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

6 months to
6 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 132 124 148
Rank change year-on-year -8 +24 -23
Contract jobs citing DNS 921 632 542
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.00% 2.29% 1.65%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 21.35% 19.09% 13.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 570 398 353
10th Percentile £286 £250 £256
25th Percentile £408 £382 £380
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £505 £500
Median % change year-on-year -0.99% +1.00% -0.30%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £608
90th Percentile £650 £654 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -0.30%
Number of hourly rates quoted 49 29 13
10th Percentile £26.53 £28.80 £20.00
25th Percentile £31.25 £29.00 £23.10
Median hourly rate £63.48 £45.00 £24.18
Median % change year-on-year +41.07% +86.10% -39.55%
75th Percentile £74.00 £81.35 £48.75
90th Percentile £98.82 £89.63 £51.52
UK median hourly rate £63.48 £45.00 £24.18
% change year-on-year +41.07% +86.10% -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 4,314 3,311 3,983
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.39% 12.02% 12.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,597 2,061 2,365
10th Percentile £250 £238 £250
25th Percentile £400 £363 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £490 £508
Median % change year-on-year +2.04% -3.45% +1.50%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £614
90th Percentile £675 £688 £700
UK median daily rate £500 £481 £500
% change year-on-year +3.95% -3.80% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 350 167 241
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.50 £24.50 £21.37
Median hourly rate £28.00 £41.45 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year -32.45% -27.72% +1.52%
75th Percentile £65.88 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £78.53 £77.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £26.00 £43.00 £51.00
% change year-on-year -39.53% -15.69% -9.72%

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 6 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 6 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 6 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 -43 314 £500 -1.96% 255
North of England +23 215 £500 +9.29% 72
South East +4 180 £538 +2.38% 138
North West +16 134 £458 -1.61% 43
Midlands -30 117 £450 -5.26% 45
South West +13 102 £550 - 66
West Midlands -33 95 £450 -5.26% 26
Yorkshire 0 67 £500 - 15
East of England -51 35 £463 -15.91% 44
East Midlands -4 20 £431 -21.59% 19
North East -34 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
1 102 (11.07%) Microsoft Exchange
2 83 (9.01%) SharePoint
3 21 (2.28%) Confluence
4 14 (1.52%) Apache
5 13 (1.41%) IIS
5 13 (1.41%) nginx
6 7 (0.76%) Skype for Business
7 6 (0.65%) Tomcat
8 4 (0.43%) 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%) Apache Spark
11 1 (0.11%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 25 (2.71%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (1.19%) 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 (1.19%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.11%) Oracle Retail
Cloud Services
1 375 (40.72%) Azure
2 184 (19.98%) AWS
3 178 (19.33%) Microsoft 365
4 168 (18.24%) Entra ID
5 87 (9.45%) GCP
6 69 (7.49%) GitHub
7 51 (5.54%) OneDrive
8 49 (5.32%) IaaS
9 41 (4.45%) Azure DevOps
10 37 (4.02%) Azure Monitor
10 37 (4.02%) GitHub Actions
11 36 (3.91%) SaaS
12 32 (3.47%) PaaS
13 29 (3.15%) OpenShift
14 24 (2.61%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 23 (2.50%) AWS CloudFormation
15 23 (2.50%) Virtual Private Cloud
16 21 (2.28%) Serverless
17 20 (2.17%) Azure Sentinel
17 20 (2.17%) Google Kubernetes Engine
Communications & Networking
1 448 (48.64%) DHCP
2 339 (36.81%) Firewall
3 277 (30.08%) TCP/IP
4 268 (29.10%) VPN
5 128 (13.90%) Network Security
6 117 (12.70%) WAN
7 114 (12.38%) VLAN
8 93 (10.10%) LAN
9 89 (9.66%) SSL
10 86 (9.34%) BGP
11 74 (8.03%) Wireless
12 64 (6.95%) BIG-IP
13 63 (6.84%) Wi-Fi
14 59 (6.41%) HTTP
15 54 (5.86%) SAN
16 53 (5.75%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
17 46 (4.99%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
17 46 (4.99%) OSPF
18 44 (4.78%) DMZ
19 37 (4.02%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 47 (5.10%) SQL Server
2 14 (1.52%) PostgreSQL
3 12 (1.30%) Amazon RDS
4 11 (1.19%) MySQL
5 10 (1.09%) Power BI
6 8 (0.87%) Elasticsearch
7 7 (0.76%) Data Lake
7 7 (0.76%) NoSQL
8 6 (0.65%) Azure SQL Database
8 6 (0.65%) MongoDB
9 5 (0.54%) Redis
10 4 (0.43%) Big Data
10 4 (0.43%) Db2
11 2 (0.22%) Amazon Aurora
11 2 (0.22%) KDB
11 2 (0.22%) Metadata
12 1 (0.11%) BigQuery
12 1 (0.11%) Cloud Spanner
12 1 (0.11%) DynamoDB
12 1 (0.11%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 71 (7.71%) JIRA
2 53 (5.75%) Jenkins
3 39 (4.23%) Git
4 33 (3.58%) GitLab
5 15 (1.63%) Fiddler
6 7 (0.76%) Bitbucket
6 7 (0.76%) Sonatype Nexus
7 5 (0.54%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 5 (0.54%) Browser DevTools
7 5 (0.54%) Chocolatey
8 4 (0.43%) Selenium
9 3 (0.33%) MSI
10 2 (0.22%) Artifactory
10 2 (0.22%) Introscope
10 2 (0.22%) Spinnaker
10 2 (0.22%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
10 2 (0.22%) Vagrant
11 1 (0.11%) Locust
11 1 (0.11%) Newman
11 1 (0.11%) TestCafe
General
1 238 (25.84%) Social Skills
2 107 (11.62%) Analytical Skills
3 79 (8.58%) Finance
4 68 (7.38%) Public Sector
5 61 (6.62%) Banking
6 42 (4.56%) Documentation Skills
7 33 (3.58%) Telecoms
8 29 (3.15%) Investment Banking
9 15 (1.63%) Legal
10 12 (1.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 11 (1.19%) Local Government
11 11 (1.19%) 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 (17.70%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 162 (17.59%) Network Engineer
3 108 (11.73%) Senior
4 96 (10.42%) Support Engineer
5 77 (8.36%) Cloud Engineer
6 75 (8.14%) Architect
7 48 (5.21%) IT Support
8 47 (5.10%) IT Engineer
8 47 (5.10%) Security Engineer
9 43 (4.67%) Analyst
10 41 (4.45%) Platform Engineer
11 39 (4.23%) Azure Engineer
11 39 (4.23%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 37 (4.02%) DevOps Engineer
13 36 (3.91%) Network Security Engineer
14 35 (3.80%) Administrator
14 35 (3.80%) Cisco Engineer
15 33 (3.58%) Cisco Network Engineer
15 33 (3.58%) IT Support Engineer
15 33 (3.58%) Senior Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 204 (22.15%) Terraform
2 35 (3.80%) 802.1X
3 30 (3.26%) SAML
4 25 (2.71%) ARM Templates
4 25 (2.71%) LDAP
5 20 (2.17%) OAuth
6 18 (1.95%) REST
7 16 (1.74%) OpenID
8 13 (1.41%) JSON
9 12 (1.30%) YAML
10 11 (1.19%) Kafka
11 10 (1.09%) OpenTelemetry
12 9 (0.98%) CSS
13 8 (0.87%) Elastic Stack
14 7 (0.76%) Middleware
15 6 (0.65%) .NET
15 6 (0.65%) RabbitMQ
15 6 (0.65%) Software Packaging
16 5 (0.54%) OAuth2
16 5 (0.54%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 121 (13.14%) Data Centre
2 94 (10.21%) PKI
3 71 (7.71%) Hybrid Cloud
4 69 (7.49%) Onboarding
5 53 (5.75%) Management Information System
6 42 (4.56%) Cloud Native
7 33 (3.58%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 28 (3.04%) Clustering
9 26 (2.82%) Public Cloud
10 25 (2.71%) Replication
11 20 (2.17%) Self-Motivation
12 17 (1.85%) Linux Command Line
13 16 (1.74%) Enterprise Cloud
13 16 (1.74%) Enterprise Software
14 14 (1.52%) Driving Licence
15 13 (1.41%) Security Posture
16 12 (1.30%) Cyber Threat
17 10 (1.09%) Distributed Systems
17 10 (1.09%) Video Conferencing
18 9 (0.98%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 447 (48.53%) Windows
2 254 (27.58%) Windows Server
3 198 (21.50%) Linux
4 66 (7.17%) Windows 10
5 40 (4.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 38 (4.13%) Windows Server 2019
7 30 (3.26%) Mac OS
8 28 (3.04%) Unix
9 24 (2.61%) Ubuntu
10 23 (2.50%) Windows Server 2012
11 19 (2.06%) Apple iOS
12 18 (1.95%) CentOS
13 17 (1.85%) Android
14 12 (1.30%) VMS
14 12 (1.30%) Windows 7
14 12 (1.30%) Windows Server 2016
15 7 (0.76%) Rocky
15 7 (0.76%) Windows Server 2008
16 4 (0.43%) AIX
16 4 (0.43%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 225 (24.43%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 208 (22.58%) Problem-Solving
3 182 (19.76%) ITIL
4 174 (18.89%) Infrastructure as Code
5 165 (17.92%) Load Balancing
6 151 (16.40%) DevOps
7 149 (16.18%) Migration
8 142 (15.42%) CI/CD
9 116 (12.60%) High Availability
10 114 (12.38%) ITSM
11 100 (10.86%) Continuous Improvement
12 95 (10.31%) Agile
13 93 (10.10%) Cybersecurity
14 90 (9.77%) Technical Leadership
15 84 (9.12%) Observability
16 77 (8.36%) Disaster Recovery
17 76 (8.25%) Project Delivery
18 73 (7.93%) Root Cause Analysis
19 72 (7.82%) Platform Engineering
20 71 (7.71%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 232 (25.19%) PowerShell
2 183 (19.87%) Python
3 127 (13.79%) Bash
4 60 (6.51%) SQL
5 43 (4.67%) Bicep
6 19 (2.06%) JavaScript
7 16 (1.74%) Shell Script
8 12 (1.30%) Go
9 11 (1.19%) ActionScript
10 10 (1.09%) Perl
11 9 (0.98%) Java
11 9 (0.98%) VBScript
12 8 (0.87%) Groovy
13 7 (0.76%) VBA
14 6 (0.65%) VB
15 4 (0.43%) Kusto Query Language
15 4 (0.43%) Ruby
16 3 (0.33%) C
16 3 (0.33%) Lisp
17 2 (0.22%) C++
Qualifications
1 345 (37.46%) Security Cleared
2 190 (20.63%) SC Cleared
3 151 (16.40%) DV Cleared
4 86 (9.34%) Cisco Certification
5 74 (8.03%) Degree
6 69 (7.49%) CCNP
7 54 (5.86%) Azure Certification
8 47 (5.10%) Microsoft Certification
9 45 (4.89%) CCNA
10 26 (2.82%) Network+ Certification
11 23 (2.50%) AWS Certification
12 20 (2.17%) Computer Science Degree
13 19 (2.06%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 17 (1.85%) CCIE
15 15 (1.63%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 15 (1.63%) VCAP
16 12 (1.30%) BPSS Clearance
17 11 (1.19%) A+ Certification
17 11 (1.19%) ITIL Certification
17 11 (1.19%) Server+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (4.13%) SLA
2 24 (2.61%) NIST
3 15 (1.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 15 (1.63%) NCSC
3 15 (1.63%) QA
4 6 (0.65%) GDPR
5 5 (0.54%) NIST 800
6 4 (0.43%) Cyber Essentials
6 4 (0.43%) HMG Security Policy Framework
6 4 (0.43%) 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
1 410 (44.52%) Active Directory
2 260 (28.23%) VMware Infrastructure
3 111 (12.05%) Hyper-V
4 81 (8.79%) VMware ESXi
5 72 (7.82%) vSphere
6 69 (7.49%) VMware NSX
7 60 (6.51%) Docker
8 41 (4.45%) Virtual Machines
9 36 (3.91%) Virtual Desktop
10 23 (2.50%) Firmware
11 17 (1.85%) NFS
12 16 (1.74%) vCloud
13 13 (1.41%) BitLocker
14 9 (0.98%) 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 (0.54%) Dovecot
17 5 (0.54%) UAG
Systems Management
1 143 (15.53%) Ansible
2 116 (12.60%) Kubernetes
3 109 (11.83%) Microsoft Intune
4 78 (8.47%) SCCM
5 67 (7.27%) vCenter Server
6 58 (6.30%) Grafana
7 51 (5.54%) Single Sign-On
8 44 (4.78%) Prometheus
9 34 (3.69%) SCOM
10 33 (3.58%) WSUS
11 25 (2.71%) FortiGate
12 16 (1.74%) VxRail
13 15 (1.63%) Puppet
14 14 (1.52%) Packer
15 13 (1.41%) Jamf Pro
15 13 (1.41%) NetBackup
16 12 (1.30%) vMotion
17 11 (1.19%) Istio
18 10 (1.09%) Argo
18 10 (1.09%) Nessus
Vendors
1 362 (39.31%) Microsoft
2 311 (33.77%) VMware
3 178 (19.33%) Cisco
4 126 (13.68%) F5
5 87 (9.45%) ServiceNow
6 57 (6.19%) Infoblox
7 54 (5.86%) Google
8 49 (5.32%) Citrix
8 49 (5.32%) SolarWinds
9 47 (5.10%) Palo Alto
10 43 (4.67%) Juniper
11 41 (4.45%) Splunk
12 40 (4.34%) Red Hat
13 33 (3.58%) CheckPoint
13 33 (3.58%) NetApp
14 30 (3.26%) Dynatrace
15 27 (2.93%) Fortinet
16 25 (2.71%) Blue Coat
16 25 (2.71%) Zscaler
17 23 (2.50%) McAfee