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

6 months to
26 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 145 133 160
Rank change year-on-year -12 +27 -28
Contract jobs citing DNS 1,030 707 602
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.92% 2.16% 1.55%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 20.32% 18.25% 12.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 629 450 411
10th Percentile £300 £250 £240
25th Percentile £410 £388 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -2.44%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £588
90th Percentile £650 £650 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - +2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 50 31 14
10th Percentile £26.59 - £20.00
25th Percentile £31.25 £29.00 £23.28
Median hourly rate £61.11 £57.50 £24.19
Median % change year-on-year +6.27% +137.70% -36.41%
75th Percentile £74.20 £82.18 £49.69
90th Percentile £98.82 £89.63 £65.45
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.24 £65.00 £48.03
% change year-on-year +0.37% +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 5,068 3,874 4,665
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.45% 11.84% 12.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,992 2,362 2,803
10th Percentile £250 £241 £220
25th Percentile £400 £367 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £485 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.09% -3.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £608
90th Percentile £675 £677 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £472 £500
% change year-on-year +0.58% -5.55% +9.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 371 201 302
10th Percentile £15.18 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.33 £25.15 £20.50
Median hourly rate £26.00 £46.25 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -43.78% -7.50% -11.49%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £81.35 £74.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.77 £44.50 £54.94
% change year-on-year -42.09% -19.00% -4.46%

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 26 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 26 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 26 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 -9 936 £500 -4.76% 292
UK excluding London +2 645 £500 - 204
London -46 320 £500 -0.99% 111
Work from Home -15 239 £510 -0.49% 96
North of England +22 229 £475 -2.56% 32
South East +8 185 £538 -2.27% 66
North West +30 147 £450 -1.64% 19
Midlands -18 121 £450 -5.26% 28
West Midlands -31 99 £450 -5.26% 20
South West +3 95 £550 +0.46% 50
Yorkshire -6 68 £500 -9.09% 10
Scotland +4 36 £500 +10.13% 8
East of England -55 34 £450 -18.18% 22
East Midlands -4 20 £431 -21.59% 8
North East -37 14 £413 +21.32% 4
Wales -11 9 £455 +19.97% 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
1 108 (10.49%) Microsoft Exchange
2 90 (8.74%) SharePoint
3 25 (2.43%) Confluence
4 19 (1.84%) Apache
5 16 (1.55%) IIS
6 13 (1.26%) nginx
7 9 (0.87%) Tomcat
8 6 (0.58%) Skype for Business
9 5 (0.49%) WebSphere
10 4 (0.39%) OpenStack
11 3 (0.29%) Exchange Server 2010
11 3 (0.29%) Exchange Server 2013
12 2 (0.19%) IBM HTTP Server
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
Applications
1 24 (2.33%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (1.17%) MS Visio
3 11 (1.07%) 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
6 1 (0.097%) Mozilla Thunderbird
Business Applications
1 11 (1.07%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.097%) Oracle Retail
Cloud Services
1 423 (41.07%) Azure
2 216 (20.97%) AWS
3 188 (18.25%) Microsoft 365
4 186 (18.06%) Entra ID
5 107 (10.39%) GCP
6 73 (7.09%) GitHub
7 56 (5.44%) OneDrive
8 54 (5.24%) IaaS
9 48 (4.66%) Azure DevOps
10 41 (3.98%) Azure Monitor
11 39 (3.79%) GitHub Actions
12 38 (3.69%) PaaS
12 38 (3.69%) SaaS
13 30 (2.91%) OpenShift
14 27 (2.62%) Serverless
15 26 (2.52%) Azure ExpressRoute
16 25 (2.43%) Amazon EKS
17 24 (2.33%) AWS CloudFormation
18 23 (2.23%) Azure AKS
19 22 (2.14%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 480 (46.60%) DHCP
2 364 (35.34%) Firewall
3 297 (28.83%) TCP/IP
4 287 (27.86%) VPN
5 130 (12.62%) Network Security
6 127 (12.33%) VLAN
6 127 (12.33%) WAN
7 103 (10.00%) LAN
7 103 (10.00%) SSL
8 96 (9.32%) BGP
9 79 (7.67%) HTTP
10 72 (6.99%) BIG-IP
10 72 (6.99%) Wi-Fi
10 72 (6.99%) Wireless
11 59 (5.73%) SAN
12 56 (5.44%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
13 51 (4.95%) OSPF
14 49 (4.76%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
15 48 (4.66%) DMZ
16 37 (3.59%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 51 (4.95%) SQL Server
2 26 (2.52%) PostgreSQL
3 12 (1.17%) MongoDB
3 12 (1.17%) MySQL
4 11 (1.07%) Amazon RDS
5 10 (0.97%) Power BI
6 9 (0.87%) Azure SQL Database
6 9 (0.87%) Elasticsearch
7 7 (0.68%) NoSQL
8 6 (0.58%) Data Lake
8 6 (0.58%) Redis
9 5 (0.49%) MariaDB
10 4 (0.39%) Db2
11 3 (0.29%) Big Data
11 3 (0.29%) SQLPlus
12 2 (0.19%) Amazon Aurora
12 2 (0.19%) KDB
13 1 (0.097%) Cloud Spanner
13 1 (0.097%) Metadata
13 1 (0.097%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 75 (7.28%) JIRA
2 53 (5.15%) Jenkins
3 44 (4.27%) Git
4 34 (3.30%) GitLab
5 17 (1.65%) Fiddler
6 11 (1.07%) Bitbucket
7 10 (0.97%) Browser DevTools
8 7 (0.68%) Sonatype Nexus
9 6 (0.58%) Chocolatey
10 5 (0.49%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 4 (0.39%) Selenium
12 3 (0.29%) MSI
13 2 (0.19%) Artifactory
13 2 (0.19%) Introscope
13 2 (0.19%) Spinnaker
13 2 (0.19%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
13 2 (0.19%) Vagrant
14 1 (0.097%) Maven
14 1 (0.097%) Visual Studio
General
1 265 (25.73%) Social Skills
2 123 (11.94%) Analytical Skills
3 99 (9.61%) Finance
4 84 (8.16%) Public Sector
5 70 (6.80%) Banking
6 56 (5.44%) Documentation Skills
7 34 (3.30%) Telecoms
8 33 (3.20%) Investment Banking
9 21 (2.04%) Legal
10 13 (1.26%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 12 (1.17%) Military
12 11 (1.07%) Local Government
12 11 (1.07%) Police
13 10 (0.97%) Aerospace
13 10 (0.97%) Organisational Skills
14 9 (0.87%) Manufacturing
15 8 (0.78%) Pharmaceutical
16 7 (0.68%) Front Office
17 6 (0.58%) Law
17 6 (0.58%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 183 (17.77%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 181 (17.57%) Network Engineer
3 123 (11.94%) Senior
4 101 (9.81%) Support Engineer
5 82 (7.96%) Architect
6 76 (7.38%) Cloud Engineer
7 56 (5.44%) Security Engineer
8 55 (5.34%) Analyst
9 49 (4.76%) IT Support
9 49 (4.76%) Platform Engineer
10 48 (4.66%) IT Engineer
11 44 (4.27%) Azure Engineer
12 42 (4.08%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
13 41 (3.98%) DevOps Engineer
14 40 (3.88%) Cisco Engineer
15 39 (3.79%) Web Engineer
16 38 (3.69%) Cisco Network Engineer
16 38 (3.69%) Network Security Engineer
17 37 (3.59%) Administrator
18 34 (3.30%) IT Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 217 (21.07%) Terraform
2 49 (4.76%) SAML
3 39 (3.79%) 802.1X
4 33 (3.20%) OAuth
5 28 (2.72%) ARM Templates
5 28 (2.72%) LDAP
5 28 (2.72%) OpenID
6 19 (1.84%) JSON
6 19 (1.84%) REST
7 18 (1.75%) Kafka
8 17 (1.65%) OpenTelemetry
9 13 (1.26%) YAML
10 11 (1.07%) OAuth2
11 9 (0.87%) CSS
12 8 (0.78%) Elastic Stack
12 8 (0.78%) React
13 7 (0.68%) Middleware
14 6 (0.58%) Jinja
14 6 (0.58%) RabbitMQ
14 6 (0.58%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 123 (11.94%) Data Centre
2 108 (10.49%) PKI
3 72 (6.99%) Hybrid Cloud
4 70 (6.80%) Onboarding
5 55 (5.34%) Management Information System
6 49 (4.76%) Cloud Native
7 38 (3.69%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 32 (3.11%) Clustering
9 27 (2.62%) Public Cloud
9 27 (2.62%) Replication
10 25 (2.43%) Self-Motivation
11 18 (1.75%) Enterprise Cloud
12 17 (1.65%) Linux Command Line
13 16 (1.55%) Distributed Systems
13 16 (1.55%) Enterprise Software
14 15 (1.46%) Driving Licence
15 14 (1.36%) Security Posture
16 13 (1.26%) Cyber Threat
17 10 (0.97%) Enterprise Storage
17 10 (0.97%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 474 (46.02%) Windows
2 263 (25.53%) Windows Server
3 225 (21.84%) Linux
4 65 (6.31%) Windows 10
5 49 (4.76%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 38 (3.69%) Windows Server 2019
7 33 (3.20%) Mac OS
8 27 (2.62%) Unix
8 27 (2.62%) Windows Server 2012
9 24 (2.33%) Ubuntu
10 22 (2.14%) Apple iOS
11 20 (1.94%) Android
12 18 (1.75%) VMS
13 17 (1.65%) CentOS
14 16 (1.55%) Windows Server 2016
15 12 (1.17%) Windows 7
16 7 (0.68%) Rocky
16 7 (0.68%) Windows Server 2008
17 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2003
18 3 (0.29%) OpenVMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 247 (23.98%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 224 (21.75%) Problem-Solving
3 192 (18.64%) ITIL
4 189 (18.35%) Infrastructure as Code
5 184 (17.86%) Load Balancing
6 172 (16.70%) DevOps
7 166 (16.12%) Migration
8 159 (15.44%) CI/CD
9 126 (12.23%) High Availability
10 124 (12.04%) ITSM
11 109 (10.58%) Continuous Improvement
12 99 (9.61%) Agile
13 98 (9.51%) Cybersecurity
13 98 (9.51%) Observability
14 89 (8.64%) Project Delivery
14 89 (8.64%) Technical Leadership
15 88 (8.54%) Disaster Recovery
15 88 (8.54%) Platform Engineering
16 85 (8.25%) Runbook
17 78 (7.57%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 260 (25.24%) PowerShell
2 217 (21.07%) Python
3 158 (15.34%) Bash
4 68 (6.60%) SQL
5 47 (4.56%) Bicep
6 21 (2.04%) JavaScript
7 17 (1.65%) Shell Script
8 14 (1.36%) Go
9 11 (1.07%) Java
10 10 (0.97%) ActionScript
10 10 (0.97%) Perl
11 9 (0.87%) VBScript
12 8 (0.78%) Groovy
13 7 (0.68%) VBA
14 6 (0.58%) TypeScript
14 6 (0.58%) VB
15 5 (0.49%) Ruby
16 3 (0.29%) C
16 3 (0.29%) Lisp
17 2 (0.19%) C++
Qualifications
1 372 (36.12%) Security Cleared
2 206 (20.00%) SC Cleared
3 160 (15.53%) DV Cleared
4 97 (9.42%) Cisco Certification
5 86 (8.35%) Degree
6 72 (6.99%) CCNP
7 54 (5.24%) Azure Certification
8 51 (4.95%) CCNA
8 51 (4.95%) Microsoft Certification
9 27 (2.62%) Network+ Certification
10 25 (2.43%) Computer Science Degree
11 23 (2.23%) AWS Certification
12 18 (1.75%) BPSS Clearance
12 18 (1.75%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 17 (1.65%) CCIE
14 15 (1.46%) VCAP
15 13 (1.26%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 11 (1.07%) A+ Certification
16 11 (1.07%) ITIL Certification
16 11 (1.07%) Server+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (4.08%) SLA
2 26 (2.52%) NIST
3 17 (1.65%) NCSC
4 16 (1.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 15 (1.46%) QA
6 8 (0.78%) GDPR
7 5 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials
7 5 (0.49%) Disclosure Scotland
7 5 (0.49%) NIST 800
8 4 (0.39%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 4 (0.39%) JSP 440
9 2 (0.19%) Data Quality
9 2 (0.19%) Government Security Classifications
9 2 (0.19%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.19%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.097%) HIPAA
10 1 (0.097%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 441 (42.82%) Active Directory
2 279 (27.09%) VMware Infrastructure
3 127 (12.33%) Hyper-V
4 78 (7.57%) VMware ESXi
5 75 (7.28%) vSphere
6 70 (6.80%) VMware NSX
7 61 (5.92%) Docker
8 45 (4.37%) Virtual Machines
9 37 (3.59%) Virtual Desktop
10 27 (2.62%) Firmware
11 22 (2.14%) NFS
12 15 (1.46%) vCloud
13 14 (1.36%) BitLocker
14 11 (1.07%) Postfix
15 10 (0.97%) Squid
15 10 (0.97%) Virtual Servers
16 9 (0.87%) Microsoft App-V
17 8 (0.78%) Ceph
18 7 (0.68%) VMware Workstation
19 6 (0.58%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 163 (15.83%) Ansible
2 130 (12.62%) Kubernetes
3 112 (10.87%) Microsoft Intune
4 83 (8.06%) SCCM
5 64 (6.21%) Single Sign-On
5 64 (6.21%) vCenter Server
6 59 (5.73%) Grafana
7 47 (4.56%) Prometheus
8 33 (3.20%) SCOM
9 32 (3.11%) WSUS
10 31 (3.01%) FortiGate
11 18 (1.75%) Argo
12 16 (1.55%) VxRail
13 15 (1.46%) NetBackup
13 15 (1.46%) Packer
13 15 (1.46%) Puppet
14 13 (1.26%) Jamf Pro
15 12 (1.17%) Istio
15 12 (1.17%) vMotion
16 11 (1.07%) Active Directory Federation Services
Vendors
1 385 (37.38%) Microsoft
2 333 (32.33%) VMware
3 189 (18.35%) Cisco
4 135 (13.11%) F5
5 90 (8.74%) ServiceNow
6 63 (6.12%) Citrix
7 61 (5.92%) Infoblox
8 59 (5.73%) Google
9 56 (5.44%) Splunk
10 54 (5.24%) SolarWinds
11 47 (4.56%) Palo Alto
12 46 (4.47%) Red Hat
13 44 (4.27%) Juniper
14 38 (3.69%) NetApp
15 36 (3.50%) Dynatrace
16 32 (3.11%) Fortinet
17 31 (3.01%) CheckPoint
18 29 (2.82%) Zscaler
19 25 (2.43%) McAfee
20 24 (2.33%) Blue Coat