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

6 months to
8 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 135 118 121
Rank change year-on-year -17 +3 +1
Contract jobs citing DNS 687 576 761
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.06% 2.20% 1.99%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 19.90% 16.88% 14.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 436 366 505
10th Percentile £216 £225 £200
25th Percentile £400 £350 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £522 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +5.26% -9.52%
75th Percentile £600 £615 £588
90th Percentile £688 £711 £650
UK median daily rate £510 £500 £475
% change year-on-year +2.00% +5.26% -9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 5 25
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.78 £23.65
25th Percentile £17.75 £18.50 £31.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £23.59 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +6.61% -41.03% -
75th Percentile £69.00 £50.00 £55.00
90th Percentile £76.50 £57.95 £64.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £23.59 £40.00
% change year-on-year +6.61% -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 3,452 3,412 5,398
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.34% 13.03% 14.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,251 1,981 3,266
10th Percentile £204 £213 £205
25th Percentile £350 £360 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £480
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% +4.17% -8.57%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £676 £700
UK median daily rate £475 £500 £490
% change year-on-year -5.00% +2.04% -5.77%
Number of hourly rates quoted 158 104 389
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.22 £14.45
25th Percentile £18.59 £20.64 £21.25
Median hourly rate £29.44 £35.00 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -15.89% -30.00% +143.90%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £70.88 £75.13
UK median hourly rate £29.44 £33.75 £50.00
% change year-on-year -12.77% -32.50% +150.00%

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 8 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 8 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 8 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 -5 231 £538 +2.38% 92
North of England -25 164 £455 +7.06% 82
South East -2 122 £513 +9.33% 85
Midlands +16 110 £390 -10.86% 42
West Midlands +28 106 £395 +6.76% 29
North West +1 105 £584 +22.89% 43
South West -26 66 £575 +5.12% 46
Yorkshire -24 63 £447 +49.00% 33
East of England -19 39 £475 +68.14% 56
North East -23 7 £247 -24.15% 9
East Midlands -33 4 £275 -45.54% 13
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 89 (12.95%) Microsoft Exchange
2 61 (8.88%) SharePoint
3 30 (4.37%) Skype for Business
4 19 (2.77%) Confluence
5 13 (1.89%) nginx
6 7 (1.02%) IIS
7 5 (0.73%) Apache
7 5 (0.73%) SharePoint Server
8 3 (0.44%) Exchange Server 2010
8 3 (0.44%) Exchange Server 2013
8 3 (0.44%) OpenStack
9 2 (0.29%) Cloud Foundry
9 2 (0.29%) Oracle HTTP Server
9 2 (0.29%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.29%) WebLogic
9 2 (0.29%) WordPress
10 1 (0.15%) Exchange Server 2003
10 1 (0.15%) Exchange Server 2007
10 1 (0.15%) Office Communications Server
Applications
1 41 (5.97%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (2.18%) MS Visio
3 6 (0.87%) 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 (35.52%) Azure
2 152 (22.13%) AWS
3 136 (19.80%) Microsoft 365
4 117 (17.03%) Entra ID
5 53 (7.71%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 46 (6.70%) GCP
7 45 (6.55%) GitHub
8 44 (6.40%) Amazon S3
9 39 (5.68%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 38 (5.53%) Amazon EC2
11 32 (4.66%) IaaS
12 31 (4.51%) AWS CloudFormation
13 29 (4.22%) Serverless
14 28 (4.08%) Route 53
15 27 (3.93%) Amazon ECS
15 27 (3.93%) AWS Lambda
16 25 (3.64%) Amazon ELB
16 25 (3.64%) SaaS
17 20 (2.91%) Amazon EKS
18 19 (2.77%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 314 (45.71%) DHCP
2 212 (30.86%) TCP/IP
3 201 (29.26%) Firewall
4 167 (24.31%) VPN
5 83 (12.08%) Network Security
6 81 (11.79%) WAN
7 78 (11.35%) SSL
8 73 (10.63%) LAN
9 63 (9.17%) HTTP
10 61 (8.88%) VLAN
11 52 (7.57%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
12 44 (6.40%) BIG-IP
13 43 (6.26%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
14 42 (6.11%) BGP
14 42 (6.11%) Wi-Fi
15 41 (5.97%) Wireshark
16 38 (5.53%) DMZ
17 33 (4.80%) Kerberos
17 33 (4.80%) Skype
18 30 (4.37%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (3.20%) Amazon RDS
2 21 (3.06%) SQL Server
3 19 (2.77%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (1.75%) Amazon Aurora
5 11 (1.60%) Elasticsearch
6 8 (1.16%) MongoDB
7 7 (1.02%) DynamoDB
7 7 (1.02%) MySQL
8 6 (0.87%) 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 (9.61%) Jenkins
2 45 (6.55%) Git
3 40 (5.82%) GitLab
4 38 (5.53%) JIRA
5 28 (4.08%) Fiddler
6 8 (1.16%) Terragrunt
6 8 (1.16%) Vagrant
7 6 (0.87%) Bitbucket
8 5 (0.73%) SonarQube
9 4 (0.58%) CircleCI
10 3 (0.44%) Subversion
11 2 (0.29%) Chocolatey
11 2 (0.29%) Sonatype Nexus
11 2 (0.29%) TeamCity
12 1 (0.15%) Browser DevTools
12 1 (0.15%) Octopus Deploy
12 1 (0.15%) Travis CI
12 1 (0.15%) Visual Studio Code
12 1 (0.15%) Vite
12 1 (0.15%) webpack
General
1 208 (30.28%) Social Skills
2 104 (15.14%) Analytical Skills
3 60 (8.73%) Public Sector
4 59 (8.59%) Banking
5 45 (6.55%) Documentation Skills
6 44 (6.40%) Investment Banking
7 43 (6.26%) Finance
8 14 (2.04%) Legal
9 13 (1.89%) Telecoms
10 12 (1.75%) Presentation Skills
11 9 (1.31%) Military
12 8 (1.16%) Organisational Skills
13 7 (1.02%) Influencing Skills
14 5 (0.73%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 5 (0.73%) Law
15 4 (0.58%) Financial Institution
15 4 (0.58%) Marketing
16 3 (0.44%) Aerospace
16 3 (0.44%) Local Government
16 3 (0.44%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 98 (14.26%) Architect
2 96 (13.97%) Network Engineer
3 66 (9.61%) Analyst
4 64 (9.32%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 61 (8.88%) Support Engineer
6 54 (7.86%) Senior
7 42 (6.11%) IT Support
8 40 (5.82%) Platform Engineer
9 37 (5.39%) Security Engineer
10 34 (4.95%) DevOps Engineer
11 31 (4.51%) Web Engineer
12 26 (3.78%) 2nd Line Support
13 23 (3.35%) Lead
14 22 (3.20%) IT Engineer
15 21 (3.06%) AWS Engineer
16 20 (2.91%) Cisco Engineer
16 20 (2.91%) Cisco Network Engineer
16 20 (2.91%) Operations Engineer
17 19 (2.77%) Network Security Engineer
17 19 (2.77%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 58 (8.44%) LDAP
2 40 (5.82%) SAML
3 35 (5.09%) OAuth
4 27 (3.93%) OpenID
5 20 (2.91%) OAuth2
6 12 (1.75%) OpenTelemetry
7 11 (1.60%) Kafka
8 9 (1.31%) REST
9 8 (1.16%) Elastic Stack
10 7 (1.02%) 802.1X
10 7 (1.02%) JSON
11 6 (0.87%) AWS CDK
11 6 (0.87%) Middleware
12 5 (0.73%) AngularJS
12 5 (0.73%) Microsoft Graph
12 5 (0.73%) React
12 5 (0.73%) RESTful
12 5 (0.73%) YAML
13 4 (0.58%) ASP.NET Web API
13 4 (0.58%) JPA
Miscellaneous
1 56 (8.15%) Replication
2 51 (7.42%) PKI
3 44 (6.40%) Data Centre
4 38 (5.53%) Management Information System
5 30 (4.37%) Onboarding
6 28 (4.08%) Cloud Native
7 22 (3.20%) Enterprise Software
7 22 (3.20%) Public Cloud
8 21 (3.06%) Analytical Mindset
9 15 (2.18%) Hybrid Cloud
10 13 (1.89%) Cyberattack
10 13 (1.89%) Security Operations Centre
11 12 (1.75%) Cyber Threat
11 12 (1.75%) NHS
11 12 (1.75%) Private Cloud
11 12 (1.75%) Self-Motivation
12 9 (1.31%) SCADA
12 9 (1.31%) Video Conferencing
13 8 (1.16%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
14 7 (1.02%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 330 (48.03%) Windows
2 171 (24.89%) Windows Server
3 119 (17.32%) Linux
4 62 (9.02%) Windows 10
5 31 (4.51%) Windows Server 2019
6 20 (2.91%) Android
7 19 (2.77%) Windows Server 2016
8 18 (2.62%) Windows Server 2012
9 17 (2.47%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 16 (2.33%) Unix
11 14 (2.04%) Apple iOS
12 13 (1.89%) VMS
13 11 (1.60%) Amazon Linux
13 11 (1.60%) CentOS
13 11 (1.60%) Ubuntu
14 10 (1.46%) Windows 7
15 8 (1.16%) Mac OS
16 6 (0.87%) Windows Server 2003
17 4 (0.58%) CatOS
18 3 (0.44%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 164 (23.87%) Problem-Solving
2 133 (19.36%) Load Balancing
3 109 (15.87%) ITIL
4 103 (14.99%) CI/CD
4 103 (14.99%) DevOps
5 86 (12.52%) Migration
6 85 (12.37%) Infrastructure as Code
7 84 (12.23%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 70 (10.19%) High Availability
9 67 (9.75%) Disaster Recovery
10 64 (9.32%) Change Management
11 62 (9.02%) Cybersecurity
12 57 (8.30%) Service Management
13 53 (7.71%) Incident Response
13 53 (7.71%) Root Cause Analysis
14 49 (7.13%) Mentoring
14 49 (7.13%) RBAC
15 47 (6.84%) Containerisation
15 47 (6.84%) Platform Engineering
16 46 (6.70%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 208 (30.28%) PowerShell
2 132 (19.21%) Python
3 59 (8.59%) Bash
4 36 (5.24%) SQL
5 14 (2.04%) Java
6 12 (1.75%) Bicep
6 12 (1.75%) Perl
6 12 (1.75%) VBScript
7 10 (1.46%) Shell Script
7 10 (1.46%) VB
8 8 (1.16%) Go
8 8 (1.16%) Groovy
8 8 (1.16%) Ruby
9 7 (1.02%) Lisp
10 6 (0.87%) Kusto Query Language
11 5 (0.73%) JavaScript
12 4 (0.58%) C++
13 3 (0.44%) C#
13 3 (0.44%) T-SQL
14 2 (0.29%) VBA
Qualifications
1 253 (36.83%) Security Cleared
2 180 (26.20%) SC Cleared
3 80 (11.64%) DV Cleared
4 61 (8.88%) Degree
5 56 (8.15%) Microsoft Certification
6 39 (5.68%) Cisco Certification
7 37 (5.39%) CCNP
8 36 (5.24%) Azure Certification
9 22 (3.20%) AWS Certification
10 17 (2.47%) Network+ Certification
11 14 (2.04%) CCNA
12 11 (1.60%) Server+ Certification
13 10 (1.46%) CISSP
13 10 (1.46%) Computer Science Degree
14 9 (1.31%) ITIL Certification
15 8 (1.16%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
15 8 (1.16%) CCIE
15 8 (1.16%) CompTIA Security+
15 8 (1.16%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 7 (1.02%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (4.37%) GDPR
2 23 (3.35%) SLA
3 19 (2.77%) NIST
4 18 (2.62%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 18 (2.62%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 9 (1.31%) NCSC
5 9 (1.31%) PCI DSS
6 8 (1.16%) Cyber Essentials
7 6 (0.87%) QA
8 4 (0.58%) 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
1 315 (45.85%) Active Directory
2 171 (24.89%) VMware Infrastructure
3 71 (10.33%) Docker
4 51 (7.42%) VMware NSX
5 49 (7.13%) Hyper-V
6 35 (5.09%) vSphere
7 25 (3.64%) Virtual Machines
8 22 (3.20%) Firmware
9 16 (2.33%) VMware ESXi
10 13 (1.89%) BitLocker
11 12 (1.75%) Squid
11 12 (1.75%) Virtual Desktop
12 11 (1.60%) DFS Replication
13 7 (1.02%) Postfix
13 7 (1.02%) Virtual Servers
14 6 (0.87%) Dovecot
14 6 (0.87%) Microsoft App-V
15 5 (0.73%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 5 (0.73%) Terminal Services
16 4 (0.58%) NFS
Systems Management
1 125 (18.20%) Terraform
2 113 (16.45%) Ansible
3 87 (12.66%) Microsoft Intune
4 77 (11.21%) SCCM
5 71 (10.33%) Kubernetes
6 63 (9.17%) Single Sign-On
7 62 (9.02%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 42 (6.11%) vCenter Server
9 35 (5.09%) Grafana
10 24 (3.49%) Prometheus
11 21 (3.06%) FortiGate
12 18 (2.62%) Argo
12 18 (2.62%) WSUS
13 13 (1.89%) SCOM
14 10 (1.46%) Packer
15 9 (1.31%) Proxmox
16 8 (1.16%) Puppet
17 7 (1.02%) Nessus
18 6 (0.87%) Nagios
19 5 (0.73%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 277 (40.32%) Microsoft
2 213 (31.00%) VMware
3 119 (17.32%) F5
4 94 (13.68%) Cisco
5 71 (10.33%) ServiceNow
6 45 (6.55%) Splunk
7 40 (5.82%) Palo Alto
8 39 (5.68%) Blue Coat
9 35 (5.09%) CheckPoint
10 33 (4.80%) Citrix
10 33 (4.80%) McAfee
11 30 (4.37%) SolarWinds
12 28 (4.08%) Red Hat
13 25 (3.64%) NetApp
14 23 (3.35%) Veeam
15 20 (2.91%) Okta
16 18 (2.62%) Dell
16 18 (2.62%) Fortinet
16 18 (2.62%) Juniper
17 16 (2.33%) Zscaler