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

 6 months to
20 Mar 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 132 114 130
Rank change year-on-year -18 +16 -7
Contract jobs citing DNS 746 598 674
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.01% 2.45% 1.79%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 20.08% 18.14% 12.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 475 410 441
10th Percentile £250 £250 £193
25th Percentile £400 £400 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £463
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% +13.51% -11.90%
75th Percentile £613 £606 £569
90th Percentile £688 £663 £650
UK median daily rate £505 £525 £465
% change year-on-year -3.81% +12.90% -11.43%
Number of hourly rates quoted 32 9 25
10th Percentile £12.74 £17.26 £21.30
25th Percentile £21.25 £23.59 £25.00
Median hourly rate £38.50 £80.68 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -52.28% +101.69% -8.57%
75th Percentile £74.26 £81.35 £48.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £82.48 £64.50
UK median hourly rate £38.50 £54.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year -29.36% +36.25% -8.57%

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 3,715 3,296 5,276
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.00% 13.49% 13.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,393 2,029 3,191
10th Percentile £213 £213 £205
25th Percentile £375 £370 £336
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year - +5.26% -9.52%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK median daily rate £490 £490 £475
% change year-on-year -0.10% +3.16% -9.51%
Number of hourly rates quoted 178 115 374
10th Percentile £15.54 £14.99 £13.90
25th Percentile £19.00 £21.46 £18.00
Median hourly rate £36.00 £36.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -1.37% +12.31% +71.05%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £81.01 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £36.00 £35.00 £32.50
% change year-on-year +2.86% +7.69% +71.05%

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 March 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 March 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 March 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 -39 235 £516 -1.81% 82
North of England -11 211 £449 -5.58% 69
South East +6 154 £525 -4.55% 86
North West +22 136 £528 +18.54% 39
Midlands +13 103 £400 -26.94% 40
West Midlands +17 96 £400 -12.57% 23
Yorkshire -32 76 £443 -19.55% 22
South West -38 55 £684 +24.77% 34
East of England -23 39 £475 -5.00% 28
North East -23 6 £575 +70.37% 10
East Midlands -41 6 £325 -43.48% 17
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 92 (12.33%) Microsoft Exchange
2 46 (6.17%) SharePoint
3 24 (3.22%) Skype for Business
4 14 (1.88%) Confluence
5 12 (1.61%) nginx
6 7 (0.94%) IIS
7 5 (0.67%) Apache
8 3 (0.40%) Exchange Server 2010
9 2 (0.27%) Exchange Server 2013
9 2 (0.27%) SharePoint Server
9 2 (0.27%) WordPress
10 1 (0.13%) IBM HTTP Server
10 1 (0.13%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 1 (0.13%) Traefik
10 1 (0.13%) WebSphere
10 1 (0.13%) WebSphere Application Server
10 1 (0.13%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 26 (3.49%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (2.01%) MS Visio
3 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 2 (0.27%) SystmOne
2 1 (0.13%) Cloudability
2 1 (0.13%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 263 (35.25%) Azure
2 143 (19.17%) AWS
3 129 (17.29%) Entra ID
4 123 (16.49%) Microsoft 365
5 75 (10.05%) GCP
6 60 (8.04%) GitHub
7 43 (5.76%) IaaS
8 36 (4.83%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 35 (4.69%) AWS CloudFormation
10 31 (4.16%) Serverless
11 29 (3.89%) Amazon S3
11 29 (3.89%) Route 53
12 28 (3.75%) AWS Lambda
12 28 (3.75%) PaaS
13 27 (3.62%) Amazon EC2
13 27 (3.62%) OpenShift
13 27 (3.62%) SaaS
14 24 (3.22%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 24 (3.22%) Amazon EKS
15 22 (2.95%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 323 (43.30%) DHCP
2 230 (30.83%) Firewall
3 199 (26.68%) TCP/IP
4 173 (23.19%) VPN
5 99 (13.27%) WAN
6 90 (12.06%) LAN
7 80 (10.72%) Network Security
8 74 (9.92%) SSL
9 70 (9.38%) BGP
10 69 (9.25%) BIG-IP
11 66 (8.85%) HTTP
12 65 (8.71%) VLAN
13 52 (6.97%) Wi-Fi
14 49 (6.57%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
15 42 (5.63%) OSPF
16 40 (5.36%) Wireshark
17 38 (5.09%) DMZ
17 38 (5.09%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
18 35 (4.69%) Wireless
19 34 (4.56%) Kerberos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (2.82%) SQL Server
2 17 (2.28%) Elasticsearch
3 13 (1.74%) Amazon RDS
4 12 (1.61%) PostgreSQL
5 7 (0.94%) DynamoDB
6 6 (0.80%) Amazon Aurora
6 6 (0.80%) MongoDB
6 6 (0.80%) Redis
7 5 (0.67%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (0.67%) Data Hub
7 5 (0.67%) MySQL
8 4 (0.54%) DocumentDB
8 4 (0.54%) NoSQL
8 4 (0.54%) Power BI
8 4 (0.54%) Relational Database
9 3 (0.40%) BigQuery
10 1 (0.13%) CouchDB
10 1 (0.13%) Electronic Patient Records
10 1 (0.13%) Oracle Reports
10 1 (0.13%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 64 (8.58%) Jenkins
2 36 (4.83%) JIRA
3 33 (4.42%) GitLab
4 30 (4.02%) Fiddler
5 29 (3.89%) Git
6 8 (1.07%) Bitbucket
7 7 (0.94%) SonarQube
8 6 (0.80%) Browser DevTools
8 6 (0.80%) Terragrunt
9 5 (0.67%) Chocolatey
10 4 (0.54%) CircleCI
11 2 (0.27%) Sonatype Nexus
12 1 (0.13%) Artifactory
12 1 (0.13%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.13%) GCC
12 1 (0.13%) Introscope
12 1 (0.13%) MSI
12 1 (0.13%) Octopus Deploy
12 1 (0.13%) Subversion
12 1 (0.13%) Travis CI
General
1 186 (24.93%) Social Skills
2 91 (12.20%) Analytical Skills
3 68 (9.12%) Banking
4 60 (8.04%) Finance
5 50 (6.70%) Public Sector
6 46 (6.17%) Documentation Skills
7 45 (6.03%) Investment Banking
8 21 (2.82%) Legal
9 16 (2.14%) Military
10 13 (1.74%) Telecoms
11 9 (1.21%) Organisational Skills
12 7 (0.94%) Financial Institution
12 7 (0.94%) Influencing Skills
13 6 (0.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 6 (0.80%) Presentation Skills
14 5 (0.67%) Law
14 5 (0.67%) Local Government
15 4 (0.54%) Manufacturing
16 3 (0.40%) Aerospace
17 2 (0.27%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 131 (17.56%) Network Engineer
2 116 (15.55%) Architect
3 66 (8.85%) Analyst
4 65 (8.71%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 64 (8.58%) Senior
6 55 (7.37%) Support Engineer
7 48 (6.43%) Security Engineer
8 46 (6.17%) Web Engineer
9 36 (4.83%) IT Support
10 29 (3.89%) Lead
10 29 (3.89%) Network Security Engineer
10 29 (3.89%) Platform Engineer
11 27 (3.62%) IT Engineer
12 26 (3.49%) Cisco Engineer
12 26 (3.49%) Cisco Network Engineer
13 24 (3.22%) Azure Engineer
14 22 (2.95%) DevOps Engineer
14 22 (2.95%) Infrastructure Architect
15 21 (2.82%) Data Network Engineer
15 21 (2.82%) IT Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 64 (8.58%) LDAP
2 44 (5.90%) SAML
3 37 (4.96%) OAuth
4 30 (4.02%) OpenID
5 28 (3.75%) 802.1X
6 22 (2.95%) OpenTelemetry
7 20 (2.68%) OAuth2
8 10 (1.34%) Kafka
9 8 (1.07%) Elastic Stack
9 8 (1.07%) REST
10 7 (0.94%) Microsoft Graph
10 7 (0.94%) XMPP
11 6 (0.80%) ARM Templates
11 6 (0.80%) JSON
12 5 (0.67%) RESTful
13 4 (0.54%) gRPC
13 4 (0.54%) Hibernate
13 4 (0.54%) JPA
13 4 (0.54%) Middleware
13 4 (0.54%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 64 (8.58%) Data Centre
1 64 (8.58%) PKI
2 47 (6.30%) Cloud Native
2 47 (6.30%) Replication
3 35 (4.69%) Management Information System
4 30 (4.02%) Clustering
5 29 (3.89%) Onboarding
6 28 (3.75%) Public Cloud
7 26 (3.49%) Hybrid Cloud
8 22 (2.95%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 18 (2.41%) Enterprise Software
10 15 (2.01%) Analytical Mindset
10 15 (2.01%) Cyber Threat
10 15 (2.01%) Cyberattack
10 15 (2.01%) Security Operations Centre
11 13 (1.74%) Legacy Systems
12 12 (1.61%) NHS
12 12 (1.61%) Product Ownership
12 12 (1.61%) Self-Motivation
13 11 (1.47%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 329 (44.10%) Windows
2 181 (24.26%) Windows Server
3 101 (13.54%) Linux
4 46 (6.17%) Windows 10
5 25 (3.35%) Windows Server 2019
6 18 (2.41%) Android
7 16 (2.14%) Unix
8 15 (2.01%) Windows Server 2012
9 12 (1.61%) Apple iOS
9 12 (1.61%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 12 (1.61%) Windows Server 2016
10 11 (1.47%) Windows 7
11 8 (1.07%) Mac OS
12 7 (0.94%) Windows Server 2003
13 5 (0.67%) VMS
14 4 (0.54%) CatOS
14 4 (0.54%) CentOS
15 3 (0.40%) Amazon Linux
15 3 (0.40%) Windows Server 2008
16 2 (0.27%) Oracle Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 174 (23.32%) Problem-Solving
2 172 (23.06%) Load Balancing
3 116 (15.55%) Migration
4 110 (14.75%) DevOps
5 109 (14.61%) CI/CD
6 100 (13.40%) High Availability
6 100 (13.40%) ITIL
7 97 (13.00%) Infrastructure as Code
8 88 (11.80%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 73 (9.79%) Identity Access Management
10 71 (9.52%) Disaster Recovery
11 64 (8.58%) RBAC
12 62 (8.31%) Cybersecurity
13 57 (7.64%) Observability
14 56 (7.51%) ITSM
15 53 (7.10%) Service Management
16 52 (6.97%) Incident Response
17 51 (6.84%) Containerisation
17 51 (6.84%) Roadmaps
18 50 (6.70%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 208 (27.88%) PowerShell
2 131 (17.56%) Python
3 65 (8.71%) Bash
4 40 (5.36%) SQL
5 13 (1.74%) Bicep
5 13 (1.74%) JavaScript
5 13 (1.74%) VBScript
6 11 (1.47%) Java
7 10 (1.34%) VB
8 9 (1.21%) Ruby
8 9 (1.21%) Shell Script
9 8 (1.07%) Go
10 6 (0.80%) Lisp
11 5 (0.67%) Kusto Query Language
12 3 (0.40%) Perl
13 2 (0.27%) C
13 2 (0.27%) C#
13 2 (0.27%) T-SQL
13 2 (0.27%) VBA
14 1 (0.13%) PHP
Qualifications
1 255 (34.18%) Security Cleared
2 167 (22.39%) SC Cleared
3 91 (12.20%) DV Cleared
4 61 (8.18%) Cisco Certification
5 46 (6.17%) Degree
6 43 (5.76%) Microsoft Certification
7 38 (5.09%) CCNP
8 26 (3.49%) Azure Certification
9 21 (2.82%) CCNA
10 16 (2.14%) AWS Certification
10 16 (2.14%) CompTIA Security+
11 14 (1.88%) CISSP
11 14 (1.88%) Network+ Certification
12 10 (1.34%) Computer Science Degree
12 10 (1.34%) JNCIA
12 10 (1.34%) JNCIS
13 9 (1.21%) BPSS Clearance
13 9 (1.21%) CCIE
13 9 (1.21%) JNCIP
14 8 (1.07%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (3.75%) GDPR
2 20 (2.68%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 20 (2.68%) NIST
2 20 (2.68%) SLA
3 16 (2.14%) Sarbanes-Oxley
4 9 (1.21%) PCI DSS
5 8 (1.07%) Cyber Essentials
5 8 (1.07%) NCSC
6 6 (0.80%) QA
7 2 (0.27%) Accessibility
7 2 (0.27%) Data Quality
7 2 (0.27%) HMG Security Policy Framework
7 2 (0.27%) JSP 440
8 1 (0.13%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.13%) COBIT
8 1 (0.13%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 1 (0.13%) Government Security Classifications
8 1 (0.13%) RMADS
System Software
1 317 (42.49%) Active Directory
2 166 (22.25%) VMware Infrastructure
3 60 (8.04%) VMware NSX
4 59 (7.91%) Hyper-V
5 53 (7.10%) Docker
6 47 (6.30%) vSphere
7 28 (3.75%) Firmware
8 23 (3.08%) Virtual Machines
9 19 (2.55%) VMware ESXi
10 17 (2.28%) BitLocker
11 14 (1.88%) Virtual Desktop
12 9 (1.21%) Squid
13 8 (1.07%) Microsoft App-V
14 5 (0.67%) Terminal Services
15 4 (0.54%) NFS
16 3 (0.40%) DFS Replication
16 3 (0.40%) Postfix
16 3 (0.40%) Sendmail
16 3 (0.40%) Varnish
16 3 (0.40%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 148 (19.84%) Terraform
2 116 (15.55%) Ansible
3 87 (11.66%) Microsoft Intune
4 86 (11.53%) Kubernetes
5 68 (9.12%) Single Sign-On
6 65 (8.71%) SCCM
7 59 (7.91%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 44 (5.90%) vCenter Server
9 41 (5.50%) FortiGate
9 41 (5.50%) Grafana
10 27 (3.62%) Argo
11 21 (2.82%) Prometheus
12 14 (1.88%) SCOM
13 10 (1.34%) WSUS
14 9 (1.21%) Puppet
15 8 (1.07%) HAProxy
16 7 (0.94%) Consul
16 7 (0.94%) vMotion
17 6 (0.80%) Nagios
17 6 (0.80%) Nessus
Vendors
1 270 (36.19%) Microsoft
2 213 (28.55%) VMware
3 137 (18.36%) F5
4 117 (15.68%) Cisco
5 67 (8.98%) Splunk
6 63 (8.45%) ServiceNow
7 42 (5.63%) SolarWinds
8 41 (5.50%) Blue Coat
8 41 (5.50%) Citrix
9 38 (5.09%) Red Hat
10 35 (4.69%) Juniper
10 35 (4.69%) McAfee
11 33 (4.42%) Palo Alto
12 29 (3.89%) Google
13 28 (3.75%) NetApp
14 27 (3.62%) Infoblox
15 24 (3.22%) Pure Storage
16 20 (2.68%) Fortinet
17 19 (2.55%) CheckPoint
17 19 (2.55%) Extreme Networks
309 DNS jobs in England