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

6 months to
29 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 40 76 106
Rank change year-on-year +36 +30 -59
Contract jobs citing DNS 151 48 31
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 4.71% 2.49% 1.12%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 38.42% 14.81% 8.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 59 29 22
10th Percentile £305 £250 £204
25th Percentile £363 £313 £308
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £433 £425 £400
Median % change year-on-year +1.76% +6.25% -27.27%
75th Percentile £612 £525 £523
90th Percentile £654 £550 £639
England median daily rate £495 £545 £480
% change year-on-year -9.17% +13.66% -8.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 0 0
Median hourly rate £74.26 - -
England median hourly rate £60.25 £80.68 £40.00
% change year-on-year -25.32% +101.69% -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 393 324 365
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 12.26% 16.83% 13.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 229 192 255
10th Percentile £315 £182 £199
25th Percentile £401 £291 £322
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £450 £490
Median % change year-on-year +8.89% -8.16% -2.00%
75th Percentile £588 £536 £651
90th Percentile £643 £616 £825
England median daily rate £500 £500 £490
% change year-on-year - +2.04% -6.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 3 13
10th Percentile £17.07 £20.00 -
25th Percentile £18.00 £21.12 £17.72
Median hourly rate £41.94 £24.59 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year +70.59% -5.44% -16.80%
75th Percentile £74.26 £25.47 £45.88
90th Percentile - £25.90 £89.18
England median hourly rate £41.94 £36.65 £39.25
% change year-on-year +14.45% -6.64% +108.55%

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 29 April 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
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 29 April 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 62 £315 - 7
Cheshire +6 34 £447 +32.52% 2
Manchester -13 33 £375 -20.63% 7
Cumbria +4 15 £612 +16.62%
Lancashire - 7 £190 - 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 17 (11.26%) Microsoft Exchange
2 9 (5.96%) Skype for Business
3 4 (2.65%) IIS
3 4 (2.65%) SharePoint
Applications
1 9 (5.96%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.66%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 32 (21.19%) Azure
2 24 (15.89%) AWS
3 12 (7.95%) Microsoft 365
4 8 (5.30%) GCP
5 6 (3.97%) Akamai
5 6 (3.97%) Entra ID
6 4 (2.65%) Nutanix
6 4 (2.65%) SaaS
7 3 (1.99%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 3 (1.99%) IaaS
7 3 (1.99%) PaaS
8 2 (1.32%) Asana
8 2 (1.32%) Azure Logic Apps
8 2 (1.32%) Azure Monitor
8 2 (1.32%) Azure Sentinel
8 2 (1.32%) Google Drive
8 2 (1.32%) Google Workspace
8 2 (1.32%) OneDrive
9 1 (0.66%) Azure DevOps
9 1 (0.66%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 46 (30.46%) VPN
2 45 (29.80%) TCP/IP
3 36 (23.84%) DMZ
4 34 (22.52%) SSL
5 33 (21.85%) BGP
5 33 (21.85%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
5 33 (21.85%) HTTP
6 31 (20.53%) DHCP
7 30 (19.87%) Multicast
7 30 (19.87%) Wireshark
8 29 (19.21%) BIG-IP
9 25 (16.56%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
10 22 (14.57%) Firewall
11 17 (11.26%) VLAN
12 13 (8.61%) LAN
12 13 (8.61%) WAN
12 13 (8.61%) Wi-Fi
13 12 (7.95%) Wireless
14 11 (7.28%) Network Security
15 9 (5.96%) Skype
Development Applications
1 28 (18.54%) Fiddler
2 5 (3.31%) JIRA
3 1 (0.66%) Git
3 1 (0.66%) Jenkins
General
1 45 (29.80%) Banking
2 38 (25.17%) Investment Banking
3 16 (10.60%) Finance
4 13 (8.61%) Social Skills
5 10 (6.62%) Analytical Skills
6 9 (5.96%) Public Sector
7 8 (5.30%) Documentation Skills
8 5 (3.31%) Legal
9 1 (0.66%) Military
9 1 (0.66%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 69 (45.70%) Network Engineer
2 42 (27.81%) Web Engineer
3 39 (25.83%) Security Engineer
4 32 (21.19%) Network Security Engineer
5 31 (20.53%) Cisco Engineer
5 31 (20.53%) Cisco Network Engineer
5 31 (20.53%) Data Engineer
5 31 (20.53%) Data Network Engineer
6 30 (19.87%) Cisco Security Engineer
7 19 (12.58%) Blue Coat Engineer
7 19 (12.58%) IP Network Engineer
8 16 (10.60%) Analyst
9 14 (9.27%) Architect
10 11 (7.28%) Systems Analyst
11 10 (6.62%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 9 (5.96%) Junior
12 9 (5.96%) Junior Network Engineer
12 9 (5.96%) Technical Architect
13 8 (5.30%) Administrator
14 5 (3.31%) Infrastructure Services Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (3.31%) LDAP
1 5 (3.31%) XMPP
2 4 (2.65%) 802.1X
3 2 (1.32%) JSON
3 2 (1.32%) OAuth
3 2 (1.32%) Software Packaging
4 1 (0.66%) ARM Templates
4 1 (0.66%) OpenTelemetry
4 1 (0.66%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 23 (15.23%) Management Information System
2 13 (8.61%) Public Cloud
3 12 (7.95%) Data Centre
4 9 (5.96%) Enterprise Cloud
5 7 (4.64%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
6 5 (3.31%) Cloud Security Posture
6 5 (3.31%) Fat Client
6 5 (3.31%) PKI
6 5 (3.31%) Product Ownership
6 5 (3.31%) Security Posture
6 5 (3.31%) Thin Client
7 4 (2.65%) Cloud Native
7 4 (2.65%) Hybrid Cloud
7 4 (2.65%) Private Cloud
8 3 (1.99%) Onboarding
9 2 (1.32%) Freedom of Information
9 2 (1.32%) iPhone
10 1 (0.66%) Data Protection Act
10 1 (0.66%) Enterprise Software
10 1 (0.66%) Team-Oriented Environment
Operating Systems
1 31 (20.53%) Windows
2 13 (8.61%) Windows Server
3 12 (7.95%) Windows 10
4 9 (5.96%) Windows 7
4 9 (5.96%) Windows Server 2019
5 8 (5.30%) Linux
6 7 (4.64%) Windows Server 2012
7 6 (3.97%) Unix
8 2 (1.32%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.66%) AIX
9 1 (0.66%) Apple iOS
9 1 (0.66%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.66%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 70 (46.36%) Load Balancing
2 30 (19.87%) Data Loss Prevention
3 28 (18.54%) Malware Detection/Protection
4 22 (14.57%) Project Delivery
5 21 (13.91%) Problem-Solving
6 19 (12.58%) ITSM
7 17 (11.26%) Migration
8 15 (9.93%) Agile
8 15 (9.93%) Service Management
9 13 (8.61%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 12 (7.95%) ITIL
11 11 (7.28%) Waterfall
12 10 (6.62%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 10 (6.62%) Validation
13 9 (5.96%) Change Management
13 9 (5.96%) Disk Encryption
13 9 (5.96%) Workshop Facilitation
14 8 (5.30%) CI/CD
14 8 (5.30%) Infrastructure as Code
14 8 (5.30%) Platform Engineering
Programming Languages
1 24 (15.89%) PowerShell
2 17 (11.26%) Python
3 9 (5.96%) VB
3 9 (5.96%) VBScript
4 3 (1.99%) SQL
5 2 (1.32%) Bicep
5 2 (1.32%) Kusto Query Language
6 1 (0.66%) Bash
6 1 (0.66%) JavaScript
6 1 (0.66%) Lisp
Qualifications
1 27 (17.88%) Security Cleared
2 19 (12.58%) SC Cleared
3 18 (11.92%) Cisco Certification
4 15 (9.93%) CCNA
5 13 (8.61%) CCNP
6 9 (5.96%) Degree
6 9 (5.96%) Network+ Certification
7 8 (5.30%) CompTIA Security+
8 7 (4.64%) BPSS Clearance
8 7 (4.64%) DV Cleared
9 6 (3.97%) Server+ Certification
10 5 (3.31%) Azure Certification
10 5 (3.31%) CISSP
10 5 (3.31%) MCSA
10 5 (3.31%) MCSE
10 5 (3.31%) Microsoft Certification
11 2 (1.32%) AWS Certification
11 2 (1.32%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 2 (1.32%) CCIE
11 2 (1.32%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (2.65%) SLA
2 2 (1.32%) NIST
System Software
1 31 (20.53%) VMware Infrastructure
2 30 (19.87%) Active Directory
3 20 (13.25%) Firmware
4 14 (9.27%) VMware NSX
5 9 (5.96%) BitLocker
6 6 (3.97%) vSphere
7 5 (3.31%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (2.65%) Docker
8 4 (2.65%) Hyper-V
9 2 (1.32%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.66%) NFS
10 1 (0.66%) Veritas Volume Manager
10 1 (0.66%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 17 (11.26%) SCCM
2 13 (8.61%) Ansible
3 8 (5.30%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 6 (3.97%) Microsoft Intune
4 6 (3.97%) Terraform
5 5 (3.31%) CASB
5 5 (3.31%) Kubernetes
5 5 (3.31%) Nessus
5 5 (3.31%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (1.99%) WSUS
7 2 (1.32%) AirWatch
7 2 (1.32%) CA Single Sign-On
7 2 (1.32%) FortiGate
7 2 (1.32%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.66%) Failover Clustering
8 1 (0.66%) Grafana
8 1 (0.66%) Microsoft Clustering
8 1 (0.66%) NetApp OnCommand
8 1 (0.66%) PowerBroker
8 1 (0.66%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 77 (50.99%) F5
2 47 (31.13%) Cisco
2 47 (31.13%) VMware
3 29 (19.21%) Blue Coat
4 28 (18.54%) McAfee
5 26 (17.22%) Microsoft
6 19 (12.58%) NetApp
7 18 (11.92%) ServiceNow
8 15 (9.93%) Infoblox
9 8 (5.30%) Citrix
10 6 (3.97%) Remedy
11 5 (3.31%) CyberArk
11 5 (3.31%) Splunk
11 5 (3.31%) Tenable
12 4 (2.65%) Computacenter
12 4 (2.65%) Veeam
13 3 (1.99%) ForeScout
13 3 (1.99%) Red Hat
14 2 (1.32%) HP
14 2 (1.32%) Tanium