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

6 months to
9 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 156 140 147
Rank change year-on-year -16 +7 -17
Contract jobs citing DNS 989 703 659
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.81% 2.12% 1.74%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 19.63% 18.55% 14.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 626 445 404
10th Percentile £300 £214 £219
25th Percentile £413 £379 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £501 £500 £488
Median % change year-on-year +0.25% +2.56% -2.50%
75th Percentile £600 £588 £598
90th Percentile £656 £652 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £514 £475 £425
% change year-on-year +8.16% +11.76% -12.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 52 32 12
10th Percentile £26.07 £15.50 £18.78
25th Percentile £31.25 £29.00 £22.64
Median hourly rate £62.00 £45.00 £23.99
Median % change year-on-year +37.78% +87.58% -40.03%
75th Percentile £79.38 £76.59 £32.00
90th Percentile £98.44 £89.17 £47.68
UK excluding London median hourly rate £63.48 £43.25 £24.20
% change year-on-year +46.77% +78.72% -39.50%

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 5,039 3,790 4,550
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.25% 11.43% 11.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,917 2,399 2,613
10th Percentile £236 £216 £225
25th Percentile £393 £358 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £601
90th Percentile £678 £680 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £485
% change year-on-year +5.56% -7.22% +5.43%
Number of hourly rates quoted 434 195 192
10th Percentile £14.10 £15.50 £14.20
25th Percentile £19.50 £20.00 £24.18
Median hourly rate £32.50 £35.00 £49.00
Median % change year-on-year -7.14% -28.57% -13.26%
75th Percentile £68.69 £64.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £92.11 £75.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.14 £41.48 £55.00
% change year-on-year -36.97% -24.59% -4.35%

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 9 October 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 9 October 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 9 October 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 -22 897 £510 +2.00% 904
UK excluding London -23 603 £514 +8.16% 500
London -43 317 £500 -4.76% 418
Work from Home -24 242 £500 +4.60% 317
North of England +9 198 £500 +11.48% 110
South East +1 173 £538 +7.50% 140
North West +4 122 £500 +11.48% 69
Midlands -47 99 £450 - 69
South West +5 96 £588 +2.17% 83
West Midlands -52 83 £450 +2.86% 41
Yorkshire -3 61 £500 - 29
East of England -44 41 £513 -6.82% 41
Scotland -6 34 £450 -0.88% 42
East Midlands -9 15 £375 -16.67% 28
North East -37 15 £425 +25.00% 14
Wales -4 10 £440 +16.02% 10

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
1 108 (10.92%) Microsoft Exchange
2 88 (8.90%) SharePoint
3 34 (3.44%) Confluence
4 15 (1.52%) nginx
5 14 (1.42%) Apache
6 13 (1.31%) IIS
7 8 (0.81%) Skype for Business
8 7 (0.71%) Tomcat
9 5 (0.51%) OpenStack
10 4 (0.40%) Exchange Server 2013
11 3 (0.30%) Exchange Server 2010
12 2 (0.20%) Apache Spark
13 1 (0.10%) CMS
13 1 (0.10%) Drupal
13 1 (0.10%) SharePoint Server
13 1 (0.10%) Traefik
13 1 (0.10%) WebSphere
13 1 (0.10%) WordPress
Applications
1 23 (2.33%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (1.11%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (1.11%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.20%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 2 (0.20%) Houdini
4 2 (0.20%) NUKE
4 2 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.10%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.10%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.10%) Mozilla Thunderbird
Business Applications
1 16 (1.62%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.10%) Magento
2 1 (0.10%) Oracle EBS
2 1 (0.10%) Oracle ERP
2 1 (0.10%) Oracle Retail
2 1 (0.10%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 425 (42.97%) Azure
2 212 (21.44%) AWS
3 197 (19.92%) Entra ID
4 194 (19.62%) Microsoft 365
5 85 (8.59%) GitHub
6 84 (8.49%) GCP
7 53 (5.36%) Azure DevOps
8 52 (5.26%) Azure Monitor
8 52 (5.26%) GitHub Actions
8 52 (5.26%) IaaS
9 49 (4.95%) OneDrive
10 34 (3.44%) SaaS
11 33 (3.34%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 27 (2.73%) PaaS
13 26 (2.63%) Azure Key Vault
13 26 (2.63%) Virtual Private Cloud
14 25 (2.53%) Amazon EKS
14 25 (2.53%) Azure AKS
14 25 (2.53%) Serverless
15 24 (2.43%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 475 (48.03%) DHCP
2 374 (37.82%) Firewall
3 298 (30.13%) TCP/IP
4 284 (28.72%) VPN
5 143 (14.46%) Network Security
6 131 (13.25%) VLAN
7 116 (11.73%) WAN
8 98 (9.91%) SSL
9 86 (8.70%) LAN
10 83 (8.39%) BGP
11 80 (8.09%) Wireless
12 66 (6.67%) Wi-Fi
13 64 (6.47%) HTTP
14 60 (6.07%) BIG-IP
15 59 (5.97%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
16 57 (5.76%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
17 55 (5.56%) SAN
18 46 (4.65%) OSPF
19 43 (4.35%) IPsec
20 41 (4.15%) DMZ
Database & Business Intelligence
1 48 (4.85%) SQL Server
2 22 (2.22%) PostgreSQL
3 16 (1.62%) Amazon RDS
4 13 (1.31%) MySQL
5 12 (1.21%) MongoDB
6 11 (1.11%) Data Lake
7 9 (0.91%) Power BI
8 8 (0.81%) NoSQL
9 7 (0.71%) Azure SQL Database
9 7 (0.71%) Elasticsearch
9 7 (0.71%) Redis
10 6 (0.61%) Big Data
11 4 (0.40%) Db2
12 3 (0.30%) MariaDB
12 3 (0.30%) Metadata
13 2 (0.20%) Amazon Aurora
13 2 (0.20%) BigQuery
13 2 (0.20%) DynamoDB
13 2 (0.20%) Flink
13 2 (0.20%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 82 (8.29%) JIRA
2 60 (6.07%) Git
2 60 (6.07%) Jenkins
3 42 (4.25%) GitLab
4 12 (1.21%) Bitbucket
4 12 (1.21%) Fiddler
5 9 (0.91%) Sonatype Nexus
6 5 (0.51%) Artifactory
6 5 (0.51%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 5 (0.51%) Selenium
7 4 (0.40%) Chocolatey
8 3 (0.30%) MSI
9 2 (0.20%) Spinnaker
9 2 (0.20%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 2 (0.20%) Vagrant
10 1 (0.10%) git-flow
10 1 (0.10%) Newman
10 1 (0.10%) REST Assured
10 1 (0.10%) Robot Framework
10 1 (0.10%) TestCafe
General
1 269 (27.20%) Social Skills
2 112 (11.32%) Analytical Skills
3 94 (9.50%) Finance
4 83 (8.39%) Public Sector
5 53 (5.36%) Documentation Skills
6 52 (5.26%) Banking
7 31 (3.13%) Telecoms
8 23 (2.33%) Investment Banking
9 17 (1.72%) Legal
10 14 (1.42%) Aerospace
11 13 (1.31%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 12 (1.21%) Police
13 11 (1.11%) Local Government
13 11 (1.11%) Military
14 9 (0.91%) Front Office
14 9 (0.91%) Manufacturing
14 9 (0.91%) Organisational Skills
15 8 (0.81%) Pharmaceutical
16 7 (0.71%) Influencing Skills
16 7 (0.71%) Law
Job Titles
1 193 (19.51%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 159 (16.08%) Network Engineer
3 130 (13.14%) Senior
4 104 (10.52%) Support Engineer
5 86 (8.70%) Cloud Engineer
6 69 (6.98%) Architect
7 51 (5.16%) Platform Engineer
8 50 (5.06%) Azure Engineer
8 50 (5.06%) DevOps Engineer
8 50 (5.06%) IT Support
9 48 (4.85%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 46 (4.65%) IT Engineer
11 43 (4.35%) Security Engineer
12 40 (4.04%) Analyst
13 36 (3.64%) Senior Network Engineer
14 33 (3.34%) IT Support Engineer
15 32 (3.24%) Administrator
16 30 (3.03%) Cisco Engineer
17 29 (2.93%) Network Security Engineer
18 28 (2.83%) Cisco Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 227 (22.95%) Terraform
2 40 (4.04%) SAML
3 36 (3.64%) OAuth
4 35 (3.54%) 802.1X
5 33 (3.34%) ARM Templates
6 29 (2.93%) REST
7 28 (2.83%) LDAP
7 28 (2.83%) OpenID
8 24 (2.43%) Kafka
9 16 (1.62%) JSON
9 16 (1.62%) YAML
10 13 (1.31%) OAuth2
11 12 (1.21%) Elastic Stack
12 11 (1.11%) OpenTelemetry
13 10 (1.01%) CSS
13 10 (1.01%) React
14 9 (0.91%) .NET
15 7 (0.71%) Jinja
15 7 (0.71%) Software Packaging
16 6 (0.61%) pytest
Miscellaneous
1 129 (13.04%) Data Centre
2 109 (11.02%) PKI
3 81 (8.19%) Onboarding
4 77 (7.79%) Hybrid Cloud
5 55 (5.56%) Management Information System
6 43 (4.35%) Cloud Native
7 33 (3.34%) Replication
8 28 (2.83%) Public Cloud
9 26 (2.63%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 23 (2.33%) Clustering
10 23 (2.33%) Linux Command Line
11 19 (1.92%) Self-Motivation
12 17 (1.72%) Distributed Systems
12 17 (1.72%) Driving Licence
13 16 (1.62%) Enterprise Software
14 14 (1.42%) Cyber Threat
14 14 (1.42%) Security Posture
15 12 (1.21%) ARM Cortex
16 11 (1.11%) CMDB
16 11 (1.11%) Enterprise Cloud
Operating Systems
1 483 (48.84%) Windows
2 272 (27.50%) Windows Server
3 229 (23.15%) Linux
4 58 (5.86%) Windows 10
5 45 (4.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 45 (4.55%) Windows Server 2019
6 34 (3.44%) Mac OS
7 29 (2.93%) Unix
8 26 (2.63%) Windows Server 2012
9 24 (2.43%) Ubuntu
10 23 (2.33%) Apple iOS
11 21 (2.12%) Android
12 20 (2.02%) CentOS
13 18 (1.82%) VMS
14 15 (1.52%) Windows Server 2016
15 12 (1.21%) Windows 7
16 7 (0.71%) Rocky
16 7 (0.71%) Windows Server 2008
17 4 (0.40%) AIX
17 4 (0.40%) OpenVMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 264 (26.69%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 224 (22.65%) Infrastructure as Code
3 214 (21.64%) Problem-Solving
4 200 (20.22%) ITIL
5 181 (18.30%) DevOps
6 180 (18.20%) CI/CD
7 164 (16.58%) Load Balancing
8 154 (15.57%) Migration
9 126 (12.74%) ITSM
10 115 (11.63%) Continuous Improvement
11 110 (11.12%) Agile
12 105 (10.62%) Cybersecurity
13 102 (10.31%) Technical Leadership
14 99 (10.01%) Observability
14 99 (10.01%) Platform Engineering
15 97 (9.81%) High Availability
16 96 (9.71%) Disaster Recovery
17 91 (9.20%) Project Delivery
17 91 (9.20%) Runbook
18 86 (8.70%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 290 (29.32%) PowerShell
2 213 (21.54%) Python
3 148 (14.96%) Bash
4 72 (7.28%) SQL
5 57 (5.76%) Bicep
6 20 (2.02%) ActionScript
7 19 (1.92%) Shell Script
8 17 (1.72%) Java
9 14 (1.42%) Go
10 13 (1.31%) JavaScript
11 10 (1.01%) VBScript
12 8 (0.81%) Perl
13 7 (0.71%) TypeScript
14 6 (0.61%) C#
14 6 (0.61%) Groovy
14 6 (0.61%) VB
15 5 (0.51%) Kusto Query Language
16 4 (0.40%) C++
16 4 (0.40%) Kotlin
16 4 (0.40%) VBA
Qualifications
1 380 (38.42%) Security Cleared
2 211 (21.33%) SC Cleared
3 166 (16.78%) DV Cleared
4 83 (8.39%) Degree
5 79 (7.99%) Cisco Certification
6 69 (6.98%) CCNP
7 57 (5.76%) Azure Certification
8 55 (5.56%) Microsoft Certification
9 39 (3.94%) CCNA
10 27 (2.73%) Computer Science Degree
11 26 (2.63%) Network+ Certification
12 24 (2.43%) AWS Certification
13 18 (1.82%) BPSS Clearance
13 18 (1.82%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 17 (1.72%) CCIE
15 15 (1.52%) VCAP
16 14 (1.42%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
17 13 (1.31%) MCSE
18 11 (1.11%) A+ Certification
18 11 (1.11%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (3.74%) SLA
2 20 (2.02%) QA
3 19 (1.92%) NIST
4 15 (1.52%) NCSC
5 13 (1.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 7 (0.71%) Cyber Essentials
7 5 (0.51%) NIST 800
8 4 (0.40%) Disclosure Scotland
8 4 (0.40%) GDPR
8 4 (0.40%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 3 (0.30%) Data Quality
9 3 (0.30%) JSP 440
9 3 (0.30%) PCI DSS
9 3 (0.30%) SOC 2
10 2 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.20%) Government Security Classifications
10 2 (0.20%) HIPAA
10 2 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.10%) GLBA
System Software
1 453 (45.80%) Active Directory
2 277 (28.01%) VMware Infrastructure
3 121 (12.23%) Hyper-V
4 90 (9.10%) vSphere
5 89 (9.00%) VMware ESXi
6 69 (6.98%) Docker
7 66 (6.67%) VMware NSX
8 49 (4.95%) Virtual Machines
9 41 (4.15%) Virtual Desktop
10 20 (2.02%) Firmware
11 18 (1.82%) NFS
12 16 (1.62%) vCloud
13 13 (1.31%) Virtual Servers
14 10 (1.01%) BitLocker
15 7 (0.71%) Postfix
15 7 (0.71%) UAG
16 6 (0.61%) Squid
16 6 (0.61%) VMware Workstation
17 5 (0.51%) Dovecot
17 5 (0.51%) Microsoft Virtual Server
Systems Management
1 151 (15.27%) Ansible
2 125 (12.64%) Kubernetes
3 118 (11.93%) Microsoft Intune
4 90 (9.10%) SCCM
5 66 (6.67%) vCenter Server
6 64 (6.47%) Grafana
7 57 (5.76%) Single Sign-On
8 53 (5.36%) Prometheus
9 42 (4.25%) SCOM
10 30 (3.03%) WSUS
11 19 (1.92%) NetBackup
12 18 (1.82%) FortiGate
13 16 (1.62%) Istio
13 16 (1.62%) Jamf Pro
13 16 (1.62%) Packer
13 16 (1.62%) Puppet
13 16 (1.62%) VxRail
14 13 (1.31%) Progress Chef
15 11 (1.11%) Active Directory Federation Services
15 11 (1.11%) Argo
Vendors
1 416 (42.06%) Microsoft
2 337 (34.07%) VMware
3 169 (17.09%) Cisco
4 123 (12.44%) F5
5 84 (8.49%) ServiceNow
6 57 (5.76%) Palo Alto
7 52 (5.26%) Google
8 51 (5.16%) Citrix
9 49 (4.95%) SolarWinds
10 44 (4.45%) Splunk
11 40 (4.04%) Infoblox
11 40 (4.04%) Juniper
12 37 (3.74%) Red Hat
13 36 (3.64%) Dynatrace
13 36 (3.64%) NetApp
14 34 (3.44%) CheckPoint
15 33 (3.34%) Fortinet
16 29 (2.93%) Veeam
16 29 (2.93%) Zscaler
17 24 (2.43%) CyberArk