1.90%) Amazon Aurora
5 10 (1.46%) Elasticsearch
6 8 (1.17%) MongoDB
7 7 (1.02%) DynamoDB
7 7 (1.02%) MySQL
8 6 (0.88%) Redis
9 5 (0.73%) Data Hub
10 4 (0.58%) DocumentDB
10 4 (0.58%) NoSQL
10 4 (0.58%) Relational Database
11 3 (0.44%) BigQuery
12 2 (0.29%) Power BI
13 1 (0.15%) Apache Cassandra
13 1 (0.15%) Electronic Patient Records
13 1 (0.15%) Geospatial Data
13 1 (0.15%) GIS
13 1 (0.15%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 66 (9.65%) Jenkins
2 48 (7.02%) Git
3 40 (5.85%) GitLab
3 40 (5.85%) JIRA
4 28 (4.09%) Fiddler
5 10 (1.46%) Vagrant
6 8 (1.17%) Terragrunt
7 6 (0.88%) Bitbucket
8 5 (0.73%) SonarQube
9 4 (0.58%) CircleCI
9 4 (0.58%) Subversion
10 3 (0.44%) TeamCity
11 2 (0.29%) Sonatype Nexus
12 1 (0.15%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.15%) Chocolatey
12 1 (0.15%) GCC
12 1 (0.15%) Octopus Deploy
12 1 (0.15%) Travis CI
12 1 (0.15%) Visual Studio Code
12 1 (0.15%) webpack
General
1 206 (30.12%) Social Skills
2 102 (14.91%) Analytical Skills
3 61 (8.92%) Public Sector
4 58 (8.48%) Banking
5 44 (6.43%) Documentation Skills
5 44 (6.43%) Investment Banking
6 41 (5.99%) Finance
7 14 (2.05%) Legal
8 13 (1.90%) Presentation Skills
8 13 (1.90%) Telecoms
9 9 (1.32%) Military
10 7 (1.02%) Influencing Skills
10 7 (1.02%) Organisational Skills
11 5 (0.73%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 5 (0.73%) Law
12 4 (0.58%) Financial Institution
12 4 (0.58%) Marketing
13 3 (0.44%) Aerospace
13 3 (0.44%) Local Government
13 3 (0.44%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 96 (14.04%) Network Engineer
2 95 (13.89%) Architect
3 66 (9.65%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 65 (9.50%) Analyst
5 60 (8.77%) Support Engineer
6 53 (7.75%) Senior
7 42 (6.14%) Platform Engineer
8 39 (5.70%) IT Support
9 36 (5.26%) DevOps Engineer
9 36 (5.26%) Security Engineer
10 30 (4.39%) Web Engineer
11 26 (3.80%) 2nd Line Support
12 24 (3.51%) AWS Engineer
13 23 (3.36%) Lead
14 20 (2.92%) Operations Engineer
15 19 (2.78%) Cisco Engineer
15 19 (2.78%) Cisco Network Engineer
15 19 (2.78%) Cloud Platform Engineer
15 19 (2.78%) IT Engineer
16 18 (2.63%) Infrastructure Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 58 (8.48%) LDAP
2 40 (5.85%) SAML
3 35 (5.12%) OAuth
4 26 (3.80%) OpenID
5 20 (2.92%) OAuth2
6 11 (1.61%) Kafka
7 10 (1.46%) OpenTelemetry
7 10 (1.46%) REST
8 8 (1.17%) Elastic Stack
9 7 (1.02%) 802.1X
9 7 (1.02%) JSON
9 7 (1.02%) Middleware
10 6 (0.88%) AWS CDK
11 5 (0.73%) AngularJS
11 5 (0.73%) Microsoft Graph
11 5 (0.73%) React
11 5 (0.73%) RESTful
11 5 (0.73%) YAML
12 4 (0.58%) Keycloak
12 4 (0.58%) Spring Cloud
Miscellaneous
1 61 (8.92%) Replication
2 50 (7.31%) PKI
3 46 (6.73%) Data Centre
4 38 (5.56%) Management Information System
5 30 (4.39%) Onboarding
6 26 (3.80%) Cloud Native
7 22 (3.22%) Enterprise Software
7 22 (3.22%) Public Cloud
8 21 (3.07%) Analytical Mindset
9 14 (2.05%) Hybrid Cloud
10 13 (1.90%) Cyberattack
10 13 (1.90%) Private Cloud
10 13 (1.90%) Security Operations Centre
11 11 (1.61%) Cyber Threat
11 11 (1.61%) NHS
12 10 (1.46%) Self-Motivation
13 9 (1.32%) SCADA
13 9 (1.32%) Video Conferencing
14 8 (1.17%) Clustering
14 8 (1.17%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
Operating Systems
1 331 (48.39%) Windows
2 170 (24.85%) Windows Server
3 121 (17.69%) Linux
4 62 (9.06%) Windows 10
5 32 (4.68%) Windows Server 2019
6 20 (2.92%) Android
6 20 (2.92%) Windows Server 2016
7 18 (2.63%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 18 (2.63%) Windows Server 2012
8 16 (2.34%) Unix
9 15 (2.19%) VMS
10 14 (2.05%) Apple iOS
11 13 (1.90%) Amazon Linux
12 12 (1.75%) Ubuntu
13 11 (1.61%) CentOS
14 10 (1.46%) Windows 7
15 9 (1.32%) Mac OS
16 7 (1.02%) Windows Server 2003
17 4 (0.58%) CatOS
17 4 (0.58%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 158 (23.10%) Problem-Solving
2 129 (18.86%) Load Balancing
3 110 (16.08%) ITIL
4 104 (15.20%) DevOps
5 103 (15.06%) CI/CD
6 86 (12.57%) Infrastructure as Code
7 85 (12.43%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 83 (12.13%) Migration
9 71 (10.38%) High Availability
10 66 (9.65%) Change Management
11 65 (9.50%) Disaster Recovery
12 62 (9.06%) Cybersecurity
13 58 (8.48%) Service Management
14 53 (7.75%) Root Cause Analysis
15 52 (7.60%) Incident Response
16 49 (7.16%) Mentoring
16 49 (7.16%) Platform Engineering
17 47 (6.87%) RBAC
18 46 (6.73%) Identity Access Management
19 45 (6.58%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 211 (30.85%) PowerShell
2 133 (19.44%) Python
3 58 (8.48%) Bash
4 37 (5.41%) SQL
5 16 (2.34%) Java
6 14 (2.05%) Perl
7 12 (1.75%) Bicep
7 12 (1.75%) VBScript
8 10 (1.46%) Groovy
8 10 (1.46%) Shell Script
8 10 (1.46%) VB
9 8 (1.17%) Go
9 8 (1.17%) Ruby
10 7 (1.02%) Lisp
11 6 (0.88%) Kusto Query Language
12 5 (0.73%) JavaScript
13 4 (0.58%) C++
14 3 (0.44%) C#
14 3 (0.44%) T-SQL
15 2 (0.29%) VBA
Qualifications
1 255 (37.28%) Security Cleared
2 181 (26.46%) SC Cleared
3 81 (11.84%) DV Cleared
4 61 (8.92%) Degree
5 56 (8.19%) Microsoft Certification
6 39 (5.70%) Cisco Certification
7 37 (5.41%) Azure Certification
7 37 (5.41%) CCNP
8 23 (3.36%) AWS Certification
9 17 (2.49%) Network+ Certification
10 14 (2.05%) CCNA
11 11 (1.61%) Server+ Certification
12 10 (1.46%) CISSP
12 10 (1.46%) Computer Science Degree
13 9 (1.32%) ITIL Certification
14 8 (1.17%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
14 8 (1.17%) CCIE
14 8 (1.17%) CompTIA Security+
14 8 (1.17%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 7 (1.02%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (4.53%) GDPR
2 22 (3.22%) SLA
3 19 (2.78%) Sarbanes-Oxley
4 18 (2.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 18 (2.63%) NIST
5 9 (1.32%) NCSC
5 9 (1.32%) PCI DSS
6 8 (1.17%) Cyber Essentials
7 6 (0.88%) QA
8 5 (0.73%) Accessibility
9 3 (0.44%) Data Quality
9 3 (0.44%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 2 (0.29%) JSP 440
11 1 (0.15%) Actionable Recommendations
11 1 (0.15%) COBIT
11 1 (0.15%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.15%) Government Security Classifications
11 1 (0.15%) RMADS
11 1 (0.15%) SOC 2
11 1 (0.15%) WCAG
System Software
1 314 (45.91%) Active Directory
2 171 (25.00%) VMware Infrastructure
3 73 (10.67%) Docker
4 49 (7.16%) VMware NSX
5 47 (6.87%) Hyper-V
6 33 (4.82%) vSphere
7 26 (3.80%) Virtual Machines
8 22 (3.22%) Firmware
9 17 (2.49%) VMware ESXi
10 13 (1.90%) BitLocker
10 13 (1.90%) DFS Replication
11 12 (1.75%) Squid
11 12 (1.75%) Virtual Desktop
12 8 (1.17%) Postfix
13 7 (1.02%) Dovecot
13 7 (1.02%) Virtual Servers
14 6 (0.88%) Microsoft App-V
15 5 (0.73%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 5 (0.73%) NFS
15 5 (0.73%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 125 (18.27%) Terraform
2 111 (16.23%) Ansible
3 85 (12.43%) Microsoft Intune
4 78 (11.40%) SCCM
5 66 (9.65%) Kubernetes
6 62 (9.06%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 62 (9.06%) Single Sign-On
7 41 (5.99%) vCenter Server
8 33 (4.82%) Grafana
9 24 (3.51%) Prometheus
10 20 (2.92%) FortiGate
11 18 (2.63%) WSUS
12 16 (2.34%) Argo
13 13 (1.90%) SCOM
14 10 (1.46%) Packer
14 10 (1.46%) Proxmox
15 8 (1.17%) Nessus
15 8 (1.17%) Puppet
16 6 (0.88%) Jamf Pro
16 6 (0.88%) Nagios
Vendors
1 277 (40.50%) Microsoft
2 212 (30.99%) VMware
3 118 (17.25%) F5
4 93 (13.60%) Cisco
5 73 (10.67%) ServiceNow
6 44 (6.43%) Splunk
7 40 (5.85%) Palo Alto
8 39 (5.70%) Blue Coat
9 35 (5.12%) CheckPoint
10 34 (4.97%) Citrix
11 33 (4.82%) McAfee
12 30 (4.39%) SolarWinds
13 26 (3.80%) NetApp
14 25 (3.65%) Red Hat
15 24 (3.51%) Veeam
16 20 (2.92%) Okta
17 19 (2.78%) Dell
18 18 (2.63%) Fortinet
18 18 (2.63%) Juniper
19 16 (2.34%) Zscaler