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 25 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 137 119 158
Rank change year-on-year -18 +39 -20
Contract jobs citing DNS 966 683 658
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.90% 2.27% 1.51%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 19.99% 18.35% 12.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 587 473 448
10th Percentile £300 £263 £213
25th Percentile £401 £408 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £545 £475
Median % change year-on-year -8.26% +14.74% -9.52%
75th Percentile £581 £613 £578
90th Percentile £638 £675 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £550 £500
% change year-on-year -10.00% +10.00% -3.85%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 17 25
10th Percentile £18.89 - £19.10
25th Percentile £23.13 £29.00 £23.80
Median hourly rate £32.50 £41.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.69% +3.75% -23.27%
75th Percentile £62.87 £81.01 -
90th Percentile £74.05 £81.65 £50.64
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £41.45 £40.00
% change year-on-year -21.59% +3.63% -23.27%

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 4,832 3,722 5,406
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.50% 12.36% 12.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,960 2,275 3,197
10th Percentile £250 £225 £213
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £481 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.95% -3.80% -
75th Percentile £588 £590 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £473 £490
% change year-on-year +1.85% -3.57% +3.16%
Number of hourly rates quoted 297 174 430
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £20.50 £21.00 £17.69
Median hourly rate £27.88 £45.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -38.04% - +136.84%
75th Percentile £65.00 £60.97 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.10 £78.50 £72.93
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.69 £35.00 £47.50
% change year-on-year -23.74% -26.32% +150.00%

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 25 June 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 25 June 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 25 June 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 -22 859 £500 -9.09% 272
UK excluding London -8 601 £495 -10.00% 252
London -33 291 £500 - 65
North of England +9 233 £448 -10.40% 47
Work from Home -22 222 £527 -2.36% 116
South East -2 171 £525 -4.55% 93
North West +44 154 £450 - 27
Midlands +2 112 £450 -5.26% 36
West Midlands +6 98 £444 -6.58% 22
Yorkshire -24 73 £447 -18.77% 15
South West -37 65 £500 -18.70% 36
Scotland +21 41 £500 +11.11% 8
East of England -53 34 £450 -18.18% 36
East Midlands -15 13 £450 -18.18% 14
Wales -10 8 £475 +8.02% 7
North East -41 6 £413 +17.86% 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 89 (9.21%) Microsoft Exchange
2 60 (6.21%) SharePoint
3 19 (1.97%) Confluence
4 15 (1.55%) IIS
4 15 (1.55%) nginx
5 13 (1.35%) Apache
6 9 (0.93%) Tomcat
7 5 (0.52%) WebSphere
8 4 (0.41%) Skype for Business
9 3 (0.31%) Exchange Server 2010
10 2 (0.21%) IBM HTTP Server
10 2 (0.21%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 2 (0.21%) WebSphere Application Server
10 2 (0.21%) WebSphere Portal
11 1 (0.10%) SharePoint Server
11 1 (0.10%) Traefik
Applications
1 19 (1.97%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (1.55%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.31%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.31%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.21%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.10%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 5 (0.52%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.10%) Cloudability
Cloud Services
1 345 (35.71%) Azure
2 184 (19.05%) AWS
3 155 (16.05%) Entra ID
4 128 (13.25%) Microsoft 365
5 107 (11.08%) GCP
6 70 (7.25%) GitHub
7 54 (5.59%) IaaS
8 41 (4.24%) SaaS
9 39 (4.04%) OneDrive
9 39 (4.04%) PaaS
10 36 (3.73%) Route 53
11 32 (3.31%) AWS CloudFormation
11 32 (3.31%) Serverless
11 32 (3.31%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 29 (3.00%) Amazon EC2
13 28 (2.90%) Amazon S3
13 28 (2.90%) Azure DevOps
14 27 (2.80%) Amazon EKS
14 27 (2.80%) GitHub Actions
14 27 (2.80%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 424 (43.89%) DHCP
2 303 (31.37%) Firewall
3 238 (24.64%) VPN
4 237 (24.53%) TCP/IP
5 144 (14.91%) WAN
6 123 (12.73%) LAN
7 109 (11.28%) Network Security
8 103 (10.66%) SSL
9 98 (10.14%) VLAN
10 96 (9.94%) BIG-IP
11 92 (9.52%) BGP
12 76 (7.87%) HTTP
13 64 (6.63%) Wi-Fi
14 60 (6.21%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
15 55 (5.69%) Wireless
16 53 (5.49%) SAN
17 51 (5.28%) OSPF
18 44 (4.55%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
19 43 (4.45%) DMZ
20 38 (3.93%) Kerberos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (4.04%) SQL Server
2 18 (1.86%) Elasticsearch
3 16 (1.66%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (1.24%) Amazon RDS
5 11 (1.14%) Azure SQL Database
6 10 (1.04%) Power BI
7 9 (0.93%) MySQL
8 6 (0.62%) NoSQL
9 5 (0.52%) Data Lake
9 5 (0.52%) DynamoDB
9 5 (0.52%) MongoDB
10 4 (0.41%) Amazon Aurora
10 4 (0.41%) DocumentDB
10 4 (0.41%) MariaDB
10 4 (0.41%) Redis
11 3 (0.31%) Big Data
12 2 (0.21%) SQLPlus
13 1 (0.10%) KDB
13 1 (0.10%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 1 (0.10%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 65 (6.73%) JIRA
2 57 (5.90%) Jenkins
3 30 (3.11%) Git
4 23 (2.38%) Fiddler
5 22 (2.28%) GitLab
6 9 (0.93%) Browser DevTools
7 8 (0.83%) Bitbucket
8 7 (0.72%) SonarQube
9 6 (0.62%) Chocolatey
10 5 (0.52%) Sonatype Nexus
11 2 (0.21%) Introscope
11 2 (0.21%) Spinnaker
12 1 (0.10%) Artifactory
12 1 (0.10%) MSI
12 1 (0.10%) Visual Studio
General
1 223 (23.08%) Social Skills
2 89 (9.21%) Analytical Skills
3 77 (7.97%) Finance
4 68 (7.04%) Banking
5 65 (6.73%) Public Sector
6 57 (5.90%) Documentation Skills
7 36 (3.73%) Investment Banking
8 25 (2.59%) Legal
9 19 (1.97%) Military
9 19 (1.97%) Telecoms
10 12 (1.24%) Organisational Skills
11 8 (0.83%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 8 (0.83%) Local Government
12 6 (0.62%) Police
12 6 (0.62%) Publishing
13 5 (0.52%) Law
13 5 (0.52%) Manufacturing
14 4 (0.41%) Advertising
14 4 (0.41%) Influencing Skills
14 4 (0.41%) Italian Language
Job Titles
1 178 (18.43%) Network Engineer
2 138 (14.29%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 124 (12.84%) Architect
4 74 (7.66%) Support Engineer
5 73 (7.56%) Senior
6 62 (6.42%) Security Engineer
7 61 (6.31%) Analyst
8 53 (5.49%) Cloud Engineer
9 48 (4.97%) IT Support
10 46 (4.76%) Web Engineer
11 43 (4.45%) Network Security Engineer
12 42 (4.35%) IT Engineer
13 39 (4.04%) Cisco Engineer
14 38 (3.93%) DevOps Engineer
15 37 (3.83%) Cisco Network Engineer
16 35 (3.62%) Administrator
17 34 (3.52%) Data Engineer
17 34 (3.52%) Data Network Engineer
18 33 (3.42%) Azure Engineer
18 33 (3.42%) Cisco Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 58 (6.00%) LDAP
2 52 (5.38%) SAML
3 45 (4.66%) 802.1X
4 40 (4.14%) OAuth
5 33 (3.42%) OpenID
6 21 (2.17%) OpenTelemetry
7 15 (1.55%) JSON
8 14 (1.45%) ARM Templates
9 11 (1.14%) REST
10 10 (1.04%) OAuth2
11 9 (0.93%) Kafka
12 5 (0.52%) CSS
12 5 (0.52%) gRPC
12 5 (0.52%) XMPP
12 5 (0.52%) YAML
13 4 (0.41%) Hibernate
13 4 (0.41%) JPA
13 4 (0.41%) RESTful
13 4 (0.41%) Spring
13 4 (0.41%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 114 (11.80%) Data Centre
2 77 (7.97%) PKI
3 64 (6.63%) Cloud Native
4 49 (5.07%) Onboarding
5 45 (4.66%) Hybrid Cloud
6 42 (4.35%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
7 41 (4.24%) Clustering
8 40 (4.14%) Management Information System
9 39 (4.04%) Replication
10 30 (3.11%) Public Cloud
11 21 (2.17%) Self-Motivation
12 17 (1.76%) Security Posture
13 16 (1.66%) Enterprise Cloud
14 13 (1.35%) Legacy Systems
14 13 (1.35%) Security Operations Centre
15 12 (1.24%) Virtual Team
16 11 (1.14%) Cyber Threat
16 11 (1.14%) Enterprise Software
16 11 (1.14%) Product Ownership
17 10 (1.04%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 396 (40.99%) Windows
2 223 (23.08%) Windows Server
3 137 (14.18%) Linux
4 42 (4.35%) Windows 10
5 37 (3.83%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 36 (3.73%) Windows Server 2019
7 33 (3.42%) Mac OS
8 24 (2.48%) Unix
9 19 (1.97%) Apple iOS
9 19 (1.97%) Windows Server 2012
10 13 (1.35%) Android
11 12 (1.24%) Ubuntu
11 12 (1.24%) VMS
12 11 (1.14%) Windows Server 2016
13 10 (1.04%) CentOS
14 7 (0.72%) Windows 7
15 6 (0.62%) Windows Server 2003
16 3 (0.31%) AIX
17 2 (0.21%) Oracle Linux
17 2 (0.21%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 204 (21.12%) Problem-Solving
2 185 (19.15%) Load Balancing
3 175 (18.12%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 163 (16.87%) Migration
5 156 (16.15%) High Availability
6 136 (14.08%) DevOps
7 135 (13.98%) ITIL
8 125 (12.94%) Infrastructure as Code
9 120 (12.42%) CI/CD
10 95 (9.83%) ITSM
11 83 (8.59%) Identity Access Management
12 82 (8.49%) Observability
13 81 (8.39%) Disaster Recovery
14 77 (7.97%) Agile
15 74 (7.66%) Project Delivery
16 63 (6.52%) Cybersecurity
17 61 (6.31%) Root Cause Analysis
18 60 (6.21%) RBAC
19 59 (6.11%) Runbook
20 55 (5.69%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 196 (20.29%) PowerShell
2 161 (16.67%) Python
3 101 (10.46%) Bash
4 54 (5.59%) SQL
5 25 (2.59%) JavaScript
6 24 (2.48%) Bicep
7 11 (1.14%) Go
7 11 (1.14%) Java
8 10 (1.04%) ActionScript
9 9 (0.93%) Shell Script
9 9 (0.93%) VBA
10 8 (0.83%) Perl
11 6 (0.62%) VBScript
12 5 (0.52%) Groovy
12 5 (0.52%) Ruby
13 4 (0.41%) C
13 4 (0.41%) VB
14 3 (0.31%) Lisp
15 2 (0.21%) Jython
15 2 (0.21%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 325 (33.64%) Security Cleared
2 207 (21.43%) SC Cleared
3 112 (11.59%) DV Cleared
4 96 (9.94%) Cisco Certification
5 76 (7.87%) Degree
6 64 (6.63%) CCNP
7 51 (5.28%) CCNA
8 35 (3.62%) Microsoft Certification
9 31 (3.21%) Azure Certification
10 26 (2.69%) Network+ Certification
11 21 (2.17%) CompTIA Security+
12 17 (1.76%) Server+ Certification
13 16 (1.66%) BPSS Clearance
14 15 (1.55%) CCIE
14 15 (1.55%) CISSP
14 15 (1.55%) MCSE
15 13 (1.35%) AWS Certification
16 12 (1.24%) Computer Science Degree
17 11 (1.14%) JNCIA
17 11 (1.14%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (3.00%) NIST
2 27 (2.80%) SLA
3 22 (2.28%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 21 (2.17%) GDPR
5 14 (1.45%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 12 (1.24%) QA
7 11 (1.14%) NCSC
8 6 (0.62%) Cyber Essentials
9 5 (0.52%) PCI DSS
10 4 (0.41%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 2 (0.21%) Disclosure Scotland
11 2 (0.21%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.21%) SOC 2
12 1 (0.10%) Actionable Recommendations
12 1 (0.10%) COBIT
12 1 (0.10%) Data Quality
12 1 (0.10%) JSP 440
12 1 (0.10%) NIST 800
12 1 (0.10%) PMO
12 1 (0.10%) RMADS
System Software
1 373 (38.61%) Active Directory
2 206 (21.33%) VMware Infrastructure
3 93 (9.63%) Hyper-V
4 57 (5.90%) VMware NSX
5 56 (5.80%) vSphere
6 51 (5.28%) VMware ESXi
7 41 (4.24%) Virtual Machines
8 34 (3.52%) Virtual Desktop
9 32 (3.31%) Docker
10 25 (2.59%) Firmware
11 19 (1.97%) NFS
12 15 (1.55%) BitLocker
12 15 (1.55%) Squid
13 12 (1.24%) vCloud
14 11 (1.14%) Microsoft App-V
15 10 (1.04%) Postfix
16 8 (0.83%) VMware Workstation
17 7 (0.72%) Varnish
18 5 (0.52%) Ceph
19 4 (0.41%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 161 (16.67%) Terraform
2 122 (12.63%) Ansible
3 92 (9.52%) Kubernetes
4 76 (7.87%) Single Sign-On
5 74 (7.66%) Microsoft Intune
6 55 (5.69%) FortiGate
7 51 (5.28%) vCenter Server
8 50 (5.18%) Grafana
9 45 (4.66%) SCCM
10 39 (4.04%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 38 (3.93%) Prometheus
12 27 (2.80%) WSUS
13 24 (2.48%) Argo
14 18 (1.86%) SCOM
15 15 (1.55%) Puppet
16 14 (1.45%) HAProxy
16 14 (1.45%) Nessus
17 13 (1.35%) Jamf Pro
18 12 (1.24%) vMotion
19 8 (0.83%) Consul
Vendors
1 316 (32.71%) Microsoft
2 245 (25.36%) VMware
3 182 (18.84%) Cisco
4 159 (16.46%) F5
5 87 (9.01%) ServiceNow
6 75 (7.76%) Splunk
7 69 (7.14%) Infoblox
8 61 (6.31%) Google
9 58 (6.00%) Citrix
10 53 (5.49%) Red Hat
10 53 (5.49%) SolarWinds
11 45 (4.66%) Juniper
12 39 (4.04%) Palo Alto
13 32 (3.31%) Dynatrace
13 32 (3.31%) NetApp
14 30 (3.11%) Blue Coat
15 28 (2.90%) McAfee
16 25 (2.59%) Fortinet
17 24 (2.48%) Okta
18 23 (2.38%) Zscaler