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 12 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 144 132 160
Rank change year-on-year -12 +28 -21
Contract jobs citing DNS 1,027 697 595
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.92% 2.11% 1.53%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 20.48% 17.76% 12.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 631 454 409
10th Percentile £300 £258 £250
25th Percentile £411 £400 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £488
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +7.69% -2.50%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £588
90th Percentile £643 £650 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% +3.90%
Number of hourly rates quoted 52 31 15
10th Percentile £26.00 £29.00 £20.00
25th Percentile £31.25 £34.38 £23.45
Median hourly rate £58.49 £57.50 £24.20
Median % change year-on-year +1.73% +137.60% -39.50%
75th Percentile £74.00 £82.55 £49.38
90th Percentile £97.94 £89.63 £63.51
UK excluding London median hourly rate £61.11 £65.00 £48.03
% change year-on-year -5.99% +35.33% +84.73%

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 5,015 3,925 4,737
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.40% 11.91% 12.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,970 2,397 2,875
10th Percentile £250 £248 £220
25th Percentile £400 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £608
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £494 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.95% -5.00% +9.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 361 200 316
10th Percentile £15.25 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.33 £25.15 £19.79
Median hourly rate £26.00 £46.88 £49.50
Median % change year-on-year -44.53% -5.30% -5.71%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £83.10 £74.38
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.14 £45.00 £55.00
% change year-on-year -41.91% -18.18% -2.64%

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 12 August 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 12 August 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 12 August 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 -4 935 £500 -4.76% 629
UK excluding London -2 640 £500 -4.76% 364
London -38 320 £500 -1.96% 322
Work from Home -26 234 £510 -3.64% 215
North of England +30 227 £475 -5.00% 69
South East +9 200 £538 -2.27% 115
North West +37 152 £492 +5.70% 38
Midlands -14 115 £450 -5.26% 49
West Midlands -17 94 £431 -9.21% 33
South West +3 85 £500 -13.98% 58
Yorkshire -15 64 £475 -13.64% 23
Scotland +14 34 £550 +22.22% 23
East of England -52 32 £450 -18.18% 40
East Midlands +3 19 £413 -26.67% 16
North East -40 11 £438 +7.36% 9
Wales -10 8 £463 +6.69% 8

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
1 105 (10.22%) Microsoft Exchange
2 87 (8.47%) SharePoint
3 24 (2.34%) Confluence
4 19 (1.85%) Apache
5 16 (1.56%) IIS
6 14 (1.36%) nginx
7 9 (0.88%) Tomcat
8 6 (0.58%) Skype for Business
9 5 (0.49%) WebSphere
10 4 (0.39%) Exchange Server 2010
11 3 (0.29%) Exchange Server 2013
12 2 (0.19%) IBM HTTP Server
12 2 (0.19%) OpenStack
12 2 (0.19%) Oracle HTTP Server
12 2 (0.19%) WebSphere Application Server
12 2 (0.19%) WebSphere Portal
13 1 (0.097%) SharePoint Server
13 1 (0.097%) Traefik
Applications
1 26 (2.53%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (1.17%) MS Visio
3 9 (0.88%) 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%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.19%) NUKE
Business Applications
1 10 (0.97%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 411 (40.02%) Azure
2 210 (20.45%) AWS
3 176 (17.14%) Entra ID
4 175 (17.04%) Microsoft 365
5 113 (11.00%) GCP
6 75 (7.30%) GitHub
7 56 (5.45%) IaaS
8 55 (5.36%) OneDrive
9 43 (4.19%) Azure DevOps
10 39 (3.80%) Azure Monitor
10 39 (3.80%) PaaS
10 39 (3.80%) SaaS
11 34 (3.31%) GitHub Actions
12 32 (3.12%) OpenShift
13 28 (2.73%) AWS CloudFormation
13 28 (2.73%) Google Kubernetes Engine
14 26 (2.53%) Serverless
15 25 (2.43%) Akamai
15 25 (2.43%) Azure ExpressRoute
16 23 (2.24%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 481 (46.84%) DHCP
2 373 (36.32%) Firewall
3 286 (27.85%) TCP/IP
4 280 (27.26%) VPN
5 145 (14.12%) WAN
6 129 (12.56%) VLAN
7 128 (12.46%) Network Security
8 124 (12.07%) LAN
9 104 (10.13%) SSL
10 103 (10.03%) BGP
11 82 (7.98%) BIG-IP
12 73 (7.11%) HTTP
13 72 (7.01%) Wireless
14 69 (6.72%) Wi-Fi
15 63 (6.13%) SAN
16 60 (5.84%) OSPF
17 51 (4.97%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
18 45 (4.38%) DMZ
19 44 (4.28%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
20 38 (3.70%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 52 (5.06%) SQL Server
2 20 (1.95%) PostgreSQL
3 12 (1.17%) Azure SQL Database
4 10 (0.97%) Elasticsearch
4 10 (0.97%) MongoDB
4 10 (0.97%) Power BI
5 9 (0.88%) Amazon RDS
5 9 (0.88%) MySQL
6 6 (0.58%) Data Lake
7 5 (0.49%) MariaDB
7 5 (0.49%) NoSQL
8 4 (0.39%) Db2
8 4 (0.39%) Redis
9 3 (0.29%) Big Data
9 3 (0.29%) SQLPlus
10 1 (0.097%) Cloud Spanner
10 1 (0.097%) DynamoDB
10 1 (0.097%) Metadata
10 1 (0.097%) Power Query
10 1 (0.097%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 73 (7.11%) JIRA
2 58 (5.65%) Jenkins
3 44 (4.28%) Git
4 33 (3.21%) GitLab
5 16 (1.56%) Fiddler
6 11 (1.07%) Bitbucket
7 10 (0.97%) Browser DevTools
8 7 (0.68%) Chocolatey
8 7 (0.68%) Sonatype Nexus
9 5 (0.49%) Atlassian Bamboo
10 3 (0.29%) MSI
11 2 (0.19%) Artifactory
11 2 (0.19%) Introscope
11 2 (0.19%) Selenium
11 2 (0.19%) Spinnaker
11 2 (0.19%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
12 1 (0.097%) Maven
12 1 (0.097%) SonarQube
12 1 (0.097%) Visual Studio
General
1 260 (25.32%) Social Skills
2 119 (11.59%) Analytical Skills
3 92 (8.96%) Finance
4 86 (8.37%) Public Sector
5 68 (6.62%) Banking
6 55 (5.36%) Documentation Skills
7 32 (3.12%) Telecoms
8 31 (3.02%) Investment Banking
9 25 (2.43%) Legal
10 18 (1.75%) Military
11 13 (1.27%) Organisational Skills
12 12 (1.17%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 11 (1.07%) Local Government
14 10 (0.97%) Police
15 9 (0.88%) Manufacturing
16 6 (0.58%) Aerospace
16 6 (0.58%) Influencing Skills
16 6 (0.58%) Law
16 6 (0.58%) Pharmaceutical
16 6 (0.58%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 184 (17.92%) Network Engineer
2 174 (16.94%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 117 (11.39%) Senior
4 97 (9.44%) Support Engineer
5 91 (8.86%) Architect
6 74 (7.21%) Cloud Engineer
7 59 (5.74%) Security Engineer
8 55 (5.36%) Analyst
9 49 (4.77%) IT Engineer
9 49 (4.77%) IT Support
10 42 (4.09%) Azure Engineer
11 40 (3.89%) DevOps Engineer
11 40 (3.89%) Network Security Engineer
12 39 (3.80%) Administrator
12 39 (3.80%) Platform Engineer
13 38 (3.70%) Cisco Engineer
13 38 (3.70%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
13 38 (3.70%) Web Engineer
14 36 (3.51%) Cisco Network Engineer
15 33 (3.21%) IT Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 52 (5.06%) 802.1X
2 43 (4.19%) SAML
3 28 (2.73%) LDAP
4 27 (2.63%) OAuth
4 27 (2.63%) OpenID
5 26 (2.53%) ARM Templates
6 18 (1.75%) JSON
6 18 (1.75%) OpenTelemetry
7 15 (1.46%) REST
8 14 (1.36%) Kafka
9 13 (1.27%) YAML
10 10 (0.97%) OAuth2
11 8 (0.78%) CSS
12 7 (0.68%) Middleware
12 7 (0.68%) React
13 6 (0.58%) Elastic Stack
14 5 (0.49%) RabbitMQ
14 5 (0.49%) Software Packaging
15 4 (0.39%) HTML
15 4 (0.39%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 135 (13.15%) Data Centre
2 112 (10.91%) PKI
3 68 (6.62%) Onboarding
4 67 (6.52%) Hybrid Cloud
5 53 (5.16%) Cloud Native
6 50 (4.87%) Management Information System
7 46 (4.48%) Clustering
8 42 (4.09%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 26 (2.53%) Public Cloud
10 25 (2.43%) Self-Motivation
11 23 (2.24%) Replication
12 19 (1.85%) Enterprise Cloud
13 18 (1.75%) Security Posture
14 17 (1.66%) Linux Command Line
15 16 (1.56%) Enterprise Software
16 14 (1.36%) Cyber Threat
16 14 (1.36%) Distributed Systems
16 14 (1.36%) Driving Licence
17 10 (0.97%) CMDB
17 10 (0.97%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 480 (46.74%) Windows
2 255 (24.83%) Windows Server
3 212 (20.64%) Linux
4 60 (5.84%) Windows 10
5 47 (4.58%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 41 (3.99%) Windows Server 2019
7 32 (3.12%) Mac OS
8 31 (3.02%) Unix
9 25 (2.43%) Windows Server 2012
10 20 (1.95%) Ubuntu
11 18 (1.75%) VMS
12 17 (1.66%) Apple iOS
13 15 (1.46%) Android
13 15 (1.46%) CentOS
13 15 (1.46%) Windows Server 2016
14 13 (1.27%) Windows 7
15 8 (0.78%) Windows Server 2008
16 7 (0.68%) Rocky
17 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2003
18 3 (0.29%) OpenVMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 238 (23.17%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 235 (22.88%) Problem-Solving
3 188 (18.31%) ITIL
4 183 (17.82%) Load Balancing
5 173 (16.85%) Infrastructure as Code
6 168 (16.36%) Migration
7 162 (15.77%) DevOps
8 152 (14.80%) CI/CD
9 144 (14.02%) High Availability
10 128 (12.46%) ITSM
11 103 (10.03%) Observability
12 100 (9.74%) Continuous Improvement
13 93 (9.06%) Cybersecurity
14 91 (8.86%) Agile
15 89 (8.67%) Project Delivery
16 88 (8.57%) Disaster Recovery
17 84 (8.18%) Identity Access Management
18 79 (7.69%) Technical Leadership
19 78 (7.59%) Platform Engineering
20 75 (7.30%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 244 (23.76%) PowerShell
2 207 (20.16%) Python
3 155 (15.09%) Bash
4 66 (6.43%) SQL
5 44 (4.28%) Bicep
6 26 (2.53%) JavaScript
7 14 (1.36%) Shell Script
8 12 (1.17%) Go
9 10 (0.97%) ActionScript
9 10 (0.97%) Perl
10 9 (0.88%) Java
10 9 (0.88%) VBScript
11 7 (0.68%) VBA
12 6 (0.58%) Groovy
12 6 (0.58%) VB
13 5 (0.49%) Ruby
13 5 (0.49%) TypeScript
14 3 (0.29%) C
14 3 (0.29%) Lisp
15 2 (0.19%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 383 (37.29%) Security Cleared
2 219 (21.32%) SC Cleared
3 155 (15.09%) DV Cleared
4 111 (10.81%) Cisco Certification
5 81 (7.89%) Degree
6 76 (7.40%) CCNP
7 57 (5.55%) CCNA
8 53 (5.16%) Microsoft Certification
9 48 (4.67%) Azure Certification
10 33 (3.21%) Network+ Certification
11 21 (2.04%) Computer Science Degree
12 18 (1.75%) BPSS Clearance
12 18 (1.75%) CCIE
13 17 (1.66%) AWS Certification
13 17 (1.66%) MCSE
13 17 (1.66%) Server+ Certification
14 15 (1.46%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 13 (1.27%) CISSP
15 13 (1.27%) JNCIS
16 12 (1.17%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (3.60%) SLA
2 26 (2.53%) NIST
3 16 (1.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 16 (1.56%) NCSC
4 13 (1.27%) QA
5 8 (0.78%) GDPR
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
7 4 (0.39%) JSP 440
8 2 (0.19%) Government Security Classifications
8 2 (0.19%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.19%) SOC 2
9 1 (0.097%) Data Quality
9 1 (0.097%) HIPAA
9 1 (0.097%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 435 (42.36%) Active Directory
2 264 (25.71%) VMware Infrastructure
3 126 (12.27%) Hyper-V
4 70 (6.82%) vSphere
5 69 (6.72%) VMware ESXi
6 64 (6.23%) VMware NSX
7 55 (5.36%) Docker
8 43 (4.19%) Virtual Machines
9 38 (3.70%) Virtual Desktop
10 23 (2.24%) Firmware
11 22 (2.14%) NFS
12 14 (1.36%) BitLocker
13 13 (1.27%) vCloud
14 9 (0.88%) Microsoft App-V
14 9 (0.88%) Postfix
14 9 (0.88%) Squid
15 8 (0.78%) Virtual Servers
15 8 (0.78%) VMware Workstation
16 7 (0.68%) Ceph
17 6 (0.58%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 211 (20.55%) Terraform
2 154 (15.00%) Ansible
3 122 (11.88%) Kubernetes
4 105 (10.22%) Microsoft Intune
5 76 (7.40%) SCCM
6 59 (5.74%) Single Sign-On
7 58 (5.65%) vCenter Server
8 55 (5.36%) Grafana
9 45 (4.38%) FortiGate
10 42 (4.09%) Prometheus
11 32 (3.12%) WSUS
12 31 (3.02%) SCOM
13 20 (1.95%) Argo
14 15 (1.46%) NetBackup
14 15 (1.46%) VxRail
15 14 (1.36%) Jamf Pro
15 14 (1.36%) Nessus
15 14 (1.36%) Puppet
16 12 (1.17%) Packer
17 11 (1.07%) Istio
Vendors
1 369 (35.93%) Microsoft
2 320 (31.16%) VMware
3 199 (19.38%) Cisco
4 142 (13.83%) F5
5 94 (9.15%) ServiceNow
6 73 (7.11%) Splunk
7 70 (6.82%) SolarWinds
8 68 (6.62%) Citrix
9 65 (6.33%) Google
10 63 (6.13%) Infoblox
11 60 (5.84%) Juniper
12 47 (4.58%) Red Hat
13 43 (4.19%) Palo Alto
14 34 (3.31%) NetApp
15 33 (3.21%) Dynatrace
16 28 (2.73%) Fortinet
16 28 (2.73%) Zscaler
17 26 (2.53%) Blue Coat
17 26 (2.53%) CheckPoint
17 26 (2.53%) CyberArk