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

6 months to
20 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 145 133 153
Rank change year-on-year -12 +20 -20
Contract jobs citing DNS 1,030 704 605
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.92% 2.14% 1.56%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 20.32% 18.14% 12.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 632 452 419
10th Percentile £300 £251 £241
25th Percentile £413 £388 £369
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £588
90th Percentile £650 £650 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 50 33 15
10th Percentile £26.00 - £20.00
25th Percentile £31.25 £29.00 £23.45
Median hourly rate £61.11 £57.50 £24.20
Median % change year-on-year +6.27% +137.60% -39.50%
75th Percentile £74.20 £82.10 £49.38
90th Percentile £98.82 £88.70 £63.51
UK excluding London median hourly rate £63.48 £65.00 £48.03
% change year-on-year -2.34% +35.33% +84.73%

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 5,069 3,880 4,745
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.47% 11.82% 12.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,998 2,361 2,873
10th Percentile £250 £243 £220
25th Percentile £400 £370 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £485 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.09% -3.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £608
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £483 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +1.68% -5.00% +9.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 366 203 314
10th Percentile £15.18 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.33 £25.15 £20.13
Median hourly rate £26.00 £46.25 £49.50
Median % change year-on-year -43.78% -6.57% -10.00%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £81.35 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.00 £45.00 £54.88
% change year-on-year -42.22% -18.00% -2.86%

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 20 August 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 20 August 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 20 August 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 -10 935 £500 -4.76% 368
UK excluding London -3 639 £500 -4.76% 278
London -41 321 £500 -0.99% 137
Work from Home -18 238 £510 -2.86% 116
North of England +31 227 £475 -5.00% 45
South East +14 189 £538 -2.27% 109
North West +36 145 £465 - 26
Midlands -21 115 £450 -5.26% 39
South West +7 94 £550 - 38
West Midlands -27 93 £450 -5.26% 28
Yorkshire -7 68 £500 -9.09% 14
East of England -53 33 £450 -18.18% 37
Scotland +6 32 £550 +20.22% 14
East Midlands -6 20 £431 -21.59% 11
North East -34 14 £413 +21.32% 6
Wales -12 9 £455 +19.97% 4

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
1 105 (10.19%) Microsoft Exchange
2 93 (9.03%) SharePoint
3 23 (2.23%) Confluence
4 19 (1.84%) Apache
5 16 (1.55%) IIS
6 12 (1.17%) nginx
7 9 (0.87%) Tomcat
8 6 (0.58%) Skype for Business
9 5 (0.49%) WebSphere
10 3 (0.29%) Exchange Server 2010
10 3 (0.29%) Exchange Server 2013
11 2 (0.19%) IBM HTTP Server
11 2 (0.19%) OpenStack
11 2 (0.19%) Oracle HTTP Server
11 2 (0.19%) WebSphere Application Server
11 2 (0.19%) WebSphere Portal
12 1 (0.097%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 24 (2.33%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (1.17%) MS Visio
3 10 (0.97%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (0.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.19%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.19%) Chatbot
5 2 (0.19%) Houdini
5 2 (0.19%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.19%) NUKE
Business Applications
1 11 (1.07%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.097%) Oracle Retail
Cloud Services
1 425 (41.26%) Azure
2 215 (20.87%) AWS
3 184 (17.86%) Microsoft 365
4 182 (17.67%) Entra ID
5 110 (10.68%) GCP
6 72 (6.99%) GitHub
7 58 (5.63%) IaaS
8 55 (5.34%) OneDrive
9 44 (4.27%) Azure DevOps
10 42 (4.08%) Azure Monitor
11 41 (3.98%) PaaS
12 39 (3.79%) SaaS
13 36 (3.50%) GitHub Actions
14 30 (2.91%) OpenShift
15 28 (2.72%) AWS CloudFormation
16 27 (2.62%) Azure ExpressRoute
16 27 (2.62%) Serverless
17 25 (2.43%) Google Kubernetes Engine
18 24 (2.33%) Amazon EKS
18 24 (2.33%) Azure AKS
Communications & Networking
1 486 (47.18%) DHCP
2 368 (35.73%) Firewall
3 293 (28.45%) TCP/IP
4 287 (27.86%) VPN
5 134 (13.01%) VLAN
6 130 (12.62%) WAN
7 129 (12.52%) Network Security
8 108 (10.49%) LAN
9 100 (9.71%) SSL
10 93 (9.03%) BGP
11 74 (7.18%) Wi-Fi
11 74 (7.18%) Wireless
12 73 (7.09%) HTTP
13 71 (6.89%) BIG-IP
14 64 (6.21%) SAN
15 54 (5.24%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
16 51 (4.95%) OSPF
17 47 (4.56%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
18 45 (4.37%) DMZ
19 38 (3.69%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 56 (5.44%) SQL Server
2 21 (2.04%) PostgreSQL
3 12 (1.17%) Azure SQL Database
4 10 (0.97%) Elasticsearch
4 10 (0.97%) MongoDB
4 10 (0.97%) MySQL
4 10 (0.97%) Power BI
5 9 (0.87%) Amazon RDS
6 6 (0.58%) Data Lake
7 5 (0.49%) MariaDB
7 5 (0.49%) NoSQL
8 4 (0.39%) Db2
8 4 (0.39%) Redis
9 3 (0.29%) Big Data
9 3 (0.29%) SQLPlus
10 2 (0.19%) KDB
11 1 (0.097%) Cloud Spanner
11 1 (0.097%) DynamoDB
11 1 (0.097%) Metadata
11 1 (0.097%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 72 (6.99%) JIRA
2 52 (5.05%) Jenkins
3 42 (4.08%) Git
4 33 (3.20%) GitLab
5 16 (1.55%) Fiddler
6 12 (1.17%) Bitbucket
7 10 (0.97%) Browser DevTools
8 7 (0.68%) Chocolatey
8 7 (0.68%) Sonatype Nexus
9 5 (0.49%) Atlassian Bamboo
10 3 (0.29%) MSI
11 2 (0.19%) Artifactory
11 2 (0.19%) Introscope
11 2 (0.19%) Selenium
11 2 (0.19%) Spinnaker
11 2 (0.19%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
12 1 (0.097%) Maven
12 1 (0.097%) SonarQube
12 1 (0.097%) Visual Studio
General
1 266 (25.83%) Social Skills
2 123 (11.94%) Analytical Skills
3 96 (9.32%) Finance
4 86 (8.35%) Public Sector
5 68 (6.60%) Banking
6 59 (5.73%) Documentation Skills
7 31 (3.01%) Investment Banking
7 31 (3.01%) Telecoms
8 22 (2.14%) Legal
9 13 (1.26%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 12 (1.17%) Military
11 11 (1.07%) Local Government
11 11 (1.07%) Organisational Skills
11 11 (1.07%) Police
12 10 (0.97%) Aerospace
13 9 (0.87%) Manufacturing
14 8 (0.78%) Pharmaceutical
15 6 (0.58%) Front Office
15 6 (0.58%) Influencing Skills
15 6 (0.58%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 183 (17.77%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 180 (17.48%) Network Engineer
3 123 (11.94%) Senior
4 99 (9.61%) Support Engineer
5 90 (8.74%) Architect
6 76 (7.38%) Cloud Engineer
7 56 (5.44%) Analyst
8 53 (5.15%) Security Engineer
9 49 (4.76%) IT Engineer
9 49 (4.76%) IT Support
10 43 (4.17%) Azure Engineer
11 42 (4.08%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 41 (3.98%) DevOps Engineer
12 41 (3.98%) Platform Engineer
13 38 (3.69%) Cisco Engineer
14 37 (3.59%) Administrator
14 37 (3.59%) Web Engineer
15 36 (3.50%) Cisco Network Engineer
16 35 (3.40%) Network Security Engineer
17 34 (3.30%) Senior Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 218 (21.17%) Terraform
2 48 (4.66%) SAML
3 38 (3.69%) 802.1X
4 32 (3.11%) OAuth
5 28 (2.72%) OpenID
6 27 (2.62%) ARM Templates
6 27 (2.62%) LDAP
7 19 (1.84%) JSON
8 17 (1.65%) REST
9 16 (1.55%) OpenTelemetry
10 15 (1.46%) Kafka
11 13 (1.26%) YAML
12 10 (0.97%) OAuth2
13 7 (0.68%) CSS
13 7 (0.68%) Middleware
13 7 (0.68%) React
14 6 (0.58%) Elastic Stack
14 6 (0.58%) Software Packaging
15 5 (0.49%) .NET
16 4 (0.39%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 128 (12.43%) Data Centre
2 106 (10.29%) PKI
3 72 (6.99%) Hybrid Cloud
4 70 (6.80%) Onboarding
5 53 (5.15%) Management Information System
6 48 (4.66%) Cloud Native
7 40 (3.88%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 33 (3.20%) Clustering
9 27 (2.62%) Public Cloud
9 27 (2.62%) Replication
10 26 (2.52%) Self-Motivation
11 19 (1.84%) Enterprise Cloud
12 17 (1.65%) Linux Command Line
13 16 (1.55%) Driving Licence
13 16 (1.55%) Enterprise Software
14 15 (1.46%) Distributed Systems
15 14 (1.36%) Cyber Threat
15 14 (1.36%) Security Posture
16 10 (0.97%) CMDB
16 10 (0.97%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 473 (45.92%) Windows
2 263 (25.53%) Windows Server
3 217 (21.07%) Linux
4 62 (6.02%) Windows 10
5 48 (4.66%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 39 (3.79%) Windows Server 2019
7 32 (3.11%) Mac OS
8 27 (2.62%) Unix
8 27 (2.62%) Windows Server 2012
9 22 (2.14%) Ubuntu
10 20 (1.94%) Apple iOS
11 18 (1.75%) Android
11 18 (1.75%) VMS
12 17 (1.65%) CentOS
13 15 (1.46%) Windows Server 2016
14 12 (1.17%) Windows 7
15 7 (0.68%) Rocky
15 7 (0.68%) Windows Server 2008
16 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2003
17 3 (0.29%) OpenVMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 247 (23.98%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 227 (22.04%) Problem-Solving
3 188 (18.25%) ITIL
4 184 (17.86%) Infrastructure as Code
5 176 (17.09%) Load Balancing
6 169 (16.41%) Migration
7 163 (15.83%) DevOps
8 155 (15.05%) CI/CD
9 128 (12.43%) ITSM
10 127 (12.33%) High Availability
11 108 (10.49%) Continuous Improvement
12 97 (9.42%) Observability
13 96 (9.32%) Cybersecurity
14 94 (9.13%) Agile
15 91 (8.83%) Disaster Recovery
16 90 (8.74%) Project Delivery
17 86 (8.35%) Technical Leadership
18 85 (8.25%) Runbook
19 82 (7.96%) Platform Engineering
20 79 (7.67%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 258 (25.05%) PowerShell
2 213 (20.68%) Python
3 156 (15.15%) Bash
4 66 (6.41%) SQL
5 45 (4.37%) Bicep
6 23 (2.23%) JavaScript
7 16 (1.55%) Shell Script
8 12 (1.17%) Go
9 10 (0.97%) ActionScript
9 10 (0.97%) Java
9 10 (0.97%) Perl
10 9 (0.87%) VBScript
11 7 (0.68%) VBA
12 6 (0.58%) Groovy
12 6 (0.58%) VB
13 5 (0.49%) Ruby
13 5 (0.49%) TypeScript
14 3 (0.29%) C
14 3 (0.29%) Lisp
15 2 (0.19%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 381 (36.99%) Security Cleared
2 217 (21.07%) SC Cleared
3 160 (15.53%) DV Cleared
4 102 (9.90%) Cisco Certification
5 84 (8.16%) Degree
6 76 (7.38%) CCNP
7 55 (5.34%) CCNA
8 51 (4.95%) Azure Certification
9 50 (4.85%) Microsoft Certification
10 31 (3.01%) Network+ Certification
11 23 (2.23%) Computer Science Degree
12 21 (2.04%) AWS Certification
13 18 (1.75%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 17 (1.65%) CCIE
15 16 (1.55%) BPSS Clearance
16 15 (1.46%) Server+ Certification
16 15 (1.46%) VCAP
17 13 (1.26%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
18 12 (1.17%) ITIL Certification
19 11 (1.07%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (4.08%) SLA
2 26 (2.52%) NIST
3 17 (1.65%) NCSC
4 16 (1.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 13 (1.26%) QA
6 8 (0.78%) GDPR
7 5 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials
7 5 (0.49%) Disclosure Scotland
7 5 (0.49%) NIST 800
8 4 (0.39%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 4 (0.39%) JSP 440
9 2 (0.19%) Data Quality
9 2 (0.19%) Government Security Classifications
9 2 (0.19%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.19%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.097%) HIPAA
10 1 (0.097%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 440 (42.72%) Active Directory
2 276 (26.80%) VMware Infrastructure
3 128 (12.43%) Hyper-V
4 77 (7.48%) VMware ESXi
5 76 (7.38%) vSphere
6 69 (6.70%) VMware NSX
7 56 (5.44%) Docker
8 43 (4.17%) Virtual Machines
9 37 (3.59%) Virtual Desktop
10 26 (2.52%) Firmware
11 22 (2.14%) NFS
12 14 (1.36%) BitLocker
12 14 (1.36%) vCloud
13 9 (0.87%) Microsoft App-V
13 9 (0.87%) Postfix
13 9 (0.87%) Squid
13 9 (0.87%) Virtual Servers
14 8 (0.78%) VMware Workstation
15 7 (0.68%) Ceph
16 6 (0.58%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 160 (15.53%) Ansible
2 128 (12.43%) Kubernetes
3 110 (10.68%) Microsoft Intune
4 82 (7.96%) SCCM
5 64 (6.21%) Single Sign-On
6 62 (6.02%) vCenter Server
7 56 (5.44%) Grafana
8 44 (4.27%) Prometheus
9 33 (3.20%) FortiGate
9 33 (3.20%) SCOM
10 31 (3.01%) WSUS
11 17 (1.65%) Argo
12 16 (1.55%) VxRail
13 15 (1.46%) NetBackup
14 14 (1.36%) Puppet
15 13 (1.26%) Jamf Pro
16 12 (1.17%) Istio
16 12 (1.17%) Packer
16 12 (1.17%) vMotion
17 11 (1.07%) Active Directory Federation Services
Vendors
1 382 (37.09%) Microsoft
2 332 (32.23%) VMware
3 188 (18.25%) Cisco
4 130 (12.62%) F5
5 91 (8.83%) ServiceNow
6 64 (6.21%) Citrix
7 63 (6.12%) Infoblox
8 61 (5.92%) Google
9 56 (5.44%) SolarWinds
9 56 (5.44%) Splunk
10 45 (4.37%) Palo Alto
10 45 (4.37%) Red Hat
11 44 (4.27%) Juniper
12 37 (3.59%) Dynatrace
13 36 (3.50%) NetApp
14 31 (3.01%) Fortinet
15 30 (2.91%) CheckPoint
16 27 (2.62%) Zscaler
17 24 (2.33%) CyberArk
17 24 (2.33%) McAfee