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 30 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 135 110 129
Rank change year-on-year -25 +19 -4
Contract jobs citing DNS 857 722 776
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.93% 2.47% 1.75%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 19.30% 18.95% 13.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 537 491 509
10th Percentile £263 £250 £202
25th Percentile £400 £400 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £475
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +10.53% -9.52%
75th Percentile £610 £606 £588
90th Percentile £671 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £525 £515
% change year-on-year -4.76% +1.94% +1.98%
Number of hourly rates quoted 34 12 27
10th Percentile £13.35 £19.01 £20.00
25th Percentile £21.25 £23.59 £25.00
Median hourly rate £45.71 £41.25 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +10.82% +3.13% -23.27%
75th Percentile £74.26 £81.10 £50.33
90th Percentile £76.05 £82.03 £63.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £48.72 £80.68 £40.00
% change year-on-year -39.61% +101.69% -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 4,440 3,810 5,916
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.00% 13.01% 13.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,842 2,368 3,560
10th Percentile £223 £213 £205
25th Percentile £375 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £488 £475
Median % change year-on-year +1.54% +2.63% -9.51%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £470 £475
% change year-on-year +1.06% -1.05% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 194 146 406
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.99 £13.93
25th Percentile £18.90 £21.46 £17.72
Median hourly rate £40.02 £35.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +14.34% +7.69% +69.71%
75th Percentile £67.75 £63.63 £62.50
90th Percentile £77.20 £75.00 £68.07
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.25 £32.50 £42.12
% change year-on-year +30.00% -22.83% +125.70%

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 30 March 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 30 March 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 30 March 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 -20 755 £500 -4.76% 306
UK excluding London -19 550 £500 -4.76% 265
London -39 245 £500 -0.05% 81
North of England -8 211 £447 -5.95% 68
Work from Home -60 184 £530 +0.95% 93
South East +2 155 £525 -4.55% 80
North West +15 137 £475 +11.76% 37
Midlands +15 105 £400 -27.93% 45
West Midlands +26 95 £400 -19.40% 29
Yorkshire -39 76 £443 -19.55% 22
South West -43 49 £693 +26.37% 33
Scotland +15 46 £518 +15.17% 15
East of England -30 42 £450 -10.00% 24
East Midlands -39 9 £375 -33.92% 16
North East -17 4 £200 -51.52% 11
Wales -17 4 £550 +22.22% 3

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 95 (11.09%) Microsoft Exchange
2 44 (5.13%) SharePoint
3 19 (2.22%) Skype for Business
4 15 (1.75%) Confluence
5 14 (1.63%) nginx
6 9 (1.05%) IIS
7 6 (0.70%) Apache
8 4 (0.47%) Exchange Server 2010
9 3 (0.35%) WebSphere
10 2 (0.23%) Exchange Server 2013
10 2 (0.23%) IBM HTTP Server
10 2 (0.23%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 2 (0.23%) WebSphere Application Server
10 2 (0.23%) WebSphere Portal
10 2 (0.23%) WordPress
11 1 (0.12%) SharePoint Server
11 1 (0.12%) Tomcat
11 1 (0.12%) Traefik
Applications
1 26 (3.03%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (1.63%) MS Visio
3 1 (0.12%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 2 (0.23%) SystmOne
2 1 (0.12%) Cloudability
2 1 (0.12%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 302 (35.24%) Azure
2 165 (19.25%) AWS
3 144 (16.80%) Entra ID
4 140 (16.34%) Microsoft 365
5 87 (10.15%) GCP
6 65 (7.58%) GitHub
7 53 (6.18%) IaaS
8 41 (4.78%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 38 (4.43%) Amazon S3
9 38 (4.43%) AWS CloudFormation
10 37 (4.32%) Serverless
11 36 (4.20%) Amazon EC2
12 35 (4.08%) PaaS
13 33 (3.85%) AWS Lambda
14 32 (3.73%) Route 53
15 29 (3.38%) SaaS
16 28 (3.27%) OpenShift
17 27 (3.15%) Amazon EKS
18 25 (2.92%) Amazon CloudWatch
19 24 (2.80%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 367 (42.82%) DHCP
2 276 (32.21%) Firewall
3 244 (28.47%) TCP/IP
4 204 (23.80%) VPN
5 118 (13.77%) WAN
6 107 (12.49%) LAN
7 87 (10.15%) SSL
8 85 (9.92%) Network Security
9 80 (9.33%) HTTP
9 80 (9.33%) VLAN
10 77 (8.98%) BIG-IP
11 75 (8.75%) BGP
12 64 (7.47%) Wi-Fi
13 55 (6.42%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
14 45 (5.25%) OSPF
15 42 (4.90%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
16 40 (4.67%) Wireshark
17 39 (4.55%) Kerberos
18 37 (4.32%) DMZ
18 37 (4.32%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (3.03%) SQL Server
2 20 (2.33%) Elasticsearch
3 18 (2.10%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (1.40%) Amazon RDS
5 9 (1.05%) MongoDB
6 7 (0.82%) DynamoDB
6 7 (0.82%) Redis
7 6 (0.70%) Amazon Aurora
7 6 (0.70%) Data Hub
7 6 (0.70%) MySQL
8 5 (0.58%) Azure SQL Database
9 4 (0.47%) DocumentDB
9 4 (0.47%) NoSQL
9 4 (0.47%) Power BI
9 4 (0.47%) Relational Database
10 3 (0.35%) BigQuery
10 3 (0.35%) MariaDB
11 1 (0.12%) CouchDB
11 1 (0.12%) Oracle Reports
11 1 (0.12%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 64 (7.47%) Jenkins
2 39 (4.55%) JIRA
3 33 (3.85%) Git
3 33 (3.85%) GitLab
4 30 (3.50%) Fiddler
5 8 (0.93%) Bitbucket
6 7 (0.82%) Browser DevTools
6 7 (0.82%) SonarQube
7 6 (0.70%) Chocolatey
8 5 (0.58%) Terragrunt
9 4 (0.47%) CircleCI
10 2 (0.23%) Introscope
10 2 (0.23%) Sonatype Nexus
11 1 (0.12%) Artifactory
11 1 (0.12%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 1 (0.12%) Octopus Deploy
11 1 (0.12%) Subversion
11 1 (0.12%) Travis CI
General
1 211 (24.62%) Social Skills
2 94 (10.97%) Analytical Skills
3 71 (8.28%) Banking
4 67 (7.82%) Finance
5 54 (6.30%) Public Sector
6 49 (5.72%) Documentation Skills
7 44 (5.13%) Investment Banking
8 30 (3.50%) Legal
9 19 (2.22%) Telecoms
10 16 (1.87%) Military
11 11 (1.28%) Organisational Skills
12 7 (0.82%) Financial Institution
13 6 (0.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 6 (0.70%) Influencing Skills
14 5 (0.58%) Law
14 5 (0.58%) Local Government
15 4 (0.47%) Aerospace
15 4 (0.47%) Manufacturing
16 3 (0.35%) Presentation Skills
17 2 (0.23%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 144 (16.80%) Network Engineer
2 123 (14.35%) Architect
3 85 (9.92%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 83 (9.68%) Analyst
5 78 (9.10%) Senior
6 57 (6.65%) Support Engineer
7 52 (6.07%) Security Engineer
8 50 (5.83%) Web Engineer
9 43 (5.02%) IT Support
10 36 (4.20%) Lead
11 35 (4.08%) IT Engineer
12 31 (3.62%) Network Security Engineer
13 29 (3.38%) Platform Engineer
14 27 (3.15%) Azure Engineer
14 27 (3.15%) Cisco Engineer
14 27 (3.15%) Cisco Network Engineer
14 27 (3.15%) IT Support Engineer
15 26 (3.03%) SOC Analyst
16 23 (2.68%) Data Engineer
16 23 (2.68%) Data Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 69 (8.05%) LDAP
2 50 (5.83%) SAML
3 42 (4.90%) OAuth
4 33 (3.85%) OpenID
5 28 (3.27%) 802.1X
6 23 (2.68%) OpenTelemetry
7 20 (2.33%) OAuth2
8 10 (1.17%) Elastic Stack
8 10 (1.17%) Kafka
9 8 (0.93%) ARM Templates
9 8 (0.93%) REST
10 7 (0.82%) JSON
10 7 (0.82%) XMPP
11 6 (0.70%) Microsoft Graph
12 5 (0.58%) Middleware
12 5 (0.58%) RESTful
12 5 (0.58%) Spring Boot
13 4 (0.47%) Hibernate
13 4 (0.47%) JPA
13 4 (0.47%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 69 (8.05%) Data Centre
2 68 (7.93%) PKI
3 50 (5.83%) Replication
4 49 (5.72%) Cloud Native
5 37 (4.32%) Management Information System
6 33 (3.85%) Clustering
7 30 (3.50%) Onboarding
8 29 (3.38%) Public Cloud
9 27 (3.15%) Security Operations Centre
10 26 (3.03%) Cyberattack
10 26 (3.03%) Hybrid Cloud
11 22 (2.57%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
12 19 (2.22%) Enterprise Software
13 17 (1.98%) Cyber Threat
14 16 (1.87%) Self-Motivation
15 14 (1.63%) Analytical Mindset
15 14 (1.63%) Legacy Systems
16 13 (1.52%) NHS
16 13 (1.52%) Product Ownership
17 11 (1.28%) Enterprise Cloud
Operating Systems
1 382 (44.57%) Windows
2 206 (24.04%) Windows Server
3 133 (15.52%) Linux
4 44 (5.13%) Windows 10
5 32 (3.73%) Windows Server 2019
6 21 (2.45%) Android
7 17 (1.98%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 16 (1.87%) Mac OS
8 16 (1.87%) Unix
9 15 (1.75%) Windows Server 2012
10 14 (1.63%) Apple iOS
11 12 (1.40%) Windows Server 2016
12 11 (1.28%) Windows 7
13 9 (1.05%) VMS
14 7 (0.82%) Windows Server 2003
15 4 (0.47%) CatOS
15 4 (0.47%) CentOS
16 3 (0.35%) Amazon Linux
16 3 (0.35%) Oracle Linux
16 3 (0.35%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 197 (22.99%) Problem-Solving
2 184 (21.47%) Load Balancing
3 127 (14.82%) Migration
4 119 (13.89%) ITIL
5 118 (13.77%) CI/CD
6 117 (13.65%) DevOps
7 115 (13.42%) High Availability
8 111 (12.95%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 110 (12.84%) Infrastructure as Code
10 87 (10.15%) Cybersecurity
11 82 (9.57%) Disaster Recovery
12 80 (9.33%) Identity Access Management
13 70 (8.17%) Incident Response
14 69 (8.05%) ITSM
14 69 (8.05%) RBAC
15 64 (7.47%) Observability
15 64 (7.47%) SIEM
16 61 (7.12%) Roadmaps
17 58 (6.77%) Change Management
17 58 (6.77%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 234 (27.30%) PowerShell
2 149 (17.39%) Python
3 85 (9.92%) Bash
4 43 (5.02%) SQL
5 15 (1.75%) JavaScript
6 14 (1.63%) Bicep
7 13 (1.52%) VBScript
8 12 (1.40%) Java
9 11 (1.28%) Ruby
10 10 (1.17%) Go
11 9 (1.05%) VB
12 8 (0.93%) Shell Script
13 5 (0.58%) Lisp
13 5 (0.58%) Perl
14 4 (0.47%) Kusto Query Language
15 2 (0.23%) C
15 2 (0.23%) Groovy
15 2 (0.23%) Jython
15 2 (0.23%) T-SQL
15 2 (0.23%) VBA
Qualifications
1 275 (32.09%) Security Cleared
2 187 (21.82%) SC Cleared
3 101 (11.79%) DV Cleared
4 68 (7.93%) Cisco Certification
5 60 (7.00%) Degree
6 43 (5.02%) CCNP
6 43 (5.02%) Microsoft Certification
7 32 (3.73%) CompTIA Security+
8 26 (3.03%) Azure Certification
8 26 (3.03%) CCNA
9 21 (2.45%) Computer Science Degree
10 19 (2.22%) CISSP
11 18 (2.10%) AWS Certification
11 18 (2.10%) CompTIA CySA+
12 14 (1.63%) Network+ Certification
13 10 (1.17%) BPSS Clearance
13 10 (1.17%) JNCIA
13 10 (1.17%) JNCIS
14 9 (1.05%) CCIE
14 9 (1.05%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (3.62%) GDPR
1 31 (3.62%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 30 (3.50%) NIST
3 22 (2.57%) SLA
4 16 (1.87%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 9 (1.05%) Cyber Essentials
6 8 (0.93%) NCSC
6 8 (0.93%) PCI DSS
7 6 (0.70%) QA
8 3 (0.35%) Accessibility
8 3 (0.35%) JSP 440
8 3 (0.35%) PMO
9 2 (0.23%) Data Quality
9 2 (0.23%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 1 (0.12%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.12%) COBIT
10 1 (0.12%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 1 (0.12%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.12%) Government Security Classifications
10 1 (0.12%) RMADS
System Software
1 353 (41.19%) Active Directory
2 186 (21.70%) VMware Infrastructure
3 71 (8.28%) Hyper-V
4 60 (7.00%) VMware NSX
5 59 (6.88%) Docker
6 55 (6.42%) vSphere
7 29 (3.38%) Firmware
8 23 (2.68%) Virtual Machines
9 20 (2.33%) VMware ESXi
10 17 (1.98%) BitLocker
11 14 (1.63%) Virtual Desktop
12 12 (1.40%) Squid
13 7 (0.82%) Microsoft App-V
14 5 (0.58%) NFS
14 5 (0.58%) Terminal Services
15 4 (0.47%) Ceph
15 4 (0.47%) Sendmail
16 3 (0.35%) DFS Replication
16 3 (0.35%) Postfix
16 3 (0.35%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 153 (17.85%) Terraform
2 126 (14.70%) Ansible
3 93 (10.85%) Kubernetes
4 92 (10.74%) Microsoft Intune
5 75 (8.75%) Single Sign-On
6 63 (7.35%) SCCM
7 58 (6.77%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 48 (5.60%) FortiGate
9 41 (4.78%) vCenter Server
10 40 (4.67%) Grafana
11 29 (3.38%) Argo
12 24 (2.80%) Prometheus
13 14 (1.63%) SCOM
13 14 (1.63%) WSUS
14 9 (1.05%) Puppet
15 8 (0.93%) HAProxy
16 7 (0.82%) Consul
16 7 (0.82%) vMotion
17 6 (0.70%) Nessus
17 6 (0.70%) QRadar
Vendors
1 293 (34.19%) Microsoft
2 232 (27.07%) VMware
3 143 (16.69%) F5
4 128 (14.94%) Cisco
5 83 (9.68%) Splunk
6 71 (8.28%) ServiceNow
7 45 (5.25%) Citrix
8 43 (5.02%) SolarWinds
9 41 (4.78%) Blue Coat
9 41 (4.78%) Palo Alto
10 40 (4.67%) Red Hat
11 37 (4.32%) Juniper
12 35 (4.08%) McAfee
13 33 (3.85%) Infoblox
14 32 (3.73%) Google
15 28 (3.27%) NetApp
16 24 (2.80%) Pure Storage
17 22 (2.57%) Fortinet
18 20 (2.33%) Extreme Networks
18 20 (2.33%) Okta