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

6 months to
22 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 139 124 159
Rank change year-on-year -15 +35 -17
Contract jobs citing DNS 1,028 722 637
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.95% 2.21% 1.54%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 20.59% 18.20% 12.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 635 480 428
10th Percentile £277 £283 £241
25th Percentile £400 £405 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £484
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +8.36% -5.47%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £576
90th Percentile £638 £653 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% +2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 45 31 21
10th Percentile £20.80 £29.00 £20.00
25th Percentile £26.66 £34.38 £23.80
Median hourly rate £35.22 £57.50 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year -38.75% +91.67% -25.00%
75th Percentile £74.00 £82.55 £40.00
90th Percentile £81.60 £89.63 £51.91
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.22 £65.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year -45.82% +62.50% -

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 4,993 3,967 5,141
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.47% 12.16% 12.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,011 2,422 3,069
10th Percentile £250 £235 £213
25th Percentile £400 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £489 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.25% -2.20% -
75th Percentile £588 £589 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.05% -5.00% +9.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 324 193 383
10th Percentile £16.00 £14.99 £13.90
25th Percentile £19.34 £25.15 £17.66
Median hourly rate £26.00 £46.25 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -43.78% +15.63% -16.67%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £83.80 £73.65
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.55 £42.50 £47.50
% change year-on-year -37.53% -10.53% -16.91%

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 22 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 22 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 22 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 -10 924 £500 -6.72% 322
UK excluding London -2 645 £500 -4.76% 257
London -41 311 £475 -6.86% 106
North of England +14 238 £450 -10.00% 42
Work from Home -22 233 £510 -2.86% 116
South East +8 202 £538 -2.27% 92
North West +32 153 £450 -1.64% 20
Midlands -10 113 £450 -5.26% 32
West Midlands -15 94 £450 -5.26% 22
Yorkshire -14 78 £468 -15.00% 18
South West -8 77 £500 -14.89% 46
Scotland +9 40 £525 +16.67% 14
East of England -56 30 £450 -18.18% 37
East Midlands -6 17 £413 -25.00% 10
Wales -13 9 £500 +13.70% 4
North East -38 7 £319 -7.61% 7

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 96 (9.34%) Microsoft Exchange
2 78 (7.59%) SharePoint
3 25 (2.43%) Confluence
4 18 (1.75%) nginx
5 16 (1.56%) Apache
6 15 (1.46%) IIS
7 9 (0.88%) Tomcat
8 5 (0.49%) WebSphere
9 4 (0.39%) Exchange Server 2010
10 2 (0.19%) IBM HTTP Server
10 2 (0.19%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 2 (0.19%) WebSphere Application Server
10 2 (0.19%) WebSphere Portal
11 1 (0.097%) SharePoint Server
11 1 (0.097%) Traefik
Applications
1 20 (1.95%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (1.17%) MS Visio
3 5 (0.49%) 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%) NUKE
6 1 (0.097%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 10 (0.97%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.097%) Cloudability
Cloud Services
1 387 (37.65%) Azure
2 195 (18.97%) AWS
3 174 (16.93%) Entra ID
4 167 (16.25%) Microsoft 365
5 110 (10.70%) GCP
6 72 (7.00%) GitHub
7 59 (5.74%) IaaS
8 53 (5.16%) OneDrive
9 44 (4.28%) PaaS
10 43 (4.18%) SaaS
11 39 (3.79%) Azure DevOps
12 36 (3.50%) Azure Monitor
13 30 (2.92%) OpenShift
14 29 (2.82%) Amazon EC2
14 29 (2.82%) Serverless
15 27 (2.63%) AWS CloudFormation
15 27 (2.63%) GitHub Actions
16 26 (2.53%) Google Kubernetes Engine
16 26 (2.53%) Virtual Private Cloud
17 25 (2.43%) Route 53
Communications & Networking
1 464 (45.14%) DHCP
2 358 (34.82%) Firewall
3 294 (28.60%) TCP/IP
4 279 (27.14%) VPN
5 138 (13.42%) WAN
6 126 (12.26%) Network Security
7 119 (11.58%) LAN
7 119 (11.58%) VLAN
8 105 (10.21%) SSL
9 102 (9.92%) BGP
10 84 (8.17%) BIG-IP
11 73 (7.10%) HTTP
12 71 (6.91%) Wi-Fi
13 67 (6.52%) Wireless
14 61 (5.93%) SAN
15 58 (5.64%) OSPF
16 57 (5.54%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
17 42 (4.09%) DMZ
18 41 (3.99%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
19 36 (3.50%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 48 (4.67%) SQL Server
2 18 (1.75%) Elasticsearch
3 13 (1.26%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (1.17%) Azure SQL Database
5 11 (1.07%) Power BI
6 8 (0.78%) Amazon RDS
7 6 (0.58%) Data Lake
7 6 (0.58%) MongoDB
7 6 (0.58%) MySQL
8 4 (0.39%) Db2
8 4 (0.39%) MariaDB
9 3 (0.29%) Big Data
10 2 (0.19%) NoSQL
10 2 (0.19%) SQLPlus
11 1 (0.097%) Cloud Spanner
11 1 (0.097%) DynamoDB
11 1 (0.097%) KDB
11 1 (0.097%) Redis
11 1 (0.097%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 1 (0.097%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 79 (7.68%) JIRA
2 56 (5.45%) Jenkins
3 40 (3.89%) Git
4 22 (2.14%) GitLab
5 19 (1.85%) Fiddler
6 12 (1.17%) Bitbucket
7 10 (0.97%) Browser DevTools
8 8 (0.78%) Chocolatey
9 7 (0.68%) SonarQube
10 5 (0.49%) Sonatype Nexus
11 3 (0.29%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 2 (0.19%) Artifactory
12 2 (0.19%) Introscope
12 2 (0.19%) Spinnaker
13 1 (0.097%) MSI
13 1 (0.097%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
13 1 (0.097%) Visual Studio
General
1 253 (24.61%) Social Skills
2 109 (10.60%) Analytical Skills
3 93 (9.05%) Finance
4 81 (7.88%) Public Sector
5 71 (6.91%) Banking
6 61 (5.93%) Documentation Skills
7 34 (3.31%) Investment Banking
8 28 (2.72%) Telecoms
9 22 (2.14%) Military
10 21 (2.04%) Legal
11 13 (1.26%) Organisational Skills
12 11 (1.07%) Local Government
13 10 (0.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 10 (0.97%) Police
14 6 (0.58%) Influencing Skills
14 6 (0.58%) Publishing
15 5 (0.49%) Law
15 5 (0.49%) Manufacturing
16 4 (0.39%) Italian Language
16 4 (0.39%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 188 (18.29%) Network Engineer
2 169 (16.44%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 107 (10.41%) Architect
4 106 (10.31%) Senior
5 93 (9.05%) Support Engineer
6 73 (7.10%) Cloud Engineer
7 63 (6.13%) Security Engineer
8 59 (5.74%) Analyst
9 53 (5.16%) IT Support
10 52 (5.06%) IT Engineer
11 43 (4.18%) Azure Engineer
12 42 (4.09%) Network Security Engineer
13 41 (3.99%) DevOps Engineer
13 41 (3.99%) Web Engineer
14 38 (3.70%) Administrator
14 38 (3.70%) Cisco Engineer
15 36 (3.50%) Cisco Network Engineer
16 35 (3.40%) IT Support Engineer
17 32 (3.11%) Data Engineer
17 32 (3.11%) Data Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 51 (4.96%) 802.1X
2 44 (4.28%) LDAP
3 35 (3.40%) SAML
4 27 (2.63%) OpenID
5 25 (2.43%) ARM Templates
6 21 (2.04%) OAuth
7 18 (1.75%) JSON
7 18 (1.75%) OpenTelemetry
8 10 (0.97%) REST
8 10 (0.97%) YAML
9 6 (0.58%) Kafka
9 6 (0.58%) Middleware
10 5 (0.49%) CSS
10 5 (0.49%) Microsoft Graph
11 4 (0.39%) .NET
11 4 (0.39%) eBPF
11 4 (0.39%) OAuth2
11 4 (0.39%) Web Services
12 3 (0.29%) LEMP Stack
12 3 (0.29%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 129 (12.55%) Data Centre
2 103 (10.02%) PKI
3 61 (5.93%) Onboarding
4 60 (5.84%) Cloud Native
5 59 (5.74%) Hybrid Cloud
6 48 (4.67%) Management Information System
7 43 (4.18%) Clustering
7 43 (4.18%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 32 (3.11%) Public Cloud
9 31 (3.02%) Replication
10 28 (2.72%) Self-Motivation
11 19 (1.85%) Enterprise Cloud
11 19 (1.85%) Security Posture
12 14 (1.36%) Cyber Threat
12 14 (1.36%) Enterprise Software
12 14 (1.36%) Linux Command Line
13 13 (1.26%) Legacy Systems
14 11 (1.07%) Distributed Systems
14 11 (1.07%) Product Ownership
14 11 (1.07%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 448 (43.58%) Windows
2 232 (22.57%) Windows Server
3 182 (17.70%) Linux
4 46 (4.47%) Windows 10
5 44 (4.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 39 (3.79%) Windows Server 2019
7 37 (3.60%) Mac OS
8 27 (2.63%) Unix
9 21 (2.04%) Windows Server 2012
10 18 (1.75%) Ubuntu
11 17 (1.65%) Apple iOS
12 16 (1.56%) Android
13 15 (1.46%) VMS
14 14 (1.36%) CentOS
15 13 (1.26%) Windows Server 2016
16 6 (0.58%) Rocky
17 5 (0.49%) Windows Server 2003
18 4 (0.39%) Windows 7
19 3 (0.29%) AIX
19 3 (0.29%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 235 (22.86%) Problem-Solving
2 222 (21.60%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 182 (17.70%) Load Balancing
4 179 (17.41%) ITIL
5 175 (17.02%) Migration
6 158 (15.37%) DevOps
7 155 (15.08%) Infrastructure as Code
8 144 (14.01%) CI/CD
9 143 (13.91%) High Availability
10 115 (11.19%) ITSM
11 96 (9.34%) Observability
12 91 (8.85%) Project Delivery
13 86 (8.37%) Cybersecurity
14 84 (8.17%) Agile
15 81 (7.88%) Continuous Improvement
16 78 (7.59%) Disaster Recovery
16 78 (7.59%) Identity Access Management
17 67 (6.52%) Containerisation
18 64 (6.23%) Change Management
18 64 (6.23%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 216 (21.01%) PowerShell
2 191 (18.58%) Python
3 134 (13.04%) Bash
4 54 (5.25%) SQL
5 40 (3.89%) Bicep
6 24 (2.33%) JavaScript
7 11 (1.07%) Go
8 10 (0.97%) ActionScript
8 10 (0.97%) Shell Script
9 9 (0.88%) Java
9 9 (0.88%) VBA
10 8 (0.78%) Perl
11 5 (0.49%) C
11 5 (0.49%) Groovy
11 5 (0.49%) Ruby
12 3 (0.29%) Kusto Query Language
12 3 (0.29%) Lisp
13 2 (0.19%) Kotlin
13 2 (0.19%) Objective-C
13 2 (0.19%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 367 (35.70%) Security Cleared
2 215 (20.91%) SC Cleared
3 144 (14.01%) DV Cleared
4 109 (10.60%) Cisco Certification
5 77 (7.49%) CCNP
5 77 (7.49%) Degree
6 54 (5.25%) CCNA
7 46 (4.47%) Microsoft Certification
8 39 (3.79%) Azure Certification
9 31 (3.02%) Network+ Certification
10 19 (1.85%) CCIE
11 18 (1.75%) BPSS Clearance
11 18 (1.75%) CompTIA Security+
12 17 (1.65%) CISSP
12 17 (1.65%) MCSE
12 17 (1.65%) Server+ Certification
13 12 (1.17%) AWS Certification
13 12 (1.17%) Computer Science Degree
13 12 (1.17%) JNCIS
13 12 (1.17%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (3.60%) SLA
2 29 (2.82%) NIST
3 17 (1.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 16 (1.56%) NCSC
5 8 (0.78%) GDPR
5 8 (0.78%) QA
6 5 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials
6 5 (0.49%) Disclosure Scotland
6 5 (0.49%) NIST 800
7 4 (0.39%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 3 (0.29%) JSP 440
9 2 (0.19%) Government Security Classifications
9 2 (0.19%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.097%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.097%) COBIT
10 1 (0.097%) Data Quality
10 1 (0.097%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.097%) PMO
10 1 (0.097%) RMADS
System Software
1 419 (40.76%) Active Directory
2 231 (22.47%) VMware Infrastructure
3 105 (10.21%) Hyper-V
4 69 (6.71%) vSphere
5 64 (6.23%) VMware ESXi
5 64 (6.23%) VMware NSX
6 45 (4.38%) Virtual Machines
7 43 (4.18%) Docker
8 40 (3.89%) Virtual Desktop
9 25 (2.43%) Firmware
10 22 (2.14%) NFS
11 15 (1.46%) Squid
12 13 (1.26%) vCloud
13 10 (0.97%) BitLocker
13 10 (0.97%) Microsoft App-V
14 9 (0.88%) Postfix
15 8 (0.78%) VMware Workstation
16 6 (0.58%) Varnish
17 5 (0.49%) Ceph
17 5 (0.49%) UAG
Systems Management
1 197 (19.16%) Terraform
2 144 (14.01%) Ansible
3 116 (11.28%) Kubernetes
4 94 (9.14%) Microsoft Intune
5 62 (6.03%) vCenter Server
6 61 (5.93%) Single Sign-On
7 58 (5.64%) Grafana
8 53 (5.16%) SCCM
9 51 (4.96%) FortiGate
10 43 (4.18%) Prometheus
11 27 (2.63%) SCOM
11 27 (2.63%) WSUS
12 25 (2.43%) Argo
13 22 (2.14%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 15 (1.46%) Puppet
15 14 (1.36%) Nessus
16 13 (1.26%) Jamf Pro
17 11 (1.07%) vMotion
18 10 (0.97%) HAProxy
19 9 (0.88%) Packer
Vendors
1 349 (33.95%) Microsoft
2 280 (27.24%) VMware
3 195 (18.97%) Cisco
4 153 (14.88%) F5
5 93 (9.05%) ServiceNow
6 76 (7.39%) Splunk
7 67 (6.52%) Infoblox
8 66 (6.42%) Google
9 63 (6.13%) Citrix
9 63 (6.13%) SolarWinds
10 57 (5.54%) Juniper
11 55 (5.35%) Red Hat
12 46 (4.47%) Palo Alto
13 36 (3.50%) Dynatrace
14 35 (3.40%) NetApp
15 29 (2.82%) Blue Coat
15 29 (2.82%) Zscaler
16 27 (2.63%) Fortinet
17 26 (2.53%) CheckPoint
18 24 (2.33%) McAfee