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

6 months to
20 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 44 82 109
Rank change year-on-year +38 +27 -40
Contract jobs citing DNS 153 42 31
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 4.36% 2.11% 1.09%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 34.30% 13.64% 9.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 66 27 25
10th Percentile £352 £313 £205
25th Percentile £375 £399 £285
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £458 £450 £450
Median % change year-on-year +1.67% - -12.62%
75th Percentile £612 £525 £500
90th Percentile £634 £538 £607
England median daily rate £495 £550 £488
% change year-on-year -10.00% +12.82% -6.88%
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 £54.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year -40.37% +36.25% -23.27%

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 446 308 334
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 12.72% 15.47% 11.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 286 187 230
10th Percentile £300 £193 £210
25th Percentile £375 £350 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £487 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +8.23% -10.00% +5.26%
75th Percentile £588 £538 £669
90th Percentile £630 £638 £825
England median daily rate £500 £498 £500
% change year-on-year +0.46% -0.46% -2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 2 12
10th Percentile £15.40 £27.70 £20.93
25th Percentile £16.88 £34.78 £25.13
Median hourly rate £19.84 £47.37 £40.44
Median % change year-on-year -58.12% +17.14% +29.41%
75th Percentile £41.94 £59.17 £46.60
90th Percentile £74.26 £65.76 £50.78
England median hourly rate £29.52 £39.32 £41.50
% change year-on-year -24.92% -5.25% +121.75%

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 June 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 June 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 June 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 +24 58 £175 -40.68% 6
Cheshire +21 34 £450 +33.33% 7
Manchester -26 34 £375 -21.05% 12
Cumbria -10 20 £612 +34.21%
Lancashire - 7 £190 - 9
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 (6.54%) Microsoft Exchange
2 4 (2.61%) SharePoint
2 4 (2.61%) Skype for Business
3 3 (1.96%) IIS
Applications
1 6 (3.92%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.96%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 30 (19.61%) Azure
2 26 (16.99%) AWS
3 10 (6.54%) Microsoft 365
4 9 (5.88%) GCP
5 6 (3.92%) Akamai
6 5 (3.27%) IaaS
7 4 (2.61%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 4 (2.61%) Entra ID
7 4 (2.61%) PaaS
7 4 (2.61%) SaaS
8 3 (1.96%) Asana
8 3 (1.96%) Google Drive
8 3 (1.96%) Google Workspace
9 2 (1.31%) GitHub
9 2 (1.31%) Nutanix
10 1 (0.65%) Azure AKS
10 1 (0.65%) Azure Logic Apps
10 1 (0.65%) Azure Monitor
10 1 (0.65%) Azure Sentinel
10 1 (0.65%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 45 (29.41%) VPN
2 38 (24.84%) DMZ
3 37 (24.18%) TCP/IP
4 35 (22.88%) BGP
5 34 (22.22%) Multicast
6 33 (21.57%) DHCP
7 32 (20.92%) Firewall
8 30 (19.61%) SSL
9 29 (18.95%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
10 28 (18.30%) HTTP
11 25 (16.34%) BIG-IP
11 25 (16.34%) Wireshark
12 24 (15.69%) Wireless
13 22 (14.38%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
14 21 (13.73%) VLAN
15 18 (11.76%) Cisco IOS
15 18 (11.76%) SAN
16 16 (10.46%) NAS
16 16 (10.46%) NX-OS
16 16 (10.46%) Structured Cabling
Development Applications
1 23 (15.03%) Fiddler
2 7 (4.58%) JIRA
3 2 (1.31%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.65%) Git
General
1 42 (27.45%) Banking
2 34 (22.22%) Investment Banking
3 24 (15.69%) Social Skills
4 14 (9.15%) Finance
5 13 (8.50%) Documentation Skills
6 8 (5.23%) Analytical Skills
7 5 (3.27%) Public Sector
8 3 (1.96%) Legal
9 1 (0.65%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.65%) Military
9 1 (0.65%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 71 (46.41%) Network Engineer
2 40 (26.14%) Security Engineer
3 38 (24.84%) Web Engineer
4 34 (22.22%) Network Security Engineer
5 33 (21.57%) Cisco Engineer
5 33 (21.57%) Data Engineer
5 33 (21.57%) Data Network Engineer
6 32 (20.92%) Cisco Network Engineer
6 32 (20.92%) Cisco Security Engineer
7 19 (12.42%) Architect
8 17 (11.11%) Analyst
8 17 (11.11%) Blue Coat Engineer
8 17 (11.11%) IP Network Engineer
9 12 (7.84%) Systems Analyst
10 11 (7.19%) Technical Architect
11 9 (5.88%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 9 (5.88%) Senior
12 7 (4.58%) Administrator
13 6 (3.92%) Junior
13 6 (3.92%) Network Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (4.58%) 802.1X
2 5 (3.27%) LDAP
3 3 (1.96%) OAuth
3 3 (1.96%) XMPP
4 2 (1.31%) ARM Templates
4 2 (1.31%) Software Packaging
5 1 (0.65%) Azure Blueprints
5 1 (0.65%) JSON
5 1 (0.65%) OpenTelemetry
5 1 (0.65%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 24 (15.69%) Data Centre
2 21 (13.73%) Management Information System
3 10 (6.54%) Enterprise Cloud
3 10 (6.54%) Public Cloud
4 7 (4.58%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
5 5 (3.27%) Cloud Native
5 5 (3.27%) Cloud Security Posture
5 5 (3.27%) Hybrid Cloud
5 5 (3.27%) Security Posture
6 4 (2.61%) PKI
7 3 (1.96%) Fat Client
7 3 (1.96%) Freedom of Information
7 3 (1.96%) Onboarding
7 3 (1.96%) Product Ownership
7 3 (1.96%) Thin Client
8 2 (1.31%) iPhone
8 2 (1.31%) Private Cloud
9 1 (0.65%) Cyber Defence
9 1 (0.65%) Data Protection Act
9 1 (0.65%) Team-Oriented Environment
Operating Systems
1 22 (14.38%) Windows
2 10 (6.54%) Linux
2 10 (6.54%) Windows Server
3 8 (5.23%) Unix
4 7 (4.58%) Windows 10
5 6 (3.92%) Windows Server 2019
6 5 (3.27%) Windows Server 2012
7 4 (2.61%) Windows 7
8 3 (1.96%) AIX
8 3 (1.96%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 1 (0.65%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 64 (41.83%) Load Balancing
2 26 (16.99%) Data Loss Prevention
3 23 (15.03%) ITSM
3 23 (15.03%) Malware Detection/Protection
4 22 (14.38%) Project Delivery
5 20 (13.07%) Migration
6 16 (10.46%) Agile
6 16 (10.46%) Problem-Solving
7 15 (9.80%) Network Segmentation
8 14 (9.15%) ITIL
9 12 (7.84%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 12 (7.84%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 12 (7.84%) Waterfall
10 11 (7.19%) CI/CD
10 11 (7.19%) Validation
11 10 (6.54%) Infrastructure as Code
11 10 (6.54%) Workshop Facilitation
12 9 (5.88%) Change Management
12 9 (5.88%) Continuous Improvement
12 9 (5.88%) Systems Analysis
Programming Languages
1 17 (11.11%) Python
2 15 (9.80%) PowerShell
3 4 (2.61%) Bicep
3 4 (2.61%) VB
3 4 (2.61%) VBScript
4 2 (1.31%) Perl
4 2 (1.31%) SQL
5 1 (0.65%) ActionScript
5 1 (0.65%) Bash
5 1 (0.65%) JavaScript
5 1 (0.65%) Kusto Query Language
5 1 (0.65%) Lisp
Qualifications
1 30 (19.61%) Cisco Certification
2 29 (18.95%) Security Cleared
3 25 (16.34%) CCNA
3 25 (16.34%) CCNP
4 24 (15.69%) SC Cleared
5 18 (11.76%) Network+ Certification
6 15 (9.80%) Server+ Certification
7 12 (7.84%) Degree
8 8 (5.23%) CompTIA Security+
9 6 (3.92%) BPSS Clearance
10 5 (3.27%) Azure Certification
10 5 (3.27%) CCIE
10 5 (3.27%) CISSP
10 5 (3.27%) MCSA
10 5 (3.27%) MCSE
10 5 (3.27%) Microsoft Certification
11 3 (1.96%) AWS Certification
11 3 (1.96%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 2 (1.31%) DV Cleared
12 2 (1.31%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (2.61%) SLA
2 1 (0.65%) NIST
System Software
1 27 (17.65%) VMware Infrastructure
2 26 (16.99%) Active Directory
3 18 (11.76%) Firmware
4 11 (7.19%) VMware NSX
5 4 (2.61%) BitLocker
5 4 (2.61%) Hyper-V
6 3 (1.96%) NFS
6 3 (1.96%) Veritas Volume Manager
6 3 (1.96%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (1.96%) vSphere
7 2 (1.31%) Docker
7 2 (1.31%) Virtual Desktop
8 1 (0.65%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 12 (7.84%) Ansible
2 9 (5.88%) SCCM
3 8 (5.23%) Terraform
4 5 (3.27%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 5 (3.27%) CASB
4 5 (3.27%) Nessus
4 5 (3.27%) Single Sign-On
5 4 (2.61%) Kubernetes
6 3 (1.96%) PowerBroker
6 3 (1.96%) Progress Chef
6 3 (1.96%) Tivoli
6 3 (1.96%) Tivoli Storage Manager
6 3 (1.96%) WSUS
7 2 (1.31%) AirWatch
7 2 (1.31%) CA Single Sign-On
7 2 (1.31%) Microsoft Intune
7 2 (1.31%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.65%) Microsoft Clustering
8 1 (0.65%) NetApp OnCommand
8 1 (0.65%) vMotion
Vendors
1 71 (46.41%) F5
2 59 (38.56%) Cisco
3 38 (24.84%) VMware
4 25 (16.34%) McAfee
5 24 (15.69%) Blue Coat
6 22 (14.38%) ServiceNow
7 20 (13.07%) Microsoft
8 17 (11.11%) NetApp
9 16 (10.46%) Infoblox
10 7 (4.58%) Splunk
11 5 (3.27%) Citrix
11 5 (3.27%) CyberArk
11 5 (3.27%) Red Hat
11 5 (3.27%) Remedy
11 5 (3.27%) Tenable
12 3 (1.96%) Aruba
12 3 (1.96%) Computacenter
12 3 (1.96%) ForeScout
12 3 (1.96%) Oracle
12 3 (1.96%) Veritas