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

6 months to
16 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 142 107 128
Rank change year-on-year -35 +21 -3
Contract jobs citing DNS 835 742 790
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.94% 2.51% 1.78%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 19.11% 18.76% 13.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 529 503 507
10th Percentile £224 £250 £200
25th Percentile £400 £400 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £465
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +12.91% -11.43%
75th Percentile £613 £613 £575
90th Percentile £675 £725 £680
UK excluding London median daily rate £513 £497 £500
% change year-on-year +3.27% -0.60% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 33 11 27
10th Percentile £13.04 £18.50 £21.95
25th Percentile £21.25 £23.59 £25.00
Median hourly rate £37.50 £54.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -31.19% +36.25% -8.57%
75th Percentile £74.26 £81.18 £54.15
90th Percentile £75.00 £82.10 £63.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.10 £80.68 £40.00
% change year-on-year -56.49% +101.69% -18.56%

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 4,369 3,956 5,951
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.13% 13.38% 13.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,822 2,439 3,580
10th Percentile £213 £210 £205
25th Percentile £368 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £498 £475
Median % change year-on-year -2.01% +4.74% -9.51%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £473 £475
% change year-on-year +0.53% -0.53% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 181 141 393
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.22 £14.03
25th Percentile £20.32 £21.46 £18.00
Median hourly rate £40.54 £35.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +15.83% +7.69% +71.05%
75th Percentile £67.50 £63.25 £63.75
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.25 £32.50 £45.88
% change year-on-year +30.00% -29.16% +148.00%

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 16 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 16 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 16 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 -24 739 £513 -2.38% 283
UK excluding London -23 538 £513 +3.27% 266
London -36 232 £513 -2.38% 64
North of England -15 208 £450 -5.26% 68
Work from Home -58 188 £525 - 89
South East +9 153 £525 -3.67% 84
North West +17 137 £559 +25.56% 39
Midlands +19 106 £378 -31.05% 37
West Midlands +19 100 £378 -17.49% 24
Yorkshire -38 73 £447 -14.95% 20
South West -44 55 £684 +24.89% 26
East of England -34 39 £475 - 30
Scotland +5 38 £518 +15.17% 22
North East -20 6 £575 +70.37% 11
East Midlands -35 5 £375 -34.78% 13
Wales -15 4 £550 +25.71% 5

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
1 100 (11.98%) Microsoft Exchange
2 49 (5.87%) SharePoint
3 24 (2.87%) Skype for Business
4 14 (1.68%) Confluence
5 13 (1.56%) nginx
6 9 (1.08%) IIS
7 6 (0.72%) Apache
8 4 (0.48%) Exchange Server 2010
9 2 (0.24%) Exchange Server 2013
9 2 (0.24%) SharePoint Server
9 2 (0.24%) WebSphere
9 2 (0.24%) WordPress
10 1 (0.12%) IBM HTTP Server
10 1 (0.12%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 1 (0.12%) Tomcat
10 1 (0.12%) Traefik
10 1 (0.12%) WebSphere Application Server
10 1 (0.12%) WebSphere Portal
Applications
1 29 (3.47%) Microsoft Office
2 16 (1.92%) MS Visio
3 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.12%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.24%) SystmOne
2 1 (0.12%) Cloudability
2 1 (0.12%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 287 (34.37%) Azure
2 153 (18.32%) AWS
3 143 (17.13%) Microsoft 365
4 138 (16.53%) Entra ID
5 78 (9.34%) GCP
6 60 (7.19%) GitHub
7 52 (6.23%) IaaS
8 39 (4.67%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 36 (4.31%) AWS CloudFormation
10 34 (4.07%) PaaS
11 33 (3.95%) Amazon S3
12 31 (3.71%) Amazon EC2
12 31 (3.71%) Serverless
13 29 (3.47%) AWS Lambda
13 29 (3.47%) Route 53
13 29 (3.47%) SaaS
14 25 (2.99%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 25 (2.99%) Amazon EKS
15 24 (2.87%) Azure DevOps
16 23 (2.75%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 370 (44.31%) DHCP
2 263 (31.50%) Firewall
3 245 (29.34%) TCP/IP
4 195 (23.35%) VPN
5 110 (13.17%) WAN
6 101 (12.10%) LAN
7 83 (9.94%) SSL
8 82 (9.82%) Network Security
9 81 (9.70%) HTTP
10 75 (8.98%) BIG-IP
11 72 (8.62%) VLAN
12 69 (8.26%) BGP
13 58 (6.95%) Wi-Fi
14 56 (6.71%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
15 46 (5.51%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
16 41 (4.91%) DMZ
17 40 (4.79%) Wireshark
18 39 (4.67%) OSPF
19 37 (4.43%) Kerberos
20 35 (4.19%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (2.75%) SQL Server
2 19 (2.28%) Elasticsearch
3 13 (1.56%) Amazon RDS
3 13 (1.56%) PostgreSQL
4 7 (0.84%) DynamoDB
4 7 (0.84%) Redis
5 6 (0.72%) Amazon Aurora
5 6 (0.72%) Data Hub
5 6 (0.72%) MongoDB
6 5 (0.60%) Azure SQL Database
6 5 (0.60%) MySQL
7 4 (0.48%) DocumentDB
7 4 (0.48%) NoSQL
7 4 (0.48%) Power BI
7 4 (0.48%) Relational Database
8 3 (0.36%) BigQuery
9 1 (0.12%) CouchDB
9 1 (0.12%) Electronic Patient Records
9 1 (0.12%) Oracle Reports
9 1 (0.12%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 62 (7.43%) Jenkins
2 40 (4.79%) JIRA
3 36 (4.31%) GitLab
4 35 (4.19%) Git
5 32 (3.83%) Fiddler
6 8 (0.96%) Bitbucket
7 7 (0.84%) SonarQube
8 6 (0.72%) Browser DevTools
8 6 (0.72%) Terragrunt
9 5 (0.60%) Chocolatey
10 4 (0.48%) CircleCI
11 2 (0.24%) Sonatype Nexus
12 1 (0.12%) Artifactory
12 1 (0.12%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.12%) GCC
12 1 (0.12%) Introscope
12 1 (0.12%) MSI
12 1 (0.12%) Octopus Deploy
12 1 (0.12%) Subversion
12 1 (0.12%) Travis CI
General
1 212 (25.39%) Social Skills
2 101 (12.10%) Analytical Skills
3 73 (8.74%) Banking
4 62 (7.43%) Finance
5 53 (6.35%) Public Sector
6 49 (5.87%) Documentation Skills
6 49 (5.87%) Investment Banking
7 29 (3.47%) Legal
8 17 (2.04%) Telecoms
9 16 (1.92%) Military
10 10 (1.20%) Organisational Skills
11 7 (0.84%) Influencing Skills
12 6 (0.72%) Financial Institution
12 6 (0.72%) Presentation Skills
13 5 (0.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 5 (0.60%) Law
14 4 (0.48%) Aerospace
14 4 (0.48%) Local Government
15 3 (0.36%) Manufacturing
16 2 (0.24%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 138 (16.53%) Network Engineer
2 116 (13.89%) Architect
3 82 (9.82%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 79 (9.46%) Analyst
5 72 (8.62%) Senior
6 62 (7.43%) Support Engineer
7 50 (5.99%) Security Engineer
8 46 (5.51%) IT Support
9 45 (5.39%) Web Engineer
10 34 (4.07%) Lead
11 32 (3.83%) IT Engineer
12 30 (3.59%) Network Security Engineer
12 30 (3.59%) Platform Engineer
13 27 (3.23%) Cisco Engineer
13 27 (3.23%) Cisco Network Engineer
14 26 (3.11%) IT Support Engineer
14 26 (3.11%) SOC Analyst
15 25 (2.99%) Azure Engineer
16 24 (2.87%) DevOps Engineer
17 21 (2.51%) Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 70 (8.38%) LDAP
2 49 (5.87%) SAML
3 41 (4.91%) OAuth
4 33 (3.95%) OpenID
5 27 (3.23%) 802.1X
6 20 (2.40%) OAuth2
7 18 (2.16%) OpenTelemetry
8 10 (1.20%) Elastic Stack
8 10 (1.20%) Kafka
9 8 (0.96%) REST
10 7 (0.84%) ARM Templates
10 7 (0.84%) JSON
10 7 (0.84%) Microsoft Graph
10 7 (0.84%) XMPP
11 5 (0.60%) RESTful
11 5 (0.60%) Spring Boot
12 4 (0.48%) Hibernate
12 4 (0.48%) JPA
12 4 (0.48%) Middleware
12 4 (0.48%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 71 (8.50%) PKI
2 70 (8.38%) Data Centre
3 49 (5.87%) Replication
4 42 (5.03%) Cloud Native
5 41 (4.91%) Management Information System
6 32 (3.83%) Onboarding
7 31 (3.71%) Clustering
8 27 (3.23%) Security Operations Centre
9 26 (3.11%) Cyberattack
9 26 (3.11%) Public Cloud
10 22 (2.63%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
11 21 (2.51%) Hybrid Cloud
12 20 (2.40%) Enterprise Software
13 17 (2.04%) Analytical Mindset
14 16 (1.92%) Cyber Threat
14 16 (1.92%) Self-Motivation
15 14 (1.68%) Legacy Systems
16 12 (1.44%) NHS
16 12 (1.44%) Product Ownership
17 11 (1.32%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 388 (46.47%) Windows
2 201 (24.07%) Windows Server
3 131 (15.69%) Linux
4 46 (5.51%) Windows 10
5 31 (3.71%) Windows Server 2019
6 18 (2.16%) Android
6 18 (2.16%) Unix
7 16 (1.92%) Windows Server 2012
8 15 (1.80%) Mac OS
9 13 (1.56%) Apple iOS
9 13 (1.56%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 13 (1.56%) Windows Server 2016
10 11 (1.32%) Windows 7
11 9 (1.08%) VMS
12 7 (0.84%) Windows Server 2003
13 6 (0.72%) CentOS
14 4 (0.48%) CatOS
15 3 (0.36%) Amazon Linux
15 3 (0.36%) Windows Server 2008
16 2 (0.24%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 197 (23.59%) Problem-Solving
2 173 (20.72%) Load Balancing
3 124 (14.85%) ITIL
3 124 (14.85%) Migration
4 113 (13.53%) CI/CD
5 108 (12.93%) DevOps
5 108 (12.93%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 107 (12.81%) Infrastructure as Code
7 104 (12.46%) High Availability
8 84 (10.06%) Cybersecurity
9 78 (9.34%) Identity Access Management
10 74 (8.86%) Disaster Recovery
11 67 (8.02%) ITSM
12 66 (7.90%) Incident Response
13 64 (7.66%) Service Management
14 63 (7.54%) RBAC
15 62 (7.43%) Change Management
15 62 (7.43%) SIEM
16 59 (7.07%) Observability
17 56 (6.71%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 235 (28.14%) PowerShell
2 139 (16.65%) Python
3 71 (8.50%) Bash
4 43 (5.15%) SQL
5 14 (1.68%) Bicep
5 14 (1.68%) JavaScript
6 13 (1.56%) VBScript
7 12 (1.44%) Java
8 11 (1.32%) Ruby
9 10 (1.20%) Go
9 10 (1.20%) VB
10 9 (1.08%) Shell Script
11 7 (0.84%) Lisp
12 6 (0.72%) Perl
13 5 (0.60%) Kusto Query Language
14 2 (0.24%) C
14 2 (0.24%) C#
14 2 (0.24%) T-SQL
14 2 (0.24%) VBA
15 1 (0.12%) PHP
Qualifications
1 281 (33.65%) Security Cleared
2 189 (22.63%) SC Cleared
3 103 (12.34%) DV Cleared
4 63 (7.54%) Cisco Certification
5 60 (7.19%) Degree
6 49 (5.87%) Microsoft Certification
7 42 (5.03%) CCNP
8 32 (3.83%) CompTIA Security+
9 28 (3.35%) Azure Certification
10 22 (2.63%) Computer Science Degree
11 21 (2.51%) CCNA
12 19 (2.28%) CISSP
13 18 (2.16%) AWS Certification
13 18 (2.16%) CompTIA CySA+
14 17 (2.04%) Network+ Certification
15 9 (1.08%) CCIE
15 9 (1.08%) JNCIA
15 9 (1.08%) JNCIP
15 9 (1.08%) JNCIS
15 9 (1.08%) Server+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (3.71%) GDPR
2 29 (3.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 26 (3.11%) NIST
4 21 (2.51%) SLA
5 17 (2.04%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 9 (1.08%) PCI DSS
7 8 (0.96%) Cyber Essentials
7 8 (0.96%) NCSC
8 6 (0.72%) QA
9 3 (0.36%) Accessibility
9 3 (0.36%) PMO
10 2 (0.24%) Data Quality
10 2 (0.24%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 2 (0.24%) JSP 440
11 1 (0.12%) Actionable Recommendations
11 1 (0.12%) COBIT
11 1 (0.12%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.12%) Government Security Classifications
11 1 (0.12%) RMADS
System Software
1 357 (42.75%) Active Directory
2 186 (22.28%) VMware Infrastructure
3 67 (8.02%) Hyper-V
4 58 (6.95%) Docker
5 56 (6.71%) VMware NSX
6 51 (6.11%) vSphere
7 27 (3.23%) Firmware
8 23 (2.75%) Virtual Machines
9 20 (2.40%) VMware ESXi
10 17 (2.04%) BitLocker
11 14 (1.68%) Virtual Desktop
12 8 (0.96%) Microsoft App-V
12 8 (0.96%) Squid
13 5 (0.60%) Terminal Services
14 4 (0.48%) NFS
14 4 (0.48%) Sendmail
15 3 (0.36%) DFS Replication
15 3 (0.36%) Postfix
15 3 (0.36%) Varnish
15 3 (0.36%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 146 (17.49%) Terraform
2 124 (14.85%) Ansible
3 94 (11.26%) Microsoft Intune
4 85 (10.18%) Kubernetes
5 74 (8.86%) Single Sign-On
6 68 (8.14%) SCCM
7 61 (7.31%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 47 (5.63%) FortiGate
9 40 (4.79%) vCenter Server
10 35 (4.19%) Grafana
11 24 (2.87%) Argo
12 21 (2.51%) Prometheus
13 14 (1.68%) SCOM
14 12 (1.44%) WSUS
15 11 (1.32%) Puppet
16 8 (0.96%) HAProxy
17 7 (0.84%) Consul
17 7 (0.84%) vMotion
18 6 (0.72%) Nessus
18 6 (0.72%) QRadar
Vendors
1 299 (35.81%) Microsoft
2 233 (27.90%) VMware
3 144 (17.25%) F5
4 127 (15.21%) Cisco
5 81 (9.70%) ServiceNow
6 78 (9.34%) Splunk
7 45 (5.39%) Blue Coat
8 44 (5.27%) Citrix
9 43 (5.15%) SolarWinds
10 40 (4.79%) Palo Alto
11 37 (4.43%) McAfee
12 35 (4.19%) Juniper
13 34 (4.07%) Red Hat
14 30 (3.59%) Google
14 30 (3.59%) NetApp
15 27 (3.23%) Infoblox
16 23 (2.75%) Fortinet
17 21 (2.51%) Okta
18 20 (2.40%) Pure Storage
19 19 (2.28%) Extreme Networks