DNS Contract Job Trends

Domain Name System (DNS)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring DNS skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 31 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 150 129 163
Rank change year-on-year -21 +34 -22
Contract jobs citing DNS 1,010 727 603
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.90% 2.22% 1.52%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 20.32% 18.39% 12.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 624 484 420
10th Percentile £300 £258 £249
25th Percentile £406 £400 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £488
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +7.69% -2.50%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £588
90th Percentile £649 £650 £652
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% +2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 32 17
10th Percentile £21.25 £29.00 £19.40
25th Percentile £29.00 £37.06 £23.10
Median hourly rate £50.11 £57.50 £24.20
Median % change year-on-year -12.85% +137.60% -39.50%
75th Percentile £74.00 £82.33 £40.00
90th Percentile £98.82 £89.17 £59.64
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.00 £65.00 £43.75
% change year-on-year -20.00% +48.57% +62.04%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 4,971 3,954 4,855
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.36% 12.06% 12.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,961 2,420 2,950
10th Percentile £250 £235 £217
25th Percentile £400 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.41% -2.35% -
75th Percentile £588 £590 £608
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.16% -5.00% +8.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 342 196 341
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.34 £25.15 £18.03
Median hourly rate £26.66 £50.00 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year -46.68% +8.98% -8.24%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £83.50 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.72 £45.00 £52.00
% change year-on-year -40.62% -13.46% -8.63%

DNS
Job Vacancy Trend

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

DNS job vacancy trend in the UK

DNS
Daily Rate Trend

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing DNS

DNS
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing DNS over the 6 months to 31 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for DNS in the UK

DNS
Hourly Rate Trend

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing DNS

DNS
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing DNS over the 6 months to 31 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for DNS in the UK

DNS
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing DNS within the UK over the 6 months to 31 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
England -19 914 £500 -4.76% 354
UK excluding London -6 623 £500 -4.76% 269
London -35 318 £483 -5.62% 139
Work from Home -27 230 £510 -2.86% 140
North of England +15 227 £450 -10.00% 55
South East +7 194 £538 -2.27% 88
North West +28 149 £450 -7.69% 32
Midlands -14 112 £450 -5.26% 46
West Midlands -28 92 £450 -5.26% 30
South West -3 82 £500 -13.04% 40
Yorkshire -24 72 £475 -13.64% 19
Scotland +12 34 £550 +22.22% 15
East of England -55 29 £450 -18.18% 31
East Midlands -4 18 £413 -25.00% 16
Wales -13 9 £500 +15.34% 4
North East -46 6 £413 +19.57% 8

DNS
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 97 (9.60%) Microsoft Exchange
2 80 (7.92%) SharePoint
3 22 (2.18%) Confluence
4 18 (1.78%) Apache
5 15 (1.49%) IIS
5 15 (1.49%) nginx
6 9 (0.89%) Tomcat
7 5 (0.50%) WebSphere
8 4 (0.40%) Exchange Server 2010
9 2 (0.20%) Exchange Server 2013
9 2 (0.20%) IBM HTTP Server
9 2 (0.20%) Oracle HTTP Server
9 2 (0.20%) WebSphere Application Server
9 2 (0.20%) WebSphere Portal
10 1 (0.099%) SharePoint Server
10 1 (0.099%) Traefik
Applications
1 21 (2.08%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (1.19%) MS Visio
3 7 (0.69%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.20%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.20%) Chatbot
5 2 (0.20%) Houdini
5 2 (0.20%) NUKE
6 1 (0.099%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 10 (0.99%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.099%) Cloudability
Cloud Services
1 386 (38.22%) Azure
2 202 (20.00%) AWS
3 163 (16.14%) Microsoft 365
4 160 (15.84%) Entra ID
5 111 (10.99%) GCP
6 76 (7.52%) GitHub
7 57 (5.64%) IaaS
8 51 (5.05%) OneDrive
9 45 (4.46%) Azure DevOps
10 43 (4.26%) PaaS
11 42 (4.16%) SaaS
12 35 (3.47%) Azure Monitor
13 32 (3.17%) OpenShift
14 30 (2.97%) GitHub Actions
15 28 (2.77%) AWS CloudFormation
16 27 (2.67%) Serverless
17 26 (2.57%) Amazon EC2
17 26 (2.57%) Google Kubernetes Engine
18 25 (2.48%) Akamai
19 24 (2.38%) Azure ExpressRoute
Communications & Networking
1 453 (44.85%) DHCP
2 364 (36.04%) Firewall
3 284 (28.12%) TCP/IP
4 273 (27.03%) VPN
5 137 (13.56%) WAN
6 126 (12.48%) Network Security
6 126 (12.48%) VLAN
7 117 (11.58%) LAN
8 105 (10.40%) BGP
9 104 (10.30%) SSL
10 83 (8.22%) BIG-IP
11 73 (7.23%) HTTP
12 69 (6.83%) Wireless
13 64 (6.34%) Wi-Fi
14 63 (6.24%) SAN
15 60 (5.94%) OSPF
16 54 (5.35%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
17 42 (4.16%) DMZ
18 39 (3.86%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
19 38 (3.76%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 51 (5.05%) SQL Server
2 15 (1.49%) PostgreSQL
3 13 (1.29%) Elasticsearch
4 12 (1.19%) Azure SQL Database
5 10 (0.99%) Power BI
6 8 (0.79%) Amazon RDS
7 6 (0.59%) Data Lake
7 6 (0.59%) MongoDB
7 6 (0.59%) MySQL
8 4 (0.40%) Db2
8 4 (0.40%) MariaDB
9 3 (0.30%) Big Data
10 2 (0.20%) NoSQL
10 2 (0.20%) SQLPlus
11 1 (0.099%) Cloud Spanner
11 1 (0.099%) DynamoDB
11 1 (0.099%) KDB
11 1 (0.099%) Power Query
11 1 (0.099%) Redis
11 1 (0.099%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 74 (7.33%) JIRA
2 58 (5.74%) Jenkins
3 40 (3.96%) Git
4 25 (2.48%) GitLab
5 19 (1.88%) Fiddler
6 10 (0.99%) Bitbucket
6 10 (0.99%) Browser DevTools
7 9 (0.89%) Chocolatey
8 6 (0.59%) Sonatype Nexus
9 4 (0.40%) Atlassian Bamboo
10 2 (0.20%) Artifactory
10 2 (0.20%) Introscope
10 2 (0.20%) SonarQube
10 2 (0.20%) Spinnaker
10 2 (0.20%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
11 1 (0.099%) Maven
11 1 (0.099%) MSI
11 1 (0.099%) Visual Studio
General
1 245 (24.26%) Social Skills
2 113 (11.19%) Analytical Skills
3 93 (9.21%) Finance
4 81 (8.02%) Public Sector
5 73 (7.23%) Banking
6 53 (5.25%) Documentation Skills
7 34 (3.37%) Investment Banking
8 29 (2.87%) Telecoms
9 21 (2.08%) Legal
9 21 (2.08%) Military
10 13 (1.29%) Organisational Skills
11 12 (1.19%) Local Government
12 11 (1.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 10 (0.99%) Police
14 6 (0.59%) Influencing Skills
14 6 (0.59%) Publishing
15 5 (0.50%) Law
15 5 (0.50%) Manufacturing
16 4 (0.40%) Automotive
16 4 (0.40%) Italian Language
Job Titles
1 192 (19.01%) Network Engineer
2 170 (16.83%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 114 (11.29%) Senior
4 99 (9.80%) Architect
5 92 (9.11%) Support Engineer
6 76 (7.52%) Cloud Engineer
7 62 (6.14%) Security Engineer
8 55 (5.45%) Analyst
9 49 (4.85%) IT Support
10 48 (4.75%) IT Engineer
11 43 (4.26%) Azure Engineer
12 42 (4.16%) Network Security Engineer
13 41 (4.06%) Web Engineer
14 39 (3.86%) Administrator
14 39 (3.86%) Cisco Engineer
14 39 (3.86%) DevOps Engineer
15 37 (3.66%) Cisco Network Engineer
16 35 (3.47%) Platform Engineer
16 35 (3.47%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
17 32 (3.17%) Data Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 52 (5.15%) 802.1X
2 39 (3.86%) SAML
3 30 (2.97%) LDAP
4 25 (2.48%) ARM Templates
4 25 (2.48%) OpenID
5 24 (2.38%) OAuth
6 21 (2.08%) OpenTelemetry
7 17 (1.68%) JSON
8 11 (1.09%) YAML
9 10 (0.99%) REST
10 8 (0.79%) Kafka
11 7 (0.69%) Middleware
11 7 (0.69%) OAuth2
12 5 (0.50%) CSS
13 4 (0.40%) .NET
13 4 (0.40%) Microsoft Graph
13 4 (0.40%) React
13 4 (0.40%) Software Packaging
13 4 (0.40%) Web Services
14 3 (0.30%) Redfish
Miscellaneous
1 133 (13.17%) Data Centre
2 111 (10.99%) PKI
3 63 (6.24%) Hybrid Cloud
4 62 (6.14%) Onboarding
5 59 (5.84%) Cloud Native
6 48 (4.75%) Management Information System
7 45 (4.46%) Clustering
8 43 (4.26%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 31 (3.07%) Public Cloud
10 28 (2.77%) Self-Motivation
11 22 (2.18%) Replication
12 19 (1.88%) Enterprise Cloud
12 19 (1.88%) Security Posture
13 16 (1.58%) Cyber Threat
14 15 (1.49%) Linux Command Line
15 14 (1.39%) Enterprise Software
16 13 (1.29%) Distributed Systems
17 12 (1.19%) Driving Licence
17 12 (1.19%) Legacy Systems
18 11 (1.09%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 455 (45.05%) Windows
2 240 (23.76%) Windows Server
3 191 (18.91%) Linux
4 52 (5.15%) Windows 10
5 46 (4.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 40 (3.96%) Windows Server 2019
7 33 (3.27%) Mac OS
8 27 (2.67%) Unix
9 22 (2.18%) Windows Server 2012
10 20 (1.98%) Ubuntu
11 17 (1.68%) VMS
12 16 (1.58%) Apple iOS
13 15 (1.49%) CentOS
14 14 (1.39%) Android
14 14 (1.39%) Windows Server 2016
15 7 (0.69%) Rocky
16 6 (0.59%) Windows 7
16 6 (0.59%) Windows Server 2008
17 5 (0.50%) Windows Server 2003
18 3 (0.30%) AIX
Processes & Methodologies
1 230 (22.77%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 227 (22.48%) Problem-Solving
3 180 (17.82%) ITIL
4 178 (17.62%) Load Balancing
5 166 (16.44%) Migration
6 164 (16.24%) Infrastructure as Code
7 157 (15.54%) DevOps
8 150 (14.85%) CI/CD
9 142 (14.06%) High Availability
10 113 (11.19%) ITSM
11 99 (9.80%) Observability
12 89 (8.81%) Project Delivery
13 88 (8.71%) Continuous Improvement
14 86 (8.51%) Agile
15 84 (8.32%) Cybersecurity
16 82 (8.12%) Disaster Recovery
17 80 (7.92%) Identity Access Management
18 72 (7.13%) Technical Leadership
19 70 (6.93%) Platform Engineering
20 69 (6.83%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 218 (21.58%) PowerShell
2 201 (19.90%) Python
3 144 (14.26%) Bash
4 58 (5.74%) SQL
5 42 (4.16%) Bicep
6 24 (2.38%) JavaScript
7 12 (1.19%) Go
8 11 (1.09%) Shell Script
9 10 (0.99%) ActionScript
10 9 (0.89%) Java
10 9 (0.89%) VBA
11 8 (0.79%) Perl
12 5 (0.50%) C
12 5 (0.50%) Groovy
12 5 (0.50%) Ruby
13 4 (0.40%) TypeScript
14 3 (0.30%) Lisp
15 2 (0.20%) Jython
15 2 (0.20%) Objective-C
15 2 (0.20%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 366 (36.24%) Security Cleared
2 208 (20.59%) SC Cleared
3 152 (15.05%) DV Cleared
4 112 (11.09%) Cisco Certification
5 77 (7.62%) CCNP
6 75 (7.43%) Degree
7 57 (5.64%) CCNA
8 50 (4.95%) Microsoft Certification
9 43 (4.26%) Azure Certification
10 32 (3.17%) Network+ Certification
11 18 (1.78%) BPSS Clearance
11 18 (1.78%) CCIE
12 17 (1.68%) CISSP
12 17 (1.68%) MCSE
12 17 (1.68%) Server+ Certification
13 16 (1.58%) AWS Certification
14 15 (1.49%) CompTIA Security+
14 15 (1.49%) Computer Science Degree
15 13 (1.29%) JNCIS
15 13 (1.29%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (3.76%) SLA
2 28 (2.77%) NIST
3 19 (1.88%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 16 (1.58%) NCSC
5 8 (0.79%) GDPR
5 8 (0.79%) QA
6 5 (0.50%) Cyber Essentials
6 5 (0.50%) Disclosure Scotland
6 5 (0.50%) NIST 800
7 4 (0.40%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 3 (0.30%) JSP 440
9 2 (0.20%) Government Security Classifications
9 2 (0.20%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.099%) Data Quality
10 1 (0.099%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 414 (40.99%) Active Directory
2 242 (23.96%) VMware Infrastructure
3 114 (11.29%) Hyper-V
4 71 (7.03%) vSphere
5 67 (6.63%) VMware ESXi
5 67 (6.63%) VMware NSX
6 50 (4.95%) Docker
7 44 (4.36%) Virtual Machines
8 37 (3.66%) Virtual Desktop
9 25 (2.48%) Firmware
10 22 (2.18%) NFS
11 13 (1.29%) vCloud
12 10 (0.99%) Microsoft App-V
12 10 (0.99%) Squid
13 9 (0.89%) BitLocker
13 9 (0.89%) Postfix
14 8 (0.79%) VMware Workstation
15 7 (0.69%) Virtual Servers
16 6 (0.59%) Varnish
17 5 (0.50%) Ceph
Systems Management
1 204 (20.20%) Terraform
2 155 (15.35%) Ansible
3 120 (11.88%) Kubernetes
4 97 (9.60%) Microsoft Intune
5 63 (6.24%) vCenter Server
6 58 (5.74%) SCCM
7 56 (5.54%) Single Sign-On
8 54 (5.35%) Grafana
9 44 (4.36%) FortiGate
10 39 (3.86%) Prometheus
11 28 (2.77%) SCOM
11 28 (2.77%) WSUS
12 25 (2.48%) Argo
13 15 (1.49%) Puppet
14 14 (1.39%) Nessus
14 14 (1.39%) VxRail
15 13 (1.29%) Jamf Pro
16 11 (1.09%) NetBackup
16 11 (1.09%) vMotion
17 10 (0.99%) Nagios
Vendors
1 343 (33.96%) Microsoft
2 297 (29.41%) VMware
3 200 (19.80%) Cisco
4 148 (14.65%) F5
5 89 (8.81%) ServiceNow
6 75 (7.43%) Splunk
7 66 (6.53%) Infoblox
8 65 (6.44%) Google
8 65 (6.44%) SolarWinds
9 63 (6.24%) Citrix
10 60 (5.94%) Juniper
11 51 (5.05%) Red Hat
12 45 (4.46%) Palo Alto
13 36 (3.56%) Dynatrace
13 36 (3.56%) NetApp
14 30 (2.97%) Zscaler
15 29 (2.87%) Blue Coat
16 28 (2.77%) Fortinet
17 25 (2.48%) CheckPoint
17 25 (2.48%) McAfee