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

6 months to
10 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 140 126 158
Rank change year-on-year -14 +32 -16
Contract jobs citing DNS 1,033 720 668
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.96% 2.22% 1.55%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 20.63% 18.23% 12.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 634 492 443
10th Percentile £281 £285 £240
25th Percentile £401 £406 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £539 £488
Median % change year-on-year -7.24% +10.56% -6.25%
75th Percentile £581 £606 £588
90th Percentile £638 £675 £673
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £538 £500
% change year-on-year -7.06% +7.60% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 44 20 25
10th Percentile £20.73 - £20.00
25th Percentile £25.75 £29.00 £23.80
Median hourly rate £32.50 £48.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -32.29% +20.00% -8.57%
75th Percentile £74.00 £81.10 -
90th Percentile £74.26 £82.29 £50.64
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £41.45 £40.00
% change year-on-year -21.59% +3.63% -

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 5,008 3,949 5,443
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.52% 12.20% 12.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,041 2,424 3,208
10th Percentile £238 £235 £213
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £485 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.09% -3.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £591 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £473 £490
% change year-on-year +1.59% -3.47% +3.05%
Number of hourly rates quoted 316 185 426
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.86
25th Percentile £19.34 £23.75 £17.69
Median hourly rate £26.55 £45.00 £41.50
Median % change year-on-year -41.00% +8.43% +38.33%
75th Percentile £65.00 £63.25 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £80.61 £73.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.22 £39.32 £47.50
% change year-on-year -33.32% -17.22% +5.56%

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 10 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 10 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 10 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 -1 923 £500 -8.26% 333
UK excluding London -3 651 £500 -7.06% 289
London -36 306 £500 -1.96% 92
North of England +15 246 £450 -10.00% 43
Work from Home -17 240 £525 -2.60% 140
South East +10 190 £530 -3.73% 110
North West +46 163 £458 - 20
Midlands +5 121 £450 -5.26% 42
West Midlands -7 102 £444 -6.58% 29
Yorkshire -16 77 £449 -18.45% 18
South West -9 74 £500 -16.67% 46
Scotland +16 42 £550 +22.22% 11
East of England -55 37 £475 -13.64% 35
East Midlands -9 17 £413 -17.50% 13
Wales -11 9 £500 +13.70% 4
North East -42 6 £413 - 9

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 (9.39%) Microsoft Exchange
2 69 (6.68%) SharePoint
3 21 (2.03%) Confluence
4 17 (1.65%) nginx
5 15 (1.45%) Apache
5 15 (1.45%) IIS
6 9 (0.87%) Tomcat
7 5 (0.48%) WebSphere
8 4 (0.39%) Exchange Server 2010
8 4 (0.39%) Skype for Business
9 2 (0.19%) IBM HTTP Server
9 2 (0.19%) Oracle HTTP Server
9 2 (0.19%) WebSphere Application Server
9 2 (0.19%) WebSphere Portal
10 1 (0.097%) SharePoint Server
10 1 (0.097%) Traefik
Applications
1 21 (2.03%) Microsoft Office
2 16 (1.55%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.29%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.19%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.097%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 1 (0.097%) Houdini
5 1 (0.097%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.097%) NUKE
Business Applications
1 7 (0.68%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.097%) Cloudability
Cloud Services
1 373 (36.11%) Azure
2 190 (18.39%) AWS
3 173 (16.75%) Entra ID
4 152 (14.71%) Microsoft 365
5 104 (10.07%) GCP
6 69 (6.68%) GitHub
7 58 (5.61%) IaaS
8 44 (4.26%) OneDrive
8 44 (4.26%) SaaS
9 43 (4.16%) PaaS
10 36 (3.48%) Azure DevOps
11 32 (3.10%) Route 53
12 29 (2.81%) Amazon EC2
13 28 (2.71%) AWS CloudFormation
13 28 (2.71%) Serverless
13 28 (2.71%) Virtual Private Cloud
14 27 (2.61%) Azure Monitor
14 27 (2.61%) OpenShift
15 26 (2.52%) GitHub Actions
16 24 (2.32%) Azure Key Vault
Communications & Networking
1 456 (44.14%) DHCP
2 333 (32.24%) Firewall
3 270 (26.14%) TCP/IP
4 257 (24.88%) VPN
5 144 (13.94%) WAN
6 123 (11.91%) LAN
7 118 (11.42%) Network Security
8 109 (10.55%) VLAN
9 103 (9.97%) SSL
10 98 (9.49%) BGP
11 94 (9.10%) BIG-IP
12 77 (7.45%) HTTP
13 67 (6.49%) Wi-Fi
14 61 (5.91%) Wireless
15 60 (5.81%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
16 59 (5.71%) SAN
17 54 (5.23%) OSPF
18 46 (4.45%) DMZ
19 44 (4.26%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
20 38 (3.68%) Kerberos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 41 (3.97%) SQL Server
2 18 (1.74%) Elasticsearch
3 13 (1.26%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (1.16%) Azure SQL Database
5 11 (1.06%) Power BI
6 8 (0.77%) Amazon RDS
7 6 (0.58%) Data Lake
7 6 (0.58%) MongoDB
7 6 (0.58%) MySQL
8 4 (0.39%) MariaDB
9 3 (0.29%) Big Data
9 3 (0.29%) Db2
10 2 (0.19%) NoSQL
10 2 (0.19%) SQLPlus
11 1 (0.097%) DynamoDB
11 1 (0.097%) KDB
11 1 (0.097%) Power Query
11 1 (0.097%) Redis
11 1 (0.097%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 1 (0.097%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 72 (6.97%) JIRA
2 53 (5.13%) Jenkins
3 34 (3.29%) Git
4 22 (2.13%) Fiddler
5 18 (1.74%) GitLab
6 10 (0.97%) Bitbucket
6 10 (0.97%) Browser DevTools
7 7 (0.68%) Chocolatey
7 7 (0.68%) SonarQube
8 5 (0.48%) Sonatype Nexus
9 2 (0.19%) Atlassian Bamboo
9 2 (0.19%) Introscope
9 2 (0.19%) Spinnaker
10 1 (0.097%) Artifactory
10 1 (0.097%) MSI
10 1 (0.097%) Visual Studio
General
1 255 (24.69%) Social Skills
2 99 (9.58%) Analytical Skills
3 86 (8.33%) Finance
4 75 (7.26%) Public Sector
5 70 (6.78%) Banking
6 64 (6.20%) Documentation Skills
7 36 (3.48%) Investment Banking
8 24 (2.32%) Legal
9 19 (1.84%) Military
9 19 (1.84%) Telecoms
10 13 (1.26%) Organisational Skills
11 10 (0.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 10 (0.97%) Local Government
12 8 (0.77%) Police
13 6 (0.58%) Influencing Skills
13 6 (0.58%) Publishing
14 5 (0.48%) Law
14 5 (0.48%) Manufacturing
15 4 (0.39%) Advertising
15 4 (0.39%) Italian Language
Job Titles
1 181 (17.52%) Network Engineer
2 155 (15.00%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 122 (11.81%) Architect
4 86 (8.33%) Support Engineer
5 83 (8.03%) Senior
6 66 (6.39%) Cloud Engineer
7 65 (6.29%) Analyst
8 63 (6.10%) Security Engineer
9 51 (4.94%) IT Support
10 49 (4.74%) IT Engineer
11 46 (4.45%) Web Engineer
12 44 (4.26%) Network Security Engineer
13 41 (3.97%) Cisco Engineer
13 41 (3.97%) DevOps Engineer
14 40 (3.87%) Azure Engineer
15 39 (3.78%) Cisco Network Engineer
16 37 (3.58%) Administrator
17 35 (3.39%) Data Engineer
17 35 (3.39%) Data Network Engineer
18 34 (3.29%) Cisco Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 58 (5.61%) LDAP
2 53 (5.13%) SAML
3 45 (4.36%) 802.1X
4 35 (3.39%) OAuth
5 30 (2.90%) OpenID
6 18 (1.74%) OpenTelemetry
7 17 (1.65%) ARM Templates
7 17 (1.65%) JSON
8 9 (0.87%) REST
8 9 (0.87%) YAML
9 6 (0.58%) Kafka
9 6 (0.58%) OAuth2
10 5 (0.48%) CSS
10 5 (0.48%) Microsoft Graph
10 5 (0.48%) Middleware
11 4 (0.39%) AWS CDK
11 4 (0.39%) Web Services
12 3 (0.29%) .NET
12 3 (0.29%) LAMP
12 3 (0.29%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 123 (11.91%) Data Centre
2 88 (8.52%) PKI
3 61 (5.91%) Cloud Native
4 52 (5.03%) Onboarding
5 46 (4.45%) Hybrid Cloud
6 43 (4.16%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
6 43 (4.16%) Management Information System
7 42 (4.07%) Replication
8 41 (3.97%) Clustering
9 28 (2.71%) Public Cloud
10 24 (2.32%) Self-Motivation
11 19 (1.84%) Security Posture
12 18 (1.74%) Enterprise Cloud
13 14 (1.36%) Enterprise Software
13 14 (1.36%) Security Operations Centre
14 13 (1.26%) Cyber Threat
14 13 (1.26%) Legacy Systems
15 12 (1.16%) Virtual Team
16 11 (1.06%) Product Ownership
17 10 (0.97%) Distributed Systems
Operating Systems
1 442 (42.79%) Windows
2 235 (22.75%) Windows Server
3 162 (15.68%) Linux
4 48 (4.65%) Windows 10
5 43 (4.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 37 (3.58%) Windows Server 2019
7 35 (3.39%) Mac OS
8 26 (2.52%) Unix
9 21 (2.03%) Windows Server 2012
10 18 (1.74%) Apple iOS
11 16 (1.55%) Android
12 15 (1.45%) Ubuntu
12 15 (1.45%) VMS
13 14 (1.36%) CentOS
14 13 (1.26%) Windows Server 2016
15 7 (0.68%) Windows 7
16 5 (0.48%) Rocky
16 5 (0.48%) Windows Server 2003
17 3 (0.29%) AIX
18 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 227 (21.97%) Problem-Solving
2 202 (19.55%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 190 (18.39%) Load Balancing
4 169 (16.36%) Migration
5 159 (15.39%) ITIL
6 157 (15.20%) High Availability
7 146 (14.13%) DevOps
8 140 (13.55%) Infrastructure as Code
9 134 (12.97%) CI/CD
10 109 (10.55%) ITSM
11 89 (8.62%) Identity Access Management
12 86 (8.33%) Observability
13 85 (8.23%) Disaster Recovery
14 84 (8.13%) Project Delivery
15 81 (7.84%) Cybersecurity
16 80 (7.74%) Agile
17 71 (6.87%) Continuous Improvement
18 67 (6.49%) RBAC
19 66 (6.39%) Runbook
20 65 (6.29%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 218 (21.10%) PowerShell
2 180 (17.42%) Python
3 115 (11.13%) Bash
4 52 (5.03%) SQL
5 31 (3.00%) Bicep
6 25 (2.42%) JavaScript
7 11 (1.06%) Go
8 10 (0.97%) ActionScript
9 9 (0.87%) Shell Script
9 9 (0.87%) VBA
10 8 (0.77%) Java
10 8 (0.77%) Perl
11 6 (0.58%) VBScript
12 5 (0.48%) C
12 5 (0.48%) Groovy
12 5 (0.48%) Ruby
13 4 (0.39%) VB
14 3 (0.29%) Kusto Query Language
14 3 (0.29%) Lisp
15 2 (0.19%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 362 (35.04%) Security Cleared
2 227 (21.97%) SC Cleared
3 130 (12.58%) DV Cleared
4 101 (9.78%) Cisco Certification
5 80 (7.74%) Degree
6 69 (6.68%) CCNP
7 54 (5.23%) CCNA
8 45 (4.36%) Microsoft Certification
9 37 (3.58%) Azure Certification
10 29 (2.81%) Network+ Certification
11 20 (1.94%) CompTIA Security+
12 18 (1.74%) BPSS Clearance
13 17 (1.65%) MCSE
13 17 (1.65%) Server+ Certification
14 16 (1.55%) CCIE
15 15 (1.45%) Computer Science Degree
16 14 (1.36%) AWS Certification
16 14 (1.36%) CISSP
17 12 (1.16%) MCSA
18 11 (1.06%) JNCIA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (3.10%) SLA
2 27 (2.61%) NIST
3 20 (1.94%) GDPR
4 17 (1.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 16 (1.55%) NCSC
6 12 (1.16%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 8 (0.77%) QA
8 6 (0.58%) Cyber Essentials
9 5 (0.48%) Disclosure Scotland
9 5 (0.48%) NIST 800
10 4 (0.39%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 3 (0.29%) JSP 440
12 2 (0.19%) Government Security Classifications
12 2 (0.19%) SOC 2
13 1 (0.097%) Actionable Recommendations
13 1 (0.097%) COBIT
13 1 (0.097%) Data Quality
13 1 (0.097%) PCI DSS
13 1 (0.097%) PMO
13 1 (0.097%) RMADS
System Software
1 413 (39.98%) Active Directory
2 225 (21.78%) VMware Infrastructure
3 101 (9.78%) Hyper-V
4 65 (6.29%) vSphere
5 64 (6.20%) VMware NSX
6 60 (5.81%) VMware ESXi
7 44 (4.26%) Virtual Machines
8 39 (3.78%) Virtual Desktop
9 36 (3.48%) Docker
10 26 (2.52%) Firmware
11 22 (2.13%) NFS
12 15 (1.45%) Squid
13 14 (1.36%) BitLocker
14 13 (1.26%) vCloud
15 10 (0.97%) Microsoft App-V
15 10 (0.97%) Postfix
16 8 (0.77%) VMware Workstation
17 7 (0.68%) Varnish
18 5 (0.48%) Ceph
18 5 (0.48%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 180 (17.42%) Terraform
2 132 (12.78%) Ansible
3 103 (9.97%) Kubernetes
4 81 (7.84%) Microsoft Intune
5 78 (7.55%) Single Sign-On
6 58 (5.61%) vCenter Server
7 56 (5.42%) Grafana
8 53 (5.13%) FortiGate
9 50 (4.84%) SCCM
10 43 (4.16%) Prometheus
11 37 (3.58%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 27 (2.61%) WSUS
13 25 (2.42%) Argo
14 24 (2.32%) SCOM
15 14 (1.36%) HAProxy
15 14 (1.36%) Nessus
15 14 (1.36%) Puppet
16 13 (1.26%) Jamf Pro
17 11 (1.06%) vMotion
18 8 (0.77%) Consul
Vendors
1 345 (33.40%) Microsoft
2 272 (26.33%) VMware
3 185 (17.91%) Cisco
4 159 (15.39%) F5
5 95 (9.20%) ServiceNow
6 78 (7.55%) Splunk
7 71 (6.87%) Infoblox
8 65 (6.29%) Citrix
9 62 (6.00%) Google
10 58 (5.61%) SolarWinds
11 55 (5.32%) Red Hat
12 48 (4.65%) Juniper
13 40 (3.87%) Palo Alto
14 35 (3.39%) NetApp
15 34 (3.29%) Dynatrace
16 29 (2.81%) Blue Coat
17 27 (2.61%) McAfee
18 25 (2.42%) Fortinet
19 24 (2.32%) Okta
19 24 (2.32%) Zscaler