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

6 months to
3 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 135 125 158
Rank change year-on-year -10 +33 -30
Contract jobs citing DNS 917 635 532
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.01% 2.32% 1.62%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 21.30% 19.11% 13.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 565 405 350
10th Percentile £289 £250 £256
25th Percentile £408 £385 £382
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £518 £500
Median % change year-on-year -3.38% +3.50% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £650 £652 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £510 £494
% change year-on-year -1.96% +3.29% -1.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 49 31 13
10th Percentile £26.53 - £20.00
25th Percentile £31.25 £29.00 £23.10
Median hourly rate £63.48 £57.50 £24.18
Median % change year-on-year +10.40% +137.80% -39.55%
75th Percentile £74.00 £82.18 £48.75
90th Percentile £98.82 £89.63 £51.52
UK median hourly rate £63.48 £57.50 £24.18
% change year-on-year +10.40% +137.80% -39.55%

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 4,305 3,322 4,003
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.44% 12.14% 12.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,602 2,072 2,391
10th Percentile £251 £243 £250
25th Percentile £400 £363 £383
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £490 £505
Median % change year-on-year +2.04% -2.97% +1.00%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £613
90th Percentile £675 £680 £700
UK median daily rate £500 £480 £500
% change year-on-year +4.17% -4.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 344 168 251
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.50 £25.15 £21.37
Median hourly rate £27.75 £42.50 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year -34.71% -25.89% +1.52%
75th Percentile £65.88 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £81.85 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £26.00 £45.00 £50.25
% change year-on-year -42.22% -10.45% -8.64%

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 3 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 3 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 3 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 -41 311 £500 - 357
North of England +31 212 £500 +5.26% 89
South East +2 183 £538 +2.38% 141
North West +20 132 £458 - 54
Midlands -27 118 £450 -5.26% 59
South West +11 102 £550 - 73
West Midlands -33 96 £450 -5.26% 35
Yorkshire -5 66 £500 -9.09% 21
East of England -49 35 £463 -15.91% 45
East Midlands -7 20 £431 -21.59% 24
North East -37 14 £413 +21.32% 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
1 101 (11.01%) Microsoft Exchange
2 82 (8.94%) SharePoint
3 21 (2.29%) Confluence
4 15 (1.64%) Apache
5 13 (1.42%) IIS
5 13 (1.42%) nginx
6 7 (0.76%) Skype for Business
7 6 (0.65%) Tomcat
8 4 (0.44%) OpenStack
9 3 (0.33%) Exchange Server 2013
10 2 (0.22%) IBM HTTP Server
10 2 (0.22%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 2 (0.22%) WebSphere
10 2 (0.22%) WebSphere Application Server
10 2 (0.22%) WebSphere Portal
11 1 (0.11%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 25 (2.73%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (1.20%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (0.98%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.33%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.22%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.22%) Houdini
5 2 (0.22%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.22%) NUKE
6 1 (0.11%) Mozilla Thunderbird
Business Applications
1 11 (1.20%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.11%) Oracle Retail
Cloud Services
1 374 (40.79%) Azure
2 184 (20.07%) AWS
3 177 (19.30%) Microsoft 365
4 166 (18.10%) Entra ID
5 88 (9.60%) GCP
6 65 (7.09%) GitHub
7 51 (5.56%) OneDrive
8 46 (5.02%) IaaS
9 40 (4.36%) Azure DevOps
10 36 (3.93%) Azure Monitor
10 36 (3.93%) GitHub Actions
10 36 (3.93%) SaaS
11 32 (3.49%) PaaS
12 29 (3.16%) OpenShift
13 24 (2.62%) AWS CloudFormation
13 24 (2.62%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 22 (2.40%) Virtual Private Cloud
15 21 (2.29%) Serverless
16 20 (2.18%) Azure Sentinel
16 20 (2.18%) Google Kubernetes Engine
Communications & Networking
1 451 (49.18%) DHCP
2 339 (36.97%) Firewall
3 278 (30.32%) TCP/IP
4 269 (29.33%) VPN
5 126 (13.74%) Network Security
6 119 (12.98%) WAN
7 116 (12.65%) VLAN
8 96 (10.47%) LAN
9 88 (9.60%) BGP
9 88 (9.60%) SSL
10 73 (7.96%) Wireless
11 65 (7.09%) Wi-Fi
12 63 (6.87%) BIG-IP
13 59 (6.43%) HTTP
14 54 (5.89%) SAN
15 51 (5.56%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
16 48 (5.23%) OSPF
17 44 (4.80%) DMZ
17 44 (4.80%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
18 36 (3.93%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 47 (5.13%) SQL Server
2 14 (1.53%) PostgreSQL
3 11 (1.20%) Amazon RDS
3 11 (1.20%) MySQL
4 10 (1.09%) Power BI
5 8 (0.87%) Elasticsearch
6 7 (0.76%) NoSQL
7 6 (0.65%) Azure SQL Database
7 6 (0.65%) Data Lake
7 6 (0.65%) MongoDB
8 5 (0.55%) Redis
9 4 (0.44%) Db2
10 3 (0.33%) Big Data
11 2 (0.22%) Amazon Aurora
11 2 (0.22%) KDB
12 1 (0.11%) BigQuery
12 1 (0.11%) Cloud Spanner
12 1 (0.11%) DynamoDB
12 1 (0.11%) Metadata
12 1 (0.11%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 70 (7.63%) JIRA
2 51 (5.56%) Jenkins
3 38 (4.14%) Git
4 33 (3.60%) GitLab
5 15 (1.64%) Fiddler
6 7 (0.76%) Bitbucket
6 7 (0.76%) Sonatype Nexus
7 6 (0.65%) Browser DevTools
8 5 (0.55%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 5 (0.55%) Chocolatey
9 4 (0.44%) Selenium
10 3 (0.33%) MSI
11 2 (0.22%) Artifactory
11 2 (0.22%) Introscope
11 2 (0.22%) Spinnaker
11 2 (0.22%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
11 2 (0.22%) Vagrant
12 1 (0.11%) Locust
12 1 (0.11%) Newman
12 1 (0.11%) TestCafe
General
1 235 (25.63%) Social Skills
2 109 (11.89%) Analytical Skills
3 80 (8.72%) Finance
4 68 (7.42%) Public Sector
5 59 (6.43%) Banking
6 42 (4.58%) Documentation Skills
7 33 (3.60%) Telecoms
8 29 (3.16%) Investment Banking
9 15 (1.64%) Legal
10 12 (1.31%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 11 (1.20%) Local Government
11 11 (1.20%) Police
12 10 (1.09%) Aerospace
12 10 (1.09%) Military
13 8 (0.87%) Manufacturing
13 8 (0.87%) Organisational Skills
14 7 (0.76%) Front Office
14 7 (0.76%) Law
14 7 (0.76%) Pharmaceutical
15 6 (0.65%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 163 (17.78%) Network Engineer
2 162 (17.67%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 106 (11.56%) Senior
4 94 (10.25%) Support Engineer
5 77 (8.40%) Architect
6 76 (8.29%) Cloud Engineer
7 47 (5.13%) IT Support
8 46 (5.02%) Security Engineer
9 45 (4.91%) IT Engineer
10 43 (4.69%) Analyst
11 42 (4.58%) Platform Engineer
12 39 (4.25%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
13 38 (4.14%) Azure Engineer
14 36 (3.93%) DevOps Engineer
15 35 (3.82%) Administrator
15 35 (3.82%) Cisco Engineer
15 35 (3.82%) Network Security Engineer
16 33 (3.60%) Cisco Network Engineer
16 33 (3.60%) Senior Network Engineer
17 32 (3.49%) IT Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 203 (22.14%) Terraform
2 36 (3.93%) 802.1X
3 30 (3.27%) SAML
4 25 (2.73%) ARM Templates
4 25 (2.73%) LDAP
5 19 (2.07%) OAuth
6 17 (1.85%) REST
7 16 (1.74%) OpenID
8 13 (1.42%) JSON
9 12 (1.31%) YAML
10 11 (1.20%) Kafka
10 11 (1.20%) OpenTelemetry
11 9 (0.98%) CSS
12 8 (0.87%) Elastic Stack
13 7 (0.76%) Middleware
14 6 (0.65%) RabbitMQ
14 6 (0.65%) Software Packaging
15 5 (0.55%) Flask
15 5 (0.55%) Jinja
15 5 (0.55%) Pandas
Miscellaneous
1 119 (12.98%) Data Centre
2 95 (10.36%) PKI
3 71 (7.74%) Hybrid Cloud
4 68 (7.42%) Onboarding
5 53 (5.78%) Management Information System
6 43 (4.69%) Cloud Native
7 33 (3.60%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 29 (3.16%) Clustering
9 26 (2.84%) Public Cloud
10 25 (2.73%) Replication
11 20 (2.18%) Self-Motivation
12 17 (1.85%) Linux Command Line
13 16 (1.74%) Enterprise Cloud
14 14 (1.53%) Driving Licence
14 14 (1.53%) Enterprise Software
15 13 (1.42%) Security Posture
16 12 (1.31%) Cyber Threat
17 10 (1.09%) Distributed Systems
18 9 (0.98%) CMDB
18 9 (0.98%) Enterprise Storage
Operating Systems
1 445 (48.53%) Windows
2 253 (27.59%) Windows Server
3 199 (21.70%) Linux
4 65 (7.09%) Windows 10
5 40 (4.36%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 37 (4.03%) Windows Server 2019
7 29 (3.16%) Mac OS
8 28 (3.05%) Unix
9 24 (2.62%) Ubuntu
10 23 (2.51%) Windows Server 2012
11 18 (1.96%) Apple iOS
11 18 (1.96%) CentOS
12 16 (1.74%) Android
13 12 (1.31%) VMS
13 12 (1.31%) Windows 7
13 12 (1.31%) Windows Server 2016
14 7 (0.76%) Rocky
14 7 (0.76%) Windows Server 2008
15 4 (0.44%) AIX
15 4 (0.44%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 222 (24.21%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 206 (22.46%) Problem-Solving
3 181 (19.74%) ITIL
4 173 (18.87%) Infrastructure as Code
5 166 (18.10%) Load Balancing
6 150 (16.36%) DevOps
7 148 (16.14%) Migration
8 139 (15.16%) CI/CD
9 117 (12.76%) High Availability
10 114 (12.43%) ITSM
11 99 (10.80%) Continuous Improvement
12 92 (10.03%) Agile
12 92 (10.03%) Cybersecurity
13 89 (9.71%) Technical Leadership
14 85 (9.27%) Observability
15 76 (8.29%) Disaster Recovery
15 76 (8.29%) Project Delivery
16 74 (8.07%) Root Cause Analysis
17 73 (7.96%) Platform Engineering
18 70 (7.63%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 231 (25.19%) PowerShell
2 180 (19.63%) Python
3 128 (13.96%) Bash
4 62 (6.76%) SQL
5 42 (4.58%) Bicep
6 19 (2.07%) JavaScript
7 16 (1.74%) Shell Script
8 12 (1.31%) Go
9 10 (1.09%) Perl
10 9 (0.98%) ActionScript
10 9 (0.98%) VBScript
11 8 (0.87%) Groovy
11 8 (0.87%) Java
12 7 (0.76%) VBA
13 6 (0.65%) VB
14 4 (0.44%) Kusto Query Language
14 4 (0.44%) Ruby
15 3 (0.33%) C
15 3 (0.33%) Lisp
16 2 (0.22%) C++
Qualifications
1 343 (37.40%) Security Cleared
2 188 (20.50%) SC Cleared
3 150 (16.36%) DV Cleared
4 87 (9.49%) Cisco Certification
5 74 (8.07%) Degree
6 69 (7.52%) CCNP
7 52 (5.67%) Azure Certification
8 47 (5.13%) Microsoft Certification
9 45 (4.91%) CCNA
10 26 (2.84%) Network+ Certification
11 23 (2.51%) AWS Certification
12 20 (2.18%) Computer Science Degree
13 19 (2.07%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 17 (1.85%) CCIE
15 15 (1.64%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 15 (1.64%) VCAP
16 12 (1.31%) BPSS Clearance
17 11 (1.20%) A+ Certification
17 11 (1.20%) ITIL Certification
17 11 (1.20%) Server+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (4.03%) SLA
2 24 (2.62%) NIST
3 15 (1.64%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 15 (1.64%) NCSC
3 15 (1.64%) QA
4 6 (0.65%) GDPR
5 5 (0.55%) NIST 800
6 4 (0.44%) Cyber Essentials
6 4 (0.44%) HMG Security Policy Framework
6 4 (0.44%) JSP 440
7 3 (0.33%) SOC 2
8 2 (0.22%) Data Quality
8 2 (0.22%) Government Security Classifications
8 2 (0.22%) PCI DSS
9 1 (0.11%) HIPAA
9 1 (0.11%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 408 (44.49%) Active Directory
2 260 (28.35%) VMware Infrastructure
3 112 (12.21%) Hyper-V
4 80 (8.72%) VMware ESXi
5 72 (7.85%) vSphere
6 69 (7.52%) VMware NSX
7 61 (6.65%) Docker
8 41 (4.47%) Virtual Machines
9 35 (3.82%) Virtual Desktop
10 24 (2.62%) Firmware
11 18 (1.96%) NFS
12 16 (1.74%) vCloud
13 13 (1.42%) BitLocker
14 10 (1.09%) Postfix
15 8 (0.87%) Microsoft App-V
15 8 (0.87%) Virtual Servers
16 6 (0.65%) Squid
16 6 (0.65%) VMware Workstation
17 5 (0.55%) Dovecot
17 5 (0.55%) UAG
Systems Management
1 145 (15.81%) Ansible
2 117 (12.76%) Kubernetes
3 107 (11.67%) Microsoft Intune
4 78 (8.51%) SCCM
5 66 (7.20%) vCenter Server
6 58 (6.32%) Grafana
7 50 (5.45%) Single Sign-On
8 45 (4.91%) Prometheus
9 33 (3.60%) SCOM
9 33 (3.60%) WSUS
10 26 (2.84%) FortiGate
11 16 (1.74%) VxRail
12 15 (1.64%) Puppet
13 14 (1.53%) Packer
14 13 (1.42%) Jamf Pro
15 12 (1.31%) NetBackup
15 12 (1.31%) vMotion
16 11 (1.20%) Istio
17 10 (1.09%) Argo
17 10 (1.09%) Nessus
Vendors
1 358 (39.04%) Microsoft
2 311 (33.91%) VMware
3 179 (19.52%) Cisco
4 124 (13.52%) F5
5 88 (9.60%) ServiceNow
6 57 (6.22%) Infoblox
7 54 (5.89%) Google
8 49 (5.34%) Citrix
8 49 (5.34%) SolarWinds
9 46 (5.02%) Palo Alto
10 43 (4.69%) Juniper
11 42 (4.58%) Splunk
12 40 (4.36%) Red Hat
13 33 (3.60%) NetApp
14 32 (3.49%) CheckPoint
15 30 (3.27%) Dynatrace
16 28 (3.05%) Fortinet
17 24 (2.62%) Blue Coat
17 24 (2.62%) Zscaler
18 23 (2.51%) McAfee