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

6 months to
20 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 137 119 128
Rank change year-on-year -18 +9 -8
Contract jobs citing DNS 724 589 707
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.08% 2.27% 1.87%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 20.43% 17.24% 13.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 456 380 461
10th Percentile £219 £242 £200
25th Percentile £400 £355 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £518 £500 £463
Median % change year-on-year +3.60% +8.11% -11.90%
75th Percentile £600 £613 £575
90th Percentile £689 £701 £650
UK median daily rate £500 £501 £465
% change year-on-year -0.10% +7.63% -11.43%
Number of hourly rates quoted 32 4 25
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.16 £23.65
25th Percentile £17.75 £16.95 £31.25
Median hourly rate £26.33 £21.30 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +23.62% -46.76% -
75th Percentile £74.26 £33.51 £55.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £51.35 £64.50
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 3,543 3,416 5,249
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.17% 13.16% 13.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,281 2,025 3,145
10th Percentile £204 £210 £205
25th Percentile £356 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year -1.60% +5.26% -9.52%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £680 £700
UK median daily rate £475 £500 £486
% change year-on-year -5.00% +2.88% -6.54%
Number of hourly rates quoted 160 99 376
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.22 £14.38
25th Percentile £18.97 £20.30 £20.63
Median hourly rate £34.00 £32.50 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +4.62% -31.58% +138.93%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £74.00 £76.25
UK median hourly rate £34.00 £32.50 £47.50
% change year-on-year +4.62% -31.58% +143.59%

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 20 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 20 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 20 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 -17 237 £525 - 98
North of England -14 183 £465 -1.59% 75
South East -2 138 £525 - 90
North West +9 118 £603 +26.84% 41
Midlands +19 114 £380 -15.56% 35
West Midlands +27 110 £380 -1.30% 27
Yorkshire -37 69 £447 -0.67% 28
South West -25 63 £575 +5.12% 39
East of England -23 38 £475 +63.79% 38
North East -25 6 £411 +26.38% 10
East Midlands -33 4 £325 -41.96% 8
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 96 (13.26%) Microsoft Exchange
2 56 (7.73%) SharePoint
3 29 (4.01%) Skype for Business
4 19 (2.62%) Confluence
5 14 (1.93%) nginx
6 5 (0.69%) Apache
7 4 (0.55%) IIS
7 4 (0.55%) SharePoint Server
8 3 (0.41%) Exchange Server 2010
8 3 (0.41%) OpenStack
9 2 (0.28%) Exchange Server 2013
9 2 (0.28%) Oracle HTTP Server
9 2 (0.28%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.28%) WebLogic
9 2 (0.28%) WordPress
10 1 (0.14%) Traefik
Applications
1 38 (5.25%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (2.07%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.55%) Mozilla Thunderbird
4 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.14%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.14%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 2 (0.28%) SystmOne
2 1 (0.14%) Cloudability
2 1 (0.14%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.14%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 246 (33.98%) Azure
2 152 (20.99%) AWS
3 134 (18.51%) Microsoft 365
4 117 (16.16%) Entra ID
5 51 (7.04%) GCP
6 50 (6.91%) GitHub
6 50 (6.91%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 43 (5.94%) Amazon S3
8 37 (5.11%) Amazon EC2
9 36 (4.97%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 33 (4.56%) IaaS
11 30 (4.14%) AWS CloudFormation
11 30 (4.14%) Serverless
12 28 (3.87%) AWS Lambda
13 27 (3.73%) Route 53
13 27 (3.73%) SaaS
14 24 (3.31%) Amazon ECS
15 22 (3.04%) Amazon ELB
16 21 (2.90%) Amazon EKS
16 21 (2.90%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 326 (45.03%) DHCP
2 228 (31.49%) Firewall
3 222 (30.66%) TCP/IP
4 178 (24.59%) VPN
5 94 (12.98%) WAN
6 86 (11.88%) LAN
7 85 (11.74%) SSL
8 84 (11.60%) Network Security
9 67 (9.25%) VLAN
10 63 (8.70%) HTTP
11 60 (8.29%) BGP
12 59 (8.15%) BIG-IP
13 51 (7.04%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
14 45 (6.22%) Wi-Fi
15 43 (5.94%) Wireshark
16 41 (5.66%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
17 38 (5.25%) DMZ
18 37 (5.11%) OSPF
19 33 (4.56%) Kerberos
19 33 (4.56%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (2.76%) SQL Server
2 19 (2.62%) Amazon RDS
3 17 (2.35%) PostgreSQL
4 13 (1.80%) Elasticsearch
5 10 (1.38%) Amazon Aurora
6 7 (0.97%) DynamoDB
6 7 (0.97%) MongoDB
7 6 (0.83%) MySQL
7 6 (0.83%) Redis
8 5 (0.69%) Data Hub
9 4 (0.55%) DocumentDB
9 4 (0.55%) NoSQL
9 4 (0.55%) Relational Database
10 3 (0.41%) BigQuery
11 1 (0.14%) Apache Cassandra
11 1 (0.14%) Electronic Patient Records
11 1 (0.14%) Geospatial Data
11 1 (0.14%) GIS
11 1 (0.14%) Oracle Reports
11 1 (0.14%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 70 (9.67%) Jenkins
2 45 (6.22%) Git
3 41 (5.66%) GitLab
4 38 (5.25%) JIRA
5 30 (4.14%) Fiddler
6 7 (0.97%) Bitbucket
6 7 (0.97%) Terragrunt
7 6 (0.83%) SonarQube
7 6 (0.83%) Vagrant
8 4 (0.55%) CircleCI
9 3 (0.41%) Chocolatey
9 3 (0.41%) Subversion
10 2 (0.28%) Sonatype Nexus
10 2 (0.28%) TeamCity
11 1 (0.14%) Artifactory
11 1 (0.14%) GCC
11 1 (0.14%) Octopus Deploy
11 1 (0.14%) Travis CI
11 1 (0.14%) Visual Studio Code
11 1 (0.14%) webpack
General
1 204 (28.18%) Social Skills
2 100 (13.81%) Analytical Skills
3 61 (8.43%) Banking
4 54 (7.46%) Public Sector
5 46 (6.35%) Finance
5 46 (6.35%) Investment Banking
6 43 (5.94%) Documentation Skills
7 18 (2.49%) Legal
8 17 (2.35%) Military
9 15 (2.07%) Telecoms
10 10 (1.38%) Presentation Skills
11 9 (1.24%) Organisational Skills
12 7 (0.97%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (0.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 5 (0.69%) Law
14 4 (0.55%) Financial Institution
14 4 (0.55%) Local Government
14 4 (0.55%) Marketing
15 3 (0.41%) Aerospace
15 3 (0.41%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 117 (16.16%) Network Engineer
2 102 (14.09%) Architect
3 64 (8.84%) Analyst
3 64 (8.84%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 61 (8.43%) Senior
4 61 (8.43%) Support Engineer
5 45 (6.22%) Security Engineer
6 44 (6.08%) IT Support
7 36 (4.97%) Platform Engineer
7 36 (4.97%) Web Engineer
8 31 (4.28%) DevOps Engineer
9 28 (3.87%) Network Security Engineer
10 25 (3.45%) IT Engineer
10 25 (3.45%) Lead
11 24 (3.31%) 2nd Line Support
12 23 (3.18%) Cisco Engineer
12 23 (3.18%) Cisco Network Engineer
13 21 (2.90%) Solutions Architect
14 18 (2.49%) Junior
14 18 (2.49%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 62 (8.56%) LDAP
2 40 (5.52%) SAML
3 35 (4.83%) OAuth
4 28 (3.87%) OpenID
5 21 (2.90%) 802.1X
6 20 (2.76%) OAuth2
7 15 (2.07%) OpenTelemetry
8 10 (1.38%) Kafka
8 10 (1.38%) REST
9 8 (1.10%) Elastic Stack
10 6 (0.83%) JSON
10 6 (0.83%) Microsoft Graph
10 6 (0.83%) Middleware
10 6 (0.83%) XMPP
11 5 (0.69%) AngularJS
11 5 (0.69%) ARM Templates
11 5 (0.69%) AWS CDK
11 5 (0.69%) React
11 5 (0.69%) RESTful
12 4 (0.55%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 63 (8.70%) PKI
2 54 (7.46%) Data Centre
3 51 (7.04%) Replication
4 38 (5.25%) Management Information System
5 37 (5.11%) Cloud Native
6 28 (3.87%) Onboarding
7 23 (3.18%) Public Cloud
8 21 (2.90%) Analytical Mindset
8 21 (2.90%) Clustering
8 21 (2.90%) Enterprise Software
9 19 (2.62%) Hybrid Cloud
10 13 (1.80%) Cyber Threat
10 13 (1.80%) Cyberattack
10 13 (1.80%) NHS
10 13 (1.80%) Security Operations Centre
10 13 (1.80%) Self-Motivation
11 11 (1.52%) Legacy Systems
11 11 (1.52%) Private Cloud
12 10 (1.38%) Product Ownership
13 9 (1.24%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 343 (47.38%) Windows
2 171 (23.62%) Windows Server
3 126 (17.40%) Linux
4 61 (8.43%) Windows 10
5 29 (4.01%) Windows Server 2019
6 20 (2.76%) Unix
7 18 (2.49%) Android
8 17 (2.35%) Windows Server 2016
9 16 (2.21%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 15 (2.07%) Windows Server 2012
11 13 (1.80%) Apple iOS
12 11 (1.52%) VMS
12 11 (1.52%) Windows 7
13 9 (1.24%) Amazon Linux
13 9 (1.24%) CentOS
13 9 (1.24%) Mac OS
14 8 (1.10%) Ubuntu
15 5 (0.69%) Windows Server 2003
16 4 (0.55%) CatOS
16 4 (0.55%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 177 (24.45%) Problem-Solving
2 151 (20.86%) Load Balancing
3 115 (15.88%) ITIL
4 107 (14.78%) DevOps
5 105 (14.50%) CI/CD
6 92 (12.71%) Migration
7 91 (12.57%) Infrastructure as Code
8 89 (12.29%) High Availability
9 86 (11.88%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 70 (9.67%) Disaster Recovery
11 66 (9.12%) Service Management
12 63 (8.70%) Identity Access Management
13 62 (8.56%) Change Management
13 62 (8.56%) Cybersecurity
14 52 (7.18%) Incident Response
15 51 (7.04%) RBAC
16 50 (6.91%) Mentoring
16 50 (6.91%) Root Cause Analysis
17 48 (6.63%) Containerisation
18 46 (6.35%) Observability
Programming Languages
1 207 (28.59%) PowerShell
2 135 (18.65%) Python
3 66 (9.12%) Bash
4 39 (5.39%) SQL
5 13 (1.80%) Java
5 13 (1.80%) VBScript
6 11 (1.52%) Perl
7 10 (1.38%) Bicep
7 10 (1.38%) VB
8 9 (1.24%) Shell Script
9 8 (1.10%) Go
9 8 (1.10%) Ruby
10 7 (0.97%) JavaScript
10 7 (0.97%) Lisp
11 6 (0.83%) Groovy
12 5 (0.69%) Kusto Query Language
13 3 (0.41%) C#
13 3 (0.41%) C++
13 3 (0.41%) T-SQL
14 2 (0.28%) VBA
Qualifications
1 262 (36.19%) Security Cleared
2 176 (24.31%) SC Cleared
3 90 (12.43%) DV Cleared
4 62 (8.56%) Microsoft Certification
5 57 (7.87%) Degree
6 54 (7.46%) Cisco Certification
7 43 (5.94%) CCNP
8 35 (4.83%) Azure Certification
9 21 (2.90%) AWS Certification
10 19 (2.62%) Network+ Certification
11 17 (2.35%) CCNA
12 16 (2.21%) CISSP
13 14 (1.93%) CompTIA Security+
14 12 (1.66%) MCSE
14 12 (1.66%) Server+ Certification
15 10 (1.38%) CCIE
15 10 (1.38%) JNCIA
15 10 (1.38%) JNCIS
16 9 (1.24%) Computer Science Degree
16 9 (1.24%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (4.28%) GDPR
2 21 (2.90%) SLA
3 18 (2.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 18 (2.49%) NIST
3 18 (2.49%) Sarbanes-Oxley
4 9 (1.24%) PCI DSS
5 8 (1.10%) Cyber Essentials
5 8 (1.10%) NCSC
6 6 (0.83%) QA
7 3 (0.41%) Accessibility
7 3 (0.41%) Data Quality
7 3 (0.41%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 2 (0.28%) JSP 440
9 1 (0.14%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.14%) COBIT
9 1 (0.14%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 1 (0.14%) Government Security Classifications
9 1 (0.14%) RMADS
9 1 (0.14%) SOC 2
9 1 (0.14%) WCAG
System Software
1 321 (44.34%) Active Directory
2 174 (24.03%) VMware Infrastructure
3 71 (9.81%) Docker
4 55 (7.60%) VMware NSX
5 54 (7.46%) Hyper-V
6 40 (5.52%) vSphere
7 26 (3.59%) Virtual Machines
8 24 (3.31%) Firmware
9 15 (2.07%) VMware ESXi
10 14 (1.93%) BitLocker
10 14 (1.93%) Virtual Desktop
11 11 (1.52%) Squid
12 9 (1.24%) DFS Replication
13 7 (0.97%) Virtual Servers
14 6 (0.83%) Microsoft App-V
15 5 (0.69%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 5 (0.69%) Postfix
15 5 (0.69%) Terminal Services
16 4 (0.55%) Dovecot
16 4 (0.55%) NFS
Systems Management
1 134 (18.51%) Terraform
2 120 (16.57%) Ansible
3 90 (12.43%) Microsoft Intune
4 76 (10.50%) Kubernetes
4 76 (10.50%) SCCM
5 64 (8.84%) Single Sign-On
6 62 (8.56%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 43 (5.94%) vCenter Server
8 37 (5.11%) Grafana
9 35 (4.83%) FortiGate
10 23 (3.18%) Prometheus
11 20 (2.76%) Argo
12 15 (2.07%) WSUS
13 13 (1.80%) SCOM
14 10 (1.38%) Nessus
15 9 (1.24%) Puppet
16 7 (0.97%) Nagios
16 7 (0.97%) Proxmox
17 6 (0.83%) Consul
17 6 (0.83%) HAProxy
Vendors
1 280 (38.67%) Microsoft
2 218 (30.11%) VMware
3 137 (18.92%) F5
4 116 (16.02%) Cisco
5 70 (9.67%) ServiceNow
6 65 (8.98%) Splunk
7 44 (6.08%) Blue Coat
8 42 (5.80%) SolarWinds
9 41 (5.66%) Palo Alto
10 39 (5.39%) Citrix
11 35 (4.83%) CheckPoint
11 35 (4.83%) McAfee
12 32 (4.42%) Juniper
12 32 (4.42%) Red Hat
13 25 (3.45%) NetApp
14 21 (2.90%) Veeam
15 19 (2.62%) Okta
15 19 (2.62%) Pure Storage
16 18 (2.49%) Google
16 18 (2.49%) Zscaler