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

6 months to
15 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 125 120 150
Rank change year-on-year -5 +30 -16
Contract jobs citing DNS 949 631 534
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.07% 2.28% 1.61%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 21.93% 18.64% 12.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 585 410 364
10th Percentile £282 £263 £256
25th Percentile £401 £400 £384
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £599
90th Percentile £646 £650 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £488
% change year-on-year -4.76% +7.69% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 50 32 15
10th Percentile £26.59 £29.00 £20.00
25th Percentile £31.25 £37.06 £23.45
Median hourly rate £65.24 £61.25 £24.20
Median % change year-on-year +6.51% +153.10% -27.76%
75th Percentile £74.20 £82.33 £49.38
90th Percentile £98.82 £89.17 £63.51
UK median hourly rate £65.24 £61.25 £24.20
% change year-on-year +6.51% +153.10% -39.50%

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 4,328 3,386 4,201
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.45% 12.23% 12.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,614 2,088 2,588
10th Percentile £263 £250 £243
25th Percentile £402 £375 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £492 £500
Median % change year-on-year +1.63% -1.60% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £613
90th Percentile £676 £682 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £488 £500
% change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 340 168 286
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £14.38
25th Percentile £19.50 £25.15 £20.50
Median hourly rate £28.00 £43.75 £54.88
Median % change year-on-year -36.00% -20.27% -0.23%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £85.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £26.14 £46.25 £48.56
% change year-on-year -43.48% -4.76% -10.07%

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 15 August 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 15 August 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 15 August 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 -30 327 £500 - 300
North of England +32 232 £475 -5.00% 65
South East +15 199 £538 -2.27% 112
North West +30 151 £483 +3.87% 36
Midlands -12 119 £450 -5.26% 42
West Midlands -19 97 £431 -9.21% 30
South West -4 87 £513 -12.77% 42
Yorkshire -13 68 £488 -11.36% 20
East of England -52 31 £450 -18.18% 38
East Midlands -3 20 £413 -25.00% 12
North East -39 13 £319 -21.78% 10
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 (10.12%) Microsoft Exchange
2 81 (8.54%) SharePoint
3 18 (1.90%) Confluence
4 16 (1.69%) Apache
5 14 (1.48%) nginx
6 13 (1.37%) IIS
7 6 (0.63%) Skype for Business
7 6 (0.63%) Tomcat
8 3 (0.32%) Exchange Server 2013
9 2 (0.21%) IBM HTTP Server
9 2 (0.21%) OpenStack
9 2 (0.21%) Oracle HTTP Server
9 2 (0.21%) WebSphere
9 2 (0.21%) WebSphere Application Server
9 2 (0.21%) WebSphere Portal
10 1 (0.11%) Exchange Server 2010
10 1 (0.11%) SharePoint Server
10 1 (0.11%) Traefik
Applications
1 25 (2.63%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (0.95%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (0.95%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.32%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.21%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 2 (0.21%) Houdini
4 2 (0.21%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.21%) NUKE
Business Applications
1 9 (0.95%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 377 (39.73%) Azure
2 194 (20.44%) AWS
3 168 (17.70%) Microsoft 365
4 164 (17.28%) Entra ID
5 105 (11.06%) GCP
6 67 (7.06%) GitHub
7 55 (5.80%) IaaS
8 49 (5.16%) OneDrive
9 40 (4.21%) SaaS
10 38 (4.00%) PaaS
11 37 (3.90%) Azure DevOps
12 33 (3.48%) Azure Monitor
13 30 (3.16%) GitHub Actions
14 29 (3.06%) OpenShift
15 28 (2.95%) AWS CloudFormation
16 27 (2.85%) Google Kubernetes Engine
17 24 (2.53%) Azure ExpressRoute
18 22 (2.32%) Serverless
19 21 (2.21%) Virtual Private Cloud
20 20 (2.11%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 449 (47.31%) DHCP
2 352 (37.09%) Firewall
3 276 (29.08%) TCP/IP
4 273 (28.77%) VPN
5 131 (13.80%) WAN
6 121 (12.75%) Network Security
7 118 (12.43%) VLAN
8 112 (11.80%) LAN
9 102 (10.75%) BGP
10 93 (9.80%) SSL
11 80 (8.43%) BIG-IP
12 69 (7.27%) Wireless
13 67 (7.06%) HTTP
14 66 (6.95%) Wi-Fi
15 59 (6.22%) OSPF
16 57 (6.01%) SAN
17 52 (5.48%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
18 47 (4.95%) DMZ
19 45 (4.74%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
20 35 (3.69%) Multicast
Database & Business Intelligence
1 52 (5.48%) SQL Server
2 10 (1.05%) Azure SQL Database
2 10 (1.05%) Elasticsearch
2 10 (1.05%) PostgreSQL
2 10 (1.05%) Power BI
3 9 (0.95%) Amazon RDS
3 9 (0.95%) MySQL
4 5 (0.53%) Data Lake
4 5 (0.53%) NoSQL
5 4 (0.42%) Db2
5 4 (0.42%) MongoDB
6 3 (0.32%) Big Data
6 3 (0.32%) Redis
7 2 (0.21%) KDB
8 1 (0.11%) BigQuery
8 1 (0.11%) Cloud Spanner
8 1 (0.11%) DynamoDB
8 1 (0.11%) Flink
8 1 (0.11%) Metadata
8 1 (0.11%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 65 (6.85%) JIRA
2 56 (5.90%) Jenkins
3 39 (4.11%) Git
4 30 (3.16%) GitLab
5 17 (1.79%) Fiddler
6 10 (1.05%) Browser DevTools
7 8 (0.84%) Bitbucket
7 8 (0.84%) Chocolatey
8 7 (0.74%) Sonatype Nexus
9 5 (0.53%) Atlassian Bamboo
10 3 (0.32%) Artifactory
10 3 (0.32%) MSI
11 2 (0.21%) Introscope
11 2 (0.21%) Selenium
11 2 (0.21%) Spinnaker
11 2 (0.21%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
12 1 (0.11%) Maven
12 1 (0.11%) SonarQube
12 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio
General
1 227 (23.92%) Social Skills
2 111 (11.70%) Analytical Skills
3 88 (9.27%) Finance
4 71 (7.48%) Banking
4 71 (7.48%) Public Sector
5 43 (4.53%) Documentation Skills
6 33 (3.48%) Investment Banking
7 31 (3.27%) Telecoms
8 20 (2.11%) Legal
9 14 (1.48%) Military
10 12 (1.26%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 11 (1.16%) Local Government
11 11 (1.16%) Police
12 10 (1.05%) Organisational Skills
13 8 (0.84%) Manufacturing
14 7 (0.74%) Pharmaceutical
15 6 (0.63%) Aerospace
15 6 (0.63%) Influencing Skills
15 6 (0.63%) Law
15 6 (0.63%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 178 (18.76%) Network Engineer
2 158 (16.65%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 109 (11.49%) Senior
4 94 (9.91%) Support Engineer
5 88 (9.27%) Architect
6 73 (7.69%) Cloud Engineer
7 55 (5.80%) Security Engineer
8 48 (5.06%) IT Support
9 47 (4.95%) IT Engineer
10 45 (4.74%) Analyst
11 41 (4.32%) Azure Engineer
12 39 (4.11%) Cisco Engineer
12 39 (4.11%) Network Security Engineer
12 39 (4.11%) Web Engineer
13 37 (3.90%) Cisco Network Engineer
13 37 (3.90%) Platform Engineer
14 36 (3.79%) Administrator
15 35 (3.69%) DevOps Engineer
15 35 (3.69%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
15 35 (3.69%) Senior Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (5.27%) 802.1X
2 33 (3.48%) SAML
3 27 (2.85%) LDAP
4 22 (2.32%) ARM Templates
5 21 (2.21%) OAuth
6 18 (1.90%) OpenID
7 15 (1.58%) REST
8 13 (1.37%) JSON
8 13 (1.37%) OpenTelemetry
9 12 (1.26%) YAML
10 9 (0.95%) Kafka
11 7 (0.74%) CSS
11 7 (0.74%) Middleware
12 6 (0.63%) Elastic Stack
13 5 (0.53%) .NET
13 5 (0.53%) RabbitMQ
13 5 (0.53%) Software Packaging
14 4 (0.42%) OAuth2
14 4 (0.42%) RESTful
14 4 (0.42%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 130 (13.70%) Data Centre
2 102 (10.75%) PKI
3 66 (6.95%) Onboarding
4 62 (6.53%) Hybrid Cloud
5 52 (5.48%) Management Information System
6 48 (5.06%) Cloud Native
7 44 (4.64%) Clustering
8 41 (4.32%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 27 (2.85%) Public Cloud
10 25 (2.63%) Replication
11 22 (2.32%) Self-Motivation
12 19 (2.00%) Enterprise Cloud
13 16 (1.69%) Linux Command Line
14 15 (1.58%) Cyber Threat
14 15 (1.58%) Enterprise Software
14 15 (1.58%) Security Posture
15 13 (1.37%) Driving Licence
16 10 (1.05%) Distributed Systems
17 9 (0.95%) CMDB
17 9 (0.95%) Smartcard
Operating Systems
1 449 (47.31%) Windows
2 241 (25.40%) Windows Server
3 190 (20.02%) Linux
4 60 (6.32%) Windows 10
5 38 (4.00%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 37 (3.90%) Windows Server 2019
7 29 (3.06%) Unix
8 28 (2.95%) Mac OS
9 23 (2.42%) Windows Server 2012
10 20 (2.11%) Ubuntu
11 15 (1.58%) Apple iOS
11 15 (1.58%) CentOS
12 14 (1.48%) Windows Server 2016
13 13 (1.37%) Android
13 13 (1.37%) Windows 7
14 11 (1.16%) VMS
15 8 (0.84%) Windows Server 2008
16 7 (0.74%) Rocky
17 4 (0.42%) Windows Server 2003
18 3 (0.32%) OpenVMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 219 (23.08%) Infrastructure Engineering
1 219 (23.08%) Problem-Solving
2 178 (18.76%) Load Balancing
3 175 (18.44%) ITIL
4 166 (17.49%) Infrastructure as Code
5 158 (16.65%) Migration
6 144 (15.17%) DevOps
7 140 (14.75%) CI/CD
8 138 (14.54%) High Availability
9 120 (12.64%) ITSM
10 97 (10.22%) Observability
11 93 (9.80%) Continuous Improvement
12 91 (9.59%) Cybersecurity
13 84 (8.85%) Agile
14 80 (8.43%) Technical Leadership
15 78 (8.22%) Project Delivery
16 76 (8.01%) Disaster Recovery
17 71 (7.48%) Root Cause Analysis
18 70 (7.38%) Platform Engineering
19 67 (7.06%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 218 (22.97%) PowerShell
2 187 (19.70%) Python
3 134 (14.12%) Bash
4 60 (6.32%) SQL
5 38 (4.00%) Bicep
6 22 (2.32%) JavaScript
7 15 (1.58%) Shell Script
8 12 (1.26%) Go
9 10 (1.05%) Perl
10 9 (0.95%) ActionScript
11 8 (0.84%) VBScript
12 7 (0.74%) Java
12 7 (0.74%) VBA
13 6 (0.63%) Groovy
13 6 (0.63%) VB
14 5 (0.53%) Ruby
15 3 (0.32%) C
15 3 (0.32%) Lisp
16 2 (0.21%) Jython
16 2 (0.21%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 351 (36.99%) Security Cleared
2 194 (20.44%) SC Cleared
3 146 (15.38%) DV Cleared
4 105 (11.06%) Cisco Certification
5 71 (7.48%) CCNP
5 71 (7.48%) Degree
6 51 (5.37%) CCNA
7 45 (4.74%) Azure Certification
8 44 (4.64%) Microsoft Certification
9 29 (3.06%) Network+ Certification
10 19 (2.00%) AWS Certification
11 18 (1.90%) CCIE
12 17 (1.79%) Computer Science Degree
13 15 (1.58%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 14 (1.48%) BPSS Clearance
14 14 (1.48%) Server+ Certification
15 13 (1.37%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 13 (1.37%) JNCIS
16 12 (1.26%) JNCIP
16 12 (1.26%) VCAP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (3.90%) SLA
2 24 (2.53%) NIST
3 16 (1.69%) NCSC
4 14 (1.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 11 (1.16%) QA
6 6 (0.63%) GDPR
7 5 (0.53%) NIST 800
8 4 (0.42%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 4 (0.42%) JSP 440
9 3 (0.32%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.21%) Data Quality
10 2 (0.21%) Government Security Classifications
10 2 (0.21%) PCI DSS
10 2 (0.21%) SOC 2
11 1 (0.11%) HIPAA
11 1 (0.11%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 403 (42.47%) Active Directory
2 248 (26.13%) VMware Infrastructure
3 111 (11.70%) Hyper-V
4 70 (7.38%) VMware ESXi
5 66 (6.95%) VMware NSX
5 66 (6.95%) vSphere
6 54 (5.69%) Docker
7 40 (4.21%) Virtual Machines
8 37 (3.90%) Virtual Desktop
9 25 (2.63%) Firmware
10 18 (1.90%) NFS
11 14 (1.48%) BitLocker
11 14 (1.48%) vCloud
12 9 (0.95%) Microsoft App-V
12 9 (0.95%) Postfix
13 8 (0.84%) VMware Workstation
14 7 (0.74%) Virtual Servers
15 6 (0.63%) Varnish
16 5 (0.53%) Squid
16 5 (0.53%) UAG
Systems Management
1 204 (21.50%) Terraform
2 140 (14.75%) Ansible
3 115 (12.12%) Kubernetes
4 104 (10.96%) Microsoft Intune
5 75 (7.90%) SCCM
6 58 (6.11%) vCenter Server
7 55 (5.80%) Grafana
8 51 (5.37%) Single Sign-On
9 42 (4.43%) Prometheus
10 41 (4.32%) FortiGate
11 30 (3.16%) WSUS
12 28 (2.95%) SCOM
13 16 (1.69%) VxRail
14 14 (1.48%) Jamf Pro
14 14 (1.48%) Puppet
15 13 (1.37%) Argo
16 11 (1.16%) Nessus
16 11 (1.16%) NetBackup
16 11 (1.16%) Packer
16 11 (1.16%) vMotion
Vendors
1 349 (36.78%) Microsoft
2 303 (31.93%) VMware
3 190 (20.02%) Cisco
4 142 (14.96%) F5
5 90 (9.48%) ServiceNow
6 64 (6.74%) SolarWinds
7 63 (6.64%) Google
8 61 (6.43%) Infoblox
9 60 (6.32%) Splunk
10 58 (6.11%) Citrix
10 58 (6.11%) Juniper
11 41 (4.32%) Palo Alto
12 39 (4.11%) Red Hat
13 33 (3.48%) Dynatrace
14 32 (3.37%) NetApp
15 27 (2.85%) CheckPoint
16 26 (2.74%) Blue Coat
16 26 (2.74%) Fortinet
17 24 (2.53%) McAfee
17 24 (2.53%) Zscaler