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

6 months to
2 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 45 89 106
Rank change year-on-year +44 +17 -43
Contract jobs citing DNS 161 37 31
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 4.49% 1.80% 1.12%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 33.68% 12.05% 9.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 72 22 25
10th Percentile £320 £313 £205
25th Percentile £375 £392 £285
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £458 £447 £450
Median % change year-on-year +2.35% -0.67% -14.29%
75th Percentile £612 £534 £500
90th Percentile £637 £538 £607
England median daily rate £500 £540 £488
% change year-on-year -7.41% +10.77% -6.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 0 1
10th Percentile £42.58 - -
25th Percentile £62.95 - £46.25
Median hourly rate £74.26 - £47.50
75th Percentile - - £48.75
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £32.50 £41.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year -21.69% +3.75% -8.57%

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 478 307 332
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 13.32% 14.93% 11.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 308 182 231
10th Percentile £290 £186 £210
25th Percentile £375 £350 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £484 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +7.62% -10.00% +5.26%
75th Percentile £588 £538 £669
90th Percentile £631 £638 £825
England median daily rate £500 £493 £500
% change year-on-year +1.42% -1.40% -2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 2 14
10th Percentile £15.40 £27.70 £21.28
25th Percentile £16.88 £34.78 £26.06
Median hourly rate £18.00 £47.37 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year -62.00% +3.25% +66.84%
75th Percentile £39.55 £59.17 £50.44
90th Percentile £74.26 £65.76 £51.91
England median hourly rate £26.72 £41.23 £45.88
% change year-on-year -35.18% -10.15% +121.59%

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 2 July 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 2 July 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 2 July 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 +23 61 £300 +1.69% 2
Cheshire +24 35 £447 +32.52% 5
Manchester -20 34 £375 -16.67% 9
Cumbria -7 20 £612 +34.21%
Lancashire - 9 £261 - 3
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 10 (6.21%) Microsoft Exchange
2 5 (3.11%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.48%) Skype for Business
4 3 (1.86%) IIS
Applications
1 8 (4.97%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.48%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 34 (21.12%) Azure
2 26 (16.15%) AWS
3 11 (6.83%) Microsoft 365
4 9 (5.59%) GCP
5 6 (3.73%) Akamai
5 6 (3.73%) IaaS
6 5 (3.11%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 5 (3.11%) Entra ID
6 5 (3.11%) PaaS
7 4 (2.48%) SaaS
8 3 (1.86%) Asana
8 3 (1.86%) GitHub
8 3 (1.86%) Google Drive
8 3 (1.86%) Google Workspace
9 2 (1.24%) Azure AKS
9 2 (1.24%) Azure Monitor
9 2 (1.24%) Nutanix
10 1 (0.62%) GitHub Actions
10 1 (0.62%) IBM Watson
10 1 (0.62%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 49 (30.43%) VPN
2 41 (25.47%) DMZ
3 38 (23.60%) TCP/IP
4 37 (22.98%) BGP
5 36 (22.36%) Multicast
6 35 (21.74%) DHCP
7 34 (21.12%) Firewall
8 30 (18.63%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
9 28 (17.39%) SSL
10 26 (16.15%) HTTP
11 25 (15.53%) Wireless
12 24 (14.91%) Wireshark
13 23 (14.29%) BIG-IP
13 23 (14.29%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
14 21 (13.04%) VLAN
15 18 (11.18%) Cisco IOS
15 18 (11.18%) SAN
16 16 (9.94%) NAS
16 16 (9.94%) NX-OS
16 16 (9.94%) Structured Cabling
Development Applications
1 21 (13.04%) Fiddler
2 8 (4.97%) JIRA
3 2 (1.24%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.62%) Git
General
1 42 (26.09%) Banking
2 34 (21.12%) Investment Banking
3 26 (16.15%) Social Skills
4 15 (9.32%) Finance
5 14 (8.70%) Documentation Skills
6 10 (6.21%) Analytical Skills
7 5 (3.11%) Public Sector
8 3 (1.86%) Legal
9 1 (0.62%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.62%) Military
9 1 (0.62%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 72 (44.72%) Network Engineer
2 42 (26.09%) Security Engineer
3 38 (23.60%) Web Engineer
4 36 (22.36%) Network Security Engineer
5 35 (21.74%) Cisco Engineer
5 35 (21.74%) Data Engineer
5 35 (21.74%) Data Network Engineer
6 34 (21.12%) Cisco Network Engineer
6 34 (21.12%) Cisco Security Engineer
7 20 (12.42%) Architect
8 18 (11.18%) Analyst
9 17 (10.56%) Blue Coat Engineer
9 17 (10.56%) IP Network Engineer
10 12 (7.45%) Systems Analyst
10 12 (7.45%) Technical Architect
11 9 (5.59%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 9 (5.59%) Senior
12 7 (4.35%) Administrator
12 7 (4.35%) Cloud Engineer
13 6 (3.73%) Network Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (4.35%) 802.1X
2 5 (3.11%) LDAP
3 3 (1.86%) OAuth
3 3 (1.86%) XMPP
4 2 (1.24%) ARM Templates
4 2 (1.24%) Software Packaging
5 1 (0.62%) Azure Blueprints
5 1 (0.62%) JSON
5 1 (0.62%) OpenTelemetry
5 1 (0.62%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 24 (14.91%) Data Centre
2 23 (14.29%) Management Information System
3 11 (6.83%) Enterprise Cloud
4 10 (6.21%) Public Cloud
5 7 (4.35%) Cloud Native
5 7 (4.35%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
6 6 (3.73%) Hybrid Cloud
7 5 (3.11%) Cloud Security Posture
7 5 (3.11%) Security Posture
8 4 (2.48%) Onboarding
8 4 (2.48%) PKI
9 3 (1.86%) Fat Client
9 3 (1.86%) Freedom of Information
9 3 (1.86%) Product Ownership
9 3 (1.86%) Thin Client
10 2 (1.24%) Driving Licence
10 2 (1.24%) iPhone
10 2 (1.24%) Private Cloud
11 1 (0.62%) Cyber Defence
11 1 (0.62%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 23 (14.29%) Windows
2 10 (6.21%) Linux
2 10 (6.21%) Windows Server
3 8 (4.97%) Unix
3 8 (4.97%) Windows 10
4 5 (3.11%) Windows Server 2012
4 5 (3.11%) Windows Server 2019
5 4 (2.48%) Windows 7
6 3 (1.86%) AIX
6 3 (1.86%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (1.24%) Android
8 1 (0.62%) VMS
8 1 (0.62%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 65 (40.37%) Load Balancing
2 24 (14.91%) Data Loss Prevention
2 24 (14.91%) Migration
3 23 (14.29%) ITSM
4 22 (13.66%) Project Delivery
5 21 (13.04%) Malware Detection/Protection
6 16 (9.94%) Agile
6 16 (9.94%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 16 (9.94%) ITIL
6 16 (9.94%) Network Segmentation
7 15 (9.32%) Problem-Solving
8 13 (8.07%) Infrastructure as Code
8 13 (8.07%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 12 (7.45%) CI/CD
9 12 (7.45%) Validation
9 12 (7.45%) Waterfall
10 11 (6.83%) Workshop Facilitation
11 10 (6.21%) Continuous Improvement
12 9 (5.59%) DevOps
12 9 (5.59%) Systems Analysis
Programming Languages
1 15 (9.32%) PowerShell
1 15 (9.32%) Python
2 7 (4.35%) Bicep
3 4 (2.48%) VB
3 4 (2.48%) VBScript
4 2 (1.24%) Perl
4 2 (1.24%) SQL
5 1 (0.62%) ActionScript
5 1 (0.62%) Bash
5 1 (0.62%) JavaScript
5 1 (0.62%) Kusto Query Language
5 1 (0.62%) Lisp
Qualifications
1 30 (18.63%) Cisco Certification
1 30 (18.63%) Security Cleared
2 25 (15.53%) CCNA
2 25 (15.53%) CCNP
2 25 (15.53%) SC Cleared
3 18 (11.18%) Network+ Certification
4 15 (9.32%) Server+ Certification
5 12 (7.45%) Degree
6 8 (4.97%) CompTIA Security+
7 6 (3.73%) Azure Certification
7 6 (3.73%) BPSS Clearance
7 6 (3.73%) Microsoft Certification
8 5 (3.11%) CCIE
8 5 (3.11%) CISSP
8 5 (3.11%) MCSA
8 5 (3.11%) MCSE
9 3 (1.86%) AWS Certification
9 3 (1.86%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 2 (1.24%) DV Cleared
10 2 (1.24%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (2.48%) SLA
2 1 (0.62%) Data Quality
2 1 (0.62%) NIST
System Software
1 29 (18.01%) Active Directory
2 28 (17.39%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (11.18%) Firmware
4 8 (4.97%) VMware NSX
5 4 (2.48%) BitLocker
5 4 (2.48%) vSphere
6 3 (1.86%) Hyper-V
6 3 (1.86%) NFS
6 3 (1.86%) Veritas Volume Manager
6 3 (1.86%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (1.24%) Docker
7 2 (1.24%) Virtual Desktop
8 1 (0.62%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 11 (6.83%) Terraform
2 10 (6.21%) Ansible
3 9 (5.59%) SCCM
4 5 (3.11%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 5 (3.11%) CASB
4 5 (3.11%) Nessus
4 5 (3.11%) Single Sign-On
5 4 (2.48%) Kubernetes
6 3 (1.86%) PowerBroker
6 3 (1.86%) Progress Chef
6 3 (1.86%) Tivoli
6 3 (1.86%) Tivoli Storage Manager
6 3 (1.86%) WSUS
7 2 (1.24%) AirWatch
7 2 (1.24%) CA Single Sign-On
7 2 (1.24%) Microsoft Intune
7 2 (1.24%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.62%) Grafana
8 1 (0.62%) Microsoft Clustering
8 1 (0.62%) vMotion
Vendors
1 72 (44.72%) F5
2 62 (38.51%) Cisco
3 37 (22.98%) VMware
4 27 (16.77%) Microsoft
5 25 (15.53%) ServiceNow
6 23 (14.29%) McAfee
7 22 (13.66%) Blue Coat
8 17 (10.56%) NetApp
9 16 (9.94%) Infoblox
10 8 (4.97%) Splunk
11 5 (3.11%) Citrix
11 5 (3.11%) CyberArk
11 5 (3.11%) Red Hat
11 5 (3.11%) Remedy
11 5 (3.11%) Tenable
12 3 (1.86%) Arista
12 3 (1.86%) Aruba
12 3 (1.86%) ForeScout
12 3 (1.86%) Oracle
12 3 (1.86%) Veritas