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

6 months to
8 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 137 130 165
Rank change year-on-year -7 +35 -21
Contract jobs citing DNS 1,027 708 658
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.97% 2.22% 1.53%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 20.62% 18.14% 12.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 634 487 439
10th Percentile £300 £263 £230
25th Percentile £401 £403 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £537 £488
Median % change year-on-year -6.89% +10.15% -6.25%
75th Percentile £581 £603 £588
90th Percentile £638 £675 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £530 £500
% change year-on-year -5.66% +6.00% -1.23%
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 19 24
10th Percentile £19.69 - £20.00
25th Percentile £24.06 £29.00 £23.80
Median hourly rate £32.50 £41.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.69% +3.75% -8.57%
75th Percentile £65.33 £81.18 -
90th Percentile £74.03 £82.48 £50.96
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £41.45 £40.00
% change year-on-year -21.59% +3.63% -

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 4,981 3,902 5,413
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.55% 12.21% 12.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,031 2,385 3,189
10th Percentile £238 £231 £213
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £480 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.17% -4.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £670 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £470 £490
% change year-on-year +2.26% -4.08% +3.16%
Number of hourly rates quoted 310 182 426
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.86
25th Percentile £19.34 £23.87 £17.69
Median hourly rate £26.00 £45.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -42.22% - +69.81%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.44 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.00 £79.50 £73.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.89 £37.98 £47.50
% change year-on-year -31.85% -20.04% +9.51%

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 8 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 8 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 8 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 -3 915 £500 -8.26% 310
UK excluding London -4 643 £500 -5.66% 277
London -42 307 £500 -1.96% 81
North of England +19 245 £450 -10.00% 37
Work from Home -16 238 £525 -2.78% 135
South East +4 189 £527 -4.14% 101
North West +44 163 £458 +2.35% 16
Midlands -2 120 £450 -5.26% 41
West Midlands -1 102 £444 -6.58% 27
Yorkshire -8 76 £447 -18.73% 16
South West -18 69 £500 -18.37% 47
Scotland +18 43 £500 +11.11% 11
East of England -45 36 £475 -13.64% 35
East Midlands -9 16 £431 -13.75% 14
Wales -14 9 £500 +13.70% 5
North East -42 6 £413 - 9

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 (9.35%) Microsoft Exchange
2 68 (6.62%) SharePoint
3 20 (1.95%) Confluence
4 16 (1.56%) nginx
5 15 (1.46%) IIS
6 14 (1.36%) Apache
7 9 (0.88%) Tomcat
8 5 (0.49%) WebSphere
9 4 (0.39%) Exchange Server 2010
9 4 (0.39%) Skype for Business
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 21 (2.04%) Microsoft Office
2 16 (1.56%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.29%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.19%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.097%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 1 (0.097%) Houdini
5 1 (0.097%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.097%) NUKE
Business Applications
1 6 (0.58%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.097%) Cloudability
Cloud Services
1 369 (35.93%) Azure
2 188 (18.31%) AWS
3 169 (16.46%) Entra ID
4 146 (14.22%) Microsoft 365
5 105 (10.22%) GCP
6 70 (6.82%) GitHub
7 58 (5.65%) IaaS
8 43 (4.19%) OneDrive
8 43 (4.19%) PaaS
8 43 (4.19%) SaaS
9 33 (3.21%) Azure DevOps
9 33 (3.21%) Route 53
10 29 (2.82%) Amazon EC2
10 29 (2.82%) AWS CloudFormation
10 29 (2.82%) Serverless
10 29 (2.82%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 27 (2.63%) GitHub Actions
11 27 (2.63%) OpenShift
12 25 (2.43%) Amazon S3
12 25 (2.43%) Azure Monitor
Communications & Networking
1 453 (44.11%) DHCP
2 328 (31.94%) Firewall
3 262 (25.51%) TCP/IP
4 259 (25.22%) VPN
5 147 (14.31%) WAN
6 126 (12.27%) LAN
7 118 (11.49%) Network Security
8 107 (10.42%) VLAN
9 102 (9.93%) SSL
10 98 (9.54%) BGP
11 94 (9.15%) BIG-IP
12 76 (7.40%) HTTP
13 66 (6.43%) Wi-Fi
14 61 (5.94%) Wireless
15 60 (5.84%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
16 57 (5.55%) SAN
17 54 (5.26%) OSPF
18 46 (4.48%) DMZ
19 44 (4.28%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
20 40 (3.89%) Kerberos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 40 (3.89%) SQL Server
2 18 (1.75%) Elasticsearch
3 14 (1.36%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (1.17%) Azure SQL Database
5 11 (1.07%) Power BI
6 9 (0.88%) Amazon RDS
7 7 (0.68%) MySQL
8 6 (0.58%) MongoDB
9 5 (0.49%) Data Lake
10 4 (0.39%) MariaDB
11 3 (0.29%) Big Data
11 3 (0.29%) Db2
11 3 (0.29%) NoSQL
12 2 (0.19%) DynamoDB
12 2 (0.19%) Redis
12 2 (0.19%) SQLPlus
13 1 (0.097%) Amazon Aurora
13 1 (0.097%) KDB
13 1 (0.097%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 1 (0.097%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 70 (6.82%) JIRA
2 54 (5.26%) Jenkins
3 32 (3.12%) Git
4 22 (2.14%) Fiddler
5 19 (1.85%) GitLab
6 10 (0.97%) Browser DevTools
7 9 (0.88%) Bitbucket
8 7 (0.68%) SonarQube
9 6 (0.58%) Chocolatey
10 5 (0.49%) Sonatype Nexus
11 2 (0.19%) Introscope
11 2 (0.19%) Spinnaker
12 1 (0.097%) Artifactory
12 1 (0.097%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.097%) MSI
12 1 (0.097%) Visual Studio
General
1 251 (24.44%) Social Skills
2 96 (9.35%) Analytical Skills
3 84 (8.18%) Finance
4 72 (7.01%) Public Sector
5 69 (6.72%) Banking
6 63 (6.13%) Documentation Skills
7 36 (3.51%) Investment Banking
8 27 (2.63%) Legal
9 19 (1.85%) Military
9 19 (1.85%) Telecoms
10 13 (1.27%) Organisational Skills
11 10 (0.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 10 (0.97%) Local Government
12 8 (0.78%) Police
13 6 (0.58%) Influencing Skills
13 6 (0.58%) Publishing
14 5 (0.49%) Law
14 5 (0.49%) Manufacturing
15 4 (0.39%) Advertising
15 4 (0.39%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 182 (17.72%) Network Engineer
2 149 (14.51%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 124 (12.07%) Architect
4 84 (8.18%) Support Engineer
5 80 (7.79%) Senior
6 64 (6.23%) Analyst
6 64 (6.23%) Cloud Engineer
7 63 (6.13%) Security Engineer
8 50 (4.87%) IT Support
9 48 (4.67%) IT Engineer
10 46 (4.48%) Web Engineer
11 44 (4.28%) Network Security Engineer
12 41 (3.99%) Cisco Engineer
12 41 (3.99%) DevOps Engineer
13 39 (3.80%) Cisco Network Engineer
14 38 (3.70%) Azure Engineer
15 37 (3.60%) Administrator
16 35 (3.41%) Data Engineer
16 35 (3.41%) Data Network Engineer
17 34 (3.31%) Cisco Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 60 (5.84%) LDAP
2 54 (5.26%) SAML
3 45 (4.38%) 802.1X
4 37 (3.60%) OAuth
5 31 (3.02%) OpenID
6 19 (1.85%) OpenTelemetry
7 17 (1.66%) ARM Templates
8 16 (1.56%) JSON
9 9 (0.88%) REST
10 8 (0.78%) YAML
11 7 (0.68%) OAuth2
12 6 (0.58%) Kafka
13 5 (0.49%) CSS
13 5 (0.49%) Microsoft Graph
13 5 (0.49%) Middleware
14 4 (0.39%) AWS CDK
14 4 (0.39%) Web Services
15 3 (0.29%) .NET
15 3 (0.29%) LAMP
15 3 (0.29%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 120 (11.68%) Data Centre
2 84 (8.18%) PKI
3 62 (6.04%) Cloud Native
4 51 (4.97%) Onboarding
5 46 (4.48%) Hybrid Cloud
6 43 (4.19%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
6 43 (4.19%) Management Information System
6 43 (4.19%) Replication
7 42 (4.09%) Clustering
8 29 (2.82%) Public Cloud
9 24 (2.34%) Self-Motivation
10 19 (1.85%) Security Posture
11 18 (1.75%) Enterprise Cloud
12 14 (1.36%) Enterprise Software
12 14 (1.36%) Security Operations Centre
13 13 (1.27%) Legacy Systems
14 12 (1.17%) Cyber Threat
14 12 (1.17%) Virtual Team
15 11 (1.07%) Distributed Systems
15 11 (1.07%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 436 (42.45%) Windows
2 239 (23.27%) Windows Server
3 156 (15.19%) Linux
4 45 (4.38%) Windows 10
5 42 (4.09%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 40 (3.89%) Windows Server 2019
7 35 (3.41%) Mac OS
8 26 (2.53%) Unix
9 21 (2.04%) Windows Server 2012
10 18 (1.75%) Apple iOS
11 15 (1.46%) Android
11 15 (1.46%) Ubuntu
11 15 (1.46%) VMS
12 13 (1.27%) CentOS
12 13 (1.27%) Windows Server 2016
13 7 (0.68%) Windows 7
14 6 (0.58%) Windows Server 2003
15 4 (0.39%) Rocky
16 3 (0.29%) AIX
17 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 220 (21.42%) Problem-Solving
2 195 (18.99%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 191 (18.60%) Load Balancing
4 168 (16.36%) Migration
5 159 (15.48%) High Availability
6 155 (15.09%) ITIL
7 143 (13.92%) DevOps
8 134 (13.05%) Infrastructure as Code
9 127 (12.37%) CI/CD
10 105 (10.22%) ITSM
11 87 (8.47%) Identity Access Management
12 86 (8.37%) Observability
13 85 (8.28%) Disaster Recovery
14 81 (7.89%) Project Delivery
15 79 (7.69%) Agile
16 74 (7.21%) Cybersecurity
17 68 (6.62%) Continuous Improvement
18 67 (6.52%) RBAC
19 65 (6.33%) Runbook
20 61 (5.94%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 214 (20.84%) PowerShell
2 171 (16.65%) Python
3 110 (10.71%) Bash
4 53 (5.16%) SQL
5 31 (3.02%) Bicep
6 25 (2.43%) JavaScript
7 11 (1.07%) Go
8 10 (0.97%) ActionScript
9 9 (0.88%) Java
9 9 (0.88%) Shell Script
9 9 (0.88%) VBA
10 8 (0.78%) Perl
11 6 (0.58%) VBScript
12 5 (0.49%) C
12 5 (0.49%) Groovy
12 5 (0.49%) Ruby
13 4 (0.39%) VB
14 3 (0.29%) Lisp
15 2 (0.19%) Kotlin
15 2 (0.19%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 358 (34.86%) Security Cleared
2 226 (22.01%) SC Cleared
3 125 (12.17%) DV Cleared
4 100 (9.74%) Cisco Certification
5 79 (7.69%) Degree
6 68 (6.62%) CCNP
7 53 (5.16%) CCNA
8 44 (4.28%) Microsoft Certification
9 35 (3.41%) Azure Certification
10 28 (2.73%) Network+ Certification
11 21 (2.04%) CompTIA Security+
12 18 (1.75%) BPSS Clearance
13 17 (1.66%) MCSE
13 17 (1.66%) Server+ Certification
14 16 (1.56%) CCIE
15 15 (1.46%) CISSP
16 14 (1.36%) AWS Certification
16 14 (1.36%) Computer Science Degree
17 12 (1.17%) MCSA
18 11 (1.07%) JNCIA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (2.82%) SLA
2 28 (2.73%) NIST
3 21 (2.04%) GDPR
4 19 (1.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 15 (1.46%) NCSC
6 13 (1.27%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 9 (0.88%) QA
8 6 (0.58%) Cyber Essentials
9 4 (0.39%) Disclosure Scotland
9 4 (0.39%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 4 (0.39%) NIST 800
10 3 (0.29%) JSP 440
11 2 (0.19%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.19%) PCI DSS
11 2 (0.19%) SOC 2
12 1 (0.097%) Actionable Recommendations
12 1 (0.097%) COBIT
12 1 (0.097%) Data Quality
12 1 (0.097%) PMO
12 1 (0.097%) RMADS
System Software
1 409 (39.82%) Active Directory
2 224 (21.81%) VMware Infrastructure
3 97 (9.44%) Hyper-V
4 66 (6.43%) vSphere
5 62 (6.04%) VMware NSX
6 60 (5.84%) VMware ESXi
7 44 (4.28%) Virtual Machines
8 38 (3.70%) Virtual Desktop
9 32 (3.12%) Docker
10 26 (2.53%) Firmware
11 22 (2.14%) NFS
12 15 (1.46%) BitLocker
12 15 (1.46%) Squid
13 13 (1.27%) vCloud
14 11 (1.07%) Microsoft App-V
15 10 (0.97%) Postfix
16 8 (0.78%) VMware Workstation
17 7 (0.68%) Varnish
18 5 (0.49%) Ceph
18 5 (0.49%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 172 (16.75%) Terraform
2 126 (12.27%) Ansible
3 97 (9.44%) Kubernetes
4 79 (7.69%) Microsoft Intune
4 79 (7.69%) Single Sign-On
5 58 (5.65%) vCenter Server
6 55 (5.36%) Grafana
7 53 (5.16%) FortiGate
8 48 (4.67%) SCCM
9 42 (4.09%) Prometheus
10 39 (3.80%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 27 (2.63%) WSUS
12 25 (2.43%) Argo
13 24 (2.34%) SCOM
14 15 (1.46%) Puppet
15 14 (1.36%) HAProxy
15 14 (1.36%) Nessus
16 13 (1.27%) Jamf Pro
17 12 (1.17%) vMotion
18 8 (0.78%) Consul
Vendors
1 342 (33.30%) Microsoft
2 268 (26.10%) VMware
3 184 (17.92%) Cisco
4 159 (15.48%) F5
5 93 (9.06%) ServiceNow
6 79 (7.69%) Splunk
7 71 (6.91%) Infoblox
8 65 (6.33%) Citrix
9 62 (6.04%) Google
10 58 (5.65%) SolarWinds
11 55 (5.36%) Red Hat
12 48 (4.67%) Juniper
13 40 (3.89%) Palo Alto
14 35 (3.41%) NetApp
15 33 (3.21%) Dynatrace
16 29 (2.82%) Blue Coat
17 27 (2.63%) McAfee
18 25 (2.43%) Fortinet
18 25 (2.43%) Okta
19 24 (2.34%) Zscaler