DNS Contract Job Trends in the North West

Domain Name System (DNS)
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North West requiring DNS skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 20 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 52 88 99
Rank change year-on-year +36 +11 -33
Contract jobs citing DNS 145 46 29
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 3.75% 2.08% 1.20%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 28.88% 15.28% 9.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 71 21 19
10th Percentile £350 £313 £236
25th Percentile £375 £418 £394
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £465 £463
Median % change year-on-year - +0.54% +15.63%
75th Percentile £588 £550 £508
90th Percentile £612 £615 £560
England median daily rate £500 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 1 1
10th Percentile £33.53 - -
25th Percentile £40.32 £65.75 £46.25
Median hourly rate £52.13 £66.50 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -21.61% +40.00% -
75th Percentile £63.45 £67.25 £48.75
90th Percentile £69.93 - -
England median hourly rate £61.11 £57.50 £24.20
% change year-on-year +6.27% +137.60% -27.76%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
North West

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 the North West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 502 301 294
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 12.97% 13.60% 12.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 327 172 195
10th Percentile £238 £147 £255
25th Percentile £355 £325 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £477 £442 £515
Median % change year-on-year +7.86% -14.13% +8.42%
75th Percentile £586 £538 £681
90th Percentile £625 £667 £840
England median daily rate £500 £492 £505
% change year-on-year +1.63% -2.57% +1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 5 9
10th Percentile £14.80 £22.40 £24.61
25th Percentile £16.50 £26.00 £35.00
Median hourly rate £17.50 £66.50 £48.56
Median % change year-on-year -73.68% +36.94% +191.13%
75th Percentile £21.76 £67.25 £51.91
90th Percentile £33.46 £69.00 £62.80
England median hourly rate £26.72 £43.75 £54.88
% change year-on-year -38.93% -20.27% -0.52%

DNS
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing DNS relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.

DNS job vacancy trend in the North West

DNS
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing DNS.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing DNS

DNS
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing DNS in the North West over the 6 months to 20 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for DNS in the North West

DNS
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing DNS.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing DNS

DNS
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing DNS in the North West over the 6 months to 20 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for DNS in the North West

DNS
Contract Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing DNS within the North West region over the 6 months to 20 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
Merseyside +16 52 £425 +44.07% 6
Cheshire +12 31 £433 -27.88% 4
Manchester -22 29 £375 -27.54% 10
Cumbria -3 21 £602 +34.56% 1
Lancashire +2 10 £333 +90.00% 7
DNS
England

DNS
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West 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 13 (8.97%) Microsoft Exchange
2 10 (6.90%) SharePoint
3 6 (4.14%) Skype for Business
4 3 (2.07%) IIS
Applications
1 12 (8.28%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.76%) MS Visio
3 2 (1.38%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 32 (22.07%) Azure
2 24 (16.55%) AWS
3 14 (9.66%) Microsoft 365
4 8 (5.52%) GCP
5 7 (4.83%) IaaS
6 5 (3.45%) Akamai
6 5 (3.45%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 4 (2.76%) Entra ID
7 4 (2.76%) GitHub
7 4 (2.76%) PaaS
8 3 (2.07%) Asana
8 3 (2.07%) Google Drive
8 3 (2.07%) Google Workspace
8 3 (2.07%) SaaS
9 2 (1.38%) Azure AKS
9 2 (1.38%) Azure DevOps
9 2 (1.38%) GitHub Actions
9 2 (1.38%) OneDrive
9 2 (1.38%) Rubrik
10 1 (0.69%) IBM Watson
Communications & Networking
1 52 (35.86%) VPN
2 40 (27.59%) DMZ
3 37 (25.52%) DHCP
4 33 (22.76%) BGP
5 31 (21.38%) Multicast
6 30 (20.69%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
7 29 (20.00%) TCP/IP
8 28 (19.31%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
9 25 (17.24%) Firewall
10 24 (16.55%) VLAN
10 24 (16.55%) Wireless
11 22 (15.17%) BIG-IP
12 20 (13.79%) HTTP
13 18 (12.41%) SAN
13 18 (12.41%) SSL
13 18 (12.41%) Wireshark
14 17 (11.72%) Cisco IOS
15 15 (10.34%) NAS
15 15 (10.34%) NX-OS
15 15 (10.34%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (1.38%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 15 (10.34%) Fiddler
2 8 (5.52%) JIRA
3 3 (2.07%) Jenkins
4 2 (1.38%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
5 1 (0.69%) Git
5 1 (0.69%) GitLab
5 1 (0.69%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 37 (25.52%) Banking
2 31 (21.38%) Social Skills
3 30 (20.69%) Investment Banking
4 15 (10.34%) Documentation Skills
5 14 (9.66%) Analytical Skills
6 10 (6.90%) Finance
7 4 (2.76%) Public Sector
8 3 (2.07%) Legal
9 2 (1.38%) Organisational Skills
10 1 (0.69%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.69%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 62 (42.76%) Network Engineer
2 34 (23.45%) Security Engineer
3 30 (20.69%) Cisco Engineer
4 29 (20.00%) Cisco Network Engineer
4 29 (20.00%) Cisco Security Engineer
4 29 (20.00%) Data Engineer
4 29 (20.00%) Data Network Engineer
4 29 (20.00%) Network Security Engineer
4 29 (20.00%) Web Engineer
5 16 (11.03%) Analyst
6 15 (10.34%) Blue Coat Engineer
6 15 (10.34%) IP Network Engineer
7 14 (9.66%) Architect
8 12 (8.28%) Senior
8 12 (8.28%) Systems Analyst
8 12 (8.28%) VMware Engineer
9 8 (5.52%) Cloud Engineer
9 8 (5.52%) Support Engineer
9 8 (5.52%) Technical Architect
10 7 (4.83%) 2nd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (7.59%) Terraform
2 7 (4.83%) 802.1X
3 3 (2.07%) JSON
3 3 (2.07%) OAuth
4 2 (1.38%) ODBC
4 2 (1.38%) REST
4 2 (1.38%) Software Packaging
5 1 (0.69%) ARM Templates
5 1 (0.69%) Azure Blueprints
5 1 (0.69%) OpenTelemetry
5 1 (0.69%) XML
5 1 (0.69%) XMPP
5 1 (0.69%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 24 (16.55%) Data Centre
1 24 (16.55%) Management Information System
2 11 (7.59%) Enterprise Cloud
3 7 (4.83%) Driving Licence
4 6 (4.14%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
4 6 (4.14%) Hybrid Cloud
5 5 (3.45%) Cloud Native
5 5 (3.45%) Onboarding
6 3 (2.07%) Freedom of Information
6 3 (2.07%) PKI
6 3 (2.07%) Public Cloud
7 2 (1.38%) Handset
7 2 (1.38%) iPhone
8 1 (0.69%) Data Protection Act
8 1 (0.69%) Enterprise Storage
8 1 (0.69%) Fat Client
8 1 (0.69%) Product Ownership
8 1 (0.69%) Self-Motivation
8 1 (0.69%) Thin Client
8 1 (0.69%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 25 (17.24%) Windows
2 13 (8.97%) Windows 10
2 13 (8.97%) Windows Server
3 7 (4.83%) Linux
4 6 (4.14%) Windows 7
5 5 (3.45%) Unix
6 4 (2.76%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (2.76%) Windows Server 2012
7 3 (2.07%) AIX
7 3 (2.07%) Android
8 2 (1.38%) Windows Server 2016
8 2 (1.38%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.69%) Apple iOS
9 1 (0.69%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.69%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 58 (40.00%) Load Balancing
2 25 (17.24%) Migration
3 22 (15.17%) ITSM
4 18 (12.41%) Data Loss Prevention
4 18 (12.41%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 17 (11.72%) Project Delivery
6 16 (11.03%) Continuous Improvement
6 16 (11.03%) Network Segmentation
6 16 (11.03%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 15 (10.34%) Agile
7 15 (10.34%) Malware Detection/Protection
8 14 (9.66%) Infrastructure as Code
8 14 (9.66%) ITIL
8 14 (9.66%) Problem-Solving
9 12 (8.28%) CI/CD
9 12 (8.28%) Waterfall
10 11 (7.59%) Workshop Facilitation
11 9 (6.21%) Change Management
11 9 (6.21%) Systems Analysis
12 8 (5.52%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 13 (8.97%) Python
2 12 (8.28%) PowerShell
3 7 (4.83%) Bicep
4 6 (4.14%) VB
4 6 (4.14%) VBScript
5 4 (2.76%) SQL
6 2 (1.38%) Bash
6 2 (1.38%) Perl
6 2 (1.38%) T-SQL
7 1 (0.69%) ActionScript
7 1 (0.69%) JavaScript
7 1 (0.69%) Lisp
Qualifications
1 28 (19.31%) Cisco Certification
1 28 (19.31%) Security Cleared
2 24 (16.55%) CCNA
3 23 (15.86%) CCNP
4 22 (15.17%) SC Cleared
5 17 (11.72%) Network+ Certification
6 14 (9.66%) Server+ Certification
7 7 (4.83%) Degree
8 4 (2.76%) BPSS Clearance
8 4 (2.76%) CCIE
9 3 (2.07%) Azure Certification
9 3 (2.07%) CompTIA Security+
10 2 (1.38%) AWS Certification
10 2 (1.38%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 2 (1.38%) ITIL Certification
11 1 (0.69%) JNCIA
11 1 (0.69%) JNCIS
11 1 (0.69%) Microsoft Certification
11 1 (0.69%) OCP
11 1 (0.69%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (2.76%) SLA
2 1 (0.69%) Data Quality
System Software
1 37 (25.52%) VMware Infrastructure
2 24 (16.55%) Active Directory
3 16 (11.03%) Firmware
4 9 (6.21%) VMware NSX
5 6 (4.14%) BitLocker
6 3 (2.07%) NFS
6 3 (2.07%) Veritas Volume Manager
6 3 (2.07%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (1.38%) vSphere
8 1 (0.69%) Docker
8 1 (0.69%) Hyper-V
8 1 (0.69%) Virtual Desktop
8 1 (0.69%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 11 (7.59%) SCCM
2 7 (4.83%) Ansible
3 5 (3.45%) WSUS
4 4 (2.76%) Progress Chef
5 3 (2.07%) Kubernetes
5 3 (2.07%) PowerBroker
5 3 (2.07%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (2.07%) Tivoli
5 3 (2.07%) Tivoli Storage Manager
6 2 (1.38%) AirWatch
6 2 (1.38%) vCenter Server
7 1 (0.69%) Argo
7 1 (0.69%) Grafana
7 1 (0.69%) Microsoft Clustering
7 1 (0.69%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (0.69%) NetApp OnCommand
7 1 (0.69%) Puppet
7 1 (0.69%) vMotion
7 1 (0.69%) vRealize
7 1 (0.69%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 61 (42.07%) F5
2 54 (37.24%) Cisco
3 44 (30.34%) VMware
4 32 (22.07%) Microsoft
5 26 (17.93%) ServiceNow
6 17 (11.72%) McAfee
7 16 (11.03%) Infoblox
8 15 (10.34%) Blue Coat
8 15 (10.34%) NetApp
9 6 (4.14%) CyberArk
10 5 (3.45%) Citrix
10 5 (3.45%) Red Hat
11 4 (2.76%) Oracle
11 4 (2.76%) Splunk
12 3 (2.07%) Arista
12 3 (2.07%) Aruba
12 3 (2.07%) ForeScout
12 3 (2.07%) Google
12 3 (2.07%) Veritas
13 2 (1.38%) Tanium