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 23 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 141 109 126
Rank change year-on-year -32 +17 -5
Contract jobs citing DNS 812 739 835
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.00% 2.42% 1.88%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 19.56% 18.25% 14.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 519 477 530
10th Percentile £213 £243 £200
25th Percentile £400 £385 £337
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £510 £466
Median % change year-on-year -0.98% +9.44% -11.24%
75th Percentile £600 £623 £600
90th Percentile £675 £750 £689
UK excluding London median daily rate £513 £463 £500
% change year-on-year +10.81% -7.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 33 10 28
10th Percentile £13.04 £17.88 £23.95
25th Percentile £15.50 £21.84 £31.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £23.59 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +6.61% -41.03% -
75th Percentile £74.26 £56.94 £55.35
90th Percentile £75.00 £81.12 £62.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £22.50 £43.75
% change year-on-year - -48.57% -5.11%

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 4,152 4,049 5,963
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.21% 13.27% 13.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,708 2,422 3,561
10th Percentile £204 £209 £205
25th Percentile £356 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £488
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +2.56% -6.25%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £680 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £460 £471 £475
% change year-on-year -2.39% -0.79% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 170 131 390
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.44 £14.27
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.46 £19.99
Median hourly rate £28.38 £32.50 £46.95
Median % change year-on-year -12.68% -30.77% +136.14%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £73.75 £74.10
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.54 £30.04 £51.65
% change year-on-year +34.95% -41.84% +159.04%

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 23 February 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 23 February 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 23 February 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 -16 725 £518 +3.60% 319
UK excluding London -26 515 £513 +10.81% 280
London -6 237 £525 - 80
Work from Home -44 190 £500 -6.54% 106
North of England -17 183 £463 -2.37% 73
South East +5 141 £525 - 89
North West +3 117 £603 +26.84% 40
Midlands +15 109 £375 -16.67% 36
West Midlands +19 105 £378 -6.79% 28
Yorkshire -31 69 £447 -0.67% 27
South West -29 63 £575 +5.02% 36
East of England -27 39 £463 +2.78% 32
Scotland -2 34 £465 +3.33% 17
North East -25 6 £411 +26.38% 9
Wales -15 4 £550 +25.71% 4
East Midlands -33 4 £325 -41.96% 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
1 100 (12.32%) Microsoft Exchange
2 57 (7.02%) SharePoint
3 29 (3.57%) Skype for Business
4 17 (2.09%) Confluence
5 15 (1.85%) nginx
6 5 (0.62%) Apache
6 5 (0.62%) IIS
7 4 (0.49%) Exchange Server 2010
7 4 (0.49%) OpenStack
7 4 (0.49%) SharePoint Server
8 2 (0.25%) Exchange Server 2013
8 2 (0.25%) Oracle HTTP Server
8 2 (0.25%) Tomcat
8 2 (0.25%) WebLogic
8 2 (0.25%) WordPress
9 1 (0.12%) Traefik
Applications
1 39 (4.80%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (1.85%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.37%) Mozilla Thunderbird
4 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.12%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.12%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 2 (0.25%) SystmOne
2 1 (0.12%) Cloudability
2 1 (0.12%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.12%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 278 (34.24%) Azure
2 169 (20.81%) AWS
3 147 (18.10%) Microsoft 365
4 128 (15.76%) Entra ID
5 57 (7.02%) GCP
6 54 (6.65%) GitHub
7 52 (6.40%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 44 (5.42%) Amazon S3
9 39 (4.80%) Amazon EC2
9 39 (4.80%) IaaS
10 36 (4.43%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 33 (4.06%) AWS CloudFormation
12 32 (3.94%) Serverless
13 30 (3.69%) AWS Lambda
14 29 (3.57%) Route 53
14 29 (3.57%) SaaS
15 24 (2.96%) Amazon ECS
16 23 (2.83%) Amazon EKS
16 23 (2.83%) PaaS
17 22 (2.71%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 366 (45.07%) DHCP
2 259 (31.90%) TCP/IP
3 257 (31.65%) Firewall
4 197 (24.26%) VPN
5 100 (12.32%) WAN
6 94 (11.58%) SSL
7 91 (11.21%) LAN
8 89 (10.96%) Network Security
9 76 (9.36%) HTTP
10 74 (9.11%) VLAN
11 64 (7.88%) BIG-IP
12 63 (7.76%) BGP
13 55 (6.77%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
14 54 (6.65%) Wi-Fi
15 45 (5.54%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
16 44 (5.42%) Wireshark
17 39 (4.80%) OSPF
18 37 (4.56%) DMZ
19 36 (4.43%) Kerberos
20 34 (4.19%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (2.71%) SQL Server
2 17 (2.09%) Amazon RDS
2 17 (2.09%) PostgreSQL
3 16 (1.97%) Elasticsearch
4 9 (1.11%) Amazon Aurora
5 7 (0.86%) DynamoDB
5 7 (0.86%) MongoDB
5 7 (0.86%) Redis
6 6 (0.74%) Data Hub
6 6 (0.74%) MySQL
7 4 (0.49%) DocumentDB
7 4 (0.49%) NoSQL
7 4 (0.49%) Relational Database
8 3 (0.37%) BigQuery
9 1 (0.12%) Apache Cassandra
9 1 (0.12%) Azure SQL Database
9 1 (0.12%) Electronic Patient Records
9 1 (0.12%) Geospatial Data
9 1 (0.12%) Power BI
9 1 (0.12%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 70 (8.62%) Jenkins
2 52 (6.40%) Git
3 44 (5.42%) GitLab
4 42 (5.17%) JIRA
5 30 (3.69%) Fiddler
6 7 (0.86%) Bitbucket
6 7 (0.86%) Terragrunt
7 6 (0.74%) SonarQube
8 4 (0.49%) CircleCI
8 4 (0.49%) Vagrant
9 3 (0.37%) Chocolatey
9 3 (0.37%) Subversion
10 2 (0.25%) Sonatype Nexus
10 2 (0.25%) TeamCity
11 1 (0.12%) Browser DevTools
11 1 (0.12%) Octopus Deploy
11 1 (0.12%) Travis CI
11 1 (0.12%) Visual Studio Code
11 1 (0.12%) Vite
11 1 (0.12%) webpack
General
1 228 (28.08%) Social Skills
2 105 (12.93%) Analytical Skills
3 62 (7.64%) Banking
4 56 (6.90%) Public Sector
5 48 (5.91%) Finance
6 45 (5.54%) Documentation Skills
6 45 (5.54%) Investment Banking
7 22 (2.71%) Legal
8 19 (2.34%) Telecoms
9 17 (2.09%) Military
10 11 (1.35%) Organisational Skills
11 9 (1.11%) Presentation Skills
12 7 (0.86%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (0.62%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 5 (0.62%) Law
14 4 (0.49%) Aerospace
14 4 (0.49%) Financial Institution
14 4 (0.49%) Local Government
15 3 (0.37%) Marketing
16 2 (0.25%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 125 (15.39%) Network Engineer
2 109 (13.42%) Architect
3 79 (9.73%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 76 (9.36%) Analyst
5 69 (8.50%) Senior
6 66 (8.13%) Support Engineer
7 54 (6.65%) IT Support
8 46 (5.67%) Security Engineer
9 36 (4.43%) Web Engineer
10 35 (4.31%) Platform Engineer
11 33 (4.06%) Lead
12 31 (3.82%) DevOps Engineer
13 30 (3.69%) IT Engineer
14 29 (3.57%) Network Security Engineer
15 26 (3.20%) SOC Analyst
16 24 (2.96%) 2nd Line Support
16 24 (2.96%) IT Support Engineer
17 23 (2.83%) Cisco Engineer
17 23 (2.83%) Cisco Network Engineer
18 22 (2.71%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 70 (8.62%) LDAP
2 43 (5.30%) SAML
3 37 (4.56%) OAuth
4 30 (3.69%) OpenID
5 21 (2.59%) 802.1X
6 20 (2.46%) OAuth2
7 15 (1.85%) OpenTelemetry
8 10 (1.23%) Elastic Stack
8 10 (1.23%) Kafka
8 10 (1.23%) REST
9 6 (0.74%) ARM Templates
9 6 (0.74%) JSON
9 6 (0.74%) Microsoft Graph
9 6 (0.74%) Middleware
9 6 (0.74%) XMPP
10 5 (0.62%) AngularJS
10 5 (0.62%) AWS CDK
10 5 (0.62%) React
10 5 (0.62%) RESTful
10 5 (0.62%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 71 (8.74%) PKI
2 59 (7.27%) Data Centre
3 52 (6.40%) Replication
4 39 (4.80%) Cloud Native
4 39 (4.80%) Management Information System
5 30 (3.69%) Onboarding
6 25 (3.08%) Security Operations Centre
7 24 (2.96%) Cyberattack
8 23 (2.83%) Analytical Mindset
8 23 (2.83%) Public Cloud
9 22 (2.71%) Clustering
10 21 (2.59%) Enterprise Software
11 20 (2.46%) Hybrid Cloud
12 15 (1.85%) Self-Motivation
13 14 (1.72%) Cyber Threat
14 12 (1.48%) Legacy Systems
14 12 (1.48%) NHS
15 11 (1.35%) Private Cloud
16 10 (1.23%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
16 10 (1.23%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 394 (48.52%) Windows
2 188 (23.15%) Windows Server
3 149 (18.35%) Linux
4 60 (7.39%) Windows 10
5 34 (4.19%) Windows Server 2019
6 19 (2.34%) Unix
7 18 (2.22%) Android
7 18 (2.22%) Windows Server 2016
8 16 (1.97%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 15 (1.85%) Windows Server 2012
10 14 (1.72%) Mac OS
11 13 (1.60%) Apple iOS
12 11 (1.35%) Windows 7
13 10 (1.23%) VMS
14 9 (1.11%) CentOS
15 7 (0.86%) Amazon Linux
15 7 (0.86%) Ubuntu
16 5 (0.62%) Windows Server 2003
17 4 (0.49%) CatOS
17 4 (0.49%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 202 (24.88%) Problem-Solving
2 155 (19.09%) Load Balancing
3 135 (16.63%) ITIL
4 115 (14.16%) CI/CD
5 110 (13.55%) DevOps
6 104 (12.81%) High Availability
6 104 (12.81%) Infrastructure as Code
7 103 (12.68%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 103 (12.68%) Migration
8 79 (9.73%) Cybersecurity
9 76 (9.36%) Disaster Recovery
9 76 (9.36%) Service Management
10 71 (8.74%) Change Management
11 67 (8.25%) Identity Access Management
12 66 (8.13%) Incident Response
13 61 (7.51%) SIEM
14 59 (7.27%) Root Cause Analysis
15 57 (7.02%) RBAC
16 55 (6.77%) ITSM
16 55 (6.77%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 231 (28.45%) PowerShell
2 145 (17.86%) Python
3 77 (9.48%) Bash
4 41 (5.05%) SQL
5 13 (1.60%) VBScript
6 12 (1.48%) Bicep
6 12 (1.48%) Java
7 11 (1.35%) Go
7 11 (1.35%) Perl
8 10 (1.23%) JavaScript
8 10 (1.23%) Ruby
8 10 (1.23%) VB
9 9 (1.11%) Shell Script
10 7 (0.86%) Lisp
11 5 (0.62%) Kusto Query Language
12 4 (0.49%) Groovy
13 3 (0.37%) C#
13 3 (0.37%) C++
13 3 (0.37%) T-SQL
14 2 (0.25%) C
Qualifications
1 282 (34.73%) Security Cleared
2 194 (23.89%) SC Cleared
3 99 (12.19%) DV Cleared
4 70 (8.62%) Degree
5 66 (8.13%) Microsoft Certification
6 56 (6.90%) Cisco Certification
7 45 (5.54%) CCNP
8 36 (4.43%) Azure Certification
9 30 (3.69%) CompTIA Security+
10 22 (2.71%) AWS Certification
11 21 (2.59%) CISSP
11 21 (2.59%) Computer Science Degree
12 20 (2.46%) Network+ Certification
13 18 (2.22%) CCNA
14 16 (1.97%) CompTIA CySA+
15 13 (1.60%) MCSE
15 13 (1.60%) Server+ Certification
16 10 (1.23%) CCIE
16 10 (1.23%) JNCIA
16 10 (1.23%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (3.94%) GDPR
2 26 (3.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 23 (2.83%) NIST
4 21 (2.59%) SLA
5 19 (2.34%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 9 (1.11%) PCI DSS
7 8 (0.99%) Cyber Essentials
7 8 (0.99%) NCSC
8 6 (0.74%) QA
9 4 (0.49%) Accessibility
10 3 (0.37%) Data Quality
10 3 (0.37%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 3 (0.37%) PMO
11 2 (0.25%) JSP 440
12 1 (0.12%) Actionable Recommendations
12 1 (0.12%) COBIT
12 1 (0.12%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 1 (0.12%) Government Security Classifications
12 1 (0.12%) RMADS
12 1 (0.12%) WCAG
System Software
1 357 (43.97%) Active Directory
2 194 (23.89%) VMware Infrastructure
3 75 (9.24%) Docker
4 63 (7.76%) Hyper-V
5 55 (6.77%) VMware NSX
6 47 (5.79%) vSphere
7 29 (3.57%) Virtual Machines
8 24 (2.96%) Firmware
9 18 (2.22%) VMware ESXi
10 14 (1.72%) BitLocker
10 14 (1.72%) Virtual Desktop
11 10 (1.23%) Squid
12 7 (0.86%) DFS Replication
12 7 (0.86%) Virtual Servers
13 6 (0.74%) Microsoft App-V
14 5 (0.62%) Microsoft Virtual Server
15 4 (0.49%) NFS
15 4 (0.49%) Postfix
15 4 (0.49%) Terminal Services
16 3 (0.37%) Sendmail
Systems Management
1 140 (17.24%) Terraform
2 132 (16.26%) Ansible
3 93 (11.45%) Microsoft Intune
4 81 (9.98%) Kubernetes
5 77 (9.48%) SCCM
6 74 (9.11%) Single Sign-On
7 63 (7.76%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 43 (5.30%) vCenter Server
9 40 (4.93%) FortiGate
10 36 (4.43%) Grafana
11 23 (2.83%) Prometheus
12 22 (2.71%) Argo
13 19 (2.34%) WSUS
14 14 (1.72%) SCOM
15 9 (1.11%) Nessus
15 9 (1.11%) Puppet
16 8 (0.99%) QRadar
17 7 (0.86%) Nagios
18 6 (0.74%) Consul
18 6 (0.74%) HAProxy
Vendors
1 308 (37.93%) Microsoft
2 238 (29.31%) VMware
3 141 (17.36%) F5
4 125 (15.39%) Cisco
5 83 (10.22%) ServiceNow
6 81 (9.98%) Splunk
7 49 (6.03%) Palo Alto
8 45 (5.54%) Blue Coat
9 41 (5.05%) SolarWinds
10 40 (4.93%) Citrix
11 35 (4.31%) McAfee
12 34 (4.19%) CheckPoint
13 33 (4.06%) Juniper
14 32 (3.94%) Red Hat
15 25 (3.08%) NetApp
16 21 (2.59%) Fortinet
16 21 (2.59%) Veeam
17 20 (2.46%) Dell
17 20 (2.46%) Infoblox
17 20 (2.46%) Zscaler